Last week was wretched. After the furnace malfunctioned and required repairing, the refrigerator malfunctioned and required repairing. Naturally, there was a 3 day wait on parts for both.
Then there was the weather...it went from bright and sunny with temperatures in the mid-70s to the remnants of hurricane Nicole with rain followed by a cold front with temperatures in the 30s and snow flurries.
Besides that, two old laptops running Windows 8.1 had to be updated which took hours. As a reminder to any readers who use ChessBase products (which can be installed on up to three computers), before you make any system changes you must deactivate the chess program. Not doing does not render the programs totally useless, but when they launch there are some very annoying problems and, at least on ChessBase 16, some important functionality will be lost.
Chess has been on the back burner, but while doing the last post on Kasparov's Gambit, I ran across a report on a little known event, the Marshall Chess Club Winter International tournament that was held in February of 1993.
On March 26, 1993, the legendary Reuben Fine died, but the big news that year had to be about Michael Jackson being investigated on accusations of child molestation that broke in late August. The resulting spectacle lasted for years.
At a press conference in Tel Aviv in December, La Toya, Michael's estranged sister, alleged that the accusations were true. She also repeated her earlier claim that she and her siblings were abused, including sexual abuse, by their parents. In 2011, she retracted all her allegations saying that she was forced to make them by her husband at the time, whom she accused of being abusive.
It wasn't until November of 2003, after raiding Jackson's famous ranch in California that the sheriff arrested Jackson on charges of child molestation.
After posting $3 million bail the same day and surrendering his passport, Jackson was allowed to go free as he awaited trial.
Finally, in June of 2003, he was acquitted of all charges.
But, wait! There's more! Within months, prosecutors charged Janet Arvizo (whose son Jackson allegedly molested) with fraud and perjury related to statements she made at Jackson's trial; she accepted a plea agreement the following year.
On June 25, 2009. Michael Jackson was found dead at the age of 50. It wasn't until November of 2011 that Dr. Conrad Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death for having administered a deadly dose of the anesthetic Propofol.
Back to the tournament. IM Alexander LeSiege, the 17-year-old champion of Canada, ran away with first place, finishing ahead of Chilean IM Victor Frias (February 10, 1956 - January 15, 2005, 48 years old). Frias was one of Chile's leading players from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. He passed away after a brief illness.
IM-elect Maurice Ashley tied Frias. Those three players were the only ones who achieved the IM norm of 8.0 points, but they no longer needed the norm.
Alexandre Le Siege (born August 18, 1975) went on to earn the GM title and ia all he won three Canadian championships.
Born in Montreal, he was first introduced to chess at age six and by the age of 11 he had an Expert (2000-2199) rating. His first important success was winning the Canadian Junior Championship in 1989, at age 14. At age 16, won the 1992 Canadian Championship, defeating GM Kevin Spraggett in the key game. He earned his GM title in 1999, but then virtually retired from competitive chess from 2004 to 2015 when he started playing again. His opponent was Pierre Moulin (born April 19, 1963), a Belgian FM.
Pierre Moulin–Alexandre Le SiegeB80Marshall CC Winter International1993Stockfish 15
Sicilian Scheveningen 1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 d6
Black's P-formation (Ps on d6 and e6) constitutes the Scheveningen. 6.e3
The aggressuve Keres Attack (6.g4) and the classical 6.Be2 are most often seen.
The text, like 6.Be2, is a more conservative approach. In my database half the
games are drawn and the other half are evenly divided between white and black. a6 7.f3 c6 8.d2 e7 9.g4 0-0 10.0-0-0 d7 11.h4 de5 12.f2 c7 12...d7 13.xc6 xc6 14.b6 b8 15.g1 d7 16.e3 b5 white is slightly better.
Kovacevic,A (2536)-Stevic,H (2550) Jahorina 2003 13.g5 Now bad, but the
surprising 13.Nf5 packed a stronger punch. 13.f5 exf5 14.gxf5 d8 15.d5 d7 16.g1 h8 17.h5 h4 18.d2 White has a dangerous attack brewing. 13...b5 14.xc6 xc6 15.b1 15.e2 was less forceful as played in
Slobodjan,R (2500)-Schirm,F (2315) Binz 1995 c4 16.d4 c7 17.xc4 bxc4 18.d2 and with 18...e5 black could have equalized. 15...d7 16.e2 At this
point the two sides' ideas are quite clear. White is attacking on the K-side,
black on the Q-side, but white's attack develops much faster. Watch! b4 17.d4 b7 18.h5 a5 19.g6 This P cannot be taken. f6 Black's
situation is highly critical and his best chance was to press on with his
counterplay and try 19...b3...for what it's worth. 19...fxg6 20.hxg6 xg6 21.h2 h4 22.d3 a4 23.f2 White is winning. 19...b3 20.gxh7+ xh7 21.xb3 a4 22.d4 ab8 23.c1 f5 This lunge in the center represents
black's best try. 24.exf5 exf5 25.g2 f6 and at least black is still
fighting. 20.h6 This is the wrong P move and it should have allowed black
to equalize. 20.gxh7+ This cannot be adequately met. xh7 21.g1 b3 22.cxb3 a4 23.f4 wins c6 24.e5 dxe5 25.d3+ g8 26.fxe5 xe5 27.h6 g6
There is nothing better; the weakness of g7 is fatal. 28.f3 d6 29.d4 xd4 30.xd4 e5 31.xe5 20...fxg6 21.hxg7 f7 21...xg7 After the text
black has equalized, but this would have been even better. 22.e2 22.h2 h5 23.g2 a4 24.f4 g4 and black is actually winning. 22...a4 23.h4 h5 24.hg1 b3 Black's counterplay has taken over! 22.e2 a4 23.f4 b3 Offering
the N on e4 which white unwisely takes. After 24.axb3 he would have been OK. 24.fxe5 24.axb3 axb3 25.xb3 xg7 26.xd6 f8 27.c5 c7 28.a6 xa6 29.xa6 b7 with equal chances. 24.axb3 c6 is also
playable. 25.e5 xg7 26.g2 26.h2 This looks more potent, but after xd4 27.xh7+ f8 28.xd4 axb3 29.d3 c6 Black is better after 30.xg6 a6 31.c1 bxc2 Black's advantage is decisive. Just one possible
continuation is... 32.xf7 cxd1+ 33.xd1 c4+ 34.d2 xd4+ etc. 26...dxe5 27.fxe5 axb3 28.xb3 xe5 29.d3 a5 30.xb7 xb7 31.e4 b8 32.a7 a8 with a draw by repetition. 24...bxc2+ 24...xe5 is the wrong way. 25.h4 bxc2+ 26.xc2 xg7 with equal chances. 25.xc2 25.xc2 had to
be rejected on account of xe5 and white loses his Q. 25...dxe5 25...xe5 26.h4 xg7 is equal. 26.f3 b8 27.c1 c6 Much stronger than
taking on e4 27...xe4+ 28.d3 c8+ 29.b1 and black must find the only
road to equality which is xc1+ 29...b7 loses after 30.xh7 xh7 31.g5+ xg7 32.xf7 xc1+ 33.xc1 d5 34.c2 c6 35.xg6 a3 36.xc6 axb2 37.g1 xc6 38.e4+ xf7 39.xc6 and white should win. 30.xc1 xf3 31.xf3 g5+ 32.b1 xf3 33.xg6 c6 34.xh7 g3 and black may be able to hold the
draw. 28.d2 c7 The finish is only matter of technique. 29.b3 29.b1 xe4+ 30.xe4 xc1+ mate next move. 29...xe4+ 30.b2 axb3 31.c4 bxa2+ 32.xa2 b1+ 33.xb1 xb1+ Facing mate in 3 white resigned. A sharply
played game by both sides.
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