#251 KCCC - U1800 Games From Round 1

I have added the U1800 games from Thursday to the opening-round replay page and PGN file but the Mangion-Shiffman score is missing.

Also, I must stress that in the first few weeks of the championship, the U1800 split is subject to change. If a player in the "A" group takes a bye & another in the "B" group does likewise, there will likely be a switch. We don't want to stretch into mid-May, like last year.

#250 Checkmate Ch. - R1 Update

Annotated versions of the opening-round games have been uploaded to the replay page and PGN-file.

#249 Checkmate Championship - Round 1

NM Mark Kernighan and unrated Joe Azzarello lead after round 1 of the Checkmate CC Championship. Both, however, were a bit lucky. Mark's opponent missed a repetition & Joe's resigned in a defendable position! Defending champion Ari Minkov, who I played & drew, heads a 4-way tie for third.

Sherry-Kernighan

after 19...Bf4

White to draw

Azzarello-Mann

after 26.Rb8+

Black to play

Crosstable
Java-replay
Zipped PGN

Annotations will be posted tomorrow.

The pairings for next Sunday (1/27) are :

• Kernighan (1.0) - Azzarello (1.0)
• Minkov (0.5) - Carrelli (0.5)
• Moldovan (0.5) - Sherry (0.0)
• Mann (0.0) - Renna (0.5)

#248 Bobby Fischer 1943-2008

Ex-World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer has died of kidney failure. He was 64. Stories here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Slideshow at the N.Y. Times.

#247 Checkmate Championship Pairings

Tournament Director Bob Sherry has issued the pairings for all 7 rounds of the 4th Checkmate Championship.

Here are Sunday's opening-round match-ups :

1. Bob Sherry 1812 - Mark Kernighan 2200
2. John Moldovan 1804 - Ari Minkov 1912
3. Joe Renna 1264 - Don Carrelli 1685
4. Joe Azzarello 0000- Ted Mann 1428

With 4 of the 8 players also taking part in the Kenilworth Championship's Open Section, the choice of openings should be very interesting!

#246 Kenilworth Championship - 1st Round

The USCF-rated, 18th 17th Kenilworth Championship got under way last night, with a total of 18 players divided into three six-player double-round-robins.

Although I'm disappointed that nearly half of last year's entrants (10-21) won't be involved, I'm pleased and relieved by the eleventh-hour sign-ups (7, to be exact). They will permit the Championship to be run under the planned format.


Open Section

3-time defending KCC-champ Steve Stoyko, 9-time winner Scott Massey decided not to play this year. So, that makes NM Mark Kernighan and Ari Minkov the favorites.

Both had good starts with the former defeating Don Carrelli and the latter beating Max Sherer. I botched a good position & hung a piece versus Ed Rodda (1537) but he didn't put me out of my misery soon enough and eventually time-forfeited.

U1800 Sections

2007 U1800-victor Justin Roach, Greg Tomkovich and Ed Selling (all 1700+) are sitting this tournament out.

I was too busy with my own problems to see how U1800 split was made but, judging from the pairings & ratings, it should be :

• Group A : Ian Mangion, Mike Wojcio, Pat Mazzillo, Bert Shiffman, Joe Renna & Gordon Agress
  
• Group B : Glen Hart, Joe Demetrick, Ted Mann, Dmitriy Yampolskiy, Jim Cole & one other (didn't get his name)
  

Ian, Mike and Ted were among the opening round winners (don't know the Cole-Hart result). 4 players (Joe D., Pat, Dmitriy, Joe R.) took byes.

I've uploaded all 3 games from the open section in Java-replay and PGN. The U1800 games & crosstables will follow in a few days.

#245 Kenilworth Championship Starts Tonight

I just wanted to remind everyone that the 18th 17th Kenilworth CC Championship starts tonight. Those who haven't entered may do so until 8:15 p.m.

As of a week ago, we had 11 players signed-up (including just 9 of the 21 who took part in last year's unrated tourney) but I hope TD Geoff McAuliffe's efforts plus recent posts by the Center Square, Glen Hart, who relayed the event-info to members of the West Orange Chess Club, and the Kenilworthian, Michael Goeller, will bring a few more participants.

#244 West Orange Championship

The USCF-rated West Orange CC Championship starts on January 22nd. It will be a 5-round swiss run over 8 weeks with time controls of 40/90 + 30/60. The entry fee is $15.

For those who'd like to join, here's the schedule, site and contact info :

• 1/22 - round 1
• 1/29 - round 2
• 2/05 - postponements and adjournments
• 2/12 - round 3
• 2/19 - postponements and adjournments
• 2/26 - round 4
• 3/04 - postponements and adjournaments
• 3/11 - round 5

West Orange Chess Club
Tuesdays 7 p.m - 12 midnight

Toby Katz Community Center
Degnan Park
650 Pleasant Valley Way
West Orange, NJ 07052

John Hagerty
973-736-3433
(call before 10 p.m.)


Some 2 dozen players are expected. I wish my Kenilworth crew was as eager to play in our championship. :-(

post corrected 1/18 at 12:27 a.m.
Go to the Center Square blog for more info.

#243 More Kenilworth Ch. Entrants

Mark Kernighan (2200), Ari Minkov (1912), Bert Shiffman (1386), Gordon Agress (1150p), Dr. Ian Mangion (1758p) & I entered the Kenilworth Championship last night, bringing the number of participants to 11.

That's 5 more than we had at the same stage last year (6 days before-hand) but I'm sorry to say that there very few fence-sitters this time around and, with just three 1800s signed-on, the format may have to be changed.

Anyway, for those who may still be interested in joining the tournament, the deadline is January 17th at 8:15 p.m. Hopefully, we'll get a bunch of last-minute entries and I'll look/sound like Chicken Little again!

post corrected 1/11 @ 3:21 p.m.

#242 Kenilworth Ch. Entrants

So far 5 players have entered the 2008 Kenilworth Championship : Mike Wojcio (1621), Joe Demetrick (1599), Pat Mazzillo (1470), Dmitriy Yampolskiy (1330) and Jim Cole (1127p).

For details on the event, read post #237.

#241 2008 KCC Events Calendar

The preliminary 2008 KCC Events Calendar can be downloaded here. Matches versus other clubs, lectures and other events will be added at a later date.

P.S. - The week by week schedule has been posted on the KCC Minutes blog.

#240 Team 45 45 League & FICS TeamLeague

Since many of you enjoy the camaraderie of the U.S. Amateur Team East and also play chess online, I was wondering if any of my fellow Kenilworth or Checkmate CC members would like to join forces in the FICS Teamleague or ICC's Team 45 45 League? If so, let me know at the next meeting or send me an e-mail.

The deadline for entries in the former is January 12th and the deadline for the latter is January 15th.

The Online Chess League, which has a more attractive time control (60+15), would normally be a 3rd option but I can't find anything about a Winter 2008 tourney.