Tribute Rd 4

A Tribute to Anderssen, Round 4 of 5, 6/25/08  7 PM

This is a 5 round event using the McMahon Swiss pairing system. Masters and Experts started with 4 points, Class A players with 3, B with 2, C with 1 and Class D and below (under 1400) start with no extra bye points. Time control will be our usual 40/90, G/60 with 5 second delay.  [The next tournament, the Summer Swiss, starting July 9th, will we have a Slow (40/90, G/60) and a Fast (G/90) section.] 

Hre are the results:

Bd 1  Bruce Baker (6 1/2) - John Funderburg (6)  1-0

John seemed to get off on the wrong foot and never recovered. Bruce can do that to you.

Bd 2  Bassam Shammas (6) - Carey Milton (6)  1-0

Oh my, Bassam wins another! Still undefeated at the club. He will play Bruce next week!

Bd 3  Manuel Herrera (5 1/2) - Fawsi Murra Jr (5 1/2)  1-0

A close game, but I didn't get to see much of it, I was very busy trying to trap Mr. Baluran's Queen.  

Bd 4  Mario Amodeo (5) - Rick Aeria (5)  0-1

Rick will have to comment on  this one...

Rick Aeria's comments: Mario Amodeo has a really good track record against me.  Mario has a very sharp and active style. He still gloats over his win against me from the early nineties when the club was in the old Church on Ohio Street. I was also TD.  In a winning position against Mario, I got distracted by a minor question from one of the players and when I got back to my game I walked into a simple knight fork and lost the game.  The other memorable occasion was at a Gambito, I agreed to play into Mario's beloved Dragon variation of the Sicilian Defence.  "Oh, Goody!" Mario shouted joyfully in glee!  Little did the unsuspecting lad know that I had a surprise continuation I was itching to try out.  Everything proceeded according to plan and I got to spring my prepared line.  Then on the first new move I played a second-rate move losing a valuable tempo and with it, the game.  Oh well! Much to my later chagrin, I find out that Mario submitted the game to IM Chris Ward's Dragon website and it was the "Game of the Week!" Grrrr!  Yet another time, in a complicated position, I forgot about the clock and woke up only after Mario yelled, "Time!" 

So before this game, Mario cockily came up and asked me if I brought some ointment in anticipation of the thrashing me was about to administer to me. The impertinence of this jackanape!

The game began (Mario with the White pieces) 1. d4 (What? No English Opening?) 1. ...  Nf6  2.  Bf4  (Now I was baffled, this usually leads to the serene settings that IM Cyrus Lakadawala teaches his students - Jeff Turner and George Spellman spring readily to mind - where they try to put you to sleep.  Definitely not fire-breathing Mario's cup of tea.) 2. ...  g6  (Jerry Soelberg once made a very astute observation about my tendencies: "When Rick is confronted with anything out of the ordinary, he heads to a King Indian formation."  3. Nc3  (Aha! This move does not fit into the snoozer variations. Mario has some sharp continuation in mind)  3.  ...  Bg7  4.  Qd2  (And here it is, an aggressive caveman formation from our mad chemist!  Mario plays for a direct attack! Glad I had a cup of coffee, this could get interesting...)

The rest of the game is given in toto here.  [Isn't Toto the name of Dorothy's dog in The Wizard of Oz? -- baker]

Bd 5  Chuck Ensey (5) - Ed Baluran (5)  0-1

I was unsuccesful in trapping Ed's Queen. Close, but no cigar... h4  after Ed played Qg3 would have done the trick, but I didn't find that move.  

Bd 6  Jason Qu (5) - Alfredo Deleon (4 1/2)  1/2-1/2

Bd 7  Jerry Soelberg (4 1/2) - Bob Defore (4 1/2)  0-1

Bd 8  Shaun Sweitzer (4 1/2) - Ron Rezendes (4 1/2)  0-1

Bd 9  Erik Marquis (4) - Thirunathan Sutharsan (4)  0-1

Bd 10  Nate Plapp (4) - Vincent Broman (4)  0-1   See game here

This game was a WILD one, won by Vince in 16 moves! ... A true Tribute to Anderssen! 

Bd 11  David Delgadillo (4) - Fred Borges (4) 1/2-1/2

Bd 12  Robert Draper (3 1/2) - William Wijaya (3 1/2)  1/2-1/2

Bd 13  Ryan Nichols (3 1/2) - Jamieson Pryor (2 1/2)  0-1

He's baaaack! Jamieson that is, from Canada...This was a "house" game, but still rated of course. 

Bd 14  Donald Klaas (3 1/2) - Joel Batchelor (3 1/2)  1-0

Several impressive upsets by Donald in this event. He is provisionally rated, but apparently too low! 

Bd 15  Michael Ryan (3) - Hector Gonzalez (3)  1/2-1/2

Bd 16  Rocio Murra (3) - Ray Viernes (3)  1-0

It was a good night for Rocio, beating this dangerous player who upset me at the most recent Gambito on Saturday. 

Bd 17  Tom Kuhn (3) - Santiago Rubio-Fernaz (3)  0-1

Bd 18  Jerry Kavanau (3) - Mark Lawless (3)  1/2-1/2

Bd 19  Brian Kelly (2 1/2) - Steve Perry (2 1/2)  1-0

Two warriors that had met in the 1970's are rematched once again 

Bd 20  Morgan Fox (2) - Chris Calbat (2)  1-0

Morgan prevails over one of our newer members

Bd 21  Ralph White (2) - Bill Murray (2)  1-0

Another pair of old warriors dukes it out on the 64 square battlefield

Bd 22  Karen Kaufman (2) - Arnold Berlin (2)  1-0

Karen gives a lesson to one of our newer members

Bd 23  David Whitten (1 1/2) - Robert Samuel (1 1/2)  1-0

Bd 24  Darryl Woodson (1) - Maria Murra (1)  1-0  

Darryl wins again, his 2nd victory at the club. It could be habit forming...But does he have another brother named Darryl??

Bd 25  Patrick Edwards (1) - Stephen Tuba (1)  1-0

Steve is yet another new member who is still learning the ropes...

Bd 26  Guadalupe Galvez (0) - Kevin Fitzpatrick (0)  0-1 

And Kevin just joined the club tonight and won his first game! In record time too!

1/2 point bye: Keith Wetterer (1)

0 point bye (already took one bye): Lennart Mathe (4 1/2), Fausto Robles (4 1/2), Caley Anderson (4), Anthony Harbone (2 1/2)

Withdraw: Todd Smith (5), Fawsi Jose Murra (3)