#1143 Ingersol Advances To USCCC Finals

Harry Ingersol defeated Serdar Aykent yesterday to clinch 1st place in Section 3 of the 20th U.S. Correspondence Chess Championship Semi-Finals and advance to the finals.

Others who have qualified, thus far, include SIM Carl Siefring (Section 1), Grayling Hill (Section 4), Daniel Woodard (Section 5) and Patrick Ryan (Section 6).

Larry Parsons and Leonid Gleyser lead Section 2, with 4.5/6. SIM Ciaran O'Hare, who has 3.5 & 1 game remaining, can join them.

#1142 Kenilworth Championship Begins Tonight!

The Kenilworth CC Championship begins tonight.

See post #1136 or click here for details.

#1141 RIP William J. Morris

Dr. William J. Morris, one of my opponents in Section 3 of the 20th U.S. Correspondence Chess Championship Semi-Finals, passed away on November 24th.

Although we didn't keep in touch after our draw, I will remember Bill as being one of my friendliest correspondence foes. During play, we sent messages back and forth, and after I offered to split the point on 12/24/2012, in the position below, ...

... Bill wrote:

"I would be rather foolish not to accept, given the position/material + of a Pawn, albeit isolated, doubled. And, your 2 B's vs my 2 Kn's. However, I am not sure that the Bishop pair is any advantage in this Pawn structure. Have never played 2 B's vs 2 Kn's in an endgame that I can recall. Nonetheless, Black has no opportunities to better himself, given the lack of a complete blunder on White's part, and I do not believe that will occur. So, I accept your gracious offer, given that I am unproven here, Black, and lower rated.

John, thank you for being a good and conversational opponent. I wish you well in the other games here and will be pulling for you. Only Weiss has been as friendly, but then, he's from South Bend! And, I do have to beat him in order to have a chance of advancing! Young Biedermann seems to be the likely candidate for a win in this section, (He played a French against me), but I suspect that 3 wins will be necessary to have a chance at the final. I'm thinking I have a good shot drawing Harry, and Jones as I  have White there. But, as I said, I'm new here. So what do I know?!

Good luck, and again, a good Christmas and a very good New Year."

Morris had 3/5 and an equal Rook ending when he died.

He will be sorely missed.

#1140 Kenilworth Championship Starts On Thursday

A reminder, the Kenilworth CC Championship begins on Thursday.

See post #1136 or click here for details.

#1139 Canada-USA Underway

The Canada-USA correspondence match is underway and we are currently in free time. Days used before January 17th will not be counted.

 

I am playing on board 3 (!) against 2324-rated Craig Sadler.

See the sidebar for game links.

Addendum 1/6 @ 1:57 a.m. - There is a 5-move transmission delay in effect. So, those who plan to follow the games won't see anything until White plays his 6th move.

#1138 Tonight's Kenilworth CC Meeting Canceled!

Tonight's Kenilworth Chess Club meeting has been canceled due to weather and travel concerns.

Tonight's Garden State Chess League matches have been postponed.