Hey All, I played the Eastern Class Championship this weekend in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. I finished the tournament with 3/5, with all my games being decisive. It is pretty rare for me to have all my games be decisive in a 5 round tournament, usually I draw a couple along the way. There are a couple of good pictures of me and a tournament report by Elizabeth Vicary on the uschess.org website.

I headed down to Sturbridge on Friday afternoon. I left my condo in Manchester, NH at 3pm in an attempt to avoid rush hour and the snow! I told David Vigorito before I left that it’s been so long since the last time I played GM Alexander Ivanov.. Usually he plays a lot of these local tournaments, where playing him is almost inevitable. Anyways I told Dave that I wanted another shot at Alex, since I think that I am a lot better than I was a year ago when I played him last at the Eastern Classes… Be careful what you wish for, because in the first round I get paired with Ivanov! I was rated 2378 for this tournament, that goes to show you just how strong the open section was this year!

A funny story about the round 1 pairings was told to me later in the tournament by Chris Bird.. Apparently on the way to Sturbridge, Bill Goichberg and his wife were driving down the highway and all of the sudden the trunk on their station wagon opened up and their laptop went flying onto the highway! I guess it was dark out, and they were looking on the highway for it, but had no success in finding it. Since pairings without a computer are a real pain, they went to buy another laptop at the store. While they were in the store, someone stole the printer out of their car! So when they came out they discovered they had to go back inside and buy a printer! Just when they thought it couldn’t get worse, when they came back to the hotel and setup the laptop and printer, they found out the printer wouldn’t work because it wasn’t “Vista Compatible”. Chris Bird discovered why it wasn’t “Vista Compatible”, they had plugged the USB cord into the ethernet port! No wonder it wasn’t working! Bill still had to do the first round pairings by hand, but thanks to Chris, the rest of the tournament was done by the computer.

Bournival,Braden (2378) - Ivanov,Alexander (2625) [B27]
17th Eastern Class Champ. Sturbridge, MA (1), 29.02.2008
[Bournival,Braden]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 [3.c3!?] 3…Bg7 4.dxc5 Qa5+ 5.c3 [5.Nc3!? Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qxc3+ 7.Bd2 Qxc5 8.Bd3 This is a speculative line, white may have some compensation but I don’t think quite enough.] 5…Qxc5 6.Be3 6…Qa5 [6…Qc7 Is the normal move, which I expected. 7.Bd4 Is the main line.] 7.Bd4? I played this without much thought, not undestanding the difference of the queen on a5. [7.Nbd2 Nf6 8.Nc4 Qc7 9.e5 Ng4 10.Bf4+/=;] 7…Bxd4! [7…Nf6 8.e5 Ng4 9.e6 0-0 10.exf7+ Rxf7 11.Bxg7 Kxg7 12.Be2+/=] 8.Qxd4 Nf6 9.e5 If I just develop normally, black has no problems, I figured during the game I must try to take advantage of the fact that black has yet to play d7-d6. [9.Nbd2 Nc6 10.Qe3 d6 Is just fine for black, and it will be hard for white to come up with a clear plan.] 9…Nc6 10.Qf4 g5!

After this move it is clear that black is the only one who can be better. [10…Nd5 11.Qd2+/=; 10…Nh5 11.Qe3 d6 12.exd6 0-0! I had seen this during the game and was afraid of it. 13.Nbd2 exd6 14.Nc4 Qc7 15.0-0-0 d5 Seems fine for black too.] 11.Qe3 [11.Nxg5 Nxe5!? (11…Qxe5+ 12.Qxe5 Nxe5 Is similiar to the game except we both have an extra set of minor pieces.) 12.Na3 Ng6 13.Qd2 Qe5+=/+; 11.Qxg5 Rg8 12.Qe3 (12.Qf4? Rg4!) 12…Ng4 13.Qe2 Ngxe5 14.Nxe5 Nxe5=/+] 11…Ng4 12.Qxg5 Ngxe5 [12…Qb6 Admittedly I didn’t even see this possiblity during the game. 13.Qd2 (13.Qxg4 Qxb2 14.Qg7 Rf8 15.Bc4 Qc1+ (15…Qxa1? 16.0-0 Gives white a great attacking position.) 16.Ke2 Qxh1 17.Ng5 Qxh2 18.Bxf7+ Rxf7 19.Qxf7+ Kd8 20.Nf3 Qh1 21.Qf4 With an unclear position, but black should be better since his king is safer and it’s hard for white to develop his queenside.) 13…Ngxe5 14.Nxe5 Nxe5 15.Na3 d6 16.Nc4 Nxc4 17.Bxc4=] 13.Nxe5 [13.Nbd2 Nxf3+ 14.Nxf3 Qxg5 15.Nxg5 Rg8 Was a possiblity, my knight gets developed faster here but it’s unclear whether it’s better placed on the kingside than the queenside. This position just remains =.] 13…Qxe5+ 14.Qxe5 Nxe5 The following endgame is fairly =, but in my opinion it is easier for black to play since he has 2 central pawns and has a clearer line of play. Obviously the opening wasn’t a success for white. 15.Na3 [15.f4 Ng4 16.Na3 d6 Would transpose back to the game.] 15…d6 16.f4 Ng4 17.Nc2?! White is still OK after this move, but now has some technical difficulties since the e4 square is not under control. [17.Nb5!? Kf8 18.Bd3; 17.Bd3! This move makes more sense than the text, Ne3 is not an issue, and the white bishop is well placed on d3 where it eyes the h7 pawn. 17…Bd7 (17…Ne3 18.Kf2 Ng4+ 19.Kf3) 18.0-0 Bc6 19.Rae1] 17…Bf5 18.Bb5+ Kf8 19.h3 This structure with f4 and h3 is certainly not ideal, but it was hard to find a better move, the deficiency of white’s inaccurate 17th move shows itself. 19…Nf6 [19…Bxc2?! 20.hxg4 d5 21.Kd2 Be4 22.Rh2 Rg8 23.g5+/=] 20.Ne3 Be4 21.0-0-0 [21.Kf2 Is a move I wanted to play, but i was afraid of black’s next move. 21…Nh5 Obviously white doesn’t want to play f4-f5, when the dark squares in the center become weak, but instead I can defend f4 tactically. 22.Rhd1! A sample line could be: 22…Nxf4 23.Rd4 f5 24.Nxf5 Nxh3+ 25.gxh3 Bxf5 26.Re1 a6 27.Rf4 axb5 28.Rxf5+ Ke8 29.Rxb5 Rf8+ 30.Ke3 Rxa2 31.Rxb7=] 21…h5 Black’s intention is to play h5-h4 to clamp down the kingside, but I was able to find a way to stop this tactically. [21…Rg8 This move offers black more chance of an advantage, white must be very careful after this move. 22.Rd2 Rg3 23.Re1 d5 24.Bd3 e6 25.Bxe4 Nxe4 26.Rd4 Rc8 27.Re2 Kg7 28.Nf1 Rg6 29.g4 And white is holding it together.] 22.Rhe1! Rg8 [22…h4 23.Rd2 Rg8 24.Ng4! Nxg4 25.hxg4 And white’s position is fine since h4 is going to be more of a weakness than a strength.] 23.Rd2 Rg3 24.Nf1!

Rg8 [24…Rxg2? 25.Rxe4 Rxd2 26.Nxd2 Nxe4 27.Nxe4 Kg7 28.Kd2 Rg8 29.Ke3+/=] 25.Ne3 a6 26.Bd3 Bc6 27.Rg1 This move is logical, my main weakness in this position is the g2 pawn, so I attempt to liquidate it. 27…Bd7 28.Bf5 Bxf5 [28…e6 29.Bc2 d5 30.g4 Leaves white’s bishop much better than it’s counterpart, therefore it makes sense to exchange the minor pieces before pushing the central pawns onto light squares.] 29.Nxf5 d5 30.Ne3 e6 31.g4 Finally my position should be absolutely fine, the only concern now is the open H file. 31…Ne4 [31…hxg4 32.hxg4 Rh8 33.f5 Ne4 34.Re2 Rd8 35.g5 And white is OK since even though black has the H file, other files are opening up quickly.] 32.Rd4?! Right around this point both Ivanov and I were in a little bit of time pressure. [32.Rh2 Rc8 33.Kb1 Ke7 34.g5 Was perhaps somewhat safer for white since black doesn’t have a chance to grab the H file.] 32…hxg4 33.hxg4 Rc8 [33…Rh8 34.f5 Rc8 35.g5 Rh3 36.Nf1 White is worse here but his position is still defensable, still I believe this was a better chance for black to get the advantage.] 34.Rh1 Now it’s going to take black 2 moves to contest the H file. 34…Kg7 35.f5 Rh8 36.Rxh8 Rxh8 37.fxe6 fxe6 38.c4 White now has no problems. 38…Rh1+ 39.Nd1?

Basically the losing move, and right before time control when I had little time to calculate variations, Kc2 should hold easily, for instance: [39.Kc2 Rh2+ 40.Kc1 Ng3 41.Kd1 Rxb2 42.cxd5 exd5 43.Rxd5=] 39…Kf6 40.cxd5 Ke5 Now white has extreme difficulties as the following endgame is very advantageous for black since every piece in his army is superior to the white counterpart. 41.Rd3 exd5! [41…Nf2 42.Rd2 Nxd1 (42…Rxd1+?? 43.Rxd1 Nxd1 44.dxe6! Kxe6 45.Kxd1 Ke5 46.Kd2 Kf4 47.Kd3 Kxg4 48.Kc4 Kf4 49.Kc5+-) 43.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 44.Kxd1 Kxd5 45.Kd2 Ke4 46.Kc3 e5 47.Kc4 Kf4 48.Kd5 e4 49.g5! Ivanov had seen this position which is now a draw, for instance: 49…e3 50.g6 e2 51.g7 e1Q 52.g8Q Qd2+ 53.Kc5 Qxb2 54.Qc4+=] 42.Kc2 Rh2+ 43.Kc1 d4! White is in an awful bind, unable to move his knight. 44.Rf3 Rg2 45.Rf5+ Ke6 46.Rf4 Re2 47.Rf3 The previous moves have been pretty much forced, now black just starts gaining space on the queenside. 47…b5 48.Rh3? This move doesn’t put up much resistance. [48.Ra3! Nc5 This was the move I was afraid of, but it seems thaat i am able to get out of the bind after this. (48…Ke5 49.Rxa6 d3 50.Rc6 Kf4 51.a3 Kxg4 Transposes to the main line.; 48…a5 49.Rxa5 d3 50.Ra6+ Ke5 51.Rc6 Kf4 52.a3 Kxg4 53.Rb6 Rc2+ 54.Kb1 Rc5 55.Nc3 Nxc3+ 56.bxc3 Rxc3 57.Rf6! And white barely holds on. 57…Rxa3 58.Kc1 Kg5 59.Rf8 b4 60.Kd2 Kg6 61.Rd8=) 49.b4 Na4 50.Rd3! Ke5 51.Rd2 This is the move I missed in my calculations, now white can free up his knight. 51…Re1 52.Kc2 Rg1 53.Nf2 Kd5 54.a3 Kc4 55.Nd3 Rg3 56.Ne5+ Kd5 57.Nd3 Rxg4 58.Rh2 And white has drawing chances since his pieces have been activated.] 48…Rg2 49.Rh6+ Kd5! [49…Nf6 50.Nf2! Rxf2 51.g5 Ke5 52.gxf6 Rxf6 53.Rh2 I had my hopes pinned on this variation, which gives white some drawing chances.] 50.Rxa6 Rg1 51.Ra8 The best practical defense given the time situation, Ivanov was down to about 5 minutes here. [51.Rb6 Nf2 52.Kd2 Nxd1 53.Rxb5+ Ke4 54.Rb8 Nf2 55.Re8+ Kf3 56.Rf8+ Kg3-+] 51…Nf2 52.Rd8+ Ke4 53.Kd2 Nxd1 54.Re8+ Kd5 55.Rd8+ Ke5 [55…Kc5? 56.Rc8+ Kd6 57.Rc1 Rg2+ 58.Kxd1 Rxb2 59.Rc2=] 56.Re8+ Kf6 57.Rd8 Nxb2 58.Rxd4 Rd1+ 59.Ke3 Nc4+ 60.Ke4 Ra1 61.Kd5 Rxa2 62.Kc5 Rb2 63.Rd8 Ne5 64.Rd4 b4? [64…Rb1 Is better.] 65.Rf4+? [65.Kd5! Amazingly seems to draw for white, for instance: 65…Nd7 (65…Ng6 66.Kc5 b3 67.Kb4 Ne5 68.Kc3 Rb1 69.Rb4=) 66.Kc6 Nb8+ (66…b3 67.Kxd7 Ke5 68.Rb4 Rd2+ 69.Ke7 b2 70.Rb5+ Kd4 71.g5=) 67.Kb5 b3 68.Rd8 Nc6 69.Rd6+ Kg5 70.Rxc6 Rc2 71.Rb6 Rc1 72.Ka6! And draws.] 65…Ke6 66.g5?? Loses instantly, but the position was already lost anyhow. 66…Nd3+ 0-1

So despite losing the first round against Ivanov, I was generally happy with the way I played. I played pretty well throughout the entire game except for the 1 bad decision (Nd1)before the time control.

The next morning I was paired against WFM Alisa Melekhina (who is now 2250ish) with the black pieces. For me this was a must win game, especially after what happened at the US Open last year. For those of you who don’t know, I lost to Alisa in a 6 hour marathon game. At the end of the game I had forced mate in 6 in a simple king and pawn endgame, but played the wrong move order, which lost immediately. It was probably the most discouraging loss of my entire chess career..

Before the round I had about an hour to prepare, because the round was pushed back a full hour due to the people commuting in the snow. In the game last year, I played the Caro-Kann in which she responded with the exchange variation. Not wanting another drawish game, I decided to play the Sicilian, to which I knew she played the Closed Sicilian. I spent my time just looking over my notes on the closed sicilian, and then I was ready to go.

Melekhina,Alisa (2247) - Bournival,Braden (2378) [B26]
17th Eastern Class Champ. Sturbridge, MA (2), 01.03.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.Be3 e5 7.Qd2 Nge7 8.Bh6 0-0 [8…Bxh6 9.Qxh6 Nd4 Is the alternative to the text. 10.Qd2] 9.h4 [9.Bxg7 Kxg7 10.f4 Is another possiblity.] 9…Bxh6 [9…f6 This is probably not as accurate as the text since white doesn’t have to waste time with his queen and also gets h5-h6 with tempo. 10.Bxg7 Kxg7 11.h5 g5 12.h6+ Kh8 13.f4 gxf4 14.gxf4] 10.Qxh6 f6 11.Qd2 Nd4 12.Nd5!? This move is somewhat rare, but white has many options in this position. 12…b5 [12…Nxd5 13.exd5 Bd7 (13…Bg4 14.c3 Nb5) 14.c3 Nf5 15.h5 g5 16.h6 b5 17.Be4 Was also possible, the text move should be fine too.] 13.c3 [13.h5 g5 14.h6 Nxd5 15.exd5 b4 16.Ne2 a5 17.Nxd4 cxd4=] 13…Ndc6 14.h5 g5 15.h6 Nxd5 16.exd5 Ne7 Black has the better bishop and more space with better development. The h6 pawn is somewhat of a bone in black’s throat and is white’s only compensation for the other imbalances. The position is roughly equal but probably easier for black to play. 17.f4?

White is too hasty opening up the position when he’s behind in development. 17…exf4! With white’s lack of development, it makes sense to open up the E file in an attempt to expose his king. 18.gxf4 Ng6 19.fxg5 [19.Ne2 Bg4 20.0-0 Bxe2 21.Qxe2 gxf4=/+] 19…Bg4!

This not so obvious move stops white from playing Kd1 or castling queenside, and continues black’s rapid development. It is clear after this move that black has a very strong initiative. 20.Be4 [20.Bf3 Qe7+ 21.Qe2 (21.Kd1? fxg5!-+) 21…Qxe2+ 22.Kxe2 Rae8+ 23.Kd2 Bxf3 24.Nxf3 fxg5 25.Nxg5 Rf2+ 26.Kd1 Re3-+] 20…f5?! This gives white some hope of survival, much better was either 20… Ne5 or 20… Qe7 keeping the tension on f6 and developing quickly. [20…Ne5! I missed this nice move, which brings another pieces into the attack and prepared the march of the F pawn. 21.Rh2 f5 22.Bh1 f4-+; 20…fxg5 This line doesn’t seem to offer black much if white defends accurately. 21.Nh3 Nf4 22.Nf2 Bh5 23.Nh3 Nxh3 24.Rxh3 Bg4 25.Rg3 Rf4 26.Qxf4 gxf4 27.Rxg4+ Kh8 28.Kd2=; 20…Qe7!? 21.gxf6 Qxf6 22.Qg2 Rae8 23.Ne2 Bf3 24.Bxf3 Qxf3 25.Qxf3 Rxf3 26.Rf1 Rxd3-/+] 21.Bf3 [21.Bg2 Qd7 22.Kf2 f4 23.Be4 Ne5 24.Re1 Rae8 With a strong initiative.] 21…Qe7+ [21…Ne5 22.Be2 Bxe2 23.Kxe2 c4 24.d4 Nd3 25.Nh3 Qe7+ Gives black a good initiative but white is definitely still in the game.] 22.Kf1? [22.Kf2 Is obviously a better square for the king. 22…Rae8 (22…Ne5 23.d4 Nc4 24.Re1 Qf7=/+) 23.Re1 Ne5-/+] 22…Qf7 Probably not the most accurate, since it allows the d3-d4 defense. [22…Ne5 This again is very strong. 23.Re1 Qf7 24.Bg2 f4-/+] 23.Bg2 [The best defense. 23.d4! cxd4 (23…Bxf3 24.Nxf3 Qxd5 25.Kf2 Rae8 26.dxc5 Qxc5+ 27.Qd4=) 24.Qxd4 Ne5 25.Be2 Bxe2+ 26.Nxe2 f4-/+] 23…Rae8 Bringing the last piece into the attack. 24.Rc1? This move is absolutely awful. It does absolutely nothing for white’s position. [24.Re1 f4 25.Rxe8 Rxe8 26.Be4 Bf5 27.Nf3 Bxe4 28.dxe4 Rxe4 29.Kf2 Ne5 30.Nxe5 Rxe5 31.Re1 Rxg5-/+] 24…f4 It makes sense to push this pawn through to open up the heavy pieces on the f file. 25.Be4 f3 This is fine, but more complicated, I prefer Bf5. [25…Bf5! I didn’t even consider this move during the game, but it appears to be very strong. 26.Re1 Bxe4 27.dxe4 Ne5-/+] 26.Nh3 [26.Rh2 Bf5 27.Re1 Bxe4 28.Rxe4 Ne5 29.Nh3 Qxd5-+] 26…f2!

27.Nxf2 Bf3 After this move, black wins back one of his pawns and white’s king remains without any shelter. 28.Rh2 Bxe4 29.dxe4 Rxe4 30.Re1 [30.Kg1 Rf4 31.Re1 Rf5-+] 30…Rxe1+! 31.Qxe1 [31.Kxe1 Ne5 And white can’t stop a fork on f3.] 31…Qxd5 32.Rg2 Nf4? Black is still winning after this move, but black wins on the spot with: [32…Nh4! 33.Rg1 Qd3+ 34.Qe2 Qh3+ 35.Ke1 Nf3+ 36.Kd1 Qf5 And both Qb1 and Nxg1 are threatened.] 33.Rh2 Nd3 34.Qd2 [34.Qe3 Ne5 35.Qe2 Qxa2-+] 34…Qf3 35.Kg1

Since she had only 1 minute left on the clock, I decided to keep the tension. I wasn’t 100% sure about the king in pawn endgame so no reason to risk it in such a dominating position. 35…c4 [35…Nxf2 36.Rxf2 Qxf2+ 37.Qxf2 Rxf2 38.Kxf2 Kf7 39.Kf3 Kg6 40.Kf4 d5 41.Ke5 d4 42.cxd4 cxd4 43.Kxd4 Kxg5 Was an easy win also.] 36.g6 hxg6 37.h7+? Now white doesn’t even have cheapos on g7. [37.Qg5 Nf4 38.Qe7 Nh3+! 39.Kf1 Qd1+ 40.Qe1 Qd3+ 41.Qe2 Qxe2+ 42.Kxe2 Rxf2+ 43.Rxf2 Nxf2-+] 37…Kh8 38.Qh6 Nxf2 39.Rg2 Qd1+ 40.Kh2 Qh1+ 0-1

So I was VERY pleased with this victory. I made a few inaccuracies throughout the game, but overall I played a very decent game. I especially was happy with Bg4! which firmly seizes the initiative.

The 3rd round was where the 3 day and 2 day schedules merged. A few heavy hitters joined the pairing mix, US Champion GM Alexander Shabalov and GM Darmen Sadvakasov. Also, Camp Fluffy member IM James Rizzitano joined the mix. Jim had a winning position against GM Sadvakasov in round 1, up 2 clears pawns with only queen+rook for each of them on the board. Unfortunately for Jim, they were using an analog clock and so they agreed on a draw since Jim only had a couple minutes left.

In the 3rd round, I got a relatively easy pairing (for such a strong section) against NM Lawyer Times.. Even though Lawyer is from Massachusetts, this is the first time him and I ever played. I knew he played the Alekhine Defense, but I wasn’t sure exactly what line he’d play against the exchange variation. Before the round I once again looked at my notes on this opening and was off to the board…

Bournival,Braden (2378) - Times,Lawyer (2194) [B03]
17th Eastern Class Champ. Sturbridge, MA (3), 02.03.2008

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.c4 Nb6 4.d4 d6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Be3 Bg7 8.Rc1 0-0 9.b3 h6!?

An interesting waiting move to see how white plans on developing. 10.g3 This move is probably not best, but it’s certainly playable. The problem is g3 doesn’t fit in so well with the e7-e5 line, but does fit in well against f7-f5. [10.Be2 This move doesn’t fit in so well with the e5 system where the light squared bishop often goes to c4. 10…e5 11.Nf3 This seems like the best idea since now the endgame lines are not so great for white, white should use the extra tempo in middlegame positions. 11…Nc6 12.Qd2 Kh7 13.0-0 Bf5 14.d5+/-; 10.Nf3!? f5 (10…e5 Transposes to 9… e5) 11.c5 f4 12.cxb6 fxe3 13.fxe3 axb6 14.Bd3+/=; 10.Qd2!?] 10…e5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.Qxd8 Rxd8 13.c5 N6d7 14.Bg2 Nc6 15.Nge2 Nd4 Apparently this move is an inaccuracy, but during the game I thought it was good, but black should just play Kf8. [15…Nf6 This is best according to the computer, and is very logical since black improves his knight and prepares to develop the light squared bishop. 16.h3 Bf5 17.0-0 Rd7 18.Rfd1 Bd3 19.Rd2 Rad8 20.Rcd1 And the position is roughly =] 16.Nd5 Nf5 [16…Kf8 17.Nxd4 exd4 18.Bf4 Ne5 19.Kd2+/=] 17.0-0 Nxe3? This move must be a mistake, black has wasted 3 tempi to trade off the knight while white develops his pieces. 18.Nxe3?! Probably an inaccuracy as black has more chances to defend now that he can move his knight on d7. [18.fxe3! I considered this birefly during the game, but just rejected it because it didn’t look quite right, but as it turns out this may be much stronger than 18. Nxe3 as white gets very active fast. 18…Bf8 Best, if f5 instead then: (18…f5 19.g4! Nf6 (19…fxg4 20.Ne7+ Kh7 21.Rcd1! Leaves black defenseless to c5-c6.) 20.Ne7+ Kf7 21.Nxc8 Raxc8 22.gxf5 Bf8 23.fxg6+ Kxg6 24.b4+-) 19.b4 Kg7 20.Rcd1 Rb8 21.Nec3+/-] 18…Rb8? After this move black gets into an awful bind, black needs to move the knight to avoid the pin. [18…Nf8 19.Rfd1 Rxd1+ 20.Rxd1 Ne6 21.Nc4 Rb8 22.Rd5+/= Here white still has excellent winning chances, but atleast black has managed to get his knight out and trade off a set of rooks.] 19.Rfd1

Now black can barely move his pieces. 19…Kf8 20.Nc3 This move is may or may not be the most accurate, but is very logical. White improves his worse minor piece and prepares to bring it to either d5 e4 or b5. [20.c6!? This move may work tactically, but positionally it doesn’t make much sense since black no longer has a weakness on b7. 20…bxc6 21.Rxc6 Here black can barely move his pieces, best is perhaps: 21…Bb7 (21…e4 22.Nc4 Bb7 23.Rc7 Ke7 24.Bh3 f5 25.Nf4+-) 22.Rc7 Bxg2 23.Kxg2 Nf6 24.Rxd8+ Rxd8 25.Rxa7+-; 20.Nc4!? Heading for a5 or d6 immediately is very strong too. 20…Re8 21.Nd6 Re7 22.Bh3 f5 23.g4!+-] 20…a6 Black decides that he needs to stop Nb5, there are some interesting lines with Nb5-a7! [20…Bf6 21.Nb5 a6 22.Na7! For instance is very strong. 22…Ra8 23.Nxc8 Raxc8 24.Bxb7 Rxc5 25.Bxa6+-] 21.Nc4 This move is fine, I now have ideas of Na5 and c5-c6 and also Nd6xc8. [21.Rd6 Is tempting as white increase his clamp on the d7 knight. 21…Re8 (21…Bf6 22.Ncd5 Bg5 23.h4 Bxe3 24.Nxe3 Re8 25.c6 bxc6 26.Bxc6 Re6 27.Rxd7 Bxd7 28.Bxd7+-) 22.c6 bxc6 23.Bxc6 Re6 24.Rxd7 Bxd7 25.Bxd7 Rd6 26.Bh3+-] 21…Bf6 22.b4?! [22.Rd5 Is perhaps more accurate since black can not stop white from winning 2 pieces for a rook, for instance: 22…Be7 23.Rcd1 Now black threatens stuff like Nb6 and Bh3 so black must move the rook. 23…Re8 24.Rxd7 Bxd7 25.Rxd7 Bxc5 26.Bxb7+-] 22…Kg7 Here I felt like I had lost some of my advantage since black can finally move his knight to f8, still though the b7 pawn remains a problem forever. 23.Ne4?! White should still be winning after this move but the task is not quite as easy, better was: [23.Nd5! Bg5 This is why I rejected Nd5. (23…Nf8 24.Nxf6 Rxd1+ 25.Rxd1 Kxf6 26.Rd6+ I had seen this position during the game and realized white just wins a pawn, but was worried about Bg5 instead of 23… Nf8.) 24.f4 exf4 25.h4! This is the move i missed in my calculations. 25…Bf6 (25…f3 26.hxg5 fxg2 27.gxh6+ Kxh6 28.Ne7 Kg7 29.Nb6+-) 26.Nxf6 Kxf6 27.Rd6+ Ke7 28.Re1+ Kf8 29.Nb6 Re8 30.Rxe8+ Kxe8 31.Nxc8 Rxc8 32.Bxb7+-] 23…Be7 24.Ned6 Bxd6 25.Rxd6 Re8 So black has managed to trade off one of white’s strong knights and get out of the pin, but white’s position is still dominant since b7 is weak forever. 26.Rd5!? Re7 27.Na5 [27.Re1!? Seems to win a pawn, but the clamp might not be as strong after this. 27…e4 28.Rxe4 Rxe4 29.Bxe4 Nf6 30.Rd4 Nxe4 31.Rxe4 Be6 32.a3+/- But atleast black can move here.] 27…Nf6 [27…e4! Probably the best chance. 28.c6 Nf6 29.Rd8 bxc6 30.Rxc6 Re8 31.Rxe8 Nxe8 32.a3+/-] 28.Rd8 Now c6 is a big threat. 28…Re8 29.Rxe8 [29.Rxc8 Rexc8 30.Bxb7 Rc7 31.c6 Also seemed extremely promising during the game, but I felt there was no reason to give up the exchange.] 29…Nxe8

30.Re1! Finally white’s positional advantage starts to bear fruits. 30…Be6 31.Bxb7 Kf6 [31…Bxa2 32.Rxe5 Kf6 33.Re4 Nc7 34.Rd4+-] 32.a3 Nc7 33.Rd1 [33.Rxe5 I saw this during the game, but I was getting into a little bit of time pressure and didnt want to allow any counterplay. 33…Rd8 34.Re1 Rd2 And black gets some counterplay, but obviously it’s not enough for 2 pawns.] 33…Nb5 34.c6?! This still wins but its not quite as easy. [34.Bxa6 Nxa3 35.Nc6 Ra8 36.b5 Was perhaps better than the game, I saw this line but thought he might have some stuff with Bc4, but it doesn’t work since: 36…Bc4 37.Bb7!] 34…Nc7 35.a4 Ke7 36.Rb1 Rd8 [36…Bf5! 37.Rc1 Bd3 Was a better defense 38.Rc5 Kd6 39.f3+-] 37.b5 axb5 38.axb5 Bf5 39.Rc1!

Now black loses a piece by force. 39…Nxb5 40.c7 Rd2 41.c8Q Bxc8 42.Rxc8 Nd6 43.Rc7+ Ke6 44.Nc4 Rd1+ 45.Kg2 Rc1? This loses to a nice tactical shot, which I missed, but black is lost anyhow. 46.Bc8+ [46.Bd5+! Kf6 47.Nxd6! Rxc7 48.Ne8+ I saw this pattern during the game, but missed Bd5+.] 46…Nxc8 [46…Kf6 47.Nxd6 Rxc7 48.Ne8+ Wins.] 47.Rxc8 Rd1? This makes it easy, but black is dead anyways. 48.Re8+ Kf6 49.Nxe5 Ra1 50.Ng4+ Kg7 51.Re7 h5 52.Ne3 Ra5 53.h4 Kf6 54.Rb7 Ke6 55.Nc4 Rc5 56.Nd2 Rf5 57.Nf3 Kd5 58.Rb5+ Ke4 59.Ng5+ 1-0

Overall a nice game from start to finish. Once again I made a few inaccuracies throughout the game, but I felt like the quality of my games so far was pretty high.

The next morning I was paried against GM Sergey Kudrin. Chris Bird helped me get a head start on the pairing by figuring it out for me before the pairings officially went up. There were some complicated color things going on, but Chris got it right. I figured he’d probably play the DragonDorf (which is a Dragon and Najdorf hybrid) since I had seen him do that often as of late. I knew Accelerated Dragon and straight up Dragon were possiblities, but I am pretty well prepared in those and wasn’t worrying too much about it. I looked at a few games that Kudrin played in the Dragondorf, and decided on a basic scheme of development, but didn’t have time for any preparation of specific lines.

Bournival,Braden (2378) - Kudrin,Sergey (2611) [B72]
17th Eastern Class Champ. Sturbridge, MA (4), 02.03.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 a6 The Dragondorf, which I had expected before the game. I decided to just play a regular Yugoslav/English Attack setup. 7.f3 b5 [7…Bg7 8.Qd2 Nbd7 Seems like the most popular way to play the Dragondorf.] 8.Qd2 Bb7 Already we are in fairly uncharted waters. 9.g4 The most aggressive way to play the position. [9.a4 This is a rather different way to play the position, which I considered during the game. 9…b4 10.Na2 e5 11.Nb3 (11.Qxb4!? Qc7 12.Nb3 d5 Seems fine for black.) 11…d5 (11…a5 12.Bb5+ Nc6 13.0-0+/-) 12.Bg5! Nbd7 13.exd5 Qb6 14.d6 Bxd6 15.a5 Qc7 16.Nxb4~~; 9.Bd3 Nbd7 10.0-0 Bg7 11.a4 bxa4 12.Nxa4 d5 13.Bh6 0-0 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.exd5 Nxd5 16.c4 N5f6 17.c5 1/2-1/2 Sammour Hasbun,J-Kudrin,S/Sturbridge USA 2007/The Week in Chess 644; 9.0-0-0!?] 9…h5?! This new move is probably an inaccuracy. Black should wait until white has done h2-h4 before doing this, since h2-h4 is not so useful after g4-g5. [9…Bg7 10.0-0-0 h5 (10…Nbd7 11.h4 h5 12.g5 Nh7 Misplaces the knight.) 11.g5 Nfd7 12.a3 Is similar to the game.] 10.g5 Nfd7 11.a3?! After analyzing a few lines, I believe this move is a slight mistake, white can do without a3 in all lines it seems. [11.0-0-0 White can try to do without the a3 move. 11…Bg7 12.f4 Nc5 13.Bg2 Nbd7 (13…0-0 14.e5!; 13…b4 14.Nd5 e6 15.Nf6+ Bxf6 16.gxf6 Nbd7 17.e5 Bxg2 18.Qxg2 d5 19.f5!+-) 14.e5! dxe5 (14…b4 15.Nd5 dxe5 16.Nc6 Bxc6 17.Bxc5 Bxd5 18.Bxd5 Rc8 19.Bxb4+-) 15.Bxb7 Nxb7 16.Nc6 Qc8 17.Na7 Qd8 18.Qg2 Nd6 19.Nc6 Qc8 20.Nd5+-] 11…Bg7 12.f4 0-0 13.0-0-0 Nc5 This scheme of development is very natural, and was what I expected. Nc6 is not really where the knight wants to go, and white has a few ways to slight advantage. [13…Nc6!? 14.Bg2 (14.f5!? Nxd4 15.Bxd4 Ne5 (15…Bxd4 16.Qxd4 gxf5 17.Rg1 Gives white a strong attack) 16.Qf4 With interesting attacking chances. 16…gxf5 17.Rg1 fxe4 18.Nxe4~~) 14…Nxd4 15.Bxd4 Bxd4 16.Qxd4 Qb6 17.Rhe1 With maybe a slight pull for white.] 14.Bg2 Nbd7 15.e5!

The best chance for an advantage, after the a3 inaccuracy on move 11, white can probably only be happy with a small edge. 15…Nb6? This move is a mistake, black should go for: [15…dxe5! 16.Nc6! (16.Bxb7 exd4 17.Bxd4 Nxb7 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Qxd7 Nd6 20.Qh3 Qc7=) 16…Bxc6 17.Bxc6 exf4 18.Bxc5 Nxc5 19.Qxf4 Qb8 20.Qb4 Qe5 21.Bxa8 Qxg5+ 22.Kb1 Rxa8+/=; 15…Bxg2? 16.Qxg2 dxe5 17.Nc6 Qe8 18.Nd5+-] 16.Bxb7 Nc4 17.Qe2 Nxb7 18.e6!

After this move it is clear black is in huge trouble. 18…Rc8? This move is understandable, but black really needs to switch to defense immediately. [18…Qe8! The best defense, after which black has excellent chances of holding the position. 19.Nd5 (19.f5 fxe6) 19…fxe6 20.Nc7 Qf7 21.Nxa8 Rxa8 22.Kb1+/=; 18…Nc5 This move makes a lot of sense since now the knight fights for squares in the center. But white still gets a very strong attack in all lines. 19.f5 fxe6 (19…Qe8 20.Nd5! fxe6? 21.fxg6!+-) 20.fxg6 Nxe3 21.Qxe3 Bxd4 22.Rxd4 Qe8 23.b4 e5 24.Nd5! Ne6 25.Rh4+/-] 19.f5?! Now white’s attack is simply very strong. [19.exf7+! This continuation is much more clear, but it’s hard to find this 19… Qe8! defense OTB. 19…Rxf7 20.f5 Rxf5 21.Nxf5 gxf5 22.Bd4 e5 23.Nd5! exd4 24.Ne7+ Kf8 25.Qe6! Qxe7 26.Qxc8+ Nd8 27.Qxf5+ Kg8+/-] 19…gxf5?! Now black must be lost after this move. [19…Qe8! Once again this is the best defense. 20.exf7+ (20.Nd5 Rc5 21.exf7+ (21.Nxe7+ Qxe7 22.f6 Qc7 23.Bf4 Bh8 24.Qe4 Ne5 25.e7 Re8~~) 21…Qxf7 22.fxg6 Qxd5 23.Qxh5 Rf5 24.Rhe1 Nxb2! 25.Kxb2 Rxc2+! 26.Kxc2 Qa2+ 27.Kc3 Rc5+ 28.Kd3 Qc4+ 29.Kd2 Qa2+ 30.Kd3=) 20…Qxf7 21.Rhf1 Nxa3 22.f6 exf6 23.gxf6 Bxf6 24.Bh6+/-] 20.Rhg1! [20.exf7+ This also wins, but I prefer the move i played in the game as it bring the rook into the game. 20…Rxf7 21.g6 Rf6 22.Bg5 Rxg6 23.Qxh5 Rxg5 (23…Qe8 24.Nxf5 Rf6 25.Nxg7+-) 24.Qxg5 e6 25.Qxg7+! Kxg7 26.Nxe6+ Kf6 27.Nxd8+-] 20…Qe8 This defensive move comes too late, he needed to play it the last couple of moves. [20…Nxe3 21.Qxe3 Bxd4 22.Rxd4 Kg7 23.Rh4 fxe6 24.Rxh5 Rh8 25.Rxh8 Qxh8 26.Qxe6 Re8 27.Qxf5 Rf8 28.Qd5 Nc5 29.Re1+-] 21.Bf4 Now that the bishop is not attacked, white is threatening simply Qxh5, so the following variation seems fairly forced. [21.exf7+ Rxf7 22.g6 Rf6 23.Nd5 Wins material, the move I played in the game wins too, but requires white to find this nice 24th move.; 21.Nxf5 Bxc3 22.exf7+ Rxf7 23.Nh6+ Kg7 24.bxc3+-] 21…Bxd4 22.Rxd4 [22.Qxh5! I didnt even look for this move, which seems to win almost immediately. 22…Bxg1 (22…Bxc3 23.bxc3+-; 22…Bg7 23.Rd3! fxe6 24.g6 Rf6 25.Qh7+ Kf8 26.Bh6+-) 23.Rxg1 Ne5 24.Bxe5 dxe5 25.g6 fxg6 26.Rxg6+ Qxg6 27.Qxg6+ Kh8 28.Nd5 Rfe8 29.Qh6+ Kg8 30.Qg5+ Kh8 31.Nxe7 Rxe7 32.Qxe7+-] 22…fxe6 23.g6 Kg7 24.Bh6+!

Without this move, black is surviving. 24…Kxh6 25.Rh4 Kg7 [25…Rh8? 26.g7 Wins easily.] 26.Rxh5 Rh8 27.Rh7+! The whole point of 24. Bh6+ 27…Rxh7 28.gxh7+ Kf6 [28…Kh8 This move is better, but white wins easily here too. 29.Rg8+ Qxg8 30.hxg8Q+ Rxg8 31.Qxe6 Rg1+ 32.Nd1 Nc5 33.Qxe7+-] 29.Qg2!

This wins on the spot. [29.Ne4+ Ke5 Wasn’t as clear to me.] 29…Qh8 [29…Qf8 30.Qg5+ Ke5 31.Re1+ Ne3 32.Qxe3+ Kf6 33.Qxe6+ Kg5 34.Rg1+ Kh4 35.h8Q+ Qxh8 36.Qxe7+ Kh3 37.Qe3+ Kh4 38.Qg5+ Kh3 39.Qg3#; 29…Qf7 30.Qg5+ Ke5 31.Re1+ Ne3 32.Qxe3+ Kf6 33.Qh6+ Qg6 34.Rxe6+ Kxe6 35.Qxg6+ Kd7 36.Qxf5+ e6 37.Qf7+ Kc6 38.Qxe6+-] 30.Qg5+ Ke5 31.Re1+ Kd4 [31…Ne3 32.Qxe3+ Kf6 33.Qxe6+ Kg5 34.Rg1+ Kf4 35.Nd5+ Kf3 36.Qe3#] 32.Qg1+ Ne3 33.Qxe3+ [33.Qxe3+ Kc4 34.b3#] 1-0

This was only my 2nd victory over a Grandmaster in a tournament game, and boy did it feel great! It wasn’t just that I beat Kudrin, but the way I beat him was particularly impressive. It’s not every day you get a GM’s king on d4 by move 32!

Anyways after this game, I knew I’d have to play GM Shabalov in the last round with the black pieces. After going out to dinner with Rizz and Chris Bird, I headed to the skittles room with my laptop to prepare for Shabalov.. I thought he’d play 1. e4 for sure, and looked over some of my lines in the Caro-Kann Advance Variation.. Unfortuntely it turned out to be a waste of time, as Shabalov opened with 1. d4.. He told me after the game that he decided before the tournament to just alternate every round between 1.e4/1.d4.. If only I had known!

Shabalov,Alexander (2703) - Bournival,Braden (2378) [D15]
17th Eastern Class Champ. Sturbridge, MA (5), 02.03.2008

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.g3 After the game Shabalov told me that he had prepared this move for the World Cup, but never got a chance to use it. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t know any of the theory at this point and spent a lot of time figuring it out. 5…b5 [5…g6 Is the best alternative to the text, which was played by Atalik against Shabalov in 1998.; 5…Bf5 Could also be playable, but I was afraid of falling into a position where white does Ne5/d2xc4 where he has transposed to lines without having to play the weakening a2-a4 move. 6.Bg2 (6.Ne5!?) 6…Nbd7 7.0-0 e6] 6.Bg2 Bb7 7.Ne5 [7.0-0 Nbd7! And white doesn’t have time for Ne5.] 7…a6 [7…Qb6 8.a4 Seemed strong to me during the game.] 8.0-0 e6 9.a4 Be7?

Giving the pawn back without a fight can’t be correct, but during the game I was happy just to get out of the opening with a worse position, instead I should have hunkered down and found a way to hang on to the pawn. [9…Nd5! 10.e4 Nxc3 11.bxc3 Nd7 12.f4 Be7 Seems absolutely fine for black.] 10.axb5 axb5 11.Rxa8 Bxa8 12.Nxb5 cxb5 13.Bxa8 0-0 The following line has been pretty much forced, white gets a slightly better position because of his 2 bishops and strong pawn center. In order for black to survive here, he must somehow turn his queenside majority into a strength. 14.Bg2 Nfd7 15.Nf3 [15.Nc6 Nxc6 16.Bxc6 b4 The exchange of a set of knights probably favors black since every piece trade gets closer to an endgame where the queenside majority can start to matter.] 15…Nb6 16.e4 Nc6 17.Be3 Nb4 18.h4!? Im really unclear on what the point of h4 is. Indeed It’s a useful move to have thrown in, but perhaps white should have just gone

 on with development with Qe2 immediately. [18.Qe2]

18…Nd3?! [18…Qc7 Was Shabalov’s suggestion after the game, which seems better. I need to get my last piece, the rook on f8 into the game. Putting the knight on d3 just makes it vunerable to b3 breaks at this point.] 19.Qd2 Na4? [19…Qc7! Again this move makes the most sense.; 19…Bb4 20.Qc2 f5? This move fails again, this time to a different knight move. 21.Ne5! Nxe5 22.dxe5 fxe4 23.Bxe4 Nd5 24.Bxh7++-; 19…Qa8 20.d5 Bb4 21.Qc2 Qa6 22.dxe6 fxe6~~] 20.b3 After this move I am in big trouble since my position on the queenside is being underminded. 20…Bb4 [20…Nab2!? 21.Rb1 Qa8 22.Qc2 Qa3 23.bxc4 bxc4 24.Bf1 Rc8~~ The position is pretty unclear, I feel like white should be doing well but black is still alive.] 21.Qc2 Nc3 22.Kh2? [22.bxc4 bxc4 23.Ra1!+/- Was much stronger than the text, since this stops Qa5.] 22…f5?

This is the losing move, Shabalov let me off the hook with 22. Kh2, but this move creates too many weaknesses and is too slow. [22…Qa5! 23.bxc4 bxc4 24.Nd2 Qa6 And black is holding the position together.; 22…Qa8!?] 23.bxc4 bxc4 24.Ng5 This move seems to win also, white takes advantage of all the weaknesses black has created, namely e6 and d5. [24.exf5 exf5 25.Ne5 Nxe5 26.dxe5 Is very strong for white according to Rybka.] 24…Qe7? [24…Qd7! A better defense than the text. 25.exf5 exf5 26.Rb1! Nxb1 27.Qxc4+ Kh8 28.Qxd3 Na3 29.Qb3 Bd6 30.Bd5 Qe7 31.Nf7+ Rxf7 32.Bxf7+-] 25.exf5 exf5 26.Bd2! Now black is simply lost. 26…Qe2 27.Kg1! Black can not stop Bf3. 27…h6 28.Bf3 Qe7 29.Bxc3 hxg5 30.Bxb4 [30.Bd5+ Is also winning.] 30…Qxb4 31.Rb1 Qa3 32.Bd5+ Kh7 33.Bxc4 Nf4 Desperation. 34.gxf4 gxh4 35.Qe2 Rf6 36.Qh5+ Rh6 37.Qe8 Black can not stop Bg8+ mating. 1-0

Alex was nice enough to analyze with me after the game, which was certainly not necessary (most GMs don’t offer). After the game a big group of us (Elizabeth Vicary, Alex Shabalov, James Rizzitano, Chris Bird, and Me) went to the bar to have a drink. We were joined about 5 minutes later by famous bloggers Blunderprone and Chess Loser along with Ilya Krasik. This was the first time Ilya and I had seen each other at a chess tournament since the whole blog wars thing went down last summer/fall. We gave each other dirty looks throughout the tournament, but never spoke to each other. Ilya broke the ice and said to me “Boy Brad, you’ve been busy”. I responded to him “Ya, I have”, even though I was not quite sure what he mean’t by it.. Other than that we really didn’t speak. Ilya had a promising start in the expert section with 3/3, but dropped his last 2 games to finish with 3/5.

On the way home I made a quick stop at Fluffy’s Lair to show him my games from the tournament. Dave was happy that Camp Fluffy was so well represented, even though Fluffy himself couldn’t be there.. Jim also finished with 3/5, so we had 2 players in the top 5! Go Camp Fluffy!!

Hey all, I’ve been on a little hiatus from blogging the last couple of weeks. For good or for worse, I’ve started playing a lot of poker again, and it’s been taking up a lot of my time. Anyhow, my team didn’t travel down to the Amateur Team East last weekend because a few of our team members got a nasty stomach flu right before the tournament. I can’t say I was all that disappointed since it gave me some more time to hit the poker tables!

The big story down in Parsippany was this 3 GM team: Izoria, Perelshyteyn, and Dzinzi with a 100 rated player on board 4. A lot of the players were outraged that a team like this was allowed to play. As far as I’m concerned, I really don’t care if this team is allowed to play. Yes it does ruin many teams chances of winning the tournament, but it’s within’ the rules and it’s good to see GMs coming out and playing chess for very little money. I am not sure what their motivation was for playing, but that’s for them to decide. In the end the 3 GM team ended up winning 6-0, and I am pretty sure their board 4 lost every game.

Meanwhile over in Russia, the Aeroflot Open has just ended. Former New Hamsphire Champion Josh Friedel finished the tournament strong with wins in rounds 8 and 9 over 2400+ players. His final score was 5.5/9, or +2, which is pretty good in such a strong section. Unfortunately Josh’s roommate IM David Pruess had a miserable tourney with only 2.5/9. I’m sure they’ll both be happy to get back to the states after being in Russia for what seems like forever.

Linares has been keeping me entertained for the last week. The games have been very interesting, and no one seems to be settling for quick draws. Carlsen just beat Topalov the other day with the offbeat Alekhine’s defense.. Hey I thought only Nakamura played that!!??! Magnus must have played one too many blitz games against Smallville on ICC.. Anyways,  the commentary on ICC’s Chess.FM has been really great. Kudos to the GMs Christiansen, Ronen Har-Zvi and Fedorwicz, you guys are definitely my favorites. I won a 3 month extension to my ICC account in their Trivia Contest a couple of days ago. The question was “How many decisive games were there in Linares last year”. I totally just guessed 18 as quickly as I could and it happened to be right… Yippie!!

The North American FIDE Invitational tournament is going on in Chicago right now. My buddy IM David Vigorito started off a little shaky, but has found his stride winning his last 3 games. He now has 4.5/6. I hope to play a few of these IM Norm tourneys in the coming months. The time control is a little fast though, G/90 with a 30 second increment each move. I’ll definitely have to tie up some loose ends in my openings before I play these things, since it’s absolutely critical you know your openings cold in this time control. You can check out the games from this tournament on the Monroi website, that is if you can actually find where the live games are located.. They just changed their site and it has just about the worst navigation system I’ve ever seen. They must be following in the foot steps of the USCF website… Oh well enough ranting, back to poker!

This year’s Queen City Open was held at the Comfort Inn in Manchester, NH. The turnout was quite small, only 11 players in the Open Section. I remember When I first started playing chess back in 1999, there were always 2 or 3 GMs in the Open section slugging it out. I distinctly remember this game from the 1999 Queen City Open: GM Alexander Wojtkiewicz played against IM Danny Kopec. Kopec sacrificed a piece for a couple pawns and massive complications. Wojo eventually won, but the game was very exciting. I believe both Ivanov and Kudrin were at this tournament too. Maybe one day the NHCA will be able to resurrect the tournament to what it once was.

The top 3 players in this year’s tournament (Vigorito, Me, and Fang) are all members of what I like to call “Camp Fluffy”. I came up with this name while watching UFC on Spike TV. All the fighters have different names for their training camps, and I thought it would be cool to give our group a name. Since most of the time we are studying at David Vigorito’s House (whose handle on ICC is fluffy), I decided the name “Camp Fluffy” was appopriate. The members of Camp Fluffy are currently:

1. IM David Vigorito
2. IM Dean Ippolito
3. IM James Rizzitano
4. IM Joseph Fang
5. FM Braden Bournival

The first round, which is usually uneventful for the top players, turned out to be quite exciting. IM Joe Fang had no problem dispatching of expert Nathan Smith on the black side of a Caro-Kann Main line. It was funny I had actually showed Nathan the line that was played in the game probably about a month ago, and he played it very quickly. Joe seemed to have a little trouble remembering the theory, but eventually he got it right and equalized easily. He had a nice trick in the endgame where he picked up Nathan’s h5 pawn, and after that it was easy.

Meanwhile, I was playing expert Stephen Brudno with the white pieces on board 2. The opening was an Accelerated Dragon and he seemed to not know the theory after about 15 moves, after which I got a slight, but nagging edge. I could have gotten a really big edge at one moment, but missed a really strange tactical idea:

Here I want to play a3 and b4 of course, but after 20. a3 Nxb3, I couldn’t find any way to take advantage of the queen and knight both being loose. If 21. Qd3 then 21… Nxc1 is with tempo. If 21. Bxb6 then 21… Nxd2 22. Rb5 Rac8 and black is fine. But after 20. a3 Nxb3, I have an amazing move 21. Rd1!! This is a strange move, both queens are under attack and instead of moving my queen or taking his, I just move my rook. But after 21. Rd1!!, if he moves his queen he just loses his knight on b3, and if plays Nxd2, then Rxb6 and his knight on d2 is trapped and white just wins a piece.. Strange stuff.. So after 20. a3! his only move is 20… Qd8 but then 21. b4 axb4 22. axb4 Nd7 23. Rc2 and black is tied up and white has a huge edge.

In the game I just played 20. Rc2, and got a nice edge anyways. We ended up trading all the rooks, which was definitely to my benefit because it allows me to push my kingside pawns and also a3 and b4 without the fear of counterplay from the rooks. In the following position I stop all counterplay with:

27. Bb5! Qb6 28. Qc4, and black is completely tied up. Eventually I won a pawn and we reached the following queen endgame:

I had just played Kf3-f4 after he checked me on b3. Here My plan is just to play Kg5-f6-e7 where I can shelter my king and also use my king and queen to try to attack his king! Here he just has to stop Kg5 or else he is lost. The way to do it is 48… Qd1!. The idea is if 49. Kg5 Qh5+ 50. Kf6?? Qh8+! wins the queen on e5. After 48… Qd1! I probably have to play 49. Qc5 with the idea of running my king to the queenside. Instead he played 48… Qb4+? and after 49. Kg5 Qd2+ 50. Kf6 Qf2+ 51. Ke7 Qa7+ 52. d7 Qa3+ 53. Qd6!, black was dead lost and the game finished a few moves later.

So this 1st round encounter was a long one for me, about 5 hours, but atleast I was in control the entire game, always clearly better or winning. The board 1 affair between Sherif Khater and Vigorito turned out to be a marathon game. Dave had a winning position fairly early on (probably around move 20-25). He had 2 minor pieces for Sherif’s rook in an endgame, and it should have been really easy to convert. Instead Dave messed it up and Sherif got lots of counterplay. Eventually after about 6 hours of playing, they reached a position where Dave had a rook+knight vs rook endgame with no pawns. Sherif was in severe time pressure with under 2 minutes, while Dave had about 5 minutes. Sherif defended correctly for a long time (probably 75+ moves), finally he messed up and was mated on the edge of the board. Unfortunately for Sherif, he didn’t have time to keep score so he couldn’t claim the 50 move rule, which I’m sure he had reached at some point.

In the 2nd round I was strangely paired with Vigorito even though we were the #1 and #2 seeds and there were 5 people with 1 point. I didn’t complain so much because I knew after such a long game Dave would be tired and might want a quick draw. Since I had the black pieces, I was fine with that, and after 11 moves Dave offered me a draw which I quickly accepted. Meanwhile Joe won his game against youngster Kevin Ma pretty easily.

The round 3 pairings were Vigorito(1.5)-Fang(2.0) on board 1, and Me(1.5)-Curdo(1.5) on board 2. Usually when Camp Fluffy members play each other, quick draws are common. But this round Dave (fluffy) was out for blood, and didn’t want to waste another game with the white pieces. Joe played a bad line of the Queen’s Gambit Declined, and got in trouble early on, with a very weak pawn on c6 along the open C file. At this point I knew Dave was gonna press for the win, and he managed to beat Joe “pretty clean” - Vigorito.

Meanwhile, I had a miniature against John Curdo on board 2 with a win after only 22 moves. Curdo played the Schliemann Defence, which I had expected and prepared for the night before. He actually improved on the game Brodsky-Kuzmin 1993 with 11… Qd7! (instead of 11… Qd6 which was played previously), after which I didn’t really get much out of the opening.

Here 12. Qxf6 Rg8 gives black an excellent game, since he has threats like Be7, Bg7xd4, and so on. So instead I had to play 12. Qxd7+ Kxd7. Perhaps white is a little bit better because black has some weaknesses, but honestly I think black should be OK in this position. Curdo went wrong in the following position:

Here he played 15… Bh5? and after 16. Nf4! Bf3? (he had to play 16… Bf7 but I’ve gained a lot of time Bh5 looks really stupid) 17. Nxd5!

Talk about geometry! During the game I was thinking about this quote I believe Jeremy Silman said: “Bad development is worse than no development”, here black would love if his rooks were on their original starting squares! It’s kind of a funny position as black is much better developed and all I have is this knight jumping around wreaking havoc, but it turns out here black is just dead. His best chance was to play 17… Rg6 and just accept that he lost a center pawn for no compensation. Instead he played 17… Bxh1 18. Nxf6+ Ke7 19. Nxg8+ Ke6? (19… Kf7 is better but white is just up 2 pawns for nothing after 20. Nh6+) 20. d5+!

The same pattern as before, John played a few more moves before resigning in disgust.

So entering the final round it was Dave and I with 2.5/3, and Fang, Leonard Morrissey, and Erin Dame with 2/3. The pairings were Morrissey(2.0)-Vigorito(2.5), Fang(2.0)-Bournival(2.5), and Dame(2.0)-Curdo(1.5).

As far as these pairings are concerned, I kind of got screwed a little bit. I had to face both Vigorito and Fang (the top 2 players) with black, and I’m the only one Camp Fluffy member who had to face Curdo (even though it was an easy win). Also, Joe would be out for blood because he had to win to get any serious money, and he had the white pieces. I also wanted to win because if I drew, Dave would get clear 1st if he managed to beat Morrissey, who is pretty tough but still 400 points lower than Dave.

Joe played an interesting line of the “Slow Slav” against me, which has only been seen a few times, most notably the game Topalov-Kramnik from their World Championship match in 2006.

Here Joe has just played 8. Rb1!? The plan is actually quite simple, white wants to do 9. c5, and meet b6 with b4 and if a5 then a3. Normally a3 wouldn’t be possible after a5 if the rook was still on a1, because it would be pinned after axb4, which is pretty much the point of 8. Rb1!? So after the standard moves 8… Nbd7 9. c5, i played the inaccurate 9… Qc7?!. In the game Topalov-Kramnik, Kramnik played 9… a5! 10. a3 e5! and got enough counterplay. I knew I had to play actively to break out, but I choked and didn’t do it. Eventually Joe got a clear edge in the following endgame:

Here I was thinking to myself “Man this sucks!, best case scenario is I hold this bad position for a draw and get 2nd place (assuming Vigorito wins), worst case scenario I lose and get virtually nothing. I have absolutely no winning chances here”. In this position, I played the accurate move 22… Bd8! My c6 pawn is really weak, and white’s natural plan is Ba6-b7 and Nb4. Also, if allowed white wants to do Ba5-c7 when the black knight goes to b8 (which it has to eventually to guard c6). So Bd8 accomplishes 2 things, it stops Ba5, and it also makes Nb4 harder to play because then Black has Ba5 pinning the knight. After a few more moves, we reached the following position:

Here Joe played 27. Na6? trading off the knights. The moment he played it, I said to myself “Thank God”, because if he had played 27. Nd3, I would have a very tough time defending. Joe was afraid his bishop might get trapped after 27… Kc7 but 28. Ba8 and it’s impossible to ever win it (he can also play Ba5+ in some positions). After 27. Na6, all of the pressure white has is gone, and we agreed to a draw after 7 or 8 more moves.

Meanwhile on board 1, Dave was able to grind down Len on the black side of the “Slow Slav”, but a different line than Joe and I played. For those who don’t know, the Slow Slav is 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3. It is quite popular nowadays, and easy to play as white even if you don’t know much theory.

So the final standings were:

1st Vigorito(3.5)
2nd Bournival(3.0)
3rd-5th Curdo, Fang, Elmore(2.5)

David Vigorito had commented: “See, the rating system works”, since he was the #1 seed, I was the #2 seed, and Curdo and Fang were the 3rd/4th seeds. John Elmore snuck into 3rd with a nice final round victory over Nathan Smith in a wild game that went back and forth.

I’ll be heading down to the Amateur Team East in a couple of days, when I get back, expect a full report! My team this year is: Me, Josh Bakker, Geoff Collins, and Isaac Saidel Goley. We have a pretty balanced team, and should do really well on boards 3-4. Our team name is very original: “Newburyport Chess Club”. So if you happened to be paired with us down in Parsippany, watch out!

I recently played in the Liberty Bell Open which was held over Martin Luther King Weekend in Philadelphia. IM David Vigorito and I headed down Thursday afternoon to Philly, in what was an uneventful drive down. Unfortunately, we had booked the room a little too late and when we made the reservation they said they only had rooms with 1 King Bed available. Since it was supposed to be Dean Ipoolito, Dave, and I in the room, this was a major concern! Thankfully, my ability to lie paid off as they gave us a room with 2 double beds when I adamantly insisted I had reserved a room with 2 beds. We then asked for a roll-away bed but they refused since it was a “fire hazard”. This is pretty dumb as Dave pointed out, if the hotel is on fire the least of your worries is getting out of your own hotel room! We then spotted the famous Elizabeth Vicary in the hotel lobby, and when we explained they wouldn’t give us a roll-away she immediately said “Yeah because it’s a fire hazard right??” I guess we were the only people that didn’t know this rule!

At first Dave and I were just gonna make poor Dean sleep on the floor, since he hadn’t arrived yet and we had claimed our beds. When Dean arrived we told him to go bribe the housekeeping crew to get a roll-away. He was seriously considering it but housekeeping wasn’t picking up the phone! We finally got the idea of just taking the mattress off one of the beds and using just the box spring as a bed. We appropriately nicknamed the box spring bed “The Plank”, since it felt like u were just sleeping on a slab of wood.

The first round that evening went badly for me, as I lost to a 2165 named Lorand Kis with white. It was the first time I had played into the Marshall Attack as white, I had prepared it about 6 months ago but never had the opportunity to play it until now. There were like 4 major lines in the opening that black could play, and I vividly remembered 3 of them. Of course my opponent picked the line I had trouble remembering, and I spent a lot of time in the opening just remembering my analysis. Finally I was able to recall it, since I remembered the following trick:

If Bxg5? Nxc5! Qc7 Nxb7 Qxb7 Qf3 Rad8 Re5! wins back the piece. I remembered this tactic when preparing this opening so I knew I was on the right track. Unfortunately, he didn’t fall for the trap and played f6. Later I misplayed the middlegame and my king had to go a-runnin’ to the queenside as he took all my kingside pawns. I actually managed to get the following opposite color bishop endgame with rooks where I thought I might have some chances to draw (or even win!):

It turns out the passed pawns are very hard to push through, I messed it up even more by playing Kb4? in the diagram position. I really should have just played c6 straight away, and then attempted to sacrifice the exchange with Re1xe4! This is the only good way to push the pawns through, and I knew this during the game, but I wasted too much time moving my king up the board when it was actually best on c3 where it eyes the d3 pawn. Nevertheless the position above is just lost.

That night Dean and Dave were nice enough to let me sleep on the only normal bed in the room, since I was the only one to lose the first round. Thanks guys! The next morning Dave and I went to get breakfast at Dunkin Donuts which turned into our daily routine. The mornings were REALLY REALLY REALLY cold in Philadelphia that weekend, and I wasn’t smart enough to bring a heavy jacket. Dean was the smart one, since he just had us bring back breakfast while he got more sleep. He almost managed to stay inside the hotel the entire tournament, but on the last day he ventured outside since we had already checked out of the room and he had nothing better to do. Anyways, back to the games.. In round 2 I was paired against an Asian 2175 named Victor Ying. The opening went 1. d4 d5 2. Bg5!?. After having lost the night before I decided it’s time to play as aggressively as I can. The game continued: 2… c5!? 3. dxc5 f6 4. Bh4 e5 5. e4 d4 6. Bc4 Bxc5 7. Bxg8?

This move is absolutely terrible, yes it wins a pawn (for now), but white gives up his best piece and loses a ton of time snatching the pawn. After 7… Rxg8 8. Qh5+ Kf8 9. Qxh7 Qb6 white was already in huge trouble, and I managed to win the game rather easily. So it was nice to get the first win under my belt, even if it was against someone much lower than myself.

In the 3rd Round I played another high expert named Joseph Kruml. The game was uneventful as I managed to get almost nothing out of the opening, and the game just petered out to a draw. That night I was forced to sleep on “The Plank”. Dean requested the normal bed since he was playing Shabalov the next morning (he had 3/3), and wanted a good night’s sleep. The plank wasn’t so bad actually, and with the combination of the a sleeping pill and valium I managed to fall asleep quite easily.

The next morning I was paired with Elizabeth Vicary.. EEEKK. I knew this was a lose-lose situation. If I manage to beat her it’s like “Oh well, you are supposed to beat her she’s only 2100″, if I lose, I will end up on her Blog and everyone will point and laugh at me! Damn this sucks! So instead of playing the Sicilian (which I have just only started playing), I decided to switch it back to my trusty Caro to lessen the chance of losing. I picked a line which I had a lot of experience with: 7.. exd5.

I have had a bunch of games in this line against former New Hampshirite IM Josh Friedel. I also managed to beat NM Max Enkin and IM Bill Paschall with it, and most importantly I have never lost a game in this line. Liz almost changed that as she played really well in the middlegame. She had a small edge for most of the game, and tortured me for a little while. She slipped up for 1 moment and I could have won a pawn, but we both overlooked it. Eventually after a few complications the game was drawn.. *WHEW* atleast I didn’t lose.. Still at this point I was a little upset with my performance since 2/4 against all 2100s is not exactly a great performance for a 2300+ player.

The 5th round went a little bit better for me. I was paired against an expert named David Paulina. The opening was a line in the Accelerated Dragon which I knew very well.. We reached this endgame where I have 2 bishops vs his bishop+knight and tons of space:

This is basically a dream position for me, as I have no losing chances and can torture him forever. He also seemed a bit distracted as the Giants-Packers game was on TV during the game, and I think he was a big Giants fan. Before the game he actually told me he might leave the board a few times to check the game, which was cool with me. Eventually after a carless move I managed to put him in a very nice zugzwang:

Here I played Kc4! and black is in zugzwang. If he moves the knight, I play fxg6 fxg6 Be6 and pick up the g6 pawn. If he moves his king I play fxg6 fxg6 Bc8 and pick up the b pawn. Lastly if he plays gxf5 then after exf5 his H pawn will be too weak. In the game he actually played e7-e6 which just lost even quicker. On a positive note, we finished the game before the Giants-Packers game was over, so we both were able to catch the end of the 4th quarter and overtime.

The next morning Dave and I encountered the “Elevators from Hell” while trying to get breakfast. Our room was on the 10th floor, and the hotel had 22 floors total. What kept on happening was the elevators would go all the way to the top bringing people up, and then on the way down the elevators would fill up before it reached our floor.. After about 4 full elevators and some frustration, we finally figured out that the best way to go down was to actually get an elevator that was on it’s way up, and then just come back down.. Pretty stupid, I can only imagine what the World Open this year will be like since it’s at the same hotel.

That morning I had a marathon game against National Master Timur Aliyev. The opening was a Closed Sicilian (I was black), and he made an interesting pawn sacrifice in the middlegame. After the pawn sacrifice he got a slightly better position, and I had to give the pawn back. Eventually we both got into a little time pressure in a complex position, and I managed to outplay him. My last move before time control was especially good:

Here I played 40… Re2! and after this move it is clear that black has the upper hand. After the forced moves 41. Rxd8 Bxd8 42. Nc6 Bb6 43. d8=Q Bxd8 44. Nxd8 Rxb2 45. Ne6+ Kf6 46. Nxc5 Rxa2 we reached the following position:

I have analyzed this position with the computer and IM Josh Friedel, and it seems as if black is winning here. It is very difficult for him to coordinate his pieces to stop my A pawn. If he gives up his knight for the A pawn, as he eventually did in the game, it turns out to be a technical win. This endgame with rook + H pawn vs bishop + H pawn is actually in Dvortesky’s Endgame Manual. It turns out the only way he can draw that is if he gets his pawn to h5 and bishop to g6, which is impossible. During the game I had remembered a similar endgame occurred at Corus 2008 in the game Radjabov-Van Wely. In that game, it was as if white had a dark squared bishop and pawn on h4 and black has a pawn on h5. This position turned out to be a draw, and Radjabov was able to hold it against Van Wely.

Anyways, after 6 hours and 92 moves, I eventually won this game and had a respectable 4/6. After the game I only had about a half hour before the start of the next game, so I quickly grabbed a sandwich from the hotel concession stand. I didn’t dare go to the sub shop next door, as they turned out to be insanely slow. One night it took them 45 minutes from the time we ordered for them to make a cold sub! We are never going back there, that’s for sure!

In the last round I got a very unfortunate pairing against GM Leonid Yudasin. I was really upset about this since the other people with 4/6 were all 2300s and they were all playing each other! No fair! I was almost resigned to losing the game before it started, but then Vigorito told me “Oh, you could beat him”, which turned out to be a big mistake on his part since we had to drive back to Massachusetts that night. Instead of losing quickly against Yudasin, I fought hard and only lost after 5 hours. I actually had a very good position at one point, but then started to miss play it. I also missed a couple of forced draws later in the game after I was down a pawn.

The drive home was the definition of Hell, especially after having 2 long games. We left Philly at 9:30pm and only got back to Dave’s apartment. at 5am. We both figured that Route 95 North would just continue all the way up the state of New Jersey, but it turns out it loops back South and becomes 2-95 South.. Thankfully Dave was driving, as I was in no condition to drive after having played 11 hours of chess. Nevertheless I did my part by keeping him awake with some funny stories from my childhood/spamming days.

So 4/7 wasn’t my best tournament ever, but I was happy with the way I played in the last few rounds. Even though I lost the last game to Yudasin, I thought I played pretty decent most of the game. My next tournament will be the Queen City Open in my hometown of Manchester, NH, and then after that I’m off to Amateur Team East.. See you there!

So the last couple weeks I’ve been a little bit too busy to update my Blog, and I couldn’t have picked a worse 2 weeks to be busy since there has been so much action!

Fischer died last week the day I was heading down to the Liberty Bell Open in Philadelphia (Report Coming Soon). Before I left I had seen some Fischer comment on ICC about his death, but I figured it was just the random Fischer Fans spewing on about Fischer. It wasn’t until I got down to David Vigorito’s apartment in Massachusetts that I actually realized he had died.

Fischer’s death is definitely a tragedy. He did a lot for chess and the United States. Many players today wouldn’t be playing chess if it wasn’t for him, since he made it popular (or maybe I should say “more popular) in the USA. It’s too bad he didn’t continue playing chess after he became World Champion, as I’m sure we missed out on a lot of great games.

There has been lots of action at Corus the past couple of weeks. Magnus Carlsen is having what seems like a breakthrough tournament. Although the last couple days he has been playing some shaky chess. He was super lucky against Van Wely a couple of days ago in a position where the computer was saying Van Wely was +7 and in 2 time pressure moves Magnus was +4! Today he played some shaky chess today, but did it against the wrong person, World Chamipon Vishy Anand. Anand didn’t allow any of this cheap stuff and converted quite easily.

The big story of the tournament has been Cheparinov’s refusal to shake Short’s hand. In my opinion this is just really bad sportsmanship/gamesmanship, and after this event Cheparinov should never be invited back to Corus. I was really happy that Short kicked his ass when they replayed the game, as Chessbase wrote “There is a god, and he is not Bulgarian!”

The fact that Topalov and Kramnik didn’t shake hands makes a lot more sense to me. They have a bitter rivalry and have specific reasons not to shake each others hands. If you have some specific beef with someone it makes sense to refuse a handshake. But just because Short wrote something in some newspaper or blog that Cheparinov didn’t agree with is a really stupid reason.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, Chessvibes.com has some awesome videos of post mortems and interviews from Corus. I highly suggest Aronian’s post mortem in his game against Radjabov, as it is highly instructive. You can see all of chessvibes.com videos on youtube here.