by John Donaldson

~Dr. Kurt Alfred Adler, son of the late Alfred Adler

1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Shulman wins US Championship 
3) Donaldson wins Calgary International
4) Dutch Team Championship by Rene Olthof

• 1. FM Darwin Yang, age 11, TX, 2231
• 2. NM Gregory Young, age 13, CA/N, 2213
• 3. Patrick Tae, age 15, TN, 2180
• 4. Conrad Holt, age 14, KS, 2109
• 5. Alex Markovits, age 14, OH, 2090
• 6. Deepak Aaron, age 13, NY, 2082
• 7. Richard Tuhrim, age 14 NY, 2080
• 8. Andrew Shvartsman, age 14, NJ, 2073

I would like to congratulate the winners of the 33rd annual CalChess Scholastic State Championships in San Jose. The following participants distinguished themselves by winning one of the five Open divisions in a huge tournament of about 1050 players.

• High School K-12: Boglarka Erdos (from Hungary), Steven Zierk, FM Danya Naroditsky and Jeff Young (Zierk and Young qualify for Denker playoff)
• Junior High K-8: Mukund Chillakanti and Isaac Zhang
• Elementary 4-6: Yian Liou
• Elementary 4-5: Qijie "Jack" Zhu, Kyle Shin, Vikram Ganesh, Hemang Jangle and Jessica Zhu (no relation between the Zhu's)
• Primary K-3: Tanuj Vasudeva.

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to thank the staff and many volunteers for ensuring a reasonably smooth and enjoyable tournament. I will single out three special individuals for personal recognition: first and foremost Organizer Salman Azhar, National Tournament Director John McCumiskey and CalChess President Tom Langland. Thank you!

GM Yury Shulman of Chicago is the 2008 US Champion and automatically qualifies for a spot on the US Olympiad team. Mechanics' member IM Josh Friedel made his third and final GM norm and needs only 10 rating points to go over 2500. Frank Berry U.S. Championship Final Standings

1. Yury Shulman-7
2. Alexander Onischuk-6.5
3. Sergey Kudrin-6
4-6. Josh Friedel, Eugene Perelshteyn and Varuzhan Akobian-5.5
7-10. Alexander Ivanov, Benjamin Finegold, Boris Gulko and Julio Becerra-5.0
11-14. John Fedorowicz, Dmitry Gurevich, Gregory Kaidanov and Alexander Shabalov-4.5
15-18. Daniel Ludwig, David Pruess, Jesse Kraai and Alexander Yermolinsky-4.0
19-22. Larry Kaufman, Michael Langer, Dean Ippolito and David Vigorito-3.5
23. Sam Shankland-2.5
24. Sergey Galant -1.5

Anna Zatonskih won the playoff over Irina Krush by the narrowest of margins to take the title of 2008 US Women's champion. Her only loss was to MI member WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs.

Final Standings of 2008 US Womens Championship

1-2. 7.5 Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush
3-4. 6.0 Tatev Abrahamyan and Katerine Rohonyan
5. 5.5 Batchimeg Tuvshintugs
6. 4.5 Tsagaan Battsetseg
7. 3.5 Iryna Zenyuk
8-9. 2.0 Esther Epstein and Chouchanik Airapetian
10. 0.5 Courtney Jamison

IM John Donaldson won the Calgary International held May 16-19 with a score of 5.5 from 7. Tying for second with 5 were IM Lawrence Day and NMs Rob Gardiner and Victor Kaminski. Among those tied for 5th at 4.5 were Canadian Champion Igor Zugic (rusty after a long playoff from playing) and many time Alberta Champion FM Greg Huber.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 5.Be2 Bg7 6.Nb3 is a way to reach the game continuation without allowing Black the option of ...Bxc3+. 5...Bg7 6.Nb3 Nf6 6...Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Nf6 8.Bd3 d5 is recommended by IM Andrew Greet in his new book on the Accelerated Dragon. 7.Be2 0–0 8.0–0 a5 Black could transpose into the Classical Dragon with 8...d6 but I preferred to direct play into lines that might be less familiar to Igor. Black's idea with the text is ...a4-a3 to enhance his Bishop on g7. 9.a4 9.a3 a4 10.Nd4 d5 allows Black to achieve one of the central aims of the Accelerated Dragon - ....d7-d5 in one go as opposed to ...d7...d6 ...d5 of the regular Dragon. 9...Nb4 10.f4 10.Be3 d5 11.e5 Ne4 12.f4 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Nc6 14.Bf3 e6 15.Bc5 f6 16.Bxf8 Qxf8 17.exf6 Qxf6 is recommended by Greet who feels Black has good compensation for the exchange.;

10.Bg5 h6 11.Bh4 g5 12.Bg3 d5 13.exd5 Nfxd5 14.Nxd5 Nxd5 15.Bf3 Nf4 is about equal.;

10.Bf3 d6 11.Re1 Be6 12.Nd5 Nfxd5 13.exd5 Bf5 14.Be4 Bxe4 15.Rxe4 Qc8 16.c3 Qf5 17.Rxe7 Nc2 18.Ra2 Rae8 19.Re2 ½–½ Brook-Donaldson,Stillwater 1995. 10...Qb6+ 10...d5 11.e5 Ne4 was another possibility but I preferred the following check which causes some confusion in White's position. 11.Kh1 d6 11...d5 12.e5 Ne4 13.Nd4 f6 14.exf6 Bxf6 Lengyel,B -Silman, Budapest 1994, with balanced play, is another way to treat the position. 12.Ra3 Igor played this move after a long think. White wants to eventually play Re1 or Qe2 followed by Be3 and then sit on d5 and b5 but for the moment feels the need to fortify the Knight on b3. 12.g4 Nxg4! 13.Bxg4 Bxg4 14.Qxg4 Nxc2 is a well-known trick that even Bobby Fischer once fell into in a similar position against Viktor Kortchnoi. 12... Bd7 An alternative scheme of development is 12...Rd8 13.Bf3 e5 while12...Be6 allows White to play 13.Nd4. 13. Bf3 Rac8 14.Bd2 Be6 The somewhat unwieldy position of the Rook on a3 is balanced by Black having to spend two tempi to get his light-squared Bishop to its proper diagonal. 15.Re1 Rfd8 16.Be3 Qc7 16...Qa6 was another possibility but Black goes for a more standard piece placement. 17.Nd4 Bc4 18.Qd2 18. Ndb5 Bxb5 19.Nxb5 was another possibility while 18.b3 Ba6 only weakens White on the c-line. 18...e5 19.Ndb5 Bxb5 20.axb5 d5 20...exf4 21.Bxf4 Nd7 22.Bg4 (22.Bxd6 Ne5 23.Bxc7 Rxd2 24.Bxe5 Bxe5µ) 22...Ra8 23.Bg5 Re8 was a viable alternative. 21.b6 Qc4 This was the most aggressive move but 21...Qb8 was also quite playable. 22.exd5 Nfxd5 22...exf4? 23. Bg1 Nfxd5 24.Nxd5 Nxd5 25.Rd3 wins for White. 23.Nxd5 Nxd5 24.Rd3 e4 25.b3 Bc3!? Igor and I were both under the impression that 25...Qb4 26.Qxb4 Nxb4 27.Rxd8+ Rxd8 28.Bxe4 was better for White. In my analysis I saw the two White Bishops lined up on the e-file but only examined 28...Re8 and after 29.Bf2 rejected the line but in fact the in between move 28...Bc3 would win material! 26.bxc4 Bxd2 27.Bxd2 27.Rxd2 Nxe3 28.Rxd8+ Rxd8 29.Rxe3 exf3 30.gxf3 would draw but Igor understandably wanted to win as he was a half point behind in the standings. 27...exd3 28.Bxd5 dxc2 29.Kg1 a4 The immediate 29...Rxc4 30.Bxc4 Rxd2 fails to 31.Bb3. 30.Kf1?? Getting low on time Igor blunders. 30. Bc1 Rd6 31.Re2 Rxb6 (31...a3 32.Bxa3 Rxd5 33.cxd5 c1Q+ 34.Bxc1 Rxc1+ 35.Kf2 Rd1 36.Re7 Rxd5 37.Rxb7 is not what Black wants.) 32.Rxc2 Rb1 33.Kf2 b5 34.Be3 bxc4 (34...b4 35.Ra2 a3 36.c5) 35.Bxc4 Kg7 36.Bd3 Rxc2+ 37.Bxc2 Rb4 is likely a draw. 30...Rxc4 31.Bxc4 Rxd2 32.Be2 a3 33.Ra1 a2 0–1 There is no defense to ...Rd2-d4-b4-b1.

Last weekend the final round of the Dutch Team Championship was held in Hilversum. The venue was the wonderful Town Hall by the famous architect W.Dudok.

Results final round Meesterklasse
LSG 2 - Schrijvers Rotterdam 4 - 6
LSG - HMC Calder 7 - 3
HSG - Hotels.nl 7,5 - 2,5
ESGOO - Homburg Apeldoorn: 5 - 5
HWP - Utrecht: 4,5 - 5,5

Final Standings Meesterklasse
1. HSG 18-67
2. Schrijvers Rotterdam 14-53½
3. Hotels.nl 12-47½
4. HMC Calder 10-45½
5. ESGOO 10-45
6. LSG 1 8-46
7. Utrecht 8-42½
8. Homburg Apeldoorn 7-44½
9. HWP Sas van Gent 3-35½
10. LSG 2 0-23

HSG won the Dutch team championship for the first time in its 121 year old history. The previous titleholder Hotels.nl from Groningen were no match. On board one Magnus Carlsen made his debut in the Meesterklasse with a convincing win over Jan Werle.
HWP (Sas van Gent) and LSG 2 relegate, BSG (Bussum) and Voerendaal will play in the Meesterklasse next year.

Jan-Willem de Jong and Rafael Fridman scored an IGM-norm.
Topscorers with 7 out of 9 were Jan-Willem de Jong and Pascal Vandevoort.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 c5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 b6 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.e4 Ne8 10.0-0 Ba6 11.f4 f5 12.e5 d6 13.d5 exd5 14.cxd5 Bxd3 15.Qxd3 dxe5 16.fxe5 Nxe5 17.Qd1 Qd7 18.Bf4 Ng6 19.Qd3 Nf6 20.Rad1 Rae8 21.Ng3 Nxf4 22.Rxf4 g6 23.h3 Re5 24.c4 Rfe8 25.Rf3 R8e7 26.Qc3 Ne8 27.d6 R7e6 28.Rfd3 Nf6 29.Qd2 Re8 30.a4 Qxa4 31.d7 Rd8 32.Qg5 Kf7 33.Rd6 Re6 34.Kh2 Rxd7 35.Nxf5 gxf5 36.Rxd7+ Nxd7 37.Qh5+ Ke7 38.Qxh7+ Kd8 39.Qh8+ Re8 0-1 Seattle GM Yasser Seirawan who lives in Amsterdam has retired from tournament play but still plays for his club HSG which won the championship.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bg5 Ne4 6.cxd5 Nxg5 7.Nxg5 e6 8.Nf3 exd5 9.b4 c6 10.e3 0-0 11.Be2 Qd6 12.b5 c5 13.0-0 Be6 14.dxc5 Qxc5 15.Na4 Qa3 16.Nd4 Nd7 17.Qb3 Qxb3 18.axb3 Rfc8 19.Rad1 Rc7 20.Nxe6 fxe6 21.e4 dxe4 22.Bc4 Kf7 23.Rfe1 Ne5 24.Bf1 Rd7 25.Rxd7+ Nxd7 26.Rxe4 Rc8 27.Bc4 Ne5 28.Kf1 g5 29.Ke2 Ke7 30.h4 h6 31.hxg5 hxg5 32.Nb2 Kd6 33.Nd3 Nxd3 34.Kxd3 Be5 35.Re2 Rf8 36.Ra2 g4 37.g3 b6 38.Ke4 Bc3 39.Rxa7 Rxf2 40.Rb7 Kc5 41.Rc7+ Kb4 42.Rc6 Ka5 43.Bd3 Bb4 44.Kd4 Rf7 45.Kc4 Ra7 46.Be4 Be1 47.Rc8 Bxg3 48.Bc6 Be5 49.Rd8 Bb2 50.Rd2 Rf7 51.Rxb2 Rf4+ 52.Kc3 1-0 Last week I included several Fischer games which I thought were not in any database but I was wrong! Rene points out that the games with Anelli and Buraschi are in the online New in Chess database.