Yermo's Travels: 2nd Sevan Muradian Memorial

Honouring a departed friend

First, a word from the organizers:

“The 2nd Sevan Muradian memorial organized by Glenn Panner and Daniel Parmet is a charity tournament that donates its profits to our dearly departed friend's family. Sevan Muradian was an organizer, director, mentor and friend to the IL community. He ran over 200 tournaments of which 32 were norm tournaments that produced 30 norms for 20 different people. The biggest news in the weeks leading up to the tournament was that Super GM Hikaru Nakamura was donating matching profits up to $3,000 to the beneficiary of the tournament, the Muradian family, to encourage participation by the community. The tournament ended up with 134 players from six states including 2 GMs, one IM, two FMs and seven other masters. The tournament was won by GM Alex Yermolinsky with a perfect score. FM David Peng took second place with 4½ / 5. The tournament was staffed with volunteers Sam Shoykhet, John Porter, Ken Ballou, Daniel Parmet and Glenn Panner. Sevan's passion for chess - especially master chess and opportunities for upcoming players is missed but not forgotten.”

Sevan Muradian the Susan Polgar Foundation World Open for Boys and Girls in Chicago | Photo: Paul Truong

The Hyatt in a Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois has hosted many chess events. I played there some time in the late 1990s and remember what a big issue it was to fight my way through traffic! Schaumburg is located on the western fringes of the Greater Chicago area, and those of us who were coming from the East took the brunt of it all.

Now, as I came from the West, it was a piece of cake! The Hyatt has a great restaurant, and there's a mall nearby, so the players and their companions had a comfortable stay.

A critical point in my tournament came early. In round one I faced an unknown (to me) player of high school age, Eric Starkman, who played a solid game in the Nimzo-Indian Defense.

In general, I prefer to have sharp, tactical games in early rounds. It is important not just to win, but win quickly, to conserve the much needed energy. You know, the tank no longer has full capacity. There are a lot of good young players around, and going through long, drawn out battles is too taxing for an older player. It makes sense to throw your chips down and see if it goes your way.

The Scheveningen Sicilian by Lubomir Ftacnik

The name Sicilian Defence (1.e4 c5) describes a number of systems, each of which could easily be considered as an independent opening. The problems in the Paulsen, Richter Rauzer or Sveshnikov are complex, but the Sicilian pawn structures tie them all together. The Scheveningen Sicilian is central to an understanding of them.

Clearly, my opponent overreacted to Black's outrageous setup. I have noticed that most young players I meet during my travels, while being quite skillful in positional play, particularly in familiar setups, are still lacking a bit in the tactical department. I wonder if studying with computers has this unexpected impact. It is pretty hard to develop as an attacking player when all your ideas instantly get brushed aside by the merciless machine mind.

Does your favorite Pokemon help your chess? Pikachu sure does! | Photo: Daniel Parmet

I got real lucky in round three. Shreya Mangalam is 14, and she's a real talent, but her opening treatment in our game was too risky. The mix of Slav with the Grunfeld left her dark-squares weak, and the absence of the queen, who went pawn hunting rather than stay in defense, proved to be fatal.

How it was possible to get to 3 out of 3 without facing a single 2000+ player is beyond me. Possibly the tournament could do with a separate Under 2000 section, but I understand the rationale of giving young players a chance to meet a grandmaster at the board.

One of the legends of US chess: Dmitry Gurevich | Photo: Daniel Parmet

The other GM in the tournament was my old friend, Dmitry Gurevich. We anticipated meeting face-to-face at some point, but Dmitry made one draw too many and fell behind in the race. In round four he made another quick draw with his former student, FM David Peng, while I had black against Jonathan Kogen.

FM David Peng | Photo: Daniel Parmet

So, once again, luck was on my side. Clearly, I had no business winning this endgame.

Jonathan Kogen | Photo Betsy Dynako

The stage seemed set for a Yermolinsky-Peng, but the computer thought different and, instead paired me with another FIDE Master, Igor Tsyganov. At least I got to play somebody a little too old to be my grandson.

Some 10-15 years ago Igor was a fixture in the Chicago chess scene, but he has played very sporadically in the past nine years. Same story, I guess: married with kids, a job and a mortgage. Life has an annoying habit of getting in the way of chess. Now, as his kids grew up and learned to play chess, Dad has to take them to tournaments. That way he can make a comeback of his own. Getting to 3½ / 4 was an encouraging sign, but in the final game Tsyganov's rustiness was telling in his unsure handling of the opening and poor time management.

My best games in the Sicilian by Alexei Shirov

On this DVD, Shirov focuses on his most outstanding achievements in the Sicilian, a personal selection combining highest chess quality with aesthetic pleasure. His lectures are designed to not only explain the different opening lines, but also to present interesting and sometimes perplexing ideas and sacrifices in the middlegame.

Daniel Parmet, Yana Muradian (sevan's widow), and Glenn Panner | Photo: Daniel Parmet

Correction, December 21: Hikaru Nakamura did not donate to the prize fund, as originally stated. Instead, the profits from the event went to Sevan Muradian’s widow and children and Nakamura offered to match up to $3K raised