October Special Super Gambito

Gambito #487 (October Special Super Gambito) 10/02/10 

Twice a year (February and October) we have a "Special" Super Gambito. This is a 5 round event; it starts early at 10 AM instead of the usual 10:30, so that we can squeeze in the 5 rounds. The entry fee is $50 if paid in advance (or at least pre-registered), or $60 if you wait until the day of the event to let us know you are playing.      

The Guaranteed Prize Fund is $2,000. Rounds are at 10:00, 11:45, 2:15 and 4:00 and 5:30. The lunch break is from 1:15 to 2:15. Time control is G/40 with 5 second delay. SCCF membership is required, $18 adult, $10 junior (18 or under). The SCCF publishes the "Rank and File" magazine that covers Southern California chess activity.  Here were the Prize winners: 

Open Section

First Place/ 2nd/U2400: Cyrus Lakdawala (4), Giovanni Carreto (4) and Kyron Griffith (4), $233 each

2nd U2400: Jeff Arnold (3 1/2), $75

BU2200: Carey Milton (3 1/2) and Peter Hodges (3 1/2), $112 each 

 BU2000: Robert Defore (2 1/2), $150

2nd U2000: Joselito Quiba (2), Ivan Salazar Migoni (2) and Chris Wonnell (2), $25 each

Plus Best Game Prize, $15  to Bruce Baker for win for Romeo Ignacio

Bruce Baker (2265) - Romeo Ignacio (2200), Round 2  1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5! The Marshall Attack 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.Bxd5 cxd5 13.d4 Bd6 14.Re1 Qh4 15.g3 Qh3 16.Qf3 Bf5 17.Qg2 Qh5 18.f3 this has all been played before, Black has good compensation for his sacrified pawn Rae8 19.Be3 Bh3 20.Qf2 f5 21.f4 g5 22.Nd2 Re4!? 23.fxg5 Rg4 24.Kh1? (24.Qf3 was better, but Kh1 seems natural in a scary position) f4 25.gxf4 Bg2+ 26.Qxg2 Rxg2 27.Kxg2 Bxf4 28.Nf3? Qg4+ 0-1 (If 29.Kf2 Bxg5 and the Knight is lost)    

Biggest Upset: Joselito Quiba, $15, for win over Peter Hodges 

Reserve Section

First Place: Kimberly Ogden (4 1/2), $200

BU1600: Jerry Qu (4), $150

Second/Third Place: Haziq Siddiqi (3 1/2) and Rex Pimentel (3 1/2), $97 each

2nd U1600: Alexander Blank (3), $70

BU1400: Ajay Krishnan (3), $75

2nd U1400: Jesse Wang (2) and Irina Nizmutdinova (2), $12 each

Best Game Prize, $15 to Haziq Siddiqi for win over Edgar Lopez

Haziq Siddiqi (1286) - Edgar Lopez (1747) Round 1 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 Be7 4.Nbd2 b6 5.e3 Bb7 6.Bd3 0-0 7.c3 c5 8.Qc2 cxd4 9.cxd4 h6 10.Rc1 Nc6 11.a3 Rc8 12.Qb1 Nh5 13.Bg3 Nxg3 14.hxg3 d5 15.Ne5 Bd7 16.Rxc8 Bxc8 17.b4 Nb7 18.Ne5 Bd7 19.f4 Be8 20.g5 f6 21.gxf6 Bxf6 22.Bh7+ Kh8 23.Ng6+ Bxg6 24.Qxg6 Qe8 25.Qd3 Nd6 26.g4 Nc4 27.g5! Nxe3 28.Qxe3 Kxh7 29.gxf6 1-0  I think Black ran out of time here...  

Biggest Upset: Jesse Wang, $15, for win over Alexander Blank 

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36 players total

Open Section, 21 players: including 7 Masters: Cyrus Lakdawala, Jeff Arnold, Ken Arnold, Bruce Baker, Giovanni Carreto, Kyron Griffith, Romeo Ignacio; 7 Experts: Varun Krishnan, Raoul Crisologo, Peter Hodges, Ben Barquin, Aaron Wooten, Carey Milton, Jamieson Pryor; 7 Class A: Madhavan Vajapeyam, Robert Defore, Chris Wonnell, Ivan Salazar Migoni, Pejman Sagart, Joselito Quiba, Chuck Ensey

Reserve Section, 15 players: 3 Class B: Kimberly Ogden, Edgar Lopez, Anthony Harbone; 3 Class C: Jerry Qu, Alexander Blank, Fred Cleveland; 9 Class D/E: Rex Pimentel, James Hillard, Keric Rivas, Haziq Siddiqi, Irina Nizmutdinova, Jesse Wang, Ajay Krishnan, Matthew Wang, Issac Vega (unrated)  

4 players called in sick (Scott Householder and James Mitchell) or otherwise couldn't make it (Aaron Householder and Tom Kuhn), so with them we would have had the hoped-for 40 players. It was surprising to me that only 3 Class B players showed up, plus only 3 C's, but lots of D/E's. Haziq had a good showing, I think his rating should now go over 1400. He defeated Edgar Lopez in the first round which won the best game prize for the Reserve Section. (I will post it later). Ajay Krishnan also did well, winning $75 in his first ever Gambito Open! Following in his brother's footsteps I suppose. Ajay defeated house player Andrew Negus in round 2 when in a dead drawn position Andrew, instead of repeating the position and blocking Ajay's King, went for a win with an ill-fated plan to advance on the Kingside, but Ajay was able to thereby penetrate with a faster attack on the Queenside and win. I just happened to be watching that one from the side. Another upset was won by Irina Nizmutdinova, fresh from a tour of Europe, who came back to defeat strong Class B player Anthony Harbone in round 3, however she lost to Ajay in the fourth round, the young kid was on fire...although he needs to learn to stop talking during the games!        

Cyrus said his back was acting up, even before the first round, but he managed to win 3 in a row to start, including wins over Bruce Baker and Giovanni Carreto, but then ran into the Arnold brothers, who always give him trouble and he settled for two draws. Giovanni beat Bruce and Ken Arnold. Kyron lost only to Ken Arnold and beat Romeo and Raoul in the last rwo rounds.     

Note: Next Saturday, 10/09/10 is National Chess Day, so we will celebrate by having a Super Gambito with $1,000 in guaranteed prizes ($25 entry fee, 4 rounds starting at 10:30)