Here are my five games from the Master section of the recently concluded
Tuesday night tournament.  Not all members may realize how unusual this event
was in Pittsburgh.  The only other tournaments at this level were held in 1985.

The lineup this year consisted of me, Tom Magar, Tom Martinak, Mark Eidemiller,
and Alex Barbalat.  The first 1985 tournament, called the Pittsburgh
Invitational, consisted of me, Magar, Martinak, Eidemiller, Vivek Rao, and the
late Charlie Nowe.  I was struck by the similarity.  I would like to mention
another historical tidbit about that tournament.  The prize fund had to be
raised from donations, and the task of raising it was entrusted to Vivek Rao,
who handled it well.  Vivek was "under the gun", as the only high school student
elected to the Club's board of directors in many years.

The second 1985 tournament was the Fredkin Invitational, organized by Hans
Berliner, and funded by the Fredkin Prize, the purpose of which was to promote
the advance of computer chess.  The players included all the above six, plus
Kimball Nedved, Ricardo Szmetan, and Berliner's computer, Hitech.

Thinking about the rosters of these tournaments and of the recent one, I
realized for the first time that I am part of a "generation".  The following
chess players, all of whom became masters in the Pittsburgh area between 1975
and 1985, are still active (some only occasionally) in Pittsburgh chess:  me,
Magar, Martinak, Eidemiller, John Fitzpatrick, Bill Hughes, and Bill Dempler.
Paul Cornelius, Jon Yedidia, and Vivek Rao would be on this list, but their
careers have taken them elsewhere.  Jeff Gabel and Charlie Nowe would be on this
list, but they died, tragically young.  To appreciate how unusual it is to have
such a large group, try to think of anyone in Pittsburgh chess since 1985 who
has, starting from less than 2200, earned a master rating and kept it.  In
eleven years there have not been any.  This itself is perplexing and disturbing.

I would like to thank Brian Thompson for organizing this tournament, and for
recruiting the masters to play in it.  You'll notice that I played Magar twice;
this is because Brian decided on a six-round format, but there were only four
opponents (and I had one bye).

White: Tom Magar
Black: Bruce Leverett
Round 1, May 7, 1996
Queen's Gambit, Tarrasch Defense

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c5 4 cxd5 exd5 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 g3 Nf6 7 Bg2 Be7 8 O-O O-O
9 Bg5 c4 10 Ne5 Be6 11 e3 Ne8 12 Bxe7 Nxe7 13 e4 Nf6 14 Re1 Re8 15 Rc1 Rc8
16 exd5 Nfxd5? (16 ... Nexd5 was necessary; now White has a free hand on the
kingside) 17 Ng4!? (17 Ne4 was also dangerous) 17 ... b5!? 18 Ne3 Qd7
19 Qh5! Rfd8?? 20 Nexd5 Nxd5 21 Nxd5 Bxd5 22 Bh3? (22 Bxd5 Qxd5 23 Re8+ wins;
22 Bxd5 g6 23 Qg5! Qxd5 24 Re8+ Kg7 25 Qxd5 wins.  White missed this in time
pressure.) 22 ... Be6 23 Bxe6 fxe6 24 Re5 a6 25 Rde1 Qxd4 26 Qe2 h6 27 Rxe6 Rd6
28 Re8+ Rxe8 29 Qxe8+ Kh7 30 h4 Rf6 31 Qe2 a5 32 Qc2+ Kg8 33 Rd1? Rxf2
34 Qxf2 Qxd1+ 35 Kh2 Qd5 36 Qe2 b4 37 h5 Kf7 38 Qf2+ Kg8 39 Qe2 Kh7 40 Kg1 Qf5
41 Qxc4 Qxh5 42 Qd4 Qf5 43 Kg2 h5 44 a3 bxa3 45 bxa3 Qc2+ 46 Kh3 Qc6 47 Kh2 a4
48 Qd3+ g6 49 Qb1 Qd6 50 Qb7+ Kh6 51 Qa8 Qd4 52 Qf8+ Kh7 53 Qe7+ Qg7 54 Qb4 Qd7
55 Kg2 g5 56 Qe4+ Kh6 57 Qe5 Qc6+ 58 Kg1 Kg6 59 Qe3 Kf5 60 Qd3+ Kg4 61 Kh2 h4
62 Qe2+ Kf5 63 Qd3+ Kf6 64 gxh4 gxh4 65 Qd4+ Kg5 66 Qe3+ Kh5 67 Qe2+ Kh6
68 Qe3+ Kg6 69 Qd3+ Kg5 70 Qe3+ Kg4, agreed drawn.

White: Bruce Leverett
Black: Alex Barbalat
Round 2, May 14, 1996
Queen's Gambit, Slav defense, Schlechter variation

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3 d5 4 Nf3 g6 5 cxd5 cxd5 6 Bf4 Nc6 7 e3 Nh5 8 Bg5 h6
9 Bh4 g5!? 10 Nd2 Ng7 11 Bg3 Nf5 12 Bd3 Nxg3 13 hxg3 e6 14 Rc1 Be7 15 a3 Kf8
16 Na4 e5? 17 dxe5 Nxe5 18 Nb3 Bg4 19 Be2 Bxe2+ 20 Qxe2 Qd7 21 Nc3 Kg7
22 Rd1 Rad8 23 Rxd5 Qc7 24 O-O a6 25 Rfd1?! (25 Nd4!) 25 ... Nc6 26 Rxd8 Rxd8
27 Rxd8 Qxd8 28 Qd1 Qxd1+ 29 Nxd1 f5 30 Kf1 Kf6 31 Ke2 Ne5 32 e4 fxe4 33 Ke3 Ke6
34 Kxe4 Nc4 35 Nd4+ Kf7 36 a4 Bf6 37 g4 Kg6 38 b3 Na5 39 b4 Nc4 40 f3 Be7
41 b5 axb5 42 axb5 h5 43 gxh5+ Kxh5 44 Ne3? (44 g4+!) 44 ... Nxe3 45 Kxe3 g4!
46 Kf4 gxf3 47 Nxf3 Kg6 48 g4 Bd6+ 49 Ke4 Bc7 50 Kd5 Bf4 51 Ke6 Bb8? (51 ... b6
and 52 ... Be3) 52 Kd7 Bf4 53 b6! Be3 54 Kc7, Black resigns.

White: Bruce Leverett
Black: Mark Eidemiller
Round 3, May 25, 1996
King's Indian Defense, Mar del Plata variation

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Nf3 O-O 6 Be2 e5 7 O-O Nc6 8 d5 Ne7
9 Ne1 Nd7 10 Nd3 f5 11 Bd2 Nf6 12 f3 f4 13 c5 g5 14 Qc2 (14 Rc1 is more
accurate) 14 ... h5? (14 ... Ng6; 14 ... g4!?) 15 Rfc1 g4 (15 ... Ng6)
16 Nb5! gxf3 17 gxf3 a6 18 cxd6 cxd6 19 Nc7 Rb8 20 Qb3 Kh8 21 Nxa6 Bh3?!!
(desperation) 22 Nxb8 Qe8 23 Kh1 Nxe4 24 fxe4 f3 25 Bf1 Bg2+ 26 Bxg2 fxg2+
27 Kg1 (27 Kxg2 Qg6+ is no more than a draw for White) 27 ... Qg6 28 Nf2 Rxb8
29 Rc7 Bf6 30 Rxb7 Rg8 31 Rb8 Bh4 32 Rxg8+ Nxg8 33 Qf3 Nf6 34 Rc1, Black
resigns.

White: Tom Martinak
Black: Bruce Leverett
Round 5, June 4, 1996
Queen's Gambit Accepted

1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 e3 e6 5 Bxc4 c5 6 O-O a6 7 a4 Nc6 8 Nc3 cxd4
(safest is 8 ... Qc7) 9 exd4 Be7 10 Bf4 O-O 11 d5 exd5 12 Nxd5 Nxd5 13 Bxd5 Bf6
14 Bxc6 bxc6 15 Qc2 Qa5 16 Rad1 Bg4 17 b4! Qb6 (17 ... Qxb4 18 Bd6) 18 Bd6 Rfe8
19 a5 Qb7 20 Qd3 Rad8 21 h3 Be6 22 Qa3 Bd5 23 Rfe1 Qb5 24 Bc7 Rc8 25 Bd6 h6
26 Bc5 Qb8 27 Qd3 Qb7, agreed drawn.

White: Bruce Leverett
Black: Tom Magar
Round 6, June 11, 1996
King's Indian, Mar del Plata variation

1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 d4 O-O 6 Be2 e5 7 O-O Nc6 8 d5 Ne7
9 Ne1 Nd7 10 Nd3 f5 11 Bd2 Nf6 12 f3 Kh8? (On the previous move, Black might
have played this, with the idea of regrouping his e7 knight to f6.  But now it
makes little sense.) 13 c5 Rf7 14 Rc1 f4 15 Qc2 g5 16 Nb5 Bf8 17 cxd6 cxd6
18 Qc7 Qxc7 19 Nxc7 Rb8 20 Nb5 Ne8 21 Nxa7 (Not a very satisfying way to cash
in.  White has hours of hard work ahead.) 21 ... Bd7 22 Nb4 (22 Bb5!?)
22 ... Ng6 23 Nb5 h5 24 Nc7 Ng7 24 Bb5 g4 26 Bxd7 Rxd7 27 Rc3 Be7 28 Rfc1 Bd8
29 Ne6 Bb6+ 30 Kf1 Ne7 31 Rb3 gxf3 32 Rxf3!? Ne8!? 33 g3 Nf6 34 gxf4 Nxe4
35 Be3 Bd4?! 36 Nxd4 exd4 37 Bxd4+ Kh7 38 Re3 Nd2+ 39 Ke2 Nf5 40 Kxd2 Nxd4
41 Rh3 Rf8 42 Rxh5+ Kg6 43 Rg5+ Kh6 44 Rf1 Rdf7 45 Rg4 Kh5 46 h3 Rf5 47 a3 Nb3+
48 c3 Nc5 49 Kc4 Ne4 50 Kb5 R8f7 51 Rf3 Nf6 52 Rg5+ Rxg5 53 fxg5 Kxg5 54 Re3 Kf5
55 Kb6 Rd7 56 Rc3 Rh7 57 Rf3+ Kg5 58 Rc3 Ne4 59 Rc7 Rxh3 60 Kxb7 Rb3 61 Rc2 Kf4
62 Kc6 Ke5 63 Na2 Rb8 64 Kc7 Rb3 65 a4 Nc5? 66 Rxc5 dxc5 67 d6 Rxb2 68 d7 Rd2
69 a5 Ke6 70 d8Q+ Rxd8 71 Kxd8 Kd6 72 Kc8 Kc6 73 Nc3 c4 74 Kb8, Black resigns.