Diane Savereide

For some reason today, I was thinking of Diane Savereide.

 

 

Born on Nov. 25 1954, She is a five-time winner the U.S. Women’s Chess Championship (1975, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1984) and earned her WIM title in 1977 (but awarded in 1978). She was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 2010.

 

 

 

I had the opportunity to play Diane Savereide in a US Amateur Team Ch., West, in 1994, where we were both playing first board. The game ended in a draw. When I find the game that’s buried in a binder somewhere in my place, I’ll gladly post it here. In any event, she earned my respect as being one of the nicest person I ever met in chess and had an appreciation of the game that’s hard to match. Congratulations Ms. Savereide! – you are one of the best!

 

 

Here are some delightful games by Savereide.

 

 

Diane Savereide (A)-Gene Veneable (A)
American Open, 1974
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Bc5 6.Nb3 Bb6 7.O-O Ne7 8.Qe2 O-O 9.Be3 Nbc6 10.Nc3 Ng6 11.Rad1 Qc7? 12.f4! Nge7 13.Kh1 Bxe3 14.Qxe3 f5 15.e5 b5 16.a3 Kh8 17.Be2 g5 18.g3 g4 19.Nc5 Na5 20.Kg1 Nb7 21.Nb3 Nc6 22.Rf2 h5 23.h3!? Kg7 24.Rh2 b4?

25.Ne4!! fxe4 (Black might do better to ignore the knight.) 26.hxg4 d5 27.Rxh5 Rh8 28.Kg2 Rxh5 29.gxh5 Nxe5 30.Qd4 bxa3 31.bxa3 a5 32.fxe5 Qxc2 33.Nd2 Qc5 34.Qxc5 Nxc5 35.Rc1 Ba6 36.Bxa6 Nxa6 37.Nb3 a4 38.Nd4 Kh6 39.g4 Rh8 40.Rc6 Kg5? 41.Kg3 1-0

 

 

Diane Savereide (2160)-Olivera Prokopovic
Women’s Izt.
Alicante, 1979
[White gives up her queen for three pieces and Black can’t find any good moves.]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 Qc7 7.Bb3 e6 8.O-O  Be7 9.f4 O-O 10.Qf3 Nc6 11.Be3 b5 12.e5 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Bb7 14.exf6 Bxf3 15.fxe7 Qxe7 16.Rxf3 d5 17.f5 Rad8 18.f6 Qb4 19.Bb6 Rb8 20.fxg7 Kxg7 21.a3  Qd6 22.Bd4+ f6 23.Raf1 e5 24.Bf2 d4 25.Nd5 Rb7 26.Be1 Qd8 27.Bb4 Rff7 28.Rg3+ Kh8 29.Nxf6 Rg7 30.Rgf3 h6 31.Nh5 Qb6 32.Rf6 1-0

 

 

Diane Savereide (2280)-Elizabeth Neely (2130)
US Women’s Ch.
Estes Park, 1987
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Be3 Nc6 8.Bb3 Na5 9.O-O Be7 10.f4 Qc7 11.Qf3 O-O 12.f5 e5 13.Nde2 Nxb3 14.axb3 b5 15.g4 b4 16.g5 bxc3 17.gxf6 Bxf6 18.bxc3 Bb7 19.c4 Qe7 20.Nc3 Bg5 21.Bxg5  Qxg5+ 22.Kh1 Qd2 23.Rf2 Qd4 24.Rd1 Qc5 25.f6 g6 26.Rg2 Rfe8 27.Nd5 Re6  28.Rf1 Kh8 29.Qh3 Qd4 30.Qh6 Rg8 31.Rg4 g5 32.h4 Ree8 33.hxg5 Rg6 34.Qh2 Kg8 35.Qe2 Re6 36.c3 Qc5 37.Ne7+ Rxe7 38.fxe7 Re6 39.Qf3 Rxe7 40.g6 hxg6  41.Rxg6+ Kf8 42.Qg4 1-0

 

 

Diane Savereide (2250)-Jorge Armando Gonzalez Rodriguez (2375)
St. John Open 1, 1988
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 c6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Be3 Qb6?! (This idea doesn’t work as White will use the open g-file for her rooks. Here’s another game with the 4…Qb6 mistake : Azzopardi-Busuttil, Malta 1975, 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 Nd7 5.Nf3 c5 6.Bc4 Qb6 7.Bxf7+! Kxf7 8.Ng5+ Ke8 9.Nd5 Qc6 10.Ne6 Bxd4 11.Ndc7+ 1-0 Back to the main game.) 7.Qd2 Bxf3 8.gxf3 e6 9.O-O-O +/- d5 10.f5 gxf5 11.Rg1 f4 12.Rxg7 fxe3 13.Qxe3 Kf8 14.Rg3 Qd8 15.Bh3 Nd7 16.Rdg1 h5 17.exd5! cxd5

18.Nxd5! Ngf6 (Black can’t take the Knight due to 18…exd5 19.Bxd7! Qxd7 20.Qe5! and his rook and king are in trouble. The rest of the game can best be described as White crushing Black in a miniature.) 19.Nf4 Qe7 20.Rg7 Qd6 21.Bxe6 fxe6 22.Nxe6+ Ke8 23.R1g6 Rf8 24.Nxf8+ Kxf8 25.Rg8+ 1-0