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 He played the ...Qd8 line which in recent years has been replaced by ...Qa5 or ...Qd6 at the top level.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.
