SECTION 2 REPORT: By Jody Chen, Andrew Goldfarb, and Alan Salnikov
Welcome to Section 2: The Theater of Dreams. And no, this phrase was not generated by Chat GPT (like several of the other reports). Rather, this phrase, which is used to label Old Trafford, the stadium of Premier League Club Manchester United, is symbolic. Just like how Man U has ambitions of winning titles in the near future, all four players in Section 2 have ambitions of breaking 1600. But unlike Man U, Andrew Goldfarb successfully turned up, winning all three games in emphatic fashion!
After losing his first two games to yours truly, Andrew and I played a third match today. Just like the first two matches, I had the white pieces. By move 9, the structure of the position looked reminiscent of Game 2. There were, however, significant changes: my king was not castled, my knight was on d2, and Andrew had space in the center to expand into.
From that point, Andrew played perfectly, coordinating his knight, bishop, queen, and rook to create an attack on the kingside. If we are continuing the football analogies, I parked the bus, bringing my knight to g1, king to h2, and pushing my pawns. And, eventually, I was winning, completely trapping Andrew’s rook! However, a good position on the chessboard is only one factor in evaluation, time on the clocks is another. While Andrew had 30 minutes left on move 24, I only had THREE! And so I played 25. Ng3, hoping for a repetition. Obviously, this did not happen, and I got mated very, very quickly.
After defeating Jody (more from him later) in Round 2, Andrew settled round three against Alan Su within 10 minutes! The sequence: from moves 7 to 10 ensured Andrew was able to win two pawns while maneuvering his knight away from trouble. The strength of his pieces meant everything would eventually get traded off into a trivial endgame, which Andrew easily converted to win the section!
As for myself, after two horrendous matches, I needed some sort of consolation from Match 3 against Jody. Even though I was defeated, the way I (white) played after reverting to d4-c3 meant that, not only did I get a morale boost, but the technicalities of the position convinced Jody to report on the match. So we will now shift to his perspective for the analysis.
I needed to document my game with TD Alan for a few reasons. Firstly, it was our first game together, and when playing against someone you respect could potentially evoke mixed emotions. Secondly, the match was lengthy, spanning over 70 moves, filled with challenging tactics and perseverance. I felt a sense of pride in both of us and believed it was a noteworthy game worth recording.
Coming from a tough battle previously, I was exhausted yet very determined for my final match. As the game began to unfold, the initial moves mirrored each other closely until Alan played c5, a move that not only targeted my queen but also put me in a locked and uncomfortable position as black. Alan's black-squared bishop also proved to be particularly bothersome, blocking a key diagonal and limiting the mobility of my major pieces. Recognizing the importance of opening up the position and setting the stage for a potential attack, I focused on strategically trading pieces, a goal I managed to achieve successfully. As a result, my knight was able to advance and capture a pawn by utilizing a skewer tactic with my rook against the defending piece. This advantage led to subsequent exchanges of rooks. However, I soon encountered a situation where Alan's rook on e7 and e8 was repeatedly forcing a draw by moving back and forth, leaving me unable to break the pattern. Eventually, I realized that I needed to sacrifice both the pawn on f4 and the one on f5 as well as trading the rooks in order to advance my king and break the cycle of repetition. As my king advanced to attack Alan's queenside pawns, it became clear that they were undefendable, ultimately resulting in my victory.
The beauty of chess is its unpredictable outcome, which was evident in my endgame as it appeared to be a draw, but further analysis proved otherwise. Overall, I would say this was an enjoyable Saturday quad.
In the last April quad I played a very stunning game with Shahryar (he was White, I was Black). The game was very complicated so I have firstly decided to comment on the four key moments (positions) shown in the picture.
The game began as 1. c4 e5 2. g3 h4 (every time when I saw any pawn or piece on g3g6 it is like a red rag for a bull!). This time however Shahryar responded 3. h4 weakening g4-square where I immediately led my knight. Also I created a battery Be7 and Qd8 to sacrifice bishop on h4. In the beginning this plan worked. White carelessly castled and after I attacked his f3-knight by e4-pawn the first key position had arisen. Can you answer to the first question “where should f3-knight go?” Shahryar truly answered: Nh2. A reason is that White had foreseen the bishop sacrifice for two pawns and the appearance of a black queen on h4 what is deadly for White. So, White has to trade his knight for g4-knight.
After the move Nf3-h2 the second key position had arisen. Can Black sacrifice his e7-bishop to h4?” Yes! At first I intended to sacrifice e7-bishop but became faint-hearted. I understood that White could not take back my h4-bishop since a checkmate would be inevitable (either by tandem of the queen and knight or queen and rook after knight trading). Instead I played g7-g5, also a good attacking move, but not as strong as Bh4.
The third key moment arose when I played Qf6 (this is an answer to the third question). Black dreamt of placing his queen on h-vertical but I had to calculate a variant with Nc3-d5.
This is the fourth key moment
(can you answer correctly to its question?). Shahryar got it and played Ne4; a reason is that Nd5 does not control the important squares g3 and f2 (variant 12. Nd5 Qh6 13. fe3 Qh2 14. Kf2 Rh3 illustrates it). After 12. Ne4 Qh6 13. fe3 Be3 14. Be3 Qe3 15. Rf2 (see the comments to the game) Black does not have active ideas. My conclusion is that in general White defended well, I had to be more active. But the game is very bright and instructive. Good job to all players!
SECTION 1 REPORT: by Yefim Treger
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