LCCC Was Closed on 011617

What tournament chess looks like right before the order to 'start your clocks'.

The LCCC playing site was open in spite of MLK day closing the schools.

However the LCCC officers could not make the Club night due to weather concerns - and in your humble scribe's case - chess fatigue.

Having competed in the Michigan Class Championships this prior weekend, the brain was not eager to do battle again so soon with any 'rested' players at the Club. A vacation day was needed.

LCCC did not have a big showing this year. Life gets in the way of chess sometimes. But we did have some of the classes covered:

Class B: Mike N
Class D: Paul M
Class E: Nick D

Besides, the weather was making the roads icy so that was another reason to sit tight and use the time to throw a Grandmaster endgame at Igor3000 - the chess computer and see what he sees.

Later, if deemed worthy enough, we will run some of the games from this MI Class on this site.

But for now, here is a game between the great and now late GM Victor Korchnoi and IM (now GM) Laurent Fressinet - Enghien les Bains, France in 2003.

This game was taken from Chess Life, September 2003. The reason it was selected was that it is a very difficult endgame and the writer - GM Michael Rohde - just glossed right over it. This struck me as strange because of this note at the top of his column:

"One of the most common problems for talented young players (i.e. Fressinet here) is whether to take an initiative into the endgame or press in the middle game."

GM Rohde keeps the article moving with notes thru the opening and middle game til move 23. Then not a word thru the next 14 moves to the end of the game - in which the young player defeats one of the challengers for the World Championship - with Black - in an endgame!

Well my attempt to review the endgame and add some notes got me nothing but a headache. Much too complicated for me. So I now give you the notes of Igor3000. But the first note in (  ) is from GM Rhodes. It was his last note before he abandoned this difficult endgame.

GM Korchnoi (W) vs IM Fressinet (B) - White to move

24. Re2
(The problem with the obvious 24. Qc6 is 24. ......Rbb8, 25. d7, Qc5! Then the d-pawn is more of a liability than a strength because it has advanced too far away from it's fellow pieces.)

Igor says that 24. b4, b5 25. Qc5 is an EVEN game. The text gives Black a (-.5) edge (half a pawn), and was not that much better than the rejected 24. Qc6 (-.54).

24. .......        Bxc3
25. bxc3       Rd8
26. Rd2        Rbd7
27. Qc6        Qa6
28. g3          ........
Here White misses a chance to get the game closer to even (-.2) with 28. f4, Qc8 29. Qxc8, Rxc8.

28. .......       Qc8
29. Qxc8     Rxc8
30. Rd3       Rc5
31. Rad1     f6
32. f4          Ra5
33. Rd4       Kf7
34. a4          Rc5
35. R4d3     ........
White had 35. R1d3 as better (-.8) but Black is already starting to squeeze out a win. The text opens Black's advantage to over a pawn positionally (-1.2).

35. ........     e5
36. f5        .........
White needed 36. Ke2 or Kf3 here. Now it's over (-1.5).

36. .......     Ra5
37. Ra1     e4
White resigns