In This Issue: From The Skittles Room King's Kibitzes, by FM Alex King 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.
Looking ahead to Women’s History Month in March, yours truly will be master of ceremonies along with our Executive Director, Carlos Chavez, who will be moderating a panel discussion on Tuesday, March 5 at 7pm. Following the panel, there will be a free, unrated rapid tournament at 9 pm; 3 rounds - G/15 with book prizes below. Both the panel and tournament are open to the public. We are thrilled to host several esteemed panelists for this event:
GM Irina Krush - Chess as a Professional; eight-time U.S. Women's Champion. At 14 years old became the youngest U.S. Women's Champion ever, and 2023 Marshall Chess Club Women's Champion.
IM Rusudan Goletiani - Chess and Finance - 2005 U.S. Women's champion; foreign exchange trader at BlackRock, Inc.
WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni - Chess and Commentary - 2006 Turin Olympiad - individual gold medal; a commentator with chess.com.
WFM Ana Izoria - Chess and Education - Experienced chess teacher and Special Education teacher at Beacon High School.
During the panel, the chess books below will be awarded as prizes for club members who solve puzzles from the games of the panelists.
We will start a new cycle of our monthly team event next month on March 12, after it was postponed due to the recent snow storm last week. This was a popular team event the last cycle, and we anticipate an excellent turnout for the event this time too.
Over the last two weeks we have had a plethora of events for our members to play in.
The Friday Rapid on February 16 had 14 players registered and concluded with Neil Samant and Alexander Pakh scoring 3.5 out of 4 to win $52.50 each, while Benito Kestelman and Arlo Joshua Scherr scored 3 points to win $17.50 each.
The Andre Harding Action on February 15 had 31 players registered and was won by IM Jay Bonin, who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win $146. Mihir Bafna was a class prize of $73, scoring 3 points, while Jessica Hyatt, Judah Schizer and Kameliia Sharuda won $48.67 for the same score.
The FIDE Under 1800 on February 12 had 27 players registered and was won by Ethan Zornow who scored 5.5 out of 6 to win $174. Richard Koppenaal, Konrad Klinkner and Ansel Rosenberg scored 4 points to win $72.33 each while Saanvi Acharya scored 3.5 to win a class prize of $87.
The FIDE Monday on February 12 had 29 players registered and was won by IM Jay Bonin and Steven Rand, who scored 4.5 out of 6 to win $233.50 each. Ethan Klein scored 4 points, winning $94, while Stephen Hrop and Moshe Blank scored 3.5 out of 6 to share in a class prize, winning $70.50 each.
The Sunday Game 50 Under Open on February 11 had 32 players and was won by GM Michael Rohde, IM Jay Bonin, Jason Jiang and Henry Burton who all scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $77.50 each.
The Sunday Game 50 Under 1600 on February 11 had 41 players registered and concluded with Reginal Denis winning the $246 first place prize with a perfect 4 out of 4. Kai Wong and Henry Arnold scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $143.50 each.
The Rated Beginner Open Morning on February 11 had 59 players and finished with 6 perfect scores: Rayane Chertouk, Andrew Shao, Ethan Bellur, August Prasertsom, Abilseit Marat, and Carly Endres scored 3 out of 3 to win $120.83 each.
The Saturday Under 2000 Morning Action on February 10 had 49 players registered and finished with Gautam Narula and Lucas Fugate both scoring a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $215 each. Manish Suthar and Ziva Marcal scored 2.5 points to share in a class prize, winning $92 each.
The Saturday Game 50 Under 1800 on February 10 had 34 players registered and was won by Brian Huang who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 points to win $204, while Alvin Lou and David Huang scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $119 each.
The Saturday Game 50 Open on February 10 had 44 players registered and concluded with GM Michael Rohde, IM Jay Bonin and Daguy Vaval scoring 3.5 out of 4 to win $140 each. Colin Diamond, Rohan Lee and Lucas Moina scored 3 points to share in a class prize, winning $42 each.
The Women and Girls Open on February 9 had 17 players an was won by Hema Vikas and Dhruthi Rao who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $76.50 each.
The Friday Blitz on February 8 had an even 40 players and was won by IM Mykola Bortnyk who scored 7.5 out of 9 to win $190, while GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez and IM Nico Casin scored an even 7 points to win $71.25 each.
The Andre Harding Action on February 8 had 60 players registered and was finished in a three-way tie. IM Maximillian Lu, FM Tanitoluwa Adewumi and Aakaash Meduri scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win $185 each. Andrew Colwell and Mike Ching scored 3 points, sharing in a class prize and winning $69.50 each.
The Weekly Under 1600 that concluded on February 7 had 27 players registered and was won by Reginal Denis, who scored 5 out of 6 to win the clear first place prize of $225. Akeil Williams, Ken Jennings and Matt McColgan finished in a 3-way tie, scoring 4.5 and winning $105 each for their effort.
The Weekly Under 2200 that concluded on February 7 had 42 players registered and was won by Aleksandr Gutnik, who got $410 for his perfect 5 out of 5 performance. The following 4 players scored 4.5 points, winning 102.5 each: George Berg, Nkosi Nkululeko, Kimani Stancil, Ciprian Solomon. Jun Xiang and Jephson Mathew
We look forward to seeing you at the club soon!
King’s Kibitzes: Bortnyk on the Tightrope
IM Mykola Bortnyk’s first-place finish in the Marshall February FIDE Premier featured his trademark unusual openings and gravity-defying close calls in the middlegame and endgame. The following four diagrams are critical moments from his Rounds 2-5 - decide what you would play as “South” in each position and then compare your decision with the game continuation:
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Round 2
Mykola Bortnyk (FIDE 2425) - Bryan Lin (FIDE 2103)
The move played in the game was 30…f5?? turning a winning position into a losing position - Bortnyk consolidated with 31.Bc2! Rxb1 32.Rxb1 Qc7 33.Qa8+ Bf8 +- and White went on to win.
Instead 30…c3! was correct. Perhaps Lin wasn’t sure about the position after 31.Be1 c2 32.Rxb3 Qxb3 33.Rc1, but Black’s passed pawn is too strong: 33…d5 34.Qd6 Bf8! 35.Qxe5 dxe4 36.Qxe4 Rc4 followed by 37…Ba3 -+.
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Round 3
Leif Pressman (FIDE 2233) - Mykola Bortnyk (FIDE 2425)
In a sharp and difficult position, Pressman went wrong with 39.Rc1? losing two tempi after 39…d3 40.Bc6 Bh6 41.Rd1. Bortnyk maintained control and won after 41…f5 42.c5 Rc3 43.Bd5+ Kh7 44.Bd6 Bf4 45.Be7 Be5 -+.
Instead the immediate 39.Bc6! was correct: 39…f5 40.Bd5+ Kh7 41.c5 Rc3 42.c6 d3 43.c7 when White has a much-improved version of the game continuation. Black would need to take care to prevent White’s threat of Be6 followed by c8Q+, e.g. 43…f4 44.Bxe4 Rxc7 45.Rxd3 =.
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Round 4
Mykola Bortnyk (FIDE 2425) - Justus Williams (FIDE 2369)
At the culmination of a complicated battle, Bortnyk found the crushing 42.Rxe5! fxe5 43. c6 and White’s four passed pawns beat Black’s three passed pawns: 43…e3+ 44.Kf3 Ba8 45.Bc4+! Ke8 46.b5 Rh2 47.f6 e2 48.f7+ Kf8
49.Bd2! e4+ 50.Kxe4 Kg7 51.Bb4 1-0
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Round 5
Joseph Zeltsan (FIDE 2430) - Mykola Bortnyk (FIDE 2425)
Bortnyk secured clear first place by repeating moves with 38…Rd2? 39.Kc1 Rc2+ 40.Kb1 Rcd2 41.Kc1 Rc2+ 42.Kb1 Rcd2 ½-½.
Instead he could have made it a perfect 5-0 with the winning continuation 38…g4! 39.d6 Rd2 40.Rh1+ Kg6 41.Rg1 Rf4!
White’s passed pawn is under control, while Black’s two passed pawns are mobile and dangerous. Black gradually advances with …Kf5, …e4-e3, and White’s passive pieces are unable to put up sufficient resistance.
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Congratulations to IM Bortnyk on his tightrope path to victory!
FM Alex King, your favorite funambulist’s favorite columnist
Chess Toons
En Passant
The Saint Louis Chess Club, U.S. Chess and Kasparov Chess Foundation announced the Saint Louis Chess Conference, which will bring together the leading voices in chess with chess educators, researchers and enthusiasts. The Saint Louis Chess Conference will be held October 24-26 at the Chase Park Plaza in Saint Louis, Missouri, and will feature leading keynote speakers including Maurice Ashley, Garry Kasparov and Judit Polgár.
Magnus Carlsen defeated Fabiano Caruana with the white pieces to claim overall victory at the first edition of the Freestyle G.O.A.T. Chess Challenge. The Norwegian took home the US$ 60,000 first prize for his efforts.
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) is pleased to announce the second World Corporate Chess Championship, bringing chess and business together in a series of online events that will conclude with an over-the-board final in New York in June.
Problems, Problems, curated by Alexander George
A. Karpov & E. Gik, 1981
White to mate in 2.
World Champions -- and most grandmasters -- find solving problems to be of enormous value. They haven't been big composers, however. There are exceptions. Here's a problem by Karpov. (If you know of any others, send them my way!)
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Last issue’s problem: Walter Pulitzer, 1907
Solution to Walter Pulitzer, 1907: 1.Qf6.
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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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