San Diego Open Shootout
Todd Smith wins berth into 2007 Club Championship!
It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, and so now Todd doesn't have to sweat out the Markoswki Open in January. Maybe he can play a practice match with current Club Champ Ron Bruno, who also doesn't need to qualify. The last chance to earn a berth will come at the end of the year for the winner of "The Masters", the top section of the Class Championships. Rick Aeria tied with Todd with 4 1/2 points, but because of better tie breaks, Todd gets the berth. Still, good job, Rick. Mr. Aeria will just have to earn his berth the old fashioned with through the Markowski, and unless he can win The Masters at year end.
Ben Barquin managed to draw NM David Hart in Round 3 as NM Todd Smith looks on
Notes by Rick Aeria from round 4, Bd 3 Barquin - Aeria 0-1
"Benjy" opened with a very uncharacteristic (for him) 1. d4 and my "spider radar" started buzzing. Especially with Benjy's compatriot the Balladeer flitting nervously around our board like a butterfly on a mating run ('cuse the pun). I took this as a "tell" that these two had cooked up something for my King's Indian Defence. So after 1. ... g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 Qa5 (In my opinion, the correct move order to enter the Dzhindzhi-Indian, in the past, I have used the old move order with 5. ... f5 notaby against IM Larry Remlinger). After a few moves, "Benjy" sees a combination - a real bad one - but plays it and loses a whole piece for a discovered check. Feisty Benjy continues to battle on a' la Carey Milton throwing one tactical snare after another but I managed to consolidate and bring home the point. The spectating NM Wagner was quick to point out, killjoy that he is, after the game that IM John Watson had "refuted" the Dzhindzhi-Indian in a monograph (now ...'groan'..I gotta track that monograph down and study it or else leave my new toy in the repair garage).
Round 5
Board 1 Smith - Zeigler 1/2 - 1/2 George managed to draw the NM and was even up a pawn, but it wasn't enough to win the game in the Rook and Pawn ending.
Bd 2 Aeria - Amodeo 1-0 Rick said Mario played with "caveman tactics" instead of his "usual positional game". I don't know, Rick, Mario usually likes the tactical stuff and is pretty good at it, I am not sure you can classify him as a mostly positional player. (Rick commenting: You misunderstood me, Chuck old chap! What I meant was that in the past, Mario Amodeo was more of the 'compleat' chess player - using a modicum of strategy coupled with a much more solid positional consideration (witness his near-mastery at handling past English positions) but was always ready for rough-and-tumble attacking tactics (his dragoneer persona). Lately, Mario has been leaning far to much a brutish Caveman chess with brusque and blunt frontal assaults devoid of any subtlety. In the course of this approach, Mario has to shed, I can hardly deem these as sacrifices, considerable material which eases the defender's chances. Hopefully, Mario will return to playing chess and not just kamakazi chess.
Bd 3 Funderburg - Fair 1-0 No upset this week for the overacheiving Damani. But he still wins the BU1800 prize.
Bd 4 Hart - Defore 1-0 Bob gave David a good game and had him scrambling in time trouble before the end. Bob still wins 2nd U1800 along with Vincent Broman and Joel Batchelor.
Bd 5 Barquin - Betancourt 1-0 The Killer B's battle it out, and Ben wins the BU2000 prize.
Bd 6 Broman - Lozano 0-1 The Mexican Expert Mariano is too much for the Class B player on this night.
Bd 7 Sussman - Sinaee 1-0 The Expert Lenny wins here too.
Bd 8 Baluran - Plapp 1-0 A rare loss for Nate. The Balladeer ties for 2nd BU2000 with Dayne and Mario.
Bd 9 Milton - Freitag 0-1 A another upset for Dayne and a quirky loss for the streaky Carey.
Bd 10 Humphrey - DeLeon 1/2 -1/2 Peace! The only draw other than the top board.
Bd 11 Sagart - Batchelor 0-1 Joel plays a nice endgame to wrap up the win.
Bd 12 Castaneda - Ensey 0-1 Luis fell into a trap in a difficult position and got burned. He took a Rook and a pawn for two Knights, but then a surprising attack starting with a Queen move led to big trouble for Luis and he graciously resigned a few moves later.
Bd 13 Soelberg - Draper 0-1 Big Bob bounces back from some serious medical problems last week to win big on this night, which should have cheered him up. We wish Bob the best, and I firmly believe that the prognosis for a full recovery is very good. Chess is never the most important thing in life, even if it seems that way sometimes.
Bd 14 Krooskos - Sweitzer 0-1 Shaun shows the rookie a few good moves.
Bd 15 Altshuller - Malowney 0-1 New member Dmitry gets a tough pairing against a solid Class A player.
Bd 16 Ogden - Arutyunov 0-1 (House game)
Bye: Sunny Chu also: There were no "no shows" (thanks everyone, that makes the TD job a lot easier)
Final Standings (in tie break order)
4 1/2 points - Todd Smith, Rick Aeria
4 points - George Zeigler, John Funderburg
3 1/2 points - Ben Barquin, David Hart
3 points - Amodeo, Lozano, Sussman, Fair, Freitag, Baluran
2 1/2 points - Garcia-Betancourt, Defore, Broman, Batchelor, DeLeon
2 points - Plapp, Milton, Sinaee, Malowney, Humphrey, Ensey, Draper
1 1/2 points - Sweitzer, Borgan 1 point - Castaneda, Juroshek, Chu
1/2 point- Soelberg, Sagart
Women's Championship
See Rick Aeria's report on http://www.sandiegochessclub.com
Final Standings 4 1/2 - Rocio Murra; 4 - Mayra Murra; 3 - Monica Ness; 2 - Karen Kaufman; 1 1/2- Maria Murra The final result was not in doubt, Rocio had already clinched the Championship last week. Next year we hope to have more players such Jackie Eggers (on vacation and missed this event) and hopefully many more...
Rocio Murra in Round 3 versus Monica Ness Rocio has a wonderful sense of humor, just look at her T-shirt!
Reserve Section
Jason Qu is rising fast in the rankings, but was finally held to a draw by Robert Henderson in the last round while Theron Pummer defeated Fred Borges to claim clear first. Here Jason defeats Robert Samuel, a feat he has accomplished several times now.
The Mexican contingent is a big part of our club. James Aranda and Libano Rodriguez drew in Rd 3.
Bd 17 Pummer - Borges 1-0 Congratulations to Theron Pummer for winning the Reserve Section!
Bd 18 Henderson - Qu 1/2 - 1/2 Jason ties for Second Place with Nahavandi!
Bd 19 Nahavandi - Robles 1-0 Arash Nahavandi ties for Second Place and gets a big 1872 provisional rating
Bd 20 Julian Rodriguez - Marquis 1/2 - 1/2
Bd 21 Bagliazo - Tomlin 1-0
Bd 22 Sanna - Fawsi Murra Sr 0-1
Bd 23 Lawless - Samuel 1-0
Bd 24 Azimzadeh - Hall 0-1
Bd 25 Harbone - Wetterer 1-0
Bd 26 Keil - Anderson 1-0 Helmut fills in as a house player and wins once again
Bd 27 Aranda - Kuhn 0-1
Bd 28 DeCesare - Hilgers 0-1 Marcus Hilgers is a brand new member. Welcome aboard!
Bd 29 Rocio Murra - Kevin Oakes 1-0 Rocio's rating will soon get a big bump up!
Bye: Edwards No Shows: Libano Rodriguez, Parviz Soltan
Final Standings
4 1/2 points - Theron Pummer
4 points - Jason Qu, Arash Nahavandi
3 1/2 points - Robert Henderson, Daniel Bagliazo
3 points - Robles, Hall, Borges, F. Murra Sr, J. Rodriguez, Marquis, Lawless
2 1/2 points - Tomlin, Harbone 2 points - Azimzadeh, Samuel, Sanna, Kuhn
1 1/2 points - Edwards, Wetterer, L. Rodriguez,
1 point - Anderson, Aranda, Soltan 0 points- DeCesare
Game Section
Here's an interesting game sent in by Vince Broman from Round 1 Broman-Baluran
And also from Round 1, here's one of Carey Milton's best come-from-behind-victories (also know more lovingly known as swindles) Milton-Ensey I can't count the number of times I have been a piece up and he has swindled me, it's getting pathological!
See an amazing game on Cyrus Annotates from Round 2 Jason Qu - Fausto Robles
Here's my game with Alfredo DeLeon in Round 2 Ensey-DeLeon
Alex Garcia-Betancourt played a very nice game in Round 4. See it at Cyrus Annotates
Round 5 see Soelberg-Henderson at Cyrus Annotates
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