Mikhail Layevskiy Memorial Blitz

A few weeks ago, this blog reported the passing of a dear friend of the Marshall Chess Club, Mikhail Layevskiy. In summary, the 35 year old passed away of cancer, devastating many chess players, friends, and family alike. Our Vice President at the Marshall, Beatriz Marinello, expressed interest in organizing his memorial service. The club went ahead to hold the Mikhail Layevskiy Memorial Blitz Tournament, organized by Fedor Khrapatin. It was held on the day that would have been his 36th birthday, January 26th. Friends posted of this on his Facebook, such as IM Jay Bonin, and many chess players celebrated his life at the club.

The event was full of speeches and there were even refreshments. The chess community showed their compassion and came together quite nicely for this tournament. Board Member Asa Hoffman who spoke at the event and later commented:

“My own remembrances of Mike began when he was a teenager playing in tournaments at the Manhattan Chess Club. I commented about how he was a fierce competitor but with a great sense of humor. I mentioned that he was also a poker player and was a master at checkers! Others echoed my sentiments.”

Although Mikhail seemed to be around a 2100 USCF chess player, he was definitely known for being great at checkers at the club, even beating GM Zvaid Izoria and many others, no doubt.

70 players showed up for the tournament, a relatively large crowd. The FIDE Blitz was 9 rounds, with GM Aleksandr Lenderman and Club Champion IM Nicolas Checa coming out on top. Lenderman has played frequently at the Marshall and also notably qualified for the upcoming U.S. Chess Championship. Checa recently beat out GM Azarov to become the club champion and played in the Match of the Millennials this summer.

IM Jonathan Tayar managed to draw the 2700 rated GM Lenderman and FM Brandon Jacobson won a game against Lenderman. FM Jacobson also won a game against GM Irina Krush. In fact, the 14 year old had a phenomenal tournament, only losing to IM Checa and primarily playing higher rated opponents. FM Jacobson was not the only player who had notable upsets, though. Logan Brain, rated almost 2200, won a game against IM Raja Panjwani and both Jeremiah J. Smith (around 2100) and Jonathan Corblah achieved an upset against IM Michael Bodek. These results all go to show that in blitz, anything can happen!

The next FIDE Blitz tournament is on February 16th, 2018. See our calendar for USCF Blitz tournaments and other events.

In the Lens of Our New Club Champion

This year’s 101st Annual Edward Lasker Memorial, or the Marshall Chess Club Championship, field included strong players such as GM Sergei Azarov, IM Djurabek Khamrakulov, and former Club Champions GM Irina Krush and GM Sergey Kudrin, but it was the 15 year old phenom IM Nicolas Checa that surprised everyone by seizing the title of 2017 Marshall Chess Club Champion. He did this by tying for first with GM Azarov scoring 7/9, and subsequently winning the playoff against the grandmaster in stunning fashion.

The tournament started smoothly enough for most of the top players, with almost everyone rated 2200+ winning their first round games. GM Sergey Kudrin suffered two draws in a row right from the beginning- one of them to WIM Evelyn Zhu, who is rated approximately 2100. William Yen, also rated around 2100, scored an upset victory against IM Justin Sarkar in the first round as well. Although Zhu and Yen had little chance of winning the event, they still managed to shake up the tournament with these upsets!

Going into the event, IM Checa intended to obtain a GM norm with his performance, as the Marshall Chess Club Championship has been a norm granting tournament in the past. However, the playing field did not allow him this opportunity despite his stellar performance because there were not enough foreign players.

Along the way to the championship title, IM Checa drew IM David Brodsky, GM Azarov, GM Kudrin, and IM Victor Shen, winning the rest of his games. After an exhausting 9 rounds, Checa had to face Azarov again. Like everyone else in a playoff position against a higher rated player, he felt “a bit unsettled before the playoff. Once it started, it felt like a normal blitz game.”

The playoff was a thrilling two rounds, which many spectators enjoyed watching. Nico started it off with an unusual decision by choosing to play with Black first after winning the coin toss. He explained his decision clearly: “I won the coin toss and decided to choose black for the first game… This seemed to have surprised some members of the audience. My thinking was that I would have a better chance to react to a negative outcome with White in the second game.” His strategy paid off: after a first round draw, IM Checa was able to win the second game as White.

Chief Arbiter Greg Keener added “A lot of people were surprised and maybe even a bit  confused by Nico's choice to play the first game with Black after winning the coin toss but it actually makes sense if you think about it.” He added “I think Aronian made a similar decision in a playoff recently as well, so it isn't without precedent.”

As to what we can expect from our club champion in the future, IM Checa will be looking for his norms, which he says he will earn “hopefully at the MCC.” With our big, summer New York International, he would be able to come back to earn the norm, like IM David Brodsky did earlier this year. IM Nicolas Checa wants to specifically earn a norm at the MCC “since that’s the place where [he] started to play.”

FIDE Arbiter Greg Keener offered to annotate Club Champion IM Nicolas Checa’s games, which many readers are sure to feel inspired by:

Full results from the tournament are posted on the Marshall Chess Club’s website.