2006 KCC Summer Tournament
Round One
Anna Matlin (1565) - Michael Goeller (2025) [B00]
Kenilworth CC Summer Tournament/Kenilworth, NJ USA (1) 2006
1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Bb5!?
Anna played 4. Bd3? and, keeping her hand on the piece, asked "Is it touch move?" to which I replied, "The tournament is unrated but all other rules apply." She was therefore forced to move the Bishop to a better square since Bd3 would lose a pawn to 4... Nxd4 -- a position that occurs quite frequently for me playing guests on ICC.
4... e6
I did not like 4... Qd7 5. c3 a6 6. Qa4!?
Safer is 5... Nge7 6. c3 a6= Allowing the doubled pawns means that my King will never be safe on the queenside -- and with White's pawns pointed toward the kingside I'm not sure I'd be safe over there either!
6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. Nf3 c5 8. c3 Qd7 9.
I had planned on playing 11... c4 but suddenly began imagining all sorts of ideas for White, who "has all the breaks" after 12. g4! (12. b3?! Bd3 13. Rf2 Nf5
)
12... Bd3 13. Rf2
)
17. f5!?
But this might have been the way to go compared to the game continuation. Black should have a slight edge here, but proving it is hard.
Probably the critical mistake, which puts Black at a serious positional disadvantage for the rest of the game. Perhaps still 12... c4!? 13. bxc4 dxc4 with great play on the light squares that should compensate for the structural weakness.
13. cxd4
I suddenly got very nervous about my backward pawn on the open c-file.
I had expected 13. Nxd4 c5 14. Nxf5 Nxf5 15. Bf2 ![]()
13... Bxb1?!
Played with full knowledge that exchanging a developed Bishop foranundeveloped Knight has got to be bad on principle, but I feared what that Knight might do to me after Nc3-a4-c5 and I wanted to get my own Knight back into the game as quickly as possible.
13...
and White has all the prospects on both the queenside and the kingside.
14. Rxb1 Nf5 15. Bf2 h5 16. Qc2 Bb4
With the idea of Bb4-a5-b6, defending the c-pawn while pressuring White's d-pawn and tying down her minor pieces. I still do not fully understand how my promising opening degenerated so quickly into a strategically lost position!
17. Rbc1
17. Nh4!?
A Capablanca move! I felt this let me off the hook, since the endings looked difficult to win for White, though Black is obviously condemned to a passive defense. However, she seems to have perceived the advantage White would have of being able to attack on both sides of the board to the point where a breakthrough will be inevitable.
White also has good prospects of a kingside attack in the middlegame after 18. Nh4!? Nxh4 19. Bxh4 Bb6 20. Qc3 a5 21. Rf3![]()
18... Qxc6 19. Rxc6 Bb6 20. Rfc1 a5 21. g4 hxg4 22. hxg4 Ne7 23. R6c2 Kd7 24. Kg2! Nc8?!
24... Rbf8
25. f5 Na7 26. a4! Rbf8 27. Ng5!?
White probably has better prospects now of breaking through on the queenside with 27. Be1! followed by 28.b4! creating a passed a-pawn that will drive back my Bishop and allow those Rooks to crash through. Fritz helps find the interesting line 27... exf5 28. gxf5 Rh5 29. Bxa5!! Bxa5 30. Rc5 Bb6 31. Rxd5+ Kc8 32. a5!![]()
We were both now down to less than five minutes on the clock, so I did not have enough time to convince myself to try the desperate idea 28... Ne7!? 29. fxe6+ (29. Nxf7 Nxc6 30. Nxh8 Nxe5!! (30... Rxh8 31. fxe6+)
31. dxe5 Rxh8
)
29... fxe6 30. Rxe6 Rxf2+!? 31. Kxf2 Bxd4+ which looked unclear to me since I did not see how White could rescue her Rook. But White can win: 32. Kg3! (32. Kg2 Rb8 (32... Be3? 33. Rxe7+! Kxe7 34. Rxc7+ Kd8 35. Ne6+
)
33. Rxc7+!? (33. Rf1 Be3 34. Rxe7+ Kxe7 35. Rf7+ Ke8 36. Rxg7 Rxb3 37. Ne6 Bb6 38. Nxc7+ Bxc7 39. Rxc7 Rb4 40. Kf3 Rxa4 and though White is better, I'd really like to see a 10-year-old win this!)
(33. Rb1? Be3
)
33... Kxc7 34. Rxe7+ Kc6 35. Nf3
)
32... Rh6!? 33. Rxh6 Bxe5+ 34. Kh4 gxh6 35. Nf7 Bf4 36. Rf1 Be3 37. Kh5
and White should win.

White to play and win.
29. Nxe6??
Almost as soon as she completed this move she said, "I took the wrong pawn!" Indeed she had.
Though it is not easy against perfect defense by Black (something I'd never pull off with under three minutes on the clock anyway), White should win with 29. Nxf7!! Rxf7 30. Be3 (or her idea of 30. g5 Rxf5! (30... Ne7? 31. gxh6! Nxc6 32. fxe6+ Kxe6 33. Rxc6+ Ke7 34. Bh4+ Ke8 35. Re6+ Kd7 36. h7 Rf8 37. Re7+
)
31. gxh6 gxh6 which should win eventually for White.)
30... Re7 (30... Ne7!? 31. Bxh6 Nxc6 32. fxe6+ Kxe6 33. Rxc6+ Ke7! 34. Bg5+!
)
31. Bxh6 gxh6 32. f6 (32. fxe6+?! Rxe6 33. Rxe6 Kxe6 34. Rc6+ Kd7 35. Rxh6 Bxd4)
32... Rf7 and White's best winning idea may be 33. Rxb6!! cxb6 34. Rh1 Rh7 35. g5!![]()
29... fxe6
Seeing her blunder in a clearly winning position, I offered her a draw.
30. g5
I admired her pluck when she declined, perhaps expecting to still win on time by playing the remainder of her moves lightning fast. But two more blunders make the rest easy for me.
30... Rh5 31. fxe6+ Kd8 32. Kf1?? Rh2 33. R1c2 Bxd4 34. Rxc7?? Rfxf2+ 35. Rxf2 Rxf2+ 36. Ke1 Kxc7
and White resigned. A very lucky break for me, and evidence that Anna is on her way to being a very strong player!
0-1Greg Tomkovich (1750) - John Moldovan (1774) [A46]
Kenilworth CC Summer Tournament/Kenilworth, NJ USA (1) 2006
1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bg5 c5 4. c3 Qb6 5. Qc2 Ne4!? 6. Bf4
6... d5 7. e3 Nc6 8. Nbd2 cxd4 9. exd4 Bd7?! 10. Bd3
10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. Nd2 f5 12. Nc4![]()
10... f5!? 11.
12... g5!
13. Bxe5
24. Qf3 Qxb2 25. Rc8 Qd4
25... Qxe5!
26. h3 Qb6 27. R8c7 Rd1+ 28. Kh2
28. Rxd1!
28... Rxc1 29. Rxc1 Qb2 30. Qe3 h6 31. Rc7 Rd5 32. f4 a6? 33. Qg3! g5
34. fxg5 Qxe5 35. Qxe5 Rxe5 36. gxh6 Ra5 37. Rxb7 Rxa3 38. h7+?! Kh8 39. Re7 Re3 40. Ra7 Ra3= 1/2-1/2
Devin Camenares - Mark Kernighan (2215) [B80]
Kenilworth CC Summer Tournament/Kenilworth, NJ USA (1) 2006
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Be3 Be7 7. Bc4
11... Bh4+!?
13. Bc2 Bh4+! 14. g3 Re8 15. Kf2 Bg5 16. Re1
16... Bxe3+ 17. Rxe3 Rxe3 18. Kxe3 Qb6!
19. Qd2
19. b4 Qh6+ 20. f4 Ne4 21. Bxe4 dxe4 22. Kxe4 Bd7
19... Qh6+ 20. f4 Bg4 21. Qg2 Ne4 22. Bxe4 dxe4 23. Re1
23. Kxe4![]()
23... Qb6 24. Qxe4 Qxb2 25. Kd3?
25. Qc2 Re8+ 26. Kd2 Qxc2+ 27. Nxc2 Rxe1 28. Nxe1=
25... h6 26. Qd5 Rc8 27. Qb3 Qxh2 28. Qxb7 Qxg3+ 29. Re3 Rxc3+! 30. Kxc3 Qxe3+ 31. Kc4 Be6+ 32. Nxe6 Qxe6+ 33. Kb5 Qb6+!!
Well-calculated! This makes everything easy for Black, though he had to count it out.
34. Qxb6 axb6 35. a4 h5 36. Kxb6 h4 37. a5 h3 38. a6 h2 39. a7 h1=Q 0-1