This Week's Update from AACC and SCC

There was not quite a full slate of games Wednesday at the Albany Club. The three games played were; Wright - Northrup 1-0, Denham - Henner ½ - ½ and Lack - Caravaty 1-0. Mr. Denham’s draw with Peter Henner has to rank as an upset on rating difference, but while Jason trails the field his play has been solid for the most part. In this game he frustrated Peter’s attempts to create an effective imbalance, and at moments, appeared to be near winning himself.

The standings are, Including the games from Wednesday January 18, 2011:

1 Magat 5 - 3
2 Howard 4 ½ - 2 ½
3 Henner 4 ½ - 1 ½
4 Caravaty 4 - 4
5 Lack 4 - 3
6 Alowitz 3 - 4
7 Wright 3 ½ - 3 ½
8 Northrup 2 ½ - 3 ½
9 Denham 2 - 5

It was another week typical of this year’s Championship; an upset and still no clarity about who will qualify for the Championship or under 1800 matches. The club may not be big in numbers, but the fighting spirit is fierce.

The chance of an under 1800 contestant also qualifying for the Championship match disappeared when Chris Caravaty lost to Jonathan Lack. If Mr. Lack can win his last game, he will have 5 points and possibly be in the mix for the playoff match. Peter Henner’s draw tightens the struggle for the top spot. Cory Northrup’s loss to Tim Wright did not put him out of the fight for a chair at the under 1800 playoff. With two games to play, Northrup can overhaul Arthur Alowitz yet.

Today’s game is Jason Denham’s draw with Peter Henner.

Denham, Jason - Henner, Peter [D13]
AACC Championship Guilderland, NY, 18.01.2012

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Bf4 e6 7.a3?!,..

Book is 7 e3. Finding even games by masters with this move is not easy. It is not so much that there is some immediate tactical problem with it, rather the move lacks “bite”, and masters don’t dawdle in the opening. Here is one example where a master tries 7 a3. He comes out of the opening in good shape, but an error on move 20 leaves his Queen awkwardly placed. This requires the master to go in for an unsound sacrificial attack. His opponent was not shaken, took the material and the point in 36 moves:

(282110) Subrt,Jaroslav (2255) - Mitura,F [D13]
CSR-chT Czechoslovakia, 1992
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c6 3.c4 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 e6 7.a3 Be7 8.e3 Nh5 9.Be5 f5 10.h3 Nf6 11.g4 0–0 12.gxf5 exf5 13.Qb3 Kh8 14.Bxf6 Bxf6 15.Qxd5 Qe8 16.Bc4 a6 17.Rc1 Bd7 18.Ne2 Rd8 19.Qc5 Bc8 20.Rg1 f4 21.Nxf4 Be7 22.Qh5 Qxh5 23.Nxh5 Rxf3 24.Rxg7 Bh4 25.Rg2 Rxe3+ 26.Kd2 Ree8 27.d5 Ne5 28.Bb3 Bg5+ 29.f4 Bh6 30.Rc7 Ng6 31.Bc2 Re7 32.Rxg6 Rxc7 33.Rxh6 Rxd5+ 34.Kc1 Bf5 35.Nf6 Rxc2+ 36.Kb1 Rd1+ 0–1

7..., Bd6 8.Bxd6 Qxd6 9.e3 0–0 10.Bd3 e5?!

Mr. Henner no doubt wanted to win this game. Here he decides to take some risks to do so. The mighty Rybka suggest a number of alternatives; 10..., a6; 10..., h6; 10..., Bd7; and putting the Rook on e8 or d8. The machine calls the position about even after the alternatives, or just about so. The text introduces a structural problem in the Black formation; the isolated Queen pawn. That can be an useful attacking tool, if Black has the dark squared Bishop on the board. Without that Bishop to help things along, advancing the d-pawn is difficult. Pushing the IQP forward is one of the basic ideas in such formations. If it isn’t possible, then the d-pawn is more of a stationary target than dynamic asset.

11.Nb5 Qe7 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Nxe5 Qxe5 14.Nd4 Bg4 15.Be2?,..

There is no good reason to trade this good Bishop for its poorer Black counterpart, especially using a valuable move to do so. Better is 15 Qb3, touching lightly on b7 and d5. White might not capture on b7 out of fear of letting the Black Rook become very active and can’t yet even claim to threaten d5, but the Queen is a mighty warrior and having her safely out and about no bad thing.

If you can calculate like a master, GM, or Rybka, taking on b7 is possible and good after the Queen sorties to b3. Play could continue; 15 Qb3 Rfc8 16 Qxb7 Rab8?! 17 Qxa7 Rxb2 18 0-0, and the entry square c2 is well covered preventing doubling on the 2d rank. White is also prepared to play one of his Rooks to b1 forcing off material while hanging tightly on to the extra passed pawn and decent winning chances.

The fifth World Champion demonstrated how to play against the IQP in a game from 1943. It is often cited in text books on chess. The winning plan is; 1) Concentrate on the weakness, d5, with the heavy pieces. 2) Once the opponent’s forces are tied down defending the weakness, open a second front. In the Botvinnik game that begins with 25 g4. 3) A timely shift by White of heavy pieces from pressuring d5 to direct attack on the Black King is very hard to meet usually some additional targets will appear. 4) By being tactically alert White has an excellent chance to gain something decisive. Anyone who plays serious chess should know the following game.

(23840) Botvinnik, Mikhail - Zagoriansky, Evgeny [A13]
Sverdlovsk Sverdlovsk (6), 1943
1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.b3 Nf6 4.Bb2 Be7 5.e3 0–0 6.Nc3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Nxd5 exd5 9.d4 cxd4 10.Qxd4 Bf6 11.Qd2 Nc6 12.Be2 Be6 13.0–0 Bxb2 14.Qxb2 Qa5 15.Rfd1 Rad8 16.Rd2 Rd7 17.Rad1 Rfd8 18.h3 h6 19.Ne5 Nxe5 20.Qxe5 Qc5 21.Bf3 b6 22.Qb2 Rc8 23.Qe5 Rcd8 24.Rd4 a5 25.g4 Qc6 26.g5 hxg5 27.Qxg5 f6 28.Qg6 Bf7 29.Qg3 f5 30.Qg5 Qe6 31.Kh1 Qe5 32.Rg1 Rf8 33.Qh6 Rb8 34.Rh4 Kf8 35.Qh8+ Bg8 36.Rf4 Rbb7 37.Rg5 Rf7 38.Qh5 Qa1+ 39.Kg2 g6 40.Qxg6 Bh7 41.Qd6+ Rfe7 42.Qd8+ 1–0

There may be other plans to use versus the IQP. The above game is certainly one that has been used very frequently by Grandmasters, and cited by them in writing about the issue. A useful formula to know.

15..., Bxe2 16.Qxe2 Rac8 17.0–0 Rc4 18.Nf3?!,..

White’s play has not been the best. While the structural defect in the Black position remains, his more active pieces mask it for the moment. Rather than retreating the Knight, just 18 Qd2 adequately meets the threat to capture on d4 with the Rook. White may have feared 18 Qd2 Ne4; but 19 Qa5, looks reasonable with the issue not yet resolved. If 18 Qd2, Black can play to dominate the c-file with 18..., Rfc8 19 f3 Qc7 20 b3 Rc5; and the structural defect is completely balanced by the dynamic plus of the c-file. Given the foregoing, we can see a little bit why Mr. Denham looked at the text; judging the merits of the position after Black takes control of the c-file is not easy. White likely thought maybe he can distract Black from the c-file domination idea with some maneuvering.

18...,Qe4?

And it works. Better 18..., Qc7; to be followed by .., Rc8; when the potential weakness of the pawn at d5 is by no means easy to exploit.

19.Rac1 Qe6 20.Qd2 Ne4 21.Qa5 a6 22.Rfd1 Nf6?

White hasn’t made a real threat to d5, his back rank too weak. Black could try some further activity with 22..., g6; taking care of his own back rank problem, and then 23 Nd4 Qf6; and if 24 Qxd5? Qxf2+ 25 Kh1 Rxc1; wins. The text leads to Black achieving that which he has wanted for awhile; converting the IQP to a c-pawn, but this accomplishment gives White the chance to win the pawn.

23.Nd4 Qc8 24.Rxc4 dxc4 25.Rc1 b5 26.b3 Ne4 27.bxc4 bxc4 28.f3?,..

Simply 28 Qb4, picks up the c-pawn. Why did Jason not do so? The only conclusion seems to be that he fears his strong opponent sees farther than Jason can. Adding to the strangeness of the decision is the clock was not an issue for Mr. Denham. He had better than 43 minutes to Mr. Henner’s 12 minutes. It is one more example of psychology out weighing the basic chess skill of seeing the immediate future on the board.

28..., Nd6 29.Kf2 Qb7 30.Qc3 Rc8 31.Ke2 Nb5 32.Qb4 Qd5 33.Rd1 Qe5?

White has not come up with anything positive over the last few moves and that has allowed Black some chances. Here Black misses an opportunity to take the lead with 33..., c3 right away, passed pawns must be pushed as the old saying goes. The dangerous “passer” gives Black the advantage. By this point Henner was down to 7 ½ minutes. Time pressure probably played a part in the choice of move.

34.Nc6?,..

A slip missing the next Black move. Just 34 Kf2 keeps the disadvantage to a minimum.

34..., Nc3+

White must have been so tempted by his own tactical opportunities that he did not coolly evaluate all the Black moves. Black is almost winning now.

35.Kf1 Qxe3 36.Ne7+ Kh8 37.Re1 Qd3+ 38.Kf2 Qd4+ 39.Kg3 Rd8?

With only 1:36 plus the five second increment Peter has to rely on instinct here. To keep the hard won advantage necessary is 39..., g5; with the mate on h4 providing the time to save the Rook.

40.Nc6 Qd2 41.Qe7 Rg8

Black has a pawn, but the dangers to his King has forced the Black Rook to the most passive possible position. Henner’s clock was down to 1:21.

42.Re5?

A big mistake in his opponent’s time pressure. This occurs all too often around here. I know I have made similar mistakes, and they always hurt, maybe more than any other of my many chess errors. White had about 13 minutes on the clock, enough time to calculate, but he missed the problem with the game move.

42...Nb5?

Black had no time to find the unlikely looking 42..., f6!; which seems to win for Black. The probable line runs; 42..., f6 43 Re6 Nd5 44 Qc5 c3 45 Nb4 Nf4 46 Rd6 N2+ 47 Kh3 Qh6+; mating very soon. Quite a pretty demonstration of what a Queen and Knight can do to a King. Finding such a non-standard appearing combination in time pressure is a matter of luck and inspiration. Mr. Henner ran out of both for the moment.

43.Qxf7 Qd6 44.Qxc4 Nxa3 45.Qb4 Qxc6 46.Qxa3 ½–½

The game continued for many more moves played at breathtaking speed by Henner. Denham won the a-pawn fairly quickly. The three-to-two pawn majority all on the same side with heavy pieces on the board is obviously drawn. Given the terrible state of his clock, the examination of Peter’s endgame technique that Jason carried out is understandable. Mr. Henner found what he had to find in the way of moves, and after exhausting all the possible tries they agreed to a draw.

Although Jason Denham trials the field at 2 - 5, how he got there speaks to his rating not really reflecting his chess strength. Mr. Denham piled up four draws; among them were split points with Howard, Henner and Lack! All these guys are about 400 points more highly rated than is Denham, and every half-point at that rating gap has to be called an upset. Jason still has Tim Wright to play. It will not surprise to see him take a half-point there too. No matter what happens in his last game, it really has been a good event for Jason Denham.

Thursday evening at the Schenectady Club saw the second round of the Championship Finals played. Once more Carlos Varela could not attend. He is traveling overseas. It is unclear at this moment whether or not he will be back in country on the 20th of January, or the 20th of February. Both dates have been mentioned. If January, it will not be too much of a problem, he’ll be a couple of rounds behind which is nothing unusual for our local club championships. If February, it is quite a different matter.

The TD, Bill Townsend, set a goal to finish all games by March 20th . A February return will cut things very fine indeed. Any problems of coordinating the players schedules and missing the deadline becomes real. The deadline is not just an arbitrary line in the sand. The Capital District Chess League begins play about then. Mr. Varela plays for the RPI team and the other participants play for the Schenectady teams and the Saratoga team. Finding times and places to play both CDCL matches and these by then tardy SCC games will make Bill’s scheduling much more challenging than usual. Ah! The TD’s lot is never easy.

Thursday’s results were; Richard Chu lost to Alan Le Cours, and John Phillips defeated Philip Sells. The latter result came about in by now usual time pressure for Sells, but this time he was not able to solve the problems of his position and his flag fell in what was likely a lost position.

The standings are:
1 John Phillips 2-0
2 Alan Le Cours 1-0
3 Philip Sells 1-1
4 Zack Calderone 0-1
5 Richard Chu 0-2
6 Carlos Varela 0-0

In such a short affair, five rounds, the fast start by Phillips may play a large part in the final results. Certainly everyone will be chasing him from here on out.

More soon.