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Game of the Week September 2nd, 2003 Another exciting week at the New York Masters! Sadly, Greg Shahade's fledgling singing career was dealt a cruel blow by the harsh words of the vicious Simon. Of course, Paula loved Greg, but not enough to get him to the next round. GM Jaan Ehlvest has been hot lately, taking first place two weeks ago in Washington, D.C., and now last weekend at the New York State Championships in Kerhonkson. Given that most of these tournaments over Labor Day weekend ended yesterday, some players couldn't make it in. Many of our players were in Buenos Aires, but Irina Krush braved the latitude change to play. We had two new players. WGM Martica Fierro is well known in the New York chess scene. One of the top players in her country with experience on both Ecuador's Men's and Women's teams, she's a very dangerous opponent. Hopefully she'll spend a lot more time in the New York area and play in more events. Leonid Zakinov is a Russian-born master, who has spent time living all over the globe, most recently moving to New York from Australia. Despite having no official rating, his eagerness should make him a fine addition at more events. Not new but our qualifier is Alex Pelekhaty, who got into this tournament with another incredible score, beating Asa Hoffmann to score 3.5/4. Participant List for 71st NY Masters
After Three Rounds With Ehlvest the only 3-0 and Shahade the only 2.5-0.5, Ehlvest was very happy to make a draw with the White pieces, take his [money] and go home. Greg Shahade doesn't like calling it an early day, whether he's in the recording studio or at the chessboard. But how to play for a win with Black against a player who is going to be back in the top 100 in all likelihood in October? Let's see... (4) Ehlvest,J (2514) - Shahade,G (2662) [B52] [Click here for an interactive JavaScript board] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Ah, the 3. Bb5+ Sicilian. Ehlvest needs only a draw to be the sole champion of this edition of the New York Masters, so he has no problem steering the game towards a draw. 3...Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.c4 e5 6.Nc3 g6 7.0-0 Bg7 8.Ne1 Didn't Ehlvest ever learn the lesson about not moving a piece twice in the opening? 8...Ne7 9.Nc2 Three times? 9...0-0 10.Ne3 Four times?10...Nbc6 11.d3 f5 12.Ned5
Five times!! Ehlvest feels he can afford to spend all this time maneuvering his Knight to d5. 12...Nxd5 13.Nxd5 Ne7 This is the new move. The Greek player Stalkopoulos played 13. ... f4 against Jan Pedersen in Ikaros 1999.14.Nc3 f4 15.f3 g5 16.Rb1 h5 17.h3
Uh, didn't we see this last round? And didn't Ehlvest use this structure to wipe Jayson Gonzales off the board? What's the difference? 17...Bf6 18.b4 b6 19.bxc5 dxc5 20.Nd5 Nxd5 21.exd5 Kf7
A cool move, getting his king off of the eighth rank in order to swing the rooks over. Without any active counterplay, Ehlvest is a sitting duck. 22.Bb2 Rg8 23.Re1 Rae8 24.Re4 g4 25.hxg4 hxg4 26.Qe2 Qf5 Greg's advantage is enormous.27.fxg4 Rxg4 28.Rf1 Rh8
Brutal. The king is just going to get chopped off. 29.Bxe5 29.Rxe5 Bxe5 30.Bxe5 Rxg2+! finishes matters effectively. 29...Bxe5 30.Rxe5 With a draw offer by Jaan. Greg, ever so polite, was nice enough to say "No, thank you" before making his next move.30...Rxg2+!
Splat. White can't defend everything. 31.Qxg2 Qxe5 and Rg8 is impossible to stop. 32.Qe4 Qg5+ 33.Kf2 33.Qg2 Qh4! is the point. 33...Qg3+ 34.Ke2 Re8 Winning the queen, the game, and the tournament. 0-1 So Greg Shahade wins the New York Masters clear for the first time ever! Ehlvest, despite the loss, gets a tie for second place and $83. Joining him were Boris Privman, Martha Fierro and Alex Pelekhaty! Pelekhaty has really come into good form lately, and this performance shows us how very strong he is. To defeat Jay Bonin in the final round of any tournament when money is on the line is an incredibly impressive feat. There's no doubt he will be 2200 soon, and maybe allow some other people to qualify for once!Here is a special message from IM Greg Shahade, on 8-25-03: Dear Chess Fans, The 4th season of the NY Masters is coming to an end and what a fantastic season it has been! The most exciting development this season was the beginning of Chess.FM’s live internet radio coverage of the NY Masters. This coverage sent the viewer-ship of the tournament through the roof, as there were regularly over 2000 listeners to the radio program, thus making it the most popular weekly show on Chess.FM! The highly entertaining commentary of IM William Paschall and Tony Rook, has earned the highest of praise from everyone I’ve talked to so far. All of our sponsors also get mentioned each week on the air! The 5th season of the NY Masters is starting in a few weeks on September 15th, and we are hoping for another raise in the sponsorship. Here were some highlights of the past season and plans for the future:
Come be a part of the most exciting thing happening in the chess world today! The sponsorship works as follows: You sponsor the tournament for a certain amount per season (each season is 20 weeks long), and that amount is divided towards all 20 tournaments of the season. For example:
You can donate any amount; you don’t have to stick to the above numbers. A large percentage of our sponsorship each season comes from sponsors of under $5 per week, so donations of any amount are a great help! If you are interested in sponsoring the event or would like more information, please contact Greg Shahade by email at gregshahade@yahoo.com or by phone at (917) 294-1338. You can also contact John Fernandez at jfernandez@jfern.com. Sponsorship checks should be made out to Greg Shahade and can be sent directly to:
Greg Shahade
If you do plan to sponsor please let us know as
soon as possible as the final sponsorship amounts for Season 5 will be
calculated on September 14th! Thanks to all of our sponsors who
have supported us so far. We hope to see you back with for another exciting
season of the NY Masters! Return to the New York Masters Index
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