MCJ - Volume 48 Number 2 - News - Minnesota State Chess ...

Black's next move. [37.Nc6 Qxe3 38.Qf6
Nd7 39.Qd8+ Nf8 40.Qf6 =] 37...h6 38.Qf6 I
was so impressed with myself, after 37...h6,
that I figured White would now roll over and
"die". So impressed, that I didn't notice the
diabolical plot under the surface. "Pride
goeth before a fall", says the great bard...
38...Nh7 [38...g5 39.Nc6 Ng6 40.Qd8+ Kh7
41.Qxb6 (41.Qf6 Nh8 42.Nd8 Qg6 43.Qf2
Qg7 44.Nc6 Ng6) 41...Nh4] 39.Qd8+ Kg7
+ Q + +
+ + +
++
+ +
+ + +
++ +
+ + +
+ + + +
D [39...Nf8 40.Qf6 g5] 40.Nxe6+ Thwack!
Pow! Crash! 40...fxe6 You know you are
dazed when it takes you a few minutes to
make the only legal move in the position.
41.Qe7+ Kg8 42.Qxe6+ Kf8 43.Qd6+ Kf7
44.Qd7+ Kf8 45.Qd8+ Kf7 Drawn. A good
fight! Post−script: This effectively knocked
me out of the "better than 3/5" goal I set for
myself, though strangely, it had no effect on
my qualification for the Minnesota Closed.
Puzzled? As far as the Closed was
concerned, my fate had been decided by
Round 3. I had been given the "pairing of
death", paired against a player 500 rating
points under the minimum qualifying rating
of a "legitimate" Premier player. Win or not,
my tie−break status would be horrible. It got
me thinking, "If I had this same Round 3
pairing in Round 1, and won, I would
immediately be at a huge disadvantage for
the rest of the tourney." This highlights one
of the weaknesses of having the "Premier"
section be "Open" to everyone, while still
serving as a qualifier for the State
Championship. Or maybe this is the
jaundiced view of an "inferior elitist"? Hope
to see you all next year! ½-½
Training Match
by USCF National Master Matt Mahowald
Mahowald,M − Gibbins,W
Training Game, 15.05.2008
[Gibbins,Wilson & Matt Mahowald]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Be2
+
+
++ +
+ + +
+ ++ +
+ ++
Q +
Wilson and I play match games during the
summer to keep sharp, this was the agreed
upon opening. This is a very weird line,
where white gives up any chance for
advantage in order to choose the opening.
White has a inferior position, but wins often.
We never played this again. 4...d5 5.exd5
Nxd5 6.0-0 Nxc3 7.bxc3 e4 8.Nd4 Nxd4
9.cxd4 Qxd4 10.c3 Qd5 11.d3
++
+
+ + + +
+ ++ +
+ ++ +
+ + +
+ +
Q+
This looks so ugly for white it was hard to
play, but preparation does help.11...Bd6
12.dxe4 Qe5 13.f4 White was doing ok, and
g3 looks a little sick. 13...Qxc3 14.Bb5+