K-12 Championship Final Standings

2006 K-12 Championship Final Standings for Michigan Players
21 KAHN, AARON E 11 MIBERK MI 2177 5.5
51 WILDER, DEREK 12 MID002 MI 1711 5
67 CARTER, ASHLEY 10 MIMONR MI 1836 4.5
96 RAMAKRISHNAN, KALYA 12 MIMONR MI 1251 4.5
100 CANTY III, JAMES 12 MIBATE MI 1823 4
166 WILLIAMS, MARCUS 11 MIMURR MI 1615 3.5
186 PAULOVICH, GERALD KEVIN 12 MIMONR MI 1591 3.5
204 SMELCER, COLLIN 9 MIMONR MI 1261 3.5
221 CHAUDHURY, ISTHIER 11 MIE001 MI 1526 3
259 HOFFMAN, THOMAS 10 MIMONR MI 1275 3

Tactics from Derek Wilder

Derek Wilder (1711) played a sensational tournament at the National K-12 Championships finishing with 5/7. This is a position from his 7th round game against Daniel Rohde (1891). Here Derek is white and black is about to play Rf5 trapping the white queen. How did Derek save this position?

BND match vs. Eli Rogers

Rogers,E - Prong,C (1904) [C57]
Brand New Day Cafe, 04.20.2006
Two Knight's Defense: Ulvestad Variation [C57]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 b5 6.Nxf7?
Clearly white had better options. Surprisingly, Bf1 is the book response here. 6...Kxf7 7.dxc6+ bxc4
For the knight sacrifice, white has gotten 2 pawns. Furthermore, he has fractured the black queenside pawn structure and destroyed black's hope of castling. However, the pawn on c6 is not long for this game, and the lead that black has in development will not be going away anytime soon.
8.0-0 Qd5 9.Nc3 Qxc6 10.d3 cxd3 11.cxd3
Forced. On Qxd3 comes Ba6 with a skewer of the white queen and rook. I struggled with this move. I knew I wanted to develop a bishop, but finally I decided that Bc5 was stronger because it pinned the f2 pawn.
11...Bc5 12.h3 Bb7 13.Ne4
Taking the e4 knight looked scaryto me because after dxe4 the black king is exposed and the white queen has access to the d-file, in addition to the b3, f3 and h5 squares for potential checks.
13...Rad8
Pinning the d3 pawn, and causing the knight on e4 to become unprotected.
14.Ng5+ Ke7 15.Nf3 Rhe8 16.Bg5 Kf8 17.Be3 Bxe3 18.fxe3 Ba6
Now on Rc1 black plays Qb6, and will threaten the fork of the b2 and e3 pawns, in addition to winning the d3 pawn.
19.Ng5 Kg8
I looked at Bxd3, and it looked very good. However, I decided to get my king tucked away and play it safe, since I was ahead.
20.Rc1 Qb6 21.Re1 Rxd3 22.Qa4 Rxe3 23.Kh1 Rxe1+ 24.Rxe1 Qb5
Since black is up a piece and a pawn it is time to trade off the queens, which should remove most of the drawing chances that white might find.
25.Qa3 Qc6
This move has two purposes. On the surface it seems like it is simply an attempt to control the h1-a8 diagonal and pin the g2 pawn to the king. While that is true, it also has the added benefit of helping to control the square directly in front of the passed pawn. White now hits e4 2 times and gains control of the square so that the e pawn may be pushed one stepped closer to the promised land.
26.Nf3 e4
I wanted to play this move right away, but it is improtant to examine what you give up when you remove a piece from one square to move it to another. In this case I relinquished control of the d4 square. I decided this wasn't critical because I could move my queen to d6 with a gain of tempo, since white probably did not want to trade queens.
27.Nd4 Qd6 28.Qa4 e3 29.Nf5 Qd3
Protecting both the pawn on e3 and the bishop on a6. Furthermore, the queen attacks the knight on f5.
30.Nd4 Re4 31.Rd1


Rxd4
Temporarily giving back some material, but this is inconsequential since black will promote his pawn, and win the game.
32.Qxd4 Qxd4 33.Rxd4 e2


With no hope of stopping the pawn from queening. 0-1

Black to move: Mate in 4

This position comes from a G15 OTB game I played today. Can you find the combination?

BND match vs. Bob Mayer

Mayer,B (1045) - Prong,C (1798)
Brand New Day Cafe, 03.09.2006
Sicilian Defense: Closed Variation [B23]

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bb5
g3 and f4 seem to be the more common book lines for white. NCO does list Bb5 as an intersting sideline.
3...a6
Nd4 was the accurate response I didn't find.
4.Bxc6 bxc6
I captured towards the center in hopes of opening the center later with d5 and undoubling my c-pawns.
5.Nf3 e6 6.b3 d5 7.e5 Ne7 8.Ba3 Ng6 9.g3 Be7 10.h4
White is hoping to force the knight back to the eighth rank.
10...Qc7 11.Qe2 0-0?
While not losing material straight away, this seemingly logical move allows white to kick the g6 knight to h8, a horrible post for a knight.
12.Na4 Qa5 13.Qe3
h5 is still a better choice. It forces the retreat of the g6 knight to h8, and nearly stables the poor horse there permanently.
13...d4 14.Qe4 Bb7 15.h5 Nh8 16.0-0-0?
Missed tactic here. Nxd4 cxd4 allows white to win a pawn after Bxe7.
16...Rfe8 17.Nxc5
A terrible blunder.
17...Qxa3+ 18.Kb1


Bxc5
A positional error. The black bishop was controlling the critical g5 square. Now black will have to defend a fierce white attack.
19.Ng5 g6 20.hxg6 Nxg6 21.Nxh7
White gains tempo with Rxh7, because he needs to lift the h1 rook anyway to gain space for Rdh1. Sure the knight fork on f6 is good if white can get it in, but there is truly no chance that a good player will not find an adequate defense for that. 21...Kg7 22.Nf6 Rh8 23.Nh5+ Kf8
Black now has the option of fleeing with his king to the queenside if need be.
24.d3 Rd8
Preparing Bb4 followed by Bc3 and Qb2#
25.f4 Bb4 26.c3 dxc3 27.Rc1??
Qe2, Qg2 and Rh2 all allow white to play a few more moves.
27...Qb2# 0-1

2006 April Toledo Swiss

There was a good turn out today. There were 24 players in all, and a total of 5 in class A. Will Rhee shared first place with 3.5/4, and I shared the Class A Prize with John Gattinger and Ashley Carter, as we all score 3/4. I played Ashley to a draw, although I was up a pawn. I'm certain there was a way to win the game before I traded off queens. I will analyze the game sometime this week and post my analysis.

Rapid Tactics

I was playing white in this 5 minute game. It is black to move. He plays b6. How did I take advantage?