First Moves / Chess news from around the U.S.
FACES ACROSS THE BOARD
By AL LAWRENCE
ADAM EUBANKS
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
DAVID HUA (LEFT) AND CHRISTOPHER WU
7. Nf3 Bg7 8. Bd3 0-0 9. 0-0 a6 After finishing the core black setup in
the Dragon, I decided to try and gain some queenside space with the plan 10. ... b5. Then I could potentially put my bishop on the long diagonal and kick his knight off of c3 with b5-b4.
10. a4 Be6 With 10. a4, David stops my advance-
ment on the queenside so I decide to switch my focus to central play and activating my pieces. By placing my bishop on e6, I prepare ... Rc8 and ... Nb4 to harass and put pressure on the queenside.
11. Qe1 Rc8 12. f5 Bd7 13. Qh4 Ne5 After 13. Qh4, I started to face serious
problems regarding the safety of my king. White has many ideas to open up my king such as Bh6, Ng5, and fxg6. In order to protect my kingside, I decide to exchange off one of White’s key attackers, the knight on f3, but at the cost of my pawn structure.
14. Nxe5 dxe5 15. Kh1 Bc6 16. b3 Nh5 Pretty much my only move. ... Re8
and ... Rc7 both lead to complications after Bc4 followed by Rad1 with a strong initiative for White. The move ... Bf6 also attempts to trade my blocked dark- squared bishop for his more active bishop, which is generally a good idea.
18. Rad1 Qc7 19. fxg6 hxg6 A simple, but telling decision. Taking
with the h-pawn keeps my pawn island connected, and follows the general rule of taking towards the center. It also keeps the a2-g8 diagonal closed and opens up the h-file which proves a key factor in my attack later on.
20. Nd5 Bxd5 21. exd5 Qd6
Remapping his brain Adam was recalled to active
military duty in 2008, assigned to an infantry re- connaissance unit. While preparing to deploy to Baghdad, he suffered a training accident that left him with a traumatic brain injury. After his discharge, “I wanted to improve my cognitive skills, including pattern recognition.” He knew how the pieces moved but had never been around devoted chess players. “The first time I walked into the club, the 2009 Women’s Championship was going on. Irina Krush and Iryna Zenyuk came down the stairs and started analyzing their game in Russian. I wondered, ‘What are you doing?’”
Now a 1500-player, he says, “Chess has been effec- tive in mitigating some issues. The brain remaps it- self.” Philanthropist Rex Sinquefield was one of his first tournament opponents. “He beat me, and we took a lunch break together at Domino’s. Years later we still joke about the slow service.” Even multi- millionaires have to wait too long for pizza.
LONNIE KWARTLER
CHESTER, NY It’s still there
A safety net move. White always has
the possibility of playing Bxf6, ... Nxf6, and d6, because I cannot take with the e-pawn because my piece on f6 will be hanging and I cannot take with the queen because after Bxg6, his kingside attack will prove decisive. Here ... Qd6 stops any of White’s ideas and also supports f6.
My idea was to play ... Nf4 and even
though it may cost a pawn after Bxf4, ... exf4, and Qxf4, my dark-squared bishop becomes extremely active and I get a good amount of counterplay.
17. Bg5 Bf6
22. c4 Kg7 Now, it is obvious that Black has begun
to take the advantage. My plan of ... Rh8 followed by ... e5-e4, should not be taken lightly because it is difficult for White to find a suitable defense of h2.
23. Bxf6+ Nxf6 24. Qg3 Rh8
“I grew up on the same Bronx street as GM Arthur Bisguier, but 14 years later. In fact, his cousin and then later my cousin owned the same Pelham- Parkway neighborhood butcher shop.” Lonnie later played with Bisguier on a number of U.S. Amateur teams. And Lonnie has done his share of “beating them while they’re babies,” as GM “Biscuits” calls it, notching up a 1½-½ record against Fabiano Caruana—when the world’s number two was 11. “I was 15 before I knew there was such a thing as a chess book, and I didn’t play a rated game until after college.” But Lonnie nevertheless made it to 2397, at 48.
Now 72 and retired after teaching history for 36 years in the Bronx, he says Bisguier gave him the best advice about aging and chess. “You no longer go to a tournament to win it, just to do something nice,” Lonnie said. “It’s still chess. Whatever appealed to us in the first place is still there.”
www.uschess.org 11
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