'06 Lasker Rd 7

Lasker Open Round 7

Bd 19  Sinaee-Barquin 1-0

 

Ramin Sinaee tied for First Place with Andrew Bell, they both scored an impressive 6 out of 7 points in this very strong section. They each win $70 in this largest section (prizes based on entries in each section). There were a lot of tough competitors here, so going 6/7 is truly an accomplishment. Ramin was undefeated, granting only two draws, so if we had a trophy here, he would have won on tie breaks by 1/2 a point over Andy. Ramin's draws were with Fawsi Murra Jr and Ed Baluran.    

Bd 20  Fawsi Murra Jr - Bell 0-1

Andy checks the variations in his head before playing 44...Rb8! a nice way to finish the game. There followed 45. Qxb8 Qc2+ 46. Kf3 Qf2+ 47. Kg4 Nh6+ 48. Kh4 g2#! In the initial position shown 44...Rxh3 is an easier way to win, but Andy went with what he had already calculated was a win.  

Andrew Bell (6) won a nice game here, clinching a tie for first place with Ramin Sinaee (6). Andy's only loss was to Ramin in Round 1, he then reeled off 6 wins in a row!! 

Bd 21  Baluran - Soelberg 1-0

Ed Baluran (5 1/2) won Third Place ($40) with this win over Jerry Soelberg, (3 1/2), who is a tough person to beat.

Bd 22  Soto - Gusev 1-0

Ron Soto (4 1/2) was Best Under 1900 for $40 with this nice upset over Maksim Gusev (3 1/2). 

Bd 23  Clevenger - Malowney 1-0

Jason Clevenger filled in as a house player for David Saponara (3), who had to miss this round and Jason came up with a win over James Malowney (3).

Bd 24  Delgadillo - Fries 0-1

Tom Fries (4) finished strong after starting 0-2. David Delgadillo (3) lost his last two against higher rated players and finished with 3 points.  

Bd 25  Amodeo - Freitag 1/2- 1/2  The Longest Game of the Night

I thought it would never end! Mario Amodeo (3) tried his best to eke out a win in this minor piece endgame with a Bishop vs a Knight, but Dayne Freitag (3) defended well and held the draw.  

Bd 26  Hooker - Newell (not played)

Carl Newell (3) got an unrated win here when there was a mix-up over a phone message from Kwame Hooker(2 1/2),who asked to withdraw, but the message was erased by mistake.

Please always call us if you are not going to play and haven't confirmed a bye or a withdrawal with the TD (and preferable written it on the pairing chart if you know the week before). Carl Newell had no one to play and  I could have arranged things differently if I had known early enough. One of these days we will institute a $5 fine for forfeits! This mostly happens with new players, so we give them a break by not fining them and just hope they will learn. They don't realize the how important it is to make it very clear if you are withdrawing.  Am I beating a dead horse here and repeating myself week after week? Apparently not, because it keeps happening. There was another forfeit in the Reserve Championship.

OK, we have now heard from Kwame and he swears he left a message on the answering machine, and of course I believe him. Somehow it got erased; we have been having a lot of trouble with that answering machine (it's always best to talk to Bruce or Chuck when calling in a bye or a withdrawal and keep trying if you get that dang machine. Usually someone is at the club to answer the phone from 4 PM on). I didn't mean to come down on Kwame for this, it is just very frustrating to try to do good pairings. Kwame really is a great guy and he politely objected to some of my comments above, so I erased some of it and I hereby retract anything even vaguely negative about Kwame, I respect him greatly. He played very well in this event. His rating has been soaring lately. He gained 116 points in this one event, a very huge boost for anyone's rating!     

Bd 27  Batchelor - Rezendes 1-0

Our Club President Ron Rezendes (2) is hurting with recent knee surgery and his chess has been suffering lately. (Rick here: That's because Ron Rezendes is famed for his "knee-jerk" chess playing style.) On the other side, Joel Batchelor (3) has been making a good comeback lately after a slow start. 

Bd 28  Juroshek - Edwards 1-0

Khris Juroshek (3) is much higher rated than Patrick Edwards (1) and pretty much manhandled him, but Pat doesn't mind, he likes to play up and every once in a while he wins one. Not this tournament though, but he did get a draw against house player Sam Barboo in Round 5; Sam is rated 250 points higher than Patrick.

Reserve Section

Bd 29  Fox - Samuel 0-1

Robert Samuel (6) won this section (1st Place $60), which could be thought of as the U1600 Club Championship , with an impressive 6 out 7 points. His only loss came in week 2 against Jacquelyn Egger, and he then went on to win 5 in a row.  Congratulations, Bob! Morgan Fox (4) tied for Third Place ($10)

Bd 30  Colon - Egger 1-0

Justin Colon (5), a new club member, tied for second place with David Hall (5), they each scored 5 points. For prize purposes, Justin won the 2nd/U1400 prize ($35) and Jacquelyn Egger (4 1/2) won the U1200 prize ($30).

Bd 31  Kuhn - Hall 0-1

David Hall (5) won the Second Place Prize ($35) with this win over Tom Kuhn (3 1/2), who finished with a break even score. 

Bd 32 Aranda - Kaufman 0-1

Karen Kaufman (4) tied for Third Place ($10) with this nice win over the somewhat rusty James Aranda (3). James has returned to the club after several years absence.  

Bd 33  Burke - Wetterer 1-0

Alex Burke (3) beat house player Keith Wetterer (2). Keith won 2 out of the 3 games he played, thanks for filling in when needed Keith, and good job!  

Bd 34  Anderson - Tyrell 1-0

Albert Anderson (2 1/2) only played 2 games, but won them both. Jachin (Reno) Tyrell (1 1/2) had a tough tournament, losing his last 4 games against mostly higher rated players. 

Bd 35  Ness - Stepanova 1-0

The last four boards had some interesting match-ups. Monica Ness (2 1/2) managed to win against newcomer Anna Stepanova, who was just playing her second rated event and filling in as a house player. With that name, you have to wonder if Anna will soon be stepping over lots of people on her way up the club ladder.        

 

Anna Stepanova is a new face and could be a new force in the San Diego Chess Club!

Bd 36 Maria Murra - Mabrey 1-0

Maria Murra (2)  won her game against another newcomer, Sharon Mabrey, who was playing her first rated game. I think it was Maria's first win at the club, earlier she had a 1 point bye when we couldn't find a house player for her.