TRANSCO CHESS TEAM

W: MARTIN
B: Junior SOL CRUZ
TRANSCO vs MERALCO Goodwill Match, R6
TRANSCO, Quezon City
August 23, 2008

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4
This is known as the SCOTCH GAME. Its very first major appearance was in Game 2 of Stenitz vs Zukertort 1886 World Championship, the first official match that placed made Steinitz the First World Champion.

3 ... d6?
The World Champions' move is 3 ... PxP; Kasparov vs Karpov in 1990 World Championship, Salov vs Karpov in Reggio Emilia 1991, Kasparov vs Short in 1993 World Championship, Kasparov vs Topalov in Las Palmas 1994, Ivanchuk vs Smyslov in Tilburg 1994, and Kasparov vs Anand in 1995 World Championship. And its most recent appearance at the hands of World Champions was in Bilbao 2008 in Radjabov vs Topalov and Anand vs Aronian.

4 PxP NxP 5 NxN PxN 6 QxQ KxQ













Mastering the Chess Openings, "Also, when an opening becomes rapidly simplified, the king may remain in the center to assist with the endgame."

7 Bc4 Be6?
Junior trained with Coach Cardoso last September 20, 2008 and recommended the move 7 ... Ke8 to avoid the doubled pawn and keep out the king from the open d-file.

8 BxB PxB 9 Be3 Nf6
An interesting path for the dark knight is e7-c6-d4-c2.

10 f3













10 ... Kc8? 11 Nc3 b6?
Consistent with 10 ... Kc8 but not with the principle of rapid development championed by Stenitz in his famous Steinitz Theory, Lasker in Manual of Chess, and Capablanca in Chess Fundamentals. Better is 11 ... Bb4.

12 O-O-O Kb7 13 g4 Rc8?
Chess Fundamentals, "Developing your pieces should be done as quickly as possible, but the pieces should be placed on effective squares."

14 h4 Bb 15 Ne2 Rhd8
Portable Chess Coach, "Rooks are best placed on open files."

16 h5 h6? 17 g5 PxP 18 BxP Be7
Worth trying is 18 ... RxR.

19 Rdg1 Rg8 20 Bd2 Rcd8 21 Rg6 Rde8













22 Bc3 Rh8 23 Ng3 Reg8 24 BxP Rh6
Best Lessons of a Chess Coach, "Don not let enemy pieces remain in your territory unchallenged."

25 Bf4 RxR 26 PxR Bd6 27 e5 Nd5 28 PxB NxB 29 Re1 PxP 30 Ne4 NxP?

Encyclopedia of Chess Wisdom, “Do not rush the attack on the isolani. As the game progresses, it becomes weaker and more vulnerable.”

Best is 30 … Kc7; preserving the central pawn duo and activating the king.

My System, "When the endgame is entered, let the King set himself in motion, and strive to reach the center of the board, for from this point he can, according to need make for the right or left."

31 NxP+ Kc6 32 RxP
Junior lost his central pawn duo that could be his key to victory.

32 ... Nf4 33 Re4 KxN 34 RxN g5 35 Rd4+ Ke5 36 Rg4 Rg6 37 f4+ Kf6 38 PxP+ Kf5 39 Rg3 RxP 40 RxR KxR 41 a4 Kf5 42 Kd2 Ke5? 43 Kd3 Kd5
















44 c4+ Kc5 45 Kc3 a5 46 b3 Kc6 47 b4 PxP 48 KxP ... [1-0].

Coach Cardoso ruled that this is a drawn game. All Junior has to do is to maintain the opposition; keeping his king in front of his opponent's king.