Dec. 27, 2009
Position No. 6087: White to play and win. From the game S.P. Sethuraman-Sundar M. Shyam, Mumbai 2009.
Solution to Position No. 6086: White wins with 1 d7+ Kg8 2 Qa4! Qd3 3 Qxe4. Note that 2 Qe7?? allows checkmate by 2 . . . Qd1+ 3 Kh2 Qh1+ 4 Kg3 Qf3+.
Attendance slump? It wasn't evident at the 2009 National K12 Championship in Dallas, where 1,211 young players competed for national titles.
Joaquin Perkins of West Covina won seven consecutive games to become the national kindergarten champion. Other Southern California standouts were Winston Ching-Tze Zeng, tied for second place at 6-1 in grade 3; Kyron Griffith, tied for fifth at 5-2 in grade 9; Cheston Gunawan, tied for fifth at 5-2 in grade 10; and Jared Tan, tied for second at 5 1/2 -1 1/2 in grade 12.
Local news
State champion Enrico Sevillano scored 4 1/2 - 1/2 to win the Bakersfield Open last weekend in Bakersfield. John Daniel Bryant, the 2008 winner, finished second, and Roger Norman was third. Class prizes went to Michael Taylor, Numan Abdul-Mujeeb, Michael Bik and Taylor McCready. Kenneth Poole directed for the Bakersfield Chess Club.
Grandmaster Boris Kreiman, one of the best Southern California players until his retirement in 2006, now works as a businessman, buying and selling Internet domain names. He has combined his interests with a new website, chessboss.com, that offers free online play and free instruction.
Local clubs
Robert Xue, David Minasyan, Yuting Chen, Christopher Hung and Larry Hu led their sections in the 45-player A Rose for your Queen tournament at the Pasadena Chess Club. For information on the club's next tournament, beginning Jan. 8, call Neil Hultgren at (818) 243-3809.
The Los Angeles Chess Club, 11514 Santa Monica Blvd. in Los Angeles, will conduct the New Year's Day Open on Friday. Also, the club plans a scholastic tournament, the first of a monthlong series, on Sunday. Call Mick Bighamian at (310) 795-5710 for more information.
The Exposition Park Chess Club, which meets at 1 p.m. every Sunday in the public library, 3900 S. Western Ave. in Los Angeles, plans its free monthly tournament next Sunday. See chess.expoparkla.com for information and online registration.
The Hanley Chess Academy will host a New Year's Chess Camp, Tuesday through Sunday, at 7390 Center Ave. in Huntington Beach. See hanleychessacademy.org for details.
Today's games
Larry Stevens-Yusheng Xia, Pasadena 2009: 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 The Advance variation against the French Defense. c5 4 c3 Qb6 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 Be2 Some prefer 6 a3 or 6 Bd3. cxd4 7 cxd4 Nh6 Intending . . . Nh6-f5 and pressure on the base of the pawn chain, d4. 8 Bd3 Bd7 Simpler is 8 . . . Nf5 9 Bxf5 exf5 10 Nc3 Be6, with equality. 9 Bc2 Rc8 10 Nc3 Now White has an edge, thanks to his advantage in space. Nb4 11 Bxh6 Also good is 11 Bb1, but White gladly cedes his Bishops to accelerate his development. Nxc2+ 12 Qxc2 gxh6 13 0-0 Bb5?! Here and later, Black should develop his Bishop to g7 and castle. 14 Rfe1 Qa6 15 Qd2 Bd3 16 Rad1 Bg6 17 Nh4! Threatening f2-f4-f5. Black's lengthy Bishop maneuver has accomplished little. Bh5 18 Rc1 Rc4 19 Qf4 Qb6? Allowing a startling breakthrough. However, it's too late for 19 . . . Bg7 because of 20 b3 Rc6 21 g4 Bg6 22 Nf5! exf5 23 gxf5, while the improvement 19 . . . Rg8 20 h3 leads nowhere. 20 Nxd5! exd5 21 Rxc4 dxc4 22 e6! Be7 None of the many alternatives survives. Black would drop the Bishop at h5 by 22 . . . fxe6 23 Qe5 or 22 . . . Bg7 23 exf7+ Kd7 24 Qf5+. Trickier is 22 . . . Bb4 23 exf7+ Kd7 24 Qf5+ Kd8, but White wins anyway with 25 Qxh5 Bxe1 26 Qd5+ Kc8 (or 26 . . . Ke7 27 Nf5+ Kf8 28 Qd7!, mating) 27 Qf5+ Kd8 28 f8Q+ Rxf8 29 Qxf8+ Kd7 30 Nf3. 23 exf7+ Bxf7 No better is 23 . . . Kf8 24 Nf5 Bg5 25 Qe5. 24 Nf5 Be6 25 Rxe6 Qxe6 26 Ng7+ Kd7 27 Nxe6 Kxe6 28 Qe5+, Black Resigns.
