October 12th, 2009 
Matt Phelps 
WGM Anya Corke
Before the week six match with Carolina began, the Blitz’s board four player, Ilya Krasik, noted, “This is an historical occasion!” To which Marc Esserman immediately replied, “Yeah, I’m playing on board two.” True, but Ilya was referring to the first ever game played by a woman for the Boston Blitz. The chauvinism by the Boston squad was purely unintentional all these years. There just haven’t been a lot of active strong female players in the area for one to make the team. Until now.
WGM Anya Corke hails from Hong Kong and has been playing for England lately in various events, including the 4NCL, the Four Nations Chess League, a face-to-face league in Great Britain. So team play should be a piece of cake, right? Well, as she reveals in her notes to her first game for the Blitz, she was nervous, but she played very well, smoothly taking home the final point in a 4-0 sweep for Boston. Forthwith are her notes to her game against Ron Simpson:
[Event "USCL Boston Blitz-Carolina Cobras"]
[Site "Cambridge, MA"]
[Date "2009.10.07"]
[Round "6.4"]
[White "Simpson, Ron"]
[Black "Corke, Anya"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B42"]
[Annotator "Corke,Anya"]
I was a little nervous about my first game for the Boston Blitz. I didn’t want to disappoint, especially with the extra scrutiny of being the team’s first female player in a while {like… ever. -ed} . (After being immersed at Wellesley for a month, it’s a mild culture shock for my gender to be newsworthy). I knew that my opponent has an aggressive playing style, so I decided to forgo my usual wild attacks and wait for him to over-press. Maybe he was thinking along similar lines, as the game progressed quietly until he anticlimatically dropped a pawn.
1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nb3 Ba7 7. Qe2 d6 8.
Nc3 Nc6 9. Be3 Nge7 10. a4… (Diagram)
After 10. a4
Possible but a little passive. Usually white skips a4, castles queenside, and plays f4, aiming for a kingside attack and pressure on the d-file. Here white prevents b5, but at the expense of the b4 square and long castling.
10… O-O 11. O-O Bd7
11… e5 Is the typical plan, but I wanted to keep the structure flexible.
12. Rfd1 Qc7 13. Kh1 Bxe3 14. Qxe3 Rad8 15. f4…
After 15. f4
Attempting to control the e5 square I guess, but it also further loosens white’s pawn structure, and after Rfd1 any possible attack has lost its edge.
15… Nb4 16. Nd4 ?!
Slightly dubious since it allows Qc5 or e5 possibilities. But although white’s position looks solid at this point, it’s difficult to find a plan.
16… Qc5 17. e5 Nxd3 18. Rxd3 dxe5 19. fxe5…
19. Nf5 I need to consider this threat, but black has no problems after: Qb4 20. Qe4 Nc6 -+
19… Ng6 20. Rad1 ??
After 20. Rad1
20. Re1 This natural move was of course necessary. I planned to continue with Bc8, b6, and Bb7. I prefer black’s position because of the better pawn structure, but the result is far from clear.
20… Qxe5
20… Nxe5 Is probably better. 21. b4…I was concerned about this move, but it doesn’t pose any problems after: Qc7 22. Qf4 f6 -/+
21. Qf3 Qc7 22. Ne4 Bc8
Overly cautious. With my time running low I wanted to avoid any risks, but I don’t see much white can do after Bxa4.
23. Qf2 e5 From here the realization of the extra pawn is pretty simple. 24. Nb3 Bg4 25. Rxd8 Rxd8 26. Rxd8+ Qxd8 27. h3 Be6 28. Nbc5 Bc8 29. Nd3 f5 30. Nc3 Qd6 31. Qa7 e4 32. Qa8…
After 32. Qa8
A last-ditch attempt at counterplay, but the queen is dangerously cut off from the kingside.
32…Ne7 33. Nc1 f4 34. Qa7 Qd2 35. Qg1 Qxc2 36. N1e2 f3 37. Ng3 Qxb2 38. Ncxe4 Qxg2+ 39. Qxg2 fxg2+ 40. Kxg2 b6 41. Nd6 Bd7 42. Nc4 Nd5 43. Nb2 Nc3 {White resigns.} 0-1
4-0 Boston! I was very happy about the result and relieved not to let down the team. Hopefully I’ll play more exciting games in the future though. As my roommate, who came to watch, answered when asked how she liked the Boston Blitz, “It was good! But it could be a little more blitzy.”
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