Denker preview: Robert Moskwa

Pattie Zinski and the Illinois Chess Association's Warren Junior Program are organizing three events at the North Shore Chess Center this weekend, thanks to the generosity of Sevan Muradian. The Denker, Girls', and Barber qualifiers determine Illinois representatives to the respective national events.

Vince Hart joined a new firm this week, so he may not be available to do an encore performance of his masterful broadcast of last year's event.  (On the other hand, Vince hasn't completely ruled it out!)

Vince's protégé Robert Moskwa will be returning to the Denker Qualifier this year, and looks to be in good form, based on his performance this past weekend. NM Tenzing Shaw is one of the toughest players in Illinois to beat.

Rosen-Magness, Skokie 2011

Here's one of the two decisive games from the last round of the Illinois Denker Qualifier (which, just to refresh your collective memory, is the Illinois Chess Association's High School Invitational Championship).

I'm very impressed by Magness's choicce on move three!

Rosen-Magness, Skokie 2011

Black to play

3...c5 was Karpov's choice against Korchnoi in the 1978 world championship.  The idea of swapping the c-pawn for White's d-pawn is positionally sound, and Black scores well with this variation.  But I always felt a little uncomfortable after 4.e5 Ng8.  The artificial isolation of the e5 pawn offsets White's space and time advantages, but doesn't make the opening fun to play!  And Karpov lost that game.

After 4...Ng8: White to play

Would you be comfortable with the Black pieces?

3...d5 is the most popular move here, but White just seems to have a nice position after 4.e5 d4 5.exf6 dxc3 6.bxc3 Qxf6 7.d4.

After 7.d4: Black to play

Seems pleasant for White!

Trevor's radical choice was new to me, but it's been played recently by the Filipino prodigy Wesley So:

After 3...e5!?

Beginner's move or brilliant idea?

One idea behind Black's deliberate waste of time is that White's combination of e2-e4 and c2-c4 is double-edged, as dark squares are weakened.  Another way of looking at this position: it's as if this were a Vienna Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6) in which White gets the move c2-c4 "for free," but the value of the extra tempo is unclear.  Anyway, 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.d4 cxc4 6.Nxd4 seems like a critical continuation.  White would love to trick Black into an advantageous version of the Scotch Four Knights (recall that there's a line in which White plays Nc3-a4 to gain space with c2-c4), but Black doesn't have to allow such nonsense.

In the game above, Eric played more quietly against Trevor, and didn't get anything from the opening.  If I can learn a new move on move three of an opening that I defended against for twenty years, then I've got to believe that chess is still full of surprises!

After busy season, I'll have more to say about this game on the ICA website.  Perhaps in the interim, folks can explain this opening to me :-)

Photos from this weekend on the "ICA Warren Junior Chess Scholars" Facebook page

Here's the link: enjoy! 

(Fixed broken link...I hope!)

Tragicomedy with major pieces

Here's the 2nd round game between NM Eric Rosen and NM Adarsh Jayakumar from this weekend's Denker Qualifier.  As both players had dropped points in the first round, the loser would be eliminated from contention for first. 

Rosen-Jayakumar, Skokie 2011 
Black to move

So you're playing the Black pieces in the position above.  You've just made the "standard" rook for five pawns sacrifice, and White's king is walking.  But you're living off the thirty-second increment, which means you've got to come up with the best move quickly.  What do you do?

Look for the answer (and annotations) on the ICA website  in a few days.

Special thanks to Adarsh Jayakumar for seeing the humor in this painful loss!

NM Trevor Magness wins his second Illinois Denker Qualifier

Wow: Trevor joins Kayin Barclay and Yelena Gorlin as a two-time winner of the Illinois High School Invitational Championship title(*).  As in 2009, Trevor will represent Illinois in the Denker Tournament of High School Champions.  After losing to freshman Sam Schmakel in round 2, Trevor reeled off consecutive wins against Michael Auger, Jonathan Kogen, and NM Eric Rosen to take clear first with a 4-1 score.

I expect Tommy Ulrich to earn his master title soon.  He was leading the tournament until losing to Rosen in round 4, and took second on tiebreaks with 3½-1½.  NM Adarsh Jayakumar was essentially eliminated from contention after being held to half a point by Kogen and Rosen in the first two rounds, but won out to tie for second with Ulrich.

Defending champion Eric Rosen, day one co-leader Sam Schmakel, and Michael Auger finished with 3-2 scores.  Jonathan Kogen had a strong 2½-2½, losing only to NMs Rosen and Magness, and drawing NM Jayakumar.

Andi Rosen organized the event for the Illinois Chess Association's Warren Junior Program.  Sevan Muradian directed, and donated the facilities of the North Shore Chess Center.


Crosstable here!

(*)  P.S.  I was reminded that NM William Aramil also won the Illinois Denker Qualifier twice, not to mention the Denker!  So there's a new goal for Trevor....

March Madness in Skokie

 Penny Yu vs. Sam Schmakel

Brad Rosen takes a look at the big weekend ahead.  ICA sponsors three different invitational youth championships this weekend!  Stop by the North Shore Chess Center for a glimpse of the action!  (But be aware that access to the tournament floor may be limited.)

Perhaps the blogger quoted in the article meant his last sentence ironically, signalling that he had run out of tired clichés.  But these young men and women are truly brilliant, hard-working, and nice people.

Fair and balanced tournament report at ICA website

 Penny Xu

 Eric Rosen

(Photos: Betsy Dynako)

Here's a link to the long-promised writeup.  Reports that the ICA correspondent is related to one of the players remain unconfirmed.

Eric Rosen wins 2009 Denker Qualfier

Oops! Eric actually won the 2010 title.  As I've left links in a couple places, I'll let the misinformation stand uncorrected in the title to avoid broken links.

 Full report  tomorrow later today: in the meantime, here's a great game played by the tournament winner and Josh Dubin.

Denker Qualifier update

Andi Rosen is posting updated results here.

I'm sorry to hear that Zack Kasiurak had to withdraw from the event due to illness (hard to play chess with a 102-degree fever!)

He's a very talented and complete player, as I learned last year:

ICA Denker Qualifier and Girls' Invitational this weekend!

Andi Rosen provides the details at the ICA website.

The "Denker Qualifier" is the Illinois Chess Association High School Invitational Championship.  Seven players face each other in a six-round round robin. As there's a odd player sitting out each round, the event actually takes seven rounds to complete.  Action begins tonight and continues through Monday.

The invitees this year are Michael Auger, Josh Dubin, Zach Kasiurak, defending champion Trevor Magness, Ashok Raife, Eric Rosen and Matt Wilber.

In this year's Girls Invitational Championship, the players are Victoria Bian, Adele Padgett, Shayna Provine, Rachel Ulrich, Sonya Vohra and Yue Xu (congratuations on making Class A in style, Penny!) . 

I've had the pleasure of playing against, analyzing with, or studying the games of virtually all this weekend's contestants.  Whoever wins, Illinois can be very proud of its representatives!