Sacramento Chess Champoinship 2014

The night before the tournament begin, I decided to play in the Sacramento /state capital/ Chess Championship. The July 4th fireworks didn't end until we both scored 5/6 to tying for first in the top section. In the 6 games I played over the July 4th weekend, there were lots of sparkles, explosions and exciting results like fireworks.

Tied for first at the Sacramento chess championship and
finally, made a master rating of 2206!

In my first round, I played the Austrian attack against the Pirc defense. Without too much difficulty, I reached a dominating position, where it guaranteed me a full point.
Uyanga Byambaa (2171) vs Ziad A. Beroudi (1914)

Position after 25.Bxf5

game continues 25...Qb5 26. Nc7 Qa5 27. Be6+ Kg7 28. Nxa5 1-0. Here, he lost on time as well as on the board. Interestingly, my opponent withdrew from the open section after round 2 and reentered in the Reserve section, where he finished tied for first.

Round 2 was one of my critical wins in the tournament. In the opening, somehow I misplayed my Kings Indian defense (KID), but he made a couple of inaccuracies, which allowed me to equalize. After finding some defensive moves, we reached this position.

Position after 24. c5
James Macfarland (2200) vs Uyanga Byambaa (2171)

24.c5 dxc5 25.Qc4+ Rf7 26.Qxc5 Bf8 27.Qb5 gxf3 28.Bxf3 Bd6 ugly, but important to defend the e5 and c7 pawns. "A bad bishop defends a good pawn." 29.Bxf6 Rxf6 30.Nd5 Rf8 31.Rc1 Qg6 32.Qe2 h4 33.Kh1 Kh7 34.Qf2 Qg5 35.h3 Rg8 36.Rc3 Qh6 Idea is to bring the rook to g3. 37.Qa7 Rg3 38.Kh2 [38.Nxc7? Rg7-+] 38...Rg7 38....Qg7 is better. 39.Qf2 Qg5 40.Be2 Be6 41.Bf3 Kh6 42.Kh1 Rg8 43.Kh2? Bxd5 44.exd5 e4 white resigned. 0-1

In round 3, I lost a difficult game against NM Robert Hatarik, who was leading the tournament with 3.5 after 4 rounds. I didn't feel too bad losing to him this time because the first time we played at the US amateur team west 2014, I defeated him in 17 moves with a fried liver attack.

Then I bounced back from my loss in round 3 by scoring an exciting victory with another KID.  

Graham Grindland (2030) - Uyanga Byambaa (2171) [E99]
Sacramento Chess Championship (4), 05.07.2014

 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Nf3 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Nd3 f5 11.Bd2 Nf6 12.f3 f4 13.Rc1 g5 [13...c5 14.dxc6 Nxc6] 14.c5 Ng6 15.cxd6 cxd6 16.Nf2 h5 17.h3 Rf7 18.Nb5 a6 waste of time! helping the knight where it wants to go. it also weakens the queenside. [18...Bf8 is more accurate 19.Qc2 Bd7 20.Qc7 Bxb5 21.Qxd8 Rxd8 22.Bxb5 a6=] 19.Na3 Bf8 20.Nc4 b6 forced. Black shouldn't allow 21. Ba5 followed by Nb6 where it forks the rook and bishop. Black's light-square bishop is the key piece in KID, which later helps on the kingside attack. 21.a4 trying to challange the b6 square by playing a5. Again, black should not allow white to play a5. 21...a5 [21...Rb8 is playable. 22.Qb3 Bd7+/=] 22.Qb3 Rb7 [22...Rb8? 23.Nxa5+-] 23.Na3 Nh4?! Very aggresive move. I still refuse to give up on my kingside attack. 24.Rc6 g4?! unclear pawn sacrifice! [24...Bd7 is pointless since the rook doesn't have to move. 25.Nc4 Bxc6?? 26.dxc6 Rf7 27.Nxb6+-]

Position after 24.Rc6

25.hxg4 [25.fxg4 hxg4] 25...hxg4 [25...Rg7!] 26.fxg4 Rg7 27.Qxb6? [27.Qd1 keeps the advantage for white.] 27...Qxb6 28.Rxb6 Nxg4 29.Nc4? Diagram

Position after 29.Nc4
Black to play and win

[29.Nxg4 Bxg4 30.Kf2 Bxe2 31.Kxe2 Rxg2+ 32.Kd1=] 29...f3!! only move to win! 30.gxf3 [30.Nxg4 Bxg4 31.Bd3 fxg2-+; 30.Bxf3 Nxf3+ 31.gxf3 Ne3+ 32.Kh1 Nxc4-+; 30.Bd1 fxg2 31.Re1 Nxf2 32.Kxf2 Rf7+ 33.Kg1 Bh3-+] 30...Nxf3+ 31.Bxf3 [31.Kh1?? Nxf2+ 32.Rxf2 Rg1#; 31.Kg2 Ngh2+ 32.Kh1 Nxf1 33.Bxf3 Ba6-+] 31...Ne3+ 32.Ng4 Nxc4 white resigned since there are three pieces hanging at the same time and position is very difficult to save. 0-1

In the last day of the tournament, I was lucky to win both of my games. In round 5, I faced off against a strong expert Philip Stienez (2174) with black. Earlier in the game, I missed a good winning chance. Shortly after, I grabbed a pawn in a risky position where I found myself in trouble. Unfortunately, my opponent blundered in the time pressure on move 30, as a result; I was able to win the game.

In the last round, due to my opponent's choice of a dubious opening line, I obtained a big advantage and I was able to convert to a win.

Uyanga Byambaa (2171) - Kenan Zildzic (2230) [C57]
Sacramento chess championship (6), 06.07.2014

Position after 11...e4
White to play and win

12.Qxf7!+ Be7 13.h4 Qxg2 14.Qxd5+ Bd6 15.Rf1 Rhf8 16.Nc3 Rae8 17.Nb5 Rf6 18.Nxd6 cxd6 19.Qg5 Qf3 20.b3 Rf5 21.Qg3 Qh5 22.Ba3 Re6 23.Qxg7+ Rf7 24.Qg5 Qf3 25.Rc1 Rf5 26.Qg7+ Rf7 27.Qg3 Qh5 28.Qc3 black resigned. 0-1

For me, this tournament is definitely one of the most memorable because I broke 2200 for the first time.

More info about the result visit: http://sacramentochessclub.org/weekend_events/2014scc.htm

fpawn chess blog: http://fpawn.blogspot.com/

Dana's blog : http://www.danamackenzie.com/blog/?p=2994
http://www.danamackenzie.com/blog/?p=2987