David Allard wins Wachusett club title

David Allard of Fitchburg won the Wachusett Chess Club championship Wednesday night in Leominster. The 42-year-old U.S. Chess Federation-rated Class A player posted a winning score of 5-1/2 points out of 7 to claim this year's club championship title in the eight-player round-robin tournament held at First Church Unitarian Universalist on West Street.

Allard played the black pieces in his final game against Michael Filippone of Sterling and knew that a win would clinch the title for him. But he was also aware that a draw could possibly put him in a tie for first place, since one of his closest competitors, Philip Leasure of Gardner, had chances for first if he were to win his final-round game. Allard also knew that a loss might put him in tie for the top spot with Walter Niemi of Lunenburg, who had finished the tournament with a score of 5-2. However, after Leasure misplayed the middlegame of an opening that gave him a theoretical win against Larry Gladding of Leominster, and lost, Allard assured himself of first place by agreeing to a draw against Filippone.

The two key final games, played at the rate of 40 moves in 90 minutes per player, were as follows:

 

Filippone--Allard

 

Alekhine's Defense [Modern Variation]

1. e4 Nf6 [This is Alekhine's Defense, Allard's favorite defensive system against the King's Pawn Opening. It was named after the late world champion Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946), who played it in an international tournament in Zurich, Switzerland, in August 1921. The move was actually analyzed and found lacking by the German chess theoretician Johann Baptist Allgaier (1763-1823) in his 1819 treatistise, "Neue theoretisch-praktische Anweisung zum Schachspiele." However, the move didn't become popular until Alekhine played it seriously in 1921.] 2. e5 Nd5 3. Nf3 d6 4. d4 Bg4 5. Bc4?! [It is doubtful whether this move gains White any advantage. Better was 5. Be2, as was played in the games Booker-Allard, Wachusett Chess Club prelims, March 2002, and Bennett-Mirijanian, Wachusett CC Y2K Tournament, January 2000. The move 5. Be2 was also played by Boris Spassky in the 19th game of his 1972 world championship match against Bobby Fischer in Reykjavik, Iceland. Also possible was 5. h3, forcing 5...Bxf3, since 5....Bh5? allows 6. c4 Nb6 7. g4 Bg6 8. e6! fxe6 9. Bd3!, giving White a big edge.] 5...e6 6. Qe2? [In a game Booker-Allard, Barry S. Spiegel Memorial Tournament, in March 1999, White continued with 6. h3 and after 6...Bh5 blundered with 7. Bg5??, which Black failed to punish with 7...Bxf3 but continued instead with 7...Be7.] 6...Be7? 7. Bd2?! [Better was 7. Bxd5 exd5 8. Qb5+.] 7...0-0 8. Nc3 c6 9. h3 Bh5 10. g4 Bg6 11. 0-0-0 Nb4 12. Bb3 a5 13. h4 d5 14. a3? a4! 15. Bxa4 Rxa4!? 16. Nxa4 Nxc2 17. h5 Be4 18. Nc3 Bxf3 19. Qxf3 Nxd4 20. Qd3 c5 21. Ne2 Ndc6? [Better was 21...Nbc6.] 22. f4 c4 23. Qg3 b5 24. h6? g6 25. f5 b4 26. axb4 Nxb4 27. Bxb4 [Worthy of consideration was 27. Nf4!?] 27...Bxb4 28. fxe6 fxe6 29. Nd4 Qa5 30. Nc2 Bc5 31. Rhf1 Nc6 32. Rxf8+ [White might have opted for 32. Rf6!?] 32...Bxf8 33. g5 Ne7? and the players agreed to a draw. 1/2-1/2 [If Black had wanted to continue the battle, he might have chosen either 33...d4 (with the threat of 34...d3) or 33...Qc7 instead of the text move.]

 

Leasure--Gladding

Queen's Gambit [Lasker's Defense]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 0-0 6. Nc3 Ne4 [It might have been more prudent to first attack the bishop with 6...h6, the so-called Neo-Orthodox Varation, and after 7. Bh4 play 7...Ne4. Also possible was 6...Nbd7, bringing about the Orthodox Defense.] 7. Bxe7 Qxe7 8. Bd3 [Worthy of consideration was 8. Rc1!?] 8...Nxc3 9. bxc3 Nd7 [Also possible was 9...dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nd7 with the threat of 11...c5.] 10. 0-0 Nf6 11. Qc2 b6 12. Ne5 Bb7 13. f4 c5 14. Rae1 dxc4 15. Nxc4 cxd4 [Deserving attention was 15...b5!?] 16. exd4 Qc7?! [Worth considering was 16...Rac8!?] 17. Ne5 Rac8 18. Rc1 h6 19. f5 Nd5 20. fxe6 f5 21. Qd2? [Called for was 21. Bxf5!, for now 21...Ne3?? loses to to 22. Bh7+ Kh8 23. Ng6+ Kxh7 24. Nxf8+! followed by 25...Qh7#] 21...f4 22. c4 Ne3 23. Bg6 [Also possible was 23. Rf2.] 23...Rf6?! [Black was afraid of 23...Nxf1, but why?] 24. Bf7+ Kh8 25. Rxf4!? Rxf4 26. Qxe3 Re4 27. Ng6+ Kh7 28. Qd3 Qd6 29. Rd1 [A mistake would have been 29. d5? because of 29...Bxd5!] 29...Bc6? 30. Kh1? [Unnecessary. The winning continuation was 30. d5!] 30...Qb4! 31. Qf1? [White still had winning chances with 31. Ne5!] 31...Rd8 32. d5 Bxd5 33. cxd5 Rxd5 34. Rb1? [White had to play 34. Bg8+!, leading to mate after 34...Kxg6?? 35. Qf7+ Kg5 36. Rxd5+ Kg4 37. Qxg7+ followed by 38. Qg3# or a draw by perpetual check after 34...Kxg8 35. Rxd5 Re1 36. Rd8+ Kh7 37. Nf7+ followed by 38. Ng6+, etc. Even 34. Rxd5 Re1 gave him the draw after 35. Nf8+ Kh8 36. Ng6+, etc.] 34...Rf5! 35. Qxf5?? [White had to play 35. Qc1.] 35...Qxb1+ and Leasure resigned. (0-1)