The Complete Alrick H. Man Vienna Gambit Theme Tournament

I have posted analysis of Carlos Torre's two games from the Alrick H. Man Vienna Gambit Theme Tournament with Spielmann's favorite line 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5 4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.Qf3!?  Analysis suggests that it is an interesting alternative to the standard 5.Nf3, if not quite as strong.

Position after 5.Qf3!?

As this completes my analysis of the Vienna Gambit and of the nine games from the tournament, I have also posted a Complete Tournament Games and Vienna Gambit Analysis (PGN) which includes all of the games previously annotated plus two additional games.   I hope my analysis is useful to those who would want to try out this interesting opening.   

See also:

• The Critical Line of the Vienna Gambit
• Torre and Marshall Victories over the Vienna
• Vienna Gambit Traps from the Alrick H. Man
• The Alrick H. Man Vienna Gambit Theme Tournament
• The Dimock Theme Tournaments and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
• Torre - Norwood, Alrick H. Man Theme Tournament
• Vienna Gambit (C29) Bibliography

The Critical Line of the Vienna Gambit

I have annotated the game Torre - Marshall, Alrick H. Man Vienna Gambit Theme 1925 (Java / PGN).  It is fitting that this most important game from the Marshall Chess Club's theme tournament featured the most critical line of the Vienna Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5 4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.Nf3 Bc5! (see diagram).

Position after 5...Bc5!

This sharp line featured in the recent game Jobava - Mamedyarov, European Team Championship 2013 and was discussed in depth by Alexander Finkel in New in Chess Yearbook #110.  As my notes show, White has good chances with the Vienna Gambit even against this dangerous line, which suggests that the opening remains viable with suitable preparation.  In fact, late in the game (which was eventually drawn), Torre missed  a winning move (see diagram below).

Torre - Marshall, New York 1925
White to play and win after 31...Rd8

See also:

• Torre and Marshall Victories over the Vienna
• Vienna Gambit Traps from the Alrick H. Man
• The Alrick H. Man Vienna Gambit Theme Tournament
• The Dimock Theme Tournaments and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
• Torre - Norwood, Alrick H. Man Theme Tournament
• Vienna Gambit (C29) Bibliography

68th Annual NJ Open to Feature GMs

The Morristown Hyatt

The 68th Annual New Jersey Open chess championship will be played Labor Day weekend, August 30-September 1, at the luxurious Morristown Hyatt.  This "heritage" event gets better every year, first with its move to historic Morristown last year and now with commitments from GM Joel Benjamin and GM John Fedorowicz to play in this year's event.  

In his memoir, American Grandmaster, GM Benjamin himself complained that most tournaments are run like weekend gambling junkets rather than as potential tourism opportunities.  With the move to Morristown, the organizers offer you a real family vacation with many potential tourist destinations.  Family fun in Morristown includes:

• The Morris Museum  
• Glassworks Studio 
• Fosterfields Living Historical Farm

For more ideas, see the excellent Morris County Visitor's Guide and their 101 Things to Do in Morris County.

Here are the tournament details:

68th Annual New Jersey Open Championship
30-SEPT. 1 OR AUG. 31-SEPT. 1 
TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 60 All Prizes Guaranteed!! 6-SS, 40/2 d5, SD/1. Headquarters Plaza Hyatt, 3 Headquarters Plaza, Morristown, NJ 07960. (973) 898-9100. A luxury hotel including spa. Free parking. For chess rate ($109/night) please use https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_ei_new&eventID=10891130 for online reservations. Short walk to train station with service to New York and Philadelphia (via Newark). 5 minute walk to many restaurants and shopping. In 4 sections, Open Section, Gold U1900, Silver U1600 and Booster U1300. With 3 day and 2 day schedules. Prizes: Open: $1000-$800-$600-$400-$200, Top Expert & A: $200 and trophy. Trophy to NJ Champion. Gold Section $500-$300-$100. Top B: $100 and trophy. Silver U1600: $500-$300-$100. Top D: $100 and trophy. Booster U1300: $500-$300-$100. Top E & F $100 & trophy. All Prizes Guaranteed. All sections get these trophies: Top 3, Top Senior over age 55, Top Under age 16, Top Under Age 13. Unrated may win first place in Open section only. EF Early $68 if paid by 8/27. EF onsite is $80. $50 for re-entry. 3 day reg at hotel: 9:00am-11:00am 8/30/2014. 2 day reg at hotel: Sunday, 8/31/2014 9-10am. Rounds: 3 day Saturday 12:00 & 6:30pm, Sunday 11am & 6pm, Monday 9am & 3:30pm. Rounds: 2 day 1-2-3(G/60 d5) Sunday 10:30am, 12:45pm and 3:00pm. 3 Day and 2 Day schedules merge in round 4. Entries to Noreen Davisson, 6 Red Barn Ln., Randolph, NJ 07869. Email: Noreen@deanofchess.com. Entries should include name, USCF ID and expirations, mailing address, email address, phone, section and schedule desired and entry fee.

Garry Kasparov Featured in NY Times Magazine

Garry Kasparov featured in The New York Times Magazine

In "Garry Kasparov, the Man Who Would Be King" (August 6, 2014), Steven Lee Myers does a great job of laying out the complex political landscape faced by the former world champion as he seeks the presidency of FIDE and, ultimately, to support opposition to Putin.  A must read for chess players.

Server Problem for Kenilworth CC Website

The service that hosts the Kenilworth Chess Club website has sent us a worrisome message that it "is conducting emergency maintenance on your shared webserver" due to "a hardware failure on the shared server running your website."  They go on to say that "Standard recovery procedures were unsuccessful - We are currently recovering from the disaster recovery backups - Due to the large amount of data that is recovering, it is expected to take multiple days to complete - We will send a follow up message within 24 - 48 hours with all available information Thank you for your patience during this unscheduled maintenance."  

Translation: best case scenario is our website will be down for up to two days; worst case scenario....I don't want to think about it.

On Vacation

I am taking the week off from blogging.  I will return next week.