Organizing a tournament right after the North American Open and right before the Golden State is never easy. Yet, we had more than 100 excited players join us for the 2018 New Year Championship in a new venue, the Biltmore Santa Clara.
While missing many of our regular titled players, we did not lack excitement, nail biting games and surprising upsets.
BAC New Year's Champion FM Rayan Taghizadeh (playing White) against NM Sijing Wu in Round 4
Please read the amazing Michael Aigner, aka Fpawn’s commentary on the MVG (most valuable game) of the tournament, Round 4 between FM Rayan Taghizadeh and Sijing Wu:
21st century chess. No doubt computers influence the way we play the royal game. Masters of yesteryear would hardly consider some opening variations of today, simply because they violate basic principles. While Botvinnik would roll over in his grave, the Almighty Machine gives its approval. In this Board 1 matchup, both contestants were born in this new era. Are you ready to rrrrrrummmmble?
[pgn][Event "New Year Open"] [Site "Biltmore Hotel, Santa Clara"] [Date "2018.01.06"] [Round "4"] [White "Taghizadeh, Rayan"] [Black "Wu, Sijing"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2427"] [BlackElo "2159"] [PlyCount "131"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"]1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 c5 3. e3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Nbd2 {The game begins with a simple classical setup. Nimzowitsch played Nc3 against Alekhine while von Bardeleben chose c4 against Tartakower.} Qb6 6. dxc5 Qxb2 {The Queen goes shopping for pawns. This position first appears in databases from the 1990s.} 7. Rb1 Qc3 8. Bd3 Nd7 9. Rb3 {Older folks would castle and get on with life. Alas, the temptation to chase ladies lures the young.} Qxc5 10. Rb5 Qc3 11. O-O e5 12. Nb1 {Now the method of White's madness becomes clear: the enemy Queen is running out of squares!} Qa1 13. Qd2 {Threatening Nc3 to trap the lady.} Qxa2 14. Bg3 $6 ({The machine suggests} 14. Nc3 Qa3 15. Nxd5 Qd6 16. Bg3 {with dynamic compensation for the sacrificed pawn.}) 14... a6 15. Nc3 Qa3 16. Rb3 Qa5 {Black holds onto two extra pawns despite moving the Queen 9 times in the first 16 moves. Now if only he could castle...} 17. e4 Nd4 $2 ({Behind in development, Black should close the center to shield his monarch from the attack.} 17... d4 18. Nd5 Qxd2 19. Nxd2 Rb8) 18. Nxd4 exd4 19. exd5 dxc3 { Instead, Black chooses to win a Knight while burning his King position. Kids, don't try this at home!} 20. Re1+ Kd8 $2 ({Black could still return the piece to castle safely.} 20... Be7 21. Qe3 O-O 22. Qxe7) 21. Qe3 Nf6 22. Rxc3 $5 { This wild tactic wins the Queen. However, the engine prefers d6, dominating the dark squares near the King.} Bd7 ({Accepting the Rook sacrifice allows a beautiful checkmate.} 22... Qxc3 $4 23. Qb6+ Kd7 24. Bf5#) 23. Bc7+ Qxc7 24. Rxc7 Kxc7 {Black has lost his Queen and his King lacks shelter, but who cares? At least he has an extra Rook and two Bishops for the lady.} 25. Rb1 b5 26. c4 $1 {White plays energetically, else Black consolidates his material advantage.} Bd6 27. c5 Bxh2+ 28. Kh1 {White does not allow the Ng4+ fork.} Rhe8 29. Qd2 Re5 30. Qa5+ {Check forces the King to the back rank, preventing Black from coordinating his forces.} Kc8 31. Kxh2 Rxd5 {Knight captures was also possible. } 32. Bxb5 Bxb5 33. Rxb5 {The a6 pawn is pinned!} Nd7 34. g3 Ra7 ({The Almighty Machine calmly recommends a check to sidestep the coming Queen fork on a8.} 34... Rh5+ 35. Kg2 axb5 36. Qxa8+ Kc7 37. c6 Nc5 {Black must cover the b7 square.} 38. Qf8 Rd5 39. Qxf7+ Kxc6 40. Qxg7 b4 41. Qxh7 b3 {Suddenly all three results seem possible! Only a computer would calmly say 0.00.}) 35. Rb3 Rxc5 36. Rc3 Rcc7 37. Rxc7+ Rxc7 38. Qxa6+ Kd8 39. Qa8+ Rc8 40. Qd5 Ke7 41. Qe4+ Kf6 ({Can Black set up a fortress with his Rook and Knight?} 41... Kf8 42. Qxh7 Nf6 43. Qd3 Ng8 44. f4 Ne7 45. g4 f6 {This looks close to a draw.}) 42. Qd4+ Ke7 43. Qxg7 {Now the weaker pawn structure dooms Black.} Nf6 44. Qg5 Rc6 45. f3 h6 46. Qe3+ Kf8 47. Qxh6+ Ke7 48. Qh8 Rc5 49. g4 Rg5 50. Kg3 Rg6 51. Kf4 Nd5+ 52. Ke4 Nf6+ 53. Kf5 Ne8 54. Qh4+ Kf8 55. Qd8 Re6 56. f4 Kg7 57. Kg5 Rg6+ 58. Kh4 Nd6 59. f5 Rh6+ 60. Kg3 Kh7 61. Qf8 Ne4+ 62. Kf4 Nd6 63. g5 Rh4+ 64. Ke5 Nc4+ 65. Kf6 Rh6+ 66. Qxh6+ {At the end, White's technique brings home the point. What a battle!} 1-0[/pgn]FM Rayan went on to claim clear first place with 5.5/6 without losing any games and only drawing Milind Maiti in the last round. Despite this setback, Sijing shared second place with 4.5/6 and earned his master certificate with a 2204 rating. Congratulations to both of them for the great achievements over the weekend!
The top 4 boards were broadcasted live via calchess.live using CalChess’ 4 DGT boards.
The top 4 boards were broadcasted via calchess.live and games are available here: http://www.calchess.org/dgt/SantaClara/NewYear/index.html
Section B clear first place winner Agnes Wang
Section A saw a four-way tie between Susarla, Melville, Kurli and Kumar, all with a 4.5/6 performance. Agnes Wang took clear first place in Section B, increasing her rating by almost a clear 100 rating points with this performance. Section C’s two co-champions, Pullela and Krishnan, each scored 4.5/6 while Section DEu had another clear first place by Yanzhe Feng.
Full results can be viewed here: https://www.bayareachess.com/events/18/0105sp/
Photo album with many pictures can be viewed here.
The 2018 New Year Youth Championship tournament hall view with 96 players
The New Year’s Championship included a 1-day scholastic side event that had 96 young and eager player to show the world that they are ready for the new year, and want to improve on their chess tournament skills and ratings. Results and Facebook photo album can be found in our general result table: www.bayareachess.com/results
Our next weekend tournament is the CM Azhar Memorial Championship Jan 26-28, which is part of BayAreaChess’ signature championship tournament series, now welcoming players with increased capacity at the Santa Clara Convention Center. More information here: www.bayareachess.com/champs
GM/IM/WGM/WIM players can get free entry if registering by this weekend. If interested, email us at Click here to show email address.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Judit Sztaray, Ph.D., is the US Chess 2017 Organizer of the Year. Michael Aigner is a National Master and coach living in Northern California.Categories
Archives
- December 2024 (14)
- November 2024 (18)
- October 2024 (35)
- September 2024 (23)
- August 2024 (27)
- July 2024 (44)
- June 2024 (27)
- May 2024 (32)
- April 2024 (51)
- March 2024 (34)
- February 2024 (25)
- January 2024 (26)
- December 2023 (29)
- November 2023 (26)
- October 2023 (37)
- September 2023 (27)
- August 2023 (37)
- July 2023 (47)
- June 2023 (33)
- May 2023 (37)
- April 2023 (45)
- March 2023 (37)
- February 2023 (28)
- January 2023 (31)
- December 2022 (23)
- November 2022 (32)
- October 2022 (31)
- September 2022 (19)
- August 2022 (39)
- July 2022 (32)
- June 2022 (35)
- May 2022 (21)
- April 2022 (31)
- March 2022 (33)
- February 2022 (21)
- January 2022 (27)
- December 2021 (36)
- November 2021 (34)
- October 2021 (25)
- September 2021 (25)
- August 2021 (41)
- July 2021 (36)
- June 2021 (29)
- May 2021 (29)
- April 2021 (31)
- March 2021 (33)
- February 2021 (28)
- January 2021 (29)
- December 2020 (38)
- November 2020 (40)
- October 2020 (41)
- September 2020 (35)
- August 2020 (38)
- July 2020 (36)
- June 2020 (46)
- May 2020 (42)
- April 2020 (37)
- March 2020 (60)
- February 2020 (38)
- January 2020 (45)
- December 2019 (35)
- November 2019 (35)
- October 2019 (42)
- September 2019 (45)
- August 2019 (56)
- July 2019 (44)
- June 2019 (35)
- May 2019 (40)
- April 2019 (48)
- March 2019 (61)
- February 2019 (39)
- January 2019 (30)
- December 2018 (29)
- November 2018 (51)
- October 2018 (45)
- September 2018 (29)
- August 2018 (49)
- July 2018 (35)
- June 2018 (31)
- May 2018 (39)
- April 2018 (31)
- March 2018 (26)
- February 2018 (33)
- January 2018 (30)
- December 2017 (26)
- November 2017 (24)
- October 2017 (30)
- September 2017 (30)
- August 2017 (31)
- July 2017 (28)
- June 2017 (32)
- May 2017 (26)
- April 2017 (37)
- March 2017 (28)
- February 2017 (30)
- January 2017 (27)
- December 2016 (29)
- November 2016 (24)
- October 2016 (32)
- September 2016 (31)
- August 2016 (27)
- July 2016 (24)
- June 2016 (26)
- May 2016 (19)
- April 2016 (30)
- March 2016 (36)
- February 2016 (28)
- January 2016 (32)
- December 2015 (26)
- November 2015 (23)
- October 2015 (16)
- September 2015 (28)
- August 2015 (28)
- July 2015 (6)
- June 2015 (1)
- May 2015 (2)
- April 2015 (1)
- February 2015 (3)
- January 2015 (1)
- December 2014 (1)
- July 2010 (1)
- October 1991 (1)
- August 1989 (1)
- January 1988 (1)
- December 1983 (1)