Scholastics / 2014 National High School Championship With no home, the king advances, hop -
ing to find solace on e2—to no avail! The developmental stages of the game are over, and Black can claim a clear victory in terms of structure, king placement, and potential piece activity. The queen on b3 is in la-la land, the bishop on e3 looks miserable, the d5-square (among others) looks inviting for Black, the bishop on d3 and rooks lack a substantial target (Black has no visible weaknesses), and worst of all, White’s king will need to be constantly monitored. Strate- gically, Black has a much easier game.
14. ... 0-0 15. Rhg1 Given Black’s next move, more prudent
might have been 15. Ne4, but Black still obtains good play against the numerable weaknesses in White’s position.
15. ... Bxc3 Derek chooses now to improve the
position of his knights, exchanging his offside bishop for the potentially-pesky Nc3. In addition, the pawn on c3 now becomes a corner stone for Black’s play.
16. bxc3 Nd5 17. Bg5 Qh5
20. ... exd5 21. Be3 Nc4 22. Rg2 Rfe8 23. Rdg1 g6 24. Rg5 Qxh2 25. R1g2 Qd6 26. Qd3 Qxa3 27. Rxd5 Nxe3, White resigned.
And White ends with a massively de -
stroyed position. Overall, Derek gambled in the opening, avoiding a well known theo - retical line and instead playing a more risky, but better-for-the-team line. When his opponent, apparently unaware of the theory involved, backed down, Derek obtained the strategic advantage and very nearly flawlessly nailed down the victory. Com bined with Kinsleigh’s quick victory, the monumental nature of this win carried more and more momentum for the Foothills team as games began finishing. Finally, my win as the last Foothills game to finish clinched at least a tie for first place. As it turned out, after all hands were shaken and all points were decided, we had won the top team prize.
NHS INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP: MASTERS AND MORE MASTERS
Darwin Yang writes of his NHS Champi- onship experience: This year’s high school nationals shaped
18. Be4? White misses Black’s strong reply. In
any case, Black’s threat was the buildup with ... Rac8, increasing the pressure on White’s center. White can only defend (save for going for a kamikaze attack on the kingside that would surely end in his destruction)—notice the ineffectiveness of White’s bishops versus the inevitable dominance of Black’s knights over the center pawns. 18. Bd2 is not an easy move to play, but it may be best. The bishop was hitting air on g5, while it can at least comfortably protect one of White’s weak points from d2. In addition, the g-file is opened back up, even if for intangible gains.
18. ... Na5! 19. Qc2 Rac8 20. Bxd5 Cementing c4 and giving Black a favor -
able minor piece situation, as well as a ban doning any hope for compensation for White’s wretched abundance of weak - ness es with the two bishops, is essentially the end of the strategic game. The rest is a mopping-up procedure. Also highly unpleasant for White is 20. Rd3 Nc4.
up to be an extraordinarly tense and exciting one because of the strong field. In only the third round I was playing a gainst national masters! All of my op po nents put up good fights (I never played less than for four hours in any given round). Although there were some close calls, I am overall quite happy with my performance, and it was a great opportunity to meet fellow high school players (I haven’t played scho lastics in quite a few years) while battling in several intense games. Based on what I saw, scholastic chess in the U.S. seems to be thriving. Congratulations to the team champions, Catalina Foothills. Finally, thanks to my parents and brother, who have supported me through all the years of my chess career.
French Defense, Advance Variation (C02) Vignesh Panchanatham (2317) GM-Elect Darwin Yang (2558) National High School Championship (4), 04.05.2014 Notes by Yang
This game, the second of the grueling
three-game Saturday, was to be a severe test, especially as I was playing black against this talented young Californian (who is only in middle school!)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 A surprise for me, but not one with
severe consequences. The Advance Varia - tion does not seem to have much room for innovation at the moment.
3. ... c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Nh6 6. a3 The most common line is 6. Bd3, which
leads to positional structures where, in my opinion, Black does not stand worse. 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Nf5 8. Bxf5 exf5.
6. ... Nf5 7. b4 The point of 7. b4 is to force the pawn
exchange on d4 while simultaneously grabbing space. Of course, the drawbacks are lost time and the creation of weak dark squares in White’s queenside posi tion.
7. ... cxd4 8. cxd4 Bd7 9. Nc3 A more aggressive continuation that
prevents the move 9. ... b5. 9. Bb2 b5! is the idea, preparing ... a5 which breaks up White’s queenside hold. 10. Bxb5 Nxe5 A nice little tactic that recovers the pawn. After 11. Bxd7+ Nxd7 Black is doing well; White’s space advantage has evaporated with the e5-pawn’s disappearance, and the b2-bishop has little scope.
9. ... Rc8 Black calmly develops, simultaneously
threatening the knight on c3. 10. Bb2 Nh4
Putting the question to White’s knight
defending the d4-pawn. Its squares of retreat are quite awkward.
11. Qd2?! I feel like this move is too weakening;
the doubled pawns are an eternal weakness for White. The most principled move is probably 11. Ng1, but of course it’s rather against common sense to “undevelop”. Black gets a few tempi to continue his develop ment, and his chances cannot be worse. Even worse is 11. Be2 Nxg2+.
11. ... Nxf3+ 12. gxf3 Qh4 The d-pawn remains a constant source
of worry; with the pawn on f3, White no longer has g2-g3 to push out Black’s queen, which gains a strong post on h4.
13. f4 This is the other way of defending the
d-pawn, but now the f4-pawn becomes the target of Black’s pressure. 13. 0-0-0 g6 and Black has a sizable advantage with
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