Fargo-Moorhead Chessnuts Tourney

As many of you know, Brian Thomson of the North Dakota Chess Nuts
organized the Chess Nuts Open in Moorhead Oct 20-21, 2007. Nearly 60 players participated.
Daniel Oberton had the best result of the Manitobans with a fine 4 out of 5. (But he was lucky, he didn't have to play any Manitobans; Blair played three and most of us played 2)

Crosstable can be seen here .

Here are some pictures from the Chessnuts tourney in Fargo-Moorhead, Concordia College.
Unfortunately most are out of focus as I did not use my flash as I wished to be as unobtrusive as possible. However, they will give you an idea of the great conditions.

Long view of the tourney hall (all except top 6 boards). There was also a large and separate skittles room.

Brian Thomson


The top 6 boards were located in a separate room. Extremely spacious !


Dan Voje, Alex Braun, Daniel Oberton

The Manitoba - Minnesota match trophy. The match was first contested in 1937. Alas, there were very few games between the teams this year.

The trophy traveled back to Minnesota.

Waldemar Schulz

Blair Rutter lost a long game in the 4th round

The winner, IM Victor Adler, having a look.

Jim Green wondering why Boron hung a simple mate in two against him.

October TNT Round 4

Mundwiler - Liu 1-0

Liu, with 15...Ne4, forced Les into a winning combination that culminates in 20.Nd5 (classic theme usually seen in Sicilians.) Incidentally 25. Qd7 would have also resulted in white's King also walking to g6. The way Les played it, the King gets there one move earlier.

Czypinski -Oberton DRAW

The opening was quite quiet but 24...f4 leaves a weak backward e pawn



But play continued 25. Ne4 Nxe4 26. Rxe4 Bf5 and Black keeps the material balance; a drawn Rook and Pawn endgame resulted.
However, after 25. Nf1, the epawn will fall without much fuss.

Silva - Kong DRAW

A very interesting endgame arose after 50. Kxd2

Upon first glance, 50...Kc4 looks natural. 51. Kc2 is forced. Then 51...a5 52. b3+ Kc5, I think White is lost. Black has two main themes: a5-a4 which creates a hole at c4; and the fact that he can create a passed pawn, likely the e-pawn. Take a look, it is great study material, post a message if you have any thoughts.

Kong played 50...f5 which is a little hasty...the availability of having moves like f6 and f5 in reserve can make the difference in endings like this.

Later, this position occurred--White to move.

Silva played 57. f4 ! (although he should have played it on his 56th move)

So the following position arose after 62...Kxa3


Almost anything wins here, including bringing the king over to the queenside and mating, but most of us would pick off some pawns first. Disregarding the quick mating variations, the only thing to prevent is the advancement of the a pawn; the kingside pawns aren't going anywhere.

In the game, 68. Qd4(which was not played) is instructive as it is an easy way to stop the a pawn.

I believe the last chance for White to win was after 72...f3+

73. Ke3 ! Kb1 74. Qb3+ Ka1 75. Qc2 ! the point as there is no stalemate ...f2 76. Qc1 mate.

It was a long game, so time trouble was probably a factor.

Greenberg - Khedkar 0-1

I think it was Jack Woodbury who cautioned me about playing Bf4 "on top" of a fianchetto. Now I am passing that wisdom on to Harley.

Wierda - Aaron Green 1-0

Wierda gives Aaron a knight on move 7, but by move 20 he has 3 pawns for it. Aaron could have regained his advantage with 21...Qxc4, or 28...Qxa5 but did not and lost on move 30.

Rutter - Atem 0-1

Blair made a strategic error by playing 21. bxc4 instead of Rxc4. The open B file immediately gave black tons of obvious play. Well played by James.

Jim Green - Saul Magnusson 1-0

White had a small edge until black hung an exchange in the middle of the board.

October TNT Round 3

Oberton - Mundwiler 0-1

Les continues to mesmerize his opponents with a unique brand of chess. Les sacrificied a tempo on moves 2-3. Young Daniel gave back a few tempii with 9. Ne2 and 11. Kh1 and suddenly Black looks good. The positioning of the N on e2 eventually led to a loss of a piece.

Van Wyk - Rutter 1-0

Blair errs with 7...Bf5 and has to find near only moves to survive. But the positional concessions are too much as Joseph exploits the opportunities with accuracy.

Khedkar - Liu 0-1

Jay dropped a piece after dropping a pawn. I can only guess he missed something.

Kong - Daniel Wiebe 1-0

I had a feeling that Daniel went wrong somewhere, but I couldn't verify my thoughts without silicon help.

After 31. Bd4

the computer likes 31...Kc8, but that is not a move a human is likely to play.

After a few more moves in the game the following position arose after 33. Bb6


Black can put the white Queen in jail with Bb8.
It turns out that Black can sac the exchange and likely obtain at least a draw.

Jim Green - Czypinski 0-1

I wish I had looked at this game before playing in Fargo. More on that later.

Greenberg - Wierda DRAW

Harley had a great position after 17...Ba3



But for some reason he rejected 18. Rxb7 which wins at least an exchange, and played 18. Qd4 instead. Later, Harley blundered a rook, but hung on for a draw which I can only conclude was due to John's time trouble (?).

Gibson - Huynh 1-0

Black won a pawn, and lost the game in this miniature.

October TNT Round 2

Well, I guess you noticed that I am a little behind. That's what happens when you prepare and play in a sectional and then play in Fargo the next weekend. More on those later; I am going to try to get up to date on the TNT in the next few days starting with this post.

Mundwiler - Kong 1-0

Les played a very unusual maneouvere ...Be3-Bg4-Bh3 that eventually supported his f5 push.
Kong allowed an unfavourable trade of the black squared bishops and it was all over.

Liu- Wan Wyk DRAW

The two players continued their discussion of the Tarrasch Defence.

Oberton - Greenberg 1-0

Harley lost his d pawn for no compensation.

Czypinski-Khedkar DRAW


Czypinski had played 10. Bxh7+ to win a pawn, and Black responded 10...Kh8
There seemed to be a lot of life left in the position at move 17 when the players agreed to a draw.

Silva - Rutter 0-1

This French quickly transposed to a Sicilian and then just as quickly into something irregular.
Blair won an exchange, but Silva missed a chance to win it back after Rutter had played 23...Qb6


Simply taking with the knights twice on d7 and then Bg4 wins back the exchange.

Isaac Wiebe - Jim Green DRAW


After 27. Qf3 , Jim did not play Qxc2 when White is in huge trouble as his defences are overloaded. The main threat is Nxh3 + discovering an attack on the queen, an x-ray attack on f2 and also the N on b3 on R on d1 are being protected by the White Queen.

Aaron Green - Atem 0-1

Aaron left his knight en prise on g5.

Bryan Magnusson - Wierda 0 -1

Is there missing moves ?

Huynh - Saul Magnusson DRAW

Very level game until Black erred with 35...Ke6

Now 37. Nxd5 Kxd5 38. fg5 hg5 39. h4 f4+ 40. Kf3 (the key move to see) just wins.

Grand Prix Standings

Peter Magyar has updated the Grand Prix standings

October TNT Round 1

Atem - Mundwiler 0-1

Mundwiler's essayed a strange "Modern" (to my eyes), and soon was in big trouble.

After 12...Nfg4



13. Nxe6 or 13. Bxg4 followed by 14. Nxe6 is crushing.

But Atem played 13.hg6. Les got his vulnerable knight out of the way with 13...Nxe3 and went on to win the game.

Van Wyk - Wiebe 1-0

A wild tactical melee.

Wierda - Oberton 0-1

White gave away a pawn early for no compensation.

Khedkar - Huynh 1-0

Peter couldn't find the correct defence to Jay's early threats to win the exchange.
However, he put up stubborn resistance, and this position arose later after
43. Qxc3


White is attacking c7, but white's king is in a bit of danger. Also the black Q indirectly covers c7. So 43...Ne4 suggest itself as a good practical chance. 44. Rxe4 is virtually forced and black may be able to hold the ending. Peter played the same idea, but interposed the unnecessary 43. Qxg1 + and lost the critical c7 pawn and resigned on move 48.


Reimer - Liu

Not a positional masterpiece.

Black has just played 22...Nxg3.
Of course the knight is untouchable, but does white have a good double threat move ?
Well. there is a triple threat move ...23. Qb3...this forces 23...Ne2+ 24. Rxe2 and if 24...Qxe2
25. Qxb7 and Black is in deep, deep trouble. If 24...Bd5 25. Qg3 threatening mate and white is just a piece up.

Gibson - Czypinski 0-1

Even game until white blundered a rook.

Saul Magnusson - Silva 0-1

White saved a pawn but gave up a mate with 34. Qg3


Bruce was one square away from finding the right idea, but played 23. Qc4 and soon lost.

September TNT Round 4

Kaptsan - Schulz DRAW

Waldemar had a 1/2 point lead over the field, so needed only a draw to secure a piece of first place.
Aron pressed early, but Waldemar defended very well. Gradually black developed a small advantage; in the meantime Wie and Oberton drew, so the draw secured first place for Waldemar.

Oberton - Wie DRAW
Winawer French without Qg4 let to a blocked position where aggression by either side could backfire.

Gary Campbell - Boron 0-1

Albin Counter Gambit -- Up to 7. h3 they were following Alekhine - Lasker, St. Petersburg 1914. Lasker played 7...Bxf3 instead of the game's 7...Be6. My move is apparently the worst of several alternatives, and should be countered by 8.b4. Most of the pieces came off, and by move 22 it was a Rook and pawn endgame where Black stood better.

Kwiatek - Silva 1-0

Jordan sacrificed an exchange early, but Silva hung a knight with 34...Qe8, instead 34...Qf5 wins material.

Magnusson - Huyhn 1 -0

Who can stop the Magnusson express ? Saul finished with 3 to win the class prize.
Kaptsan, Boron, Oberton, Wie, and Kwiatek scored 3 to share second behind Schulz's 3.5

Tang - Rutter

Blair swapped two of his minors for a rook, but his remaining pieces were uncoordinated.
Ed finished it off with a nice move.

White to move


28. Ng6+


Khedkar - Greenberg DRAW

This game started out slow, but later generatedsome interesting positions/tactical possibilities.

From a fairly even position where nothing special was happening, Harley played the shocking 19...Nxh2



and after 20. Kxh2 Qh4+ 21. Kg1 Qxd4 22.Qxe8 Kh7 was down a full rook.


After 23. Be4 f5, Jay has to decide which piece to save. He played 24. Nb3 preserving the knight. However, there is an interesting resource, 24. Rad1 and if 24...Qxc5 25. Rd5 with all sorts of mating or material gain threats. If 25...Qb4 26. Rxf5 !


Anyway, Harley drummed up some counterplay and missed playing a shot that may have given him a favourable endgame.

After 30.Kf2
Harley could have won a pawn/or exchange with 30...Bxg3+

Green - Lipic 0-1

I thought Green had an overwhelming position, but apparently he lost it(the game) in time trouble

September TNT Round 3

Schulz - Silva 1-0

These guys maneouvred for 29 moves before any pawns or pieces came off !
This must be close to some sort of local record. And the first capture was piece sacrifice.

After 30. e6


Silva played 30...Bxe6

Silva eventually got back in the game, only to later blunder a mate in one.

Oberton -Kaptsan

Aron rolled out the Becker defense to the King's Gambit and provided young Daniel with a free lesson.

Liu - Khedkar

Liu had a large positional advantage, missed a killer blow (32. Rf8+ , followed by e5, let Jay back in the game, who then didn't find the most accurate defence, although it was difficult in any case.

Huynh - Tang DRAW

Lipic - Kwiatek 0-1

This game featured a rare From's Gambit in response to Stephen's Bird's Opening.
Lots of tactics, but the turning point appears to be 18. Bxb7+ which was unnecessary.

Reimer - Einarsson 0-1

The game score is readable up to move 21, and White has a slight advantage. If either player can supply the missing moves, it would be appreciated.

Gibson - Trueman 1-0

Trueman missed some chances for attack on the Queenside, Fred then found a simple, but effective move in the position below.



27. Qf6+

September TNT Round 2

In general, lots of strange chess !

However, I did discover some surprising moves with some silicon help.

Kaptsan - Liu    DRAW

I thought Aron had some initiative, but he missed a quiet killer.

After Black played 28...Ke8  we arrive at the  posititon below:


White to move...
Hint ...Where can the Black Queen safely move ?

Answer ...nowhere.

So the computer likes 29. Nb3 with the idea Nd2.
(The computer also likes 29. a4 but it results in a line that 
is very complicated
 and why bother when Nb3 is simple) Black is helpless !
However, Aron played 29. Nxc6

The game reduced to a R and pawns endgame and the players agreed to a draw
(although Aron indicated later that he should have played on).

Kwiatek - Oberton  0-1

Key moment:

Black has just played 10...Qb6, threatening the pawn on b2 and 
indirectly d4 (Nxe4).






Jordan replied 11. Qd2 and subsequently lost the exchange. But 11.Nc2 is the
 move as the b2 pawn is taboo.
As 11...Qxb2 is answered by 12.Na5

Silva - Boron 0-1

I (Boron) got fixated on a few ideas, leaked a few tempo here and there and
misjudged the relative value of my c pawn versus Silva' b pawn.
Plus I wanted to win. My last chance for equality was 33...Bxb6.
Silva played well throughout and ended by TNT undefeated streak at 13 games.
(I was curious, so I looked back and discovered that I had lost
only 2 of my last 26 TNT games up until this loss. But I had deserved
to lose at lose
at least another 6 of those !)

Khedkar - Green  1-0

By move 19, the boys were down to a double rook and pawns ending.
Jim pressed too hard to win and lost.

Einarsson - Magnusson 0-1

Ken had a decisive advantage until he threw it away with 15.Nxd5.
Perhaps he missed that Saul had 16...Bb4+ freeing the Queen,
or even one move earlier 15...Qa5+