1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 c5
I was not afraid of the London system.
For a game I had to win to claim the
national championship, the London System was definitely not in my wish list of
openings either. I decided to play aggressively anyway.
3. c3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Qb6 5. Qc1 Nc6 6. e3 Bf5 7.
Nbd2 e6 8. Be2 cxd4 9. exd4 h6
I was trying to play for a win so I would
like to keep my white bishop.
10. 0-0 Be7 11. Ne5 Nxe5 12. Bxe5 0-0 13.
Nf3 Ne4 14. Nd2 Nxd2 15. Qxd2 Bg5 16. Bf4?
I expected f2-f4 but I got the “better”
one.
16. ... Bxf4 17. Qxf4 Qxb2
I got one pawn!
18. Qe3 Rfc8 19. Rfc1 Rc7 20. g4 Bg6 21.
Bd3 Rxc3
I got another pawn!
22. Rxc3 Qxc3 23. Rd1 Bxd3 24. Qxd3
I was thinking of a variation like 24.
Rxd3 Qa1+ 25. Kg2 Rc8 when I have two
extra pawns and better pieces.
24. ... Qxd3 25. Rxd3 Rc8 26. Rb3 b6 27. Ra3
a5 28. Rb3 Rc4 29. Rd3 b5 30. Rd2 b4 31.
Kf1 Kf8 32. Ke2 a4 33. f4 Ke7 34. h4 Rc3
Black plans ... b4-b3.
35. Rb2 b3 36. a3 Rh3 37. Kd2 Rh2+
There’re many ways to win in this position and I just transferred it to a simple
king and pawn endgame.
38. Kc3 Rxb2 39. Kxb2 Kf6 40. Kc3 h5!
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+pzp-+-+pmk-+
+-+p+-+p
p+-zP-zPPzP
zPpmK-+-+-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
After 40. ... h5
A forced end to the game.
41. f5 hxg4 42. fxe6 Kxe6 43. h5 g3 44. h6
gxh6 45. Kb2 g2 46. Kc3 g1=Q 47. Kb4
Qxd4+ 48. Ka5 Qc5+ 49. Kxa4 b2 50. Kb3
b1=Q+ 51. Ka4 Qcb5 mate.
Ruth Haring, president of the United
States Chess Federation, attended the
All-Girls National Championships as part
of her ongoing effort to increase chess
participation among girls.
uschess.org
She said the overall increase in rating
strength of the players was to be expected,
just as many players improve, consolidate
what they’ve learned, then improve more
to earn a higher rating.
“Chess is a game where if you have a
little bit of talent and you’re willing to
work hard, you can get really good,” Haring said. “When you see these young
people achieve great things in chess, they
have good support from their parents
and their trainers.”
Haring said she was particularly
impressed with the quality of play she
observed at the All-Girls National Championships.
“Everybody was working hard,” Haring said. “There were people playing
games out until it was king versus king.
It was very, very tough fights.
“Nobody was agreeing to a quick draw.
That’s a tribute to the fighting spirit. If
there’s any chance to win, these girls
were playing. If there was a glimmer of a
chance to win, they were going to play to
the very end.”
Indeed, this writer saw two girls in the
8 and younger section play to a draw in
a game w