DAVID R. SANDS: His alma mater suffers, but Sergey Erenburg soars at chess Eastern Open

Virginia GM Sergey Erenburg had a good send-off to 2015, but the same couldn’t be said for his alma mater, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

The UMBC grad took clear first in the 42nd annual Eastern Open, held at the Doubletree Hotel in Bethesda, defeating chief rival and former Eastern champ GM Alex Shabalov in their critical Round 4 faceoff. Erenburg finished an impressive 6-, ceding just a draw to GM Alexander Ivanov, to finish a full point ahead of Shabalov.

The Richmond-based Erenburg was a mainstay of the UMBC teams that captured consecutive President’s Cups — the championship of college chess — in 2009 and 2010. But with an arms race to attract top GMs dominating the college game, the perennially strong UMBC team failed to qualify for the chess Final Four last month for the first time in the event’s 15-year history.

Even with two grandmasters and an IM on its roster, the Retrievers entered the event seeded only eighth and couldn’t keep pace with the winning schools at the Pan American Intercollegiate Championships.

In a mild upset, Texas Tech won on tiebreakers over the University of Texas-Rio Grande, Columbia and top-seeded Webster University’s “B” team. (The stacked Webster “A” squad, upset by the University of Texas-Dallas, could manage only a fifth-place result.)

The four winners will fight it out for the President’s Cup in April at Manhattan’s Marshall Chess Club.

Erenburg gave his pursuers at the Eastern no chance with his smooth final-round win over IM Oladapo Adu. (Thanks to TD Tom Beckman for supplying the game and some of the analytical insights here.)

In an opening featuring some deep positional maneuvering, Adu as White appears to spoil a promising setup on 23. c3 cxd4 24. cxd4?! (24. Bxe7! first prevents Black from obtaining a positional bind) Bxa3 25. Rxa3 Na6 26. Ra2 Nb4 27. Rd2 Rac8, and Black secures control of the vital open c-file. Also critical was the alert 33. h4 Qc7! 34. h5 Qg7!, snuffing out White’s attacking hopes and, after 35. Qg5? (trading queens was definitely preferable) h6 36. Qh4 g5 37. Qh2, the White queen is useless as Black can improve his position at leisure.

Erenburg finally launches the decisive invasion after 50. Kg2 Kd8 (see diagram) 51. Kh2? (Bd3 holds out a little longer) Nxc2 52. Rxc2 Rh1+ 53. Kg2 Rh3!, and White resigned as blocking the threatened mate at h1 with 54. Qg1 loses to 54…Rxg3+!

UT-Dallas forged its upset largely on the strength of first board GM Valentin Yotov’s upset of Webster anchor GM Le Quang Liem, the top-rated player at the Pan Ams.

Things are poised on a knife’s edge after Le sacrifices an exchange, but Black negotiates the complications better in the critical flurry: 24. Ra1 Ne4! 25. dxe6?! (d6! keeps White in the game) Qxe2!, when 26. e7 loses at once to 26…Qxf2+ 27. Kh1 Nxg3+! 28. hxg3 Be4+ and mate next.

With 30. Bg2 Ne1! 31. Qa8 (Bh3 Bd5+, or 31. Be4 Qf1 mate) Nxg2 32. Qxg2 Qxd4, Black has a decisive edge, and White will have to give up his rook after 34. Qg1 Bd5+; Le resigned.

Adu-Erenburg, 42nd Eastern Open, Bethesda, Md., December 2015

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 Bg4 4. 0-0 e6 5. d3 Nf6 6. Nbd2 Be7 7. b3 0-0 8. Bb2 a5 9. a3 Nbd7 10. e4 Qb6 11. Qe1 Rfd8 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 Qa6 14. e5 Ne8 15. Be2 Qb6 16. a4 Bc5 17. Nf3 Nc7 18. Bd1 Bb4 19. Qe2 Be7 20. Kg2 Rf8 21. d4 c5 22. d4 c5 23. c3 cxd4 24. cxd4 Bxa3 25. Rxa3 Na6 26. Ra2 Nb4 27. Rd2 Rac8 28. Ne1Rc3 29. f4 f5 30. Qh5 g6 31. Qh6 Nf8 32. Rf3 Rec8 33. h4 Qc7 34. h5 Qg7 35. Qg5 h6 36. Qh4 g5 37. Qh2 Rxf3 38. Kxf3 g4+ 39. Kf2 Qc7 40. Kf1 Qc3 41. Qf2 Nd7 42. Kg2 Nb8 43. Kf1 Qa1 44. Kg2 Rc1 45. Nc2 Nxc2 46. Bxc2 Nc6 47. Kh2 Kf7 48. Kg2 Ke7 49. Kh2 Nb4 50. Kg2 Kd8 51. Kh2 Nxc2 52. Rxc2 Rh1+ 53. Kg2 Rh3 White resigns.

Le-Yotov, 2015 Pan American Intercollegiate Championships, Oberlin, Ohio, December 2015

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. a3 Bxc3 7. Qxc3 d6 8. g3 0-0 9. Bg2 a5 10. b3 Nbd7 11. 0-0 Be4 12. Bb2 Qb8 13. Bh3 c6 14. a4 b5 15. axb5 cxb5 16. Nd2 Bg6 17. Rfc1 Rc8 18. Rxa5 Rxa5 19. Qxa5 bxc4 30. Qa6 d5 21. bxc4 Qxb2 22. Qxc8+ Nf8 23. cx5 Qxd2 24. Ra1 Ne4 25. dxe6 Qxe2 26. Rf1 Nd2 27. exf7+ Bxf7 28. Ra1 Nf3+ 29. Kh1 Qxf2 30. Bg2 Ne1 31. Qa8 Nxg2 32. Qxg2 Qxd4 33. Ra5 Qd1+ 34. Qg1 Bd5+ White resigns.

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