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An amateur event sham

By David R. Sands
February 23, 2008

The U.S. Amateur Team East, the Parsippany, N.J., tradition that usually is one of the year's most popular and spirited events, left an unpleasant aftertaste this year.

The East event, held last weekend, once again set an attendance record, with more than 1,200 players competing on 291 teams from up and down the Atlantic Coast. There were the usual outlandish team names (No Longer Searching for Bobby Fischer took top honors) camaraderie and competition.

However, this year's winner, GGGg, won all six matches employing a lineup of three grandmasters (Zviad Izoria, Eugene Perelshteyn and Roman Dzindzichashvili) and 5-year-old (yes, that's right) Stephen Fanning. Young Fanning's microscopic 178 rating helped get the squad below the mandatory maximum team average rating of 2200, but the whole setup simply is not in the spirit of such a populist event.

No one broke the rules, but it would be nice to see some changes next year (just two GMs per team, perhaps) to keep the event competitive for those without international titles.

For a taste of what can happen when equals collide, we go today to the Amateur Team West event, held in Los Angeles. IMs Kong Liang Deng and Jack Peters, the legendary chess columnist for the Los Angeles Times, squared off in a short, brutal affair capped by a string of sacrifices.

Both players must be tactically alert almost from the starting gun of this sharp Sicilian. Black snatches a gambit pawn, but after 7. d5, the normal-looking 7...Ne5? already loses a piece to 8. Qa4+. A few moves later, after 11. Qd4 Rg8 12. Re1, Black can get into big trouble with the casual 12...Bg7 13. Qh4 Bf6?! 14. Bb5+! Ke8?? (Qxb5 is also better for White) 15. Bh6+ Rg7 (Bg7 16. Qxe7 mate) 16. Qxf6! exf6 17. Re8 mate!

Deng gives up a second pawn to keep his attack alive, and by 14. Qa4!? Qxd5 15. Ba3 Kd8 16. Rad1, the open central files and the diagonals for his two bishops give him real compensation. Peters dodges a bullet after 16...Qf5 17. Nd4 Nb6!, when the immediate 17...Qf6? would have opened the floodgates on 18. Qa5+ b6 (Ke8 19. Bxd6! Qxd6 20. Nb5 Qb6 21. Qxb6 axb6 22. Nc7+ wins material) 19. Qd5 Rb8 20. Nc6+ Kc7 21. Rxe7 Bxe7 22. Nxe7 Re8 (Qxe7 23. Bxd6+ is crushing) 23. Bxd6+ Kd8 24. Nc6 mate.

But White's steady pressure soon forces a critical defensive lapse: 19. c4! Bd7 20. Nb5 Bg7? (Nc8 21. c5 a6 looks tougher, but Black's game already is very hard to hold together) 21. c5 Be6 (see diagram) 22. cxd6!, and the White queen is immune because of 22...Bxb3? 23. dxe7+ Kc8 (Ke8 24. Nc7 mate) 24. e8=Q+ Rxe8 25. Rxe8+ Qd8 26. Rexd8 mate.

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