#133 Minkov Wins Checkmate Championship

Ari Minkov (4.5) clinched the 2007 Checkmate Championship last night with a victory against Bert Shiffman. I had a nice win over Bob Sherry (My first in 11 tournament games against him!) & finished with a plus score.

Moldovan- Sherry
after 25...Bb5

White to win

The event wraps-up next week with Juan Huaman (3.0) playing Ted Mann & looking to take clear 2nd.

Here's the tournament crosstable; plus all the action from rounds 1-5 in Java-Relay & zipped PGN.

#132 Upcoming Kenilworth Events

May 3rd
Kenilworth Championship
Trophy-deciding games!!

May 10th
Belated Blitz Tournament
G/5, Round-Robin?; entry fee : $5.00

May 17th
Consultation Game

May 24th
KCCC Awards Ceremony
+ the conclusion of the consultation game

May 31st
Thematic Tournament
4 Rounds @ G/15; $5.00 entry fee?

June 7-August 30
Kenilworth Summer Tournament
G/60; $5.00 entry fee

October 11 & 18
USCF-Rated G/30 Tourney
4 rounds, $6.00 entry fee?

TBA : matches vs. West Orange (away), Holmdel & Roselle

#131 Kenilworth Championship - Round 16

U1800 Section

In Thursday's lone game, Jim Cole escaped the cellar with a win over Pat Mazzillo.

The trophy-deciding Tomkovich-Wojcio & Agress-Roach contests were postponed until next week. Sokolosky-Cole is the only other match remaining.

Here's Jim's 2nd victory of the tourney, in Java-replay & PGN, along with the updated

U1800 crosstable (in standings order)
U1800 crosstable (with color assignments)
& Round by Round results

#130 KCCC - Round 15 Annotations

Last Thursday's Kenilworth Championship games have been uploaded. You can view them online in Java-replay or download their PGN file. Thanks to TD Geoff McAuliffe for "fritzing" Demetrick-Wojcio & Renna-Roach.

The 16th & final (??) round is tonight.

#129 Checkmates Mourn John Hoffman (1924-2007)

I am very saddened to report that John W. Hoffman, a member of several local chess clubs, died last month, at the age of 82, following a long illness.

John, who we last saw in November, was my very first opponent at the Springfield Barnes & Noble, usually the first person there on Sundays (I was often the 2nd arrival) & a notoriously slow mover.

Aside from chess (which he also played at Millburn, Rahway, Maplewood, Scotch Plains & Clark), he loved music & boxing... hated the N.Y. Yankees & Bill Clinton.

Every one of us at the Checkmate club will dearly miss & fondly remember him.

#128 Checkmate Championship - Round 4

Ari Minkov (3.5) took over first place last night with a win over Juan Huaman (3.0) & can clinch his 2nd Checkmate title with a victory against last-placed Bert Shiffman in next week's final round.

In the other games, Bob Sherry (2.5) beat Ted Mann (1.0) to keep his hopes alive & I defeated Shiffman (0.0), to even my score at 2-2.

Unfortunately, in all 3 contests, the outcomes were clear by move 21 (turn 10 in my case) & the losers dragged things out unnecessarily.

Here's the tournament crosstable; plus all the action from rounds 1-4 in Java-Relay & zipped PGN.

#127 Kenilworth Championship - Round 15

U1800 Section

Mike Wojcio (10.0/12) joined Greg Tomkovich at the top of the standings, with a win over Joe Demetrick (9.5/12) but Justin Roach (9.5/11) kept pace by beating Joe Renna & can clinch the U1800 title with a victory over his final opponent, Gordon Agress.

Regardless of Roach's result next week, a playoff will be required to determine the 2nd place winner.

In the consolation races, Renna (6.0/12) secured the U1400 crown when Harry Smith (4.5/12) defeated Agress (4.0/11).

I'm told the event will conclude next Thursday but with Cole having 2 games left & a 3-way playoff possible, a 17th week may be needed.

The 15th round games will follow in a few days. For now, here are the

U1800 crosstable (in standings order)
U1800 crosstable (with color assignments)
& Round by Round results

#126 Checkmate Championship - Round 3

Leader Juan Huaman (3.0) & Ari Minkov (2.5) won last night; effectively eliminating all other contenders & making their upcoming encounter a probable title-decider. Bob Sherry (1.5) moved into 3rd place with a forfeit win but his hopes are faint.

I killed my chances by blundering a win (vs. Huaman) but had some unexpected company in that department yesterday; as the N.Y. Yankees' Mariano Rivera gave up a 3-run, walk-off homer.

Anyway, here's the tournament crosstable; as well as all the available games (Mann 0-1 Minkov is missing) from rounds 1-3 in Java-Relay & zipped PGN.

#125 KCCC - Round 4 Addendum

The Pat Mazzillo-Justin Roach game from February 1 has been annotated & added to the 4th round Java-replay page & zipped PGN file. Thanks for submitting the score, Pat! I sincerely appreciate it.

#124 KCCC - Round 14 Annotations

I have uploaded the Java-replay page & zipped PGN file for round 14. Thanks to TD Geoff McAuliffe for sending the games & "Fritzing" them.

#123 Kenilworth Championship - Round 14

U1800 Section

Justin Roach & Joe Demetrick didn't play last night but, thanks to Mike Wojcio's win over leader Greg Tomkovich & their forfeit wins over Ed Selling (who officially withdrew), they are now the co-favorites.

Tomkovich, who finished the event with an impressive 10.0, still heads the standings but Demetrick (9.5/11) & Roach (8.5/10) can pass him. Wojcio (9.0/11), who also picked up a forfeit win last night, is in the trophy hunt, too.

In other action, Joe Renna (6.0/11) clinched a tie for the U1400 crown, with a win over Jim Cole, & Gordon Agress (4.0/10) defeated Pat Mazzillo, to move ahead of Harry Smith (3.5/11).

The three 14th round games will follow in a few days. For now, here are the

U1800 crosstable (in standings order)
U1800 crosstable (with color assignments)
& Round by Round results

#122 Checkmate Championship - Round 2

Juan Huaman has first place all to himself after his win over Bob Sherry & Ari Minkov's fine victory over this reporter. Ted Mann beat Bert Shiffman & is now tied for 3rd.

Here are all the games from rounds 1 & 2 in Java-Relay & zipped PGN; plus the event crosstable.

Next Sunday's match-ups will be :

• Huaman (2.0) vs. Moldovan (1.0)
• Mann (1.0) vs. Minkov (1.5)
• Sherry (0.5) vs. Shiffman (0.0)

#121 Checkmate Reminder

I want to remind my fellow Checkmate Championship competitors that round 2 will be played tonight, Easter Sunday. If you can’t make it please contact TD Bob Sherry & your opponent; to avoid a forfeit loss.

#120 KCCC Scores Needed

I am currently missing 10 scores from this year’s Kenilworth Championship & would like to assemble a complete set.

Therefore, I’m requesting :

• Cole-Demetrick, Mann-Smith, Tomkovich-Shiffman & Wojcio-Gadgil from round 1
• Polese-Massey from round 2
• Cole-Shiffman & Roach-Mazzillo from round 4
• Wojcio-Mazzillo from round 5
• Shiffman-Wojcio from round 11
• Wojcio-Mann from round 12

You may e-mail the aforementioned to me or bring them to our next few meetings.

I realize some of you may want to keep your secrets or hide your disappointments but scoresheets are, by rule, property of the Tournament Director and the games are a marketing tool that may draw additional members to our club.

#119 KCCC - Round 13 Annotations

I have uploaded the 13th round games with Fritz-notes (some courtesy of TD Geoff McAuliffe), my opening pointers & color-commentary.

The most interesting moment from Thursday occurred in the Joe Renna-Ted Mann contest. As you can see (below), Ted missed a winning discovered attack combination :

Renna-Mann
after 11.Bd3??

Black to win

...that, in essence, was identical to one he missed against Shiffman in round 7! :

Shiffman-Mann
after 17.Bd3??

Black to win

It was, as baseball great Yogi Berra once said, "deja-vu all over again"!!

Here are round 13's Java-replay & PGN links.

#118 Kenilworth Championship - Round 13

There were just 3 games played in the 17th 16th KCCC on Holy Thursday. So this report will be thin.

Open Section

Play in this group ended with Moldovan-Bliznikas's : 1.e3 draw.

U1800 Section

All the U1800 contenders sat out. Tomkovich, Demetrick, Wojcio & Selling took byes. Roach arrived late & found 2 possible opponents already playing.

Joe Renna (5.0/10) maintained his U1400 lead with a win over Ted Mann's Slav while his main rival, Gordon Agress (3.0/9), used the Semi-Tarrasch to beat Bert Shiffman.

The 13th round games will follow in a few days. For now, here are the

U1800 crosstable (in standings order)
U1800 crosstable (with color assignments)
& Round by Round results

#117 Updates & Corrections

I have annotated 2 more games from the Kenilworth Championship (round 4's Smith-Demetrick + last week's Bliznikas-Kernighan) & corrected the Checkmate Ch.'s Minkov-Sherry (missing move pair) & Huaman-Shiffman (typo in one of the notes).

Here are the respective Java-replay pages & zipped PGN files:

KCCC Round 4 : replay & PGN
KCCC Round 12 : replay & PGN
Checkmate Ch. : replay & PGN

#116 Checkmate R1 Annotations

The Checkmate Championship's Java-Relay page & zipped PGN file have been updated with annotations of the 1st round games.

#115 Checkmate Championship - Round 1

Juan Huaman & I lead after one round of the Checkmate Championship, which is being held at the Springfield Barnes & Noble store on Sunday nights through April 29th. Ari Minkov & Bob Sherry are a half-point back.

Moldovan-Mann
after 23...Bc4

White to win

Here are all the games in Java-Relay & zipped PGN; plus the event crosstable.

Annotations will follow at some future point.

#114 Kernighan Wins Westfield Blitz

NM Mark Kernighan won the Westfield Blitz yesterday; ahead of a field that included IM Guillermo Estevez, NM Peter Radomskyj, experts Mauricio Camejo & Jonathan Cohen, Samuil Chatsky & Anna Matlin.

#113 KCCC - 12th Round Games

The 12th round games (minus Wojcio-Mann) from the Kenilworth Championship are now online, in Java replay & zipped PGN.

I've fully annotated one (Smith-Sokolosky) & will eventually add my 2 cents to others, which TD Geoff McAuliffe has kindly "Fritzed".

#112 Checkmate Championship Starts Tonight

The 3rd Checkmate Championship gets underway tonight at 8:30. Top seed Ari Minkov & 2007 Checkmate Qualifier winner Ted Mann head the 6 player field.

The round 1 pairings are : Sherry vs. Minkov, Moldovan vs. Mann & Huaman vs. Shiffman.

I hope the holiday (Palm Sunday) reduces the college crowd & solves the table availability problems we've had the last 2 weeks.