FM Tom Bartell Simul at KCC

Max Sherer (foreground) seems to be practicing
for his own simuls as he awaits Bartell's move.

NM Mark Kernighan (left, playing Black) won a
marathon Q v R ending against Bartell.

New Jersey FM Tom Bartell finished +10 =2 -1 in a simultaneous exhibition last night at the Kenilworth Chess Club. The Chess Coroner -- club president John Moldovan -- has posted all of the games online in Java replay and zipped PGN format. Both John and I took early draws (I achieved a winning position with my Left Hook Grand Prix with a3 line -- proving that Tom should read my blog more often!) while club champion NM Mark Kernighan kept the former NJ Open champion (2004 and 2005) late into the evening with a marathon Queen versus Rook ending. We joked that Mark was sure working hard to get back $10, but if you play over that game you might understand that the victory was well deserved and worth the effort.

Bartell - Kernighan
Black to Play and Win

I especially enjoyed Kernighan's method of winning the Rook ending, which is a study in itself. But in the diagram above I should say, "Black to Play and Win -- in almost 50 more moves!" A typical nail-biter for our club champion, who seems to enjoy the challenge of these long and difficult endings.

Despite the loss, Bartell had a good showing. We should also congratulate him for graduating last week from Rutgers University with a B.A. in Sociology. We wish him the best of luck in his job search and in his continuing IM-title hunt.

FM Tom Bartell in Chicago

Bartell - Ginsburg, Chicago 2008
White to play and win.

I have annotated two nice games by New Jersey FM Tom Bartell from the 11th North American FIDE Invitational in Chicago, May 17-23, where he finished tied for 4th and likely missed an IM norm only due to a last round loss.

Tom will be giving a simultaneous exhibition at the Kenilworth Chess Club on Thursday, May 29, beginning at 8:30 p.m. The cost is $10. More details are available at the KCC Minutes blog.

More information about the North American FIDE Invitational can be found at the North American Chess Association site. Games from the event can be found at the Monroi site and all of Tommy's games at The Chess Coroner's site.

Consultation Game Concludes

I was not able to attend the conclusion of the consultation game, but I see that The Chess Coroner has covered it in "Consultation Conclusion," which includes a Java Replay of the whole game. That was a tough ending to try to win for White, and I'm not surprised we should have lost it. We should have listened to FM Steve Stoyko more often, of course, but I'm glad he let the team dictate the course of things! As always, this was a great club event and I hope our example inspires others.

Latest Low Blow Against Kasparov

I do pride myself on maintaining a family friendly blog here, but this bizarre incident is too shocking to let pass without notice. Go directly to the YouTube video, since you will have to see it to believe it. Truly surreal and almost funny, until you realize that it is an evil Putin trick. According to Mig Greengard, in a comment on one of his blog posts, this was the work of pro-Putin forces out to discredit Kasparov by making him look like a fool. Mig apparently refused to give this more press, however, by making a separate post, though that would have been helpful.

Note: I have corrected my initial post on this subject and hope other bloggers do as well. I have also changed the link. The original video I saw of the event had a misleading translation.

The Left Hook Grand Prix with a3

The Left Hook Grand Prix with a3
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.a3

I have posted further analysis of The Left Hook Grand Prix with a3 (1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.a3), a subject I have written on before. I am surprised that this Left Hook Grand Prix is not covered in any book, especially now that various other Left Hook opening lines have been receiving positive attention (especially the Left Hook Austrian Attack with 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.a3!? designed to discourage 5...c5 due to 6.dxc5 Qa5 7.b4 etc., as analyzed in SOS #1, The Carpathian Warrior, Gambiteer I, and The Pirc in Black and White.)

I think of 5.a3 as a high-class waiting move that fits well with any of White's systems, which you can choose based on Black's next move. If Black plays now 5...d6, then White can play 6.Bc4! putting the Bishop on its strongest diagonal, where 5.a3 provides it a nice retreat when the Bishop is attacked by b5 or d5. Play then develops along classic Grand Prix Attack lines, with White typically playing d3, O-O, Qe1-h4 and either f5 or e5 depending on Black's set-up. I like to think of it as the Closed Sicilian with the Bishop on a better diagonal for attack -- and a nice square for the Queen.

After 5.a3 d6 6.Bc4

If Black plays the more common 5...e6, then White has a nice gambit in 6.b4!? challenging the dark squares. The move is actually more a trap than a gambit, because Black really should not take the pawn: 6...cxb4?! (already a mistake in my view, since it surrenders control over d4) 7.axb4 Nxb4?! 8.Ba3 Nc6 9.Nb5! causes Black no end of grief due to the dark square weaknesses. If then 9...Bxa1? White wins the Queen with 10.Nd6+ Kf8 11.Nxb7+ etc. Best is 9...Bf8 (already a giant concession) 10.Bd6! Bxd6 11.Nxd6+ and White obviously has too much compensation.

After 5.a3 e6 6.b4

As in the French Wing Gambit (discussed last month), Black's best way of meeting 6.b4 is probably by 6...b6! (a move you will likely encounter only from players rated 2000 and above). But White still has play on the dark squares by e5, Ne4, and Bb2 as shown in an illustrative game.

After 5.a3 e6 6.b4 b6!

Besides the 6.b4 gambit idea, White also has a good gambit in 6.d4!? which is basically a reversed version of a line in the English known to be quite good for Black. After 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nb5 White either regains his pawn with enhanced central control or gets great compensation with Nd6+ etc.

What I like best about the 5.a3 line is that it continues to be little known to theory despite having been adopted by some high-profile players. So there is a lot of room for improvisation and enterprising play, as the games and analysis demonstrate. It also fits very well with a number of other repertoire suggestions I've been exploring in these pages, including The Caveman Caro-Kann, French Wing Gambit, The Saemisch Surprise vs. the Alekhine, and the Two Knights with d4 for White.