Fremont Summer Chess Camp: Day Two

Jeffrey Wei was the star of our chess camp on day two. During the school year I had the pleasure of watching Jeffrey play every week at  Mission San Jose Elementary School. His chess abilities have quickly established him as one of the top players for his age in the country. Below is a fine example of Jeffrey’s play on board 1:

[Event “Fremont Chess Summer Camp”]
[Site “MSJE”]
[Date “2010.06.29”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Wei, Jeffrey”]
[Black “Zhang, Alvin”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C48”]
[Opening “Four Knights”]
[Variation “Spanish, Classical, Bardeleben Variation”]

1. e4 {Notes by Chris Torres.} e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {Jeffrey scores well
with the Ruy Lopez.} Nf6 4. Nc3 {If you wish to avoid the Spanish Four
Knights you can play O-O.} Bc5 {This of course allows the notorious “Fork
Trick.” Watch whites next two moves and you will know why it is called the
fork trick. Black should have played Bb4 or Nd4.} 5. Nxe5 Nxe5 6. d4 Bd6
{This is one way to deal with the “Fork Trick.” Black could have also
played a6 or Bb4.} 7. dxe5 Bxe5 {Black’s method involves the threat of Bxc3
which would leave white with a porr pawn structure.} 8. Bg5 {Bd2 would have
protected c3 from capture by black’s bishop.} h6 {I prefer c6 here.} 9. Bh4
{Once again, white can avoid a pawn weakness by playing Bd2.} c6 {A very
nice move which prepares b5 with tempo.} 10. Bc4 {Bd3 avoids being chased
by another pawn push.} b5 {Black has the advantage now.} 11. Bd3 b4 12. Na4
{Knights on the rim are grim. Better was Ne2.} d5 {Alvin misses the
tactical Qa5!.} 13. exd5 cxd5 {A small mistake. Now white can strike back
with Bb5+.} 14. O-O {Jeffrey chooses to castle before attacking.} Bb7 {This
move can punished by Re1 or Qe2. Black can not save their Bishop from the
pin after white plays f4.} 15. Nc5 {This is good but not as good as Re1 or
Qe2.} Bc6 16. Rb1 {Re1 is superior for reasons stated before.} Qe7 {Qd6
creates threats on c5 and h2.} 17. Nb3 O-O {This was long overdue. Now
black is out of trouble.} 18. Re1 Qd6 19. Bg3 Bxg3 20. hxg3 d4 {Looses a
pawn on d4. Black should have placed the “f” rook into the open “e” file.}
21. Nxd4 {Jeffrey demonstrates why tactics win chess games.} Qxd4 {This is
a terrible mistkae.} 22. Bh7+ Kxh7 23. Qxd4 Rad8 24. Qxb4 Rb8 25. Qc5 Rbc8
26. Qxa7 Ra8 27. Qc5 Bd5 28. c4 Be4 {Another tactical blunder.} 29. Rxe4
Nxe4 30. Qf5+ g6 31. Qxe4 Rxa2 32. b4 {Whites plan is simple. Move the
passed pawns forward and look for fork possibilities.} Ra6 33. b5 Re6 34.
Qd5 Rf6 35. b6 Rf5 36. Qd7 Rb8 37. b7 Rc5 38. Qd6 Rxc4 39. Qxb8 h5 40. Qf8
Rc7 41. b8=Q f5 42. Qh8# 1-0