| The 8th U.S.Amateur North Championship was held
May 26-27 at Boynton School in Detroit Michigan. Pete Nixon directed the
tournament and 67 players attended. Twenty-two Players played in the Under
2200 section forty-five played in the Under 1600.Players came from Michigan,
Wisconson, Illinois, Florida and Ontario. Three former champions participated:
Tom LaForge who went on to win the national playoff in 1997; Chris Sims,
who was co-champion of the U1600 in 1999; and Donte Gillam the 2000 U1600
champion. This year the playoff was scheduled for June 10 on USCL. |
| Stanley Jarosz (2056) |
|
| Tony West (1709) |
|
| Round 1 |
|
| [D36] Queen's Gambit |
|
|
Notes by Don Vandivier
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.cxd5 exd5 6.e3 O-O
7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.Qc2 h6 9.Bh4 c6 10.Nf3 Re8 11.O-O Nh5
| The "book line" is 11...Ne4 12.Bxe7 (12.Bxe4 Bxh4) 12...Qxe7 13.b4
Ndf6 14.b5 c5 15.dxc5 Nxc5 and Black has active piece play for his isolated
d-pawn. |
| Black is down a pawn. Does he have compensation? |
26...Qd7
| 26...Nxe3 27.fxe3 Qxe3+ 28.Kf1 Re8 29.Qd1 Qf4+ 30.Qf3 Qc1+ 31.Qd1 Qf4+
forces a draw. |
| I know it looks good, but this move is bad... |
| ...but not because of this move. 27...Nd2! 28.Nf6+ gxf6 29.Qc2
Nf3+ ! 30.gxf3 Qh3! and White has great difficulties. For example: 31.Rxf6
Kh8 32.Rf4 h5!! and the Rook check on g8 is decisive. |
| Now it is Black who is in difficulty - being down 2 pawns. |
| 33.Ne7+ Kf8 34.Nf5 Qa2 35.d5 f6 36.Rc6 and White wins 36...Kg8 37.Qd4
Qxf2 37...Qb2 38.Rxc4 Rxf6 |
| Also winning was 34.Nf6+ ! gxf6 35.Qg3+ |
| Jarosz might have been in time pressure.White has a forced crush: 35.Nf6+
! Kh8 36.Nh5 g6 37.Qf4 Kh7 38.Rc8 !! |
| All the 'pretty lines' are gone...but White should still have a win
after: 37.e5 Qxb4 38.Nd5 Nf1+ 39.Kg1 Qd2 40.Ne7+ Kh8 41.Ng6+ Kg8 42.Qxd2
Nxd2 43.Nxf8 Kxf8 44.Rc8+ |
|
| George Ringel (1434) |
|
| Paul Grams (1700) |
|
| Round 1 |
|
| [B50] Sicilian: Closed |
|
|
Notes by Don Vandivier
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bd3 Nc6
| Black doesn't get carried away by White's choice of an annoying opening. |
| White can't have his cake and eat it too! If he's going to play the
hideous 3.Bd3 line he has to quickly play the Bishop to c2. |
| White, who had the option of dictating the type of game he wanted because
he gets to move 1st, has managed to fall behind in development, obtain
doubled pawns, an exposed King and no counterplay - all in 10 moves! |
| Now the Bishop on c2 is as good as a pawn. |
| I like: 21...Qe7 22.exf5 Rf8 23.Nd5 Qf7 |
| Black says, "Now that you're on the K-side I'm gonna munch on your
Q-side"... |
30.f3?
30...Bg3 0-1. |
| Yinghan Yang (1695) |
|
| Bill Avery (1621) |
|
| Round 3 |
|
| [B09] Pirc |
|
|
Notes by Don Vandivier
1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.f4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c5 6.dxc5 Qa5
7.Bd3 Qxc5 8.Qe2 a6?!
| Black had a choice of four "book moves", 8...0-0, 8...Bg4, 8...Nc6
or 8...Nbd7. The move played puts Black behind in development. |
| 14.Bc3 was a suitable alternative. |
| After 15...Ne5 16.Nf4 Qb6 17.Bc3 O-O Black is better. |
16...e5?
| 16...Qb6 17.Ngxe6 Bh6 and no matter what white plays, Black is still
in the game. One example is: 18.Be3 Qa5+ 19.c3 Qe5 |
| 22.0-0+! gave Mate in 6 moves! |
|
| Jennifer Skidmore (1932) |
|
| Joseph Boronka (1656) |
|
| Round 3 |
|
| [C33] King's Gambit |
|
|
Notes by Don Vandivier
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 d6 4.d4 g5 5.h4 Bg7 6.c3 h6 7.Nf3
Qe7 8.Qe2 Bg4 9.Na3
9...Nf6 10.Bd3?
| White is getting into some serious trouble. Better was 10.e5 dxe5 11.Qxe5 |
| Black has survived the Gambit and is 2 pawns up with an excellent position. |
| and Black went on to win. |
|
| Tony West (1709) |
|
| Mark Krisler (1952) |
|
| Round 4 |
|
| [C00] French: Irregular |
|
|
Notes by Don Vandivier
1.e4 e6 2.d4 b6 3.Nf3 Bb7 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.Nbd2 Nc6 6.c3 Qe7
7.O-O O-O-O
| Mark LOVES castling on opposite wings for attacking purposes - and
he's good at it too! |
| Fritz suggests an immediate assault with 8.b4 ! Nb8 9.a4 and Black
would have difficulties.I agree with this idea.If White dilly-dallies around
Black will have chances with his K-side pawn storm. |
| Black starts his pawn advance on White's King immediately. |
| So White decides to go on the defense...more aggressive was: 11.Qxa7
g4 12.Nd4 exd5 13.e5 d6 14.Bf5+ Nfd7 15.e6 fxe6 16.Bxe6 Qf6 17.Bxg4 |
| White can't get at Black's King, but Black continues to open up lines
against the White King. |
| What's the point of this move? It sends the knight back to a square
where it has no play. |
| 25.Bb5 is a little better but runs into difficulties after: 25...Rh5
26.Bc6 Nxc6 27.Nxc6+ Bxc6 28.Qxc6 Qh7 |
| Well, that stops that idea... |
|
| The following game is quite impressive. Both sides avoid traps in the
line and play the precise moves from the opening, 17 moves deep! Then on
move 18 Black plays "out-of-book" but trys to return to book on move 19.
The results are devasting and should be studied by every player who either
plays the attack or plays 1...e5. Unfortunately, the scoresheet I received
had no names on it! Therefore, this is our "Mystery game". |
| White ? |
|
| Black ? |
|
| Round 4, U/1600 Section |
|
| [C55] Max Lange Attack |
|
|
Notes by Don Vandivier
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.O-O Nf6
| An alternative to entering the Max Lange Attack Proper is: 5...d6 6.c3
but can get pretty wild after 6...Bg4 7.Qb3 Qd7 8.Nxd4 Na5 9.Bxf7+ Ke7
10.Be6 Bxe6 11.Qxe6+ Qxe6 12.Nxe6 Kxe6 13.b4 |
| This is all "book" and Black should avoid the Max Lange Attack if he
doesn't want to play from this position. |
17...e5
| Now I find this very interesting...the "book variation" continues with
17...d3 and it's obvious that if Black plays ...e5 White has g5 protecting
the Bishop from the Black Queen. But watch what happens here. |
| Can't play it now! After 17 "book moves" and one move not in the book,
you can't return to the book line. Black is completely busted after this
move. |
| 19...Kb8 was better but still losing. |
| This was a nice game.It's unfortunate that the players will never receive
credit because they left their names off the scoresheet! L |
|
