Symphonic Resonance of the Harmonious Pieces
Together, chess players create the most engaging games over the board.
There’s a humming lull coming from the warmth of summer, with chess firmly in the choir with its artistic nature. Whether you’re bringing your sets out to the park or finding a new favorite club (don’t leave us for them please we’re so funnn) there’s always a place to play. This week we’re covering Simuls, upcoming events and the Club Blitz! What’s the first move?
Club Blitz 7/9
Starting off with our July Club Blitz Champions, where players fought through 46 contestants (16 unrated first entries) and saw two National Masters in attendance, we found a whole cast returning faces and new for podium finish. In clear first place, with a completely dominating 7/7 score was our returning champion Jonathan Corbblah, a Candidate Master with a peak blitz USCF of 2262. He is now Bushwick’s highest blitz player with a rating of 2119!!!
National Master Leonardo Liu found second place and Top Unrated Prize losing only to Corbblah, with late entry NM Danny Vulis taking home the u2000 prize with 5.5/7. Marshall player Sam Sharf took home double prizes for her performance against Atharva Washimkar (425 pt upset prize) and with 5/7 pulled in the u1600, while Michael Attner grabbed up his first u1200 prize!
Internation Master Returns to the Field
While yours truly loves chess with a passion, I am still quite new at the game. With just over three and a half years under my belt and a rating that fluctuates around 1600 I’ve gone from beginner to intermediate with a lot of hard work. It’s easy to let the pros get in your head and teach us valuable lessons over the board, and this weekend’s simul game against Internation Master Farai Mandizha. In his second simul this year, with the last taking place at Washington Square Park (I lost in 23 moves against his Sozin Attack), Mandizha took to playing what felt like a blitz match against 25 players this weekend. Let’s take a quick look over our game.
It’s move seven and IM Mandizha has just played Nxd4 (1.e4 c5, 2.Nf3 d6, 3.Nc3 Nc6, 4.Bb5 Bd7, 5.0-0 Nf6, 6.d4 cxd4,7.Nxd4…). You can clearly see the skilled nature of whites use of minor pieces already. Black has a blocked dark square bishop, light square bishop protecting a knight and is uncastled. White has three forward minor pieces with a dark square bishop ready to pin the f6 knight at a moment’s notice and is castled. What does black play in this type of position? While the tension is high, this is a totally equal position (for now).
The answer if you, haven’t figured it out is e6. Black prepares to solve the dark square bishop and castling issues. Yours truly is used to a lot of different variations of committal attacks with e5 so of course I couldn’t stop myself and launched what would be the losing idea. 7…e5 not only weakens the d6 pawn (as is common in these positions) but in this exact opening, gives white the juiciest knight you’ve ever seen with 8.Ne5. Ben Finegold would be proud to say that’s worth a queen at least.
Only a couple moves later and black is starting to get in trouble. Here I played something that I considered brilliant for right about five seconds. In my last two classical games my opponents snagged my e pawn and center forked me, so it’s getting more imprinted in my head that one can temporarily sac material for eventual gain and I needed to get that knight of f5. So I did what I thought was best and played 9….Nxe4. Little did I know black doesn’t have to take my knight (if this were a 1200 game they would ten out of ten times) and the Internation Master played the best move Nxg7+. Ouch.
I did everything in my power not to panic when I saw it, only to panic and castle directly into the attack. With a resignation on move 13, and a valuable lesson on how to better play the classical variation from both sides the simul was a success. Not on the scoresheet but we’re always thankful for a lesson.
u1600 Marshall Chess Club Takeover
In an effort to expand our minds, Bushwick Chess players have started taking to classical chess at the esteemed Marshall Chess Club this summer. With 8 players taking over the u1600 and u2200 sections on Wednesday’s, Bushwick players are learning how to take our time and calculate.
With two rounds left to go, our hero of the field Atharva Washimkar has taken 3.5/4 points so far and shares first place with Marshall member Kirill Tsydypov. Hector Correa is right behind in 4th with 3 points, while Wyatt McLean takes third highest with 2.5 points in 10th place. Sydney Strauss, Shreyo Banerjee and myself are all throwing in the gauntlet as well with Sam Sharf taking over the u2200 downstairs. If you haven’t checked it out yet, Marshall Chess Club is always filled with sharp players looking to fight. Will a Bushwick Chess player prove our worth by round six? Keep up with the newsletter to find out.
That’s it for this week. Be sure to come out for club night, and check in with us on Instagram or Discord for more details! Much love chess players, see you over the board.
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