Berkeley Chess School Weekender, July 2016

 WFM Uyanga Byambaa
2016 California's Women's State Champion!

Since I started attending at University of California, Berkeley this January, I haven't been playing much chess. Cal definitely keeps me busy. After several months of break from chess, I've been attempting to come back and play little bit before fall semester starts. Recently, I just played in Berkeley Weekender, a small local tournament that Berkeley chess school is starting to organize every other month. The tournament was held in a beautiful, spacious building in Berkeley hill and directed by Senior TD Bryon Joseph Doyle, who did a great job running the tournament. Although it wasn't a super big prize tournament, it attracted more than 50 players including 10 titled players in the open section /FIDE Rated/. Before I talk about the Berkeley weekender, I'd like to highlight one of my most memorable tournaments, organized also by Berkeley Chess School, 1st California's Women's State Championship, April 2-3rd. I accepted Elizabeth Shaughnessy's personal invite to the tournament way back in December, so I was already committed to participate in the tournament. Plus, I always love to promote girls and women to play chess and support their events. On the other hand, newly transferred to UC Berkeley in spring, my semester was intense. I was pretty much studying all the time and my mind wasn't fully focused on chess. Between my rounds at women's state championship, I was studying for my Econ 100A, upper division microeconomic analysis, midterm. In spite of the stress and pressure, I was lucky that everything worked out in my favor. Here is a key last round game, where I defeated National Master Natalia Tsodikova to win the tournament.

Our previous encounter at the Mechanics chess club, Winter Tuesday Night Marathon 2015, Round 8, Board 1
http://chessclub.org/news.php?n=721

[Event "California's women's state championship"]

[Site "Berkeley Chess School"]
[Date "2016.04.03"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Byambaa, Uyanga"]
[Black "Tsodikova, Natalya"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C51"]
[WhiteElo "2210"]
[BlackElo "2222"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. O-O d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8.
exd5 Ne7 9. a4 a6 10. a5 Ba7 11. d4 exd4 12. Nxd4 O-O 13. Ra3 Ng6 14. Kh1 Qh4
15. f4 Re8 16. Bb2 Bg4 17. Nf3 Qh5 18. Qd2 Re4 19. Bd3 Bxf3 20. Rxf3 Qxd5 21.
Qc3 Rd4 22. Qd2 Rc4 23. f5 Ne5 24. f6 Nxd3 25. Raxd3 Qe4 26. Rf1 Re8

Position after 27...Be3

27. Rg3Be3 28. Rxg7+ Kf8 29. Qe2 Qh4 30. Rxh7 Qxh7 31. Qxc4 c5 32. bxc5 Bxc5 33. h3
Qe4 34. Qb3 Qe2 35. Qd3 Qxd3 36. cxd3 Re2 37. Bc1 Bd4 38. Bh6+ Ke8 39. h4 Re5
40. Bd2 Re2 41. Bg5 Re5 42. Rb1 Rxa5 43. Rxb7 Rb5 44. Re7+ Kf8 45. g4 Rb8 46.
Re4 Be5 47. Ra4 Rb6 48. Kg2 Kg8 49. d4 Rb2+ 50. Kf3 Bh2 51. Rxa6 Rb3+ 52. Ke4
Rg3 53. Ra8+ Kh7 54. Rf8 Rxg4+ 55. Kf5 Rxd4 56. Rxf7+ Kg8 57. Kg6 Ra4 58. Rd7
Ra8 59. f7+ 1-0

More info about the tournament, read article featured in US chess website: https://new.uschess.org/news/girls-and-womens-tournaments-a-great-success/

Some photos from the tournament:

Berkeley girls are ready to battle, photo by Sarah

Photo by Richard Shorman

Photo by Richard Shorman

Tournament hall, Berkeley Chess School Hill Side Building

 

I'd like to thank Elizabeth Shaughnessy, founder of Berkeley Chess School, for organizing such a great event that creates opportunity for women to play chess. Along with winning $700 for first place, I'm privileged to attain the state title.



 At the Berkeley Weekender in round 2, I had very tough game against a teenager who is already rated over 2400 USCF.

[Event "Berkeley Weekender"]
[Date "2016.07.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Panchanathan, Vignesh"]
[Black "Byambaa, Uyanga"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E85"]
[WhiteElo "2431"]
[BlackElo "2197"]

1. d4  Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7
4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. Nge2 Nc6 (7... c6) 8. d5 Ne7 9. Qd2 Nd7 10. h4
f5 11. Bg5 {this move looks strange to me. According to chessbase, apparently,
it scores very good for white.} f4 12. h5 Bf6 {I was happy to exchange my bad
bishop; however, what I didn't realize is that I was also getting rid of my
good defensive piece.} ({better is} 12... h6 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. hxg6 ) 13.
Bxf6 Nxf6 14. hxg6 hxg6 15. g3 g5 16. O-O-O a6 {Keeping the knight out from
jumping to b5, where vulnarable c7 pawn will be under attack. Also, I can play
b5 myself. The problem is that though I don't have time for this. I didn't
really sense the danger of his kingside attack.} ({better is} 16... Kf7 17. Ng1
) 17. Ng1 

Position after 17.Ng1

Ng6 {Looks natural to bring more defender around my
king, but it just becomes a target.} ({Again, better try!} 17... Kf7) 18. Bh3 Bxh3 {
Why capture and lose a tempo? Well, If I don't capture the bishop, I was
scared that his bishop will land on f5 square, then it is hard for me capture
the bishop on f5, since it frees the e4 square for his knight.} ({computer
engine suggests} 18... g4 19. Bxg4 Nxg4 20. fxg4 Qf6 {still bad for black.})
19. Nxh3 {Now, I'm in big trouble. g5 is weak!} Nh5 20. Nxf4 (20. gxf4 Nhxf4
21. Rdg1) 20... Nhxf4 21. gxf4 Nxf4 (21... Rxf4 {is slightly better.}) 22.
Rh6  Kf7 23. Rdh1 Rg8 24. Ne2 Nxe2+ 25. Qxe2 Rg6 26. Rh7+ Kf6 27. Qh2 b5 28.
Qh5 Qg8 29. Qg4 Qc8 30. Rd7 1-0

Next day, I was able to bounce back from this loss and won the round 3 and 4 against experts. The key game of the tournament was the last round, where I faced against FM Andy Lee.

[Event "Berkeley Weekender"]
[Date "2016.07.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Lee, Andy"]
[Black "Byambaa, Uyanga"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2390"]
[BlackElo "2197"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 e5 13. Bc5 Be6 14. Ne4 Re8
15. h4 Nf4 ({mail line goes} 15... h6 16. g4 Qc7 17. g5 h5 18. Bc4) 16. Qe1 Qc7
(16... Bd5 17. c4 Qc7 18. g3 Bxe4 19. fxe4 Ne6 20. Be3) 17. g3 Nd5 18. Bc4
h6 {Useful move. it controls the g5 square so that in some lines I can play f5.
} 19. g4 Nf4 {Second time the knight is landing on f4!} 20. Bxe6 Nxe6 21. g5?
{I was surprised to see him giving up his dark squared bishop. Yes, the knight
on e4 is strong piece, dominating my dark squared bishop, but things will turn around in
one move that he overlooked.} ({the better is} 21. Bd6 {or 21. Be3}) 21... Nxc5 22. Nxc5 

Position after 17.Nxc5

e4! Unleashing the beast! All of a sudden, the dragon bishop breathing fire along the long diagonal. In addition to open b-file, the active queen and the control over the dark squares, black's initiative becomes very hard to deal with. 23. fxe4 {there is no pleasant way to accept the

pawn sacrifice.} (23. Nxe4 Rab8 24. c3 Qf4+ 25. Qd2 Qxf3 26. gxh6 Bxh6 27. Qxh6
Rxe4) 23... Rab8 24. Nd3 hxg5 25. hxg5 c5 26. c4 Qb7 27. Qe2 Rxe4 28. Qc2
Qe7 29. Rhg1 Re2 30. Rd2 Qe3 31. Rgd1 Qxg5

Postion after 31...Qxg5

32. Kb1 Rxd2 33. Rxd2 Qg1+ 34. Rd1
Qg4 35. a3 g5 36. Rd2 Rd8 37. Rg2 Qf5 38. Nf2 Qf4 39. Ne4 g4 40. Qe2 Rb8? (40... Qe5 41. Qxg4 f5) 41. Qd3? (41. Rxg4 Rxb2+ 42. Qxb2 Qxg4 43. Qb8+ Kh7

44. Qh2+ Kg6 45. Qd6+ f6 46. Qd3) 41... Qe5 42. Qc2 {due to time pressure,
it wasn't easy to find the most accurate defense.} f5 43. Ng3 f4 44. Nf5 f3 45.
Rd2 Rxb2+ 46. Qxb2 Qxf5+ 47. Qc2 Qxc2+ 48. Kxc2 g3 0-1
The final result of the tournament wasn't too bad! Tied for 2nd with score 4/5!

me before round 2

Congratulations to our local IM Ricardo De Guzman for winning the tournament with perfect score 5/5!


 Here is the link for the final standings:http://www.berkeleychessschool.org/weekender-standings/