A Player’s Purview
Following his long round three win over Alex onischuk, robert hess came down to the press room as he always did. he said he enjoys explaining his games and availing himself to the fans, as he rarely gets to do it at other events. “it’s more excit- ing,” he said. After analyzing the endgame, he waited for sam shankland to finish and a large group of players from the u.s. Championship and u.s. women’s Championship went out to eat at Pi, a local pizza restaurant. the dinners are nightly
events, with much of the under-25 crowd congregat- ing. they did not talk about the minutiae of the games. hess said he tries to “clear his head” and just relax; everyone’s been through a battle and has one again the next day. “it’s a breather,” he said. given the restaurant’s name, the talk on this night focused on who could recite the most
decimal places of π. Alisa Melekhina claimed to have memorized several hundred digits, with no one else com- ing close. other topics ranged from travel to grad- uate school to vegetarian- ism. the dinner ran late, as was common, and around 11 p.m. the party disbanded and hess went for a walk. he said he tries to eat healthy and exercise a little, but it is
not an obsession. Many players were seen strolling around the adjacent Forest Park in between games, but hess would not visit until after his tournament was over (he said he enjoyed the zoo). After the walk he went back to his hotel room to socialize in a smaller group and stayed up until 2 a.m. watching movies and hanging out—hess is not a cloistered person. “we’re all young, we’re having some fun.” hess also invited iM-elect robby Adamson from Arizona to stay with him and see the club. “he works hard and needs a break,” hess said. hess said he chatted with his coach, gM Miron sher, for about
five minutes, as he does every night. they have worked together for 11 years. “he’s always available for questions.” After getting eight hours of sleep, hess awoke, skipped breakfast, and
ne5 21. axb6 axb6 Black puts a knight on c4 and solves his problems.
20. ... Nac5 21. Qb4 the most natural move, 21. rfd1, fails
to 21. ... bxa5 22. nd6 (22. Qxa5? nb3) 22. ... Qc6 is equal.
21. ... Nd3?
Black starts an aggressive operation that is of dubious objective value. 22. Qd4 N7c5 23. Rfb1?
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checked his e-mail. he thought about calling his brother, a sen- ior in high school, who was in the Bahamas on spring break. “i don’t want to distract him too much, but i want to check on how he’s doing.” he dialed sher again for a more detailed plan for round four, against Alex shabalov. “For someone like shaba, [planning] is more difficult because we don’t know what he’s going to play on his first move, but we try to keep our bases covered. we’re not doing any- thing too deep. we’re just trying to whittle down the pos- sibilities.” hess is not a huge theoretician but wants to know enough to avoid sur- prises and get a playable game. “i don’t want to be going in absolutely clueless.” the preparation only lasted
until noon, when hess left his hotel room to catch up with the younger clique for some lunch near the club. he said he does not each much during the rounds, but did get scolded by one of the caterers for eat- ing pineapple with his hands. later food was still on his mind—he was trying to find a Passover seder to join. hess had yet to call home
despite his early tournament success. he last talked with
his family prior to the opening ceremony—before choosing round one piece colors he needed a different sort of color coor- dination. “i wasn’t sure which tie was best with my shirt. i was like, ‘Mom give me a hand here.’” the easy-going methods were working for hess and for his
peers. in the combined events, only one of the first 11 losses came from someone under the age of 21. At 2 p.m., hess sat down to play shabalov. he used a line he had been preparing for months in the scotch. hess won as black in only 26 moves for his sec- ond win in a row. he collected his cell phone and said he found a “million” texts congratulating him. “if i could win tomorrow, that would be amazing.” he did, and then once more, to clinch first place in his group with a round to spare. For the first time all tournament, hess posted a tournament update to his Face- book page announcing the news. An hour later, he had a dozen comments and 50 “likes.”
And here i let him off the hook. After the
correct 23. e5! intending to install my knight on d6, white has a clear advan- tage. 23. e5 Qc6 24. nd6 f6 25. exf6 rxf6 26. axb6 axb6 (26. ... Qxb6 27. Qxd3) 27. rxa8+ Qxa8 28. ne4 nxe4 29. Qxd3.
23. ... Rd8 24. Qc4 a6 25. axb6 white sacrifices a piece for active play
and a dangerous passed b-pawn. 25. na7? rxa7 26. axb6 rad7! and Black is better (Awful is 26. ... rb7?? 27. ra5; 26. ... ra8 27. b7 nxb7 28. Qxc8 raxc8
29. rxb7 rxc3 30. rxa6 is equal); 25. nd4?? b5 26. Qa2 na4 and white is strategically lost.
25. ... axb5 26. Qxb5 Rxa1 27. Rxa1 Nb7 28. Bd4 e5 29. Qxd3 exd4 30. cxd4
oddly enough, this dynamic sequence has led to an equal position.
30. ... Rd6 31. Rb1 Rc6?! not a terrible move, but a step in the
wrong direction. Black was overestimat- ing his position and thought he could
Chess Life — July 2011 23
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