GM Pascal Charbonneau and IM Irina Krush began the first leg of their cross-Canada tour with exhibitions in Vancouver and Victoria. On Saturday, June 10, both players gave simuls in the Student Council Chambers, University of British Columbia. Exact numbers are a bit uncertain, but we believe Irina played twenty-three games, losing to Pavel Trochtchanovitch and Valer Eugen Demian and drawing with Alexandra Botez, while out of a total of twenty-nine games played Pascal lost to Louie Jiang and drew with Alfred Pechisker, Jorge Prieto, James Chan, and Alexandra Botez. In the evening Irina and Pascal participated in a pairs exhibition which also included Jack Yoos, Louie Jiang, and Pavel Trochtchanovitch, but details have not been forthcoming. Photos from the day's events can be found at
www.bjdy.com/juniorchess/photos.html.

On Monday, June 12, Pascal gave a well-received lecture on his win against Anand from the recent Turin chess Olympiad, followed by a twenty-five board simul: he won all the games. Both these events were at the Victoria Chess Club, which donated its facilities for the occasion. Many thanks to Pascal and Irina for being such wonderful ambassadors for chess, and to Larry Bevand, Brian Raymer, Lynn Stringer Bruce Harper, Ben Daswani, Andei Botez, Jay Zhao, and anyone else who had a hand in organizing the tour!

Krush,I - Zhao,D [D36] Simul Vancouver, 10.06.2006

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Be7 7.Bd3 c6 8.Qc2 0–0 9.Nge2 Re8 10.0–0 Nf8 11.f3 Bd6 12.Kh1 h6 13.Bh4 Rxe3 14.Bf2 Re8 15.Ng3 g6 16.Qd2 Kg7 17.Be3 h5 18.a3 a5 19.Rab1 Qc7 20.Rfe1 Bxg3 21.hxg3 Qxg3 22.Bf4 Qh4+ 23.Kg1 Rxe1+ 24.Rxe1 Ne6 25.g3 Ne4 26.Nxe4 Qd8 27.Ng5 Nxg5 28.Bxg5 Qc7 29.Bf4 Qd8 30.Qe3 Be6 31.Qe5+ Kh7 32.Qxh5+ Kg8 33.Bxg6 fxg6 34.Qxg6+ Kf8 1–0

Chan,J - Charbonneau,P [B76] Simul Vancouver, 10.06.2006
[James Chan]

This was a good lesson for me because I was oblivious of what to do against 12...Bxd4 in the 9.0–0–0 Dragon before the game 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0–0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0–0–0 The alternative 9.Bc4 has been played a gazillion times. Long castling aims for a g4,h4 h5 trash compactor immediately 9...d5 this is Black's most testing response 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Bxd4 Black trades his good dragon B, however he gains rapid development and good play along the open b-file 12...e5 13.Bc5 Be6 14.Ne4 Re8; 12...Nxc3 13.Qxc3 Bh6+ 14.Be3 13.Qxd4 Qb6 14.Bc4 14.Na4 14.Na4 is the main move then b3 consolidating his queen side and perhaps later on going for the hippo march. c5 is a happy square for the White knight. 14...Qa5 15.b3 Bf5 16.g4 Be6 17.Qe5 Qb4 18.c4 Nf6 19.h4 Rab8 20.h5 Qa3+ 21.Qb2 Qxb2+ 22.Kxb2 gxh5 23.g5 Nd7 24.Re1 Rfd8 25.Kc3 Nf8 26.Bd3 Ng6 27.Nc5 Nf4 28.Bc2 Rd6 29.Ne4 Rd7 30.Nc5 Rd6 31.Re4 Ng6 32.Re2 Nf4 33.Reh2 Kg7 34.Ne4 Rdd8 35.Ng3 h6 36.gxh6+ Kxh6 37.Nxh5 Nxh5 38.Rxh5+ Kg7 39.Rh7+ Kf6 40.f4 1–0 Palac,M (2570)-Cebalo,M (2505)/Open A, Djakovo CRO 2005; 14.Nxd5?! cxd5 15.Qxd5 Be6 16.Qd4 Qa5 17.a3 Rfd8 18.Qb4 Qg5+ 19.Rd2 a5 20.Qc3 Rac8 21.h4 Qf4 22.Kd1 Bd5 23.Qxa5 Bxf3+ 24.Kc1 Be4 25.c4 Bxg2 26.Bxg2 Rxc4+ 27.Kd1 Rxd2+ 0–1 Gurevich,I (2510)-Rogers,I (2565)/London 1992/CBM 031 ext 14...Ne3 15.Rd2 Nxc4 16.Qxc4 Be6 17.Qf4 Rab8 18.b3 Qc5 18...Qa5 19.Kb2 Rb4 20.Qe3 Rfb8 21.h4 Qc7 22.Ne2 c5 23.h5 a5 24.hxg6 hxg6 25.c3 R4b6 26.Nc1 a4 27.g4 axb3 28.a3 Bc4 29.Rdh2 e5 30.Qg5 1–0 Sutovsky,E (2410)-Kudrin,S (2555)/Philadelphia 1993/EXT 97 19.Ne4 Qa3+ 20.Kb1 a5 21.Rd4 Rb4 22.Rhd1 Bd5 23.Qc1 Qxc1+ 24.Kxc1 Bxe4 25.Rxe4 Rxe4 26.fxe4 f5 27.Rd7 fxe4 28.Rxe7 Rf2 29.Rxe4 Rxg2 30.h4 h5 31.a3 Kf7 32.Kd1 g5 33.Re5 Kg6 34.Rxg5+ Rxg5 35.hxg5 Kxg5 36.b4 a4?! This move is risky, driving the h pawn down is an easy draw incidentally also in some lines later on 36...h4 37.Ke2 h3 38.Kf3 axb4 39.axb4 Kf5 40.c4 Ke5 41.Kg3= 37.c4 Kf4 38.Ke2 Ke4 39.Kf2 Kd4 40.c5 Kc4 41.Kg3 Kb3 42.b5 cxb5 43.c6 Kxa3 44.c7 b4 45.c8Q b3 46.Qc3?! 46.Qc4 b2 47.Qc2 h4+! 48.Kxh4? (48.Kf3 h3 49.Qd3+ (49.Qc5+ Ka2 50.Qd5+ Ka1=) 49...Ka2 50.Qd5+=) 48...b1Q=; 46.Qd7 h4+ 47.Kh2 b2 48.Qb5 (48.Qd3+ Ka2 49.Qc4+ Ka3 50.Qb5 h3! 51.Kg3 h2! 52.Qc5+ Ka2) 48...h3! Hippos can be very dangerous creatures when they march! 49.Kh1 h2!= 46...Ka2 47.Qc4 a3 48.Kh4 Kb2 49.Qd4+ ½–½