Angelo Young in Iowa City

Story here.

The Illini Schmakelers win U.S. Amateur Team North

Congratulations to The Illini Schmakelers (in board order: FM Eric Rosen, NM Sam Schmakel, Michael Auger, and Akshay Indusekar), who won the 2013 U.S. Amateur Team North title this past weekend in Schaumburg with a team score of 4½-½ and 16 game points out of a possible 20.

Taking second on tiebreaks was another local team, Touch Move Chess Center: Mating Specialists (IM Angelo Young, FM Albert Chow, Florentino Inumerable, and Robert Loncarevic), who scored 4½ match points and 14 game points.

Many heavy hitters came to this amateur event. The average team ratings must be under 2200, but one can allocate power between boards in any fashion one pleases. This year, the balanced strategy did well.

Inscrutably, the best team name was awarded to "We Always Need a 4th," which is neither amusing nor groanworthy.

Final team standings are here; look for the ratings and individual performances soon.  Update: here are the individual performances on MSA.

Slips happen (and TJWO results)

IM Angelo Young - Michael Auger (I think!)
Oak Brook 2013
Black to move

Here (more or less) is the position of the weekend. I say "more or less" because I've reconstructed the above position (from the game between two of the tournament leaders in Round 4 of Tim Just's Winter Open) from memory, so a couple Black pieces might be incorrectly placed.  But all the pieces on the first four ranks are in their proper spots.

Immediately before the diagrammed position, Angelo (who is down the Exchange and a pawn, and who only has minutes left on his clock) played 1.Nf3-g1.  With forty minutes plus increment left on his clock, Michael (who would almost certainly earn his long-overdue National Master title with a victory in this game) now unhurriedly plays 1...e4. 

Can you spot White's subtle reply, which turned a totally lost position into a quick win?  And which blunder in chess history was this most like?  Of the examples on in the Wikipedia article on blunders in chess, I'd compare it to Petrosian's famous blunder against Bronstein.


Most players would be kicking themselves, but after the tournament, Michael was good-naturedly demonstrating 1...e4?? 2.Nxe2 to a roomful of players, laughing and marveling at his blind spot.  The ability to be critical of your play without being too critical of yourself makes chess much more enjoyable!

***

Oh yes, the prizewinners: the full list is here.  I'll call out the most notable performances.  Congratulations to Angelo Young, Angel Angelov, and the angelic Tommy Ulrich, all with 4½-½ scores in the Open Section.  And special congratulations to eight-year-old Aydin Turgut, who took first Under 2000 with a 3½-1½ score!!

Gee Leong and Nathan Beauchamp took home the big money of the weekend by splitting the Reserve Section title; Giorgi Vanderway (1080) won the Under 1400 prize.

In the Scholastic sections, Robert Barr (slightly underrated at 291!) won the Under 1200 section, and Trevor Tompkins won the Under 700 section.  See the full list of trophy winners here!

A great game to lose

IM Angelo Young grinds nine-year-old FM Awonder Liang in a bishop ending. Better to get painful losses out of the way early!

Youth vs. Experience

IM Angelo Young won the Young Masters vs. Experienced Masters, a Scheveningen System event held at the North Shore Chess Center on Sept. 15-16, with an impressive 3 1/2-1/2 score. NM Sam Schamkel was the top scorer among the youngsters, scoring 2-2.

 I'll be posting several games from this match after I work through the backlog of interesting games from the Illinois Open.

In the meantime, crosstable here (broken link fixed).

Queen vs. Pawn (Chess Homeschool, Day 5)

You already know how to mate with king and rook against king or king and queen against king. King and pawn against king is surprisingly complicated: we'll do that tomorrow. For now, let's look at major battles between king and piece vs. king and pawn.  We'll start with queen vs. pawn.

1) White to play and win

In Diagram 1 above, Black is about to make a queen, and king + queen vs. king + queen is usually a dead draw.  (We'll see some exceptions shortly!)  So White must stop the pawn from queening.

When the pawn on the seventh is a knight pawn or a center pawn, the win is easy.  Use queen checks to approach the pawn in a zigzag fashion. If the king steps away from the pawn, you can attack the pawn along the file, preventing it from queening, and make the king come back. Eventually, you'll force the Black king to step in front of the pawn on b1. Bring your king one step closer. Lather, rinse, repeat! It may take twenty moves or so, but White eventually win the pawn with king and queen and checkmate.

2) White to play: Black draws

The above technique works great with center pawns and knight pawns, but it breaks down with rook pawns. In Diagram 2, the White queen will eventually make it to (say) g4, giving check to the Black king on g2. Black will play ...Kh1! White doesn't have time to bring her king up, as the stalemate must be released. So it's a draw with best play.

3) White to play: Black draws

Diagram 3 is a draw, too. Imagine that White zigzags to (say) g3, giving check to a Black king on g1. Black sacrifices the pawn with ...Kh1! and White can't make progress: the reply Qxf2 is stalemate. Get out the pieces and try this yourself!

4) White to play and win

Diagram 4 (taken from Müller and Lamprecht's Fundamental Chess Endings, position 9.03) is a very cool exception: if the king is close enough, you might be able to find a way to let Black make a queen, then catch Black in a mating net! (Visualize the position: White Kb3, Qd2, Black Kb1, Qa1: even if it's Black's move, is there any way for Black to escape this predicament?)

5) White to play and win

In Diagram 5, White can again allow Black to queen, then deliver mate on the c2 square.

6) Angelo Young - Awonder Liang, Skokie 2012: White to play and win

As a general rule, the queen wins easily against a pawn on the sixth rank. Just last night, I saw IM Angelo Young beat Awonder Liang at the North Shore Chess Center (Diagram 6). Angelo began with 1.Qg2+, then zigzagged closer until he gave check on the b4 square. Awonder resigned, as his only move to protect the a3 pawn was ...Kb2-a2. White then moves the king anywhere, and it's Black turn. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as semi-stalemate: Black's only move is ...Ka2-a1, and White grabs the free pawn with check.  

There is no substitute for trying to work these positions out for yourself: that's the way you'll remember them! Answers later: let us know if you get stuck.

Silman's Complete Endgame Course is a great reference for young players.  It's available as an interactive app for the iPad.

Chicago Class recap: Master Section

You know it's a tough event when you beat a GM and finish out of the money.  WGM Anna Sharevich knocked off GM Nikola Mitkov in round 4, but lost to GM Mesgen Amanov in round 2 and IM Qignam Liu in the final round: ridiculously difficult pairings.  And Gopal Menon defanged GM Mitkov's Grand Prix attack and drew IM Angelo Young in the first two rounds, but had less fun on Saturday night, as he got ground down by GM Dmitry Gurevich in a rather harmless-looking ending. You have just joined a very large club, Gopal.

Oh yes, prizewinners.  GM Amanov converted against IM Young in the last round and made his 4-1 first place on tiebreaks ($1,366.67) look routine.  FM Carl Boor continues to impress: he beat GM Gurevich's pet anti-Catalan system, grinding the grinder down in an ending (no mean feat). IM Qignam Liu also had a very steady event, highlighted by his last-round win against WGM Sharevich.  Both Boor and Qignam Liu won $1,266.67.

I had the pleasure of losing to Guijue Zhou in round 4: in the postmortem, she had the most kind and tactful way of suggesting to me the stupidity of my middlegame planning.  She, Matthew Marsh of Tennessee, and super-junior Kevin Cao of Missouri each won $466.67.

Three GM events at North Shore Chess Center, right now!

Busy week for the North Shore CC:

GM Georg Meier of Germany (one of Germany's top players, currently #109 in the world) is playing GM Wesley So of the Phillippines (#99 in the world).  Game one of their four-game classical match was drawn today.

And there are TWO GM norm events going on this week: a six-player double round-robin, and a ten-player single round-robin.  Local participants include GM Mesgen Amanov, IM Angelo Young, IM Florin Felecan, and cheesehead GM Josh Friedel.  GMs Bykhovsky (Israel), Boros (Hungary), Diamant (Brazil), Moradiabadi (Iran), and IMs from the USA, Canada, Israel, and Azerbaijan make the fields truly international.

IM Mackenzie Molner might be the best US hope for a GM norm in these events.

More info here!

More from Monday: Young 0 - Jayakumar 1

NM Adarsh Jayakumar won two games and drew GM Mesgen Amanov.  A round four loss doesn't help his hunt for an International Master norm: he needs to score 4-1 in the final five games.


Here's how he beat IM Angelo Young in the first round:

Updated to correct scoresheet transcription error: Adarsh writes, "I played 7...Qc7 against Angelo. Qe7??? haha."

Play continues Wednesday at the North Shore Chess Center, with rounds at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.

27th North American Masters begins Monday!

Come watch our local masters in search of international title norms.  GM Mesgen Amanov, IM Angelo Young, and IM Arjun Vishnuvardhan face of against local stars Kumar, Aung Thant Zin, Rosen, Jayakumar, Chow, Waller, Wolf, Shankar, and Magness!  (But please don't ask me to explain the Schiller System format.)

Rounds are at 1 and 6 p.m. this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday;  there's one game on Friday at 1 p.m.  All action is at the North Shore Chess Center in Skokie.

U.S. Chess League finals starting NOW!

Stolen from the USCL website.  I'll be stopping by shortly: good luck to the Blaze!

1. Chicago Blaze vs New York Knights                                   3:00 PM ET

If you are wondering why some teams have an average rating of above 2401, click here
All ratings listed below are August ratings - not always the ratings used for the league rating calculations!
Team listed first has White on Boards 1+3

---

Sunday, November 20th, 2011

Chicago Blaze (10.0 – 2.0) vs New York Knights (7.5 – 4.5)
                            
All Time Series Record:  (This is their first match)

Starts at 2:00 PM CST       Time Control - Game in 90 with 30 second increment    

Chicago Blaze			New York Knights
GM Mesgen Amanov: 2576			GM Giorgi Kacheishvili: 2653
GM Dmitry Gurevich: 2547			IM Irina Krush: 2560
IM Angelo Young: 2415			SM Matt Herman: 2426
NM Gopal Menon: 2222			John Fernandez: 2129
Avg Rating: 2440			Avg Rating: 2442
Chicago Total -------			------- New York Total

*Due to the World Youth and K-12 Nationals causing many players to be unavailable, Chicago agreed to allow New York to use John Fernandez on Board Four when generally that would not have been permitted as he had not played the requisite two games during the regular season


If the match ties 2 – 2, there will be a special tiebreaker.  Click here for the tiebreaker procedures.

Board 4: Young 1 - Adamson 0

Parents will make sacrifices so their little ones can get ahead in life. So too bishops. With his killer shot on move 60, Angelo Young saved the Blaze from defeat. Well done!

Board 2: Young ½ - Rodriquez ½

Finally getting around to the games from Monday's loss to Miami. The adjective "benkogambity" is overused, but perhaps it fits here. Each player is ambitious in his own way; a correct draw seems the logical result. Take note of Angelo's good drawing technique in a slightly uncomfortable rook ending: he gets rid of the h-pawn (a potential target) before he widens the scope of the enemy rook by moving his f-pawn.

Young 1 - Defibaugh 0

Just as in last week's game, Angelo Young plays rope-a-dope and exploits a weakness on the light squares. Black hung a pawn on move 11, so the execution is a bit more routine.

Young 1 - Eckert 0

I've known Doug Eckert since he was in high school, and I owe my only win against Morris Giles to a book Doug wrote on the Keres Attack.

Angelo trots out one of his patented knuckleball openings. 5...Nh5!? (instead of Doug's 5...O-O, also the choice of most top players) has scored extremely well for Black, but obviously Angelo had something prepared against that. After 13.Qb4!, it becomes clear that Black responded a mite too actively to White's seemingly passive opening. The rest of the game, we see Angelo Young switch from Petrosian mode to Capablanca mode. It's hard to point to Black's decisive mistake (maybe 24...Rd8). Very nice game!

New state champions

Grandmaster Mesgen Amanov, International Master Angelo Young, and FIDE Master Aung Thant Zin are the 2011 Illinois Open Co-Champions!  Young lost to Amanov, but was the only player to win five games.

Aung Thant Zin, Mesgen Amanov, and Angelo Young

Crosstable here: even without Yury Shulman (recovering from the World Cup), this was one of the strongest championships in recent memory.  It was a particular honor to have three of our grandmasters (defending champion Dmitry Gurevich, Nikola Mitkov, and Amanov) playing in this event for two years running.

Akshay Indusekar won clear first in the Reserve Section with a 5½-½ score.  Crosstable here!

Thanks to the Illinois Chess Association, Chess for Life LLC (Tim Just and Wayne Clark), chief TD Sevan Muradian, and all who made this weekend's event possible.

More to follow!

Board 3: Kelley-Young 0-1

I just Googled "Filipino disciples of Nimzowitsch": Angelo Young is the top-ranked search result.

Illinois Open in Oak Brook Labor Day weekend!

Here's the calendar listing.  I just checked the preregistration: GMs Gurevich and Amanov head the three-day schedule, while GM Mitkov and IM Young top the two-day schedule.  Both schedules merge after the third round.

The time control for all rounds of the three-day schedule is game/90 plus 30-second increment (that is, each player has 90 minutes to complete the game, plus 30 extra seconds added to the clock with each move made).  You'll never have a crazy time scramble with this control!  In fact, those of you accustomed to blitz play will need to learn to think prior to moving.  Minor downside: restroom breaks after move 40 must be efficient pit stops.  I'd like to see the time control for next year's championship be something like 40/90, sudden death/30, still with the 30-second increment from move 1.  But this is a quibble: the thirty-second increment is a big improvement over five-second delay.

Save a few dollars and enter now: I just did!  $79 for three days of play is incredibly reasonable.  If you're entering by mail, play it safe and enter today (mail entries must be postmarked by Tuesday). 

Young, Magness win Downers Grove #8

IM Angelo Young and NM Trevor Magness tied for first in yesterday's Downers Grove Chess Club #8 with 3½-½ scores.  In the final round, Young downed tournament leader NM Pete Karagianis, while Magness beat Mikhail Korenman. 

One-day, four-round Swiss System events are called "tornadoes."  This was certainly the strongest tornado in the Midwest this summer: two International Masters, three FIDE Masters, five National Masters, and several experts played.

11-year-old Rachel Ulrich (post-event rating 1714) beat NM Steve Tennant.  Tennant crushed me in the CICL playoffs a couple months ago.  Hmm.

Daniel Parmet organized for the Downers Grove Chess Club, assisted by Brian Smith.

Crosstable here!

Angelo Young, Andrew Karklins tie for first in St. Louis

Angelo even took first on tiebreaks; the field included GMs Kudrin and Finegold.

Crosstable here!

Story here!