Eastern Class Championships

Over the 5th-7th of March, I took part in the Eastern Class Championships, held in Sturbridge, MA, a 5 round 40/2 SD/1 tournament. This year’s turnout was very strong, with a field of 6 GMs, 3 IMs, and several other strong players, the section was the strongest Eastern Class I’ve been to yet. At the start of the tournament, I was ranked near the bottom, but with a respectable performance of 2.5/5, I managed to achieve a final result near the middle of the table, gain 16 rating points, and win $50 in a tie for the 2nd U2300 prize. With such a top heavy tournament, 2 GMs were already playing by the 2nd round and while the GMs were battling it out, IM Hungaski managed to start out with 3 wins against his opponents, including GM Friedel. After scoring 2 draws against other GMs, Hungaski finished tied for first with GMs Benjamin and Ivanov on 4/5 and almost breaking the 2500 rating mark. Although I didn’t play any GMs throughout the tournament, unlike my friend Danny Rozovsky who played Kudrin in the 1st round, I played several strong players and had good games with them.
In the 1st round, I played FM Farai Mandizha, rated 2320, for 6 hours, finishing at 1 AM! It was a very tough game, which resulted in a loss for me, with the tables swinging back and forth throughout the entire game. After giving my opponent the initiative after the opening, Farai misplayed it and gave me a promising position, which a move or two later I managed to screw up after missing an important defensive resource. After obtaining a winning position, Farai gradually made small inaccuracies and allowed me to get back into a game in which both sides now had chances. As time moved on and our clocks started to run low, I tried to press a bit too much, resulting in my pieces getting all tangled up and eventually Farai broke through to win the game. In the 2nd round, I played a fellow Rhode Islander, Miro Reverby, who I’ve played many times before. In a complicated Sicilian, I got a very strong position out of the opening, but let him get too much counterplay. In a double-edged position, he was low on time in the first time control and he made a few mistakes in a row for me to wrest back my advantage and press back to score a win. The third round was even more exciting…but in a Dragon, what can you expect? I was playing WIM Iryna Zenyuk, and after sacrificing an exchange and 2 pawns for an attack (which wasn’t actually sound) the game eventually ended in a perpetual when I couldn’t find anything better.
Stuart Finney-Iryna Zenyuk

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0–0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.h4 h5 11.0–0–0 Rc8 12.Bb3 Ne5 13.Bg5 Rc5 14.Kb1 Re8 b5 is the main line 15.g4 [15.Bh6 Nc4 16.Bxc4 Rxc4 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.Nd5 (18.g4) 18...e5 19.Nxf6 Qxf6 20.Nb3 Rec8 21.Qxd6 Be6 22.c3] 15...hxg4 16.h5 Nxh5 17.Rxh5 gxh5 18.Qh2 Nxf3 [18...Ng6 may be an improvement 19.Qxh5 Qa5 20.f4 Rxg5 21.fxg5 e6 22.Nf5 exf5 23.Qxg6 Be6 24.Qh5 fxe4 25.Rf1 Qe5 26.Rxf7 Bxb3 27.axb3 g3 28.Ka2 Rf8 29.Rxf8+ Kxf8 30.Qg4 e3 31.g6 e2 32.Qf3+ Ke8 33.Qf7+ Kd8 34.Qg8+ Kd7 35.Qf7+ Qe7 36.Qf5+ Kd8 37.Qa5+ b6 38.Qd5 e1Q 39.Qa8+ Kd7 40.Qb7+ Ke8 0–1 Radjabov,T (2751)-Carlsen,M (2765)/Baku 2008/CBM 124] 19.Nxf3 gxf3 20.Qxh5 e6 21.Nd5 Qa5 [21...f6 22.Bh6 (22.Bxf6 Rxd5; 22.Be3 Rxd5 23.exd5 e5 24.Rh1 Qc8 25.Qh7+ Kf7 26.Qh5+ Ke7 27.Qg6 Rg8 28.Rh7 Qf8 29.Bh6 f2 30.Bc4 Qf7 31.Qg3 Bf5 32.Rxg7 Rxg7 33.Bxg7 Qg6 34.Qxf2 Be4 35.Qxa7 Qxg7 36.Qxb7+ Kf8 37.Qc8+ Kf7 38.Qe6+ Kg6 39.Qg4+ Kf7 40.Qe6+ Kg6 41.Qxd6 Qa7 42.b3 Qf2 43.Kb2 Qxc2+ 44.Ka3 Qd2 45.Qc5 Bd3 46.d6 Bxc4 47.bxc4 e4 48.Qd5 e3 49.d7 Qxd5 50.cxd5 e2 51.d8Q e1Q 52.Qg8+ Kf5 53.Qc8+ Kg5 54.Qc5 Qe5 55.Qc6 Qe4 56.Qe6 Qc4 57.Qe3+ Kf5 58.Qe6+ Kg5 59.Qg8+ Kf5 60.Qe6+ Kg5 1/2–1/2 Mainka,R (2450)-Komljenovic,D (2440)/ Bad Mergentheim 1988/EXT 2001) 22...Re7 23.Nxe7+ Qxe7 24.Qg6] 22.Bh6 Rxd5 23.exd5 Bxh6 24.Qxh6 [24.Rg1+ For White to get anything better out of the game than a draw, 24. Rg1+ is the best chance. 24...Kf8 25.Qxh6+ Ke7 26.Qh4+ f6 (26...Kf8 27.Qh6+) 27.dxe6 Bc6 (27...Bxe6 28.Rg7+ Kd8 29.Qxf6+) 28.Rg7+ Kd8 29.Qxf6+ Kc8 30.a3 This position is preferable for White in my eyes, but there is still a lot to play for.] 24...f2 25.c3 Qa6 [25...exd5 26.Bc2 f5 (26...Re4 27.Qg5+ Kf8 28.Bxe4) 27.Qg6+ Kf8 28.Qxd6+ Re7 (28...Kg8 29.Qg3+ (29.Qxd7 Re1) 29...Kf7 30.Qxf2) 29.Qf6+ (29.Rh1 Qa6 30.Rh8+ Kf7 31.Qxd5+ Be6) 29...Ke8 30.Qh8+ Kf7 31.Qh7+ Kf8 32.Qh8+] 26.Bc2 [26.Qf6 Qe2 (26...exd5 27.Bxd5 Be6 28.Rh1 Qd3+ 29.Ka1 f1Q+ 30.Rxf1 Qxd5) 27.a3 exd5 (27...Qe1 28.Qg5+ Kf8 29.Qh6+ Ke7 30.Qh4+) 28.Ka2 Re6 29.Qd8+ Be8 30.Qg5+ Rg6 31.Qxd5 Rg1] 26...f5 27.Qg6+ I don't think there is anything better for White here. ½–½

In the fourth round, I played Avraam Pismennyy, rated 2265, someone who I had beaten a few years ago at the Boston University 1 day tournament. This time, however, he got the upper hand, after I misplayed a position in which I had an isolated queen pawn. The fifth round brought better tidings for me, I played and beat David Carter, rated 2249, from Vermont. The game was in the Petroff, in which I managed to give my opponent a bad light-square bishop and although he made a blunder on the 39th move when he had about 2 minutes left, he was still worse even if he had played on and I should’ve managed to win in any case.

In the last round, IM Marc Esserman rejoined the tournament after pulling out in the 4th round because of missing a winning move against Deepak Aaron the round before, and played a very nice game against Kapil Chandran in the Morra Gambit. The game, and Esserman’s analysis, can be found at http://main.uschess.org/content/view/10209/570/.

Overall, it was a great tournament for me. A decent result and catching up with various friends made it an enjoyable experience and I hope to have as good a time in future years!