DAVID R. SANDS: Big Applesauce: Manhattan wins first chess league crown

From its earliest days of American chess, New York City — and, in particular, the island of Manhattan — has been the center of gravity for American chess.

Paul Morphy, an unknown from faraway New Orleans, traveled to Gotham in 1857 to win the first American Chess Congress in 1857, launching his fabled career. Brooklyn-born Bobby Fischer was just one of many who made the pilgrimage to the Marshall Chess Club and Manhattan Chess Club to try his luck against the strongest players in the country. For much of the 20th century, virtually all of the top U.S. grandmasters were either from New York or made the city their base of operations.

But things have changed. New York still boasts a vibrant chess scene, but so do Washington, San Francisco, Miami and a host of other cities. Just four of the top-rated USCF players list New York as their home — the same number as Texas. The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, which hosts U.S. championships and elite international events, has a strong claim to be the foremost chess club in the land.

So even though they can’t quite claim underdog status, it was nice to see the Manhattan Applesauce come through with its first U.S. Chess League title, defeating 2014 champs the St. Louis Arch Bishops 2½-1½ in the league’s hard-fought final Dec. 1.

Despite a roster that included four grandmasters, anchored by GM Alex Lenderman, the road to victory wasn’t easy for the Manhattanites. The Applesauce was actually the fourth seed in the league’s Eastern Division, and needed a tough 3-1 victory over archrivals (and two-time USCL champs) the New York Knights just to reach the finals. In the championship round, Lenderman on Board 1 lost to the Arch Bishops’ GM Illya Nyzhnyk, and GM Zviad Izoria could only draw on Board 2 with GM Varuzhan Akobian of St. Louis. But NM Levy Rozman defeated NM Spencer Finegold on Board 3, and expert Akira Nakada — the lowest-rated player on the Applesauce roster — came through with the decisive point for the Applesauce in an upset of NM Nicholas Rosenthal on Board 4.

The QGD Chigorin Defense (2Nc3) has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years, championed notably by Russian GM Alexander Morozevich. Black seems to get a very playable game after 13. Bxd6 Qxd6 14. Ne4 Qd5, with the better pawn structure and White’s isolated d-pawn securely blockaded. But 15. Rc1 0-0-0? looks to be a bad miscalculation — Black piles up the pressure on the d-pawn, but placing his king on the half-open c-file leads to disaster.

Nakada is not intimidated by his higher-rated opponent, correctly offering up a pawn to open even more lines to the Black king. With surprising suddenness, a timely queen move threatening mate leads to a winning material gain for White.

Thus: 18. a4 h5 (see diagram; Black’s bid for counterplay goes nowhere) 19. a5! Qxa5 20. Nc5 Re7 21. Rd3 Rd8 22. Rc3! Rc8 (Rxd4? 23. Nb3 wins the exchange) 23. Ra3 Qb5 24. Rb3 Qe8, and now, with all of White’s pieces trained on the enemy king, Nakada’s simple 25. Qe5! proves devastating.

The threat is 26. Qxb7 mate, and both 25Nd5 26. Rxb7+ Ka8 27. Ra1 Qc6 28. Qd3 and 25Qc6 26. Nxa6+ Ka7 27. Rxc6 are completely winning for White. Rosenthal has to jettison the knight, and White efficiently parries all of Black’s subsequent efforts to complicate the play.

After 35. Qe1 Qxb2, White ruthlessly simplifies down to an ending with 36. Rb6+ Kc7 37. Rb7+ Kd8 38. Qd1+ Ke8 39. Rxe7+ Kxe7 40. Qd7+ Kf6 41. Nd3! Qd2 42. Qxc8 Qxd3 43. Qxc6, emerging a full rook up. After 43b4 44. Qc2 45. Rb1 Ke5 46. Qe4+, the queens will come off, and the last faint drawing hopes disappear; Black resigned.

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Hope to see you at the 42nd annual Eastern Open next week, the traditional Washington chess year-capper. Play runs from Dec. 26 to Dec. 29, and will again be at the Doubletree Hotel at 8120 Wisconsin Ave. in Bethesda, Maryland, 20814, located just four blocks from the Bethesda Metro station. Watching is free, and there will be chess books, clocks and paraphernalia for sale. Check it out at EasternOpenChess.com/body_index.html.

Nakada-Rosenthal, Manhattan vs. St. Louis, U.S. Chess League Finals, December 2015

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. exf3 e6 6. Nc3 Nge7 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Bb5 Qd7 9. O-O a6 10. Ba4 Nb6 11. Bxc6 Qxc6 12. Bf4 Bd6 13. Bxd6 Qxd6 14. Ne4 Qd5 15. Rc1 O-O-O 16. Qc2 Rd7 17. Rfd1 Kb8 18. a4 h5 19. a5 Qxa5 20. Nc5 Re7 21. Rd3 Rd8 22. Rc3 Rc8 23. Ra3 Qb5 24. Rb3 Qe8 25. Qe4 c6 26. Rxb6 Ka7 27. Rb3 Qd8 28. Qe2 Qa5 29. Rc4 b5 30. Rc1 Qd8 31. Ra3 Qxd4 32. Rxa6+ Kb8 33. Rb6+ Ka7 34. Ra6+ Kb8 35. Qe1 Qxb2 36. Rb6+ Kc7 37. Rb7+ Kd8 38. Qd1+ Ke8 39. Rxe7+ Kxe7 40. Qd7+ Kf6 41. Nd3 Qd2 42. Qxc8 Qxd3 43. Qxc6 b4 44. Qc2 Qd4 45. Rb1 Ke5 46. Qe4+ Black resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.