USCF National Events / 2012 U.S. Open Tommy Trims Competition at the Barber K-8
19. … Nxe5 20. fxe5 I had no choice but to take with the f-
pawn. 20. ... Qxg5 21. exd6
This position is unclear for Black. He can get the d6-pawn, but I have some compensation after Re5 and Rf1, aiming toward the kingside.
21. … g6 22. Re5 Qh4 23. h3 Rd8 24. Rf1 Rxd6 25. Ne2 Nh5 26. Rxf8+ Kxf8 27. Qd2 Kg7 28. Qe3 Rc6 29. Bb3 Nf6
Tommy He receiving his award from Dewain Barber as GM Yasser Seirawan looks on.
IN ONLY ITS SECOND YEAR, THE BARBER Tournament of K-8 Champions attracted representatives from 47 state affiliates. “The Denker invites only high school students,” tournament founder and namesake Dewain Barber said. “I wanted the younger players to meet with their chess brothers and sisters.” Tommy He, allowing only a last-round draw in the six-rounder, made it a Texas doubleheader, along with co-winner Yang of The Denker, finishing a half-point ahead of Praveen Balakrishnan of New Jersey and Mika Brattain of Massachu- setts. Roland Feng finished in clear fourth with 41
⁄2 points. The seven-player
bunch-up for fifth place included Jack- son Chen of Colorado, Jalen Wang of Michigan, Andrew Tang of Minnesota, Matt Fishbein of Maine, Craig Hilby of southern California, Maggie Feng of Ohio, and Zhaozhi Li of Illinois. Tommy also won the $500 Ursula Foster Award for the top player. Dewain Barber, the U.S. Chess Trust,
USCF, Dwight Barber and American Chess Equipment, Inc., combined to award a total of $2,200 in college schol- arships to the first five finishers. Dewain Barber also provided partial expense reimbursements to each participant. American Chess Equipment donated a memorial medallion to every participant, as well as gift certificates for best game and top upset. The third round showed a sample of He’s sharp play.
Tarrasch Variation (C06) Tommy He (2203) Jackson Chen (2072)
Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions (3), 08.05.2012 Notes by He
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2
I have just started playing this line, so I am not that familiar with this variation, especially with the structure.
3. … Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4 f6 9. exf6 Nxf6 10. Nf3 Bd6 11. 0-0 Qc7 12. a3
I thought it would be helpful for him if I played theory, so I avoided it.
12. ... 0-0 13. Nc3 a6 14. Bg5 Bd7 15. Re1 Rae8
Here I seemed slightly better because
his position is passive, and I have plans such as 16. Bc2, followed by Qd3 and Ne5.
16. Bc2 Bc8 17. Qd3 Qf7 18. Ne5 Qh5 19. f4
I honestly did not calculate clearly the consequences of 19. ... Nxe5 and thought I could simply play 20. dxe5, winning the piece, but I did not see fur- ther—for example, 20. ... Bc5+ 21. Kh1 Ng4, a winning line for Black. I also did not see the better move 19. h4 because I played too quickly.
33. … Ne4?
This changes my position from slightly better into clearly winning. After 34. Nb4 and 35. Nxd5, he will lose several pawns.
34. Nb4 Rd6 35. Nxd5 exd5 36. Qxe4 Be6 37. Bxd5 Bxd5 38. Rxd5 Rxd5 39. Qxd5+ Ke8 40. Kg2 Qg6 41. Qe5+ Kd8 42. Qb8+ Ke7 43. Qxb7+, and White won on move 69.
www.uschess.org 27 French Defense,
Black has played well, but I think he can’t hold on much longer because I’m about to develop an attack on the two pawns on d5 and e6.
30. Nf4
The turning point of the game. I’m slightly better because all his pieces are passive and I have much better place- ment.
30. … Kf7 31. g3 Qh6 32. g4 g5 33. Nd3
PHOTO: AL LAWRENCE
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