David Burris has won the 1995 Absolute Championship of the USCF. This strongest of USCF tournaments, and arguably the strongest in the U.S., is a yearly affair that pits the highest ranking USCF players against one another. David finished half a point ahead of veteran Ronald Lifson and Tom Ward.

David, former editor of the award winning Atlantic Chess News, and of the book of the 1996 U.S. Championship, knows what it is to be busy. Despite promises to send biographical information and game scores, they never arrived. David's accomplishment in winning this premiere tournament is just too important to ignore, however. For the present time, David prefers to have his games speak for him.

GAME OF THE MONTH

Playing against Burris must be very frustrating. White follows a new line, plays an aggressive center-oriented game, complicates the game as an attacker needs to, and winds up facing inevitable loss in a hopeless endgame.

GRUENFELD DEFENSE [D85]

W: D. Geel

B: David Burris (2306)

U.S. Postal

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8. Qd2 0-0 9. Bc4 Nc6 10. Ne2 Qa5 11. Rd1

White is mixing up a couple of Gruenfeld systems. The rook belongs on b1 or c1, depending on Black's setup.

11. ... Rd8 12. 0-0 b5!

In Sipos-Kosa (Debrecen, 1998), Black played the passive 12. ... Qc7.

13. Bd5 Bb7 14. Bg5 Rd7 15. Qf4 e6 16. Qg4 Rc7!

A surprising resource which takes advantage of White's uncoordinated pieces.

17. Bxc6 Rxc6 18. d5 exd5 19. Rxd5?

After this, White loses ground in the center and it is all over. A better try is 19. exd5 Rd6 20. Qf3 Qxa2 21. Nf4 b4! when Black is winning but White has some play.

19. ... Re6! 20. Rxc5 Bf8 21. Rf5 Rxe4 22. Rf4 f5 23. Qf3 Qxa2 24. Rxe4 Bxe4 25. Qe3 a5, White resigns.

Chess in this century has had a strong scientific bent with the classification and quantification of the game in so many categories. For whatever odd reason, I have decided to add to that heap of science by classifying the known varieties of postal chessplayers. Be forewarned if you see yourself in the following list. If any reader knows of a variety I have missed or has games or other items of interest to correspondence chess, please send them to the address shown at the bottom of the first column.

THE CLASSIFICATION OF POSTAL CHESSPLAYERS

1. The Postal Lawyer who is always trying to win games, not by good moves but by a tortuous interpretation of the rules.

2. The Chess Machine who sends a card with the bare minimum: the move and who it is from.

3. The Surgeon who tells you move by move how he plans to beat you.

4. The Drop Out whose idea of a strong will is to be able to ignore the numerous repeats of his opponents. AKA: the scum of postal chess.

5. Mr. (or Mrs.) Chat, whose postcards are filled with questions, comments, and items that range from the fascinating to the banal. This opponent can be lots of fun, as you never know what he will say next!

6. The Bookkeeper whose postcard notes time received, time sent, in minutes and seconds, and checks the postmarks on every card for discrepancies. It certainly appears that he spends more time on recording the times than his moves.

7. Captain If-move who just can't resist sending along if-moves to tempt you into some very strange lines.

7.5 The Secret Silicon Chip who may or may not be a human, but whose moves are (secretly) generated by his computer. He tends to win much more than he loses, but rest assured, he is a loser.

8. The Weatherman who desperately wants to chat with you, but the only thing he can think to write on his cards is the weather report for the day. It's always great to get a card describing the weather 1000 miles away and a week earlier.

9. The Travel Bureau who sends picture postcards of the area he lives in. This allows you to search out picture postcards of your area to send in return, thus learning more about both worlds.

10. The Stamp Collector who resides in a foreign country and asks you to use a variety of stamps on the envelope. This opponent also offers you a chance to learn a lot about both his land and yours.

When Black perceives he has problems guarding e6, he advances the pawn. ICGM DeMauro quickly demonstrates that e5 is even weaker.

DUTCH DEFENSE [A84]

W: ICGM Joe DeMauro

B: Henry Camilleri (2353)

XIII Olympiad 1999

1. d4 e6 2. c4 d5 3. Nc3 c6 4. e3 f5 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. Qc2 Be7 7. Nh3 0-0 8. 0-0 Na6 9. a3 Nc7 10. f3 b6 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. Bd2 Ba6 13. Bxa6 Nxa6 14. Qa4 Nc7 15. Rac1 Qe8 16. Rc2 Bd6 17. Rfc1 e5 18. Qxe8 Rfxe8 19. Ne2 Ne6 20. Rc6 Rad8 21. Rxd6 Rxd6 22. dxe5 Rdd8 23. exf6 gxf6 24. Bc3 Kf7 25. Kf2 Rc8 26. Rd1, Black resigns.

ICCM Gary Kubach knows just what to do. When his opponent plays to steal a pawn, Gary nails the Black king to the board and turns his pieces on it.

SICILIAN DEFENSE [B90]

W: ICCM Gary Kubach

B: Dietmar Pillhock (2490)

XIII Olympiad 1999

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 Be7 9. Qd2 Nbd7 10. g4 h6 11. h4 b5 12. 0-0-0 b4 13. Nd5 Bxd5 14. exd5 Nb6 15. f4 Nfxd5 16. fxe5 Nxe3 17. Qxe3 0-0 18. g5 hxg5 19. Bd3 a5 20. Qe4 g6 21. h5 d5 22. Qe2, Black resigns.

David Heap died in August. A Hawver Cup champion, he left a distinguished record of games as a legacy. In the following game David showed his multi-faceted game, defending carefully until he was ready to engineer the decisive counterattack. Good knight, sweet prince.

EVANS GAMBIT [C52]

W: M. Fiorito (2493)

B: David Heap (2525)

WCCF Candidates' Tournament 1992

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 d6 7. Qb3 Qd7 8. dxe5 dxe5 9. 0-0 Bb6 10. Rd1 Qe7 11. a4 a6 12. a5 Bc5 13. Ba3 Bxa3 14. Nxa3 Nf6 15. Bd5 Nd8 16. Nc4 0-0 17. Ncxe5 c6 18. Bc4 Nxe4 19. Re1 Bf5 20. g4 Nc5 21. Qb4 Be6 22. Nd3 Qf6 23. Nxc5 Qxf3 24. Be2 Qh3 25. Ra3 Bd5 26. Ne4 c5 27. Qa4 Bc6 28. Qc2 Ne6 29. f3 Nf4 30. Bd1 Rad8 31. Ra2 Rfe8 32. Rf1 Bxe4 33. fxe4 Qe3+ 34. Kh1 Rxd1, White resigns.