2022 New York Fall Invitational Draw Tournaments

After being taken to task by a reader from the Carolinas for not publishing short games from tournaments not in Carolina I went to the website of the 2022 New York Fall Invitational only after explaining to the Carolinian the decision had earlier been made to stop watching all so called “Norm” tournaments. After being lambasted for “picking on” the norm tournaments contested at the Charlotte Chess Center this writer reached out to several Chess friends, asking for their thoughts on “Norm” tournaments. The replies were along the lines of, “Why do you waste your time watching those things?” and, “I have absolutely no interest in those things.” The quotes are from two different people. It is ironic both consider a “Norm” tournament to be a “thing.” The reason I have not written about “Norm” tournaments is the decision was made to stop wasting my time watching tournaments in which there appears to be hanky panky. (https://xpertchesslessons.wordpress.com/2021/09/11/the-charlotte-chess-center-mr-hankey-award/) In the interest of fairness I decided to follow the tournaments held in New York, and this will be the last time I ever waste my time watching Chess not being played.

Some of the “players”, and I use the word loosely, at the 2022 New York Fall Invitational are the same people who were written about in the posts concerning the plethora of short draws at the Charlotte Chess Center, such as IM Nikolai Andrianov, who should have his passport revoked and be sent packing to whatever hole out of which he crawled. Andrianov is no spring chicken, which may be why he has decided to rest on his limited laurels. The most disappointing player who has decided to stop playing Chess to make short draws is GM Titas Stremavicius (https://xpertchesslessons.wordpress.com/2022/05/09/how-to-draw-a-chess-game-at-the-charlotte-chess-center/), who has obviously become a serial drawer, and who, like Andrianov, has become known for wearing “Maggie’s Drawers” when he “plays.” When Titus first began playing I checked him out, finding he played some of the same openings as I once played. Many of his games were replayed, finding him to be a “vicius” player. What happened Titus? When and why did you decide to embarrass yourself, and Caissa, and become a non-Chess player? Maybe if we Americans are lucky the passports of this serial drawer will be revoked.

Let me be as clear as a sunny day, all these short draws proliferating “norm” tournaments smack of collusion, and give the appearance of cheating. It smacks of selling “norms” to the highest bidder. The practice should have been stopped long ago, but since it was not it should be stopped NOW!

The low-life non-players and organizers accept no blame while saying they are “just following the rules.” This is done while they deposit digits into their bank accounts. It does not take a genius, or Grandmaster Chess player, to see what they do is harmful to Chess in the long run. These kind of people could care less about what happens to the Royal Game in the future as long as they can continue to stuff their bank accounts with inflated digits. Obviously, the rules should be changed. They should consider taking a page out of Rex Sinquefield’s book and institute their own rules, using the rules in play at the American Chess Mecca, the St. Louis Chess Campus as a guideline. The “go along to get along” Chess politicians at the United States Chess Federation need to grow some cojones and institute new rules.

Just sayin’, because someone needs to step up and tell it like it is. (https://xpertchesslessons.wordpress.com/2022/07/29/gm-jacob-aagaard-blasphemes-caissia-at-the-charlotte-chess-center-gm-norm-invitational/)

2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A

Rd 1

Stremavicius, Titas (2527) – Kevlishvili, Robby (2536)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 09.11.2022

1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Nf3 dxc4 4.Qa4+ Nd7 5.Bg2 a6 6.Qxc4 b5 7.Qb3 Bb7 8.O-O Ngf6 9.d3 Be7 10.Nc3 O-O 11.a4 1/2-1/2

Rd 2

Kaliksteyn, Alexander (2389) – Stremavicius, Titas (2527)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 10.11.2022

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 1/2-1/2

Korley, Kassa (2451) – Nagy, Gabor (2482)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 10.11.2022

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 b6 3.Bg2 Bb7 4.O-O e6 5.c4 c5 6.b3 Be7 7.Bb2 d6 8.Nc3 O-O 9.d4 cxd4 10.Qxd4 Nc6 11.Qf4 Qb8 1/2-1/2

Rd 3

No short games

All those long games must have really taken a toll on the players because they more than made up for all that expended engrgy in the following round.

Rd 4

Siddharth, Jagadeesh (2407) – Kevlishvili, Robby (2536)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 11.11.2022

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 a6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 c6 6.e4 dxe4 7.Ng5 Be7 8.Bc4 Nh6 9.Ngxe4 Nf5 10.d5 O-O 11.O-O b5 12.Bb3 b4 13.Na4 cxd5 1/2-1/2

Chasin, Nico (2429) – Stremavicius, Titas (2527)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 11.11.2022

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 1/2-1/2

Nagy, Gabor (2482) – Ostrovskiy, Aleksandr (2371)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 11.11.2022

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.O-O Nb6 7.b3 Be6 8.Bb2 f6 9.Nc3 Qd7 10.Rc1 O-O-O 11.Qc2 Kb8 12.Rfd1 Nd4 13.Nxd4 exd4 14.Ne4 d3 15.exd3 1/2-1/2

Rd 5

Kaliksteyn, Alexander (2389) – Siddharth, Jagadeesh (2407)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 11.11.2022

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 e6 4.e3 c5 5.Nbd2 Qb6 6.Rb1 Bd6 7.Bxd6 Qxd6 8.dxc5 Qxc5 9.c4 1/2-1/2

Rd 6

Jimenez Fraga, Pedro (2477) – Siddharth, Jagadeesh (2407)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 12.11.2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.c4 Nc6 6.Nc3 Nxc3 7.dxc3 Bf5 8.Be2 Be7 9.Qb3 b6 10.Qa4 Qd7 11.O-O O-O 12.Bf4 Nd4 13.Qd1 Nxe2+ 14.Qxe2 Bf6 15.Bg5 Rfe8 16.Qd2 1/2-1/2

Korley, Kassa (2451) – Kevlishvili, Robby (2536)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 12.11.2022

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Bg4 3.Bg2 Nd7 4.O-O c6 5.d3 e6 6.h3 Bh5 7.c4 Bxf3 8.Bxf3 dxc4 9.d4 Ngf6 10.Nd2 Nb6 11.e3 Bb4 12.Qc2 Bxd2 13.Bxd2 O-O 14.Ba5 Re8 15.Rfd1 Nfd7 16.a4 Qg5 17.Bxb6 1/2-1/2

Nagy, Gabor (2482) – Stremavicius, Titas (2527)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 12.11.2022

1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.O-O O-O 6.b3 1/2-1/2

I add the following, decisive, game as a prelude to the next round game by Mr. Williams.

Ostrovskiy, Aleksandr (2371) – Williams, Justus (2395)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 12.11.2022

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Bc5 6.Nb3 Be7 7.Qg4 g6 8.Qe2 d6 9.O-O Nf6 10.Bh6 Nc6 11.h3 Nh5 12.N1d2 Ne5 13.Nc4 Nxc4 14.Bxc4 b5 15.Bd3 Bg5 16.Bxb5+ 1-0

Rd 7

Williams, Justus (2395) – Jimenez Fraga, Pedro (2477)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 12.11.2022

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 1/2-1/2

Stremavicius, Titas (2527) – Ostrovskiy, Aleksandr (2371)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 12.11.2022

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.h5 Bh7 8.Nf3 Nd7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bd2 1/2-1/2

Kevlishvili, Robby (2536) – Nagy, Gabor (2482)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 12.11.2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 1/2-1/2

Rd 8

No short games. Makes one wonder…

Rd 9

Kaliksteyn, Alexander (2389) – Ostrovskiy, Aleksandr (2371)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 13.11.2022

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c3 e6 4.Bf4 Bd6 5.e3 O-O 6.Nbd2 c5 1/2-1/2

Siddharth, Jagadeesh (2407) – Nagy, Gabor (2482)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM A (Long Island City, NY), 13.11.2022

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 c6 7.Bd3 O-O 8.h3 Re8 9.Qc2 Nbd7 10.Nf3 Nf8 11.O-O Be6 12.Ne5 1/2-1/2

2022 New York Fall Invitational GM B

Rd 1

Mandizha, Farai (2359) – Javakhadze, Zurab (2481)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM B (Long Island City, NY), 09.11.2022

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 Nbd7 7.a3 c5 8.dxc5 Nxc5 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 1/2-1/2

Rd 2

All decisive! Proving they can actually FIGHT. Still, it makes me wonder…

Rd 3

Paragua, Mark (2466) – Khamrakulov, Djurabek (2490)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM B (Long Island City, NY), 10.11.2022

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.O-O O-O 7.Re1 c6 8.a4 Qc7 9.h3 b6 10.Bg5 Bb7 1/2-1/2

Rd 4

Yudasin, Leonid (2401) – Khamrakulov, Djurabek (2490)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM B (Long Island City, NY), 11.11.2022

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bf4 Bg7 4.c3 b6 5.h3 Bb7 6.e3 c5 7.Be2 O-O 8.O-O d6 9.Bh2 Nbd7 10.a4 a6 11.Nbd2 Re8 12.Qb1 Rc8 13.Rd1 cxd4 14.exd4 Rc7 15.Ne1 1/2-1/2

Rd 5

Paragua, Mark (2466) – Javakhadze, Zurab (2481)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM B (Long Island City, NY), 11.11.2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.Bd2 1/2-1/2

Rd 6

Javakhadze, Zurab (2481) – Khamrakulov, Djurabek (2490)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM B (Long Island City, NY), 12.11.2022

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bxc4 e6 5.Nf3 a6 6.O-O 1/2-1/2

Paragua, Mark (2466) – Mandizha, Farai (2359)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM B (Long Island City, NY), 12.11.2022

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bc4 e6 1/2-1/2

Rd 8

Yudasin, Leonid (2401) – Javakhadze, Zurab (2481)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM B (Long Island City, NY), 13.11.2022

1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 O-O 7.e3 Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Qc2 Nxc3 10.Qxc3 dxc4 11.Bxc4 c5 12.O-O Nc6 13.dxc5 Qxc5 14.Rac1 Bd7 15.Rfd1 Rfd8 1/2-1/2

Mandizha, Farai (2359) – Khamrakulov, Djurabek (2490)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM B (Long Island City, NY), 13.11.2022

1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.c3 c6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Qb3 e6 7.O-O O-O 8.Bf4 d6 9.Qa3 Ne8 10.Nbd2 Rf7 11.e4 h6 12.exf5 exf5 13.h4 Be6 1/2-1/2

Rd 9

Believe it or not, four out of the five games ended decisively. Must have been something in the water…

Oberoi, Shelev (2328) – Yudasin, Leonid (2401)
2022 New York Fall Invitational GM B (Long Island City, NY), 13.11.2022

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nf3 d6 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 c4 7.Bc2 Nc6 8.exd6 Qxd6 9.Na3 Qe6+ 10.Kf1 Qd5 11.d4 cxd3 12.Qxd3 Qxd3+ 13.Bxd3 Bg4 14.Be4 O-O-O 15.Be3 Nd5 16.Nb5 Nxe3+ 17.fxe3 f6 18.Nfd4 Nxd4 19.cxd4 Bd7 20.Rc1+ Kb8 21.Nc3 e6 22.Ke2 Be7 23.Bd3 f5 24.Rhf1 g6 25.Bb5 Bxb5+ 26.Nxb5 e5 27.dxe5 1/2-1/2

2022 New York Fall Invitational IM C

Rd 1

Andrianov, Nikolai (2297) – Rama, Tejas (2189)
2022 New York Fall Invitational IM C (Long Island City, NY), 09.11.2022

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.Qxd2 O-O 11.Bc4 Nd7 12.O-O b6 13.Rad1 Bb7 14.Rfe1 Rc8 15.Bb3 h6 16.Qf4 1/2-1/2

Rd 2

Lee, Justin (2113) – Andrianov, Nikolai (2297)
2022 New York Fall Invitational IM C (Long Island City, NY), 10.11.2022

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 b5 9.Bd3 Bb7 10.O-O O-O 11.e4 e5 12.h3 Qe7 13.Bg5 h6 14.Bh4 g5 15.Bg3 Nh5 16.Bxe5 Nxe5 17.Nxe5 Bxe5 18.dxe5 Qxe5 19.Rac1 Rad8 1/2-1/2

Rd 3

Andrianov, Nikolai (2297) – Akylbekov, Nasyr (2208)
2022 New York Fall Invitational IM C (Long Island City, NY), 10.11.2022

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Qe7 5.g3 b6 6.Bg2 Bb7 7.O-O 1/2-1/2

Rd 4

Andrianov, Nikolai (2297) – Antova, Gabriela (2302)
2022 New York Fall Invitational IM C (Long Island City, NY), 11.11.2022

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 a6 1/2-1/2

Rd 7

Managadze, Nikoloz (2383) – Rama, Tejas (2189)
2022 New York Fall Invitational IM C (Long Island City, NY), 12.11.2022

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.O-O O-O 5.d3 d5 6.Nbd2 c5 7.e4 Nc6 8.Re1 b6 9.c3 dxe4 10.dxe4 Bb7 11.Qc2 Qc7 12.Nf1 Rad8 13.Bf4 Qc8 14.Rad1 1/2-1/2

Rd 8

Lee, Justin (2113) – Managadze, Nikoloz (2383)
2022 New York Fall Invitational IM C (Long Island City, NY), 13.11.2022

1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nc3 1/2-1/2

Andrianov, Nikolai (2297) – Berczes, David (2446)
2022 New York Fall Invitational IM C (Long Island City, NY), 13.11.2022

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 1/2-1/2

Rd 9

Berczes, David (2446) – Antova, Gabriela (2302)
2022 New York Fall Invitational IM C (Long Island City, NY), 13.11.2022

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c6 3.Bg2 Bg4 4.h3 Bh5 5.O-O Nd7 6.d4 Ngf6 7.c4 e6 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Qb3 Qb6 10.Qe3+ Be7 11.Nh4 Bg6 12.Nc3 Nf8 13.Nxg6 hxg6 14.Rd1 Ne6 15.Qd3 Rd8 16.h4 O-O 17.Rb1 a5 18.a3 Qa7 19.Bh3 1/2-1/2

Managadze, Nikoloz (2383) – Andrianov, Nikolai (2297)
2022 New York Fall Invitational IM C (Long Island City, NY), 13.11.2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Qe2 Qe7 6.d3 1/2-1/2

Make no mistake, all the players listed above are cheaters. They have cheated Caissa and the spirit of the game. It is long past time for the USCF pooh-bahs to STEP UP and SPEAK UP. Someone, anyone, in power needs to do something, anything, about those who blaspheme against the Royal Game! If the current Fools In Power do not do something immediately their heads should roll so they can be replaced by someone, anyone who cares about CHESS! This “go along to get along” crap ain’t working. It is long past time for someone, anyone, in power to GROW A PAIR and STEP UP TO THE PLATE! If, that is, they are not too busy taking cash to stuff into their pockets…

Hans Niemann Innocent Until Proven Guilty!

The Guardian view on chess cheating claims: innocent until proven guilty

The world champion, Magnus Carlsen, has cast doubt on the success of a younger grandmaster, Hans Niemann. Where’s the evidence?

Magnus Carlsen, left, and Hans Niemann in the third round of the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis on Sept. 4. Mr. Carlsen accused Mr. Niemann of cheating in this game and others in a statement on Monday.Credit…Crystal Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/28/crosswords/hans-niemann-magnus-carlsen-cheating-update.html

Sun 2 Oct 2022 13.25 EDT

Chess generally hits the headlines only for reasons external to the game itself: Bobby Fischer’s eccentricity; Viktor Korchnoi’s

Viktor Korchnoi, the challenger, with his infamous reflective shades. Date unknown but mid-life. http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-wacky-1978-chess-world-championship

allegations that the Soviet Union was using hypnotism to undermine him in his 1978 world title match with Anatoly Karpov;

Anatoly Karpov, the 1978 champion, in recent years. Karpov first met Torre at a Manila Zonal in 1976.
http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-wacky-1978-chess-world-championship

the Toiletgate furore that marred the 2006 world championship.

Now, the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen’s airing of suspicions over the play of the 19-year-old US grandmaster Hans Niemann has put chess into the spotlight again.

Carlsen has been world champion since 2013. Niemann is a tyro who has made astonishingly rapid progress recently. Carlsen has publicly questioned that trajectory, saying on Twitter last week that “his over the board progress has been unusual”. These days, most elite players become grandmasters in their early teens – Carlsen was 13. Niemann, a charismatic character who says his life has been devoted to proving critics who said he wasn’t good enough wrong, was a late-developing 17, and his rise to super-GM level has been meteoric.

The controversy erupted when Niemann beat Carlsen last month in the Sinquefield Cup. Niemann said he had somehow guessed what opening Carlsen would play. It was Carlsen’s first defeat in 53 classical (long-form) games, and he reacted by withdrawing from the tournament, making gnomic references to something being not quite right. “If I speak I am in big trouble,” he tweeted. Some of his supporters filled in the blanks, with claims that Niemann had computer help. Elon Musk

https://www.cityam.com/elon-musk-to-face-defamation-trial-over-pedo-guy-comments/

unhelpfully suggested that he was using unusual methods; Niemann countered by offering to strip naked.

https://whatstrending.com/is-elon-musk-smoking-weed-on-joe-rogans-podcast-a-big-deal/

Carlsen and Niemann met again last month in an online game, and the world champion sensationally resigned after making just one move. Carlsen said he was unwilling to “play against people that have cheated repeatedly in the past”, and that he believed the younger man had cheated “more than he has admitted”. Niemann has acknowledged cheating online as a teenager, but insists he has never done so in an over-the-board game and angrily denies the new claims. “Once a cheat, always a cheat,” chorus his detractors, but Niemann should surely not be condemned for youthful misdemeanours in games where little was at stake. There is no evidence that he cheated when he beat Carlsen.

The world champion is right to say that cheating poses an existential challenge to chess – there have been many examples at less exalted levels of the sport. But he is wrong to muddy the waters around Niemann without substantive evidence. Britain’s former world title contender Nigel Short says that the young American is at risk of suffering “death by innuendo”. (https://www.inkl.com/news/the-guardian-view-on-chess-cheating-claims-innocent-until-proven-guilty) Experts reckon Carlsen played unusually poorly in his defeat to Niemann. Maybe it was just a bad day at the office. Or perhaps it was the result of paranoia: once a player believes their opponent is cheating, that inevitably affects their own play. Carlsen needs to produce concrete evidence – ideally as part of the inquiry announced on Thursday by the International Chess Federation – or let Niemann get on with his career. Only by playing over a long period will the latter’s true playing strength emerge – while any repeated cheating in the rarefied conditions of elite tournaments would soon be exposed.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/02/the-guardian-view-on-chess-cheating-claims-innocent-until-proven-guilty