The Chess Coroner: May 2011

Friday, May 27, 2011

#845 May Mania - Round 2

In the 2nd round of May Mania, I played a Queen's Indian, faced the Petrosian Variation, equalized at move 10 and had a chance for a clear advantage with a Bishop sac at move 21 but I chickened-out and lost just 3 moves later.

Replay: with my notes, without notes

PGN: w/notes, w/o

Relu-Moldovan

after 21.Nxd5?

Black to play

#844 Quads Wrap-Up

3 games from the Kenilworth Quads' final round have been uploaded in Java-Replay & zipped PGN.

Lewis-Moldovan

After 17...Qd6??

White to win

#843 CZE Leads USA 4-2

The Czechs won a game on board 24. They now lead 4-2.

Svitil-Moldovan

E13 Queen's Indian Defense

Nimzo-Hybrid Variation

1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bxf6 Qxf6 6.e3 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 0-0 9.Bd3 Bb7 10.0-0 d6 11.Nd2 Qe7 12.Qc2 c5

White's last move is new.

Moldovan-Svitil

D38 Queen's Gambit
Ragozin Defense

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bg5 0-0 7.Qb3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 c6 9.e3 b6 (N) 10.Bd3 Ba6 11.Bxa6

"If 11...Nxa6 then 12.Ne5" was attached.

Crosstable

PGN of all the CZE-USA games

#842 Early Summer Tourney Entries

Nine players have already entered the Kenilworth Summer Tournament, which will have 2 sections this year and begin June 9th:

Open Section

Mark Kernighan 2218, Praveen Balakrishnan 1922, John Moldovan 1801, Lou Sturniolo 1503, Pat Mazzillo 1359, Bert Shiffman 1294, Joe Renna 1257

U1200 Section

Joe Azzarello (unrated) & a newcomer to the club named Aleksey.

For tournament details, click here.

Please remember that the June 9th meeting will start at 9:15 p.m., rather than our usual time.

#841 Kenilworth Quad Winners

Ian Mangion, Dr. Richard Lewis and Joe Renna were clear winners in Kenilworth Quads #5, which that began May 14 12th and finished last night. Lou Sturniolo and Pat Mazzillo shared honors in one section.

Mazzillo gained 82 rating points, Renna added 63 and, with his 44 point upswing, Mangion surpassed the 2000 mark for the 1st time!

Kamil Nitka, Chris Constantino and Luis Ruales received provisional ratings.

A few final-round games will be uploaded late this afternoon or tonight.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

#840 Next May Mania Game

My next May Mania game is on Friday at 12:30 EDT (9:30 FICS Time, 16:30 GMT). I have Black against 1999-rated Relu.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

#839 Goeller On Mangion-Kernighan

At The Kenilworthian blog, Michael Goeller has posted on and annotated ~~the~~ last week's Mangion-Kernighan.

#838 May Mania - Round 1

In the first round of May Mania, I failed to get an advantage against my opponent's Ragozin Defense, played the middle-game badly and unwisely sacked a piece on move 23 but my opponent offered a draw in a totally winning position!

Replay: with my notes, without notes

PGN: w/notes, w/o

#837 Quad Games

4 games from Thursday's 2nd round of the Kenilworth Quads have been uploaded but not Mangion-Kernighan, which I must have left at the club or lost.

Replay

PGN

Sherer-Moldovan

after 27.Be3

Black to win

Saturday, May 21, 2011

#836 Chess Mates Anniversary Tournament

On Sunday June 19, Chess Mates will celebrate its 1st Anniversary by hosting a 4-round Grand Prix Event with guaranteed prizes. Details here.

#835 Kenilworth Quads - Round 2

There were upsets in 4 of the 7 games.

Shiffman missed a win against Komunicky but got a draw. Mangion caught Kernighan with a prepared line and Mazzilllo defeated Sturniolo.

I collapsed in time-pressure after being 3 pawns up against Max Sherer.

A few games will follow.

Kenilworth Quads #5

Kenilworth, NJ

May 12-26, 2011

Section 1

No.	Player	USCF	R1	R2	R3	Points
1	Mark Kernighan	2240	W4	L3	B	1.0
2	Ken Chieu	2179	L3	F4	U	0.0
3	Ian Mangion	1968	W2	W2	4	2.0
4	P. Balakrishnan	1943	L1	X1	3	1.0

Chieu withdrew due to injury.

Section 2

No.	Player	USCF	R1	R2	R3	Points
1	John Moldovan	1810	W4	L3	2	1.0
2	Richard Lewis	1802	W3	W4	1	2.0
3	Max Sherer	1776	L2	W2	4	1.0
4	Ted Mann	1584	L1	L1	3	0.0

Section 3

No.	Player	USCF	R1	R2	R3	Points
1	Dan Komunicky	1555	W4	D3	2	1.5
2	Lou Sturniolo	1526	W3	L4	1	1.0
3	Bert Shiffman	1311	L2	D2	4	0.5
4	Pat Mazzillo	1277	L1	W1	3	1.0

Section 4

No.	Player	USCF	R1	R2	R3	Points
1	Joe Renna	1194	W4	W3	2	2.0
2	Chris Constantino	unr	L3	W4	1	1.0
3	Kamil Nitka	unr	W2	L2	4	1.0
4	Luis Ruales	unr	L1	L1	3	0.0

#834 CZE-USA Update

The Czechs now lead 3-2, which isn't so bad compared to the 4-0 whitewash they gave us in hockey on May 11.

Svitil-Moldovan

E13 Queen's Indian Defense

Nimzo-Hybrid Variation

1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bxf6 Qxf6 6.e3 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 0-0 9.Bd3 Bb7 10.0-0 d6 11.Nd2 Qe7

The most flexible move. The Q didn't have a future at f6.

Moldovan-Svitil

D38 Queen's Gambit
Ragozin Defense

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bg5 0-0 7.Qb3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 c6 9.e3 b6 (a novelty) 10.Bd3 +=

Crosstable

PGN of all the CZE-USA games

Friday, May 20, 2011

#833 Late KCC Opening On June 9th

The Kenilworth Chess Club meeting on June 9th will begin at 9:15 p.m., instead of the usual 8 o'clock, because a CPR class will be given at the community center that night.

June 9th is still slated to be the 1st week of the Kenilworth Summer Tournament. If there is any further change, I will let you know.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

#832 STC May Mania

In the 1st round of STC Bunch's May Mania on FICS, I have been paired against #8 seeded, 2023-rated Eyechess.

I had pulled-out after seeing a player drop 131 points in 24 hours, to fall one below my 1824 figure and out of the top section, but felt obligated to re-enter when the pairings included me.

#831 Team 45 45 League

In Team 45 45 League tournament #49 on ICC, Don Carrelli debuted with a win for the STC Steamrollers.

Fellow rookie Zach Bence is on The Weak Shall Perish's roster. However, 45 45 vets Simon Thomson and Dan Komunicky, who have respectively played 72 and 65 games, are sitting out this event.

It would be great if the Kenilworth CC or Garden State League entered a team in the next tourney or in the rival FICS Team League.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

#830 KCC Quads - Round 1

16 players are participating in Kenilworth Quads #5, which began last Thursday.

5 games, including my win over Ted Mann, have been uploaded in java-replay and PGN.

Apologies to my readers for the delay in posting. I had internet problems Sat-Mon.