GM Gergely Szabo on Team Match: Juniors to Masters (Canada) - LPS Satu Mare (Romania)
On Sunday, I had the privilege to watch a very entertaining team clash, as Juniors to Masters accepted the challenge of the strong Romanian club LPS Satu Mare (led by my lifelong friend and top Romanian coach, IM Catalin Ardelean). On paper, the opponent outrated us by more than 100 FIDE rating points; thus, it looked like a great test for our players.
Off we went! In the first round, we scored some nice wins, like these:
Position 1: White to move, wins. Can you see how?
Position 2: White to move, gets a very dangerous attack – and great winning chances.
Yet, at the end of the first round, LPS was leading the match by one point (6.5 - 5.5). We knew it's possible to bounce back in the match; there was not much time for “pep talks” before Round 2 started...
The young fighters from the two teams exchanged blows, and when it was nearing the end, it looked like the LPS Team will emerge as winner with the score being 12-9 in their favour (12.5 would secure the team match victory), and the remaining three boards with one winning, one equal, and one worse game ongoing for them.
Then this wizardry happened from FM Joshua Doknjas, playing as Black:
White just played 53.e6?? (almost every other move, such as 53.Rh2, or 53.Bc1, gave him a winning advantage). There followed 53...a3 54.e7 Bd7+ 55.Ke4 Rxf6!! (a fantastic trick, overseen by White!). 56. Kxd4?? (56.Rh2 = ) Rxh6 -+, and Joshua converted with ease afterwards. It takes quite some imagination to prepare such a cunning counter-trick!
It should be noted that FM Joshua Doknjas is just one of our exceptional Juniors to Masters Instructors. Joshua is also a published author, having recently completed his second Everyman Chess book, “Opening Repertoire: The Ruy Lopez”. Earlier this year, along with WIM Svitlana Demchenko, and WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet, FM Joshua Doknjas conducted our very successful Juniors to Masters Presents Young Masters Lecture Series.
The other two boards followed suit, and we tied the match! After that, a blitz team match followed, which our JtM Team won 13-11 – thus, winning the match on “tiebreaks”.
Apart from being thrilled about watching so many nice, fighting games, and the happiness to win the match, there was also the technician's satisfaction to see some of the topics discussed in our JtM group training actually happen in the games - which is why we at JtM think it’s important to understand the concepts we teach, but even more important is to apply them in practice:
Position 3: What is the strongest continuation of White's attack?
I would like to finish this post by thanking everyone involved – players from both teams, their parents, my friend IM Ardelean, and last but not least, my tireless JtM partner Victoria Doknjas, who has helped immensely in organizing this event.
Stay tuned for more JtM matches!
GM Gergely Szabo
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Juniors to Masters Chess Academy Inc. is the provider of the National Training Program for Canadian Youths, as sanctioned by the Chess Federation of Canada. Juniors to Masters Chess Academy Inc. was founded by GM Gergely Szabo and Victoria Doknjas. GM Gergely Szabo has been Team Canada’s Head Coach at WYCC, WCCC, World U16 Youth Olympiad, and the Women’s Olympiad. Victoria has been Team Canada’s Head of Delegation at multiple WYCCs and NAYCCs.
Additionally, JtM In-House Masters include published chess book authors (Everyman Chess), FM Joshua Doknjas and FM John Doknjas, as well as FM Eugene Hua and NCM Neil Doknjas.
For more info on Juniors to Masters online group training and special events: https://juniorstomasters.site123.me/registration
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Responses to the diagrammed positions:
1. 1.Bxg7!! crushes Black's defenses.
2. 1. Bxa6! Bxa6 2.Qe2 leads to a very dangerous attack, even against Black's best defense.
3. 1.Rg1! is a sound pawn sacrifice, which led to immediate disaster after Black accepted it: 1...Qxe4+? 2.Bd3 Qf4 3.Qc2 Ra7 4.f6!, crashing through.
