In This Issue: From The Skittles Room King's Kibitzes, by FM Alex King Message from the Executive Director Across the Table 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 Tuesday, in honor of Women’s History Month in March, the Marshall Chess Club held a panel discussion on the topics of careers and chess with some truly remarkable speakers. GM Irina Krush, IM Rusudan Goletiani, WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni, and WFM Ana Izoria discussed topics ranging from formative experiences as tournament players to their career choices and gave advice to young female players who posed them questions along the way. Our Executive Director Carlos Chavez moderated the event, and lively discussion and audience participation made it an enjoyable evening for all who attended.
As an introduction to the panel, chess books were awarded as prizes for club members who solved puzzles from the games of the panelists. If you were unable to attend the event, those puzzles can be reviewed here and a full recap video of the event can be viewed here.
During the event, the members of the board in attendance offered Marshall Chess Club President Emeritus, Dr. Frank Brady a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to the game of chess and to the club in particular, and surprised him with a birthday cake in celebration of his 90th birthday.
For those who were present to hear the words of Larry Price, it was a touching moment to witness and a moving acceptance speech from the former board member and president. \
The Marshall Chess Club is requesting the support of our 1,400 plus members to reach the goal of $20,000 to support the Marshall Chess Foundation. I know we can reach this goal together and allow the Marshall Chess Foundation to continue its primary mission of developing educational programs for children from different backgrounds, communities, and cultures.
Pictured above: FIDE Secretary General Lukasz Turlej challenges the 2023 MCC Women’s Champion Grandmaster Irina Krush to blitz.
Also, in the time it takes to play a bullet game, you can fill out this survey and get a $5 discount on your next tournament entry! We want to know what more we can offer and what we can do better, so tell us below.
$5 off the next tournament for the first 100 responses.
https://www.marshallchessclub.org/survey2024 Good luck on the survey, and remember: unlike in chess, here there are no wrong decisions…
Looking ahead on the calendar, starting in April we will be running a new 3 round, 2000+ tournament on Saturday mornings. The Morning Masters will run adjacent to the U2000 Morning Action and will start at 9AM, with the next rounds starting immediately after the round finishes.
In scholastic news, the Marshall Chess Club is excited to kick off the first ever offsite scholastic tournament in partnership with the Speyer Legacy School. The first event will be held on Sunday, April 7. You can register your child in advance here.
Here are some details of the event:
Format: 4 player Quad sections Time Control: G/55, d5 Entry Fee: $45 Members; $60 Nonmembers Prize: $20 Amazon gift card to Quad winners Location: The Speyer Legacy School, 925 9th Ave, New York, NY 10019. (Please don’t come to the club!) Round Times: CHECK IN: 8:45 AM Rd1 9:30AM Rd2 11:45AM Rd3 2PM- Please note these round times are approximate. Rounds will begin approximately 15 minutes after the conclusion of the previous round. All guests must be out of the building by 4:30 PM.
Other details: This event is only open to scholastic players (K-12). This is not a drop off event, parents and guardians are responsible for their child for the whole duration of the tournament. Team rooms are available upon request!
Please join us on Tuesday, April 9 for an author talk and book signing by GM Maurice Ashley. See banner below for more information:
Over the last two weeks we have had a plethora of events for our members to play in.
The Monthly Under 2400 on March 17 had 66 players registered and concluded with a thrilling 4-way tie. IM Jay Bonin, Neil Samant, Jessica Hyatt and Derek Li Chen scored 4 points to win $528.12 each. Connor Junda Wang and Vincent Zhiwen Yu scored 3.5 points to share in a class prize of $162.50 each.
The Monthly Under 1800 on March 17 had 21 players registered and was won by Paul Kariuki who scored a perfect 5 out of 5 to win the $350 first place prize. Julian Spedalieri, Daniel Zahzouhi, and Allyson Yu scored 3.5 out of 5 to win $110.83 each, while Milo Su won a class prize of $105 for a 3 out of 5 performance.
The Rated Beginner Open on March 17 had 61 players registered and finished with a 6-way tie for first place with the following players achieving a perfect score of 3 out of 3 to win $116.67 each: Jacob Bleiberg, Anderson Antoine, Noah Hsu, Bastian Brueggen, Assau Temir Mailybayeva, and Sagar Kharwadkar.
The Under 2000 Morning Action on March 16 had 54 players registered and concluded with a 5-way tie for first. The following players achieved a perfect 3 out of 3 performance and won $94.60 each: Hunter Quirk, Abisayo Abe, Rhyan Grennan, Nico Alvarado-Yoshida and Elijah Gerson. The remaining class prize was shared by the following 9 players, who won $22.56 each: Ateeq Panjwani, Rio Bossola, Noah Brauner, Antoine Jaccon, Lamine Gordon, Terrain Wu, Leandro Almanzar, William Yu, and Andrew Iparraguirre.
The Friday Rapid on March 15 had 24 players registered and was won by WFM Chloe Gaw and FM Jonathan Subervi who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $90 each. Darren Wu and Scott Friedman won $30 each as a class prize, while Aakash Meduri, Rohan Lee and Hema Vikas shared in a class prize, winning $10 each.
The Alexei Navalny Action on March 14 had 49 players registered and was won by FM Marcus Miyasaka and Ted Belanoff who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win $172.50 each, while Aakaash Meduri scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $115.
The Sunday Game 50 Open on March 10 had 18 players registered and was won by IM Jay Bonin and Jonathan Smucker who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $85 each, while Matthew Clibanoff and Fiona Tushman won $25.50 each for their 3 out of 4 performance.
The Sunday Game 50 Under 1600 on March 10 had 18 players registered and was won by Jacob Modzelewski who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win $108. Kimani Thompson scored 3 points, winning $72 for his effort, while the following players won $13.50 each for their 2.5 score: Scott Friedman, Jeremy Smith, Fabrizzio Quinonez and Lucas Lin.
The Rated Beginner Open on March 10 23 players registered and concluded with a three way tie for first. Anderson Antoine, Noah Hsu and Travis Henry-Reid scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $83.33 each.
The Saturday Game 50 Open on March 9 had 19 players registered and was won by IM Jay Bonin who scored 4 out of 4 to win the $114 first place prize. There was a 3-way tie for the remaining prize funds, with Aidan Ahram, Jose de Villa and Manish Kashyap scoring 3 points to win $44.33 each
The Saturday Game 50 Under 1800 on March 9 had 19 players registered and was won by Sam Sharf who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win the $114 first place prize. Abigail Yang scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $76, while Axel Peters scored 3 points to win $57.
The Saturday Under 2000 Morning Action on March 9 had 24 players and was won by Levon Tadevosyan and Abisayo Abe who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $105 each. Samuel Reznikov scored 2 points to win a class prize of $90 for his effort.
The Friday Blitz on March 8 had 25 players registered and was won by Aakaash Meduri who scored 7.5 out of 9 to win $120. FM Marcus Miyasaka scored 7 points to win $60, while Nirvaan Bharany, Miles Hinson, and Alexandra Lussie scored 6 points winning $30 each.
The Women and Girls Open on March 8 had 9 players registered and was won by Peiyu Shi, who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win the $54 first place prize. Lily Aponte and Alexandra Mileva won $13.50 each for their 2 out of 3 performance.
The Alexei Navalny Action on March 7 had 44 players registered and was won by Joseph Zeltsan and IM Alexander Katz, who both scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win $155 each. Jose de Villa won a class prize of $104 for his 3 point score, while the following players shared in a class prize of $14.86 each for the same score: Nura Baalla, Aditeya Das, CM Rachel Miller, Yusuf Mansurov, Jack Yang, Andrew Colwell, and Alec Choi.
The Marshall Premier FIDE Open which concluded on March 3 had 46 players registered and was won by Joseph Zeltsan, FM Tejas Rama and CM Eshaan Hebbar who scored 4 points to win $569.67 each. Luc Hoffman won a $342 class prize for his 3.5 out of 5 performance.
The Marshall Premier Under 2000 that concluded on March 3 had 45 players registered and was won by Leandro Nicholas Ulloa Centeno who scored 4.5 out of 5 to win the $750 first place prize. Naveen Paruchuri scored 4 points, to win the second place prize of $300. Phineas Hugo Weingarten, Grant Liu and Brian Huang won $75 each for their 3 out of 5 performance. Thomas Egelhof and Sean Rong won $112.50 for their performance, while Elena Anikina won $188.
We look forward to seeing you at the club soon!
King’s Kibitzes: March FIDE Premier
The March FIDE Premier saw Joseph Zeltsan, Tejas Rama, and Eshaan Hebbar tie for first with 4.0/5, while top seed IM Mykola Bortnyk surprisingly finished out of the money with only 3.0/5.
Bortnyk started off strong, winning his first three games including a smooth endgame grind against Zeltsan:
Mykola Bortnyk (2453 FIDE) - Joseph Zeltsan (2419 FIDE)
Round 3, 2024.03.02
1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Bc4 e6 5. Nf3 Be7 6. d4 d6 7. exd6 Qxd6 8. dxc5 Qxc5 9. Bxd5 exd5 10. O-O O-O 11. Bf4 Nc6 12. Nbd2 Bg4 13. Qb3 Na5 14. Qc2 Nc4 15. Ne5 Be6 16. Rfe1 Rae8 17. Rad1 Qc8 18. Ndf3 Bf6 19. Qc1 Rd8 20. Nd4 Rfe8 21. Nxc4 dxc4 22. Bg5 Bxg5 23. Qxg5 h6 24. Qf4 Bd7 25. h3 Qc5 26. Nf3 Rxe1+ 27. Nxe1 Re8 28. Rxd7 Rxe1+ 29. Kh2 Re7 30. Rxe7 Qxe7 31. Qxc4 Qd6+ 32. g3
Down a pawn for nothing, Black’s last chance for activity is 32…Qd2!? instead of the move in the game, after which Bortnyk converts without issue.
32…Qb6 33. Qe2 g6 34. b4 h5 35. h4 Qc7 36. c4 Qd6 37. c5 Qd4 38. a3 a5 39. Qe3 Qc4 40. Qf4 Qd5 41. Qe3 axb4 42. axb4 Qc4 43. Qe8+ Kg7 44. Qe5+ Kh7 45. Qf4 Qd5 46. Qd6 Qf5 47. Qd4 Qb1 48. Qc4 Kg8 49. b5 Kf8 50. c6 bxc6 51. Qc5+ Ke8 52. Qxc6+ Kd8 53. b6 Qb2 54. Qd6+ Ke8 55. Kg2 Qc2 56. Qb8+ Kd7 57. Qa7+ 1-0
But in Round 4 Bortnyk fell to Tejas Rama, who played in impressively ambitious style right from the opening:
Tejas Rama (2221 FIDE) - Mykola Bortnyk (2453 FIDE)
Round 4, 2024.03.03
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 a5 5. a3 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 d6 7. Nc3 Nbd7 8. e4 e5 9. O-O-O exd4 10. Nxd4 O-O 11. Bd3 Ne5 12. Be2 Nfd7 13. f4 Nc6 14. Ndb5 Nc5 15. Kb1 a4 16. Qc2 Be6 17. f5 Bd7 18. Nd5 Rc8 19. f6 Be6 20. fxg7 Kxg7 21. Rhf1 Bxd5 22. exd5 Ne5 23. Nd4 Kh8 24. Rf4 Ng6 25. Qc3 f6 26. Rf5 Qe7
Here White would be winning after 27.Bd3, but even after stumbling a bit, Rama manages to keep the pressure up, and is eventually rewarded for it.
27. Rdf1 Rce8 28. Bh5 Qe4+ 29. Ka2 Qe3 30. Qxe3 Rxe3 31. Rxf6 Rxf6 32. Rxf6 Nb3 33. Re6 Rxe6 34. Nxe6 Ne5 35. Nxc7 Nxc4 36. Be8 Nc5 37. Ne6 Nd3 38. Bxa4
Now White is up two pawns, and Rama demonstrates solid technique in the endgame.
38…Ne3 39. Bb5 Nc1+ 40. Kb1 Nb3 41. Nf4 Kg7 42. Ba4 Nd4 43. Kc1 Kf6 44. Kd2 Nf1+ 45. Kd3 Ke5 46. Ne6 Nf5 47. Nd8 Nxh2 48. Nxb7 Ng4 49. Bd7 Nge3 50. g4 Nxg4 51. Bxf5 Kxf5 52. Nxd6+ Kf4 53. Nc4 Nf6 54. d6 Nd7 55. a4 Kf5 56. a5 Ke6 57. b4 Kd5 58. a6 Kc6 59. b5+ Kd5 1-0
Meanwhile, Eshaan Hebbar kept pace with Rama after a tricky rook ending against Ryan Peterson:
Ryan Peterson (2025 FIDE) - Eshaan Hebbar (2187 FIDE)
Round 4, 2024.03.03
1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. b3 Nbd7 6. Bb2 Bd6 7. Qc2 O-O 8. d4 Re8 9. Be2 e5 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Nb5 Bb4+ 12. Bc3 Bxc3+ 13. Qxc3 e4 14. Ne5 Re7 15. Rc1 Nb6 16. O-O Ne8 17. h3 a6 18. Na3 g6 19. Ng4 h5 20. Nh2 Nd6 21. Qa5 Nf5 22. Nb1 Re6 23. Nc3 Qg5 24. Rfd1 Kg7 25. Bf1 Nh4 26. Kh1 Qf5 27. Rd2 g5 28. g3 Nf3 29. Nxf3 exf3 30. e4 Qg6 31. Nxd5 Nxd5 32. Qxd5 Rxe4 33. Bd3 Qe6 34. Qxe6 Rxe6 35. Bf5 Re8 36. Bxc8 Raxc8 37. Rxc8 Rxc8 38. g4 hxg4 39. hxg4 Rh8+ 40. Kg1 Rh4 41. d5 Rxg4+ 42. Kf1 Re4 43. d6 Re8 44. Kg1 Kf6 45. Kh2 Ke6 46. Kg3 Rd8 47. Kxf3 Rxd6 48. Rc2 Rc6 49. Rd2 b6 50. Kg4 f6 51. f4 Rc5 52. fxg5 Rxg5+ 53. Kf4 Rd5 54. Rc2 Rd4+ 55. Ke3 Ke5 56. Rc6 Rd6 57. Rc8 f5 58. Re8+ Re6 59. Ra8 a5 60. Rd8 f4+ 61. Kf3 Rc6 62. Re8+ Kd4
63. Kxf4?
Throwing in 63.Re4+ before taking on f4 would prevent Black’s reply in the game.
63…Rf6+! 64. Kg3 Kc3
Now despite the reduced material Black is winning.
65. Re3+ Kb2 66. Re2+ Ka3 67. Rd2 b5 68. Rd5 Rb6 69. Rd2 b4 70. Kf3 Rc6 71. Ke3 Rc1 72. Kd3 Ra1 73. Kc4 Rxa2 74. Rd3 Rc2+ 75. Kb5 Rc3 76. Rd4 Kxb3 77. Kxa5 Rc4 78. Rd3+ Kc2 79. Rh3 b3 80. Rh2+ Kb1 81. Kb5 Rg4 82. Rh1+ 0-1
In the final round Hebbar and Rama made a solid draw against each other, leaving open a path for Bortnyk and Zeltsan to catch up to them. Instead Bortnyk lost again to Michael Li, while Zeltsan managed to take care of business and join the tie for first place:
Linxi Zhu (1981 FIDE) - Joseph Zeltsan (2419 FIDE)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e6 7. g4 h6 8. Bg2 Be7 9. h4 Nc6 10. g5 hxg5 11. hxg5 Rxh1+ 12. Bxh1 Nd7 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Qh5 g6 15. Qh8+ Nf8 16. Qh6 e5 17. Be3 Ne6 18. O-O-O Bxg5
19. Qh8+
More solid was 19.Bxg5. Zhu’s move is a bit of a wild goose chase, and the queen even ends up getting trapped.
Nf8 20. f4 Bf6 21. Qg8 Qe7 22. f5 Bg5 23. Bxg5 Qxg5+ 24. Kb1 Ke7 25. Bf3 Qf6 26. Rh1 Bb7 27. Be2 d5 28. exd5 cxd5 29. Bf3 e4 30. Bg2 Nd7 31. Qh7 gxf5
32. Rd1 Rh8 0-1
Congratulations to the three co-winners, and see you at next month’s FIDE Premier!
FM Alex King, spectator to the stars
Executive Director Message:
Dear Marshall Members,
It is with great pleasure that I am communicating this message as your official Executive Director. I want to thank you for recommending me for the position and appreciating the work the entire staff and board are doing for the success of the club. There are many great tournaments, events, and plans we are working on to give you the best experience possible.
I am a strong believer in long-term relationships and look forward to contributing to the rich history and culture of the Marshall Chess Club for many years to come. I will have office hours at the club every Sunday from 1-6pm should you have any questions, concerns, and suggestions you would like to communicate. This is a great moment for chess and the club. I look forward to your continued membership and support.
Yours in Chess,
Carlos Chavez
Across the Table, with NM Michael Li
Q: When did you start playing chess and how did you learn?
I started playing chess when I was six, in 2017, which feels like a really long time ago, even though it isn't. At that time I remember I was trying out all sorts of new things, but none caught my eye as well as our beloved board game. My dad taught me the rules of chess soon after, and then I started beating him every time we played, even before we had gotten the book 'How to Beat Your Dad at Chess'. I go to school in Jericho, which used to have quite a few good players, and I also practiced playing against them, though I mostly lost; now almost all of them have graduated. Among them is my first chess coach, FM Wesley Wang, who now spearheads the chess team at Harvard.
Q: How long have you been a member of the club?
I have been a proud member of the club for around 5 years. I played my first MCC event on Feb 10th, 2019 (a Sunday G50 Open), and from there on I've played in 100+ Marshall events out of my 225 total tournaments. I look forward to continuing to play in the Marshall Chess Club, week after week!
Q: What's your favorite opening trap?
When I was younger, I loved 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4?!, with the intention that 4. Nxe5 Qg5 5. Ng4? d5! wins a piece. However, the variation is obviously not sound--just 4. Nxd4 exd4 5. 0-0 gives a decisive advantage for White. Additionally, there are also a couple of nasty pitfalls in the Petroff, such as after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 4. Qe2 Qe7!? 5. Qxe4 d6 6. d4 dxe5 7. dxe5 Nc6 8. Bf4 g5! 9. Bg3? f5!-+, or the lesser-known (and more positional) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. dxe5?! Bc5 5. Bc4 Nxf2 where the player with the white pieces must know 6. Bxf7!, as the more obvious 6. Qd5? fails to 6...Qe7!, where Black has an excellent position. For some reason, every time I used to play the Petroff, no one was deceived, but every time I faced it, safe to say I had worse results. Maybe I was just a bad Petroff player!
Q: Any great game you've played at the Marshall you'd like to share?
It's hard to decide, but these wins against two of my best friends at the Marshall stand out to me.
Su, Jasmine Zhixin (2209) vs Li, Michael (2101), 0-1 at FIDE Premier Open 8/5/2023 and Li, Michael (2012) vs Nasta, Kiren (2193), 1-0 at Thursday Action 5/18/2023
The games are not annotated; my chess speaks for itself! In all seriousness, there are a wealth of amazing tactical ideas that represent my style of play very well.
To wrap up, let's analyze the game that seems to have gained attention from a lot of MCC regulars.
Bortnyk, Mykola (2576) vs Li, Michael (2231), 0-1 at FIDE Premier Open 3/3/2024
And those are the end of my annotations. Concluding a game, and hopefully starting my run of good form (as of after this is written, I might have won the NY Scholastic Championships, Middle School!). Anyway, peace.
Chess Toons
En Passant
Ranae Bartlett, who has been serving as the Interim Executive Director since February 10, has been named as the US Chess Executive Director effective March 16, 2024. Previously, Bartlett had been hired as the Director of Operations on September 5, 2023. Prior to working for US Chess, she was an Assistant General Counsel for a Fortune 5 company as well as Executive Director for the non-profit chess organization she founded.
In a move that could potentially shake up the chess world, GM Magnus Carlsen and German entrepreneur Jan-Henric Buettner have launched the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, a new ambitious series of Chess960 tournaments that will run across five continents and gather the creme de la creme of the chess world.
Forget Barbie, Oppenheimer or Poor Things. The 96th Academy Awards also marked a triumph for "War Is Over!" becoming the second chess-themed winner of the 'Best Animated Short Film' award.
Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao from the Philippines is considered by many to be one of the greatest boxers of all time. Srikanth Bangalore is a businessman from India and they both share a love of chess. To spread this love of chess, Bangalore has founded a remarkable project that Pacquiao supports: 1000GMs Inc, a non-profit organisation that aims to help young players improve their game. A part of this project are regular tournaments.
Problems, Problems, curated by Alexander George
Emanuel Lasker, 1917
White to move and win.
We are continuing with our series of problems by World Champions. Emanuel Lasker, the longest reigning champion, also published the greatest number of problems. This famous bishop duel is from Lasker's Common Sense in Chess.
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Last issue’s problem: Steinitz, 1862
Solution to Steinitz, 1862: 1.h6+ Kg7 2.h8=Q+ KxQ 3.Kf7 Rf1+ 4.Bf6+ RxB+ 5.KxR Kg8 6.g7 Kh7 7.Kf7, etc.
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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!
The Marshall Chess Club
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