game’s: 19. ... Bxc1 20. Raxc1 fxe4 21. Qxe4 Nf6. However, Arnold was in a must- win situation and it doesn’t seem like Black has too many winning chances here.
20. Bf3 Qg6 21. Qe2 It is not easy to play Black in this posi-
tion. … Re8 runs into Bh5, while … Nf6 runs into e4-e5.
21. ... c5!? Arnold played this move after a long
think. Black intends to open up either e5 or c5 for the knight and develop the c8- bishop.
22. dxc5 dxc5 23. Rd5! Preventing ... Ne5 and taking over the
fifth rank. 23. ... Be7 24. Rf5 cxb4 For some reason when I played Rf5, I
forgot my b4-pawn was hanging. However, it seems like White will have more than enough attacking resources to compen- sate for the pawn.
25. axb4 Bxb4 26. Nd5 Bc5+ 27. Kh1 Nb6 There is nice compensation for the
pawn after 27. ... Rxf5 28. exf5 Qxf5 29. Bxf4.
28. Rxf8+ Bxf8 29. Bxf4 Nxd5 30. exd5 As we entered this position, I had 40+
minutes to Arnold’s 15 minutes. With a nice edge on time and position, I knew I was the only player playing for a win. I still had to be careful: 30. cxd5?? Qf6!.
30. ... Bf5 31. Qf2 a5 Or 31. ... b6 32. Be3! threatening Bxb6
is strong for White.
32. Qd4 Bg4 33. Bxg4 Qxg4 34. d6 Qd7 35. c5
The sad bishop on f8 is immobile for the
rest of the game. 35. ... a4 36. Bd2!
r+-+-vlk+ +p+q+-zpp -+-zP-+-+ +-zP-+-+- p+-wQ-+-+ +-+-+-+- -+-vL-+PzP Rt -+-+-+K
After 36. Bd2 Maneuvering the bishop to c3 where it
will defend the queening square on a1 and prepare mating ideas on g7.
uschess.org
36. ... a3 37. Bc3 a2 38. Rf1 Kh8 39. Qc4 It’s worth noting that Arnold had less
than two minutes on his clock at this point and I had around 20.
39. ... b6? Missing the threat. 39. ... h6 was nec-
essary, but Black’s position is still very unpleasant.
40. Qxa2! Qd8 Nor 40. ... Rxa2 41. Rxf8 mate.
41. Qe6 bxc5 42. Be5 Ra7 43. d7 Ra8 44. Rf7 Qg5 45. h3!, Black resigned.
Avoiding back-rank threats and threat-
ening Bxg7. Black’s position is hopeless. 45. Bxg7+? Qxg7 46. Rxg7 Ra1+.
The end of the game, he said, was
nerve-wracking for its own reasons: he knew he could win, and there were about 100 people watching in front of the stage to witness if he faltered. “You just have to focus on the game and celebrate after- wards,” he said. After years of playing high-level events,
he’s got some advice for parents. He said he thinks it helps that Brad and I never told him we expected him to win or made him feel bad afterwards if he didn’t. “I think I did that to myself,” he said, “but that’s another story.” The opportunity to play stronger oppo-
nents, along with learning how to move on from his losses, he says, has been a key part of his success. He credits his coach Dmitry Gurevich for helping with that. Despite being the lowest rated player at last year’s Junior Closed, Eric had a break-out tournament and finished in the middle of the pack with 41
⁄2
Parents can also make sure their kids eat well and stay healthy, he said. Eric’s next goals for chess are to play
well enough to get a chance against stronger opponents this summer at the World Open in Philadelphia in July (just completed as Chess Life went to press ~ed.), the Metropolitan Chess tourna- ment in Los Angeles in August, and in the fall at the World Youth Championships in Brazil. He’s also looking forward to attending the U.S. Chess School in August in Saint Louis. And my next goal? Well, move over Amy
Chua—I think there’s room on the book- shelf for a different sort of book: The Encouraging Purr of the Pussycat Mama?
.
2011 National High School Championship At A Glance
Date: April 28-May 1, 2011
Location: Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center,Nashville, Tennessee
Top Finishers: K-12 Championship (Individual), 1st, 7: Eric Rosen; 2nd-9th, 6: Daniel Gater, Alec Getz, Nick Thompson, Michael Vilenchuk, Andrew Ng, Evan Sandberg, Michael Chiang, Sean Vibbert. (Team), 1st, 201
⁄2 /9. He
checked in with Dmitry after each round, and said Dmitry’s style of not focusing too much on his mistakes during the tourna- ment helped his confidence. “There were a few games where I was winning, but I ended with either a draw or a loss, and Dmitry told me not to worry about it, just to play the next game. I think that really helped me relax,” Eric said. “After the whole tournament, we went back and focused on why I lost and what my mis- takes were, but I think right after you lose, you just have to move on.” Eric advises parents to give their kids
space after a tough loss. “Just leave them alone.” Berating a player for losing, or showing them how they missed an easy win, he says, “can be psychologically dev- astating and make it very hard to play the next round.” Telling someone they need to win the
next round isn’t helpful either. “If any- thing, it will make it worse. They should just have an open, relaxed mind, and try to forget about any pressure or the result.”
⁄2 : Watson Fu, Vishal :
Hunter College Campus School. K-12 Under 1600 (Individual), 1st- 2nd, 61
Bharadwaj; 3rd-6th, 6: Danny Sepler, Ja’monte Adams, Akshay Saini, Sean Chung. (Team), 1st, 191
⁄2 : William Giguere; 3rd-8th, 6: ⁄2 ⁄2
P.S. 124. K-12 Under 1200 (Individ- ual), 1st, 7: Marshall Sumwalt; 2nd, 61
Daniel Henning, Austin Kasabri, Dominic Zirbel, Jack Mockler, Sahil Patel, Alexander Moore. (Team), 1st- 2nd, 201
: Vianney High, East Side
Community High School. K-12 Under 800 (Individual), 1st, 7: Wilson Cheah; 2nd-10th: Lucas Henigan, Nicky Hart, Mazhar Siddique, David Moran, Bardia Jahanshahi, Kevin Wang, Saurabh Singh, Philip Gub- bins, Zachary Ashbel. (Team), 1st, 22: Northwest High School. K-12 Unrated (Individual), 61
⁄2 : Evan
Aubry; 6: 2nd-6th: Jacob Overman, Ed Ordonez, Andrew Tat, Ryan Klasky, Scott Hagen. (Team), 1st, 20: Hinsdale Central High School
Chief Tournament Director: Wayne Clark
:
Chess Life — August 2011
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