The Summer Tournament

The Kenilworth Chess Club's "Summer Tournament" has proven to be a popular and fun event. The time limit is Game 60 with play starting around 8:30 pm, so even if players take the full 2 hours they still have time for analysis, socializing, and casual games into the wee hours. The time limit is also long enough to get a serious game going (as my game against Kernighan shows) but too short to take the game all that seriously--especially since the games are unrated. The overall structure of the event, with a low entry fee ($3) and strong incentives for attending the club (since the player with the most wins before August takes the first prize), are especially well suited to summer, when attendance tends to drop off as people go on vacations. Yet the event is more popular this year than ever, with 17 players entered, counting Devin Camenares of Cook College at Rutgers University who joined us last night.

Devin was the founding member of the Cook College Chess Club, which lasted through one happy semester but folded due to lack of attendance the next. He is unrated but has lots of skittles experience and quite a bit of opening knowledge for someone who never played in a tournament. He held an equal game against Greg Tomkovich last night, which should have ended in a draw but for the fact that Greg won on time in a tough ending. I have the game score, but it is a bit too long to enjoy. I hope Devin will be joining us frequently this summer to get a break from his intensive genetic engineering research and maybe he'll play a shorter game to reproduce here. :-)

Our other new member, Laukik Gadgil, had a roller coaster ride of a game against our under-1800 champion Joe Demetrick,. Joe was able to win despite dropping his Queen at one point. The lead swung wildly up and down thanks to a few blunders by both sides, which is rather typical of the "summer games." It's worth playing through if only to see some basic tactical themes in action.


[Event "KCC Summer Tourney"]
[Site "Kenilworth, NJ USA"]
[Date "2005.06.23"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Gadgil, Laukik"]
[Black "Demetrick, Joe"]
[Result "0-1"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[TimeControl "G60"]

{While full of errors by both sides, the following game nonetheless features some useful tactical themes which even relatively experienced players such as these can benefit from.} 1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nc3 ({More common is} 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. g3 Bd6 6. Bg2 Nge7 7. O-O {with a typical King's Indian Attack position.}) 3... Bb4 ({ Black could also close the position, though after} 3... d4 4. Nce2 Nc6 5. f4 $5 {White has a fairly good game.}) ({ The chief drawback of 3.Nc3 rather than 3.Nd2 is that Black could now play} 3... dxe4 4. dxe4 Qxd1+ 5. Nxd1 Nf6 $11 {with complete equality.}) 4. Bd2 { White does not have to directly unpin the Knight to prevent Black from winning it with ...d4. He could alsoplay} (4. e5 $5 d4 5. Qg4 Ne7 6. a3 Ba5 7. b4 dxc3 8. bxa5 $13) ({but not} 4. a3 $6 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 dxe4 6. dxe4 Qxd1+ 7. Kxd1 Nf6 $15) 4... Nc6 ({Now} 4... d4 $1 5. Nb1 Bxd2+ 6. Nxd2 e5 $1 $15 {would be very good for Black, who had exchanged off his dark-squared bishop and placed all his pawns on dark--while White has a bad Bishop at f1 hemmed in by pawns on light.}) 5. Qg4 Nf6 $1 {The best way to meet White's premature aggression.} 6. Qxg7 Rg8 7. Qh6 Rg6 8. Qe3 $4 { This loses material. But Black would be doing well after the superior} (8. Qh4 d4 (8... dxe4 $6 9. O-O-O $1 $36) 9. Nb1 (9. Nce2 Bxd2+ 10. Kxd2 e5 $44) 9... e5 $44) 8... d4 {The Fork} 9. Qe2 dxc3 10. bxc3 Ba5 11. Rb1 e5 12. Nf3 Bb6 13. h3 Be6 14. Rb2 Ke7 $2 {Up until now, Black's play has been exemplary. But this is a very bad place for the Black King. Likely he should clear the way for Queenside castling while creating threats against White's weak pawns by} ( 14... Qe7 $1 15. Nh4 Rg8 16. Nf5 Qa3 17. Rb1 Qxa2 $19) 15. g4 h6 16. Nh4 { Suddenly White is developing real threats against Black's centralized King.} Rg8 17. Bxh6 Qd7 18. Bd2 (18. f4 $5) 18... Rh8 19. Nf3 $2 (19. Nf5+ Bxf5 20. exf5 {would open an important line against the Black King.}) 19... Bxg4 $1 { The Pin} 20. h4 Rhg8 $6 21. Be3 Qd6 22. Bc1 Qc5 23. Rb3 Be6 $4 24. Ba3 $1 { THE PIN - big time!} Bxb3 25. Bxc5+ Bxc5 26. cxb3 Ng4 27. d4 exd4 28. cxd4 Bb4+ 29. Nd2 $2 {not a good idea to step into a pin!} (29. Kd1 $1 $18) 29... Nxd4 30. Qc4 Nc6 31. Bh3 $4 Nge5 $1 32. Qe2 Rad8 {and Black has a winning attack despite the material deficit. Both players, short of time, stopped recording their moves at this point.} 0-1