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

Team play, last round drama etc.

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

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

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

1. 2000 WILLIAM M WENZ 1.5/4.0
2. 1905 STANLEY T GARVIN 0.5/4.0
3. 1851 IVAN WIJETUNG 3.5/4.0
4. 1823 NEIL J GLEASON 2.0/3.0
5. 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!)

1. 2110 NOLAN R HENDRICKSON
2. 1909 IVAN WIJETUNGE
3. 1792 KENNETH CHARLES ARTZ
4. 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

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

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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

Texas Team

There are 15 teams.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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)

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My team:

1. 2110 NOLAN R HENDRICKSON
2. 1909 IVAN WIJETUNGE
3. 1792 KENNETH CHARLES ARTZ
4. 1787 DONALD BRIGGS JR

Avg. rating = 1899.5

Moving to Corpus Christi,Texas etc.

World Youth Championship Qualifiers There are 2 WI juniors : A. Velikanov & B. Luo in the Boys Under 12 category

WI Tour, J.Veech will be in the sole lead after the HCC IX totals have been calculated.

FM A. Betaneli is now the highest rated active WI player at 2325, With Eric Santarius closing in on 2301. Sheldon still holds on to the # 2 spot despite going from 2342 to 2316.

I will be in Sydney Australia April 26-May 12. I plan to stop by the North Sydney Chess Club, and play a game with fellow blogger Lousy at Chess.

I will be re-locating to Corpus Christi, TX in June. The Corpus Christ Chess Club is just starting up.

I also plan to start a chess club and coach Roshan's school team at SMA.

I plan to play in 2 more events in the Midwest: The Chicago Open and the G/90 Spring Swiss at the Waukesha Chess Club.

Corpus Christi - Texas

Took part in a fun-event in Corpus Christi, Texas, The Susan Polgar Giant Chess Set Tournament. (For teams of three)

The UT Brownsville team showed up, and they decided to have two teams one with their coach GM Gilberto Hernandez and the other with IM Daniel Fernandez.

The competition was lopsided to say the least with basically 400 rated players competing against GM/IM for the same prizes.

UT Brownsville finished 1st-2nd(Surprise! Surprise!)
We finished tied for 3rd-4th (4th on tie breaks), but the organizers decided not to split the prize money, but give it to the 3rd place team(based on tie breaks)

The 3rd place team lead by Bill Wheeler was very generous and decided to split the prize money with us.

Michael Abron's quest to play rated chess in all 50 states

I met Michael Abron from the east coast in Sussex, Wisconsin. He plans to play rated tournaments in all 50 states. He has 20 to go.

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*2/19/2018 Update from Michael
I am completing my quest to play in all 50 States by beginning to play in the 20 States that needed to complete the task. 

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*7/26/2018 Update
45 States completed; only 5 left:

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*3/07/2019 Update : Only Alaska to go!

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*10/12/2019 Alaska done!!

Michael  in action (2006 Sussex, Wisconsin.)

1. 2019-10-12 Alaska NATIONAL CHESS DAY 1 (AK)
2. 2019-03-17 South Dakota 2019 JACKRABBIT OPEN AND RESER (SD)
3. 2018-11-10 Wyoming 2018 NEW WYOMING OPEN (WY)
4. 2018-09-16 Montana 2018 BIG SKY COUNTRY (MT)
5. 2018-09-03 Hawaii 2018 HAWAII STATE OPEN (HI)
6. 2018-07-22 Nebraska 2018 CORNHUSKER (NE)
7. 2018-07-14 North Dakota MIKE ABRON INVITATIONAL (ND)
8. 2018-07-07 Arkansas SEVEN MORE STATES (AR)
9. 2018-06-25 Mississippi MICHAEL'S TOUR (MS)
10. 2018-06-24 Louisiana 2018 US SENIOR OPEN (LA)
11. 2018-05-20 New Mexico MINI SENIOR (NM)
12. 2018-05-20 Arizona UNITY WEEKLY MAY 20TH, 2018 (AZ)
13. 2018-05-12 Utah GAME-IN-SIXTY CHAMPIONSHIP (UT)
14. 2018-05-05 California 18TH CHARLES POWELL MEMORIAL (CA)
15. 2018-04-29 Washington CLARK HARMON MEMORIAL (WA)
16. 2018-04-22 Oregon APRIL 2018 PCC SUNDAY QUADS (OR)
17. 2018-04-15 Idaho  2018 IDAHO OPEN (ID)
18. 2018-03-04 Colorado 2018 COLORADO SPRINGS OPEN (CO)
19. 2018-02-24 New Hampshire 5TH QUEEN CITY TORNADO (NH)
20. 2018-02-20 Maine SACOVALLEY QUASI QUICK QUADS (ME)
21. 2006-07-29 Wisconsin  SCORCHING 15 (WI)
22. 2006-07-23 Kansas KANSAS OPEN (KS) 
23. 2006-07-16 Oklahoma OKLA OPEN 2006 JERRY SPANN MEM (OK)
24. 2006-06-27 Rhode Island CRANSTON-WARWICK JUNE MONTHLY (RI)
25. 2006-06-25 Michigan 2006 MICH BOTTOM-HALF CHAMPION (MI)   
26. 2006-06-10 Indiana JUNE OPEN (IN)
27. 2006-05-28 West Virginia UNITED STATES AMATEUR SOUTH (WV)
28. 2006-04-23 Kentucky 2ND LOUISVILLE OPEN!? (KY)
29. 2006-02-19 Iowa HAWKEYE MIND CHALLENGE XIII (IA)
30. 2005-06-12 Nevada 2005 NATIONAL OPEN (NV)
31. 2004-02-22 Texas SOUTHEAST AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP (TX)
32. 2003-08-10 Vermont 13TH VERMONT RESORT OPEN! (VT)
33. 2003-06-15 New Jersey 2003 SOUTH JERSEY OPEN (NJ)
34. 2002-11-29 Massachusetts 2002 NORTHEAST CHESS FALL GETA (MA)
35. 2002-11-29 Delaware DELAWARE STATE QUICK CHAMP (DE)
36. 2000-09-04 New York 122ND NYS CHAMPIONSHIP! (NY)
37. 2000-08-13 Minnesota 101ST ANNUAL US OPEN - 2000 (MN)
38. 2000-06-16 Virginia BOOZ ALLEN 2ND CLUB CHAMPIONSH (VA)
39. 2000-06-09 Maryland FMCA EVERY FRI KNIGHT QUICK (MD)
40. 2000-04-23 Connecticut 2ND ANNUAL FOXWOODS OPEN (CT)
41. 1999-06-20 Ohio 1999 COLUMBUS OPEN (OH)
42. 1999-06-13 South Carolina SOUTH CAROLINA OPEN (SC)
43. 1999-05-31 Illinois 8TH ANNUAL CHICAGO OPEN (IL) 
44. 1999-03-28 Florida 7TH ORLANDO OPEN! (FL)
45. 1998-12-29 District of Columbia 25TH EASTERN OPEN (DC) 
46. 1998-10-25 North Carolina NC OPEN (NC)
47. 1998-11-29 Missouri US CLASS CHAMPIONSHIPS (MO)
48. 1996-03-17 Alabama 1996 SPACE CITY OPEN (AL) 
49. 1994-07-04 Pennsylvania 22ND ANNUAL WORLD OPEN (PA)
50. 1991-12-08 Georgia 21ST ANNUAL ATLANTA OPEN (GA)
51. 1991-12-08 Tennessee SOUTHEASTERN AMATEUR TEAM CHAM (TN)

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1. Alabama United States Amateur South 19 (AL)
2. Alaska
3. Arizona UNITY WEEKLY MAY 20TH, 2018 (AZ)
4. Arkansas SEVEN MORE STATES (AR)
5. California 18TH CHARLES POWELL MEMORIAL (CA)
6. Colorado 2018 COLORADO SPRINGS OPEN
7. Connecticut FOXWOODS OPEN (CT)
8. Delaware 4TH SATURDAY QUAD # 31 (DE)
9. Florida 8TH SOUTHERN OPEN (FL)
10. Georgia 2006 EMORY GRAND PRIX (GA)
11. Hawaii 2018 HAWAII STATE OPEN (HI)
12. Idaho 2018 IDAHO OPEN (ID)
13. Illinois CHICAGO OPEN (IL)
14. Indiana JUNE OPEN (IN)
15. Iowa HAWKEYE MIND CHALLENGE XIII (IA)
16. Kansas KANSAS OPEN (KS)
17. Kentucky 2ND LOUISVILLE OPEN!? (KY)
18. Louisiana 2018 US SENIOR OPEN (LA)
19. Maine SACOVALLEY QUASI QUICK QUADS (ME)
20. Maryland MAYWEEKEND2006 (MD)
21. Massachusetts 2002 NORTHEAST CHESS FALL GETA (MA)
22. Michigan 2006 MICH BOTTOM-HALF CHAMPION (MI)
23. Minnesota FIRST ANNUAL HB GLOBAL CHESS C (MN)
24. Mississippi MICHAEL'S TOUR (MS)
25. Missouri US CLASS CHAMPIONSHIPS (MO)
26. Montana 2018 BIG SKY COUNTRY (MT)
27. Nebraska 2018 CORNHUSKER (NE)
28. Nevada 2005 NATIONAL OPEN (NV)
29. New Hampshire 5TH QUEEN CITY TORNADO (NH)
30. New Jersey 2003 SOUTH JERSEY OPEN (NJ)
31. New Mexico MINI SENIOR (NM)
32. New York NY AUGUST UNDER 1800! (NY)
33. North Carolina LAND OF THE SKY XVII (NC)
34. North Dakota MIKE ABRON INVITATIONAL (ND)
35. Ohio 61ST OHIO CHESS CONGRESS (OH)
36. Oklahoma OKLA OPEN 2006 JERRY SPANN MEM (OK)
37. Oregon APRIL 2018 PCC SUNDAY QUADS (OR)
38. Pennsylvania 2006 GREATER PHILADELPHIA OPEN (PA)
39. Rhode Island CRANSTON-WARWICK JUNE MONTHLY (RI)
40. South Carolina GRU-BELL OCTOBER 2000 (SC)
41. South Dakota 2019 JACKRABBIT OPEN AND RESER (SD)
42. Tennessee 10TH VULCAN MATERIALS FUN-FEST (TN)
43. Texas DCC WED 7.19.06 (TX)
44. Utah GAME-IN-SIXTY CHAMPIONSHIP (UT)
45. Vermont 13TH VERMONT RESORT OPEN! (VT)
46. Virginia BOOZ ALLEN 2ND CLUB CHAMPIONSH (VA)
47. Washington CLARK HARMON MEMORIAL (WA)
48. West Virginia UNITED STATES AMATEUR SOUTH (WV)
49. Wisconsin SCORCHING 15 (WI)
50. Wyoming 2018 NEW WYOMING OPEN (WY)
51. District of Columbia DC)US CHESS CENTER LADDER (DC)

1.