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[Event "Manhattan Chess Club Championship"]
[Site "Manhattan Chess Club New York"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Yudasin, GM Leonid"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C40"]
[WhiteElo "2721"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 {This was played on board 1 in the last round of
the Manhattan Chess Club Championship . I offered a draw in this
position. Just as Lenny was reaching out to shake my hand, Nick
Conticello, the club manager walked in the room and started
screaming his announcement to the room full of 25 people. Lenny (
Leonid ) got pissed and declined the draw offer. } 3.Nxe5 Qf6
4.d4 d6 5.Nc4 fxe4 6.Nc3 Qf7 {The main line of the Latvian
Gambit.} 7.Be2 Nf6 8.Bg5 Nbd7 {Very poor error. Bf5 was much
stronger. Now the simple Nb5 leaves me with a hanging c7 pawn.}
9.Nb5 Nd5 10.Ne3 N7f6 11.Bc4 c6 12.Bxf6 cxb5 13.Bxd5 Qxf6 14.Bxe4
Qf7 15.Bd5 Be6 16.Bxe6 Qxe6 17.Qh5+ g6 18.Qxb5+ Qd7 19.Qxd7+ Kxd7
{This position is not worth playing, but resigning on move 20 in
a championship game is not concevable.} 20.Ke2 Bg7 21.Kd3 Rhf8
22.f3 Rf4 23.c3 Kc6 24.Nc2 b5 25.Rhe1 Kd7 26.a4 Rf5 27.Ne3 Rh5
28.axb5 Rxb5 29.b4 Bh6 30.Nc4 Bf4 31.g3 d5 {after shuffling
around our pieces for a few moves I played d5. If Lenny plays any
other move than Na3 I should reach an equal endgame.} 32.Na3 1-0

[Event "30th World Open Philadelphia USA"]
[Site "Philadelphia (USA)"]
[Date "2002.06.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Yermolinsky, GM Alex"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2583"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Bb4+ {This game was published in Robert
Byrne's New York Times chess column the week after it was
played.} 4.Nbd2 O-O 5.a3 Be7 (5. .... Bxd2 6.Bxd2 b6 7.e3 Bb7
8.Bd3 Ne4) {This was suggested by a few writers as being better
than my move, Be7} 6.e4 d5 7.Bd3 {Nice move. Alex will now get a
nice lead in development. I was hoping for e5 instead when I
would play Ne4 followed by c5.} 7...dxe4 (7. ... c5 8.e5 Nfd7
9.cxd5 exd5 10.O-O Nc6) {This position was suggested by GM Byrne
in his column.} 8.Nxe4 Bd7 9.Qc2 h6 10.Be3 Nxe4 (10...Bc6)
11.Bxe4 Bc6 12.d5 exd5 13.O-O-O Qe8 {I was convinced Alex had
under estimated this move. Now if he plays Bd5, then Ba4 as in
the game, when the move he intended ... b3 would loose to Ba3.}
14.Bxd5 Ba4 15.Qg6 (15.b3 Bxa3+) 15...Kh8 16.Qh5 Bxd1 ({ My first
error. c6 right away would force Bh6 check which would only get
white a draw by perpetual check. } (16...c6 17.Bxh6 (17.Bd4 f6 ))
{ similar position. Now the queen on h5 and the rook on d1 and
the bishop on d5 are all hanging. } (18.Qxe8 Rxe8 19.Bf7 Rf8
20.Bg6 Bxd1; 17.Be4 f5) { this wins right away. White has 3
hanging pieces, and looses at least an exchange. } 18.Qxe8 Rxe8
19.Bxf5 Bxd1 ( 17...Bxd1 (17...f5 )) { This is where I can play
on to win. The queen is hanging again, and I can simply capture
the Bishop on d5 for free next move. }( 18.Qh3 cxd5 19.Bg5+ Kg8
20.Rxd5) 18.Bxg7+ Kxg7 19.Qg4+ { The position I had actually seen
in the game. figured Alex was totally lost if I took the rook on
d1 instead of playing c6. } (19...Kh8 20.Qh5+ Kg7=)) 17.Bxh6
Bxf3?? (17...f6 18.Qh3 (18.Qh4 Bxf3 19.Bxg7+ Kxg7 20.gxf3 Qg6
21.Bxb7 Nd7) 18...Bxf3 19.gxf3 Qg6) {I still had this chance. I
the actual game I missed a mate with Qh6 much later on, and
thought that my king would escape the rook checks after the text
move.} (19...gxh6 20.Qxh6#) (20.Bf4+ Qh7-+ 21.Qxh7+ Kxh7 22.Bxb7)
18.Bxg7+ Kxg7 19.gxf3 Rg8 (19...f5 20.Rg1+ Kf6 21.Qh6+ Ke5
22.Re1+ Kd4 23.Qe3#) 20.Rg1+ Kf6 21.Qh4+ Ke5 22.Rxg8 {I could
resign now. Qd7 holds out a few more moves, but I am still
totally lost.} 22...Qd7 (22...Bxh4 23.Rxe8+ Kd6 24.Bxb7 Nd7
25.Bxa8 Bxf2 26.b4+-; 22...Qxg8 23.Qxe7+ Kf4 (23...Kf5 24.Be4+
Kf4 25.Qf6#) 24.Qf6#) 23.Qe4+ Kd6 24.Bxb7 c6 25.Qf4+ Kc5 26.Qe3+
Kd6 27.Bxa8 Qf5 28.Qd4+ Ke6 29.Qg4 1-0

[Event "Thursday Action Marshall Chess Club"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Wojtkiewicz, GM Alek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E70"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2646"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 O-O 5.Nf3 c6 {My second rated
game against the Iron man Alex Wojtkiewicz. This opening is
actually very commonly played by him in 30 minute Swiss
systems. The immediate e5 gets a big advantage for the white
pieces.} 6.Bg5 d5 7.cxd5 cxd5 8.Bxf6 exf6 9.exd5 {leaving us in a
position that resembles the Caro Kann Panov Attack. I have an
extra d5 pawn, but blacks idea is to win it back because it
cannot be defended by any of my major pieces on the d-file. I
would then be left in an endgame with a weak isolated queen
pawn. } 9...Nd7 10.Be2 Nb6 11.Qb3 a5 12.a4 Qd6 13.Nb5? {giving
back the pawn way too early. After the next two moves and Bishop
to h6 I am left him a strategically hopeless position.} 13...Qxd5
14.Qxd5 Nxd5 15.O-O Be6 16.Rac1 Bh6 { Fritz assesses this position
as being equal, but it is actually totally lost for the white
side. The nice bishop move to h6 wins over the c-file, and the
doubled f pawns are a very good asset for Alex, because they keep
my knight on f3 from moving to any active squares. he only square
on the c file I can move to is c5 and I am just kicked away by
the b pawn. } 17.Rc5 b6 18.Rc6 Rfc8 19.Rxc8+ Rxc8 20.b3?! Nf4
21.Bd1 Rc1 22.d5 {only move, Nd2, Night takes on g2.} 22...Bxd5
23.Nbd4 Bf8 24.g3 Nh3+ 25.Kg2 Ng5 26.h4 Ne4 27.Bc2 Rxc2 28.Nxc2
Nd2 29.Ncd4 Nxf1 30.Kxf1 Bc5 {total Zugzwang. both my knight are
hanging, and the b3 pawn is free also} 31.Ke2 f5 32.Ke1 Kg7
33.Ke2 Kf6 34.Kf1 Bxd4 35.Nxd4 Ke5 {another smooth win by Dia-
Dia} 0-1

[Event "U.S. Masters Round 1"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Shulman, GM Yuri"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A60"]
[WhiteElo "2617"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 Bd6 {The Snake. One of
my two games with this opening. This game was played in the 2002
U.S. Masters tournament in Chicago, on board 6 in round one.}
6.e4 Bc7 7.Bd3 (7.f4) 7...d6 8.Nge2 {A passive square for his
kings knight. Shulman is not trying for any edge in the opening.}
8...O-O 9.O-O a6 10.a4 Nbd7 11.h3 Ne5 {Transferring my knight to
g6 is a common motif in this opening.} 12.Bc2 Rb8 13.f4 Ng6
14.Bd3 Re8 15.Ng3 Bd7 16.f5? {A serious mistake. Now I can play
Ne5 and have a dominating outpost, followed by b5, the edge is
with black.} 16...Nf8 17.Bf4 b5 18.axb5 axb5 19.b3 c4 {Very poor
decision. I could still untangle my pieces with Bc8, followed by
putting my f8 knight to d7-e5.} 20.bxc4 bxc4 21.Bxc4 Rc8
{Threatening Bb6+ winning something on the c-file.} 22.Qd3 Ba5
23.Nce2 Qb6+ 24.Kh2 h5 25.Bg5 N8h7 26.Bh4 Bd2 {Nice shot. Maybe
it looses. I am hoping to trade off pieces that are defending hi
e4 pawn. If Shulman does not capture on d2 hen I play Bg5 next,
and maybe it is enough to overwhelm the e4 square.} 27.Ba6 Ra8
28.Qxd2 Rxa6 29.Rfb1 Bb5 30.Qb4 Rxa1 31.Rxa1 Qc5 {Only move. If i
stay in the pin, Rb1 will win right away.} 32.Qxc5 dxc5 33.d6 g5
{more distractions over the defense of the e4 pawn.} 34.fxg6 fxg6
35.Nc3 Bd3 36.Nf1 {After plotting out this capture for the last
bunch of moves I do not take on e4??? I had the wrong idea that if
i play Be4 taking back my pawn, then d7 would make a queen?? Be4
d7 nd7=} 36...g5 37.Bf2 {One tempo difference, and now I am
lost. I can take on e4 now but then I loose my c5 pawn, and the
game with it.} 37...Nd7 38.Ra7 Nhf6 39.Ng3 Re6 40.Nxh5 Nxh5
41.Rxd7 Nf6 42.Ra7 Bxe4 43.Nxe4 Nxe4 44.d7 Rd6 45.Bxc5 1-0

[Event "Thursday Action"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2001.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Gershov, Yevgeniy"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C03"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2337"]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Be7 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bd3 c5 7.c3 Nc6
8.O-O g5 {Very strong idea. right away I am threatening to play
g4, kick away the knight on f3 and with the d4 pawn. When this
move was first played it scored 90% for 2 years in GM practice.}
9.Bb1 h5 10.Nb3 cxd4 11.cxd4 a5 12.a4 Nb6 13.Ne1 Nc4 14.f4 gxf4
15.Bxf4 Qb6 {I have piled up on the d4 and b2 pawns. I win both
of the pawns in the next three moves, and then have to defend
against a cheapo attack.} 16.Kh1 Nxb2 17.Qf3 Nxd4 18.Nxd4 Qxd4
19.Be3 Qc4 20.Ba2 Qc6 21.Qxf7+ {This was mostly forced after I
played 17...Nd4 Now Eugene cheats a series of threats, and nearly
check mates me.} 21...Kd8 22.Nf3 Rf8 23.Qxh5 Nxa4 24.Nd4 Qe8
25.Qh6 Ra6 26.Bg5 Rh8 27.Bxe7+ Kxe7 28.Qf6+ Kd7 29.Nb5 {After
playing on the Brooklyn College team along with Eugene, I
realized that he plays nearly every game with this similar
strategy. He will sac all his central pawns to get open lines for
his pieces. It will almost always leave him with a totally lost
position. Then Eugene wins a lot of points off his opponents that
get into time trouble trying to defend. This style is a very good
example of someone who scores very well against human opponents
(Eugene having nearly a 2400 rating) but against a computer he
would get wiped off the board every game. } 29...Rc6 30.Bb1 Nc3
31.Bg6 Qg8 32.Bf7 {Losing move. He is very close to mate, or
winning my queen, but Bf7 allows me a tempo to threaten mate, and
then win the dangerous b5 knight for free.} 32...Qh7 33.h3 Nxb5
34.Rxa5 Nd4 35.Rd1 Nf5 36.Bxe6+ Rxe6 37.Raxd5+ Kc7 38.Rc5+ Kb8
39.Rxc8+ Rxc8 40.Qxe6 Qh5 41.Qd7 Ng3+ 42.Kh2 Qxe5 {Eugene is in a
mating net by discovered check, and now has to trade off pieces.}
43.Qd6+ Qxd6 44.Rxd6 Ne4 45.Re6 Nc5 46.Re5 b5 47.h4 b4 48.h5 b3
49.Re1 b2 50.Rb1 Nd3 51.h6 Rc1 52.Rxb2+ Nxb2 53.g4 {I had less
than one minute left on my clock, but was still able to blockade
the passed pawns with my rook and knight.} 53...Nd3 54.h7 Rc8
55.Kg3 Ne5 56.Kf4 Ng6+ 57.Kf5 Nh8 58.g5 Rc6 {Simple fortress
position. there is no way for the g pawn to advance passed g6,
and no way for the king to over defend the g6 square.} 59.Ke5 Kc8
60.Kd5 Rg6 61.Ke5 Kd8 62.Kf5 Ke7 63.Ke5 Kf7 64.Kf5 Kg7 65.Ke5
Kxh7 0-1

[Event "Marshall Action"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Weeramantry, Sunil"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E92"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2229"]

1.d4 {This game was played in the Marshall Chess Club thursday
night action against Sunil Weeramantry, the father of Hikaru and
Asuka Nakamura.} 1...Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O
6.Be2 e5 7.d5 a5 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 Na6 10.Nd2 Qe8 11.a3 Bd7 12.O-O
h5 {Sunil knows the correct move order in this variation that his
son could not remember in several tournament games.} 13.f3 Nh7
14.Nb5!? Bh6 15.Nb3 Be3+ 16.Bf2 Bxf2+ 17.Rxf2 b6 18.f4 {Not best
but this is how I was playing this position at the time. It might
be better to prepare this move with Bd3 Qc2 and doubling rooks on
the f-file. As it was played out my move order was not taken
advantage of.} 18...exf4 19.Rxf4 Bxb5 {This is a key moment when
black could cause trouble in the development of my pieces in
co-ordination with the defence of the e4 pawn.} (19...f5 20.Nc3
(20.exf5 Qe3+ 21.Rf2 Rxf5 22.Bf3 Ng5 )) {This position could have
been reached, with edge to black.} 20.cxb5 Nc5 21.Nxc5 bxc5
22.Qc2 {Black will wind up in a lost middle game thanks to the
cronically weak a5 pawn.} 22...Qe5 23.Raf1 Rae8 24.Bd3 Re7 25.b3
f6 26.Kh1 Kg7 27.h4 Rff7 28.a4 Nf8 29.Qd2 Qd4 30.e5 {!! totally
disrupting Sunil's pin of my bishop to my queen.} 30...Qxe5
31.Qxa5 {Fritz asses this position as slight plus to white, but
black is lost in any rook endgame we trade down into} 31...Qe3
32.Qc3 Nd7 33.Qc2 Ne5 34.Bc4 Qg3 35.Qf2 Qxf2 36.R4xf2 Ng4 37.Ra2
Ne3 38.Re1 Nf5 39.Rxe7 Rxe7 40.a5 Nxh4 41.a6 Re1+ 42.Kh2 Nf5
(42...Re8) {Trying to block my a pawn on the back rank is
plausible, but looses anyway.} (43.Re2 Rc8 44.Re7+ Kf8 45.Rd7)
43.a7 h4 {Sunil gambled everything on this mate threat with Ng3
and Rh1. I can simply queen and if Nh3 then Kh3 escapes to g4 or
g5.} 44.g3 hxg3+ 45.Kg2 Re3 46.a8=Q Nh4+ 47.Kg1 Re1+ 48.Bf1 g2
{What now??????????????} 49.Rxg2 1-0

[Event "Thursday Action Marshall"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2001.06.01"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Weeramantry, Sunil"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C12"]
[WhiteElo "2226"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 5.e5 h6 {The French
MacCutcheon, It apears that I am loosing a piece, but the counter
attack to the pinning g5 bishop, with h6 gets me at least
equality in theory.} 6.Bd2 (6.exf6 hxg5 7.fxg7 Rg8) {This is the
desperado variation that leaves black with easy development, but
my rook concedes the h-flie in most variations.} 6...Bxc3 7.bxc3
Ne4 8.Qg4 g6 9.Bd3 Nxd2 10.Kxd2 c5 11.h4 Nc6 12.Nf3 cxd4 13.cxd4
Qa5+ {according to most opening books, black is already clear
plus ahead.} 14.c3 b6 15.Qf4 Ba6 16.Qf6 Rg8 17.Bxa6 Qxa6 18.h5
Rc8 {I am totally inviting Sunil into Hg6 Rook recaptures on g6
with a tempo off the queen, when after Qh8 check I gain more time
with Kd7 and then take free pawn on g2 with strong attacking
chances.} 19.Rh3 Qa3! {wins at least one pawn. This was a 30
minute game, and at this point Sunil thought away down to 3
minutes remaining on the clock.} 20.Rd1 Qb2+ 21.Ke1 Qxc3+ 22.Kf1
g5! 23.Rg3 Ne7 24.Nh2 Qc2 25.Re1 Nf5 {Sunil had less than 30
seconds on his clock and a lost position.} 26.Rf3 g4 27.Rf4 g3
28.fxg3 Rxg3 29.Rf2 Qd3+ 30.Kg1 Qxd4 31.Nf3 {Now I decided to
send his head spinning with a free rook on g2, which if accepted
would leave him flagging 2 seconds later.} 31...Rxg2+ 32.Kxg2
Qg4+ 33.Kh1 Ng3+ 34.Kh2 Ne4 {sunil was jumping around in his
chair. He flags no matter what.} 35.Rg2 Nxf6 0-1

[Event "Manhattan Action, 1997"]
[Site "Manhattan Chess Club New York"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Vulicevic, Nenad"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2440"]

1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6 {The pirc defence, a favorite of Nenad
Vulecevic, a FM from Eastern Europe that was a club professional
in New York from 1997 until 1999.} 4.Bg5 g6 5.f4 (5.Bxf6 exf6
6.Nf3 f5) {Whites center is chipped away.} 5...Bg7 6.Nf3 O-O
7.Qd2 b5 8.Bxf6 Bxf6 9.O-O-O b4 10.Ne2 a5 11.h3 Qb6 12.g4 a4
13.e5 {A very similar position to this is a notebook of Bobby
Fisher's I looked at once. h3 and g4 are not aimed at opening the
h-file, but instead crunching down on the scope of blacks
bishops.} 13...Bg7 14.f5! b3 15.a3 bxc2 16.Qxc2 dxe5 17.Nxe5
(17.dxe5?? Qe3+) 17...Bxe5 18.dxe5 Qe3+ 19.Kb1 Qxe5 20.fxg6 hxg6
21.Nd4 Rd8 22.Bc4 {Threatening Qg6.} 22...e6 23.Nxe6 {Black is
forced into a long variation that leaves him in a lost endgame.}
23...Rxd1+ 24.Rxd1 Bxe6 25.Bxe6 Qxe6 26.Rd8+ Kg7 27.Qc3+ f6
28.Qb4 {The idea behinde the entire line. Black never developed
his back rank, so I now regain my piece with a delicate but
drawn. Back when I played this game a good result against a 2400+
was not very common for me.} 28...Qf7 29.Rxb8 Rxb8 30.Qxb8 Qc4
31.Qa7+ Kf8 32.Qb8+ Ke7 33.Qg3 Ke6 34.h4 f5 35.gxf5+ Kxf5 36.Qg5+
{Winning a pawn.} 36...Ke4 37.Qxg6+ Ke3 {We made a draw in a time
scramble.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Game 60 Open Marshall CC"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2002.12.15"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Treger, Yefim"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A42"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2280"]

1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 (3... c5 4.d5 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 f5) {This is
the very solid Dzinzi Indian Defence} 4.e4 e5 {A Treger
original. He might try Nf6 transposing into the kings indian, or
even Nc6 which is a very well tested modern defence that gives me
a lot of trouble. Yefim Treger is a very inventive proponent of
the modern, and trys something new.} 5.Nf3 Bg4 { This position
was very reminiscent of a Paul Morphy game I had seen when I was a
kid. The premature Bg4 pin only can loose time to a counterthrust
in the center. As a general rule, when your opponent attacks on
the flank to early, strike back in the center. de5 threatens to
gain a lot of time after 5. de5, de5 6. Qd8, Kd8 7. Ng5!?, or
7. Be2 leaving the g7 bishop bottled in, and simply developing. }
6.dxe5 Bxe5 7.Be2 Bxf3 8.Bxf3 h5?! (8...Bxc3+) {This was
suggested by FM Boris Feldman after the game, as giving white
very weak and isolated queenside pawn, but it has yet to be
tested.} 9.h4! {This move keeps the h pawn from advancing to h3,
and keeps the g5 square under lock and key. It also makes it very
easy for me to play Bg5 attacking the kingside dark squares.}
9...Nd7 10.Nd5 {Hoping for Ngf6, when Bg5 would paralyse the
black forces. It also induces the weakening c6.} 10...c6 11.Nc3
Qa5 12.Bd2 Qc7 13.Qc2 {Defending the pawns from being doubled
after Bg5, Bc3 check.} 13...Nh6 14.Bg5 {Preventing Treger from
castling queenside. It also induces a weakness with the pawn
advance f6, which would leave the bishop on e5 stuck in the
center, and the g6 pawn hangs in a lot of variations.} 14...Bg7
15.O-O-O Ne5 16.Be2 Nhg4 {Now a bit of accuracy is required. If i
play Rhf1 then Nh2 could reapeat position. The immeidiate f3
looses to Nf2 fork.} 17.Rdf1 Qb6 {This induces f3 Ne3 Be3, Qe3
check which trades off my powerful dark squared bishop.} 18.Qd2!
f6 19.Bf4 O-O-O {It appears that black has escaped, but all of my
untangling moves are with tempo, so 4 tempo moves from this
position I am totally winning.} 20.f3 {Tempo to the knight}
20...Nh6 21.Be3 {Tempo to the queen} 21...Qa5 { Now is a good
time for assessing the position. Black is going to try to activate
his helpless Knight on h6 and Bishop on g7 by playing pawn to
f5. If that happens Rd1 should decide matters as in the game. If
black decides to wait passively for me to break through, then i
will play Qc1, a3 and b4, advancing my queenside pawns to start
an attack. I also want to create threats on Nb5 with discovered
attack on the Qa5, and the a7 pawn. } 22.Kb1 {Quite intermezzo}
22...f5 23.Rd1 fxe4 {This move is understandable, Treger cannot
find a way to get his Bishop on g7 active, and his knight on h6
close to the center. So f5 is asking me to play ef5 Nf5 when he
might escape.} 24.Nxe4 Qxd2 25.Rxd2 Kc7 26.Rhd1 Nf5 27.Bg5
{Bishop to f4 was also good. Now Treger must hold on to the d6
pawn and the rook on d8 with Rd7, but his position will collapse
if the Knight on f5 is forced away from defense of the d pawn.}
27...Rd7 28.g4 {This wins by force. Now black can keep material
even for a move or two by capturing the h4 pawn, but his pieces
are coordinated too poorly.} 28...hxg4 29.fxg4 Nxh4 30.Nxd6 Kb8
31.Bxh4 Rxh4 32.Ne8 {The bishop on g7 is hanging along with mate
on the back rank with Rd8 mate.} 32...Kc8 33.Rxd7 Nxd7 34.Nxg7
Ne5 35.Ne6 Rh2 36.Bd3 Nxg4 37.Bf5 {Treger is caught in another
mating net, this time winning a second piece. If gf5 then Rd8 is
mate. Treger resigned a few moves later.} 1-0

[Event "Marshall Rapids"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2001.06.15"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Treger, Yefim"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E90"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2280"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Bg5 {Another
attempt in my pet line. This was played in the Marshall Chess
Club friday blitz tournament.} 6...h6 7.Bh4 Bg4 8.Be2 g5 9.Bg3
Nc6 10.d5 Nb8 11.h4 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 Qc8 13.hxg5 hxg5 14.e5 dxe5
15.Bxe5 Nbd7 16.Bd4 e5 17.Be3 {I have reached a really
comfortable position. Now I can just play Qc2 followed by 000,
and have much better attacking chances. Being blitz game, Treger
shook it up with a pawn sac for activity.} 17...e4 18.Nxe4 g4
19.Nxf6+ Nxf6 20.Be2 Ne4 21.Qc2 Re8 22.O-O-O f5 23.Bd3 c6 24.f3
{looks like it wins on the spot. I get the f5 pawn, or open g
file, or both. the best Treger has is to trade queens and play
down material in the endgame.} 24...Ng3 25.Bf4 Nxh1 26.Bxf5 Qd8
27.Rxh1 {mate is brewing.} 27...Qf6 28.Bd2 cxd5 29.cxd5 Re2
30.Be6+ Rxe6 {returning exchange. Treger is an experienced master
and knows it is better to trade and return extra material to get
into an andgame, rather than try to cover all the hanging light
squares.} 31.dxe6 Qxe6 32.Qh7+ Kf8 33.Bb4+ Kf7 34.Qh5+ Qg6
35.Qd5+ Qe6 36.Qxb7+ Kg6 37.Qxa8 Qc4+ 38.Bc3 Bxc3 39.Qe4+
{another good decision. I can win up a rook, but this converts
into an endgame immediately. I would not want to have to work out
all the checks when both me and Treger have 30 seconds left on
our clocks.} 39...Qxe4 40.fxe4 Be5 41.Kd2 Bxb2 42.Kd3 Kg5 43.Rf1
g3 44.Rf3 Kg4 45.Kc4 Be5 46.Kd5 Bg7 47.e5 Kg5 48.e6 Bf6 49.Kd6
Kg4 50.e7 Bxe7+ 51.Kxe7 1-0

[Event "NY Masters round 1"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2002.06.26"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Shliperman, Igor"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A85"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g3 Bb4 5.Bg2 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 { This
was my game against Igor Shilperman, the very next week after i
had swept the New York Masters 3-1 with a 2800 performance. I was
paired with Igor in the first round. I got of to a good start,
and then a totally winning position, but then .............. }
7.Nf3 O-O 8.O-O d6 9.Qc2 Nc6 (9... Nbd7) {This is more in sink
with my pawn structure.} 10.Rd1 Qe7 11.d5 {Now I am forced to
break up my center pawns. With my knight on d7 I would answer d5
with pawn to e5, and have a nice space advantage.} 11...exd5
12.cxd5 Ne5 13.Nxe5 Qxe5 14.Rb1 b6 15.a4 Bd7 16.c4 (16.a5 b5)
16...Rae8 17.e3 Ne4 18.Bd2 g5 {Beginning to advance my kingside
pawns to the f4 square.} 19.Be1 Qe7 (19...f4) {This would have
been much stronger. The text move cost me a few tempi towards my
attack.} 20.a5 bxa5 21.Bxa5 Rb8 22.Rxb8 Rxb8 23.Rb1 Rxb1+ 24.Qxb1
Be8 {Covering my a7 pawn with my queen on e7. Now I had
overlooked g4!! but had a saving resource.} 25.g4 Bg6 26.gxf5
Bxf5 27.f3 Nc3 {Nice shot. If he takes my bishop on f5 then Qe3
at least gets back a piece. He had a nice try with Qb8 but played
differently.} 28.Qe1 Na4 29.e4 Bc8 30.Qg3 h6 31.h4 Ba6 32.Bf1 Nb6
33.Bd2 Qe5 34.hxg5 {well according to my score, Igor Shliperman
had hung a queen here. I found this hard to believe after the
game, but this move order totally fits in with the score.}
34...Qd4+ 35.Kh1 h5 36.Qxd6 Qxd2 37.Qg6+ Kf8 38.Qf6+ Ke8 39.g6
Qe1 40.Kg2 Nxc4?? {The losing move. Now he wins my bishop on a6
with tempo to my king. Bc4 would secure a draw.} 41.Qe6+ Kd8
42.Qxa6 Ne3+ 43.Kh3 Nxf1 44.Qd6+ Ke8 45.g7 {I resigned. No way to
stop g8 = queen, or Qf8 mating.} 1-0

[Event "World Open"]
[Site "Philadelphia (USA)"]
[Date "2002.07.04"]
[Round "05"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Sheiber, Julia"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D46"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2145"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 g6 { This game
was played in round five of the 2002 World Open. Julia Sheiber,
the opponent is the wife of Alex Stripunsky. In this tournament
she finished half a point behind me and qualified for the
U.S. Championship closed. In this game she did not show her
usual solid form.} 7.O-O (7.b3 Bg7 8.Ba3) {This is one idea,
stopping castling, but I have no way to break through in the
center, so the antidote, Bishop back to f8 is fine for black.}
7...Bg7 8.Bd2 O-O 9.b4 {Not sure how to proceed. Julia has not
decidedon either the c5 or e5 break yet.} 9...Re8 10.Qc2 Qe7
11.Rfe1 dxc4 (11...Qxb4 12.Nxd5) {Nice trap. But it does not get me
much advantage} 12.Bxc4 e5 13.e4 {Setting up a trap. Now she can
go the wrong way and take on d4, as in the game.} 13...exd4 14.e5
Ng4 (14...Nd5) {This was her last chance. To simply block my
dangerous bishop on c4.} 15.e6 fxe6 16.Rxe6 Qxe6 17.Bxe6+ Rxe6
18.Qb3 {Now I am totally winning. She is mated a few moves later
with a classic smothered mate.} 18...Nf8 19.Ne4 Kh8 20.Nfg5 {The
end is near.} 20...Re7 21.Nf7+ Kg8 22.Nh6+ {Mate in one move.} 1-0

[Event "New York Open"]
[Site "New York NY"]
[Date "2000.05.11"]
[Round "09"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Shapiro, Danny"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E25"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2301"]

1.d4 {This game was played in the last round of the very last New
York Open .} 1...Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 {The f3 Nimzo, a pet
opening of mine. White is hoping for a very large pawn center at
the expense of his dark squares.} 4...d5 {the alternative, c5
leads to more dynamic play.} 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5
{The main move in this position is dc5 which leaves black
scrambling around for the next few moves to regain his pawn. I
played Qd3 a few times in this position, which aims to keep my
pawn center intact.} 8.Qd3 Nc6 {not best. There are a lot of good
tries here. GM Valerian Gaprindashvili tried f5 in this position
and got a lost game out of the opening. cd4 cd4 b6 threatening
Ba6 is the most common, but I have done some work on this line.}
9.e4 Nde7 10.dxc5 {!! now I take on c5 after Dan has misplaced
his knight on c6. Usually the knight will go to a6 or d7 to
regain the c-pawn.} 10...Qa5 11.Be3 O-O 12.Qc2 {now is Shapior's
chance to get stong counterplay with the pawn thrust f7-f5.}
12...Rd8 13.Be2!? {13.Ne2 e5 and my f1 bishop cannot prevent
Be6.} 13...e5?! 14.Bc4 Nd4 15.Bxd4 exd4 16.Ne2 Be6 17.Bxe6 fxe6
(17... d3 18.Qb3) 18.Rd1 d3 19.Rxd3 Qxc5 20.Rxd8+ Rxd8 21.Qb3 Qe3
{In this position, black has the threat of Rd2 followed by Qe2
mate. All the spectators were convinced I was lost.} 22.Qxe6+ Kf8
23.Qe5 Ng6 (23...Rd2 24.Qf4++-) 24.Qc7 Rd2 25.Qc8+ Kf7 26.Qxb7+
Ne7 (26...Kf8) 27.Qb3+ Kf6 28.e5+ Kg5 29.f4+ Kh5 30.Qf7+ Kh6
31.Qe6+ g6 32.Qh3+ {Not what Dan was hoping for when he played
24. Rd2. He plays on in a hopless endgame, but without any luck.}
32...Qxh3 33.gxh3 Ra2 34.Kf2 Nd5 35.Kf3 Rxa3 36.Rc1 a5 37.Ke4 Ne7
38.Nd4 Ra2 39.Rc2 Ra1 40.c4 Re1+ 41.Re2 Rc1 42.Kd3 Rf1 43.Ne6 Nc6
44.c5 Rc1 45.Ke4 Nb4 46.Rd2 Na6 47.Kd5 a4 48.Rd4 Ra1 49.c6 a3
50.Ra4 Rd1+ 51.Kc4 1-0

[Event "NY Masters 1"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2002.06.21"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Shahade, Greg"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C06"]
[WhiteElo "2550"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Ne4 {A bluff opening. Greg thought
for a second and then avoided the issue with Bd3} 5.Bd3 f5 {As
suggested by World Champion Vishy Anand in Eugene Bareev's
monograph on the French Tarrasch. Usually transopses to the main
line Tarrasch opening.} 6.exf6 Nxf6 7.Ne2 c5 8.c3 cxd4 9.cxd4 Nc6
10.Nf3 Bd6 11.O-O O-O 12.Bf4 Bxf4 13.Nxf4 Ne4 {very common
position. In my opinion black is a lot worse, but not too many
people know the theory behind this position.} 14.Qc1 Qd6 15.Ne2
Bd7 {If my queen was still on d8 then Rf3 exchange sac followed
by Ng5 would be o.k.} 16.Qe3 Nb4 { Another bluffing move. A lot
of strong masters will decline a sacrifice if they think you have
some idea worked out. At a faster time control a more experienced
chess player will avoid spending time thinking about long
variations that might in the end prove to be better for me.}
17.Bb1 Rac8 18.Nc3 Nxc3 19.bxc3 Nc6 20.Re1 Ne7 21.Ne5 Rf6 22.Bc2
Rcf8 23.Re2 Bb5 { After the game Greg said that he knew he was
better here because his Knight is better than my poor
bishop. However Greg is wrong. My whole pawn structure might be
unsound if I traded off my light squared bishop too early. It
serves to defend my e6 pawn against attack by a rook, and can
always be deployed from out of behind the pawn chain on either
b5, or g6. In this game I decided to sac my d5 pawn much later on
and get my bishop to a very active square of c6. } 24.Rd2 Nf5
25.Bxf5 Rxf5 26.Rb1 a6 27.h3 Rf4 28.f3 Qe7 29.Re1 R4f6 30.Qg5 Qa3
31.Rc2 Ba4 32.Rcc1 Be8 33.Qd2 Qe7 34.Nd3 Rg6 35.Ne5 Rg3 36.Kh2
Qh4 37.Re3 {Greg has several ways to win my rook on g3 if a play
a bad move. Qf4 gets me out of trouble and helps set up my pawn
sac idea.} 37...Qf4 38.Nd3 Qd6 39.Re5 Rg6 40.Kh1 Rh6 41.Rce1 Qe7
{it looks like a have hung a center pawn for no reason, but my
poorly placed queen on e7 will have a good attacking role once my
bishop finds a good diagonal to move on.} 42.Rxd5 Qh4 43.Rde5 Bc6
{Now I have threats of sacking all over his king position.} 44.Qg5
{Forcing me into a combination. Qg5 was a good move. I had
overlooked this shot, and had planned to give up a rook on f3
when I felt it was better timed.} 44...Rxf3 45.Qxh4 Rxh3+ {Nice
shot. I actually get a worse end game but greg is no expert on
the end game himself.} 46.Qxh3 Rxh3+ 47.Kg1 Rxd3 48.R5e3 {Greg
plays a series of bad moves in time pressure. His win would be
easy if he just took the e6 pawn, and is left with passed d
pawn, verses my passed a pawn.} 48...Rd2 49.R1e2 Rd1+ 50.Kh2 Bd5
{Now I might have a slight plus. Greg hangs his a pawn in a few
moves, and I get a totally winning exchange down end game.}
51.Kg3 b5 52.Kf4 a5 53.Ke5 Ra1 {Thanks to my pawn to a5 move, now
i just win the a2 pawn for free, and Greg has no way to win my a6
pawn in return.} 54.Kd6 Rxa2 55.Rxa2 Bxa2 56.Re1 {If a had not
played a5, then here I would have to defend against Ra1 with a
poor bishop to b3 when my bishop would get stuck on the very
inactive a4 - d1 diagonal.} 56...a4 57.Ra1 Bc4 58.Ke7 g5 59.Re1
Kg7 {Greg had set up a simple mate in one threat, and was no
clearly out of and concrete plan.} 60.Kd6 Kg6 61.Kc5 a3 62.Kb4 a2
63.g3 h5 64.Kc5 Kf5 65.Rh1 Kg4 66.Rg1 Kh3 67.Kb4 Kh2 {The rook on
the worst possible defending square g1 cannot hold ontp the
g-pawn.} 68.Rc1 Kxg3 69.Kc5 h4 70.Rc2 h3 71.Rc1 Bd3 72.Ra1 Bb1
{Asta Lavista Rook on a1. The bishop traps in the rook for the
rest of the game, and now I queen my h pawn 7 tempi ahead of his
c pawn.} 0-1

[Event "Manhattan CC Ch"]
[Site "Manhattan Chess Club New York"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Schneider, Igor"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2202"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.e4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Bb4 {Novelty. The miniature champion did not
know how to play once I took him out of his 3 move deep opening
book.} 4.a3 Bxc3 5.dxc3 Ne7 6.exd5 exd5 7.Bd3 Nbc6 8.O-O Bg4
9.Be2 Qd6 10.Re1 O-O-O {Very good position for me to reach out of
the opening. In my experience blacks kingside attack is much
faster.} 11.Nd4 Bxe2 12.Nxe2 Ng6 13.Be3 f5 14.Nd4 f4 15.Nb5
{Scheider now makes a small miscalculation which costs him a
piece.} 15...Qd7 16.Bd4 a6 17.a4 {I had not seen a sacrifice like
this since I was plying in scholastic tournaments when I was a
kid. Schneider made FM title 1 year after loosing this game to
me.} 17...axb5 18.axb5 Nb8 19.Ra8 b6 20.Qa1 Qxb5 21.Qa7 Kd7 22.c4
Rhe8 {Nice sac, my queen cannot be captured because of Re1
mate. I had already worked out all the variations leading to
mate. It is totally required of me because I am returning my
knight on b8 in exchange for forced check mate.} 23.Rxe8 Rxe8
24.h3 Qxc4 25.Bxb6 f3 26.Rxb8 Re1+ {The little Schneider
resigned. If he plays his only move Kh2 than Rh1 forcing the king
to capture on h1, then Qf1 followed by Qg2 is mate.} 0-1

[Event "NY Masters"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2002.08.20"]
[Round "02"]
[White "Sarkar, Justin"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C12"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 5.exd5 {French Macutcheon
minor line.} 5...Qxd5 6.Bxf6 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 gxf6 8.Qg4 {Developing
the queen with the idea of preventing Rg8 and threatening Qg7
which wins the h7 pawn.} (8.Nf3; 8.Qd2) 8...Nd7 9.Ne2 (9.Bd3)
{This is probobly better. 9...b6 looses a rook to Be4. Pawn to f5
is a good reply.} 9...b6 10.Qg7 Rf8 11.Qxh7 f5 {Keeping the Queen
on h7 from retreating to d3.} 12.Qh4 Qa5 13.Qg3 Ba6 14.Nc1 Bxf1
15.Rxf1 O-O-O 16.Qf3 Kb8 17.a4 {Sarkar's immediate threat is Nb3
followed by a5 with a dangerous attack. At this point I made a
really good decision to trade queens.} 17...Nf6 18.Nb3 Qd5
19.Qxd5 exd5! {White is up a pawn, but the extra pawn is exposed
on the open g and f files. At this point Justin was getting into
time trouble and blundered in a few moves.} 20.f3 Rh8 21.Rh1 Nh5
22.Kf2 Nf4 23.a5 Rde8 24.Rae1 Reg8 25.g3 Nh3+ 26.Kg2 Nf4+ 27.Kf1
{black to move} 27...Rxg3 28.Re8+? Rxe8 29.hxg3 Ne2 30.Kf2 f4
{The only active plan for white in the endgame would be to win
one of my f pawns, and play with a pawn majority on the
kingside. After the reply gf4 white is strategically lost.}
31.gxf4 Nxc3 32.Re1 Rxe1 33.Kxe1 Nb5 34.axb6 cxb6 35.Kd2 a5
36.Kd3 Kc7 37.Nd2 Nd6 38.Kc3 Kc6 39.Kd3 b5 40.Nf1 Nc4 41.Kc3 b4+
42.Kb3 Kb5 43.Nh2 a4+ 44.Ka2 Ne3 45.Kb2 Kc4 46.Ng4 Kxd4 47.Ne5 f5
{Justin is hopelessly lost. All of my pawns are well defended and
my passed a pawn decides quickly.} 48.Nc6+ Kc5 49.Ne5 Nd1+ 50.Ka2
Kd4 51.Nd7 Kc3 52.Nf6 d4 53.Nd5+ Kc4 54.Nb6+ Kb5 0-1

[Event "World Open 2002"]
[Site "Philadelphia"]
[Date "2002.07.06"]
[Round "09"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Rohde, Mike"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E46"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2508"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Nge2 Re8 6.a3 Bf8 {This
game was played in the last round of the 2002 World Open. If i
win, I get $3,000 and an FM title, and possibly an IM norm.}
7.Ng3 d5 8.c5 e5 9.Be2 c6 10.O-O Nbd7 11.b4 g6 12.Bb2 e4 13.f4
exf3 14.Rxf3 Bh6 15.Bc1 Nf8 16.Qf1 Ng4 17.Rxf7 {For the last few
moves we both made a series of errors, but now the complications
erupt. My rook on f7 is a very well placed piece. Mike has some
cheap shots himself.} 17...Nxe3 18.Qf2 Ne6 19.Bd2 Nxd4 {Critical
position, It is possible I have a forced win here
somewhere. Right away I played a very poor exchange sac with
Rf1.} 20.Rf1 Be6 21.Rf6 Nxe2+ 22.Ngxe2 Ng4 {Now I am in
trouble. Mike had only one minute left on his clock to play
another 18 moves.} 23.Bxh6 Nxf2 24.R1xf2 Bf5 25.Bg5 Qd7 26.h3
{another serious error. I can keep things mixed up after Rd6
forcing Qf7 and then he is in trouble.??} 26...Re6 27.g4 Rxf6
28.Bxf6 Bxg4 29.Nf4 Rf8 30.Bg5 Bxh3 31.Kh2 Bf5 32.Nce2 d4 33.Ng3
d3 34.Rd2 h6 {I was told after we reached move 10 that Rhode was
not my correct pairing, and I had to play someone that was not GM
in the last round, to decide a $3,000 prize. Goichberg paid me
$200 to compensate for an incorrect pairing, which was only 2/3
of my $300 entry. It turned out that Rhode had terrible tie
breaks, and did not qualify for the U.S. Championship because of
this win.} 0-1

[Event "NY Masters"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2002.07.16"]
[Round "04"]
[White "Pruess, David"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2380"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.e4 {Round four of the New York Masters Tuesday Action
tournament. Both me and David Pruess were in 1 round from being
shut out , but then again the same thing has happened to GM
Blatny, GM Ashley, GM Rhode and many other strong players that
just could not make the cut in Greg Shahde's tournament.} 1...e6
2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Ne4 {Unorthodox French Defence
Variation. I have yet to see a refutation in my games.} 5.Nxe4
dxe4 6.Be3 c5 7.dxc5 Nd7 8.f4 {Unusual try. I must take
en-pessant, or my e4 pawn will be too far disconnected from the
rest of my pieces.} 8...exf3 9.Nxf3 Qc7 10.Qd2 Bxc5 11.O-O-O a6
12.Bd3 b5 13.Bf4 h6 {i have reached a very solid position, very
analogous to the Sicilian Najdorf. I never play the Najdorf so i
had no idea what any decent active plan was, but then again
neither did my opponent.} 14.Rhf1 Bb7 15.Kb1 O-O-O 16.Qe2 Nb6
17.Be3 Bd5 18.Qf2 Bxe3 19.Qxe3 Bc4 20.Nd4 Nd5 21.Qf3 Rhf8 22.Bxc4
Qxc4 23.Qa3 Kb7 {White to move and create complications.} 24.Nxe6
fxe6 25.Rxf8 {Now b4 looses to Qf3, but I have a countershot.}
25...Nc3+ 26.bxc3 Rxd1+ 27.Kb2 Rd7 28.Re8 Qd5 29.Qf8 Qxe5 30.Ra8
Qc7 31.Qf3+ Rd5 {A few moves later I forced a perpetual check on
the queenside.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Manhattan Chess Club Slow Open"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2000.08.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Popovych, Orest"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C03"]
[WhiteElo "2368"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Be7 4.Bd3 c5 5.dxc5 Nd7 6.b4 { This game is
played against the great Popovych. A try chess master in his
day. Even now older in age he is extremely strong tactician. Of
course I am sitting right next to Mike Rohde on board two of the
Manhattan Chess Club Slow Open, and playing analysis that I read
in an early web page of his. And sure enough just then I play
someone strong enough to bust the whole variation. This line is
now championed by Morozevich with the black pieces.} 6...a5 7.c3
(7.Bb2 Bf6) 7...Bf6 8.Rb1 Bxc3 9.exd5 exd5 10.a3 Ne7 (10...Qg5)
{i missed this chance. I broke Lombardy rule number one in the
opening. Never complete your development and castle for no
reason, it is just a waste of time.} 11.Ne2 Bf6 12.Nf3 O-O 13.O-O
Ne5 14.Nxe5 Bxe5 15.Nf4 {i am already under some pressure. Now
Qh5 threatens mate on h7 and my bishop on e5. G6 looked logical,
put my bishop on g7, and stop bishop sac threats.} 15...g6 16.Re1
Bc3 {not so good. Keeping with my plan, Bg7 was better.} 17.Rxe7
{now we go into a long combination. I do not think Popovych saw the
next diagramed position, but it was good speculation.} 17...Qxe7
18.Nxd5 Qe5 19.Nxc3 axb4 20.Nb5 bxa3 21.Bxa3 {when playing Re7
sac on move 17 he had to see this position. All of whites pieces
are hanging, but I have no shot. simply lost.} 21...Bf5 22.Bxf5
gxf5 {Qf5 looses also} 23.Qc1 f6 24.Nd6 Ra7 25.Qc4+ Kh8 26.Nf7+
Rxf7 27.Qxf7 h6 28.Rd1 1-0

[Event "Manhattan C.C. Action"]
[Site "Manhattan Chess Club New York"]
[Date "1996.12.26"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E93"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2019"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 e5 7.d5 Nbd7
8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 Qe8 {Very odd move. The main line follows with g5,
Bg3 Nh5 h4 g4 Nh2 Ng3 hg3. Kasparov lost a tournament game to
Kramnik in this position, and in my opinion white is much
better.} (9...g5) 10.Nd2 a5 11.O-O Nc5 12.b3 Nh7 13.f3 (13.a3 f5
14.exf5 gxf5 15.Bh5) { This is a tactic which is sometimes good
for picking up an exchange by trapping the queen on the light
squares. There is a famous game Yusupov -Kasparov where white won
the f8 rook for his light squared bishop, and went on to
neutralize Kasparov's activity on the kingside and win in
convincing fashion. 15...Qd7} 13...f5 14.exf5 gxf5 15.Qc2 Qh5
16.Bf2 Na6 17.a3 Bd7 18.f4 {This is a standard idea in this
variation. I will hope black plays the e4 pawn advance and the
use the squares on d4 and e3 as outposts for my knight.} 18...Qe8
19.g3 exf4 {An oversight. Now if I recapture with gf4 then Bc3
followed by Qe2 wins a piece.} 20.Rae1 fxg3 21.Bxg3 Qg6
(21...Qe3+-+) 22.Bd3 Nc5 23.Ne2 Nxd3 24.Qxd3 Qf6 25.Nf3 Ng5
26.Nf4 Nxf3+ 27.Qxf3 Rae8 28.Nh5 {Now Hikaru was in time pressure
and failed to notice the threats along the g file against his
king.} 28...Qg5 29.Nxg7 Kxg7 30.Kh1 Rxe1 31.Bxe1 b6 {Oh well. The
champion was sent home crying again.} 32.Rg1 Rc8 33.Rxg5+ hxg5
34.Bc3+ Kg6 1-0

[Event "Marshall Action"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "1998.03.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E92"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2237"]

1.d4 {This game was played against Hikaru Nakamura when he was in
the middle of his meteoric rise from 1800 to 2300+ in a matter of
months. It was game in 30 minutes at the Marshall Chess Club in
New York.} 1...Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 e5
7.d5 a5 8.Bg5 Na6 9.Nd2 Bd7 10.O-O Qe8 11.b3 h6 12.Bh4 b6 13.a3
Nh7 {The long main line of the Petrosian Kings Indian. This leads
to a slow maneuvering game that is favored by such notables as
Kramnik, Yermolinsky, And Tigran Petrosian hmself.} 14.Rb1 f5
15.exf5 { I grew up looking at the games of Kasparov, where the
f5 pawn would usually be able to advance to the f4 square and
black would then proceed with a very straight forward mating
attack.; g5 h5 g4 Nc6-e7-g6-h4-g2!!. Capturing on f5 aims to
force black into a waiting game. He will have pawns on f5 and e5
that cannot advance past the forth rank, and will be forced to
break through on the g-file before white achieves b4 and c5
queenside breakthrough.} 15...Bxf5 16.Nde4 {Black can win a piece
here with a fork.} 16...Nc5 17.f3 g5 18.Bf2 Nf6 19.Bxc5 bxc5
20.Bd3 Nh5 21.g4?! {This is way too committal. Now my square on f4
is totally under control of black. I do immediately get an active
bishop on my e4 square coupled with a rook on h1 causing trouble
on the kingside.} 21...Bxe4 22.Bxe4 Nf4 23.Ne2 h5 24.Nxf4 exf4
25.Re1 Be5 26.h3 hxg4 27.hxg4 a4 28.Kg2 (28.b4) 28...Kg7 29.Rh1
Rh8 30.bxa4 Qxa4 31.Qd3 (31.Rxh8 Kxh8 32.Qh1+ Kg8 33.Qh7+) {And
white is in!!} 31...Qxa3 32.Rxh8 Qa2+ 33.Qc2 Qxc2+ 34.Bxc2 Kxh8
35.Bd3 Ra2+ 36.Kf1 Bd4 37.Be2 Kg7 38.Ke1 Kf6 39.Rb8 Be3 40.Re8
Ra1+ 41.Bd1 Rc1 42.Re6+ Kf7 43.Re4 Ra1 44.Ke2 Ra2+ {We were both
in time trouble. I was able to get my king to the f5 square and
win both of the kingside pawns. I flagged in a position were
Hikaru had no mating material left so.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "?"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Nakamura, Asuka"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "2207"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Be2 cxd4 7.cxd4 Nh6
8.Nc3 Nf5 9.Na4 {This is one of three rated games I have against
Hikaru's older brother Asuka. Asuka was much better than his
younger brother from the start, but found other interests. All
these years later I think he dipped down to chess A player.}
9...Bb4+ 10.Bd2 Qa5 11.Bc3 b5 {its all been played before. Bc3
was forced, and now black forces an exchange.} 12.a3 Bxc3+
13.Nxc3 b4 14.axb4 Qxb4 15.Bb5 Bd7 16.Bxc6 Bxc6 17.Qd2 O-O 18.O-O
Rfb8 19.Rab1 Qa5 20.g4 Ne7 21.h4 Rb3 22.Kg2 Rab8 23.Qg5 Qd8
24.Qd2 Qb6 25.Rfc1 {I built up a big advantage , but now
blundered, This was a game played when I just first made 2000,
when I was 16 years old.} 25...Rxb2 26.Rxb2 Qxb2 27.Rb1 Qxb1
28.Nxb1 Rxb1 29.Qa5 Rb8 30.Qxa7 Re8 31.Qc5 Ba4 32.Qb6 Bc2 33.Nd2
Bd3 34.f3 Kf8 35.Qc5 Rc8 36.Qd6 Ke8 37.Qb4 Bc4 {I lost on time,
but my game is hopeless. The knight can transfer over to d6, or
h5, any number of good squares and pile up on a weak pawn.} 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2002.06.21"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Munoz, Miguel"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C06"]
[WhiteElo "2420"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.Bd3 c5 5.e5 Nfd7 6.c3 Nc6 {My
opponent this game is FM Miguel Munoz, men's champion of
Equador. He was visiting New York City for a few weeks so I got a
chance to play him in the Marshall Chess Club Thursday night
action.} 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 9.exf6 Nxf6 10.Nf3 Bd6 11.O-O Qc7
{This usually leads to quiet variations after Bg5, h6 Bh4, e5
trading off some pieces.} 12.Bg5 O-O 13.Rc1 g6 {The idea of pawn
to g6 is give my queen on c7 a square on g7 to make looft too.}
14.Qd2 Ne4 15.Qe3 Nxg5 16.Qxg5 Qg7 17.Rfe1 Bd7 18.Bb5 {This does
not look correct. Now I have a tempo off his queen to double on
the f-file.} 18...Rf5 19.Qd2 Raf8 20.Bxc6 bxc6 21.Qa5 Rxf3 {Good
speculation. Breaking up the kings defence, and as Miguel played
i got a center pawn, and then the f-pawn, and then some better
things.} 22.gxf3 Rxf3 23.Ng3 Qxd4 24.Qd8+ Rf8 25.Qxd7 {Now I have
a forced win of an exchange on the board.} 25...Qxf2+ 26.Kh1 Qf3+
27.Kg1 Bc5+ {Forcing Rook to c5, when the e1 rook hangs.} 28.Rxc5
Qf2+ 29.Kh1 Qxe1+ 30.Kg2 Qf2+ 31.Kh3 {...and the other rook
also.} 31...Qxc5 32.Qxe6+ Rf7 33.Qe8+ Qf8 34.Qxc6 Qd8 35.Qc2 d4
36.Qd2 Qd7+ 37.Kg2 Qd5+ 38.Kg1 Rd7 39.b3 d3 40.Kf2 Qd4+ 41.Kf1
Qa1+ 42.Kg2 Qd4 {I won a few moves later by playing h5, Kh7 and
h4 with mating nets.} 0-1

[Event "Marshall Action"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2001.07.27"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Lapshun, Yuri"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2572"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 d6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Bc4 e6 6.O-O Nd4 {yet
another duel with at the time IM elect Yuri Lapshun. When we went
over the game afterwards Yuri said he was not sure if I could
play Nd4 here sacking my queen for a few checks.} 7.Bb5+ (7.Nxd4
Bxd1 8.Bb5+ Ke7 9.Nd5+ exd5 10.Nf5+ Kf6 11.Rxd1) {There is no
mate and I would have lost really early on in the game} 7...Nxb5
8.Nxb5 Nf6 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Qd7 11.c4 { never played e4 before
this game so who knows what I should do about my e5 advance, but
it seemed to me that c4 could get me a position where I am
playing against a backwards d6 pawn, or at least temporarily
leave my knight defended at b5 where it would help in the
tactical variations after e5!} 11...a6 12.Nc3 Qc6 13.f5 {good
move. Now if he blocks the center with e5, the I play d3, trade
the knight on f6 for my dark squared bishop, and play Nd5 with a
dominating minor piece.} 13...Be7 14.d3 b5 15.cxb5 axb5 16.g4
{inviting Yuri to castle into a mating attack after g5 and some
other bad stuff.} 16...h6 17.Bd2 b4 18.Ne2 d5 19.e5 Nd7 20.fxe6
{it is a miracle that this dosent win right away.} 20...Nxe5
(20...Qxe6 21.Nf4 Qxe5 22.Nxd5 O-O 23.Rfe1) 21.exf7+ Kf8 22.Qf5
Bf6 23.a3 {good move. Opening queenside lines. I have a huge lead
in development, but no open lines for my pieces to get around his
king. The pawn on f7 does not halp me open the f file.} 23...bxa3
24.Rxa3 Rxa3 25.bxa3 Qd7 26.Qxd7 Nxd7 27.Nf4 {winning a pawn.}
27...Kxf7 28.Nxd5 Ra8 29.Nxf6 Nxf6 30.Bc3 {it is possible that
after Bc1 defending the a3 pawn, then Ra4 AND HIS KNIGHT GOING
SOMEWHERE LEAVE HIM WITH ADVANTAGE DOWN A PAWN???} 30...Rxa3
31.Bxf6 gxf6 32.Rd1 Ke6 33.Kg2 Ke5 34.Rf1 Ra6 35.Rf5+ Kd4 36.Rh5
Rc6 37.Rxh6 Kxd3 38.g5 {nice move, key move, now there is a
cheapo that left me in a winning rook endgame that Yuri had
missed.} 38...c4 39.gxf6 c3 40.f7 {look ma, free rook. The rook
on h6 cannot be taken because of f8=Q} 40...Rc8 41.Rd6+ Kc2
42.Kg3 {now I let the win slip. There was a maneuver with bringing
my king to e3 now playing check followed by rook to e8 which
would win.} 42...Kb2 43.Rb6+ Kc1 44.Kg4 c2 45.h4 Rf8 46.Rb7 Rc8
47.Rc7 {should win, but...} 47...Rxc7 48.f8=Q Rc3 49.Qb4
{according to fritz I could win, but it would mean finding a nice
zugzwang when I had 1 minute left on my clock.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Manhattan Chess Club Championship"]
[Site "Manhattan Chess Club New York"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Krush, Irena"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D27"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2435"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.O-O a6 7.a4 {Our
second battle in the Queens Gambit Accepted. This game was played
at the Manhattan Chess Club Championship FIDE rated.} 7...Nc6
8.Qe2 Be7 9.Rd1 Qc7 10.Nc3 O-O 11.e4 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Bd7 13.Nxc6
Bxc6 14.Bg5 {Very poor move. After h6 my g5 bishop and e4 pawn
are hanging.} 14...h6 15.Be3 Rfd8 (15...Nxe4 16.Nxe4 Bxe4
17.Bxh6) {of course she cant capture on e4.} 16.f3 Bd6 17.g4 Bf4
{ Irena has clearly improved since that pervious game. She is
carrying out standard QGA accepted strategy, First she lures me
into playing f3 which appears to be solid way to defend the e4
pawn, but the I am very weak on the b8 - h2 diagonal. if I played
g3 instead of g4 then play might follow with Knight to h5 and
open the f-file to start attack on my king.} 18.b3 Nd7 19.Kh1
Bxe3 20.Qxe3 Ne5 21.Be2 Ng6 {Very strong way to take advantage of
my f4 square weakness.} 22.Bc4 Qe5 23.Ne2 b5 {The initiative is
now strongly with the black pieces.} 24.axb5 axb5 25.Rxa8 Rxa8
26.Bd3 Rd8 27.Bc2 Rxd1+ 28.Bxd1 f5 {Being in my shoes, you would
have to perform a miracle to defend the e4, g4 pawns, and stop
threats to my back rank with Qa1 . I lost right away.} 29.gxf5
exf5 30.Bc2 Nh4 31.Kg1 Qa1+ 32.Kf2 Qh1 33.Qf4 Ng2 34.Qg3 Ne1
{Things got very complicated. Qb8 check followed by Qf4 forces
perpetual check. I played on to try to win a piece???} 35.Qc7?
Nxc2 36.Qc8+ Be8 {The move I had missed. Now I have no perpetual
after Qe8 check, and quickly loose.} 37.Qxe8+ Kh7 38.Qxb5?? Qe1+
39.Kg2 Ne3+ 40.Kh3 Qf1+ 41.Kg3 Qg2+ 42.Kf4 Qg5+ 43.Ke5 fxe4+ 0-1

[Event "Manhattan CC U2200"]
[Site "Manhattan Chess Club New York"]
[Date "1995.08.19"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Krush, Irena"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D21"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2435"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 a6 4.a4 Nf6 5.e3 Bg4 {This game was
played when I was 16 years old, and as far as I know Irena is 5
years younger than me. This Bg4 variation of the QGA is very
rare, and for a good reason. Black just looses time, and in some
variations the g4 bishop gets trapped.} 6.h3 Bh5 7.Bxc4 e6 8.Nc3
Be7 9.O-O O-O 10.Qe2 c5 11.Rd1 Qc7 12.b3 Nc6 13.Bb2 Rfd8 14.d5 {
This is a weak way of releasing all the tension in the center. At
the time the game was played, I was only rated 1900 and Irena
2000. Neither of us made any plays this game to address what to do
about my possible d5 advance. There where quite a few earlier
positions that she could have left me with an isolated queen
pawn.} 14...exd5 15.Nxd5 Nxd5 16.Bxd5 Rd7 17.g4 Bg6 18.Bxc6 Qxc6
19.Ne5 Rxd1+ 20.Rxd1 Qe4 21.f3 Qb4 22.Rd7 {An attempt to win. Ng6
was the alternative. All the moves since move 14 where routine.}
22...Re8 23.Qd1 {threatening Re7 which would win a piece.}
23...Bf6 24.Nxg6 hxg6 25.Bxf6 gxf6 26.Qd5 Qe1+ 27.Kg2 Qe2+ 28.Kh1
Qe1+ 29.Kh2 Qf2+ 30.Kh1 {a draw was agreed, Re6 would be an
attempt to play on a few more moves, getting rid of the threat to
the f7 pawn, and possibly inducing a blunder of one of my
kingside pawns.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "NY Masters"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2002.06.19"]
[Round "04"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Krush, Irena"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D26"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2427"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.Qe2 a6 7.dxc5
Bxc5 8.e4 {I had seen Luptian - Dlugy New York Open 1999 in chess
life magazine a few years earlier, that game followed} (8 ....Qc7
9. e5 Ng4 10. O-O Nf2 11. b4) (and Dlugy was quickly smashed to
bits by the Armenian champion.) 8...Nc6 9.e5 Ng4 10.O-O Qc7
11.Bf4 f6 12.Nbd2 Ngxe5 13.Nxe5 fxe5 14.Bg3 {Irena has won a
pawn. but her pieces cannot move without returning the pawn. In
the meantime I have way better piece mobility.} 14...O-O 15.Bd3
Bd7 {The loosing move. Her pieces have no way to communicate with
the kingside.} 16.Rac1 Bd4 17.Qh5 {thanks to her Bd7 move her
queen has no way to help defend the kingside in this
position. Right away g6 would loose to a bishop sac. The queen on
c7 cannot interpose any checks on the 7th rank.} (17.Qe4 Rf5
18.Qxd4) {The would have made the game much shorter. The way i
played it I had to convert an exchange plus endgame.} 17...Rf5
18.Bxf5 exf5 19.Nf3 g6 20.Qh6 Qd6 21.Rfe1 f4 22.Bh4 Bf5 23.Rcd1
Re8 24.Nxd4 Nxd4 25.Bf6 Qxf6 26.Rxd4 {Trading combo. Now Qg7
falls into a lost endgame.} 26...Rc8 27.Rd2 Qg7 28.Qxg7+ Kxg7
29.f3 Kf6 30.Rd6+ Be6 31.Rb6 {Irena Lost on time a few moves
later.} 1-0

[Event "Marshall Chess Club Blitz Championship"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Krush, Irena"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D25"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2435"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 6.Bxc4 e6 7.Nc3
Nbd7 8.O-O Bd6 9.Bd2 O-O 10.Rc1 Qe7 11.Nb5 { This game was played
in the Marshall Chess Club annual blitz chess championship. It
used to be held the weekend after the New York Open would finish
in April. Gucci has canceled the tournament for the last few
years, so chess champs like Mike Gurevich, Eugene Bareev,
Azmipariashvilli does not play tournaments in New York any more.}
11...a6 12.Nxd6 Qxd6 13.a4 e5 14.Be2 e4 15.Ne1 Bxe2 16.Qxe2 c6
17.b4 Nb6 18.a5 Nbd5 19.Qc4 {She showed progress over our game in
the same variation in 1996. Here I am stuck with a really weak b4
pawn, and thanks to my a5 move, it has no chance of being traded
off.} 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2002.01.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Ibragimov, Idlar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E46"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2651"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Nge2 d5 6.a3 Be7 7.cxd5
exd5 8.Nf4 {My opponent is Ibragimov, who is on the F.I.D.E. top
20 quick chess list. This game would decide first place in the
Marshall Chess Club Insanity tournament.} 8...a5 9.Qf3 Bg4 10.Qg3
Bf5 11.Bd3 Bxd3 12.Nxd3 Nbd7 13.O-O Bd6 14.Qf3 c6 15.Bd2 Qe7
16.Rfc1 Ne4 17.Be1 f5 18.Na4 {I have a plan of Na to c5 followed
by b4. His move b5! leaves me with a stranded c pawn.} 18...b5!
19.Nac5 Bxc5 20.Nxc5 Ndxc5 21.dxc5 a4 (21...Nxc5 22.Bxa5 Rxa5
23.b4 Nb3 24.bxa5 Nxc1 25.Rxc1 Qxa3) 22.Bc3 Rae8 23.Rab1 Rf7
24.Bb4 Qg5 {Idlar has threats of f4 followed by attacking my f2
pawn. I had to find a series of moves that push back his
centralized pieces.} 25.Rd1 f4 26.exf4 Rxf4 27.Qe3! {Now Rf2
looses to Qg5 followed by King takes knight.} 27...Nf6 28.Qh3
Rfe4 29.Re1 Rxe1+ 30.Rxe1 Rxe1+ 31.Bxe1 Kf7 {The pressure is
gone, and chances are roughly even. Idlar has 2 minutes left on
his clock.} 32.Qc3 Qg4 33.f3 Qc4 34.Qe3 d4 35.Qf4 Qd5 36.Bf2 d3
37.Be3 {Blacks string of threats are over, and now he tries to
make luft for his king away from perpetual, so his knight will
be free to move.} 37...h6 38.h4 Kg6 39.Kf2 Qc4 40.Qd4 Qc2+ 41.Kg1
Qe2 42.Kh2 Kh7 43.h5 Qc2 {Draw agreed. He had less than 1 minute
remaining, but drawing a 2700 dude in this position is not so
bad.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Marshall Action"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2001.07.27"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Hoffmann, Asa"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2406"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 c5 3.f4 Nc6 4.Nf3 d6 5.g3 g6 6.Bg2 Bg7 7.c3 Nge7
8.d3 Rb8 9.O-O b5 10.f5 {this was my second game against the
famous New York master Asa Hoffmann. he gets a little carried
away in the opening, but he is usually playing against lower
rated opponents, which explains Asa's very pragmatic style.}
10...exf5 11.exf5 Bxf5 12.Ng5 Ne5 13.d4 {trying for random
chances.} 13...cxd4 14.cxd4 Qb6 {pin} 15.Nc3 Bd3 16.Qf2 Bxf1
17.Be3 Nf5 18.Nd5 {now I find a nice win giving up a queen for a
whole bunch of pieces.} 18...Ng4 19.Qe1 Ngxe3 20.Nxb6 Bxg2 21.g4
Bxd4 {nice final stroke.} 22.gxf5 O-O 23.Qe2 Rxb6 { I think my
rook and 2 pieces and 2 pawns for the queen are winning material
edge. Immediately Asa has no way out of discovered check. The
only reason he did not resign is because he had a F pawn, which
might reach f6 and then lead to mate on g7, but those kind of
tactics only work at the park.} 24.Rd1 Nxd1+ 25.Kxg2 Ne3+ 26.Kh3
Nxf5 {and the park champ resigns.} 0-1

[Event "Liberty Park"]
[Site "World Trade Center, New York"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Henley, Ron"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A65"]
[WhiteElo "2517"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 O-O 6.Bg5 c5 7.d5 e6
8.Qd2 exd5 9.cxd5 h6 {This game was played at Liberty Park
Courtland Street, on the opposing corner of the World Trade
Center. This is a park where I played chess and backgammon to pay
my expenses through my college summer breaks for three years.}
10.Be3 {There is a lot of theory revolving around Bh6, Ne4 sacking
my knight for one move, but then getting it back with Qh4 check.}
10...a6 11.a4 Kh7 12.Nge2 Qa5 {I am threatening b5 when there is
a pin on the rook on a1 square. Now Ra3 or even better Rb1 with
the idea of b4 later on.} 13.Ra3 Nbd7 14.Nc1 Ne5 15.Be2 Nh5
16.O-O Bd7 17.Kh1 g5 {I have set up a nice grip on the kings
position. Now my threat is f5. It may look like ef5, Rf5 g4 forks
a piece but maybe I can sac something. Blitz chess you never
know.} 18.Bd3 Qd8 19.a5 f5 20.exf5 Bxf5 21.Bxf5+ Rxf5 22.g3
(22.g4) 22...Qe7 23.Qc2 Raf8 24.f4 gxf4 25.Bxf4 Nxf4 26.gxf4 Ng4
{I think I am winning now. M4 threats are Qh4, Bd4 cutti.g off
the g-file, and Ne3 forking the queen and rook.} 27.Rg1 Qh4
28.Rb3 Bd4 {now Henley blunders with a few seconds left on his
clock.} 29.Rg2 Qe1+ 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2001.06.14"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Gaprindashvili, Valerian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E46"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2537"]

1.d4 {This game is played against Valerian Gaprindashvili, who is
a GM male, not to be confused with Gaprindashvilli, the women
world champion.} 1...Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Nge2 {The
super solid Rubenstein Variation. The idea is I link my two
knights together, and then play a3 kicking away the bishop on b4,
which should not take on c3 because I take back with my knight on
e2 and have bishop pair without doubled pawns.} 5...d5 6.a3 Bd6
7.Ng3 c6 8.Bd3 e5 9.dxe5 Bxe5 10.cxd5 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 cxd5 12.O-O
Be6 13.e4 {very good move. Leaving with good pressure on the
kingside, The way I played it was solely for making a draw, but
Rb1 would leave me with an advantage.} 13...dxe4 14.Nxe4 Nxe4
15.Bxe4 Qxd1 16.Rxd1 Nc6 17.Bxc6 {this is the position where i
can play Rb1 instead. where he is left with how to defend his b7
pawn without hanging his knight on c6.} (17.Rb1 Rad8 18.Be3) {both
of my bishops are aimed at the hanging queenside pawns.}
17...bxc6 18.Bf4 Rfd8 19.Bc7 Re8 20.Rd6 Re7 21.Rxc6 Rc8 {does the
pin win?} 22.Bd6 Rxc6 23.Bxe7 {no I escape the pin.} 23...Rxc3
24.Bg5 f6 25.Be3 a6 26.a4 Bd7 27.a5 Kf7 28.Re1 g5 29.h3 Ra3
30.Bb6 h5 31.Rc1 Bb5 32.Rc7+ Ke6 33.Re7+ Kf5 34.Rf7 Kg6 35.Rf8
Rd3 36.Rd8 Rxd8 37.Bxd8 Kf5 38.f3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Manhattan Chess Club Action"]
[Site "Manhattan Chess Club New York"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Gaprindashvili, GM Valerian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E25"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2537"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 {another old pet opening of
mine. See Aravena-Shapiro for a win of mine. I have totally quit
this opening. I got my rating to 23-2400 and now look for more
conservative openings, like the e3 Nimzo and the Catalan.} 4...d5
5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Qd3 f5 {total novelty. I think
Valerian confused this variation for dc5 f5 when it makes
sense. I get a winning position right away , but the slip into
worse attacking position.} 9.e4 Ne7 10.Qb5+ Nd7 11.Bc4 {I never
can get over how a 2500 dude, can always find some means of
defense in a lost position, where anyone below GM elect would get
checkmated within a few moves.} 11...fxe4 12.Bxe6 cxd4 13.fxe4
Qc7 14.Ne2 a6 15.Qg5 {good move. Now I just win the g7 pawn. My
win would have been simple, like take on g7, watch the rook run,
castle, and bring my rooks to the center files.} 15...Nc5 16.Bxc8
Nd3+ 17.Kd2 Nc5 18.Bd7+ Nxd7 19.cxd4 Rc8 20.Ke1 h6 {a total
bluffing move. Now I can just play Qg7 and win right away. But i
was a smart chess club champion, and suspected something, so
played a loosing move instead. Yes there is bluffing in
chess. plenty of luck.} 21.Qg3 Qc6 {still Qg7 wins.} 22.Rf1 Qxe4
23.Rf4 Qe6 24.Rf3 Nf5 25.Qg4 O-O {oops, no more free g7 pawn.}
26.Re3 Qf7 27.Rc3 Rxc3 28.Nxc3 Re8+ 29.Kd2 Ne3 30.Qf3 Qb3 31.Ra2
Nb6 32.Bb2 Nbd5 {with those knights lodged onto the central
squares I am done.} 33.Kd3 Nxc3 34.Bxc3 Qc4+ 35.Kd2 Qxa2+ 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2002.01.17"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Figler, Ilye"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A60"]
[WhiteElo "2307"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 Bd6 {The snake
opening. It was pioneered by Joel Benjamin a few years ago, and
was taught to me by GM elect Boris Kreiman.} 6.g3 Bc7 7.Bg2 d6
8.e4 Nbd7 9.Nge2 O-O 10.O-O Rb8 11.a4 a6 { The main idea of
putting the bishop on the c7 square, is to be able to play a6 and
b5 , without the threat of en-passant. If we had reached this
same pawn structure in the Modern Benoni, then white could play
a5 and sometimes even get a knight to the b6 square with Na4. In
this position I have an unstoppable b5 threat!!} 12.b3 b5 13.Bb2
Re8 14.Qc2 Nf8 15.h3 b4 16.Nd1 Qe7 17.Bxf6 Qxf6 18.Ne3 a5 19.Nc4
{ Figler has succeeded in stopping my queen side pawns from
advancing and has a nice outpost for his knight on c4. My main
priorities is to trade off the c4 knight, and get my other
bishop, on c7 outside the pawn chain. The whole time I must watch
out for an f4 and e5 pawn thrust.} 19...Ba6 20.Rab1 Bxc4 21.Qxc4
Ng6 22.f4 Bd8 23.Rf2 Qe7 24.Rbf1 Qc7 25.Nc1 Bf6 {Figler played
without a clear plan for the last few moves, and now I have full
equality.} 26.Kh2 Bd4 27.Rc2 Qe7 28.Qd3 h5 {Nice idea, h5 is
hoping to get in h4 breaking up the dark squares on his
kingside.} 29.h4 Nf8 30.Qf3 Nh7 31.Ne2 Nf6 32.Nxd4 cxd4 33.Rd2
Rbc8 {Free d pawn??} 34.Rxd4 Rc3 35.Rd3 Nxe4 36.Rxc3 Nd2! {Now i
win an exchange, and the game a few moves later.} 37.Qxh5 Nxf1+
38.Bxf1 bxc3 39.Bd3 g6 40.Qd1 Qe1 0-1

[Event "Mahnattan CC Action"]
[Site "Mahnattan Chess Club New York"]
[Date "1999.06.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Ehlvest, Jaan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2702"]

1.d4 {This game was played the weekend after Ehlvest took first
place in the U.S. Open} 1...Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3
Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c6 {The usual move here is c5, challenging my pawn
center. Ehlvest was playing to get a half open c file on the
queenside which would favor him in a rook endgame.} 7.cxd5?! cxd5
8.e3 O-O 9.Bd3 b6 10.Ne2 Ba6 {Ehlvest is going right along to
plan. He will trade off my defender of the c4 square, and then
place a knight or rook on c4.} 11.O-O Bxd3 12.Qxd3 Nc6 13.e4 Ne8
14.e5 Na5 15.Ra2 Rc8 16.a4 (16.f4) { Advancing my f pawn to f5
would be a very good active plan. A while after this game was
played I saw Ivanchuk - Ehlvest, ( FIDE K.O. World Championship)
in a variation of the classical Nimzo Indian. In that game
Ivanchuk also was stuck with a weak c3 pawn, but he played much
worse and blundered it away immediately.} 16...Nc4 17.Ba3 {Very
poor move. Of course f4-f5 is still very strong. If I keep my c1
bishop on the board then Jan will have a hard time overwhelming
my c3 pawn.} 17...Nxa3 18.Rxa3 Rc4 19.Rb1 Qe7 20.Ra2 Nc7 21.Ng3
Rc8 22.Rb3 Qd7 23.a5 b5 24.Nf1 Qc6 25.Nd2 Na6 26.Rab2 h5 { Good
idea. Ehlvest makes an escape route for his king on the back
rank. The immediate trade on c3 in exchange for the b5 pawn
favors black because my d4 pawn is hanging in all these
variations. My second rank is also easier to exploit than my
opponents.} 27.Qe3 Ra4 28.Rxb5 Qxc3 29.Qxc3 Rxc3 30.Rb7 Rxd4
31.Rxa7 Nb4 32.Kf1 Nd3 {I am now totally lost. Maybe I still had
a chance if I played g3 and gave my king luft to the h3 square.}
33.Rb8+ Kh7 34.Nb3 Ra4 35.Rab7 Ra2 36.a6 Rcc2 37.Nd2 Rxd2 38.Rb1
Rf2+ 39.Kg1 Rxg2+ 40.Kh1 Rxh2+ 41.Kg1 Rag2+ 42.Kf1 Rf2+ 43.Kg1
Nf4 {Mate in 1 on h3 or e2.} 0-1

[Event "Manhattan Chess Club Thursday Night"]
[Site "Manhattan Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2001.06.12"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Dubinsky, Roman"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A81"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2355"]

1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.O-O O-O 6.Nbd2 d6 7.Re1 {a
drawish variation of the Dutch Leningrad which does not try for
much.} 7...Nc6 8.c3 e5 9.Qb3+ Kh8 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.e4 f4 {now this
is slight plus to black. One of the benefits of playing the white
pieces in a 30 minute time control is that I can play a boring
line I analyzed a little bit, and wind up winning before move.}
12.Nc4 Be6 {terrible blunder by the infamous Roman Dubinsky. Now
I simply capture on b7, and if he takes on c4 I take on c6.}
13.Qxb7 Qe8 14.Ncxe5 {winning a second pawn.} 14...Nxe5 15.Nxe5
Nh5 (15...Bc8 16.Qxa8; 15...fxg3 16.hxg3 Nd7 17.Nxd7 Qxd7
18.e5+-) 16.Nf3 Bg4 17.e5 {now fg3 opening attack on the f3
knight is defended by my queen on c6.} 17...c6 18.Nd4 f3 19.Bf1
c5 20.Nb3 Rc8 21.Be3 Rf7 22.Qb5 Bd7 23.Qc4 Be6 24.Qe4 Qe7 25.Nd2
{black can give up, but Roman senses cheapo chances because of
his weak pawn on f3.} 25...Rd8 26.Bc4 {forcing bishop trade.}
26...a5 27.Bxe6 Qxe6 28.Nxf3 Nf6 29.Ng5 {both queens are
hanging. I win in all variations. If he retreats his queen, i
take the rook on f7 with check, and then hide my queen
somewhere.} 29...Nxe4 30.Nxe6 Rd5 31.Nxg7 Kxg7 32.Rad1 Rxe5
33.Bxc5 {nice move. If Nc5 then his rook on e5 is hanging. Rc5
Re4 leaves me up 3 pawns in the endgame.} 33...Rff5 34.Bd4 Kf7
35.Bxe5 Nxf2 36.Rd7+ Ke8 37.Bf4+ Kxd7 38.Kxf2 g5 39.Re5 {time to
give up. Roman would not resign until I mated him in the endgame
with 4 extra queens.} 39...Rf8 40.Rxg5 1-0

[Event "G45 open"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2000.12.30"]
[Round "04"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Van Delft, FM Meryn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E90"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2311"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Bg5 {Merijn is a
pro chess player from Germany that plays as a club professional in
Europe. I decided to stump the seasoned champ with an offbeat
line against the Kings Indian} 6...c5 7.dxc5 dxc5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8
9.e5 Ng4 {Now I grab the e7 pawn, and it fizzles out really
quickly. Kings Indian is not a good opening to play against
someone who only needs to make a draw to win clear first in the
Thursday action tournament.} 10.Bxe7 Re8 11.Bxc5 Nd7 (11...Nxe5
12.Nxe5 Bxe5 13.Be3 Nc6 14.Rd1) 12.Bd6 Ndxe5 13.Nxe5 Nxe5
14.O-O-O Bf5 15.Nd5 {Maybe there is a slight thread here I can
win with.} 15...Rac8 16.Ne7+ (16.Re1 Ng4 17.Rxe8+ Rxe8 18.f3 Nf2
19.Rg1 Nd3+ 20.Bxd3 Bxd3 21.Ne7+ Kh8 22.Re1) {could have played
into this position, which would allow me to play up a pawn in a
drawish endgame.} 16...Rxe7 17.Bxe7 Bh6+ 18.Rd2 Nxc4 19.Bxc4
Rxc4+ 20.Kd1 Bxd2 21.Kxd2 Rc2+ 22.Ke3 Rxb2 23.Rd1 f6 (23...Kg7
24.Rd2 Rb1 25.h4 f6 26.Ba3) 24.Rd2 Rb6 25.Rd6 {now he has no way
to play for a win. A few more moves were played and I gave him a
draw when he had 30 seconds remaining on his clock.} 25...Rxd6
26.Bxd6 Kf7 27.h4 Ke6 28.Bb8 a5 29.Bc7 a4 30.Kd4 Bb1 31.a3 b5
32.Ba5 1/2-1/2

[Event "NY Masters"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2002.06.12"]
[Round "01"]
[White "D'Arruda, Ricardo"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D48"]
[WhiteElo "2437"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 {My first time playing the
Slav Meran, I had studied it quite a bit for the white pieces,
but with black I have no clue.} 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5
8.Bd3 Bb7 9.O-O a6 (9...b4 10.Ne4) 10.e4 c5 11.d5 b4 {Desperado
variation. going for a ong series of exchanges that I had not
prepared before the game. Qc7 or c4 are better alternatives.}
12.dxe6 bxc3 (12...fxe6) 13.exd7+ Qxd7 14.Ne5 Qd4 15.Qb3 O-O-O
{Very sharp position. Of course I am lost, but there are a lot of
very confusing ideas that could send D'Arruda going the wong
way.} (15...Qxe5 16.Qxb7) 16.Bf4 {defending his hanging knight
and setting up a threat on the b8 square.} 16...Nxe4 17.Nc6 {Now
i a lost in all variations. The only way for me to win the game
is to play with psychological tactics.} (17.bxc3 Nxc3 18.Bf5++-)
17...c4 {Sacking my queen.} (17...Bxc6 18.Bxa6+ (18.Qb8+ Kd7
19.Qc7+ Ke6~~) 18...Kd7 19.Rfd1+- (pin wins)) 18.Qa4 cxb2 {very
odd idea of mine. But I saw this position a few moves ahead where
i have very active minor pieces for the queen.} 19.Nxd4 bxa1=Q
20.Qxc4+ Bc5 {Very good interposing of the bishop. Now I at least
a rook and minor piece for the queen.} 21.Rxa1 Rxd4 22.Qxf7 Rd7
23.Qe6 Nxf2 24.Bf5 {The winning move was Ba6 which pins my
dangerous bishop on b7, and wins immediately.} 24...Nh3+ 25.Kf1
Bxg2+ {Nice tactic. Now Kg2 looses to Nf4 forking the queen and
king, and the alternative Ke1 looses to Bf2 check which forces
the king to the e2 when it gets forked by Nf4.} 26.Kxg2 (26.Ke1
Bf2+ 27.Ke2 Nxf4+ 28.Kxf2 Nxe6 29.Bxe6 Bc6-+) 26...Nxf4+ 27.Kf3
Nxe6 28.Bxe6 Kc7 29.Bxd7 Kxd7 30.Rd1+ Bd6 0-1

[Event "Insanity"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2002.01.17"]
[Round "07"]
[White "Burnett, Ron"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A26"]
[WhiteElo "2505"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e4 Nge7 6.Nge2 O-O 7.d3 d6
8.O-O f5 {Ron Burnett is a very solid IM that has been playing at
the Marshall Chess Club for a few seasons now.} 9.Nd5 fxe4
10.dxe4 Nd4?! {A poor move which should loose time to Bg5
. Burnett said after the game that he did not play Bg5 because he
was hoping for me to recapture ed4 when Bg5 wins at least an
exchange.} 11.Nxd4 Nxd5 12.exd5 exd4 {I prefer blacks
position. the passed d pawn proves to be very dangerous over the
next few moves.} 13.b3 d3 14.Rb1 Bf5 {Moves 12 through 16 were
played in a flash. Right now Burnett can stop all my threats with
Bd2, but in game 30 you cannot alaways think so clearly with so
little time on the clock.} 15.Bb2?? d2 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Rb2 Bd3
{Wining an exchange.} 18.Rxd2 Bxf1 19.Qxf1 Qg5 20.f4 Qf6 21.Bh3
g5 22.fxg5 Qxg5 23.Qa1+ Rf6 { I was trying to find a safe place
for my king. Right now it appears that the g8 and h8 squares will
be under threat of check for the rest of the game. If I cannot
find a good post for my king to hide, I will not be able to free
the rest of my pieces to decide the game. h6 looks like the best
square.} 24.Re2 Raf8 25.Be6 Kh6 {The threat is Rf1 check, trading
two rooks for the queen. This would win on the spot.} 26.Kg2 Qh5
27.Qc1+ Kg7 28.Qe3 Qf3+ 29.Qxf3 Rxf3 30.Bg4 Rc3 {Beginning to
create counter play against Burnett's queenside pawns. I am
inviting his rook to go to e7, when I will trade it off, and then
put my other rook on c2 and win all his pawns.} 31.Kh3 a5 32.Bh5
Rf5 {I set up a nice cheapo. It appears to Burnett that maybe he
can trap my king, or win my h7 pawn, but it is just an illusion.}
33.Re7+ Kh6 34.Bf7 Rc2 {Inviting his bishop to the g8 square. My
other rook cuts off the kings retreat to the second rank.} 35.Bg8
Rh5+ 36.Kg4 Rg5+ {Ooops!! Fork!!} 0-1

[Event "Marshal Action"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Braylovsky, Gregory"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2409"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.f4 Bg7
8.Bb5+ {A bunch of British GM's dubbed this the flick knife
attack. Who is better to name this opening the over enthusiastic
GM John Norwood.} 8...Nfd7 9.Be2 O-O 10.Nf3 a6 11.a4 { This
position I found in a book by Mike Shereshevsky, "The Soviet
Chess Conveyor" The main idea is to put the light squared bishop
on an inferior square to avoid all the main line theory. After
playing it for a while I discovered that in all the variations
where white plays e5 break, the d5 pawn is defended twice by the
queen and knight. The immediate Nf6 gets into trouble after e5.}
11...Qc7 12.Nd2 Re8 13.O-O {There is no sense behind this
move. Greg made a mistake playing pawn to a6, so now he must find
a way to somehow develop his queenside. This is a very common
problem in the Modern Benoni.} 13...Nf8 14.Bd3 Nbd7 15.Nc4 Nb6
16.Ne3 { Very strong move. Now a5 is threatened. My knight on e3
also supports the f5 advance. It would be a big error to trade
the knight of b6. In general it is good to avoid trading when
your opponent is in a cramped position. Now Greg plays Bd7 and
his knight on b6 is out of good squares.} 16...Bd7 17.a5 Nc8
18.f5 f6 19.h4 b5 {looking at this position 4 years later, I
think it is better to take en pessant on b6, and then after Nb6
playing b3 keeping the c pawn from advancing. Black is in total
bind. There is no reason to make the position more tactical.}
20.Ne2 c4 21.Bc2 Ne7 22.Nd4 gxf5 23.Nexf5 Nxf5 24.Nxf5 Bxf5
25.Rxf5 {Black is totally lost. It will take a little finesse to
break the defense or the stubborn Braylovsky.} 25...b4 26.h5 h6
27.Qg4 Kh8 28.Bd2 Rab8 29.Raf1 c3 30.bxc3 bxc3 31.Bc1 Nh7 32.Qg6
Nf8 33.Qg4 Nh7 34.e5 {Very good calculated risk . I cannot break
through that easily without getting my light squared bishop into
the game.} 34...Rxe5 35.Rxe5 dxe5 36.Qg6 Nf8 37.Qd3 Qxa5 38.Bxh6
{Slightly faulty, but at the 30 minute time control psychological
tactics help score quick points.} 38...Bxh6 39.Rxf6 Qc5+ 40.Kh2
Rb6 41.Rxf8+ {The immediate Bf8 gets mated by Qh7. now Kg7
looses also to retreating the rook to f3 followed by mate. I had
very little time left as did Greg, so we both blundered back and
forth until I happened to come out the lucky winner.} 41...Kg7
42.Qf5 Bf4+ 43.Kh3 Qxf8 44.Qh7+ Kf6 45.Qg6+ Ke7 46.Qxb6 {A few
months after this game was played Greg went on to play in the
U.S. Junior Championship.} 1-0

[Event "Manhattan Action"]
[Site "Manhattan Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2001.08.09"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bonin, Jay"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C05"]
[WhiteElo "2445"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ndf3 Qb6
8.a3 Qa5 {A novelty. I have lost a tempo over regular main lines,
but it should have the effect of stumping Jay in his special
sauce.} 9.dxc5 Qxc5 10.b4 Qb6 (10... Qxc3+) {This would lose by
force. The immediate Bd2 would trap my queen in a few moves.}
11.Qd3 a5 12.Be3 d4 {A nice calculated risk. If Jay is smart
enough to take cd4 then he is much better, but he has two ways to
go wrong.} 13.Nxd4? axb4 14.Nxe6 Ncxe5 {Now there are two knights
and two queens en-prie.} 15.Nxg7+ Bxg7 16.fxe5 Qe6 {I have a
totally winning position. Immediately cb4 looses time to Ne5 with
checks every where.} 17.Nf3 Nxe5 18.Nxe5 Bxe5 19.Qb5+ Bd7 20.Qxb4
Bg3+ {Not the best win. Ra4 with the idea of lifting the rook to
the central files was a quick win.} 21.hxg3 Qxe3+ 22.Be2 Ra4 {A
move late, but it still works.} 23.Qb2 Qxg3+ 24.Kd1 Qxg2 25.Re1
O-O 26.Qb6 {Jay is very sneaky, even in lost positions. His threat
right now is Rg1, which is easy to over look, if you are not used
to the slippery Bonin.} 26...Qd5+ 27.Kc1 Rc8 28.Rg1+ Rg4! {of
course Jay is up to mating tactics. If I moved out of check, I
would have to resign after Qf6 mating.} 29.Bxg4 Rxc3+ 30.Kb1
Rb3+ 31.Kc1 Qc4+ 32.Kd1 Bxg4+ {Now he is losing all his
pieces. Good time to throw in the towel.} 0-1

[Event "Thursday Action"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2002.07.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Blatny, Pavel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B00"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2603"]

1.d4 b6 2.e4 Bb7 3.Bd3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Nge2 {Novelty. This move I
invented a few years ago because I had to play blitz chess every
day of the week against a club regular at the Manhattan Chess
Club who championed this opening.} 5...d5 6.exd5 exd5 7.O-O Be7
8.Ng3 {I think I aready have a big advantage. My knight is going
straight for the f5 square. Usually the b7 bishop would be on c8,
where it keeps an eye on f5.} 8...O-O 9.Re1 Re8 10.Qf3 Nc6 11.Nf5
Nb4 12.Qg3 {Threatening Qg7 mate.} 12...Nh5 13.Nh6+ Kf8 14.Qh3
Bf6 {An important inter-mezzo. This tempo's my rook on the e1
square.} 15.Be3 Nxd3 16.cxd3 gxh6 17.Qxh5 Bg5 { Another annoying
defensive move. From looking at this position at a glance, you
would think white is winning. The move I played , pawn to f4 was
probably wrong. Better might be h4 forcing bishop taking on e3,
when I can recapture with my f pawn, then play Rad1 and e4.}
18.f4 Bf6 19.Qxh6+ Bg7 20.Qxh7 Rxe3 {I had overlooked this. Now
Pavel gets one of his two pawns back.} 21.Rxe3 Bxd4 22.Qh6+
(22.Rae1 Bxe3+ 23.Rxe3 d4 24.Qh8#) 22...Bg7 23.Qh3 d4 24.Rg3 dxc3
25.bxc3 Qf6 26.d4 Bd5 27.Qd7 Qe6 28.Qxc7 Rc8 29.Qxa7 Qd6 30.Qa4
Bc4 31.Qd1 Re8 32.Rf3 {Now Be2 wins back the extra material.}
32...Qd5 33.a3 Be2 34.Qd2 Bxf3 35.gxf3 {At this point we both had
very little time left. The game was drawn a few moves later, when
there was no winning material left on the board.} 1-0

[Event "NY Masters"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2002.08.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Blatny GM, Pavel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B00"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2603"]

1.d4 b6 2.e4 Bb7 3.Nc3 e6 {GM Blatny's specialty. He used to play
the Budapest gambit regularly. Now he plays e6 and b6. The most
black can hope for is a French advance or Winawer with b6 played
to early.} 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.Nge2 c5 6.O-O (6.Bg5) 6...Qc8 {Threatening
c4 winning my bishop on d3.} 7.dxc5 bxc5 8.e5 c4 {Loosing a pawn
. Nd5 was much better but it still leaves black with a backwards
center pawn.} 9.exf6 cxd3 10.fxg7 Bxg7 (10...dxe2 11.gxh8Q exd1Q
12.Rxd1) {analysis diagram. White is up an exchange and a pawn
with threats of Bg5, Bh6 and Nb5.} 11.Qxd3 Qc6 12.f3 Ba6 13.Qe3
d5 {Pavel is threatening d4, exposing the rook on f1.} 14.Rd1 O-O
15.Qg5 Bxe2 16.Nxe2 Qxc2 17.Bd2! {can you see what is wrong with
Qb2??} 17...Qg6 18.Qh4 Bxb2 19.Rab1 Bf6 20.Qh3 e5 21.Rb4 { not
what Pavel was expecting. If I can lift my rook on the forth rank
over to g4 then I have a decisive attack. Now he plays d4
blocking the 4th rank, but it leaves a hole for my knight on e4,
and the center an be liquidated after I play pawn to f4.} 21...d4
22.Ng3 Nc6 23.Rc4 Ne7 24.f4 exf4 25.Bxf4 Nd5 26.Bh6 Rfe8 27.Nf5
Rad8 28.Rcxd4 {Now tactics erupt. Pavel misses a winning shot in
the middle of the combination, but he only had 3 minutes left on
his clock to play out the rest of the game.} 28...Nf4 (28...Bxd4+
29.Rxd4 Re1+ 30.Kf2 Re5 31.Rxd5 (31.Rg4) 31...Qb6+ 32.Kf3 Rdxd5
33.Qg4+ Qg6 34.Ne7+ Rxe7 35.Qc8+) 29.Bxf4 Bxd4+ 30.Nxd4 {black to
move.} 30...Rxd4 31.Rxd4 Qb1+ 32.Kf2 Qe1+ 33.Kf3 {black to move
and win. Starting with 28. Rcd4 and then going until 37. Qg4, all
of these moves were played in seconds.} 33...Qe2+ (33...Qc3+
34.Kg4 Qxd4-+) 34.Kg3 Re3+ 35.Bxe3 Qxe3+ 36.Kh4 Qxd4+ 37.Qg4+
Qxg4+ 38.Kxg4 {I have a clear win. Advance my a pawn as far as
possible and then walk my king over to the queenside. We were
both in mutual time pressure.} 38...Kg7 39.Kf5 h6 40.g4?! {This
is a very bad blunder. I can still win by putting my h pawn on h3
and then walking my king to the a file. As usual in time
pressure, one blunder follows another.} (40.a4 a5 41.Ke5 Kg6
42.Kd5 Kf5 43.Kc5 { This would be a simple winning method,
leaving my pawns on the second rank where they are hard to reach,
and winning his a5 or a7 pawn and the game. A move earlier I had
2 minutes left on my clock, and Pavel only one minute.} 43...Ke4
44.Kb5 Ke3 45.Kxa5 Kf2 46.g3 Kg2 47.Kb6 Kxh2 48.a5 Kxg3 49.a6)
40...Kg8 41.Kf6 Kf8 42.h4 {After this error I cannot force a win
anymore.} (42.h3 Kg8 43.a4 Kf8 (43...a5 44.Ke7 Kg7 45.Kd6) 44.a5
a6 45.h4 Kg8 46.Ke7 Kg7 47.Kd6 Kf6 48.Kc6 Ke5 49.Kb6 Kf4 50.Kxa6
Kxg4 51.Kb7 Kxh4 52.a6) 42...Kg8 43.Ke7 Kg7 44.h5 Kg8 45.Kf6 Kf8
46.Ke5 Ke7 47.Kf5 Ke8 48.Kf6 Kf8 49.a4 a5 50.Ke5 (50.Kf5 Ke7
51.Ke5 Ke8 52.Kd6 Kf8 53.Kc6 Ke7 54.Kb5 Kf6 55.Kxa5 Kg5 56.Kb6
Kxg4 57.a5 f5 58.a6 f4 59.a7 f3 60.a8Q f2 61.Qg2+) 50...Ke7
51.Kf5 Ke8 52.g5 hxg5 53.Kxg5 Kf8 54.h6 Kg8 55.Kf6 Kh7 56.Kxf7
Kxh6 57.Ke6 Kg6 58.Kd6 Kf7 59.Kc5 Ke6 60.Kb5 Kd7 61.Kxa5 Kc7
62.Ka6 Kb8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Shahade Closed"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2003.02.11"]
[Round "01"]
[White "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Black "Benen, Samson"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A43"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "2309"]

1.d4 c5 2.d5 e6 3.e4 { This was played in round one of the Greg
Shahade first international tournament. Going into this game
Benen was #1 highest rated. I am not sure, but according to my
records I am debatably the highest rated chess player born in New
York City in the last 35 years. Some people say that Samson is
better, who was born in the East Village. This game decided the
title of Champion of New York for 2003. The only other runners up
are Jay Bonin, Asa Hoffmann, (see my two Asa games in my column)
and Ylon Shwartz.} 3...exd5 4.exd5 d6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Nc3 Be7 7.Bb5+
Nbd7 8.a4 a6 {I have already played a4, so pawn to a6 does not
threaten b5.} 9.Be2 O-O 10.O-O b6?! {A very passive move. In the
Modern Benoni, when the bishop would already be on g7, then of
course black could use my e4 pawn as a souse of counter play.}
11.Bf4 Re8 12.Nd2 Rb8 13.Nc4 {I gain a tempo off the d6 pawn.}
13...Nf8 14.Re1 Ng6 15.Bg3 b5?? {Loosing by force. I quote John
Fernandez who told me after the game that Samson had said in the
hallway "Now the knight goes to a5 and c6 and attacks things !!"
Practically speaking, black is lost after b5.} 16.axb5 axb5
17.Na5 Bd7 18.Nc6 Bxc6 19.dxc6 b4 {Another forced move. Now I
have a choice of either Nb5 or Nd5.} 20.Nd5 {looks much
simpler. It forces a trade of knights, and then I have light
square domination. 20.Nd5 my threat is pawn to c7 fork.}
20...Nxd5 21.Qxd5 Bf8 22.Bg4! {Now I have a clear plan. My bishop
controls the c8 square. I will somehow gain control of c7 and
then play Bd7 and queen to c7 and push my pawn to make to c8 so
it will turn into a queen.} 22...Rxe1+ 23.Rxe1 Rb6 { Trying to
complicate. I thought for a while and realized that the immediate
Bd7 does not work. If I can force the knight to e7 square while
my bishop is still on g4, then Ne7 Qd6 winning a pawn is
possible. I also noticed that in a lot of variations black can
gain a tempo off my back rank, threatening mate. So I played the
text move.} 24.h4 Qa8 25.Bd7 Ne7 26.Qxd6 Nxc6 27.Qc7 {The move
Samson had over looked. Then again he didnt really see anything
this game. The rook on b6 is hanging. If Qb8 then Re8 wins. if
Ra6 then Re8 wins again, and then the text move.} 27...Qd8 28.Re8
{Resigns. If Qc7 then Bc7, Rb7 Bd6 forces mate, or wins two
pieces, or both.} 1-0

[Event "NY Masters"]
[Site "Marshall Chess Club New York"]
[Date "2002.10.07"]
[Round "03"]
[White "Ashley, Maurice"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2564"]
[BlackElo "2313"]

1.e4 {Going into this game both Maurice and myself had 0-2,
getting paired against a GM with 0 points happens to someone
nearly every week in this tournament.} 1...e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5 c5
4.b4 {The French Defence Wing Gambit. It is championed by a lot
of chess experts that play at the Marshall, most notably
Johnathan Corblah.} 4...cxb4 5.d4 Nc6 6.a3 Qa5 7.Be2 b3+ 8.Bd2
bxc2 9.Qxc2 Bb4 {Loosing on the spot. The simple Qb6 or Qd8 would
leave me with a solid extra pawn.} 10.axb4 Qxa1 11.Bc3 Nxb4
12.Bxb4 Bd7 13.O-O {There is no defense to the threat of Nc3
trapping my queen. Qa4 looses to mate after Qc5.} 13...Rc8 14.Nc3
Qa4 15.Qxa4 Bxa4 16.Nxa4 Ne7 17.Bb5+ Nc6 18.Bd6 a6 19.Nb6 Rd8
20.Bxc6+ bxc6 21.Bc7 1-0

For other photos see:

• Peter Julius Sloan
• Full archive of annotated chess games by Peter Sloan
• More Games by My Son Peter
• Bragging Rights - My son defeated International Master Jay Bonin
• Mary and Peter Sloan
• Anda Baumanis, Mother of Peter Julius Sloan
• Mary Rachel Sloan, Sister of Peter Julius Sloan
• Shamema Honzagool Sloan
• Leroy B. Sloan, Grandfather of Peter Julius Sloan
• Jessica Vithanage Sloan
• School homework assignment submitted to English class by Peter Sloan
• Birthday Party for Dr. Helen Marjorie Sloan at age 80, March 17, 1990
• Sofia Polgar plays Shamema Honzagool Sloan
• FIDE Online: Peter Sloan is rated by the World Chess Federation