March 2004

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The First Move

The Official Newsletter of McHenry Area Chess

Volume 1 Number 2 www.McHenryAreaChess.org March 2004

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page 1

- Purposes of the Organization

- March Tournament Announcement

- Bob C. wins February Tournament

Page 2-3

- Tournament Games and Positions

Page 4

- Review: Chronos Chess Clock

Page 5

- Chess Clubs in the area

- School Chess Notes

Page 6

- March Tournament Flyer

Purposes of the Organization

McHenry Area Chess is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing a venue for players in the county to play chess competitively and for recreation.

Any and all profits from McHenry Area Chess (M.A.C.) events will be used for club operations or donated charitably.

We hope you enjoy receiving our monthly bulletin. If you wish to receive this bulletin via e-mail, please contact us at www.mchenryareachess.org, or speak to Bob, Andrew or Jeff in person.

March Tournament Announcement

Then next M.A.C. tournament will be held on March 20, at the Crystal Lake Park District Building. It will be a Quadrangular tournament, with a time control of G/75. Registration is from 8:00 to 8:50, or you may pre-register by contacting Bob, Andrew or Jeff. Please see the flyer in this newsletter for more details.

Bob C. wins February Tournament

Bob C was the winner of the McHenry Area Chess February Tournament with a 4-0 score. Bob C beat Bob H, Jeff C, Chris and Mel to achieve this score. Second place went to Jeff C, and Bob H won the “lower half” prize for the highest score in the lower half of the bracket.

There were many interesting battles, an excellent knight sacrifice, some flashy moves and some dropped pieces. Many lower rated players had opportunities to win against their higher rated opponents.

We have analyzed all 12 games from the tournament, and they can be found at our website, www.mchenryareachess.org. You can play through the games on the website, and read our comments. We hope you take this opportunity, and that you enjoy the games.

Bob C. 4-0 Jeff C. 3-1

Bob H. 2-2 Jeff N. 2-2

Chris 1-3 Mel 0-4

Game of the Month

Jeff C. vs Bob C.

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. Bb5 a6

4. Ba4 Nf6

5. 0-0 Be7

6. Re1 b5

7. Bb3 d6

8. c3 0-0

9. h3 Na5

10. Bc2 c5

11. d4 Qc7

12. Nbd2

Jeff and Bob have chosen the Closed Ruy Lopez, Chigorin Variation. All these moves are standard opening theory. Now the game starts!

…Nc6

13. d5 Nd8

14. Nf1 Ne8

15. a4 Qb7

16. Ng3 g6

17. Bh6 Ng7

18. Qd2 f6

19. b4 c4

20. Be3 Nf7

21. Kh2 Bd7

22. a5?!

A positional error, I believe. White has more space and better development, but needs to have threats on both sides of the board to take advantage.

…Qc7

23. Rh1?! f5!

24. exf5 Nxf5

gxf5 is better, I think. The pawns are mobile, and look at all the pieces in front of them to attack!

25. Bg5 Bxg5

26. Nxg5 Nxg3

27. Kxg3 Qd8

28. Ne4 Bf5

29. Rae1 Ra7

30. Rhf1 Kg7

31. Kh2 h6

32. Ng3 Bxc2

33. Qxc2 Ng5

34. Ne4 Raf7

Black doubles his rooks and attacks down the f-file. This is necessary because White has better chances in the endgame.

35. f3 Rf4

36. Kh1 Qd7

37. Nf2

White could have played 37. Nxg5 hxg5 38. Qf2!. The queen can penetrate down the g1-a7 diagonal. If Black attempts to attack the pinned f3 pawn with 38. .. e4??, White plays Qd4!+.

… Qf7

38. Qd2 Qf5

39. Re2 h5

40. Rfe1?

…Nxf3!

An excellent sacrifice! According to Fritz 7, this is a forced win.

41. gxf3 Rxf3

42. Nxe4?

White had two stronger defenses:

A) 42. Kg2 e4! 43. Kg1 e3 44. Rxe3 Rxf2 and Black is up material.

B) 42. Kg1 was the best try. After ..e4! 43. Kh2 Qf3 44. Rg1 h4!! 45. Qe1 e4! White is completely tied up. The best try was 46.Rxg3 hxg3+ 47. Kg1 gxf2+ 48. Qxf2 Qxf2 49. Rxf2 Rxf2 50. Kxf2, with a winning pawn endgame for Black due to the protected passed pawn.

 …Qxh3!+

43. Rh2 Rf1+

44. Rxf1 Rxf1 mate

An excellent game by both players. Jeff’s mistakes were minor ones, and Bob had to play creatively to take advantage. The knight sacrifice at the end was beautiful.

Please feel free to review all the games and annotations on our website!

Positions from the games

Mel vs. Chris

After 6. …e5

What is White’s best way to fight for the center?

The best move is 7.e4! White is ahead in development – note that he has castled, and his knight on c3 is better than Black’s on d7.. After the central pawns are traded off, he will have an advantage:

A) 7.e4! dxe4 8.Nxe4 Nxe4 9.Bxe4 exd4 10.Qxd4 +/= (White has a small advantage).

B_ 7.e4! exd4?! 8.Nxd5 Nxd5 9.exd5 0-0 10.Nxd4 +/- (White has a large advantage).

Chris vs. Jeff N

After 12. …b6??

What is White’s best move?

White wins after 13.Nxd5!. A discovered attack on the queen! After Qa3 14.Nc7 is a winning fork, after which White will be up at least 2 points in material.

Instead, White played 13.Nb1?, trying to trap the queen, but Black played 13. Qa6!!

A great tactic! Black escapes, because after 14.Bxa6? (this happened in the game), Black plays 14. …Nxc2!+ This fork gets the queen back. 15. Kd1 Nxe3+ 16.Bxe3 Bxa6, and Black is two pawns ahead. The best move, 14.c3!, is countered by 14.c4! and the game would have been equal.

Jeff N vs. Mel

After 30.h7.

Black has a rook for a bishop and two pawns, but that pawn on h7 looks dangerous. How should Black play this position?

Black’s winning plan is to use his king to block the g- and h-pawns, and then to pick up White’s pawns with his rook. For example: 30. …Ke5 (or …Ke7) [in the game, Black played …Rh8 31.Be4 Rxh7?? and lost] 31. Bb7 Rf8 32.Be4 Kf6 33.g4 Kg7 34.Kg3 Rf1 35.b3 a5 36.g5 Ra1 37.Kf4 Rxa2 38.Ke5 Rc2 39.Kd4 a4! 40.bxa4 b3 41.Bd5 b2 42.Ba2 Rc1 43.g6 Ra1, winning the bishop and the game.

The Touch Chronos Digital Game Clock II

To begin with the clock has one moving part, the on / off switch. Theoretically it should last forever. The clock buttons are raised metallic disks approximately the size of quarter. They’re touch sensitive and don’t move. The clock operates by human or metallic touch on the disks. This is good and bad. Good in that a slight touch from your finger and it is actuated. Bad if you are in the habit of "punching" the clock with a piece, the reason being that the felt on the bottom of the piece won't activate it. However an interesting point is that in observing many 5 minute chess games, players have a tendency to push the clock button several times after each move. This is because at some point they didn't depress it far enough and lost a game on time. The clock beeps and the light switches on the "Touch" model, indicating a positive activation of the clock.

In comparison with other electronic clocks the Chronos is typically 30% more expensive, 50% more in some cases. However when you look at it you know it is going to last. This helps to justify the additional expense.

The clock is rather complicated to setup. There are over 70 preset modes for various game timings. Chess players will probably use the five minute setting (the very first predefined setting) and Sudden Death and Delay settings. Most of the chess type settings have 4 variations for them. Let's examine the four Sudden Death and Delay settings.

The first is just Sudden Death and Delay. This is useful in a situation where the time control is G/45 or Game in 45 minutes. The tournament director would state that the clock should be set at sudden death in 40 minutes with a 5 second delay on each move. (I am guessing at the actual times. ) The clock will operate and indicate when time has expired.

The second variation of this is Sudden Death and Delay II. Now you can have a time control of, say, 25/60 and then G/60. This means 25 moves in 60 minutes and then game in 60. All this with a 5 second delay. There are two more settings like this. One with three different time settings and one with four different time settings. This should handle any tournament situation.

Another nice feature is the ability to save a particular setup and recall it at will. There are twelve such settings. So you should be able to setup the clock with any conceivable time control and recall it.

So the clock works admirably as a chess timer. Is there a down side? Of course there is! And the down side is ... setting up or programming the clock. It can be a little daunting. Actually it is not that bad. I feel that Chronos could of made an easier interface to setup the clock, however that would made the clock more expensive to produce. I would recommend this clock to anyone who wishes to purchase a clock for the long term.

Other Area Chess Clubs

Chess activity can be found all over!

- Cary: A great place for beginning scholastic chess players! The Cary Kings meet Thursdays from 3:30 to 5:00 at the Cary Library. Contact Peter Spizziri for more info. 847-639-0587

Here are some clubs for the more serious player!

- St. Charles: On Thursday night at 7:45, there is unrated club play at the Baker House, just off Route 31 and Route 64 (North Ave.). Jeff Wiewel runs this club. Generally, they play G/90, with G/60 when there are minors involved.

- Elmhurst: This club typically runs rated tournaments on Sunday nights, and runs some nice weekend tournaments. Blair Machaj runs this club.

- College of Lake County Chess Club: This club plays on most Friday nights at 7:45 in the College of Lake County in Grayslake, in Room B120. Wayne Clark runs these tournaments. Play can run until midnight, so use caution when bringing children!

- Rockford: In Rockford, they play at the Borders on Monday nights, and every 1^st and 3^rd Tuesday at 6:30 at Our Masters Lutheran Church. Gary Sargent runs these tournaments.

School Chess Notes

Recently, McHenry Area Chess was invited to assist the Chess Club at Bernotas Middle School in planning their championship tournament. The club moderator was considering a single elimination system, but wondered what the other options were. Bob C visited the school on March 2 to meet with the moderator and to give a talk to the students. To provide equitable opportunities for play, the tournament is being run as a series of round robin quads. Each quad’s winner vies in the next round for the champion title, while others continue to play for fun.

The talk to the students included some of the fundamental principles of chess, such as control of the center and development. Bob asked the students how far ahead they like to look in a position, and suggest that it is even more important to think backwards, to ask why their opponent made the last move they did. This aids in one’s own planning, and helps avoid overlooking enemy attacks.

After the talk, a simultaneous exhibition was held for the students. At first only five boards were occupied, but the number soon grew to almost a dozen. Time permitting, lost games were restarted. Bob won every game this time. Who knows next time!

March Quadrangular Chess Tournament