National Chess Day Chicago Community Tournament

Twenty-four kids and eight adults assembled at the Rudy Lozano Branch of the Chicago Public Library on Saturday, Oct. 8, for a community tournament in celebration of National Chess Day, an observance revived last year by the U.S. Chess Federation.

It might not have happened at all without Hector Hernandez.

When I left Freeport, where I helped found the Route 20 Chess Club two years ago, and returned to Chicago this August, I immediately began watching the ICA calendar to see whether anyone was planning a National Chess Day event in the Windy City. Weeks went by, and nothing appeared. Incredible!

Having organized a successful inaugural National Chess Day event at the Freeport Public Library last year, I began canvassing the larger branches of the Chicago Public Library, hoping to find a suitable site. But this library was already booked, and that one didn't have the right kind of space . . . I struck out at site after site.

Looking back on it, I should have talked to Hector first. A former president of the ICA, he's been hosting the Knight Moves Chess Club at the Lozano Library in Pilsen for more than 20 years and had organized a number of Día de la Raza (Columbus Day) tournaments in the past. I'd met him recently when I dropped in on his summer afternoon chess club, and when I approached him with the National Chess Day concept, he embraced it, securing the library's auditorium for the event along with a donation of prize medals from the management of the McDonald's down the block at 1664 S. Blue Island Ave.

The five-round tornado was originally to be divided into K–4, 5–8 and open (high school and adult) sections, but low turnout in the middle grades resulted in our consolidating the two youth-only sections. Attendance in the open section was robust, thanks to the participation of a number of students from Kelly, Hales Franciscan and Whitney Young high schools, among others. (So unlike my experience in Freeport, where middle schoolers flocked to our tournaments yet we couldn't draw high schoolers to save our lives!)

Ricky Roman of Florence Nightingale School, a USCF-rated player, swept the youth section with five straight wins to claim the first-place grade 5–8 medal (medals were awarded in the advertised age groups). Second place went to Varun Malladi, who'd traveled all the way from Lincolnshire to participate. Francisco Mota of Nathanael Greene School won third. Among the K–4 players, sister and brother Susan and Jeffrey Huang of the University of Chicago Lab School earned first and second, Manuel Mota (Greene) placed third, Ursulo Madrigal of A.N. Pritzker School took fourth, and Rita Hernandez of Southwest Chicago Christian School won fifth. A special award was presented to our lone kindergarten participant, Elizabeth Rivera, age 5.

In the open section, Whitney Young alum and rated player Kessidy Chan, now a student at Loyola University, was the clear winner with 4.5/5. He received the first-place adult medal; second place went to Dan Moore, and third to Javier Rosas. Breathing down Chan's neck was Kelly senior Lauro Nava, winner of the first-place high school medal. Chan and Nava faced off in the fourth round in a tense matchup that ended in a last-minute draw (see game below). Second place in grades 9–12 was earned by Nicholas Sorkoram of Hales Franciscan. Third went to Jiarong Lin (Kelly), fourth went to Wei Li (Whitney Young), and fifth was won by an eighth-grader from Gunsaulus Academy, Mark Jungo, who chose to play up.

In addition to medals, winners in all sections also received book prizes.

Many thanks to Hector Hernandez for hosting and organizing the event, La Raza newspaper for pre-event publicity, and all our players for making the tournament a success.

[Event "Nat'l Chess Day Chicago Community Tourn"] [Site "Chicago, IL"] [Date "2011.10.08"] [Round "4"] [White "Chan, Kessidy"] [Black "Nava, Lauro"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A52"] [Annotator "Keith Ammann (with help from Deep Fritz 8)"] [PlyCount "82"] [EventDate "2011.10.08"] [EventType "swiss (rapid)"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "USA"] {A52: Budapest Gambit} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ng4 4. Nf3 Bc5 5. e3 Nc6 6. Nc3 Ngxe5 7. Be2 d6 8. O-O Bg4 9. b3 ({White wins a piece with} 9. Nxe5 $142 Nxe5 10. Bxg4 Nxg4 11. Qxg4) 9... Bxf3 10. Bxf3 Qd7 (10... O-O { With a lead in development, black is better off castling right away.}) 11. Be2 O-O-O 12. Bb2 Ne7 13. Qc2 Nf5 14. Rfe1 (14. Nd5 Ne7 (14... c6 { sets off a complicated chain of events that favors white:} 15. b4 Bb6 16. Bxe5 dxe5 17. Bg4 g6 18. Nxb6+ axb6 19. Rfd1 Qe7 20. e4)) 14... Kb8 15. Rad1 Bb4 16. a3 Bxc3 17. Bxc3 Qe6 18. a4 f6 19. Bxe5 {This bishop is too nice to give up.} fxe5 20. Rd2 Rdf8 (20... Rhf8 {is wiser}) 21. Bg4 { Practically begging to be kicked around.} h5 22. Bh3 { A dangerous spot for the bishop!} (22. Bf3 {Instead of the piece,} h4 { goes for the kill}) 22... g5 23. g3 (23. Bxf5 $5 {must definitely be considered } Qxf5 24. Red1 Qxc2 25. Rxc2) 23... g4 {Black is making a comeback!} 24. Bg2 h4 25. Qe4 c6 26. Red1 $4 { White misses a chance to scuttle black's attack by seizing the hanging g-pawn.} (26. Qxg4 hxg3 27. fxg3) 26... hxg3 27. fxg3 Qh6 28. Bh1 Nxg3 { Black returns white's favor by missing an opportunity of his own.} (28... Nxe3 $142 $1 {grabs an underdefended pawn and threatens nastiness down the f-file} 29. h4 gxh3 { and white has only one response that averts the imminent catastrophe:} 30. Bf3) 29. hxg3 Qh3 30. Qg2 Kc7 $4 {The king can't defend that pawn.} (30... Qh6 $142 {holds the line by threatening mate} 31. Qe4 (31. Rxd6 $4 Qxe3+ 32. Qf2 Qxf2#) 31... Qh3) 31. Rxd6 Rf1+ $2 {Reckless!} 32. Rxf1 {Abandons the d6-rook.} (32. Kxf1 $142 { gives back the bishop instead of a rook, and gets the king out of his foxhole} Qxh1+ 33. Qxh1 Rxh1+ 34. Kg2 Rxd1 35. Rxd1) 32... Kxd6 33. Qxh3 (33. Qd2+ $142 $1 {launches a fierce counterattack} Ke7 34. Qb4+ $1 Kd8 { White can continue to press with 35.Qd6+ or 35.Rf8+}) 33... Rxh3 34. Kf2 (34. Bg2 $5 {scram!}) 34... Rh2+ 35. Bg2 Kc5 36. Kg1 Rh7 37. Rb1 Rd7 38. Kf1 Rd2 39. Be4 Kb4 40. Ke1 Rh2 41. Bf5 $6 (41. Rd1 $142 {sacrifices the b-pawn to get the rook into black's backfield, where it will tear the pawn structure apart}) 41... Rg2 {White has a winning advantage but, with only about a minute and a half left on his clock, little time to press it. Black, with less than a minute, hastily proposes a draw, and white accepts.} 1/2-1/2