The results are in, and Dr. Craig Fisher takes first place (with 3 points) on tiebreaks, by virtue of having played all four rounds. The trophy will be presented at the 2nd or 3rd round of the Turning Leaves Swiss. Also finishing with 3 points were the 2 new participants in the 2nd half of the tournament, Ernie Johnson and Ken Carpenter.
See the USCF for the full crosstable results.
Happy Columbus Day! Right now the last two rounds of the Columbus Quick are being played (as tournament director and house player I can use the computer if I am not playing). The winner, who will be presented a gold (colored) trophy, will be decided tonight. While we wait, here’s the results so far (first name listed is White in all games):
Round 1
George Oliveras drew with Scott Strattner, a result that Scott was very grateful to receive after being down the exchange for most of the game. Noah Kulick defeated Michael O’Connor, Michael Mendez lost to Dr. Craig Fisher, and Ken Evans got the best of newcomer, Chris Orcutt.
Round 2
Craig continued his winning ways, capturing Noah’s unprotected rook and the game. Scott won too many pawns from Ken, O’Connor fell to George, and Chris, winless but not discouraged, tipped over his king against Mendez.
Standings
Craig – 2
Scott – 1.5
George – 1.5
Noah – 1
Mendez – 1
Ken – 1
O’Connor – 0
Orcutt – 0
Joining us for the second half of the tournament is Ernie Johnson, on a welcome reprieve from shuttling his daughter to class on Monday nights, and Ken Carpenter. Noah, on school holiday, had better plans.
Round 3 Pairings
George – Craig
Mendez – Ernie
Evans – Carpenter
Chris – O’Connor
Scott – Unpaired (house player)
Among the Vassar-Chadwick personalities participating in the NY State Championship, the most successful through 4 rounds has to be Brandon Wang, with a share of the lead in the Under 1800 section (3.5 points). As I type this, he may be facing his toughest opponent, and fellow Vassar-Chadwickian, Darius Jafary.
And here is Brandon’s first round win:
The last tournament held at Marist this year, the Marist Farewell, ended on Monday. The six round Swiss (G/25;d5) was won by Chris Brooks (5 points), followed by Ernie Johnson (4.5) and Ken Evans (4). Among the 9 players were two newcomers, Hernan and Adam – welcome to Vassar-Chadwick and USCF-rated chess! The event was directed by Dr. Craig Fisher.
See the USCF for full crosstable results.
The fall/winter schedule will be posted shortly, and sent out to the email list. Stay tuned!
The tournament title became a misnomer, as the anemic Jumbo Swiss ended with a whimper, the last (5th) round canceled due to only three players (who had already played each other) showing up last Monday. Sparsely attended, but yet games were played – and winners were crowned. Congrats to David Antonucci (3/4) and Naor Isak (2.5) for taking first and second respectively.
David, Naor, and Krishnan Ram also won chess books; look for more such giveaways this fall, as the TD looks to pare down his chess library.
Trophies will be presented after Labor Day, when the club returns to Vassar for the Fall session. The schedule will be updated shortly.
Eight players participated in the July 1st Patriotic Quads (G/15, 5 second delay), making for a nice two section event. The first quad consisted of (in rating order): Ayman Haoula, Ernie Johnson, Scott Strattner, and Noah Kulick. The second quad: Craig Fisher, David Gonzalez, Ron Holland, and Rich Dobbins.
Ayman and Noah finished with 2 points each (with Noah taking the non-existent prize on tiebreaks by winning the head-to-head match). Ron went undefeated in his quad, gaining over a hundred Quick rating points.
Congrats to Noah and Ron!
See the USCF crosstable for full results.
Noah Kulick has won the recently completed Junebug Swiss (4 round, G/60) with a perfect score, and a rating increase to 1957! Fellow Vassar student, David Gonzalez, takes second place on tiebreaks (2.5/4), after drawing Dr. Fisher in the first round and losing in the last round to Noah. It was a fun game to watch, perhaps one of them will share it with us (hint, hint).
Trophies will be awarded before the first round of the July Jumbo Swiss (7/8 – 8/5).
One game deserving mention (if only because Ernie graciously shared this loss with us) is Michael Mendez’ victory against Ernie’s unconventional opening. After a tactical oversight allows Mendez to win the exchange, he does well to finish the job – trading pieces and ending up in a winning endgame.
White: Ernie Johnson
Black: Michael Mendez
Event: Junebug Swiss
Round: 4
1. b4 g6 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. e4 d6 4. Bc4 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. d3 e5 7. Nbd2 c6 8. Bb3
Na6 9. a3 Nc7 10. O-O Be6 11. c4 Nh5 12. Rc1 Nf4 13. Nb1 Qc8 14. c5 Bxb3 15.
Qxb3 Ne2+ 16. Kh1 Nxc1 17. Rxc1 dxc5 18. Rxc5 Ne6 19. Rc4 Nd4 20. Bxd4 exd4 21.
Nxd4 Qd7 22. Nf3 Rad8 23. d4 Qe6 24. e5 b5 25. Rc3 Qxb3 26. Rxb3 Rfe8 27. Nbd2
f6 28. Re3 Bh6 29. Re2 Bxd2 30. Rxd2 fxe5 31. Rc2 Rd6 32. h3 exd4 33. Rd2 d3
34. Kg1 Re2 35. Kf1 Rxd2 36. Nxd2 Kg7 37. f3 Kh6 38. Ke1 Rd8 39. Ne4 Kh5 40.
Kd2 g5 41. g3 Kg6 42. Nc5 Kf5 43. Nxd3 Ke6 44. Ke3 Kd5 45. f4 Re8+ 46. Kd2 gxf4
47. gxf4 Ke4 48. Kc3 h5 49. h4 Rg8 50. a4 Rg4 White resigns
After three rounds Noah Kulick sits on top with 3 points, followed by fellow Vassar student David Gonzalez with 2.5. Mark Webb and Scott Strattner have 2 points, and four players (Naor Isak, Michael O’Connor, Michael Mendez, Ken Evans) sit on 1.5 points.
Last round is on June 24th, and remember that before the start of the round a book prize drawing will take place. Those who will have played all 4 rounds will be placed in the drawing, with the winner getting their choice of one gently used chess book.
Full Standings:
This past weekend Tarrytown, NY hosted the 2013 US Junior Open. Vassar-Chadwick tournament veteran Brandon Wang participated in the Under 11 section, and finished with an impressive 4 out of 6. One of his losses was to the section winner, Daniel Levkov. Daniel had a 400 point rating advantage, but Brandon held his own and did not give up the fight until move 50. Here’s the game.
Justus Williams won the top section (Under 21), while the Under 1600 prize in that section went to Brittany Denniston, who participated in the 2011 Dutchess County Championship. Update: I can’t believe I didn’t notice Colin Denniston (another 2011 DCC player), who played in the Under 15 section, scored 4.5 out of 6, and is now sporting a very impressive 1844 rating. Strong juniors in our area. Could be an interesting 2014 Dutchess County Championship!
Seventeen players participated in our 6 round, 3 night Swiss tournament of G/30 chess, the last tournament of the Vassar campus cycle. Ayman Haoula captured first place, with 5 points, only dropping one game (to Chester Bean), and raising his rating to 2035. Congratulations to our newest Expert! Ernie Johnson took 2nd place on tiebreaks (3.5/6), earning better tiebreaks through not taking any byes. Trophies will be presented at the start of the June 3rd tournament in Marist.
See the USCF for the full crosstable.