Strong Scholastic Players

After years in which it seemed like chess was becoming an old man's game,
Pittsburgh now has several strong players who aren't even out of ninth grade.
Ryan Milisits is an Expert, Justin Papariella is high in Class A, and Michael
Booth is Class B.  Who can guess how far they will go?  Here are some other
kids who have shown their talent in Pittsburgh chess during their high school
years:  Vivek Rao was a Senior Master when he graduated, around 1987; he is
now an IM.  Jon Yedidia, also now an IM, was a Master when he graduated,
around 1978.  Bill Surlow (graduated recently), Kip Rapp (early 1990's), and
Chris Avery (70's or 80's) were Experts.  And yours truly weighed in at about
1700 upon graduating from Lebo in 1969.  Oops, how did that one get on the
list?

With the tremendous growth in Scholastic chess, our scholastic players can
travel to several regional and national scholastic tournaments in the course
of a year.  Ryan and Michael faced each other in the last round of the 9th
grade section of the National K-12 Grade Chamionships in Orlando in December,
and Ryan won; but only a month later, in the US Junior Chess Congress in
Columbus, they played again and this time Michael won.  In the Orlando
tournament, Ryan went 5-1 in his section, losing only to the tournament
winner, Jacobs, and finishing second.  In the Columbus tournament, Michael
finished first.  Here are the two games.

White: Ryan Milisits
Black: Michael Booth
2000 National K-12 Grad Championships, 9th grade
Orlando, Florida, December 17, round 6
Sicilian Defense, Accelerated Dragon

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 g6 5 Nc3 Bg7 6 Be3 Nf6 7 f3 O-O 8 Qd2? d5!
{This move is the almost automatic freeing move in both the Dragon and the
Accelerated Dragon.  White should have avoided it by 7 Bc4 or maybe 8 Bc4.
Black is at least equal now; in the regular Dragon, Black will even lose a
tempo to play this move, getting excellent compensation for a pawn sacrifice.
I can't resist the temptation to give the complete score of the flashy recent
game Adams-Fedorov, from the Wijk aan Zee grandmaster tournament of only a
month ago:  1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6 6 Be3 Bg7 7 f3 Nc6
8 Qd2 O-O 9 O-O-O d5 10 exd5 Nxd5 11 Nxc6 bxc6 12 Nxd5 cxd5 13 Qxd5 Qc7
14 Qc5 Qb8 15 Qa3 Be6 16 Ba6 Qe5 17 g3 Rad8 18 Bf4 Qf6 19 Rhe1 Bf5
20 Rxd8 Rxd8 21 c3 Qb6 22 Be3 Bh6!! 23 f4 Qc6 24 Bd2 Qd5 25 Re2 e5
26 Qa4 exf4 27 gxf4 Bxf4 28 Re8+ Kg7 29 Qxf4 Rxe8 30 Bc4 Qh1+ 31 Bf1 Kg8,
White resigns.} 9 Nxc6 bxc6 10 Rd1 {10 e5 Ne8 11 f4 is about equal}
10 ... Be6 {10 ... Qa5 may be more accurate} 11 Be2 Qc7 {11 ... dxe4 looks
interesting; Black may be better after 12 fxe4 Ng4} 12 exd5 Nxd5 13 Nxd5 cxd5
14 c3 Rfd8 15 Bd4 f6 16 O-O Bf7 17 f4 e5 18 fxe5 fxe5 19 Bf2 d4
20 cxd4 Rxd4?? {This looks like some sort of hallucination.  20 ... exd4
looks OK.  The passed pawn forces White to defend carefully, but he can
probably hold.} 21 Bxd4 exd4 22 b3 Be5 23 h3 Bd5 24 Bf3 Bxf3 25 Rxf3 Rc8
26 Rdf1 Bg7 27 Qe2 Qd7 28 Qf2 Qe7 29 Re1 Qd7 30 Rf1 Qe7 31 Kh1 Bh6
32 Qxd4 Bg7 33 Qd5+ Kh8 34 Rf7 Qe8 35 Qb7 Qg8 36 Rxg7 Qxg7 37 Qxc8+ Qg8
38 Rf8, Black resigns.

White: Michael Booth
Black: Ryan Milisits
2001 U.S. Junior Chess Congress
Columbus, Ohio, January 14, round 6
Veresov Opening

1 d4 d5 2 Nc3 Nf6 3 Bg5 Bf5 4 f3 Bg6 5 e3 e6 {Maybe 5 ... c6 planning to
play ... e5 later would be more economical} 6 Qd2 Nbd7 7 Bd3 c6 8 e4
{Premature} dxe4 9 fxe4 Qa5! 10 Nge2 Bb4 11 Qf4? {11 Bxf6 was probably
necessary} Nxe4 12 Bxe4 Bxe4 13 a3 Bxc3+ 14 Nxc3 Bxc2 15 O-O Bg6 16 Rae1 O-O
17 Re2 Nb6 {This is OK but 17 ... Rae8 looks simpler; for instance
18 Rfe1 f6 19 Bh4 e5} 18 Re5 Nd5 19 Nxd5 cxd5 20 Be7 Rfe8 21 Bb4 Qb6
22 Kh1 Rac8 23 h4 f6 24 Re3 Rc4 25 Bc5 Qxb2 26 Qd6 Qb5 27 Rfe1 Be4
28 Bxa7 Rc2 29 Rg3 g6 30 h5 g5 31 Bc5 Rf2 32 Rg4 Qd3?? {Instead 32 ... Qc6
looks correct; if then 33 Qh2 h6, or 33 Qxc6 bxc6, and Black will get control
of the b-file, since White can't put his rook on b1} 33 Rgxe4! dxe4
34 Qd7 (Black can't stop mate) Rf1+ 35 Kh2 Rf8 36 h6, Black resigns.

Here is Ryan's exciting first-round game from the recent Pittsburgh Metro.
Tom Magar gets an advantage and looks for a way to win while keeping the draw
in hand, but suddenly there's no win and no draw by perpetual either.

White: Tom Magar
Black: Ryan Milisits
Pittsburgh Metropolitan Open, round 1
February 4, 2001
Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox variation, Exchange variation

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 exd5 5 Bg5 Be7 6 e3 O-O 7 Qc2 {7 Bd3 might
be slightly more accurate} b6 8 Bd3 h6 9 Bh4 c5? {9 ... Bb7 looks OK; I
haven't seen this way of defending against the Exchange variation, as opposed
to the usual 7 ... c6, but it looks playable} 10 Nf3? {10 Bxf6 Bxf6
11 Nxd5 wins; now Black is OK again} 10 ... Nc6 11 a3 Bg4 12 Ne5 Nxe5
13 dxe5 Nd7 14 Bg3 Be6 15 f4 {Why not 15 e4?} d4?! {f5!} 16 exd4 cxd4
17 Ne4 Rc8 18 Qe2 Nc5 19 Nxc5 bxc5 20 O-O c4 21 Be4 d3 22 Qf3 f5 23 exf6 Bxf6
24 Rab1 Bd4+ 25 Kh1 Bf5 26 Bxf5 Rxf5 27 b3 c3 28 Qxd3 Rd5 29 Qe4 Bf6
30 Rbc1 Rc7 31 Bf2 Qd6 32 b4 Rd2 33 Bc5 Qa6 34 Qe8+ Kh7 35 f5 {35 Qe4+ forces
repetition by 35 ... Kg8, since 35 ... g6 loses to 36 f5} Rc8 36 Qg6+ Kg8
37 Rfe1 Re2 38 Be7 {38 Qh5 Rce8 looks OK for Black although he must avoid
39 Qxe8+ Rxe8 40 Rxe8+ Kf7?? 41 Rf8 mate!  Now White definitely loses}
38 ... Rxe1+ 39 Rxe1 c2 40 Bxf6 {40 Rc1 Qxa3 41 Rxc2 Qa1+} Qxf6 41 Qxf6
{41 Re8+ Rxe8 42 Qxe8+ Kh7 43 Qe1 Qb7} gxf6 42 Rc1 Rd8, White resigns.