We broke records at the NY Masters this week as we had the largest prize fund in tournament history. We were giving out $1080 in prizes with a first prize of $550! With only 2 GM’s competing for this prize, one must imagine that the other GM’s are not happy that they missed such a juicy prize fund!

We also had four new players. They were NM Neil Basescu, NM Charles Riordan, NM Richard Shtivelband and Qualifier Adam Maltese.

Note that there will NOT be a NY Masters next week due to the World Open. We will continue as usual the week after, on July 8th, directly after the World Open. Hopefully we will have some World Open spillover and set another record for biggest NY Masters prize fund!

Participant List for 62nd NY Masters:

1. GM Leonid Yudasin
2. GM Pavel Blatny
3. IM Yuri Lapshun – round 1 bye
4. IM Rashid Ziatdinov
5. IM Eli Vovsha
6. IM Irina Krush
7. IM Jay Bonin
8. IM Pascal Charbonneau
9. FM Lev Milman
10. IM Justin Sarkar
11. NM Gregory Braylovsky
12. IM Altin Cela
13. NM Dmitro Kedyk
14. NM Evgeny Gershov
15. FM Boris Privman
16. NM Samson Benen
17. FM Lewis Eisen
18. FM Erez Klein
19. NM Neil Basescu
20. NM Charles Riordan
21. NM Richard Shtivelband
22. FM Igor Schneider
23. NM Rafal Furdzik
24. NM Marc Esserman
25. Wild Card – Laura Ross
26. Qualifier – Adam Maltese

PRIZES

1st - $550
2nd - $250
3rd - $100
U2400 - $180

ROUND 1

Pairings

1 Yudasin – Gershov 1/2 - 1/2
2 Benen – Blatny 0-1
3 Ziatdinov – Eisen 1-0
4 E. Klein – Vovsha 1-0
5 Krush – Basescu 1-0
6 Riordan – Bonin 1-0
7 Charbonneau – Shtivelband 1-0
8 I.Schneider – Milman 0-1
9 Sarkar – Esserman 1-0
10 Furdzik – Braylovsky 1-0
11 Cela – Ross CHESSANYTIME.COM WILDCARD GAME!
12 Maltese – Kedyk 0-1
½ pt bye for Lapshun, Privman

We had some important upsets in the first round this week, but with 12 games going you’ve got to expect a few of them! The big news was Leonid Yudasin, being unable to win in round 1 for the second week in a row. He was held to a draw against Evgeny Gershov, and later told me that Gershov played like a genius! It usually takes a genius to hold Yudasin to a draw with the black pieces.

In Charles Riordan’s first NY Masters game, he took out the NY Masters veteran, Jay Bonin. Gregory Braylovsky, who had 3 games featured on the internet last week, got knocked off in the first round by Rafal Furdzik. Also going down was IM Eli Vovsha, to the hands of FM Erez Klein.

Our first round game features this week’s wildcard player. Remember, every 10 weeks there is a wildcard player in the event. This player is rated from 2000-2200 and under 18 years of age and is sponsored as well. This sponsor pays $30 for the wildcard and the wildcard player also pays an entry fee, thus its $60 added to the prize pool right off the bat. This wildcard sponsor is www.chessanytime.com! Thanks to them for sponsoring, and check it out!

This weeks wildcard was Laura Ross, the highest ranked 14 year old in the nation. She would go head to head with experienced IM Altin Cela, whom I believe is in possession of two GM norms. His USCF, at only 2393, lags far behind his FIDE rating, thus she would have a difficult challenge ahead of her.

Chessanytime.com Wildcard Game
(1) Cela,A (2393) - Ross,L (2144) [B30]
62nd New York Masters New York (1), 24.06.2003

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Ng4 5.Qe2 Qc7 6.Nb5 Qb8 7.d4 cxd4 8.Bf4 f6

Yes, this move looks really strange and weakening, but oddly enough, it's all theory. Just goes to show you how weird chess can be sometimes.

9.Bg3 Ngxe5 10.0-0-0

Cela was playing all this very quickly, and a quick search of the databases reveals why! Altin had played this all in a Greek open in 1996. His opponent, now a GM, continued 10...d6, and eventually Cela won.

10...d3?!

A brand new move, although it was suggested by many of the kibitzers on ICC. The idea is good, but White is later able to make fantastic use of the c-file.

11.cxd3 d6 12.d4 Nf7 13.d5 Nce5 14.Qc2 Bg4 15.Nfd4 Bxd1 16.Kxd1

Laura is up an exchange and a pawn, but she certainly can't be happy here. Look at the White Knights!! The c7 and e6 squares are ready for knights to hop in, and suffocate Black's position. With such a lag in development, huge weaknesses, and a clock ticking away, this position is not going to last long. The only thing that might save Laura is the fact that White has so many tempting continuations to choose from!

16...Nh6 17.Ne6 Kf7 18.f4 Neg4 19.Kd2 a6 20.Nbc7 Qa7 21.Nxa8 Qxa8 22.h3 b5 23.Qc6!

Trading queens goes a long way to ending any of Laura's dreams of counterplay.

23...Qxc6 24.Nd8+ Ke8 25.Nxc6 Nf5 26.Be1 Nge3 27.Bd3 Nc4+ 28.Bxc4 bxc4 29.g4 Nh6 30.Kc3 Kd7 31.Nb8+ Kc7 32.Nxa6+ Kb6 33.Nb4 Kb5 34.Bf2 Nf7 35.a4+ Ka5 36.Kxc4 h5 37.Nc6+ Ka6 38.b4

I'm sure Cela didn't expect to be conducting a mating attack with a pair of pawns! The pawns, king and knight work excellently together to drive the king back with tempo to make a new queen, or two.

38...hxg4 39.b5+ Kb7 40.a5 Rxh3 41.a6+ Kc7 42.b6+ Kd7 43.Rxh3 gxh3 44.Bg1

Black's pawn stopped, and White's pawns are unstoppable. A very exciting and excellent game by Cela.

1-0

ROUND 2

Key Pairings

1 Blatny – Sarkar 1-0
2 Cela – Ziatdinov 0-1
3 Kedyk – Krush ICC GAME!
4 E.Klein – Charbonneau 0-1
5 Milman - Riordan 0-1
6 Yudasin – Furdzik 1-0
7 Gershov – Lapshun 1-0

We had a new entrant in round 2, as 2550 USCF IM Yuri Lapshun joined the show, yet he had a rude awakening as Gershov took his free rook and went on to mate him just a few moves later. Gershov has been performing very well in this event the past few weeks. Last week he scored 3/4 to tie for 2nd place and this week he starts by drawing Yudasin and beating Lapshun!

One of our new players, Charles Riordan, eliminated one of the crowd favorites as he diffused Milmans attack, and his counterplay came crashing through. I must admit to not knowing much about Riordan, but at 2250 USCF, he had to be happy with knocking off two players rated over 2400. Also moving to 2/2 were the favorites – Blatny, Ziatdinov and Charbonneau. Let’s see who would join them at 2/2…..19 year old IM Irina Krush or 15 year old NM Dmitro Kedyk.

(2) Kedyk,D (2361) - Krush,I (2451) [B56]
62nd New York Masters New York (2), 24.06.2003

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.f3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Be3 0-0 9.Qd2 a5

Eyeing the b6 square, which has been made weak after Irina’s ….a5

10….d5!

Irina didn’t want to grovel and defend the b6 square with …Nd7, thus she lunges out with complications that seem to be favorable for her. If 11. Nb6 d4! 12.Nxa8 dxe3 13.Qxe3 Be6! 14.Nb6 Nd4! (attacking c2 and b6) 15. Nd4 exd4, and next move black captures on b6 with the queen.

11.Bb6 Qe8! 12.exd5

Despite the time control, Irina manages the situation as dynamically as possible.

13.Qxd5 Nb4 14.Qe4 Qxa4 15.c3 Be6!

Everything seems to be working out for Irina after her well-timed …d5 break.

16.cxb4 Bxb3 17.bxa5 Bb4+ 18.Kf2 Bxa5 19.Bc5 Rfc8 20.Bd3 Qxe4 21.Bxe4 Rxc5 22.axb3

Now does it really make sense that I gave Irina about 5 exclamation points thus far, yet she only has reached a drawn position?

22...Rb8 23.Rhc1 Bb6 24.Rxc5 Bxc5+ 25.Ke2 g6 26.g4 h6 27.Ra5 Bd4 28.Rd5!

Ok let’s give one to Kedyk. He correctly understands that his b-pawn is not important and instead he must counterattack the f7 point with Rd7 and Bd5. This will reduce black’s rook to a passive position on f8, and in endgames involving rooks, rook activity is always a huge factor and often worth more than mere material.

28...Bxb2 29.Rd7 b6 30.Bd5 Rf8 31.Ke3

Funny, but for some reason Kedyk declined to play 31.Rd6, attacking …b6 and …g6.

31...Kg7 32.h4 Bc3 33.Ke4 h5 34.gxh5 gxh5 35.Kf5 Bd4 36.Kg5 Bf2 37.b4 Be1 38.b5 Bf2 39.Kxh5 Rh8+ 40.Kg5 Bxh4+ 41.Kg4

Irina was down to about 20 seconds at this point, but this move squelches any chance Dmitro may have had of winning the game. Dmitro spent 2 of his remaining 3 minutes and decided to go into the bishop’s of opposite color endgame, and thus force an easy draw.

42.Rxd8 1/2-1/2

An exciting, well played game by both sides. Kedyk seemed to have a nice opening stranglehold, yet Irina found the right moves to gain counterplay of her own. Kedyk didn’t panic in the face of such counterplay and found solid moves to force a relatively level endgame.

Leaders after Round 2

2 pts – Blatny, Ziatdinov, Charbonneau, Riordan
1.5 pts – Yudasin, Krush, Kedyk, Gershov

ROUND 3

Key Pairings

1 Charbonneau (2) – Blatny (2) ICC GAME!
2 Ziatdinov (2) – Riordan (2) 1-0
3 Kedyk (1.5) – Yudasin (1.5) 1-0
4 Krush (1.5) – Gershov (1.5) 1/2 - 1/2

Charles Riordan’s fairy tale tournament came to a crashing halt this round, at the hands of strong IM Rashid Ziatdinov. Now Ziatdinov was sitting pretty at 3/3, and waiting to see who would be winner of the game Charbonneau – Blatny.

Meanwhile there was a monster upset on board 3, as Dmitro Keydk knocked off the NY Masters champion, GM Leonid Yudasin. An impressive victory for the rapidly improving 15 year old master. Yudasin had to be very upset to have such a lackluster performance with such a huge prize fund at hand.

Let’s check out the action between Charbonneau and Blatny. Charbonneau has had incredible results in the NY Masters thus far in his career, winning 2 of the 4 events he played in. Let’s see if GM Blatny could show the Canadian National Championship some Grandmaster magic….

(3) Charbonneau,P (2439) - Blatny,P (2563) [A42]
62nd New York Masters New York (3), 24.06.2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 g6 3.c4 d6 4.Nc3 Nd7 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Be2 e5 7.d5 c5 8.0-0 a6 9.Ne1 Ne7 10.a4 a5 11.g3 0-0 12.Ng2 h6 13.Ra3

I think I remember Petrosian playing moves like this a lot.

13...Kh7 14.Bd2 f5 15.exf5 Nxf5 16.Bd3 Nf6 17.f4

17...e4 18.Nxe4 Nxe4 19.Bxe4 Bxb2 20.Rb3 Bd4+ 21.Kh1 Qe8 22.Re1 Bf2?

An impulsive and bad decision by Blatny. White immediately plays a tactical continuation that leads to a forced win.

23.Bxf5 Bxe1 24.Bxc8 Bxd2 25.Rxb7+ !

Rf7 is black’s only move. Kh8 loses instantly to 26.Qa1+.

26.Rxf7+ Qxf7 27.Be6 Qe8 28.Qxd2 Qxa4 29.h4

White has two pieces for the rook and a strong attack on the black kingside. I don’t think that black’s a-pawn provides enough compensation.

29...Qa1+ 30.Kh2 a4 31.f5 Kg7 32.fxg6 Qd4

Why not 34. Nf4? After 34. Nf4 Qb2 looks strong for black, but it’s all an illusion as after 35. Qxb2 axb2 36. Bf5 Ra1 37. Nh5 wins in short order after 37…. Kf8 38. g7+ Kg8 39. Be6+ and queens.

34…. Qb2 35.Qf3?

Another huge blunder by Charbonneau. He had to exchange queens, now black quickly gains a winning position.

35...Rf8!

Oops, what is Charbonneau going to do about the passed a-pawn?

36.Qd1 a2 37.Qa4 a1=Q

Nothing! He’s going to try to attack down a queen and a rook for two pieces!!! AMAZING!!! Will it work?!?!?!?! It’d be cool if it did, but its hard to drum up a mating attack when you are down more than a queen, but you have to commend Charbonneau for trying.

38.Qd7+ Kxg6 39.h5+ Kg5 40.Bh3

40...Qe2 41.Qxd6 Qf6 42.Qd7 Qfe5 43.d6

43...Kxh5?

Boooooo. This move wins anyway, but much more beautiful was 43….Qxg3! 44. Kg3 Qe5 45. Nf4 Qxf4 46. Kg2 Qf1 (Both players missed this move and instead saw only 46….Qf2), leading to mate in a few moves.

44.Qh7 Rf1 45.Qg8 Qxd6 46.Qg7 Rf2 47.Qg8 Qde5 48.Kh1 Qd1+ 49.Kh2 Qf3 50.Kh1 Rf1+ 51.Kh2 Rf2 52.Kh1 Qfxg3 53.Nf4+ Qgxf4 54.Bg4+

Tricky guy! If Blatny plays the greedy 54…Qxg4, Pascal hits him with the monster blow, 55. Qg5+, forcing stalemate next move. Pavel is wise to Pascal’s intentions and simply leaves the bishop on the board.

54...Kh4 0-1

A fantastic game! There were quite a few inaccuracies but the crowd surely enjoyed it! Now Blatny goes to 3/3 along with Rashid Ziatdinov.

Leaders after Round 3

3 pts – Blatny, Ziatdinov
2.5 pts – Kedyk
2 pts – Bonin, Charbonneau, Krush, Cela, Braylovsky, Gershov, Eisen

ROUND 4

Key Pairings

1 Blatny (3) – Ziatdinov (3) 1/2 -1/2
2 Bonin (2) – Kedyk (2.5) LIVE GAME!
3 Cela (2) – Krush (2) 1-0
4 Gershov (2) – Charbonneau (2) 0-1
5 Braylovsky (2) – Eisen (2) 1-0

The crowd was hoping for the two undefeated players to duke it out in the last round, but Blatny was in a peaceful mood. Blatny explained to me that in his last 3-4 tournaments he had lost last round games to lose the money, and thus wanted to play it safe this week. This meant that wunderkind Dmitro Kedyk, coming fresh off a huge win over GM Yudasin, would have a chance to tie for first place if he could beat Bonin with the black pieces. What an impressive performance that would be!

Meanwhile Cela, Charbonneau and Braylovsky all turned in nice performances by winning their last round and finishing at 3/4.

(4) Bonin,J (2440) - Kedyk,D (2361) [A00]
62nd New York Masters New York (4), 24.06.2003

1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nxe4 Nd7 4.h3

A strong move, stopping …Bg4 and getting luft for the king after castling on the kingside. Ok I’m joking, no offense Jay, but this move makes no sense to me.

4...Ngf6 5.Nxf6+ Nxf6 6.Bc4 e6 7.d4 Be7 8.Nf3 a6 9.Qe2 b5 10.Bd3 Bb7??

Oops! Kedyk, fresh off a win against Yudasin, falls to a simply opening trick and quickly sees his dreams of first place and $330 flushed down the drain. Bonin wins a pawn for nothing with this move.

11…c6 12.Bd3 0-0 13.Bg5 c5 14.dxc5 Bxc5 15.0-0-0

This move was criticized by some, but I think I would have played it. I think it’s just a matter of style in this position.

15...Qb6 16.Ne5 Bd4 17.c3 Bxe5 18.Qxe5 Nd5 19.Be3 Nxe3 20.Qxe3

Now Kedyk has the chance to play 20….Qxe3 21.fxe3 Bxg2 and regain his pawn, but instead he goes for more?!?! Bonin had an easily winning opening and has botched it up, perhaps Kedyk felt that with the momentum on his side he could bowl over Jay, yet this isn’t the first time Jay has been in a situation like this. When you play hundreds of games each year, you’ve been through everything.

20...Qa5 21.Kb1 Rab8 22.c4 Bxg2 23.Rhg1

Some fantastic possibilities abound…. Black could try for the instant knockout with 23….Rxb2!?!? 24. Kxb2 Rb8 25. Kc1! (Kc2 loses to Qxa2) 25…Qxa2 26.Bc2 and black has no way to continue the attack.

23...Bf3!?!

Wow! A shocking blow! If 24. Qxf3 now 24…Rxb2 is winning, because the queen on f3 is undefended…for example….. 24.Qxf3 Rxb2! 25. Kxb2 Rb8 26. Kc1 Qc3! 27.Bc2 Qxf3.

24.Rc1 Bh5

Absolutely no way to stop white’s mating attack. White is attacking with all 3 major pieces and black is defending with zero.

29...f6 30.Rxg7+!

Curtains

30...Kxg7 31.Qg3+ Kf7 32.Rh7+ Ke8 33.Qg6+!?

Also playable was 33.Qxb8 mate.

33…..Kd8 34.Qd3+ 1-0

With Bonin’s win, Kedyk was knocked out of contention thus leaving GM Pavel Blatny and IM Rashid Ziatdinov as the co-winners of the 62nd NY Masters. They both received a nice payday of $400 each. Tying for 3rd with 3/4 were IM Cela, IM Charbonneau, IM Bonin and NM Gregory Braylovsky. Congratulations to our co-champions, Pavel Blatny and Rashid Ziatdinov!

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62nd New York Masters Action USA (USA), 24 vi 2003
-----------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1   2   3   4   Total
-----------------------------------------------------------------
    1. Blatny, Pavel        g  2563 +16 +13 + 4 = 2   3.5  ($400) 
    2. Ziatdinov, Rashid    m  2476 +17 + 6 +18 = 1   3.5  ($400)
    3. Bonin, Jay           m  2440 -18 +22 +16 + 8   3.0  ($ 50)
    4. Charbonneau, Pascal  m  2439 +22 + 9 - 1 +14   3.0  ($ 50)
    5. Braylovsky, Greg        2395 -23 +20 +24 +17   3.0  ($ 90)
    6. Cela, Altin          m  2393 +21 - 2 +10 +11   3.0  ($ 90)
    7. Yudasin, Leonid      g  2692 =14 +23 - 8 +18   2.5
    8. Kedyk, Dmytro           2361 +24 =11 + 7 - 3   2.5
    9. Klein, Erez          f  2285 +10 - 4 =13 +19   2.5
   10. Vovsha, Eli          m  2462 - 9 +15 - 6 +22   2.0
   11. Krush, Irina         m  2451 +25 = 8 =14 - 6   2.0
   12. Milman, Lev          f  2414 +20 -18 -17 +24   2.0
   13. Sarkar, Justin       m  2396 +26 - 1 = 9 =15   2.0
   14. Gershov, Yevgeny     f  2349 = 7 +19 =11 - 4   2.0
   15. Privman, Boris       f  2340 =   -10 +25 =13   2.0
   16. Benen, Samson           2324 - 1 +26 - 3 +23   2.0
   17. Eisen, Lewis            2291 - 2 +21 +12 - 5   2.0
   18. Riordan, Charles        2253 + 3 +12 - 2 - 7   2.0
   19. Lapshun, Yury        m  2537 =   -14 +23 - 9   1.5
   20. Schneider, Igor      f  2230 -12 - 5 =21 +25   1.5
   21. Ross, Laura         wf  2144 - 6 -17 =20 +26   1.5
   22. Shtivelband, Richard    2237 - 4 - 3 +26 -10   1.0
   23. Furdzik, Rafal          2200 + 5 - 7 -19 -16   1.0
   24. Maltese, Adam           2001 - 8 +25 - 5 -12   1.0
   25. Basescu, Neil           2273 -11 -24 -15 -20   0.0
   26. Esserman, Marc          2228 -13 -16 -22 -21   0.0


PRIZES

1ST   - $550
2ND   - $250
3RD   - $100
U2400 - $180