Who is Leonardo Sotaridona?

Hi there!

Since early last year (2006), I have registered one of my emails (solely for chess stuff) in all yahoo groups I can find on the net dealing with chess. Some groups proliferating the cyberspace are annoying with all the spams and for sale messages. But some are so helpful to one's chess addiction. "Brian Wall Chesslist" is one of the sender I wait for on a daily basis. For one, they do not send out spam and secondly, the group owner, I bet his name is Brian Wall, is generous enough to share and send his analysis of games he notates.

Surprisingly today, I got this email from the group with a fellow Filipino on it. Leonardo Sotaridona! An ELO rating of 1800, it says there, from the Philippines. A member of Denver Chess Club. More details about him can be seen on the games heading.

Let's read (and play through) Brian Wall's game against him.

[Event "Denver Chess Club Tuesday Night"]
[Site "1st Presbyterian Church, 1st and Acoma, Denver, Colorado"]
[Date "2007.02.13" ]
[Round "2"]
[White "brianwall"]
[Black "Leonardo Sotaridona"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "2237"]
[BlackElo "1800"]
[Opening "Sicilian: Nimzovich-Rossolimo attack (without ...d6)"]
[ECO "B30"]
[NIC "SI.31"]
[Time "12:51:28"]
[TimeControl "Game/70 5 second delay"]

Denver Chess Club
Tuesday Night Game/70
5 second delay

Night before Valentine's Day

White - Brian Wall 2237

Black - Leonardo Sotaridona
from the Philippines. 1800

Round 2
Board 1

When Grandmaster Roman Dzindzichashvili was in Denver a few years ago I watched
him play thousands of blitz games. He liked the Grand Prix Attack
versus the Sicilian. He liked to block the c8-bishop out of play - he would even
laugh and point at it.

That's all I had to remember to beat Leo tonight. I just locked his ...
c8-bishop out of the game and the rest played itself. Where can he improve ? -
I don't know - it all seemed so easy.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. c4

I played this because on ICC blitz games Black always annoys me by playing
... c4 himself and freeing his bishop. I didn't mind 5 c4 d5 6 d3 de
7 de Q:d1+ 8 Kd1 - It seemed I would have a comfortable position after
Kc2, Re1, b3, Ba3, Nc3-a4 in some move order.

5 ... d6 6. e5

I want to keep Leo's pawn on e6 to keep his Queenbishop
dead or at least make him pay some price to move it.

6 ... d5 7. d3

Again I didn't mind a Queen trade.

7 ... h5 8. O-O Nh6 9. Nc3 Nf5 10. b3 Be7
11. Ba3 Qa5 12. Na4 dxc4 13. dxc4 g5 14. Qd2

Black's busted - all standard stuff - dead Queenbishop plus
dead ... c5-pawn. Almost looks like a Nimzoindian.

14 ... Qc7 15. Qc3

Now ... g4 will just drive my f3-knight to d2 and e4.

15 ... Nd4 16. Rae1

I figured f4 was in my future when my rooks will be well-placed.
Besides structural defects Leo also suffers from poor development.
I know it's not true but his game has looked lost since 4 ... bc.

16 ... g4 17. Nd2 f6 18. f4

Consistently keep a lock on e5 and activating my rooks.

18 ... gxf3 19. Nxf3 Nxf3+ 20. Rxf3 f5 21. Bxc5 Bh4

Leo had 7 minutes to my 30 -
my moves were easy to find,
he had tough decisions to make.

22. Rd1 Bb7 23. Rd6

My plan was to see if 23 Rd6 Kf7 24 Qd3 Rad8 25 R:f5+ worked.
It looked good.

23 ... Rh6 24. Rxf5

Seemed better than 24 Qd2 Rg6 25 R:f5

24 ... Be7 25. Qg3

Played instantly with the idea of checkmating after
25 Qg3 B:d6 26 Qg8+

25 ... exf5

Leo was down to 2 minutes.
I started seeing multiple wins but wanted to
stay consistent by punishing his Queenbishop
with controlled play.

26. Rxh6

I spent 6 minutes trying to see if
26 Qg8+ first was better.

26 ... O-O-O 27. Bd6

27 B:a7 or 25 B:e7 and were tempting.

27 ...Qa5

Setting up 27 ... Qa5 28 B:e7 Rd1+ 29 Kf2 Qe1+

28. h3 Qd2 29. Bxe7 Qc1+ 30. Kh2 Qxh6 31. Bxd8 Kxd8 32.Nc5 h4

My plan was 32 Nc5 Bc8 33 e6 B:e6 34 Qd6+
but with 13 seconds left Leo is floundering.

33. Qd3+ Ke7

I have many wins now like 34 Qd6+
but I found one I liked better.

34. Qd7+ Kf8 35. Qxf5+

If nothing else I can just play
Knight takes Bishop next so ....

1-0 Black Resigns

You should play over the game just to see
how to exploit a trapped bishop in the
Sicilian. I felt like an Armenian,
all positional play with minimal tactics.
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
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[Event "Denver Chess Club Tuesday Night"]
[Site "1st Presbyterian Church, 1st and Acoma, Denver, Colorado"]
[Date "2007.02.13" ]
[Round "2"]
[White "brianwall"]
[Black "Leonardo Sotaridona"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "2237"]
[BlackElo "1800"]
[Opening "Sicilian: Nimzovich-Rossolimo attack (without ...d6)"]
[ECO "B30"]
[NIC "SI.31"]
[Time "12:51:28"]
[TimeControl "Game/70 5 second delay"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. c4 d6 6. e5 d5 7. d3 h5 8. O-O
Nh6 9. Nc3 Nf5 10. b3 Be7 11. Ba3 Qa5 12. Na4 dxc4 13. dxc4 g5 14. Qd2 Qc7
15. Qc3 Nd4 16. Rae1 g4 17. Nd2 f6 18. f4 gxf3 19. Nxf3 Nxf3+ 20. Rxf3 f5
21. Bxc5 Bh4 22. Rd1 Bb7 23. Rd6 Rh6 24. Rxf5 Be7 25. Qg3 exf5 26. Rxh6
O-O-O 27. Bd6 Qa5 28. h3 Qd2 29. Bxe7 Qc1+ 30. Kh2 Qxh6 31. Bxd8 Kxd8 32.
Nc5 h4 33. Qd3+ Ke7 34. Qd7+ Kf8 35. Qxf5+

1-0 Black Resigns
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I start 2 weeks of www.ChessTelevision .com
Morelia/Linares webcasts
Saturday Feb 17, 2007 1430 EST
2:30 PM Denver time.
Check it out!

By BRIAN WALL.
===============

Well, anybody here knows him? Leo?