Mike Shpan Final Round

Mundwiler - Atem 0-1

White was in big trouble for a long time until James went pawn grubbing with 47...Nxf5.
But it was still tricky for White. As severe time trouble neared, White blundered.

Les and James ended up sharing first place with 5-1

Greenberg - Schulz 0-1

14. Nd2 can't be correct (I think Nxe5 is required), but Black somewhat returned the favour by not playing 16...Nxc5. White eventually stepped into a mate in a roughly equal position.

Kwiatek - Fromme 0-1

In the position below


Black played the startling 11...Bxa3 ! Move of the night !
After 12. Rxa3 Nb4 Black will end up material ! Black went on to win.

Schulz and Fromme finished 3rd-4th with 4.5 points.

Kong - Kaptsan 0-1
Perhaps a historic moment in recent Manitoba chess - I don't think Aron has ever played anyone 70 years younger than him ! But the burning question is, how old is Costales ?

Hanrahan - Oberton 0-1
White initiated a dubious combination that led to an interesting material imbalance. From then on both players played well, but White eventually lost on time. Nigel has some commentary at his Exclam ! blog.

Rutter - Campbell 1-0
Black left his e5 pawn en prise, which was the beginning of the end.

Green, Jim - Wasserman, Arie 0-1
White lost the thread in the endgame and got his Rook locked in on the queenside. White is lost after 35. d5. Note that after the game's 36. Rc3, a quick end could be obtained by 36...Rxc3 37. bc3 b4 ! and White's king is too far away to prevent a queen.

Kernetsky - Trueman 1-0
Due to a forfeit and a bye, neither player had an opponent. So they decided to have a game !

Swift- Weirda 0-1

I observed some of this game; it looked interesting. Unfortunately, I could not reconstruct it from the scoresheet

Grand Prix Final Round

Group A
No games. Boron wins the tourney, Sam Lipnowski second, Jay Khedkar third.

Group B

Van Wyk - Lauritson 0-1 Lauritom win tourney with 5.0 - Van Wyk second with 4.5

White had a large advantage after 22...Re6. Black looks to be overloaded.

23. Nc4 should win decisive material. Eventually Black untangled himself, but the game ended abruptly om move 39 perhaps because of White flagging ? Does anybody know ?

Pottinger - Silva 0-1

White lost a knight early.

Group C

Booth - Wiebe 0-1

Did White miss a mate in two starting with 17. Qxg6 +, or is the game score wrong ?
After that Black defended well and won.
So Wiebe won the tourney with an undefeated 4 wins and 2 draws. Weixi Liu was second with 4 points.

Gannon - Liu - DRAW

White held a definitive advantage when a draw was agreed.

Group D

Magnusson - Gibbons 1-0

Lorne likes to toy with his opponents before giving away the point. He could have won this group.

Green, Aaron - Gibson 1-0
White converted the large advantage he obtained in the opening, and also won the tourney with 4.5. Magnusson was second with 4.

Mike Shpan Memorial Round 5

Les is more (likely to win the tournament than any one else !)

Fromme- Les Mundwiler 0-1

I must confess that originally I didn't know what was going on in this game. 25 moves and White's queenside is still undeveloped.

The turning point may have come after 25...Bf5

White played 26. Ne1, but 26. a5 is very interesting with variations where White is probably not worse.
28...Re6! is a nice move, "sacrificing" a knight, to build a mating net, and/or win the exchange. Nice finish by Les.

Schulz - Kaptsan 1-0

Kaptsan trotted out the Blumenfeld gambit, but never got counterplay.

Atem - Jim Green 0-1

I didn't like the maneuovre 18...Nd3 and 19..Nc5, trading a good knight for a knight on the rim, and ending up with weak c and b pawns.

Greenberg - Kernetsky 1-0

White converted his space advantage into material gain.

Crawford - Kong 0-1

They shoot horses, don't they ? White's knight on the rim had no way back.

Wood - Hanrahan 0-1

When I looked at this game, I liked 25. h5+, followed by Qf5+ and Bxh6. See the Exclam ! blog for full notes from Nigel. White had an absolutely won game, but couldn't find 30. Rf7. One of those games where the winner did nothing and won !

Campbell - Trueman 1-0

They shoot horses don't they, part 2. Francis dropped a knight.

Leor Wasserman - John Weirda 0-1

Grand Prix Round 5

Group A
Sam Lipnowski - Khedkar 1-0

Black had to play 21...g6 to stop the f5 push. After that came e6 and Black's pieces were too far from his king to provide support.

Group B
Van Wyk- Pottinger 1-0

Black castled queenside into impending trouble. White had an interesting shot 17. Ba7+! which concludes things a bit quicker, but it didn't matter in the end.

Group C
Lui- Weibe 0-1

Several of us analyzed the position below and other earlier alternatives and concluded that Weixi had blundered with 9. Nxb5.

However, the real blunder may have come later...after 10...axb5

White played 11. Bxb5+ , but after 11...Qxb5, 12. Rxa8 Bb4+ wins big material.

11. Rxa8 holds, but in our analysis we thought it was very uncomfortable for White.

Gannon - Booth 1-0

It looked like Black was making progress in the knights and pawns ending, but found his king cut off from White's passer and ended up one tempo short.

Group D

Gibson - Gibbons 1-0

Lorne snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. But if truth be told, 2...f6 and 4...Bc5 deserved to be punished earlier.

Aaron Green - Magnusson

The ending was played well by Saul to gain the full point.

Chess book auction

ChessManitoba Fall 2007 Silent Auction

The Manitoba Chess Association received a donation of numerous chess books and chess publications from a local chess fan.

To allow the local chess community to have a fair chance to purchase any of the items, we have decided to implement a Silent Auction format. The items will be auctioned over the next 4 weeks at the Grand Prix finals and concurrent Mike Shpan Memorial tournament. There are 36 player playing in these events, who are present to bid on these items. In addition, internet bids will be accepted by emailing chessmanitoba@gmail.com

Each week a new batch of items will be offered.

Week 3 items listed...closing date Tuesday, December 4

See a list of items and other details.

November Chess Round 4

Another roundup of hi-lights and observations

Grand Prix - Group A

Khedkar - Boron 0-1

I thought I (Boron) had played a blunder free game, but my illusions were shattered when I looked at it yesterday.

I was setting up the possibility of a discovered attack on the knight, but after 33. Qe8,


I didn't play the obvious 33...Nf6, which just wins the knight Don't ask me why, I must have had a hallucination. I played 33...Re7 instead. Jay replied 34. Qc6. I in turn played the howler, 34...Qd4 ?? which fails to 35. Qc2+ followed by 36. Nc6 winning an exchange. Jay was very short of time however and did not see it and played 35. Qd6. I shortly won the b pawn and White eventually ran out of time.

Grand Prix - Group B

Pottinger - Lauritson 0-1

Black got a terrific position out of the opening and was piling on the pressure. Carl resisted and after 19...Rc4 had an interesting move available.


20. Qe7+ ,however it is objectively not much better than the move played, 20. Qb3.
White lost a piece after 24. Qb3 (Qd1 apparently holds..covering the rook and also threatening Ra1.) and soon the game.

Silva - Van Wyk 0-1

Black declined a shot to win a pawn 15...Bxh2+ 16. Kxh2 Qc7+.
Black eventually won the a pawn and a classic extra outside passer endgame arose that still gives White a chance to draw. Position after 44. ... Rb2+.

White played 43. Kd3 and after ...Rxf2
White has a challenge to draw. If 43. Kf3, Black has to exhibit a lot of technique to win.

Grand Prix - Section C

Booth- Liu 0-1
25. g4 was the last mistake, 25. Kg1 may hold some chances for drawing.

Wiebe - Gannon 1-0
Black got into early opening problems and never recovered.

Grand Prix - Section D
Magnusson -Gibson 1-0
Black missed a chance to gain an advantage with 17...Nxb3 or 17...Bxc3.

Lorne Gibbons - Aaron Green 0-1
Nimzovich talked about jumping off squares (I'll replace this with his terminology when I find my copy of 'My System"). Check out the e3 square in this game.

Mike Shpan Memorial

Mundwiler - Schulz 1-0

I think Black should have exchanged bishops on d4 on his terms instead of allowing White to exchange on c5. 22...Qh6 looks strange and is in fact a blunder. After Les' 24. Qf5 it's all over.

Fromme - Greenberg 1-0
I think the strategic error here was Blacktrading his knight for the bad bishop on e2, although if followed up with 24...Qe8 instead of 24...Qc8, there are some interesting tactical possibilities.

Kaptsan - Hanrahan 1-0

I thought this game had drawn written all over it, but Black started to drift with 21...Ba8. I would think that taking possession of the e-file was mandatory. White soon after played Re7 and won.

Rutter - Atem 0-1

My computer engine was screaming for White to play d5 on moves 9 to 14 and then it was too late as Black played it ! The position eventually bust open in Black's favour and

After 29...Nxc3
Blair missed a big chance with the zwichenzug (in-between move) 30. Rf1 (no exclam) and White wins easily. Instead Blair played Qxc3 and fell into a mating net.

Kwiatek - Kong 1-0

Very nice combination by Jordan. See Exclam ! site for full details.

Jim Green-Kernetsky DRAW

The King's Indian Attack didn't. Both players proved they have seen this before.

Oberton - Swift 1-0
Arie Wasserman - Campbell DRAW
Wood-Trueman 1-0
Wierda-Letain 0-1
Rating upset of the night. White imprisoned his own rook on b4 and Cory grabbed it free.

Leor Wasserman - Crawford 0-1

Black had a large endgame advantage, but it dissipated to the point where Leor could
draw with 56.Bxf5

November Round 3

Grand Prix Group A

Boron- Khedkar 1-0
Black had a crushing position, when White decided to bail out, going down an exchange, but avoiding immediate danger. Jay gave back the exchange for a pawn, but White now had good drawing chances. Later, Jay blundered an exchange and resigned, although White has some work to do in the final position.

Grand Prix Group B

Lauritson - Pottinger 1-0
Black dropped the exchange and had no chances for counterplay after swapping queens.

Van Wyk - Silva 1-0
Black self-pinned his knight was was indefensible.

Grand Prix Group C

Gannon - Wiebe DRAW
Black was up a passed b pawn , but was reluctant to push it forward until it was too late.
White eventually infiltrated deep into the Black position and after move 56 ...


Missed the win with 57. Qf6+. He played 57. Qa8+ Qc8 58. Qa5+ Ke7, but did not play Nc7+ and Nxb5. Perhaps time trouble was a factor.

Liu - Booth 1-0
Looked like an interesting endgame, but the game score fails me at move 18. If either player reads this please submit the game score to Alex Nikouline.

Grand Prix Group D

Gibson - Magnusson 0-1
The players took turns winning pieces.

Aaron Green - Lorne Gibbons DRAW
If the game score is correct (there are some moves missing), White is winning.

Mike Shpan Memorial
Schulz - Fromme DRAW
In the final position, it looks like White has chances for a win. Perhaps time was a factor.

Kong - Mundwiler 0-1
These players went 37 consecutive move pairs in the middlegame without any captures. Black finally broke through (although the computer prefers 67. ...e4) just as White lost on time.

Greenberg - Green DRAW
Last mistake Draws !

Oberton - Kwiatek 0-1
27. h3 appears to hold for White, see Nigel's Exclam! blog for more commentary.

Campbell - Lior Wasserman 1-0
Gary won a pawn and won the rook endgame

Atem - Swift 1-0
James exploited weak squares around Black's king.

Arie Wasserman - Kaptsan 0-1

Hanrahan - Crawford 1-0

Mike Shpan Memorial - Round Two

Kaptsan - Greenberg 0-1
Aron hung a knight. Harley recounted the old chess maxim, "It is better to be lucky than good."

Kwiatek - Schulz 0-1

While not an outright mistake, 12. f4 does not make a good impression in the long run. Black exploited the weak squares around White's king.

Mundwiler - Arie Wasserman 1-0

The position was dynamically equal until Arie cut off his Q with 18...f6. The Q was trapped a few moves later.

Jim Green - Oberton DRAW

The computer identifies the interesting try 15...c4, with 16.dc4 Nc3 or 16. Nd2 c3

Swift - Kong 0-1
I can not make sense of the game score after move 12.

Fromme - Kernetsky 1-0

Black got one of those French positions where anything White does, wins.

Rutter- Wood 1-0

White rejected 8. Qxb7 which looks winning. Much later Black gave up an exchange and White won.

Leor Wasserman - Hanrahan 0-1

Very even game until White lost tempii with 29. Re3, 30. Ree1 which gavel Nigel a chance to win a pawn. Soon after he won a second pawn and the endgame.

Letain - Atem 0-1

The computer finds an interesting shot with 12.Bxf6, but realistically that is too deep for most players. Cory later lost a piece and the game.

Wierda - Trueman 0-1

John self-trapped his Bishop and lost.

Crawford - Campbell

Even game until Black blundered an exchange 1-0

November Round 2

Grand Prix Group A
Khedkar - Sam Lipnowski 0-1
Black won on time - According to the gamescore, White is winning easily.
Either the game score is incorrect, or Black played a move like 33...h5 knowing White only had seconds left.

Grand Prix Group B
Pottinger - Van Wyk DRAW
When I left the U, I thought Carl had a clear edge, despite the opposite colour bishops.

After 30...g5

I like the idea the of exchanging on g5 and ending up with two passers. The key in this type of position for White is not to exchange rooks. However, the rooks were exchanged on f4 and Joseph held the draw.

Silva - Lauritson 0- 1

White missed a golden opportunity after 15...Be7 (it was on d6)
When White moves the queen, there will be a discovered attack on the black queen.
Where to move the queen?


Silva played 16. Qc3 which is harmless, and Black can play Qc7.
What move would have taken that square away ? 16. Qe5 wins material. If 16...Qe8 or Bd7 then 17. Bb5... note that the Knight on f6 is pinned as there is a mate on g7.

Later, Black untangled his pieces, and with 29. Rxd5 White needlessly sacrificed a full rook.

Grand Prix Group C
Wiebe - Liu DRAW

I was quite impressed(I was standing by the board when it was played) with Black's move after 20. Nxa5

20...Be2 !

In the resultant R and P ending, Black had all the chances but missed the winning move below


36...Rd1+ 37. Kc5 Kd2 38.Kd4 c5+! 39. bc5 Kc2+ mating !

Grand Prix Group D

Magnusson - Aaron Green 0-1

Saul lost a pawn early, but could have won it back with 25. Bxb6, but perhaps saw ghosts after 25...Rc2, however 26. Bf2 holds. Soon after Aaron simplified to a winning R and P ending.

"Tank" Gibbons - Fred Gibson 0-1

Lorne won a piece early but gave back that material and more later.

Shpan memorial comments tomorrow.

2007 Grand Prix Finals - Round 1

I am not going to comment too heavily on the Grand Prix games while the tournament is in progress as the pairings are known and I may inadvertently provide hints to weaknesses.


Group A

Khedkar - Gentes 1- F
Kevin did not appear.

Sam Lipnowski - Boron DRAW
A lot of manoeuvring; Black was better when the draw was agreed.


Group B

Silva - Pottinger

Observing this game, I thought 28, f4 would just win, but it is tricky as Black gets 3 pawns for his Knight. Silva played differently and eventually won. Unfortunately, the game score gets undreadable just as an interesting ending occurs. If either player has a proper game score, please submit it to Alex Nikouline.

Lauritson - Van Wyk 0-1
According to the my engine, White would have had a large advantage if he would have played 19.Nxc6+. 23. Rc7 was a big mistake that left pieces hanging all over.

Group C

Liu - Gannon 1-0
Weixi executes a nice minority attack.

Wiebe - Booth 1-0
Kevin uncharacteristically blunders a full bishop.

Group D

"Tank" Gibbons - Saul Magnusson 1-0
Lorne hung onto a sacrificed pawn and played a nice game to bring home the point.

Gibson - Aaron Green 0-1
Aaron quietly transitioned to a won K and pawns ending.

Mike Shpan Memorial - Round One

Atem - Kaptsan 0-1

11. Be3 gives Black a large positional advantage after 11...Nxe3, saddling White with weak doubled isolated e pawns.

Schulz - Weirda 1-0

In an equal position, John self-trapped his bishop with 16...Qe6

Campbell - Mundwiler 0-1

Less made a speculative piece sacrifice for two pawns, but Gary was doing well.

Ah, finally -- a surprising tactical chance !

After - 28...Na5


The computer finds 29. Nxf7 ! If 29...Kxf7 30. Rxe7+ Kg8 31. Qxg6 and it's all over.

Gary played 29. Qb1 which is good also and after 29...Nb3, Nxf7 is still there !

The turning oint was Gary's 36. Bh4; Qd1 would held a large advantage.

After 37. Nxc5

Les, interestingly, opted for 37...Rxc5+, instead of 37...Qxb3 which wins the Q. He probably was concerned with with ramifications of 38. Re8+, but the computer still gives a win to Black (even though it is Q and 2 pawns for R and two minors) after 38...Kh7 39. Rxc8 Qc3+ 40. Kb1 d3 and the d pawn will win one of the pieces. It is easy to see (now) that both the R and N are virtually paralysed.
In the game the outcome was still unclear until Gary blundered his Rook on move 43.


Oberton - Wood 1-0
Black's misplaced pieces quickly turned into material loss.

Arie Wasserman - Rutter 1-0
In this upset of the night, Blair failed to protect his advanced d pawn, lost it and then Arie exploited the d file to win pawn after pawn.

Kong - Lior Wasserman 1-0
Black gave up a pawn unfavourably, and White won.

Greenberg - Letain 1-0

Black allowed White to play de6; Harley exploited the weaknesses.

Crawford - Jim Green 0-1

A near upset. Gary was doing well throughout (although 33...Rxc4 is hard to meet), but lost the thread somewhat starting with with 36. Kh2. But he was still winning if he plays 40. b6.


Hanrahan - Fromme 0-1
Nigel has annotated this game at his blog - Exclam!Online

October TNT Round 5

The final round - let's see what happened.

Van Wyk - Mundwiler 1-0

This turned into a wild game.
I play through the games without computer assistance first, to get some general impressions and work out some of the tactics. I then play through the game again with an engine running to check my assumptions and to catch any interesting tactics or ideas I may have missed.

Les left a gaping hole on f5 that proved to be source of his difficulties.

After 26...Qe7 27. Nf5 Les could resign immediately, but Joseph played 27. Qa3 and won a few moves later anyway.

Liu - Czypinski 1-0

By move 35 Liu had won a pawn and appeared to have everything under control, but he missed black's 41...Rxg2+ shot and the game is unclear. After a few more moves, we arrive at the position below with Black to move and win:


45...Rg6 wins easily. I understand Black was in time trouble, but somehow had time to calculate (and Play) 45...Rh2 46. Qxh2 Qxf3+ 47. Qg2 Qxd1+ and the result is still not clear.
Later, Black also missed 53...Nd3+ and White has to give up his Q to avoid mate. Eventually Black lost on time around move 64.

Oberton - Khedkar 1-0

Jay survived an early cramped position. Daniel could have won the b pawn with 18. Nxb5, but decided to concentrate his efforts in the centre.

In the following position Jay had the right idea, but the wrong move order.


Play continued 24...Qc2+ 25. Ka1 Bxb3 26. Bd3 oops !

But 24... Bxb3 first and Black is perhaps a little better, and much better if White does not play 25. Qxb3.

Kong - Jim Green DRAW

In my eyes, an unusual game; I couldn't predict many of the moves.

Wierda- Silva 1-0

Silva had a very cramped position, and blundered with 19... Nf5. John mopped up efficiently.

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+