Two young Canadians have had titles awarded by FIDE, the World Chess Federation: Pascal Charbonneau, who is 23 years old today, gains the highest title of grandmaster, while Tomas Krnan, 18, becomes an international master.
Eric Lawson is 22 and an international master from Montreal. He just missed out on a grandmaster result at the Spring North American FIDE Invitational in Chicago. His 5.5 points out of 9 was good for a third-place tie.
Peter Vavrak of Slovakia took first spot in the Edmonton International with 7 points out of 9. Dmitry Zilberstein achieved an international master norm by tying for second place with Jesse Kraai. Fourth place went to Mihail Nekrasov. Canadians politely took the six bottom places, led by Kevin Gentes, Rob Gardner and Jeff Reeve.
Vavrak had Black against Nekrasov.
1.e2-e4 e7-e6 2.d2-d4 d7-d5 3.Nb1-d2 Bf8-e7
Four decades ago, theory considered only moves that forced the play, such as 3. ... Ng8-f6, 3. ... c7-c5, 3. ... Nb8-c6, or 3. ... d5xe4. Waiting moves such as the text or 3. ... a7-a6 have proven to be just as good.
4.Bf1-d3 c7-c5 5.d4xc5 Ng8-f6 6.Qd1-e2 a7-a5 7.Ng1-f3 O-O 8.c2-c3
White plays to keep his extra pawn. Interesting was 8.e4-e5 Nf6-d7 9.h2-h4, intending the stock sacrifice Bd3xh7+ followed by Nf3-g5+. Black would need to try 9. ... h7-h6.
8. ... Nb8-a6 9.e4-e5 Nf6-d7 10.Bd3xa6
To allow Na6xc5, then Bd3-c2 b7-b6, as played against Vavrak last year by Alexander Zubarev, was not attractive. Vavrak was willing to repeat that opening, even though he later lost the game. White figures that if he is going to have to make positional concessions, he might as well be a pawn or two up.
10. ... Ra8xa6 11.b2-b4 f7-f6! 12.e5xf6 Be7xf6 13.b4-b5 Ra6-a8 14.Qe2xe6+ Kg8-h8 15.Qe6xd5
After 15.O-O Bf6xc3 16.Ra1-b1 Nd7-c5, material is equal and Black has the better position, with a strong d-pawn and the Bishop Pair.
15. ... Qd8-e7+ 16.Ke1-f1
This locks in the Rook at h1. Better would be to go the other way.
16. ... Bf6xc3 17.Ra1-b1 Rf8-e8 18.Bc1-a3
White consistently hangs on tight to the second extra pawn. Another try would be 18.Qd5-d3, which prevents Black's pieces from mobilizing as quickly as in the game.
18. ... Qe7-e2+ 19.Kf1-g1 Nd7-f6 20.Qd5-c4 Bc8-f5 21.Rb1-e1 Diagram: Also insufficient would be 21.Qc4xe2 Re8xe2 22.Rb1-d1 Ra8-d8, leaving White all tied up.
21. ... Qe2xe1+!
Black gets plenty of material compensation, but careful calculation was the most important facet of this Queen sacrifice.
22.Nf3xe1 Re8xe1+ 23.Nd2-f1 Ra8-d8 24.h2-h3
If 24.Qc4xc3 Rd8-d1 25.Qc3xe1 Rd1xe1 26.f2-f3 Bf5-d3 27.Kg1-f2 Re1-e2+ 28.Kf2-g3 Bd3xb5, Black will take the a2-pawn with a winning queenside majority.
24. ... Bc3-e5 25.f2-f4
The lesser evil was 25.g2-g3, but Black should still win after 25. ... Bf5-e4.
25. ... Bf5-d3 26.Qc4-a4 Re1xf1+ 27.Kg1-h2 Be5xf4+ 28.g2-g3 Rf1-f2+ 29.Kh2-g1 Bf4-e3
White resigned.
***
OTHER HAPPENINGS: Robert Hamilton won the Guelph Spring Pro-Am with 4.5 points, half a point ahead of 14-year-old Kevin Chung, who in turn was half a point ahead of Raja Panjwani, 16.
Players in Southwestern Ontario are preparing for the Canadian Open, July 15-23, in Kitchener.
The Victoria Day weekend is a fixture for many major tournaments. Four events held then are:
Keres Memorial in Vancouver: http://www.chess.bc.ca
Calgary Spring Sectional, richardk@spots.ab.ca
Ontario Open in Richmond Hill, barry@cybersolutions.net
Victoria Day Open in Halifax, skcashin@ns.sympatico.ca
Manitoba holds its big event, the Albert Boxer Classic, comprising the Manitoba Championship, the following weekend, May 26-28, in Winnipeg. http://www.chessmanitoba.com
A calendar of Ontario events is at: http://www.chess.ca/ontoronto.htm