after seeing the concentration of titled players who had pre-registered. Instead, they came in bunches. “It kind of snowballed,” Newsome said. “It seems counterintuitive because you’d think they’d want to go somewhere where other [GMs] weren’t. Maybe there’s a sort of camaraderie.” The guaranteed first place prize at this year’s North Carolina Open was $2,000, enough to lure several titled players away from much closer tournaments being held concurrently. Organ- izers also offered standard conditions like travel and hotel for some GMs and IMs, but the later signups played without any fringe benefits except free entry. IM Oladapo Adu,
these guys, if you do your homework.” Two GMs, Lubomir Ftacnik and Alex Shabalov, were offered
“We want to put on a show and we want
who probably is the highest-rated player at many events that he attends, came to the tournament despite knowing that he would be statistically unlikely to earn a top prize. “I decided to play because of the opportunity to play strong players,” he said. He was only three hours away from the New York Open, but instead traveled nine hours to Charlotte. Adu played in the 2010 North Carolina Open and has been contacted by the organizers ever since to return. He said he needs to keep playing grandmasters “to convince myself that it is not that big of a deal to play
people to feel important, that this is a big deal.”
the additional perk of arriving a day early to play a consultation game at the chess club that Newsom runs. He went into his own pocket to supplement the exhibition, knowing it would add to the appeal for these players to attend. Newsom also tried to incentivize the tournament even after arrival. After interviewing Newsom during Friday’s first round, he asked if I thought players would enjoy one of the grandmasters giving a lecture. Before the night ended, he had arranged for Ftacnik to give a free lecture whilst promoting his new book, The Sicilian Defence.
For Lapshun, the man who just dropped in, he arranged a
Tuesday departure and wanted to know all about what museums to visit on his day off, thus confirming Newsom’s hypothesis that Charlotte, which will host the 2012 Democratic National Convention, “has somewhat of a good name in the world right now; people want to see it.” Lapshun eagerly took down directions to the local science museum, and then in round four experimented with the unstable Two-Knights Defense against new Charlottean college student IM Gabriel Battaglini.
Two Knights Defense (C57) IM Gabriel Battaglini (2427) IM Yury Lapshun (2570) 2011 North Carolina Open (4) Notes by Klein
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nd4
r+lwqkvl-tr zppzp-+pzpp -+-+-sn-+ +-+Pzp-sN- -+Lsn-+-+ +-+-+-+- PzPPzP-zPPzP tRNvLQmK-+R
After 5. ... Nd4 ... introducing the wild Fritz
Variation, named after Alexander Fritz, a non-silicon entity who played back when everyone had a chance to earn a namesake opening (Fritz himself played Paulsen, Tarrasch, Bird, Alapin, Winawer, Marshall and Max Lange, all
uschess.org
immortalized in the same way). The opening has been studied for more than 100 years, and can either pique your interest or make you nauseous.
6. d6?!
6. c3 is considered standard, though after 6. ... b5 7. Bf1! Nxd5 White has played just about everything, including 8. cxd4, 8. d3, 8. Ne4, 8. Nxf7, 8. Nf3, 8. Nh3, 8. h4, and was once even successful with 8. Nxh7?!.
6. ... Qxd6 7. d3 Apparently a novelty, though
probably not a good one. Instead, Bogolyubov-Rubinstein, 1919, went 7. Bxf7+ straight away, but after 7. ... Ke7 8. Bb3 Nxb3 9. axb3 h6 10. Nf3 e4 11. Ng1 Kf7 White is suffering according to Alexander Beliavsky and Adrian Mikhalchishin. There is also the standard “kids” trap (which Lapshun excitedly teaches his students): 7. Nxf7? Qc6 8. Nxh8 Qxg2 9. Rf1 Qe4+ 10. Be2 Nf3 mate.
7. ... Bg4
7. ... Be6 is surely playable, completely solid, and undeniably
against Lapshun’s style. 8. Bxf7+ Ke7 9. f3 h6 10. fxg4 hxg5 11. Bb3 e4
After a forcing sequence, Lapshun opens the game for his superior pieces.
12. dxe4 12. Be3 with the idea of covering the
weak dark-squares might be an improvement, for example 12. ... Nxb3 13. axb3 Rxh2 14. Rxh2 Qxh2 15. Nc3 Qg3+ 16. Kd2 with a typically messy position.
12. ... Rd8
... with the threat of 13. ... Qg3+! 13. Qd3 Rxh2 14. 0-0
-+-tr-vl-+ zppzp-mk-zp- -+-wq-sn-+ +-+-+-zp- -+-snP+P+ +L+Q+-+- PzPP+-+Ptr tRNvL-+RmK-
After 14. 0-0 Chess Life — January 2012 29
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