Fire Blazing!

Leaving a blaze of fire from busted king positions was the order of the day in round three. All games in the lower half of the chart were decisive which gives evidence to the diverse elements of the tournament. In the old U.S. Championship, 10-12 players (most of who were friends) assembled and a torrent of draws followed. With the chess community losing interest in the tournament (which consisted of the same Russian émigrés and American legends), a change was needed from the boring annual routine. The revamped format was been a winner by all accounts. Whether the decisive results of this tournament demonstrate best play can be debated. However, it is without a doubt that organizer Erik Andersen is happy with the fighting play thus far.

In round three, Sergey Kudrin (pictured right) staked out his position as tournament leader with an exciting win over Ildar Ibragimov. Another complicated Ruy Lopez saw Ibragimov press for the attack, but Kudrin had already penetrated black's camp to disturb the full coordination of his pieces. In desperation, Ibragimov sacrificed a piece after which Kudrin sacrificed an exchange for one of the steamrolling pawns and wrapped up the point.

In another wild encounter involving Julio Becerra, he and Igor Novikov had a bare-knuckled brawl involving a queen sacrifice and plenty of fireworks. Out of a Najdorf Sicilian, Becerra tried a common tactic, sacrificing a piece on the b5-square and sparks flew as pieces clashed violently.

Becerra uncorked a queen sacrifice with 22.Qxc8+ with the idea of advancing the a-pawn.  As  the pawn rolled up the board to the a7-square, play intensified, but Novikov found several brilliant replies to stop the pawn and win the game. Truly and exciting battle!

Other Cuban émigrés Renier Gonzalez (draw versus Varuzhan Akobian) and Lugo Blas (win versus Jesse Kraai) played interesting games while former U.S. Junior Champion, Marcel Martinez held Gata Kamsky. UMBC student Bruci Lopez played a tough game losing in 124 moves to Alexander Fishbein. There is something to be said about having such a support group and the Cubans are playing with a lot of confidence.

There were many interesting games featuring unique themes… several instructive rook and pawn endings, shocking sacrifices, brutal attacks, positional squeezes and yes… horrific blunders. One quick encounter was seen in Irina Krush's quick loss against  Tsagaan Battsetseg. Krush sacked a pawn for development but overlooked a neat tactical shot by the "Mongolian Terror."

In the diagrammed position, Battsetseg played 11… Nxf2! and after 12.Kxf2 Qh4+ 13.Kf1 Bxd4 white is busted. However, Krush missed her chance when Battsetseg got a bit too fancy with 15…Nc6 because after 16.Nf6+! White will maintain a material advantage. However, the game was interesting and provides a lesson in tactical alertness.

Several players got on the scoreboard including Stephen Muhammad with a nice win over Olga Sagalchik. Trotting out a Dutch defense, Muhammad established a formidable pawn center, invaded the queenside and then polished off his opponent with several devastating blows. He will face  Fabio La Rota in round four after the rest day on Saturday the 27th.