Grob Chess Club

Annotations by Les Kistler

U.S. AMATEUR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP (MIDWEST)
Arlington Heights, IL
February 18�20, 2001

In this tournament, our underrated team was pulling all kinds of heroics to stay near the top boards. We were always close to the top boards, thanks to our ability to defeat several higher�rated teams by the narrow margin of 2��1�.

John Cole on board 1 was a tower of strength against a difficult schedule. He defeated his low-rated first round opponent, then held firm against the onslaught of higher�rated masters, including a miraculous draw against FM Florin Felecan (2500). On second board, Josh Bousum (2040) was also holding his own, having already held a draw with a master while pounding lumps into his fellow experts. On board 3, I was having a bad tournament, having lost two games in a row. Before this round, I had one win, but I followed it up with two losses in a row, so I did not feel very confident. Our reserve player, Ron Yoder, had stepped in to win two games; in one round, his contribution gave me a much�needed �mental health� break while in another round Ron stepped in when Kevin Fyr overslept. Kevin Fyr, our board 4 player was 3�0 coming into this round, playing �clean up� on board 4.

In this round 5 match, we faced a very powerful team that seemed poised to sweep us off the board. On top board 1, John faced Angelo Young (2400), a strong Chicago player. Josh Bousum had to hold off IM Dominik Pedzich (2357) on board 2 while I had to play a �mere� master on board 3 (last year this same opponent wiped me off the board). Kevin Fyr was higher�rated on last board, so we placed most of our hopes here.

John Cole was playing very solid chess to hold off his higher�rated opponents, but in this round, however, he made an uncharacteristic error and Young completely overran his position. Bousum organized a very solid setup against IM Pedzich, and the game ended in a complete standstill when Black�s exchange sacrifice led nowhere. On board 4, Fyr was considerably higher rated, but his opponent sacrificed enthusiastically to expose the white king. At the critical moment however, Kevin�s opponent was unable to pull the trigger, and his attack ran out of gas.

With our team�s fortunes split on the other three boards, my game turned out to be the deciding one. After getting mulched by this opponent in last year's tournament, I had a healthy respect for his abilities. Despite my bad tournament, I managed to �pull myself together� with the following effort.

Ken Wallach (2227)�Les Kistler (1986)
Round 5, Board 2C
KING�S INDIAN DEFENSE
Annotated in 2001

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3
This center�reinforcing move makes Black�s counterplay difficult, in my opinion. This modest little pawn move solidifies the center, deprives Black access to g4, and prepares a kingside pawn storm with h4 and g4.

5. � 0�0 6. Bg5 c6 7. Qd2 e5
Now we can see the purpose of �c6 (denying access to d5); if the pawns are exchanged and queens traded, Black can quietly develop and improve his position while White gets no squares to establish a grip on the game. Black�s only weakness would at d6, but a white rook here can�t do any damage.

8. Nge2 Nbd7 9. 0�0�0 Qc7 10. Bh6?! b5!
The time limit for this game was a very slow 40 moves/2 hours. Up to this point, my opponent had used only 11 minutes, while I had already consumed 46 minutes. This thrust caused him to sink into a 23�minute trance, and during that time everybody else on my team started paying closer attention to this game. I think White should have played 10. g4 or 10. Kb1.

22. N1e2 Bxc4!! 23. bc
Even worse is 23. Qxc4? Rd8+ 24. Ke1 Rxd1+, and recapturing loses to � Nb2+.

23. � b3 24. Qb1 Qa5+ 25. Ke3 Qc5+
Not allowing the king to escape via f2.

26. Kd2 Rd8+
Probably the simplest: the white rook on d1 was important in defense, so I exchange it with one of my unused pieces.

27. Ke1 Rxd1+ 28. Qxd1 b2
Now it�s over. Probably the only reason White kept playing was because this was a team match.

29. Qxa4 Rxa4
An insignificant inaccuracy: 29. � b1=Q+ 30. Qd1 Qb4+ would�ve been �more crushing.�

30. Nc3 Ra1+ 31. Kd2 b1=Q 32. Nxb1 Rxb1 33. Bd3 Rb2+ 34. Kc1 Qa3 35. Bc2 Qc3 36. Kd1 Qxc2+ 37. Ke1 Rb1# (0�1).

At the end of this game, John Cole paid me a great compliment when he said to Kevin Fyr (with me standing nearby) �Sometimes Les plays a game that reminds us that we still must fear him.�

11. BXg7 Kxg7 12. Ng3 b4 13. Nce2 a5 14. Qg5?
This turns out to be completely meaningless. He hopes I will be frightened by the threat of 15. Nf5+ followed by 16. Qh6. However, since the black knights protect each other, Black can just capture the knight on his 16th move. After thinking for 9 minutes, I realized that I could just as easily let the c8 bishop capture on f5. The only thing to watch out for is 14. � h6?? 15. Nf5+.

14. � Nb6!
Suddenly Black�s queenside threats are becoming quite serious.

15. Ng1
A humiliating concession...Wallach saw no other way to protect his c�pawn since 15. b3 a4! is unappetizing.

15. � h6!
And now the proud white queen beats an abject retreat.

16. Qd2 Be6! 17. Qc2
Clearly bad is 17. d5? cd, and the pin along the c�file means White loses at least a pawn.

17. � a4
The threat is 18. � b3 19. ab ab 20. Qxb3 Ra4 (or 20. � Rfb8).

18. de de 19. b3 ab 20. ab Ra3 21. Kd2 Na4!!
Now everybody on both teams was paying attention to this game. The fish on board 3 had some sharp teeth! Capturing the knight leads to disaster after 22. ba b3, and the rook will escort the b�pawn to coronation, possibly with the help of the zwischenzug � Qa5+. Refusing the knight sacrifice allows the knight to land on c3--also horrible for White.

after 10...b5!

after 21...Na4!