Roger Dooc Blitz Decathalon

Roger Dooc Blitz Decathalon  9/23/09

This is a one night event of Blitz chess (7 minutes a game, 2 second time delay) that turned out to be a real marathon, lasting until about 11:30 PM. There were 3 sections, we were hoping for more with a bigger turnout, but this worked fine with 14 players in the Open, 15 players in the Premier (U2000) and 10 players in the Reserve (U1600). It was unable to be rated as quick ratings must be at least 10 minutes. There werel 10 rounds, except in the Reserve where they played "only" nine rounds, so in their case it was just like a round robin. 

Entry Fee: $5, 100% of all entries werel paid back in prizes. We name this tournament after Roger Dooc because he is the King of the Blitz players, he is there every day at the club playing "risers"... and he rarely has to get up!    

Open Section, 14 players:  1. Bruce Baker (2286), 2. John Funderburg (2160), 3.Dimitry Kishinevsky (2139), 4. Alejandrino Baluran (2078), 5. Ignacio Sainz (2074), 6. Raoul Crisologo (2071), 7. Jim Humphrey (2027) 8. Carey Milton (2010), 9. Ronald Soto (1979) 10. Paul Agron (1978) 11. Bill Whitney (1968) 12. Nikolay Arutyunov (1955) 13. Madhavan Vajapeyam (1907) 14. Nathanael Plapp (1879)

Prize Winners: First Place: Jim Humphrey (8 1/2), $40; 2nd Place: Paul Agron (8), $20; 3rd Place: Dimitry Kishinevsky (7), $10. Just out of the money were Carey Milton (6) and Raoul Crisologo (5). Jim lead the event with five wins in a row to start, but Paul was right behind him with 4 (Paul lost to Jim in Rd 4), but in Round 7 Jim lost to Dimitry and Paul took the lead with five wins in row of his own from rounds 5 through 9. So Paul was ahead by half a point going into the last round, but he lost to Ed Baluran, while Jim defeated Ron Soto.

Bruce Baker, who is not known for his blitz skills, was the only master in the event, but he won only 1 game out of the first 5 and then withdrew. His only win was against Baluran, and it looked to me like Bruce was dead lost in that game, but somehow he pulled it out. Club Champion John Funderburg, the #2 rated, did a bit better, losing the first two games, then winning three in a row, but finally quitting after a loss to Agron in round 6. Speed chess is a whole different game than slow chess, but it is fun to do this kind of event. Next time I think we will do fewer games, probably 5 or 6 games at 10 minutes per side with 3 second delay. That would be on 12/30/09 and it would be quick rated this time.  Also on 12/23 we have a Quick Championship of G/15 scheduled.                  

Premier Section (U2000), 15 players: 1. Robert Belenzon (1985), 2. Dayne Freitag (1920), 3. Saeid Abdoli (1904), 4. Robert Defore (1899), 5. Chris Wonnell (1888), 6. Maria Elena Villarreal (1798), 7. Ron Rezendes (1766), 8.William Delaney (1756), 9. Shaun Sweitzer (1755), 10. Roger Dooc (1733), 11. Phil Skiba (1714 - house player), 12. Donald Klaas (1709), 13. Julian Rodriguez (1676), 14. Matt Souza (1607), 15. Hector Gonzalez (1592), 16. Marco Zirino (unr) 

Prize winners: First Place: Chris Wonnell (9), $30; 2nd Place: Robert Belezon (7 1/2), $10; BU1800: Ron Rezendes (6), $25; 2nd U1800: Maria Elena Villarreal (5 1/2), $10. Also scoring well, but out of the money were Saeid Abdoli (7), Robert Defore (5 1/2) and Phil Skiba (5 1/2). Phil was a house player and played round 1 in the Open Section. Impressive performance by Chris Wonnell, he lost only to the highest rated player Robert Belenzon. Robert B. started slow allowing a draw with Shaun and a loss to Maria Elena, but then won 6 in a row, before finally losing to Ron Rezendes and finishing up with a win over Roger Dooc.   

Reserve Section (U1800), 10 players: 1. Steve Gordon (1570), 2. James Coulston (1553), 3. Jim Krooskos (1535), 4.James Sturtevant (1525), 5. Robert Samuel (1518), 6. David Peabody (1439), 7. Bill Murray (1433), 8. Fred Clevelad (1383), 9. Tom Lavoy (1288) 10. Edgar Lopez (1200?)

Prize Winners: First Place: Jim Krooskos (8), $25; 2nd Place (tie): James Coulston (6) and David Peabody (6), $5 each; BU1400: Edgar Lopez (6), $10   

Next event: 6 round Dr. Carl Wagner Open starting on 9/30 through 11/04. There will be a Fast Section (G/90) and a Slow Section (40/90, SD/60), both with 5 second delay. There will be an Open and Reserve (U1800) sections in both time controls, and probably more sections depending on the turn out. Sign up in advance by emailing chucnglo@aol.com  I will put up advanced entries soon. Thanks, Chuck