Another GM at the BCC

From the Monday, January 21st Chess Notes column in the Boston Globe:

A preeminent player in New England chess and the dominant force in tournaments in this region is [Grandmaster] Alexander Ivanov of Newton. We had not seen him recently, but he suddenly appeared at the Boylston Club for the Sultan Khan tourney. It turns out that this was Ivanov's first appearance at the Boylston's site in Somerville. He scored a clean sweep of the tournament, winning a last-round hair-raiser against [FM and former BCC Champion] Chris Chase on time forfeit, with a second or so left on Ivanov's clock.

Ivanov's absence from local chess is explained by his participation in the World Cup. The latter, won by Gata Kamsky, was held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia, not particularly far from Ivanov's birthplace. Ivanov won against Peru's Julio Granda Zuniga, but was eliminated in the second round by Joel Lautier of France. Ivanov says he received $6,000 for his effort....

So close, yet so far

Can you imagine 2006 Boylston Chess Club Co-Champion Chris Chase as a software billionaire?

BCC Champ Rd. 9: Cherniack-Chase 0-1

Chris ground down Alex in an ending to tie for first in the Championship.

Cherniack,A (2264) - Chase,C (2292) [B06]
BCC Championship (9), 11.6.2006

1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.c3 c6 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nd2 Nh6 6.Ngf3 f6 7.Qe2 Nf7 8.0-0 0-0 9.c4 dxe4 10.Nxe4 Bg4 11.Nc5 e5 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Qxf3 Qe7 14.Qe2 Re8 15.Re1 Nd7 16.Nb3 a5 17.Bd2 Qd8 18.Bc3 a4 19.Nd2 f5 20.dxe5 Bxe5 21.Bxe5 Rxe5 22.Qd1 Nc5 23.Rxe5 Nxe5 24.Bf1 Qd4 25.Qc2 Rd8 26.Nf3 Nxf3+ 27.gxf3 a3 28.Rb1 Qd2 29.Qxd2 Rxd2 30.b4 Rb2 31.Re1 Rxb4 32.Re3 Ra4 33.h4 Kf7 34.Kh2 Ne6 35.Rb3 Ra7 36.Kg3 Kf6 37.Rd3 Ke7 38.Rd1 c5 39.Rb1 Kd6 40.f4 Nd4 41.Rd1 Ra4 42.Rc1 Rb4 43.Rc3 Rb1 44.Kg2 Ne6 45.Rxa3 Nxf4+ 46.Kg1 h6 47.Re3 g5 48.hxg5 hxg5 49.f3 Rb2 50.a3 b6 51.Kh1 Rb1 52.Kg1 Ng6 53.Kf2 Ne5 54.Rc3 f4 55.Be2 Rb2 56.Kf1 Nc6 57.Bd1 Nd4 58.Ke1 Ke6 59.Rd3 Ra2 60.a4 Rb2 61.Rc3 Kf5 62.Kf1 Kg6 63.Ke1 Kh5 64.Rc1 Rb4 65.Rc3 Kh4 66.Kf2 Rb2+ 67.Ke1 Kg3 68.Rd3 Rf2 69.Rc3 Nxf3+ 70.Bxf3 Rxf3 71.Rc2 Rb3 0-1

BCC Champ Rd. 7: Krasik-Chase 0-1

One more game from Round 7...

By popular demand, Ilya's "gem against Mr. Chase." I hope I have the correct moves this time.

Krasik,I (2202) - Chase,C (2292) [A67]
BCC Championship (7), 2006

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.f4 Bg7 8.Bb5+ Nfd7 9.Nf3 0-0 10.0-0 a6 11.Bd3 b5 12.a3 Nb6 13.f5 N8d7 14.Bg5 f6 15.Be3 Re8 16.Qd2 Nc4 17.Bxc4 bxc4 18.Rae1 Rb8 19.Rf2 gxf5 20.exf5 Rb7 21.g4 Ne5 22.Nxe5 Rxe5 23.Rfe2 h5 24.h3 hxg4 25.hxg4 Bf8 26.Kf2 Rg7 27.Rg1 Qe7 28.Ke1 Kf7 29.Kd1 Rh7 30.Bf4 Rxe2 31.Qxe2 Qxe2+ 32.Kxe2 Rh3 33.Bg3 Bb7 34.Kf2 Be7 35.Rd1 Rh8 36.Ne2 Rg8 37.Kf3 Rb8 38.Nc3 Ba8 39.Rd2 Rb3 40.Rh2 Bxd5+ 41.Kf4 Bc6 [...and Black went on to win] 0-1

BCC Champ Rd. 8: Chase-Times 1-0

Chris makes a speculative pawn sacrifice which pays off when Lawyer errs with 16...Kf8 (Fritz prefers 16...Nd7). Not that it mattered, but at the end White missed 28.Qf4#.

Chase,C (2292) - Times,L (2139) [B02]
BCC Championship (8), 10.30.2006

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.Nc3 e6 4.Nxd5 exd5 5.Qf3 c6 6.Qg3 d6 7.d4 dxe5 8.dxe5 Bf5 9.Nf3 Bxc2 10.Be2 Bb4+ 11.Kf1 Rg8 12.Nd4 Bg6 13.h4 h6 14.h5 Bh7 15.Rh4 Qe7 16.Rg4 Kf8 17.Rxg7 Rxg7 18.Bxh6 Nd7 19.Qxg7+ Ke8 20.Qh8+ Nf8 21.Bxf8 Qxf8 22.Qxh7 Bc5 23.Nf5 Rd8 24.Bg4 Kd7 25.Ng7+ Ke7 26.Qh6 f6 27.exf6+ Kd6 28.f7+ 1-0

Riordan and Chase Crowned Co-Champions

Charles Riordan and Chris Chase both won their games last night finishing tied for first in the BCC Championship with 7 points. Charles overcame FM MacIntyre early in the evening, but Chris had to sweat out his game with NM Cherniack until 11:30pm finally grinding down his opponent in a pawn up ending. Lawyer Times defeated NM Martirosov in an interesting Q+2P vs. 2R endgame to secure third place. Congratulations to the winners!

2006 BCC Championship - Final Standings

All scores are out of nine games.

7.0 - NM Riordan, FM Chase
5.5 - Times
5.0 - NM Cherniack
4.5 - FM MacIntyre, NM Martirosov, NM Krasik
4.0 - Williams
2.0 - Rihel
1.0 - Salomon

2006 Hauptturnier - Final Standings

All scores are out of eight games.

6.5 - Glickman
6.0 - Lee
5.5 - Clayton
4.5 - Driscoll
4.0 - Iglesias, Oresick
3.0 - Frazier
2.5 - Gorczyca
0.0 - Hager

Final crosstables for both events are posted at the BCC website.

BCC Champ Rd. 6: Chase-Rihel 0-1

Jason demonstrates one way to beat a master: Step 1 - play so badly that you give your opponent an overwhelming Kingside attack; Step 2 - Give your opponent so many winning moves that he can't decide which one to choose; Step 3 - Encourage your opponent to sacrifice material to open up lines to your King; Step 4 - When your opponent makes an inaccurate move, consolidate your material advantage and win!

Chase,C (2292) - Rihel,J (1953) [B82]
BCC Championship (6), 16.09.2006

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f4 e6 7.Bd3 Be7 8.Nf3 Qc7 9.a4 Nc6 10.0-0 0-0 11.Qe2 Rd8 12.Kh1 b6 13.e5 Nd7 14.exd6 Bxd6 15.Ne4 Bf8 16.Neg5 g6 17.Nxf7 Re8 18.f5 gxf5 19.Bxf5 Nf6 20.Bd3 Qxf7 21.Ng5 Qe7 22.Bd2 Bg7 23.Bc3 e5 24.Bc4+ Kh8 25.Nf7+ Kg8 26.Ng5+ Kh8 27.Rxf6 Bxf6 28.Nf7+ Kg7 29.Qh5 Be6 30.Qh6+ Kxf7 31.Qxh7+ Kf8 0-1

GM Wolff annotates the BCC Championship

The Boylston Chess Club Championship was the topic of the Boston Globe's Chess Notes column on 12/14/04. Below I have reprinted the article including annotations by GM Patrick Wolff of the round 6 game between Chris Chase and Alex Cherniack. I've incorporated GM Wolff's notes into the game format I used in the 2004 BCC Championship Weblog (Note: The diagrams were not included in the Globe article).

Chess Notes By Harold Dondis and Patrick Wolff - Globe Correspondents

Christopher Chase of Somerville and Paul MacIntyre, president of the Boylston Club, were running neck to neck in the last round of the Boylston Club Championship. MacIntyre emerged the victor by a nose as he defeated David Glickman in a Bishop's opening in the last round while Charles Riordan held Chase to a draw arising from a Sicilian defense.

Had Chase not lost the game published today, he could have appropriated the championship. Here Alex Cherniack gets a clear advantage playing Black, as Chase elects on his 10th move to resist pressure on Black's Queen side, instead of reconnoitering his Queen's Knight to the opposite wing. Cherniack appears to win the battle for the center, and Chase banks on a pawn storm and minor piece attack on the Queen side. But Cherniack uses a Rook to defend against White's Bishop and Knight. With a little time advantage, Black finds the right squares to assault White's King with a surprising sacrifice and King hunt that ends the game.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.10.13"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Chase, Chris"]
[Black "Cherniack, Alex"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteUSCF "2289"]
[BlackUSCF "2228"]
[ECO "C66"]
[Opening "Ruy Lopez"]
[Variation "Steinitz Defense"]
[Annotator "GM Patrick Wolff"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Be7 4.0-0 Nf6 5.Re1

[The easiest way to advantage is 5.d4!]

5...d6 6.c3

[Here again, experience suggests 6.d4! is the easiest way to advantage]

6...0-0 7.Bxc6

[Having taken the trouble to set up d2-d4 with c2-c3, why make this exchange now before it is necessary? Simply 7.d4 still promises an edge]

7...bxc6 8.d4 Nd7 9.Nbd2 a5 10.a4?!

[White starts getting distracted by the queenside. Now that he has chosen this setup, he should continue consistently: 10.Nf1 Ba6 11.Ng3, followed by Be3, Qd2, etc.]

10...Ba6 11.Nb3 Bc4! 12.Nfd2? Be6

[White's pieces are discombobulated, and so he has fallen behind in development]

13.c4? f6

[Good enough, but even better is 13.f5! To blow open the center, e.g. 14.d5 cxd5! 15.cxd5 (15.exd5 Bf7 is just better for Black) 15.Bf7 16.Nc4 c6!?]

14.d5 Bf7 15.Nb1

[Or 15.dxc6 Nb8 and 16.Nxc6, with advantage]

15...Nb6 16.Qc2 f5! 17.dxc6 Nxc4 18.N1d2 Nxd2 19.Bxd2 fxe4 20.Nxa5 d5

[Black's center and two bishops are far better than White's queenside play]

21.Nb7 Qe8 22.Ba5 Rc8 23.b4 Bg6 24.Qc1



24...Qf7 25.Rf1 Bh5

[The attack masses on the kingside, and White is in big trouble!]

26.Qc2 Qg6! 27.Kh1 Rf6! 28.b5 Qxg2+!!



29.Kxg2 Rg6+ 30.Kh3

[Or 30.Kh1 Bf3#]

30...Bg4+ 0-1

[It is checkmate after 31.Kg2 (or 31.Kg3) 31...Bf3+ 32.Kh3 Rh6#]

For the record, here are my original notes to this game.