Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Knights and Inventors Showdown - Kavinayan P. Sivakumar

The Inventors lost against the New York Knights, 3-1, last week in a hard struggle, as both teams were out for blood. We had the same lineup as in our win against New Jersey on Week 1, with Bryan Smith and Bartell holding the top two boards, and Dehmelt and Costigan fighting on the bottom boards.

After 11. ...b5
Costigan-Williams

The first game to finish was Costigan-Williams. This was Justus’ first USCL game, and yet he started with a draw against a higher rated opponent. Justus played the hyper-accelerated dragon with 1.e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6. Costigan opted for a c3 setup. After a pawn sacrifice with …d5 followed by …Nf6, Costigan had gone 8. d6, and undoubled his d pawns. Justus was done a pawn, but had pressure along the e-file. He played 11. …b5, which has been played before. However, after 11. …Ne4, it seems that Black has compensation. However, on the 18th move, Costigan played 18. Bf4, which let Williams get Nh5. A better move would have been 18. Rfe1, which attacks the queen.

After 21. Bf3
Costigan-Williams


But even after this slight inaccuracy, 21. Bf3 gave away the advantage, and even made Black slightly better! 21. d5 was better, since it cements the bishop on c6. White has lots of space, but Black has good control over the dark squares.

However, Justus got his knights to good squares, and they dominated by themselves for a while. (If you’re on a team called the “Knights”, I guess you have to use them well in a game!) Costigan and Williams took a draw after the final position occurred three times.





After 10. ...Ng4
Krush-Dehmelt
The second game to finish was Krush-Dehmelt. The funny thing was that Black also played a gambit in this game! However, Krush kept the pawn until the very end, and after 15 moves, White was clearly better, and even winning. Dehmelt’s position was alright, but after the dodgy 10. …Ng4, White immediately became better. 10. …Nc6 11. exd4 Be7, and Black is okay, as the pressure on the d pawn, and Black’s lead in development will compensate for the pawn deficit. But after Krush had the extra pawn, she finished with 29. Rxc6!, which forced Dehmelt to resign. Kudos to Dehmelt for fearlessly trying out a gambit, and to Krush for showing her tactical abilities.


So we were down, 0.5-1.5. I think Inventor fans were pretty worried because one more loss meant the match was theirs…and Smith was not in the best of positions.

After 10. ...f5
Kacheishvili-Smith
The game started in a King’s Indian, and white obtained his usual pawn phalanx, c4-d5-e4. However, Smith immediately lashed out with 10. …f5, starting his kingside attack. But Kacheishvili countered on the queenside, and by move 20, the a, b, and c files were devoid of pawns! Kacheishvili used this space for his knights, (here we are again!) and placed them on b6 and c6. After Smith had to give up the exchange, it was only a matter of defending the kingside for white, and Smith had to soon resign. It was 0.5-2.5, Knights.

Bartell once again showed us why he is probably going to be MVP. He drew against GM Fedorowicz in a tight battle, where he had most of the chances. After going into a queen endgame, the two players made a threefold repetition.

So we lost the match, 1.0-3.0. But we’ll come back next week over the Kingfishers. We’ve just gotta invent something over the board.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Inventors Week 2 of USCL 2010

Inventors lost 1.5 to 2.5 to Boston Blitz on Week 2. Boards 2 and 4 which looked promising for Inventors turned out to be unfortunate losses. Tom Bartell scored his second win of the season and remained perfect for this year. While debuting for Inventors GM Panchanathan drew his game with GM Larry Christiansen as black. GM Magesh Panchanathan talks about his draw in his article at http://www.chess.com/article/view/queens-indian-updates.

Inventors fan and blogger Smyslovtheslayer recaps the Week 2 games at http://smyslovtheslayerschessextravaganza.blogspot.com/2010/09/philadelphia-inventors-vs-boston-blitz.html

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Smyslov The Slayer's Chess Extravaganza - A blog that covers Philadelphia Inventors

While googling recently, I came across this interesting and live chess blog - Smyslov The Slayer's Chess Extravaganza.  http://smyslovtheslayerschessextravaganza.blogspot.com/

The author of the blog calls himself, "a Class A USCF Chess Player who is interested in improving my chess and my knowledge of chess history." and says he is from Philadelphia, PA. No doubt, he loves Inventors and he blogged a profile about each member of 2010 Philadelphia Inventors team. I am glad to share the links to  write-ups about each Inventors player and a recap of Week 1 Game below.

Great job Smyslovtheslayer! Keep it up!

If you know any other blog from Inventors fans, please post the details in the comment section. I will be happy to highlight them in this blog. - PK Sivakumar

About GM Magesh Panchanathan - http://smyslovtheslayerschessextravaganza.blogspot.com/2010/08/2010-philadelphia-inventors-magesh.html

About IM Bryan Smith -
http://smyslovtheslayerschessextravaganza.blogspot.com/2010/08/2010-philadelphia-inventors-bryan-smith.html

About FM Tom Bartell
http://smyslovtheslayerschessextravaganza.blogspot.com/2010/08/2010-philadelphia-inventors-thomas.html

About IM Richard Costigan
http://smyslovtheslayerschessextravaganza.blogspot.com/2010/08/2010-philadelphia-inventors-richard.html

About WGM Jennifer Shahade
http://smyslovtheslayerschessextravaganza.blogspot.com/2010/08/2010-philadelphia-inventors-jennifer.html

About FM Michael Shahade
http://smyslovtheslayerschessextravaganza.blogspot.com/2010/08/2010-philadelphia-inventors-michael.html

About Karl Dehmelt
http://smyslovtheslayerschessextravaganza.blogspot.com/2010/08/2010-philadelphia-inventors-karl.html

About Matthew Bengtson
http://smyslovtheslayerschessextravaganza.blogspot.com/2010/08/2010-philadelphia-inventors-matthew.html

About Elvin Wilson
http://smyslovtheslayerschessextravaganza.blogspot.com/2010/08/2010-philadelphia-inventors-elvin.html

About Kavinayan Sivakumar
http://smyslovtheslayerschessextravaganza.blogspot.com/2010/08/2010-philadelphia-inventors-kavinayan.html

About 2010 Week 1 Inventors Match against New Jersey Knockouts
http://smyslovtheslayerschessextravaganza.blogspot.com/2010/08/2010-philadelphia-inventors-823-match.html

All posts with label "Philadelphia Inventors"
http://smyslovtheslayerschessextravaganza.blogspot.com/search/label/Philadelphia%20Inventors

Tom Bartell wins Week 1's Upset Prize and annotates his game against Gulko

Tom Bartell won the Upset Prize for Week 1 for his win against GM Gulko. Tommy's win also finished third in the Game of the Week for Week 1. Congrats Tommy!

Tom annotates his win against GM Gulko at
http://schwog.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/tom-bartells-analysis-of-his-gulko-game/

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Philadelphia knocks out New Jersey - Kavinayan P. Sivakumar

The Philadelphia Inventors’ first match of the 2010 season resulted in a 3-1 win against New Jersey Knockouts . The chess pundits did not put their money on Philly considering how New Jersey dominated the league last year. However, Philly fans were awarded for their loyalty to their team in this match. With this first step in the direction towards the playoffs, the Inventors also have gained confidence and more respect around the league.

FM Tommy Bartell led the team from the beginning with a win over GM Boris Gulko, who tasted his first defeat in USCL after an impressive 8-0 run. IM Bryan Smith fought a valiant battle against GM Joel Benjamin. Unfortunately he could not convert it into a helpful result. FM Karl Dehmelt scored against FM Arthur Shen. He offered a rook sacrifice. Arthur Shen correctly declined it. However, Arthur's king was not having good cover for the rest of the game which cost him the point. IM Richard Costigan played a quiet line on Scandinavian defense as black against Sean Finn. He played the ...Qd8 line which in recent years has been replaced by ...Qa5 or ...Qd6 at the top level. Still, Costigan played to his strengths in converting the end game to a win.

I have annotated two games from this match.

[White "Gulko, Boris"]
[Black "Bartell, Tom"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Kavinayan P Sivakumar"]

http://www.uschessleague.com/games/gulkobartell10.htm

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0–0 The Nimzo Indian e3 line.

5.Bd3 d5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 c5 9.Nf3 Qa5 10.Bd2 Qc7

[10...Ne4 11.0–0 Nxd2 12.Qxd2 Nd7 13.Qd3 b6 14.e4 cxd4 15.cxd4 Bb7 16.e5 Rfd8 17.Ng5 Nf8 18.f4 Bd5 19.Rac1 Rac8 20.Ne4 Bxe4 21.Qxe4 b5 22.Bd3 Rxc1 23.Rxc1 Qxa3 24.Rd1 b4 25.Bc4 Qa4 26.Qd3 Ng6 27.Bb3 Qa3 28.f5 exf5 29.Qc4 Rf8 30.Rc1 Qb2 31.e6 fxe6 32.Qxe6+ Kh8 33.Rc8 Qxd4+ 34.Kf1 Qd3+ 35.Kg1 Qb1+ 36.Kf2 Qb2+ 37.Ke1 Qa1+ 38.Kf2 Qd4+ 39.Kf1 Qf4+ 40.Kg1 Qd4+ ½–½ Gulko,B-Del Rio de Angelis,S/Leon ESP 2010/The Week in Chess 791]

11.Bd3 b6 12.e4 Ba6 13.Bxa6 Nxa6 14.e5

[14.Qe2 Qb7 15.e5 Ne4 16.0–0 Rfd8 (16...Nc7 17.Rfe1 Nxd2 18.Nxd2 cxd4 19.cxd4 Rfd8 20.Qg4 Qd5 21.Nf3 h6 22.Re4 Rac8 23.Qh4 Ne8 24.h3 Rc3 25.Rg4 Kf8 26.Rf4 Rd7 27.Kh2 b5 28.Nd2 Rd3 29.Nf3 Rc7 30.Qh5 Kg8 31.Rg4 Kf8 32.Rf4 Rdc3 33.Nd2 Nd6 34.g4 Rd3 35.Nf1 Nc4 36.g5 Nxe5 37.Ne3 Rxe3 38.dxe5 Qxe5 39.fxe3 Qxa1 40.Qg6 Qd1 41.Rf2 Qe1 0–1 Nikolov,M-Cheparinov,I/Plovdiv 2004/EXT 2006) 17.Rfd1 cxd4 18.cxd4 Nxd2 19.Rxd2 h6 20.Rc1 Nc7 21.Rdc2 Nd5 22.g3 Rac8 23.Qd3 Rxc2 24.Rxc2 b5 25.Rc5 a6 26.Qe4 b4 27.axb4 Qxb4 28.Qe1 Qb3 29.Kg2 Rb8 30.Qc1 Kh7 31.h4 Ra8 32.Ra5 Qb7 33.h5 Kg8 34.Qc2 Rc8 35.Rc5 Rb8 36.Qc4 Qa8 37.Ra5 Ne3+ 38.fxe3 Rb2+ 0–1 Gulko,B-Adams,M/Internet 2000/CBM 076]

14...Ne4 15.0–0 Rfd8 The rook looks menacing as the white bishop and white queen are its future targets.

16.Bg5 Nxg5 17.Nxg5 h6 18.Ne4 cxd4 19.cxd4 Qd7 20.Nd6 The knight's manuever has gotten it to the sixth rank. However, Bartell makes sure it is uprooted as quick as possible.

20...Nc7 21.Qg4!? This move concedes Black a slight advantage.

[21.Nb7 Rdb8 22.Nd6 Rd8=; 21.a4 (Stopping Nb5) 21...Ne8 22.Nxe8 Rxe8 23.Qd3 Red8 24.Rfd1 =/+ Deep Junior]

21...Nb5 22.Nxb5 Qxb5 23.h4?! Possibly a little careless. Now Black's queen will infiltrate.

[Simply developing the rook 23.Rac1 would still not ease the pressure because of 23...Qd3]

23...Qb2! 24.Rad1 Qxa3 25.Rfe1 Qf8 Now that black has a definite advantage, he wants to consolidate and make sure white gets no counterplay. This move brings a piece near his king.

26.f4! Gulko doesn't give up! This move prepares the f5 break with a potential kingside attack or tries to eliminate the e6 pawn, so the d pawn can become a dangerous passed pawn.

26...Rd5! The d pawn is blockaded.

27.f5 exf5 28.Qxf5 Rad8 29.Qg4 Qe7 30.e6! fxe6 31.Rxe6 Qd7 32.Kh1 This move also illustrates the safety of white's monarch. After the f pawn is gone, and because of the h pawn's advance, there seems to be a lot of space around white's king.

32...Rd6–+

[32...Rxd4?? 33.Rxd4 Qxd4 34.Re8+! Kh7 35.Qf5+ g6 36.Qf7+ Qg7 37.Qxg7+ Kxg7 38.Rxd8+- Deep Junior]

33.Rde1 Rxd4 34.R1e4 Rxe4 35.Qxe4 Rf8 36.Re7 Qd6 37.Kg1 Qf4 38.Qe6+ Kh7 39.Rxa7 Qd4+ 40.Kh2 Qxh4+ 41.Kg1 Qf2+ White is completely lost.

42.Kh2 Rf4! Here, you can see the weakness of the white king. With no h pawn, there is no cover for the king.

43.Ra3

[43.Rxg7+ Kxg7 44.Qd7+ Rf7 45.Qg4+ Kh7 46.Qe4+ Qf5–+]

43...Rh4+ 44.Rh3 Qf4+ 45.Kh1 Rxh3+ 46.Qxh3 Qc1+ 47.Kh2 Qb1! Stopping all checks.

48.g4 b5 49.Qe3 Qc2+ 50.Kh1 b4 51.g5 b3 52.Qb6 hxg5 53.Qe6 Qd3 54.Qg4 Qf1+ 55.Kh2 Qf4+ 0–1

Congratulations to Tommy for winning a fantastic game. However, Gulko fought until the very end, and used every resource given to him. Overall, it was an amazing game that I enjoyed watching!

Lets move on to the next game.


[White "Dehmelt, Karl"]
[Black "Shen, Arthur"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Kavinayan P Sivakumar"]

http://www.uschessleague.com/games/dehmeltashen10.htm

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Moscow Variation of Rossolimo.

3… Nc6 4.0–0 Bd7 5.c3 Nf6 6.d4 White sacrifices a pawn.

6...Nxe4 7.d5 Ne5 8.Bxd7+ Nxd7 9.Re1 Nef6 10.Na3

[10.c4 g6 11.Bf4 Nb6 12.a4 Bg7 13.a5 Nc8 14.Qd2 0–0 15.Bh6 Re8 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Nc3 a6 18.Ne4 b6 19.Nfg5 Rf8 20.Ra3 h6 21.Nxf6 exf6 22.Ne4 Ne7 23.axb6 Nf5 24.b7 Rb8 25.b4 Rxb7 26.bxc5 dxc5 27.Rxa6 Rb6 28.Ra5 Re8 29.Rxc5 Qe7 30.Kf1 h5 31.Qc3 Qd8 32.Ra5 Rb8 1–0 Mamedyarov,S-Atakisi,U/Kocaeli 2002/CBM 089 ext]

10...Nb6 11.c4

[11.Bg5 Nfxd5 12.Qb3 h6 13.Bh4 g5 14.Bg3 e6 15.Rad1 Be7 16.Nb5 a6 17.Na3 Qc7 18.Ne5 Rf8 19.Nec4 0–0–0 20.Qc2 f5 21.f3 e5 22.Qb3 Kb8 23.Rxe5 f4 24.Rexd5 Nxd5 25.Rxd5 fxg3 26.hxg3 Rfe8 27.Nb6 Bf8 28.Kf2 Re5 29.Nac4 Rxd5 30.Nxd5 Qc6 31.Qd1 Re8 32.a4 Be7 33.g4 Bd8 34.b3 Qd7 35.Qd3 Qe6 36.Nce3 Qe5 37.Qg6 c4 38.bxc4 Bb6 39.Qd3 Bc5 40.Ke2 Ka7 41.Qd2 Qh2 42.Kd3 Qg1 43.Qe2 Re5 44.Qd2 Qb1+ 45.Qc2 Qe1 46.Qd2 Qg1 47.Qe2 Bxe3 48.Nxe3 Qb1+ 49.Kd4 Qb3 50.g3 0–1 Georgiev,K-Tukmakov,V/Chania 1992/EXT 2010]

11...g6 12.Re2!? Bg7 13.Qe1 White stops Black from castling momentarily.

13...Nc8 To defend the e7 pawn, Arthur decides to bring his knight back. However, this knight will stay on c8 for the remainder of the game.

14. Bg5 0–0 15.Qd2 Re8 16.Rae1 Black may be up a pawn, but his rook on a8 is still asleep!

16...Qd7 17.h3 a6 18.Bh6 b5! Arthur reacts actively to white's progress on the kingside. He hopes to open up the a-file for his a8 rook.

19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20.Ng5 bxc4 With this move, Black hopes to make the d5 pawn a weakness.

However, 20...Nb6 maintaining the tension and also activating the knight would have also been good. 21.b3 bxc4 22.bxc4 h6 And Deep Junior even thinks that black is slightly better here.

21.Nxc4 Qb7 22.Ne4! White has the iniative here.

22...Nxe4

[22...Nxd5?? 23.Na5+-; 22...Qxd5?? 23.Nxf6!+-]

23.Rxe4 For just a pawn, white has tremendous pressure on the d6 and e7 pawns.

23...Qd7 24.Rh4! h5 25.Rxh5!! Rh8 Arthur correctly sees the danger in taking the rook.

[25...gxh5 26.Qg5+ Kf8 27.Qh6+ Kg8 28.Re3 h4 29.Re4 Qf5 30.Rg4+ Qxg4 31.hxg4+-]

26.Rxh8 Kxh8 27.Qh6+ Kg8 28.Qg5 Rb8 29.b3 Kg7 30.h4! With almost all of Black's pieces on the queenside, it is no surprise that White starts a crushing attack on the kingside.

30...Qf5 31.Qd2 White should keep queens if he wants to attack.

31...Qf6 32.Qa5 Ra8 33.h5! gxh5 34.Qc7 Qc3 35.Re3 Qb4 36.Rg3+ Kf6 37.Rf3+ Kg7 38.Qd7 Qe1+ 39.Kh2 Na7 40.Qf5 f6 41.Rg3+ Kf8 42.Qg6 1–0

Dehmelt played very nicely throughout the whole game. His pawn sacrifice let him obtain the e file for his rooks, and the placement of his knights helped him to get important squares under control. The c4 knight, for example, kept the c8 knight out by not allowing it to go to b6. However, Arthur played active as well, such as b5. He correctly did not take on h5, and this gave him some chances. But White's attack was too great and the fact that the a8 rook and the c8 knight were out of the game was not good news for Black. Overall, it was a nice game by Dehmelt and Shen.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

GM Magesh Panchanathan plays for Inventors

All teams have named their rosters for the 2010 season in US Chess League. 2010 Team Roster for Philadelphia Inventors is posted at http://www.uschessleague.com/PhiladelphiaRoster.html

2010 Inventors Team Roster: (Philadelphia is using the September 2009 rating list)


1. GM Magesh Panchanathan 2522

2. IM Bryan Smith 2520

3. FM Tom Bartell 2418

4. WGM Jennifer Shahade 2301

5. FM Karl Dehmelt 2292

6. IM Richard Costigan 2288

7. NM Elvin Wilson 2240

8. FM Matthew Bengtson 2232

9. FM Michael Shahade 2231

10. Kavinayan Sivakumar 2040

Manager: IM Richard Costigan
Assistant Manager: FM Michael Shahade

Good Luck and all the very best to Inventors!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Fritz 11 Analysis of Kavinayan Sivakumar Vs Eric Rosen


http://www.uschessleague.com/games/sivakumarrosen09.htm

Week 6: Sivakumar,Kavinayan - Rosen,Eric
USCL 2009 05.10.2009


1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 a6 6.Bb3 d6 7.0–0 Ba7 8.Nbd2 Ne7 9.Re1 Ng6 10.Nf1 0–0 11.Ng3

[11.Be3 Bxe3 12.fxe3 d5 13.exd5 Nxd5 14.Ng3 Nf6 15.Bc2 Re8 16.d4 Bg4 17.h3 Bxf3 18.Qxf3 Qd5 19.Qxd5 Nxd5 20.c4 Nf6 21.Bxg6 hxg6 22.d5 e4 23.Red1 Nd7 24.Rd4 f5 25.Ne2 Ne5 Pedersen,D (2294)-Shanmugam,R (2156)/Budapest 2006/CBM 113 ext/½–½ (59)]

11...Bg4N

[11...Be6 12.Bc2 (12.d4 h6 13.h3 Re8 14.Nf5 Qc8 15.g4 exd4 16.N3xd4 Bxb3 17.Qxb3 Rxe4 18.Bxh6 Bxd4 19.Bxg7 Rxe1+ 20.Rxe1 Nxg4 21.Ne7+ Nxe7 22.Rxe7 Qf5 23.Bxd4 Ne5 24.Bxe5 Qg5+ 25.Bg3 Qxe7 26.Qxb7 Qd8 Bhat,V (2431)-Haslinger,S (2410)/Dos Hermanas 2004/CBM 099 ext/½–½ (54)) 12...Re8 13.h3 d5 14.Ng5 Bc8 15.exd5 h6 16.N5e4 Nxd5 17.Qf3 Be6 18.Bb3 Ndf4 19.Bxf4 exf4 20.Nh5 Bxb3 21.Nef6+ gxf6 22.Rxe8+ Qxe8 23.Nxf6+ 1–0 Gunnarsson,J (2366)-Slobodjan,R (2529)/Ohrid 2001/CBM 084]

12.h3 Be6 13.d4!?

[13.Bc2 Preserve bishops. RBR 13...d5 14.exd5 Qxd5 15.Bb3 Qd6 16.Bxe6 Qxe6 17.d4 e4 18.Ng5]

13...c6

Controls d5

14.Bxe6 fxe6 15.dxe5

[15.Qb3 Qc8±]

15...dxe5

[15...Nxe5!? 16.Be3 Nxf3+ 17.Qxf3 Nd5=]

16.Qb3±

White pins: Qb3xe6

16...Qc8 17.Be3 Bxe3 18.Rxe3 Rd8

[18...c5 19.Rd1²]

19.Ng5 Nf4 20.Nf5 Kf8 21.g3 h6 22.gxf4 hxg5 23.fxg5

[23.Nd6 Rxd6 24.fxe5±]

23...Nh5?

[¹23...exf5 and Black has air to breath 24.gxf6 f4 25.fxg7+ Kxg7=]

24.Nh4 Nf4 25.Rf3 Kg8 26.Ng2 Nxg2 27.Kxg2 Qd7 28.h4 Rf8

[28...c5 29.g6 b5 30.a4+-]

29.Qd1

[29...Qe7 30.Rfd3 Qf7+-]

29...Qe7

[29...Rfd8 30.Qh1±]

30.Qe2

[30.Rxf8+ Rxf8 31.Qh5 Qf7 32.Qxf7+ Rxf7+-]

30...Rxf3

[30...g6 31.Rxf8+ Rxf8 32.Rd1±]

31.Qxf3+-

[31.Kxf3?! Qf7+ 32.Kg2 Qf4±]

31...Rf8 32.Qg3

[32.Qh5!? Qf7 33.Qxf7+ Kxf7 34.Rd1+-]

32...Rf4± 33.f3 Qd8 34.Qe1 Qd3 35.Qf2 Rf8 36.Re1

[36.Rf1 Rf4±]

36...Rd8 37.Re2 Qd1 38.Qf1 Qd3 39.Qf2 Qd1 40.Rc2 Rd3 41.Qe2 Kf7 42.Qxd1 Rxd1 43.h5 Rd8 44.Kg3 Rd1 45.Rg2 Rh1

Black threatens to win material: Rh1xh5

46.Kg4 a5 47.b3 Ke7 48.c4 b6 49.a3 Kf7 50.Rf2

[50.a4!?²]

50...Rg1+= 51.Kh4 Rh1+ 52.Kg4 Rg1+ 53.Kh4 Rh1+ 54.Kg4 Rg1+

½–½