Markowski 06 Rd 6

The 2006 Markowski Open Round 6 Report - Brought to you by Rick Aeria, Chuck Ensey, Bruce Baker, Andy Bell et. al

Quote of the week: "What kind of drugs are you taking these days?" Bruce Baker to Rick Aeria in reference to the Round 5 Markowski report.

Co-Quote of the week: (In a deep, muffled Darth Vader intonation with heavy breathing) "And now I shall show you how I crush a  'Son of Cyrus'! Muahahahaha!" gloated Richard Russell upon learning that he is paired with Luke Skywalker...eh...I mean Adam Corper.  Don't miss this classic battle of the light sabres next week - February 15th! 

RICHARD RUSSELL AND ROBERT RICHARD JOIN BRUCE BAKER, ADAM CORPER, CARL WAGNER AND TODD SMITH FOR THE 'BIG DANCE'. THE REST OF US ARE JUST

STAYING ALIVE...

Somewhere in the mid-1970's somewhere in a sleazy, smoky, smelly beer dive off El Cajon Boulevard a Rook, Bishop and Knight sat nursing their beers and bemoaning the fact that there were so few women in chess. "Not so!" the Rook exclaimed, "There is always the Queen!" The bartender looked up from his sports page headlining another Padre loss and said " CENSORED... CENSORED .. ..CENSORED " Ah well, anyway on to the games..

Board 2 - NM Bruce Baker(4 1/2) vs. NM Adam Corper(4 1/2) QGD, Slav Defence 1/2-1/2

The much awaited encounter between the two tournament leaders had a few sparks then fizzled to a quick forced draw. After 1. c4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 [A mild surprise as Adam prefers 4. ... e6 Semi-Slav] 5. a4 Bg4 6. Ne5 Bh5 7. Nxc4 e6 8. Qb3 [ Here the club champion went into deep thought and came up with] 8. ... Na6 (!) [After the game I had an opportunity to 'interview' both players. I asked Adam if 8. Na6 was preparation and he said "No" it was an over-the-board decision. Then I asked Bruce was he thought of 8. ... Na6 and Bruce was gracious to say that it was an excellent move and that he expected 8. ... b6. After a little research back home, this move was first played in 1938 by Hungarian master Hermann Steiner] 9. e3 [Faced with a plethora of choices, Bruce selects a solid move] 9. ... Nb4 10. Be2 [ Novelty or improvisation or both? According to theory, most preferred is grandmaster Salo Flohr's 10. Na2 as played in 1939 against Laszlo Szabo] 10. ... Bg6 11. O-O [Permitting a forced draw] 11. ... Bc2 12. Qa3 Nd3 13. Qa2 14. Qa3 Nd3   [1/2-1/2] Play through this game with light annotations by clicking here.

Board 3. FM Richard Russell(4) vs. Dimitry Kishinevsky(4), King's Indian Defence, Samisch Variation 1-0

With respect to FM Russell's earlier opponents, I regarded this encounter with the club's "money player" as Richard's first real "test" since his return to OTB tournament chess after a seven-year lay off. Since it's inception, Dimitry has won the Markowski in 2004 and tied for first with Adam Corper in 2005. Dimitry relies very little on databases and other gadgetry but instead concentrates fiercely at the board. He is feared and renowned for coming up with the "computer-shot" and is probably the most creative and inventive player in the club.

 

Bruce Baker watches the Richard Russell - Dimitry Kishinevsky game in Rd 6 

1. d4 d6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e4 Bg7 5. f3 [So after an irregular move order by Dimitry we arrive at a well-known Samisch Variation] 5. ... O-O 6. Be3 Nbd7 7. Qd2 c5 8. Nge2 Qa5 9. Nc1 cxd4 10. Bxd4 e5 ? [A grievous positional error] 11. Be3 Nc5 12. Be2 Rd8 13. O-O [At this point one of the masters came up to me and whispered, "Dimitry is getting ripped!"]

I hope to have the whole game here soon.

Board 4. NM Robert Richard (4) - Sainz (4)

I thought Sainz was holding Bob Richard in a potential opposite bishops endgame but somehow, maybe through hypnosis, Bob pulled another win out of thin air and joins the leading group assured of qualification.

Board 5. Rick Aeria(4) - NM David Hart (4), Queen Pawn, Queen Indian Defence 1/2-1/2

Hart did not play the expected Dutch Defence and I avoided playing the Trompowsky fearing an ambush and the game meandered into a placid Queen Indian Defence. We swapped off two minor pieces and reached a rather dry and boring position and signed a peace accord. I  have booked Hart on a one-way ticket through Expedia to Iran to try to calm the rioters outside the Danish embassy. Maybe Dave will run into Peter Bisgaard who has been conspicuously missing from the tournament this year!

Board 6. NM Ron Bruno (3 1/2) - Alex Betancourt (4)  1-0

For some odd reason I expected this to be another "smoochy" draw between buddies. That Alex is sure a popular guy! [Deliverance banjo music]  But I was wrong. I guess Ron decided not to take any chances and got a smooth win to stay in solid contention to qualify. Alex can't be too unhappy because he can still qualify with a win in the last round.

Board 7. NM Ruffo A. Orihuela (3 1/2) - Carey Milton (3 1/2) 1-0

'El Fabuloso' rekindled the flickering flames of his qualification chances and won a very smooth positional game from the 'Swindler'. This pretty much seals the ample one's entry to the 'Big Dance' in March and early April. That's really too bad as Carey was feverishly practicing his jitterbug, disco and hip-hop dance steps. Instead, look for Carey in the skittles room hustling for dollar blitz games.

Board 8. Chris Borgan (3 1/2) - Leonard Sussman (3 1/2) 1/2-1/2 Najdorf Sicilian

Initially Sussy looked comfortable and winning but never count Borgan out. Suddenly the tables turned and it looked like the SussMeister got out-sussed. When I left I saw the Sussmaster a piece down in a Rook + Bishop + passel of pawns versus Rook+ 2 Bishops + one pawn. Somehow Sussman managed to draw this one and stay alive.

Board 9. Esteban Escobedo - Ramin Sinaee (3 1/2) The Longest Game of the Night, it ended as a draw when Ramin's single pawn, accompanied by a Black Bishop, got to the 7th rank, but could not make it to the Queening square c8 without being captured by Esteban's Knight.  Ramin is having a strong tournament  and certainly deserves to qualify.

Board 10. Raoul Crisologo - Nikolay Arutyunov  1-0

Nikolay is simply amazing. Even after Crisologo made lumpia (a tasty Filipino treat) of his qualification prospects by beating the young Russian. Happy Nikolay is still smiling ear-to-ear!

Board 11. Funderburg - Delgadillo 1-0

This painful loss to Funderburg spelled the end to 'El Mariachi's' chances. It was a bitter fight but Dave suffered from  a terminal case of weak dark squares.

Board 12. Ed Baluran - Richard Gimeno 1/2-1/2  A Filipino Love Fest

Valentine's Day  is still a week away but that didn't stop Ed and Richard from getting "smoochy" and splitting the point. I'm waiting to mooch off the box of chocolates.

Board 13. Pegman Sagart - Brad Salz  0-1

Board 14. Dayne Freitag - Fawsi Murra Jr  0-1

Board 15. Morris - Phil Roth  0-1

Board 16. Mayra Murra - Thomas Fries 0-1

 

Tom Fries and Mayra Murra are still playing in a nearly empty tournament hall

Another very long game, Tom managed to win with his extra material very late in the evening. 

17. Rezendes - Malowney  1-0

Executive branch game: President vs. Vice President. Ron got an early bind on the position. Quote: "Excuse me, I have to put Jim out of his misery."

18. Wilson - Draper 0-1

19. Sweitzer - Gusev 0-1

20. Barquin - Batchelor 1-0

21. Fawsi Murra Sr - Tuttle 0-1

22. Amodeo - Henderson 0-1 One of the night's biggest upsets!   

23. Bell - Juroshek 1-0

24. Rodriquez - Soelberg 1/2 - 1/2

25. Soto - Lower 1-0 This was a close King and pawn ending, almost a draw.

  

Marty Lower tries to hold against the higher rated Soto, but with no luck. I thought Black could draw this, but Ron managed win this one with White.  

26. Borges - Lawless 1-0

27. Fox - Ensey 0-1 Morgan could have taken a pawn on b7 with little risk to his game, but that is sometimes a risky pawn to take and he declined, opting to complete his development. I breathed a sigh of relief, feeling like I just bluffed someone in poker. In fact I just hadn't seen his Queen move (Qb3) that forked the pawns on f7 and b7.       

28. Robles - Mathe 0-1 

29. Whitt - Rocio Murra 1-0  Tony, how could you be so cruel?

30. Saponara - Fair 1/2 - 1/2  Damani (also sometimes known as Ricky) probably should have won this one, but it is hard to beat an expert, even a somewhat rusty one!

31. Oakes - Ness 1/2 - 1/2  Monica is on a roll!

32. Harbone - Tyrell 1-0

33. Marquis - Hall 1-0

34. Keil - Soltan 1-0  The ancient ones armwrestle and Helmut comes out the winner...

35. Coulston - Samuel 1-0 The innocence of youth prevails over the ancient cunning and trickery (this time) 

36. Garamendi -Castaneda 1-0 This was kind of a botched pairing due to both players being late and a misunderstood phone message. We thought Escobedo was asking for a bye and it was Esposito!! So when Escobedo did show up, we paired him with Sinaee, who was supposed to play Garamendi, who was no where to be found. Then Garamendi showed up right at 7:30 and had no one to play. Finally Luis came at about 7:45,  so these two were paired, even though their points were a little off (3 1/2 vs 2), but beggars can't be choosers.  As we mentioned last week, if you are going to be late (arrive after 7 PM), you better call in and let us know, or you might find yourself repaired or even not paired at all. After 7:30, all bets are off, and The TD will definitely be repairing unless we have heard from you.   

37. Burke - Egger 1-0 White is winning a lot of games!

38. Kuhn - Aranda 0-1

39. Edwards -Kaufman 1/2 - 1/2 It's a bit of a scandal here. Late in the endgame and Karen has pawns on a2 and b3 against Patrick's lone King, which is ensconsed on b2 and a1, shuffling between the two squares. It appears as if it is a draw, at least in Patrick's mind because Karen's King can't approach or drive his King away without causing stalemate. Therefore he claims it is a draw and strongly states his case to Karen, who reluctantly concedes the draw. In the skittles room afterwards, several players scoff at Patrick's claim telling him it is an easy win for Karen and then they walk out. Now I (Chuck) walk into the skittles room and Patrick asks me to show them how it is a win, he thinks it is a dead draw, and Karen can't find the win either.  I had trouble with it at first. I know you have to sac a pawn, but it took me a while to find the right sequence of moves, but finally I did. Then Patrick felt bad and Karen was embarrassed. When I told Bruce about it he said we might consider forfeiting the game for Patrick and awarding the point to Karen because you are really not supposed to argue with or harrass your opponent, but in the end it was decided that the players had agreed to a draw and you can't really change that result unless there was a very clear violation of the rules. Patrick should be warned and reprimanded, but he gets to keep the "swindled" 1/2 point. The thing is, he really did believe it was a draw. I know Patrick and when he is sure of the "right" move, he confidently makes it right away and is totally convinced it is the only move, even if it is ludicrous to a higher rated player. So I know he wasn't purposely trying to swindle Karen, he really did believe that a player can still draw the game two pawns down and with otherwise lone Kings. You see, Patrick has never read a chess book or studied any chess EVER, and he freely admits it. He is totally self-taught! He is learning chess one game at a time. This was a good lesson for both players!        

40. Wetterer - Addis 0-1

41. Maria Murra - Oster 0-1  Felix wins his first game at the club! 

See Markowski Rd 7 for standings and expected pairings...