Getting to 2000

I am back................sort of

2012-01-19T02:53:00.004-06:00

Thank you for taking the time to leave well thought of helpful comments to my last post.

My goal should be to get better at chess, everything else will follow.

Instead of dealing with one bad event, I made matters worse for myself by acting like a crazed gambler trying to win his money(rating points) back.

I participated in not one, but two events that I normally would never have taken part in. (I don't usually compete in regular rated events with a time control faster than G/90)

The first was a G/30 event and the other was a G/60 event. It was especailly idiotic of me to compete in the second one. I worked the graveyard shift Friday (First time working graveyard) from 11pm to 7am then travelled an hour to play in a one day 4 round G/60 event. Came back Saturday and went back to work.

The end result is that in 3 events I have gone from 1942-1871.

The Job Situation

The main reason I have not been able to play is becuase of my job situation

I have not been able to find work as a middle school math teacher, So I have been working multiple part-time jobs.

Needless to say there simply is no time to play, especially since I have to work w-ends

If anyone out there hears of any Middle-School math openings, please let me know.

I am also seriously thinking of going in to nursing.

Chess Activities

With the time I do get I have been studing tactics, playing blitz on FICS and working on a more fighting response to d4. (Instead of the Smyslov Slav)

Last Friday I took part the inaugural G15 Bayfront 'Championship', and tied for first. (2.5/3.0)

The event was held at the Tango Tea Room

Me and Christian Leos tied for 1st with 2.5/3.0

White to play. (I am playing Black)

This was the rather unusual position from the last round draw. I had 17 seconds (but with 5 sec. delay) and Christian had a lot more time. Since his 2 passers are a lot more advanced, I was pretty sure I was going to lose, but it looks like my star on c4 keeps things balanced.

Does anyone know what ChessLoser is up to?

Out of commission...until further notice

2011-10-03T08:13:00.002-05:00

My performance or rather non-performance at the 2011 US Class has prompted me to take time off from chess.

After a 2nd place finish at the Southwest Open a few weeks ago I was hoping to build on my success, But it was not to be.

Prior to this event it took 23 games for me to amass 3 losses, but I managed to lose 3 out of 6 and had only one win. to finish 1-3=2. All three losses were to players rated well below me.

Well at least I will be eligible to play U1900.

I apparently even suck at sucking since I didn't even make it U1900 !!

2011 US Class Championship - Houston Sep. 30 - Oct 3 or Oct. 2-3

2011-09-07T15:56:00.041-05:00

243 Players The prize fund was increased by $1000 to $12,000

That breaks the 2010 record of 234.

TIMUR GAREYEV (7214) & JULIO C SADORRA Tie for first in the Master section

Year	City	Master	Expert	Class A	Class B	Class C	Class D	Class E	Total
2011	Houston, TX	31	29	44	42	35	24	27	243

Click here for pre-entries (scroll down) and other info.

Master Section

GM AXEL BACHMANN 2614
GM MAURICIO FLORES 2604 (Defending Champion)
GM JULIO C SADORRA 2561
IM SALVIJUS BERCYS 2573
IM CONRAD HOLT 2536
IM MILOS PAVLOVIC 2528
IM PUCHEN WANG 2518
IM MAX CORNEJO 2480
IM ALFONSO A ALMEIDA 2442
ALEXANDER CHUA 2332
ARTUR K SAFIN 2320
WGM KATERINA NEMCOVA 2295
FM JEFFERY XIONG 2279
WGM NADYA ORTIZ 2233
JAROD PAMATMAT 2213
KEVIN CAO 2211
JOHN VEECH 2209
WIM LUCIANA MORALES 2162
ALEXANDER VELIKAVOV 2150
SARAH CHIANG 2139
JONATHAN CHIANG 2118
NAVEEN BALAKRISHNAN 2048
BOVEY LIU 2015

Click here for my 2010 report.

Year	City	Master	Expert	Class A	Class B	Class C	Class D	Class E	Total
2011	Houston, TX
2010	Houston, TX	21	20	36	46	44	33	30	234
2009	Boca Raton, FL	20	17	34	28	22	12	18	151
2008	Houston, TX	18	8	36	37	40	30	31	193
2007	Houston, TX	11	17	30	24	35	24	32	173

77th Annual Southwest OpenSeptember 2 or 3 - 5, Dallas

2011-08-08T09:16:00.061-05:00

179 total players

Final standings here

USCF Results here

Open

GM Sadorra, Julio won clear first with 6.0/7.0

19 year old Polish WFM Labedz, Patrycja had an incredible result going 5-2, she beat 2 NMs and 2 GMs. Her provisional USCF rating went from 2126 to 2387. She lost this 7th round game to the tournament winner GM Sadorra, Julio

Patrycja has a Wikipedia page (in Polish)

Click here for the game

There were 10 players(from 8 federations) rated over 2500!

2631 Yotov, Valentin (BUL) #7 in Bulgaria
2573 Bercys, Salvijus (USA) #64
2561 Sadorra, Julio C (PHI) #12 in Philippines
2554 Chirila, Ioan (ROU) #11 in Romania
2552 Boros, Denes (HUN) #30 in Hungary
2536 Holt, Conrad (USA) #70
2536 Pavlovic, Milos M (SRB) #15 in Serbia
2524 Diamant, Andre (BRA) #6 in Brazil
2518 Wang, Puchen (NZL) #2 in New Zealand
2504 Yang, Darwin (USA) #100

Reserve

Guerra, Anthony won clear first with 6.0/7.0 (He is playing black in the last round)

My results

I tied for 2nd with 2 others. My rating went from 1921 to 1942

Win Metpally, Jason (1625)
Draw Kotta, Venkat (1783)
Win Kaliyur, Rohith (1712)
Win Nguyen, Anthony (1883)
Draw Su, Dion (2008)
Draw Clark, Mike (1689)
Win Prabhakaran, Karthik (1857)

My record for the last 3 SWOs is 12-1=7

I would like another 15 minutes please!

2011-07-26T16:47:00.011-05:00

My 15 minutes of chess fame came when I tied for 3rd in the U1800 section of the $500,000 HB Global chess tournament way back in 2005. I played a great last round game where I tripled the major pieces on the 7th rank.

My opponent even resorted to what could be termed "Gamesmanship" when he started staring at me and standing behind me (making his moves from there!) He gained 233 points in the event!

The game is here

Cross table here.

Why am I bringing this up now? That's the best way I can think of to get over the disappointment of losing my last round game at the NASNAJ Open in Houston last Sunday.

A combination of good luck & good chess had me sitting pretty on 3.5/4.0 going into the last round half a point ahead.

All I needed was a draw for a guaranteed share of 1st. A win would have given me $350, a nice plaque and a rating close to 1950. I ended up with $50 and a rating of 1921 (Still an all time high) .
The difference between winning and losing at the HB Global was $2500 vs $500

After getting a huge positional edge, I didn't cash in on several tactical shots to bring home the point.

I am Black here, with so many options including ...Nxe3, ...Bxf4, ...Bb4, I chose the weak ...Nxd2 and in a few moves White was able to get his pieces out. I had to sac the exchange to get counter play and even after that had a good position, but had eaten up too much time.

The game is here.

I think that I am playing at 2000 level positionaly but tactically I am probably playing at a 1800 level.

NOT-A-SENIOR-NOT-A-JUNIOR OPENJuly 22-24, Houston

2011-07-18T14:25:00.005-05:00

Results here

Draw CORNELIUS JONES III (1790)
Win SAM DILLON (1635)
Win TRAVIS R GUENTHER (1880)
Win JULIAN A HERNANDEZ (1840)
Loss LUIS P GONZALEZ (1814)

4th Summer Solstice OpenJuly 8-10 or 9-10 Ft. Lauderdale FL

2011-06-28T21:16:00.020-05:00

129 Players

JULIO J BECERRA & DANIEL FERNANDEZ tie for 1st-2nd in the Open Section with 4.5/5.0

Complete results here

GM Henley vs Daly (2-Day Rnd 1)

Xanthos vs GM Bacera (2 Day Rnd. 1)

CHRISTOPHER HEUNG vs IM Fernandez (Rnd. 4)

RACHEL GOLOGORSKY vs ALBERT D HO (Rnd. 3)

I had a good result and finished with 3.5/5.0
Tied for 3rd place U2100 and reached a all time high rating of 1918

WIN DAVID A RAYMOND (1800)

WIN ALDO F LOPEZ (2086)

LOSS RACHEL GOLOGORSKY (1978) 13 year old who is ranked #10 in the US Girls U16

DRAW ALBERT D HO (1847)

WIN RAMOS YUNIER (1840)

History (With open winners)

2008  126 GM RENIER GONZALEZ, FM BRUCI LOPEZ, FM FABIO LA ROTA
2005   94 GM RENIER GONZALEZ

2003  130 FM BRUCI LOPEZ

San Antonio City ChampionshipJune 25-26

2011-06-23T23:50:00.043-05:00

My 3rd round bye came back to bite me as I lost to an unrated player in round 2! So, instead of sitting pretty on 2.5/3.0, I ended up on 1.5/3.0

This game was very instructive in terms both chess & chess psychology.

I am playing Black and win a pawn early. Instead of trying to find the best moves I decide to complicate matters since I figure the unrated will go down quickly.

10...c x d5 and Black should eventually win, but I take with the Queen?! After 11. Nf4, I should have retreated the Queen along the d-file, instead of getting her stuck on h7. Although when Black castled q-side the queen on h7 didn't look too shabby.

14...a5?? My sense of danger deserts me, completely missing 15. d5!

The best reply to 15. d5! is 15...Bb4! and Black can hang on.

SELBY K ANDERSON & MITCHELL VERGARA Tie for 1st-2nd with 4.5/5.0

Complete USCF Results here

Paul accepted Christian's draw offer in this position, but ....Re8 is winning.

Round 1 action

Corpus connections:

2010 Winner Paul Haney (2099) 3.5/5.0
Ivan Wijetunge (1898) 2.0/3.0 (2 unplayed rounds)
Christian Leos (1717) 3.5/5.0 3 way tie for 1st-2nd U1800 ($62.00)
Ethan Rodriguez (1707) 3.0/5.0
Henry Velasquez (1649) 2.5/5.0 (5th round bye)

History

2010 53 PAUL ANDREW HANEY
2009 51 SELBY K ANDERSON, GREGG STANLEY
2008 51 ERNESTO L MALAZARTE
2007 54 DON C SUTHERLAND, GREGG STANLEY, ANDREW I SMITH

States that I have played rated chess...

2011-05-01T09:29:00.003-05:00

create your own personalized map of the USA

Apr. 16-17 : Laredo Open

2011-04-10T22:28:00.029-05:00

$5600 Guaranteed

73 Players

GM Axel Bachmann wins clear first ($1200)

USCF Results here

IM Del-Campo vs GM Axel Bachmann Rnd. 5 (The game was drawn)

UTB vs UTB in round 4 Bd 1

GM Axel Bachmann in Rnd. 1

IM Roberto Del Campo just played ...Bg5 vs Joel Sauceda in Rnd 2.

GM Axel Bachmann playing White in rnd. 2

Rnd. 1: Lost to IM Roberto Del Campo (2415 FIDE) Mexico's #6 in Rnd. 1

Rnd. 2: Beat an unrated in Rnd 2.

Rnd. 3: Lost to Caissa Palang (1677) I don't feel so bad losing to the goddess of chess :)
I played pretty well for most of the game, but lost my way in the end.

I should have never played 3 games in one day!

Rnd. 4: Won against a 1547

Rnd. 5: Draw against a 1916

Last Round Blues

2011-04-03T21:03:00.023-05:00

I had a pretty solid performance in San Antonio a couple of weeks ago.

Round 1 White against NM JAMES V ROHRBAUGH (2200) Draw

The last time I played James was way back in 1999 at the TEXAS ACTION CHAMPIONSHIP. Looks like I had a pretty solid performance there too.

We both felt that in this even position, playing for a win involved risk that we were not willing to accept. I offered the draw after my last move f4, and James accepted. I had ideas of a rook lift or g4 (after moving the King to the h-file of course)

Round 2 Black against MITCHELL VERGARA (2117) Draw

Mitch was playing 2 boards from me in round 1, and I noticed that he took 39 min. on one move. I remember thinking to myself when I was paired against him that all I have to do is get him to do that a couple of times and I could easily win on time.

Mitch dropped a pawn out of the opening and I had a dominating position, but I could not bring home the full point.

After reaching time control (30 moves in 90 min then G/60) Mitch took more than 30 min. to play Nxe5. I took my time and am proud to have come up with the best move Qd6. The other line is 31...Rxe5 32.Qxd3 cxd3 33.Rxc6 which looks good for Black, but Rybka likes Qd6 better.

Round 3 White against GREGG STANLEY(2053) Draw

In this complex position Gregg offered a draw with about 90 sec. left on his clock to make 10 moves. I had about 15 min.

The gambler in me wanted to play on, but I took too long to decide and in the end took the draw.

The move I was looking at was Qb6.

Round 4 Black against MARTIN D GORDON (1965) Loss

I felt invincible going into the last round. Although Martin is rated higher, he would be the lowest rated player I would face. Confidence is great thing, but over confidence will usually get you in trouble. I would normally never play a move like 5..h5

Too much Rybka analysis is also to blame. Computers grab dangerous pawns and keep them. It not that easy for us humans to do the same. The move that sent my position towards a loss was the pawn grab. 19...Bxa3. (18...Bxa3 is ok.)

I was analyzing the game with the tournament winner ERNESTO L MALAZARTE (2177). He said he preffered my position before move 18. He scolded me for not getting my K-side pieces out before opening up the position.

A last round win would have given me a 1947 rating. A draw 1927. Hey you know what they say, what ever won't kill you will make you stronger.

Spring Open March 26-27 San Antonio

2011-03-21T14:23:00.014-05:00

4-SS, 30/90, SD/60.

Details here.

Rnd 4

Andrew Nat Lozano(2.5) vs Ernesto Malazarte(2.5) 0-1
James V Rohrbaugh(2.0) vs Mitchell Vergara(2.0)
Andrew Istafanous(1.5) vs Gregg Stanley(1.5) 0-1
Martin D Gordon(1.5) vs Ivan Wijetunge(1.5) 1-0
Zhaosu Ye(1.5) vs Anthony Guerra (1.0) 0-1
Alfredo Garcia(0.5) vs Robert D Bradley(1.0)

Rnd 3

Ernesto Malazarte vs James V Rohrbaugh 1/2-1/2
Andrew Nat Lozano vs Martin D Gordon 1-0
Anthony Guerra vs Mitchell Vergara 0-1
Ivan Wijetunge vs Gregg Stanley 1/2-1/2
Robert D Bradley vs Andrew Istafanous 1/2-1/2

#	Name/Rtng/ID	St/Tm	Rd 1	Rd 2
1	Selby K Anderson	TX	W 7	W 10
	2200 10380405		0.0	0.5
2	James V Rohrbaugh	TX	B 8	W 13
	2200 11047963		0.5	1.5
3	Ernesto Malazarte	TX	W 9	B 5
	2166 13517950		1.0	2.0
4	Mitchell Vergara	TX	B 10	W 8
	2083 12546673		0.5	1.0
5	Gregg Stanley	TX	W 11	W 3
	2057 10400481		1.0	1.0
6	Andrew Nat Lozano	TX	B 12	bye
	1998 13417670		1.0	1.0
7	Martin D Gordon	TX	B 1	bye
	1943 12406332		1.0	1.0
8	Ivan Wijetunge	TX	W 2	B 4
	1915 12511643		0.5	1.0
9	Anthony Guerra	TX	B 3	W 12
	1897 12722825		0.0	1.0
10	Andrew Istafanous	TX	W 4	B 1
	1882 13747667		0.5	1.0
11	Robert D Bradley	TX	B 5	bye
	1881 12522082		0.0	0.0
12	Alfredo Garcia	TX	W 6	B 9
	1806 12429518		0.0	0.0
13	Zhaosu Ye	TX	bye	B 2
	1720 13181590		1.0	1.0

In the reserve

Sadia beat Christian to tie for first with 3.5/4.0

I predict that Christian will win the U1800 section.

Recent Open Events by the San Antonio Chess Club

2011 FEBRUARY SLAMMER

THANKSGIVING BENEFIT

SANANTONIO OCTOBER 2010 SLAMMER

2010 SUMMER OPEN

2nd Jerry Hanken FIDE Winter Open

2011-02-22T15:28:00.050-06:00

I would like to thank the Berry twins for their hospitality and for running a great event. I had a great time and made many new friends. I would also like to thank Prakash and his son Aadithya for tolerating me on the Dallas-Stillwater leg of the trip.

Clear first with 6.0/7.0 was Serbian IM Goran Vojinovic

Complete results here

Last round drama

Jeffery Xiong was tied with the IM on 5.5/6.0
Since they had already played, they were paired against two players on 4.5/6.0

Goran Vojinovic vs William Orton(2200)
Jeffery Xiong vs Sergey Galant(2142)

Most people predicted wins for the leaders.

The IM drew relatively quickly leaving the door open for Jeffrey to get clear first with a win. But Sergey was having none of that and won in this very interesting Knight ending. Look at where the kings are!

Ruifeng Li may have had the edge at one time in his game against the IM in Round 3

Ruifeng Li vs Goran Vojinovic

Sergey Galant had an interesting Knight ending against the IM in a losing effort in round 5. Perhaps what he learned in that game helped him to beat Jeffery Xiong in the last round.

Queen-side? We don't need no stinking queen-side.

My Third round opponent Jason Wawrzaszek contemplating the merits of the London System.

Jeffery vs the IM from round 4

FIDE rating

2011-02-21T23:45:00.001-06:00

My first FIDE rating will be based on the following results. According to the FIDE rating calculator it will be: 1982

Loss Feinstein, Michael 2261
Win Pamatmat, Jordan James 1702
Win Li, Zhichao 2176
Loss Saheli, Nath 2123
Win Fritze, Melvin P 1780
Win Maldonado Jr, Ernest 1721
Loss Wawrzaszek, Jason 2016
Draw Markley, Jim 1952
Loss Patton, Thomas A 2080
Win Tuttle, Jeremy E 1882

2nd Jerry Hanken FIDE Winter OpenFeb 19-20-2 Stillwater,Oklahoma

2011-02-17T10:23:00.019-06:00

FIDE rated 7 Round Swiss G/90+30 sec

Results here.

Year Players Winner(s) 

2011 47  GORAN VOJINOVIC 

2010 40  MICHAEL LANGER,SERGEY S GALANT

Other recent events by this affiliate here.

Busy Chess w-end coming up. Feb 18-21

2011-02-15T22:52:00.005-06:00

The USAT events:

East (Parsippany, NJ),
West (Southern California),
North (Northbrook, Illinois),
South (Orlando, Florida)

I will be getting my FIDE rating in Oklahoma at the 2nd Jerry Hanken FIDE Winter Open

I need to play 5 FIDE players in the 7 round event. Details of my first FIDE rating norm here.

Nolan annotates his last round win against FM Tautvydas Vedrickas from the Texas Team 2011

2011-02-01T00:35:00.019-06:00

Team play, last round drama etc.

2011-01-27T15:08:00.021-06:00

There's nothing quite like playing in a team event.

I first played in a team event at the 2008 USAT- E : Click here

We finished 3rd and won the U1900 Prize with the following team:

2000 WILLIAM M WENZ 1.5/4.0
1905 STANLEY T GARVIN 0.5/4.0
1851 IVAN WIJETUNG 3.5/4.0
1823 NEIL J GLEASON 2.0/3.0
1643 NOLAN R HENDRICKSON 3.5/5.0

Yes, that's the same Nolan who played board 1 this time around. (3 years and 560 rating points later!)

We also won the best team name prize with "Team Name Here". Mainly because it confused long time Wisconsin TD Guy Hoffman, who said somethig like "What's going on here, this team needs to tell me what their name is before I can do the pairings".

That was such great experience that I have wanted to play in another team event ever since, but it took this long to actually do it! I talked to Ken last year about playing in the 2011 Texas Team event, so I just had to find two more members. Once Donnie was in we just needed a board 1

My goal was to win the U1900 prize, so board 1 had to be rated 2112 or less. I didn't even consider Nolan at first since I knew his rating was around 2165, but when I looked at his Dec. rating it was 2110! All I had to do to convince him to come down to Texas (from Milwaukee) was that the would get the opportunity play at least 3 masters and that the Texas Team was FIDE rated.

The team was set! (Avg. rating 1899.5!)

2110 NOLAN R HENDRICKSON
1909 IVAN WIJETUNGE
1792 KENNETH CHARLES ARTZ
1787 DONALD BRIGGS JR

All we needed was was to come up with a team name. There was only one condition it had to be funny. I came up with "Ken and the Barbies".

Going into the last round this was the situation for U1900 honors:

There were 2 other U1900 teams playing each other one on 1.0 point and the other on 2.0, if the 2.0 team won we would have to win our match against the higher rated UTD C team just to tie for first. Luckily for us the 1.0 team beat the 2.0 fairly quickly.

All we needed was a draw!

This was the match-up

1    Nolan Hendrickson (2110) vs FM Tautvydas Vedrickas (2353)
2    WFM Saheli Nath (2133) vs Ivan Wijetunge (1909)
3    Kenneth Artz (1792) vs Gerald E Roberts (1891)
4    Rheanna English (1741) vs Donald Briggs (1787)

Nolan destroyed the FM fairly quickly!

I was in trouble.

Ken was completely outplaying his higher rated opponent.

Donnie was in trouble.

But things were looking good for the team.

Disaster strikes! Ken drops his Queen

Looks like we are going down 3-1

Donnie to the rescue!

He comes back from a huge material deficit to win his game!

We are now guaranteed 1st place 1900!

Right about then my WFM opponent drops a rook! But I only have a few min. left and she has about an hour. Maybe I should have offered a draw, but hey I have a rook! It turns out that my advantage was worth less than 2 pawns, because she has several advanced pawns and aggressively placed King and Knight.

In desperation I played ...f5+, and she replied e x f e.p. ?? we then get this position with White to play.

Saheli Nath (2133) - Ivan Wijetunge (1909) [A03]
Texas Team Dallas (5), 23.01.2011

1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 c5 3.e3 Nc6 4.f4 Nf6 [4...f6 5.Qh5+ g6 6.Qh4 Bf5] 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Bb5 e6 7.0-0 Be7 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 Qb6 10.Bxc6+ bxc6 11.d3 0-0 [11...c4 12.dxc4 dxc4] 12.Nd2 Nd7 [12...a5 13.a4 Qb4] 13.Kh1 Bf6 14.Bxf6 Nxf6 15.e4 Qb4 16.Qe2 g6 [16...Qc3 17.Rac1 a5] 17.c4 [17.f5 exf5 18.exf5 Rae8 19.Qf2 Nh5 20.g4] 17...Rad8 18.e5 Nh5 19.Kh2 Ng7 [19...Qc3 20.Rac1 (20.g4; 20.Rad1) 20...Qd4 21.g3 dxc4 22.Nxc4 Qxd3] 20.g4 Rd7 [20...f5 21.exf6 Rxf6 22.g5;
20...dxc4 21.Nxc4] 21.Rac1 Qa5 22.Rc2 Rfd8 23.Rf3 Rb7 24.Qf2 Rc8 25.Qh4 Qc7 26.cxd5 cxd5 27.d4 c4 [27...Qb6;
27...Qb6;
27...Qa5 28.Rfc3 Rbc7 29.dxc5] 28.bxc4 dxc4 29.Rxc4 Qd8 30.Qxd8+ Rxd8 31.Rb3 Rbd7 32.Ne4 Ne8 33.Rbb4 Kg7 34.Nc5 Rd5 35.Rb7 Kf8 36.Nb3 Ra8 37.Ra4 a5 38.Kg3 Ng7 39.Kf3 h5 40.Ke3 hxg4 41.hxg4 Ne8 42.Nc5 Rdd8 43.Ke4 Rdc8 44.Rb5 f5+ 45.exf6 Nd6+ 46.Ke5 Nxb5 47.Nxe6+ Kf7 48.Ng5+ Kf8 49.d5 Re8+ 50.Ne6+ Kf7 51.f5 gxf5 52.gxf5 Rh8 [52...Rad8] 53.Rg4 Ra7 [53...Rag8 54.Rg7+ Rxg7 55.fxg7] 54.a4 1-0

Frank Berry sent me this quote about team play:

"When you play for a team you have the unanimous support of

your teammates and the struggle is absolutely uncompromising!"

GM Eduard Gufeld 1936-2002

The grand daddy of Team Events is the USAT East event that draws around 300 teams! Anatoly Karpov has played there.

2010 WORLD AMATEUR TEAM 1139
2009 WORLD TEAM 2009 1203
2008 WORLD AMATEUR TEAM 1249

#of players in bold.

Rounds 4 & 5

2011-01-23T12:33:00.032-06:00

Team results here

USCF results here

Ivan Wijetunge, Nolan Hendrickson, Kenneth Artz & Donald Briggs Jr

It's great when everything goes as planned!

Not only did we have a great time playing/analyzing/socializing together:

Our team won clear 1st U1900!

Nolan

    * Won the Board 1 prize! (Beating 2 FIDE Masters to go 4-1)

    * Got a Master rating!

    * Got his final FIDE rating norm

I got my USCF rating to a all time high (1915) and got my first FIDE rating norm.

Round 5
Ken and the Barbies (1899.5) vs University Texas Dallas C (2029.5)
Match tied 2-2

Bd	Black	White
1	Nolan Hendrickson (2110)	Tautvydas Vedrickas (2353)	1-0
2	Nath Saheli (2133)	Ivan Wijetunge (1909)	1-0
3	Kenneth Artz (1792)	Gerald E Roberts (1891)	0-1
4	Rheanna English (1741)	Donald Briggs (1787)	0-1

Round 4
Ken and the Barbies (1899.5) vs The A Team with one D (1643.0)
We won 3-1

Bd	Black	White
1	Nolan Hendrickson (2110)	Robert Sanchez (1956)	1-0
2	Jonathan F Allen (1883)	Ivan Wijetunge (1909)	1-0
3	Kenneth Artz (1792)	Doyle W Lobaugh (1559)	1-0
4	Sam Cassels (1174)	Donald Briggs (1787)	0-1

FIDE Rating Norms

2011-01-23T07:02:00.008-06:00

I have my first FIDE rating norm.

Loss Feinstein, Michael 2261
Win Pamatmat, Jordan James 1702
Win Li, Zhichao 2176
Non FIDE
Loss Saheli, Nath 2123

http://ratings.fide.com/calculator_rp.phtml

Nolan got his 3rd and final rating norm.

Win Langer, Michael 2261
Non FIDE
Loss Bercys, Salvijus 2460
Non FIDE
Win Vedrickas, Tautvydas 2324

Texas Team

2011-01-22T01:34:00.019-06:00

There are 15 teams.

Round 3

University Texas Dallas B vs Ken and the Barbies (1899.5)

We lost 3-1 the only bright spot was my win against Zhichao Li (2179)

Bd	Black	White
1	Salvijus Bercys(2558)	Nolan Hendrickson (2110)	-448	1-0
2	Ivan Wijetunge (1909)	Zhichao Li (2179)	-270	1-0
3	John R Enderle (1740)	Kenneth Artz (1792)	+52	1-0
4	Donald Briggs (1787)	Tony Paul (1501)	+286	0-1

Round 2

Prodigy Knight 2 (1722.0) vs Ken and the Barbies (1899.5)

We shut em out 4-0!

Bd	Black	White
1	Samuel M Baker (1865)	Nolan Hendrickson (2110)	+245	0-1
2	Ivan Wijetunge (1909)	Jordan J Pamatmat (1772)	+137	1-0
3	Rae Crowe M (1679)	Kenneth Artz (1792)	+113	0-1
4	Donald Briggs (1787)	Parker McWatters (1572)	+215	1-0

Round 1

We went down 3-1 to the top seed(3-Day). Our lone victory was Nolan Hendrickson's upset of FM Michael Langer.

Ken and the Barbies (1899.5) vs WikiLeaks: Chess is a Draw (2195.3)

Bd	Black	White
1	Nolan Hendrickson (2110)	Michael Langer (2309)	-199	1-0
2	Michael Feinstein (2230)	Ivan Wijetunge (1909)	-321	1-0
3	Kenneth Artz (1792)	Drew J Sarkisian (2130)	-338	0-1
4	Joshua S Newsham (2112)	Donald Briggs (1787)	-325	1-0

Round 1 Michael Feinstein (2230) vs Ivan Wijetunge (1909)

Looks bad for Black, but Rybka found the remarkable 13...Qc7 and Black may be better.

1.d4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.Be3 Nh6 6.Nf3 Nf5 [6...Nd7 7.b4] 7.b4 Nxe3 8.fxe3 b6 [8...a5 9.c3 Nc6 (9...axb4 10.cxb4 b6 11.Bb5+ Bd7 12.Bxd7+ Nxd7 13.c6 -1.19/15 6:25 ) 10.b5 Ne7] 9.Bb5+ Bd7 10.Bxd7+ Qxd7 11.0-0 bxc5 12.Ng5 Be7 13.Rxf7 Bxg5 [13...Qc7 14.Qh5 (14.Rxg7 Qxe5 15.Qh5+ Kd7 16.Rxe7+ Kxe7 17.Qf7+ Kd6 18.bxc5+ Kc6 19.Qxe6+ Qxe6 20.Nxe6) 14...g6 15.Nxe6 gxh5 16.Nxc7+ Kxf7 17.b5 Bg5] 14.Rxd7 Bxe3+ 15.Kh1 Nxd7 16.Qg4 0-0 17.Qxe6+ Kh8 18.Na3 Nb6 19.Nb5 Rae8 20.Qd6 cxb4 21.Nc7 Rd8 22.Qxb4 0-1

Texas Team ChampionshipJanuary 21-23 or 22-23, 2011

2011-01-14T10:35:00.000-06:00

If you have played in a team event you know how much fun it is. If not I strongly encourage you to give it a try. You have about a month to get a team together.

Tournament info here.

Pre-Entries here.

2010 results here.(18 teams)

The event being held in Dallas should help break the 2010 participation record.

History of Texas Team results here.

*If you are looking for a team click here (Facebook page)

My team:

2110 NOLAN R HENDRICKSON
1909 IVAN WIJETUNGE
1792 KENNETH CHARLES ARTZ
1787 DONALD BRIGGS JR

Avg. rating = 1899.5

1st Annual Austin Chess Club Championship - Recap

2011-01-11T12:09:00.020-06:00

Click here for final results.

Click here for USCF results

Congratulations to the Austin Chess Club for putting up such a great show. 135 players from all over Texas and other states/countries participated. Even though a lot more players than expected showed up, the organizers did a great job and fun was had by all. They are already planning for a bigger and better 2012 event!

I had a great time and was paired up every game!

Bye
Loss ERNESTO L MALAZARTE (2153)
Draw WILLIAM MOLINA (1971)
Win DREW J SARKISIAN (2120)
Loss BENJAMIN CORARETTI (2134)

A last round win would have given me clear first U2000, with a draw I would have tied for first. But it was not to be. I equalized as black, but blundered right after that!.

I was happy with my position as Black. I was sure that I could take advantage of the White pawn structure in the end game. I was behind on time and decided to play a few quick moves to gain some time (60 sec. increment) . Big mistake! I played Nb4?? which loses to Qb3.

Although I went 1-2=1, my rating should still get to 1911 which will be an all time high.

There were many interesting people at the event.

22 year old Bulgarian GM Valentin Iotov (rated 2629!)

Serbian IM Goran Vojinovic (Winner of the event after he beat the GM in round 4)

Millionaire Poker Playing Chess Master Ylon Schwartz

Interesting hair styles

Irwin Philip's Chess tattoo. He plans to get another one of Tal's staring eyes

1st Annual Austin Chess Club ChampionshipFri., Jan. 07, 2011 - Sun., Jan. 09, 2011

2010-12-27T09:54:00.045-06:00

135 Players!

Revised Prizes

Round 5

Round 4

The GM goes down to the IM

Round 3

Round 2

2-Day Round 1

Board 1

Board 2 (1-0)

Board 5 (1/2-1/2)

3-day Round 1

The top seed is 22 year old Bulgarian GM Valentin Iotov (rated 2629!)

USCF history for Valentin

2010 Interview with Valentin from www.onjk.nl

From the Texas Prison museum in Huntsville

2010-12-05T14:02:00.003-06:00

Thanksgiving Benefit Nov. 27-28 San Antonio, TX.

2010-11-28T16:12:00.023-06:00

4 way tie for first: (3.0/4.0)

SELBY K ANDERSON (2209   ->2207)

GREGG STANLY (2044   ->2052)

ANDREW NATHANAEL LOZANO (1979   ->2006)

ANDREW ISTAFANOUS (1855   ->1893)

Complete results here.

My last round opponent played way too fast and got mated in the middle of the board

Ernesto was upset in Rnd 3 by Martin

More info here.

My results

Draw with White vs Selby Anderson(2205)
Draw with Black vs Daniel Lozano (1827)
Loss with White vs Andrew Lozano (1988)
Win with Black vs Zhaosu Ye(1770)

Recent W-end Open Events at the San Antonio Chess Club (Date/event/players/Winner(s))

2010-10-16 October Slammer 31 DANIEL FERNANDEZ(2450)

2010-07-17 2010 Summer Open 49 MICHAEL LANGER(2315), JU HYUNG AHN(2046)

2010-06-19 San Antonio City Chmpionship 53 PAUL ANDREW HANEY(2146)

FIDE Open at the Dallas Chess Club

2010-11-27T20:51:00.021-06:00

GM Ioan Chirila wins clear first.

Click here for results

Dallas Chess Club

BBQ III

2010-11-07T10:14:00.002-06:00

I clearly was not playing well yesterday, missing many things I would normally see. I went 3-1. I lost to Christian Leos, who tied for first and will see a big rating jump.

I think I equalized easily, then made a mistake that gave White the advantage. White didn't make the best of it and we got to this position. Here I could have forced a draw with Rc8 (Qxa6 Ra8)

But I blundered horribly and played Qc8. I had a losing position the rest of the game, but with 46 seconds left on my clock got a winning position, only to blunder a rook!.

Click here for cross-table.

2010 Pan American Events in Milwaukee Wisconsin

2010-10-20T11:00:00.001-05:00

My friend Alex wanted me to let you all know about the following events:

Dec. 27-30 or 28-30 2010 Pan American Intercollegiate Team Championships

Dec. 28-30 2010 Pan American Open

Dec. 28-30 2010 Pan American Scholastic

1900 At last!!!

2010-10-09T18:19:00.000-05:00

I should get to about 1910 when the tournament in the previous post gets rated.

Chess & Barbecue on National Chess Day

2010-10-09T15:30:00.017-05:00

TD & GM Eddie Rios (Grill Master)

What : 4 rounds of G/60 5d

Where : Corpus Christi

Sections : 2 (Over 1300, 1300 or under)

Prizes : $45, $27, $17

The entry fee included a delicious barbecue meal.

There are 11 players in the over 1300 section. I was the #2 seed.

Bye
Win with Black vs Douglas Mc Coy (1427)
Win with White vs Christian Leos (1685)
Win with White vs James Shaw (1872)

Phote Credit : Usman Qureshi

US Class Championship - Houston Oct. 1-3 or 2-3

2010-09-09T09:22:00.082-05:00

234 players!

USCF results here

Results: Click here

Winners:
Master : GM Flores, Mauricio
Expert : Dejmek, Mark W
Class A : Brack, Frank Edward
Class B : Donald Briggs
Class C : Pruett, Josh
Class D: Ingram, Ted
Class E: Warren, John C
Unrated: Acero, Mario

GM Bachmann vs Safin (Rnd. 2)

GM Gareeyev vs IM Bercys 3-day (Rnd.1)

I broke even with a small rating gain. A last round win would have got me a rating of 1919, but that was one of the worst games I have played in a while. One can usually get away with making a few mistakes during a game, but I made one too many!

The round 2 loss was very instructive. My opponent Frank Brack is a a former expert and sports a correspondence rating of 2372. He went on to win the Class A section.

I am playing Black, White's last move was 15. Re3. Before White played Re3, my plan was to kick the pesky Knight on g5 with either h6 or Bh6, but I could not resist the gain of a tempo by playing 15...Ng4, But White replies 16.h3!, and I am the one who losses a very important tempo and my game falls apart.

I had to retreat with 16...Nf6, White follows with 17.Nh5 Ne4 18.Nxh7! Kxh7 19.Rxe4! and I am toast. Instead 15...Bh6 and I have a good game.

Win White vs Jonathan Allen (1917)
Loss Black vs Frank Brack (1951)
Win Randall Schwarz (1905)
Draw Black vs James Ukoli (1951)
Loss White vs Samuel Baker (1813)

Bloggers at the Class Championship

Left to right:

Don Putnam: Rocky Rook

Donald Briggs: Liquid egg product (Winner of the Class B Section!)

Timothy Stewart: TBD

Me: Getting to 2000

Year	City	Master	Expert	Class A	Class B	Class C	Class D	Class E	Total
2010	Houston, TX	21	20	36	46	44	33	30	234
2009	Boca Raton, FL	20	17	34	28	22	12	18	151
2008	Houston, TX	18	8	36	37	40	30	31	193
2007	Houston, TX	11	17	30	24	35	24	32	173

76th Annual Southwest Open

2010-08-23T20:21:00.069-05:00

Click here for final standings

Click here for USCF results

More pictures here

Sadorra vs GM Ramirez (Round 7) 1/2-1/2

GM Ramirez vs GM Ioan (Rnd 6) 1-0

Langer vs Ortiz (Rnd 4) 1/2-1/2

Ramirez vs Cornejo (Rnd 4) 1/2 - 1/2

Sadorra vs Ioan (Rnd 4) 0-1

WIM Ortiz vs Zivanic after White played Nd7 (Rnd 1.) 0-1

View from the playing hall on the 11th floor.

In the 5th round after getting to this position, my brain took leave of it's senses, and I played Rb1+???, which looses to Rb4. [ ...g3 or Kh3 draws].

Win Black vs Henry Velasquez (1500)
Win White vs Christian Leos (1718)
Win Black vs Alok Kumar (1930)
Win White vs James Ukoli (1940)
Loss Black vs Clement Rendon (1916)
Win White vs Alexander Jiang (1886)
Draw White vs vs Rizal Abarientos (1884)

Rizal wins clear 1st ($500), Alok, Austin Jiang, and me split 2nd-3rd. ($120). My rating should go up from 1800 to about 1880

Nerves got the better of me in the last round. A win would have given me clear first($500) and a rating of over 1900. My last round opponent had only played in 2 previous events. The first in 1995 and the second this year. I also noticed that he had a Master level correspondence rating. I decided to stay away from main line openings, but he still played the best moves! But I had a chance to get an advantage in the following position.
Here I should have played Qd4, when black is forced to exchange queens, I should then be able to win the c pawn and have a very comfortable game. I played f3 instead which is also good, but later lost my way.

Maybe I should only play in Southwest Opens! My record for the last two events is 8-1=4.

The SWO returned to Corpus Christi. It was last held here in 1945! For a history of past winners click here

Top seeds this year:

GM Ramirez, Alejandro 2645 (Costa Rica)
IM Zivanic, Marko 2571 (Serbia)
GM Ioan, Cristian 2561 (Romania)
IM Wang, Puchen 2533 (New Zealand)
IM Sadorra, Julio 2471 (Philippines)
IM Bercys, Salvijus 2467 (USA)

Report on the 2009 event here

2010 Corpus Christi 35+51+25 = 109 (Open+Reserve+Novice)
Open: ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ, MAX CORNEJO
Reserve: RIZAL ABARIENTOS

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

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

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

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

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

Back to square one!

2010-08-15T19:06:00.004-05:00

A few week ago my friend Paul (rated 2156 at the time) decided to play in the Dallas Insanity. 24 hours of chess, 20 games of G/30.

I advised him not to, since it is pretty hard to play a quality game in 30 min. He played anyway and lost 26 points.

I should have listened to my own advice and not played in the 5 round G/30 event yesterday. I won the first 2 games, but only managed a half point in the next 3! and lost 29 points.

So I am back at my 1800 floor! The good news is that I can only go up now!

The main reason I played was to get some games in before the SWO, and I really didn't have much of a choice. Now I can play without any worry of losing rating points!

Click here for the ugly cross table.

Green Bay Open 2010

2010-07-20T15:10:00.052-05:00

01. Santarius, Erik (1)........... WI 2311 W49 W28 W46 W11 W07 5.0

02. Jin, David (2)................ WI 2029 W38 D15 W37 W45 W14 4.5

03. Conant, Matt (5).............. WI 2020 -H- W76 W15 W23 W10 4.5

04. Tutush, Dusan (4)............. WI 2023 W57 W47 W24 L07 W25 4.0

05. Liang, Yingming (7)........... WI 1969 W51 W30 D27 D26 W24 4.0

06. Stein, Josiah (9)............. WI 1938 W39 L08 W57 W33 W26 4.0

07. Allen, Jesse (17)............. WI 1880 W82 W72 W33 W04 L01 4.0

08. Boyer, Kenneth (32)........... WI 1738 W92 W06 L11 W66 W19 4.0

09. Kodali, Suhas (38)............ WI 1692 W65 D12 W22 D44 W43 4.0

10. Pan, Hongkai (3).............. WI 2027 W56 W29 W13 D14 L03 3.5

11. Sachs, Derek (11)............. WI 1913 W41 W16 W08 L01 D13 3.5

12. Gomez, Augustine (15)......... WI 1900 W74 D09 W18 D31 D16 3.5

13. Baumgartner, Chris (23)....... WI 1821 W42 W57 L10 W38 D11 3.5

14. Zhou, Jerry (25).............. WI 1810 W91 W52 W44 D10 L02 3.5

15. Christensen, Wade (26)........ WI 1801 W53 D02 L03 W58 W44 3.5

16. Peel, Arthur (34)............. WI 1730 W63 L11 W60 W68 D12 3.5

17. Roberts, Benjamin (35)........ WI 1726 W83 L19 D52 W79 W45 3.5

18. Brown, Christopher (37)....... WI 1707 W84 D22 L12 W74 W46 3.5

19. Elger, William (10)........... WI 1929 W40 W17 -H- D27 L08 3.0

20. Prenot, Jonathaon (12)........ WI 1911 W59 L33 -H- W72 D35 3.0

21. Hoffman, Guy (13)............. WI 1905 L52 W75 W50 D35 D30 3.0

22. Younkle, Douglas (14)......... WI 1901 W60 D18 L09 W73 D32 3.0

23. Jayne, Ryan (19).............. WI 1838 W70 W36 -H- L03 D37 3.0

24. McKinney, Christopher (20).... WI 1836 W79 W48 L04 W54 L05 3.0

25. Lindquist, Daniel (21)........ WI 1834 W80 L37 W51 W36 L04 3.0

26. Wijetunge, Ivan (22).......... WI 1828 W93 W73 -H- D05 L06 3.0

27. Virkud, Apurva (24)........... WI 1812 W94 W55 D05 D19 -N- 3.0

28. Nietman, Mike (27)............ WI 1800 W69 L01 W40 W42 -N- 3.0

29. Bogenschutz, Tim (28)......... WI 1778 W71 L10 W41 -N- W49 3.0

30. Coons, James (30)............. WI 1770 W81 L05 W59 D49 D21 3.0

31. Grochowski, Robin (31)........ WI 1762 W88 W43 -H- D12 -N- 3.0

32. Liang, Awonder (33)........... WI 1738 W89 L44 -H- W75 D22 3.0

33. Zimmermann, Troy (36)......... WI 1722 W64 W20 L07 L06 W59 3.0

34. Zhang, Tianye (41)............ WI 1630 L76 W69 L42 W70 W71 3.0

35. Fogec, Thomas (42)............ WI 1629 W67 L46 W84 D21 D20 3.0

36. Susens, Rich (44)............. WI 1578 W86 L23 W67 L25 W60 3.0

37. Timm, Andrew (46)............. WI 1567 W87 W25 L02 D46 D23 3.0

38. Azbel, Gregory (49)........... WI 1536 L02 W92 W87 L13 W61 3.0

39. Dreuth, Adam (55)............. WI 1449 L06 L53 W90 W78 W66 3.0

40. Steldt, Richard (56).......... WI 1443 L19 W71 L28 W64 W67 3.0

41. Czeren, Ivan (57)............. WI 1417 L11 W63 L29 W65 W54 3.0

42. Shen, Tianlu (91)............. WI nnnn L13 W86 W34 L28 W55 3.0

43. Endsley, Barry (6)............ WI 2000 W50 L31 D58 W48 L09 2.5

44. Borman, Kelly (8)............. WI 1962 W58 W32 L14 D09 L15 2.5

45. Gleason, Neil (16)............ WI 1883 W61 W54 -H- L02 L17 2.5

46. Jing, Aaron (18).............. WI 1842 W62 W35 L01 D37 L18 2.5

47. Grochowski, Andrew (29)....... WI 1778 W78 L04 -H- W52 -N- 2.5

48. Williams, Rory (43)........... WI 1587 W77 L24 -H- L43 W75 2.5

49. John, Robert (48)............. WI 1539 L01 W88 W76 D30 L29 2.5

50. Hegelmeyer, John (52)......... WI 1474 L43 W80 L21 D53 W68 2.5

51. Mariano, DJ (53).............. WI 1458 L05 W93 L25 W81 D53 2.5

52. Kahl, Joey (59)............... WI 1373 W21 L14 D17 L47 W74 2.5

53. Iakimenko, Victor (84)........ WI nnnn L15 W39 D72 D50 D51 2.5

54. Gorectke, Andrew (39)......... WI 1669 W66 L45 W82 L24 L41 2.0

55. Daven, Jeff (47).............. WI 1553 W90 L27 L66 W88 L42 2.0

56. Ziehms, Steven (50)........... WI 1502 L10 W89 L68 -N- W83 2.0

57. Suri, Shiva (51).............. WI 1484 L04 L13 L06 W90 W79 2.0

58. Pahl, Sandra (54)............. WI 1454 L44 W81 D43 L15 D62 2.0

59. Rasmussen, Kenneth (58)....... WI 1389 L20 W83 L30 W89 L33 2.0

60. Lubinski, Paul (60)........... WI 1373 L22 W64 L16 W84 L36 2.0

61. Mattson, Thomas (62).......... WI 1345 L45 L84 W91 W76 L38 2.0

62. Nickiel, James (65)........... WI 1302 L46 -H- L75 W77 D58 2.0

63. Azbel, Joseph (66)............ WI 1141 L16 L41 L89 W92 W87 2.0

64. Gonzalez, Miguel (68)......... WI 1079 L33 L60 W80 L40 W88 2.0

65. Henning, Daniel (70).......... WI 1033 L09 L74 W69 L41 W89 2.0

66. Feldman, Daniel (71).......... WI 1008 L54 W94 W55 L08 L39 2.0

67. Hegelmeyer, John W (74)....... WI 0859 L35 W91 L36 W82 L40 2.0

68. Moran, Michael (77)........... WI 0729 L73 W78 W56 L16 L50 2.0

69. Rank, Nathan (90)............. WI nnnn L28 L34 L65 W86 W85 2.0

70. Groustra, Sean (83)........... WI nnnn L23 L87 W85 L34 W84 2.0

71. DeDene, Christopher (82)...... WI nnnn L29 L40 W86 W87 L34 2.0

72. Sperbeck, Tony (40)........... WI 1649 W85 L07 D53 L20 -N- 1.5

73. Delaney, Greg (45)............ WI 1574 W68 L26 -H- L22 -N- 1.5

74. Liang, Adream (61)............ WI 1372 L12 W65 -H- L18 L52 1.5

75. Rajendra, Avinash (64)........ WI 1312 -H- L21 W62 L32 L48 1.5

76. Cunningham, William (73)...... WI 0947 W34 L03 L49 L61 D81 1.5

77. Shelobolin, Filipp (75)....... WI 0854 L48 L79 W94 L62 D78 1.5

78. Zierer, Grant (94)............ WI nnnn L47 L68 W83 L39 D77 1.5

79. Williams, Wendell (93)........ WI nnnn L24 W77 -H- L17 L57 1.5

80. Sutter, Selena (92)........... WI nnnn L25 L50 L64 D93 W90 1.5

81. Jin, Suhong (85).............. WI nnnn L30 L58 W93 L51 D76 1.5

82. Ballantyne, Drew (63)......... WI 1322 L07 W85 L54 L67 -N- 1.0

83. Cunningham, Patrick (67)...... WI 1122 L17 L59 L78 W94 L56 1.0

84. Breuer, Michael (69).......... WI 1066 L18 W61 L35 L60 L70 1.0

85. Buck, Finn (72)............... WI 0998 L72 L82 L70 W91 L69 1.0

86. Breuer, Ryan (76)............. WI 0807 L36 L42 L71 L69 W94 1.0

87. Jing, Daniel (78)............. WI 0684 L37 W70 L38 L71 L63 1.0

88. Amaro, Alex (81).............. WI nnnn L31 L49 W92 L55 L64 1.0

89. Abrams, Joseph (80)........... WI nnnn L32 L56 W63 L59 L65 1.0

90. Slavney, Daniel (79).......... WI 0359 L55 -H- L39 L57 L80 0.5

91. Mora, Oscar (89).............. WI nnnn L14 L67 L61 L85 D92 0.5

92. Mallela, Teja (88)............ WI nnnn L08 L38 L88 L63 D91 0.5

93. Kline, Jeff (86).............. WI nnnn L26 L51 L81 D80 -N- 0.5

94. Mallela, Lakshman (87)........ WI nnnn L27 L66 L77 L83 L86 0.0

After playing pretty well the whole tournament, I blundered horribly and turned a win into a loss in the final game. My opponent blundered first with 29. Qg4? , when after 29....Rxd6, I am winning instead, I played 29...Rad8??? (We were both in bad time trouble)

This is the adjourned game from round one. The White player, Tutush Dusan (2023) won.

There were 94 players, about 3 short of the all time high.

2311 Santarius Erik
2029 Jin David
2027 Pan Hongkai
I wonder if WI is the only place in the country where adjournments have not been abolished. With time controls of 40/100, 30/60, SD/30 a game could last more than 6 hours.

I heard of a story a few years ago where a player had taken a 3rd round bye, but had to come back after the 3rd round (around 1 am) to conclude his 2 adjourned games from round 1 & 2!
I finished with 2-1=1
Win Kline, Jeff (unrated)
Win Delaney, Greg (1574)
bye
Draw Yingming, Liang (
1969)
Loss Stein, Josiah (1965)

Year/# of Players/Winner(s)

2010 94 ERIK SANTARIUS

2009 72 ANTHONY LEE PARKER

2008 63 MATT CONANT, JOSIAH ROBERT STEIN

2007 86 ERIK SANTARIUS, MIKE NIETMAN

2006 79 ERIK SANTARIUS

Canadian Open Blitz (Chaos)

2010-07-18T09:23:00.010-05:00

There were over 80 players.

The organizer does not believe in computers & pairings were done by hand!

Pairing took for ever. The number of rounds were cut from 7 to 5 (Double round). Lots of players were complaining about that.

The five rounds lasted past midnight!

IM Artiom Samsonkin & FM Bindi Cheng tied for first with 8.5/10.0 & won $350 each.

I tied for first with another in my rating group and split $80.00

I was paired against a "B" player, a 1900 and 3 experts. I won one and lost one against all opponents to finish with 5.0/10.0

Canadian Open 2010, Toronto

2010-07-16T21:55:00.003-05:00

Info here

Round 7 Betaneli vs Shabalov

I plan to play in the Blitz event

New Brunswick Open

2010-07-02T22:22:00.019-05:00

19 year old Elias Oussedik(left) won clear first with 4.5/5.0

5 Rounds 40/120, G/60

There were 24 players.

2 Masters

5 Experts

The top seed was Horton, Joe (2236)

I broke even.

Win vs Cui, Leonardo (1069)
Draw vs Davis, Neil (2056)
Loss vs MacDonald, Jonathan (2209)
Loss vs McKim, Fred (2027)
Win vs Ossinger, Brian (1611)

Click here for the cross table

Chess, Soccer & Barbecue

2010-07-01T01:35:00.010-05:00

Experiencing any one of the above would be great, but I had the chance to experience all three at once at the recent BBQ Open held at the Contreras’ residence in Corpus Christi.

Soccer: US vs England

Barbecue : All you can eat chicken, beef, sausage BBQ, potato salad, rice, beans, tortillias, sodas and water included in the 10$ entry fee!

Bill Wheeler(left) on his way to going 3-0

There were 8 people in the top section ans I was the 3rd seed.

I finished 2-1=0 losing to Bill Wheeler in round 2.

Cross table here

I thought I played well until 23. Bxh5?? . I should have just brought the Knight back to e5 instead.

Texas State Championship

2010-06-01T12:47:00.012-05:00

Had a lot fun playing chess & hanging out with friends.

Luis & the gang did a very good job running the event.

Click here for the final cross table.

I just wish I had a better result. I lost only one game, but I was paired down every round and had 3 draws. I had a great first and last day going 3-0. But the two days in the middle are what hurt me. (a loss and 3 draws)

The loss was heart breaking:

I was Black in the above position. If I had played ...Q x d3, White can resign. But I played Nf2+ & we reached the following position, which is still winning.

Here Black's only move is Re1, which he played, I should have then played Qd2 maintaining the discovery, but played Q x e1. I then managed to lose the extra Knight to a Queen check on f8.

The above is a beautiful mate in on variation.

DUY MINH NGUYEN vs IVAN WIJETUNGE Rnd 4.

Texas State Addison 30.05.2010

159MB, Rybka3.ctg, DELL-9ECB4ECECC 1.d4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Na6 6.e3 Bg4 7.Bxc4 e6 8.h3 Bh5 9.Bd2 Nb4 10.Be2 a5 11.0–0 Be7 12.Ne5 Bxe2 13.Qxe2 0–0 14.f4 g6 [14...h6 15.f5 Qc8 16.fxe6 Qxe6] 15.g4 Bd6 16.Kh1 Qc7 17.Nc4 Be7 18.f5 exf5 19.gxf5 Nh5 20.Ne4 Bh4 21.Rg1 Kh8 22.Qg4 Qe7 23.Bc3 Nd5 24.Bd2 Nb4 25.Raf1 Nd3 26.Bc3 Kg8 [26...Bf6 27.Nxf6 Nxf6 28.d5 cxd5 29.Qh4 Ra6 30.fxg6 fxg6 31.Rxg6 dxc4 32.Bxf6+ Raxf6 33.Rgxf6 Rxf6] 27.Qxh5 Qxe4+ 28.Kh2 Bf6 29.fxg6 fxg6 30.Rg4 Qe7 31.Rfg1 Bg7 32.Qg5 Rf2+ [32...Qc7+ 33.R4g3 Rf5 (33...Rf2+ 34.Kh1 Re2 35.R3g2 Nf2+ 36.Rxf2 Rxf2) ] 33.R1g2 Rxg2+ [33...Qc7+ 34.Kg1 Rf5 35.Qh4 b5 36.axb5 cxb5 37.Ne5] 34.Rxg2 Qc7+ 35.Qg3 Qd8 36.Nxa5 Rxa5 37.Bxa5 Qxa5 38.Qb8+ Bf8 39.Qxb7 Bd6+ 40.Kh1 Qe1+ 41.Rg1 Nf2+ [41...Qxe3 42.Qc8+ Kg7 43.Qd7+ Kh6 44.Qxd6 Qxh3+; 41...Qf2 42.Qc8+ Kf7 43.Qd7+ Be7 44.Qxc6] 42.Kg2 Qe2 [42...Qxe3 43.Qc8+ Kg7 (43...Bf8 44.Rf1) ] 43.Qc8+ Kg7 44.Qd7+ Kh6 45.Re1 Qxe1 [45...Qd2 46.Kf3 a)46.a5 Ng4+ 47.Re2 (a)47.Kf3 Nh2+ 48.Ke4 Qc2#) ; b)46.Kf1 Ne4; 46...Qxe1 47.Qxd6 Nd3 48.Qxc6 (48.Qf8+ Kh5 49.Ke4 Nf2+ 50.Kf3 Nxh3) 48...Qf2+ (48...Qh1+) 49.Kg4] 46.Qxd6 Qxe3 [46...Nd3 47.Qf8+ Kh5] 1–0

Texas State Championship 2010

2010-05-23T11:17:00.007-05:00

This year's tournament will be held in Addison. Click here for all the details.

Next to the Southwest open this is Texas' most attended non-scholastic event.

The highest rated player to register is GM Zviad Izoria , also known as Mr HB Global, for winning $50,000 and a host of other prizes at the 2005 HB Global event.

Click here for pre-registered players.

I will be playing in this event for the 3rd time. In 1992 & 2002, I had sub-par performances, although I did start 3.5/4.00 drawing the eventual winner in 1992.

Since I have not played much rated chess, I decided to join Paul Haney, and Ethan Rodriguez to play at the Houston Chess Club G60 3 round event yesterday.

I went 2-1=0. My loss was to 2nd seed Bradley Sawyer (2292)

There were 34 players including 3 masters 3 experts. Click here for the cross table.

Bradly & Warren Harper tied for first with 3-0 scores. Warren is closing in on the 2400 mark. He is just 16 rating points away.

The board is not set up right...again

2010-05-06T07:47:00.005-05:00

I used loved these Tintin books as a kid. I picked one up at the library the other day. This is from "The broken ear".

They did get the board correct the first time they played!

Sydney 2010

2010-05-01T05:08:00.004-05:00

I am back here for a 3 week visit. I plan to get a game in at the giant chess board at Hyde Park.

Future tournament plans :

May 28-30 Texas State Championship
July 23-24 Catfish Days Chess Tournament

Victoria Open (March 27, 2010)

2010-03-27T12:56:00.007-05:00

This 4 Round G/60 event was hosted by the Chess Club of the Golden Crescent of Victoria.

There isn't much rated chess down here, but on this Saturday there happened to be 2, both less than 2 hours away. The one in San Antonio was a bigger event with an extra round, but I decided on the one in Victoria because that's place I have not been to. It's always nice to seee new places & meet new people.

The tournament director, Mario Leal remembered my name. I had played in an event he directed back in 2000 when he lived in Waco!

I was the the 3rd seed out of 16 and expected to have a good result.

After winning the first two rounds I was derailed by Ralph Belter(1871) in round 3.

I am White here and liked my position although I was behind on the clock. I had to quickly come up with a plan. This is what I came up with:

Get rid of the Knight on f6
Pawn storm

You know what they say "any plan is better than no plan!"

This is what I had in mind

But f4 by Black has left me with an inferior (losing?) position.

What's amazing is that even right at the end I had a chance to draw, by playing a3 here, but with only seconds left on my clock I played g5.

I finished in a tie for 4th place. Final results here.

I have no business playing this game if I play like this...

2010-01-05T13:15:00.017-06:00

I played in the North American open in Las Vegas over the Christmas break. It was fun meeting old friends, but my playing was no fun at all. I was hoping I would play better in the New Year Open in San Antonio last w-end, so that I could end my report in a happy note but it was not to be.

San Antonio, New Year Open Jan.2-3

It was a strong event with 50 players, 3 Masters and several experts. BRADLEY J SAWYER won the event with a 5-0 performance.

Going into the 5th and final round, I was 2.5/4.0 after losing to an expert in round 2.

I was White against expert and current grade 11 champ MATTHEW LIU who had 3.0/4.0

I am White. Matthew blundered a pawn in the opening and here I had a chance to win another pawn with check. My last move was N b1-c3, but Qf7 wins another pawn with check! I looked at Qh8, but did not even look at Qf7. I was just plain lazy.

Here I had a chance to put the game away with f5, but played Rd3?? instead. My whole idea of f4 earlier was to play f5, when I finally got the chance I didn't take it becuase I moved too fast (6 seconds).

Here I had a chance to play Re3 and go into a Knight ending a pawn up, but played Rf5?? instead and went into a rook ending a pawn down. Apparently I forgot that Knights can move backwards as well! Another costly error due to lazyness.

I am sure that with accurate play it should still have been a draw, but I used up too much time and lost.

After reading the following chess base article, I am feeling better!

Wijetunge vs Liu

1.d4 d5 2.Bg5 f6 3.Bh4 Nh6 4.e3 Nf5 5.Bg3 Nxg3 6.hxg3 Bf5 7.Bd3 Bxd3 8.Qxd3 Qd7 9.Rxh7 Rxh7 10.Qxh7 Nc6 11.Qh5+ Kd8 12.Nc3 [ 12.Qf7 Qe8 13.Qxd5+ Qd7 14.Qf7 Qe8 15.Qc4 e6 16.Nc3 Na5 17.Qd3 Nc6 18.Nf3 Nb4 19.Qd2 Rc8] 12...e6 13.a3 Qe8 14.Qe2 a6 15.Nf3 Bd6 16.e4 dxe4 17.Nxe4 Qh5 18.Nxd6 cxd6 19.0-0-0 Qh6+ 20.Kb1 Kd7 21.d5 exd5 22.Rxd5 Re8 23.Qd1 Re6 24.Nh4 [ 24.c4] 24...Ne7 25.Rd3 Qh7 26.f4 Qe4 27.Rd4 Qe3 28.Rd3 [ 28.f5] 28...Qf2 29.Ka2 [ 29.Nf3 Qxg2 30.Nd4 Re4 31.Nb3 Kc7; 29.Qg4 g6 30.Nxg6 f5] 29...g6 30.c3 [ 30.c4 Qc5 31.Qc2] 30...Kc7 31.Rf3 [ 31.Qb3 Re2 32.a4; 31.Qf3] 31...Qe2 32.Qd3 g5 33.fxg5 fxg5 34.Qxe2 Rxe2 35.Nf5 g4 36.Rf4 [ 36.Re3 Rxe3 37.Nxe3 Kd7 38.Nxg4 Nf5 39.Nf6+ Ke6 40.g4 Ne3 41.g5 Kf5 42.Ne8] 36...Nxf5 37.Rxf5 Rxg2 38.Rg5 Rxg3 39.Rg7+ [ 39.c4 Kc6 40.a4 b6 41.b4 Kd7 42.Kb2 Ke6 43.a5 bxa5 44.Rxa5 Rg1 45.Rxa6 g3 46.Ra5 Rf1 47.Rg5 Rf2+ 48.Kc3 g2 49.b5] 39...Kc6 40.a4 Rg1 41.Kb3 g3 42.Rg5 Rg2 43.Rg7 Kd5 44.Rxb7 [ 44.Ka3; 44.Ka3 b6 45.Kb3 Rg1 46.Kb4 g2 47.Kb3 Ke4 48.Re7+ Kf3 49.Rf7+ Ke2 50.Re7+ Kd3 51.Rg7 d5 52.Rg8 d4 53.cxd4 Kxd4 54.Rd8+ Ke3 55.Re8+ Kd2 56.Rd8+ Ke2 57.Re8+ Kf2 58.Rf8+ Kg3 59.Rg8+ Kf3 60.Rf8+ Ke4 61.Rg8 Kf4 62.Rf8+] 44...Ke4 [ 44...Rd2 45.c4+ Ke4 46.Rg7 g2 47.Kc3 Rf2] 45.Rd7?? [ 45.Re7+ Kf4 ( 45...Kf3 46.Rf7+ Ke2 47.Rg7 Kf2 48.Rf7+ Kg1 49.Rg7) 46.Rf7+ Ke4; 45.Rg7 d5 46.Rg8 d4 47.cxd4 Kxd4] 45...Rd2 46.Re7+ 0-1

This and that...

2009-12-14T10:18:00.009-06:00

I haven't played much lately since there are not many opportunities to play rated games near Corpus Christi.

Last Sunday there was a 4 round quick rated event. There were 10 players & finished 4-0.

Round 1

Win Robert Muir (1441)

After an equal middle game and early end game, I played horribly and got to a lost position, but I had a big time advantage & won on time.

Here I am Black and just played Rf5, I missed that White can play g4, after which I should have played pxp e.p. and the game is fairly balanced, but after g4 I played R g5 and got into a worse end game.

Round 2

Win vs Joshua Newsham(1946)

I don't play the exchange variation of the Kings Indian often, but decided to give it a go.

Here Black is supposed to play cxd, but he erred with Nd7. I got a good advantage but later got into a bishops of opposite color ending up a pawn. The ending was probably drawn, but since I had no losing chances, I played on and tried to create as many problems for Black as possible . Just because it is an opposite colored bishop ending it does not mean it is an automatic draw, one still has to work!

Round 3

Win vs James Shaw(1837)

Shaw vs Me

1.d4 c6 2.f4 d5 3.e3 Bf5 4.c4 e6 5.Nf3 Nd7 6.Be2 Ngf6 7.0-0 Ne4 8.Nc3 Ndf6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Nxe4 Nxe4 11.Ne5 f6 12.Nd3 Bd6 13.g4 Bg6 14.f5 Bf7 15.Nf4 g5 16.fxg6 hxg6 17.Bf3 Qe7 [ 17...g5 18.Bxe4 gxf4 19.Bg2 fxe3] 18.Bxe4 Qxe4 19.Qf3 Qxf3 [ 19...g5 20.Qxe4+ dxe4 21.Ne2 Bxh2+] 20.Rxf3 g5 21.Nh5 Bxh5 22.gxh5 [ 22.Rh3 Kf7 23.Rxh5 Rxh5 24.gxh5 Rh8 25.h3 Rxh5] 22...Rxh5 23.h3 Kf7 24.Bd2 Rah8 25.Kg2 g4 26.Rf2 Rxh3 27.Rg1 f5 28.Rxf5+ Ke6 29.Rf2 Rh2+ [ 29...g3 30.Re2 Rh2+ 31.Kf1 Rf8+ 32.Ke1 Rff2] 30.Kf1 Rxf2+ 31.Kxf2 Rh2+ 32.Rg2 Rxg2+ [ 32...g3+ 33.Kf3] 33.Kxg2 Kf5 34.Kf2 Ke4 35.Ke2 g3 0-1

Round 4

Win vs Henry Velasquez (1534)

I am also playing a 12 game rated match with Henry Velasquez (1534). The time control is G/60 with a 5 second delay. The score so far is 8-0=2 in my favor.

This is a position from our last game.

I am White and should have played Ra7, but chickened out an played Re2, I managed to get into some trouble, but my opponent blundered in time trouble.

Castling is for sissies

2009-11-15T21:09:00.004-06:00

I started coaching my 12 year old's chess team a few weeks back. We went to our 3rd tournament yesterday.The walls of the playing hall were adorned with chess quotes, ones like "Take care of your pieces and they will take care of you", "Chess is the gymnasium of the mind" etc. The one that caught my eye right away was this doozy "Castling is for sissies". I talked to the organizers and had it removed!

As for the tournament we finished in 2nd place.

Could have should have........

2009-10-19T16:46:00.020-05:00

A couple of week ago I had a chance to get my rating up to an all time high. All I had to do was win this game.

Wijetunge,I (1889) - Rodriguez,E (1717) [D70]
Corpus Christi Xtreme Chess G/60 (Rnd 3), 10.10.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 0-0 8.h3 [ 8.e5 Ng4 9.h3 Nh6 10.Bg5] 8...c6 9.0-0 b5 10.Bd3 b4 11.Na4 a5 12.Nc5 [ 12.Bd2] 12...Na6 13.Nxa6 Bxa6 14.Bxa6 Rxa6 15.Qd3 Ra8 16.Qc2 Rc8 17.Be3 Qc7 18.Rac1 Qb7 19.Nd2 Nd7 20.Nc4 Qa6 21.Qa4 Ra8 22.f3 Rfc8 23.Rfd1 Nb6 24.Nxb6 Qxb6 25.Rc5 Qa6 26.Qc2 e6 27.Rc1 Rab8 28.Qc4 [ 28.d5 exd5 29.exd5 b3 30.axb3 Re8 31.Rxc6 Qb5 32.Bf4] 28...Rb6 29.b3 Rd8 30.Qxa6 Rxa6 31.Rxc6 Rxc6 32.Rxc6 Bxd4 33.Bxd4 Rxd4 34.Ra6 Rd1+ 35.Kh2 Rd2 36.Rxa5 1/2-1/2

Click here to replay I stopped taking notation here, but this was the final position:

I am White & I had 1 min on my clock. I played RxR which draws, but it looks like it is a draw any way. My error was not getting my king to g7 instead of the pawn.

75th Annual Southwest Open

2009-08-26T11:34:00.108-05:00

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.)

Draw vs Mark Marshall (1599) In a clearly drawn position I tried too hard and was losing, but managed to draw.
Win vs Richard Herrington (1440)
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.
Win vs Suchinder Kalyan(1696)
Win vs Alfredo Garcia(1663)
Draw vs James Ukoli (1860)
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!

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

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

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

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

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

2009-08-22T15:18:00.035-05:00

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

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

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?

2009-08-21T09:52:00.005-05:00

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

2009-08-13T09:46:00.000-05:00

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

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

Getting to 2000

I am back................sort of

Out of commission...until further notice

2011 US Class Championship - Houston Sep. 30 - Oct 3 or Oct. 2-3

77th Annual Southwest OpenSeptember 2 or 3 - 5, Dallas

I would like another 15 minutes please!

NOT-A-SENIOR-NOT-A-JUNIOR OPENJuly 22-24, Houston

4th Summer Solstice OpenJuly 8-10 or 9-10 Ft. Lauderdale FL

San Antonio City ChampionshipJune 25-26

States that I have played rated chess...

Apr. 16-17 : Laredo Open

Last Round Blues

Spring Open March 26-27 San Antonio

Andrew Nat Lozano(2.5) vs Ernesto Malazarte(2.5) 0-1James V Rohrbaugh(2.0) vs Mitchell Vergara(2.0)Andrew Istafanous(1.5) vs Gregg Stanley(1.5) 0-1Martin D Gordon(1.5) vs Ivan Wijetunge(1.5) 1-0Zhaosu Ye(1.5) vs Anthony Guerra (1.0) 0-1Alfredo Garcia(0.5) vs Robert D Bradley(1.0)

Rnd 3

Ernesto Malazarte vs James V Rohrbaugh 1/2-1/2Andrew Nat Lozano vs Martin D Gordon 1-0Anthony Guerra vs Mitchell Vergara 0-1Ivan Wijetunge vs Gregg Stanley 1/2-1/2Robert D Bradley vs Andrew Istafanous 1/2-1/2

In the reserve

Sadia beat Christian to tie for first with 3.5/4.0

2nd Jerry Hanken FIDE Winter Open

FIDE rating

2nd Jerry Hanken FIDE Winter OpenFeb 19-20-2 Stillwater,Oklahoma

Busy Chess w-end coming up. Feb 18-21

Nolan annotates his last round win against FM Tautvydas Vedrickas from the Texas Team 2011

Team play, last round drama etc.

Rounds 4 & 5

FIDE Rating Norms

Texas Team

Texas Team ChampionshipJanuary 21-23 or 22-23, 2011

1st Annual Austin Chess Club Championship - Recap

1st Annual Austin Chess Club ChampionshipFri., Jan. 07, 2011 - Sun., Jan. 09, 2011

From the Texas Prison museum in Huntsville

Thanksgiving Benefit Nov. 27-28 San Antonio, TX.

FIDE Open at the Dallas Chess Club

BBQ III

2010 Pan American Events in Milwaukee Wisconsin

1900 At last!!!

Chess & Barbecue on National Chess Day

US Class Championship - Houston Oct. 1-3 or 2-3

76th Annual Southwest Open

Back to square one!

Green Bay Open 2010

Canadian Open Blitz (Chaos)

Canadian Open 2010, Toronto

New Brunswick Open

Chess, Soccer & Barbecue

Texas State Championship

Texas State Championship 2010

The board is not set up right...again

Sydney 2010

Victoria Open (March 27, 2010)

I have no business playing this game if I play like this...

This and that...

Shaw vs Me

Castling is for sissies

Could have should have........

Click here to replay I stopped taking notation here, but this was the final position:

75th Annual Southwest Open

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

Sacrifice or not?

Pikes Peak Open

Andrew Nat Lozano(2.5) vs Ernesto Malazarte(2.5) 0-1
James V Rohrbaugh(2.0) vs Mitchell Vergara(2.0)
Andrew Istafanous(1.5) vs Gregg Stanley(1.5) 0-1
Martin D Gordon(1.5) vs Ivan Wijetunge(1.5) 1-0
Zhaosu Ye(1.5) vs Anthony Guerra (1.0) 0-1
Alfredo Garcia(0.5) vs Robert D Bradley(1.0)

Ernesto Malazarte vs James V Rohrbaugh 1/2-1/2
Andrew Nat Lozano vs Martin D Gordon 1-0
Anthony Guerra vs Mitchell Vergara 0-1
Ivan Wijetunge vs Gregg Stanley 1/2-1/2
Robert D Bradley vs Andrew Istafanous 1/2-1/2