name this IS 318 player

hint: he took ceramics last year

Bronx Chess Days at CES 70 Bronx

James Black, Danny Feng, and Matheu Jefferson (a non-318 player) tied for first at the CIS tournament today at CES* 70. James won the blitz playoff. Below are some positions from IS 318 players games, arranged as a quiz. The questions should be answered in order, since later questions sometimes give away earlier answers.

David Kim

1. David Kim - Praveen ??? white to play and win.

David told me he reviewed the Max Lange Gambit last night after losing several blitz games to teammate Shawn Swindell (who for some reason is playing 1.... e5?!) I'm so happy when the kids study their openings and it pays off.

Danny Feng

2. Jonathan Hildalgo - Danny Feng black to move

Henry Cali

3. Michael Williams- Henry Cali. Black is up two pawns and so easily winning, but what's the fastest way?

4. The previous position developed into this, when black inexplicably played 38... g3, but went on to win anyway after 39. fg hg 40. hg Kc4. How could white have improved?

Randy Rivera

5. Randy Rivera is black in this position against former 318 player Ezequiel Quinones. Ezequiel has played against the French Fort Knox (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3/d2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7) enough to know a good set-up for white (Nf3, Bd3, 0-0, c4, b3, Bb2), but here he used an inaccurate move order. What's the best way for Randy to take advantage?


6. same game. Is black ready to play 18 ... e5?


7. Still the same game. Here black retreated with 20... Nd7? Why (exactly) does this lose?

Lequasiah Lawrence

8. Lequasiah is white in this position and has been trying to attack for a long time. Her opponent just gave her a big chance with ...Rd2. How could she have won immediately?

Anita Maksimiuk


Anita - Jonathan

9. Anita is a rapidly improving player, but here she missed the move that all kids have trouble with. The game continued 8... Ne4 9. Nxe4 d5 10. Bd3 dxe4 11. Bxe4. How could white have improved?

Matheu Jefferson - Shawn Swindell

10. Matheu won a nice game against Shawn, but he didn't see mate in five here. white to move.

answers!!
1) 8. Bxe6! Bxe3 9. Bxf7+ Rxf7 10. Nxf7 Bxf2+ 11. Rxf2 Kxf7 12. e5 (D)

and white wins a piece.

2) 1... Ne5! wins at least a pawn:

2. Nxe5 Bxe5 3. Be1 Bxb2 or

2. Qc2 Nf3+ 3. Kf1 Qa8 4. Bc4 Nxh2+ 5. Kg1 Nf3+ 6. Kf1 Qe4 or

2. Qg2 Nxd3 3. Bxd3 Be7 forking the two bishops or

2. Qb5 Qxb5 3. Bxb5 Nf3+ 4. Kf1 Nxd2+

3) 1... d4 followed by ...Kd5xc4 is the easiest.

4) White could have turned the tables with 40. h4!

5) Ezequiel should have castled before playing b3. Randy missed his chance to keep the king in the center with
8... Bxf3 9. Qxf3 Bb4+ 10. Bd2 Bxd2+ 11. Kxd2 O-O (11... c5)

6) no, because white answers 18... e5 19. c5! Bf8 20. dxe5

7) best is 21. Bxh7+ Kxh7 22. Qf5+ Kg8 23. Rxd7, theatening the queen and f7.

8) 1. Qe6+! wins immediately: 1...Kf8 2. Qxf6 or 1... Kg7 2. Qe7

9) Kids miss en passant a lot. Anita forgot she could take the forking pawn: 10. exd6 e.p.

10) 24. Rxf7+! Kxf7 25. Rf1+ Ke7 (25... Ke8 26. Qg6+ Kd7 27. Qf7#

*CES= community elementary school; it's the same as PS (=public school)

Test Yourself! Puzzles from the Eric Giola tournament!

Danny Feng and Azeez Alade tied for first (4-0) at today's CIS tournament. Danny beat Alexis Paredes in the last round and won the blitz playoff against Azeez. Anita Maksimiuk, Richard Wu and Anthony Ovando won the junior high novice section (Anita took first on tiebreaks.) Jessy Ramirez won the unrated section.

Puzzles from IS 318 players games:

1. Anita Maksimiuk - Kevin Budhu. Anita's queen is attacked. Where should it move and what happens next?

Anita

2. Alexander Bavalsky- Danny Feng

Black played 12... f5, which has the positional idea of controlling the light squares and continuing with Nd7-f6, gripping e4 and d5. Black also sets a trap.

a) Where should white move?

b) White actually played 13. Qd3, getting out of the pin on the e file. What should black play and what happens?

Danny

3. Danny Feng - Calvin Ky white to move.

Danny knows his openings very well: until his opponent's last move, 10... Nf7, he was still in "theory." How could he have won immediately here?

4. Alex ? - Matthew Kluska How should black defend the e pawn, 18... Re8 or 18... Bf6?


Matthew

5. Sean - Alex Bradford black to move

Alex


6. Adelaide - Austin Tang Black castled here, but what's a better move?

Austin

7. Casey Jacobs - James Black
what to take? black to move


James, Danny, and Anthony (front to back)



8. Walid - Aru Banks black to move

Aru

9. ?? - Kevin Dominguez. black to move

more photos

D'Andrea
Shaun Smith, tournament director

Rashawn Baldwin

Azeez Alade

even more photos here

answers

1) 1. Qg3! (1. Qe3 is also good, with the idea of 2. Ba3) 1... Bh5 (if 1... h5, 2. h3 isn't great because of 2... Nxe4, but 2. f6! gxf6 3. Ba3 is) 2. f6! Qxf6 3. Rxf6 +-

2) 12....f5! 13. Qd3 (13. Qf3 is best) 13... f4! 14. Ne4 this loses 2 pieces for a rook and pawn (14. Nc4! was the only saving move) 14... Rxe4 15. Qxe4 fxe3 16. fxe3

16... Nf6 17. Qf3 Qe7 18. Rae1 Ne4 and white won without problems.

3) 11. Nxf7!! Kxf7 12. Qf3+ Kg8 (12... Qf6 13. Qh5+) (12... Ke8 13. Re1+ Be7 14. Bg5) 13. Qd5+

4) The simplest and most efficient way to guard the pawn is ... Bf6. Matthew played 1... Rfe8 and quickly got a passive position. 2. Rac1 e6 3. Rc7 b6 4. Rfc1

Here, Matthew played ... b5 and went on to lose, slowly and painfully. But it's not too late: black can still activate with 4...e5! 5. dxe5 Bxe5 6. R7c2 (6. Rb7? Bxb2) 6... d4!

5) White threatens 7. Bxf7! Kxf7 8. Ne5+ K moves 9. Nxg4. Black should make a move that stops this, like 6... e6.

6) Instead of castling, Austin should have played 9...g4!! 10. Nd2 Qh4 with mate soon.

7) I was impressed with James' decision to take the bishop instead of the pawn. He eventually drew the game.

8) 6...Ng4! wins a pawn: white has nothing better than 7. Be3.

9) Kevin played 1... Nh4! 2. Kf1 Bd3+ 3. Re2 Qg2+ 4. Ke1 Nf3# (D)!

Pictures of IS 318 Chessplayers!

Columbus Day

Marshall Sept 19

Central Park

Who remembers this?? Nakamura - Paredes 2007

GM Hikaru Nakamura (who just won the Fischer Random World Championship) shows Alexis how he could have drawn Nakamura in their simul game from Grade Nationals 2007. Alexis's game was the last to finish.

AZEEZ!!!!!

200+ POINTS IN ONE WEEK!!!! Azeez is officially my hero.

Ms. Vicary