Last Thursday at Schenectady

Last Thursday night the ninth round of the Schenectady Championship happened as scheduled. In the B Preliminary Jonathan Lack managed a draw versus John Barnes. Lack was also maybe a beneficiary of an upset of John Phillips by Brij Saran. Along with Richard Chu in Section A, Saran has a reputation built over many years of being very dangerous opponent. They can be "Giant Killers" on the right night. Thursday was a right night for Brij. John Phillips just missed a danger to his Queen in the late part of the opening. After losing the Lady for inadequate compensation, John labored mightily but was unable to generate significant counter-play. A couple of hours of dour struggle was to no avail and John had to resign on move 51. The drama actually provides a glimmer of hope certainly for John Barnes and perhaps Jonathan Lack. Another slip by Phillips and the third qualifying spot in the B Prelim may be a real battle. The remainder of the games in this Prelim went as expected.

The A Prelim was not too surprising in its results. Bobby Rotter with Black held Alan LeCours to draw. On rating no great shock. However, the game was very imbalanced right to the end. Alan had a trio of passed pawns in the center with his Rooks not very well placed to help them along - one in front and one behind the center passer, while Rotter had his Rooks cooperating along with a passed h-pawn. This was enough to hold Bobby’s game together but not enough to carry the day. No one can say they did not make a serious fight before splitting the point. Rotter has drawn all his games with the other contenders for qualification; Howard, Mockler, Little and LeCours. Little still has to meet Howard Mockler and LeCours. These games will be critical to determining who goes through to the finals from the A Prelim.

One other battle in Prelim A took place Thursday, Qu - Little. A short sharp struggle in the Pirc with both sides having pieces buried behind enemy lines and several sacrifices, some offered, some accepted and just potential. The game attracted four or five spectators, which is something of a crowd by club standards. Qu lost after he offered up a whole Rook for an attack that fell short. Had Qu chosen not to throw the Rook into the pot, he could have gotten a position down only a single pawn and a long way to go to a decision. Was that a better choice? Perhaps it was from a purely practical point of view, but young man has been playing just two years and it takes time to get those kind of choices right. Chen Qu made the game very exciting no doubt.

[Event "SCC Ch Prelim A"]
[Site "SCC"]
[Date "12-10-2009"]
[White "Qu, Chen"]
[Black "Little, B"]
[Annotation "Bill Little"]

While not quite a miniature, the game is short and into it is packed some flashy ideas.

1. e4 d6
2. d4 g6
3. Nf3 Bg7
4. Nc3 Nf6
By transposition through lines in the Robatsch Defense we arrived at the Classical Variation of the Pirc. This sort of set-up has been used often by Ivanchuk, Anand and Topalov.

5. Bc4 ….
Hort in the 1970s and Rublevsky in the 1990s have tried out this placement of the light squared Bishop. Alburt and Chernin in the book "Pirc Alert!" do not really like this try, although they don’t claim any refutation.

5.… O-O
6. h3 ….
This move takes us off the path followed by the heavy hitters internationally. The Grandmasters play 6 Qe2, at this point most often.

6.… Nc6
Leading to a somewhat sterile position is the transaction 6..., Nxe4; 7 Nxe4, d5; etc. Wanting more I thought to play as Alburt recommends against 5 Bc4, that is make an attempt to trade a Knight for the Bc4.

7. Bb3 ….
Making it too easy for Black. White had to try 7 d5, then if 7..., Na5; we are into the complicated kind of position a Pirc player has to like if he wants to use this defense. Now eliminating the Bishop is no problem. Alburt likes to bring the Nf6 to d7 before hunting down the Bishop. The putting the Knight on d7 takes some of the purpose away from the e4-e5 push by White.

7.… Na5
8. Be3 Nxb3
9. axb3 c6
10. Qd2 b5
White is thinking of putting together an attack on my King. The thought does not really consider if such is possible with the light squared Bishop off. To find the required three pieces: One to "sac", one to hold and one to mate, assuming his dark squared Bishop trades itself for the Bg7, will need some moves to do. Attackers often find obstacles springing up in their way. The text move is a distraction tossed out to take Qu’s eye off the building of an attack. Besides grabbing space on the Q-side, the move has a slightly hidden "bad intention" towards the White e-pawn.

11. b4 Bd7
Not so good. This move wastes time and Black can ill afford dawdling if he wants be a "Pircer". Better straightaway 11..., a5; then 12 Bh6, Be6; and Black is just a bit ahead in development with the game about even.

12. Bh6 a5
13. e5?! …..
Missing a chance to take the game into an even deeper complexity. Maybe White should play 13 Bxg7, Kxg7; 14 e5, axb4; 15 exf6+, exf6; 16 Na2, Re8+; 17 Kf1, Ra6; and Black will recover the piece. When we come out the other side of the calculation, the position favors Black, he has the extra pawn after all. There is a however, however. The line is not so simple to visualize, and I certainly did not see the line of play at all clearly during the game. The line up to the point where the White Knight goes to a2 was seen along with the fact I could check on e8 with the Rook preventing castling. While thinking during game, the position kept sliding out of focus at this point. Because I could not calculate accurately this position, I assumed my piece activity and the awkward placement of the White King would be enough to at least maintain equality.

The game move allows Black to take over the advantage. This happens because White’s development is a move away from being complete, he has yet to castle and connect his Rooks. Therefore, also to be recommended is 13 0-0, with play similar to the above line.

13.… axb4
14. Rxa8 Qxa8
15. exf6 bxc3
16. bxc3 Qa1+
17. Ke2? ….
Forced moves were played with few alternatives to this point. White had a real choice here. I suspect Qu could not quite see through the variations involved with giving up the Rook. He made the same kind of choice I made on my 12th move betting his pieces and pawns crowding in on my King would be enough to win. This turns out to be not true. It is possible Qu over-estimated how good my game would be after 17 Qc1, Qxc1; 18 Bxc1. Black has the Bishop pair, an extra pawn and the coming control of the a-file. All big trumps for sure, but playing so would string out the game several more moves. Under the sudden-death time control it is viable defensive strategy to make the game as long as possible if you are confident in your speed play. I am not one of the folks that think it is un-sporting to recognize the role of the clock when making decisions.

17... Qxh1
18. Bxg7?! ….
Probably carrying on the game longer is 18 fxg7, Ra8; 19 Ne1(Necessary.), 19..., Ra1; when danger to the White King is so high he will be unable to dispatch pieces to continue his attack. The text move wagers on pieces in the assault. I thought White was hoping to put the Queen on h6 and the Knight on g5. Chen Qu has something else in mind.

18.… Re8
Setting up a discovered check on the King renders ideas of finding the tempos to bring the Queen to h6 and the Knight to g5 moot. Qu thought a very long time here looking for another way to maintain the fight. The prosaic 19 Bh6, does not really help much after 19..., exf6+; 20 Be3, Qxg2; and there is another pawn to fall.

19. Ne5 …..
A nice try in a difficult position, but no cigar! The game move stirs the pot hoping for panic perhaps?

19.…. Bxh3!?
Finishing things cleanly with 19..., Qxg2; then 20 Qh6, dxe5; 21 Bf8, Qe4+; 22 Kf1, Bxh3+; 23 Qxh3, Ra8; making a decisive threat that ends the game is possible. The text wins, just not as cleanly.

20. Qf4 ….
Rather than accept a lost position after 20 gxh3, Qxg3; 21 fxe7, Kxg7; 22 Nxc6, Qe6+; 23 Kd1, Qd5; 24 Nb4, Qh1+; White tries to keep the game complicated. Another try in the same vein is 20 Qh6, hoping for 20..., Bg4+?; when 21 Nxg4, leaves White in not so bad shape. After 20 Qh6, Black plays 20..., Bxg2; and meets 21 Ng4, with 21..., exf6+; winning.

20.… dxe5
21. dxe5 Bxg2
22. e6 …..
Making a very ominous display, but it is a hollow threat. Black has a mating sequence in hand.

22.… Qf1+
23. Kd2 Rd8+
24 Resigns
By no means a perfect game or even close to it, but it attracted several spectators. For the last year or two I have been trying to play a more controlled and positional kind of chess. It felt good get into a tactical melee once again. Chen Qu has a promising future in chess. In about two years he has come from learning the moves and playing in Brother John’s un-rated "Make the Right Move" tourneys to be a presence in the Schenectady Club. In our game he found interesting ideas. A little more experience and he won’t slip up tactically as he did. Continued progress at this rate will see him fighting for the Club title next year, or the year thereafter. With the many bigger open tournaments occurring close by, I will not be surprised to hear Qu winning a game from a "name" player soon.

I have said before on the blog, we are having a renaissance in chess locally. Along with Chi, the Aaron brothers, and other youngsters, Qu will be force in chess locally for some time to come. That is good for the game, for sure!
　
I had to skip Sunday's round at Saratoga - a lost filling made chess a no go for me, so there is no update from that event this week. Alan LeCours has posted the recent crosstable for Saratoga and you can get the bare bones of who has gained and who has lost ground in the race for first. This break will give me the opportunity to catch up on posting some games I have in the hopper. More tomorrow.