Chess

New York news

David Goodman

The 8th Annual Frank J. Marshall International, with 5 GMs and 13 IMs, was the strongest Swiss International, apart

from Lone Pine, ever held in the United States.

The tournament (held in mid-April at Bill Goichberg and Steve Immitt's Chess Center in New York) resulted in two and probably three GM norms for the winners — Interna- tional Masters Igor Ivanov, Dmitri Gurevich and Eugene Meyer, who scored 8/11. Ivanov needed to play one more foreigner for his norm to be secure, but given that he already had the required number of points with one round to go, Fide should give him credit for a norm. Meyer, who is less well known interna- tionally than the other winners, studied at LSE for a year, and is currently writing a book devoted to those Soviet emigre players who now live in the West. In fourth place with 71/2 were GMs Henley, Quinteros and 17-year- old Max Dlugy, who missed a GM norm by a half-

point. Also noteworthy was the achieve- ment of 11-year-old Evan Turtel who became, it is believed, the youngest player ever to draw with an IM in a tournament game. As for myself, I started with 31/2 /4 including a win against GM Kuligowski, but faded, finishing in the middle of the field.

The Chess Center is on West 14th St. at the northern edge of Greenwich Village. This enables the players to enjoy the ex- cellent late night bars and restaurants in the area. Bill Goichberg welcomes all players to the summer International played from 10 to 20 July following the 4 July World Open Tournament.

Quinteros — Meyer: Frank Marshall Interna- tional; King's Indian Sarnisch.

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 f3 0-0 6 Bg5 Very fashionable. White aims to transpose to a Benoni where f3 strengthens his centre and the B is well placed on the annoying h4-d8 diagonal. 6 ... c5 7 d5 h6 8 Be3 eh 9 Qd2 Kh7 Necessary sooner or later, though the h pawn is at the mo- ment indirectly defended due to ... Nxe4 and ... Qh4 + . 10 Nge2 exd5 11 exd5 a6 12 a4 Nbd7 13 Ncl?! An interesting idea to regroup on the Q-side though 13 Ng3 followed by Bet, 0-0, h3 and f4 is more thematic, and probably bet-

ter.I3 Rb8 14 Bet Re8 15 0-0 Ne5 16 Khl Qa5 17 Qc2 17 h3 can be met by 17 ... Nh5 or

17 ... g5 holding the dark squares and entrench- ing the N at e5. 17 .. , Bd7 18 Nb3? Far more circumspect would have been 18 Ra3 forestall- ing ... b5 resulting in a dynamic equilibrium.

18 ... Qd8 Not really a retreat as the White N will later be embarrassed by a pawn rush on the Q-side. 19 Nd2 b5 20 axb5 axb5 21 b4? Missing Black's 22nd. There was still time for b3 slowing

Position after 22 Na2

down the advance. 21 ... cxb4 22 Na2 (Dia- gram) 22 ... Nxd5! 23 exd5 Nc4 A very elegant combination. Suddenly all White's pieces seem to be misplaced. Black is threatening ...

Bxal, Nxe3 and a later Rxe2, whereas capturing on c4 leaves White vulnerable to forks on b3. With so much en prise White is lost. 24 Bxc4 24 Nxc4 bxc4 25 Bf2 fails to 25 ... b3 26 Qxc4 Bxal 27 Rxal bxa2. 24 ... bxc4 25 Rabl b3 26 Nxb3 Bf5: 27 Qxc4 Bxbl 28 Rxbl Rxe3 White resigns. A fine first round win from Meyer.

This newsletter is one of a series which International Master David Goodman will be sending occasionally from New York.