Sponsored by the London Chess Center
| US Championships 2000 Seattle Round 3 Report by John Henderson |
TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME
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ch-USA Seattle USA (USA), 25 ix-5 x 2000 cat. XIV (2586)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
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1. Gulko, Boris F g USA 2643 * . . . = = . 1 . . . . 2.0 2695
2. De Firmian, Nick E g USA 2567 . * . = = . . . . . 1 . 2.0 2699
3. Kaidanov, Gregory S g USA 2624 . . * = . . = . . 1 . . 2.0 2693
4. Gurevich, Dmitry g USA 2542 . = = * . . . . = . . . 1.5 2588
5. Fedorowicz, John P g USA 2533 = = . . * . . . . . . = 1.5 2591
6. Shabalov, Alexander g USA 2601 = . . . . * = = . . . . 1.5 2595
7. Ivanov, Alexander g USA 2567 . . = . . = * . . = . . 1.5 2607
8. Benjamin, Joel g USA 2577 0 . . . . = . * . . . 1 1.5 2602
9. Serper, Grigory g USA 2574 . . . = . . . . * = = . 1.5 2595
10. Yermolinsky, Alex g USA 2596 . . 0 . . . = . = * . . 1.0 2463
11. Seirawan, Yasser g USA 2647 . 0 . . . . . . = . * = 1.0 2443
12. Christiansen, Larry M g USA 2563 . . . . = . . 0 . . = * 1.0 2460
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Round 3 (September 27, 2000)
Gulko, Boris F - Shabalov, Alexander 1/2 56 D35 Queen's Gambit
De Firmian, Nick E - Fedorowicz, John P 1/2 20 B47 Sicilian Defence
Kaidanov, Gregory S - Gurevich, Dmitry 1/2 49 D27 Queen's Gambit Accepted
Ivanov, Alexander - Yermolinsky, Alex 1/2 20 B33 Sicilian Defence
Serper, Grigory - Seirawan, Yasser 1/2 23 D61 Queen's Gambit
Christiansen, Larry M - Benjamin, Joel 0-1 36 B00 Owens Defence
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ch-USA Women Seattle USA (USA), 25 ix-3 x 2000
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
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1. Groberman, Elina USA 2054 * . . 1 . 1 . . 1 . 3.0
2. Gorlin, Yelena USA 2110 . * 1 = . . . . . 1 2.5 2395
3. Burtman, Sharon wm USA 2089 . 0 * . = . 1 . . . 1.5 2218
4. Frenklakh, Jennie f USA 2133 0 = . * . . . . 1 . 1.5 2078
5. Khan, Anna wm USA 2257 . . = . * = . = . . 1.5 2183
6. Epstein, Esther wm USA 2224 0 . . . = * . 1 . . 1.5 2183
7. Baginskaite, Camilla wm USA 2287 . . 0 . . . * = . 1 1.5 2157
8. Shahade, Jennifer m USA 2238 . . . . = 0 = * . . 1.0 2131
9. Airapetian, SH USA 2072 0 . . 0 . . . . * 1 1.0 1985
10. Sagalchik, Olga USA 2145 . 0 . . . . 0 . 0 * 0.0
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Round 3 (September 27, 2000)
Gorlin, Yelena - Frenklakh, Jennie 1/2 26 B16 Caro Kann
Khan, Anna - Burtman, Sharon 1/2 49 A10 Dutch
Epstein, Esther - Shahade, Jennifer 1-0 84 B76 Dragon Sicilian
Baginskaite, Camilla - Sagalchik, Olga 1-0 33 D09 Albin Counter Gambit
Airapetian, SH - Groberman, Elina 0-1 38 C86 Ruy Lopez
Baseball
I hate to admit it but my main reasons for making the trip across the water was not the chess. No, siree. I wanted to witness at first hand the field of dreams by watching a baseball game, America’s national sport. Ever since they started showing live games through the night in the UK, I’ve been doing the nightshift and had become an avid fan.
Here in Seattle, the big question is will the Mariners, in arguably their best season ever, win the pennant race and make it to the playoffs to become World Champs. With just a few games left, they lead with a slender half game lead over the Oakland A’s. Yasser Seirawan tells the story about how for a four-year period or so as he looked after his father’s house, his neighbour was none other than the baseball legend Ken Griffey, Jnr. In the morning, as Yaz would set off to work at Inside Chess, there was always a large crowd of autograph hunters just outside his house. “I guess you’re not here for America’s favourite chessplayer”, he would hopefully ask.
Baseball, like most things in America, equates big bucks. It all started in the 1920s when club officials at the New York Yankees chastised the legendary Babe Ruth that his new salary demand was greater than that of the U.S. president. “I know,” replied Ruth, “but I had a better year!” And that’s what it’s like in America. Baseball is bigger than anything. The country went patriotic mad (people wrapping themselves in the stars & stripes and singing the national anthem etc.) recently at the Olympics when the USA ended Cuba’s 20-year reign by winning the gold medal, bringing it “back home to where it belongs, boy”. And now the Presidential debates between Al Gore and George “Dubya” Bush have got caught up in the game. Showing exactly what they (and everyone else to boot) think of the political system in the good ‘ol U.S. of A, one of the major TV stations, N.B.C., have broken ranks by deciding to show live baseball games in preference to the debates.
So it was up to that nice Erik Anderson to find your intrepid report some tickets for a top game – purely in the interests of research, of course! And, much like the Seattle Chess Foundations support for the US Chess Championships, he didn’t disappoint. You know, I could get to really like this guy!
Kazuhiro Sasaki
He packed Dutch journalist Gert Ligterink and myself off to Safeco Field for the match up between the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers, where the Mariners top pitchers Freddy Garcia and Kazuhiro Sasaki would be in action. So Gert and myself (even standing for the pre-game national anthem) spent the best part of 4-hours – in-between drinking bottles of Buds and eating plenty of hotdogs – watching the M’s continue their winning run with an impressive 6-4 win.
Freddy Garcia
Another baseball fan who was doubly happy yesterday was the New York Mets fan Joel Benjamin, who not only recovered after his horrific strike-out to Boris Gulko for an emphatic win over Larry Christiansen, but also watched his team beat the Atlanta Braves 6-2, to clinch a wild card spot in the playoffs.
LA Times chess columnist IM Jack Peters took one look at the opening 1.e4 Nc6 (Kevitz Variation) in Christiansen-Benjamin and observed that as a New Yorker Benjamin was exposed to the opening early in his career because Kevitz was a New Yorker and a lot of NY guys played it. Christiansen came up on the west coast and those guys “never played it, nor wanted to,” he explained.
Jack Peters
And, as they would say in America at this time, “And now a word from our sponsors, Chess & Bridge Ltd (www.chesscenter.com), where you can purchase the following book...”
“Many chess books provide training in how to round off a successful attack with a final combination but that's really just the easy part,” explains Larry Christiansen in his entertaining new book from Gambit Publications, ‘Storming the Barricades’. “The difficult thing, however, is to decide how and where to attack in the first place, and to build up the offensive without giving the opponent any real counter chances.”
Unfortunately for Christiansen, his opponent, former US champion Joel Benjamin, had no trouble in deciding where to pitch the attack, and decided himself to “storm the barricades” to strike out big Larry for the only win of the third round.
Christiansen-Benjamin
Christiansen,L (2563) - Benjamin,J (2577) [B00]
1 e4 Nc6 An opening with different name, depending on which part of the world you live: Nimzovitch Defence, Scandinavian Variation or, as in the US, the Kevitz Variation. 2 d4 e5 3 d5 Nce7 4 Nf3 Ng6 5 h4 h5 6 Bg5 Nf6 7 Nc3 Bb4!
[7 ..Bc5 8 Na4 Bb4+ 9 c3 Be7 10 Bxf6 Bxf6 11 d6 cxd6 12 g3 d5 13 Qxd5 d6 14 Bb5+ Kf8 15 0–0–0 Bg4 16 Be2 Be7 17 c4 Rc8 18 Kb1 Rc6 19 Qd2 f6 20 Ne1 Be6 21 Nc2 Kg8 22 Ne3 Nf8 23 c5 Qc8 24 Nd5 Bd8 25 cxd6 Kf7 26 Rc1 Qd7 27 Nc5 Rxc5 28 Rxc5 Qxd6 29 Rc2 Nd7 30 Bc4 a6 31 Ne3 Qxd2 32 Rxd2 Nc5 33 f3 Ba5 34 Bxe6+ Nxe6 35 Rd7+ Kg6 36 Nf5 1–0 Ivanov,A-Benjamin,J/Parsippany 1996/CBM 55 (36)] 8 a3 [8 Nd2 c6 9 Be2 Bxc3 10 bxc3 cxd5 11 Bxh5 Nf4 12 Bf3 Ne6 13 Bxf6 Qxf6 14 exd5 Nc5 15 g3 d6 16 Ne4 Nxe4 17 Bxe4 Bd7 18 Rb1 b6 19 Qe2 Rc8 20 c4 g5 21 hxg5 Rxh1+ 22 Bxh1 Qxg5 23 Be4 f5 24 Bf3 Ke7 25 a4 f4 26 g4 Rh8 27 c5 dxc5 28 d6+ Kf6 29 Rd1 Rd8 30 a5 bxa5 31 Qa6 e4 32 Bxe4 Re8 33 f3 Qh4+ 34 Ke2 Rxe4+ 35 fxe4 Bxg4+ 36 Kd2 Qf2+ 37 Kc1 Qe3+ 38 Kb2 Bxd1 39 d7+ Ke7 40 d8Q+ Kxd8 41 Qd6+ Kc8 42 Qc6+ Kb8 43 Qd6+ Kb7 44 Qd7+ Kb6 45 Qd6+ Kb5 46 Qd7+ 1–1/2 Mortensen,E-Hoi,C/Ostrava 1992/CBM 33 (46)] 8 ..Bxc3+ 9 bxc3 c6 10 c4 [10 d6? Qa5! and Black will pick off the weak pawns on c3, e4 and d6.] 10 ..d6 11 Nd2 Qa5 12 Bd3?! [12 Bxf6 gxf6 was a better option for White, but it leaves him with no play: 13 Qf3 Ke7! and Black has the upper hand.] 12 ..Ng4! 13 Qe2 [White's position is coming apart at the seams: 13 f3 f6! 14 fxg4 Bxg4 15 Be2 Bxe2 16 Qxe2 fxg5 17 hxg5 Nf4 18 Qf3 cxd5 19 exd5 (19 cxd5 Rc8!) 19 ..0–0! 20 Kd1 Rae8] 13 ..f6 14 Be3 Nf4
[Picturesque, but more clinical was 14 ..Qc3! 15 Rd1 (15 0–0 Nxh4) 15 ..Qxa3 16 Nb1 Qb2 17 Bd2 Nf4 18 Bxf4 exf4 with a decisive advantage.] 15 Bxf4 exf4 16 0–0 [16 Qf3 g5!] 16 ..c5! White now has a chronic dark-square weakness. 17 Nf3 Ne5 18 Rfb1 Qc3 19 Nxe5 Qxe5 20 a4 g5! 21 hxg5 fxg5 22 Ra3 g4 23 Qd2 Rh7 24 Qc3 Qxc3 25 Rxc3 Re7 26 g3 f3 27 a5 Kf7 28 Kf1 Rb8 29 Ke1? [In a desperate position, Christiansen blunders badly. However, it was always going to be a very tough defence. 29 Rcb3 Kf6! 30 Kg1 Kg5 31 Re1 Re5! (the reason for this will soon become clear.) 32 Kh2 h4 33 gxh4+ Kf4! 34 Rh1 Rh5! 35 Kg1 g3 36 fxg3+ Kxg3 37 Rh2 Bg4 winning easily.] 29 ..Bf5 30 Kd2 Bxe4 31 Bxe4 Rxe4 32 Re3 Rxe3 33 Kxe3 Kf6 34 Kf4 Kg6 35 a6 b6 36 c3 Rf8+ 0–1
In the women’s championship, which has a record $40,000 prize fund, 17-year-old Elina Groberman is the only player in the tournament with a 100 percent score of 3/3. She leads by half point over 16-year-old Yelina Gorlin, and one and a half points over a chasing pack of five.
Elina Groberman and Yelina Gorlin
One of the entertaining games of the day came in the women’s championships when Mrs Yerminator, Camilla Baginskaite, defeated Olga Sagalchik.
Camilla Baginskaite
Baginskaite,C (2287) - Sagalchik,O (2145) [D09]
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 [The Albin Countergambit, a good surprise weapon] 3 dxe5 d4 4 Nf3 Nc6 5 g3 Be6 6 Bg2? [A blunder, simply giving up the c-pawn. Instead, 6 Nbd2 Qd7 7 Bg2 is the correct way of playing this.] 6 ..Bxc4 7 Qa4 Qd5! 8 0–0 Bb5?! [8 ..Qb5! 9 Qxb5 Bxb5 10 Re1 Rd8 with good play for Black - the d-pawn cuts a wedge through the White position.] 9 Qd1 0–0–0? 10 Ng5! d3
Nice try, but... 11 e4! [Of course, taking the queen only helps Black: 11 Bxd5 dxe2 12 Qxe2 Bxe2 13 Bxc6 Bxf1 14 Kxf1 Rd1+ 15 Ke2 Rxc1 16 Nxf7 Rxc6 17 Nc3 Bb4 18 Nxh8 Bxc3 19 bxc3 Rxc3=] 11 ..Qxe5 12 Nxf7 Qf6 13 Nxd8 [Stronger was 13 Nxh8 d2 14 Bxd2 Bxf1 15 Qxf1! g6 16 e5! Nxe5 17 Bc3 Qxh8 18 f4!] 13 ..Qxd8 14 Nc3 Ba6 15 Qg4+ Kb8 16 Bg5 Nf6 17 Qf5 Be7 18 Be3 g6 19 Qe6 Nb4 20 e5 Qd7 21 Qb3 Ng4 22 e6! Qd8 23 Bf4 g5 24 Bd2 Nc2 25 Rab1 Nd4 26 Qd5 Ne2+ 27 Kh1 Qf8 28 Qf3 h5 29 b4 Bxb4 30 Rxb4! Qxb4 31 Rb1 Qf8 32 Rxb7+! Kc8 33 Rb8+ 1–0