Artwork by Mike Magnan

SANDS: Juniors, seniors mix it up crazily at the board
By David R. Sands
The Washington Times

One more great thing about chess is that one can play the game irrationally at any age.

Today’s wild and woolly games come from the opposite ends of the chronological spectrum: a crazy back-and-forth affair from the recent Virginia State Senior Championship in Alexandria and an even more bizarre selection from the just-concluded U.S. Junior Championship in St. Louis, a game that featured seven passed pawns and six queens.

As we noted here last week, Arlington Chess Club stalwart William Marcelino took home the title as Virginia’s over-50 champion, but the prize for Best Trainwreck Masquerading as a Chess Game was shared by master Denis Strenzwilk (a good friend of this column) and Class A player James Guill in a contest that packed a year’s worth of drama into just the first 15 moves.

Truth be told, Guill as Black is pretty much busted seven moves into this Modern Defense, as 6. Bc4 Qc7?? 7. Bxf7+! (equally winning was 7. Qd5 e6 8. Qxa8 Qxc4 9. Qxb8 Qxe4+ 10. Be3) Kxf7 8. Qd5+ e6 9. Qxa8. White need only extract his queen to secure a winning material edge.

But things take a surprising turn after 9…Nf6 10. Nf3?! (Qa4 Bb7 11. Nd2 would seem the safer route) Na6 11. Be3 Ng4! (an extremely annoying move; White may have banked on 11…Bb7? 12. Qa7 Ra8 13. Qxb6 and all is well) 12. 0-0 (Bd4 Bxd4 13. Nxd4 Qf4! hitting f2 and c1 14. Nd2 Qxf2+ 15. Kd1 Ne3+ 16. Kc1 Nc5 and things are getting very hairy for White) Bb7 13. Qa7 Nxe3 14. fxe3 (not good enough if 14. Ng5+ Kf6 15. Nxh7+ Rxh7 16. fxe3+ Ke7 17. Rf4 [g3 Rh8 18. Nd2 Ra8] g5 18. Rf3 Qxh2+ 19. Kf1 Bxe4 and Black is winning) Ra8, and the White queen is now well and truly lost.

The highly unbalanced position that results gives White two rooks, a knight and two pawns for the queen and two bishops, but Guill’s queen and bishop pair prove a potent trio. Strenzwilk tries to cover up while generating play on the open f-file, but after so much insanity, it is a rigorously logical string of e-pawn advances that undermines White’s game.

Thus: 26. Rd2 e5! 27. Rdf2 e4! 28. Ne1 e3 29. Rf4 e2!, and White resigns in the face of 30. R1f2 (Rxg4 exf1=Q mate) Bxg2+ 31. Nxg2 Qxg2+ 32. Kxg2 e1=Q and wins.

San Francisco master Gregory Young surprised even himself with an easy triumph in the 2011 U.S. Junior Championship, which ended Saturday. The seventh-seeded Young won the 10-player invitational going away, with his 7 1/2-1 1/2 finish two full points ahead of Conrad Holt of Texas, Victor Chen of New Jersey and Alec Getz of New York. Congratulations to Young, who picks up the $3,000 first prize and a slot in next year’s U.S. Championship field.

More here.

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Tags: ,