The Marshall Spectator
April 2, 2025
In This Issue: Don't Sell Our Building, A Letter From the Mother of IM Liam Putnam From The Skittles Room Endgame Corner, by IM Silas Esben Lund Chess Toons En Passant Problems, Problems, curated by Alexander George Editor's Note
A Letter From the Mother of IM Liam Putnam
To Whom It May Concern,
Sometime around the end of July 2016, my son Liam Putnam—now International Master Liam Putnam—walked into the Marshall Chess Club for the first time. He was just a child, his footsteps light but his dreams heavy with ambition. I remember the knot in my throat, the awe I felt just standing in that space, knowing the giants of chess who had come before us. It wasn’t just a building—it was history, it was legacy, it was a place where the game we love had thrived for generations.
Back then, the club was in rough shape. The building showed its age, with a worn facade, a leaky roof, and barely a single functioning bathroom. And yet, despite all of that, the spirit of chess was alive within those walls. Over the last eight years, we’ve watched it transform—new renovations, new members, and new energy breathed into this legendary institution. Even when the club has felt crowded, I’ve always believed you can have a big party in a small space. And with three unoccupied floors, there is still room to grow—room for a broadcasting studio, a space for parents to gather, and yes, even much-needed additional restrooms.
But now, the unthinkable is being considered: selling the building. Selling our history. Selling our legacy. And for what? The Marshall Chess Club has weathered a century of ups and downs, and now, when chess is flourishing more than ever, we are expected to believe that giving up this historic home is the only path forward? I refuse to accept that.
For years, the Marshall Chess Club has provided an accessible and affordable way for families to engage in competitive chess. In a landscape where tournament costs can skyrocket, this club has remained a place where children, students, and dedicated players could compete without facing the financial barriers that exist elsewhere. It has been a lifeline for families who want to foster a love of the game without breaking the bank, ensuring that chess remains a sport of intellect and passion—not just privilege. To sell this building is not just to sell bricks and mortar—it is to strip away one of the last institutions that has kept chess truly open to all.
And let’s not forget history. The Manhattan Chess Club was once a powerhouse in American chess, attracting some of the greatest players in the world. But it never owned a building, never had equity in its home. And where is it now? Gone. Forgotten. A relic of the past. The Marshall Chess Club, on the other hand, has endured because it has roots—because it has a home. To sell this building is to take a reckless step toward the same fate.
This building is the Marshall Chess Club. It has nurtured generations of players, from beginners with trembling hands to world-class masters who changed the game forever. It is irreplaceable. It is sacred. And yet, there are whispers in the shadows—whispers of greed, of shortsighted decisions, of forces willing to sacrifice something priceless for reasons that do not serve the members, the players, or the game itself. I will not stand by silently while the heart of American chess is put on the market. This building must remain the home of the Marshall Chess Club. It must continue to be a sanctuary for players young and old, a place where dreams take shape, where history is honored, and where the game of chess continues to thrive for generations to come.
Surely, a more prudent approach is simply making the necessary updates without stripping the club’s equity through a sale. I beg you to reconsider.
Sincerely, Amanda J Putnam, Mother of IM Liam Henry Putnam
Please send feedback on this matter to buildingfeedback@marshallchessclub.org.
Welcome back, fellow chess players, to this edition of the Marshall Chess Club's fortnightly bulletin, The Marshall Spectator.
This last weekend, we were thrilled to host the NYC Chess Norms Spring Round Robin event, featuring a GM, IM, and Scheveningen section. Congratulations the FM Tanitaluwa Adewumi, who crossed the 2400 rating threshold during the event, clearing the last hurdle on his way to the IM title. For a more detailed look at the event, please read this full article authored by our very own board member, NM Anthony Levin.
We're excited to share an update to our member highlights. Congratulations to each one of these members for their accomplishments in March, and keep an eye out for showcases of their accomplishments around the club. Good luck to everyone vying for a highlight in April!
Top USCF Rating Gain: Abdul-Mutakabbir, Mariam (389 USCF points gained) Most Active Member: Jacky Zheng (12 tournaments attended) Most Active New Member: (joined in the past year): Ryan Lefkowitz (6 tournaments attended.)
Curious to see where you stack up? You can see the full list here.
An exciting fundraising is coming up, the annual Chess in the Schools Poker event.
Up the ante for children in chess!
Join Grandmaster Robert Hess and a lineup of poker and chess celebrities for an evening of great company, blitz chess, delicious food, and handcrafted cocktails—all in support of a fantastic cause.
This event benefits Chess in the Schools, a New York City-based nonprofit organization that empowers low-income youth through chess education, fostering both intellectual and social growth.
Click here to purchase tickets:
About Chess in the Schools
Chess in the Schools provides classroom instruction in NYC public schools, afterschool chess clubs, college guidance, and scholastic tournaments. All programs are completely free for students.
Each year, CIS impacts the lives of over 10,000 students, helping them build the analytical and social-emotional skills, confidence, and self-esteem they need to succeed in school and lead fulfilling lives in the future.
Further ahead on the calendar, we are excited to share with you that summer registrations are open for our summer camps here. In addition to GM Djurabek Khamrakulov, the summer camps will feature GMs Andrei Maksimenko, Alexander Shabalov, and Oliver Barbosa as instructors, with many other guests to be announced!
We look forward to sharing more details about the camps with you in the coming weeks, including discounts and changes to the camp schedule.
Looking back over the last two weeks, we have had a plethora of events for our members to play in.
The Women & Girls’ Open on March 28 had 13 players registered and was won by Charlotte Peterson, who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win the $78 first-place prize, while Min Hee Chong scored 2.5 out of 3 to win $39.
The FIDE Blitz on March 28 had 49 players registered and was won by IM Mykola Bortnyk, who scored 8.5 out of 9 to win the $235 first-place prize. GM Maxim Dlugy scored 8 out of 9 to win clear 2nd place, which was $118, while the following 6 players won $39.33 each for their 6 out of 9 score: IM Justin Sarkar, Kiren Nasta, Dominic Paragua, Rohan Lee, CM Sasha Schaefer, and Shiv Dubey.
The Thursday Action on March 27 had 39 players registered and was won by FM Leif Pressman, who scored 4 out of 4 to win the $143 first-place prize. IM Jay Bonin finished in second place, winning $95 for his 3.5 out of 4 performance, while Vladimir Bugayev, Michael Glick, and Dominic Paragua scored 3 points to win $48 each. The following 7 players won $10.29 for their 2.5 out of 4 score: Harper Wallace, Mike C, Arhan Javeri, Jeremy A Graham, Grayson Xiang, Sarah Budow, and Najee-Ana Walthrust.
The Thursday Open that concluded on March 27 had 27 players registered and was won by Oliver Chernin, who scored 5 out of 5 to win the $540 first place prize. Aleksandr Gutnik, Quan Anh Le, Morris Stranger, and Alvin Lou won $108 each for their performance, while the following 6 players won $18 each for their 3 out of 5 score: Boris Goikhman, Artem Aleksenko, Aileen Lou, Travis Shafer, Elliot Yashayev, and Jonas Majauskas.
The Rated Beginner Open on March 23 had 45 players registered and was won by Jack Troast, Malcolm Mensch, Laksh Mehta and Hudson Hollins who all scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $137.50 each.
The Monthly Under 1800 on March 23 had 30 players registered and was won by Kabir Partha Mutha, who scored 4.5 out of 5 to win the $484 first place prize. Alexandra Liu, Aileen Lou, Kai Waters, and Sean Rong scored 3.5 out of 5 to win $115 each, while Samuel Reznikov scored 3 out of 5 to win $145.
The Monthly Under 2400 on March 23 had 68 players registered and was won by IM Jay Bonin, who scored 4.5 out of 5 to win the clear first-place prize of $1,134. Leqi Han won $340 as a class prize for a 4 out of 5 score, while the following players all won $179.67 for their 4 out of 5 performance: Haari Muthukumar, Anthony Levin, Leo Xiaohang Shen, Nicholas Belenky, Aleksandr Gutnik, and Marzouq Chowdhury.
The Under 2000 Morning Action on March 22 had 57 players registered and concluded with the following players winning $71.43 for their perfect 3 out of 3 score: David Campbell, Nathan Booncharoen, Abanoub Attalla, Axel Peters, Nate Wyeth, Kenny T Bollin, and Raymond Singh. There were no fewer than 14 players who $15.29 for their 2 out of 3 score: Luca Buratti, Gabriel Bussa, Amiel Urilov, Jonathan Hsieh, Hugh William Verrier, Terrence Zeng, Shruthi Rao, Jia Rui Weng, Philip Xia, Marko Scekic Abeer, Sethi, Kyle Xu, Charles Wang, and Samantha Edwards.
The Friday Rapid on March 21 had 20 players and was won by IM Brewington Hardaway, who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win a $100 first-place prize. Alexandra Lussie scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $50, while Jayden Feng, Benito Kestelman, Thomas Egelhof, and Aarush Bandreddi won $25 for their efforts.
The Thursday Action on March 20 had 38 players registered and was won by FM Leif Pressman, IM Jay Bonin, Bryan Weisz, and Jonathan Corbblah who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $95.50 each. Alec Hyunmook Choi scored 3 out of 4 to win a $72 class prize.
The Marshall Masters on March 18 had 23 players registered and was won by IM Nico Werner Chasin and FM Tanitoluwa Adewumi, who both scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win $248 each. CM Sasha Milo Schaefer and CM Chenxuan Ling scored 2.5 out of 4 to win $37 each, while IM Liam Henry Putnam, FM Aditeya Das, and IM Jay Richard Bonin scored 3 out of 4 to win $30.67 each.
The Rated Beginner Open on March 16 had 46 players registered and was won by Mohan Wu, Akaash Deshpande, Justin Kulla, and Abraham Kondo Chung, who all scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $134.50.
The ALTO Open on March 16 had 10 players registered and was won by IM Jay Bonin, who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $75, while Kevin Liu scored 3 out of 4 to win $50 and Artem Aleksenko won $38 for his 2.5 out of 4 performance.
The ATLO Under 1600 on March 16 had 8 players registered and was won by Dheeraj Prasanth, who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win $75, while Noah Zucker and Nikhil Jhaveri scored 3 out of 4 to win $44 each.
The Morning Masters on March 15 had 7 players registered and was won by Elliot Goodrich, who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win the $53 first-place prize. Chase Knowles and Jack Yang scored 2 out of 3 to win $17.50 each.
The Saturday Game 50 Open on March 15 had 17 players registered and was won by IM Jay Richard Bonin who scored 3.5 out of 4 to win the $102 first place prize. Dylan Taewoong Kang and Alvin Lou scored 3 out of 4 to win $59.50 each.
The Saturday Game 50 Under 1800 on March 15 had 50 players registered and was won by Benito Kestelman who scored a perfect 4 out of 4 to win $300, while Favor Idemudia won the $200 second place prize for his 3.5 out of 4 score. Sascha Mayers, Jacob Ernest Bleiberg, Aditeya Veer Singh, and Fabrizzio Quinonez Hernandez won $37.50 each for their 3 out of 4 score.
The Under 2000 Morning Action on March 15 had 38 players and was won by Devin V Wang, Manish Suthar and Juan Gestoso who scored a perfect 3 out of 3 to win $111 each. The following 6 players scored 2 points to share in a class prize, winning $23.83 each: Jeremiah D McFarland, Rico He, Amiel Akiva Urilov, Andrew Zeng, Gavin Jiang, and Charlotte Tai-En Chang.
We look forward to seeing you at the club soon!
Endgame Corner, by IM Silas Esben Lund
The column this time is about bishop versus pawns. We will discuss a few important concepts, exemplified by 3 positions. Try to solve the positions first as puzzles, the solutions will follow later.
You can play through the games in this article with the annotations here.
Position 1
White to move and win. 1-0
Position 2
White to move and win. 1-0
Position 3
White to move and win. 1-0
SOLUTIONS
Position 1
Black is threatening to play ...Ke4 followed by a pawn break on d4 that will eliminate White's last pawn. 1. Bc3 Ke4 (1... e5 2. Kc5 leads to the same thing.) 2. Bd4 e5 3. Kc5 White sacrifices the bishop to win the pawn ending. exd4 4. exd4 The so-called 'Trebuchet' position is a position of mutual zugzwang, and unfortunately for Black, he is to move. This idea is important and well-known, and popular among study composers. 1-0
Position 2
1. Bc6 (1. Ba6 Kb8 2. Kxf4 Kc7 3. Ke5 Kb8 White is unable to move the bishop as it defends his last pawn. However, defending b7 with the king to release the bishop, leads to stalemate: 4. Kd6) 1... a5 2. Ke2 The king will take care of the a-pawn, and the bishop the f-pawn by covering the f3-square. a4 3. Kd3 a3 4. Kc3 a2 5. Kb2 The 'one-diagonal principle' is very important when working with the bishop. The bishop in our position defends b7 but also stops the f-pawn, all on the long diagonal h1-a8. If it wasn't on one diagonal, Black could overload the bishop and eliminate the last pawn. 1-0
Position 3
A more complicated case with the one-diagonal principle in action. 1. Bf5+ Kf6 2. Kd5 The point: the white king is in the square of the h-pawn and will take care of that. 2…h4 (2... b5 3. Ke4 b4 4. Kf4 b3 5. Bb1 Once the b-pawn gets closer to promotion, taking the bishop on f5 becomes a threat.) 3. Ke4 h3 4. Kf3 h2 5. Kg2
The bishop does all its business on the b1-h7 diagonal: stopping the passed pawns on the queenside (b1 and d3) as well as defending the g6-pawn. White just needs to eliminate the h-pawn and then bring his king in to support the g6-pawn to promotion. 1-0
IM Silas Esben Lund, Marshall Spectator Contributor
En Passant
When venture capital firm WestBridge invited one of the world’s most famous chess players for an “offbeat” talk with investors about chess patterns, it resulted in a partnership that six years later has produced several world champions.GM Matthias Bluebaum emerged victorious at the 2025 European Individual Chess Championship in Eforie Nord, Romania. The 27-year-old German clinched his second European title. Having previously won the event in 2022, he became the first-ever two-time European Chess Champion.
GM Kirill Shevchenko, ranked 75th in the world, has received a three-year worldwide ban from chess, with one year suspended, allowing him to return to competitive play in October 2026. The 22-year-old confessed to hiding a phone in the toilet but denied using it to cheat with an engine.
Chess Toons
Problems, Problems, curated by Alexander George
Hugo August, Otto Brennert, Thomas R. Dawson, Niels Høeg and Valerian Onitiu, 1924
Last move?
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Solution to last issue’s puzzle (Smullyan, 1957): How did the black king get into check? Seems as if the white king moved off the diagonal to discover check from the black bishop. But how could the white king be sitting on b3, for it would then seem to be in illegal check? Perhaps it captured a black piece that moved to discover check - but how could a move of a black piece discover check from both rook and bishop!? There's only one solution:
And so the last moves were: 1.c2-c4 b4xc3 e.p.+!! 2.Kb3xc3+. So the white king must be on c3.
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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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