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Chess Life Online 2009 March Ivanov Wins in Land of the Sky
Chess Life Online 2009 March Ivanov Wins in Land of the Sky | Ivanov Wins in Land of the Sky |
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| By Larry Cohen | |
| February 2, 2009 | |
GMs Sergey Kudrin and Alexander Ivanov tied for first at Land of the Sky. Photo Chris Baumgartner
For over 20 years Wilder Wilford has organized Land of the Sky. This tournament in North Carolina has plenty of southern hospitality, but the chess was hardly friendly. The open section had 2 GMs, 4 IMs, and well over a dozen masters. GMs Alexander Ivanov and Sergey Kudrin squared off in the final round for all the biscuits. A short draw gave Ivanov clear first and assured Kudrin a share of second. Kudrin had been held to a draw in round 2 by FM Peter Bereolos. Also tying for second were Andre Chumachenko, IM Bryan Smith (who beat IM Kirill Kuderinov in the final round), IM Tim Taylor, & IM Emory Tate. Personally I had hoped to play more like a Russian GM than like a CCCP [Certified Chess Club Patzer], but that was not to be. You can see from the following game how easily I was handled by IM Tim Taylor. 2865 IM Tim Taylor's only loss was to tournament winner GM Ivanov. I will admit that I may have let myself get distracted by some TTT [Typical Tate Tactics] on the board next to me. 2866 1.e4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 d6 5. d3 Bg7 6. Nh3 Nf6 7. 0-0 Nd4 8. f4 Bg4 9. Qd2 h5 10. Ng5 h4 11. h3 hxg3 12. hxg4 Nxg4 13. e5 Better may have been Re1. 13...dxe5 14. Nge4 Another choice may have been to play exf5 and then either Qf5 or taking on f7, but there would still be the possible response of f5 by Black. 14....Nf5 If 14...e6 then fxe5 followed by Nd6ch would be OK for White, while 15.Nxg3 would lose to Qh4. 15. Ne2 exf4 16. c3 White must prevent Bd4+ 16... e5 17. Nxf4 exf4 18. Qe2 Qh4! Black could stop the double discovered check with Ne5 or Be5. But Bd4+ will not work due to Nf2 with the discovered check followed by Qxg4. 19. Nf6+ Kf8 20. Nxg4 Nd4! 21. Qd1 Re8 22. Rxf4 Ne2+ 23. Kf1 Qh1+ 24. Bxh1 Rxh1 ch 25. Kg2 Rxd1 26. Rf1 Rxf1 27. Kxf1 Nxc1 28. Rxc1 f5 and White resigns 0-1 I want to thank IM Emory Tate for showing me the full game between rounds. I just wish I remembered all of the potential tactics that he showed in going over the game. Fritz agreed with Emory when I had asked about e6 rather than Nf5, that the Knight move is better. It is a rare game when you allow your opponent to deliver double discovered check. Somehow it is not surprising to me that it was IM Tate that allowed it. I encourage every chess player to play in at least one Land of the Sky tournament. You won't regret it even if you have a minus score. I may make it an annual event. Check out MSA results from Land of the Sky here. |