#407 STC Gauntlet - Round 4, Game 2

Tonight I had Black, played a Nimzo-Indian & won in 17 moves :

[Event "STC Gauntlet - FICS Wild Card"]
[Site "FICS"]
[Date "2008.11.28"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "estepona"]
[Black "jmoldovan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E30"]
[WhiteElo "1597"]
[BlackElo "1783"]
[TimeControl "3600+15"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2008.11.04"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[Source "The Chess Coroner #407"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.28"]

{Nimzo-Indian, Leningrad Variation}
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 c5 5.Bg5 Qa5 6.Qc2 cxd4 7.Bxf6 gxf6 8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.e4 $146 Ba6 11.a3 d5 12.exd5 cxd5 13.cxd5 Bxc3+ 14.bxc3 Bxf1 15.dxe6 $4 Bxg2 16.exf7+ Kxf7 17.Qb3+ Bd5 0–1

replay

There's 1 week to go.

#406 STC Gauntlet - Round 4, Game 1

I won the opener against my Spanish opponent but had to come from behind in time-pressure.

Here is the lightly-annotated PGN :

[Event "STC Gauntlet - FICS Wild Card"]
[Site "FICS"]
[Date "2008.11.26"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "jmoldovan"]
[Black "estepona"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "1756"]
[BlackElo "1581"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2008.11.04"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[Source "The Chess Coroner #406"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.27"]

{A04 Reti Opening, Dutch Defense}
1. Nf3 f5 2. d3 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e4 fxe4 6. dxe4 d6 $146 7. Bc4
(7. e5 $142) Nc6 8. Qe2 Na5 9. Bd3 (9. e5 $142) e5 10. Rd1 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12.
Qxf3 O-O 13. b4 $2 (13. Bd2 $14) Nd5 $2 (13... Nc6 14. a3 Nd4 15. Qe3 c6
$11) 14. Bxe7 (14. Nxd5 $142 Bxg5 15. Qg4 Nc6 16. c3 $14) Nxe7 15. Qg4
Nac6 16. Bc4+ $2 (16. b5 Nd4 17. Ne2 $11) Kh8 17. a3 (17. O-O $142 Nxb4
18. Rb1 $44 a5 19. Rb2) Nd4 18. O-O $5 Nxc2 19. Rd3 $6 (19. b5 $142) Rf4 $6
(19... Nxa3 $17) 20. Qd1 Nxa3 $6 (20... Nd4 $142 $15) 21. Ba2 a6
22. Ne2 Rxe4 23. Rxa3 Rxb4 24. Qd2 a5 25. Rg3 Ng6 26. Bb1 Nf4 27. Nxf4 Rxf4 28. Qc2 g6 29. Rc1 c6 30. Re3 (30. Rb3 $142 $44) Qf6 31. f3 d5 32. Qb2 d4 $4
(32... Rb4 33. Qxe5 Qxe5 34. Rxe5 $15) 33. Qxb7 Rd8 34. Rxc6 Qg5 35. Rc7 Rh4
36. Re2 Rxh3 $2 37. Rxe5 $4 (37. Rc8 $18) Qxe5 38. gxh3 Qg3+ 39. Kf1
Qxh3+ $44 40. Kg1 Re8 $2 41. Be4 $16 {White offers a draw.} d3 $4 42. Qb2+ 1-0

... and plain java-replay.

The re-match is Friday at 8:15 p.m. EST

P.S. - Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers!

#405 Gauntlet Grief

I missed an obvious win at move 16, lost again and am so disgusted, depressed :

[Event "STC Gauntlet - FICS Wild Card"]
[Site "FICS"]
[Date "2008.11.21"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "jmoldovan"]
[Black "Acho"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E24"]
[WhiteElo "1812"]
[BlackElo "1796"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2008.11.04"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[Source "The Chess Coroner #405"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.21"]

{Nimzo-Indian Defense Saemisch Variation} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Be7 $6 5. e4 d5 $6 6. e5 Ne4 7. Qg4 $146 $1 O-O (9 ...g6 $142) 8. Bh6 $1 Bg5 $1 9. Bxg7 $2 (9. Bxg5 $16) 9... h5 $1 10. Qxh5 $44 Kxg7 11. Nxe4 (11. Nf3 $142) 11... dxe4 12. h4 Rh8 13. Qg4 Nc6 (13... Kf8 $142) 14. Rd1 (14. f4 $142 $1
$14) 14... f5 $4 (14... Kf8) 15. exf6+ Qxf6 16. Nh3 $4 (16. hxg5 $18) 16... Rxh4 17. Qg3 e5 $4 (17... Kh8 $19) 18. dxe5 Qxe5 19. Rd5 Qxg3 20. fxg3 Rxh3 $8 21.
gxh3 Bf6 22. b3 $4 (22. Bg2 $8 $17) 22... Be6 $19 23. Rd1 Nd4 24. b4 $2 Nc2+
25. Kf2 $2 Bd4+ 26. Kg2 $2 Ne3+ 27. Kh2 Nxd1 28. Be2 Nc3 29. Bd1 Rf8 30. Re1
Rf2+ 31. Kh1 Bxh3 32. Bb3 Rf1+ 33. Rxf1 Bxf1 34. c5 e3 35. Be6 e2 36. Bc4
e1=Q 37. Bxf1 Qxg3 0-1

replay

#404 Three Tie in Kenilworth FR

Mark Kernighan, Ian Mangion & Don Carrelli tied for 1st place at the KCC's Fischer Random tourney. Mangion beat Kernighan in round 3 to take the lead but lost to Carrelli in the final round. Ziggy Bliznikas finished 4th.

A crosstable will follow at some point.

#403 STC Game Tonight

Tonight, in the STC Gauntlet's 3rd round, I have Black against a 1751-rated Argentinean. The game is scheduled for 7:00 EST on FICS.

Hope it goes better than my last 5 STC blacks (+0-3=2).


Update 11:11 p.m.

I was 2 pawns up, blundered twice, got a 2nd chance, missed that win and lost :

[Event "Gauntlet 2008"]
[Site "FICS"]
[Date "2008.11.18"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Acho"]
[Black "jmoldovan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1778"]
[BlackElo "1895"]
[TimeControl "3600+15"]
[ECO "C02"]
[PlyCount "57"]

{French Defense, Advance Variation}
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Be2 cxd4 7. cxd4 Nh6 8. Bxh6
Qxb2 9. Bxg7 Bxg7 10. Nbd2 Nxd4 11. Nxd4 $1 Qxd4 12. Bb5+ Bd7 $6 $146 (12...
Ke7 $142 $1) 13. Bxd7+ Kxd7 14. O-O Bxe5 15. Rb1 b6 16. Qe2 Bd6 17. Nf3 Qg7
18. Rfc1 Rhc8 19. Qa6 Qg8 $4 (19... Bc5 $19) 20. Qb7+ Rc7 $4 (20... Kd8 $11)
21. Rxc7+ Bxc7 22. Ne5+ Kd6 23. f4 $4 (23. Nxf7+ $18) 23... Rc8 $4 (23... Qc8
$8 24. Qc6+ Ke7 25. Rc1 Bxe5 $1 26. Qxc8 Rxc8 27. Rxc8 Bxf4 $19) 24. Rc1 $18
Qe8 25. Qxa7 Qb5 26. Qa3+ Qc5+ 27. Rxc5 bxc5 28. Qa6+ Ke7 29. Qxc8 1-0

replay

The next game will be Friday or Saturday, probably at the same time.

#402 Philidor CG

Geoff McAuliffe was kind enough to annotate his recent loss vs. Lev Zilbermints for my blog and Philidor Counter-Gambit detractors.

Replay it here and re-download the Roselle-Kenilworth PGN to update your files.

#401 Fischer Random Tourney

On Thursday, November 2oth, the Kenilworth Chess Club will host its first Fischer Random Tournament. Here are the details :

Event : Kenilworth FR #1
Site : Kenilworth Community Center
Date : Thursday 11/20/2008
Time : 8:30 p.m.
Format : 4-SS
Rounds : 8:30, 9:05, 9:40 & 10:15
Time Control : G/10 + 5 second increment
Director : Don Carrelli
Entry Fee : none
Prizes : none

At 8:15, Don will explain the rules and, IMO, most importantly, show how to castle in this variant. So, arrive early.

Positions will be generated on-site (with Fritz, I presume) before each round and posted on a demo board.

#400 Last Night's Consultation Game

In last night's consultation game at Kenilworth, the White team led by experts David Grasso & Mark Bilenky defeated a Black squad headed by KCC Champion NM Mark Kernighan & U1800 titleist Ian Mangion. 27 players participated.

It was an exciting contest with both sides in deep time-trouble over the last 16 moves and a terrific tactical conclusion where the victorious side sacked 2 Exchanges!

Here is the raw score :

B81 Sicilian Defense
Keres Attack
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.g4 h6 7.h4 Nc6 8.Rg1 g6 9.Be3 a6 10.Qf3 Ne5 11.Qe2 Qc7 12.0–0–0 b5 13.f4 Ned7 14.g5 b4 15.gxf6 bxc3 16.h5 cxb2+ 17.Kb1 Nxf6 18.hxg6 Nxe4 19.Bd2 f5 20.Bg2 d5 21.Bxe4 dxe4 22.g7! Bxg7 23.Ba5! Qf7 24.Nc6 Bd7 25.Rxg7!! Qxg7 26.Qh5+ Kf8 27.Bb4+ Kg8


28.Rxd7!! Qxd7 29.Qg6+ Qg7 30.Ne7+ Kf8 31.Nxf5+ 1–0


... fully annotated java-replay page & zipped PGN.


For easy reference, here are links to all of our previous consultation games :

Nov. 2006 - blog posts #29, 33, 34; replay; PGN
May 2007 - posts #142, 143, 146, 147; replay; PGN
May 2008 - posts #317, 321, 322; replay; PGN

P.S. - Next time we'll have a time control every 10 moves to avoid the time scrambles.

#399 Gauntlet Game Tonight

My first game in the STC Gauntlet's 2nd round is tonight at 8:15 p.m on FICS. I'll be playing a late-joining, 1739-rated from Utah.

If you aren't a Free Internet Chess Server member & want to watch, just download, install & run an interface (BabasChess & Thief are good. More choices here), logon as a guest (or first register) and "follow jmoldovan".

When the game is over, I'll insert the replay link & paste the PGN.


Update 9:25 p.m. - I won with a Q sac ! :

Moldovan-"Papadakis"
after 25...Rg8??
White to mate in 3

replay

[Event "STC Gauntlet, FICS Wild Card"]
[Site "FICS, San Jose, California USA"]
[Date "2008.11.11"]
[Time "20:16:37"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "jmoldovan"]
[Black "Papadakis"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1841"]
[BlackElo "1739"]
[TimeControl "3600+15"]
[ECO "A06"]
[PlyCount "55"]

{Reti Opening : Queen's Indian Attack}
1. Nf3 c5 2. e3 e6 3. b3 d5 4. Bb2 Nf6 5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. a4 a6 7. Bxd7+ Nbxd7 8. O-O Bd6 9. d3 O-O 10. Nbd2 Rc8 $146 11. Qe2 Qc7 12. c4 Rfe8 13. Rac1 Ne5 14. Nxe5 Bxe5 15. Bxe5 Qxe5 16. f4 Qd6 17. Nf3 h6 18. Ne5 Nd7 19. Qh5 Nxe5 20. fxe5 Qe7 21. Rf3 Rc7 22. Rcf1 $11 Rb8 $2 23. Rg3 $2 Kh8 24. Rf4 dxc4 25. Rfg4 $14 Rg8 $4 26. Qxh6+ $1 $18 gxh6 27. Rxg8+ Kh7 28. R3g7# {Black checkmated} 1-0

On Friday night at 8:15 p.m., I have Black against the same opponent.


Further Update - Fri. 11/14 at 9:00 p.m.

My opponent didn't show. So, I claimed a forfeit win.

#398 Consultation Game At KCC This Week

The Kenilworth Chess Club will be having another Consultation Game this Thursday night (Nov. 13th). We'll start at 8:30 p.m. Hope you can be there. It's a great exercise.

#397 Some Thoughts On The Proposed NJ League

In the past few weeks, the idea of a NJ club-based chess league has been tossed around. The West Orange, Dumont, Kenilworth and Newark Sleepless Knights clubs have all expressed interest in joining and I believe it is time for the above and other potential parties to meet, fully discuss the details (such as team size, rating limits & venues) and open a schedule-window for 2009.

This pow-wow could take place at the KCC on Thursday, December 4th at 8 p.m., Springfield's Checkmate Club, the WOCC or some place else but, IMO, it should be before the end of the year. Waiting until the USATE in February would be too late as most clubs would have already formed a slate of events.

Comments on this post would be very welcome.

#396 Roselle Wrap

To round-out my coverage of Kenilworth's lopsided loss to Roselle, here are ...

- 4 of the games in java-replay & zipped PGN...

- The board by board results with Roselle's players listed first :

1. Estevez 1-0 Stoyko
2. Daftani 1/2-1/2 Kernighan
3. Grasso 1-0 Norowitz
4. Chieu 1/2-1/2 Mark Bilenky (2004)
5. Camejo 1-0 Mangion
6. Zilbermints 1-0 McAuliffe
7. Sorto 1-0 Lewis
8. Singh 1-0 Carrelli
9. Garcia 1-0 Tomkovich
10. Bolden 0-1 Demetrick
11. Warrick 0-1 Sherer
12. Roldan 0-1 Wojcio
13. Guzman 1-0 Hart
14. Henderson 1/2-1/2 Shapiro
15. ■ Jess Ragazza (unr) 1-0 □ McCorkell

#395 Gauntlet Loss

In this afternoon's Gauntlet game I played the middlegame badly, lost & was relegated to the WildCard pool :

[Event "STC Gauntlet - FICS Section A"]
[Site "FICS"]
[Date "2008.11.07"]
[Time "13:06:01"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "GMChessy"]
[Black "jmoldovan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2101"]
[BlackElo "1883"]
[TimeControl "3600+15"]
[PlyCount "77"]

{A04 Kings's Indian Attack}
1. e4 e6 2. d3 c5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. c3 Nge7 7. O-O O-O 8. Re1
e5 9. Be3 d6 10. a4 h6 11. Qd2 $146 Kh7 12. Na3 a6 13. b4 cxb4 14. cxb4 Be6 15. Nc4 d5 16. Bb6 Qb8 17. exd5 Bxd5 $2 18. Rac1 f5 $2 19. b5 $18 axb5 20. axb5 Bxc4 21. dxc4 Nd8 22. Qb4 Rf7 23. Rcd1 Ne6 24. Rd7 Qe8 25. Rxb7 e4 26. Qd6 Nc8 27. Qc6 Re7 28. Nd2 Qxc6 29. bxc6 Nd4 30. Bc5 Re8 31. Rxg7+ Kxg7 32. Bxd4+ Kf7 33. Rb1 Ra2 34. Be3 Nd6 35. c5 Nc8 36. Bf1 Ke7 37. Bc4 Rc2 38. Rb7+ Kd8 39. Rd7# {Black checkmated} 1-0

#394 Roselle Romps Over Kenilworth 10.5-4.5

In their biggest & final match of 2008, the KCC lost to a very strong Roselle team last night, 10.5-4.5.

Joe Demetrick, Max Sherer & Mike Wojcio scored full points for Kenilworth while Mark Kernighan, Mark Bilenky & Eugene Shapiro notched draws.

The board-by-board results & a few games will be posted Saturday.

#393 Gauntlet Opener Drawn

My first game in the 2008 STC Gauntlet was drawn in 26 moves :

[Event "STC Gauntlet, FICS section A"]
[Site "FICS"]
[Date "2008.11.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "jmoldovan"]
[Black "GMChessy"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "1804"]
[BlackElo "2106"]
[TimeControl "3600+15"]
[PlyCount "52"]

{A16 Anglo-Gruenfeld}
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qh4 Nxc3 7. bxc3
c5 8. g3 Bg7 9. Bg2 Bc6 10. O-O Nd7 11. d4 Qa5 $146 12. Bd2 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 cxd4
14. Bxb7 Rd8 15. Bg5 $1 {after a 23:38 think} f6 16. Bh6 Bxh6 17. Qxh6 dxc3 18. Qg7 Rf8 19. Qxh7 Ne5 20. Be4 f5 21. Bd3 $4 Rf7 $4 22. Qh8+ Rf8 23. Qg7 Rf7 24. Qh8+ Rf8 25. Qg7 Rf7 26. Qh8+ Rf8 {Game drawn by repetition} 1/2-1/2

Replay

On Friday (1 p.m. EST on FICS), I'll have Black against the same opponent.

P.S. - To enhance my chances, notes will not be posted during the event.

#392 Roselle-Kenilworth Pairings

Roselle CC at Kenilworth CC
Thursday, November 6th, 2008
8:15 p.m.

Roselle’s players are listed on the left.
Kenilworth will have white ■ on the even-mumbered boards.

1. ■ IM Guillermo Estevez 2203 - □ FM S. Stoyko 2251
2. □ Marajudin Daftani 2195 - ■ NM M. Kernighan 2233
3. ■ David Grasso 2179 - □ NM Y. Norowitz 2209
4. □ Ken Chieu 2117 - ■ Dr. I. Mangion 1847
5. ■ Mauricio Camejo 2044 - □ J. Moldovan 1800
6. □ Lev Zilbermints 2010 - ■ Dr. G. McAuliffe 1736
7. ■ Cesar Sorto 1936 - □ Dr. R. Lewis 1719
8. □ Errol Singh 1927 - ■ Cpl. D. Carrelli 1715
9. ■ Ramon Garcia 1919 - □ G. Tomkovich 1677
10. □ Neil Bolden 1721 - ■ J. Demetrick 1660
11. ■ Ralph Warrick 1570 - □ M. Sherer 1653
12. □ Diego Roldan 1568 - ■ M. Wojcio 1626
13. ■ Alex Henderson 1523p - □ G. Hart 1623
14. □ Alejandro Guzman 1277p - ■ E. Shapiro 1570
15. Victor Gomez - J. McCorkell 1542 **

** - If Gomez can play, he & McCorkell will choose for color on #15. Otherwise, it’ll be a 14-board match.

#391 Exchanging Pieces Lecture

23 people attended Scott Massey's "Exchanging Pieces" lecture on October 23rd. Of the 8 games illustrated, the speaker's 1984 Gurgenidze/CK Exchange win over fellow NM Edgar McCormick was most enjoyable. IMO, it alone was worth the price of admission!

McCormick-Massey
after 17.Reb1?

Black to play

Here's an annotated replay page & PGN file with that contest & all the others. A supplemental posting or file will likely follow.

links repaired 6/24/2013.

#390 STC Gauntlet Starts Monday

The entry-deadline for the 2008 STC Gauntlet, a 60+15 match-tourney on ICC, FICS & WCL, is tomorrow (Sun. 11/2) at 4 p.m. EST (21:00 GMT). Late-joins will be accepted until the start of round 2.

Full details here.