This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
Chess Clubs


struggled, rarely surviving more than a couple of years. Metropolitan Chess opened its doors


in August, offering a place for casual chess or blitz five days per week. Unfortunately, few players seized the opportunity. The club’s first rated tournament, in October, attracted only 15 players. Disappointed by the poor turnout, Morris left the club. The turnaround began when Ankit


Gupta teamed up with Belcher and changed the club’s direction. Instead of starting slowly and gradually expanding, as clubs traditionally do, their club would run splashy international tournaments for immediate publicity and add amateur events later. The novel strategy worked. Metropolitan Chess has been named “Club of the Year,” and Gupta is “Orga- nizer of the Year.” Gupta hardly fits the profile of most


successful organizers. He grew up in northern California and followed a typi- cal progression for talented players—an 800 rating in kindergarten, Class B in eighth grade, a share of second place in the 2002 K-8 nationals, and an expert rat- ing in high school. Then he went to UCLA and gave up chess for four years. After college, he returned to chess in July


2009 with his high-school-era rating of 2092. In the next 16 months, he gained 250 rating points and earned an invitation to the 2010 Southern California Champi- onship, where he finished a creditable fourth. Gupta credits online lessons with GM Ronen Har-Zvi for his rapid improvement. One might guess that Gupta decided to


run international tournaments to advance his playing career, but he maintains that was not his motivation. For one thing, it’s too difficult to play and organize at the same time. Gupta tried doing both in the first Metropolitan Invitational in Novem- ber, but not again. Instead, he says he was inspired to vol-


unteer by John Donaldson’s Chess Life Online article that pleaded for more Amer- ican round robins and by the desperate state of southern California chess after the September death of John Hillery, who ran most of the weekend tournaments. Gupta believed that he could apply his market- ing skills, developed from working for his family’s companies in the semiconductor field, for the benefit of chess. He was right. In mere months, he has


forged sponsorship deals with several companies and established a good work- ing relationship with the popular website


chess.com. He recruited veteran director Randy Hough to serve as tournament director while Belcher gains experience as an assistant tournament director. Most important to chess fans, he offered many local players a chance to compete in high- level round robins. In April, the club announced its first fees


for membership—$100 per year for adults, $60 for students and seniors. Among the benefits of membership are annotations of a member’s games by masters, a fresh idea that makes the price a bargain. The team can laugh about it now, but


their first round robin was nearly derailed when, 20 minutes before the start of the first round, one of the invitees with a pre- cious foreign affiliation decided not to play. Luckily, local master Garush Manukyan, who learned chess in Armenia and retains his Armenian affiliation, filled in scoring 5- 4 without the slightest preparation. The tournament looked like a runaway


for Zhanibek Amanov, a 22-year-old international master (IM) from Kaza- khstan who notched six wins and a draw in his first seven games. Amanov has good positional sense and the inexpli- cable magic that leads to quick wins, like the following game.


French Defense, Tarrasch Variation (C07) IM Zhanibek Amanov (2399) Konstantin Kavutskiy (2241) 1st Metropolitan Invitational Los Angeles, 11/14/2010


1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. exd5 Qxd5


A safe variation of the Tarrasch French. White has the customary minimal edge.


7. N2f3 a6 8. c4 Qe4+ 9. Be2 Bb4+ 10. Bd2 Bxd2+ 11. Qxd2 e5 12. Nc2 Bf5?! Simply 12. … 0-0 equalizes.


13. Ne3 0-0?


rsn-+-trk+ +p+-+pzpp p+-+-sn-+ +-+-zpl+- -+P+q+-+ +-+-sNN+- PzP-wQLzPPzP Rt -+-mK-+R


After 13. ... 0-0 42 Chess Life — August 2011


Black senses no danger. Although 13.


… Bg6 14. Qd6 is uncomfortable, Black can hold White to a small advantage with 13. … Nc6 14. Qd6 Rd8.


14. Qc3! Ng4? This costs a piece. Black had to yield a


pawn by 14. … Bg6 or 14. … Bg4. The lat- ter might lead to 15. Bd3 Qf4 16. Qxe5 Qxe5 17. Nxe5 Re8 18. N5xg4 Nxg4 19. 0-0 Nxe3 20. Rae1 Nc6 21. Rxe3, when White has good chances to win.


15. Ng5! Qc6 The problem with 15. … Qf4 is that


16. Nh3 Qe4 17. Bf3 Qd3 18. Qxd3 Bxd3 19. Bxg4 safely snatches a piece.


16. Nxf5 Qf6 17. Bxg4 Qxg5 18. Bh3, Black resigned.


The heavy favorite, state champion Enrico Sevillano, managed only 21


⁄2 -11 ⁄2


before showing his best form. He still trailed Amanov by a point after this sev- enth-round victory over hard-to-beat Alexander Kretchetov.


(see next game top of next column)


The favorite IM Enrico Sevillano (2558) Alexander Kretchetov (2353) 1st Metropolitan Invitational Los Angeles, 11/20/2010


-+-+-+-+ +-+-+p+- -mk-+lzPp+ +-zp-zP-+p P+-+-+-zP +-+KsN-zP- -+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-


After 54. ... Kb6 It’s not immediately obvious how White


can capitalize on his extra pawn. Sevillano solves the problem elegantly by maneuver- ing his knight to the critical square—g7!


55. Nc4+ Kc6 56. Kc3 Kb7 57. Nd6+ Kc6 58. a5 Bd5 59. Ne8 Kd7 60. Ng7 Kd8 61. a6


The bishop must watch the a-pawn.


White plans to create a second passed pawn by advancing e5-e6. Black cannot cope with the separated passers.


uschess.org


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84