Alberta Junior Chess Championsip Round 1

Hello all! This is Jan Lazo here. I'm currently in Toronto now which is why I'm not there right now. I've currently watching live games of the top 3 boards. I'm gonna do my best to kibitz and annotate some/all games since I'm somewhat busy this week and it's not school.

Shi-Zhang game was the first to finish. It was an English that turned into a hedgehog. After some inaccurate moves by Diwen Shi, David Zhang managed to equalize without much difficulty and soon got the iniative after a unsuccessful break (e4). David soon got an extra pawn through tactics. The position still had some drawing chances for White but drastically changed after misguided sac, 24. Nxb5. At first, it seems after axb5 Rc7, White regains the piece and pawn restoring material equality but after Nxf3+ gxf3 axb5, c7 is guarded. After a few moves, White resigned.

The second game to finish was Virji-Wang. After Nf6 played by Black threatening Nxe4, White played the move played more than a century ago, Nxc6. After some testing, it was shown to give Black equality cause of the center pawns. This capture is only done in the Sicilian Dragon. Since White gains time with ... bxc6 e5. Black equalized without difficulty and might actually had an advantage because of his center pawns and e1-a5 pin. Black captured a pawn on a2 and g2 to secure a pawn advantage. White was able to get back one of the pawns and actually had drawing chances because of the bishop pair and pawn structure. White, in my opinion, lost it after b4 trapping his bishop. Black used his pass pawn as a bait and attacked the king, soon leading to a mate. I have to admit that it was nice to see a mate occur. I don't know if White felt that Black deserved the priviledge of mating but I for one sure would...cause of Nxc6.

The last game of the live games to finish is Miller-Kalaydina. It was a Closed Sicilian with fianchettoed bishops as usual. The game was about equal up about move 10 but the undevelopment of the dark-squared bishop caused White some problems. h3 is usually played so that Be3 is possible without any harassment from the knights. The uncoordination of the rooks and bishops gave Black an iniative especially after e5. The knights came at d5 and f5 and totally controlled the key dark squares. Black forced a making of a backward pawn (d3) and piled up on the d-file. Simplification occured with after about every three moves exchange of pieces and Black won the ending without difficulty.

The second game has started and it seems I'm forced to go again (first the chess in the library program...now a thanksgiving celebration). Who knows what's next? Anyway, I wish all of the juniors that they fare well in this tournament. I hope you all best show your skills in the game of chess.

- Jan Edmund Lazo