Bragging Rights - My son defeated International Master Jay Bonin

I asked Jay Bonin about this game and he confirmed that it had been played in a tournament at the Marshall Chess Club. This is a complex game and I do not really understand it. It seems to me that my son was getting an advantage, except that Bonin thought he was winning a pawn with a tactical shot: 23. Nxd5. However, my son had a counter shot, so he won a pawn instead. After that, Bonin could have traded queens into a lost but still technically difficult rook and pawn endgame, but Bonin preferred to go down fighting like a man and was quickly checkmated.

Peter Julius Sloan at an early stage in his chess career

[Event "Marshall Chess Club weekly"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club"]
[Date "1998.??.??"]
[White "Bonin, IM Jay"]
[Black "Aravena, Peter Sloan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Opening "Reti Opening"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2480"]
[BlackElo "2100"]
[PlyCount "64"]

1. Nf3 e6 2. c4 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 d5 5. O-O Bd6 6. d4 c6 7. b3 Qe7 8. Bb2 b6
9. Nbd2 Bb7 10. Ne5 O-O 11. Nd3 Ne4 12. Nf3 Nd7 13. Nfe5 c5 14. e3 Rac8 15. Rc1
cxd4 16. exd4 Nxe5 17. dxe5 Ba3 18. Bxa3 Qxa3 19. Nf4 Qe7 20. cxd5 Rxc1 21.
Qxc1 exd5 22. f3 Rc8 23. Nxd5 Qxe5 24. Qe3 Bxd5 25. fxe4 Bxe4 26. Bxe4 Qxe4 27.
Qd2 Rc2 28. Qd8+ Kf7 29. Qd7+ Kg6 30. Qd6+ Kh5 31. Qd1+ Kh6 32. Qd6+ g6 0-1

My son has now entered college, finally, at long, long last. He is in State University of New York (SUNY) at Purchase ( http://www.purchase.edu ), in upstate New York, which is a branch of the university specializing in art. My son has won an art scholarship. He therefore has not been playing chess much recently.

My son, who is now 20 years old, started off with a phenomenal rating increase, going from 1323 in the August, 1994 USCF rating supplement to 1953 in the August, 1995 rating supplement, an increase of 630 points in just one year, which is the biggest increase of any chess player I can find in history. (The rating of Bobby Fischer never went up by much more than 300 points in a year, but he did it several years in a row!)

After that, my son leveled off, reaching 2026 by June 1996 and 2051 by February 1998, only to drop as low as 1949 on the June 1998 rating list.

By defeating Bonin and several other strong players, his rating on the new USCF list is 2078. See http://www.64.com/cgi-bin/ratings.pl/USCF/12615391

While his USCF rating was rising from 1952 to 2078 in just one two month period, his rating on the ICC Internet Chess Club went from 2065 to 2231 during the same time period, but has since fallen back to 2074.

Here are some games my son has posted on ICC http://www.chessclub.com . These and other games can be reached on ICC by typing: spgn latvianprince %01

These games may be played over on ICC by typing: "examine latvianprince %01"

down to "examine latvianprince %07"

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1998.12.22"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Rubenchik 2350"]
[Black "Aravena, Peter Sloan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Opening "King's Indian: orthodox variation"]
[ECO "E94"]
[NIC "KI.15"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O exd4 8. Nxd4
Re8 9. f3 Nc6 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Kh1 Be6 12. Qa4 Bd7 13. Qc2 Qe7 14. Bd2 d5 15.
cxd5 cxd5 16. exd5 Nxd5 17. Bc4 Ne3 18. Bxe3 Qxe3 19. Nd5 Qh6 20. Rae1 Bf5 21.
Qf2 Be6 22. f4 c6 23. Rxe6 Rxe6 24. Nc7 Re4 25. Bxf7+ Kxf7 26. Nxa8 Re7 27. Qc5
Bf6 28. Qxc6 Qxf4 29. Qd5+ Kg7 30. Qb5 Qe4 31. Qb8 Rb7 32. Qd6 Qe7 33. Qf4 Bxb2
34. h4 Be5 35. Qc4 Rb4 36. Rf7+ Qxf7 {White resigns} 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1998.12.22"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Barsky, Sam"]
[Black "Aravena, Peter Sloan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Opening "King's Indian: Torre attack"]
[ECO "A48"]
[NIC "QP.01"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. e4 d5 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. exd5 Qxd5 8.
Bc4 Qh5 9. c3 Bg4 10. h3 e5 11. Ne4 Bg7 12. Bd5 Bxf3 13. gxf3 c6 14. Bc4 exd4
15. cxd4 Qa5+ 16. Kf1 Qb4 17. Qe2 Bxd4 18. Ng5 Qxb2 19. Qxb2 Bxb2 20. Rb1 Bf6
21. Nxf7 b6 22. Ng5+ Kh8 23. Ne6 Rc8 24. Rd1 b5 25. Bd3 a5 26. h4 Ra7 27. h5 g5
28. Bf5 Re8 29. Kg2 Na6 30. Rd6 Nb4 31. a3 Be7 32. Rd2 Nd5 33. Rc1 Bxa3 34. Rxc6
Ne7 35. Rc7 Rxc7 36. Nxc7 Rb8 37. Be4 b4 38. h6 b3 39. Nb5 Rxb5 40. Rd8+ Ng8 41.
Bd5 Rxd5 42. Rxd5 b2 43. Rd1 Bb4 44. Rb1 Bc3 45. f4 gxf4 46. Kf3 Nxh6 47. Ke2 a4
48. Kd3 a3 49. Kxc3 a2 50. Kxb2 axb1=Q+ 51. Kxb1 Ng4 52. f3 Ne5 53. Kc2 Nxf3
{White resigns} 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1998.12.22"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Aravena, Peter Sloan"]
[Black "Seigal"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[Opening "English: Caro-Kann defensive system"]
[ECO "A11"]
[NIC "EO.64"]

1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 Nf6 4. b3 Bg4 5. Be2 e6 6. Bb2 Nbd7 7. O-O Bd6 8. Nc3
O-O 9. Qc2 Qe7 10. Rad1 Rad8 11. Rfe1 Bb8 12. h3 Bh5 13. d4 Qd6 14. g3 Bg6 15.
Bd3 Bh5 16. Be2 Bg6 17. Bd3 Bh5 18. Be2 Qc7 19. e4 Bg6 20. Bd3 dxe4 21. Nxe4
Nxe4 22. Bxe4 a6 23. Ne5 Nxe5 24. dxe5 Rxd1 25. Rxd1 Rd8 26. Bxg6 hxg6 27. Bc3
Ba7 28. Kg2 b5 29. Rxd8+ Qxd8 30. Qd2 Qb6 31. Ba5 Qd4 32. Qxd4 Bxd4 33. f4 g5
34. Kf3 gxf4 35. gxf4 Kh7 36. Bd8 Kg6 37. Ke4 Bc3 38. cxb5 cxb5 39. Be7 f6 40.
Bd6 Bb2 41. Bc5 f5+ 42. Kf3 Kh5 43. Be7 g5 44. Bxg5 Bxe5 45. Be7
{Game drawn by mutual agreement} 1/2-1/2

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1998.12.22"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Aravena, Peter Sloan"]
[Black "Bierkins"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Opening "Dutch: Leningrad, main variation"]
[ECO "A87"]
[NIC "HD.06"]

1. d4 f5 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Qe8 8. d5 a5
9. e4 fxe4 10. Ng5 Na6 11. Ncxe4 Rb8 12. Ne6 Bxe6 13. dxe6 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 Nc5 15.
Bg2 b5 16. cxb5 Qxb5 17. Bg5 Nd3 18. Bxe7 Rfe8 19. Bg5 Nxb2 20. Qd5 h6 21. Qxb5
Rxb5 22. Bc6 Rbb8 23. Bxe8 Rxe8 24. Bc1 Nc4 25. Rb1 Rxe6 26. Rb7 Re7 27. Be3 Kf7
28. Rc1 d5 29. Rd1 d4 30. Bf4 g5 31. Rxc7 gxf4 32. Rxc4 fxg3 33. hxg3 Rd7 34.
Rd3 Ke6 35. Rc5 Ra7 36. Ra3 {Black resigns} 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1999.01.05"]
[Round "-"]
[White "LatvianPrince (Peter Sloan Aravena)"]
[Black "Henley, GM Ron"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2141"]
[BlackElo "2604"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian: classical variation"]
[ECO "E32"]
[NIC "NI.24"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 b6 5. e4 Bb7 6. Bd3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 d6 8. Ne2
Nbd7 9. O-O c5 10. f4 e5 11. fxe5 dxe5 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 Qc7 14. Bxf6 Nxf6 15.
Ng3 O-O 16. Rxf6 gxf6 17. Nf5 Bc8 18. Rf1 Bxf5 19. Rxf5 Kg7 20. Qf2 Qd6 21. d5
Rh8 22. Be2 Rab8 23. g4 Qe7 24. h4 Rbd8 25. Kf1 Rd6 26. Ke1 Kf8 27. Rh5 Rh7 28.
Qf5 Kg7 29. Bd1 Qd7 30. Qf3 Qc8 31. Ba4 Qa6 32. Bb5 Qxa2 33. Be8 Kf8 34. Qf5 Rh8
35. Qc8 Kg7 36. g5 fxg5 37. hxg5 Qb1+ 38. Kf2 Qxe4 39. gxh6+ Rhxh6 40. Rg5+ Rdg6
41. Rxg6+ Rxg6 {White resigns} 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1999.01.14"]
[White "LatvianPrince (Peter Sloan Aravena)"]
[Black "beetle (IM Michael Valvo)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2075"]
[BlackElo "2510"]
[Opening "Benko gambit: Zaitsev system"]
[ECO "A50"]
[NIC "BI.44"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 a6 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 b5 5. cxb5 axb5 6. e4 b4 7. Nb5 d6 8. Bf4 g5
9. Bxg5 Nxe4 10. Bf4 Qa5 11. Bd3 Nf6 12. Qe2 b3+ 13. Bd2 Qb6 14. a4 Nxd5 15. Bc4
Be6 16. Qe4 Bg7 17. Bxd5 Bxd5 18. Qxd5 Nc6 19. Bc3 Qxb5 20. axb5 Bxc3+ 21. Ke2
Nd4+ 22. Kd3 Rxa1 23. bxc3 b2 24. Ne2 Rxh1 25. Qa8+ Kd7 26. Qb7+ Ke6 27. Qe4+
Kd7 28. Qb7+ Kd8 29. Qb8+ Kd7 30. Qb7+ Ke6 31. Nxd4+ cxd4 32. Qe4+ Kd7 33. Qb7+ Ke6 34. Qe4+ Kd7 35. Qb7+ Ke6 36. Qe4+ Kf6 37. Qf4+ Kg7 38. Qg4+ Kf8 39. Qc8+ Kg7 40. Qg4+ Kf6 41. Qf4+ Ke6 42. Qe4+ Kd7 {Game drawn by repetition} 1/2-1/2

PS My son calls himself "LatvianPrince" on ICC because his mother, Anda, http://www.shamema.com/anda.htm , is Latvian.

PPS My son has come close but still has never quite exceeded my own USCF rating of 2104.

For other photos see:

My Home Page

Contact address - please send e-mail to the following address: Sloan@ishipress.com