Let’s Hear it for the Winners!
By Grant Hodson

 

            No individual dominated Utah chess in 2006.   Per tradition, the winner of the Utah Open is regarded as the Utah State Champion, but we had a number of champions who won state titles and who arguably deserve just as much recognition.  We also had at least two individuals who recently won first in their class in out-of-state tournaments.  Jaime Olsen tied for first in the U1600 section at the North American Open held in December in Las Vegas.  She came home with $1500 for her showing.  Scott Lundskog tied for 1st U1600 in the Western States Open and received $750 in this tournament which was dedicated to Igor Ivanov.  A number of others won money last year in other national events, so if you are one of them, or you won a state tournament for which I don’t have the information, please let us know and provide a copy of one of your games for us to highlight.   

            So here are our champions.  (In the case of co-champions, the 1st listed won the trophy by blitz playoff or tie-break, but there was no blitz playoff or computer tie break for 1st in the State Elementary Championship.)

 

2006 Utah Champions:

·        Doug Lee                       Utah Open Champion

·        Janice Chen                    Utah Open Women’s Co-Champion

Jaime Olsen                    Utah Open Women’s Co-Champion

·        David Vasquez               Utah Open, Reserve Section Champion

·        Kevin Heath                   Utah Open, U1200/UNR Champion

·        Randy Zumbrunnen        Utah Closed Champion

·        Ivan Martynenko            Utah Blitz Co-Champion

Jeff Phillips                     Utah Blitz Co-Champion

·        Vanel Sanchez                Utah Speed Champion

·        Grant Hodson                Utah Amateur Co-Champion

Guy Wheatley                Utah Amateur Co-Champion

·        Jeff Phillips                     Utah Game/60 Champion

·        Grant Hodson                Utah Senior Champion

·        Damian Nash                 Utah Quick Champion

·        Tyler McIntosh              Utah High School Co-Champion

Jason Mielke                  Utah High School Co-Champion

·        Adam Mielke                 Utah Jr High Co-Champion

     Jamie Olsen-Mills           Utah Jr High Co-Champion

 

Utah State Elementary Championship:

6th Grade Champions (tie):         José Garcia & Robert Mayo

5th Grade Champion:                  Eric DeBry

4th Grade Champions (tie):         Rex Bryce & Michael Thompson

3rd Grade Champion:                  Demitri Sakellariou

2nd Grade Champion:                 Kayden Troff

1st Grade Champion:                  Ben Hayes

Kindergarten:                              Samuel Sweeney

 

Utah Class Championship:

XA                   Vanel Sanchez

B                      Morry Holland

CD                   Jaime Olsen-Mills

E                      Kolbie Astle

F                      Nicholas Stoddard

G                     Adam Montgomery

H                     Ben Hayes

UNR                Erik Keyes

 

The following game was submitted by Randy Zumbrunnen following his winning the Closed Championship.  He is a former Utah Open Champion, 1975, and co-champion in 1976.  He also won the Utah Closed Championship in 2002.  He’s a mathematician and statistician with a Masters degree in Math from the U of U.

 

Damir Trtanj – Randy Zumbrunnen, Utah Closed, 2006

 

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. c4 {By losing this tempo White is now playing the Black side of an English opening. }

 

4... Nc7 {More adventurous is Nb4 which gives Black the edge but he must be willing to enter complications that may arise after variations such as 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nf3 d6 7.e6! N8c6!. Winning a pawn with 7. . . Bxe6 instead is not as valuable as the time gained by developing the knight and queen bishop, even if the Black king is exposed after 8.exf7+ Kxf7.}

 

5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Nc3 e6 7. Ne4 $6 { White plays to gain the two bishops but Be2 with simple development in mind is better.}

 

7... d6 8. exd6 Bxd6 9. Nxd6+ 9... Qxd6 {The pressure Black will now exert on the d-file was worth giving up bishop for knight.}

 

10. b3 O-O 11. Bb2 e5 12. d3 12... h6 {Creating a refuge for the bishop after a knight attack. The direct Rd8 followed by Bf5 and Ne6 is also good. Black now has a significant positional advantage.}

 

13. Be2 Bf5 14. O-O Rad8 15. Re1 f6 16. Qd2 16... Nb4 {Another way to win the pawn is Ne6 after the knight goes to f4, this would also activate Black's most passive piece. Taking the pawn right away with Bxd3 is not good because 17.Rad1 e4 18.Bxd3 exd3 19.Re3 wins the pawn back with equality. In this line 18. . . Qxd3? loses the queen after 20. Qc1.}

 

17. Rad1 17... Nxd3 {Putting pressure on the queenside with Qa6 is just as good but Black would need to be prepared for 18.Nd4! exd4 19.a3 and now Nxd3! giving back the piece but retaining a solid pawn up is the way to go. It would be a mistake to try and hold the extra piece with 19. . . Nc6 due to 20.Qf4! forking the Black bishop and knight.}

 

18. g4 {White introduces complications with the hope of counterplay, since otherwise he is just a pawn down. More patient would have been Qe3 in trying to hold the position.}

 

18... Bh7 {The pawn is actually safe to take but White can create complications with Bxd3 or Qe3.}

 

19. Bxd3 Qxd3 20. Qxd3 Rxd3 21. Rxd3 Bxd3 22. Rd1 $6 {Seeking counterplay at all costs. Better was 22.h4 Ne6 23.Kh2 and Kg3 activating his pieces as much as possible and more importantly protecting his first rank.}

 

22... Be2 23. Rd7 Bxf3 24. Rxc7 Rd8 25. h3 {White needs all the air he can get with h4 instead which would also give him one more tempo than in the game. Black's plan would then be to go after the pawn at a2 and if Rxc5 then the g4 pawn falls.}

 

25... e4 {Threatens Rd1+ followed by Rd2 winning the f2 pawn.}

 

26. Ba3 $2 {Better is Rxc5 but after Rd1+ 27.Kh2 Rd2 Black is still winning.}

 

26... b6 {An even quicker way to win is Rd1+ followed by g5 .}

 

27. Kh2 Rd2 28. Kg3 Rxa2 29. Bc1 {White didn't want to self-pin his bishop with Rxa7 but this still would have been slightly better than the move played.}

 

29... g5 30. Be3 $2 {He could have held out longer with h4 but then Ra1 still finishes things.}

 

30... Ra1 31. h4 Rg1+ 32. Kh2 Rg2+ 33. Kh3 Rxg4 34. hxg5 hxg5 35. Rxa7 35... f5 {After f4 White must sacrifice the bishop to avoid Rh4 checkmate.} 0-1

 

In as much as I won an event too, here is one of my games from last year.  The game may not be on the level of Randy’s or Doug’s, but I like the tactical finish.  The winning move is natural, but it is interesting in that there are a number of possible defensive moves—all of which quickly lose.  

 

Grant Hodson– Andre Baksh, 2006, Utah Game 60 Championship

 


Position after 25…Re3

 

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 c5 4.Nc3 a6 5.d5 Qc7 6.a4 d6 7.e4 Be7 8.b3 0–0 9.Bb2 Re8 10.Be2 exd5 11.Nxd5 Nxd5 12.exd5 Qa5+ 13.Nd2 Bg5 14.c3 Bg4 15.f3 Bf5 16.0–0 Nd7 17.Nc4 Qc7 18.Bd3 Bxd3 19.Qxd3 Ne5 20.Nxe5 Rxe5? (dxe5 of course) 21.f4 Bxf4 22.Rxf4 Rae8 23.Raf1 f6 24.Qg3 Kh8 [24...Re3 25.Qg4 Qc8 26.Qxc8 Rxc8 27.R4f3 Re2 28.Bc1 +-] 25.c4 Re3 26.Rxf6! And Black resigns.  Of course, Rxg3 loses to 27. Rf8+ and gxf6 to Bxf6+.  Even funner is Qe7 which is met by 27. Rf8+ Rxf8 28. Qxg7+! Qxg7 29. Rf8 mate.

For completeness, here are the other moves which are also hopeless: 26...h5 27.Rh6+ Kg8 28.Qg6 Rf3 29.Qxe8+ Rf8 30.Qxf8 mate; 26...Rf3 27.R6xf3 Kg8 28.Rf7 Qxf7 29.Rxf7; 26...Qf7 27.Rxf7; 26...Re1 27.Qxe1 (27. Rxe1 also works); 26...Kg8 27.Qxe3 gxf6 (27...Qd7 28.Qg3 b6 (28...h6 29.Rf7 Qxf7 30.Rxf7) 29.Rf7) 28.Qxe8+ Kg7 29.Rxf6  1–0