The Marshall Spectator

April 1, 2026

In This Issue:
From The Skittles Room
Endgame Corner, by IM Silas Lund
Simul Victory Analyzed, by Club President Luka Glinsky
Chess Toons
En Passant
Problems, Problems, curated by Alexander George
Editor’s Note

Welcome back, fellow chess players, to this edition of the Marshall Chess Club’s fortnightly bulletin, The Marshall Spectator.

This weekend, the National High School Championship took place in Chicago, Illinois, and featured many of the best up and coming players of this generation. Accordingly, the Marshall was well represented, with many of our regular members participating in this high-stakes event across all sections. We would like to congratulate the winners: The Championship section concluded with a 4-way tie between Columbia Grammar Preparatory School, Stuyvesant High School, Arizona College Prep, and Dalton, with CGPS taking the top spot on tie-breaks. Top scorers from those teams included Tanitoluwa Adewumi and Megan Paragua, who scored 5.5 out of 7 for the CGPS team, FM Aditeya Das who scored an impressive 6 out of 7 for Stuyvesant, Matthew James who scored 5.5 out of 7 for Arizona Prep, And Elliot Goodrich and William Safranek who scored 5.5 out of 7 each for the Dalton School. Finally, we would also like to congratulate Rose Atwell and Eric Chang Liu who tied for first-place individually with a near-perfect 6.5 out of 7 score, though it was Rose Atwell who got first place on tie-breaks. I asked several coaches and tournament directors, and no one could remember the last time a female had won the event, so it is possible that Rose made history as the first female to ever win the High School Nationals Tournament - a result made all the more special that it happened on the last weekend of March, which is Women’s History Month.

Last week, we hosted gm-elect Liam Putnam for a lecture, conversation, and a 26-board simul. All proceeds from the event will support The Kibera Knights, helping to develop chess programs for young players in Nairobi, Kenya. If you were unable to attend the event, you will be able to see the Lecture and presentation here very soon.

Looking ahead to next month, we’re thrilled to welcome Jennifer Shahade back to the Marshall Chess Club for a lecture and book signing for her newest book Thinking Sideways.

Looking further ahead, Marshall Chess Club member Nkosi Nkululeko is releasing his new poetry collection, Corresponding Squares. He will be in conversation with NM Jerald Times about his work, followed by an interactive workshop where participants will create their own “square poem.”

Date: Tuesday, April 28 - Time: 6:30 PM

Later this year, we’re looking forward to a visit from Sofia Polgár, who will be joining us on May 19th, along with renowned chess photographer David Llada for our inaugural Chess and Arts Fair. It promises to be a memorable event, and we look forward to celebrating this special occasion with all of you.

Looking back over the last two weeks, we have had a plethora of events for our members to participate in.

The Sunday Quads on March 29 had an astounding 93 players registered and featured dozens of winners. The following players won their quad and the top prize of $70: Alec Hyunmook Choi, Jin Ma, Zhuoyuan Ryan Xu, David Campbell, Jesse Lee, Sebastian Goodrich, Takki Tanaka, Lisa Sun, Yunhui Ma, Abeer Sethi, Declan Campbell, Justin Scott Rosales, David J Yoo, Noah Chen, Laksh Metha, and Isaac Carbajal. Brennan Campbell won the small swiss and with it a $75 top prize, while the following players won $35 for sharing in the top prize of their quad: Grayson Xiang, Julian Ma, Farirai Gumbe, Aileen Lou, Patrick Luo, and Muin Sayfiddinov. The following players split the quad prize 3-ways, winning $23.33 each: FM Arun Dixit, Winsley Wu, CM Sasha Milo Schaefer, Asher Mills Timothy Tran, and Oscar Naoki Finkin. Finally, there was one quad with a 4-way tie with each player scoring 1.5 out of 3, yielding the following 4 players a $17.50 prize each: Emma Leon, Preston Liu, Mason Isaac Wang, and Adele M Clifton.

The Rated Beginner Open on March 29 had 43 players registered and was won by Jude Mahmoud, Edgar Lievano, Dawson Williams, and John Delucia who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $134.50 each.

The Morning Under 1600 on March 29 had 25 players registered and was won by Daniel Gene Messer, Oliver Chan, and Arnav Harish Abichandani who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win the $146 first-place prize.

The Morning Masters on March 28 had 8 players registered and was won by FM Arun Dixit who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $70, while Kevin James Hass scored 2 out of 3 to win the $53 second-place prize.

The Saturday Game 50 Open on March 28 had 31 players registered and was won by Leandro Nicholas Ulloa Centeno who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win $248 each, while Lucas Lu won $168 for his 3.5 out of 4 score, and Anthony Li won $128 for his 3 out of performance.

The Saturday Game 50 Under 1800 on March 28 had 51 players registered and was won by Kyle Cheng who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win $400, while Godon Sun and Harrison Moscona won $238 each for their 3.5 out of 4 score.

The Under 2000 Morning Action on March 28 had 61 players registered and was won by the following players who won $149.60 each for their perfect 3 out of 3 score: Yuxing Jack Yang, Rohit Jagga, Christopher Weldon, Skylar Lin, and Zane M Winston.

The Women & Girls’ Open on March 27 had 12 players registered and was won by Dhruthi Rao who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $72, while the following players won $7.20 each for their 2 out of 3 performance: Emma Hu, Amaira Bajaj, Yuexuan Li, Punarvika Prasanna and Joy Xiang.

The Afternoon Action on March 27 had 5 players registered and was won by FM Arun Dixit who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win the $38 first-place prize, while Kenny Bolling scored 2 out of 3 to win the $25 second-place prize.

The FIDE Blitz on March 27 had 48 players registered and was won by GM Maxim Dlugy, who scored a perfect 9 out of 9 to win the $235 first-place prize. FM Marcus Miyasaka scored 8 out of 9 to win $118, while Dave Ram Mohan scored 6.5 out of 9 to win $59. Glenn Owen Cabasso won a $59 class prize for his 6 out of 9 score, while Alec Hyunmook Choi and Ethan Kozower won $29.50 each for their 5.5 out of 9 performance, and the following players won $19.67 for their 6 out of 9 score: CM Alejandro Saez Coma, Alexic Paredes, and Roman P Malyshev.

The Thursday Open that concluded on March 26 had 30 players registered and was won by FM Marcus Ming Miyasaka who scored a near-perfect 5.5 out of 6 to win the $580 first-place prize. FM Aditeya Das scored 5 out of 6 to win $232, while NM Anthony Levin scored 4.5 out of 6 to win $116 and the following players won $77.33 each for their 3 out of 6 performance: Alan Frank McMichael, Ruari Morrison, and Ryan Lefkowitz.

The Thursday Action on March 26 had 28 players registered and was won by IM Kevin Wang, IM Jay Bonin, and Oliver Chernin who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $102.67 each. Moshe Blank and Ruslan Polovinko scored 3 out of 4 to win $35.50 each, while the following players won $17.75 each for their 2.5 out of 4 score: Milo Su, Kenny Bollin, Atharva Washimkar, and Zane M Winston.

The Morning Under 1600 on March 22 had 40 players registered and was won by Leendert Van T Riet who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win the $399 first-place prize, while Hudson Kemnitzer, Advitiya Apoorva Gunanka, Teejan Jallow, and David Porres won $66.50 each for their 2.5 out of 3 score.

The Monthly Under 1800 on March 22 had 24 players registered and was won by Timothy Tran who scored 4 out of 5 to win the $400 first-place prize, while Kyle Cheng and Srijeet Ghosh scored 3.5 out of 5 to win $140 each. Avrora Okonova and Isabella Cheng scored 2.5 out of 5 to win $60 each, while the following players shared in the remaining prize funds winning $20 each for their 3 out of 5 performance: Jia Rui Weng, William Chen, Fabrizzio Quinonez Hernandez, Kavin Vairavan, and Caroline Chu.

The Rated Beginner Open on March 22 had 39 players registered and was won by Romer Jacob Spritzer, Axel York, William Chen, and Kalil Shi who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $118.75 each.

The Monthly Under 2400 on March 22 had 74 players registered and was won by Daniel Yedidia who scored 4.5 out of 5 to win $1,217, while Grayson Xiang won a $365 class prize for his 4 out of 5 score and the following players won $264 each for the same score: FM Leif Pressman, NM Anthony Levin, CM Rachel Miller. Riju Bhattacharjee won a $365 class prize for his 3.5 out of 5 score.

The Under 2000 Morning Action on March 21 had 73 players registered and was won by Yuxing Jack Yang, Robert Thorstad, Pat Sukhum, Tolani Somefun, and Lawrence Lin who scored 3 out of 4 to win $179 each, while the following players scored 2 out of 4 to share in a class prize winning $38.40 each: Clark Shlisky, Jacky Zheng, Joseph Fermin, Katy Lee Liao, Rama Garrison Smith, Noah Ivanoff, Vasu P Varun, Olivia Kivitidi, Kemar Lynch, and Elijah Bernard.

The Morning Masters on March 21 had 13 players registered and was won by FM Aditeya Das, Richard Yi, and Evan Kauffmann who scored 2.5 out of 3 to win $70 each.

The FIDE Friday Rapid on March 20 had 24 players registered and was won by Armaan Chandragupta Jain, Dominic Nathan Paragua, and Yegna Sairam Jandhyala who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $70 each, while Noah Hsu and Jonas Flores- Zeledon scored 3 out of 4 to win $40 each. The following players shared in the remaining class prize, winning $10 each for their 1 out of 4 score: Assau Temir Mailybayev, Pei Ning Li, and Harry Flores.

The Afternoon Action on March 20 had 14 players registered and was won by IM Justin Sarkar, Jack Levine, and Aldiyar Zhandaulet who scored 2.5 out of 3 to win $58.33 each.

The Thursday Action on March 19 had 30 players registered and was won by IM Jay Bonin and FM Leif Pressman who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $127.50 each, while Oscar McNally won a $77 class prize for his 3 out of 4 score. Leandro Nicholas Ulla Centeno, Luis Ulloa, and Kevin Zhang won $51.33 each for their 3 out of 4 score.

The Marshall Masters on March 17 had 14 players registered and was won by FM Marcus Miyasaka who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $200, while FM Aditeya Das and FM Arun Dixit scored 3out of 4 to win $100.50 each. The following players won $12.50 each for their 2.5 out of 4 score: Naveen Paruchuri, Dylan Taewoong Kang, Lucas Lu, and Luis Ulloa.

The Monday FIDE that concluded on March 16 had 24 players registered and was won by FM Aditeya Das, who scored 5 out of 6 to win the $240 first-place prize, while Ethan Kozower came in second with 4.5 out of 6 to win $160. Aileen Lou won an $80 class prize for her 3 out of 6 performance, while Colin Diamond and George P Berg won $40 each for their 4 out of 6 score, and Andrew Colwell and Daisy Yuen shared in the remaining prize funds winning $20 each.

The Monday Under 1800 on March 16 had 34 players registered and was won by Gary Chan, Richard Koppenaal, Michael Bamford, and James Basuk who scored 4.5 out of 6 to win $127.75 each. Daniel Yates, Caleb Rakestraw-Morn, and Jahmar Opley shared in a class prize winning $57 each for their 3 out of 6 score.

The Sunday Game 50 Open on March 15 had 53 players registered and was won by FM Arun Dixit, Suvan Baranwal, Adrian Harrison Sommerstein, and Elit Stern who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $177.75 each, while Ruslan Polovinko won a $219 class prize for his 3 out of 4 performance.

The Morning Under 1600 on March 15 had 32 players registered and was won by Ashwin Agnihotri, Leendert Van T Riet, and Harmeet Singh Bagga who scored 3 out of 3 to win $181 each.

The Sunday Game 50 Under 1600 on March 15 had 37 players registered and was won by Samantha Edwards and Christopher Alferd who scored a near-perfect 3.5 out of 4 to win $234.50 each, while the following players won $48.33 for their 2.5 out of 4 score: Emma Leon, Milan Rajendran, and Amaira Bajaj.

The Rated Beginner Open on March 15 had 35 players registered and was won by Diane Chen Myers, Harry Chalfin, and Alan Aliyev who scored 3 out of 3 to win $141.67 each.

The Saturday Game 50 Open on March 15 had 50 players registered and was won by IM Kevin Wang, IM Jay Bonin, and Alvin Lou who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $292 each.

The Saturday Game 50 Under 1800 on March 15 had 36 players registered and was won by Asher Mills and Jia Rui Weng, who scored a near perfect 3.5 out of 4 to win $234.50 each, while the following players won $29 each for their 3 out of 4 score: Harrison Moscona, Jephson Mathew, Nikolai Varfolomeev, Skandha Raj, and Plato Zhang.

The Under 2000 Morning Action on March 14 had 68 players registered and was won by Yuxing Jack Yang, Robert Thorstad, David Gelpi, and Jayden Marc Muthu who all scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $208.25, while Jacob Adrian Gecht won a $357 class prize for his 2.5 out of 3 performance.

The Morning Masters on March 14 had 10 players registered and was won by FM Aditeya Das who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win the $100 first-place prize, while Winsley Wu, Kevin James Hass and Lucas Lu scored 2 out of 3 to win $25 each.

The FIDE Blitz on March 13 had 66 players registered and was won by GM Nico Chasin who scored a perfect 9 out of 9 to win the $330 first-place prize. FM Todd D Andrews scored 7.5 out of 9 to win $165, while FM Marcus Ming Miyasaka scored 7 points with $83. FM Aditeya Das and Sasha Arthur Kagle scored 6.5 out of 9 to win $41.50, while Viyaan Krishna Doddapaneni scored 6.5 out of 9 to win $83 and the following players won $20.75 each for their 6 out of 9 score: Denys Bashmakov, Aritro Chakravarty, Jayden Li, and Aaraav Singh.

The Women & Girls’ Open on March 13 had 6 players registered and was won by Emmi Gaskins who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win the $36 first place prize. Yaritza Sosa and Polina Sobolev scored 2 out of 3 each to win $9.

The Adults Only Tournament on March 12 had 6 entries and was won by Mark Gerstl, who scored 4.5 out of 5 to win the Free Weekly Evening Entry prize.

The Thursday Action on March 12 had 19 players registered and was won by FM Leif Pressman and FM Todd D Andrews who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $87.50 each. IM Jay Bonin and Neal Thio Hong won $53 each for their 3 out of 4 score, while Kristian Jacome won a $53 class prize for their 2.5 out of 4 score.

We look forward to seeing you at the club soon!

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Endgame Corner

In this article, we will take a look at the most important theoretical endgames with opposite-colored bishops (OCBs). The interesting cases to consider are always where the attacker has two extra pawns. The good news with OCB is that the theoretical positions happen often in practice, so the studying pays off! The three scenarios will be presented as three exercises to solve, the solutions will be given later.

You can play through the exercises with solutions and annotations here.

Exercise 1 (Tarrasch, Siegbert 1921): Black to move: Find the drawing idea.

Exercise 2 (Salvioli, Carlo 1887): White to move: Find the winning plan.

Exercise 3 (Berger vs Kotlerman, S): White to move: Find the drawing idea.

Solution to Exercise 1 (Tarrasch, Siegbert 1921

1... Bc4 2. Bg3+ Kc6 The idea of this plan is not to stop d4-d5, but look ahead and stop the next breakthrough on the light squares, namely e5-e6. It is the break e5-e6 that must be stopped at all costs, and for that reason, the bishop belongs on g8/f7. The great idea by Tarrasch in this study is to include these two layers, and if Black solely tries to stop the pawn from going to d5, he will fail; he has to look further than that.

(Let’s consider 2... Ke6

Black defends against d4-d5 (he plans to sacrifice the bishop), but the bishop does not attack the e4-pawn, and thus White can try to get his king to c5. However, in this position, White can not play the straightforward 3. Kd2 (planning Kc3-b4-c5) as this brings the king too far away from the pawns: (Instead, White can put Black in zugzwang with 3. Bf4 For instance: 3...Bb3 (3... Bb5 allows 4. d5+) 4. Kd3 Ke7 5. d5 Otherwise ...Bg8. 5...Ba4 6. e5 Here, the white king is still connected to the pawns: 6...Bb3 7. Kd4) 3... Ke7 4. d5 Otherwise ...Bg8. 4...Bb5 5. e5 (5. Kc3 Be8 6. e5 Bf7 See diagram later.) 5... Bc4

Here, the White king is too far away from the pawns. 6. Bh4+ Ke8 The d-pawn must move, and Black easily arranges a light-squared blockade.)

3. Kf4 Bg8 4. Ke5 Kd7 5. d5

5…Bh7 Dvoretsky calls this ‘pawns in the crosshairs’: Black does not let the white king to f6. (5... Bf7 6. Kf6 Ke8 (6... Bg8 7. Kg7 traps the bishop.) 7. Bf4 Bg8 {is less precise but still good enough for a draw.)

6. Kf4 Bg6 7. e5 Bf7

This is the position that Black has been working towards: The bishop on f7 is stopping e5-e6 while attacking d5 at the same time, and thus restricting the white king in its movement. This is a typical drawing setup. Notice that Black needs an extra square (g8) on the a2-g8 diagonal to avoid to succumb to zugzwang:

8. Ke4 Bg6+ 9. Kd4 Bf7 10. Bh4 Here, the only move is 10…Bg8 1/2-1/2

Solution to Exercise 2 (Salvioli, Carlo 1887):

1. Bf3 White plans to let the king support the pawn that Black’s bishop is stopping, but first the c6-pawn needs protection.

1...Kd8 2. Ke6 Bb4 3. f6 Ba5 4. f7 Bb4 5. Kf6 With an f-pawn, there is enough space to the right (g- and h-file) to transfer the king to g8.

5...Bc3+ (5... Bf8 6. Kg6 and the king will land on g8 after black moves while will play Kh7 and black will move again and then 8. Kg8.)

6. Kg6 Bb4 7. Kg7 White wins the bishop for the f-pawn with a simple win. 1-0

Solution to Exercise 3 (Berger vs Kotlerman, S):

4. Bg6 A waiting strategy that works in part because the white king is on d1 and therefore close enough to the b-pawn (the two black pawns are not separated by more than 2 files), but also because Black has a knight’s pawn: with a b-pawn, Black is not able to get around to the left (the a-file), if White plays Bb1 in response to b3-b2. (4. Ke2 Kb2 5. Bg8 Kc2 6. Bh7+ Kc1 and Black pushes the b-pawn.)

4... Kb2 (4... b2 5. Bb1 Kb3 6. Ke2) (4... Ka2 5. Bf7 White pins the pawn and Black cannot make progress: 5...Ka3 (5... Kb2 6. Be6) 6. Bg6)

5. Bf7 Black threatened 5...Ka1 and 6...b2. White stops this plan by attacking the b3-pawn. 5…Ka2 6. Be6 Ka3 (threatening 7...b2 8 Bf5 Ka2) 7. Bf5 1/2-1/2

• IM Silas Esben Lund, Marshall Spectator Contributor

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Annotated Game from Liam Putnam Simul

I want to begin by congratulating GM Liam Putnam on earning - at a young age - a title that most of us can only dream of attaining. It was a delight to celebrate his achievement during this exciting night of chess. In addition, he helped fundraise more than a thousand dollars to benefit chess programs for Kenyan youth through the organization Crossing Thresholds. I’m also personally grateful to him for a dynamic game between us that I will remember for a long time to come...

You can play through the game with annotations here.

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. c3 e6

I owe my light squared bishop an apology. But why not give yourself a weakness before your GM opponent does? (5... Bf5 This line is of course preferred-- but not by me. 6. Bf4 Nc6 7. Qb3 Qc8 8. Nh4 Bd7 9. h3 h6) 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O Nc6 8. Ne5

The first hint of excitement. I haven’t castled yet, neither of us have finished our development, and taking the Knight is probably objectively the wrong choice, but I couldn’t resist. More apologies to my light squared bishop...

8... Nxe5 9. dxe5 Nd7 10. Re1 Qb6 Aiming to freeze his dark squared bishop and tempt 11.Qb3 Qb7, but Nb1-d2-f3 is 11. Qg4 O-O!?

After considering some lines where I thought I’d have some positional compensation via targeting e4 and potentially opening the a1-h8 diagonal, I decided to offer the exchange rather than play Kf8. Instead of trying to play the margins with a GM, creating an imbalance is where I thought I’d find my chances. After checking the next day, it turns out that castling here is the computer’s top choice-- and that White should play Bh6 but not take on f8. But it’s logical to take the exchange when one of your many simul opponents offers it to you, so...

12. Bh6 g6 13. Bxf8 Bxf8 14. b3 I was anticipating Qe1, but hoping for b3, softening the long diagonal.

14... Bg7 15. Qg3 Qc7 16. f4 f6 17. exf6 Nxf6 18. Qf3 Bd7 19. Kh1 (19. a4 Rf8 20. Ra2 e5 21. Rxe5 Ng4 22. Qxd5+ Kh8 23. Qc5 Bc6 24. Re4 Qd7 25. Rd2 Bxe4 26. Bxe4) 19... Rf8 20. Na3

The pawn is tempting, but taking it probably offers White too much play. Besides, my advantage is time sensitive. Whether he plays this move or a4 and Ra2, I have to press on the kingside while he finishes development. Hoping to provoke g3, which softens the other long diagonal for my poor light squared bishop, I played: 20... Nh5 21. Rac1

Both of us missed the excellent reply 21. f5! This was White’s last opportunity for equality. Now I press a sizable advantage. (21. f5 a6 (21... Bxc3 22. Rac1 Qa5 23. Re2 Ng7 24. Qg3 Nxf5 25. Bxf5 Rxf5 26. Nb1 Bd4 27. Qb8+ Kg7 28. Qxb7 Rf7 29. b4 Qb6 30. Qxb6 Bxb6) 22. Rad1 Bxc3 23. Rc1 Qa5 24. Re2 Ng7 25. Nb1)

21... Rxf4 22. Qh3 A small gift instead of Qe3, though the game continuation would have been similar. My light squared bishop might see some action after all! } (22. Qe3 Rh4 23. h3 Bh6 24. Qf2 Rf4 25. Qxa7 Rf7)

22... e5 23. Qe3 e4 24. Bb5 (24. Nb5 Qe5 25. Nd4 Bh6 26. Nf3 Rxf3 27. Qxf3 exf3 28. Rxe5 fxg2+ 29. Kxg2 Bxc1 30. Kf3) 24... Rh4 25. h3

If g3 then 25...Nxg3 26. Kg1 (26. Kg2 Rxh2+ 27. Kxh2 Nf8++ wins the queen) 26...Nf5 27. Qf2 Be5 and it seems unlikely that the queen and king will both survive the attack. } (25. g3 Nxg3+ 26. Kg1 (26. Kg2 Rxh2+ 27. Kxh2 (27. Kg1 Bh3 28. Rc2 (28. Kxh2 Nf1+ 29. Kxh3 Qh2+ 30. Kg4 Qh5+ 31. Kf4 Be5#) 28... Rh1+ 29. Kf2 Qf7+ 30. Kxg3 Be5+ 31. Kh4 Bf1+) 27... Nf1+) 26... Nf5 27. Qf2 Be5)

25... Bh6 I was pleased that I found this move, but disappointed that I didn’t have more time to calculate the bishop sac on h3. As the simul games started to thin out and Liam came back to the board quicker, I hadn’t found a fully convincing line even though it seemed like it should be right. Rather than take a chance or take a pass when Liam came back to the board, I opted to keep the momentum going with a still-winning move. The next day, the computer confirmed that Bxh3 would have been the best choice by far, on either this move or move 27. Alas, no glory for that light squared bishop! } (25... Bxh3 26. gxh3 Bh6 27. Qf2 Rxh3+ 28. Kg1 Bxc1 (28... e3 29. Qg2 (29. Qe2 Qf4 { [%cal Gh3g3,Gf4h4,Gg3h3] })) 29. Rxc1 e3 30. Qg2 (30. Qe1 Qh2+ 31. Kf1 Rf3+ 32. Qf2 Qxf2#))

26. Qf2 Ng3+ 27. Kg1 Bxc1 Energetically it felt like the wrong choice to reclaim the exchange, especially since my dark squared bishop was more active than the rook, but I thought the following sequence should be enough. } (27... Bxh3 28. gxh3 Rxh3 29. Kg2 Ne2 30. Kxh3 Nf4+)

28. Rxc1 Rf4 29. Qxg3 Rf1+ 30. Rxf1 I had anticipated that he’d play a different variation: (30. Kh2 Qxg3+ 31. Kxg3 Rxc1 32. Bxd7 Rxc3+ 33. Kf4 Kf7 34. Nb5 Rd3 My rook controls the knight for now, and the connected passers should decide the game.)

30... Qxg3 31. Bxd7 So long, light squared bishop! It moved once, was deprived of a glorious sacrifice, and was captured too soon. At least I could recapture one of the minor pieces: 31... Qd6 32. Bg4 I was expecting something like Nc2, Nd4, and Rf2-c2, when it’s harder for Black to break in. The bishop normally works better in endgames like this, but there is no useful outpost for it and no immediate way for it to either capture or blockade the central pawns. (32. Nc2 Qxd7 33. Nd4 Qc8 34. Rc1 Qc7 35. Rc2 Qg3 36. a4 Kf7 37. Ne2 (37. Kf1 Qd3+ 38. Kg1 Kf6 39. Rf2+ Ke5 40. Rc2) 37... Qd3 38. Rb2 e3 39. Kh2 Qd2 40. Rxd2 exd2)

32... Qxa3 33. Be6+ Kg7 34. Rf7+ Kh6 35. Rxb7

I was still slightly nervous about the distant h4/g4 ideas where either g5+ or Bg8 would create mate threats that I’d have to counteract with a perpetual. But with the bishop and rook uncoordinated for the moment, I thought the e-pawn would soon decide the game.

35... Qc1+ 36. Kh2 Qf4+ 37. Kh1 (37. Kg1) 37... e3 (37... Qf1+ { Another little finesse that I missed. } 38. Kh2 Qa6 39. Bc8 (39. Bxd5 Qd6+) 39... Qc6) 38. Bg8 e2 39. Rxh7+ Kg5 0-1

Here, Liam graciously resigned, though I had half hoped that he would play h4+ so that I could play Qxh4+. But I’d already had enough luck that night for a hundred games, and I was very satisfied to have played a dynamic game where I somehow came out on top. Once again I want to thank Liam for his excellent simultaneous display, as well as his engaging pre-simul lecture, which no doubt inspired many of us to take our courage in our hands over the board that night. Liam’s efforts also helped to raise $1,250 for the Kibera Knights in Kenya, for which they and the Marshall are deeply grateful to the young Grandmaster.

• Luka Glinsky, Marshall Chess Club President & Spectator Contributor

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Chess Toons

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En Passant

The 2026 FIDE Candidates and Women’s Candidates tournaments began on Sunday, March 29 in Paphos, Cyprus. Eight players compete in each event, with the winners earning rights to challenge reigning World Champion GM Gukesh Dommaraju and Women’s World Champion GM Ju Wenjun, respectively.

As the Candidates Tournament approaches, GM Daniel King presents a series of video profiles examining each of the eight participants. With more than three decades of professional experience, King brings a measured and informed perspective, drawing on his background as a player, author and long-standing commentator on major chess events.

The nine-round Reykjavik Open, which began on Wednesday afternoon at the Harpa Conference Centre, is an iconic event. It was first played as an all-play-all in 1964, when Mikhail Tal won, and is close to the Hotel Reykjavik Natura, formerly the Hotel Loftleidir, which featured prominently in the epic Bobby Fischer v Boris Spassky match of 1972.

GMs Fabiano Caruana and Javokhir Sindarov lead the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament with 2.5 points after three rounds. Caruana won a miniature after a blunder by GM Wei Yi, and Sindarov bravely sacrificed a piece to win with the black pieces against GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. We saw draws in GM Hikaru Nakamura vs. GM Anish Giri and GM Matthias Bluebaum vs. GM Andrey Esipenko.

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Problems, Problems, curated by Alexander George

Richard Réti, 1928

White to move and draw.

The hint is in the composer’s name!

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Solution to last issue's problem (Timman, 2011):

Black to move; how does White draw?

1. ...Be4 2.Bf8+! Kh8 3.Bg7+! Kg7 4.Rd7+ Kh6 5.Rh7+!! Kh7 6.Bf5+ Bf5 7.Kg2 =.

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• Alexander George

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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!
  
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