| Sep-28-04 | | Morty: Marc Esserman, Harvard University Class of 2005, is a member of the Harvard Chess Club. |
|
| Dec-26-08 | | notyetagm: <Morty: Marc Esserman, Harvard University Class of 2005, is a member of the Harvard Chess Club.> Cool guy. I met him at the New England Masters chess tournament last August. The event was held at one of my three(!) chess clubs, the Blackstone Chess Academy (http://www.blackstonechess.com). |
|
| Apr-23-10 | | laskersteinitz: Does Esserman have any GM norms? |
|
| Jun-22-11 | | Kinghunt: Esserman regularly plays at Boston's Boylston chess club and also at Harvard Square, for money. But he's not just another normal hustler. He gives opponents the choice of an extra queen or cutting his time down to under a minute. |
|
| Aug-05-11 | | laskersteinitz: Nicely done Marc!
[Event "US Open, Denker, Barber"]
[Site "Orlando"]
[Date "2011.08.04"]
[Round "6Six5F3"]
[White "Esserman, Marc"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2554"]
[BlackElo "2735"]
[WhiteTitle "IM"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[Source "MonRoi"]
1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Bc4 a6 7. O-O Nge7
8. Bg5 f6 9. Be3 Ng6 10. Bb3 b5 11. Nd5 exd5 12. exd5 Nce5 13. d6 Bb7 14.
Nxe5 fxe5 15. f4 Qf6 16. fxe5 Qxe5 17. Bg5 Be7 18. Bf7+ Kd8 19. dxe7+ Nxe7
20. Qd2 Kc8 21. Rac1+ Nc6 22. Rfd1 Qf5 23. Bf4 Qxf7 24. Qd6 Kd8 25. Rxc6
Bxc6 26. Qxc6 1-0 |
|
| Aug-06-11 | | laskersteinitz: [Event "US Open, Denker, Barber"]
[Site "Orlando"]
[Date "2011.08.05"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Esserman, Marc"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2554"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[BlackTitle "IM"]
[Source "MonRoi"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Qa4+
Nd7 8. Be3 O-O 9. Rc1 Nf6 10. Bd3 b6 11. Ne2 e5 12. f3 c5 13. O-O Be6 14.
Rfd1 Qc7 15. dxe5 Qxe5 16. Bf4 Qh5 17. Bb5 Bh6 18. Bc6 Rac8 19. e5 Bxf4 20.
Qxf4 Qf5 21. Qxf5 gxf5 22. Ba4 Nd5 23. Kf2 f6 24. c4 Nc7 25. exf6 Kf7 26.
Nf4 Rcd8 27. Bb3 Kxf6 28. h3 Bf7 29. g4 fxg4 30. hxg4 Ne6 31. Nxe6 Bxe6 32.
Kg3 Bf7 33. f4 h6 34. Kh4 Rfe8 35. Kg3 Re3+ 36. Kf2 Red3 37. Rh1 Rd2+ 38.
Kg3 R8d3+ 39. Kh4 Rd4 40. Rhf1 Re2 41. Rf3 Bg6 42. Rff1 Bf7 43. Rcd1 Ree4
44. Kg3 Re3+ 45. Kf2 Ree4 46. Kg3 Re3+ 1/2-1/2 |
|
| Aug-08-11 | | laskersteinitz: [Event "US Open, Denker, Barber"]
[Site "Orlando"]
[Date "2011.08.06"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Esserman, Marc"]
[Black "Lenderman, Aleksandr"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2554"]
[BlackElo "2602"]
[WhiteTitle "IM"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[Source "MonRoi"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Ne7 6. O-O c5 7. dxc5 Nec6 8.
Be3 Nd7 9. c4 dxc4 10. Na3 c3 11. Qb3 cxb2 12. Qxb2 Bxc5 13. Rfd1 Bxe3 14.
fxe3 Rb8 15. Nd4 O-O 16. Nc4 Be4 17. Nd6 Bd5 18. e4 Nxd4 19. exd5 Nxe2+ 20.
Qxe2 Qe7 21. Qe4 Nb6 22. dxe6 fxe6 23. Rf1 Nd5 24. Rxf8+ Rxf8 25. Rf1 Rxf1+
26. Kxf1 Qg5 27. g3 Qd2 28. h4 Ne3+ 29. Kg1 Qd1+ 30. Kh2 Ng4+ 31. Kg2 Qd2+
0-1
I know Esserman likes to sac pawns (he LOVES the Smith-Morra gambit! He beat Van Wely with it and got Game of the Day here on CG.com), but I don't understand such risky play against such a strong GM as Lenderman, given his performance in the tournament at this point...This could be the difference between a GM norm and no norm... |
|
| Jun-19-12 | | galdur: Smashing the Finegold Defense
http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/... |
|
Feb-06-13
 | | FSR: Some cool games by Esserman and others here: http://usclnews.blogspot.com/2011/1... |
|
| Apr-28-13 | | Abdel Irada: <laskersteinitz: I know Esserman likes to sac pawns (he LOVES the Smith-Morra gambit! He beat Van Wely with it and got Game of the Day here on CG.com), but I don't understand such risky play against such a strong GM as Lenderman, given his performance in the tournament at this point.> It's not in the <chessgames.com> database, but Joel Lautier drew against (and should have beaten) Kasparov with White in the Morra. At present the opening is under a cloud because of a variation in the Accepted Main Line in which Black appears to retain his extra pawn safely, although at the cost of the doubling of his f-pawns. Such is the fate of all sharp openings at one time in their lives or another, and most are later rehabilitated in home analysis, used successfully, restored to popularity, and then "refuted" again, to restart the cycle. If the Morra is what Esserman knows, I say he should stick with it against any opponent. After all, if Kasparov nearly lost to it, others may actually do so. ∞ |
|
| Aug-01-14 | | RookFile: I don't know that the opening is that risky. Even when white is a pawn down he typically has excellent drawing chances due to blockade possibilities. |
|
Apr-14-15
| | FSR: <Abdel Irada: ... At present the opening is under a cloud because of a variation in the Accepted Main Line in which Black appears to retain his extra pawn safely, although at the cost of the doubling of his f-pawns.> What line are you talking about? |
|
| Nov-14-15 | | PJs Studio: The Smith Morra by Mr Esserman is a MUST read book, before you pass judgement you must read it! First of all, it's near violent, in depth coverage of almost every line black can counter with is high class. The movie quotes I could do without but the instruction is solid! He freely admits that these lines might not whoop your not-so-common super GM, but he defends that it is sound. I generally hate gambits yet the Smith Morra has become my main weapon against the Sicilian. Since I play the Sicilian as black I've been working on DECLINING the gambit because the mine field it provides white is tight and you basically can't misstep anywhere without a fatality. This book has reaffirmed my belief that the Morra is completely sound. |
|
| May-27-16 | | waustad: <PJ>You convinced me to look at my stack of old "Chess Quarterly" issues and it raised hell with my asthma. Dust is not my friend now. I probably have them all. I may have given away the one that was designed to show kids the rules, but the rest are probably still here. If you don't know why I'm mentioning this, the eponymous Ken Smith was involved if I recall. |
|
| Jan-07-22 | | DaviesNjugunah: CRY BABY |
|
Feb-15-23
| | FSR: Here's how you beat the Smith-Morra: NN vs F Rhine, 2022. Incidentally, I see that the database lacks many of Esserman's games with the gambit. This omission is doubleplusungood. I will have to submit them. |
|
Kibitzing
