#540 STC Championship Semis - Round 4

In the STC Championships this afternoon, I played a near-flawless Dutch-Indian & upped my record to 4-0.

Here are the note-filled PGN & java-replay.

#538 KST - 7th Round Games

The 7th round games from the Kenilworth Summer Tournament have been uploaded.

• replays
• PGN

I'll post an updated crosstable tonight or Tuesday.

#539 STC Championship Semis - Round 3

In a rematch against my opening round opponent (Brian Wood), I won a 19-mover to remain tied for 1st. The final position is funny. Black's poor Queen has 14 options but no safe square!

Moldovan-Wood

After 19.Bd6 1-0

Here's the full story in java-replay plus complete WCL section PGN for rounds 1, 2 & 3.

#537 Summer Tourney - Round 7

Ian Mangion, Mark Kernighan & Greg Tomkovich won to remain 1-2-3. Don Carrelli split a pair of games & now is clear 4th.

I played a simul & moved into a tie for 5th (with Max Sherer) by stealing 1.5 from 2 lost positions. Here's a highlight :

Pawlowski-Moldovan
After 32.Qg4?

Tripled on the g-file, White threatens 35.Rg8 +-. But I found 34...Rg3!! -/+ (interference theme/fork), offered a draw & Dave, with just 33 seconds left, accepted.

Moldovan-Pawlowski
After 32...Rg3!!
1/2-1/2

Results

• Sturniolo 0-1 Mangion
• Wojcio 0-1 Kernighan
• Shiffman 0-1 Tomkovich
• Sherer 1-0 Carrelli
• Carrelli 1-0 Sherer
• Pawlowski 1/2 Moldovan
• Mann 0-1 Moldovan
• Renna 1/2 Mazzillo

Standings

• 1. Mangion 7.5
• 2. Kernighan 7.0
• 3. Tomkovich 6.0
• 4. Carrelli 4.0
• = 5. Moldovan, Sherer 3.5
• 7. Mann 3.0
• = 8. Pawlowski, Mazzillo, Renna, Cole 2.5
• = 12. Lewis, Shiffman, Sokolosky 2.0
• 15. Sturniolo 1.5
• = 16. Wojcio, Zhu, Agress 1.0
• = 19. Hart, McAuliffe, Kruglyak, Balint, Castillo, Ruales 0.0

A few games & a crosstable will follow, no earlier than Sunday. I have an STC game Saturday night (8:15 p.m. EDT on WCL).

#536 KST - 6th Round Games

I have uploaded 7 games (3 annotated) from last week plus an updated crosstable (still not in standing-order) & an additional game from round 5.

6th round :

• replay page
• PGN file
• crosstable

5th round addendum :

• replay page
• PGN file

#535 Summer Tourney - Round 6

Leader Ian Mangion lost to David Pawlowski & saw his lead over NM Mark Kernighan cut to a half-point. Greg Tomkovich split a match with Mike Wojcio to move within 1.5 points of 1st & pad his 3rd place edge. Don Carrelli & Ted Mann are now tied for 4th.

I lost twice (vs. Kernighan & Joe Renna) & fell to 8th place, 3 full points out of the money. At this point I'd be happy with an equal score & 4th place but there is still a chance to finish higher.

Greg is on-pace for 10.83, Mark 13.00, Ian 14.08. Can I get to 11? Yes. 9 points in 7 weeks is do-able. Even something like +8-1=5, for a total of 12.5, is possible. I just need to find a tourniquet ASAP & play a 2-game simul every week! Anyone interested? I'm willing to take-on all comers.

Results

• Pawlowski 1-0 Mangion
• Moldovan 0-1 Kernighan
• Wojcio 1-0 Tomkovich
• Tomkovcich 1-0 Wojcio
• Carrelli 1-0 Sherer
• Mann 1-0 Renna
• Renna 1-0 Moldovan
• Cole 1-0 Shiffman
• Sturniolo 1-0 McAuliffe

Standings

1. Mangion 6.5

2. Kernighan 6.0

3. Tomkovich 5.0

= 4. Carrelli, Mann 3.0

= 6. Sherer, Cole 2.5

= 8. Moldovan, Pawlowski, Lewis, Mazzillo, Shiffman, Renna, Sokolosky 2.0

15. Sturniolo 1,5

= 16. Wojcio, Zhu, Agress 1.0

= 19. Hart, McAuliffe, Kruglyak, Balint, Castillo, Ruales 0.0

Replays, PGN & a crosstable will follow.

#534 STC Championship - Round 1

Last night on World Chess Live, I opened the 2009 STC Championship with a win on the Black side of the Classical Nimzo-Indian.

I planned to post just the raw score but the game was rather easy, thanks to my foe's mistakes at moves 14 & 16. So, here's the annotated version in java-replay & PGN

BrianWood - Moldovan

after 13...a5

P.S. - Been wondering... What the hell is plural for faux pas? - Faux pas pas?!?

Update - Improved notes posted at 10:25 a.m.

Further Update - In the 2nd round, I received a forfeit win.

#533 I'm Baaack!

Like it or not, I'm back to post dozens of well-annotated games for a handful of readers. The fine folks at Blogger have re-programmed their bots & my blog now correctly comes up as Taylor Pork Roll.


Sadly, I will not become a martyr or popular with Hawaiians.

#532 Spam, Spam, Spam

I found out why my Chess Coroner blog is locked. Blogger's bots think it's a spam blog. Click the images to enlarge & read them.

P.S. - For under 40 crowd, the title refers to this Monty Python skit :



This was originally posted on the Kenilworth Kibitzer on 7/10 at 2:41 a.m

#531 GSCL ChessBase File

I have uploaded a ChessBase archive (.cbv) with 27 of the 79 games played in the recently concluded 2009 Garden State Chess League season.

Highlights include Steve Stoyko's win vs. Jackson Hueckel, Mike Goeller's victory over William Sealey (both from round 1) & my 2nd round draw vs. NM Scott Massey.

This was originally posted on the Kenilworth Kibitzer on 7/10 at 1:57 a.m

#530 Summer Tourney - Round 5

Ian Mangion, Mark Kernighan & Greg Tomkovich won their games to remain 1-2-3 in the 2009 KST. Max Sherer lost but stayed 4th. I didn't play but am still 5th.

replay page

PGN file

Results

• Kernighan 1-0 Sherer
• Mangion 1-0 Carrelli
• Tomkovich 1-0 Mann
• Cole 0-1 Mazzillo
• Cole 0-1 Sokolosky

Standings

1. Mangion 6.5

2. Kernighan 5.0

3. Tomkovich 4.0

4. Sherer 2.5

= 5. Moldovan, Carrelli, Lewis, Mann, Mazzillo, Shiffman, Sokolosky 2.0

12. Cole 1.5

= 13. Pawlowski, Zhu, Agress, Renna 1.0

17. Sturniolo 0.5

= 18. Hart, McAuliffe, Wojcio, Kruglyak, Balint, Castillo, Ruales 0.0

Finally, here's an up-to-date crosstable. I apologize for it not being in standing order. I'll post a better version in a few days.

This was originally posted on the Kenilworth Kibitzer on 7/10 at 1:13 a.m

#529 STC Game Tonight

Tonight (Fri. 7/10), in Round 1 of the STC World Championship, I play 1546-rated BrianWood.

Following the game, which is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. EDT on World Chess Live, I will post the raw PGN & a replay-link.

This was originally posted on the Kenilworth Kibitzer on 7/10 at 1:08 a.m

#528 Simul Replay

Here's the java-replay of Bert Shiffman's simul win vs. Chitra Sridhar, which I promised 12 days ago. For the PGN, you can copy & paste from here or download the zip.

This was originally posted on the Kenilworth Kibitzer on 7/10 at 12:54 a.m

#527 Terms of Service Violation???

Click the image to enlarge & read it.



This was originally posted on the Kenilworth Kibitzer on 7/9 at 10:16 p.m

#526 Summer Tourney - Round 4

Ian Mangion maintained his 1.5 point lead over NM Mark Kernighan. TD Greg Tomkovich moved into 3rd place. Max Sherer climbed 3 spots & stands 4th.

After splitting with Greg, I have a share of 5th - which is up 4 rungs from last week.

Replays
PGN

Results :

• Renna 0-1 Kernighan
• Carrelli 0-1 Mangion
• Tomkovich 0-1 Moldovan
• Moldovan 0-1 Tomkovich
• Sherer 1-0 Pawlowski
• Shiffman 1-0 McAuliffe
• Castillo 0-1 Agress

Full standings & a crosstable will follow, although a week late.

#525 KST - Round 3 Games

Replays & PGN for the Kenilworth Summer Tournament's 3rd Round (June 25th) have been uploaded. Wins by Kernighan, Sokolosky & Mann are featured, along with the drawn Cole-Sturniolo.

#524 GSCL Games - Round 5

I have uploaded a replay page & zipped PGN file with 4 annotated games (including those of Stoyko, Sherer & Sokolosky) from last week's Garden State Chess League finales.

P.S. - Attention fellow blogger Diamondback! As requested, a plain version of my loss was posted as a comment to #522

#523 Bring Your Sets To The KCC Tonight

Please bring your sets to the Community Center tonight, in case I cannot get to Kenilworth by 8 p.m. 22 of our sets were used at the Scotch Plains simul &, at present, there's just 1 in the equipment cabinet.

I shall be there no later than 8:15 and will address the club for a few minutes, starting around 8:25. Thanks.

#522 Another Awful Game

I played another awful game at West Orange, turning a clear plus (or better) after move 15 into a lost position by turn 25 & lowering my GSCL mark to (ugh!) 0-4-1 :

[Event "Garden State Chess League"]
[Site "West Orange, NJ"]
[Date "2009.06.30"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Moldovan, John"]
[Black "Hill, Joshua"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "1812"]
[BlackElo "1975"]
[Annotator "Moldovan & Rybka 2.3"]
[PlyCount "168"]
[EventDate "2009.03.03"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[Source "The Chess Coroner #522"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.01"]
[WhiteTeam "Maplewood"]
[BlackTeam "Hamilton"]

{G/75+5 D36 Queen's Gambit Exchange Variation} 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nc3 c6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Qc2 {Diagram #} Bg4 $5 {I can't believe this is any good but HIARCS 11 & Fritz 8 say the position is equal.} ({For} 7... Nbd7) (7... g6) ({&} 7... Be6 {see my games against Jesseph, Sherer (2008 PGN/CBV archives) & Rosas (post #482).}) 8. Ne5 (8. e3 $145 Nbd7 9. Bd3 Rc8 ( 9... Bh5 10. O-O-O Nf8 11. h3 Ne6 12. g4 Nxg5 13. Nxg5 Bg6 14. Bxg6 hxg6 15. Kb1 Bb4 16. Ne2 Qe7 $11 {Polugaevsky - Lein : Soviet Championship, Baku 1961}) 10. h3 Bh5 11. Bf4 Bg6 12. O-O Bxd3 13. Qxd3 O-O 14. Rac1 Ne8 $14 {Menchik - Euwe : Hastings 1935}) ({Rybka 2.3 recommends} 8. h3 Bh5 9. e3 $14 {+0.28}) 8... Bh5 9. e3 (9. g4 $145 $5 Bg6 10. Nxg6 {Schmidlechner - Lassahn : Vorarlberg 1996} hxg6 $11) (9. f3 $146 Nfd7 $11) 9... Nbd7 10. Bd3 (10. Nxd7 $142 {keeping the P structure intact.}) 10... Nxe5 11. dxe5 Ng4 12. Bf4 g5 $2 $146 (12... d4 {Drozd - Noga : Bytom 1995} 13. exd4 Qxd4 {was rather obvious. After that, Rybka calls for} 14. Be4 $8 Nxe5 15. O-O $44) 13. Bg3 Bg6 14. h3 Nh6 15. O-O-O Qa5 {Diagram #} 16. e6 $2 ({This opens the f6-c3 line for Black. } 16. h4 $16 {was right.}) 16... Bxd3 17. exf7+ Nxf7 18. Qxd3 Bf6 19. Qf5 $2 ( 19. e4 $14) 19... Bxc3 20. Qe6+ $6 (20. bxc3 $142 Qxc3+ 21. Kb1 Qb4+ 22. Ka1) 20... Kf8 21. bxc3 Qxc3+ 22. Kb1 Re8 23. Bd6+ Kg7 {Diagram #} 24. Qf5 $4 (24. Be7 $8 $15 {was required. Now I lose a piece.}) 24... Nxd6 $19 25. Qxg5+ Kf7 26. Rd4 Ne4 $2 ({Thus gives me some life & tactics.} 26... Nc4 $142 27. Rf4+ Ke6 {& White can soon resign.}) 27. Qf5+ Ke7 28. Rhd1 {Threat : 29.Rxe4! dxe4 30.Rd7 mate} Nf6 $2 29. e4 Rhf8 ({Played after 19 minutes. I guess he was trying to make captures on e4 work but it's easy to see they don't :} 29... Nxe4 $4 30. Rxe4+ $1 $14 dxe4 $140 $4 31. Rd7#) (29... dxe4 $143 $4 30. Rd7+ $3 Kf8 (30... Nxd7 31. Rxd7#) 31. R1d4 $18) 30. exd5 (30. e5 Ng8 31. Qxh7+ Rf7 32. Qh4+ {was a better try but I'm lost regardless.}) {We can skip the rest, which was.} 30... c5 31. Qe6+ Kd8 32. Qd6+ Nd7 33. R4d3 Qb4+ 34. Rb3 Qe4+ 35. Ka1 Rf6 36. Qg3 b6 37. Re3 Qf4 38. Rxe8+ Kxe8 39. Qg8+ Rf8 40. Qxh7 Qxf2 41. Qe4+ Kd8 42. Qe6 Qxg2 43. Qc6 Qg7+ 44. Kb1 Qh7+ 45. Ka1 Qxh3 46. Qa8+ Ke7 47. d6+ Ke6 48. Qd5+ Kf6 49. Rd3 Qf1+ 50. Kb2 Qf2+ 51. Ka3 Ne5 52. Rh3 Qf4 53. Qb3 Qb4+ 54. Qxb4 cxb4+ 55. Kxb4 Ke6 56. Rh6+ Kd7 57. Kb5 Rf7 58. Ka6 Nc6 59. Kb7 b5 60. a3 a5 61. Kb6 b4 62. axb4 axb4 63. Kc5 Rf5+ 64. Kc4 Rf4+ 65. Kb3 Na5+ 66. Kb2 Rf2+ 67. Kb1 Nc4 68. Rh4 Na3+ 69. Ka1 Kxd6 70. Rg4 b3 71. Rg6+ (71. Rd4+ Kc5 72. Rd5+ $1 Kb4 (72... Kxd5 $4 {stalemate}) 73. Rd4+ Nc4 {was no better.}) 71... Kc5 72. Rc6+ $1 Kb4 (72... Kxc6 $4 {stalemate}) 73. Rb6+ $1 Nb5 74. Kb1 Kc5 75. Rb8 Nd4 76. Rb7 Kc4 77. Rb8 Kc3 78. Rc8+ Kd3 79. Rb8 Kc3 80. Rc8+ Kb4 81. Rb8+ Nb5 82. Rb7 Ka3 83. Kc1 b2+ 84. Kd1 b1=Q# 0-1

More games & replays will follow.

#521 Kortchnois Capture GSCL Crown

The Kenilworth Kortchnois defeated Sparta last night, 2.5-1.5, to collect their 5th straight win and the 2009 Garden State Chess League title. Mark Kernighan led the way with his league-high 4th victory. Dr. Richard Lewis's W over Mike Sobin was the match-clincher.

In other matches :

• West Orange & Staten Island drew, 2-2.
• Hamilton whitewashed Maplewood 4-0.
  

FINAL STANDINGS
(in tie-break order)

1. Kenilworth Kortchnois 5.0
2. West Orange 3.5
3. Kenilworth Karpovs 3.0
4. Staten Island 3.0
5. Hamilton 3.0
6. Summit 2.5
7. Sparta 0.0
8. Maplewood 0.0

Full details here.