A fan’s season of plenty

It will be a bountiful holiday season for area chess fans, with two major events coming to Washington the last weekend of the year.

Advance entries are being taken for the 33rd annual Eastern Open, the traditional end-of-the-year tournament held at the Wyndham Washington hotel, 1400 M St. NW. The eight-round Swiss tournament typically attracts a nice complement of grandmasters and local stars, with a number of blitz and other side events on tap.

Details on the tournament are available at www.chessctr.org or by calling the U.S. Chess Center at 202/857-4922. The four-day tournament starts Dec. 27.

On the same dates and just a few blocks away, the 2006 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championship, the “World Series of college chess,” will be held at the Renaissance Washington Hotel, 999 Ninth St. NW.

Local powerhouse the University of Maryland Baltimore County and archrival University of Texas at Dallas — the Ohio State and Michigan of the college chess world — figure to be in the mix again in the six-round team event.

The Pan-American also will hold a scholastic team event for elementary and secondary school players and teams, and the top scorer will receive a four-year scholarship to UMBC. There also will be exhibition matches and a closed Swiss tournament for coaches, students and fans of the teams.

Details on the Pan-American are available at www.umbc.edu/chess/Pan-Am2006 or by calling 410/455-2666.

We’ll have coverage of both events here early in the new year.

• • •

Keeping in the Pan-American spirit, we feature two games from recent team matches.

In an upset, the New York Knights last week eliminated the top-seeded Boston Blitz 3-1 in the semifinals of the U.S. Chess League. The Knights, anchored by UMBC alum GM Pascal Charbonneau, will take on the San Francisco Mechanics in the USCL finals Wednesday.

New York’s victory was powered by wins from IM Irina Krush over IM Igor Foygel on Board 2 and expert Matthew Herman’s upset of NM Ilya Krasik on Board 4. Krasik, playing Black in a Kan Sicilian, gets in the thematic freeing break 16…d5, but by that time White’s king-side attack already has built up overwhelming force.

With much of Black’s army cut off from his king, White pushes ahead energetically with 19. Kh1 Bb5?! (d4 20. Nd5 Qc5 21. Qg4 Qf8 puts up a tougher defense, though 22. Rf3 still leaves White in charge) 20. Qg4 Bh6 21. Rf3!, ignoring the central battle to get more pieces into the action.

On 23. exd5 Bd7 24. Rf1 (Ne4 Qxf5) e4!? (unsuccessfully trying to take the sting out of the coming knight move) 25. Nxe4 Qxb2 26. c3!, the queen is cut off from the defense as well, and Black’s cause may be hopeless already.

Herman removes all doubt with the precise 27. Qh4 (with the threat of 28. f6 Rg8 29. fxg7+ Bxg7 30. Ng5 h6 31. Nxf7+ Kh7 32. Be4+ Bf5 33. Bxf5 mate) Re8 28. f6! Rxe4 (desperation) 29. Bxe4! (Qxe4 was good enough for the win, but White has mate in mind) Qe2 30. fxg7+ Kg8 (Bxg7 31. Qxh7 mate).

Story Continues →