June TNT Round 1

Rutter - Vincent 0-1
Black gets to play the best of the Dutch/Nimzo themes.

Babb-Klokow 1-0
John Klokow returns to tournament play, but faces a formidable opponent in Jeff Babb.
Apparently they followed (through some transpositions perhaps) Rubinstein-Duras, Spain 1912 until White varied with 17. Rac1. Black's mistake was the abandoning of his back rank, although he was facing the wrong side of a long grind.

Aaron Green - Nikouline 0-1
Although White's line against the Sveshnikov is unusual he maintains an equal position into the endgame. The draw is probably still obtainable with 49. Rxd6, but he chose a different way that lost at least 2 tempii and by then he is lost with best play by Black. However in the game, 57. c5 gives White another chance to draw.

Mundwiler - Evans 1-0
Tactics, Tactics (I'll have more about that in a future post) And positional play, 9...f6 is bad, and actually ends up giving Black one big tactical headache, although surprisingly it is survivable with 19...Nc6.

Letain - Lauritson 0-1
16. Bxg7 is a bit mysterious, but White had chances to hold with 25. Nd1

Kernetsky - Gibson 1-0
Black gets punished for exposing his castled king with f5 and g5.

Kuropatwa -Bince 0-1
White shows some nice imagination with 24. Nxf7(although the unplayed 24...Nxg4 refutes it); unfortunately he misses something on the next move.

Cecil's Saturday Puzzle - June 7, 2008

Cecil's Saturday Puzzle - June 7, 2008 - Winnipeg Free Press

White to mate in 2 (Funk)

Once again, as is typical in these mate- in-2 problems, the Black king is stalemated at the moment.
How to apply a check ? I don't know, but I spotted a concentration of Black pieces covering the c5 square, which quickly checking a few moves, gives me an inspiration for a quick solution, 1. Rc5+, but it doesn't come close to working.
I keep on having a problem keeping an eye on both e5 and d4, as I want to deliver mate with one of the knights.

How about 1.Bc5 covering e5, threatening Nfe3 mate , and also setting up some deflections?

1...Rxc5 2. Rd7#
1...Bxc5 Qxc6#

1...e3 Bg2#
1...Ndxc5 2. Bc4#
(ah, that is what the white squared bishop is for !)

1...Qe1 or Qxf1 (to prevent Neg3 mate)
2. Qa2 #

That's it.

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