The South was victorious in the traditional Battle of Alberta, held at Red Deer. Despite rating equality between the teams, the South amassed a huge lead over the North in the first round, then coasted to a 14.5 to 8.5 victory.
Amassing 2-0 scores for the winners were Chris Demers, Andrew Boik and Ian Lee. Mr. Lee had White against Anastasia Kazakevich.
1.e2-e4 c7-c5 2.Ng1-f3 e7-e6 3.d2-d4 c5xd4 4.Nf3xd4 a7-a6 5.Nb1-c3
There are many subtleties of move order. Here 5.Bf1-d3 is more popular because it keeps c2-c4 available.
5. ... Nb8-c6
This is the fourth most popular, and the ninth most successful move, with a 43 per cent yield.
6.Nd4xc6 b7xc6 7.Bf1-d3
White has been doing well in top grandmaster play with the unnatural 7.e4-e5 Qd8-c7 8.f2-f4.
7. ... Qd8-c7 8.O-O d7-d5 9.Qd1-e2 d5-d4
The move gains time, but cedes c4 for good. Black usually parries the threat against the d5-pawn by protecting it again with Ng8-f6.
10.Nc3-a4 e6-e5 11.f2-f4 Bf8-d6 12.f4-f5 Ng8-f6 13.b2-b3 Bc8-b7 14.Na4-b2 Bd6-b4
An aggressive and committal move. Among the alternatives are 14. ... Bd6-a3, hoping to trade off White's versatile Bishop, or just castling.
15.Nb2-c4 Bb4-c3 16.Ra1-b1 O-O
Having isolated the Bishop in enemy territory, Black needs to be more careful about King placement. If 16. ... O-O-O then b3-b4 and a2-a4. That and the game continuation suggest that Black needs to cripple White's pawn rollers before committing the King. For example, 16. ... a6-a5 17.a2-a4 h7-h5.
17.g2-g4! Nf6-d7 18.g4-g5 f7-f6
The additional weakness along the c4-g8 diagonal is more than Black's position can bear. A better defence was 18. ... Rf8-e8 19.Qe2-h5 Nd7-f8, intending not to move any kingside pawns when f5-f6 arrives.
19.g5-g6 h7-h6 20.Bc1-a3
Also good was Qe2-h5. After the moves in the game, the Bishop at c3 cannot return to the hinterland.
20. ... c6-c5 21.Qe2-h5 a6-a5 22.Ba3-c1 Bb7-a6 23.Rf1-f3 Nd7-b8 24.Rf3-h3 Ra8-a7
Now comes a stock sacrifice, but White finds an original continuation.
25.Bc1xh6! g7xh6 26.g6-g7!
Also strong is 26.Qh5xh6 Qc7-g7 27.Qh6-c1, intending Rh3-h7.
26. ... Rf8-f7 27.Qh5xh6 Rf7xg7+ 28.Kg1-f2 Kg8-f7 Diagram: Black appears to have escaped, but White has one more touch of magic:
29.Qh6xg7+! Kf7xg7 30.Rb1-g1+ Kg7-f7 31.Rh3-h7+ Kf7-f8 32.Rh7-h8+ Kf8-f7 33.Rh8-g8!
The key move.
33. ... Bc3-e1+ 34.Kf2xe1 Ba6xc4 35.Rg1-g7 mate.
Micah Hughey scored 2-0 for the North.
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September marks the beginning of the traditional chess club season. The CFC (Chess Federation of Canada) has an extensive list of clubs at its web site: http://www.chess.ca. Major open tournaments tend to run on long weekends. The Thanksgiving weekend will see major events in Toronto and Charlottetown. Respective daytime contacts: Larry Bevand at (416) 486-3395 and Fred McKim (902) 368-0092. Complete details of these and other events are also at the CFC site, click on "Tournaments". Tournaments, often held at clubs, are the main way to get a rating, another service of the CFC.
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Lawrence Day finished with two wins at the Howard Staunton Memorial in London. His final score of 4.5 out of 10 will regain some of the rating points gobbled up by hungry Canadian junior players. Two Jonathans, Levitt and Speelman, tied for first with 6 points.