It was a blistering cold January evening, but still 14 players braved the weather to compete in the 40th NY Masters. Most of the regular NY Masters participants who competed in the US Championship, took a well deserved break this Tuesday. Below are the scores of all players who have at one time or another competed in the NY Masters –

1st – New US Champion - GM Alex Shabalov 6.5/9
2nd – 8th place – GM Alex Stripunsky, GM Joel Benjamin - 6/9
9th – 17th place – IM Hikaru Nakamura, IM Ron Burnett, IM Justin Sarkar – 5.5/9
18th – 24th place – IM Boris Kreiman – 5/9
25th – 38th place – IM Yuri Lapshun, IM Greg Shahade, IM Irina Krush, WIM Jenn Shahade (Received 2nd IM norm) - 4.5/9
39th – 44th place – GM Maurice Ashley, IM Dean Ippolito – 4/9
45th – 49th place – FM David Pruess – 3.5/9

In all the US Championship was a fantastic event and by far the best event I have ever had the pleasure of attending in the United States. The American Foundation for Chess is doing a wonderful thing for American Chess, and lets hope they can continue to run the US Championship and perhaps expand to more events in the future! To visit their website go to www.af4c.com

We had two new players in this weeks event. FM Christian Maier is on business in the USA from Germany. GM Roland Schmaltz told him that if he has time he should come to the Marshall Chess Club to give it a shot. He came directly from the airport (He was flying into NY from Boston) to play in the event, thus requiring a first round bye in the process.

Our other new participant was the French master, Fabrice Fiol, who is currently living in NYC. He seems to be a big Mickey Adams fan, as I happened upon his Adams fanpage at http://www.geocities.com/thechesscorner/

Hopefully we will have bigger crowds in the next 2 weeks, as the Deep Blue – Kasparov match is coming to town, and thus maybe some strong players from out of town will be lurking about. Next Tuesday there is actually a game, but the NY Masters will be held despite this. The 2nd week of the Kasparov match, they have Tuesday off, so I expect to see Garry at the Marshall Chess Club to prepare himself for his game on Wednesday.

Participant List for 40th NY Masters:

1. GM Giorgi Kacheishvili
2. IM Boris Kreiman
3. IM Jay Bonin
4. FM Christian Maier
5. SM Gregory Braylovsky
6. FM Ricardo D’Arruda
7. FM Rafal Furdzik
8. NM Dmitro Kedyk
9. NM Doug Pader
10. NM Fabrice Fiol
11. FM Boris Privman
12. NM Thomas Bartell
13. Filler – Larry Tamarkin
14. Qualifier – Marajudin Daftani

PRIZES

1st - $400
2nd - $150
3rd - $70
U2400 - $60

ROUND 1

Pairings

1. Kedyk - Kacheishvili SEE BELOW!
2. Kreiman - Pader 1-0
3. Fiol - Bonin 0-1
4. Braylovsky - Privman 1-0
5. Bartell – D’Arruda 0-1
6. Furdzik - Daftani 1-0
½ BYE for Maier

The young master, 15 year old Dmitro Kedyk, is new to the NY chess scene. He blasted his way into the arena by defeated GM Kacheishvili in the Thursday Night Action about one month ago. Since then he has won the city Junior High Championship, defeating another NY Master regular, NM Alex Lenderman, in a playoff. GM Kacheishvili gets a chance for revenge in the first round……

(1) Kedyk,D (2265) - Kacheishvili,G (2681) [B66]
40th New York Masters New York (1), 21.01.2003

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 Be7 10.f4 b5 11.Bxf6 gxf6

Giorgi Kacheishvili tends to play very quiet openings that utilize his superior chess understanding. Despite what this would lead one to believe, he has a very sharp tactical eye as well, and can be found taking great risks to win a game at times. This setup in the Sicilian often favors the player who has more experience with this type of position. If white sits around and dilly dallies, the black pieces often find a home on e5 (after an eventual f5 push by white), and blacks many central pawns and bishop pair begin to show their strength.

12.Kb1 Qc7 13.f5 Qc5 14.fxe6 fxe6 15.Qd3 Bd7 16.Ne2 Rc8 17.Nd4 Bd8 18.Be2 Bb6 19.Qh3 Ke7 20.Bg4 Qe5

White throws down the gauntlet, sacrificing two pawns to open lines in the center of the board and attack the black king.

21...Qxe4 22.Rhe1 Qxc2+ 23.Ka1

Perhaps stronger at this point was 23...Bf2. The rook cannot leave the back rank because of ...Qc1 checkmate. If 23...Bf2 24.Bf5 Qc5 25. Re2 (The point being that ...Qc1 is no longer mate because of Rxc1 Rxc1 Bb1), now after 23...Kd8, white cannot play 24. Be6 because of 24...Qc1 leading to mate.

I credit all of the above to my good friend Fritz. After 23...Kd8, black remains a pawn up but white gets a lot of counterplay as blacks king is forever in the center of the board.

24.Qh6 Qg6 25.Qd2 Rc6 26.Bxe6 Re8 27.Bxd7 Kxd7 28.Rxe8 Qxe8 29.Nd4 Bxd4 30.Qxd4 Qe2 31.Rb1 Qxg2 32.Qxf6 Qxh2 33.Qf7+ Kc8 34.Qa7

Once again we have simplified, with Giorgi having an extra 2 pawns! However black must give one back as whites threat of Qa8-b7 will pick up the a pawn after the Rc7 interposition. Blacks extra pawn will be EXTREMELY hard to realize, with his king stuck in the center of the board just waiting to be checked all over the place by white’s queen and rook. Note that Giorgi also was under 5 minutes at this moment, compared to Kedyk’s 8-9 minutes.

34...Qf4 35.Qa8+ Kd7 36.Qb7+ Rc7 37.Qxa6 Qc4 38.Qa3 b4 39.Qa4+ Kd8 40.Qa8+ Kd7 41.Qa4+ Kd8 42.Qa8+ Kd7 43.Qh1

OOOOH! The youngster spurns the draw. Will he go for the glory and play to win at all costs against his GM opponent, despite a pawn disadvantage???

43...Kc8 44.Qa8+ Kd7 45.Qh1

Guess not!

1/2-1/2

ROUND 2

Key Pairings

1 – D’Arruda – Kreiman SEE BELOW
2 – Bonin – Braylovsky 1/2-1/2
3 – Kacheishvili – Furdzik 1-0

In Round 2 we saw the qualifier, Marajudin Daftani score a victory against FM Boris Privman. Also Dmitro Kedyk continued his hot streak by knocking off FM Christian Maeir.

(2) D'Arruda,R (2347) - Kreiman,B (2575) [D18]
40th New York Masters New York (2), 21.01.2003

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 c6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.Qe2 Bg6 10.Ne5 Nxe5 11.dxe5 Nd5 12.Nxd5 exd5 13.Bd3 Qe7 14.f4 Bxd3 15.Qxd3 0-0 16.b3 f6 17.Bb2 fxe5 18.fxe5 Qe6 19.Rf4 Bc5 20.Raf1 Rxf4 21.Rxf4 Bb6 22.g3 Re8 23.Kg2 Bc7

What will turn out to be more important? White has total control of the open f-file, but black has the weak e-pawn to attack!

24.Rf5 Qg6 25.Qf1 Qg4 26.Rf4 Qe6 27.Rf5 Qe7 28.h4 g6 29.Rf6 Bxe5

Boris Kreiman has come out on top. The e-pawn is gone and now the win should be a matter of technique.

30.Bxe5 Qxe5 31.Rf7 Re7 32.Rf4 Kg7 33.Qf3 a5 34.Kh3 Qe6+ 35.Kh2 h5 36.Qf2 Rf7 37.Qb2+ Kh7 38.Rxf7+ Qxf7 39.Qe5 Qd7 40.Qc3 b6 41.Qf6 Qc7 42.Qd4 Qb7 43.Qc3 c5 44.Qe5 Qd7

Everything is in order, and black will ram the d5 pawn down the board.

45.Kg1 Qg4??

A BIG mistake. After 45...d4 black is simply winning. For instance 45...d4 46. ed4 Qd4 is a won endgame, and also 45...d4 46.ed4 cd4 47.Kf2 Qf5 is a winning king and pawn endgame.

46.Qe7+

White delivers a simple perpetual check. D’Arruda was very happy to have escaped this game with a half point!

46...Kg8 47.Qe8+ Kg7 48.Qe7+ 1/2-1/2

After this draw, it meant that no player was 2-0, and thus there was a massive tie for first place.

Leaders after Round 2

1.5 pts – Kacheishvili, Kreiman, Bonin, Braylovsky, D’Arruda, Kedyk

ROUND 3

Key Pairings

1 Braylovsky – Kacheishvili SEE BELOW
2 Kreiman – Kedyk 1-0
3 Bonin – D’Arruda 1/2-1/2

Kedyk knocked off German FM Christian Maier in round 2 to continue his fine play, however Kreiman put an end to the youngster’s hopes as he moved to 2.5/3. Bonin and D’Arruda were unable to keep pace, and moved to 2/3 after drawing. Now Kreiman had to await the winner of the Braylovsky – Kacheishvili battle. Also winning this round was the qualifier Daftani, as he knocked off filler Larry Tamarkin.

(3) Braylovsky,G (2396) - Kacheishvili,G (2681) [B53]
40th New York Masters New York (3), 21.01.2003

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6

A common ICC mouseslip, when one expects your opponent to go 4.Nd4 automatically. Somehow I wonder whether Giorgi didn’t notice that his opponent recaptured on d4 with the queen, as he thought for an awfully long time on the next move.

5.e5 dxe5 6.Qxd8+ Kxd8 7.Nxe5 Be6 8.Nc3 Nfd7 9.Bf4 f6 10.Nxd7 Bxd7 11.Bxb8 Rxb8 12.0-0-0 Kc7 13.Nb5+ Bxb5 14.Bxb5 a6 15.Bc4 e5 16.Rd5 Rd8 17.Rxd8 Kxd8 18.Kd2 Kc7 19.Ke2 Bd6

In most tournaments you would see the players shaking hands and agreeing to a draw at this point, however not at the NY Masters, where it could be a big disaster to give up a second draw. Braylovsky even offered a draw 2 moves earlier after capturing the rook on d8, but Kacheishvili responded by instantly recapturing, not flinching for a second after the draw was suggested.

It would really be interesting to see whether the GM could really hope to win such a position, as white is in no danger whatsoever of losing the game, due to the bishops of opposite color.

20.h4 h5 21.Bd3 Kd7 22.Bf5+ Ke7 23.Rd1 Rh6

Here we see the common occurance where one player presses too hard to win and makes a very simple blunder, which would never have happened if Giorgi was just thinking about making a draw.

24.Bc8

Now Gregory is playing for the win!

24...b6 25.Bxa6 Rg6 26.g3 Rg4 27.Bc8 Re4+

A very nice finesse, as will be shown in a few moves…

28.Kf3 Ra4

This is the point! Now after 29.a3 e4! 30. Kg2 Rc4 and 31.Bf5 no longer defends the c2 pawn.

29.Bf5

White bails out and returns the extra pawn. Again the online crowd was expecting a draw, but white actually has a pull here, due to the weak pawn on h5, and some possible entry points for the white king on e4-f5.

29...Rxa2 30.b3 Ra8 31.Bg6 Rh8 32.Ra1 Bc7 33.Ra7 Kd6 34.Ke4 Kc6 35.Kf3 Rh6 36.Be4+ Kd6 37.Ra8 g6 38.Rg8 f5 39.Bb7 b5 40.c4 bxc4 41.bxc4 Bb6 42.Bd5 e4+ 43.Ke2 Ke5

Somehow it seems as if white’s advantage has slipped away…

44.Re8+ Kd4 45.f3 exf3+ 46.Kxf3 Bc7 47.Re6 Rh8 48.Rxg6 Rb8 49.Rg5 Rb3+ 50.Kg2 Rb2+ 51.Kh3 Rb3 52.Kg2 Rb2+ 53.Kh3

Both players were under one minute on the clock at this point, and the logical thing for black to do would be to repeat the position, as he is down a pawn. Giorgi gets a little too brave at this point, by repelling the repetition and even giving Gregory a second pawn!

53...f4?!?

Oops, now Giorgi is in serious danger of losing...Of course the clock situation of 30 seconds versus 30 seconds makes this endgame into some kind of lottery….

55...Ke3 56.Kg4 Rb1 57.Rh7 Be5 58.h5 Rf1 59.Re7 Kd4 60.h6 Rg1+ 61.Kf5 Rf1+ 62.Ke6 Rf6+

Oops...also it was now 15 seconds for white and 23 seconds for black.

63.Kd7 Rxh6 64.Re6 Rh7+

With only 8 seconds remaining at this point, Braylovsky finally got a TD decision to go his way, as his draw claim was immediately accepted. This draw meant that Kreiman was in sole possession of first place

1/2-1/2

Leaders after Round 3

2.5 pts – Kreiman
2 pts – Kacheishvili, Bonin, Braylovsky, D’Arruda, Furdzik, Daftani

ROUND 4

Key Pairings

1 Kacheishvili (2) – Kreiman (2.5) SEE BELOW
2 Bonin (2) – Furdzik (2) 0-1
3 Daftani (2) – Braylovsky (2) 1/2-1/2
4 Maier (1.5) – D’Arruda (2) 1-0

The big game this round was on board 1 as Kacheishvili would need to win with the white pieces against the leader, Boris Kreiman, to get his share of first place. Meanwhile, assuming that Kreiman doesn’t win with the black pieces, 5 other players have a shot at tying for first place, yet almost all of them blew their chance. D’Arruda got smashed by Maier whereas Daftani and Braylovsky both missed wins in a mistake ridden time scramble (as most time scrambles are), but when the position reached king versus king, the players finally realized that neither of them would be winning first place and agreed to split the point. Congratulations has to be offered to Daftani, who tied the qualifier record of 2.5 points, and came oh so close to breaking the record with 3/4. (Achieved by Jonathan Corbblah and Alex Lenderman). Rafal Furdzik was the happy winner, as he knocked off Jay Bonin with the black pieces. Now he would wait to see if he and his friend Giorgi would go home as the happy co-winners, or would Boris win the game and steal first place and the entire $400 prize from everyone?

(4) Kacheishvili,G (2681) - Kreiman,B (2575) [D94]
40th New York Masters New York (4), 21.01.2003

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.Bb5+ Bd7 8.Qb3 Bxb5 9.Qxb5+ Qd7 10.Ne5 Qxb5 11.Nxb5 Na6 12.Bd2 Ne4 13.Nd3 Kd7

IM Ben Finegold, who was watching live on the internet, explained that he had once had this position against GM Kacheishvili. It’s funny to go straight into an endgame when you are forced to go for the win, but this is where Giorgi excels. You knew that Boris would have a LOOOONG fight ahead of him to hold on to first place.

14.Rc1 Rhc8 15.Ke2 Nc7 16.Nxc7 Rxc7 17.Rxc7+ Kxc7 18.Bb4 Kd7 19.Rc1 b6 20.g4 Nd6

Giorgi decides to trade the bishop for blacks knight and play a knight versus bishop endgame…

21...Kxd6 22.Nb4 a5 23.Nd3 Kd7 24.h4 Rc8 25.Rh1 h6 26.Kd2 Rh8 27.h5 g5 28.Rc1 Rf8!

A nice way to get some active counterplay for black. The idea is ...f5 of course.

29.Ke2 f5 30.gxf5 Rxf5 31.f3 Rf8 32.Nf2 e5 33.dxe5 Bxe5 34.Ng4 Bg7 35.b3 Kd6 36.Rc2 Re8 37.a3

Idea of b4-b5 and Rc6, infiltrating.

37...Ra8!

Another fine defensive move by Boris. Now if 38.b4 ab4 39. ab4 Ra4! 40. b5 Rc4! And now black is firmly in control.

38.Nf2 Re8 39.Rd2 Kc5

Giorgi could find no real chances to win and thus agreed to the draw, thus making Kreiman and Furdzik this week’s co-champion’s. Both players picked up $275, and Furdzik had to be especially happy as this was his first ever first place in the NY Masters!

1/2-1/2

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40th New York Masters Action USA (USA), 21 i 2003
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                                    1   2   3   4   Total
-----------------------------------------------------------------
    1. Kreiman, Boris      m  2575 +10 = 8 + 9 = 3   3.0  ($275)
    2. Furdzik, Rafal         2319 + 6 - 3 +10 + 7   3.0  ($275)
    3. Kacheishvili,Giorgi g  2681 = 9 + 2 = 5 = 1   2.5  ($ 33)
    4. Maier, Christian    f  2421 =   - 9 +13 + 8   2.5  ($ 33)
    5. Braylovsky, Greg       2396 +11 = 7 = 3 = 6   2.5  ($ 33)
    6. Daftani, Marajudin     1978 - 2 +11 +12 = 5   2.5  ($ 33)
    7. Bonin, Jay          m  2445 +13 = 5 = 8 - 2   2.0
    8. D'Arruda, Ricardo   f  2347 +14 = 1 = 7 - 4   2.0
    9. Kedyk, Dmytro          2265 = 3 + 4 - 1 =10   2.0
   10. Pader, Doug            2261 - 1 +14 - 2 = 9   1.5
   11. Privman, Boris      f  2227 - 5 - 6 +14 =13   1.5
   12. Tamarkin, Larry        2150 --- =13 - 6 +14   1.5
   13. Fiol, Fabrice          2245 - 7 =12 - 4 =11   1.0
   14. Bartell, Thomas        2219 - 8 -10 -11 -12   0.0


PRIZES

1ST - $400
2ND - $150
3RD - $ 70
U2400 - $ 60