Nova Scotia Chess News

October 2000 Volume 19

Inside This Issue

1. Top 25 List

2. NSCA Directors Meeting

3. 14th Pictou County Chess Challenge

4. 2000 Atlantic Closed

5. Unama'ki Open

6. Veranda Invitational

7. Charlottetown Invitational FIDE Event

8. Labour Day Open

9. Maritime Open

In the past few months our local chess scene has been saddened by the loss of Steve Toth and Robert Breau. The presence of these individuals will be sorely missed.

Justin Gulati has relocated to Waterloo Ontario to obtain his Masters degree. Although Justin hails from Prince Edward Island he played more Nova Scotia events than most Nova Scotians during his time here. Good luck in Ontario Justin!

Vladimir Kramnik has defeated Gary Kasparov for the World Chess Championship in a best of 16 game match by the score of 8.5-6.5. Of particular note is the fact that Kasparov failed to win even a single game during the match.

Canada's team at the Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey finished well with 31.5 points good for 25th-31st place. Pascal Charbonneau received an IM norm for his performance. GM Kevin Spraggett won the silver medal for Board 2 with a 9/12 (75%) score.

Nova Scotia's Top 25 List (As of October 31,2000)

1. 2230 Ed Urquhart

2. 2195 Glenn Charlton

3. 2174 Tyler Reddy

4. 2151 Alvah Mayo

5. 2131 James Mathers

6. 2084 Stephen Saunders

7. 2047 John Klapstein

8. 2012 David Kenney

9. 1984 Brian Pentz

10. 1976 Jason Kenney

11. 1947 Jim Brennan

12. 1908 Michael Eldridge

13. 1906 Dusan Kustudic

14. 1895 David Poirier

15. 1894 Rex Naugler

16. 1884 Tom Cosman

17. 1874 Christopher Parker

18. 1860 Fred Phillips Jr.

19. 1859 Stephen Duffy

20. 1851 Carlos Drummond

21. 1851 Brad Armstrong

22. 1814 Brian Burgess

23. 1795 Jamie Gibson

24. 1783 Gary Phillips

25. 1772 Gilbert Bernard

Nova Scotia's Top 5 Juniors List (As of October 31, 2000)

1. 2174 Tyler Reddy

2. 1976 Jason Kenney

3. 1874 Christopher Parker

4. 1720 Gary Ng

5. 1640 Matthew Furrow

Nova Scotia's Top 5 Most Active List (As of October 31, 2000)

1. 102 Alvah Mayo

2. 97 Michael Eldridge

3. 58 Stephen Saunders

4. 57 Gilbert Bernard

5. 54 Ken Cashin

14th Pictou County Chess Challenge

# Name Old Perf New Results Total

1. Alvah Mayo 2201 2116 2204 +7 =0 +2 +3 +5 +0 5.5

2. Gilbert Bernard 1784 1933 1805 +0 +5 -1 =4 =0 +8 4.0

3. Harold Uuetoa 1749 1865 1768 +0 =4 +8 -1 =7 +5 4.0

4. Brian Burgess 1838 1764 1823 +0 =3 -5 =2 +8 +7 4.0

5. Bruce Fleury 1736 1787 1744 +8 -2 +4 +7 -1 -3 3.0

6. James Livingstone 1576 1555 1575 =0 =0 =0 =8 =0 =0 3.0

7. Aubrey Clarke 1595 1576 1583 -1 =8 +0 -5 =3 -4 2.0

8. David Spencer 1555 1446 1530 -5 =7 -3 =6 -4 -2 1.0

This year's Pictou County Chess Challenge was held June 16-18 alongside the Atlantic Closed in Westville. After some half dozen attempts in previous editions of this event, NM Alvah Mayo won the tournament along with the $200 first prize. Special thanks go to Jim Livingstone who showed up to spectate and ended up playing a round to make the pairings easier.

2000 Atlantic Closed

# Name Old Perf New Results Total

1. Fred McKim 2020 2150 2047 x = = = = 1 3.0

2. Justin Gulati 2069 2140 2083 = x 1 = = = 3.0

3. Stephen Saunders 2124 2129 2124 = 0 x = 1 1 3.0

4. Alvah Mayo 2204 2113 2194 = = = x = 1 3.0

5. Michael Eldridge 2031 1988 2023 = = 0 = x = 2.0

6. David Kenney 1922 1850 1909 0 = 0 0 = x 1.0

This year's Atlantic Closed saw fully two thirds of the participants tied for first place. Fred McKim, Justin Gulati, NM Alvah Mayo and Steve Saunders each scored 3/5 splitting the $200 first prize four ways. The title of Atlantic Closed Champion and qualification spot in the 2001 Atlantic Closed went to Justin Gulati on tiebreak.

Unama'ki Open

# Name Old Perf New Results Total

1. Michael Eldridge 2023 2195 2058 +4 +6 =2 +5 =3 4.0

2. Alvah Mayo 2194 2152 2192 +8 +5 =1 =3 +4 4.0

3. Stephen Saunders 2124 2172 2133 =0 +8 +5 =2 =1 3.5

4. Bruce Fleury 1744 1756 1746 -1 +9 =6 +7 -2 2.5

5. David Kenney 1909 1812 1896 +9 -2 -3 -1 +8 2.0

6. Gilbert Bernard 1805 1709 1793 +0 -1 =4 =8 -0 2.0

7. John Maclean 1402 1551 1412 -2* =0 =0 -4 +9 2.0

8. Allan Googoo 1760 1718 1750 -2 -3 +9 =6 -5 1.5

9. Alfred Alex 1357 1304 1337 -5 -4 -8 +0 -7 1.0

This year's Unama'ki (Cape Breton) Open saw the usual competitive field cross the Causeway to do battle for the coveted Sherwin-Williams trophy in Whycogomagh. In the end first place was shared by Mike Eldridge and NM Alvah Mayo with 4/5.

This year we lost Justin Gulati but added another Expert in the form of Dave Kenney. Tournament organizer Gilbert Bernard was pleased with the presence of high rated players and mentioned that he hopes to build up the turnout for next year's Open. Gilbert also obtained a grant from the Waycobah First Nation band council to augment the generous prize fund.

The games themselves were a display of hard nosed fighting chess; none of the draws could be characterized as "GM draws". The bloodletting among the top seeds began in the second round when NM Alvah Mayo got to play one of his favourite Ruy Lopez positions against Dave Kenney. Alvah had about 7 pieces attacking the kingside and broke through in violent fashion right around the time control.

Mayo - Kenney

1.e4 e5 (already a small suprise as Dave almost always plays a Pirc or Modern, but perhaps my prior success against him in those lines caused a switch) 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 h6 12.Nf1 Re8 13.g4!? (I can make this aggressive kingside thrust because White controls the center in this line regardless of whether Black chooses to play with a semi open center after exd4 or chooses to play c5 with a closed center after d4-d5 by White) 13...c5 14.d5 c4!? (this thematic move fixes the white queenside, gains space and the c5 square allowing Nc5 with pressure on d3 and e4 at some point. In the long term it is not difficult to imagine Black playing for Nc5, a5, Ba6 and b4 to open lines on the queenside in order to distract White from his kingside attack. Unfortunately Black fails to develop any such queenside counterplay during this game, an omission which essentially causes his defeat) 15.Bc2 Bf8 16.Ng3 g6 17.Be3 Qe7 18.Qd2 Kh7 (the last few moves have seen White develop his kingside initiative by attacking the kingside dark squares while Black sets up a defensive fortress to protect them. Now it is time for White to move the king so as to introduce his rooks into the attack) 19.Kg2 Bg7 20.Rh1 Rh8 21.Rag1 Kg8 22.g5! (White must strike now in order to quickly open a file on the kingside, since Black is forced to take thanks to the double attack on f6 and h6) 22...hxg5 23.Bxg5 Qf8 (Black sidesteps the pin on the f6 knight as well as reinforcing the kingside dark squares) 24.Kf1 Nh5 25.Nxh5 Rxh5 26.Qe2 (this tricky little move builds the attack while also introducing possible tactical ideas like Qxh5 if the pinned bishop on g7 can be exploited. Indeed this motif becomes important later on) 26...Bh6 27.h4 f6 28.Be3 (having provoked Black into pushing his f pawn thus weakening the g6 pawn the bishop retreats to safety) 28...Bxe3 29.Nd4!! (With about two and half minutes left to make time control this is a psychologically shocking move to have to deal with; not only does White not take back the bishop but he sacs a second piece! Of course Black can't take the piece since Rxg6+ followed by Qxh5 or simply Qxh5 is threatened) 29...Qh6? (Black fails to find the cold blooded defence 29...Kf7!? defusing both the pin on the g6 pawn and the Qxh5 threat. After 30.Ne6 Qh8 White wins back his piece but Black survives) 30.Nf5! Rxf5 31.exf5 1-0

In the third round Steve Saunders got a crushing kingside attack with the black pieces against Dave Kenney in an English opening and converted the point easily. Dave got to play another English in the fourth round against long time nemesis Mike Eldridge but was met by the English defence. After getting outplayed in the opening stages Dave found himself with a sudden counterattack with real chances in a probably winning position, but was unable to convert and ended up losing. I am sure Dave will be back next year to get his revenge!

Before the last round the five NSCA directors present got together for a working lunch at a nearby restaurant. At that meeting a consensus was reached as to what position each director would hold for the current year. Dave Kenney's report on that meeting is as follows:

A meeting of the NSCA was held between rounds at the Unama'ki Open on July 2 in Waycobah, Nova Scotia. During the meeting it was decided that the following directors will assume responsibilty for the various noted officer positions for the balance of the 2000/2001 fiscal year.

Chairman - Steve Saunders (Steve will also be responsible for the NS Chess web page site)

Vice Chairman - Albert Ede

Secretary - Treasurer - David Kenney

Director for Cape Breton Region - Gilbert Bernard

CFC Governor for NS - Gilbert Bernard

CFC Governor for NS - Alvah Mayo (Alvah has also agreed to be our new NS Chess newsletter editor)

Director at Large - Michael Eldridge

Director at Large - Kim Tufts

During this meeting, the Directors discussed a proposal from Gilbert Bernard to hold the 2001 Nova Scotia Open in Port Hawkesbury, Cape Breton on the Victoria Day weekend in May. Gilbert has agreed to look into the feasibility of obtaining a playing site and will be making a more formal proposal later in the year.

The following motion from Alvah Mayo was also brought forward at the meeting: "Be it resolved that players who are 60 years of age or older be given the senior entry fee at tournaments in Nova Scotia". This motion was brought forward to try to have a more consistent approach to giving a senior entry fee at our tournaments. At present, some tournament organizers require a person to be over 65 in order to benefit from a lower entry fee, while others have used either 60 or 55 years of age as a cutoff level for a "seniors entry fee". The motion was seconded by Gilbert Bernard. Although tournament directors and organizers are able to set up their own format for entry fees it was believed that this

motion may help to encourage a standard for the senior's entry fee.

Meeting adjourned.

Veranda Invitational

# Name Old Perf New Results Total

1. Stephen Saunders 2129 2207 2145 x = 1 1 = 1 4.0

2. Glenn Charlton 2207 2111 2199 = x = = 1 1 3.5

3. David Kenney 1896 2093 1935 0 = x 1 1 = 3.0

4. Brian Pentz 1981 1996 1984 0 = 0 x 1 1 2.5

5. Brian Burgess 1823 1788 1814 = 0 0 0 x = 1.0

6. Rex Naugler 1926 1767 1894 0 0 = 0 = x 1.0

This round robin event was held over several weekends in July at Rex Naugler's home in Fancy Lake and is fast becoming a summertime tradition. Steve Saunders took first place with 4/5 ahead of an impressive field of players; half the players also played in the recent Nova Scotia Closed.

Charlottetown FIDE Invitational

# Name Old Perf New Results Total

1. Lefong Hua 2368 2507 2400 x = = 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10.0

2. Tom O'Donnell 2434 2465 2445 = x 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9.5

3. Tyler Reddy 2064 2316 2174 = 0 x = 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 7.0

4. Alvah Mayo 2192 2268 2212 0 1 = x = 1 = = 0 = 1 1 6.5

5. Ed Urquhart 2221 2266 2230 0 0 1 = x 1 = = = 1 1 = 6.5

6. Jonathan MacDonald 2136 2164 2149 0 0 1 0 0 x = = 1 1 0 1 5.0

7. Roger Langen 2214 2157 2201 0 0 0 = = = x 0 1 = 1 1 5.0

8. Joe Horton 2307 2149 2272 0 0 0 = = = 1 x 1 0 1 = 5.0

9. Justin Gulati 2127 2093 2112 0 0 0 1 = 0 0 0 x = 1 1 4.0

10. Aaron Cooper 1985 2069 2017 0 0 0 = 0 0 = 1 = x 0 1 3.5

11. Michael Eldridge 2058 1953 2012 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 x 0 2.0

12. Bill Bogle 2239 1937 2172 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 = 0 0 1 x 2.0

Charlottetown FIDE Invitational Report

Round 1

Before the tournament got under way the players had a meeting in the playing room at the ITEC Theatre on the campus of the University of Prince Edward Island. It was agreed that Anthony Howarth would head the Appeals Committee. Since travelling companions Bill Bogle and Jonathan MacDonald had not arrived yet the other players agreed they would be paired for the first round. After the lots for pairings were drawn and the pairings were posted, the first round commenced.

Eldridge had an approximately equal position against O'Donnell but blundered a pawn and very soon after resigned. Hua and Urquhart played a Grunfeld where Hua offered a standard pawn sac early on which was declined. Hua looked like he had a kingside initiative with his pawn storm and went on to win the ending but Ed later told me the game should have been drawn.

Joe Horton's game against Tyler Reddy featured a sharp line against the French complete with a pawn sacrifice followed up by a piece sacrifice. Reddy quickly returned an exchange to bail out to a slightly inferior position. Horton declined several threefold repetitions only to blunder into mate in one just after the time control.

My game against Gulati was a London where Gulati played a bad line as Black. Justin explained to me after the game that he played the line because he thought after 9.Ne5 he would simply play f6 with an advantage, realizing only after I had played Ne5 that f6 ran into Qh5+.

I proceeded to waste time in the early middlegame (with moves like Qf3 and Rfe1) until it was Black who had the advantage. Realizing how much trouble I was in, I felt compelled to sacrifice a piece with 18.Bxg6. Justin had several ways to proceed but picked the one that gave me a great position. I botched this completely allowing Justin to complete his development and penetrate my position for the win.

The game between MacDonald and Bogle was the time pressure addicts contest as both players had used well over an hour on the clock before they made it to move ten! Jonathan's improvised opening pawn sac paid off dividends as he proceeded to terminate Bogle along the b file.

Cooper trotted out his pet Gurgenizde system against Langen and had little difficulty in getting a good position. About half the players analyzed this game at Fred McKim's apartment in a group analysis for several hours confirming that Black's pawn sac on move 16 gave excellent play. After missing several opportunities to put the screws to Langen, Cooper was left with a pawn up rook ending which was eventually drawn.

Eldridge - O'Donnell

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c6 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.b3 Bf5 5.Bb2 e6 6.d3 a5 7.a4 Be7 8.Nbd2 O-O 9.O-O h6 10.Ne5 Nbd7 11.e4 Bh7 12.f4 Nxe5 13.Bxe5 dxe4 14.dxe4 Bb4 15.c3 Bc5+ 16.Kh1 Nd7 17.Bd4 Bxd4 18.cxd4 Nf6 19.e5 Nd5 20.Re1 Nc3 21.Qc1 Qxd4 22.Nf3 Qb4 0-1

Hua - Urquhart

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Rb1 O-O 9.Be2 Nc6 10.d5 Na5 11.Qd2 Rb8 12.c4 b6 13.Bb2 Bg4 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.Qc3+ Kg8 16.h4 f6 17.h5 Kg7 18.Ng5 h6 19.Bxg4 hxg5 20.hxg6 Rh8 21.Rh7+ Rxh7 22.gxh7 Qd6 23.Ke2 Qe5 24.Qxe5 fxe5 25.Rh1 Nxc4 26.Rh5 Kh8 27.Kd3 Nd6 28.Rxg5 c4+ 29.Kc2 Nxe4 30.Rxe5 Nf6 31.Bf3 Re8 32.Re6 Kxh7 33.d6 Kg7 34.Bc6 Kf7 35.Re1 Rd8 36.dxe7 Rc8 37.Bb5 Ne8 38.Kc3 Nd6 39.e8=Q+ 1-0

Horton - Reddy

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.Bd3 c5 5.c3 Nc6 6.Ngf3 cxd4 7.cxd4 Qb6 8.O-O Nxd4 9.exd5 Nxf3+ 10.Nxf3 Nxd5 11.Ne5 Be7 12.Qh5 g6 13.Bxg6 fxg6 14.Nxg6 Nf6 15.Qh6 Rg8 16.Nxe7 Kxe7 17.Bg5 Rxg5 18.Qxg5 Kf7 19.Rad1 Bd7 20.Qe5 Rg8 21.Rfe1 Qc6 22.g3 h5 23.h4 Qb5 24.Qc7 Nd5 25.Qe5 Nf6 26.Qf4 Rg4 27.Qc7 Qc6 28.Qe5 Qb5 29.b3 Qxe5 30.Rxe5 Bc6 31.Kf1 Bd5 32.Ke2 Ke7 33.Rc1 Kd6 34.Rg5 Rd4 35.f3 Bc6 36.Rg1 e5 37.g4 Bb5+ 38.Ke1 Rd3 39.f4 Re3+ 40.Kd2 Re2+ 41.Kc3 Nd5# 0-1

Mayo - Gulati

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 e6 4.c3 Be7 5.Nbd2 Nbd7 6.e3 Nh5 7.Bd3 Nxf4 8.exf4 Bd6 9.Ne5 Nf6 10.O-O O-O 11.Qf3 c5 12.g4 g6 13.Rfe1 cxd4 14.cxd4 Qb6 15.Nb3 a5 16.g5 Nh5 17.Qe3 f6 18.Bxg6 Nxf4 19.Bxh7+ Kxh7 20.Qxf4 fxe5 21.Qh4+ Kg8 22.dxe5 Bc5 23.Nxc5 Qxc5 24.g6 Qc7 25.Re3 Qg7 26.Rh3 Bd7 27.Qg4 Rf5 28.f4 Be8 29.Rg3 Rc8 30.Rf1 Rc4 31.Qh4 Bxg6 32.Rff3 Rc1+ 33.Kf2 Rh5 34.Qd8+ Kh7 35.Rh3 Rc2+ 36.Kg1 Rc1+ 37.Kf2 Rc2

38.Kg1 Qc7 39.Rxh5+ Bxh5 40.Qg5 Qc5+ 0-1

MacDonald - Bogle

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.Be2 Nc6 5.O-O O-O-O 6.Re1 Nf6 7.b4 Nxb4 8.Bb2 e6 9.d4 Qf5 10.Na3 Nbd5 11.Nc4 Nf4 12.Ne3 Nxe2+ 13.Rxe2 Qh5 14.Nxg4 Nxg4 15.h3 Nf6 16.c4 Bd6 17.c5 Bf4 18.Qa4 Nd5 19.Qxa7 Qf5 20.Ba3 Qd3 21.Rb2 Qa6 22.Qxa6 bxa6 23.g3 Bh6 24.Ne5 Rhf8 25.Rab1 1-0

Langen - Cooper

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 c6 4.Nc3 d5 5.Be2 dxe4 6.Nxe4 Nd7 7.O-O Ngf6 8.Nxf6+ Nxf6 9.c4 O-O 10.h3 Qc7 11.Be3 b6 12.Qa4 c5 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.Qa3 Rb8 15.Qxc5 Qxc5 16.Bxc5 Ne4 17.Ba3 Bxb2 18.Bxb2 Rxb2 19.Bd1 Rd8 20.Bb3 Nc3 21.Rfe1 Bb7 22.Rxe7 Bxf3 23.gxf3 Nb1 24.Re1 Nd2 25.Re3 Nb1 26.Re1 Nd2 27.Kg2 Rd3 28.Re2 a5 29.c5 Rc3 30.Re7 Nxb3 31.axb3 Rxc5 32.Ra7 Rxb3 33.R7xa5 Rcc3 34.f4 Rxh3 35.f5 Rhf3 36.fxg6 hxg6 37.Ra7 Rf5 38.Re1 Rb2 39.Rf1 Rf4 40.Ra3 Kg7 41.Rf3 Rxf3 42.Kxf3 f5 43.Ra1 Kf6 44.Ra6+ Kg5 45.Ra3 Rb4 46.Kg3 Rg4+ 47.Kf3 Rh4 48.Ra5 Rh3+ 49.Kg2 Rd3 50.Ra4 f4 51.f3 Rd2+ 52.Kh3 Rf2 53.Ra5+ Kf6 54.Kg4 g5 55.Rf5+ Kg6 56.Rxg5+ Kf6 57.Rf5+ Ke6 58.Ra5 Rb2 59.Kxf4 Rg2 60.Ra6+ Ke7 61.Kf5 Rf2 62.Ra7+ Kd6 63.f4 Rf1 64.Rf7 Rf2 65.Rf6+ Ke7 66.Re6+ Kf7 67.Ra6 Ke7 68.Ra4 Rf1 69.Re4+ Kf7 70.Re2 Rf3 71.Rb2 Ke7 72.Rb7+ Kd6 73.Kg4 Rf1 74.f5 Ke5 75.Re7+ Kf6 76.Re6+ Kf7 77.Ra6 Rg1+ 1/2-1/2

Round 2

Horton takes off the gloves yet again in his game with Gulati with the Marshall gambit. Justin plays this line himself as Black so this was an interesting opening choice. Once they left opening theory Justin misplayed by sticking his knight out of play on the side of the board. Even so, Justin appeared to have missed a win somewhere before the time control was reached.

Bogle played an unusual line of the English against Langen but it didn't succeed. When I was looking at the game at the time I thought that Langen's kingside pawn pushes were overly optimistic to say the least but Bogle failed to exploit them. Things took a turn for the worst when Bogle castled right into a mating attack.

O'Donnell's game with Reddy saw a line for White which I often play against computers. Reddy was saddled with the weak doubled c pawns and sacrificed a piece in desperation but he didn't get much for it and O'Donnell easily converted the win.

Cooper played his usual Closed variation against Hua's Sicilian but never really seemed to get off the ground since Hua refused to commit his king. Hua's queenside play came very quickly and Cooper just didn't have enough on the other side of the board when Black finally did get around to castling.

Eldridge again played a double fianchetto opening, this time against MacDonald. A standard hedgehog position soon arose and Black actually achieved a slight advantage in the middlegame. However, Black's combination to give up two knights for a rook coupled with time pressure quickly lead to his demise.

In my game Urquhart tried to improve on a well known aggressive line versus the Modern by playing an early d3 rather than d4 in an attempt to cut down on my counterplay. I responded by playing logically sharp moves basically refuting Ed's opening so he decided to sac a pawn to complicate matters.

After about a dozen moves White's position was pretty much lost but there was counterplay in the position. I slowly drifted into time pressure and started to lose the thread of the game even though I was still winning. On move 36 I thought I was simply winning a piece due to the pinned b pawn but completely missed Ed's deflection rook sacrifice to net my queen. Now White was easily winning because there is no way to stop the passed c pawn.

My first instinct was to resign but I was in a fighting mood so I decided to play on for a few more moves. This turned out to be fortunate because Ed soon walked into the only trap left in the position with 42.Qg4+ allowing me to crosscheck and then pick up the c pawn. Now I was certain that I was winning again but with sudden death it was practically impossible to find a win over the board.

Gulati - Horton

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 Nf6 12.d4 Bd6 13.Re1 Ng4 14.h3 Qh4 15.Qf3 Nxf2 16.Bd2 Bxh3 17.gxh3 Nxh3+ 18.Kf1 g5 19.Re4 Nf4 20.Bxf4 Bxf4 21.Na3 Kh8 22.Rae1 f5 23.Re6 Bd6 24.Ke2 g4 25.Qh1 Qg5 26.Qh6 Qxh6 27.Rxh6 f4 28.Reh1 Rae8+ 29.Be6 Re7 30.Kf2 Rg7 31.Nc2 g3+ 32.Kf3 g2 33.Rg1 Rg3+ 34.Kf2 f3 35.Bd5 Rg7 36.Bxf3 Bg3+ 37.Ke2 Re7+ 38.Kd1 Rxf3 39.Rxg2 Rf1+ 40.Kd2 Bf4+ 0-1

Bogle - Langen

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 O-O 8.e3 Re8 9.Be2 d6 10.Rc1 g5 11.Bg3 Ne4 12.Bf3 Nxd4 13.Qxd4 Nxc3 14.bxc3 Bc5 15.Qd3 Qf6 16.h4 g4 17.Bd1 Bf5 18.Qd2 Re4 19.O-O Rae8 20.Bf4 Rxf4 0-1

O'Donnell - Reddy

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nc6 3.Bf4 Bg4 4.e3 e6 5.h3 Bh5 6.c4 Nf6 7.Nc3 Bd6 8.Bxd6 Qxd6 9.c5 Qe7 10.g4 Bg6 11.Bb5 O-O 12.Bxc6 bxc6 13.Ne5 Ne4 14.Nxe4 Bxe4 15.f3 Qh4+ 16.Ke2 f6 17.Nxc6 Qg3 18.fxe4 Qg2+ 19.Kd3 Qxb2 20.exd5 Qb5+ 21.Kd2 exd5 22.Ne7+ Kh8 23.Qc2 Rab8 24.Rhb1 Qa5+ 25.Qc3 Qa6 26.Rb3 Rbd8 27.Nf5 g6 28.Ng3 f5 29.gxf5 gxf5 30.Ne2 Rg8 31.Nf4 Rde8 32.Ra3 Qh6 33.Rf1 Re4 34.Qa5 Rxf4 35.exf4 Rg2+ 36.Kc1 Qg7 37.Qe1

1-0

Cooper - Hua

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.Be3 Rb8 7.Qd2 b5 8.f4 b4 9.Nd1 Qb6 10.Nf3 a5 11.O-O a4 12.Rb1 Nd4 13.f5 gxf5 14.Nh4 fxe4 15.dxe4 Ba6 16.Re1 e6 17.Nf2 b3 18.axb3 axb3 19.c3 Nc2 20.Red1 Nxe3 21.Qxe3 c4 22.Qe2 Ne7 23.Qh5 Ng6 24.Nf3 Rc8 25.Rd2 Rc5 26.Qh3 O-O 27.Rbd1 Rd8 28.Kh1 Ra5 29.Ng4 h5 30.Nf2 Bxc3 31.bxc3 b2 32.Rb1 Ra1 33.Rdd1 Rxb1 34.Rxb1 Qxf2 35.Qxh5 Qc2 36.Rf1 b1=Q 37.Ng5 Qxf1+ 38.Bxf1 Qf2 39.Qh7+ Kf8 0-1

Eldridge - MacDonald

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 b6 3.Bg2 Bb7 4.O-O e6 5.b3 Be7 6.Bb2 c5 7.c4 d6 8.d4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bxg2 10.Kxg2 Qc7 11.Nc3 a6 12.e4 Nbd7 13.Qe2 O-O 14.Rad1 Rfe8 15.f4 Bf8 16.Qf3 Nc5 17.Rfe1 Rac8 18.Re2 Rcd8 19.Rde1 g6 20.Nc2 Bg7 21.Ba3 Qb7 22.h3 b5 23.cxb5 axb5 24.e5 Qxf3+ 25.Kxf3 Nd3 26.exf6 Nxe1+ 27.Nxe1 Bxf6 28.Nxb5 Be7 29.Rd2 d5 30.Bxe7 Rxe7 31.a4 e5 32.fxe5 Rxe5 33.Nd3 Rf5+ 34.Kg2 h5 35.Rf2 Rxf2+ 36.Kxf2 Kf8 37.Ke3 Ke7 38.Kd4 g5 39.Ne5 Ke6 40.Nc7+ Kf6 41.Nc6 Rd7 42.Nxd5+ Ke6 43.Nce7 f5 44.b4 f4 45.gxf4 gxf4 46.Ke4 f3 47.Kxf3 Ke5 48.b5 Kd4 49.b6 Kc5 50.Ke4 Rb7 51.Ke5 Rb8 52.Ke6 Rb7 53.h4 Kd4 54.Kd6 Ke4 55.Kc6 Rb8 56.a5 Kf3 57.a6 Kg4 58.a7 Rh8 59.Ng6 Rh6 60.Ndf4 Kf5 61.a8=Q Kg4 62.b7 Kg3 63.b8=Q Kh2 64.Qb2+ Kg3 65.Qg2# 1-0

Urquhart - Mayo

1.e4 g6 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.Bc4 d6 4.d3 Nf6 5.Bg5 c6 6.Bb3 b5 7.Qf3 Nbd7 8.d4 Bb7 9.O-O-O Qc7 10.e5 dxe5 11.d5 O-O 12.Nge2 Rac8 13.h4 cxd5 14.Nxb5 Qb6 15.Na3 Nc5 16.h5 Nxb3+ 17.axb3 h6 18.Bd2 Ne4 19.Be1 Qa6 20.Ng3 Nc5 21.Kb1 d4 22.Qg4 d3 23.c4 Bxg2 24.Rg1 f5 25.Nxf5 Rxf5 26.Rxg2 Rxh5 27.b4 Rg5 28.Qh3 Rxg2 29.Qxg2 Qa4 30.Rc1 Nb3 31. Qxg6 Kh8 32.Rd1 d2 33.Bxd2 Nxd2+ 34.Rxd2 Qxb4 35.Qc2 Rb8 36.c5 Qxa3 37.Rd8+ Rxd8 38.bxa3 Rb8+ 39.Kc1 Rc8 40.c6 Bf6 41.Qc4 Kg7 42.Qg4+ Bg5+ 43.f4 Rxc6+ 44.Kd1 exf4 45.Ke2 Kf6 46.Qd7 Re6+ 47.Kf2 a6 48.Qd4+ Kg6 49.Qd3+ Kg7 50.Qd4+ Rf6 51.Qe5 e6 52.Kf3 Kf7 53.Qc7+ Kg6 54.Qe5 1/2-1/2

Round 3

Reddy picked up a win against Gulati in an English when Justin blundered horribly in an equal position. Hua and Bogle was another English where Bogle achieved an ok position but had very little counterplay. Serious time pressure soon followed for Bogle and Hua capitalized on Bogle's miscues.

MacDonald again showed his propensity for sacrificing his b pawn by playing a delayed Wing gambit against O'Donnell's Sicilian. O'Donnell weathered the storm and got an advantage but didn't get winning chances until MacDonald went astray in time pressure.

Urquhart played a Caro-Kann against Horton but the position soon looked more like a Grunfeld. Ed looked like he was under alot of pressure for awhile but he drew the ending with opposite colour bishops with little difficulty. After the game Ed said that he was never in any real trouble.

Cooper again played the Gurgenizde, this time against yours truly. I played a quiet opening to steer the game into an equal middlegame and away from a theoretical position. I had a few chances to secure an advantage (for example 16.Nd4) but each time I did something else entirely.

I had considered the consequences of trading queens followed by a5 for Black in the middlegame and didn't worry about it. However after I traded queens I realized after 27...a5! that I was in trouble. Aaron probably should have kept the rooks on instead of allowing me to trade them on b5 which killed his practical winning chances.

Aaron's last chance to win was to refrain from pushing his second b pawn thus keeping an avenue to put me in zugswang. It took Tom O'Donnell more than a dozen attempts in the post mortem to find a way for Black to win even this position.

Langen played the Trompowsky against Eldridge but eventually the game took on the appearance of a French defense with a closed pawn structure. It soon became obvious that Eldridge had the advantage as Langen didn't have a single effective pawn lever at his disposal.

The major pieces were traded and Eldridge found himself in a completely winning minor piece ending with two outside passed pawns. After 49.f4 Eldridge could have simply pushed his a pawn (49.f4 a4 50.f5 a3 51.f6 Be8! with a simple win) but he saw ghosts and went on to lose.

Reddy - Gulati

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e3 d6 6.Nge2 Nge7 7.O-O Be6 8.b3 Qd7 9.Bb2 O-O 10.d4 exd4 11.Nxd4 Nxd4 12.exd4 d5 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.Ne4 b6 15.Re1 h6 16.Rc1 f5 17.Nd2 f4 18.Qc2 Rae8 19.Qc6 Rf7 20.Bxd5 1-0

Hua - Bogle

1.c4 g6 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.g3 f5 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.d3 c6 6.e3 e5 7.Nge2 O-O 8.O-O Na6 9.Rb1 Kh8 10.b4 d5 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.f4 e4 13.Nd4 Nc7 14.Qb3 Re8 15.Rd1 Qe7 16.b5 Be6 17.Na4 b6 18.Nc6 Qd7 19.Ne5 Qc8 20.d4 Nd7 21.Qc3 Qb7 22.Ba3 Nxe5 23.dxe5 Bd7 24.Bf1 Ne6 25.Qd2 d4 26.exd4 a6 27.bxa6 Rxa6 28.Bxa6 Qxa6 29.Nxb6 Qxa3 30.Nxd7 e3 31.Qb2 Qa5 32.Nb6 Qa6 33.d5 Nc5 34.Qb5 Qxa2 35.Qxe8+ 1-0

MacDonald - O'Donnell

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.b4 cxb4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.Qe2 Bg4 6.e5 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 dxe5 8.Qxb7 Nbd7 9.a3 e6 10.axb4 Rb8 11.Qxa7 Bxb4 12.Ba3 O-O 13.O-O Qc8 14.Bb3 Nc5 15.Bxb4 Rxb4 16.Qa5 Nxb3 17.cxb3 Qb8 18.Re1 Rb5 19.Qa4 Rxb3 20.Nc3 Rd8 21.h3 h6 22.Ne4 Nxe4 23.Qxe4 Rd5 24.Re3 Rb2 25.Rea3 Rd4 26.Qe3 Rb1+ 27.Kh2 Rxa1 28.Rxa1 Qd6 29.Ra8+ Kh7 30.Ra7 e4+ 31.g3 f6 32.Kg2 Qd5 33.Ra5 Qxa5 34.Qxd4 Qd5 35.Qe3 Kg6 36.h4 h5 37.Qb6

e3+ 38.Kf1 Qd3+ 39.Kg2 exd2 40.Qxe6 d1=Q 41.Kh2 Qd5 0-1

Horton - Urquhart

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Ng3 g6 6.Nf3 Bg7 7.Bc4 O-O 8.Be3 Bg4 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Nbd7 11.O-O e6 12.Bb3 Nd5 13.Rad1 Nxe3 14.fxe3 Qc7 15.c3 a5 16.Rd2 a4 17.Bd1 c5 18.a3 b5 19.Ne4 h6 20.Be2 Rab8 21.Nxc5 Nxc5 22.dxc5 Qxc5 23.Rd7 f5 24.Rfd1 Rf7 25.Kh1 Rbf8 26.e4 Rxd7 27.Rxd7 Be5 28.exf5 Rxf5 29.Rd8+ Kg7 30.Qa8 Rf7 31.Rg8+ Kf6 32.Qd8+ Qe7 33.Qd3 Qc5 34.Rxg6+ Ke7 35.Qe4 Qd5 36.Qxd5 exd5 37.Bxb5 Rf2 38.g4 Rxb2 39.Bxa4 Bxc3 40.Rxh6 d4 41.Rc6 Ra2 42.Bb5 Rxa3 43.Kg2 Bd2 44.h4 Bf4 1/2-1/2

Mayo - Cooper

1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nf3 c6 4.Bd3 d5 5.e5 Nh6 6.c3 O-O 7.Nbd2 f6 8.exf6 exf6 9.O-O Bf5 10.Nb3 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 Nd7 12.Bxh6 Bxh6 13.Nc5 Nxc5 14.dxc5 Qd7 15.a4 Rfe8 16.c4 Rad8 17.Rfd1 Qe7 18.b4 dxc4 19.Qxc4+ Qf7 20.Qc2 Bg7 21.Rd3 h6 22.h3 f5 23.Rad1 Rxd3 24.Rxd3 g5 25.Kf1 Re4 26.Qb3 Qxb3 27.Rxb3 a5 28.bxa5 Rxa4 29.Ne1 Rxa5 30.Nd3 Rb5 31.Rxb5 cxb5 32.Ke1 Kf7 33.Kd2 Ke6 34.Nb4 Bd4 35.f3 Bxc5 36.Na2 Ke5 37.Nc1 Bd6 38.Kd3 Kd5 39.Nb3 Be5 40.Na5 b6 41.Nb3 b4 42.Nd2 b5 43.Nb3 Bc3 44.Na5 Ke5 45.Ke3 Bd4+ 46.Ke2 Kf4 47.Nb3 Bb6 48.Nc1 Kg3 49.Kf1 h5 50.Ne2+ Kh2 51.Nc1 Be3 52.Nb3 Kg3 53.Na5 Kf4 54.Ke2 Bd4 1/2-1/2

Langen - Eldridge

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.Nc3 e6 4.Bxf6 Qxf6 5.e4 Bb4 6.e5 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Qe7 8.h4 Qa3 9.Rh3 h5 10.Be2 g6 11.Rf3 Nc6 12.Nh3 Ne7 13.Ng5 Nf5 14.g3 Bd7 15.Kf1 Qe7 16.Rb1 Bc6 17.Bd3 a6 18.Kg1 Qd7 19.Bxf5 gxf5 20.Qc1 O-O-O 21.Qb2 Kb8 22.Re3 Ka8 23.Kh2 Rb8 24.Qb4 Bb5 25.Ree1 Bc4 26.Rb2 Ka7 27.Reb1 b6 28.a4 a5 29.Qa3 Rbe8 30.Re1 Rh6 31.Rbb1 f4 32.gxf4 f6 33.Nf3 Qh7 34.Qc1 Rg6 35.Qd2 Rg4 36.exf6 Qf5 37.Re5 Qxf6 38.Rbe1 Reg8 39.Rg5 R8xg5 40.hxg5 Qf8 41.Rxe6 Rxf4 42.Rf6 Rxf6 43.gxf6 Qxf6 44.Ne5 Bf1 45.Qe3 Qg7 46.Qg3 Qxg3+ 47.Kxg3 b5 48.axb5 Bxb5 49.f4 Kb7 50.f5 Kc8 51.f6 Kd8 52.Kh4 a4 53.f7 Ke7 54.Kxh5 Be8 55.fxe8=Q+ Kxe8 56.Nd3 a3 57.Nc1 Kd7 58.Kg5 Kd6 59.Kf5 Kd7 60.Ke5 c6 61.Na2 Ke7 62.Nb4 Kd7 63.Kf5 Kd6 64.Kf6 Kd7 65.Ke5 Kc7 66.Ke6 Kb6 67.Kd6 Kb5 68.Na2 Kb6 69.Kd7 Kb5 70.Kc7 c5 71.Kd6 cxd4 72.cxd4 Kc4 73.Ke5 1-0

Round 4

MacDonald obtained an opening advantage against Langen in a Ruy Lopez, saddling Langen with doubled b pawns. However MacDonald soon found himself in time pressure and accepted Langen's draw offer.

In our game Bogle played an interesting pawn sacrifice in a topical line of the Modern. At first he thought he was getting lots of play for it but after my Nf6-e8-c7 maneuver White was simply a pawn down for nothing. I quickly traded queens and proceeded to slowly unravel my queenside while Bogle, now in serious time pressure, went for a desperation attack on the kingside but it was doomed to failure. Bogle's flagfall in a hopeless position ended it.

O'Donnell's game with Gulati actually paralleled my game with Bogle in the opening but soon went down a different path. Black castled kingside and was summarily attacked for his troubles. Gulati sacrificed a piece for some pawns but didn't seem to get much compensation for it and the IM had no trouble winning a piece up.

Urquhart versus Reddy saw an unusual 1.b3 from Ed, played to avoid Tyler's memorized theory. The strategy worked beautifully as Ed won a piece in the early middlegame. Black played on until time control but the end result was never in doubt.

Aaron Cooper played a Bishop's opening against Joe Horton and went up a pawn in the opening. At the time I remember looking at the game and concluding that Horton would easily hold the position but that never happened. Horton entered into some complications and after trading queens Cooper had 29.Ra1! when Aaron had no trouble in bringing home the point.

Lefong Hua played a King's Indian against Eldridge's kingside fianchetto setup. The center was locked up and after some quiet manuevering an equal position was reached with both sides teasing three fold repetitions. Mike eventually went astray dropping a pawn and getting ground down.

MacDonald - Langen

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Bc5 5.c3 O-O 6.d4 Bb6 7.Bg5 d6 8.a4 a5 9.Qd3 Qe7 10.Nbd2 h6 11.Bxf6 Qxf6 12.Nc4 exd4 13.Nxb6 cxb6 14.Nxd4 Ne5 15.Qg3 Qg5 16.f4 Qxg3 17.hxg3 Ng4 18.Rfd1 Nf6 1/2-1/2

Bogle - Mayo

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.dxc5 Qa5 5.Bd3 Qxc5 6.Nge2 Nf6 7.O-O O-O 8.Be3 Qa5 9.b4 Qxb4 10.Rb1 Qa5 11.Rb5 Qd8 12.h3 d6 13.f4 Nbd7 14.e5 Ne8 15.Be4 Nc7 16.Rb3 dxe5 17.f5 gxf5 18.Rxf5 Nf6 19.Rxe5 Nxe4 20.Rxe4 Qxd1+ 21.Nxd1 Ne6 22.Rb5 b6 23.Rh5 Bf6 24.Nf2 Ng7 25.Rh6 Nf5 26.Rh5 Nxe3 27.Rxe3 Be6 28.Ng4 Bg7 29.Rg3 Kh8 30.Nf4 Bxa2 31.Nh6 Rac8 32.Nf5 Bf6 33.Rh6 Rg8 34.Rg4 Rxg4 35.hxg4 Bg5 0-1 (time)

O'Donnell - Gulati

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.dxc5 Qa5 5.Bd2 Qxc5 6.Bd3 b6 7.f4 Bb7 8.Nf3 d6 9.Qe2 Nd7 10.O-O-O Rc8 11.Kb1 Ngf6 12.Rhe1 O-O 13.e5 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Nd5 15.Ne4 Qc7 16.c4 Nxf4 17.Bxf4 Nxe5 18.Bxe5 Bxe5 19.Qe3 Qb7 20.h4 h5 21.f4 Bg7 22.f5 d5 23.cxd5 Qxd5 24.fxg6 fxg6 25.Ng5 1-0

Urquhart - Reddy

1.b3 c5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.f4 Nf6 4.Nf3 g6 5.e3 Bg7 6.Be2 O-O 7.O-O d6 8.Qe1 Bf5 9.Na3 Nb4 10.d3 Bg4 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 Nfd5 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.c3 Nxd3 15.Qd2 N3xf4 16.exf4 Nf6 17.Bxb7 Rb8 18.Bf3 Qb6 19.Nc4 Qa6 20.Rfe1 Rfe8 21.Rad1 Qb5 22.Ne3 Qb6 23.c4 a5 24.Nd5 Nxd5 25.Bxd5 e6 26.Bf3 d5 27.cxd5 exd5 28.Rxe8 Rxe8 29.Qxd5 Re6 30.Qd2 Rf6 31.Qc3 Qc7 32.g3 h5 33.h4 Qe7 34.Rd5 Kh7 35.Kh2 Re6 36.Qd3 Re3 37.Qf1 Qf6 38.Rxc5 Qb2+ 39.Qg2 Qf6 40.Re5 Rc3 41.Qb2 1-0

Cooper - Horton

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 d5 4.exd5 Nxd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.O-O Be6 7.Re1 Bd6 8.d4 Ne3 9.Bxe3 Bxc4 10.dxe5 Bb4 11.Nbd2 Bd5 12.c3 Be7 13.Qc2 Qd7 14.h3 O-O-O 15.Rad1 g5 16.Bxg5 Rhg8 17.e6 Bxe6 18.Ne4 Qe8 19.Bxe7 Qxe7 20.Rxd8+ Qxd8 21.Ng3 h5 22.Qa4 Qd5 23.Rd1 Qc5 24.Qh4 Qb5 25.Nd4 Nxd4 26.Qxd4 Qxb2 27.Qxa7 Qxa2 28.Qxa2 Bxa2 29.Ra1 Rxg3 30.fxg3 Be6 31.Kf2 Kd7 32.Ra5 f5 33.Kf3 Kd6 34.Kf4 c5 35.Kg5 Kd5 36.Kxh5 Kc4

37.Kg5 1-0

Eldridge - Hua

1.Nf3 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 O-O 5.c4 d6 6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bxf6 Bxf6 9.Qd2 Bg7 10.Rd1 c6 11.O-O e5 12.d5 c5 13.Nh4 Qe7 14.e4 Kh7 15.Bh3 a6 16.a4 b6 17.Kh1 Rb8 18.Ra1 Qd8 19.Qd3 Qg5 20.Qe3 Qh5 21.Qf3 Qg5 22.Qe3 Qe7 23.Qd3 Nf6 24.Bxc8 Rfxc8 25.Rae1 Nh5 26.Qe2 Qg5 27.Ng2 Qe7 28.Ne3 Nf6 29.g4 Ne8 30.Rg1 Bf6 31.Ng2 Bg5 32.h3 Kg7 33.Kh2 Nc7 34.Ra1 Rh8 35.Rh1 h5 36.Kg3 Qf6 37.f3 hxg4 38.fxg4 Bf4+ 39.Nxf4 exf4+ 40.Kf3 Rh4 41.Rh2 Rbh8 42.Kg2 Qe5 43.a5 b5 44.cxb5 axb5 45.a6 b4 46.Nd1 Nxd5 47.a7 Nc7 48.Rh1 Ra8 49.Nf2 Qe7 50.Qd2 Ne6 51.Rhd1 f3+ 52.Kxf3 Nd4+ 53.Kg2 Rxa7 54.Rxa7 Qxa7 55.Qg5 Rh8 56.e5 Qb7+ 57.Kf1 Qf3 58.Rd3 Qe2+ 59.Kg1 Qxe5 60.Qxe5+ dxe5 0-1

Round 5

This round saw the first GM draw as Gulati draws with houseguest Ed Urquhart in under ten moves. Perhaps they were trying to get front row seats for the bikini contest at Myron's...

In my game with Mike I decided to play straight for the ending as I felt this was the best and easiest chance for victory against him. The game quickly left theory and Mike equalized without difficulty. As the game was headed for the ending Eldridge made a slip with 22...Rd8 trying for one exchange too many when 22...Rc8 led to a draw. After that, I obtained an easily winning knight ending which I cashed in for the win.

Lefong Hua tried another English, this time against Jonathan Macdonald. Jonathan had a good position with play against the isolated queen pawn but he felt compelled to reject the simple blockade approach for an aggressive attacking idea. This plan blew up in MacDonald's face as he ended up with both bad time pressure and a lost position to boot.

Joe Horton and Bill Bogle went head to head in a Sicilian where Horton deviated from theory first with the sharp 9.e5. This turned out badly for Horton as Bogle quickly obtained an overwhelming position with the bishop pair and pressure against Horton's d4 knight. However Bogle overlooked the immediate 17...Qb6! opting for the weaker 17...e5. Bogle still got a great position but with time trouble looming Bogle took a draw.

Tyler Reddy played his usual English against Aaron Cooper, who responded with a line I have seen Gulati play against me several times. Aaron equalized after a mass trade on d5 but then blundered an exchange to an elementary tactic. Cooper played on longer than necessary but Tyler had no problem playing an exchange up, winning a pawn and then returning the exchange for a won king and pawn endgame.

Langen versus O'Donnell saw Langen playing a somewhat passive although still theoretical opening with the white pieces. White soon had a cramped queenside with all seven pieces on one quarter of the board while Black had a protected passed pawn. O'Donnell zeroed in on the weak a4 pawn and then worked his knight into the b4 square while Langen was saving the pawn. Langen had to take the knight to avoid going down the exchange but that gave O'Donnell two connected passed pawns on the queenside which soon decided the game.

Gulati - Urquhart

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 O-O 5.O-O c6 6.d4 d5 7.Nc3 e6 8.Qd3 b6 1/2-1/2

Mayo - Eldridge

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 b6 3.g3 Bb7 4.Bg2 e6 5.O-O c5 6.c3 d6 7.Bg5 Nbd7 8.Nbd2 h6 9.Bxf6 Nxf6 10.Re1 Be7 11.Qa4+ Qd7 12.Qxd7+ Nxd7 13.a4 cxd4 14.cxd4 O-O 15.Ne5 dxe5 16.Bxb7 Rad8 17.Nb3 exd4 18.Nxd4 Nc5 19.Nc6 Nxb7 20.Nxe7+ Kh7 21.Red1 Rxd1+ 22.Rxd1 Rd8 23.Rxd8 Nxd8 24.b4 a5 25.b5 Nb7 26.Nc8 Nc5 27.Nxb6 Kg6 28.Kf1 Kf5 29.Nc4 Nxa4 30.b6 Nc5 31.Nxa5 Nd7 32.b7 Nb8 33.Nc4 Kf6 34.Kg2 Ke7 35.Kf3 Kd8 36.Nd6 Ke7 37.Nc8+ Kd7 38.Kg4 Kc7 39.Kh5 Nc6 40.h4 Nd8 41.b8=Q+ Kxb8 42.Nd6 g6+ 43.Kxh6 Kc7 44.Nxf7 Nxf7+ 45.Kxg6 Ne5+ 46.Kg7 1-0

Hua - MacDonald

1.c4 b6 2.Nf3 c5 3.Nc3 Bb7 4.e3 e6 5.d4 cxd4 6.exd4 Nf6 7.Bd3 d5 8.O-O Be7 9.Re1 O-O 10.Bg5 dxc4 11.Bxc4 Nc6 12.a3 Rc8 13.Ba2 Na5 14.Qd3 Ng4 15.Bxe7 Qxe7 16.b4 Qc7 17.Nb5 Qf4 18.h3 Bxf3 19.hxg4 Bxg4 20.bxa5 bxa5 21.Nxa7 Rb8 22.Bb1 g6 23.Nc6 Rb2 24.Qe3 Qd6 25.Ne5 Bf5 26.Nc4 Qb8 27.Nxb2 Qxb2 28.Bxf5 1-0

Horton - Bogle

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.f4 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Qf3 Bd7 9.e5 dxe5 10.fxe5 Nxe5 11.Qxb7 Be7 12.Be2 O-O 13.O-O Neg4 14.Qf3 Nxe3 15.Qxe3 Bc5 16.Ne4 Nxe4 17.Qxe4 e5 18.Qxe5 Qb6 19.c3 Rae8 20.Qh5 g6 21.Qf3 Bc6 22.Qf2 Qxb2 23.Bc4 Qxf2+ 24.Rxf2 Bb5 25.Bb3 Re3 26.Nxb5 axb5 27.Kf1 Rxc3 28.Rd2 Re8 1/2-1/2

Reddy - Cooper

1.c4 g6 2.g3 Bg7 3.Bg2 e5 4.Nc3 d6 5.e3 f5 6.Nge2 Nf6 7.O-O O-O 8.b3 c6 9.Bb2 Be6 10.d4 exd4 11.Nxd4 Bf7 12.Qd2 d5 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.Nxd5 Bxd5 15.Bxd5+ Qxd5 16.Qe2 Nd7 17.Rad1 Qf7 18.Nf3 Rfe8 19.Ng5 Qe7 20.Qc4+ Kh8 21.Nf7+ Kg8 22.Nd6+ Kh8 23.Bxg7+ Kxg7 24.Nxe8+ Rxe8 25.Qd4+ Nf6 26.Rd3 a6 27.Rfd1 Kf7 28.Qh4 Kg7 29.Rd6 Nd5 30.Qxe7+ Rxe7 31.Rd8 Kf7 32.Rd3 Re8 33.Rxe8 Kxe8 34.a3 Kf7 35.f3 Ke6 36.Kf2 Ke5 37.Rd4 g5 38.g4 f4 39.Re4+ Kf6 40.exf4 Nxf4 41.Re8 a5 42.Rb8 b5 43.Ra8 Nd3+ 44.Ke3 Nc5 45.Rxa5 Ke5 46.b4 Ne6 47.Ra7 Nd4 48.Re7+ Kd6 49.Kxd4 Kxe7 50.Ke5 h6 51.f4 1-0

Langen - O'Donnell

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nf3 c6 5.b3 Nbd7 6.Bb2 Bd6 7.Be2 O-O 8.d4 a6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Qc2 Qe7 11.Nd2 Re8 12.h3 b5 13.a3 Bb7 14.O-O c5 15.Bf3 Rac8 16.Qf5 Nb6 17.Rfc1 c4 18.bxc4 bxc4 19.Qc2 Bc6 20.a4 a5 21.Rcb1 Rb8 22.Bc1 Bb4 23.Bb2 Qd7 24.Bd1 h6 25.Ra2 Qe7 26.Bf3 Rb7 27.Rd1 Qd7 28.Rda1 Na8 29.Bd1 Nc7 30.Nf3 Na6 31.Ne5 Qc7 32.Nxc6 Qxc6 33.Nb5 Bf8 34.Ba3 Nb4 35.Bxb4 axb4 36.Qc1 Qd7 37.Re2 Ne4 38.Bc2 Nd6 39.Nxd6 Bxd6 40.Bb1 b3 41.e4 dxe4 0-1

Round 6

Eldridge against Horton saw a quiet opening by Mike and a quick trade of queens. However, Mike soon blundered finding himself in a pawn down ending and Horton lost no time in putting him through the meat grinder, finishing off with a nice combination.

Langen versus Hua saw Lefong defending a hedgehog type position out of a Sicilian. The game seemed equal until Langen got into some time pressure and started to drift. The play up until time control saw Hua dominating and Langen confirmed it by dropping an exchange on his 40th move.

In my game Jonathan played his usual aggressive style against my Modern defense, building up a big pawn centre while I was happy with my safe sound position. Jonathan lashed out with a kingside attack which was good for at most a draw with best play. I proceeded to blunder at the critical stage so now Jonathan had a winning position but with less than 20 seconds to make 12 moves. In MacDonald's severe time pressure I gained the advantage but Jonathan flagged before he could hit the clock after making move 40. In the final position White should have no problem making a draw.

The battle between the two Island participants saw Cooper trot out the London system against Gulati's Modern. Neither side had any real difficulties in the opening and so after 24 moves peace was declared.

Bill Bogle and Tyler Reddy's game featured a Queen's Gambit Accepted. White seemed content with a relatively symmetrical position and a small plus in the opening. In the early middlegame Bogle's position improved with two bishops pointing menacingly at Reddy's king. Tyler grabbed a pawn and pushed the pawns in front of his king which was duly met by Bogle's rook sacrifice 22.Rxe6. Only Reddy's refusal to accept a draw by repetition prolonged this game past move 30 and he soon ended up in a losing position. Unfortunately, in a winning position Bogle's flag fell before he could press the clock after making move 40.

O'Donnell versus Urquhart saw Ed play the Caro-Kann. Tom built up an attacking formation but Ed was able to meet all the major threats. The game went into an instructive queen and opposite colour bishop ending where Ed's dark square weaknesses were a serious liability. Tom successfully threaded his way through the various minefields to bring home the point with precision endgame play.

Eldridge - Horton

1.Nf3 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 O-O 5.c4 c5 6.d5 d6 7.Nc3 e6 8.O-O exd5 9.Nxd5 Nxd5 10.Qxd5 Nc6 11.Rd1 Be6 12.Qxd6 Bxc4 13.Qxd8 Rfxd8 14.Bg5 Bxe2 15.Rxd8+ Nxd8 16.Re1 Bb5 17.b3 Ne6 18.Be3 Re8 19.Rc1 b6 20.a4 Bc6 21.Nd2 Bxg2 22.Kxg2 Nd4 23.Rc4 h6 24.b4 Nf5 25.bxc5 Nxe3+ 26.fxe3 bxc5 27.Kf3 Bf8 28.e4 Kg7 29.Nb3 Rc8 30.e5 f5 31.exf6+ Kxf6 32.Kf4 Ke6 33.Ke4 Kd6 34.Na5 Re8+ 35.Kd3 Re1 36.Rf4 Be7 37.Nc4+ Kd5 38.Ne3+ Rxe3+ 0-1

Langen - Hua

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Be3 Qc7 6.Be2 Nf6 7.Bf3 Bc5 8.c3 d6 9.O-O Nbd7 10.Nd2 O-O 11.h3 Rb8 12.b4 Bb6 13.c4 Ne5 14.Be2 Nc6 15.Nxc6 Qxc6 16.Bxb6 Qxb6 17.Qb3 Bd7 18.Rfe1 Rbc8 19.Rac1 e5 20.a3 Be6 21.Qd3 a5 22.Rb1 axb4 23.axb4 Ra8 24.Rb2 Ra4 25.Reb1 Qc6 26.Bd1 Ra7 27.Qe3 Rfa8 28.Kh2 Ra3 29.Qe2 Rc8 30.Rc1 Nd7 31.Bb3 Qb6 32.Ba2 Nc5 33.Nb1 Nd3 34.Rcc2 Nf4 35.Qf1 Ra4 36.c5 dxc5 37.Bxe6 Nxe6 38.bxc5 Qc6 39.Qb5 Qxb5 40.Rxb5 Nd4 0-1

MacDonald - Mayo

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.f4 c5 4.dxc5 Qa5+ 5.c3 Qxc5 6.Bd3 d6 7.Qe2 Nf6 8.Be3 Qc7 9.Nf3 Nc6 10.O-O Ng4 11.Bc1 O-O 12.Kh1 Bd7 13.Nbd2 a6 14.h3 Nf6 15.Nh2 Rac8 16.Ndf3 b5 17.Nh4 e5 18.f5 Ne7 19.Ng4 Nh5 20.Qf2 f6 21.Nh6+ Kh8 22.fxg6 hxg6 23.Qf3 Nf4 24.Bxf4 exf4 25.Nxg6+ Nxg6 26.Qh5 Be8 27.e5 Bxh6 28.Qxh6+ Qh7 29.Qxf8+ Nxf8 30.Bxh7 Nxh7 31.exd6 Rd8 32.Rxf4 Rxd6 33.Re1 Bf7 34.Re7 Bxa2 35.Rh4 Bg8 36.c4 bxc4 37.Rg4 Rd5 38.Rc7 Rb5 39.Rc8 Rg5 40.Rxg5 0-1 (time)

Cooper - Gulati

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bf4 Bg7 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d6 6.Nbd2 Nc6 7.c3 Nd7 8.O-O e5 9.Bg3 Ne7 10.Qb3 c6 11.Rad1 exd4 12.exd4 Nf6 13.Rfe1 d5 14.c4 dxc4 15.Bxc4 Ned5 16.Bh4 Nb6 17.Ne5 Nxc4 18.Qxc4 Be6 19.Qc5 Re8 20.a4 Qd5 21.Bxf6 Bxf6 22.Ne4 Bg7 23.Qb4 Qb3 24.Qd2 b6 1/2-1/2

Bogle - Reddy

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 a6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.a3 Nf6 7.O-O Qc7 8.Qe2 b5 9.Ba2 Be7 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.b4 Be7 12.Bb2 Nbd7 13.Nbd2 O-O 14.Rac1 Qb8 15.Nb3 Bb7 16.Na5 Bd6 17.Nc6 Bxc6 18.Rxc6 Ng4 19.Bb1 h6 20.Qd3 Bxh2+ 21.Kh1 g6 22.Rxe6 Nde5 23.Nxe5 Nxe5 24.Bxe5 Bxe5 25.Rxg6+ fxg6 26.Qxg6+ Bg7 27.Ba2+ Kh8 28.Bb1 Kg8 29.Qh7+ Kf7 30.Qg6+ Ke7 31.Qxg7+ Rf7 32.Qd4 Ra7 33.Rd1 Rf6 34.Qc5+ Kf7 35.Qh5+ Kg7 36.Qg4+ Kf8 37.Ba2 Rg7 38.Qd4 Rf5 39.Be6 Rh5+ 40.Bh3 0-1 (time)

O'Donnell - Urquhart

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Bc4 Ngf6 6.Ng5 e6 7.Qe2 Nb6 8.Bd3 h6 9.N5f3 c5 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Ne5 Nbd7 12.Ngf3 Qc7 13.O-O Nxe5 14.Nxe5 O-O 15.Bf4 Bd6 16.Rad1 b6 17.Bg3 Bb7 18.Nd7 Qxd7 19.Bxd6 Rfd8 20.Be5 Qc6 21.f3 Qc5+ 22.Kh1 Nd5 23.Be4 f5 24.Bd4 Qe7 25.Bxd5 Rxd5 26.c4 Rd7 27.Bc3 Rad8 28.Rxd7 Rxd7 29.Re1 Bc8 30.h3 Rd8 31.Qe5 Qf7 32.a4 Rd3 33.a5 Qd7 34.Qb8 bxa5 35.Bxa5 Kh7 36.Bc3 a6 37.Qg3 Rd1 38.Rxd1 Qxd1+ 39.Kh2 Qd7 40.Qe5 Bb7 41.Kg3 Kg8 42.Kf2 Bc6 43.Ke3 Kf8 44.Bd4 h5 45.Kd3 Ba4 46.Kc3 Qb7 47.Bc5+ Kf7 48.Bb4 Qd7 49.b3 Qd1 50.Qc7+ Bd7 51.Kb2 Ke8 52.Qe5 Qd3 53.Qxg7 Kd8 54.Ba5+ Kc8 55.Qe5 Kb7 56.Ka3 Qd1 57.Qc7+ Ka8 58.Bb6 Qa1+ 59.Kb4 a5+ 60.Bxa5 Qe1+ 61.Kc5 Qe3+ 62.Kd6 Qd4+ 63.Ke7 Qg7+ 64.Kd8 Qf7 65.Qxd7 Qf8+ 66.Kc7 Qb8+ 67.Kc6 Qxb3 68.Qd8+ Ka7 1-0

Round 7

The marquee matchup this round was the showdown between Hua and O'Donnell. The rest of us were hoping to see these two take off the gloves but the game turned out to be a balanced draw where it seemed neither player wanted to risk losing.

The game Reddy-Eldridge saw Mike play the English Defense against Tyler's usual English. Eldridge completely outplayed his opponent, going up two pawns with a winning position. Unfortunately Mike simply ignored Tyler's subsequent kingside gestures and left his king all alone to die.

Ed Urquhart essayed his 1.b3 opening again against another young player in Aaron Cooper. The game eventually transposed to an English where Black pushes his kingside pawns for a mating attack. However Ed refused to castle kingside, blocked the line opening attempts on the kingside, and established a strong queenside initiative. The game ended with Cooper in time pressure and Urquhart infiltrating decisively for the point.

Justin Gulati played an f4 Sicilian against Bogle but rather than transpose into a Paulsen Gulati improvises with 6.Nb5?. Justin wins back the d4 pawn but loses another to a Qh4+ trick. With a winning position Bogle mishandles the middlegame and when the queens come off Justin finds himself in a superior rook and pawn ending which he converts.

In my game with Roger Langen I soon find myself on the white side of an Old Indian. After playing the opening inaccurately I end up with a middlegame advantage thanks to passive play from my opponent. In a position where I feel I am much better I blunder away a pawn with 27.Qa5?. I manage to create a passed pawn where despite being pawn down I still like my chances, but Langen finds all the right moves to hold for an equal position. After a few adventures the endgame is finally drawn.

Horton and MacDonald lock horns in a Ruy Lopez Berlin variation. Black achieves a nice position in the early middlegame and later on clips a pawn. Time trouble intervenes for both players and during the scramble Black overlooks 37...Bxg4 which appears to be winning. When the position is just beginning to clarify both players are in sudden death time pressure so a draw is agreed.

Hua - O'Donnell

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Qc2 Bd6 6.Nf3 Ne7 7.Bg5 f6 8.Bh4 Bf5 9.Qb3 Qb6 10.Bg3 Bxg3 11.hxg3 Na6 12.Qxb6 axb6 13.e3 h6 14.Kd2 Kf7 15.a3 b5 16.Bd3 Nb8 17.b4 Nd7 18.a4 bxa4 19.Nxa4 b6 20.Nc3 Bxd3 1/2-1/2

Reddy - Eldridge

1.c4 b6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 Bb7 4.g3 f5 5.d3 Nf6 6.Bg2 Bb4 7.Bg5 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 h6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.Ne2 fxe4 11.O-O O-O 12.dxe4 e5 13.c5 Qf7 14.f4 Qc4 15.cxb6 axb6 16.Qc2 Na6 17.fxe5 Rxf1+ 18.Rxf1 Nc5 19.e6 Qxe6 20.Nd4 Qxa2 21.Qd1 Bxe4 22.Bxe4 Nxe4 23.Qg4 Nc5 24.Nf5 Ne6 25.Nxh6+ Kh7 26.Nf5 1-0

Urquhart - Cooper

1.b3 d6 2.Bb2 e5 3.g3 f5 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.e3 Be7 6.Ne2 O-O 7.d4 e4 8.Nf4 Qe8 9.h4 g6 10.Nd2 Bd7 11.c4 c6 12.b4 d5 13.Qb3 Qf7 14.Bf1 Na6 15.b5 Nc7 16.a4 Ne6 17.Nxe6 Bxe6 18.Rc1 Rfc8 19.Be2 h6 20.c5 Kf8 21.Qc3 Qg7 22.Nb3 Bd8 23.Kd2 a6 24.Ra1 Bd7 25.Ba3 axb5 26.axb5 cxb5 27.Bb4 Bc6 28.Rxa8 Rxa8 29.Ra1 Rxa1 30.Qxa1 g5 31.Qa8 Qc7 32.Ba5 b6 33.cxb6 Qb7 34.Qxd8+ 1-0

Gulati - Bogle

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 e6 4.Nf3 Nge7 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nb5 d5 7.e5 Nf5 8.Nbxd4 Ncxd4 9.Nxd4 Qh4+ 10.g3 Nxg3 11.Bb5+ Bd7 12.Bxd7+ Kxd7 13.Nf3 Qh5 14.Rg1 Nf5 15.c4 Bb4+ 16.Ke2 Bc5 17.Rg5 Nd4+ 18.Qxd4 Qxf3+ 19.Kxf3 Bxd4 20.cxd5 exd5 21.Rxg7 Ke6 22.Be3 Bxe3 23.Kxe3 Rac8 24.Rd1 Rc2 25.Rd2 Rc7 26.Rf2 Rhc8 27.b3 f6 28.Rxc7 Rxc7 29.Kd4 Rc1 30.f5+ Ke7 31.e6 Kd6 32.Re2 Rd1+ 33.Kc3 Rc1+ 34.Kd3 Rc7 35.Kd4 Rg7 36.h3 Re7 37.Rg2 Rc7 38.h4 Re7 39.h5 Rc7 40.h6 Re7 41.Rg7 1-0

Mayo - Langen

1.d4 c5 2.d5 e5 3.e4 Nf6 4.f3 d6 5.c4 g6 6.Be3 Nh5 7.Ne2 Bg7 8.Nbc3 f5 9.g3 O-O 10.Bg2 Nd7 11.Qd2 a6 12.a3 Ndf6 13.O-O Bd7 14.b4 b6 15.Rab1 Qc7 16.bxc5 bxc5 17.Rb2 fxe4 18.Nxe4 Nxe4 19.fxe4 Rxf1+ 20.Bxf1 Nf6 21.Qd3 Rf8 22.h3 Nh5 23.Bg2 Bc8 24.Kh2 Nf6 25.Qd2 Nd7 26.Ng1 Nb6 27.Qa5 Nxd5 28.Qxc7 Nxc7 29.Rb6 Ne8 30.Rc6 Bb7 31.Rb6 Rf7 32.Nf3 h6 33.Nd2 Kh7 34.Nb3 Bf8 35.Na5 Bc8 36.Nc6 Rc7 37.Bd2 Nf6 38.Ba5 Nd7 39.Rxa6 Bxa6 40.Bxc7 Bxc4 41.a4 Ba6 42.Kg1 Kg8 43.a5 c4 44.Kf2 Nc5 45.Ke3 Kf7 46.Bb6 c3 47.Nb4 h5 48.Bxc5 Bh6+ 49.Kf2 dxc5 50.Nc2 Ke7 51.Bf1 Bxf1 52.Kxf1 Kd6 53.Ke2 c4 54.Kd1 Kc5 55.a6 Kb6 56.Nb4 Bf8 57.a7 Kxa7 58.Nc6+ Kb7 59.Nxe5 Bd6 60.Nxg6 Bxg3 61.Kc2 Kc6 62.Ne7+ Kc5 63.Kxc3 Be1+ 64.Kc2 Kd4 65.Nf5+ Kxe4 66.Nd6+ Kd5 67.Nxc4 Kxc4 68.Kd1 Ba5 1/2-1/2

Horton - MacDonald

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qe2 Nd4 9.Nxd4 Qxd4 10.c3 Bg4 11.Qe1 Qd3 12.Qe3 O-O-O 13.Qxd3 Rxd3 14.Be3 Be7 15.Nd2 Rhd8 16.Ne4 R8d5 17.Bf4 Bf5 18.Ng3 Be6 19.Rae1 Rb5 20.Bc1 Bxa2 21.f4 Bc4 22.Ne4 Rd8 23.Rf3 Rbd5 24.Kf2 a5 25.g3 a4 26.h4 Ra5 27.h5 h6 28.Rfe3 a3 29.bxa3 Bxa3 30.g4 Be7 31.Kg3 Rd3 32.Rxd3 Bxd3 33.g5 Ra1 34.gxh6 gxh6 35.Nf2 Bf5 36.Ng4 Bf8 37.Ne3 Be4 38.Bd2 Ra2 39.Bc1 Kd7 40.f5 Bc5 41.e6+ fxe6 42.fxe6+ Ke7 43.Kf4 Bd3 44.Nf5+ Ke8 45.Nxh6 Rh2 46.Ng4 Bd6+ 47.Kf3 Rh3+ 48.Kf2 Be7 49. Re3 Bc5 50.Kg2 Bxe3 51.Bxe3 Rxe3 52.Nxe3 Ke7 53.Kf3 Kxe6 54.Kf4 c5 1/2-1/2

Round 8

O'Donnell plays a very aggressive line against Cooper's Modern and quickly achieves a sizable advantage when Aaron fails to find the correct continuation. Tom castles long offering a pawn but of course it is poisoned. Aaron trades off the dark squared bishops to try and complete his development but Tom used the resulting holes to put him away.

Lefong Hua eschews the English and walks right into my pet Dzindzi Indian. Elated at my good fortune I promptly play an inaccuracy and throw away the advantage. On move 16 I have a choice between sacrificing a pawn and giving my opponent a horrid pawn structure with two sets of doubled pawns, or a complicated line with some fun tactics. I choose the latter and of course Lefong finds the clincher at the end of the line in 23.Bf8! winning an exchange. There are some cheapos in the ending but Lefong is too smart to fall for any of them and he wins in a walk.

Eldridge versus Gulati saw Justin come right after Mike with the black pieces with a kind of Dutch Leningrad. Justin has no problems but underestimates the danger in the position and allows a nice long term knight sacrifice for White which yields an advantage. Justin sacrifices an exchange to relieve the pressure and outplays Mike in the ensuing middlegame complications to win.

Langen and Horton engage in a Scotch gambit where both players leave theory at an early stage and castle on opposite sides of the board. For some reason Langen puts his queen on the long diagonal allowing Horton to win a pawn with 16...Nxf3. Horton proceeds to trade everything off to go into a rook and pawn ending up two pawns which he wins without difficulty.

MacDonald's game with Reddy featured another sharp attempt to bash the French with the Milner-Barry gambit. It takes courage to play this variation as the lines usually run at least 20 moves deep. Reddy took both gambit pawns and MacDonald got his attacking game so both players were happy. Once they left theory Tyler lost his way in the complications and Jonathan's attack broke through for the win. After the game Tyler stated that the line Jonathan played led to a position where White is "totally busted".

Bogle versus Urquhart saw Bill essay a wacky variation against Ed's Grunfeld which looked like an idea borrowed from the Grob, it turns out that Ed left theory first with 5...c6. When Bogle delayed castling Ed sacrificed a pawn to keep Bogle's king exposed and ended up getting lots of play. Ed cashed in his initiative getting his pawn back and the bishop pair headed into the ending. It looked like Ed might be able to eek out a win but Bogle sacked a pawn in the rook ending to set up an impenetrable fortress.

O'Donnell - Cooper

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.Bc4 d6 5.Qf3 e6 6.Nge2 Nd7 7.Bf4 Nb6 8.Bb3 Qe7 9.e5 dxe5 10.dxe5 Qc5 11.O-O-O Bh6 12.Bxh6 Nxh6 13.Qf4 Nf5 14.g4 Ng7 15.Ne4 Qe7 16.Nf6+ Kf8 17.Qh6 c5 18.Nxh7+ Kg8 19.Nf6+ Qxf6 20.Qxh8+ Kxh8 21.exf6 Ne8 22.Rd8 1-0

Hua - Mayo

1.c4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 f5 6.Bg5 Qa5 7.Qc2 d6 8.Nf3 Nd7 9.e3 Ngf6 10.Bd3 Ne4 11.Bxe4 fxe4 12.Nd2 Ne5 13.O-O Bf5 14.Bf4 Nd3 15.Bh6 Rg8 16.f3 exf3 17.e4 f2+ 18.Kh1 Ne1 19.Qb2 Bc8 20.Nb3 Qd8 21.Qxf2 Nd3 22.Qf7+ Kd7 23.Bf8 Rxf8 24.Qxf8 Qxf8 25.Rxf8 Ne5 26.Nd2 b6 27.Rh8 h5 28.Rf1 Bb7 29.Rxa8 Bxa8 30.Rf8 Bb7 31.Rg8 a5 32.Nf3 Nxf3 33.gxf3 Ba6 34.Rxg6 Bxc4 35.a3 b5 36.Rg8 Be2 37.Kg2 b4 38.axb4 axb4 39.cxb4 c4 40.Kf2 Bd1 41.Rg1 Bb3 42.Ke3 c3 43.Ra1 e5 44.Ra3 c2 45.Kd2 1-0

Eldridge - Gulati

1.Nf3 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.g3 f5 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.O-O d6 6.c4 O-O 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.Rb1 Ne4 9.Nxe4 fxe4 10.Ng5 Nxd4 11.Bxe4 c6 12.e3 Ne6 13.Nxh7 Kxh7 14.Qh5+ Kg8 15.Bxg6 Rf6 16.Qh7+ Kf8 17.e4 Rxg6 18.Qxg6 Qe8 19.Qxe8+ Kxe8 20.Kg2 Nc5 21.f3 Be6 22.b3 a5 23.Bb2 Bh6 24.Bd4 Nd3 25.Rfd1 Nb4 26.Rb2 c5 27.Bc3 Nc6 28.f4 a4 29.f5 Bf7 30.Kf3 axb3 31.axb3 Ra3 32.Rd3 b5 33.cxb5 c4 34.bxc4 Ne5+ 35.Bxe5 Rxd3+ 36.Kg4 dxe5 37.b6 Rd8 38.c5 Kd7 0-1

Langen - Horton

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 d6 5.Nxd4 g6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Be3 Nf6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.f3 Be6 10.Bxe6 fxe6 11.Qd3 a5 12.O-O-O O-O 13.h4 Rb8 14.Ne2 Nd7 15.b3 Ne5 16.Qc3 Nxf3 17.Nd4 Nxd4 18.Bxd4 Bxd4 19.Qxd4 Rb4 20.Qe3 Qf6 21.c3 Rb5 22.g3 a4 23.Kc2 axb3+ 24.axb3 Qf2+ 25.Qxf2 Rxf2+ 26.Rd2 Rxd2+ 27.Kxd2 Rxb3 28.Ra1 Rb2+ 29.Ke3 Rc2 30.Ra3 Kg7 31.Ra7 Rxc3+ 32.Kd4 Rxg3 33.Rxc7+ Kf6 34.Rxc6 Rg1 35.Ra6 Rh1 0-1

MacDonald - Reddy

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Bd3 cxd4 7.cxd4 Qb6 8.Nc3 Nxd4 9.Nxd4 Qxd4 10.O-O Qxe5 11.Re1 Qb8 12.Qf3 Bd6 13.Qxd5 Nf6 14.Qg5 Kf8 15.Qh4 h5 16.Bg5 Ng4 17.Ne4 Bxh2+ 18.Kh1 Kg8 19.Rad1 f6 20.Bxf6 gxf6 21.Nxf6+ Nxf6 22.Qg5+ Kf8 23.Qxf6+ Kg8 24.Bc4 Qf4 25.Qg6+ Kf8 26.Rxd7 Rg8 27.Qxe6 Rg7 28.Re7 1-0

Bogle - Urquhart

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.g4 dxc4 5.h3 c6 6.e4 Bg7 7.Bxc4 O-O 8.Be3 b5 9.Bb3 Qa5 10.f3 Bb7 11.Nge2 Nbd7 12.Qd2 c5 13.g5 Nh5 14.dxc5 Ne5 15.Kf2 e6 16.a4 Rad8 17.Qc2 Nd3+ 18.Kg2 b4 19.Nb5 Ba6 20.Nbd4 Qxc5 21.Qxc5 Nxc5 22.Bd1 Nd3 23.b3 Nb2 24.Rc1 Nxd1 25.Rhxd1 Rc8 26.Kf2 Bxe2 27.Kxe2 Rc3 28.Rxc3 bxc3 29.Rc1 Nf4+ 30.Bxf4 Bxd4 31.Be3 e5 32.f4 Rb8 33.Bxd4 exd4 34.Kd3 Rb4 35.Kc2 Kf8 36.a5 a6 37.Ra1 Ke7 38.Ra3 Kd6 39.Kd3 Kc5 40.Kc2 Rb7 41.Ra4 Rd7 42.Rc4+ Kb5 43.Kd3 Kxa5 44.f5 Kb6 45.f6 a5 1/2-1/2

Round 9

Urquhart versus Eldridge saw a topical line of the Modern where Eldridge bravely grabbed the gambit pawn in exchange for ceding the bishop pair to Urquhart. At first it looked like Mike had consolidated his advantage but Ed used his development to keep up the pressure until he was able to finagle a win in the heavy piece ending.

As Black, Langen equalized with little difficulty against Reddy's English. In the early middlegame Langen obtained a solid advantage with a centralized queen and a space advantage. The game abruptly ended when Langen unnecessarily grabbed the a3 pawn and then completely overlooked the threat of Ra5 where White wins.

In my game with Tom O'Donnell I came to the board looking for blood as I was still displeased with letting Hua off the hook in the last round. To avoid being outbooked I decided to play an f4 Sicilian side variation despite the fact I had obtained a winning advantage with the main line 6.Bd3 in my last game with Tom. I had seen Glenn Charlton play the 6.O-O variation a few times and that was the extent of my preparation.

Tom made several errors such as not playing 7...d5, weakening his dark squares, and not developing his queenside. After I found the pawn sacrifice 16.e5! allowing my c3 knight into the game I knew that Black's game was terminal. White's pieces came crashing through on the dark squares and resignation soon followed.

Aaron Cooper played a Torre attack in his game with Bill Bogle. Cooper had no difficulty getting in the e4 break and Bogle hunkered down with a hedgehog setup. When Bogle finally reacted in the center with 11...d5 Cooper was centralized and ready to take advantage. Bogle immediately tossed a few pawns and an exchange in an attempt to drum up some play but he just ended up down too much material and Cooper won.

Horton versus Hua saw Horton quickly deviate from the mainlines of Hua's Sicilian Dragon and follow up with a liquidation strategy. This plan proved effective as by move 26 a drawn double rook ending was reached, but Horton proved unable to hold the position and went on to lose.

The game between Gulati and MacDonald featured a Scotch gambit with the quiet line 4...Be7. The players left the book early on to end up with an isolated queen pawn position where Black had a comfortable game. Justin blundered with the seemingly innocent 15.Rad1, overlooking 15...Nxc3! where White has two pieces en prise. Justin gamely fought on down the piece but it was a futile effort.

Urquhart - Eldridge

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.dxc5 Qa5 5.Bd3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qxc3+ 7.Bd2 Qxc5 8.Nf3 Nf6 9.O-O O-O 10.Rb1 Qc7 11.e5 Nd5 12.c4 Nb6 13.Qb3 Na6 14.Bh6 Nc5 15.Qc3 Nba4 16.Qd4 Ne6 17.Qh4 Re8 18.Be4 Nac5 19.Bd5 Rb8 20.Rfe1 b6 21.Re3 Bb7 22.Ng5 Nxg5 23.Bxg5 Bxd5 24.cxd5 d6 25.Qh6 f5 26.e6 Ne4 27.Rh3 Nf6 28.Rc1 Qb7 29.Bxf6 exf6 30.Rc6 Rbd8 31.Rhc3 Rc8 32.Qc1 Rxc6 33.Rxc6 Rd8 34.h3 b5 35.Rc7 Qb6 36.Rf7 Qd4 37.Qh6 Qa1+ 38.Kh2 Qe5+ 39.g3 1-0

Reddy - Langen

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Nc3 Nb6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.O-O Be7 8.d3 O-O 9.a3 Be6 10.b4 Nd4 11.Nxd4 exd4 12.Ne4 Bd5 13.Bb2 f5 14.Nd2 Bxg2 15.Kxg2 Qd5+ 16.Nf3 Bf6 17.Rc1 Qd7 18.Qc2 Rf7 19.Qb3 Rd8 20.Ba1 Qd5 21.Qd1 Qa2 22.Rc5 Qxa3 23.Qb1 Nd5 24.Ra5 1-0

Mayo - O'Donnell

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bb5 Nd4 6.O-O Nxb5 7.Nxb5 a6 8.Nc3 d6 9.d3 Nf6 10.Qe1 O-O 11.h3 e6 12.f5 Nd7 13.fxe6 fxe6 14.Bg5 Qc7 15.Qh4 Re8 16.e5 dxe5 17.Ne4 Nf8 18.Bf6 b6 19.Nfg5 Ra7 20.Rf2 Kh8 21.Raf1 Bxf6 22.Nxf6 Rd8 23.Nfxh7 Nxh7 24.Nxh7 Bb7 25.Nf6+ 1-0

Cooper - Bogle

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 Be7 4.Nbd2 b6 5.e4 c5 6.c3 d6 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.Qe2 Nh5 9.Be3 Nc6 10.Rd1 Qc7 11.O-O d5 12.exd5 exd5 13.dxc5 O-O-O 14.cxb6 axb6

15.Bf5+ Kb8 16.Qb5 g5 17.Bxb6 Qf4 18.Bxd8 Rxd8 19.Bd3 g4 20.Nd4 Nxd4 21.cxd4 g3 22.hxg3 Nxg3 23.fxg3 Qxd4+ 24.Rf2 Bc5 25.Rdf1 Ba7 26.Nb3 Qxb2 27.Na5 Bxf2+ 28.Rxf2 Qc1+ 29.Bf1 Qc7 30.Rb2 1-0

Horton - Hua

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.Bxd7+ Qxd7 8.Be3 Bg7 9.f3 Nc6 10.Qd2 O-O 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bh6 Qb7 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.b3 Qb6 15.Na4 Qb5 16.c4 Qe5 17.Qc3 Qxc3+ 18.Nxc3 Nd7 19.Ke2 Rfb8 20.Na4 Rb4 21.Rac1 Rab8 22.Rhd1 c5 23.Rd5 R4b7 24.e5 Nxe5 25.Nxc5 dxc5 26.Rxe5 Rc8 27.Rd5 a5 28.Kd3 a4 29.Kc3 Kf6 30.Rb1 axb3 31.axb3 e6 32.Rd2 Ra8 33.Rd6 Ke7 34.Rc6 Ra5 35.Rd1 Ra3 36.Rb1 Ra5 37.Rd1 h5 38.h4 Rd7 39.Rb1 Kf6 40.b4 cxb4+ 41.Kxb4 Ra2 42.c5 Rd4+ 43.Kb5 Rxg2 44.Rb4 Rxb4+ 45.Kxb4 Rh2 46.Rd6 Rxh4+ 47.Kb5 Rh1 48.c6 Rc1 49.Rd4 g5 50.Rc4 Rxc4 51.Kxc4 Ke7 0-1

Gulati - MacDonald

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Be7 5.c3 Nf6 6.cxd4 d5 7.exd5 Nb4 8.Nc3 O-O 9.O-O Bg4 10.a3 Nbxd5 11.Qd3 c6 12.Ne5 Bd6 13.Bg5 Be6 14.Ba2 Be7 15.Rad1 Nxc3 16.Bxe6 Nxd1 17.Nxf7 Rxf7 18.Bxf6 Bxf6 19.Qb3 Qe7 20.Rxd1 Re8 21.Bxf7+ Qxf7 22.Qd3 Qd5 23.h3 Bxd4 24.Kf1 Bxb2 25.Qc2 Bd4 26.Qd3 c5 27.Qb5 Qe6 28.Kg1 Qf7 29.Rf1 Rf8 30.Qe2 a6 31.a4 c4 32.Qd2 Qd5 33.Kh1 b5 34.Rd1 Rd8 35.Qa5 bxa4 36.Qxa6 c3 37.Qxa4 h6 38.Qc2 Kh8 39.Qg6 Qd6 40.Qh5 Kg8 0-1

Round 10

My game with Joe Horton saw Horton once again play the Marshall gambit. I played the 8.a4 anti-Marshall and got an interesting side variation as my reward. By move 12 we had about 1 minute off our clock each but I took half an hour on move 13. It became clear that I had been outbooked as by move 18 I had used over an hour while Joe had used only 11 minutes. I managed to weave my way through the complications and found a nice temporary queen sacrifice to emerge a pawn up in the ending. However, I could see no real winning chances and as I was short on time I returned the pawn and a draw was agreed.

Hua played another English, this time against English devotee Tyler Reddy. The players chose a theoretical continuation and followed up with a queen trade. Lefong won a pawn and converted that into a two pieces for a rook advantage a few moves later but with a full point lead in the tournament he was on cruise control and allowed a draw.

Eldridge against Cooper saw Mike play a double fianchetto against Aaron's solid setup. In the early middlegame Cooper gave the bishop pair in exchange for a central majority. In classic hypermodern fashion Eldridge tempted the pawns forward, fixed them with 16.e4 and calmly manuevered a knight to the d3 blockading square. As the endgame approached with Cooper in his usual time pressure, Eldridge undermined the centre with some tactics and netted an exchange, winning easily.

O'Donnell and Bogle played a wild obscure Ruy Lopez variation where both players seemed to know the theory. Bogle achieved a comfortable position perhaps even with a small edge by move 20 but he soon began losing his way in the position. As the time control approached Bogle's position fell apart and O'Donnell was left with an unstoppable passed pawn on the queenside.

Langen versus Gulati featured a Four Knights game which Langen misplayed (7.Nxc6?!) to give Gulati a nice position early on. Gulati seemed unable to come up with a good plan but Langen then dumped a pawn for nebulous compensation allowing Gulati to seize the initiative. All was going well for Justin until he opened the h file and then in severe time pressure allowed Langen one move too many to get an attack going there (he probably overlooked 38.Qh4 which prevents Bg7).

MacDonald tried the Tchigorin variation against Urquhart's French. Jonathan seemed unable to take advantage of Ed's dubious novelty 2...e5 and played the middlegame in uncharacteristically passive fashion. As the middlegame progressed it seemed that Ed had established a queenside initiative and despite Jonathan's 28.Nb6 shot Ed slowly improved his position. Once the endgame was reached the position was too reduced to allow real winning chances, but the clock intervened as Jonathan's extreme sudden death time pressure caused him to drop his bishop to a knight fork.

Mayo - Horton

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.a4 Bb7 9.c3 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.axb5 axb5 12.Rxa8 Bxa8 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.Rxe5 Nf4 15.d4 Nxg2 16.Qh5 Bd6 17.Bg5 Qd7 18.Bc2 g6 19.Qh6 f6 20.Bb3+ Kh8 21.Qxf8+ Bxf8 22.Bxf6+ Bg7 23.Re7 Qxe7 24.Bxe7 Nf4 25.Nd2 Nd3 26.Ba3 b4 27.Bxb4 Nxb4 28.cxb4 Bxd4 29.Nc4 Bd5 30.Kf1 Bxc4+ 1/2-1/2

Hua - Reddy

1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 Nf6 6.O-O O-O 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qb6 9.Nc2 d6 10.Ne3 Be6 11.Rb1 Rab8 12.b3 Qd4 13.Qxd4 Nxd4 14.Rd1 Nc6 15.Ba3 Ne5 16.c5 b5 17.Bb4 dxc5 18.Bxc5 Rbc8 19.Bd4 b4 20.Na4 Nc6 21.Bxc6 Rxc6 22.Bxa7 Rfc8 23.Bd4 Ng4 24.Nxg4 Bxg4 25.Bxg7 Bxe2 26.Re1 Bd3 27.Bd4 Bxb1 28.Rxb1 Rc2 29.Rb2 Rc1+ 30.Kg2 f6 31.Nb6 R8c2 32.Nc4 e5 33.Rxc2 Rxc2 34.Bc5 Rxa2 35.Bxb4 Kf7 36.Kf3 Ke6 37.Ke3 f5 38.Nd2 g5 39.Bc3 Kd5 1/2-1/2

Eldridge - Cooper

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 Be7 4.b3 O-O 5.Bb2 c5 6.c4 Nc6 7.O-O d5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.d4 Be6 10.Nc3 cxd4 11.Nxd4 Qd7 12.Nxe6 fxe6 13.Qd2 Rad8 14.Rad1 a6 15.a3 Ne8 16.e4 d4 17.Ne2 e5 18.Nc1 Nd6 19.Nd3 Qg4 20.f3 Qg6 21.Rde1 Qf7 22.Bh3 Nb5 23.b4 Qb3 24.Nc1 Qc4 25.Qd3 Qxd3 26.Be6+ Kh8 27.Nxd3 a5 28.Bd5 axb4 29.Bxc6 bxc6 30.axb4 Nc3 31.Nxe5 Bxb4 32.Nxc6 Bc5 33.Nxd8 Rxd8 34.Kg2 Rb8 35.Bxc3 dxc3 36.Re2 1-0

O'Donnell - Bogle

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Bc5 5.Nxe5 Nxe4 6.Qe2 Nxe5 7.Qxe4 Qe7 8.d4 Nc6 9.Qxe7+ Bxe7 10.c3 O-O 11.Re1 Bf6 12.Bf4 d6 13.Nd2 a6 14.Bd3 Bd7 15.Ne4 Bd8 16.d5 Ne7 17.c4 Ng6 18.Bd2 Ne5 19.Bf1 f5 20.Nc3 Bf6 21.h3 Rfe8 22.f4 Nf7 23.Bd3 Bh4 24.Rxe8+ Rxe8 25.Ne2 Nd8 26.g3 Bf6 27.Rb1 g6 28.Kf2 Kf7 29.b4 b6 30.c5 Bb5 31.Bxb5 axb5 32.cxb6 cxb6 33.Be3 Nb7 34.Rc1 Bd8 35.Nd4 Re4 36.a3 Bf6 37.Rc7+ Re7 38.Rxe7+ Kxe7 39.Nxb5 Bb2 40.Bxb6 Kd7 41.a4 Nd8 42.a5 Nf7 43.a6 1-0

Langen - Gulati

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 d6 5.d4 exd4 6.Nxd4 Bd7 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.Bc4 Be7 9.h3 O-O 10.O-O Qb8 11.Re1 Qb6 12.Bb3 Rfe8 13.Bf4 Rad8 14.Qe2 h6 15.Be3 c5 16.Rab1 Bf8 17.Qf3 Qa6 18.Nd5 Nxd5 19.Bxd5 Be6 20.Qe2 Qa4 21.c4 Bc8 22.Qf3 Qd7 23.e5 Rxe5 24.Red1 Qf5 25.Bf4 Ree8 26.g4 Qf6 27.Qg3 Be6 28.Bc6 Bd7 29.Bd5 Rb8 30.b3 Re2 31.Bd2 Qg6 32.Ra1 h5 33.Bf3 Re7 34.Kg2 hxg4 35.hxg4 Qc2 36.Ba5 Bc8 37.Rh1 g6 38.Qh4 f5 39.Bd5+ Be6 40.Bxe6+ 1-0

MacDonald - Urquhart

1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 e5 3.g3 Nc6 4.c3 Nf6 5.Bg2 Be7 6.d3 d5 7.Nd2 dxe4 8.dxe4 Bg4 9.f3 Be6 10.Nh3 Nd7 11.Nf2 Nb6 12.O-O a5 13.Rd1 O-O 14.Nf1 Qc8 15.Ne3 Rd8 16.f4 Rxd1+ 17.Qxd1 f6 18.Nd5 Bc5 19.Be3 Bxe3 20.Nxe3 Nc4 21.Nd5 Kh8 22.Qe2 Nd6 23.Rd1 b5 24.Qd3 Nc4 25.Qe2 a4 26.b3 axb3 27.axb3 Nd6 28.Nb6 cxb6 29.Rxd6 Ra1+ 30.Rd1 Rxd1+ 31.Qxd1 b4 32.cxb4 Nd4 33.Bf1 Bxb3 34.Qh5 Qf8 35.b5 g6 36.Qh3 Be6 37.Qg2 Qd6 38.Nd3 Bc4 39.Nxe5 fxe5 40.Bxc4 Qc5 41.Bf1 Nxb5+ 42.Qf2 Nd4 43.fxe5 Nf3+ 44.Kg2 Qxf2+ 45.Kxf2 Nxe5 46.Ke3 Kg7 47.Kd4 Kf6 48.Kd5 h6 49.Be2 Nf7 50.h4 Ne5 51.Kd6 h5 52.Kc7 Nf7 53.Kxb6 Nd6 54.g4 hxg4 55.Bxg4 Nxe4 56.Kc6 Ke5 57.Bd1 Ng3 58.Bc2 Nf5 59.Kc5 Kf4 60.Kc6 Nd4+ 61.Kd6 Nxc2 62.Ke6 Kg4 63.Kf6 Kh5 0-1

Round 11

Much to the consternation of Tom O'Donnell, Gulati was rather despondent about his results in the tournament thus far and played like it in his game with Hua, well below his usual strength.

In my game I tried to play an interesting line against the expected English but Tyler nipped that in the bud by playing to trade off all the minors and offering a draw.

Ed Urquhart plays a line against Langen's Two Knights defence which is known to give White an advantage but forgets the critical move and so settles for a quick draw.

Cooper plays a quiet line against MacDonald's Two Knights defence. Jonathan develops a kingside initiative on the dark squares in the early going with straightforward moves and soon takes over the queenside as well. Cooper's time trouble blunder in a much worse position hastens the end.

Bogle versus Eldridge features another Modern but Bogle is armed with an improvement on his play in the game with Mayo. Eldridge finds himself in hot water early on as Bogle snaps a pawn early on with a better position to boot. Mike manages to regain the pawn and get into an ending where he still worse but establishes a knight on f5 to shield his weaknesses. Around the time control Bogle nails Eldridge with a nice in between move (42.Rxf7+!) which seals Black's fate.

Horton repeats his opening from Horton - Hua against Tom O'Donnell. Needing a win Tom plays more sharply than Hua, pushing an early d5 where Black gets his pawn back with at least equality. Horton lashes out with an exchange sacrifice where he gets a pawn for it but Tom effortlessly wins back the pawn and goes into the ending an exchange up. O'Donnell demonstrates his endgame technique by efficiently grinding down Horton into zugswang.

Gulati - Hua

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be2 Nf6 7.Be3 Bb4 8.Qd3 Nxe4 9.O-O Nxc3 10.bxc3 Qxc3 11.Qe4 Be7 12.Qg4 Bf6 13.Rab1 h5 14.Qf4 e5 15.Qe4 d5 16.Qxd5 exd4 17.Bc4 O-O 18.Rb3 Be6 19.Qxb7 Qxc4 20.Qxa8 Nc6 21.Qb7 Na5 0-1

Reddy - Mayo

1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 O-O 5.e4 d6 6.Nge2 e5 7.O-O Nc6 8.d3 Ne8 9.Rb1 f5 10.Nd5 Ne7 11.Bg5 1/2-1/2

Urquhart - Langen

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.e5 d5 6.Bb5 Ne4 7.Nxd4 Bd7 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.O-O Be7 10.f3 Ng5 11.f4 Ne4 12.Be3 O-O 13.c3 f6 14.e6 c5 15.exd7 cxd4 16.Bxd4 Qxd7 17.Nd2 f5 18.Nf3 1/2-1/2

Cooper - MacDonald

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Be7 5.O-O O-O 6.Bg5 d6 7.h3 Nd7 8.Bxe7 Nxe7 9.Nc3 Ng6 10.d4 c6 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.Ne2 Qf6 13.Ng3 Nf4 14.Nh2 Nb6 15.Bb3 Rd8 16.Qf3 c5 17.a4 a5 18.Rfd1 c4 19.Ba2 Be6 20.b3 Qh4 21.Nf5 Bxf5 22.exf5 e4 23.Qg4 Qxg4 24.Nxg4 Ne2+ 25.Kf1 Nc3 26.Rxd8+ Rxd8 27.bxc4 Nbxa4 28.c5 Nxa2 29.Rxa2 Rd1+ 0-1

Bogle - Eldridge

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.dxc5 Qa5 5.Bd2 Qxc5 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.f4 d5 8.e5 Ng4 9.Qf3 Nc6 10.Nge2 Nb4 11.h3 Nxd3+ 12.cxd3 Nh6 13.Qxd5 Qb6 14.Qb5+ Bd7 15.Qxb6 axb6 16.g4 Bc6 17.O-O Rd8 18.d4 Ng8 19.b4 b5 20.a4 bxa4 21.b5 Bd7 22.f5 gxf5 23.gxf5 Bh6 24.Bxh6 Nxh6 25.Rxa4 Bxf5 26.Kh2 Rg8 27.d5 Bd3 28.Rh4 Nf5 29.Rhf4 e6 30.d6 Ra8 31.R1f2 Ra3 32.Ne4 Bxe4 33.Rxe4 Ne3 34.Nf4 Rb3 35.Nh5 Nd5 36.Ra2 Kd7 37.Rc4 Rc8 38.Rxc8 Kxc8 39.Ra8+ Kd7 40.Rf8 Rf3 41.Nf6+ Nxf6 42.Rxf7+ Ke8 43.Rxf6 Rb3 44.Rxe6+ Kd8 45.Rf6 Rd3 46.Rf8+ Kd7 47.Rf7+ Ke6 48.Re7+ Kf5 49.d7 Kf4 50.e6 Kf3 51.Rf7+ Ke4 52.e7 1-0

Horton - O'Donnell

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.Bxd7+ Nbxd7 8.Be3 Bg7 9.f3 O-O 10.Qd2 d5 11.exd5 Nb6 12.b3 Nbxd5 13.Nxd5 Nxd5 14.Bf2 Qc7 15.O-O Nc3 16.Rae1 Rfd8 17.Rxe7 Qxe7 18.Qxc3 Rac8 19.Qd2 Qc5 20.Rd1 Bxd4 21.Bxd4 Qxc2 22.Qe1 Rd5 23.Rd2 Qc1 24.Rd1 Qf4 25.Bb2 Rxd1 26.Qxd1 Qe3+ 27.Kf1 h5 28.Qd6 Re8 29.Qd1 Qb6 30.Qd2 Qe3 31.Qd1 Kh7 32.Ba1 b5 33.Bb2 a5 34.Ba1 a4 35.Bb2 Kg8 36.h3 Kh7 37.Bc1 Qc3 38.Kf2 Rc8 39.Bd2 Qc2 0-1

NM Lefong Hua of Quebec took clear first and the $600 first prize with his 10/11 score while IM Tom O'Donnell's 9.5/11 was good for second place and $300. Nova Scotia swept the remaining prizes with Tyler Reddy (7/11) taking the third place prize of $200 and NM's Ed Urquhart and Alvah Mayo sharing the fourth place prize of $100 with 6.5/11.

Thanks go out to Fred McKim for organizing such a first rate event and being directly responsible for the creation of three new FIDE rated players (NM's MacDonald, Mayo and Urquhart) in the Maritimes.

2000 Atlantic Open

# Name Old Perf New Results Total

1. Alvah Mayo 2154 2163 2162 x 1 1 - 2.0

2. Michael Eldridge 1920 1967 1926 0 x 1 1 2.0

3. Ed McKearney 1605 1637 1600 0 0 x - 0.0

4. Gilbert Bernard 1742 1520 1733 - 0 - x 0.0

With his first place finish here at the Atlantic Open NM Alvah Mayo qualifies for the 2001 Atlantic Closed tentatively scheduled for PEI.

Uuetoa vs Ede Match

# Name Old Perf New Results Total

1. Harold Uuetoa 1768 1884 1787 +2 +2 =2 -2 2.5

2. Albert Ede 1784 1668 1765 -1 -1 =1 +1 1.5

2000 Falmouth Invitational

# Name Old Perf New Results Total

1. Alvah Mayo 2212 2066 2183 x 1 1 3 3.5 1 5 14.5/19

2. Michael Eldridge 2012 1846 1909 1 x 0 4 4.5 1 - 10.5/18

3. John Klapstein 1924 2041 1999 1 2 x 1 4 2 - 10/13

4. Brad Armstrong 1746 1859 1802 0 2 2 x 2.5 - - 6.5/16

5. Ken Cashin 1615 1740 1666 0.5 1.5 0 1.5 x 1 - 4.5/20

6. Gary Phillips 1795 1841 1804 1 1 0 - 1 x - 3.0/8

7. Aaron Cooper 2017 1945 2001 1 - - - - - x 1.0/6

This edition of the Falmouth Invitational took place over a span of several months and saw games played in such diverse locations as Falmouth, Halifax and Charlottetown. NM Alvah Mayo took first place but the real story here is the significant rating point gains by John Klapstein, Brad Armstrong and Ken Cashin.

Labour Day Open

# Name Old Perf New Results Total

1. Tom O'Donnell 2445 2328 2453 +22 +12 +2 +4 +3 +8 +6 +7 8.0

2. John Klapstein 1999 2131 2039 +27 +5 -1 =7 +9 +10 =3 +4 6.0

3. David Kenney 1935 2105 1976 =0 +14 +17 +8 -1 +7 =2 =5 5.5

4. Alvah Mayo 2183 2012 2154 =0 +18 +15 -1 =7 +12 +8 -2 5.0

5. Carlos Drummond 1831 1905 1851 +26 -2 +19 =9 =0 =0 +14 =3 5.0

6. Stephen Saunders 2145 1795 2084 -19 +25 -22 +23 +18 +16 -1 +13 5.0

7. David Poirier 1864 1984 1895 +25 +19 =8 =2 =4 -3 +10 -1 4.5

8. Michael Eldridge 1909 1966 1920 +13 +16 =7 -3 +20 -1 -4 +12 4.5

9. Brad Armstrong 1802 1872 1819 =0 =0 +11 =5 -2 =15 =19 +20 4.5

10. Gary Phillips 1804 1739 1787 -18 +26 =23 +17 +15 -2 -7 +19 4.5

11. Raffi Jivalian 0 1654 1654 -17 +27 -9 +26 -16 =18 +25 +22 4.5

12. Albert Ede 1765 1791 1763 +28 -1 -24 +19 +22 -4 +16 -8 4.0

13. Robin Lindsay 1599 1767 1660 -8 -24 +25 =14 +17 +20 =15 -6 4.0

14. Harold Uuetoa 1787 1737 1774 =0 -3 =21 =13 +23 +22 -5 =15 4.0

15. Fred Phillips 1889 1730 1844 =23 +21 -4 +24 -10 =9 =13 =14 4.0

16. Bruce Fleury 1746 1695 1733 +24 -8 -20 +28 +11 -6 -12 +23 4.0

17. James Gilks 1699 1623 1680 +11 =0 -3 -10 -13 +26 =23 +24 4.0

18. John MacLean 1412 1736 1472 +10 -4 =0 =25 -6 =11 -20 +26 3.5

19. Ken Cashin 1666 1696 1675 +6 -7 -5 -12 +28 +24 =9 -10 3.5

20. Gilbert Bernard 1793 1604 1742 =0 =23 +16 =22 -8 -13 +18 -9 3.5

21. Phil Boyle 1741 1761 1747 =0 -15 =14 +27 +24 -0 -0 -0 3.0

22. Alex Nuschke 1620 1737 1632 -1 +28 +6 =20 -12 -14 =0 -11 3.0

23. Jonathan Bjornson 1542 1706 1585 =15 =20 =10 -6 -14 +27 =17 -16 3.0

24. Bruce Dunphy 1248 1558 1384 -16 +13 +12 -15 -21 -19 +0 -17 3.0

25. David Spencer 1530 1490 1511 -7 -6 -13 =18 =27 +28 -11 +0 3.0

26. Andrezj Palak 1442 1394 1426 -5 -10 =27 -11 +0 -17 +28 -18 2.5

27. James Livingstone 1584 1385 1535 -2 -11 =26 -21 =25 -23 -0 -0 1.0

28. Chris Maund 1371 1228 1333 -12 -22 +0 -16 -19 -25 -26 -0 1.0

Twenty-eight players showed up for this year's Labour Day Open in Halifax. Visiting International Master Tom O'Donnell swept the tournament with a perfect 8-0 to take clear first by a margin of two points. Second place went to John Klapstein (who also became an Expert) with a 6/8 score followed by Dave Kenney in third with 5.5/8.

Other prize winners were Carlos Drummond (top under 1900), Dave Poirier, Gary Phillips and Brad Armstrong (tied for second under 1900), tournament newcomer Raffi Jivalian (top under 1700), Jim Gilks and Robin Lindsay (tied for second under 1700).

Notes by IM Tom O'Donnell:

O'Donnell - Klapstein

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 O-O (My love affair with the Dragon has waxed and waned for more than a decade. In the "Age of the Swiss System" with its high percentage winning scores and punishing schedules, it is necessary to have something to fall back on for those times one needs a win with Black and the mental tank is almost drained. The opening has the virtue of producing unbalanced positions and gives Black chances to score quick victories. But all is not sunshine and

light for the aspiring Dragoneer. It is necessary to keep abreast of the march of theory; in some of the sharper lines the assessments can flip back and forth almost monthly. So how can I, a typical lazy chess Master, play this opening? Well, for starters I have used a "tricky" move order for the past five years: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 (the Classical Sicilian) 6.Be2 (fairly common) and only now 6...g6 thus avoiding the highly theoretical Yugoslav Attack in favour of the Classical Dragon. Not as sharp, but sharp enough to give Black plenty of chances. Lately I have even been thinking of actually entering the lines of the Yugoslav, with a slight twist. Borrowing from a line of the Najdorf (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Bg7 - see my game with Saunders below) , I have been investigating delaying or even forgoing ...0-0. For example in the game position instead of John's 8...0-0 how about 8...Bd7? The idea is to use the "wasted" tempo spent castling by gearing up for queenside counterplay with ...Rc8 and ...N/a5 or ...N/e5-c4. The added bonus is that White cannot conduct a mechanical attack on the kingside, since the object of the attack (the Black King) may not ever reside there. NCO gives as its mainline: 8...Bd7 9.Bc4 (9.0-0-0 is also possible) 9...Rc8 10.Bb3 Ne5 11.Bh6 Bxh6 12.Qxh6 Qa5 13.Nde2 Nc4 14.0-0-0 Qh5 15.Qxh5 Nxh5, and assesses this as slightly better for White. Both sides have a number of deviations from this line, of course. For starters, I am rather interested in 10...h5!?) 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.O-O-O Ne5 11.Bb3 Rc8 12.h4 Nc4 (So far, so theory. Black has a big alternative in 12...h5, which I used to play back in the late 80's) 13.Bxc4 Rxc4 (A position that has been reached literally thousands maybe even millions of times. Here I started really thinking for the first time. Did I really want this to turn into a memory contest? No. Did I really want to enter a bizarre line like 14.h5 Nxh5 15.g4 Nf6 16.Bh6 Nxe4 17.Qe3 Rxc3 18.bxc3 Nf6 19.Bxg7 Kxg7? No. Instead I tried to turn the struggle from a tactically sharp one into a positionally sharp one. Most Dragon players are comfortable with ...Rxc3 sacs while simultaneously trying to avoid mate down the h-file. Lots of excitement, not much strategy. My spies told me before this game that John was no exception. So let's calm it down a bit. By the way, I now think a smarter way of doing the same thing is 12.Kb1 Nc4 13.Bxc4 Rxc4 14.g4. There is the added possibility of a later g5, without wasting a tempo with h4. And if 14...b5, then 15.b3!, as played in Tivjakov-Komljenovic, Linares 1998 amazingly leads to an advantage for White or so it appears at least for now) 14.Kb1 Re8 (I had no idea what Black's best move is here and still don't. My database gives the text, 14...Qc7, 14...h5 and 14...b5 as the mainlines (not 14...Qa5?! 15.Nd5 Qxd2? (15...Qd8 is best) 16.Nxe7+ and 17.Rxd2 - a point behind 14.Kb1 is that 15...Qxd2 is not check). Intuitively, I like 14...b5. Notice that if 15.Ndxb5 or 15.Ncxb5 (never played in the fifteen times this position was reached in my database but interesting nevertheless) Black can get compensation with ...Qb8 and/or ...Rfc8 with pressure on the b pawn. In light of what happens in the game (a little foreshadowing), it is important to keep this in mind) 15.g4 h5 (A major decision. Black could also simply allow White to execute his threat of h4-h5xg6. For example, 15...Qa5 16.h5 Rec8 17.hxg6 hxg6 is a typical Sicilian Dragon. White could then either try 18.Nb3 intending 19.Bh6 and trying to invade down the h-file, or 18.Nd5, (possibly preceded by 18.g5) exchanging Queens. Both look okay for White) 16.g5 (A key moment. Normally, I would play 16.gxh5 Nxh5, but then what? It seems to me that White does not need to rush into an attack, since he has made no major positional concessions nor has he sacrificed any material) 16... Nh7 17.Nb3 (This move allows a shot. In retrospect, I should have played 17.Qd3, supporting the e-pawn in preparation for f3-f4-f5) 17... Nf8 (On the Nova Scotia list-serv "Paul Morphy" suggested the surprising 17...Bxc3, which to be honest I did not seriously consider during the game. After 18.bxc3 Qc7 19.e5 Bf5 20.exd6 cxd6 both John and I concluded that White was doing well. "Paul" pointed out that Black could improve: 19... Rxc3 20.exd6 exd6 21.Bd4 Rc4 22.Bb2 Rc8 23.Rh2 Be6 24.Nd4 Qb6, which does indeed look better for Black although it is still complicated after 25.Nxe6 Rxc2 26.Qxc2 Rxc2 27.Rxc2 fxe6 28.Rcd2 d5 (now the diagonal for the B/b2 cannot be easily obstructed by ...e5) 29.Rdc1) 18.Nd5 (Here I did notice that 18.Bxa7? was very bad on account of 18...Bxc3! 19.bxc3 b6. I don't see a way for White to rescue the trapped B/a7. If 20.Qe3 Rc6 21.Nd4 then 21...Rc7 22.Bxb6 Rb7 wins) 18... Be6 (In the post mortem John told me that he didn't look at White grabbing the a pawn too seriously as the newly opened a-file would give him "something". Giving up material (even a lowly pawn) changes the nature of the struggle in a chess game. Up until now White is the one who has made slight positional concessions (surrendering a B for a N; advancing the h and g pawns). Now however Black is obligated to "do something" for surely if everything sort of just continues normally Black will lose the ending. The interesting thing is that surrendering the a pawn is a lot different than giving up the b pawn in terms of counterplay. It is actually quite easy for White to repel any attack down the a file since Black's pieces will have to assume awkward posts to hit a2 and too many minor pieces are going to be exchanged) 19.Bxa7 Nd7 20.Bd4 Ne5 21.Rhf1 Bxd5 22.exd5 Qc7 (Black should retreat the R/c4, opening up the square for the N/e5. After the text Black is not only down a pawn but finds his King in the hot seat with no counterplay) 23.f4 Nd7 24.Bxg7 Kxg7 25.f5 Ne5 (If 25...Rxh4 26.fxg6 fxg6 27.Qf2 hits both the R/h4 and threatens 28.Qf7+) 26.fxg6 Nxg6 27.Nd4 e6 (Better was 27...Rc8, but Black's position is really rotten anyway) 28.dxe6 fxe6 29.Nb5 (The big fork ends it. A sample variation is 29...Qc6 30.Nxd6 Rd8 31.Nf5+ exf5 32.Qxd8 and Black is busted) 1-0

O'Donnell - Saunders

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Bg7 10.Be2 h5 (I will tell you a little secret: I cannot for the life of me understand this position. I just know that if I tried something like this in, say, a Pirc (fall behind in development, start advancing my g and h pawns), I would get rolled. Yet for some reason Black can get a quite

respectable position. Truly a testament to the resiliency of the Sicilian) 11.h4 (Played on the spur of the moment. I was well aware that this was not a popular move but it looked playable so I figured I'd give it a shot. NCO gives the line: 11.Bxg4 hxg4!? (11...Bxg4 is playable as well) 12.0-0 Nc6 13.Nf5 Bxf5 14.exf5 Bxc3 15.bxc3 Ne5 16.Bxe5 dxe5 17.Qxg4 f6. This position has been reached in many games, I guess, including O'Donnell vs. Rob Gardner, Hamilton Canadian Closed, 1994. In that game I tried 18.Rfd1 (rather than the NCO approved 18.Qe4 of Apicella vs. Gallagher, French Team Championships 96/97) and got nothing, the game being drawn in 41 moves) 11... Qa5 (During the game this looked logical but in retrospect better are 11...gxh4 or 11...Nc6 and if 12.Nb3 then 12...gxh4. An example of this is the big boy battle Topalov vs. Kasparov, CS Masters (Active) 1996. That game went 11...gxh4 12.Rxh4 Nc6 13.Nb3 (Playing Nxc6 is generally bad as the semi-open b-file means that the White b pawn will come under pressure after ...Rb8) 13...Be6 14.Qd2 Qb6 15.Nd5 Bxd5 16.exd5 Nce5 17.c3 Ng6 18.Rh3 h4 19.Bxg4 hxg3 20.Rxh8+ Bxh8 21.Qe3 gxf2+ 22.Kxf2 Qxe3+ 23.Kxe3. Black eventually won but his advantage at this point does not seem so great to me) 12.hxg5 Nc6 (During the game I was more concerned about 12...Qb4 13.Nb3 Bxc3+ 14.bxc3 Qxe4. Looking at it now it appears that White is pretty active after 15.Kf1, with Bf3 or Bd3 to follow. Black is definitely doing okay though) 13.Nb3 Bxc3+ 14.bxc3 Qxc3+ 15.Qd2 (I wasn't so sure about 15.Kf1 Qxg3!? (15...Qg7 is possible too) 16.fxg3 Ne3+ 17.Kf2 Nxd1+ 18.Raxd1. Even though Black is going to lose the h-pawn it seems to me that White's truly mangled pawn structure will make it very hard to generate a passed pawn. Notice that here White's g5 pawn is still alive (unlike in the ...gxh4 variations); the N/g4 in particular is not so happy about that) 15...Qg7 (If 15...Qxd2 16.Kxd2 White will then pile up on the h-pawn and win it) 16.f3 Nge5 17.Bf2 (The B/g3 heads for greener pastures) 17...Be6 (With the threat of 18...Bxb3 19.axb3 Nxf3+ when the R/a1 hangs) 18.Nd4 Bc4 (Interesting and perhaps better was 18...Nc4 19.Bxc4 Bxc4 20.Rb1 Bxa2 21.Rxb7. Intuitively I like White but Black's pieces are almost as active as White's) 19.Rb1 (Pressuring b7 and getting the R/a1 out of range of the Q/g7. It took me a while to realize that not only should I not fear the trade ...Bxe2 Kxe2 (leaving my K in the centre) but I should actually encourage it!) 19...Bxe2 20.Kxe2 b5 21.Nf5 Qh7 (This looks bad and it is. More natural is 21...Qg6 when White can either try to probe with 22.a4 (hoping to pry open the queenside and trap the Black K on e8 - this is what I was leaning towards playing) or 22.g4 Kd7 (the threat was 23.gxh5 Rxh5 24.Rxh5 Qxh5 25.Ng7+ forking K and Q) 23.gxh5 Rxh5. In either event, the position is very double-edged. In the post mortem, Steve told me that he chose the text because he did not trust the looseness of his pieces and wanted to defend the R/h8) 22.g4 Nxf3 (Desperation) 23.Kxf3 hxg4+ 24.Kg2 Qg8 25.Qd5 Kd7 26. Qxc6+ (If 26...Kxc6 27.Nxe7+ Kd7 28.Nxg8 is curtains) 1-0

Labour Day Open Under 1700

# Name Old Perf New Results Total

1. Jarrod Paul 1451 1723 1603 +7 +2 +3 +6 +5 +4 +9 +8 8.0

2. Garrett Keddy 1586 1631 1606 +5 -1 +4 +9 +3 +7 +6 +0 7.0

3. George Beals 1595 1384 1559 +6 =4 -1 +5 -2 +8 +10 +7 5.5

4. John Candow 1284 1336 1310 +8 =3 -2 -7 +10 -1 +5 +9 4.5

5. Andrew Dunphy 1212 1285 1234 -2 +7 +9 -3 -1 +10 -4 =6 3.5

6. Sean Currell 1222 1249 1230 -3 +10 +8 -1 -7 +9 -2 =5 3.5

7. Jim Cooper 1164 1188 1170 -1 -5 +10 +4 +6 -2 -8 -3 3.0

8. Charles Lu 932 1124 1037 -4 +0 -6 +10 -9 -3 +7 -1 3.0

9. Prem Mahendranathan 1460 1036 1365 =0 =0 -5 -2 +8 -6 -1 -4 2.0

10. Callum Dunphy 889 857 867 +0 -6 -7 -8 -4 -5 -3 -0 1.0

Jarrod Paul of Membertou proved that you don't have to be an IM to be perfect as he also went 8-0 to win the under 1700 section of the Labour Day Open. Second place (and top under 1600 prize) went to Garrett Keddy whose only loss was to Jarrod. The second under 1600 prize went to former Nova Scotia Champion George Beals.

Beals vs Dunphy

# Name Old Perf New Results Total

1. George Beals 1589 1648 1595 +2 1.0

2. Bruce Dunphy 1255 1189 1248 -1 0.0

Armstrong vs Eldridge Match

# Name Old Perf New Results Total

1. Brad Armstrong 1819 1926 1848 -2 -2 -2 +2 +2 +2 3.0

2. Michael Eldridge 1926 1819 1897 +1 +1 +1 -1 -1 -1 3.0

Bluenose September Active

# Name Old Perf New Results Total

1. Gary Phillips 1586 1785 1616 +5 +7 +4 3.0

2. Geoffrey Ruelland 0 1711 1712 =12 +10 +8 2.5

3. David Kenney 1679 1707 1685 +9 =8 +6 2.5

4. Harold Uuetoa 1633 1498 1614 +18 +14 -1 2.0

5. Brian McGrath 1067 1422 1103 -1 +16 +14 2.0

6. James Gilks 1454 1390 1448 +17 +12 -3 2.0

7. Alex Fraser 1473 1280 1469 +16 -1 +15 2.0

8. John Klapstein 1503 1486 1509 +15 =3 -2 1.5

9. David Poirier 1368 1347 1369 -3 +13 =11 1.5

10. Jarrett Gabriel 1395 1298 1360 =13 -2 +0 1.5

11. Bruce Dunphy 0 1291 1295 -14 +18 =9 1.5

12. Ken Cashin 1473 1343 1463 =2 -6 =13 1.0

13. John Candow 0 1265 1269 =10 -9 =12 1.0

14. Bill Pettipas 1491 1192 1463 +11 -4 -5 1.0

15. Andrew Dunphy 0 1064 1066 -8 +17 -7 1.0

16. David Spencer 0 786 788 -7 -5 =17 0.5

17. Sean Currell 0 783 789 -6 -15 =16 0.5

18. Robin Saunders 0 950 954 -4 -11 -0 0.0

This event saw the long awaited return of Active chess to the Bluenose Chess Club. Gary Phillips took clear first with 3/3 followed by Dave Kenney and tournament rookie Geoffrey Ruegelland in second place with 2.5/3.

Bluenose CC Winter Section B

# Name Old Perf New Results Total

1. David Spencer 1511 1554 1539 +5 +4 +7 +3 +6 -2 +8 6.0

2. Gary Joudrey 1524 1600 1548 +6 +7 -3 -0 +5 +1 +4 5.0

3. Robin Lindsay 1660 1413 1636 -0 +5 +2 -1 -0 +8 =6 3.5

4. Andrew Dunphy 1234 1371 1254 -0 -1 +6 +7 -0 -0 -2 2.0

5. Chris Felix 1078 1278 1145 -1 -3 +8 -0 -2 -0 +7 2.0

6. Bryan Kenney 1219 1199 1212 -2 +8 -4 -0 -1 -0 =3 1.5

7. Sean Currell 1230 1016 1190 -0 -2 -1 -4 +8 -0 -5 1.0

8. Callum Dunphy 867 953 857 -0 -6 -5 -0 -7 -3 -1 0.0

Tournament veteran David Spencer showed that chess isn't always a young man's game by taking clear first place ahead of his younger counterparts with 6/7. Second place was claimed by the second oldest participant Gary Joudrey with 5/7.

Maritime Open 2000

# Name Old Perf New Results Total

1. David Kenney 1976 2184 2012 +23 +18 +2 =0 =0 =3 4.5

2. Alvah Mayo 2162 2093 2151 +11 +24 -1 +10 =3 +8 4.5

3. Fred McKim 2030 2083 2046 +13 +20 +16 =5 =2 =1 4.5

4. John Klapstein 2039 2074 2047 =8 =0 +24 =0 +9 +11 4.5

5. Aaron Cooper 2001 2020 2007 +25 +17 +9 =3 =6 =7 4.5

6. Michael Eldridge 1897 1946 1908 -16 +28 +20 +14 =5 +12 4.5

7. David Assaf 1891 1942 1904 -9 +27 +17 +25 +13 =5 4.5

8. Fred Phillips 1844 1903 1860 =4 +19 =12 =16 +10 -2 3.5

9. Gilbert Bernard 1733 1899 1772 +7 +26 -5 +22 -4 =14 3.5

10. Jason Kenney 1992 1891 1976 +14 =0 +22 -2 -8 +21 3.5

11. Brad Armstrong 1848 1829 1851 -2 =0 +31 +30 +16 -4 3.5

12. James Gilks 1680 1780 1700 =21 +30 =8 =0 +25 -6 3.5

13. Gary Phillips 1787 1752 1783 -3 +29 +18 +23 -7 =15 3.5

14. Phil Boyle 1747 1722 1749 -10 +32 +15 -6 +17 =9 3.5

15. Jarrett Gabriel 1552 1623 1582 +34 -16 -14 +26 +20 =13 3.5

16. Bruce Fleury 1733 1796 1748 +6 +15 -3 =8 -11 =18 3.0

17. Garrett Keddy 1606 1710 1632 +33 -5 -7 +24 -14 +25 3.0

18. Jarrod Paul 1603 1677 1624 +32 -1 -13 +28 =23 =16 3.0

19. John Candow 1310 1673 1409 +27 -8 -23 =31 +28 =22 3.0

20. Kyle Johnson 1641 1667 1646 +29 -3 -6 +27 -15 +24 3.0

21. James Livingstone 1526 1614 1541 =12 -22 +32 =0 +30 -10 3.0

22. Harold Uuetoa 1774 1565 1743 =0 +21 -10 -9 =0 =19 2.5

23. Gary Ng 1740 1533 1720 -1 +34 +19 -13 =18 -0 2.5

24. John Hynes 1669 1547 1636 +31 -2 -4 -17 +29 -20 2.0

25. Albert Ede 1763 1518 1711 -5 +33 +26 -7 -12 -17 2.0

26. David Spencer 1539 1424 1514 +28 -9 -25 -15 =32 =30 2.0

27. Raffi Jivalian 1654 1396 1559 -19 -7 +33 -20 +31 -0 2.0

28. Ken Cashin 1675 1349 1606 -26 -6 +29 -18 -19 +32 2.0

29. Mark Penney 1295 1342 1300 -20 -13 -28 +34 -24 +33 2.0

30. John MacLean 1472 1337 1454 =0 -12 +34 -11 -21 =26 2.0

31. Joe Nearing 1349 1299 1340 -24 =0 -11 =19 -27 +34 2.0

32. Jonathan Kenney 1150 1347 1175 -18 -14 -21 +33 =26 -28 1.5

33. Sean Currell 1190 1111 1163 -17 -25 -27 -32 +34 -29 1.0

34. Krista Kenney 812 1033 892 -15 -23 -30 -29 -33 -31 0.0

The Maritime Open this year featured a surreal seven place tie for first amongst Dave Kenney, NM Alvah Mayo, Fred McKim, Aaron Cooper, David Assaf, Mike Eldridge and John Klapstein. Especially noteworthy was the result of Dave Kenney who organized, directed and played in this tournament all while nursing a very bad cold.

Fred McKim won the Colpitts Trophy and title of Maritime Open Champion on triple tiebreak. Other prize winners were Jim Gilks and Jarrett Gabriel who tied for top under 1700, and John Candow who won the top under 1500 prize.

Notes by Jason Kenney:

J Kenney - Boyle

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 (the Slav. I've always intended to learn some of the crazier lines after 5.e4 but I'll content myself with not really knowing this either, just enough to get by) 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.O-O O-O (I think I remember Qb3 a5 being theory, but the point of that interpolation isn't immediately obvious to me. I think 8.O-O must be theory too) 9.Nh4 Bg4 10.f3 Nd5!? (I remember seeing the f3 and then g4 idea from the book "Strategic Chess" by Edmar Mednis and it's also a common idea in some variations of the Nimzo-Indian, incidentally the ones I play. However, Nd5 didn't seem right to me. Originally I thought this wasn't possible because of Nxd5 but on second look whatever I thought I saw wasn't there. Instead, I thought for a while and found an interesting pawn sacrifice) 11.fxg4 Qxh4 (I also rationalized taking the bishop by concluding that in the games in the Slav I've seen Black always moved the bishop, so letting me take the bishop must be good for me) 12.e4! Nxc3 (forced) 13.bxc3 Bxc3 14.Ra3 Bb4 15.Rh3 Qd8 (The point. White gives up a pawn to get his rook to the h file with tempo. I don't really care what Fritz thinks of White's position at this point. I've got two semi open files leading to Black's king, the g pawn which can be used as a lever or to support dark squares on the kingside, and two bishops pointing at his king. The only piece not about to participate is my queen, while he has three pieces sleeping on the queenside and nothing to protect him around his king) 16.Bb2 Nd7 (I need to support the d pawn somehow. If my queen moves, he can take it with check and then take the e4 pawn defending h7. Also, note the possibility of Rxf7 followed by Bxe6 and then ganging up on the pinned rook. I never tried to exploit this idea in the game, but it still stands) 17.g5 Qxg5 (g5 seemed to be the most natural move, preventing Nf6 while clearing the way for my queen. I calculated that Black couldn't take the pawn but missed a very important idea) 18.Bc1 Qe7? (Qa5! is the only move to try and hold on. Ironically, I used the idea of a lateral move a couple of moves ago and now we both miss it on this move. The critical line probably goes 18...Qa5! 19.e5 Nxe5 20.Qh5 h6 21.Qxe5 Qxe5 22.dxe5. I think White is better here though as I think he is winning a pawn back by force on the kingside immediately and he can win the endgame, although it would be a long battle) 19.Qh5 f6 20.Qxh7+ Kf7 21.Rg3 Ke8? (maybe 21.Bh6 was a bit better but Black has some tough defending to do after Rg8 e5 or Bh6; remember if Black pushes f5, Rxf5+ is possible because the e pawn is pinned!) 22.Rxg7 Rf7 23.Qh8+ Nf8 (sadly forced) 24.Rxf7 Qxf7 (24...Kf7 25.Bg5 isn't much of an improvement. Black cannot save the game at this point) 25.Rxf6 Qc7 26.Rxe6+ Be7 27.Bg5 Qxh2+ 28.Kxh2 1-0

Coming Events

Saint John Winter Open

Format: Open 5 round Swiss

January 12-14, 2001 at NBCC Saint John Campus, 950 Grandview Avenue, Saint John NB

Entry Fee: $25, $20 for Seniors and Juniors

Prize Fund: Based on entry fees

Registration: Friday January 12 7:00 p.m

Rounds: 7:30, 10/4, 9/3

Time Control: 40 moves in 2 hours, sudden death in 1 hour.

Organizers: Raymond Doucette 506-847-7515 sacman@nbnet.nb.ca

Ken Duff 506-634-7961 duff@nbnet.nb.ca

Misc: Free coffee, donuts provided by Exclusive Eyewear.

Halifax Winter Tornado 2001

Format: Open 3 round Swiss

January 27, 2001 at Dalhousie SUB Room 224/226, University Avenue, Halifax NS

Entry Fee: $15

Prize Fund: Based on entry fees

Registration: Saturday January 27 9:30-10 a.m

Rounds: 10/12/2

Time Control: Game in 60 minutes

Organizer: Dave Poirier 1-902-453-6627 ac911@chebucto.ns.ca

Bluenose Chess Club Open Chess Championship

Format: Open 5 round Swiss in two sections, Open and under 1800

February 18-20, 2001 at Dalhousie SUB Room 224-226, University Avenue, Halifax NS

Entry Fee: $30, $25 Seniors, $15 Juniors. Deduct $5 for Bluenose Chess Club members, add $5 for players rated under 1700 who enter the Open section, first time CFC members $0 with purchase of one year's CFC membership.

Prize Fund: Based on entries

Registration: Friday February 16 6-6:20 p.m at the site.

Rounds: 6:30, 10/4, 9:30/3

Time Control: 30 moves in 90 minutes, sudden death in 1 hour

Organizer: John Klapstein 902-443-4907 jklapste@is2.dal.ca

Snowflea 3

Format: Open 5 round Swiss

March 16-18, 2001 at Centre Communautaire Sainte-Anne, Room D-203, 715 Priestman Street (across from Chalmers hospital), Fredericton NB

Entry Fee: $25, $20 for Juniors and under 1600, $10 for Cadets. $2 discount for paid members of the Club D'echecs Sainte-Anne. Free entry for first time CFC members with payment of CFC membership fee.

Prize Fund: 75% of entry fees.

Registration: Friday March 16 5:30-6:15 p.m

Rounds: 6:30, 10/4, 9/3

Time Control: Round 1 Game in 120 minutes, Rounds 2-5 40 moves in 2 hours, one hour sudden death

Organizer: Chris Maund chris.maund@gnb.ca

Misc: 1/2 point byes available for rounds 1-4 if requested before round 1. Those arriving after the start of round 1 will receive a 1/2 point bye for that round. Vending machines on site. Seperate analysis room is provided. No smoking, wheelchair accessible. Bring sets and clocks.

Fifth Lunenburg County Open Chess Championship

Format: Open 5 round Swiss in two sections, Open and Under 1700

April 20-22, 2001 at Wandlyn Hotel, 50 North Street, Bridgewater NS

Entry Fee: $25, $10 for Juniors, Seniors and those with CFC ratings 2200+, First time CFC members free entry with purchase of full membership.

Prize Fund: Based upon entries and patron support

Registration: Friday April 20 6-7 p.m

Rounds: 7, 9:30/3, 9/2:30

Time Control: 30 moves in 90 minutes, 1 hour sudden death.

Organizer: Steve Saunders home: 624-9361 work: 634-8811 ssaunder@fox.nstn.ca saundrs@natsea.ca

Misc: Wandlyn Inn Bridgewater NS B4V 2V6 phone: 902-543-7131 fax: 902-543-7170. Directions: from Halifax take Highway 103 to Bridgewater, take exit 12 the first Bridgewater exit, turn left off the ramp (North Street), drive about 1 km, turn left into the Wandlyn Inn (before the traffic light). Accomodations at Wandlyn Inn allow 1-4 people per room and the special chess tournament rate should be $59/night. There are dining facilities in the hotel and fast food within walking distance. Bring chess sets, clocks and boards. No smoking. 1/2 point byes are available.

Fredericton Spring Open

April 27-29, 2001 same site as SnowFlea 3

Entry Fee: same as SnowFlea 3

Prize Fund: same as SnowFlea 3

Registration: Friday April 27 5:30-6:15 p.m

Rounds: same as SnowFlea 3

Time Control: same as SnowFlea 3

Organizer: same as SnowFlea 3

Misc: same as SnowFlea 3

Nova Scotia Open

Format: Open 6 round Swiss

May 19-21, 2001 at Strait Area Campus (gym), 400 Reeves Street, Port Hawkesbury NS

Entry Fee: $40, $30 for Juniors, Seniors and disabled at the door, $10 discount if you pre-register with the organizer before April 1, $5 discount if you pre-register by May 1. Those who pre-register may pay their discounted entry fee at the door.

Prize Fund: Based on entry fees minus tournament expenses

Registration: Saturday May 19 9:30-9:55 a.m

Rounds: 10/4, 10/4, 9:30/3:30

Time Control: 30 moves in 90 minutes, 1 hour sudden death

Organizer: Gilbert Bernard 902-756-3333 gil.bernard@ns.sympatico.ca

Misc: There are several motels in the area; Maritime Inns 902-625-0320 (5 minute walk), MacPuffin Motel 902-625-0621 (5 minutes by car), Port Hawkesbury Motel 902-625-0621 right across from MacPuffin, Skye Lodge 902-625-1300 (6 minutes by car), Keddy's Motel 902-625-0460 right across from Skye Lodge. There are several fast food outlets within walking distance of the site. Bring sets and clocks, boards provided. No smoking, no computers.

2001 Canadian Open Chess Championships

Format: Open 10 round Swiss CFC and FIDE rated

July 7-15, 2001 at Mount Allison University, Sackville NB

Entry Fee: Before March 15 Adult $99 Junior $49 FIDE rated $74 GM/IM free.

Before June 15 Adult $119 Junior $59 FIDE rated $89 GM/IM free.

On site Adult $139 Junior $69 FIDE rated $104 GM/IM free.

Prize Fund: 90% of entry fees collected, guaranteed minimum prize fund of $10 000.

Based on 160 entries 1st $3000 2nd $1750 3rd $1250 4th $1000 5th $750

Under 2400 1st $500 2nd $250 3rd $100 Under 2200 1st $500 2nd $250 3rd $100

Under 2000 1st $500 2nd $250 3rd $100 Under 1800 1st $500 2nd $250 3rd $100

Under 1600 1st $500 2nd $250 3rd $100 Under 1400 1st $500 2nd $250 3rd $100

Unrated 1st $250 2nd $100

Registration: In advance by mail to the CFC or on site

Rounds: 4, 10/6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 2, 10

Time Control: 40 moves in 2 hours, 20 move in 1 hour, 30 minutes sudden death

Organizers: Dave Barrett (toll free) 1-866-599-2222 dbarrett@mta.ca

Fred McKim 902-894-4171 fred_mckim@hotmail.com

Misc: Maximum of 4 1/2 point byes may be taken in rounds 1-7 only. Accomodations on site (single or double). 9 nights @ $20/night = $180/person (tax included). Off site accomodation list upon request. Meals will be available on a cash basis at the University dining hall. Fast food restaurants and other establishments are within a 5 minute walk of the University. Opening reception Friday July 6 7 p.m (tenative), Closing ceremonies/banquet Sunday July 15 4 p.m (tenative). GM Kevin Spraggett has already been confirmed to play.

 

To leave a comment to the person who maintains this file, send email to nschess@chebucto.ns.ca