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Chess Life Online 2010 June Team OC Wins Amateur Team Playoffs
Chess Life Online 2010 June Team OC Wins Amateur Team Playoffs | Team OC Wins Amateur Team Playoffs |
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| By FM Takashi Iwamoto | |
| March 29, 2010 | |
Team OC shortly after victory, L to R: FM Alexandre Kretchetov, Takashi Iwamoto, Ilia Serpik, front Leo Kamgar
Before I wrap up Saturday's action, I want to tell you about Team OC's members. Board 1, FM Alexandre Kretchetov is the highest rated active tournament player in Orange County (2444). Though I always kid with him that he doesn't do well at the US Amateur Teams, I respect his game a lot. I have learned many new ideas from Alexandre and I'll always be grateful to him for that. He is a computer programmer and has a lovely wife and daughter. I played board two (FM Takashi Iwamoto.) I teach, play and have fun with the royal game everyday. I work for a non-profit chess organization Academic Chess, which teaches elementary school children chess in after school programs. I've been working there for ten years now. Seeing my students develop their skills and using them in real life gives me great satisfaction. NM Ilia Serpik, our board three is the pessimist on our team! I know he doesn't mean any of it! (I hope.) Seriously, he is a good friend and chess player. He likes to play sharp openings, though sometimes unsound ones like the (Budapest Gambit?!) He is a lawyer and has a nice wife and a beautiful one-year old baby daughter. Our board four Leo Kamgar was the 2005 National Kindergarten Champion and the 2005 Western States Single Grade Champion! He has loads of natural talent and a great memory. After a three-year break from chess, he came back in 2009. His latest victory was at the Western Class in Agoura Hills where he took 1st place in Class B. $1200 is not a bad takehome for a 9-year-old! Leo's coach GM Melikset Khachiyan has worked with him the past year and GM Melik is definitely developing a monster. Round 1: West vs. the North Leo lost first against Rene Ancheta but I evened the score against Camilo Pangan. 4286 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0-0 5.d4 d6 6.Be2 e5 7.Be3 exd4 8.Nxd4 Re8 9.f3 c6 10.Bf2 d5 11.exd5 cxd5 12.0-0 Nc6 13.c5 Be6 A rare move. 13...Nh5 is the main move. 14.Bb5 14.Qd2!? 14...Bd7 A new move [14...Qc7Llanes Hurtado,M (2418)-San Martin,R (2135)/ESP Universities-ch 2005 (2)/½-½] 15.a3 Ne5 16.Be2 g5?! 17.Qd2 17.Ndb5! 17...g4 18.Bh4 Ng6?! 18...gxf3 19.Bg5 Re5 20.fxg4! h6 21.Bxh6 Nxg4 22.Bxg7 Kxg7 23.Bxg4 Bxg4 24.Nf3 Bxf3 25.Rxf3 d4 26.Raf1 Nh8 27.Rh3 Rg5 28.Ne4 Rg6 29.Nd6 Rxd6 30.cxd6 Qxd6 31.Rf4 31.Qg5+ 31...Rd8 32.Rg4+ Ng6 33.Qh6+ Kf6 34.Re4 Kf5 35.Re1 Nf4 36.g4+ Kxg4 37.Rg3+ Black resigns 1-0 Alexandre didn't play his best game and lost to IM Angelo Young. Instead of 13...e3, Black could have just played 13...a5. 4288 Ilia won but just barely, due to time trouble issues from Florentino Inumerable. 4290 The match was now tied 2-2 so we had to go to tiebreak, 15 minute games with a two second increment. Leo won this time over Rene Ancheta while Ilia won on time against Florentino Inumerable. Alexandre lost again to IM Angelo Young so it was up to me to clinch the match. 4287 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.d3 What's funny about this position is that Alex and I studied this position on March 20th at our team meeting. I guess it paid off a bit. 7...Qd6 8.Nbd2 Be6 9.b3 0-0 10.d4?! Nd7 11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.Bb2 Nxf3+ 12...Bf6!?; 12...Ng6!? 13.Nxf3 Rad8 14.Qe2 Qc5 15.h3 Qh5 16.Rad1 Qg6 17.Kh1 Qh5 18.Qe3 c5 19.c4 h6 20.Be5 c6 21.Bc7 Rxd1 22.Rxd1 Bg4?! 22...b5 23.Kg1 Be6 24.e5 Qg6 25.Kf1 b5 26.cxb5 cxb5 27.Bd6 Bxd6 28.exd6 c4 29.bxc4 Bxc4+ 30.Kg1 Be6 31.Nd4 31.d7! 31...Bd5 32.f3 32.g4 32...Rd8 33.Qe5 Qg5 33...Bxa2 looks crazy to play 34.Nf5?!  The rest of the game was really a quick bullet game and thus both sides couldn't play their best. I felt relieved that we had already won two game and lost one and that a draw would clinch victory. 34...Be6 35.Ne7+ Kf8 36.f4 Qg3 36...Qxe5 37.fxe5 Ke8 37.Nc6 Rd7 38.Qd4 Bxh3 39.Rd2 Qe1+ 40.Kh2 Be6 41.g3 Qf1 42.Qf2 Qh3+ 43.Kg1 Qf5 44.Ne5 Rd8 45.Qb6 Qf6 46.Qc7 Kg8 47.Qe7 Kh7 48.a3 h5 49.Qc7 h4 50.Qe7 hxg3 51.Qxf6 gxf6 52.Nc6 Rd7 53.Nb8 Rd8 54.Nc6 Rd7 55.Nb8 Rd8 56.Nc6 Rd7 Game drawn by repetition ½-½ I got a draw by repetition with only 12 seconds left and thus we advanced to the finals. Our opponents in the finals were the BEASTS FROM THE SOUTHEAST from the South, who defeated the East 3-1 in the semis. The Finals I was happy to win quickly against Toby Boas. 4289 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 Nh5 This move seems to be more and more popular, though I have my doubts. 7.Bd2 e6 8.e3 f5 9.Rc1 I have studied this line before with the idea of Nb5 hitting the Bishop that comes to d6 and with Ne5 9...Bd6 10.Nb5 Bb8 11.Ne5 Bxe5?  11...Nf6 12.dxe5 g6 13.Nd6+ Kf8 Was deciding between Be2 and f4??? 14.f4? Ng7 Whew! 14...Qh4+ Would of made things complicated 15.g3 (15.Ke2 ugly) 15...Nxg3 16.hxg3 Qxh1 17.Qb3. 15.Qb3 Qd7 16.Qa3 Kg8 17.b4 Ne8 18.b5 Ne7 19.Bb4 b6?? 19...Kg7 20.Nxe8 Black resigns 1-0 Then Leo Kamgar found himself in a winning position but on move 59, he played Re2?? a terrible mouseslip. Leo immediately said it was a slip as he intended to move the Rook to either d2 or c2. He started crying and I felt really sad for him. 
Leo Kamgar-Adam Miller, after 58...Rd7
59.Re2+?? Nxe2 White resigns. Though Leo resigned the game could of still been played out. Another reason never to give up. Our TD Jim Bullock pointed after the game that Leo could of played Kf1! 60.Kf1 Kf3 [60...Rxd6 61.a7 Rd8 62.a8Q Rxa8 63.Bxa8 Nxg3+ 64.hxg3 Kf3=; 60...Rf7+ 61.Kg2 Rg7=] 61.Ke1= 0-1 Leo was comforted by GM Khachiyan and his mom. Then he played with the neighborhood cat, which was a big mistake as we didn't know he was allergic. He was not in a good state at all. Alex and Ilia drew their games and Leo, who was recovering, announced he would get his justice in the playoffs. Tiebreak for all the Marbles Leo's words turned into reality as he avenged his loss and won his game first! 4279 Alex and I also won our games, while Ilya made a draw. 4285 The final tally was 3.5-0.5 and the West Won! In conclusion, I'd like to thank Carol Jarecki for organizing this tournament. It was a privilege for us to play again. (Last time we played was in 2007.) Also thanks to the USCF for providing expense stipends, to ICC for hosting and to the tournament director Jim Bullock and to Moira Kamgar for providing food and moral support. Finally thanks to GM Melikset Khachiyan for coaching in between rounds and positive moral support. |