2013.Convicts in the USA teamed up to play a chess
match via Skype against inmates from Russia. Both
teams consisted of ten players. The Russians were
located in Astrakhan, Samara, Saratov, the
Yekaterinburg region and Krasnodar while the US
players were all at Chicago's Cook County Jail.
Russian federal prison system, Thursday, May 15, 2013. (WLS Photo)
The players could see their opponents by video, but
did not speak to each other. After two hours, the
final score was 15.5-4.5 in Russia's favour. The USA-
Russia match was attended by no less than former World
champion Anatoly Karpov.
This event prompted me to take a second look of an
important breakthrough in Philippine chess history
when two chess clubs composed of 12 players each
fought it out at Chesscube.com on April 6, 2011 in
a chess match dubbed as the "1st Philippine Internet
Match ".
The two teams which are now part of Philippine on-line
chess history were Barangay Wesley(BW)-Manila, an
internet based chessclub composed of GM Wesley So fans
at chessgames.com ably headed by Sugardom and
wordfunph, and Metro Toril Chess Club- Davao headed by
its President Atty. Jong Guevarra Jr.a.k.a metrolirot.
Metro Toril Chess Club won the match 16-8
( Metro Toril Chess Club- Davao team logged-in at 3G-G Net Cafe, Toril
Davao City)
The highlight of the event was previously featured
in my blog: http://metrolirot.blogspot.com/2011/04/1st-philippine-internet-chess-team.html
and was also featured in Rusticbull's chesswindows:
http://chesswindows.blogspot.com/2011/04/1st-philippine-internet-team-chess_18.html
I also annotated my game in my blog:
http://metrolirot.blogspot.com/2011/04/selected-games-from-1st-philippine.html
However, despite the joy and excitement that it brought
to the hearts of pinoy on-line chess fans, the event
did not caught fire and was never tried again although
at present there are now pinoy on-line blitz tourneys.
Hopefully, an on-line team tournament will be staged in
the future just like the US Chess League.
Below is a game from the said event annotated by the
winner, former Davao Executive champ Engr. Jun
Atmosfera .
[Event "1st Philippine Internet Match"]
[Site "Chesscube"]
[Date "2011.4.16"]
[Round "2nd"]
[White "Asfora (Engr. Jun Atmosfera)"]
[Black "Epistle"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
Sicilian Defense
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Nc6?
[Bobby Ang wrote in his Chess Piece column of Jan. 7, 2011
in Business World titled Sicilian Theory that Black's 7...Nc6
has been refuted. He said that "7...Nc6 was championed by
Najdorf specialist and 6-time US Champion Walter Shawn
Browne in the '90s, and has recently been picked up by French
champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. GM Alexey Kuzmin pointed
out the refutation in New in Chess Yearbook 94, and several
people got to use it with devastating effect".]
9...dxe5? 10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 11. fxe5 h6 12. Bxf6+ gxf6 13. exf6
Black will be hard put to hold this endgame (Bobby Ang in his
comment on the game between Bok, Benjamin-Gabuzyan,
Hovhannes, WYCC Open U16 Porto Carras (8.6), 27.10.2010)]
10. Bh4 g5 11. fxg5 Nd5 12. Qd2?!
[12.Ne4 is more precise as in the game between Bok, B. (2453)
-Gabuzyan, H. (2261)/WYCC Open 2010 1-0 (22)]
[12...Nxc3 seems to be a better alternative].
13. Ne4 dxe5 14. O-O-O hxg5 15. Bxg5 f6?
[Weakening his kingside. Better was 15...Bxg5]
16. Be3 Nxe3
0
[16...f5 17. Nc3 Nxe3 18. Qxe3 Bg5 19. Rxd8+ wins].
17. Qxe3 Qc7 18. Bc4 Rb8 19. Qg3 Kf7 20. Rhf1
Rg8 21. Qh3 Qb6
[21...Qb7 makes no difference. 22. Bb3 c5 23. Qh7+ Rg7
24.Ng5+ Kf8 25. Qh8+ Rg8 26. Nh7+ Kf7 27. Rxf6+ Bxf6
28. Qxf6+ Ke8 29. Rd8#]
22. Bb3 c5 23. Nxf6 Bxf6 24. Rxf6+ Kxf6 25. Rf1+
[At this point my opponent was disconnected but his
position is lost in all variations in spite of being a whole
rook up. E.g., 25...Ke7 26. Qh7+ Kd6 27. Rd1+ Kc6 28. Ba4+
and the Queen is lost. If 26...Ke8 27. Qxg8+ Ke7 28. Qf8+
Kd7 29. Ba4+ Kc7 30. Qe7+ and mate. If the king goes to
the kingside, it's also inevitable mate. 25...Kg6 26. Qg4+
Kh6 (26...Kh7 27. Qh5+ Kg7 28. Rf7#) 27. Rf6+ Kh7 28. Qh5+
and mate next move. If 25...Kg5 26. g4! threatens mate in
one. (26...Kg6 27. Qh5+ and mate.) 26. g4! is much faster
and easier to win than 26. Qg3+ Kh5 27. Qxg8 c4 when
Black can mount some sort of defense based on the idea
of Qe3+, transferring the Queen to the kingside, aside from
cxb3.]
The only way to avoid mate is 26...Rh8 but after
27. Qxh8 Kxg4 28. h3+! Kg3 or Kg5 29. Qxe5+, Black will
be mated soon.]
Note that Black's Queen, Q-Rook and Bishop are mere
bystanders that cannot help the King.
