N WEST - Northwest Chess!

---A~opos Invitational #1The Soul of a New TournamentBy Kent McNall, TDThe firstApropos InvitationalTournamentwas held September 18-19 at the offices of Apropos RetailManagement Systems Inc, whichsponsored the tournament along withcompany President Kent McNall.First a word of explanation is in orderabout the "invitational" nature of thetournament,and someof the ideas behindit. We wantedto create a slightly differenttournament experience with the Invitational.Since the playing site can accommodateonly a certain number ofpeople, it is not practical to have an"open" tournament. Another key idea isto have players of similar strength, withoutlimiting the tournament to just oneclass of players. Additionally,wewantedto reclaim the time normally associatedwith the registrationprocess. Finally,wewanted to know beforehand who all theplayers were so we could add some nicetouches.The "invitational" nature was simplyaccomplished: In order to get intothe tournament, you had to be one of thefirst twentypeopleto ask to be inthe tournament!While we didn't make twenty,we hope to make this number for futuretournaments.As for the other factors, they seemtohave worked well. Invitational #1 wasfor Expert, A, and B players, and it wasa fairlystrongtournament,as wehad onlytwo B players in the group. Someof the"touches" weadded includedname platesfor each player at their boards, a tournamentbulletin for all players, and even apancake breakfast on Sunday morning.These are things that are difficult to dowith a regular "open" format and a largernumber of players.It's tough to get a new tournamentstarted, so the organizers decided to"prime the pump:" no entry fee, and anice $500 prize fund!The tournamentfeatureda cross-sectionof veteran talent, sharp young play-12ers, and players returning to chess aftera longabsence. Especiallyimpressivewasthe performance of young Michael Lee,who played tough against all comers andendedup with a 50% score against strongA and Expert competition - not bad forsomeonerated 1100just a year ago!Thetournamentwas characterizedbyfighting chess, with a high ratio of deci-SIVegames.The event was won by EduardShamilov and Clint Ballard. Eduard isan up-and-coming 16-year-old fromRenton. Clint is returning to chess aftera 20-year hiatus and is having good success.Bothmentook home $200 for their3.5 scores. Matt Fleury also scored wellat three points, drawing Shamilov in thefinal round.The top "A" prize of $50 was wonby David Wyde, and the top "B" prize of$50 was split by our two B players -Peter June and Pat Hickey.Before the start of the tournament,TD McNall announced the last-minuteaddition of a $100 Best Game prize.Deciding which game was "Best" wasvery difficult, as several fine games wereplayed. Matt Fleury's win over MichaelLee was a sentimental favorite, but, inthe end, Geoff Gale's win over BlakeSalisbury - sacrificingfirst the Exchangeand then a piece in equal and unclearpositions - took the day. Congratulationsto both for their excellent games.The organizers of the Apropos Invitationalhope to make this tournament apart of the Northwest chess landscape,with a quarterly tournament of three contiguousclasses and an annual "AproposCup" made up of the top 5 finishers ofthe quarterly tournaments. Our first fivequalifiers are: Eduard Sharnilov, ClintBallard, Matt Fleury, David Wyde, andFred Kleist.Keep your eyes on Northwest Chessfor the announcement of AproposInvidational #2! Thanks to all of ourplayers for making Apropos Invitatioanl# 1 a success.Octo ber 2004London SystemBlake Salisbury (1858)Fred Kleist (2073)Lynnwood, Apropos Invitational (1) 20041.d4 dS 2.lL1f3lL1f63.Af4 cS 4.e3lL1c6S.c3 tWb6 6.tWc2 AfS 7.dxcS hc28.cxb6 axb6 9.lL1bd2lL1d710.AbSiLa411.Ae2 eS 12.Ag3 Ac2 13.0-0 Ae714.iIac1 AfS1S.a30-0 16. iIfd1 Af617.e4 dxe4 18.lL1xe4 Ae7 19.AbSlL1db8 20.lL1d6 Axd6 21.iIxd6 f622.lL1h4Aea 23.lL1f3Af5 24.lL1d2iId82S.lL1c4iIxd6 26.lL1xd6Ae6 27.lL1xb7iIa728.lL1d6 iId729.lL1c4 1-0This game was one of the twofinalistsfor the Best Game prize. YoungMichael Lee makes a good impression,even from the wrong side of this sacrificialeffort from Matt Fleury.Benko GambitMatt Fleury (2102)Michael Lee (18 95)Lynnwood, Apropos Invitational (1) 2004Annotations by Kent McNall1.d4lL1f6 2.c4 cS 3.dS bSI overheardMatt say laterto Michaelthat he was surprised to see the Benko.4.a4!?An interesting and unusual continuation,whichleadstoan untypical"ClosedBenko." Black will have a lot of scopeon the dark squares. . .4...b4 S.lL1d2e6 6.e4 exdS 7.exdS d68.Ad3 g6 9.b3 Ag7 10.Ab2. . . but, as Matt pointed out, so willWhite!10...0-0 11.h3 iIe8+ 12.lL1e2lL1bd713.lL1f3as 14.tWc2 iIa7 1S.g4lL1eS?This move, allowing the creation ofthe powerful passed d-pawn, invitestrouble.16.lL1xeS dxeS 17.lL1g3 e4 18.Ae2iIae719.0-0-0 ttd6 2o.iIhg1 Ah6+White has been building up a betterposition, but this move leads to a largerNorthwest Chess