Some chess from the 2017 Pan Am

by kevinspraggettonchess · Published January 10, 2018 · Updated January 10, 2018

University Chess in North America

Over the holiday season (Dec 27 to 30) the traditional Pan-Am Intercollegiate Championships was held in Columbus, Ohio. A total of 58 teams braved the cold. When the smoke had cleared, Susan Polgar’s Webster ‘A’ emerged as the grand winner (again!) Congrats to everyone! LINK

Some chess from the Pan Am

gm Robson,R – im Ruiz,C (1-0) B90your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard

A nice energetic middlegame after a quiet opening. Both sides play to win but White’s passed pawns in the center prove more important that Black’s attack against the King.

gm Ipatov – gm Baryshpolets (1-0) D11)your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard

Another power middlegame by White. Black provokes a sacrifice on move 19 but soon regrets it. He never manages to coordinate a defence and Ipatov scores the whole point.

gm Durarbayli – Gandhi,S (1-0) B06your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard

Both sides castle Queenside but the unexpected sacrifice on the Kingside nets White a powerful initiative. Eventually Black can not deal with the mounting threats.

Calm and calculated defence

[White "Prasanna,Ra"] [Black "Hevia,A"] [Result "1-0"] [Eco "E00"] 1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.Nbd2 dxc4 6.Qc2 O-O 7.Bg2 b5 8.a4 c6 9.axb5 a5 10.Ne5 Qxd4 11.Nxc6 Nxc6 12.Bxc6 Rb8 13.O-O Bb7 14.Nxc4 Bxc6 15.bxc6 Rb5 16.Be3 Qg4 17.f3 Qh3 18.Nb6 Bd6 19.Rf2 Bc7 20.Nd7 Nd5 21.Nxf8 Nxe3{[#] <div class="custom_attn_box" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Black is clearly playing speculatively, hoping that his Kingside threats will amount to something. Black has several themes in mind, the Bishop sacrifice on g3 and the Rook shift over to h5. I think that most players would consider bailing out with 22.Qxh7+, returning some of the material, but White keeps his cool and finds some nice defensive resources</strong></span></div> } 22.Qd3! Bxg3 23.Qxe3! Rh5{[#] <div class="custom_attn_box" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>The high point of Black’s play. There is a lot of enemy firepower around White’s King!</strong></span></div> } 24.Rg2$3 Bxh2+ 25.Kf1 Kxf8 26.Qd4 g6 27.Rd1 Be5 28.Qg4 Qh1+ 29.Rg1 Qh2 30.Rd7 Rh4 31.Qg5 Rc4 32.Qe7+ 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.