John Fedorowicz bronxbattler.com

Players: John Fedorowicz

	Name	Fedorowicz, John
	Federation	United States of America
	FIDE title	Grandmaster
	B-Year	1958
	Sex	Male

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1973 1st place New York Championship Class A
1973 1st place New Jersey Junior Championship
1974 1st place US Junior Congress
1974 1st place US Amateur Championship
1974 1st place Annual Westfield Open
1974 1st place New Jersey State Championship Class A
1975 1st place National High School Championship
1975 1st place Metro Chess Congress-Master Section
1975 1st place Manhattan Open Championship
1975 1st place Garden State Chess Association
1976 1st place Virginia Open
1976 tied for 2nd place US open (first: Lein and Shamkovich)
1977 tied for 1st place World Open (together with Ron Henley)
1977 tied for 1st place US Junior Championship (together with Ken Regan)
1978 awarded with IM title
1978 1st place Hartford Open (Connecticut)
1978 3rd place Mexico (first: Leonid Shamkovich, second: Juan Fernandez)
1979 tied for 1st World Open (with 6 others,H. Angantysson 1st on tiebreak)

1980 tied for 1st place in the U.S. open (together with Florin Gheorghiu)
1981 1st place Manhattan Chess Club Championship
1982 tied for 1st World Open (together with Gurevich,DeFirmian and Eugene Meyer)
1984 tied for 3rd place in the U.S. Championships (first: Alburt)
1984 tied for 2nd place at Hastings
1985 tied for 4th U.S. Championships (first: Alburt)
1986 tied for 2nd place at Dortmund
1986 represented the US in the Dubai Chess Olympiad
1986 awarded with GM title
1987 winner Cannes
1987 winner Sesimbra
1987 tied for 3rd U.S. Championships (first: Benjamin,de Firmian)
1988 tied for 3rd U.S. Championships (first: Wilder)
1989 winner New York Open
1989 tied for 6th place U.S. Championships (first: Dzindzichashvili,Rachels and Seirawan)
1989 tied for 1st World Open (together with 9 others,M. Gurevich won blitz playoffs)

1990 winner Wijk aan Zee Group B
1990 2nd in Stockholm (first: Shirov)
1990 represented the US in the Novi Sad Chess Olympiad
1991 participant of Wijk aan Zee Group A
1991 3rd place Buenos Aires (first: Mikhail Tal)
1991 tied 3rd place U.S. Championships (first: Kamsky)
1992 6th place U.S. Championships (first: Wolff)
1992 2nd US Open (first: Kaidanov)
1993 tied for fourth place U.S. Championships (first: Shabalov)
1996 tied for 1st Manhattan Chess Club Championship (together with Wojtkiewiez)
1997 tied for 5th place U.S. Championships (first: Benjamin)
1997 tied for 2nd Chigago Open (first: Kaidanov,Shabalov,Browne)
1998 tied for 1st in the Preliminary Group but lost playoffs for semi-finals U.S. Championships (first: de Firmian )
1998 tied for 1st Chigago Open (together with Shabalov, Gulko ,Benjamin, Novikov)
1999 5th place in the Preliminary Group U.S. Championships (first: Gulko )
1999 tied for 1st Stratton CCA ChessWise Open (together with Victor Bologan)

2000 tied for 8th place U.S. Championships (first: Benjamin)
2000 tied for 3rd CCA ChessWise Open (1st Bologan/Ehlvest)
2000 tied for 1st World Open (with 6 others,J. Benjamin won blitz playoffs)
2008 / 2009 Coach of Marc Arnold, since 2012 GM Marc Arnold
2009 inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame
2012 tied for 3rd Canadian open (first: Eric Hansen)
2015 3rd place FIDE Kitchener Masters (first: Bareev)
2015 Member of IBM Team Deep Blue vs Kasparov (opening book/game plan)
2017 Member of the Coachteam of USA youth chessplayers during the World Cadet and Youth Chess Championship (Brasil/Uruquay)

John Fedorowicz was born on September 27th 1958 in The Bronx, New York. His early interests included baseball and basketball, chess didn't arrive on the scene till later. A lot of his contemporaries were child prodigies, young masters and the like. He first played chess in grammar school with his friends but they didn't know most of the rules. Castling? What's that and don't even think about en passant.

Real chess occurred in September of 1972 like a lot of players in his generation. The big event was the Fischer vs Spassky World Championship match in Reyjavik Iceland. He lived with his parents and his younger sister Angela in Piscataway, New Jersey back then. He remember flipping the channels on the T.V. ( No remote controls back then or cable.) when He came to channel 13, the educational network. There was this guy ( Master Shelby Lyman) doing commentary on the match with several strong guests discussing the various positions. He found the names of the openings amusing but tuned in for every game. He never realized it, but that was a significant moment in his life.

Several months after the match with some help from his mom he found the Piscataway Chess Club run by Glenn Petersen who later became a good friend and adviser. Like any kid he thought he was good, of course that was a ridiculous notion.

After taking many beatings from players of all strengths he decided to hit the big time. There was a stronger club about 10 miles away from where he lived. The Westfield Chess Club had many strong players so he saved his lunch money and joined up. It was November 1973 that he played his first USCF rated game. The tournament was the club championship and there were different categories. He of course continued to believe he was strong but was still put into the lowest section. Some how he unbelievably went 11-0! which gave him his first rating of 1430. He became a master about a year and a half after and was off and running.

His first trip abroad was to Sweden and Norway with a high school group. That group included future G.M.'s Michael Rohde, Jon Tisdall, and Ron Henley along with a future World Junior Champion Mark Diesen. The trip was alot of fun and the team did very well.

Other trips followed, the National Open in Las Vegas and the famous Lone Pine tournament in California. The Hastings Challengers and the Islington Open rapped up 1976.

In 1977 he got his first FIDE rating, 2480, even he had to say he was very overrated. That rating though got him into the 1977/78 Hastings Premier. There he almost defeated former World Champion Tigran Petrosian with a Jon Tisdall novelty in a Keres Attack. He made a respectable score and this gave him good confidence.

He wrapped up the I.M. title in 1978. The hunt for the G.M. title was long and brutal. Many near misses norms nearly expiring but in the end he made it by the skin of his teeth. The final norm was made at the DubaHe Olympiad where he had a team beat score of 8-2 on board 4. Making the title was a great experience but was tempered by the United States failing to win the Olympiad after leading most of the way.

He is known as "The Fed" or the Rocky Balboa of chess in the chess circuit.

younger John Fedorowicz 76

His chess career has had it's ups and downs but what doesn't. He has been been a second numerous times to G.M.'s such as James Tarjan, Tatiana Lematchko, Joel Benjamin, Walter Browne, Nick de firmian and Gata Kamsky. He has gotten 2 Olympic bronze metals, one as a captain, one as a player and one olympic silver medal as a player. Recently he has coached kids teams and was the women's team captain at the 1998 Elista Olympics.

He has won every major U.S. tournament except the U.S. Championship (he is still working on that! or maybe not)

Some people think his win at the 1989 New York Open was his best result. He was ranked 41st and won with a 7-2 score. He has written a book called "The Complete Benko Gambit" and has contributed to every major chess publication.

Nowdays he still plays chess and he is a chessteacher / chesscoach, attending chess camps and writes articles for magazines and played (monthly) on chessclub.com (ICC) and he is a NY Giants fan!

(1996)

Contenders in the World Championship match are usually assisted by "seconds". These seconds provide advice, help analyze positions (not while the game is in progress, of course), and generally support the player. Gata Kamsky's team in Elista consisted of John Fedorowicz, Pedrag Nikolic and Loek Van Wely. On Monday, June 24, GM Fedorowicz unexpectedly departed Elista for New York. The USCF Assistant Director Eric Johnson interviewed John upon his return.

For the past several weeks, GM John Fedorowicz, 37, of New York City, has been assisting the Kamsky team in Elista. John recently returned to the United States, and generously offered to spend a few minutes with USCF to offer his impressions of the FIDE World Championship match. EJ: John, let me start out by saying that information about the match conditions has been somewhat scarce. What exactly will happen if the match ends in a 10:10 tie?

JF: Any tie will be broken by a series of two-game mini-matches, played at 40/2, followed by 15 moves in 30 minutes.

JE = Eric C. Johnson
JF = John Fedorowicz

EJ: No sudden death?

JF: No sudden death - the next time controls just continue on. There would be no adjournments for the overtime either.

EJ: That's a bit faster than the 40/2, 16/1 time control for the first 20 games...

JF: That's right.

EJ: What's the mood in Elista? Gata is behind, but is he upbeat? Depressed?

JF: Gata is just playing chess. At the beginning, maybe because his score against Karpov is not that good, maybe he was a little intimidated. Karpov's openings are always something of a surprise, and maybe that had an influence in the beginning. The "Kamsky system" of preparation might be a bit of overkill - during the off days, we were working 10 hours a day on chess; on the playing days we'd work six hours. Some days, Gata would still be preparing 15 minutes before the game. The seconds didn't feel very good about this...

EJ: So it's a bit like cramming...

JF: Yes, like he was trying to memorize the games. Plus, it was a bit boring - no distractions. At other tournaments with Gata, we'd play video games or foosball, maybe watch TV. In Elista, it's all chess...

EJ: Your comments make it sound as though the preparation was very dry, very technical, just chess. Was there any psychological preparation? In New York, during the Kasparov-Anand match, members of the Anand team were always commenting on the mood of the challenger...

JF: I think Gata is more mentally tough than Anand. He's not afraid, he just thinks Karpov is a good player.

EJ: How much say does Roustam have in the preparation? Is it true he has the final word over the opening selection?

JF: Pretty much - he picks the openings. The King's Indian Defense (in Game Seven) was a disaster. There are some openings that certain people just shouldn't play.

EJ: How strong a player is Roustam? He's listed as about 1800 USCF...

JF: Not a strong player...I would have said lower than that.

EJ: Is he involved in all the major decisions?

JF: Oh, yes, he's involved in every decision. He's always making suggestions. The seconds had a joke that we ought to "fine" Roustam $10 for every suggested move that drops a piece; $20 for illegal moves. He always has suggestions.

EJ: Have there been any major disputes during the match so far?

JF: The Kalmykia and FIDE people are doing a good job...I'm impressed. We rode in on the President's plane, and we got in about 2:30 in the morning. When we arrived, there was a big dinner and celebration. It was a little odd, to have such a big celebration at that time, but the local people are certainly going all out for the match.

EJ: We heard something about a dispute over the computer room...

JF: It's a small room, about 10 feet or so from the player's rest areas...the players have rest areas just like in New York...where they can retire during the game, watch on the television monitors... During games, there would be people in the computer room printing out analyses and games from databases.

EJ: Isn't the computer area really for journalists?

JF: No, it's separate from the press room...

EJ: I gather that Roustam raised a fuss over the analyses?

JF: Roustam was right to be suspicious...the officials agreed to move the computer room away from anywhere near where Karpov would be during the games.

EJ: Have any famous persons been in attendance at the games?

JF: Some Russian artists, names you wouldn't recognize. Smyslov was at the opening ceremony...

EJ: Any visits by Kasparov?

JF: No!

EJ: What's your impression of the quality of the games so far?

JF: Before the match, we didn't expect much - Gata didn't play very much before the match...he's rusty. He played just once, at the tournament in Spain, right before the match.

EJ: Maybe the long lay-off was a mistake?

JF: Maybe... The problem with the Kamsky's is that they hate everybody (chuckling)... the opponent just tries harder against them.

EJ: Back to match conditions. How much of the prize fund will the players receive at the end?

JF: I believe it's, what, $1.1 million... I think it's $650,000 to the winner, $450,000 to the loser... I think that's right.

EJ: Is there any match paraphernalia available ... posters ... program booklets?

JF: Yes, there were those types of things... I have some buttons, and I saw posters, things like that.

EJ: Your overall impression of the playing conditions?

JF: The thing is pretty well-run. It's not the World Trade Center, but it's well-run. I'm sure the Kamsky's would prefer another venue, but it seemed to me that the spectators were rooting for Gata.

EJ: Rooting for him when he fell behind?

JF: No, from the beginning. He's younger; Karpov has been world champion for a long time.

EJ: There's been some misinformation about why you left Elista - some reports said that you had a death in the family...

JF: (Laughing)... No, nothing serious like that. We used the "cover" of a family emergency so that my leaving wouldn't disrupt the match. It was just some personal differences... maybe my "weird" sense of humor... I left on good terms.

EJ: Anything else you'd like to say?

JF: Just that it was a little boring over there... we stayed in a house with the Kamsky family... three brothers, a couple of nieces, his mother came for a visit... they were very nice, but there was very little to do...

EJ: Was there any talk during the match of a future match with Kasparov?

JF: I think the winner is supposed to play Kasparov, maybe in 4-5 months...

EJ: How do you think either of these two players (Karpov and Kamsky) would fare in such a match?

JF: Karpov's chances are pretty good... Kamsky would do well too. Kasparov doesn't look so sharp these days, people aren't afraid of him anymore.

EJ: What about plans for the regular FIDE cycle?

JF: They are calling the match the "1996 World Championship," so I think Iljumzhinov is trying to make his idea for match or knock-out tournament every year come to pass... I spoke with him on the plane about this... I'm against the idea. The world championship should be a longer match, something really important.

EJ: Let me end our discussion on a slightly less serious note... Apparently, Roustam gave a controversial interview right before the match... something about finding a wife for Gata, is that right?

JF: Well, Gata has all sorts of people sending him pictures of their daughters... I thought it was pretty funny. I feel bad for Gata, because he's only 22 years old, and he is not allowed to live his life. His father makes all the decisions. If he loses the match, Roustam says Gata will go to medical school. That's a big decision for his father to make.

EJ: John, thanks for spending the time with us today.

JF: No problem.

(2006)

Grandmaster John Fedorowicz tells how he became a strong player and gives advice to aspiring scholastic players while at Castle Chess camp

(2009)

Interview with a Hall of Famer: GM John Fedorowicz by Jennifer Shahade

GM John Fedorowicz, along with author & magazine editor Burt Hochberg (1933-2006), was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009, a year after his rivals and friends, GM Nick DeFirmian, GM Larry Christiansen and GM Joel Benjamin were inducted.

John has a long and illustrious career, winning numerous tournaments all over the world. He earned the grandmaster title at the 1986 Dubai Olympiad, won the super-strong 1989 New York Open and played in 20 U.S. championships. John is also an accomplished coach and writer.

One of his most distinguished students is 16-year-old IM Marc Arnold. John also authored The Complete Benko Gambit and co-authored the English Attack with GM Nick DeFirmian. The New Yorker talked to CLO about why he enjoys playing more than ever and how much fun it is to tell his students about beating GM Viswanathan Anand. At the end of the interview, enjoy IM Mark Ginsburg's annotations of two key victories by "The Fed".

Jennifer Shahade (JS): How did it feel to be inducted to the Hall of Fame? Did you expect it?

John Fedorowicz (JF): Well, I never won a U.S. Championship despite playing in a lot of them. But I figured by playing in 20 U.S. championships, winning national high schools and the U.S. Junior, and just the overall package, I had a chance.

I turned 51 last Sunday. I don't feel bad, but it's kind of weird that we're all so old. I remember at the Waldorf-Astoria watching the Karpov-Kasparov match, Nick and I were watching Najdorf and Reshevsky analyze, and my girlfriend at the time, Paige, said, "You and Larry and Nick are going to be old like that one day." And it's funny, "one day" went by fast.

JS: How was the induction ceremony?
JF: It was great. The first people I thanked were Denis Barry and Glenn Petersen. And people like Joel and Nick who when we were growing up together, we helped each other. I felt that I was grateful to have people give me good advice; Mike Valvo and others. I sort of just hoped that I didn't forget anyone. I wouldn't be anywhere without any of them. Of course, I had to thank Goichberg – where would East Coast chess be without Goichberg? I also thanked the Russian immigrants … Alburt, Dzindzi, Shamkovich.

JS: Why did you thank the Russian immigrants?
JF: Well, let's take Shamkovich, I felt like I played with him 135 times. And if you keep playing guys like that in tough endings and long games, you have to learn — that's just the way it is.

JS: What is your most memorable tournament victory?
JF: There were a lot of great tournaments, Wijk aan Zee or the Olympiad in Dubai (8-2) and Novi Sad (7½-2½) but the number one most memorable would have to be New York Open 1989, cause it was here in New York and I was ranked 41st. I got 7/9, with eight of those nine players being much higher rated than me.

JS: Why do you think you had that landmark victory in that time?
JF: I felt very relaxed, because I just finished writing the book on the Benko Gambit. It was a huge weight off me, which I think sent me off to that tournament with a relaxed attitude. I also had decent prep, I had ideas, especially in the Benko. Chess is sometimes luck, you know how sometimes you play a tournament and out of nine rounds you get six or seven openings that you don't feel good about – and sometimes you play in a tournament where you've just been working on all the openings you get.

JS: How much did you win at the New York Open?
JF: About 18,000 in 1989, which is worth about double that now. I'm very safe though – I just let it hang out in the bank, took some people out to dinner, the usual stuff.

JS: Can you tell us about a particularly memorable game in your career?
JF: I kind of like my draw with Tigran Petrosian, because I got lucky to get into Hastings, because my first FIDE rating was 2480. I was supposed to play in the Challengers, and someone had visa problems, so I had the highest rating and got in. At the time I was playing chess for four years, and I almost beat Petrosian. It was one of my most memorable games but I'm not sure I can say favorite, because I'm still pissed off I didn't win it.

And then in 1990, I beat Anand. I like this because when I tell kids about the World Champion Anand, I also tell them that I once beat him and they ask, "In a simul?", and I say, "no a real game."

JS: How about recently? Are there any recent efforts you're proud of?
JF: I recently drew against [Gata] Kamsky in the World Open. I was Black and played a good defense. After the game I told him, "Even if I lost to you, I would have had a good time."

I trained Gata for his match against Karpov, but he got mad at me due to a quote I gave years ago to Chess Life magazine that Elista "wasn't a chess match but a family reunion," since it was so distracting with all his family coming in and out. I also think the house was bugged. I think he would have won if it wasn't in Elista. Anyway, I think he was mad at me. But I like Gata and I root for him when he's playing in all these tournaments. I think he's a very hard worker at the board, but when it comes to preparing, he's not top-notch. So when you compare him to someone like Magnus Carlsen, who is working with Garry Kasparov, it's hard to keep up with that.

The 1978 US Junior Championship lineup. GM John Fedorowicz, far right.

JS: Why have you been called the "Rocky Balboa" of chess?
JF: Come on, didn't you ever see pictures of me when I was younger? I looked a lot like him and my voice also. Rocky doesn't happen as often as "The Fed" anymore as I'm not as good-looking as I once was. I loved that movie though; I think sports movies like that are great for chessplayers; nice inspiration.

JS: How do you divide your time up these days between teaching and writing, etc.?
JF: I teach more than I play now. I should probably practice more and go to the Marshall now, because the way I play I'm always rusty. When I teach kids openings, then my openings suffer. Joel Benjamin tells me I should just play the kids' openings cause I'll know them better, but when you play the Sicilian all your life, it feels weird to play a Ruy Lopez. I can't complain about teaching. I'm making more money teaching than being a French chef. In New York, there are masters who charge more than I do, so I guess people figure they're getting a pretty good deal with me.

JS:When did you get started teaching?
JF: I've only been teaching for about 10 years. I went with Irina Krush and Elina Groberman in 1998 to the Pan-Am Youth in Brazil. And that was the first time I ever taught. I didn't really start teaching a lot till 1999 or 2000. I think most kids like me more than some of the other grandmasters.

JS: What's your philosophy of teaching?
JF: I have worked with Kamsky, Benjamin, de Firmian, preparing them for matches. I try to do exactly the same thing with these kids on a different level. I tell them, "Maybe I'm preparing you like you're a 2600 player," but that's the way I do it.

JS: So you spend most of your time as a teacher on openings?
JF: We do openings, go over games, some endgames. While working with Marc Arnold, I had just started studying Yuri Averbakh endgames, so we worked on that a lot. When lower rated players get to rook endgames ... they love to offer draws. But maybe someone was winning, you know what I mean? Kids love offering draws.

JS: Yes, I totally agree. So how do you combat that tendency?
JF: I try to tell them they should be suspicious when a higher rated player offers them a draw. When a 2700 offers me a draw, I think I must be winning. If you're too scared of losing, you're not going to win any games.

JS:Have you ever used to your advantage the fact that lower rated players like to accept draws?
JF: Well, I once went six years without losing with the white pieces. It was a combination of me being good, and stupidity. I would get losing positions versus 2200 players and just offer draws before it got too bad. Joel (Benjamin) now has a no-draw policy. Because if you have the draw in the back of your mind, it can be a good way to get into trouble against higher rated players.

JS: I want to hear more about your work with Marc Arnold. Because of all the other young stars coming up these days, Marc doesn't always get so much attention – I remember looking at the Miami Open crosstable earlier this month and I was like, "Wow, Marc Arnold is headed over 2500!" When did you start working with him and how do you account for his recent success?
JF: I started work with him about four years ago. Marc is a little under the radar because he doesn't play that much and he doesn't get a lot of invitations. But he's a real good player. He's very confident; he likes chess. He doesn't work hard enough. That's my only criticism. Like any other person, he likes having fun. That's why I feel he may have lost some ground compared to someone like Ray Robson – who is really serious. The hardest jump is from IM to GM. You need more points than in some of the IM tournaments, and against much harder competition.

JS:How did Marc get the IM title?
JF: He made the IM title with 6½/9; three tournaments in a row in Chicago; all "Sevan tournaments." Sevan has done a lot for American chess with these events...Those were hard tournaments, and a lot of people think that I did a good job with Marc (based in his results there). The way that tournament worked, it started two rounds a day on Saturday and Sunday and then one round a day for the next five. I told Marc, "If you can survive the first two days, it will be easy ‘cause we can kill people by preparing."

JS:What about you? How did you balance having fun and going out with your chess career, especially when you were most serious?
JF: Oh, I think that I worked very hard, Jen. I talked to de Firmian; I think there was a two-year period, where there were a lot of good looking girls around and I didn't do anything about it, and Nick said, "When we were trying to get good at chess, we didn't do normal things." I worked the hardest in the ‘70s and then again in the ‘80s. There was so much studying ‘cause we didn't have computers so we had to work everything out by ourselves. Now, it's all just staring you in the face in ChessBase.

JS:But don't you think it's also harder now in some way cause there's so much data to go through?
JF: I guess it's whoever prepares better.

JS:How much did you work on chess back in the ‘70s and ‘80s?
JF: Between tournaments, usually about two hours a day.

JS: That's all?
JF: Two hours a day is a lot in between tournaments. They say Portisch prepared for eight hours a day between tournaments, that sounds crazy. You can do a lot in two hours.
JS: So I don't quite get it, you say you didn't have time for girls and going out because you were studying chess two hours a day?
JF: Well, if it was before a big tournament, it would probably be more than two hours. And I was also extremely healthy; did a lot of running and basketball. And you know how chessplayers are – we think about chess even when not actually playing. Chessplayers are always walking around the street or the hallways at the World Open, looking at the sky, worried about some opening line.

JS:So you're saying Marc Arnold doesn't study two hours a day?
JF:Probably not. I tell him, "We're losing ground here." And he says, "I'm normal. I'm a kid – I have a good time."

JS: So how does someone get to 2500 without studying at least two hours a day? There must be a lot of people who study that much and don't get to 2000, let alone 2500.
JF: You know, I think a lot of people get good because of the ICC [Internet Chess Club]. In addition to Marc, Daniel Ludwig, Cindy Tsai, Ray Robson – because they're kind of in the middle of nowhere (geographically).

JS: Still, there are a lot of people who play on ICC and don't get better.
JF: Maybe they don't analyze their blitz games. You gotta figure out what positions you shouldn't go near. Those practice games, whatever speed, are very important.

JS: Which speed do you think is ideal?
JF: I told my kids, "Play faster time controls for practice!" and one of them responded, "What kind of coach are you? All the other coaches tell us to play slower." Tournaments at the Marshall, like 30 minutes tournaments are so hard, and it's really useful to play those fast time controls so you're strong at the end. When the increment came out, I got pissed off, cause I love calling people's flags.

JS: What are your ambitions in chess now?
JF: I still like playing. I want to get my FIDE up to a normal rating, to 2525 instead of what it is now. It's actually more fun playing these days cause there's no pressure. I do well with teaching so it's not like I have to win the New York Open or something to have money.

On Suffering at the hands of "The Fed."
by Mark Ginsburg,

Here is the only loss I sustained in the exotic invitational Trinidad 1991 (Ilya Gurevich also played there) versus the tournament winner.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. g4 Nc6 7. g5 Nd7 8. Be3 a6 9. h4 Nde5 10. f4 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Nc6 12. Be3 b5 13. Qd2 Bd7?
after13...bd7.jpg

Black did well to get a pair of knights off. I had just tried this successfully 'on the mainland' versus Patrick Wolff. 13. ... Qa5! holding up queenside castling is OK for Black.
14. 0-0-0 Rc8 15. Qf2 Qc7 16. Kb1 Qb7 17. h5 Na5 18. Bd3 Bc6 19. Qe2 Be7 20. Bd4 0-0 21. g6 fxg6 22. hxg6 h6 23. Qg4 Qd7 24. Rhf1 b4 25. Ne2 Bb5 26. Bxb5 axb5 27. b3! Nc6 28. Bb2 Ra8
after28....ra8.jpg

29. Nc1!
Very nice. Black cannot oppose White's initiative now.
29. … Ra7 30. f5 exf5 31. Rxf5 Bf6 32. Qf4 Ne7 33. Rxd6 Qc7 34.Rfxf6 gxf6 35. Qxh6 Nf5 36. Qh7+ 1-0

Here is the only loss I sustained at the 1978 U.S. Junior Invitational, Memphis, Tennessee, a wild and competitively important encounter.

The winner wound up tied for first. I missed chances in this game and also in failing to win an ironclad Zugzwang rook and pawn ending versus young Yasser Seirawan.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 d6 4. Nc3 g6 5. e4 Bg7 6. Nf3 0-0 7. h3 e6 8. Bd3 Re8
after8...re8.jpg

The "delayed Modern Benoni" has always interested me.
9. 0-0 Na6 10. Bg5 h6 11. Be3 Nc7 12. Qd2 exd5 13. exd5 Kh7 14. a4 b6 15. Bf4 a6 16. Rab1 b5!?
Generating reasonable play.
17. axb5 axb5 18. cxb5 Bb7 19. Bc4 Ne4 20. Nxe4 Rxe4 21. b3 Qd7 22. b6 Nb5 23. Rbe1 f5 24. Bd3 Rae8 25. Bxe4 fxe4 26. Nh2 Nc3?
after26...nc3.jpg

A lemon. We were both descending into time trouble. Necessary was 26. … g5! 27. Be3 Nc3 28. f3 Qb5 with murky play.
27. Ng4?
This game was a very nervous affair. White misses 27. Bxh6 winning.
27. … g5 28. Bh2 Nxd5 29. Ne3 Bd4 30. Nc4 Re6 31. Qa2 Nf4 32. Qa7 e3?
Too soon. Correct was 32. … Kg6! which at the time I notated as an amazing resource very good for me, threatening … e3 but White has 33. Bxf4 gxf4 34. Na5 Re7 35. Nxb7 Qxb7 36. Qxb7 Rxb7 37. Rxe4 Rxb6 38. Rxf4 Rxb3 39. Re1 Be5 40. Rg4+ Kf5 41. g3 and he's better. Typical youth to believe that 32. … Kg6 would somehow win.
33. fxe3 Qc6 34. Rf3 Nxh3+ 35. Kh1 Kg6 36. Ref1 Rf6 37. Rxf6+ Bxf6 38. Qa2 g4 39. Na5 Qb5 40. Qb1+ Kg7 41. Nxb7 g3 42. Bxg3 1-0

After I disappointedly resigned, a breathless Yasser Seirawan rushed the stage actually knocking over a velvet rope to point out to us that I missed 35...Qxf3 36. gxf3 Bxf3 'mate'.
35...Qxf3.jpg

Fedorowicz and I both snapped at the upstart kibitzer, "It's PINNED."

See Mark's blog, A Personal Chess History for more analysis and memories.

	The Benko Gambit is one of the most well respected gambits in chess. For this reason it is one of the main lines stemming from the Benoni Defense. This book will explain you the ideas and main lines. Fedorowicz, John (1990). The Complete Benko Gambit. Summit. ISBN 978-0945806141.

	Two American grand masters provide a practical survey of the English Attack, one of today’s hottest opening variations. In response to Black’s Najdorf Sicilian, White plays 6 f3, which both supports the center e-pawn and prepares to launch a kingside pawn storm against Black’s castled king. However, Black can indeed postpone castling in favor of queenside expansion and regrouping the knight pair at b6 and d7, and be ready for a swift counter punch when White castles long. Tactics and sharp play abound in this most modern of chess openings where precise knowledge of variations is vital. Fedorowicz, John; de Firmian, Nick (2004). The English Attack. Sterling. ISBN 978-0945806141.

GM John Fedorowicz played monthly a Simul on ICC and commentated LIVE on his games !

2018

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2017

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2014

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