GM Gareev on the Girls State Championship in Kansas

Lindsborg, Kansas once again welcomed the Girls State Championship this year. The event was held on March 26 at Karpov Chess School. Sheena Zheng shared first place with Kiana Hajiarbabi. Kiana conceded the champion status for the first time in 4 years to Sheena by tiebreaks.

25 Participants including Sheena on the bottom left corner and Kiana next to her sister Shahrzad in the upper right

[pgn] [Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.03.30"] [Round "?"] [White "Hajiarbabi, Kiana"] [Black "Camarda, Logan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C14"] [Annotator "Anastasiya"] [PlyCount "36"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] {As the tourney went on I helped several participants with game analysis. I suggested Kiana and Logan show me their game.} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 (6. h4 $5 {is an interesting try}) 6... Qxe7 7. f4 c5 $2 {allowing white's knight to penetrate through to the week c7 and d6 squares} 8. Nb5 O-O $1 {I suggested suprisingly still keeps black in the game.} (8... Nc6 $2 {is what Logan played in the game and lost shortly} 9. Nc7+ Kf8 10. Nxa8) 9. Nc7 cxd4 $1 10. Nxa8 Qb4+ 11. Qd2 (11. Kf2 f6 $1 {with compensation}) 11... Qxb2 12. Rd1 Nc5 13. Nc7 Ne4 14. Qxd4 Qxa2 15. Nb5 Nc6 16. Qe3 Qa5+ 17. c3 a6 18. Nd6 Nxc3 $44 {where the game is far from over. Great lesson in turning mistakes to your advantage!} 1-0[/pgn]

Chess on the Main Street

Swedish immigrants founded Lindsborg in 1869. Nowadays the town hosts 3500 residents. Despite the small size, Lindsborg boasts many wonderful artists. One of the coolest art work series is the “Wild Dala Herd”. Dala horse is perhaps Sweden’s most known icon, a bluntly rounded, tail-free horse that is thought to have been first whittled out of wood by the fire during long cold Scandinavian nights. In recent years, Lindsborg adopted the Dala symbol of identity and welcome. Here you’ll see traditional Dala horses on front porches, on coffee mugs and even on the side of police cruisers. Guess what! The Chess School now hosts our own “Good Knight Dala” on the Main Street.