Antics. Alabama Chess. Round 1 of the 2016 Queen of Hearts tournament at Auburn University at Montgomery.

Transcription

1 Alabama Chess The Official Publication of the Alabama Chess Federation Antics Spring 2016 Inside this issue: Wu-Markin: the Jr. High Scholastic Championships 4 by Arden Markin Shepherd-Balagee: Alabama Scholastic Ch. 7 game submitted by Jay-El Shepherd II Spring Chess Puzzles 9 by Scott Varagona Problem Solved at the Queen of Hearts 10 by Scott Varagona A Barnburner at the BWCC by Scott Varagona My Immortal Game by Charles Anthony Round 1 of the 2016 Queen of Hearts tournament at Auburn University at Montgomery. (Foreground: Rhodes Peele with White against Sijing Wu. Left: William Blackman with White against Ken Goodman.)

2 Page 2 Alabama Chess Antics Another successful spring season of Alabama chess is just about over, and it s time for the Antics to showcase the results. First, Alabama has crowned a new state High School Champion (Jay-El Shepherd II) and Junior High Champion (Arden Markin); congratulations, guys! Both of them have submitted a key game from their scholastic championship tournament. Meanwhile, I annotated an instructive game of mine from the 2016 Queen of Hearts that warns us what happens if Black goes a bit too wild in the Queen s Gambit Declined. Also, we walk through (or, perhaps, roller coaster through) a fierce battle of mine at the Black Warrior Chess Challenge. Greetings from the Editor tournaments on the horizon the Vulcan Open, the Quick & Blitz Championships, and the Dual-Rated Championship, to name but a few... I look forward to seeing you there! Kindest regards, -Scott Varagona Finally, we end this issue with a bang, as Charles Anthony presents the most beautiful game of his chess career his personal Immortal Game. Many, many thanks to all the contributors for this Antics. We are always looking for more people to submit games and articles to help tell the story of chess in Alabama; if you have something you would like to submit, please send it to the Antics Editor via the following address: Alabama.Chess.Editor@gmail.com Games and annotations in.pgn format are strongly preferred. Feel free to send in any interesting or instructive game, with or without annotations. The summer chess season in Alabama is always hopping, with many Charles Anthony - Phillip Taylor, White to Play. (see p. 18 for the solution) ACF Membership Any individual may become a Regular Member upon the payment of annual dues of $ Regular members may enter ACF tournaments and receive special publications or notices from ACF as they are issued. Any chess club seeking to become an Affiliate is required to file the Affiliate Information Form with the Secretary of the ACF and pay annual dues of $ Benefits of becoming an affiliate include the right to bid to host ACFsanctioned events, such as the Alabama State Championship, and to receive advertising through the ACF for your tournaments.

3 Spring 2016 Page 3 Alabama Chess Leaderboard Top 50 Ratings (retrieved from uschess.org on May 16, 2016) 1 FM BRADLEY J DENTON WILLIAM BLACKMAN SCOTT VARAGONA SHAWN BAULDRY BILL MELVIN CHRISTOPHER TREES MATTHEW V PUCKETT CHARLES A. SMITH STEPHEN ADAMS CHARLES H ANTHONY REX E BLALOCK STEPHEN JOHN PETRANY GERALD A LARSON RHODES PEELE JOSEPH JURJEVICH TYLER C RHODES GORDON JAMALL RANDALL THOMAS H LAWRY STEPHEN JAMES GRAVELING STEVE MENGXI CHEN DANIEL H THOMAS KENNETH W GOODMAN WILL THOMAS STEVENSON KENNETH JIAO JONATHAN RASBERRY TIM BOND JOSHUA THOMAS MCCLELLAN BRIAN MCCORMICK RONNIE NETTLES RAY DOWNS ARDEN QUINLAN MARKIN ABRAHAM KUNIN GEORGE RUSYNIAK LUIS J MORENILLA CHARLES L MEIDINGER KENNETH SLOAN SIJING WU DOUGLAS STROUT ROCHELLE WU DAVID HAYES JEFF TOBIN ADRIAN J MAJERLE ROGER D JOHNSON TRIET MINH VO MILES MELVIN III MARK THOMAS PETERSON TERRENCE W EDINBURGH AHMED MOHAMED AMER KIRK D PETTY PAUL MULQUEEN 1691

4 Page 4 Alabama Chess Antics Wu-Markin: the Alabama Junior High Scholastic Championships By Arden Markin Sijing Wu - Arden Markin (2022) (1973) Alabama Jr. High Ch., Round 4 Indian Springs, AL; March 19, 2016 I was pretty sure Sijing would play Be3 sooner or later. I hadn t quite prepared for 8.Be3 and just tried to transpose into a different line. Going into the last round as Black, I had to win this game to clench first due to Sijing s superior tiebreaks and blitz. With this in mind, I decided to set up a mental trap. This was the first time I tried this in a super important game. 8 Rb8 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 Entering the Kalashnikov. Personally, I hate having to show everybody my openings. 6.N1c3 a6 7.Na3 Be6 8.Be3 9.Nd5 Bxd5 10.exd5 Nce7 11.c4 f5 12.Qa4+ Qd7 13.Qxd7+ Kxd Nf6 15.b4 Ng4 pair. Trying to get rid of his bishop 16.h3 A slight mistake allowing me to create and attack a weak e3 pawn. Left: Jay-El Shepherd II, the 2016 Alabama Scholastic Open Champion. Right: Arden Markin, the 2016 Alabama Junior High Champion. (Photo source: Nxe3 17.fxe3 g6 18.Kb1 Bh6 19.Rd3

5 Spring 2016 Page 5 At this point, Sijing had a comfortable time advantage and I was beginning to panic. I couldn t assess the position and played a rather passive move. 19 Rhc8 25.c5 I decided to set up a mental trap... I had considered this move and was afraid he would play it, preventing me from playing 25...f4; but I let him play it without trying to prevent it, confident that he would overestimate his position and make a blunder on move dxc5 26.Nc4 cxb4 20.Be2 e4 Another pointless move f4 was probably much stronger. 21.Rb3 Rf8 22.Rd1 Rbc8 23.Rc3 Bg7 24.Rc2 Bh6 I wanted to push f4 at move 23 but I couldn t precisely calculate what would happen. So I repeated the position by playing 23...Bg7 and 24...Bh6 to gain time in order to study the position after 25...f4. Right after I played 23...Bg7 I started calculating a 25...f4 push before we even reached the same position again. 27.Nb6+ Missing 27.d6! with a better position.

6 Page 6 Alabama Chess Antics 27...Kd6 Now I have a decisive advantage. 28.Nxc8+ Rxc8 29.Rxc8 Nxc8 30.Kc2 Bxe3 31.Kb3 Bc5 32.g3 Ne7 33.Rd2 Bf2 I was really proud of myself for finding this move. 34.g4 f4 35.Kxb4 over. A terrible blunder. Now it s all 35...Be1 36.Kc3 e3 37.Kc2 Bxd2 And Sijing resigned (0 1). Was my 26th move,...cxb4, a blunder? Yes. Should I have played it? Probably. This move was a bluff: a skill I read about and use, although rarely, in a few desperate games. I thought I had to take a little risk because I thought I needed to win. I calculated 27. Nb6+ when I played 23 Bg7 and was pretty sure he d play that move because of his style. Sure enough, he quickly played Nb6+ thinking he was winning and I calmly played...kd6. Suddenly he stopped moving fast and probably realized his position was worse. All in all, this was probably one of my best games: not because of any brilliant moves but because of my successful bluff, the way I took advantage of Sijing s mistakes and also what was at stake, the Junior High State Championship. Alabama Junior High Scholastic Championships: Top Performers Name Rating Score 1. Arden Markin Sijing Wu Michael B Guthrie Zachary Snow II Joshua Hugh Lin

7 Spring 2016 Page 7 Shepherd-Balagee: the Alabama Scholastic Open Championships Game submitted by Jay-El Shepherd II Editor s Note: Congratulations to Jay-El Shepherd II, who become the Alabama Scholastic Open Champion (and Alabama s new Denker representative) by getting an impressive 4-0 score at this year s championship. Here is one of Jay- El s upset victories from the tournament, with a few light comments of my own. Better was 16...d5. Now White gets a huge space advantage. Jay-El Shepherd II-Vikhram Balagee (1422) (1682) AL State Scholastic Ch. (Open), Round 2 Indian Springs, AL; March 19, Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d6 3.Bg2 c Nc6 5.d3 e6 6.Nbd2 Be7 7.e b3 Rb8 9.Bb2 e5 10.c3 Qc7 17.d5! Nb8 18.c4 Nd7 19.Kg2 g6 20.g4 Bg7 21.g5 Nb6 22.f6 Bh8 23.Qf3 Nd7 24.Rh1 h6 25.h4 h5 11.Nh4 White begins to fight for the initiative. Ng4 12.Nf5 Bxf5 13.exf5 Nf6 14.Ne4 Rbd8 15.d4 Nxe4 16.Bxe4 Bf6?

8 Page 8 Alabama Chess Antics Black managed to close the kingside for the moment, but now with the bishop stuck on h8 he is essentially a piece down. White has all the time in the world to prepare the pawn lever f2-f4 or some kind of sacrificial breakthrough on g6 or h5. 26.Qd3 Kh7 27.Rae1 Rde8 28.Qc2 a6 29.Re3 b5 30.Rhe1 Nb6 31.Bd3 b4 32.f4 Qd7 33.f5 White s attack is crushing Rg8 34.Qe2 Ref8 35.fxg6+ Rxg6 36.Qxh5+ Kg8 37.Bxg6 fxg6 38.Qxg6+ Bg7 Jay-El eventually used his material advantage to win the game (1 0). When submitting this game to the Antics, Jay-El also had the following comment: I d like for it to be noted that Vikhram exhibited great sportsmanship and that he was very supportive of me at the awards ceremony. It is wonderful to see that Alabama s scholastic players are generally good sports and display great maturity, both on and off the board. Please join me in congratulating all the winners of the various divisions of this year s Alabama Scholastic Championships! Also, we look forward to rooting for Alabama s new Denker Representative (J. Shepherd), Barber Representative (A. Markin), and National Girls Invitation Representative (R. Wu). Editor Alabama State Scholastic Open Championships: Top Performers Name Rating Score 1. Jay-El Shepherd II Kenneth Jiao Vikhram Balagee Joel N. Friedman Steve Chen

9 Spring 2016 Page 9 Spring Chess Puzzles (See page 16 for solutions.) 1. Adams,S Varagona 2016 Quick & Blitz Black to Play. 2. Varagona Sharpe,W MLK Classic, 2016 White to Play. 3. Graveling,S Varagona Tom Nard Memorial II White to Play. 4. Rusyniak,G Varagona Black Warrior Chess Ch., 2016 Black to Play.

10 Q Page 10 Alabama Chess Antics Problem Solved at the Queen of Hearts By Scott Varagona Scott Varagona - Tim Bond (2279) (1800) 44th Annual Queen of Hearts, Round 3 Montgomery, AL; February 20, 2016 Q The following was my best win from this year s Queen of Hearts. Tim Bond was always a problem opponent for me when I was younger, and he held a plus score against me for years and years. It was only in 2015 that I finally managed to pull back into the lead. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 A genuine shock: with Tim, a Grunfeld Defense starting with 2...g6 always used to be automatic. 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 c6 7.Bd3 h6 8.Bh4 Bd6!? Your Editor: this year s Queen of Hearts!? An unusual and unabashedly aggressive way to develop this bishop. It was clear that Tim wasn t going to play this Queen s Gambit Declined meekly. 9.Nf3 Qc7 10.Qc2 a6 Black waits to see where White will put his king. Judging from his aggressive stance thus far, if I play , Tim will almost certainly go for a kingside attack starting with 11...g5. However, I believed this idea would backfire on him as Black weakens so many squares in the process. Not to mention, his queenside pieces have yet to be developed ! g5? 12.Bg3 Bxg3 13.fxg3!

11 Spring 2016 Page Qb6 20.Nxd5 Nxd5 21.exd5+ Kd8 22.Qxc4 Rc8 A strong reply, opening the f-file. If anyone is going to be attacking here, it s White! 13...c5? After this unfortunate decision, Black s game quickly goes downhill. With his king still in this center, Black has no business making a move like this. Still, it is already hard to make suggestions for Black. 14.Rae1 c4 15.Bf5 g4 16.Nh4 Qd6 17.Rf2 A flexible move. I might double on the f-file, or on the e-file. Also, I can play e3-e4 without having to worry about the d-pawn dropping with check Nf8 18.e4 Bxf5 19.Nxf5 White s attacking pieces are not to be denied. There are many ways to win. 23.Re8+! Black resigns (1 0). The finish might have been 23...Kxe8 24.Qxc8+ Qd8 25.Nd6+ Ke7 26.Rxf7+, and mate soon. A graphic example of how easily an attack without a proper foundation can backfire. After suffering at the board against Tim for so many years, getting such a nice clean win is certainly a relief. This victory helped me go on to win the 2016 Queen of Hearts with 4.5 points out of 5. Many thanks to our dedicated tournament director, Caesar Lawrence, to our host site AUM, and to all the participants for making the Queen of Hearts a highlight of the Alabama chess circuit, year after year.

12 Page 12 Alabama Chess Antics A Barnburner at the Black Warrior Chess Challenge By Scott Varagona This has to be the most interesting game I have been involved in so far this year. My opponent, Jonathan Rasberry, has started to win a number of Alabama tournaments and has displayed some great fighting chess in the last few years. Our last two classical games ended in draws, so it seems both of us entered this game with an uncompromising attitude. In an attempt not to dehumanize this very complicated game, filled with emotional ups and downs, I am going to analyze it here without computer assistance. So, please forgive any errors that may slip by me, relax, and enjoy the ride. Scott Varagona Jonathan Rasberry (2255) (2035) Black Warrior Chess Ch., Round 3 Tuscaloosa, AL; April 16, d4 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 Ah, the Slav, my old enemy... I m always looking for new ways to beat up on this defense. Maybe I have sour feelings towards the Slav because my cruel, seemingly all-powerful chess computer used to play it against me so much when I was a kid. Whatever the reason, I have definitely always wanted to champion the White side. 6.Qc2 b6 7.b3 Bb7 8.Be2 8...dxc4 When Black trades like this, he usually plans to play...e5 without having to worry about getting an isolated queen pawn after cxd5. 9.bxc4 Bd a4 This move plans Bc1 a3, trading off my bad bishop. I didn t like the look of 11.e4 e e5 12.Rd1 Qc7 13.a5?! Stunned that Jonathan never stopped this move by playing...a5 much earlier, I decided to push on ahead. Still, I

13 Spring 2016 Page 13 did not realize how double-edged 13.a5 was when I played it. In hindsight, I would rather play 13.Ba3!, following through with my original plan exd4 14.exd4 bxa5! Well, shucks. It looks like only Black gets to attack. My mind kept running through all these variations where Jonathan s knights and queen swarm around my king very rudely. After a long thought, I could find only one defense that I liked: 19.Nxe5 Qxe5 20.Ne2 The knight is just in time to answer 20...Ng4 with 21.Ng Ng4 A surprise: I didn t think Jonathan would compromise his own structure. Yet suddenly it dawns on me that I cannot easily win back the pawn. If 15.Ba3, then...bb4 and...c5. If 15.c5 first, to prevent...bb4, I give Black s pieces the juicy d5-square. After much thought, I decided that I should embrace the unbalanced position after 15.Ba3 Bb4. Maybe someday the b4-bishop would be stranded while all of my pieces start gunning for Black s kingside. (Spoiler alert: I was wrong! Jonathan and I agreed after the game that I should have played 15.c5.) 15.Ba3? Bb4 16.Qb3 c5 17.d5 Rfe8 18.Bd3 Ne5! Jonathan Rasberry: 2015 Alabama Scholastic Open Champion, chess Expert (2049), and a darn nice guy.

14 Page 14 Alabama Chess Antics The natural follow-up. Still, looking at the position after the fact, I wonder if 20...Nxd5!? was stronger, with three pawns and an extremely dangerous attack for the piece. 21.Ng3 I survived the first wave of Black s attack. Given time, I will kick out Black s knight with h2-h3, play Bb2, and then White is back in the game Bc3? 22.Bxc5! This Exchange sacrifice just has to be right. White activates his dark square bishop, stops 22...Bd4 (since 23.Bxd4 Qxd4 24.Bxh7+ wins), and clears the way for two centralized, connected passed pawns. At least one of Black s doubled a- pawns should be doomed afterwards too. Suddenly, White can think about (maybe) winning this game. I m sure I ve missed something... By the way, I did wonder if the immediate 22.Qxb7 was stronger Bxa1 23.Bxc5 transposes; however, 22...Bd4, with an explosion about to occur on f2, seemed a little too unpleasant to stomach during the game. My intuition was screaming not to let Black s bishop get to d4. Another move that really threw me off-kilter. It s interesting how often Jonathan and I see totally different things in the same position. I remember we were on the same team during a doubles chess game once, and we lost because we kept taking back each other s moves! Still, in this case,...bc3 is a clear mistake. Jonathan suggested 21...h5 as an alternative Bxa1? A relief: I was much more worried about the tricky desperado move 22...Bxd5. I ve analyzed this position for ages and it still seems unclear what to do, although my gut says White should be doing well. Maybe 23.Rac1 Bb2 24.cxd5 Bxc1 25.Rxc1 Rac8 26.Qc2 is best, but the position is so wild and crazy that I m sure I ve missed something. Another

15 Spring 2016 Page 15 subvariation that boggles the mind is 23.Rac1 Bxg2!? 24.Qxc3 (24.Bd6!? Qf6 is unclear) Qxc5 25.Kxg2 Qxf2+ 26.Kh3. I think White is winning, but who can say? 23.Qxb7 h5 24.h3 h4 25.Nf1 Rac8 The position remains complex, but now I was confident that White had the upper hand. better chances to pester White: f2 could become vulnerable if White got careless. Both players were in serious time pressure by now, so don t expect the remaining moves to be perfect Rxa1 Qxe7 32.Bxe7 Bxa1 33.d6 Bd4 34.Ne3 Bb6 35.Nf5 Bd8? 26.Qb5 Nf6 27.Qxa5 Bc3 28.Qxa7 Ra8 Note that, throughout these last few moves,...rxc5 Qxc5 Bd4 was never a good idea thanks to Qxd4!, Bh7+, and Rxd4. 29.Qb7 Reb8 30.Qe7 Ra1 A time-trouble error, allowing White to advance his pawns immediately. 36.c5 Ne8 37.c6 Ba5 38.d7 Nf6 39.Bd6 Rd8 40.Bb5 This ended up winning, but easier would have been 40.Ne7+ Kh8 41.Bf5 and c6-c7. With our time ticking away, Black has to make some tough decisions about how to defend. Keep the queens on? Trade a pair of rooks? To me, it feels like keeping all the rooks on would give Black 40...Nd5 41.Ne3 Nc7 42.Bxc7 Bxc7 43.Nd5

16 Page 16 Alabama Chess Antics cost Black his rook, so White will finally win. Jonathan resigned (1 0), although I discovered later that after 43...Bb8 44.c7 Bxc7 45.Nxc7 Kf8, winning is not trivial. Somehow, after 46.Nd5 (the natural move, keeping Black s king at bay), I couldn t find a knockout blow. After tossing the position around in the back of my mind for a few days, I found a different solution: 46.Na6! (heading for b7)...ke7 47.Nc5 Rb8 48.Bc6! Next, Nb7 and promoting will What a confusing game! Quite an adrenaline rush, too. Thankfully, my last round game was a calm, cozy Caro-Kann that allowed me to regain some of my sanity... In all seriousness, though, I relish such games as this where I can feel my opponent is trying to defeat me. It s not nearly as much fun when people just curl into a ball and try not to lose. Fortunately, many Alabama players (like Jonathan Rasberry) have a great deal of fighting spirit, and they constantly push me to stay in shape and improve my game. I am very grateful to have these players here. (Yes, even when they sometimes beat me ) In the end, I won the 2016 Black Warrior Chess Challenge with 3.5 points out of 4. Jonathan was close behind, winning the rest of his games to take 2nd place (3 points out of 4). Many thanks to Caesar Chess and the Freedom Chess Academy for hosting us. PUZZLE SOLUTIONS: 1. Black wins with 16 Qg1+! 17.Rxg1 Nf2 mate. 2. White played 35.Nxd5! and Black resigned, since 35 cxd5 36.Qxd7! wins. 3. Stephen got the drop on me with 21.Bf3! Bf8 22.Bh5+ Ke7, and now 23.Qg6! would be totally winning. (In the game, he played 23.Bxe8, but he ended up winning anyway.) 4. The solution is 35 Rxb3+! 36.cxb3 Qd3+! (The point; now White cannot avoid losing his rook on e1 to a queen fork, and he soon resigned.)

17 Spring 2016 Page 17 My Immortal Game By Charles Anthony After reading about Adolf Anderssen s Immortal Game, played against Lionel Kieseritzky in London, 1851, I wondered if I would ever play a memorable game such as that. Anderssen sacrificed a bishop, both rooks, and his queen, before checkmating his opponent with three minor pieces. His Evergreen Game received similar adulation. How many players have a special name attached to one of their games? This game has not been shared before outside of family members, friends, students and club members in our small town. It is, quite simply, the most perfect game that I have ever been a part of My Immortal Game. played it. Thinking that he would probably play it in our upcoming match, I determined to set a trap for him, since one of the other books in my small library was Winning Chess Traps by Irving Chernev. One trap that I studied against the Dragon had White checkmating Black in relatively short order. Usually, my opponents took me out of my book preparation after a few moves, but I was fairly certain that he would play the Dragon, and I had a new secret weapon prepared for him. Charles Anthony - Phillip Taylor (1664) (1709) Fayette Chess Club challenge ladder Fayette, AL; January 3, e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 Our epic battles went back to 1980, when we were founding members of the Fayette Chess Club. The Sicilian Dragon was one of the few openings that I had studied in any depth. My wife had given me the book How to Think Ahead in Chess for our first Christmas together in The authors, I.A. Horowitz and Fred Reinfeld, recommended the Dragon against e4, and I thought the name Dragon was cool, so I played it. My most serious local rival, Phillip, also 6.f4 My innovation. Phillip had never faced this move in our years of play. In the book Chess Openings: Theory and Practice, I.A. Horowitz gives Loewenfisch credit for this aggressive move and he says that it was thought, for a time, to be White s strongest weapon against the Modern

18 Page 18 Alabama Chess Antics Dragon. 6...Bg7 This was the routine response that I was hoping for. Chernev says that 6...Nc6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5 Nd7 is a satisfactory line for Black. I just knew that the trap had been sprung. It seems to go downhill quickly for Black after this move. 7.e5 dxe5 8.fxe5 Nd5 A reasonable move, but White now wins by force. Horowitz also gives the exact moves for the rest of the actual game in a footnote in his opening book. If 8...Ng4, then 9.Bb5+ Kf8 (if 9...Bd7 or 9...Nd7, 10.Qxg4 wins) 10.Ne6+ wins Black s queen (Chernev). If 8...Nd7 9.e6 Ne5 10.Bb5+ Nbc6 11.exf7+ Kxf Kamyschov-Averbach, Moscow 1948, with White having better chances (Walter Korn, MCO 12). 9...Kf8 9...Kf8 is the only move that avoids loss of material. If 9...Bd7 or 9...Nd7, 10.Nxd5 wins the piece. If 9...Nc6, 10.Nxc6 wins for White Bxe5 The threat of e5-e6 is apparently too great. If 10...Nxc3, 11.Ne6+ wins quickly. 11.Bh6+ Kg8 If 11...Bg7, 12.Bxg7+ Kxg7 13.Nxd5 Qxd5 14.Nf5+ winning the Black queen (Chernev). 12.Nxd5 Qxd5 And the beautiful ending just seems to flow from this position! 9.Bb5+ 13.Nf5!

19 Spring 2016 Page 19 Threatening 14.Qxd5 as well as 14.Nxe7 mate Qc5+ The only move that counters both threats. 14.Be3 Now the threats are 15.Bxc5 and 15.Qd8 mate! 14...Qc7 Black resigns (1 0): after any king move, 16.Rxf7 mate. Never before or since have I played a game in which both players over -the-board moves followed exactly not one, but two books. I was just fortunate to be on the winning end this time. But it is a game that I have replayed so many times with my students that I have the moves memorized. It has become, perhaps in my eyes only, My Immortal Game. Again, Black finds the only move, but it is still mate in two. 15.Nh6+ Charles Anthony at the 2016 Black Warrior Chess Challenge in Tuscaloosa.

20 ALABAMA CHESS ANTICS Upcoming Tournaments See for details on these and other events. May 28 Vulcan Open Birmingham, AL June 11 Huntsville Classic Huntsville, AL June 25 Alabama Quick & Blitz Chess Ch. Birmingham, AL July 16 Space City Monthly Huntsville, AL July 23 Alabama Dual-Rated State Ch. Montgomery, AL August 6 Chris Bond Memorial XII Montgomery, AL September 2-4 Alabama State Chess Championship Huntsville, AL The Alabama Chess Federation (ACF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and the United States Chess Federation affiliate for the state of Alabama. Our goal is to promote chess in this area for the benefit of all Alabama players. Toward that end, we provide advertising and other assistance for rated tournaments, as well as support for scholastic chess programs around the state. To submit articles, pictures and games to the Antics, the Antics editor at Alabama.Chess.Editor@gmail.com ACF OFFICERS President: Neil Dietsch Vice-President: Charles A. Smith Secretary Balagee Govindan Games in.pgn format are strongly preferred. Treasurer: Scholastic VP: Bradley Denton Gerald Larson Please contact president@alabamachess.org if you are interested in helping with the Alabama Chess Federation. Antics Editor: Webmaster: Public Relations: Member Admin: Scott Varagona Neil Dietsch Michael Ciamarra Jonathan Rasberry Alabama Chess Federation All chess diagrams in this issue were produced using Fritz, a program by ChessBase. Tourn. Reports: Caesar Lawrence