Drew with GM Enamul Hossain (Razib) in 2nd Round of 14th Philadelphia Open

Today after a long time Ahyan and I played in an online tournament other than San Francisco Mechanics Institute's Tuesday Night Marathon that we play often. We played the 14th Philadelphia Open where I was in the Open section and Ahyan was in the Under 1800 section. Ahyan scored 3.5 out of 5 but I didn't do well. However, in the second round, I secured a surprise draw with GM Enamul Hossain (Razib). I lost a pawn early in the middlegame and was destined to lose. But I put up a very prolonged defense and somehow it worked. I think Razib would win it if he had a bit more time left in the clock. After the game Razib sent me a message "well played!" - so nice of him. Here is the game.

My 2nd Round Win Against WGM Carla Heredia in TNM Round 2

 I won a very hard-fought equal game against WGM Carla Heredia in the second round of Tuesday Night Marathon organized by Mechanics Chess Institute today.

Ashik vs IM Ricardo De Guzman (Drawn), Best of the West, Round 1

Just one day after defeating IM Ricardo, I got paired against him again in first round of Best of the West Championship in Santa Clara Marriott. This time I drew a completely winning position, thanks to Ricardo's good knowledge of rook ending and my lack of it. Still I have nothing to regrest drawing against an IM!

Won Another Game Against IM Ricardo De Guzman

As I and my son Ahyan regularly play Friday Night Marathon at Fremont Norcal House of Chess, I frequently face IM Ricardo De Guzman there. I invariably loose all the time except once I won. Today won a second time. If you want to check my first win against Ricardo, here it is.

Ashik vs Hal Rives, Millionaire Chess Open, Round 7

Ashik vs NM Rayan Tagijadeh, Milpitas Summer Chmp, Round 3

I got a bye in Round 2.

Ashik vs Hans Niemann, William Addison, G45, Round 4

Ashik vs FM Andy Lee, Tuesday Night Marathon, Mechanics, Round 4

Ashik vs NM Romulo Fuentes, Tuesday Night Marathon, June 2014, Round 3

I defeated my first strong opponent in this cycle of Tuesday Night Marathon that started last month in Mechanics Chess Institute, San Francisco. National Master Romulo Fuentes was white against me in 3rd round and so naturally I replied with Sicillian Dragon. Interestingly, we played exactly the same opening a year and half back until my 17th move where I made an improvement. That game I lost despite being a pawn up initially as Romulo is an aggressive player will sacrifice a pawn for initiative without thinking twice. It happened in this game also, but this time I defended preciously.

As a result of this game I and Natalya are jointly leading the tournament with 3 out of 3. So I know ahead of time she is going to be my next opponent!

Ashik vs Hovik Manvelyan, Santa Clara Marriott, Round 4

Ashik vs Keyven Riese, Friday Night Marathon, May 2014, Round 5

Ashik vs Coach Ted Castro, Friday Night Marathon, Round 3

Ashik vs IM Ricardo De Guzman, Friday Night Marathon Mat 2014, Round 1

This was my first win against an internal master in a normal time control. Although it was played in a local marathon tournament in Fremont NorCal House of Chess, its very significant for boosting my confidence as a chess player.

Ashik vs IM Ricardo De Guzman, Friday Night Marathon, Spring 2014, Round 2

Ashik vs Keyven Reise, Friday Night Marathon, Round 4

Ashik vs Frank Thornally, Tuesday Night Marathon, Spring 2014, Round 4

Ashik vs Hayk Manvelyan, Tuesday Night Marathon Winter 2014, Round 5

Following last week's tough save, today I defended another apparently lost game against Hayk Manvelyan who routinely becomes champion when he participates in Mechanics Chess Tournaments. His this month's rating is 2344 while mine is 2022 - a huge 322 rating points difference. He didn't play the last cycle of Tuesday Night marathon and hence I got a chance to be runner up. I was trying to prepare against him last night but I saw that he doesn't play any particular opening and simply thinks out something sharp, out of normal book lines instantly over the board. This is why I like following his games. So I gave up preparing against him and thought I will simply play the position that arises on the board. Remembering my recent 26 move defeat to him, I was not hopeful though.


He replied my e4 with Sicillian and I went to Grand Prix Attack. I made an unnecessary aggressive move of knight in the opening followed by an oversight to loose a pawn very quickly. But I kept the initiative as in this line White is ready to sacrifice several pawns to continue the attack. Slowly he became 3 pawns up although I could recover a pawn any time and I had some compensation for the other 2 pawns but not enough. However, slowly I first regained one pawn and then out of the 2 pawns, Hayk gave me back one pawn to neutralize my initiative. This way he ended up being one solid pawn up. However, I found a tactics with my knight that wiped out all the pieces off the board leaving only the queen and a knight each side with Hayk still being one passed pawn up. However, as it happens in such positions, you can't queen your passed pawn because your opponent will get a perpetual check to your King. This is exactly what happened. Hayk waited until he had 14 seconds left in his clock before forcing draw by repetition.

When I submitted the scoresheet, Mechanics Chess Institute Director IM John Donaldson said that - Ashik, considering your recent outstanding performances, FIDE wants me to do a Drug Test on you to make sure you are within fair play boundary! We all laughed at it loudly.

Ashik vs William Gray, Tuesday Night Marathon, Fall 2014, Round 4

I defended a tough position against William Gray yesterday in Tuesday Night Marathon. IM John Donaldson, analyzed the game and published two diagrams of the position in the Mechanics Institue Weekly Chess Newsletter (#654) this week. Here is his analysis.



Here white offerred a draw and black accepted.
round#4
board#2
t/c: G85/30 + G30 + 30 sec increment

Ashik vs Hans Niemann, Tuesday Night Marathon, Winter 2014, Round 3

I faced Hans for the first time although we have been playing in many chess tournaments in including in Mechanics Chess Institute for more than a year. I had a very tough position to defend once I grabbed a pawn in the Sicillian Alapin. Hans is well versed in the variation where I made an early inaccuracy as I dont know the variation very well. But I am happy that I gave a tenecous defence which resulted in Hans' attack dry out. And once an attack fails, the attackers own defence become very vulnerable. This is exactly what happened and I counter attacked and check mated him. There are few inaccuracies in the game but overall I played well. A very important open game to analyze.

With this win I am leading the Tuesday Night Marathon in Mechanics Institute, San Francisco with 4 or 5 other people scoring 3 out of 3!

Ashik vs Farid Mark Watson, Golden State Open, Concord, Round 5