The Marshall Spectator
In This Issue:
From The Skittles Room
King's Kibitzes, by FM Alex King
From The Archives, by Greg Keener
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.
Last Tuesday on June 6, GM Sam Shankland gave a lecture and simultaneous display at the Marshall Chess Club that was widely attended. Marshall Member William Guskind wrote a fantastic review of the event, including many pgn's of games played and posted it on chess.com. I highly recommend that you check out his article here.
One of the most interesting games was played by Alexandra Lussie, who beat GM Sam Shankland from the black side of a Czech Benoni! If you're unfamiliar with the Czech Benoni and would like to learn about it, I can't help but recommend a book on the opening authored by former Marshall Chess Club board member FM Asa Hoffmann and myself based mostly on Asa's own games entitled "The Czech Benoni in Action." If you missed the event, you can view it in its entirety here.
For more details about upcoming 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 Sunday Game 50 Open on June 11 had 52 players registered and finished with a tie for first place between FM Justin Chen and FM Brewington Hardaway who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 each to win $255 each. The remaining class prize was shared by Raymond Soriano-Pereira, Aidan Amin, Carlos Rodas and Summer Loh scored 2.5 out of 4 and won $38.25 each for their effort.
The Sunday Game 50 Under 1600 on June 11 had 20 players registered and was won by Benny Rosenzweig who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win the $117 first place prize. There was a 3-way tie for the remaining prize funds between Carlos Chavez, Alex Jacobs and Ari Hoffman who scored 3 out of 4 and earned $44.33 each.
The Rated Beginner Open on June 11 had 33 players registered and finished with 3 perfect scores. Nicholas Washington, Andrew Shao and Arjun K M won $133.33 each for their perfect score.
The Under 2000 Morning Action on June 10 had 28 players registered and featured a 4-way tie between Will Nieder, Maxime Jaccon, Ron Mena and Aziz Abdijalilov scored a perfect 3 out of 3. Aziz won the class prize of $84, while the other three perfect scores received $65.33 each for their performance.
The Saturday Game 50 Open on June 10 had an eye-popping 60 players registered and featured a 6-way tie for first place. GM Mark Paragua, GM Michael Rohde, Daneil Belenky, Kenneth Fernandez, Jack Yang and Tim Shvarts scored 3.5 out of 4 and won $130 each for their stellar performance.
The Saturday Game 50 Under 1800 on June 10 had 11 players registered and was won by Justin Rosales, who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to take home the $66 first place prize. Dante Mayeno scored 3 out of 4 in this event, to win the $44 second place prize while Terrain Wu and Rishan Malhotra scored 2.5 out of 4 to win $16.50 each.
The Friday Blitz on June 9 had 46 players registered and was won by IM Mykola Bortnyk who scored 8 out of 9 to win the $460 first place prize. Second place went to FM Brewington Hardaway who scored 7 out of 9 to win the $115 second place prize. FM Gus Huston, Gary Leschinsky and Roman Malyshev won $38.33 for their 6.5 out of 9 score, while Charles Hua won the class prize of $57.50 for his 6.5 out of 9 performance.
The Women and Girls’ Open is gaining in popularity with more and more players joining the event each month. On June 9, this event had 19 players registered and was won by Aileen Lou with a perfect score of 3 out of 3 who earned $108 for her performance. There was a 4-way tie for the remaining prize between Najee-Ana Walthrust, Emma Phu, Zoe Wong and Sharlene Yang who each earned $13.50 for their 2.5 out of 3 score.
The Steve Immitt Action on June 8 had 30 players registered and was won by our very own GM Raven Sturt, who finished with a perfect 4 out of 4 to take home the first place prize of $131. Vladimir Bugayev won the 2nd place prize of $66, scoring 3.5 out of 4. There was a three way tie between Kole Moses, Narayan Venkatesh and Anson Leong who scored 3 out of 4 to take home $22 each, while Daniel Hayon and Alec Choi shared the remaining prize funds winning $33 each for their 2.5 out of 4 performance.
The Premier Under 2000 that concluded on June 4 had 35 players registered and featured a two-way tie between the top scorers, Nasir Rasheed and Leqi Han who both scored 4 points out of 5 to win $248 each. Whitney Tse, Micah Scobie, Richard Pugh and Raben Goel scored 3.5 out of 5 to win $29.50 each, while Leon Chu and Robert Davis scored 2.5 points to win a class prize of $44 each.
The FIDE Premier that concluded on June 4 had 31 players registered and finished with a 4-way tie between IM Mykola Bortnyk, IM Justus Williams, IM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy and Eugene Yoo who scored 4 out of 5 each and won $247.50 for their effort. The class prize went to Daniel Johnston who scored 3.5 out of 5 and won $180 for his effort.
The Rated Beginner Open on June 4 had 44 players registered and finished with a 5-way tie for first place. Benjamin Solinsky, Brij Bhandari, Brandon Sweet, Ula Chin and Mark Klots all finished with perfect 3 out of 3 scores to win $88 for their performance.
The Under 2000 Morning Action on June 3 had 28 players registered and finished with a 3-way tie for first place, between Timothy Abbot, Nicolas Marchese and Mathew James Brady who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $93.33 for their effort.
The Steve Immitt Action on June 01 had an even 30 chess players registered to play, and was finished with a 3-way tie between IM Justus Williams, Oliver Chernin and Kole Henry Moses who finished with 3.5 out of 4 each to win $84.33 for their performance. The class prize was shared by Kai Chen, Alec Choi and Oliver Skelcher who scored 2.5 out of 4 and won $21 each for their effort. The upset prize was won by none other than Ean Fish, who scored 2 out 4 points.
The Memorial Day Action on May 29 had a whopping 52 players registered and was won by GM Aleksandr Lenderman who scored 5.5 out of 6 to win the $511 first place prize. Ted Belanoff, Haari Muthukumar and Jason Jiang scored 5 out of 6 to win $136.67 each, while Sarah Budow scored 4.5 points to take home a $154 prize for her effort.
The Sunday Game 50 Open on May 28 had 43 players registered and was won by Nick Panico and Avery Hood, who scored 3.5 out of 4 and won $215 for their effort. The remaining prizes were shared by Ken Wakida, Pat Sukhu and Ryan Chen who won $43 each for their efforts.
The Sunday Game 50 Under 1600 on May 28 had 28 players registered and finished with two players tied for first with 3.5 out of 4. Those two players were Aiden Chan and Nicolas Marchese who won $140 each for their effort. Solomon Solinsky and Chris DeDona scored 3 out of 4, winning $42 for their performance.
The Rated Beginner Open on May 28 had 43 players registered and featured a 5-way tie for first place between Isaac Varous, Rayane Chertouk, Anderson Chen, Benjamin Solinsky and Victor Regaldo who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $107.60 each.
The Saturday Game 50 Open on May 27 featured a field of 48 players and a 4-way tie. IM Justin Sarkar, Evan Rabin, Nick Panico and Abraha White scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $120 each. There were no fewer than 7 players who scored 3 points, winning $20.57 each for their performance: Anson Leong, Ari Drucker, Leo Shen, Lucas Moina, Alexandra Lussie, Audrey Zhou and Derek Zhang.
The Saturday Game 50 Under 1800 on May 27 had 23 players registered and was won by Gilberto Astor and Sharlene Yang, who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $110 each while Chris Weldon and Mason Zhu both scored 3 points to win $33 each.
The FIDE Blitz on May 26 had 35 players registered and was won by FM Marcus Miyasaka who scored a near perfect 8.5 out of 9, winning the $175 first place prize. Second place was won by Aakaash Meduri, who scored 8 points and won $88 for his efforts, while there was a 4-way tie for the remaining prize funds between Toshinori Underwood, Charles Hua, Wyatt Wong, and Naveen Paruchuri who won $44 each for their performance.
The Nick Conticello Action on May 25 had 30 players registered and was won by GM Raven Sturt and Leonadro Liu, who each scored a perfect 4 out of 4, winning $98 each for their effort.
The FIDE Thursday Open that concluded on May 25 had 26 players registered and was won by Dwight Dans, who scored 5.5 out of 6 to win the $208 first place prize. The remaining place prize funds were shared by Evan Rabin and Aritro Chakravarty who scored 4.5 and won $93.50 each for their efforts.
The Weekly Wednesday Under 2200 that concluded on May 24 had 45 players registered for the 6 week event, which was won by Dwight Dans and Rochelle Ballantyne who scored a nearly perfect 5 out of 6 to win $293.50 each. Aleksandr Gutnik and George Berg shared in the remaining place prize, winning $73.50 each for their 4.5 out of 6 performance, while Rohail Shah won the class prize of $147 for his 4 out of 6 performance.
The Weekly Wednesday Under 1600 that concluded on May 24 had 34 players registered and was won by Gary Chan who scored an impressive 5.5 points out of 6 rounds to finish in clear first and win the $258 prize. Joe Arasin finished in clear second with a score of 5 out of 6, winning $155. The 3rd place prize was shared by Kabir Mutha, Christopher DeDona, Paulo Paz who each earned $34.33 for their efforts, while the class prize was split by Dmitriy Guller and Steven Mendelsohn who scored 4 points and won $51.50 for their effort.
To see these and all recent results, please visit the results page.
When I first began reporting on the biggest rating gainers in our club, I set the bar at 100 rating points in a single event to gain a mention in the newsletter. However, over time I raised the bar to 150 rating points because there were just so many chess players gaining more than 100 rating points from a single event. For example, no fewer than 27 chess players have gained more than 100 rating points from a single tournament in the last few weeks at the Marshall Chess Club. Don’t believe me? You can see the results here.
I am worried that I might have to raise the bar again soon because in the last few weeks we have had 10 players gain 150 or more rating points from a single event: Nikki Chan (150), Skyalr Lin (154), Breeanna Fludd (160), Solomon Twin Solinsky (164), Ari Hoffman (165), Max Liu (170), Martin Daniel Salazar-Schuster (172), Aziz Abdijalilov (181), Brandon Sweet (208), and Ula Chin (221).
Want to see your rating skyrocket? There is only one way to gain rating points – play in tournaments! We hope to see you over the board soon.
Finally, we would like to remind members to take advantage of the complimentary game analysis by Grandmaster Raven Sturt at our club each Thursday at the club from 5-7pm. GM Sturt will analyze games of any member lucky enough to walk by his table holding a score sheet - free of charge!
— Greg Keener, Editor of the Marshall Spectator
King's Kibitzes
I'll Take the Check
One of King’s Kibitzes’ favorite problemists Sam Loyd dubbed the following three-mover “The Steinitz Gambit”:
Samuel Loyd
Checkmate 1903
Mate in 3
1.Ke2!! f1Q+ 2.Ke3!! and no matter what Black plays, White will reply with discovered mate by the Ra5 or the Bg7, e.g. 2…Qe1+ 3.Be2#.
This was a tribute to the then-recently-deceased first World Champion William Steinitz, and an opening variation he invented:
William Steinitz - Louis Paulsen
Baden-Baden 1870 (13)
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 exf4 4.d4!?
Seizing the center at the cost of allowing …Qh4+. This move was first played by Steinitz in 1867, and subsequently he was further emboldened:
4…Qh4+ 5.Ke2 d6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Bxf4 O-O-O 8.Ke3!?
White went on to win an impressive game.
Loyd’s problem does more than just imitate the specific sequence Ke2-Ke3 - it recognizes Steinitz’s broader idea of allowing and even inviting checks from the opponent. Rather than tuck our king away safely, we thrust him into the battle, subject to attack from all sides but somehow capable of defending himself. “I’ll take the check!”, he bellows.
Loyd was not the first composer to explore the theme of “check provocation”; this three-mover from a decade earlier demonstrates a similar idea in a sparser setting:
Alexey Troitzky
Shakhmatny Journal 1893
Mate in 3
1.Kc2! d1Q+ 2.Kb1!! and discovered mate again follows.
Loyd’s celebrated creation helped bring check provocation to wider attention, with other composers offering their own takes on it:
Philip Williams
Christmas Greeting 1904
Mate in 3
1.Kb2! a1Q+ 2.Rxa1! h1Q 3.Qxh1#!
Contrast that simplicity with the following complex example from two German composers:
Ado Kraemer & Erich Zepler
Neue Leipziger Zeitung 1935
Mate in 3
1.Ke1!!
White steps farther from the Black king onto an open file while allowing two promotions with check. But there is now a threat of 2.Ng4+ Rf6 3.Ne5#.
1…c1Q+ 2.Qxc1 followed by moving the Bc5.
1…h1Q+ 2.Qxh1 followed by moving the Rd5.
1…Rfe8+ 2.Nxe8+ Nxh6 3.Rd6#
and most delightful of all: 1…Rae8+ 2.Nxe8+ Rf6 3.d8N#!
We can invite multiple checks from the opponent in the more urgent two-mover format as well:
Otto Wurzburg
American Chess Bulletin 1942
Mate in 2
1.Kc2!! with the following possibilities:
1…b3+ 2.Nxb3#
1…R5g2+ 2.N3e2#
1…R1g2+ 2.N1e2#
1…Bf5 2.Ne4#
1…bxc3 2.Bxc3#
Like Troitzky anticipating Loyd, Wurzburg’s multiple-check-provoking two-mover also had an earlier role model:
Godfrey Heathcote
Norwich Mercury 1907
Mate in 2
1.Ke5!!
Not only allowing four different checks, but also stepping into a quadruple self-pin!
The threat is discovered mate, e.g. 1…d2 2.Kd4#.
The checks are all similarly met with recaptures by the king, e.g. 1…Qxf6+ 2.Kxf6#.
In a beautiful added touch, various attempts to block the discovered mate all unpin one of White’s pieces, e.g. 1…Ne3 2.Ng3#.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, check provocation has also been successfully demonstrated in longer “moremover” problems:
Baldur Kozdon
Freie Presse 1972
Mate in 7
The direct 1.Rg2? (threatening 2.Rg8#) is defeated by 1…Ng3! 2.Rxg3 Bg4 and there is no way through. So first White slightly discombobulates Black’s pieces: 1.Ke7!! (threatening 2.Rf8#) 1…Ba3+ 2.b4! Bxb4+ 3.Kf7 Bc3 and now the original idea works: 4.Rg2 Ng3 5.Rxg3 Bg4 6.Rxc3! and 7.Bg7#.
The same idea is shown in humorously elaborate form here:
Godehard Murkisch
Europe Echecs 1969
Mate in 11
Again the direct method does not work: 1.Kc8? (threatening 2.Bxb7#) is parried by 1…Nc4. But there is a way to block the b-file first: 1.Ke7!! (threatening 2.d8Q#) 1…Bb4+ 2.Kf6! Bc3+ 3.Kg5! Bd2+ 4.Kh4! Be1+ 5.Qf2!! (the same discoordinating sacrifice as 2.b4! in the previous problem) Bxf2+ 6.Kg5 Be3+ 7.Kf6 Bd4+ 8.Ke7 Bc5+ 9.Kd8 Bb6 10.Kc8! and 11.Bxb7# since the b-file is now obstructed.
As with the three-mover and the two-mover, the check-provocation moremover had a significantly earlier antecedent, and this one is hard to top:
Frederic Lazard
Dresdner Anzeiger 1926
Mate in 12
1.Kg3! f4+ 2.Kg4! f5+ 3.Kg5! Bf6+ 4.Kxf6 Rf7+ 5.Kxe6 Rfe7+ 6.Kd6 Nxc8+ 7.Kc5 Rb5+ 8.Kc4 Nb6+ 9.Kc3 Rc5+ 10.Kd2 Nc4+ 11.Ke2 (threatening 12.Nf2#) 11…f3+ 12.gxf3#
White provoked eleven consecutive checks!
If you’d like to test your grasp of the check-provocation theme, try to solve the following three exercises. Solutions are at the end of the article.
Otto Wurzburg
Loyd Memorial 1914
Mate in 3
Ado Kraemer
Rommig Tourney 1955
Mate in 3
Rod Sutherland
Problemist 1981
Mate in 4
Solutions:
Wurzburg 1914: 1.Ke2!! meeting 1…Ra2+/1…Re6+ with 2.Bd2+/2.Be3+ followed by 3.Qc1#
Kraemer 1955: 1.Kf8!! f1Q+ 2.Rf2! followed 3.Bf3#. But not 1.Kf7? f1Q+ 2.Rf2 Qc4+!
Sutherland 1981: 1.Ke2! d1Q+ 2.Kf2!! when Rh6# is unstoppable within two moves.
Until next month!
— FM Alex King, Spectator Columnist and Check Provocateur
From the Archives
If you're a regular reader of our fortnightly bulletin then you may have enjoyed our interview with long time member and former board member Mitch Fitzko in a previous issue. Mitch was the editor of a club newsletter in 2007, entitled The Marshall Lore, which had only a few issues before losing steam. A question posed to Mitch in that interview was the following: Do you know of any other old Marshall newsletters that may have existed?
His answer: I don't, but maybe other members do.
So, I asked some other members. And they did.
Searching through our digitized archives for chess gems from the past, our editorial staff uncovered the MARSHALL CHESS NEWS, a club bulletin dating back to the fall of 1989. Not exactly the dead sea scrolls, but nonetheless a publication from more than 34 years ago when our club - our world - was a very different place. This was a time when George H.W. Bush was president, Ed Koch was the mayor of NYC, Janet Jackson's "Miss You Much" was at the top of the charts, Look Who's Talking and Back to the Future II were in theaters and under the novel policy of Perestroika, Nathan's Famous opened a hot dog stand in Moscow. Garry Kasparov was the world chess champion and Robert Sulman would be that year's Marshall Chess Club Champion.
In this newsletter you can find recaps of interesting games, an update on a fundraiser, a list of upcoming events and by far my favorite detail - that it cost $1.00.
Dear reader, it brings me immense pleasure to inform you that the MARSHALL CHESS NEWS vol.1 no.4 can be enjoyed in its entirety for free here.
— Greg Keener, Editor of the Marshall Spectator
Chess Toons
En Passant
– The FIDE World Cup, a knock-out chess extravaganza held every two years, will celebrate its 10th edition in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 30 July to 24 August 2023. Many of the participants in the open and the women’s sections have confirmed their presence. Heading the open will be Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana, while the women’s event will have Humpy Koneru, Ju Wenjun and Aleksandra Goryachkina as the top seeds.
– A final-round win over long-time leader Fabiano Caruana gave Hikaru Nakamura outright victory at the 11th edition of the Norway Chess super-tournament. Nakamura scored three wins and no losses in his nine classical games, which allowed him to climb to the second spot in the live ratings list. Caruana finished second, while 17-year-old Dommaraju Gukesh impressed by grabbing third place.
– The Cairns Cup is taking place on June 3-12 at the Saint Louis Chess Club. Humpy Koneru, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Harika Dronavalli are the top seeds in the 10-player single round-robin with a classical time control. The event will feature one of the strongest female fields, as they compete for a total prize fund of $180,000.
– Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura are set to compete in the Play-In for the Aimchess Rapid, the 4th event on the $2 million+ 2023 Champions Chess Tour. It takes place on Chess.com on June 12 and will decide who joins Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Jorden van Foreest and Vladimir Fedoseev in the main event that runs July 10-14.
– Nine-year-old FM Faustino Oro has been dubbed the "Messi of Chess" by Argentinian media as he made history as the youngest player to ever break the 2300 rating barrier.
Problem of the Week
Richard Reti, 1922
White to play and win.
First question: 1.Nb4+ followed by a6? Or, 1.Nd4+? Once you've worked that out, how is White to make any progress?
----------------
G. Hume (after J. Bunting), 1924
White to move
White to mate in 2.
Solution to G. Hume (after J. Bunting), 1924: 1.Rb8 (R) Rxa5 (P), 2.c8=Q# (F). If 1...Rc4, 2.Bb4# (D). If 1...Bxb8, 2.cxb8=N#. And 1...Bxb6, 2.Rxb6#.
- Puzzle submission by Alexander George, Marshall Chess Club Member
Editor's Note
As always, if you have any feedback, comments, or would like to submit an article please contact us directly at td@marshallchessclub.org.
Enjoy, and thanks for reading!
The Marshall Chess Club
Address: 23 West Tenth Street New York, NY 10011
Contact: 212.477.3716; td@marshallchessclub.org
Hours: Monday 1pm-Midnight; Tuesday - Closed, Weds-Fri 1pm-Midnight; Sat/Sun 9am-Midnight
