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Chess Life Online 2014 March The August Check is in the Mail
Chess Life Online 2014 March The August Check is in the Mail | The August Check is in the Mail |
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| By Alex Dunne | |
| August 19, 2013 | |
 JOHN PROCOPI TAKES TWO !John Procopi takes 12W38 and 13W11 John Procopi of Levittown, PA, born July 12, 1948, is a retired accountant. He started playing chess in the late Sixties and was quite active OTB for about fifteen years, but when his wife and he started a family, he gave up OTB and started playing postal. He made Postal Chess Master about twenty years ago and stopped playing. Now retired, he began playing again and has had some fine results including this July, two victories in Master/Expert tournaments. 12W38 Walter Muir Tournament GAME OF THE MONTH Procopi demonstrates that even a Rook Pawn can aspire to greatness. SEMI- SLAV DEFENSE 6952 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 e6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Bg5 The choices today are pretty much between this move, 5. Bf4 and 5. e3. 5...h6 6.Bxf6 Retreating the Bishop was seen in O'Hare-Brandhorst, 2003 Absolute, which led to an even game after 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. h4 b4 11. hxg5 bxc3 12. bxc3 Nxe4 6...Qxf6 7.e3 Left back in the history books in favor of 7. e3 seem to be the replies here of 7. Qb3, 7. Qc2, and 7. g3. 7...Nd7 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 Bb4 The most popular reply now is 9...g6 as in van Oosterom-Pinkovetsky, 15 Olympiad, which continued 10. 00 Qe7 11. e4 Bg7 12. Re1 00 = 10.0-0 Bxc3 11.bxc3 0-0 12.a4! This is better than 12. Nd2 Nb6 13. Bb3 e5 with rough equality as in Antunes-Ferreira, Carris Open 2002. 12...e5 13.Qc2 exd4 White ends up with a strong center and a lead in development after this exchange. Better was resistance by 13...Re8 14. Bd3 Qe7 15. Nd2 Nf6. 14.cxd4 Nb6 15.Ba2 Be6 16.a5 Bxa2? Black needed to play 16...Nd5 17. Bb1 g6 18. Qb2 Qe7 19. Re1 Rac8 20. Ne5 c5 when White stands only a little better. Now the a-Pawn is decisive. 17.axb6 Bd5 18.e4 Be6 19.bxa7 White has created a monster that stands on a7. It is now Procopi's task to use it effectively. 19...Rfd8 20.Rfb1 Rd7 21.Qc5 Qf4 Black seeks active counterplay as defense by 21...Qd8 just loses to 22. Ne5 Rxd4 23. Nxc6! bxc6 24. Rb8 Rxb8 25. axb8(Q) Qxb8 26. Qxd4 22.Ne5 Rdd8 23.Rxb7 Qxe4 24.Nxc6 Re8 25.Rb8 Kh7 26.Rxe8 Rxe8 27.Ne7 Bd5 After 27...Ba2!? 28. Qf5+ Qxf5 29. Nxf5 Bd5 30. Nd6 Rf8 31. h4 Ra8 32. Ra5 Be6 33. Nb5 Rc8 34. Nc7 the win is easy. 28.Qxd5 Qxe7 29.g3 1-0 Avoiding 29. h8(Q) Qe1+ and insuring the win. THREE WAY TIE IN 13W11 John Procopi strikes again, sharing first this time with Charles Jacobs and James Anderson. Black's combination on Move 21 backfires and the game ends quickly. NIMZOINDIAN DEFENSE (E20) 6953 JULY RESULTS Swift Quad Ralph Vecchio 12SQ19 5 ½-½ Eric King 13SQ05 6-0 Trophy Quad Joseph Kuhajda 12Q05 5-1 James Ruth 12Q05 5-1 Timothy Grassel 11Q12 5-1 John Terrall 11Q12 5-1 Walter Muir William Vega 13W13 4-2 Charles Jacobs 13W11 4-2 John Procopi 13W11 4-2 James Anderson 13W11 4-2 John Procopi 12W38 4 ½-1 ½ Ronald Roberts 13W09 5-1 John Collins Palciauskas Tournament Eugene Bedard 10P08 5 ½-½ GERARD SORICELLI TOPS 11C08 PETROFF DEFENSE (C42) 6954 OBITUARY Raymond Stefens, born 1949 died 5/23/13. GRUNFELD DEFENSE (D96) 6955 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] Chess booklet for sale: 2004 Golden Knights Championship -- booklet of the 57th USCF CC Championship -- $10.00 postage paid. 35 pages, 90+ games THE ABSOLUTE CORRESPONDENCE CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE UNITED STATES CHESS FEDERATION 1976-2010 is now available at McFarland Publishers and Amazon for $45.00 and also Kindle at $16.49 NEW! 2006 Electronic Knights Championship ebook. 190 games some annotated, all the crosstables, bios of the top three, list of all the finalists, ChessBase format, .pgn notation and Microsoft .pdf format. $4.00 postage paid for the disk, $2.00 sent to you via email. Hard copy $10 postage included. Pertti Lehikoinen estimates that the 14 games he played during the Finals of the 20th World Championship consumed 14,700 to 14,800 hours. Roughly half of the thinking time he used in analyzing with computers and the other half was done in the traditional way manually at the chessboard or blindfold. Patience, patience, patience brings home the point. ENGLISH OPENING (A34) 6956 From 12W38 White lands too many punches for Black to survive. SEMI-SLAV DEFENSE (D46 ) 6957 McCann finds a drawing line in this Pawn down endgame QUEEN's PAWN GAME (E10) 6958 White's Bishops are the stars of this show but the Rooks don't do too badly either KING'S INDIAN ATTACK (A08) 6959 If chess pieces had sharp bases, the chess board would be in tatters after this gem. ENGLISH OPENING (A18) 6960 When White tries an opening innovation on move 6, Corky demonstrates conclusively why it was not played before. DUNST OPENING (A00) 6961 Mark Laboda demonstrates the power of the two Bishops in an endgame. SICILIAN DEFENSE (B88) 6962 Find a pdf index of Alex Dunne's columns. |