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ŬŶŽǁƐŚŽǁĂĚƵůƚŝŵƉƌŽǀĞƌƐƐŚŽƵůĚƉůĂLJƚŚĞŽƉĞŶŝŶŐ͕
ĂŶĚǁŚĂƚƚŚĞLJĐĂŶĞdžƉĞĐƚĨƌŽŵLJŽƵƌŽƉƉŽŶĞŶƚ͘dŚĞ
ƚĂĐƟĐĂůĮƌĞǁŽƌŬƐǁŝůůĂůƐŽŚĞůƉLJŽƵƚŽĚĞǀĞůŽƉLJŽƵƌ
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ŶũŽLJƚŚĞŵŽƐƚĞdžĐŝƟŶŐĐŚĞƐƐŐĂŵĞƐĞǀĞƌ
Steve Giddins
New In Chess magazineŚĂƐĂďĂĐŬƉĂŐĞĐŽůƵŵŶ͕
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ŵŽƐƚĞdžĐŝƟŶŐŐĂŵĞƐ͕ĂƐĐŚŽƐĞŶďLJƚŽƉƉůĂLJĞƌƐĂŶĚ
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LJŶĂŵŝĐůĂĐŬZĞƉĞƌƚŽŝƌĞĨŽƌůƵďWůĂLJĞƌƐ
Daniel King
dŚŝƐĐŽŵƉůĞƚĞ^ŝĐŝůŝĂŶůĂĐŬƌĞƉĞƌƚŽŝƌĞďLJ'DĂŶŝĞů
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tŝƚŚƚŚĞ<ĂůĂƐŚŶŝŬŽǀsĂƌŝĂƟŽŶLJŽƵĐĂŶĂŝŵĨŽƌƌĂƉŝĚ
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ƚŚĞŵŽƐƚŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚůŝŶĞƐĂŶĚƚŚĞƌĞŝƐĂƐĞůĞĐƟŽŶ
ŽĨǁĞůůͲĂŶŶŽƚĂƚĞĚŵĂƐƚĞƌŐĂŵĞƐĚĞŵŽŶƐƚƌĂƟŶŐ
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 OCTOBER

COLUMNS
10 CHESS TO ENJOY
ENTERTAINMENT
Our Murphy’s Law
BY GM ANDY SOLTIS

43 PUZZLES
MAKE YOUR MOVE!
BY FM CARSTEN HANSEN WGM Jennifer Yu

44 SOLITAIRE CHESS
INSTRUCTION
Nepo’s Resurgence 26 COVER STORY GM Alexander
BY BRUCE PANDOLFINI

46 ENDGAME SCHOOL
ONE LAST Shabalov

INSTRUCTION
Senior Exams at St. Louis
BY GM JOEL BENJAMIN
48 BOOKS AND BEYOND
SHOULD I BUY IT?
Solid Self-Publishing
BY IM JOHN WATSON
CHANCE
WGM Jennifer Yu tells
us how she finally won
the U.S. Girls’ Junior
Championship in her last
year of eligibility.
BY WGM JENNIFER YU

DEPARTMENTS
4 OCTOBER PREVIEW
SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDE 12 EVENTS AMATEUR TEAM WEST
The Golden Touch Bears
5 COUNTERPLAY Results!
READERS RESPOND UC Berkeley A wins again at the
6 FIRST MOVES 2022 Amateur Team West.
BY ARMAN AZHAR, DR. SALMAN
CHESS NEWS FROM GM Christopher
AZHAR, AND FM KEVIN PAN
AROUND THE U.S. Yoo

8 US CHESS AFFAIRS
NEWS FOR OUR MEMBERS
16 EVENTS SENIOR
52 TOURNAMENT LIFE CHAMPIONSHIP
Photo Finish for Shabba!
62 CLASSIFIEDS GM Alexander Shabalov becomes
63 SOLUTIONS the first two-time Senior champ!
BY HAROLD SCOTT
PHOTOS: COURTESY SLCC / C. FULLER

64 MY BEST MOVE
PERSONALITIES
IM CYRUS LAKDAWALA
36 EVENTS JUNIOR
CHAMPIONSHIP
For up-to-date chess news and
I won the Yoo S. Junior!
analysis, check out Chess Life
The new Junior champ on his road
Online at uschess.org/clo on a
regular basis.
to victory
BY GM CHRISTOPHER YOO

USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 1

CONTRIBUTORS
WG M J E N N IFE R Y U
(Cover Story) is the 2019 U.S.
Women’s Champion and the 2022
U.S. Girls’ Junior Champion.
Currently a student at Harvard
University, her chess career took
off when she won the World Youth
Girls U12 section in 2014. Since
then, she has competed for the
U.S. in international team play,
including the 2017 Women’s World
Team Championship and the 2018 Chess Olympiad. In 2021, she
participated in the Women’s World Cup in Sochi, Russia. For more,
revisit Jamaal Abdul-Alim’s cover story on Yu in the January 2020
issue of Chess Life. It’s available in the US Chess Digital Archives.
ARMA N AZ H AR , D R . S ALM A N A ZH A R ,
AND FM K E V IN PA N
(USATW) Arman Azhar is a promising scholastic
chess player and a US Chess certified tournament
director. Dr. Salman Azhar is an entrepreneur
who has helped launched over 100 startups. The founder of Ba-
yAreaChess, currently he is an Executive in Residence and Faculty
at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. FM Kevin Pan is the
founder and president of Mission360, a registered 501(c)(3) devot-
ed to growing chess in the Bay Area and beyond.
GM C H R ISTO PH E R Y O O
(Junior Championship) is the 2022 U.S. Junior
Champion. Once the youngest International Mas-
ter in history, he won the U.S. Cadet Champion-
ship in 2020. Earning all three of his grandmaster
norms in Charlotte — two at CCCSA invitationals, and one at the
2021 U.S. Masters — he crossed 2500 at the Marshall Chess Club
to earn his GM title in late 2021. He is a connoisseur of endgame
studies, and the youngest ever to medal in the FIDE World Cup in
Composing. For more, check out our October 2019 cover story.
HARO LD S COT T
(Senior Championship) is a chess teacher and
coach currently residing in the Bronx, New York.
He is also a FIDE Instructor, a US Chess Senior
tournament director, a rated expert, and a writer
to boot. His first book, Winning the World Open, is co-authored
with GM Joel Benjamin and was released in January of this year.
This is his second feature article for Chess Life this year.
Mission accomplished. That’s what
the 2022 U.S. Girls’ Junior Cham-
pionship was for WGM Jennifer Yu.
The Girls’ Junior title had long elud-
ed her, but this year — in her final
year of eligibility — she got the job
done. And you can tell by this photo
from the closing ceremony that it
meant the world to her to do so.
PHOTO COURTESY SLCC / C. FULLER
2 OCTOBER 2022 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 Natasha Roberts
P U B L I C AT I O N S E D I TO R Melinda Matthews
G R A P H I CS A S S I STA N T Nicole Esaltare
T E C H N I C A L E D I TO R IM Ron Burnett
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 M E M B E R S E R V I C E S Korey Kormick
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 Brian Yang
CO R R E S P O N D E N C E C H E S S CO O R D I N ATO R Michael Buss
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
G O V E R N A N C E CO O R D I N ATO R Rose McMahon
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 Matt Monta
PHOTOS: COURTESY SLCC / B. ADAMS (YU), SLCC / C. FULLER (YOO), COURTESY SUBJECTS (AZHARS, SCOTT)
EXECUTIVE BOARD
P R E S I D E N T Randy Bauer (president@uschess.org)
V I C E P R E S I D E N T Kevin Pryor (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 Mike Hoffpauir (mhoffpauir@aol.com)
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4 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG


Worthy questions...
Fischer’s Shadow
I was not sure if I should even
write this. Seems there is a lot in
Chess Life on Bobby Fischer. I do
believe he was the best Amer-
ican chess player. At the same
time, I believe he was proba-
bly the most antisemitic and
anti-American chess player. Just
look at the comments he made
after 9/11. I’m wondering if he
really deserves to be so glori-
fied. Just my opinion.
Mitch Samoila
Via email
John Hartmann responds:
Fischer continues to generate con-
troversy — and letters — after all
these years. And with good reason.
It is hard to separate the games
from the man. Harder still to un-
derstand at which point he be-
comes morally compromised. Was
it in the 1970s, after he won and
lost his title? In 1961, when Mün-
ninghoff reports him making an-
tisemitic comments in Bled? Ear-
lier than that, when Dr. Reuben
Send your letters to letters @uschess.org. Letters are
subject to editing for style, length, and content.
Fine reportedly tried to convince
the adults around him to get
Fischer into therapy?
Fisc
Fischer’s later beliefs were
F that out!
odious. I’m on record (“Coun-
odio
terplay,” September 2021) as
terp
saying that I believe his overall
say
influence on American chess
infl
has been a net negative. But
we cannot ignore his winning
the title and the effect that had
on galvanizing and growing
American chess.
Am
This was the first piece on
Fischer in Chess Life since
Fi
our July 2021 cover story on
ou
IM John Donaldson’s new
Fischer book. I think our cov-
Fi
eragee has
h been balanced, focusing
on the chess and not the man, and
I’d run both pieces again without
changing a thing.
Megablunder
I really enjoyed the Fischer
issue on the anniversary of
his 1972 defeat of Spassky. In
playing through the “Make Your
Move” column in the August
2022 issue, there appears to be
an error in Tactic V. Hansen
has Bobby’s 35th move as 35.
Qd1 but it should be 35. Rd1.
35. Rd1 is crushing as it moves
the rook to the open d-file while
the queen keeps control of the
open f-file. Bobby wouldn’t have
missed this with the relatively
weak 35. Qd1.
Michael LaBelle
Via email
John Hartmann responds:
We checked with IM John Donald-
son, who checked Schach Echo
(#22, 1960). There Rellstab gives
35. Rd1 in Fischer – Bobotsov.
Readers Respond
The version in MegaBase 2022,
which we used to source the game,
was wrong. Thanks for pointing
Bingo Bango
In his September 2022 column,
[GM] Joel [Benjamin] quoted
the great Yakov Yuchtman “out
of context.” If I remember cor-
rectly, he was “explaining” to
some kid (Joel himself?) that
the key to knight endings, like
pawn endings, was zugzwang.
Or, as he put it, “knight game
like king game — king go bingo.”
Here bingo means zugzwang.
The follow-up suggestion
(that I heard from Yuchtman)
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COUNTERPLAY
cannot be printed in a family
magazine.
IM Elliott Winslow
Via website comment
P.S.: Has Joel told the story
of his adjourned ending with
Korchnoi?
John Hartmann responds:
Joel reports that he did not hear
Yuchtman give this bit of wisdom
first-hand; perhaps it was told to
John Fedorowicz? The bit about
zugzwang was new to him.
As for the Korchnoi endgame,
it has not (to our knowledge) been
in Chess Life, but it is featured
extensively in the prologue to Liq-
uidation on the Chess Board.
USCT also supports:
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Girls Champs
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World Chess Hall of Fame
And many other programs
OCTOBER 2022 5
FIRST MOVES Chess news from around the U.S.
The Revolution will
be Podcast
Get your chess fix wherever you are, no board required!
BY JOHN HARTMANN
C HESS EXPLODED INTO THE
public consciousness during
the depths of the COVID-19
pandemic because, perhaps
more than any other game, it could be
translated to a two-dimensional board on
a screen. Suddenly people stuck at home
could play and watch chess on their tablets,
without need of human contact.
(Yes, there was that show called The
Queen’s Gambit as well. But let’s not ruin
the train of thought.)
Over-the-board tournaments went vir-
tual. Chess.com and Chess24 lined up talent
from across the globe and ran tournaments
end-to-end, featuring the world’s elite along
with the best juniors and more than a few
legends of yesteryear. Streamers of every
stripe and strength racked up serious time
in front of the camera, and some — like the
Botez sisters, GM Hikaru Nakamura, and
IM Levy Rozman, among others — became
the literal faces of the “new chess boom.”
(See our August 2020 and June 2022 issues
for more on this boom. ~ed.)
Now, with the world reopening, and with
humans having to leave their COVID bun-
kers, there’s a new way to follow chess.
Much like the chess boom, there has been
6 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG
a significant uptick in podcast consumption
in recent years. One recent statistic from Ed-
ison Research suggests that the total number
of Americans over 12 who have listened to a
podcast has risen from 44% in 2018 to 62%
in 2022. Part of this growth surely has to do
with the pandemic and the need for fresh
modes of entertainment. But the return to
the office, and the concomitant commute
it entails, is also undoubtedly a driver of
increased consumption.
Podcasts are everywhere these days and
everyone appears to have one. Nowhere is
this truer than in chess, where it seems like
a new and interesting podcaster is dropping
new episodes each week. And the metrics
must be good if a heavy hitter like Chess-
able is able to justify sponsoring no small
number of them.
So who are these podcasters, and which
ones should you check out?
First things first — we should pay homage
to the ancestors. Remember Tony Rook on
the Internet Chess Club? The well-named
broadcaster was the originator of “internet
chess radio” in the early ‘aughts, doing live
audio-only coverage of major events and
hosting a number of chess proto-podcasts
on chess.fm, including “Chess Readings”
GMs Caruana (L) and
Chirila (R) on EP02 of their
“C-Squared Podcast”
with Riley Kellogg and “Chess and Books”
with Fred Wilson.
“Chess Talk with [IM] John Watson” was
the next step in the evolution of chess pod-
casts. Also hosted by chess.fm during the
late ‘aughts, Watson recorded hundreds of
interviews with the world’s leading chess
players, writers, and personalities, ranging
from Carol Jarecki to GM Hans Ree to GM
Jonathan Rowson. Most of these recordings
are, sadly, lost to the winds of time, but I
hope that they will be made public again.
Together they represent a valuable record
of an important time in chess history.
Now we get to the “OG” of today’s chess
podcasts. Ben Johnson’s “Perpetual Chess
Podcast” just released its 296th episode,
representing nearly six years of effort. With
a steady stream of some of the most com-
pelling chess personalities appearing on the
pod, Johnson has his finger on the pulse of
the chess world, and each Tuesday brings
another fascinating episode to the world.
Recent recordings include a who’s who
of modern chess, including GMs Jacob
Aagaard, Fabiano Caruana, and Gregory
Kaidanov as just a few of the most recent
guests at time of writing. But Johnson also
brings new voices into the fold, like Lula “Lu-
laRobs” Roberts, who discussed streaming
and playing the Olympiad, and Tony Ballard,
a convicted felon who spoke to Johnson
while incarcerated about how chess has
changed his life for the better.
Part of the Bluewire network of podcasts,
while also being sponsored by Chessable,
Aimchess, and Chessmood, Johnson’s suc-
cess has inspired no small number of com-
PHOTO: YOUTUBE
petitors. It has also given him occasion to
broaden his offerings, with two ancillary
podcasts — “Chess Books Recaptured!” and
“The Adult Improver Series” — along with a
just-launched Substack featuring a weekly
digest of chess news links. For more on all of
Johnson’s work, visit www.perpetualchesspod.
com and benjohnson.substack.com.
What IM Levy Rozman’s “Gotham City
Podcast” lacks in consistent “drops,” it more
than makes up for with its guest list, which
includes young talents like GM Gukesh
Dommaraju and top dogs like GM Maxime
Vachier-Lagrave. It doesn’t come out every
week, as he seems to focus on streaming, but
be sure to subscribe at your favorite podcast
purveyor so you don’t miss out when it does.
Daniel Lona’s return to chess was doc-
umented in these pages — see our August
2021 issue — and now he’s back in a big way
with his “The Chess Experience” podcast.
Lona features a wide variety of guests, with
chess teachers like FM Nate Solon, content
creators like IM Eric Rosen, and Chess Life
columnists like Bruce Pandolfini. His latest
episode at time of writing is an interview
with IM Carissa Yip. For more on Lona and
his offerings, visit www.adultchessacademy.
com.
“64: A Chess Podcast” is hosted by David
Vizgan, a Fulbright scholar who just spent
a year in Denmark and is now working on a
Ph.D. at the University of Illinois. Vizgan has
also booked an impressive series of guests,
including the likes of GMs Maurice Ashley
and Peter Svidler, Chessable CEO Geert van
der Velde, and chess Twitter gadfly MrDodgy.
“64: A Chess Podcast” is available at your
favorite streaming site, or can be found with
a quick Google search.
Some of the top chess players in the world
are dipping their toes into the “podosphere.”
Magnus Carlsen, for example, launched his
“The Magnus Effect” podcast by announcing
his departure from the World Champion-
ship cycle in its first episode. With just two
episodes released thus far, it remains to be
seen how regularly he will be recording,
but so far, so good.
Perhaps more interestingly, having been
freed from the rigors of eternal Catalan
analysis, Carlsen’s team of seconds — GMs
Laurent Fressinet, Jan Gustafsson, and
Peter Heine Nielsen — have started a no-
holds-barred podcast of their own. “The
Chicken Chess Club” is required listening
for those who want an insider view of the
chess world, and the three personalities
all work together to create a candid and
entertaining show. Visit thechickenchessclub.
captivate.fm to check it out.
The newest player to try his hand at pod-
casting is GM Fabiano Caruana, who has
recently kicked off the “C-Squared Podcast”
with his friend and trainer GM Cristian
Chirila. Also available in video format on
YouTube, the two Cs promise a weekly look
into chess news and events. Their second
installment, a recap of the Sinquefield Cup
and all of the controversy around Carlsen’s
withdrawal from the event, is a must-watch.
Follow the C-Squared Twitter page at twitter.
com/CSQpod to view each episode.
Of course this is just a sample of what’s
out there. Other offerings, like “The Chess
Angle” from the Long Island Chess Club,
Dr. Kevin Scull’s “Chess Journeys,” Martin
B. Justesen’s “The Say Chess Podcast,” Evan
Rabin’s “Premier Chess” podcast, and per-
sonal favorite “ChessFeels” by JJ Lang and
Julia Rios have all found their own follow-
ings, and are worth checking out. Even non-
chess podcasters like Lex Fridman, who just
had GM Magnus Carlsen on his show, are
talking chess — evidence of the popularity
of our game with even casual fans.
Finally: don’t forget about the family of
four podcasts from US Chess! John Hart-
mann’s “Cover Stories with Chess Life” goes
in depth, and behind the scenes, of each
month’s cover story. “One Move at a Time,”
hosted by Dan Lucas, talks to people who are
advancing the US Chess mission statement
across the country. “Ladies Knight,” with
WGM Jennifer Shahade, features people
who are advancing women’s chess. And Pete
Karagianis’ “Chess Underground” explores
the eccentricities, peculiarities, and theo-
retical novelties of the chess world. Find
out more about all of these podcasts at our
website: new.uschess.org/podcasts.
USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 7
US CHESS AFFAIRS News for our Members
2022 Executive Board
Election Results
AFTER OVERSEEING THE COUNTING OF
ballots on July 14 in Smyrna, Georgia, 2022
Election Chief Teller Ben Johnson reported
the final vote tally to the Elections Commit-
tee and the office.
Approximately 100 write-in names ap-
NEW US CHESS EXECUTIVE BOARD
Please visit new.uschess.org/about/board for more information about the Board and its responsibilities.
After the 2022 Delegates Meeting complet-
ed on August 7, 2022, the Executive Board
elected the following officers:
PRESIDENT: Randy Bauer
VICE PRESIDENT: Kevin Pryor
VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE: Chuck Unruh
SECRETARY: Fun Fong
Completing the nine-member board are:
MEMBER-AT-LARGE: John Fernandez
MEMBER-AT-LARGE: David Day
MEMBER-AT-LARGE: David Hater
MEMBER-AT-LARGE: Mike Hoffpauir
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Carol Meyer
8 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG
peared, with none receiving more than With the certification of election results
three votes. at the 2022 US Chess Delegates Meeting
in Rancho Mirage, CA, on August 6, both
VOT E TOTA LS
Hoffpauir and Unruh therefore remain on
Charles D. Unruh: 1252
Michael E. Hoffpauir: 1278 the Executive Board for an additional three-
year term.
Our Board, left to right:
Top: Randy Bauer, David Day,
Kevin Pryor, John C. Fernan-
dez. Bottom: Mike Hoffpauir,
David Hater, Chuck Unruh,
Carol Meyer, and Fun Fong.
A BO U T O U R N EW P R ES I D EN T
Randy Bauer is a Director at Public Finan-
cial Management, Inc. (PFM), a national PHOTO: TKTK CTRL + SHIFT CLICK TO UNLOCK BOX
public sector consulting firm. A Benefac-
tor Life Member of US Chess, Bauer was
a nationally ranked junior player while
growing up in Minnesota. He earned the
national master title in 1989, and has won
state titles in both Minnesota and Iowa.
Bauer has served on the Board of Direc-
tors for both the Minnesota and Iowa State
Chess Associations and has served on the
US Chess Executive Board on four prior
occasions. Prior to joining PFM, Bauer
served as Iowa’s State Budget Director for
nearly seven years.
 STAFF CONTACTS
Do you have questions you need answered? Are you wondering who you should contact about your membership issues, becoming a tour-
nament director, or trying your hand at correspondence chess?
Here is a list of the right staff contacts for nearly any issue, current through September 1. Remember — don’t email everyone if you have a
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USCHESS.ORG
S.ORG OCTOBER 2022
OCTO 9
CHESS TO ENJOY Entertainment
Our Murphy’s Law
Why chess is different from other sports.
BY GM ANDY SOLTIS
B ASEBALL FANS KNOW THE
fall routine: A major league
playoff games ends with a
walk-off home run. TV an-
nouncers rush to get quotes
from the smiling, game-winning batter.
This kind of scenario is a tradition in
sports. Fans want to know what the hero
did right. But chess is uniquely different.
We want to know what the loser did wrong.
SICILIAN DEFENSE, NAJDORF
VARIATION (B94)
IM Abdulla Gadimbayli
GM David Navara
European Individual Championship,
Terme Catez, 04.04.2022
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Qe2 h6 8. Bh4
g6 9. f4 e5 10. fxe5 dxe5 11. O-O-O Qc7
12. Nb3 b5 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Bd6 15.
Qd2 f5 16. g4 f4 17. g5 hxg5 18. Bxg5 Nb6
19. Bd3 Bf5 20. Qe2 Kf7 21. Nd4 Bxd3 22.
Rxd3 Nxd5 23. Nf5! gxf5 24. Rxd5 Rae8
25. Qd3 e4 26. Qb3 Kg7 27. Rg1 Qb6
White mated after 28. Bh6+! Kh7 29. Rc5!!.
This threatened 30. Qf7+ or 30. Qh3.
10 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG
On-line spectators admired how a lit-
tle-known opponent upset an elite GM. The
game ended with the following moves: 29.
... Be5 30. Qh3 Re6 31. Bxf4+ Rh6 32. Qxf5+,
Black resigned.
But as chessplayers we have questions. Some
of us will ask, “How do you find a move like
29. Rc5?”
However, more of us will wonder, “What
did Black do wrong? Wasn’t he better at
some point?”
For example, what if he had played 17.
... h5 instead of 17. ... hxg5? Or 20. ... 0-0 in
place of 20. ... Kf7? And wouldn’t he be OK
after 22. ... Rae8, rather than 22. ... Nxd5?
A chessplayer watching a walk-off homer
in a baseball playoff could have compara-
ble questions: How did the pitcher lose the
game? Why throw a changeup with a count
of 3-and-1? Why not a high inside fastball
or a splitter in the dirt?
Chess is unique because we can analyze a
game in that kind of detail after it’s over. As
a result, we convince ourselves most games
are lost, not won. If we have doubts about
that, computers reinforce it — in living color
— when we watch a game online.
QUEEN’S GAMBIT ACCEPTED,
BY TRANSPOSITION (D27)
GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa
GM Magnus Carlsen
Tata Steel Masters, Wijk aan Zee,
01.22.2022
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 dxc4 4. e3 a6 5.
Bxc4 Nf6 6. O-O c5 7. b3 b6 8. Ba3 Nbd7 9.
d5 exd5 10. Bxd5 Rb8 11. Bb2 Be7 12. Nc3
O-O 13. Qc2 b5 14. Rfd1 Qc7 15. a4 h6 16.
axb5 axb5 17. Qe2 Qb6 18. e4 Re8
If you were following this game at Chessbomb.
com (now part of Chess.com ~ed), contest-
ed between prodigies of two generations,
nothing much seemed to be happening so
far. But White moves soon began to turn
red. That’s the computer way of saying they
were mistakes.
19. Qd2? Bf8 20. Qf4? b4 21. Na4 Nxd5 22.
Rxd5 Qe6 23. Rad1? Ra8
Shouldn’t there be a special color for good
moves? There isn’t. Nevertheless, you might
think Magnus Carlsen did hardly anything
to win but grab hanging material:
24. Qc1 Qxe4 25. h3 Ra7 26. Qd2 Qg6 27.
Nh4 Qe6 28. Nf5 c4 29. Qd4 Nf6 30. Nb6?
c3 31. Nxc8 Qxd5 32. Qxd5 Nxd5 33. Nxa7
cxb2 34. Rb1 Re2, White resigned.
Other games and sports acknowledge mis-
takes. In tennis there are “unforced errors.”
These are distinguished from mistakes made
due to an opponent’s superior skill, such as
an unreturnable serve.
But this distinction doesn’t exist in chess.
You won’t hear a talking head grandmaster
say, “Black blundered because White was
too smart.” Or “…because White chose an
opening that always wins.”
 QUIZ FOR PROBLEM 1 PROBLEM 2 PROBLEM 3
OCTOBER Paul Johner
Heinrich Wolf
Akiba Rubinstein
Jacques Mieses
Ernst Grünfeld
Paul Johner
TODAY IT IS TEPLICE,
nestled just inside the
Czech-German border on the
Czech side. But in a distant time
it was Teplitz-Schönau, a spar-
kling spa of the Austria-Hun-
garian empire. And 100 years
ago this month it was the site of
a grand international tourna-
ment. It was where Ernst Grün-
BLACK TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE
feld introduced his new opening
(1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5!)
and Savielly Tartakower played PROBLEM 4 PROBLEM 5 PROBLEM 6
Karel Treybal Rudolf Spielmann Paul Johner
his greatest game. The tourna-
Rudolf Spielmann Ernst Grünfeld Akiba Rubinstein
ment, won by Richard Réti and
Rudolf Spielmann, provides our
six quiz positions this month.
Try to find the fastest winning
line of play in each diagram. It
will usually mean the forced win
of a decisive amount of materi-
al. Solutions on Page 63.

BLACK TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE BLACK TO MOVE

Why do mistakes happen so often in
chess? The simplest explanation is that so
many legal moves are mistakes.
Take another look at the diagram in the
game between Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen.
White has more than 40 moves to choose
from. But only a few are really good. A few
more are neutral, neither good nor bad,
even 19. Kh1 and 18. Ba8.
How many are downright bad? More
than a dozen lose material. Several others
significantly hurt White’s chances. In other
words, there are more mistakes to make
than non-mistakes.
This was simply put a century ago. To-
wards the back of the tournament book for
Teplitz-Schönau 1922, one of the players,
Savielly Tartakower, composed a chess
“dictionary.” It included some of his trade-
mark epigrams. One was: “Mistakes are
there to be made.” It’s the chess version of
Murphy’s Law.
Few sports fans will dwell on a pitcher’s
blunder. But we find chess mistakes educa-
tional. We try to find the critical point — “the
losing moment,” as Edmar Mednis called it
in his How to Beat Bobby Fischer, a book about
Fischer’s mistakes.
Even a future world champion wants to Play went 12. ... Bxf3 13. gxf3 Nh5 14. Rd1
learn — especially from a former world Qe7 15. f4 g6. White won a long endgame
champion. after 16. f5! exf5 17. e6 N7f6 18. exf7+ Kg7
19. Qxe7 Bxe7 20. Nb5 followed by Nb5-
c7-e6+ or Nb5-d4-e6+.
QUEEN’S INDIAN DEFENSE “Where did I make my mistake?” Anatoly
(E14) Karpov asked when the game ended. Tigran
GM Tigran Petrosian Petrosian wouldn’t say.
GM Anatoly Karpov Today, computers take some of the mys-
Soviet Championship, Moscow, tery out of post-mortems. An engine could
10.12.1973 tell us 12. ... Bxf3? was grossly inferior to
12. ... Nd5!.
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. e3 Bb7 5. The youthful Karpov had become subject
Nc3 Be7 6. Bd3 d5 7. 0-0 0-0 8. Qe2 c5 9. to another of Tartakower’s 100-year-old
dxc5 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Bxc5 11. e4 Nbd7 12. comments:
e5 “A game has three phases: The first, when
one hopes he stands better; The second,
when one believes he stands better; And the
third, when one knows he is going to lose.”
Tartakower didn’t have to add: The differ-
ence among the three are the mistakes that
were there, waiting to be made.
For up-to-date chess news
and information, check out
Chess Life Online at uschess.
org/clo on a regular basis.

USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 11

EVENTS Amateur Team West
The Golden Touch
Bears Results!
UC Berkeley A wins again at the 2022 Amateur Team West.
BY ARMAN AZHAR, DR. SALMAN AZHAR, AND FM KEVIN PAN
E VERY YEAR, ON OR AROUND
Presidents’ Day weekend,
chess players around the
nation gather to compete in
four regional U.S. National Amateur Team
Championships: East, West, North, and
South. The winning teams from each of
the four regions compete for the National
Amateur Team title.
Each team is allowed six players as long
as the average of the top four players’ rat-
ings is under 2200, which is why this event
is classified as Amateur. Exactly four play-
ers play in each round, and the combined
score of the team’s players determines the
outcome of the match. The result is a lot of
fun for everyone involved.
The 2022 U.S. Amateur Team West was
held at the Cupertino Juniper Hotel from
February 19-21, right in the heart of Silicon
Valley and less than a mile from the historic
Apple headquarters. Turnout was strong —
with more than 300 players showing up, this
was (at the time) the best attended Northern
California tournament since the COVID-19
pandemic emerged.
After three days of intense competition,
the UC Berkeley A team won the champi-
onship with a flawless 6-0 score. This was
the second year in a row that Berkeley A
achieved this feat, but what else do you ex-
pect from a school that has produced 100
or so Nobel Prize winners?
Berkeley’s plans to establish a regional
college chess dominance will face contin-
ued challenges from at least three other
universities — Stanford, UC Davis, and UCLA
— that traditionally fielded strong teams.
This year Berkeley and Stanford entered
two teams each, led by IMs Kesav Viswan-
12 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG
adha and Bryce Tiglon along with a host of
masters. UC Davis and UCLA also fielded
strong teams.
5. Ne5 Nc6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. Nxd7
White immediately gets the bishop pair in
exchange for slower development.
The top seed, however, was Mission 360,
a local club whose team of scholastic-age 7. ... Qxd7 8. c3 e6 9. Nd2 Bd6 10. Nf3 h6
players had an average rating of 2198. They 11. 0-0 0-0 12. Ne5
were joined by teams of every stripe and Same square, another knight!
strength, from club teams, all-girls teams,
a family team, and a number of old heads 12. ... Qc7 13. f4 a6 14. Bd3 b5 15. Rf3 b4
who treat this tournament like a reunion.
The first three rounds of the 2022 West
were relatively uneventful, with the top seeds
triumphing over their more modestly rated
competition. And then, with the two- and
three-day schedules merged, it was if some-
one flipped a switch and lit the boards on fire.
Two fourth round matches produced grip-
ping contest: Berkeley A (2173) was paired
with Mission 360 (2198), while Stanford A
(2177) faced off with You Sneeze You Lose
(1931). On board one, Berkeley A’s IM Viswa-
nadha took care of business by beating FM
Eric Li, while Mission 360’s FM Kevin Pan 16. Bc2?
leveled the score by beating Daniel Lin on This is a bit unnecessary. The battery with
board two. Kevin’s brother (on the opposing the c2-bishop and the queen on d3 doesn’t
team!) Christopher Pan drew with Nathaniel come with any direct threats.
Zhang on board three to set up an all-wom- Black is better after 16. Qc2 bxc3 17. bxc3
an duel on the fourth board between Sadia Rab8, while White’s best might be going into
Qureshi and Ashley Pang that would deter- defensive mode with 16. Qe1.
mine the match result.
16. ... Rfc8 17. Kh1 Na7 18. Rg3 Kh8 19.
Qe2 Nb5 20. Bd2 Qe7 21. Be1
CARO-KANN DEFENSE, EX- Here 21. Bg6 is interesting, trying to nudge
CHANGE VARIATION (B13) the rook to an undesirable position, i.e., 21.
Ashley Pang (2038) ... Rf8 22. Bd3.
Saudia Qureshi (1893)
Amateur Team West (4), 02.20.2022 21. ... Rc7 22. Rc1 Rac8 23. Qd3?
Annotations by FM Kevin Pan Tempting, but allowing the knight to come
to the e4-square adds pressure to c3 and,
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 really, the whole of White’s position.
 The UC Berkeley A
Team, surrounded by
the directing team.
23. ... bxc3 24. bxc3 Ne4! 25. Rf3 Nbxc3
26. Qxa6 Bxe5 27. dxe5 Rc6!
White’s queen is running out of moves,
making a sacrifice necessary.
28. Qxc8+
Nothing else helps: if 28. Qa5 Ne2, and if
28. Qd3 Nxa2.
28. ... Rxc8 29. Bxe4 dxe4 30. Rfxc3 Rxc3
31. Rxc3 Qa7 32. a3 Qd4 33. g3 Qd1 34.
Re3 Qc1 35. Re2 f5 36. a4 Qd1 37. Re3
Qxa4 38. Kg2 Qc2+ 39. Bf2 Qa2 40. h4 g5
41. hxg5 hxg5 42. Rc3 Qe2 43. Ra3 Kg7
44. Re3 Qg4, White resigned.
With the infiltration of the queen, White’s
fortress collapses.
An aside: spare a thought for Hui Wang,
the Pan brothers’ mother, after the thick-
skinned computer TD (NTD John McCumis-
key) ripped her heart out by planting her
PHOTO: COURTESY ALIVELU VISWANADHA
two sons on the opposing sides of this war.
“At least they weren’t on the same board,”
said the stoic Wang.
The other fourth round match forebode an
easy win for Stanford A (2177) over You Sneeze
You Lose (1931) but two diminutive Bay Area
chess players, sixth-grader Advay Bansal and
eighth-grader Sricharan Pullela, obstructed the
airways of their opponents’ chess pieces until
their opponents “sneezed” to “lose.” Here is
Bansal’s critical win over WIM Emily Nguyen.
TROMPOWSKY ATTACK (A45)
WIM Emily Nguyen (2348)
Advay Bansal (2019)
Amateur Team West (4), 02.20.2022
Annotations by FM Kevin Pan
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 c5 3. d5 Ne4 4. Bf4 e6 5.
f3 Bd6!
A strong in-between move, freeing the
e4-knight while also trading off the dark
squared bishop.
6. Bxd6 Nxd6 7. e4 b5 8. dxe6 dxe6 9. Nd2
0-0 10. c4?
Weakening the d4-square. Black is for choice
after 10. a4 b4 11. Nc4 Nxc4 12. Qxd8 Rxd8
13. Bxc4.
10. ... b4 11. Nh3 Qc7 12. Be2 Rd8 13. Qc2
Nc6 14. 0-0-0
(see diagram top of next column)
14. ... Nd4! 15. Qd3 e5!
Further solidifying the d4-knight on its
outpost while also freeing the light-squared
bishop.
16. f4 Bxh3 17. gxh3 exf4 18. Bg4 Qe7 19.
Rhf1 Ne8 20. Rf2 Nf6 21. Qb1 Nxg4 22. hxg4
With few good moves, White will soon lose
more material.
22. ... Nc6 23. Qc2 Ne5 24. Rg2 Rd4 25.
Rf1 Rad8 26. Kb1 Qd7 27. Nb3 Rxc4 28.
Qf2 Qd1+!, White resigned.
A brilliant finish by Bansal!
This left You Sneeze You Lose and Berkeley
A as the only two teams with perfect scores
after four rounds. The team from Berkeley
took their meds and played four sneezeless
games to win 3½-½ and take their perfect
record into the final round. There they met
UCDeezDubs (2115) from UC Davis, who had
worked their way into contention with 4½
points after five rounds of play.
The team from Davis needed a clear
match victory over to claim the Champi-
onship, but with wins on boards one, two,
and four, the title went to the Golden Bears
with a perfect six points. Stanford A and
You Sneeze You Lose earned second and
third places, respectively, with five points.
USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 13
EVENTS Amateur Team West
Here’s Viswanadha’s key final round vic-
tory over Derek Wu with his annotations.
RUY LOPEZ, BERLIN
VARIATION (C65)
IM Kesav Viswanadha (2457)
Derek Wu (2301)
Amateur Team West (6), 02.21.2022
Annotations by IM Kesav Viswanadha
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5
5. c3 d5
A relatively rare move in the anti-Berlin.
Black hopes for activity, potentially at the
cost of a pawn.
6. Nxe5 0-0 7. Bxc6
I decided to play it safe and not grab too
many pawns given my lack of development.
The tempting 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. Bxc6 is way
too dangerous. Black can get a significant
initiative with 8. ... Bxf2+! 9. Kxf2 Ng4+ 10.
Ke1 Qf6 and Black gets the material back
while leaving the white king weak.
7. ... bxc6 8. d4 Nxe4?
During the game I thought this was still
theory, and that the bishop was off-limits
because of the uncastled king.
9. 0-0?
White should just grab the bishop: 9. dxc5
Re8 10. Qd4 Qe7 11. Nxc6 Qe6 12. 0-0 Qxc6
13. Be3 leaves White a pawn up with no
obvious compensation for Black.
9. ... Bd6
Having solved all his opening problems,
Black has good attacking prospects with the
two bishops and a development advantage.
10. f3 Bxe5?!
It was not necessary to give up the bishop
pair right away. Instead 10. ... Nc5! keeps
the tension and makes it harder for White
to consolidate.
11. dxe5 Ng5 12. Bxg5 Qxg5 13. f4
Going for a bind on the dark squares. White
is doing pretty well, and Black has to go for
a pawn break (with ... c6-c5 or ... f7-f6) at
the right moment.
13. ... Qf5 14. Nd2 Rb8 15. Nb3 Qg6 16.
Qd4 Rb6 17. Rf2
Now White has an ideal setup, and Black
has very little play.
17. ... Bf5 18. Nc5 h5 19. Re1 Re8 20. b4
Ra8 21. Re3 h4 22. h3 a5 23. Kh2
14 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG
Black can’t infiltrate on the queenside, so Creating several threats. White will get the
White continues to move to attack the king. Exchange back at minimum, and Black’s
center is likely collapsing too.
23. ... Kh7 24. g4 hxg3+ e.p. 25. Rxg3 Qh6
26. Rfg2 g6 27. Kg1 Re8 28. h4 Rbb8 31. ... fxe5 32. fxe5 c5
An interesting defensive try which I missed
over the board. Black attempts to divert the
queen away from d4, which is key to the
success of White’s kingside attack.
33. bxc5 Rb1+ 34. Kh2 Rf1
Now White has to be careful, with a perpet-
ual (or worse) lurking!
35. Nf6+ Kh8 36. Rg5!
The final resource I had to find.
After 36. Nxe8? Rf4! and White has to give
up the queen to avoid getting mated, leading
29. Rg5? to a position that is likely drawn.
I regretted this move almost instantly. Push-
ing 29. h5 right away was much stronger. 36. ... Rd1 37. Qf4 Qxf6 38. exf6 Re2+ 39.
There are too many threats and White is Rg2, Black resigned.
crashing through.
National TD and FIDE National Arbiter (NA)
29. ... f6! Jordan Langland served as the Chief TD. Spe-
I saw this as soon as I released the rook. Black cial Referee and FIDE International Arbiter
strikes back in the center, and White’s king (IA) Thomas Langland and NTD and FIDE
suddenly feels a touch drafty. Fortunately Arbiter John McCumiskey aided as Assistant
there is a resource to maintain my advantage. TDs. BayAreaChess organized the event, with
Senior TD and FIDE NA Dr. Salman Azhar as
30. Rxf5! the Chief Organizer along with help from
The horrible 30. exf6?? allows Black to Zarina Azman and Rahima Azman.
launch a brutal counterattack with 30. ...
Re1+ 31. Kf2 Qxh4+ 32. R5g3 Rbe8 and White For up-to-date chess news
will have to give up significant material to and information, check out
avoid getting mated. Chess Life Online at uschess.
org/clo on a regular basis.
30. ... gxf5 31. Nd7
2022 U.S. AMATEUR TEAM WEST
AT A G L A N C E
F E B RU A RY 1 9 - 2 1 , 2 0 2 2 | C U P E RT I N O , C A L I FO R N I A
TEAM
1ST: UC Berkeley A (IM Kesav Viswanadha, Daniel Lin, Christopher Pan, Sadia
Qureshi, Junior Mejia, Michael Franco), 6/6. 2ND: Stanford A (IM Bryce Tiglon, WIM
Emily Nguyen, Tony Kukavica, Robert Selwyn), 5. 3RD: You Sneeze You Lose (Nitish
Sg Nathan, Advay Bansal, Sricharan Pullela, Adway Sane), 5. U2000: Roasting Chess
Nuts on an Open File, 4½. U1800: Knight’s Fork, 4. U1600: Bishop Falcons, 3½.
U1400: Learning Pawn, 3½. U1200: We are U1200 Team, 3½. U1000: The Learning
Pawn #2, 3. COLLEGE: UC Los Angeles, 4½. K12: Proof School, 3. K6: Treacherous
Devils, 2½. CLUB: Mission 360, 4. FEMALE: The Checkmating Cheetahs, 3.
INDIVIDUAL
BOARD 1: Jack Zhu, 6. BOARD 2: Christopher Wolff, 5½. BOARD 3: Abhishek Handi-
gol, 5½. BOARD 4: Changlin Zeng, 6.
For complete results, visit https://www.bayareachess.com/events/22/usatwe/
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USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 15

EVENTS HEDDERTK
DUMMY Senior Championship
Additional words p9 from rule

PHOTO: TKTK CTRL + SHIFT CLICK TO UNLOCK BOX

16 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG

 Photo Finish for
SHABBA!
GM Alexander Shabalov becomes
the first two-time Senior champ!
BY HAROLD SCOTT

T here are events on the calendar each year that we look forward to. For some, it’s
a holiday or a birthday. For others, maybe it’s a planned vacation.
The U.S. Senior Championship is that kind of event for me.
As a young chess player, I couldn’t wait for the next issue of Chess Life to show
up in my mailbox. All the heroes of my youth appeared in those pages, and while
they have ceded their spots in the sun to today’s superstars, the participants in the U.S.
Senior Championship get a chance to strut their stuff each year. Most of our legends, with
the exception of GM Alexander “Shabba” Shabalov, have receded from active tournament
play. So it is wonderful to see these great heroes of American chess come together and
compete, even if only once a year.
PHOTO: COURTESY SLCC / C. FULLER

The 2022 U.S. Senior Championship, a 10-player round-robin with a $75,000 prize fund,
was once again hosted by the Saint Louis Chess Club from July 6-16. The tournament was
held in a new location: with ongoing club expansion underway, the Junior, Girls’ Junior,
and Senior Championships were all held in what used to be the SubZero Vodka Bar, part of
what will eventually be a vastly expanded footprint for the Saint Louis Chess Club.
After a delightful opening ceremony and drawing of lots on the evening of July 6, play
kicked off with the first round the next day. Immediately the pre-tournament prognostica-
tions were overturned, as top-seed and first-time participant GM Vladimir Akopian slipped
up against GM Igor Novikov.

USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 17

EVENTS Senior Championship
SICILIAN DEFENSE, NAJDORF
VARIATION (B80)
GM Vladimir Akopian (2716)
GM Igor Novikov (2614)
U.S. Senior Championship (1), St.
Louis, 07.07.2022
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6
Novikov has long championed the Najdorf.
6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. g4 h6 10.
0-0-0 b4
Less common. The more popular line is 10.
... Bb7 11. a3 Rc8 12. Kb1 Nb6! 13. h4 Nfd7
14. Qe1 Ne5 15. Bc1 Qc7 as in Ponomariov
– Firat, Riga 2021.
11. Nce2 Qc7 12. h4 d5! 13. Bh3
With this Akopian deviates from 13. Bf4 e5
14. Bh2 dxe4 15. g5 hxg5 16. hxg5 Rxh2 17.
Rxh2 exd4 18. Rh4 Ng4 19. Nxd4?! Nge5 20.
Rxe4 Bb7 21. Ree1 0-0-0 with the initiative in
Akopian – Khalifman, Plovdiv 2012.
13. ... Ne5?
Dubious, allowing the pin. Better was 13. ...
Nb6 14. b3 dxe4 15. g5 Nfd5 16. fxe4 Nxe3
17. Qxe3 hxg5 18. hxg5 g6 as in Karjakin -
Cheparinov, Porto Carras 2011.
14. Bf4 Bd6 15. Bxe5 Bxe5 16. g5 Nh5 17.
exd5 Nf4 18. dxe6 fxe6 19. gxh6 Rxh6 20.
Bg4
20. ... Rb8
Improving on 20. ... a5? 21. Kb1 Ba6 22. Nxf4
Bxf4 23. Qe1 e5 24. Ne6 and Black resigned in
Kevlishvili – Van Oosterom, Haarlem 2014.
21. Kb1 Rb6 22. Nxf4 Bxf4 23. Qd3 Kf7 24.
h5 Rf6 25. Rhe1?!
Akopian begins to lose the thread. White
maintains a serious advantage with 25. h6!
Bxh6 26. Qh7.
25. ... Rd6 26. Qe2?! Bg3 27. Rg1 Bf4 28.
Nb3 Bb7 29. Rxd6 Qxd6 30. Rd1 Bd5
18 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG
Black has the bishop pair as compensation for
the pawn. That compensation grows after...
31. Nd4?!
Better was 31. Nd2 Qc6 32. Ne4.
31. ... Qb6 32. Qd3 a5 33. a4 bxa3 e.p. 34.
Qxa3 Qb4! 35. Qd3
Black has full compensation after 35. Qxb4
axb4 36. Re1 Bd6.
35. ... Be5 36. Qe3 Bf4 37. Qe2 a4 38. Qa6 e5?
Clearing the c8-h3 diagonal was danger-
ous for Black, but he was not punished for
this sin.
39. Qa7+ Kg8
40. Nf5?
Here White missed 40. Qd7! which should
win, i.e., 40. ... Qd6 41. Qc8+ Qf8 42. Qxf8+
Kxf8 43. Nb5 Bc6 44. Nc3 and the extra pawn
should tell.
40. ... Rf7 41. Qf2??
Now Black cashes in. 41. Qa6 holds things
together, preventing the ... a4-a3 dagger.
41. ... a3! 42. c3 Qb3 43. Rxd5 Qxd5 44.
Qc2 axb2 45. Nh4 Ra7 46. c4 Ra1+, White
resigned.
Another interesting first round battle oc-
curred between 2020 champion GM Joel
Benjamin and the 2019 winner, Alex Shaba-
lov. I had the opportunity to witness the
post-mortem firsthand, and it was enlight-
ening to learn what each player saw during
the game. But it turns out that they both
missed a shot for Joel. See if you can find
what the players overlooked.
SICILIAN DEFENSE, O’KELLY
VARIATION (B28)
GM Joel Benjamin (2561)
GM Alexander Shabalov (2593)
U.S. Senior Championship (1), St.
Louis, 07.07.2022
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 a6 3. c3 e6 4. d4 d5 5. e5
Bd7 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. 0-0 cxd4 8. cxd4 Qb6 9.
Nbd2 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 Qxd4 11. Nf3 Qa4 12.
Bc2 Qa5 13. Bd2 Bb4 14. Be3 Bc5 15. Bd2
Qd8 16. Ng5 Be7 17. h4 Bb5 18. Re1 Qd7
19. Rc1?!
Decent enough, but Joel missed a terrific op-
portunity here. White wins by force with 19.
Nxf7! Kxf7 20. Qh5+ Kf8 (20. ... g6?! 21. Bxg6+
hxg6 22. Qxh8 is crushing) 21. Re3 Rc8 22.
Rf3+ Nf6 and now a ‘slow’ move like 23. Rc1
turns the screws. Black can’t escape the pin.
19. ... Bd8 20. Qg4?! h5 21. Qf3 g6 22. Bb4
Nh6 23. Bd6 Bc6 24. Qf4 Be7 25. Bd3 Nf5
26. Bxf5 gxf5 27. Re3 Rg8 28. Rg3? Bxd6
29. exd6 0-0-0! 30. Qd4 Kb8 31. Rgc3 Rc8
32. Qf6? Rgf8 33. Nh7 Rfd8 34. Ng5 Rf8
35. Nh7 Rfd8 36. Ng5, draw.
GM Larry Christiansen joined Novikov at
the head of the leaderboard after two rounds
with this win over IM Igor Khmelnitsky.
TECHNIQUE
IM Igor Khmelnitsky (2482)
GM Larry Christiansen (2649)
U.S. Senior Championship (2), St.
Louis, 07.08.2022
(see diagram top of next column)
The engine gives Black a decent advantage,
but the two bishops are nothing to mess

BLACK TO MOVE
with. How does Larry proceed?
29. ... Ne7!
Rerouting the knight to help guard the im-
portant f5-square.
30. Bc5
White should have barged through anyway
with 30. f5! Bxf5 (30. ... Nxf5 31. h3 is unclear)
31. Bc5 b5 32. Bxf7+ Kxf7 33. Bxe7 Rxe7 34.
Qxf5+ Qxf5 35. Rxf5+ Rf6 36. Rc5 Rf2 37. a4
bxa4 38. bxa4 Re6 with a slight edge for Black.
30. ... b5! 31. Rxe4?
The game is still probably holdable after 31.
Bxe7 bxc4 32. Bc5 cxb3 33. axb3 Bd7.
31. ... bxc4 32. Rxe7 Rxe7 33. Bxe7 Qb7
34. Bh4 Bf5 35. Bg3?
Too passive. Igor needed to be more active
to try for counterplay. Better is 35. Re1 cxb3
36. axb3 Qxb3 37. h3 a5 although Black is
still in control.
PHOTO: COURTESY SLCC / OOTES
35. ... cxb3 36. axb3 Qxb3 37. Qc5 Qc2 38.
Qf2 Qxc3 39. Re1 Kh7 40. Re5 Rd6 41. h3
Rd2 42. Qe3
42. ... Rd3?
A mistake that could have kept White afloat.
Correct was 42. ... Qc2! 43. Rc5 Rd1+ 44.
Kh2 Qb1 45. Bf2 Be4 and White cannot re-
sist for long.
43. Qc5?
Igor misses his opportunity and from
here on in Larry doesn’t give him a second
chance. White had to try 43. Be1! Qc8 44.
Qf2 although Black is still for choice after
44. ... Bxh3 45. gxh3 Qxh3+ 46. Kg1 Qg4+
47. Qg2 Qxf4.
43. ... Qxc5 44. Rxc5 Bxh3! 45. Bf2 Bd7 46.
Kh2 Kg6 47. Be1 f6 48. Rc3 Rd1 49. Rg3+
Kf7 50. Re3 Be6 51. Bc3 Rc1 52. Bd2 Ra1
53. Rc3 Ra2 54. Rc7+ Kg8 55. Bc3 Bd5 56.
Rd7 Rxg2+ 57. Kh3 Be6+ 58. Kxg2 Bxd7
59. Kf3 Kf7 60. Bb4 g5, White resigned.
The top of the scoretable got a little more
crowded as GM Max Dlugy downed Khmel-
nitsky in round three.
LONDON OPENING (D00)
GM Maxim Dlugy (2607)
IM Igor Khmelnitsky (2482)
U.S. Senior Championship (3), St.
Louis, 07.09.2022
1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 c5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e4 dxe4 5.
dxc5 Bg4?
A novelty on move five! Unfortunately for
Igor, it’s not a good one. 5. ... Qa5 and 5. ...
Bd7 have been played most in this relatively
fresh position.
6. Qxd8+ Kxd8 7. h3
Even better is 7. f3! exf3 8. 0-0-0+ Kc8 9.
Nxf3 Nc6 10. Be2, with a substantial plus
for White.
7. ... Bd7 8. 0-0-0 Nc6?!
Already struggling, this compounds Black’s
problems. Instead something like 8. ... e6 9.
Nge2 Bxc5 10. Ng3 Be7 (10. ... Bxf2? 11. Ngxe4
Nxe4 12. Nxe4) 11. Ngxe4 Nxe4 12. Nxe4 Ke8
13. Nd6+ Bxd6 14. Bxd6 was a must.
9. g4! h6 10. Bg2 e5 11. Be3 Rc8 12. Nxe4
Nxe4 13. Bxe4 Kc7 14. Nf3 g6 15. Rhe1 Bg7
Bottom: The “fantastic five” in the playoff:
Shabalov, Dlugy, Christiansen, Gurevich, and
Akopian.
USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 19
EVENTS Senior Championship

26. Bxg5
Gurevich breaks through by tactical means,
but because Black is so tied up, he could go
into python mode with something like 26.
c5! Kg8 27. a4 Kf8 (27. ... Qc7 28. c6!, or 27. ...
Nf8 28. Bxg5) 28. a5 Ke8 29. c6 bxc6 30. Bxc6.

26. ... Qxg5 27. Rxd7 Bxd7 28. Qxb8+

16. Bd2!
Putting the bishop on a better diagonal is
surprisingly strong.
16. ... Rce8 17. Bc3 Nd4 18. Nxd4 exd4 19.
Bxd4 Bxd4 20. Rxd4 Bc8
White wins after 20. ... f5 21. Red1 or 20. ...
Bxg4 21. hxg4 f5 22. Kd2 Rxe4 23. Rexe4 fxe4
24. Rxe4 h5 25. Ke2.
21. Kd2 h5 22. Bf3 Rxe1 23. Kxe1 hxg4 24.
hxg4 g5 25. Re4 Be6 26. Re5 Re8 27. Bd5
Bd7 28. Rxe8 Bxe8 29. f3 f6 30. Kd2 Bd7
31. Be4 Be6 32. Kc3 Bf7 33. a4 Be6 34. a5
Bf7 35. Kd4 Be6 36. b4 a6 37. c4 Bd7 38.
Kd5, Black resigned.
The fourth round turned out to be a bloody
affair, with four of the five encounters being
decisive. Shabalov got back to an even score
with a win over GM Nick de Firmian. Khmel-
nitsky nabbed his first win of the tourna-
ment with a victory over Benjamin. GM Dmi-
try Gurevich jumped into sole possession of
second place with a win over Novikov, and
in a battle of two of the leaders, Christian-
sen’s rampaging a-pawn was enough to win
a queen ending against Dlugy.
TACTICS AND TARGETS
GM Dmitry Gurevich (2429)
GM Igor Novikov (2614)
U.S. Senior Championship (4), St.
Louis, 07.10.2022
WHITE TO MOVE
Ke7 29. Qc7 Qc1+ 30. Kg2 Qxa3 31. c5!
Qa4 32. Bxb7 Ke8 33. Bf3 Bb5 34. Qb8+
Ke7 35. Qd6+ Kf6 36. c6 Qc4 37. Kh2 Qd3
38. Qf4+! Ke7 39. Qg5+ Kf8 40. c7, Black
resigned.
With four rounds in the books, Christiansen
— the oldest player in the field! — was alone
at the top of the table with three points.
Gurevich, the second oldest player by just a
couple of months, was alone in second place
with 2½/4. Both players drew their games
in round five, and with Akopian and Dlugy
taking full points against Khmelnitsky and
de Firmain respectively, there was a three-
way tie for second at 3/5, a half-point behind
“Larry C” at the top.
The rest day reinvigorated the Seniors,
and three games were decided decisively
in round six. Dlugy beat Benjamin, while
Gurevich took down de Firmian and Shaba-
lov ground down last year’s winner, GM
Gregory Kaidanov. As Christiansen drew,
this created another three-way tie for first
place between Christiansen, Dlugy, and
Gurevich.
QUEEN’S GAMBIT, RAGOZIN
VARIATION (D38)
GM Maxim Dlugy (2607)
GM Joel Benjamin (2561)
U.S. Senior Championship (6), St.
Louis, 07.13.2022
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5.
Qa4+ Nc6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8. cxd5
exd5 9. e3 0-0 10. Be2 Qg6 11. 0-0 Bh3 12.
Ne1 Bxc3 13. bxc3 Rfd8 14. c4 dxc4 15.
Qxc4 Be6 16. Qb5 Bd5 17. Bf3!
Now that White has consolidated his posi-
tion, Black is going to have a difficult time
against the pressure White is going to exert
on Black’s queenside.
17. ... Qd6 18. Rc1
Less precise would be 18. Bxd5 Qxd5 and
if 19. Qxb7 Nxd4! equalizes, in light of 20.
Qxc7? Rd7.
18. ... a6 19. Qb1 Bxf3 20. Nxf3 Na5?! 21.
Rc3 b5 22. Nd2 c6 23. Rfc1 Qe6 24. Qb2
Rd6 25. h3 Qd7 26. Qc2 Rg6?!
Just a bit too cute.
27. Nf3! Qd5
The idea is that 27. ... Qxh3? fails to 28. Qxg6.
28. Rc5! Qe6 29. Ne5 Rg5 30. h4 Rf5 31. e4
Rf6 32. Nxc6 Nc4 33. Ne5 Nxe5 34. Rxe5
Qg4 35. h5?! Rd8 36. Qd2 Re6 37. f3 Qg3
38. Rec5 Red6 39. d5 Qe5 40. g4?!
Giving Benjamin some hope.
40. ... Qg3+ 41. Qg2 Qf4 42. Rc6 b4 43.
Qe2 Rxc6 44. Rxc6 Qg3+ 45. Kf1 a5 46. Qf2
Qf4 47. Kg2 a4 48. Rc2 b3 49. axb3 axb3
50. Rb2
50. ... Rb8?
Here Joel missed one last chance to stay in
the game with 50. ... f5! 51. gxf5 (51. Qb6 Rb8
52. Qe6+ Kh8 53. exf5 Qd4 with compensation
for the pawns) 51. ... Qg5+ 52. Qg3 Qc1 53.
Qe5 Rc8 and Black’s activity balances the
material disadvantage. The game continu-
ation is human but flawed.
51. Qg3! g5 52. Qxf4 gxf4 53. Kf2 Kg7
54. Ke2 Kf6 55. Kd3 Ke5 56. Kc4 Rc8+
57. Kxb3 Rc1 58. Rd2 Kd6 59. e5+! Kxe5
60. d6 Rc8 61. d7 Rd8 62. Kc4, Black
resigned.
Christiansen took a step forward in round
seven, notching a win in a bishop versus
knight ending against Novikov. Dlugy fell
to Akopian, who was creeping up the table
with each round. And Gurevich lost to
Kaidanov.

20 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG

QUEEN’S GAMBIT DECLINED,
EXCHANGE VARIATION (D37)
GM Igor Novikov (2614)
GM Larry Christiansen (2649)
U.S. Senior Championship (7), St.
Louis, 07.14.2022
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 a6 5.
cxd5
With this, White is looking for a version of
the Queen’s Gambit Declined, Exchange
Variation, where the move 4. ... a6 is less
pertinent.
5. ... exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 Nbd7 8. Bd3
Bd6
In the 2020 Seniors, Christiansen played 8. ...
Be7 against Novikov and the game ended in a
draw after 34 moves. 8. ... Bd6 is much more
popular, and has been played by Carlsen in
wins over Grischuk and Riazantsev.
9. 0-0 0-0 10. Qc2 h6 11. Bh4 Re8 12. a3 c5
13. dxc5 Nxc5 14. b4 Ncd7 15. Rad1 Rc8
16. Qb2 Qc7 17. Rc1
It seems White has wasted a tempo by not
posting the a1-rook to c1 in the first place.
17. ... Qb8 18. Bg3 Bxg3 19. hxg3 Ne5 20.
Be2 Nc4 21. Bxc4 dxc4 22. Rfd1 Bf5 23.
Rd4
Perhaps more reasonable is 23. b5 Qc7 24.
Rd4 Red8 25. bxa6 bxa6 26. Qd2 although
Black still holds a tiny edge.
23. ... Red8 24. Rcd1 Bd3 25. Ne1?! Rxd4
26. exd4 Bf5 27. Qe2 Qd6 28. Qe5 Qd7?!
29. d5 Re8 30. Qd4 b5 31. Nf3 Qd6?!
The position after 31. ... Bg4 32. d6 h5 is
tough to understand. Call it unclear.
32. Qc5! Rd8 33. Qxd6
Impatient. White has real hopes for an ad-
vantage after 33. Nd4! Bg4 34. Qxd6 Rxd6 35.
f3 Bc8 36. g4 g6 37. Nc2.
33. ... Rxd6 34. Rd4 Bc8 35. a4 bxa4 36.
Ne5? a3! 37. Nxc4 a2 38. Nxa2 Rxd5 39.
Rxd5 Nxd5 40. Nd6 Bd7 41. Ne4 Kf8 42.
Nec3 Nxc3 43. Nxc3 Ke7 44. f3 Kd6 45. Kf2
Ke5 46. Ke3 h5!
(see diagram top of next column)
The engine sees this as dead equal, but I
think that Black has real practical chances
to convert this ending. Black has more space
and, with pawns on both sides of the board,
the bishop is swifter. (Joel Benjamin also
analyzes this ending in his column. ~ed.)
47. Kd3 Bb5+ 48. Ke3
Exchanging bishop for knight would result
in a losing pawn ending after 48. Nxb5? axb5
49. Ke3 f5 50. f4+ Kd5.
48. ... Bf1 49. f4+?
White missed a giant opportunity to equal-
ize after the pawn sacrifice: 49. g4! hxg4 50.
f4+! Kf5 51. g3.
49. ... Kf5 50. Kf2 Bb5 51. Kf3 Bc6+ 52.
Ke3 f6 53. Kf2 g5 54. fxg5 fxg5 55. Ke3
Ke5 56. Nd1 Bxg2 57. Nf2 Kd5
Another winning path is found with 57. ... h4
58. gxh4 gxh4 59. Kd3 and (a) 59. ... Kd5! 60.
Kc3 Bf1 wins, while (b) 59. ... h3? 60. Nxh3
Bxh3 61. Kc3 is equal. Larry is well aware
that pushing the h-pawn and allowing the
knight sac is only good for a draw. The bish-
op is the wrong color, as it does not control
the queening square on a1.
58. Kd3 Bf1+ 59. Kc3 Ke5 60. Kd2 Kd4 61.
Ke1 Bg2 62. Kd2 Kc4 63. Nd3 Bf1 64. Ne5+
Kxb4 65. g4 h4 66. Ke1 Bh3 67. Nf3 a5 68.
Nxg5 Bxg4 69. Kd2 Kc4, White resigned.
It seemed as if we were getting a bit of clarity
as to our future champion with two rounds
to ply. Was it going to come down to Chris-
tiansen and Akopian? The latter, in his first
U.S. Senior after transferring his FIDE regis-
tration from Armenia in 2021, was certainly
one of the pre-tournament favorites, having
been ranked as high as 11th in the world
and the top seed here. His relative youth at
age 50 was also a factor. Could Larry, still
searching for his first Senior title, finally
break through?
If it was clarity we were after, we were
to be disappointed. Christiansen lost to
Shabalov. Akopian drew with Benajmin.
Dlugy beat Novikov, and Gurevich downed
Khmelnitsky. This left a highly improba-
ble five-way tie for first going into the last
round, with Akopian, Christiansen, Dlugy,
Shabalov, and Gurevich all sharing first
with 5/8, and the looming prospect of a
multi-player rapid playoff.
QUEEN’S GAMBIT DECLINED,
SEMI-TARRASCH (D41)
GM Larry Christiansen (2649)
GM Alexander Shabalov (2593)
U.S. Senior Championship (8), St.
Louis, 07.15.2022
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. e3 cxd4 5.
exd4 d5 6. Nc3 Be7 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Bc4
Nxc3 9. bxc3 0-0 10. 0-0 Nc6 11. Bd3 b6
12. Qc2 g6 13. Bh6 Re8
14. h4
Larry has some familiarity with this posi-
tion, although it has been nearly 40 years!
Known from his games is 14. Rfe1 Bb7 15.
Qd2 Rc8 16. Rad1 Bd6 17. Ng5 Na5 18. Bb5
Re7 19. d5! and while White has serious
initiative here, he eventually lost in Chris-
tiansen – Fedorowicz, Berkeley 1984.
14. ... Bb7
The tactical justification of 14. h4 lies behind
14. ... Bxh4? 15. Bb5 Bb7 16. Qe4.
15. h5 Bf8 16. Qd2 Ne7 17. Bxf8 Rxf8 18.
Ng5 Nf5 19. Rfe1 Rc8 20. Rac1 h6! 21. Nh3
g5! 22. Re5 Ng7 23. Bc2 Bd5 24. Qd3 f5
25. Bb3 Rc7 26. c4 Bb7?
Black could make use of the pin with 26.
... b5! 27. c5 Bxb3 28. axb3 Rd7 29. Rd1 Rd5
with an unclear position.
27. Rce1 Rf6 28. f3?
There was an interesting breakthrough
available with 28. d5! exd5 29. cxd5 Rd6 30.
f4 g4 31. Nf2 and the knight snakes to g3 via
the h1-square!
28. ... Rd7 29. d5 b5 30. Qe3 exd5 31. cxd5
Qb6 32. Qxb6 Rxb6 33. Nf2 Kf8 34. g4 a5
35. a3 Rbd6 36. Rd1 Re7 37. Nd3 a4 38.
Ba2 Rxe5 39. Nxe5 fxg4 40. fxg4
(see diagram next page)
Now a move 40 blunder almost costs Shaba-
lov, but both sides trade mistakes.
USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 21
EVENTS Senior Championship

The final error. White could have held with the 2022 U.S. Senior Champion, as well as
44. Ne5! Bxd5 45. Bxd5 Rxd5 46. Nf7+ Kc7 who would take home the $20,000 top prize.
47. Nxh6 Rd4.

44. ... Nxg4 45. Re2 Rd7 46. Ng8 Rc7 47. ENGLISH OPENING, SYMMET-
Rb2 Bc8 48. Bb1 Rg7 49. Nxh6 Nxh6 50. RICAL VARIATON (A33)
Rxb5 Rb7 51. Rxb7 Bxb7 52. Bc2 Bxd5 53. GM Larry Christiansen (2632)
Bxa4 Bf3 54. Kf2 Bxh5 55. Ke3 Ke7 56. Ke4 GM Alexander Shabalov (2574)
Be8 57. Bd1 Kd6 58. a4 Bc6+ 59. Kd4 Nf5+ U.S. Senior Rapid Playoff (5), St.
60. Kd3 Ke5 61. a5 Bb5+ 62. Kc3 Ne3 63. Louis, 07.16.2022
Kb4 Ba6, White resigned.
1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
40. ... Ne8? The pairings for the ninth and final round 5. Nc3 e6 6. g3 Bc5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bg2 0-0
The position is equal but complex after 40. were fortuitous, with four of the leaders 9. 0-0 b6 10. e4 Ba6 11. Nd2 Rc8
... Ke7 41. Ng6+ Kd7. facing off: Shabalov had White versus Dlugy,
Gurevich faced off with Christiansen, and
41. Rf1+? Akopian played White against de Firmian.
With 41. Ng6+! Kf7 42. Re1! White is dom- Just one decisive game among these three
inating. would produce a winner.
No such “luck!” Only Benjamin managed
41. ... Nf6 42. Ng6+? to win against Novikov, leaving the fantastic
Too late! White keeps the balance with 42. five tied for first place after nine rounds,
Nd7+ Ke7 43. Nxf6 Rxf6 44. d6+! Rxd6 45. and forcing a five-way rapid playoff for all
Rf7+ Kd8 46. Rxb7 Rd1+ 47. Kg2 Rd2+. the marbles. With a time control of G/10;d2,
and with the switch from classical to rapid
42. ... Ke8? time controls, it was anyone’s guess as to
Another one! Black is winning after 42. ... who would win.
Kf7! 43. Ne5+ Ke8. Christiansen and Shabalov raced from the 12. Re1? Ne5! 13. b3 Bb4?!
gates, each scoring 2½/3. Their matchup in Black would have serious initiative after 13.
43. Re1+ Kd8 44. Ne7? the fifth and final round would determine ... Nfg4! 14. Nf1 Bb4 15. Bd2 Qf6!.

PHOTO: TKTK CTRL + SHIFT CLICK TO UNLOCK BOX

The dramatic aftermath of

the playoff game between
Christiansen and Shabalov.

22 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG

 14. Qc2 b5! 15. a3 Be7?! 16. Nf3 Nxf3+ 17.
Bxf3 bxc4 18. b4 Bb7 19. Bf4 d6 20. Rad1
Qb6 21. Be3 Qa6 22. a4 Nd7 23. b5?! Qa5
24. Bd2 Ne5 25. Be2 Qc7 26. Be3 Ba8 27.
Bf4 f5! 28. Bxe5 dxe5 29. Bf1 f4 30. Bh3
Rf6 31. f3 fxg3 32. hxg3 Rcf8 33. Rf1 Rg6
34. Kg2 Bh4?! 35. Ne2 Bg5 36. Bg4 h6
2022 U.S. Senior
Championship (playoff)
ST. LOUIS, JULY 16, 2022
1 GM Alexander Shabalov
2 GM Larry Christiansen
3 GM Vladimir Akopian
4 GM Dmitry Gurevich
5 GM Maxim Dlugy
37. a5? White’s last chance was 51. gxh4 gxh4 52.
Missing the opportunity to relocate the rook Bh3 with a complete mess.
to a more effective place with 37. Rd3! Rc8
38. Rc3. From the c3-square, the rook de- 51. ... hxg3+ 52. Kxg3 Rf4 53. Qe3 Rb8 54.
fends f3 and put pressure on the c4-pawn. Rb1 c3 55. Qd3+ Kg7 56. Rh1 Rf5 57. Rc1
Qa4 58. Qxc3 Qh4, mate.
37. ... Be3 38. Qc3 Qc5 39. Bh3 Rgf6 40.
Bg4 g6! 41. Kh2 h5 42. Bh3 Kg7?! And so congratulations are in order for Alex
Black is absolutely crushing after 42. ... Rxf3 Shabalov, our new and two-time champ.
43. Rxf3 Rxf3 44. Bxe6+ Kh7 45. Qxc4 Qxc4 Christiansen ends up as runner-up for the
46. Bxc4 Bxe4. second year in a row, a bittersweet result
that will surely be eased with his $9,000
43. Bg2 g5 44. Rd7+ Kg6 45. b6 axb6 46. prize for shared second place along with
axb6 Bc6 47. Rc7 Bd4! 48. Rxc6 Qxc6 49. Akopian, Dlugy, and Gurevich.
Nxd4 exd4 50. Qxd4 h4? Thank you to the staff of the Saint Louis
Here 50. ... e5 wins the b6-pawn after 51. Chess Club for running such a first-rate
Qxe5 Qxb6. event. As a spectator, both on-site and
through their YouTube streams, it’s fan-
51. e5? tastic to get to see some of the legends of
American chess in action. Their games show
that they still have a lot of fight in them, and
I’m already looking forward to next year’s
Championship!
For complete, round-by-
round analysis of the 2022
U.S. Junior, Girls’ Junior,
1 2 3 4 5 and Senior Championships,
2574 * 1 ½ 1 1 3½/4 including more annotated
games, visit our extensive
2632 0 * 1 ½ 1 2½/4
online coverage at Chess
2686 ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1½/4
Life Online: new.uschess.
2386 0 ½ ½ * ½ 1½/4 org/2022-us-senior-and-
2633 0 0 ½ ½ * 1/4 junior-championships

2022 U.S. Senior Championship

ST. LOUIS, JULY 6-16, 2022
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 GM Vladimir Akopian 2716 * 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 5½/9
2 GM Alexander Shabalov 2593 0 * 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 5½/9
3 GM Larry Christiansen 2649 ½ 0 * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 5½/9
4 GM Dmitry Gurevich 2429 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 5½/9
5 GM Maxim Dlugy 2607 0 ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 1 1 1 5½/9
PHOTO: COURTESY SLCC / OOTES

6 GM Gregory Kaidanov 2623 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 5/9

7 GM Joel Benjamin 2561 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * 1 0 1 4½/9
8 GM Igor Novikov 2614 1 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 * ½ ½ 3/9
9 IM Igor Khmelnitsky 2482 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ * ½ 3/9
10 GM Nick De Firmian 2575 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ * 2/9

USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 23

1972 Fischer/Spassky: The Match, Its Origin, and Influence celebrates the 50th anniversa-
ry of the American Robert "Bobby" Fischer's historic win over the Russian Boris Spassky in the
legendary 1972 World Chess Championship, ending 24 years of Soviet dominance in the
sport. Artifacts in the expansive, three-floor show include chess pieces used in pivotal game
three of the "Match of the Century," a replica of the tournament table created by the makers
of the original and never-before-exhibited books from the personal library of Bobby Fischer.

On view August 18, 2022 through April 30, 2023

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(314) 367-WCHF (9243) | @WorldChessHOF | #72FischerSpassky
 Exhibitions Family Activities Classes & Lectures Casual Chess Play

Visit saintlouischessclub.org and worldchesshof.org for more info about our virtual & in-person offerings. Like, Share, Subscribe:
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DC…TX\
COVER STORY
DUMMY HEDDERTK
GIRLS’ JUNIOR
Additional
CHAMPIONSHIP
words p9 from rule

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26 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG

 One Last
CHANCE
T HE 2022 U.S. GIRLS’ JUNIOR
Championship is always an event
to watch. With more than $20,000
in prizes, and a $10,000 scholar-
ship for the winner courtesy of the
Dewain Barber Foundation and US Chess,
there’s always going to be surprises and
entertainment. With a field of ten hungry
WGM Jennifer Yu juniors, this year lived up to expectations.
At age 20, this was my last opportunity to
tells us how she play in the Girls’ Junior, and I felt like the
grizzled veteran in the field. This year’s tour-
finally won the nament also presented a unique challenge
— while I’ve been one of the favorites every
U.S. Girls’ Junior year, and I’ve won the overall U.S. Women’s
Championship, I’ve never managed to take
Championship in this title home. Often the Girls’ Junior has
been one of my worst tournaments of the
her last year of year, due to poor form and the unpredict-
ability of junior chess. This was my last shot,
eligibility. so I was eager to make it count.
Coming into the event, the usual suspects
BY WGM JENNIFER YU were definitely the favorites: FMs Thalia
Cervantes Landeiro, Alice Lee, Rochelle Wu,
Ruiyang Yan, and your author. As it turned
out, however, most of the tournament con-
sisted of this pack chasing darkhorse WFM
PHOTO: COURTESY SLCC / C. FULLER

Sophie Morris-Suzuki.
I started the tournament slowly, drawing
my first two games against two of the top
players, Alice Lee and Thalia Cervantes
Landeiro, despite being better in both of
them. I wasn’t happy about dropping half-
points early, but I didn’t think much of it —
the early leaders usually slow down as the
tournament goes on.

USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 27

COVER STORY GIRLS’ JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
As it turned out, this was a mistake.
Morris-Suzuki upset Rochelle Wu in round
two, grabbing the sole lead at 2/2 and setting
the tone for the rest of the event.
KING’S INDIAN DEFENSE,
SÄMISCH VARIATION (E81)
FM Rochelle Wu (2292)
WFM Sophie Morris-Suzuki (2245)
U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship (2), St.
Louis, 07.08.2022
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nc3
0-0 6. Be3 c5 7. Nge2 Nc6 8. d5 Ne5 9. Ng3
h5 10. Be2 h4 11. Nf1 e6
FM Rochelle Wu
WFM Gracy
Prasanna
12. a4
Leaving theory. Perhaps this temporarily
prevents the common ... b7-b5 idea, but
as seen in the game, Black was still able to
get the pawn push, opening the a-file and
attacking White’s weaknesses on the b-file.
Here 12. Nd2, 12. Bg5, and 12. f4 have all
been tried for White, each with around 200
games in the database.
12. ... exd5 13. cxd5
Attempting to keep the hole on d5 is futile:
13. Nxd5?! Nxd5 14. cxd5 (worse is 14. Qxd5?
WFM Sophie Be6 15. Qd2 when the c4-pawn is hanging
Morris-Suzuki and White’s pieces are passive) 14. ... f5!
The knight exchange frees black’s f-pawn,
allowing this push with devastating effects.
After 15. Nd2 h3 16. g4 f4 17. Bf2 Black’s
pieces dominate the position and White
will have to resort to a miserable defense
for the rest of the game.
13. ... h3
A clever idea, inserting a pawn on the third
rank to inconvenience White’s piece activity
and create threats on the king. But it gives
Wu a chance to create active counterplay.
14. g3?!
The multi-purpose 14. g4! cuts off the h3-
pawn from Black’s other pieces and prepares
to gain more space. This will allow White to
28 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG
grab the initiative and kick the knights from
their active squares. And unlike the game,
the white knight now has access to the g3-
square, i.e., 14. ... Re8 15. Ng3 preparing to
castle with a comfortable position.
14. ... a6
Preparing ... b7-b5.
15. Nd2 Bd7 16. 0-0
The common pawn push 16. a5 (to stop ...
b7-b5 with en passant) isn’t favorable in this
position. Black can play 16. ... b5! anyway.
After 17. axb6 e.p. Qxb6 the opening of
the queenside allows Black easy play. The
weak b2-pawn is a target, and Black always
has the opportunity to open the a-file and
gain a nice queenside pawn majority with
... Bd7-b5, where White will be practically
forced to trade.
16. ... b5 17. axb5
Keeping the queenside closed with 17. b3
slows down Black’s play.
17. ... axb5 18. Rxa8?!
This exchange attempts to prevent ... Qd8-b6
after Nc3xb5 by deflecting the black queen,
but it allows Black to gain control of the
crucial a- and b-files.
Instead 18. Nxb5 has to be tried. After
18. ... Qb6 19. Nc3 Qxb2 20. Qc1 Qb4 Black
has an obvious positional advantage due to
PHOTOS: COURTESY SLCC / B. ADAMS (WU), SLCC . C. FULLER (PRASANNA), SLCC / OOTES (MORRIS-SUZUKI)
her active pieces, but it’s not so clear how
to continue.
18. ... Qxa8 19. Nxb5 Bxb5 20. Bxb5 Rb8
21. Be2 Rxb2
Black is in complete control of the position
and Morris-Suzuki flawlessly converts her
positional advantage to a material one. This
is facilitated by the h3-pawn that has become
quite a thorn in White’s side.
22. f4 Qa3! 23. Bf2 Qb4
An amazing line is 23. ... Rxd2! 24. Qxd2 Qf3!
25. Bxf3 Nxf3+ 26. Kh1 Nxd2 and Black is
winning all of White’s central pawns.
24. Be1 Nd3 25. Bxd3 Qd4+ 26. Rf2 Qxd3
White has no moves.
27. Qf3 Qxf3 28. Rxf3 Ng4
Even with the queen trade the white king
is too weak!
29. e5 dxe5 30. d6 e4! 31. d7 Bd4+! 32.
Bf2 Bf6, White resigned.
Morris-Suzuki continued her hot streak,
winning the next two games to get to 4/4. I
also began to heat up, and after four rounds,
I was a point behind her at 3/4 along with
Cervantes Landeiro. But this lead was pre-
carious — already in round four it looked for
a moment like WFM Gracy Prasanna might
slow Morris-Suzuki down.
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
WFM Sophie Morris-Suzuki (2245)
WFM Gracy Prasanna (2201)
U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship (3), St.
Louis, 07.09.2022
WHITE TO MOVE
65. Qg2, Black resigned.
Here Prasanna gave up, seeing that there
was no way to stop the g-pawn from pro-
moting. As it turns out, both sides missed
a defense! The key is White’s open king.
After 65. Qg2 Qxf4! 66. g7 Qc1+ 67. Qg1
Black may have run out of checks but that
doesn’t mean the game is over. The queen
simply needs to find a better square to give
checks! 67. ... Qh6! 68. g8=Q Qxh3+ Even
with two queens, White can’t stop Black’s
perpetual checks: 69. Qh2 Qf1+ 70. Qgg1
Qf3+ 71. Qhg2 Qh5+ 72. Q1h2 Qd1+ 73. Qgg1
Qf3+ with equality.
The three leaders all won in round five,
as did Wu, who was in fourth place with
three points. I wasn’t too concerned with
my place in the standings yet, as I was only
trailing Morris-Suzuki by a point and I had
yet to play her.
The situation got a lot more complicat-
ed in round six. I was paired against Wu,
and despite having trouble with her in the
past, I wasn’t nervous, feeling that as long
as I played “normal chess” and managed
my time well, things would be fine. But
after being sidetracked, I found myself in a
strange position with horrid time pressure,
and disaster struck.
DISASTER
WGM Jennifer Yu (2378)
FM Rochelle Wu (2292)
U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship (6), St.
Louis, 07.13.2022
BLACK TO MOVE
I had seen this position in my analysis,
but I misevaluated how tricky and unclear
it would be. Rochelle has weak kingside
pawns, but it’s not easy for me to attack
them, and she is currently putting a lot of
pressure on my central pawn. Most impor-
tantly, she has the initiative. I was already in
time trouble after burning through my time
earlier, which was not great for dealing such
a complex position.
25. ... Bf5
This initiates a tactical combination: the
idea to win the h3-pawn by exploiting the
weak e-pawn and d2-knight. I had spotted
this idea a couple moves earlier, but thought
that I had a simple defense.
26. Qf3 Qd7 27. Rad1 Bxh3
Looking at this position from afar, I as-
sumed I could simply play 28. f5, trapping
the bishop. But of course this doesn’t work
because the bishop can take on f5. I was
pretty disgusted with myself for this simple
oversight, as the bishop was untouchable on
f5 just a move ago.
There was an exciting way to create coun-
terplay and keep the position balanced. I
had briefly looked at this, but discouraged
and with the clock ticking away, I tried to
make my original idea work. This shows
the importance of not letting what happens
during the game affect your current moves!
28. f5??
Had I played 28. e5!, the game would still
go on! With the knight ready to jump to
the e4-square, Black’s king is suddenly in
danger. Now if (a) 28. ... Bg4 29. Ne4 Bxf3
30. Nxf6+ Kg7 31. Rxd7 Rxd7 32. Nxe8+ Kf8
33. Nd6 the position is equal. And if (b) 28.
... Bf5, preventing Nd2-e4, White plays 29.
Qh5! preparing the knight jump and in-
creasing pressure on Black’s kingside: 29.
... Qe6 (29. ... Bg6 30. Ne4) 30. Ne4 Bxe4 31.
Rxe4 and White’s activity and the weak black
king are more than enough compensation
for the pawn.
28. ... Bxf5 29. Qf4 Bg6 30. Nf3 Qe6 31.
Rd5 Bxe4 32. Nd2 f5 33. Nxe4 fxe4 34.
Rg5+ Kh8
I have nothing; after some accurate play,
Rochelle converted her extra material.
35. Rh5 f6 36. Rd5 Rg7 37. Re3 Rg6 38.
Kg2 Qg4 39. Qc7 Rh6 40. Rd8 Qh3+ 41.
Kf2 Qh2+ 42. Ke1 Qg1+ 43. Kd2 Rh2+ 44.
Re2 e3+ 45. Kc3 Qc1+ 46. Kb3 Qb1+ 47.
Kc3 Qb4+ 48. Kd3 Qa3+, White resigned.
With this loss I felt my title chances dis-
appearing. Morris-Suzuki won against
Yan, keeping her perfect at 6/6. Cervantes
Landeiro also lost her game against Lee,
meaning that we both trailed the leader
by two points with just three rounds to go.
Meanwhile Wu won to catch us in shared
second place. The only consolation was
that I was paired with Morris-Suzuki in
round seven.
I knew early on that my game against
Morris-Suzuki would be the most important
game of my tournament. With a two-point
lead heading into the final three rounds, it
looked like she had pretty much wrapped
the tournament up. My only chance lay in
the pairings — she had yet to play either
Cervantes Landeiro or myself, and both of
us were still in the chase.
I knew the odds were slim that I could
overtake her, but I never gave up hope, and
I was eager for the game to begin as I enjoy
playing in high-pressure situations!
Morris-Suzuki showed a very diverse
repertoire in this tournament, so I had zero
idea about what to expect when I sat down
at the board. I really admired her fighting
spirit, and I hoped that she would continue
playing aggressively in our game as well.
My biggest worry, being two points down,
USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 29
COVER STORY GIRLS’ JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
playing with the Black pieces, and in a must-
win situation, was that she would play for
a draw. But based on what I had seen in St.
Louis, this wouldn’t be a problem. It looked
like she was out to win every game, so I just
needed to get a playable position and look
for chances.
QUEEN’S GAMBIT, SLAV
DEFENSE (D17)
WFM Sophie Morris-Suzuki (2245)
WGM Jennifer Yu (2378)
U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship (7), St.
Louis, 07.14.2022
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5.
a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Nb6
Here I have played a lot of games with 7. ...
Qc7 8. g3 e5 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Bf4 Nfd7 11. Bg2
where the lines are all quite forcing. I didn’t
want to walk into her prep, so I decided to
play a line I had prepared for a different
opponent over a year ago.
8. Ne5 a5 9. f3
(see diagram top of next column)
9. ... Bd7?
I played this move quickly, surprising the
The playoff was dramatic: Yu is devastated as
she resigns to Cervantes Landeiro, who was
not exempt from the stress of the moment.
30 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG
commentators as the evaluation immediate-
ly plummets. This was a silly mistake on my
part, as I messed up the move order of the
line, giving White a positional advantage.
The right move order is 9. ... Nfd7!, trad-
ing off the annoying knight: after 10. Nxd7
(if 10. e4 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Qxd1 and Black has
traded some pieces in a cramped position)
10. ... Bxd7 we get to a more playable version
of the game.
10. e4 e6 11. Be3 Bb4 12. Be2 0-0 13. 0-0
Rc8 14. Qb3?!
This allows me to get ... c6-c5, which helps
increase my piece activity and breaks her
strong bind in the center.
A move like 14. Nd3 discourages ... c6-c5
and if 14. ... Nc4 15. Bc1 c5 Black can get her
pawn break in, but in return White gets the
bishop pair. Black’s lack of a dark-squared
bishop will become quite uncomfortable in
the next few moves. For example: 16. Nxc5
Bxc5 17. dxc5 Rxc5 18. b3 Ne5 19. Nb1 and
Black has many weaknesses.
14. ... c5 15. Rfd1 Qc7 16. Kh1 Rfd8 17.
dxc5 Bxc5?!
A slight inaccuracy. This allows a tactical
idea, but I risked it as I wanted to keep the
material balanced. After 17. ... Qxe5 18. cxb6
Nh5 Black has compensation for the pawn
in her active pieces.
18. Nxd7?!
Correct is 18. Bf4! Nh5 19. Nxd7 Nxf4 and
now White’s key idea is 20. Nb5! Qxd7 (the
point being that after 20. ... Qc6 21. Na7!)
21. Rxd7 Nxd7. Black has compensation for
the queen, but objectively White is slightly
better.
18. ... Nbxd7 19. Nb5 Qe5
In a must-win situation, I have to play ac-
tively and create opportunities.
20. Bd2 b6
A reluctant pawn push.
21. Be1
PHOTO: TKTK CTRL + SHIFT CLICK TO UNLOCK BOX
 My opponent had the option to force a three-
fold repetition with 21. Na7 Rc7 22. Nb5 Rcc8
(I would have had to try 22. ... Rc6 which
puts my rook on a bad square and leaves me
worse, but a draw wasn’t an option here!) 23.
Na7, but as I thought she was playing for a
win, I believed she would avoid this line.
21. ... Nh5
This move discourages Be1-g3 and attempt-
ing to provoke some weaknesses in White’s
solid position.
22. g3 Qb8 23. f4 Nhf6 24. Bf3?!
With this natural move the tide begins to
turn in my favor. Now I get the opportunity
to fix the central pawn structure, making
the white bishops passive. Alternatively, if
24. e5 Nd5 25. Qf3 with equality.
24. ... e5 25. f5
25. ... g5!
Another move that surprised the commen-
tators! So what was my thinking process
during the game? This looks positional-
ly suspect as I’m willingly weakening my
kingside. The key to the position is that
PHOTOS: COURETSY SLCC / OOTES (YU), SLCC / C. FULLER (CERVANTES LANDEIRO)
Sophie has a simple idea of gaining space
on the kingside with g3-g4-g5, exploiting
my lack of kingside pieces and making
use of her space advantage enforced by
the f5-pawn. As we were both getting low
on time, I didn’t want to have to defend
against an attack on my king, especial-
ly as time pressure favors the attacker.
By playing ... g7-g5, I prevent the king-
side advance, and I can even start my own
attack by pushing my pawns and limiting her
light-squared bishop. The engine evaluation
might be equal, but my initiative (and the
psychology of forcing Sophie from attack
to defense) gives me a practical advantage.
Another idea is 25. ... Bd4!? opening the
c5-square for the knight because the bishop
is untouchable for tactical reasons: 26. g4
(not 26. Nxd4? Nc5! 27. Qe3 exd4 28. Rxd4
Rxd4 29. Qxd4 Nb3!) 26. ... h6 27. h4 Nc5 28.
Qc2 with rough equality.
26. Qd3 g4 27. Bg2 Kg7 28. Bd2 h6 29. Qe2
Nf8 30. Nc3 h5 31. Bg5 N8h7 32. Bh4 Rd4
33. Rxd4?
Initiating a forcing sequence that works in
my favor. After 33. Rac1 the position is very
complicated and the game goes on.
33. ... exd4 34. e5?
Relatively best was 34. Nd1 Nd7 with an
edge for Black.
34. ... dxc3 35. exf6+ Nxf6 36. bxc3
When I played 32. ... Rd4, I evaluated this po-
sition as being much better for me. White’s
dark-squared bishop is misplaced and while
the light-squared bishop looks active, it’s ac-
tually useless. White’s king can easily come
under attack and, if I quickly mobilize my
pieces, I can pick up one of the weak c3- or
f5-pawns.
36. ... Re8 37. Qd2 Be3 38. Qd3 Qd8 39.
Qb5
Black has a significant advantage after 39.
Qxd8 Rxd8 40. Re1 Rd3.
39. ... Bc5 40. h3 gxh3 41. Bxh3 Re3 42.
Qf1 Rxc3
Picking up the first pawn; the rest of the
game was smooth.
43. Qf4 Be3 44. Qe5 Bd4 45. Qf4 Rc2 46.
Rf1 Qd5+ 47. Qf3 Qxf3+ 48. Rxf3 Ra2 49.
Rf4 Rxa4 50. g4 hxg4 51. Bxg4 Ra1+ 52.
Kg2 Rg1+ 53. Kh2 Nxg4+ 54. Kh3 Bf6,
White resigned.
While this tightened up the leaderboard, the
fact still remained that Morris-Suzuki had a
full point lead over both me and Cervantes
Landeiro heading into round eight. All three
of us won, while Wu drew against Lee, re-
moving her from the hunt for second place.
The sensation of the round was Morris-Su-
zuki’s quick victory over WFM Anne-Marie
Velea, where the game was practically over
after eight moves! Catalan players (with ei-
ther color) should study this game.
QUEEN’S GAMBIT, CATALAN
OPENING (E06)
WFM Sophie Morris-Suzuki (2245)
WFM Anne-Marie Velea (2151)
U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship (8), St.
Louis, 07.15.2022
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Be7 4. g3 Nf6 5.
Bg2 0-0 6. 0-0 c6 7. Nc3
Here 7. Qc2 and 7. Nbd2 have traditionally
been preferred, but modern players are
trying this move with good results.
7. ... b6 8. Ne5
8. ... Nfd7??
Correct is 8. ... Ba6 9. Bf4 Nfd7 with a nor-
mal game, while Rose Atwell tried 8. ... Bb7
9. e4 dxc4 10. Nxc4 Ba6 11. b3 Nbd7 12. Bf4
b5! against Sophie in the 2022 WIM Ruth
Haring National Tournament of Girls State
Champions just a few weeks later.
9. cxd5! cxd5 10. Nxd5
With the open, unopposed diagonal, Black
is losing the a8-rook.
10. ... Nxe5 11. dxe5 Bb7 12. Nf6+ gxf6 13.
Bxb7 Nc6 14. Bxc6
Here Sophie used the material advantage to
great effect, winning quickly.
14. ... Rc8 15. Qa4 Kh8 16. Bf4 f5 17. Rfd1
Qc7 18. Rac1 Qb8 19. Rd7 Rc7 20. Rxe7
Rxe7 21. Bg5 Rc7 22. Bf6+ Kg8 23. Qf4,
Black resigned.
With both Cervantes Landeiro and your
author a point off the leader at 6/8, we were
both in must-win situations going into the
final round. All eyes were on the match-
up between Cervantes Landeiro and Mor-
ris-Suzuki, as their game would determine
whether or not we’d go to a playoff. With
the situation completely out of my con-
trol, I tried to focus on my game while also
mentally preparing myself for rapid and
blitz tiebreaks.
USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 31
M
ORE SO THAN ANY OTHER
high-level event in American
chess, the U.S. Junior, Girls’ Ju-
nior, and Senior Championships
consistently provide exciting mo-
ments, both on and off the board.
Is it the co-mingling of youth and experience?
The evident camaraderie between the players? The
simple joy of playing chess? Whatever it might be,
these photos give a behind-the-scenes glimpse of
competition and friendship at the highest levels.

All photos courtesy of the Saint Louis Chess Club and

its talented photographers, including Bryan Adams,
Austin Fuller, Crystal Fuller, and Lennart Ootes.
COVER STORY GIRLS’ JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
QUEEN’S GAMBIT DECLINED,
EXCHANGE VARIATION (D35)
FM Thalia Cervantes Landeiro (2339)
WFM Sophie Morris-Suzuki (2245)
U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship (9), St.
Louis, 07.16.2022
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5
5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Bd6 7. Bd3 0-0 8. Qc2 h6
9. Bh4 Re8 10. Nf3 Be6 11. Ne5 c5 12.
0-0 Nc6 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Bg3 c4 15. Be2
Bxg3 16. hxg3 g6 17. b3 Bf5 18. Qd1 cxb3
19. axb3
19. ... h5?!
Allowing Cervantes Landeiro to get the
rook to a6 was a mistake. White now puts
sustained pressure on Black’s fractured
queenside pawns.
After the correct 19. ... a5 the a-pawn is
defended by both the rook and queen, and
there’s no Ra1-a6. It’s not so clear how White
should continue on the queenside; mean-
while, Black can play ... h6-h5 and launch
a kingside attack as in the game.
20. Ra6 Rc8?
It seems odd to give the a-pawn for free. Mor-
ris-Suzuki gets some kingside play in return,
but the pawn sacrifice seems unnecessary.
With 20. ... Qc7 21. Qc1 Re6 everything is
defended, and it will take White some time
to organize pressure on the queenside while
Black commences kingside action.
21. Rxa7 Ng4 22. Bd3 Qg5 23. Bxf5 gxf5!
34 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG
Morris-Suzuki correctly breaks a funda-
mental rule, doubling her pawns. While this
weakens Black’s kingside structure, it also
allows the opportunity for counterplay by
using the open g- and h-files to attack the
white king. Now Black is threatening ...
Ng4xe3 and winning a potential knight on
c3, forcing Cervantes Landeiro to respond.
She also needs to find ways to defend the
looming kingside attack.
Note that 23. ... Qxf5? is a mistake. After
24. Qf3 any queen trade is favorable for
White, and after 24. ... Qe6 25. Na4 White is
comfortable and up a healthy pawn.
24. Nb1 Ra8??
As tempting as it might be to grab the open
a-file, this goes against the nature and ur-
gency of the position. Morris-Suzuki has
many long-term weaknesses because of her
weak pawn structure. As she is still down a
pawn, she needs to act immediately to keep
her compensation.
Her last few moves all were aimed to-
wards the king, so the best continuation
would have been to follow through on this
idea and create a pawn break: 24. ... h4 25.
Qf3 hxg3 26. Qxg3 and here the only current
defender of the white king is the queen, so if
Black brings in another attacker, White will
be in an uncomfortable situation.
Black’s best is 26. ... Re6! 27. Nd2 Rh6 28.
Nf3 Qh5. Now the threats to the king are too
strong, so White is forced to return the extra
pawn. 29. Qh3 Qxh3 30. gxh3 Rxh3 is equal.
25. Rxa8 Rxa8
Now Cervantes Landeiro has time to bring
in her knight, allowing her to defend against
the kingside threats.
26. Nd2 Ra2 27. Nf3 Qe7 28. Qb1 Qa3 29.
Qxf5 Ra1 30. Nh2??
This rook trade puts the knight on a passive
square, giving Black enough counterplay
against the f2 -weakness to hold. The knight
on f1 will have a tough time returning to
the game.
Here 30. Qxh5?? immediately gives up
any hope of advantage: 30. ... Rxf1+ 31.
Kxf1 Qa6+ 32. Ke1 Qa1+ 33. Ke2 Qa6+ 34.
Ke1 Qa1+ is a draw.
The correct 30. Ne1 isn’t very intuitive,
but it keeps White’s advantage by keeping
the rooks on the board while the f1-rook
defends the f2-square. Black’s kingside is
now up for grabs. White also has the option
to return the queen to the queenside to hold
the position together. A sample line is 30. ...
Qb2 (not 30. ... Qxb3? 31. Qxh5) 31. Qc2 with
a significant advantage for White.
30. ... Rxf1+ 31. Nxf1 Qb2 32. b4 Kg7 33. Qf4
Morris-Suzuki’s pieces are all placed on their
best squares, tying Cervantes Landeiro com-
pletely down. White is still up material, but
she can’t do anything due to the threat on
f2. If Black can prevent a break that would
White’s pieces to escape their bind, she would
have the draw and the tournament victory.
33. ... Kg6?
The wrong square for the king — moving to
f8 or g8 holds. Now Thalia has a chance to
break open the position and play for the win.
34. e4!
Sacrificing one pawn, completely worth
escaping Black’s bind. The pawn capture on
e4 allows the queen to capture with check,
taking advantage of the poor placement of
the black king.
34. ... Qxd4
If 34. ... dxe4 35. Qxe4+ Kg7 36. Qf4 is nearly
winning.
35. exd5 Qxd5 36. f3 Nf6 37. Ne3 Qe6 38.
Qd4 Nd5?
The final mistake. Now Thalia converts
flawlessly.
After 38. ... Ng8 Black is worse, but she
can hang on for a while, particularly as
queen endgames are tricky.
39. Nxd5 cxd5 40. b5 Qd6 41. Kh2 f6 42.
b6 Qb8 43. Qc5 h4 44. Qc7 Qh8 45. b7 Qh6
46. g4 h3 47. Qc2+ Kg7 48. b8=Q hxg2+
49. Kxg2, Black resigned.
With Cervantes Landeiro’s crucial win,
combined with my victory over Velea, three
players tied for first place with seven points,
ensuring there would be extra chess! We
didn’t have much time to prepare for the
playoff, so after two weeks of play, it really
came down to spotting tricks and tactics in
the faster time controls.
Having finished a little before Cervantes
Landeiro and Morris-Suzuki’s game ended,
I went back to my hotel room, took a nap, tactics, I defeated Morris-Suzuki, leaving including a six-game winning streak by Mor-
and drank a cup of coffee. I knew my com- me a win away from my goal. Not stressing ris-Suzuki and two nerve-wracking playoffs!
petitors played a lot more online blitz than and moving fast, I took the full point against I have such great respect for my competitors,
I did, so I needed to be alert. Cervantes Landeiro as well. With these two who fought tooth and nail and showed so
The first playoff format was a rapid round wins, it was mission accomplished. I was the much spirit over nearly two weeks. Their
robin with a time control of G/10;d2. In the 2022 U.S. Girls’ Junior Champion! vigor and energetic play shows the great
event of another tie, a second round robin This tournament had a bit of everything, promise of women’s chess in America.
would be played, with a faster time control
of G/3;d2. The game order was based on tie-
break standings, so I took White against Mor-
ris-Suzuki first, while Cervantes Landeiro
waited. Then Cervantes Landeiro would get
2022 U.S. Girls Junior
White against me, and finally, Morris-Su-
zuki would play White against Cervantes Championship Blitz Playoff
Landeiro. ST. LOUIS, JULY 16, 2022
I won a messy game against Morris-Su-
zuki amidst time pressure, and I definitely 1 2 3
felt a small bit of relief — for the first time
1 WGM Jennifer Yu 1993 * 1 1 2/2
in the tournament, winning first place was
in my control, but I had to defeat Cervantes 2 FM Thalia Cervantes Landeiro 2054 0 * U 0/1
Landeiro first.
3 WFM Sophie Morris-Suzuki 1841 0 U * 0/1
The opening went well enough against
Thalia. I won a pawn but she had compensa-
tion. After some accurate moves, Cervantes
Landeiro got a positional advantage and it
became difficult to defend. With the inevita-
ble time pressure, I cracked, losing on time.
2022 U.S. Girls Junior
Relief suddenly became dejection. After
so many miracles were required just to get Championship Rapid Playoff
to the playoffs, the result was once again ST. LOUIS, JULY 16, 2022
out of my hands. But Morris-Suzuki came
through, converting a positional edge into 1 2 3
an endgame win. Time for another playoff!
1 FM Thalia Cervantes Landeiro 1993 * 0 1 1/2
For this round, the pairings were the
same, but with colors reversed. I learned 2 WFM Sophie Morris-Suzuki 2054 1 * 0 1/2
my lesson from the previous games, and
worked to play more quickly. After some 3 WGM Jennifer Yu 1841 0 1 * 1/2

2022 U.S. Girls Junior Championship

ST. LOUIS, JULY 6-16, 2022
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 FM Thalia Cervantes Landeiro 2339 * ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 1 1 1 7/9
2 WGM Jennifer Yu 2378 ½ * 1 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 7/9
3 WFM Sophie Morris-Suzuki 2245 0 0 * 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7/9
4 FM Rochelle Wu 2292 ½ 1 0 * ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 6½/9
5 FM Alice Lee 2361 1 ½ 0 ½ * 0 ½ 1 1 1 5½/9
6 FM Ruiyang Yan 2338 0 0 0 ½ 1 * ½ 0 ½ 1 3½/9
7 WIM Ellen Wang 2217 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ * 0 1 ½ 2½/9
8 WFM Zoey Tang 2252 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 * 0 ½ 2½/9
9 WFM Gracy Prasanna 2201 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 * 1 2½/9
10 WFM Anne-Marie Velea 2151 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 * 1/9

USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 35

EVENTS HEDDERTK
DUMMY Junior Championship
Additional words p9 from rule

PHOTO: TKTK CTRL + SHIFT CLICK TO UNLOCK BOX

36 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG

 I won the
YOO S.
JUNIOR!
The new Junior champ
on his road to victory
BY GM CHRISTOPHER YOO

T HE U.S. JUNIOR Championship

is the most coveted Junior title in
American chess. Along with its
rich history and prestige, there is
a generous cash award of $12,000
for the winner, along with $10,000 in schol-
arships provided by the Dewain Barber
Foundation and US Chess. The winner gets
reigning U.S. women’s champion. Three-
time U.S. Junior champ GM Awonder Liang
was top seed, followed by GM Abhimanyu
Mishra, the youngest GM in history.
As the third seed, I considered Liang and
Mishra my top rivals for the title, but every-
one in the field was fierce and formidable.
With five GMs and four IMs, there was a time
a seat in the U.S. Championship, earning the not long ago that this set of players might
right to test him or herself against the likes have been considered a strong “adult” U.S.
PHOTO: COURTESY SLCC / C. FULLER

of GMs Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So!
I was very excited to play in the 2022 U.S.
Junior Championship, a 10 player round-rob-
in held from July 6-16 at the Saint Louis
Chess Club. The tournament featured eight
of the highest rated American juniors along
with 2021 Junior Open winner Pedro Espino-
sa and wildcard invitee IM Carissa Yip, the
top junior woman in the country and the
Championship! I knew I could not let my
guard down in any game if I hoped to win
the tournament.
THE FIRST HALF
Beginnings often set the tone for what is to
come, so starting the tournament well was
important to me. I was a bit nervous, but
very excited, to face one of the most danger-

USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 37

EVENTS Junior Championship
ous players in the field in round one — GM
Brandon Jacobson. Playing with the White
pieces, I was surprised in the opening, but
outplayed him in the middlegame, and after
a poor queen exchange on his part, I won
in the endgame.
Happy as I was with this victory, much of
the commentator’s focus rightly went to two
games. IM Justin Wang took down Liang,
throwing some early prognostications into
disarray, and GM Andrew Hong showed
excellent opening prep and calculation in a
beautiful win over IM David Brodsky.
SICILIAN DEFENSE, NAJDORF
VARIATION (B99)
GM Andrew Hong (2599)
IM David Brodsky (2596)
U.S. Junior Championship (1), St.
Louis, 07.07.2022
Annotations by IM Robert Shlyakhtenko
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3 Qc7 9.
0-0-0 Nbd7 10. g4 h6 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. h4
Nb6 13. g5 Bxd4 14. Rxd4 Qc5
A well-known position that Brodsky had
twice played from the black side.
15. Qf2
A novelty, which apparently is not given in
GM Anish Giri’s Chessable course on the
Najdorf! The position of the two queens give
White some tactical chances.
15. ... hxg5
Forced. The alternative 15. ... Bd7 loses a
pawn to 16. Qd2, which is one of the main
points of 15. Qf2.
16. e5! gxf4 17. Bd3
17. ... f5?
Sometimes in analysis we check only the
way our opponents are “supposed” to play,
failing to consider humanly natural — but
flawed — defenses. In the post-game inter-
view, Hong revealed that this move came
38 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG
to him in the shower and he rushed back
to check the refutation.
First things first: 17. ... Qxe5 is too risky.
I doubt that Black can survive the onslaught
after 18. Re1 Qh5 19. Rxf4 Nd7 20. Ne4 0-0
21. Rg1.
Instead 17. ... d5! is the only move. Now
White has two main continuations:
(a) 18. Rg1 (this is the move Andrew
planned) and now (a1) 18. ... g6! and the po-
sition is quite unclear but certainly playable
for White. One wonders how much deeper
Hong’s preparation extended here. (a2) 18.
... Rxh4? 19. Qxh4 Qxd4 20. Rxg7 leads to a
decisive attack. (a3) 18. ... Bd7 19. Rxg7 0-0-0
fails to save Black’s king in view of 20. Rc4!.
(b) 18. Ne4 dxe4 19. Rd8+ Kxd8 20. Qxc5
Nd7 21. Qg1! exd3 22. Qxg7 is the most ob-
vious, but after 22. ... Rh5! 23. Qxf7 Rf5 24.
Qxe6 Nf8 25. Qd6+ Ke8 26. h5 Be6 27. Qxd3
Rd8 Black somehow coordinates his pieces
and stops White’s h-pawn.
Against Brodsky’s human-all-too-hu-
man move, Hong quickly blitzed out the
right line:
18. exf6 e.p. e5 19. fxg7 Rg8 20. Bg6+ Ke7
If White retreats with the rook, Black trades
queens and wins the endgame. If this looks
too good to be true, that’s because it is!
21. h5!!
The passed pawns are worth more than
the rook.
21. ... Qxd4
Here 21. ... exd4 22. Ne4 does not save Black
either.
22. Qh4+ Kd7 23. h6 Kc6
The alternative 23. ... Kc7 was discussed by
Andrew in his post-game interview with Yaz
and the gang. He showed a beautiful way to
win: 24. Rd1 Qe3+ 25. Kb1 Qh3 26. Qe7+ Qd7
27. Qf8 Qd8 28. Qf7+ Bd7 29. a4!! and Black
is in a bad way.
24. Be4+ Kc7 25. Qf6!
Avoiding a clever trick. 25. h7? in fact loses:
25. ... Rxg7 26. h8=Q Rg1+ 27. Rxg1 Qe3+!!
(an easy-to-miss intermediate move — note
that 27. ... Qxg1+ 28. Nd1 wins for White)
28. Kd1 Qxg1+ 29. Kd2 Nc4+ 30. Ke2 Bg4+
and White must give up both of his queens.
25. ... Bd7
Instead 25. ... Na4!? is refuted most simply
by 26. Qf7+ Bd7 27. Nd5+ Kc6 28. Nf6+ Kb6
29. Qb3+! Bb5 30. Rd1.
26. Rd1
The most accurate. Because of his weak
king, Black cannot reroute his pieces to
defend against the pawns. The rest is easy.
26. ... Qe3+ 27. Kb1 Kb8 28. h7 Ka7 29.
hxg8=Q Rxg8 30. Qf7 Rc8 31. g8=Q Rxc3
A desperate try, but Hong has everything
covered.
32. bxc3 Qxe4 33. Qff8 Nc8 34. Qg1+!,
Black resigned.
Ending all hopes. A win typical of Andrew’s
main strengths: excellent opening prepara-
tion supported by precise calculation.
Liang steadied the ship by drawing with
me in round two, while Hong won again to
grab an early lead. I hoped to climb the table
in round three, when I had White against
Espinosa, the lowest-rated player in the
field. Looking at his games, I saw that he
was capable of strong play, and he showed
good opening preparation in the first two
rounds, so I knew I had a task on my hands.
I didn’t get the best position out of the
opening, but the position was complicat-
ed, and I managed to outplay him in a very
double-edged middlegame. There was a
key moment where he missed a brilliant
(and difficult) defensive idea; after that,
the position was too difficult to save, and I
won the game.
A NEAR MISS
GM Christopher Yoo (2636)
Pedro Espinosa (2228)
U.S. Junior Championship (3), St.
Louis, 07.09.2022
BLACK TO MOVE
29. ... Qf4
Instead Black had 29. ... Kd8!! getting out of
the Qe2xe6+ threat, while also threatening
... Qf7-f4! It’s definitely a paradoxical move,
as it is so quiet, leaving both the knight and
pawn hanging! In fact, I’m now the one
trying to keep the balance. The only saving
 move is 30. Rxh6 (30. dxc6?? fails to 30. ...
Qf4 31. Kh1 Qxg4) 30. ... Qf4 31. Kh1 Rf6!.
Now it is a forced draw, as Black is threat-
ening ... Qf4xg4 and ... Rf3-h3, so I must
play a check, but then he can simply repeat
moves. 32. Rh8+ Rf8 33. Rh6 Rf6 34. Rh8+
is equal.
30. Qxe6+ Kd8 31. Ne4 Rg3+ 32. Nxg3
Qf3+ 33. Kh3 Bxg3 34. Nd2 Qd3 35. Qe3,
Black resigned.
The win gave me a share of the lead at 2½/3
along with Hong, while Mishra was a half-
point behind at two points. Mishra was
more than a bit fortunate in his game with
Liang, as Awonder was entirely winning
when he made a shocking blunder that cost
him material.
MIRACLES HAPPEN!
GM Abhimanyu Mishra (2636)
GM Awonder Liang (2722)
U.S. Junior Championship (3), St.
Louis, 07.09.2022
BLACK TO MOVE
PHOTOS: COURTESY SLCC / OOTES (HONG), SLCC / C. FULLER (MISHRA, LIANG)
67. ... Qg3??
I think Awonder believed he was winning
after 68. Bxf2 Qg2+, but he missed a very
important resource for White.
68. Qxf2!
This must have been a cold shower, as what
was a completely winning position was
thrown away in just one move.
68. ... Bxf2 69. Bxf2+ Ka6 70. Bxg3 hxg3
71. Bg4
Mishra went on to convert this without
great difficulty.
71. ... f2 72. Kg2 Kxa5 73. Bd1 b6 74. Bc2
Ka6 75. Bd3+ Ka5 76. Kxg3 Kxa4 77. c4
Kb3 78. Kxf2 Kb4 79. Ke3 Kc5 80. e5 fxe5
81. Ke4 Kd6 82. Kf5 b5 83. Kxg5 bxc4 84.
Bxc4 Ke7 85. h4, Black resigned.
One of the most important games in the
tournament came in round four, where I GM Andrew
faced off with co-leader Hong. I knew he’d Hong
be eager for a win, and combined with his
aggressive playing style, I thought he would
probably maximize complications. The up-
side is that I would have my own chances in
those kinds of positions, and this is, in fact,
what happened. Hong made a mistake in the
middlegame, I grabbed the initiative, and I
converted my advantage.
I was pumped! I knew I was leading the
tournament, but with five more rounds to
play, nothing was decided yet. Mishra was
just a half-point behind me at 3/4, and just
one slip would kick me off my perch.
Despite so much being at stake in this
tournament — or perhaps because of it — I
really tried to relax between rounds. I talked
to friends, watched a bit of YouTube, and
even tossed around a frisbee in our hotel
room! There was some opening prep, of
course, but most of it was done before the GM Abhimanyu
Mishra
tournament. I wanted to relax as much as I
could each day to try to minimize my stress.
In round five I faced IM Balaji Daggupati
with White. Daggupati is a very tricky player
with interesting and dynamic ideas, so I de-
cided to beat him to the punch and surprise
him on the first move! With 1. Nf3 I got him
out of theory very early, and we played a
complicated game where I sacrificed a pawn
for good compensation. He gave the pawn
back, but with the center and initiative, I
outplayed him in the complications and got
the win. With this I went to 4½/5, leading the
field by a full point going into the rest day.
RETI OPENING (A09)
GM Christopher Yoo (2636)
IM Balaji Daggupati (2557)
U.S. Junior Championship (5), St.
Louis, 07.11.2022
1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 d4 3. b4 c5 4. e3!?
This leads to a Blumenfeld Gambit position,
but with reversed colors. Here having an
extra tempo from playing White is useful.
4. ... dxe3 5. fxe3 cxb4 6. a3 e5?!
Sacrificing the pawn back for some devel-
opment, but I think the e-pawn is quite
valuable; once I grab it, I have the potential
to form a strong pawn center.
7. Nxe5 Bd6 8. Bb2 Nf6?!
Sacrificing another pawn for a lead in de-
velopment, and with sights on my uncastled GM Awonder
king. But I think this is a bit much, especially Liang
as there is no easy way to get at the king.
USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 39
EVENTS Junior Championship
Instead Black can use some simple tac-
tics to save the b-pawn: 8. ... Nc6 9. Nf3
(forced; if 9. Nxc6?? Qh4+! 10. g3 Bxg3+ 11.
hxg3 Qxg3+ 12. Ke2 Bg4+ Oops!) 9. ... Nf6 10.
Be2 0-0 11. 0-0.
Here I still prefer White, due to the po-
tential of the central pawns pushing for-
ward and the strong b2-bishop. But this is
a more solid way of playing for Black, as it
gets all the pieces developed and he doesn’t
lose a pawn.
9. axb4 0-0 10. Be2!?
Sacrificing the pawn back again! Snatching
it does not make sense: his bishop would be
very clumsy on b4, and I would have a lead
in development after castling.
10. ... Re8?
The rook is not too useful here, as my e3-
pawn stops the rook from going very far. I
also had a concrete way of refuting it.
I think 10. ... Nc6!? is an interesting way
to try and generate a bit of initiative in a
worse position. Play continues 11. Nxc6
(11. Nf3!?) 11. ... bxc6 12. c5 Bc7 13. Nc3
Ng4. Here White is objectively better, but
Black’s initiative is frightening, especially
with ... Qd8-h4+ coming. I think this would
have been a great practical try.
11. Nf3?
I’m still better after this move, but it’s not
nearly as convincing as 11. Nd3! Ne4 12. 0-0
Qh4 13. Nf4 g5.
As I calculated during the game I was a
bit worried here, but it turns out that I have
a very nice path forward with 14. Ra5!! (the
move I missed) 14. ... gxf4 15. Rh5 Qd8 16.
Nc3. Black’s king is very exposed and subject
to attack. This variation really shows how
flexible the rook can be!
11. ... Bxb4 12. 0-0 Nc6 13. Nc3?!
The cunning 13. Ng5! grabs the initiative
while preventing both ... Bc8-f5 and ...
Bc8-g4. After 13. ... Ne5 14. Nc3 White has
many promising plans, such as Nge4-c5, and
Black’s pieces are a bit clumsy.
40 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG
13. ... Bg4 14. Qb3
Preparing Nc3-d5.
14. ... Bf8?
This move is another pawn sacrifice! This
seems to be a recurring theme of this game,
especially as I responded with yet another
pawn sac!
I do think the bishop could have been left
on the b4-outpost with something like 14.
... a5! 15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. cxd5 Bxf3 17. Rxf3
Ne5 18. Rf4 Qd6. Black is relatively solid,
and White is only slightly better.
15. h3?
Trying to provoke him into taking the d2-
pawn, which he ended up grabbing. I think
this was a mistake.
Better was 15. Nd5! Ne4 16. Qc2! (with
Be2-d3 and attacking ideas) 16. ... Bh5 17.
Bd3 Bg6 18. h4! h6 19. Ne5 Nxe5 20. Bxe4
Bxe4 21. Qxe4 and White is winning here due
to the overwhelming piece coordination. I’m
not sure I would have found all these moves
over-the-board, but it was the best option.
Note that after 15. Qxb7? immediately
Black has enough compensation after 15.
... Rb8 16. Qxc6 Rxb2 17. Rxa7 Qb8 due to
threats of ... Bg4xf3 and ... Rb2xd2, along
with ... Bf8-d6 ideas.
15. ... Bxf3?
This gives me a decisive advantage, as the
bishop pair and f-file initiative prove very
strong. With the correct 15. ... Bh5! the Nc3-
d5 idea no longer works due to the weakness
on g3: 16. Nd5 Ne4! 17. Qc2 Bg6 18. Bd3 Ng3
with equality.
16. Bxf3 Qxd2 17. Nd5 Nxd5 18. Bxd5 Nd8
19. Bd4 Qb4 20. Qc2 Qd6 21. Rf3?!
A better post for the rook is found with 21.
Rf5! Re7 (after 21. ... a5 22. Raf1 Re7 23. c5!
we see one key advantage to 21. Rf5 — were
the rook on f3, the d5-bishop would hang)
22. Raf1 Ne6 23. Qf2 Qd7 24. Bb2 With Bb2-
a3 coming, Black’s position is in shambles.
21. ... Qg6?
The queen is vulnerable here to threats
like Qc2-f2 and Rf3-g3, Rf3-f4-g4, or h3-h4
followed by Rf3-f5-g5. It’s also hard to move
off this square, as the f7-pawn must be
defended.
After 21. ... a5 22. Raf1 Re7 23. e4 White
still has good initiative, but it not so simple
to break through.
22. Qf2 Bd6 23. Rf1 Rf8?!
It was better to defend the pawn with 23. ...
Re7 as the rook is a bit more active than it is
in the game: 24. c5 Bc7 25. Qh4 Kf8 and now
after the admittedly difficult-to-find move
26. Bb2 (with the idea Bb2-a3 followed by
c5-c6) Black’s position is losing. In truth,
however, finding that move with the clock
ticking is not trivial, and had I not found it,
the position is no longer easy to win.
24. c5 Be7 25. Rf4?!
This still wins, but there was a more con-
vincing path to victory beginning with 25.
Qe1!. This threatens 26. Rg3, as 26. ... Bh4
doesn’t work because after 27. Rxg6 when
27. ... Bxe1 does not come with check. One
of the many wins in this variation is 25. ...
Qh5 26. Bxg7! Kxg7 27. Qa1+ f6 28. Rg3+ Kh8
29. Rxf6 Bxf6 30. Qxf6+ Rxf6 31. Rg8 mate.
Note that 25. Rg3?? Bh4 fails to 26. Rxg6
Bxf2+ 27. Rxf2 hxg6.
25. ... Bg5?! 26. Rg4?
As planned, but this gave him an opportuni-
ty to stay in the game a bit longer. I should
have played 26. Rf5! Be7 27. h4 h5 28. Qf3
and with Rf5xh5 and Bd5-e4 coming, Black’s
position is falling apart.
26. ... h5?
Now the position is completely losing.
The last chance was 26. ... Ne6! 27. Bxb7
(if 27. h4?? Bxe3! and Black is winning!) 27.
... Rae8 28. Bd5 Nxd4 29. exd4 Be3 30. Rxg6
hxg6 31. Bf3. Here, the endgame is winning,
despite my being down an Exchange. The
c- and d-pawns are too strong. But the fact
that I have to find all these moves indicates
that this would have been quite a decent try.
27. Rg3 Kh7
The key point is that 27. ... Bh4 is now impos-
sible as the queen is not held by the h7-pawn.
28. Qf3 h4 29. Be4 f5 30. Rg4!
Despite my bishop and rook both hanging,
both are off-limits because of the pins!
30. ... Qh6
Getting out of many pins. Of course, if 30.
... fxe4 31. Qxf8, and if 30. ... fxg4 31. Bxg6+.
31. Bxf5+ Kh8 32. Qe4 Nc6
How do I finish him off?
33. Rxg5!
With the idea Rf1-f4xh4+. White’s attack is
simply too strong.
33. ... Nxd4
Or 33. ... Qxg5 34. Rf4 Nxd4 35. Rxh4+ Kg8
36. Qd5+ Rf7 37. Bh7+ Kf8 38. Qxg5 and mate
in 12 per the computer!
34. Rg6+- Ne2+ 35. Kh2 Qh5 36. Qe7 Rg8
37. Rg5 Qh6 38. Bg6
Restricting the queen, and preparing Rg5-h5.
38. ... Ng3 39. Rf4 Rad8 40. Rgg4 Rd5 41.
Rf8, Black resigned.
THE REST DAY
I took the name “rest day” seriously. It was
11:30am when I woke up, and I felt very
rested! After lunch I decided to have some
fun with some of the other players (and
visiting GM Ray Robson) playing basketball!
We went to a nearby court and played three
on three. Andrew Hong pretty much carried
our team, but I had a lot of fun, and I would
definitely do it again! When the games were
over, I went back to my hotel to review my
preparation and get some sleep before a key
game in round six.
THE HOME STRETCH
Knowing IM Justin Wang’s solid playing
style, I worried that it might be hard to
get a complex position with Black. But he
surprised me by sacrificing a pawn in the
opening, and the game went to a pawn-up
endgame that I managed to convert.
RETI OPENING (A09)
IM Justin Wang (2563)
GM Christopher Yoo (2636)
U.S. Junior Championship (6), St.
Louis, 07.13.2022
1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 d4 3. b4 c5 4. d3!?
Sacrificing a pawn, this resembles the Benko
Gambit, but with a tempo up — it’s White
who sacs the pawn, not Black! I suspect it is
not fully sound, but it is interesting.
4. ... cxb4 5. a3 bxa3 6. Bxa3 Nf6 7. g3 g6
8. Bg2 Bg7 9. 0-0 0-0 10. Nbd2 Nc6 11.
Nb3 Re8 12. Nfd2?!
Probably he should keep his knight on f3,
as I cannot play ... Qd8-c7, ... b7-b6, and ...
Bc8-b7 easily.
More flexible is 12. Qc2!?, preparing Rf1-
b1 and putting pressure on my queenside
pawns. I do have a lot of options, but per-
haps best is 12. ... Bg4 13. Qb2 when White
should have enough compensation due to
the pressure on the d4- and b7-pawns.
12. ... Qc7 13. Qc2 Nd7
Defending the d4-pawn and preparing to fian-
chetto the bishop with ... b7-b6 and ... Bc8-b7.
14. Rfb1 b6 15. c5 Bb7 16. cxb6 axb6 17.
Rc1 Rec8
18. Bxe7?!
Allowing me to simplify the position, which
makes it a bit easier to play. After 18. Qb2!?
Qd8 19. Rc2 Rc7 20. Rac1 Rac8 21. Ne4 Black
is preferable, being up a pawn, but it is not
so easy to find a convincing plan.
18. ... Rxa1 19. Nxa1 Qe5!
Winning the pawn back.
20. Ba3 Qxe2 21. Nc4 Qxc2?!
Preferable was 21. ... Qh5! which would
have given a better version of the endgame
we see in the game. A sample line is 22. Qd1
Na5 23. Qxh5 gxh5 24. Bxb7 Nxb7 and Black
is slightly better.
22. Nxc2 Ba8
The alternative 22. ... Na5 is not as effective
with the knight on c2. White can play 23.
Nd6! (grabbing the bishop pair) 23. ... Rc7
24. Nxb7 Nxb7 25. Re1 Rxc2 26. Re8+ Bf8 27.
Bxb7 with a very probable draw.
23. Nd6 Rd8 24. Bxc6?!
There was not much reason to give up this
strong bishop.
Correct was 24. f4! preventing the knight
from going to e5, and grabbing some king-
side space. Despite Black’s being up a pawn,
it looks hard for me to make progress, given
White’s more active pieces.
24. ... Bxc6 25. Nxd4 Bxd4 26. Rxc6 Ne5
27. Rc7 Ra8 28. Nb5 Nxd3 29. Nxd4 Rxa3
30. f4 Ra1+ 31. Kg2 Ra2+ 32. Kg1 Ra4
After a long series of forced moves, we ar-
rive in a rather simplified endgame, where
White is down a pawn, but should be able
to hold with best play. Practically speaking,
however, Black has very decent winning
chances with the passed b-pawn.
33. Nc6 Ra1+ 34. Kg2 Rc1 35. Ne7+ Kg7
36. Rb7 Rc2+ 37. Kg1?
It was essential to keep the king somewhat
active. With 37. Kf3! Rxh2 38. Rxb6 White’s
position is holdable but difficult, as the
knights are still on the board.
37. ... Ne1
38. h4?
White is simply losing after this move.
It was better to play h2-h3, to keep the
option of playing g3-g4, whilst defending
all the pawns: 38. h3 Nf3+ 39. Kf1 Nd2+ 40.
Ke2 Nb3+ (note that 40. ... Ne4+ 41. Kf3 Nf6
42. g4! was not possible in the game. With
the pawn on h4, I had ... Rc2-c3+, winning
the g4-pawn. 42. ... Rc3+ 43. Kg2 Rb3 with
slight advantage for Black) 41. Kf3 b5 and
while the position is difficult to defend, the
game goes on.
38. ... Nf3+ 39. Kf1 Nd2+ 40. Ke2 Ne4+ 41.
Kd3
If instead 41. Kf3 Nf6! 42. Rxb6 (42. g4 Rc3+)
42. ... Rc3+ 43. Kg2 Nh5 44. f5 Rxg3+ 45. Kh2
Re3 46. Nc8 gxf5 and Black wins.
41. ... Nc5+
The resulting knight endgame is a trivial
USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 41
EVENTS Junior Championship

win. His kingside pawns are too weak, and
the b-pawn is also a concern.
42. Kxc2 Nxb7 43. g4 Nd6 44. Kd3 b5 45.
Kd4 h5! 46. g5
He cannot take the pawn: 46. gxh5 Nf5+ 47.
Nxf5+ gxf5 48. Ke5 b4 and it’s over.
46. ... Kf8 47. Nd5 Nf5+ 48. Kc5 Nxh4 49.
Ne3 Nf3 50. Kxb5 h4 51. Kc4 h3 52. Ng4 h2
53. Nf2 Ng1 54. Kd4 Nh3 55. Nh1 Nxf4 56.
Ke4 Ne6 57. Kf3 Nxg5+ 58. Kg2 Ne4 59.
Kxh2 f5 60. Ng3 Nxg3 61. Kxg3 Kf7 62. Kf4
Kf6, White resigned.
At 5½/6, I was a point and a half ahead of
the rest of the field after six rounds. But
with three rounds to go, just one loss could
put my competitors back into contention.
And that is what happened in round
seven, where I lost to IM David Brodsky. In
an endgame with equal material, I played
a bit fast, and after a bad trade, I could
not hold the position. This left me just a
half-point ahead of Hong (who defeated
Jacobson in a brilliant game) with two
rounds left.
NIMZO-INDIAN DEFENSE
(E48)
GM Brandon Jacobson (2659)
GM Andrew Hong (2599)
U.S. Junior Championship (7), St.
Louis, 07.14.2022
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 0-0 5.
Bd3 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Nge2 Re8 8. Bd2
Nbd7 9. Qc2 c5 10. dxc5 Bxc5 11. 0-0 Ne5
12. Rfd1 Nfg4 13. Be1 Qh4 14. h3
14. ... Nf3+ 15. gxf3 Nxe3 16. Qa4 Qg5+
17. Ng3 Bxh3 18. Bd2 Qf6 19. Bxh7+
Kh8 20. Bf5 Nxf5 21. Nxd5 Qg6, White
resigned.
The seventh round was a wake-up call. Per-
haps I was too relaxed and over-confident,
and I needed to be more careful in critical
moments. I carried this thinking into my
critical round eight matchup with one of my
biggest rivals, Abhimanyu Mishra. While a
draw would have been a fine result, I wanted
to play for a win with White, in part to avenge
a tough loss to him from a few months back!
We played a challenging line in the Lon-
don, with both sides offering pawns, and
both sides making mistakes. In a complex
position Mishra wrongly gave back a key
pawn, and my bishops allowed me to convert
and take the full point. With Hong drawing
Liang, I was a full point up on Andrew head-
ing into the ninth and final round.
THE FINALE
A draw would secure the title, but I couldn’t
let my guard down in my game with IM Ca-
rissa Yip. She is a very dynamic player, and
while I hoped for a relatively dry position,
I knew this was not likely to happen. After
an exciting, complex, mistake-filled battle,
the position simplified and the draw was
achieved. I was the U.S. Junior Champion!
I ended up a full point clear of the field at
7/9, with Hong finishing second at 6/9, and
Mishra and Daggupati third at five points.
While I didn’t get thrown in a pool, I had a
lot of dry fun after the tournament, with
plenty of blitz and bullet games. I was hav-
ing such a good time, in fact, that suddenly
I saw it was 2:30 a.m. — whoops!
The 2022 U.S. Junior Championship was a
great experience, and not just for me. All of
the players appreciated how well organized
the tournament was, and everyone seemed
to be having a lot of fun.
As for me, I’m excited to play in the U.S.
Championship, which will be just about
ready to begin when you read these words!
I hope future me is playing well!
For more on the Juniors, check
out our CLO coverage at new.
uschess.org/2022-us-senior-and-
junior-championships

2022 U.S. Junior Championship

ST. LOUIS, JULY 6-16, 2022
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 GM Christopher Yoo 2636 * 1 1 1 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 7/9

2 GM Andrew Hong 2599 0 * ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 6/9

3 GM Abhimanyu Mishra 2636 0 ½ * ½ 1 0 1 ½ ½ 1 5/9

4 IM Balaji Daggupati 2557 0 0 ½ * ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 5/9

5 IM David Brodsky 2596 1 0 0 ½ * ½ 1 0 ½ 1 4½/9

6 IM Justin Wang 2563 0 ½ 1 0 ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ 4½/9

7 GM Awonder Liang 2722 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 * 1 1 1 4½/9

8 GM Brandon Jacobson 2659 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 * 1 1 4/9

9 IM Carissa Yip 2497 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 * 0 2½/9

10 Pedro Espinosa 2228 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 * 2/9

42 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG

 October 2022 PUZZLES

BY FM CARSTEN HANSEN
THIS MONTH’S PUZZLES ARE TAKEN FROM THE U.S. JUNIOR,
Girls’ Junior, Cadet, and Senior Championships that took place in
July 2022.
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 one or two 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. Solutions are
on page 63.

TACTIC I. TACTIC II. TACTIC III.

WHITE TO MOVE BLACK TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE

TACTIC IV. TACTIC V. TACTIC VI.

WHITE TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE BLACK TO MOVE

TACTIC VII. TACTIC VIII. TACTIC IX.

BLACK TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE BLACK TO MOVE

Position 1: NOT ENOUGH PROTECTION Position 4: DISLOCATED COORDINATION Position 7: ISOLATE HIS MAJESTY
Position 2: THE EMERGENCY BRAKE Position 5: THE WEAKEST POINT Position 8: OPEN THE FLOODGATES
Position 3: OVERBURDENED DEFENDER Position 6: RAPID MOBILIZATION Position 9: STRIKE AT HEART

USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 43

SOLITAIRE CHESS Instruction
Nepo’s Resurgence
The two-time Candidates winner knows his tactics.
BY BRUCE PANDOLFINI
N OW T H AT G M M AG N US
Carlsen has announced he
won’t be defending his world
chess championship, the title
will go to the winner of the
match between the two highest scorers of
the 2022 Candidates Tournament: namely
the event’s winner, GM Ian Nepomniacht-
chi, or the second place finisher, GM Ding
Liren. Either of them would be a worthy
representative of the game’s highest honor.
Yet it must be said, “Nepo” clearly played the
best chess in the Candidates and earned his
overall victory. This month’s game from the
2021 Magnus Carlsen Invitational features
Nepomniachtchi versus GM Hikaru Nakamu-
ra (Black), who also played excellent chess
in the Candidates, finishing tied for third.
RUY LOPEZ, BERLIN DEFENSE
(C67)
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi
GM Hikaru Nakamura
Magnus Carlsen Invitational (1.12),
chess24.com, 03.16.2021
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. 0-0 Nxe4
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
44 OCTOBER 2022 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.**
5. d4 Par Score 5
White plays to open lines in the center. Ac-
cept full credit for 5. Re1.
5. … Nd6
Black gets the knight off the e-file, while
attacking the b5-bishop.**
6. Bxc6 Par Score 5
Although it’s not quite as good, you may
accept full credit for 6. dxe5, with the idea
of answering 6. ... Nxb5 by 7. a4.
6. … dxc6
Taking toward the center (6. ... bxc6) follows
principle, but the text offers slightly better
dynamics.**
7. dxe5 Par Score 5
Accept full credit for 7. Nxe5. The text cre-
ates a kingside pawn majority and forces a
favorable trade of queens. Still Black is okay.
7. … Nf5
Add 1 bonus point if you planned to answer
7. ... Nb5 by 8. a4.**
8. Qxd8+ Par Score 5
While this is best, since it takes away the
castling privilege, Black’s king is not really
in danger.
8. … Kxd8**
9. Nc3 Par Score 5
You may accept full credit for 9. Rd1+, though
it drives the black king to a safer square.
9. … Ke8
Black gets off the d-file anyway, while keep-
ing a defensive eye on the f7-square, which
is potentially vulnerable.**
10. h3 Par Score 5
This gives White the option of following
more securely with g2-g4, driving off the
f5-knight.
10. … Be6
Clearing the way for the queen-rook, but also
possible were 10. ... Be7 or even 10. ... h5.**
11. g4 Par Score 5
The black knight is forced from its perch.
You may accept full credit for 11. Rd1, 11.
b3, 11. Bf4, or 11. Ne4.
11. … Ne7
Much worse would be 11. ... Nh6, when the
knight would have fewer possibilities.**
12. Nd4 Par Score 6
The move 12. Ng5 also attacks the e6-bishop,
but 12. Nd4 centralizes the knight.
12. … Bd7
Black retreats the bishop and still keeps an
eye on key light squares as well as White’s
kingside.**
13. f4 Par Score 5
With the f-pawn unblocked, White mobi-
lizes his pawn majority for attack. Even so,
we’re still in a popular line, with chances
about equal.
13. … h5
Black would like to open the h-file and weak-
en the pawns in front of the white king.**
14. f5 Par Score 6
Not only is this an expansive attacking move,
it avoids the loss of a pawn.
 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 63.

OCTOBER EXERCISE:
Try to partition your think-
ing. On your turn, be specific,
searching for candidate moves
to answer your opponent while PROBLEM 4 PROBLEM 5 PROBLEM 6
fostering your own game. On Mating net Mating net Mating net
your opponent’s turn, however,
you can be more general. That’s
when you can ask investigative
questions to unearth possibil-
ities. Does my opponent have
any potential targets? Are there
any pitfalls to avoid? Questions
like these are best posed when
your mind is freer to explore, on
your opponent’s time.

14. … hxg4** Black unblocks the a3-f8 diagonal, hoping White repositions his queen-rook for other
to get some activity. But also good was 18. ... action.
15. e6 Par Score 6 Rh5, and the king-rook becomes annoying.**
The expected move here is 15. hxg4, for 22. … c5
which you may accept 5 points part credit. 19. Ne4 Par Score 6 Black hopes for 23. Nxc5 Nc6.**
Nepo creates a wedge at e6, keeping the Both white knights occupy strong central
Black queenside forces locked in. squares. Now if 19. ... Bd6+, White can play 23. Rxf8+ Par Score 8
20. Nxd6. This is decisive. After 23. ... Kxf8 24. Bxe7+
15. … fxe6 Kxe7 25. Rxg7+ Kf8 26. Rf7+ Kg8 (if 26. ...
Possibly better was 15. ... Bc8, when after 19. … Rh5 Ke8 27. Nf6+ Kd8 28. e7 mate) 27. Nf6+ Kh8
16. exf7+ Kxf7, the Black king is not in any Black is still fighting and very much in this 28. Nxh5 cxd4 29. Nf6 and mate next. Thus...
real trouble.** game.**
23. … Black resigned.
16. fxe6 Par Score 5 20. Rg1 Par Score 5
Forcing Black’s response. White overprotects his bishop, with a veiled
threat to the g6-knight.
16. … Bc8** TOTAL YOUR SCORE
20. … a6 TO DETERMINE
17. Bg5 Par Score 7 Black wants to play 21. ... c5, so he prevents YOUR APPROXIMATE
Nepomniatchi activates his last minor piece 22. Nb5. But White’s edge now increases. Bet- RATING BELOW:
and clears the home rank. On 17. hxg4, Black ter seems to be the centralizing 21. ... Ne5.** Total Score Approx. Rating
would have 17. ... Rh4.
21. Rad1 Par Score 5 95+ 2400+
17. … gxh3 Nepo positions his last piece. A Morphy-like 81-90 2200-2399
This is better than 17. ... Rxh3, when 18. mate is envisoned on the d8-square. 66-80 2000-2199
Rad1 would follow.**
21. … Ne7 51-65 1800-1999
18. Kh2 Par Score 5 Hikaru blocks up the bishop’s diagonal. 36-50 1600-1799
White opts to neutralize potential coun- Give yourself 1 bonus point if you intended
21-35 1400-1599
terplay by blockading the h-pawn before to answer 21. ... c5 with 22. Nb5.**
proceeding to attack. 06-20 1200-1399
22. Rdf1 Par Score 6 0-05 under 1200
18. … Ng6 With mate on d8 no longer a possibility,

USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 45

ENDGAME SCHOOL Instruction

Senior Exams at
St. Louis
Four endgames from the 2022 U.S. Senior Championship
BY GM JOEL BENJAMIN

S
ENIORS CONTESTED A
wide variety of fascinating
endgames in St. Louis. Some-
times the experienced hands
got everything right, but even
wily veterans can slip up in
tricky endgames.
GM Larry Christiansen, one of five players
tied for first after nine rounds, was probably
most deserving of taking home the title.
The oldest player in the field was not above
working overtime.
DOUBLED PAWN, DOUBLE
TROUBLE
GM Igor Novikov (2547)
GM Larry Christiansen (2577)
U.S. Senior Championship (7), St. Lou-
is, 07.14.2022
ticular the pawn stuck on g2, will seriously Instead he will use the a-pawn as a decoy,
stretch the defense. dominate the knight, and promote the
h-pawn.
47. Kd3 Bb5+ 48. Ke3 Bf1!?
This obvious move sets everything in mo-
tion, but the steely engine pegs it as a serious BAD CHECK
inaccuracy! GM Larry Christiansen (2577)
GM Maxim Dlugy (2513)
49. f4+?? U.S. Senior Championship (4), St. Lou-
Novikov’s move is apparently forced because is, 07.10.2022
49. Kf2 Kd4 would be decisive, but he actual-
ly missed a miracle draw beginning with the
unlikely 49. g4!! Now 49. ... hxg4 50. f4+! Kf5
51. g3 leaves the kingside walled off, while
49. ... h4 50. f4+ Kd6 51. Kf2 Bc4 52. g5 Ke6
53. g3 Kf5 54. Kf3 also allows White to hold.
49. ... Kf5 50. Kf2 Bb5 51. Kf3 Bc6+ 52.
Ke3 f6 53. Kf2 g5 54. fxg5 fxg5
Now White’s position is hopeless. He can
prevent a king invasion or protect his g2-
pawn, but not both.

BLACK TO MOVE

White has an extra pawn and the more active

queen. Black has to pitch his pride and joy
to keep the e-pawn from queening.

42. ... b3 43. Qd3+ Kh8 44. Qxb3 Qxe6 45.

BLACK TO MOVE
The potential to invade with the king and
exploit White’s vulnerable b4-pawn gives
Black a decided advantage.
43. ... Ke7 44. f3 Kd6 45. Kf2 Ke5 46. Ke3
h5!
The weakness of White’s kingside, in par-
55. Ke3 Ke5 56. Nd1 Bxg2 57. Nf2 Kd5
58. Kd3 Bf1+ 59. Kc3 Ke5 60. Kd2 Kd4 61.
Ke1 Bg2 62. Kd2 Kc4 63. Nd3 Bf1 64. Ne5+
Kxb4 65. g4 h4 66. Ke1 Bh3 67. Nf3 a5 68.
Nxg5 Bxg4 69. Kd2 Kc4, White resigned.
Black only had to avoid 69. ... h3?? 70. Nxh3
Bxh3 71. Kc2 with a wrong rook pawn draw.
Qb5 Qf5 46. Kg1 Qc2 47. Qxa5 Qc1+?
Dlugy wanted to put the white king on the
long diagonal for a future check, but actually
Black needed it on the back rank to poten-
tially queen his pawn with check!
Black would hold the draw after 47. ...
Qxc4 48. Qa8+ Kh7 49. a5 Qd4 50. a6 c4 51.
a7 c3, as his passed pawn is in step with
White’s.
48. Kg2 Qxc4 49. Qa8+ Kh7 50. a5 Qa4
The previous drawing method is now a step

46 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG

slow: 50. ... Qd4 51. a6 c4 52. a7 c3 53. Qb7
c2 54. a8=Q c1=Q and since this promotion
does not come with check, White plays 55.
Qf7 with a killing mate threat.
51. a6 c4 52. Qe4+!
I believe Maxim had overlooked that he
would have to block off his queen to push
his pawn, enabling this check to gain a
critical tempo.
52. ... Kh8 53. Qb7, Black resigned.
The a-pawn promotes with check now.
KNIGHT ON THE RIM
GM Vladimir Akopian (2620)
GM Maxim Dlugy (2513)
U.S. Senior Championship (7), St. Lou-
is, 07.14.2022
BLACK TO MOVE
Dlugy’s knight has been trapped on the side
of the board for several moves. It seems he
could have successfully sacrificed it a few
times already, but now zugzwang is setting
in and the deed has to be done.
43. ... Nf5?
Black has a choice of how to play his pawns,
and I can’t say which one is more logical or
intuitive, but one works, and the other does
not! 43. ... g5! 44. Be4 (otherwise the knight
escapes to g6) 44. ... Nf5 45. gxf5 exf5 is the
right way to defend.
Here White can take the f5-pawn, leaving
him with a more maintainable d3-pawn,
but the outside passed g-pawn stretches
White’s resources too much: 46. Bxf5 Kxc6
47. Kb4 (the king is too far afield after 47.
Kxa6 Kc5 48. Ka5 Kd4 49. Kb4 g4) 47. ... Kd5
48. Kc3 a5 and here the a-pawn does matter
— eventually White will have to part with
his final pawn.
Alternatively, 46. Bg2 g4 47. Kb4 (47. Kxa6
fails to the same method) 47. ... e4 48. dxe4
Kxc6 (not 48. ... f4?? 49. Kc5 f3 50. Bh1!) 49.
exf5+ Kd6 and again the last pawn dies.
44. gxf5 gxf5
Off the table is 44. ... exf5 because Black
does not win a tempo on the bishop in this
variation. After 45. Kxa6 g5 46. Kb5 the c6-
pawn stays alive.
45. Bf3!
This is the key move. Akopian avoids putting
his king out of position with 45. Kxa6, while
putting his bishop on the optimal square.
Black has no waiting moves.
45. ... e4 46. dxe4 Kxc6 47. exf5+ Kd6
After 47. ... Kd7 48. f6 Ke8 49. Bh5+ Kf8 50.
Kxa6 the white king is in time.
48. f6 e5 49. f7 Ke7 50. Bd5 e4 51. Kb4,
Black resigned.
The position suddenly crystalizes. The white
bishop multitasks, defending the f-pawn and
holding back the a-pawn, so the king is free
to tackle the e-pawn.
In fairness it should be noted that Maxim
balanced these losses with four nice victo-
ries! (See Harold Scott’s article on the Senior
in this issue for two of those wins. ~ed.)
SPACE INVADERS
GM Gregory Kaidanov (2548)
IM Igor Khmelnitsky (2472)
U.S. Senior Championship (9), St. Lou-
is, 07.16.2022
BLACK TO MOVE
Three connected passed pawns are certainly
imposing, but two factors give White the
nod here. One, he can potentially create a
passed pawn of his own, and two, his king
is not too far away. Still, some “box” moves
are necessary for White to win.
40. ... h4
Instead 40. ... g5 allows the white king to
approach with 41. Kd2.
41. Rxb7!
Black would actually win after 41. Kd2? h3
42. Ke2 h2 43. Rh7 Kg3 44. Kf1 b5.
41. ... h3
All-in on the passed pawns. Both 41. ... a6
42. Rb6 and 41. ... a5 42. Rc7 also lose.
42. Rxa7 g5 43. Rh7 g4 44. a4!
Again there is only one way. Black has a
beautiful draw after 44. Kd2 Kg3! 45. Ke2
Kh2 46. Rg7 g3 47. Kf1 f5 48. a4 f4 49. a5 f3
50. a6 c3 51. bxc3 g2+ 52. Kf2 g1=Q+ 53. Rxg1
with stalemate!
44. ... f5 45. a5??
But now was the time to come with the king!
Now 45. Kd2 produces a clear win. The plan
in the previous note is just a move too slow
— 45. ... Kg3 46. a5 Kh2 47. a6 g3 48. a7 g2
49. Rg7, while the method from the game
simply falls short after 45. ... g3 46. Rh4+
Kg5 47. Rxh3 f4 48. Ke2.
45. ... g3! 46. Rh4+ Ke5!
This inspired resource saves the game. Black
will not give the rook a tempo to get behind
the pawns.
47. Rxh3 f4 48. Rh5+ Kf6! 49. Rh6+ Kf5 50.
Rh5+ Kf6
White is faster after 50. ... Kg4? 51. Rh8, but
now he has to give perpetual check.
51. Rh6+ Kf5 52. Rh5+ Kf6, draw.
This missed opportunity kept Kaidanov
from becoming the sixth player in the first-
place tie!
USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 47
BOOKS AND BEYOND
Solid Self-Publishing
Self-published books can be hit or miss. Here are three titles
you might want to consider.
BY IM JOHN WATSON
T H E H I S T ORY OF
self-published chess
books is a rich one,
encompassing count-
less obscure and
long-forgotten manuscripts in every
country. Over the years, I’ve seen
numerous annotated games col-
lections by amateur players, usu-
ally passed around to friends but
never reaching a wider audience.
There must be hundreds of these
productions out there.
Obscurity is the rule. I have
made my own forays into self-pub-
lication, and suspect, for example,
that there are very few copies left
of my self-collated 2nd Marshall
International Chess Tournament,
New York 1979. Nor of the first
Chessman Comics (illustrated by
Chris Hendrickson), which was
churned out and stapled together
in a local copy shop in Denver,
then distributed by hand.
Today’s technology has con-
siderably eased the process of
self-publication, and all the
messy details of layout, finding
a printer, storage, distribution/advertising,
i i
and even the upfront costs of publication
can be bypassed by using ChessBase and
one of a number of online services. It’s also
possible to avoid the print world entirely
and go directly to ebook.
One of the books I’m reviewing here,
David LeMoir, Chess Scribe: A 50-Year An-
thology, is a collection of David LeMoir’s
chess writings over 50 years. It includes an
informative 2020 article “You Too Can Be a
Chess Author,” which, in addition to describ-
ing some of the self-published books by his
friends, gets into the details of self-publish-
ing with Amazon’s direct publishing services.
48 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG
Should I Buy It?
I can’t
’ even guess howh many chess
h books
b k
have been published this way — I count
109 Kindle ebooks by Tim Sawyer alone,
for example.
Chess Scribe itself is self-published, but
LeMoir has also written several entertain-
ing books for Gambit Publishing: How to
be Lucky in Chess, How to Become a Deadly
Chess Tactician, and Essential Chess Sacrifices.
Excerpts from these books are included in
Chess Scribe, with the bulk of the material
coming from his articles which appeared in
the British magazines Chess and En Passant.
Part of the fun is reading about LeMoir’s
experiences at Chess, where he worked
briefly and became familiar with
the legendary B.H. Wood, and En
Passant, a local magazine which he
took over himself. LeMoir clearly
loves old chess books and chess
history, and the anthology includes
items such as his lengthy and in-
fformative tribute to the fellow
Norwich-based writer and strong
N
player Owen Hindle.
p
Chess Scribe consists of tourna-
ment reports, anecdotes, and in-
m
sstructional articles, among others
types of chess material. Le Moir’s
ty
books are centered around tactics
b
and practical play, and that applies
a
to many of these writings as well.
An example which illustrates both
A
tactics and his love of chess litera-
ta
ture is the following:
tu
INGENIOUS!
IN
Van Vliet, 1888
Va
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
“I was recently re-reading Jeno Ban’s won-
derful 1963 book The Tactics of Endgames,
when I came across this venerable but in-
genious old 1888 study of Van Vliet,” LeMoir
writes. The solution is:
 1. Qb4! Qh1! 4. Rxe3 Qxe3??
The subtlest try. Slightly easier for White is Still missing the point. Black retains equal
1. ... Qd5 2. Qa4+ Kb6, and now the pretty chances with 4. ... Qxb2.
3. Qb3+!! Qxb3 4. b8=Q+.
5. Qxf5+! gxf5 6. g6+ hxg6 7. hxg6+ Kxg6
2. Qa3+ Kb6 3. Qb2+ Kc7 4. Qh2+! Qxh2 8. Bxe3, Black resigned.
5. b8=Q+
And White picks up the queen. Chess Life editor John Hartmann tells me
that recently a number of players have
“Then I realized that I had seen the same been inspired to read older books written
tactic before...” by masters in the pre-engine era, in order to
gain a more ‘human’ understanding of how
players think, uncluttered by the complex
AGAIN! and counterintuitive improvements the
Oskar Hackner engines offer. I suspect that even strong
GM John Emms players grow tired of seeing dense analysis
British Championship, 2016 with moves that neither side would consider
playing in a real over-the-board game, so
this is a nice exercise which can benefit the
practical player.
Two of the works considered here were
written without the use of engines. The first
is by Mike Read, a Senior International Cor-
respondence Master who gave an overview
of his career in two self-published books: My
120 Selected Correspondence Games and Tri-
umph and Disaster (a second games collection).
His new book, 110 Instructive Chess Anno-
tations, is a collection of games by players
from Norfolk County, all first published in
En Passant (the magazine described above).
Read’s tone is instructive, emphasizing typ-
ical mistakes and strategic misunderstand-
ings. And because of an ongoing medical
frailty, he does not use computers in his
analysis.
This can be seen as a bug or a feature,
depending on one’s perspective. In his Fore-
word to 110 Instructive Chess Annotations,
David LeMoir notes that Read “does not
rely on a computer’s judgment of a position,
which is often based on obscure tactical
lines that few humans below Grandmaster
level (and often not even a Grandmaster)
would ever be able to reproduce. So he can-
not fall into the trap that some modem au-
thors fall into of occasionally giving random
computer-generated variations and evalu-

SIM Mike Read

BLACK TO MOVE

64. ... Qe6+ 65. Kd2 Qh6+!, White resigned.

A typical LeMoir theme is the saving of

lost positions, like this one by a 12-year-old
Michael Adams:

IMPUDENCE!
Michael Adams
Thompson
West of England Championship, 1984
PHOTO: COURTESY MIKEREADSIM.WEEBLY.COM

WHITE TO MOVE

1. d5 exd5 2. h5 Be3 3. Re1 Qf2??

Black is clearly winning after 3. ... Ke7 or
3. ... d4.

USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 49

BOOKS AND BEYOND Should I Buy It?
ations that they do not fully understand.”
While the games in Read’s collection are
mostly by club players, a number of them
include professionals. To wit: Read annotates
a high-level game by local boy done good,
GM John Emms:
RUY LOPEZ (C77)
GM Leonid Yudasin
IM John Emms
World Open, 1991
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5.
Qe2 b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. a4 Rb8 8. axb5 axb5
9. Nc3 0-0 10. Nxb5? d5 11. exd5 e4 12.
Ng5 Ne5
Read gives this a double-exclam, thinking
it was a novelty. In fact, the move had been
played in a couple of games 10 years earlier,
although it’s quite possible that Emms came
up with it independently.
This line actually goes way back, with the
entertaining stem game Suechting – Johner
(Vienna, 1908) continuing 12. ... Rxb5?! 13.
Qxb5 Bxf2+ 14. Kxf2 Ng4+ 15. Ke1 Qxg5 (15.
... Nd4!) 16. Qxc6? (16. d4!) 16. ... Ne5 17.
Qxc7 (17. Qb5) 17. ... Qxg2 18. Qxe5 Qxh1+
19. Kf2 Qf3+ 20. Ke1 Qh1+ 21. Kf2 Qf3+ 22.
Ke1 Qh1+, draw.
13. Nc3 Bg4 14. Qa6 Rxb3 15. cxb3 Nd3+
16. Kf1 Nxf2 17. Rg1
Black has a winning position. A later game
saw 17. Qc4 Bb6! 18. d4 exd3 e.p. 19. Rg1 d2!
20. Bxd2 Bf5.
17. ... Nd3 18. Qc4
On 18. Rh1 Qd7 and ... Qd7-f5+. Read gives
the nice variation 18. h3 Nh5!! 19. Ncxe4 f5!!
20. Qe6+ Kh8 21. Nf7+ Rxf7 22. Qxf7 fxe4
threatening ... Nh5-g3 mate again.
18. ... Qd6 19. Ncxe4 Qf4+ 20. Nf3 Bxf3
21. Nxc5 Be4+ 22. Ke2 Qf2+, White re-
signed.
The game could end with 23. Kd1 Qxg1+ 24.
Kc2 Nb4+ 25. Kc3 Nfxd5+ 26. Qxd5 Nxd5+ 27.
Kc4 Nb6+ and mate soon follows.
Here’s a game by Read himself, with his
notes. I’ve cut down on them for reasons of
space, and added just a couple of improve-
ments (in blue text) which an engine has no
trouble spotting.
Right: The title page from Mike Splane’s
posthumously published book, Chess Wiz-
ardry: Thinking Outside the Box.
50 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG
RUY LOPEZ, EXCHANGE VARI-
ATION (C68)
IM Michael Read
IM Janis Vitomskis
BPCF-Latvia (corr), 1996
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6
5. 0-0 Qd6 6. d3
This is a main line, but 6. d4 exd4 7. Nxd4
setting up the ‘workable’ kingside majority
against the ‘unworkable’ queenside majority,
is perhaps more in the spirit of the variation.
6. ... f6 7. Be3 c5 8. Qe2 Be6 9. c3 Ne7 10.
d4 cxd4 11. cxd4 exd4 12. Nxd4 Nc6!
New and very strong! At a stroke, White’s
initiative disappears and Black’s queenside
majority perhaps even gives him the ad-
vantage. After only a dozen moves White is
forced to begin playing for a draw.
13. Nxe6
The alternative 13. Nxc6! Qxc6 14. Rc1 is
awkward for Black, since 14. ... Qxe4 15.
Nd2 Qe5 16. Nf3 Qe4 (16. ... Qd6?? 17. Bf4!)
17. Rxc7 is clearly in White’s favor.
13. ... Qxe6 14. Nc3 Bd6 15. Qh5+ Qf7 16.
Qxf7+ Kxf7 17. f3 Rhd8 18. Rad1 Ne7
Getting ready to roll his queenside pawns.
19. Rf2 Be5 20. Rfd2 Rxd2 21. Bxd2 b5 22.
b3 c5 23. f4 Bd4+ 24. Kf1 f5 25. e5!
Establishing a protected passed pawn, which
will be a big asset in any ending. By accu-
rate play over the last few moves, White has
minimized his disadvantage.
25. ... Ke6 26. Ne2 Nc6 27. Nxd4+ cxd4?
Better was 27. ... Nxd4 when Black would
still have the advantage, but White should
hold with best play. With the text, Black tries
too hard to win. His d-pawn, which cramps
White at present, is a potential weakness in
the long term.
It turns out that 27. ... cxd4 is in fact a
good move. 27. ... Nxd4 is probably okay,
but Black has to play accurately after 28.
Be3! g5! (28. ... Kd5 29. b4 Kc4 30. bxc5 Nc6
31. Rd7) 29. fxg5 Kxe5 30. b4 Ne6 31. bxc5
f4 32. Bf2 Nxg5.
28. Rc1!
A good move. Sooner or later Black will have
to play his rook to the c-file, and after the
inevitable rook exchange White’s passed
pawn will be stronger, and Black’s d-pawn
more vulnerable.
28. ... Kd5 29. Ke2 Rc8 30. a3
Note that 29…Rc8? allowed 30. Bb4! Ke4 31.
Bd6 with some real chances. Instead 29. ...
a5! improves, validating Black’s 27th move.
30. ... Ne7 31. Rxc8 Nxc8 32. Kd3
Notwithstanding Black’s error on move 27,
there is still, sadly, no way for White to win.
Even if he wins Black’s d-pawn, all that Black
has to do to draw is keep his king on d5 and
his pawns on b5 and f5 whilst swapping his
knight from c6 to e7 and back again (to pre-
vent White playing his king to b4). White,
however, decides to try a couple of tricks
before acquiescing to the draw.
32. ... Ne7 33. Ba5 Nc6 34. Bc7 Kc5 35.
g4 g6
[If] 35. ... fxg4? 36. Ke4.
36. gxf5
White can win a pawn with 36. b4+ Kd5 37.
g5 Ke6 38. Bb6 Kd5 39. h4 Ne7 40. Bxd4 but,
as mentioned in the note to White’s 32nd,
after 40. ... Nc6 41. Bb6 Ke6 Black has set up
a fortress and it is not possible to make any
further progress.
36. ... gxf5 37. Ba5
Of course 37. ... Kd5 or any other sensible
move allows Black to draw as per the note
to White’s 32nd, but isn’t the pawn ending
after 37. ... Nxa5 also a draw? After 10 days
thought, Black decided that it was.
37. ... Nxa5?? 38. b4+ Kc6 39. bxa5 Kd5
At this point, Read gives a diagram of the
position with the kings off the board and
devotes two pages to a discussion of cor-
responding squares. I don’t have room to
include it here but, along with the game
continuation, it is instructive, and useful
for understanding pawn endings.
40. Kc2 Kc6 41. Kb2?! Kd5 42. Ka1!
Zugzwang! If Black now plays 42. ... Kc5,
White will reply with 43 Kb1! and then after
43. ... Kd5 44 Kb2! or 43. ... Kc6 44 Kc2!.
White wins as he now has the opposition.
42. ... Kc6 43. Ka2 Kd7 44. Kb3 Kc6 45.
a4!, Black resigned.
Here Read gives one final note, which I’ve
abbreviated:
“Black does have a shot that makes life
difficult for White and that is 45. ... b4! 46.
Kxb4 Kd5 47. Kb3 Kc5 How does White now
make progress? It transpires that Black’s king
still only has access to three key squares (d5,
c5 and e6), and that despite the alteration
of the pawn structure, the corresponding
squares remain exactly the same! Therefore
White plays 48. Kc2 Kc6 49. Kc1 and now 49.
... Kc5 50. Kb1! Kd5 51. Kb2 Kc6 52. Kc2! and
wins. Black correctly decided that I’d seen
all this so [he resigned].”
A final note about Read’s book: it, like all
of his titles, is very inexpensive, running
about $12 on Amazon for 500+ pages of
content. Read says in the Introduction that
he is forgoing royalties and selling at cost
to allow more people to read them — an
admirable gesture, and one that is only
possible in a non-commercial situation.
The last book I’d like to mention, Chess
Wizardry: Thinking Outside the Box, isn’t in
print or kindle format, but is freely available
as a PDF file on the web. The author, Mike
Splane, died last year, and before he passed,
he put together his annotated games and
extensive thoughts about chess in Word files.
Splaine’s friends Dana Mackenzie and
Ken Case edited these files, move-checked
the games, and put the book into PDF for-
mat. Splane talks at great length about his
theories of how to play chess, and has many
opinions about chess principles, even in-
venting some new terminology to explain his
ideas. He devotes time to pawn structures,
defending, the endgame, the thinking pro-
cess, and other topics.
Splaine, like Read, didn’t use ChessBase
or an engine, so sometimes his notes are
off base, but this gives them a casual feel
which is easy for the average player to relate
to. Here’s a game he was proud of, with his
notes along with one of my own in blue:
SICILIAN DEFENSE, ALAPIN
VARIATON (B22)
Mike Splane
GM Walter Browne
San Mateo, 1989
My final tournament in the Santa Cruz area
was the World Action Championship. I faced
13 masters and senior masters in this event
and more than held my own, playing several
great games, which included wins over two
grandmasters The highlight of any player’s
career must be a win against the strongest
player in his country.
1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5.
Nf3 Nc6 6. cxd4 d6 7. exd6 Qxd6 8. Nc3 g6
9. Nb5 Qd8 10. Bc4 a6 11. Bxd5 axb5 12.
Qb3 e6 13. Bxc6+ bxc6 14. Bg5 Qa5+ 15.
Bd2 Qa4 16. Qe3 Qc4 17. Ne5 Qd5 18. Qf4
f5 19. 0-0! c5?
If 19. ... Rxa2 20. Rxa2 Qxa2 21. Nxc6 Qxb2
22. Qc7 wins. After the game Walter said
advancing the c pawn was his key mistake.
At the time I did not understand this remark.
Now I do. The point is my bishop is limited
in scope by the d4-pawn; its removal turns
a bad piece into a monster. I also get control
of the open d-file. I thought he should have
played 19. ... Ra7.
20. dxc5 Bxc5 21. Bc3 Bb7 22. Nf3 Rf8
I do not know why he did not castle.
Here’s why: 22. ... 0-0 loses to 23. Rfd1 Qc6
(23. ... Qe4 24. Qc7) 24. Qe5 Kf7 25. Rac1.
23. Rad1 Qe4 24. Qc7
Forking c5 and h7. Now his position quickly
collapses.
24. ... Qc6 25. Qxh7 e5 26. Bxe5 Rf7 27.
Bg7 Qc7 28. Rfe1+ Be4 29. Qxg6 Qb6
He has been desperately playing for traps.
I am guessing he saw my next move but de-
cided to gamble that I would miss it.
30. Rxe4+ fxe4 31. Qxe4+ Re7 32. Qxa8+
Kf7 33. Qf8+ Kg6 34. Bd4 Bxd4 35. Qxe7,
Black resigned.
LeMoir, David. David LeMoir, Chess Scribe:
A 50-Year Anthology. Self-published, 2021.
ISBN 978-1527291188, 272 pages. Available
on Amazon.com.
Read, Mike: 110 Instructive Chess Anno-
tations. Self-published, 2021. ISBN 979-
8466415964, 551 pages. Available on Ama-
zon.com.
Splane, Mike. Chess Wizardry: Thinking
Outside the Box. Self-published, 2021. Freely
available at bus91l.altervista.org/Chess_Wiz-
ardry/chess_wizardry.pdf. See also the July
2022 “My Best Move” in Chess Life for more
of Splane’s writing.
USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 51
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Sheraton Hartford Hotel at Bradley Airport,
$10,000 guaranteed prizes.
CENTRAL NEW YORK OPEN, Oct 21-23 or
22-23, Quality Inn & Suites Fairgrounds,
Syracuse. $5,000 guaranteed.
EASTERN CHESS CONGRESS, Oct 28-30
or 29-30, Westin at Forrestal Village,
Princeton, NJ. $25,000 guaranteed prizes.
LOS ANGELES OPEN, Nov 4-6 or 5-6,
Hilton at Orange County Airport, Irvine.
$15,000 guaranteed prizes.
KINGS ISLAND OPEN, Nov 11-13 or 12-13,
Embassy Suites Cincinnati Northeast, Blue
Ash, Ohio. $25,000 guaranteed prizes.
NATIONAL CHESS CONGRESS, Nov 25-
27 or 26-27, Loews Philadelphia Hotel. 6
rounds, 10 sectons, $45,000 guaranteed.
GP Points: 150 FIDE Rated: Y Handicap accessible:
Y Residency restriction: N Organizer: ChessPalace
Email: Play@americanopen.org Phone: 714-643-8828
Website: http://www.americanopen.org T LA ID: 34947
GRAND PRIX
2022 NC Open
NOVEMBER 25-27, NORTH CAROLINA
Event site: Hilton Charlotte University Place Hotel
Address: 8629 JM Keynes Drive, Charlotte, NC 28262
Overall prize fund: $11,000 GP Points: 40 FIDE Rat-
ed: Y Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction:
N Organizer: Grant Oen Email: info@charlottechess-
center.org Phone: n/a Website: http://www.char-
lottechesscenter.org/usmasters TLA ID: 33715
HERITAGE EVENT • AMERICAN CLASSIC • GRAND
PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX
53rd annual National Chess
Congress
NOVEMBER 25-27, PENNSYLVANIA
Event site: Loews Hotel Address: 1200 Market St,
Philadelphia PA 19107 Overall prize fund: $45,000
GP Points: 200 FIDE Rated: Y Handicap accessible:
Y Residency restriction: N Organizer: Continental
Chess Association Email: director@chess.us Phone:
3472012269 leave message including email address
Website: http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 34207
GRAND PRIX
6th Annual Sevan Memorial
Tournament
NOVEMBER 25-27, ILLINOIS
Event site: Hyatt Regency Schaumburg Address: 1800
E. Golf Rd., Schaumburg, IL 60173 Overall prize fund:
n/a GP Points: 30 FIDE Rated: Y Handicap accessible:
Y Residency restriction: N Organizer: Glenn Panner
Email: glennpan@gmail.com Phone: n/a Website:
http://www.chessweekend.com TLA ID: 34908
GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX
10th annual National Chess
Congress Blitz
NOVEMBER 26, PENNSYLVANIA
Event site: Loews Hotel Address: 1200 Market St, Phila-
delphia PA 19107 Overall prize fund: $500 GP Points:
TOURNAMENT LIFE
10 FIDE Rated: N Handicap accessible: Y Residency
restriction: N Organizer: Continental Chess Associa-
tion Email: director@chess.us Phone: director@chess.
us Website: http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 34662
HERITAGE EVENT • GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED
GRAND PRIX
Harry Nelson Pillsbury Memorial
DECEMBER 4, MASSACHUSETTS
Event site: Westford Regency Inn & Conference
Center Address: 219 Littleton Road, Westford, MA
01886 Overall prize fund: $1,500 GP Points: 10
FIDE Rated: N Handicap accessible: Y Resi-
dency restriction: N Organizer: Massachusetts
Chess Association Email: info@masschess.org
Phone: 603-891-2484 Website: http://www.
masschess.org TLA ID: 34960
GRAND PRIX • STATE CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT
2022 Michigan Action Championship
DECEMBER 10, 2022, MICHIGAN
Event site: Wyndham Garden Ann Arbor Address:
2900 Jackson Ave, Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Overall prize
fund: $2,150 GP Points: 20 FIDE Rated: N Handicap
accessible: N Residency restriction: N Organizer:
Michigan Chess Association Email: jeffchess64@
gmail.com Phone: 810-955-7271 Website: https://
www.michess.org/ TLA ID: 34770
GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022, IDAHO
Event site: Barber Park Education and Events Center
Address: 4049 S Eckert Road, Boise, ID 83716 Overall
prize fund: $15,725 GP Points: 200 FIDE Rated: Y
Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N
Organizer: George Lundy Email: chandraalexischess-
club@gmail.com Phone: (208) 375-1211 Website:
https://chandraalexischessclub.org/ TLA ID: 33838
GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR
GRAND PRIX
SPICE Cup Open
DECEMBER 18-23, 2022, MISSOURI
Event site: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel St. Louis - Ches-
terfield Address: 16625 Swingley Ridge Rd, Chester-
EASTERN OPEN, Dec 26-29, 27-29 or 28-
29, Hyatt Regency Crystal City at Reagan
National Airport. 8 rds, $30,000 guaranteed.
NORTH AMERICAN OPEN, Dec 26-30, 26-
29 or 27-29, Ballys Las Vegas. Open Section
9 rds, others 7 rds. $125,000 GUARANTEED.
BOSTON CHESS CONGRESS, Jan 6-8 or
7-8, Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor. $12,000
guaranteed prizes.
LIBERTY BELL OPEN, Jan 13-16, 14-16
or 15-16, Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown. 7
rounds, $25,000 projected prizes.
GOLDEN STATE OPEN, Jan 13-16, 14-16
or 15-16, Crowne Plaza Concord. 7 rounds,
$25,000 guaranteed prizes.
SOUTHWEST CLASS, Feb 16-20, 17-20 or
18-20, Westin DFW Airport. GM & IM norms
possible, $35,000 guaranteed prizes..
USCHESS.ORGQOCTOBER 2022
field, MO 63017 Overall prize fund: $15,500 gtd. GP
Points: 200 FIDE Rated: Y Handicap accessible: Y
Residency restriction: N Organizer: Webster Univer-
sity Email: chess@webster.edu Phone: 3142468075
Website: https://webster.edu/spice TLA ID: 35002
HERITAGE EVENT • AMERICAN CLASSIC • GRAND
PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX
32nd annual North American Open
DECEMBER 26-30, NEVADA
Event site: Bally’s Casino Resort Address: 3645
Las Vegas Blvd. S, Las Vegas, NV 89103 Overall
prize fund: $125,000 GP Points: 300 FIDE Rated:
Y Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction:
N Organizer: Continental Chess Association Email:
director@chess.us Phone: director@chess.us Web-
site: http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 34320
HERITAGE EVENT • GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED
GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR GRAND PRIX
47th annual Eastern Open
DECEMBER 26-29, VIRGINIA
Event site: Hyatt Regency Crystal City Address: 2799
Richmond Highway near Reagan National Airport, Arling-
ton VA 22202 Overall prize fund: $30,000 GP Points:
150 FIDE Rated: Y Handicap accessible: Y Residency
restriction: N Organizer: Continental Chess Associa-
tion Email: director@chess.us Phone: director@chess.
us Website: http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 34598
GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX
16th annual Eastern Open Blitz
DECEMBER 28, VIRGINIA
Event site: Hyatt Regency Crystal City Address: 2799
Richmond Highway near Reagan National Airport, Ar-
lington VA 22202 Overall prize fund: $500 GP Points:
10 FIDE Rated: N Handicap accessible: Y Residency
restriction: N Organizer: Continental Chess Associa-
tion Email: director@chess.us Phone: director@chess.
us Website: http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 34806
HERITAGE EVENT • GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED
GRAND PRIX
31st annual North American Blitz
DECEMBER 29, NEVADA
Event site: Bally’s Casino Resort Address: 3645 Las
Vegas Blvd. S, Las Vegas, NV 89103 Overall prize
53
TOURNAMENT LIFE
For complete details on individual events, please visit new.
uschess.org/node/[TLA ID]. You will find the event’s unique five-
digit TLA ID at the end of each TLA.
fund: $5,000 GP Points: 60 FIDE Rated: N Handi-
cap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Orga-
nizer: Continental Chess Association Email: direc-
tor@chess.us Phone: director@chess.us Website:
http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 34377
GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX •
JUNIOR GRAND PRIX
11th annual Boston Chess Congress
JANUARY 6-8, 2023, MASSACHUSETTS
Event site: Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor Address:
101 Harborside Dr, Boston MA 02128 Overall prize
fund: $12,000 GP Points: 80 FIDE Rated: Y Hand-
icap accessible: N Residency restriction: N Orga-
nizer: Continental Chess Association Email: direc-
tor@chess.us Phone: director@chess.us Website:
http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 34968
HERITAGE EVENT • AMERICAN CLASSIC • GRAND
PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX
55th annual Liberty Bell Open
JANUARY 13-16, 2023, PENNSYLVANIA
Event site: Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Ad-
dress: 201 N 17th St, Philadelphia 19103 Overall
prize fund: $25,000 GP Points: 120 FIDE Rated: Y
Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N
Organizer: Continental Chess Association Email:
director@chess.us Phone: director@chess.us Web-
site: http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 34860
GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR
GRAND PRIX
4th annual Golden State Open
JANUARY 13-16, 2023, CALIFORNIA,
NORTHERN
Event site: Crowne Plaza Concord Address: 245
John Glenn Dr, Concord CA 94520 Overall prize
fund: $25,000 GP Points: 150 FIDE Rated: Y Hand-
47th annual Eastern Open
December 26-29, 27-29 or 28-29, 2022 - 8 rounds, Hyatt Regency Crystal City
$30,000 GUARANTEED including $2500 in senior prizes!
8 rounds, Hyatt Regency Crystal
City, 2799 Richmond Highway,
Arlington VA 22202. Parking $15,
free airport shuttle. In 6 sections:
Premier 12/26-29, U2200 to U1300
12/26-29 or 27-29, U1000 12/28-29.
Premier (2000/up): $3000-1500-
800-500-400, clear/tiebreak 1st $100
bonus, top USCF U2300 $1000-500.
FIDE, 150 GPP. See peakrating.us.
U2200: $1700-900-500-400-300,
U2000 $600-300. FIDE rated.
U1900: $1700-900-500-400-300,
U1700 $400-200.
U1600: $1400-700-500-300-200,
U1400 $400-200.
U1300: $1300-700-400-300-200,
U1100 $300.
U1000: $800-500-300-200-100.
If Online Regular rating is 50 or
more points over section/prize
maximum, prize limit $400.
54 OCTOBER 2022QUSCHESS.ORG
See Previous Issue for TLAs appearing October 1-14
icap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Orga-
nizer: Continental Chess Association Email: direc-
tor@chess.us Phone: director@chess.us Website:
http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 35010
GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR
GRAND PRIX
14th annual Southwest Class
Championships
FEBRUARY 16-20, 2023, TEXAS
Event site: Westin Dallas Fort Worth Airport Address:
4545 W John Carpenter Fwy, Irving TX 750630 Overall
prize fund: $35,000 GP Points: 200 FIDE Rated: Y
Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N
Organizer: Continental Chess Association Email: di-
rector@chess.us Phone: director@chess.us Website:
http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 35024
Online
Weekly Online USCF-Rated
Tournaments By DMV Chess
THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2025
Event site: Online Address: lichess.org Overall prize
fund: n/a GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N Handicap
accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Organizer:
DMV Chess Email: tournaments@dmvchess.com
Phone: 703-415-6600 Website: https://www.
dmvchess.com/onlinetournaments TLA ID: 33569
Climb the Rating Ladder Weekly
Courses with USCF Rated Online
Games
THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2022
Event site: Online Address: lichess.org Overall
prize fund: n/a GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N
Unrated prize limits: U1000
$150, U1300 $300, U1600 $450,
U1900 $600, Senior prize $200.
Senior over 50 bonus prizes: Top
born by 12/29/72, overall regardless of
section, $1200-600-400-300.
Mixed doubles: best male/female
2-player team (average under 2200)
combined score: $1000-500-300. May
play in different sections; register
before both players begin rd 2.
Top 5 sections entry fee: $148 at
chessaction. com by 12/23, $170 (no
checks, credit cards OK) at site or
online until an hour before round 1.
Under 1000 Section: all $50 less.
Re-entry (except Premier): $80.
Unofficial uschess.org ratings
usually used if otherwise unrated.
USCF membership required. See
chessevents.us for special rates.
Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N OCTOBER 8, 2022
Organizer: DMV Chess Email: courses@dmvchess.
com Phone: 703-415-6600 Website: https://www.
Downtown Memphis National Chess
dmvchess.com/ TLA ID:30600
Day! (TN)
See Grand Prix.
Climb the Rating Ladder with GM OCTOBER 28-30, 2022
Angel Arribas Lopez: 1100 to 1600
- Online Course for Serious Students 76th Peter P. Lahde TN Open and
State Championship! (TN)
JANUARY 7-DECEMBER 25, 2022
See Grand Prix.
Event site: Online Address: lichess.org Overall
prize fund: n/a GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N
Handicap accessible: N Residency restriction: N
OCTOBER 29, 2022
Organizer: DMV Chess Email: courses@dmvchess. Peter P. Lahde TN Scholastic! (TN)
com Phone: 703-415-6600 Website: https://www. See Tennessee.
dmvchess.com/courses-register/climb-the-rating-
ladder-1100-1600-fridays TLA ID: 32556 DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
Eastern Chess Congress Action See Grand Prix.
OCTOBER 22, 2022
Event site: Online Address: playcca.com Overall
prize fund: $3,000 GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N ALASKA
Handicap accessible: N Residency restriction: N DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
Organizer: Continental Chess Association Email:
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
events@chessclub.com Phone: 4124365558
Website: http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 35011 See Grand Prix.
3rd annual CCA November Open
NOVEMBER 5, 2022
Event site: Online Address: playcca.com Overall
ARIZONA
NOVEMBER 4-6, 2022
prize fund: $2,000 GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N 17th annual Los Angeles Open
Handicap accessible: N Residency restriction: N (CA-S)
Organizer: Continental Chess Association Email: See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
events@chessclub.com Phone: 4124365558
Website: http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID:35013 NOVEMBER 22-27, 2022
57th American Open (CA-S)
Regional See Grand Prix.
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
ALABAMA See Grand Prix.
DECEMBER 31, 2021-ONGOING ON SUNDAY,
THURSDAY, AND SATURDAY DECEMBER 26-30, 2022
32nd annual North American Open
Weekly and Monthly Rated Chess at
Memphis Chess Club (TN) (NV)
See Tennessee. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
4-day: 40/80, SD/30, d30. Reg.
ends 12/26 12 noon, rds. 12/26 1 &
7, 12/27-28 11 & 5, 12/29 10 & 4.
3-day: Rds 1-3 G/30, d10. Reg.
ends 12/27 10 am, rds 12/27 11, 1, 3
& 5, merges with 4-day at 5 pm.
2-day: G/30, d10. Reg. ends
12/28 10 am, rds. 12/28 11, 1, 3 & 5,
12/29 10, 12, 2 & 4. U1000 only.
1/2 pt bye OK all (limit 3), must
commit by rd 3.
Bring set, board, & clock if
possible- none supplied.
Hotel rates: $109-109-119-129,
link at chessevents.us, reserve by
12/9 or rate may increase.
Entry: chessaction.com. $15
service charge for refunds. Entries
are posted (click “entry list.” ).
Blitz tournament 12/28 9:30 pm,
enter by 9:10 pm.
DECEMBER 29, 2022 ganizer: John Tan Email: paramountchessclub@gmail.
31st annual North American Blitz com Phone: 3107356871 Website: n/a TLA ID: 31701 COLORADO GEORGIA
(NV) OCTOBER 4-25, 2022
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 OCTOBER 8, 2022
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) Downtown Memphis National Chess
Cardinal Medical Group See Grand Prix.
JANUARY 13-16, 2023 Tournament Day (TN)
Event site: Santa Monica Bay Chess Club Address: See Grand Prix.
14th annual Golden State Open (CA) 11555 National Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064 Over-
DECEMBER 26-30, 2022
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. all prize fund: $500 GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N 32nd annual North American Open OCTOBER 8, 2022
Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N (NV) 2nd Annual Susan E. Kantor Fall
Organizer: Pete Savino Email: smbchess@yahoo. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
ARKANSAS com Phone: 310-827-2789 Website: https://sites.goo-
Open National Chess Day Chess
gle.com/site/santamonicabaychessclub/ TLA ID: 34571 JANUARY 6-8, 2022 Tournament (TN)
DECEMBER 31, 2021-ONGOING ON SUNDAY, See Grand Prix.
THURSDAY, AND SATURDAY 11th annual Boston Chess Congress
Weekly and Monthly Rated Chess at NOVEMBER 4-6, 2022 (MA) NOVEMBER 18, 2022
Memphis Chess Club (TN) 17th annual Los Angeles Open See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
See Tennessee. (CA-S) 2022 Georgia Blitz Championship
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. Event site: DoubleTree by Hilton Atlanta Northlake
OCTOBER 8, 2022
CONNECTICUT Address: 34156 LaVista Rd., Tucker, GA 30084 Over-
NOVEMBER 5, 2022 OCTOBER 14-16, 2022 all prize fund: n/a GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N
Downtown Memphis National Chess Handicap accessible: N Residency restriction: N
Day! (TN) 7th annual Los Angeles Open Blitz 11th annual Hartford Open (CT)
(CA-S) See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. Organizer: Georgia Chess Association Email: gaop-
See Grand Prix.
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. en@georgiachess.org Phone: 770.744.8595 Website:
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 http://www.georgiachess.org TLA ID: 34921
OCTOBER 28-30, 2022
NOVEMBER 22-27, 2022
76th Peter P. Lahde TN Open and MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) NOVEMBER 20, 2022
State Championship! (TN) 57th American Open (CA-S) See Grand Prix.
See Grand Prix.
See Grand Prix. 2022 Georgia Open Scholastic
Event site: DoubleTree by Hilton Atlanta Northlake
OCTOBER 29, 2022
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 DELAWARE Address: 34156 LaVista Rd., Tucker, GA 30084 Over-
Peter P. Lahde TN Scholastic! (TN) MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 all prize fund: n/a GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N
See Grand Prix. Handicap accessible: N Residency restriction: N
See Tennessee. MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Grand Prix. Organizer: Georgia Chess Association Email: gaop-
DECEMBER 26-30, 2022 en@georgiachess.org Phone: 770.744.8595 Website:
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
32nd annual North American Open http://www.georgiachess.org TLA ID: 34920
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) (NV) DIST. OF COLUMBIA
See Grand Prix. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
DECEMBER 29, 2022 MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
CALIFORNIA See Grand Prix. See Grand Prix.
31st annual North American Blitz
SEPTEMBER 19, 2021-ONGOING (NV)
PCC LBX Hangar Sunday Action See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. FLORIDA HAWAII
Event site: LBX Hangar Building (inside and out) Address:
4150 McGowen St, Long Beach CA 90808 Overall prize JANUARY 13-16, 2023 DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
fund: 80% of total entry fee GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: 14th annual Golden State Open (CA) MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
N Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Or- See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. See Grand Prix. See Grand Prix.

32nd annual NORTH AMERICAN OPEN

Dec 26-30, 26-29 or 27-29, Las Vegas - GM & IM norms possible!
$125,000 PRIZE FUND UNCONDITIONALLY GUARANTEED!
Open Section: 9 rounds, Dec Prize limits: 1) Unrated limit 5-day late reg. ends 12/26 10
26-30, 40/90, SD/30, +30. U1250 $500, U1500 $1000, U1700 am, rds 12/26-28 11 & 6, 12/29 10 &
Other sections: 7 rounds, Dec $1300, U1900 $1600, U2100 $2000. 4:30, 12/30 10 am. Open only.
26-29 or 27-29, 40/90, SD/30, +30 2) Under 26 games by 12/22 list, 4-day late reg. ends 12/26 5 pm,
(3-day option, rds 1-2 G/75 d10). limit $1500 U1250, $3000 U1500 or rounds 12/26 6 pm, 12/27-28 11 & 6,
At Bally's Casino Resort, 3645 U1700. 3) If post-event rating posted 12/29 10 am & 4:30 pm.
Las Vegas Blvd So, Las Vegas NV 12/20/21-12/20/22 was more than 3-day late reg. ends 12/27 10
89103. Free parking for guests. 30 points over section maximum, am, rounds 12/27 11, 2:30 & 6, 12/28
In 7 sections. Open Section limit $2000. 4) If USCF Regular 11 & 6, 12/29 10 & 4:30.
uses December FIDE ratings, other Online rating is more than 50 points 1/2-pt byes OK all, limit 3 (limit
sections Dec official USCF ratings. over prize maximum, limit $500. 5) 2 in last 4 rds). Must commit before
Top 3 sections are FIDE rated. Balance of any limited prize goes to round 3.
next player(s) in line.
Open Section: $10000-5000- Mixed doubles: $2000-1000- Bring set, board, clock if
3000-2000-1300-1000-800-700-600- 500-300-200. See chessevents.us. possible- none supplied. USCF
500, clear/tiebreak win $300 bonus, membership required.
top FIDE U2400/Unr $3000-2000- Top 6 sections entry fee: $245 Unofficial uschess.org ratings
1000. 300 GPP. at chessaction.com by 9/20, $275 by usually used if otherwise unrated.
Under 2300: $7000-4000-2000- 12/23, $300 online or at site until 1 Special room rate at Bally’s
1200-800-600-500-500-400-400. hour before round 1. Open $100 $99 single or twin. Link at
Under 2100: $7000-4000-2000- more to US players if not FIDE or chessevents.us or 800-833-3308.
1200-800-600-500-500-400-400. USCF 2200/over. Rooms may sell out about Nov 15.
Under 1900: $7000-4000-2000- Special entry fee: all in U1250 Entry: chessaction.com. No
1200-800-600-500-500-400-400. or Senior 65/over in U1500/up, $100 mailed entries. $15 service charge for
Under 1700: $6000-3000-1500- less. Re-entry (no Open) $120. refunds.
1000-800-600-500-500-400-400. Titled player entry: See Entries posted at chessaction.
Under 1500: $5000-2500-1300- chessevents,us. com (click “entry list” after entering).
1000-700-600-500-400-300-300.
Under 1250: $3000-1500-1000- No check at site; credit card OK. Blitz tournament 12/29 10:30
800-600-500-400-400-300-300, top Special USCF dues if paid with pm. $5000 GUARANTEED! Enter
Under 1000 (no unr) $1000-500. entry: see chessevents.us. online by 7 pm 12/29 for lowest fee.

USCHESS.ORGQOCTOBER 2022 55
TOURNAMENT LIFE See Previous Issue for TLAs appearing October 1-14

OCTOBER 8, 2022 FEBRUARY 16-20, 2023

For complete details on individual events, please visit new. Downtown Memphis National Chess 14th annual Southwest Class
uschess.org/node/[TLA ID]. You will find the event’s unique five- Day! (TN) Championships (TX)
digit TLA ID at the end of each TLA. See Grand Prix. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.

OCTOBER 8, 2022
NOVEMBER 11-13, 2022 2nd Annual Susan E. Kantor Fall
MAINE
IDAHO 31st annual Kings Island Open (OH) Open National Chess Day Chess DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. Tournament (TN) MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) See Grand Prix. See Grand Prix.
See Grand Prix. NOVEMBER 20, 2022
2022 Illinois Class State OCTOBER 28-30, 2022
Championship (IL) 76th Peter P. Lahde TN Open and MARYLAND
ILLINOIS See Grand Prix. State Championship! (TN) MARYLAND CHESS TOURNAMENTS (NORTH
OCTOBER 8, 2022 See Grand Prix. PENN CHESS CLUB)
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 Maryland Chess runs 21+ annual K-12 tournaments
Downtown Memphis National Chess OCTOBER 29, 2022
Day (TN) MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) every other Saturday from September through
See Grand Prix. See Grand Prix. Peter P. Lahde TN Scholastic! (TN) June & 12+ annual 1-day or multi-day open tour-
See Tennessee. naments for adults & K-12 players on weekends.
See www.MDChess.org for tournament announce-
NOVEMBER 5, 2022 IOWA NOVEMBER 11-13, 2022 ments, registration for tournaments, updated
Springfield Harvest Time Open NOVEMBER 20, 2022 wallcharts, live standings, signup for K-12 & open
Event site: Southern View Village Hall Address: 3410 31st annual Kings Island Open (OH)
e-newsletters, lists of coaches & clubs, camp an-
S. 5th St, Springfield, IL 62703 Overall prize fund: 2022 Illinois Class State See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
nouncements, & news. K-12 MD players who com-
$400 based on 30 entries GP Points: n/a FIDE Rat- Championship (IL) pete in the Varsity section (for players rated 1600+)
ed: N Handicap accessible: N Residency restric- See Grand Prix. DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
of 1 of 8+ annual MD-Sweet-16 Qualifiers can qual-
tion: N Organizer: David Long Email: n/a Phone: MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) ify for the $48,000+ scholarship to the University
2177262584 Website: http://www.springfieldchess- DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 See Grand Prix. of Maryland, Baltimore County awarded annually.
club.com TLA ID: 34746 MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) UMBC is a perennial top-10 contender for the colle-
See Grand Prix.
NOVEMBER 11-13, 2022 LOUISIANA giate national chess championship.

31st annual Kings Island Open (OH) KANSAS OCTOBER 8, 2022 OCTOBER 28-30, 2022
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. Downtown Memphis National Chess 26th annual Eastern Chess
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 Day (TN) Congress (NJ)
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) See Grand Prix. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) See Grand Prix.
See Grand Prix. NOVEMBER 11-13, 2022 NOVEMBER 25-27, 2022
KENTUCKY 2022 Houston Open Chess 53rd annual National Chess
INDIANA Championships (TX) Congress (PA)
DECEMBER 31, 2021-ONGOING ON SUNDAY, See Grand Prix. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
OCTOBER 8, 2022 THURSDAY, AND SATURDAY
Downtown Memphis National Chess Weekly and Monthly Rated Chess at DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
Day (TN) Memphis Chess Club (TN) MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Grand Prix. See Tennessee. See Grand Prix. See Grand Prix.

53rd annual NATIONAL CHESS CONGRESS

6 rounds, Nov 25-27 or 26-27, Loews Philadelphia Hotel
$45,000 prize fund guaranteed, 20 plaques!
6 rounds, 40/80, SD/30, +30 (2-day Mixed doubles prizes: Best male- 3-day schedule: Reg. Fri to 11 am,
option, rds 1-3 G/40 d10). U800 & female 2-player combined score rds Fri 12 & 6, Sat 12 & 6, Sun 10 &
U600 sections play separate 2-day among all sections, averaging under 3:30.
schedule only, 11/26-27, G/40 d10. Top 2200: $2000-1000-600-400. May 2-day U1000/up schedule: Reg Sat
3 sections are FIDE rated enter different sections, register to 9 am, rds Sat 10, 12:45, 3:30 & 6;
Loews Philadelphia Hotel, 1200 before both begin round 2, teams Sun 10 & 3:30.
Market St, Philadelphia PA 19107. including an unrated limited to $400. 2-day U800 & U600 sections: Reg
Hotel rates $116-116-141, use link at Unofficial or Online Regular Sat to 9 am, rds 10, 12:45 & 3:30 each
chessevents.us, reserve by 11/10. ratings usually used if otherwise day.
unrated. If Online Regular rating is Half point byes OK all rds, limit 3,
In 10 sections (see peakrating.us): 50 or more points over section or must commit before rd 3.
Premier Section: Open to prize maximum, prize limit $500.
2000/over. Prizes $4000-2400-1200- Bring set, board, clock if possible-
800-500, clear/tiebreak win $200, Top 8 sections entry fee: $138 none supplied.
USCF U2400 $2000-1000. 200 GPP. online at chessaction.com by 11/23, Cellphones: No possession during
1800-2199, U2000: Each $2500- $160 at site, or online until 1 hour play; in bag near your table OK.
1300-700-500-300. before round 1. Parking: Loews valet 25% off
U1800: $2400-1200-600-400-300. U800, U600 sections entry fee: regular (about $38). Gateway Gatage,
U1600: $2000-1000-600-400-300. $52 online by 11/23, $70 at site or 3/5 mile away at 1540 Spring St, about
U1400: $1600-800-500-300-200. online until 9 am 11/26. $10/day Sat & Sun, $27 other days.
U1200: $1400-700-400-300-200. All: No checks at site, credit cards Entry: chessaction.com. No mailed
U1000: $1200-600-400-300-200.. OK. Re-entry (except Premier) $60. entries. $15 charge for refunds. Entries
U800, U600: Each, plaques to top Special USCF membership with posted at chessaction.com (click “entry
10. CCA free entry prizes to top 4. magazine if paid online with entry list” after entering).
Unrated prize limits: U1000 $200, fee: Adult $40, Young Adult $25,
U1200 $300, U1400 $400, U1600 $500, Youth $18. USCF membership Blitz tournament Sat 10 pm, enter
U1800 $600, U2000 $700. required. by 9:40 pm..

56 OCTOBER 2022QUSCHESS.ORG
DECEMBER 26-29, 2022 OCTOBER 28-30, 2022 OCTOBER 29, 2022 of New York Email: chesscentr@gmail.com Phone:
47th annual Eastern Open (VA) 76th Peter P. Lahde TN Open and 9th annual Eastern Chess Congress 347-201-2269 (leave message, but email is better)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. State Championship! (TN) Blitz (NJ) Website: https://www.chessgirls.win/TLA ID: 35083
See Grand Prix. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
JANUARY 13-16, 2022 NOVEMBER 25-27, 2022
55th annual Liberty Bell Open (PA) OCTOBER 29, 2022 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT 53rd annual National Chess
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. Peter P. Lahde TN Scholastic! (TN) NOVEMBER 20, 2022 Congress (PA)
See Tennessee. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
2022 New Jersey Grade School
MASSACHUSETTS DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
Championship DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
Event site: Brookdale Community College - Student
OCTOBER 14-16, 2022 MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) Life Center Address: Lot #7, Arena Drive, Lincroft, NJ MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Grand Prix. 07738 Overall prize fund: n/a GP Points: n/a FIDE See Grand Prix.
11th annual Hartford Open (CT)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. Rated: N Handicap accessible: Y Residency re-
DECEMBER 18-23, 2022 striction: Y Organizer: NJSCF Email: tournaments. DECEMBER 26-29, 2022
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 SPICE Cup Open (MO) njscf@gmail.com Phone: n/a Website: http://njscf. 47th annual Eastern Open (VA)
See Grand Prix. org TLA ID: 34331 See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Grand Prix. NOVEMBER 25-27, 2022 JANUARY 6-8, 2022
MONTANA 53rd annual National Chess 11th annual Boston Chess Congress
JANUARY 6-8, 2022
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 Congress (PA) (MA)
11th annual Boston Chess Congress See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
(MA) MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. See Grand Prix.
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 JANUARY 13-16, 2022
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) 55th annual Liberty Bell Open (PA)
MICHIGAN NEBRASKA See Grand Prix. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
DECEMBER 26-29, 2022
NOVEMBER 5, 2022 MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
47th annual Eastern Open (VA) NORTH CAROLINA
See Grand Prix.
2022 Michigan Scholastic Club See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. OCTOBER 8, 2022
Championships 2nd Annual Susan E. Kantor Fall
Event site: Lansing Center Address: 333 E Michigan NEVADA JANUARY 13-16, 2022 Open National Chess Day Chess
Ave, Lansing, MI 48933 Overall prize fund: n/a GP
NOVEMBER 4-6, 2022 55th annual Liberty Bell Open (PA) Tournament (TN)
Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N Handicap accessible: See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. See Grand Prix.
N Residency restriction: N Organizer: Michigan 17th annual Los Angeles Open
Chess Association Email: jeffchess64@gmail.com (CA-S) DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
Phone: 810-955-7271 Website: https://www.mich- See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. NEW MEXICO
ess.org/ TLA ID: 34640 MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
NOVEMBER 22-27, 2022 DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 See Grand Prix.
NOVEMBER 11-13, 2022 57th American Open (CA-S) MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Grand Prix.
See Grand Prix. DECEMBER 26-29, 2022
31st annual Kings Island Open (OH)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. 47th annual Eastern Open (VA)
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 DECEMBER 26-30, 2022 See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) 32nd annual North American Open
(NV)
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) See Grand Prix.
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. NORTH DAKOTA
See Grand Prix.
DECEMBER 26-30, 2022 DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
32nd annual North American Open NEW YORK MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
MINNESOTA (NV) See Grand Prix.
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
OCTOBER 9, 2022 - MAY 7, 2023
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
8th Annual Magnus High School and
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) DECEMBER 29, 2022 Junior High Chess League! OHIO
See Grand Prix. Event site: Columbia Grammar and Prep. High School
31st annual North American Blitz Cafeteria Address: 36 W. 93rd St. (bet. Central Park
NOVEMBER 11-13, 2022
(NV) West & Columbus Ave., near 96th St. subways), NYC 31st annual Kings Island Open (OH)
MISSISSIPPI See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
Overall prize fund: $450 per match date GP Points: See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
DECEMBER 31, 2021-ONGOING ON SUNDAY, n/a FIDE Rated: Y Handicap accessible: Y Residen-
JANUARY 13-16, 2023 NOVEMBER 12, 2022
THURSDAY, AND SATURDAY cy restriction: N Organizer: Chess Center of New
14th annual Golden State Open (CA) York Email: chesscentr@gmail.com Phone: 347-201- 10th annual Kings Island Open Blitz
Weekly and Monthly Rated Chess at See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
Memphis Chess Club (TN) 2269 (leave message, but email is better) Website: (OH)
https://www.magnusleague.org/ TLA ID: 35086 See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
See Tennessee.
NEW HAMPSHIRE OCTOBER 14-16, 2022 DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
OCTOBER 8, 2022
OCTOBER 29, 2022 11th annual Hartford Open (CT) MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
Downtown Memphis National Chess World Academy Scholastic 2022 See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
Day! (TN) See Grand Prix.
Event site: World Academy Address: 138 Spit Brook
See Grand Prix.
Rd, Nashua, NH 03062 Overall prize fund: Trophies OCTOBER 21-23, 2022
OCTOBER 28-30, 2022
GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N Handicap accessible: 8th annual Central New York Open OKLAHOMA
Y Residency restriction: N Organizer: Tournament (NY)
76th Peter P. Lahde TN Open and NOVEMBER 11-13, 2022
in a Box Email: vbradleychess@gmail.com Phone: See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
State Championship! (TN) 603-827-3272 Website: https://nhchess.org/scho- 2022 Houston Open Chess
See Grand Prix. lastics/ TLA ID: 34884 OCTOBER 28-30, 2022
Championships (TX)
See Grand Prix.
OCTOBER 29, 2022 DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 26th annual Eastern Chess
Congress (NJ) DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
Peter P. Lahde TN Scholastic! (TN) MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
See Tennessee. See Grand Prix. MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
OCTOBER 29, 2022 See Grand Prix.
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) NEW JERSEY 9th annual Eastern Chess Congress FEBRUARY 16-20, 2023
Blitz (NJ)
See Grand Prix. REGIONALS See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. 14th annual Southwest Class
OCTOBER 22, 2022
Championships (TX)
JUNIOR GRAND PRIX • STATE CHAMPIONSHIP See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
MISSOURI King’s Chess Club Quads EVENT
Event site: Grace Church Bethlehem Campus Ad-
DECEMBER 31, 2021-ONGOING ON SUNDAY,
THURSDAY, AND SATURDAY
dress: 758 Route 10, Randolph, NJ 07869 Overall NOVEMBER 19-20, 2022 OREGON
prize fund: n/a GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N Hand- 6th Annual New York State Girls’
Weekly and Monthly Rated Chess at DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
icap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Orga- Championship!
Memphis Chess Club (TN) nizer: Bob McAdams Email: fambright@optonline. Event site: Columbia Grammar and Prep. High MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Tennessee. net Phone: 9736943988 Website: n/a TLA ID: 34957 School Cafeteria Address: 36 West 93rd St. (some See Grand Prix.
sections may be played at 4 West 93rd St.), both
OCTOBER 8, 2022 OCTOBER 28-30, 2022 are between Central Park West & Columbus Ave., DECEMBER 26-30, 2022
Downtown Memphis National Chess 26th annual Eastern Chess NYC. Overall prize fund: $450 per match date GP 32nd annual North American Open
Day! (TN) Congress (NJ) Points: n/a FIDE Rated: Y Handicap accessible: Y (NV)
See Grand Prix. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. Residency restriction: N Organizer: Chess Center See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.

USCHESS.ORGQOCTOBER 2022 57
TOURNAMENT LIFE See Previous Issue for TLAs appearing October 1-14

47th annual Eastern Open (VA) 14th Annual Klaus Pohl Memorial
For complete details on individual events, please visit new. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. South Carolina Senior Open, 2022
uschess.org/node/[TLA ID]. You will find the event’s unique five- Event site: Homewood Suites by Hilton Greenville Ad-
JANUARY 13-16, 2022 dress:102 Carolina Point Pkwy, Greenville, SC 29607Over-
digit TLA ID at the end of each TLA. all prize fund: $675 GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N Hand-
55th annual Liberty Bell Open (PA) icap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Organizer:
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. Ernest Nix Email: eenixjr@yahoo.com Phone: 8649052406
JANUARY 13-16, 2023 OCTOBER 29, 2022 Website: https://www.scchess.org TLA ID:34954
14th annual Golden State Open (CA) 9th annual Eastern Chess Congress RHODE ISLAND DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. Blitz (NJ)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) See Grand Prix.
PENNSYLVANIA NOVEMBER 25-27, 2022 See Grand Prix.
North Penn Chess Club 53rd annual National Chess SOUTH DAKOTA
Main & Richardson - St. John’s UCC, 500 West Main St., Congress (PA) SOUTH CAROLINA
Lansdale, PA 19446. See www.northpennchess club. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
org for schedules & info or 215-699-8418 OCTOBER 7-9, 2022 MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
NOVEMBER 26, 2022 83rd South Carolina State See Grand Prix.
OCTOBER 21-23, 2022 10th annual National Chess Championship 2022
8th annual Central New York Open Congress Blitz (PA) Event site: Hilton Garden Inn Columbia/HarbisonAddress:
(NY) See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. 434 Columbiana Dr., Columbia, SC 29212 Overall prize
TENNESSEE
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. fund: $2,675 GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N Handicap DECEMBER 31, 2021-ONGOING ON SUNDAY,
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022 accessible: YResidency restriction: NOrganizer: Ernest THURSDAY, AND SATURDAY
OCTOBER 28-30, 2022 MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID) Nix Email: eenixjr@yahoo.com Phone: 8649052406 Web- Weekly and Monthly Rated Chess at
26th annual Eastern Chess See Grand Prix. site: https://www.scchess.org TLA ID: 34953 Memphis Chess Club
Congress (NJ) Event site: Memphis Chess Club Address: 195 Mad-
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. DECEMBER 26-29, 2022 NOVEMBER 12-13, 2022 ison Ave Suite 101, Memphis, TN 3810 Overall prize
(MAP)

PCT GAIN STANDINGS

MEMBERSHIP APPRECIATION State
HI
Dec19
160
Jun20
171
PCT
6.9

PROGRAM WA
AK
1474
96
1548
95 -O.01
5

NM 643 633 -0.016

US Chess gratefully acknowledges the support of our
WV 265 259 -0.023
our Affiliates and Members and offers congratulations RI 232 216 -0.069
ME 555 512 -0.077
to these 2020 MAP Winners. Look for an upcoming
OK 391 358 -0.084
article about the winners in Chess Life. ID 263 237 -0.099
DC 417 362 -0.132

Name State Count Name State Count Name State Count

Overall Affiliate Standings State Chapter Affiliate Standings Scholastic and Youth Membership Standings
CONTINENTAL CHESS ASSN NY 831 WASHINGTON CHESS FEDERATION WA 204 PAPERCLIP PAIRINGS TX 239
PAPERCLIP PAIRINGS TX 259 MARYLAND CHESS ASSOCIATION MD 160 CONTINENTAL CHESS ASSN NY 212
NEW YORK CITY CHESS INC NY 216 MINNESOTA STATE CHESS ASSN MN 118 NEW YORK CITY CHESS INC NY 208
BAY AREA CHESS CA 170 MICHIGAN CHESS ASSOCIATION MI 105 BAY AREA CHESS CA 149
CHESS CENTER OF NEW YORK NY 130 PENNSYLVANIA ST CHESS FED PA 83 DARK KNIGHTS CHESS CLUB TX 116
DARK KNIGHTS CHESS CLUB TX 122 NEW JERSEY ST CHESS FED NJ 37 CHESS CENTER OF NEW YORK NY 110
THE BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL CA 111 NEVADA CHESS INC NV 27 THE BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL CA 103
CHESS CLUB AND SCHOLASTIC CTR MO 101 MAINE CHESS ASSOCIATION ME 24 CHESS KLUB SC 71
MECHANICS INST CHESS CLUB CA 89 FLORIDA CHESS ASSOCIATION FL 13 EN PASSANT CHESS CLUB TX 65
CHESS KLUB IL 77 MASSACHUSETTS CHESS ASSOC MA 10 ALL SAINTS CATHOLIC SCHOOL CC ME 64

Small State Affiliate Standings Adult Membership Standings Member Standings

ALL SAINTS CATHOLIC SCHOOL CC ME 70 CONTINENTAL CHESS ASSN NY 594 RUSSELL MAKOFSKY NY 26
JOHN BAPST MHS CHESS CLUB ME 31 CHESS CLUB AND SCHOLASTIC CTR MO 93 TANIA KRANICH-RITTER FL 14
TOURNAMENT IN A BOX NH 19 SAN DIEGO CHESS CLUB CA 64 TIMOTHY V. CAMPBELL MO 14
METRO AREA CHESS DC 18 ROCHESTER CHESS CENTER NY 53 GILBERTO LUNA II FL 13
HARRISON COUNTY CHESS CLUB WV 17 CHESS4U GA 51 RUSSELL LOYD CRANFORD III TX 11
ENDGAME CHESS NM 10 MECHANICS INST CHESS CLUB CA 40 SCOTT MASON CA 10
MAINE HIGHLANDS CHESS LEAGUE ME 8 JERSEY SHORE HS CHESS LEAGUE NJ 30 ZACHARY DEAN NY 9
RELYEA CHESS NH 6 CHESSPALACE CA 26 THOMAS DAVID BRAUNLICH OK 9
KNIGHTS CHESS CLUB NH 6 CHESS CASTLE OF MINNESOTA MN 22 TIMOTHY TUSING FL 8
CHESS CLUB AT NC STATE NC 5 MARSHALL CHESS CLUB NY 21 TODD W. WOLF ND 7

58 OCTOBER 2022QUSCHESS.ORG
fund: n/a GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N Handicap
accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Organizer:
Memphis Chess Club Email: info@memphischess-
club.com Phone: 7318685755 Website: https://
www.memphischessclub.com/ TLA ID: 32334
OCTOBER 8, 2022
2nd Annual Susan E. Kantor Fall
Open National Chess Day Chess
Tournament (TN)
See Grand Prix.
OCTOBER 29, 2022
Peter P. Lahde TN Scholastic!
Event site: Memphis Chess Club Address: 195 Madi-
son Ave Suite 101, Memphis, TN 38103 Overall prize
fund: n/a GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N Handicap
accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Organizer:
Memphis Chess Club Email: info@memphischess-
club.com Phone: 7318685755 Website: https://
www.memphischessclub.com/ TLA ID: 34597
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Grand Prix.
TEXAS
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Grand Prix.
DECEMBER 26-30, 2022
32nd annual North American Open
(NV)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
FEBRUARY 16-20, 2023
14th annual Southwest Class
Championships (TX)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
UTAH
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Grand Prix.
VERMONT
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Grand Prix.
VIRGINIA
The Tysons Corner Weekly
Scholastic Tournament - In Person
Every Sunday
THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2022
Event site: The Westin Tysons Corner Address:
7801 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043 Overall
prize fund: n/a GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N
Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction:
N Organizer: DMV Chess Email: josh@dmvchess.
com Phone: 703-415-6600 Website: https://
www.dmvchess.com/inpersontournaments TLA
ID:31467
Tysons Corner Weekly Action
Tournaments - Every Sunday In
Person
THROUGH DECEMBER 25, 2022
Event site: The Westin Tysons Czorner Address:
7801 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043 Overall
prize fund: n/a GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N
Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction:
N Organizer: DMV Chess Email: josh@dmvchess.
com Phone: 703-415-6600 Website: https://
www.dmvchess.com/inpersontournaments TLA
ID:33763
OCTOBER 28-30, 2022
26th annual Eastern Chess
Congress (NJ)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
NOVEMBER 25-27, 2022
53rd annual National Chess
Congress (PA)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Grand Prix.
DECEMBER 26-29, 2022
47th annual Eastern Open (VA)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
DECEMBER 28, 2022
16th annual Eastern Open Blitz (VA)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
JANUARY 13-16, 2022
55th annual Liberty Bell Open (PA)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
WASHINGTON
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Grand Prix.
DECEMBER 26-30, 2022
32nd annual North American Open
(NV)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
JANUARY 13-16, 2023
14th annual Golden State Open (CA)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
WEST VIRGINIA
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Grand Prix.
WISCONSIN
OCTOBER 22, 2022
Manitowoc Tornado 2
Event site: Holiday Inn - Manitowoc Address: 4601
Calumet Avenue, Manitowoc, WI 54220 Overall
prize fund: $875 GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N
Handicap accessible: N Residency restriction:
N Organizer: Steve Erbach Email: terranchess@
gmail.com Phone: 920-279-5688 Website: n/a TLA
ID: 34994
NOVEMBER 5-6, 2022
WCA Veterans’ Tournament
Event site: Gruenhagen Conference Center, UW-Os-
hkosh Address: 208 Osceola Street, Oshkosh, WI
54901 Overall prize fund: $875 GP Points: n/a
FIDE Rated: N Handicap accessible: Y Residency
restriction: N Organizer: Mike Nietman Email:
mike.nietman@charter.net Phone: 608-467-8510
Website: http://wischess.org TLA ID: 34307
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT
NOVEMBER 5-6, 2022
2022-2023 Wisconsin Junior Open
Event site: Gruenhagen Conference Center, UW-Os-
hkosh Address: 208 Osceola Street, Oshkosh, WI
54901 Overall prize fund: Trophies GP Points: n/a
FIDE Rated: N Handicap accessible: Y Residency
restriction: N Organizer: Mike Nietman Email:
mike.nietman@charter.net Phone: 608-467-8510
Website: http://wischess.org TLA ID: 34308
NOVEMBER 20, 2022
2022 Illinois Class State
Championship (IL)
See Grand Prix.
JUNIOR GRAND PRIX
DECEMBER 2-4, 2022
The Wisconsin Memorial
Event site: Courtyard by Marriott Address: 2266
Deming Way, Middleton, WI 53562 Overall prize
fund: $900 GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N Hand-
icap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N
Organizer: Mike Nietman Email: mike.nietman@
charter.net Phone: 608-467-8510 Website: http://
wischess.org TLA ID: 34309
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Grand Prix.
WYOMING
DECEMBER 16-18, 2022
MexInsurance.com FIDE Open (ID)
See Grand Prix.

T H A N K YO U TO O U R B E N E FACTO R S

US Chess Benefactor Members as of July 22, 2022:

Paul M. Albert Jr. Jeffrey Davidson William McClain
Mark Randall Bates Martin Dean John McCrary
Randy Bauer Kenneth Duffy Kenton McNall
Jim Bedenbaugh E. Tomlinson Fort Robert D. Messenger
Michael Belovesick Michael Fry Andrew Metrick
Jim Blackwood Gregory Gliner Timur Milgrom
Robert J. Borel Bill Goichberg David C. Miller
Thomas E. Boyd Bernard Goodman Parker Montgomery
Joseph Boyle Calvin Halsey Ross Nickel
C. Martin Bradford Robert E. Hux Bernard Novatt
John J. Brendel In Memory of Scott R. Parker
Kate Canessa David Kaplan William E. Perry III Phillip Smith Thomas N. Thrush
David E. Carter David Kochman David H. Raymond Christopher P. Snell Harold Torrance
Fabiano Caruana Vincent E. Kreutz, Jr. Timothy P. Redman Adam Christopher Snow Charles Unruh
Carl Cohen David Lazarus Danny Rosa Joe Strang John Walton
Bill N. Costaras Andrew Lerner Timothy M. Sawyier Aaron Straub Bill Witmer
Jonathan Crumiller Christopher Lewis Michael Schulte Henry L. Terrie Edward Wycoff
Jennie S. Liu Edward Seid Henry J. Thompson Brian Yang
Edward Martin Daryl Skinner Harmon D. Throneberry Sr.

USCHESS.ORGQOCTOBER 2022 59
TOURNAMENT LIFE See Previous Issue for TLAs appearing October 1-14

TOURNAMENT LIFE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Gold & Silver
announcements here that pertain to this particular issue. if there are none, remove this box and move up the boxes below. this box will be styled and stored in the library. i will create one big one like this that
spans all four columns, with styles for bolded and plain text, and another two that are 2 column width. that way there will be options to add boxes for four or more announcements, although hopefully there
would never be that many. they will be different colours. this is not final at all here, it’s just a red box with text as a placeholder.

Affiliates
US CHESS would like to recognize and thank
all of our Affiliates for their commitment and hard work.

US CHESS GOLD AFFILIATES

Bay Area Chess Caveman Chess, LLC Marshall Chess Club Chess Club and
2050 Concourse Drive #42 27 Morris Street 23 West 10th Street, Scholastic Center
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Solutions
PAGE 11 CHESS TO ENJOY
PROBLEM 1. After 34. ... a5! 35. d7 a4! or 35. Nxa5 Rd8
and Black wins. But not 34. ... Ra8?? 35. d7!. PROBLEM
2. Take credit for 30. Bxc5! or 30. Qa4+ Kxb6 31. Qb4+.
But not 30. Rxc5+?? Qxc5 31. Bxc5 Ra8!, when Black
wins. PROBLEM 3. 29. Nxe7+ Qxe7 30. Qxc8! is sim-
plest, i.e., 30. ... Rxc8 31. Rxc8+ Kf7 32. d6. PROBLEM
4. Black promotes after 36. ... b2!. If 37. Qxc2 Qxe3+ and
… Qe3-c1+. PROBLEM 5. 19. Qe4! f5 20. Rxf5! Bxf5 21.
Qxf5, e.g., 21. ... Qe7 22. Bxg8 and 21. ... Re7 22. Bxg5
hxg5 23. Bxg8 and Ra1-f1. PROBLEM 6. Good is 27. ...
Rc4 and 28. ... Be7 but 27. ... Bxb2! is fastest: if 28. Nxb2
Rc1+, if 28. Qxb2 Rb6, and if 28. Kxb2 Rc3 29. Qa4 Rxd3.
PAGE 43 MAKE YOUR MOVE
TACTIC 1. 9. cxd5! Black’s previous move, 8. ... Nfd7,
is a familiar mistake that has been played in more than
two dozen games in my database. 9. ... cxd5 Black really
cannot avoid the upcoming sacrifice on d5, for instance,
9. ... exd5 10. Nxd5 or 9. ... Nxe5 10. dxe5 cxd5 11. Nxd5
and, in both cases, White is winning. 10. Nxd5! Nxe5 Or
10. ... exd5 11. Bxd5 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Bh3 13. Bxa8 Bxf1 14.
Qxf1 and White is two pawns and should win. 11. dxe5
Or 11. Nxe7+ Qxe7 12. Bxa8 and White is winning. 11. ...
Bb7 12. Nf6+ gxf6 13. Bxb7 and White soon won. 13.
... Nc6 14. Bxc6 Rc8 15. Qa4 Kh8 16. Bf4 f5 17. Rfd1
Qc7 18. Rac1 Qb8 19. Rd7 Rc7 20. Rxe7 Rxe7 21. Bg5
Rc7 22. Bf6+ Kg8 23. Qf4 and Black resigned in Mor-
ris-Suzuki – Velea, U.S. Girls’ Junior 2022. TACTIC 2.
38. ... Qxf3! Due to Black’s open king, Black must react
decisively. If 38. ... Qd6 then 39. Qxd6 Rdxd6 40. Rc3 Rd8
41. Rcc7 leaves White with a won endgame. 39. gxf3
Rd2+ 40. Kh1 Rd1+ White’s king cannot escape the
perpetual check and therefore... draw agreed in Wu –
Cervantes Landeiro, U.S. Girls’ Junior 2022. TACTIC
3. 34. Bxe6+! This capture wins directly, but strictly
speaking, White would also win after the slower, but
penetrating 34. Bg4 e5 35. Qc4 Kg8 36. Qc6 Rc7 37. Qa8+
and Black will lose material. 34. ... Rxe6 35. Qc7+ Kg8
36. Qxg7+ This capture wins material, but the computer
points out that White could have won faster with 36. Qc8+
Re8 37. Rxe8+ Nxe8 38. Qxe8+ Kh7 39. Qe4+ and Black
is done for. 36. ... Kxg7 37. Rxe6 Nxh5 38. Rc3 Nf6 39.
Rc7+ Kg6 40. Rxa7 b5 41. Raa6 Rf5 42. a4 and Black
resigned. Liang – Espinosa, U.S. Junior 2022. TACTIC
4. 27. h4! The intermediary move is very important. If
White captured on c6 directly, he would lose after 27.
Bxc6 fxe5 28. Qxe5+ Rf6 29. Qxd6 bxc6 and Black is a
piece up and winning, or 27. Bxf5 fxe5 28. Qxe5+ Qf6
29. Qxd6 Bxf5, and, once more, Black is winning. 27. ...
Qh5 28. Bxc6! In the game, White went wrong with 28.
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Bxf5?? fxe5 29. Qxe5+ Rf6 30. g4 Qxh4 31. Qxd6 Qg3+ and
White resigned in Mardov – Guo, U.S. Cadet 2022. 28.
... Qd1+ Or 28. ... fxe5? 29. Qxe5+ Rf6 30. Bf3 and White
is winning. 29. Kh2 Qb3 30. Qxb3 Bxb3 31. Re7+ Rf7
32. Rxb7 and White has every chance of winning the
endgame. TACTIC 5. 19. Nxf7!! In the game, White
instead went for 19. Rc1!? Bd8 20. Qg4 h5 21. Qf3 g6
22. Bb4 Nh6 23. Bd6 Bc6 24. Qf4 Be7 25. Bd3 Nf5 26.
Bxf5 gxf5 27. Re3 Rg8 28. Rg3 Bxd6 29. exd6 0–0–0
30. Qd4 Kb8 31. Rgc3 Rc8 32. Qf6 Rgf8 33. Nh7 Rfd8
34. Ng5 Rf8 35. Nh7 Rfd8 36. Ng5 and draw agreed
in Benjamin – Shabalov, U.S. Seniors 2022. Another
option is 19. a4!? Bc6 20. b4 and White has fantastic
play for the sacrificed pawn. 19. ... Kxf7 20. Qh5+ Kf8
Or 20. ... g6 21. Bxg6+ hxg6 22. Qxh8 and White has a
winning position. 21. Re3! The point. After the rook
lift, White wins back the piece with interest. 21. ... Rc8
If 21. ... g6 22. Bxg6 and White wins. 22. Rf3+ Nf6 23.
Bb3 Qe8 24. Qg4! Maybe this is the move that Benjamin
failed to account for when assessing his options before
declining to capture on f7. 24. ... Qd7 25. exf6 Bxf6
26. Bc3 and Black is busted. TACTIC 6. 12. ... Nfg4!!
With his previous move, White has fatally weakened his
kingside, that is, if Black reacts immediately. The text
move threatens both f2 and h2 while clearing the path
for the queen to join the party on h4. 13. Be1 It is, of
course, important to analyze the consequences of 13.
h3: Black “just” captures on f2 and then things fall apart
for White, for instance, 13. ... Nxf2 14. Kxf2 (or 14. Bxh7+
Kh8 15. Kxf2 Qh4+ 16. g3 Qh5 and Black is winning) 14.
... Qh4+ 15. g3 (also 15. Kf1 Bxh3 16. Bxh7+ Kh8 wins for
Black) 15. ... Qh5 16. Rh1 (or 16. Bxh7+ Kh8 17. Rh1 b6
18. Raf1 Qxh7 19. Qxh7+ Kxh7 when Black does not yet
have a material advantage but with the bishop pair
and the crater on d3, Black has a decisive advantage.)
16. ... Qf3+ 17. Kg1 Bxe3+ 18. Bxe3 Qxe3+ 19. Kg2 Qf3+
20. Kg1 Nxd3 and White can resign. 13. ... Qh4 14. h3
Nf3+! Boom! Without this move, White’s defense would
hold, now, on the other hand, White’s position quickly
collapses. 15. gxf3 Nxe3! Another grenade blows up in
White’s camp. Another essential move in Black’s attack.
16. Qa4 16. fxe3 Bxe3+ leads to mate in a few moves. 16.
... Qg5+ 17. Ng3 Bxh3! 18. Bd2 Or 18. fxe3 Bxe3+ 19. Kh2
Qh6 and Black is winning. 18. ... Qf6! Again, the only
winning move. The threat is ... Qf6xf3. 19. Bxh7+ Kh8
This bishop could have been taken but there is no need
to distract Black from the task at hand: mating White’s
king. 20. Bf5 Nxf5 21. Nxd5 Qg6 and White resigned
in B.Jacobson – Hong, U.S. Junior 2022. TACTIC 7.
23. ... Bxd4! 23. ... Rg8 is also acceptable, but the text
move is much better. 24. cxd4 Rxf5!! It would seem
obvious that the pawn should be captured with the
bishop, but the rook capture decides the game much
faster. After 24. ... Bxf5, one line runs 25. gxf5 Rxf5 26.
Ra3 Rxf2 27. Qg4 Rxc2 28. Rg3 Qc8, and Black should
win. 25. gxf5 Bxf5+ 26. Kg2 Qh4 Threatening ... Qh4-
h3+ followed by ... Ra8-g8 with mate. 27. Ra3 Rg8+ 28.
Kf1 Bg4 No, the king is not allowed to run to e2. 29. f3
Bh3+ and with mate in a few moves, White resigned.
De Firmian – Kaidanov, U.S. Seniors 2022. TACTIC 8.
37. e4!! This breakthrough is the only way forward if
October 2022 SOLUTIONS
White is to convert her advantage. In the game, White
continued 37. Rc8+? Kf7 38. Rxg8 Kxg8 39. g4 Nc4
40. Rb1 Qh7 41. gxf5 exf5 42. Rg1+ (42. e4!) 42. ...
Rg7 43. Rxg7+ Kxg7 44. e4 dxe4 45. fxe4 Qh5 46.
Qg2+?! Qg4 47. exf5 Qxg2+ 48. Kxg2 Kf6 49. Bh6?!
b5 50. Bf8?? (White doesn’t find the way to the draw,
which was 50. Kh3 Nd6 51. d5 Nxf5 52. Bf4 b4 53. Bd2
b3 54. Bc3+ Ke7 55. Bb4+ Nd6 56. Ba3) 50. ... Ne3+ 51.
Kh3 Nxf5 52. Bb4 Ke6 53. Kg4 Kd5 54. Be1 Kxd4 55.
Kxf5 h3 56. Bg3 b4 57. Be5+ Kd5 and White resigned
in Wang – Yu, U.S. Girls’ Junior 2022. 37. ... dxe4 38.
fxe4 Rxd4 39. Rc7 or 39. Qc3 Rd1+ 40. Kh2 h3 41. g3
and White is winning. 39. ... Rd7 40. Rbxb7 Rxc7 41.
Rxc7 Qb4 42. Qxh4 and White is winning. TACTIC 9.
15. ... Nf5!! A brilliant move. The knight move clears
the path for the queen to go to h4 and checkmate
White’s king. 16. Bf2 After 16. gxf5? Qh4, White will
have to give up lots of wood to avoid getting mated
on the spot. Boom!! 16. ... Ne3!! 17. Qe1 Nc2 18. Qb1
Nxa1 19. Qxa1 g6 20. Kg2 Rb8 21. Bg3 Qb6 Here, 21.
... Kd7 followed by ... Bf8-e7 and ... Nc6-a5 wins for
Black. After the text move, Black is still much better,
but White later managed to save the draw. Shabalov
– Khmelnitsky, U.S. Seniors 2022.
PAGE 45 ABCS OF CHESS
PROBLEM 1. Mating net: It’s mate in two: 1. ... Nc3+
2. Ka1 Ra2 mate. PROBLEM 2. Mating net: White is
mated in two by 1. ... Nf3+ 2. Kd1 e2 mate. PROBLEM
3. Mating net: It’s mate in two for Black: 1. ... Ne3+ 2.
Ke1 Re2 mate. PROBLEM 4. Mating net: Black mates
in two: 1. ... Rf1+ 2. Kxf1 Rd1 mate. PROBLEM 5.
Mating net: It’s over in two: 1. ... Rxd1+ 2. Bxd1 Nd3
mate. PROBLEM 6. Mating net: Black mates in two:
1. ... Qxf3+ 2. gxf3 Bh3 mate.
CHESS LIFE USPS # 102-840 (ISSN 0197-260X). Volume 77
No. 10. PRINTED IN THE USA. Chess Life, formerly Chess
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USCHESS.ORG OCTOBER 2022 63

IM CYRUS
LAKDAWALA
PROLIFIC AUTHOR, FIVE-TIME
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAMP
I
N CHESS WE ARE JUDGED,
not by our playing style or our
love of the game, but by our
achievements and rating. And
mine were abysmal.
I began as a promising not-prodigy, rated
a sorry 1150 at age 13. By age 17, I achieved
enormous not-progress, with a rating of
1795 — hardly the raw materials for a titled
player. The dream was to one day earn a
FIDE title, but my friends began to place me
in the dreaded delusional-upstart category,
teasing me for living in a dream world. I so
desperately wanted to prove them wrong.
Then, as if by magic, I stumbled on to a
“secret” formula: over-training. My training
method included the following steps:
■ If I was to play in a tournament on
the following Saturday, I would gather
every book on combinations I owned
and begin solving on Tuesday morn-
ing at 7:00 a.m. I would will myself to
keep solving for the next 24 hours, no
matter how much the mind and body
begged to stop.
■ A physical regimen of two to three
hours per day of varied exercise.
■ I would study chess at least six hours
per day from the book alone, increas-
ing my powers of visualization/cal-
culation.
■ The “normal stuff:” Master an opening
repertoire which suited my style, mas-
ter basic endings, and study the clas-
sics, preferably with annotated games.
With this method, an unwanted, cruddy
product was, against all odds, transformed
into an IM with a peak rating of 2597 by the
mid-1990s.
What I’m trying to convey: a genetic ad-
vantage of natural chess talent is overrated.
Anyone can hugely surpass expectations
— even your own — if you are willing to
play the brutal price of outworking your
opposition.
64 OCTOBER 2022 USCHESS.ORG
LEARN YOUR TRADE
IM Cyrus Lakdawala (2561)
IM Varuzhan Akobian (2480)
SCCF Championship, 2001
Note the key tactical features in the position.
1. Two white pieces hang simultaneously.
2. The dark squares around the black king
are chronically weak. There exists an en-
gine-like way to exploit these factors.
WHITE TO MOVE
25. b4!!
This is MY BEST MOVE, and it wasn’t borne
of innate talent, but hard work.
25. ... Qxd6
Everything loses: (a) 25. ... Bxc2 26. Qe5! h5
(26. ... f5 27. Nh6+ Kf8 28. Qh8 mate) 27. Nf6+
Kf8 28. Nxe8 Qxe8 29. bxc5 leaves White up
an Exchange with an easy win. (b) 25. ... h5
26. bxc5 Bxc2 27. Rd7! Qf8 (27. ... Qxd7? 28.
Nf6+) 28. Nf6+ Kh8 and now 29. Rxf7! which
... a genetic
was the most difficult part of the calculation. advantage of
natural chess
26. Nf6+ Kf8 27. bxc5! Qd8
Other moves include (a) 27. ... Rxc5?? 28.
talent is
Nxe4 and White ends up a piece. (b) 27. ... overrated.”
Qxc5?? gets forked by 28. Nd7+. (c) 27. ...
bxc5 28. Qh6+ Ke7 29. Nxe4 is similar to the
game’s continuation.
Nothing helps. (a) 36. ... fxe6 37. Nxe6+ Ke8
28. Qh6+ 38. Ba4+ is mate in three. (b) 36. ... Qg7 37.
Black’s king is sent into the scary middle. Qh4 Rxc3 38. Rf6! is crushing.
28. ... Ke7 29. Nxe4 Qd5 30. Bb3 Qe5 31. 37. Bxd1 fxe6 38. Qd7!, Black resigned.
f4 With one final flourish, the three ideas
The human move, offering luft to the king. of Ng5-h7+, Qd7xc8, and Qd7-f7 mate are
PHOTO: COURTESY SUBJECT
The engine prefers 31. Re3. overwhelming.
31. ... Qf5 32. Qh4+ Kf8 33. Qxh7 Red8 34. You can read archival copies of
cxb6 axb6 35. Ng5 Qf6 36. Rxe6! “My Best Move” on uschess.org,
This move is pretty good too. click on “Chess Life Magazine,”
and then “Archives.”
36. ... Rd1+
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THE WORLD'S FIRST SMART PHONE
PROGRAMMABLE CHESS CLOCK!
Frustrated by your current chess clock? Is it impossible to set?
Are you tired of having to memorize various time control presets
or confusing button push combinations? The TAP N SET™
programmable digital chess clock is for you! Set the time on
your smart phone, tap the clock with your phone, and play some
chess! It’s that easy!

TAP N SET™ is the world’s first chess clock settable from a smart
phone. Download the app to your Android® or iOS® based device
and you’re ready to set the clock. Just enter the time controls into
THE OFFICAL CHESS CLOCK the app and then touch the clock with your phone.
OF US CHESS

PRESET TIME CONTROL SINGLE MULTIPLE FAVORITES SCRABBLE

SINGLE MULTIPLE FAVORITES SCRABBLE PRESET MULTIPLE FAVORITES SCRABBLE PRESET SINGLE FAVORITES SCRABBLE PRESET SINGLE MULTIPLE SCRABBLE PRESET SINGLE MULTIPLE FAVORITES

CLKDTAPSET
TIME CONTROLS: MOVE COUNTER

2 3 ON
ON

ENTER PRESET NUMBER PLAYER 1

1 st Favorite: G/12:34:56 DELETE?

FIRST TIME CONTROL

21 12
HOURS
: 34
MINUTES
: 56
SECONDS
00 MOVES
00
HOURS
00
MINUTES
2 nd Favorite: 40/90, SD 30+30 TIME SETUP

$49.95
SECOND TIME CONTROL

DESCRIPTION PLAYER 2
3 rd Favorite: -
00 : 00
00 00
HOURS
00 MINUTES SECONDS BEEP
MOVES MINUTES

Game in 40 Minutes with

10 Second Delay
12 : 34 : 56 THIRD TIME CONTROL
4 th Favorite: -

HOURS MINUTES SECONDS

00 00
HOURS
00 5 th Favorite: -
MOVES MINUTES

6 th Favorite: -
DELAY INCREMENT DELAY INCREMENT
ON
ON FAVORITE ON
ON FAVORITE

00 00 BEEP

OF
OF
00 00 BEEP

OF
OF
BEEP SECONDS
SE
SECONDS
ECO
ONDS SECONDS
S D N OC E S FREEZE SECONDS
SE
SECONDS
ECO
OND
DS SECONDS
S D N OC E S FREEZE

NOW IN NEW COLORS! The clock comes in two versions - Push Button and Touch Sensor
Touch Sensor
Push Button

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