Chessville - New York Masters Game of the Week - Analysis by IM Greg Shahade

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Game of the Week
With Analysis by IM Greg Shahade

(4) Shahade,G (2510) - Schmaltz,R (2628) [B43]
44th New York Masters New York (4), 18.02.2003

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This was the first ever NY Masters in which a player had clinched CLEAR first place before the final round! GM Roland Schmaltz was 3-0 and no one had even 2-1. Despite this, I wanted to send a message to the world in the last round, by showing everyone that Roland was not invincible! Would I be up to the task?

****** WARNING – A FEW OF THE THINGS I SAY DURING THE FOLLOWING GAME ARE COMPLETE LIES********

How quickly we go from teammates to opponents. Me and Roland played in the bughouse tournament at the US Amateur Team East. Most people cried that it was unfair, as we outrated all of the other teams by hundreds of points. We showed very quickly that it wasn’t unfair by losing to two of my students, Nile Smith and Franklin Lhangeri, in round 1! Note that we outrated them both by over 1000 points, thus proving the old adage that chess skills don’t often translate into bughouse skills. We rebounded nicely by beating two ten year old children and then lost to the UTD team that ended up winning the tournament!

Before the game Roland approached me in the hallway and told me that if I gave him a draw, we could split the prize money. I tried to tell him that even if I beat him, he would still get clear first place, but he was so overcome by fear (Probably from the many blitz games that I defeated him in the previous weekend) that he obviously wasn’t hearing a word I was saying. Anyway I decided to do the moral thing and decline his scandalous offer.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 b5 6.Bd3 Qb6 7.Nb3 Qc7 8.0-0 Bb7 9.Qe2 Nf6 10.f4 b4 11.Nd1 Nc6 12.Nf2 d6 13.Be3 Be7 14.Rac1 0-0 15.c3 bxc3 16.Rxc3

Roland explained after the game that this plan for white is not best, and black will always have a very solid position with an extra central pawn.

16...Rfc8 17.Rfc1 Qd8 18.Nd4 Nxd4 19.Bxd4 Nd7 20.Ng4 h5 21.Nf2 e5 22.Rxc8 Rxc8

23.Bc3?

Probably this was a mistake. It was safer to go 23.fe5, followed up by Bc3. Somehow I was under the impression that this would “mix things up”, and I wanted to do this as much as possible. Sometimes one’s desire to go for a certain result, such as a win, can create less than optimal moves.

23...exf4 24.Qxh5 Ne5 25.Rd1 g6 26.Qh3 Qb6 27.Bb1 Rc7 28.Bd4 Qb5 29.Qh6

29...Bg5!

Ooh! A fine shot by Schmaltz, which I completely overlooked.

30.Qh3

I don’t think he was impressed with my Qh3-h6-h3 maneuver…

30...Qe2 31.Bd3!

Now I became very excited, as it was obvious Roland overlooked this move. I saw that his only move was 31….Qh5 and then I would seemingly have a totally playable endgame. The problem for me was my time, as I was down to only 3 minutes on the clock.

31...Qxd1+!?!

A shocking blow!! Whether it is good remains to be seen, but with my time trouble, it was surely the best choice. Black’s pieces become VERY active, and he will win another piece by force. The entire crowd on the internet was stunned by this move, expecting the mundane 31…Qh5.

32.Nxd1 Bc8 33.g4 Bxg4 34.Qf1 Nf3+ 35.Kg2 Nxd4 36.Nc3 Bf3+ 37.Kg1 Bh5 38.h4??

This is a terrible blunder which makes things very easy for black. I had about 2 minutes left at this point. It’s clear from my time trouble-induced blunders, that I need to move a lot faster in future events.

38...Nf3+ 39.Kh1 Nxh4 40.Be2 f3 41.Bxa6 d5 42.exd5 Nf5 43.Qf2 Bh4 44.Qb6 Re7!

Winning, there is no reasonable way to stop 45…Re1+ 46.Kh2 Bg3+ 47.Kh3 Rh1 mate.

45.Qb8+ Kh7 46.Kh2 f2 47.Qf4 Bg3+ 48.Qxg3 Nxg3 49.Kxg3

49...Be2!!

Another fine blow by Schmaltz! This interference tactic either will either win material or force the pawn home. Now the game is completely lost.

50.Bxe2 Rxe2 51.Kg2 Rxb2 52.d6 Rd2 53.Ne4 Rd4 54.d7 Kg7 55.Nc5 Kf8 56.a4 Ke7 57.a5 Rd5 58.Nb7 Kxd7 59.a6 Kc7 0-1

Congratulations to Schmaltz for an impressive 4-0 score!! This was probably the first and last NY Masters in which a player wins the event by 2 whole points! That’s right, Roland was the only player in the field to acheive a plus score! Also funny about this event was that only 2 players lost money playing. Those two unfortunate players were Jay Bonin and I, the 2nd and 3rd seeded players! Furdzik, Benen, Figler and Privman all received $45, and Hess did not pay an entry as he was the filler.

Thanks to everyone who played and who watched at the Marshall and online. The dedication of Boris Privman and Rafal Furdzik is very impressive. Most impressive of all is Jay Bonin, who has played in all 44 NY Master events! How long will this streak last? What will be needed to stop him, not even a blizzard could do the trick!

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44th New York Masters Action USA (USA), 18 ii 2003
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                                     1   2   3   4   Total
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    1. Schmaltz, Roland     g  2628 + 3 + 4 + 2 + 6   4.0
    2. Figler, Ilye         f  2307 =   + 7 - 1 = 4   2.0
    3. Furdzik, Rafal          2282 - 1 + 8 = 4 = 5   2.0
    4. Benen, Samson           2273 + 6 - 1 = 3 = 2   2.0
    5. Privman, Boris       f  2241 = 7 = 6 = 8 = 3   2.0
    6. Shahade, Greg        m  2510 - 4 = 5 + 7 - 1   1.5
    7. Bonin, Jay           m  2415 = 5 - 2 - 6 + 8   1.5
    8. Hess, Robert            2104 --- - 3 = 5 - 7   0.5