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Alabama Chess
Antics
The Official Publication
of the Alabama Chess
Federation
Winter 2017-2018
Inside this issue:
Chess in a Cave 4
Tournament Report
by HCC
Great Escapes 10
by Stephen Graveling
Why do we Blunder? 16
by Scott Varagona
Anthony - Thorat 20
by Charles Anthony
Stunning scenery from the Huntsville Chess Club’s
“Chess in a Cave” tournament held at Cathedral
Caverns State Park.
(Photo submitted by HCC.)
Page 2 Alabama Chess Antics
Greetings from the Editor
In the blink of an eye, 2017 has come to me a few of the old Antics issues from the
and gone; we wrap up the year with this 1980s. Aside from that, my own collection
Winter issue. As you will see, we have some does not begin until the late 1990s. Dear
very unique offerings this time. (For readers, I need your help to fill in the rest of
example—Chess in a Cave?! Who would the gaps. If you can contribute to this project
have thought!) Contributors: thank you, one in any way, please email me at:
and all, for helping to bring this Antics to Alabama.Chess.Editor@gmail.com
life. Together, let’s preserve Alabama chess
The Alabama tournament schedule in history for future generations to explore.
the spring is always busy, but this year, even
more so: in addition to traditional staples like 2. Submission Deadlines
the Queen of Hearts and the Alabama
Scholastic Championships, two new To help the regular Antics
championship tournaments have been contributors (and me) plan ahead, I propose
created: the All Girls State Chess the following submission deadlines:
Championship (Madison, AL, April 28) Winter issue: January 15
and, later, the Senior State Championship Spring issue: May 15
(Hoover, AL, May 5-6). It is a great delight to Summer issue: August 15
see new events like this in Alabama. Fall issue: November 15
Regarding the Antics itself, I have a If you miss a deadline, don’t fret:
couple of announcements: there may still be room for your article, even
if possibly not until the next issue.
1. The Antics Preservation Project
Thanks for reading my long intro; I
The Antics is a living record of hope you enjoy the Winter 2017-18 Antics!
Alabama chess history. Before the days of -Scott Varagona
the Alabama chess website and uschess.org,
the Antics was (I suspect) the only written
account of many events and games played by ACF Membership
Alabama chess legends of the past.
Any individual may become a Regular Member
Therefore, if we do not preserve the Antics,
upon the payment of annual dues of $15.00.
we are in danger of losing our history.
Regular members may enter ACF tournaments
Alabama chess friends and
and receive special publications or notices from
colleagues: please help me preserve the
ACF as they are issued. Any chess club seeking
Antics. If you have any old Antics editions
to become an Affiliate is required to file the
(e.g., from years prior to 1998) in decent
Affiliate Information Form with the Secretary of
condition that you would be willing to let me
the ACF and pay annual dues of $35.00.
either photograph or scan, let me know! My
Benefits of becoming an affiliate include the
goal this summer is to digitize as many of the
right to bid to host ACF-sanctioned events,
20th century Antics magazines as possible.
such as the Alabama State Championship, and
Before he passed away, Lars Britt
to receive advertising through the ACF for your
helped begin this process by handing down
tournaments.
Winter 2017-2018 Page 3
Alabama Chess Leaderboard
Top 50 Ratings (retrieved from uschess.org on 1/27/18)
1 FM BRADLEY J DENTON 2335 26 KENNETH W GOODMAN 1887
2 SCOTT VARAGONA 2280 27 JOSHUA N WAKEFIELD 1869
3 MATTHEW V PUCKETT 2248 28 OM BADHE 1860
4 BILL MELVIN 2200 29 CHARLES H ANTHONY 1845
5 STEPHEN ADAMS 2198 30 KENNETH JIAO 1842
6 ARDEN Q MARKIN 2163 31 RHODES PEELE 1838
7 GERALD A LARSON 2133 32 MICHAEL B GUTHRIE 1832
8 STEPHEN J GRAVELING 2132 33 CHARLES A SMITH 1828
9 JOSEPH JURJEVICH 2086 34 STEVE M CHEN 1826
10 JOSHUA T MCCLELLAN 2085 35 TIM BOND 1814
11 TEJAS V THORAT 2085 36 THOMAS H LAWRY 1812
12 JONATHAN RASBERRY 2053 37 RAY DOWNS 1802
13 GEORGE RUSYNIAK 2041 38 DAVID HAYES 1791
14 MILES MELVIN III 2025 39 JEFF STORY 1780
15 CHARLES L MEIDINGER 2002 40 NATHAN H SAINT 1771
16 JEREMIAH F DONAHUE 2000 41 LUIS J MORENILLA 1756
17 ROBERT LUBIN 1938 42 VIKHRAM BALAGEE 1747
18 CHRISTOPHER TREES 1934 43 SARVAGNA VELIDANDLA 1732
19 ROGER D JOHNSON 1922 44 CAMPBELL A DOBBS 1711
20 KIRK D PETTY 1912 45 KENNETH SLOAN 1700
21 WILLIAM D FOX 1910 46 HARRY DUNCAN 1700
22 TERRENCE W EDINBURGH 1901 47 JOSHUA HUGH LIN 1699
23 JEFFREY BYRD JR 1900 48 ADRIAN J MAJERLE 1691
24 AARON DECORD 1898 49 MARK PETERSON 1688
25 MOHAK AGARWALLA 1897 50 CHRISTIAN E FRIEDMAN 1684
Page 4 Alabama Chess Antics
Chess in a Cave Tournament Report
From the Huntsville Chess Club
A fun time was had by all, despite the from more than 500 miles away. The two
dark, damp, and cool environment deep Florida players (unrelated) each received a
underground. squishy rubber bat in recognition of their
The Huntsville Chess Club in furthermost travel.
Alabama sponsored the first ever rated chess The Alabama Chess Federation Vice
tournament held entirely in a natural cave 4 President, David Hayes, was the Chief
November 2017 at Cathedral Caverns State Tournament Director. He was assisted by
Park. This scholastic event was a unique floor TDs HCC President Joshua McClellan
combination of scholastic chess and North and ACF Secretary Paul Mulqueen.
Alabama’s largest limestone cavern. All Computer and Internet operations were
players were afforded the opportunity to provided by Patrick Dowd. Concessions,
explore the wondrous cavern during a 90 logistics, and check-in were managed by
minute cave tour with a headlamp provided Ashley Dowd, Christine Hayes, and Larisa
by HCC. After the tours, the players enjoyed Friedman. Matt Crocker and Christine
three rounds of dual-rated chess play Hayes captured photos of the event.
followed by trophy awards to the top 10
players in three sections. In addition, all
players received a participation medal.
William D. Fox won first place in the
K-12 Open section. Will Crocker won first
place in the 4-6 Grade section. Daniel
Fellerhoff won first place in the K-3 section.
Tournament Staff.
Front Row L-R: Ashley Dowd, Larisa Friedman, Christine
Hayes, Joshua McClellan.
Back Row L-R: Patrick Dowd, Joel Friedman, David Hayes,
Paul Mulqueen
David relates several observations.
The kids loved it, despite the unusual playing
conditions. HCC went to considerable
William D. Fox receives K-12 1st place trophy from Chief expense and effort to provide flood lighting.
Tournament Director David Hayes. However, most of the kids wanted to play
with headlamps only, and kept them on.
The tournament attracted players
Winter 2017-2018 Page 5
It rained the morning of the “Help! Snake! Snake!” yelled two
tournament. That morning during setup, teenage boys from deep within cave. The
David observed dripping water coming from boys were not part of the tournament, but
the cave ceiling 50 feet above. “Each drop their sincere cry for help did disturb the 1st
landed on our tables with enough energy to round play of the K-12 section nearest the
overturn a chess piece. I discovered that boys. Paul, the floor TD for that section,
when it rains outside, it also rains in the relayed the call for help to the Park
cave.” By noon the weather cleared to Headquarters. HQ dispatched a worker to
display beautiful fall colors around the investigate. No snake was found. The boys
world’s largest cave entrance. Fortunately, likely confused dancing shadows for a reptile.
the dripping slowed considerably before the The worker explained that shadow-snake
tournament started. sightings are common, but so far have never
The kids had a lot of fun. David been caused by a real snake. The cavern is
describes the end of one game. “I observed too cold to attract reptiles. The section
a game in the 4-6 grade section where black enjoyed a good laugh, and then went back to
was about to move his queen to capture his chess.
opponent’s bishop and deliver checkmate. A Florida mother was very positive
White, realizing this, grabbed his bishop and about the whole cave tournament experience.
forcefully held it down to the board. As every scholastic player’s parent knows, it
Playfully, black attempted to complete his can be boring for chess parents waiting for
move in various ways, always thwarted by yet another round of chess to begin. One
white’s iron grip. I was about to intervene, tournament blends in with the next in their
when I saw that both players were having fun memory. Both she and her son enjoyed and
with this unusual chess tactic. I let it will remember the cave tour and experience.
continue until black grew tired of the hijinks. The uniqueness of chess in a cave made the
I declared black the winner. Both players tournament special.
were grinning with delight when they left the
table, with the bishop still in place.”
“The immovable bishop.” Ceiling dripping.
Page 6 Alabama Chess Antics
HCC President Joshua McClellan gave a lecture
before the 1st round.
Ready for the cave tour.
Ready for Round 1.
Winter 2017-2018 Page 7
Proud parents. Happy Memphis players.
Smoke rises from torches over foreground K-3 and 4-6 sections. K-12 section in distant tunnel.
Page 8 Alabama Chess Antics
4-6 Section in action.
Final round.
Winter 2017-2018 Page 9
Darkness held at bay by torches and more than 10,000 Watts of Halogen flood lights.
Chess in a Cave 2017: Top Performers
Grade K-12 (Open)
1-2: William D. Fox (1765) and Victor Lundy (1391), 3 points.
Grade 4-6
1-3: Will Crocker (548), Patrick Dowd (551), and Jacob Alpha (443), 3 points.
Grade K-3
1-2: Daniel Fellerhoff (939) and Joseph Park (376), 3 points. ■
Page 10 Alabama Chess Antics
Great Escapes
By Stephen Graveling
I love games where I come up
with creative ideas, my opponent doesn’t
defend perfectly, and I win. Yet I also
look back very fondly on games where I
salvaged hopeless positions. Here are
some of my favorites escapes:
T. Kothapalle - S. Graveling
(1627) (1856)
Huntsville Challenge, Round 2
Huntsville, AL; 3-29-14
The usual idea when in a worse
position is to complicate things. But
sometimes if you throw the kitchen sink
at your opponent right away you’ll only
end up without a sink! I’ve found that
often playing normally, trying to figure
out what’s best for me in the position,
and waiting for my opponent to prove
their advantage works wonders. 18.Ng3
Rfd8 19.e5 b5 20.Qb2 b4 21.R6c5 Qb6
22.Rc6 Qa5 23.Rc7 Rab8 24.Qa1
Forcing a queen trade.
12...b6?? A blunder resulting from
playing too fast. 13.Bd5 The game had
only started a few minutes before my
howler and I didn’t want to have
everyone to see what happened, so I
decided not to resign right away. 13...Bb7
14.Bxc6 Bxc6 15.Rxc6 Qxa2 Black is
down a piece for a pawn, but at least the
queenside pawns are passed. 16.Qc2 Qa5
Naturally avoiding a queen trade. 17.Rc1
e6
The “Escape Artist”: Stephen Graveling.Winter 2017-2018 Page 11
S. Graveling - G. Rusyniak
(2012) (2069)
AL Dual-Rated State Ch., Round 3
Montgomery, AL; 7-25-15
I had won an exchange in this
game and was trying to eliminate Black’s
compensation, but instead found my king
in what looked to be a mating net. Best
for White is 39.Re1, but I assumed Black
must have something devastating after
24...Qxa1 25.Rxa1 b3 26.Rcxa7 Black 38...Rf2+ 40.Ke3.
has lost a pawn but the b-pawn has made
some progress. 26...h5 27.h3 Rdc8
28.Ne4 Rc2 White’s bishop guards c1, so
Black has nothing. 29.Rb1 Bf8 Trying to
set a trap. 30.Ng5 Rb4 Now the rook is
guarded. 31.Nxf7 Ra2
39.Rxf5+ Qxf5 40.Rxe4 The one thing I
like about playing losing positions is that
there is no emotional pressure: once the
awful feeling of playing a blunder is over,
I realize that it’s expected that I’ll lose, so
I can relax and play however I want. In
Boom! Black plans to play b2 and this case I didn’t even calculate anything
Ra1. White could play 32.Rd7 b2 33.Rxb2 except to make sure that Qc7+ didn’t
followed by Ng5 and actually still be lead to a perpetual; I knew that if it or
better, but my threat shocked my Rxe4 didn’t work, I was lost. But after my
opponent so much that he resigned! move I immediately saw ...Qh5+ 41.Ke3
Because I won this game I was able to Qe2+ 42.Kd4 Qd2#. So, I sat quietly and
score 3.5/4 and take 2nd place in the waited for what seemed to be the
tournament. 0–1 inevitable.Page 12 Alabama Chess Antics
40...Ra3+ Thankfully for me, my 18.Qb6? I knew a queen trade would
opponent didn’t spot the mate. 41.Re3 reduce Black’s attacking chances on the
Qh5+ 42.Ke4 Qg6+ 43.Kf3 Qh5+ kingside, but wasn’t tactically alert. 18...g3
44.Ke4 It should be a draw, but now 19.hxg3 fxg3 20.Be3 Bh6! Once Sijing
Black played: 44...Rxe3+ 45.Kxe3 played this beautiful move I became very
uncomfortable.
I eventually won this ending. 1–0
21.Rc2? 21.Nc2 was better, only losing
S. Graveling - S. Wu the exchange after ...Qxb6 and ...Bxc1.
(1853) (1943) 21...Nd7 Another nice move. Now Black
Hoover Library, Round 6 wins a piece. 22.Qxd8 Bxe3+ 23.Kh1
Hoover, AL; 7-20-16 Rxd8 Is this position resignable? Not for
me! 24.Nd3 Nf6 25.f4 Trying to give my
This was one of my first games pieces some breathing space. 25...exf4
where I transposed into a mainline KID 26.Nxf4 Ng4 27.Nd1 Bxf4 28.Rxf4
instead of staying in English territory.Winter 2017-2018 Page 13
killer.* 39.Rxd6 Nh2 40.Ne3
28…Ng6 29.Rf1 N6e5 30.Rc3 h4
31.Rc7 Rd7 32.Rc3 b6 33.Rf4 Rf7
34.Rxf7 Kxf7 35.Rc7+ Until this point Eventually we drew. ½–½
Sijing had been playing great, but
suddenly he slips: Before continuing I will note that
the fact that it’s possible to slip out of
dangerous positions is no justification for
being careless. It is very valuable to be
able to defend difficult positions, but it
would be even better to never enter them
in the first place.
T. Thorat - S. Graveling
(2105) (2116)
MLK Classic VIII, Round 2
Montgomery, AL; 1-14-17
35...Bd7? After the game I think Sijing
said he saw that this lost a piece, but still
played it for some unexplainable reason.
36.Bxg4 Nxg4 37.Rxd7+ Kg8 Despite
winning the piece back, White still has a
bad position and is probably losing.
38.Kg1 38.Rc7 is better, but still not good
for White, e.g., after 38...Re8 39.Rc1 (to
defend the back rank) …Rxe4 Black has
won a pawn and White is all tied up.
38...Rf8? This looks good nice, but ...Rc8
followed by …Rc1 would have been a
* In this line, if White tries to stop …Rc1 by playing Nc3, then Black has
…Nh2!, after which Fritz announces mate in 12 moves. -EdPage 14 Alabama Chess Antics
This was my third time playing S. Adams - S. Graveling
Tejas. In our second game I had a nice (2146) (2136)
attack from the opening and won a pawn Vulcan Open (Round 4)
in the middle game, but then found it Birmingham, AL 5/27/17
hard to convert and used too much time.
Then I missed a tactic and lost. (Yes, I After playing an interesting
have also botched many winning opening I messed up in the middle game
positions, giving my opponents some and reached this position. White has a
nice escapes for their own collections.) better pawn structure and very active
This game seemed similar to that game: pieces.
We played the same opening and I again
won a pawn. But then I played some slow
moves, used too much time, and
defended poorly against White’s
desperate counterattack. 36.Rf1 Nb4 The
computer shows 36...Ba3 as better, but
even then 37.Bxg7 Qxg7 38.Ng4 Bxg4
39.Qxg4 followed by Rf7, a check on the
back rank, or simply marching the h-
pawn should be good. Now, after my
Nb4, White can win with 37.Bxg7 or
37.Rxf8+, but he let me escape with:
37.Qxe5? Rxg6+ 38.Bg5 Bd6 26...g6 I did not like weakening the dark
squares, but I couldn’t calculate a clear
win for White so I decided to play this
and let White prove he has a win.
26...Qd5 Looks like a better defense, but
I missed it during the game. 27.Qg5 Kh7
28.Rb7 Bc7 29.Rxa7 Rb8 White has
won a pawn, but I was encouraged that
Black’s rook is somewhat active. 30.Qf6
Qxf6 31.Bxf6 Rc8 Black’s rook is passive
again, but I was looking at the bright side:
the queens are off the board so I won’t
be checkmated right away.
Black wins (0–1).Winter 2017-2018 Page 15
fxg5+ 47.Kf3 h4 Another positive: The
h-pawn is passed. 48.gxh4 gxh4 49.Kg2
Ra3 50.f3 Now I do not remember the
moves that occurred, but I do know that
White traded his a-pawn for my h-pawn
and we reached the following position:
32.Kf1 Kg8 33.a4 c5 34.a5 c4 White has
a passed a-pawn, but I have a passed c-
pawn. 35.a6 c3 36.Bxc3 Bb6 37.Rb7
Rxc3 38.Rxb6 Ra3 I was forced to give
up my passed pawn, but I thought the
bishop trade was beneficial. Also, one of
White’s extra pawns is a rook pawn and
my rook is behind it. I knew that for Note: The rooks may have been on
White to win he would probably have to different ranks (unimportant), but I’m
achieve something on the kingside, which certain the kings and pawns are correct. I
would at least prolong the game. 39.Ke2 had given a check on the g-file and then
Kg7 40.Kf3 Ra4 41.e4 Ra3+ moved my rook to the a-file, hoping for a
few more checks. I was extremely
doubtful of my chances, but I again
decided to play on and let White prove he
can convert this. If White’s pawns started
rolling up the board I would resign. Here
Rb5+, forcing Black’s king away from the
pawns, is simple enough. 1.Rb3?? White
finally makes an error! White’s idea was
to guard the third rank from any checks
and then play Ke3, but Black has: 1...Kf4
I was so happy to make this move. White
cannot make progress keeping his rook
on the third rank, but if it moves off the
I stopped recording here because I had third rank I’ll win his f-pawn. The game
less than 5 minutes (vs my opponent’s finished: 2.Re3 Ra2+ 3.Re2 Ra3 4.e5
40+), but am relatively sure the following Rxf3+ 5.Ke1 Rd3 6.e6 Rd8 ½–½ ■
moves were played: 42.Kf4 f6 43.h4 Ra4
44.Rb7+ Kh6 45.a7 g5+ 46.hxg5+Page 16 Alabama Chess Antics
Why Do We Blunder?
By Scott Varagona
I have a vivid memory of a crazy being aware of some of these pitfalls will
game I played about ten years ago. It was help us become more perfect players.
a particularly complex Benoni that started Warning: while some of the
going haywire and before I knew it, I had examples I give below involve world-
completely lost control. My king was famous grandmasters, the rest involve
open, I was down material, and then: people I have played against personally.
And blunders can be embarrassing. So, to
avoid hurting anybody’s feelings—or
maybe to avoid having my tires get
slashed—the names have been changed
to protect the “guilty.” (As you will see,
though, I’m not afraid of taking credit for
some of my own howlers!)
1. Missing Weird Moves
At times, we blunder because the
opponent’s winning idea is just so
As Black, my opponent played strange, our minds somehow won’t even
41…Rxf4?? and I answered 42.Rb8+, let us see it:
winning instantly.
I was very happy to steal victory Deep Fritz 10 - Kramnik
from the jaws of defeat (especially since Man vs. Machine (Game 2), 2006.
this last-round win also clinched the
tournament), but looking back, I feel
pretty terrible about the outcome of this
game. It almost feels unjust. My
opponent had thoroughly outplayed me,
weaving a beautiful web of tactics along
the way, and then—bang. The game came
to a sudden, irrational end.
Why do we blunder? Is it time
pressure? Fatigue? An inexplicable lapse
of attention? In this article, I’d like to
highlight a few causes of blunders that I
personally find interesting. Hopefully, As Black, Kramnik played theWinter 2017-2018 Page 17
egregious 34…Qe3?? which ran into Samisch - Capablanca
35.Qh7 mate. Of course, if the White Karlsbad, 1929.
knight had been on g5 or f6, Kramnik
would never have missed this move.
However, with the knight on f8, the
checkmating pattern somehow looks
much more bizarre. To think even “Big
Vlad” could miss something like this.
That might encourage the rest of us… or
scare the living daylights out of us.
Puckett - Varagona
Alabama State Ch. (Rd 4), 2016.
This example is famous, since
Capablanca virtually never committed such
blunders: 9…Ba6?? 10.Qa4! Although he
tried, Capablanca could not save the
game after losing a piece.
There must be something in
human nature that makes us susceptible
to this unexpected Qa4 idea in the
Nimzo-Indian. A similar tactic has helped
me win a couple games here in Alabama,
including this one:
I had been checking all kinds of
Nxh6 sacrifices for many moves before, Varagona - Mr. X, 2015.
but I just couldn’t see any danger here.
Okay, so I had a pretty lousy position
already, but after 29…Qd7?? 30.Qxh6+!!
I am simply lost. In my defense, I guess it
is much easier to find such ideas as the
attacker than as the defender.
2. Careless Opening Play
Sometimes, even the greatest
players of all time don’t see the danger:Page 18 Alabama Chess Antics
White just played 7.d5, and this is 25.Qh8 mate. But White is not the only
already a life-or-death moment for Black. one who can attack the enemy king!
Unfortunately, Mr. X immediately 24...Bxg5+ (check!) was played, and soon
answered with 7…Ne7?? which ran into White resigned. I can totally understand a
8.Qa4+, winning me a piece. (Correct blunder like this, especially when one’s
was 7…Bxc3+ first.) I remember being eyes are trained on the side of the board
so struck by what happened in this game: where one is attacking. We have to fight
in chess, you can play brilliantly for our human tendency towards tunnel
(almost) an entire tournament, but just a vision: we must try to at least glance at
single moment of carelessness in just one game, the whole board every single move.
and you lose. How cruel!
4. “Being a hero” in time pressure
3. Attacker’s Tunnel Vision
As Viktor Korchnoi always said,
Here’s the best illustration of this there are no heroes in time trouble. If you see a
theme from my own chess career. This “clever” queen sacrifice, but you only
example involves another “gift” I have a few seconds left to analyze it,
received at a recent tournament: think twice: maybe you can win smoothly
just with normal moves.
Mr. Y - Varagona, 2017.
Varagona - Mr. Z, 2015.
White has a massive advantage
here, and probably 24.Bh6, keeping With an advanced passed pawn
Black’s king cornered, was best. Instead, and two knights for the rook, I should be
White played 24.Bg5??, expecting easily winning, of course. Instead of
24...Bg7 25.Qh7+ Kf8 26.Bh6, with calmly moving my queen away, though, I
strong threats. Of course, the assumption got all fancy with 45.e7??. Now, with
is that 24…Bxg5 is impossible because of 45…Qb8+! Black stops my pawn andWinter 2017-2018 Page 19
simultaneously wins my queen. Ouch. 20.c3?? appeared, and after 20…dxe4
Lucky for me, I got away with this one: Mr. J resigned immediately. I’m sure he
my opponent played 45…Re8?? and then had counted on Rxd7, but somehow his
realized what a golden opportunity he mind didn’t let him see that the retreat
had missed. To make clear the full extent …Qxd7 was possible.
of my obliviousness: I didn’t even notice
what had happened until my opponent I had never before beaten Mr. J in
showed me the ...Qb8+ variation after I classical chess for eighteen years of
had won the game! Ignorance is bliss... tournament play—not until, finally, this
game happened. Maybe blunders aren’t
Finally, the silliest (yet surprisingly so bad after all. ■
common) source of blunders in my list:
5. Forgetting that pieces can
move backwards
Don’t lie: we’ve all done it. I
believe our chess brains are hardwired in
some way to always want to move
forward, and subconsciously we expect
the same behavior from our opponent.
Yet sometimes, a simple retreat is all it
takes to win.
Mr. J - Varagona, 2016.
White should play 20.Qg4, with an
interesting endgame on the way. Instead,Page 20 Alabama Chess Antics
Anthony-Thorat
By Charles Anthony
Charles Anthony - Tejas Thorat
(1866) (2075)
Vulcan Open (Round 1)
Birmingham, AL 5-27-17
1.e4 e6 Haven’t faced a French
Defense in forever! Wish I had studied
my openings more now! 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3
Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 Maybe I’ve taken
him out of his book. I know that I’ve
never seen the move I just made. We’ll
see how it goes. 5...c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 We had been playing quickly, but
this move caused my first long think.
13.Nb1 Back to square one, headed to d2.
13...Nb6 14.Qe2 Nd5 15.Qd2 Qb6
16.c4 Nb4 17.a3 Nc6 18.Qc2 a5
19.Nbd2 0–0–0
7.Bb5 a6 8.Bxc6 bxc6 Well, I’ve
doubled his pawns and isolated his a-
pawn. So far, so good. 9.Be3 cxd4 The
doubled pawns didn’t last long. Now,
how to retake?! 10.Bxd4 c5 11.Bf2 Bb7
A quiet move that will later prove deadly 20.Rab1 Be7 21.Qd3 h6 22.Rfe1 g5
on the long diagonal. 12.0–0 d4 Trying to open lines to my king. 23.f5 g4
24.f6?! Maybe I should have just moved
the knight. 24...gxf3 25.fxe7 Nxe7
26.Nxf3 Nf5Winter 2017-2018 Page 21
32...Qxf3+!! Wow! What a shot! If the
pawn takes the queen, it is mate in 2 with
the rook pair! 33.Qxf3 Bxf3 The pawn
still can’t capture because of the same
rook-pair mate threat. The g-pawn is also
attacked thrice. 34.g3 What else is there?
34...Bxe2+ 35.Rxe2 I just lost the
Exchange, but hoped to defend a little
longer.
I wanted to get the bishop to h4,
then f6, but never could figure the
sequence out. I guess I didn’t want to
exchange it for the knight at h4. 27.Re2
Rhg8 28.Nh4 Decided to trade knights
instead, but didn’t get to after Black’s
next move. 28...Qc6! That’s a winning
move. That’s 3 attacks on g2 with only 2
defenders. 29.Kf1 Hoping he won’t
sacrifice the exchange at g2, and making a
square for the bishop at g1 to let the rook
protect g2. My defense is hanging by a 35...Rxg3 First the queen and now the
thread now. I had actually thought about rook is sacrificed. This guy is really good!
offering a draw several moves ago; that #12 in the state of Alabama, actually!*
would look foolish in retrospect. 36.hxg3 Nxg3+ 0–1 ■
29...Rg5 30.Nf3 Rg4 31.Bg1 Running
out of moves. 31...Rdg8 32.Rbe1
* At the time this game was played. By now,
Tejas is #11—and still on his way up. -EdALABAMA
CHESS
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Alabama Chess All chess diagrams in this issue were produced
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