#258 Checkmate Ch. Update

With Joe Renna & Joe Azzarello wanting to watch the Super Bowl, their 3rd round games were played early. The results?

Renna 0-1 Kernighan
Azzarello 0-1 Moldovan

My opponent gave me a harder time than expected. Here's the game in java-replay & PGN. I'll add Mark's win (don't have it yet) on Friday or Monday.

The other 2 games Sherry-Minkov & Carrelli-Mann will be played, as scheduled, on Sunday.

Renna-Kernighan (raw score) & expanded Azzarello-Moldovan uploaded 2/1 at 1:47 p.m.

#257 KCCC Update

The Mangion-Shiffman & Mazzillo-Mangion games, which were "fritzed" by Geoff McAuliffe, have been added. Thanks to Ian for providing them.

Here are the updated links :
Round 1 - replay PGN
Round 2 - replay PGN

12:10 a.m. - All files up. Links working.

#256 Checkmate Championship - Round 2

NM Mark Kernighan (2.0), Ari Minkov (1.5), Bob Sherry & Ted Mann won last night.

I was equal against Bob but 26.d5?? lost a pawn & dropped me into a last place tie. Maybe I can rally with 4.5/5 & have a shot at 3rd?!

Here are the 2nd round games in java-replay & zipped PGN; along with the full standings.

#255 KCCC - Open Section pairings

TD Geoff McAuliffe has issued the Open Section pairings for the next 3 weeks. They are :

Round 3 (1/31)

• Kernighan (2.0) – Sherer (0.5)
  
• Moldovan (1.5) – Minkov (2.0)
  
• Rodda (0.0) – Carrelli (0.0)
  

Round 4 (2/7)

• Kernighan – Moldovan
• Minkov – Rodda
• Sherer – Carrelli

Round 5 (2/14)

• Minkov – Kernighan
• Moldovan – Carrelli
• Rodda - Sherer

I wish the U1800s could be done but with so many byes being taken, that is not practical.

#254 U1800 Games, Notes & Crosstables

Three of Thursday's U1800 games at Kenilworth have been uploaded.

Special thanks to TD Geoff McAuliffe who "fritzed" them and Rodda-Kernighan while I was making the Open, U1800-A, U1800-B tables and taking care of my game vs. Sherer.

You can play thru all the available 2nd round games here or download them.


Update : Fritz's annotations to Carrelli-Minkov posted 1/28 @ 12:40 p.m. If I get a chance, I'll remove some of the program's stupid opening comments (like better is 2...Bf5, 4...Nc6) & add my 2 cents worth.

#253 Kenilworth Championship - Round 2

Open Section

NM Mark Kernighan & Ari Minkov won & are now 2-0. Both games turned at turn 19. Ed Rodda threw a piece away against the former while Don Carrelli misplayed a pawn sac versus the latter.

My game vs. Max Sherer was hard-fought and well-played except for our 16th moves. With 16...0-0-0 instead of ...e4?, I might have won instead of just drawing. Max had an edge at the end.

U1800 Sections

Ian Mangion, Glen Hart, Joe Demetrick & Bert Shiffman were victors last night over Pat Mazzillo, Ted Mann, Kris Lim and Joe Renna.

Ian & Glen lead their respective groups with 2.0. Defending U1800 champ Justin Roach late-entered. Unfortunately, as in the opening week, several byes were taken.

I'll upload the crosstables, U1800 scores, annotations & my usual Chess Base-generated replay page later. For now, you'll have to settle for zipped PGN with the 3 open section games and the neat Chess Publisher replays below. Let me know if you like them.

Ed Rodda 1537 - Mark Kernighan 2200
D02 Queen's Gambit

1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 Bf5 4.c4 e6 5.Nc3 c6 6.Qb3 Qc8 7.h3 Be7 8.Nf3 h6 9.Be2 Nbd7 10.0–0 0–0 11.Rac1 a6 N 12.cxd5 exd5 13.Rfd1 Rd8 14.Ne1 Nf8 15.Bd3 Bxd3 16.Nxd3 Bd6 17.Bxd6 Rxd6 18.Nf4 Ne6 += 19.Ncxd5?? Nxd5 -+ 20.Nxd5 Rxd5 21.Qxd5 cxd5 22.Rxc8+ Rxc8 0–1

Don Carrelli 1685 - Ari Minkov 1912
A03 Bird's Opening

1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 c5 3.e3 Nf6 4.b3 e6 5.Bb2 Be7 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Bb5 a6 8.Bxd7+ Bxd7 9.0–0 0–0 10.c4 N dxc4 11.bxc4 b5 12.Nc3 Qc7 13.Qc2 Rfd8 14.Rf3 Bc6 15.Rh3 b4 16.Ne2 Be4 17.d3 Bf5 = 18.g4 Nxg4 19.Rg3? Nf6 20.Kf2 Ne8 21.e4 Bg6 22.Rag1? Bh4 –+ 23.Ke3 Bxg3 24.Nxg3 f6 25.Nf3 Ra7 26.h4 Bf7 27.Qg2 Qe7 28.Ne2 Rad7 29.d4 cxd4+ 30.Bxd4 Bh5 31.Rd1 Bxf3 32.Qxf3 e5 0–1

Max Sherer 1497 - John Moldovan 1804
E33 Nimzo-Indian Defense

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bg5 Qe7 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.Qxc3 a5 9.b3 N Better was 9.d5 Nb8 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.Qxf6 gxf6 Friess - Matei : France 2003 & Castaneda - Bolduc : Quebec Open, Montreal 2004 9...e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.e3 Ne4 12.Bxe7 Nxc3 13.Bh4 Bf5 14.Bg3 f6 15.Nh4 Be6 = 16.Bd3? e4? 16...0–0–0 -+ 17.Bf1 g5 18.Rc1 Na2 19.Rc2 Nab4 20.axb4 Nxb4 21.Rd2 gxh4 22.Bxh4 Kf7 23.Bg3 a4 24.bxa4 Rxa4 25.f3 Ra1+ 26.Kf2 exf3 27.gxf3 Na6 28.Bg2 Rxh1 29.Bxh1 Bxc4 30.Bxc7 Nxc7 31.Rd7+ Kg6 32.Rxc7 b5 33.Rb7 Rd8 34.f4 Rd2+ 35.Kg3 Re2 36.Be4+ f5 37.Rb6+ Kf7 38.Bxf5 Rxe3+ 39.Kf2 Re2+ += ½–½

#252 Open Section Pairings

Here are the tonight's Open Section pairings for the Kenilworth Championship :

• Rodda (0.0) – Kernighan (1.0)
• Carrelli (0.0) – Minkov (1.0)
• M. Sherer (0.0) – Moldovan (1.0)

If I get the U1800 pairings, I will post them. Jim Cole has taken a bye.

#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.