LAST week the US Junior Congress broke a record for the highest turnout with 260 players from 13 states. This event has grown each year and. although there was a snowstorm in the morning of the first day, it did not stop the players from coming. The site was the ninth largest city in Indiana, Anderson at The East Side Middle School which has hosted the event for the past three years.

In the Under 8 section Michael Chen took first place with 6/6 wins. I recently received the news that the youngest Master ever was given a rating of 2,207. He is nine-year-old Nicholas Nip who just broke the record for the youngest USCF Master ever. He shattered the record of GM Hikaru Nakamura (then ten-years-old), who was the record-holder for a decade from 1998. If the name Hikaru Nakamura sounds familiar, it is because he has been to Bermuda before to play in a few tournaments.

Another young player on the rise in the USA is 13-year-old Alexander Reis (pictured) who took first place here in the Bermuda International Open in the Under 18, along with Kumi Bradshaw (one of our club's players), who also shared first place. It was his very first time in Bermuda for Alexander and his mother Donna Reis.

Just before the Open there was the standard five round five minutes Blitz Tournament. This is always a lot of fun even if you are not a winner, and I was not. However Alexander was a winner and against me too! I had previously lost two games to Alexander and in round two of the Open we were paired up again. It was Alexander Reis playing White and Larry Ebbin playing Black.

Here in Diagram 1 I could have had a free pawn if I had used the knight to capture d4 pawn and then attacked his queen. Once the queen moved then the bishop could take the e5 pawn. In Diagram 2 it was Alexander's queen and bishop (which were on a good diagonal) that I was trying to stop checkmate on h7. At this point in the game my best move should have been Rxd4 breaking up this attack.

In Diagram 3 it was only after I had moved my rook that I saw the rook on d7 was in danger. If I captured the rook on f6 the Qxe6+ and my rook was lost, so I captured the d4 pawn with my knight thinking this would give me a good defence and save my rook. To my surprise, as you can see in Diagram 4 it was all over for me Checkmate!

Alexander Reis White

Larry Ebbin Black

Bermuda International Open 2008

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d5 4. e5 h6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. a3 Bg4 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 e6 10. Be3 Nge7 11. 0-0-0 Nf5 12. g4 Nxe3 13. fxe3 Qh4 14. Rdf1 0-0 15. Ne2 Rad8 16. Nf4 Rd7 17. Rhg1 b5 18. Ng2 Qd8 19. b4 Qb8 20. h4 a5 21. e4 dxe4 22. Qxe4 Qb6 23. c3 axb4 24. h5 bxc3 25. hxg6 f6 26. exf6 Rxf6 27. Rxf6 Nxd4 28. Qa8+

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