76th Annual Southwest Open

Click here for final standings

Click here for USCF results

More pictures here

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

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

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

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

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Sadorra vs Ioan (Rnd 4) 0-1

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

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View from the playing hall on the 11th floor.

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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].

1. Win Black vs Henry Velasquez (1500)
2. Win White vs Christian Leos (1718)
3. Win Black vs Alok Kumar (1930)
4. Win White vs James Ukoli (1940)
5. Loss Black vs Clement Rendon (1916)
6. Win White vs Alexander Jiang (1886)
7. 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.

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back to square one!

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

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.

1. 2311 Santarius Erik
2. 2029 Jin David
3. 2027 Pan Hongkai

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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!

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I finished with 2-1=1

1. Win Kline, Jeff (unrated)
2. Win Delaney, Greg (1574)
3. bye
4. Draw Yingming, Liang (

   1969)
5. Loss Stein, Josiah (1965)

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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)

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.

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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

Info here

Round 7 Betaneli vs Shabalov

I plan to play in the Blitz event

New Brunswick Open

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)

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I broke even.

1. Win vs Cui, Leonardo (1069)
   
2. Draw vs Davis, Neil (2056)
   
3. Loss vs MacDonald, Jonathan (2209)
   
4. Loss vs McKim, Fred (2027)
   
5. Win vs Ossinger, Brian (1611)
   

Click here for the cross table

Chess, Soccer & Barbecue

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

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

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.

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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

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

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)

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.

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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!"

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This is what I had in mind

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

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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.