| Sevian, Sharma & Shen Earn Norms at Metropolitan Chess |
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| By Ankit Gupta | |
| June 16, 2012 | |
Samuel Sevian, Photo Elizabeth Vicary US Chess School 2011
This tournament was the 19th in its series and was held in Suite C855 of the California Market Center on 110 East 9th Street, Los Angeles 90079. The tournament was organized by Ankit Gupta, FA, IO and the chief arbiter was Randy Hough, IA. The participants included: IM Zhanibek Amanov (KAZ), IM Larry Remlinger (USA), IM Andranik Matikozyan (ARM), FM Victor Shen (USA), FM CJ Arvind (IND), FM Kayden Troff (USA), NM Arun Sharma (USA), NM Alexander King (USA), NM Samuel Sevian (USA) and NM Vadim Kudryavtsev (RUS). 
Arun Sharma
The tournament had three IM norms achieved by FM Victor Shen, NM Arun Sharma, and NM Samuel Sevian -- all three also equal tied for first. This completes Shen's 2nd IM norm, and Sharma and Sevian's 1st. Play through one of NM Samuel Sevian's games on route to his first IM norm, annotated by the 11-year-old himself: 6304 1.e4 This was my second game of the tournament and I was determined to extend my winning white streak to 9 in the last 3 tournaments I played 1...e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.dxe5 I choose this line because I wanted to avoid the theoretical lines in the Berlin Defence 6...Nxb5 7.a4 Nd6?  8.Bg5! and the fight is on right from the opening. The lines are quite interesting here [8.exd6 Bxd6 9.Re1+ Be7 Is fine for black, however white is up some tempos and can quickly develop with initiative, despite being pawn down. I felt comfortable going into this position] 8...f6 the alternative .. .Be7 leads to a passive defense for black [8...Be7 9.Bxe7 Nxe7 (9...Qxe7 10.exd6 Qxd6 11.Re1+ Kd8 12.Qxd6 cxd6 13.Na3!) 10.exd6 cxd6 11.Qxd6] 9.Re1! From here on, it's pure calculation. 9...fxg5 9...Be7 10.exd6 cxd6 (10...fxg5 ? 11.dxe7 Nxe7 12.Qd5! Not allowing the King to castle 12...c6 (12...d6 13.Nxg5) 13.Qd6 and again black is totally lost) 11.Bf4 Ne5 12.Nc3 the c3 knight occupies the d5 square blocking the black and the other knight goes Nf3-Nd4 -Nf5 with absolute domination 10.exd6+ Kf7 Here I started to calculate some long lines with the idea of rook lift to a3. 10...Ne7 11.dxe7 Bxe7 12.Qe2 c6 13.Ra3 Kf7 14.Re3 Bf6 15.Ne5+ Bxe5 16.Rxe5 and white is much better; 10...Be7 11.dxe7 Nxe7 12.Qd5 Transposes to the 10...fxg line. 11.Qd5+ Kg6 12.Re5 h6 12...Nxe5 13.Nxe5+ Kf6 (13...Kh6 14.Nf7+) 14.Nc3 c6 15.Ne4+ Kf5 16.Ng3+ Kf6 17.Nh5+ Kf5 18.g4# 13.Qe4+ From here most continuations are forced, which lead to pretty nice mating nets. 13...Kf7 14.Rf5+ Kg8 14...Qf6 15.Rxf6+ gxf6 16.dxc7 15.Qd5+ Kh7 
16.Nxg5+! hxg5
16...Qxg5 17.Rxg5 hxg5 18.Ra3 Kg6 19.Rf3 Rh6 20.Rxf8 Kh7 21.Qg8+ wins 17.Ra3! The point, I considered this resource in all the lines starting from 9. Re1 17...Ne5 17...Bxd6 18.Rh3+ Kg6 19.Qf7#; 17...g4 18.Rh5+ Kg6 19.Qf5#; 17...Qe8 18.Rh3+ Kg6 19.Rxg5+ Kf6 20.Qf5# 18.Rxe5 Kg6 18...Bxd6 19.Rh3+ Kg6 20.Qe4+ Kf7 21.Rf5+ Kg8 22.Qd5# 19.Qe4+ Kf7 20.Rf3+ Qf6 20...Kg8 21.Qd5+ Kh7 22.Rh3+ Kg6 23.Qe4+ Kf7 24.Rf5+ Kg8 (24...Qf6 25.Rxf6+ gxf6 26.Rxh8) 25.Qd5# 21.Rxg5 1–0 Keep updated with events by Metropolitan Chess, Inc, by visiting www.metrochessla.com. |
