Monday, March 31, 2014

The Tactics of Tony Miles

In anticipation of this coming weekend's Tony Miles Memorial, an exciting tournament honoring one of the most imaginative and entertaining players ever to grace the sport of chess, we present some of the best tactics from the grandmaster's illustrious history:

All puzzles courtesy of GM Larry Christiansen!
Your Generated Chess Board
From Miles - NN, London Simul 1978. White to play and win.


Your Generated Chess Board
Miles - Schneider, World Open 1980. White to play and win.
Your Generated Chess Board
Miles - Sorin, Cienfuegos, 1995. White to play. What is the proper counter to Black's dangerous looking kingside initi
Your Generated Chess Board
Bouziz - Miles, Leningrad 1979. Black to play. Find the best move.
Your Generated Chess Board
Miles - Peters, Dortmund 1979. In the actual game, Black played ...Rh8 and lost. Can you spot his winning continuation?

Join us for the exciting Tony Miles Memorial, Saturday, April 5th, to honor this great player! $1,000 Guaranteed prizes!!! Sections: Premier, U1950, U1650. Registration begins 9:15 A.M.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

BCC LEGENDS // MORPHY // GRUELING // UPSETS // INTENSE // 18 PLAY // LAWYER TIMES 1ST //

BCC LEGENDS OF CHESS: PAUL MORPHY 4SS, 1 SECTION
NM Lawyer Times, former BCC
Club Champion, goes 3-0 (+1/2 pt bye)=3.5
for the title of BCC Legends/Morphy Champion.
SAD STORY
Suraj Ramanathan takes on NM Farzad Abdi, on Board 1
in the first round of the event. The postmortem chatter by
Farzad himself, suggests that Suraj had a win in this game.
Only after Round 2 did we learn that Suraj was suffering
from a severe soar throat and fever, which totally shut
down his normally sharp analytical skills. He quit the event
after his round 2 loss. We wish you speedy recovery and
a full return to your chess prowess for next Saturday's
Tony Miles Memorial $1000 4SS here at the BCC.
Farzad went on to score 3 points to share 2-4th place with
Timothy O'Malley and Imran Hendley.
Evan Welsh (Northeastern University) plays Imran Hendley
in Round 1. Hendley scored 3 points to share 2-4th place.
Welsh went 2 for 4 in the event.
(background): Boshen Li, black vs Patrick Haley: draw. 
Soren Sandmann Pedersen from Denmark, with an Elo of 1692
plays Suraj Ramanathan in Round 2. Sadly, Suraj was
not available for chess calculation, suffering from a serious virus.
He would quit the tournament after this round.
Nithin Kavi plays an ever improving Phu Si Vo in Round 1.
Vo won this game and up'd his rating +13 to 1717.
Nithin withdrew from the event after this loss, no word as
to his health being a factor, maybe just a blunder.
IRONIC MATCH
David Martin vs Tim O'Malley, Round 1. David won this game
but no doubt "inspired" Tim to his subsequent 3 wins in a row
to share 2-4th place in the event. (background): Natasha Christiansen,
Evan Welch vs Imran Hendley; Boshen Li vs Patrick Haley.
SHARING 5th - 7th PLACE
Bernardo Iglesias, event TD plays black in his game with
Boshen Li, Round 2. Bernardo scored 2.5 points to share
5-7th place with Patrick Haley and Maxwell Zhao.
Patrick Haley scored 2.5 points to share 5-7th place with Iglesias
and Max Zhao. Here Patrick plays black vs Derek Jin in Round 2.
NM Lawyer Times plays junior scholastic star Maxwell Zhao
in Round 3. The game was close, but Times prevailed.
Max shared 5-7th place in the event with a rating hike of +24,
pushing his rating over 1700 to 1723.
3rd LIFETIME MEETING
                                                                                                                Photo: Yi Zhao
6 year old Winston Zhao plays the white pieces vs Steve Stepak.
This was billed as an "extra, non-rated" game in the 4SS
Legends of Chess: Morphy, Round 1, where Winston got the
full-point bye for being the lowest rated player in an odd-number field.
(I won the game and personally analyzed the text with Houdini, which
scolded me for making 3 major blunders. I mis-played the game
right out of the opening, but somehow crawled back to equality.
Yet, I underestimated Winston's plan to promote the a/b pawns,
coming down the pike, unopposed. A few moves before I
actually checkmated Winston, he had a forced win, the concept of
which he missed. Instead of allowing me a queen-rook-knight
trio which forced the mate, he would have won easily had he
thought of trading off my major pieces first, and then pushing the
pawns down the files to promotion and the full point.
A good lesson for next time!)sps
NEW FACES AT THE BCC
Soren Sandmann Pedersen came all the
way over from Denmark to play in this event.
First time player in USCF rated events,
Soren knotched a 1484 provisional rating.
Welcome Soren!
Patrick Connor Haley, Harvard senior from Texas
played his first rated event at the BCC.
Welcome, Connor!
PARTING SHOT
Mark Buckles vs Derek Jin, Round 3: draw!
Mark was +13 (1635) [2 for 4] and Derek was +4 (1437) [1 for 3]
(background): Boshen Li, black vs Evan Welsh.
HEADS UP!!
MARK YOUR CHESS CALENDAR
TONY MILES MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT
$1,000 PRIZE FUND 
FULLY GUARANTEED
SATURDAY APRIL 5, 2014
BOYLSTON CHESS CLUB

SOMERVILLE MA
BE THERE!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

BCC LEGENDS OF CHESS: NEW ORLEANS FAVORITE SON: PAUL MORPHY // THE PRIDE AND THE SORROW OF CHESS // 4SS // 60SD // CASH PRIZES //

SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 2014
PAUL MORPHY
June 22, 1837 - July 10, 1884
From New Orleans to New York City to
Europe, Paul Morphy was hailed as an American
Chess Champion and World Chess Champion of his era.
A lawyer by training, Morphy's chess was not only
thoughtful, but also inventive and exciting!
Henry Edward Bird vs Paul Morphy London, 1858
"Philidor Defense, C41
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Ng3 e4 7.Ne5
Nf6 8.Bg5 Bd6 9.Nh5 O-O 10.Qd2 Qe8 11.g4 Nxg4 12.Nxg4 Qxh5
13.Ne5 Nc6 14.Be2 Qh3 15.Nxc6 bxc6 16.Be3 Rb8 17.O-O-O Rxf2
18.Bxf2 Qa3 19.c3 Qxa2 20.b4 Qa1+ 21.Kc2 Qa4+ 22.Kb2 Bxb4
23.cxb4 Rxb4+ 24.Qxb4 Qxb4+ 25.Kc2 e3 26.Bxe3 Bf5+ 27.Rd3 Qc4+
28.Kd2 Qa2+ 29.Kd1 Qb1+ 0-1

Springtime temperatures in the 50's (F)
Paul Morphy. Had he been alive today,
he surely would have been a Harvard Law School Professor
and a frequent player at the Au Bon Pain Chess Cafe.
In his memory, come  on over to the Boylston Chess Club
and play some of your own inventive chess!
See you this coming Saturday!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

BCC GRAND PRIX MARCH ROCKS SOMERVILLE MA // 43 PLAYERS // TOP JUNIORS EXCEL // NEW FACES ABOUND // SPRING IS IN THE AIR //

BCC MARCH GRAND PRIX IN 2 SECTIONS
OPEN SECTION
11 yr old Jason Tang ( + 22, to 1996) hits the mark with black vs
Brandon Wu, 0-1 taking 3.5 points out of 4 and clear 1st place.
10 yr old Brandon had 2.5 points for 3-6th place and +2 to 1861 rating.
Alex Yu plays Nithin Kavi in Round 1. Nithin won the game
and clear 2nd place with 3 points, holding his expert rating
at 2002. Alex was +8 for a 1729 rating.
Luis A Baez-Rosario is dressed for battle.
Luis scored 2.5 points to share 3-6th place,
and a +12 to rating to 2053.
Robert Holmgren figures out this endgame for
win over Conway Xu in Round 1, and +45 rating
hike to 1850. Conway was 1.5 out of 3.
Will Ravn plays Ryan Sowa in Round 2 for full point,
and a total of 2.5 points, sharing 3-6th place, a rating hike of
+20 to 1798.  Ryan broke even with 2 points out of 4 rounds.
(background): Alex Yu, black vs Robert Holmgren;
Eric Feng vs Professor Jerry Williams.
PHOTO PICK OF THE EVENT
11 yr old Carissa Yip and 91 yr old Harold Dondis.
Carissa was +7 for 2041 rating; Harold was +18 to 1686.
ADULTS PLAY CHESS TOO!
Professor Jerry Williams plays Natasha Christiansen, Esq.
Round 1. The game was drawn. (background): Nicholas Lesieur.
Nithin Kavi vs Lawrence Gladding, Round 4.
Nithin prevailed in this pivotal game, clinching 2nd place,
though Lawrence went 50 percent in the event with 2 for 4
and a +7 rating to 1823.
MOST EXCITING GAME OF THE EVENT
Mike Griffin plays Aidan Sowa in Round 3.
The game came down to 2 seconds on the clock. 
Nerve-wracking! Mike prevailed with checkmate 
before either flag fell.
U1800 SECTION
Down to the Wire
Phu Si Vo (3 points) vs Nicholas Lesieur (3 points), Round 4.
Hardly out of the middle-game, there ensued a time-scramble.
Vo lost his way and was checkmated with hardly a minute
on Lesieur's clock. [Interesting outcome. The result of this
game might have been very different with no 5 second delay!]
Nicholas was happy with 4 points for clear 1st place. Vo shared
2-4th place with Gabriel Birzu and Evan Welsh at 3 points each.
For Lesieur it was a +63 to 1799 rating; for Vo +11 to 1694.
Birzu rating went +1 to 1640, from provisional to permanent.
Evan Welsh's provisional rating was +63 to 1478.
Gabriel Birzu vs Sammi Pan, Round 4. Sammi had 2 points
on the day and a rating +49 to 1074.
NEW FACES AT THE BCC
Michael Trudell
Derek Chubo Zhao vs Julian Morris, Round 2.
Evan Welsh scored 3 points to share 2-4th place with
Phu Si Vo and Gabriel Birzu. Here he is playing black
vs Richard Alan Chen in Round 4.
(background): Tom Shneer, black vs Lucy Cai: draw
                                                                                                               Photo: Hui Huang
Steve Stepak vs Rishi Jun-Kai Basu, Round 1.
Rishi's dad (glasses, cap) is watching the opening moves.
The Basu family is recently relocated from New York State.
Steve won this game and was happy to share a postmortem with
Rishi on the complexities of the D30 Queen's Gambit Declined.
Stepak scored 2 points out of 2 for +7 to 1607; 
Rishi was 1 for 3 and a +16 to 1286 rating.
FULL HOUSE
43 PLAYERS SITTING AND THINKING!
PHOTO PORTRAIT PICK OF THE EVENT
Sammi Pan thinking hard in Round 4. She had 
black against one of the strongest players in the
U1800 field. With a good position right through
the middle game, she got stuck towards the end.
Yet! Sammi Pan is a diligent student of chess and
little by little, she is learning good technique
which will bring her to chess mastery soon enough.
After all, she is only 9!
PHOTOS BY STEVE STEPAK
Nathan Smolensky, event TD, had his hands full with 43 players,
keeping track of the ins and outs in 2 sections and extra games.
Bravo, Nathan!

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

BCC GRAND PRIX // SPRING HAS ARRIVED // MARCH 22 // 60 SD // BRING THE WHOLE FAMILY //

BCC GRAND PRIX
SATURDAY
MARCH 22, 2014
DETAILS:
REGISTER EARLY FOR DISCOUNT!
WEATHER FORECAST: 60 DEGREES F
CHECK OUT THE LEADERS 
THROUGH FEBRUARY
U2400: Hal Terrie, Almir Dzhumaev: 2;
Eric Godin 1.
U2200: Nithin Kavi: 4; Sebastian Gueler 2.5; 
Carissa Yip 1.
U2000: Aashish Welling: 7.
Robert Neale: 4.5; Alex Yu 3.5; Jason Tang 3;
Yongjoo Kim, Mike Griffin, Richard Chen, 
Anil Marthi, Ames Abbot: 2.5.
U1800: Steve Stepak: 5.5; Harold Dondis: 4.5;
Phu Vo: 4; David Martin: 2.
U1600: Jacob Gillis, Mark O'Brien: 3.5;
Suraj Ramanathan, Michael Yu, Julian Morris: 3.
Daniel Wang: 2.5; Ray Behenna: 1.5.
U1400: Mark Buckles: 3. David Sun, Ed Chiu: 2.5.
U1200: Tom Shneer: 3.5; Daniel Zhou, Boshen Li: 2.5.
It's not too late to join the group!
A fun event, especially for the kids!
See you this Saturday!

Monday, March 17, 2014

BCC WINTER CHAMPIONSHIP: FM CHRIS CHASE CLEAR 1ST // TERRIE, SAHAKIAN, HANKE 2-4TH // SAVAGE CLEAR 1st U1800 PRIZE // STELLAR CHESS // TENSE STRUGGLES //

BOYLSTON CHESS CLUB
WINTER CHAMPIONSHIP
18 PLAYERS, ONE SECTION
GOLD MEDAL
TO:
FM Chris Chase 3.5 points: clear 1st place
 
Mateos Sahakian, black vs David Martin, Round 1.
Mateos scored 3 points, sharing 2-4th place.
Stephen Savage vs NM Hal Terrie, Round 2.
Hal scored 3 points to share 2-4th place.
Stephen scored 2.5 points to win the U1800 prize.
David Tianyi Zhou plays Tim Hanke, Round 1.
David broke even with 2 points. Hanke scored 3,
to share 2-4th place in the event.
(background): Ed Chiu, black vs Ames Abbot;
Gabriel Birzu vs Daniel Zhou.
Gabriel Birzu plays Daniel Zhou, Round 1.
Gabriel went 2 for 4 in the event.
CLASH OF THE ORANGE AND RED
MIT neuroscientist Elia Harmatz writes down his move with
black vs Ed Chiu. Elia scored 2 for 4 and up'd his rating
by +54 points to 1489. Bravo, Elia!
8 yr old David Tianyi Zhou plays black vs his brother
Daniel, in Round 1. David scored 2 points and up'd 
his rating +41 to 1395. Bravo, David!
Tom Shneer plays David Martin. Round 1.
Both Tom and David scored 1.5 points.
Tom up'd his rating +15 to 1228. Bravo, Tom!
WINTER CHAMPIONSHIP
 U1800 PRIZE
Stephen Savage 1st U1800 prize.
MAN OF THE HOUR
Joel Wald plays FM Chris Chase,
Round 4: draw. Bravo, Joel!
(a rating +35 to 1884)
Nathan Smolensky was the TD.
He logged in another smooth running event.
Bravo, Nathan!
Nathan is also the new editor
of Chess Horizons.