North Carolina Chess Association
NCCA officers
Charles Roberson – President
John Timmel – First Vice President
Grant Oen – Scholastic Vice President
Wayne H. Spon – Secretary/Treasurer
North Carolina Gambit – June 2022
Contributors
Dr. Walter High
Charles Roberson – Editor
John Timmel
B. Rosson Davis
Web support, edit, and distribution
John Timmel
In this issue, you will find:
Charles – Charity GM Simul for Red Cross Ukraine relief
and Report on 2022 NC Girls State Chess Championships
John – Simul Games and this month’s “To Move and Win”
B. Rosson Davis – WHAT IS THIS MESMERIZING GAME
We’re looking for contributors to the Gambit!
Submit your games, articles, etc. to the editor Charles Roberson at croberson2@triad.rr.com
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Report on Charity GM Simul for Red Cross Ukraine Relief
by Charles Roberson
On Friday June 3, a Charity GM Simul for Red Cross Ukraine relief was held in Burlington, NC at the Country Inn and Suites. This was a hybrid simul thus it was both OTB and online. Even the OTB games were displayed online via chess.com and a web app created by Chacha at chessstream.com. It was organized by Charles Roberson, John Timmel and Wayne Spon of the NCCA board. GM Elshan Moradiabadi played 12 opponents OTB and 5 online opponents with the games being broadcast online and spectators watching. WGM Sabina Foisor led the team of her, Chris King, and John Timmel giving live commentary on the live games via her twitch channel.
The commentary was lively and excellent. At one point, the broadcast was raided by GM Ben Finegold's broadcast which put them over 500 spectators. Donations came in from several places: the OTB players, the online players, the broadcast spectators and the Country Inn and Suites. The Country Inn and Suites generously donated the room for the event and the room used for the online commentary. Elshan, all the organizers, commentators and the hotel provided their services 100% free of charge to get more money to the Red Cross. Elshan chose giving the money to the Red Cross because he is a pacifist and prefers that none of the money makes it to munitions.Elshan won all of the games against players rated from 200 to 1900+ and ages’ kid to seniors.
The was to start around 6:30 PM but was delayed about 10 minutes due to a tech issue and lasted to 10:30 PM. The event raised close to $2000 with a few donations still out. All participants reported that they enjoyed the event immensely. The games can still be found on
at this url https://www.chess.com/events/2022-ukraine-red-cross-charity-moradiabadi-chess-simul/games Also see select games under "To Move and Win".
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Report on 2022 NC Girls State Chess Championships
by Charles Roberson
On Saturday June 4, the 2022 NC Girls State Chess Championships was held in Burlington, NC at the Country Inn and Suites. The tournament was organized and TD’d by Charles Roberson with assistance from John Timmel and Wayne Spon. It was a one day event with a time control of G/45 d5. There were two sections: Open and U1300. The U1300 section had a U700 class.
Everyone had a good time and to Charles’ surprise all the parents were very well behaved. 😀 As is usual, none of the U1300 games came close to consuming the entire time control and many of the U700 games finished in under 15 minutes. On the other hand, the Open section games consumed much more time including some that came down to less than 1 minute for each side.
If you want to know how to get a rating above 1000, you take a pointer from the higher rated girls: take your time and look at all your choices – don’t just make the first entertaining move you see.
The open section ended with Asha Kumar undefeated in a clear first place, but this wasn’t guaranteed. In the last game, Asha was winning vs Emilyn Doan then she suffered from an over confident blunder. This led to an exciting endgame where both girls were in severe time trouble with Asha winning the endgame. There was a tie for second between Bonnie He and Emilyn Doan; both with 2 points. The tie was broken by a two game blitz match at G/10. Bonnie won the first game and the second game was drawn so Bonnie claimed the second place trophy.
Asha Kumar received the first place trophy and a $200 scholarship from the Country Inn and Suites by Radisson which was presented by sales manager Katie Dukeshire-Geoffrion. Asha will be NC’s representative at the Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions in California in July. She will receive an $800 stipend to assist with travel expenses from the NCCA.
The U1300 section ended with a clear victor and a clear second place. Thia Doan took first place with an undefeated score of 4.0 (4 wins) and Pradeeksha Bhaskar took second with 3 points with her only loss being to Thia. The U700 class wasn’t as clean. There was a 4 way tie for 1st place and only two trophies. Sri Gundala, Tanvi Tubati, Max Kirschbaum and Mia Rajan tied for first with 2 points. For some reason Max left early so the three remaining girls had a blitz (G10) round robin play off with Tanvi winning and Sri finishing in a clear second.
The NCCA wishes all of the competitors good luck with their future in chess.
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To Move and Win!
By John Timmel
Select Games from the GM Moradiabadi charity simul
White GM ELSHAN MORADIABADI Black DANIEL BOCK 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bd3 This line changes the characteristics of the Sicilian to a more positional game with White having more space. Seen frequently in Sergey Karjakin blitz games, as well as many other top GMs. e5 7. Nde2 Be7 8.O-O O-O 9. f4 b5 10. a3 Bb7 11. Ng3 Nc6 12. Kh1 Rc8 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Nb8 15. Nf5 Bf6 16. fxe5 Bxe517. Nh6+ gxh6? 18. Qg4+ Kh8 19. Qf5 1-0
White GM ELSHAN MORADIABADI Black GARRET ALLEN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. a3 a5 7. Bd3 cxd4 8. cxd4 Bd7 9. Bc2 Nge7 10. Nc3 g6 11. Na4 Qa7 12. h4 Bg7 13. h5 O-O? - castling into it. This sort of move happems when the GM comes around to your board and you have to move immediately. 14. Bg5 Rfc8 15.hxg6 hxg6 16. Qd2 Nf5 17. Bxf5 exf5 18. Bh6 Bh8 19. Bg5 f6
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Rxh8+ Kxh8 21.Bxf6+ Kh7 22. Qf4 1-0
White GM ELSHAN MORADIABADI Black DAVID BOYD
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Bxd7+ Bxd7 7. c4 Qa5+ 8.Nc3 Qc5
Hoping to escape to an even ending, but instead, Black is just losing in all lines.
9. Qxc5 dxc5 10. Nd5 Rb8 11. Bf4 Rc8 12. Nb6 Rc6 13. Nxd7 Kxd7 14.Ne5+ Ke8 15. Nxc6 bxc6 16. O-O-O Nf6 17. f3 Nd7 18. Rd3 e5 19. Rhd1 Nb6 20.Rd8+ Ke7 21. Be3 Nd5 22. R8xd5 cxd5 23. Bxc5+ Ke6 24. exd5+ Kd7 25. Bxf8 Rxf8 26.Kd2 Kd6 27. Kc3 Rb8 28. b4 a5 29. c5+ Kd7 30. a3 axb4+ 31. axb4 Ra8 32. b5 Ra4 33. Kb3 Ra8 34. d6 1-0
White GM ELSHAN MORADIABADI Black CHRISTIAN GANGITANO
1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Ne5 Bh7 8.Qh5 g6 9. Qf3
This line of the Caro-Kann is losing for Black as White demonstrates.
Nf6 10. Qb3 e6 11. Qxb7 Nbd7 12. Nxc6 Qc8 13. Ba6 Nb6 14. Qxc8+ Rxc8 15. Bxc8 Nxc8 16. b3 Bg7 17. Bb2 Kd7 18. Ne5+ Ke7 19. Ba3+ Ke8 20. O-O-O Nd5 21. Rhe1 Nf4 22. Re4 g5 23. Rc4 Nb6 24. Rc5 Bxe5 25. Rxe5 gxh4 26. Nh5 Nd7 27.Ra5 Nxh5 28. Rxh5 Bf5 29. Rxh4 Nf6 30. f3 Nd5 31. c4 Nb6 32. d4 h5 33. g4 1-0
Solutions to last month’s problems
Dominique Myers
Elshan Moradiabadi
33. Rxb2 Qxb2 34. Nd4 1-0
Dominique Myers
Anthony Parker
15….Qg3! Shower the board with Bitcoin!! 0-1
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WHAT IS THIS MESMERIZING GAME?
By B. Rosson Davis © 2022
The sword, the mind is swift. The greatest warrior is he who conquers himself.
Precision cuts keenly through the feint, the ruse, across the board, across the battlefield.
Discover, defend, defeat. This game, Chess, invades civilized nations. A game that
eschews the tyranny of chance. Against all odds, and with its unforgiving rules, the game
of Chess has lasted centuries. Chess brings victory to the intellect. Not just a simple game,
Chess is also a science, an art, an intellectual endeavor. Life is a kind of chess— “in which
we have points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which
there is a vast variety of good and ill events (moves), that are in some degree, the effects of
prudence or want of it.” This insight from Ben Franklin’s essay, The Morals of Chess.
This is the game that hovers between heaven and earth, played by great men and
unknown strangers. This game is a unique lassoing of opposites, ancient, yet eternally
new. Chess is an activity of the imagination, limited to a fixed geometric area, 64 squares,
but unlimited in its permutations, constantly evolving over centuries. Perhaps … it is a
mathematics calculating nothing? An Art form without artwork? Architecture without
substance? Yet … more durable in its essence, and myriad of forms, its patterns of
possibilities, than all the books, theorems, laws, and constellations, the only game
played by people of all races, ages, status, gender, religions, royalty, celebrities, and
common folk throughout human history. What is the purpose of Chess? To sharpen the
mind? To deaden boredom? To fortify the spirit? To “play at war“ on a bloodless
battlefield? Benjamin Franklin pointed out that Chess teaches: Foresight, Circumspection,
Caution, and Perseverance. (I suggest Chess be taught in schools, starting in 3rd grade!)
It takes a certain type of individual, of either sex, special geniuses with apparent
gifts of imagination, patience and skill. One wonders if there is a special convolution in
their gray matter, a kind of “chess muscle”– that produces its own chess wizards who
have an affinity and an aptitude for this unique ingenious game. Does a player get
fulfillment from the mere to-and-fro, forward-and-back of thirty-two pieces? From the
power of a mere pawn, or, a Queen sacrificed. Or, consider that some players spend
decades devoted to the game’s ridiculous end of cornering a wooden King on a wooden
board.
If we are watching a match, a close match, between evenly-skilled, well-matched
players, can we, as observers, discern the player who plays for the pure delight of playing,
when we cannot discern the intentions of either player, or make out who has the
advantage? We are such novices, having no idea about the possibilities, or outcome of this
elusive game.
To play the game, in all its nuances, the game of Chess, like love, surrenders to an
unknown attraction, and must be played with a partner, in this case, an opponent... and,
in some cases, they are no longer opponents testing their abilities in a spirit of play, but
enemies resolved to annihilate each other… with the exquisite power in a single move!
Sometimes, the “self” plays itself, a solitary player playing Black and White– sort of
an artificial schizophrenia, or divided consciousness. And, then there is, for some players,
the desire for vengeance, fanatically channeled into their game. These players work them-
selves into a state of almost manic excitement, despite their calm demeanor and attuned
thinking, at the beginning and throughout their game. For some, how many games are
played with obvious insatiability, or, played against themselves, whether in confinement,
incarceration, or by circumstance. And, consider how the pleasure in playing becomes a
desire to play, and the desire to play becomes a compulsion to play, a mania, a frenzy
which permeates all their waking hours, even their sleep. This unquenchable thirst for
Chess is like a fever of constatnt thinking and playing.
Call this a pathological form of mental overstimulation– “chess sickness” —
a monsterous monomaniacal obsession with the game. It attacks the body as well as the
mind. Anyone who has suffered this mania is at risk of madness, with relapses of “chess
sickness” possible at any given moment, a fevered chess game becomes a delirium of
play, a kind of “dream chess” you cannot shake, with all the synptoms of abnormal
excitation becoming appalingly apparent as one has less and less self-control. In certain
situations, in this quiet madness, the chess-addict seems almost ready to explode, resign,
disappear, or commit suicide.
Avid chess players develop a taste for more complexity, risk, confrontations in
surrendering their minds to Chess, stretching the imagination with the game’s infinite
possibilities. This immortal game excites the brain, challenges the intellect with the
dynamic struggle of mind against mind, and, with all the game’s unpredictable outcomes.
Chess enhances one’s spirit and stamina, creates a love for this intellectual endeavor.
Chess is forever elegant, a game of perfect information, as all the variables are always
known to all players. Nothing is hidden. Yet, those who play chess glean insights into an
inner world— the mind always churning to find solutions— the confrontations of each
player’s personality revealed. Chess—a war played out with outside world cut off.
Time cannot erase power plays, the best defense, each new variation, indelible
games will, perhaps, reveal the ultimate power-play in a single move. The brain obsessed,
each opponent primed to challenge, attack, defend and conquer Kings. Queens rule.
Chess captivates with its mesmerizing power transformaing the human brain.
WC: 942