Two share title as state champ

Position No. 6018: White to play and win. From the game Joe Bradford-Mike Goodall, U.S. Open, Dallas 2008.

Solution to Position No. 6017: In the game, Black only drew with 1 . . . Qxf6? 2 gxf4 gxf4. But he could have won economically with 1 . . . Qb1+ 2 Kh2 Nh3! 3 f3 Qg1+ 4 Kxh3 Qh1+ 5 Qh2 g4+ 6 fxg4 hxg4+ 7 Kxg4 Qxh2. Best is 3 Rg6+ Kh7! 4 f3 Kxg6 5 Qe3, but Black secures an extra piece with 5 . . . Qc2+! 6 Kh1 (not 6 Kxh3? g4+ 7 fxg4 hxg4+ 8 Kxg4 Qf5 mate) Qc8 7 Kg2 g4, winning.

Alexandre Kretchetov and International Master Enrico Sevillano tied for first place last Sunday in the Southern California Championship. Each scored 5-2 in the round robin that serves as a state championship.

Next at 4 1/2 -2 1/2 were IM Andranik Matikozyan and this writer. Others: IM Cyrus Lakdawala, 3 1/2 -3 1/2 ; Julian Landaw and Christian Tanaka, each 2 1/2 -4 1/2 ; and Danyul Lawrence, 1/2 -6 1/2 . Only eight of the 28 games ended in draws.

Two sixth-round upsets, Sevillano's stumble against 15-year-old Tanaka and Matikozyan's unexpected loss to Kretchetov, left five players in contention for first prize entering the final round. Kretchetov capitalized against the luckless Lawrence, while Sevillano eked out a win against Lakdawala with a superb endgame.

The tournament was held on two weekends in the Century City law office of John Rowell, an expert who participated in the 2000 state championship and offered to provide a more comfortable site. John Hillery directed for the Southern California Chess Federation. You can replay all games online at scchess.com.

Local news

The Southern California Open, the SCCF's second state championship, continues today and Monday at the Pasadena Hilton, 168 S. Los Robles Ave. in Pasadena. Chess fans may watch the six-round main event or compete in a scholastic tournament (starting at 9:30 a.m. today), a 30-minute tournament (at 10 a.m. Monday) or a 90-minute tournament (at 10:45 a.m. Monday).

Expert Tianyi He scored 6-0 to win the 32-player Liberty Open at the Pasadena Chess Club. Next at 4 1/2 -1 1/2 were Randy Hough and Jesse Victoria. Julio Cesar Marin, Ryan Yeung, Zohrab Sarkisyan, Jim Lee and Tom Hogue earned class prizes. The club will begin the six-round San Gabriel Valley Championship at 7 p.m. Friday in the Senior Center, 85 E. Holly St. in Pasadena. Call Hough at (626) 282-7412 for more information.