Chicago Class Championships - WI Players

There were some outstanding performances by the following players in the lower sections, but WI names were noticeably missing from the top of the upper sections.

Class B HONGKAI PAN Tie for 3rd

Class C NEIL THOMAS STRUGNELL Tie for 1st

Class E QIANG CHANG Clear 1st

Under 700 ADREAM LIANG Clear 2rd

Complete results

I was in good form going in.

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Round 1

I am playing White against a 1963 player, and with Na4 (I missed that I could play Bb3 if Qc2), I have a great game, but I played Ne2 and in mutual time trouble threw it all away.

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Round 2I am Black. Here I should have played Kf7 and I think I am slightly better, I played Qa2 missing ef, but even after that I should have been able to hold the draw, but my opponent had a lot of extra time and that proved decisive.

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Round 3I am Black. White had just played Rxd6, and with Rxd6 I would win in a few moves, but I played the lemon Ba6+????

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Round 5 (forced bye in round 4)I am playing White here, but could not come up with a good plan and the game ended in a draw.

Although I had a very poor final score, I am pretty happy with my play. I was not outplayed in any of the games, more like I outplayed myself. The first round loss was a tough pill to swallow, and had I won that I am sure that I would have finished strong. I made the trip with 5 others and we had a great time in Chicago although only one of us managed an even score.

Chicago Class Championships

USCF Results

IM Kirill Kudeinov(Right) tied for first with Yermo. He beat Gurevich in round 3. The battle of the generations in the U2200 section. Alexander Velikanov (10) battling Erik Karklins (94 years young) in round 3. Experience won out this time. Erik had a chance to tie for first going into the last round. He gained almost 50 points. You can see Erik's son Andrew Karklins playing in the Master section above and to the left of Erik's head. WI top juniors, Brian Luo(2069) and Alexander Velikanov(2027) #2 and #3 in the age 10 list. They played each other to a draw in the last round, and finished with 2.0/5.0
Pink squares and cool shades in the U1000 section

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Six of us rode together, and except for Paitrick who finished 2-2=1 playing up in the U2200 section, the rest of us performed well below our capabilities.

Alan Schaefer

Alan with his niece and sister

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Alan Schaefer was a regular at the Waukesha Chess Club. In fact he played in the last tournament I played there. That’s why I was surprised to hear that he was in bad health.

I visited him a few days ago, and we talked about his chess history. Alan moved back to Wisconsin in June 2007, after spending many years in Massachusetts. He got into chess as an adult, and got more than he bargained for when he visited the local chess club for the first time. Not only did he find himself signed up as a USCF member, he also got to play his first rated game against a strong opponent. Although he was soundly beaten, he was determined to get better. In time, he was able to get his rating up to class B.

Alan says that one of the main reasons he didn't get better was the fact that he didn't take the game seriously enough. He recalled a game where at one point, 7 pieces were lined up on the same file. Instead of trying to find the best move, he was intent on putting an 8th piece on the vacant square. He lost two moves later!

Alan currently resides at the Angels Grace Hospice in Oconomowoc, (920) 474-7800, he welcomes visitors and/or email alan_schaefer@hotmail.com

Link to Alan's chess history

Spring Swiss [4 Rnds. - G/90]

Waukesha Chess Club

7 time Wisconsin Champion WILLIAMS, WILLIAM P

There were 30 players

WILLIAMS, WILLIAM P (2200) won clear first with 4.0, I was clear second with 3.5 (1 bye)

Prior to today my record against SOUVIK ROYCHOUDHURY (1985) was 0-4, I finally won one.

USCF Results

World Open 2008

likesforests http://likesforests.blogspot.com/,
chessloser http://chessloser.wordpress.com/,
BlunderProne http://blunderprone.blogspot.com/ and me

Most go to the World Open with dreams of finishing high enough to snag a nice prize, but only about 5% of the participants come home richer than they went in. The rest of us are left dreaming of what might have been. Just for the record it is not impossible for a regular Joe to make a decent showing : My tie for 3rd place in the HB Global U1800

I was in a confident mood going in, but this was definitely not my year. I was going to play in the 5 day with 2 byes for rounds 1 and 2, but car trouble on the way forced me to decide between taking 3 byes or playing in the 3-day event. I decided to play in the 3-day although playing five games of G/45 in one day was not going to be easy. Further delays forced me to take a bye for round 1. I finally started in round two but 2 losses in a row did me in.

Although I had a disappointing result, I enjoyed the trip to Philly and got to meet several old friends and fellow bloggers. There is always next year!

Click here for more pictures

CCA Results