112th U.S.Open This month’s quiz comes to you
courtesy of the 112th U.S. Open and the 367 players, including 18 grand- masters, who battled for prizes and rating points in Orlando, Florida last August. A seven-way tie for first place was resolved when GM Alek- sandr Lenderman won a playoff. In each of the following six positions fromthe Open you are asked to find the fastest winning line of play. This will typically mean the forced win of a decisive amount ofmaterial such as a rook or minor piece. For solu- tions, see page 71.
Problem I
Daniel Gater IM Jake Kleiman
+ + + pp pq+p+ +
+ + PPP P+r+ + + R +Q+LK Black to play
Problem IV Colin Dougherty GM Julio Sadorra
r+ +r+k+ pp+ + +p +p+l+p+
+ + qPP PPQ+L+ P R +NKR+ Black to play
Alexandria, one of the first players to earn the women’s grandmaster title, had some- thing like this in mind when she wrote about “the psychological burden of the novelty” in Shakhmaty v SSSR in 1982: When you spring a new opening idea on
an opponent, you have high—and unjus- tified—expectations of winning, she wrote. “This doesn’t create the best fighting mood,” and you’ll avoid trading queens, even when it’s the right policy. Here’s a similar example.
The Endowment Effect GM Jiangchuan Ye (FIDE 2510, CHN) GM Yasser Seirawan (FIDE 2630, USA) Elista (Olympiad) 1998
pl+ lppp p +p+ + +PpnP + + + + +
+QP +L+ P+ +NPPP R LR+ K
After 16. dxe5
Whitemust have felt he had a big edge because he threatens to win the pinned knight with 17. c4 and because 16. ... Qc8
uschess.org r q rk+
+ + +p+ +Pl + +
p +p+pn + P + P
+ + +k+
Problem II
Michael Chiang GM Loek van Wely
PP+ R Pp L + P P + + +LK Black to play
Problem V Aldo Lopez IM Michael Mulyar
pp+ +pp +p+p+n+
P Qn+N+P P NRPPL R + + K Black to play
17. c4 Nc7 would leave Black’s pieces almost useless on c7 and e7. Black sacked a pawn with ...
16. ... c4! 17. Qxc4 Rc8 ... and was not at all worse after:
18. Qb3 Qc7 19. Bb2 Rfd8 20. h3 h6 In fact,White would have been justified
in playing 21. c4 Qxc4 22. Qxc4 Rxc4 23. Rac1 and offering a draw. But instead he began tomake dubious moves to keep his winning chances alive:
21. Rd2? Bg5! 22. Rd4?! Ne3! 23. Bxb7 Qxb7 24. fxe3 Bxe3+ 25. Kh1 Bxd4 26. Nxd4 Qe4! 27. Ba3 Rd5 and now 28. Bd6 Qd3 29. Nc6 Rxb5 30. Ne7+ Kh7
p + Nppk p Lp+ p
+r+ P + + + + + +QPq+ +P P+ + +P+ R + + +K
After 30. ... Kh7 White is getting the worst of it. But he
can create a fortress with a queen sacri- +r+ + +
+ l Pq+ +P+ + p
+kr + r
+l+ +pp + p + + +p+Np n + +P+ +
+rl +k+
Problem III
GM Julio Sadorra Dennis Dunn
p +l+p+p +rP Pp+
+ P + + P+ QLK + + +R+ +R White to play
Problem VI Art Zhao Richard Robinson
r + rk+ +p+l+ +p p+ p +pn + pPppq P+P+P+ + Q NL+P+ P + KPP R + R + Black to play
fice, 31. Nxc8! Rxb3 32. axb3 Qxc3 33. Rxa7 and then 33. ... Qxc8 34. Rxf7. Black cannot win by creating a passed pawn or using his king strongly. There- fore, draw. But under the apparent influence of
the Endowment Effect, White played to win, and ended up in a lost endgame after:
31. Qa4? Rxc3 32. Qf4 Rb1+ 33. Rxb1 Qxb1+ 34. Kh2 Rc1 35. Qxf7 Rh1+ 36. Kg3 Qe1+ 37. Qf2?
One of today’s strongest GMs, Alexan-
der Grischuk, gave the Effect a new twist recently. He was asked by
crestbook.com about a common situation in speed chess: Is it ethical to try to win on time when the position is a dead draw? “There’s a clear line for me here,”
Grischuk replied, and he gave the exam- ple of reaching a very drawish rook ending with just two kingside pawns apiece. If the game had been fairly even before
then, he wouldn’t try to win just because he hadmore clock time, he said. But if he had won a piece earlier—and lost it back before reaching the ending, “then I’ll go all out and try to flag my opponent,” he added. What’s the difference? Once he won
the piece, Grischuk explained, “The game is over—I won. The rest is just playing it out, it’s not important how.”
. Chess Life — January 2012 17
+pp p PP + +P+ +
+ q rk+
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