Illinois Denker, Girls, Barber results

NM Jonathan Kogen wins the Denker Qualifier (the Illinois Chess Association High School Invitational Championship) with a perfect 5-0; NM Sam Schmakel takes second with 4-1, and Nathaniel Kranjc takes third with 2½-2½.

Madeline Reiches wins the Girls' Invitational with 4½-½. Miranda Liu takes second with 4-1, and Cassie Parent is clear third with 2½-2½.

David Peng wins the Barber Qualifier (K-8 Invitational Championship) with 4½-½, Alex Bian is clear second with 4-1, and George Li and Zachary Holocek tie for third with 3-2.

Thanks to Warren Junior Program chair Pattie Zinski for organizing on behalf of the Illinois Chess Association, and to Sevan Muradian and the North Shore Chess Center for donating space and directing services.

Crosstables are here: much more later.

A Rook Ending from the Denker

Here's a position from Moskwa v. Kogen that illustrates the differences between rook endings and queen endings discussed in the last post.

Robert's pawn is nearer to queening but that's not nearly as big an advantage in a rook ending because the Black rook will sacrifice itself for the new queen after which the White rook won't be able to handle the Black king and connected pawns alone and may be forced to sacrifice itself in return.  A queen could handle the Black king and pawns with ease.

The game went 39.Rc8 Rd3 40.Ke6 b3 41.d7 a4 42.d8=Q+ Rxd8 43.Rxd8 Kc5 and in order to draw White will have to hustle his king over to help with the defense and sacrifice his rook at the right moment.  On the other hand, 39.e5! would have won after 39....Rd3 40.e6 Rd5+ 41.Ke4 Rxd6 42.e7 42.Rxe7 42.Rxe7  because the White king is close enough to assist the rook before the Black pawns advance too far.

Cross posted at Prospect Chess

A Queen Ending from the Denker

One of the places that I thought Robert Moskwa might run into trouble at the Denker Qualifier due to the relatively short time he has been playing serious chess was in the endgame.  Although his calculation skills are excellent, you often don't have enough time left to calculate as thoroughly as needed when you reach the endgame.  As a result, the kind of general understanding of endgame principles that you can only get by experience, especially painful experience, can be very important.

Nowhere is the lack of time felt more than in queen endings.  On nearly every move, the players must try to visualize the consequences of an avalanche of checks.

In most endings, a player must carefully weigh the value of advancing a pawn closer to the queening square against the possibility of it becoming weak due to lack of support.  Hence, the general endgame principle of pieces before pawns, i.e., unless the ending is a pure pawn race, players should try to improve the position of their pieces before they advance their pawns.

In queen endings, however, advanced pawns are much less likely to become a liability.  This is because a queen has the ability to protect a pawn and control the squares in front of the pawn at the same time without hindering the pawn's advance.  A king can blockade a pawn that is only supported by a knight, a rook, or a bishop, but it is helpless to stop the advance of a pawn supported by a queen.  In fact, it often has to worry about being mated. Even another queen acting alone cannot hold back a pawn supported by a queen.

The flip side of the queen's ability to advance a pawn without assistance is its ability to oppose a king and a pawn without assistance.  Acting alone, a knight, a rook, or a bishop has difficulty holding back a pawn supported by a king and can often be forced to sacrifice itself to prevent a pawn from queening.  A queen on the other hand has very little trouble holding back a pawn by itself.  In fact, it can often hold back several pawns.

The upshot of all this is that having the farthest advanced pawn is of paramount importance in queen endings.  It is not unusual to see a deficit of several pawns be offset by a single pawn that has reached the sixth rank because the extra pawns can be easily rounded up if the defender can be forced to sacrifice his queen.

All of this brings us to the following position from Moskwa v. Meduri.

Fearing Black's g-pawn, Robert played 59.d7+? Qxd7 60.Qxg3 and the game ended in a draw.  However, despite the fact that Black's g-pawn is as near to its queening square as the White's d-pawn, the Black pawn is not supported by its queen and the Black queen is needed to defend against mating threats.  After 59.c5!, Black can't play 59...g2 because of 60.Qb8+ Kf7 61.Qb7+ Kf8 62. Qxg2.  If Black tries 59...Qd7, 60.c6! is devastating.

Cross posted to Prospect Chess

Illinois Youth Invitational Championships

Results are here!

Congratulations to the winners:

In the Illinois Chess Association Denker Qualifier (High School Invitational Championship), NM Sam Schmakel took clear first with a 4½-½ score, and wins the right to represent Illinois at the Denker Tournament of High School Champions.

In the ICA's Girls' Invitational Championship, Miranda Liu took first on tiebreaks over Penny Xu, each with an undefeated 4-1 score.  Miranda wins the right to represent Illinois in a national event.

In the ICA's Barber Qualifier (K-8 Invitational Championship), George Li took clear first with 4½-½ and wins the right to represent Illinois at the Barber K-8 Tournament of Champions.

Thanks to Sevan Muradian and the North Shore Chess Center for hosting and directing this event, to Warren Program director Pattie Zinski and the ICA Youth Committee members who organized this event for ICA (Brad and Andi Rosen were instrumental, I'm sure there were others), to Vince Hart for his absolutely amazing coverage on this blog (scroll to the many posts below for a treat), and to the players, coaches, and parents who helped make this happen.   Eight-year-old Shreya Mangalam deserves special mention for stepping in as a last-minute replacement, even though she was the youngest and lowest-rated player in the field.  Shreya's score does not reflect her excellent play!

I'll look at some of the games in detail as busy season allows.

Denker Round 5

Youth Invitationals: Fifth Round

Pairings

Denker Qualifier


 Qazi v.  Moskwa 1-0
 Kogen v.  Schmakel  0-1
 Meduri  Dubin 0-1

Girls' Invitational 


Xu v. Padgett 1-0
Harihara v. Liu 0-1
Provine v. Mangalam 1-0

Barber Qualifier


Adve v. Li  1/2-1/2
Turner v. Sun 1/2-1/2
Lehmann v.  Kalgahtgi 0-1
Bronfeyn v. Hrach 1/2-1/2
Heil. Gilchrist 1-0
Do v. Xiao 1-0


3:05 PM  The final round is underway. 


3:15 PM  Kogen and Schmakel are playing a Closed Ruy Lopez (Petrosian variation I think).  Qazi is playing an Anti-Sicilian line with Bc4 and Qf3.  Meduri has played the Advance against Dubin's French. 


3:20 PM  Xu is playing the Tarrasch against Padgett's French.  Harihara is playing the Grand Prix Attack against Liu's Sicilian and Provine and Mangalam are playing the same variation of the Ruy Lopez as Kogen and Schmakel. 




3:25 PM  Adve plays the Austrian Attack against Li's Pirc.  Lehmann is playing the Yugoslav Attack against  Kalgahtgi's Dragon.  


3:30 PM  Hrach is playing the Petroff.  Gilchrist played the English Defense against the English Opening.  Sun played 1...c5 against Turner's English. Do and Xiao are in a Ruy Lopez.


3:35 PM   One might expect Dubin and Meduri to be peaceably inclined after tough losses in the fourth round, however, Meduri might have a little extra motivation as he is 0-4 lifetime against Dubin.  They first played at the 2002 National Youth Action Tournament and they last played at the 2006 Illinois Open.


3:45 PM   Meduri had sacrificed a piece to expose Dubin's king.  Kogen has closed the center with d5 so a lot of maneuvering can be expected.


3:55 PM   Adve has sacrificed a couple of pawns and castled long in an effort to get at Li's king, but Li has been happily accepting such material and cooling defending all tournament.


4:00 PM  First result:  Kalgahtgi beats Lehmann.


4:15 PM Kogen, Schamkel, Meduri, and Dubin have been competing against one another for a long time.  All four played in the primary section of the 2003 Illinois K-8 Tournament. Dubin finished 4th, Schmakel 5th, Meduri 7th and Kogen 19th.


4:20 PM Heil and Gilchrist have reached an ending with rooks and opposite colored bishops.  Heil has more space but Gilchrist controls the only open file.


4:25 PM Dubin seems to be weathering Meduri's attack.


4:30 PM  With a three pawn disadvantage, Adve accepts Li's offer of a draw.  One less tiebreak for Sevan to worry about.  Li will be Illinois' representative Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions. 


4:40 PM  Schmakel traded his bishops for Kogen's knights and has now planted a knight on d3 supported by a pawn on c4 and backed by the other knight on c5.


4:45 PM Harihara has sacrificed an exchange and is trying to get at Liu's king.   So far this round, the recipients of the sacrifices have been getting the better of things.


4:55 PM  Moskwa and Qazi have both castled queenside.  Moskwa is trying to gain some space on that side with his pawns, but Qazi knight is firmly ensconced on d5.


5:00 PM  Sun and Turner agree to a draw.  Meduri is still attacking.  He has two extra pawns one of which is a passer on e6.  Dubin has an extra bishop but for the moment it is sitting on c6 and doing little more than his pawns on b7 and d5. 


5:05 PM  Do beats Xiao.


5:15 PM  Heil beats Gilchrist.


5:20 PM Qazi has pawns on g5 and f5, and Moskwa's bishop on g7 is looking uncomfortable.  Kogen took the knight on d3 with his bishop and Schmakel is spent a long time deciding to recapture with the knight rather than the pawn.


5:50 PM  Bronfeyn and Hrach draw.  The Barber Qualifier is complete.  


5:55 PM  Liu has held of Harihara's attack and is still up the exchange and a pawn.  Xu has a knight and rook against Padgett's bishop and rook and is trying to exploit Padgett's isolated d-pawn.  Mangalam is down a pawn.


6:05 PM  Schmakel still has a very pretty looking knight on d3, but Kogen seems to have done a good job of clearing all his pieces out of the vicinity.


6:10 PM  Meduri only has one pawn for the bishop now, but the bishop is not contributing anything to the defense.  Qazi is generating some nasty pressure down the f-file.


6:15 PM  Liu defeats Harihara.  Xu managed to pick of Padgett's isolated d-pawn.  Schmakel has gone up a pawn on Kogen.


6:20 PM  It looks like Qazi has a draw by repetition if he wants it.


6:25 PM  Schmakel goes up an exchange.  Qazi declines to repeat.


6:30 PM  Provine has bishop against knight plus two pawns.


6:35 PM  Xu has knight, rook and extra passed pawn against bishop and rook.  Schmakel is pressing home his advantage.


6:40 PM  Qazi has gone up a pawn on Moskwa.  They both have a queen and a bishop left.  Dubin is finally creating some threats of his own.


6:45 PM Schmakel gives back the exchange to create connected passers on Kogen's third rank.  Qazi picks off a second pawn.  Meduri has no extra pawns now but he still has a passed pawn on e6.


6:45 PM Kogen resigns.  Only one set of tie breakers for Sevan to worry about. Quazi goes up by a piece.


6:50 PM Qazi defeats Moskwa.  Liu defeats Mangalam.  Xu defeats Padgett.


6:55 PM  Schmakel is the Denker representative.  Liu takes first on tie breakers.  Dubin trades off the queens and rooks leaving him with the extra bishop.


7:00 PM  Dubin maintains his hex on Meduri.  All the games are done.


10:00 PM 5th round games from the Denker and the Barber are posted.

Denker Round 4

Youth Invitationals: Fourth Round

After three rounds, the unofficial standings are as follows:

Denker Qualifier

2.5   Schmakel  
2.5   Kogen      
2.0   Moskwa
1.5   Meduri
0.5   Qazi
0.0   Dubin

Girl's Invitational

2.5  Xu
2.5  Liu
2.0  Harihara
1.0  Provine
1.0  Padgett
0.0  Mangalam

Barber Qualifier

3.0  Li
2.0  Bronfeyn
2.0  Lehmann
2.0  Kagahtgi
1.5  Turner
1.5  Sun
1.0  Do
1.0  Gilchrist
1.0  Hrach
0.5  Xiao
0.5  Heil


Pairings for the fourth round:


Denker Qualifier


Dubin v. Qazi  0-1
Moskwa v. Kogen  0-1
Schmakel v. Meduri  1-0

Girl's Invitational


Liu v. Xu  1/2-1/2
Harihara v. Provine 1/2-1/2
Padgett v. Mangalam 1/2-1/2

Barber Qualifier


Li v. Lehmann  1-0
Adve v. Bronfeyn 1-0
Sun v.  Kalgahtgi  1-0
Turner v. Do 1-0
Hrach v. Gilchrist  1-0
Xiao v. Heil 0-1

9:55 AM: The players are at their boards.  The big game this morning is between the leaders in the Girls' Invitational, Xu and Liu.  Schmakel plays his two highest rated opponents today, Meduri and Kogen.


10:05 AM:  The round is underway.  We have Dubin playing the Samisch against Qazi's King's Indian.  Kogen played 1...e5 and Moskwa is playing the Scotch Gambit.  Padgett is playing a one of those miscellaneous 1.d4 openings that I have trouble telling apart (and beating for that matter).  Harihara is playing the King's Indian Attack against Provine's French.  Liu played 1.d4 and both she and Xu have fianchettoed their king's bishops.  Li and Lehmann are in an Open Catalan. 


10:10 AM:  Bronfeyn has played Alekhine's Defense and Kalgahtighi the Dragon.  Turner played the English and Hrach played the Italian.  Xiao and Heil are in a Closed Sicilian.


10:15 AM:  Schmakel played the English against Meduri and they appear to be in the neighborhood of the Open Reti.  Kogen declined Moskwa's gambit and the queens and two pairs of minor pieces are gone already. 


10:25 AM:  Qazi decided to attack Dubin's center with ...c5 rather than ...e5 and the position is looking Benoni-ish.  Lehmann is playing the same line against Li that he played against me at Tim Just's Winter Open.  I managed to win that one, but Li had best not underestimate his opponent's understanding of the positions.  I think it's the Colle that Padgett is playing with the thematic kingside expansion with Ne5 and f4.


10:30 AM:  Sun is developing in classical fashion against Kalgahtgi's Dragon.

10:40 AM:  Xu and Liu have morphed into a Dragon formation with Liu developing her light squared bishop on g2.  Moskwa has two rooks, a knight, and six pawns against Kogen's two rooks, bishop, and six pawns, but Kogen's pieces are on their original squares and he has lost the right to castle.   Hard to say whether White's lead in development means much with so much material gone.



10:45 AM:  Qazi was frustrated to only have 1/2 point after a tough endgame loss to Meduri last night, but when you've been playing rated chess for less than three years 1/2 point isn't bad against three oppponents with an average rating over 2150.


10:50 AM:  Adve has traded three of his pawns for one of Bronfeyn's knights.


10:50 AM:  Padgett is building up the pressure on the kingside.  Dubin has a half-open f-file to work with but Qazi has an outpost for his knight on e5.


11:05 AM:   Denker trivia:  Moskwa is the only player rated under 2150 to score a point against Meduri in the last eight months.



11:15 AM:   More Denker trivia.  Meduri and Schmakel have played six USCF games against each other.  Schmakel holds a 4-2 edge, however Meduri has a win and two draws in their last three meetings.  Meduri also drew Schmakel at IHSA tournament in February. That draw cost Schmakel a share of the first medal on first board which went to Moskwa.  Dubin went 7-0 on second board including a win over Qazi.  Kogen did not play because Deerfield High School does not have a chess program.


11:20 AM:   Li has gone up the exchange against Lehmann.  Hrach is attacking Gilchrist's king.



11:25 AM:   Kogen and Moskwa are in a double rook plus even pawns endgame.  Kogen has a,b,d,g and h-pawns.  Moskwa has a,d,e,g and h-pawns.


11:30 AM:   Kalgahtgi is up a piece on Sun.  Correction:  material is still even.  I didn't notice Sun's threats.

11:40 AM:   Qazi has won a queen for a rook and a knight.

11:45 AM:   Hrach has traded three minor pieces for a rook, a knight, and two pawns.  Li has added a pawn to his exchange advantage but his king is under some pressure.


11:50 AM:   Kogen and Moskwa each control one of the open files, but neither can achieve unhindered penetration with the rooks.  Meduri and Schmakel looks pretty even.


11:55 AM:   Harihara has gone up by a pawn.  Queens are gone.  Xu and Liu are still even material and development.  


12:00 PM:   First result, Sun defeats Kalgahtgi.

12:10 PM:   Schmakel has given up the exchange against Meduri, but he has a lead in development and Meduri has a knight that looks none too secure.  Moskwa and Kogen have traded a pair of rooks.


12:15 PM:  Heil has the exchange for a pawn.  Li is up a rook and on a king hunt.  


12:15 PM:  Li defeats Lehmann.  




12:20 PM:  Harihara and Provine are down to rooks plus bishops of opposite colors with Harihara on the offensive with an extra pawn.  If the rooks come off it will be very drawish but until then the chances are on Harihara's side.   


12:25 PM:  Meduri's king is still in the center and Schmakel's trying to keep it there.  He has a big lead in development for the exchange. 


12:30 PM:  Bronfeyn has gotten one of his extra pawns down to b2.


12:35 PM:  Hrach is up the exchange but both his rooks are en prise and he is getting low on time.  Padgett has a lot of pressure on Mangalam's king but hasn't found a way to break through yet.


12:45 PM:  Heil defeats Xiao.


12:50 PM:  Adve was able to round up the pawn on b2 but Bronfeyn still has three pawns for a bishop.  Schmakel is starting to pick up material.  Kogen and Moskwa have taken each other's isolated pawns leaving them both with connected passers.  Moskwa's are in the center and slightly farther advanced.


12:55 PM:  The rooks have come off the board in Harihara v. Provine.  Harihara still has an extra pawn, but bishops of opposite colors are terribly drawish.


1:00 PM:  Xu has an extra pawn in a queen and rook ending but her king is slightly more exposed. 


1:05 PM:  Schmakel defeats Meduri.  Provine looks like she has Harihara's extra pawn well blockaded.




1:10 PM:  Xu and Liu draw.  Mangalam and Padgett draw.


1:15 PM:  Moskwa has a pawn on d6 and Kogen's king is cut off.  Hrach liberated his rooks and now he is up the exchange and several pawn.  Adve got one of his pawns back.


1:20 PM:  Kogen is going to have to give up his rook for Moskwa's d-pawn, but then his own connected passers will be hard to stop. 


1:25 PM:  Hrach defeats Gilchrist.


1:35 PM:  Kogen's passers prove unstoppable and he defeats Moskwa.  Qazi defeats Dubin.


1:45 PM:  Turner beats Do.  Provine and Harihara draw.


1:55 PM:  Adve has bishop and h-pawn against two isolated pawns for Bronfeyn but the bishop controls the queening square.


2:00 PM:  Sevan is trying to figure out all the tiebreak permutations in Kogen and Schamkel draw in the last round.


2:05 PM:  Adve beats Bronfeyn.


2:30 PM:  Denker Round 4 games are posted.

Denker Round 3

I wish to apologize. My goal had to been to publish all the Denker games from each round at the same time but I find that I am missing Kogen-Dubin. I think I remember Josh leaving a copy of his scoresheet, but I seem to have mislaid it. If Josh or Jonathan sees this and can post a copy of the pgn in the comments, that would be great.

Youth Invitationals: Third Round

Third Round Pairings:

Denker Qualifier

Kogen v. Dubin 1-0

Qazi v. Meduri   0-1

Moskwa v. Schmakel 1/2-1/2

Girls' Invitational

Padgett v. Liu  1/2-1/2

Xu v. Provine  1/2-1/2
Mangalam v. Harihara 0-1

Barber Qualifier

Kalgahtgi v. Li    0-1

Lehmann v. Adve  0-1
Do v.  Bronfeyn     0-1

Gilchrist v. Parker-Turner  0-1

Sun v. Xiao  1-0
Heil v. Hrach  0-1.

4:05 PM:  The third  round is underway.  Moskwa is playing the English Attack against Schmakel's Najdorf.  Kogen's playing the Advance against Dubin's French.  Qazi playing the Grand Prix Attack against Meduri's Sicilian.

4:10 PM:  Padgett and Liu have a Queen's Gambit Declined.  Xu played the Tarrasch against Provine's French and Black played the line with ...Qxd5.   Mangalam played the Ruy Lopez and Harihara played a line with ...Bc5.

4:15 PM:  Li is playing the Pirc against Kalgahtgi and Lehmann is playing a Ruy Lopez with an early d3.

4:15 PM:  Bronfeyn played Alekhine's Defense. Gilchrist and Turner have your miscellaneous 1.d4 opening going.  Sun is playing a Quiet Italian Game and Heil is playing the Botvinnik Variation in the English Opening.

4:25 PM:  Kalgahtgi is going for the gusto against Li's Pirc.  Sixteen moves in and he has pawns on d4, e5, f5, and g4.

4:50 PM:  Liu is up a piece on Padgett.  Dubin played ...f5 and Kogen is trying to pry things open with g4.

4:55 PM:  Li repulsed Kalgahtgi's attack and exploited his over extended attack to win the game for the first result of round three.

5:00 PM:  Moskwa is advancing his pawns on the kingside and his minor pieces on the queenside.  He is either controlling both sides of the board or over extending on both sides.

5:05 PM:  Kogen is building up an attack on the kingside.  Sun has gone ahead by an exchange against Xiao.

5:15 PM:  Now it's Kogen's turn to sacrifice a piece.  Does he know that Dubin is in the habit of knocking off one 2100 player each time he plays in the Denker Qualifier?  In 2009 it was Trevor Magness and Matt Wilber in 2010.  Moskwa has gotten Schmakel to use forty more minutes on the clock.

5:25 PM:  Lehman and Adve have an interesting endgame going.  White has pawns on a2,b3,c4,d3,e4,f5 and h3.  Black has pawns on a4,b5,c7,d4,e5,f6 and g5.  Black has two knights and White has a knight and a bishop.  Unfortunately it's a light squared bishop and every one of Black's pieces and pawns are on dark squares.

5:25 PM:  Bronfeyn has gone up a piece against Do.

5:35 PM:  Mangalam is down a piece against Harihara.

5:45 PM:  No 2100 scalp for Dubin this year as he goes down to Kogen.  Adve exploits Lehmann's bad bishop for the win.  Harihara defeats Mangalam.

5:50 PM:  Meduri is up a pawn on Qazi, but the position is fluid.

6:05 PM:  Meduri has picked up a second pawn on Qazi and the postion is settling down. 

6:10 PM:  Moskwa has a knight stuck on a5 that Schmakel is trying to win.  Sun defeats Xiao.

6:15 PM:  Moskwa has finally managed to protect his knight with b4.

6:20 PM:  Bronfeyn defeats Do.


6:25 PM:  Schmakel is down to ten minutes on his clock against fifty for Moskwa.  The knight on a5 is no longer loose, but Schmakel may be looking to weaken White's pawn structure by trading his bishop which would force Moskwa into his second queen and pawn ending in the tournament.

6:35 PM:  Padgett and Liu draw.

6:40 PM:  Provine has two bishops against Xu's bishop and knight.  Pawns are even.

6:45 PM:  Material is still even between Hrach and Heil but there is still a lot of it on the board.  Hrach is under ten minutes and Heil is over thirty.

6:50 PM:  It's a queen ending for Moskwa and Schmakel.  Both players have six pawns.  No passers yet.  Six minutes for Schmakel.  Thirty-nine for Moskwa.

7:10 PM:  Schmakel and Moskwa agree to a draw.  Qazi is down a pawn in a rook and pawn ending.  I think that Meduri is still winning, but I suck at rook and pawn endings.  Turner beat Gilchrist.

7:35 PM:  Xu and Provine agree to a draw.  Hrach has two minor pieces against a rook.

7:55 PM:  Hrach defeats Heil.

8:05 PM:  Meduri defeats Qazi.

9:35 PM:  Have posted two Denker games, one Girl's Invitational game, and three Barber games from the third round.  I don't know how much more I will get done tonight as I am very sleepy.

7:35 AM:  All the games I have are posted.  

Denker Round 2

Youth Invitationals: Second Round

Second Round Pairings:

Denker Qualifier

Dubin v. Moskwa  0-1

Meduri v. Kogen  0-1

Schmakel v. Qazi  1-0

Girls' Invitational

Harihara v. Padgett 1-0

Mangalam v. Xu  0-1
Provine v. Liu 0-1

Barber Qualifier

Li v.  Gilchrist   1-0

Bronfeyn v. Lehmann  0-1
Kalgahtgi  v. Heil 1-0
Adve v. Sun  1/2-1/2

Xiao v.  Parker-Turner 1/2-1/2

Hrach v. Do 0-1

11:00 AM:  The second round is underway.  Aakaash Meduri is seeking to avenge his loss to Jonathan Kogen in last year's Denker Qualifier, which is the only previous meeting between the two.  In the other two Denker matches the players are meeting for the first time.

11:15 AM:  It's closed games in the Denker this morning.  Schmakel plays the English and Qazi responds with 1...e5.  Moskwa is playing the Grunfeld and Dubin goes with the Bf4 line.  Meduri opened with 1.d4 and Kogen has put paws on d6, e6, and h6.  I'm not sure what that variation is called.

11:20 AM:  Harihara is playing the King's Indian Attack against Padgett French.  Mangalam and Liu look to be playing the Four Knights Game.  Provine started out with the Grand Prix Attack against Liu's Sicilian, but now they have transposed into the Scheveningen variation.  Gilchrist is playing the Albin Counter-Gambit against Li (at least I think that's what it's called) while Lehmann simply played the Queen's Gambit Declined against Bronfeyn.

11:30 AM:  Schamakel has invited Qazi to build up a big center with pawns on d5, e4, and f5.  Kogen's defense seems to be in the Queen's Indian/Hedgehog neighbor, and Dubin snatched the c7 pawn.

11:35 AM:  Mangalam has opened a little space around Xu's king with Bxf6 gxf6, but her king is on that side of the board.  Provine castled long which means that fireworks may be forthcoming shortly.

11:40 AM:  Kalgahtgi  played an Open Sicilian against Heil while Hrach played a Closed Sicilian against Do.  Adve and Sun are playing an Italian Game while Xiao and Turner are in the Vienna.

11:50 AM:  I think that Kogen's defense can safely be called a Hedgehog at this point.  Moskwa offered Dubin a bishop which was declined as he is already lagging in development.  Mangalam is trying to open up the position to take advantage of Xu's drafty king position.  Liu is leaving her king in the center for the time being. Li seems to have neutralized Gilchrist's gambit.

11:55 AM:  Although Kalgahtgi played the Open Sicilian, it's Heil who's attacking on the kingside.

12:05 PM:  Hrach is attacking aggressively although he is leaving quite of bit of space around his king to do it.  Moskwa is trying his best to get at Dubin's uncastled king.  Qazi played ...dxc4 and his center is looking slightly less imposing.

12:10 PM:  Lehmann's got a pawn on e2 which is either going to be very very strong or very very weak. Xu seems to be thwarting Mangalam's attempts to open up the position.

12:15 PM:  Gilchrist has recovered his pawn at the price of a cramped position.  Provine is pressing forward in the center as Liu has refrained from castling.

12:25 PM:  Meduri has finally decide to make contact with e5.  Dubin is still ahead by a pawn but his king is trapped in the middle by his bishop on f1 and his queen on e2.

12:25 PM:  First result:  Lehmann defeats Bronfeyn.  It turns out the pawn was very very strong.

12:35 PM:  Xu has managed to turn the half-open g-file from a liability into an asset.  Meduri is turning his space advantage into a kingside attack.

12:45 PM:  Xu has broken open the g-file and Moskwa has gone up an exchange.  Kalgahtgi  v. Heil and Hrach v. Do are both in wide open attacks and I'm not sure who's ahead in either one.

12:50 PM:  Meduri played Bxh6 and it doesn't look like Kogen can take it.  I know these Hedgehog positions can be stronger than they look, but I wouldn't want to be defending it.  Meduri also has a knight on c3 en prise to a pawn on d4 but it doesn't look like Kogen can take that either.

12:55 PM:  Moskwa has gone up by a clean rook against Dubin.

1:00 PM:  The dust is starting to settle and Kalgahtgi is up by two pawns.  Turner has knight and two extra pawns against Xiao rook and pawns, but the extra pawns look pretty weak.  Moskwa defeats Dubin.

1:05 PM:  Liu seems to have weathered Provine's attack.  She finally castled and she's up a pawn.  Harihara is generating some serious pressure on Padgett's king.

1:05 PM:  Li defeats Gilchrist

1:20 PM:  Harihara converted her attack into a rook plus ending.  Kogen finally took one of the pieces Meduri offered and he is hanging on.

1:25 PM:  Adve looks like he has a winning king and pawn ending.  Schmakel and Qazi have only played twenty moves and only traded a pair of pawns.

1:30 PM:  Hrach has two rooks and five pawns against Do's rook, two bishop and four pawns.  Adve is having trouble finding the right plan.  Harihara defeats Padgett.

1:35 PM:  Xu defeats Mangalam.

1:45 PM:  Kogen appears to have consolidated the extra piece.  Schmakel and Qazi have traded a couple  pairs of minor pieces but there is still a lot of lumber on the board.

1:55 PM:  Kalgahtgi defeats Heil.  Adve and Sun draw.

2:05 PM:  Schmakel has a queen, a good bishop and seven pawns against Qazi's queen, knight and seven pawns.  Both players are approaching ten minutes on the clock.  Liu defeats Provine.  Do defeats Hrach.

2:10 PM:  Kogen has rook, bishop and two pawns v. Meduri's rook and two pawns.

2:15 PM:  Turner and Xiao are in an even pawn ending with all the major pieces still on the board.  Turner is down to one minute on his clock.

2:25 PM:  Turner and Xiao draw.  Schmakel penetrates with his queen and picks off a couple pawns.

2:30 PM:  Kogen defeats Meduri.

2:40 PM:  Schmakel defeats Qazi.

Second Round Games are all posted:  Denker, Girl's Invitational, Barber.

Round 1: Kogen-Qazi

Thanks to Vince Hart for his wonderful work in yesterday's posts!  Please scroll below to read Vince's coverage.

The Jonathan Kogen—Rafeh Qazi game from the ICA Denker Qualifier (state invitational high school championship) was extremely well played by both sides, and a draw seems logical. Here are some nice moments:

Kogen-Qazi

White to play

With 25.Re3, White envisions an attack on h7.  There's no mate (White would have to bring the bishop on c1 to the a3-f8 diagonal), but it's not necessarily fun for Black, either.   

Qazi avoids this with the cool defensive move 25...Qe7! 26.Rh3 h5!  If White doesn't take en passant, the h-file buildup was pointless, but in that case, Black can exchange queens.  So 27.gxh6 (the g5 pawn takes the h5 pawn as if it had only moved one square to h6: our silly en passant rule is only an option immediately after the opponent's pawn has moved two squares) 27...Qxh4 28.Rxh4 Bf6

 Kogen-Qazi

White to play

So White has to move the attacked Rh4, no?  No! Kogen plays a cool move of his own: 29.Be4!?, with the point that 29...Bxh4 is answered by 30.Bxc6, forking a8 and e8, and recovering the Exchange.   

Black decided to work on the backward c-pawn instead: 29...Bxe4 30.Rxe4 Rac8 31.Bd2 (finally completing development!) 31...Red8 32.Re2 e4

Kogen-Qazi

White to play

White is temporarily a pawn up, but Black has the initiative.  White played 33.Be1, which wasn't really necessary.  White was probably concerned about the fork trick 33.a4 Rxd2? 34.Rxd2 Bxc3 (echoing the tactical theme of the previous diagram), but the pin 35.Rc1 wins.  It doesn't really matter, however, as Black has plenty of activity after 33.a4 Bxc3 34.Bxc3 Rxc3 35.axb5 axb5 36.Rxe4 Rd2: in rook endings, rooks on the seventh rank often offer full compensation for a pawn.

Very well played!

Denker Round 1