#636 Chess Mates Opening Postponed

The Chess Mates' Grand Opening, scheduled for Monday, has been postponed.

For details, visit the Chess Mates blog.

#635 Tonight's Meeting Canceled

Tonight's Kenilworth Chess Club meeting has been canceled. Please joins us on March 4th for the Hamilton-Kramniks match.

#634 Rahway Club Opens Next Monday

The Chess Mates Chess Club, located at 1523 Irving St. in Rahway, N.J. & owned/managed by new Kenilworth Champion Arthur Macaspac, will have its Grand Opening at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, March 1st.

There will be free lessons that day, a simul by GM/Former World Championship Candidate Leonid Yudasin, refreshments & a speed tournament starting at 7:00 p.m.

The facility, conveniently located near the Rahway train station, will be open 7 days & 4 nights per week. Some 20 USCF-rated events will be run every month!!:

• Sundays... 5-SS, G/45
• Mondays... 4-SS, G/25 (1st & 2nd weeks of the month)
• Tuesdays... 3-Round Quads, G/30
• Wednesdays... 4-SS, G/30
• Friday... 4-SS, 30 moves in 90 + SD/60 (one game per week)
• Saturday... 4-SS, G/60 for U2400s

There will be monthly lessons & simuls by Yudasin, plus weekday afternoon skittles (Mon.-Thurs.) for seniors (12:30-2:15 p.m.) & children (2:30-4:15 p.m.).

For tournament details, the full schedule, lesson rates, membership fees, etc., visit the Chess Mates site.

I may not attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony but will be there in the evening. Hope you can make it, as well.

#633 Karpovs Upset by Staten Island 3-1

In GSCL action on Thursday, the Kenilworth Karpovs lost to previously winless Staten Island 3-1.

For more details, visit my Garden State League blog.

#632 Checkmate Championship Starts 3/7

6th Checkmate Chess Club Championship

• starts Sunday, March 7th, 2010
• non-rated
• 5-SS
• Rounds : March 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th & April 4th... all starting at 9:00 p.m.
  
• Time Control : G/45+0 or G/40 + 5 second delay. Black gets to choose.
• A player may request a 0.45 point bye for any round but the request must reach the TD 4 hours before the round.
• No entry fee or prizes
• To register, send an e-mail to Tournament Director Bob Sherry by March 6th.

#631 My USATE Games

Over the weekend, I reluctantly played in the 40th U.S. Amateur Team East tourney at Parsippany & scored 3.5/6.

Here's the day by day rundown:

Saturday

I blundered a piece to FIDE Master/opera singer Nathan Resika on move 12 but beat a 1400 in 17 moves.

Sunday

I defeated a 1300-rated octogenarian in 14 moves & lost an exciting game to 11-year-old expert Justus Williams, of the famous I.S. 318 in Brooklyn :

J. Williams 2066 - J. Moldovan 1824

A13 English Opening
Dutch Defense

1. Nf3 e6 2. c4 f5 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O Nf6 6. d3 Be7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Qc2 Bb4!? (N) 9. a3 Bxc3 10. Qxc3 Qe7 11. b4 d6 12. Bb2 Nbd7 13. h3 e5 14. Rae1 a5 15. Kh2 axb4 16. axb4 Ra7 17. Rg1 Qe8 18. Nh4 Bxg2 19. Rxg2 Qh5 20. e4 fxe4 21. dxe4 Raa8 22. Nf5?

22...Nxe4! 23. Ne7+ Kf7 24. Rxe4 Kxe7 25. f4 Nf6 26. Re1 Ng4+ 27. Kg1 Qxh3 28. c5 Rac8 29. Rge2

29...Kd8?? (29...Rf5! =+) 30. fxe5 Nxe5 31. Rxe5 dxe5 32. Qxe5 Qd7 33. Qg5+ 1-0

Yesterday

I dispatched a fellow 1800 in 17 moves & drew U.S. Correspondence Champion Paul Fielding!!

J. Moldovan 1824 - P. Fielding 2209

D23 Queen's Gambit
Mannheim Variation

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4 4. Qa4+ c6 5. Qxc4 Bf5 6. g3 Nbd7 7. Bg2 Nb6 8. Qb3 e6 9. O-O Be7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Bg5 Ne4 (N) 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Rfd1 Rac8 14. Nh4 Nxc3 15. bxc3 Bg4 16. Rd2 c5 17. Rad1 cxd4 18. cxd4 Rc7 19. Bf3 Bh3 20. Ng2 Bxg2 21. Kxg2 Rfc8 22. e4 Rc3 23. Qb1 Qa3 24. Rd3 g6 25. d5 Qd6 26. dxe6 Qxe6??

White is winning here but I only saw 7 moves of a very long sequence, not the 3 subtle follow-ups required by the Q & R.

27. Rxc3 Rxc3 28. Rd8+ Kg7 29. Qb4!! Rc8 30. Qf8+ Kf6 31. Qh8+ Ke7 32. Qf8+ Kf6 33. Qh8+ Ke7 34. Rxc8 Nxc8 35. Qxh7 Nd6 36. Qh4+ Ke8 37. Qh8+ Ke7 38. Qh4+ Ke8 39. Qh8+ (+-) 1/2-1/2

Of course, the Q+B & 5 should overcome Q, N & 4 but I didn't feel like grinding for another 2 hours.


The Williams & Fielding games will likely be re-visited at a future date but, for now, here is the complete set of 6, with light notes, in java-replay & zipped PGN.

#630 Kenilworth Ch. - Best Game Poll

Rather than move this blog now (will probably have to do so soon enough), I have posted a Best Game Poll for the 2010 Kenilworth Championship on my Garden State Chess League site, just below the header.

The nominees are :

Mangion 1-0 Moldovan, from round 2
Moldovan 1-0 Hart, from round 4
Kernighan 1-0 Komunicky, from round 4
Kernighan 1-0 Moldovan, from round 5

I think Mangion's win over me deserves the honor.

You can vote until 4 p.m. next Thursday.

#629 Macaspac Wins KCC Championship

Arthur Macaspac defeated Don Carrelli last night to win the 20th 19th Kenilworth CC Championship.

5th Round Pairings:

Carrelli 0-1 Macaspac
Mangion 1-0 Pawlowski
Kernighan 1-0 Moldovan
Schwarcz 1-0 Sturniolo
Lewis 1-0 Mann
Renna 0-1 Hart
Wojcio 0-1 Cole
Komunicky 1-0 Shiffman

Java-replay for round 5.
PGN for round 5.
ChessBase archive with the all the games, blanks (15) & reports from the event.


Final Standings:

1. Macaspac 4.5
= 2-3. Carrelli, Mangion 4.0
= 4-9. Kernighan, Schwarcz, Moldovan, Lewis, Pawlowski, Hart 3.0
= 10-13. Komunicky, Mann, Sturniolo, Renna 2.0
= 14-16. Wojcio, Shiffman, Cole 1.0
= 17-19. McAuliffe, Kruglyak, Reinoso 0.5


Prize Winners:

1st place: Macaspac 4.5
2nd place: Carrelli 4.0
3rd place: Mangion 4.0
U2000: Pawlowski 3.0
U1800: Lewis & Hart 3.0
U1600: Sturniolo 2.0
U1400: Renna 2.0
Biggest Upset - Cole (-440) vs. Wojcio
Best Game - to be determined

#628 KCC Ch. - Official 5th Round Pairings

The official pairings for tomorrow's 5th & final round of the Kenilworth CC Championship, from TD Geoff McAuliffe, are :

1. Carrelli - Macaspac
2. Mangion - Pawlowski
3. Kernighan - Moldovan
4. Schwarcz - Sturniolo
5. Lewis - Mann
6. Renna - Hart
7. Wojcio - Cole
8. Komunciky - Shiffman

#627 KCC Ch. - Enhanced Crosstable

An enhanced crosstable for the Kenilworth Championship, with tiebreaks, performance ratings & projected post-tourney ratings, has been uploaded.

#626 Kenilworth Ch. - Round 5 Pairings?

Here are Win-TD's recommended (unofficial) pairings for the 2010 KCCC's final round:

1. Carrelli - Macaspac
2. Mangion - Pawlowski
3. Kernighan - Moldovan
4. Schwarcz - Sturniolo
5. Lewis - Mann
6. Renna - Hart
7. Wojcio- Komunicky
8. Shiffman - Cole

Update 2/10 @ 9:20 a.m. - Official pairings posted, with corrections for boards 7 & 8.

#625 Kenilworth Championship - Round 4

Don Carrelli & Arthur Macaspac won to set-up an all-Armed Forces battle for 1st place.

White took 6 of 8 games on Thursday & is now 24-9 (.727) in this event. There has yet to be draw!!


Pairings & Results:

1. Mangion 0-1 Carrelli
2. Macaspac 1-0 Schwarcz
3. Moldovan 1-0 Hart
4. Pawlowski 1-0 Lewis
5. Kernighan 1-0 Komunicky
6. Sturniolo 1-0 Wojcio
7. Mann 1-0 Shiffman
8. Cole 0-1 Renna

Java-replay for this round.

PGN for this round.

ChessBase archive with all the games & blanks.


Standings after 4 of 5 rounds :

1. Carrelli 4.0
2. Macaspac 3.5
= 3-5. Mangion, Moldovan, Pawlowski 3.0
= 6-12. Kernighan, Schwarcz, Lewis, Hart, Mann, Sturniolo. Renna
= 13-15. Wojcio, Komunicky, Shiffman 1.0
= 16-18. McAuliffe, Kruglyak, Reinoso 0.5 (all 3 have withdrawn)
19. Cole 0.0

Crosstable



Prize Leaders

1st: Carrelli 4.0
2nd: Macaspac 3.0
3rd: Mangion 3.0
U2000: Moldovan 3.0
U1800: Pawlowski 3.0
U1600: Sturniolo 2.0
U1400: Renna 2.0
Upset: Lewis -437 (> Kernighan in round 2)
Best Game: ??

This year's Club Champion & Best U1800 will certainly get a piece of hardware. I don't know how many others will. If you have any old trophies you'd like to donate, please bring them to our next meeting.

If you have a favorite game from this year's championship, please nominate it by leaving a comment.

I'll try to set-up a poll... so the readers can choose which contest is most-deserving. If I can't do it here, one will be placed on my GSCL site.

#624 Kramniks-W. Orange Games

I have uploaded 2 games from the Kenilworth Kramniks' 3.5-0.5 loss at West Orange.

For details & links please visit my Garden State Chess League blog.

#623 PGN Archive For 2009

I have uploaded my 290-game PGN Archive for 2009 & a 901-game ChessBase archive covering 2006-2009.

Please excuse the many typos.

I will keep a running PGN file for 2010, to make things easier for you, although this will likely lead to fewer hits.

#622 Kortchnois 2 Summit 2

On Monday night, the Kenilworth Kortchnois played to a 2-2 against Summit.

A short summary on & all 4 games from the match have been posted on the Garden State Chess League blog.

#621 Kenilworth Ch. - 4th Round Pairings?

Win-TD's unofficial 4th Round Pairings :

1. Mangion - Carrelli
2. Mascaspac - Schwarcz
3. Moldovan - Hart
4. Pawlowski - Lewis
5. Kernighan - Komunicky
6. Sturniolo - Wojcio
7. Mann - Shiffman
8. Cole - Renna

Update 2/3 @ 12:55 a.m. - These pairings are official!

#620 Kenilworth Championship - Round 3

Pairings & Results:

1. Lewis 0-1 Mangion
2. Hart 0-1 Carrelli
3. Macaspac 1-0 Kernighan
4. Schwarcz 1-0 Wojcio
5. Moldovan 1-0 Mann
6. Pawlowski 1-0 Sturniolo
7. Shiffman 1-0 Renna
8. Komunicky 1-0 Cole

Reinoso, Kruglyak & McAuliffe withdrew.

Java-replay for this round.

PGN for this round.

ChessBase archive with all the games & blanks.


Standings after 3 of 5 rounds :

= 1-2. Mangion, Carrelli 3.0
3. Macaspac 2.5
= 4-8. Schwarcz, Moldovan, Lewis, Pawlowski, Hart 2.0
= 9-15. Kernighan, Wojcio, Komunicky, Mann, Sturniolo, Shiffman, Renna 1.0
= 16-18. McAuliffe, Kruglyak, Reinoso 0.5 (all 3 have withdrawn)
19. Cole 0.0

Crosstable

P.S. - Sorry for the delayed & colorless report.

#619 Kenilworth Ch. - Round 2 Addendum

2 games have been added to the KCCC's 2nd round replay page & PGN file.

Minor note changes in Mangion's & Komunicky's wins were also made.