1977 Group Health Incorporated International

     From December 3-22, 1977, the largest (18 players) round-robin international held in the US for 88 years was played, the Group Health Incorporated in New York City. It was sponsored by the American Chess Foundation and conducted by the Continental Chess Association because at that time the United States had many promising masters, but few had opportunities to make the norms required to earn international titles. 

     For Curt Brasket, Larry D. Evans, Ron Henley, Mike Valvo and John Watson this tournament was their first international event. 

     For 13-year old Joel Benjamin, 19-year old John Fedorowicz, 20-year old IM Mark Diesen and 18-year old IM Michael Rohde, they had some previous international experience, but needed more opportunities. 

     Other titled Americans were GM Anatoly Lein and IMs Edmar Mednis and Andy Soltis. Both Mednis and Soltis had one of the two required norms for the GM title.

     It was an especially important tournament for Mednis because his previous norm result (Houston 1974) was about to expire and a couple of months previously he had narrowly missed his second GM norm at a tournament in Yugoslavia. As a result, if he didn't get his second GM norm in this tournament he would remain an IM. 

     Biyiasas had one GM norm, Helgi Olafsson and Roberto Kaimo each an IM norm, so they were hoping to achieve their titles, too. 

     The winner, Anatoly Lein, finally broke out of a long slump and Edmar Mednis scored one of his best results ever, but only came close to his goal of getting the GM title which he was finally awarded in 1980. 

     Anatoly Lein (March 28, 1931 – March 1, 2018) was a Soviet-born American player who was awarded the GM title in 1968. In 1976 Lein, who was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2005, emigrated to the United States, finishing equal first with Leonid Shamkovich in the US Open and equal first with Bernard Zuckerman in the World Open that year. He also played on the US team in the 1978 Olympiad. 

     After arriving in the US, he originally lived in New Jersey before moving to Beechwood, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. Obituary 

     Tied for third place were Gudmendur Sigurjonsson and Vitaly Zaltsman. The 36-year old Zaltsman made the most of his opportunity and gained his first IM norm. 

     Finnish GM Heikki Westerinen "saved" the tournament whose last minute addition made the GM norms possible. Unfortunately, he was also the culprit when he defeated Mednis and ended Mednis' chance at getting the required second norm. He had to wait until 1980 before he was awarded the GM title. 

     Ron Henley, a 21-years old, did surprisingly well after a slow start, but missed the IM norm by one point. He was later awarded the IM title in 1980 and became a GM in 1982. 

 

      In the the following feisty little game, Peter Biyiasas (born November 19, 1950) defeats Filipino Master Roberto Kaimo. Biyiasas was born in Athens, Greece and was awarded the IM title in 1972 and the GM title in 1978. He won the British Columbia championship 4 times between 1968-69 and 1971-72 and was Canadian Champion in 1972 and 1975. He played in two interzonals in 1973 and 1976 and was on the Canadian Olympiad team in 1972, 1974, 1976 and 1978. 

     He immigrated to the US in 1979, working in San Jose, California as an IBM programmer. He played in the US Championship in 1980. Biyiasas retired from competitive play in the mid-1980s. 

     Roberto Kaimo (1943-2016) of the Philippines was a National Master. He was born in Surigao City, Philippines and graduated from F.E.U. in Manila with a Bachelors Degree in Commerce. After graduation he worked for a paint company in the Philippines. 

     He quit his job in order to play in the 1974 Philippine Championship and was among the leaders for much of the tournament, but ended up in 7th place with a score of 11-9. As a result, he was just a half a point short of making the country’s Olympic team. Soon after this tournament he moved to the US where he worked for a chemical company in Newark, New Jersey as an Inventory Manager; he retired in 2006. 

     He passed away at the age of 72 on July 28, 2016 in South Plainfield, New Jersey. He was last active as a player in the year 2000. Kaimo also enjoyed bowling, singing, dancing, and was known as the life of the party.

[Event "New York GHI"] [Site "New York, NY USA"] [Date "1977.12.??"] [Round "7"] [White "Peter Biyiasas"] [Black "Roberto Kaimo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E17"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "1977.??.??"] {Queen's Indian} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 {By playing this white avoids the Nimzo-Indian (3.Nc3 Bb4), but in both openings black's aim is to hinder white's efforts to gain full control of the center by playing e2–e4.} b6 { With this move black increases his control over the center squares e4 and d5.} 4. g3 {This is the Main Line in which white contests the long diagonal.} Bb7 { This was the usual response back in the 1970s, but 4...Ba6 has since supplanted it. Less usual is 4...Bb4+ with which black aims to exchange his less useful dark-squared B.} 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 d6 8. b3 Nbd7 9. Bb2 Ne4 10. Qc2 Nxc3 11. Bxc3 {[%cal Of3g5]} f5 {An aggressive move that's part of the plan to control e4. 11...Nf6 was safe and solid.} 12. d5 {Biyiasas responds sharply. Instead, he could have played the thematic 12.Ne1 with the idea of exchanging off the light squared Bs.} e5 {After this white seizes the initiative. 12...Bf6 would have equalized.} 13. Bh3 (13. Nd2 {as played in Petrukhina,O (2166)-Klichev,M (2227) Korolyov 2019 proved to be ineffective in that it allowed black to proceed unhindered.} Bc8 14. b4 Qe8 15. Nb3 Nf6 16. a4 Qh5 17. f3 f4 {with the initiative and a slight advantage.}) 13... g6 14. e4 fxe4 (14... f4 15. b4 Bc8 16. Be6+ Kg7 17. g4 h6 18. h3 Nf6 19. Bxc8 Qxc8 20. Kh2 Nxg4+ 21. hxg4 Qxg4 {and a draw was agreed to in Zhou,J (2635)-Wang,Y (2723) Shenzhen CHN 2016}) 15. Nd2 {Best as the Q would be exposed after 15. Qxe4} (15. Qxe4 Nc5 16. Qe3 Bc8 {The B no longer has any future on b7.} 17. Bxc8 Qxc8 {and black's Q is in position to try and drum up play on the K-side.} ) 15... Nf6 {[%cal Oe4e3]} 16. Nxe4 {Also good was Be6+} Bc8 17. Bxc8 Qxc8 18. f4 {[%cal Bf2f4,Bf4e5,Be5e6][%mdl 32]} Ng4 (18... Nxe4 {getting rid of the dangerous N on e4 was a better try.} 19. Qxe4 Qg4) 19. fxe5 Rxf1+ {[%mdl 8192] This move looks quite natural, but it turns out to be a deadly mistake that weakens black irreparably on the f-file.} (19... Nxe5 {is a better defense.}) 20. Rxf1 Ne3 {This fork that wins the exchange turns out to be of no use.} ( 20... Nxe5 {was better, but not by much. After} 21. c5 bxc5 22. Bxe5 dxe5 23. Qc4 Bd6 (23... Kh8 24. Rf7 Qe8 25. d6 cxd6 26. Qe6 Bh4 27. Nf6 {Black has no good move.}) 24. Nf6+ Kh8 25. Qh4 {White wins.}) 21. Qf2 {White threatens Qf7+ and mate.} Nxf1 {This eliminates the threat of Qf7+, but allows white a mate in 7} (21... Nf5 {doesn't save the game either.} 22. e6 h5 {He can only delay, not prevent, g4.} 23. h3 Qf8 24. g4 hxg4 25. hxg4 Nh6 26. Qd4 {wins}) 22. e6 { Black resigned. Flawless play by Biyiasas! Weighted Error Value: White=0.07 (flawless) /Black=1.06} (22. e6 Qxe6 23. dxe6 Rf8 24. Qd4 Bf6 25. Nxf6+ Kh8 26. Nd5+ Rf6 27. Qxf6+ Kg8 28. Qg7#) 1-0