The new event the US Senior Championship took place this July.
Ten players had single round robin tournament. All players despite Alex Fishbein had notable chess career. All grandmasters. The tournament favorite was not announced, but there was only one active player present Alex Shabalov who finally won the event. In his own words he had a lot of luck and in total he had three lost positions during the tournament.
All other players had more or less the same weakness lack of practice. Also the physical fitness or lack of it might play a lot in senior’s competition. The quality of games differed a lot. There were some outstanding games, but most of the time at the end usually in time trouble many games turned to muddy waters and as we say they did not have their logical end.
This was true with my games, but I am sure everybody could complain. The format was difficult the time control 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and then half hour to complete the games with 30 second increment does not look first very tricky for younger generation. However most of the players in this field had in the past different much more friendly time control. Like 2,5 hours for the first 40 moves and after that the game was adjourned.
I lost my first game where I mixed everything possible in the opening. In my next game I tried to be solid and missed several winning opportunities.
[Event "ch-USA Senior 2019"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2019.07.12"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Ehlvest, J."]
[Black "Kaidanov, G."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2515"]
[BlackElo "2544"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2019.07.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "11"]
[SourceTitle "The Week in Chess 1288"]
[Source "Mark Crowther"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.21"]
[SourceQuality "2"]
{After losing in the first round without a fight I was too carefull in this
game. Nobody wants to lose two in the row espically in first two rounds.} 1.
Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. d4 Nf6 5. O-O cxd4 {This move I did not look
carefully before the game.} (5... e6 6. c4 dxc4 7. dxc5 Qxd1 8. Rxd1 Bxc5 9.
Nfd2 Na5 10. Na3 {was my preparation where Black needs to defend very
preciesly to keep the balance.}) 6. Nxd4 e5 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. c4 Be6 {Now we
have the reversed Gruenfeld defence.} 9. Qa4 Qd7 10. Rd1 Rc8 11. cxd5 cxd5 12.
Qxd7+ Bxd7 $1 {Now Black should be fine.} 13. Bg5 d4 14. Nd2 Ng4 $2 (14... h6
$1 15. Bxf6 gxf6 16. Rac1 Bb4 {and it is equal.}) 15. Nf3 (15. Nb3 $5) 15... f6
16. Bd2 Bc5 17. h3 Nh6 18. Rac1 O-O 19. Ne1 Ba4 $2 {an other pseudo active
move from Kaidanov.} (19... Be6 20. Nd3 Bb6 21. b3 Nf7 {was equal again.}) 20.
b3 Bb5 21. Bxh6 (21. Bb7 $1 {I saw this move, but I trusted my opponent and
after} Bxe2 {did not calculate any further assuming that Black is OK.} (21...
Rc7 22. Bd5+ Kh8 23. Ba5 Rcc8 24. Be6 Rc6 25. Bd7 Ra6 26. Bxb5 Rxa5 27. Rxc5 a6
28. a4 axb5 29. Rdc1 {with a good winning chances.}) 22. Bxh6 Bxd1 23. Bxc8
Rxc8 24. Bd2 Be2 25. b4 {and White just wins.}) 21... gxh6 22. Bb7 Rc7 23. Bd5+
Kg7 24. Nd3 Bxd3 ({After} 24... Bb6 25. Rxc7+ Bxc7 26. Nc5 {is very unpleasent.
}) 25. exd3 Rfc8 26. Be6 Ba3 27. Rxc7+ (27. Rc4 $1 {pointed out by Onischuk
who could not believe I did not play this move. I saw it, but just
underestimated my winning chances.} Rxc4 28. dxc4 Rc6 29. Bf5 {both sides have
blocked pawns, but only White may improve his position.}) 27... Rxc7 28. Bc4 {
Now I realized that Black actually may torture White, but Kaidanov allowed
massive trades soon.} Kg6 29. Re1 Re7 30. f4 exf4 31. Rxe7 Bxe7 32. Kg2 Kg5 33.
Kf3 fxg3 34. Kxg3 Bd6+ 35. Kf3 f5 36. Be6 Kf6 37. Bc8 Kg5 1/2-1/2
You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
In the next game after that I missed a golden opportunity as well. Both my opponents shared second-third place at the end.
[Event "ch-USA Senior 2019"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2019.07.13"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Goldin, A."]
[Black "Ehlvest, J."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E62"]
[WhiteElo "2540"]
[BlackElo "2515"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2019.07.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "11"]
[SourceTitle "The Week in Chess 1288"]
[Source "Mark Crowther"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.21"]
[SourceQuality "2"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O d6 6. c4 c6 7. Nc3 Qb6 8. c5
dxc5 9. Na4 Qb5 10. Nxc5 a5 11. Qc2 Na6 12. Nxa6 Qxa6 13. e4 a4 14. Bd2 Be6 15.
Bc3 Rfd8 16. Rfd1 Qb6 17. h3 Ne8 18. g4 Nc7 19. Ne5 Bxe5 20. dxe5 Nb5 21. Bb4
Qc7 22. Qc5 Kf8 23. Bf1 b6 24. Qe3 c5 25. Bxc5 bxc5 26. Bxb5 Qxe5 27. Bc6 Rac8
28. Bxa4 Qxb2 29. a3 c4 30. Rac1 f6 {In very complicated game Black outplayed
White and now in mutual time trouble having three minutes left I could win
easily instead of the safe text move with} (30... Rxd1+ 31. Bxd1 c3) 31. Qc3 {
Now White has the blockade. Black is still slightly better.} Rxd1+ 1/2-1/2
You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
Finally on round four I won and I thought I am back in the competition.
[Event "ch-USA Senior 2019"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2019.07.14"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Ehlvest, J."]
[Black "Dlugy, M."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A35"]
[WhiteElo "2515"]
[BlackElo "2518"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2019.07.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "11"]
[SourceTitle "The Week in Chess 1288"]
[Source "Mark Crowther"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.21"]
[SourceQuality "2"]
1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. e3 Nf6 5. d4 cxd4 6. exd4 d5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Qb3 e6 9. Bc4 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Bg7 11. Ba3 Bf8 12. O-O {It took me for a while to
make this move. I was sure that this happened in the game Tal-Pohla years ago,
but still I had the feeling that it is not the best move. Actually it is true.
Still I very badly wanted to follow the game.} Bxa3 13. Qxa3 Qe7 14. Qc1 $1 {
This position I had on my chessboard when I was 15 years old. Some 40 years
ago. Why I remember this, because I got a week of training camp with Vladimir
Yurkov who was at that time one of the best theoreticians and coaches in SU.}
O-O 15. Qh6 Na5 (15... Qf6 16. Ng5 Qg7 17. Qh4 {was in the above mentioned
game and White won quickly.}) 16. Bd3 b6 17. Rae1 f6 18. Nd2 {So good so far,
but I was already in time trouble.} Bd7 19. Re3 Rac8 20. c4 (20. Rc1 $1 {
was the correct move and Black cannot play} Qa3 $2 21. Bxg6 {and White is
winning immediately, now Black gets counterplay because of the weak d4 pawn.})
20... Qg7 21. Qh4 f5 $2 (21... Nc6 $1 {with counterplay.}) 22. Rfe1 Qf6 23. Qf4
Rfd8 24. h4 {Now I felt confident, but I had only 5 minutes left.} Bc6 25. Re5
Rd6 26. d5 $5 {You want force matters in time trouble.} exd5 27. Re7 Rd7 (27...
dxc4 $1 28. Qh6 cxd3 $1 {and White has only perpetual check. This was
discovered by Maxim after the game, but it is unhuman to find it during the
game.}) 28. Rxd7 Bxd7 29. cxd5 {White has big advantage.} b5 30. Nf3 Nc4 31. h5
gxh5 $2 {After this mistake White’s task was not so difficult.} 32. Nd4 Qd6 33.
Qh4 Re8 {Computers are giving here many ways to win, but I choosed the most
controlled option.} 34. Ne6 $1 Bxe6 35. Qg5+ Kh8 36. Qf6+ Kg8 37. Qg5+ Kh8 38.
Qf6+ Kg8 39. Rxe6 Rxe6 40. dxe6 Ne5 41. Bxf5 a5 42. Qh6 Qd1+ 43. Kh2 Ng4+ 44.
Bxg4 Qxg4 45. Qf6 Qg6 46. Qd8+ Kg7 47. e7 Qf5 48. Qb8 Qxf2 49. Qe5+ 1-0
You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
Now after this game I played against my friend Alexander Yermolinsky. I was Black and still I was in fighting mood. I got very promising positions, but in severe time trouble accepted his draw offer which was made on move 30. There was a rule no draws allowed before move 30.
Next time I bring more games and some inside stories from seniors. Time being here is the final standings.
Cross table after round 9
Rank
Name
Rating
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Score
1
GM Shabalov, Alexander
2500
x
½
½
½
1
½
½
1
½
1
6.0
2
GM Kaidanov, Gregory
2544
½
x
1
1
½
½
0
½
½
½
5.0
3
GM Goldin, Alexander
2540
½
0
x
0
1
1
1
0
½
1
5.0
4
GM Christiansen, Larry
2574
½
0
1
x
½
1
0
0
1
½
4.5
5
GM Novikov, Igor
2556
0
½
0
½
x
½
½
1
1
½
4.5
6
GM Benjamin, Joel
2524
½
½
0
0
½
x
1
1
½
½
4.5
7
GM Yermolinsky, Alex
2504
½
1
0
1
½
0
x
0
½
1
4.5
8
GM Dlugy, Maxim
2518
0
½
1
1
0
0
1
x
0
½
4.0
9
GM Ehlvest, Jaan
2515
½
½
½
0
0
½
½
1
x
½
4.0
10
GM Fishbein, Alexander
2432
0
½
0
½
½
½
0
½
½
x
3.0
Jaan Ehlvest