The Marshall Spectator
April 29, 2026
In This Issue:
From The Skittles Room
Endgame Corner, by IM Silas Lund
Annotated Game, by NM Leandro Ulloa
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, we were thrilled to welcome Marshall Chess Club member Nkosi Nkululeko who is releasing his new poetry collection, Corresponding Squares. He held an interesting conversation with NM Jerald Times about his work, followed by an interactive workshop where participants created their own “square poem.” If you missed the event, you will soon be able to watch it in its entirety here.
Another exciting event coming up in the month of May is the 3rd annual Chess in the Schools Poker Fundraiser. Be sure to buy your tickets soon as the deadline to purchase them is fast approaching.
Next month, 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. The event will be moderated by IM Rusa Goletiani and Vivien Schweitzer.
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 Morning Under 1600 on April 26 had 31 players registered and was won by Kalil Shi and Noah Lucas Spiegel who scored 3 out of 3 to win $271.50 each.
The Sunday Quads on April 26 had 15 quads and featured many winners, including the following players who won $70 each for finishing in clear first in their quad: Alisher Podavonov, WCM Hema Vikas, Alvin Lou, Misha Raitzin, Shiv Dubey, Nicolas Marchese, Dervin Kouyate, Aden Lexian Deng, Nikola Scekic, Jordan Kim, Darwin C Wong Okyere, Shyra Nigam, and Harrison Harsch. Takki Tanaka and Myra Nigam scored 2.5 each in their quad, winning $35 each, while Eric Yj liu, Brian Gilbert, and Jose De Villa scored 2 out of 3 each to win $23.33 each in their quad.
The Rated Beginner Open on April 26 had 37 players registered and was won by the following players who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $115.75 each: Robert Allen, Rio James Bloomgarden, Lucien Borges Guillermo, and Eva Mejia.
The Saturday Game 50 Open on April 25 had 45 players registered and was won by GM Liam Putnam, FM Justin Chen, and IM Jay Bonin who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $201 each. Misha Raitzin, John Silva, and Noah Hsu scored 3 out of 4 to win $62 each.
The Under 2000 Morning Action on April 25 had 46 players registered and was won by the following players who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $141 each: Gavin Liu, Brian Gilbert, Nico Alvarado-Yoshida, and John Delucia. The following players scored 2 out of 3 to win $80.67 each: Angelina Cheng, Ahrin Vakharia, and Devan Nambisan.
The Morning Masters on April 25 had 12 players registered and was won by GM Liam Putnam who scored 3 out of 3 to win the $110 first-place prize. The following players scored 2 out of 3 to win $20.75 each: Leandro Nicholas Ulloa Centeno, Lucas Yang, Dominic Nathan Paragua, and Adam Gordon.
The Saturday Game 50 Under 1800 on April 25 had 31 players registered and was won by Seamus Francis Brady and David Porres who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $201 each, while the following players won $31 each for their 3 out of 4 score: Anderson Chen, Gabriel Negussie, Yidong Dennis Chen, and Jacer Caraballo.
The FIDE Blitz on April 24 had 67 players registered and was won by GM Raven Sturt who scored 8.5 out of 9 to win the $335 first-place prize. IM Tanitoluwa Adewumi and CM Taran Ritesh Idnani scored 7 out of 9 to win $126 each, while Viyaan Krishna Doddapaneni and Daniel Yedida scored 6.5 out of 9 to win $42 each. Theodore V Pimanoff, Austin Zhao, Ethan Todd, and Anvith Reddy Marri scored 6 out of 9 to win $42 each.
The Thursday Action on April 23 had 35 players registered and was won by GM Raven Sturt, who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win the $174 first-placed prize. IM Jay Bonin won the $116 second-place prize scoring 3.5 out of 4, while the following players won $58 each for their 3 out of 4 performance: GM Nico Chasin, Alexander Golosovker, and FM Olson Ortiz. Finally, the following players shared in the remaining prize funds, sharing in a class prize for their 2.5 out of 4 score: David Deng, Cameron Hull, Sadiq Sekou, and Kalil Shi.
The Marshall Masters on April 21 had 18 players registered and was won by GM Raven Sturt who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win the $214 first-place prize, while the following players won $71.33 each for their 3 out of 4 score: IM Jay Bonin, FM Leif Pressman, Ethan Kozower. William Alexander Aepli scored 2.5 out of 4 to win $54.
The Monthly Under 2400 on April 19 had 75 players registered and was won by FM Joshua Colas, who scored 4.5 out of 5 to win the $1,234 first-placed prize, while the following players won $391 each for their 4 out of 5 score: Luc Hoffman, George P Berg, and Jack Boyer-Olson. Benjamin Nunez scored 3.5 out of 5 to win a $370 class prize.
The Rated Beginner Open on April 19 had 51 players registered and was won by the following players who scored 3 out of 3 to win $104.17 each: Harry Steven Chalfin, Edward Chappell Babbage, Zachary Nelson, John Fraser Bourdelais, Rio James Bloomgarden, and Eric Wenner.
The Under 2000 Morning Action on April 18 had 74 players registered and was won by the following players who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $129.57 each: Brian Gilbert, Bryson Wolf, Ben A Chai, Hudson Seales Belelieu, Rohit Jagga, Seamus Francis Brady, and Abeer Sethi. The remaining prize funds were divided among the following players who shared in a class prize, winning $64.83 each for their 2 out of 3 score: Eli Assa, Matthew Leon, Michael Wu, Joseph Fermin, Craig Nemiroff, and Ujaan Dey.
The Morning Masters on April 18 had 12 players registered and was won by FM Megan Althea Paragua who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win the $120 first-place prize, while Landon Meadors won $90 for his 2.5 out of 3 score.
The Friday FIDE Rapid on April 17 had 25 players registered and was won by the following players who scored a near-perfect 3.5 out of 4 to win $73.33 each: Rishith Bhoopathi, Dominic Nathan Paragua, and Sasha Arthur Kagle. Aaraav Singh and David Shen scored 3 out of 4 to win $16 each, while Milo Chase and Mark David Neuwirth won class prizes of $32 each for their performance.
The Thursday Action on April 16 had 37 players and was won by FM Leif Pressman and Joseph Otero who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win $153.50 each, while Miguel Garcia scored a near-perfect 3.5 out of 4 to win $92. The following players shared in the remaining prize funds, winning $46 each for their 3 out of 4 score: Nicolas Marchese, Denys Bashmakov, David Shen, Anderson Woo.
We look forward to seeing you at the club soon!
Endgame Corner, by Silas Esben Lund
We will once again look into opposite-colored bishop endgames, this time with great ideas by 2 study composers. I will present the 2 exercises as puzzles, the solution will follow towards the end of the article.
You can play through the games with analysis here.
Horwitz, B.. Exercise 1:
White to move and win.
1-0
Nikolaev, D Position after 2... Bc5:
White to move and draw.
1/2-1/2
Solution to Exercise 1. How can White possibly win this OCB endgame? 1. Bf2+ Kh5 2. g4+ Kh6 3. Kf6 White must prevent the bishop on g8 from getting out. 3…Kh7 (3... Bh7 4. Be3#) 4. g5 (4. Be3 Kh8 5. Bd4 also works.) 4... Kh8 5. Bd4 Kh7 (5... Bh7 6. Kxf7#) 6. Ba1 Or any other waiting move on the long diagonal. 6…Kh8 7. g6
A curious position! It is mate next move. 7…fxg6 (7... Bh7 8. Kxf7#) 8. Kxg6# 1-0
Nikolaev, D
Solution to Exercise 2. Position after 2... Bc5 White to move and draw.
3. Ne7 (3. Nxb4 Bf8#) 3... Bxe7 (3... Bd4 4. Nxg6+ Bxg6 5. Kxg6 b3 6. Bc1 is an easy draw.) (3... b3 4. Be5#) 4. Bd6 Bxg5+ (4... Bxd6 is stalemate.) (4... Bd8 5. Bxb4 is a draw as White can play for stalemate: Kg8 6. Ba5 Be7 7. Bb4) 5. Kxg5 b3
If Black can get his bishop on h7 (and king!) into play while keeping his 2 extra pawns, it’s a theoretical win. The two pawns in this OCB endgame (b- and g-pawn) are too far away from each other for White to deal with them successfully. How can White possibly hope to save this position? 6. Kf6 (6. Be5+ Kg8 7. Kf6 Kf8 Black slowly but surely activates his pieces. White cannot go for the bishop on h7: 8. Bd6+ Ke8 (8... Kg8 9. Ba3) 9. Ba3 Kd7 10. Kg7 g5 11. Kxh7 g4) 6... b2 (6... Kg8 7. Ba3 again traps the black king in the corner.) 7. Be5 Kg8 (7... b1=Q 8. Kf7# is checkmate!) 8. Bxb2 1/2-1/2
IM Silas Lund, Marshall Spectator Contributor
Leandro Ulloa Achieved the NM Title
Leandro Ulloa has officially crossed a major milestone, earning the title of National Master after surpassing the 2200 rating mark for the first time at a recent weekend Game 50 tournament. It’s an achievement that reflects not just talent, but also hard work and lots of chess games! In a remarkably short amount of time, Leandro has become one of the most active and dedicated members of our community, first making his mark at the Marshall Chess Club and quickly establishing himself as a serious competitor.
A regular presence at our elite chess camps, Leandro has paired his relentless tournament play with disciplined study, including work with top instructor GM Djurabek Khamrakulov. His growth has been evident to anyone who’s followed his games, and this latest accomplishment feels less like a surprise and more like the natural result of sustained effort. In this issue, Leandro shares a lightly annotated victory with the white pieces in an Exchange Slav—an instructive and confident performance that offers a glimpse into the strength and clarity that carried him to the National Master title.
You can play through the game with annotations here.
NM Leandro Ulloa vs Eugene Wong
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 This is a very symmetrical variation, but I like to play it anyway.
4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 a6 7. Rc1 Bf5 8. e3 e6 9. Qb3 Ra7
This didn’t seem to be the best move to me, even if I wasn’t certain, it didn’t seem correct.
10. Ne5 Nxe5 11. Bxe5 Nd7 12. Bf4 To maintain the bishop pair.
12…Be7 13. Be2 O-O 14. a4 Qa5 15. h4 With ideas of attacking and creating counter-play.
15…Qb4
At the time this seemed to be a mistake to me, and I was right.
16. Qxb4 Bxb4 17. g4 And here is my plan. The bishop will remain trapped.
17…e5 18. dxe5 Be6 19. O-O Nc5 20. Na2 Nb3 21. Nxb4 Nxc1 22. Rxc1 a5 23. Nc2 Rc8 24. Kf1 b6 25. Ke1 Bd7 26. Kd2 Bxa4 27. Nd4 Rxc1 28. Kxc1 The rest is a matter of technique.
28…Bd7 29. g5 Be6 30. f3 W
30…a4 31. Kb1 Ra5 32. Bg3 g6 33. Be1 Ra8 34. Ka2 Rc8 35. Bc3 Rc5 36. Ka3 Bd7 37. Kb4 Rc8 38. Nb5 Bxb5 39. Bxb5 *
Leandro Ulloa, Marshall Chess Club Member
Chess Toons
En Passant
A new book by Jordan Himelfarb follows the game’s rising young players, including the reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, as they compete in an era defined by computers.
Vaishali Rameshbabu took her opportunities in the final round of the Women's Candidates tournament to beat Kateryna Lagno and combined with Bibisara Assaubayeva's draw with Divya Deshmukh meant she took clear first place. Vaishali's win means she will play the champion since 2018, Ju Wenjun.
Javokhir Sindarov will play Gukesh for the World Chess Championship title later in the year. He confirmed his first place in the FIDE Candidates tournament in Cyprus with a draw against Anish Giri.
Greg Shahade ended Jamie Ding’s historic 31-game winning streak (on Jeopardy!), denying him the chance to tie or beat James Holzhauer’s 32-game record. Shahade ended the game with a commanding final score of $33,000. He found all three Daily Doubles and answered correctly, wagering aggressively and building a major runaway lead going into Final Jeopardy.
Problems, Problems, curated by Alexander George
Mark Liburkin, 1930
White to move and win.
Hint: sometimes less is more.
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Solution to last issue’s problem (Richard Réti, 1921):
White to move and draw.
1.Kg6 Kb6 2.Kg7 h5 3.Kf6 h4 4.Ke5 h3 5.Kd6 h2 6.Kb7 Kd6 =
---
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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