Section 4 Report by Max Fitzgerald
This was my first tournament at Glen Rock and my first ever OTB tournament! I started playing chess about two years ago, and I quickly fell in love with the game, spurred out of wanting to beat my friends (and beat them badly, at that)! I normally play on chess.com and although I don’t play too much rapid nowadays, my rating there is approaching 2000. I enjoy learning opening theory or novelties in my free time (but not the boring openings–nobody cares to learn about the d4 openings–you will never see me play 1.d4 or 1…d5!), and I think it’s time that I start taking chess more seriously in my life. Even though I’m now in my first year of college and the best time to develop is well behind me, I still think I can make it somewhere in the chess world if I put in the work.
Anyways, before this tournament I had never played a time format longer than 15+10, so this was certainly going to be an experience when it came to handling my time properly. And, wouldn’t you know, in the first round I had an equal endgame with my opponent, but played Rd8(?) in a heartbeat with 35 minutes on my clock instead of Rf6(!) to defend my poor c-pawn, and after a trade of rooks, I was in a completely lost king and pawn endgame.
In this second game, I was White, and before the game, I was debating whether to play 1. e4 or something less mainstream, wishing to avoid too much theory. Thankfully, my opponent entered a Ruy Lopez with 3..Bc5(!?), which is something I’ve seen a bit in blitz, and the engine seems to love White after the move 4.c3. However, in all of my blitz games, I couldn’t get over the fact that the common center fork trick was available, and so I took on e5 with 4. Nxe5, and after 4…Nxe5 5.d4 c6 6.Be2 Bb4+ 7.c3 Ba5(?), I took back on e5 and felt that I was just a clean pawn up, and the engine gives +2.5 after 8…Ne7(?!). It’s nice to feel that you’re better out of the opening, isn’t it?
Apparently, my fish friend doesn’t approve of holding onto the pawn with 11.f4 due to 11…g5!, but that seemed very strange to me over the board, and my opponent must’ve thought the same, since he played 11…d6, ridding me of my doubled pawns. And a few moves later after I had developed my knight, my opponent and I both knew that I was completely winning by move 16. An untouchable knight on d6 is also a pleasant sight for White.
I didn’t realize this at the time, but after 19…Qb6, my opponent intended to spice up the game, with the f4 pawn again under attack due to my pinned rook on f2. Since Black was also attacking the b2 pawn, I chose to develop my queen to c2, and was a little flustered after 20…Nxf4. I knew that I hadn’t exactly let him back into the game, but I did get lucky that I had Bxf7+ after, winning the knight after (21.Bxf7+ Rxf7 22.Nxf7 Kxf7 23.g3). But my opponent chose to keep the game tactical by playing 22…Bh3(!?), which was an admission that something was very much wrong in his position, but I wasn’t sure how to proceed. After counting the material, I told myself that with the passed pawn on e5 and just being a healthy pawn up in a rook and pawn endgame couldn’t be bad, and I would be winning. The fish, of course, doesn’t approve of my life choices, and sinks the evaluation from +4.5 to +1.8. Still winning, so that was enough for me. The engine’s recommendation was 23.Nxh6+ gxh6 24.Qb3+ Qxb3 25.axb3 Nxg2 26.Rf3, the last move of which I missed, and the reason why I didn’t go down this line.
In any case, I knew I was winning regardless of a queen trade after 24.gxh3(?) Nxh3+ 25.Kg2 Nxf2 26.Qxf2, but a part of me knew that my opponent wasn’t going to trade queens so easily, and indeed, blocked with 26…c5. The rest of the game was pretty straightforward, due to Black’s bare king. After 27…Qe6 28.Qf5 Qxa2(??), I found the forced checkmate, and a few moves later, my opponent resigned, giving me my first over-the-board win, and it felt pretty good!
I finished this tournament 1.5/3, which is something that I can’t really complain about. I was satisfied with how I played for the entire day, with the exception of two moves in the first game that were missed due to how fast I was playing. After my collegiate chess league concludes (we are in our division’s finals next week!), I hope to be participating in more Glen Rock tournaments! A special thanks to Alan, who also goes to my college and invited me to Glen Rock to play, and a thank you to all of my young opponents!
In the last March tournament, I was lucky enough to once again play a very exciting and intense game with Mark, whom I had played earlier this month.
This game, however, was not only exciting but also somewhat strange. We played a rare opening known as the “Albin Countergambit,” though in a peculiar variation involving knights (see the white very upper position in my picture).
Mark (whom I had previously described as a creative player with poor time management) spent 5 minutes thinking in this position - quite a lot for the opening. Here, White could have gone for standard gambit lines with an extra pawn (either by taking it directly or firstly with exchanging knights).
But Mark chose the harmless move 4. cxd5, apparently fearing my preparation (and indeed, this fear had showed up again several times later in the game).
In the first white critical position 17 Mark played 9. f3, which I consider a very weak move; White should not have allowed my pawn on e3 to survive! However, I responded poorly by moving the knight to the edge of the board (instead of 9… Nh6, 9…Nge7 would have been better). This almost inevitably led to the second white key position 27.
Finally, I transitioned into a rook endgame. Despite being a pawn down, my active pieces ensured a draw. In the final position, Mark, as often happens with him, had less than a minute on his clock and accepted my draw offer.
I am not sure whether I had a forced win, as the position (after my move 15…Qh4) looked quite promising. But in any case, I’m happy with such a fighting game. And I even got a prize!
“Bread and circuses!” - that was the motto of ancient Rome. Let’s bring it to life in the upcoming chess tournaments, which I’m looking forward to.
Congratulations to Max Fitzgerald for winning this report contest. If you want a chance to win a free entry into our Saturday Quads, email a report to icanewjersey@gmail.com, following these guidelines. We hope you guys have a great week and sign up for our next tournament on April 5. In addition, we will have both our ICA Open (1600+) and Livingston Scholastic next week; head to our tournaments page to check out our events!
Section 1 Report by Yefim Treger
Visitors: 58