Watch out, Ray Robson! This Utah boy got game!

THE Chess Connoisseur predicts that IM Ray Robson would obtain his third and final grandmaster norm before this year is over and become USA’s youngest grandmaster ever. Robson, 14 years old, missed the target by a mere half-point in the 2009 SPICE Cup B tournament held recently at Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas.

But don’t look now! It may not take long before Ray gets competition from a Utah kid three years his junior.

Look at these accomplishments:

• Gold Medal Winner North America Youth Championship 2009
• Member of the 1st Place 2009 Utah Championship Team
• 2009 Utah State Quick Chess Champion
• 2009 Utah State Bughouse Champion with partner DamianNash
• 2009 Utah State Chess 960 Champion
• June 2009 Top in the Nation for 10 year olds and Quick Under 13
• 2009 Utah State 5th Grade Elementary Champion
• 2009 Utah State G60 Chess Champion
• Invited as one of 8 youth in the nation to attend the US Chess School to be held in NY in July
• 2009 Utah State Speed Chess Champion (never won by a scholastic K-12 player before)
• 2007 to Present - Teaching Assistant TNT Chess Camp run by the Troff and Treiman Families Top 20 in the Nation for the 2008 Junior Grand Prix
• 2008 Junior Grand Prix Utah Champion December
• 2008 - 2nd Place in the 5th Grade National K-12 tournament in Orlando, Florida
• March 2008 - K-6 Utah State Elementary Blitz Champion
• March 2008 - Utah State 4th Grade Elementary Champion
• 2008 National All American Chess Team
• July 2007 - 1st Place Utah Class B USCF Tournament
• March 2007 - Utah State 3rd Grade Elementary Champion
• 2006-2007 Utah Scholastic Grand Prix Champion (5 tournaments throughout Utah with a perfect 25-0 score)
• March 2006 - Utah State 2nd Grade Elementary Champion
• February 4, 2006 - Won his first USCF rated tournament (first time tournament was ever won by a 2nd Grader)
• 2005-2006 Helped instruct Elk Ridge Middle School Chess Team
• March 2005 - Utah State Elementary First Grade Champion

Remember this name: Kayden William Troff from West Jordan, Utah.

Kayden Troff (Photo: Kayden Troff's album at photobucket.com)

Kayden (born 1998) is acknowledged as a chess prodigy – Utah’s own “Mozart of Chess” — because of his numerous extraordinary chess accomplishments at a very young age.

He is the reigning North American Youth Champion under age 12, winning the Gold Medal in Mazatlan, Mexico as a representative of the USA. At the same event—Kayden’s first international competition—where he won the medal he became a Candidate Master. At eleven he is also the highest rated chess tournament player in the State of Utah. He is the current Utah state champion for all ages of several time controls and chess variants: Game in one hour, Game in 15 minutes (quick chess), Game in 5 minutes (speed chess), Chess960 (Fischer random chess) and Bughouse Chess (partner chess).

In Mazatlan, Kayden and nine other American youth were selected to compete for the USA. The team came away with four gold medals and two bronze medals. By virtue of winning this event, Kayden has earned a right to represent the USA and compete for the gold in the Pan American Youth Championships in Brazil in 2010. Additionally, it is expected that he will be named to represent the USA in the 2010 World Youth Championships in Greece.

Kayden’s current ratings are: FIDE rating 2174, USCF rating = 2186, USCF quick rating = 2180 (#1 in the USA for under age 13) (June and August 2009)

After making it to number one in the nation on the 10 year old list, Kayden turned 11 and moved to number 3 for all 11 year olds. However, he remains number one on the Quick Under 13 list once again!

Kayden is now officially the highest rated active player in the state of Utah on both his standard and quick rating.

Here is an interesting game played by Kayden at the Utah Expert series #2:

Kayden Troff's opponent in this game, Tony Chen, age 15, has been in the top 50 in his age group since he started playing tournaments many years ago.

Tony Chen – Kayden Troff
Expert Series #2, 28.03.2009 Queen’s Pawn [D00]

1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f3 c5 4.e4 e6 5.Be3 cxd4 6.Qxd4 Nc6 7.Bb5 Bd7 8.Bxc6

After 8.Qd2 a6 9.exd5 axb5 10.dxc6 Bxc6 11.Qxd8+ Rxd8, Black is slightly better.

8... bxc6 9.exd5 exd5 10.0–0–0 Be7 11.Bg5 0–0 12.h4?!

On 12.Nge2 Re8, Black has the advantage.

12...Re8 13.g4

If 13.Qd2, then 13... Qb6 is advantageous for Black.

13... c5 14.Qf4?

Better is 14.Qd2 d4 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Ne4, but Black still has a clear, if not winning, advantage (development, two bishops, active pieces and control of open files).

14...d4 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Ne4 Be5 17.Qd2 Qb8!?

This move shows the boy has talent although still raw. Better was 17...Qb6!?, with the same idea without bottling up his a8-rook.

18.Ne2 d3?!

Eager beaver. Still not too late and better was 18... Qb6, with a winning game for Black.

19.cxd3 Bb5 20.f4?

20.Qc2!? may be tried. (See diagram)

20...Bxd3! 21.N4c3 Bxe2 22.Nxe2 Bxb2+!

Identical would be 22… Qxb2+ 23.Qxb2 Bxb2+ 24.Kxb2 Rxe2+.

23.Qxb2 Qxb2+ 24.Kxb2 Rxe2+ 25.Ka1 Re4!

Kayden’s endgame technique, although still needs polishing, is sound. He brought home the point without much difficulty.

26.Rhf1 Rc8 27.Rd7 a5 28.Kb2 c4 29.Kc3 Re3+ 30.Kd2 Rh3 31.Rc1? h6 32.a4 c3+ 33.Ke2 Rc4!

A very efficient finish.

34.Rd3 Re4+ 0–1

Photo from Kayden Troff blogsiteRead more stories about Kayden and his chess exploits from the following:

• Kayden’s story
• Kayden Troff blogsite
• Kayden Troff bio
• A 10-Year-Old Champion, Immersed in the Game
• Utah Boy Named Part of 2008 All-American Chess Team
• 10-year-old wins Utah State Chess Championship
• Young Utah chess player wins North American championship
• Chess tips from Kayden Troff
• 10-year-old making splash in the chess world
• West Jordan boy now top chess player in U.S. for his age

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GM Gawain Jones wins Kiwi Masters

THE George Trundle NZ Masters tournament held at the Auckland Chess Centre in Auckland, New Zealand from Saturday September 26 to Sunday October 4, ended with yet another triumph for England grandmaster Gawain Jones who tallied 7½ points in the 10-player closed event.

It may be recalled that GM Jones, England’s number 6 from the September FIDE rating list, wiped out the opposition at the 32nd Waitakere Licensing Trust Open over the Queen's Birthday weekend (June 6-7). New Zealand is becoming to be a good chess honors hunting ground for Gawain.

Incidentally his girlfriend, Sue Maroroa, is one of Kiwi country's top female players who recently obtained her WIM title from the 2009 Oceania zonal chess championship held in Gold Coast, Australia in late June.

Equal second with six points each are Austalia’s GM Darryl Johansen and IM Stephen Solomon.

Fourth and best New Zealander is event organizer Mike Steadman with 5 points. He inflicted the winner’s lone loss in the second round on the very day New Zealand’s 2009 daylight saving time began. Mike, one among most active Kiwi players and organizers, obtained his FIDE master title from the 2009 Oceania zonal.

Photo shows New Zealand Masters winner GM Gawain Jones receiving his prize from organizer FM Mike Steadman. (Photo: New Zealand Chess)

Steadman, Mike (2252) - Jones, Gawain (2553)
George Trundle NZ Masters 2009 (2), 2009.09.27"
E70 – King’s Indian Defense

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Nge2 Nd7 7. Be3 e5 8. d5 Nd4 9. Nb5 Nxb5 10. cxb5 O-O 11. Ng3 h5 12. Qc2 b6 13. f3 h4 14. Ne2 Nc5 15.Bc4 f5 16. b4 Nd7 17. Bd3 Rf7 18. Rc1 Nf8 19. Qc6 Rb8 20. h3 Bf6 21. Qc2 Bg5 22. Qd2 Nh7 23. a4 Ra8 24. a5 Bd7 25. Nc3 Qf6 26. Ra1 Bf4 27. Bxf4 exf4 28. Rc1 Re8 29. Kd1 bxa5 30. bxa5 Qd4 31. Ra1 Ng5 32. Ra4 Qe5 33. exf5 Bxf5 34. Rxf4 Bxd3 35. Rxf7 Kxf7 36. Qxd3 Qf4 37. Qd2 Qb4 38. Kc2 Nh7 39. Ra1 Nf6 40. Ra4 Qc5 41. Rxh4 Re5 42. Rd4 Qa3 43. f4 Re7 44. Ra4 Qc5 45. Kb2 Qg1 46. Rc4 Qf1 47. Kb3 Qa1 48. a6 Qf1 49. Qd4 Qa1 50. g4 Nd7 51. Rxc7 Nc5+ 52. Rxc5 dxc5 53. Qxc5 Qh1 54. d6 Re1 55. Qxa7+ Kf8 56. Qb8+ Kf7 57. Qc7+ Kf8 58. a7 Re3 59. Qb8+ Kg7 60.a8=Q Qb1+ 61. Kc4 Qd3+ 62. Kc5 Qxc3+ 63. Kb6 Qd4+ 64. Kc7 Qc4+ 65. Qc6 Qxf4 66.Qd7+ Kh6 67. Qh8+ 1-0.

Games of the combined event may be downloaded from here.

A collage of photographs from the event taken and placed in the public domain by Simon Lyall may be found here, here and here.
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Daniel Shen, 14, wins 2009 George Trundle Qualifier

Daniel Shen, smiling winner of Trundle Qualifier (Photo: New Zealand Chess)

THE 2009 George Trundle Qualifier, a 10-player all-play-all tournament, held side-by-side with the 2009 New Zealand Masters, was won by 14-year old Daniel Shen with 6½ points from 9 games. Shen spearheaded Auckland Grammar team as Secondary Champions in the National Interschool Finals held at Palmerston North just before the Qualifier. Shen will see action in the New Zealand Masters next edition.

In solo second place is 51-year old Bruce Wheeler, just one-half point behind the winner. Bruce could have altered the final picture if not for an upset lost to Edward Tanoi in round 3 in the event’s shortest game.

Veteran player and organizer Bennett Hilton, 54 years old, scored 5.5 points to win third place honor. Hilton is the only undefeated player in the event.

WFM Helen Milligan, 47, formerly of Scotland, won his last round game with black against Bob Gibbons that secured for her a fourth-place finish. Milligan is the webmaster of New Zealand Chess website.

Here is the score of the tournament's winner-defining game between Wheeler and Tanoi.

Wheeler, Bruce (2077)—Tanoi, Edward (1967)
George Trundle Qualifier 2009(3), 2009.09.28
C47-Four Knights Opening

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3?! Bc5 5. Nxe5?? (Almost a reflex reaction. With a black bishop at c5 and a knight at c6 White’s knight pseudo-sacrifice followed by the pawn push to d4 was ‘standard play’. The problem was it doesn’t work in conjunction with 4.g3) Nxe5 6. d4 Bxd4! 0-1 (White resigned, realizing that he cannot recapture with 7.Qxd4 because of 7…Nf3+, winning White’s queen. Not possible if only the g-pawn was still in its original square!)

Games of the combined event may be downloaded from here.

A collage of photographs from the event taken and placed in the public domain by Simon Lyall may be found here, here and here.
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Uzbek GM Filippov snares PGMA Cup in Manila

GM Anton Filippov of Uzbekistan emerged as the champion in the fourth President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup international chess championship which came to a fitting end at the Duty Free Fiesta Mall in Paranaque City.

(The event which took place from September 24 to 30 was suspended for a day after 4 rounds of play because of flooding in Metro Manila caused by tropical storm Katsena, locally named Ondoy. As a result a number of players lost by way of forfeit.

The devastating effect of tropical storm Katsena in the Philippines and Vietnam can be seen here. -TCC)

Filippov, seeded third with an ELO of 2595, subdued IM Richard Bitoon of the Philippines in the eighth and penultimate round late Tuesday and drew with top seed GM Mikhail Mchedlishvili of Georgia in the final round to finish with a nine-round aggregate of 6.5 points on four wins and five draws.

Four other players – GMs Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam, Ehsan Ghaemmaghami of Iran, Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia and Gopal Nayanan of India – also finished with similar scores of 6.5 points but lost the title to Filippov in the tiebreak.

Truong Son, who held the solo lead after the seventh round, settled for back-to-back draws with Mchedlishvili and Gagunashvili in the eighth and ninth rounds.

Ghaemmaghami, the lone Iranian player in the field, made the biggest jump when he defeated GM John Paul Gomez of the Philippines in the eighth round and GM Tigran Kotanjian of Armenia in the ninth round to finish in a tie for first place.

Gagunashvili beat GM Meng Kong Wong of Singapore and halved the point with Nguyen, while Nayanan drew with Kotanjian in the eighth round and trounced GM Darwin Laylo of the Philippines in the final round.

The five players, however, earned US$4,000 each out of the total prize fund of US$40,000 in the tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and supported by the Department of Tourism, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, PAGCOR, Duty Free, Local Water Utilities Administration and Crown Regency Hotel.

NCFP president Prospero “Butch” Pichay awarded the trophies and cash prizes, assisted by NCFP executive/events director Willie Abalos and chief arbiter Toti Abundo.

Mchedlishvili, the highest-rated player here with an ELO of 2613, finished in sixth place with six points in a tie with GMs Rogelio Antonio, Jr. and Oliver Dimakiling.

Antonio, one of three players who will represent the country in the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia next month, drew with GM Anuar Ismagambetov of Kazakhstan in the eighth round and then nipped compatriot GM-elect Ronald Dableo in the final round.

Dimakiling drew with Dableo in the eighth round and won over No. 16 Pyotr Kostenko of Kazakhstan in the final round to join Antonio as the highest-placed Filipino players.

Mchedlishvili, Antonio and Dimakiling pocketed US$1,333 each.

Nine other players, led by Filipino GMs Jayson Gonzales, Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor and Gomez and IM Richard Bitoon, finished in ninth to 17th places with 5.5 points. They received US$933.

Also in the group are Kotanjian, Ismagambetov, GM Das Neelotpal of India and Emmanuel Senador.

A big letdown was Bitoon, who managed only half point in the last two rounds. After the loss to Filippov, he drew with Senador in the final round.

Laylo, the reigning Asian Zone 3.3 champion, and Dableo, the country’s newest GM, led four other players with five points.

(Dableo was joint leader with GM Wong Meng Kong after 4 rounds but forfeited their 5th round match for having arrived late due to transport problem caused by typhon Ondoy. -TCC)

Defending champion, GM Eugene Torre, who won the title in a three-way tie last year, withdrew after the seventh round.

The 11th-seeded Filipino GM finished with only 2.5 points on five draws and two losses to No. 28 seed David Elorta in the sixth round and No. 36 FM Haridas Pascua in the seventh round. –By: Ed Andaya

Source: http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php?issue=2009-10-01&sec=7&aid=104066
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Curtain’s down in 2009 SPICE Cup

THE most popular chess tournament in the USA over the past two weeks—the 2009 SPICE Cup—has ended with resounding success.

For the first time in its three staging, the SPICE Cup organizers decided to have a second group of 10 participants with title norms are stake. True to expectations it turned to be an exciting one which almost eclipsed the Category 16 first group consisting of very strong juniors and last year’s champion.

The tournament, dubbed as a chess festival, culminated with a traditional farewell party and blitz tournament in the home of organizer Susan Polgar.

Two titles in SPICE Cup B


IM Ben Finegold achieved his third and final GM norm in the penultimate round while FM Daniel Rensch got his long overdue international master title with a draw in the last round against IM Ray Robson, himself seeking his 3rd and final GM norm to become the youngest ever American grandmaster.

Finegold, who led the B-tournament throughout, could have been the outright winner with a draw in the last round against Eugene Perelhsteyn. The euphoria of completing his title quest, however, caused him to lower his guard and enabled Perelhsteyn and GM Vinay Bhat to catch up with him.

A three-way tie resulted among Perelhsteyn, Bhat and Finegold, all of USA. Officially Perelhsteyn is declared tournament winner for obtaining the highest tiebreak score among them.

IM Ray Robson's failure to win his last round game halted him temporarily from achieving his aim of becoming America's youngest grandmaster ever. A win could have achieved for him not only that distinction but also a piece of the tournament top honors via a 4-way tie. As fate would have it, that was not to be. No, not yet! Robson can still achieve the honor from one of his next tournaments before the year is over.

The excitement generated by the fighting spirit displayed by the protagonists in the B group ensures that it will become a permanent fixture of SPICE Cup tournaments in the years to come.

Kuzubov wins blitz playoff, takes SPICE Cup A title


A three-way tie for first resulted in the SPICE Cup A-group among Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukraine), Dmitry Andreikin (Russia) and Rauf Mamedov (Azerbaijan), with 5.5 points apiece. Another three-way tie for last place ar0se among Jon Ludvig Hammer (Norway), Wesley So (Philippines) and Varuzhan Akobian (USA), each with 4.5 points. These results were an indicator of the equality in relative playing strength of the competitors.

The top three in Group A—Kuzubov, Andreikin and Mamedov—all scored plus one undefeated while the remaining three with minus one. Wesley lost one game against Hammer in round 2 and drew 9 games. Akobian got his only win from Hammer in the penultimate round against 2 losses. Hammer has the most number of wins with 2 and, consequently, with most number of losses 3.

The double round robin blitz playoff that ensued in determining the tournament winner provided some exciting moments in the otherwise ‘lackluster’ closed event in terms of sporting results (decisive games total of 20% only). Actually the playoff was not a double-round robin but rather a single round robin of two-game mini-matches.

The first round witnessed Kuzubov split his mini-match with Mamedov, 1-1. Andreikin trounced Mamedov in the second round, 1.5-0.5.

Standings going to the third and final round: Andreikin, 1.5 out 2; Mamedov, 1.5/4; and Kuzubov, 1/2.

The third and final round between Kuzubov and Andreikin started with a draw in the first game. Andreikin still leading with 2/3 and Kuzubov 1.5/3. The stage was set for a very exciting second and final game between the two. Andreikin needed only a draw to bag the title and the trophy. .

The final game saw Kuzubov edged out Andreikin who contrived to lose the endgame despite being both exchange up (rook against bishop) and one minute ahead on the clock! In fact Dmitry was the one who even lost on time!

The diagram shows the position after Kuzubov’s (White) 30th move. Andreikin erred with 30… Rb8??(30… Kf8 would lead to a draw with precise play and the SPICE Cup would be his).

White concluded the game adroitly with 31.Kf3 Kf8(One move too late!)32.Ke4 Ke7 33.Kd5 Rd8 34.Kc5 Rb8 35.a4 Rd8 36.h4 f6 37.Bf3 Kd7 38.Kb6 Kd6 39.Be4 Re8 40.Bf3 Rd8 41.h5 gxh5 42.Bxh5 Rf8 43.Bg4 Rb8 44.Bf5 h5 45.f3 h4 46.Bg4!(Zugzwang) Rxb7 47.Kxb7 Kc5 48.Kc7 Kb4 1-0

Despite the high drawing percentage (the most prevalent result in closed events among players of relatively equal strength) most of the games were well fought out.

The Philippines number one player Wesley So, second seed in the event, failed to win a game to the disappointment of his many followers. The number of hits in Susan Polgar's blog showed his games and results were the most sought after by internet users.
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Australasian Chess latest issue now out

THE latest issue (September-October) of the bi-monthly Australasian Chess magazine has been delivered to subscribers two weeks ahead of schedule. The current issue features in its cover the group photo of the participants to the Oceania Zone chess developmental meeting held in Gold Coast, Australia.

The 2009 Oceania zonal was the main story of the issue which was comprehensively covered by no other than the tournament chief arbiter himself, Dr. Charles Zworestine.

The magazine is published six times a year by Australian Chess Enterprises and is competently edited by international organizer FM Brian Jones, who is a good friend of The Chess Connoisseur. Among its regular features include columns on games, problems, combinations, and book reviews in addition to news brief from events around the world, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

With 72 quality pages to digest in each issue, the cost of sixty six Australian dollars per year for Oceania subscribers is a real bargain. For America and Asia the cost is AUD 77.00; for Europe and the rest of the world it is AUD 82.50. However one looks at it still it is cheaper compared to other international chess magazines. Its four center pages consist of photographs, mostly colored.

Australasian Chess magazine can be obtained from

Australian Chess Enterprises
P.O. Box 370 Riverstone
NSW 2765 Australia

The reader may contact the publisher by email at info@chessaustralia.com.au, or visit its website at http://www.chessaustralia.com.au/.

Subscribe now!
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A tribute to Alfredo B. Base, Filipino, US chess master

WHAT he never achieved in the Philippines, Alfredo B. Base obtained in the United States—the US senior chess master title—when he immigrated there in early 1990s. Earlier he used to be a regular participant in most Metro Manila tournaments and had swapped chess pieces with the likes of FM Fernie Donguines, national master Antonio Calvo, and other local masters playing for the Philippine Army in the 1980s.

Base has a solid style of play, preferring slow build up over direct attack on his opponent’s king. As such his play tended to be passive and boring but this suited him just fine as he could take advantage of his opponent’s impatience, over-confidence or lapses.

As White he always opened with 1.e4, apparently an open game, but most often continued with the King’s Indian Attack setup. With Black his bread and butter was the French Defense. With both colors most of his games featured pawns on white squares usually in stonewall formation. This proved successful in open chess competitions in the United States where he achieved the US senior chess master title.

Among the tournaments he had taken part with in the United States include open events in Chicago (1991 and 1996), Las Vegas (1994), Memorial Day in Long Beach (1994), and Continental in Los Angeles (2000), the 1995 National open in Las Vegas and the Oak Park Master Challenge in 1996.

Reportedly the highest international rating he obtained was 2310; his current FIDE rating is 2222 as his FIDE profile shows.

His peak US Chess Federation rating was 2375 between 1996 and 1997, the period of his immense chess activities. However when his USCF rating took a deep plunge from 2310 (approx) in 1999 to 2200 in the beginning of the 21st century, his tournament participation became sporadic while his rating leveled at 2203.

The news of his death was learned by The Chess Connoisseur from the Philippine Boxing website (its webmaster, it seems, is a chess enthusiast). The full article follows:

Base, US Chess Master, Writes 30

LOS ANGELES—Alfredo Base, a former member of the Philippine Army chess team, passed away last August 19. A US Chess Master residing in Los Angeles, Base was 47.

Base, a strong master who once held an Elo of 2310, teamed up with National Masters Fernie Donguines and Antonio Calvo to form a solid team for the Philippine Army before migrating to the United States where he reportedly did not have a family.

Nobody has claimed his remains, which is still connected to a life support system in order to preserve his organs. His has lost brain impulses.

His body remains at the ICU Room 6328 of Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Los Angeles. Reports indicate that he is a native of Butuan City and a search for relatives has been conducted by friends. Should nobody claim the remains, the life support system will be unplugged by Saturday afternoon, (early Sunday morning in Manila), and legal interment proceedings will be administered by the hospital.

Philippine relatives can get in touch with Base’s church mate Jennie Irving, telephone no. 310 735 7745, or email Irving_jean@yahoo.com. Kaiser Permanente Hospital is located at 1526 N. Edgemont St., Los Angeles, CA 90027, telephone number 323 783 4011.

Source: PhilBoxing.com, Sat, 22 Aug 2009

Our readers may replay some of Base’s won games in our ChessViewer. Note: You must have JRE (Java Runtime Environment) installed in your computer to view and replay the games.

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Postings from the Closet Grandmaster

The July 09, 2009 posting of the Closet Grandmaster features the losing effort of Joselito Marcos in the fourth round of the 2009 Gold Coast Open that took place immediately after the zonal. Marcos is one of PNG's two representatives to the 2009 Oceania Zonal that immediately preceded the GC Open.

Here is the posting:

"The Joselito Hustle

The PNG's Joselito Marcos dropped in and posted an analysis of the last few moments of his game against Marc Vlietstra from the Gold Coast Open. Here's the starting position.

... Joselito takes over from here.

2009 Gold Coast Open
Vlietstra, Marc
Marcos, Joselito

41. bxc3 Bh3!

(Black only has 23 seconds left on his clock at this juncture; White still has more than 3 minutes.)

42. Qe7+ Ka8 43. Qg5 Rb1+

(An alternative was 43... Rb2. During the postmortem Vlietstra tried 44. Rg1? Bxg2+ 45. Rxg2 Rb1+ 46. Nf1 Rxf1+ 47. Kh2 Qh7+ 48. Kg3 and now with a clear head, and possibly more time, Black could win with 48... Rf8!. Correct was 44.Qg8+.)

44. Rxb1 Qxb1+ 45. Nf1 Qxf1+ 46. Kh2 Bxg2 47. Qxg2 Qf4+ 48. Kh3 Qh6+ 49. Kg3 Qg5+?

(The check on the WRONG SQUARE. In his excitement Black missed 49... Qg6+!! 50. Kf2 Qc2+ 51. Kg1 Qb1+ 52. Kh2 Qh7+ 53. Qh3 Qc2+ 54. Kg1 Qb1+ 55. Kh2 Qc2+ 56. Kg1 Qb1+ 57. Kh2 Qc2+ is equal)

50. Kf2??

(White panicked as he was becoming short of time while Black was gaining his. 50. Kf3! -- a shame that White overlooked this excellent chance -- Qf5+ 51. Ke3 wins)

50... Qd2+ 51. Kg1 Qd1+??

(Again a check on the wrong squate. With this move Black loses his second and final opportunity to even things up. For Black not to lose all he has to do is keep on checking on the long diagonal b1-h7. Better was 51... Qe1+! or 51... Qc1+! Check this out with your silicon friends.)

52. Kh2 Qh5+ 53. Qh3 Qe2+ 54. Kg3 Qe3+ 55. Kg4 Qg1+ 56. Kf5 Qf2+ 57. Ke6 Qxa2

(The game dragged on with Black stripped off his d pawn and White his c and d pawns but was able to promote his e pawn to a queen. The succeeding desperate checks by the black queen was deptly evaded by White to score the win.)

58. Kxd5 Qb3 59. Qc8+ Ka7 60. Qc7+ Ka6 61. Qc6+ Ka7 62. Qd7+ Ka6 63. e6 Qxc3 64. e7 Qf3+ 65. Kd6 Qf4+ 66. Kc6 Qe4+ 67. Kd6 Qxd4+ 68. Kc7 Qb6+ 69. Kc8 Qc5+ 70. Qc7 Qf5+ 71. Kd8 c3 72. e8=Q Qd5+ 73. Qcd7 Qg5+ 74. Kc7 Qf4+ 75. Kc8 1-0"

In an earlier posting dated June 29 (GM Jones wins GC Open) the Closet Grandmaster cited the results of the 2009 Gold Coast Open won by English GM Gawain Jones. After featuring a nicely played game of his own, he mentioned this incident that made impressions on him and the spectators:

"...It was a fun tournament overall and there were quite a few notable moments. ...there is my new mate, the PNG's Joselito Marcos. Like a typical Pinoy this man played to hustle. Down to his last few seconds, he somehow moved quick enough, eventually raising his time back to over a minute, and created enough confusion OTB that his opponent, Vlietstra, was forced to defend a won position! It was amazing to watch. Still, Marcos lost. The next day he insisted that it was only because he gave the wrong check..."

Having proved one's point deserves publication. Right, Mr. Closet Grandmaster?

Getting ready

Slowly the Chess Connoisseur is getting ready for his chess postings. Here is an old game played in the 1977 Cabanatuan Bicentennial tournament for replay.

Has anyone played the line chosen by Black before ?



Marcos,Joselito - Lao,Enrique
Bicentennial Cabanatuan (4), 03.07.1977
B33: Sicilian: Najdorf and Dragon Variations
(Annotations by the winner)

With just one and one-half points from the three previous rounds I found myself in a must-win situation going into the last two rounds to make it to the finals. This game was the first into that tough task.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 g6 7.a4

This move would be marked a novelty when one uses Mega Database 2009 as reference database because there was no game with this move available there. The continuations found there were:

(a) 7.Be3 Bg7 8.f4 d6 9.0–0 Bd7 10.Kh1 h5 11.f5 Qc7 12.fxg6 fxg6 13.Nf3 0–0–0 14.Nd5 Nxd5 15.exd5 Ne5 16.Nxe5 Bxe5 17.c4 Rdf8 18.Qb3 Kb8 19.Rfc1 Qa5 20.a4 Rc8 21.Bb6 Qd2 Simunek,J (2056)-Plicka,P/Prague 2006/0–1 (38);

(b) 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5 Ng8 9.Bf4 Qb6 10.Qd2 Bg7 11.0–0 Qa5 12.Qe3 h5 13.h3 e6 14.b4 Qc7 15.Ne4 Ne7 16.Nd6+ Kf8 17.c4 Qa7 18.Qe4 Rb8 19.Be3 Qa8 20.Bc5 Kg8 21.Rad1 Bf8 Armengol Comas,J (2290)-Pla Ferreres,I (2045)/Spain 1998/1–0 (35); and

(c) 7.0–0 d6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Kh1 Bb7 10.Bg5 Bg7 11.f3 0–0 12.Qd2 Qc7 13.Bh6 Rad8 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.a4 d5 16.exd5 cxd5 17.a5 e5 18.Na4 Rfe8 19.Qc3 Qe7 20.Nb6 d4 21.Qa3 Qc7 Hilmer,K (1355)-Gmeinwieser,H (1669)/Germany 2003/½–½ (35).

7...d6 8.Be3 Bg7 9.0–0 e6?!

A move that could readily be condemned for it created an organic weakness—a hole— on f6.
Normal was 9...0–0 10.Nb3. Here Black had continued with:

(a) 10... Be6 11.f4 Na5 12.f5 Nxb3 13.cxb3 Bd7 14.fxg6 hxg6 15.Bc4 Bc6 16.Qf3 b5!?; the position was even but was won by Black in Bastrikov,G-Alatortsev,V/Leningrad 1938/0–1 (55); and

(b) 10... Bd7, as essayed by V. Ignacio against me in our local match in 1977. The game continued with 11.f4 Qc7 12.Kh1 Rac8 13.a5, White has a clear plus; Marcos,J-Ignacio,V/Cabiao, (m/3) 1977/1–0 (40)]

10.f4 0–0 11.Nb3 Qc7 12.a5!

This move gives White a clear advantage. On the other hand, needing a win in the crucial last round game of Araw ng Kabanatuan 1978 against R. Guillermo I played the double-edged 12.g4!? Rd8 13.a5 Qe7 14.g5 Nd7 15.Qd2 Nc5 16.Bf3 Rb8 17.Qf2 Nxb3 18.cxb3 Nb4 19.Ba7 Nc6 20.Bb6 Re8 21.Rad1, and after lots of complications. White went on to win the game and topped the tournament, 1–0 (47).

12...Ne8?!

This was a prelude to a novel idea of kingside counter-play. The normal 12...Nd7 keeps White ahead.

13.Qd2 f5!?

The idea behind 12... Ne8. Each protagonist wanted to win and ventured into unchartered and dangerous waters.

14.exf5 Rxf5 15.Bb6 Qe7 16.Rae1 Bxc3 17.bxc3!? Bd7 18.Qe3

White still leads after 18 Bf3 Rf7.

18...Ng7 19.Bd3 Rf7 20.g4 Raf8

Black's best try for equality was 20...e5.

21.Qg3 Kh8

Black should try 21...e5.

22.Nd2! d5?

Black feared the knight leap to e4 so he prevented it. Instead, 22... e5!?² is the best option Black has.

23. Nb3!!

An exquisite switchback. Both 2009 Deep versions of Fritz and Rybka evaluated this position as winning for White.

22... Qf6 24.Nd4 Re8

Better but not enough was 24... Nxd4!? 25.Bxd4.

25.Nxc6 Bxc6 26.Re5

Also 26.Bd4 Qd8 27.h4 e5 28.Bxe5 is winning.

26...Rc8 27.Bd4! Qe7

If 27...Kg8 then 28.Ree1 Qe7 29.f5 with White winning.

28.f5!!

A decisive breakthrough. Black ran out of time having failed to make 40 moves in two hours.

1–0