Going Postal

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NEWS FLASH! 2022 US CHESS ABSOLUTE CHAMPIONSHIP ENDS IN A TIE!
Correspondence Chess Masters Tim Corkum (WI) and John Walton (WA) are the 2022 US Chess
Absolute co-champions. Both finished with a score of 7 ½ points, with 3 wins and 9 draws.
They split the point in their game. This is the first Absolute championship for both.
Play began March 1, 2022. The tournament continues but there are no others that can catch the
champions.
The tournament cross table can be found @ https://www.iccf.com/event?id=96982 .
(Put the game Walton-Corkum here)
Going Postal: The Golden Knights Championship
Greetings! Last month’s column was dedicated to the Electronic Knights Championship (EK),
which is currently in its 20th year. The granddaddy of this event is the Golden Knights
Championship (GK), played via snail mail, which is in its 81st year. Play in the GK is designed
the same as the EK; scoring 4.5/6 or better in the Preliminary round gets you to the Semifinal
round, and the same score there gets you to the Final round. I played in a couple of the GK
events when I was younger, but the competition was fierce, and I never got very far. From the
games I see in the course of writing this column, today’s GK competitors are just as aggressive
and possibly even stronger players. More information about the Golden Knights Championship
can be found on the list of Correspondence Chess Events Offered by US Chess | US Chess.org.
Our first game, Woollen – Wilson, is from the 2021 GK. Both players focus their attention on the
d5 square, which happens to be occupied by a White pawn. When the pressure gets too much,
White loses patience and goes for a line that looks threatening, but he is unable to make the most
of it, and ends up down the exchange without compensation.
Ellis – Von Heune was played in the finals of the 2018 GK and is indicative of the type of sharp
and uncompromising play you can expect to face in the finals. From the start, White played to
deny Black what he wanted; his attempt to transpose into a Queens Gambit Declined was
prevented with the Mikenas Variation of the English, then when Black wants to move his bishop
to the h1-a8 diagonal, White puts the kibosh on it. White sacrifices a pawn unnecessarily, but
declining the pawn costs Black a piece.
The game Ott – Woollen leaves theory quickly, with White sacrificing a center pawn followed by
trading queens, all within the first five moves. Despite this start, Black resigns 20 moves later
with his king under serious pressure.
Game four is a stark contrast in approaches to the opening. In Salerno – Panol White wants
nothing to do with theory, while Black in turn responds with classical play. White’s efforts to mix
things up backfire, and he throws in the towel when his king is caught in a crossfire.
Our fifth game, TeVrucht – Jacobs, the players contest the Evans Gambit quite deftly, and the
play remains even through 35 moves, when White overlooks a change in the tactics of the
position, losing a piece and, with it, the game.
In the game Miller – McGill White opens with the Vienna Opening and puts his queen into the
soup a bit too soon, allowing Black to get a lead in development while White’s king is still stuck
in the middle. Black tries too hard to complicate in a position where simplification would help
him, and then he simply misses a tactic that decides the game. I’ve been there.
Our last game, Hayes – Chirillo, is another example of one player using a nonstandard opening
variation, the Sokolsky, to avoid theory. Rather than making a blunder, White loses through a
series of small positional mistakes, compounded by the fact that he chooses not to castle. Been
there, done that.
Thank you for allowing me to introduce you to two of our popular correspondence competitions;
others will be introduced from time to time, so that you can see all of the services that US Chess’
Correspondence Chess group has to offer. And as always, send in your games if you wish to see
them in print – correspondence_chess@yahoo.com.
Good skill in your games!
Robert

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