Club Champs Rd 3

2008 Club Championship   Round 3 of 7  3/05/08 7:00 PM

Time control is 40/90, SD/60, w/ 5 sec delay

Two half-point byes available, except for last round. Total players in this event = 65 so far...

Club Championship Section  (16 players)

Commentary by Rick Aeria  and Chuck Ensey

Here are the results from Rd 3. Click here to view current standings.

A bitter-sweet round. Many of us were saddened to hear that Dr. Carl Wagner withdrew from the tournament. We hope to see Carl back in the near future, hopefully defending his Senior State title in April. This round however should be entitled...

The Night of the Thunderbird!

The young Turks continue to pummel the Old Guard. This time  Messrs. Todd Smith, Carey Milton and Bruce Baker fall victim to Messrs. John Funderburg, Alejandro Garamendi and Ron Bruno respectively. I'd like to include Mariano Lozano's draw with veteran Master David Hart but we will leave that out. The only "veteran" to buck the trend was Ignacio Sainz beating Eric Montany. 

Board 1  John Funderburg (2) - Todd Smith (2)  1-0

The Thunderbird playing 1. e4 was a surprise. Lakdawala Labs, Inc. must be working overtime to keep infusing John with special opening preparation - and its paying off. This time John essayed the Scotch/Goring Gambit and took the fight to Master Todd Smith. The Thunderbird seemed hell-bent on burning his bridges and going for an all out assault on the veteran master. Not a good idea in my opinion because Todd has made a career of defending difficult positions and is most dangerous when provoked/attacked. Todd's trophy case is full of the heads of his victims who misplayed an attack or flinched at a crucial moment.  However, the Thunderbird prevailed and we bow to his mastery.

For the the time being, the Thunderbird and defending champion is in first place all by himself. While happy for John's success, it was sad to see the pained look on Todd's face.  This game meant a lot more to Todd than many would suspect.

Before you view the game, I have a disclaimer to make. I was criticized by my former mentor, the revered Cyrus Lakdawala for my handling of the Montany-Bruno annotations. I plead guilty-I misassessed the bloody position at four a.m.! Therefore I authorize Cyrus to over-write, dispose/trash and re-assess any and all analysis of mine. Now and unto perpetuity - for all time! The only thing that Cyrus may not change are my jokes and one-liners. Get your own standup comedy material, homie!

See game here. Extra! Extra! The venerable Cyrus Lakdawala and John Funderburg annotate the game jointly too! See it here as well as in Cyrus Annotates!

Bd 2  Bruce Baker (1 1/2) - Ron Bruno (1 1/2)  0-1 

A little background, about the following encounter. In the recent Gambito events, Bruce has scored two head shots against Ron Bruno even when Ron was playing well enough to hold off Cyrus Lakdawala. Ron walked in this evening expecting to play Hart and was chagrined to find out that the pairings changed and he had to face Bruce with the black pieces.

Taking a page from Bobby Fischer, Ron a lifetime Sicilian specialist, answered Bruce's 1. e4 with 1. ... Nf6! The Alekhine Defence. Unfazed, Bruce established a spatial advantage and looked like he was going to squeeze Ron for a third straight time but he proceeded incautiously and allowed counterplay.  Missing the most precise continuations, White's position begins to slide. Suddenly the pendulum of the initiative swings in Ron's favor and material rewards come like a welcome summer breeze. With initiative plus material exchange and clock to boot, Ron makes short work of Bruce's resistance.

After the game we found stronger lines for White but Bruce seemed distant and detached. It was as though having reached a higher plateau of human wisdom and understanding, the Jedi master simply accepted that way things turned out.

See game here.  Extra! Extra! The venerable Cyrus Lakdawala annotates this critical game! See it here as well as in Cyrus Annotates! [Added 3/14/2008]

Bd 3  Mariano Lozano (1 1/2) - David Hart (1 1/2)  1/2-1/2

Of all the masters in the field, David Hart is probably the most pragmatic and level-headed. Handling the Black pieces against a young, constantly improving and hungry youngster, veteran Master Hart decides that discretion is the better part of valor and begins peace negotiations.

See the game here. Courtesy of Mariano Lozano.

Bd 4  Eric Montany (1/2) - Ignacio Sainz (1)  0-1

Ignacio plays with a huge time handicap. Commuting across the border from Tijuana, Ignacio easily cedes 30 minutes of his allocated 90 minutes. This time however, Ignacio uncorks the dashing Albin Counter Gambit. Eric reacts sensibly enough and queens come off the board. Eric overlooks a combination and loses material. Then Igancio's pieces spring to life and he easily converts to a winning rook versus rook and three pawns endgame. Eric struggles valiantly but in vain as Ignacio demonstrates his endgame technique and brings home the full point.

This is a signal victory for the new standard-nearer of Mexican chess in San Diego over the newest 'Son of Cyrus', Eric Montany!

 

See game here.  Courtesy of Ignacio Sainz with my (ahem!) annotations.

This turned out to be the Longest Game of the Night.

Bd 5  Leonard Sussman (1/2) - Brad Salz (1)  1/2-1/2

When Sussman has the Black pieces, he plays sharp tactical openings. With White pieces, Sussman turns into "Reshevsky" and tries a more positional approach. This time Sussman turned into General Ludendorff (the World War I German General) and Brad Salz? Gritty Brad was always General Foch (the French General) at least in his own mind. The two started extensive trench warfare, digging dirt all over the landscape and not making any headway. fortunately for us in the room, the Geneva Accords forbade gas warfare. Soon Ludendorff...eh, Sussman began peace negotiations and an armistice was signed.

See game here.  Courtesy of Bradley Salz.

Bd 6  Alejandro Garamendi (1/2) - Carey Milton (0)  1-0

This one was over rather quickly. Garamendi and Milton both play the Sveshnikov Variation to the Sicilian Defence. However, Carey continues imprecisely (many who say less delicately - "recklessly")  and Alejandro gets a huge positional edge stranding Carey's King in the middle of the board. A neat loss of the exchange follows and further material losses prompt Carey to surrender.

See game here.

Bd 7  Philip Roth (1) - Raoul Crisologo (0)

House player Philip Roth was once again called to fill in. This time he had his hands full with Crisologo. By that I mean, the mysterious one had his hands  fully around Crisologo's neck!  Ready to deliver another stunning upset brilliancy against the one of the clubs finest experts, Philip's old nemesis rears its ugly head and bites him where it hurts. Time trouble! In a completely winning position after outplaying Crisologo thoroughly, Phil tragically blunders a crucial piece and with it all hopes of glory.

See game here.

Byes: Jim Humphrey (0), George Zeigler (1 1/2), Withdraw Carl Wagner (1)

Reserve Championship (U1800):  (16 players)      

Bd 10  Robert Draper (2) - Shaun Sweitzer (2)  0-1

Shaun seemed able to handle the gambit opening played by Bob with ease and cruised to victory and 1st Place.

Bd 11  Fawsi Jose Murra (1 1/2) - Chuck Ensey (1 1/2)  1-0

Fawsi Jose played well, handling the opening nicely and the mid-game complications with confidence, finally arriving at the endgame, where his Knight was much superior to my cramped Bishop, and so he picked up a pawn and won easily. All with out even getting into any serious time trouble which has been his weak point in the past. 

Bd 12  Fred Borges (1 1/2) - Vincent Broman (1)  1/2-1/2

Fred kept swapping pieces and arrived a a Rook and Pawn endgame where Vincent had the more active Rook, but the win was elusive for Vincent, even though he tried hard to win the drawn game. 

Bd 13  Rocio Murra (1) - Hector Gonzalez (1)  1/2-1/2

Rocio is holding up well and earned a tough draw with Hector.

Bd 14  Erik Marquis (1) - David Hall (1)  1-0

Erik bounced back from last week to get to a solid 2 out of 3 points, right in contention. He is now tied with Fred Borges and Bob Draper for third place. Fawsi Jose is alone in second place with 2 1/2 and Shaun Sweitzer in 1st. 

Bd 15  Morgan Fox (1) - Mark Lawless (1/2)  0-1

Bd 16  Ryan Nichols (1/2) - Tom Kuhn (1/2)  1-0

Bd 17  William Murray (0) - Julian Rodriguez (0)  1-0

Fred Borges Open  (20 players)

Bd 18  Lennart Mathe (2) - Mario Amodeo (1 1/2)  0-1

Bd 19  Roxas Acosta (1 1/2) - Alfredo Deleon (1 1/2)  1-0

Bd 20  Thirunathan Sutharsan (1 1/2) - Dayne Freitag (1 1/2)  0-1

Bd 21  Jason Qu (1 1/2) - Nate Plapp (1 1/2)  1-0

Bd 22  Buddy Morris (1) - Marty Lower (1 1/2)  0-1

Bd 23  Fausto Robles (1) - Ed Baluran (1/2)  0-1

Bd 24  Theron Pummer (1/2) - Fawsi Murra Jr (1/2)  1/2-1/2

Bd 25  Pejman Sagart (1/2) - Richard Jensen (1/2)  1-0

Bd 26  Ron Rezendes (1/2) - Damani Fair (1/2)  1-0   See game here

Bd 27 David Delgadillo (1/2) - Caley Anderson (1/2)  1-0

Fred Borges Reserve Section (U1800)  (12 players)

Bd 28  Steve Perry (2) - Anthony Harbone (2)  0-1

Bd 29  Jerry Soelberg (1) - Arnold Berlin (1 1/2)  1-0

Bd 30  Andrew Sung (1) - Karen Kaufman (1)  1-0

This was incorrectly reported as a win for Karen and not corrected until after round 4.  

Bd 31  Alan Rhoads (1) - Robert Samuel (1)  0-1 

Bd 32   Michael Ryan (1) - Michael Wang (1)  1-0

Byes: Patrick Edwards (1/2), Pete Lill (1), Monica Ness (0)