CHESS
HORIZONS
2009 National Open: Last Dance in Patzerland
by NM Ilya Krasik
White: Ilya Krasik
Black: Eric Zhang
National Open, Round 1,
[D85] Grünfeld Defense
I've been to Vegas before but
I've always let distractions shift my
focus away from chess itself: suffering two horrible tournaments and
one good tournament marred by a
last round debacle, which I wrote
about on chessbase.com. This time
while sitting on the plane, I recollected about those failures and
thought about how to change my
fortune this time around. The passenger next to me was a 6'5" typical
All-American jock named Joe. He
played college hockey at BC and
was even drafted by the NHL. The
third passenger sitting on Joe's side
was in some way even more interesting: she was born and grew up in
Vegas, raised a family there but
thought that gambling was pure evil,
a dishonest way to make a living...
But if it weren't for casinos there
would be no Vegas, I remarked...
With Joe, naturally, our conversation turned to hockey as he told
me many personal stories about
guys like Federov and Crosby —
the boozing and the partying. When
the conversation ended Joe dozed
off and I thought about doing the
same until I started feeling sharp
jabs to my side.
It was big Joe, whose legs and
arms were simply too big and too
long for a regular seat. I woke him
up several times but each time he
went to sleep again; the elbowing
continued, and my plans to sleep
had to be shelved. I arrived in Vegas
20
WWW.MASSCHESS.ORG
about 10-11 p.m. and got to my hotel
at 12. Naturally I didn't feel too
good after the six hour plane ride,
but the good news was that I didn't
have to play 'till the morning.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4.
cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bd2 Bg7 6. e4 Nxc3
7. Bxc3 O-O 8. Rc1 c5? 9. dxc5
Bxc3+ 10. Rxc3 Qxd1+ 11. Kxd1
Be6 12. Nf3 Nc6 13. Bc4 Rfd8+
14. Kc2?!
14. Ke2 Bg4 (14...Nd4+ 15. Ke3
Bxc4 16. Rxc4 Nxf3 17. gxf3 +/-)
15. Ke3 Bxf3 16. gxf3 e6 17. f4 +/-)
14... Nb4+ 15. Kb3 Bxc4+
15... Nd3
16. Kxc4! a5 17. a3 Na6 18. b4
Rac8 19. Rhc1 f6 20. e5?! b6 21.
Kb5?
21. c6! Rxc6+ 22. Kb5 Rxc3
23. Rxc3 axb4 24. axb4 Nb8 25. e6
+21... Nc7+ 22. Ka4
Forced. 22. Kxb6 axb4 23. axb4
Nd5+ 24. Kb5 Rb8+ -+
22... Nd5 23. Rd3 axb4 24. axb4
Ra8+?
Black's one and only chance to
capitalize on my mistakes and to
save the game was 24...bxc5 25.
bxc5 Ra8+ 26. Kb3 Rdb8+ 27. Kc4
Nf4 28. Rd2 Ra4+ 29. Kc3 Ra3+
30. Kc4 Ra4+ 31. Kc3=
25. Kb3 b5?
Now it's all over. 25... bxc5 26.
Rxc5 +/26 . exf6 +- e6 27. Ng5! Ra6 28. c6
Rda8 29. f7+ Kg7
29... Kh8 30. Rxd5 exd5 31.
Ne6 +30. Nxe6+ Kxf7 31. Ng5+ Kf6 32.
Rxd5 Ra3+ 33. Kc2 Ra2+ 34. Kd1
1-0
White: John Williams
Black: Ilya Krasik
National Open, Round 2,
[A04] Reti Opening
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d3 Nc6 4. g3
g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O Nge7 7. Re1
d6 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. Nf1 h6 10. h4
e5 11. c3 d5 12. N1h2
It's clear that White's pieces on
the kingside are just getting nowhere.
12...Be6
12...f5? 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. Qb3
with counterplay, e.g. 14... Kh7 (or
14... Be6 15. Qxb7 Rc8) 15. Bg5
(15. Ng5+ hxg5 16. Qxd5)
13. Be3 b6
13...d4 14. cxd4 cxd4 15. Bd2
Qb6 was also strongly considered:
16. b4 (16. Qb1 a5) 16... Rfc8 =/+
(16... Nc8)
14. g4 Qd7 15. g5 h5
Thanks to my opponent, the
kingside is locked and all his pieces
there lack any purpose. This means
it's time for action on the queenside.
16. Qa4 a6 17. Rad1
17. c4 b5 18. cxb5 axb5 19.
Qxb5 Ra5 20. Qb3 (20. Qb6 Rb8 -+)
20... d4 -+
17... b5
17... d4 18.cxd4 cxd4 19. Bd2
Qd6
18. Qa3 d4 19. cxd4 cxd4 20. Bc1
Rfc8 21. b3 Bf8
21...a5!
22. Qb2 Qd6 23. Bd2 a5 24. Rc1
a4 25. b4 a3!
White is positionally bankrupt:
his pieces are still out of play and
a2 and b4 are very weak.
26.Qb1 Ra4 27. Rc5
One cannot cement a big leak
with chewing gum. White's posi-