WCA Veteran’s Tournament Nov. 3-4

WCA Veteran’s Tournament
The highest finishing entrant age 50 and over will receive a trophy and the title of 2007 Wisconsin Senior Champion.

This will be my 4th consecutive time playing in this tournament. I have a pretty good record in this event 9-1=4.

Last year's winner was DANIEL L LINDQUIST. The 2006 Wisconsin Senior Champion was JAMES J COONS . Average attendance for the past 3 years was 35.

2006 Results

2005 Results

2004 Results

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ALEXANDER BETANELI and TATIANA VAYSERBERG tied for first with 4.5/5.0

Bill Elger won the The 2007 Wisconsin Senior Champion Trophy on tie breaks.

USCF Results

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I went 2-1=1. I lost the last round to Anthony Parker (1997). I played the white side of IQP and thought that I was doing well, but lost the thread somewhere. I am looking at the game to see where I could have improved.

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Quick Chess Event

Location : Waukesha Chess Club

4 Round Swiss. Time control G/12 with 3 sec. delay.

I scored 3-1=0.

USCF Results

This is the positon just before I made the losing move Nd6 againts Stanley T Garvin(1816). This was one of those games where I had Black under pressure for most of the game and under estimated the power of the Black queen.

I was talking to Ashish Vaja after the game and he thought the best move here was to take the knight and then playing f4 gaining a tempo to play the knight fork on c7, when White should win.

13 Round Blitz Event

Location : Southwest Chess Club

I didn't do so well 5-7=1, but I lost to only one person rated below me and drew an expert.

Results

1991 Wisconsin Champion(joint) David Penkalski won the event. It looks like he will start playing again, making him the highest rated active Wisconsin player at 2414.

Waukesha Chess Club G/90 , 4 rounds

Location : Waukesha Chess Club
There were around 32 players.

William Williams(2215) wins with 4.0/4.0. I was second with 3.5/4.0 (with 1/2 point bye)

USCF Results

1. Sep 26th Bye
2. Oct 3rd Win Black vs CHAPLEAU, JAMES FRANK (1498)
3. Oct 10th Win White vs ANDERSON, KYLE MATTHEW (1620)
4. Oct 17th Win White vs JAMES W NICKELL (1588)

Rating: 1839-1851

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Round 2 - Win (Bye for Round 1)

Hiarcs found the following very interesting possibilty. Had my opponent seen it, he would have turned the tables and won the game. Although I am up a whole piece, White's army is fully mobilized with 16 units of fire power aiming at me.

Find the best move for White in the following position:

Click here for the game

2007 Midwest Class Championships

Tournament Results

Prize Winners

GUREVICH, DMITRY clear first with 4.5/5.0

MEEROVICH, ILAN (2057) goes 2-0=3 in the Master Section! With a rating jump of 2057 ->2124

Blogger Dennis Monokroussos from the The Chess Mind and Thursday night lecturer on Radio ChessBase played in the Master Section.

Here is some information on the FREE Thurday night lectures:-

Dennis Monokroussos' Radio ChessBase lectures begin on Thursdays at 9 p.m. EDT, which translates to 01:00h GMT, 02:00 Paris/Berlin, 11:00h Sydney (on Friday). Other time zones can be found at the bottom of this page. You can use Fritz or any Fritz-compatible program (Shredder, Junior, Tiger, Hiarcs) to follow the lectures, or download a free trial client.

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I had a bye in round one , won the 2nd , but lost 3 in a row after that!

I had a quick win in round one. Maybe a strange combination of overconfidence and nervousness contributed to my down fall. In round 2, I had to find good defensive moves after my opponent ceded the exchange, but didn't' manage to do so. In round 4, I won a pawn and had a great position, but made many inaccurate moves. In round 5, I went into an ending that is supposed to be equal. We got into an opposite coloured bishop ending that I was sure was easy to draw, but later analysis shows that it wasn't that simple and Black was the only one with winning chances.

Click here for my Games

Greg Knutson - Madison

Erik Santarius wins with a 5-0 result

Tournament Results

Top seeds were
1. Navin Sawalani 2284
2. Alexander Betaneli 2277
3. Erik Santarius 2158
4. Tatiana Vayserberg 2152

I went into the last round in a confident mood. I was paired aginst Brian Luo to whome I had never lost, but he won this time to bring our record to 1-1=2.

In the following fairly equal position I made the the horrible move 43. Rxf7??. That was a shame since I was only 2 moves away from making time control at 45. ( I had about 30 seconds left) . A couple of moves before I played another bad move g4 which lost the h-pawn. That's what I get for bad time management.
I finished with 3-2=0 (Losses to 2284 and 2065)
Performance rating: 1866
Rating Change: 1859-1860

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Wssconsin tour

The "A" Class race will get interesting. Parker gained the most points, but he is still behind me, but Joel Kenny should move up from Class "B" to class "A" and he will be above me, since he was 8 points ahead of me and did .5 better than me in the Knutson tournament. It will all come down to the final event, the Wisconsin Memorial in December.

4 Round G/100 at Hales Corners

I am playing in a 4 round G/100 tournament at the Southwest Chess Club . After 3 rounds there are two plyers with 2.5 and I am the only one with 2. I will probably play James Coons. My record against Coons is 4-3=1

Click here for the Games

1. Sep 20 Loss Me vs FOGEC, THOMAS G (1639)
2. Sep 27 Win CORRADO CIRILLO (1757) vs Me
3. Oct 04 Win MUNOZ, DANIEL A (1805) vs Me
4. Oct 11 Loss Me vs COONS, JAMES J (1922)

My results 2-2=0

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Round 3

I blundered another rook, but still managed to win!
The following is a critical position. exf5 was the correct move, but I played gxf5??

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Round 2 - A Knight fork

Here I played 18...Nd3 which wins the f pawn.

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Round 1 - Chess Blindness

It's been a while since I made a gross blunder. I was hoping not to make any of those especially with a huge time advantage, but that's exactly what I did. In the following fairly equal postion I played Re3??
It's interesting that I explored
Re3 Bxg2
Qxg2 Qxc1
But decided that I could just play Rg3. So I was considering the the c1-h6 diagonal, but somehow missed the e3 equare.

Who is Bobby Polgar?

I was searching for chess books at the library and came across this chess based romance novel. Interesting name for the lead character.

74 Seaside Avenue (Cedar Cove, Book7) (Mass Market Paperback)
by Debbie Macomber

No, I am not going to read it although I read the review at Amazon

Badger Open - Milwaukee

Round 1 Action Wagner vs Betaneli.

All participants were required to wear orange shirts for this round*

The open section had only 14 players.

The top seeds were

1.Betaneli (2277)
2.Stamnov (2217)
3.Santarius (2158)
4.Luo (2071) #2 Age 10 in the nation

Wesley Furguson(1966) wins clear first with 4/5.

Finishing with 3.5/5 were : Betaneli, Stamnov and Santarius.

Click here for USCF results

Betaneli and Santarius who were tied with 3 points going into the last round decided on a quick draw. Luo had a sub par tournament 1-1=3

I tied for 1st-2nd Under 2000 with 3/5 (2-1=1 plus a bye)

Draw LUO, BRIAN J 2071
Win COVIC, MEHMED 1847
Loss PARKER, ANTHONY LEE 1987
Win GROCHOWSKI, ROBIN J 1789

My record against Brian Luo is now 1-0=2. Not too shabby considering that there is at least one master who has a 0-2 record against him.

In my only loss I sacrificed a Bishop that netted me the exchange. I then won a pawn, but got myself into time trouble, and in the last move before time control blundered it all away. Later analysis shows that I could have probably drawn this game.

After I played Bh2

The critical last move before time control. Re6 here and I am fine, but I played the horrible Nb6 allowing Be5 after which with best play I may be able to draw, but ended up losing.

Click here for my Games

Performance rating = 2021
Rating Change = 1839-1859

*Just kidding about the orange shirts

Paul Hoffman's new book: King's Gambit...

Three interesting paragraphs from Paul Hoffman's new book King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game

When a player gets violent, his wrath is often directed not at spectators or his opponent but at himself. One contemporary Russian grandmaster has been known to pick up the pointiest chess piece, usually the bishop or a knight with a particularly jagged mane, and stab his own head until it bleeds. Then he rushes out of the tournament hall only to return for the next round as if nothing untoward has happened. At one event, this grandmaster was among the tournament leaders who were playing on an elevated stage. When he lost a key game, he bloodied his face and then, in an extreme masochistic flourish, dove off the three-foot-high stage, belly-flopping onto the hard floor.

Such behavior is exceptional, but even stable personalities have trouble accepting defeat. Garry Kasparov, the thirteenth world champion, frequently storms off like a bull, shoving aside spectators who are in his path. Pascal can be withdrawn and sullen for hours. When I lose, I repeatedly remind myself that chess is only a game. Yet even that reminder doesn't stop me from replaying in my head not only the moves of the game where I went astray, but also all the other things in my life that have gone wrong.

Most of the world's top players have strenuous exercise routines to balance their sedentary chess playing. Bobby Fischer worked out regularly long before it was fashionable, and Kasparov pumped iron, swam, and rowed as part of his chess training. "Your body has to be in top condition," Fischer said. "Your chess deteriorates as your body does. You can't separate mind from body."

Washington D.C.

National Air and Space Museum

Road Trip

I will be taking a break from tounament chess Aug 15 - Sep 8th.

I will be embarking on a ~3000 mile road trip:

Milwaukee->Toronto->Ottawa->Montreal->Quebeq->N.Y.->D.C.->Chicago->Milwaukee

Although I won't be playing any tournament chess I plan to visit a few chess cafes etc. (Washington Square)

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Toronto - Street food (Tandoori Chicken) at the South Asian festival in Little India, Gerrad Street

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Ottawa - Parliament Building

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Montreal - 1976 Olympic Stadium

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Quebec City

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Washington Square

I sat down at one of the tables. The guy started with small talk about Anand, since he thought I was from India. He then wanted to play a game with no conditions to see where I stood. I didn't play that well and resigned when I lost a piece. I was ready for a money game now, but he refused to play me. He probably thought that I threw the game!

Waukesha G/90 Double Quads

I started this tournament with two losses but finished off with 3 wins in a row, including a nine move win against James Coons (1921) in round 4. I have a bye in the last round, due to my road trip.

I think that using my performance rating in the last 10 rated games is a pretty good indication of current form. I am currently at 1973. This is a link to my performance in the last 10 rated games. Once this tournament is rated I should be around 1840.

Click here for my games

Round 5 WALKER, ARLEN P (1849) ws me WIN

Black to play

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Round 4 Me vs COONS, JAMES J(1921) WIN

Black to play

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Round 3 Me vs WALKER, ARLEN P (1849) WIN

Check out the e-file!

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Round 2 COONS, JAMES J(1921) vs Me LOSS

Got a great position but then blundered a vital pawn 24...Bc8??. Even a pawn down I was not in bad shape, but had to play 26...Qf6 (after 25. Nxd5 Nxd5 26. Bxd5)

Black to move

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Round 1 Me vs VELIKANOV, ALEXANDER (1830) LOSS

I was out played in the opening and middle game

Midstate Open Tournament, Peoria

I normally don't like to play in tournaments with a time controls faster than G/60, but decided to play in this G/45(with 5 sec delay), 4 round event. I finished 3-1=0. With wins against a 2000 and a 1861. But I lost to a 1659 after getting a great position.

NM Pete Karagianis won the tournament with 4-0 score. 4 tied for 2nd with 3-1.

Click here for USCF results

Click here for my games

In the first round I was paired against an unrated player. In the next three games I didn't manage my time well, but this was expected since I don't play G/45 that often.

In the 2nd round I was paired against a 2000 rated player. As a d4 player I don't have to deal with the Sicilian Defense, but when black plays 1...c5 after 1.d4, I don't like to play d5. I was talking about this to my expert friend Jose Gatica, and he suggested that I should go in for a Maróczy Bind. So far I am 1-0=1 against an average rating of 1990 with the Maróczy. According to theory White has no business castling queen side in the Maróczy, but I didn't know that! In the end I was very short on time but managed to mate my opponent with 45 seconds left.

Black should have played f6 at some point to prevent the dangers associated with h5 by White. It's interesting that h5 is so strong that I can even give up a rook for it. In other words I could have played 22.h5

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This a position from the 3rd round loss. I am Black with the move. I spent a lot of time trying to get the Bf2->Bxg3 idea to work and got myself into bad time trouble. Bad time trouble makes you do weird things. I decided that since I had invested so much time on the above variation I was going to play it anyway although I didn't see how Black could get an advantage. Bf2 was not bad, but taking on g3 was.

After this 3rd round loss I had to get my self in mental shape before facing the 29 ranked 13 year old in the nation Jason Chien (1861). I planned on getting to an end game in an equal but solid position and then trying to outplay my opponent. As White I played passive but solid moves and I am sure Black was better, especially after he got in e5. But once he played c4, I was confident that I could outplay him. The game went into a rook and pawn ending where I was up 2 pawns. I managed to win his rook with less than a min. left on my clock.

Southwest Chess Club Championship

The 2007 Southwest Chess Club Championship ended today.

Final Results

My last round game against Coons was very interesting.

I tried a new opening and got into all kinds of trouble with my king in the middle of the board, but my king almost made it back to safety. Although I lost this game the following possible variation made the game worth while.

Here I played the losing 12....Ke6, since White can play d5+ then Bf4+ and d6. What's amazing is that the best move here is 12...g6! 13.Qd5+ Kg7 14.Qxa8 Bb4+ 15.Bd2 Qe7+ 16.Kd1 and Black is ok. But since White did not play the best moves, the game ended up in the following postion where I could have consolidated with Qb6 and then Ke7, Kf8, but I thought I could force an exchange of queens by going Qe8, but I ended up exposing my king to a deadly attack

After ....Qe8, Qh4 Qe4, Qf2 White is winning! The Queen check on c5 through my rook is a big threat.

2007 Catfish Days etc.

I think I have addressed my confidence issues, these are the last ten results. (That last loss could have easily been a win, details below)

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2007 Catfish Days Results

Organizer : James Kanne

Unique locally handcrafted trophies

I talked about previous Catfish Tournaments here.

Going into the last round, a win would have guaranteed a tie for second place, and my 1987 rated opponent handed me the game on a platter:(Looks like a position from Chess Tactics Server)

here Bb5 wins , but I just missed it (possible reasons; time trouble, didn't think my opponent would make such a mistake(I did see the move right after I took my hand off the Bishop on b3))

A few moves later I didn't see a move that lost the game (It's hard to believe that White has no defence here).

Game replay

GBO 2007

My Games

Final results

It's nice to see a fellow adult A player have a great tournement. Mike Neitman went 5-0 to tie for first with Erik Santarius. In the 2nd round Mike beat the top seed Alex Betaneli.

Mike Neitman's rating jump : 1827 -->1940!

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I finished 2-1=1

For a description of playing conditions etc click here. (Greg's Chess Progress)

This and that..............

It was confirmed today by the organizer that there will NOT be a 2007 Governor's Cup in Sioux Falls SD. That's a shame since it was a one of my favorite events from last year.

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Dennis Monokroussos had some comments for me on his blog (scroll down to Getting to 2000?)

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When I started my plan to get to 2000 was to play many rated games, then get a coach and work on my weaknesses, and also study tactics/end games. That's what I did(I only got about 5 lessons). I did start making progress (measured by rating going upto 1885) . But about 4 months ago things started going wrong when I kept losing lots of games and my rating went back down to my floor of 1800.

I plan to do the same thing again. Most of the stronger players say I play far too much. I plan to spend Aug and Sep working with a coach.

Western Open, Milwaukee WI, July 7-8

Tournament Results

Although my result (0-3=2) was horrible, I learned a lot and had a good time. In the first round I was paired against expert RENE GLEN ANCHETA who tied for first last year.

In this game I had the following position.

All I have to do is take the knight(37 Nxd6) and then Play 38.Q f5 or 38.Q e2.

I decided to play 37 Qe2 first, I am still better but not after the horrible blunder 38.Ne2?? (after 37...Nde4) Black now wins with 38...Qb2 ouch!

Your mental state playes a big part in your results. I was feeling pretty bad after this loss. In the next round I was paird against a 1900 player and had the following position. I am up a piece AND threatening mate but with 15 seconds left (vs about 2min) settled for a draw. I didn't see that f7 was a safe square. Earlier I made a mental note not to go to g3 as it allowes a queen check on e8. For some reason I though that f7 was a bad square too.

After these two set backs I couldn't get back in mental shape for the next round and lost pretty routinely. In the fourth round after being a pawn down for a long while, manageed to draw against a 1844 player. I remembered most of what I had learned about defending a rook end game a pawn down. At this stage I probably should have withdrawn , but I did play the last round against a 1888 player and hung a piece very early in the game.

I know that if I had beaten the expert in the first round, it would have boosted my confidence for the rest of the rounds. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

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I heard that there might not be a Governor's Cup in South Dakota this your, due to hotel issues.

This and that..............

Here is a tournament I highly recommend: CATFISH DAYS CHESS TOURNAMENT in Franklin, MN

I have played there twice and had a great time. Unfortunately I don't think I will be able to go this year. (I am playing in two other w-end tournaments this month and it's a 6.5 hr. drive)

Here is a link to an article by Pete Karagianis on the 2004 version

Here is a page I put together for the 2005 version

2005 cross table

2006 cross table

CATFISH DAYS CHESS TOURNAMENT
2007July 27 & 28, Friday and Saturday. Franklin MN.

Stay at the Casino and have fun.The much praised, longest running out-state tournament.

5-SS RDS: 1-5:30-9;1-5 TL: Game/90 + 15 sec. PZ: 1st $300, 2nd $180, 3rd $110 and Class prizes. 5 Trophies: Open, u2100, u1850, u1600 & u1350. EF: early registration A and above $23; B and below $20; at the door $30. The famous Potluck supper is at 5:00 Friday. Send registrations to James Kanne, 66104 Co. Road 5, Franklin MN 55333. ( #507.557.8334)

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I was following the USCF forums and saw a thread about an organizer who organizes chess tournaments with names that resemble actual events(e.g. 2007 ACA 150th Anniversary US Open) in order to fool players. He has managed to post his tournament on the Wisconsin Chess Website. I have been trying to contact the webmaster, but have had no luck.

Check out the prizes for this event: $6000-3000-2000-1000-600-400-300-200 in Round Table Pizza $20 gift certificates

UPDATE : Link has been removed from Wisconsin Chess Website

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I made a $2o wager with Tony from Tony's Chess and Softball Blog.
Who ever has the higher rating in the Dec 2008 rating supplement wins.

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Every Thursday at 8:00 pm central time there is a free lecture by NM Dennis Monokroussos.

Dennis Monokroussos' Radio ChessBase lectures begin on Thursdays at 9 p.m. EDT, which translates to 01:00h GMT, 02:00 Paris/Berlin, 11:00h Sydney (on Friday). Other time zones can be found at the bottom of this page. You can use Fritz or any Fritz-compatible program (Shredder, Junior, Tiger, Hiarcs) to follow the lectures, or download a free trial client.

This is the Dennis Monokroussos site.