2

3

President’s Corner Boyd M. Reed

Hello everyone – I

want to start by

announcing our

annual membership

meeting. This is the

time every year

where the members

of the Club come

together to hear

reports on Club issues, as well as elect members to

the Board of Directors.

This year’s meeting is particularly important. There

is much news to report – fortunately, almost all of it

is excellent! We are trending in a consistently

positive direction with both our membership

numbers and our tournament attendance. Our

newsletter has been named Best Club Publication

for 2016 by the Chess Journalists of America – a

well-deserved feather in the cap of our editor, John

Barroso! So far this year, we’ve seen several

tournament regulars break important ratings barriers

at 2000, 2100 and even 2200 (congratulations to

National Masters Franklin Chen and Kevin Carl).

The PCC Annual Membership Meeting will be

Saturday, October 15, 2016 at 2:00pm in the club

meeting room (Suite 209). We strongly encourage

all members to come and participate.

Your participation is especially crucial this year.

Normally, the Board elects five members to three-

year terms every year, with a total of 15 members.

However, this year, we have a total of seven

positions available! Five of them are of the

traditional three-year variety, and two others are

one-year slots that were temporarily filled by Board

action due to prior resignations. So, that’s about

half of the Board that will change this year. We

need your help to fill these seats!

I am also charged with announcing the sad news

that our stalwart Vice President, Steve O’Connor,

will not be running for re-election to the Board this

year. Steve has been invaluable to the Club, both as

an officer and as a regular steward. I am happy to

report that Steve will continue with some of his

steward duties, but he will be sorely missed in Club

governance. If you see Steve, please shake his hand

and thank him for his service – he most certainly

deserves it!

I have also decided not to stand for re-election. At

the Board’s discretion, I will continue running the

Club’s tournaments and food concessions through

the end of 2016. However, we truly need

volunteers to step up, and there isn’t any time like

the present.

So, if you’ve helped at the Club before, and have

the itch to do it again...or if you’ve always thought

about increasing your involvement, but backed

away at the last second…or if you’ve got great

ideas for the Club, and are itching for a chance to

discuss them and try them out…then come to the

meeting on October 15 and throw your hat in the

ring!

Of course, you don’t have to wait for the annual

meeting to help us out! If you’d like to volunteer,

have questions, have comments, or just want to talk

about the Club, please don’t hesitate to contact me

by email at boyd.m.reed@gmail.com. Thanks for

reading!

4

SUMMER LECTURE SERIES by Paul Lucarelli

The Pittsburgh Chess Club Summer Lecture Series

featuring FM Gabriel Petesch concluded recently. It

took place over three consecutive Wednesday nights

beginning June 29th at the club. I was fortunate to

attend the first two parts of Mr. Petesch's lectures, but

had to miss his final lecture do to my work schedule. I

had been covering the club as steward due to club Vice-

President Steve O'connor being out of the country.

Without much advertisement or promotion, the

Pittsburgh Chess Club Summer Lecture Series with FM

Gabriel Petesch turned out to be quite a success. And

although the first night's total attendance amounted to

only six students, including myself, everyone seemed

eager and happy to be there.

On the first night, Mr. Petesch presented a soft-spoken well thought out lecture on endgame-basics. He started with basic King+Pawn Vs. King endings. Showing how to use these known endings as "building-blocks" for understanding more complicated positions. Then he would add more to the position and ask his students to find the best continuation, using the ideas previously covered. Each student had a chess set laid out before them to move pieces and try their best to solve the position. We spent a lot of time on these basic ideas so that they would solidify in our minds. Each student had the opportunity to participate in trying out their own ideas. Mr. Petesch had the patience to go slowly and let the students make mistakes and eventually find the proper continuation. Once everyone had understood the positional ideas, Mr. Petesch would then continue his discussion.

Time passed quickly as it often does when the

mind is engaged in chess activity. Soon, it was 9:30 PM

and some students began to leave. Those of us who had

stayed got to enjoy a brief discussion of

King+Rook+Pawn Vs. King+Rook positions, including

finally the "Lucena position".

Although he did not get a chance to cover

everything that he had hoped to, Mr. Petesch had

presented quite a bit of information and ideas that can be

applied in many circumstances. On the second night, the

topic of discussion was "Openings". Mr. Petesch had

prepared a 14-page booklet to hand out to the attendees.

This time around there were a few new faces in the

audience. I believe the total was nine. Quite a nice

number if you ask me. Of course we would have liked a

few more members there, but nine made the room feel

full without being crowded. Again, everyone had the

chance to participate in the discussion. We had our sets

out as before and now could listen to Mr. Petesch

elucidate on ideas such as "development", "center

control", and "early castling". He spoke of having a

plan, being flexible, and making "efficient" moves.

Helped along by the hand-out Mr. Petesch had

prepared, the lecture moved

quickly and we covered quite a

bit of material. He talked of

how to study the opening and

how you should pick a main

line and also a side line in the

same opening as part of your

repertoire. He also spoke of

how to avoid certain lines if

you find that those positions

are not to your liking. We

covered some ideas in the

Ruy-lopez opening, the

Queens Gambit and the Scotch

opening.

Mr. Petesch was gracious and willing to stay

and continue to speak, even after the appointed "end" of

the lecture, which was to be around 9 o'clock. We were

all grateful for his sharing of his chess wisdom.

On the third and final night of FM Petesch's

lectures, the topic was "Middlegames". As I was unable

to attend this lecture, I don't have much to say about it.

But I will relate what I have heard. Apparently a couple

of "new" people attended; people who had not attended

the previous lectures. I also know that Mr. Petesch had

prepared a couple of hand-outs. One was for the topic of

his lecture "Middlegames". But, the others Mr. Petesch

had prepared as a "bonus" for his students. I will not

relate what information was contained in those, I was

fortunate to get a copy from Mr. Petesch on another day.

All in all, I contend that the 3 part lecture series

given by FM Gabriel Petesch was a great success. I was

very glad and also proud to be club steward for this

event. The club Board of Directors has been working on

developing and scheduling presentations from master

level players for a time now. If these lectures are well

received, then more will be forthcoming, I am sure. Let

me say that "we" the club are blessed with local talent

who are willing to give of themselves to support chess

and the chess club. I would like to thank everyone

involved with, and who participated in, these series of

lectures. "Thank You !" - P.L.

Fide Master

Gabriel Petesch

5

BOOK ‘EM Efim Gogoljubov

By Steve O’Connor

PCC Vice-President

Efim Bogoljubov was a

top tier player in the

first half of the 20th

century. He played for

the World

Championship twice,

losing both matches to

Alekhine.

Efim Dimitrievich

Bogoljubov was born

near Kiev in the village

of Stanislavchik in

1889. His father was the village priest and young Efim

was sent to seminary to follow in his father’s footsteps.

He was there for a period of 11 years so not much is

known about his early life. The first reports of him as a

chess player began to surface in 1908.

In 1911, he tied for first place in the Kiev

championships, and for 9–10th in the Saint Petersburg

(All-Russian Amateur) Tournament, won by Stepan

Levitsky. In 1912, he took second place, behind Karel

Hromadka, in Vilna (Vilnius). In 1913/14, he finished

eighth in Saint Petersburg (All Russian Masters'

Tournament – eighth Russian championship; Alekhine

and Nimzowitsch came joint first).

In July/August 1914, he played in Mannheim tournament

(the 19th DSB Congress), and tied for 8–9th in that

event, which was interrupted by World War I. After the

declaration of war against Russia, eleven "Russian

players" (Alekhine, Bogoljubow, Feodor Bogatyrchuk,

Alexander Flamberg, N. Koppelman, Boris Maliutin,

Ilya Rabinovich, Peter Romanovsky, Peter Petrovich

Saburov, Alexey Selezniev, Samuil Weinstein) from the

Mannheim tournament were interned by Germany. In

September 1914, four of the internees (Alekhine,

Bogatyrchuk, Saburov, and Koppelman) were allowed to

return home via Switzerland. The remaining Russian

internees played eight tournaments, the first held in

Baden-Baden (1914) and all the others in Triberg (1914–

17). Bogoljubow took second place, behind Alexander

Flamberg, in Baden-Baden, and won five times in the

Triberg chess tournament (1914–16). During World War

I, he stayed in Triberg im Schwarzwald, married a local

woman and spent most of the rest of his life in Germany.

After the war, he won many international tournaments;

at Berlin 1919, Stockholm 1919, Stockholm 1920, Kiel

1921, and Pistyan 1922. He tied for 1st–3rd at Karlsbad

1923.

In 1924, Bogoljubow briefly returned to Russia, which

had since become the Soviet Union, and won

consecutive Soviet championships in 1924 and 1925. He

also won at Breslau 1925, and Moscow 1925, ahead of a

field which included Emanuel Lasker and José Raúl

Capablanca.

In 1926, he reemigrated to Germany. He won, ahead of

Akiba Rubinstein that year at Berlin. At Kissingen 1928,

he triumphed (+6 −1 =4) over a field which included

Capablanca, Nimzowitsch and Savielly Tartakower.

Bogoljubov won two matches against Max Euwe (both

5.5–4.5) in 1928 and 1928/29 in Holland. He played

matches for the World Chess Championship twice

against Alekhine, losing 15.5–9.5 in 1929, and 15.5–10.5

in 1934.

He represented Germany at first board in the 4th Chess

Olympiad at Prague 1931, winning the individual silver

medal (+9 −1 =7).

In 1930, he twice tied for 2nd–3rd

; Once with

Nimzowitsch, after Alekhine, in San Remo; then with

Gösta Stoltz, behind Isaac Kashdan, in Stockholm. In

1931, he tied for 1st–2nd in Swinemünde. In 1933, he

won in Bad Pyrmont. In 1935, he won at Bad Nauheim,

and Bad Saarow. He tied for 1st–2nd at Berlin 1935, Bad

Elster 1936, Bad Elster 1937. Bogoljubow won at

Bremen 1937, Bad Elster 1938, and Stuttgart 1939.

During World War II, he lost a match to Euwe (+2 −5

=3) at Krefeld 1941, and drew a mini-match with

Alekhine (+1 −1 =0) at Warsaw 1943. He also played in

numerous tournaments held in Germany throughout the

war. In 1940, he won in Berlin, and tied for 1st–2nd with

Anton Kohler in Kraków/Krynica/ Warsaw. In 1941, he

took 4th in Munich, and took 3rd, in Kraków/Warsaw. In

1942, he took 5th in Salzburg Grandmasters' tournament,

tied for 3rd–5th in Munich, took 3rd in Warsaw /Lublin/

Kraków. In 1943, he took 4th in Salzburg, and tied for

2nd–3rd in Krynica. In 1944, he won, in Radom.

After the war, he lived in West Germany. In 1947, he

6

won in Lüneburg, and Kassel. In 1949 he won in Bad

Pyrmont (3rd West German Championship), and tied for

1st–2nd with Elmārs Zemgalis in Oldenburg. In 1951, he

won in Augsburg, and Saarbrücken.

He was awarded the title International Grandmaster by

FIDE) in 1951. He died of liver cancer in that same year,

suffering the same fate as Mikhail Chigorin.

Bogoljubov was a plump, friendly good natured man,

however, he possessed a boorish sense of humor and

could be crass and insensitive.

At the start of the Zandvoort tournament in 1936, the

organizers had marked each player’s place with his name

and national flag. In 1936, Germany had two flags, one

with the Nazi party being represented by the swastika.

When Bogolyubov complained that the swastika was

missing, the embarrassed committee, to avoid adding it,

decided to display no flags at all.

Years earlier, he was observed showing a game in which

he had obtained a great advantage against Tarrasch. The

German grandmaster, according to some

accounts, became suddenly ill during that game and

thought he was dying. In

fact, he died not long afterward. Bogolyubov took pride

in that encounter calling it “The game that killed Dr.

Tarrasch.”

Bogoljubov was a perennial optimist. When he said that

his game looked like a draw that meant that he really

should have resigned five moves earlier. He is credited

for the phrase “When I’m white I win because I am

white and when I’m black I win because I am

Bogoljubov. When one considers that the name

Bogoljubov means “loved by God” in Russian, it does

not seem all that arrogant; A little self centered maybe,

but not totally arrogant.

Bogolljubov was unappreciated for most of his career. In

his prime, he lived in Germany where he was considered

a Slavic “Untermensch” and the Allies looked at him as

a collaborator. He contributed the Bogo Indian Defense,

a drawish sister to the Nimzo Indian.

We have one book on his games written by Sergei

Soloviov. It is very well written and gives a lot of insight

into his life.

BLITZKREIG

by Rachel Gologorsky

Gologorsky, Rachel Gita (2111)

Han, Joseph (2278) [C45] 2016 Manhattan Open (1), 29.07.2016

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nb3 Bb6

6.Nc3 Nf6 7.Qe2 0–0 8.Bg5 h6

9. Be3 would be a safe move, but I couldn't resist playing

the fun, if not objectively sound 9.h4!?

This sacrifice leads to interesting complications, and

Black has to play very precisely in order to win. It is

surprisingly hard for Black to parry the threats on the

resulting open h-file, giving White a long-term initiative.

9...Nd4 10.Qd2 Nxb3 11.axb3 hxg5 12.hxg5

Black starts out correctly - 12...Ng4 is the best move.

12...Nh7? 13.f4± White threatens to double on the h-file

with g3 (or g4) and Qh2; Black will have to give the

Knight for the g5 pawn. Although material will be even,

White's continued threats on the h-file and Bc4/g6 ideas

will keep Black on edge;

7

12...Ne8?? 13.Qf4+– There's no good way to stop White's

Qh4/Qh2 idea.

13.0–0–0 Bxf2 Understandable -- Black is threatening

...Be3 and ...Bxg5. Black already has material; if he can

get the g5 pawn, he would be able to block the h-file

with a piece and White would have no compensation.

But 13...Nxf2–+ was objectively better. Winning can be

tricky though: 14.Bc4 Nxd1 15.Kxd1 and now Black has

only one winning move: 15...d5!

a) 15...c6? 16.Qf4 d5 17.exd5 Re8 18.d6 Be6 19.Qh4 Qxd6+

20.Nd5! Bg4+ 21.Kc1 Re1+ 22.Rxe1 cxd5 23.Bd3 Qf4+

24.Kb1 g6 25.Rh1 Bd4 26.Qh7+ Kf8 27.Rf1 Qc7 28.Bxg6

Bg7 (28...Be6? 29.Bxf7 Bxf7 30.g6+–) 29.Bxf7 Qxf7

30.Rxf7+ Kxf7 31.g6+ Kf6 32.Qh4+ Kf5 33.Qh7 Kf6

34.Qh4+ =;

b) 15...d6?? seems natural, but it loses immediately:

16.Qf4 threatening Qh4 16...g6 (16...Re8 17.Qxf7#) 17.Nd5

Bd4 18.Nf6+ Bxf6 19.gxf6 Bg4+ 20.Be2 Bxe2+ 21.Kxe2 and

White has a forced mate in 3 on the h-file;

16.Nxd5 c6 17.Qf4 cxd5 18.Bxd5 Be3! 19.Qxe3 (19.Qh4

Bg4+ 20.Ke1 Qa5+ 21.Kf1 Qa1+ –+) 19...Be6 20.Qf4 Bxd5

21.Qh4 Bxe4+ 22.Kc1 f5 and White's threats on the h-file

are finally neutralized.

14.Nd5 c6 15.Be2 cxd5?

15...Ne5–+ was the only winning move. 16.Rdf1 cxd5

17.Rxf2 dxe4 18.Qf4 threatening Qh4 18...Ng6 19.Qg4

threatening Qh5 19...Re8 20.Qh5 Re6 21.Kb1 d5 22.Qh7+

Kf8 23.Rhf1 Qc7 24.Bh5 e3 25.Re2 Qb6 it's key that Black

defends the e-pawn with the Queen - otherwise Bxg6

and Rxe3 wins for White. 26.Ree1 d4 27.Rf3 Bd7 28.Bxg6

Rxg6 29.Qh8+ Ke7 30.Qxa8 White regains material, but

at too high a cost: the attack has been neutralized. Now

Black's advanced e-pawn is decisive.

16.Bxg4 Qb6 Although Black played natural-looking

moves, White already has the advantage. 17.Rh3 —

defending against Black’s …Be3/…Qe3 ideas while

preparing to double on the h-file.

17... g6 18.Qc3

Best was 18.Qxd5+– d6 19.Rdh1 Bd4 20.e5 Bxe5 21.Qxe5

Qg1+ 22.Rxg1 dxe5 23.Rgh1 f5 24.Be2 Kf7 25.Rh7+ Ke6

26.Bc4+ Kd6 27.Rg7+–

The final mistake: 18...d4??

18...f6 would've held: 19.Rdh1 Kf7 20.gxf6 Bd4 21.Rh7+

Ke8 22.Qxc8+ Rxc8 23.Re7+ Kd8 24.Rxd7+ Ke8 25.Re7+

Kd8 26.Rd7+ with a perpetual.

Find the winning move for White.

19.Rh8+!! Kg7 20.Rh7+ Kg8 21.Rh8+ Kg7 22.Rh7+ Kg8 (I

was trying to decide between Qh3 and Rdh1 while

inching closer to move 40.) 23.Qh3

Both moves were winning, but 23.Rdh1! would've forced

mate: 23...f5 24.Qh3 Re8 25.Rxd7 Bxd7 26.Qh8+ Kf7

27.Rh7+ Ke6 28.Qf6#

23...Be3+ 24.Kb1 Bxg5 25.Rh8+ Kg7 26.Qh7+ Kf6 27.Rxf8

Ke5 28.Qxf7

1–0

8

Chess is 99% Tactics by Yisrael Isaacson

Find the best winning line. Some positions may

have a number of winning lines but the answers

given are those that the chess engine Houdini 4

evaluates as best and will have a valuation at least 4

points higher than the next

best.

#1 Black to move Rui -

Xu Xinghua 2016

#2 White to move Vachier-

Lagrave - Batchuluun

Tromsoe Olympiad 2014

#3 White to move

Kristiansen - Rausis

Lyngby 1989

#4 White to move

Mamedov – Koksal

Nakhchivan 2015

#5 White to move Navarra

– Michiels Wijk aan Zee

2015

#6 Black to move Kell –

Borwell Correspondence

1988/90

to contact columnist Yisrael Isaacson email him at

izzmeister4@hotmail.com

9

STORIES FROM THE

BATTLEFRONT by Melih Özbek

Hi everyone! As many of you already know,

studying in the quiet of your house with a cup of

coffee by your side and trying to find the best move

in a tournament hall with the clock ticking are two

entirely different experiences. Some people just

can't handle the pressure, while some feed off of the

constantly pumping adrenaline. I have always

belonged to the latter category, and felt like I am

performing on a stage, especially when people are

watching my games. I can feel the energy of the

room shift with a sacrifice, an attack, an unexpected

shot, a checkmate delivered with two seconds left

on the clock. In this corner, I will be sharing stories

from tournaments, some will be personal, some will

be memories I heard from other people.

I came to the US in 2010 for a PhD in physics. I

had probably played no more than 50 rated

tournament games back in Turkey, between the ages

of 8 to 11, and my tournament experience was

mostly limited to that period. Starting to play in the

Tuesday night tournaments at the Pittsburgh Chess

Club, I quickly realized that most players have

hundreds of games under their belt! It is simply

impossible to compete with experienced players,

and I realized that my chess knowledge was very

spotty in virtually all areas of the game.

I scored 4/6 in the first Tuesday night event,

losing to a master and an expert, despite getting

decent positions against both. My provisional rating

got up to 1784, when I was informed that the PCC

Championship was starting in January 2011.

Apparently people didn't mind the freezing cold,

and the field was full of talented players. Having

won the first game with relative ease, now I was

facing Dr. Vassil Prokhov, whom I have played

many times since then. An experienced, tactically

talented and practical player, I have seen him beat

very strong opposition.

I had the Black pieces in this round, and decided

to play the solid Scheveningen Variation of the

Sicilian against him. What transpired is an

unbelievable experience that will hopefully never be

repeated in my tournament practice!

Vassil Prokhov (1846) - Melih Özbek (1784),

PCC Championship 2011

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6

6.Be3 Be7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 Qc7 9.g4 h6 10.h4 Nc6

11.0-0-0

This is the English attack, when White puts his

bishop on e3 and attempts a pawn storm on the king

side.

11...b5 12.Nxc6 Qxc6 13.Bg2 Bb7 14.g5 Nd7!

Trying to hold on to the h pawn at the cost of

handing over the h file

to White wasn't a good

idea: 14..hxg5?!

15.hxg5 Rxh1 16.Rxh1

Nd7 17.Rh8+ Bf8

18.f4, with a clear

advantage for White.

15.gxh6 gxh6 16.f4

If White just

grabbed the pawn with

16.Bxh6 Ne5, intending 17..Nc4 was my plan, when

my piece activity would provide good compensation

for the pawn deficit.

16..Rc8

Very committal, but playable. I am not going to

castle in this game.

17.Ne2 Nb6 18.b3 Nd7

19.f5 e5 20.Kb1 a5!

Here I come! It is

unclear whose King is

safer, but White has more

space. I don't mind giving

up the a pawn for opening

files against his King.

10

21.Rc1 a4 22.c4 axb3 23.axb3 Ra8

Going back to the newly opened a-file, where the

rook has a better future.

24.Qb2 Rg8 25.Bf3 b4

Very interesting was the Queen sacrifice

25..Qxe4+ 26.Bxe4 Bxe4+ 27.Rc2 Bxh1 with a

very unclear game, although Black seems to have

the upper hand. I didn't see this variation at all.

Playing 25..b4, I avoided counter play down the c-

file for White.

26.Rhg1

We have reached an

unclear middle game,

with chances for both

sides. White is rightly

contesting the open g-

file. Playing 26..Rf8 is

inconsistent, while

handing over the g file

with 26..Rxg1 27.Rxg1

didn't feel right. Therefore, following the chess

goddess Caissa's advice, I played the incredible

26..0-0-0 !??

As you can follow in the rest of this article, I

obtained an attack against his King and checkmated

my opponent on the 41st move. I was very happy

with the result, and how I kept control in a double

edged, crazy Sicilian position. After it ended, I

showed the game in the skittles room to other

people. After a short walk in the snowy, cold

weather, I was proudly putting the moves into my

computer, when my computer wouldn't accept this

move. I tried over and over again, thinking the

software could be broken. After trying many times,

suddenly I stopped, understanding what had

happened. My face turned white. The reason my

computer wouldn't accept castling was because it

was illegal! My "masterpiece" was nothing more

than a masterfully illegal victory! Having moved

the rook to c8 and then back to a8, as all books on

chess rules would say, Black had lost the rights to

castle for the rest of the game. I didn't notice this

during the game, and neither did Prokhov, nor the

friends I showed the game to, after it ended. What

makes this even more dramatic is that if my

opponent realized that the move was impossible,

due to the touch move rule, I would still have to

move my King, having touched it to castle illegally.

The only legal moves are 26..Kd8 and 26..Kf8. It is

easy to see that moving the King to d8 simply hangs

the rook on g8, while 26..Kf8 loses at once to

27.Bxh6+, where Black must lose the g8 rook

anyway.

27.h5 Nc5 28.Bxc5 Qxc5 29.Rcd1 Qe3 30.Bh1

Rg5 31. c5 Bxe4+ 32.Bxe4 Qxe4+ 33.Ka1 Kb7

Black's attack quickly turns out to be irresistible,

not to mention I am up material.

34.Nc1 Ra8+ 35.Na2

Rxg1 36.Rxg1 Qxf5

37.cxd6 Bf6!

With the bishop joining the

attack down the h8-a1

diagonal, there is no

defense.

38.Qg2+ e4+ 39.Kb1 Qe5 40.Nxb4 Ra1+ 41.Kb2

Qb2#

To the best of my

knowledge (!), this is the

only game where I won

despite having played an

illegal move. The USCF

rules say that the illegal

move must be noticed

within 10 moves, when

two minutes will be

added to the opponent's clock and the position

before the illegal move was played will be

reinstated and touch move rules apply, as I

mentioned in my notes to move 26.

So, what (legal) move should I have played? My

engine says that 26..Rxg1 27.Rxg1 Nc5 would give

Black an advantage. Would I have still won is a

tough question to answer, but one thing is clear: If

my opponent had realized that castling wasn't

allowed in that position, he would win my rook on

g8 and the game.

Next Tuesday, I went back to the tournament

hall, with mixed feelings about the game. Would it

be a good idea to let my opponent know about this

incident? I decided not to, and if he is reading this,

after more than 5 years since the game, now is my

chance to apologize that this had to happen.

11

Perhaps inspired by this crazy game, I did very

well in the rest of the tournament. Going into the

last round with 4.5 / 5, I lost the last game, although

having a good, attacking position, and got second

place. I had to wait 4 more years to win my first

PCC Champion title, in 2015. I am proud to say that

all of the moves I played were perfectly legal when

I obtained the title.

MASTER PETESCH EXPLAINS! by Gabriel Petesch

This material was presented in Petesch’s lectures at

the Pittsburgh Chess Club.

WHITE TO MOVE

In this position, white has a few options- let’s say

Rfe1, Rad1, and Nd5 are the three main

possibilities. Of these options, Nd5 is the most

ambitious, and requires the most calculation. The

moves Rfe1 and Rad1 are less ambitious, but they

are safe reliable options. I like to call these “default

moves”, and we’ll go with one of these moves if the

more ambitious Nd5 doesn’t work out.

To see if Nd5 is a good move, we can calculate the

following variation: 1.Nd5 Bf8 2.NxN+ QxN

3.QxQ gxQ 4.Bxf6 Rxe4. At this point, it makes

sense to stop calculating and assess the result. In

the resulting position, we have an endgame with

even material. White has slightly better pawn

structure, but black has a nicely placed rook (on e4),

which will allow him to quickly double rooks on the

e-file (by playing Rae8). Altogether, I wouldn’t go

into this line for white, unless I really want a draw

(and I don’t, because I think white is better in the

starting position).

So now, the question is, do we reject 1.Nd5? And

my answer would be that I think we shouldn’t reject

it yet. If you see an idea that looks strong like

1.Nd5 does, you should try to make it work. This

means we’ll have to go back through the line we

calculated and try to improve some of white’s

moves. But you don’t do this blindly- you need to

examine which moves were forced, and which

moves were unforced. Keep in mind the moves that

were unforced, because these are the moves that we

can improve.

Let’s start with 2.NxN+. Was this move forced?

No, it wasn’t forced, so we can try something else-

let’s try 2.Rfe1 instead. However, after this move

(and any other white move), black can free himself

with 2. … NxN and after 3.exN Qd7, white has

more space, but black doesn’t have any weaknesses

to speak of. So I’m not particularly jazzed about

this for white. Let’s move on down the line to

3.QxQ. Was this move forced? I would argue that

yes, this is forced- if you don’t make this move,

black will play 3. … QxQ immediately, and we’re

left with a completely even game. So next let’s

consider 4.Bxf6. Was this move forced? Definitely

not! A brief analysis shows that you can play

4.Rfe1 instead. This protects the e4 pawn, and now

white has a wildly superior pawn structure. This is

much better for white. So based on this analysis,

we are able to conclude that 1.Nd5 is a good first

move!

The lesson from this example is that you need to be

able to differentiate forced and unforced moves, and

while you’re analyzing, try to make a mental note of

those that are unforced. These are the ones you can

try to improve upon later. I’ve given this problem

to some of my students, and most are not able

assess it correctly- they usually do not go back

through the line and try to change 4.Bxf6. This

problem is very solvable if you identify that 4.Bxf6

is unforced.

12

BLACK TO MOVE

In this position, it makes sense to start calculating

right away. Rxf1+ seems like a very logical option,

so let’s see what happens if black starts with that

move: 1. … RxB+ 2.RxR BxR 3.NxN (not

3.KxB) Bc4. This looks slightly better for black,

but is it clear? I would say the position is not so

clear. Especially, since if we look a few moves

further, we see that white can further confuse the

matter with 4.Nd7+ Ke7 5.Nc5. We could go

further down this line, but it would be wise to stop.

In a game situation, we could waste a ton of time

analyzing deep into the resulting unclear endgame.

Instead, the most practical thing to do would be to

label that line as “unclear”, and move on: we can

analyze more later if we’d like. But now we should

now search for a way to improve black’s play

earlier in the line.

A good technique to find improvements in a line is

to switch the move order of some of the moves in

the line. So, we see that Bxf1 was played on the

second move in the previous line. So let’s switch

the move order, and let’s play it on the first move

instead. We see that the outcome is different: 1. …

BxB 2.RxB (if 2.NxN then 2. … Bh3+ is

immediately decisive) RxR+ 3.KxR NxN, and

black is winning.

The first lesson from this problem is that it is

important to remain flexible: if an idea isn’t working

or if a line is unclear, be willing to start over and

think about something else. The next lesson is that

switching the move order of a line you have already

calculated is very helpful in allowing you to

consider other options, and it’s an easy technique to

use.

YISRAEL ISAACSON’S

TACTICS SOLUTIONS #1 From the 2016 Chinese Championship

+299.9 1……..Ra1+ 2 Ka1 Qa6+ 3. Kb1 Qf1+ 4.

Qe1 Qe1#

#2 Vachier-Lagrave trashes the 2nd

best player in all of

Mongolia

+11.02

1. g4 Ra5 2. Be5+ Re5 3. de5 Ke5 4. Rb4 Kd5 5.

gh5 Bh5 6. Rb4 Kd6

+ 5.39

1. Bg5+ Kf5 2. Rc4 Ra2 3. Rcb4 Ra6 4. Rb1 e3 5.

Be3 Ke4 6. Kf2 Re8

#3 +7.55

1. Re5 Re5 2. Bb4 Rb5 3. a3 d5 4. Qd3 a6 5.

Ke2 h6 6. Rb1 d4

-0.14

1. Qd3 Qb2 2. Rb5 Qf6 3. Ba3 Qa1+ 4. Qb1 Qb1

5. Rb1 Re4

#4 +299.9

1. Bf8 Rf8 2. Rh1 Bh2 3. Rh2 Kg7 4. Be6 Ne7 5.

Re7 Rf7 Kg6 6. Rf7+ Kg6 7. Rfh7 Rd8 8. R2h6#

#5 +299.9

1. Rg7 Be4 2. Rh7 Qh7 3.Be5+ Kg8 4. Qg5+ Bg6

5. Rh7+ Kh7 6. Qe7+ Bf7 7. Qh4+ Kg6 8. g4 Rh8

9.Qf6 Kh7 10. Qg7#

-0.73

1. Be5 Be4 2. f3 Bf3 2. Bg7+ Kg8

#6 -14.75

1…..Rd1 2. Kc2 Rf1 3. Ne6+ Kb6 4. Qf1 Qa2 5.

Kd3 Qb3+ 6. Kd2 Qc3+ 7. Kd1 Qa1+ 8. Kd2 Qf1

-2.08

1…..e5 2. Qh1 e4 3. Nh7 Bc3 4. Ng5 Rd3 5. Nf7

Bf6 6.

13

Pittsburgh Chess Club

membership dues to increase

We are very excited to share the good news - we are

back up to 100 members again! We really

appreciate your support and we are working hard to

provide the best services available for the chess

lovers in Western PA: Tuesday night and weekend

tournaments, social hours for analysis and skittles

all day on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the recently

revamped En Passant chess magazine, free Wi-Fi,

simultaneous exhibitions, lectures and social events

like the annual picnic and cookouts. However, our

financial expenses, especially the rent, have been

steadily going up, and we are having a hard time

finding the resources necessary to cover our costs.

For the last 14 years, we have chosen to keep our

membership dues the same. However, in view of the

financial hardships we have had recently, we are

recommending an increase for the membership dues

by a marginal amount, only 5 dollars, starting in

November. We sincerely hope that you understand

why we have had to make this small adjustment.

Pittsburgh Chess Club Board of Directors

MEMBERS:

Come run for open positions

and vote for new Board

Our Annual Elections will be on October Saturday,

October 15th

at 3:00pm. We will elect new, open

positions for the Board of Directors. All members in

good standing (if overdue you can pay that day) can

vote. All of those who have been members for

longer than 30 days can run for a position. To run

you must make a statement of how you intend to

help the Club in during your term. We need

dynamic, creative, dedicated members to help us

run the Club.

Saturday, October 15th

, 3:00pm, in the Club room.

Grilled burgers and hot dogs and free refreshments

afterwards.

EN PASSANT

WINS

BEST CLUB NEWSLETTER

2016

Our Newsletter has won the Chess Journalists of

America award as best Club Newsletter in the

country. This is a major achievement since the

Newsletter had not won such a prestigious award

since 2006. Under the Editorship of Bill Hoppmann

the newsletter won the award three times (2004,

2005, and 2006) and now, ten years later, we have

won it again.

The second to last page of this edition shows the

winning certificate for members to see and be proud

of!

John Barroso, En Passant Editor, 2015/2016.

2016 ANNUAL CLUB PICNIC

HAPPENED UNDER RAIN!

Our annual picnic, cover photo in edition, happened

mostly under rain. It did rain heavily till about

2:40pm and the rain stayed on and off through the

day. We clustered under the Bartlett Shelter and

started friendly games while the grill was on. Then

the rain stopped and we had enough time for a

Simul, with the boards and pieces still getting a few

drops falling off the tree leaves!

Despite the rain, we have a decent turn out, a lot of

games and plenty of foods.

Special thanks go to Steven Plato who helped with

the truck, Paul Lucarelli and Eric Chornenky helped

with muscles and good humor! Even Master Chen

helped carry chairs! Thanks to all.

John Barroso, Annual Picnic Organizer.

14

UPCOMING PCC

TOURNAMENTS

PLEASE VISIT www.pittsburghcc.org for

TOURNAMENT CROSSTABLES

tournament questions? pccinfo@pittsburghcc.org

Below are the deadlines for materials submission:

EDITION DEADLINE

December 2016 November 14, 2016

March 2017 February 17, 2017

June 2017 May 15, 2017

September 2017 August 18, 2017

All materials in Word.doc files ONLY. No rtf,

pdf, or other formats will be accepted. Files must

have NO formatting (specially no columns).

Materials not published in the immediate En

Passant edition will be placed in line for future, as

early as possible, publication.

All authors are requested to send a face picture

and a one line statement or bio. Authors are responsible for what they write and

responsible for the quality of grammar and

English language.

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