Club Champs Rd 4

2008 Club Championship   Round 4 of 7  3/12/08  7:00 PM

Time control is 40/90, SD/60, w/ 5 sec delay

Two half-point byes available, except for last round. Total players in this event = 65 so far...

Club Championship Section  (16 players)

Commentary by Rick Aeria

Here are the results for Rd 4. See current standings here.

Board 1  Ron Bruno (2 1/2) - John Funderburg (3)  1-0

The man who would don the mantle of Bobby Fischer takes control of the tournament by beating the tourney leader and propelling himself into undivided first place.  We are talking about Ron Bruno, who again - took another page from the saga of the legend, Bobby Fischer, and played an old Fischer favorite - The King's Indian Attack. 

"Funderburg is fearless," offered Ron Bruno after the game. "That is why I avoided a full French battle and opted for 2. d3," Ron said. "This was my toughest game so far in the Championship," Ron Bruno added.

See game here. Courtesy of John Funderburg who also annotated the game.

Bd 2  Todd Smith (2) - Mariano Lozano (2)  1-0

Score one for the "Old-Fogeys", although it is hard to imagine Todd Smith as an "oldster". Todd defeats a very tenacious young lion in Mariano Lozano.  The way Todd accomplishes this win is vintage Todd. After a lapse in the middlegame by Mariano, Todd secures a tiny advantage and NEVER LET'S GO! During the game, Mariano seemed like he could not sit still while Todd was the model of Botvinnik-like stoicism-sitting and pouring every ounce of energy into total concentration.

This win keeps Todd's championship chances very much alive.

Mariano emailed this game in with these comments, "Rick here is my game against Todd, I hope i sent it correctly let me know if there is a problem. I made some annotations but feel free to add your humorous comments or ridicule my amateur annotations" Ree-ally?? Okay, Muchacho...you asked for it!

See game here. Courtesy of Mariano Lozano with annotations.

Bd 3  George Zeigler (2) - David Hart (2)  1-0

I did not understand this game despite watching it all night! George Zeigler confessed that he was inspired to play 1. c4 against Master David Hart and set aside his usual 1. e4. George said that he was twenty minutes late and wanted to contest a strategic struggle! And a subtle and convoluted struggle it turned out to be - at a critical juncture Master Hart said he lost his nerve and did not capture a crucial pawn which would have brought about unfathomable complications.

George Zeigler will email the game and present his ideas.

See game here soon.

For those who are keeping score - Zeigler extends his unbeaten streak at the club to nineteen (19) games!

Bd 4  Ignacio Sainz (2) - Bruce Baker (1 1/2)  1/2-1/2

Ever since Ignacio Sainz was identified as the new standard-bearer of Mexican Chess at the SDCC, he has taken his new status seriously.  In turn, this could be the reason why Ignacio has raised his game to new heights. Tonight Ignacio held off a ravenous Bruce Baker in an endgame where Ignacio was a pawn down and Bruce had pulled out all the stops to score a full point.  Plucky Ignacio even had the temerity to suggest that he blundered just before time-control and was even better at that stage! We shall await the game score to confirm that bold claim.

The game is now available. Judge for yourself... Nobody went to 'Brokeback Mountain' for this draw. It was as acrimonious and bitter as they come!

See game here.  Courtesy of Ignacio Sainz.

This was the Last Game to Finish for the Night!

Bd 5  Brad Salz (1 1/2) - Alejandro Garamendi (1 1/2)  1-0

Score two for the "Old Fogeys" as Bradley Salz brings his out his heavy pieces in a strategic rout of young Alejandro Garamendi's King's Indian Defence. 

See game here. Courtesy of Brad Salz.

Bd 6  Raoul Crisologo (1) - Leonard Sussman (1)  0-1

The Amazin' Sussman pulls out a pretty endgame win after Crisologo refuses a draw and continues to play until he reaches the Gates of Perdition!

See game here soon.

Bd 7  Carey Milton (0) - Eric Montany (1/2)  1-0 

Score three for the "Old Fogeys" as Carey Milton quaffs the sweet nectar of Victory at the expense of youthful Eric Montany. That cup of "Victory" nectar was at least a thousand calories and I would like Carey to know that it did nothing to lower  his blood glucose levels. Maybe next time we will get him a "Diet Victory" cup of nectar.

As far as Eric is concerned, he would probably like to parttake in a cup of hemlock after this loss. The newest "Son of Cyrus" is having a real rough debut so far.

See game here.

Bye: Jim Humphrey (1/2)

Reserve Championship (U1800):  (16 players)   Commentary by Chuck Ensey   

I just want to say that it takes time to analyze and post all these games, so keep checking back, Rick and I are adding stuff almost everyday. Also you can go back to the older rounds, we are still adding games there too. And not just from the Championships sections, if you have a good game in the Borges Open send that to us too!  

These 4th round games are brought to you with musical  backgrounds, you will have to search your iPods and MP3 databases to find these oldies...

Bd 10  Shaun Sweitzer (3) - Fawsi Jose Murra (2 1/2)  0-1    See game here

Shaun seemed to lose focus in this game and it cost him a painful lesson.  (See "Mama Told Me Not to Come", Randy Newman or Three Dog Night)  ...That Ain't No Way To Have Fun, Son 

Bd 11  Fred Borges (2) - Robert Draper (2)  1-0

This was possibly the best game in this section. See game here  See "Old Man River", from Porgy and Bess

He just keeps rolling along...

Bd 12  Vincent Broman (1 1/2) - Erik Marquis (2)  1-0   See game here

A nice attack by Vincent is started with a pawn storm and then a Rook sac signals "The End" (see Jim Morrison and The Doors, circa 1960's) for Black.  (The killer awoke before dawn, and put his boots on...)

Bd 13  Chuck Ensey (1 1/2) - Rocio Murra (1 1/2)  1-0     See game here

Rocio got off on the wrong foot in this game and never got her balance. ("Footloose", Kenny Loggins)

Bd 14  Hector Gonzalez (1 1/2) - Mark Lawless (1 1/2)  1-0  See game here

Mark had some chances here, but it slipped away from him (see "Slip-Sliding Away", Paul Simon)

Bd 15  David Hall (1) - Morgan Fox (1)  1-0  See game here

An oversight by Morgan led to disaster... ("The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", The Band)

Bd 16  William Murray (1) - Tom Kuhn (1/2)  0-1  See game here

Fritz points out a few interesting tactical shots in this game... ("I Shot The Sherriff", Eric Clapton) 

Or "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence" for you real oldtimers... 

1/2 Point Bye: Ryan Nichols (1 1/2)  "Vacation", The Go-Gos

Full Point Bye: Julian Rodriguez (0), no house player available  "Only The Lonely", Roy Orbison 

Fred Borges Open  (20 players)

Bd 18  Dayne Freitag (2 1/2) - Jason Qu (2 1/2)  1/2-1/2

Bd 19  Roxas Acosta (2 1/2) - Lennart Mathe (2)  0-1

This was a nice game. Roxas pugnaciously starts snatching pawns and Lennart serves up an elegant rebuttal.

See game here. Courtesy of  Lennart Mathe.

Bd 20  Ed Baluran (1 1/2) - Ron Rezendes (1 1/2)  1-0

Bd 21  Alfredo Deleon (1 1/2) - Arash Nahavandi (1)  1-0   

Bd 22  Theron Pummer (1) - Thirunathan Sutharsan (1 1/2)  1-0

Bd 23  Fawsi Murra Jr (1) - Buddy Morris (1)  1-0

Bd 24  Damani Fair (1/2) - Fausto Robles (1)  0-1

Bd 25  Richard Jensen (1/2) - Caley Anderson (1/2)  1-0

Bd 33  Nathanael Plapp (1 1/2) - Enrique Parra (1)  1-0

Bye: Mario Amodeo (2 1/2), Marty Lower (2 1/2), Pejman Sagart (1 1/2), David Delgadillo (1 1/2)

Fred Borges Reserve Section (U1800)  (13 players)

Bd 26  Anthony Harbone (3) - Jerry Soelberg (2)  0-1

Bd 27  Karen Kaufman (1) - Michael Ryan (2)  0-1

Bd 28  Arnold Berlin (1 1/2) - Andrew Sung (2)  0-1    See game here

Two of our newer members face off. White was doing fine until he overlooked a mate in two (almost a helpmate!)

Bd 29  Robert Samuel (1 1/2) - Michael Wang (1)  1-0

Black overlooked a backrank mate that sealed his fate.

Bd 30  Alan Rhoads (1) - Patrick Edwards (1)

No Show: Monica Ness, Pete Lill  

Bye: Steven Perry (2)

You can still join this event in round 4, and get TWO byes for rounds 1 &2. There are 3 different ways to join in: 1) just email me at chucnglo@aol.com , or 2) leave a message on the club phone (or speak to Bruce Baker) at 619-239-7166, or 3) show up before 6:30 PM on Wednesday and register in person. Entry fee is $25.