GM Sergey Erenburg Photo Betsy Dynako

by Jennifer Shahade

Sergey Erenburg, a 24-year-old Israeli GM currently attending UMBC, won clear first in the New Jersey Futurity International (Parsippany, July 7-11) with 6.5/9. Meanwhile, Cadet champion Evan Ju and FM Tom Bartell had fantastic results but narrowly missed IM norms.



Standings
1. GM Sergey Erenburg- 6.5/9
2. GM Leonid Yudasin- 6/9
3. GM Magesh Pachanathan- 5/9
4-5 FM Tom Bartell and Evan Ju- 4.5/9
6-8. GM Gennadi Zaitchik, Mackenzie Molner and Amon Simutowe- 4/9
9. IM Dean Ippolito- 3.5/9
10. IM Mikhail Zlotnikov- 3/9
You can view the complete crosstable on the New Jersey chess Federation homepage

Magesh Pachanathan was leading the tournament until he went down against GM Gennady Zaitchik in an exciting game:

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Erenburg started out in lackluster form, with four draws including two against much lower rated players. (Evan Ju and Mackenzie Molner) He went on fire in the second half earning 4.5/5. In his penultimate game, it did not look likely that he'd get more than a draw against IM Amon Simutowe:

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Simutowe made a fatal miscalculation with Rxg4. The pawn ending is winning for Black. Instead he must play Rh2.


Erenburg defeated Zlotnikov in the last round to win clear first. Photo Robert N. Bernard

Thomas Bartell defeated Magesh Panchanathan with Black. Bartell found a cute tactic in the following position. Can you see what he played? (Scroll down for solution.)


Black to Play and induce resignation.

Evan Ju also had a breakthrough tournament. In the previous article, we mentioned his wins over IMs Ippolito and Zlotnikov. His biggest upset was to come in the second half of the tournament, in which he beat GM Gennady Zaitchik. This earned him the "Biggest Upset" prize.

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NYU student Mackenzie Molner won the Brilliancy Prize for his win over U2400 co-champion IM Mikhail Zlotnikov.

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Bartell defeated Evan Ju in a quick game in the last round:

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Ju was probably disappointed as just half a point would have earned him an IM norm. However, at 15 years old, he will probably see many more chances!


Evan Ju. Photo Robert N.Bernard

Local norm events like this one offer our young stars the opportunity to win norms without spending a lot of money and time to travel to Europe. It is a good omen for American chess that such events are popping up so frequently. This summer will also feature the Irme Konig Memorial in San Francisco (July 10-25), the New England Masters (August 13-17, 2007) and several IM norm tournaments in Chicago. If you know of others, please post them below!

Playing site of the 2007 New Jersey Futurity. Photo Robert N. Bernard

Bartell-Panchanathan Solution

Thomas Bartell played 44....Rd2! which wins on the spot because Qd2 fails to Qf1#.