May Swiss results

Posted on by May 23, 2013

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.

Shower Blitz results

Posted on by May 5, 2013

On Monday April 29th the club hosted a blitz event using a new (and approved) time control of 5 minutes per game with 3 second delay. Turnout was low, but that allowed for a double round-robin format – everyone played everyone else twice, once with each color. Vassar student Noah Kulick went undefeated, easily besting the field. Scott Strattner took 2nd, and Dr. Craig Fisher held 3rd. Richard Dobbins rounded out the field, and given that he had to face three other class A players, he made the best of a difficult situation. He also showed off an iPad chess clock, which was pretty interesting and held up well during the games.

The delay was a welcome addition to the blitz format. While all the games were decisive, it helped ensure that the player with the better position could grind out the win, rather than have to worry about the clock too much. I believe if we host more blitz events, at least those that are rated, we should keep the delay.

Those who participated in this event are now proud owners of provisional blitz ratings, newly minted by the USCF. See their site for the full crosstable.

 

April Swiss results

Posted on by April 26, 2013

Twelve players (plus the house player, but he doesn’t count) participated in the April Swiss this year, a 3 round, game 70 event. The time control appears to work for many people, allowing for a good amount of time to think while still finishing at a reasonable hour. Look for more of these long time control events (with even more rounds) in the near future, as people’s opinions expressed to me (and the current result of the poll on our website) indicate that longer is better when it comes to a chess game.

But I digress, back to the April Swiss. The tournament was won by Ernie Johnson, who finished with 2.5 points (taking a draw against Dr. Fisher in round 2). Vassar student Noah Kulick also had 2.5 points, but as he took a draw in the 2nd round (to study for school, boo!), he took 2nd place on tiebreaks.

See the USCF for the full crosstable.

The trophies for Ernie and Noah will be presented on Monday, prior to our rated Blitz event.

Memorial Tournament results

Posted on by April 23, 2013

Twenty five players competed in the rated section, with 16 more in the unrated section, a very nice turnout. Thanks to Brother John McManus (USCF Senior TD and Executive Director of the Make the Right Move chess organization) for running the rated section, and to Ken Evans for organizing this year’s tournament and acting as TD for the unrated section.

In the rated section three players ended up with 3.5 points; Alan Lasser (2004), Rudolph Van Dommele (1899) and Noah Kulick (1869). Noah took a bye in the last round, and so missed out on the tiebreaks, which went to Rudy and Alan, who were declared co-champions. Fourth place went to Craig Fisher (3 points), with Michael O’Connor (3) winning best Class B, Brandon Wang (3) winning best Class C, and Cory Boris taking best Unrated.

See USCF for full crosstable.

In the unrated section there was a clear winner, undefeated Heitor Luz, followed by Ron Calixto (4 points), Vaughn Seninde (3.5), and Luca Van Dommele (3.5).

Special thanks to Vassar college for letting us have our normal club rooms for a Saturday event.

Vote for your favorite time control

Posted on by April 8, 2013

Is there a time control you prefer to play under during club tournaments? Want to see more Blitz, Quick, Dual, or Regular rated events? On the right sidebar to the club website you now have a chance to cast your vote for the time controls you’d like to see. If there are any time options you do not see listed but want to vote for, send me a note and I’ll add it to the poll. I will keep the poll open indefinitely.

For more information on the different time controls and how games played under them affect your rating, see the updated rules on the USCF site.

Games from USATE 2013

Posted on by March 17, 2013

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! In a festive mood, I am posting 17 games from last month’s team tournament, the US Amateur Team East. You will be able to replay games from Darius Jafary, Dr. Craig Fisher, and Scott Strattner. The latter inexplicably lost the scoresheet for his 4th round game; it was a loss, which means it is quite possible I tore up the sheet in rage and threw it out the hotel window…but it is still a shame to not have a record for it anymore. In any case, there are some interesting games to be found, and as always the computer found some fascinating variations (either to save a game, or win it earlier).

Full results for 2013 Dutchess County Championship

Posted on by March 13, 2013

From the TD, Michael O’Connor:

Thank you to all of you who participated in the 2013 Dutchess County Championship.  A special congratulations to the trophy winners:

Ernie Johnson    First Place

Ayman Haoula   Second Place

Bob Simmons    Class A

Mike O’Connor    Class B

Al Musumeci      Class C

[Editor’s note and interesting statistic: Class winners Bob Simmons (A), Michael O’Connor (B), and Al Musumeci (C) all ended up with 3.5 points, showing the strong parity among club members, regardless of USCF rating]

Here are the final standings:
Standings. DCC_2013
# Name                      Rd 1   Rd 2   Rd 3   Rd 4   Rd 5   Tot   TBrk[M]   TBrk[S]   TBrk[C]   TBrk[O]
1 Ernie Johnson          W3    W11    H—    W2     W7     4.5     13           13          13         41.5
2 Ayman Haoula         W14   W6      W17   L1      W9     4.0     12           13.5       13         44
3 Michael O’Connor     L1      W19    H—     W17   W10   3.5    10           10          8           33
4 Bob Simmons          W18   D9       H—    D10     W13   3.5    9             9         10         30.5
5 Al Musumeci           L10     H—      W26   W14   W11    3.5    8             8         7.5          25
6 George Oliveras       W16    L2       W21    L13    W15     3.0  11            13       9            38
7 Darius Jafary           W26    W15     H—    D9       L1      3.0    10.5        10.5     11         33
8 Jay Mayur               W27    H—      H—    U—     W18    3.0    3.5          3.5       8.5       5.5
9 Scott Strattner         W12   D4        H—    D7       L2       2.5     9           13         9         41.5
10 Craig Fisher           W5     D17       H—   D4        L3      2.5     8.5        12        9           34
11 Ken Evans             W19    L1        H—    W12     L5      2.5     7.5        12        8            31
12 Daniel Rosa           L9       W18      H—   L11      W17    2.5     5.5       8          6          28.5
13 David Antonucci      H—     H—       H—   W6       L4       2.5     3         6.5        6.5       19.5
14 Michael Mendez     L2       W16      L15    L5        W22   2.0     10       14         5           37
15 Noah Kulick           W28    L7         W14  U—       L6      2.0       7        10        8           27.5
16 Mark Webb           L6        L14        D18   D19     W26   2.0      6          9         3.5        22.5
17 Naor Isak              W29     D10       L2      L3       L12      1.5     10.5    14.5      7          39.5
18 Andrew Schmidt     L4       L12        D16   W20    L8       1.5     10         13.5    3.5         35
19 Richard Whearty    L11     L3          H—     D16    D20    1.5      6.5        10       2.5        25.5
20 Muhil Arumugam    H—     H—        U—     L18     D19    1.5     1.5          3        4           6.5
21 Bill McGreevy         H—     H—       L6       H—      U—     1.5      0           3        4            9
22 Alex Xin                 H—      H—       U—      U—     L14      1.0     0          2        3.5          5
23 Angelo Limardo      H—       H—      U—       U—       U—   1.0      0          0      3.5            0 
24 Dharshan Ram       H—       H—      U—       U—       U—   1.0      0          0      3.5            0 
25 Krishnan Ram        H—       H—       U—       U—       U—  1.0       0          0     3.5            0 
26 Sanjay Natesan     L7          H—      L5        U—        L16  0.5       5         8.5    1.5          23
27 Jeff Messerich       L8          H—       U—      U—        U—  0.5       0        3.5      1.5         9.5
28 James Lynch          L15         H—       U—      U—       U—  0.5       0         2.5      1.5         8
29 Garrett Deutermann L17        H—       U—       U—       U—  0.5       0        1.5      1.5          7
(names in italics did not actually show up to play, but were assigned byes in case they did)
See the USCF for full crosstable.
Also check out our Gallery for pictures from the tournament.

DCC Round 4 Standings

Posted on by March 3, 2013

Going into the last round, Ernie Johnson leads with 3.5 points (he has won all his games, taking a draw in the 3rd round in order to play in the USATE). Ayman and Darius have 3 points each, followed by a large number of players with 2.5 points.

Monday March 4th is the last round of the 2013 DCC tournament. Hope to see you there.

Standings. DCC_2013
# Name             ID             Rtng     Rd 1     Rd 2     Rd 3     Rd 4            Tot
1 Ernie Johnson 10089115 1995     W8         W7         H—        W2          3.5
2 Ayman Haoula 14624013 1936     W18     W11         W14        L1          3.0
3 Darius Jafary 14321073     1756     W25     W12         H—         D4          3.0
4 Scott Strattner 12524932     1951  W15     D6         H—         D3             2.5
5 Craig Fisher 10124743     1820      W9     D14         H—         D6             2.5
6 Bob Simmons 10104424 1800       W16     D4             H—        D5          2.5
7 Ken Evans 10122627 1814            W19     L1          H—         W15          2.5
8 Michael O’Connor 12592786 1688  L1        W19       H—         W14          2.5
9 Al Musumeci 12355500 1500         L5         H—       W25       W18          2.5
10 David Antonucci 12902559 1845   H—       H—       H—         W11          2.5
11 George Oliveras 12520533 1771   W20     L2          W17      L10            2.0
12 Noah Kulick 12854987 1900         W27     L3          W18      U—            2.0
13 Jay Mayur 12799903 1766           W26     H—        H—        U—            2.0
14 Naor Isak 13984194 1757            W28     D5          L2         L8               1.5
15 Daniel Rosa 12799045 1673        L4         W16      H —      L7               1.5
16 Andrew Schmidt 12432863 1477   L6        L15       D20       W21            1.5
17 Bill McGreevy 12321140 1504      H—       H—       L11       H—              1.5
18 Michael Mendez 12495089 1638  L2         W20      L12       L9                1.0
19 Richard Whearty 13468991 1489 L7         L8         H—       D20               1.0
20 Mark Webb 12840342 1444         L11       L18       D16       D19               1.0
21 Muhil Arumugam 14630661 807   H—      H—        U—       L16                1.0
22 Angelo Limardo 12547105 1500    H—     H—        U—       U—                 1.0
23 Dharshan Ram 13657630 1358     H—     H—        U—       U—                 1.0
24 Krishnan Ram 14242030 754        H—     H—        U—       U—                 1.0
25 Sanjay Natesan 15060528 unr.     L3       H—       L9          U—                   0.5
26 Jeff Messerich 13821971 295       L13      H—       U—         U—                  0.5
27 James Lynch 12088510 1506        L12       H—       U—         U—                   0.5
28 Garrett Deutermann 12719411 unr. L14      H—       U—        U—                    0.5

Blitz rating coming in March

Posted on by February 28, 2013

The USCF is planning to roll out another rating system, for Blitz events, starting March 1st. The rule update document (link to PDF) outlines the new rating:

Blitz rating system:

Blitz has its own rating system. To be rated, the time controls require from 5 to 10 minutes total playing time. See also 5C. Ratable time controls, and have a minimum primary time control of 3 minutes. All rounds must use the same time control. Hence G/3 inc/2 is rated under the Blitz system. Currently Lightning and Bullet are not included in any rating system.

The following (also found in the rules update) is a useful overview of the various time controls and which rating system they fall under.

5C. Ratable time controls. There are three rating systems. Regular (slow), Quick (fast) and Blitz. For the purposes of rating G/minutes and inc/seconds (or d/seconds), add minutes (mm) and seconds (ss) for total playing time for each player. (i.e. total time equals minutes plus (seconds times 60)) or mm+ss; e.g.: G/60 d/5 = 60+5 = 65 minutes total playing time for each player. Multiple time controls add all mm for each control: mm = mm(1) + mm(2) + …

Regular only: total playing time for each player is greater than 65 minutes. mm+ss > 65

Dual (both regular and quick): total playing time for each player is from 30 to 65 minutes. 30 < mm + ss < 65

Quick only: total playing time for each player is more than 10 and less than 30 minutes. 10 < mm+ss < 30
For Regular, Dual and Quick the primary time (mm in minutes) must be at least 5 minutes.

Blitz: total playing time for each player is from 5 to 10 minutes inclusive and the primary time control must be at least 3 minutes. 5 < mm+ss < 10 All rounds must use the same time control.