One question about the Auger-Rosen game....

You'll find the players' annotations at Chess Life Online. I do have one question:

White to play: can Black still draw?

Matthew Wilber - Eric Rosen, round 3 of IHSA Championships

I've had the pleasure of playing against both these talented young gentlemen.  They'll be facing off again at the Illinois Denker Qualifier, the ICA's invitational championship for high school players.

the eternal duel of bishop vs. knight

I think it was Dmitry Gurevich who compared bishops to dogs and knights to cats....

White to play

Anyway, Chicago's Jeff Caveney and GM Karsten Müller analyze an interesting ending at Chess Cafe. (This link will expire in a month or so, but you should be able to find it in the archives.)

Chicago Blaze shines at US Amateur Teams

Daniel Parmet reports on the Chicago Blaze blog.

IHSA coverage in Chess Life Online

 
Great article by my neighbor Betsy Dynako.

P.S.  Betsy's photo of Palatine HS first board Shiny Kaur is now on the USCF home page.

Pioneer Press coverage of IHSA championships

The Niles North Vikings chess team dominated the competition during the weekend's state chess tournament, coasting to a well-deserved championship. 

 Article continues here.

Good players are lucky

Eric Rosen (Niles North) - Nic Nogulich (Glenbard West)

Black to play

This time, White has two pawns for the Exchange: that's rough material equality.

What's Black's best move?

P.S.  As in the previous game, the horsie was triumphant.  Niles North beat Glenbard West 41.5 to 26.5.  This first board game was worth 12 points.  Hmm.

Light notes to the game are here.

Losing the Exchange

Matthew Wilber (Buffalo Grove) - Eric Rosen (Niles North)

White to play

So bishops and knights are worth 3 pawns or so and rooks are worth 5 pawns or so.  So if you lose a rook for a knight plus a pawn, you've lost one point, right?

Losing a rook for a knight or bishop is called "losing the Exchange".   In the above position, Black is down the Exchange for a pawn.  (We capitalize "the Exchange" to distinguish it from plain old exchanges of pieces, I suppose.)

If you've lost the Exchange for a pawn, don't fret!  Your extra pawn can hope to become a queen, but your opponent's rook is trapped in its body!  Knights are more fun than rooks!  And you now have one more piece than your opponent!

Check out the above position.  Black's knights are getting frisky, the center pawns look scary, and the White rooks don't have enough room to come out and play.  What's White's best move?

P.S.  If you haven't figured out the answer already, enjoy the full game.

catching up on Linares

The big news: Carlsen, who's taking a breather this year, will play in 2011! (Somehow, Carlsen is beginning to make a Fischeresque imprint on the game: he's the biggest presence even when he's not playing.)

The Ciudad de Linares tournament has been the unofficial tournament championship for over two decades. This year's event is shorter and somewhat weaker, but any event with Aronian, Topalov, Gashimov, Grischuk, Gelfand, and Vallejo is still incredibly strong. Topalov and Grischuk lead with +1 after 3 rounds. Let's catch up via ChessBase:

Round 3
Round 2
Round 1

Magness - Yermolinsky, US Amateur Team North

Please send me your games, even if they're not quite as good as this one!

Auger - Rosen from the IHSA Championships

Scotch Gambit? Mr. Auger is advised not to try such weak (ahem) stuff against yours truly.

But seriously...this is a fun game to watch. The advantage changes hands a couple times until Black loses the thread in time pressure. (Is the piece-down ending salvageable?)

Trevor Magness earns Master title

Congratulations to Illinois's newest master and to his family.  Mom's (Cheryl's) blog entry is here.

Trevor beat GM Alex Yermolinsky this weekend at the US Amateur Team Championships in Milwaukee. (That's Trevor in the upper left, playing White.)

Chicago Public League perspective on states

Lane Tech was the top finisher among Chicago public schools, at 7th.

 Read all about it on the Chicago Public League Sports Blog.

Niles North wins IHSA State Championship

Niles North High School

2010 State Chess Champions

(swiped from Eric Rosen's Facebook album)

Led by coach Harry Kyriazes, Skokie's Niles North High School won the 2010 state title in impressive style.  Their perfect match score of 7-0 included three 68-0 shutouts.  Stevenson HS of Lincolnshire and Hinsdale Central HS took second and third.

Michael Auger of Whitney Young and Zachary Kasiurak of Barrington were two of the four (!) perfect scores on Board 1.  Gauri Manoj of Glenbrook South and Curtis VanPetten of St. Charles North also scored 7-0.

Final results are here!

Niles North, Glenbard West in lead at IHSA team championships

This is the last day of competition at the Peoria Civic Center.  Standings are here.  Two rounds remain: Whitney Young, Stevenson, and New Trier are among the schools still in contention for first.  But the winner of the round 6 Niles North-Glenbard West match (going on right now!?) would have to be the favorite. 

I get crushed by Gopal Menon....

Here's the opening of the game I mentioned earlier:

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Andrew Karklins miniature

Here's a beautiful miniature by Andrew Karklins from one of Helen Warren's Midwest Masters tournaments.  His victim, Kurt Stein, is another Chicagoland master.

White's 12th move allows Black to force mate in the finest Romantic fashion.

Renaissance Knights hosts 50th Knights Quest

Again, look for the coverage on Chess Life Online!

And plan for the Greater Chicago Scholastic Championships (co-organized by Renaissance Knights and the Kasparov Chess Foundation) on March  February 27th and 28th

Robby Adamson wins (and earns IM norm) at 24th North American Masters

Read all about it on Chess Life Online. 

Congratulations to Jon Burgess for a strong second place!

Menon, Stamnov win Illinois Bltiz Championship

Results are here.

I really should have known better than to get into a theoretical "discussion" with Gopal Menon in the main line of the Be3, Rc1 Grünfeld.