Bulletin 70

BCCF E-MAIL BULLETIN #70

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Stephen Wright

[Back issues of the Bulletin are available on the above webpages.]

30TH PAUL KERES MEMORIAL

Thirty years have now passed since the death of Paul Keres, the great Estonian player who succumbed to a heart attack while returning home from his last event, Vancouver 1975. A memorial tournament has been held in Vancouver in his honour ever since, and has become B.C.'s premier annual open tournament. Visitors have often taken the first prize, and in recent times that visitor has been Seattle IM Georgi Orlov, who has won the Keres a record six times, including the last four years consecutively. Orlov played in this year's event as well, but back-to-back losses to Jack Yoos and Howard Wu eliminated him from contention (when was the last time Orlov lost two games in a row?). On this occasion B.C. Champion Jack Yoos was the class of the field, deservedly taking first place with 6/7, a point ahead of the pack. Second place resulted in a six-way tie(!) between Georgi Orlov, Oliver Schulte, Jonathan Berry, Fanhao Meng, Tom Quilter, and Laszlo Tegzes, who split the second and U2200 place prizes. Tom Quilter, an economics exchange student at UBC who has previously played in the British Championship, was a welcome addition to this year's Keres.

Many junior players had good results in all three sections, but in the U2000 Section the veterans managed to keep them at bay. Paul Leblanc won first prize with 5.5/6, a full point ahead of second-place finishers Gerhard Neufahrt and Chris Kuczaj; Manuel Escandor was the top U1800. Strong "unrated" players have been a problem in the past few Keres tournaments, and such was also the case in the U1600 Section this year, as Primero and Jofrel Landingin scores 6/6 and 4/6 respectively. However, under new rules instituted this year they were only allowed to win their entry fees back, so the main prizes went to Dan Sutherland (4.5) and juniors Sam Churchill and Alexandra Botez (4 each).

A total of eighty-seven players partcipated; the site was the Hungarian Cultural Centre on Kingsway, an attractive hall whose main drawback was a lack of handicapped access. Many thanks to organizers and TDs Lynn Stringer, Lyle Craver, Henry Chiu, Katherine Davies, and Stephen Wright, also to Joe Oszvald for arranging the site; a special thank you to Frank of the Cultural Centre, who tirelessly and cheerfully took care of every request we made of him.

Crosstables:

Open http://www.chess.ca/xtable.asp?TNum=200505121

U2000 http://www.chess.ca/xtable.asp?TNum=200505123

U1600 http://www.chess.ca/xtable.asp?TNum=200505122

Below are a selection of games; all the games from the Open Section, along with photos and other information, can be found on the BCCF website, www.chess.bc.ca.

Pitre,H - Meng,F [C39] Keres mem 30th Vancouver (1.5), 20.05.2005

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5 h5 6.Bc4 Rh7 7.d4 d6 8.Bxf7+ Rxf7 9.Nxf7 Kxf7 10.Bxf4 Bh6 11.0-0 Kg7 12.g3 Nc6 13.Nc3 Nce7 14.Qd2 Ng6 15.Nd5 Nxf4 16.Nxf4 Qe8 17.Rae1 Ne7 18.Qc3 Bxf4 19.Rxf4 Ng6 20.d5+ Ne5 21.Ref1 c5 22.Rf6 Qe7 23.Qe3 Qxf6 24.Rxf6 Kxf6 25.Qg5+ Kf7 26.Qxh5+ Ke7 27.Qg5+ Ke8 28.Qf6 Nf7 29.h5 Bd7 30.h6 Rc8 31.h7 b5 32.e5 dxe5 33.d6 1-0

Hughey,M - Berry,J [B06] Keres mem 30th Vancouver (2.4), 21.05.2005

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 a6 4.Be3 b5 5.Qd2 Nd7 6.0-0-0 Bb7 7.f3 c5 8.Nge2 Rc8 9.h4 h5 10.g3 Ngf6 11.Bh3 b4 12.Nb1 e6 13.Bg5 Be7 14.Rhe1 0-0 15.Nf4 cxd4 16.Qxd4 e5 17.Qxb4 Qc7 18.Nc3 exf4 19.Bxd7 Qxd7 20.e5 d5 21.Qxf4 Ne8 22.Bxe7 Qxe7 23.Nxd5 Qe6 24.Nc3 Rc4 25.Qe3 Ng7 26.Rd6 Qe7 27.Qd3 Rc7 28.Nd5 Bxd5 29.Rxd5 Rfc8 30.c3 Rc6 31.Kb1 Qe6 32.Rd1 Nf5 33.f4 Kg7 34.Rd7 R6c7 35.Rd5 Rc6 36.Rd7 a5 37.Ra7 Rc5 38.Qd7 Kg8 39.Qb7 Rf8 40.Rd7 Nxg3 41.a3 Ne2 42.Rd6 Qf5+ 43.Ka1 Nxf4 44.Rf6 Qxe5 45.Qb6 Rd5 0-1

Yoos,J - Orlov,G [B08] Keres mem 30th Vancouver (3.1), 21.05.2005

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 c6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Qd2 0-0 7.Bh6 Bg4 8.Bxg7 Kxg7 9.Ng1 e5 10.f3 Be6 11.0-0-0 Qa5 12.d5 cxd5 13.exd5 Bd7 14.Kb1 Na6 15.g4 Nc5 16.Nge2 b5 17.g5 Nh5 18.Ng3 Nf4 19.Nxb5 Qb6 20.Na3 Na4 21.Nc4 Qb8 22.b3 Nxd5 23.Ne4 Be6 24.Qa5 Nc5 25.Nexd6 Nb7 26.Nxb7 Qxb7 27.Qe1 Kg8 28.Qxe5 Rac8 29.Qb2 Nf4 30.Nd6 Qxf3 31.Ba6 Rc6 32.Rhf1 Rxd6 33.Rxd6 Qe3 34.Qd4 Qxd4 35.Rxd4 Nh3 36.Bb7 Nxg5 37.h4 Bh3 38.Rh1 Ne6 39.Rb4 Bf5 40.Be4 a5 41.Rc4 Bg4 42.Re1 h5 43.Ra4 g5 44.hxg5 Nxg5 45.Bd5 Kg7 46.Rxa5 f5 47.Ra7+ Kg6 48.Ra6+ Rf6 49.Rxf6+ Kxf6 50.a4 Nf3 51.Re6+ Kg5 52.a5 h4 53.a6 h3 54.a7 h2 55.Re1 Nxe1 56.a8Q Kh4 57.Qh8+ Kg3 58.Qe5+ 1-0

Yearwood,R - Quilter,T [B01] Keres mem 30th Vancouver (3.3), 21.05.2005

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Bg4 4.Be2 Bxe2 5.Nxe2 Qxd5 6.0-0 Nc6 7.c3 0-0-0 8.Qb3 Qh5 9.Nf4 Qa5 10.a4 e5 11.dxe5 Qxe5 12.Qxf7 Re8 13.Be3 g5 14.Nd3 Qf5 15.Qc4 Bd6 16.Nd2 Qg6 17.a5 Qh5 18.h3 a6 19.Bc5 Qe2 20.Bxd6 cxd6 21.Nb4 Qxd2 22.Nxc6 d5 23.Qd4 Ne4 24.Qb6 Qf4 25.Na7+ Kb8 26.Ra4 Qc7 27.Qd4 Qc5 28.f3 Qxd4+ 29.Rxd4 Ng3 0-1

Orlov,G - Wu,H [A39] Keres mem 30th Vancouver (4.2), 22.05.2005

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Nc6 8.Nc3 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 d6 10.Bg5 Be6 11.Qh4 Rc8 12.b3 Qa5 13.Rac1 b5 14.Nxb5 Qxa2 15.Nd4 Rc5 16.Ra1 Qb2 17.Rab1 Qc3 18.Rfc1 Qb4 19.Nc6 Rxc6 20.Bxc6 Bf5 21.e4 Be6 22.Qf4 Ng4 23.Qd2 Qxd2 24.Bxd2 Ne5 25.Bc3 Nxc6 26.Bxg7 Kxg7 27.b4 Rb8 28.b5 Ne5 29.Ra1 Nxc4 30.Rxa7 Rxb5 31.Rxe7 Ne5 32.f4 Nf3+ 33.Kg2 Bg4 34.Kf2 Rb2+ 35.Ke3 Rb3+ 36.Kf2 Nd4 37.Rc4 Ne6 38.Ra4 Nc5 39.Raa7 Be6 40.Kg1 h5 41.f5 gxf5 42.exf5 Bd5 43.Re2 Nd3 44.Ra1 Ne5 45.Rc1 Nf3+ 46.Kf1 Rb4 47.Rf2 Be4 48.Ke2 d5 49.Rc3 Nd4+ 50.Ke3 Nxf5+ 51.Kf4 Nh6 52.Kg5 Bg6 53.Rf4 d4 54.Rc5 Rb2 55.Rxd4 Rxh2 56.Rd7 Rf2 57.Rc6 Rf5+ 58.Kh4 Rf3 0-1

Niksic,J - Davies,L [E64] Keres mem 30th Vancouver (5.5), 22.05.2005

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.c4 d6 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Nc3 c5 7.d5 Nbd7 8.0-0 Rb8 9.a4 Ne8 10.e4 b6 11.Re1 a6 12.Bf1 Nc7 13.Nd2 e5 14.f4 exf4 15.gxf4 f5 16.Nf3 fxe4 17.Nxe4 Nf6 18.Ng3 b5 19.axb5 axb5 20.Ra7 bxc4 21.Bxc4 Ng4 22.Ne5 Bxe5 23.Rxe5 dxe5 24.Rxc7 Kh8 25.Rxc8 Qxc8 26.b3 h5 27.fxe5 Qd8 28.Qd2 Rf2 29.Qg5 Qa5 30.Qxg6 Qe1+ 31.Nf1 Rxf1+ 32.Bxf1 Qf2+ 0-1

Kaminski,V - Schulte,O [A61] Keres mem 30th Vancouver (6.2), 23.05.2005

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 e6 4.c4 d6 5.Nc3 exd5 6.cxd5 g6 7.Nd2 Bg7 8.e4 0-0 9.g3 Re8 10.Bg2 Nbd7 11.0-0 a6 12.a4 Rb8 13.Nc4 Ne5 14.Nxe5 Rxe5 15.Qd3 Re8 16.f4 Ng4 17.e5 dxe5 18.h3 Nf6 19.fxe5 Nd7 20.e6 fxe6 21.dxe6 Bd4+ 22.Kh1 Ne5 23.Qc2 Bxe6 24.Ne4 Nf7 25.Bf4 Rc8 26.Rad1 Qb6 27.Rxd4 cxd4 28.Qd2 Bf5 29.a5 Qe6 30.Nf2 Qc4 31.g4 Re2 32.Qd1 Bc2 33.Qc1 Bb3 34.Ne4 Qe6 35.Nc5 Qe7 36.Nxb3 Rxc1 37.Nxc1 Rxb2 38.Bd5 Qd7 39.Be4 Qe6 40.Bf3 0-1

Meng,F - Wu,H [B31] Keres mem 30th Vancouver (6.4), 23.05.2005

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.c3 e5 6.d3 Nge7 7.Be3 d6 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 0-0 10.Nc3 Bg4 11.d5 Nd4 12.Be2 Nxe2+ 13.Nxe2 f5 14.Ng5 f4 15.f3 Nf5 16.exf5 Qxg5 17.fxg4 fxe3 18.Ng3 h5 19.Ne4 Qxg4 20.Qxg4 hxg4 21.fxg6 Rf4 22.Nxd6 Rd8 23.Nf5 e2 24.Rxf4 exf4 25.Kf2 Bxb2 26.Rb1 Re8 27.Re1 Re5 28.Nh6+ Kg7 29.Nxg4 Rxd5 30.Rxe2 Ba3 31.Kf3 Bd6 32.Re6 b5 33.Nf6 Rd3+ 34.Ke2 f3+ 35.gxf3 Ra3 36.Nh5+ Kf8 37.Rxd6 Rxa2+ 38.Rd2 Ra6 39.g7+ Kf7 40.Rd7+ 1-0

Tegzes,L - Ingram,R [B22] Keres mem 30th Vancouver (6.5), 23.05.2005

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Be2 e6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Bf4 Rd8 9.Qa4 Qe4 10.Be3 Bd6 11.Nbd2 Qf5 12.Nc4 Bxh2+ 13.Kxh2 cxd4 14.cxd4 0-0 15.Nce5 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Nd5 17.Qd4 f6 18.Nh4 Nxe3 19.Nxf5 Nxf1+ 20.Bxf1 Rxd4 21.Nxd4 fxe5 22.Nf3 Bxf3 23.gxf3 Rxf3 24.Kg2 Rf4 25.Rd1 Rb4 26.b3 Kf7 27.Bc4 Rb6 28.Kf3 a6 29.Ke4 Kf6 30.Rd3 Rc6 31.Rf3+ Ke7 32.Kxe5 b5 33.Bd3 Rc5+ 34.Kd4 Rh5 35.Be4 g5 36.Rc3 g4 37.Rc7+ Kd6 38.Rxh7 Rg5 39.Ra7 g3 40.Rxa6+ Ke7 41.fxg3 Rxg3 42.Rb6 Rg5 43.Bd3 Rg2 44.Bxb5 Rxa2 45.Ke5 Ra1 46.Rb7+ Kd8 47.Bc6 Kc8 48.Kxe6 Rd1 49.Rh7 Rd8 50.Ra7 Rd4 51.Bd5 Kb8 52.Rh7 Rd1 53.Kd6 Rc1 54.Rb7+ Kc8 55.Ra7 Kd8 56.Rh7 1-0

Davies,L - Orlov,G [B42] Keres mem 30th Vancouver (7.3), 23.05.2005

NATIONAL CHESS CHALLENGE

This provincial team event took place in the nation's capital on the Victoria Day weekend. The B.C. team, consisting of Harrison Lee, Alex Sabaratnam, Tanraj Sohal, Jack Cheng, Joshua Wild, Elliot Raymer, Christopher Hui, Alex Kay, Clyde Chen, Imran Khan, Matthew Guze, and Ben Daswani, comfortably placed third behind the two traditional powerhouses, Ontario and Quebec:

1 Ontario 95.5/108
2 Quebec 82.5
3 British Columbia 66
4 Manitoba 55.5
5 Alberta 52.5
6 Nova Scotia 48
7 New Brunswick 43.5
8 Newfoundland 42
9 Saskatchewan 41.5
10 Prince Edward Island 13

In the individual board prizes B.C. garnered a total of six trophies:

2 Alex Sabaratnam 8/9 - second

3 Tanraj Sohal 9/9 - first (repeating as National Champion, he won the grade 2 last year)

4 Jack Cheng 7.5/9 - tied for second, third after playoffs (playoff incorrectly given as grade 2 on the website)

5 Joshua Wild 8/9 - tied for first, second after playoffs

6 Elliot Raymer 6/9 - third

12 Ben Daswani 8/9 - tied for first, second after playoffs

Honourable mention should also be made of Imran Khan, who tied for third with 5/9 in grade 10 but placed fourth after playoffs. Congratulations to all our representatives, and many thanks to team captain Brian Raymer, organizers Bill Lee and Katherine Davies, and all the other parents and volunteers who contributed to the success of the B.C. team. Further details can be found at:

http://www.chess.nl.ca/

http://www.k-12chess.com/k-12chess2003/ccc2005.php

VANCOUVER GRAND PRIX

The last event in the 2004-2005 Vancouver Junior/Adult Grand Prix took place at the Vancouver Bridge Centre on May 15. Twenty-four players participated, conveniently dividing into three sections of eight players each. In the Open Section Fanhao Meng and Noam Davies tied for first with 2.5/3, Vlad Gaciu was the top U1900 with 1.5. Clyde Chen won the U1500 Section with a perfect score, ahead of Aviv Milner on 3; Donovan Zhao was the U1200 winner. The Booster Section also saw a perfect score, as David Choi took first ahead of Brian Zhou, Kyle Zheng, Conrad Ng, and Marko Mitrovic.

For the overall Grand Prix prizes each player's four best scores from the six events were added together; an average of a player's rating over the year was used in deciding eligibility for class prizes. The overall winners were as follows:

Open

1st - Fanhao Meng

2nd - Noam Davies

U1800

1st - Ivan Petrov

2nd - Tiffany Tang/Sterling Dietz

U1500

1st - Richard Huang

2nd - Thomas Chow

U1300

1st - Stoyan Petrov

2nd - Michael Wee

EASTER THIRD SATURDAY, NOVI SAD

Dr. Valerian Adam of Prince Rupert recently played in a category III round robin in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). The tournament was one in a series of events organized by Serbian GM Sinisa Drazic, based on the success of the First Saturday Tournaments in Budapest. Dr. Adam's only loss was to Drazic in the last round; this resulted in his placing second overall, but in the process he made an IM norm for his excellent performance - congratulations! Games from the event do not appear to be currently available, but judging by the other events they should eventually come to light on Drazic's website: http://www.drazic.co.yu

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

1 Drazic, Sinisa (GM)     2495 x 1 = = 1 1 1 = 1 1   7.5
2 Adam, Valerian          2225 0 x 1 = 1 1 1 = = 1   6.5
3 Dumpor, Atif (FM)       2324 = 0 x = 1 = = = 1 =   5.0
4 Todorovic, Jovan (FM)   2377 = = = x 0 = 1 1 = =   5.0
5 Dragojlovic, A. (IM)    2285 0 0 0 1 x = 1 = 1 =   4.5
6 Micic, Cedomir (IM)     2401 0 0 = = = x 0 1 = 1   4.0
7 Dostan, Janos (FM)      2233 0 0 = 0 0 1 x = = 1   3.5
8 Josic, Hrvoje           2209 = = = 0 = 0 = x = =   3.5
9 Illijin, Nebojsa (IM)   2244 0 = 0 = 0 = = = x =   3.0
10 Mujagic, Ramo (FM)      2331 0 0 = = = 0 0 = = x   2.5

THE POCKET GUIDE TO CHESS

Chess has had more written about it than all other games combined; thousands of works already exist, and the chess enthusiast is inundated with a flood of new books appearing on an almost weekly basis. One recent addition is The Pocket Guide to Chess, written by our own Jonathan Berry and published by Master Point Press of Toronto. But considering the chess literature that already exists, is there a place for this book in the current market? Does it fulfill a need which has previously been unmet?

Happily, the answer to both these questions is "yes!" Designed as a ready reference work, "This book is a concise but complete survey of every aspect of the game of chess: a great first book for the beginner, and a useful reference for the intermediate player" (from the back cover). Berry does not cover such areas as the use of computers, thought processes, how to improve, or chess history, but deals strictly with the mechanics of playing a game of chess. The book is divided into eleven chapters, plus a glossary and index of openings. The first three chapters present the laws of chess and a description of chess notation, all pithily presented and illustrated. Chapter one compresses the FIDE rules of play into just two pages, including an impressive diagram with examples of all the standard moves. The second chapter ("Gotchas") is probably the most important for a beginner or casual player, as it explains situations where a detailed knowledge of the rules is necessary, e.g., castling, en passant, claimed draws, etc.

Chapter four is titled "Endgame Checkmates," but this is a bit of a misnomer. The bishop + knight mating procedure is discussed in some detail, but mating with king + queen or king + rook is not illustrated. Instead, the rest of the chapter examines the material and conditions necessary to win, including zugzwang and king + pawn versus king. Chapters five to seven present various "Rules of Thumb," a compilation of general principles such as "develop minors before majors" or "bishop + knight = rook + pawn" in an endgame. Berry is quick to point out that there are many exceptions to these rules of thumb, and that "generalizations are subject to exact moves." Most will be well known to experienced players, but it is useful to see them all collected in one place. An occasional contradiction does occur, e.g., on page 17 an endgame is defined as each side having no more than 11 pawns' worth of pieces, but on page 21 there is mention of queen + knight versus queen + bishop endings.

Chapters eight and nine cover tactical devices (pin, fork, skewer, etc.) and checkmate patterns, deomstrating them with illustrative games. Chapter ten summarizes specific openings, giving a few comments and the main variations for each. The naming of variations is fairly standard, although one could quibble with the occasional sideline, e.g., the sequence 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 g6 is called the Keres variation, but this appellation is usually applied to the continuation 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 Bg7 a4; Lev Alburt's name is associated with 4...g6 in general. This chapter is most useful as a memory aid for intermediate players.

Chapter eleven discusses positional ideas, including transpositions, space, mobility, and structures, and gives a basic explanation of positional play. This is followed by a glossary of all the major chess terms used in the book, along with an index of specific openings. The glossary definition for zwischenzug is so compressed that it loses its precise meaning ("An 'in-between move' designed to get the timing right for a subsequent maneuver"), although it is defined correctly earlier in the book.

The production values are good: an attractive cover, wire binding so the book lies flat, no obvious typos, an 18 by 11 cm size that will fit into a (largish) pocket. Although published in Toronto, American spelling is used throughout. In the specific openings section the capitalization of square names in the opening titles looks strange to this reader, but is not a major concern. Overall the book well serves its target readership: within its eighty pages beginners will find a wealth of practical pointers to assist them, while it provides a handy reference and refresher for more seasoned players. Recommended.

http://www.masterpointpress.com/general/chess.html

UPCOMING EVENTS

Rising Stars Active

Date: Saturday May 28, 2005

Format: CFC-rated, 6-player round robin

Place: New Westminster Public Library, upstairs small meeting room, 716-6^th Avenue, New Westminster, BC

Time: 10am

EF: $3 for rating fee

Prizes: small prize for clear first only

Notes: CFC membership required; equipment provided

How to enter: call or e-mail Vas Sladek to register; 604-562-3736, chessfm@telus.net

No walk-ins, only registered players can play.

Belfort 2005 Fundraiser

This open chess tournament is a fund raising event. It is organized with the purpose of raising funds for Alexandra Botez [9 years old] and Vlad Gaciu [13 years old], so they can attend this July as part of Team Canada the World Youth Chess Championship in Belfort, France.