Cover Story
- +- +- + k + zp- +- +- +- P +- + p + pzp + p + nzP- +-- + pzP- +-mK +-zP-zp- +-- +- +- +- + +- +-tR- +-
After 46. Re1
46.... Nxc3!
Very well judged. Isaac has seen his queenside pawns will be unstoppable.
47. Rxe3 Nd5 48. Rg3 Kg7 49. Kg4 c3 50. Kf3 c2 51. Rg1 b4 52. Ke2 b3 53. Kd2 Nb4 54. Kc3 Na2 +, White resigned.
A very strong game from Isaac, filled with interesting ideas.
2012 National High School Championship At A Glance
Date: April 13-15, 2012. Location: Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Top Team Finishers: K-12 Championship: 1st, 20: I. S. 318( Justus Williams, Isaac Barayev, Matthew Kluska, James Black); 2nd, 20: Hunter College Campus School( Alec Getz, Aleksandr Ostrovskiy, Aaron Landesman, Lilia Poteat); K-12 Under 1600: 1st, 20: Miami Senior High( Orestes Ordonez, Raul Rodriguez, Jossie Calderon, Matthew Solis); 2nd, 19 1 ⁄ 2: I. S. 318( Otto Schatz, Jack Wen, Vaughn Soso, Mariah McGreen); K-12 Under 1200: 1st, 21: Abington High School( Eric Goldsborough, Benjamin Kruger, Ryan Klasky, Andrew Weinrich); 2nd, South Dade Senior High School( Daniel Cruz, Andersen Harril, Steven Rojo, Jonathan Armas); K-12 Under 800: 1st, 20 1 ⁄ 2: MS 118( Mohinur Miah, Abdullah Ridwan, Darron McMorries, Kevin Singh); 2nd, 19 1 ⁄ 2: St. Joseph Academy( Benjamin Hart, Cecilia Tackett, Meggan Kaster, Jack Weil, Maximilian Schieber, Isaac Waters); K-12 Unrated: 1st, 19 1 ⁄ 2: Hinsdale Central High School( Athar Qureshi, Naveen Balaji, Michael Ren, Alan Chen); 2nd, 18 1 ⁄ 2: Minneapolis South High School( Josiah Biernat, Max Eusterbrock, Michael Diaz, Mohamed Mohamed). Chief Tournament Director: Francisco Guadalupe
MATTHEW
Going into the national championship, Justus, James, and Isaac were all considered likely scorers. But three would not be enough: A team’ s score at K-12 nationals is determined by adding the totals of its four top scorers. The fourth score would be a player developed the traditional 318 way: Years of chess instruction inside the school’ s walls. Enter Matthew Kluska. In December of 2011, his rating stood at 1396. Then something happened. A previously casual chessplayer caught the bug, and became one of the program’ s most studious, hardworking competitors.
“ The 318 openings are easy to remember, but I felt my endings needed improvement.” Matthew took out two endgame texts from the school library, working through them independently. He also benefited from an endgame class session with GM Sher, and started solving problems on his own. During our conversation about his study habits, he stopped, his thoughts interrupted by a recent game a friend played.“ In Kenneth [ Martin ]’ s last round game( at the junior high school nationals) there was a win in the ending:... h5 and then you go... Kh7-g6.”
By April of 2012, Matthew’ s rating was 1844. While gaining 400 points, he had developed a preference for complex, asymmetrical positions: His French repertoire features the... Rxf3 Exchange sacrifice in the Tarrasch, and against 1. d4 he aims for Nimzo-Indian structures. His taste in the opening is not easy to satisfy; Matthew stubbornly avoids... d5 in queen pawn positions, treasuring his flexibility in the center.
Entering the high school nationals, Matthew was rated 1884, a personal best. However, things did not start well: An early blunder and opening miscue placed him at 1 ⁄ 2 out of 2. Aiming to reverse his fortunes, he took a disciplined course: Getting extra sleep every night and carefully blunder checking every move. He scored 3 1 ⁄ 2 from the next 4, reaching 4 / 6 entering the last round. Though he was rated 1415 in December, Matthew Kluska would be playing for the high school national championship in the last round.
ROUND 7
Heading into the last round, the top of the standings looked like this:
I. S. 318: 16 1 ⁄ 2 Hunter: 16 1 ⁄ 2 Thomas Jefferson: 16 Catalina Foothills: 16
Assistant Principal John Galvin’ s sheet was divided into sections, each one listing the pairings and expected results of a different team. The rules permit players to consult their coaches if a draw is offered in the final round. The more complete the coach’ s information, the greater the chance of making a correct decision. But with the top of the table so packed, the players received unambiguous pregame instructions from Galvin and Spiegel: Fight for the win. The top of 318’ s scorecard looked like this:
Justus Williams: 4 1 ⁄ 2 / 6 James Black: 4 Isaac Barayev: 4 Matthew Kluska: 4 Kenneth Martin: 4
At times, Spiegel wonders how much concept her students have of playing for the team: At the end of the day, chess is an individual sport, and the team score is calculated by adding four independent outcomes. But with the last round about to begin, there could be no doubt. None of the possible scorers took their instruction to avoid a draw as an infringement on their agency, an undue imposition. They were there as a team, and would doggedly pursue the result the team required.
Justus, James, and Isaac were all paired down, thanks to their high ratings. They would likely be the top three scorers. The toughest assignments fell to the A players, Matthew and Kenneth: Each would face an expert in a situation where only a win would do. Without one of them getting to 5 points, first place would likely be out of reach.
Kenneth received a nightmare pairing: Black versus Danny Feng, a 318 alumnus who entered the school as a beginner and became an expert, making him one of the greatest‘ pure’ products in the program’ s history. Spiegel excused herself from preparing for her former star, and Kenneth and I grimly sat down to prepare for a national championship game against his old teammate. On the way to the game, Mr. Galvin and Danny awkwardly crossed paths, drawing a question Danny knew the answer to:“ Did you prepare for me?”
It was in vain. Danny sat down and played 1. a3, a move he uses as a transpositional tool when worried about preparation. Kenneth dutifully fought for the win, going up a pawn and rejecting multiple continuations that appeared drawish. But Danny was too solid. He set up a queenside blockade, then used a tactical resource to win two pawns and the game. Kenneth’ s hard work all tournament was rewarded with a gain in rating, but not the elusive fifth point his team needed.
James returned early and distraught: He had drawn his lower rated opponent.“ Why is it that I can’ t buy a win?” Four queens had appeared on the board in a wild encounter, and James had been unable to regain control. He had started
24 Chess Life— July 2012 uschess. org