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---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
iadvantage. Blackcan't abandonthe longdiagonal.21.tbb1 iLf4 22.ltIf1 iLe5 23.ltIe3bb2?This four-moveBishopmaneuverhasaccomplished naught but a disadvantageoustrade of Black's only asset!24."8xb2 IiIdS 25.g5 ltIeS 26.iLg4iLb7?! 27.iLe6!?. .~... 7..t....8161..IIi-.... 5 !'1 83 -~. nU3.~. ~ .~4 ~.~....2_~U~illfi -- n ..1~~.':.aa bed e f 9 hA very interesting sacrifice, whichMatt called a "clearing sac" for the g4-square. White has a significant edge inthe position without the sac . . .27...fxe6 2S.dxe611c7 29. IiIxdSlIxdS30. I!d1 "c731.ltIg4. . . but in this position,which is whatWhite was aiming for, Matt needs helpto have more than equality.31...IiIg7?FRITZidentified.. .h5 as an equalizingmoveand we could find no good continuationforWhite. Hence,White's sacrificetook him from a pawn-plus advantageto an equal position- yet onewhereWhite has all the fun!32.1tIf6+ ~fS 33. IiId7! IiIxd734.exd7llJd6 35."8e5! iLc6 36.llJxh7+ ~gS37.llJf6+Missing the killing 37."e7!,wins at once.37...~f7 3S.llJeS lIxd7!whichNot an easy resource to find, and notenough, but Michael shows defensiveprowess in findingthis move.39.llJxd6+ ~gS 40.lIf6 lIg7 41.h4~h7 42.~c1 '8d7 43.lIfS lIg7 44."xg7+ ~xg7 45.~d2 ~fS 46.tbe3~e7 47.llJxe4 ~e6 4S.~f4 1-0Bird s OpeningElston Cloy (1923)Eduard Shamilov (2145)Lynnwood, Apropos Invitational (1) 20041.g3 g6 2.iLg2 iLg7 3.f4 d5 4.llJf3llJh6 5.d3 d4 6.c3 c5 7.iLd2 llJc6S.llJa3 llJf5 9.llJc4 h5 10.e4 dxe311.be3llJxe3 12.llJxe3 0-0 13.0-0I!bS 14.1Ie2 e615.IiIad1 b516.llJg5iLb7 17.g4 hxg4 1S.lIxg4 llJe7 19.trh3 IiIeS 20.iLe4llJd5 21.llJg4llJf622.llJh6+ bh6 23.trxh6 lIe724. IiIf3"8fS 25."8h4 lIg7 26.lIh3 c4 27.bb7 IiIxb7 2S.d4 b4 29. IiIe3 llJd530.IiIf3 bxc3 31.bxc3 IiIb2 32.lIf1IiIcs 33.lIe1 "8f6 34."8h4 lIg7 35.llJe4 IiIxa236.llJd6 IiIc6 37.llJeS lIhS3S.1Ig3 ~fS 39.IiIb1 IiIb640.IiIxb6axb6 41.llJd6 1Ig7 42.IiIf1 IiIa343.llJe4llJxc3 0-1Black Knights TangoPat Hickey (1799)Elston Cloy (1923)Lynnwood, Apropos Invitational (2) 20041.d4llJf6 2.c4llJc6 3.llJf3 e6 4.a3 d65.llJc3 g6 6.e4 iLg7 7.iLe2 0-0 S.o-oe59.d5It1e710.llJe1llJeS11.iLe3f512.f3 f4 13.iLf2 h5 14.llJd3 g5 15.c5llJf6 16.cxd6 cxd6 17.IiIc1 llJg6 1S.llJb5 IiIf7 19.1Ic2 g4 20.ltIxa7 gxf321.iLxf3 iLg4 22.llJb4llJh7 23.bg4hxg4 24.llJcS iLfS 25.iLb6 1If6 26.lIe2 f3 27.lId2 llJg5 2S.iLe3 tL1xe429.lIc2 llJg5 30.llJb6 IiIdS31.lIb1ItIf4 32.bf4 "8xf4 33."8d3 e4 34.1Ib3 trd2 35.trc2 lId4+ 0-1Our Best Game winner has a littleof everything. Geoffmakesmultiple sacrificesin equal and unclear positions.This together with the lack of significantblunders by either side carried the decisionfor this nice game.London SystemBlake Salisbury (1858)Geoffrey Gale (2042)Lynnwood, Apropos Invitational (2) 20041.d4 d5 2.tL1f31t1f63.iLf4A long discussion was held aroundthe skittles table regarding the currentp..pularity of the London System on theNW chess scene. The system was seenseveral times in this tournament.An interesting game and sac by Mr.Fleury.Northwest Chess Octo ber 20043...e6 4.e3 iLd6 5.iLg3 c5 6.c3 0-07.llJbd2 b6 S.iLd3 iLb7 9.ltIe5 ItIc610.h4 "8c711.f4White creates somedisadvantageandan uncomfortable King, but was playingfor attack on the king's wing.11...a612.a4?!One can't condone the White pawnstructure and the creation of weaknesseson both wings.12...llJa7 13.lIf3 b5 14.0-0 c4 15.iLc2Loses a tempo, given the followingsequence,but White dido't want to blockin his Rook.15...b416.f5?White should continue 16.cxb4, ashe will nowbe, effectively,a Rook down.16...b3 17.iLb1 llJc6 1S.llJxc6 bg319.tL1a5!iLh2+!A nice Zwischenzug that puts theKing in an advantageous position forBlack.20.~h1 iLcs!8...i..- .... WIt~ ..~-7~6'. ... ~5 .'.8.48.'~ .. ~3.'DD"'.~ u ~ ~~ u ~ JU ~ "8~ 'fit. ~~ ~ ~,.A.,.1 "." .:.Wa bed 8 f 9 hThe first sac on Black's part, playingagainst the misplaced Queen and theslumbering a-Rook.21.llJdxc4 dxc4 22.lIxaS lIxa523.~xh2 lIc7+ 24. ~g1 iLb725."a7The position Black was aiming forwith his sac.Continued on page 1913
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