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Alabama Chess
Antics
Inside this issue:
Wu-Markin: the
Jr. High Scholastic
Championships
by Arden Markin
4
Shepherd-Balagee:
Alabama
Scholastic Ch.
game submitted by Jay-El Shepherd II
7
Spring Chess
Puzzles
by Scott Varagona
9
“Problem Solved”
at the Queen of
Hearts
by Scott Varagona
10
A Barnburner at
the BWCC
by Scott Varagona
12
My Immortal
Game by Charles Anthony
17
The Official Publication
of the Alabama Chess
Federation
Round 1 of the 2016 Queen of Hearts tournament
at Auburn University at Montgomery.
(Foreground: Rhodes Peele with White against Sijing Wu.
Left: William Blackman with White against Ken Goodman.)
Spring 2016
Page 2 Alabama Chess Antics
Another successful spring season of Alabama chess is just about over, and it’s time for the Antics to showcase the results. First, Alabama has crowned a new state High School Champion (Jay-El Shepherd II) and Junior High Champion (Arden Markin); congratulations, guys! Both of them have submitted a key game from their scholastic championship tournament. Meanwhile, I annotated an instructive game of mine from the 2016 Queen of Hearts that warns us what happens if Black goes a bit too wild in the Queen’s Gambit Declined. Also, we walk through (or, perhaps, roller coaster through) a fierce battle of mine at the Black Warrior Chess Challenge. Finally, we end this issue with a bang, as Charles Anthony presents the most beautiful game of his chess career—his personal “Immortal Game.” Many, many thanks to all the contributors for this Antics. We are always looking for more people to submit games and articles to help tell the story of chess in Alabama; if you have something you would like to submit, please send it to the Antics Editor via the following email address:
Games and annotations in .pgn format are strongly preferred. Feel free to send in any interesting or instructive game, with or without annotations.
The summer chess season in Alabama is always hopping, with many
tournaments on the horizon—the Vulcan Open, the Quick & Blitz Championships, and the Dual-Rated Championship, to name but a few... I look forward to seeing you there!
Kindest regards, -Scott Varagona
Greetings from the Editor
ACF Membership
Any individual may become a Regular
Member upon the payment of annual dues of
$10.00. Regular members may enter ACF
tournaments and receive special publications or
notices from ACF as they are issued. Any chess
club seeking to become an Affiliate is
required to file the Affiliate Information Form
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dues of $25.00. Benefits of becoming an
affiliate include the right to bid to host ACF-
sanctioned events, such as the Alabama State
Championship, and to receive advertising
through the ACF for your tournaments.
Charles Anthony - Phillip Taylor, 1985.
White to Play. (see p. 18 for the solution)
Page 3 Spring 2016
1 FM BRADLEY J DENTON 2330 26 WILLIAM BLACKMAN 1908
2 SCOTT VARAGONA 2257 27 SHAWN BAULDRY 1894
3 BILL MELVIN 2200 28 CHRISTOPHER TREES 1887
4 MATTHEW V PUCKETT 2155 29 CHARLES A. SMITH 1883
5 STEPHEN ADAMS 2145 30 CHARLES H ANTHONY 1866
6 REX E BLALOCK 2143 31 STEPHEN JOHN PETRANY 1865
7 GERALD A LARSON 2141 32 RHODES PEELE 1860
8 JOSEPH JURJEVICH 2121 33 TYLER C RHODES 1860
9 GORDON JAMALL RANDALL 2102 34 THOMAS H LAWRY 1837
10 STEPHEN JAMES GRAVELING 2087 35 STEVE MENGXI CHEN 1824
11 DANIEL H THOMAS 2085 36 KENNETH W GOODMAN 1812
12 WILL THOMAS STEVENSON 2074 37 KENNETH JIAO 1810
13 JONATHAN RASBERRY 2049 38 TIM BOND 1810
14 JOSHUA THOMAS MCCLELLAN 2038 39 BRIAN MCCORMICK 1803
15 RONNIE NETTLES 2017 40 RAY DOWNS 1800
16 ARDEN QUINLAN MARKIN 2006 41 ABRAHAM KUNIN 1799
17 GEORGE RUSYNIAK 2002 42 LUIS J MORENILLA 1774
18 CHARLES L MEIDINGER 2000 43 KENNETH SLOAN 1765
19 SIJING WU 1976 44 DOUGLAS STROUT 1745
20 ROCHELLE WU 1958 45 DAVID HAYES 1744
21 JEFF TOBIN 1957 46 ADRIAN J MAJERLE 1744
22 ROGER D JOHNSON 1943 47 TRIET MINH VO 1741
23 MILES MELVIN III 1941 48 MARK THOMAS PETERSON 1734
24 TERRENCE W EDINBURGH 1935 49 AHMED MOHAMED AMER 1700
25 KIRK D PETTY 1932 50 PAUL MULQUEEN 1691
Alabama Chess Leaderboard Top 50 Ratings (retrieved from uschess.org on May 16, 2016)
Page 4 Alabama Chess Antics
Sijing Wu - Arden Markin (2022) (1973)
Alabama Jr. High Ch., Round 4 Indian Springs, AL; March 19, 2016
Going into the last round as Black, I had to win this game to clench first due to Sijing’s superior tiebreaks and blitz. With this in mind, I decided to set up a mental trap. This was the first time I tried this in a super important game. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 Entering the Kalashnikov. Personally, I hate having to show everybody my openings. 6.N1c3 a6 7.Na3 Be6 8.Be3
I was pretty sure Sijing would play Be3 sooner or later. I hadn’t quite prepared for 8.Be3 and just tried to transpose into a different line. 8…Rb8
9.Nd5 Bxd5 10.exd5 Nce7 11.c4 f5 12.Qa4+ Qd7 13.Qxd7+ Kxd7 14.0–0–0 Nf6 15.b4 Ng4 Trying to get rid of his bishop pair. 16.h3 A slight mistake allowing me to create and attack a weak e3 pawn. 16...Nxe3 17.fxe3 g6 18.Kb1 Bh6 19.Rd3
Wu-Markin: the Alabama Junior High
Scholastic Championships
By Arden Markin
Left: Jay-El Shepherd II, the 2016 Alabama Scholastic Open
Champion. Right: Arden Markin, the 2016 Alabama Junior
High Champion. (Photo source: www.alabamachess.org.)
Page 5 Spring 2016
At this point, Sijing had a comfortable time advantage and I was beginning to panic. I couldn’t assess the position and played a rather passive move. 19…Rhc8
20.Be2 e4 Another pointless move. 20...f4 was probably much stronger. 21.Rb3 Rf8 22.Rd1 Rbc8 23.Rc3 Bg7 24.Rc2 Bh6 I wanted to push f4 at move 23 but I couldn’t precisely calculate what would happen. So I repeated the position by playing 23...Bg7 and 24...Bh6 to gain time in order to study the position after 25...f4. Right after I played 23...Bg7 I started calculating a 25...f4 push before we even reached the same position again.
25.c5
I had considered this move and was afraid he would play it, preventing me from playing 25...f4; but I let him play it without trying to prevent it, confident that he would overestimate his position and make a blunder on move 27. 25...dxc5 26.Nc4 cxb4
27.Nb6+ Missing 27.d6! with a better position.
I decided to set up a
mental trap...
Page 6 Alabama Chess Antics
27...Kd6 Now I have a decisive advantage. 28.Nxc8+ Rxc8 29.Rxc8 Nxc8 30.Kc2 Bxe3 31.Kb3 Bc5 32.g3 Ne7 33.Rd2 Bf2
I was really proud of myself for finding this move. 34.g4 f4 35.Kxb4
A terrible blunder. Now it’s all over. 35...Be1 36.Kc3 e3 37.Kc2 Bxd2 And Sijing resigned (0–1). Was my 26th move, ...cxb4, a blunder? Yes. Should I have played it? Probably. This move was a bluff: a skill I read about and use, although rarely, in a few desperate games. I thought I had to take a little risk because I thought I needed to win. I calculated 27. Nb6+ when I played 23…Bg7 and was pretty sure he’d play that move because of his style. Sure enough, he quickly played Nb6+ thinking he was winning and I calmly played ...Kd6. Suddenly he stopped moving fast and probably realized his position was worse. All in all, this was probably one of my best games: not because of any brilliant moves but because of my successful bluff, the way I took advantage of Sijing’s mistakes and also what was at stake, the Junior High State Championship. ■
Alabama Junior High Scholastic Championships: Top Performers
Name Rating Score
1. Arden Markin 1950 4.0
2. Sijing Wu 1972 3.0
3. Michael B Guthrie 1614 3.0
4. Zachary Snow II 1313 3.0
5. Joshua Hugh Lin 1336 3.0
Page 7 Spring 2016
Editor’s Note: Congratulations to Jay-El Shepherd II, who become the Alabama Scholastic Open Champion (and Alabama’s new Denker representative) by getting an impressive 4-0 score at this year’s championship. Here is one of Jay-El’s upset victories from the tournament, with a few light comments of my own. Jay-El Shepherd II-Vikhram Balagee
(1422) (1682) AL State Scholastic Ch. (Open), Round 2
Indian Springs, AL; March 19, 2016 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d6 3.Bg2 c5 4.0–0 Nc6 5.d3 e6 6.Nbd2 Be7 7.e4 0–0 8.b3 Rb8 9.Bb2 e5 10.c3 Qc7
11.Nh4 White begins to fight for the initiative. Ng4 12.Nf5 Bxf5 13.exf5 Nf6 14.Ne4 Rbd8 15.d4 Nxe4 16.Bxe4 Bf6?
Better was 16...d5. Now White gets a huge space advantage.
17.d5! Nb8 18.c4 Nd7 19.Kg2 g6 20.g4 Bg7 21.g5 Nb6 22.f6 Bh8 23.Qf3 Nd7 24.Rh1 h6 25.h4 h5
Shepherd-Balagee: the Alabama Scholastic
Open Championships Game submitted by Jay-El Shepherd II
Page 8 Alabama Chess Antics
Black managed to close the kingside for the moment, but now—with the bishop stuck on h8—he is essentially a piece down. White has all the time in the world to prepare the pawn lever f2-f4 or some kind of sacrificial breakthrough on g6 or h5. 26.Qd3 Kh7 27.Rae1 Rde8 28.Qc2 a6 29.Re3 b5 30.Rhe1 Nb6 31.Bd3 b4 32.f4 Qd7 33.f5
White’s attack is crushing.
33...Rg8 34.Qe2 Ref8 35.fxg6+ Rxg6 36.Qxh5+ Kg8 37.Bxg6 fxg6 38.Qxg6+ Bg7 Jay-El eventually used his material advantage to win the game (1–0). When submitting this game to the Antics, Jay-El also had the following comment: “I’d like for it to be noted that Vikhram exhibited great sportsmanship and that he was very supportive of me at the awards ceremony.” It is wonderful to see that Alabama’s scholastic players are generally good sports and display great maturity, both on and off the board. Please join me in congratulating all the winners of the various divisions of this year’s Alabama Scholastic Championships! Also, we look forward to rooting for Alabama’s new Denker Representative (J. Shepherd), Barber Representative (A. Markin), and National Girls Invitation Representative (R. Wu). —Editor ■
Alabama State Scholastic Open Championships: Top Performers
Name Rating Score
1. Jay-El Shepherd II 1426 4.0
2. Kenneth Jiao 1845 3.0
3. Vikhram Balagee 1682 3.0
4. Joel N. Friedman 1274 2.5
5. Steve Chen 1849 2.5
Page 9 Spring 2016
Spring Chess
1. Adams,S – Varagona 2016 Quick & Blitz
Black to Play.
(See page 16 for solutions.)
Puzzles
3. Graveling,S – Varagona
Tom Nard Memorial II
White to Play.
4. Rusyniak,G – Varagona Black Warrior Chess Ch., 2016
Black to Play.
2. Varagona – Sharpe,W MLK Classic, 2016
White to Play.
Page 10 Alabama Chess Antics
Scott Varagona - Tim Bond (2279) (1800) 44th Annual Queen of Hearts, Round 3
Montgomery, AL; February 20, 2016 The following was my best win from this year’s Queen of Hearts. Tim Bond was always a “problem” opponent for me when I was younger, and he held a plus score against me for years and years. It was only in 2015 that I finally managed to pull back into the lead. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 A genuine shock: with Tim, a Grunfeld Defense starting with 2...g6 always used to be automatic. 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 c6 7.Bd3 h6 8.Bh4 Bd6!?
An unusual and unabashedly aggressive way to develop this bishop. It was clear that Tim wasn’t going to play this Queen’s Gambit Declined meekly. 9.Nf3 Qc7 10.Qc2 a6 Black waits to see where White will put his king. Judging from his aggressive stance thus far, if I play 11.0-0, Tim will almost certainly go for a kingside attack starting with 11...g5. However, I believed this idea would backfire on him as Black weakens so many squares in the process. Not to mention, his queenside pieces have yet to be developed. 11.0–0! g5? 12.Bg3 Bxg3 13.fxg3!
“Problem Solved” at the Queen of Hearts By Scott Varagona
Q
Q
Your Editor: this year’s “Queen of Hearts”!?
Page 11 Spring 2016
A strong reply, opening the f-file. If anyone is going to be attacking here, it’s White! 13...c5? After this unfortunate decision, Black’s game quickly goes downhill. With his king still in this center, Black has no business making a move like this. Still, it is already hard to make suggestions for Black. 14.Rae1 c4 15.Bf5 g4 16.Nh4 Qd6 17.Rf2 A flexible move. I might double on the f-file, or on the e-file. Also, I can play e3-e4 without having to worry about the d-pawn dropping with check. 17...Nf8 18.e4 Bxf5 19.Nxf5 White’s attacking pieces are not to be denied. There are many ways to win.
19...Qb6 20.Nxd5 Nxd5 21.exd5+ Kd8 22.Qxc4 Rc8
23.Re8+! Black resigns (1–0). The finish might have been 23...Kxe8 24.Qxc8+ Qd8 25.Nd6+ Ke7 26.Rxf7+, and mate soon. A graphic example of how easily an attack without a proper foundation can backfire. After suffering at the board against Tim for so many years, getting such a nice clean win is certainly a relief. This victory helped me go on to win the 2016 Queen of Hearts with 4.5 points out of 5. Many thanks to our dedicated tournament director, Caesar Lawrence, to our host site AUM, and to all the participants for making the Queen of Hearts a highlight of the Alabama chess circuit, year after year. ■
Page 12 Alabama Chess Antics
This has to be the most interesting game I have been involved in so far this year. My opponent, Jonathan Rasberry, has started to win a number of Alabama tournaments and has displayed some great fighting chess in the last few years. Our last two classical games ended in draws, so it seems both of us entered this game with an uncompromising attitude. In an attempt not to “dehumanize” this very complicated game, filled with emotional ups and downs, I am going to analyze it here without computer assistance. So, please forgive any errors that may slip by me, relax, and enjoy the ride. Scott Varagona — Jonathan Rasberry (2255) (2035)
Black Warrior Chess Ch., Round 3 Tuscaloosa, AL; April 16, 2016
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 Ah, the Slav, my old enemy... I’m always looking for new ways to beat up on this defense. Maybe I have sour feelings towards the Slav because my cruel, seemingly all-powerful chess computer used to play it against me so much when I was a kid. Whatever the reason, I have definitely always wanted to champion the White side.
6.Qc2 b6 7.b3 Bb7 8.Be2
8...dxc4 When Black trades like this, he usually plans to play ...e5 without having to worry about getting an isolated queen pawn after cxd5. 9.bxc4 Bd6 10.0–0 0–0 11.a4 This move plans Bc1–a3, trading off my bad bishop. I didn’t like the look of 11.e4 e5. 11...e5 12.Rd1 Qc7 13.a5?! Stunned that Jonathan never stopped this move by playing ...a5 much earlier, I decided to push on ahead. Still, I
A Barnburner at the
Black Warrior Chess Challenge By Scott Varagona
Page 13 Spring 2016
did not realize how double-edged 13.a5 was when I played it. In hindsight, I would rather play 13.Ba3!, following through with my original plan. 13...exd4 14.exd4 bxa5!
A surprise: I didn’t think Jonathan would compromise his own structure. Yet suddenly it dawns on me that I cannot easily win back the pawn. If 15.Ba3, then ...Bb4 and ...c5. If 15.c5 first, to prevent ...Bb4, I give Black’s pieces the juicy d5-square. After much thought, I decided that I should embrace the unbalanced position after 15.Ba3 Bb4. Maybe someday the b4-bishop would be stranded while all of my pieces start gunning for Black’s kingside. (Spoiler alert: I was wrong! Jonathan and I agreed after the game that I should have played 15.c5.) 15.Ba3? Bb4 16.Qb3 c5 17.d5 Rfe8 18.Bd3 Ne5!
Well, shucks. It looks like only Black gets to attack. My mind kept running through all these variations where Jonathan’s knights and queen swarm around my king very rudely. After a long thought, I could find only one defense that I liked: 19.Nxe5 Qxe5 20.Ne2 The knight is just in time to answer 20...Ng4 with 21.Ng3. 20...Ng4
Jonathan Rasberry: 2015 Alabama Scholastic Open
Champion, chess Expert (2049), and a darn nice guy.
Page 14 Alabama Chess Antics
The natural follow-up. Still, looking at the position after the fact, I wonder if 20...Nxd5!? was stronger, with three pawns and an extremely dangerous attack for the piece. 21.Ng3 I survived the first wave of Black’s attack. Given time, I will kick out Black’s knight with h2-h3, play Bb2, and then White is back in the game. 21...Bc3?
Another move that really threw me off-kilter. It’s interesting how often Jonathan and I see totally different things in the same position. I remember we were on the same team during a “doubles chess” game once, and we lost because we kept taking back each other’s moves! Still, in this case, ...Bc3 is a clear mistake. Jonathan suggested 21...h5 as an alternative.
22.Bxc5! This Exchange sacrifice just has to be right. White activates his dark square bishop, stops 22...Bd4 (since 23.Bxd4 Qxd4 24.Bxh7+ wins), and clears the way for two centralized, connected passed pawns. At least one of Black’s doubled a-pawns should be doomed afterwards too. Suddenly, White can think about (maybe) winning this game.
By the way, I did wonder if the immediate 22.Qxb7 was stronger. 22...Bxa1 23.Bxc5 transposes; however, 22...Bd4, with an explosion about to occur on f2, seemed a little too unpleasant to stomach during the game. My intuition was screaming not to let Black’s bishop get to d4. 22...Bxa1? A relief: I was much more worried about the tricky desperado move 22...Bxd5. I’ve analyzed this position for ages and it still seems unclear what to do, although my gut says White should be doing well. Maybe 23.Rac1 Bb2 24.cxd5 Bxc1 25.Rxc1 Rac8 26.Qc2 is best, but the position is so wild and crazy that I’m sure I’ve missed something. Another
I’m sure I’ve missed
something...
Page 15 Spring 2016
subvariation that boggles the mind is 23.Rac1 Bxg2!? 24.Qxc3 (24.Bd6!? Qf6 is unclear) Qxc5 25.Kxg2 Qxf2+ 26.Kh3. I think White is winning, but who can say? 23.Qxb7 h5 24.h3 h4 25.Nf1 Rac8 The position remains complex, but now I was confident that White had the upper hand. 26.Qb5 Nf6 27.Qxa5 Bc3 28.Qxa7 Ra8 Note that, throughout these last few moves, ...Rxc5 Qxc5 Bd4 was never a good idea thanks to Qxd4!, Bh7+, and Rxd4. 29.Qb7 Reb8 30.Qe7 Ra1
With our time ticking away, Black has to make some tough decisions about how to defend. Keep the queens on? Trade a pair of rooks? To me, it feels like keeping all the rooks on would give Black
better chances to pester White: f2 could become vulnerable if White got careless. Both players were in serious time pressure by now, so don’t expect the remaining moves to be perfect... 31.Rxa1 Qxe7 32.Bxe7 Bxa1 33.d6 Bd4 34.Ne3 Bb6 35.Nf5 Bd8?
A time-trouble error, allowing White to advance his pawns immediately. 36.c5 Ne8 37.c6 Ba5 38.d7 Nf6 39.Bd6 Rd8 40.Bb5 This ended up winning, but easier would have been 40.Ne7+ Kh8 41.Bf5 and c6-c7. 40...Nd5 41.Ne3 Nc7 42.Bxc7 Bxc7 43.Nd5
Page 16 Alabama Chess Antics
Jonathan resigned (1–0) , although I discovered later that after 43...Bb8 44.c7 Bxc7 45.Nxc7 Kf8, winning is not trivial. Somehow, after 46.Nd5 (the natural move, keeping Black’s king at bay), I couldn’t find a knockout blow. After tossing the position around in the back of my mind for a few days, I found a different solution: 46.Na6! (heading for b7) ...Ke7 47.Nc5 Rb8 48.Bc6! Next, Nb7 and promoting will
cost Black his rook, so White will finally win. What a confusing game! Quite an adrenaline rush, too. Thankfully, my last round game was a calm, cozy Caro-Kann that allowed me to regain some of my sanity... In all seriousness, though, I relish such games as this where I can feel my opponent is trying to defeat me. It’s not nearly as much fun when people just curl into a ball and “try not to lose.” Fortunately, many Alabama players (like Jonathan Rasberry) have a great deal of fighting spirit, and they constantly push me to stay in shape and improve my game. I am very grateful to have these players here. (Yes, even when they sometimes beat me…) In the end, I won the 2016 Black Warrior Chess Challenge with 3.5 points out of 4. Jonathan was close behind, winning the rest of his games to take 2nd place (3 points out of 4). Many thanks to Caesar Chess and the Freedom Chess Academy for hosting us. ■
PUZZLE SOLUTIONS:
1. Black wins with 16…Qg1+! 17.Rxg1 Nf2 mate.
2. White played 35.Nxd5! and Black resigned, since 35…cxd5 36.Qxd7! wins.
3. Stephen got the drop on me with 21.Bf3! Bf8 22.Bh5+ Ke7, and now 23.Qg6! would be totally
winning. (In the game, he played 23.Bxe8, but he ended up winning anyway.)
4. The solution is 35…Rxb3+! 36.cxb3 Qd3+! (The point; now White cannot avoid losing his rook
on e1 to a queen fork, and he soon resigned.)
Page 17 Spring 2016
After reading about Adolf Anderssen’s “Immortal Game,” played against Lionel Kieseritzky in London, 1851, I wondered if I would ever play a memorable game such as that. Anderssen sacrificed a bishop, both rooks, and his queen, before checkmating his opponent with three minor pieces. His “Evergreen Game” received similar adulation. How many players have a special name attached to one of their games? This game has not been shared before outside of family members, friends, students and club members in our small town. It is, quite simply, the most perfect game that I have ever been a part of—“My Immortal Game.”
Charles Anthony - Phillip Taylor (1664) (1709)
Fayette Chess Club challenge ladder Fayette, AL; January 3, 1985
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 Our epic battles went back to 1980, when we were founding members of the Fayette Chess Club. The Sicilian Dragon was one of the few openings that I had studied in any depth. My wife had given me the book How to Think Ahead in Chess for our first Christmas together in 1979. The authors, I.A. Horowitz and Fred Reinfeld, recommended the Dragon against e4, and I thought the name “Dragon” was cool, so I played it. My most serious local rival, Phillip, also
played it. Thinking that he would probably play it in our upcoming match, I determined to set a trap for him, since one of the other books in my small library was Winning Chess Traps by Irving Chernev. One trap that I studied against the Dragon had White checkmating Black in relatively short order. Usually, my opponents took me out of my book preparation after a few moves, but I was fairly certain that he would play the Dragon, and I had a new “secret weapon” prepared for him.
6.f4 My innovation. Phillip had never faced this move in our years of play. In the book Chess Openings: Theory and Practice, I.A. Horowitz gives Loewenfisch credit for this aggressive move and he says that it was thought, for a time, to be White’s strongest weapon against the Modern
My Immortal Game By Charles Anthony
Page 18 Alabama Chess Antics
Dragon. 6...Bg7 This was the routine response that I was hoping for. Chernev says that 6...Nc6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5 Nd7 is a satisfactory line for Black. I just knew that the trap had been sprung. It seems to go downhill quickly for Black after this move. 7.e5 dxe5 8.fxe5 Nd5 A reasonable move, but White now wins by force. Horowitz also gives the exact moves for the rest of the actual game in a footnote in his opening book. If 8...Ng4, then 9.Bb5+ Kf8 (if 9...Bd7 or 9...Nd7, 10.Qxg4 wins) 10.Ne6+ wins Black’s queen (Chernev). If 8...Nd7 9.e6 Ne5 10.Bb5+ Nbc6 11.exf7+ Kxf7 12.0–0+ Kamyschov-Averbach, Moscow 1948, with White having better chances (Walter Korn, MCO–12). 9.Bb5+
9...Kf8 9...Kf8 is the only move that avoids loss of material. If 9...Bd7 or 9...Nd7, 10.Nxd5 wins the piece. If 9...Nc6, 10.Nxc6 wins for White. 10.0–0 Bxe5 The threat of e5-e6 is apparently too great. If 10...Nxc3, 11.Ne6+ wins quickly. 11.Bh6+ Kg8 If 11...Bg7, 12.Bxg7+ Kxg7 13.Nxd5 Qxd5 14.Nf5+ winning the Black queen (Chernev). 12.Nxd5 Qxd5 And the beautiful ending just seems to flow from this position!
13.Nf5!
Page 19 Spring 2016
Threatening 14.Qxd5 as well as 14.Nxe7 mate. 13...Qc5+ The only move that counters both threats. 14.Be3 Now the threats are 15.Bxc5 and 15.Qd8 mate! 14...Qc7 Again, Black finds the only move, but it is still mate in two. 15.Nh6+
Black resigns (1–0): after any king move, 16.Rxf7 mate. Never before or since have I played a game in which both players’ over-the-board moves followed exactly not one, but two books. I was just fortunate to be on the winning end this time. But it is a game that I have replayed so many times with my students that I have the moves memorized. It has become, perhaps in my eyes only, “My Immortal Game.” ■
Charles Anthony at the 2016 Black Warrior Chess
Challenge in Tuscaloosa.
Email: Alabama.Chess.Editor
@gmail.com
Upcoming Tournaments See www.alabamachess.org for details on these and other events.
May 28 Vulcan Open Birmingham, AL
June 11 Huntsville Classic Huntsville, AL
June 25 Alabama Quick & Blitz Chess Ch. Birmingham, AL
July 16 Space City Monthly Huntsville, AL
July 23 Alabama Dual-Rated State Ch. Montgomery, AL
August 6 Chris Bond Memorial XII Montgomery, AL
September 2-4 Alabama State Chess Championship Huntsville, AL
ALABAMA
CHESS
ANTICS
Alabama Chess Federation
www.alabamachess.org
President: Neil Dietsch
Vice-President: Charles A. Smith
Secretary Balagee Govindan
Treasurer: Bradley Denton
Scholastic VP: Gerald Larson
Antics Editor: Scott Varagona
Webmaster: Neil Dietsch
Public Relations: Michael Ciamarra
Member Admin: Jonathan Rasberry
Tourn. Reports: Caesar Lawrence
ACF OFFICERS
Please contact
if you are interested in helping with the
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To submit articles, pictures and
games to the Antics, email the
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Games in .pgn format are
strongly preferred.
The Alabama Chess Federation (ACF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit
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state of Alabama. Our goal is to promote chess in this area for the
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All chess diagrams in this issue were produced
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