Alabama Chess Antics Inside this issue: Beat the Benoni: 15th Dothan Open by Scott Varagona 4 Snapshots from the Magic City Classic Game submitted by Stephen Adams 8 “The Rest of the Story” by Charles Anthony 10 Winter Chess Tactics by various players 13 “Breaking Up” With an Opening Gone Bad by Scott Varagona 14 Winter Photo Gallery by various contributors 16 The Official Publication of the Alabama Chess Federation Some of “the usual suspects” gather at the 2017 MLK Classic. (A whopping 9887 rating points in one photo!) Left to Right: Kirk Petty (1900); Stephen Graveling (2136); Doug Strout (1723); Tejas Thorat (2092); Jonathan Rasberry (2036) Winter 2016
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Alabama Chess
Antics
Inside this issue:
Beat the Benoni:
15th Dothan
Open
by Scott Varagona
4
Snapshots from
the Magic City
Classic
Game submitted by Stephen Adams
8
“The Rest of the
Story”
by Charles Anthony
10
Winter Chess
Tactics
by various players
13
“Breaking Up”
With an Opening
Gone Bad
by Scott Varagona
14
Winter Photo
Gallery by various contributors
16
The Official Publication
of the Alabama Chess
Federation
Some of “the usual suspects” gather at the 2017 MLK Classic.
(A whopping 9887 rating points in one photo!)
Left to Right: Kirk Petty (1900); Stephen Graveling (2136);
Doug Strout (1723); Tejas Thorat (2092); Jonathan Rasberry (2036)
Winter 2016
Page 2 Alabama Chess Antics
It’s time to wrap up the last bit of 2016 and prepare for the new chess year. This issue includes major contributions from Stephen Adams and Charles Anthony as well as various puzzles and pictures from many others. Thank you, one and all, for supporting the Antics. I also included a nice game of my own (a “refutation” of the Benoni, I hope!) and an article with musings on the decision to drop an opening from one’s repertoire. Here’s hoping you find this issue entertaining and instructive. There are two very significant tournaments on the Alabama chess horizon. First, the Queen of Hearts will take place at AUM on February 11-12, 2017, in Montgomery. This tournament (the second-longest-running tournament in Alabama) always features a lot of fighting chess, and the 2017 edition will surely promise even more. Second, the details of the Alabama State Scholastic Chess Championships have been announced. Madison will be hosting the Individual Championship on Saturday, March 11, 2017, and then the Team Championship on Sunday, March 12, 2017. (See the ACF website for details.) The Individual event’s outcome is a huge factor in determining Alabama’s 2017 Denker, Barber, and National Girls Invitational representatives; we look forward to seeing the strongest scholastic players in the state vie for these prestigious positions. Finally, as always, the Antics is looking for new content from YOU—the
Alabama chess players. Please send games (with or without annotations, but .pgn format is strongly preferred), photos, tournament reports, or full articles to the Antics Editor at this email address:
4 MATTHEW V PUCKETT 2177 29 GUENTHER HUBER-DELLE 1873
5 STEPHEN ADAMS 2160 30 CHARLES H ANTHONY 1866
6 REX E BLALOCK 2150 31 KENNETH W GOODMAN 1866
7 STEPHEN JAMES GRAVELING 2136 32 RHODES PEELE 1860
8 GERALD A LARSON 2133 33 TYLER C RHODES 1860
9 WCM ROCHELLE WU 2121 34 TIM BOND 1857
10 SIJING WU 2105 35 THOMAS H LAWRY 1837
11 JOSEPH H JURJEVICH 2098 36 KENNETH JIAO 1834
12 TEJAS VINAYAK THORAT 2092 37 STEVE MENGXI CHEN 1824
13 DANIEL H THOMAS 2085 38 CAESAR W LAWRENCE 1812
14 ARDEN QUINLAN MARKIN 2066 39 SAMUEL CAVETT 1802
15 JOSHUA THOMAS MCCLELLAN 2065 40 RAY DOWNS 1800
16 JOSH DIVINE 2050 41 OM BADHE 1796
17 JONATHAN RASBERRY 2036 42 DR MARIANO G RUNCO 1772
18 CHARLES L MEIDINGER 2008 43 NATHAN H SAINT 1771
19 JEFF TOBIN 1957 44 LUIS J MORENILLA 1769
20 GEORGE RUSYNIAK 1953 45 MICHAEL B GUTHRIE 1757
21 ROGER DEAN JOHNSON 1944 46 DAVID HAYES 1750
22 MILES MELVIN III 1937 47 BRIAN MCCORMICK 1738
23 CHRISTOPHER TREES 1930 48 MOHAK AGARWALLA 1738
24 KIRK D PETTY 1900 49 MARK PETERSON 1730
25 TERRENCE W EDINBURGH 1900 50 AARON DECORD 1724
Alabama Chess Leaderboard Top 50 Ratings (retrieved from uschess.org on February 2, 2017)
Page 4 Alabama Chess Antics
S. Varagona (2267) - J. Jurjevich (2117) 15th Dothan Open, Round 3 Dothan, AL (12/17/2016)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6
When you play 1.d4 against Joe Jurjevich, facing the Benoni is practically a given. Very annoyingly, in several previous encounters, I had gotten a huge advantage with the King’s Indian Samisch sort of line (e2-e4 and f2-f3), only to blow the games and draw in the end. One time, I even botched the opening so badly that Jurjevich won with Black. This time, I had a more conservative idea in mind, but one that still contained a lot of hidden poison. 6.Nf3 a6 7.a4 g6 8.h3 Bg7 9.Bf4 0–0
10.e3!
After much thought, I am
convinced that this is simply a very strong move. White reasons that putting his pawn on e4 just makes it a target, so instead he leaves it on e3 (where it
Beat the Benoni: 15th Dothan Open
By Scott Varagona
NM Joseph Jurjevich: a five-time state
champion, a fierce fighter, and an
Alabama chess legend.
Page 5 Winter 2016
controls important dark squares, by the way). This means Black has very limited counterplay. Meanwhile, the Bf4 combined with Nf3-d2-c4 will put infuriating pressure on the d6 pawn, giving White a nice advantage.
I first saw this plan in Sokolov-
Shabalov 2012 (World Open); in that game, Sokolov blew Shaba right off the board in nineteen moves. That alone should tell us something! 10...Re8 11.Nd2 Nh5 12.Bh2
Of course, having this retreat square is the reason White played h2-h3 earlier. 12...Be5
This is definitely NOT a move that Black wants to make. The g7-bishop is the pride of the Benoni player’s position. However, something had to be done in the face of the upcoming ...Nd2-c4xd6, and having to play ...Bf8 would be, frankly, disgusting.
In the Sokolov game, by the way,
Shabalov must have sensed the trouble brewing because he tried the much more aggressive 12...Qg5!?. After 12...Be5, this game takes a much more positional turn, which really favors White. 13.Bxe5 Rxe5 14.Nc4 Re8 15.Be2 Nf6 16.a5
Black’s pieces are really stressed out. Of course, Nc4-b6 will be super annoying, but the defense ...Nbd7 can’t be played because it would hang the d6 pawn. 16...Ne4 17.Nxe4
Although 17.Na4 would have been reasonable (to add to the pressure on b6), I decided the knight on e4 was a little too active and should be removed. 17...Rxe4 18.0–0 Qc7 19.Nb6 Ra7 20.Ra4
I don’t like trading off pieces when I have a space advantage, but in this case I hope to trade off the only good pieces Black has. Either way, all of my pieces will soon be stronger than their counterparts. Just playing simple moves, White got a big positional advantage. What did Black do wrong?... I mean, aside from playing the Benoni? ☺
Page 6 Alabama Chess Antics
20...Re8 21.Qb3!?
At the time, I thought this move was strongest as it solidifies b6. However, for some inhuman reason, the computer insists that 21.b4! was best. Perhaps White can get an accelerated version of the kind of queenside play he actually got later on in the game.
21...Nd7 22.Rc1 Qd8 23.Nc4 Qc7 24.Raa1
In the time it takes Black to get his a7-rook out of the gutter, I will be able to rearrange my pieces and go for b2-b4.
There are tactical tricks in the background here, like 24...Ne5? 25.Qb6!, which would win material for White. 24...Ra8 25.Qa4
Black would love to break out with 25...b5, but of course that would lose immediately thanks to the unprotected e8-rook. 25...Rb8 26.b4 Rd8 27.bxc5 Nxc5 28.Qa3
Black’s cramped position is finally starting to collapse. The threat is simply Nxd6 followed by Rxc5. 28...Ne4 29.Bd3 Qe7 30.Bxe4! Qxe4 31.Nb6
A diagram is worth a thousand words: With the Kasparovian “octopus” entrenched on b6, the c-file is permanently under my control and all of
What did Black do
wrong?...
Page 7 Winter 2016
Jurjevich’s pieces will be dominated. Black is busted.
31...Bf5 32.Rc7 h5 33.Qc3 Qh4 34.Ra4 Qg5 35.e4! To top it all off, White wins a piece.
35...Re8 36.exf5 Qxf5 37.Ra1 Re2 38.Rc8+ 1–0
One of the best positional games of my chess career. It is so very nice when the computer only finds fault with a few of your moves. And again, this 10.e3! plan used by Sokolov is really something. Benoni players, be afraid! ■
How often do you get to take a photo with Gandalf!?... Thanks to
Dothan Fanatix for serving as the tournament venue. Left to right:
Scott Varagona (Dothan Open 2016 winner); Dan Williams
(Dothan Chess Club President).
Dothan Open 2016:
Top Performers
1st place (4 points):
Scott Varagona (2267)
2nd place (tied at 3 points):
Joseph Jurjevich (2117)
Tejas Thorat (2090)
Benjamin Chen (1607)
Page 8 Alabama Chess Antics
S. Adams (2154) - T. Thorat (2090) Magic City Classic IX, Round 4 Birmingham, AL (12/30/2016)
17…Qc7? Surprisingly, Black could have gotten away with 17...Bxd5! 18.e4 Bxb3! 19.Rxd7 Bxd1 20.Rfxd1 Rxd7 21.Rxd7 Rd8!, with equality. 18.e6? An over-hasty move that Stephen regrets; White would have been better off
building up slowly with 18.e4. 18...Bxd5 19.Rxd5 fxe6 Now White’s advantage has been minimized.
20.Qg4 Bf6? This defense seems less than ideal, because now 21.Rxd8+! Qxd8 22.Qxe6+ and Bxf6 gives White a slight pull in the ending. However: 21.Qxe6+?! Qf7 22.Qxf7+ Kxf7 ½–½ Although Black is a pawn down, 23.Rxd8 Rxd8! leaves Black in full control of the d-file, which makes a draw very likely.
Snapshots from the Magic City Classic Game submitted by Stephen Adams; notes by Scott Varagona (with Stephen Adams)
Page 9 Winter 2016
The 2016 Magic City Classic
Reserve Section winners. Left:
Aaron DeCord, 1st place. Photo
submitted by Ethan Smith
(center), who took 2nd place. ■
The 2016 Magic
City Classic Novice
Section winners.
(Photo by Mary
Lowery.)
Magic City Classic 2016: Top Performers
Premiere Champions (3 points): Tejas Thorat (2090), Stephen Adams (2154)
Back in the March 2015 article in Chess Life entitled “The Pin is Mightier Than the Sword,” I submitted a game from the 5th and final round from the 1982 Queen of Hearts tournament, held in the historic capital city of Montgomery, Alabama. In the epilogue to that game I alluded to the 4th round game, in which I left the board during the game and took my wife and young daughter to the Sunday morning church service nearby. After returning to the board an hour later, there was still enough time to eke out a win in 59 moves. In that article, I said that the story of that game was another story for another day. So today I sat down to tell the rest of the story. The moral of this story might be that when faced with a situation where you know that you may end up in time trouble, play an opening that you are familiar with...and pray! C. Anthony (1661) - Paul White (1657)
Queen of Hearts, Round 4 Montgomery, AL (2/14/1982)
1.d4 d5 2.e3 This move has certain disadvantages, as we will see as the game plays out. I am headed toward a Stonewall Attack, a system recommended for White in I.A. Horowitz and Fred Reinfeld’s book “How to Think Ahead in Chess.” The advantage is that I had
played this system for some time and I would be able to play the opening moves very quickly, saving time for the middlegame and endgame after I got back from church. 2...Nf6 3.Bd3 Aiming at h7 and fighting for control of e4. 3...g6 Immediately cancelling the Greek Gift sacrifice at h7. 4.f4? Better is Nd2, preventing the black knight from occupying e4. 4...Bg4 5.Nf3 Heading for e5 as soon as possible. 5...Nbd7 6.0–0 c6 (A plan with ...c5 would be much more testing. -Ed) 7.Nbd2 Finally securing e4.
7...Qc7 8.c3 e6 9.Qc2 Unpinning the knight and offering support to the white-squared bishop. 9...Bd6 10.b4 Beginning the queenside expansion that will prove to be the difference in the game. (A creative approach, although I feel 10.Ne5! is more natural. -Ed)
“The Rest of the Story” By Charles Anthony
Page 11 Winter 2016
10...Bf5 Forcing a swap of White’s most active bishop. 11.Bxf5 (I get the feeling this trade helps Black more than White. I recommend 11.Ne5 followed by e3-e4, with some advantage to White. –Ed) 11...exf5 Probably better is gxf5 to open a file to the White king, but Black does not want to have an isolated h-pawn, I suppose. (From another point of view, ...exf5 could make White’s backwards e-pawn vulnerable to attack. -Ed) 12.Ne5 Bxe5 13.fxe5 Ng4 14.Nf3 f6!
The White outpost at e5 has to be
abandoned. Black can also undouble his pawns, while White’s backward e-pawn is a definite liability. 15.exf6 Ndxf6 16.h3 Nh6 17.Ng5 Ne4 18.Nxe4 dxe4? In my mind, this capture opens the door to a queenside assault, since White now has the pawn advantage and the initiative there. 19.a4 Nf7 The short-stepping knight is now at a disadvantage against the long-range White bishop. 20.Bb2 Ng5 21.c4 We now have two decidedly different plans—to attack on opposite sides. Black’s uncastled King may soon become a liability.
21...Qg3! Pinning the g-pawn and attacking the backward e-pawn. 22.Kh1 Qxe3 Black temporarily takes the lead in material, but is about to have his queenside pawns isolated. 23.d5! Continuing the strategy of queenside expansion, while clearing the long diagonal for the bishop. 23...Rf8 24.dxc6 bxc6 25.Rad1 Nf7 The square d8 will become a very important point of contention. 26.Rf2 Nd8 27.Rfd2 Rf7 28.Rd6 Qb6 29.Qd2 Intensifying the
Page 12 Alabama Chess Antics
pressure along the d file, while protecting the b-pawn.
29...Qc7 30.Bf6 Driving the knight from d8. 30...Nb7 31.Re6+ Kf8 32.Qd4 Kg8 33.Bg5 Qc8 34.Qe5 Qf8 35.Re7 Going against general principles (exchanging when behind in material), but it is necessary to complete the queenside assault. 35...Rxe7 36.Bxe7 Qf7 37.Qc7 Re8 38.Qxb7 Rxe7 39.Qxc6
Material is now equal. The question now
is whether or not the plan will work. 39...Rc7 An indirect double attack on the c-pawn, but Black’s king is vulnerable. 40.Qa8+ Gaining time to defend the c-pawn. Those three pawns on the queenside look decisive. 40...Kg7 Not willing to exchange queens. 41.c5 e3 42.Qd5 Re7 Now allowing the exchange of queens. 43.Qxf7+ Kxf7 44.Kg1 Kf6 45.b5 Passed pawns must be advanced. 45...Rc7 46.c6 e2 Forcing the rook off the d file, but now the black pawn has no support. 47.Re1 a6 48.Rxe2 axb5 49.axb5 h6 50.Rd2
The black king is cut off from the defense of the queenside. As a grandmaster might say, “It is now just a matter of technique.” 50...Ke6 51.Kf2 Ke7 52.Ke3 Rc8 53.Rd7+ Ke6 54.Kd4 f4 55.Kc5 Rb8 56.b6 Rc8 57.Rd6+ Kf7 58.c7 h5 59.Rd8 Black resigns (1–0). The game had essentially been over since the queens came off the board, but at the amateur level many games are played out to the bitter end. And THAT is the rest of the story. ■
Page 13 Winter 2016
Winter Chess
Tactics (See below for solutions.)
1. Ethan Smith – Christian Friedman Magic City Classic, 2016
White to Play.
3. Joshua Shepherd – Mariano Runco
Magic City Classic, 2016
Black to Play.
4. J. Rasberry – S. Varagona MLK Classic, 2017
Black to Play.
2. B. Chen – S. Varagona Dothan Open, 2016
Black to Play.
Answers: 1. White wins with 1.Bd5!. 2. Black wins the Exchange with 1...Ng1+. 3. The solution is 1...Bc5!, since 2.Qe5 Ng4! wins material. 4. In the game, Black played 1...Nb8? and the game was eventually drawn, but 1...Qb6!! (with the possible idea of ...Nb4) wins material in all variations, as shown by the computer. (Not obvious, is it?)
Page 14 Alabama Chess Antics
I used to love the French Defense…
The French was my front-line defense against 1.e4 for the first few years of my chess career. It worked like a charm in scholastic tournaments where many of my young opponents—who studied mainly for 1…e5 and 1…c5—had no idea of the strategic subtleties involved. My biggest success with it came in the year 2000, when I used the French to win three key games in that year’s Alabama State Scholastic Individual Championship, and became the Alabama representative to the Denker. Then, all of a sudden, things went sour:
M. Begala (1540) – S. Varagona (1867)
Vulcan Open, Round 2 Birmingham, AL (5/27/2000)
We find ourselves in an unconventional sideline (please don’t ask how my knight ended up on c7) of the French. I had pushed my g-pawn forward, which apparently violates one of Nimzovich’s French Defense guidelines, namely: “Don’t push your g-pawn forward.” Now the dark squares, especially f6, are hopelessly weak. My opponent came up with a good plan, i.e., breaking through on the kingside and invading via f6 and the h-file. I failed to sense the danger. 19...Kd8? It is beyond me what I was thinking; I could have simply castled. Well, being young (and rather foolish), I guess I had a sort of romantic fascination with king walks. 20.Ne3 Kc8 21.g4! hxg4? Even 21…h4!?, sacrificing a pawn to keep White’s knight at bay, was probably better than this. 22.Nxg4 Ne8 23.Rh7 a5? 24.0–0–0 b5 25.Rdh1 Ra7
“Breaking Up” with an Opening Gone Bad by Scott Varagona
Page 15 Winter 2016
Black is reduced to complete passivity: a nightmare for the fighting French player. 26.Rh8 Qe7 27.R1h7 Ng7 28.Qf6 Rxh8 29.Rxh8+ Ne8 30.Qxe7 Rxe7 31.Nf6 Kd8 32.Kd2!
And just to add insult to injury: I’m in zugswang! 33…b4 33.axb4 axb4 34.c3 b3 35.Kd3 c5 36.dxc5 Kc7 37.Rxe8 Rxe8 38.Nxe8+ Kb7 39.Kd4 Kc6 40.Nf6 Kb5 1–0 Okay, so my play in that game certainly could have been improved. Still, sometimes a traumatic game can leave such a bitter taste in your mouth that you just can’t stand to play that opening any more. I’d had enough of the French. Maybe it was for the best: that summer, before heading to the Denker, I spent many weeks learning the ins and outs of the Caro-Kann instead—and the Caro remains my “soul mate” to this day. (Eventually, I would find it in my heart to play the French again, but only on rare occasions.)
The Closed Catalan used to be a great friend, too. That is, until I lost four dreadfully painful games with it (against Stephen Graveling and Matthew Puckett) in 2016. I almost lost a fifth (to Kirk Petty) as well. Of course, I would never accuse the Closed Catalan of being unsound—Carlsen and Kasparov have both played it—but even so, this terrible turn of events left me agonizing for a long time about whether another “breakup” was in order. It is a problem that every player must face: how do we adjust our opening repertoire over time, in response to victories and defeats? Despite my story about the French, it is important not to get carried away by one bad experience if years of good results came just before it. I am reminded of Kasparov and his relationship with the King’s Indian Defense: he used this opening to achieve many smashing victories in the 80s and 90s until Kramnik handed him a few devastating defeats, and then Kasparov practically gave up the opening altogether. Okay, against Kramnik, the K.I.D. may have been a bad choice, but why give up playing it against the rest of the world? Far be it from me to criticize Kasparov, but this repertoire decision does mystify me. My philosophy is this: if you are considering dropping an opening you’ve been playing for a long while, try to be as objective about the decision as possible. Keep a running tally of your games and look at your statistics: how many games with this opening have you won? How
Page 16 Alabama Chess Antics
many have you lost? If you lost a bunch, do you think it was partly because the opening didn’t suit your style? Or did you lose the game for some other reason? If you’re like me (i.e., a stubborn mule), you will typically have to lose a lot with one of your pet openings before you seriously consider making a change. Yet being open-minded enough to make such a change can pay huge dividends. (I don’t think it’s an accident that I finally made master soon after giving up the Czech Benoni, for example.)
One thing’s for sure: if an opening you play starts consistently letting you down, don’t keep playing it just because “it’s what I’ve always done.” Life is short, so give yourself the chance to try out other openings. Even if you don’t find “true love,” you might at least stumble upon a good surprise weapon—and maybe even “break your opponent’s heart” in the process. ■
Winter Photo Gallery
Madison City Chess League players participated in the National K-12 Chess Championship in Nashville on
December 16-18, 2016. MCCL Executive Director Ranae Bartlett (far right) wrote a wonderful report on the
various players’ achievements; this report can be found at https://madisonchess.com/blog/madison-competes-at-
national-k12-chess-championship-in-nashville. (Photo credit: Scott Wilhelm.)
Page 17 Winter 2016
Above: Jonathan Rasberry (center, making a move) assists with coaching players from the Madison City Chess League.
(Photo credit: Scott Wilhelm.)
Bottom right: Alabama chess is booming! This is the crowd in the tournament hall before the 2017 MLK Classic in
Montgomery, AL, at Frazer UMC. (Photo by Antics Editor.)
Bottom left: TD Caesar Lawrence stands with MLK Reserve Section winner (and Blink-182 fan) Aaron DeCord.
(Photo by Antics Editor.) ■
Email: Alabama.Chess.Editor
@gmail.com
Upcoming Tournaments See www.alabamachess.org for details on these and other events.