State (2) Player Improvement

Moves like 30.Bc6! make me look forward to next year. With this five-move combination in Shah v. Lieberman, Tejas saved Prospect from being shut out by Evanston in the second round. After 30...Rxc6 31.Rxg7 Nxg7 32.Bxg7+ Qxg7 33.Rxg7 Kxg7 34.Qg2+! picked up the rook on c6 and went on to win.



Compare this to Tejas's 30...Be3?! from Popovic v. Shah in Prospect's second match of the year.

31.fxe3?? Rf1# is a cute two-mover, but so obvious that a player cannot reasonably expect his opponent to fall for it. After 31.Nc4 Bc5 32. Nxa5, White had two connected passed pawns and won without a great deal of trouble.