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For those of you who don’t know, Ben’s
final GM Norm was not approved by FIDE. There were some questions
about the results that were submitted by the organizer. In the
meantime, Ben has been continuing his quest to early an
additional Norm to guarantee the GM Title.
There are a couple of organizers in the
Chicago that have been frequently running FIDE Norm tournaments
with the idea of getting American players their titles. If you
want to keep an eye on their activities, go to their blog on the
internet: http://www.fidechessinchicago.blogspot.com.
Ben was back in Chicago from January 9-13
for a ten player round-robin tournament. (And immediately went to
the Michigan Master/Expert and Class Championship in Lansing on
January 14-15. Look for coverage of that tournament in the next
Michigan Chess.) Also, note that by the time you are reading
this, Ben, his wife, Kelly, and Andrei Florean will all be in San
Diego competing in the U.S. Championship. Good Luck to all three.
Here are some of Ben’s games from the GM event.
Ben
Finegold
Irina Krush
Round 1
D27
Notes by
Ben Finegold
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bxc4 e6
5.Nf3 c5 6.0-0 a6 7.e4 b5 8.Bd3 cxd4
In my pre-game prep I examined mainly 8..Bb7
which Irina has played before, as well being the most common
move.
9.a4 b4
Black may also play 9...bxa4.
10.e5 Nd5 11.Bg5
White seems to do well with 11.Nxd4. I think
11.Bg5 is probably not as good.
11...Be7 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Nbd2 0-0N
13...Nc6
14.Nc4 Nd7 15.Rc1 a5 16.Re1 Bb7 17.Be4
Rfc8 18.Qxd4 Rd8 19.h4 Nc5 20.Nd6?!
20.Bxh7+! Kxh7 21.Nd6 Nxa4 22.Ng5+ Kg8
23.Ndxf7.
20...Nb3 21.Bxh7+ Kf8 22.Qg4 Nxc1 23.Nxb7
23.Nxf7!? Nf4 24.Nxd8 Nce2+ 25.Kh2 Rxd8
26.Ng5.
23...Qxb7 24.Rxc1 Rac8 25.Re1
When I played 19.h4 I calculated to this
position and thought it was good for White, but Irina liked her
position here.
25...b3! 26.Be4 Qb4 27.Qh5 Ke7 28.Qg5+
Kf8 29.Qh5 Ke7 30.Kh2
This is not very good, but I wanted to win
and I had more time at this point.
30...g6 31.Qg5+ Ke8 32.Kg3!? Ne7 33.h5
gxh5 34.Qxh5
During the game I had about 5 min left and
Irina only 1, and I thought I had a winning position, but this is
vastly incorrect.
34...Rd4! 35.Ng5 This is based on a
horrible miscalculation, but I was down to 1.5 minutes, so had to
move something!
35...Qxe1
35...Kd7!
36.Qxf7+ Kd8 37.Qxe6??
37.Nxe6+ Kd7 38.Nf8+ I saw this but assumed
I was losing in either case, but this draws. We both had less
than 1 minute for the remainder of the game. 38...Rxf8 39.Bf5+
Kc6 40.Qe6+ Kb7 41.Qxe7+ Kb6 42.Qe6+=
37...Rxe4?
37...Qb4!-+
38.Nf7+ Ke8
38...Kc7 39.Qxe7+ Kb8 40.Qd6+=
39.Nd6+ Kd8 40.Nf7+ Ke8 41.Nd6+ Kd8
And I claimed a draw with....
42.Nf7+ ½-½
Rusudan
Goletiani
Ben Finegold
Round 8
King's Indian, E60
Notes by
Ben Finegold
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.b3 g6 3.Bb2 Bg7 4.e3 0-0 5.c4
d6 6.d4 Nbd7 7.Be2 e5 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Nc3 e4 10.Nd4 a6 11.Qd2 Ne5
I thought I had a large advantage here, but
I guess that was just wishful thinking.
12.0-0-0 Qe7 13.f4
I think this is best, although I did not
consider it during the game.
13...exf3 14.gxf3 b5!? 15.cxb5 axb5
16.Ndxb5 Ba6? 17.Ba3
I missed 17.Ba3 when I played 16...Ba6. Now
White is winning.
17...c5 18.Qd6 Qxd6 19.Rxd6 Bxb5?!
20.Nxb5 Rfb8 21.Rhd1!
I overlooked this completely and spent most
of my time analyzing 21.Bb2. Now I had little time and a bad
position to boot.
21...Ne8 22.R6d5 c4!?
Trying to confuse things. Now Rusa thought
for a long time and comes up with the best moves yet again.
23.bxc4 Nc6 24.R1d3 Na5 25.Rd2 Nf6 26.Rd6
Rc8 27.Rc2 Ne8 28.Rd1 Nc6 29.Bc5 Ra4 30.Nd6 Bf8!?
Maintaining my lost position but making
things difficult in time trouble.
31.Nxc8 Bxc5 32.Rd5? Bxe3+ 33.Kd1? Kg7?
Lots of bad moves now as we both had less
than 5 minutes each.
34.Nd6 Nf6 35.Rd3 Bc5 36.a3? Ne5
Now Black is ok again. Rusa falls apart in
time trouble.
37.Rdd2 Rxa3
38.f4 Nc6 39.Ra2?? Bxd6 40.Rxd6 Rxa2 41.Rxc6 Ne4 42.Bf3 Nf2+
43.Ke1 Nd3+ 44.Kd1 Nxf4 45.h4 Ra3 46.Be4 h5 47.c5 Ne6 48.Rc8 Ra4
49.Bd3 Kf6 50.c6 Rxh4 51.c7 Rd4 52.Kc2 Rd6 53.Bxg6 Rc6+ 54.Kd2
fxg6 0-1
Angelo
Young
Ben Finegold
Round 9
English: Ultra-Symmetrical (Double Fianchetto), A38
Notes by
Ben Finegold
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.g3 g6 4.b3 Bg7 5.Bb2
0-0 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.0-0 d6 8.Nc3 e5 9.a3 Bf5 10.d3 Qd7 11.Ng5 h6
12.Nge4 Ne8 13.Nd5 Bh3 14.Bxh3 Qxh3 15.f4 f5 16.Nf2 Qh5 17.e3
Qxd1 18.Nxd1 Rf7 19.b4 Nf6 20.b5?
20.bxc5 dxc5 21.fxe5 Nxd5 22.e6 Bxb2
23.exf7+ Kxf7 24.Rb1 (24.Nxb2 Nxe3 unclear) 24...Nxe3
25.Rxb2 Nxf1 26.Rxb7+. Angelo should have played this way, as
this is unclear. Now Angelo starts to make errors in time
trouble. He had less than 5 minutes, and I had over an hour
remaining.
20...Nxd5 21.bxc6 Nb6 22.fxe5?! dxe5
23.cxb7 Rxb7 24.a4 Rd8 25.a5 Nc8 26.a6?
26.Ra3 was forced, but Angelo had less than
2 minutes here.
26...Rb3 27.Bc3 Rxd3 28.Ra5 Bf8! 29.Bxe5
Nb6 30.Bf4 Nxc4 31.Ra4 Nd2 32.Nf2 Rd7 33.Rd1 g5 34.Ra2? gxf4
35.Raxd2 Rxd2 36.Rxd2 fxe3 37.Rd7 e2 0-1
Probably my best game of the event, and I
used less than 25 minutes on my clock! :)
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