Ehlvest bags another title

December 22, 2007, 8:19 pm
Ehlvest Wins Marshall Chess Club Championship
By Dylan Loeb McClain

Jaan Ehlvest, originally of Estonia but who is now an American citizen, won the 91st Marshall Chess Club Championship which finished Dec. 16. It was the fourth time that Ehlvest has won the championship of the venerable chess club on Manhattan’s lower-West side. Although the field was relatively small (27 players), it included four grandmasters and five international masters. Tying for second were grandmasters Alexander Stripunsky and Pascal Charbonneau and Robert Hess, an international master who attends Stuyvesant High School. Results and games are on the club’s Web site.

Ehlvest is a long way removed from the time when he was No. 5 in the world, but he is still a formidable player, seemingly at home in almost any type of position. In the tournament, he was the only player not to lose a game. In Round 4, playing White, Ehlvest beat Charbonneau, who is from Canada but lives in Brooklyn, in a messy English. Ehlvest did not have any real advantage out of the opening, but he managed to he ended up with the bishop pair in an open position, which is almost always an advantage. When Charbonneau advanced the pawns in front of his king, Ehlvest was able to create a breakthrough where his bishops, particularly his dark-squared one, gave him a distinct advantage. Eventually he won a piece, causing Charbonneau to resign.

Here is the full article.