August 1996 - Volume 6

Nova Scotia Chess News

Written and compiled by Kim Tufts an169@chebucto.ns.ca except where otherwise noted.

INSIDE

1 Atlantic Closed

Editor's Blurb

The annual meeting of the NS Chess Association will be held during the Maritime Open, most likely about 2 pm on Saturday. Elections for the following duties will be held:

President Kim Tufts an169@chebucto.ns.ca
Governors Kim Tufts an169@chebucto.ns.ca / Jim Enman
Treasurer Gordon Giacomin
Bluenose Reps Kim Tufts an169@chebucto.ns.ca / Jim Brennan
Manvinder Singh
Tournaments Kim Tufts an169@chebucto.ns.ca
Youth Kim Tufts an169@chebucto.ns.ca
Newsletter Kim Tufts an169@chebucto.ns.ca
Web Site Steve Saunders

As might be obvious I'm wearing a lot of hats. All positions are open for election or debate about how they're being managed. I've already made it known that I won't be organizing any adult tournaments in 1996-97, nor will I be running the Bluenose Club, concentrating instead on youth events. I'm willing to act as President and as a Governor as basically these are overseer positions but the rest take a lot of time. Therefore, if someone wishes to take over some of these responsibilities I won't be too upset. We need committed (no jokes please) and involved people to get chess where it should be in this province. In the end we all benefit so consider it.

Atlantic Closed

[Ed. The following was submitted by Fred McKim of Saint John. The Closed was played May 17-19 at Saint Marys in Halifax. The Organizer for the event was Ed Urquhart. Alvah Mayo acted as TD. ]

This year's event saw three former champions returning (Horton, MacDonald, and Mathers) as well as a number of up and comers (Howarth, Urquhart), who continue to get better every year.

Round 1

A total of three upsets in this round, probably the biggest of which was Alvah Mayo's punishing of a positional error by myself. Also noteworthy was Mathers over Howarth and Pentz over Urquhart.

Round 2

An interesting round as the six players tied for first all drew!! This allowed some of us first round losers to get a bit closer to the lead. A very exciting finish between Mathers-Horton saw Horton obtain a perpetual in an otherwise lost position.

Round 3

Finally a sole leader. While two of the other three games featuring the leaders were drawn, Horton played for what seemed like forever eventually converting what most of us thought was a drawn ending against Pentz.

Round 4

Joe Horton was Black against Rob Villeneuve, and lost a transposed Benko. This put Villeneuve in the lead by a 1/2 point going into the final round.

Round 5

The final pairings were Howarth (2.5)- Villeneuve (3), Horton-MacDonald, and Mathers-Urquhart. All the above mentioned (except Horton) could tie for first under the right circumstances. The first game to finish was Howarth's mauling of Villeneuve. As we waited Anthony was joined first by Horton and then by Urquhart, whose tenacity against Mathers was finally rewarded (despite being a pawn down in a rook and pawn ending).

Playoff

The round-robin playoff had been agreed beforehand to be active chess. Horton and Howarth drew to play first. Just as it looked like Joe was going to prevail he touched a no-no rook of Anthony's and what do you know--stalemate! Howarth then played Urquhart, and wasn't so lucky this time. So the final game saw Horton needing to win, Urquhart needing only to draw. When the smoke had cleared Joe had seized the moment and the title.

(McKim)

Games

Fred McKim (2123) - Alvah Mayo (1983)

Rd 1 Trompowski

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 g6 3.Bf6 ef6 4.e3 Bg7 5.f4? (A serious positional mistake leaving Black with a yummy e4 square, which I proceed to take control of.) 5...b6 6.Nf3 Bb7 7.c4 d6 8.Nc3 Nbd7 9.Be2 0-0 10.Qd2 f5 11.Rc1 Qe7 12.0-0 Nf6 13.h3 Rae8 14.Nd1 Ne4 15.Qb4 Ng3 16.Bd3 Nf1 17.Kf1 Bf3 18.gf3 Qh4 19.Kg2 c5 20.dc5 dc5 21.Qd2 Bh6 22.Nf2

22...Re7?! (I spent 16 minutes on this move trying to convince myself that my initial reaction Rxe3! worked, but couldn't. I could only see 22...Re3 23.Qe3 Bf4 24.Qe1 Qg3+ 25.Kf1 Bc1 26.Qc1 Qf3 with a messy position, but after the game Jonathan MacDonald pointed out that 24.Qg5+ instead of Qg3 picks up the rook- therefore Rxe3 wins two pawns.) 23.Re1 Rfe8 24.Re2 g5?! 25.Bf5 gf4 26.e4 Qg3+ 27.Kf1 Qf3 28.Qd6 Bf8 29.Qf6 Qg3 30.Nh1 (Ng4 was probably better) 30...Qf3+ 31.Nf2 Bg7 32.Qh4 h6 33.Rd2 Qg3 34.Qg3 fg3 35.Nh1 Be5 36.Kg2 Kh8 37.Rd3 Rg8 38.Bg4 Rg6 39.Rf3 Kg7 40.Rf5 Bg5 41.Rf3 h5 42.Bf5 h4 44.Rd3 Bd4 45.Rf3 Rh8 46.Rd3 Rd8 47.Kf3 Ree8 48.Rd2 Rd6 49.Rg2 Be5?! 50.Nf2 Rd2 51.Ng4 Rg2 52.Kg2 Rd8? (Bd4) 53.Ne5! Rd2+ 54.Kg1 Ra2 55.Nf3 Rb2 56.Nh4 Rb3 57.Bd7 a5 58.Nf5+ Kf6 59.Kg2 Rb4 60.h4 a4 61.Ba4 Ra4 62.Nd6 Ke6 63.e5 Ke5 64.Nf7+ Kf4 65.h5 Ra2+ 66.Kf1 g2+ (0-1) (Mayo)

Atlantic Closed

Player             Old  New  Perf Rd1  Rd2  Rd3  Rd4  Rd5  Total
  1.Joe Horton          2354 2345 2263 +7   =8   +10  -3   +6   3.5
  2.Anthony Howarth     2249 2242 2201 -8   +12  =5   +11  +3   3.5
  3.Rob Villeneuve      2192 2199 2225 +9   =11  =8   +1   -2   3
  4.Ed Urquhart         2164 2170 2195 -10  =7   +12  +5   +8   3.5
  5.Fred McKim          2123 2103 2017 -11  +9   =2   -4   =10  2
  6.Jonathan MacDonald  2096 2086 2038 +13  =10  =11  =8   -1   2.5
  7.Glenn Charlton      2089 2075 2021 -1   =4   -9   +12  -0   1.5
  8.Jim Mathers         2082 2108 2206 +2   =1   =3   =6   -4   2.5
  9.Gerald Lomond       2059 2081 2168 -3   -5   +7   +10  +11  3
10.Brian Pentz          2055 2060 2079 +4   =6   -1   -9   =5   2
11.Alvah Mayo      1983 2001 2059 +5   =3   =6   -2   -9   2
12.Jim Brennan          1827 1818 1767 =0   -2   -4   -7   -0   0.5
13.Marl Holmstrom       1732 n/a  1696 -6f  -0   -0   -0   -0   0

Loyalist Open

Saint John, NB June 28-30

Although the tournament was won by Anthony Howarth of Saint John it could be said that NS was the big winner of the event. Alvah Mayo finished clear second and Cedric Davies tied with Fred McKim for third. Alvah claimed $150 while Cedric won $50 and a Kasparov travel computer for most rating points gained (88). In all, I believe we brought back nearly 200 rating points between the seven (!) NS players.

It might be quibbling but we would have done even better had a certain player not succumbed to sitzfleish with winning positions against expert-rated NB players. Or another taken a Grandmaster draw when confronted with the yawn gambit (and why the pernicious fondness in NB for starting rounds at 9 am?? But I digress...). As it was though NS made an impression and the rating differences look suspect.

Below is an example of how even an Expert can look silly by pawn grabbing and leaving his King in the centre.

Fred McKim (2137) - Cedric Davies (1620)

Rd 1 Trompowski

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.e4 h6 4.Bf6 Qf6 5.Nf3 c5 6.e5 Qd8 7.c3 Nc6 8.Nd2 d5 9.ed6 ep cd4 10.Nd4? Nd4 11.cd4 Bd6 12.Qg4?? 0-0 13.Bd3 e5 14.Qe4 g6 15.Bc4 Bf5 16.Qb7?! Rb8 17.Qa7? Qg5! 18.g3 Rb2 19.Nb3 Bb4+ 20.Kf1 Be4 21.Rg1 Qf5 22.Nd2 Rd2 23.de5 Qh3 24.Ke1 Rd7+ 25.Ke2 Qg4+ (0-1) (Davies)

Black to play

Blair Taylor (1913) - Kim Tufts (1675), Rd 3

This one was easy. Usually my play featured very silly moves in very silly games. However, I did get to play this move which made me smile, and would have preferred the game to have ended then but 10 more moves were played before my opponent ran out of moves entirely...

Many thanks to the organizers of the event, part of the KingCon Science Fiction Festival, and Joe Harris for being a genial host. Next year's tournament is already organized and promises a $1000 guaranteed prize fund. Highly recommended.

Many thanks also to Alvah Mayo to treating his fellows to a steak dinner on the trip back!

FIDE Championship

The match between GM's Karpov and Kamsky was finally played this June and July in Elista, Kalmaykia a republic of Russia. Karpov won the match 10.5-7.5 but it was not even as close as the score indicates as after 7 games Karpov lead by 3 points.

It seemed that Kamsky's plan was to make the games as double-edged as possible and he took many positional risks to achieve this aim, which more than once backfired. Karpov seemed content in the opening to get small pluses in simple positions. Another feature of the match was the isolated pawns from Caro-Kanns and Grunfelds. Karpov's superior technique proved to be the difference. The turning point seemed to have been game 7 when Kamsky went from a slightly better middle game to a loss in only 9 moves.

There were hints that no love was lost between the contestants as Kamsky played the final game to the bitter end, past adjournment to eighty moves in a sterile position before agreeing to a draw and the conclusion of the match. GM Karpov will play GM Kasparov sometime in 1997 for a reunification match. Mr Kamsky will be entering medical school in all likelihood.

Below are two typical games from the event. In the first, Karpov won with superior technique and a deep understanding of the position, making very simple moves, always bent on improving his position while minimizing his opponent's counterplay. Kamsky won the second - probably his best game and undoubtedly the highlight for him as things went badly soon after - with a keen tactical sense. Karpov's Queen sacrifice to try and hold was not unjustified in my opinion. Notes from the games are based on GM Schwartman's article in the August issue of Chess Life.

Grunfeld Defense - Russian Variation (ECO D98)

GM Karpov (2770) - GM Kamsky (2735) Game 1

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 dc4 6.Qc4 0-0 7.e4 Nc6 8.Be2 Bg4 9.Be3 Bf3 10.Bf3 e5 11.d5 Nd4! 12.Bd1 b5 13.Nb5 Ne4 14.0-0 a6 15.Nc3 (15.Nc7? Rc8 16.Rc1 Nd6 17.Qc5 N4b5; 15.Nd4!? ed4 16.Bd4 Nd2 17.Qc3) 15...Nd6 16.Qd3 Qh4 17.g3 Qh3 18.Bd4 ed4 19.Ne2 Qf5 20.Nf4 Rfb8 21.Qf5 Nf5 22.Nd3 Bh6 23.Re1 a5 24.Bg4 Nd6 25.Re2 a4 26.a3! Ra5 27.Rc2 Rd5 28.Rc7 Ra5 29.Bf3 Bg5 30.Rd1 (if Re1, then Rd3) 30...Rc8 31.Rc8+ Nc8 32.h4! Bf6 33.Rc1 Nd6 34.Kf1 Be7 35.Ke2 Kf8 36.Rc7 Bf6 37.Kd2 h5 38.Ke2 (A) Nf5? (losing c4) 39.Rc4! Nd6 40.Rb4 Ra6 41.Nc5 Ra7 42.Kd3 (A typical Karpov move, waiting to sink the knife in...) Rc7 43.Na4 Rc1 44.Nb6 Bg7 45.a4 Ra1 46.Nd7+ Ke8 47.Nc5 Ke7 48.Kc2 Rf1 49.Nd3 Ra1 50.Kb3 f5 51.Rb6 Bh6 52.Bd5 g5 53.Ra6 gh4 54.Bc4 Rh1 55.Bc4 Kh1 56.a5 Rb4 57.Bd5 (1-0)

Caro-Kann, Panov-Botvinnik (ECO B14)

GM Kamsky - GM Karpov Elista, Game 2

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.ed5 cd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3 Bb4 7.cd5 Nd5 8.Bd2 Nc6 9.Bd3 Be7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Qe2 Nf6 12.Ne4 Bd7 13.Rad1 Rc8 14.Rfe1 Nd5 15.Nc3 Nf6 16.a3 Qc7 17.Bg5 Qa5? 18.d5! ed5 19.Bf6 Bf6 20.Bh7! Kh7 21.Rd5 Bc3!? (Qc7 22.Qd3+ and Rd7y/i) 22.Ra5 Ba5 23.b4 Kg8! 24.ba5 Bg4 25.a6! ba6 26.Qe4 Bf3 27.Qf3 Rfe8 28.Ra1!? Re6 29.h3! Rd8 30.Qc3 Rdd6 31.Rb1 Rd7 32.Qc4 a5 33.Rb5 Rd1+ 34.Kh2 Rd2 35.Rf5 Rd4 36.Qc3 Rdd6 37.Rd5 Rf6 38.Rc4 Rfe6 39.Rc5 Rf6 40.Qe3 Rfe6 41.Qg3 Rg6 42.Qb3 Rgf6 43.Qb7 Rfe6 44.Qc7 Rf6 45.f4! g6 46.f5! gf5 47.Rf5 Rde6 48.Rh5 Rh6 49.Qg3+ Kf8 50.Rd5 Rhg6 51.Qf2 Rgf6 52.Qb2 Ke7 53.Rh5 Rh6 54.Rb5 Rhf6 55.Qc3 Kf8 56.Rh5 Rh6 57.Rf5 Rhg6 58.Qf3 Rg7 59.Qf4 Kg8 60.Qc7! Kf8 61.Qc8+ Ke7 62.Rd5 Kf6 63.Qh8! Re4 64.Rh5 Ne7 65.Rh7 (as Nf5 66.Rg7 Ng7 67.Qh6+) (1-0)

          

          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8   9  10  11  12 13  14  15  16  17  18     Total
GM Karpov     1  0  =  1  =  1  1  =  1   0    =   =    =    1    =    0    =    =     10.5
GM Kamsky     0  1  =  0  =  0  0  =  0   1    =   =  =    0    =    1    =    =       7.5

1996 Canadian Open

Perennial favourite GM Kevin Spragett won again with a strong 9/10. GM Ilya Smirin of the US was second with 8.

The event was held in Calgary between July 13-21. Numbers seemed to be down a little with 134 competitors and the strength of the field was somewhat less than usual. An abnormally high number of upsets also added interest.

Two players formerly from our region competed, Paul LeBlanc and Jim Ferguson. LeBlanc performed at his level, scoring no upsets unlike last year. Ferguson however played very strong chess, finishing tied 3rd-8th!

I have some of the games from the tournament downloaded off the Internet. At the risk of putting in some that En Passant will later publish anyway...Many thanks to Dave ("Dogdog") Ottosen for providing them. The comments quoted are his.

1st GM Kevin Spragett 9/10
2nd GM Ilya Smirin 8
3rd GM Leonid Yudasin , IM Dean Hergott, IM Lawrence Day, FM Kevin Gentes, Arniel Frialde, Jim Ferguson7.5

(Ed.-This was perhaps the decisive game of the event as Spragett went to 6-0 while his nearest rivals had already faltered. "After good prophylactics on the Qside, Spragett busts through on the Kside.")

GM Kevin Spragett (2600) - GM Ilya Smirin (2615)

Rd 6 Canadian Open Richter Rauzer

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 h6 9.Be3 Be7 10.f4 Nd4 11.Bd4 b5 12.Bd3 Bb7 13.Rhe1 0-0 14.Kb1 b4 15.Na4 Bc6 16.Nb6 Rb8 17.Nc4 Ne4 18.Be4 Be4 19.Bg7 Kg7 20.Qd4+ Bf6 21.Qe4 d5 22.Qe2 Qe7 23.Ne5 Rbc8 24.Bg4 Be7 25.Qd2 a5 26.Re2 f5 27.Ne5 Bf6 28.h3 a4 29.Qb4 Be5 30.fe5 Qc6 31.Rd4 Ra8 32.Qd2 Rab8 33.a3 Rb7 34.Rh4 f4 35.Rg4+ h7 36.Qd3+ Kh8 37.Qg6 Rh7 38.Rf2 Qc4 39.g3 (1-0)

("What a way to scalp a GM!! For me, by FAR the best game of the tournament to play over. Ferrar absolutely destroys a +2600 GM!" - Ed. Ferrar later defeated IM Hergott as well. Interestingly, the game follows Chiburnadze-Tukmakov, USSR 1980, which was also a rout!)

John Ferrar (2301) - GM Leonid Yudasin (2615)

Rd 3 Canadian Open Najdorf

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qc7 8.Qf3 b5 9.0-0-0 b4 10.e5 Bb7 11.Qh3 de5 12.fe5 Qe5 13.Bf6 Qf6 (gf6!) 14.Ncb5 ab5 15.Bb5+ Ke7 16.Qg3 Nd7 17.Qc7 Qg5+ 18.Kb1 Bd5 19.Qd7+ Kf6 20.Rhf1+ Kg6 21.Qf7+ Kh6 22.Nf5+ ef5 23.Qd5 Be7 24.Rf5 Qh4 25.g3 Qg4 26.h3 Qg6 27.Be2 (1-0)

("Smirin hammers one of Canada's best...though not necessarily in the most sportsmanlike fashion!")

GM Ilya Smirin (2615) - Michael Dougherty (2330)

Rd 7 Canadian Open Sicilian Alapin

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.c3 Bg7 5.d4 cd4 6.cd4 Qb6 7.Nc3 d6 8.0-0 Bd7 9.Be3 Qd8 10.h3 h5 11.Rc1 h4 ("At this point, GM Smirin practically (Ed- did) broke out laughing at the board. When I asked him what was so funny, he stated that his opponent's play "reminded (him) of when (he) was 12 years old, playing against little kids who only moved their pawns and no pieces.") 12.Bg5 Bf6 13.Qd2 Rh5 14.Be3 Bg7 15.d5 Ne5 16.Ne5 Be5 17.Be2 Rh8 18.f4 Bg7 19.Nb5 Kf8 20.Nc7 (1-0)

("GM Yudasin told me that he thought Ferguson was 200 to 300 points underrated." -Ed. !)

GM Leonid Yudasin (2615) - Jim Ferguson (2276)

Rd 10 Canadian Open French Tarrasch

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 f5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ndf3 cd4 8.cd4 f5 9.Bd3 Be7 10.Ne2 0-0 11.Rg1 Nb6 12.g4 a5 13.a3 a4 14.Nc3 Bd7 15.gf5 ef5 16.Bc2 Kh8 17.Rb1 Be8 18.Qd3 Rc8 19.Be3 Bh5 20.Ng5 Qe8 21.Bf2 Nd8 22.Qh3 g6 23.Bd1 Bg5 24.Bh5 Ne6 25.Bg6 Qg6 26.fg5 f4 27.Qh6 Qh6 28.gh6 Rg8 29.Kd2 Ng5 30.Kd3 Nf3 31.Rg8+ Rg8 32.b3 Rg2 33.Nd1 Rh2 34.ba4 Rh6 35.Nc3 Ng5 36.a5 Rh3+ 37.Kc2 Nc4 38.Rb7 Na5 39.Rb5 Nc4 40.Rd5 Rh2 41.Kd3 Nb2+ 42.Ke2 f3+ 43.Ke3 Nc4+ 44.Kd3 Nb2+ 45.Ke3 Nc4+ (draw)

(-Ed. One doesn't expect 6 year olds (!) to engage in theoretical discussions but thats what happened here. Nigel scored 3/10 and is the current Canadian Grade 1 champion.)

Cynthia Wu (1678) - Nigel Sharp (1483)

Rd 2 Canadian Open Sicilian Dragon

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8 11.Bb3 Ne5 12.Nde2 Nc4 13.Bc4 Nc4 14.Bh6 Bh6 15.Qh6 Qa5 16.h4 Rfc8 17.h5 Nh5 18.g4 Nf6 19.Rh5 gh5 20.Rh1 Qe5 21.Rh5 Qg7 22.f4 b5 23.f6 ef6 24.Nd5 Rc2+ 25.Kb1 fg5 26.Ne7+ Kh8 27.Nc8 Qb2# (0-1)

Pictou County Chess Challenge

Labour Day weekend. Contact Alvah Mayo at (902) 396-4669 or mayo@istar.ca for further details.

Used Chess Books - The best one I've found is The Odd Book on Front St in Wolfville. I bought MCO 13, Chess is My Life by Korchnoi, and The Soviet School of Chess by Kotov and Yudovich, all very good books and reasonably priced. There are many more titles available.

Web Site - Our site will soon pass the 1200 mark in hits! Its at http://chebucto.ns.ca./Recreation/NSChess/nschess.html. I'm taking a small sabbatical from the Internet but you can still leave me email at:

Kim Tufts an169@chebucto.ns.ca

You may get better results contacting Steve at Steve Saunders ssaunder@fox.nstn.ns.ca If you're not on-line, use Steve's snail mail address

Steve Saunders
RR 1
Blockhouse, NS
B0J 1E0
(902) 624-9361
To leave a comment to the person who maintains this file, send email to nschess@chebucto.ns.ca