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Chess Life Online 2010 April The April Check is in the Mail
Chess Life Online 2010 April The April Check is in the Mail | The April Check is in the Mail |
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| By Alex Dunne | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| April 1, 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SPECIAL SALE ! FIDE PAWN CERTIFICATE Just released - a special certificate from FIDE that allows your Pawns to capture straight ahead in addition to diagonal captures! For use only once during a game, this certificate allows the bearer to increase the capturing power of his Pawns by 100%.  Hurry ! Supplies are limited. Good only until 1 April. TWO TIE IN 2009 ABSOLUTE Five victories and seven draws were scored by our two 2009 Absolute Champions. For both men this was their first attempt at scaling the Absolute peak, and obviously very successful. A remarkable three (!) other players were also undefeated, though they did not win as many games. Abe Wilson won four games to finish third. Ted Brandhorst and John Ballow each won two games to tie for fifth and sixth. Special sporting mention must be made for last year's champion, Ciaran O'Hare, who despite losing two games (both losses to our new champions) finished all alone in fourth place, only a point out of first. D  avid Sogin: David was born in Chicago in
1954. He graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Louisiana
State and a Ph. D. from the University of Texas. On the faculty of the
University of Kentucky, he has been a member of the Lexington Philharmonic for
twenty-four years.David notes he would like to play like Tal, but his style is more like Petrosian and Karpov. GAME OF THE MONTH A difficult opening produces an endgame where Black's Rook and Pawns dominate White's two Knights. SICILIAN DEFENSE (B90) 4300 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Qf3 This odd move began appearing in the Nineties. Based on its track record, its purpose seems to be to give White a difficult game. 6...e6 This in conjunction with Black's next takes the opening play out of all the books. It appears illogical to move the e-Pawn twice in its journey to e5. Maybe 6...e5 at once is better. 7.Be2 e5 8.Nb3 Be7 9.0-0 And here 9. Qg3 seems better. I admit I do not understand the opening play in this game. 9...Bg4 10.Qd3 Bxe2 11.Qxe2 0-0 12.a4 Cautious play -- the more classical 12. Bg5 is indicated here as 12. Bg5 Nxe4 13. Qxe4 Bxg5 14. Qxb7 Nbd7 15. Rad1 promises White an edge. 12...Nbd7 13.Be3 Now 13. Bg5 just leads to equality after 13...Nxe4 14. Qxe4 Bxg5 15. Qxb7 Qc8 13...Rc8 14.Nd2 Qc7 15.a5 d5!? Fully mobilized, Black decides it is time for this break. Right or wrong, it gives Black plenty of play in the upcoming battle. 16.exd5 Bb4 17.Ndb1 Bxa5 18.Ra4? White misses his chance to keep the game complicated with 18. d6! Now Black begins to take over. 18...Bb6 19.Bxb6 Nxb6 20.Ra5 Rfd8 White's game is disorganized, Black's well coordinated. David Sogin, musician, understands harmony on the chessboard.. 21.d6 Qxd6 22.Rxe5 Nc4 23.Re7 b5 24.b3 Ng4! Neat! Black's better developed pieces stake a claim -- if now 25. g3 Nce5 26. Rb7 Qc6 27. Qe4 Qxe4 28. Nxe4 Nf3+ 29. Kg2 Rxc2 is a big plus for Black. 25.Qxg4 Qxe7 26.bxc4 Rxc4 27.Qf3 Rc5 Stopping White from activating his Knight with Nd5. The endgame that is arising will be Rook and two Pawns vs. two hobbled Knights -- not a fair endgame. 28.Nd1 Rxc2 29.Qb3 Rc1 30.Ne3 Rxf1+ 31.Nxf1 Qc5 32.Qa2 Qb6 33.Ne3 Rc8 34.Nd2 a5 35.Nf5 White can't really stop the queenside Pawns so he seeks play elsewhere. 35...Qc5 36.g4 a4 37.Kg2 a3 38.Nb3 Qd5+ 39.f3 Qe5 40.Nfd4 b4 41.Qd2 Rc4 42.g5 g6 43.Kf1 Kg7 44.Qd3 Rc3 45.Qd2 Qe3 46.Qxe3 Rxe3 47.Kf2 Rc3 48.Ke2 f6 49.h4 h5 With the threat of ...fxg5 producing a passed h-Pawn. 50.gxh6+ Kxh6 51.Kd2 a2 52.Na1 f5 53.Ndc2 Rxf3 0-1 The a-Pawn will hold White's Knights while Black mops up the kingside. GAME OF THE MONTH (Part 2)  Gary
Walters, a civil
litigator in Cleveland, Ohio, began cc play in the mid-nineties, but a military
career ended his postal play. He returned to CC in 2007 with a passion
with over 200 cc games in the last two years. Gary is also hopeful that
the USCF will ultimately provide its own web server for cc play. KING'S INDIAN DEFENSE (E97) 4301 1.c4 Nf6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Nf3 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 The Bayonet Attack has been a knife in the side of the King's Indian for some time, but new methods of handling it have appeared lately. 9...Nh5 10.Re1 This is one of the latest tries for an advantage. 10...f5 11.Ng5 Nf6 12.f3 White has been mildly successful with 12. Bf3 += 12...Kh8 13.Rb1 Nh5 Klausen-Andersen, Norwegian Team CC 2008 drove the Knight deep by an immediate 13...h6 14. Ne6 Bxe6 15. dxe6 fxe6 16. fxe4 Nc6 17. Nd5 Ng8 and was drawn shortly. 14. c5 Nf4 15.Bc4 fxe4 After this, White anchors a Knight on e4 and does not have to risk a possible Pawn sacrifice on e6. On e4 the Knight supports the queenside attack, pressure the center on d6, and slows down Black's kingside attack. White is better += 16.Ngxe4 Nf5 17.g3!? White has to calculate carefully here as Black's kingside pressure can become very dangerous very quickly. 17...Nh3+ 18.Kg2 Qe7 19.Rf1 g5 20.Be2 a6 Black is stymied by White's centralized pieces, and now White starts his own assault. 21.cxd6 cxd6 22.b5 axb5 No better was 22...a5 23. b6 23.Nxb5 Rxa2 24.g4! After this, White's King is safe and the Black center collapses. 24...Nf4+ 25.Bxf4 Nh4+ 26.Kh1 exf4 27.Nbxd6 Bd7 What else ? If 27...h5 28. Nxc8 Rxc8 29. d6 breaks through. 28.Rxb7 Rfa8 29.Nc4 h6 30.d6 Qe8 31.Nb6 Ra1 32.Nxa8! White gets too much for his Queen. 32...Rxd1 33.Rxd1 1-0 Quote: Correspondence games are a rich source for discovering new and important opening ideas for OTB players, as these games are generally very thoroughly researched and analyzed by the players involved -- John Emms 2009 Absolute Tournament
FAIRBAIRN TOPS 08C24 With an undefeated 5 ½-½ score, Steven Fairbairn of Toronto, Canada, took first place in the forfeit-marred 2008 John Collins 08C24.  Fairbairn writes of this game, "I'm not sure if White's 28th was a notational error or a desperate sacrifice although at that point the game was already won in any event". MODERN DEFENSE (B08) 4303 CLASSIFIED ADS LEARN CHESS BY MAIL ! Lessons given by mail, telephone, ICC - many different ways. I specialize in players rated 800-2100 who would like to improve their game. Contact me for information. Alex Dunne, 324 West Lockhart St., Sayre, PA 18840 or [email protected] MARCH RESULTS John Collins Steve Fairbairn 08C24 5 ½-½ James Ward 07C40 4-2 Frank Spooner 07C40 4-2 Paul Ott 08C21 6-0 The passed Pawn is a criminal who must be kept under lock and key -- Nimzovitsch  Trap - counter trap - counter-counter trap STONEWALL ATTACK (A40) 4304 Black's pieces just seem to cover more squares in every phase of this game. QUEEN PAWN OPENING (A40) 4305 Brandhorst follows a pursue and destroy policy, relentlessly tracking down the opponent's pieces and exchanging them to move square by square closer to a winning ending. CARO-KANN DEFENSE (B12) 4306 See a pdf index of Alex Dunne's columns on the Correspondence Chess section of the website. Also log in to read Dunne's article in March Chess Life Magazine, All Chess Players Should Have a Hobby. |
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