2004 Boylston Chess Club Championship

That's All Folks!

2004-11-27T14:31:00.000-05:00

It seems like an appropriate time for cliches -- We've followed a long and winding road to reach the light at the end of the tunnel where we can clearly hear that the fat lady has begun to sing.

This is the final post for the 2004 Boylston Chess Club Championship Weblog. I hope you have enjoyed the coverage over the past three months and will return on occasion to review the games and relive the magical moments of this year's Championship. To that end, I have created a Complete Site Index which provides access to everything that has been posted by category. In addition, all the categories are listed alphabetically in the sidebar.

Now it is time to move on to the next BCC blogging project ... The Boylston Chess Club Weblog provides an interactive space for members of the club to share any/all chess-related information -- games, announcements, experiences, tournament results, anecdotes and more. That's right, this time you get to post! So stop by to Join, Read, and/or Syndicate our newest Blog.

DG, signing off...

Complete Site Index

2004-11-27T01:30:00.000-05:00

Games
All Championship Games
Best Games
Upsets
Adjourned Positions
Opening Preparation
Non-BCC Championship Games

Tournament
Qualification, Selection & Participants
Schedule & Pairings
Rules
Background & Color
Round-by-Round Results
Round-by-Round Standings

Club-Related
Reubens-Landey
Hauptturnier
Boylston Chess Club

Weblog-Related
The Best of ...
Commented Posts
Weblog Development & Promotion

Other
Adjournment-related
Humor
Outside Articles
Ratings-related

Category Summary: Best Games

2004-11-26T14:19:00.000-05:00

Here are the best game selections from each round of the Championship. Click on the 'Round #' for the Best Game post; on the players' names for the game.

Round 1: Mac Intyre-Cherniack 1-0*

Round 2: Martirosov-Williams 1/2 - ... Round 2? Not yet!

Round 3: Glickman-Riordan 1-0*

Round 4: Chase-Mac Intyre 1-0

Round 5: Cherniack-Martirosov 0-1

Round 6: Chase-Cherniack 0-1*

Round 7: Riordan-Chase 1/2*

* Selected by Paul Mac Intyre for publication in the November BCC Newsletter

Category Summary: The Best of ...

2004-11-26T09:27:00.000-05:00

My series of re-runs of past favorites:
The Best of August
The Best of September (1st-15th)
The Best of September (16th-30th)
The Best of October

... and to cap things off a few November gems:
Trafficking in gossip
Waiting for Results
Prize Winners

The theory of relativity

2004-11-25T10:28:00.000-05:00

Some time back I calculated the predicted final score of each player in the Championship based on their published 10/04 USCF ratings. While no one pays bonuses for relative performance (except in the mutual fund industry, that is), here are the players ranked by the differences between their actual and predicted scores:

+1.3 Martirosov (5.0 actual, 3.7 predicted)

+1.0 Glickman (2.5, 1.5)

+0.7 Mac Intyre (5.5, 4.8)

+0.2 Chase (5.0, 4.8)

+0.0 Cherniack (4.5, 4.5)

-0.5 Williams (1.5, 2.0)

-1.0 Slive (1.0, 2.0)

-1.8 Riordan (3.0, 4.8)

These provide a slightly different perspective from the absolute standings in assessing who had a good vs. not-so-good tournament.

Top of the Haup

2004-11-24T20:03:00.000-05:00

The Hauptturnier finished up a week after the Championship with a tie for the top spot. Congratulations to all those named Robert.

6.5 Robert Fuhro, Robert Sullivan

6.0 Bernardo Iglesias, Edward Dean

4.0 Edward Foye, Jonathan Lee

2.0 Robert Oresick

1.0 Greg Hager

0.0 Ted Gorczyca

w/d Carey Theil, Bryant Vernon

Alex's annotations to Round 3: Cherniack-Slive

2004-11-23T12:43:00.000-05:00

A while ago, Alex Slive wrote detailed notes on his 3rd Round game with Alex Cherniack. I have posted them below as annotations to the game. Why Gumby? See Alex's note to move 21:

Some comments on my Rd. 3 game with Alex Cherniak. Even though my score so far hasn't been so good, I feel like I'm in the games. This is a good example, a tough fighting game all the way through.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.09.22"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Cherniack, Alex"]
[Black "Slive, Alex”]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteUSCF "2228"]
[BlackUSCF "2039"]
[ECO "A18"]
[Opening "English"]
[Variation "Flohr-Mikenas System"]
[Annotator "Alex Slive"]

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 d5 4.e5 Nfd7

[Black could have played 4...d4 5.exf6 dxc3 6.fxg7 cxd2+]

5.cxd5 Nxe5 6.d4 Ng6 7.Bb5+

[I found a game - 7.dxe6 Bxe6 8.d5 Bc8 Onischuk-Mitkov. Black won in 26 moves]

7…c6 8.dxc6 bxc6

[8...Nxc6 leads to a simpler game]

9.Bc4 Be7

[After 9.Bc4 and for the next few moves, ...Ba6 right away was possible. Instead I went for 9...Be7, so I could get castled quickly. Cherniak's comment was that this was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. He's got a good point. He starts the attack immediately with 11.h4]

10.Nf3 0-0 11.h4 Bf6

[Black tries to give his Ng6 an escape square with 11...Bf6. However, 11...Qc7 was better; if 12.h5 Nf4]

12.Ne4! Ba6 13.Bxa6 Nxa6 14.h5 Ne7

[14...Nh8 sure looks depressing, but I wonder if it's possible]

15.Nxf6+ gxf6

[After 15...gxf6, the theme of the game appears: will Black's control of d5 balance White's attacking chances?]

16.Kf1

[Cherniak thought for a long time considering the immediate 16.Bh6 Re8 17.Ne5!? fxe5 18.Qg4+ Ng6 19.hxg6 fxg6 (19...hxg6). He rejected this and ended up playing 16.Kf1 because of 20.dxe5 Qa5+ and takes the e-pawn. This line still might be good however; Bob Fuhro suggests 20.0-0-0 as a way to keep the attack going]

16…Kh8 17.Qe2

[17.Qe2 starts a series of pretty-much forced moves]

17…Nb4 18.Bh6 Rg8 19.Ne5 Qe8 20.Ng4 Nbd5 21.Ne3 Qd7

[I should have played 21...Nxe3 22.Bxe3 with equal chances. My thinking during the game provides a lesson for me - BE FLEXIBLE WITH YOUR IDEAS. I rejected 21...Nxe3 because I was too wrapped up in keeping my hold on d5 in front of the isolated pawn. I didn't want White to answer 22.fxe3 connecting his pawns. But Cherniak showed me that 22.fxe3 is no good - 22...Nf5 23.Bf4 e5! (not 23...Ng3+?? 24.Bxg3 Rxg3 25.Qf2 and wins)]

22.Qf3 Rgd8 23.Nxd5 Nxd5 24.Rc1 Rab8?

[24...Rab8? drops the exchange to a nice tactic. Almost any other move is OK; but I don't really know how to improve my position]

25.Qg3!

[25.Qg3! wins the exchange]

25...Rg8 26.Bg7+ Rxg7 27.Qxb8+ Rg8 28.Qb3

[After 28.Qb3, it's still kind of a ballgame because of the good Nd5. However, White's rooks eventually will operate on the outside files out of the reach of the knight and the value of the exchange will tell in the end]

28…h6 29.Qf3 Qd6 30.a3 Rg5

[30...Rg5 starts a little demonstration, but Cherniak plays correctly]

31.g3 Rf5 32.Qd3

[Not 32.Qg2?? Ne3 or 32.Qe2?? Qxg3. By the way, both sides started to get into a little time pressure about here]

32…Kg7 33.Rh4 Ne7 34.Qe4

[34.Qe4 invites 34...Qxg3?? 35.Rg4+]

34…Rd5 35.Qf4

[With 35.Qf4!, Cherniak gives up a pawn for the "boa constrictor" endgame mentioned … by Glickman. It was hard to not take the pawn, but the question is: Is 35...e5 better?]

35…Qxf4 36.Rxf4 Rxh5 37.Rc5 Rh1+ 38.Ke2 Rb1 39.b4 Ra1 40.Ra5 Nd5 41.Rg4+

[Cherniak sealed 41.Rg4+. Adjournment analysis was tough. All the lines seemed to let Black just hang in the game by a fingernail, but eventually end up losing. I guess the standard chess piece values are correct: only one pawn is not sufficient compensation for the exchange. By the way, I had to look at 41.Rf3 as a possible sealed move. Cherniak's move was better. After 41.Rf3, Black can harass the king a little and maybe play against the pawn at d4]

41...Kf8 42.Rxa7 f5

[There's a surprising pretty mate after 42...Nxb4. 43.Ra8+ Ke7 44.Rgg8! N moves 45.Ra7+ Kd6 46.Rd8++]

43.Ra8+ Ke7 44.Rgg8 Ra2+ 45.Kf1 Rd2 46.Rgb8 Rxd4 47.a4

[After 47.a4, do you see what I mean about the rooks operating on the outside files away from the knight? Black just doesn't have enough resources]

47…Rd1+ 48.Kg2 f4 49.a5 fxg3 50.Kxg3 Nc7 51.Ra7 Rd7 52.Rab7 f6 53.Rb6 Rd3+

[Cherniak plays the endgame very well. If 53...Kd6, 54.Rc8 is pretty much zugzwang]

54.f3 Kd7 55.Rh8 Rb3 56.Rb7 1-0

Mac Intyre annotates his Round 1 encounter with Cherniack

2004-11-22T20:24:00.000-05:00

In today's BCC newsletter Paul provided annotations to Round 1: Mac Intyre-Cherniack 1-0. I have reprinted them below:

MacIntyre came out of the starting gate with guns blazing. His round 1 victory over NM Alex Cherniack was perhaps his most impressive of the tournament.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.09.08"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Mac Intyre, Paul"]
[Black "Cherniack, Alex"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteUSCF "2303"]
[BlackUSCF "2228"]
[ECO "C19"]
[Opening "French"]
[Variation "Winawer"]
[Sub-Variation "Main Line 7. a4"]
[Annotator "FM Paul MacIntyre"]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.a4 Qa5 8.Qd2 Nbc6 9.Nf3 Bd7 10.Bd3 c4!?

[The “all-out” approach which is the hallmark of Cherniack’s style. Some think that by c:d and exchanging queens, Black can count on equality in the endgame due to white’s worse pawns. Alex’s move initiates a complex war of manouver]

11.Be2 f6 12.Ba3 0-0-0 13.0-0 Rdf8 14.Rfb1 Rf7 15.Rb5 Qa6 16.Qc1!

[The transfer of all the heavy pieces to the queenside is Botvinnik’s recipe in such positions]

16....Ng6 17.Bd6 b6 18.Qa3 Kb7?!

[Instead, the thematic 18....fe 19.fe Rf3! would have bagged the important King’s pawn and given black plenty of compensation for the exchange]

19.Rab1 Ka8 20.exf6!

[Black won’t get a second chance]

gxf6 21.Nd2 Nh4 22.R5b2 Qc8? 23.a5! Nxa5 24.Rxb6 Nc6??

[Black crumbles. He had to take the rook, after which there is no clear win available for White]

25.Nxc4!

25...dxc4 26.Bxc4 +–

[Black can no longer defend the King. White has a number of ‘coups de grace’ including moving a pawn to d5 or a Bishop incursion via a6]

Qg8 27.Bg3 Nf5 28.Qa6 Qc8 29.Rb7 Nxg3 30.d5 Qb8 31.dxc6 Bxc6 32.Rxb8+ Rxb8 33.Qxc6+ Rfb7 34.Ba6 Ne2+ 35.Kf1 Nxc3 36.Bxb7+ Rxb7 37.Qc8+ Rb8 38.Qxb8# 1-0

Best Game of Round 7

2004-11-22T09:31:00.000-05:00

I'll go with Riordan-Chase since it had such significant implications for the final results of the tournament and because Charles' Houdini act during the adjournment was something to behold.

Now if Alex had seen Vadim's analysis before their adjournment...

Small fish, very tiny pond

2004-11-21T11:45:00.000-05:00

Regular readers may have noticed that I began offering syndicated feeds in the last couple of weeks. For those unfamiliar with RSS (really simple syndication), that's what those XML and +My Yahoo! buttons on the sidebar are about. While it is certainly late in the game considering that this weblog will be out of business in less than a month, two factors motivated me to learn something about syndication: 1) the new Firefox browser has integrated RSS through a feature called Live Bookmarks and 2) the new My Yahoo! allows you to have syndicated feeds from anywhere on the web on your personal pages.

All well and good, I've added some RSS knowledge to my blogging repertoire; but then I happened upon something rather surprising. It turns out that on My Yahoo! you can search the web for feeds to put on your page and they are listed by the number of users who have previously syndicated them on My Yahoo! (this last part is actually an assumption on my part, but I'm fairly certain I'm correct). So what happens if you search for chess? [Note - this link probably will not work unless you are a My Yahoo! member currently logged-in]

2004 boylston chess club championship is ranked 10th on the list! Now I know something about the size of my readership and there is no way that I could have a large number of "syndicatees"; in fact, it is hard to imagine that I could even have ten. What explains this?:

There are very few chess-related weblogs
Many of these don't currently offer syndication
The interested readership for chess weblogs is rather small and therefore my visitor stats are actually quite competitive with other sites

I certainly feel no shame in being ranked behind Mig's Daily Dirt, WaPo's weekly chess column or Chess@About.com, but don't you think I could beat out a discussion board on 3-D chess? So if you are a My Yahoo! member, why not try syndicating this site. Let's see what we can do to those rankings.

Vadim's analysis of Martirosov-Slive Rd. 7 adjourned position

2004-11-21T10:48:00.000-05:00

Along with his own notes, Alex sent in Vadim’s analysis of their Round 7 adjourned position. I can’t include enough diagrams to make clear all the subtle positional and tactical themes in this line. Instead, I would strongly recommend that you play through these moves on a board (physical or electronic). You won’t be disappointed.

Note – this is all analysis; the actual moves of the game can be found here. To be as accurate as possible, I would attribute what follows as -- analysis by Vadim, commentary by Alex based on his post-mortem with Vadim, and very minor editing by me:

[Vadim showed me a beautiful almost study-like variation that he worked on for hours during the adjournment. It ends in a draw and he thought it probably was Black's best play]

41.Be4 Ne6 42.Kf3 Nf4 43.h4 Nh3

[Black attempts aggressive counterplay]

44.Ke3 Rxf2 45.Ra7

[Threatening e6]

45…gxh4

[Black gets a pawn for compensation]

46.e6 Rf6!

[Only move - e7 is threatened and Black plans ...Re6. 46...Kf8? loses to 47.e7+ followed by Bc6]

47.Bf5

[Best move - 47.Bd5? Nf4 48.e7 Nxd5+]

47...Kf8 48.e7+ Ke8 49.Kd4

[White wants to play Bd3/c2 followed by Bb5+/a4+ but has to avoid a Rook check at e6 first]

49…Ng5 50.Kc5!

[Beautiful! 50.Bc2 Rf4+ 51.Kd5 Rxg4 and Black will give up his Rook for White’s Bishop after a check on a4; 50.Bd3 Rd6+ 51.Kc4 Rxd3 52.Kxd3 h3]

50...Rxf5+

[Now this is forced]

51.gxf5 h3 52.Ra6!

[An amazing line is 52.Kd6 Ne4+ 53.Ke5 h2 54.f6 (54.Ra1? Nf2) 54...Nxf6 55.Ra1 with a probable draw (not 55.Kxf6?? because 55…h1Q covers a8!)]

52...f6! 53.Ra4

[53.Rxf6?? Ne4+]

53...Kxe7 54.Rh4 Kf7 55.Rxh6

[A positional draw]

Round 7: Riordan-Chase 1/2

2004-11-20T13:22:00.000-05:00

White develops attacking chances against Black's king along the open h-file, but plays too passively at a critical moment and fails to exploit them. Instead, Black gives up his queen for a rook, bishop and several pawns. At the first adjournment it looks like White has few chances to survive. However, he finds a line which enables Black to queen a pawn and be up a full rook but results in a draw by perpetual check. An exciting finish to this year's Championship.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.11.08"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Riordan, Charles"]
[Black "Chase, Chris"]
[Result "1/2"]
[WhiteUSCF "2258"]
[BlackUSCF "2289"]
[ECO "B90"]
[Opening "Sicilian Defense"]
[Variation "Najdorf"]
[Sub-Variation "Unusual White 6th moves, 6 Be3 e5"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Nbd7 9.g4 h6 10.Qd2 Rc8 11.0-0-0 Qc7 12.Kb1 Nb6 13.h4 Be7 14.Qg2 g6 15.Qf2

[The first new move. The previous time this position was reached the game continued 15.g5 hxg5 16.hxg5 Nh5 17.f4 Nc4 18.Bxc4 Bxc4 19.f5 b5 Lobron-Quinteros, London BBC TV-A 1981 1-0 (33)]

15...Nc4 16.Bxc4 Bxc4 17.Bb6 Qd7 18.Na5 Be6 19.g5 hxg5 20.hxg5 Rxh1 21.Rxh1 Nh5 22.Qd2 Kf8

[Fritz suggests 22...Bxg5 23.Qxg5 Rxc3 24.bxc3 Qb5+ 25.Nb3 Qxb6 26.Qd2 Black has a pawn and the superior pawn structure in return for the exchange (equal?)]

23.Be3 b5 24.Nd5 Bxd5 25.exd5 Qf5 26.Qg2 Kg7 27.Nc6 Bd8 28.a3 Nf4?

[A mistake which would have been punished if White had found the correct continuation at move 30]

29.Bxf4 exf4

30.Rg1?

[Why take the rook off the h-file? Instead 30.Nd4! Qxg5 31.Qh3 Qh5 32.Nf5+! Kf6 33.Qxh5 gxh5 34.Nxd6 Rb8 35.Rxh5 and White is effectively up two pawns in the ending]

30...Qxd5 31.Qh3!?

[A risky continuation. 31.Nxd8 Rxd8 32.Qh2 Qe5 looks drawish]

31...Qxc6 32.Qh6+ Kg8 33.Rh1 Qxc2+ 34.Ka1 Qc1+ 35.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 36.Ka2 Rc5 37.Qh3 Rf5

[A good move which keeps the White queen from penetrating at d7 or c8]

38.Qf1 Bxg5 39.Qd3 d5 40.Qc3 Bf6

[At adjournment, the consensus opinion was that White would be hard pressed to draw. Charles proved the kibitzers wrong]

41.Qc8+

[Sealed move]

41...Kg7 42.Qxa6 d4 43.Qc6 Re5 44.Kb1 Re1+ 45.Kc2 Re2+ 46.Kc1 d3 47.Qxb5 Bxb2+ 48.Kb1 Re1+ 49.Ka2! Ra1+ 50.Kxb2 d2 51.Qe5+ Kh7 52.Qxf4 d1Q 53.Qxf7+

[It is a perpetual check since White can't interpose with his queen without giving up the rook]

53...Kh6 54.Qf4+ Kg7 55.Qe5+ Kf7 56.Qf4+ Ke6 57.Qe4+ Kf7 58.Qf4+ Kg8 59.Qb8+ Kh7 60.Qh2+ Kg7 61.Qe5+ [Sealed move] ½-½

[The game was agreed drawn without resuming]

Prize Winners

2004-11-19T11:58:00.000-05:00

First Place - Paul Mac Intyre
$300 plus free entry to all eligible tournaments at the BCC from December 1, 2004 to November 30, 2005

Second & Third Place - Chris Chase & Vadim Martirosov
Split the second and third place prizes of $200 and $100 respectively ($150 each)

Fourth through Eighth Place - Cherniack, Riordan, Glickman, Williams, Slive
The recognition and prestige (if any) of participating in the 2004 Boylston Chess Club Championship tournament

Special TD Prize - Bernardo Iglesias
Our gratitude for another flawlessly run tournament

See also my previous post "Prize Fund".

Alex's notes to Martirosov-Slive Rd. 7 adjournment

2004-11-19T09:22:00.000-05:00

Alex provided notes to the adjournment session from the 7th round game Martirosov-Slive. He also sent a variation which Vadim believes was best play from the adjourned position (I will post it separately once I have a chance to look at it – to call it complicated would be an understatement). Here are Alex’s comments:

[Yes, Black has drawing chances after the adjournment.]

41.Be4

[Sealed move]

41...Ne6 42.Kf3 Nf4 43.h4 Rb2 44.hxg5 hxg5 45.Bf5 Rb3+ 46.Ke4 Rb4+ 47.Ke3 Rb3+ 48.Kd4 Rb2 49.f3 Rd2+ 50.Ke3 Re2+

[50…Rd5 should draw. 51.Rxd5 Nxd5+ is forced. After 52.Kd4 Nf4, if White ever plays e6, Black trades pawns and not minor pieces, puts his K at h6, and bounces his N around to the right square from f4. How can White win?]

51.Kd4 Rd2+ 52.Kc4

[Not 52.Kc5 Rd5+ and the draw is similar to the note above.]

52...Rd8 53.Ra7 Re8

[After 53.Ra7, I started to lose the thread. I don't think 53...Re8 is losing yet, but much better is 53...Kf8 to stop any lines based on e5-e6. Black would then just keep his R on the d-file - if White ever advances his K to the 5th rank, then …Rd5 would win a pawn.]

54.Kd4 Ne2+

[I still think Black is OK after the text move 54…Ne2+, but 54…Kf8 is more to the point.]

55.Kd5 Rd8+

[Again 55…Kf8 or even 55…Nf4+ 56.Kd6 Kf8 looks like it still holds. How can White take advantage of his advanced K? After the text move 55…Rd8+ both Black's R and N have strayed from the e6 square and trouble is lurking.]

56.Kc4 Re8??

[56…Re8?? is the real clunker. 56…Nf4?? is also answered by 57.e6. Black has to play 56…Kf8 and if White ever plays e6, an endgame arises similar to the first note, but with R's on the board. I think this is still a draw.]

57.e6

[After 57.e6 it's all over.]

57…Rf8 58.Kd5 Kf6 59.e7 Re8 60.Kd6 Nd4 61.Rb7 Nxf5+ 62.gxf5 Kxf5 63.Kd7 Rxe7+ 64.Kxe7 Kf4 65.Kf6 1-0

[65.Kf6! is a pretty end to the game. 65.Kxf7 leads to a draw. (I think.)]

Standings after Round 7

2004-11-18T19:50:00.000-05:00

Mac Intyre takes the crown by a 1/2 point. Chase and Martirosov tie for second.

5.5 Mac Intyre

5.0 Chase, Martirosov

4.5 Cherniack

3.0 Riordan

2.5 Glickman

1.5 Williams

1.0 Slive

Riordan and Chase agree to a draw!

2004-11-18T16:54:00.000-05:00

Charles reports:

Riordan-Chase was agreed drawn without further moves (White has a perpetual check since black can never move his queen off the first rank). The sealed move was 61.Qe5+.

Congratulations to our 2004 Boylston Chess Club Champion -- Paul Mac Intyre.

Riordan-Chase Rd. 7 adjourned position #2

2004-11-17T09:29:00.000-05:00

The final game of the Championship has been adjourned for a second time -- the only time this has happened in this tournament. Since the 3rd time control is Sudden Death/30, the game must come to a conclusion during tonight's session.

White sealed his 61st move

White: Kb2; Qh2; Pawns on a3 and f3

Black: Kg7; Qd1; Ra1; Pawn on g6

FEN "8/6k1/6p1/8/8/P4P2/1K5Q/r2q4 w - - 0 61"

23.5 cents

2004-11-16T09:53:00.000-05:00

... the amount of interest which could have been earned to date in an ING Orange savings account on the $300 first prize had the Championship actually ended on the scheduled date for the final round (November 3rd).

An update on the BCC Members' Blog

2004-11-15T10:32:00.000-05:00

I must admit that the response to my post on a members' blog was less than overwhelming. Nevertheless, the limited feedback was strongly positive and I continue to believe that this idea has real potential even if only a small number of people choose to participate actively.

Just like this weblog, I believe some direct marketing to the membership will be required to generate interest. My initial ideas are signs/flyers at the club, an e-mail to the club e-mail list and an announcement at the Herb Healy. Also, a direct link from the BCC homepage to the weblog will be key. I will be coordinating with the BCC President and Webmaster over the next several weeks to make progress on these items. I'm thinking about an official launch in December.

In the meantime, I am "soft" launching the new weblog today for anyone who would like to get a jump start. Check it out, sign up, start posting, make it a great resource and service for the club:

Boylston Chess Club Weblog

The Best of October

2004-11-14T19:06:00.000-05:00

I'm counter-programming again against all those blogs offering fresh content today. Who needs more babbling about the Presidential election or Iraq war when you can re-experience these fine posts:

One BCC Championship to go, please

The BCC Oktoberfest Open?

Qd3!!!!!

... it was just a coincidence?!

Election Night 2004

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

See also the rest of "The Best of..." series: September (16th-30th), September (1st-15th), and August.

Round 7: Martirosov-Slive 1-0

2004-11-12T14:50:00.000-05:00

White wins a pawn in the opening and nurses it all the way to a win in the ending. I'm unsure whether Black ever had any drawing chances after adjournment. Perhaps one of the players will be kind enough to enlighten us.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.11.03"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Martirosov, Vadim"]
[Black "Slive, Alex"]
[Result "1/2"]
[WhiteUSCF "2198"]
[BlackUSCF "2039"]
[ECO "D37"]
[Opening "Queen’s Gambit Declined"]
[Variation "5.Bf4"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.cxd5 cxd4?!

[The database contains 108 games which reached the position after White's 7th move. 7...exd5 was played 65 times; 7...Nxd5 had 37 outings. The text has only been seen on 6 occasions]

8.Qxd4 exd5 9.Bxb8 Rxb8 10.Qxa7 Be6 11.Be2 Ra8

[Fritz prefers 11...Ne4 and considers the position close to equal]

12.Qd4 Qa5 13.0-0 Bc5 14.Qd3 Bb4 15.Nb5 d4 16.a3

16...Rfc8

[Here's one of those fascinating computer lines I would never have found over the board: 16...dxe3 17.axb4 Qxa1 18.Rxa1 Rxa1+ 19.Bf1 Ng4 20.fxe3 Bc4 21.Qxc4 Nxe3 22.Qe2 Rxf1+ 23.Qxf1 Nxf1 24.Kxf1 and White is probably a little better with the two knights vs. a rook, but who knows?]

17.Qxd4 Bc5 18.Qh4 Bd7 19.b4 Qa4 20.Nbd4 Bf8 21.Ne5 Rc3 22.Nxd7 Qxd7 23.Nb5 Rc2 24.Rad1 Rd2 25.Rxd2 Qxd2 26.Bf3 Qd3 27.Nd4 Rxa3 28.Bxb7 Bxb4 29.Nc2 Qxc2 30.Qxb4 Qc3 31.Qxc3 Rxc3 32.Rd1 g6 33.h3 Rb3 34.Bf3 Rb2 35.g4 g5 36.Kg2 Kg7 37.Ra1 Rd2 38.Ra5 h6 39.e4 Nd7 40.e5 Nf8 41.Be4

[Sealed move]

41...Ne6 42.Kf3 Nf4 43.h4 Rb2 44.hxg5 hxg5 45.Bf5 Rb3+ 46.Ke4 Rb4+ 47.Ke3 Rb3+ 48.Kd4 Rb2 49.f3 Rd2+ 50.Ke3 Re2+ 51.Kd4 Rd2+ 52.Kc4 Rd8 53.Ra7 Re8 54.Kd4 Ne2+ 55.Kd5 Rd8+ 56.Kc4 Re8 57.e6 Rf8 58.Kd5 Kf6 59.e7 Re8 60.Kd6 Nd4?

[60...Nf4 seems better, though I'm not sure if Black has any drawing chances at this point]

61.Rb7 Nxf5+ 62.gxf5 Kxf5 63.Kd7 Rxe7+ 64.Kxe7 Kf4 65.Kf6 1-0

Riordan-Chase Rd. 7 adjourned position

2004-11-11T11:19:00.000-05:00

The last game of the Championship is heading into overtime. Chase needs a win to secure a tie for first place.

White sealed his 41st move

White -- Ka2; Qc3; Pawns on a3, b2 and f3

Black -- Kg8; Rf5; Bf6; Pawns on a6, b5, d5, f4, f7 and g6

FEN "6k1/5p2/p4bp1/1p1p1r2/5p2/P1Q2P2/KP6/8 w - - 0 41"

Waiting for Results

2004-11-10T11:10:00.000-05:00

VLADIMIR: Well?
ESTRAGON: Nothing.
VLADIMIR: Show me.
ESTRAGON: There's nothing to show.

We are still waiting to hear about the two remaining games from Round 7 of the Championship. Both have significant implications for the final standings.

Riordan-Chase: A win by Chris would secure a tie for first place with Mac Intyre; a loss could conceivably drop him down into a tie for third.

Martirosov-Slive (adjourned): Vadim can secure at least clear third with a win.

Please post any scheduling details or results if you know them.

VLADIMIR: We have to come back tomorrow.
ESTRAGON: What for?
VLADIMIR: To wait for Results.
ESTRAGON: Ah! (Silence.) They didn't come?
VLADIMIR: No.
ESTRAGON: And now it's too late.

'2004 boylston chess club championship' in print?

2004-11-09T12:37:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks back, Chess Horizon's editor Mark Donlan e-mailed me to express an interest in publishing some of the weblog's content in the next issue of the magazine. He'll be sending me a file of what he wants to publish sometime in the near future.

I'll keep you informed of this offline effort as things develop.

Round 7: Cherniack-Williams 1-0

2004-11-08T01:42:00.000-05:00

So far, the theme for Round 7 seems to be unsound sacrifices leading to short wins. Chris sacs a piece for insufficient compensation and goes down quickly.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.11.03"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Cherniack, Alex"]
[Black "Williams, Chris”]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteUSCF "2228"]
[BlackUSCF "2053"]
[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 0-0 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.Nf3 c6 9.h3 Re8 10.0-0 Nf8 11.Qc2 Ng6 12.Bg5 Ne4 13.Bxe4

[13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Rfe1 Nh4 15.Nxh4 Qxh4 16.f3 Bergeron-Courval, Quebec 1997 1-0 (38) and Halasz-Mrvova, Slovakia 1999 1/2 (20)]

13...dxe4 14.Bxe7 Qxe7 15.Nd2 Bf5

[15...f5 16.f4 exf3 17.Rxf3 Nh4 18.Rg3 f4 19.exf4 Nf5 with an advantage to Black, Birens-San Marco, Nantes 1993 0-1 (45)]

16.f4

16…exf3?

[Unsound and unnecessary. Several moves would have been sufficient to maintain a playable game, e.g., 16...Rad8, 16...Rac8, 16...Qh4]

17.Qxf5 Qxe3+ 18.Rf2 Nh4?

[18...fxg2 19.Qxf7+ Kh8 20.Qf3 Qxd4 21.Qxg2 is better but insufficient]

19.Qg4 Rad8

[19...Ng6 20.Nxf3 +-]

20.Qxh4 1-0

A BCC Members' Blog?

2004-11-07T13:36:00.000-05:00

As the Championship begins to draw to a close, I've begun to contemplate life after the 2004 boylston chess club championship weblog.

[In point of fact,I think this blog will likely remain active for another month or so as I wrap things up, create summaries of previous posts, and peek in on the finish of the Haup. The posting of the USCF rating report for the Championship will probably represent its swan song.]

One idea I have been considering is establishing a members' blog for the club. Blogger allows weblogs to have multiple authors; therefore, I could set up a blog which would allow any interested members of the club to post games, analysis, announcements, chess anecdotes, etc. For example, moves/positions from the current club correspondence game which Paul is managing could be posted. Of course, we would expect members to stay on topic (or at least close to it) and could remove anyone's authorship rights if they posted inappropriate content.

I do not envision the members' blog as a replacement for the BCC website, but instead as an interactive extension to it. Of course the website home page would have a prominent link to the members' blog (and the blog would link back to the site just like 2004 boylston chess club championship does today).

If there is sufficient interest among the membership, I would be willing to set-up and administer this project. Please comment on the following topics:

What do you think of the idea of a BCC members' weblog?
Would you be interested in posting to this blog on a periodic (regular) basis?

While individual members certainly wouldn't need to post anywhere near as often as I have (especially if several members are actively participating), a blog without fresh content is not particularly interesting to read.
What other ideas do you have for club/chess related posts which could be included in the members' blog?

Round 7: Glickman-Mac Intyre 0-1

2004-11-06T14:33:00.000-05:00

My hopes of making Paul work hard for his final win of the tournament were dashed when I blundered right out of the gate. Dreading the thought of having to post a 10-move loss, I came up with a plan involving a double rook sacrifice. In return for the material I was able to box Black's queen out of play, keep his king in the center and maintain a development advantage. Unfortunately, this all added up to an initiative which lasted about 5 moves. I managed to extend the game to 20 moves or so but the outcome was never in doubt.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.11.03"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Glickman, David"]
[Black "Mac Intyre, Paul"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteUSCF "1937"]
[BlackUSCF "2303"]
[ECO "C23"]
[Opening "Bishop’s Opening"]
[Variation "2..Bc5"]

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nc3 c6 4.Nf3 Qf6 5.d3

[Other ideas: 5.d4 exd4 6.Ne2 (6.e5!?) and 5.0-0 ]

5...d6 6.Bg5?!

[Better plans are 6.0-0 (Fritz) and 6.Be3 (Mac Intyre)]

6...Qg6 7.Qd2??

[A horrible blunder which effectively ends the game. 7.Qe2 is a viable continuation, e.g., 7...h6 8.Be3 Bxe3 (8...Qxg2?? 9.Rg1 Qh3 10.Bxc5 dxc5 11.Rg3 Qh5 12.Rxg7 Be6 13.Bxe6 fxe6 14.Rxb7 and White is winning) 9.fxe3=]

7...h6 8.Be3

[8.Na4 would have lost more slowly. Amazingly, this position has been reached before and White actually won! Donoso-Vallejos, Santiago 1994 continued 8.0-0-0 hxg5 9.Nxg5 Nh6 10.f4 Qf6? 11.fxe5 Qxe5 12.Nf3 Qe7 -+ but 1-0 (42). I strongly suspect that Mr. Vallejos is not a 2300 player]

8...Qxg2 9.Bxc5??

[Ever-empathetic Fritz puts it succinctly, "the position was bad, and this mistake simply hastens the end." The plan for losing slowly was 9.0-0-0 Qxf3 10.Rhg1 but I decided on the double rook sacrifice to play for complications. Regrettably, it never became that complicated]

9...Qxh1+

[9...Qxf3 10.Rg1 dxc5 takes off less material, but offers White so little counterplay that I probably would have resigned sooner]

10.Ke2 Qxa1 11.Bxd6 Bg4!

[11...Qh1 12.Nxe5 is probably o.k., but White's pieces are beginning to get coordinated. The text allows White to box in Black's queen, but the pin on f3 is so strong that White is never able to make any headway]

12.Nd1

12...Nd7 13.d4 Ne7 14.dxe5

[14.Bxe7 Kxe7 is another prospect-less plan]

14...Ng6 15.e6 fxe6 16.Qd4 e5 17.Bf7+ Kxf7 18.Qc4+ Ke8 19.Ne3 Nf4+ 20.Kd2 Bxf3 21.Nf5 Qd1+ 22.Kc3 Qe1+ 23.Kb3 Qxe4 24.Nxg7+ Kd8 0-1

[Congratulations to Paul for wrapping up at least a tie for first in the Championship]

Martirosov-Slive Rd. 7 adjourned position

2004-11-05T12:23:00.000-05:00

It looks like Vadim will try to use his extra pawn to squeeze out the full point. Will having pawns on only one side of the board be sufficient to offer Alex some drawing chances?

White sealed his 41st move

White -- Kg2; Ra5; Bf3; Pawns on h3, g4, f2 and e5

Black -- Kg7; Rd2; Nf8; Pawns on h6, g5 and f7

FEN "5n2/5pk1/7p/R3P1p1/6P1/5B1P/3r1PK1/8 w - - 0 41"

Trafficking in gossip

2004-11-04T16:12:00.000-05:00

It is interesting how people start to treat you differently when you assume the role of a journalist. Some give you information they want to see in print; others choose not to share things they might otherwise have discussed for fear that it will be published. Perhaps a bit of caution is necessary, especially in the blogosphere where journalistic standards are viewed variously as archaic, unnecessary, impediments to free communication or simply recommendations. I, for one, am happy to traffic in gossip if it makes for a good post -- read on:

As I have written previously, the Championship has been largely free of controversy this year. However, I heard through the grapevine that a disagreement over rescheduling an earlier round game resulted in a number of heated e-mail exchanges between the two players. Does anyone want to shine some light on this story?

Round 7 Results

2004-11-04T09:45:00.000-05:00

Martirosov-Slive adjourned D37: Queen's Gambit Declined - 5.Bf4

Riordan-Chase rescheduled

Cherniack-Williams 1-0 D35: Queen's Gambit Declined - Exchange Variation

Glickman-Mac Intyre 0-1 C23: Bishop's Opening - 2...Bc5

Thus spoke Zarathustra

2004-11-03T13:41:00.000-05:00

Paul's annual message to the club is posted on the BCC website.

The Best of September (16th-30th)

2004-11-02T09:31:00.000-05:00

Relive the magic! Here are some more of my favorite past posts:

...a matter of technique?

Take me to the Haup ... oh, baby

Hauptturnier literary controversy

The Boston Globe covers the BCC Championship (Thanks Harold!)

Round 3: Glickman-Riordan 1-0 (Hey, it's my weblog after all!)

You can use the archive links in the left-hand column to read anything which no longer resides on the front page.

See also my previous post "The Best of September (1st-15th)"

...better than kissing your sister

2004-11-01T09:11:00.000-05:00

Given the current standings, I asked Bernardo about the consequences of a two-way tie for first place in the Championship. He indicated that there is no provision for tie-breaks; in the event of a tie:

The first and second place monetary prizes will be combined and split evenly
Each player will receive a full-year of free entries to eligible BCC events
The players will be declared Co-Champions

Best Game of Round 6

2004-10-30T13:38:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-29T19:52:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-28T15:03:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-26T13:36:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-25T09:44:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-24T10:58:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-22T16:28:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-21T09:12:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-20T11:51:00.000-04:00

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)

2004-10-20T09:38:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-19T21:15:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-19T09:25:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-18T21:47:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-18T11:58:00.000-04:00

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

Round 5: Glickman-Chase 0-1

2004-10-17T20:39:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-15T11:18:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-15T08:10:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-14T14:03:00.000-04:00

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!

2004-10-14T09:16:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-13T15:00:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-13T09:34:00.000-04:00

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?!

2004-10-12T13:59:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-12T09:30:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-11T10:06:00.000-04:00

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

2004-10-10T11:49:00.000-04:00

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

...on any given Wednesday (Updated)

2004-10-08T13:48:00.000-04:00

It might be reasonable to assume that the recently published 10/04 USCF ratings are a better measure of each player's 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. In any case, I have updated my pre-tournament projected scores for each player based on the new ratings:

4.8 Mac Intyre
4.8 Chase
4.8 Riordan
4.5 Cherniack
3.7 Martirosov
2.0 Williams
2.0 Slive
1.5 Glickman

See also my previous post "...on any given Wednesday"

Glickman-Chase Rd. 5 adjourned position

2004-10-08T09:07:00.000-04:00

White sealed his 41st move

White: Kg2; Qd5; Re2; Pawns on b2, c3, f2, f3 and h3

Black: Kf6; Qg5; Re6; Pawns on a4, a6, c4, e5, f7, g6 and h5

FEN "8/5p2/p3rkp1/3Qp1qp/p1p5/2P2P1P/1P2RPK1/8 w - - 0 41"

Qd3!!!!!

2004-10-07T22:27:00.000-04:00

I know this is off topic, but I suspect that today's Kramnik-Leko World Championship game is going to go down in history as one of the immortal games of this period.

[Event "WCh"]
[Site "Brissago SUI"]
[Date "2004.10.07"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Kramnik,V"]
[Black "Leko,P"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[EventDate "2004.09.25"]
[ECO "C89"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d4 Bd6 13. Re1 Qh4 14. g3 Qh3 15. Re4 g5 16. Qf1 Qh5 17. Nd2 Bf5 18. f3 Nf6 19. Re1 Rae8 20. Rxe8 Rxe8 21. a4 Qg6 22.axb5 Bd3 23. Qf2 Re2 24. Qxe2? Bxe2 25. bxa6 Qd3!!

26. Kf2 Bxf3!! 27. Nxf3 Ne4+ 28. Ke1 Nxc3! 29. bxc3 Qxc3+ 30. Kf2 Qxa1 31. a7 h6 32.h4 g4 0-1

Round 5 Results

2004-10-07T15:31:00.000-04:00

Riordan-Slive 1-0 D34: Queen's Gambit Declined - Tarrasch Defense (by transposition)

Cherniack-Martirosov 0-1 D35: Queen's Gambit Declined - Exchange Variation

Glickman-Chase adjourned B07: Pirc Defense - Miscellaneous Systems

Mac Intyre-Williams rescheduled

Best Game of Round 2

2004-10-07T11:43:00.000-04:00

It turns out to have been worth the wait! While not a decisive result, Martirosov-Williams was definitely the most exciting game of the round. Kudos to Chris for putting another half-point in the qualifiers' column versus the masters.

See also my previous post "Best Game of Round 2? Not yet!"

The Best of August

2004-10-07T09:16:00.000-04:00

Just like network television, I also offer repeats...

For more recent readers of this weblog, I thought I might take you back to the early days of this project (before the 2004 Championship began). Here are a few of the "ancient" posts:

Ratings & Qualifying for the Championship

So where's the chess?

On adjournments ...

You can use the archive links in the left-hand column to read anything which no longer resides on the front page.

The BCC Oktoberfest Open?

2004-10-06T13:24:00.000-04:00

For those of you who missed this photo of FM Josef Gheng ... I imagine we could really liven up the atmosphere at the club by providing beer and cigarettes at every board.

Round 2: Martirosov-Williams 1/2

2004-10-06T10:05:00.000-04:00

Who says draws can't be exciting? White's early kingside demonstration is effectively refuted by Chris' (temporary) bishop sac on the other side of board. After the tactics quiet down, Black is left a pawn up in an endgame which should provide strong winning chances. However, it is White who manages to dictate the play and it looks for moment like he may be the one to breakthrough. Finally, rooks are exchanged and a draw agreed in a bishops of opposite color ending.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.10.01"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Martirosov, Vadim "]
[Black "Williams, Chris”]
[Result "1/2"]
[WhiteUSCF "2198 "]
[BlackUSCF "2053"]
[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 0-0 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.Nf3 c6 9.Qc2 h6 10.g4!?

[An all-out move, 10.0-0 was a calmer alternative]

10...Ne4 11.Nxe4

[Fritz believes that White must continue in uncompromising fashion, 11.h4!?, to retain a modest advantage]

11...dxe4 12.Bxe4 Nf6 13.0-0-0 Qa5

[13...Nxe4! immediately may have led to a larger advantage for Black, e.g., 14.Qxe4 Be6 15.Nd2 (15.Qe5 Bxa2 -/+; 15.Be5 Bxa2 -/+) 15...Bd5 -/+ Fritz]

14.a3 Nxe4 15.Qxe4 Be6 16.Rhg1 Bxa3!

17.bxa3 Qxa3+ 18.Kd2 Qb4+ 19.Kc1 Bd5 20.Qb1 Qxb1+ 21.Kxb1 Bxf3

[It certainly seems as though Black should have good winning chances in this ending, but White manages to get counterplay and takes advantage of the opposite colored bishops to draw]

22.Rc1 Rfd8 23.Rc3 b5 24.Bc7 Rd7 25.Ba5 b4 26.Rc5 Rb8 27.Kb2 Rd5 28.Rxd5 Bxd5 29.Ra1 Rb7 30.Ra4 b3 31.Bb4 Be6 32.Bc5 Bxg4 33.d5 Bd7 34.d6

[34.Rxa7 Rxa7 35.Bxa7 cxd5 36.Kxb3 looks like an easier draw, though Vadim may have been playing for complications]

34...f6 35.Bxa7 c5 36.Ra5 c4 37.Bd4 Kf7 38.Rc5 Be6 39.f4 Ke8 40.f5 Bf7 41.e4 Kd7 42.e5 fxe5 43.Bxe5 h5 44.h4 Ra7 45.Kc3 Rb7 46.Kb2 Ra7 47.Kc3 Bg8 48.Rc7+ Rxc7 49.dxc7 Bf7 50.Kb2 ½-½

Standings (after Round 4)

2004-10-05T13:24:00.000-04:00

Chase defeated Mac Intyre in their adjourned game to take a full point lead over the field. Other winners: Cherniack and Martirosov moved up into a logjam tie for second and Slive got on the board for the first time.

3.5 Chase

2.5 Mac Intyre, Cherniack, Martirosov, Glickman

1.0 Riordan, Slive

0.5 Williams

Standings (after Round 3) - final

2004-10-05T13:03:00.000-04:00

Here are the final standings after Round 3 (including Martirosov-Williams Round 2):

2.5 Mac Intyre, Chase, Glickman

1.5 Cherniack, Martirosov

1.0 Riordan

0.5 Williams

0.0 Slive

See also my previous post "Standings (after Round 3) - preliminary"

Standings (after Round 2) - final

2004-10-05T10:20:00.000-04:00

The Martirosov-Williams Round 2 game played on October 1st ended in a draw. Here are the updated standings after Round 2:

2.0 Mac Intyre

1.5 Chase, Glickman

1.0 Martirosov, Riordan

0.5 Williams, Cherniack

0.0 Slive

See also my previous post "Standings (after Round 2) - preliminary"

One BCC Championship to go, please

2004-10-04T13:03:00.000-04:00

Would you like fries with that?...

Ken Ho sent me a nice e-mail about the weblog which contains some food for thought for the moderately technically-inclined, mobile segment of the audience:

Well, David, I'm going to hit your blog probably almost every day now that I'm syncing it using AvantGo (dumping top layer of your stuff) to my Palm PDA.

I'm glad you're doing this, especially since I am now getting it in conveniently viewable form for life on the go. Keeping up a bit with my club, which I regrettably don't have time to play at these days.

-Ken

Round 4: Riordan-Cherniack 0-1

2004-10-04T08:59:00.000-04:00

Riordan runs into trouble with the clock again. Charles achieves a nice advantage out of the opening but gives it up and then runs out of time well before move 40.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.09.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Riordan, Charles"]
[Black "Cherniack, Alex”]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteUSCF "2258"]
[BlackUSCF "2228"]
[ECO "A45"]
[Opening "Trompowsky Attack"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 c5 3.dxc5 Qa5+ 4.Qd2 Qxc5 5.Nc3 h6

[5...d6 appears to be the standard move here]

6.Bxf6 gxf6 7.e4 h5

[7...d6 8.0-0-0 Bd7 9.f4 Nc6 10.Nd5 +/= Bletz-Heidl, Hessen 1992 1-0 (24)]

8.f4 Bh6 9.Nd5 Na6 10.Ne2

[Fritz prefers 10.b4 Qd6 11.Bxa6 bxa6 12.c4 Bb7 13.c5 Qb8 14.Ne2 +/-]

10...Nc7 11.Nec3 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Kf8 13.a4 b6 14.Ra3 Bb7 15.Rd3 Rc8

16.Nc3?

[A mistake which hands the advantage to Black, White could have maintained a slightly better position with 16.Rc3 Qd6 17.Rxc8+ Bxc8 18.g3]

16...d6 17.g3 f5

[17...Qb4 could be considered]

18.Bh3 e6

[Again, 18...Qb4 looks strong]

19.Rxd6 fxe4 20.Qd4?! Qxd4 21.Rxd4 Ke7 22.Nb5?

[A bad move in a bad position, time pressure must have been acute at this point]

22...Rxc2 23.0-0 0-1 [White lost on time]

The Chessville.com weekly newsletter mentions this weblog!

2004-10-03T22:31:00.000-04:00

My thanks to the folks at Chessville.com for mentioning the 2004 boylston chess club championship weblog in the October 3rd edition of their weekly newsletter (go about 3/4 of the way down, the 7th item under "New On The Net"). Here's what they have to say:

2004 Boylston Chess Club Championship: The Boylston Chess Club is the oldest continually running chess club in the Greater Boston (Massachusetts) area with an official history which dates back to the 1920's. The 2004 BCC Championship Tournament is an 8-person single round-robin with classical time controls where one game is played each Wednesday night from 9/8/04 to 11/3/04. This year's Championship includes 2 FIDE Masters & 3 additional USCF National Masters. The website offers annotated games, standings, background, impressions, adjourned positions, "local color", discussion of tournament-related topics, etc.

By the way, the Chessville weekly newsletter is a very good read; if you are interested you can sign up here.

In search of...

2004-10-03T20:03:00.000-04:00

I'm seeking reports on:

Martirosov-Williams Round 2
Chase-Mac Intyre Round 4 adjournment

Please leave a comment if you have any information on the results.

Round 4: Slive-Williams 1-0

2004-10-03T08:02:00.000-04:00

Slive plays a very nice game, taking advantage of a couple of mistakes by Williams to execute a mating attack on Black's king.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.09.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Slive, Alex"]
[Black "Williams, Chris”]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteUSCF "2039"]
[BlackUSCF "2053"]
[ECO "A42"]
[Opening "Modern Defense"]
[Variation "Averbakh"]

1.d4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.c4 d6 4.Nc3 Nd7 5.e4 e5 6.Be3 Ne7 7.g3 0-0 8.Bg2 f6

[8...exd4 and 8...f5 are the moves more commonly played in this position]

9.0-0 exd4 10.Nxd4 Ne5 11.h3 Kh8

[Taking the c4 pawn leads to an advantage for White, e.g, 11...Nxc4 12.Qb3 d5 13.exd5 Nd6 14.Ncb5 Nef5 15.Nxf5 Bxf5 16.Nxd6 cxd6 17.Qxb7]

12.Qe2 N7c6 13.Rad1 Nxd4 14.Bxd4 Be6 15.b3

[15.Nd5 was possible]

15...Qc8 16.Kh2 f5?

[Better is 16...Nc6!? +/= Fritz]

17.f4 c5 18.Bg1 Nc6?!

[Black could have tried 18...Nxc4 19.exf5 gxf5 20.bxc4 Bxc3 21.Rxd6 though White maintains an advantage through control of the central files]

19.Nb5 fxe4 20.Nxd6 Qc7 21.Bxc5 Nd8 22.Nxe4 Re8 23.Bd6 Qa5 24.Qd2 Qh5 25.Ng5 Bg4 26.Rde1 Rxe1 27.Rxe1 Nc6 28.Qd5 Bf6 29.Qf7 Bxg5 30.Re8+ 1-0 [Mate in 2]

Round 4: Martirosov-Glickman 1-0

2004-10-02T15:50:00.000-04:00

Black pulls an opening surprise and achieves a relatively equal queenless middle game. However, White consistently outplays his opponent and secures a winning minor piece ending.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.09.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Martirosov, Vadim"]
[Black "Glickman, David”]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteUSCF "2198"]
[BlackUSCF "1937"]
[ECO "C00"]
[Opening "French Defense"]
[Variation "King’s Indian Attack"]

1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.Ngf3 Bc5!?

["I have to admit that not so long ago when I first noticed a game with this move I thought it a very irregular one. But my database has over 110 games with 4...Bc5 and they don't show me any convincing reason not to recommend it. The idea is a provocative one: to lure White's central pawns forward in order to undermine them. Barring that, the bishop will be an aggressively placed piece on c5." John Watson, Play The French 3rd edition]

5.d4

[“5.d4 is almost never played ...” Watson]

5...dxe4

[5...Be7 transposes to the 3...Be7 line vs. the Tarrasch]

6.dxc5 exf3 7.Nxf3

[A new move, only 7.Qxf3 can be found in the database, e.g., 7...Nc6 (7...Qd5= Fritz) 8.Ne4 (8.Nb3 Martirosov 8...e5 9.Bg5 Qd5 10.Qxd5 Nxd5 =) 8...Nxe4 9.Qxe4 0-0 10.Be2 e5 11.0-0 Be6 = Watson]

7...Qxd1+ 8.Kxd1 Nc6

[8...Nbd7 may be a better choice]

9.Bf4 Ne4 10.Be3 e5

[10…Bd7 with the idea of O-O-O (Martirosov)]

11.Bb5 Bg4 12.Ke1 Bxf3 13.gxf3 Nf6 14.Rd1 Rd8 15.Rxd8+ Kxd8 16.Rg1 Rg8

[In spite of the dark square weaknesses, Fritz actually considers 16...g6 playable, e.g., 17.Bg5 Ke7 18.Bxc6 bxc6 19.f4 h6 20.fxe5 hxg5 21.exf6+ Kxf6=]

17.Ke2 Ke7 18.Bc4 Nb4 19.c3 Nbd5 20.Rg5 Nf4+ 21.Bxf4 exf4 22.Re5+ Kd8 23.Bxf7 Rf8 24.Bc4

24...Re8?

[Trading the rooks is hopeless for black. 24...Nd7 25.Rd5 c6 26.Rd4 Kc7 leaves white with a better game, but also a challenge to find a winning plan]

25.Rxe8+ Kxe8 26.Kd3 Ke7 27.Kd4 c6?!

[27...Nd7!? +/= Fritz]

28.b4 Nd7 29.Ke4 g5 30.Kf5

[Resigning after any white move from here on in would not have been premature]

30...h6 31.Be6 Nf8 32.Bc8 b6 33.cxb6 axb6 34.a4 Kd8 35.Be6 Ke7 36.Bb3 Kd6 37.Kf6 Nd7+ 38.Kg7 Ne5 39.Bd1 h5 40.Kh6 g4 41.Kxh5 gxf3 42.Kg5 Nd3 43.h4 Nb2 44.Bc2 1-0

Back to the future

2004-10-01T15:19:00.000-04:00

Finally, the day has arrived for the rescheduled Round 2 encounter, Martirosov-Williams. This is an important game for Vadim as he tries to keep pace with the leaders. In addition, as you may recall, we are still on the lookout for the best game of Round 2.

10/04 USCF Ratings

2004-10-01T13:43:00.000-04:00

Updated USCF ratings for the players in the Championship from the October 2004 supplement:

FM Paul Mac Intyre 2304 (+1)

FM Chris Chase 2304 (+15)

NM Charles Riordan 2296 (+38)

NM Alex Cherniack 2272 (+44)

NM Vadim Martirosov 2198 (-)

Chris Williams 2045 (-8)

Alex Slive 2039 (-)

David Glickman 1978 (+41)

(#) - change from August 2004 supplement

Titles: FM - FIDE Master, NM - National Master

Note: I will continue to use 8/04 ratings in the game scores as the official rating for the tournament is considered the current published rating on the date that the event begins.

Chase-Mac Intyre Rd. 4 adjourned position

2004-10-01T09:09:00.000-04:00

White Sealed his 41st move

White: Kf3; Qc4; Bf6; Bh3; Pawns on a4, b3, d4, e4 and g5

Black: Kg8; Qc6; Nb4; Bg1; Pawns on h5, g6, f7, e6, b6 and a5

FEN "6k1/5p2/1pq1pBp1/p5Pp/PnQPP3/1P3K1B/8/6b1 w - - 0 41"

Round 4 Results

2004-09-30T15:43:00.000-04:00

Slive-Williams 1-0 A42: Modern Defense - Averbakh Variation

Chase-Mac Intyre adjourned A05: Reti - Double Fianchetto

Martirosov-Glickman 1-0 C00: French Defense - King's Indian Attack

Riordan-Cherniack 0-1 A45: Trompowsky Attack

Best Game of Round 3

2004-09-30T11:04:00.000-04:00

I wish the readers of this weblog showed more interest in voting on the best games so I could avoid the awkward position I find myself in. But alas, 'tis not to be.

Cherniack's relentless squeeze of Slive is certainly a worthy contender. However, while Charles will rightly point out that he did not play his best, I am selecting my win over Riordan - the first major upset of the 2004 Championship - as the best game of Round 3.

As always, please feel free to comment if you agree or disagree.

Round 3: Cherniack-Slive 1-0

2004-09-30T08:01:00.000-04:00

A game which evokes the image of a boa constrictor. Black never seems to get anything going though he doesn’t appear to be at a significant disadvantage until he drops the exchange on move 26. From then on White slowly but surely improves his position; Black squirms and wriggles but inevitably capitulates.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.09.22"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Cherniack, Alex"]
[Black "Slive, Alex”]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteUSCF "2228"]
[BlackUSCF "2039"]
[ECO "A18"]
[Opening "English"]
[Variation "Flohr-Mikenas System"]

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 d5 4.e5 Nfd7 5.cxd5 Nxe5 6.d4 Ng6 7.Bb5+ c6 8.dxc6 bxc6 9.Bc4 Be7 10.Nf3 0-0 11.h4 Bf6 12.Ne4 Ba6 13.Bxa6 Nxa6 14.h5 Ne7 15.Nxf6+ gxf6 16.Kf1 Kh8 17.Qe2 Nb4 18.Bh6 Rg8 19.Ne5 Qe8 20.Ng4 Nbd5 21.Ne3 Qd7 22.Qf3 Rgd8 23.Nxd5 Nxd5 24.Rc1 Rab8?

[Fritz prefers 24...Rg8 stopping White's next]

25.Qg3

25...Rg8 26.Bg7+ Rxg7 27.Qxb8+ Rg8 28.Qb3 h6 29.Qf3 Qd6 30.a3 Rg5 31.g3 Rf5 32.Qd3 Kg7 33.Rh4 Ne7 34.Qe4 Rd5 35.Qf4 Qxf4 36.Rxf4 Rxh5 37.Rc5 Rh1+ 38.Ke2 Rb1 39.b4 Ra1 40.Ra5 Nd5 41.Rg4+

[sealed move]

41...Kf8 42.Rxa7 f5 43.Ra8+ Ke7 44.Rgg8 Ra2+ 45.Kf1 Rd2 46.Rgb8 Rxd4 47.a4 Rd1+ 48.Kg2 f4 49.a5 fxg3 50.Kxg3 Nc7 51.Ra7 Rd7 52.Rab7 f6 53.Rb6 Rd3+ 54.f3 Kd7 55.Rh8 Rb3 56.Rb7 1-0

Tonight on BCC1...

2004-09-29T15:20:00.000-04:00

With the Championship crossing over its midway point, tonight's 4th round offers two intriguing pairings at opposite ends of the leader board.

The two top-rated competitors and current co-leaders, Mac Intyre and Chase, face off in a game which, if decisive, could go a long way to determining the 2004 BCC Champion. Chris has the advantage of the first move.
At the other end of the leader board, Slive and Williams will do battle with each having a good chance to score their first points of the tournament. Alex has the white pieces.

Round 3: Glickman-Riordan 1-0

2004-09-29T13:43:00.000-04:00

Glickman scores the first big upset of the tournament. Black makes an imprecise move in the opening – which allows White to disrupt his development – and is never able to recover.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.09.22"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Glickman, David"]
[Black "Riordan, Charles"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteUSCF "1937"]
[BlackUSCF "2258"]
[ECO "B22"]
[Opening "Sicilian"]
[Variation "2.c3"]

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 g6 7.0-0 Bg7 8.Re1 0-0 9.Na3 d5 10.exd6 exd6!?

[A move not found in the ChessBase on-line database. The two games which reached this position continued 10...Qxd6 11.d4 cxd4 12.Nb5]

11.d4 cxd4?

[Quite possibly the losing move. 11...Bg4 (Riordan) 12.dxc5 dxc5 13.h3 Qxd1 14.Bxd1 +/= Fritz]

12.Bg5

12...Qd7 13.Nxd4 d5 14.Qd2 Nxd4 15.cxd4 Nc4

[Charles considered 15...Qg4 but was concerned about 16.Nb5 e.g., 16...Nc4 (16...Bd7?? allows White to trap the queen with 17.h3 Qh5 18.Bd1) 17.Bxc4 dxc4 18.Be7 +/-. With the text move, he offered a draw]

16.Nxc4

[At this point psychology came into play. In our most recent encounter, I offered Charles a draw in a dead even rook ending; he refused and subsequently outplayed me to win. From this I concluded that he was highly unlikely to offer me a draw if he thought the position was simply equal. Therefore, I surmised that he must have believed that he was losing. After a long think, I finally summoned the courage to play on]

16...dxc4

[During the post-mortem, Charles confirmed my suspicions. "I tell my friends never to accept my draw offers, since I make them only when I'm losing," he said]

17.Bxc4 Qxd4 18.Qxd4 Bxd4 19.Be7 Bxb2 20.Bxf8 Kxf8 21.Rab1 Bf6 22.Rb3 b5

[22...Rb8!? (Fritz) and 22...Bd8!? (Riordan) are alternative tries in search of drawing chances]

23.Rxb5 Ba6 24.Rc5 Bxc4 25.Rxc4 Rb8 26.Rec1 Rb2 27.R4c2 Rb5 28.g3 Bd4 29.Rd1 Bb6 30.Re2 h5 31.h4 Rf5 32.Kg2 Kg7 33.Rd7 Kf8 34.a4 Rf6 35.f3 Bc5 36.Rc7 Bb6 37.Rb7 Bc5 38.Rc2 Bb6 39.Re2

[Repeating moves to reach time control and adjournment. 39.Rd2 on the way to d5 and/or d7 is the quickest way forward]

39...Bc5 40.Rc2 Bb6 41.Rc8+

[sealed move]

41...Kg7 42.Re8 Rf5 43.Ree7 Rf6 44.Red7 Rf5 45.g4 hxg4 46.fxg4 Rf6 47.g5 Rf5 48.Kg3 Rf1 49.Rd3 Rg1+ 50.Kh3 Rh1+ 51.Kg4 Bf2 52.Rdd7 1-0

Standings (after Round 3) - preliminary

2004-09-29T12:27:00.000-04:00

As a reminder Round 2 is still incomplete awaiting the rescheduled Martirosov-Williams game on October 1st. Here are the current standings after Round 3:

2.5 Mac Intyre, Chase, Glickman

1.5 Cherniack

1.0 Martirosov(2), Riordan

0.0 Williams(2), Slive

(#) - # of rounds completed for players who have completed fewer than 3 rounds

An opening preparation anecdote

2004-09-28T21:07:00.000-04:00

Since most of the players in the Championship are active readers of this weblog, discussing opening preparation prior to the rounds wouldn't be prudent (nor would posting adjournment analysis, for that matter). As a result, when I post something like this after the fact you'll just have to believe me (or not).

In preparing for my Round 3 encounter with Charles I found the following game of his:

[Event "Northeast Spring Getaway"]

[Site "Lowell"]

[Date "2003.??.??"]

[Round "2"]

[White "Kelleher,William"]

[Black "Riordan,Charles"]

[Result "1/2"]

[Eco "B22"]

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Bc4 Nb6 7.Bb3 g6 8.Ng5 d5 9.exd6 e6 10.Qf3 Ne5 11.Qe4 Qxd6 12.0-0 Bg7 13.Rd1 h6 14.Nf3 Bd7 15.Bf4 Qc6 16.Qxc6 Nxc6 17.cxd4 Ne7 18.Nc3 Bc6 19.Ne5 Bd5 20.Nxd5 Nexd5 21.Bd2 0-0 22.a4 Rfd8 23.Ba5 Rac8 24.g3 Ne7 25.Nf3 Nc6 26.Bxb6 axb6 27.d5 exd5 28.Bxd5 Bxb2 29.Rab1 Ba3 30.Rxb6 Ne7 31.Rb5 Nxd5 32.Rdxd5 Rxd5 33.Rxd5 Rc2 34.Nd4 Ra2 35.Rd8+ Bf8 36.Nb3 1/2

I wasn't planning on playing this exact move order, but instead the line 4.Nf3 delaying d2-d4. After 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 Black has several reasonable moves, including 6...g6. I thought there was a good chance that Charles might choose g6 since after 7.d4 cxd4 the position transposes to the game above. This is a perfectly acceptable line, but not one I have studied extensively. So I decided I would play the alternative 7.O-O and reviewed the following game:

[Event "Bucharest Strange Badger"]

[Site "Bucharest"]

[Date "2001.08.05"]

[Round "11"]

[White "Gheng,Josef"]

[Black "Jianu,Vlad Cristian"]

[Result "1-0"]

[Eco "B22"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 g6 7.0-0 Bg7 8.Re1 0-0 9.Na3 d6 10.exd6 Qxd6 11.d4 cxd4 12.Nb5 Qd8 13.Nbxd4 Nxd4 14.Nxd4 e6 15.Qf3 Nd7 16.Be3 Qe7 17.Rad1 a6 18.Qg3 Nf6 19.Qg5 h6 20.Qa5 Qd8 21.Nc6 Qxa5 22.Nxa5 b5 23.Rd3 e5 24.Rd6 Ng4 25.Bd5 Bf5 26.Bxa8 Rxa8 27.Red1 Bf6 28.Bc5 Rc8 29.Rc6 Rxc6 30.Nxc6 Bc2 31.Rd6 Bg5 32.h3 Nf6 33.Rd8+ Kh7 34.Nxe5 Ne4 35.Rc8 Nxc5 36.Rxc5 Bc1 37.c4 b4 38.b3 Bb1 39.Ra5 Ba3 40.Nc6 1-0

Glickman-Riordan Round 3 did, in fact, follow this course; Charles deviated at move 10.

The Boston Globe covers the BCC Championship (Thanks Harold!)

2004-09-28T10:26:00.000-04:00

The BCC Championship (including this weblog) was the main topic of the Boston Globe's Chess Notes article on Monday, September 27. The relevant paragraphs follow:

CHESS NOTES
By Harold Dondis and Patrick Wolff
GLOBE CORRESPONDENTS
The Boylston Chess Club Championship has commenced on Wednesday nights at the Somerville headquarters of the club and will continue through October. Readers who want to follow the elite matches can find games and reports at http://2004-bcc-championship.blogspot.com/. The club championship is an annual affair held by qualification of the club's most successful players. A secondary tournament called the Haup[t]turnier runs along with the championship itself for other members, some not quite strong enough to qualify for the championship competition. Eleven players are in the Haup[t]turnier from [the] bottom of the chess ratings to the top.
A large picture of the deceased chess saint Harry Lyman beams down from the walls of the playing room. The players in the championship are Christopher Chase, Alex Cherniack, David Glickman (who operates the website), Charles Riordan, Paul MacIntyre, Vadim Martirosov, Alex Slive, and youngster Christopher Williams. At this writing we only have reports on two of the seven rounds, MacIntyre (club president) leading with two wins. It is interesting that adjournments are still allowed in the Boylston Championship, probably because of the late hours. This practice lends itself to computer assistance, but if there are adjournments, this cannot be helped.
Recent past Boylston Club champions include: Bill Kelleher: 1979, 1980, 1881, 1983, 1984, 1987; Jacob Rasin: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997; Maclntyre: 2000, 2001, 2003; Chase: 1990, 1994, 1998; and Cherniack: 1987, 1995, 1999.
The club's new location is an opportunity for people near Davis Square. The club reports that it set up six chess tables in late July at ArtBea t, a festival in which the entire square was closed to traffic for a little merriment. The tables were fully occupied for hours with many waiting in line to play. Also, scholastic instruction is available from 3 to 4:30 at the club on Wednesday and Friday afternoons, at least until November, courtesy of international master Satea al Husari, a club member.

Round 3: Mac Intyre-Martirosov 1/2

2004-09-28T07:43:00.000-04:00

Paul and Vadim go deep into theory and play a game which seems equal throughout.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.09.22"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Mac Intyre, Paul"]
[Black "Martirosov, Vadim"]
[Result "1/2"]
[WhiteUSCF "2303"]
[BlackUSCF "2198"]
[ECO "B45"]
[Opening "Sicilian"]
[Variation "Taimanov"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3

[perhaps we should call this the Sicilian Four Adventurers variation :)]

5...e6 6.Ndb5 Bb4 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.Nxc3 d5 9.exd5 exd5 10.Bd3 0-0 11.0-0 d4 12.Ne2 Bg4 13.Bg5 Qd6 14.Qd2 Bxe2 15.Bf4 Qd5 16.Bxe2 Ne4 17.Qd3 Qf5 18.Bf3

18...Qxf4 19.Qxe4 Qxe4 20.Bxe4 Rfe8 21.Rfe1 Rac8 22.Bxc6 bxc6 23.Rxe8+ Rxe8 24.Kf1 Kf8 25.Rd1 c5 26.b3 Re6 27.a4 Ke7 28.Re1 Rxe1+ 29.Kxe1 Ke6 30.Ke2 a5 31.Kd3 Kd5 32.f3 f6 33.g3 g6 34.h3 g5 35.g4 h6 36.c3 dxc3 37.Kxc3 Kd6 38.Kd2 Ke5 39.Kc3 Kd6 40.Kd2 ½-½

Results of Round 3 adjourned games

2004-09-27T21:29:00.000-04:00

Glickman-Riordan 1-0

Cherniack-Slive 1-0