Second grader Ojas Arun played a very nice game in round three at the 2010 Burt Lerner National Elementary Chess Championship. Ojas is another up and coming talent at Mission San Jose Elementary School in Fremont, California.
[Event “National Elementary Chess Championship”]
[Site “Atlanta, Georgia “]
[Date “2010.05.08”]
[Round “3”]
[White “Arun, Ojas”]
[Black “Paggart, Chandler”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C54”]
1. e4 {notes by Chris Torres} e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 {Trying for the Fried-Liver Attack} Bc5 {The wonderfully dangerous Wilkes-Barre variation.} 5. O-O {Ojas could have tried
5.Nxf7 or my favorite 5.Bxf7+. Instead he opted for the most conservative
route.} O-O 6. Nc3 h6 7. Nf3 d6 8. d3 Be6 9. Bxe6 {Taking here allows black
to have a happy rook on f8. However, I feel it is Ojas’ best move.} fxe6
10. Na4 {This is very professional . Knights on the rim are grim but Ojas’
knight can trade for black’s dark bishop.} Bb4? {This just allows c3 with
tempo.} 11. c3 Bc5 {Oh dear. Black should have played bishop a5. Now if
white plays the obvious 12.Qb3 black is in trouble.} {?!} 12. Nxe5 {This is
very tactical and I am impressed that Ojas spotted the move. However, if
black continues 12…Nxe5 13.d4 Ng6 14.dxc5 b5 he should be fine. Better
was simply playing the fork of 12.Qb3! Qc8 13.Nxc5 dxc5 14.Qb5 and white is
clearly better.} Nxe5 13. d4 Neg4? {This mistakes fails to punish white’s
overly ambitious play. Now white is better.} 14. dxc5 d5 15. f3 b5? {This
is not very good as Ojas can play cxb6 en passent.} 16. fxg4? {Ojas
admitted he forgot about en passent.} bxa4 17. g5 {I would have played
17.exd5 Qxd5 18.Qxd5 Nxd5 19.Bd2 with a winnable endgame. Ojas chooses to
play the more tactical plan of exposing his opponent’s king.} Nxe4 18. gxh6
Rxf1+ 19. Qxf1 gxh6 20. Bxh6 Nxc5? {Qe7 would have been much better as
protecting the king is far more important than winning the pawn.} 21. Qf2?
{21.Qf4! Qe7 22.Qg4+ would have been much better and avoided any problems
with 21.Qf2 Ne4.} Nd3?? {This is a terrible mistake and allows Ojas to fork
the king and knight.} 22. Qd4 {I would have played Qg3+.} Qe7 23. Qxd3 Qf6
24. Qg3+ Kf7?? {Kh8 would have avoided dropping the queen.} 25. Rf1 {Game
over!} Qxf1+ 26. Kxf1 Rb8 27. Qxc7+? {27.Qg7 is a simple mate in three.}
Kg6 28. Qg7+ Kf5 29. Qg5+ Ke4 30. Qf4+? {30.Qg4 is a mate in two. Ojas
needs to work on closing out won games more accurately rather than
unintentionally torturing his opponent.} Kd3 31. Qd4+ {Ojas should just
take the rook. Perhaps his opponent would resign.} Kc2 32. Qd2+ Kb1 33.
Qd1+ Kxa2 34. Qxa4+ Kxb2 35. Qxa7 Rb3 36. Bg7 Kc2 37. Qa2+ Rb2 38. Qxb2+
Kxb2 39. h4 Kb3 40. h5 Kc4 41. h6 d4 42. cxd4 Kd5 43. h7 Ke4 44. h8=Q Kf5
45. Qh4 Kg6 46. Qf6+ Kh7 47. Bh8 Kg8 48. Qg7# 1-0