#167 Summer Tourney - Round 4

Ari Minkov (4.5) rallied from a pawn-down position to upset NM Mark Kernighan & retain his Kenilworth Summer Tournament lead. Greg Tomkovich (4.0) moved up one spot with a pair of wins over Max Sherer.

I'm still =3rd (now at 3.0 with Kernighan), thanks to a very lucky win vs. Mike Wojcio. As in Tuesday's game at West Orange, my opponent missed a decisive sac on d5 (see diagram below) & was victimized by a desperado Knight sac.

Wojcio-Moldovan
after 26...Qe7??

White to win

... There were a bushel of mistakes in the aforementioned's middlegame but the opening should be of interest to Caveman Caro-Kann fans.

In other action Jim Cole beat Harry Smith and Renna-Mazzillo was drawn.

Here's the current standings page, plus 4 of Thursday's games in Java-replay & zipped PGN.

#166 One More From West Orange

I've added Mark Kernighan's win over fellow NM & frequent rival Peter Radomskyj to the West Orange replay page & PGN file.

Kernighan-Radomskyj
after 21...c4??

White to win

#165 Correction

KST Director Greg Tomkovich has informed me that the 3rd round game between Ari Minkov & Mark Bilenky was won by the former, not the latter.

Item #162 & the standings page have been changed to reflect the proper result. My apologies to Ari & any affected parties.

#164 Kenilworth 4.5 W. Orange 1.5

The Kenilworth Chess Club won its 3rd straight road match with a 4.5-1.5 win at West Orange last night.

Kenilworth fell into 0-1 hole, due to a board 6 forfeit (Where was Joe Renna??), but Ari Minkov tied the score at 1, I kept things level, Joe Demetrick provided a 2.5-1.5 lead, Mark Bilenky clinched the match & Mark Kernighan put the icing on the cake.

The only game I can present, at the moment, is my mistake-filled fight with Guido (aka "Mike") Rodriguez (replay... PGN). He missed a win on turn 25 (a simple tactic) & I overlooked one at move 36 (an underlying Q sac) :

Rodriguez-Moldovan
after 36.Qxb7??

Black to win

Please come back Friday for more coverage on this event & round 4 of the Summer Tournament.

#163 Sherry wins Springfield G/15

Bob Sherry (1812) won the 15-Minute Tournament in Springfield last night, with a 3-0 count. Mauricio Camejo (2094), Ari Minkov (1955) & Ted Mann (1463) tied for 2nd, at 2-1. NM Mark Kernighan directed the 8-player swiss.

Interestingly, the last 7 tournaments at Barnes & Noble, have been won by 7 different people!!

Here's the G/15 crosstable.

#162 Carrelli & Mazzillo Quad Winners In Westfield

Don Carrelli of the Checkmate CC & Pat Mazzillo of the Kenilworth CC were among the winners at yesterday's Westfield Quads. Don, playing in just his 2nd event, went 3-0 in section 5 & now has a provisional 1547 rating. Pat scored 3-0 in section 6 to raise his rating 89 points.

#161 Summer Tourney - Week 3

Ari Minkov (3.5) & NM Mark Kernighan (3.0) kept their places at the top of the Kenilworth Summer Tournament leader board with wins over Mark Bilenky & Greg Tomkovich.

Ed Selling (who defeated Joe Renna) & I won to join Greg in a 3-way, 3rd-place tie at 2.0. Richard Lewis, meanwhile, scored a full point against Max Sherer. Harry Smith & Pat Mazzillo drew.

Here's the current standings page, plus notes to my nice win over Joe Demetrick in both Java-replay & zipped PGN.

P.S. - The 2nd round replay & PGN file files have been amended with 2 more KST games. We now have 12 of the 21 played thus far.

This post was corrected on Friday, June 29th

#160 One More From KST Round 2

I've added the Lewis-Kernighan score to the 2nd round files (Java-replay... zipped PGN) & corrected the Bilenky-Goeller result.

#159 Quick Chess Tourney on 6/24

There will be an unrated Quick Chess Tournament at the Checkmate Chess Club on Sunday, June 24th. It will start at 8:30 p.m. & be 3 or 4 rounds in length, with a G/10 or G/15 (+ a small delay/increment) time control. NM Mark Kernighan is directing. Click here for the details.

#158 2nd Round Update

Sorry for the delay in adding the Bilenky-Goeller game to the 2nd round replay & PGN. I needed some sleep, then decided to revise the notes to my draw vs. Minkov. Please replace the latter in your files.

#157 KCC at W.Orange Correction

In a previous post, I incorrectly gave the date of the upcoming match between Kenilworth & West Orange. It will take place on Tuesday, June 26th (not 6/19).

#156 Summer Tournament - Week 2

There were 8 games played in the 2nd round of the Kenilworth Summer Tournament including my draw against event-leader Ari Minkov.

I played poorly (again) & was hit by a nice shot at turn 22 (see diagram below) but, like last week, managed to survive a clear disadvantage & pawn-down ending.

Moldovan-Minkov
after 22.Kh1?

Black to play

Minkov now leads with 2.5, a half-point ahead of NM Mark Kernighan & Greg Tomkovich; who, along with Mark Bilenky, Ed Selling, Mike Wojcio & Joe Demetrick & Joe Renna, took full points last night.

Here's the Java-replay page & zipped PGN file with my interesting battle; plus the standings page.

I expect to add Bilenky-Goeller tonight & the Lewis-Kernighan score at some later point.