Jerry Soelberg Open Rd 5

Round 5 of 6    07/29/09  7 PM

68 players total. This is a McMahon pairing event, everyone plays in one big section but we separate the players by assigning initial bye points so that Masters and Experts start with 4 points, Class A players with 3, B=2, C=1, D/E=0. Currently we have 19 M/E, 17 A, 12 B, 10 C and 10 D/E = 68 total, not including a few house players.  

Results for Round 5:  

Board 1  Jorge Balares (6 1/2) - Bruce Baker (8)  1-0

Bruce had numerous opportunities to draw this game from what I heard, but it is well known that Bruce hates to draw. Many is the game he has lost trying to stretch a draw into a win that just isn't there. Leading the event with 8 points, a draw would have been a good result for Bruce in this case, but it just isn't in his nature to split the point...     

Bd 2  John Funderburg (7) - Carl Wagner (7)  0-1

Carl won the battle of the only two players with 7 points. Age and experience won out over  youth and enthusiasm this time. Also the Master beat the Expert which is to be expected, but John is the Club Champion and tough for anyone to beat as he proved earlier this year...      

Bd 3  Mariano Lozano (6) - Ignacio Sainz (6)  0-1

The higher rated Expert beat the lower rated Expert, but it was a close call... 

Bd 4  Jason Qu (6) - Manuel Herrera (6)  1/2-1/2

Jason is doing quite well in this event...

Bd 5  George Zeigler (6) - Raoul Crisologo (6)  1/2-1/2

Wow, what a battle, The Longest Game of the Night, by far. It looked like George had the win in hand, but Raoul brilliantly defended a Rook ending while down two pawns to none. It was a rook pawn and a bishop pawn and somehow Raoul was able to block both pawns from Queening. Amazing!        

Bd 6  Jamieson Pryor (5 1/2) - Alejandrino Baluran (5 1/2)  1/2-1/2 

Ed couldn't make progress against the accurate play of Jamieson, Canada's proud native son. 

Bd 7  Aaron Wooten (5 1/2) - Bill Whitney (5 1/2)  1-0

Bill's prepared line didn't catch Aaron off guard at all, Aaron was cool, calm and collected as usual and then he tricked Bill into missing a tactic...  

Bd 8  Roberto Aiello (5 1/2) - Ron Soto (5 1/2)  1-0

A mini win streak for Roberto who had been in a bit of a slump (especially at the Gambito Open) before this string of wins. 

Bd 9  Alfredo Deleon (5 1/2) - Thomas Fries (5)  0-1

Tom is one tough customer despite his very friendly demeanor.

Bd 10  Fausto Robles (5) -  Ramin Sinaee (5)  1/2-1/2 

This was no simple draw, it was very complicated and tricky for both sides...

Bd 11  Saeid Abdoli (5) - Chris Wonnell (5)  1-0

Saeid has been impressive since joing the club. Watch out for this guy! 

Bd 12  Marty Lower (5) - Damani Fair (5)  1/2-1/2

No surprise here, these two players know each other too well...

Bd 13  Santiago Rubio-Fernaz (4 1/2) - Phil Skiba (3 1/2)  0-1

Phil filled in for a last minute cancellation...

Bd 14  Jerry Soelberg (4 1/2) - Chuck Ensey (4 1/2)  1/2-1/2

I was very lucky to draw when Jerry got a little careless in an easily won endgame. Of course, no game is "easily won" until the point is recorded...  

Bd 15  Fawsi Jose Murra (4) - Roger Dooc (4)  1-0

Roger can't seem to catch a break in this event...

Bd 16  Anthony Harbone (4) - Tom Kuhn (4)  0-1

Tom rebuffed all the traps Tony likes to set and stayed the course for the win...

Bd 17  Larry Vikander (4) - Shaun Sweitzer (4)  0-1

Shaun ground out the technical win with 2 Bishops versus a Rook.

Bd 18  Erik Marquis (4) - Julian Rodriguez (4)  1-0

Erik's rating has taken a beating lately, but he is just as dangerous as always...

Bd 19  Mike Friedel (3 1/2) - Matt Souza (4)  1-0

The two friends had to play each other and it was an exciting game, Mike nearly had a heart attack when he thought he had blown it at one point, but he survived the unexpected assualt.

Bd 20  Jim Krooskos (3 1/2) - Robert Samuel (3 1/2)  1/2-1/2  

Bob is happy to draw anyone these days and it was a good result for Jim too 

Bd 21  Mark Lawless (3) - Brian Kelly (3)  0-1

Mark fell to the much higher rated Brian who had been down on his luck lately 

Bd 22  Fred Borges (3) - Libano Rodriguez (3)  0-1

A nice checkmate by Libano

Bd 23  Roger Wathen (3) - James Coulston (2 1/2)  1-0

I'll bet this was an interesting game, but I didn'ty see any of it...

 Bd 27  Samuel Odedina (2 1/2) - Bill Murray (2 1/2)  1-0

All of a sudden Sam is coming on strong after a long string of losses

Bd 28  Karl Lindberg (2) - Patrick Edwards (2 1/2)  0-1

Karl had a good position, but misplayed a few tactical moves

Bd 29  Cristhian Garcia (2) - Mike Ryan (2)  1-0

Cristhian is another one who is on a hot streak 

Bd 30  Darryl Woodson (1) - Maria Murra (1)  1-0

Darryl is too strong to be at the bottom of the pairing chart

Lots of byes tonight!! See below...

Byes: David Hart (6 1/2), Paul Agron (6 1/2), Lennart Mathe (6), Vincent Broman (5 1/2), Joel Batchelor (5), Steve Perry (5), Robert Defore (4 1/2), Buddy Morris (4 1/2), Steve Gordon (3 1/2), Helmut Keil (1), Monica Ness (1). No show: David Peabody (2) 

Pairings for the last round are already posted in the next blog

ALSO: NEWS FLASH!!!   There will be a simul with IM Enrico Sevillano

At the SDCC on Friday night 7/31/09 at 7 PM, $10 a board. Help him raise money for a trip to the US Open next week...thanks...