Northern California International 2012

Northern California International 2012

One beautiful day of November 2011, I was enjoying at Lake Merritt in Oakland on my break from work. Since I didn't have a lot of time to spend on chess, even break time was precious. I wanted to look at some chess combinations, which I enjoy the most, but I was so exhausted that I just fell sleep where i was sitting. Incidentally, the email I just received from Arun Sharma, an organizer of the Northern California international tournament with Ted Castro, wiped the sleep from my eyes. I was excited that I was invited to play the most elite prestigious event in Northern California  including super top Grandmasters and International Masters. Since I'm a foreign player and have a Fide rating over 2100 /foreign players are always useful for the international event/, it was nice to have me to play in this international tournament that offers GM and IM norms. On the other hand, A student like me, torn between school and job, taking 7 days off  work and paying $500 for entry fee wasn't easy decision to make . However, with Arun sharma's polite encouragement and support, I decided to seize the awesome opportunity to challenge myself in that high-quality event. In addition, for timing and location, it was very convenient to play because I didn't have to travel far and it started only a couple of days after the North American Open in Las vegas, where I planned to go to play too. When holiday season December and school vacation begins, I took one month vacation off from my restaurant job and got ready to face the tournament adventures. "Life is short, Enjoy it!"

Northern California International, Opening ceremony Jan 2, 2012

The 2012 Northern California International took place from 2nd to 8th January, 2012, at the NorCal House of Chess at Northwestern Polytechnic University in Fremont, California, organized by Arun Sharma and Ted Castro.

Following the tradition of Berkeley International, this year, the tournament had ten GMs along with eighteen IMs and offers the possibilities for obtaining GM and IM norms. The competition is a 9 round swiss ,one or two games a day. Free food and beverages provided.  

Presented by NorCal House of Chess
Time Control: 40/90, SD/30 with 30 second increment

Prizes: $3000 – $1500 – $1000, U2500: $1000, U2300: $1000

GM George Meier, reigning European Team Champion with Germany and fresh winner of the 3rd Magistral Internacional Marcel Duchamp, is the top seeded player in the filed of many titled players (full list bellow).

Participants:
1. GM Georg Meier 2659 GER
2. GM Bartlomiej Macieja 2616 POL
3. GM Yury Shulman 2598 USA
4. GM Alejandro Ramirez 2595 USA
5. GM Sam Shankland 2560 USA
6. GM Axel Bachmann 2551 PAR
7. GM Giorgi Margvelashvili 2531 GEO
8. GM Josh Friedel 2523 USA
9. IM Marc Arnold 2504 USA
10. GM Denes Boros 2482 HUN
11. IM Enrico Sevillano 2461 USA
12. IM Bryan Smith 2460 USA
13. IM Greg Shahade 2459 USA
14. IM Adam Hunt 2458 ENG
15. IM Mackenzie Molner 2455 USA
16. IM Darwin Yang 2442 USA
17. IM John Bartholomew 2437 USA
18. IM Sam Collins 2426 IRL
19. IM Daniel Rensch 2416 USA
20. IM Larry Remlinger 2409 USA
21. FM Farai Mandizha 2404 ZIM
22. FM John Bryant 2402 USA
23. IM Max Cornejo 2399 PER
24. IM David Pruess 2395 USA
25. IM Ricardo de Guzman 2390 PHI
26. IM Angelo Young 2350 PHI
27. NM Tigran Ishkhanov 2350 USA
28. FM Eric Rodriguez 2344 USA
29. SM Faik Aleskerov 2339 AZE
30. FM Teddy Coleman 2310 USA
31. IM Leon Piasetski 2305 CAN
32. FM Konstantin Kavutskiy 2303 USA
33. FM Shivkumar Shivaji 2295 USA
34. NM Yian Liou 2283 USA
35. FM Kayden Troff 2279 USA                       
36. FM Erik Santarius 2276 USA
37. FM Alex Betaneli 2266 USA
38. WGM Tatev Abrahamyan 2264 USA
39. FM Bela Evans 2262 USA
40. IM Ray Kaufman 2261 USA
41. FM Michael Kleinman 2256 CAN
42. FM Richard Lobo 2251 ENG
43. NM Damir Studen 2248 USA
44. FM Andy Lee 2244 USA
45. WIM Viktorija Ni 2225 LAT
46. FM Dale Haessel 2211 CAN
47. NM Adarsh Jayakumar 2197 USA
48. NM Hayk Manvelyan 2183 USA
49. NM Daniel Gurevich 2180 USA
50. NM Samuel Sevian 2180 USA
51. NM Ben Gershenov 2173 USA
52. WFM Uyanga Byambaa 2118 MGL  
53. WFM Sabrina Chevannes 2067 ENG
54. FM Jeffrey Xiong 2056 USA
55. Daniel Liu 2049 USA
56. Steven Gaffagan 2047 USA
57. NM Evan Rabin 2032 USA
58. Udit Iyengar 1995 USA
59. Matt Helfst 1942 USA

More information visit: dotq.org/chess/, http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2011/12/northern-california-international-2012.html, http://www.chessdom.com/northern-california-international-2012/,

Northern California international 2012 was my first open regular swiss-system tournament. I was seeded 8th from the bottom of about 60 players. Everybody is so tough and every rounds are so rough. There was no such  an easy round; I was facing against strong masters in every single time. Once I've participated in the tournament that offers WIM /woman international master/ norm, that was something I should consider to achieve. In this case, if  I can obtain at least 4 points out of 9, I could make the norm. However, 4 points is not a small number for me, so I wasn't really interested in making a WIM norm. My goal, playing in that one of the strongest tournament held in U.S, was just play a good game and test my strength see how far I can go.

Jan 2 Round 1: 

WFM Uyanga Byambaa (2118) vs IM David Pruss (2395)

Byambaa,Uyanga (2118) - Pruess,David (2395) [B99]
Northern California International (1), 02.01.2012
[Byambaa,Uyanga]

Position after 22.Ndxe2

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 This was the first time I tried this line. I knew it's pretty sharp and I should have known the theory behind it.

6...e6 7.f4 Nbd7 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.0-0-0 Be7 10.g4 b5 11.Bxf6 Nxf6 12.g5 Nd7 13.f5 I think, it was a premature pawn advance. More importantly, e5 square is no longer controlled.

13...Bxg5+ 14.Kb1 Ne5 15.Qh5 Qe7 16.fxe6 At this moment, I already lost the opening advantage of playing with white pieces. When we analyzed the game afterwards, GM Sam Shankland mentioned that 16. Nxe6 is more accurate

16...g6 17.exf7+ Kxf7 18.Qe2 Bg4 19.Qf2+ Qf6 20.Qxf6+ Bxf6 21.Be2 Bxe2 22.Ndxe2 Position looks pretty much equal but it wasn't as equal as it seemed. I thought: I have nice d5 square for my knight, my two rooks are active and he got a weak d6 pawn. However, After his next move Nc4, I realized I have a little bit problem. His two miner pieces, bishop and knight, working together great while my two knight kicking each other on thier way.

22...Nc4 23.Rd3 Rac8 24.Rf1 Kg7 25.Nd4 Rhe8 26.a3 Be5 27.h3 Kg8 28.Ka2 Rf8 29.Rxf8+ Rxf8 30.b3 Ne3 31.Nce2 Ng2 32.Rf3 Nf4 33.Nxf4 Bxd4 34.Rd3 Be5 35.Ne2 Rf1 36.Nd4 Re1 37.a4 b4 38.Kb2 Rxe4 39.c3 Kf7 40.Kc2 bxc3 41.Kxc3 a5 42.Kc4 Ke7 43.Kd5 Rxd4+ 44.Rxd4 Bxd4 45.Kxd4 g5 46.Kd5 Kd7 47.Ke4 Kc6 48.Kd4 d5 0-1With poor knowledge of endgame play, plus in time trouble, my opponent squeezed me off the board nicely. Well, he is a stong IM, so I didn't feel so bad about the way I lost.

Jan 3 Round 2:

Santarius,Erik (2276) - Byambaa,Uyanga (2118) [B87]
Northern California International (2), 03.01.2012
[Byambaa,Uyanga]

Position after 17...Nf6

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 b5 7.Bb3 e6 8.Bg5 Be7 9.Qf3 Qc7 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.h4 Nbd7 12.h5 b4 13.Na4 Bb7 14.Rhe1 Ne5 15.Qf4 Nxh5 16.Qh4 Bxg5+ 17.Qxg5 Nf6 I loved my position here. I was a pawn ahead with a healthy structure.

18.f4 Ng6 [18...Nxe4 19.Rxe4 Bxe4 20.fxe5 dxe5 21.Re1 Rfe8-/+ ]

19.e5 dxe5 20.fxe5 Ne4 21.Nxe6 fxe6 22.Bxe6+ Rf7 [22...Kh8 23.Qxg6 Rf2 24.Kb1 Qxc2+ 25.Ka1 Rxg2 26.Qf7 Bc6=/+ ]

23.Qf5 Nxe5 24.Bxf7+ Qxf7 [24...Nxf7 25.Rd7 Qc4 26.b3 Ned6 27.bxc4 Nxf5 28.Rxb7+- ]

25.Qxe5 Re8 26.Qd4 Qxa2 27.b3 Rc8 28.Qb2 Qxb2+ 29.Kxb2 Nc3 30.Nxc3 bxc3+ 31.Ka3 Bxg2 32.Re7 Bh3 33.Rd5 g6 34.b4 Bf5 35.Rc5 Rd8? [This should have been an interesting try, especially when both players are in time trouble 35...Rxc5 36.bxc5 Bxc2 37.c6 Bf5 38.c7 h5 39.c8Q+ Bxc8 40.Re8+ Kf7 41.Rxc8 g5 42.Kb4 Ke6 43.Rc5 Kf6 44.Kxc3 ]

36.Rxc3 h5 37.Rcc7 Kf8 38.c4 Rd3+ Lost on time. 1-0 I was losing, plus nervous and couldn't move fast enough to get to 30 sec increment.

Round 3: 

WFM Uyanga Byambaa (2118) vs WIM Alejandra Guerrero (2048)

Byambaa,Uyanga (2118) - Guerrero,Alejandra (2048) [A43]
Northern California International (3), 03.01.2012
[Byambaa,Uyanga]

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.f4 a6 6.a4 e6 7.Nf3 Ne7 8.Bc4 exd5 9.Nxd5 Nbc6 10.0-0 0-0 11.c3 Rb8 12.Qe2 Na5 13.Ba2 b5 14.axb5 Rxb5 15.f5 Nxd5 16.Bxd5 Nb3 17.Bg5 Qb6 18.f6 Bh8 19.Rad1 c4+ 20.Kh1 Nc5 21.Qxc4 Be6 22.b4 Bxd5 23.exd5 Na4 24.Qb3 Nc5 25.bxc5 dxc5 26.Qa4 Bxf6 27.Bxf6 Qxf6 28.Nd4 Qh4 29.Qxa6 Rb2 30.Nf3 Qg4 31.g3 Re8 32.Qf6 Ree2 33.d6 Qe4 34.Qh4 Black resign. 1-0

Jan 4 Round 4:

WFM Uyanga Byambaa (2118) vs FM Richard Lobo (2251)

Byambaa,Uyanga (2118) - Lobo,Richard (2251) [C11]
Northern California International (4), 04.01.2012
[Byambaa,Uyanga]

1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.d4 c5 6.dxc5 Nc6 7.Bf4 Nxc5 8.Bd3 Be7 9.0-0 a6 10.a3 0-0 11.Re1 f6 12.Qd2 f5 13.Rad1 Ne4 14.Qc1 Nxc3 15.bxc3 Qa5 16.c4 d4 17.Bg5 Bxa3 18.Qf4 Bc5 I was losing. My queenside was a disaster with ugly looking pawn structure. My only hope was kingside play. Attack!

19.g4 Whatever the position is bad, seek for opportunity to counterplay. Fight!

19...Qc7 20.gxf5 exf5 21.Kh1 Getting ready to activate my rook on g-file

21...Be6 22.Rg1 Kh8 23.Rg3 Qf7 24.Rh3 Qe8 [24...Bxc4 25.Qh4 Qg6 26.Bxc4+- ]

25.Bf6 Very risky move. After he was thinking a long time, he declined to take my sacrifice. [25.Rg1 Qd7 26.Qh4 Bg8 27.Bd2 Rae8 ]

25...Qd7?? [25...gxf6 26.Rxh7+ (26.exf6 Rxf6 27.Ng5 Rf7 (27...Bg8 28.Ne4 Qe7 29.Nxf6 Qxf6 30.Bxf5 ) 28.Rg1 Qd7 29.Nxf7+ Qxf7 ) 26...Kxh7 27.Qh4+ Kg7 28.Rg1+ Qg6 29.Rxg6+ Kxg6 30.exf6 (30.Qg4+ Kh6 31.Bxf5 Bxf5 32.Qxf5 Be7 33.Qh3+ Kg7 34.Nh4 fxe5 35.Qg4+ Kh7 36.Qh5+ Kg8 37.Qg6+ ) 30...Rxf6 31.Qg3+ Kh7 32.Qc7+ Bf7 33.Qxb7 Rb8 34.Qxa6 ]

26.Ng5 Bg8 27.Bxf5 gxf6 28.Bxd7 fxg5 29.Qxg5 Be7 30.Qh5 Rf7 31.Rg1 Raf8 32.Be6 Nd8 33.Rxg8+ 1-0

I finished my fourth round with full of satisfaction. I reached an even score first four rounds, that is, a pretty good chance to possibility of making WIM norm. Once again, I wasn't interested in at all. I still remember one of my friend trying to make me understand that I have a big chance. He said, "You'r good. Look at your victory over Richard Lobo! He is a very good player with couple IM norms and you beat him brilliantly. All you did is taking couple days off work, you just goofing around and you're not even studying."  That's true but I think, it was just a luck along with my aggressiveness and stubbornness towards the game. 

Jan 5 Round 5:

In round 5, I was paired against GM Bartlomiej Macieja (2617), who was seeded in 2nd of all participants. He was the first GM /grandmaster/  I've ever played in my entire chess career. For me, it was even surprising that playing against GM whose rating over 2600. I felt like I'm nothing compared to him, but I was happy to have a chance to play with super GM.   

Macieja,Bartlomiej (2617) - Byambaa,Uyanga (2118) [B53]
Northern California International (5), 05.01.2012

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 a6 5.c4 Nc6 6.Qe3 Nf6 7.h3 g6 8.Be2 Bg7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Nc3 Nb4 11.Rb1 Be6 12.a3 Nc6 13.Rd1 Qb8 14.b4 Nd7 15.Nd5 f5 16.Ng5 f4 17.Nxf4 Bf7 18.Nfe6 Nde5 19.f4 Bxe6 20.Nxe6 Bh6 21.Nxf8 Qxf8 22.c5 Rd8 23.Qb3+ Nf7 24.Bc4 Bg7 25.Bb2 1-0

I don't know why, maybe because I believed he's too strong, I was nervous whole time during the game. Making bad moves in the opening, hanging my pawn on move 16 in the inferior position and loss the game so easily. The result didn't bother me at all but sad! Bad game! :-(

Round 6:

After I got slaughtered by GM, I was paired against another tough player, FM Konstantin Kavutskiy, whom I was matched against on "Board 4" in USCL playoff and ended up with a lucky draw by me. This time, he was leading the game initiatively all the way from the beginning and finished me off confidently with nice combination.  

Byambaa,Uyanga (2118) - Kavutskiy,Konstantin (2315) [C11]
Northern California International (6), 05.01.2012

1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.d4 c5 6.dxc5 Nc6 7.Bf4 Nxc5 8.Bd3 Be7 9.0-0 a6 10.Re1 b5 11.a3 Bb7 12.b4 Nxd3 13.cxd3 g5 14.Bg3 h5 15.h3 h4 16.Bh2 Qb6 17.d4 0-0-0 18.Rc1 Rhg8 19.g4 hxg3 20.Bxg3 g4 21.hxg4 Rxg4 22.Kg2 Kb8 23.Ne2 Rdg8 24.Rh1 a5 25.bxa5 Nxa5 26.a4 b4 27.Rb1 Ba6 28.Rh7 R4g7 29.Rxg7 Rxg7 30.Nf4 b3 31.Nd3 Rg8 32.Nc1 Bc4 33.Nd2 b2 34.Qc2 Ba3 35.Qc3 bxc1Q 36.Rxb6+ Nb7 37.Qf3 Rh8 38.Rb1 Bf1+ 39.Kg1 Be2+ 40.Rxc1 Bxf3 0-1 What a painful game! :-(

Jan 6 Round 7:

FM Teddy Coleman (2356) vs WFM Uyanga Byambaa (2118)

Coleman,Teddy (2356) - Byambaa,Uyanga (2118) [A80]
Northern California International (7), 06.01.2012

1.d4 f5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5 g6 4.Bxf6 exf6 5.e3 d5 6.Bd3 Be6 7.Nge2 c6 8.h4 Bd6 9.g3 Na6 10.Bxa6 bxa6 11.Na4 Rb8 12.c3 Kf7 13.Nf4 Qa5 14.Qc2 h5 15.f3 Rbe8 16.Kf2 Bd7 17.Rab1 Re7 18.b4 Qc7 19.Nc5 a5 20.a3 axb4 21.cxb4 Bc8 22.Rb3 Rhe8 23.Rc3 Qb6 24.Re1 a5 25.Qb3 Ba6 26.Nxa6 Qxa6 27.bxa5 Qxa5 28.Re2 Rb8 29.Qc2 Bxf4 30.gxf4 Ra8 31.Qd3 Qb5 32.Qc2 Ra6 33.Rb3 Qa4 34.Qb2 Raa7 35.Rc2 Rec7 36.Rcc3 Ke6 37.Qc1 Kd6 38.Rb4 Qa6 39.Rb8 Rab7 40.Rg8 Flag 1-0

There is a little funny tragic story behind this "Flag" word. With time control with a 30 sec increment, forced to loss on time was very unfortunate experience. My clock has added 30 minutes already after white made his 40th move. So, I was taking my time to make my 40th move, but my opponent claimed to win the game. Because  I didn't make my 40th move before the second time control starts, I forced to loss the game on time no matter whatever time I have according to my clock says. At that moment, I was shocked the way I lost and couldn't even say one word. I just run off to bathroom because I couldn't hold my tears. Due to my carelessness, this is the most terrible lost I've ever had!

Jan 7 Round 8:

Gaffagan,Steven (2071) - Byambaa,Uyanga (2118) [A01]
Northern California International (8), 07.01.2012

1.b3 e5 2.c4 f5 3.Bb2 Nc6 4.g3 Nf6 5.Bg2 d6 6.Nc3 Be7 7.d3 0-0 8.e3 f4 9.Nd5 fxe3 10.fxe3 Ng4 11.Bf3 Nh6 12.Qe2 Be6 13.0-0-0 Nf5 14.Kb1 a5 15.a3 Kh8 16.Nxe7 Qxe7 17.Bd5 Nd8 18.Nf3 Rb8 19.Bxe6 Nxe6 20.g4 Nh6 21.Nd2 b5 22.cxb5 Rxb5 23.d4 Rfb8 24.dxe5 dxe5 25.Rc1 Nc5 26.Rxc5 Rxc5 27.a4 Rd5 28.Rc1 Qd7 29.Rc2 Nxg4 30.e4 Rd3 31.Ka2 c5 32.Bc3 Ne3 33.Rc1 c4 34.Kb2 Rxd2+ 35.Qxd2 Rxb3+ 36.Ka1 Qxa4+ 37.Qa2 Ra3 0-1

I should deserve to win this game. With having hard time to forget about my previous unfortunate loss, I was frustrated and started the next day with no sleep. Chess is brutal game behind the board and even off the board. It requires massive intelligence, incredible skills and extraordinary patience besides tons of practice and knowledge.

Jan 8 Round 9:

So far, I have 3 points. This last round was the most important and crucial one because it decides whether I can make the WIM norm or not. My opponent was another strong FM /FIDE Master/. Nothing is easy!

Byambaa,Uyanga (2118) - Betaneli,Alex (2266) [C54]
Northern California International (9), 08.01.2012
[Fritz 12 (30s)]

C54: Giuoco Piano: 4 c3 Nf6, main lines with 5 d4 and 5 d3

Position after 41... Kxg6

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.b4 Bb6 6.d3 d6 7.0-0 Be6 last book move

8.Nbd2 0-0 9.Bxe6 fxe6 Black has new doubled pawns: e5+e6

10.Nc4 Nd7 [10...Ng4!?= is worth consideration]

11.Ng5 White threatens to win material: Ng5xe6

11...Rf6 [11...Qf6 12.Nxb6 axb6 13.Qg4+/= ]

12.a4 [12.b5 Ne7+/- ]

12...a6 [12...h6!? 13.Nf3 d5+/= ]

13.Nxb6 Nxb6 14.Qb3 [14.Qh5 h6 15.a5 Nd7+/= ]

14...Qe7 15.Be3 Nd7 16.d4 h6 Black threatens to win material: h6xg5

17.b5 White threatens to win material: b5xc6

17...Na5 18.Qb4 b6 19.Nf3 Qf7 20.dxe5 Rxf3 21.exd6 [>=21.gxf3!? Qxf3 22.exd6 Qg4+ 23.Kh1 Qf3+ 24.Kg1 Qg4+ 25.Kh1 Qf3+ 26.Kg1= ]

21...c5= 22.Qb1 [22.Bxc5 Nxc5 (‹22...bxc5 23.Qxa5 Qg6 24.bxa6+/- ) 23.gxf3 axb5 24.Qxb5 Qxf3 25.Qxb6 Qg4+ 26.Kh1 Qxe4+ 27.f3 Qe5= ]

22...Rf6 [22...Qg6 23.bxa6 Rxa6 24.Kh1-/+ ]

23.e5 Nxe5?? Black loses the upper hand [>=23...Rf5 and Black has air to breath 24.Qe4 Qe8= ]

24.Qe4+/- Qb7 25.Qxe5 Nc4 Black threatens to win material: Nc4xe5. A sound move

26.Qg3 Kh7 [>=26...axb5!? and Black can hope to live 27.axb5 Rxa1 28.Rxa1 e5+/= ]

27.bxa6 Qc6 28.h4 [28.a5 Rg6 29.Qh3 Rxa6 30.axb6 Rxb6 31.Bf4 Nxd6 32.Rfd1= ]

28...Nxd6+/= 29.Bf4 White threatens to win material: Bf4xd6

29...Nf5 Black threatens to win material: Nf5xg3

30.Qh3 Rxa6 Attacking the isolated pawn on a4

31.Be5 White threatens to win material: Be5xf6. The bishop is not easily driven from e5

31...Rf7 32.g4 Qd5 33.f4?? White prepares the advance g5. weakening the position [33.gxf5 Qxe5 34.Qd3 Qxf5 35.Qxf5+ exf5 36.h5-/+ ]

33...Ne7 34.g5 This push gains space [34.Qh2 Qd3=/+ ]

34...Nc6 Black threatens to win material: Nc6xe5 [>=34...Nf5=/+ ]

35.Rfd1 [>=35.Rad1 Qe4 36.Qxe6 Nxe5 37.Qxe5 Rxa4 38.Rd6 hxg5 39.Qxe4+ (39.hxg5?? Qxe5 40.fxe5 Rg4+ 41.Kh2 Rxf1-+ ) 39...Rxe4 40.hxg5 Rfxf4 41.Rxf4 Rxf4 42.Rxb6= ]

35...Qc4?? forfeits the clear win [35...Rxa4 36.g6+ Double attack: d5/e4 36...Kxg6 37.Qg4+ Kh7 38.Rxd5 Rxa1+ 39.Rd1 Nxe5 40.fxe5 Rf4 41.Qxf4 Rxd1+ 42.Kf2 Rd5+- ]

36.g6+!+- Decoy: e4

36...Kxg6 37.Qg2+ Kh7 [37...Kh5 38.Qxc6 Kxh4+- ]

38.Qxc6 Qe2 39.Qg2 Qh5 [39...Qxg2+ does not improve anything 40.Kxg2 Kg6 41.Rd8+- ]

40.Qc2+ [40.Rd6!? keeps an even firmer grip 40...Qxh4 41.Rxe6 Qh5+- ]

40...Qg6+ 41.Qxg6+ Kxg6 42.Kg2 Kf5 43.Kf3 g5 44.hxg5 hxg5 45.Rg1 gxf4 46.Bxf4 Rfa7 47.Rg8 [47.Raf1 might be the shorter path 47...e5 48.Rg5+ Kf6 49.Rxe5 Rxa4+- ]

47...e5? [>=47...Rxa4 48.Rf8+ Kg6 49.Rg1+ Kh7+- ]

48.Rf8+ Ke6 49.Re1 Kd5 50.Rd8+ Kc4 51.Bxe5 [51.Rxe5 Rxa4 52.Re3 Kb3+- ]

51...Rxa4 52.Rb1 [52.Kg4 seems even better 52...Ra8 53.Rd7 b5+- ]

52...b5 53.Ke4 [53.Re1 b4 54.Re4+ Kb3+- ]

53...Ra2? [53...b4 54.cxb4 Rxb4 55.Rc1+ Kb3+ 56.Kd5 Ra6+- ]

54.Rc8+- Re2+ 55.Kf5 Rd7? [55...Rf2+ 56.Kg4 Rg2+ 57.Kf3 Rga2+- ]

56.Rb4+ [>=56.Ke6 and White has reached his goal 56...Rg7 57.Rb4+ Kd3 58.Rxc5 Rg6+ 59.Kf5+- ]

56...Kd5= 57.Bd4? [>=57.Rxb5 is a viable option 57...Rxe5+ 58.Kf4 Rf7+ 59.Kg4= ]

57...cxb4-+ 58.Rc5+ Kd6 59.cxb4 Rf7+ 60.Kg6 Rf4 61.Bc3 Rc4 0-1

After move 41, we had a second time control 30mins each and I had a piece ahead. I was extremely happy that I was winning the game completely. Also, a lot of spectators  with happy face surrounding our game.  If I won the game, I would have made the norm. I felt terrible when i lost the chance to win. I noticed everybody's gone. What a sad! After that there was a millions of drawing chances , but I didn't want any of them. I just wanted to win only. I kept resisting to draw and ended up I blundered and loss the game. The norm was in my pocket. I took it out and throw it away. Valuable lesson from Northern California international! Any achievement come about through hard work. If you don't make any effort, you can't get anything. The Norm can not come easily even if you have the potential!   Final result: Byambaa, Uyanga  Total change: -7.95

2012 Northern California International				Fremont, California		USA	2012-01-02
Rc	Ro				w	n	change	K	K*chg	Game
2277	2118				3.00	9	0.22	15	3.30
Pruess, David	m		2395	USA	0.00	1	-0.17	15	-2.55
Santarius, Erik			2276	USA	0.00	1	-0.29	15	-4.35
Guerrero, Alejandra		wm	2048	MEX	1.00	1	0.40	15	6.00
Lobo, Richard	f		2251	ENG	1.00	1	0.68	15	10.20
Macieja, Bartlomiej	g		2518  *	POL	0.00	1	-0.08	15	-1.20
Kavutskiy, Konstantin	f		2315	USA	0.00	1	-0.25	15	-3.75
Coleman, Teddy	f		2356	USA	0.00	1	-0.20	15	-3.00
Gaffagan, Steven			2071	USA	1.00	1	0.43	15	6.45
Betaneli, Alex	f		2266	USA	0.00	1	-0.30	15	-4.50
* Rating difference of more than 400. Please read more at FIDE Handbook B02.8 The participating  Northern California International was fun. In opening ceremony kids come up to me with their chessboard and pen asking for my signature and taking pictures. Funny enough,  I was treated like a "Rock star". In addition, it was nice to see the piano performance by the student of Ted Castro in opening and closing ceremony. After the tournament finished, people played in blitz tournament to have fun while a lot of chess players joined to play ping pong, too. That was my favorite fun part.   The whole process and the organization of the tournament was excellent. Between the rounds, free food and beverages was really nice.     Wonderful Job Arun Sharma and Ted Castro! Here is nice conclusions by Kostya Kavutskiy: "The Northern California International had all the makings of a top-quality tournament. Pairings were sent out very soon after all the games were completed and every round started directly on time. The event also had a unique schedule compared to most U.S. tournaments in which most of the days only had one game. The players definitely appreciated the extra rest time. In addition to an opening ceremony there was also a closing ceremony, where players were awarded their prizes and Solomon Ge gave another inspiring performance on the piano. Dr. George Hsieh (president of NPU) and Mayor Jose Esteves also gave brief speeches and were each presented with a framed chess board which was signed by the players."   http://main.uschess.org/content/view/11563/654/,  Congratulations GM Sam Shankland! GM Sam Shankland  took clear first place with a score of 7 points and pocketed a prize of $3,000. His victory over ratings favourite Georg Meier in round seven was crucial.http://www.chess.com/news/shankland-wins-northern-california-intl-3751