January Player of the Month: The Master Gambiteer

(Rohan Agarwal in deep thought at the CalChess Scholastics in San Jose last May.)

I will begin recognizing one deserving Northern California chess player each month who has achieved significant success within recent weeks or occasionally an accumulation over a longer time period. It is my pleasure to award the first Fpawn Blog Player of the Month to the Bay Area's newest National Master, 15 year old Rohan Agarwal from Fremont. By earning the hallowed title of Master at North American Open in Las Vegas, Rohan became the sixth Bay Area junior in K-12 to break 2200 USCF and also solified his spot among the elite of the nation (there are only about 35 masters under age 18).

• Name: Rohan Agarwal
• Title: National Master
  
• Current ratings: 2212 USCF and 2190 FIDE
• National ranking: #11 for age 15
• CalChess ranking: #5 for age 12-17
  
• First tournament: December 2002
• First established rating: 1248 in November 2003
  
• Last 12 months: gained 142 points in 65 rated games at 11 tournaments
• Latest tournament: Scored 3.5/7 in Open at North American Open in Las Vegas for a 2335 performance, including win against IM Tate and a draw with GM Lein.
• Biggest scalps: IM DeGuzman (9/07) and IM Tate (12/08)

Rohan learned how to play at Weibel Elementary School in Fremont under the tutelage of legendary coach Richard Shorman. Even today, Rohan enjoys the opening gambits that he first learned years ago and he is not afraid to essay the Philidor Counter Gambit or the Sicilian Wing Gambit even against masters. His style may be best described as tactical or even insane--I still remember a year ago when Rohan beat a master after playing Kh1 by move 20, which wouldn't have been too unusual except that he was black in that game!?

In a newsletter, longtime Weibel advisor Dr. Alan Kirshner wrote a moving tribute. "Rohan, under the mentorship of Richard Shorman at Weibel, accomplished a milestone. I congratulate Rohan not because he was trained better than other Fremont players, but because he worked harder and had the perseverance and determination to go all the way. I might add that he is also a great all around person. I know he will spend the remainder of his High School years teaching the students at his Elementary School alma mater. I look forward to seeing him, in the future, win many more titles." Coach Agarwal's (see photo at right) young proteges won first place team trophies in both 5th and 6th grade last month at the CalChess Grade Level Championships in Stockton.

The following crush from Las Vegas illustrates Rohan's attacking style. He chooses to mix it up against the iconic IM Emory Tate out of Philidor's defense. The sly IM quickly got an inferior position (16.Nb1 simply admits failure) and it went downhill from there. White's retreat 21.Bg2 lost instantly to Nxg2 followed by an invasion along the h-file.

IM Emory Tate (2390) vs Rohan Agarwal (2196)
2008 North American Open (2)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c4 f5 4. d3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. Be2 O-O 7. c5 Nc6 8. cxd6 Qxd6 9. O-O a6 10. a3 Be6 11. Ng5 Nd4 12. Nxe6 Qxe6 13. exf5 Qxf5 14. Be3 Rad8 15. Bxd4 exd4 16. Nb1 Nd5 17. Bf3 Nf4 18. Be4 Qg5 19. g3 Rd6 20. Nd2 Rh6 21. Bg2 Nxg2 22. Kxg2 Qf5 23. h4 Bxh4 24. g4 Qf4 25. Ne4 Bxf2 26. Rh1 Rg6 27. Kh3 h5 28. Qe2 Rxg4 29. Qxf2 Qxf2 0-1

To replay this game, click on this link to Chess Publisher.

Happy New Year 2009!

Dear readers,

First of all, I wish all of you a Happy New Year 2009!

The beginning of each calendar year is a good time to reflect on your chess goals. Do you want to reach a certain rating? Or win a specific championship? Maybe you want to study tactics for 30 minutes four times a week, or learn a new opening repertoire? Perhaps you hope to overcome your mental weaknesses, e.g. poor play against lower rated opponents. Whatever your goal, it must be something reasonable. For example, it might be a reasonable challenge to aim for 2000 if you're 1800 today, but jumping all the way to master within a year is unlikely.

I have a few exciting ideas to expand my blog for the new year.

1. Annotated Game of the Week. (probably not every single week)
2. More short reports from super-GM tournaments.
   
3. NorCal Player of the Month.
4. Fpawn Student of the Month.

I hope to post the POTM awards within the first week of each month, but I reserve the right to maintain some flexibility. The NorCal recognition will normally go to one of the elite juniors in Northern California, whether they are my student or not. Naturally, the Student of the Month award will be limited to private students, including those with lower ratings. A player may not win a second POTM award within 12 months unless they achieve something remarkable, e.g. winning a national or international tournament.

(Undoubtedly some of you are waiting for my final report from North American Open. I was feeling ill for half of my trip to Las Vegas and have slowly recovered since then. Strangely, my performance was decent--but not quite as good as some local juniors.)