Memorial Weekend Camp at "Chess Mates"

On Memorial Day weekend, Chess Mates will be running a camp from May 26th to May 28th.

Cherry Hill Spring Open

On Sunday, I won this game in the Cherry Hill Spring Open at the Wyndham Hotel.

Round Three: Sicilian Defense, Sicilian Counter Attack

Jim West (USCF 2207) - George Leonard (USCF 1840), Mount Laurel NJ 5/13/2012

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Ndb5 O-O 7.a3 Be7 8.e5 Ne8 9.Bd3 a6 10.Nd6 Bxd6 11.exd6 f5 12.h4 Nxd6 13.Qh5 Nf7 14.Bg5 Qb6 15.O-O-O g6 16.Qe2 Nc6 17.Be3 Qc7

18.h5 g5 19.h6 Nce5 20.Qh5 f4 21.Bd4 Nxd3+ 22.Rxd3 e5 23.Nd5 Qd6 24.Bc3 Qe6 25.Nc7 Qf5 26.Nxa8 e4 27.Rd4 e3 28.fxe3 fxe3 29.Nb6 Ne5 30.Nd5 Qf2 31.Qxg5+ Ng6 32.Ne7+ Kh8 33.Rf4+, Black resigns.

Rahway Quad 5/12/2012

Yesterday I drew this game at Chess Mates.

Round One: Modern Defense

Jim West (USCF 2207) - Lev Zilbermintz (USCF 2104), Rahway NJ 5/12/2012

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 b6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 Bb7 6.Bd3 e6 7.Be3 Ne7 8.O-O Nd7 9.Qd2 O-O 10.Rae1 a6 11.a4 c5 12.h3 Nf6

13.dxc5 dxc5 14.e5 Nfd5 15.Nxd5 Nxd5 16.Bc4 Nxe3 17.Qxe3 Qc7 18.Rd1 Rad8, draw.

Chess Article in "The Atlantic"

Santiago Wills writes "How America Forgot About Chess" in The Atlantic.

World Chess Championship Starts Today

The FIDE World Chess Championship 2012 match between Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand starts today in Moscow.

Taran Idnani - Vrithik Umapathy

In the Wednesday night league, my seven-year-old student Vrithik Umapathy [pictured] won this game yesterday, at the Dean of Chess Academy.

Pirc Defense

Taran Idnani (USCF 1565) - Vrithik Umapathy (USCF 1364), Branchburg NJ 5/9/2012

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be3 O-O 6.Bc4 Bg4 7.Bb3 Nc6 8.O-O e5 9.d5 Ne7 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Qxf3 Nd7

12.Nb5 a6 13.Nc3 f5 14.exf5 Nxf5 15.Qe2 Nc5 16.Bxc5 dxc5 17.Qc4 b6 18.g4 Nd6 19.Qe2 Rf4 20.a3 Qh4 21.Kg2 Raf8 22.Qe3 Rf3

23.Qxf3 Rxf3 24.Kxf3 Qxh3+ 25.Ke2 Qxg4+ 26.Kd2 Bh6+ 27.Kd3 c4+ 28.Bxc4 Qxc4#.

QB Michael Vick Plays Chess

Eagles quarterback Michael Vick learned to play chess while in prison.

FIDE Mondays 5/7/2012

Last night, I drew this game at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round Four: English Opening

Ed Frumkin (FIDE 1958) - Jim West (FIDE 2112), Marshall Chess Club 5/7/2012

1.c4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.Nf3 a5 5.O-O b6 6.d3 Bb7 7.Nc3 Be7 8.e4 fxe4 9.Ng5 O-O 10.dxe4 e5 11.Be3 Na6 12.h4 Bc5

13.Bxc5 Nxc5 14.Qe2 h6 15.Nh3 Qe8 16.Nd5 Nxd5 17.exd5 d6 18.f3 Qg6 19.Kh2 Qd3 20.Qxd3 Nxd3 21.b3 Bc8 22.Rad1 Nc5 23.Nf2 Bd7 24.Ne4 a4 25.b4 Nxe4 26.fxe4 Rxf1 27.Rxf1 a3 28.Bh3 Ba4 29.Be6+ Kh8 30.Rd1 Be8 31.Bg4 Bg6 32.Bf3 h5

33.Kg1 Kh7 34.Kf2 Kh6 35.Ke3 Bh7 36.Be2 Ra4 37.Rb1 g5 38.hxg5+ Kxg5 39.Bd1 Ra8 40.Be2 Bg6 41.Rc1 Ra4 42.Rb1, draw.

GM Rashad Babaev to Lecture at Marshall CC

The Marshall Chess Club presents grandmaster Rashad Babaev.

“Secrets of Positional Chess“

Grandmaster Rashad Babaev, the 2009 national chess champion of Azerbaijan, is one of New York’s most respected chess coaches and players. In this lecture, GM Babaev will talk about basic principles and subtleties of playing successful positional chess.

Among GM Babaev’s accomplishments are tournament victories at the Dubai International (1995), Verdun International (2002), Moscow Open (2003), Madrid Open (2005), and Barcelona Open (2005). He has been the trainer of the national youth chess team of Azerbaijan for seven years.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

7pm

Lecture fee: members free, non-members $10.

Marshall Chess Club
23 West 10th Street
New York, NY 10011
Phone 212-477-3716
Fax 212-995-9281
http://www.marshallchessclub.org/

"Bobby Fischer Comes Home" by GM Olafsson

Icelandic grandmaster Helgi Olafsson is the author of Bobby Fischer Comes Home: The Final Years in Iceland, a Saga of Friendship and Lost Illusions.

Frederic Fournier Analyzes West - O'Connor

At Contre Gambit Philidor, Frederic Fournier analyzes my game as White against Michael O'Connor.

Fournier also provides a link to my game as Black against Paul Rachlin.

May Game/90, Round 1

This game was played on Wednesday evening at Chess Mates.

Round One: Larsen's Opening

Jim West (USCF 2207) - Michael O'Connor (USCF 1840), Rahway NJ 5/2/2012

1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 Bf5 3.Nf3 e6 4.e3 Nf6 5.c4 c6 6.Nc3 h6 7.Rc1 Be7 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Nd4 Bg6 10.f4 O-O 11.Be2 Nbd7 12.O-O Re8

13.a3 c5 14.Nf3 d4 15.exd4 cxd4 16.Nxd4 Bc5 17.Na4 Bxd4+ 18.Bxd4 Nb6 19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.Nxb6 Qxb6+ 21.Kh1 Be4 22.Bf3 Bd3 23.Rg1 Re7 24.b4 Rae8 25.Qb3 Be4 26.Bxe4 Rxe4 27.Qf3 Qd4 28.Qc3 Qf2 29.Rcf1 Qd4 30.Qxd4 Rxd4 31.Rf2 Red8 32.Rd1 Rd3 33.Ra1 Rxd2 34.Rxd2 Rxd2

35.h3 Kf8 36.Rc1 Ke7 37.Rc7+ Rd7 38.Rc3 Kd6 39.g4 Rc7 40.Rd3+ Kc6 41.Kg2 Kb5 42.Kf3 Ka4 43.f5 b5 44.h4 g6 45.f6 Rc1 46.Rd7 Rf1+ 47.Ke4 Rxf6 48.Rxa7+ Kb3 49.Ra5 Kc4 50.Ra7 Rf1 51.g5 hxg5 52.hxg5 Rf5

53.Rc7+ Kb3 54.Rc5 Kxa3 55.Rxf5 gxf5+ 56.Kxf5 Kxb4 57.Kf6 Ka3 58.Kxf7 b4 59.g6 b3 60.g7 b2 61.g8=Q b1=Q 62.Qa8+ Kb2 63.Qb8+ Ka1 64.Qxb1+ Kxb1, draw.