June 2014

Scholastics / 2014 National High School Championship

I could wish for to somehow have the nonsensical ability to score more than two points out of the last two rounds. The next morning, I pulled myself

together to haphazardly defeat another expert in round six. After I escaped that chaotic game, I asked Steven about our team situation—since I was out of individ - ual title contention, my attention naturally shifted toward the team title—and he described it in a way that made the underdog nature of our win (we were third ranked team) this year all the more sweeter: “We’re barely hanging on by a thread,

Bryan. This thin. If someone has scissors …”

Who knew? My teammates began pull -

ing in the points, and anything seemed possible. For the moment, our thread re - mained intact. The penultimate round turned out

extremely well for Foothills chess, as we gained a full point on the leaders to move to within half a point of first place. Still, any point differential would be exponentially magnified with the onset of the ever-vital round seven—half a point was an immense chasm not easily bridged. The time for clutch play was now, and any error at this point would spell failure. Congratulations, of course, must go to

the National High School Champion Darwin Yang for handily winning the indi vidual tournament with 61

⁄2 /7; he se cured clear

first in the last round with a quick draw against FM Cameron Wheeler. That meant that the only championship to be decided in the coming hours was the team battle. As fate would have it, my teammate

Derek Chen was paired in a key game a - gainst Pranav Srihari of one of our main competitors, Kennedy Middle School of Cupertino, California, which led by half a point. Since the winner would likely gain a decisive upper hand for their team, Derek’s was the game to watch as the clocks started. No more than half an hour after the

start of the round, my teammate Kinsleigh Wong indicated that he had won his game, giving me a “I don’t know either” thumbs up and smile in response to my jaw drop. Destroying any opponent that fast at the nationals time control of Game/120 has to be quite an achievement. Could this be another good omen? It turned out that the answer was “yes.”

As the man of the hour, Derek Chen pulled out a gutsy victory—a monumental win— avoiding a known theoretical drawn ending and instead rolling the dice, while I man - aged to grind out the full point against yet another strong expert. Foothills chess once again scored 31

⁄2 out of a possible

four, and just as quickly as we seemed to be out of contention, we found ourselves in sole first place in the only time that matters—the end of the last round.

40 June 2014 | Chess Life

9. ... Nb6! A situational exclamation given: with

such an important fight for the point on the line, Derek avoids the drawish but more popular 9. ... e6. Instead, he gambles in less clear waters with the second most popular choice. 9. ... e6 10. Qxb7 Nxd4 11. Bb5+ Nxb5 12. Qc6+ (12. Qxb5+ Qd7 13. Qxd7+ [13. Nxd5 exd5 14. Qxd7+ Kxd7

Tears, high fives, and handshakes were plentiful. It was over—and we had won clear first place. This year’s title became Catalina Foothill

High School’s fourth title in ten years, but it wasn’t possible without the tireless efforts of our coaches, Robby and Steven, as well as all the supporting players on our team. Winning the high school nation - als is the crown jewel of scholastics, given how strong high school nationals is every year, and it’s extremely difficult to win such an event. Special recognition goes to our fourth top scorers, Emma Wing and Rohan Mittal, both with 41

⁄2 /7. Emma

had a fantastic tournament, with five upsets (draws/wins) as part of her campaign gaining her hundreds of points in only a couple of months. Let’s also not forget Josh Pennock, who, with 4/7, tallied an equally impressive four upsets. Here’s to hoping that we can return next

year with even more success—and although we haven’t made any predeter mining shirts proclaiming ourselves cham pions, we are lucky enough to be retaining all of our key players for next year, and so we look to the future with optimism when we return with more strength, experience, and tenacity in 2015. Here is the Derek Chen game referred

to earlier:

Caro-Kann Defense, Panov-Botvinnik Attack (B13) Pranav Srihari (2028) Derek Chen (2107)

National High School Championship (7), 04.06.2014 Notes by Bryan Hu

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Qb3 Bxf3 9. gxf3

transposes] 13. ... Kxd7 14. Nxd5 exd5 with the only difference being the black king’s placement) 12. ... Ke7 13. Qxb5 Qd7 14. Nxd5+ Qxd5 15. Qxd5 exd5 and a once-topical pawn structure has arisen; the general consensus is that the position is equal as each side’s weaknesses offsets the other’s.

10. Be3 10. d5 is the sharper continuation 10.

... Nd4 11. Qd1 (11. Bb5+!? Nd7 [11. ... Nxb5 12. Nxb5 a6 13. Nc3 Nevermind the f-pawns; the d-pawn exerts a cramping effect on Black’s position. In fact, from here, Black was inclined to give a pawn away immediately with 13. ... Nd7 in Rozentalis-Adams, Hastings 1996.] 12. Qa4 Nxb5 [12. ... Nxf3+ 13. Ke2 Ne5 14. Bf4 and White has unpleasant pressure]) 11. ... e5 12. dxe6 e.p. fxe6.

10. ... e6 11. Rd1?! Instead of getting his king out of the

center, White moves the rook only. Later, he would come to regret this decision. 11. 0-0-0 Be7 12. d5 exd5 13. Nxd5 Nxd5 14. Rxd5 Qc7 and although White has opened up the position for his bishops, the f- pawns are more prone to becoming glaring weaknesses; Derek must have been satis - fied to play this kind of position, hoping to outplay his opponent. As it turned out, White was not familiar with these ideas and took an inferior route into passivity. 11. Rg1 is another option, with the same idea to castle queenside, albeit with a restraining and provocation attempt thrown in. However, 11. ... g6 deals with this fairly reasonably with minimal weak - ness creation; more specifically, the dark- squares will be defended rather well and the light squares have been solidified.

11. ... Bb4! Derek demonstrates strong preparation,

even against less accurate moves that have indicated White’s unfamiliarity with the position.

12. a3 After 12. Bb5 0-0 13. Bxc6 Bxc3+ 14.

bxc3 (14. Qxc3 Rc8) 14. ... bxc6 and the ugly f-pawns, in conjunction with the slightly more flexible minor piece, give Black the edge.

12. ... Ba5 The computer’s choice is 12. ... Bxc3+

13. bxc3, but Derek prefers to keep more pieces on the board—at least until it is favorable for him to trade them off.

13. Bd3 Qh4! Derek continues to go for the throat,

preparing for the immediate transfer of the rook to d8 before castling.

14. Ke2

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