Erenburg Wins NJ Futurity 2008

For the second straight year, Sergey Erenburg has won the New Jersey Futurity International.

These pix of round 9 are provided to us, courtesy of Atlantic Chess News editor Steve Ferrero.

The first photo shows GM Sergey Erenburg versus IM Mikhail Zlotnikov, a game won by Erenburg. In the next picture, grandmasters Sam Palatnik and Leonid Yudasin play to a draw. The last photo captures the spectators watching NM Mackenzie Molner, as he draws against GM Jaan Ehlvest.

After Five Rounds at NJ Futurity

After five rounds, grandmasters Jaan Ehlvest and Sergey Erenburg are tied for first place at the New Jersey Futurity International 2008.

Photos from NJ Futurity

Here are a couple of photos, taken by Atlantic Chess News editor Steve Ferrero, from the New Jersey Futurity International 2008 at the Dean of Chess Academy in Branchburg. The first shows grandmaster Jaan Ehlvest; the second, Evan Ju versus Mackenzie Molner.

NJ Futurity Underway

The New Jersey Futurity International 2008 is underway at the Dean of Chess Academy. The four grandmasters include Jaan Ehlvest [USA], and not Mark Paragua [Philippines] as previously reported.

Najer Wins World Open

The World Open ended in a four-way tie for first place. Grandmaster Evgeny Najer won a blitz playoff game to earn the title of champion.

Soltis Variation @ Chess.com

At Jim West Talks Chess, my post on the Soltis variation in the Sicilian Dragon has received several comments.

Marshall Chess Club Swiss 7/6/2008

Ordinarily I do not allow the Ruy Lopez as Black. But, in today's game/30 Swiss at the Marshall Chess Club, the following game of mine transposed into a formation similar to the Ruy Lopez.

Round Three: Bishop's Opening

Sarkis Agaian (USCF 2092) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 7/6/2008

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.d3 d6 4.c3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Be7 6.O-O O-O 7.Re1 h6 8.h3 Na5 9.Bb5 Be6 10.Nbd2 c6 11.Ba4 b5 12.Bc2 Nb7 13.d4 Qc7 14.Nf1 a6 15.Ng3 Rfe8 16.Nh4 Bf8 17.Nhf5 c5

18.d5 Bxf5 19.exf5 c4 20.Be3 Nc5 21.Bxc5 Qxc5 22.Ne4 Nxe4 23.Rxe4 f6 24.Qd2 Rec8 25.g4 a5 26.h4 Be7 27.Kh2 b4 28.Ba4 bxc3 29.bxc3 Rcb8 30.Bc6 Ra6 31.Qe2 Rab6 32.Rxc4 Rb2


33.Qxb2 Rxb2 34.Rxc5 dxc5 35.c4 Rxf2+ 36.Kg3 Rc2 37.Rb1 Bd6 38.Kf3 e4+ 39.Kxe4 Rxc4+ 40.Kd3 Rb4 41.Re1 Be5 42.Re4 Kf7 43.Rxb4 axb4, draw.

Marshall Chess Club Swiss 7/5/2008

Today, in a game/60 Swiss at the Marshall Chess Club, I finished with a score of 1-0-3. Here is my only win, in an endgame where the knight was superior to the bishop.

Round Two: English Opening

Nelson Farber (USCF 1900) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 7/5/2008

1.c4 f5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.d3 e5 4.g3 Nc6 5.Bg2 Bc5 6.e3 f4

7.Nd5 fxe3 8.Bxe3 Bxe3 9.Nxe3 O-O 10.Ne2 d6 11.h3 Qe8 12.O-O Qh5 13.g4 Qh4 14.f4 Nd4 15.fxe5 dxe5 16.Nxd4 exd4 17.Nf5 Bxf5 18.Rxf5 g6 19.Re5 Qg3 20.Qe2 Rae8 21.Rxe8 Rxe8 22.Qf2 Qf2+ 23.Kxf2 Re3 24.Bf1 g5 25.Re1 Rxe1 26.Kxe1 c5 27.Bg2 b6


28.Bf3 Kf7 29.a3 a5 30.Kf2 Ke6 31.Kg3 Ke5 32.h4 h6 33.hxg5 hxg5 34.Bc6 Nh7 35.Kf3 Nf8 36.Be4 Ne6 37.Bf5 Nc7 38.Be4 b5 39.b3 b4 40.a4 Ne8 41.Bf5 Nd6 42.Bh7 Nc8 43.Bf5 Nb6


44.Ke2 Kf4 45.Be6 Na8 46.Bf5 Nc7 47.Bd7 Kg3 48.Kd2 Kf3 49.Kd1 Ke3 50.Kc2 Ke2 51.Bf5 Ne8 52.Kc1 Nf6 53.Kc2 Kf3 54.Be6 Nxg4 55.Bd5+ Ke3 56.Be4 Nf2, White resigns.

Ippolito - Reichstein

In round two of the World Open, still in progress at the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center, international master Dean Ippolito won quickly against FIDE master Boris Reichstein in the classical variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defense.

Reichstein's 15...Bb7 may have been intended as an improvement on a game between Evgeny Levin and Valery Zhidkov from last year's Petrovskaya Ladya tournament in Peterhof (Russia). That game continued 15...Nb7 16.Nh3 Ke7 17.Bc3 d6 18.e5 dxe5 19.Bxe5 Rhd8 20.Be2 Ne8 21.Nf4 Nc5 with advantage to White, who triumphed in 50 moves.

NJ Futurity International 2008

The New Jersey Futurity International 2008 will be held, from July 7th to July 14th, at the Dean of Chess Academy in Branchburg.

Participants will include four grandmasters, among them last year's winner Sergey Erenburg. Here is a list of all the players.

GM Sergey Erenburg [Israel]
GM Leonid Yudasin [Israel]
GM Mark Paragua [Philippines]
GM Sam Palatnik [USA]
IM Alfonso Almeida Saenz [Mexico]
IM Milos Scekic [Serbia]
IM Dean Ippolito [USA]
IM Mikhail Zlotnikov [USA]
NM Mackenzie Molner [USA]
NM Evan Ju [USA]

Future President

Who will be the next president of the United States?

BBC news broadcaster Humphrey Hawksley has written a novel The Third World War in which a future U.S. president finds that he is prevented from making a pre-emptive strike "until the final pieces of the chess game are in place ready for the end-game."

Pictures from Marshall CC June Open

These are photos that I took during Sunday's tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

First, you see the upstairs rooms at the club, including pictures from the recent New York International and Fischer's scoresheet from the Game of the Century.

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In round one, Gordon Yang lost to international master Alex Lenderman.

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Paulo Santanna was defeated by Asa Hoffmann, in the second round.

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In round three, Alex Lenderman and Boris Privman drew on board one, while Sarkis Agaian lost to Ilye Figler on board two.

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Here is what round four looked like, from my vantage point at board five.