Felix Campbell wins OUSA championship

Problem: Black to play and mate in 3.

The 2009 Otago University Students' Association chess championship went right to the wire in the final held on Sunday 24 May. Eight players had won their way through the preliminary rounds to face each other in an all-play-all tournament with just 10 minutes per player for each game. The leader, Hassan Rajabian, whose strategy of targeting f7 or f2 right from opening had been paying dividends, was paired against his closest rival Felix Campbell in the last round. The advantage swung back and forth a couple of times in a tactically complex game before Hassan's achilles heel, his poor handling of the clock, gave the steady Felix the win and first place. To add insult to injury, Hassan then lost the play-off for second against Jason Woon and had to be content with third prize. Final scores: 1 Felix Campbell 11/14, 2-3 Jason Woon & Hassan Rajabian 10, 4-5 Rishi Pavaskar & Sheng-An Tsui 8, 6 Ben Mark 6, 7 Ahmad Othman 2, 8 Joseph Mark 1. In general the games were closely fought – the difference between the bottom two players and the rest being their buckling under pressure when down to their last minute in the very fast time-control.

Because there was no time to record moves in the OUSA final, today's game is from the final round of the USA championship held in Saint Louis last month. Hikaru Nakamura, playing White, revives an ancient opening variation to beat Joshua Friedel and take first place and become the 2009 US champion.

1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bc4 Nf6
4.Ng5 d5
5.exd5 Na5
Black invariably sacrifices a pawn in the Two Knights' Defence, as 5 ... Nxd5 meets with 6 Nxf7! Kxf7 7 Qf3+ with a very dangerous attack for the piece.
6.Bb5+ c6
7.dxc6 bxc6
8.Bd3!? ---
First played in Gunsberg-Chigorin in 1890. A useful antidote to computer-assisted opening analysis is to play lines long-discarded by modern theory. The idea is to maintain control of e4, whereas after the more usual 8 Be2 h6 9 Nf3 e4 Black's e-pawn can spearhead an attack.
8. --- Be7
9.Nc3 0-0
10.0-0 Rb8
Black plans to activate this rook down the b-file, but the rook becomes exposed and his light-squared bishop loses access to g4 where it could have had more influence on the game.
11.h3! c5
12.b3 Rb4
13.Re1 Bb7
14.Ba3! ---
By kicking the rook around, White regroups his pieces with gain of tempo. After the immediate 14 Rxe5 h6 15 Nf3 Rf4 the vulnerability of the knight on f3 allows the rook to be safe on f4.
14. --- Rf4
15.g3 Rd4
16.Nf3 Rxd3!?
Sacrificing the exchange rather than lose the e-pawn, while16 ... Bxf3 17 Qxf3 Qb8 simply hands White the initiative. Black hopes to exploit the long white diagonal in the absence of the defending bishop.
17.cxd3 Qxd3
18.Nxe5 Qf5
19.g4! ---
The white knights' control of the central light squares means Black just can't take advantage of this further weaking.
19.--- Qf4
20.d4 Rd8
21.Qe2 Rxd4
The alternative 21 ... Qxd4 runs into 22 Nxf7! Qxc3 23 Nxd8 Bxd8 24 Rad1 Nc6 25 Bb2! and 26 Bxf6 will be decisive. The move chosen allows a prettier finish.
22.Bc1! Resigns
The queen is trapped.

1-0

Solution: 1 ... Qd1+! 2 Rxd1 (2 Kh2 Qh5+ 3 Kg1 Qh1#) Rxd1+ 3 Kh2 Rh1#.