INCLUDED WITH THIS ISSUE: 2022 ANNUAL BUYING GUIDE

DECEMBER 2021 USChess.org

MVL
in STL
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
on his St. Louis sojourn
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read 100 Endgames You Must Know.”
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Bobby Fischer’s Road to Reykjavik
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 DECEMBER

A relieved MVL after

his third round
win over GM Sam
Shankland
COLUMNS
10 CHESS TO ENJOY
ENTERTAINMENT
The 2021 Year-End
Trivia Quiz
BY GM ANDY SOLTIS

12 SOLITAIRE CHESS
INSTRUCTION
Iron Tigran
BY BRUCE PANDOLFINI

46 BOOKS AND BEYOND

SHOULD I BUY IT?
Essential Endgames
BY IM JOHN WATSON

48 PUZZLES
MAKE YOUR MOVE!
BY FM CARSTEN HANSEN

DEPARTMENTS
4 DECEMBER PREVIEW
SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDE 36 COVER STORY
FOR MEMBERS MY AMERICAN TOUR
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on his victory at
5 COUNTERPLAY the 2021 Sinquefield Cup and his tie for second
READERS RESPOND
place at the 9XL Showdown
6 FIRST MOVES BY GM MAXIME VACHIER-LAGRAVE
CHESS NEWS FROM
AROUND THE U.S.
16 EVENTS NORTH AMERICAN YOUTH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS
9 US CHESS AFFAIRS Mixing it up in the Windy City
COVER PHOTO AND PHOTO THIS PAGE: COURTESY SLCC / LENNART OOTES

NEWS FOR OUR MEMBERS
49 TOURNAMENT LIFE
55 CLASSIFIEDS
56 SOLUTIONS
57 ANNUAL INDEX
60 MY BEST MOVE
PERSONALITIES
“In the News” does not appear
this month due to lack of space.
The US Open best game winners
were named online at CLO.
Chicago hosts 2021 North American Youth Championships.
BY FM ROBERT SHLYAKHTENKO
24 EVENTS ONLINE OLYMPIAD
The Near-Miracle Online
Team USA takes silver at 2021 Online Olympiad.
BY IM JOHN DONALDSON
30 REFLECTIONS RIDING THE WAVES
Different Wavelengths
Two paths, taken and not taken, over-the-board and across lifetimes.
BY FM MIKE KLEIN
35 EVENTS RUSSIAN CHAMPIONSHIP SUPERFINAL
The Russian Superfinal
Vitiugov wins Open, while Gunina takes Women’s title.
BY JOHN HARTMANN

USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 1

CONTRIBUTORS
G M M A XIM E
VAC H IE R -LAG R AVE
(Cover Story) is a French grand-
master currently ranked #13 in
the world. Nicknamed “MVL,” he
was the World Junior Champion
in 2009, and he has won elite tour-
naments in Biel and Dortmund
along with his two victories in
the Sinquefield Cup. He finished
second in the 2020-2021 Candidates Tournament. This is his first
article for Chess Life.
IM J O H N D O N ALD S O N
(Online Olympiad) is the author of more than 30
books, including his newest title, Bobby Fischer
and His World. He is an accomplished chess coach,
historian, and journalist, and he has served as
captain of U.S. international teams across three decades. His
work as team captain earned him the Botvinnik Award from FIDE
in 2019. Donaldson served as Director of the Mechanics’ Institute
Chess Club from 1998 through his retirement in 2018.
JOH N H ART M A N N
(Russian Championship Superfinal) is the editor
of Chess Life and Chess Life Online. He was named
the 2021 Chess Journalist of the Year by the CJA
for the second year running. He recently made his
fourth appearance on the Perpetual Chess Podcast.
FM M IK E K LE IN
(Different Wavelengths) is an award-winning
player, coach, and journalist. He is also the voice
of ChessKid.com and its Chief Chess Officer. This is
why he is now much better known as “FunMaster-
Mike.” A three-time Chess Journalist of the Year winner, his chess
writing and other travels have take him to more than 80 countries.
FM RO BE RT S H LYA K H T E N KO
(North American Youth) is the 21st ranked Amer-
ican junior as of the October list. In 2019, he be-
came the youngest Southern California champion
in history, was co-champion of the Dewain Barber
National Tournament of Middle School State Champions, and won
the Southern California Open. Two previous articles for Chess Life
won awards from the CJA, and he just made his second IM norm at
a Charlotte Chess Center event.
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2 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
E D I TO R I A L
C H E S S L I F E / C LO E D I TO R John Hartmann (john.hartmann@uschess.org)
A R T D I R E C TO R Kory Kennedy
P U B L I C AT I O N S E D I TO R Melinda Matthews
C R E AT I V E CO N T E N T CO O R D I N ATO R Natasha Roberts
T E C H N I C A L E D I TO R IM Ron Burnett
T L A mmatthews@uschess.org
U S C H E S S S TA F F
E X E C U T I V E D I R E C TO R Carol Meyer
S E N I O R D I R E C TO R O F ST R AT E G I C CO M M U N I C AT I O N Daniel Lucas
D I R E C TO R O F E V E N TS Boyd Reed
D I R E C TO R O F D E V E LO P M E N T Geoffrey S. Isaak
D I R E C TO R O F A D M I N I ST R AT I O N Judy Misner
W O M E N ’ S P R O G R A M D I R E C TO R Jennifer Shahade
A S S I STA N T D I R E C TO R O F E V E N TS Pete Karagianis
F I D E E V E N TS M A N A G E R / CO R R E S P O N D E N C E C H E S S Christopher Bird
T E C H N I C A L & R AT I N G S M A N A G E R Korey Kormick
S E N I O R A CCO U N TA N T Debra Robison
G O V E R N A N C E CO O R D I N ATO R Jennifer Pearson
M E M B E R S H I P A S S O C I AT E Christine Green
D I G I TA L A S S I STA N T Brian Jerauld
EXECUTIVE BOARD
P R E S I D E N T Mike Hoffpauir (president@uschess.org)
PHOTOS: COURTESY SLCC / OOTES (MVL, KLEIN); J. SHAHADE (SHLYAKHTENKO), SUBJECT (DONALDSON)
V I C E P R E S I D E N T Randy Bauer (vp@uschess.org)
V I C E P R E S I D E N T O F F I N A N C E Chuck Unruh (vpfinance@uschess.org)
S E C R E TA R Y Fun Fong (secretary@uschess.org)
M E M B E R AT L A R G E David Day (DavidChessDay@gmail.com)
M E M B E R AT L A R G E John Fernandez (john.fernandez@gmail.com)
M E M B E R AT L A R G E David Hater (dhater1@aol.com)
M E M B E R AT L A R G E Kevin Pryor (pryorkevin@yahoo.com)
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CHESS LIFE IS THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE US CHESS FEDERATION
 WONDERING WHERE
TO FIND US?
IT USED TO BE THAT YOU COULD READ CHESS LIFE ONCE A
month to keep up with the world of chess. Today’s media landscape
has changed, and in our 24-hour, always-on world, US Chess is doing
its best to provide members news and information in the formats they
prefer. Our internet and social media presence is growing with each
passing day, so don’t be left behind!

the social purpose of have you swing by and

our 501(c)(3) mission. follow us. This is where
Think of it as a mixture we plan to share up-
of news and outreach. dates on our progress
facebook.com/uschess and development as a
CHESS LIFE non-profit, as well as

Is it
ONLINE (CLO) is our the accomplishments
news page. Here you’ll we’re most proud of as
find the latest informa- we go along.

Tuesday?
tion about US Chess linkedin.com/uschess
events, tournaments TWITTER This is where
both large and small, we share links and
and features like news to keep you

Then it’s
Wednesday Workouts updated on what’s
and our award-winning happening in the world
series of podcasts. of chess. We’re not as INSTAGRAM Follow

podcast
uschess.org/news witty as Anish Giri or US Chess on Instagram
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Tuesday.
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USCHESS.ORG This and entertained. instagram.com/
is our front page, and twitter.com/uschess us_chess
the front door to the
world of US Chess. Here
you can find your way Did you know that there’s
to your rating, to the
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a new podcast every
CLO, to governance LINKEDIN We’re still YOUTUBE Our YouTube week from US Chess?
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We’re ramping up our
You can find links to each
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general updates about youtube.com/US-
our organization and ChessFederation FROM

4 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG

The Debate Rages On !
Masks On Covers
Really? For the cover of the Oc-
tober 2021 Chess Life you can’t
ask the winners of these import-
ant national championships to
remove their masks for a sec-
ond so that you can take their
cover photo? We can’t see their
smiles, or their faces? This is
ridiculous… you might as well
just paste a giant question mark
over their heads.
Tom Braunlich
Via email
John Hartmann responds:
The 2021 U.S. Junior, Girls’ Ju-
nior, and Senior Championships
took place during a COVID-19
infection spike. As part of their
rules and regulations, the Saint
Louis Chess Club decided to re-
quire masks of all participants,
a rule that appears to have held
even during the awards ceremony.
The October issue is a historical
document of a specific time in both
chess and world history. As I write
these words, about 720,000 Amer-
icans have died from COVID, and
many of those deaths could have
been prevented by common-sense
Send your letters to letters @uschess.org. Letters are
subject to editing for style, length, and content.
preventative measures, in-
cluding masks. I’m glad that
Saint Louis required masks
in this case, and I’m proud to
have featured photos of safe-
ly masked champions on our
cover.
Technical Notes
Regarding Bill Conrad's ob-
jection (October 2021) to
James S. Morgan's letter (Au-
gust 2021) about the translit-
eration of a Russian name,
wondering "who cares?" — I
am sorry, Mr. Conrad, but there
are many of us who do care
about such matters. Russians,
the Russian language, and the
Cyrillic alphabet have been a
major influence on chess for
generations, and it is a good
thing for Americans and others
to learn something about issues
involving them.
The best reply for our editor
to Mr. Morgan would have been
simply that Nepomniachtchi
personally prefers a French-style
transliteration for some reason,
and we generally go along with
people's personal preferences
on the spelling of their names.
Note that the single Russian
letter which we call “shch” re-
quires no less than seven letters
to transliterate in German style!
We once had a member on our
rating lists named Tischtschenko.
Roger Blaine
Via email
It's Getting
Meta in Here
It is letters like those from Bill
Conrad, where he takes issue
Readers Respond
with trivialities like the letter
from James S. Morgan, that lead
me to question why I keep sub-
scribing. WHO CARES about one
letter that one person wrote? We
all know that readers' letters are
no reason to stop subscribing.
There are so many more use-
ful ways to waste one's time,
like studying the Dutch, but I
digress...
Asher Gordon
Via email
John Hartmann responds:
If I get a letter commenting on
Gordon’s thoughts on Conrad’s
critique of Morgan’s letter... I
might just publish it. Or would
the multiverse explode if I did?!
US CHESS TRUST
PROVIDES FREE SETS, BOARDS AND US CHESS
MEMBERSHIPS TO AT-RISK SCHOOLKIDS!
WGM and IM Carissa Yip
2021 US Chess Trust Samford Fellow
2021 US Women's Champion!
For more information on the good work of the
US Chess Trust, please go to www.uschesstrust.org.
Or contact us at info@uschesstrust.org.
The Trust is a separate 501(c)(3) organization
operating independently of US Chess.
USCHESS.ORG
COUNTERPLAY
Errata:
Francis A. Miniter wrote to ask
about problem six in GM Andy
Soltis’ August “Chess to Enjoy”
quiz. He wonders if there is al-
ternative solution beginning
with 11. Ng5+, and indeed, there
is. Good catch, Francis!
Writing separately, both Rob-
ert Hurdle and Eric Levin found
an alternative solution in prob-
lem four of Bruce Pandolfini’s
October “ABCs of Chess.” Their
line begins with 1. ... Rxh6 2.
Ke1 Rd8 with 3. ... Rh1 mate to
follow. They are correct — there
is a dual solution. Thanks for
pointing that out, gentlemen!
USCT also supports:
Scholar Chess Player Awards
GM Denker Tournament of
HS Champs
WIM Haring National
Girls Champs
Barber Tournament of
MS Champs
U.S. Blind Championship
Pan-American
Intercollegiate Team
Final Four of College Chess
World Chess Hall of Fame
And many other programs
DECEMBER 2021 5
FIRST MOVES Chess news from around the U.S.
The Great Outdoors
“Chess in the Park” is back, better than ever!
BY ED FELDMAN
W HAT TOURNAMENT CHESS
players aren’t a little tired
of hotel conference rooms,
school cafeterias, or local
community centers? And
who doesn’t feel like entry fees sometimes
squeeze their wallets? Of course, we all love
rated events when we’re playing well. But if
you’re having an off day, sometimes it’s nice
to play for fun without worrying about your
rating taking a nosedive.
6 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
Perhaps these are some of the reasons
that attracted over 500 people to the 20th
Annual Chess in the Park Rapid Open on
September 18. Most years, the event draws
close to 800 people and is the largest outdoor
chess tournament in the country, if not the
world. Under any circumstances, it would
be difficult to find a lovelier venue than
the Bethesda Fountain in New York City’s
Central Park, where the tournament was
held. But this year, an outdoor event had
Chess players
meet at the
Bethesda Fountain
in Central Park.
added appeal given all the risks of COVID-
19 transmission. The event was free and
sponsored by NYC Parks and Chess-in-the-
Schools (CIS). It was not rated and played
at a time control of G/10.
IM Rusudan Goletiani won the Open sec-
tion with a perfect 6-0 score. “Rusa” was the
highest rated player in the tournament, so it
was not surprising to see her cruise to victo-
ry. Other section winners were Louis John
Barry (Intermediate) on tiebreaks over Ryan

Chen, Jayden Fong (Reserve) on tiebreaks
over Jethro Liu, Samuel Libert (Novice) on
tiebreaks over Daisy Starr and Ryan Ye Carr,
Jorge Sosa (Adult/Teen Unrated), and Mingze
Le (Youth Unrated) on tiebreaks over Alfred
Garcia. All these section winners finished
with perfect scores of 6-0.
In addition to trophies, the winner of each
section received a book generously donated
by GM Lev Alburt. Unfortunately, Lev was
unable to attend this year, but in the past,
he’s been a regular participant, taking on
the unofficial role of Grandmaster-in-Resi-
dence. It is always an honor to have him at
the tournament.
Each year the event kicks off with a
high-level blitz match — always a real crowd
pleaser. This year was no different: GM Max
Dlugy (representing Chess Max Academy,
PHOTOS: COURTESY KIMBERLY DOO (LEFT, TOP), MARIA DERR (BOTTOM, RIGHT)
L to R: Shaun Smith, “Chess in the Park”
founder Ed Feldman, Bruce Pandolfini, and
Chess in the Schools CEO Debbie Eastburn.
Max’s Upper West Side chess school) squared
off against IM Yury Lapshun (representing
Chess-in-the-Schools). Dlugy won the ex-
citing two-game match. Afterwards, both
players took on all comers in blitz.
Legendary chess teacher and author
Bruce Pandolfini, along with the late philan-
thropist Fan Adams, played a pivotal role in
the creation of Chess-in-the-Schools. So it
was gratifying to recognize Bruce for this
as well as for his extraordinary teaching
career, which has spanned 50 years and
has included high profile students such
as GM Fabiano Caruana, who played for
the World Championship in 2018, and IM
Joshua Waitzkin, the subject of the popular
book and movie Searching for Bobby Fischer.
If I had to name an MVP for the Chess in
the Park Rapid Open, CIS’ Programs Director
Shaun Smith would win every year. Shaun
oversees the much of the event, beginning
with the announcement in early August
through managing registrations. On game
day, there’s nobody better than Shaun. It’s
not so easy to produce accurate pairings for
a rapid event with over 500 people, followed
by a perfectly organized awards ceremony.
Somehow Shaun and his team (many of
whom are in the CIS program) pull it off
every year.
Last year, we had been planning to hold
our milestone 20th event. But like so many
other events, it had to be canceled due to
COVID-19. For many people, this was their
first live tournament since the pandemic
began. Hopefully we can continue a new
annual streak that will not be interrupted
again.
HOW CHESS IN
THE PARK BEGAN
CHESS IN THE PARK RAPID OPEN
is the result of a long partnership
between NYC Parks and Chess-in-the-
Schools. Chess-in-the-Schools, whose
mission is to foster the intellectual and
social development of low-income youth
through chess education, has taught
chess to over 500,000 underserved New
York City students in more than 200
schools since its founding in 1986.
NYC Parks and Chess-in-the-Schools
first partnered on some smaller events in
the 1990s, which helped establish their
great working relationship. When NYC
Parks began contemplating a large-scale
chess event in 2001, their partner of
choice was CIS.
When we first began planning the Chess
in the Park Rapid Open, we didn’t know
what to expect. One main concern, of
course, was weather. But the prospect
of rain did not deter us, and we held the
first Chess in the Park Rapid Open on
September 8, 2001. Fortunately, the day
was warm and sunny, and we pulled it
off despite a few problems. We did not
realize it at the time, but with approxi-
mately 500 participants, we had just held
the largest outdoor chess tournament in
the country – maybe even the world. It
felt very satisfying. But the feeling only
lasted for three days, until the world
changed forever on September 11th.
Over the years, the tournament has
grown. Although the six-round tourna-
ment is the main focus, we have always
tried to include fun side events. One year
GM Lev Alburt took on GM Maurice Ashley
on a giant chess board, using children as
living pieces!
One of the most gratifying aspects
of this tournament is the diversity it
attracts —different ages, religions, gen-
ders, and backgrounds. It’s satisfying to
see people interacting with one another
and sharing a common interest. It shows
that chess continues to be a universal
language spoken by everyone.
USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 7
ACROSS THE BOARD President’s Column

When
Mission
Meets the
Moment
BY MIKE HOFFPAUIR
PRESIDENT, US CHESS EXECUTIVE BOARD

T HE YEAR 2021 WILL BE REMEMBERED AS A MIXED

bag of challenges and successes for US Chess. In
August, the U.S. Open convened in Cherry Hill, New
Jersey, signaling the return of over-the-board tourna-
ment play. We excitedly — and cautiously — emerged
in advancing our mission. While the pandemic disrupted the US
Chess national tournament schedule, financial support from our
members made it possible for us to continue enhancing the chess
community uninterrupted:

from 18 months of what felt like a dystopian world of isolation and un- • Progress in gender parity continues to be made as
certainty, to once again enjoy life, competition, and a familiar sense women and girls are empowered.
of normalcy.
It is hard to describe what Cherry Hill meant to US Chess as an • The lives of at-risk-youth are being enriched by
organization. In a history spanning eight decades, we had never programs that facilitate their inclusion into the
canceled a national event due to health concerns, but that’s what we chess community.
had to painfully do for many events in 2020 and 2021. It goes without
saying that players were missing the game of chess, but they were also
• College scholarship opportunities have increased.
missing an aspect of the game that is often under-appreciated until • Recent endowments have contributed
it is gone: the community of chess, a concern directly addressed in to enhancing the lives of senior and
the US Chess Mission Statement. scholastic players as well as chess instructors.
An organization’s mission statement should be more than a clev-
er saying or collection of words that just sound good. A solid mis- • An estate plan bequest has increased tournament
sion statement defines an organization’s purpose. It keeps an accessibility for individuals who would otherwise be
organization focused and can even guide it when the future is ques- unable to participate.
tionable or unclear. Like most nonprofits during the pandemic, US
Chess found itself a ship in unchartered waters. But the words of All of these opportunities are made possible by the kindness and
our mission served as a lighthouse beacon: generosity of donors like you. Some US Chess programs are funded
predominantly by a large number of smaller gifts. During this holiday
“Empower people,   enrich lives,  season, please consider making a donation to US Chess, knowing
that your gift has the power to change lives. US Chess membership
and enhance communities  fees only cover our substantial operating costs. As a nonprofit or-
ganization, your gift to US Chess is tax-deductible. You can make
through chess.”  a gift by clicking on the “Donate” button at uschess.org.
It is our sincerest wish that you and your family stay healthy and
All in all, US Chess has weathered the COVID-19 storm remark- safe during this Holiday Season. Happy Holidays and thank you for
ably well. Working in conjunction with our clear charter, US supporting US Chess!
Chess relies on dedicated and generous donors who believe strongly Wishing you all a safe and healthy 2022!

8 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG


2022 Executive Board Elections
T HE US CHESS FEDERATION
(US Chess) will hold an Exec-
utive Board election in June
of 2022 for two at-large po-
sitions serving three-year terms.
Any current US Chess member who
is not a current US Chess employee or
designated contractor (as defined in the
US Chess bylaws) may be nominated for
election to the Executive Board.
Nominations must be made by petition
containing the signatures of fifty (50) or
more current members of US Chess who
are either registered or eligible to register
to vote, and by payment of a filing fee of
$100 to the US Chess Federation.
The members signing the nomination
petition must include at least fifteen (15)
US Chess delegates representing at least
five (5) states. Postmark original petitions
and filing fee by December 31, 2021 to:
US Chess Federation, ATTN: Governance
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
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Petitions may also be submitted electron-
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be sure to keep hard copies of scanned
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A nominating petition form is available at
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However, you can create your own petition
as long as it includes the dated signature,
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of each signer, and the following text on
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USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 9
CHESS TO ENJOY Entertainment
The 2021
Year-End
Trivia Quiz
Time to put all that useless
knowledge to work!
BY GM ANDY SOLTIS
O
VER-THE-BOARD CHESS RE-
turned, GM Magnus Carlsen
won some more tournaments,
and the 2020 Candidates
tournament finally ended 13
months after it started. But since this is
December, we’re going to ask about the
less weighty aspects of chess in 2021 and in
the past, in our annual trivia quiz. For the
answers, see Page 56.
1. World Championship Challenger GM
Ian Nepomniachtchi said he couldn’t con-
centrate in June when he lost a key game
to America’s GM Wesley So. “I swear I
have never had more annoying playing
conditions than this,” Nepo said. But he
was playing in his own home, in an on-
line tournament. What upset him?
(a) Phone calls from Russian kibitzers
who wanted to give him advice.
(b) It was a hybrid tournament and the
tournament director noisily ate his
lunch during the game.
(c) A swarm of mosquitoes attacked
him.
(d) The mask he had to wear kept
slipping off during time trouble.
2. Millions of people, many with little
knowledge of chess, read about this
game this summer. Why?
1. Nf3 e5? 2. Nxe5 d6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 Nf6 5.
d5 Ne5 6. Nc3 Be7 7. e4 0-0 8. Be2 c6 9. 0-0
cxd5 10. exd5 a6 11. Re1 b5 12. a3 h6 13.
10 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
Nd4 Bd7 14. Bf4 Rc8 15. Bf3 Qb6 16. Bxe5
dxe5 17. Nc6 Bc5 18. Qe2 Rfe8 19. Nxe5?
19. ... Rxe5 20. Qxe5 Bxf2+! 21. Kf1 Bxe1
22. Qxe1 b4 23. axb4 Qxb4 24. Ra2 Bb5+
25. Ne2? Qd6 26. Kg1 Rxc2 27. Nc3 Bd7
28. Qe3 Bg4 29. Bxg4 Nxg4 30. Qe8+ Kh7
31. Qe4+ g6 32. Qxg4 Qc5+ 33. Kh1 Rc1+
34. Nd1 Qxd5, White resigns.
(a) It was an exhibition game played
by Richard Branson to publicize his
first “tourist” space flight.
(b) It was the inaugural game of chess
as a demonstration sport at an
Olympic Games.
(c) It was Madonna’s first attempt at
tournament chess.
(d) Former world champion Viswana-
than Anand lost as White in a charity
simul to a young billionaire, who ad-
mitted he cheated with a computer.
3. In a 70th birthday interview in May,
Anatoly Karpov named the nine greatest
players in history. His list was very differ-
ent from Bobby Fischer’s list of the ten
greatest players. But they both omitted
from their list:
(a) Emanuel Lasker
(b) Mikhail Tal
(c) Boris Spassky
(d) Jose Capablanca
4. You know him as Magnus Carlsen.
But “Magnus” is the second of the three
parts of his Norwegian-style forename.
Match these great players — Adolf Anders-
sen, Bent Larsen, Gideon Stahlberg and
Carlsen — with their given “first names” —
Sven, Jørgen, Karl and Anders.
5. In May the world’s 10 top players
competed for a prize fund enhanced
by cryptocurrency. The winner’s share
included six tenths of a bitcoin. What
happened to the value of bitcoin during
the tournament?
(a) It rose 18 percent, a windfall for
winner Magnus Carlsen.
(b) It finished with approximately the
same value.
(c) It fell 15 percent, from $43,500 to
under $37,000.
6. Try to answer this in less than in one
minute by looking at the diagram.
Which knight can check the king in the
fewest move? How few?
7. When future world champion GM Vlad-
imir Kramnik was 16 he wanted to play in
the New York Open. He was forbidden by
Russian chess officials, who said:
(a) “The cold war isn’t over.”
(b) “New York is too dangerous.”
(c) “New York is too expensive.”
(d) Playing two rounds a day is “damag-
ing” to a youth.
 QUIZ FOR PROBLEM 1 PROBLEM 2 PROBLEM 3
DECEMBER FM Akar Ali Salih Salih
GM Alexander Onischuk
GM Mads Andersen
GM Pablo Salinas Herrera
GM Baskaran Adhiban
GM Neuris Delgado Ramirez
INTERNATIONAL CHESS
made its biggest return to
over-the-board play this July
when the massive knockout
tournament known as the
World Cup began in Sochi, Rus-
sia. The tournament attracted
the top two players, World
Champion Magnus Carlsen and
his previous challenger, GM BLACK TO MOVE BLACK TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE
Fabiano Caruana. This month’s
quiz features games from the
early rounds at Sochi. In each PROBLEM 4 PROBLEM 5 PROBLEM 6
position you are asked to find GM Kasper Piorun GM Neuris Delgado Ramirez GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek
GM Markus Ragger GM Niaz Murshed GM Evgeny Alekseev
the fastest winning line of play.
This will usually mean the
forced win of a decisive amount
of material. But there are also
two forced checkmates among
the six diagrams. For solutions,
see Page 56.

WHITE TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE

(c) 1239 (c) Tigran Petrosian in 1979

8. IA Carol Jarecki, who died in June,
served as chief arbiter for the 1995 World
Championship match atop the World
Trade Center. Beyond her usual duties,
she also provided unusual assistance to
the players. How?
(a) She explained how to navigate the
New York City subway.
(b) She gave challenger Vishy Anand
her microwave so he could cook
meals in his hotel room.
(c) She told champion Garry Kasparov
where to get the best prices on caviar.
9. Complete the quote by Savielly Tarta-
kover, from his book The Hypermodern
Game of Chess: “The Russian seeks, the
Western European finds, the American…”
(a) “overlooks!”
(b) “achieves!”
(c) “refutes!”
(d) “forfeits on time!”
10. Match the rating with the player.
(a) 473
(b) 1082
(d) 1432
(e) 1881
(1) Beth Harmon’s first rating
(2) Walter Tevis, when he wrote The
Queen’s Gambit
(3) Fabiano Caruana’s first rating
(4) Bobby Fischer’s last postal rating
(5) The first US Chess computer rating
11. During the 1972 world championship
match, Bobby Fischer received a gift, a
chess set with the black pieces painted
white. Who sent him the set?
(a) Salvador Dali
(b) John Lennon and Yoko Ono
(c) Andy Warhol
(d) Marcel Duchamp
12. Which world champion said, “Mod-
ern chess has entered a new stage of
development, a stage which can be called
‘Practical.’ ... The creative side has be-
come less important than winning.”
(a) Alexander Alekhine in 1939
(b) Mikhail Botvinnik in 1959
(d) Anatoly Karpov in 1999
(e) Magnus Carlsen in 2019
13. In April, an acquaintance of two
celebrities posted photos on Instagram
of them playing chess. They went viral.
They depicted:
(a) Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mike
Tyson
(b) Britney Spears and Brad Pitt
(c) Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus
Benedict XVI
(d) Joe and Jill Biden
14. “It’s the most glamorous and
fashionable place in New York,” GM Lev
Alburt said of the playing site of the 1994
Candidates matches of the Professional
Chess Association. What was he talking
about?
15. And finally, which world champions
never won a tournament game from a
reigning world champion?

USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 11

SOLITAIRE CHESS Instruction
Iron Tigran
A famed defender shows that he can attack as well.
BY BRUCE PANDOLFINI
T HE ARMENIAN GRANDMAS-
ter GM Tigran Petrosian (1929-
1984) was world chess cham-
pion from 1963 (when he beat
GM Mikhail Botvinnik) to 1969
(when he lost to GM Boris Spassky). He
was known as a super solid player, which
explains the nickname “Iron Tigran.” His
accurate, defensive play tended to avoid
problems before they could arise, but on
occasion he could also orchestrate superb
attacks. His incisive wins seemed to come
about naturally, with no apparent risk or
effort, as in this 1960 game at the Nimzovich
Memorial Tournament in Copenhagen.
Petrosian’s simple and clear approach here
against Palle Moeller Nielsen (Black) led to
a surprisingly sudden win. The game began
as a Dutch Defense (A80):
DUTCH DEFENSE (A80)
GM Tigran Petrosian
Palle Moeller Nielsen
Copenhagen, 1960
1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 g6 3. Nd2 Bg7 4. c3 Nf6 5.
e3 d6 6. Ngf3 Nc6
Now ensure that the position above is set up
on your chessboard. As you play through the
remaining moves in this game, use a piece of
paper to cover the article, exposing White’s
12 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
next move only after trying to guess it. If
you guess correctly, give yourself the par
score. Sometimes points are also awarded
for second-best moves, and there may even
be bonus points — or deductions — for other
moves and variations. Note that ** means
that White’s move is on the next line.**
7. Qb3 Par Score 6
There’s a famous short game against IM Hans
Ree at Wijk aan Zee in 1971, where Petrosian’s
queen also heads to the b3-square (1. c4 e5 2.
Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Nd5 Nxd5 6.
cxd5 e4 7. dxc6 exf3 8. Qb3, winning a piece,
and Black resigned). Here, the queen place-
ment merely causes Black to delay castling
and possibly to incur weaknesses. You may
accept 5 points part credit for 7. Bb5.
7. … h6
Black puts the question the bishop. Will it
retreat or take the knight?**
8. Bxf6 Par Score 5
Petrosian answers the question, giving
Black the two bishops. By removing the
knight, he saves time and gains control of
the e4-square.
8. … Bxf6
Nielsen keeps his pawn structure intact. He
may have thought his two bishops gave him
the edge, but Petrosian has two knights.**
9. e4 Par Score 5
Having acquired control of e4, White’s space
gaining advance is to be expected. You may
accept full credit for 9. Bb5.
9. … e5
Concerned about the future possibility of e4-
e5, Black puts his own pawn on e5. But this
move makes it harder to lessen the stress
along the a2-g8 diagonal.**
10. Bb5 Par Score 5
White continues to develop, pinning the
knight and preparing kingside castling. Add
1 bonus point if you analyzed the line 10. …
fxe4 11. Nxe4 d5? 12. Qxd5.
10. … Kf8
Black escapes the pin by hand. While solving
the immediate problem, it still allows Petro-
sian to inflict further weakness.**
11. Bxc6 Par Score 5
Petrosian is not afraid to surrender his
other bishop, especially since he saddles
Black with weakened pawns. Also because
Petrosian is a perfect master at utilizing
knights.
11. … bxc6**
12. dxe5 Par Score 5
This exchange winds up ruining Black’s
queenside pawns. Indeed, they are ripe
targets.
12. … dxe5
To be sure, Black keeps his two bishops.
Petrosian soon proves his knights to be
superior.**
13. Qa4 Par Score 5
This immediately hits the isolated c6-pawn.
Accept full credit for castling, queenside or
kingside.
13. … Qd6
Black does his best to protect c6, but White’s
advantage is definite.**
14. Nb3 Par Score 5
Petrosian decides against 14. Nc4, when
14. ... Qc5 seems okay. Instead he plays to
use the open d-file and to take away the c5-
square. Accept full credit for 14. 0-0.
 ABCS OF CHESS PROBLEM 1
Mating net
PROBLEM 2
Mating net
PROBLEM 3
Mating net
THESE PROBLEMS ARE ALL
related to key positions in
this month’s game. In each case,
Black is to move. The answers
can be found in Solutions on
page 56.

DECEMBER EXERCISE:
AS HARD AS IT MIGHT BE EMO-
tionally, it can be quite helpful
to review our lost games.
Knowing where we went
PROBLEM 4 PROBLEM 5 PROBLEM 6
wrong and what we could have Mating net Mating net Mating net
done about it is critical. Try to
summarize each losing game
in at least three observations,
citing them in both words and
variations. As you review each
loss, you might spot trends to
avoid and ways to better your
overall approach. To see the big
picture, start with the small.

14. … Bd7 18. … Rf8 22. … Bg5

Black finally gets out the queen-bishop, Black activates his king-rook. The e6-square This is no better than 22. ... Bh4. Now Black
though it is not a particularly good piece.** is becoming even more attractive.** is lost.**

15. Rd1 Par Score 6 19. Qa6 Par Score 6 23. Rxf8 Par Score 5
The queen-file is White’s. Petrosian’s advan- White’s queen is a menacing force. You may
tage continues to grow. accept 5 points part credit for 19. Rfe1. 23. … Kxf8
Obviously, 23. ... Qxf8 loses the queen.**
15. … Qe7 19. … fxe4
The only practical move (15. ... Qe6 loses Black tries to lure away the c5-knight. But 24. Nxg5 Par Score 5
to 16. Nc5).** Petrosian has another knight, and it can be Once again, recapturing with the black
annoying too. ** queen loses it.
16. Nc5 Par Score 6
A surprising incursion. On 16. ... Qxc5 17. 20. Nd2 Par Score 5 24. … hxg5**
Rxd7, White’s rook is a real pig. Neverthe- No need to take the pawn back by 20. Nxe4,
less, you may accept 5 points part credit when the other knight can make use of the 25. Qb7 Par Score 6
for 16. 0-0. e4-square as well. What an unexpected denouement. If 25. ...
Rd8 26. Rxd8 Qxd8 27. Ne6+ follows. Petros-
16. … Be8 20. … e3 ian’s play was understatedly masterful.
Black gets his bishop to safety, but now the This doesn’t stop Petrosian’s idea. In a way,
e6-square is seriously weakened.** it facilitates it.** 25. … Black resigned

17. b4 Par Score 5 21. Nde4 Par Score 5

In Nimzovichean fashion, Petrosian bolsters Clearly, Petrosian has the advantage of the
his entrenched knight. “two knights.”

17. … Kg7 21. … exf2+

Black tries to find a little peace for his king. Black has an extra pawn, but his bishops
The interlude doesn’t last long.** fall flat against White’s blockading monster
knights.**
18. 0-0 Par Score 5
With his position strengthened, Petrosian 22. Rxf2 Par Score 5
finally castles. White’s superiority is huge.

USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 13

 World Amateur Team
2022 & U.S. Amateur Team
Championship East

Welcome back
to the country’s
favorite event
—Live and
in-person!
Come on home
to friends old
and new.

February 19-21
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or esdoyle@aol.com
See TLA section of this issue
for complete details.
US CHESS TRUST USCT also supports:
PROVIDES FREE SETS, BOARDS AND US CHESS
Scholar Chess Player
MEMBERSHIPS TO AT-RISK SCHOOLKIDS! Awards
GM Denker Tournament of
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WIM Haring National
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MS Champs
U.S. Blind Championship
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For more information on the good work of the
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contact us at info@uschesstrust.org or (845) 288-0050.
And many other programs
The Trust is a separate 501(c)(3) organization
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USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 15

EVENTS North American Youth Chess Championships

Mixing It Up
in the
Windy City
Chicago hosts 2021 North American
Youth Championships.
BYFM ROBERT SHLYAKHTENKO
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DESHAWN “TRIG” ADAMS

16 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG

R
OUGHLY 400 PLAYERS FROM
three countries flocked to down-
town Chicago to participate in
the 2021 North American Youth
Chess Championships, held from
August 16-21. This prestigious event consists
of twelve sections from ages under eight to
under 18, with all sections awarding FIDE titles
to the winners. This edition — the largest ever
— proved fortuitous for the U.S. players, who
successfully used their numbers advantage on
home ground and dominated the event with
a winner in every section.
Of particular interest are the top two sec-
tions (U18 Open & U18 Girls), as both award
the IM/WIM title to the winners. The compe-
tition in both sections was incredibly strong:
the Open boasted 14 FIDE-titled players out
of 36 participants, and the Girls’ tournament

This is just a sample of the many faces and

moments captured at the tournament by “He
Shoots Lyfe,” a.k.a. Deshawn “Trig” Adams.

USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 17

EVENTS North American Youth Chess Championships
featured an even more monstrous eight ti-
tled players out of 17 participants.
By round two, the top seed in the Open —
a certain unnamed FM who also happens to
be the author of this article — had already
ceded a draw after playing too fast in a
won endgame. The other players seemed
to understand the spirit, as second-seed
FM Christopher Shen drew in round three
and sixth seed FM Vincent Tsay started
with two draws.
Just two players remained perfect at the
end of the third round: WIM Rochelle Wu
and FM Dimitar Mardov. The two met in
round four; in this critical matchup, Mardov
displayed superior knowledge of the Schal-
lop Slav and scored an important win. In
the meantime, Shen crushed a clearly out-
of-form FM Robert Shlyakhtenko to remain
a half-point behind.
Mardov took the black pieces against
Shen in round five, a decisive game for the
whole tournament. He essayed the Queen’s
Gambit Declined and faced no opening
problems. Given the standings, it would be
natural to start playing conservatively and
maintain the position of leader, but Mardov
slowly but surely pressed his advantage and
won yet again.
18 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
In a Swiss tournament, the better you
score, the more difficult your opponents
become as the rounds go on. Mardov slowed
the next day, drawing uneventfully against
FM Rohan Talukdar and with Tsay in an ex-
citing battle. With his lead reduced to a half-
point going into the final two rounds, a good
finish was vital, and he duly accomplished
it with this win against Samrug Narayanan:
FREE YOUR MIND
FM Dimitar Mardov (2377)
Samrug Narayanan (2323)
2021 NAYCC U18 (8), 08.20.2021
WHITE TO MOVE
Black has significantly overextended his
position, but seems to have covered all the
weaknesses for the moment as 34. Qxc6
appears to be adequately met by 34. ... Na8.
After other moves, Black would activate the
c7–knight and gain some hint of counterplay.
How should White continue?
34. Qxc6!
Played anyway! It turns out that Dimitar
has seen further.
34. ... Na8 35. Qxd6!
The big point — White gets more than
enough material for the queen.
35. ... Rxd6 36. Rxc8+ Kg7 37. Rxa8
White has a material advantage, and the
plan Ng3–f5 suggests itself. White soon won
without any adventures. To some extent, this
game demonstrates a flexibility in thinking
that is necessary for any player wishing to
reach the next level: freeing oneself from
the artificial conception of material and
being ready to give up even the strongest
piece when the material obtained in re-
turn is sufficient. The very idea of giving
up the queen for some material balance
(say rook and two minor pieces, as in this

Left: the NAYCC tournament hall, with boards
spaced for COVID-era safety. Right: Alice Lee
at the 2021 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship.
case) is a typical blind spot in many players’
calculation.
Now leading, once again, by a full-point,
Dimitar drew easily with FM Justin Chen
in the final round and finished in clear first
place with 7½/9. FM Mardov will become IM
Mardov as soon as the title is approved by
FIDE. The accomplishment is all the more
impressive as Dimitar was actually playing
up two sections — born in 2008, he was one
of the youngest participants in the U18.
The U18 Girls Section was filled with
strong players, but with a smaller field, this
swiss had a round-robin feel. By the end of
the tournament, almost all the contenders
had played each other. At the beginning of
the tournament, WFM Sanjana Vittal set
the pace by starting with three wins. She
overtook top seed Sheena Zeng (who drew
with WFM Nastassja Matus in round two and
WFM Yassamin Ehsani in round three), as
well as second seed Alice Lee, whom Vittal
beat in their third-round meeting.
Over the course of the next few rounds,
however, Vittal could not make any headway
and drew four times in a row. This would
have been enough to maintain her spot at
the top of the field if not for a brilliant win-
streak from Alice Lee. After falling back
following her third round loss, Lee steadily
won game after game, including this round
five effort against Arya Kumar:
SEEING FURTHER
Alice Lee (2215)
Arya Kumar (2045)
2021 NAYCC Girls U18 (5), 08.19.2021
PHOTO: COURTESY SLCC / C. FULLER
WHITE TO MOVE
A typical position emerging from the King’s
Indian, where White is slightly better in view
of the queenside bind. Lee’s play is logical:
North American Youth Chess Championships EVENTS
21. Nb6 Bf5 22. Bg3
Now Black has to make an important deci-
sion: how to deal with the threat to the rook?
22. ... Rxb6?
A mistake. Black does not get enough com-
pensation for the Exchange.
The most natural move is 22. ... Rb7, but
it allows White to seize control of the a-file
with 23. Ra8! Qe7 24. Rfa1 and White is clear-
ly better. The e2–bishop is untouchable due
to the pin on the e8–rook.
Probably the only move to stay in the
game was 22. ... Nd7!, counterattacking the
a1–rook. It also allows Black to accomplish
one of her major strategic goals: trading
off the powerful b6–knight. The position is
balanced; for example: 23. Ra7!? (if 23. Bxb8
Bxa1 24. Rxa1 Qxb8 25. Ra8 Qe5 is equal) 23.
... Be5 (23. ... Nxb6!? 24. Bc7 Nc4 25. Bxc4 Qf6
26. Bxb8 dxc4, with compensation, is also
possible but not obvious) and after trading
a few pieces, Black should be fine, e.g. 24.
Bxe5 Rxe5 25. Nxd7 Bxd7.
23. cxb6 Qxb6 24. Bf2
Taking control of the dark squares.
24. ... d4!?
This must have been the move on which
Black based her calculations. In an ideal
world, the knight would come to d5 and
create significant counterplay. However,
Alice found a nice refutation deserving of
a place in a tactics book.
25. Bxd4!
Seeing further.
25. ... Rxe2 26. Ra8+ Bf8 27. Rxf8+!, Black
resigned.
Black had no choice but to resign, as 27.
Rxf8+ Kxf8 is met by 28. Qh6+.
By the start of the seventh round, Lee and
Vittal were tied for first place together with
Gracy Prasanna. The latter two players pro-
duced a finish that would ordinarily have
been enough to win the tournament out-
right: they both drew their seventh round
and won the final two, finishing on 7/9.
But nothing could stop Lee, who won her
last three games (making it five in a row!)
and ended up with 7½ points. Now 11, Alice
first achieved recognition after earning an
expert rating at the remarkable age of eight,
and she has become a regular participant
in the U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship. This
victory, however, was her most impressive
so far, and we can expect great things from
the newly-crowned WIM in the future.
This report would not be complete with-
out mentioning the extraordinary perfor-
mance of young star Tanitoluwa Adewumi
in the U12 Open section, who ceded only
two draws to finish on 8/9. While all players
were given the possibility of using a Mon-
Roi-type device to broadcast their games
over the internet, most of the top players
(possibly fearing publication and the inev-
itable preparation against them) opted out
of this. Tani was one of the few to volunteer,
and in total six of his games are available.
He displayed prodigious talent, with a pref-
erence for short tactical combinations and
a liking for the enemy king. The following
game, against eventual second-place finisher
USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 19
EVENTS North American Youth Chess Championships
Johnathan Han of Canada, is a good display
of Tani’s strengths:
FEARLESS PLAY
Tanitoluwa Adewumi (2209)
Johnathan Han (2216, CAN)
2021 NAYCC U12 (6), 08.19.2021
BLACK TO MOVE
19. ... Ne5
Black eliminates the “superfluous” f3–
knight, which was fighting the d2–knight
for the same outpost (the c4–square). A
stronger plan was 19. ... g6!, intending ...
Bf6–g7 followed by ... Nd7–f6 and a potential
doubling of the rooks on the e-file.
20. Nxe5 Rxe5 21. Nc4
21. g4!? deserved consideration.
21. ... Re7?!
A mistake. White is allowed to advance the
20 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
kingside pawns unrestrained. Better was 21.
... Rg5! when White lacks a plan.
22. b3 Rae8 23. Qf3 Bd4 24. g4!
Slowly improving the position.
24. ... Bc8 25. g3 Bd7
Very interesting is 25. ... Qd7, intending 26.
Kg2 h5! leading to many fascinating lines.
I will share one: 27. Rh1 hxg4 28. Qf4 Qd8!?
29. Qxd6 Rd7 30. Qb8 Rxd5!! 31. exd5 Qxd5+
32. Kh2 (note that ... Bc8–b7 does not work
here, which explains the queen’s strange
placement on b8) 32. ... Qh5+ 33. Kg2 with
a repetition.
26. Re2
White should not have allowed the bishop to
take up an active position on b5. Better was
26. Nb6! Qa7 (or 26. ... Bb5 27. Bxb5 axb5 28.
Qd3! with a solid advantage for White) and
now the typical transformation of advantag-
es with 27. Nxd7! Qxd7 28. Kg2 and White
has a risk-free advantage. He will utilize it
first by fortifying the e4–pawn with Qf3–e2
and f2–f3, forcing Black to divert resources
to the defense of the a6–pawn, and then
by probing Black’s kingside for potential
weaknesses.
26. ... Bb5
Now Black has activated all his pieces, and
should be fine.
27. Nb6 g6 28. Kg2
It makes sense to first improve the position
before taking on b5, as Black is successfully
able to complicate the position after 28. Bxb5
axb5 29. Qd3 f5!.
28. ... Re5
Black could also have played the typical but
non-obvious Benoni strike 28. ... f5!? 29.
gxf5 gxf5, and in case of 30. Bxb5 axb5 31.
Qxf5 Rf8 32. Qh5 Ref7 33. f4 Kh8 Black has
dangerous counterplay, especially in view
of the out-of-play b6–knight.
29. Bxb5 axb5 30. Qd3 Qe7
After 30. ... f5 31. gxf5 gxf5 32. Qxb5 fxe4
33. Nc4! White has time to consolidate the
position.
31. f3
The continuation 31. Qxb5 Rxe4 32. Ra2
Rxg4 33. a6 seems very strong, until you
see 33. ... Bxf2!! 34. Raxf2 Rxg3+! 35. Kxg3
Qg5+ and Black draws by perpetual check:
36. Kh2 Qh4+ 37. Kg1 Qg4+! 38. Rg2 Qd4+!.
31. ... f5?
This does not work well. The other method
of attacking the g4–pawn, 31. ... h5, was
better. White should not trade pawns with
32. gxh5 (or 32. Qxb5 hxg4 and the e4–pawn
becomes weak) as 32. ... Rxh5 followed by
... Kg8–g7 quickly becomes dangerous for
White.
32. gxf5?
A mistake in return. White should not have
traded.
Left: Faces in the crowd, including US Chess
EB member David Hater (center). Right: Tani
Adewumi (L) and FM Dimitar Mardov (R).

Instead 32. Qxb5! fxg4 (32. ... fxe4 33. f4

also works much better than it does in the
game) 33. Nc4! is nearly winning for White.
After 33. ... Rxd5!? (or 33. ... gxf3+ 34. Rxf3
Rxe4 35. Rxe4 Qxe4 36. Nxd6 Qe2+ 37. Qxe2
Rxe2+ 38. Kf1 and White wins, while 33. ...
Rg5 34. f4 Rh5 35. Nxd6! is no better.) 34.
fxg4 Black’s rook is trapped, and in the time
it takes to extricate it, the a5–pawn will be a
few steps closer to its lifelong dream.

32. ... gxf5 33. Qxb5 fxe4

Black can try to create a mess with 33. ... f4!?.
White’s best reaction is 34. Qd7! (34. gxf4??
Rh5 35. Qd7 Qxd7 36. Nxd7 Kf7 should not
even be considered!) 34. ... Qxd7 35. Nxd7
Rg5 36. Nb6!, stopping Black from block-
ading the a-pawn and preserving some
winning chances. I think Black should hold
after 36. g4 Ra8 37. Ra2 h5.
34. f4!
White has to keep the e-file closed.
34. ... Rh5 35. a6
Completely fearless play, which caused Black
to lose his balance.
35. ... Rb8?
The idea of winning the b6–knight is tacti-
cally flawed. The black pieces will become
passive on the queenside, when they should
have counterattacked on the kingside.
I think 35. ... e3! was an absolute must.
Some analysis: 36. a7 (perhaps Black feared
36. Qxe8+ Qxe8 37. a7, but after 37. ... Qe4+
38. Rf3 Qb1 39. a8=Q+ Kg7 White must acqui-
esce to a draw with 40. Rf1 Qe4+ 41. Rf3) 36.
... Rf8! and Black simply moves the hanging
rook, setting up the familiar idea of ... Qe7–
e4+ followed by ... Qe4–b1.
Play continues 37. Qd7! (37. a8=Q Qe4+ 38.
Rf3 Qb1!! is a draw, but not 38. ... Rxa8? 39.
Nxa8 Qb1 40. Qe8+) 37. ... Qxd7! (37. ... Qe4+
38. Rf3 Qb1 39. Qg4+ now wins for White) 38. 39. ... Rxa6 40. Qg4+ Kf7 41. Qe6+ Kg7 42.
Nxd7 Ra8 39. Ra2 c4! and Black has some Rxa6 Qxa6 43. Qe7+ Kg8 44. Qxe4 Qa2+
counterplay in a fascinating endgame. Of 45. Kh3 Bf6 46. Qe8+ Kg7 47. Qd7+ Kg6 48.
course, finding this as Black over the board f5+ Kh6 49. Qf7 Qb2 50. Qf8+ Kh5 51. Rf4
is nearly impossible, but the task for White Qa1 52. Kg2 Qb2+ 53. Rf2 Qd4 54. Qf7+
is not easy either. Kh6 55. Rf4 Qb2+ 56. Rf2 Qd4 57. Qe6 Kg7
58. Qxd6 h5 59. Qc7+ Kf8 60. Qd6+ Kg7 61.
36. Ra2 Qa7 37. Qc6! Qd7+ Kh6 62. Qc6 h4 63. Rf4 Qb2+ 64. Kh3
With one simple move White completely hxg3 65. Rh4+ Kg5 66. Rg4+ Kh6 67. Rg6+
nullifies the roles played by the black pieces Kh5 68. Rxg3 Qe2 69. d6 Qf1+ 70. Kh2 Qf2+
now huddled on the queenside. In many of 71. Qg2 Qxf5 72. Qh3+ Qxh3+ 73. Kxh3 Be5
the lines above, we saw just how much the 74. d7, Black resigned.
hanging rook on h5 disturbed Black. White
exploits the same element here. Tremendous thanks are in order to sponsors
Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation
37. ... Rxb6 and the International Chess School along
There was no other option, as White threat- with Chief Arbiters David Hater and Brian
ened to dislodge the blockade with Nb6-c8 Yang. For many participants, it was their
on the next move. Note that 37. ... Qxb6 38. first scholastic tournament since the onset
Qxb6 Rxb6 39. a7 likewise wins. of the pandemic, and for a few players,
their first tournament altogether. Despite
38. Qe8+ Kg7 39. Qxh5 the potential difficulties arising from this,
From here White duly converted his mate- the tournament proceeded smoothly with
rial advantage. practically no issues or disputes.
2 0 2 1 N O RT H A M E R I C A N YO UTH
C H E S S C H A M PI ONSH I P AT A G L A N C E
AUGUST 16-21, 2021 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
U18: FM Dimitar Mardov, 7½/9. GIRLS U18: Alice Lee, 7½/9. U16: Erick Zhao, 8/9.
Girls U16: Kelsey Liu, 8½/9. U14: Arthur Xu, 8½/9. Girls U14: Zoey Tang, 8½/9.
U12: Tanitoluwa Adewumi, 8/9. Girls U12: Omya Vidyarthi, 8½/9. U10: Marcel
Podraza and Bobby Qian, 8/9. Girls U10: Olivia Laido, 8/9. U8: Luke Hong and Ethan
Guo, 7/9. Girls U8: Irene Jiao Fei, 8½/9.
For complete results and additional photos, visit naycc2021.com.

USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 21

qboutiquestl.com 4 6 5 2 M a r y l a n d Av e n u e
@QBoutiqueSTL Saint Louis, MO 63108
   (314) 367-9243 [WCHF]
Happy Holidays from the
Saint Louis Chess Campus!

@STLChessClub | @WorldChessHOF
@QBoutiqueSTL | stlchesscampus.org
     
EVENTS Online Olympiad
The
Near-Miracle
Online IM JOHN DONALDSON
T
BY
HE SECOND-PLACE FINISH
of the United States in the 2021
FIDE Online Chess Olympiad,
held August 20 to September
15, will be remembered not
only for the final result but for
the comebacks and upsets that were such a
big part of the story.
Outside of World Championship matches,
Olympiads are the most important chess
competitions held by FIDE. Organized like
clockwork every two years since 1950, this
biennial event routinely attracts over 170
countries from all corners of the globe. The
COVID-19 pandemic changed all that, mak-
ing face-to-face competition on a worldwide
level temporarily impossible.
To fill the gap left by the canceled Olym-
piad, FIDE held an online version in 2020
which included several significant changes.
Instead of competing in Open and Women’s
24 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
Team USA takes
silver at 2021
Online Olympiad.
sections on four boards, the online version
had one team per country consisting of six
main players. At least two of these had to
be women, one player under age 20 (born
in 2000 or later), and one girl under age 20
(born in 2000 or later). Equally important
was the speeding up of the time control —
these online versions were contested at G/15
with a five second increment.
The first FIDE Online Olympiad was a
great success, ending in a tie for first be-
tween Russia and India, with Poland and
the United States sharing third. While not
a replacement for the regular Olympiad,
the new format did have some advantages.
Notably, it provided opportunities for players
in areas where there are few tournaments.
With men, women, and juniors all compet-
ing on the same team, countries were also
forced to utilize different strengths.
There was hope in 2020 that the regular
Olympiad might be held this year but this
was not to be, and this summer FIDE issued
invitations for the second online version.
The late announcement meant many top
American players had already made other
commitments. The top five FIDE rated play-
ers (GMs Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Leni-
er Dominguez, Hikaru Nakamura, and Sam
Shankland) were all playing in a concurrent
PHOTOS: YOUTUBE (LEFT), COURTESY SLCC / C. RULLER (RIGHT)
Chess960 event in St. Louis. IMs Carissa Yip
and Annie Wang, both ranked in the top ten
females in the world under 21, had school
conflicts.
Despite these missing players and with
only three holdovers (GMs Jeffery Xiong
and Ray Robson, and IM Anna Zatonskih)
from last year we still had a very good team.
This is a testament to the increasingly deep
bench American chess has grown.
Eight-time U.S. Women’s champion GM
Irina Krush, GM Dariusz Swiercz (who
played so well on first board for the U.S. in
the 2019 World Team Championship) and
former U.S. Women’s champion IM Nazi
Paikidze all had previous experience, but

junior boards GM Awonder Liang and WGM
Thalia Cervantes were making their debut
in international team competition.
FIDE has no separate system for G/15,
and few players outside the top ranks play
enough rapid chess to make these ratings
meaningful. To rank the teams, organizers
combined the results from the 2018 Batumi
Olympiad and the 2020 Online Olympiad.
This meant the U.S. had a high initial seed-
ing, sufficient to put it in a different pool
from favorites Russia, China, and India
when it entered the competition with 40
countries remaining.
Our group of 10 teams appeared to have
a number of potential contenders who had
a legitimate chance of grabbing the two
qualifying spots, but in the end, we tied with
Poland for first with 16 out of a potential 18
match points, finishing second on tiebreak.
Having advanced to the quarterfinals,
the United States now faced Kazakhstan.
The later was the surprising winner of its
division, finishing ahead of China whom it
defeated in their individual match. It did
so by scoring 3½/4 on the women and ju-
nior boards despite the Chinese having the
reigning Women’s World Champion (GM
Wenjun Ju), the highest rated woman in
the world (GM Hou Yifan), and the number
two rated female junior player in the world
(WGM Jiner Zhu).
The format changed in the knockout
phase of the competition with each duel
consisting of a two-game match with teams
alternating colors. In round one the U.S. lost
Team USA (minus GM Awonder
Liang) at the opening ceremonies
for the 2021 U.S. Championships
to the Kazakhs 4-2 but came back to win the
second round 3½-2½, forcing a blitz playoff
which we won 4-2.
One of the keys to our advancing was the
play of Irina Krush, Anna Zatonskih, and
Nazi Paikidze who scored 3 out of 4 against
GM Zhansaya Abdumalik and IM Dinara
Saduakassova, respectively the number
14 and 17 rated women on the September
2021 FIDE list.
The following game was played in the
must-win second match. Nazi Paikidze and
Ray Robson both performed well through-
out the event despite (willingly) playing the
majority of their games with the black piec-
es. This was Paikidze’s first tournament in
over three years, but one would never have
guessed it from her play.
USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 25
EVENTS Online Olympiad
KING’S INDIAN ATTACK (A08)
IM Dinara Saduakassova (2489)
IM Nazi Paikidze (2374)
Online Olympiad Quarterfinal, 09.13.
2021
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 d5 4. 0–0 Be7 5.
d3 0–0 6. Nbd2 c5 7. e4 Nc6 8. Re1 Qc7
Another, older way to play this position, is
to rapidly advance the queenside pawns via
8. ... b5 9. e5 Nd7 10. Nf1 a5 11. h4 b4 12.
Bf4 a4. Here Bobby Fischer played the then
heretical 13. a3 against Myagmarsuren at the
Sousse Interzonal in 1967, violating the law
one should not play on the side of the board
where they are weaker. This variation is con-
sidered theoretically viable but in practice
White scores heavily. Nazi prefers a more
balanced approach combining queenside
play with central action.
9. e5 Nd7 10. Qe2 b5 11. Nf1 Bb7 12. Bf4
d4 13. a3 Rab8 14. h4 Rfc8 15. h5
15. ... c4
The engines preference is to stop the
h-pawn’s advance with 15. ... h6 but the
human brain then fears White targeting
the square with either a sacrifice or the
advance g3-g4-g5.
26 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
16. N1d2
Here 16. h6 was an important alternative.
Kamsky – Lenderman (U.S. Championship,
2014) is a model example of how to play such
positions for White.
16. ... cxd3 17. cxd3 Nc5 18. Rac1 Qd8
The return of the queen is commonly seen
in this line. Once it allows the king rook to
be activated on c8 it retreats to its original
home, covering the g5 square and bolstering
Black’s kingside defense. This maneuver
is advocated in an analogous position in
Aagaard and Ntirlis’ Playing the French who
track the idea back to Yuchtman - Gipslis
(Sverdlovsk, 1957).
Black tried this plan in Karjakin - Shankla-
nd in the 2021 World Cup and achieved a
promising position but White later won.
(See our September issue for this game. ~ed.)
19. h6 g6 20. Rc2 b4 21. Rec1
The silicon oracles like 21. Bg5 with the
point that after 21. ... Bxg5 22. Nxg5 Qxg5
With commentary by GMs Hess and
Naroditsky, along with WGM Shahade and IM
Pruess, fans enjoyed top-notch coverage!
23. Rxc5 White has not won any material,
but the threats of Nd2-e4 and Nd2-c4 are
difficult to meet.
21. ... Na4 22. Ne4 bxa3 23. bxa3 Na5
24. Nfg5
This is the right square but the wrong piece.
Stockfish prefers the thematic 24. Bg5 seek-
ing to gain access to the d6- or f6-squares for
White’s knight. The idea is straightforward
enough; the difficulty is appreciating the
tactical details with only a few moments on
one’s clock, particularly that Black’s queen-
side pieces are unprotected. For example:
24. ... Bxe4 25. Bxe7 Rxc2 26. Qxc2 Qxe7 27.
Qxa4 Bxf3 28. Bxf3 Nb7 29. Qxa7 or 24. ...
Nc3 25. Nxc3 Nb3 26. Bxe7 Qxe7 27. Nd5.
24. ... Nc3 25. Qe1?
The losing move. White had to bail out with
25. Nxc3 Rxc3 26. Rxc3 dxc3 27. Ne4 Bxe4 28.
Qxe4. Now Paikidze takes over.
25. ... Nb3 26. Bh3?
Relatively best was 26. Nf6+ although after
26. ... Bxf6 27. exf6 Bxg2 28. Bxb8 Nxc1 29.
PHOTOS: YOUTUBE
Rxc1 Bb7 (or 29. ... Ne2+) 30. Bf4 Qxf6 Black
is close to winning.

26. ... Bd5

Playable was 26. ... Nxc1, but the “human
choice” to overprotect the e6-square is per-
fectly understandable with little time.

27. Nd6
A better try to resist was 27. Rxc3 dxc3 28.
Rxc3 Rxc3 29. Qxc3 but after 29. ... Rc8
Black is on the road to victory. The rest of
the game is easy to understand as Nazi gives
her opponent no chances.

27. ... Bxg5 28. Bxg5 Qxg5 29. Nxc8 Rxc8

30. Rb1 Nc5 31. Rxc3 dxc3 32. Qxc3 Qd8
33. Rc1 Bb7 34. Bg2 Nxd3 35. Bxb7 Rxc3
36. Rxc3 Nxe5 37. Rc8 Qxc8 38. Bxc8 Ng4
39. f4 Nxh6 40. Kf2 Nf5 41. g4 Nd6 42. Ba6
Kf8 43. Ke3 Ke7 44. g5 Nf5+ 45. Ke4 Kd6
46. Bb5 h6 47. gxh6 Nxh6 48. Kd4 Nf5+
49. Ke4 Kc5 50. Ba4 Kd6 51. Be8 Ke7 52.
Bc6 Ng3+ 53. Kf3 Nf5 54. Ke4 Nd6+ 55.
Kd4 f6 56. a4 Nf5+ 57. Kc5 g5 58. fxg5
fxg5 59. Kb5 Nd4+, White resigned.
Next up in the semifinal was India which
out-rated us on every single board. There-
fore, it was no surprise the commentators
on Chess.com, the platform the event was
played on, gave the U.S. team little hope
in their pre-match prognostication. They
must have felt their prediction was spot on
when India won the first match 5-1, but this
was a U.S. team that would not quit. They
again won the elimination match, this time
by a score of 4-2, and forced another blitz
playoff which the Americans won 4½-1½.
In terms of significant Olympiad upsets,
perhaps only the American defeat of a high-
er-rated Ukrainian team in the last round
of the 2008 Dresden Olympiad ranks as a
bigger surprise.
Team leader Jeffery Xiong successfully
made the transition to first board this year
and is poised for great things to come. Here
he and Ray Robson swept the Indian top
boards in the critical second match.
lot of main line theory and in particular
the variation 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. g3
Nc6 6. Bg2 Nc7 aiming to set-up in a reverse
Maroczy Bind with ... e7-e5.
3. ... g6 4. Bb2 Bg7 5. g3 b6 6. Bg2 Bb7
7. 0–0 0–0 8. d4 cxd4 9. Qxd4 d6 10. Nc3
Nbd7 11. Ne1 Ne4
The alternative 11. ... Bxg2 12. Nxg2 Qc8 13.
Nd5 Re8 14. Rac1 Qb7 15. Nge3 Rac8 16. Rfd1
a6 17. Qd2, as in Meier - Baldauf (Duden-
hofen, 2017), gives White the small but sta-
ble advantage he is hoping for in this line.
12. Qe3 Nxc3
After 12. ... Ndc5 13. Nxe4 Bxb2 14. Rb1 Bxe4
15. Rxb2 Bxg2 16. Nxg2 White has a small but
annoying pull due to his space advantage.
13. Bxb7 Rb8 14. Bg2 Nd5
Rfc1 Nc5 19. b4 Nxd3 20. Qxd3 axb4?
The right defense was 20. ... b5 with the idea
of ... a5xb4 followed by ... Qd8-a5 targeting
the White a-pawn. The text leaves Black’s
b-pawn a target and just as importantly he
has no active play.
21. Rxb4 Rb7 22. Rc6
The follow-up to White’s 15th move.
22. ... Qa8 23. a4 Qa5 24. Qb3 Rfb8 25.
Be4 Bf6 26. Bd3!
White’s bishop prepares to take an active
role on the queenside while its counterpart
looks pretty but does nothing.
26. ... Kg7 27. h4 h5 28. Kg2 Qa7 29.
Qc2 Rh8 30. Qb1 Rbb8 31. Qb3 Rhc8 32.
Rbxb6?
32. Bb5! was more precise as 32. ... Rxc6
is met by 33. Bxc6 Kh7 34. e3 (to stop ...
Bd4–c5) 34. ... Kg7 35. Rb5 and there is no
defense to the advance a4-a5.
32. ... Rxc6 33. Rxb8

ENGLISH OPENING (A30)

GM Jeffery Xiong (2700)
GM Viswanathan Anand (2753)
Online Olympiad Semifinal, 09.14.
2021
1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. b3
This move-order, advocated by Adrien De-
muth in The Modernized Reti, has recently
become popular. White aims to sidestep a
15. cxd5
This is an interesting decision by Jeffery
to open the c-file which offers his pieces
a potential outpost on the c6-square. The
engines prefer 15. Qd2.
33. ... Rc3??
15. ... Bxb2 16. Rb1 Bg7 17. Nd3 a5 18. Anand overlooks Xiong’s next move. 33. ...

USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 27

EVENTS Online Olympiad
Rc5 34. Rb7 Qa8 35. Rb5 leaves White a pawn
up but Black has excellent drawing chances
due to the opposite-colored bishops.
34. Qb5!
Black’s queen and rook are far from his king.
34. ... Kh6 35. Qe8, Black resigned.
QUEEN’S GAMBIT, CLOSED
CATALAN (E01)
GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2727)
GM Ray Robson (2673)
Online Olympiad Semi-Final, 09.14.
2021
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Bb4+ 5.
Bd2 Be7 6. Nf3 0–0 7. 0–0 Nbd7 8. Qc2 c6
9. Rd1 b6 10. Bf4 Bb7 11. Ne5 Nh5 12. Bd2
Nhf6 13. cxd5 cxd5 14. Nc6 Qe8 15. Nxe7+
Qxe7 16. Qc7 Ba6 17. Nc3 Rfc8 18. Qf4
Nf8 19. h4 h6 20. Bf3 Ng6 21. Qe3 Qd8 22.
Rac1 Rc4 23. b3 Rc7 24. a4 Rac8 25. Na2
Bb7 26. Rxc7 Rxc7 27. Nc3 Ba6 28. h5 Nf8
29. Rc1 N8h7 30. Qe5 Qc8 31. Na2 Rxc1+
32. Nxc1 Nd7 33. Qd6 Ng5 34. Bxg5 hxg5
35. Na2 Nf6
Robson has held his ground against Vidit,
28 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
one of the top 25 players in the world. Here
it was time for White to bail out.
36. g4?
This answers Black’s threat of ... g5-g4 but
loses immediately. The only way to avoid
defeat was active defense: 36. Qe5 g4 37.
Bg2 and now 37. ... Qc2 38. Nb4 Qd1+ 39.
Bf1 Ne4 can be answered by 40. Nxd5! (40.
Nxa6? Nd2) 40. ... exd5 (40. ... Nd2 41. Ne3)
41. Qe8+ Kh7 42. Qxf7 and White draws by
perpetual check. Needless to say, this was
not easy to see with little time.
36. ... Qc2! 37. Qb8+
White fares no better after 37. Nb4 Qd1+ 38.
Kg2 Bxe2 39. Bxe2 Qxe2.
37. ... Kh7 38. Qxa7 Bxe2 39. Bxe2 Qxe2
40. Qxf7 Qxg4+ 41. Kf1 Qd1+ 42. Kg2
Nxh5 43. Nc3 Qg4+ 44. Kf1 Qh3+ 45. Ke2
Nf4+ 46. Kd2 Qd3+, White resigned.
The final saw the U.S. facing a Russian team
that had won every single match in the qual-
ification and knockout stage and out-rated
the Americans by 100-200 points on most
boards. Once again, the pundits expected
us to get wiped out, but while the Russians
won the matches, they were very close, both
ending 3½-2½.
Awonder Liang, who was the team’s high
scorer (12½/17), rose to the occasion win-
ning both games against GM Andrey Es-
ipenko, currently rated 25th in the world.
RUY LOPEZ (C65)
GM Awonder Liang (2590)
GM Andrey Esipenko (2720)
Online Olympiad Final, 09.15. 2021
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5.
0–0 a6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. Re1 c5 8. c3 Be7
9. d4 cxd4 10. cxd4 exd4 11. Nxd4 Bd7 12.
Nc3 0–0 13. Qd3 Re8 14. Bf4 Qb8 15. b3
Qb7 16. Rad1 Rad8 17. Nc2 h6 18. h3 Bf8
19. Bg3 Bc6 20. f3
20. ... Nd7?
This retreat is the start of the wrong plan.
Correct was 20. ... d5! with the point that
the natural sequence 21. e5 Nh5 22. Bh2 is
met by the powerful 22. ... d4! followed by
... Bc6-b5 and the advance of the d-pawn.
White has better moves in 21. exd5 or 21.
e5 Nh5 22. Bf2.
21. Ne3
Black’s opportunity to break in the center
has passed.
21. ... Ne5 22. Qc2 Bd7 23. Kh2 c5
Esipenko wants an outpost for his knight
on d4 but this advance creates weaknesses
in his pawn structure.
24. Ncd5 Nc6 25. Qf2 Be6 26. f4 Nd4 27. f5
Bxd5 28. Nxd5
28. ... Rxe4
Rather than sit and wait passively, Black
offers the Exchange for two pawns. Still,
Liang maintains his advantage in the re-
PHOTOS: YOUTUBE
sulting endgame.
29. Rxe4 Qxd5 30. Ree1 Qxf5
Maybe 30. ... Qb7 followed by ... d6-d5 of-
fered more practical chances.
31. Qxf5 Nxf5 32. Bf2
Material is equal but the threats of Bf2xc5
and g2-g4 demand more concessions from
Black.
32. ... g5 33. g4 Nh4 34. Bxh4 gxh4 35.
Kg2
Centralizing the king and exchanging rooks
after doubling on the e-file spells doom for
Black. Esipenko continues to resist but the
final result is never in doubt.
35. ... d5 36. Re5 d4 37. Kf3 Rd6 38. Rxc5
Re6 39. Rc8 Re3+ 40. Kf4 Rxh3 41. Rxd4
Kg7 42. Rdd8 Bb4 43. Kf5 Rf3+ 44. Ke4 Rf2
45. Rg8+ Kf6 46. Rc6+ Ke7 47. Rxh6 Rxa2
48. Rxh4 Rb2 49. Rh3 a5 50. Kd5 Rd2+ 51.
Kc4 Rc2+ 52. Kb5 Rf2 53. Re3+ Kf6 54. Rd3
Rf4 55. g5+ Kf5 56. Rg7 Ke6 57. Rh3 Rf5+
58. Ka6 Bf8 59. Rg8 Bb4 60. Rh6+ Ke5 61.
Rb6 Rf3 62. Re8+ Kd5 63. Rf6 Rxb3 64.
Rxf7 a4 65. g6 a3 66. g7 a2 67. Rf1 Rg3 68.
g8=Q+ Rxg8 69. Rxg8 Bc3 70. Rgg1 Kc4
71. Rh1 Kb4 72. Kb6 Kc4 73. Kc6 Bb2 74.
Kd6 Bc3 75. Ke6 Bb2 76. Kf5 Bc3 77. Ke4
Bb2 78. Rd1 Bc3 79. Rc1 Kb4 80. Kd3 Bb2
81. Kc2, Black resigned.
The U.S. second-place finish performance
was significantly above expectations in part
due to its great team spirit, something which
the Russian team captain GM Alexander
Motylev referenced in the post event press
conference. He further stated if the Amer-
icans had succeeded in the final, it would
have been equivalent to the “Miracle on Ice,”
referencing the 1980 gold medal winning
U.S. Olympic hockey team’s upset win over
a heavily favored Soviet squad.
The American success was a total team
effort with all members playing important
roles in its success and covering each other’s
Important online events require players to
be visible on Zoom. Seen here Team USA
(top) and Team Russia (bottom) in the finals.
backs. To give but one example, Awonder
Liang lost both games to his Kazakh op-
ponent in regulation, but then beat him in
the blitz playoff. He subsequently scored
4/5 against some of the best juniors in the
world in the remaining matches with India
and Russia.
Robson, whose peak FIDE rating of 2680
puts him in the top dozen American players
since the introduction of the FIDE rating
system in 1970, scored 8 out of 11. This was
his ninth (!) time playing for the U.S. team
at the age of 26.
Swiercz played steadily throughout, win-
ning a key game against Peru in the qualifier
when they looked to be a contender, then
defeated his Kazakh opponent in a minia-
ture in the first round of the knockout stage.
Cervantes faced significantly higher rated
opposition throughout the playoffs, but ever
the competitor, won both her games in the
blitz knockouts and drew games against her
Indian and Russian opponents.
Last and not least, the trio of Irina Krush,
Anna Zatonskih and Nazi Paikidze more
than held their own against some of the best
female players in the world. They helped
the U.S. to a near podium finish in the 2016
Olympiad and look to do even better in 2022.
Participation in this event would not have
been possible without the sponsorship of
the Saint Louis Chess Club and in particular
Dr. Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield. American
chess would be much poorer without their
generosity.
USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 29
 W
DA
I V
F E
F L
E E
RN
EG
NT
TH
30
S
DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
 Riding the Waves REFLECTIONS

Two paths, taken

M
and not taken,
over-the-board and
across lifetimes.
BY FM MIKE KLEIN

MY MOST FAMOUS GAME OF CHESS WAS PLAYED WHEN I

was six. I didn’t win and I don’t remember much about the game.
Chess can be fickle.
My opponent has long since moved on from chess. I have not.
But for a few weeks this spring, we found ourselves on the same
horseshoe-shaped stretch of white sand on the Pacific coastline
of Central America. Some opponents never go away.
I’ve traveled to this place several times before. It’s known for
a pristine and uncommercialized beach, yoga classes on every
corner, fresh food, and a consistent surf break — an adjacent surf
town lost much of its waves in a large earthquake about a decade
ago; surfing can be fickle, too. Every roadside shack seems to be
involved in some sort of unannounced contest for who can make
the most aesthetic and symmetrical fruit bowl. There’s also mil-
lion-dollar real estate, usually modern concrete and glass design.
The jungle conceals the wealth, and in some cases, the opulence
that doesn’t truly belong in an alleged dirt road, dirtbag surf spot.
If a town planner was into shabby chic, this would be the cre-
ation. It’s Seattle meets Bali meets Aspen, and IM Josh Waitzkin
lives here.
I played Josh when I was six and he was eight. Back then the
K-1 section at Nationals wasn’t a thing. They didn’t even have
“under” sections. Neither of us knew what fortunes lay ahead.
It turned out I was one of his speed bumps on the way to a na-
tional championship, the same one featured in the final scenes
of Searching for Bobby Fischer.
In real life, the tournament was in my hometown of Charlotte,
and the game made for a short paragraph in his father’s book of
the same name that preceded the movie. With chagrin, I can say
that I used to have the page number memorized.
Fred Waitzkin recalled that I played a “hypermodern” opening
— a word that was surely as alien to a first grader as a career in

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JACOB THOMAS

USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 31

 chess must have been to my parents at the time. I don’t think many
modern chess coaches are teaching six-year-olds the Benoni, but
back then, scholastic chess coaching was still largely in its peda-
gogical infancy.
I often mention that game in my online biographies. The public
reaction is a mix of excitement and confusion. Did you play Bobby
Fischer? So you played the boy actor from the movie? In Chicago?
You met Ben Kingsley? No, no, no, and no.
For Josh, I’m guessing he’s never given that game a second thought.
While I can’t remember it, he doesn’t have a need to. And while I
went on to win that same tournament two years later, our paths
diverged greatly as we inched towards adulthood.
Whereas I’m trying to hold off the senescence that eventually
comes to all chess players, Josh got out of the chess world shortly after
his teen years. His life journey has prized variegated but intensive
learning much more than single-minded obsession of one skill — the
kind of lifelong devotion that it usually takes to rise to world elite.
I also never sought the highest titles in chess, but did stay well
within its larger clutches of teaching, reporting, and online growth.
Except for a brief foray into mainstream journalism, the unknown
of life outside the game never felt as safe as life inside it. I’m the
aging third-base coach, whose name on the back of the jersey recalls
memories of fleeting moments of success.
32 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
“...the unknown of life
outside the game never felt
as safe as life inside it. ”
Josh and I were now both walking in the same sand. I knew through
several sources that he was here. And I was reminded again on this
most recent trip of both his presence, and his privacy.
With only intermittent internet at my rental, I found myself doing
most of my streaming, teaching, and day-to-day work in the open-
air palapa of the local surf club. After one “Beat FunMasterMike”
episode, a local ex-pat named Tyler walked up to me and asked if I
was a chess professional? And, somewhat baffled since the town’s
size didn’t even warrant a single street light, did I know about the
other chess player in town?
Yes, and yes. However, even I struggled to explain that Josh’s rea-
sons for being here and my own were not related. While I was taking
time out to surf and enjoy those fruit bowls, I was still producing
chess — articles, shows, and videos. Josh, on the other hand, had
moved on again to another subculture, and then even a micro-culture
within it. After chess he would win numerous world championships
in Tai Chi before becoming a successful author.
 Now he hits the water.
Originally Josh got into paddle surfing — think stand up paddle-
boarding in the waves, and then if you want to try it, you’ll get a
nice mix of humility and light bruising after your first attempt... or
maybe that’s just my experience.
He has since moved on to a surf foil. As Tyler explained to me,
and then as Josh explained himself in an interview with Tim Fer-
riss, the foil protrudes below the surfboard to create the effect of
an airplane wing. An obscure sport to be sure, but perhaps no more
so than chess or Tai Chi. One big difference is that surf foiling is
relatively new, not thousands of years old.
“It’s frictionless, it’s way faster than surfing, it’s incredibly intense,”
Josh said about his five-foot surfboard that has a 29.5-inch mast that
extends below it. If you’ve seen any of the modern America’s Cup
sailing races, you’ve seen the yachts that lift themselves out of the
water with an oversized version of this wing. For Josh, it’s exhila-
rating. “If the whitewater catches you it’s like getting shot out of a
cannon and then you’re on top of a guillotine.” To the outsider, his
former martial art discipline can be likened to a technical endgame,
but this new focus has him constantly on the edge of control. He’s
gone from Tai Chi to Tal.
Josh even found a way to accelerate his love of learning and mus-
cle-memory mastery: He added an electric propeller that allows him
to enter larger waves, similar to a jet ski tow. This enables him to
absorb about 10 times the amount of on-wave time as a traditional
surfer. Just as most modern GMs fast-track their mastery with thou-
sands of online games, so too has Josh harnessed an accelerant. The
e-assist then folds up once on the wave, preserving the viscerality
that comes when working without a motor.
The end result is that Josh has found a way to take his love of
learning and put it in hyperdrive. He said to Ferris that one hour-
long session on his e-foil amounts to about one or two months of
traditional training. “Afterwards I feel like I have to lie in a dark
room with my eyes closed for 10-15 minutes just to process. The
brain feels like it’s plugged into The Matrix.”
My brain does not feel that way. Although I’m proud of the pro-
ductivity that comes from waking at 5:30 every morning, I soon find
out from other vacationers and remote workers that they experience
the same. It might be that the jungle resets our bodies back to their
original circadian rhythms, or it might be the howler monkeys and
their morning rituals. I do dabble in other new things while here,
including surfing, but I don’t have the focus or doggedness to com-
pletely envelop myself for years in something new. Chess is safe.
Chess is home. But chess is also a crutch.
Josh’s first coach, Bruce Pandolfini, has promised me he has that
game somewhere. It was 1986, so it never made it to anyone’s hard
USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 33
REFLECTIONS Riding the Waves
drive. But maybe it’s better I never see it. It’s not aspirational to
have your career highlight come when you still wore Velcro shoes.
I did run into Josh once, long after he left the chess world, at the
2016 World Championship in New York City. He didn’t appear on
the live broadcast, nor make himself available for interviews. Most
newcomers to the game would not even know who he was. Josh
almost seemed curious to see what had become of the chess world.
He probably has not verbally called himself a chess player since
this century began.
While there at South Street Seaport, I mentioned that we played
way back when, and he listened intently with eyebrows raised, as he
always does in his professional appearances. But part of me felt I was
hanging on to a moment in time that didn’t register with him. I was
somehow the one still in the chess world, yet I was the fan. What I
really should have asked him was: “How did you commit to starting
over completely at something new? And how did you do it again?”
B
ack at the surf club, the local man wanted to know if I
would be meeting up with Josh. I had known about his
privacy, and I had thought about this before coming.
No, I don’t think I would. I respect that he’s chosen to
live his life his way, and that does not include much
of a crossover with the chess world. (It’s also one of the reasons
I’m being vague about our mutual location, as did Ferriss in his in-
terview.) At first, this kind of small town, where you pass the same
people day after day, might seem an odd choice for anonymity. But
many houses are camouflaged by the jungle and some are set off in
the surrounding hills. Rarely is much dirt moved during new con-
struction; Frank Lloyd Wright would approve. Just as your house can
blend it, so too can you, revealing as much or as little as you want.
I’m mostly here just to quietly work. In truth, “FunMaster” is a
small sliver of my job; it has the same quotidian tasks and Zoom
meetings as many others. Even with a public online persona, I think
of myself along lines sketched by Derek Sivers in Hell Yeah or No:
as a “solitary socialite.”
Despite this, I do get recognized on the street for the first time
in my life while here when a boy runs up to me at the juice bar and
asks, “Are you FunMasterMike?” Waitzkin is mostly protected from
“ The process of learning,
no matter the subject, is
what he seeks to perfect. ”
this here. He says that the art of saying “no” is easier in the jungle
without all the inbound figurative traffic of New York City.
It’s a savvy move, and perhaps a forced one. Otherwise he would
doubtless be hounded about a life he’d long since left. The writer
Jonathan Franzen once went much farther, escaping the repetition
of a book tour by traveling to Robinson Crusoe Island, 400 miles off
the coach of Chile. As he put it: “Substantial swaths of my personal
history were going dead from within, from my talking about them
too often.”
Despite not attempting to meet him, I do think about Josh when
I’m here. Or, more precisely, I think about his choice to live his life
outside of the chess world. Many of us that remain within Caïssa’s
realm have carved out very nice lives by writing, teaching, stream-
ing, or playing. “The Queen’s Gambit” even put us in the spotlight
for a bit. But does learning a new idea in the Sicilian help us grow as
people? Quitting the very thing you are known for, only to become
34 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
a beginner at something else, what does that do for a person? And
then to do it all over again?
I read somewhere long ago that it is a Zen belief that changing
careers every few years is healthy. Unfortunately the corporate
structure of our world makes that hard to do. Unless you’re Josh,
when learning itself is the goal. Personal advancement in place of
professional climbing. The process of learning, no matter the sub-
ject, is what he seeks to perfect.
He also chases balance. It’s not just a through-line in chess, martial
arts, and surfing. It’s also a thread through the constant personal
reinvention. In his interview, Josh also goes a little too far down the
path of gray-area science for my taste, telling Ferriss that he tries to
make his surfing heart rate match his own body’s resonate frequen-
cy. Count me as a skeptic; while researching if indeed everyone has
their own resonate frequency, the third Google search item is titled
“Could a Sonic Weapon Make Your Head Explode?”
Perhaps a pass is in order — this coastal town is full of spiritual
healers and talk of chakras. Ayahuasca is even sold at the weekly
farmers market. However, I can respect that Josh’s new-age tech-
niques and mental hacks are rooted in efficiency and performance
optimization, not spirituality. Also, this sort of fuzzy wave-induced
thinking seems to common to other surfers. As Daniel Duane recent-
ly wrote in Outside, “The focused fun of soaring on a great wave so
deeply immerses one’s consciousness in flow that it’s quite normal
to finish the ride of your life unable to replay it mentally.” He goes
on to call it a “wormhole through emotional space-time.”
O
n one of my final days here, I walked to the beach,
along with the rest of town, to watch the sunset. I
turned on some music as a soundtrack to watch-
ing the waveriders. Like many great songs, LCD
Soundsystem’s “All My Friends” is one that reflects
your current mood. It’s a two-chord song that oscillates between
questions and answers. The lyrics are mostly about the past but it’s
sung in the present tense. Much like playing chess where nothing
matters but the moment at hand; there’s endless time for reflection
afterward. You can play the song on repeat while listening intently,
or you can leave it looping in the background.
“Like a sales force into the night,” James Murphy croons, lament-
ing that his music had turned into a commodity. As the warm,
tropical wind picks up on the beach, I mentally change it to “sail’s
force.” I’m listening to the live version, played at what was (then)
the band’s final concert, and coincidentally performed exactly 10
years to the day before I landed in this tiny surfer hamlet. Murphy
was also conflicted about a life inside the music world. But like
me, Murphy couldn’t quit his first love. LCD Soundsystem was back
making music a few years later; their next album was their first to
go to number one on the charts.
The music fell into the background, or maybe it began to overlap
my own frequency. Out in the distance I saw a dark mass offshore,
well away from the lineup of other surfers. My eyes strained to make
out the human figure against the horizon.
This surfer seemed to be entering the wave with more power than
his peers. Perhaps 100 meters out to sea, his outline was blurred
in the fading light. As he rose to the top of the wave, a point in the
process that would usually signify his descent, he got to his feet.
This surfer somehow defied gravity, his silhouette staying even
with the horizon.
The distance from shore made the board’s narrow mast invisible.
He seemed to stand still, even as he rushed down the cascading wave.
The board rose above the water, its rider levitating.
 Russian Championship Superfinal
The Russian
Superfinal
Vitiugov wins Open, while Gunina
takes Women’s title.
BY JOHN HARTMANN
F IFTEEN TIMES IS THE
charm for GM Nikita Vitiu-
gov, who won his first nation-
al title at the 2021 Russian
Championship Superfinal, scoring 7/11 to
take clear first place over GM Maxim Mat-
lakov. After three third-place finishes and a
playoff loss to GM Peter Svidler in 2017, the
St. Petersburg native had a lot to celebrate,
including (as revealed in an interview with
ruchess.ru) the recent birth of his son!
Vitiugov won three games to go along with
eight draws in Ufa. Here is perhaps the most
impressive of those victories.
NIMZO-INDIAN DEFENSE
(E20)
GM Nikita Vitiugov (2727)
GM Dmitry Andreikin (2728)
2021 Russian Open Superfinal (5), Ufa,
Russia, 10.13.2021
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5.
Nc3 0–0 6. Bg2 dxc4 7. 0–0 Nc6 8. Re1 Be7
A very rare continuation here, but one of
Stockfish’s top choices. As such, Vitiugov was
loaded for bear — his preparation ended on
White’s 23rd move!
9. e4 Nb4 10. Ne5 c5 11. d5 exd5 12. exd5
Bf5 13. Nxc4 Nc2 14. Re5 Bg6 15. d6 Bxd6
16. Nxd6 Nxa1 17. Bg5 Nc2 18. Nd5 Kh8
PHOTO: ETERI KUBLASHVILI / RCF
19. Ne4 Qb8 20. Bxf6 gxf6 21. Re7 Nb4 22.
Nxb4 cxb4 23. Qd4 Qd8?
The computer gives 23. ... Rd8 24. Qxf6+ Kg8
25. h4 (with the threat of 26. h5 Bxh5 27.
Qh6!) 25. ... Re8 (25. ... Rd5!? also seems to
hold) 26. Rxe8+ Qxe8 27. h5! Bxe4 28. h6 Qf8
29. Bxe4 Rd8 and White’s best is a perpetual.
There is also a tricky tactical defense after
23. ... Re8 24. Nxf6 (or 24. Rxe8+ Qxe8 25.
EVENTS
Nxf6 Qf8! and Black survives) 24. ... Rxe7 25.
Nd7+ Kg8 26. Nxb8 Re1+! 27. Bf1 Rxb8 when
the two rooks are a match for the queen.
24. Qxf6+ Kg8 25. Nd6! Rc8 26. Nxc8 Qd1+
27. Bf1 Rxc8 28. Rxb7 a5 29. h4 Qd8? 30.
Qe5! h5 31. Be2 Qf8 32. Bf3 Rc5 33. Bd5
Kh7 34. Rd7 Qc8 35. Qe7 Rc1+ 36. Kg2
Qa6 37. Bxf7 Qf1+ 38. Kf3 Qh1+, Black
resigned.
This year’s Open Superfinal included a
woman for the first time. GM Aleksandra
Goryachkina finished with a reputable 4½
points. Her second-round win over longtime
Russian national team trainer GM Alexander
Motylev is an excellent example of how to
play against two weaknesses.
QUEEN’S GAMBIT, SEMI-SLAV
DEFENSE (D45)
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (2602)
GM Alexander Motylev (2624)
2021 Russian Open Superfinal (2), Ufa,
Russia, 10.10.2021
1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5.
e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. b3 0–0 8. Be2 b6
9. 0–0 Bb7 10. Bb2 Qe7 11. Rfe1 Rfe8 12.
e4 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Qxe4 Bb4 15.
Red1 Ba3 16. Bxa3 Qxa3 17. Ne5 Nxe5 18.
dxe5 Rad8 19. Bf3 Ba8 20. Qh4 Qf8 21. h3
h6 22. Be4 f5!? 23. exf6 e.p. Qxf6 24. Qg3
Also possible is 24. Qxf6 gxf6 25. c5! playing
against the very bad a8–bishop.
24. ... c5 25. Bg6 Rf8 26. Rab1 Bc6 27.
Rxd8 Qxd8 28. Re1 Rf6 29. Re3 Qe7 30. a4
Rf8 31. Qe5 Rf6 32. Rg3 Rf8 33. Bc2 Rf6
34. Rd3 Rf8 35. Rd6 Bd7 36. a5!
Creating another weakness!
The winners: GM
Valentina Gunina
(L) and GM Nikita
Vitiugov (R)
36. ... bxa5 37. Qxc5 Bc8 38. Rc6 Qd8
39. Rc7 a6 40. Kh2 Bd7 41. Qa7, Black
resigned.
GM Valentina Gunina took top honors in
the Women’s Superfinal with 8/11. Her vic-
tory was assured only after her final round
battle with IM Polina Shuvalova, one of
Russia’s most promising talents. With just
a half-point separating the two, Gunina
had to overcome a disastrous opening and
complicate to wrangle the necessary draw.
BENKO GAMBIT (A58)
GM Valentina Gunina (2462)
IM Polina Shuvalova (2509)
2021 Russian Women’s Superfinal (11),
Ufa, Russia, 10.20.2021
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5.
bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. e4 0–0 8. Nf3 Qa5
9. Bd3? Nxd5! 10. exd5 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3!?
Qxc3+ 12. Qd2 Qxa1 13. 0–0 Qg7! 14. Re1
f6 15. h4!? d6 16. h5 Nd7 17. hxg6 hxg6
18. Qc2 Ne5? 19. Nxe5 fxe5 20. Bxg6 Rf6
21. Be4 Kf7 22. Re3 Rf4 23. Rb3 Rg4 24.
Qe2 Rxa6 25. Rb8 Ra4 26. f3 Rgxe4?
Shuvalova missed her chance with 26. ...
Ba6!. The idea is that after 27. Qf2 (27. Qb2
is similar) 27. ... Raxe4! 28. fxe4+ Qf6! White
can’t avoid a queen trade and has to go into
a losing endgame.
27. fxe4 Bg4 28. Qf1+ Kg6 29. Qe1 Kf7 30.
Qh4 Rxe4 31. Rb7 Ke8 32. Bg5 Bf3 33. Qh3
Bg4 34. Qh4 Bf3 35. Qh3 Bg4 36. Qh4 Bf3
37. Qh3, draw.
Visit Chess Life Online for more
on the Superfinal.
USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 35
TOURNAMENTS Sojourn in St. Louis

My American

36 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG

Tour
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
on his victory at the 2021 Sinquefield
Cup and his tie for second place in
the 9XL Showdown
I
ARRIVED IN THE UNITED STATES
on August 1, flying directly from Russia
after the World Cup. From my hotel
room in St. Louis, I had all the time I
needed to deal with my jet lag. I also
wanted to put in some preparatory
work for a series of three tournaments
that would come in rapid-fire fashion
over the next month and a half. I gave
priority to the first and, for me, the most
important of the three: the Sinquefield Cup,
which began on August 17.
Some may wonder how preparation works
with a team of seconds on another conti-
nent. By this point, because I usually travel
alone to tournaments, we have worked out a
well-oiled routine for remote work manage-
ment. New technologies make this very easy.
Like most players, I travel with my laptop.
But I also have remote access to powerful
The champion with the
Sinquefield Cup, outside computers elsewhere, something that was
the World Chess Hall of a bit of a revolution 10 years ago, but by
Fame. Photos courtesy now has become the norm for elite players.
SLCC / Lennart Ootes. The seven-hour time difference between
St. Louis and Europe also worked in our
favor. My team of seconds, led by my long-
time collaborator GM Etienne Bacrot, worked
during the day in Europe. I would then re-
ceive files from them in the morning local
time, which was perfect for my preparation.
Of course, I also kept a close eye on the
events that were taking place during this
period, including the World Cup semi-fi-
nals and finals, as well as the Saint Louis
Rapid and Blitz, an event that I did not play
despite my being camped out a five-minute
walk from the club! The makeup of the field
of competitors was unsettled until the day
before the tournament started, and several
invitees could not make the trip to St. Louis
because of the pandemic.
Wearing a mask was required at the Saint
Louis Chess Club. Anticipating this possibil-
ity, I trained for this by playing with a mask
in the Bundesliga last year, even though it
wasn’t mandatory! I have to say that I don’t
really have a problem with it — other players
have come to terms with the mask as well,
including GM Fabiano Caruana, who used
to find it very uncomfortable.
USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 37
TOURNAMENTS Sojourn in St. Louis
THE SINQUEFIELD CUP
Everything worked out beyond my expecta-
tions in this tournament. I enjoyed the fact
that I had a rather favorable pairing. This
included five Whites, many of which were
against the lower ranked players — an excel-
lent configuration to try and score points.
As it turned out, I went 4½/5 with the
white pieces. Perhaps I had a bit of luck:
even though I played well in those games,
putting a lot of pressure on my opponents,
I can imagine other circumstances where
they would have found all the best moves
until the end.
Fortunately, this was not the case here!
Svidler cracked. Shankland cracked. Swiercz
also cracked, in a manner of speaking —
after some meticulous preparation, and
with an hour’s advantage on the clock, he
immediately went wrong. Perhaps one could
say that my success was provoked!
Another point of personal satisfaction: I
made very few miscalculations in the tour-
nament. Ok, there was one against Jeffrey
Xiong, but I got away with it!
Looking back, I was very happy to get
back to my winning ways, and I hope this
is the beginning of a new, successful cycle.
Now that I’m back in the top 10 on the rating
list, my goal is to get a little closer to the top
spot in the next few classical events.
38 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
Deep in thought
against GM Jeffery
Xiong in round seven
Here are some highlights from my tour-
nament:
KING’S INDIAN DEFENSE
(E60)
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2751)
GM Peter Svidler (2714)
2021 Sinquefield Cup (1), St. Louis,
08.17.2021
This was a very interesting game, with
both sides showing deep preparation in
the trendy 3. h4 line against the King’s In-
dian / Grünfeld complex. It all came down
to one poor retreating move by the knight,
which gave me the opportunity to show a
very elegant zugzwang!
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. h4 Bg7 4. Nc3 0–0 5.
e4 d6 6. Be2 c5 7. d5 b5 8. cxb5 a6 9. a4
axb5 10. Bxb5 Ba6 11. Bd2 Bxb5 12. axb5
Nbd7 13. Nf3 Rxa1 14. Qxa1 Qb6 15. 0–0
Rb8 16. Qa6 Ne8 17. Ra1 Kf8 18. h5 Nc7
19. Qa4 Ra8 20. Qd1 Rxa1 21. Qxa1 Ne5
22. h6 Nxf3+ 23. gxf3 Bxc3 24. Bxc3 Qxb5
25. b4 Ne8 26. bxc5 dxc5 27. Bg7+ Kg8
See diagram at top of next column
28. Qa8! c4
If 28. ... f6, there is 29. Qc8!.
The zugzwang idea is found after 28. ...
Qd7 29. e5! and I calculated 29. ... c4 (29. ...
e6 30. d6 c4 31. Bf6! with 32. Qd8 to follow)
30. e6 fxe6 31. dxe6 Qb5 32. f4 g5 33. f5 g4
34. Kg2 and Black has run out of moves!
29. Qd8 Qa4 30. Kg2 Qb5 31. Bb2!, Black
resigned.
Note that 31. Qxe7 was more spectacular,
but also more difficult: 31. ... Nxg7 32. hxg7
Kxg7 33. d6 Qc5 34. e5 c3 35. Qf6+ Kh6 36.
d7 c2 37. Qf4+! Kg7 38. d8=Q c1=Q 39. Qdf6+
and mate follows quickly.
After a complex, if unspectacular, draw
against Richard Rapport, I had to deal with
some very precise opening preparation
from Shankland. Unfortunately for him, a
miscalculation led him into a losing king
and pawn endgame!
GIUOCO PIANO (C53)
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2751)
GM Sam Shankland (2709)
2021 Sinquefield Cup (3) St. Louis,
08.19.2021
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5.
d3 d6 6. 0–0 a6 7. a4 h6 8. Re1 Ba7 9. Nbd2
Be6 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. Nf1 a5 12. Ng3 Qd7
13. Be3 Bxe3 14. Rxe3 g5 15. d4 0–0–0 16.
d5 exd5 17. exd5 Ne7 18. c4 Ng4 19. Rb3
Rdf8 20. Qe1 b6 21. Rb5 Nxf2 22. Qxf2 g4
23. Nxe5 Qxb5 24. axb5 Rxf2 25. Kxf2 dxe5
26. Ke3 Rf8 27. Rf1 Rxf1 28. Nxf1 Nf5+ 29.
Kd3 Kd7 30. Nd2 Nd6 31. Ne4
PHOTO: COURTESY SLCC / B. ADAMS
PHOTO: COURTESY SLCC / LENNART OOTES

The fifth round theoretical

battle between MVL and
GM Dariusz Swiercz

USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 39

TOURNAMENTS Sojourn in St. Louis

SICILIAN DEFENSE, NAJDORF

VARIATION (B90)
GM Leinier Dominguez (2758)
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2751)
2021 Sinquefield Cup (4), St. Louis,
08.20.2021

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6

GM Fabiano Caruana
on the white side of a
Najdorf against MVL
5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 Be7
9. Qd2 0–0 10. 0–0–0 Nbd7 11. g4 b5 12.
g5 Nh5 13. Kb1 Nb6 14. Na5 Rc8 15. Nd5
Nxd5 16. exd5 Bxd5 17. Qxd5 Qxa5 18. c4
Nf4 19. Bxf4 exf4 20. h4 Qa4 21. Bd3 bxc4
22. Qe4 g6 23. Bc2 Qd7? (23. ... Qe8!) 24.
h5 Qe6 25. hxg6 hxg6 26. Qxf4 Qe5 27.
Qh4 Qg7 28. Rd2 Rc5 29. f4 f6 30. Rdh2
fxg5 31. Qe1 Bf6 32. Rh6 Qb7 33. Qe6+,
Black resigned.

In one of the most fashionable lines of the

31. ... Ke7?
The position is fully equal after 31. ... Ne8.
32. Nxd6 cxd6
No better is 32. ... Kxd6: after 33. b3 Kc5 34.
Ke4 Kb4 35. Kf5 Kxb3 36. c5 e4 37. Kxe4 a4
38. d6 cxd6 39. cxb6 a3 40. b7 a2 41. b8=Q
a1=Q 42. Qxd6 the b-pawn will decide mat-
ters.
33. Ke4 Kf6 34. b3 Kg6 35. c5 dxc5 36. d6
Kf7 37. Kd5 e4
After the alternative 37. ... Ke8 38. Kc6 Kd8
39. Kxb6 White is still faster, e.g., 39. ... a4
40. bxa4 c4 41. a5 c3 42. a6 c2 43. a7 c1=Q
44. a8=Q+ Kd7 45. Qc6+.
38. Kc6 e3 39. d7 e2 40. d8=Q e1=Q 41.
Kxb6
Here the advanced b-pawn is more than
enough to win, as the game shows.
41. ... Qe6+ 42. Ka7 c4 43. bxc4 a4 44. b6
a3 45. b7 a2 46. Qc7+ Kg6 47. Qa5, Black
resigned.
I then lost to GM Lenier Dominguez after
I forgot the correct retreat with my queen
on the 23rd move of an ultra-sharp Najdorf.
(Of course, I had it right in my notes!) His
beautiful refutation of my error must be
noted, as it earned him the tournament
brilliancy prize!
Italian Game, the strong theoretician GM
Dariusz Swiercz bashed out some of his
home preparation, culminating in his nov-
elty 17. ... Qh4.
GIUOCO PIANO (C53)
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2751)
GM Dariusz Swiercz (2655)
2021 Sinquefield Cup (5), St. Louis,
08.21.2021
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5.
d3 0–0 6. 0–0 d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Re1 Bg4
9. Nbd2 Nb6 10. h3 Bh5 11. Bb3 Kh8 12.
Ne4 Nd7 13. Bd5 Bb6 14. Ng3 Bxf3 15.
Qxf3 f5 16. d4 f4 17. Ne4 Qh4

2021 Sinquefield Cup

ST. LOUIS, AUGUST 16-28, 2021
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2751 * 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 6/9

2 GM Leinier Dominguez 2758 1 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 5½/9

3 GM Fabiano Caruana 2806 ½ ½ * ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 5½/9

PHOTOS: COURTESY SLCC / LENNART OOTES

4 GM Wesley So 2772 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 5½/9

18. Nd2
5 GM Richard Rapport 2763 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 4½/9 Here I quickly understood that if I played
6 GM Jeffery Xiong 2710 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 0 4/9 the natural 18. Nc5 I would be met with 10
more moves of preparation, a fact that was
7 GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2782 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ * 0 ½ ½ 4/9 confirmed by my opponent’s team after
8 GM Sam Shankland 2709 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 * ½ ½ 4/9 the game!
I found an alternative with this Ne4–d2–c4
9 GM Peter Svidler 2714 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * 1 3½/9 maneuver, which had two things going for
it: it changed the character of the position,
10 GM Dariusz Swiercz 2655 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 * 2½/9
and it took Swiercz out of his preparation.

40 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG

 18. ... exd4 19. Nc4 Rad8?
Swiercz underestimated the strength of
my 21st move. In his defense, it was not
easy to anticipate that Black was already
worse there.
Instead of 19. ... Rad8?, he should have
exchanged queens with 19. ... dxc3 20. bxc3
Qg3! when the bishop pair gives White some
compensation for the pawn, but nothing
more than that.
20. Bxc6 bxc6 21. Bd2! Nf6 22. Nxb6 cxb6
23. cxd4 c5 24. Re7 Rxd4 25. Bc3 Nd5 26.
Rxa7 Nxc3 27. bxc3 Rdd8 28. Re1 c4 29.
Re4 b5 30. a4 Rd3 31. Qxf4 Qxf4 32. Rxf4
Rg8 33. axb5 Rxc3 34. Rc7 Rb3 35. Rc5 c3
36. Rfc4 h6 37. Rxc3 Rb1+ 38. Kh2 Kh7 39.
Rg3 Rb2 40. f4 g6 41. f5 g5 42. Rd3 Re8
43. Rd7+ Kg8 44. Rc6 Rxb5 45. Rg6+ Kf8
46. Rxh6 Kg8 47. f6, Black resigned.
As in the Candidates Tournament, Caruana
and I had a real theoretical fight in one of
the main lines of the Najdorf.
PHOTO: TKTK CTRL + SHIFT CLICK TO UNLOCK BOX
SICILIAN DEFENSE, NAJDORF
VARIATION (B90)
GM Fabiano Caruana (2806)
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2751)
2021 Sinquefield Cup (6), St. Louis,
08.23.2021
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 Be7
9. Qd2 0–0 10. 0–0–0 Nbd7 11. g4 b5 12.
g5 Nh5 13. Kb1 Nb6 14. Na5 Rc8 15. a3
g6 16. h4 Ng3 17. Rg1 Nxf1 18. Rgxf1 Na4
19. Nxa4 bxa4 20. h5 Qc7 21. Rh1 Rfe8 22. I hesitated for a long time, trying to decide
Qh2 Bf8 23. c4 Re7 24. Bd2 Bxc4 25. Bb4 whether to exchange queens or support the
Rd7 26. f4 Bb5 27. hxg6 fxg6 28. f5 Rg7 h-pawn by bringing my rook to the h-file. I
29. f6 Rf7 30. Qd2 Qd7 31. Qd5 Be2 32. decided to try the second plan.
Rc1 Rxc1+ 33. Rxc1 h5 34. Nc4 Bxc4 35.
Rxc4 h4 36. Rc2 h3 37. Ka2 37. ... Kh8
I should have opted for 37. ... Qb5!, which
See diagram at top of next column I avoided because of a calculation error at
the end of a long variation. Here we see the
After more than 30 (!) moves of prepara- hidden randomness that exists in chess: I
tion, we got to the following position. Here could have lost this game for having missed
A handshake with the
soon-to-be-crowned
2021 U.S. Champ!
USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 41
TOURNAMENTS Sojourn in St. Louis

a hidden resource at the end of a 12–move
variation!
The line runs 38. Rh2 (38. Qe6 Qd7) 38.
... Qxd5+ 39. exd5 Rh7 40. Bd2 Rh4 (with
the idea of 41. ... Rd4) 41. Be3 Kf7 42. Kb1
Rh5 43. Kc2 Bh6! (otherwise, White’s king
creeps up the board) 44. gxh6 Kxf6 45. Kd3
g5 46. Ke2 Rxh6 (46. ... g4? 47. Kf2 Rf5+ 48.
Kg1! followed by 49. Rf2) 47. Kf3 Kf5 48.
Kg3 and from the position at move 37, you
would need to see 48. ... Rh7! 49. Rxh3 Rb7
with enough counterplay to draw.
38. Rd2
Stockfish claims that White would have a
winning position after 38. Rh2 Rh7 39. Qc4!,
an assessment that is probably objectively
true, but hard to prove in practice.
38. ... Rh7 39. Bxd6
Here I decided to force a draw.
39. ... Qxd6
I was tempted to try 39. ... h2 as I wanted
to force him into a difficult decision on his
40th move! I saw that (a) 40. Bxf8 Qxd5+ 41.
Rxd5 h1=Q 42. Rd8 Kg8 43. Bh6+ Kf7 44. Rd7+
forces the draw, but I thought he might be
seduced by (b) 40. Qa8? which loses to 40.
... Qf7+ 41. Rd5 h1=Q 42. Bxf8 Qg8!, or by (c)
40. Bxe5? Qxd5+ 41. Rxd5 h1=Q 42. f7+, or
even (d) 40. Qxe5? Qf7+! (but not 40. ... h1=Q
41. f7+ Rg7 42. Rh2+ Qxh2 43. Qxh2+ Rh7 44.
Be5+ Bg7 45. f8=R mate). But I thought that
the “juice wasn’t worth the squeeze,” as they
say, and that I’d look ridiculous if I missed
something in one of these variations!
40. Qxd6 Bxd6 41. Rxd6 Kg8 42. Rd8+ Kf7
43. Rd7+ Kg8 44. Rd8+ Kf7 45. Rd7+ Kg8
46. Rd8+, draw.
I was able to score another win against the
Berlin main line in round seven, something

MVL’s St. Louis Travel Guide that always makes me happy, even if my
opponent (GM Jeffery Xiong) was not a full
AFTER SPENDING MORE THAN A MONTH IN ST. LOUIS THIS SUMMER, AND AS specialist in the opening.
a regular visitor to the Saint Louis Chess Club in the past, I have gotten to know this In the penultimate round, I wanted to
great city more than a bit. play for a win. It was a good opportunity
I probably spent the most time in Forest Park, a 1300-acre public park that is right to put some pressure on my opponent and
across the street from the Chase Park Hotel, my home away from home. (I can entirely challenge him for the top spot in the Grand
recommend this hotel, by the way!) Forest Park is home to a number of important cul- Chess Tour standings. But I needed to avoid
tural institutions, including the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Saint Louis Zoo. It is burning all my bridges, as I wanted to keep
also a great place to stretch your legs, and I enjoy walking or running there. my lead in this tournament! My team and I
I play tennis at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center, located in the middle of Forest Park. decided to trot out a very specific sub-varia-
There I hit balls with Fabiano Caruana, Leinier Dominguez, Alejandro Ramirez, and tion against the Berlin, one that the Russian
both Levon Aronian and his girlfriend Ani Ayvazyan. GM David Paravyan had played against me
I also hung out a bit at the Chess House, owned by and located near the Saint Louis in the 2021 World Cup.
Chess Club, where there is a nice little barbeque. (This is a private dwelling used by
SLCC guests and friends. ~ed.) And of course I did my best to follow the US Open on the
television! (Presumably he’s referring to tennis, not chess! ~ed.) RUY LOPEZ, BERLIN
Finally, spending so much time in St. Louis, I have become very well acquainted with VARIATION (C67)
some of the restaurants in the Central West End! Here are three of my favorites: the GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2751)
Saigon Café (10 N. Euclid St.), a Vietnamese restaurant that I really like; the Kampaï GM Wesley So (2772)
Sushi Bar (4949 W. Pine Blvd.), a great value; and Bar Italia (13 Maryland Plaza), which 2021 Sinquefield Cup (8), St. Louis,
is one of Rex Sinquefield’s favorites! 08.25.2021

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. 0–0 Nxe4

5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8.
Rxe5 0–0 9. Nc3 Ne8 10. d4 Bf6 11. Re1 d5
12. b3 c6
I had preferred 12. ... Be6 against Paravyan:
13. Ba3 Nd6 14. Nb5 Be7 15. Nxd6 Bxd6 16.
Bxd6 Qxd6 17. Re5 f6 18. Re3 Rfe8 19. Qf3 Bf7
20. Rae1 c6 21. Rxe8+ Rxe8 22. Rxe8+ Bxe8
23. c4 dxc4 24. Bxc4+ Kf8 with equality (Para-
vyan – Vachier-Lagrave, World Cup 2021).
I remembered that during the Paravyan
game, I hadn’t liked 12. ... c6 because of 13.
Ba3 Nd6 14. Qd2, threatening 15. Qf4, but
I forgot that 14. ... Bg5 was completely fine
for Black. After So’s 12. ... c6, I unfurled my
prepared line.
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

13. Ba3 Nd6 14. Qf3 Be6

The fall colors are always So chooses the ultra-solid move. The game
beautiful at Forest Park. would have taken a completely different turn
if he had chosen the tempting Exchange sac
14. ... Nf5 15. Bxf8 Nxd4 when after 16. Qd1

42 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG

 Mamedyarov (L), MVL
(C), and Dominguez (R)
analyze a 960 position.
Qxf8 the compensation is obvious. But I had
cooked up the spectacular 16. Qxf6! gxf6 (16.
... Qxf6? 17. Re8) 17. Be7 and the fun begins!
15. Qf4 Be7 16. Bd3
Here White has a slight edge, but I was
not able to build on my advantage, and we
quickly exchanged everything and headed
for a draw.
16. ... Ne8 17. Bxe7 Qxe7 18. Re5 g6 19.
Rae1 Ng7 20. Ne2 Rae8 21. Ng3 Qd6 22.
Qf6 Qd8 23. Qxd8 Rxd8 24. h4 Rfe8 25. h5
f6 26. R5e3 Bf7 27. hxg6 hxg6 28. Rxe8+
PHOTO: COURTESY SLCC / A. FULLER
Rxe8 29. Rxe8+ Nxe8 30. f3 Nd6 31. Kf2
Kg7 32. Ke3 Be6 33. Ne2 g5 34. g4 f5 35.
f4 Kf6 36. fxg5+ Kxg5 37. gxf5 Bxf5 38. c4
Bxd3 39. Kxd3 dxc4+ 40. bxc4 Kf5 41. Nc3
Ke6 42. a4 b6 43. a5 bxa5 44. d5+ cxd5 45.
Nxd5 Nxc4 46. Kxc4 a4 47. Nf4+ Kf5 48.
Kb4 a5+ 49. Kxa4 Kxf4 50. Kxa5, draw.
A quick draw against GM Shakhriyar Ma-
medyarov in the final round allowed me
to take sole possession of the Sinquefield
Cup, and it also saw me finish second in the
Grand Chess Tour standings for the fourth
consecutive year!
CHAMPIONS CHESS
TOUR / AIM US RAPID
Starting the final leg of the online Cham-
pions Chess Tour the day after the Sinque-
field Cup ended was not easy. The staff of
the Saint Louis Chess Club did their best to
help me, allowing me to play in a room at
the club rather than from my hotel.
I could not think properly during the
games, and I played much too fast. I also
couldn’t adapt properly to the overnight
change in start times, shifting from 3 p.m.
to 10 a.m., or 9:30 a.m., taking into account
the logistics of online chess.
As a result, I could only play accurately
in bursts, and my final score of 7½/15 was
not enough to qualify me for the knockout
phase. GM Vladimir Artemiev not only won
the preliminary group, but with this result
he also snatched eighth place from me in
the Tour rankings, qualifying for the final
which begins at the end of September.
(Editor’s note: Vachier-Lagrave was awarded
a wild card to the Finals, where he ended up
in shared seventh place with Wesley So. This
saw him finish in eighth place in the final Tour
standings.)
CHAMPIONS
SHOWDOWN:
CHESS 9LX
After being eliminated from the AIM U.S.
Rapid, I had a week to rest and recharge my
batteries before the Chess 9LX (960) rapid
event that would bring my long American
tour to a close. Don’t tell anyone, but — sssh!
— I snuck off for a three-day getaway to New
York before returning to my room at the
Chase Park Hotel in St. Louis.
USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 43
TOURNAMENTS Sojourn in St. Louis

This was the second trip to New York
during my American tour — I went once
before the Sinquefield Cup started, and again
before the 960. It was an opportunity to see
my friends, but also to recharge my batteries
in a different environment. I worked hard
to spend my time there “as a New Yorker,”
and not as a tourist. The proof is that I only
made one express visit to the Metropolitan
Museum of Art!
Back to chess: at the Showdown, the play-
ers were given 15 minutes before the rounds
to analyze the new starting positions with
each other. I often looked at variations with
Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana. To be
completely honest, this kind of preparation is
often just blindly groping around, but some-
times you find one or two ideas that work.
CHESS960 #280
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2763)
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2762)
Champions Showdown 9LX (2), St.
Louis, 09.08.2021
In this position, Caruana and I discovered
the importance of the b4–square (and the
b5–square for Black) during our pre-game
analysis. On b4, my bishop prevents castling,
controls the dark squares, and best of all, it’s
completely unattackable! After the fourth
move, I was already almost winning.
1. d4 d5 2. g3 e6 3. Nb3 Nb6 4. Bb4! Ng6
5. Nfd2 0–0–0 6. 0–0 h5 7. h4 c6 8. c4 Bc7
9. Bxg6 fxg6 10. Be7 Rd7 11. Bg5 Rf7 12.
Nc5 Bd7 13. Nxd7 Nxd7 14. e4 dxc4 15.
Nxc4 Re8 16. d5 e5 17. dxc6 bxc6 18. Rfd1
Kb8 19. Qh3 Nf6 20. Bxf6 Rxf6 21. Qd7 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c5 3. dxc5 Qxc5 4. cxd5
Qf8 22. Rd3 Re7 23. Rb3+ Ka8 24. Qd2 Qxd5 5. Bb3 Qc6 6. Nc2 e6 7. h4 h5 8. Nfe3
Ref7 25. Rf1 Qc5 26. Rc3 Rf3 27. Kg2 Rxc3 Bf6 9. g3 Nd7 10. 0–0 Nc5 11. Bb4 Nxb3
28. Qxc3 Rd7 29. Rc1 Rd4 30. Qc2 Kb8 31. 12. axb3 Rh6 13. Na3 Nb6 14. Nac4 Nxc4
b4 Qe7 32. Ne3 Qf7 33. a4 Rxb4 34. Qxc6 15. Qxc4 Qxc4 16. Nxc4 Bc6 17. f3 Rh8 18.
Rb2 35. Rc2 Rxc2 36. Qxc2 Bb6 37. Nd5 Rfd1 Kh7 19. e4 Bd8 20. Bc5 b6 21. Be3
Bd4 38. Qb3+ Qb7 39. Qf3 a5 40. Qf8+ Ka7 Be7 22. Ne5 Be8 23. Rbc1 Rb7 24. Kf2 Rf8
41. Qd8 Bb6 42. Qxb6+ Qxb6 43. Nxb6 25. f4 Bb5 26. Nf3 Kg8 27. Nd4 Bd7 28.
Kxb6 44. f4 exf4 45. gxf4 Kc5 46. Kf3 Kd4 Nc6 Bxc6 29. Rxc6 Rd8 30. Rxd8+ Bxd8 31.
47. e5 Kd5 48. Ke3 g5 49. hxg5 g6, Black Rc8 Rd7 32. e5
resigned.
Here’s another game where I found anoth-
er good idea during the brief preparation.
My second move allowed me to equalize
and even take the advantage with Black in
the opening.

CHESS960 #137
GM Fabiano Caruana (2800)
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2763)
Champions Showdown 9LX (5), St.
Louis, 09.09.2021 32. ... f6
Here I tried to provoke Caruana because I
really wanted to play for the win. I knew that
I could draw without difficulty by playing 32.

Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX

... f5, but I was hoping to encourage him to
play a specific line.
ST. LOUIS, SEPTEMBER 8-10, 2021
33. f5 Kf7 34. Rc6 Re7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 This was my goal in my provocation; un-
fortunately, I underestimated White’s 36th
1 GM Leinier Dominguez 2760 * ½ 0 1 ½ 0 1 1 1 1 6/9
move.
2 GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2763 ½ * 1 0 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 5½/9
35. exf6 gxf6 36. Bd4! e5 37. Bc3
3 GM Sam Shankland 2720 1 0 * 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 5½/9
Now I decided to force a bishop endgame.
4 GM Wesley So 2778 0 1 0 * ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 5½/9
37. ... Rc7 38. Rxc7+ Bxc7 39. Ke3
5 GM Garry Kasparov 2812 ½ 0 1 ½ * ½ 1 0 ½ 1 5/9 Here I had only considered 39. g4 hxg4 40.
6 GM Fabiano Caruana 2800 1 1 ½ 0 ½ * ½ 0 0 1 4½/9 Kg3 which wasn’t enough for White to win.
But instead Fabiano surprised me.
7 GM Levon Aronian 2782 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * 1 1 0 4/9

8 GM Shahkriyar Mamedyarov 2762 0 0 ½ 0 1 1 0 * 1 0 3½/9 39. ... e4 40. Be1!

The move I missed!
9 GM Hikaru Nakamura 2736 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 0 0 * ½ 3/9
40. ... Be5 41. Kxe4 Bxb2 42. Bf2 Ke7 43.
10 GM Peter Svidler 2701 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 ½ * 2½/9
Kf3 Ba3?

44 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG


It was necessary to find the arcane 43. ...
Be5! 44. g4 hxg4+ 45. Kxg4 Bc7! followed by
... a7–a5, activating the queenside majority.
In the game, I end up short a tempo.
44. g4 hxg4+ 45. Kxg4 Kf7
Here’s where that tempo would come in
handy: 45. ... Bd6 46. Kf3 Bc7 47. Ke4 a5
48. Kd5! and White wins because the black
pawn is not yet on b5.
46. Kf4 Kg7 47. Ke4 Kh6 48. Bd4! Kh5 49.
Bxf6 b5 50. Bd8 a5 51. Bxa5 Kxh4 52. Ke5
Kg4 53. Ke6 Kf4 54. f6 Kg5 55. f7, Black
resigned.
Finally, let’s look at a rather spectacular
sequence in my game against Nakamura.
CHESS960 #47
GM Hikaru Nakamura (2736)
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2763)
Champions Showdown 9LX (7), St.
Louis, 09.10.2021
On Kasparov
GM GARRY KASPAROV ARRIVED at the Champions Showdown 9LX in a venge-
ful state of mind. He played very well, including a great game against Shankland,
although he did miss an opportunity against So. Overall, I think he was really looking
to redeem himself after a disappointing performance at the Croatia Rapid & Blitz in
July, one that he felt was not acceptable. This time, he was prepared to perform at the
highest level. I felt a little bad — but just a little! — about beating him in the last round,
as it prevented him from winning the tournament!
Everything went wrong for Garry in Croatia, especially his openings. The fact is that
he is clearly less prepared now than in his heyday. While he was working on openings
in the first years after his retirement, I don’t think this is the case now. In some games
he was lost out of the opening — I’m thinking of his losses with Black in the 6. Bg5
Najdorf.
Without work and practice, both of which are difficult for someone as busy as
Kasparov is, it’s not possible for a player to return to form right away. This is all the
more the case for an older player in a rapid and blitz tournament. But we can see that
the fundamentals are still there, and that Garry is capable of playing very well, as he
showed in St. Louis.

A typically animated
Kasparov analyzes with
MVL after their game.

1. b4 f5 2. Nb3 e5 3. g3 Nb6 4. d3 g6 5.
c4 d5 6. Na5 c6 7. f4 dxc4 8. Bc5 cxd3 9.
Bxf8 Kxf8 10. Qc5+ Ke8 11. fxe5 N8d7 12.
Qe3 Nxe5 13. Rxd3 Nd5 14. Bxd5 cxd5 15.
Qxa7 Nxd3+ 16. exd3 Qc1+ 17. Kf2 Qb2+
18. Kf3
PHOTO: COURTESY SLCC / C. FULLER
for the rook. Play continues 20. Nc6 Re8 21.
Nxd4 Qxd4 and I completely misunderstood
how winning this is for Black! The d3–pawn
is en prise, the b1–knight is offside, the white
king can’t flee to g2 because of ... Re8–e2+,
the g8–bishop can get into the game via
the d5–square after a timely ... d5–d4, and
surprisingly, my king is completely safe!
Instead I played a less radical move that
still should have proved sufficient, had I
found the right continuation later!
not convert. Afterwards, Caruana told me
that he had looked at my game, and thought
I was losing with my king on e8! In his de-
fense, positions in Chess960 are often very
difficult to decipher after eight to ten moves.
21. ... Bb6 22. Nb3 d4 23. Rc1 Bd5+ 24.
Kf2 Ra8 25. Rc2 Bd8 26. N1d2 Bg5 27.
Nxd4 Rxa2 28. Rxa2 Bxa2 29. N2f3 Bf6 30.
h4 Kd7 31. Ke3 Bd5 32. Ne2 Kd6 33. Nf4
Bf7 34. d4 h6 35. Ne5 Bxe5 36. dxe5+ Kxe5

37. Nd3+ Kf6 38. Kf4 g5+ 39. hxg5+ hxg5+

18. ... Qxb4
Here I saw the forced winning line: 18. ...
Bd4! 19. Qxb7 Kf8!, freeing the e8–square
19. Nxb7 Bd4?
I missed 19. ... Rc8!, keeping the attack
rolling.
20. Qa5 Qxa5 21. Nxa5
After the exchange of queens, the bishop
pair still gives me an advantage, but the
position is much more difficult and I could
40. Ke3 f4+ 41. Nxf4 gxf4+ 42. gxf4 Kf5
43. Kd2 Kxf4, draw.
My American tour ended on September 12
when my plane landed at Charles de Gaulle
airport in Paris. I left France on July 5 for the
World Cup, so please understand when I tell
you that I was not unhappy to go home!

USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 45

BOOKS AND BEYOND Should I Buy It?
Essential Endgames
Differing approaches from de la Villa and Dvoretsky
BY IM JOHN WATSON
I N MY EXPERIENCE
as a teacher, and from
conversations with
players over the years,
I have noticed that if
asked what their favorite endgame
book is, the average player tends
to mention the first one they read
and studied seriously. I think that’s
because players are surprised to find
that they actually enjoy learning
endgames and get a kind of thrill
from realizing, “Hey, I can use this
directly in my own games.” In that
sense, it doesn’t much matter which
specific book you use, as long as you
form a real interest in endings and
are motivated to learn.
Nevertheless, since many casual
players will only want to buy one
book, it’s important to have a work
that covers all the “essential” endings.
Mark Dvoretsky defines “endgame”
as the stage of a chess game when at
least one side has no more than one
piece in addition to the king. The
key variable for a book that wants
to include all essential endings is
the number of pawns. The most important
ones to know perfectly will have from zero
to two pawns on each side, but occasionally
endings with more pawns are important
enough, and subject to precise solutions,
that they might be considered “essential,”
for example, rook-and-pawn endings with
numerous pawns on both sides.
Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual (DEM), the
fifth edition of which was featured in an arti-
cle in the August 2020 Chess Life, is generally
acknowledged to be the most thoroughly
analyzed and up-to-date single volume avail-
able on the endgame as a whole (as defined
above). Due in large part to Dvoretsky’s (and
his collaborators’) intensive research over
46 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
a few decades, many classic endings have
now been solved, with numerous longstand-
ing errors corrected, while a great many
endings from studies and classic games
are subject to deep and brilliant analysis.
The book is a classic and an essential part
of chess literature.
Nevertheless, over the years, I haven’t
recommended studying DEM to my stu-
dents, especially not as their first endgame
book. I find that students who have done so
(usually at the advice of their teachers) often
haven’t mastered the basic endings and tend
to be as uncomfortable as the average club
player at choosing which endings to head
for, not to mention in handling over-the-
board endgame play. The problem
is that Dvoretsky’s book is full of
enormously complicated analysis,
with subtleties and paradoxical solu-
tions that are simply too difficult for
anyone but an experienced master
to usefully absorb.
DEM is also quite long, and most
people tend to lose motivation when
they realize the extent of the materi-
al and the fact that they’ve forgotten
much of what they’ve already read.
Dvoretsky seems to recognize this
and recommends that the reader
concentrate upon certain highlight-
ed material. But it often turns out to
be unrealistic for a curious student
to ignore non-highlighted material,
which might include, for example,
alternatives to main moves that are
examined or interesting analysis of
the real-world games that are used
as examples.
That’s where the much more
compact FastTrack Edition of DEM
(DEMFT) comes in. Centered
around the “essential” material
that was highlighted in gray in the
fifth edition, this new book doesn’t skip any
important endings, but it mostly focuses on
main lines and positions that might easily
arise in anyone’s games. In addition, there
are a number of practical examples and
exercises with deeper analysis and nuanced
explanations; those are easily identified,
however, and could wait for a second or
third pass through the book. At any rate, the
core concepts and most useful knowledge
are clearly recognizable.
In these days of fast time controls, a stu-
dent needs to know the most frequently
occurring endings perfectly. For this pur-
pose, there are many good books. Over the
years I have used Müller and Lamprecht’s

Fundamental Chess Endings, an encyclope-
dic work that covers the essential ground
but also serves as a one-volume reference
for more complex endings. In the past few
years, I’ve recommended that my students
read 100 Endgames You Must Know (hence-
forth “100 Endgames”) by Jesus de la Villa,
which he followed with his 100 Endgames
You Must Know Workbook (New in Chess,
2019). These clear and instructive books are
laser-focused on the endings you’ll need to
know thoroughly and by heart.
Both DEMFT and de la Villa’s books cover
the most essential material well, but they
have very different approaches and cover
different material. In general, de la Villa
includes more elementary material and puts
more analysis and explanation into the stan-
dard endings. Dvoretsky pays less attention
to positions that the somewhat more expe-
rienced player will probably already know
and uses fewer examples and explanations
for some well-known endings; instead, he
includes more sophisticated endings with
more material on the board.
A few examples might clarify that.
100 Endgames treats simple pawn endings
at great length. He has five sections of king
and pawn versus lone king endings over 12
pages. DEMFT has about only about a page
on that ending, with just a few examples.
Both books cover king-and-one-or-more
pawns versus king-and-one-or-more-pawns
thoroughly, with de la Villa offering more
verbal explanations.
Neither author looks at the most ele-
mentary mates, but de la Villa analyzes
checkmating with bishop and knight in five
pages, carefully outlining “barriers” and
“cages” that the attacker is aiming for, typ-
ical mistakes, and the like. In DEMFT,
Dvoretsky gives one page with two
examples. Since you won’t get this
ending often, that’s not necessarily
a bad investment of resources — you
could argue it either way.
100 Endgames has four pages of the
pure rook versus knight ending, while
DEMFT has only one example of it. By
contrast, de la Villa has no coverage of
the more complex ending with rook ver-
sus knight when there are extra pawns,
but Dvoretsky has seven detailed exam-
ples of those endings.
Rook endings are the most frequent-
ly occurring in practice. Both books
explain them extremely well, but again,
de la Villa covers the basics much more
thoroughly while Dvoretsky expands
well beyond them. 100 Endgames has
far more coverage of rook and pawn
versus rook and rook and two pawns versus
rook, which are both very important, in-
cluding nine detailed pages of the famous
rook-with-f-and-h-pawn versus rook ending.
DEMFT covers those endings in less detail,
but has no less than 34 pages of rook versus
rook with three or more total pawns on the
board; these more sophisticated endings are
beyond the scope of de la Villa’s work. For
example, Dvoretsky analyzes the following
practical rook and four pawns versus rook
and three pawns in great depth:
WHITE TO MOVE
White’s best try is 1. Kd4!, when 1. ... Rxf2?
loses, but 1. ... g5! draws. Then the tricky
2. Kd5 can be met by 2. ... g4 (or 2. ... Kg6!,
as shown by Jacob Aagaard only after this
ending had been analyzed for decades) 3.
Kd6 Rd2+ 4. Kc6 Rc2+ 5. Kb5 Rb2+ 6. Kc4,
and now the surprising 6. ... Rb6!, which is a
form of the Vancura defense in the simpler
rook-and-pawn versus rook ending. This
example shows how a stronger player might
get more out of DEMFT, whereas a less ex-
perienced player might get distracted from
the important task of mastering the basics.
Both books provide numerous exercises
and offer some bonus material that goes
beyond “essential” material. The exercises
in DEMFT, for example, include ingenious
studies and a few of Dvoretsky’s “tragicom-
edies,” in which some strong grandmaster
blundered away a win or draw. 100 Endgames
has a nice appendix containing the most
common and useful fortresses. For some
reason, I had completely forgotten that this
is the way to draw if you’re left with two
knights versus a queen:
WHITE TO MOVE
This is drawn, as are most similar posi-
tions, as long as the knights aren’t on the
edge of the board. Both books have examples
of much more sophisticated fortresses, but
it’s useful to know these simple ones first!
In conclusion, you can’t go wrong with
either of these books, but less experienced
players (or those who really want to immerse
themselves in the fundamental endings)
might find 100 Endgames more appropriate,
whereas a moderately advanced player who
wants to be challenged with some more com-
plex endings might prefer DEMFT.
Of course, for the ambitious student, there
are many more advanced works. Johan Hell-
sten’s Mastering Endgame Strategy has, as the
title implies, a strategic bent, whereas John
Nunn’s Nunn’s Chess Endings emphasizes tac-
tics and calculations in achieving improved
practical results. I recommend both of these
excellent books for those looking to improve
their over-the-board thinking. But only after
you’ve mastered the fundamentals!
Dvoretsky, Mark. Dvoretsky’s Endgame Man-
ual: FastTrack Edition. Edited by Karsten
Müller and Alex Fishbein. Russell Enterprises,
2021. ISBN-13: 978-1949859331, 216 pages.
(Available from uscfsales.com, product code
B0135RE, $19.95.)
de la Villa, Jesus. 100 Endgames You Must
Know: Vital Lessons for Every Chess Player,
5th edition. New in Chess, 2018. ISBN-13: 978-
9056916176, 256 pages. (Available from uscf-
sales.com, product code B0009NIC. $24.95.)
USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 47
PUZZLES December 2021

MAKE➠YOUR➠MOVE
BY FM CARSTEN HANSEN
THIS MONTH’S PUZZLES ARE FROM ALL TAKEN FROM RECENT
events, both over-the-board and online.
The puzzles start from easy and gradually move toward being
difficult. It is worth noting that “easy” is a relative term. If you are
new to the game, the easy ones can also represent a challenge.
Try first to solve the puzzle before reading the text at the bottom
of the page. If unsuccessful, play through the solution, but return
to the puzzle in 1-2 weeks to see if you can now solve it. That way
you gradually expand your tactical vision, and it will be more likely
that you will spot tactics as they occur in your own games. Whatever
you do, do not use an engine to solve the puzzles. You will only cheat
yourself out of improving your game. Answers are on page 56.

TACTIC I. TACTIC II. TACTIC III.

BLACK TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE

TACTIC IV. TACTIC V. TACTIC VI.

WHITE TO MOVE BLACK TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE

TACTIC VII. TACTIC VIII. TACTIC IX.

BLACK TO MOVE BLACK TO MOVE BLACK TO MOVE

Position 1: OVERBURDENED DEFENDERS Position 4: BEASTS ON THE DIAGONALS Position 7: OPEN FOR THE FIREPOWER
Position 2: DOES THE GREEK WORK? Position 5: ZIG-ZAG THREATS Position 8: AN INVITATION TO DANCE
Position 3: WORKING TOGETHER Position 6: LOOK DEEP BUT BE CAREFUL Position 9: LOOSE PIECES ...

48 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG

 The Executive Board authorizes a temporary change in the US Chess Grand Prix (GP) rules for the period March 4, 2020 through December 31, 2021 out of concern for the unforeseeable impacts
the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) could have on participation in GP events. The change allows organizers with guaranteed prize funds to change the status of their prize fund without first seeking US
Chess permission to make the change. More specifically, organizers who have announced “$XXX in Guaranteed prizes” (or similar words) for their GP events shall be allowed to re-state their
prize funds in their publicity as “$XXX in Projected prizes based on ### players,” where ### represents the number of players in last year’s event rounded to the nearest five players. For new GP
events lacking historical attendance data, the organizer shall specify a “based on” number of players as part of the Projected Prize Fund language in their publicity. This decision includes all GP
tournaments that already have been advertised in Chess Life. For any GP events being publicly advertised (whether by TLA, another website, flyers, emails, social media, etc.), organizers shall take
all necessary steps to ensure their revised pre-tournament announcements call attention to this change in prize fund status and provide the appropriate “Projected based on XXX players” in the
language of their updated publicity. US Chess asks that the chess community support this temporary change in the spirit that it is intended. The Executive Board shall revisit this matter as necessary.
NATIONAL EVENTS & BIDS NOW ON USCHESS.ORG Effective with the November 2020 Chess Life, we have removed the National Events and Bids page that has traditionally been
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Nationals
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT • HERITAGE
EVENT
World Amateur Team & U.S. Team
East
FEBRUARY 19-21, 2022, NEW JERSEY
6SS, 40/2, SD/30 delay 5. Parsippany Hilton 1 Hilton
Ct., Parsippany,N.J. 07054. Chess Rate valid until
1/17/22. Reserve early 973-267-7373 or 1- 800-HIL-
TONS. Morris/Essex train to Morris Plains 1.5 miles.
Open to 4- player teams with one optional alternate.
Team average (4 highest ratings—2022 January Rat-
ing list) must be under 2200. Teams rated over 2000
average no more than 1000 points between board 3
and 4. No more two GMs on a team. Online registra-
tion opens Dec 1st. EF: $225 online only by 1/31/22
ALL-$260 after.—all teams, any changes at site $25
charge. ENTRY MAXIMUM IS 312 TEAMS. Enter
early! Online entries at official website www.
njscf.org. Prizes: 1-5th Place teams, plaque and
4 digital clocks; Top Team (Denis Barry Award)
U2100, 2000, 1900, 1800, 1700, 1600, 1500, 1400,
1300, 1200, 1000 each plaque and 4 Digital Clocks;
Top college team (same school) 4 Digital Clocks &
plaque; Top HS team (grades 9-12 same school),
Top Middle School (grades 5-9 same school), Top
Elementary School (grades K-6 same school), Top
2 Scholastic Teams (mixed schools okay) (Collins
Award), Mixed Doubles (2 males, 2 females-no al-
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each plaque & 4 Digital Clocks to top team; Com-
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Coaches (educational), Top team all female, Family
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NJ, NY (Benjamin Award), PA, VA, each plaque
top team; Special Plaque: Top Future team, (all
players under age 10), Top Military College, Top
Parent/Child (2 pairs, one parent, one child), Best
Player 1-4 and top alternate, All 6-0 scores each
Digital clock. Biggest Individual upset each round
Engraved Cross pen; Entry fee refunded to team
with Best “Chess related” name, Sunday night-- Best
“Chess Related costumes or gimmick”—1st-gour-
met dinner for four. 2nd—Gourmet dinner for 4.
Rds. 1-7:30, 11-6, 9-3:30. Surprises and special
give-aways each round. Sunday night—Bughouse
$20 per team. Cash prizes. HR: Parsippany Hilton
NEWLY RENOVATED ROOMS! Chess rates expire
1/17/2022 Rates $126 (single double) $126 (Triple ,
Quad) 2nd hotel attached to Hilton $130 per night
(single-double) $132 (triple, Quad)-Hampton Inn-
--includes breakfast each day. For help forming
teams and more information contact: esdoyle@
aol.com. Masks will be required during play until fur-
ther notice. NS, NC, W
Grand Prix
The Grand Prix continues in 2021. Look for standings in
an upcoming issue.
GRAND PRIX
66th Annual Maryland Open
DECEMBER 3-5 OR 4-5, 2021, MARYLAND
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 30
5SS, 40/90, SD/30 + 30” incr, (Rnd 1 G/90 +30” incr)
(2-day schedule: rds 1-2 G/45+30”incr) U1300 &
U1000 G/90 d/5 (rds 1-2 G/45 d/5), (U1300 3-day
option rds 1&2 G/90 d/5) Marriott Bethesda North,
5701 Marinelli Road, Rockville, MD 20852. $$Based
on score. 7 sections: Championship (min. rating
of USCF 2000) FIDE rated: 5.0 =$1600, 4.5 =$800,
4.0=$450, 3.5=$175, 3.0=$50 [min $1500 payout, top
score group raised if less than $1500]. U2200 (min.
rating of USCF 1800) FIDE rated: 5.0 =$1500, 4.5
=$700, 4.0=$350, 3.5=$150, 3.0=$40. U2000: 5.0
=$1200, 4.5 =$650, 4.0=$325, 3.5=$125. U1800: 5.0=
$1200, 4.5 = $600, 4.0= $300, 3.5= $100. U1600: 5.0=
$1000, 4.5= $500, 4.0= $250, 3.5= $100. U1300: 5.0=
$500, 4.5= $250, 4.0= $125, 3.5= $50. U1000 (no
adult UNR): 5.0= $250, 4.5= $125, 4.0= $50, 3.5=
$20. Trophies to top 5 & U800 in U1000. If no 5-0
in section, then sole 1st @ 4.5 or shared 1st
at lower score receive bonus (added to score
prize) - Championship: $300; U2200 $200, U2000
$150, U1800 & U1600: $100; U1250 & U1000: $50.
Unrated limited to $100 in U1000, $200 in U1300,
and $400 in U1600. Sets, boards, and clocks pro-
vided in all sections. Optionally, pairings can
be texted/emailed to your phone. Free Sunday
morning continental breakfast for players.
Free parking for day guests. Covid-19 Vaccines
required for everyone over 12 or older. Masks
required for anyone not vaccinated and oth-
ers depending on county health department.
EF: $109 by 11/19, $119 by 11/30, and $124 online
only by 12/2, $130 later. Special EFs: $55 less for
U1000, $35 less for U1300, GMs free, $50 deducted
from prize, IMs $45 off EF, $20 deducted from prize,
HR: $113/123, ($5 EF discount if staying at hotel).
Rooms may not be avail after 9/11. 3-day sched-
ule: Reg. ends Fri 7pm, rds Fri 8, Sat 11&5:30, Sun
9:30&3:30. 2-day schedule: Reg. ends Sat 10am
rds 11, 2:15&5:30, Sun 9:30&3:30. U1300&U1000
schedule Reg. ends Sat 10am rds 11, 12:45 & 3:00,
Sun 9:30&12:45. U1300 3-day schedule Reg. ends
Fri 7 pm, rds Fri 8, Sat 11&3:00, Sun 9:30&12:45.
Ent: MCA, 1827 Thornton Ridge Rd, Towson MD
21204. Detailed rules, more information and
registration at http://themdopen.com.
GRAND PRIX • STATE CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT
Phillip O’Neal Taylor Georgia
State Championship
DECEMBER 10-12 OR 11-12, 2021, GEORGIA
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 20
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rated) G/90, d/10; DoubleTree by Hilton Atlanta
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$10,000 b/120; 4 Sections: Championship: (FIDE
rated) Open to FIDE or US Chess 2000 or higher;
$1000-$650-$400; U2300: $375-$275; U2100: $375-
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$325-$250; U1850: $250-$175; Reserve: Open to
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$175; Booster: Open to Under 1400 or unrated:
$700-$450-$325-$250; U1250: $250-$175. May play
up one section if peak rating since May 1, 2019
within 100 points of next higher section. If any post-
event rating posted 1/1/20-12/9/21 was more than
50 points above prize threshold, prize limit is $200.
Balance of any limited prize goes to next player(s)
in line. EF: $93 if received by December 9, $110 lat-
er or at site. GM, IM, WGM or WIM free, $50 deduct-
ed from any prize. Reentry $50. ½ point bye any
round, limit two, must request before starting play,
no changes. On-line registration: www.georgi-
achess.org. 3 day schedule: Reg. 6:30-7:00pm
Fri.; Rounds: Fri: 7:30pm; Sat. 2:30pm, 7:30pm;
Sun. 10:00am, 3:30pm. 2 day schedule: Reg. 9:30-
10:00am Sat.; Round 1 at 10:30am, then merges
with 3 day schedule. GCA Membership Meeting
at 2:30pm on Sunday, Dec. 12. GCA Member-
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cast.net. Phone: 7709395030. Website: http://
www.georgiachess.org/.
GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR
GRAND PRIX
7th annual Empire State Open
DECEMBER 26-28 OR 27-28, 2021, NEW YORK
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 30 (ENHANCED)
5SS, 40/80, SD/30 +30 (2-day option, rds 1-2 G/60
d10), Albany Marriott, 189 Wolf Road, Albany 12205.
Free parking, wireless & airport shuttle, restaurants
nearby. $5000 guaranteed prizes; 4 sections. Open:
Open to all. $700-400-200, top USCF U2100/Unr $300-
150. FIDE. Under 2000: $500-250-150, top U1800/
Unr $300-150. FIDE. Under 1700: $400-200-100, top
U1500 (no unr) $240-120. Under 1400: $200-100-60,
top U1200 (no unr) $120-60. Unrated prize limit $100
in U1400, $200 U1700. Mixed doubles: $200-100 to
best male/female team combined score among all
sections. Must average under 2200; may play different
sections; register (no extra fee) by 2 pm 12/27. Top 3
sections EF: $88 at chessaction.com by 12/23, 3-day
$93, 2-day $92 mailed by 12/15, $100 at site or online
until 1 hour before round 1. NYSCA members, online
entry $5 less (may join with entry). U1400 Section
EF: all $20 less than above. No checks at site, cred-
it cards OK. GMs, IMs & WGMs: $80 from prize. All:
Re-entry $40; no Open to Open. Unofficial or Online
Regular uschess.org ratings usually used if other-
wise unrated. If Online Regular rating is 50 or more
points over section or prize maximum, prize limit
$150. Special 1 yr USCF with magazine if paid with
entry. Online at chessaction.com, Adult $40, Young
Adult $25, Youth $18. Mailed or at site, $45, $27 or $20.
3-day reg. ends 12/26 6 pm, rds. 12/26 7, 12/27 11
& 5, 12/28 10 & 3:30. 2-day reg. ends 12/27 10 am,
rds 12/27 11, 2 & 5, 12/28 10 & 3:30. Bye: all, limit 2;
must commit before rd 2. HR: $100-100, reserve by
12/12, link at chessevents.us (recommended) or call
518-458-8444. Ent: chessaction.com or Continental
Chess, Box 249, Salisbury Mills NY 12577. Questions:
www.chesstour.com, Director@Chess.US. Prizes
not claimed at site paid by PayPal or Zelle (may take
a few weeks). Refunds: $15 service charge. Entries
posted at chessaction.com (click “entry list” after en-
tering). Blitz tmt. 12/28 9:30 pm, reg. ends 9:15 pm.
Bring set, board, clock if possible- none supplied.
GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX
2021 Charlotte Open
DECEMBER 26-30, 27-30, OR 28-30, 2021,
NORTH CAROLINA
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 150 (ENHANCED)
Hilton University Place Charlotte Hotel, 8629 JM
Keynes Drive, Charlotte, NC. www.charlottechess-
center.org/cltopen. Held after North American Junior
Championship, Dec 19-23, www.charlottechesscen-
ter.org/najunior. Championship Section – 9 round
Swiss, GM/IM norms possible, USCF/FIDE rated. Under
sections 7 rounds. $20,000 guaranteed prize fund
in 5 sections. Championship (2100+): $3000-1500-
1000-800-600-400-300-200, top U2350 FIDE: $600-300,
top U2200 FIDE: $500. USCF and FIDE rated, norms
possible. Minimum prizes and conditions available to
GMs and foreign IMs, see website. Under 2200: $1200-
600-400-200, top U2050, $400-200. USCF/FIDE rated.
Under 1900: $1000-500-300-200, top U1750 $300-
200. Under 1600: $1000-500-300-200, top U1450:
$300-200. Under 1300: $600-400-250-150, top U1150:
$250-150. $1000 in Senior Bonus Prizes! $200 to
top Senior (50+) in top 5 sections. K-12 Scholastic:
Wed 12/29, U1000 and U600 sections, trophies to top
8 in each. Free $500 Blitz: Saturday 9:15pm, $500
guaranteed, free for Charlotte Open players, others
$20. Time Controls: Championship: G/90, inc/30. Un-
der Sections: G/120, inc/5. 3-day Rds 1-2: G/45, inc/5.
K-12 Sections: G/25, inc/5. Reg. closes 90 mins before
game. 5-day Schedule (Championship only): Sun
6pm, Mon 12 & 6, Tue 12 & 6, Wed 11 & 5, Thu 10 &
3:30. 4-day Schedule (Under sections): Mon 6pm,
USCHESS.ORG
Tue 12 & 6, Wed 11 & 5, Thu 10 & 3:30. 3-day Schedule
(Under sections, rounds 1-2 G/45 inc/5): Tue 12 &
3pm, then merge with 4-day Tue 6pm. K-12 Sections:
Wed 10:30, 12:30, 1:45, 3:00. 3 optional byes available,
request at reg. Must be within 100 points of next sec-
tion to play up. December FIDE used for Champion-
ship section, December USCF used for other sections.
Masks likely required, equipment will be sanitized
regularly. Hotel Rate: $101/night, 1 or 2 beds, reserve
by 12/10. Championship Entry Fee: $235 by 10/19,
$255 by 11/30, $275 by 12/21, $295 after. US IMs and
foreign FIDE-rated players: $100 less, $100 from prize.
Players U2200 USCF & FIDE: $100 additional fee, must
be 2100+. GMs, Foreign IMs free, no deduction if reg. by
11/30, $230 from prize after. U2200, U1900, U1600
Sections Entry Fee: $135 by 10/19, $155 by 11/30,
$175 by 12/21, $195 after. $50 discount to players in
2021 North American Junior or Holiday GM/IM Norm
Invitational, Dec 19-23, in top 4 sections. U1300 Sec-
tion Entry Fee: $95 by 10/19, $115 by 11/30, $130 by
12/21, $155 by 12/21. K-12 Scholastic (U1000 and
U600) Entry Fee: $30 by 12/21, $40 after. Condi-
tions: GMs and Foreign IMs rated 2350+ FIDE are eligi-
ble for minimum prizes and/or hotel conditions. Hotel
conditions must be arranged in advance, contact Dr.
Walter High, wmhigh@nc.rr.com. Official website,
online registration, rules, entry list: www.char-
lottechesscenter.org/cltopen. Questions: grant@
charlottechesscenter.org.
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT • JUNIOR GRAND
PRIX • REGIONALS
New York State Junior
Championship (out of state
welcome)
DECEMBER 29-30, 2021, NEW YORK
6SS, G/60 d10, Albany Marriott, 189 Wolf Road, Alba-
ny 12205. Free parking, wireless, & airport shuttle,
restaurants nearby. Top NYS player each Champion-
ship section is NYS champion. In 8 sections: Junior
Championship & Junior Under 1500: Open to
all born after 12/29/00. Under 16 Championship
& Under 16 Under 1200: Open to all born after
12/29/05. Under 13 Championship & Under 13
Under 1000: Open to all born after 12/29/08. Under
10 Championship & Under 10 Under 800: Open
to all born after 12/29/11. EF: $68 at chessaction.
com by 12/15, $78 online by 12/28, $90 online or at
site by 9 am 12/29. May be limited to the first 300 en-
tries. No checks at site, credit cards OK. Plaques to
top 5 each section, top U1800, U1600 (Jr Champ),
U1300, U1100, U900, Unr (Jr U1500), U1600, U1400
(U16 Champ), U1000, U800, U600, Unr (U16 U1200),
U1400, U1200 (U13 Champ), U800, U600, U400, Unr
(U13 U1000), U1200, U1000 (U10 Champ), U600, U400,
U300, Unr (U10 U800). Free entry prizes (good for
2022 CCA non-scholastic tournaments which have all
prizes guaranteed, including online events): Champi-
onship sections 1/1-6/15 to 1st,, 1/1-4/15 2nd, 1/1-
3/15 3rd & 4th. Under sections 1/1-5/15 1st, 1/1-3/15
2nd, 1/1-2/15 3rd & 4th. Bonus to NY residents scor-
ing 6-0: 2 additional months of free entry. Unofficial
or Online Regular uschess.org ratings usually used
if otherwise unrated. If Online Regular rating is 50
or more points over section maximum, not eligible for
free entry prizes. Special 1 yr USCF with magazine
if paid with entry. Online at chessaction.com, Young
Adult $25, Youth $18. Mailed or at site, $27 or $20.
Reg.. ends 12/29 9 am, rds. 12/29 11:00, 2:00, 5:00,
12/30 9:00, 12:00, 3:00. Awards 5:30. Bye: all, limit
2; must commit before rd 2. HR: $100-100, reserve by
12/12, link at chessevents.us (recommended) or call
518-458-8444. Ent: chessaction.com or Continental
Chess, Box 249, Salisbury Mills NY 12577. Questions:
www.chesstour.com, Director@Chess.US. Please
claim plaques at site. Refunds: $15 service charge.
Entries posted at chessaction.com (click “entry list”
after entering). Bring set, board, clock if possible-
none supplied.
DECEMBER 2021 49
TOURNAMENT LIFE
HERITAGE EVENT • GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED
GRAND PRIX
30th annual North American Blitz
DECEMBER 29, 2021, NEVADA
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 30 (ENHANCED)
5SS, G/3 d2, double round, 10 games, Bally’s Casino
Resort (see North American Open). $3000 guaran-
teed prizes. In 2 sections. Open: $500-300-200,
U2300/Unr $230-120, U2100/Unr $220-110. Under
1900: $400-200-100, U1700 $220-110, U1500 $140-
70, U1300 $80. EF (at site only, no checks): $40 by 7
pm 12/29, $50 after 7 pm 12/29. GMs $40 from prize.
Reg. ends 9:15 pm, rds. 10 pm, 10:45, 11:15, 11:45,
12:15. Bye: 1. Blitz rated, but higher of regular or
Blitz used for pairings & prizes. $20 service charge
for refunds. Address: 3533 Las Vegas Blvd., Las Ve-
gas, NV 89109. Organizer: Continental Chess Asso-
ciation. Email: director@chess.us. Website: http://
www.chessevents.us.
ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR
GRAND PRIX
10th annual Boston Chess
Congress
JANUARY 7-9 OR 8-9, 2022, MASSACHU-
SETTS
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 80 (ENHANCED)
5SS, 40/80, SD/30 +30 (2-day option, rds 1-2 G/60
d10), Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor, 101 Harbor-
side Dr, Boston MA 02128. Free parking, free airport
shuttle. $12,000 guaranteeed prizes. 6 sections.
Premier (2000/over): $1200-600-400, clear/tie-
break 1st $100 bonus, top USCF U2300 $500-250.
FIDE. Under 2100: $1000-500-300. FIDE, Under
1900: $1000-500-300. Under 1700: $900-500-
300. Under 1500: $800-400-300. Under 1250:
$400-200-150. Prize limits: 1) Unrated limit $100
in U1250, $200 U1500, $300 U1700. 2) If Online
Regular official rating is more than 50 points
over section or prize maximum, prize limit $200.
Mixed doubles: best male/female 2-player team
combined score among all sections: $800-400-
200. Must average under 2200; may play different
sections; register at site (no extra fee) by 2 pm 1/8.
Top 5 sections EF: $88 at chessaction.com by 1/5,
3-day $93, 2-day $92 if check mailed by 12/26, $100
at site, or online until 2 hrs before rd 1. GMs $80
from prize. U1250 Section EF: All $40 less than
above.ain All: Online EF $5 less to MACA members;
join/renew at masschess.org. Re-entry $50 (no
Premier to Premier). No checks at site, credit cards
OK. Unofficial uschess.org ratings usually used if
otherwise unr. Special 1 year USCF dues if paid
with entry: online at chesstour.com, Adult $40,
Young Adult $25, Youth $18. Mailed or at site, $45,
$27 & $20. 3-Day Schedule: Reg. Fri to 6 pm. Rds.
Fri 7, Sat 11 & 5, Sun 10 & 3:30. 2-Day Schedule:
Reg. Sat to 10 am. Rds. Sat 11, 2 & 5, Sun 10 & 3:30.
1/2-pt byes available all rds, limit 2, must commit
before rd. 2. HR: $109-109-134, link at chesstour.
com or 617-568-1234, request chess rate, reserve by
12/24 or may increase. Car rental: Avis, 800-331-
1600, use AWD #657633. Ent: chessaction.com or
Continental Chess, PO Box 249, Salisbury Mills, NY
12577. $15 service charge for refunds. Questions:
chesstour.com, Director@Chess.US. Entries post-
ed at www.chessaction.com (click “entry list” after
entering). Blitz Sat. 9:30 pm, enter by 9:15.
ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR
GRAND PRIX
7th Annual Gulf Coast New Year’s
Open
JANUARY 7-9 OR 8-9, 2022, FLORIDA
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 60 (ENHANCED)
Sponsored by ChessRegister.com. 5SS, Pre-
mier section (FIDE-rated), All sections but U1150
G/90+30 sec. incr., U1150 section G/90;d5 (1st round
2-day schedule, only, all sections, G/60;d5). Embas-
sy Suites Hotel, 10450 Corkscrew Commons Drive,
Estero, FL 33928. $$10,000 b/140 paid entries, 80%
min. Gtd. Premier: $1500/Trophy-700-500, U2300
$400-300. U2050: $1000/Trophy-500-400, U1900
$300. U1750: $1000/Trophy-500-400, U1600 $300.
U1450: $1000/Trophy-500-400, U1300/Unr. $300.
U1150: Trophies for 1st to 3rd, 1st U900, 1st U700/
Unr., Medals to all others. Unr. may enter U1450 or
U1150 only. Unr. only eligible for Unr. prizes. Min.
USCF or FIDE rating of 1850 required for premier
section. Prizes. EF: All but U1150 $125 by January
2, $10 more later, $20 more on-site, GMs & IMs free
($125 deducted from prize). U1150 section $40 by
January 2, $5 more later, $10 more on-site. Online
entry closes at 5 p.m. on 1/7. Re-entry cash prize
sections $60. Reg.: Ends 1/2 hr before 1st rd. Rds.:
3-Day 1st Rd. Fri. 7:30; 2-Day 1st Rd. Sat 10; 2nd
Rd. Sat. 1:15; 3rd Rd. all sections but U1150 6:30,
3rd Rd. U1150 5:45; 4th Rd. Sun. 9:30, 5th Rd. all
sections but U1150 2:30. 5th Rd. U1150 1:45. 2 1/2
pt. byes, if req’d before rd. 2. HR: $159 with compli-
50 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
See Previous Issue for TLAs appearing December 1-14
mentary hot breakfast, nightly evening reception,
Internet, refrigerator & microwave, free parking for
all. Call 239-949-4222. Ent: Boca Raton Chess Club,
7050 W. Palmetto Park RD, #15-550, Boca Raton, FL
33433. $10 service charge for refunds. Online en-
try, online hotel reservations & add’l info: www.
bocachess.com, 561-302-4377.
HERITAGE EVENT • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX •
GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR GRAND PRIX
Tim Just Winter Open XXXVIII
JANUARY 8-9, 2022, ILLINOIS
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 30
Hyatt Regency Schaumburg, 1800 E Golf Rd, Scha-
umburg, IL 60173. $100 room rate until 12/15. 2
Sections — Open (FIDE Rated) and Reserve (Under
1800). $4,600 in prizes. Register at https://www.
kingregistration.com/event/winteropen22. OPEN
SECTION PRIZE: $750 — $350 — $250 — $150, Un-
der 2200: $300 — $150, Under 2000: $300 — $125.
FIDE Rated! Unrateds qualify for top prizes only.
RESERVE UNDER 1800 PRIZES: $700 — $300 —
$200 — $125, Under 1600: $225 — $150, Under 1400:
$200 — $100, Under 1200: $150 — $75. Unrateds
qualify for top prizes only. ENTRY FEES: $75 online
by 12/31, $85 online by 1/7, $90 after that or onsite.
Onsite entries after 8:30am receive ½-point bye
for round 1. $15 extra to play up from Reserve into
Open section. 1/2 point byes OK all rounds, must
commit by end of round 2 (maximum 2). TIME CON-
TROLS AND PLAYING SCHEDULE: G/90;+30 second
increment. Saturday 9:00am, 2:00pm, 7:00pm,
Sunday 10:00am, 3:00pm. Boards, sets, and clocks
provided. 2022 Winter Scholastic Saturday Janu-
ary 8th. WINTER SCHOLASTIC ENTRY FEES: $25
online by 12/31, $30 online by 1/7, $35 day of or on-
site. Onsite entries after 11:30am receive ½-point
bye for round 1. US Chess membership required.
Rounds: 12:00, then ASAP subsequent rounds.
WINTER SCHOLASTIC SECTIONS: UNDER 1200 &
UNDER 700. 5 Rounds at G/25;d5. TROPHIES to top
10 in each section. Participation award to all play-
ers. Open to players age 18 and under. See https://
www.kingregistration.com/event/winterschol22
for details. Organizer: King Registration. Email:
bill@kingregistration.com. Phone: 773-317-8347.
Website: https://www.kingregistration.com.
GRAND PRIX
Dewey Beach Open
JANUARY 8-9, 2022, DELEWARE
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 10
Hyatt Place, 1301 Coastal Highway, Dewey Beach, DE
19971. Special room rates (Rooms will be discount-
ed to $99/ night & includes full breakfast mention
Chess rate for room by Dec 29 @, 302-581-3314).
Chess Vendors. Indoor heated pool and fitness ctr.
5-SS all 3 sections. G/90;d5. Open: $600, $300,
$150, U2200 $150, U2000 $150, U1800 $150, Top DE
Scholastic*. U1600 $400, $240, $140, U1400 $140,
trophy U1600* U1200 $140, U1000 $140, trophies
U1200*, U800*. Open section winner also gets a free
night stay in the off-season and a crystal Trophy.
*ScholasticTrophies. Reg: Advanced reg: https://
delawarechessassociation.org/. 302-312-4525. 125
Hedgewick Drive, Newark DE 19702. TD: William
Trueman. On-site Reg: 8am - 9am. EF: Free entry
to GM’s and IM’s ($50 deducted from prizes), $70 by
1/04, $80 at the site. Rds: Sat.10, 2, 6, Sun. 9, 1, . Half
point Byes: 2 available $ prizes b/60 total players.
ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR
GRAND PRIX
13th annual Golden State Open
JANUARY 14-17, 15-17, OR 16-17, 2022,
CALIFORNIA, NORTHERN
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 150 (ENHANCED)
7SS, 40/80, SD/30 +30 (3-day option, rds 1-2 G/60 d10,
2-day option except in Major Section, rds. 1-4 G/30,
d10). Crowne Plaza Hotel, 45 John Glenn Dr, Con-
cord CA 94520 (free BART shuttle may be available).
Prizes $25,000 guaranteed. 5 sections. Major
(1900/up): $3000-1500-700-500-300, clear/tiebreak
1st $100, top USCF U2300 $1000-500. FIDE. Under
2100: $1700-900-500-300-200, top U1900 $800-400.
FIDE. Under 1800: $1700-900-500-300-200, top
U1600 $600-300. Under 1500: $1400-700-400-300-
200, top U1300 $400-200. Under 1200: $1000-500-
400-300-200, top U1000 $200-100. Prize Limits: 1)
Unrated limit U1200 $200, U1500 $300, U1800 $400.
2) If Online Regular official rating is 50 or more points
above section or prize maximum, prize limit $300.
Mixed doubles: best male/female 2-player team
combined score among all sections: $1000-500-300.
Must average under 2200; may play different sections;
register (no extra fee) before both begin rd 2. Top 4
sections EF: $138 at chessaction.com by 1/12, 4-day
$144, 3-day $143, 2-day $142 mailed by 1/2, all $160
(no check, credit card OK) at site, or online to 1 hour
before rd1. GMs $130 from prize. U1200 Section EF:
$30 less than top 4 sections. All: Special 1 yr USCF
with magazine paid with entry- at chessaction.com,
Adult $40, Young Adult $25, Youth $18. Mailed or
at site, $45, $27 & $20. Re-entry (no Major to Major)
$60. Online EF $5 less to CalChess members. 4-day
schedule: Late reg. to Fri 6 pm, rds. Fri 7 pm, Sat/Sun
12 & 6, Mon 10 & 3:30. 3-day schedule: Late reg. ends
Sat 11 am, rds Sat 12, 3 & 6, Sun 12 & 6, Mon 10 & 3:30.
2-day schedule: Late reg. ends Sun 9 am, rds Sun
10-12-2-3:45-6, Mon 10-3:30. No 2-day Major. Byes:
OK all, limit 2; must commit before rd 3. Unofficial
or Regular Online ratings usually used if otherwise
unrated, or to qualify for Major (see peakrating.us).
Foreign player ratings: See foreignratings.com.
HR: $125-125-135, 877-286-8389, 925-825-7700,
reserve by 12/31 or may increase. Car rental: Avis,
800-331-1600, use AWD #D657633. Ent: Continental
Chess, Box 249, Salisbury Mills NY 12577. Questions:
chesstour.com, Director@Chess.US. Refunds, $15
service charge. Bring set, board, clock if possible;
none supplied. Entries posted at chessaction.com
(Click “entry list” after entering). Blitz tournament
Sun 10 pm, enter by 9:45 pm.
HERITAGE EVENT • AMERICAN CLASSIC •
ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR
GRAND PRIX
54th annual Liberty Bell Open
JANUARY 14-17, 15-17, OR 16-17, 2022,
PENNSYLVANIA
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 100 (ENHANCED)
7SS, 40/80, SD/30 +30 (3 day option, rds 1-2 G/60 d10,
2-day option in U2100 & below, rds 1-4 G/30 d10). Son-
esta Hotel, 1800 Market St, Philadelphia 19103. Priz-
es $20,000 based on 320 paid entries (re-entries, GMs/
IMs & U1200 section count 70%), else proportional,
except min. 75% each prize guaranteed. Since 2006,
this tournament has been held 15 times, with $20,000
prizes based on 320 paid entries, and 14 of these has
drawn over 320, causing prizes to be raised in propor-
tion to over the $20,000 projection. 6 sections. Major
(1900/up): $2000-1200-600-400-300, clear/tiebreak
1st $100 bonus, top U2300 $1000-500. FIDE. Under
2100: $1200-600-400-300-200. FIDE. Under 1900:
$1200-600-400-300-200. Under 1700: $1000-500-
400-300-200. Under 1500: $1000-500-400-300-200.
Under 1200: $700-400-300-200-100. Prize limits: 1)
Unrated may not win over $100 in U1200, $200 U1500,
$300 U1700 or $400 U1900. 2) If Online Regular official
rating is more than 50 points over section or prize max-
imum, limit $300. Mixed doubles: best male/female
2-player team combined score among all sections:
$1000-600-400. Must average under 2200; may play
different sections; register (no extra fee) before both
begin round 2. Top 5 sections EF: $113 online at ches-
saction.com by 1/12, 4-day $119, 3-day $118, 2-day
$117 if check mailed by 1/3, $130 (no check, credit card
OK) at site, or online to 1 hour before rd 1. GMs/IMs $90
from prize. U1200 Section EF: All $30 less than top 5
sections. Special 1 yr USCF dues with magazine paid
with entry: At chessaction.com, Adult $40, Young Adult
$25, Youth $18. Mailed or at site, $45, $27 & $20. Re-en-
try (no Major to Major) $60. 4-day schedule: Reg ends
Fri 6 pm, rds Fri 7 pm, Sat/Sun 12 & 6, Mon 10 & 3:30.
3-day schedule: Reg ends Sat 11 am, rds. Sat 12, 3 &
6, Sun 12 & 6, Mon 10 & 3:30. 2-day schedule (no Ma-
jor): Reg. ends Sun. 9 am, rds Sun 10-12-2-3:45-6, Mon
10-3:30. Byes: all, limit 2, must commit before rd 3.
Unofficial or Regular Online ratings usually used if
otherwise unrated, or to qualify for Major (see peakrat-
ing.us). Foreign player ratings: see foreignratings.
com. HR: $112-112, 1-800-SONESTA, 215-561-7500, re-
quest Continental Chess rate, reserve by 12/31 or may
increase. Parking: Chess rate at Sonesta approx. $24/
day (half normal rate). 1540 Spring St, 12 minutes walk,
about $9/day Sat & Sun, $25 other days. Car rental:
Avis, 800-331-1600, use AWD D657633 or chesstour.
com. Ent: chessaction.com or Continental Chess, Box
249, Salisbury Mills, NY 12577. Questions: Director@
Chess.US, www.chesstour.com, www.chesstour.info.
$15 service charge for refunds. Entries posted at
chessaction.com (click “entry list” after entry). Blitz
tournament Sun. 10 pm, enter by 9:45 pm.
GRAND PRIX
CFCC 2022 Winter Open &
Scholastic
JANUARY 21-23 OR 22-23, 2022, FLORIDA
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 20
January 21-23, 2022 (3-Day) January 22-23,
2022 (2-Day) Holiday Inn at Lake Buena Vista 13351
State Road 535 Orlando, Florida 32821 $8,000 b/150
(Schol=1/2) 60% Guaranteed! 5 Swiss Rounds at
G/120;d5 (2-day: Rounds 1&2 G/60;d5) 5 Prize Sec-
tions: Premier $900-550-350 U2200 ($250) Under
2000 $800-550-250 U1800 ($225) Under 1700 $800-
550-250 U1500 ($225) Under 1400 $800-550-250
U1200 ($175) Scholastic U1200 $250-125 U1000
($75) U800 ($75) Free entry for GMs and IMs ($99 EF
deducted from any prize), rated players may play up
one section only, unrated players are limited to $100
prize (unless in Premier Section). Prizes now payable
via PayPal by request. Online Entry Fee: Early: $99 by
Jan 11, 2022 - Late: $114 - On-site: $125 ($50 less for
Scholastic U1200 section) Online Registration: Must
be completed by 6pm January 21, 2022 - Links avail-
able on our website at https://www.centralflchess.
org/cfcc-2022-winter-open-hotel-tournament Entry
Fee By US Mail: CFCC (Attn: Winter Open 2022), 95
Orense Way, Oviedo, FL., 32765 (Early entry must be
postmarked by January 11, 2022) CFCC Membership
Discount: $10 ($5 for Jr/Sr membership). Member-
ship must be current, please see TD anytime during
the event to redeem. CFCC Hotel Group Rate: $99
(includes free parking and wifi) Group Rate Ends:
December 31, 2021 Hotel Room Booking Link: Avail-
able on our website at https://www.centralflchess.
org/cfcc-2022-winter-open-hotel-tournament Byes:
½-pt must commit before Round 2 is paired (max 2)
Onsite Registration: Ends ½-hour before 1st round
begins. 2-Day Rounds: 1 & 2 Sat (G/60;d5) at 11am
& 2pm, Round 3 Sat (G/120;d5) at 5pm, Rounds 4 & 5
Sun (G/120;d5) at 10am & 2:30pm. 3-Day Rounds:
(G/120;d5), Fri 7pm, Sat 11am & 5pm, Sun 10am &
2:30pm. Side Events: Saturday Night Blitz ($20 EF
- Right after round 3), Free Chess Lecture Saturday
Morning at 9:30am COVID-19: No eating at board,
masks recommended Organizer/Event Info: https://
www.centralflchess.org/cfcc-2022-winter-open-ho-
tel-tournament or email: info@centralflchess.org.
Tournament Director: Steven Vigil (321) 297-7087 or
chessteacher1977@yahoo.com.
GRAND PRIX
59th Annual Baltimore Open
JANUARY 28-30 0R 29-30, 2022, MARYLAND
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 30
5-SS, 40/90, SD/30 + 30” incr, (Rnd 1 G/90 +30” incr)
(2-day schedule: Rds 1-2 G/45+30”incr) U1300 & U1000
G/90 d/5 (rds 1-2 G/45 d/5), (U1250 3-day option Rds
1&2 G/90 d/5) Sheraton BWI, 1100 Old Elkridge Landing
Rd, Linthicum Heights, MD 21090. $$Based on score.
7 sections: Championship (min. rating of 2000)
FIDE rated: 5.0 =$1600, 4.5 =$800, 4.0=$450, 3.5=$175,
3.0=$50 [min $1500 payout, top score group raised
if less than $1500]. U2100 (min. rating of 1800)
FIDE rated: 5.0 =$1500, 4.5 =$700, 4.0=$350, 3.5=$150,
3.0=$40. U1900: 5.0 =$1200, 4.5 =$650, 4.0=$350,
3.5=$125. U1700: 5.0= $1200, 4.5 = $600, 4.0= $300,
3.5= $100. U1500: 5.0= $1000, 4.5= $500, 4.0= $250,
3.5= $100. U1250: 5.0= $500, 4.5= $250, 4.0= $125, 3.5=
$50. U1000 (no adult Unr): 5.0= $250, 4.5= $125, 4.0=
$50, 3.5= $20, Trophies to top 10 & top U800 in U1000.
If no 5-0 in section, then sole 1st @ 4.5 or shared
1st at lower score receive bonus (added to score
prize) - Championship: $300; U2100 $200, U1900 $150,
U1700 & U1500: $100; U1300 & U1000: $50. Unrated
may not win over $100 in U1000, $200 U1300, or $400
in U1500. Sets, boards and clocks provided all sec-
tions. Optionally, pairings can be texted/emailed
to your phone. Free Sunday morning continental
breakfast for players. Free parking. Covid-19 Vac-
cines required for everyone 12 or older. Masks re-
quired for anyone not vaccinated and others de-
pending on county health department. EF: $109
by 1/14, $119 by 1/26, and $119 online only by 1/28,
$130 at the door. Special EFs: $35 less for U1300, $55
less for U1000; GMs free, $50 deducted from prize; IMs
$45 off EF, $20 deducted from prize. HR: $88, ($5 EF dis-
count if staying at hotel). Rooms may not be avail after
1/14. 3-day schedule: Reg. ends Fri 7pm, rds Fri 8, Sat
11&5:30, Sun 9:30&3:30. 2-day schedule: Reg. ends
Sat 10am rds 11, 2:15&5:30, Sun 9:30&3:30. U1300 &
U1000 schedule Reg. ends Sat 10am rds 11, 12:45 &
3:00, Sun 9:30&12:45. U1300 3-day schedule Reg.
ends Fri 7 pm, rds Fri 8, Sat 11&3:00, Sun 9:30&12:45.
Ent: MCA, 1827 Thornton Ridge Rd, Towson MD 21204.
Detailed rules, more information and registra-
tion http://thebaltopen.com.
HERITAGE EVENT • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX •
JUNIOR GRAND PRIX
Land of the Sky XXXIV
FEBRUARY 4-6, 2022, NORTH CAROLINA
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 30 (ENHANCED)
Crowne Plaza Resort Asheville, One Resort Dr, Asheville
NC 28806. $11,000 b/200 fully paid (top 4 open prizes
gtd 54%). 5 Rounds Swiss: 40/120,SD/30;d5 (U12 is
G/90;d5). 4 Sections: Open, Asheville, Buncombe,
U12. Open (FIDE-rated) $1000-400, 2299-2200: $400-
250, Under 2200: $200-125. Asheville (FIDE-rated, Un-
der 2200) $1000-400, 1999-1900: $400-250, 1899-1800:
$400-250, 1799-1700: $400-250, Under 1700: $200-125,
Unrated: $75. Buncombe (Under 1700) $1000-400,
1599-1500: $400-250, 1499-1400: $400-250, 1399-1300:
$400-250, Under 1300: $200-125, Unrated: $75. U12
(Under 1200) $500-200, Under 900: $200-125, Unrat-
ed: $75. Biggest Upset in tournament: $25. Pre-Reg-
istration: mail-in postmarked by Jan 29, online by
11:59pm February 3. Onsite Registration: Friday by
6pm for Friday round; Saturday by 8am for 1st round,
by 12pm for 2nd round. Entry Fee (Open, Asheville,
Buncombe): $96. Entry Fee (U12): $48. “No-prize”
Entry Fee for under age 18 in Asheville, Bun-
combe, U12: $24. Unrated Entry Fee in Asheville,
Buncombe, U12: $24. Visa, Mastercard, Discover,
American Express accepted (add 3% to EF), refunds will
have 3% deducted. All sections: On-site entries $10
more. NCCA membership required for North Carolina
residents. Add $48 to play in a section more than 300
points above your rating, max 1 section. Re-entry:
available all sections: $24 after 1st round. Byes: one
½-pt bye available any round, declare by round 2.
Rounds: 1st rd either Fri 7pm or Sat 9am (G/90;d5),
then Sat 1pm - 7pm, Sun 9am – 3pm. Saturday morning
round is not FIDE-rated. U12 section rounds 3 & 5 will
be posted 2 hours early; play may begin early if both
players agree. Pairings: USCF ratings used – Open:
FIDE Dutch, Asheville: FIDE Baku Accelerated, Bun-
combe: Accelerated with cut at 1500, U12: Accelerated
with cut at 900. Class pairings possible. Hotel: Reserve
early at 828-254-3211 or 800-733-3211 and mention
tournament. Blitz: Saturday morning 10am; Entry
Fee: $20; Sections determined after entries; 100% of
entry fees paid in prizes. Info: Chief Organizer Wilder
Wadford wwadford48@gmail.com or Chief Arbiter
Kevin Hyde chess@achievementtesting.info. Enter:
Checks payable to WW, PO Box 1123, Weaverville
NC 28787, 828-645-4215, fax: 828-645-4216. https://
achievementtesting.info/chess for more information
and online registration.
GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX •
REGIONAL • JUNIOR GRAND PRIX
13th annual Southwest Class
Championships
FEBRUARY 17-21, 18-21, 19-21 OR 20-21,
2022, TEXAS
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 200 (ENHANCED)
9SS (Master Section), 7SS (others), DFW Airport Marri-
ott South, 4151 Centreport Blvd, Fort Worth TX 76155.
Free parking, free airport shuttle. 5-day schedule,
Feb 17-21: Master Section only, FIDE rated, GM & IM
norms possible, 40/90, SD/30, +30. 4-day schedule,
Feb 18-21: Expert through Class E, 40/90, SD/30, +30.
3-day schedule: Expert through Class E, Feb 19-
21, rds 1-2 G/60 d10, then merges with 4-day. 2-day
schedule: Class D or E, Feb 20-21, rds. 1-4 G/30 d10,
then merges with others. $32,000 prize fund uncon-
ditionally guaranteed. FIDE ratings used in Master
Section, USCF February official in others. In 7 sec-
tions: Master (2100/up): $3000-1500-1000-800-600-
500-400-300, clear or tiebreak winner $200, top FIDE
U2300/Unr $1800-900. Expert (1900-2199): $2000-
1000-500-300-200. FIDE. Class A (1700-1999/Unr):
$2000-1000-500-300-200. FIDE. Class B (1500-1799/
Unr): $2000-1000-500-300-200. Class C (1300-1599/
Unr): $1600-800-500-300-200. Class D (1100-1399/
Unr): $800-400-300-200-100. Class E (Under 1200/Unr):
$800-400-300-200-100. Unrated may enter A through
E, with maximum prize E $100, D $200, C $300, B $400,
A $500. Mixed doubles: male/female 2-player team
combined score among all sections: $1000-600-400.
Must average under 2200; may play different sections;
register (no extra fee) before both begin rd 2; only rds
1-7 in Master count towards doubles; prize limits do
not apply. Master Section EF: $238 at chessaction.
com by 2/16, $260 at site or online by 2/17 6 pm. GMs
& foreign IMs/WGMs $200 less ($200 deducted from
prize), US IMs/WGMs & FIDE rated foreign $100 less
($100 deducted from prize). Minimum prizes:$500 to
foreign GMs who enter online by 2/3 & play all 9 games
with no byes; $250 to US GMs who enter online by 2/3
& play all 9 games with no byes. EF deduction cannot
lower prize to below the minimum. Expert, A, B, C
sections EF: $168 online at chessaction.com by 2/16,
$190 at site or online until 1 hour before rd 1. Class D
or E Section EF: All $70 less than Expert to Class C
EF. Re-entry (no Master to Master) $80. Special 1 yr
USCF dues with magazine if paid online with entry:
see chessaction.com. 5-day schedule: Late reg. ends
Thu 6 pm, rds Thu 7, Fri 12 & 7, Sat 11 & 6, Sun 11 & 6,
Mon 10 & 4:30. 4-day schedule: Late reg. ends Fri 6
pm, rds. Fri 7 pm, Sat 11 & 6, Sun 11 & 6, Mon 10 & 4:30.
3-day schedule: Late reg. ends Sat 10 am, rds Sat 11,
2:30 & 6, Sun 11 & 6, Mon 10 & 4:30. 2-day schedule:
Late reg. ends Sun 9 am, rds Sun 10, 12, 2, 3:45 & 6, Mon
10 & 4:30. Byes: OK all, limit 2; must commit before rd
3. Unofficial uschess.org ratings usually used if oth-
erwise unrated. If Online Regular rating is 100/more
points over prize maximum, prize limit $400. Foreign
player ratings (Expert & below): See foreignratings.
com. Electronic devices rules: See devicerules.com.
Leave phone in hotel room, car, home, or a bag near
your table. HR: $106-106, use link at chessevents.us
or 817-358-1700, reserve by 2/1 or rate may increase.
Prizes not claimed at site paid by Zelle or PayPal (may
take a few weeks). Car rental: Avis, 800-331-1600, use
AWD #D657633. Ent: Director@chess.us. Mailed entry
(all $10 more, mail by 2/5, include section & schedule):
Continental Chess, Box 249, Salisbury Mills NY 12577.
Questions: chesstour.com, director@chess.us. Re-
funds, $15 service charge. Bring set, board, clock if
possible; none supplied. Entries posted at chessac-
tion.com (click “entry list” after entry). Blitz tourna-
ment Sun 10:30 pm, enter by 10:15 pm.
GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX •
REGIONAL • JUNIOR GRAND PRIX
7th annual George Washington
Open
FEBRUARY 25-27 OR 26-27, 2022, VIRGINIA
US CHESS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 120 (ENHANCED)
5SS, 40/80, SD/30, +30 (2-day option, rds 1-2 G/60 d10).
Sheraton Reston Hotel, 11810 Sunrise Valley Drive, Res-
ton VA 20191 (21 miles from Washington). Free parking,
free shuttle to Metro subway & Reston Town Center.
$$16,000 guaranteed. In 5 sections. Major: Open to
1900/above (see peakrating.us). $2000-1000-600-400,
clear/tiebreak win $100 bonus, top USCF Under 2300
$600-300. FIDE. Under 2100: $1300-700-400-200, top
U1900 (no unr) $600-300. FIDE Under 1800: $1200-600-
300-200, top U1600 (no unr) $500-250. Under 1500:
$1000-500-250-150, top U1300 (no unr) $400-200. Un-
der 1200: $600-400-200-150. Mixed doubles bonus
prizes: best male/female 2-player combined score
among all sections: $400-200. Must average under
2200; may play different sections; register (no extra fee)
by 2 pm 2/26. Prize limits: Unrated in U1200 $100,
U1500 $200, U1800 $400. If Online Regular rating is
more than 100 points over prize maximum, limit $200.
Top 4 sections EF: $113 at chessaction.com by 2/23,
3-day $118, 2-day $117 if check mailed by 2/15, all $130
(no check, credit card OK) at site or online until 1 hour
before rd 1. GMs, IMs & WGMs in Major; $100 from prize.
Under 1200 Section EF: all $40 less than top 4 sec-
tions. Re-entry $50, no Major to Major. No checks at
site, credit cards OK. Unofficial web ratings usually
used if otherwise unrated. Special 1 year USCF dues
with magazine if paid online with entry: see chessac-
tion.com. 3-Day Schedule: Reg. to Fri 6 pm. Rds. Fri
7, Sat 11 & 5, Sun 10 & 3:30. 2-Day Schedule: Reg. to
Sat 10 am. Rds. Sat 11, 2 & 5, Sun 10 & 3:30. Half point
byes available all rds, limit 2 byes, must commit before
rd. 2. Electronic devices rules: See devicerules.com.
Prizes not claimed at site paid by Zelle or PayPal (may
take a few weeks). HR: To be announced, link at ches-
sevents.us or 703-620-9000, reserve by 2/4 or rate may
increase. Ent: chessaction.com or Continental Chess,
Box 8482, Pelham NY 10803. Refunds, $15 service
charge. Questions: chesstour.com, chesstour.info,
Director@Chess.US. Entries posted at chessaction.
com (click “entry list” after entering). Blitz tourna-
ment Sat 9:30 pm, enter by 9:15 pm.
HERITAGE EVENT • AMERICAN CLASSIC • STATE
CHMAPIONSHIP EVENT • REGIONAL • JUNIOR
GRAND PRIX
54th annual New York State
Scholastic Championships (out of
state welcome)
MARCH 12-13, 2022, NEW YORK
6SS, G/60 d10, open to grades K-12; top NYS player &
team each section are NY champions. In 14 sections.
High School Sections at Courtyard by Marriott, 11 Ex-
celsior Ave, Saratoga Springs NY 12866 (2/5 mile from
Saratoga Hilton). Other 11 sections at Saratoga Hil-
ton and adjacent Saratoga City Center (connected by
indoor walkway), 534 Broadway (I-87 Exit 13-N, 4 miles
north on US 9), Saratoga Springs NY 12866. Sections at
Hilton/City Center are limited to a total of 1100 players,
sections at Marriott 300 players. Team prizes based
on top 4 scores from same school; no combined school
teams allowed even if one school “feeds” another.
Teams of 2 or 3 allowed, but are at a disadvantage.
Online entry fee at chessaction.com, all sections:
$82 by 2/18, $92 2/19-3/4, $100 3/5 to 3/11. EF at site,
all sections $120. HS Championship (all K-12): EF
$85.30 mailed by 2/18. Top NYS grade 9-12 born 9/1/03
or after qualifies for Denker Tournament of HS Cham-
pions. K-12 Under 1800/Unr: EF $85.20 mailed by
2/18. K-12 Under 1200/Unr: EF $85.10 mailed by
2/18. Middle School Championship (all K-8): EF $85
mailed by 2/18. Top NYS grade 6-8 born 9/1/07 or after
qualifies for Barber tournament of K-8 Champions. K-8
Under 1600/Unr: EF $84.90 mailed by 2/18. K-8 Un-
der 900/Unr: EF $84.80 mailed by 2/18. Elementary
Championship (all K-5): EF $84.70 mailed by 2/18. Top
NYS player born 9/1/10 or after qualifies for Rockefeller
tournament of K-5 Champions. K-5 Under 1400/Unr:
EF $84.60 mailed by 2/18. K-5 Under 1000/Unr: EF
$84.50 mailed by 2/18. K-5 Under 600/Unr: EF $84.40
mailed by 2/18. Primary Championship (all K-3):
EF $84.30 mailed by 2/18. K-3 Under 800/Unr: EF:
$84.20 mailed by 2/18. K-1 Championship (all K-1):
EF $84.10 mailed by 2/18. K-1 Under 400/Unr: EF
$84 mailed by 2/18. Postmarked 2/19-28: All EF $10
more. Do not mail entry after 2/28. Special 1 year USCF
dues with magazine if paid online with entry: see ches-
saction.com. Trophies to top 10 players & top 7 teams
each section, top 2 unrated in U1200, U900, U800, U600
& U400, top 2 each U1900, U1700 (HS), U1600, U1400
(HS U1800), U1000, U800, U600 (HS U1200), U1800,
U1600, U1400 (MS), U1400, U1200, U1000 (MS U1600),
U700, U500, U300 (MS U900), U1700, U1500 (Elem),
U1200, U1000 (Elem U1400), U800, U700 (Elem U1000),
U500, U400, U300 (Elem U600), U1400, U1200, U1000
(K-3), U600, U500, U400, U300 (K-3 U800), U800, U600,
U400 (K-1), U300, U200 (K-1 U400). Speed playoff if
perfect score tie. Free entry prizes to CCA non-youth
tournaments with 100% guaranteed prizes (except
World Open & Foxwoods): Championship sections 6
months 1st, 4 months 2nd, 3 months 3rd. Other sec-
tions 4 months 1st, 3 months 2nd, 2 months 3rd. World
Open & Foxwoods (if during prize period), $100 off EF. 2
months bonus free entry to NY players with 6-0 scores.
Mixed doubles prizes (chess sets) for three HS sec-
tions combined; no extra fee; enter at Marriott by Sat
2 pm. Schedule: Reg. ends Sat 10 am, rds Sat 11, 2, 5,
Sun 9, 12, 3. Awards 5:30 pm. Half point byes OK all,
limit 2, must commit before rd 2. HR: $158-158 at Hil-
ton, two nights minimum, 888-999-4711, 518-584-4000,
or use link at chessevents.us. $149-149 at Courtyard by
Marriott, two nights minimum, use link at chessevents.
us or 866-210-9325. 7 days notice required to cancel
room reservations at Hilton, 14 days at Courtyard.
Free parking at both. Each may sell out about Decem-
ber, but could have availability much later due to late
cancellations. For backup hotels see chessevents.us.
Special car rentals: Avis, 800-331-1600, use AWD
#657633. $15 per player service charge for refunds.
$20 extra to switch sections, all substitutions from
advance list charged $120, no section switching or sub-
stitutions after 9 am 3/12. Questions: director@chess.
us. Bring clock if possible- none supplied. Bring set
& board for HS sections- supplied for other sections,
but not for skittles. March official ratings used (ex-
cept unofficial web ratings usually used if otherwise
unrated). TD reserves right to assign estimated rating
to players with non-USCF or online ratings. Electronic
devices rules: Electronic scorekeeping devices not
allowed. See also www.devicerules.com; players may
not possess cellphones during play but may store them
in bag under table. Online entry: www.chessaction.
com. Mail entry: Continental Chess, PO Box 249,
Salisbury Mills NY 12577. Include name, rating, USCF
ID, USCF expiration (non-members include dues), sec-
tion, school, grade, birth date, address of each player.
Checks payable to Continental Chess.
Online
USCF-Rated Online Scholastic
Tournaments Every Wednesday
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 - FRIDAY,
DECEMBER 31, 2021
Scholastic Tournaments Every Wednesday Online at
lichess.org. 6 pm Eastern Time (5 pm CT, 4 pm MT, or
3 pm PT). USCF-Online Regular Rated. Time control:
game-in-25 minutes with a 5-second increment. Three
rounds. Games are rated under the USCF-online-reg-
ular-rating system. How to Register or View More
Information: View our online tournaments calendar
on our website: https://www.dmvchess.com/online-
tournaments. The registration links for each upcom-
ing week’s events are always posted on Monday. The
format for our weekly events does not change from
week to week. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate
to reach out to DMV Chess at 703-415-6600 or tourna-
ments@dmvchess.com.
USCF-Rated Online Blitz
Tournaments Every Thursday
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2021 - FRIDAY,
DECEMBER 31, 2021
Open Blitz Tournaments Every Thursday Online at
lichess.org. 6 pm Eastern Time (5 pm CT, 4 pm MT,
or 3 pm PT). USCF-Online Blitz Rated. Time control:
game-in-5 minutes with a 3-second increment. Sev-
en rounds. Games are rated under the USCF-on-
line-blitz-rating system. How to Register or View
More Information: View our online tournaments
calendar on our website: https://www.dmvchess.com/
onlinetournaments. The registration links for each up-
coming week’s events are always posted on Monday.
The format for our weekly events does not change from
week to week. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate
to reach out to DMV Chess at 703-415-6600 or tourna-
ments@dmvchess.com.
USCF-Rated Online Scholastic
Tournaments Every Saturday
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2021 - FRIDAY,
DECEMBER 31, 2021
Scholastic Tournaments Every Saturday Online at lich-
ess.org. 2 pm Eastern Time (1 pm CT, 12 pm/noon MT,
or 11 am PT).USCF-Online Regular Rated. Time con-
trol: game-in-25 minutes with a 5-second increment.
Four rounds. Games are rated under the USCF-on-
line-regular-rating system. Four sections divided based
on grade. 12 Trophies awarded (three in each section).
How to Register or View More Information: View
our online tournaments calendar on our website:
https://www.dmvchess.com/onlinetournaments. The
registration links for each upcoming week’s events are
always posted on Monday. The format for our weekly
USCHESS.ORG
events does not change from week to week. If you have
any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to DMV Chess
at 703-415-6600 or tournaments@dmvchess.com.
USCF-Rated Online Open Action
Tournaments Every Sunday
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2021 - FRIDAY,
DECEMBER 31, 2021
Open Action Tournaments Every Sunday Online at lich-
ess.org. 2 pm Eastern Time (1 pm CT, 12 pm/noon MT,
or 11 am PT). USCF-Online Regular Rated. Time con-
trol: game-in-30 minutes with a 5-second increment.
Four rounds. Games are rated under the USCF-on-
line-regular-rating system. Four sections divided based
on rating. Plaques to 1st and trophies to 2nd and 3rd in
each section. How to Register or View More Infor-
mation: View our online tournaments calendar on our
website: https://www.dmvchess.com/onlinetourna-
ments. The registration links for each upcoming week’s
events are always posted on Monday. The format for
our weekly events does not change from week to week.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out
to DMV Chess at 703-415-6600 or tournaments@dm-
vchess.com.
North American Action
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2021
5-SS, G/30+10, at Internet Chess Club. $5000 guaran-
teed prizes. Must be on Zoom (use real name) to be
eligible for prizes; see ccazoom.com. $150 prize limit if
no Zoom side/rear camera angle.. In 4 sections. Major
Section: Open to 1900/over. $700-400-200-150, top
U2200 $300-150. Under 2000/Unr Section: $400-
280-150-100, U1800 (no Unr) $240-120. Under 1700/
Unr Section: $340-200-120-80, top U1500 (no Unr)
$180-90, unrated limit $150. Under 1400/Unr Sec-
tion: $280-150-100-60, U1200 (no Unr) $140-70; un-
rated limit $80. Entry fee $85 at chessaction.com by
12/17: $100 by 9 am PST 12/19. New players (first CCA
event on ICC) enter by 12/17 or risk not being paired
for round 1. EF discount: $30 less if playing in North
American Open. GMs $80 from prize. Log into playc-
ca.com 30 minutes before game. Rounds begin PST
10 am, 12 noon, 2 pm, 4 pm, 6 pm. Half point byes:
Available all rounds, limit 2 byes, must be claimed with
registration & cannot be changed. USCF membership
required; may join with registration. Online Regular
rated (will not affect OTB ratings), Online Regular
ratings used for pairings & prizes (OTB Regular used
if no Online Regular). $15 service charge for refunds.
Ent: Chessaction.com. Questions: support@chess-
club.com.
Regional
ARIZONA
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
North American Junior (U20)
Championships (NC)
See North Carolina.
JANUARY 14-17, 15-17, OR 16-17, 2022
13th annual Golden State Open
(CA-N)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
CALIFORNIA
SEPTEMEBER 19, 2021-ONGOING
PCC LBX Hangar Sunday Action
What: Swiss format, TC G60;5d USCF rated. When:
Every Sunday. 1st round-1pm 2nd round-3pm, 3rd
round-5pm. Where: LBX Hangar 4150 McGowen St.,
Long Beach CA 90808. Who: All USCF Rated players,
Section 1 1800 & up, Section 2 1799 & below. How:
prizes will be 80 percent of total collection plus do-
nation if any. Entry fee: $15 . Bring your own chess
set and clock. Organizer: John Tan. Email: para-
mountchessclub@gmail.com. Phone: 3107356871.
DECEMBER 18, 2021
North American Action
See Online Events or chessevents.us.
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
North American Junior (U20)
Championships (NC)
See North Carolina.
DECEMBER 29, 2021
North American Blitz (NV)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
DECEMBER 2021 51
TOURNAMENT LIFE
JANUARY 14-17, 15-17, OR 16-17, 2022
13th annual Golden State Open
(CA-N)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
CONNECTICUT
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
North American Junior (U20)
Championships (NC)
See North Carolina.
DECEMBER 26-28 OR 27-28, 2021
Empire State Open (NY)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
DECEMBER 29-30, 2021
New York State Junior
Championships (out of state
welcome) (NY)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
JANUARY 7-9 OR 8-9, 2022
Boston Chess Congress (MA)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
DELAWARE
SEPTEMBER 18-DECEMBER 31, 2021
In-Person Tournaments for
Both Adults and Children in
Philadelphia by DMV Chess (PA)
See Pennsylvania.
SEPTEMBER 18-DECEMBER 31, 2021
In-Person Tournaments for Both
Adults and Children in Baltimore
by DMV Chess (MD)
See Maryland.
DIST. OF COLUMBIA
SEPTEMBER 18-DECEMBER 31, 2021
In-Person Tournaments for Both
Adults and Children in Baltimore
by DMV Chess (MD)
See Maryland.
SEPTEMBER 19-DECEMBER 31, 2021
Scholastic Tournament - In
Person Every Sunday (VA)
See Virginia.
SEPTEMBER 19-DECEMBER 31, 2021
Tysons Corner Weekly Action and
Blitz Tournaments - Every Sunday
In Person (VA)
See Virginia.
DECEMBER 3-5 OR 4-5, 2021
66th Annual Maryland Open (MD)
See Grand Prix.
JANUARY 28-30 OR 29-30, 2022
59th Annual Baltimore Open (MD)
See Grand Prix.
FLORIDA
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
North American Junior (U20)
Championships (NC)
See North Carolina.
DECEMBER 26-30, 27-30, OR 28-30, 2021
2021 Charlotte Open (NC)
See Grand Prix.
GEORGIA
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
North American Junior (U20)
Championships (NC)
See North Carolina.
DECEMBER 26-30, 27-30, OR 28-30, 2021
2021 Charlotte Open (NC)
See Grand Prix.
52 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
See Previous Issue for TLAs appearing December 1-14
JANUARY 7-9 OR 8-9, 2022
7th Annual Gulf Coast New Year’s
Open (FL)
See Grand Prix or www.bocachess.com.
IDAHO
WEEKLY ON SUNDAY AND SATURDAY, START-
ING FROM SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 2021
Chandra Alexis Chess Club
The Chandra Alexis Chess Club is open Wed.-Sun., 11
a.m. – 4 p.m., for lessons, games and tournaments.
The club offers weekly 4 RD/SS USCF/FIDE rated and
scholastic team tournaments. We are located at 7337
W. Northview Street, Suite 4, Boise, ID 83704. Suite 4 is
the Blue Pencil White Pawn office. As seating is limited
to 12 players, all tournaments are invitational. Check
chandraalexischessclub.org for registration informa-
tion. Contact USCF Senior TD/FIDE National Arbiter
for the U.S., George Lundy, 208-375-1211 evenings.
ILLINOIS
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
North American Junior (U20)
Championships (NC)
See North Carolina.
DECEMBER 26-30, 27-30, OR 28-30, 2021
2021 Charlotte Open (NC)
See Grand Prix.
JANUARY 7-9 OR 8-9, 2022
7th Annual Gulf Coast New Year’s
Open (FL)
See Grand Prix or www.bocachess.com.
JANUARY 8-9, 2022
Tim Just Winter Open XXXVIII (IL)
See Grand Prix.
INDIANA
JANUARY 8-9, 2022
Tim Just Winter Open XXXVIII (IL)
See Grand Prix.
LOUISIANA
FEBRUARY 17-21, 2022
13th annual Southwest Class
Championships (TX)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
MAINE
JANUARY 7-9 OR 8-9, 2022
Boston Chess Congress (MA)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
MARYLAND
MARYLAND CHESS TOURNAMENTS (NORTH
PENN CHESS CLUB)
Maryland Chess runs 21+ annual K-12 tournaments
every other Saturday from September through June
& 12+ annual 1-day or multi-day open tournaments
for adults & K-12 players on weekends. See www.
MDChess.org for tournament announcements, reg-
istration for tournaments, updated wallcharts, live
standings, signup for K-12 & open e-newsletters, lists
of coaches & clubs, camp announcements, & news.
K-12 MD players who compete in the Varsity section
(for players rated 1600+) of 1 of 8+ annual MD-Sweet-16
Qualifiers can qualify for the $48,000+ scholarship to
the University of Maryland, Baltimore County awarded
annually. UMBC is a perennial top-10 contender for the
collegiate national chess championship.
SEPTEMBER 18-DECEMBER 31, 2021
In-Person Tournaments for
Both Adults and Children in
Philadelphia by DMV Chess (PA)
See Pennsylvania.
SEPTEMBER 18-DECEMBER 31, 2021
In-Person Tournaments for Both
Adults and Children in Baltimore
by DMV Chess (MD)
DMV Chess runs frequent USCF-rated tournaments
in Baltimore at The BWI Sheraton Hotel. Check the
in-person tournaments calendar on dmvchess.com
for exact dates of upcoming events. Events include
scholastic tournaments, open action tournaments,
and open blitz tournaments! HOW TO REGISTER
OR VIEW MORE INFORMATION: Registration links
are posted online on our website: https://www.
dmvchess.com/inpersontournaments. CONTACT:
For questions, please email us at josh@dmvchess.
com or call us at 703-609-0499. Address: 1100 Old
Elkridge Landing Rd., Linthicum, MD 21090.
SEPTEMBER 19-DECEMBER 31, 2021
Scholastic Tournament - In
Person Every Sunday (VA)
See Virginia.
SEPTEMBER 19-DECEMBER 31, 2021
Tysons Corner Weekly Action and
Blitz Tournaments - Every Sunday
In Person (VA)
See Virginia.
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
North American Junior (U20)
Championships (NC)
See North Carolina.
DECEMBER 26-30, 27-30, OR 28-30, 2021
2021 Charlotte Open (NC)
See Grand Prix.
JANUARY 8-9, 2022
Dewey Beach Open (DE)
See Grand Prix.
JANUARY 14-17, 15-17, OR 16-17, 2022
54th annual Liberty Bell Open (PA)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
FEBRUARY 25-27 OR 26-27, 2022
7th annual George Washington
Open  (VA)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
MASSACHUSETTS
DECEMBER 11, 2021
11th St. Nick Quick
Regional event. Location: Florence Civic Center, 90
Park St., Florence, MA 01062. Parking lot is on Cos-
mian Ave. USCF Rated Event. U.S.C.F membership
is required. Guaranteed Prizes: 1st: $100; Top A:
$100; Top B: $90; Top C: $80; Top U1400: $70; Top
Unrated $60. Registration: 8:45-9:30am on-site.
Rounds: 10:00am, 12:15pm, 3:15pm, 5:30pm. For-
mat: 4 Round Swiss System, with Accelerated pair-
ings. Game in 55 min; 5 sec delay. Entries: (Please
bring set and clock.) All attendees must present
proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or alternatively a
negative PCR test made no more than 3 days prior
to tournament day, and wear a mask irrespective
of vaccination status (City of Northampton require-
ment). Entry Fee: At Site: $30. (cash, check or credit
card). Advance Entry: $25 (check) postmarked by
12/6/2021 to: WMCA, c/o Ed Kostreba, 45 Fairview
St., Palmer, MA 01069, or (PayPal to wmass-chess@
comcast.net). WMCA members discount $5. Unrated
players FREE (U.S.C.F membership should be pur-
chased at registration). Limit of one 1/2-point bye;
specify round with entry. Email: RonGist@Com-
Cast.net. Phone: (413)695-7689. Website: http://
www.wmass-chess.us.
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
North American Junior (U20)
Championships (NC)
See North Carolina.
DECEMBER 26-28 OR 27-28, 2021
Empire State Open (NY)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
DECEMBER 28, 2021
New York State Under 13 Action
Championship (out of state
welcome) (NY)
See New York or chessevents.us.
DECEMBER 29-30, 2021
New York State Junior
Championships (out of state
welcome) (NY)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
JANUARY 7-9 OR 8-9, 2022
Boston Chess Congress (MA)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
MARCH 12-13, 2022
54th annual New York State
Scholastic Championships (out of
state welcome)(NY)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
MICHIGAN
DECEMBER 26-30, 27-30, OR 28-30, 2021
2021 Charlotte Open (NC)
See Grand Prix.
JANUARY 8-9, 2022
Tim Just Winter Open XXXVIII (IL)
See Grand Prix.
JANUARY 8-9, 2022
2022 Michigan Master/Expert &
Class Championships
COVID-19 Policy Update: Depending on the COVID
situation at the time of the event, it may be necessary to
run the tournament with masks. For the latest informa-
tion visit our COVID-19 update page: https://www.mich-
ess.org/covid-19-update. Note: Players are not allowed
to have cell phones on their person during their games.
Site: Radisson Hotel Lansing, 111 N. Grand Avenue (near
the State Capitol in Downtown Lansing), (517) 482-0188.
Directions: From East: I-496 to Grand Ave (Exit 7A),
Right on Grand Ave. From West: I-496 to Pine/Walnut
Streets (Exit 6), Left on Grand Ave. Room Rate: $119 +
tax by December 14, 2021, after if space available. www.
radisson.com/lansingmi - Promotion Code: CHE122.
Let us know if you are staying at the hotel for the tourna-
ment. 7 Sections: Master/Expert (FIDE Rated), A, B, C, D,
E (U1200), Novice (Sat only) U1000/Unrated. Member-
ships: Must be a member of the US Chess Federation &
Michigan Chess Association. (Members of other state as-
sociations OK). Class Eligibility: The most recent USCF
rating supplement will be used for determining ratings.
Players must play in the class in which their rating indi-
cates. Unrated players must play in the Novice section.
Players may request to play up in class (or unrated play-
ers may request being seeded into a class) if their recent
tournament history shows achievement into that class.
The tournament director must approve all requests and
will assign a rating to the player within the rating win-
dow of that class. Advance Entry Fees: M/X: $60 (U18
$5 off), Free entry to GM, IM, FM, & 2200+, adv entry fee
deducted from prize. A, B, C, D, E: $50 (U18 $5 off). Nov-
ice: $28. Advance entries must be paid by January 6. For
entry fees paid after January 6, add $10 more. Advance
Registration: Online: https://onlineregistration.cc/.
Note: Novice is listed separately on the online registra-
tion website. Make Checks Payable to MCA.On-Site
Registration: Saturday (1/8): 8:00-9:00am. Rounds:
M/X, Class Sections: Sat 10am, 2:30pm, 7 pm; Sun 10am,
2:30pm. Novice: 10am, 11:30am, 1:30pm, 3pm, 4:30pm.
Time Control: M/X, Class Sections: G/90+30inc. Nov-
ice: G/30;d5. Prizes: $4100 GUARANTEED PRIZE FUND.
Master/Expert (GPP 20): 1st $650, 2nd $350; Expert:
$350 U2100: $200. Class A, B, C, D, E: 1st $230, 2nd $155;
U1900/U1700/U1500/U1300/U1100: $125. Novice: Tro-
phies to all with 4 points or more as Top Overall (min 5),
Top U900, Top U800, Top U700, Top U600, Top U500, Top
U4000, Top U300 ,Top Unrated. State Champions (Top
Michigan Resident): Master/Expert, Expert, and Each
Class plus Novice. Trophies for all place-winners listed
above. Contact: Jeff Aldrich, P.O. Box 40, Flint MI 48501;
e-mail: jeffchess64@gmail.com, (810) 955-7271.
MISSOURI
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
North American Junior (U20)
Championships (NC)
See North Carolina.
NEVADA
DECEMBER 18, 2021
North American Action
See Online Events or chessevents.us.
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
North American Junior (U20)
Championships (NC)
See North Carolina.
DECEMBER 29, 2021
North American Blitz (NV)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
JANUARY 7-9 OR 8-9, 2022
Boston Chess Congress (MA)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
NEW JERSEY
SEPTEMBER 18-DECEMBER 31, 2021
In-Person Tournaments for
Both Adults and Children in
Philadelphia by DMV Chess (PA)
See Pennsylvania.
DECEMBER 3-5 OR 4-5, 2021
66th Annual Maryland Open (MD)
See Grand Prix.
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
North American Junior (U20)
Championships (NC)
See North Carolina.
JANUARY 8-9, 2022
Dewey Beach Open (DE)
See Grand Prix.
JANUARY 14-17, 15-17, OR 16-17, 2022
54th annual Liberty Bell Open (PA)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
JANUARY 28-30 OR 29-30, 2022
59th Annual Baltimore Open (MD)
See Grand Prix.
FEBRUARY 19-21, 2022
World Amateur Team & U.S. Team
East (NJ)
See National Events.
FEBRUARY 27, 2022
New Jersey Junior High
Championship
A State Championship Event! Feb. 27, New Jersey Junior
High School Championship 5SS, G/25 d5. Brookdale
College, 765 Newman Springs Rd., Lincroft, NJ 07738.
Student Life Center, use Parking Lot #7 or #6; 5 minutes
from Garden State Parkway exit 109. Section: JHS (K-9).
All: Trophies to top 15 individuals, top 5 teams. Rds.:
10am then ASAP. Top 4 scores constitute team score. EF:
$40 before 2/22, $55 at site. USCF memb. req’d. Reg.:
8-9:00 am. After 9:00 am, half-point bye for round one.
Info: 732-259 3881, halsprechman@gmail.com. Ent:
Hal Sprechman, 15 Reigate Ln, Manchester NJ 08759
or online by 9:00pm, Feb 25 at www.NJSCF.org. Entries
must include name, grade, school, date of birth, USCF ID
#, & expiration date, mailing address, phone number &
entry fee. Checks made out to NJSCF.
FEBRUARY 27, 2022
New Jersey Elementary
Championship
A State Championship Event! Feb. 27, 2022 5SS, G/25
d5. Student Life Center, use Parking Lot #7 or #6; 5 min-
utes from Garden State Parkway exit 109. 2 Sections:
Elementary (K-6) & Primary (K-3). All: Trophies to top
15 individuals, top 5 teams. Elementary & Primary: Top
5 in each grade. Rds.: 10 am then ASAP. Top 4 scores
constitute the team score for Elementary; top 3 for
Primary. EF: $40 before 2/20, $55 at site. USCF memb.
req’d. Reg.: 8-9:00am After 9:00am 1/2 point bye for
round 1. Info: 732 259-3881, halsprechman@gmail.
com. Ent: Hal Sprechman, 15 Reigate Ln, Manchester
NJ 08759 or online by 9:00 pm Feb 26 at www.NJSCF.
org. Entries must include name, grade, school, section,
date of birth, USCF ID and expiration date, mailing
address, email address, phone number and entry fee.
Checks made out to NJSCF.
MARCH 12-13, 2022
54th annual New York State
Scholastic Championships (out of
state welcome)(NY)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
NEW YORK
SEPTEMBER 18-DECEMBER 31, 2021
In-Person Tournaments for
Both Adults and Children in
Philadelphia by DMV Chess (PA)
See Pennsylvania.
DECEMBER 3-5 OR 4-5, 2021
66th Annual Maryland Open (MD)
See Grand Prix.
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
North American Junior (U20)
Championships (NC)
See North Carolina.
DECEMBER 26-28 OR 27-28, 2021
Empire State Open (NY)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
DECEMBER 28, 2021
New York State Under 13 Action
Championship (out of state
welcome) (NY)
State Championship event. 5SS, G/30 d10, Albany
Marriott, 189 Wolf Road, Albany 12205. Free park-
ing, wireless, & airport shuttle, restaurants nearby.
Open to all born after 12/28/08. Top NYS player in
Championship is state Under 13 Action champion.
In 2 sections, Championship and Under 1000: EF:
$48 at chessaction.com by 12/23, $60 online or at
site by 9 am 12/28. No checks at site, credit cards
OK. Plaques to top 5 each section, top U1400,
U1200 (Championship), U800, U600, U400, Unr
(U1000). Unofficial or Online Regular uschess.
org ratings usually used if otherwise unrated.
Special 1 yr USCF with magazine if paid with
entry. Online at chessaction.com, Young Adult
$25, Youth $18. Mailed or at site, $27 or $20. Reg.
ends 12/28 9 am, rds. 10:00, 12:00, 2:00, 4:00,
6:00. Awards 7:30. Bye: all, limit 2; must commit
before rd 2. HR: $100-100, reserve by 12/12, link at
chessevents.us or call 518-458-8444. Ent: chess-
action.com or Continental Chess, Box 249, Salis-
bury Mills NY 12577. Questions: www.chesstour.
com, Director@Chess.US. Please claim plaques at
site. Refunds: $15 service charge. Entries post-
ed at chessaction.com (click “entry list” after en-
tering). Bring set, board, clock if possible- none
supplied.
DECEMBER 29-30, 2021
New York State Junior
Championships (out of state
welcome) (NY)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
JANUARY 7-9 OR 8-9, 2022
7th Annual Gulf Coast New Year’s
Open (FL)
See Grand Prix or www.bocachess.com.
JANUARY 8-9, 2022
Dewey Beach Open (DE)
See Grand Prix.
JANUARY 14-17, 15-17, OR 16-17, 2022
54th annual Liberty Bell Open (PA)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
JANUARY 28-30 OR 29-30, 2022
59th Annual Baltimore Open (MD)
See Grand Prix.
MARCH 12-13, 2022
54th annual New York State
Scholastic Championships (out of
state welcome)(NY)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
NORTH CAROLINA
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
2021 North American Junior (U20)
Championships
An official FIDE Continental Championship offering IM,
FM, WIM, WFM FIDE titles and GM, IM, WGM, WIM norms
for winners! 2020 North American Junior, held in Char-
lotte, had a record 95 players. Two sections – Open U20
and Girls U20 (girls may enter either section). 9 rounds,
G/90 inc/30, USCF and FIDE rated, FIDE norms and ti-
tles available. Venue: Hilton Charlotte University Place
Hotel, 8629 JM Keynes Dr., Charlotte, NC 28262. Hotel:
$105/night (single/double), free internet, free parking,

Continental Chess OTB Tournament Schedule

See www.chessevents.us for details & possible changes, or TLA for details
EMPIRE STATE OPEN Dec 26-28 or 27-28 GEORGE WASHINGTON OPEN, Feb 25-
at Albany Marriott, $5000 guaranteed prizes. 27 or 26-27 at Sheraton Hotel, Reston VA,
Also NY State Under 13 Action Dec 28. near DC. $16,000 guaranteed prizes.
NY STATE JUNIOR, Dec 29-30, Albany WESTERN CLASS CHAMPIONSHIPS,
Marriott, In 8 sections, out of state welcome. March 4-6 or 5-6, Hilton Orange County
NORTH AMERICAN OPEN at Bally’s Las Airport, Irvine, CA. $20,000 guaranteed prizes.
Vegas, Dec 26-30, 26-29 or 27-29. Open 9 NEW YORK STATE SCHOLASTICS,
rounds with GM & IM norms possible, other March 12-13 at Saratoga Springs. Out of state
sections 7 rounds. $125,000 guaranteed! welcome. Over 1200 players in 2019!
BOSTON CHESS CONGRESS Jan 7-9 or SOUTHERN CLASS CHAMPIONSHIPS
8-9,Hyatt Regency,$12,000 guaranteed. March 18-20 or 19-20, Wyndham Orlando
LIBERTY BELL OPEN Jan 14-17, 15-17 or Resort. $17,000 guaranteed prizes.
16-17, Martin Luther King weekend at Sonesta MID-AMERICA OPEN March 25-27 or 26-
Philadelphia. 7 rds, $20,000 projected prizes. 27, Clayton Plaza Hotel (Saint Louis). $20,000
GOLDEN STATE OPEN Jan 14-17, 15-17 guaranteed prizes.
or 16-17, MLK weekend, Crowne Plaza OPEN AT FOXWOODS, April 13-17, 14-17
Concord, 7 rds, prizes $25,000 guaranteed. or 15-17, Easter weekend, Foxwoods Resort
SOUTHWEST CLASS CHAMPIONSHIPS Casino, Connecticut. $75,000 projected prizes,
Feb 17-21, 18-21, 19-21 or 20-21, Presidents $50,000 minimum. GM & IM norms possible in
weekend at DFW Marriott South, Fort Worth, 9 round Open Section; others are 7 rds.
TX. Master Section 9 rds with GM & IM norms FOR OTHER OTB EVENTS and online
possible, others 7 rds, $32,000 guaranteed. events on ICC: See www.chessevents.us.

USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 53

TOURNAMENT LIFE See Previous Issue for TLAs appearing December 1-14

many restaurants and shops in walking distance. Eligi-
bility: Open to all players from USA, Canada, and Mexi-
co who are under 20 (19 & younger) as of 1/1/2021
(born 2001 or after). This is a completely open event for
those who meet the age and eligibility requirements.
Awards/Direct FIDE Titles: Medals to top 3 in each
section (on tiebreaks if necessary). Open section – Gold
medal = IM title and GM norm; if tie for first, top 3 on
tiebreaks receive IM title, gold medalist also earns GM
norm. Silver medal = FM title and IM norm. Bronze med-
al = FM title and IM norm. Girls section – Gold medal =
WIM title and WGM norm; if tie for first, top 3 on tiebreaks
receive WIM title, gold medalist also earns WGM norm.
Silver medal = WFM title and WIM norm. Bronze medal
= WFM title and WIM norm. Schedule: suggested arriv-
al Saturday 12/18. Players meeting (required) Sunday
12/19 11:30am, Rounds Sunday 12/19-Wed 12/22 each
12pm and 6pm, Round 9 Thu 12/23, 11am. Registra-
tion: Players should register directly with the organiz-
ers online at www.charlottechesscenter.org/najunior.
Entry Fee: $260 by 11/20, $280 between 11/21–12/10,
$300 between 12/11–18, no registration after 12/18.
Refunds will incur 5% service fee. No half-point byes.
All equipment provided! FIDE Rules, December FIDE rat-
ings used for pairings. COVID Policy – will be posted on
website by 11/15 based on CDC and local guidelines at
the time. Organizer: Charlotte Chess Center, contact:
grant@charlottechesscenter.org. Info, invitation,
regulations, registration: www.charlottechesscen-
ter.org/najunior.
FEBRUARY 4-5, 2022
Land of the Sky XXXIV (NC)
See Grand Prix.
OHIO
DECEMBER 26-30, 27-30, OR 28-30, 2021
2021 Charlotte Open (NC)
See Grand Prix.
OKLAHOMA
FEBRUARY 17-21, 2022
13th annual Southwest Class
Championships (TX)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
OREGON
JANUARY 14-17, 15-17, OR 16-17, 2022
13th annual Golden State Open
(CA-N)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
PENNSYLVANIA
North Penn Chess Club
Main & Richardson - St. John’s UCC, 500 West Main
St., Lansdale, PA 19446. See www.northpennchess
club.org for schedules & info or 215-699-8418
SEPTEMBER 18-DECEMBER 31, 2021
In-Person Tournaments for
Both Adults and Children in
Philadelphia by DMV Chess (PA)
DMV Chess runs semi-regular USCF-rated tournaments
in Philadelphia at The Warwick Hotel. Check the in-per-
son tournaments calendar on dmvchess.com for exact
dates of upcoming events. Events include scholastic
tournaments, open action tournaments, and open blitz
tournaments! HOW TO REGISTER OR VIEW MORE
INFORMATION: Registration links are posted online
on our website: https://www.dmvchess.com/inperson-
tournaments. CONTACT: For questions, please email
us at josh@dmvchess.com or call us at 703-609-0499.
Address: 1701 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103.
SEPTEMBER 18-DECEMBER 31, 2021
In-Person Tournaments for Both
Adults and Children in Baltimore
by DMV Chess (MD)
See Maryland.
DECEMBER 3-5 OR 4-5, 2021
66th Annual Maryland Open (MD)
See Grand Prix.
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
North American Junior (U20)
Championships (NC)
See North Carolina.
DECEMBER 26-30, 27-30, OR 28-30, 2021 are not required to play all rounds. Please inform the
2021 Charlotte Open (NC) tournament director if you plan to show up late or leave
early. Three Sections: K-3, K-5, and K-8. PRIZES:
See Grand Prix.
Trophies to the top three in each section! We will
JANUARY 7-9 OR 8-9, 2022 have enough chess sets for all players. If you would like
7th Annual Gulf Coast New Year’s
to use a clock, please bring one. For questions, please
email us at josh@dmvchess.com or call us at 703-
Open (FL) 609-0499. HOW TO REGISTER: Registration links are
See Grand Prix or www.bocachess.com. posted online on our website: https://www.dmvchess.
com/inpersontournaments.
JANUARY 8-9, 2022
Dewey Beach Open (DE) SEPTEMBER 19-DECEMBER 31, 2021
See Grand Prix. Tysons Corner Weekly Action and
JANUARY 14-17, 15-17, OR 16-17, 2022
Blitz Tournaments - Every Sunday
In Person (VA)
54th annual Liberty Bell Open (PA) Location: The Westin Tysons Corner, 7801 Leesburg
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043. Every Sunday at 3 pm
(Action) and 12:30 pm (Blitz). 3 PM ACTION TOURNA-
JANUARY 28-30 OR 29-30, 2022 MENT INFORMATION: 4 round Swiss tournament.
59th Annual Baltimore Open (MD) USCF regular and quick rated. Time control: Game
See Grand Prix. in 30 minutes with a 5-second delay. Every Sunday, 3
pm to approximately 7:30 pm. Entry fee: $30 on or
FEBRUARY 25-27 OR 26-27, 2022 before Wednesday, $35 on or before Saturday, $40 on
Sunday (on-site registration is allowed, registration for
7th annual George Washington round one closes at 2:45 pm on Sunday). Two Sec-
Open  (VA)
tions: Open and Under 1500. Prizes: $100 for 1st in
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
Open; $50 for 1st in U1500. We will have enough chess
sets for all players, but clocks will not be provided for
everyone. If you have a clock, please bring one. For
RHODE ISLAND questions, please email us at josh@dmvchess.com or
call us at 703-609-0499. 12:30 PM BLITZ TOURNA-
JANUARY 7-9 OR 8-9, 2022
MENT INFORMATION: 5 round double Swiss tour-
Boston Chess Congress (MA) nament (10 total rated blitz games). USCF blitz rated.
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. Time control: Game in 5 minutes with no delay or
increment. Every Sunday, 12:30 pm to approximately
SOUTH CAROLINA 2:30 pm. Entry fee: $20 if also signed up for action.
If only playing blitz then $30 on or before Wednesday,
$35 on or before Saturday, $40 on Sunday (on-site reg-
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
istration is allowed, registration for round one closes at
North American Junior (U20) 12:15 pm on Sunday). One section. Prizes: $100 for
Championships (NC) 1st. We will have enough chess sets for all players, but
See North Carolina. clocks will not be provided for everyone. If you have
DECEMBER 26-30, 27-30, OR 28-30, 2021
a clock, please bring one. For questions, please email
us at josh@dmvchess.com or call us at 703-609-0499.
2021 Charlotte Open (NC) HOW TO REGISTER: Registration links are posted
online on our website: https://www.dmvchess.com/
See Grand Prix.
inpersontournaments.
TENNESSEE DECEMBER 3-5 OR 4-5, 2021
DECEMBER 26-30, 27-30, OR 28-30, 2021 66th Annual Maryland Open (MD)
See Grand Prix.
2021 Charlotte Open (NC)
See Grand Prix.

Gold & Silver

DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
North American Junior (U20)
TEXAS Championships (NC)
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021 See North Carolina.
North American Junior (U20) DECEMBER 26-30, 27-30, OR 28-30, 2021
Championships (NC)

Affiliates
See North Carolina. 2021 Charlotte Open (NC)
See Grand Prix.
FEBRUARY 17-21, 2022
JANUARY 8-9, 2022
13th annual Southwest Class
Championships (TX) Dewey Beach Open (DE)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. See Grand Prix.

JANUARY 14-17, 15-17, OR 16-17, 2022

VERMONT 54th annual Liberty Bell Open (PA)
US CHESS would like to DECEMBER 26-28 OR 27-28, 2021 See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
Empire State Open (NY) JANUARY 28-30 OR 29-30, 2022
recognize and thank all of our See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
59th Annual Baltimore Open (MD)
DECEMBER 29-30, 2021 See Grand Prix.
Affiliates for their commitment New York State Junior
Championships (out of state FEBRUARY 25-27 OR 26-27, 2022
7th annual George Washington
and hard work. welcome) (NY)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. Open  (VA)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
VIRGINIA
WASHINGTON
For a full list of Gold and Silver Affiliates and SEPTEMBER 18-DECEMBER 31, 2021
DECEMBER 19-23, 2021
In-Person Tournaments for Both
all information on becoming a Gold or Silver Adults and Children in Baltimore North American Junior (U20)
by DMV Chess (MD) Championships (NC)
Affiliate, please visit See Maryland. See North Carolina.

SEPTEMBER 19-DECEMBER 31, 2021 JANUARY 14-17, 15-17, OR 16-17, 2022

www.uschess.org/content/view/7905/95. Scholastic Tournament - In 13th annual Golden State Open
Person Every Sunday (VA) (CA-N)
Location: Westin Hotel on 7801 Leesburg Pike, Falls See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
Church, VA 22043. 4 round Swiss tournament. USCF
regular and quick rated. Time control: Game in 25
minutes with a 5-second delay. Every Sunday, 10:00 WISCONSIN
am to approximately 2:00 pm. Entry fee: $35 on or
before Wednesday, $40 on or before Saturday, $45 on
JANUARY 8-9, 2022
Sunday (on-site registration is allowed, registration for Tim Just Winter Open XXXVIII (IL)
round one closes at 9:45 am on Sunday). Participants See Grand Prix.

54 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG


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USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 55
SOLUTIONS December

Solutions PAGE 48 MAKE YOUR MOVE

PAGE 10-11 TRIVIA QUIZ
1. c. “I didn’t care about winning the game at all I just
didn’t want to get eaten by mosquitoes!” he said. 2. d.
3. a. 4. Their full names are Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen,
Jørgen Bent Larsen, Anders Gideon Tom Stahlberg and
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen. 5. c. 6. James Mason gave
us this puzzle more than a century ago. The b1-knight
can check in three moves, one move faster than the
other knight. 7. d. 8. b. 9. b. 10. (a) III, two months
shy of his sixth birthday; (b) IV in 1955, (c) V. MacHack,
in 1967; (d) II and (e) I. 11. b. She painted the pieces.
12. c. 13. a. It was posted by Mixed Martial Arts star
Henry Cejudo. He did not say who won. 14. Trump
Tower, quoted in Chess Herald, issue 3, 1994. 15. Ca-
pablanca and Fischer.
PAGE 11 CHESS TO ENJOY
PROBLEM 1. 31. ... Qxc5! 32. bxc5 Bxd4 wins a piece.
PROBLEM 2. 25. ... Qg1+! 26. Nxg1 Nxh2 mate. PROBLEM
3. 22. Qh7+! Nxh7 23. Bxh7+ Kh8 24. Rxf8+ and mates.
PROBLEM 4. 28. Bh6! (threatens 29. Qa8+ and mates) 28.
... Rd8 29. Qc7 and Black resigned in view of 29. ... Rd7 30.
Qe5! PROBLEM 5. 29. d5! Qc5 30. Rxf7+! Kxf7 31. Qe6+
Kf8 32. Bxf6 Bxf6 33. Qxf6+ Kg8 (33. ... Ke8 34. Qh8+) 34.
Qxg6+ Kf8 35. Qxh6+ Kg8 36. Ng5. PROBLEM 6. 62. Kf5!
Kh4 63. f4 h5 64. Ke5 Kg4 65. f5 h4 66. f6 h3 67. f7 h2 68.
f8=Q h1=Q 69. Qg7+! and trades queens into a won pawn
endgame with 69. ... Kh3 70. Qh7+ or 69. ... Kf3 70. Qxb7+.
PAGE 13 ABCS OF CHESS
PROBLEM 1. Mating net: Black mates by 1. ... Qxg2+
2. Rxg2 Nh3 mate. PROBLEM 2. Mating net: Black
mates in one: 1. ... Nf2 mate. PROBLEM 3. Mating
net: Black mates in two: 1. ... Qxc8+ 2. Kxc8 Nd6 mate.
PROBLEM 4. Mating net: Black mates in one: 1. ...
Ned2 mate. PROBLEM 5. Mating net: Black mates
in three: 1. ... Nd2+ 2. Ka1 Nd4 3. h8=Q Nc2 mate.
PROBLEM 6. Mating net: Black mates in two: 1. ...
Rd2 2. Kb4 Rb2 mate.
TOTAL YOUR SCORE
TO DETERMINE
YOUR APPROXIMATE
RATING BELOW:
Total Score Approx. Rating
95+ 2400+
81-9 2200-2399
66-80 2000-2199
51-65 1800-1999
36-50 1600-1799
21-35 1400-1599
06-20 1200-1399
0-05 under 1200
TACTIC 1. 18. ... Rxc1+! Black removes an essential
defender to make the king overburdened with defensive
tasks. 19. Rxc1 Bxd2+ The bishop cannot be recaptured.
20. Ke2 Or 20. Kf1 Qf4 (20. ... Qh3+ also works) and
Black has a decisive material advantage. 20. ... Nf4+
and White resigned as 20. ... Nf4+ 21. Kf1 Qh3+ 22. Kg1
Be3 23. Qxe3 Qg2 mate. Malicka - G. Vazquez, US Online
Collegiate Rapid 2021. TACTIC 2. 18. Bxh7+! The Greek
Gift sacrifice and here, it works. 18. ... Kxh7 19. Ng5+
Kh6 A better defense was 19. ... Kg8 when 20. Qd3 will
lead to large advantage for White after 20. ... Re8 21.
Qh7+ Kf8 22. Rd3 Qc5 (or 22. ... Ke7 23. Qxg7 Rf8 24. Rhd1
Bd7 25. f5 Qb4 26. fxe6 Bxe6 27. Nxe6 Rg8 28. Nc7! and
White is winning) 23. Ne4 Qa3 24. Nxc3 Nxc3 25. Rxc3 and
White should be winning. 20. Qd3 The fastest win, but
also 20. Qe1 Nxf4 21. Qh4+ Nh5 22. g4 g6 23. gxh5 wins.
20. ... Nxf4 21. Qh7+ Kxg5 22. Qxg7+ White can also
force mate with 22. h4+ Kg4 23. Qxg7+ Ng6 24. Qh6 Qd8
25. Rd4+ Kg3 26. Qe3+ Kxg2 27. Rg1+ Kh2 28. Qg3 mate.
22. ... Ng6 23. h4+ Kg4 24. Qf6 Qe3 25. Rd4+ Kh5 26.
g4+ Kh6 27. h5 and Black resigned before he would get
mated. Hakobyan - Arribas Lopez, US Online Collegiate
Rapid 2021. TACTIC 3. 26. Qh6+ Sending the king to the
corner. 26. ... Kh8 27. Rf4 Threatening Bf6+. 27. ... Rg7
Black is trying to preempt White’s threats. If 27. ... Be7
then 28. Bxe7 Rdxe7 29. Rf8+ leads to mate. 28. Bf6 Ree7
Defending the rook but allowing a pretty conclusion.
29. Qxh7+! and Black resigned as 29. Qxh7+ Kxh7 30.
Rh4 mate ends the game. Zaibi - Khader, Sharjah 2021.
TACTIC 4. 16. Rxd5! Removing a potential defender and
forcing the queen to a less ideal square. 16. ... Qxd5 17.
Qg4 g6 Or 17. ... f6 18. Bc4 and the queen drops. 18. Qf4
Threatening both Qf6 and Qxh6. 18. ... Kh7 19. Bd3 Pre-
paring Qf6 and h4–h5. White also wins with 19. Qf6 Rg8
20. Bd3 Qe6 21. Qf4 Re8 22. Nd4 and it is over for Black.
19. ... f5 20. Bd2! and Black resigned as 20. Bd2 Rf6
21. Qxh6+ Kg8 22. Bc3 is completely winning for White.
Esipenko - Dudin, European Club Cup 2021. TACTIC 5.
20. ... Bxb2! Ripping White’s king shelter open. 21. Kxb2
Rc4! Threatening the bishop on e4 but also setting up
the next threat... 22. Rhe1 A tougher defense was 22.
Qf3 f5! (or 22. ... Re8 23. Bf5 Qf6+ 24. c3 Bxd1 25. Rxd1
g6 and Black is winning) 23. gxf5 Re8 24. Rde1 Qb6+
25. Kc1 Qc5! 26. Rh2 Rexe4 27. Rxe4 Rxc2+ and Black is
winning. 22. ... Qf6+ 23. Kb1 If 23. Kc1 then Black wins
with 23. ... Qa1+ 24. Kd2 Qc3+ 25. Kc1 Qa3+ 26. Kd2 Bxc2
27. Bxc2 Rxc2+ 28. Kxc2 Qxa2+ 29. Kd3 Qxf2. 23. ... Rb4+
24. Kc1 Rc8 and White resigned. Adnani - Bernadskiy,
Sharjah 2021. TACTIC 6. 25. Bxg7! Bxg7 26. Nh5 Thus
far, things are pretty straight-forward. 26. ... Qb6+ 27.
Rc5! Essential. If 27. Rf2?? then 27. ... Qd4! 28. f6 Rg4
wins for Black! 27. ... Kf8 28. Qxd6+ Re7 Now everything
wins for White. 29. f6 Bxf6 30. Qxf6 and Black resigned.
Kaidanov - Gareev, Indianapolis 2021. TACTIC 7. 22. ...
Nd4! Clearing the path for the bishop on b7 to join the
attack. 23. Nxd4 Nxc3! 24. Bxc3 Bxg2! Threatening
... Bg2-f3+. But not 24. ... Rxg2+?? as 25. Kf1 Rdg8 26.
Bxa6! wins for White. 25. Bg4 Bf3! 26. Nxf3 Qxd1+ 27.
Kg2 Rd3!, White resigned. The immediate threat is ...
Qd1xf3+ but White cannot do anything to survive, for
instance, 27. ... Rd3 28. Ng5 (or 28. Qh3 h5) 28. ... Qb1
and Black is winning. Maerevoet - Tilicheev, Primorsko
2021. TACTIC 8. 19. ... Rxd2+!! Inviting his majesty
out to dance and he will not make it home again in one
piece. 20. Kxd2 Bg5+! The only way to continue the
attack. If 20. ... Qg5+?? then 21. Kd1 Bb4 22. Nc3 is not
as convincing. 21. Kc3 Bf6+! 22. Kb4 If the king tries
to escape back with 22. Kd2 then 22. ... Qg5+ wins: 23.
Kd1 Bxb2 24. Qxg2 Rd8+ 25. Nd4 Rxd4+ 26. Ke2 Qxg2 27.
Rxg2 Bxa1 and Black is a piece up. 22. ... Bxb2! Now the
king is not able to move backwards. 23. Qxg2 Qe6 The
bishop on b2 guards the g7-pawn. 24. Ka4 c5! The only
winning move. Black threatens the bishop on a6. 25. c3
g6! Otherwise, mate on g7 was threatened. 26. Bb5 a6!
27. Bxe8 Or 27. Kxa5 axb5 and White will have to give
up material to delay mate. 27. ... Qxe8+ 28. Kxa5 Qb5
mate. A nice conclusion. Baskin – Romanishin, Sharjah
2021. TACTIC 9. 14. ... Bxf2+!! 15. Kxf2 Rxe5! 16. Kg1
Or 16. Rxe5 Qf6+ 17. Nf3 Bxf3 18. Qxf3 Qxe5 19. Bf4 Qxb5,
Black has an extra pawn and a clear advantage. 16. ...
Qe7! 17. Rf1 Also, 17. Ne4 f5 18. Bf4 fxe4 19. Bxe5 Qxe5
20. c4 Qd4+ 21. Kh1 exd3 22. cxd5 d2 23. Re2 Nc4 wins
for Black. 17. ... Qc5+ It may have been even better to
play 17. ... Re8!, for instance, 18. Kh1 Bxg2+ 19. Kxg2
Re2+ 20. Rf2 Qg5+ 21. Kf1 Rxf2+ 22. Kxf2 Qe3+ 23. Kg2
Qxd3 and Black is winning. 18. d4 Qxc3 19. dxe5 Qxa1
20. Nb3 Qxa2 21. Qxd5 Qxb3 and Black had a material
edge, which he eventually converted to a full point. 22.
Qd7 Qe6 23. Qxc7 b6 24. Bf4 Nb3 25. Qb7 Qc8 26. Qf3
Nd4 27. Qd5 Qd8 28. Qb7 Qc8 29. Qd5 Ne6 30. Be3 Rb8
31. Qf3 Qd7 32. Qg3 Qd3 33. Rf3 Qg6 34. Qe1 Rd8 35.
Kh2 Qe4 36. Qa1 Rd3 37. Qxa7 Qxe5+ 38. Kg1 Rxe3 39.
Qxf7+ Kh7 and White resigned. Aronian - Nakamura,
Meltwater Tour Final 2021.
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56 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG

 2021 INDEX

-Nakamura,H, 4:15; 7:29(f); Duda,J-K 3:16,16(f),20

HOW TO USE THIS INDEX 8:8,24; 9:8(f) -Carlsen,M, 11:17 -Wojtaszek,R, 3:16(f)
-Nepomniachitchi,I, -Dubov,D, 4:19 Gledura,B-Lenderman,A,
Items are listed by month (1-12) and page; so 4:16 re-
2:38(f); 4:11(f); 8:24(f) -Karjakin,S, 11:19 9:44; 11:36
fers to April, page 16. There are three sections: Index
-Radjabov,T, 7:28(f); 8:25 -Radjabov,T, 2:35 Goryachkina,A
of Games, Index of Openings, and Index of Features.
-So,W, 1:12; 2:39(f); -Shankland,S, 8:10 -Kosteniuk,A, 11:22
In Index of Games, (f) refers to a game fragment.
4:17(f),22(f),23(f); -So,W, 4:21(f) -Motylev,A, 12:35
MONTH COVER #s 8:27,27(f),28 -Vidit,SG, 11:25 Grandelius,N
January (1) RZA 1–60 -Vachier-Lagrave,M, 4:22(f) Dyson,P-Kacheishvili,G, -Donchenko,A, 6:14(f)
February (2) Wesley So 1–52 Carlsson,P-Krush,I, 3:37 4:56(f) -Naiditsch,A, 9:8
Caruana,F Dzagnidze,N-Yip,C, 11:19 -Van Foreest,J, 3:21
March (3) Irina Krush 1–60
-Carlsen,M, 8:8(f) Eckert,D Grischuk,A
April (4) Hans Niemann 1–56 -Gareyev,T, 10:9(f) -Finegold,B, 11:42 -Hao,W, 6:37
May (5) Denker-Steiner Match 1–60 -Giri,A, 8:23(f) -Harriott,T, 3:60(f) -Vachier-Lagrave,M, 6:38
June (6) Ian Nepomniachtchi 1–60 -Jumabayev,R, 11:27 -Khmelnitsky,I, 11:41 Guijarro,DA
July (7) John Donaldson 1–60 -Nakamura,H, 2:10(f), 9:9 Erenberg,S-Polgar,J, 4:10(f) -Giri,A, 3:17(f)
-Svidler,P, 10:8(f) Ernst,S-Timman,J, 10:47 -Tari,A, 3:27(f)
August (8) Back to the Board 1–60
-Vachier-Lagrave,M, 6:33(f); Esipenko,A -Van Foreest,J, 4:40
September (9) Sam Shankland 1–60 12:41,44(f) -Carlsen,M, 3:24 Gulko,B-Krush,I, 3:38
October (10) U.S. Senior/Junior Champions 1–60 -Wojtaszek,R, 3:24 -Liang,A, 12:28 Gunina,V
November (11) Alex Lenderman 1–60 Cavanah,T-Vidyarthi,V, 11:39 Eswaran,A-Talyansky,S, 7:19 -Lagno,K, 6:10
December (12) Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 1–60 Celle,O-Fischer,R, 5:48 Euwe,M -Shuvalova,P, 12:35
Cervantes,T -Flohr,S, 3:49(f) Guo,A
-Morris-Suzuki,S, 10:41(f) -Thomas,G, 9:46 -Gareyev,T, 9:35
INDEX OF GAMES Belous,V-Cordova,E, 6:16 -Yan,R, 1:43 Evans,S-Knesevitch,E, 6:24 -Niemann,H, 9:35
Belov,V-Kobalia,M, 5:39(f) Chasin,N-Khachiyan,M, 8:11 Finegold,B-Eckert,D, 11:42 Gurevich,D-Benjamin,J , 1:38
Abrahams,G-Bronstein,D, 2:11 Benjamin,J Checa,N-Niemann,H, 10:34 Fine,R Gurevich,D-Moradiabadi,E,
Adams,M-Stallings,J, 3:48(f) -Christiansen,L, 10:26(f) Chekhover,V-Lasker,E, 6:43(f) -Flohr,S, 5:8(f) 6:45(f)
Adewumi,T -Getz,S, 1:40 Chigorin,M-Mephisto, 3:11 -Rappaport,J, 6:46 Guseinov,G-Lenderman,A,
-Bryant,T, 9:23 -Gurevich,D, 1:38 Chou,J-Nyzhnyk,I, 8:18 Finkelstein,A-Fong,N, 7:21 5:16(f)
-Han,J, 12:20(f) -Vanapalli,V, 11:36 Christiansen,J-S Finn,S-Zhu,J, 6:23 GZA-RZA, 1:24
-Levin,A, 6:9 -Wolff,P, 1:39 -Dominguez,L, 7:25(f) Firouzja,A Hakobyan,A-Bok,B, 4:25
Aigner,M Benko,P-Fischer,R, 8:9 -So,W, 7:25(f) -Carlsen,M, 7:8(f) Hamilton,S-Lenderman,A,
-Amato,L, 2:25 Bharat,A-Virtanen,T, 7:21(f) Christiansen,L -Giri,A, 3:17(f) 11:31
-Barata,AA, 1:13 Bodek,M-Yu,J, 7:15 -Benjamin,J, 10:26(f) -Harikrishna,P, 3:7(f) Han,J-Adewumi,T, 12:20(f)
Alam,Z-Pealer,S, 6:27 Bogoijubov,E-Spielman,R, -Tarjan,J, 10:32(f) -Nakamura,H, 2:37(f) Hao,W
Alejano,CAH-Theodorou,N, 3:53 Cordoba,MI-Short,N, 9:49 -So,W, 2:35 -Grischuk,A, 6:37
8:17 Bok,B-Hakobyan,A, 4:25 Cordova,E-Belous,V, 6:16 Fischer,R -Nepomniachtchi,I, 6:39(f)
Amato,L-Aigner,M, 2:25 Boleslavsky,I-Bronstein,D, Costello,A-Pan,C, 7:19 -Benko,P, 8:9 Harikrishna,P
Anand,V 1:10 Danilchenko,M-Krush,I, -Celle,O, 5:48 -Firouzja,A, 3:7(f)
-Aronian,L, 6:14(f) Brodsky,D-Balakrishnan,P, 3:37(f) -Reshevsky,S, 7:37 -Mishra,A, 9:20
-Xiong,J, 12:27 10:36(f) de la Colina,NA-Kalghatgi,N, -Spassky,B, 6:14(f) Harriott,T-Eckert,D, 3:60(f)
Andrade,L-Astralov,V, 5:42(f) Bronstein,D 6:27 -Taimanov,M, 10:8(f) Hellers,F-Khalifman,A, 7:9
Andreikin,D-Vitiugov,N, 12:35 -Abrahams,G, 2:11 Del Campo,RM-Canty III,JH, Fishbein,A-Kaidanov,G, 10:29 Henning,L-Knapp,J, 10:6
Antipov,M-Musalov,R, 1:13 -Boleslavsky,I, 1:10 9:60 Flohr,S Hjartarson,J-Stefansson,H,
Areshchenko,A-Shankland,S, Bryant,T DeLucia,A-Basalla,B, 11:60(f) -Euwe,M, 3:49(f) 6:8(f)
10:16(f),17(f) -Adewumi,T, 9:23 Denby,C-Zinski,M, 8:41 -Fine,R, 5:8(f) Hoesley,A-Yan,R, 11:40
Aronian,L -Wagner,R, 9:25 Denker,A Fong,N-Finkelstein,A, 7:21 Hong,A-Giannatos,P, 12:60(f)
-Anand,V, 6:14(f) Burke,JM -Ashley,M, 5:36 Gareyev,T Huebner,R-Rogoff,K, 1:11
-Carlsen,M, 7:28(f) -Balakrishnan,P, 1:41(f) -Steiner,H, 5:32,33,34 -Caruana,F, 10:9(f) Hulak,K-Short,N, 9:49
-Nakamura,H, 7:26(f) -Bartell,T, 9:26 Deshpande,A-King,AB, 9:23 -Guo,A, 9:35 Ippolito,D-Wang,T, 5:17(f)
-So,W, 4:15 -Jacobson,B, 8:19 Dominguez,L -Lenderman,A, 3:46 Ivanchuk,V-Xiangzhi,B, 4:11(f)
Arsova,M-Lauser,J, 2:22 -Lenderman,A, 11:35 -Carlsen,M, 4:17(f) Gelfand,B-Dominguez,L, 8:11 Jacobson,B-Burke,JM, 8:19
Artemiev,V-Mishra,A, 9:19 -Sevian,S, 1:41(f) -Christiansen,J-S, 7:25(f) Gerasimov,K-Smyslov,V, 2:42 Jinshi,B-Shanglei,L, 2:13
Ashley,M-Denker,A, 5:36 -Xiong,J, 1:42(f) -Gelfand,B, 8:11 Getz,S Jobava,B-Shankland,S,
Astralov,V-Andrade,L, 5:42(f) Buss,M-Rose,B, 8:60 -So,W, 4:18(f) -Benjamin,J, 1:40 10:16(f)
Bai,J-Liren,D, 11:11 Canty III,J -Vachier-Lagrave,M, 12:40 -Kaidanov,G, 1:40 John,W-Schlechter,C, 3:49(f)
Balakrishnan,P -Del Campo,RM, 9:60 -Xiong,J, 1:31 Gharibyan,M-Niemann,H, 6:8 Jumabayev,R-Caruana,F,
-Brodsky,D, 10:36(f) -Matros,A, 5:17 Donaldson,J-Kudrin,S, 7:40 Giannatos,P-Hong,A, 12:60(f) 11:27
-Burke,JM, 1:41(f) Carlsen,M Donchenko,A-Grandelius,N, Giri,A Kacheishvili,G-Dyson,P,
Balashov,Y-Penrose,J, 3:48(f) -Aronian,L, 7:28(f) 6:14(f) -Caruana,F, 8:23(f) 4:56(f)
Barata,AA-Aigner,M, 1:13 -Caruana,F, 8:8(f) Dubov,D -Firouzja,A, 3:17(f) Kaidanov,G
Bartell,T-Burke,JM, 9:26 -Dominguez,L, 4:17(f) -Carlsen,M, 3:13; 4:20(f) -Guijjaro,DA, 3:17(f) -Fishbein,A, 10:29
Basalla,B-DeLucia,A, 11:60(f) -Dubov,D, 3:13, 4:20(f) -Duda,J-K, 4:19 -Nepomniachtchi,I, 6:15(f) -Getz,S, 1:40
Batista,LB-Shtembuliak,E, -Duda,J-K, 11:17 -Karjakin,S, 2:13 -Tari,A, 3:16 -Shabalov,A, 10:28
4:25 -Esipenko,A, 3:24 -Nepomniachtchi,I, 2:12 -Vachier-Lagrave,M, 2:10(f); -Sokolin,L, 10:26(f)
Belashchenko,K-Lacroix,N, -Firouja,A, 7:8(f) Duckworth,W-Kavutskiy,K, 3:22 -Tarjan,J, 10:27(f)
10:7 -Liren,D, 5:8(f) 5:60(f) -Van Foreest,J, -Wolff,P, 1:38

USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 57

INDEX 2021
-Yermolinsky,A, 10:30
Kalghatgi,N-de la Colina, NA,
6:27(f)
Kamsky,G-Pichot,A, 9:11
Kaplun,L-Nigmadzianov,A,
2:44
Karjakin,S
-Dubov,D, 2:13
-Duda,J-K, 11:19
-Karapov,A, 10:11
-Shankland,S, 10:20(f),
10:21
Karpov,A
-Karjakin,S, 10:11
-Piket,J, 4:10(f)
-Timman,J, 10:47(f)
Kasparov,G
-Petrosian,T, 3:54(f)
-Short,N, 1:10
-Zaid,L, 2:10(f)
Kavutskiy,K-Duckworth,W,
5:60(f)
Keating,R-Richter,A, 1:60
Khachiyan,M-Chasin,N, 8:11
Khalifman,A-Hellers,F, 7:9
Khan,S-Mattison,H, 8:46
Khmelnitsky,I-Eckert,D, 11:41
King,AB
-Deshpande,A, 9:23
-Yan,R, 9:24
Knapp,J-Henning,L, 10:6
Knesevitch,E-Evans,S, 6:24
Kobalia,M-Belov,V, 5:39(f)
Korchnoi,V-Timman,J,
10:46(f)
Kosteniuk,A-Goryahckina,A,
11:22
Kraai,J-Zhou,J, 8:21
Kramer,A-Rüster,O, 7:46
Kramnik,V-Sadvakasov,D, 4:50
Kraus,O-Mikhalesvki,V, 4:14
Krush,I
-Danilchenko,M, 3:37(f)
-Gulko,B, 3:38
-Nguyen,E, 1:37
-Nisipeanu,LD, 3:38
-Yip,C, 1:35
-Zambrana,O, 3:37
Kudrin,S-Donaldson,J, 7:40
Kumar,A
-Lee,A, 12:19(f)
-Liang,A, 11:33
Lacroix,N-Belashchenko,K,
10:7
Lada,N-Liang,A, 11:40
Lagno,K-Gunina,V, 6:10
Landey,B-MacHack VI, 5:9
Lang,JL-Vidyarthi,O, 9:39(f)
Larkins,L-Peraino,A, 2:7
Lasker,E-Chekhover,V, 6:43(f)
Lauser,J-Arsova,M, 2:22
LCZero
0.28-dev+_69626-Stock-
fish_14, 9:11(f)
Lee,A-Kumar,A, 12:19(f)
Leela-Stockfish,
3:12,12(f),49(f)
Le,LQ-So,W, 9:10
58 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG
Lenderman,A Moyses,SE-Shankar,P, 2:22 Piket,J-Karpov,A, 4:10(f) Sherman,D-NN, 6:60(f)
-Burke,JM, 11:35 Mundayat,A-Molner,M, 6:22 Player 1-Player2, 3:10 Shetty,AA-Niemann,H, 9:36
-Gareyev,T, 3:46 Musalov,R-Antipov,M, 1:13 Player 2-Player1, 3:10 Short,N
-Gledura,B, 9:44, 11:36 Naiditsch,A-Grandelius,N, 9:8 Pogrebissky,I-Petrosian,T, -Cordoba,MI, 9:49
-Guseinov,G, 5:16(f) Nakamura,H 3:53 -Hulak,K, 9:49
-Hamilton,S, 11:31 -Aronian,L, 7:26(f) Polgar,J-Erenberg,S, 4:10(f) -Kasparov,G, 1:10
-Marandi,CCA, 6:17 -Carlsen,M, 4:15; 7:29(f); Polugaevsky,L-Petrosian,T, -Lorparizangeneh,S, 9:48
-Niemann,H, 11:34 8:8,24; 9:8(f) 11:12 Shtembuliak,E-Batista,LB,
-Swiercz,D, 3:45 -Caruana,F, 2:10(f); 9:9 Portisch,L 4:25
-Yoo,C, 3:47 -Firouzja,A, 2:37(f) -Ree,H, 6:44 Shuvalova,P-Gunina,V, 12:35
-Zeltsan,J, 11:32 -Liang,A, 1:33 -Tal,M, 3:50 Slade,T-Wang,ML, 5:16(f)
Levin,A-Adewumi,T, 6:9 -Mamedyarov,S, 7:27 Posthuma,J-Matviishen,V, Smyslov,V
Liang,A -Ostrovskiy,A, 10:10 9:37 -Gerasimov,K, 2:42
-Esipenko,A, 12:28 -Shankland,S, 4:19(f) Radjabov,T -Reshevsky,S, 2:43
-Kumar,A, 11:33 -So,W, 2:28,39 -Carlsen,M, 7:28(f); 8:25 -Rudakovsky,I, 3:48(f)
-Lada,N, 11:40 -Vachier-Lagrave,M, 2:38(f); -Duda,J-K, 2:35 Sokolin,L-Kaidanov,G,
-Nakamura,H, 1:33 12:45(f) -Nepomniachtchi,I, 3:14 10:26(f)
-Niemann,H, 11:37 Narayanan,S-Mardov,D, -So,W, 2:37(f); 4:21(f),22(f) Solon,N-Tang,J, 10:60(f)
-Robson,R, 1:30 12:18(f) Rao,P-Paul,J, 5:17 Sorokin,A-Nyzhnyk,I, 9:41
-Williams,J, 8:37 Naroditsky,D-Yoo,C, 3:44 Rappaport,J-Fine,R, 6:46 Sosonko,G-Seirawan,Y, 6:43
-Yip,C, 11:41(f) Nepomniachtchi,I Ree,H-Portisch,L, 6:44 So,W
Liao,C-Lu,S, 6:21 -Carlsen,M, 2:38(f); 4:11(f); Repka,C-Swiercz,D, 8:38 -Aronian,L, 4:15
Liren,D 8:24(f) Reshevsky,S -Carlsen,M, 1:12; 2:39(f);
-Bai,J, 11:11 -Dubov,D, 2:12 -Fischer,R, 7:37 4:17(f),22(f),23(f);
-Carlsen,M, 5:8(f) -Giri,A, 6:15(f) -Smyslov,V, 2:43 8:27,27(f),28
-Shankland,S, 4:18(f) -Hao,W, 6:39(f) Richter,A-Keating,R, 1:60 -Christiansen,J-S, 7:25(f)
Lorparizangeneh,S-Short,N, -Radjabov,T, 3:14 Ringoir,T-Yoo,C, 7:10 -Dominguez,L, 4:18(f)
9:48 -So,W, 2:30; 8:26(f) Robson,R -Duda,J-K, 4:21(f)
Lu,S-Liao,C, 6:21 Nguyen,E-Krush,I, 1:37 -Liang,A, 1:30 -Firouzja,A, 2:35
MacHack VI-Landey,B, 5:9 Nielsen,P-Petrosian,T, 12:12 -Shankland,S, 1:30 -Le,LQ, 9:10
Mamedyarov,S Niemann,H -Vidit,SG, 12:28 -Nakamura,H, 2:28,39
-Nakamura,H, 7:27 -Checa,N, 10:34 Rogoff,K-Huebner,R, 1:11 -Nepomniachtchi,I, 2:30;
-Vachier-Lagrave,M, -Gharibyan,M, 6:8 Rose,B-Buss,M, 8:60 8:26(f)
12:44(f) -Guo,A, 9:35 Rozman,L-Yoo,C, 9:37 -Perez,LD, 2:29
Marandi,CCA-Lenderman,A, -Lenderman,A, 11:34 Rudakovsky,I-Smyslov,V, -Radjabov,T, 2:37(f);
6:17 -Liang,A, 11:37 3:48(f) 4:21(f),22(f)
Mardov,D-Narayanan,S, -Maze,S, 4:32 Rüster,O-Kramer,A, 7:46 -Shankland,S, 1:32
12:18(f) -Mishra,A, 4:30 RZA-GZA, 1:24 -Swiercz,D, 2:26
Mattison,H-Khan,S, 8:46 -Shabalov,A, 8:39(f) Saduakassova,D-Paikidze,N, -Vachier-Lagrave,M, 8:25(f);
Matlakov,M-Truskavetsky,A, -Shetty,AA, 9:36 12:26 12:42
6:9 -Xiong,J, 9:27 Sadvakasov,D-Kramnik,V, 4:50 -Xiong,J, 1:32
Matros,A-Canty III,J, 5:17 -Yoo,C, 10:35(f) Schlechter,C-John,W, 3:49(f) Spassky,B
Matviishen,V-Posthuma,J, Nigmadzianov,A-Kaplun,L, Schmakel,S-Swiercz,D, 8:37 -Fischer,R, 6:14(f)
9:37 2:44 Schoenmann,W-Wagner,H, -Zuppa,T, 7:60(f)
Maze,S-Niemann,HM, 4:32 Nisipeanu,LD-Krush,I, 3:38 10:44 Spielman,R-Bogoljubov,E,
McConnell,G-Trkaljanov,V, NN-Sherman,D, 6:60(f) Schrufer,F-Morphy,P, 1:50 3:53
2:24 Novikov,I Seemann,J-Mishra,A, 7:11 Stallings,J-Adams,M, 3:48(f)
Mendonca,LL-Mishra,A, 8:42 -Mirabile,T, 2:52 Seirawan,Y-Sosonko,G, 6:43 Stearman,J-Yu,J, 7:16
Mephisto-Chigorin,M, 3:11 -Yermolinsky,A, 1:39 Sevian,S-Burke,JM, 1:41(f) Stefansson,H-Hjartarson,J,
Mikhalevski,V-Kraus,O, 4:14 Nyzhnyk,I Shabalov,A 6:8(f)
Mirabile,T-Novikov,I, 2:52 -Sorokin,A, 9:41 -Kaidanov,G, 10:28 Steiner,H-Denker,A,
Mishra,A -Zhou,J, 8:18 -Niemann,H, 8:39(f) 5:32,33,34
-Artemiev,V, 9:19 Ostrovskiy,A-Nakamura,H, -Wang,J, 9:40 Stevens,M-Venkat,R, 6:26
-Harikrishna,P, 9:20 10:10 Shanglei,L-Jinshi,B, 2:13 Stockfish_14-LCZero 0.28-
-Mendonca,LL, 8:42 Paikidze,N-Saduakassova,D, Shankar,P-Moyses,SE, 2:22 dev+_69626, 9:11(f)
-Niemann,HM, 4:30 12:26 Shankland,S Stockfish-Leela,
-Seemann,J, 7:11 Pan,C-Costello,A, 7:19 -Areshchenko,A, 3:12,12(f),49(f)
Molner,M-Mundayat,A, 6:22 Paul,J-Rao,P, 5:17 10:16(f),17(f) Svidler,P
Moradiabadi,E Pealer,S-Alam,Z, 6:27(f) -Duda,J-K, 8:10 -Caruana,F, 10:8(f)
-Gurevich,D, 6:45(f) Penrose,J-Balashov,Y, 3:48(f) -Jobava,B, 10:16(f) -Shankland,S, 10:19
-Tang,A, 3:42,43(f) Peraino,A-Larkins,L, 2:7 -Karjakin,S, 10:20(f),21 -Topalov,V, 6:14(f)
-Yoo,C, 3:42(f) Perez,LD-So,W, 2:29 -Liren,D, 4:18(f) -Vachier-Lagrave,M, 12:38
Morphy,P-Schrufer,F, 1:50 Petrosian,T -Nakamura,H, 4:19(f) Swiercz,D
Morris-Suzuki,S -Kasparov,G, 3:54(f) -Robson,R, 1:30 -Lenderman,A, 3:45
-Cervantes,T, 10:41(f) -Nielsen,P, 12:12 -So,W, 1:32 -Repka,C, 8:38
-Wang,A, 10:37(f) -Pogrebissky,I, 3:53 -Svidler,P, 10:19 -Schmakel,S, 8:37
Motylev,A-Goryachkina,A, -Polugaevsky,L, 11:12 -Vachier-Lagrave,M, 12:38 -So,W, 2:26
12:35 Pichot,A-Kamsky,G, 9:11 -Wojtaszek,R, 9:31 -Vachier-Lagrave,M, 12:40
 -Xiong,J, 1:31 -Shankland,S, 9:31 Dutch Defense, 12:12 7:10; 9:10,35; 11:25; 12:28 Future Is Bright in St. Louis,
Taimanov,M-Fischer,R, 10:8(f) Wolff,P English Opening, 1:11,38,39; Archangel Variation, 1:43 The, 10:33
Tal,M-Portisch,L, 3:50 -Benjamin,J, 1:39 2:22,35; 4:25; 6:16,43; 7:46; Berlin Variation, 3:16; Gang Was Really All There!,
Talyansky,S-Eswaran,A, 7:19 -Kaidanov,G, 1:38 9:37,48; 11:36; 12:27 12:42 The, 11:38
Tang,A -Yu,J, 7:22 Symmetrical Variation, Chigorin Variation, 1:60 Give Your Opponent Knight-
-Moradiabadi,E, 3:42, Wu,R 1:31; 8:18 Exchange Variation, 11:41 mares!, 3:48
3:43(f) -Ulrich,S, 10:39 French Defense, 7:22; 10:34 Neo-Möller Variation, 8:19 GM Wesley So wins the 2020
-Yoo,C, 3:44 -Wang,A, 10:38(f) Alekhine-Chatard Attack, Open Variation, 2:29 Skilling Open, 2:32
Tang,J-Solon,N, 10:60(f) Xiangzhi,B-Ivanchuk,V, 4:11(f) 3:53 Smyslov Variation, 11:40 Go Bears!, 7:18
Tari,A Xiong,J Exchange Variation, 9:44; Zaitsev Variation, 9:10 Grandmaster Challenge, 3:15
-Giri,A, 3:16 -Anand,V, 12:27 11:36 Scotch Opening, 2:24; 10:28 Happy Jubilant Amateur
-Guijarro,DA, 3:27(f) -Burke,JM, 1:42(f) Steinitz Variation, 6:37 Sicilian Defense, 3:44; 5:9; Team North, A, 7:15
Tarjan,J -Dominguez,L, 1:31 Tarrasch Variation, 11:33 6:38,44; 7:37; 8:11; 9:40 Instant Replay, 10:14
-Christiansen,L, 10:32(f) -Niemann,H, 9:27 Winawer Variation, 1:10; Alapin Variation, 9:60 “It’s Been Really Great to
-Kaidanov,G, 10:27(f) -So,W, 1:32 7:11; 11:32 Closed Variation, 1:13 Dabble in This Chess
Theodorou,N-Alejano,CAH, -Swiercz,D, 1:31 Giuoco Piano, 2:13; 4:30; Dragon Variation, 9:25 World,” 5:22
8:17 Yan,R 8:24,28; 9:26; 12:38,40 Kalashnikov Variation, Kaidanov’s Lessons, 10:24
Thomas,G-Euwe,M, 9:46 -Cervantes,T, 1:43 Evans Gambit, 5:48 8:37 Krush Wins Eighth U.S. Wom-
Timman,J -Hoesley,A, 11:40 Grünfeld Defense, 2:26; 8:42 Keres Attack, 1:35 en’s Championship, 1:35
-Ernst,S, 10:47 -King,AB, 9:24 Exchange Variation, 2:12 Maroczy Bind, 3:45 Lenderman Wins 121st U.S.
-Karpov,A, 10:47(f) Yermolinsky,A Fianchetto Variation, 3:53 Moscow Variation, 1:39; Open, 9:44
-Korchnoi,V, 10:46(f) -Kaidanov,G, 10:30 Irregular Opening, 3:10; 6:46 8:27,37; 11:17 Magificent Mishra!, 8:42
Topalov,V-Svidler,P, 6:14(f) -Novikov,I, 1:39 King’s Indian Attack, 4:25; Najdorf Variation, 1:10; Man of Steel, 4:36
Trkaljanov,V-McConnell,G, Yip,C 8:17; 10:21; 12:26 2:52; 3:21,22; 6:9; 8:10; 9:8; Miracles and Misery at the
2:24 -Dzagnidze,N, 11:19 King’s Indian Defense, 10:21; 12:40,41 College Chess Final Four,
Truskavetsky,A-Matlakov,M, -Krush,I, 1:35 3:24,46; 4:14; 9:20,23,41; Richter-Rauzer Variation, 6:16
6:9 -Liang,A, 11:41(f) 10:19; 11:19; 12:38 1:30; 6:21; 8:11; 10:29 Mixing it up in the Windy City,
Ulrich,S-Wu,R, 10:39 -Yu,J, 1:43 Fianchetto Without c4, Rossolimo Variation, 6:9,22 12:16
Vachier-Lagrave,M Yoo,C 1:38 Scheveningen Variation, My American Tour, 12:36
-Carlsen,M, 4:22(f) -Lenderman,A, 3:47 Karpov Variation, 3:12 3:24 My Chess Club Succumbed to
-Caruana,F, 6:33(f); -Moradiabadi,E, 3:42(f) Orthodox Variation, 2:11 Sveshnikov Variation, COVID-19, 1:16
12:41,44(f) -Naroditsky,D, 3:44 Sämisch Variation, 6:23 1:31,32; 6:24 Near-Miracle Online, The,
-Dominguez,L, 12:40 -Niemann,H, 10:35(f) Larsen’s Opening, 7:19 Taimanov Variation, 9:23 12:24
-Giri,A, 2:10(f); 3:22 -Ringoir,T, 7:10 London Opening, 3:20; 6:26 Slav Defense Nepomniachtchi Wins the
-Grischuk,A, 6:38 -Rozman,L, 9:37 Modern Defense, 2:39; 10:6; Exchange Variation, 1:37 Candidates, 6:30
-Mamedyarov,S, 12:44(f) -Tang,A, 3:44 11:40 Schlechter Variation, 10:30 Nuances in Rook Endgames,
-Nakamura,H, 2:38(f); Yu,J Nimzo-Indian Defense, 1:32; Trompowsky Attack, 3:47; 5:38
12:45(f) -Bodek,M, 7:15 3:37,38; 4:15,32; 7:15,27; 5:17; 10:7; 11:34 Our Heritage: US Chess Year-
-Shankland,S, 12:38 -Stearman,J, 7:16 9:49; 10:11,39; 11:12; 12:35 Two Knights Defense, 1:50 book, 2020, 4:42
-So,W, 8:25(f); 12:42 -Wolff,P, 7:22 Three Knights Variation, Vienna Gambit, 3:11 Pride of Prague, The, 9:30
-Svidler,P, 12:38 -Yip,C, 1:43 11:11 Vienna Game Qualifying in the Time of
-Swiercz,D, 12:40 Zaid,L-Kasparov,G, 2:10(f) Owen’s Defense, 8:25 Falkbeer Variation, 2:30 COVID, 3:40
Vanapalli,V-Benjamin,J, 11:36 Zambrana,O-Krush,I, 3:37 Petroff Defense, 3:37 Quasi-Outpost, The, 6:42
Van Foreest,J Zeltsan,J-Lenderman,A, 11:32 Philador’s Defense, 5:17, 6:17 INDEX OF FEATURES Questions Answered, 8:16
-Giri,A, 3:16,16(f),20 Zhou,J Pirc Defense, 2:7, 8:60 Reflections of a King, 1:20
-Grandelius,N, 3:21 -Kraai,J, 8:21 Austrian Attack, 8:9 Alive & Kicking, 8:12 Re-opening Chicago, 8:36
-Guijarro,DA, 4:40 -Nyzhnyk,I, 8:18 Pseudo-Trompowsky, 2:25 “All My Work...Had Finally Road to Grandmaster, The,
Venkat,R-Stevens,M, 6:26 Zhu,J-Finn,S, 6:23 Queen’s Gambit Accepted, Paid Off,” 9:12 4:28
Vidit,SG Zinski,M-Denby,C, 8:41 4:50; 7:19 Another Win for Wesley So!, Russian Superfinal, The, 12:35
-Duda,J-K, 11:25 Zuppa,T-Spassky,B, 7:60(f) Queen’s Gambit Declined, 4:16 Secret Square, The, 6:20
-Robson,R, 12:28 1:24; 2:28; 3:42,44; 5:32,33; At Last, The Star of His Own So Storms to 2020 U.S.
Vidyarthi,O-Lang,JL, 9:39(f) INDEX OF OPENINGS 7:16; 8:8; 9:9,46,49 Show, 7:24 Champ Title, 1:28
Vidyarthi,V-Cavanah,T, 11:39 Catalan Opening, 3:13; Back to the Board!, 8:30 2020 Online Olympiad for
Virtanen,T-Bharat,A, 7:21(f) Albin Counter Gambit, 10:44 7:21; 9:24,27,31,35; Burke Takes 2020 Junior People with Disabilities,
Vitiugov,N-Andreikin,D, 12:35 Alekhine’s Defense, 2:44 11:22,31; 12:28 Championship, 1:41 The, 2:20
Wagner,H-Schoenmann,W, Anderssen’s Opening, 1:40 Exchange Variation, 11:27 Champions Again, 4:24 2020 U.S. Senior Champion-
10:44 Benko Gambit, 2:22; 12:35 Ragozin Defense, 1:43 Chesspionage, 2:16 ship, The, 1:38
Wagner,R-Bryant,T, 9:25 Benoni Defense, 5:36 Semi-Slav, 4:19; 9:19,36; Chess With Kids, 9:22 2021 Amateur Team South,
Wang,A Bishop’s Opening, 2:13; 3:16 12:35 Crypto Gambit, The, 8:22 The, 6:26
-Morris-Suzuki,S, 10:37(f) “The Bongcloud,” 4:15 Semi-Tarrasch Variation, Denker Does the Double!, 2021 World Cup, The, 11:14
-Wu,R, 10:38(f) Caro-Kann Defense, 3:14; 8:38; 11:19 5:30 Two by Yermo, 9:40
Wang,J-Shabalov,A, 9:40 1:12,30,33; 3:50; 6:10 Queen’s Indian Defense, 6:8; Different Wavelengths, 12:30 Under the Microscope, 2:26,
Wang,ML-Slade,T, 5:16(f) Advance Variation, 9:11; 7:40; 8:21,46; 11:35 Fighting Warrior, A, 3:30 11:24
Wang,T-Ippolito,D, 5:17(f) 11:37 Queen’s Pawn Game, 2:35; “First Place I Turn is Chess Viva Las Vegas!, 9:34
Williams,J-Liang,A, 8:37 Classical Variation, 7:9 9:37 Life, The,” 5:26 Yip Wins Third Consecutive
Wojtaszek,R Two Knights Variation, 8:41 Reti Opening, 5:34; 10:10,47; Fischer Project, The, 7:30 U.S. Girls’ Junior, 1:43
-Caruana,F, 3:24 Colle System, 2:42 11:39 Flying Dutchman, The, 3:18 “You Can’t Take Any Games
-Giri,A, 3:16(f) Czech Benoni, 11:42 Ruy Lopez, 1:13; 2:43; 4:40; French Defense, The, 5:18 For Granted!,” 11:30

USCHESS.ORG DECEMBER 2021 59

 FM PETER
GIANNATOS I never thought
ORGANIZER, AUTHOR, CHESS
becoming
ENTREPRENEUR
a titled player
of any kind was

S
possible...”
TARTING CHESS AT AGE 13, MY
initial goal was to have a four-dig-
it rating with a two in front of it. I
never thought becoming a titled
player of any kind was possible, let alone a
FIDE Master.
IA Grant Oen called me after my sixth
round game at the 2017 Southwest Class.
He let me know that a win in the next round
would put me over the 2300 FIDE rating
threshold, thus making me a FM. I was
fortunate to have the night before the game
to prepare for Hong, a phenom on the rise.
As mentioned in my recent interview on
the “How to Chess” podcast with Ben John-
son, when playing against junior players,
it’s best to keep the game in more closed,
strategic waters, where play is a bit slower. I
got what I wanted from the opening, which
was a locked center. The game soon became
about who would execute their pawn breaks
with more precision. 28. ... Ng8 31. ... Kh8 32. Qg6 Nd8 33. Qh5+ Nh6 34.
Note that 28. ... Nf7 makes life a lot easier Rg6 Rxc3
as 29. g6 opens the g-file without allowing Desperate, but what else?
PUSHING THROUGH the knight to land on f5.
Peter Giannatos (2357) 35. bxc3 Rxc3 36. Nh4!
FM Andrew Hong (2421) 29. g6 The last strong move — the last thing I want-
Southwest Class (7), Dallas, 2017 The point. This had been available for the ed to do was passively defend my knights.
last few moves, but I didn’t see how I would
break through if Black played 29. ... h6. 36. ... Bxh4
If 36. ... Rxd3 37. Rxh6+ gxh6 38. Ng6+.
29. ... Qf8
An admission of defeat as now the g-file 37. Qxh4 Rxd3 38. Rxg7
opens in the most favorable circumstances. The final point: the d8-knight hangs!
After 29. ... h6 I eventually realized (be-
fore I played 28. g5!!) that I had the nice 38. ... Qxg7
breakthrough 30. Ng5!! when the floodgates Worse is 38. ... Ndf7 39. Rxf7 Qxf7 40. Qxh6+
open toward the black king. It’s a pity this Qh7 41. Qf8+.
line didn’t occur on the board, but some-
times the beauty of chess is hidden in the 39. Qxd8+ Ng8 40. Rxg7 Kxg7...
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF SUBJECT

WHITE TO MOVE
28. g5!!
MY BEST MOVE! Earlier this concept did not
work because Black would always lock up
the kingside. Remember that tactics and
strategy are not separate!
variations. After 30. ... hxg5 31. fxg5 Rd7 32.
Qh4+ Nh6 33. Qh5 White gets the piece back
with a winning attack.
30. gxh7 Kxh7 31. Qg3
Lines opened, mission accomplished. White
has a huge initiative without conceding
anything to Black.
and Black resigned at move 63. A very pleas-
ing win to earn a long-sought title.
You can read archival copies of
“My Best Move” on uschess.org,
click on “Chess Life Magazine,”
and then “Archives.”

60 DECEMBER 2021 USCHESS.ORG

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