#178 Another Correction

In addition to the mistakes noted yesterday, I had a wrong move in Demetrick-Tomkovich. Joe played 11.g4 not 11.a4; which means Greg did not have a lateral defense or miss a win.

Here's what I hope is the final round 8 replay/PGN (with new notes for the aforementioned) & 3 puzzles.

Demetrick-Tomkovich
after 21..Kh8

White to win

Renna - Minkov
after 20.Re4??

Black to win

Kernighan-Wojcio
after 10...g5??

White to win

#177 Corrections & More Annotations

I did some shoddy work on the round 8 games & need to correct several mistakes :

- The Dragon Sicilian was not a hot topic in the Playchess Freestyle Final. In fact, it wasn't played there at all!!! The Poisoned Pawn Sicilian & French Defense were in vogue.

- 3...Nd7 & 4.Bf4 in Minkov-Renna were fine. I didn't allow Fritz enough time. The program needed 2:26 to give the okay on ...Nd7.

- 19...Rbc8 in Moldovan-Wojcio was equally as good as the suggested ...Rfc8 & 21...a5? was a mistake.

To make amends, I have added a 6th game (Kernighan-Wojcio) to the 8th round replay/PGN & annotated Renna-Minkov for you.

#176 More from KST Round 8

While finishing my annotations to Thursday's games, I made a couple of discoveries :

1. Greg Tomkovich missed a win in his loss to Joe Demetrick.

Demetrick-Tomkovich
after 18.Ndb5??

Black to win

2. My short draw versus Ed Selling was a surprisingly good game. There were just two mistakes; both at move 19, when Fritz's evaluation went from +.10 to -.40 & back.

I originally thought I had played poorly but, as it turns out, laboring through an unfamiliar opening (Ruy Lopez) & ending in a really funky position (see below) gave a false-impression.

Selling-Moldovan
after 23...Qf6
1/2-1/2

Here, once again the 8th-round Java-replay page & zipped PGN file.

#175 Summer Tourney - Round 8

Ari Minkov (8.5) is back atop the Kenilworth Summer Tournament standings after notching a pair of victories over Joe Renna. I played indifferently but scored 1.5/2 & now stand 2nd. Last week's leader Greg Tomkovich & NM Mark Kernighan are =3rd/4th at 7.0. Greg lost to Joe Demetrick last night while Mark beat Mike Wojcio.

5th-placed Pat Mazzillo (5.0) & Michail Kruglyak (3.0) were the evening's other winners.

Here are 5 games (1 fully annotated) in Java-replay & PGN. Complete notes to Joe D.'s Dragon-slay & my short, quirky draw vs. Ed Selling will follow in a few days, perhaps sooner.

#174 Hoffman Memorial Tournament

The Checkmate Chess Club in Springfield will honor the late John Hoffman by hosting a free, 3-round swiss from August 5th-19th. The time control will be G/50. Bob Sherry will direct & you can register by sending him an e-mail. Full details here

#173 Renna-Moldovan Revision

I have added several notes to last week's KST game vs. Joe Renna. Here's the amended Java-replay page & zipped-PGN file, in case you want to review or download the new version.

#172 Summer Tourney - Round 7

Defending champion Greg Tomkovich (7.0), took over 1st place in the Kenilworth Summer Tournament last night, with a pair of wins.

Ari Minkov (6.5), who led through the first 6 rounds, misplayed an opening advantage, lost to NM Mark Kernighan (see diagram) & dropped to 2nd.

Kernighan-Minkov
after 13..Qg6?

White to win

I won, to keep pace with Mark (at 6.0) & move to within 1 point of the top, but did so only because my opponent missed a draw in time-pressure :

Renna-Moldovan
after 42...b5??

White to draw

In the other action, Max Sherer, who was recently profiled in Atlantic Chess News's Scholastic Spotlight column, Michail Kruglyak & Dmitry Yanpolsky each scored their first victories.

We're now past the halfway point in the event. There are 6 weeks remaining.

Here are the standings, & a few games in Java-replay & PGN. Annotations will follow in a day or 2.

Notes to my game uploaded Saturday 7/21 at 12:30 a.m.

#171 KST Round 6 - More Annotations

I've updated the 6th round replay & PGN with annotations of Bilenky-Minkov & Cole-Kruglyak.

#170 Summer Tourney - Round 6

Ari Minkov (6.5) continues to lead the Kenilworth Summer Tournament standings, as he has from the outset. NM Mark Kernighan & I won to join Greg Tomkovich in 2nd place (at 5.0). Pat Mazzillo (4.0) solidified his 5th-place seat by taking 1.5/2 for the second straight week. No one else in the 19-player field has more than 2.0.

My victory over Greg was one my most efficient efforts ever. I'd love to hear what you folks think of it. So, after visiting the Java-replay page, please leave a comment. You can download the PGN here.

Tomkovich-Moldovan
after 31.Bh5

Black to win

#169 Summer Tourney - Round 5

Ari Minkov (5.5), Greg Tomkovich (5.0), NM Mark Kernighan (4.0) & I each won one game to maintain the status quo among the Kenilworth Summer Tournament leaders.

Ari lost to Greg (see diagram below) & he probably should have done so against Mike Wojcio, too.

Tomkovich-Minkov
after 19...a5?

White to win

There was, however, some movement, in the next group of hopefuls. Pat Mazzillo took 1.5 points & jumped into 5th place (2.5). Mark Bilenky (2.0) grabbed a share of 6th with a win & was still playing when I left.

In other developments, Max Sherer nicked Pat for a draw, to get on the scoreboard, and Doran Race, who finished 2nd in the West Orange CC Championship, joined.

Here are the standings (pending Race-Bilenky) and 5 games (3 lightly annotated) for you to replay or download.

#168 KST Update

Annotations of Smith-Cole have been added to the 4th round replay page & PGN file.