Thursday, April 30, 2009

Robert Samuel Open Rd 3

Round 3  5/06/09  7 PM

Here are the results for Rd 3:

Total # of Players: 64! 

Open Section (16 players)

Bd 1  Todd Smith (2) - Carl Wagner (2)  1/2-1/2

Bd 2  Alejandrino Baluran (1 1/2) - Jason Qu (2)  0-1

Bd 3  Jamieson Pryor (1) - David Hart (1)  0-1 

Bd 4  Mario Amodeo (1) - Ron Soto (1)  0-1

Bd 5  Raoul Crisologo (1/2) - Ben Barquin (1)  0F- 0F

Bd 6  Mariano Lozano (1/2) - Donald Klaas (1/2)  1-0

Bye: Thomas Fries (2), Lennart Mathe (1), Fausto Robles (1/2) 

Match Play (2 players) 

Bd 8  James Mahooti (0) - Bruce Baker (1)  0-1

Premier Section (25 players)

Bd 10  William Wijaya (2) - Fawsi Jose Murra (2)  1F- 0F  called too late for a bye...

Bd 11  Robert Defore (1 1/2) - Brian Kelly (1 1/2)  1-0

Bd 12  Shaun Sweitzer (1 1/2) - Ramin Sinaee (1 1/2)  0-1

Bd 13  Jerry Soelberg (1 1/2) - Alfredo Deleon (1)  1/2-1/2

Bd 14  Phil Skiba (1) - Joel Batchelor (1)  1/2-1/2 

Bd 15  Chuck Ensey (1) - Anthony Harbone (1)  1-0

Bd 16  Fred Borges (1) - Mayra Murra (1)  1-0

Bd 17  James Coulston (1) - Bill Whitney (1/2)  0-1

Bd 18  Julian Rodriguez (1/2) - Buddy Morris (1/2)  1-0

Bd 19  Erik Marquis (0) - Saeid Abdoli (1/2)  0-1

Bd 20  Rocio Murra (0) - Tom Kuhn (0)  1/2-1/2

Bye: David Delgadillo (2), Dayne Freitag (1 1/2); Zero point bye: Larry Vikander (1/2)  

Reserve Section (21 players)

Bd 22  David Peabody (2) - Michael Thomas (2)  1/2-1/2 

Bd 23  Roger Wathen (2) - Steve Perry (1 1/2)  0-1

Bd 24  Monica Ness (1 1/2) - Mike Ryan (1 1/2)  1-0

Bd 25  Orrin Olgart (1 1/2) - Darryl Woodson (1 1/2)  1-0

Bd 26  Mark Lawless (1) - Michael Wang (1)  1-0 

Bd 27  Maria Murra (1) - Karen Kaufman (1)  1/2-1/2

Bd 28  Matt Souza (1) - Robert Samuel (1)  1-0

Bd 29  Patrick Edwards (1/2) - Cristhian Garcia (1/2)  1-0

Bd 30  Keith Wetterer (0) - Glenn Rose (0)

Bye: Yair Soto (1), Tom Lavoy (1/2), Russell Bellamy (1/2), Samuel Odedina (0)     

    

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Robert Samuel Swiss rd 3

Start:     May 6, '09 7:00p
Location:     2225 Sixth Avenue, San Diego

Super Gambito # 418

Start:     May 2, '09 10:30a

Gambito # 417

Start:     Apr 25, '09 10:30a

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Robert Samuel Open Round 2

4/29/09   Round 2

Total # of players: 64   Here are the results for Rd 2...

Open Section (16 players)

Bd 1  Ron Soto (1) - Todd Smith (1)  0-1

Bd 2  David Hart (1) - Thomas Fries (1)  0-1

Bd 3  Jamieson Pryor (1) - Carl Wagner (1)  0-1

Bd 4  Jason Qu (1) - Fausto Robles (1/2)  1-0

Bd 5  Alejandrino Baluran (1/2) - Ben Barquin (0)  1-0

Bd 6  Lennart Mathe (0)  1F

Bd 7  Pejman Sagart (0) - Mario Amodeo (0)  0-1

Bye: Raoul Crisologo (0), Mariano Lozano (0), Donald Klaas (0); Withdraw: Jeff Turner (0)

Match Play (2 Players)

Bd 8  Bruce Baker (0) - James Mahooti (0)  1-0

Premier Section (25 players)

Bd 12  Joel Batchelor (1) - William Wijaya (1)  0-1  The Longest Game of the Night

Bd 13  Ramin Sinaee (1) - Dayne Freitag (1)  1/2-1/2

Bd 14  James Coulston (1) - David Delgadillo (1)  0-1

Bd 15  Buddy Morris (1/2) - Fawsi Jose Murra (1)  0-1

Bd 16  Alfredo Deleon (1/2) - Chuck Ensey (1/2)  1/2-1/2

Bd 17  Saeid Abdoli (1/2) - Jerry Soelberg (1/2)  0-1

Bd 18  Mike Friedel (0) - Julian Rodriguez (1/2)  1-0

Bd 19  Tom Kuhn (0) - Fred Borges (0)  0-1

Bd 20  Anthony Harbone (0) - Rocio Murra (0)  1-0

Bd 21  Mayra Murra (0) - Erik Marquis (0)  1-0

Bd 10  Bill Whitney (1/2) - Robert Defore (1/2)  0-1

Bd 11  Brian Kelly (1/2) - Philip Skiba(0)  1-0 

Bye: Shaun Sweitzer (1), Larry Vikander (0)

Reserve Section (21 players)

Bd 22  Yair Soto (1) - David Peabody (1)  0-1

Bd 23  Michael Thomas (1) - Matt Souza (1)  1-0

Bd 24  Maria Murra (1) - Roger Wathen (1/2)  0-1

Bd 25  Steve Perry (1/2) - Cristhian Garcia (1/2)  1-0

Bd 26  Mike Ryan (1/2)  - Patrick Edwards (1/2)  1-0

Bd 27  Darryl Woodson (1/2) - Robert Samuel (1/2)  1-0

Bd 28  Tom Lavoy (1/2) - Orrin Olgart (1/2)  0-1 

Bd 29  Russell Bellamy (1/2) - Monica Ness (1/2)  0-1

Bd 30  Glenn Rose (0) - Mark Lawless (0)  0-1

Bd 31  Keith Wetterer (0) - Helmut Keil (0)  0-1

Bd 32  Karen Kaufman (0) - Samuel Odedina (0)  1-0

See pairings for next week under next blog... 

        

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Robert Samuel Open

Round 1  4/22/08  7 PM

Please email Chuck at chucnglo@aol.com to register for this event. Email BEFORE 4 PM on Wednesday, after that please just call the club phone at 619-239-7166. Or you can just show up at the club anytime before 6:30 PM, but it helps us if you can preregister by phone or email, thanks. Entry Fee: $25

5 Round Swiss in 3 sections:

Open (Masters & Experts)

Bd 1  Todd Smith - Jeff Turner  1-0

Bd 2  Mario Amodeo - David Hart  0-1

Bd 3  Carl Wagner - Mariano Lozano  1-0

Bd 4  Thomas Fries - Raoul Crisologo  1-0

Bd 5  Ben Barquin - Jamieson Pryor  0-1

Bd 6  Fausto Robles - Alejandrino Baluran  1/2-1/2

Bd 7  Lennart Mathe - Jason Qu  0-1

Bd 8  Donald Klaas - Ron Soto  0-1  

Premier (Class A and Class B)

Bd 10  Dayne Freitag - Larry Vikander  1-0

Bd 12  Chuck Ensey - Buddy Morris  1/2-12

Bd 13  Fred Borges - James Coulston  0-1

Bd 14  David Delgadillo - Mike Friedel  1-0

Bd 16  Julian Rodriguez - Alfredo Deleon  1/2-1/2

Bd 18  William Wijaya - Anthony Harbone  1-0

Bd 20  Erik Marquis - Ramin Sinaee  0-1

Bd 22 Joel Batchelor - Mayra Murra  1-0

Bd 24  Rocio Murra - Shaun Sweitzer  0-1

Bd 26  Fawsi Jose Murra - Tom Kuhn 1-0

Bye: Jerry Soelberg, Phil Skiba

Reserve (Class C and Class D)

Booster  if needed for players rated under 1200

Bd 28  Cristhian Garcia - Michael Ryan  1/2-1/2

Bd 30  Robert Samuel - Tom Lavoy  1/2-1/2

Bd 32  Matt Souza - Karen Kaufman  1-0

Bd 34  David Peabody - Glenn Rose  1-0

Bd 36  Samuel Odedina - Michael Thomas  0-1

Bd 38  Roger Wathen - Keith Wetterer  1-0

Bd 40  Mark Lawless - Maria Murra  0-1

Bye: Patrick Edwards, Monica Ness

Usual time control of 40/90, SD/60 with 5 seconds delay.

 

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Thunderbird Simul




John Funderburg, SDCC Champion 2007 and 2009 gives a 27-board simul at the club to all comers. Five fellow experts were in the group.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

How to Manage Your Mind at the Board

How to Manage your Mind at the Board

by George Zeigler

The Game

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5

The Master steeped in tradition knows that Karpov is well-known as an ultra solid and cautious player.  I was surprised to see some older games that featured him on the black side of the Wilkes Barre defense, and decided to give it a try. I’ve driven through Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania on my way to Penn State, and the terrain and people are both quite rugged.

5.Bxf7+ Ke7 6.Bd5

I had a pamphlet on the Wilkes Barre Defense when I played this game, and the writer recommended this course of play as the best option for White.

6...d6 7.c3

I seem to recall this is a "departure from book," and am resisting the temptation to do any research. [7.Nf7 Qf8 8.Nxh8 (8.Bb3 Nxe4 9.0–0 Nxf2 10.Rxf2 Bxf2+ 11.Kh1 Rg8) 8...Bxf2+ 9.Kf1 Bg4 and the queen is trapped.] 7...Qe8 8.0–0 Bg4 9.Qa4 h6 10.Nf7 Rf8 11.d4 exd4 12.b4

Chess is infinitely profound, and contains a wealth of mysteries waiting to be revealed. That's because The Game of Kings can be viewed from many different perspectives, so let's examine them briefly.

We’ll start out by looking at the ART and SCIENCE of chess. Clearly, it is a science subject to absolute laws which can be classified and studied. At the same time, it is clearly an ART FORM which lends itself to high levels of creative thought and interpretation.

The ART AND SCIENCE of chess exist simultaneously in all positions, and are emphasized to different degrees, depending upon the exact configuration of pieces upon the board. Positions which emphasize a player's ARTIST ARCHETYPE contain a large number of possibilities, resist precise analysis, and require higher levels of assessment skills and abstract positional judgment.

THE SCIENTIST ARCHETYPE prefers fewer possibilities, and a higher degree of certainty upon the board. This kind of position requires less judgment and interpretation, and rewards precision and deep analysis. Given these two ARCHETYPES and the different forms of analysis they require, this means that the skills and thought processes The Master must invoke are diverse and varied.

In his classic dissertation "Think Like a Grandmaster," Kotov provides us with two very strong metaphors that describe the two extremes of this spectrum. THE ARTIST builds "thickets" of analysis filled with many branches and possibilities that are contained only by the boundaries of his imagination, and the latent potential hidden within the position.

THE SCIENTIST prefers positions that contain forcing variations where his opponent has few options. This allows him to build a decision tree which more resembles a "picket fence" than a "thicket," deep and not wide.

Different openings and strategies tend towards one or the other, and they all contain elements of both. The Master knows which positions he likes most, and plays best. This knowledge eventually leads him to develop an opening repertoire that ensures his opponent ends up playing inside the laboratory he has thoughtfully designed.

To summarize these archetypes and perspectives, and to paraphrase Bruce Baker, one of the strongest masters at the San Diego Chess Club, this means "there are fundamentally three different types of chess players "ARTIST, SCIENTIST, AND WARRIOR.”

The WARRRIOR ARCHETYPE type rounds out “THE BAKER THREE" and together these three archetypes provide an insightful model for self-assessment. THE FIGHTER wields the weapons of THE ARTIST and THE SCIENTIST and directs them fiercely across the board with his raw brainpower and will-to-win.

Mr. Baker has many profound insights concerning the way these three styles interact, and this deep understanding is one reason he frequently dominates play at the San Diego Chess Club.

The need to highly energize this WARRIOR ARCHETYPE and the fierce competitive nature of chess also make it a SPORT, and it is necessary to conjure up extreme competitive intensity while sitting quietly at the board. The psychological requirements of high level play are very intense.

I can provide an example of these extreme psychological states from my own personal experience. About 20 years ago I was playing in an Expert Tournament in Philadelphia for 1st place and a prize of $6,000.00.

After making my move I suddenly realized there was a serious flaw in my analysis, and instantaneously broke into a cold sweat. This is the first and last time in my life I have experienced this strange biochemical event. I waited fearfully, trying not to give away my state of mind, and hoping that my opponent would not discover my error, as he coldly scrutinized the board. Sadly, he did punish my mistake, I did lose this vital contest, and my prize was reduced from $6,000.00 to $25.00.

There are many ARCHETYPES AND SKILLS the Master must cultivate. These include strategy, concrete analysis, theoretical opening study, the building of intricate decision trees, and managing extreme thought processes. In the meantime, his time clock relentless continues ticking, and this extra pressure often leads to chaotic “time scrambles,” near the end of a contest.

This calls to mind another WELL BAKED INSIGHT, as Bruce once shared with me that his strength greatly increased when he became a better MANAGER at the board. This leads us to a fourth and final archetype, as viewed from THE BAKER MODEL, and it is the MANAGER ARCHETYPE who carries out the most profound decision making skill of all. That's because THE MANAGER decides which archetypes to invoke, and how to bring each one to bear upon the position at hand.

These are the bricks from which The Master builds his house filled with thought.  This final insight is a key point of separation. Much of The Master's skills and knowledge are technical, and they can therefore be methodically developed through study and application. However, the deep psychological insights Bruce has discovered are of the nature which separates GRANDMASTERS from the rest.

These are deep insights, and they are earned only through years of hard work and dedication. This is exactly why we are drawn so strongly to our endeavor. It demands much of us, continually testing us and challenging us to the limits of our capacity.  While doing so, it invokes and strengthens different ARCHETYPES AND ASPECTS OF OUR CHARACTER. Truly it is very difficult to think of another activity that calls so deeply upon our inner resources. This makes every contest a character building experience.

That being said, there is one final comparison to make. That's because  in its truest essence chess is an application of physics. This conclusion becomes apparent if we compare a physics book to any beginning chess book.

The first chapter of any beginning chess book is always called something like "The Elements." They are always listed as time, space, and force, and every single physics equation is designed to quantify one of those same three variables.

Part of the beauty of chess is that we have the opportunity to "trade off the elements." For example, many openings involve “gambits” where a pawn is sacrificed for development. This represents a direct exchange of force for time.

We are finally ready to return to the position at hand. Having played this game about 15 years ago, I now look at the position on the board and the phrase that comes to mind is "tremendouly chaotic."

I am very fond of these kinds of positions, as they are full of anomalies which disrupt the orderly thinking of the CALM AND METHODICAL SCIENTIST.

We've reached CRITICAL MASS.  There truly is a crystal baking inside this chaos, and this brings us to THE FINAL PERSPECTIVE. A game of chess contains an incredibly large number of possibilities, and we will add one more skill the Master must patiently cultivate if he wishes to achieve a high level of success.

This final skill is a MANAGER responsibility, and we'll call it the ABILITY TO PRIORITIZE. There are always many things happening in a chess game. Some of them are readily apparent, while others are deeply hidden.

The Master has to be able to look at all the events simultaneously happening upon the board, find the "strongest theme," and then build a decision tree to support his thesis.  In this sense, a beautiful game of chess can be likened unto a piece of classical music or a great work of literature.

In music and literature, the strongest themes continuously thread themselves through the artist’s work, and in chess they also weave their way through the board in a multitude of sequences and combinations.

In the game at hand, this is a perfect opportunity for the reader to take a moment to distill Black's strongest theme out of the extreme anarchy that initially greets the eye. In that spirit, I will share the way I evaluated the position.

The quality of a Master’s analysis will be determined by the quality of the questions he asks himself. That’s because those questions will establish the contents of his analysis, and the themes he uncovers, as he works out the details. And so it is the questions he asks himself that determine the exact configuration of the decision trees he builds in his mind, as he gazes silently upon the board.

Regarding the position at hand, first I asked "What is the weakest point  around his King?" The answer to this question did not reveal itself, so I asked a second question, "Where are my greatest strengths?" This question yielded an important piece of information which I added to the analysis.

Now we’ll see how these conclusions led to the construction of a real live variation. After calculating the results of two consecutive exchanges I was able to determine the location of “my greatest strength.” The reader can probably discern the answer with this clue, as it becomes clear that after capturing the bishop on d5, the knight on f7 will fall next, and my queen and rook will form a very powerful battery on the f file.

After observing this, I asked a third and final question "Is there any way to undermine the defense of f2?" The answer was clear, and so in the end, the information I received by asking these three questions led to the continuation I played in the game.

In summary, we can say that the essence of The Master’s task lies in his ability to prioritize, find the strongest theme, and then build the decision trees necessary to support his objectives.

During a game of chess The Master continuously visualizes the board in his mind, forming and refining his decision trees, until he finally finds an outcome that supports his objectives.

This ability to visualize the board as it changes in the mind's eye during the process of analysis is another vital skill. That's because the ability to visualize all these combinations and sequences is the exact skill which allows The Master to build his DECISION TREES, and finally make the best move.

This is ”the essence of analysis." However, no matter how deeply he is able to penetrate the position using his highly developed visualization skills, at some point The Master must form a final position in his mind, and do his best to make a clear assessment.

Here is a very typical real-world assessment example. As The Master gazes upon the endpoint of the analysis he has formed in his mind, he will form an interpretation something like this, "Well, my opponent has a space advantage, but his pawns are weak. Over the next dozen moves or so, I'll be able to mass my forces in the sector of his king, and in the meantime he'll break through in the center, and ultimately advance in that area. However, it looks highly probable that my attack will culminate before his central play becomes truly meaningful."

This is a classic example of “ASSESSMENT” and The Master will be rewarded if he is accurate in his final appraisal. At the same time, there is an alternative process, which allows for the Master to unfold the position according to his will and style.

In making his assessment, The Master might say something like "Well, I'm probably objectively better in this final position, but I'll have to end up defending for about ten moves, and I'd prefer this other position where I maintain the initiative, even though it's unclear, and I could even be slightly worse. It’s just that I know I’ll enjoy playing that position much more."

This example of preferring one type of position over another is an example of The Master's STYLE. Every strong Master has a preferred style (examples: strategic, aggressive, solid, cautious). Despite inherent preferences, the very strongest players are able to play multiple styles, depending upon such things as their mood, position in the tournament, and their assessment of how to create a situation they sense will be uncomfortable for their opponent.

In this sense, the board reflects the personality, and so despite the fact that the game is subject to absolute laws, making it PURE SCIENCE, there is always tremendous opportunity for preference and interpretation, which means that the Game of Kings will always perform as a  TIMELESS ART.

12...Nxd5 [12...Bb6 13.b5 Nxd5] 13.exd5 Qxf7 14.bxc5 Be2 15.cxd6+ cxd6 16.dxc6 Bxf1 17.Qxd4 Ba6 18.cxb7 Bxb7

The bishop completes it's circumnavigation of the globe (c8-g4-e2-f1–a6-b7).

19.Nd2 [19.Ba3 Qd5 20.Qxg7+ (20.Qxd5 Bxd5 21.Nd2 Rf4) 20...Rf7 21.Qg4 Rg8 22.Qxg8 Qd1#]

19...Qf4

I would probably put this move somewhere in my Personal Top 10 Favorites. Here's the point - I'm up an exchange for a pawn. However, my king is extremely exposed, and could easily come under a fatal attack after White completes his development.

Therefore, by sacrificing a pawn with check, I am able to force White into an endgame which (a) eliminates the danger to my king, and (b) I am almost assuredly winning based on my large development advantage, and the fact there are many open lines for my rooks.

20.Qxg7+ [20.Qxf4 Rxf4 21.f3 Rc8] 20...Rf7 21.Qd4 Qxd4 22.cxd4 Rg8 23.g3 Rgf8 24.f4 Rc8 25.Rb1 Bd5 26.a3 Kf6 27.Kf2 Rb7 28.Rxb7 Bxb7 29.Nb3 Bd5.

White resigns.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

SCCF Senior/Junior Open

April 18th and 19th at the San Diego Chess Club (2225 Sixth Avenue)

$2,880 in prizes

5 Rounds, 2 Sections: "Senior" Section - 50 years & older, "Junior" Section - Under 50 years old. Everyone can play!

Senior Section: 1st Place: Bruce Baker (4 1/2), $300

2nd/3rd Place tie: Avram Zaydenberg (3 1/2), Peter Graves (3 1/2), $100 each

U2300/2nd U2300 tie: Carl Wagner (3 1/2), Craig Faber (3 1/2), $100 each

U2100/2nd U2100 tie: Dennis Saccuzzo (3 1/2), Leonard Sussman (3 1/2), $100 each

U1900: Daniel Collins (3): $150, 2nd U1900: Tony Pabon (2 1/2), $50

U1700: Steven Dahl (2 1/2): $150

2nd U1700: Nestor Dagamat (2), Ronaldo Salenga (2) and David Peabody (2), $17 each

Best Over 60 years old (tie): Michael Nagaran (3), Best Over 70 (tie): John Rinaldo (3) and Thomas Fries 93),  $66 each

Biggest rating point gainers (estimated): Dennis Saccuzzo +51 to 1951, Steven Dahl +41 to 1473, Fred Cleveland +38 to 1281

Junior Section:

First Place: Varun Krishnan (4 1/2), $240

Second Place/U2300 tie: Ignacio Sainz (3 1/2) and Adam Corper (3 1/2), $120 each, U2100: Hin Tsang (3 1/2), $120

Third Place: James Mahooti (3), $40

U1900: Maria Elena Villarreal (3), $120

U1700 tie: Aaron Ibarra (2 1/2), $93 

U 20 years old/U1700 tie: Carolina Villarreal (2 1/2), $93

U12 years old/U1700 tie: Yash Pershad (2 1/2), $93

2nd U2300: Roberto Aiello (2 1/2), $40

2nd U2100: Nathaniel Lagemann (2), $40

2nd U1900: Mike Friedel (2), $40

2nd U1700: Tom Kuhn (2), $40

U 16 years old: Alexander Blank (1), $80

Biggest Rating point gainers (est): Maria Elena Villarreal +54 to 1614, Yash Pershad +30 to 1679, Carolina Villarreal +29 to 1629, Matt Souza +27 to 1233 

Players: 50 Total

Senior Section (32 players): Rick Aeria, Bruce Baker, Jorge Balares, Alejandrino Baluran, Fred Cleveland, Daniel Collins, Bill Conrad, Nestor Dagamat, Steven Dahl, Robert Defore, Rick Dyberg, Chuck Ensey, Craig Faber, Gene Fernando, Morgan Fox, Thomas Fries, Peter Graves, James Hillard, Romeo Ignacio, Bill Murray, Michael Nagaran, Tony Pabon, David Peabody, John Rinaldo, Chris Roberts, Dennis Saccuzzo, Ronaldo Salenga, Leonard Sussman, Michael Thomas, Daniel Voje, Carl Wagner, Avram Zaydenberg

Junior Section (18 players so far)Roberto Aiello, John Badger, Alexander Blank, Adam Corper, Chris Creighton, Victor Delgadillo, Mike Friedel, Aaron Ibarra, Varun Krishnan, Tom Kuhn, Nathaniel Lagemann,  James Mahooti, Yash Pershad, Ignacio Sainz, Matt Souza, Hin Tsang, Carolina Villarreal, Maria Elena Villarreal 

       

Saturday, April 4, 2009

April Gambito Opens (#415, #416 and #417)

Gambito #417  4/25/09

There was no Gambito last week due to the Senior/Junior Open. Nice turnout for this Gambito with 25 players. Cyrus Lakdawala won this one with a 4-0 score, dispatching the #5, #4, #3 and #6 rated players in that order. That would be Jorge Balares, David Hart, Ali Morshedi and Paul Agron. The #2 rated player, Bruce Baker withdrew after a loss in the first round to young upstart Expert Alan Tsoi. Alan won the BU2400 prize of $60 with 4 1/2 points, bested only by Cy and Ali Morshedi with 5 points for Second Place (also $60). We used the our standard McMahon pairing system where Masters and Experts start with 2 points so that they mostly play each other. Class A players start with 1 point while B's and below get no bye points. For a short tournament this is an effective system, as most players get games with players in thier own rating class or close to it. This time there was a rare 6-way tie for BU2200/2000 between Jorge Balares, James Mahooti, Kyron Griffith, Jamieson Pryor, Paul Agron and Leonard Sussman, all with 4 points. Anthony Arciga won BU1800 ($60) with 2 1/2 and Jason Ma was BU1600 ($50) with 2.             

Gambito #416  4/11/09

Turnout was good at 24 players, enough so we could use a 3 point McMahon where Master & Experts started with 3, A=2, B=1 and C=0. The long weekend probably helped boost attendance. Cyrus Lakdawala won once again, but the "kids" were the stars of the day. Daniel Grazian defeated TWO masters (David Hart and Bruce Baker), one Expert (Rick Aeria) and lost only to Peter Graves in the first round. Alan Tsoi won BU2200 with wins over Ben Barquin and Roberto Aiello and losses to Cyrus and Bruce. Jason Ma won the U1600, getting a draw with Aaron Householder and wins over Mike Herzog and Matt Souza. Here are the prize winners:

First Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (7), $100      BU2400: Daniel Grazian (6), $60

Second Place: Peter Graves (5 1/2), $50    BU2200: Alan Tsoi (5), $60

BU2000: Roberto Aiello (5), $60   BU1800: Chuck Ensey (3 1/2), $50

BU1600: Jason Ma (2 1/2), $50

No Gambito Next Week!!

It's the Senior/Junior Open (2 sections, over 50 and under 50 years old)

Total Prizes: $430       

 

Gambito #415  April Super Gambito  4/04/09

30 players, 15 in Open Section, 15 in Reserve Section. NM Ali Morshedi probably would have won this event had he accepted a draw from Cyrus Lakdawala in Round 3, but he decided to play it out, being in a slightly better position and hoping for glorious win againnt the IM, but it didn't work out that way as Cyrus went on to win the game. Cy had already allowed a draw to Rick Aeria in Round 2, so by offering the draw to Ali, he was "giving him the tournament on a silver platter" as he later put it, but the offer was spurned. Cyrus says he understands why, that maybe Ali didn't care about the First Place prize and was more interested in getting a win against him, but still it might have been prudent to take the draw. But as they say, no guts, no glory... Ali still won clear Second Place. Hin Tsang beat Expert Raoul Crisologo in an exciting last round game, in fact it was the last game to finish and it won him the U2000 prize (sorry Roberto, I was wrong, you didn't win that prize!) In the Reserve Section, 8 year old Aaron Householder swept through the field with a perfect 4-0 score. Very impressive! Chris Calbat took the U1600 prize, showing no rust despite not having played for a while. Here are the prize winners:

Open Section:

First Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (3 1/2), $125     Second Place: Ali Morshedi (3), $75

U2400/2200/2000: Rick Aeria (2 1/2), Leonard Sussman (2 1/2), Hin Tsang (2 1/2), $75 each

2nd U2400/2200/2000: Alan Tsoi (2), Paul Agron (2), Roberto Aiello (2), $25 each

Biggest rating increases (estimated): Hin Tsang +14 to 1961, Rick Aeria +13 to 2108   

Reserve Section:

First Place: Aaron Householder (4), $75

Second Place: Carlos Martinez (3) and Aaron Ibarra (3), $12 each

BU1600: Chris Calbat (2), $50

2nd U1600: Anthony Arciga (1 1/2), Tom Kuhn (1 1/2), Scott Householder (1 1/2) and Michael Herzog (1 1/2), $5 each

Best Game Open Section, Ali Morshedi, $15 for game Morshedi-Tsoi

Best Game Reseerve Section, Mike Friedel, $15 for game Arciga-Friedel

Bigest rating increases (estimated): Aaron Householder +66 to 1716

Total Prizes: $700  

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Lakdawala Championships Round 7

Last Round Results on 4/08/09  7 PM

The following comments were written before this round was played: 

Three of our 5 sections already have a clear winner, but the Club Championship and the Borges Open are still hotly contested.

The Women's Championship is over, they had 7 players, so only 6 rounds were possible and the clear winner is: Maria Elena Villarreal ($80) with 5 out of 6 points. She lost only to the Second Place winner, Monica Ness ($40), who scored 4 1/2. Monica also gained an estimated 149 rating points to 1363 while Maria Elena gained about 86 to bring her up to 1531. In Third Place was Mayra Murra ($20) with 4 points. Congratulations to all of the fine women players and we are happy to see this event be such a success. Thank you again ladies for participating, now you can get back to busting the guy's openings and breaking their hearts! Last year's Women's Champion was Rocio Murra, and she graciously bestows the crown to the new champion Maria Elena.   

In the Reserve Championship the #1 seed William Wijaya has cliched First Place with 5 1/2 out of 6 so far. Donald Klass has 4 1/2, but he already arranged for a bye in the last round, so he will end up with 5 and at least tied for Second Place. Fighting for a share of Second, or at least Third Place, is still wide open amongst quite a few contenders: Larry Vikander (4), Tom Kuhn (4), Steve Gordon (3 1/2), Jerry Soelberg (3), Anthony Harbone (3) and Fawsi Jose Murra (3).     

In the Fred Borges Reserve, James Couston has clinched First Place with 5 1/2 and he can't even play the last round, but he doesn't need to. That was impressive...he says he has been studying tactics on the web and trying to keep his opponents out of their favorite book lines by playing somewhat unusual but sound variations. Sounds good to me! Fred Borges and Bryan Harms are currently tied for Second Place with 4 points, but David Tagatac, Cristhian Garcia and Mark Lawless are right behind them with 3 1/2...  

                                                                                ****

OK sports fans, it's OVER, finally after 14 rounds (Markowski plus Lakdawala Opens) we have closure. I am glad there were not tie breaks to decide the winners, in all cases the winner of each section was clear. Congrats to ALL the winners!! The cash prizes are listed below...        

Club Championship

First Place: John Funderburg (5 1/2), $100; 2nd Place (tie): David Hart (4 1/2), Todd Smith (4 1/2) and Raoul Crisologo (4 1/2), $40 each   

Bd 1  John Funderburg (4 1/2) - Todd Smith (4 1/2)  1-0

Bd 2  Raoul Crisologo (4 1/2) - David Hart (3 1/2)  0-1

Bd 3  Peter Graves (3) - Thomas Fries (2)  1-0

Bd 4  Pejman Sagart (1/2) - Brad Salz (3)  1/2-1/2

Withdraw: Bruce Baker (3 1/2), Ignacio Sainz (3 1/2), Manuel Herrera (3), Carl Wagner (2 1/2), Ben Barquin (2), Dimitry Kishinevsky (1 1/2), Alejandro Garamendi (1 1/2)   

Biggest rating point gainer (estimated): John Funderburg +57 to 2137

Reserve Championship

First Place: William Wijaya (6 1/2), $80; 2nd Place (tie): Donald Klaas (5) and Larry Vikander (5), $40 each  

Bd 6  Tom Kuhn (4) - William Wijaya (5 1/2)  0-1

Bd 7  Steve Gordon (3 1/2) - Larry Vikander (4)  0-1

Bd 8  Michael Ryan (2 1/2) - Jerry Soelberg (3)  1-0 

Bd 9  Anthony Harbone (3) - Mike Friedel (2 1/2)  0-1

Bd 10  Bryan Kelly (2 1/2) - Steve Perry (1 1/2) 0F-1F

Bye: Donald Klaas (4 1/2)

Withdraw: Fawsi Jose Murra (3), Hector Gonzalez (2), Morgan Fox (0) 

Biggest rating point gainer (est): Larry Vikander +130 to 1580 

Fred Borges Open  

First Place: Jeff Turner (5 1/2), $80; 2nd Place: Joseph McDougall (5) and Paul Agron (5), $35 each; BU2000: Buddy Morris (5), $70; 2nd U2000: Jason Qu (4), $50; 3rd U2000: David Delgadillo (3 1/2) and Dayne Freitag (3 1/2), $10 each 

Bd 11  Jeff Turner (5) - Joseph McDougall (4 1/2)  1/2-1/2

Bd 12  Paul Agron (4) - Alejandrino Baluran (4 1/2)  1-0

Bd 13  Buddy Morris (4) - Mario Amodeo (3 1/2)  1-0

Bd 14  Dayne Freitag (3 1/2) - Lennart Mathe (3)  0-1

Bd 15  Alfredo Deleon (3) - Jason Qu (3)  0-1

Bd 16  Eric Marquis (1) - Robert Draper (2)  1/2-1/2

Bd 17  Philip Skiba (1) - Chuck Ensey (2)  1/2-1/2

Withdraw: Damani Fair (1 1/2), Saeid Abdoli (3), Marty Lower, Ron Rezendes

Biggest rating point gainer (estimated): Buddy Morris +85 to 1899 

Fred Borges Reserve

First Place: James Coulston (5 1/2), $80; 2nd Place: Fred Borges (5), $50; BU1400: David Tagatac (4 1/2), $40; 2nd U1400: Bryan Harms (4), $20   

Bd 18  Cristhian Garcia (3 1/2) - Fred Borges (4)  0-1

Bd 19  Bryan Harms (4) - Mark Lawless (3 1/2)  0-1

Bd 20  David Tagatac (3 1/2) - Helmut Keil (1)  1-0

Bd 21  Robert Samuel (2 1/2) - Patrick Edwards (3)  1-0

Bd 22  Roger Wathen (2 1/2) - Darryl Woodson (2 1/2)  1/2-1/2

Bd 23  Michael Herzog (1) - Tom Lavoy (2)  1-0  

Bd 24  Samuel Odenina (0) - Matt Souza (2)  0-1

Bd 25  Karen Kaufman - Keith Wetterer  1-0

Withdraw: James Coulston (5 1/2)  First Place winner!  and Glenn Rose (2 1/2)

Biggest rating point gainers: David Tagatac +256 to 1288 and James Coulston +93 to 1520

Match Play - Joel Batchelor won once again, giving him 6 wins in a row after a first round loss to Shaun Sweitzer.  

Congrats to new Club Champion John Funderburg!! Wow, and he almost didn't get in, what a wild ride for John. He embodies the best of the club: he is a true gentleman at all times, a scholar of the game and a scrappy fighter. I am sorry that Todd Smith couldn't quite seal the deal, he came very close to winning this year, but had a bit of bad luck. John Funderburg is a repeat champion, he joins Ronald Bruno as the only two players to win the title twice since Cyrus abdicated. Early on it looked like it was going to be Bruce Baker's year to win, but a loss to Todd and then a loss to John put an end to that dream. Raoul Crisologo surprised a lot of people and might have even won the trophy if John and David Hart had faltered in the last round, but it wasn't in the fates. There is always next year guys!  

Next week is the simultaneous exhibition by John Funderburg versus all club members who want to try to beat him. A new tournament starts the following week on 4/22/09, the 5 round Robert Samuel Open...details to follow...