The Field Thins, Then Widens at PanAms

The 230-player Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship in San Francisco continues to run with an efficiency that permits the drama to remain strictly on the boards, as 53 four-board teams jockey for one of the many titles at stake in the four-day, six-round annual event. In a tense endgame Friday night, Texas Tech’s top gun GM Andrey Baryshpolets scored an important round-three upset as White over MIT’s GM Parimarjan Negi, number 106 in the world. Baryshpolets first converted a bishops-of-opposite-color endgame into lone bishop and king versus king and four pawns. Then he deflected Negi’s bishop with suicide pawn-promotion to force a three-pawns-versus bishop setup that was hopeless for Black. Here’s the whole game, with notes by GM Baryshpolets.

[pgn]

[Event "Pan-American Intercollegiate"]
[Site "San Francisco"]
[Date "2018.12.28"]
[White "Baryshpolets, Andrey"]
[Black "Negi, Parimarjan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2578"]
[BlackElo "2656"]
[Annotator "Andrey"]
[PlyCount "191"]
[EventDate "2018.12.27"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Nf3 c6 6. Ne5 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 Be7 8. e3
O-O 9. Nxc4 (9. a4 c5) (9. O-O b5) 9... Nbd7 10. O-O (10. Nc3 Qc7 11. Rc1 e5
12. O-O (12. d5 Nc5)) 10... Qc7 11. e4 (11. a4 $1 e5 12. a5 $14) 11... e5 12.
dxe5 (12. Nc3 $142 exd4 (12... Rd8 13. Rc1) 13. Bf4 Qd8 14. Qxd4 Nb6 (14... Nc5
15. Bd6 $16) 15. Nd6 Ne8 16. Rfd1 Nxd6 17. Bxd6 Bxd6 18. Qxd6 Be6 19. b3 $14)
12... Nxe5 13. Nxe5 Qxe5 14. Bc3 Qc7 15. Nd2 Be6 16. Qe2 Rad8 17. Rfd1 (17. h3
Qd7 18. Kh2 Qd3) 17... Qc8 18. Nc4 Bh3 19. Bxf6 (19. Ne3 Bxg2 20. Nf5 $1 Qe6
21. Kxg2 $14) 19... Bxf6 20. Nd6 (20. e5 Bxg2 21. Kxg2 (21. exf6 Bd5 $13) 21...
Qe6 22. f4 Be7 $11) 20... Qg4 (20... Bg4 $1 21. f3 Qc7 (21... Qe6 22. Nxb7) 22.
e5 Be6 23. Nxb7 (23. f4 Be7 $15) 23... Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 $13) 21. f3 Qh5 22. Bxh3
Rxd6 (22... Qxh3 23. e5 Qe6 24. Nxb7 $14) 23. Rxd6 Qc5+ 24. Kh1 Qxd6 25. Rd1
Bd4 26. f4 c5 27. b3 g6 28. e5 Qe7 29. Bg2 h5 30. h4 b6 31. Kh2 Kg7 $11 32. Bd5
f6 (32... Rd8 33. Bc4 $14) 33. exf6+ (33. e6 f5) 33... Bxf6 34. Qxe7+ (34. Qf3
Re8 35. Bc4 Bd4 36. f5 $13) 34... Bxe7 35. Re1 (35. Bc4) 35... Bf6 36. Bc4 Rd8
37. a4 Rd6 (37... Rd2+ 38. Kh3 (38. Kh1) 38... Rd6) 38. Re8 Bd8 (38... Rd8 39.
Re6 Rd7 40. Rc6 Re7 41. Kg2 Rd7 42. Kf3 Bc3 (42... Re7 43. Bd5 (43. a5)) 43. g4
) (38... a5 39. Kg2 Bc3 40. Re7+ Kh6 41. Kf3) 39. Kg2 Kh7 40. Kf3 Kg7 41. Rg8+
Kh7 42. Rf8 Rd7 (42... a5 $5 $14) 43. Be6 Kg7 (43... Rd6 44. Rf7+ Kh6 45. f5)
44. Rg8+ Kh7 45. Rf8 Kg7 46. Rg8+ Kh7 47. Rxg6 Rd3+ 48. Ke2 (48. Ke4 Rxb3 49.
Rg8 Rb4+ 50. Ke5 Rd4 51. Rf8 $1 $18) 48... Kxg6 (48... Rxb3 49. Bf5 Kh8 $16)
49. Kxd3 Bf6 50. Bd7 (50. Kc4 Bd4 51. Kb5 Bf2 (51... c4 $5) 52. Ka6 Bxg3 53.
Kxa7 c4 (53... Bf2 54. Bc4) 54. Bxc4 Bf2 55. Bd3+ (55. Be6 b5+ 56. Kb7 bxa4 57.
bxa4 Bg3 $11) 55... Kf6 56. Ka6) 50... Bd4 51. Be8+ Kh6 52. Ke2 a6 53. Bc6 Bc3
(53... b5 54. axb5 (54. Bxb5 $1 a5 (54... axb5 55. axb5 $18)) 54... axb5 55.
Bxb5) 54. Bb7 a5 55. Bc6 Bd4 56. Kf3 Bc3 57. Be8 Be1 58. Bd7 (58. g4 hxg4+ 59.
Kxg4 Kg7 60. h5 Kf6 61. h6 Bc3 62. Kf3 Ke7 63. Bh5 Bh8 64. Ke4 Kd6 $11) 58...
Kg6 59. Be8+ Kh6 60. Bf7 Bc3 61. Kf2 Bd4+ 62. Ke2 Bc3 63. Kf3 Be1 64. Be8 Bc3
65. Ke2 Bd4 66. Bc6 Bc3 67. Bf3 Bf6 68. Be4 Bd4 69. Bd3 Bc3 70. Bc4 Bd4 71. Kf3
Bc3 72. Bd3 Be1 73. Bc2 Kg7 74. Bd1 Kg6 75. Be2 Kg7 76. Kg2 Kh6 77. Bd1 Bc3 78.
Kf2 Bf6 79. Bc2 Bc3 80. Bf5 Kg7 81. Bd7 Kh6 82. Kf3 Be1 83. f5 Bc3 84. Be8 Bf6
$2 (84... Be5 85. Bg6 (85. g4 hxg4+ 86. Kxg4 Kg7 87. Kf3 Kf8 88. Bg6 Ke7 89.
Ke4 Bf6 90. h5 Kd6 91. h6 Bd4 92. h7 Bh8 $11) 85... Bd6 86. g4 hxg4+ 87. Kxg4
Kg7 88. Kf3 Be7 89. h5 Bg5 90. Ke4 Kf6 91. Kd5 Be3 92. Kc6 Kg5 (92... c4 93.
bxc4 Kg5 94. Kd7 (94. Kd5 Kf6 95. Kd6 Bc5+ 96. Kd7 Bf8) 94... Kf6 95. Ke8 Bh6
96. Bh7 Kg7) 93. Kxb6 c4+ 94. Kxa5 cxb3 95. Kb4 b2 96. f6 Kxf6 97. Kc3 $11) 85.
Ke4 $1 $18 (85. Bg6 Be7 $11) 85... Bc3 86. Kd5 Be1 87. Kc6 Bxg3 (87... Bf2 88.
Bf7 $18) 88. Kxb6 Be1 89. f6 Bc3 90. Kb5 Bb4 91. Bxh5 Kxh5 92. f7 c4 93. bxc4
Kg6 94. f8=Q (94. c5 Kxf7 95. c6) 94... Bxf8 95. Kxa5 Be7 96. Kb5 1-0[/pgn]

At midpoint at the end of Friday night’s play, only four teams had kept a perfect score: Webster-B UT-Rio Grande Valley-A Texas Tech-A Webster-A https://twitter.com/bayareachess/status/1078752017646989312 Saturday morning saw Texas Tech’s top squad set back UTRGV-A as Boards 1-3 all drew, but IM Evgen Shtembuliak of Tech came through with the critical win on Board 4. Meanwhile, Webster-B pulled off a similar 2.5-1.5 win over UT Dallas-A when GM Vasif Durarbayli’s beat GM Razvan Preotu on Board 3. So Saturday evening’s penultimate round set the top table as the battlefield for the only two teams with perfect scores, Webster-B and Texas Tech-A. Tech’s top board Baryshpolets notched another big win, this time with Black over GM Alex Shimanov, while Boards 2 and 3 drew. But Webster-B’s GM Emilio Cordova pulled out a clutch victory on Board 4, tying the match. So, once narrowed, the leaders widened just a bit to a field of three with 4 ½ : Texas Tech A, Webster-A, and Webster-B. UTRGV-A came back within reach of the title and collected a lot of tiebreaks with a 4-0 sweep of UT Dallas-D (yes, they’re that deep!) that included this sharp, risk-taking win by GM Andrey Stukopin over NM Sungho Yim on Board 3.

[pgn]

[Event "2018-Pan-Am-Intercollegiate"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[White "Yim, Sungho"]
[Black "Stukopin, Andrey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D45"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[WhiteClock "0:38:19"]
[BlackClock "0:56:54"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. b3 O-O 8. Be2
b6 9. O-O Bb7 10. Bb2 Qc7 11. Rad1 e5 $5 (11... Rfe8) 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. dxe5
Nxe5 14. Nd4 Neg4 15. g3 Be5 16. h3 $2 (16. Qf5 $18) (16. Rc1 $18) 16... Nxe3
$1 17. fxe3 Bxd4 18. exd4 Qxg3+ 19. Kh1 Qxh3+ 20. Kg1 Qg3+ 21. Kh1 Rac8 22. Rf3
$19 ({Lifting the other rook is better:} 22. Rd3 Qh4+ 23. Kg2 Ne4 24. Rh3 Qg5+
25. Kh2 Rxc3 26. Bxc3 Bc8 27. Rd3 Qh4+ {, when Stockfish assesses the position
at 0.00, despite the remaining complexities after a line like} 28. Kg2 Qg5+ 29.
Kh2 Qh4+ 30. Kg2 Ng5 31. Be1 Qe4+ 32. Kh2 Bf5) 22... Qh4+ 23. Kg2 Ne4 24. Rh1
Qg5+ 25. Kf1 f5 26. Rg1 Nd2+ $1 27. Kf2 Qh4+ {White decided to fold. After 28.
Kg2, Black is certainly winning, but perhaps Yim could have played on to see
the hold cards. For example:} 28. Kg2 Qg4+ 29. Rg3 Qxe2+ 30. Nxe2 Rxc2 31. Kh1
Rf7 32. Bc1 Rfc7 33. Bxd2 Rxd2 34. R3g2 Rxa2 0-1[/pgn]

But none of these teams should get over-confident. The math shows that, going into Sunday morning’s final round, 12 teams from seven different universities are still in the running. Five teams have collected four points out of five. Four more teams are at 3 ½. As the teams head to their hotel rooms anticipating the 9 a.m. start, at least they know they can skip the morning wait at a restaurant in favor of a continental breakfast in the playing room sponsored by the US Chess Trust. At wakeup, Texas Tech-A must face another yet another of Webster’s GM squads, this time the A-team, on Table 1. Webster B will play the top team at 4.0, UTRGV-A. Two scholarship teams with 4.0 will take on some relatively dark horses in the same score group. UTD-A faces University of Maryland Baltimore County-A, led by GM Tanguy Ringoir. SLU-B takes on Harvard, also with a tough GM at its top this year, Darwin Yang. The top four US teams will go on to the Final Four, the playoff for the national championship on April 6-7 at Marshall Chess Club in New York City sponsored by Two Sigma and Booz Allen Hamilton. No college gets more than one team in that competition, however. Five division titles, an international title, the Top Community College trophy, individual board prizes and upset prizes remain to be determined as well. Three teams are in competition for the recently included Mixed Doubles championship, Michigan, Texas Tech-B, and Alaska Pacific. The same Alaska Pacific squad, all sporting their trade mark furs, has been in the race for Best Small College, along with Oberlin (a multiple-time winner under Coach Constantine Ananiadis), and Northwest U., with Expert Benjamin Mukumbya and WCM Phiona Mutesi, the inspiration for the book and film Queen of Katwe, on its top two boards. One tense round remains. https://twitter.com/bayareachess/status/1078707226708078593 Look for more CLO reportage by Al Lawrence upon the event's conclusion and follow @USChess on twitterfor takeovers by Vanessa Sun and BayAreaChess for photos by David Llada. Pan-American Chess Quick Links:  Website Pairings Link  Twitter hashtag #PanAmChess Live Game Link  Official Twitter with Photos by David Llada