St. Louis University aces the test at college chess Final Four

We wrote recently about a welcome surge in quality chess programs at colleges around the country, but — as with college football and hoops — it’s the blue bloods who are still claiming the big prizes for now.

Traditional chess powerhouse St. Louis University captured the program’s first President’s Cup earlier this month, narrowly edging rival Webster University by a half-point in the online College Final Four. Somewhat surprisingly, this was the first Cup for the Billikens, who like Webster fielded an all-grandmaster lineup for the event.

St. Louis drew its matches with Webster and Texas Tech but ran up the points with a 3½-½ victory over the University of Texas at Dallas, including a nice win by Turkish GM Cemil Can Ali Marandi over UTD’s GM Razvan Preotu of Canada.

The once-dowdy Giuoco Piano is enjoying a new vogue among top-level players, allowing 1. e4 fans to sidestep well-trodden Ruy Lopez lines like the wild Marshall or the rock-solid Berlin. Here, Preotu as White plays solidly for the first 14 moves, only to be distracted by a shiny object his opponent “carelessly” lays in his path.

Thus 14. Bc2 Nh5!? (a provocative move, but since White has made no mistakes, simply something like 15. Nc4 Qf6 16. Be3 should give him a perfectly playable game) 15. Nxe5? (taking the bait, and apparently snatching pawn) Rxe5! (the point; on 15…dxe5 16. Qxh5 exd4 17. Nf3, White claims a small edge) 16. dxe5 Qh4!.

White is already in trouble now in lines like 17. Qe2 (Re2 Bxh3! 18. gxh3 Qg3+ 19. Kf1 Qxh3+ 20. Ke1 Nh4 21. Re3 Ng2+ 22. Ke2 Nhf4+ 23. Kf1 Qh1 mate) Nhf4 18. Qf1 Nxh3+ 19. gxh3 Bxh3 20. Qe2 Qg3+. But returning the exchange with the game’s 17. Re3 Bxe3 18. fxe3, doesn’t solve his problems, as Ali Marandi follows up strongly with 18…Bxh3! (Nxe5?! 19. Nf3 Qg3 20. Nxe5 Qxe5 21. Bd2 is far less compelling) 19. Nf3 (gxh3 Qg3+ 20. Kf1 Qxh3+ 21. Kf2 Qh2+ 22. Ke1 Qh4+ 23. Kf1 Nxe5, and White’s king will not survive) Qg3 20. Qf1 Nxe5 21. Nxe5 dxe5 22. Qf3 Bg4! (Qxf3? 23. gxf3 Rd8 24. b3 g5 25. Kf2, and the bishop pair give White strong drawing chances), simplifying the position without letting White fix his busted pawn structure.

One last tactical finesse seals the deal on 29. Kf2 Bh5! (redeploying to win the White pawn on e4) 30. Bc5 Bg6 31. Kf3 Nxe4! 32. Bxe4 Rf6+, driving the king away from the defense of the bishop. Despite the opposite-colored bishops, White will not be able to hold back Black’s kingside pawn majority.

After 37. Bc3 Rf3, Preotu resigns, as more pawns are lost in lines such as 38. Kd2 f6 39. Rg1 Rf2+ 40. Kd3 Bf5+ 41. e4 Rf3+ 42. Ke2 Bxe4.

—-

German GM Matthias Bluebaum, seeded 20th in the powerful field, is the new individual European champion, edging Armenian GM Gabriel Sargissian on tiebreaks in the 22nd running of the continentwide tournament in Slovenia earlier this month. There were some 114 grandmasters in the 317-player field, with 39 countries represented.

Bluebaum was able to coast home with four draws after racing out of the blocks with 6½ points in the first seven rounds, capped by a nice win over Ukrainian GM Yuriy Kuzubov from the White side of a Rubinstein Nimzo-Indian Defense. The players castle on opposite wings, signaling a fight is in store, and there’s a picturesque lineup after 17. g5 Nh5 (Nxd3 18. Qxd3 Bxa3?! 19. Ncb5, and the bishop and knight are both attacked) 18. Nxd5 Qd8, when pieces occupy every square on the d-file.

But Kuzubov gets caught up in some rather pointless kingside maneuvers, which only weaken his own king’s fortress: 19. Bb5 Be5!? 20. Bc3 Bxd4 21. Bxd7 Nxd7 22. Rxd4 Qxg5 23. Rdd1 Qh4?!, further sidelining the queen and doing little to slow down White’s attack.

Black’s predicament only gets worse on 25. Qa4! Ne5? (already, 25…Nb6 26. Qd4 Rxc3 was indicated to try to contain White’s advantage) 26. Rg5! b5 (Black already has to be very careful; e.g. 26…Nxf3 27. Rxh5 gxh5 [Qxh5 28. Nf6+] 28. Nf6+ Kf8 29. Qb4+ Re7 30. Qf4 Rec7 31. Nxh7+ Kg8 32. Rg1+ Nxg2 33. Qg5+) 27. Qb3 Rxc3 (it’s worth the exchange to remove the dominating bishop, but it can’t save the position; on 27…Nc4, White again has 28. Rxh5! gxh5 29. Rg1+ Kf8 30. Bg7+ Kg8 32. Nf6 mate) 28. Nxc3 a6 29 f4 Ng4, and Kuzubov’s queen and knights make for a sorry picture on the side of the board.

White detonates the denouement after a final defensive slip in a tough position: 30. Nd5 Kg7? (Nhf6 was the last chance to try to organize a defense) 31. Qc3+ Kh6 (f6 32. Qc6! Rf8 [fxg5 33. Qxe8 gxf4 34. Nxf4 Qxe3 35. Rd7 Kh6 36. Qf8+ Kg5 37. h4+! Kxh4 38. Ng2+ and wins] 33. Qd7+ Rf7 34. Qxg4 Qxh2 35. Qg2 Qh4 36. Rg4) 32. Rg1 f5 (see diagram) 33. Rxf5!, when 33… gxf5 loses to 34. Qc6+ Kg7 35. Qd7+! Kf8 (Kh6 36. Qxe8 Qh4 37. Ne7) 36. Qxf5+ Kg8 37. Rxg4+ Kh8 (Nxg7 38. Rxg7+) 38. Rg8+ Rxg8 39. Qxh3.

But it’s still curtains for Black after the game’s 33…Qxh2 34. Rxg4 Qh1+ 35. Ka2, and Kuzubov resigned facing lines such as 35…gxf5 36. Qc6+ Re6 37. Qxe6+ Nf6 38. Qxf6+ Kh5 39. Qg5 mate.

—-

Congrats to Winston Churchill High senior Bijan Tahmassebi for being part of the seven-way tie for first in the just-concluded U.S. National High School championships. The suburban Maryland master is on a roll: He is the reigning state champion based on his first-place finish in December’s Maryland Open.

Tahmassebi shared the honors in the Memphis event with IMs Arthur Guo and Anthony He, FMs Gus Huston and Nico Chasin, Vishnu Vanapalli and Advaith Karthik.

Preotu-Ali Marandi, College Chess President’s Cup, April 2022

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 a6 6. O-O d6 7. a4 Ba7 8. Re1 h6 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. h3 Ne7 11. Bb3 Ng6 12. d4 Re8 13. a5 c6 14. Bc2 Nh5 15. Nxe5 Rxe5 16. dxe5 Qh4 17. Re3 Bxe3 18. fxe3 Bxh3 19. Nf3 Qg3 20. Qf1 Nxe5 21. Nxe5 dxe5 22. Qf3 Bg4 23. Qxg3 Nxg3 24. Kf2 Nh5 25. b3 Rd8 26. Ke1 Rd6 27. c4 Nf6 28. Ba3 Re6 29. Kf2 Bh5 30. Bc5 Bg6 31. Kf3 Nxe4 32. Bxe4 Rf6+ 33. Ke2 Bxe4 34. g3 h5 35. Bb4 Bf3+ 36. Ke1 Bg4 37. Bc3 Rf3 White resigns.

Bluebaum-Kuzubov, 22nd European individual Championship, Brezice, Slovenia, April 2022

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. a3 Bd6 8. Qc2 c6 9. Nge2 Re8 10. Bd2 Nbd7 11. f3 c5 12. O-O-O g6 13. dxc5 Nxc5 14. g4 Bd7 15. Nd4 Rc8 16. Kb1 Qb6 17. g5 Nh5 18. Nxd5 Qd8 19. Bb5 Be5 20. Bc3 Bxd4 21. Bxd7 Nxd7 22. Rxd4 Qxg5 23. Rdd1 Qh4 24. Rhg1 Qh3 25. Qa4 Ne5 26. Rg5 b5 27. Qb3 Rxc3 28. Nxc3 a6 29. f4 Ng4 30. Nd5 Kg7 31. Qc3+ Kh6 32. Rg1 f5 33. Rxf5 Qxh2 34. Rxg4 Qh1+ 35. Ka2 Black resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.