The Marshall Spectator
In This Issue:
Women and Girls Special Event
From The Skittles Room
King's Kibitzes, by FM Alex King
Across The Table, by Miles Lee
Chess Toons
En Passant
Problem of the Week
Editor's Note
Welcome back, fellow chess players, to this edition of the Marshall Chess Club's fortnightly bulletin, The Marshall Spectator.
The Marshall Chess Club no longer requires members to provide proof of vaccination when joining the club or entering tournaments. Please note, that most of our events will continue to be for members only, however a select few each month are open to non-members.
For more details about these events or to register in advance please visit our website. We look forward to seeing you soon.
In the last few weeks, we have had a plethora of rated chess events at our historic club.
The Saturday Under 2000 Morning Action on March 18 had a huge turnout with 54 players registered. There was a three-way tie for first place between Mouhamadou Tall, Sidhartha Singh and Blake Herman who all scored a perfect 3 out of 3, winning $180 each for the perfect performance.
The Ed Kopiecki Action on March 16 had an even 30 players registered and was won by FM Marcus Miyasaka, who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 and earned $140. The second place prize of $70 went to Narayan Venkatesh, who scored an impressive 3.5 out of 4. The remaining prize fund was shared by three players, Miles Lee, Maahir Patel and Daguy Vaval who scored 3 points and earned $46.67 for their performance.
The Rated Beginner Open on March 12 had 29 registrants, and was won by Raf Goldman and Franklin J Rivas who both scored a perfect 3 out of 3, earning $120 each.
The Sunday Game 50 Open on March 12 had a dozen players registered to play, and finished with two players at the top of the wall chart with 3.5 points. Rohail Shah and Matthew Clibanoff won $55 each for the performance, while Aidan Amin finished with 2.5 points and took home $33.
The Sunday Game 50 Under 1600 on March 12 had 10 players registered, and was won by Eric Niyazov who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 and won $54 for his efforts. Lamine Gordon finished in second place with 3 points, winning a $36 prize, while the remaining class prize was shared by Xinhe Zhang and Talulah Marolt who both scored 2 points, earning $12.50 for their performance.
The Saturday Game 50 Under 1800 on March 11 Had 17 players registered to play and was won by Dante Mayeno who scored a perfect 4 out of 4, winning $96 for his efforts. Clear second place went to Ethan Minikes, who scored 3 out of 4 winning $64. There was an unusual six-way tie for the remaining class prize, with the following players scoring 2.5 and winning $8 each: King Arthur E Curry, Richard Koppenall, Terrain Wu, Daniel Lei, Noah Lodish, and Aron Poyker.
The Saturday Game 50 Open on March 11 had and even 20 players registered and was won by Mark Dedona who scored 4 out of 4 and won $114 for his perfect performance. Clear second place went to Jude Kazan, who scored 3.5 out of 4 and earned $76 in the process. The prize funds were divided equally between Jose de Villa and Chance Deas, who scored 3 points earning $28.50 each.
The Saturday Under 2000 Morning Action on March 11 had 24 players registered and finished in a 3 way tie, with Alexander Wang, Paul Calderon and Michael Shelhart Sayers finishing with perfect scores of 3 out of 3 and winning $76.67 each.
The Women and Girls Open on March 10 had 5 players registered and was won by Najee Walthrust, who scored 2 out of 3 and won $30. Adrianna Gordon finished in 2nd place, winning $15 for her effort.
The Friday Night Blitz on March 10 had 17 players and was won by IM Mykola Bortnyk who finished with a stellar 9 out of 9, winning the $85 first place prize. Clear second place went to IM Sam Schmakel who scored 7 out of 9 and won $43 for his play. Third place was shared by IM Michael Song and FM Marcus Miyasaka who each scored 6 out of 9 and won $10, while the class prize was shared by NM Aakaash Meduri, Leandro Ulloa and Luis Ulloa who scored 5.5 and won $21 each.
The Ed Kopiecki Action on March 9 had 26 players registered and was won by IM Michael Song and Nura Baalla who both scored 3.5 out of 4 points and earned $88 for the performance. Nirvaan Bharany finished with 3 points out of 4, winning the $59 class prize while Elliot Goodrich also won a $59 class prize for his 2.5 out of 4 performance.
As always, you can see all recent results by visiting our results page.
There were three players who gained more than 150 rating points in a single tournament over the last few weeks. Aron Poyker saw his rating sky-rocket by 216 points after playing in the Under 1800 tournament. Mr. Michael Shelhart Sayers had a an incredible tournament in the Under 2000 tournament, gaining 181 rating points. Miles Stringer had an amazing tournament in the Marshall Premier Under 2000, gaining an eye-opening 153 rating points. What's more, there were no fewer than five more players who gained more than 100 rating points in a single event over the last two weeks. To see these and all other recent big point gainers, click here.
Want to see your rating sky-rocket? Come play some tournaments!
Saratoga Springs New York State Scholastics Recap
We here at The Marshall Spectator were thrilled to see so many Marshall Members having excellent results last weekend at the New York State Scholastic Championships that was held at the City Center in Saratoga Springs, New York.
We would like to recognize a few notable performances of members who finished in the top 10 of championship sections. To see these and all results from the event, please visit the results page.
High School Championship
Gus Huston finished in 1st place on tie-breaks scoring 5.5 out of 6.
Adi Murgescu finished in 3rd place on tie-breaks and tied for first scoring 5.5 out of 6.
James Oh finished in 4th place on tie-breaks scoring 5 out of 6.
Ian Nicholson finished in 5th place on tie breaks scoring 5 out of 6 points.
Luc William Crim Hoffman finished in 6th place on tie breakts scoring 4.5 out of 6.
Vihaan Jain finished in 8th place on tie-breaks scoring 4.5 out of 6.
Kiren Nasta finished in finished in 9th on tie-breaks with 4.5 out of 6.
Jack Levine finished in 10th with 4.5 out of 6
Middle School Championship
Brewington Hardaway finished in clear first place, scoring 5.5 out of 6 and is the New York State Middle School Champion.
Royal Buchanan finished in 2nd place on tie breaks, scoring 5 points out of 6.
Michael Li finished in 3rd place on tie breaks, scoring 5 points out of 6.
Aaron Kudryavsky finished in 5th place on tie breaks, scoring 5 points out of 6.
Jason Jiang finished in 6th place on tie breaks, scoring 5 points out of 6.
Aditeya Das finished in 7th place on tie breaks, scoring 5 points out of 6.
Wyatt Wong finished in 8th place on tie breaks, scoring 5 points out of 6.
Max Chang finished in 9th place, scoring 4.5 out of 6 points.
Elementary Championship
Suvan Baranwal finished in 3rd place on tie breaks but tied for 1st place, scoring 5.5 out of 6.
Linxi Zhu finished in 4th place on tie breaks, scoring 5 points out of 6.
Ishaan Rajendran finished in 6th place on tie breaks, scoring 5 points out of 6.
Elliot Goodrich finished in 7th place on tie breaks, scoring 5 points out of 6.
Austin Zhao finished in 8th place on tie breaks, scoring 5 points out of 6.
Eden You finished in 9th place on tie breaks, scoring 5 points out of 6.
Primary Championship
Lev Shangin finished in clear 1st place scoring a perfect 6 out of 6 points and is the New York State Primary Champion.
Chenxuan Ling finished in 2nd place on tie breaks, scoring 5 points out of 6.
Lucas Yang finished in 3rd place on tie breaks, scoring 5 out of 6.
Raza Patel finished in 5th place on tie breaks, scoring 5 out of 6.
Umar Mansurov finished in 6th place on tie breaks, scoring 4.5 out of 6.
Ethan Kim finished in 8th place on tie breaks, scoring 4.5 out of 6.
Ryan Hao finished in 10th place on tie breaks, scoring 4.5 out of 6.
K-1 Championship
Jingsi Qiao Richardson finished in clear 1st place with a perfect 6 out of 6 points and is the New York State K-1 Champion.
Darren Wu finished in 2nd place on tie breaks, scoring 5 out of 6.
Ian Avery Singh finished in 3rd place on tie breaks, scoring 5 out of 6.
Abigail Zhou finished in 4th place on tie breaks, scoring 5 out of 6.
Thomas Egelhof finished in 5th place on tie breaks, scoring 5 out of 6 points.
Finally, we would love to expand our new library for members with new books, and also would like to have a book sale. If you would like to donate books to our library or for a future book sale, please email td@marshallchessclub.org with "Book Donation" in the subject line.
— Greg Keener, Editor of the Spectator
King's Kibitzes: Out of Turn
MCC member FM Asa Hoffman’s fantastic recent memoir The Last Gamesman includes an anecdote in which he seizes the chance to make two moves in a row against an unpleasant opponent:
I had a similar experience in the following game:
NN - Alex King
Memphis Chess Club 2016
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 Bb4 7.Bd2 Nf6 8.Bd3 Nc6 9.Nb3 Be7 10.Qe2 d6
My opponent, a hyperactive kid who played quickly and squirmed around to stare at other players instead of paying attention to his own game, kept forgetting to hit his clock, and each time this occurred I waited to make my move until he remedied his error. But here he was so inattentive that he didn’t even notice I had made my move. When his wandering gaze finally returned to the board, he, like Asa’s opponent, assumed that his clock was running accidentally, and pressed it without making a move. After a brief consideration, I made the same decision as Asa - to make a second move in a row:
11…O-O 12.h4 b5 13.O-O-O Ne5 14.f3 b4 15.Nb1 a5 16.g4 Nxd3+ 17.Qxd3 Ba6 18.Qe3 Rfc8 19.c3 Nd7 20.h5 Ne5 21.Qf2 Nd3+ 0-1
I make no moral excuse for my action, but for what it’s worth, the extra move did not make a difference in the objective evaluation of the position - White was still fine, and only got into trouble later.
Indeed, it is often the case that a wasted turn is not fatal. Some openings even voluntarily waste a tempo or more, e.g. the “Brooklyn Variation” of the Alekhine Defense (as dubbed by MCC member GM Joel Benjamin) - 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Ng8!? when White has effectively been granted the two free moves 1.e4 and 2.e5.
Obviously, gifting your opponent too many free turns is ill-advised, as in the following example from Mega Database played by Asa himself:
Asa Hoffmann - Jain Jeet
Online blitz, 9 Jun 2022
1.d4 Nh6 2.e4 Ng8 3.Nc3
Now Black reverts to a Modern Defense, which is somewhat risky even without a two-move handicap. His cheeky experiment does not turn out well:
3…d6 4.f4 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nd7 7.h4 h5 8.Ng5 Ngf6 9.Bc4 e6 10.Bxe6 fxe6 11.Nxe6 Qe7 12.Nxc7+ Kd8 13.Nxa8 Nxe4 14.Nd5 Qf7 15.Nac7 Ng3 16.Rh3 Nf5 17.Bf2 a6 18.Qd3 b5 19.O-O-O Bb7 20.Kb1 Bxd5 21.Nxa6 Bxa2+ 22.Ka1 Bc4 23.Qc3 Qd5 24.Re1 Qa8 25.Qa5+ 1-0
But in another online game, even a much bigger tempo handicap was not insurmountable for the heavy rating favorite:
Sultan Al Zaabi - Daniil Dubov
Online blitz, 7 Dec 2022
1.d4 Na6 2.e4 Nb8 3.Nf3 Na6 4.Bd3 Nb8
Stockfish running on my laptop already gives White a winning advantage here.
5.O-O Na6 6.Re1 Nb8 7.Nbd2 Na6 8.Nf1 Nb8 9.Ng3 Na6 10.e5 Nb8 11.Ng5
11…e6
GM Dubov finally rouses himself from hibernation. He proceeds to survive the impending catastrophe and eventually “turn” the tables:
12.Nxh7 Be7 13.Qg4 g6 14.Bxg6 d5 15.Bxf7+ Kxf7 16.Qf3+ Ke8 17.Qh5+ Kd7 18.Qg6 Nc6 19.Qg7 Rxh7 20.Qxh7 Nxd4 21.c4 dxc4 22.Bg5 c5 23.Ne4 Kc6 24.Bxe7 Nxe7 25.Rad1 Nd5 26.Nd6 b6 27.h4 Ba6 28.h5 Qg8 29.Qe4 Rf8 30.h6 Nf3+ 31.Kf1 Nxe1 32.h7 c3+ 33.Kxe1 Qg7 34.bxc3 Rf4 0-1
Allowing extra turns at the start of the game was once a common form of odds in the pre-tournament era when the main form of chess activity was casual, often non-standardized play at the local club or cafe. Remnants of this heterodox tradition persisted into the modern era, as recalled in another passage from Asa’s book:
This “five moves in a row (but not past the center)” arrangement reminded me of a story from one of my favorite chess books, the anthology The Best in Chess. The piece, “The Immortal Emanuel” by Daniel Fidlow, is about the game Tartakower-Lasker, New York 1924, imagining a fanciful backstory where Lasker granted Tartakower six consecutive turns in the middlegame:
Original publication in Oct 1961 issue of Chess Review magazine
In chess problemry, a sequence of multiple consecutive moves for the same side is called a “series”, as in this “seriesmate” in eight moves:
Ziva Tomic, Mat 1978
Seriesmate in 8
Solution: f4 // f5 // f6 // f7 // f8=R! (to avoid checking the Black king, which would terminate the series) // Kf7 // Kf6 // Rh8#
The series is the basis for the variant “progressive chess”, in which after White’s first move Black plays a two-move series, after which White plays a three-move series, and so on. Here is an example game which I played over email with a fellow Marshall member and progressive enthusiast:
NN - Alex King
Progressive chess 2015
1.e4
2…e5 // …d5
3.Qg4 // Qxc8 // Qxd8+
4…Kxd8 // …dxe4 // …Nf6 // …Nc6
5.d3 // Bg5 // Kd2 // dxe4 // Bxf6+
6…gxf6 // …f5 // …f4 // …f3 // …fxg2 // …gxf1=N+
7.Kd3 // Nf3 // Rxf1 // Rg1 // Rg8 // Rxh8 // Rxf8+
8…Ke7 // …Rxf8 // …Rg8 // …Rg1 // …Rxb1 // …Rxb2 // …Rxa2 // …Rxa1
9.Kc3 // Kb2 // Kxa1 // Kb2 // Kb3 // Nxe5 // Nxf7 // Ng5 // Nxh7
Here I found a neat sequence to vacuum up White’s remaining pieces while avoiding giving check (which would forfeit the remainder of my turn):
10…Nb4 // …Nxc2 // …Ne3 // …Ng4 // …Nxh2 // …Ng4 // …Nxf2 // …Nxe4 // …Nf6 // …Nxh7 0-1
On rare occasions, getting to take multiple extra turns not only is of no benefit but is harmful. This is essentially an extended form of zugzwang, where each “free” move does damage to one’s own position and brings the opponent closer to victory. Here is an elegant composed example:
Josef Krejcik, Deutsches Wochenschach 1913
White to move and win
If Black’s king ever retreats to h4, White’s king will advance to g2 and capture Black’s h-pawn, which in turn will liberate White’s bishop to maneuver around and capture d3 followed by other Black pawns. But Black doesn’t have to move his king - yet!
1.Ke1 Kh4 2.Kd1 Kh3 3.Kc1 Kh4 4.Kb1 Kh3 5.Ka2 Kh4 6.Ka1! Kh3 7.Kb1
Triangulation. (By the way, TRIANGLE = INTEGRAL.)
7…Kh4 8.Kc1 Kh3 9.Kd1 Kh4 10.Ke1 Kh3 11.Kf1 d5
White’s long kingwalk around the a1-cul-de-sac has resulted in effectively “passing” the move from the initial position and obliging Black to burn a tempo with a pawn move. White now repeats this 11-move process six more times, until Black has no spare pawn moves remaining:
12.Ke1 Kh4 13.Kd1 Kh3 14.Kc1 Kh4 15.Kb1 Kh3 16.Ka1 Kh4 17.Ka2 Kh3 18.Kb1 Kh4 19.Kc1 Kh3 20.Kd1 Kh4 21.Ke1 Kh3 22.Kf1 d4 23.Ke1 Kh4 24.Kd1 Kh3 25.Kc1 Kh4 26.Kb1 Kh3 27.Ka2 Kh4 28.Ka1 Kh3 29.Kb1 Kh4 30.Kc1 Kh3 31.Kd1 Kh4 32.Ke1 Kh3 33.Kf1 d6 34.Ke1 Kh4 35.Kd1 Kh3 36.Kc1 Kh4 37.Kb1 Kh3 38.Ka2 Kh4 39.Ka1 Kh3 40.Kb1 Kh4 41.Kc1 Kh3 42.Kd1 Kh4 43.Ke1 Kh3 44.Kf1 b6 45.Ke1 Kh4 46.Kd1 Kh3 47.Kc1 Kh4 48.Kb1 Kh3 49.Ka2 Kh4 50.Ka1 Kh3 51.Kb1 Kh4 52.Kc1 Kh3 53.Kd1 Kh4 54.Ke1 Kh3 55.Kf1 b5 56.Ke1 Kh4 57.Kd1 Kh3 58.Kc1 Kh4 59.Kb1 Kh3 60.Ka2 Kh4 61.Ka1 Kh3 62.Kb1 Kh4 63.Kc1 Kh3 64.Kd1 Kh4 65.Ke1 Kh3 66.Kf1 d5 67.Ke1 Kh4 68.Kd1 Kh3 69.Kc1 Kh4 70.Kb1 Kh3 71.Ka2 Kh4 72.Ka1 Kh3 73.Kb1 Kh4 74.Kc1 Kh3 75.Kd1 Kh4 76.Ke1 Kh3 77.Kf1
Mission accomplished: Black now must move his king, after which White breaks through and wins easily.
77…Kh4 78.Kg2 Kh5 79.Kxh2 1-0
To conclude, I offer the reader this somewhat “trick”-y seriesmate exercise:
Unknown
Seriesmate in 8 - White’s 8 moves must all be with the same piece
Happy solving! Until next month…
— FM Alex King, Spectator Columnist and Integral Serialist
Across the Table: Miles Lee
Q: When did you start playing chess and how did you learn?
A: I was born and raised in New Zealand, which is not a country with a strong chess culture. When I was five, my Grandpa bought a small box plastic set home, which also contained a small chess book with instructions on how to play, as well as beautiful pictures of chess pieces from different collections and an annotated sample game. My family learnt how to play from this book. Both my Grandpa and Dad were decent amateur Chinese Chess players, so they picked up chess quickly and we would play at home.
Later, after I had got the basics, I started taking weekend kids' classes at the local community center. My first memorable teacher was FM Ewen Green, a renowned instructor in New Zealand. He made chess very interesting with little stories, about for example why 1. b4 is known as the Orangutan. (Apparently, on a visit to a zoo, some Grandmasters learnt that most Orangutans are left-handed, so they thought it would be a fitting name for a left-wing pawn push.) In my childhood, I would then play mostly scholastic events, and occasionally one non-scholastic event each year.
Around my teenage years, I switched to attending chess classes with a family friend, John Zhang. We would play through and analyze famous games as well as student games, as well as play amongst ourselves or against the instructor. I didn't play many tournament games during this time, so I hardly, if ever, brought any games to analyze. Through these lessons I was able to pick up a greater understanding and appreciation for the game. Unfortunately, towards my later high school years, I stopped taking lessons and played less frequently to focus more on my academics.
I picked up chess again later during college, mostly using online resources, such as video analysis, live commentary, and opening databases, as well as by studying and analyzing chess on my own. My chess club friends in college were also great sparring partners and would sometimes show me instructive games from their own experiences. It was one of these friends that first brought me to the Marshall in 2019. I am still good friends with some of them now, even three years after graduating, and we sometimes meet up to play some casual or training games.
Q: How long have you been a member of the club?
A: I joined the Marshall Chess club on a trial membership in 2020, when I was still a college student. Unfortunately, the pandemic broke out, and I was not able to come back to the Marshall to play until early 2022. Since then, I have mostly been signing up for the trial membership, whenever I feel inspired to play more serious OTB games. So depending on how you count it, I've been an on and off member for 3 years, or I have only just rejoined last December.
Q: What's your favorite opening trap?
A: I like this trap in the Quade Variation of the King's Gambit Accepted:
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Nc3 g4 5. Ne5 Qh4+ 6. g3 fxg3 7. Qxg4 g2+? It looks like black is winning a rook! 8. Qxh4 gxh1=Q 9. Qh5!
Black sacrifices a queen and promotes a new one while taking a rook and neglecting development. White will develop with tempi, ideally castle queenside and attack the weak f7 and c7 points in Black's camp. The funny thing is that the only master's game that reached this position actually only ended in a draw, since white was greedy and picked up the h8 rook and be a couple of pawns up instead of playing for the initiative.
I've had this trap sprung on my opponents a handful of times in blitz, and I think I have won all the games.
Q: Any great game you've played at the Marshall you'd like to share?
A: You can see the game with my annotations below.
I've shared a blitz game I played against WGM Dina Belenkaya during her visit to the club in late January, which was published in the February 8th issue of the Marshall Spectator.
This time, I would like to share a game I played against the legendary Iron Man of Chess, IM Jay Bonin, that I played in a Thursday Action on January 30th 2020, my third event at the club. I had been outplayed by IM Bonin a few days before that game, and I was certainly intimidated going into this game. Fortunately for me this time, I played probably one of the most accurate games in my life. This was the first time I had won a game against an IM in OTB play, and it certainly gave me a boost in confidence going up against titled opposition.
Q: What about yourself would you like other members to know, that we may not know! Any surprising facts?
A: I was technically a professional chess player for the month of July 2019! I was working as a research lab assistant in college during that summer, but I was able to step away for a couple of weekends to go play in the Philadelphia Open U2000, and Manhattan Open U2000, which I came 1st= and clear 1st in respectively. I also picked up the mixed doubles prize in Philadelphia. The prize money was slightly more than what I earned that month in the lab, so chess turned out to be my main source of income for that brief period in my life.
IM Jay Bonin vs Miles Lee
Marshall Chess Club
(You can play through the game here.)
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Going for a Catalan 4... Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. Nbd2!?
A very rare sideline, according to the database, this occurs less than in 1% of the games. I had not seen this move before. White intends to recapture on c4 with the b2 knight. It is possible to transpose into something more commonly seen if Black goes for a more closed setup with 6. ... c6 and for example 7. Qc2
6... c5! I took my time here and chose the most active move. Without the knight heading to c3, there is less pressure on d5, and less need for ... c6. I aim for the most harmonious setup with ... c5 and ... Nc6.
7. cxd5 Nxd5 All three recaptures are playable, and so was ... cxd4. I didn't really consider ... Qxd5 due to 8. O-O and I didn't like having the queen opposite the LSB. I didn't like exd5 either, as 8. dxc5 leaves me with an IQP, and with a safe king, this would allow white great chances to outplay me in the long run. I felt my choice offered me the most dynamic chances. However, I would have to work to develop my LSB.
8. O-O Nc6 Developing and pressuring the d4 pawn. This is most natural, and the only move (played 5 times) in the database. However, in fact: (8... cxd4 9. Nxd4 e5! 10. N4f3 Nc6 allows black to develop the LSB to e6, solving black's most difficult issue in these Catalan positions)
9. Nc4 Discovered defense of the d4 pawn. Instead the tension can be favorably resolved with: (9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Qc2 Qe7 11. a3 and white may later gain a tempo with Ne4 )
9... Nb6!? Discovered attack of the d4 pawn! White must exchange knights, or go a pawn down.
10. Nxb6 (10. Nce5 Nxd4 11. Nxd4 cxd4 12. a4 with a little compensation for the pawn. Black still has an issue developing the bad LSB)
10... Qxb6 11. dxc5 Bxc5 This is what I was aiming for after 9. ... Nb6. Black has easy development from here. The rooks will reach d8 and c8 quickly, and the LSB will pivot to a better diagonal via d7.
12. a3 This is ambitious, trying to develop the DSB on the long diagonal.
12... Rd8 13. Qc2 Nd4! A fork that brings my king's bishop to its long diagonal.
14. Nxd4 Bxd4 15. e3?! This blocks in the DSB, which becomes a difficult practical problem for white to solve.
15... Bf6 Maintaining pressure on b2
16. Rb1?! Defending the b2 pawn to develop the DSB. Unfortunately it turns out the rook is vulnerable here. Instead white can in fact develop the DSB directly: (16. Bd2 Qxb2 17. Qxb2 Bxb2 18. Ba5! probably the move that white missed from afar. 18... Bxa1 19. Bxd8 Black is up a pawn, but like white, will probably have to give up the b-pawn to activate the queen's bishop. )
16... Bd7! Simple and good. Black has solved the issue of developing the queen's bishop. I started feeling optimistic around here.
17. Qe4 If white brings out the queen's bishop as well: (17. Bd2 Bb5! 18. Rfd1 Bd3 Skewers the rook on b1. This is why 16. Rb1 is inaccurate.)
17... Bc6 Forcing off the LSBs.
18. Qb4 Qxb4 19. axb4 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 Rac8 Ironically, in this Catalan, it is White who is struggling to develop the queen's bishop, and it is Black's king's bishop that stares down the long diagonal. With rooks on the open files, every black piece is more active than its white counterpart.
21. e4!? White gives up a pawn to activate the queen's bishop.
21... Rc4 A simple fork, black's dynamic advantage finally collects some material. The pressure on white continues though.
22. f3 Rxb4 23. Rf2 Intending to activate the rook via c2 and bolstering the defense of c2.
23... h5 Making luftloch for my king, so that my d8 rook can activate without having to worry about a future Rc8+.
24. h4 Rd3 This prepares either to double on the b-file, or on the 3rd rank.
25. Bg5 Finally white's queen's bishop activates, but the activity is short lived.
25... Bd4! Keeping the bishops on and gaining a tempo.
26. Rc2 Rbb3 Hitting the f3-pawn which is difficult to defend.
27. Rc8+ Instead, if White tries to save the kingside: (27. Rf1 Bxb2 28. Rb1 Bd4 -b2 falls and with connected passers, this should be a win for black.)
27... Kh7 28. Rd8 f6 The bishop is kicked back to its starting square.
29. Bc1 e5 30. Ra1 Rxf3 White's kingside is collapsing, and he has no counter-play. My opponent graciously resigned here. 0-1
— Miles Lee, Marshall Chess Club Member
Chess Toons
En Passant
– Day 3 of the American Cup saw four players eliminated from the tournament, as the first matches of the Elimination Bracket took place. Levon Aronian knocked out Sam Sevian, while Sam Shankland won a hotly contested playoff against Ray Robson. Meanwhile, in the women’s section, Tatev Abrahamyan took down Katerina Nemcova, while newcomer WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan sent Anna Zatonskih home with a 1½-½ victory
– The European Women’s Chess Championship is taking place on March 17-30 at the Hotel Palas in Petrovac, Montenegro. The event features 136 players from 34 federations. The top 9 players in the final standings will get a spot in the next edition of the FIDE Women’s World Cup.
– The UK vs Ukraine Solidarity Match is an 8 game match in London between Michael Adams and Andrei Volokitin. Games 1-4 are to be held at the Ukrainian Embassy in Holland Park, and games 5- 8 being played from the offices of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Canary Wharf.
– Paul Morphy famously said "The ability to play chess is the sign of a gentleman. The ability to play chess well is the sign of a wasted life." Check out Nate Solon's Substack, Zwischenzug, where he recently wrote an article that begins with the question, "Is Chess A Waste Of Time?"
Problem of the Week
W. A. Shinkman, 1880
White to selfmate in 3.
(White moves first and forces Black, on its third move, to mate White.)
W. A. Shinkman and Sam Loyd rank as the greatest of American chess composers of the 19th Century. Here is a ChatGPT translation of this Wikipedia entry in German:
William Anthony Shinkman was an important American chess composer, born on December 25th, 1847, in Reichenberg, Bohemia (now Liberec, Czech Republic), and passed away on May 25th, 1933, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He also worked under the pseudonym M. Ham Nawkins. At the age of 6, he came to Baltimore as a child of Bohemian immigrants named Tschinkman. Later, he lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he initially worked as an insurance and real estate agent before joining the city administration in 1893.
Together with his contemporary Samuel Loyd, he was the most famous chess composer in the USA in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work includes over 3,500 chess problems, making him one of the most productive composers ever. 672 of them are included in the collection "The Golden Argosy," published in 1929 by Alain Campbell White. The preface to this book was written by Shinkman's nephew, Otto Wurzburg, who was also a significant composer. Because of his ingenuity, Shinkman was also called "The Wizard of Great Rapids."
You can pick up a copy of The Golden Argosy for a mere few hundred dollars.
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K. Flatt, 1924
White to selfmate in 2
Solution to K. Flatt, 1924: 1. Ra7! And now if 1...Bb8 then 2. Ra8, followed by self-mate. What's not to love?
—Alexander George, Marshall Chess Club Member
Editor's Note
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