The Keith Delia Memorial tournament has been added. It will run on (Saturday) October 20 starting at 9:30 AM. It will not be played at Vassar College, Rockefeller Hall. Instead, it will run at Secretary Ernie’s church at 469 Coldenham Rd, Walden, NY 12586. Thanks to Ernie Johnson for the space to run the event. Details have been added to our events tab.
- E. Johnson 1989 W13 1.0
- M. Courtney 1984 W14 1.0
- A. Haoula 1984 W15 1.0
- R.Simmons 1833 W16 1.0
- T. Brooks 1819 W17 1.0
- C. Fisher 1805 W18 1.0
- R. Topaloglu 1792 W19 1.0
- J. Oracz 1765 W20 1.0
- J. Weigand 1753 W21 1.0
- H. Salazar 1738 W22 1.0
- B. Topczylko unr W12 1.0
- H. Stenger 1702 L11 0.0
- D. Jafary 1655 L1 0.0
- S. Gould 1599 L2 0.0
- M. Mendez 1520 L3 0.0
- R. Whearty 1469 L4 0.0
- O. Raz 1358 L5 0.0
- D. Wright 1268 L6 0.0
- M. Guse 1116 L7 0.0
- B. Ray 483 L8 0.0
- B. Ferrier unr L9 0.0
- H. Huston unr L10 0.0
I would like to put a quick blurb on our parking situation near Rockefeller Hall (especially for the club championship/DCC weeks). Our directions page is here to get to the area. Once on that side road on campus, across from Rockefeller is a rectangular parking lot with about a half dozen spots (driving south its on the left, north on the right). These fill quickly on our busier weeks. On the same side of the road, you will see a street (one-way against) feeding into the intersection. Loop around the main building to net five more spots after those designated for admissions.
Alternatively, making an immediate right from the north gate is the main visitor parking lot, even though the walk is a bit long from there. Follow the street behind the lot, it turns south and leads to more parking, although these spaces also fill quickly, although not as quickly as the set mentioned above.
There is parking on the main gate driveway right after the guard shack, but I have almost never seen parking there, although I have observed some members walking in that direction when leaving. Maybe I’m just unlucky.
Finally, there’s parking on Raymond Av itself. There’s a break in the stone wall with an iron arch gate and (I believe) a sorority/frat across the street. A pedestrian path leads into the campus. Parking there and taking that path will lead pass the library, and Rockefeller Hall is the next building. This is the most surefire way to get a spot if you notice its 715 and everywhere else is full. In almost every case I have been able to pull right up next to the arch itself.
Happy parking and we’ll see you next week at our club championship.
John Weigand won the Poughkeepsie Fall Blitz with 12/13, only losing to Ernie Johnson, who managed 11/13. Welcome to all our newcomers, we’re here almost every Monday (except holiday Mondays) from 7-11, with players arriving starting around 6:30 for skittles. A complete rundown of the event is below (out of a max score of 13):
- John Weigand – 12
- Ernie Johnson – 11
- Bob Wehrli – 10
- Mark Courtney – 9.5
- Eric Horsboll – 8.5
- Cameron Flores – 8.5
- Ahmed – 7
- Bob Fanshel – 7
- Craig Fisher – 6.5
- Darius Jafary – 4
- Ben Ferrier – 3
- Bert Topczylkw – 3
- Ligebi – 1
- Hance Huston – 0
The club championship will begin next Monday (September 17). It is highly recommended to arrive at the playing site between 6:30 and 7 (as supposed to the normal 7 – 715), as parking is limited at our high turnout events.
Several current and former members at our club (and neighboring Middletown) participated in this year’s NYS Championship up in Albany. Here’s a rundown of the results (with prizes if any):
- U1500: Howard Jacobus, 4.0/6
- U1500: Monroe Steindorf, 3.0/6
- U1800: John Weigand, 4.0/6
- U1800: Darius Jafary, 2.5/6
- U2100: Chris Brooks, 5.0/6, T-1st
- U2100: Ernie Johnson, 4.0/6
- U2100: Mike Semel, 3.0/6
- U2100: Ken Evans, 2.0/6
- U2100: Craig Fisher, 1.5/4
- Open: NM Lonnie Kwartler, 2.0/6
- Open: FM Bobby Sulman, 2.0/6
- Open: NM Dore Sheppard, 2.0/6
The club reopens for business on Monday, September 10 with an unrated blitz.
Our club championship commences on Monday, September 17, and runs for five rounds.
Our Autumn schedule has been added, and it will “kick off” on September 10. Some events have been omitted temporarily but will be added soon!
John Weigand finished with a disappointing 3/4 in the u1800 section at the recently completed Bradley Open in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The upcoming NYS Championship over Labor Day weekend should feature quite a few regulars. A reminder that the club will have a three week hiatus, with no meetings on Aug 20, 27 and Sept 3. Normal business will resume with the Club Championship on the 10th.
Ten players competed in the dual-rated (G/30 + 10 sec delay) Action Swiss. While the playing area at Vassar was hotter than a Native American sweat lodge, the action at the boards was even hotter. Well, at least that’s what I imagine a professional journalist writing. I’ll keep the hyperbole to a minimum from here on out.
When the dust and humidity had settled, two players shared the top spot with 3 out of 4 points: Mark Courtney and Scott Strattner.
Shared? What do you mean? This is chess, there is no sharing, there must be a winner!
When I created the event in the tournament software (vegachess.com), I configured it to use three tiebreaks, the type and order specified by USCF. Specifically:
- Modified Median (also known as Bulchholz Median)
- Solkoff (also known as Bulcholz)
- Cumulative
Unfortunately, the application of these tiebreaks did not determine a winner:
There is a fourth tiebreak – Cumulative of the opponents scores. This tiebreak is not listed in Vega (hey, it is free, what can you expect). And calculating it is a pain in the neck. You have to take each person’s opponent, and calculate their round-by-round score, then adding them all together. With 1/2 point subtracted from the sum for each 1/2 point bye taken by the player. So let’s do the math together:
Mark’s opponents:
- Mendez: 0 + 0 + 0 + 1 = 1
- Strattner: 1 + 1.5 + 2.5 + 3 = 8
- Leo: .5 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 2.5 = 6
- Johnson: .5 + 1 + 2 + 2.5 = 6 – 1 = 5
Total: 1 + 8 + 6 + 5 = 20
Scott’s opponents:
- Ferrier: 0 + 0 + 1 + 1 = 2
- Courtney: 1 + 1.5 + 2.5 + 3 = 8
- Evans: .5 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 2.5 = 6
- Fisher: .5 + 1 + 2 + 2.5 = 6 – 1 = 5
Total: 2 + 8 + 6 + 5 = 21
So, there we have it. Scott edges out Mark in the 4th tiebreak, 21 – 20. Writing this post was more grueling than facing Craig’s French defense (and that was grueling!).
As listed in the event schedule, a trophy is also given to the top Booster (best score in bottom half of participants by rating).
So who is the top player in the bottom half? Although it is close, the answer is Ken Evans!
Craig Fisher (2.5): Regular = 1810, Quick = 1805
Ken Evans (2.5): Regular = 1800, Quick = 1731
Finally, while appreciative, the winner and TD will not accept a trophy, thus providing more money to the club (and getting us that much closer to hosting another GM simul, hopefully).
References (for those who wish to learn more about tiebreaks and do not have access to the USCF rulebook):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchholz_system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tie-breaking_in_Swiss-system_tournaments
Leo Freyvert won last week’s quick chess event with a perfect 3/3! Ernie Johnson, Mark Courtney and Trevor Brooks finshed with 2/3 apiece. We move on to an action event, details on results coming soon!
Several club members played in this past weekend’s World Open. A breakdown as to what occurred follows:
- Chris Brooks (u2200): Hampered by a recent injury to his playing hand and wrist – lost three heart-breakers in the final seconds early on in the event and finished 3-1-5, including a reentry after the first loss.
- John Weigand (u1800): After flirting with drama in the early rounds, faltered a bit mid-tournament and ended up with a very respectable 6/9 in his first “major”.
- JJ Oracz (u1800): JJ was up and down all tournament long and finished with a decent 5/8.
- Darius Jafary (u1800): Darius was also up and down, finished with 4/9.
- Michael Mendez (u1800): Mendez had a tough tournament saying the least, only scoring 2.5/9.
Better luck next year 😉
The club reopens tonight for business after a break for the holiday with a short three round quick event.