Summer 2013

2

Letter from the Editor

Much has happened since our last issue. The Chess Extravaganza in T-Town saw much fighting

chess with IM Ron Burnett sneaking in the door before the second round began. Those who tied for first

with him were very fortunate as Mr. Bye took a point from him in round one to lead to an eventual four-

way tie for first. The winners’ circle cleared with the aforementioned IM, NM Bradley Denton, NM

Bryan Tillis, and the sneaky soon to be Expert Gordon Randall. The Black Warrior Chess Challenge and

the Alabama Quick Chess Championships were held simultaneously. NM Scott Varagona finally got

himself a long awaited Quick title to go along with the recently received Blitz title.

Now that the updates on tournaments are out of the way let’s get right into the action in the

articles. This issue of the Antics features annotated games from the winner of the Quick Chess

Championship, Scott Varagona; a game from the winner of the Dothan Classic, Rex Blalock; an

extremely solid win by the Scholastic champion and Denker representative, Stephen Adams; a game from

my great friend Clarence Kalenian; and last but definitely not least a game from the greatest of all

Alabama chess players: IM Stuart Rachels vs. none other than former World Champ GM Garry Kasparov.

I am still franticly pacing by the computer in anticipation of games from Alabama tournaments to

be sent to me. I would love to see some new names grace the pages in the next issue!

Wanted: Any Game played by an Alabama Resident, Send me Games!

Chessfully,

Bryan Tillis

editor@alabamachess.com

3

Contents AL Scholastic Championship by Stephen Adams page 4

The Quick Chess Championship by Scott Varagona pages 5–6

The Quick Chess Championship, Take Two by Bryan Tillis pages 6–7

Dothan Classic by Rex Blalock page 8

Clarence Kalenian by Bryan Tillis pages 9–10

Tribute to the Legend by Bryan Tillis page 11

Upcoming Events

See www.alabamachess.com calendar for details!

July 20 Evangel Grand Prix, Montgomery, Alabama

August 10 Chris Bond Memorial, Montgomery, Alabama

August 17 Evangel Team Challenge, Montgomery, Alabama

September 6–8 Alabama State Championship, Bessemer, Alabama

ACF's President Hosts a USCF Visit to Alabama The United States Chess Federation's Jerry Nash recently visited Tuscaloosa, Alabama to check out the Alabama scholastic chess scene and share his expertise. Jerry is the USCF's director of scholastic research as well as the director for certification of tournament directors and chess coaches. Click on the link to read a humorous first-person account of the visit. On a serious note, the article surveys the variety of scholastic chess programs in the state, including a unique collaboration involving the Tuscaloosa City School system, Freedom Chess Academy, and a successful chess-in-schools, service learning program at the University of Alabama. Barbeque, Gumbo, & Chess-in-Schools

Alabama Scholastic Championships

Annotations by Stephen Adams

Adams,Stephen (1852) - Chen,Kelly (1630) Alabama Scholastic Championship, March 16, 2013 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 d6

I expect d4 at some point, so I want to develop into my preferred Scheveningen set-up. 4.Be2 [Editor:4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.g4 With a Keres Attack in the Scheveningen, recently Ray Robson is one of its strongest defenders.] 4...Nf6 5.h3 I'm not sure what

she is aiming for with this move. It could possibly prepare g4, with an idea of d3, Be3, Qd2, 0-0-0, followed by g4, but it seems out of place in this stage of the game. 5...Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.d3 White's set-up

doesn't really seem geared towards accomplishing a specific goal at the moment. If she never makes a pawn break, I'm content to develop my pieces and play a6 followed by b5, gaining a nice space advantage on the queenside. 7...Nc6 8.Bf4 Bd7 9.e5? She goes for a pawn break at the cost of exchanging her best pawn. 9...dxe5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Bxe5 Bc6

The purpose of Bd7: it's a common Scheveningen theme to trade the c6 knight to make room for the bishop. Black has equality at least in this position.

12.Bf3 The most logical move. Kelly is seeking to trade off her bad bishop for my good c6 bishop. 12...Qb6 13.Re1 13...Nd7 I want to capture or force Kelly's dark-squared bishop away so I can play Bf6, using the queen and the bishop to pressurize White's queenside. 14.Bxc6 Nxe5

I didn't want to double my c-pawns or move the queen off b6. If I play Qxc6, then Bf6 won't be very effective. 15.Bb5 Kelly ties down her knight to her

bishop, which isn’t very good on b5 to begin with. If 15. Rxe5 then 15... Qxb2, where almost every piece white has is hanging. If 15. Bxb7, then 15... Qxb7 16. Rxe5 16... Qxb2 and White's queenside is collapsing. 17. Qe1 would be necessary to save material, upon which I just play 17... Qxc2. 15...Bf6 The simple

move, I place my bishop on its best square, and protect my knight at the same time. 16.Rb1 Defending against the threat 16... a6. 16...Rfd8 Placing the rook on the semi-open d-file across from White's queen. c4 is potentially a threat. 17.Qe2 Rd4 18.Ba4 Rad8 Doubling my rooks and threatening to play c4, breaking through the d-file. 19.Red1 c4 20.dxc4 Nxc4 21.Rxd4 Rxd4 22.Nb5 Rd2 23.Qxc4 A blunder that

gets White checkmated. White can play 23. Qf3, but the position is still lost because of 23... a6, whereupon the knight has nowhere to go. 23...Qxf2+

1-0

5

The Quick Chess Championship

Annotations by Scott Varagona

As part of the Chess Extravaganza in T-Town, Freedom Chess Academy hosted the 2013 Alabama Quick Chess Championship alongside the Black Warrior Chess Challenge. Because these two equally appealing tournaments overlapped, I had to agonize over which to enter. Ultimately, I decided that the Quick Chess title—a title I had come very close to winning, but had lost twice on tiebreaks—was my highest priority. Indeed, I had managed to win the 2013 Blitz title already; if I could win the Quick title as well, I could claim to be the undisputed “speed demon” of Alabama chess. (Wouldn’t that look nice on a résumé?) I never used to think of myself as a speed demon, though. Prior to the Blitz Championship back in March, I trained hard to adjust to these faster time controls. I had learned from my mistakes in previous Quick Championships: as I’ve said before, it’s vital in these faster games just to make good moves quickly, rather than burning precious seconds to find the perfect move all the time. Also, in previous quick events, I had often “held back” by playing my second-string openings, thus saving more serious opening preparation for classical tournaments. Well, not this time: my ferocious Caro-Kann would bare all its teeth! As in the Blitz Championship, the field turned out to be small, but very strong: there were three National Masters registered (Bryan Tillis, Rex Blalock, and myself), as well as last year’s winner, Stephen Adams, and dark horses Miles Melvin and Charles Smith. It wasn’t clear who the favorite would be. I must say, though, my fighting spirit got a real kick-start when Bryan Tillis told me he’d entered the tournament in order to stop me from winning. Such swagger! I could only smile to myself: “Well, we’ll see about that…” [Editor: My exact words were: “I am playing in this to beat you.”] Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I was very fortunate in the first few rounds. Against Charles Smith, after I squandered a big advantage, I managed to survive a lost position and went on to win. Next, against Rex Blalock, I somehow won a double rook ending that definitely should have been a draw. Meanwhile, my other rivals were trading blows fairly evenly, and basically neutralizing each other. For example, Stephen Adams and Bryan Tillis had drawn their round one game, but then Bryan unexpectedly lost to the rating underdog Miles Melvin in round two, and Stephen lost to Rex Blalock in round three. Somehow, I was the only one left unscathed.

I managed to defeat Miles Melvin in round three, thus setting me up to face Stephen Adams in round four. Last year, I lost to Stephen at the Quick Chess Championship, and that game has stuck in my

craw ever since. This time, I came better prepared for his pet opening (1. b3) and scored a nice positional win. This game was my best performance of the tournament by far. Adams,Stephen (1764) - Varagona,Scott (2021) Alabama Quick Chess Championship, May 12, 2013 1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 c5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.d4 This is a solid choice, turning the game into a sort of Colle System. However, White should also consider 5.Bb5, with a Queen’s Indian reversed. Bill Melvin once even tried 5.c4?! against me, but after 5...d4! I quickly gained a lasting spatial advantage. 5...Bg4 6.Be2 e6 7.0–0

7…Bxf3! A counterintuitive move: out of the blue, I trade bishop for knight. In this case, it makes good sense to diminish White’s control of e5 and preempt any Nf3-e5 ideas. Plus, even though I’ve given White the two bishops, I am about to play ...cxd4, when the b2-bishop will either get traded or blocked. By the way, you sometimes see this same idea (with reversed colors) in the Tartakower Variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. 8.Bxf3 cxd4 9.exd4 Be7 This is a subtle point, but why Be7 instead of Bd6? I’m expecting White to play c2-c4, in which case my bishop is better placed on e7. It may go to f6 someday to put pressure on White’s center. 10.c4 0–0 11.Nc3?!

6

In my opinion, here is where Stephen starts to go astray. I was expecting 11.Nbd2, when, for example, 11...dxc4 12.Nxc4 produces a dynamically equal position. Black is happy to saddle White with an isolated d-pawn, but now White gets a strong knight on e5 after all. 11...dxc4! 12.Bxc6 Due to the threat to

the d-pawn, White has to give up his two bishops. 12...bxc6 13.bxc4 Rb8 14.Rb1 Rb4 Simply attacking

the c-pawn. If I can provoke c4-c5 by White, then the b2-bishop will be bad to the bone. 15.Qd3 Qa5 16.Rfd1 Rfb8 17.Ba1 h6 Why not make luft when there’s a lull in the action? 18.Rxb4 Rxb4 19.Rb1 Rxb1+ 20.Qxb1 Bb4 21.Qb3 Bd6 Suddenly, White’s king is feeling a little alone... 22.g3 Very interesting

indeed would have been 22.c5!?, accepting the bad bishop but hoping to upset the coordination of Black’s pieces. 22...Qh5

3.Qb7? Now White is in deep trouble, as his queen

has sprinted off in the wrong direction. 23.Kg2 would have kept Black’s pieces out for the time being, since 23…Ng4 can be answered by 24.h3. 23...Ng4 24.Qc8+?? The final mistake: after the computer’s 24.h4 Qf5 25.Qb2 Qd3 26.d5!?, it doesn’t look pretty, but White can still at least hope for a miracle. 24...Kh7 25.h4 Qf5 Stephen resigned, since 26.Nd1 Qf3! is curtains for White. 0–1

With that fourth win, something happened that I don’t think has ever happened to me in my entire chess career: since everyone else was at least 1.5 points behind me, I had won the tournament with a round to spare. That was quite a luxury: I could go ahead and exhale, relax, and just enjoy my last round game—

I must say, it was a thrill to win both the Quick Chess and Blitz Championships in the very same year. What’s more, getting to cross swords with so many strong players along the way made the whole experience all the more fulfilling. Thanks to ACF and Freedom Chess Academy for making this very fun and competitive Quick Chess Championship possible. I hope next year that more players will step up and try to become Alabama’s next speed demon…

The Quick Chess Championship,

Take Two

Annotations by Scott Varagona and the Editor

Unlike Scott I made the decision to get as much bang for my buck as possible in the Freedom Chess Academy’s star tournament. I played the first three rounds in the Classic main section and took two byes in order to play in the Quick. This turned out to be a lucky decision as the miraculous score of 3.5/5 ended up being good enough for a 4-way tie for first.

The top players in Alabama are fickle; we often contact each other a few days before a tournament checking the attendance as we wish to meet each other on the field of battle. I was disheartened by Scott’s preference to not play in the Black Warrior Chess Challenge. It gave me only one option; play in both tournaments in order to get a shot at him. I was in dire need to get the monkey off my back from letting him escape in our last two games where I had him on the ropes.

I still have mixed feelings about the choice, if I stayed in the Challenge I definitely would have gotten a shot at Denton, or Burnett…until another day…Going from playing a three-hour per person game to a 25 minutes per person game was a tremendous transition I had not calculated on. I was jet lagged facing my younger and faster opponents in the first two rounds. I scored only a half point in the first two games. Then “Mister Bye” came to visit me for the first time in recent memory. It turned out the cold shower woke me up for this game, enjoy!

7

Tillis,Bryan (2027) - Varagona,Scott (2021) Alabama Quick Chess Championship, May 12, 2013 1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 c6 6.e3 Bd6

Scott: Moving the bishop twice? This may seem like just a goofy sideline, but even Karpov has played it—so, how bad can it really be? [6...Bf5 7.g4 Bg6 8.h4 a popular line] 7.Bg3 Ne7 8.Bd3 Nf5 9.Nge2 [9.Bxd6 Nxd6 10.Nge2 Bf5 11.Bxf5 Nxf5 12.Qd3 Nd6 13.0-0 0-0 14.f3 with a coming e4 break] 9...Nxg3 10.hxg3 [10.Nxg3 g6 11.0-0 0-0 12.Re1 f5 where Black is preferable] 10...g6 11.Nf4 [11.e4?! dxe4 12.Nxe4 Be7 13.Qc1 h5 14.0-0 0-0 15.Qc2 Nd7 16.Nd2 Bf6 17.Bc4 Kh8 18.Nf3 Nb6 19.Bb3 Bf5] 11...Qf6 12.Qc2 0-0 13.0-0-0 [13.Kf1 Nd7 14.Rb1 Nb6 15.b4 a6 16.a4 Qe7

17.b5 axb5 18.axb5 with an alternative plan to the game with a minority attack] 13...Re8 14.Rh4 Nd7 15.Rdh1 Nf8

Scott: Bent Larsen famously said, “With a knight on f8 I am never mated.” Indeed, it proves to be impossible for White to break through. It’s high time I turned my attention to the queenside. 16.Kb1 Bd7

Scott: Bryan might have had some deep reason for doing this. In my mind, however, there's no point in provoking ...b7-b6, because I want to do that anyway. 17.Na4 b6 18.Rh6 Rec8 19.Ka1 [19.Nc3 b5 20.Be2

Bf5 21.Nd3 a5 22.g4 Bxd3 23.Bxd3 a4 24.f4 finding a

way to get the kingside pawns rolling] 19...Qg5 20.Nc3 a5 21.Nb1 [21.e4 yet again finding another

way to get the kingside rolling for an attack 21...Bxf4 22.gxf4 Qxf4 23.R6h4 Qc7 24.f4 b5 25.e5 a4 26.f5 a3 27.b3 Qd8 28.g4+-] 21...a4 22.Nd2 a3 23.b3 c5 24.Nf3

Scott: The point of the long knight maneuver was to get to f3 and push my queen away from its protection of d5. However, I felt my attack was worth a pawn. 24...Qf6

Scott: Unexpected for Bryan; he told me afterwards he thought 24...Qd8 was coming, and indeed, that is also the computer’s preference. I wanted to keep an eye on b2, and also stay close to my king. 25.Nxd5 Qg7 26.Qc3 [26.e4 cxd4 27.Qd2 Bc6 28.Nxb6 Bxe4 29.Nxc8 Rxc8 30.Kb1 Bb4 31.Qe2 Bd5 32.R6h4+-; 26.Qd2 cxd4 27.e4] 26...Bc6

Scott: Stepping right into so many pins, skewers, and discoveries? Surely this can’t be good... 27.Be4?? I had two minutes to Scott's six at this point. 27...cxd4 Scott: In huge time pressure, we both missed some killer tactics. The computer coolly points out that 27...Bxd5! 28.Bxd5 cxd4 29.Qxd4 Qxh6!! Wins thanks to the back rank threat on c1. White can try to whip up a few shenanigans with 30.Bxf7+, but they don’t work. [27...f5? 28.Ng5! fxe4 29.Qc4 Bxd5 30.Qxd5+ Kh8 31.Nf7+ Kg8 32.Nxd6+ Kh8 33.Nxc8 Rxc8 34.R6h4+-] 28.Qxd4 Bxd5 29.Bxd5 Ra5 [29...Qxh6! 30.Rxh6 Rc1#] 30.Qxg7+

Scott: With the biggest danger to his king gone, White slowly consolidated his position. Unfortunately, I made several more mistakes that helped White out tremendously, and Bryan capitalized. I stumbled into a lost rook ending, found some possible swindling chances, but then went astray and had to resign. Bryan showed some nice technique near the end, for sure. 30...Kxg7 31.Bc4 b5 32.Bd3 Bb4 33.R6h4 Bc3+ 34.Kb1 b4 35.Rd1 Rac5 36.Rc4 Rxc4 37.Bxc4 Nd7 38.Nd4 1-0

8

The Dothan Classic

Annotations by the Editor

Goldsby,AJ (2200) - Blalock,Rex (2162) Dothan Classic, June, 1, 2013 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0 f6

[5...Ne7 This is the most fashionable line at the moment due to Magnus Carlsen's successful and frequent use. 6.Nxe5 Qd4 7.Qh5 g6 8.Qg5 Bg7 9.Nd3 f5 10.e5 c5 Where Black has compensation for the pawn due to White's uncoordinated pieces. This follows the line Caruana-Carlsen, 2010, 0-1.] 6.d4 Bg4 [6...exd4 7.Nxd4 c5 8.Nb3 Qxd1 9.Rxd1 Bg4

10.f3 Be6 A much more common continuation.] 7.dxe5 Qxd1 8.Rxd1 fxe5 9.Rd3 Bd6 10.Bg5 Ne7 11.Nbd2 b5 12.h3 Bh5

13.a4 Bf7 14.axb5 cxb5 15.c4 bxc4 16.Rc3 Bb4 17.Rc2 Bxd2 18.Nxd2?

The turning point in the game: this misplaces the knight, taking back with the bishop and keeping pressure on the e5 pawn much better. [18.Bxd2 Ng6 19.Bc3 where White’s better pawn structure and piece coordination leaves him with a much better ending.] 18...Nc6 now Black's game is easier to play and the ideas are straight forward from here on out 19.Be3 Nd4 20.Bxd4 exd4 21.Nxc4 d3 22.Rc3 Bxc4 23.Rxc4 we have reached an extremely complicated double rook ending. 23...0-0-0

24.Kf1 Kb7 25.Ke1 Such an innocent looking/straight

forward move takes away much of the advantage. [25.Rd1 Rd6 26.Rc3 Rhd8 27.f3 a5 28.Kf2 Rb6 29.Rd2 a4 30.Ke3 Rb4 31.Rcxd3+-] 25...Rhe8 26.Kd2 Re6 27.Ra3 Rb6 28.b4 better was: [28.Rxd3

Rxd3+ 29.Kxd3 Rxb2 30.Rc2 Rxc2 31.Kxc2 Kc6 32.f4 Kd6 33.Kc3 c5 34.Kc4 Kc6 35.e5 a5 36.f5 a4 37.g4 Kd7 38.h4 Ke8 39.g5 g6 40.f6 Kf7 41.Kc3=] 28...Rf6 29.f3 Rg6 30.Rxd3 Rxg2+ 31.Ke3 Rxd3+ 32.Kxd3 Rg3 33.Ke3 Rxh3 34.e5 Rh1 35.Ke4? [35.f4 g6 36.Kf3 h5 37.Kg2 Re1 38.Kf2 Rd1 39.Kg3 Rg1+ 40.Kf3 h4 41.Rc2 Rb1 42.Re2 h3 43.Kg4 Rxb4 44.Kxh3 Kc8 45.Kg4 a5 46.Kg5 Kd7 47.Rd2+ Ke6 48.Rc2 Kd7 49.f5 gxf5 50.Kxf5 Rb6 51.Rd2+ Ke8 52.Rd5 Ra6 53.e6 Rd6 54.Rxa5 Ke7=] 35...Rh4+ 36.f4 g5 37.Kf5 Rxf4+ 38.Rxf4 gxf4 39.Kxf4 [39.e6 f3 40.e7 f2 41.e8Q f1Q+ 42.Kg4 Qc4+ 43.Kg3 Qxb4 44.Qh5 a5-+] 39...Kc6 40.Kg5 Kd7 41.Kf6 Ke8 42.Ke6 h5 43.Kf5 Ke7 0-1

9

Clarence Kalenian

Annotations by Bryan Tillis

Clarence Kalenian, a valued member of the Dothan Chess Club, passed away on June 13, 2013, in Dothan, Alabama, at age 87. He graduated from Steinmetz High School of Chicago, Illinois; in 1943 where he was chess team captain. He served in the US Navy during WWII as an electronics technician and was stationed in San Francisco, Hawaii, and Midway. He won a checker tournament for Midway Island in 1946. He attended college at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), graduating in 1949 and was Chess Club president and IIT Chess Champion (’48-’49). At IIT he was pre-law and obtained a JD law degree in 1951 from the University of Miami and later practiced contract law at Philco Corp. and Amtrak. His father, who had once been Chicago checker champion, instilled in him a love of chess, checkers, and backgammon. He went on to win many amateur chess titles, including Miami champion in ‘50, Florida in ’50, twice for Philadelphia in the ‘60’s, Pennsyvania in ’64, New Jersey in ’69, the US amateur chess championship in ’71 making the cover of Chess Life & Review magazine:

He made national AP news when he took a Greyhound bus at age 86 from Dothan, Alabama to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and tied for first in the World Senior Amateur Open in 2012 at the age of 86.

He is in both the national Chess Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Chess Hall of Fame. A National Master and a multiple-time State Champion (Florida, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey), his longevity and dedication to chess has my full admiration. It was personally a great privilege to work with Clarence on achieving his goal of winning the World Senior Amateur. I was very impressed by his work ethic and passion. He was an amazing man who will be greatly missed. Here is one of his games showcasing his abilities with his favorite English Opening:

10

Kalenian,Clarence (1900) - Whitaker,Wendell (1420) Dothan Chess Club, July 19, 2011 1.c4 In my search for a game played by Clarence, I

received many emails mentioning the quality of character he presented through his decades of chess playing. Special thanks go to Dan Heisman for putting me in contact with many of Clarence's adversaries who all had something pleasant to say. 1...f5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3

e5 Here we have a colors reversed Grand Prix Sicilian. [3...g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 0-0 6.e4 fxe4 7.dxe4 d6 8.Nge2 c5 9.0-0 Nc6 This lines has grown in popularity for the Dutch users getting more of a Leningrad feel to the position.] 4.Bg2 c6 5.d3 [5.d4 e4 6.d5 Bb4 7.Bd2 Svidler-Carlsen 2012, 1/2-1/2] 5...Bb4 6.Bd2 0-0 7.Nf3 d6 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.a3 Bc5 10.b4 Bd4 11.e3 Bxc3 12.Bxc3 Qe7 13.Qc2 Nb6

14.Rfe1 [14.c5 Is the computer’s first choice, I am

inclined to agree with the more positional and restrained approach used in the game. 14...dxc5 15.Bxe5 cxb4 16.axb4 Qxb4 17.Bxf6 Rxf6 18.Rfb1 Qe7 19.Rxb6] 14...e4 15.Nd2 d5 16.c5 Nbd7 17.d4

[17.f3 The move in the game limits White’s dark squared bishop. This idea blows the position up in White’s favor.] 17...b6 18.Reb1 Ba6

19.Bf1 Bb7? [19...Bxf1 Taking the opportunity to trade the bad bishop for the good one is required for Black. 20.Nxf1 Rac8 21.a4 Qf7 22.cxb6 Nxb6 23.Qe2 with a roughly equal position] 20.a4 a6 21.Nb3 g5

22.b5 a5 23.cxb6 Nxb6 24.Nxa5 cxb5 25.Bb4 Qd7 26.Nxb7 Qxb7 27.Bxf8 Rxf8 28.Rxb5 The clean positional nature of this game really exemplifies the play of Petrosian, one of Clarence's favorite players. 1-0

11

Tribute to the Legend

Annotations by the Editor

Kasparov,Garry (2750) - Rachels,Stuart (2350) New York simul New York, 1988 1.d4 I would like to pay tribute to the greatest chess

player in the history of our state. In 1981, Stuart Rachels became the youngest chess master in the US at age 11. Seven years later, his greatest chess achievement surfaced as he tied for first place in the 1989 U.S. Championship. Currently Stuart is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Alabama, earning his doctorate in 1998 from Syracuse University. A video of this simul can be found on YouTube by searching: Kasparov vs. USA’s top 6:

1...Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 d6

[3...e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 White has more flexibility with the main move order.] 4.Nc3 g6 5.e4

Bg7 6.Bd3 0-0 7.Nge2 e6 8.0-0 [8.dxe6 Bxe6 In my database in six games Black wins all of them from this position, when White alleviates the tension in the center Black gets an easy game. For Example: 9.0-0 Nc6 10.f4 Bg4 11.Be3 Re8 12.h3 Bxe2 13.Qxe2 a6 14.Rad1 Qa5 15.a3 Rab8 16.Rfe1 Nd4 17.Bxd4 cxd4 18.Nd5 Nxd5 19.cxd5 f5 Torres - San Segundo, 0-1, 88] 8...exd5 9.cxd5 We have reached a standard

Benoni position, I have always felt that White has too many good options against the system. Black now has the one plan of queenside expansion while the first player takes space on the kingside and controls the key e5 square. 9...a6 10.a4 Prophylaxis, otherwise Black will get far too much play and easy development after b5+c4+Nbd7-c5 10...Qc7 11.h3 Nbd7 12.f4 Rb8 13.Be3 Re8 14.Ng3 c4 15.Bc2 Nc5 16.Qf3 b5 17.axb5 axb5 18.e5 dxe5 19.fxe5 Rxe5 20.Bd4 b4

[20...Rg5 21.Nge2 Bf5 22.Qe3 Bh6 23.Qe5 Qxe5 24.Bxe5 Re8 25.Bxf6 Bxc2 26.Nd4 b4 With a crazy position from Knaak - Postler, 77, 0-1.] 21.Bxe5 Qxe5 22.Rae1 Qd4+ 23.Kh1 Bxh3 24.Nce2 [24.Nce4

Keeps the equilibrium, after the text move Black is better by nearly a minor piece! 24...Nfxe4 25.Qxf7+ Kh8 26.Nxe4 Bf5 27.Nf2 Bd7 28.Ne4 Bf5 Repetition is the machine’s first choice.] 24...Qxb2 25.Qf4 Rc8 26.Bb1 Bd7 27.Nd4 Rf8 28.Nf3 c3 29.Qd6 Nb3?

The advantage begins to slip. Stuart was beginning to feel the weight of time pressure in this phase of the game versus the World Champion. [29...Rc8 30.Re2 Qb3 31.Nd4 Qxd5 32.Rxf6 Qg5 33.Ref2 Bxf6 34.Qxf6 Qxf6 35.Rxf6 Ne6 36.Nge2 Kg7 37.Rf2 Nxd4 38.Nxd4 Ba4-+ The pawns are too much.] 30.Ne5 Bb5 31.Rxf6 Bxf6 All advantage is gone after this move [31...Qd2 32.Re4 c2 33.Bxc2 Qxc2 34.Rxb4 Qc1+ 35.Kh2 Qg5 36.Rxf7 Qh6+ 37.Kg1 Qe3+ 38.Kh2 Qh6+=] 32.Qxf6 c2 33.Nf5 [33.Bxc2 Qxc2 34.Ng4 Qd2 35.Nh5 gxh5 36.Nh6+ Qxh6 37.Qxh6+-] 33...gxf5 34.Qg5+ Kh8 35.Qh6 Kg8 36.Bxc2 Qxc2 37.Re3 f4 [37...Qf2

38.Kh2 Nd2 39.Rg3+ Qxg3+ 40.Kxg3 Ne4+ 41.Kh2 Re8 42.Nf3 f6 43.Qe3 Bd7 44.Qb6 Kg7 45.Qb7+-] 38.Qxf4 Qc1+ 39.Kh2 f6 40.Rg3+ Kh8 41.Nf7+ Rxf7 42.Qb8+ 1-0