May TNT Round 4

You can play through the games with light notes here


Lipnowski - Babb 1-0
White had an interesting shot available at move 18.

18. Bxh7+ Kxh7 18. Qc2+ Ne4 19. Qxe4
but perhaps it was rejected as it gives Black counterplay if he plays 18...Kh8.

Black goes wrong in the endgame. It wasn't clear to me where upon my first look at the game, but on my second pass through, it became clear that Black has to play it as if he doesn't have a b pawn - then he has to be prepared to check on the 6th rank when White goes there with his king. (At bit similar to the Philidor position)

So, in the position below, does 46...Rc1 hold the draw ?



Schulz - Nikouline DRAW
Schulz wins an exchange for a pawn early. I thought that perhaps saddling Black with some pawns islands on with exchanges on c6 and h4 would have made converting the win easier.

49.b4 keeping the Black king from advancing may have made a difference.

Rutter - Bince 1-0
10...Bh3 looked dubious but the game sequence makes it look like a clever trap. Just 13. Be4 leaves Black a pawn down with no compensation. Black gets greedy with 16...Bxh1, when instead 16...Nxc6 leaves White to contemplate if he should go home early. White outplays Black the rest of the way to win.

Kernetsky - Leor Wasserman 1-0
14. Rxc3 is an interesting decision, the rook landing at c7 is worth the foregoing of undoubling the b pawns.

Arie Wasserman -Mundwiler 0-1
White is doing well early, 10. Qxc3 keeps the pawn structures intact.
Once the position is quiet, Black outplays his opponent.

Khedkar - Wierda 1-0
Jay has been playing the Black side of the French lately, here he has fun on the White side.

Trueman - Silva 1-0
Francis plays a good game in the upset of the night.

Evans - Gibson 0-1
Fred pulls off another upset. The forced sequence
29...Rxd2 30. Nxd2 Qc5+ 31. Kf1 Qe3 would have ended it a bit earlier.

Albert Boxer Classic

Congrats to Trevor Vincent for winning AND achieving Master rating ! (2201)
The only other class change I noticed was that Clifford Goodman is now in B class. Congrats !

(Someone mentioned that others may have dropped a class - that will happen - it happened to me after the Feb sectional ---2060 to 1998)

It may be a while before I look at the games; I intend to look at Rd 4 of the May TNT first,
and I may be a little busy after that - no promises.

Cecil's Saturday Puzzle - May 24, 2008

Cecil's Saturday Winnipeg Free Press Puzzle - May 24, 2008

Funk - White to mate in 2

The Black king is currently stalemated.

1.Rxd2 intending to mate on f4 is thwarted by 1...Rxg3.

However, the square d5 appears to beyond the reach of the Black pieces, so 1. Nc6 also threatening Nxe7 check looks hopeful. Except I can't deliver mate with 2. Qd5 because f6 is open.

Some kind of deflection/pin is required.

1. Ne3
1...Bxe3 2. Rd5 mate
1...Nxe3 2. f4 mate
1...Rc4 2.Nxc4 mate

By the way, Cecil has recently published a book, "Behind the Headlines: A History of Investigative Journalism in Canada".

May TNT Round 3

Nikouline - Lipnowski DRAW
White manages to escape with a draw,. 31...Qa5 is -+.

Babb - Rutter 1-0
Black obtains an active position and could have even won a pawn with 18...Nxc1.
33. Rxh6 would have netted at least two pawns. White won the rook and pawn endgame.

Bince - Kernetsky 1-0
Good ol' time trouble - Black is up two passed pawns, White has virtually no counterplay, but Black loses on time.

Mundwiler-Khedkar DRAw
The players agreed to a draw in a opposite colour bishop endgame.

Silva - Schulz 0-1
28...Rxe3! is a nice shot. But a lot work had to be done to gain the full point. The game score shows 36. Kf3 which hangs a knight, but even if it is incorrect the rest is worth taking a look at.

Wierda - Trueman 1-0
Black's pawn sacrifice and follow-up left him with a significant disadvantage.

Evans-Letain 0-1
Black misses the opportunity to play12...Bxh3, but he wins a piece after White played 13. Bg5

Kuropatwa-Gibson
A game full of tactical chances (see the game file when posted). Not sure if Black resigned prematurely - after 21....Bxb7 he may be better.

Canadian Chess Challenge 2008 - National Final - Edmonton, Alberta

Manitoba finished 5th place behind perennial powerhouses ON, QU, BC, AB.
Just 3 points behind AB, but a whopping 19.5 points ahead of 6th place NS.

Manitoba had 4 individual medal winners:

Grade 3 - Silver Dezheng Kong 8-1
Grade 5 - Bronze (was in playoff for second) Michaeal Pang 7.5-1.5
Grade 11 - Bronze Weixi Liu 7-2
Grade 12 - Silver Trevor Vincent 8-1

Congratulations to all the team members !

Details at National Chess Challenge

May TNT Round 2

Lipnowski - Bince 1-0
Black 'sacrifices' a queenside pawn early for pressure on the c file.
Black obtains the advantage after 39...Rxc3.
He missed an interesting move 40...Rxh3+
I am going to guess that there was a time scramble at the end.

W. Schulz - Babb 0-1
Black plays a classic Benko Gambit game, and caps it off with an exchange sacrifice that obtains three passed pawns.

Nikouline- Khedkar 1-0
There is a new book out titled, 'The Easiest Sicilian', featuring the Sveshnikov. Who are they kidding with that title ?
21...g6 is a blunder, but Black's position is difficult anyway.

Kernetsky - Mundwiler 1-0
22...c5 must be a positional error as White's knight gets into d5 and stays there for the rest of the game. Later I saw immediately two opportunities for White to effectively end the game quicker.
27. Rf5 or 34. Qxh6. Lets see if these work.
(But first, my engine points out that the crude but effective 25. Bd1 intending Bc2 and mate is unstoppable by Black without huge material loss.
It turns out 27. Rf5 is effective, but Black can hang on for a bit.
34. Qxh6 however does work -please check the playable file I will link to later. White won soon enough anyway.

Rutter - Evans 1-0
After Black sacrificed a piece, 18...Nxf4 or Nxg3 was required.

Letain - Silva 0-1
White had a good position, but trading the bishop for knight with 22.Bxf6 doesn't seem correct.
Black's will now rule the dark squares, as subsequent play showed.

Gibson - Arie Wasserman 0-1
White loses a piece to a pawn fork.

Leor Wasserman - Kuropatwa 1-0
Black's unusual development of the knight to d7 did not help with his development.

Gibbons - Trueman 0-1
The position is dynamically equal until White misses Black's mating idea.

Who was Pillsbury ?

It just occurred to me that most of the readers probably don't know much about Pillsbury.
I didn't until very recently.

Start your research here

Was Pillsbury here in 1900 ?

The Winnipeg Free Press indicates that biographies of many Manitobans have been made available online thanks to a joint initiative of the University of Manitoba Press and the Manitoba Historical Society.

I did a search on "Chess" and found this entry for John Walter Harris

1900 -In the entry for February 5 we read: "Go at night to see Pillsbury play chess and checkers. Wonderful exhibition," and on the 7^th: "Saw Pillsbury play 10 games of chess and 4 of checkers last night blindfolded."

I checked the recent article on Magnus Smith and Pillsbury was apparently here in both 1899 and 1890.

Cecil's book

It is also available locally at McNally Robinson

Cecil's Saturday Puzzle - May 10, 2008

Cecil's Saturday Winnipeg Free Puzzle - May 10, 2008

Loveday - White to mate in 3

Let's see - if it was Black to move, b4 is forced. So let's go 1. Kb2 then ...b4.
Let's try a theme from last problem - 2. g5 (blocking the bishop) Kf4 and the king runs away.

Is there another way to block the bishop without changing the features of the position ?
Hmm, only the rook could possibly block the bishop. The bishop is only controlling one diagonal.

1.Bc1 b4 now we have to give the king a move. 2.Rd2 Kf4 3. Rd4 mate


By the way, Cecil has recently published a book, "Behind the Headlines: A History of Investigative Journalism in Canada".

May TNT Round 1

Silva - Lipnowski 0-1
A very rare appearance of the Clarendon Court ! Black's bishops prove to be too much.

Babb - Wierda 1-0
Black is standing very well until he misses that White's queen is covered by the knight on f4 when he plays 24...Nfd5 ??

Arie Wasserman Nikouline 0-1
White grabs a tainted pawn with 21.Nxe5 and loses a piece.

Mundwiler-Leor Wasserman 1-0
White's handling of the English is very unusual, but it looks like he was waiting for his young opponent to make a mistake. By move 20, the mistakes have been made, but Leor puts up credible resistance until the end.

Bince - Letain 1-0
11...Na5 was not achieving anything much, and after 12...c6 the horse was put to sleep.

Gibson - Kernetsky 0-1
White's speculative pawn sacrifice 12. f5 does not work out well.

Khedkar - Gibbons 1-0
Black resigned only a pawn down.

Kuropatwa - Rutter 0-1
White lost his c pawn to a small tactic and never quite recovered.

April TNT Round 5

Games and light annotations

Gibson - Mundwiler 0-1
3.e5 is unusual, but White was okay until the very committal 10.g4 - which drops a pawn and leaves the kingside very loose.

Wierda - Kong 0-1
White played the unprovoked 27. Bxd5 which leads to the loss of a critical pawn.

Jim Green - Arie Wasserman 1-0
With this win Jim informs that he has a huge 28 point lead for rating supremacy in the Green household. Enjoy it while you can Jim ! Black got his queen trapped.

Silva - Rumpel 1-0
Black plays into a fork, losing an exchange, and then faced with the prospect of losing his e pawn, resigns.

Leor Wasserman - Greenberg 0-1
Greenberg wins with the Sicilian !

Evans - Xue 0-1
White varies from Alekhine (!)-Duffo 1935 on move 8 (but I suspect by a different move order; Aekhine wouldn't miss 6. d6 which wins. White had the best of the play throughout until the losing 38. Rxd4.

Lauritson - Letain 1-0
Black doesn't find the answer (18...Nd5) to the threat of 19.b4 which wins a piece.

James Marten - Leah Green 0-1
White chases the c6 pawn to no avail. He could have regained the initiative with 19. Qg5

Gibbons - Peter Martens 0-1
Lorne once again snatches defeat from victory.

Kuropatwa -Kalk 0-1
White sacrifices a piece early for insufficient compensation. 22. c6 would have provided an advantage