N WEST - Northwest Chess!

L2004 Oregon Open DisplaysEmerging Young NW TalentBy Jerry Ramey,OCF PresidentThe Oregon Open is always an exciting tournament with many excellentgames and often with a surprise or two. To me, the most pleasant surprise of the2004 tournament was the number of junior players participating. About one thirdof the participants in this tournament were under the age of 20. They didn't do toobadly either!The clear winner of the Open s~on was 17-year-old Oleg Zaikov ofEugene.He finished with 5.5 points with five wins and a last-round draw with RogerMartin. Of course, Oleghas been playing against the Masters and Experts for a fewyears, so they know what to expect from him. The performances of two young(used to be) 1800 players were what surprised the older guys this time.Blake Phillips (Tigard) and Blake Salisbury (Clatskanie) both had exceptionaltournaments. Between the two of them, the young giant-killers knocked offfive Masters! Phillips' only loss was to Zaikov, and Salisbury's only dings werefrom Zaikov and Phillips. Better keep an eye on the two Blakes from now on. OtherJuniors who played well in the Open section were Landon Brownell of Corvallis,Keegan Knutson from Longview, Brian Esler of Portland, and Adi Lanka and theWyde brothers, Benjamin and David, all from Mercer Island.The youth movement also struck in the Reserve section. Tying for firstwith DavidYoshinagaofTigard was 15-year-oldFedya Kleshchevof Eugene. Bothhad 5.5 points. Without the benefit of being able to accept a draw in the last round,Fedya had to grunt out an endgame vs. Jason Evers of Bend to claim his share of .first prize.Youngsters Howard Chen (Longview) and Josh Rankin (Corvallis) tied for. fifth and also tied for the U1600 prize. A nine-way tie for seventh includedjuniorsDrew Serres (Salem), Marcus Robinson (Portland) and Zane Mowery (Eugene).Zane, who has played chess for only two years, performed,well above his 1299rating and won the U1400 prize. .I believe the Northwest is becoming one of the hotbeds in the country forproducing high-level young players. It speaks well for the various clubs and programsand for the quality of chess being played here. The Future is bright!!The GamesModern Benoni: Four PawnsNM Nick Raptis (2316)Ben Lin (2138)Eugene, Oregon Open (1) 20041.d4lbf6 2.c4 e6 3.lbc3 c5 4.d5 exd55.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.f4 iLg7 8.lbf30-0 9.iLe2 lle8 10.e5 lbfd7 11.0-0dxe5 12.fxe5lbxe5 13.iLf4 iLg4 14.lbxe5 iLxe2 15.flxe2 iLxe5 16.iLxe5lbd7 17.flb5 lbxe5 18.flxb7 llb819.flxa7 iIxb2 20.'8'a4 iIb4 21.'8'c2lbg4 22. iI f3 flb8 23. iIg3 lbxh224.11h3 lbg4 25.iIf1 iIe3 26.lbd11!.xh327.g.xh387~. HI. .i.i ...6. . .i. s. ~..U~...~. 3~. . .~2~.'ii. . .. 1 ~ .tL).:=a bed e f 9 h27...flg3+ 28.flg2 flxg2+ 29.c;t>xg2lbe5 30.lbc3 c;t>f831.11f211d4 32.a4c;t>e733.a511d3 34.lbb511b3 35.lba7lla3 36.lbc8+ c;t>d8 37.lbd6 c;t>e738.lbb7 c4 39.d6+ c;t>d7 40.a6 c341.1!c2 1-0Jtjme)Sicilian PelikanJosh Rankin (1437)Micah Smith (1721)Eugene, Oregon Open (1) 2001.e4 c5 2.lbf3lbc6 3.d4 cxd44.lbxd'lbf6 5.lbc3 e5 6.lbdb5 h6 7.lbd6'iLxd6 8.flxd6 fle7 9.flxe7+ c;t>x10.iLc4 d6 11.f4 iLe6 12.iLb3 lbd,13.c;t>d1lbg414.iIe1lbxh215.lbd5'hd5 16.iLxd5 iIac8 17.c3lbc6 1Bfxe5 dxe5 19.iLe3 iIhd8 20.Ac5'c;t>e821. c;t>c2b6 22.iLa3 lbg4 23iIad1 b5 24.iId3lb16 25.Wb1 as 26iIed1 iId727.iLxc6 iIxc628.iIxd'lbxd7 29. iId5 iIb6 30.Ad6 1631.iLc'iIc6 32.Axa5 llc5 33.11d3 llc4 34iIg3 c;t>f735. iIe3 lbc5 36.iLb4 lbal37.b3 iIc738.iLa5 iId7 39.c;t>c2lbc40.Ab6 lbe6 41.a4 bxa4 42.bxa.iIb7 43.a5 c;t>e744. iId3 g6 45.c'lld7 46.a6lbc7 47.a711xd348.Wxd:lba8 49.iLc5+ c;t>d750.Wc3 f5 51c;t>b4fxe4 52.Ae3 h5 53.c;t>b5Wd681~. . . .78. . . I6 . . ...5~W. .rlh -..~.~ ~.~m~4 ~3~..LS....- .. .LS.~.z2 ~ .. . . 1.a bed e f 9 h54.c5+ c;t>c7 55.iLd2 c;t>b7 56.c6-Wxa7 57.c;t>c5 c;t>b8 58.Ac3 WC:59. AxeS e3 60.c;t>d4 e2 61.iLg3 g!62.c;t>e3 e1=!f+ 63.iLxe1 c;t>c7 64iLa5+ Wxc6 65. c;t>e4 g4 66.g3 Wdl67. c;t>f5c;t>e7 68. c;t>g5c;t>f769. c;t>xhc;t>g770. Wxg4 Wg6 71. c;t>f4c;t>1672Ad8+ Wg6 73. c;t>g4c;t>g774. c;t>g5c;t>75.c;t>16c;t>e876.iLa5 c;t>f877.g4 c;t>g78.g5 Wf8 79.g6 Wg8 80.g7 1-0-PetroffDaniel Gay (1626)Josh Rankin (1437)Eugene, Oregon Open (2) 200,1.e4 e5 2.lbf3lb16 3.lbxe5 d6 4.lbf:lbxe4 5.d4 d5 6.iLd3 iLe7 7.0-0 lbcl8.11e1 iLg4 9.c3 f5 10.h3 Ah5 11lbbd2 0-0 12.'8'b3 lba5 13.fla4 cl14.lbe5 b5 15.!fc2 flc7 16.lbdf:iJ.xf3 17.t))xf3 iJ.o6 18.t))g5 t))xf2