The Marshall Spectator
September 17, 2025
In This Issue: From The Skittles Room Endgame Corner, by IM Silas Esben Lund Summer Camp in Review, by Kevin Feng 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.
Last night was our annual end-of-summer BBQ. The event was well-attended, featuring GM (grill master) Cameron Hull serving up burgers and dogs to order in our beautiful, private garden, right here at our historic townhouse at 23 West 10th Street.
While the grill was heating up, FM Nathan Resika, a classically trained opera singer, treated the audience by singing a few songs. When asked about the event, Marshall Chess President Luka Glinsky said, “I had a lot of fun, and particularly enjoyed the spontaneous serenade by FM Nathan Resika.” During a break in the action at the condiment station, I was able to ask the grill master his thoughts on the BBQ. Cameron replied tersely while flipping a burger, “I don’t barbecue, I grill.”
Looking ahead on the calendar, please save the following dates for our upcoming championships:
Rapid and Blitz Qualifier, September 26
Rapid and Blitz Championship, October 11-12
Mona Karff Memorial Women's Championship, November 7-9
Senior Championship, November 7-9
Jerry Simon Memorial Amateur Championship, November 21-23
Prizes and registration info will be published in mid-September.
Another event to look forward to is the Sophie Krupp Charitable Chess Festival in memory of Sophie Krupp, a former student and chess competitor from The Speyer Legacy School. While she stopped playing chess competitively after the pandemic, she stayed engaged by mentoring younger students in an all-girls chess club. Sophie passed away suddenly when she was only halfway through the 8th grade. Her father has launched this chess festival in her memory.
The festival includes a G/15 in the morning, a simul at lunch time, and a G/5 tournament after lunch (both tournaments with increments). See this flyer for details, including a QR code for registration.
Looking back over the last two weeks, we have had a plethora of events for our members to participate in.
The Sunday Game 50 Under 1600 on September 14 had 18 players registered and was won by Myles Sussman, who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win the $108 first-placed prize. Alexander Park and Darren Zhang scored 3 out of 4 to win $63 each.
The Rated Beginner Open on September 14 had 59 players registered and was won by the following 5 players who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $142.60 each: Leo Byala, Ashley Huang, Vaughn-Che Moody, Cutis Priester and Ukasha Nassam.
The Saturday Game 50 Open on September 13 had 35 players registered and was won by IM Jay Bonin who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win $210, while Mike Ching won 3.5 out of 4 to win $140 and Lawrence Lin scored 3 out of 4 to win $105.
The Saturday Game 50 Under 1800 on September 13 had 60 players registered and was won by the following players who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $195 each: Sean Huang, Vinayan Mp, Charlotte Chang, and Sebastian Goodrich.
The Under 2000 Morning Action on September 13 had 42 players registered and was won by Kenny T Bollin who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win the $263 first-placed prize. The following players scored 2.5 out of 3 to win $17.50 each: Samuel Curran, Arjun Sarin Pradhan, Kyle Cheng, David Ologunleko, Fionn Cavanagh, and Hudson Belelieu. Finally, the following players won $31.60 each for their 2 out of 3 score: Avya Chopra, Atreya Marballi, Conrad Kassin, Charles Wang, and William Hardwick.
The Saturday Game 50 Open on September 13 had 31 players registered and was won by IM Jay Bonin who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win the $186 first-placed prize, while Eli Stern and Winston Ruying Chen scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $108.50.
The Morning Masters on September 13 had 8 players registered and was won by GM Michael Rohde, who scored 2.5 out of 3 to win the $53 first-placed prize, while Matheu Jefferson, Lucas Yang, and William Aepli scored 2 out of 3 to win $11.67 each.
The Women and Girls’ Open on September 12 had 9 players registered and was won by Dhruthi Rao, who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $54, while the following players won $6.75 each for their 2 out of 3 score: Scarlett Kong, Isabelle Kao, Emma Hu, and Chloe Chan.
The FIDE Blitz on September 12 had 55 players registered and was won by IM Mykola Bortnyk, who scored a near-perfect 8.5 out of 9 to win the $270 first-place prize. IM Tanitoluwa Adewumi scored 7.5 out of 9 to win $135, while Sasha Kagle won $68 for a 6 out of 9 score. The following players shared in a class prize, winning $34 each for their performance: IM Kevin George, FM Bryan Lin, FM Linxi Zhu, NM Max Mottola, Aisultan Rakhimbayev, and Thomas Egelhof.
The Thursday Action on September 11 had 34 players registered and concluded with the following players winning $80 each for their 3.5 out of 4 performance: GM Michael Rohde, Vladimir Bugayev, IM Jay Bonin, and William Aepli. Cameron Hull won $60 for his 3 out of 4 score.
The Rated Beginner Open on September 7 had 54 players registered and concluded with the following players winning $112.50 each for their perfect 3 out of 3 score: Satvik Sharma, Jude Mahmoud, Matthew Mancino, Reid Katzovitz, Ziyang Su, and Willie Zhou.
The Premier Under 2000 that concluded on September 7 had 33 players and was won by Liam Kojuharov and Brian Gilbert who scored 4 out of 5 to win $350 each. Alesandra Liu and Ajay Sreenivasan won $150 each for their 3 out of 5 score, while John Corson earned $125 for his 2.5 out of 5 performance.
The Premiere Open that concluded on September 7 had 59 players registered, and was won by IM Liam Putnam who scored a perfect 5 out of 5 to win the $1000 first-place prize. The following players won $250 each for their 4 out of 5 score: GM Aleksandr Lenderman, IM Justin Sarkar, IM Eshaan Hebbar, and NM Logan Brain.
The Under 2000 Morning Action on September 6 had 64 players registered and concluded with the following 4 players winning $140 each for their perfect 3 out of 3 score: Gavin Liu, Kenny Bollin, Maxwell Gachiri and Aziz Abdijalilov. Gabriel Leibowitz won a $240 class prize for his perfect 3 out of 3 performance.
The Morning Masters on September 6 had 7 players registered and was won by CM Sasha Schaefer and Miguel Garcia who scored 2.5 out of 3 to win $37.50 each.
The Thursday Action on September 4 had 36 players registered and was won by Kenneth Fernandez who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win $128, while GM Michael Rohde and Aakaash Meduri scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $74.50 each. William Aepli won $64 for his 3 out of 4 performance, while Samuel Pozen, Jeremy Graham, and Anderson Woo scored 2.5 out of 4 to win $21.33 each.
The Labor Day Action on September 1 had 66 players registered and was won by IM Kevin Wang, who finished with 5.5 out of 6 to win the $525 first place prize. FM Aditeya Das, Tim Shvarts, and Leandro Nicholas Ulloa Centeno won $245 each for their 5 out of 6 score, while Ryan Chen won a $210 class prize for his 4 out of 6 performance. Misha Raitzin and Frederick Zhao shared in the remaining prize funds, winning $52.50 each for their 4.5 out of 6 score.
The Rated Beginner Open on August 31 had 29 players registered and 3 players who finished with a perfect performance of 3 out of 3 winning $116.67 each: Trevor Craig Lanford, William Hardwick, and Willie, Sr Zhou.
The Sunday Quads on August 31 had 74 players registered and lots of prize winners. The following players won $50 each for coming in clear first in their quad: Winsley Wu, Arhan Javeri, Alvin Lou, Akeil Williams, Hudson Wong, Julian Spedalieri, Alexandra Liu, Brian Liu, Abror Abdijalilov, Eli Sidman, Ethan Guo, and Mingyang Li. The following players won $25 each by splitting the top spot in their quad: Robert Beatty, Warren Liang, Khalil Wilson, Samuel Reznikov, Mateo Maurentt, Luis Lopez, Jay Kline, and Zhe Zhou. The small swiss shared the prize 4-ways, with the following players winning $18.75 each: Reid Katzovitz, Noah Spiegel, Pei Ning Li, and Shokhrkh Abdijalilov. Finally, the top quad finished with a 3-way tie between Nkosi Nkululeko, Kylan Huang, and Robert Olsen, who all scored 2 out of 3 to win $16.67 each.
We look forward to seeing you at the club soon!
Endgame Corner, by IM Silas Esben Lund
In this week's column, we will look into endgame studies that lead to an Epaulette Mate on the side of the board. Not a Queen Epaulette Mate, as some might imagine, but a Pawn Epaulette Mate. The black king has an epaulette (french for shoulder pad) on each side, and the checkmating piece in our case will be a pawn. At the moment, I work with epaulette mates for the fourth book in my Checkmate Quiz-series, it is due to arrive later this year or early in 2026. First I give an example, then there are 2 exercises to solve based on this core idea. The solutions will be given at the end of the article.
You can play through the below positions with analysis here.
White to move and win.
1. g6 After this sacrifice, Black has only moves until he is mated. 1…fxg6+ 2. Kxf6 g5 3. Kf5 g4 4. hxg4#
Pawn Epaulette Mate. 1-0
Exercise 1: Gruber, S. vs NN
White to move and win. 1-0
Exercise 2: Lazard, F. vs. NN
White to move and win. 1-0
Solution to Exercise 1.
1. Kf5 Qf8 Black can do nothing to prevent the following sacrifice. 2. Ng7+ Qxg7 3. Be8+ Qg6+
4. Bxg6+ hxg6+ 5. Kxf6 We are back to the example at the beginning of the article. g5 6. Kf5 g4 7. hxg4# 1-0
Solution to Exercise 2.
1. Kb7 b4 (1... Be4+ 2. Nc6+ Bxc6+ 3. Kxc6 b4 4. e7 White promotes first.) 2. Kc6 Be4+ (2... bxa3 3. Kc5 Be4 4. e7 a2 5. e8=Q a1=Q 6. Nc6+ (Or 6. Nb7+) 6... Bxc6 7. Qd8# Black needs the promoted queen on the b-file to put up the most resistance.) 3. Kc5 b3 4. e7 b2 5. e8=Q b1=Q
Here comes the transformation into a pawn endgame: 6. Nc6+ Bxc6 7. Qd8+ Qb6+ 8. Qxb6+ axb6+ 9. Kxc6 b5 10. Kc5 Zugzwang and mate next move. 10…b4 11. axb4#
Pawn Epaulette Mate. 1-0
IM Silas Esben Lund, Marshall Spectator Contributor
Marshall Chess Academy, Summer in Review
The Marshall Chess Academy Summer Camps took place from June 16 to September 3 at the club! It was an exciting summer of chess for our kids, and we look forward to seeing them continue to improve their game. Before sharing some of our summer highlights, I would like to express gratitude to the Marshall Chess Club Board of Governors for their support, our wonderful coaches and staff for the work they do, and our kids for choosing to spend their summers here with us!
We had five GM Coaches (GMs Djurabek Khamrakulov, Andrei Maksimenko, Mark Paragua, Alexander Shabalov, and Oliver Barbosa) this summer, and a majority of the time we had two GM coaches! All of the coaches spent at least one week at the club, meaning that there were plenty of things that the kids were able to learn and take away from their classes.
Over the two and a half months of camp, we had four simuls conducted by GMs Andrew Tang, Vojetch Plat, a joint simul by GM Alexander Shabalov and IM Carissa Yip, and IM Mykola Bortnyk. The kids had it easy, with many sneaking away with wins or draws as they had a time advantage or sometimes even piece odds!
After the simul with Carissa (US Women’s Champion) and Alex (World Senior Champion), we had an informative Q&A session hosted by the Chair of the Education Committee Vladimir Bugayev for the kids. You can check out the event replay here. Lastly, but not least, we were excited to have an online session with five-time World Champion Vishwanathan Anand. Vishy analyzed several chess games, focusing on key moves, strategic decisions, and the importance of proper castling and pawn structure. He also shared stories about his encounters with other legendary chess players, time management strategies, and the importance of learning from one’s mistakes. Personally, it was amazing to see how humble and patient he was with the kids.
Looking forward to the Camps side of operations, our fall camps are in full swing! Registration is open here. We are still finalizing some perks for multi-day registrations until the end of the year (including free entries into the 2nd Marshall Chess Academy Blitz Championship and an exclusive hoodie- and to the parent who suggested it, yes, the color will be light blue :) ). A longer-term goal is to get a world-class player to New York for next summer, but for now, all I can say is stay tuned! As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions, concerns, or feedback for the camps, club, or Education Committee.
Kevin Feng, Marshall Chess Club Manager and Co-chair of the Education Committee
En Passant
GM Anish Giri played a perfect, slow, grinding game to defeat GM Hans Niemann and win the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss with 8/11. Giri takes the $90,000 top prize and earns a spot in the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament, where he'll be joined by GM Matthias Bluebaum, who drew with GM Alireza Firouzja and had the best tiebreaks of the three players on 7.5/11. His spot was confirmed when GM Vincent Keymer was unable to convert a promising but highly tricky position against GM Arjun Erigaisi.
Seven Israeli chess players have withdrawn from a tournament in Spain after being told they were not allowed to compete under their national flag. FIDE responded… FIDE strongly condemns any form of discrimination, including on the basis of nationality and flag.
Danny Rensch grew up in a village on the edge of a great forest, in the mountains outside Payson, Arizona…When Rensch was nine, he saw a movie, “Searching for Bobby Fischer,” about a boy in New York City who plays chess in a public park with homeless men and discovers that he’s a prodigy. Rensch and his friend Dallas found a cheap chess set and started playing constantly. One day, Dallas took Rensch to play chess with his grandfather Steven Kamp…Kamp was not just Dallas’s grandfather; he was the leader of a cult to which almost everyone in the town, Tonto Village, belonged.
Chess Toons
Problems, Problems, curated by Alexander George
S. Lehner, 1864
White to move and mate in 3
Over 160 years old and not a wrinkle! Ars long, vita brevis.
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Solution to last issue's problem (Brunner, 1907):
White to mate in 3
1.Ra7 b2 (or Kc5) 2.Rdd7, followed by Rac7. Not 1.Rdd7? because the rooks interfere with one another.
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Alexander George
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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