The November Check is in the Mail
By Alex Dunne   
November 11, 2013
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Carl Siefring
PAN-AMERICAN TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

PERU  1ST
    USA 2ND

The 10th Pan-American Team Championship is not completely finished but the results of the first two places has been determined: Peru first and the US second.  Peru lost two matches (USA and Guatemala) and had one tie (Argentina).  The US lost no matches and tied three (Brazil, Ecuador, and Chile).  Nevertheless, Peru took first place by dominating the lower half and finishing with a team total of 32 ½  to the US's 30 .

On the individual boards, Board One saw Carl Siefring turn in an undefeated  +5 result to take a silver medal to Peru's Angel Acevedo Villalba +7 gold.

Board Two, Thomas Biedermann, made an even score.  Thomas had to take over from Gary Walters when Gary was unable to continue.  Thomas lost but one game to the Canadian Blue Team.

Board Three.  John Ballow turned in a silver medal effort, undefeated, with a win over Peru's Gino Figlio who finished first with six wins and that single loss.
              
Board 4 found Anthony Kain bringing in the gold with an undefeated plus four (three with the black pieces!) with favorable tiebreaks over Canada's Michael Hryniw.

GAME OF THE MONTH

SIM Siefring demonstrates how control of the board leads to a win.

SCOTCH GAME (C45)

7070

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nxc6 Qf6 6.Qd2
White's 6. Qd2 began replacing 6. f4 back in the Fifties.  White avoids Pawn weaknesses in light of Black's superior development.
6...dxc6
Black chooses mobilization at the cost of queenside Pawn weakness.  6...Qxc6 is playable, but unambitious.
7.Nc3 Be6
Siefring-Schima, ICCF 2003 was rated equal after 7...Ne7 8. f4 Ng6 9. Qxf6 gxf6 was quickly drawn despite the ragged Pawn structure.  Siefring-Sirota, ICCF 2008 continued 7...Bd4 8. Bd3 Ne7 9. 00 Ng6 drawn shortly.
8.Na4
Piuva-Timmerman, Finjub 1991 was equal after 8. Bd3 000 9. 00 Ne7
8...Bd6 9.Qe3
White prevents 9. 000
9...Nh6
9...Ne7!? may be playable but hasn't been tried enough.  On h6 the Knight's future is cloudy.
10.h3 0-0
Black has fully mobilized but his pieces have little forward  mobility.  White's minor pieces are homebodies, but they have futures.
11.Bd2
White declines the aggressive 11. g4!? because of his developmental lag.  A possible scenario could be 11. g4 Rfe8 12. g5 Qg6 13. gxh6 Bd5 14. exd5 Qxc2 15. Nc3  Rxe3+ 16. Bxe3 Qxb2 17. Rc1 Bb4 18. Bd2 Bxc3 19. Rxc3 Qb1+ 20. Rc1 Qxe4+
11...b5
Suspect -- in the long run this just offers White targets, but Black's idea is to misplace White's Knight. 
12.Nc3 

Failing is 12. Nc5 Qxb2 13. Bc3 Qxc2 14. Rc1 Bxc5

12...b4 13.Na4 Rae8
Black plans to use the f8 Rook, but a more coordinated arrangement would be 13...Rfe8 and later ...Rad8.
14.0-0-0 Qe5
The a-Pawn is forbidden -- 14...Bxa2 15. g4 Qh4 16. f3 f5 17. b3
15.Bd3 f5
Once again a2 is safe -- 15...Bxa2 16. f4 Qa5 17. b3 f6 18. Kb2.
16.f4 Qa5 17.b3 fxe4 18.Qxe4 Nf5 19.Qxc6 Qd5 20.Qa6
White plays for more -- after 20. Qxd5 Bxd5 21. Rhg1 Ng3 Black's active pieces offer strong chances for equality.
 20...Qxg2 21.Rhe1 Qxh3
 Black reasons: why not?  The game is the same after  21...Kh8 22. Nc5 Bxc5 23. Rxe6 Rxe6 24. Qxe6 Qxh3 25. Qc4 Bd6 21. Re1
 22.Nc5 Bxc5 23.Rxe6 Rxe6 24.Qxe6+ Kh8 25.Re1 Bd6 26.Kb1!
A brilliant relocation of the e3 Bishop.  Once it reaches b2, the White pieces dominate the board.
 26...Qg4 27.Bc1 Qg6 28.Qe4 h5
Black's h-Pawn makes a break for counterplay, but White's control of the board means it won't get very far.  After 28...Qg4 29. Bd2 a5 30. Qd5 Nh4 31. Rh1 Nf5 32. Qxa5 Bxf4 33. Qxb4 White is winning.
29.Rh1 h4 30.Qe2 Qh6 31.Qf3
Not so clear is 31. Bxf5 Rxf5 32. Qg4 g5 33. Rxh4 Rh5 34. Qe6 Rxh4 35. Bb2+ Qg7 36. Bxg7+ Kxg7
31...Qg6 32.Bb2 Be7 33.Qd5 Dominance!   33...c5 34.Be5 Kh7 35.Qd7 Rf7 36.Qe8 1-0

There is no good defense against Bd6 -- 36...a6 37. Bd6! Bxd6 38. Rxh4+ Nxh4 38. Qxf7

OCTOBER RESULTS

Trophy Quad
                William Yang     13Q04       6-0

Walter Muir
                Drew Tuck           13W27     6-0
                Michael Giordano  13W33  6-0
                Paul Sorensen    13W01  4 ½-1 ½
                Joshua Miller     12W36   5-1

John Collins
                Rene Bonilla`12C25     5-1

DECEMBER MINIATURE COLUMN

Next month is the Miniature Game column.  If you have an interesting  game of 20 moves or under, please submit it for possible publication.

LEARN CHESS BY MAIL !  Lessons given by mail, telephone, ICC - many different ways.  I specialize in players rated 800-2100 who would like to improve their game.  Contact me for information.  Alex Dunne, 324 West Lockhart St., Sayre, PA 18840 or [email protected]

Chess booklet for sale:  2004 Golden Knights Championship  --  booklet of the 57th USCF CC Championship -- $10.00 postage  paid.  35 pages, 90+ games

THE ABSOLUTE CORRESPONDENCE CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE UNITED STATES CHESS FEDERATION 1976-2010

is now available at McFarland Publishers and Amazon for $45.00 and also Kindle at $16.49

NEW!  2006 Electronic Knights Championship ebook.  190 games some annotated, all the crosstables, bios of the top three, list of all the finalists, ChessBase format, .pgn notation  and Microsoft .pdf format.   $4.00 postage paid for the disk, $2.00 sent to you via email. Hard copy $10 postage included.

OBITUARY

William O. Clark of Sarasota, Florida, born July 16, 1946 died September 20, 2013.  William was a USCF CC Master.

CARO-KANN DEFENSE (B12)

7069

Quote:  Play in events where computer use is not only allowed but encouraged!  This is to get the strongest possible counters coming back at you.  -- Nigel Davis

I am writing a book on the US Open Junior Chess Championships 1946-2013.  If you played in one or more of the championships, please send me your games (some or all!).  Send to: Alex Dunne, 324 West Lockhart Street, Sayre, PA 18840 or [email protected]

 

PANAMERICAN  GAMES

Biedermann shows the one black-squared Bishop can be better than the opposing black-squared Bishop.

KING'S INDIAN DEFENSE (E69)

7068 [/gsmr]

Ballow conducts a battle that rages from a-file to h-file to inflict Figlio's only loss.

SEMI-SLAV DEFENSE (D44)

7067 

The Pawns are the key actors in this drama.  White sacrifices a Pawn for the initiative, met by Black tossing a Pawn back for favorable exchanges, and finally, Black sacrifices a Pawn for a winning endgame.

QUEEN'S PAWN GAME (D00)

7066 

Figlio shows that two sets of doubled Pawns  are not always troubled Pawns.

NIMZO-INDIAN DEFENSE (E43)

7065 

Andrew Bussom has been playing some enterprising chess lately.  This game is no exception.

SICILIAN DEFENSE (B24)

7063

The Sicilian is full of sacrificial kingside attacks.  Here is another one for the history books !

SICILIAN DEFENSE (B67)

7064