| The Region V got 65-68 players, depending on whether
you count Housemen and no-shows and free entries and such. There were three
masters and six experts. |
| The tournament ran well. All rounds started
on time, except round 1, which was 15 minutes late. The pairings
were posted 15-60 minutes before the start of each round. Ed Mandell
provided free coffee, apple cider, donuts, water, and muffins to the participants. |
| Ed also contributed an upset prize of $10 Gift Certificate
to his store for the biggest upset of every round. |
| Everything went quite well in my opinion. Ameer
Ghobrial is the Region V Champion with a perfect 5-0. |
|
Region V Games
|
| Black, the opening columnist for Michigan Chess,
takes his lower-rated opponent too lightly and gets a bad position early
on. He is forced into a speculative pawn sacrifice just to keep from getting
an inferior position. In the middlegame, the game turns around and black
gets the advantage, but white has just enough play to draw. |
Ricky Reid (1512) - Bob Ciaffone (2212)
[D02] Queen's Pawn: Zukertort (Catalan)
Round 1
(Annotated by Bob Ciaffone)
|
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3
| This system has little bite, but is a good choice
with white against a stronger player because it is very solid. |
| My usual response. The move 3...Bg4 is also good. |
| I frankly do not understand how people, even weaker
players, produce a move like this. It is obvious that Black is not going
to be using the b4-square for a piece, so it prevents nothing. The automatic
move for White, the one every 500 player would make, is to castle. |
| This move of Black's looks natural, because the
d4 square has been weakened by 8.Ne5. But it makes the white move a3 have
some point, so 8...Nbd7 was indicated. |
| Natural, but an error creating a weak pawn, which
White is alert to exploit. |
WHAT SHOULD WHITE PLAY?
12.Nb3!
| This knight is going to d4, and either going to
injure Black's pawn structure or win a pawn. Black has been outplayed. |
| I give up a pawn to keep some play. Black does not
have enough for the pawn, but the position is complicated. |
| This lemon releases the pressure on Black's center. |
| 29.Kxg2! Ne4 30.Qe3 Bb8 31.Nd2 |
| The dust has settled and white is down the exchange
with no attack. He does have an extra pawn, a passer on the fifth rank,
so the position remains sharp. |
| Black kills the vestiges of White's attack by trading
queens and forcing an ending, but at the cost of a weak pawn. |
| Black by this move transfers his remaining rook
to attack the enemy king, but leaves his own monarch exposed to the elements.
It turns out the attack is only strong enough to force a perpetual check,
so White escapes with a draw. |
| Neither side can escape a draw without losing. |
|
|
| White, seeking a sharp game against a much lower
rated opponent, castles on the opposite wing. Black plays the middlegame
strongly and strikes first, putting his opponent under strong pressure.
At the critical moment he then falters, and the game becomes unclear. Then
White tries too hard to win, and winds up with a goose egg. |
Bob Ciaffone (2212) - Justin Aldrich
(1561)
[D43] Semi-Slav: Anti-Meran
Round 3
(Annotated by Bob Ciaffone)
|
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 e6
| Black plays the Semi-Slav defense, characterized
by the pawn triangle c6-d5-e6. I know something about it, having played
the black side for a quarter-century. |
| White plays the sharpest line against the Semi-Slav,
inviting the Botvinnik Variation if Black plays 5...dxc4 or the Moscow
Variation if black plays 5...h6 6.Bh5 dxc4. Both of these gambits are a
maze of complications. |
| This transposes to the Queens Gambit Declined with
black committed to the passive c6. Still, Black has a solid formation. |
| I play the sharpest line, leading to a wild brawl.
IM Ben Finegold had white in this exact position against Seirawan a couple
of years ago and played the solid 9.Rd1, but his opponent played a new
idea and white got no advantage; the result was a draw. |
| I was not unhappy to see this move, as my bishop
comes into the game with tempo. |
| A new move in my database. According to my coach
Jack Peters, it is likely better than the previously played 11.Bd3. |
| Looks funny, because the bishop seemingly does nothing
here. |
| I assumed the bishop had moved to allow Back to
play Rc8, and took advance prevention against that move. But Black has
another idea; advance the queenside pawns. White should have played 12.Ne5
with good prospects. |
| White leads with his chin, allowing lines to be
opened against his king. |
| All the activity is taking place in the vicinity
of White's king, a sign that he has been outplayed in the middlegame. |
| White sees that he can get two rooks for queen and
pawn--he thinks. |
| The flaw in White's calculations. |
| Very natural, but Black should have looked a little
harder, as he had a knockout punch. 28...Ba4! 29.Qxb8? (29.Ka2 Bxb3+ 30.Bxb3)
29...Qxb8+ 30.Ka1 Qb2#. |
| 31.R1c3 Qa6 32.Bc2+ Kg8 33.Bd3 Qa4 34.Bc2 Qa6 |
| By exchanging his bad bishop, Black gets the ending
of queen and knight against two rooks and knight, which should be a draw. |
| Black's knight comes into the game with decisive
effect. |
| Positional paydirt for the black horse. |
| The ending was probably a draw, but White tried
to win and overpressed. A nice early middle game by Black, showing that
to castle on opposite wings can bite both ways for the first player. |
|
|
| Getting a piece off the back rank is not necessarily
developing it. Some grandmasters like to call such “development” a half-move.
In this game Black develops both bishops with half-moves, getting a passive
game. White grabs a pawn, which should have been only a temporary material
advantage. Black, instead of regaining the material, chooses to play a
gambit, but fails to get sufficient compensation, and loses. |
Ameer Ghobriel (2101) - Jennifer Skidmore
(1912)
[A25] English: Closed Sicilian (Carls)
Round 3
(Annotated by Bob Ciaffone)
|
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 f5 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.e3 d6 6.Nge2 Be7 7.d4 O-O
8.O-O Qe8 9.Rb1 Bd7
| I like 9... a5 here, so that if White presses on
with a3 and b4 then Black's rook will be developed without moving. It would
then be quite reasonable to leave the bishop on c8, protecting the b-pawn. |
| Black seems to have too many pieces and not enough
squares, but I am not convinced by the way White tries to exploit this. |
| I think that Black could just recapture 14...Bxc4.
For example 15.Bb2 Qf7! and Black would be fine. Instead, she elects a
pawn-down position with some, but not enough, chances for a k-side attack. |
| Whites last move prepared a devastating answer to
this. Instead, it looks as if ...Rf5, intending ...Rh5 might keep it interesting. |
27.Re6!! fxg3
| Relatively best was to accept with 27...Bxe6 28.dxe6
Qxe6 but 29.Qxd6 leaves White well on top with two splendid bishops against
a rook. The text is hopeless. |
|
|
| White, a youngster, plays the Exchange Variation
of the Ruy Lopez. He manages to get to an even and rather drawish position
with bishops of opposite colors, but his veteran opponent manages to get
from there into a pure two-rook ending, and experience then triumphs over
youth--this time. |
Paul Nemeth (1792) - Phil Roe (2065)
[C69] Spanish: Exchange (Gligoric)
Round 3
(Annotated by Phil Roe)
|
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.O-O
| Paul Nemeth is 13 years old. If he will forgive
my saying so, he looks even younger. It can be disconcerting when
someone so small not only sports a high rating, but displays a very sophisticated
taste in openings. The Exchange Lopez is difficult to play against, not
only because Black must be careful not to fall into a bad ending, but because
the middlegame also has its perils, as Bobby Fischer made plain. |
| The books give either 7.c3 supporting the center,
or 7.dxe5 forcing exchanges such as 7...Qxd1 8.Rxd1 Bxf3 8.gxf3 fxe5. But
Black is supposed to be equal in those lines, and the less explored text
cannot be bad. |
| So I have equalized. White might turn his k-side
majority into a passed pawn, but the opposite bishops would make promotion
very hard. But how do I create winning chances? |
| A nice move, centralizing and waiting. I improve
my pawns and create opportunities for my knight. |
| Although this does threaten a thematic a5 push,
that is easily prevented. Since Black is planning Ne7-c6-d4, a defensive
Ne2 with c3 if necessary seems advisable. |
| Black is now clearly better, though not by much.
White has only the one weakness to defend on e3, but that confines him
to passivity while I prevent a5, liquidate my doubled pawn, improve my
king and make some kingside advances but even all that will not be enough. |
| On the last move before the time control I make
a move that is much too committal and weakens f5; 30...Rde8 first was better.
White should now play 31.Rxd8! Rxd8 32.Rf1 Rf8 33.e4 with no problems.
The general idea is to keep some pressure against e3, and push a pawn to
g4 or h4 to create both a second weakness for White and the chance of a
remote passed pawn for Black. Black either wants all rooks on the board,
or none. But he will let White exchange one pair if it gives him permanent
control of a file. So before doubling rooks he avoids the exchange by abandoning
the d-file. I am not sure if this plan is actually winning but White definitely
has a difficult game to manage. |
31.Kf3? Rde8! 32.Rd3 Re4 33.b3 Rfe8 34.Red1 R8e6!
| In the ensuing maneuvers Black is careful to keep
one Rook on the 6th rank. |
| After this the two weaknesses e3, g3 cannot be held
without entering a lost pawn ending, but passive moves allow ...Rf3 and
...Ref6 |
| Or 41.Kg2 Rd6 42.Rxd6 Kxd6 43.Kf2 Ke5 44.Ke1 Ke5
45.Ke2 h5. Black only wins because this tempo move is still available. |
| Or 44.Kd2 Ke5 45.Ke3 h5 46.Kd3 Kf6 47.Ke3 Kg5 leading
to the same positions as in the game. |
|
|
| Black essays a Sicilian Defense line that gives
him a weak central square, but gives him sufficient piece play in compensation.
But something goes wrong, and white gets a big advantage in the form of
a weakened black pawn structure on the kingside. White is able to successfully
attack the enemy monarch. |
Phil Roe (2065) - Ray Santiago (2031)
[B32] Sicilian: Labourdonnais (Löwenthal)
Round 4
(Annotated by Phil Roe)
|
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.c4 Be6
| This defense has become respectable in recent years,
chiefly due to Sveshnikov's discovery that 6...Be7, followed at once by
7...Bg5, to exchange Black's bad bishop for Whites good one, gives a playable
position. In the game, by the time Black gets around to this, White already
has a big grip. |
| It is not yet clear where the Bf1 should go, but
it is clear that the Na3 must sooner or later play to c2. |
| After ten minutes thought, and I would have liked
more. White breaks up Black's k-side, and gets a grip on the light squares,
but weakens his own pawns, gives up the dark square bind, and has to trade
his good bishop. A difficult call. |
| Forced by the threat of Bg4, but a good move anyway. |
| The position that needed to be evaluated at move
14. It looks good for White, because of the magnificent position of his
knight, covering the weaknesses on c2, c4, g4 and hitting the strong points
at d5 and f5. |
24. Ng4!
| With the nice threat of 25. Qxh7+. |
| With the time control approaching, I don’t play
very precisely; Kh2 is better. |
| The visual appeal of heading to the thematic outpost
on d5 was irresistible, but simpler was 30.Nh6+ Kh8 31.Qxd6 Ng3+ 32.Kh2
Nxh5 33.f6 Rg6 34.Rd1! |
| Much better was 30...Ng3+ 31.Kh2 but after either
31...Nxh5 32.Qxd6 or 31...Nxe4 32.Qh4 Ne2 33.Rh3 White still has a winning
position. |
|
|
| Black elects to play a solid but rather passive
defensive system, after several convolutions in determining the character
of the opening. He manages to get his knights onto some bad squares, then
commits a tactical error. White gets an iron grip which black is unable
to shake. |
Nelson Marcelino (1922) - Justin Aldrich
(1561)
[D51] Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Pillsbury (Exchange)
Round 5
|
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.cxd5
| If Black takes back with the c-pawn, the opening
transposes to an Exchange Slav, but with Black's queen-knight misplaced
on d7 (it belongs on c6). If Black takes back with the e-pawn, his knight
on d7 gives White a pull, because the development of the queen-bishop is
delayed for a while. This exchange in the center by white here is often
used by grandmasters. |
| Black elects an Exchange Slav. The opening is defined. |
| Black's last couple of knight moves do not make
a good impression. |
| White has a big advantage here. |
| A tactical error, losing a pawn because the Black
queen no longer guards the Bd6. |
| Black has no compensation for his pawn minus. |
| This wins another Black pawn. |
| White ends the game by direct attack on the black
king. |
| The opening Black ultimately selected was a bad
choice for his piece layout. Having his queen-knight on d7 led to a passive
position. If he wishes to continue playing these same opening moves, I
recommend taking back on d5 with the e-pawn and playing a Queens Gambit
Declined Exchange Variation. |
|
|
Don Vandivier (1851) - Thomas Mazuchowski
(2096)
[A16] English: Anglo-Indian (Queen's Knight)
Round 5
(Annotated by Don Vandivier)
|
| I’ve had White against Tom the last 4 times we’ve
played! Last game we drew, but I still remember the thrashing Tom
gave me 2 games prior to that with his Dragon Sicilian lines. Now,
in the last round, and needing a win, I decided to NOT to allow the Sicilian
Dragon. |
1.c4
| I don’t think I’ve ever played this move in serious
chess before, but I knew it to be one of the most disliked moves against
strong Sicilian players. It also carries a psychological ploy that
White (playing against a stronger opponent) may be playing for a draw. |
| A strange move... which gives away my intensions.
I plan on playing the “Van-attack!”, a line I devised for Black against
the English. I have beaten several Experts and Class A players using
this system for Black. |
| Another strange move... but extremely strong. White
has nothing after 8.Bh6? because of 8...Bxh6 9.Qxh6 Ng4 10.Qd2 h5!
This line no longer works now and White threatens Bh6 followed by h4, h5
and hxg6 opening the h-file on the black king. |
| Better was 9...d5! striking in the center. Black
underestimates the power of White's attack. |
| A good move. But is Black attacking or defending? |
| Oh! He's trying to run away from me! |
| I actually considered 17.Qh7+? Qg7 18.Nh3!? but
it’s bad because my queen is stronger than his, especially with his king
exposed. |
| 19...Rh8 is worse. 20.Nxf6 Rxh6 21.Rxh6. |
| Getting the queen off the h-file so that the white
rooks can use it. |
| I expected this move. It's all that Black
has and I found a killer move before going into this line. |
25.g4!! Nxg4?
| All moves leave Black in a lost position. 25...Bxg4
26.Bxg6 or 25...Bxe4 26.dxe4! |
| Simple and to the point. A knight fork! |
|
|
