Evans On Chess. April 5, 1996. Copyright Chesstours. All rights reserved.

                              THE CHICAGO SEVEN

Bobby Fischer became the youngest player ever to capture the USA
Championship in 1958. He was 14.

But even more astonishing was his clean sweep of a star-studded lineup in
1964 with 11 straight wins, the stuff of legend. This writer was
runner-up at 7.5- 3.5, a score usually good enough to clinch it, ahead of
Samuel Reshevsky and the cream of American chess. In all, Fischer won our
highest title eight times before conquering the world championship in
1972.

At the 9th Masters Open in Chicago last March, Dmitry Gurevich, 37, won
seven games in a row, a streak that reminded me of Fischer. In a field of
79 with 15 grandmasters, Gurevich left his rivals in the dust. Walter
Browne, Boris Kreiman, Alexander Yermolinsky and Artur Yusupov all
trailed by 1.5 points.

Fischer's record was etched in a round robin where all-played-all for two
weeks. The Swiss pairings used in Chicago, based on luck of the draw,
enable large fields to finish tournaments in a weekend. The basic idea is
to pit players with the same scores against each other every round in the
hope that a clear victor will emerge from the fray, though massive ties
are common.

Talented Americans have few opportunities to compete in such topnotch
events. Thanks to tireless promoters of master chess like Helen and Jim
Warren, who began this series in the 1980s, the USCF has now designated
their brainchild an annual fixture and also beefs up the prize fund by
$10,000.

Fighting chess was the order of the day; the average contest lasted just
under 40 moves. White won 118, lost 71 and drew 69 for an overall success
rate of 59% in 258 games. To offset the advantage of the first move,
comparable to the serve in tennis, perhaps White should start with less
time on the clock.

Gurevich set a torrid pace by taking calculated risks with Black that
paid off. In round three against Mark Lonoff he went into a defensive
crouch, but instead of the prudent 20...axb3 21 axb3 Rca8 he suddenly
struck back with 20...c5 prying the position wide open. White should
reply 21 cxd5 Nxd5 22 Nxd5 Bxd5 23 bxa4 with equal chances.

Later Lonoff may have intended 23 Rxb7 Rxb7 24 Nxd4 before realizing that
Nd5 keeps the edge. His final threat of Qxf7 was easily rebuffed by
32...Qe8. He couldn't save his knight stranded on b8 or stop the pawn
from queening after 33 Rxb4 c2.

White: MARC LONOFF Black: DMITRY GUREVICH English Opening 1996

1 c4 e6 2 g3 d5 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Bg2 c6 5 b3 Nbd7 6 0-0 a5 7 Nc3 Be7 8 d4 0-0
9 Qc2 b6 10 e4 Ba6 11 e5 Ne8 12 Ne2 Nc7 13 Rd1 a4 14 h4 Ra7 15 Bg5 Re8 16
Bxe7 Qxe7 17 Nf4 Nf8 18 Rdb1 Rc8 19 Bf1 Bb7 20 Bg2 c5 21 bxa4 dxc4 22
Rxb6 cxd4 23 Nxd4 Bxg2 24 Nxg2 Qc5 25 Nc6 Raa8 26 Rab1 Nd5 27 R1b5 Qa3 28
Rb8 Raxb8 29 Nxb8 Nb4 30 Qe2 c3 31 Qf3 Qxa4 32 Rb7 Qe8 33 Nf4 c2 34 Ne2
Rxb8 White Resigns
