Kimiec-Kernighan, KCC v West Orange Match

Position after 47...gxh5

White to Play and Win? (I think -- but he missed it)

The Match between the Kenilworth Chess Club and West Orange Chess Club went very well and we look forward to hosting them in September. We lost the match 4-5, but it was close on every board with some very interesting fighting games. One of the most tense was that played between our Mr. Houdini, Mark Kernighan, and Richard Kimiec on board two. It was a very tight game throughout. For one of the first times in recent memory, Mark emerged from the opening with the slightly better game. But the middlegame and endgame struggle went back and forth. As usual for Mark, it came down to the final seconds of the time control and he won on time.

Playing over the game, I thought the most interesting moment was the one diagrammed above. Is it White to play and win? I'm not certain on review--it is more complicated maybe than I thought when I looked at it last night with Fritz (see PGN below). If it is a win, it's lucky for Mark that Mr. Kimiec missed it.

Below is the game in PGN format. To play it over in Fritz, for example, simply copy it to the clipboard and then use Edit->Paste Game.

[Event "Kenilworth CC Team at West Orange CC"]
[Site "West Orange, NJ USA"]
[Date "2005.06.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Kimiec, Richard"]
[Black "Kernighan, Mark"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2147"]
[BlackElo "2213"]
[Annotator "Goeller,Michael"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[TimeControl "G60"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nge2 Nf6 4. g3 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nxc3 7. bxc3 Bf5 8. Rb1 Qd7 9. O-O Be6 $6 10. Ba3 Bxa2 11. Rb2 Bd5 12. Bxd5 Qxd5 13. Nf4 Qd7 (13... Qc4 14. Qf3) 14. Bxc5 b6 15. Be3 Rd8 (15... e5 16. Ng2 Bd6 $15) 16. Qe2 g6 $6 (16... e5) 17. Rb5 $5 (17. d4 $14) 17... Bg7 18. Rd5 Qb7 19. Rxd8+ Nxd8 20. Qb5+ (20. Bd4) 20... Qd7 21. Nd5 $6 Qxb5 22. Nc7+ Kd7 23. Nxb5 a6 24. Na7 $2 Kc7 25. Rb1 b5 26. c4 bxc4 27. Rb6 Nb7 (27... a5) 28. Rxa6 Nd6 29. Rc6+ Kd7 30. Rc5 Ra8 31. Nc6 Ra2 $15 32. Nb4 Rb2 33. c3 e5 34. Ra5 Ne4 35. Ra2 $6 Rxa2 36. Nxa2 Bf8 37. Kf1 Kc6 38. f3 Nf6 39. Nc1 Ba3 40. Ne2 Kd5 41. h3 Ne8 42. f4 exf4 $6 43. Nxf4+ $11 Ke4 44. Ke2 Bb2 45. Bc5 Nf6 46. Be7 Nh5 47. Nxh5 gxh5 48. Bg5 $2 (48. Kd1 $1 Kd3 49. h4 $16 { and Black will soon be in zugzwang.}) 48... Ba3 $15 49. Bf4 Be7 $2 (49... h4 $1 $19) 50. Bc7 Bc5 51. Bf4 Be7 52. Bb8 h4 53. Bf4 $2 hxg3 54. Bxg3 f5 $19 { and Black soon won on time in a winning position.} 0-1

"Oh yeah, old Abraham. I played him all the time."

I had a great night at the club and didn't even get to play a game. Steve Stoyko kept us entertained the whole night showing us some of his games, most featuring the King's Indian Attack, with which he beat some powerful players during the 80s. I will be putting together a file and web pages featuring these games as an introduction to the KIA system and will post a few PGN files in this space this weekend.

Steve constantly amazes me with the famous players he not only has met but usually has beaten over the board. He was showing me one game with the KIA and I said that it reminded me of a game I just annotated from the Lake Hopatcong tournaments, where Abraham Kupchik won with a nicely built up kingside attack (rather like what you can get out of the KIA). Steve heard the name and said, "Kupchik? Oh yeah, old Abraham. I used to play him all the time at the Flea House."

I was stunned. "You mean you played Abraham Kupchik? One of the best players in America during the 20s? A guy who regularly played, and sometimes beat or drew with, Capablanca, Marshall, and Alekhine?"

"Yeah. Abraham. I beat him plenty of times at the Flea House. He was old, but you could see that he once had a lot of power."

Playing and discussing chess at a club like Kenilworth, you are often just two or three degrees removed from the historic greats.

BTW and FYI: there is an amusing article online by Sam Sloan titled "One Evening at the Flea House." I had heard this story from others who were there (or perhaps who heard the story from NJ IM Mike Valvo himself) and they say that the man playing 5-minute chess at the Flea House that night was Najdorf. That must have been a glorious chess hangout in its day.

Kupchik-Sournin, Lake Hopatcong 1923

Kupchik-Sournin, Lake Hopatcong 1923

White to play and win after 28... Rh8.

I am slowly working my way through the game scores from the two Lake Hopatcong tournaments in 1923 and 1926. The games I have recovered from Herman Helms's Brooklyn Eagle chess columns are especially difficult at times, since I am not only dealing with bad printing (a bad xerox of a sometimes bad microfilm) but incorrect copy using sometimes faulty English descriptive notation. I am not sure I want to tell you how many times I have to retrace my steps while working through one of the game scores offered by Helms. The Kupchik-Sournin game that follows is no exception, featuring such faulty moves as "B-3" (for "B-K2" or "Be7" I discovered) or "R-Q4" when it should be "K-Q4" (meaning "Kd5" in algebraic). And in one sequence, I could not distinguish from the microfilm copy whether the score read P-R3 followed by B-R2 or P-B3 followed by B-B2 and ended up down the wrong path quite a distance before discovering the mistake.

But when I saw Abraham Kupchik's nice winning combination in this game, I thought it was well worth it. After all, it is a shame that not more of Kupchik's games have made it into the record or into the databases. And it would be a pity not to have this pretty win against the Russian emigre Sournin from the 1923 tournament. The critical moment is given at the top of this post for you to puzzle over. And here is the game score with my notes (which you will have to play through if you can't find the solution):


[Event "9th American Chess Congress"]
[Site "Lake Hopatcong, NJ USA"]
[Date "1923.08.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Kupchik, Abraham"]
[Black "Sournin, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C48"]
[Annotator "Goeller,Michael"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[TimeControl "40/150"]

{Kupchik organizes a deadly kingside attack in this game after slow maneuvers. And, as Helms writes in his Brooklyn Eagle column, "the combination by means of which Kupchik gained his end was especially spectacular."} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Nd4 5. Ba4 {This is not the most challenging line against the Rubinstein system.} Nxf3+ 6. Qxf3 Bb4 { This appears later to be a waste of time, since the Bishop soon retreats. Better perhaps} ( 6... c6 7. O-O Be7 8. d3 O-O 9. Bb3 d6 {with a tempo on the game line.}) 7. O-O O-O 8. d3 c6 9. Bg5 ({Better} 9. Qg3 d6 ({Not} 9... Qa5 10. Bb3 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Qxc3 12. Bh6 Ne8 13. Bg5 Qc5 14. Qh4 Nd6 15. Rae1 {with the idea of Re3-Rh3 with a strong attack.}) 10. Bg5 {with a sharpened version of the game line due to the possibility of Qh4, Bb3, Kh1 and f4.}) 9... Be7 ({Better} 9... h6 10. Bh4 (10. Bxf6 Qxf6 11. Qxf6 gxf6 $15 { and the two Bishops are more significant than the doubled pawns.}) (10. Bd2 d5 $15) 10... g5 $5 11. Bg3 d6 12. h3 a5 $1 13. a3 Bc5 $15 { and Black controls whole board.}) 10. Bb3 d6 11. Nd1 a5 12. c3 (12. a4 $11 { keeps the Bishop on the a2-g8 diagonal and limits Black's ambitions in the center. But Kupchik is content to play a slower maneuvering game with Sournin.}) 12... h6 13. Bc1 d5 14. Ne3 a4 15. Bc2 g6 {To keep the Knight out of f5.} 16. h3 {To prevent Bg4 once the Knight moves, but possibly contemplating Ng4!?} ({Not} 16. Nf5 $2 gxf5 17. Bxh6 f4 18. g3 Bg4 $19) 16... Kg7 17. Re1 Be6 18. Nf1 Qc7 19. Ng3 Ng8 20. Qe2 Bd6 21. Be3 f6 22. Rf1 Ne7 23. d4 b5 { This allows White to liquidate favorably in the center. Better} (23... exd4 24. cxd4 dxe4 25. Nxe4 Nd5 {followed by Bf7 and Rfe8 seems a reasonable plan, to play against the isolani long-term. But White would then have a more open position with chances of developing a kingside initiative.}) 24. dxe5 fxe5 25. Rad1 Rf6 26. exd5 Bxd5 $2 {Black seems to have a mistaken notion that his best plan is to try for a kingside attack by doubling Rooks on the f-file and pointing his Bishops in that direction.} ({Better to build a strong center with } 26... cxd5 {and if} 27. Qxb5 $2 d4 $1 $40) 27. Qg4 $1 Be6 (27... Raf8 $4 28. Nh5+ $18) (27... Rff8 28. f4 $5 (28. Qh4) 28... exf4 29. Nh5+ Kh7 30. Nxf4 Bxf4 31. Bxf4 $14) 28. Qh4 $1 { Now it is clear that White has the better kingside attacking prospects.} Rh8 $2 29. Rxd6 $3 Qxd6 30. Qxf6+ Kxf6 31. Ne4+ Kg7 32. Nxd6 $18 {The rest of the game is not of great interest since White is now up a piece. Likely Black played on at first due to a time advantage and then due to his hopes for his advanced pawn at b3. But, after a few slips near the time control, Kupchik slowly strangles all resistance.} Bxa2 33. Re1 Nd5 34. Bc5 Kf6 35. c4 $1 bxc4 36. Bxa4 Nf4 37. Ra1 Bb3 { White now makes some weaker moves before the time control at move 40.} 38. Bxb3 $6 (38. Bxc6 $1 $18 {would make White's task easiest.}) 38... cxb3 39. Ra6 $6 ( {White should pick up the b-pawn before Black tries to make something of it.} 39. Ra3 $5) (39. Ne4+ Ke6 40. Be3 Rb8 41. Nc5+ Kd6 42. Ra3) 39... Ke6 40. Ra3 $6 (40. Ne4 Kd5 41. f3) 40... Ne2+ $6 (40... Kd5 41. Ra5 Nd3 42. Ba3+ c5 43. Nb5 $18 {would disorganize White somewhat.}) 41. Kh2 Nd4 42. Ne4 Rb8 43. f3 Kd5 44. Ra7 Nb5 45. Rd7+ Ke6 46. Re7+ Kd5 47. Bd6 $1 Nxd6 48. Rd7 Kc4 49. Rxd6 Rb6 50. Nd2+ Kc5 51. Rd3 { winning the b-pawn, after which Black has no hope whatsoever.} 1-0

Shopping for Chess Books Online

I am slowly going through our links pages and updating things. I'm currently working on the links for chess shopping at http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/links/shops.html. Here are two new ones that will soon be added:

Labate Chess
http://www.labatechess.com
It appears that Edward Labate has the most extensive stocks of older and out-of-print titles, including most of the inventory of the former Chess Digest site. It would be worth a visit just to review his inventory.

Overstock.com
http://www.overstock.com
Overstock.com offers the most extensive listings of remaindered or overstock wholesale items, including chess books. If you generally buy new mass market titles at bookstores like Barnes & Noble or Borders, you will find this a great place to shop since you'll get what you want for $5-$10 off retail. This appears to be the best place online to buy recent titles that have been printed in large quantities. For example, a websearch on "The Chess Advantage in Black and White" by Larry Kaufman showed that they had the best non-used price available at $12.56 (a $6.39 savings over retail, and $5.39 better than USCF with Member Discount). However, I thought the discounts were not as significant as I had expected and it required a bit of searching through lots of mass-market junk by Eric Schiller to find something you'd want (though their search feature is quite good and could be used just to check pricing and availability on specific items that interest you). If you want to browse, try searching on "chess," or try "chess books" to avoid too many Chess-label classic jazz recordings. Most titles are directed at beginners (the best mass-market audience after all), but there are also highly specialized and older titles, including chess histories and opening books. So there is always the chance of finding buried treasure. The savings over Amazon was not huge, though it was significant and could add up if you are ordering several books. For example, I compared prices on "Rapid Chess Improvement" by Michael De La Maza at Overstock (11.33+1.40 shipping=12.73) and Amazon (11.53 and eligible for free shipping for orders over $25--though my experience with free shipping from Amazon is that it can take forever and a day to arrive). The $.20 savings might be eaten up on shipping differential (though you can save by ordering more than three items using Overstock's flat $2.95 shipping rate). Amazon also offers links to e-tailers who will sell you this particular book used for around $8 plus maybe $2 shipping and handling. I found similar pricing on other interesting items, where Overstock had the best prices for new books but was only beating Amazon by 3% or .20-.50 cents. In many cases, they will even share with you the price differential with Amazon at their site in a little box, so you have to admire them. I do not know how long they take to ship at their discount rate, but I assume it would not take as long as Amazon's free rate. So it looks like a good place to shop, and it comes recommended by Ziggy who says he shops there frequently for chess books.

Devin Camenares Game

Here is a game that our new member Devin Camenares sent me from the Summer Tournament. I look forward to getting back in the action myself on Thursday.

[Event "Kenilworth CC Summer Tournament"]
[Site "Kenilworth, NJ USA"]
[Date "2005.6.30"]
[White "Jose Rodriguez"]
[Black "Devin Camenares"]
[TimeControl "G60"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 h6 {This move was recommended in the book "The Chess Advantage in Black and White" as a way to reach an interesting game while avoiding the complexities of 5...dxc4 6.e4 h6} 6. Bh4 g5 7. Bg3 dxc4 8. e4 b5 9. a4 {This move seems to be rare. 9.h4 or 9.a3 could be improvements.} 9... Bb4 {9...b4 10. Na2 Nxe4 11. Qxc4 Nxg3 12. fxg3 c5 seem stronger, but this seems to be a reasonable alternative.} 10. Qc2 Bb7 11. Be2 {Chessmaster suggests 0-0-0 instead, but white's king safety seems suspect to me.} 11... Nbd7 12. O-O a6 13. Rfd1 Qe7 {13...Nh5 may have been better, and I had been considering as a possiblity for the past several moves, but decided to resist a decentralizing move until I ran out of decent alternatives. At this point, White had about 50 minutes left, and Black had about 56 minutes.} 14. Na2 {I thought poorly of 14. Na2, but black's edge is modest, if at all.} 14... c5 15. axb5 Bxe4 {Upon playing this move, I thought I had made a mistake that allows him to regain his pawn with 16.Qxc4, to which Chessmaster gives the interesting line 16...axb5 17. Qc1 c4 18. Nc3 Rxa1 19. Qxa1 O-O 20. Nxe4 Nxe4 21. Bc7 Rc8 22. Qa7 and rates it as equal. However, 17. Qxb5 Ra5 18. Qc4 Bd5 19.Nxb4 Bxc4 20.Nc6 Bxe2 21.Nxe7 is probably better for white. At this point, the times were White: 44 minutes, Black 53 minutes.} 16. Qa4 {This move effectively hands black the game. My opponent spent a fair deal of time before playing it, as the times now stood at White: 35 minutes, Black: 52 minutes} Nb6 17. Qxa6 Rxa6 18. bxa6 O-O 19. Nxb4 cxb4 20. Ne5 Bd5 21. Rdc1 Rc8 22. Nxc4 Bxc4 23. Bxc4 Rxc4 24. Rxc4 Nxc4 25. a7 {At this point, an onlooker seemed to knod in approval of white's move, but I think white is lost here anyway.} 25... Nb6 26. a8=Q+ Nxa8 27. Rxa8+ Kh7 28. Be5 Ng4 {While 28...Qb7 might be slightly better, I saw no problem with the move. An onlooker to the game started to shake his head in apparent disapproval after I moved the knight.} 29. Rh8+ Kg6 30. Rg8+ Kf5 31. f4 Nxe5 {Chessmaster shows a forced mate with 31...Qa7 32. Kf1 Qa1+ 33. Ke2 Qxb2+ 34. Kd1 Ne3+ 35. Ke1 Qa1+ 36. Kf2 Ke4 37. fxg5 Qf1+ 38. Kg3 Qxg2+ 39. Kh4 Qg4#} 32. fxe5 Qd7 33. h3 {This move and the next two seem to accelerate white's problems by giving away 3 pawns with check.} 33... Qxd4+ 34. Kh2 Qxe5+ 35. g3 Qe2+ {35....Qxb2 must have been more accurate.} 36. Kg1 Qxb2 37. Rf8 f6 38. g4+ Ke5 39. Rh8 Qd4+ 40. Kg2 b3 41. Rxh6 b2 {My gamescore runs out at this point, but as one might guess, the game didn't last that much longer for white.} 0-1