Best Game of Round 6

A spectacular mating combination and a leader board thrown into disarray with only one round to go, what more can you ask for? How could it be any game other than Chase-Cherniack?

Standings after Round 6

Cherniack's spectacular win over Chase has tightened things up at the top with just one round to go.

4.5 Chase, Mac Intyre

4.0 Martirosov

3.5 Cherniack

2.5 Riordan, Glickman

1.5 Williams

1.0 Slive

Round 6: Williams-Glickman 1-0

Williams easily dispatches Glickman for his first win of the tournament.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.10.27"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Williams, Chris"]
[Black "Glickman, David”]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteUSCF "2039"]
[BlackUSCF "1937"]
[ECO "B01"]
[Opening "Scandinavian Defense"]
[Variation "2…Qxd5 "]
[Sub-Variation "Systems without d4"]

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.h3!? c6 6.Nf3 Bf5 7.0-0 e6 8.d3 Nbd7 9.Bd2 Qc7 10.Qe2 Be7 11.Nd4 Qe5?!

[11...Bg6 12.Bxe6 fxe6 13.Nxe6 Qe5 14.Qxe5 Nxe5 15.Nc7+ Kd7 16.Nxa8 Nf7 17.f4 +/=]

12.Nxf5

[12.Qxe5!? Nxe5 13.Nxf5 exf5 14.Bb3 Ned7 15.Rfe1 Kf8 +/-]

12...Qxf5 13.Rae1 0-0 14.f4 Bc5+ 15.Kh2 h5 16.Ne4

16...Nxe4?!

[16...b5 17.Bb3 a5 18.Nxf6+ Nxf6 19.Qf3 +/=]

17.dxe4 Qg6 18.Bd3 h4?

[18...e5 19.f5 +/-]

19.e5 Qh6 20.f5 Qh8 21.fxe6 f6(!)

[There was no reason to miss any more of the Red Sox game]

22.exd7 1-0

Round 6: Slive-Mac Intyre 0-1

Mac Intyre takes advantage of several mistakes by Slive to comfortably win a tactical game with a number of interesting material imbalances. Paul provided the annotations below.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.10.24"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Slive, Alex"]
[Black "Mac Intyre, Paul"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteUSCF "2039"]
[BlackUSCF "2303"]
[ECO "E94"]
[Opening "King’s Indian"]
[Variation "Classical"]
[Annotator "Mac Intyre"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 O-O 5.e4 d6 6.Be2 Nbd7 7.O-O e5 8.Bg5

[This is a very rare move and doesn't seem to really gain any advantage]

8…h6 9.Be3 c6

[This move is actually extremely clever. I think a classical approach to this position would be 9....Ng4 10.Bc1 f5, but after sitting and looking at that position, I didn't feel all that comfortable with it. Instead, I correctly predicted that my opponent's next move would be 10.h3, after which I planned to transpose to the exd4 systems. In these systems, White naturally wants to play f3 to bolster the e-pawn. However, having already played h3, the dark squares on the kingside would become uncomfortably weak]

10.h3 exd4 11.Nxd4 Re8 12.Qd2?! Nxe4 13.Nxe4 Rxe4 14.Bf3 Rh4!

[The correct plan. There is no clear way to take advantage of the offside position of this rook]

15.Nxc6 bxc6 16.Bxc6 Rb8 17.Qxd6 Be5 18.Qd5 Qc7 19.f4 Bg7

[Better was 19...Bxb2, but Black was playing conservatively and still holds a large advantage]

20.Rad1 Nf8 21.Qd8

21…Qxc6 22.Qxh4 Rxb2 23.Rf2 Rxf2 24.Qxf2 Qxc4 25.Bxa7

[This ‘equalish’-looking position is actually very favorable, and probably winning, for Black. The problem is that White will be forced to remain completely passive, while Black has quite a few ways to continue improving his position]

25…Ne6 26.f5? gxf5 27.Qxf5? Qa4!

[...and the rest is easy]

28.Rc1 Qxa7+ 29.Kh1 Bb7 30.Qb5 Qe3 31.Rf1 Qxh3+ 0-1

Hauptturnier standings

With the pace of the Championship slowing down (no games last week due to the Annual Meeting and only make-up games this week) it seems like a good time to check-in on the Haup. Since several players still have many games to complete it is hard to say who is actually leading at this point. Fuhro, Iglesias, Sullivan, Vernon and Dean all look like they remain in contention for the crown.

6.5 Fuhro(3)

6.0 Iglesias(3)

5.0 Sullivan(4)

3.5 Vernon(5), Lee(4)

3.0 Dean(6)

2.0 Foye(4), Hager(4)

1.5 Gorczyca(4)

1.0 Oresick(5)

0.0 Theil(withdrew)

(#) - Number of games remaining to be played

Note: Theil withdrew after losing to Oresick in Round 1. As a result, all the other players' scores reflect a forfeit win.

BCC election results

In a big surprise, an actual election broke out for the position of Vice-President during Wednesday's annual meeting. After a short but fierce campaign, incumbent Kent Leung was trounced 11-1 by his opponent. So far, no court challenges have been filed.

Here are the results:

President - Paul Mac Intyre
Vice-President - Bernardo Iglesias
Treasurer - Bob Oresick
Clerk - Ed Foye

Board of Directors - Alex Cherniack, Natasha Christiansen, David Glickman, Mike Griffin, Greg Hager, Jon Lee

After the meeting, Paul appointed Chris Chase as an additional director.

See also my previous post "Election Night 2004".

Round 6 rescheduling details

Here are the plans for playing the two 6th round games which were rescheduled from last week:

Slive-Mac Intyre Sunday, October 24th

Williams-Glickman Wednesday, October 27th

Ratings magic

In a recent post I said:

"It might be reasonable to assume that the recently published 10/04 USCF ratings are a better measure of the players' strength upon entering the Championship than the "official" 8/04 numbers. Of course, it might also be reasonable to believe that ratings mean 'not a nit' in any particular game."

Here is a perspective from someone who has given the topic a lot of thought:

Chess ratings are not devoid of meaning, but they are unquestionably imprecise. As I said last time, we need to keep in mind that FIDE ratings are not the precise measurements we would like them to be. In fact, nobody really knows just how effective the FIDE ratings are at measuring the "true strength" of a player. However, based upon the research that I performed a few years ago in developing my Chessmetrics historical ratings, I don't think it's too far off the mark to say that the estimation error in an Elo rating is normally distributed, with a standard deviation of 50 rating points. That means if somebody has a 2550 rating, we can only be about 70% sure that their "true strength" or "current form" is somewhere between 2500 and 2600. And we can only be 99% sure that their "true strength" is between 2400 and 2700.

I'm sorry about this; I really am. I wish I could tell you that ratings are nice and accurate. I wish I could wave a magic wand and tell you that I have a super-magical rating formula in my bag of tricks, but I don't. In all honesty, I simply don't know who the strongest player in the tournament is. They haven't played enough recent games to let me figure that out with any certainty.

"Libya World Championship Statistics (after round 1)" by Jeff Sonas, ChessBase News (web), 6/22/04

Election Night 2004

Red states, blue states, 527s, negative campaigning, hanging chads ... it's time again for the annual election of the Officers and Board of Directors of the Boylston Chess Club.

Tonight the Championship and Hauppturnier take a hiatus to make way for the club's annual meeting. In point of fact, elections at the BCC are not generally reflective of American democracy; instead they tend to exhibit attributes more commonly found in countries like:

• China - There is only one candidate running for each office and they are all voted in by acclamation.
  
  
• Iraq or Afghanistan - After significant begging and cajoling a member agrees to accept a nomination for a key role. After being voted in the membership focuses its attention on killing him.

The Best of September (1st-15th)

Here are some more re-runs -- from the period just before and just after the tournament started:

Prize Fund

(More) On adjournments

Because the stakes are so low

Who seals the move at adjournment?

A moment of silence

Somerville News article on the BCC's move to Davis Square

The archive links in the left-hand column provide access to all posts no longer on the front page.

See also my previous post "The Best of August".

Round 6: Chase-Cherniack 0-1

It’s a whole new ballgame! The players reach an unbalanced position where Black’s central pawns and two bishops confer an advantage. White’s minor pieces find themselves on the wrong side of the board, unable to lend assistance to their beleaguered King. After White makes a slip, Black closes out the game with an impressive Queen “sacrifice” leading to mate.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.10.13"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Chase, Chris"]
[Black "Cherniack, Alex”]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteUSCF "2289"]
[BlackUSCF "2228"]
[ECO "C66"]
[Opening "Ruy Lopez"]
[Variation "Steinitz Defense"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Be7 4.0-0 Nf6 5.Re1 d6 6.c3 0-0 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.d4 Nd7 9.Nbd2 a5 10.a4 Ba6 11.Nb3 Bc4 12.Nfd2 Be6 13.c4 f6 14.d5 Bf7 15.Nb1 Nb6 16.Qc2 f5 17.dxc6 Nxc4 18.N1d2?!

[Better is 18.exf5!? Fritz]

18...Nxd2 19.Bxd2 fxe4 20.Nxa5 d5

[Black emerges with the advantage based on the mass of central pawns and the two bishops]

21.Nb7 Qe8 22.Ba5 Rc8 23.b4 Bg6 24.Qc1?!

[24.Qc3 may have been a better defensive try. Notice how White's minor pieces have ended up out of play on the queenside]

24...Qf7

[24...Bh5 immediately followed by 25...Qg6 would have saved a tempo]

25.Rf1 Bh5 26.Qc2 Qg6 27.Kh1 Rf6 28.b5??

[Missing a crushing tactic]

28...Qxg2+!!

[Mate in 4]

29.Kxg2 Rg6+ 0-1

[29...Rg6+ 30.Kh3 Bg4+ 31.Kg2 Bf3+ 32.Kh3 Bg2# or 29...Bf3+ 30.Kh3 Rh6+ 31.Kg3 Bh4+ 32.Kh3 Bxf2# Black's bishops are just devastating!]

Best Game of Round 5

For the 5th round, the choice is a difficult one. The Mac Intyre-Williams "blunderfest" can be easily dismissed; however, in the other three games the winners played well but the losers generally made it easy for them. I've decided to chose Cherniack-Martirosov in order to recognize the fact that Vadim has yet to lose a game in the Championship.

As always, your opinions are welcome.

Round 6: Martirosov-Riordan 1/2

Black seems to have an advantage in the final position, but a draw was agreed. Perhaps Charles was concerned about the safety of his king or maybe time pressure was an issue.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.10.13"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Martirosov, Vadim"]
[Black "Riordan, Charles"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteUSCF "2198"]
[BlackUSCF "2258"]
[ECO "A80"]
[Opening "Dutch Defense"]
[Variation "2. Bg5"]

1.d4 f5 2.Bg5 h6 3.Bh4 g5 4.Bg3 Nf6 5.e3 d6 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.h4 g4

[7...Rg8 8.hxg5 hxg5 9.d5 Ne5 10.Nf3 Blasko-Della Morte, U18 World Championship, Oropesa del Mar 2001 1-0 (44)]

8.d5 Ne5 9.Bb5+ Bd7 10.Nge2 c6 11.Bxe5 dxe5 12.dxc6 Bxc6 13.Ng3 e6 14.Bxc6+ bxc6 15.Qe2 Rb8 16.Qc4 Qc8 17.a3 Rxb2 18.0-0 Rxc2 19.Rac1 Rxc1 20.Rxc1 Rh7 21.Rd1 ½-½

Best Game of Round 4

Chase took the overall lead in the tournament with his pivotal 4th Round win over Mac Intyre.

Round 5: Glickman-Chase 0-1

White makes a series of mistakes which leads to a major piece ending where Black has both material and positional advantages. During the adjournment session, Chris efficiently converts these advantages into a full point.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.10.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Glickman, David"]
[Black "Chase, Chris"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteUSCF "1937"]
[BlackUSCF "2289"]
[ECO "B07"]
[Opening "Pirc Defense"]
[Variation "Miscellaneous Systems"]

1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.Bc4 c6 4.Bb3 Nf6 5.Nd2 Bg7 6.Ngf3 0-0 7.0-0 Na6 8.Qe2

[8.c3 Qc7 (8...Nc7 9.e5 Nfd5 10.Re1 Minic-Hort, Vinkovci 1968 1/2 (15)) 9.h3 e5 10.Re1 Cherniaev-Swanson, West Bromwich 2002 1-0 (45)]

8...Nd7 9.c3 c5 10.Rd1 Qc7 11.Nf1 b6 12.Bc4 Nab8

13.e5?!

[I considered but rejected 13.Bg5, though in retrospect it looks like a good move. 13.Ne3 with the idea of Ng4 also looks strong]

13...dxe5 14.dxe5 e6 15.Bb5?!

[15.Bf4!? Bb7 16.Rd6 looks best for white]

15...a6 16.Bxd7 Nxd7 17.Bf4 Bb7 18.N1d2 b5 19.Qe3 c4 20.Bh6?!

[20.b3!?= Fritz]

20...Nxe5 21.Bxg7 Nxf3+ 22.Nxf3 Kxg7 23.Rd4 Bxf3 24.gxf3?

[Mac Intyre called this move "un-masterly". He said my desire to maintain control of the d-file did not justify the destruction of my kingside pawns. The course of the game certainly seems to prove him right]

24...Rfd8 25.Rad1 h5 26.Qd2 Rxd4 27.Qxd4+ e5 28.Qd5 Re8 29.h3 Qe7 30.Rd2 Qg5+ 31.Kh2 Qf4+ 32.Kg2 Re6 33.Re2 Qf5 34.a4 Qg5+ 35.Kh2 Qf4+ 36.Kg2 bxa4 37.Qe4 Qg5+ 38.Kh2 Qf4+ 39.Kg2 Kf6 40.Qd5 Qg5+ 41.Kh2

[Sealed move]

41...Qf5 42.Kg2 Qd3 43.Rd2 Qxd5 44.Rxd5 a3 45.bxa3 Rc6 46.h4 Kf5 47.Kg3 f6 48.Rd8 Rc5 49.Rd6 Ra5 50.Rc6 Ra4 51.Kg2 a5 52.Kg3 g5 53.Kh3 Rxa3 54.Rxc4 a4 55.Kg3 Ke6 56.Rc6+ Kd5 57.Rxf6 gxh4+ 58.Kxh4 Rxc3 59.Kxh5?!

[59.Ra6 Rxf3 60.Ra5+ Ke6 61.Rxa4 Rxf2 was better, but would not have changed the outcome]

59...Rc6 60.Rf8 Ra6 61.Rc8 a3 62.Rc1 a2 63.Ra1 Kc4 64.Kg5 Kb3 65.Kf5 Ra5 66.f4 exf4+ 67.Kxf4 Kb2 68.Rf1 a1Q 69.Rxa1 Rxa1 70.Ke5 Re1+ 71.Kf5 Kc3 72.f4 Kd4 73.Kg6 Ke4 74.f5 Rg1+ 0-1

[Fritz announces mate in 15]

Round 6 Results

Slive-Mac Intyre rescheduled

Williams-Glickman rescheduled

Chase-Cherniack 0-1 C66: Ruy Lopez - Steinitz Defense

Martirosov-Riordan 1/2 A80: Dutch Defense - 2.Bg5

Round 4: Chase-Mac Intyre 1-0

An interesting game to determine the leader as the tournament crosses the halfway point. Black hands the advantage to White with his last move before the time control. While Chris begins the adjournment well, an imprecise move allows Paul to reach an equal (drawn?) ending. However, Paul decides to try for a win and loses instead.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.09.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Chase, Chris"]
[Black "Mac Intyre, Paul"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteUSCF "2289"]
[BlackUSCF "2303"]
[ECO "A05"]
[Opening "Reti"]
[Variation "Double Fianchetto"]

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.b3 g6 3.Bb2 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.g3 0-0 6.Qe2 c5 7.Bg2 Bg4

[7...Nc6 8.h3 (8.c3 e5 9.0-0 Re8 10.d3 d5 Berkovich-Suetin, Alushta 1993 1/2 (54); 8.0-0 1/2 Stefanova-Hamdouchi, Dubai 1999) 8...Bd7 9.0-0 Rc8 10.a4 e6 11.Na3 d5 12.e5 Ne8 13.Rfe1 a6 14.d3 Nc7 15.Kh2 b5 1/2 Ermenkov-Vogt, Kecskemet 1977]

8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 Nc6 10.c3 d5 11.exd5 Ne5 12.Qe2 Nxd5 13.0-0 Qd7 14.Na3 Nb6 15.d4 cxd4 16.cxd4 Nc6 17.Rad1 e6 18.Nc2 Rfd8 19.a4 Rac8 20.h4

[Fritz prefers 20.Ne3 ]

20...Nd5 21.Ne3 Nxe3

[21...Ncb4!?]

22.fxe3 Nb4 23.Rc1 Bh6 24.g4 Rxc1 25.Rxc1 Rc8

[Here Fritz thinks 25...f5!? equalizes]

26.g5 Rxc1+ 27.Bxc1 Bf8 28.Bd2 a5 29.Qc4 Bd6 30.Kf2 b6 31.Bh3 Qb7 32.Bg2 Qb8 33.Kf3 Bg3 34.e4 Bxh4 35.Bf4 Qd8 36.Kg4 Bf2 37.Be5 h5+ 38.Kf3 Bg1 39.Bf6 Qd7 40.Bh3 Qc6?

[40...Bh2 is better]

41.Qxc6

[sealed move]

41...Nxc6 42.d5 Nb8 43.dxe6 Kf8 44.Bf1 Nc6 45.Kg2 Bc5 46.exf7?!

[Fritz likes the sequence 46.Bb5 Na7 47.Bd7 fxe6 48.Bxe6 +/-]

46...Bd4

[Now the computer rates the position as equal; though endgame evaluations like this can be notoriously unreliable]

47.Bc4 Bxf6 48.gxf6 Ne5 49.Be6 g5 50.Kg3 Nxf7 51.Kf3 Ne5+ 52.Ke3

52...h4??

[Black makes an unjustified attempt to win and loses instead. 52...Ng6 should draw]

53.Kd4 Ng6 54.e5 Nf4 55.Bc4 Nh5 56.Ke4 h3 57.Kf5 Nf4 58.e6 1-0

Answer: A search party

Question: What kind of celebration do you throw when your site finally gets indexed on Goggle?

Well, the weblog has remained on Google for over 10 days now so I am hopeful it is there to stay (previously it dropped off after a day or two). For your interest the links below show the search results for various engines for the phrase "2004 Boylston Chess Club Championship" (not that too many people in Australia would be inclined to type in such a search string):

Google
AlltheWeb

MSN
Overture
AOLSearch
Netscape

Hotbot

Yahoo!

Metasearch Engines:
Ithaki
Ixquick
Mamma
Meta Eureka

You could be the 1000th visitor to this weblog!

At the current rate of visitors per day, this weblog should record its 1000th visit this weekend or early next week (check the bottom of the page for the current count). Could it be you?

Prize: Recognition by your fellow readers of your refined taste in weblog selection.

Standings after Round 5

Chase defeated Glickman in their adjourned game to retain his one point lead with two rounds to go. Mac Intyre and Martirosov kept pace.

4.5 Chase

3.5 Mac Intyre, Martirosov

2.5 Cherniack, Glickman

2.0 Riordan

1.0 Slive

0.5 Williams

Round 5: Mac Intyre-Williams 1-0

A game neither player can be proud of. Clearly the combatants reached several highly complicated positions which neither grasped over the board. All you can do is post your score, walk away and hope to forget.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.10.01"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Mac Intyre, Paul"]
[Black "Williams, Chris”]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteUSCF "2303"]
[BlackUSCF "2053"]
[ECO "B06"]
[Opening "Modern Defense"]

1.e4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.g3 d6 4.d4 Bg4 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.c3 Nf6 7.Be3 0-0

[Is the e4 pawn hanging? 7...Nxe4!? 8.d5 Ne5 9.Qa4+ b5! 10.Qxe4 Nxf3+ 11.Bxf3 f5 12.Qd3 Bxf3 13.0-0 c6 -/+ Apparently so!]

8.h3 Bxf3 9.Bxf3 e5 10.d5 Ne7 11.g4 Nd7 12.Rg1 a5 13.Nd2 Nc5 14.Nf1 Qd7 15.Ng3 Qb5 16.Qe2 Qa4 17.Kf1 Kh8 18.Kg2 Qd7 19.Kh2 b6 20.Rg2 a4 21.h4 a3 22.b3 c6 23.dxc6 Qxc6 24.Rd1 Ne6 25.Qd2 Rfd8 26.Ne2 Nc5 27.Qc2 Qc7

[Fritz prefers 27...f5!?]

28.Kh1 Rac8 29.Bc1 Qa7 30.h5 Ne6 31.h6 Bf8 32.g5 Qa5 33.Bg4 d5 34.exd5 Nxd5 35.Bxe6 fxe6



36.Rg3??

[The “blunderfest” begins. Fritz says 36.Rd2 Bd6 37.Qe4 b5 is equal]

36...Qc5?

[36...Nb4! wins immediately, e.g., 37.Rxd8 Qa8+! 38.Kg1 Nxc2 39.Rxc8 Qxc8]

37.Qe4?

[One bad move deserves another. 37.Rf1 would have been o.k. for White]

37...Nf6! 38.gxf6 Rxd1+ 39.Kh2?!

[Better is 39.Rg1 or 39.Kg2, though Black is winning in either case]

39...Qxf2+ 40.Rg2 Qf5 41.Qh4 e4 42.Rf2 Qd5??

[Fritz says it best: Black "stumbles just before the finish line." The computer prefers 42...g5 ]

43.f7

[Suddenly, it is White who is winning]

43...Bd6+ 44.Bf4??

[44.Ng3! is the winner]

44...g5

[Suddenly, it is Black who is winning]

45.Qg3 Bxf4??

[45...Rf8 is the only right move here]

46.Nxf4 1-0

[Finally it's over. I'm going to go get treated for whiplash]

... it was just a coincidence?!

On Monday evening, October 11th the Glickman-Chase adjourned game resumed. Since this was not a tournament night, only the players and TD Bernardo Iglesias were expected to be there. However, Paul Mac Intyre also stopped by. He said that he didn't know we were playing that night, "...it was just a coincidence."

Surely as President, Paul has many good reasons to be at the club. However, he did admit that he was very interested in the outcome of this game (hoping against hope that Glickman might be able to nick Chase for a half-point and bring Paul that much closer to the leader). Hmmm, the plot thickens.

Suddenly, about a half-hour into the playing session - while Chase was on the clock - Paul changed the bottle on the water dispenser just a few feet away from the players. For the next several minutes all we could hear was the deafening sound of 'glub! glub! glub!' as the water dispenser refilled. Could Paul possibly have been trying to influence the outcome of the game by disturbing Chris' concentration? He said, "... it was just a coincidence."

Round 5: Cherniack-Martirosov 0-1

It was not a good night to be named Alex. White blunders first the exchange and then a piece. As a result, Vadim remains undefeated and within striking distance of the leader.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.10.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Cherniack, Alex"]
[Black "Martirosov, Vadim”]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteUSCF "2228"]
[BlackUSCF "2198"]
[ECO "D35"]
[Opening "Queen’s Gambit Declined"]
[Variation "Exchange"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 Nf6 6.e3 Bf5 7.h3 0-0 8.Nge2 Re8 9.g4 Be6 10.Bg2 c5 11.0-0 Nc6 12.Rc1 cxd4 13.Nxd4 Rc8 14.g5 Nd7 15.Nxd5 Bxg5 16.Nxc6

[16.Nb5!? Bxf4 17.Nxf4 +/- Fritz]

16...bxc6 17.Bxg5 Qxg5 18.Nf4 Nf8 19.Nxe6 Rxe6 20.Qg4 Qe5 21.Qd4 Qa5 22.a3

[Better is 22.b4 Qxa2 23.Ra1 Qe2 24.Rxa7 +/= Fritz]

22...Rg6 23.Rc5 Qb6

24.b4??

[24.Qb4 was necessary]

24...Ne6 25.Qd7 Rd8 26.Qxc6 Nxc5 27.Qxc5 Qb7 28.f3 Qd7 29.Kh1 Qd2 30.Rg1 h6 31.Qxa7 Qf2 32.f4 Rg3 33.Qe7 Qd2 34.Qh4 Rxe3 35.Qg4 Rxa3 36.b5 Qb2 37.Qf5 Ra1 38.Bd5??

[Another blunder, though the game was already lost]

38...Rxg1+ 39.Kxg1 Qd4+ 0-1

My opening preparation for Round 5

This game was my inspiration for my opening preparation against Chase. Needless to say, things didn’t go as easily for me as they did for Vlady.

[Event "Dortmund fin"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2004.07.29"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kramnik,Vladimir"]
[Black "Svidler,Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "B06"]

1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 c6 5.Bb3 Nf6 6.Qe2 0-0 7.0-0 a5 8.a4 b6 9.Rd1 Ba6 10.Qe1 Qc7 11.e5 dxe5 12.dxe5 Nd5 13.e6 fxe6 14.Ng5 Rf6 15.Nxe6 1-0

Round 5: Riordan-Slive 1-0

The players follow 13 moves of theory which, unfortunately for Alex, lead to a position which is much better for White. In a difficult position, he misses a Zwischenzug and rapidly goes down to defeat.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.10.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Riordan, Charles"]
[Black "Slive, Alex”]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteUSCF "2258"]
[BlackUSCF "2039"]
[ECO "D34"]
[Opening "Queen’s Gambit Declined"]
[Variation "Tarrasch"]
[Sub-Variation "6 g3 Nf6 7 Bg2 Be7 (by transposition)"]

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c5 4.0-0 Nc6 5.d4 e6 6.c4 Be7 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Nc3 0-0 9.Bg5 Be6 10.Rc1 cxd4 11.Nxd4 Qb6

[11...Nxd4 12.Qxd4 h6 or 11...h6 may be better options for black]

12.Nxe6 fxe6 13.Bh3

[The ChessBase on-line database includes 6 games which reached this position. White scored 5.5 out of 6 in these encounters]

13...Ne5

[Four of the six games continued with 13...Nd8 ]

14.Qb3

[One game did include 13...Ne5 continuing 14.Be3 Qa6 (14...Qc6 +/= Fritz) 15.Bd4 Szekley-Negm, Cairo 2002 1-0 (35)]

14...Qxb3?

[The psychology behind this mistake is understandable. Black realizes that he is going to have to play Kf7 and wants to make sure queens are off the board before he exposes his king. Based on his facial expression during the game, Alex realized that the e6-pawn was coming off with check just after he captured white's queen. Interestingly, Fritz considers 14...Kf7!? roughly equal]

15.Bxe6+

[Zwischenzug]

15...Kh8 16.axb3 d4 17.Nb5 d3 18.Bc4 dxe2 19.Bxe2 h6 20.Bf4 Ng6 21.Be3 a6 22.Nc7 Rac8 23.Bd3 Ne5 24.Bf5 Nfd7 25.Bh3 Bd6 26.Ne6 Rxc1 27.Rxc1 Re8 28.Rd1 Bb8?

[Hastening the inevitable]

29.f4 Nf3+ 30.Kg2 1-0