#464 Garden State Schedule Posted

I have posted the Garden State Chess League Schedule on the league's website.

Kenilworth Chess Club members should check the roster page to see which team they've been assigned to & when their matches will take place.

Also, to those playing at West Orange, please bring your clocks with you. They don't have enough.

#463 Rooney Annotates

Arunas Simonaitis of Queens, NY has annotated one of his USATE games for my blog. In it, he convincingly outplays his opponent in a Ruy Lopez sideline. Here is the replay & PGN.

Thanks for the submission, Rooney!

#462 Tonight's Activities

At the Kenilworth Chess Club tonight, John Hagerty will be stopping by to draw lots & make the Garden State Chess League schedule. After that, I will assign players to the 2 Kenilworth entries & club members will have a chance to vote on the best game from our recently concluded Championship.

As I noted in a recent post, the Awards Ceremony has been postponed to March 5th or 12th.

#461 Checkmate Ch. - Final Round

The Checkmate Championship concluded on Sunday with the following results :

Mann 0-1 Kernighan

Sherry 1/2-1/2 Minkov

Wu +- Shiffman

Azzarello 0-1 Renna

Bob Sherry reports on his game : "Against Ari, I was up a pawn early but he had a strong king side attack. I think he had a winning combination in the late middle game but missed it. We were both starting to feel the pressure of the clock at that point. In any case, I had to give up the exchange for a pawn & reached an endgame where I thought I was at least even. However, I failed to find the win and the game was drawn."

Final standings :

1. Kernighan 5.0

2. Minkov 3.5

3. Carrelli 3.0

= 4-6. Sherry, Moldovan, Wu 2.5

= 7-8. Mann, Renna 2.0

9. Shiffman 1.5

10. Azzarello 1.0

A wrap-up with a crosstable & ChessBase file of all games will follow at some point.

#460 Revised Checkmate Ch. Pairings

Here are the revised pairings for tonight's 5th & final round of the Checkmate Championship at Barnes & Noble in Springfield :

1. Mann - Kernighan
2. Sherry - Minkov
3. Wu - Shiffman
4. Azzarello - Renna

Don Carrelli & I are taking 1/2-point byes.

#459 KCCC - Final Standings & Trophies

Thursday's Results :

Mangion 1/2 Sherer; Wojcio 1-0 Sturniolo


Final Standings, in tiebreak order (see here for details)

1. Yaacov Norowitz 4.5
2. John Moldovan 4.0
3. Steve Stoyko 3.5
4. Mark Kernighan 3.5
5. Ari Minkov 3.5
6. Dr. Richard Lewis 3.5
7. Ziggy Bliznikas 3.0
8. Mark Schwarcz 3.0
9. Max Sherer 3.0
10. Mike Wojcio 3.0
11. Pat Mazzillo 3.0
12. Richard Buschgans 2.5
    
13. Don Carrelli 2.5
14. Dr. Ian Mangion 2.5
15. Ted Mann 2.5
16. Greg Tomkovich 2.5
17. Lou Sturniolo 2.0
18. Joe Renna 2.0
19. Bert Shiffman 2.0
20. Glen Hart 1.5
21. Aaron Kiedes 1.5
22. Jim Cole 1.0
    
23. Gordon Agress 1.0
24. Daniel Zhu 1.0
25. Joe Azzarello 0.5
26. Jack Mc Corkell 0.5

Trophy Winners :

1st place... Yaacov Norowitz 4.5

2nd place... John Moldovan 4.0

3rd place... Steve Stoyko 3.5

U2000... Ari Minkov 3.5

U1800... Richard Lewis 3.5

U1600... Pat Mazzillo 3.0

U1400... Lou Sturniolo 2.0*

* This is a correction. Initial calculations mistakenly had Renna as the winner in this category.

Biggest Upset... Moldovan (-416) 1-0 Kernighan in round 3
Best Game... Hart (-625) 1/2-1/2 Stoyko in round 1


A wrap-up will follow once all the 4th & 5th round games are annotated.

#458 Tonight At Kenilworth

Activities at the Kenilworth CC tonight will include :

• Make-up games from round 5 of the Club Championship (Mangion-Sherer & Wojcio-Sturniolo)
  
• A possible 3rd place playoff game between Masters Steve Stoyko & Mark Kernighan (colors TBD)
  
• Assigning or drafting players for our two Garden State Chess League teams : the Kenilworth Karpovs & Kenilworth Kortchnois
  
• Reviewing some of our USATE games
  

#457 KCCC Awards Postponed

The KCCC Awards Ceremony scheduled for February 26th has been postponed. We'll give out the hardware March 5th or 12th.

#456 Repairs Finished (?)

The replays, zips, images & tables that were deleted some 10 days ago have been re-upped. If you find a dead link, please leave a comment to this post & indicate which post number you found it in. Thanks.

#455 USATE - Days 2 & 3

In round 3, I struggled against a 1437-rated youngster, missing 2 wins after being worse, but was able to clinch the match with a draw :

George Didita 1437 - John Moldovan 1811
A84 Dutch Defense

1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 f5 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O Nf6 6. c4 Be7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Bf4 Qc8 (N) 9. d5! Nh5 10. Qd2 Nxf4 11. Qxf4 Bd6 12. Qd4 Re8 13. e4 e5 14. Qd3 f4 15. Nb5 += fxg3 16. fxg3 Bc5+ 17. Kh1 a6 18. Nc3 = Qd8? 19. Na4! += Bf8? 20. Qe2? (Qb3! +/-) d6?! 21. Qf2?! Nd7 = 22. h4 Nf6 23. Nc3 Bc8 24. h5? =+ Be7 25. Nh4? Rf8 $17 26. Qe2 Bg4 27. Bf3??


27... Bh3?? (27...Nxh5!! idea 28.Bxg4 Nxg3+ -+) 28. Bg2 = Qd7 29. Nf5 Bg4 $15 30. Nxe7+? Qxe7 -/+ 31. Bf3? Bd7?? (Again, Nxh5! -+) 32. Nd1 = h6 33. Ne3 Nh7 34. Bg4? Bxg4 35. Qxg4 Nf6? (Qg5 -/+) 36. Qg6? (Qh4 =) Qf7 =+ 1/2-1/2


Round 4 featured my best game of the event. I outplayed a former U.S. Women's Championship competitor :

Shernaz Kennedy 1917 - John Moldovan 1811
E42 Nimzo-Indian Defense
Rubinstein Variation

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 c5 5. Nge2 b6 6. a3 Ba5 7. Bd2 Bb7 8. f3 (N) d5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Nf4 O-O 11. Be2 Bxc3 12. bxc3 c4 13. O-O Re8 14. Qc2 Nc6 15. e4? dxe4 16. fxe4


16...Nxd4! 17. cxd4 Qxd4+ 18. Kh1 Bxe4? (Nxe4 -/+) 19. Qc3 Qxc3 20. Bxc3 Nd5 21. Nxd5 Bxd5 += 22. Bf3 Bxf3 23. Rxf3 f6 = 24. Kg1 Re4 25. Re1 Rae8 26. Rxe4 Rxe4 27. Kf2 Kf7 28. Re3 Re6 29. Rxe6 Kxe6 30. Ke3 Kd5 31. Bb4 f5 32. Bf8 g6 33. Bg7


33...Kc5! 34. h4 Kb5! 35. Kf4? Ka4 36. Kg5?? Kxa3 37. Kh6 b5 (the move she missed) 38. Kxh7 b4 39. Kxg6 c3 40. h5 c2 41. Bh6 b3 -+ 1/2-1/2

Black was winning but, with the match already lost (0.5-2.5), I agreed to a draw to return a favor. Just after the match started, one of my teammates had a family emergency & his opponent waited for 30 minutes, instead of starting the clock.


Yesterday, in rounds 5 & 6, I had bad openings against weaker opponents but won both games to end up +1 & stay >1800 :

Adam Urato 1354 - John Moldovan 1811
A80 Dutch Defense
3 Knights Variation

1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 f5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. Qd3 b6 6. a3 Ba6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. O-O-O (N) d5 = 9. Ne5 Ne4 10. Nxe4 fxe4 += 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 = 12. Qf4 Qf6? += 13. Qxf6? gxf6 = 14. Ng4 h5! 15. Ne3 c5 16. c3 Nc6 17. Nc2 Rg8 18. g3 Ke7 19. f4 =+ exf3 20. exf3 Bxf1 21. Rhxf1 = Rad8 22. Rfe1 Kf7 23. Re2 Rd6 24. b4 cxb4 25. cxb4 Rc8 26. Kb2 b5 27. f4 a5 28. bxa5 Nxa5 29. Ne3 Nc4+ 0-1


My opponent touched his N & attempted to play 30.Kb3 =/+. When TD Carol Jarecki told him to move the N (presumably 30.Nxc4+ -/+) he abruptly resigned.

John Moldovan 1811 - Nicholas A. Plotkin 1437
D02 QP Game
London System

1. Nf3 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. Bf4 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. Nbd2 e6 6. c3 Bd6 7. Bb5 O-O 8. h3 (N) Bh5 9. g4 Bg6 = 10. Ne5 Bxe5 11. dxe5 Nd7 =+ 12. Nf3?! Be4 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. O-O f6 15. exf6 Qxf6 16. Ne1 Qg6? 17. f3 e5 18. Bg3 Bf5 19. Kh2 Be6 $11 20. f4 Qh6 21. Kg2


21...exf4 22. exf4 = Nf6?! 23. f5 Bd7? (Bc8 +=) 24. Bf4 Qh4?? (g5 +/- was forced) 25. Nf3 +- (Black's Q is trapped.) Qxg4+ 26. hxg4 Nxg4 27. Qd2 Bxf5 28. Rae1 Be4 29. c4 Rad8 30. Bxc7 Rd7 31. Rxe4 dxe4 32. Qxd7 exf3+ 33. Rxf3 Nf6 34. Qe6+ Rf7 35. Bd6 a5 36. Qc8+ Rf8 37. Qxf8# 1-0


Keresmatic Combo split their 6 matches, +3-3=0. Two of the losses were against the 5th & 11th seeds.

Individually, Ari Minkov had 2.0/4... Arunas Simonaitis was 2.5/6... Ziggy Bliznikas had 2.5/5... Including a forfeit win, I was 4-2... Don Varnekas had 0.5/3.

replays
PGN

#454 USATE - Day 1

In my only game, I blew a full point against expert Victor Rosas :

[Event "USATE"]
[Site "Parsippany, NJ"]
[Date "2009.02.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Moldovan, John"]
[Black "Rosas, Victor"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "1811"]
[BlackElo "2035"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2009.02.14"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[Source "John Moldovan"]
[SourceDate "2009.02.15"]

{D36 Queen's Gambit Exchange Variation} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 e6
5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Qc2 Be6 8. e3 Nbd7 9. Bd3 Rc8 10. O-O O-O 11. a3 h6
12. Bh4 c5 {Diagram #} 13. Rae1 $146 Re8 14. Qb1 Qb6 15. Na4 Qd8 $11 16. Nxc5
Bxc5 17. dxc5 Rxc5 $6 18. Nd4 $14 Qb6 19. Rd1 a6 20. Rd2 Rec8 21. Rfd1 Kh8 22.
h3 g5 $6 23. Bg3 $16 Nh5 24. Bh2 Ng7 25. Nxe6 Qxe6 26. Be2 $6 Ne5 $2 $18 {
Diagram #} 27. e4 dxe4 28. Qxe4 $16 Re8 $2 29. Rd6 $18 Qf5 30. Rxh6+ $2 Kg8 $16
31. Qxb7 $2 $44 Ng6 $4 32. Bg4 $18 Qc2 33. Rf1 Qc1 34. Qxa6 Re1 35. Bd6 Rc2 $2
36. Bb4 $2 Rxf1+ 37. Qxf1 Qxb2 {Diagram #} 38. Bf3 $4 Rc1 $19 39. Bd1 Qa1 40.
Qb5 Rxd1+ 41. Kh2 Rh1+ 42. Kg3 Qe5+ 43. Qxe5 Nxe5 44. f4 Nf5+ 0-1

replay
download

Btw, I'm playing for Keresmatic Combo (not Lithuanian Athletic Club). Yesterday we lost to 2175-rated West Orange Krush 4-0 & beat Yellow Submarine 4-0.

#453 Norowitz Wins Kenilworth Championship

NM Yaacov Norowitz drew against FM Steve Stoyko to win the 2009 Kenilworth Championship. I beat Mark Schwarcz to finish at 4-1 & take clear 2nd place.

Stoyko, NM Mark Kernighan, Ari Minkov & Dr. Richard Lewis tied for 3rd. Max Sherer (currently at 2.5) can join them by winning his remaining game.

Here are all the results from last night :

Stoyko 1/2-1/2 Norowitz

Schwarcz 0-1 Moldovan

Bliznikas 0-1 Kernighan

Carrelli 0-1 Minkov

Buschgans -+ Lewis

Renna 0-1 Mazzillo

Tomkovich +- Hart

Kiedes -+ Mann

Agress 0-1 Shiffman

Azzarello 0-1 Cole

Mangion-Sherer & Wojcio-Sturniolo were postponed. Those games must played before 2/20.

... & the up-to-date standings :

1. Norowitz 4.5

2. Moldovan 4.0

= 3-6 . Stoyko, Kernighan, Minkov, Lewis 3.5

= 7-9. Schwarcz, Bliznikas, Mazzillo 3.0

= 10-14. Buschgans, Carrelli, Tomkovich, Sherer*, Mann 2.5

= 15-19. Mangion*, Wojcio*, Sturniolo*, Shiffman, Renna 2.0

= 20-21. Hart, Kiedes 1.5

= 22-24. Zhu, Agress, Cole 1.0

= 25-26 Mc Corkell, Azzarello 0.5

* - have 1 game remaining

Trophy Update

winners :

1st place...  Yaacov Norowitz 4.5

2nd place... John Moldovan 4.0

 

leaders :

3rd place... Steve Stoyko & Mark Kernighan 3.5

U2000... Ari Minkov 3.5

U1800... Richard Lewis 3.5

U1600...  Pat Mazzillo 3.0

U1400... Lou Sturniolo, Bert Shiffman & Joe Renna 2.0

The 4-way deadlock for 3rd could be resolved with a G/30 playoff but I think the easiest solution would be to have the titled players face-off for 3rd place & make Minkov the U2000 winner. That would leave Lewis as the best U1800 or in a playoff vs. Sherer, if a 5-way knot occurs.

Sturniolo can avoid an U1400 playoff by drawing or winning his last game.

Games from round 5 will not be posted until the middle of next week (Tuesday at the earliest).

P.S. - The java-replays & PGN for the previous weeks are up again & working. Refer to post #446 for the 4th round links.  It will, however, be some time before everything is replaced.

#452 Uh-Oh

I accidentally deleted the Events folder at the host site & will have to re-upload almost every file from 1/1/2008 to the present. I'll try to do so ASAP. Sorry for the error & inconvenience.

#451 KCCC - Corrected Final Round Pairings

TD Geoff McAuliffe has corrected the board 2 & 3 KCCC pairings to :

2. Schwarcz - Moldovan
3. Bliznikas - Kernighan

For the other pairings, see post #448.

2/12 @ 4:06 p.m. - Another change.

Jack McCorkell withdrew. Jim Cole will have Black vs. Joe Azzarello on board 12

#450 Garden State Chess League Website

Laugh at it if you must but my Garden State Chess League website is up.

#449 Checkmate Championship - Round 4

Defending champion Mark Kernighan clinched a tie for 1st place by beating Bob Sherry... Ari Minkov took sole possession of 2nd by handing me my 3rd straight defeat... Don Carrelli moved into 3rd place with a quick, model Bird's Opening win vs. Leon Wu... Ted Mann & Bert Shiffman also won.

Here are the standings, with 1 round to go :

1. Kernighan 4.0

2. Minkov 3.0

3. Carrelli 2.5

= 4-6. Sherry, Moldovan, Mann 2.0

= 7-8. Wu, Shiffman 1.5
= 9-10. Renna, Azzarello 1.0

... the latest games, with light annotations, in java-replay & PGN

... & Swiss Perfect's suggested pairings for the final round on February 22nd :

Mann - Kernighan

Minkov - Carrelli

Wu - Moldovan

Sherry - Azzarello

Shiffman - Renna

There will be no games next week. At least 8 of the participants will be playing at the USATE in Parsippany.

#448 KCCC - Final Round Pairings

Here are the pairings for Thursday 2/12, which will be the 5th & final round of the Kenilworth Championship :

1. Stoyko - Norowicz
   
2. Schwarcz - Kernighan
   
3. Moldovan - Bliznikas
   
4. Carrelli - Minkov
   
5. Buschgans - Lewis
   
6. Mangion - Sherer
   
7. Wojcio - Sterniolo
   
8. Renna - Mazzillo
   
9. Tomkovich - Hart
   
10. Kiedes - Mann
    
11. Agress - Shiffman
    
12. Azzarello - Mc Corkell or Cole*
    

* - Depends on whether Jack is well-enough to play or not.

#447 KCCC Crosstable

I have finally gotten around to uploading a crosstable for the Kenilworth Championship. On the same page you will find the standings in tiebreak order & performance ratings.

#446 Kenilworth Championship - Round 4

NM Yaacov Norowitz clinched a 1st place tie by beating me in a rather one-sided game. I was equal after 14 moves but made errors on the next 2 turns, lost a pawn & couldn't hold.

Steve Stoyko, Mark Schwarcz & Ziggy Bliznikas stayed in the hunt with victories over Ian Mangion, Lou Sturniolo & Pat Mazzillo.

However, defending champion Mark Kernighan's chance for a 2nd-straight crown ended when he dropped a piece in a time-scramble against Don Carrelli & had to settle for a draw. Ari Minkov also missed a shot at the top-prize by yielding a half-point to Richard Lewis.

In the other games : Rich Buschgans, Max Sherer, Mike Wojcio, Joe Renna & Gordon Agress won. Greg Tomkovich & Ted Mann drew.

Jack Mc Corkell took another bye due to illness but he has not been given a half-point bye for round 4; as yet.


With 1 round remaining, the overall standings look this way :

1. Norowitz 4.0
= 2-5. Stoyko, Schwarcz, Bliznikas, Moldovan 3.0
= 6-11. Kernighan, Minkov, Buschgans, Carrelli, Lewis, Sherer 2.5
= 12-16. Mangion, Wojcio, Mazzillo, Sturniolo, Renna 2.0
= 17-20. Tomkovich, Hart, Mann, Kiedes 1.5
= 21-23. Shiffman, Agress, Zhu (wd) 1.0
= 24-25. Mc Corkell, Azzarello 0.5
26. Cole 0.0


Trophies for best game & biggest upset were added to the prize list.

The current class leaders are :

• U2000 - Schwarcz, Bliznikas & Moldovan 3.0
• U1800 - Carrelli, Lewis & Sherer 2.5
  
• U1600 - Mazzillo, Sturniolo & Renna 2.0
• U1400 - Sturniolo & Renna 2.0

If there is a 2-way tie for 1st overall, a G/60 playoff will be held. The potential for a 4-way knot exists. Tiebreaks for that scenario & others must be determined.


Finally, to wrap this post, here are 4 of the week's games (2 annotated) in java-replay & PGN.

#445 KCCC - Round 3 Update

5 more annotated games have been added to the 3rd round replay page & zip.

#444 Checkmate Championship - Round 3

Mark Kernighan avenged his Jan. 29th KCCC loss by smashing my ill-prepared English... Ari Minkov handed Leon Wu his 1st loss... & Ted Mann time-forfeited in a winning position vs. Bob Sherry.

Joe Renna, Joe Azzarello, Bert Shiffman took byes to watch the Super Bowl... Opponent-less Don Carrelli received a free point.

Here are the :

updated standings

1. Kernighan 3.0

= 2-4. Minkov, Sherry, Moldovan 2.0

= 5-6.Carrelli, Wu 1.5
=7-9. Mann,Renna, Azzarello 1.0

10. Shiffman 0.5

...& the most-recent games in java-replay & PGN. Light annotations to my loss. Notes to the others will have to wait.

#443 Checkmate Ch.- R2 Update

Wu-Azzarello added to the 2nd round replay page & zip. Game dates corrected to 1/25.

#442 Fourth-Round Parings

The KCCC pairings for Thursday 2/5 are :

Norowitz - Moldovan
Stoyko - Mangion 
Kernighan - Carrelli 
Minkov - Lewis 
Schwarcz - Sturniolo 
Bliznikas - Mazzillo
Hart - Buschgans 
Sherer - Kiedes 
Mann -Tomkovich 
Shiffman - Wojcio 
McCorkell - Renna 
Agress - Azzarello

Jim Cole gets a full-point bye.

Daniel Zhu withdrew.

The unofficial, best-guess, Checkmate Ch. pairings for 2/8 are :

Kernighan (3.0) - Sherry (2.0)

Minkov (2.0) - Moldovan (2.0)

Carrelli (1.5) - Wu (1.5)

Renna (1.0) - Mann (1.0)

Shiffman (0.5) - Azzarello (1.0)