#375 Sy Fish Memorial Starts 10/2

Next month, the Kenilworth CC will honor Seymour (Sy) Fish with a memorial tournament. Here are the details :

Sy Fish Memorial

Dates : October 2nd & 9th, 2008
Site : Kenilworth Chess Club

Format : USCF-rated, 4 round swiss
Time Control : G/30

Rounds : 8:30 & 9:40 p.m. on 10/2; 8:15 & 9:30 p.m. on 10/9

Entry Fee : $6.00

Prizes : Cash; based on the number of entries... Minimum 83.33% of entry fees returned

If there are 8 players, for example,
1st place would get $20, 2nd place would receive $10.
The highest-scoring U1800 & U1500 would get $5 each.
(The KCC would reserve $8 for rating fees)

Register : 9/25 from 8:15-10:00 p.m. & 10/2 from 8:00-8:25 p.m.

USCF membership required... Late entries accepted until the 2nd round is paired (0 pt. bye awarded)

Byes : ½ point byes available for rounds 1, 2 or 3 (1 per person)

TD : TBA

Update 10/1 @ 10:55 p.m. - 4 entries so far... Geoff McAuliffe will direct.

#374 Westfield Championship Starts 9/28

Westfield Chess Club Championship
September 28th-October 19th, 2008

Westfield CC Membership required
(1 year : $50 adults; $40 juniors)

Format : USCF-rated, 4 round swiss
Time Control : 40/100 then SD/60
Entry Fee : $25 + dues

Registration : 2:00-2:30 p.m. on 9/28
Rounds start at 2:30 p.m. each week.
No byes or late-entries.

Prize Fund : $550 Guaranteed

• 1st place : $150
• 2nd place : $100
• Top U2100, U1850, U1600, U1850 : $75 each

Directions

#373 USCF Quick-Rated in Newark, 10/4

The Newark Sleepless Knights Chess Club (USCF affiliate ID : A6031152) will run its first USCF-sanctioned tournament on Saturday, October 4, 2008 at the Boylan Recreation Center on 916 South Orange Avenue.

Time control : G/10
Format : RR, 7 or more rounds (b/entries)
Entry Fee : none!

The original announcement I received from TD Ken Chieu said there would be no prizes and no monies will be collected/given inside of the Boylan Recreation facility.

But, later correspondence from new NSK President Lev Zilbermints indicated cash prizes (courtesy of a benefactor) will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.

If you have any questions about the event, contact Ken or Lev.

P.S. - The tournament will start at 2 p.m.

#372 STC Wrap-Up

As promised, here is a ChessBase archive with the 55 games & 36 blanks (forfeits/byes) from the WCL section.

The next STC event, The Gauntlet, starts October 27th.

Links fixed 9/17 @ 4:23 a.m.

#371 STC Championship - Round 9

In my best game of the tourney, I won with the Q's Gambit (again!!) to finish at 5.5-3.5 and move up in the standings.

If jps7 (1785) draws or beats ChristopherP (2083) in the final game, I'll tie for 4th.

Here are the replays & PGN of my 8 games, with full annotations. A ChessBase file with all the WCL contests/results will follow.

update 9/16 @ 10:12 p.m. - jps7 won by forfeit.

#370 KST Wrap-Up

To conclude my coverage of the 2008 Kenilworth Summer Tournament, here are :

• The links to round by round
  

reports - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
crosstables - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
replays - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10* 11 12 13
PGN - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10* 11 12 13

• ...a ChessBase archive with all 65 collected games & results of the 16 other pairings.
  

* updated with notes to my 17-move loss vs. Mangion

#369 Summer Tourney Stats

Most Points Scored

• total - John Moldovan 14.0 (+11-1=6)
• with White - Ian Mangion 6.0 (+5-0=2)
  
• with Black - Moldovan 10.0 (+8-1=4)
  

Highest scoring of possible points (minimum 5 games)

• total - .875 NM Mark Kernighan (+10-1=1)
• with White - .857 Mangion
  
• with Black - .850 Kernighan (+8-1=1)

Highest Plus Score (wins vs. losses)

• total - Moldovan & Mangion +10
  
• with White - Mangion +5
• with Black - Moldovan & Kernighan +7

Longest Unbeaten Streaks

• overall - Mangion 16 (+10-0=6 in rounds 1-13)
  
• with White - Mangion 7
  
• with Black - Moldovan 9 (+6-0=3 in rounds 1-9) & Mangion 9 (+5-0=4 in rounds 1-13)

Longest Winning Streaks

• overall - Mangion 6 (rounds 2-6)
• with White - Mangion 3 (rounds 10-12)
• with Black - Kernighan 5 (rounds 1-5)

Most Games Played

• total - Moldovan 18
  
• with White - Bert Shiffman 8
  
• with Black - Moldovan 13
  

Most Wins

• total - Moldovan 11
• with White - Mangion 5
  
• with Black - Kernighan & Moldovan 8
  

Most Losses

• total- Shiffman 11
  
• with White - Shiffman 7
  
• with Black - Shiffman 4
  

Most Draws

• total - Moldovan & Mangion 6
  
• with White - Pat Mazzillo 3
  
• with Black - Moldovan & Mangion 4
  

Biggest Upsets

• draw with White : Bill Sokolosky -472 vs. Cavaliere in round 3
• win with White : Joe Renna -401 over Tomkovich in round 8
  
• with Black : Sokolosky -216 over Shiffman in round 7

honorable mention :

• Mangion (-436) 1/2 vs. Kernighan in round 7
  
• Mazzillo (-387) over Don Carrelli in round 11
  
• Lou Sturniolo (-370) 1/2 vs. Geoff McAuliffe in round 9
• Mazzillo (-340) 1/2 vs. Mike Wojcio in round 2
  

Game Length

• fastest win by White : Mangion... 17 moves vs. Moldovan in round 10
  
• fastest win by Black : Michael Goeller... 16 moves vs. McAuliffe in round 3
  
• shortest draw : Cavaliere-Moldovan... a 17-mover in round 7
• longest game : Sokolosky 0-1 Sturniolo... 60 moves in round 4
  

Results Breakdown

• total number of games - 81 (same as last year!)
  
• White wins - 25 (30.9%)
  
• Black wins - 38 (46.9%)
  
• Draws - 18 (22.2%)

• pct. of points scored by White - .420
  
• pct. of points scored by Black - .580
  

• decisive games - 63 (77.8%)
  

• scores collected - 65 (80.2%)

miscellaneous (minimum 5 games)

• highest pct. of games won - Kernighan .833
• highest pct. of games won or drawn - Mangion 1.000
  
• highest pct. of decisive games - Renna 1.000 (+3-5=0)
• highest pct. of draws - Mangion .375

• most popular opening : Queen's Gambit (10 games of the 65 collected)
• most popular e4 defense : Sicilian (8 games; including transpositions)

#368 Springfield Swiss Correction

The entry deadline for the non-rated Springfield Fall Swiss is Saturday, September 20th (not 9/13).

See post #366 for tourney details.

#367 STC Championship - Round 8

I had Black against the tournament leader hahahaum in a must-win game, played a Modern Defense, was equal or slightly better most of the way (through move 36) but burned too much time trying to create chances, lost a drawn ending and was officially eliminated :

[Event "STC Championship"]
[Site "World Chess Live"]
[Date "2008.09.03"]
[Round "8"]
[White "hahahaum"]
[Black "jpmoldovan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "1923"]
[BlackElo "1900"]
[Opening "Modern Defense"]
[ECO "B06"]
[NIC "KF.06"]
[Time "20:20:24"]
[TimeControl "3600+30"]
1. e4 {1:00:23} g6 {1:00:13} 2. c3 {0:59:38} d5 {1:00:15} 3. exd5 {0:59:43} Qxd5 {1:00:30} 4. d4 {0:59:42} Bg7 {1:00:11} 5. h3 {0:59:29} Nf6 {0:58:23} 6. Nf3 {0:59:55} O-O {0:58:05} 7. Be2 {1:00:10} c5 {0:53:42} 8. dxc5 {0:59:58} Qxc5 {0:50:23} 9. Be3 {0:59:46} Qc7 {0:50:32} 10. O-O {0:59:49} Rd8 {0:50:46} 11. Qc1 {1:00:08} Nc6 {0:50:54} 12. Nbd2 {1:00:27} Nd5 {0:50:20} 13. Nb3 {1:00:43} Nxe3 {0:50:13} 14. Qxe3 {1:01:08} b6 {0:44:58} 15. Rad1 {1:01:06} Bb7 {0:45:19} 16. Nbd4 {1:01:07} a6 {0:43:38} 17. Nxc6 {1:00:43} Bxc6 {0:42:51} 18. Rxd8+ {0:59:34} Qxd8 {0:37:37} 19. Rd1 {0:59:54} Qc7 {0:37:45} 20. Nd4 {0:59:43} Bb7 {0:37:44} 21. Bf3 {0:59:58} Bxf3 {0:37:22} 22. Qxf3 {0:59:21} Rd8 {0:37:06} 23. Nc2 {0:57:26} Rxd1+ {0:32:36} 24. Qxd1 {0:57:53} Bf6 {0:31:29} 25. Nb4 {0:58:09} Qc4 {0:29:24} 26. Qd8+ {0:57:26} Kg7 {0:29:38} 27. Qxb6 {0:57:47} a5 {0:14:49} 28. Qxa5 {0:58:05} Qe2 {0:14:34} 29. Qc5 {0:55:24} Qxb2 {0:12:04} 30. Nd5 {0:55:41} Qc1+ {0:10:10} 31. Kh2 {0:56:08} Be5+ {0:09:58} 32. g3 {0:56:29} e6 {0:09:11} 33. Nc7 {0:51:14} Qxc3 {0:08:31} 34. Qxc3 {0:51:32} Bxc3 {0:08:58} 35. Kg2 {0:51:55} Kf6 {0:09:06} 36. f4 {0:52:13} Kf5 {0:09:23} 37. Kf3 {0:52:39} Ba5 {0:09:26} 38. Nb5 {0:52:26} h5 {0:09:21} 39. Nd6+ {0:52:45} Kf6 {0:09:47} 40. Nc4 {0:53:13} Bc7 {0:10:04} 41. a4 {0:52:10} g5 {0:10:02} 42. a5 {0:52:23} gxf4 {0:09:36} 43. a6 {0:52:42} Bb8 {0:10:01} 44. Nb6 {0:52:08} Ba7 {0:09:56} 45. Nc8 {0:52:33} Bc5 {0:08:42} 46. gxf4 {0:52:56} e5 {0:08:45} 47. a7 {0:53:19} Bxa7 {0:09:10} 48. Nxa7 {0:53:49} Kf5 {0:09:17} 49. fxe5 {0:54:12} Kxe5 {0:09:44} 50. Nc6+ {0:54:40} Kf5 {0:10:09} 51. Nd4+ {0:55:05} Kg5 {0:10:34} 52. Kg3 {0:55:31} h4+ {0:10:17} 53. Kf3 {0:55:57} f5 {0:08:54} 54. Ne2 {0:56:20} Kf6 {0:08:57} 55. Kf4 {0:56:15} Kg6 {0:09:20} 56. Nd4 {0:56:21} Kh6 {0:09:14} 57. Kxf5 {0:56:42} Kh5 {0:09:40} 58. Kf4 {0:57:10} Kg6 {0:09:59} 59. Kg4 {0:57:40} {Black resigns} 1-0

You can view the replay here.

#366 Springfield Fall Swiss Starts 9/21

There will be a non-rated four-round Swiss at the Springfield Barnes & Noble on September 21st and 28th, 2008.

You will play two games per night, starting at 8:45 p.m.

The time control will be Game/30.

USCF rules will govern play except as follows:

• Digital clocks are to be set at G/27 + 3 second delay.
• A player can stop keeping score if his clock goes under 10 minutes.
• His opponent must continue writing the moves down until he also goes under 10 minutes.

There is no entry fee and there are no prizes.

To register, send an email to rsherry8@comcast.net no later than Saturday, September 13th.

P.S. - This would be a good warm-up for the KCC's Sy Fish Memorial, a USCF-rated G/30 that begins October 2nd!

#365 KST 2008 - Round 13

In the battle for 1st place, I overcame a lost position against undefeated (+10-0=6) rival Ian Mangion to finish one-point ahead (14.0 to 13.0).

Luck and volume played huge parts in the wire-to-wire success (my first at the KCC); as I collected 4 points from 7 possible defeats and played most games (18).

Rounding out the top 5 were : 2005 KST-winner NM Mark Kernighan (10.5), 2006 KST-victor Greg Tomkovich (7.0) and Pat Mazzillo (6.0).

Here are the final standings plus 3 of the final-round games (1 annotated) in Java-replay and PGN. A ChessBase file with all the available games will follow and perhaps some other goodies, too.

#364 STC Championship - Round 7

My opponent resigned after just 13 moves. He had a bad position & said I was taking too much time but STC is short for Slow Time Control.

With 2 games to go, I'm at 4.5-2.5. +4 was enough to win in 2005 (the runner-up had 6.0) but won't be this year.

Even if Cli2 (currently =3rd) beats hahahaum (he leads with 5.5) this week, I win-out against them & no other contender emerges, the tiebreaks are against me.

Anyway, here are the replays & PGN of all my games from the event.