#111 Kenilworth Championship - Round 12

Open Section

Mark Kernighan beat Ziggy Bliznikas last night to end the latter's 3rd place bid & effectively end the event. Bliznikas & I were to play next week but we've already agreed to a draw.

So the final standings should be :

1. Stoyko 7.5
2. Kernighan 6.0
3. Moldovan 2.5
3. Polese 2.5
5. Bliznikas 1.5

Tom won the head to head battle 1.5-0.5 while I had the better tie-break (6.50-5.25) & a voided half-point from my opening-round draw with NM Scott Massey.

With no 3rd-place trophy, why would either of us want to bother with a G/30 playoff?


U1800 Section

Greg Tomkovich (10.0/11) beat Ed Selling (7.0/9) and moved into the driver's seat when Joe Demetrick (8.5/10) defeated Justin Roach (7.5/9). Mike Wojcio (7.0/9) stayed hot & moved up to =4th with a win vs. Ted Mann (6.0/11).

With some 3 weeks to go, it's still a 5-sided contest but Selling, who has Demetrick, Roach & Wojcio left to play, may withdraw.

In the U1400 race, Joe Renna (4.0/9) won against Bert Shiffman (2.0/11) and still leads. Harry Smith (3.5/11), who got off to a very slow start with 1 out of 7, made Bill Sokolosky (2.5/11) his 3rd straight victim.

Pat Mazzillo (2.5/10) was idle as both of his remaining opponents, Gordon Agress (2.0/8) & Jim Cole (1.5/9) took byes.

Here are the revised

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

The 12th round games will follow in a few days.

#110 More KCCC Annatations

Here, as promised, are the 4 previously un-annotated Open Section games (Polese-Kernighan, Bliznikas-Polese, Kernighan-Stoyko & Bliznikas-Stoyko) in Java-replay & zipped PGN.

#109 Kenilworth CC Adds Member

Mikhail Kruglyak (1315), who played in the 2006 Kenilworth Championship & scored 3.0/5 at last month's USATE has re-joined the KCC. Welcome back Mikhail!

#108 KCCC - U1800 Games From Round 11

I've added the available U1800 section games (Shiffman-Wojcio was not submitted) from March 22nd to the 11th Round Java replay page & zipped PGN file.

Many thanks to TD Geoff McAuliffe & Bill Sokolosky for their "Fritzing" efforts.

I'll try to finish & post the 4 previously unannotated Open Section games in the next 2 days.

#107 Kenilworth Championship - Round 11

Open Section

With the top 2 spots already decided and the 3rd place trophy for this section eliminated in favor of an U1400 runner-up prize, these final weeks may, for the audience & affected players, become chess's answer to basketball's "garbage time".

The only action last night was my interesting though error-filled draw against Tom Polese. I had a rare weak opening, stole a pawn on move 24, blew a win on turn 30 & then dropped a Rook (yet another tragic-comedy) but my foe's exposed King & soon to be vulnerable Rook allowed a split decision :

Polese-Moldovan
after 40.Qc7+

Black to draw

Ziggy Bliznikas took a bye last night. So, the remaining schedule now is :

• 3/29 : Bliznikas vs. Kernighan
• 4/6 : Moldovan vs. Bliznikas

U1800 Section

Greg Tomkovich (9.0/10) extended his lead to 1.5 points with a win over his nearest rival, Joe Demetrick (7.5/9). Justin Roach (7.5/8), who has yet to lose, defeated Jim Cole but previously unbeaten Ed Selling (7.0/8) was upset by Ted Mann (6.0/10) & dropped another notch. Mike Wojcio (6.0/8) stayed in the hunt by besting Bert Shiffman.

The U1400 (Not U1500. Sorry, Bert.) race got a lot tighter with Harry Smith (2.5/10) toppling leader Joe Renna (3.0/8) & Pat Mazzillo (2.5/10) winning against Bill Sokolosky (2.5/10). Gordon Agress (2.0/8), who was idle, has 2 games in hand & is still in the mix.


Here's my game in Java replay & zipped PGN. The 11th round U1800 games will follow in a few days.

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

#106 Two Miniatures From The USATE

Ferguson-Kernighan
after 21.a3??

Black to win

I have annotated 2 short games from last month's U.S. Amateur Teams tournament in Parsippany :

• Ferguson 0-1 Kernighan : B12 Advance Caro-Kann
• McAuliffe 0-1 Dzindzichashvili : B27 Hyper-Accelerated Dragon Sicilian
  

You can play through them online or download the zipped PGN file for later review.

#105 Checkmate Championship Schedule

TD Bob Sherry has already released the full official schedule for this year's Checkmate Championship, which starts April 1st. NM Mark Kernighan declined the chance to defend his 2006 crown.

Pairings for rounds 1-5 & details here.

#104 Upcoming Posts

I expect to receive & post the Kenilworth Championship's 11th round pairings tomorrow night.

#103 KCCC - U1800 Games From Round 10

I've added Thursday's U1800 games to the 10th round Java replay page & zipped PGN file. Again, thanks to TD McAuliffe for helping to Fritz the games. Notes to Blkiznikas-Stoyko will be posted at a later date.

#102 Kenilworth Championship - Round 10

Open Section

In the only game last night, 2007 KCCC Champ Steve Stoyko defeated Ziggy Bliznikas on the Black side of a Colle System.

The 3-way battle for 3rd place continues next week with Tom Polese (2.0/7) playing John Moldovan (1.5/6) & Bliznikas (1.0/6) facing NM Mark Kernighan (5.0/7).

Moldovan-Bliznikas will wrap-up this section on March 29th.


U1800 Section

Greg Tomkovich (8.0/9) took over the top spot with a victory over Gordon Agress. Joe Demetrick (7.5/8) moved up to 2nd with a fortunate win over Ted Mann. Idle Ed Selling (7.0/7) to fell 3rd. Justin Roach (6.5/7) stayed within striking distance by beating Bill Sokolosky. Mike Wojcio (5.0/7) joined Mann (5.0/9) in 5th place.

Joe Renna (3.0/7) still has a half-point lead over Sokolosky (2.5/9) in the U1500 (or is it U1400?) hunt. Pat Mazzillo & Jim Cole won their 1st games.

Here's Steve's win in Java replay & zipped PGN. The 10th round U1800 games will follow in a few days.

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

#101 Open Section Pairings

The likely pairings for Round 10 of the KCCC's Open Section are

• Bliznikas (1.0/5) - Stoyko (6.5/7)
• Polese (2.0/7) - Moldovan (1.5/6)

#100 One More from KCCC Round 9

Mazzillo-Smith has been added to 9th round Java replay page & zipped PGN file.

Thanks to TD Geoff McAuliffe for sending & helping to annotate last Thursday's games.

#99 Checkmate Qualifier Wrap-Up

Bert Shiffman won a spot in the upcoming Checkmate Championship last night with a win over Joe Azzarello.

Here's the event's final crosstable, Java Replay page & zipped PGN file.

#98 Stoyko Wins Kenilworth Championship

Open Section

FM Steve Stoyko (6.5/7) clinched 1st place & his 3rd straight Kenilworth title with a 9th round draw against NM Mark Kernighan (5.0/7). Ziggy Bliznikas (1.0/5) put himself in contention for the 3rd by beating Tom Polese (2.0/7).

U1800 Section

Jevon O'Neal & Laukik Gadgil withdrew & had their results purged.

Ed Selling (7.0/7) kept a share of 1st & was joined by Greg Tomkovich (7.0/8). Joe Demetrick (6.5/7) was held to a draw by Joe Renna & fell to 3rd. Justin Roach (5.5/6) moved into 4th place with a win over Ted Mann (5.0/8).

In the U1500 race, Renna now leads with 3.0/6 & must be considered a strong favorite. Bill Sokolosky (2.5/8), Bert Shiffman (2.0/8) & Gordon Agress (2.0/7) are still in the hunt but they will need good runs to offset their -3 & -4 scores.

Here's the 9th round Java replay page & zipped PGN file. The U1800 games are annotated. Notes to the open section contests will appear at some future point.

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

#97 9th Round Pairings in Kenilworth

I'm interrupting my hiatus to post the pairings for Thursday's 9th Round of the KCCC. I hope the 36 hours notice gives everyone a chance to prepare.

Open Section

Kernighan - Stoyko
Bliznikas - Polese

bye : Moldovan

U1800 Section

Tomkovich - Sokolosky
Roach - Mann
Selling - Shiffman
Demetrick - Renna
Mazzillo - Smith
Cole - Agress

+ O'Neal-Gadgil (if these 2 players are still in the event)

bye : Wojcio

#96 Brief Hiatus

I'm taking a 5-day hiatus to deal with personal matters & have requested byes for round 9 of the Kenilworth Championship (Thursday 3/8) as well as the final round of the Checkmate Qualifier (Sunday 3/11). Sorry for causing the TD & my fellow KCCC competitors any inconvenience or grief.

#95 Mann Wins Checkmate Qualifier

Ted Mann defeated Bob Sherry last night to win the Checkmate Qualifier with a perfect 3-0 score. Juan Huaman won against Bert Shiffman to clinch a spot in the Championship along with pre-seeded Ari Minkov, Mann, Sherry & me.

The last berth will go to Shiffman or Joe Azzarello; who are paired next week in the 1 remaining last-round game.

Here are the event crosstable; plus a Java Replay page & zipped PGN file with all 7 games played thus far.

#94 Kenilworth Rating List

Here are the USCF otb ratings of all current Kenilworth CC members; as of March 1st :

FM Steve Stoyko 2291
NM Scott Massey 2217
NM Mark Kernighan 2210
Michael Goeller 2029
Ari Minkov 1971
Tom Polese 1895
Howard Osterman 1856
Ziggy Bliznikas 1809
John Moldovan 1774
Geoff McAuliffe 1754
Greg Tomkovich 1737
Ed Selling 1694
Justin Roach 1691
Mike Wojcio 1627
Pete Cavaliere 1621
Joe Demetrick 1588
Ted Mann 1437
Bert Shiffman 1434
Leon Hrebinka 1408
Pat Mazzillo 1377
Laukik Gadgil 1195
Bill Sokolosky 1128
Gordon Agress 1127 p
Jim Cole 1116 p
Joe Renna 1109 p
Jevon O'Neal 813 p
Harry Smith ----

#93 2007 USATE : KCC Members' Results

At least 15 current members (Am I missing someone?) of the Kenilworth Chess Club played in the recently concluded U.S. Amateur Team East Championship & 11 had plus or equal scores!

Here's how each fared :

Ziggy Bliznikas 4.0
Justin Roach 4.0
Jim Cole 4.0
Ari Minkov 3.5/5
Scott Massey 3.5
Mark Kernighan 3.5
Joe Demetrick 3.5
Leon Hrebinka 3.5
Greg Tomkovich 3.0
Gordon Agress 3.0
Mike Goeller 2.5/3
Mike Wojcio 2.0
Steve Stoyko 1.5
Geoff McAuliffe 1.5
Joe Renna 1.5

source : USATE rating report

#92 KCCC - More 8th Round Games

I've uploaded 7 additional games from Thursday's play in the Kenilworth Club Championship. Thanks to Geoff McAuliffe for sending all of them & "Fritzing" three.

Here's the appended round 8 Java replay page & zipped PGN file.

#91 Kenilworth Championship - Round 8

Open Section

For a change, I'm going to give a play-by-play account of the top group's games :

FM Steve Stoyko 1-0 John Moldovan

Steve opens with 1.e4, answers this reporter's French with a Closed System & transposes to the Tchigorin Variation (9.Qe2). Things are equal after 12.Bf2 but after mistakes on turns 14, 18 & 20, I'm lost. A short time later, the game takes a sudden turn. 25.Bh4?? lets me sac an Exchange for compensation & 27.Be2?? sets the stage for a huge upset...

Stoyko - Moldovan
after 28.Kg1

Black to play & win

...But, as if you already didn't know, I miss the decisive maneuver & go on to lose.


Tom Polese 0-1 NM Mark Kernighan

Heading toward the final half-hour, Kernighan has an edge, thanks to White's isolated d-pawn, but just 5 minutes left to his opponent's 30. If Mark draws, he falls 2 points back with 2 games to play. If he loses, Stoyko clinches 1st place & Tom holds 3rd by 1.5 points.

Polese starts declining with 21.Nf4? His 23.a4?? blunders the d-pawn & 27.Ne2? drops another chip but the clock is still in play. Eventually, somehow, Houdini Kernighan manages to trade all the pieces off, queen his b-pawn & mate at g2... with just 9 seconds remaining!

So, with 4 weeks left in this section (but just 2 games for all except Ziggy Bliznikas) here are the leaders : 1. Stoyko 6.0, 2. Kernighan 4.5, 3.Polese 2.0


U1800 Section

Joe Demetrick & Ed Selling kept their records perfect (7.0 from 7) & stayed tied for first. Greg Tomkovich (6.0/7) grabbed 3rd place by beating Ted Mann (5.0/8). Mike Wojcio (5.0/7) is now tied for 4th. Justin Roach (4.5/5) is sole 6th.

Bill Sokolosky (3.5/8) still leads Bert Shiffman (3.0/8) in the U1500 Trophy race, Joe Renna (2.5/5) upset Pat Mazzillo & now stands 3rd in this sub-group.

Here's Steve's win in Java replay & PGN. The other games will follow in a few days.

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

Polese-Kernighan play-by-play revised 4/6 @ 1:24 p.m