75th Annual Southwest Open

GERGELY ANTAL  Wins clear first in the Open with 6 points.

PHUNG N NGUYEN Wins the Under 2000 with 7-0.[Phung has a FIDE rating of 2123]

He started the tournament with a provisional rating of 1803 and finished with
a established rating of 1999! Look for Phung in a big money under 2000 event.
10/19/2009 Update :
Phung beats a master and 2 experts at the Lone Star Open : Click here
9/26/2009 Update : 
Phung had another "fishy" result where he drops a boat load of points : Click here
Results

Replay games from the Open at Monroi : Click Here
I finished with 3-0=3 (Not so good since I was paired down in every game.)

1. Draw vs Mark Marshall (1599) In a clearly drawn position I tried too hard and was losing, but managed to draw.
2. Win vs Richard Herrington (1440)
3. Draw vs Victoria Zhang(1726) I got to a rook and pawn ending, up a pawn with very good winning chances, but only manged a draw.
4. Win vs Suchinder Kalyan(1696)
5. Win vs Alfredo Garcia(1663)
6. Draw vs James Ukoli (1860)
7. Bye

Since I had a last round bye I had to win my 6th round game to finish in the money. I reached the following position as Black with White to play and agreed to a draw since I was in a little bit of time trouble. But I should have played to the bitter end à la Nakamura. I gained one rating point to end up at 1889.

10/1/2009 Update : I was pleasantly surprised to receive a check for $31.00 , I did finish in the money!

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History
2009 Ft. Worth 49+82+29 = 160 (Particpants Open+Reserve+Novice)
Open: G ANTAL
Reserve: P NGUYEN

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2008 Houston 62+94 = 156 (Particpants Open+Reserve)
Open: A RAMIREZ, J STOPA, P WANG, S BERCYS
Reserve: E LU

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2007 Brownsville 43+33 = 76
Open: A BACHMANN, S BERCYS, A ALMEIDA, D FERNANDEZ, T VEDRICKAS
Reserve: V FLORES

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2006 Ft. Worth 42+105 = 126
Open: D BOSKOVIC
Reserve : T GWAZE

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2005 Dallas 55+101 = 156
Open: M ZIVANIC, J BRADFORD
Reserve : J CRAWFORD, F BRACK, K WANG

San Antonio - Summer Slammer 7 rounds! of G/60

1st ERNESTO MALAZARTE(2125) with 6.0/7.0
2nd-4th ANDERSON, SELBY K(2234) , PAUL HANEY(2092), STANLEY, GREGG(2086) with 5.5/7.0

USCF Results

Top seeded LANGER, MICHAEL(2319) finished with 5.0/7.0 He lost to ERNESTO MALAZARTE & VERGARA, MITCHELL(2060)

46 players

2 Masters
6 Experts
7 A-Players

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Rnd 7
1 ERNESTO LAGO MALAZARTE(5.0) vs ANDERSON, SELBY K(5.5) 1-0
2 STANLEY, GREGG (4.5) vs FLOURNOY, DONALD W (5.0) 1-0
3 VERGARA, MITCHELL(4.5) vs PAUL ANDREW HANEY (4.5) 0-1

Rnd 6
ANDERSON, SELBY K (4.5) vs VERGARA, MITCHELL(4.5) 1-0
LANGER, MICHAEL (4.0) vs ERNESTO LAGO MALAZARTE (4.0) 0-1
FLOURNOY, DONALD W (4.0) vs CARRIZALES, JUAN (4.0) 1-0

Rnd 5
ERNESTO LAGO MALAZARTE(3.5) vs VERGARA, MITCHELL (4.0) 1/2
ANDREW MINA ISTAFANOUS (3.5) vs ANDERSON, SELBY K (3.5) 0-1
PAUL ANDREW HANEY (3.5) vs LANGER, MICHAEL(3.0) 0-1

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I finished with 4-2=1. Which was enough for a tie for first & second place in class A. (good for $90.00 and a performance rating of 2054)

1) Win DAVID PACHECO (1400)
2) Draw ERNESTO LAGO MALAZARTE (2125)
3) Loss FLOURNOY, DONALD W (2048)
4) Win HUNG, DANIEL (1913)
5) Win BRADLEY, ROBERT D (1945)
6) Loss PAUL ANDREW HANEY (2092)
7) Win HERBERT A BAUMANN (1788)

This position is from my 3rd round loss, All I have to do is move the rook to a7 or b7 and I should win without much trouble, but I played Rxe4 and managed to lose! That's what happens when you only have 12 seconds. (my opponent had around 2 min)

Sacrifice or not?

In my last USCF game in Wisconsin, I played Rc8 in the following position:
I called that move a sacrifice, but many did not agree. WI expert John Becker had this to say:

[It is a pleasing combination that forces the win of material based on taking advantage of overloaded and/or unprotected pieces, but in no way, shape or form can it be considered a "sac".]

To settle the issue I sent in the question to GM Larry Evans, and he replied in the current version of Chess Life for kids: Link here

If you can't get to the link here is the question and answer:

Q: Can you please settle this debate? In this position I played 26.Rc8. Does this move fit the definition of a sacrifice?

A: A sacrifice—whether sound or unsound—is generally understood as a move that gives up material intending to get something good in return. A gambit, for example, usually is a sacrifice in the opening that offers a pawn for speedy development. Here 26.Rc8! (ignoring the knight hanging on f3) could be defined as a temporary and sound sacrifice since after 26...Rxc8 27.Nxe7+ Kg7 28.Nxc8 Qc7 29.Qc2 Qxc2 30.Bxc2 gxf3 31.gxf3 White simplifies to a winning ending a pawn ahead.

Pikes Peak Open

Playing White in round 1 is top seed R ANDERSON (2251)

I had a great first day scoring 2.5/3.0 including a 3rd round draw against NM Brian Wall

Brian is a very interesting Chess personality check out the following links:

http://brianwallchess.net/

http://www.walverine.com

http://chessville.com/Wall/index.htm

Wijetunge,I (1810) - Wall,B (2207) [A40]
Pikes Peak Open (3), 01.08.2009

1.d4 Nc6 2.Nf3 f6 3.c4 e5 4.d5 Nce7 5.e4 Ng6 6.Nc3 Bc5 7.Na4 Bb4+ 8.Nd2 Nh6 9.a3 Be7 10.g3 f5 11.Bg2 0-0 12.0-0 f4 13.Nf3 d6 14.Qd3 Bd7 15.Nc3 Qc8 16.Ne2 Bh3 17.Bd2 Rf7 18.Kh1 Qd7 19.Bxh3 Qxh3 20.Nfg1 Qd7 21.b4 Raf8 22.gxf4 exf4 23.Qh3 Qa4 24.Rac1 Bf6 25.Bc3 Qxa3 26.Ra1 Qb3 27.Bxf6 Qxc4 28.Bd4 [28.Bg5 Qxe4+ 29.Qf3 Qxb4 30.Bxh6 Ne5 31.Qc3 Qxc3 32.Nxc3 gxh6 33.Rxa7] 28...f3 29.Rfc1 Qxb4 30.Rab1 Qa4 31.Ra1 Qb4 32.Rab1 ½-½

Round 4 - Win by forfeit

Round 5
R ANDERSON #4 in Colorado (2251) vs me
Tied for first playing on board 1 in the last round, it doesn't get much better than that! I played a great game to reach this position with Black to play. I preferred Black here, but failed to see the danger associated with the attack on e6 after I played ...Na5 and White plays Bd7. I should have played ...Nb8 or ...Bd8.

USCF Results

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Pikes Peak Open History
2009 34 R ANDERSON,J EVANS
2008 28 R ANDERSON
2007 30 R ANDERSON,B WALL,J HAMBLIN,S MACMILLAN
2006 27 I BARLAY,P ANDERSON

Waukesha CC Round Robin

The tournament has been rated : Click here
First three rounds : Click here

Format : G/90 Double RR. 8 six person sections.

Location : Waukesha Chess Club

There are 48 players, making this the most attended tournament at the WCC.

Click here for schedule

Round 3
Cardenas widthraws. Since he has played less than half his games, results against him will not count toward section totals. The first three rounds have been rated, since Cardenas' member ship was to expire before the tournament ends. Click here for those results.

Round 1. (June 10)
James Coons ended Jake Kohlenberg's 15 game unbeaten streak.

Click here for the game.

This was Coons 7th straight win, but he lost the next day to Jerry Zhou at the SWCC.

	Player	Rating	1	1	2	2	3	3	4	4	--	--	6	6	Total
1	W. Williams	2200	**	**	.5	.5	1	0	0	1	--	--	.5	1	4.5
2	D. Paitrick	2007	.5	.5	**	**	.5	.5	1	U	--	--	1	1	5.0
3	J. Kohlenberg	1993	0	1	.5	.5	**	**	1	1	--	--	0	.5	4.5
4	J. Veech	1972	1	0	0	U	0	0	**	**	--	--	1	U	2.0
6	J. Coons	1842	.5	0	0	0	1	.5	0	U	--	--	**	**	2.0
	Player	Rating	1	1	2	2	3	3	4	4	5	5	6	6	Total
1	J. Nickell	1755	**	**	0	0	0		0	0	.5		.5	0	1.0
2	R. Jayne	1748	1	1	**	**	1	.5	0	0	1				4.5
3	S. Garvin	1739	1		0	.5	**	**	0	1	0	.5	.5	1	4.5
4	A. Krause	1724	1	1	1	1	1	0	**	**	0	0	.5	1	6.5
5	T. Schneider	1714	.5		0		1	.5	1	1	**	**	.5	.5	5.0
6	T. Zimmermann	1676	.5	1			.5	0	.5	0	.5	.5	**	**	3.5