Friday, May 27, 2011

#845 May Mania - Round 2

In the 2nd round of May Mania, I played a Queen's Indian, faced the Petrosian Variation, equalized at move 10 and had a chance for a clear advantage with a Bishop sac at move 21 but I chickened-out and lost just 3 moves later.

PGN: w/notes, w/o


after 21.Nxd5?
Black to play

#844 Quads Wrap-Up

3 games from the Kenilworth Quads' final round have been uploaded in Java-Replay & zipped PGN.


Lewis-Moldovan
After 17...Qd6??

White to win

#843 CZE Leads USA 4-2

The Czechs won a game on board 24. They now lead 4-2.

E13 Queen's Indian Defense
Nimzo-Hybrid Variation

1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bxf6 Qxf6 6.e3 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 0-0 9.Bd3 Bb7 10.0-0 d6 11.Nd2 Qe7 12.Qc2 c5

White's last move is new.

D38 Queen's Gambit
Ragozin Defense

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bg5 0-0 7.Qb3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 c6 9.e3 b6 (N) 10.Bd3 Ba6 11.Bxa6


"If 11...Nxa6 then 12.Ne5" was attached.



Crosstable
PGN of all the CZE-USA games

#842 Early Summer Tourney Entries

Nine players have already entered the Kenilworth Summer Tournament, which will have 2 sections this year and begin June 9th:

Open Section

Mark Kernighan 2218, Praveen Balakrishnan 1922, John Moldovan 1801, Lou Sturniolo 1503, Pat Mazzillo 1359, Bert Shiffman 1294, Joe Renna 1257

U1200 Section
Joe Azzarello (unrated) & a newcomer to the club named Aleksey.

For tournament details, click here.

Please remember that the June 9th meeting will start at 9:15 p.m., rather than our usual time.

#841 Kenilworth Quad Winners

Ian Mangion, Dr. Richard Lewis and Joe Renna were clear winners in Kenilworth Quads #5, which that began May 14 12th and finished last night. Lou Sturniolo and Pat Mazzillo shared honors in one section.

Mazzillo gained 82 rating points, Renna added 63 and, with his 44 point upswing, Mangion surpassed the 2000 mark for the 1st time!

Kamil Nitka, Chris Constantino and Luis Ruales received provisional ratings.

A few final-round games will be uploaded late this afternoon or tonight.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

#840 Next May Mania Game

My next May Mania game is on Friday at 12:30 EDT (9:30 FICS Time, 16:30 GMT). I have Black against 1999-rated Relu.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

#839 Goeller On Mangion-Kernighan

At The Kenilworthian blog, Michael Goeller has posted on and annotated the last week's Mangion-Kernighan.

#838 May Mania - Round 1

In the first round of May Mania, I failed to get an advantage against my opponent's Ragozin Defense, played the middle-game badly and unwisely sacked a piece on move 23 but my opponent offered a draw in a totally winning position!

PGN: w/notes, w/o

#837 Quad Games

4 games from Thursday's 2nd round of the Kenilworth Quads have been uploaded but not Mangion-Kernighan, which I must have left at the club or lost.



after 27.Be3

Black to win

Saturday, May 21, 2011

#836 Chess Mates Anniversary Tournament


On Sunday June 19, Chess Mates will celebrate its 1st Anniversary by hosting a 4-round Grand Prix Event with guaranteed prizes. Details here.

#835 Kenilworth Quads - Round 2

There were upsets in 4 of the 7 games.

Shiffman missed a win against Komunicky but got a draw. Mangion caught Kernighan with a prepared line and Mazzilllo defeated Sturniolo.

I collapsed in time-pressure after being 3 pawns up against Max Sherer.

A few games will follow.

Kenilworth Quads #5
Kenilworth, NJ
May 12-26, 2011

Section 1

No.
Player
USCF
R1
R2
R3
Points
1
Mark Kernighan
2240
W4
L3
B
1.0
2
Ken Chieu
2179
L3
F4
U
0.0
3
Ian Mangion
1968
W2
W2
4
2.0
4
P. Balakrishnan
1943
L1
X1
3
1.0

Chieu withdrew due to injury.

Section 2

No.
Player
USCF
R1
R2
R3
Points
1
John Moldovan
1810
W4
L3
2
1.0
2
Richard Lewis
1802
W3
W4
1
2.0
3
Max Sherer
1776
L2
W2
4
1.0
4
Ted Mann
1584
L1
L1
3
0.0

Section 3

No.
Player
USCF
R1
R2
R3
Points
1
Dan Komunicky
1555
W4
D3
2
1.5
2
Lou Sturniolo
1526
W3
L4
1
1.0
3
Bert Shiffman
1311
L2
D2
4
0.5
4
Pat Mazzillo
1277
L1
W1
3
1.0

Section 4

No.
Player
USCF
R1
R2
R3
Points
1
Joe Renna
1194
W4
W3
2
2.0
2
Chris Constantino
unr
L3
W4
1
1.0
3
Kamil Nitka
unr
W2
L2
4
1.0
4
Luis Ruales
unr
L1
L1
3
0.0

#834 CZE-USA Update

The Czechs now lead 3-2, which isn't so bad compared to the 4-0 whitewash they gave us in hockey on May 11.

E13 Queen's Indian Defense
Nimzo-Hybrid Variation

1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bxf6 Qxf6 6.e3 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 0-0 9.Bd3 Bb7 10.0-0 d6 11.Nd2 Qe7

The most flexible move. The Q didn't have a future at f6.

D38 Queen's Gambit
Ragozin Defense

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bg5 0-0 7.Qb3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 c6 9.e3 b6 (a novelty) 10.Bd3 +=


Crosstable
PGN of all the CZE-USA games

Friday, May 20, 2011

#833 Late KCC Opening On June 9th

The Kenilworth Chess Club meeting on June 9th will begin at 9:15 p.m., instead of the usual 8 o'clock, because a CPR class will be given at the community center that night.

June 9th is still slated to be the 1st week of the Kenilworth Summer Tournament. If there is any further change, I will let you know.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

#832 STC May Mania


In the 1st round of STC Bunch's May Mania on FICS, I have been paired against #8 seeded, 2023-rated Eyechess.

I had pulled-out after seeing a player drop 131 points in 24 hours, to fall one below my 1824 figure and out of the top section, but felt obligated to re-enter when the pairings included me.

#831 Team 45 45 League


In Team 45 45 League tournament #49 on ICC, Don Carrelli debuted with a win for the STC Steamrollers.

Fellow rookie Zach Bence is on The Weak Shall Perish's roster. However, 45 45 vets Simon Thomson and Dan Komunicky, who have respectively played 72 and 65 games, are sitting out this event.

It would be great if the Kenilworth CC or Garden State League entered a team in the next tourney or in the rival FICS Team League.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

#830 KCC Quads - Round 1

16 players are participating in Kenilworth Quads #5, which began last Thursday.

5 games, including my win over Ted Mann, have been uploaded in java-replay and PGN.

Apologies to my readers for the delay in posting. I had internet problems Sat-Mon.


Kenilworth Quads #5
Kenilworth, NJ
May 12-26, 2011

Section 1

No.
Player
USCF
R1
R2
R3
Points
1
Mark Kernighan
2240
W4
3
2
1.0
2
Ken Chieu
2179
L3
4
1
0.0
3
Ian Mangion
1968
W2
2
4
1.0
4
P. Balakrishnan
1943
L1
1
3
0.0


Section 2

No.
Player
USCF
R1
R2
R3
Points
1
John Moldovan
1810
W4
3
2
1.0
2
Richard Lewis
1802
W3
4
1
1.0
3
Max Sherer
1776
L2
2
4
0.0
4
Ted Mann
1584
L1
1
3
0.0

Section 3

No.
Player
USCF
R1
R2
R3
Points
1
Dan Komunicky
1555
W4
3
2
1.0
2
Lou Sturniolo
1526
W3
4
1
1.0
3
Bert Shiffman
1311
L2
2
4
0.0
4
Pat Mazzillo
1277
L1
1
3
0.0

Section 4

No.
Player
USCF
R1
R2
R3
Points
1
Joe Renna
1194
W4
3
2
1.0
2
Chris Constantino
unr
L3
4
1
0.0
3
Kamil Nitka
unr
W2
2
4
1.0
4
Luis Ruales
unr
L1
1
3
0.0