We had another week with strong female representation, as 3 strong women came to play. German IM and WGM Elisabeth Paehtz was in the mix again, hoping to repeat her nice performance from the previous week. Georgian, now Dutch WGM Tea Bosboom-Lanchava decided to play once more before leaving NYC, and hoped to have a strong performance. Meanwhile the quickly improving Laura Ross was in the field and ready to do some serious damage, as evidenced by her 3.5/4 score on Thursday night. She always performs well on Tuesdays and Thursdays and had all the wannabe qualifiers crying foul, as when she routintely scores 3.5 or 3 points, no one else has a chance to play. Because of these facts combined with the fact that her rating is soon to be over 2200, the NY Masters has made an executive decision to grant her an honorary masters title, and allow her to play on Tuesdays when she desires. If she continues her typical results in this tournament, the master title should not even be one month away!

The top dog in the field was the tournament stalwart, GM Leonid Yudasin. He hoped to cool the heels of last week’s surprise champion, Gregory Braylovsky. This wouldn’t be an easy task if Braylovsky plays with the same ferocity that he displayed in his final round victory over Alex Stripunsky last week...Lets cut to the action!

Participant List for 67th NY Masters:

1. GM Leonid Yudasin
2. WGM Elisabeth Paehtz
3. IM Jayson Gonzales
4. IM Altin Cela
5. NM Gregory Braylovsky
6. IM Jay Bonin
7. WGM Tea Bosboom-Lanchava
8. FM Boris Privman
9. NM Samson Benen
10. FM Ron Young
11. NM David Zimbeck
12. NM Boaz Weinstein
13. NM Yaacov Norowitz
14. Qualifier – WFM Laura Ross
15. Filler – Ben Johnson

PRIZES

1st - $350
2nd - $150
3rd - $50
U2400 - $100

ROUND 1

Pairings

1 Bosboom-Lanchava – Yudasin LIVE GAME!!!
2 Paehtz – Privman 1/2 -1/2
3 Benen – Gonzales 1/2 -1/2
4 Cela – Young 1-0
5 Weinstein – Braylovsky 0-1
6 Bonin – Ross 1-0
½ bye – Zimbeck, Norowitz

We had some craaaazy action in round 1!!! Privman, normally a very strong theoretical endgame player, was unable to convert a winning rook+pawn versus rook endgame against the dangerous WGM, Elisabeth Paehtz, and thus had to settle for a draw. Gonzales and Benen were playing a relatively normal game when both players glanced at the analog clock and realized they were both probably under 20 seconds! They started blitzing moves, with an average of two pieces hanging each move. Eventually Samson had enough, and despite an extra bishop simply offered a draw. Gonzales didn’t think long when he noticed his flag was down, and immediately accepted. Apart from this, all the other favorites advanced to round 2 unscathed, however Weinstein seemed to have a very dangerous attack against Braylovsky.

Now for this round’s featured game…. WGM Tea Bosboom-Lanchava versus GM Leonid Yudasin. I have to admit that since playing in this event, it looks as if Yudasin has gained about 50 points when it comes to quick chess. He moves so quickly, and when you combine this with moves that are of very high quality, he is never a pleasant opponent to face.

(1) Bosboom Lanchava,T (2359) - Yudasin,L (2682) [E21]
67th New York Masters New York (1), 05.08.2003

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 c5 5.d5 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qa5 7.Bd2 d6 8.Qc2 0-0 9.Ng5 Re8 10.Ne4 Nxe4 11.Qxe4 Nd7 12.Qd3 Ne5 13.Qe4

13...Qa4 14.e3 exd5 15.Qxd5 Qa6 16.Rb1 Qxa2 17.Rd1 Be6 18.Qxd6 Bg4

Bosboom-Lanchava is realizing why Yudasin is so dangerous. Her king is stuck in the center, all of blacks pieces are centrally placed, and whites position is simply being torn to shreds.

19.f3 Rad8 20.Qc7 Rd7 21.Qxd7?!

Probably not the best defense but there is simply no hope. Either piece sacrafice on f3 wins by force for Yudasin if the queen should move away.

21... Bxd7

An impressive display by Yudasin, who made it look too easy.

ROUND 2

Key Pairings

1 Yudasin – Bonin 1-0
2 Braylovsky – Cela LIVE GAME!!

We came into round 2 with only four 1/1 scores. GM Yudasin and last week’s champ, Braylovsky, were joined by participant of all 67 NY Masters, IM Jay Bonin, and Albanian IM, Altin Cela.

Yudasin was the first to break to 2/2, with another smooth victory over Jay Bonin. With no other GM’s in the field, would anyone be able to stop him? Let’s see whether Braylovsky or Cela will get the right to play Yudasin in round 3….

(2) Braylovsky,G (2386) - Cela,A (2393) [C77]
67th New York Masters New York (2), 05.08.2003

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.d3 Bd6 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 c5 9.Nbd2 Qe7 10.Nc4 b5

11.Ne3 g5 12.Bg3 Bd7 13.Qe2 0-0-0

Strange decision to castle on the queenside after opening it up with ….b5! Also strange was that Cela was down to about 5 minutes at this point, whereas Braylovsky was at 23 minutes. This is a huge disadvantage to face in such a time control..

14.0-0 c4 15.dxc4 Bc6 16.Nd5 Qe6 17.Nxf6 Qxf6 18.cxb5 axb5 19.c4 b4

A nice tactic that wins by force. The bishop cannot capture due to 21.Bxe5, winning the exchange.

20...g4 21.cxd6 gxf3 22.Qa6+ Bb7

OOPS! The queen is undefended on f6, and thus Cela had to resign. This sets up a nice matchup between King of the NY Masters, Leonid Yudasin and last week’s champion, Gregory Braylovsky. Could Braylovsky recapture last week’s magic???

1-0

Leaders after Round 2

2 pts – Yudasin, Braylovsky
1.5 pts – Paehtz, Gonzales

ROUND 3

Key Pairings

1 Braylovsky – Yudasin LIVE GAME!!
2 Paehtz – Gonzales 1-0

Elisabeth Paehtz guaranteed that she’d be playing for first place in round 4, with a crushing victory over Filipino IM, Jayson Gonzales. He tried to play the Sveshinikov against Paehtz, but she was well prepared with a speculative piece sacrafice on b5. In a slower time control, perhaps he could have sifted through the complications, but in the heat of the moment, her pressure was too great and Gonzales was forced to succumb.

Now the key matchup of the tournament…..Braylovsky with the white pieces against Yudasin. Braylovsky is a fast player, but it’s nearly impossible to match the speed of Yudasin….let’s see if he could..

(3) Braylovsky,G (2386) - Yudasin,L (2682) [B43]
67th New York Masters New York (3), 05.08.2003

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.g3 b5 7.Bg2 Bb7 8.0-0 b4 9.Nb1 Nf6 10.Re1 d6 11.c3 bxc3 12.Nxc3 Be7 13.Be3 Nbd7 14.Rc1 Qb8 15.Nb3 Bd8 16.Qd2 0-0 17.Red1 Bc7 18.h3 Rd8 19.g4

Braylovsky was down about 10 minutes on the clock already……not a great spot to be in against Yudasin….

19...Ne5 20.Bg5 Ng6 21.Bxf6 gxf6 22.Ne2

I have to say I am impressed with Braylovsky’s last few moves. Already he has a clear attacking plan of Ne2-g3-h5. Meanwhile black’s pieces are chilling over on the queenside….Yudasin decides to break in the center!

22...d5

A very strong reply! Yudasin clearly overlooked that after 23…dxe4, white has to strong rejoinder, 24.Nd7! attacking the queen and the f6 pawn!

23…dxe4 24.Nd7! Rxd7

Out of desperation, Yudasin sacrifices the exchange and hopes his bishops will provide ample compensation.

25.Qxd7 Bb6 26.Rd6 Qa7

A very interesting sacrafice, allowing the rook on c1 to invade on c7.

27….Qxb6 28.Rc7 Ne5 29.Qe7 Bc6 30.Nf4 Re8 31.Qd6

All of the sudden Yudasin has run out of good moves. However Braylovsky is already under five minutes on the clock where Yudasin had about 16 or 17. Yudasin now tries to do whatever he can to complicate Braylovsky’s task, but if Braylovsky’s nerves can hold he has great chances to knock off the Grandmaster and move to a perfect 3-0 score.

31...Qxb2

Winning two pieces for the rook. Things are looking very pleasant for Braylovsky….

32….Nxc6 33.Qxc6 Rd8 34.Qxe4 Qxa2 35.Nh5 Qa1+ 36.Bf1 Qe5 37.Qf3 f5 38.g5

Now the knight will become entrenched on f6. Yudasin now plays many fine and quick moves that complicate the issue.

38….h6

Yudasin is doing whatever he can to ensure that the knight doesn’t have a permenant home on f6.

39.Nf6+ Kg7 40.Qh5 Rh8

All of the sudden white’s pieces are looking like they will soon be pushed backwards. Meanwhile Braylovsky was down to about 2 minutes on the clock. Would he be able to keep control of the position or would Yudasin’s speed and trickery prevail?

41.h4 Qf4 42.Bxa6 hxg5 43.Qxg5+ Qxg5+ 44.hxg5 Kg6 45.Nd7 Kxg5

Already a huge victory for Yudasin. An endgame has been reached in which white has no chances to win, but decent chances to lose. I believe it should be a draw with best play, however with one minute left on the clock, in such a high pressure game, it would be not be easy…

46.Ne5 Rh7 47.Kg2 f6 48.Nd3 Rc7 49.Ne1 e5 50.Bd3 e4 51.Bb5 Rc1 52.Kf1 f4 53.Bd7?

Its gone from great for white, to completely hopeless. White had to try Ke2, as after 53….f3, the king and knight cannot ever move again.

53...f3 54.Be6 Kf4 55.Bd5 Ke5 56.Bb7 f5 57.Ba6 Kd4 58.Bb7 Kc3

There is no hope for Braylovsky anymore, as the king is coming to d2, picking up the knight. To save him from thinking too much, Yudasin called Braylovsky’s flag at some point after this move. A sad game for Braylovsky and he had such great chances to pull off another huge upset, and another reason why Yudasin scores so well in this event. Even when he has a bad position, he always knows how to get the best practical chances from it.

0-1

Leaders after Round 3

3 pts – Yudasin
2.5 pts – Paehtz
2 pts – Bonin, Cela, Braylovsky

ROUND 4

Key Pairings

1 Yudasin – Paehtz ½ - ½
2 Bonin – Cela 1-0
3 Gonzales – Braylovsky LIVE GAME!!!!

Yudasin scored another NY Masters victory as he had no trouble convincing Paehtz to take a draw with the black pieces. This draw wrapped up first place for him and gave him the clear $350 first prize. We couldn’t show the battle for first place, so instead we showcased a game between two fast and strong players in IM Jayson Gonzales and NM Gregory Braylovsky.

(4) Gonzales,J (2404) - Braylovsky,G (2386) [A16]
67th New York Masters New York (4), 05.08.2003

1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 0-0 5.d3 c6 6.e4 d6 7.Nge2 a6 8.0-0 b5 9.h3 Nbd7 10.Be3 b4 11.Na4 Rb8 12.d4 Nb6 13.Nxb6 Qxb6 14.e5 Ne8 15.c5

15...dxc5 16.dxc5 Qc7 17.f4 f6 18.Nd4!

18...fxe5 19.Nxc6 Rb5 20.Nxe5 Be6 21.Bd5 Qc8 22.Qb3 Nc7 23.Bxe6+ Nxe6 24.Nf3 Kh8 25.Rac1 Nxc5 26.Qc2 Qxh3 27.Bxc5 Rc8

28.Qf2

A strong solidifying move, practically ending the game. It’s hard to imagine Braylovsky lasting 10 more moves with a clear piece down here….

28...Rd8 29.Bxe7 Rd3 30.Bh4 h6 31.Ne5 Rbd5 32.Qg2 Qxg2+ 33.Kxg2 Bxe5 34.fxe5 g5

Ok, hes won his piece back and made it past the ten move prediction, but still he’s down many pawns….how much longer can he fight on?!?!?!

39.Rh7+ Kg8 40.Rhg7+ Kh8 41.Rh7+ Kg8 42.Rhg7+ Kh8 43.Rxg4 Rxe5 44.Rxb4

44...Rh5 45.Rbb7 Rh6 46.Rd7 Rf8 47.g4 Re8 48.Re7 Rd8 49.Rbd7 Rb8 50.Kg3 Rg6 51.b3 a5 52.Ra7 Kg8 53.Rxa5 Kf8 54.Rh7 Kg8 55.Rah5 Rb4 56.Rh8+ Kg7 57.R5h7+ Kf6 58.Rf8+ Ke6 59.Rf4 Rb8 60.Rc7 Kd6 61.Rc2 Ra8 62.Rd4+ Ke5 63.Rdc4 Rgg8 64.Re2+ Kd5 65.Rd2+ Ke5 66.Rc5+ Ke6 67.Kf4 Ra6 68.Re5+ Kf6 69.g5+ Kg6 70.Red5 Rf8+ 71.Kg4 Raa8 72.Rd6+ Kg7 73.Rd7+ Kg8 74.g6 Ra5 75.Rd8 Rxd8 76.Rxd8+ Kg7 77.Rd2 Kxg6

78.Rf2 Re5 79.a4 Re3 80.Rf3 Re1 81.Kg3 Re2 82.Kf4 Kf6 83.Re3 Ra2 84.Ke4 Ke6 85.Kd4+ Kd6 86.Kc4 Kc6 87.Re6+ Kb7 88.Kb5 Rh2 89.Re7+ Ka8 90.b4 Rh5+ 91.Ka6 Rh6+ 92.Ka5 Rh5+ 93.b5 Rh6 94.b6 Rh5+ 95.Ka6 Rh8 96.a5 Kb8 97.Rb7+ Ka8 98.Rg7 Kb8 99.Rf7 Rg8 100.Rh7 Rf8 101.Rb7+ Ka8 102.Rc7 Kb8 103.Kb5 Rf1 104.Re7 Rf5+ 105.Ka6 Rf8 106.Rd7 Rh8 107.Kb5 Rh5+

Seems like he had a lot of fight left in him. Unfortunately he was lost the entire time and Gonzales didn’t slip up. Gonzales was very patient with his advantage, and with his next move, he puts the nail on the coffin, taking a tie for 2nd place away from Braylovsky.

108.Kc6 Rh6+ 109.Rd6 Rh8 110.a6 Ka8 111.Kd7 Rh7+ 112.Kc8 Rh8+ 113.Rd8 Rxd8+ 114.Kxd8 Kb8 115.b7 1-0

A nice and long technical win by IM Jayson Gonzales. With Bonin’s win over Altin Cela, it meant that he would split 2nd place with WGM Elisabeth Paehtz, good for $125 each. Congratulations again to GM Yudasin, whose total prize money won from the NY Masters is now up to $7667!

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67th New York Masters Action USA (USA), 5 viii 2003
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                                     1   2   3   4   Total
-----------------------------------------------------------------
  1. Yudasin, Leonid        g  2682 + 9 + 3 + 7 = 2   3.5  ($350)
  2. Paehtz, Elisabeth     wg  2467 =10 +13 + 4 = 1   3.0  ($125)
  3. Bonin, Jay             m  2375 + 8 - 1 +11 + 6   3.0  ($125)
  4. Gonzales, Jayson       m  2404 =11 + 5 - 2 + 7   2.5  ($ 25)
  5. Norowitz, Yaacov          2204 =   - 4 +13 + 9   2.5  ($ 25)
  6. Cela, Altin            m  2393 +12 - 7 +10 - 3   2.0
  7. Braylovsky, Gregory       2386 +14 + 6 - 1 - 4   2.0
  8. Ross, Laura           wf  2124 - 3 = 9 +14 =10   2.0
  9. Bosboom-Lanchava, Tea wg  2359 - 1 = 8 +12 - 5   1.5
 10. Privman, Boris         f  2331 = 2 =11 - 6 = 8   1.5
 11. Benen, Samson             2324 = 4 =10 - 3 =12   1.5
 12. Young, Ronald          f  2284 - 6 +14 - 9 =11   1.5
 13. Zimbeck, David            2225 =   - 2 - 5 +15   1.5
 14. Weinstein, Boaz           2214 - 7 -12 - 8 =     0.5
 15. Johnson, Ben              2113 --- --- --- -13   0.0


PRIZES

1ST   - $350
2ND   - $150
3RD   - $ 50
U2400 - $100