Open Section Games

By Dan Avery

The inaugural Southern Colorado Open was played in Colorado Springs in June and was a smashing success. It featured Michael Mulyar, Renard Anderson, Brian Wall, and Dr. Mikhail Ponomarev. The time control was unusual, Game in ninety minutes. This sudden death time control proved to be a special challenge to the players, as many got into time trouble relatively early in the game, while others tried to blitz their moves and got into trouble on the board. The time control also wrought havoc on the score sheets. There were several great struggles which will not be published because there is no record of the critical moves. However, the time control added an air of excitement. This excitement, coupled with the ability to hold a regular six round tournament in just two days, makes this a very successful experiment. Renard Anderson was the most adept at taking advantage of the time control, and added another tournament victory to his long list of successes with an impressive 5.5/6. Andy Rea also had a great tournament finishing in clear second with 5/6, and upsetting SM Michael Mulyar (who recently finished tied for first in the US Open)! Congratulations to the organizers, Ken Schwartz, Roy Heath, Dean Brown, and Larry Wutt for an excellent tournament! (See cross tables for full results.) There were many beautiful and exciting games played in this tournament, and there just is not room for all of them in these pages. While I tried to print only complete game scores, I broke that rule in two places: Avery-M. Ponomarev, because I could recreate the final position, and P. Ponomarev-Hill because, although the most interesting part of the game is not recorded, the part that exists is wonderful in its own right. The chess scene in Colorado is looking as bright as it has in years, thanks mainly to exciting players such as Leroy Hill, Philipp Ponomarev, Renard Anderson, Eric Billaux, and several others who play consistently uncompromising chess! (NB: These notes were not checked by computer.)

ROUND ONE

Ken Doykos - Brian Wall, IRREGULAR OPENING
1.Nf3 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Be2 c6 5.Be3 Qb6 6.Qc1 Nf6 7.Nc3 Ng4 8.0-0 e5 9.d5 Ne3 10.Qe3 Qe3 11.fe a5 12.a4 Bh6 13.Kf2 Nd7 14.Rad1 Ke7 15.Bc4 Nb6 16.Bb3 cd! (Fixing and isolating the doubled e-pawns permanently by tactical means. Mr. Wall clearly demonstrates why doubled pawns are weak in this game.) 17.Nd5 Nd5 18.Rd5 Ra6 19.Rfd1 Be6 20.Rb5 b6 21.Be6 fe6! (Taking on doubled pawns of his own, but there is a qualitative difference because Black threatens to blow open the center, and White will have weaknesses on both sides of the board to contend with.) 22.Rd3 Rc8 23.Rc3 Rc3 24.bc3 Kd7 25.Ke2 Kc6 26.Kd3 Ra7 27.Ke2 Kc6 28.Nd2 Bg5 29.Nc4 Rb7?! (29...Bd8 is better, and Mr. Wall corrects this slight inaccuracy a few moves later.) 30.Kd3 Bf6 31.Kd3 Bd8 32.Kd3 Re7 33.Ke2 Bc7 34.g3 Rf7 35.Nd2 (While the white knight looks more active than the black bishop, it has no targets, and so the long term chances lie with the bishop.) g5 36.Nf3 g4 37.Nd2 h5! (with less than seven minutes on the clock, Brian finally finds a way to break through Mr. Doykos’ tough defense.) 38.Nc4 Rh7 39.Nd2 h4 40.Nf1 d5 41.ed5+ ed5 42.e4! de4 43.Ke3 hg 44.hg Rh1 45.Nd2 Re1+! (White must lose material now.) 46.Kf2 Rc1 47.Ne4 Rc2+ 48.Ke3 Ra2 49.Nf6 Ra4 And with less than a minute left on his clock, Mr. Doykos played 50.Nd8 Kb5 and White resigned. 0-1

Doug Hamilton - Leroy Hill, IRREGULAR FRENCH
1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 b6 3.d4 d5! 4.Bd3 Ba6 5.Nc3 Bb4 (I prefer Bd3 right away, but Leroy has another plan in mind.) 6.ed5 ed5 7.Ba6 Na6 8.Bd2 Bc3 9.Qe2+ Qe7 10.Qe7+ Ne7 11.Bc3 0-0 (Mr. Hamilton has successfully simplified the position, and even has a slight edge. However, higher rated players usually do very well in these quiet positions because they seem to have a better understanding of where the pieces belong.) 12.0-0 Rfe8 13.Rfe1 f6 14.a3 Nf5 15.h3 Nd6 16.b3 c6!? 17.Kf1 Kf7 18.Bd2 g5 19.g4 Re4 20.Re2 Rae8 21.Rae1 Kg6 22.c3 Nc7 23.Be3 h5 24.Nd2 Re7 25.Nf3?(apparently hoping for Re4, with a draw by repetition in sight.) hg4 26.hg4 Re4 27.Nh2 (John Watson has said that the difference in players’ strength shows up most starkly in how they handle their minor pieces. Here, Black’s knights are filled with potential energy while White’s minor pieces are passively waiting to be traded off.) a5 28.f3 R4e7 29.a4 f5?! (This actually gives both sides great outposts for their Knights.) 30.gf5+ Nf5 31.Kf2 b5? (This is premature. Now White can gain a great outpost, with gain of tempo.) 32.Ng4! Ra8?! 33.Rg1 (33.Ne5+! would be simpler, but White sees a way to increase his pressure.) Ne6 34.Bd2 ba4 35.ba5 c5! 36.dc5 Nc5 37.Ne5+?? Re5 38.Rg5+ Kf6 39.Re5 Nd3+ 40.Kg2 Ne5 41.f4 Nf7 42.Rg4 Re8!? (Rb8 looks even better!) 43.Kf3 Re4 44.c4 Rc4 45.Ba5 Ra4 46.Be1 Ra3+ 47.Ke2 d4 48.Bd2 d3+ 49.Kf3 N7d6 50.Rg1 Nd4+ 51.Ke3 Nc2+ 52.Kf3 Nc4 53.Rg2 Nd2 54.Rd2 Kf5 55.Kg3 Nd4 56.Rb2 Ne2+ 0-1

Eric Billaux - Josh Smith, IRREGULAR SICILIAN ACCELERATED DRAGON
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cd4 4.Qd4!? Nf6 5.Bb5 a6?! 6.e5!!? ab5 7.ef6 e6 (7...ef6 opens the e-file to devastating effect. White can simply castle and be much better.) 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.Qf4 b4 10.Nb5 d6 11.0-0 Ra5 12.Nbd4 Qb6 13.Nc6 Qc6 14.Qb4 b6 15.Be3 Bb7 Eric said that Black was actually slightly better out of the opening. Perhaps Josh could improve here with 15...Rb5. 16.a4 Rf5 17.Qb6 Qe4

18.Qc7! Rf6 19.Bg5 Bg7 20.Qd6! h6 21.Rad1 Bd5 22.Bf6 Bf6 23.Rfe1 1-0

Philipp Ponomarev - Nick Emery, QUEEN PAWN: VERESOV
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bg5 Bf5! 4.f3 h6 5.Bf6 ef6 6.e4 de4?! 7.fe4 Bg6 8.Nf3 Bb4 9.Bd3 0-0 10.0-0 Re8 11.Nd5 Bd6

12.e5! Bd3 13.Qd3 fe5 14.de5 Be5? 15.Ne5 Re5 16.Nf6+ Qf6 17.Rf6 gf6 18.Qd8+ (Now there are many ways to win.) Kg7 19.Rf1 Re6 20.Qc8 a5 21.Rf3 f5 22.Rg3+ Kf6 23.Qd8+ Re7 24.Qh8+ (24.Re3?! Nc6! is too interesting.) Ke6 25.Re3+ Kd7 26.Re7 Ke7 27.Qe5+ Kd8 28.Qh8+ Ke7 29.Qc8 1-0

Sean Groves - Barry Biggs, IRREGULAR OPENING
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.e3 c5 5.c3 0-0 6.Nbd2 cd4 7.ed4 d5 8.Bd3 Nc6 9.0-0 Qc7 10.Re1 Re8 11.Bh4 Nh5 12.Qb3 e6 13.Nf1 Na5 14.Qc2 Nc4 15.Ng3 Nf4 16.Nf1 Nd3 17.Qd3 Nb2?? 18.Qb5! Bd7 19.Qb2 Rac8 20.Rac1 Bc6 21.Bg3 Qe7 22.Ne5 h6 23.Ne3 Qg4 24.Nc4 b6 25.Qa3 Re7 26.Nf3 1-0

Chris Clevenger - Morgan Robb, FRENCH ADVANCED VARIATION
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3?! (This initiates the Milner-Barry Gambit. While it is extremely dangerous, I cannot believe that this is White’s best option.) Bd7 7.dc5!? (Avoiding the gambit line 7.0-0 cd4 8.cd4 Nd4 9.Nd4 Qd4, and hoping to use his pieces to occupy the center, but this leaves a very bad impression. It seems that White is mixing up systems here.) Bc5 8.0-0 f6 9.Qe2 0-0-0!? 10.b4 Be7 11.Be3 Qc7 12.ef6 Nf6 13.Nbd2 e5 14.b5 Na5 15.b6!? ab6 16.Rab1 Bc5! 17.Bc5 bc5 18.Qe5 Rhe8 19.Qg5 Bg4 20.h3 h6 21.Qh4 Bf3 22.Bf5+ Kb8 23.Nf3 Nc4 24.Bd3 Ne5 25.Ne5 Qe5 26.Rfe1Qc3 27.Qg3+ Ka8 28.Re8 Re8 29.Qg7 Re1+ 30.Re1 Qe1+ 31.Kh2 Qe5+ 32.Kg1 c4 33.Qf8+ Ka7 34.Qa3+ Kb6 35.Bc2 Qe1+ 36.Kh2 Qf2 37.Qb4+ Kc7 38.Qe7+ Kb6 39.Qb4+ Kc7 40 Qe7+ 1/2-1/2

ROUND TWO

Dan Avery - Mikhail Ponomarev, QGD SEMI-SLAV EXCHANGE
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.cd5 ed5 5.Nf3 Bd6!? 6.Bg5?! f6 7.Bh4 Qb6 8.Qc2 Ne7 (I realized here that I had made a mistake, but found an interesting continuation which sacs a pawn for development.) 9.e3 Bf5 10.Bd3! Bd3 11.Qd3 Qb2 (Dr. P spent more than ten minutes, pursed his lips and took the pawn. If Black wants to get any advantage out of this position, I think taking is forced. Otherwise, White will improve his position without any material loss.) 12.Rb1 Qa3 13.Rb3 Qa5 14.0-0 Qc7!? 15.Rc1 (Perhaps White’s play over the last few moves could be criticized as being too straightforward, but I certainly have compensation for the pawn here.) Qd7 16.Qb1 b5 17.e4 de4 18.Ne4 0-0 19.a4! (I love this move! I attack the kingside by pushing the most distant pawn I could find! This move guarantees White material equality and some initiative.) Bf4 20.Re1 Ng6 21.ab5 Nh4 22.Nh4 Qd5 23.bc6 Nc6 24.Rb5 Qf7 25.Rb7 Qh5 26.Nf3 Rab8 27.Qb3+ (I offered a draw here, even though Dr. P had only fifteen minutes left to my 40 minutes.) Kh8 28.Ng3 Rb7 29.Qb7 Qd5 30.Nf5! Rg8 31.Re8 Qf5 32.Qc6 Qb1+ 33.Re1 Qb6! 34.Qe4! (Once queens get traded, Black has a huge endgame advantage due to his outside passed pawn and better minor piece.) Bd6 35.Nh4 g6 Dr. P instantly parried the nasty threat of 36.Ng6+ followed by Qh4#, but weakened his kingside.) 36.g3 a5! 37.Rb1 (Starting a bad plan. I should focus on the a pawn. Now Dr. P is close to winning the game. Unfortunately, he is running out of time, while I still have about twenty-three minutes left.) Qd8 38.Rb7 Rg7 39.Rb5 a4 40.Rd5? a3 41.Qc2 Qa8 42.Qa2 Rc7 43.Kf1 Rc1+ 44.Kg2 Rc2 45.Qc2 I stopped writing down the moves in this losing position, but we reached the following position with Dr. P’s flag teetering (Black to move):

1....a2 2.Qe7+ Kh6? 3.Qf8+ Kg5 4.Nf3+ Kg4 5.Nh2+ Kh3 6.Qc8+? Kh2 7.Qa6 Kg2 8.Qa2 f5 9.Ke3 Kh3 10.f4 h6 11.Kf3 1-0

Kirk McMullan - Vance Aandahl, PETROV’S DEFENSE
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Ne5 d6 4.Nf3 Ne4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.c4 Nb4 9.Be2 Be6 10.Nc3 0-0 11.Bf4 Re8 12.a3 Nc3 13.bc3 Nc6 14.c5 Na5 15.Bd3 Nc4 16.Bc2 c6 17.Qb1 b6 18.Bh7 Kf8 19.Bd3 bc 20.Bc4 dc4 21.Qh7 f6 22.Bh6! gh6 23.Nh4 Bf7 24.Nf5 1-0

Jeff Baffo - Andy Rea, EVANS GAMBIT
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4!? (I love playing through these romantic gambit lines. They are far too interesting for me ever to play them though.) Bb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.Qb3 (This is a very unusual continuation. White normally plays 6.d4) Qe7 7.d4 Nd4 8.Nd4 ed4 9.0-0 d3 (This move is thematic in the 6.d4 lines, but here I think 9.dc3 may actually be better. For instance, 10.Ba3 Qf6 11.e5 was considered unclear, but most likely equal by Unzicker in the obscure game, Opl-Vokroj, 1978.) 10.Bd3 Bh6 11.Ba3 d6 12.Nd2 Be6 13.Qc2 Qf6 14.Bb2 Ne7 15.Nf3 Nc6 16.Bb5 0-0 17.Bc6 bc6 18.a4 Rab8 19.Nd4 Bc4 20.Rfe1 d5 21.e5 Qg6 22.Qd2 Bd4 23.cd4 Rb3 24.Ra3 R8b8 25.Rb3 Rb3 26.Bc3 h5 27.h4 Ra3 28.a5 Ra2 29.Qe3 Bd3 30.e6 Be4 31.ef7+ Kf7 32.Qf4+ Kg8 33.g3 Qg4 34.Qg4 (Jeff offered a draw here. As an aside, GM Peter Svidler told me that the professionals would never consider offering a draw in an inferior position unless there were mitigating circumstances, such as the opponent was very low on time (which may be the case here). This is a bit of chess manners which Bobby Fischer once broke against Petrosian in 1958. He said he didn’t realize it was bad etiquette in My Sixty Memorable Games. It is still apparently considered to be a firm unwritten rule.) hg4 35.Rc1 Kf7 36.Kf1 Ke6 37.Kg1 Kd7 38.Be1 Kc8 39.Bb4 Ra4 40.Bc3 g6 41.Ra1 Rc4 42.Ra3 c5 43.dc5 d4! 44.Bd2 Rc5 45.Ra1 Rc2 46.Bf4 Kb7 47.Re1 Bg4 48.Re5 d3 49.h5 d2 50.Bd2 Rd2 51.h6 Rd7 0-1

Josh Bloomer - Eric Billaux, SICILIAN
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 (Black is already making a very committal move!) 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bf4 e5 8.Bg5 a6 9.Na3 b5 I prefer 9...Be6 here, hoping to transpose into Petrosian’s game against Fischer in the famous candidates match of 1971. Karpov suggested that it was very good for Black in The Semi-Open Game in Action (1988) saying "[i]t seems that this variation has not been played since then." (p.1) Of course, the opinion of two world champions has no effect on my evaluation of the move. Eric follows the mainline Sveshnikov. 10.Bf6 gf6 11.Nd5 f5 12.Bd3 Be6 13.0-0 Bd5 14.cd5 Ne7 15.Nb5 Bg7!? 16.Nc3 e4 17.Bc4 Qa5 18.Qd2 0-0 19.Ne4? (This looks attractive, but is refuted by Eric’s very next move.) Qc7! 20.Nd6 Qd6 21.c3 Ng6 22.Be2 Be5 23.g3 f4 24.Rac1 Kh8 25.c4 fg3 26.fg3 Bg3! 27.hg3 Qg3+ 28.Kh1 Qh4+ 29.Kg2 Rg8! 30.Kf3 Rae8 31.Qc3+ f6 32.Bd3 Qf4 33.Kg2 Ne5 0-1 A beautiful finish by Mr. Billaux!

ROUND THREE

Andy Rea - Michael Mulyar, GRUNFELD EXCHANGE
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cd5 Nd5 5.e4 Nc3 6.bc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 0-0 9.0-0 cd4!? 10.cd4 Nc6 11.Be3 Bg4 12.f3 Na5 13.Bd3 (Avoiding the Seville Gambit initiated by Karpov. In this game, Black has thrown in the exchanges on d4, which may make the gambit dubious. 13.Bf7+ is messy, and I honestly don’t know the current theoretical state of affairs of this line.) Be6 14.Qa4!? a6 15.Rad1 b5 16.Qa3 Nc4 17.Bc4 Bc4 18.Rfe1 e6 19.Nc1 a5 20.Qb2 f5 21.e5 Qd5 22.Ne2 Be2 23.Re2 Rfc8 24.Rc1 b4 25.Rec2 Rc2 26.Rc2 Bf8 27.Rc7!? a4 28.Qc1 b3 29.ab3 ab3 30.Qc3 Ra2 31.Rc8 Rc2?? Although this is a terrible move, Andy was probably very low on time (judging from the state of his score sheet at least) and could easily have missed the winning shot.

32.Bh6! Kf7 33.Rf8+ Ke7 34.Qb4+ Kd7 35.Rf7+ Kc8 36.Rf8+ Kd7 37.Qa4 Kc7 38.Qa7 Kc6 39.Rb8! Qd7 40.Rb6+ 1-0

Renard Anderson - Leroy Hill, IRREGULAR FRENCH
(Does Leroy play any "regular" openings?) 1.e4 e6 2.d4 a6?! 3.Nf3 d5! 4.e5 c5 5.c3 Qb6 6.a3 (Mr. Anderson is content to transpose into a line of the advanced variation in which ...a6 is a normal move. I would have been more interested to see White try a more classical line in order to take advantage of Black’s unusual move order. Mr. Hill told me afterwards that he played this way because he was fairly sure Renard would play into a "normal" line.) Bd7 7.b4 cd4 An interesting alternative is ...cb4 8.ab4 Bb5!? when White’s normal continuation, c4 loses. 8.Nd4! Nc6 9.f4 Nge7 (9...g5 already could be considered!) 10.Be3 Nd4 11.Bd4 Qc7 12.a4 Nf5 13.Bf2 h5?! 14.Bd3 g5 15.0-0 gf4 16.Bf5 ef5 17.Bd4 Be6 18.Rf4 a5 19.Na3 Be7?! 20.Nb5 Qd8 21.Qe1 h4 22.Nd6+! Bd6 23.ed6 Qd6 24.Rf5 0-0-0 25.Rf2 Rhg8 26.ba5 Rg4 27.Rb1 Rdg8 28.Rb6 Qc7 29.a6 ba6 30.Ra6 Qb7 31.Rb6 Qc7 32.Qe2! Qc4

33.Re6!! (This turns a small advantage into an insurmountable one!) fe6 34.Qe6+ Kb8 35.Rb2+ Ka8 36.Qf7 (White is definitely winning this, but Leroy has earned a reputation as a particularly wily defender in lost positions.) Rg2+ 37.Rg2 Rg2+ 38.Kg2 h3+ (I don’t see anything for Black after 39.Kh3.) 39.Kg1?! Qa4 40.Qd5+ Kb8 41.Qd8+ Kb7 42.Qe7+ Kc8 43.Qe6+ Kb7 44.Qh3 Qd1+ (If Black had any time to think, he probably would have resigned here.) 45.Qf1 Qh5 46.Qb1+ Kc8 47.Qe4 Qg5+ 48.Kf2 Qh5 49.Kg3 Qd1 50.Qg4+ 1-0

Phil Ponomarev - Morgan Robb, IRREGULAR OPENING
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 b6 3.e4 d6 4.Bc4 Bb7 5.Qe2 e6 6.d5 ed5 7.ed5+ Be7 8.Nf3 0-0 9.0-0 Qd7?! 10.Re1 Re8 11.Bg5 Qf5? 12.Bd3 Qd7 13.Bf6 gf6 14.Nd4 h6 15.Nf5 Kf8 Qg4 1-0

Vance Aandahl - Larry Wutt, KING’S INDIAN DEFENSE
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 Bg4?! (For some reason, this is a popular idea among class players. This bishop is the pride of Black’s minor pieces, and yet he seems eager to trade it off as soon as possible. I don’t really understand this, but as a regular proponent of the white side of this line, I am happy to see it!) 6.Be2 Bf3? 7.Bf3 Nbd7 8.0-0 c5 9.d5 Ne5? 10.Be2! 0-0 11.Rb1 (11.f4! looks devastating.) a5 12.Be3? Qd7 13.h3 Qc8 14.Qd2 b6 15.Bh6 Qa6 16.Bg7 Kg7 17.b3 Qb7 18.Rbe1?! (18.Rbd1 seems more appropriate. Imagine the position after Black’s 22nd move with a rook on d1 instead of e1.) Rad8 19.f4 Ned7 20.Bf3 Qb8 21.Qe2?! e5 22.de6 fe6 23.g3 Rf7 24.Rd1! (Courageously admitting his error. This is one of the most difficult things to do in chess.) e5 25.Qd2 ef4 26.gf4 Nf8 27.e5! Nh5?! 28.Bh5 gh5 29.ed6 Ne6 30.f5 Nd4! (Now that Larry’s back is against the wall, he starts playing with much more force!) 31.Qg5+? This natural check winning a pawn gives Black too much counterplay on the g-file. Kh8 32.Qh5 Rg7+ 33.Kh1 Qd6 (I rather liked 33....Qa8+ 34.Nd5 Rd6 threatening Rd5.) 34.Nd5 Rdg8 35.Nf4 Qc6+ 36.Nd5 Rg5 37.Qh4 Ne2 (37...Nf5, which seems to win an exchange and a pawn, looks much better.) 38.Rf2 Ng3+ 39.Kh2 Nf5 40.Qf4 Qg6? 41.Qe5+! Ng7 42.Qb2 Qd6+ 43.Kh1 Qg3 44.Nf4 Qe3 45.Qe2 Nf5 46.Qe3 Ne3 47.Re1 Nf5 48.Rg2 Rg2 49.Ng2 Nd4 (And here, the players could have agreed to a draw. Instead, they decided to play on.) 50.Nf4 Rg3 51.Kh2 Rf3 52.Nd5 Rf2+ 53.Kg3 Ra2 54.Nb6 Nb3 55.Re5 Rd2 56.Re3 Nd4 57.Kf4 Re2 58.Na4! Re3 59.Ke3 Ne6 And despite being a pawn ahead here, Black lost, apparently on time. Larry had a great tournament, and this wonderful struggle against a veteran player like Vance shows some of his potential! 1-0

Joe Fromme - Josh Smith, ADVANCED SICILIAN DRAGON
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 (4.Qd4, as Eric Billaux played, still looks very strong for White here.) Bg7 5.Be3 Nf6 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.Be2?! Qa5 8.Qd2

Ne4! 9.Nc6 Qc3! 10.Qc3 Bc3+?! (played with less than a minute’s thought (after a ten minute think by Joe). 10..Nc3 would have been very strong. For instance, 11.Bd4 Bd4 12.Nd4 Ne2 13.Ke2, and Black will soon have the bishop activated, a pawn advantage, and no weaknesses in a quiet position. Now, White will have more pieces on the board, and better chances to confuse the issues.) 11.bc3 bc6 (11..dc6 may have been even better!) 12.Bd4 0-0 13.Rb1 d6 14.f3 Nf6?! 15.c4? This just does not make sense in connection with trading off the dark squared bishop. Now all Black has to do is trade off the rooks, and his game is easily won. c5 16.Bf6 ef6 17.Kf2 Ba6 18.Rhe1 Rfe8 19.g3 Re6 20.c3 Rae8 21.Bd3? d5 22.Bf1 Re1 23.Re1 Re1 24.Ke1 Bc4 25.Bc4 dc4 26.Kd2 f5 (I don’t really like this too much. The king should be the top priority here, and pawn moves should be reserved as extra tempi.) 27.f4 f6 28.h4 Kf7 29.Ke3 Ke6 30.Ke2 h6 (Black has two simple winning plans at his disposal. He can swing the king to the queenside, and then use his pawn moves to make inroads, or he can play Kf7, pg5 and then infiltrate on the light squares. Locking up the kingside actually gives white some (slim) drawing chances.) 31.Kd2 g5 32.Ke2 g4 33.Kd2 Kd5 34.Ke3 h5 35.a3 a6 36.Kd2 Kc6 37.Kc2 Kb5 38.Kb2 Kb6 39.Kb1 Ka5 40.Ka2 Ka4 41.Kb2 a5 (After making things hard for himself, Josh finds an ingenious way to win by gobbling up crucial tempi on the queenside and only at the right moment gain the opposition at e4. There weren’t any easier ways to win. After locking up all the pawns, this really is the only way to win (or permutations based on this plan at least). Congratulations to Josh for finding this!) 42.Ka2 Kb5 43.Kb2 Kc6 44.Kc2 Kd5 45.Kd2 Ke4 46.Ke2 a4 0-1

ROUND FOUR

Kirk McMullen - Renard Anderson, SICILIAN SCHEVENINGEN
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Nbd7 8.0-0?! (8.Be3) Nc5 (according to (old) theory, Black has already gained equality.) 9.f4 Be7 10.f5 0-0 11.fe6 fe6 12.Qe2 Kh8 13.Bc4 b5 14.b4? bc4 15.bc5

d5! 16.Be3 Bc5 17.Kh1 Qc7 18.ed5 ed5 19.Nd5!? Qe5 20.Nf6 Bd4 21.Qh5 gf6! (This is a nice, clean solution to the problem of how to accept the piece sacrifice.) 22.Qh6 Bb7 23.Bd4 Qd4 24.Rad1 Qg4 25.Qd2 Rad8! 0-1 A very impressive game by Renard.

Michael Mulyar - Eric Billaux, ENGLISH
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.Nd5 Ba5 4.b4 Bb6 5.Nb6 (5.c5? c6 should give Black a fairly comfortable game.) ab6 6.Bb2 d6 7.e3 Ne7 8.Nf3 0-0 9.d3 Kh8!? 10.Be2 f5 11.0-0 Be6 12.e4 Nd7 13.Ng5 Bg8 14.f4 Ng6 15.Nh3 fe4 16.f5!? ed3! 17.Bd3 Ne7 18.Qe2?! (18.Qe1 seems more accurate.) Nc6! 19.Qe1 Qe8 20.a3 Nf6 21.Qg3 Qh5 22.Rae1 Qg4 23.Qe3 Rae8 24.Ng5 h6 25.Nh3 Qh4 26.Nf2 Bh7 27.Qf3 Qh5 28.g4 (White has successfully parried Black’s attempts to trade queens, and prepares a dangerous kingside attack. The main question to be resolved is which king will be more exposed.) Qf7 29.h4 g6 30.b5 Nd8 31.Kh1 gf5 32.gf5 Qh5 33.Qh3 Rg8! 34.Rg1 Rg1+ 35.Rg1 Rg8 36.Rg8 Bg8 37.Kg2 Bh7 38.Bc1 Bg8 and the players agreed to a draw. (Mr. Billaux played a very confident and solid game, making the draw look relatively easy. He recently told me that although Black was much better here, he agreed to the draw because he had only a couple of minutes left on the clock..) 1/2-1/2

Edwin Schreiber - Dan Avery, FRENCH STEINITZ
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Nce2 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Nf3 (R. Anderson-Avery, Colorado Open ‘98 continued 7.f4, and Renard went on to win a complex game) cd4 8.cd4 f6 9.Nf4 Bb4+ 10.Bd2 Bd2+ 11.Qd2 Kf7!? (This could be a novelty. Previously, 11...Qe7 had been played.) 12.ef6 gf6 13.g3 Qa5?! (But this is not so good. White should trade off queens and try to take advantage of Black’s poorly placed knight.) 14.Bh3? Qd2+ 15.Kd2 Nb6 16.b3?! Bd7 17.Rhe1 Rae8 18.Re3

e5!? 19.Bd7 Nd7 20.Nd5 e4 21.Nh4 Nd4 22.f3 ef3 (This pawn leads a charmed life! By all rights, it should die a quick death, but White hesitates for only a move or two, and it lives on to tie down most of the White army.) 23.Re8 Re8 24.Kd3 f2 25.Rf1 Re1 26.Ne3 Rf1 27.Nf1 Nc6 (In the resulting positions, the Black knights find juicy targets on the queenside. White should also focus on creating weaknesses, rather than on passive defense.) 28.Ke2 Nb4 29.a4 Nc5 30.Nd2 Nbd3 31.Nf5 Ke6 32.Ne3 (32.Nd4 was more active.) Nc1+ 33.Kf2 (Ten moves later, the pawn dies, but only after Black picks up the vital b-pawn.) N1b3 34.Nb3 Nb3 35.Nd1 Nc4 36.Nc3 Ke5 37.Ke3 f5 38.h3 Ne4 (The pawn ending is winning, so White’s next move is forced. I didn’t yet see the way through White’s defenses.) 39.Ne2 Nc5? (39...Ng3! 40.Ng3 f4+ was the cleanest win.) 40.Nc3 a6 41.h4 Ne4 42.Ne2 b5 43.ab5 ab5 44.Kf3 b4 45.Nc1 Nc5 46.Ne2 b3 47.Nc3 h5 48.Ke3 Ne4 49.Nd1 Ng3 50.Kd3 f4 51.Kc3 Ne4+ 52.Kb3 f3 53.Ne3 Kf4 54.Nf1 Ng3 0-1

Leroy Hill - Phil Ponomarev, CENTER COUNTER
Leroy was involved in two of the most impressive games of the tournament. He managed to win the following game only after a massive struggle in the endgame, with both sides having only seconds on the clock. He was also involved on the wrong end of a positional masterpiece in the last round. 1.e4 d5 2.e5 d4 3.d3 c5 4.Nd2 Bf5 5.f4 e6 6.Be2 h5 7.Bf3 Nc6 8.Nc4 Rc8 9.a4 b6 10.g3 a6 11.Bh5?! b5 12.ab5 ab5 13.Nd2 Nb4 14.Bf3

c4! 15.Bb7 cd3 16.Bc8 Nc2+ 17.Kf2 Na1 18.Bb7 Qc7 19.Ba8!? Nh6 20.h3 Bb4 21.g4 0-0 22.Bg2 Bh7 23.Ngf3 f6 24.Nb3 Nc2 25.ef6 Nf7 26.Bd2?! gf6 27.Kg3 Ne3 28.Qc1 Qc1 29.Rc1 And not surprisingly, both sides stopped recording their moves about here. Phil wrote on his score sheet that "Black blundered a bishop in a won game." 1-0

Norbert Martinez - Jim McKenna, QUEEN PAWN
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Bg4 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bd2? e6 6.Ne5 Bh5 7.f3?! Nfd7?! 8.g4?? Qh4# (How often do you see that mating pattern in a tournament?) 0-1

ROUND FIVE

Renard Anderson - Andy Rea, SPANISH CLASSICAL STEINITZ VARIATION
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 ed4 5.Nd4 Bd7 6.Nc3 Nge7 7.Bg5 h6 8.Be3 Nd4 9.Qd4 Bb5 10.Nb5 Nc6 11.Qd2 Be7 12.0-0 a6 13.Nc3 0-0 14.Rad1 Qd7 15.Nd5 Rae8 16.c4 Bd8 17.f3 f5 18.ef5 Qf5 19.c5 Ne5 20.Qc3 c6 21.Nb6 d5 22.Bd4 Rf7 23.Nc8!? Qc8 24.Be5 Qf5 25.Rfe1 Ba5 26.Qa5 Re5 27.Qc3 Rfe7 28.Re5 Qe5 29.Qe5 Re5 (Black has a protected passed pawn and control of the e-file, but it probably is not quite enough to win.) 30.Kf2 Kf7 31.Rd4 Re7 32.h4 Kf6 33.Rb4 g5 34.Kg3 Rd7 35.hg5 hg5 36.Kf2 d4 37.Ke2 Ke5 38.g3 Kd5 39.Kd3 Ke5 40.f4+ gf4 41.gf4+ Kf4 42.Rd4+ Rd4 43.Kd4 a5 44.b3 Kf5 45.a3 Kf4 46.Kc4 Ke4 47.b4 ab4 48.ab4 Ke3 49.b5 Ke4 50.bc6 bc6 (The players should agree to the draw here. There is no way two players of this caliber should blunder in this position.) 51.Kc3 Kd5 52.Kb4 Kb3 53.Kc5 (Black has finally won a pawn, but it is purely symbolic.) Kc3 and only now did they agree to a draw. This was the only half point Mr. Anderson would surrender in the tournament. 1/2-1/2

Leroy Hill - Mikhail Ponomarev, SCANDINAVIAN
1.e4 d5 2.ed5 Nf6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bc4 Bg4 5.f3 Bc8 (I don’t know the theory of this variation, but it seems that White has gained a tempo here.) 6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.Qe2?! Nb6 8.Bb3 Nbd5 9.Nd5 Nd5 10.d4 c6 11.Bd2 Bf5 12.g4 Bg6 13.h4 h5 14.0-0-0 e6 15.Nh3!? Be7 16.Ng5 Qd6 17.Ne4 Qc7 18.c4 Nf6?! (Leroy considered this to be a very dubious move.) 19.g5!? Ne4 20.fe4 0-0-0 (Now that the kingside is fairly closed I would consider Rd8 followed by 0-0 for Black.) 21.Qe3 c5 22.d5 ed5 23.ed5 Bd6 24.Bc2 Bc2 25.Kc2 Rde8 26.Qh3+ Kb8 27.Rde1 Qc8 (If White can trade all the major pieces he will have a substantial advantage. If the bishops get traded off, then despite the protected passed pawn, Black should be able to hang on for a draw.) 28.Qc8+ Kc8 29.Kd3 Be5 30.b3 f5?! 31.gf6 Bf6 32.Bc3!? (However now that Black has an additional target on g7, almost all endgames will be difficult for him. His best bet is to keep as many pieces on the board as possible.) Re1! 33.Be1 Re8 34.Bf2 (Avoiding complications such as Re1!? followed by Bh4 with counterplay in the form of connected outside passers.) b6 35.Re1 Rf8 36.Bg3 Kd7 37.Re4 g5!? 38.hg5 Bg5 39.Ke2 Rg8 40.Kf3 Rg7 41.Bh4

(Offering to simplify may ease the defense. However, White has a definite plan associated with this exchange. He will eventually win the h-pawn. The tricky part is to keep Black’s rook tied down as long as possible. Rook and four pawns vs rook and three pawns, all on one side is considered to be very close to absolutely winning. In this case, with an advanced protected passer, White has a won game!) Bh4 42.Rh4 Rh7 43.Kf4 Kd6 44.a4 (White does not rush to take the h-pawn. He defends the base of his pawn chain first, then goes after the pawn.) Rf7+ 45.Ke4 Rh7 46.Rh3 Rg7 47.Rh5!? Rg3 48.Rh6+ Kc7 49.Rh7+! Kb8 50.d6 Kc8 51.Kd5 a5 (This is not an attempt to save the pawn, but the king! Now he has a luft on a7.) 52.Kc6 Kb8 53.Kb6 (Another winning method would be Rh8+ followed by Rh6, d7, Rd6 and d8.) Rb3 54.Kc5 Rd3 55.Kc6 Rg3 56.c5 Rg8 57.Kb6 Ka8 58.c6 Rb8+ 59.Ka6 1-0 A very impressive endgame by Mr. Hill. Andy Rea congratulated him afterwards for the Double, that is, wins against both Ponomarev’s in one tournament. This is going to be a more and more difficult feat as both players may soon be masters.

Dan Avery - Brian Wall, DUTCH
(Perhaps this is called the Staunton Dutch?) 1.Nf3 f5 2.d4 c5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 g6 5.0-0 Bg7 6.c3 Qb6? (The queen is poorly placed here, and White has a tactical way to demonstrate this.) 7.dc5 Qc5 8.Qb3! e6 9.Be3 Qe7! (An admission that his opening has failed, but showing stout resistance.) 10.Na3 0-0 11.Nb5! d5! (Giving up the pawn is the least of Black’s worries. In fact, Brian thought that taking on a7 may be a mistake.) 12.Na7 Nc6 13.Nc6 (And here, Brian recommended 13.Nc8. While I considered it, I think this may still be the better move.) bc6 14.Ne5 Ba6 15.c4!? I had planned this on move 13. While it looks wrong to give Black such an easy target, there are tactical reasons that I thought made it strong. Now I am still not sure. Qd6 16.Bf4 Nh5?!

(This move came as a shock to me. I had been convinced he couldn’t play it due to 17.c5! which would simply be winning. Brian had already used up an hour on the clock, while I had only used 37 minutes. I spent ten minutes talking myself out of it. I saw that the game continuation would lose material, but I thought my remaining pieces could compensate. This turned out to be wishful thinking.) 17.Ng6? (Brian told me, "now you finally started playing to your rating!") Nf4 18.Nf4 Bc4 19.Qe3 Bb2?! (A little more complicated, but probably better for Black was 19...Ra2 20.Qe6+ Qe6 21.Ne6 Ra1 22.Ra1Bb2.) 20.Rab1 Be5 (And here, Brian offered a draw. He was down to four minutes while I still had forty. But he also had the better position.) 21.Nh5 Rf7! And we agreed to the draw. 1/2-1/2

ROUND SIX

Brian Wall - Renard Anderson, KING’S INDIAN SAEMISCH
Surprisingly, this is the only time two masters played each other in the entire tournament. 1.c4 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Bg5 c5 7.d5 a6 8.Qd2 b5 (And this is equally surprising: Mr. Wall plays a main line!) 9.cb5 Qa5 10.ba6 (And we have reached a position that could have arisen from a Benko.) Qb4 11.Kf2 Na6 12.g3 Nc7 13.Nh3 Re8 14.Rb1 Nd7 15.Be2 Ne5 16.Kg2 Ba6 17.Nf2 Nc4 18.Bc4 Qc4 19.Rhc1 Qd4 20.Be3 Qd2 21.Bd2 Nb5 22.a4 Nc3 23.Bc3 Reb8! 24.Bg7 Kg7

The following information may be helpful to understand what follows. First of all, White absolutely needs to win this game to get any prize money, while Black could get a draw and tie for first. Secondly, Mr. Anderson is extremely comfortable in these types of positions and may even consider it strategically winning for Black. He will continue to organize play against the a and b pawns, safe in the knowledge that any kingside attack would take a great deal of time. One other factor to bear in mind: both players have less than twenty minutes for the rest of the game!) 25.e5!? (This is a radical attempt to change the course of the game. However, it shouldn’t worry Black.) Rb4 26.b3 Rab8 27.ed6 ed6 28.Ne4 Bd3! 29.Ra1 Be4 30.fe4 Re4 (Although Black has "only" restored material equality, his position is much better, and may actually be winning.) 31.a5 Re7 32.a6 Ra7 33.Ra3 Rb6 34.Rca1 Kf6! 35.Rf1+ Ke7 36.Re1+ Kf6 37.Rf1+ Ke5 (Black repeats the position before going into the critical line. This is excellent technique!) 38.Rf7 Rf7 39.a7 Rf8! (Black doesn’t mind sacking the rook back, but wants to do it without dropping any unnecessary pawns.) 40.a8(Q) Ra8 41.Ra8 Rb7 42.Ra3 Kd5 -+ 43.Kf3 Rf7+ 44.Kg4?! Rf5 45.h3 Re5 46.Kf4 h5 47.g4 g5+ 48.Kf3 hg4 49.hg4 Kd4 50.Ra6 Rd5 51.Rb6 0-1 (apparently on time) This clinched clear first place!

Andy Rea - Leroy Hill, REALLY IRREGULAR!
(Karpov would call this an "incorrect opening"!) 1.Nf3 h6 2.b3 Nf6 3.Bb2 e6 4.e3 d5 5.d4 Nbd7 6.Nbd2 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.Qe2 c6 9.0-0 Qc7 10.c4 Re8 (This is beginning to look almost like a normal English type of game. However, Black is down a tempo due to ...h6. He isn’t sure that matters due to the closed nature of the position.) 11.c5 Bf8 12.b4 a5? (In the postmortem Leroy was upset at himself for not playing the thematic freeing move 12...e5! This is an essential maneuver, as Andy soon shows.) 13.a3 g6? 14.Ne5! Bg7 15.f4 (Andy is setting up a blockade. This is not an ordinary blockade, but one of the most overwhelming I have ever seen!) Nh7 16.Ndf3 Nhf8 17.b5 Ne5 18.Ne5 Be5 19.b6! Qe7 20.fe5 Nh7 21.Rf2 Ref8 (Black is trying desperately to free his game by some means such as f6 or a4 and Ra5.) 22.Raf1 Bd7 23.Bc3! (One of the most difficult aspects of winning such a game is finding a way into Black’s position without allowing him access into White’s position! Andy solves these problems beautifully.) Kg7

24.Rf6! Be8 25.Qg4 Qd8 26.Be1! Nf6 27.ef6+ (It turns out that Rf6 also wins, but the text is much less messy.) Kh7 28.Bg3! (Stopping any thoughts of ...e5 for Black.) Qd7 29.Be5 Rh8 30.Rf3 a4 31.Rh3 Kg8 (32.Rh6 Kh6 33.Qh4# was threatened.) 32.Qf4 h5 33.g4 Kf8 34.Bd6+ Kg8 35.Be5 Kf8 36.Qg5 Qd8 37.Rh5! (Yes, gh5 also wins, but this is much more aesthetically pleasing.) Rh5 38.gh5 39.Bd7 40.Qh6+ 1-0 After the game, Dr. Ponomarev congratulated Andy, comparing it to the games played of Nimzovich and Capablanca. (He may have had in mind Capa’s brilliant victory as Black against Nimzo in the 1924 New York tournament.) This high praise was well deserved!

Josh Bloomer - Philipp Ponomarev, SCANDINAVIAN
1.e4 d5 2.ed5 Nf6 3.d4 Nd5 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Be2 e6 6.h3 Bh5 7.0-0 Be7 8.c4 Nb6 9.Nc3 0-0 10.c5?! Nd5 11.Qb3 b6 12.Rd1 Nc6 13.Qa4 Na5 14.Ne4 f5 15.Ng3 Be8 16.Qc2 Nb7 17.Bc4 Na5 18.Be2 Nb7 19.Bc4 c6! 20.b4 a5 21.Qe2 ab4? (Philipp correctly points out that Nc3 was better.) 22.Qe6+ Bf7 23.Qf5 Nc3! (Phil gives this an exclam. This may be better than 23...Ne3 because White may choose to play 24.Bf7+ Rf7?! 25.Qf7+!) 24.Bf7+ Rf7 25.Qe6 Nd1 26.Ne5 Qd5! 27.Qd5 cd5 28.Nf7 Kf7 29.Nf5 Nc3 30.Ne7 Ke7 31.Bg5+ Kf7 32.Re1 Re8 0-1

Reserve Section Games

By Roy Heath, Ken Schwartz, and Larry Wutt

ROUND ONE

Ann Davies - Daniel Cabrera, NIMZOINDIAN
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 c5 5.d5 exd5 6.Nxd5 Bxd2+ 7.Qxd2 Nxd5 8.cxd5 d6 9.e4 0-0 10.Nf3 Bd7 11.Be2 Qe7 12.0-0 f5 13.Rfe1 Qf6 14.Bd3 Re8 15.Qc2 g6 16.exf5 Rxe1+ 17.Rxe1 Bxf5 18.Bxf5 gxf5 19.Re8+ Kg7 20.Re6 Qf8 21.Qc3+ Kg8 22.Rf6 Qg7 23.Rxd6 Qxc3 24.bxc3 Na6 25.Ne5 Re8 26.f4 Re7 27.h3 Kg7 28.g4 fxg4 29.hxg4 Nc7 30.f5 Rxe5 31.Rd7+ Kh6 32.Rxc7 Rxd5 33.Kg2 Rd2+ 34.Kf3 Rxa2 35.f6 Ra6 36.Ke4 Rxf6 37.Rxb7 Kg5 38.Kd5 h6 39.Rg7+ Kh4 40.Kxc5 Rf4 41.c4 Rxg4 42.Rxg4+ Kxg4 43.Kd5 1/2-1/2

Steven Sabean - Larry Hathorn, ROBATSCH
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Be3 Nc6 5.Nc3 e5 6.d5 Nce7 7.Be2 Nf6 8.0-0 0-0 9.h3 c6 10.Qd2 cxd5 11.exd5 Qa5 12.Nb5 Qxd2 13.Bxd2 Nfxd5 14.Nxd6 Rd8 15.Nc4 e4 16.Nfe5 Nb6 17.Nxb6 axb6 18.Bc3 Nd5 19.Rfd1 Be6 20.Bd4 Nb4 21.c3 Nc2 22.Rac1 Nxd4 23.cxd4 Bxe5 24.dxe5 Rxd1+ 25.Rxd1 Rxa2 26.Rd2 Ra1+ 27.Kh2 b5 28.Kg3 Bc4 29.Bxc4 bxc4 30.Rd4 b5 31.Rxe4 Rd1 32.Re2 Kg7 33.Kf4 h6 34.Ke3 Rd5 35.f4 g5 36.Ke4 Rd3 37.f5 Rb3 38.Kd5 c3 39.bxc3 Rxc3 40.Rb2 Rc8 41.Re2 b4 42.e6 Rd8+ 43.Kc6 fxe6 44.fxe6 b3 45.e7 Re8 46.Kd7 Kf7 47.Rf2+ 1-0

ROUND TWO

Nicholas Cox - William Coyle, STONEWALL
1.d4 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c3 e6 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.Nd2 Bd6 6.f4 h5 7.Ngf3 Ng4 8.Qe2 Ne7 9.Ne5 f5 10.Ndf3 a6 11.Ng5 Bxe5 12.dxe5 g6 13.Bd2 Nc6 14.0-0-0 Ncxe5 15.fxe5 Qxg5 16.e4 Qd8 17.exd5 Qxd5 18.Bg5 Bd7

19.Bxf5 Qxe5 20.Bxg6+ Kf8 21.Rhf1+ Kg8 22.Bf7+ Kh7 23.Qd3+ Kg7 24.Qg6+ 1-0

Daniel Cabrera - Paul Anderson, SLAV
1.d4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nc3 g6 5.Qc2 Bg7 6.Bd3 0-0 7.Nge2 Nbd7 8.Bd2 e5 9.Ng3 exd4 10.exd4 dxc4 11.Bxc4 Nb6 12.Be2 Qxd4 13.0-0 Be6 14.Rad1 Qd7 15.Bf4 Nfd5 16.Nxd5 Nxd5 17.Bf3 Qe7 18.Bd2 Rad8 19.Rfe1 Qf6 20.Bxd5 Rxd5 21.Bc3 Qd8 22.Rxd5 Bxd5 23.Bxg7 Kxg7 24.Qc3+ Qf6 25.Qb4 b6 26.Re7 c5 27.Qe1 Ra8 28.b3 Be6 29.Rc7 a6 30.Rc6 Rb8 31.Qe2 Qa1+ 32.Nf1 Qd4 33.h3 Bd5 34.Rd6 Qe4 35.Ne3 Qb1+ 36.Kh2 Be4 37.Qg4 Bf5 38.Qg3 Rb7 39.Qg5 Be6 40.Qe5+ Kh6 41.g4 Rd7 42.Qf4+ g5 43.Rxd7 Bxd7 44.Qxf7 Qd3

45.Qf6+ Qg6 46.Qf8+ Qg7 47.Qd6+ Qg6 48.Qxd7 Qf6 49.Nf5+ Kg6 50.Qe8+ Qf7 51.Qc6+ Qf6 52.Qe8+ Qf7 53.Qxf7+ Kxf7 54.Nd6+ Ke6 55.Nf5 b5 56.Kg3 Ke5 57.Kf3 c4 58.bxc4 bxc4 59.Ke3 a5 60.Ne7 a4 61.Nc6+ Kd5 62.Nb4+ Ke5 63.a3 h6 64.f3 c3 65.Kd3 Kf4 66.Kxc3 Kxf3 67.Nd5 Kg3 68.Kb4 Kxh3 69.Nf6 Kh4 70.Kxa4 h5 71.gxh5 g4 72.Nxg4 Kxh5 73.Ne5 Kg5 74.Kb5 Kf5 75.Nc6 Ke6 76.a4 Kd6 77.Kb6 Kd7 78.Kb7 Kd6 79.a5 Kd7 80.a6 Kd6 81.a7 Kd7 82.a8Q Kd6 83.Qd8+ Kc5 84.Qb6+ Kd6 85.Qb4+ Kd5 86.Qd4+ Ke6 87.Nb4 Kf5 88.Kc6 Ke6 89.Qd5+ Kf6 90.Kd6 Kg7 91.Qe6 Kh7 92.Ke7 Kg7 93.Qf6+ Kh7 94.Qg5 Kh8 95.Kf7 Kh7 96.Qg7# 1-0

Leroy Nickelson - Brit Whittaker, ROBATSCH
1.e4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.d4 d6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bd2 Nf6 6.Bd3 0-0 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.Re1 e5 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.Nxe5 dxe5 11.Qe2 Qc7 12.Rad1 Be6 13.Bc4 Bxc4 14.Qxc4 Rad8 15.Be3 a6 16.f3 b5 17.Qc5 Nd7 18.Qa3 a5 19.b4 Ra8 20.bxa5 Rfb8 21.Qd6 Qxa5 22.Qxc6 Nf6 23.Nd5 Ra6 24.Nxf6+ Bxf6 25.Qd5 Qxa2 1/2-1/2

ROUND THREE

Dan Groves - Theodore Doykos, TORRE ATTACK
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bg5 Nbd7 4.Nbd2 e6 5.e3 Be7 6.Bd3 b6 7.0-0 Bb7 8.Ne5 c5 9.c3 Ne4 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.Bb5 Nef6 12.f4 0-0 13.Ndf3 cxd4 14.cxd4 Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Ne4 16.Bd3 f5 17.Rc1 Rac8 18.Rf3 Rxc1 19.Qxc1 Rf6 20.Rh3 Qe8 21.Qd1 Rh6 22.Rxh6 gxh6 23.Qe2 h5

24.Bb5 Qe7 25.Qxh5 Nf6 26.Qh4 a6 27.Be2 Qf8 28.g4 fxg4 29.Bxg4 Nxg4 30.Nxg4 Kh8 31.Ne5 Qg8+ 32.Kf2 a5 33.Qe7 Qc8 34.Qf6+ Kg8 35.Qg5+ Kf8 36.Qh6+ Kg8 37.Qh5 Qf8 38.Qg4+ Kh8 39.Qxe6 Qg8 40.Qxb6 1-0

Dean Brown - Allan Ufer, PIRC
1.e4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 0-0 5.Bc4 d6 6.0-0 Be6 7.Qd3 c6 8.d5 cxd5 9.Bxd5 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 Nc6 11.c3 Ne5 12.Nxe5 Bxe5 13.Bh6 Re8 14.f4 Bg7 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.Qd4+ f6 17.b3 Bf7 18.Ne3 e5 19.fxe5 fxe5 20.Qb4 b6 21.c4 Qg5 22.Nd5 Bxd5 23.cxd5 Qe3+ 24.Kh1 Qc5 25.Qe1 Rac8 26.Qe2 Qc2 27.Rae1 Qxe2 28.Rxe2 Rc3 29.Kg1 a5 30.Rf3 Rc1+ 31.Kf2 Re7 32.Kg3 Rf7 33.Rxf7+ Kxf7 34.Kg4 b5 35.Kg5 Kg7 36.h4 Rc3 37.h5 h6+ 38.Kg4 g5 39.Kf5 Kf7 40.Rf2 b4 41.Re2

41...a4 42.bxa4 Ra3 43.Rc2 Rc3 44.Rb2 Rc1 45.Rxb4 Rf1+ 46.Kg4 Rf4+ 47.Kg3 Rh4 48.a5 Rxh5 49.a6 Rh4 50.a7 h5 51.a8Q Rg4+ 52.Kh2 Rh4+ 53.Kg1 Rg4 54.Rb7+ Kf6 55.Qh8+ Kg6 56.Qg7# 1-0

ROUND FOUR

Robert Anderson - Nicholas Cox, RETI
1.Nf3 g6 2.g3 Bg7 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.0-0 0-0 5.c3 c5 6.d3 d5 7.Nbd2 Nc6 8.Qc2 d4 9.c4 Rb8 10.Re1 b6 11.Nf1 Bb7 12.Bf4 Ra8 13.a3 Nd7 14.Bg5 f6 15.Bd2 Nce5

16.Nxe5 Bxg2 17.Nxd7 Bxf1 18.Nxf8 Bh3 19.Nxg6 hxg6 20.e4 dxe3 21.Bxe3 Qc7 22.f4 Qc6 23.Rad1 Rd8 24.Rd2 f5 25.b4 cxb4 26.axb4 a5 27.bxa5 bxa5 28.d4 Rc8 29.d5 Qxc4 30.Qxc4 Rxc4 31.Bb6 Bc3 32.Rc2 Bd4+ 33.Bxd4 Rxc2 34.Rxe7 Rg2+ 35.Kh1 Rd2 36.Bg1?? White is still in the game after 36.Bc3, for example. 36...Bg2# 0-1

William Coyle - Sophie Weiss, KING'S GAMBIT DECLINED
1.e4 e5 2.d3 Bc5 3.f4 d6 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.f5 Bd7 7.Bg5 Qe7 8.Na3 h6 9.Bh4 0-0-0 10.b4 Bb6 11.Nc4 g5 12.fxg6 fxg6 13.Nxb6+ axb6 14.Be2 g5 15.Bf2 Qf7 16.0-0 Rdg8 17.Be3 g4 18.Nh4 g3 19.h3 Ne7 20.d4 Ng6 21.Nxg6 Qxg6 22.Bd3 h5 23.dxe5 dxe5 24.b5 h4 25.a4 Ne8 26.c4 Nd6 27.c5 bxc5 28.Bxc5 Kd8 29.a5 Ke7 30.b6 cxb6 31.axb6 Bc6 32.Bc2 Ra8 33.Rf5 Rxa1 34.Rxe5+ Kd7 35.Qxa1 Re8 36.Rxe8 Kxe8 37.Qe5+ Kd7 38.Qd4 Qe6 39.e5 Qe7 40.Qxd6+ Qxd6 41.Bxd6 Ke6 42.Kf1 Kf7 43.Bd1 Ke6 44.Bg4+ 1-0

Leroy Nickelson - William Chandler, CENTER COUNTER
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Bg4 4.Be2 Bxe2 5.Nxe2 Qxd5 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Nbc3 Qh5 8.Bf4 0-0-0 9.Be3 e5 10.Qd2 Bd6 11.Rad1

11...exd4 12.h3 dxe3 13.Qxe3 Rhe8 14.Qc1 Qh4 15.f4 Bc5+ 16.Kh1 Rxd1 17.Qxd1 Ng4 18.Qd5 Nf2+ 19.Kh2 Ng4+ 20.Kh1 Ne3 21.Qxf7 Re7 22.Qf8+ Nd8 23.Rf3 Qe1+ 24.Kh2 Nf1+ 25.Rxf1 Qxf1 26.Qf5+ Ne6 27.Qxh7 Bd6 28.g3 Qf2+ 29.Kh1 g5 30.f5 Rxh7 0-1

ROUND FIVE

Dan Groves - Paul Anderson, QUEEN'S PAWN GAME
1.d4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bg5 Qb6 4.b3 Nd7 5.e3 e6 6.Bd3 Ngf6 7.Nbd2 h6 8.Bh4 Bd6 9.Bg3 Qc7 10.e4 Bxg3 11.hxg3 e5 12.c3 exd4 13.cxd4 O-O 14.O-O Re8 15.Re1 dxe4 16.Nxe4 Nxe4 17.Rxe4 Rxe4 18.Bxe4 Nf6 19.Qd3 Be6 20.Nh4 Rd8 21.Bf5 Qd6 22.Bxe6 Qxe6 23.Nf3 Re8 24.Re1

Black misses a chance here for a nice combination. Black should play 24...Qxe1+ 25.Nxe1 Rxe1+ 26.Kh2 Ng4+ 27.Kh3 Nxf2+ 28.K-any Nxd3, winning a rook, a knight, a pawn, and a queen for a queen! 24...Qd5 25.Rxe8+ Nxe8 26.Qe2 Nd6 27.Qe5 Qe6 28.Qxe6 fxe6 29.Kf1 Nb5 30.Ke1 Nc3 31.a4 b5 32.axb5 cxb5 33.Kd2 Ne4+ 34.Ke3 Nd6 35.Nd2 Kf7 36.b4 Ke7 37.g4 Nc4+ 38.Nxc4 bxc4 39.f3 Kd6 40.b5 Kc7 41.f4 Kb6 42.Kd2 Kxb5 43.Kc3 a5 44.f5 exf5 45.gxf5 h5 46.g3 a4 47.d5 a3 0-1

Brit Whittaker - Robert Anderson, ROBATSCH
1.e4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.d4 d6 4.Be3 c5 5.c3 b6 6.Nbd2 Nc6 7.Bb5 Bd7 8.Qa4 Qc7 9.d5 Nb8 10.0-0 a6 11.Bxd7+ Nxd7 12.Rac1 b5 13.Qc2 Ngf6 14.b4 Ng4 15.Bf4 0-0 16.Nb3 Rfc8 17.Na5 cxb4 18.Nc6 Kf8 19.cxb4 Nge5 20.Ng5 h5 21.Qb3 Nc4 22.Qf3 Nf6 23.e5 dxe5 24.Rxc4 bxc4 25.Nxe5 Qb7 26.Be3 Qxb4 27.Nd7+ Kg8 28.Nb6 Rab8 29.Nxc8 Rxc8 30.Bc1 c3 31.a3 Qd6 32.Rd1 Rc5 33.Ne4 Nxe4 34.Qxe4 e6 35.a4 Rxd5 36.Rxd5 Qxd5 37.Qxd5 exd5 38.Kf1 f5 39.Ke2 Kf7 40.Kd3 Ke6 41.f4 Kd6 42.Ba3+ Kc6 43.Bb4 Kb6 44.Bxc3 Bxc3 45.Kxc3 Ka5 46.Kd4 Kxa4 47.Kxd5 Kb3 48.Ke6 a5 49.Kf6 a4 50.Kxg6 a3 51.Kxf5 a2 52.Kg6 a1Q 53.f5 Qh8 54.Kf7 Kc4 55.f6 Kd5 56.Ke7 Ke5 57.f7 Qf6+ 58.Ke8 Qe6+ 59.Kf8 Kf6 0-1

James Robb - Allan Ufer, TROMPOWSKY ATTACK
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.f4 Nxg5 4.fxg5 d5 5.Nf3 Bf5 6.Nbd2 e6 7.e3 c5 8.c3 c4 9.b4 Qd7 10.Ne5 Qc7 11.g4 Bd3 12.Bxd3 cxd3 13.Qb3 Bd6 14.Ndf3 f6 15.Qa4+ Nd7 16.Qxd7+ Qxd7 17.Nxd7 Kxd7 18.gxf6 gxf6 19.0-0-0 Rhc8

20.Rxd3 Bxb4 21.Kb2 Bd6 22.g5 fxg5 23.Nxg5 h6 24.Nf7 h5 25.h4 Rf8 26.Nxd6 Kxd6 27.Rd2 Rf3 28.Re2 b5 29.Kb3 a5 30.a4 bxa4+ 31.Kxa4 Rff8 32.Rb1 Rfc8 33.Rb3 Rc4+ 34.Ka3 Ra6 35.e4 dxe4 36.Re3 Rac6 37.Rb5 Rxc3+ 38.Rxc3 Rxc3+ 39.Kb2 Rd3 40.Rxa5 Rxd4 41.Rxh5 Rd5 42.Rxd5+ exd5 43.Kc2 d4 44.Kd2 Ke5 45.Ke2 Kf5 46.Kd2 Kg4 0-1

Theodore Doykos - Joseph Aragon, TORRE ATTACK
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.e3 0-0 5.Nbd2 d5 6.Bd3 b6 7.0-0 Ba6 8.Bxa6 Nxa6 9.c3 c5 10.Re1 Nc7 11.e4 Ne6 12.e5 Nxg5 13.Nxg5 Nd7 14.e6 f6 15.exd7 fxg5 16.Qg4 Bf6 17.Qe6+ Rf7 18.Qxd5 Rb8

White's best move here is 19.Ne4! threatening 20.Nxf6+, and if 20...exf6 then 21.Re8+ wins the queen. 19.Qc6 cxd4 20.cxd4 Bxd4 21.Rac1 Bxf2+ 22.Kf1 Bxe1+ 23.Kxe1 e6 24.Qxe6 Kg7 25.Rc8 Re7 26.Qxe7+ Qxe7+ 27.Kd1 Qxd7 28.Rxb8 Qd5 29.Re8 Qxa2 30.Re7+ Kh6 31.g4 Qxb2 32.Ne4 Qb3+ 33.Ke2 Qb2+ 34.Kf3 Qa3+ 0-1

ROUND SIX

Daniel Cabrera - Nicholas Cox, KING'S INDIAN
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.f4 e5 7.fxe5 dxe5 8.d5 Nbd7 9.Be3 b6 10.Qd2 Bb7 11.0-0-0 c6 12.Kb1 cxd5 13.cxd5 Nc5 14.Bxc5 bxc5 15.Bc4 a5 16.a4 Ba6 17.Qd3 Bxc4 18.Qxc4 Qb6

19.Nb5 Ng4 20.Rd2 Bh6 21.Re2 Ne3 22.Qc3 c4 23.Nf3 Rad8 24.Rhe1 Nxd5 25.exd5 Rxd5 26.Rxe5 Bg7 27.Qxc4 Rxe5 28.Nxe5 Qf6 29.Nc3 Re8 30.Nf3 Rb8 31.Re3 Rxb2+ 32.Kxb2 Qb6+ 33.Kc2 Qxe3 34.Qc8+ Bf8 35.Qd8 Qf2+ 36.Qd2 Qc5 37.Qd4 Qf5+ 38.Kb3 Bb4 39.Nd2 Bc5 40.Qd5 Qxd5+ 41.Nxd5 Bg1 42.h3 Kg7 43.Kc4 h6 44.Kb5 Bf2 45.Nb3 f5 46.Nxa5 g5 47.Nc4 h5 48.Ne5 g4 49.Nd3 Bg3 50.a5 gxh3 51.gxh3 Bh2 52.N5f4 Bg1 53.a6 h4 54.Nc5 1-0