'07 Markowski Rd 3

Results for Round 3 of The Markowski Open  1/17/06

93 players so far              Comments by Chuck Ensey and  Rick Aeria

 

NM Bob Richard from a few years ago, he won the Longest Game of the Night in Round 3. No pictures this week, I was too busy with my game, warding off the tactics of the Chess Balladeer.  

The top 13 players in the Markowski Open will qualify for the Club Championship (along with seeded players Ron Bruno, Todd Smith and Maksim Gusev). The top 16 players U1800 qualify for the Reserve Championship. The non-qualifiers will play in the Lasker Open.

The coffee tonight was made by Rick Aeria, amateur barrister. The regular Coffee Guru, Jerry Soelberg took the night off to probably lecture at a Starbucks training seminar. If it was a little weak and tepid, it was not your imagination!

Bd 1  Dimitry Kishinevky - Richard Russell  0-1

Bd 2  Ron Bruno - Rick Aeria  1-0

I was on the verge of equality after weathering Ron Bruno's opening and middlegame pressure and then made a terribly passive move (B-f8? instead of B-d6!)  and Ron's predatory instincts kicked in and completed the kill.

Bd 3  Brad Salz - Bob Richard  0-1

The Longest Game of the Night finished around midnight when Brad Salz, very low on time, finally made a mistake and walked into a deadly discovered check. Up until then it was a tricky Bishop, Rook & 3 pawns vs Bishop, Rook and 2 pawns endgame where Brad had good drawing chances. 

Bd 4  Adam Corper - Carey Milton 1-0

We were going to entitle this as "Luke Skywalker slays Jabbar the Hut" but dashing Carey Milton looked far to too debonair in his tie and jacket tonight. Anyway, FM Russell surmised that Carey missed good drawing chances.

Here is the game annotated by IM Cyrus Lakdawala - a veritable 'light sabre' battle from two fine tacticians!

Bd 5  Fawsi Murra Jr - David Hart  0-1

Bd 6  Richard Jensen - John Funderburg  1/2-1/2

"Club Nimzowitsch" versus The Thunderbird! It ended in honors even- a draw. Definitely a feather (a Thunderbird feather..no less! ) in Jensen's cap.

Bd 7  Joel Batchelor - Todd Smith  0-1

Bd 8  Marc Duesterwald - Manuel Herrera  1-0

The lean, mean, German fighting machine revs up... (Uh, never mind about the "lean" part)

Bd 9  George Zeigler - James Malowney  1-0

A "mini" game of 22 moves that ended with a crushing Bishop sac by George leading to checkmate. 

See Cyrus Annotates to view this game.

Bd 10  Leonard Sussman - Esteban Escobedo  1/2-1/2

 

Esteban at the San Diego County Championships last year

A battle between 2 players who don't like to lose (or take too many risks), so they are very tough to beat. The predictable result was a draw, although it's a bit an an upset for Esteban, getting a draw with a strong Expert.  

Bd 11  Ignacio Sainz - Ron Rezendes  1-0

"El Presidente" Rezendes falls on hard times... but he will bounce back as he always does. By the way, will a Class A player make it into the Championship as Chris Borgan did last year?? Unlikely, but you never know, that's why we play the games... 

Bd 12  Pejman Sagart - Jim Humphrey  1/2-1/2

Another Class A player earns a draw with an Expert, good job Perry!

Bd 13  Ben Barquin - Luis Castaneda  1/2-1/2

The first game done, it was over before I made my fourth move! (I got a slightly late start as the TD). Was it a Grandmaster draw? I don't know, I guess so, they certainly didn't waste any time, but I didn't really see the game (I blinked!).

Bd 14  Roberto Aiello - Alex Garcia-Betancourt  0-1

Alex joins in the search for the grail...starting with 2 half point byes is nice, huh?

Bd 15  Chuck Ensey - Ed Baluran  1/2-1/2

Is the "Balladeer" ready for the retirement home? Or is Chuck Ensey, our tireless Club Director and Treasurer just getting too big for his breeches?

This was an interesting game, after a skirmish in the opening I won a pawn and it was a passer, but Ed always has stuff up his sleeve and usually it hits right about time control. We were both scrambling, but he had much less time than I did. Witnesses say his flag fell and I failed to call it, but I was too caught up in the action on the board. I came through the time control with an extra pawn, but many draws are possible with Rook endings and Ed got more counterplay than I imaginged possible and was easily able to draw. See this game on Cyrus Annotates.    

Bd 16  Erik Marquis - Damani Fair  1-0

Erik is always a tough opponent, I am sure I will get paired with him eventually.

Bd 17  Bob Defore - Buddy Morris  0-1

This was the battle of Class A Champions, they tied for first in the Class Championships in December, but Bob won on tiebreaks. This time Buddy prevailed.   See Cyrus Annotates to view this game.

Bd 18  Alfredo DeLeon - Jason Qu  1-0

Jason will be a strong contender for the Reserve Champion, he already is Class B Champion.

Bd 19  Mario Amodeo - Robert Henderson  0-1

 

Mario Amodeo at the 2005 Markowski Open

Another "mini game", this one only 16 moves. Mario says he has played hundreds of tournament games over many years and he has NEVER been mated in so few moves before. We will spare him the pain and not post this one, it was just a simple oversight. It just shows how easy it is to lose when you don't look at all your opponents possible moves and just decide, well, he is going to play this...wrong! I have done that so many times it isn't even funny.     

Bd 20  Fausto Robles - Lennart Mathe  0-1

This was the second longest game. It appeared Fausto was going to win, but as often happens in chess, just one bad move can ruin your whole game. Kind of like just one nuclear bomb can ruin your day.

Bd 21  Ramin Sinaee - Pouyan Azarshahri 1/2-1/2

Pouyan is one tough customer, he won a piece in the opening. I think he is under-rated at 1662.

Bd 22  Anthony Harbone - Nikolay Arutyunov  0-1

Nikolay has joined our fight for the Club Championship, and trust me he is a contender.

Bd 23  John Falchi - Santiago Rubio-Fernaz  0-1

Bd 24  Jaimeson Pryor - Bob Samuel 1-0

Welcome Jaimeson to the club, I believe this was his first rated game in the U.S. We think he is about 1800.

Bd 25  Helmut Keil - Theron Pummer  0-1

Helmut filled in for Sam Barboo, who is NOT playing despite rumors that he was, maybe we will still hear from him

Bd 26  William Murray - Marty Lower  0-1

Bd 27  William Wijaya - Mark Lawless  1-0 

Bd 28  Karen Kaufman - Shaun Sweitzer  0-1

Bd 29  Genaro Lara - Fidel Gonzalez  0-1

Genaro also joins us this week and was dealt a pretty tough pairing...  

Bd 30  Michael Ross - Fred Borges 1/2-1/2

Fred is becoming the Drawing Master...

Bd 31  Daniel Bagliazo - Steven Perry  0-1

No talking after the game people! Daniel is becoming another Fred Gerlach, who was famous for his postgame rhetoric, totally ignoring club rules and oblivious to those around him who might be trying to concentrate...  I think we badgered Fred so much That he quit the club, but this really is unacceptable behavior. QUIET PLEASE, how many times do we have to say it?

Bd 32  Kevin Oakes - Maria Murra  1-0

Justin Colon did not show up, Maria, who was left unpaired on the highest board number, filled in.

Justin, please call or email, we thought you were in the tournament. Please let us know if we should pair you next week, if we don't hear from you we won't.... 

Bd 33  Julian Rodriguez - Caley Anderson 1-0

Bd 34  Vincent Broman - Mayra Murra  0-1 

 

Mayra Murra - I told you last week that she was dangerous! A nice upset for the "femme fatale" of the club.

Bd 35  Tom Kuhn - Amando Malvar  0-1

Bd 36  Jachin Tyrell - Fawsi Jose Murra  0-1

"Dad" won despite showing up late with a half an hour off his clock. Normally that would be fatal for the habitual time trouble addict, but this time he made it through without getting flagged!

Bd 37  Christian Garcia - Morgan Fox  1/2-1/2

Bd 38  Rocio Murra - Patrick Edwards  1-0

The other part of the dynamic duo also won tonight. A pair of Aces beats Jacks, Patrick, you know that!

Bd 39  Eric Castro - Hai Qu  1-0

Bd 40  Keith Wetterer - David Hall  0-1

There were a total of 13 Byes taken in Rd 3 (that might be a record!): Marc Adlam, James Aranda, Bruce Baker, Chris Borgan, David Delgadillo, Dayne Freitag, Tom Fries, Hector Gonzalez, Marcus Hilgers, Monica Ness, Jerry Soelberg, Ron Soto and Gary Tuttle. Plus Justin Colon was a no show. 

Joining this round: Nikolay Arutyunov, Alex Garcia-Betancourt, Genaro Lara, Jaimeson Pryor

See Pairings Page for predicted match-ups next week.