Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Nathan Resika Wins FIDE Mondays

FM Nathan Resika [pictured] won the FIDE Mondays tournament at the Marshall Chess Club, defeating me in the final round with a rare move in the Pirc Defense.


In the diagram, arrived at via the 6...Na6 line in the Austrian Attack, Resika has just played 7...Ng4 instead of the usual 7...Nd7 or 7...Ne8.

At ChessLab, I could find only a few games where Resika's move was played. The best plan for White seems to be 8.h3 Nh6 9.Be3 c5 10.d5.

Our game on Monday night proceeded 8.h3 Nh6 9.Ne4 c5 10.c3 cxd4 11.cxd4 Qb6 12.O-O Nb4 13.Be3 Nd5 14.Bc1 Nf5 15.Qa4 Nb4 16.Bb1 dxe5 17.fxe5 Nc6 18.Kh1 Ncxd4 when "the fat lady sings."


As you may have guessed from his picture, in addition to being a FIDE master, Nathan Resika is also an accomplished opera singer.