#523 Bring Your Sets To The KCC Tonight

Please bring your sets to the Community Center tonight, in case I cannot get to Kenilworth by 8 p.m. 22 of our sets were used at the Scotch Plains simul &, at present, there's just 1 in the equipment cabinet.

I shall be there no later than 8:15 and will address the club for a few minutes, starting around 8:25. Thanks.

#522 Another Awful Game

I played another awful game at West Orange, turning a clear plus (or better) after move 15 into a lost position by turn 25 & lowering my GSCL mark to (ugh!) 0-4-1 :

[Event "Garden State Chess League"]
[Site "West Orange, NJ"]
[Date "2009.06.30"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Moldovan, John"]
[Black "Hill, Joshua"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "1812"]
[BlackElo "1975"]
[Annotator "Moldovan & Rybka 2.3"]
[PlyCount "168"]
[EventDate "2009.03.03"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[Source "The Chess Coroner #522"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.01"]
[WhiteTeam "Maplewood"]
[BlackTeam "Hamilton"]

{G/75+5 D36 Queen's Gambit Exchange Variation} 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nc3 c6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Qc2 {Diagram #} Bg4 $5 {I can't believe this is any good but HIARCS 11 & Fritz 8 say the position is equal.} ({For} 7... Nbd7) (7... g6) ({&} 7... Be6 {see my games against Jesseph, Sherer (2008 PGN/CBV archives) & Rosas (post #482).}) 8. Ne5 (8. e3 $145 Nbd7 9. Bd3 Rc8 ( 9... Bh5 10. O-O-O Nf8 11. h3 Ne6 12. g4 Nxg5 13. Nxg5 Bg6 14. Bxg6 hxg6 15. Kb1 Bb4 16. Ne2 Qe7 $11 {Polugaevsky - Lein : Soviet Championship, Baku 1961}) 10. h3 Bh5 11. Bf4 Bg6 12. O-O Bxd3 13. Qxd3 O-O 14. Rac1 Ne8 $14 {Menchik - Euwe : Hastings 1935}) ({Rybka 2.3 recommends} 8. h3 Bh5 9. e3 $14 {+0.28}) 8... Bh5 9. e3 (9. g4 $145 $5 Bg6 10. Nxg6 {Schmidlechner - Lassahn : Vorarlberg 1996} hxg6 $11) (9. f3 $146 Nfd7 $11) 9... Nbd7 10. Bd3 (10. Nxd7 $142 {keeping the P structure intact.}) 10... Nxe5 11. dxe5 Ng4 12. Bf4 g5 $2 $146 (12... d4 {Drozd - Noga : Bytom 1995} 13. exd4 Qxd4 {was rather obvious. After that, Rybka calls for} 14. Be4 $8 Nxe5 15. O-O $44) 13. Bg3 Bg6 14. h3 Nh6 15. O-O-O Qa5 {Diagram #} 16. e6 $2 ({This opens the f6-c3 line for Black. } 16. h4 $16 {was right.}) 16... Bxd3 17. exf7+ Nxf7 18. Qxd3 Bf6 19. Qf5 $2 ( 19. e4 $14) 19... Bxc3 20. Qe6+ $6 (20. bxc3 $142 Qxc3+ 21. Kb1 Qb4+ 22. Ka1) 20... Kf8 21. bxc3 Qxc3+ 22. Kb1 Re8 23. Bd6+ Kg7 {Diagram #} 24. Qf5 $4 (24. Be7 $8 $15 {was required. Now I lose a piece.}) 24... Nxd6 $19 25. Qxg5+ Kf7 26. Rd4 Ne4 $2 ({Thus gives me some life & tactics.} 26... Nc4 $142 27. Rf4+ Ke6 {& White can soon resign.}) 27. Qf5+ Ke7 28. Rhd1 {Threat : 29.Rxe4! dxe4 30.Rd7 mate} Nf6 $2 29. e4 Rhf8 ({Played after 19 minutes. I guess he was trying to make captures on e4 work but it's easy to see they don't :} 29... Nxe4 $4 30. Rxe4+ $1 $14 dxe4 $140 $4 31. Rd7#) (29... dxe4 $143 $4 30. Rd7+ $3 Kf8 (30... Nxd7 31. Rxd7#) 31. R1d4 $18) 30. exd5 (30. e5 Ng8 31. Qxh7+ Rf7 32. Qh4+ {was a better try but I'm lost regardless.}) {We can skip the rest, which was.} 30... c5 31. Qe6+ Kd8 32. Qd6+ Nd7 33. R4d3 Qb4+ 34. Rb3 Qe4+ 35. Ka1 Rf6 36. Qg3 b6 37. Re3 Qf4 38. Rxe8+ Kxe8 39. Qg8+ Rf8 40. Qxh7 Qxf2 41. Qe4+ Kd8 42. Qe6 Qxg2 43. Qc6 Qg7+ 44. Kb1 Qh7+ 45. Ka1 Qxh3 46. Qa8+ Ke7 47. d6+ Ke6 48. Qd5+ Kf6 49. Rd3 Qf1+ 50. Kb2 Qf2+ 51. Ka3 Ne5 52. Rh3 Qf4 53. Qb3 Qb4+ 54. Qxb4 cxb4+ 55. Kxb4 Ke6 56. Rh6+ Kd7 57. Kb5 Rf7 58. Ka6 Nc6 59. Kb7 b5 60. a3 a5 61. Kb6 b4 62. axb4 axb4 63. Kc5 Rf5+ 64. Kc4 Rf4+ 65. Kb3 Na5+ 66. Kb2 Rf2+ 67. Kb1 Nc4 68. Rh4 Na3+ 69. Ka1 Kxd6 70. Rg4 b3 71. Rg6+ (71. Rd4+ Kc5 72. Rd5+ $1 Kb4 (72... Kxd5 $4 {stalemate}) 73. Rd4+ Nc4 {was no better.}) 71... Kc5 72. Rc6+ $1 Kb4 (72... Kxc6 $4 {stalemate}) 73. Rb6+ $1 Nb5 74. Kb1 Kc5 75. Rb8 Nd4 76. Rb7 Kc4 77. Rb8 Kc3 78. Rc8+ Kd3 79. Rb8 Kc3 80. Rc8+ Kb4 81. Rb8+ Nb5 82. Rb7 Ka3 83. Kc1 b2+ 84. Kd1 b1=Q# 0-1

More games & replays will follow.

#521 Kortchnois Capture GSCL Crown

The Kenilworth Kortchnois defeated Sparta last night, 2.5-1.5, to collect their 5th straight win and the 2009 Garden State Chess League title. Mark Kernighan led the way with his league-high 4th victory. Dr. Richard Lewis's W over Mike Sobin was the match-clincher.

In other matches :

• West Orange & Staten Island drew, 2-2.
• Hamilton whitewashed Maplewood 4-0.
  

FINAL STANDINGS
(in tie-break order)

1. Kenilworth Kortchnois 5.0
2. West Orange 3.5
3. Kenilworth Karpovs 3.0
4. Staten Island 3.0
5. Hamilton 3.0
6. Summit 2.5
7. Sparta 0.0
8. Maplewood 0.0

Full details here.

#520 STC Championship Starts July 6th

The 2009 STC World Championship, a 9-round swiss with a time control of 60+30, begins July 6th on the Internet Chess Chess, Free Internet Chess Server and World Chess Live.

The registration deadline is July 5th at 21:00 GMT (5 p.m. EDT) but you can late-join during the first 2 rounds. Full details here.

I hope to improve on last year's =4th WCL finish but might switch servers.

#519 Karpovs Beat Summit 3.5-0.5

The Kenilworth Karpovs wrapped-up their 2009 Garden State Chess League campaign on a high note, with a 3.5-0.5 victory at Summit.

• Mike Wojcio put the victorious visitors ahead 1-0 by defeating Raoul Bertorello....
• Geoff McAuliffe made it 1.5-0.5 with a draw against unbeaten Donnally Miller...
• Max Sherer clinched the match with win over Steve Jesseph, &...
• Steve Stoyko put the icing on the cake by beating Simon Thomson.

The Karpovs finished the season with a 3-2 record while Summit ended at 2-2-1.

Games will follow later this week.

#518 Garden State Wraps-Up This Week

The inagural Garden State Chess League season wraps up this week with the following matches :

Monday 6/29

• Kenilworth Karpovs (2-2) at Summit (2-2-1), 8 p.m

Tuesday 6/30

• Kenilworth Kortchnois (4-0) vs. Sparta (0-4)
• Maplewood (0-4) vs. Hamilton (2-2)
• Staten Island (2-1-1) at West Orange (3-1), 8 p.m.

Spectators are welcome.

#517 Kenilworth Summer Tourney - Round 3

Ian Mangion extended his lead with 2 wins & is on-pace to smash Scott Massey's unofficial 2004 record of 15.5 points.

Mark Kernighan won again & has 2nd place to himself. Richard Lewis & Ted Mann joined Greg Tomkovich & Don Carrelli in a tie for 3rd. I arrived late & could not get a game.

Here's a crosstable, to let you know how all 23 players stand. Games will follow later this week but, unfortunately, the 4 I have aren't good.

#516 Chitra Goes +12 -3 = 2 In Simul

Chitra Sridhar scored 12 victories, 2 draws & suffered 3 defeats in less than 3 hours against 16 simultaneous opponents (1 board was re-filled) in Scotch Plains, yesterday. She played 1.e4 in every game.

Here's the critical moment & opening moves from her loss to Bert Shiffman :

Sridhar - Shiffman

After 12...Ng4+

[Event "Chitra Simul"]

[Site "Scotch Plains, N.J., USA"]

[Date "2009.06.28"]

[Round ""]

[White "Sridhar, Chitra"]

[Black "Shiffman, Bert"]

[Result "0-1"]

[ECO "C78"]

[WhiteElo "1880"]

[BlackElo "1316"]

[Annotator "Moldovan,John"]

[PlyCount "26"]

[EventDate "2009.06.27"]

[EventType "simul"]

[EventCountry "USA"]

[SourceDate "2009.06.28"]

[Source "the Chess Coroner #516"]

{C78 Ruy Lopez, Moeller Defense} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5.

O-O Bc5 6. d3 O-O $2 (6... b5 {Archangelsk Variation} 7. Bb3 Bb7 $11 ({or} 7...

d6 $11)) ({or} 6... d6) 7. Bxc6 dxc6 8. Nxe5 Be6 9. Bg5 $2 (9. Nd2 $14) 9...

Bd4 10. c3 Bxe5 11. d4 Bxh2+ 12. Kxh2 Ng4+ 13. Kg1 $4 (13. Qxg4

Bxg4 14. Bxd8 Raxd8 $11) 13... Qxg5 $19 {White resigned after another 19 moves.} 0-1

A java-replay will follow later this week.

P.S. - The other players who drew or won are invited to email their scores or leave them as comments.

#515 Simul At Scotch Plains Library Tomorrow

NJIT graduate student Chitra Sridhar will be giving a free simultaneous exhibition at the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Public Library tomorrow afternoon (Saturday 6/27), from 1 to 4 p.m.

To play, you must pre-register by calling 908-322-5007, extension 204 or sending an email to library@scotlib.org

Directions here.

Chitra Sridhar giving a simul at NJIT

The Kenilworth Chess Club will be supplying equipment for the display but bring your own sets & boards in case they are needed.

#514 Summer Tourney - Round 2

Ian Mangion leads after taking 1.5/2 from me. Don Carrelli, Mark Kernighan & Greg Tomkovich won their lone games & are half-point back.

Ted Mann, Pat Mazzillo, Bert Shiffman & Jim Cole also notched victories.

Here are the week's replays, PGN, standings & tactical highlights :

Sherer-Kernghan

after 18.Nge2??

Black to win

Mangion-Moldovan

after 16...Be6??

White to win

Pawlowski-Carrelli

after 12.Qe2+

Black to win

Mazzillo-Sturniolo

after 10.Bh6?

Black to win a pawn

P.S.- Apologies for the delayed report. Needed a few days away from blogging.

#513 Summer Tourney - Round 1

Top seed Mark Kernighan, Ian Mangion, Don Carrelli, David Pawlowski, Greg Tomkovich & Joe Renna lead the 2009 Kenilworth Summer Tourney after the opening round of play. Each has 1 point.

I opened with a dreadful draw against Max Sherer but have annotated it for you along with Joe's & David's wins. Here's the replay page & zipped PGN.

Hopefully a higher % of games will be submitted in the weeks to come. Last year, we got 65 of the 81 scores.

Maybe we should just be putting the cream of the crop online & publishing a weekly in-house bulletin with the complete set of games. Comments are welcome.

#512 Solution To & Game From #506

The solution to the puzzle in post #512 is 1...Bxg3! &, if 2.hxg3 (Nxg6 is best.), then 2...Rxg3! idea 3.fxg3 Qxg3+ & mate next.

Here's the complete game & analysis in java-replay & PGN.

#511 Summer Tourney Starts Tonight

The Kenilworth Summer Tourney begins its 13-week run tonight.

Here are the rules :

• Entry Fee is $5.00 for KCC members; $6.00 for non-members.
• The tournament will run from June 11th through September 3rd.
• The time control is G/60.
• You may play anyone in the tournament. The first time you play an opponent, the lower rated player has white, in subsequent games against the same opponent you alternate colors.
• You may not play the same opponent more than four times in the tournament.
• You get one point for a win, one half point for a draw, and zero for a loss.
• You may play as many or as few games as you like, but no more than two in one night. The more you play the more points you can win.
• All games are to be played at the Kenilworth Chess Club during normal operating hours.
• The winner is the person who has the most points at the end of the tournament.
• The prizes are 60% for first place, 30% for second, and 10% for third.

Among those expected to play in the event are : NM Mark Kernighan (who won in 2005), Greg Tomkovich (the 2006 victor), Ian Mangion (last year's undefeated runner-up) & yours truly (the defending champ).

As usual, Greg will direct.

Important Note - The calendar on the the club site is wrong. For future reference, use the link on my sidebar.

#510 Replays Of Thursday's Matches

Java-replays for Thursday's Hamilton-Karpovs & Summit-Kortchnois matches have been uploaded along with a revised West Orange-Maplewood page.

Zipped PGN for each match can be downloaded from the above links. For a single file with all 3, click here.

#509 Kortchnois Stay Perfect, Karpovs Fall

In Garden State Chess League action last night, the 1st place Kenilworth Kortchnois defeated Summit 3-1 but the Kenilworth Karpovs fell to Hamilton 2.5-1.5.

The 4-0 Kortchnois, playing without NM Yaacov Norowitz & Ari Minkov, got victories from top board Mark Kernighan, David Pawlowski & Greg Tomkovich to put themselves a full game ahead of 2nd place West Orange. They can clinch the GSCL title with a draw against 0-4 Sparta on June 30th.

The Karpovs, meanwhile, got a draw from FM Steve Stoyko & a convincing win by Ian Mangion but lost the bottom pairings. They will wrap-up a disappointing season vs. Summit.

Here are eight games from round 4 (including a revised version of my loss to Fernandez) in PGN format. Replays will follow.

#508 S. Island & W. Orange Win

In Garden State Chess League action last night, Staten Island defeated Sparta 2.5-1.5 & West Orange swept Maplewood 4-0.

I had a chance to keep Maplewood in the match with the score at 2-0 but missed equality at move 23 & had to resign after just 5 more turns :

Fernandez-Moldovan
after 23.Qxa7?

Black to play

Java-replay
PGN

#507 This Week's GSCL Schedule

Garden State Chess League
Round 4

Tuesday 6/2 at West Orange, 8 p.m.

• Maplewood (0-3) - W. Orange (2-1)
• Staten Island (1-1-1) - Sparta (0-3)

Thursday 6/4 at Kenilworth, 8:15 p.m.

• Hamilton (1-2) - Kenilworth Karpovs (2-1)
• Summit (2-0-1) - Kenilworth Kortchnois (3-0)

#506 Black To Win

Mann-Moldovan
Springfield 05/31/2009

Black to win

#505 Knockout Wrap-Up

Last night I defeated Bob Sherry in 22 moves to win the Checkmate Knockout tourney. Here's the replay & PGN.

#504 Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events at the Kenilworth Chess Club :

June 4th - Garden State Chess League matches

• Summit at Kenilworth Kortchnois (battle for 1st place!)
  
• Hamilton at Kenilworth Karpovs
  

June 11th - Start of the Kenilworth Summer Tournament (runs thru September 3rd)

#503 Kernighan Wins Kenilworth G/15

NM Mark Kernighan won the 12-player, Kenilworth G/15 last night. Glen Hart, coming off a fine, =4th result at the U.S. Amateur East, finished in 2nd place.  Greg Tomkovich & Mike Wojcio tied for 3rd.

#502 Tonight At Kenilworth : G/15 Tourney

Kenilworth G/15
Thursday, May 28th
8:30 p.m.

4-SS.
Non-rated.
Free entry.
No prizes.

The TD has the option of adding a 2 or 3 second delay to the time control.

#501 Checkmate Knockout - Round 3

Bob Sherry eliminated Bert Shiffman on Sunday & will have the White pieces against me in round 4; as he did in round 2.

The readers are welcome to suggest a defense vs. my foe's anticipated 1.e4. I've used 8 different lines against him in my last 9 games with Black & am running out of ideas!

#500 Norowitz Ties For 1st At The Chicago Open

Kenilworth Chess Club Champion NM Yaacov Norowitz tied for 1st place in the U2300 section at the Chicago Open, which was held May 22-25 in Wheeling, IL.

Fellow KCC member Mikhail Kruglyak also did very well, tying for 5th place in the U1300 section.

GM Jaan Ehlvest was the Open section winner.

#499 Kenilworth Intra-Club Match

Kenilworth Intra-Club Match
May 21, 2009
G/60

Karpovs 4.5 - Kortchnois 3.5

1. ■ Mangion 1/2 □ Kernighan 1/2
   
2. □ Moldovan 1 ■ R. Lewis 0
   
3. ■ Carrelli 0 □ Tomkovich 1
   
4. □ Wojcio 0 ■ Kruglyak 1
   
5. ■ Mazzillo 1 □ Renna 0
   
6. □ Sturniolo 1 ■ Sokolosky 0
   
7. ■ Shiffman 1 □ M. Lewis 0
8. □ Bliznikas 0 ■ Mann 1 (G/25)

■ = white... □ = black

R. Lewis - Moldovan
after 33.Qb7

Black to win

Java-replay
PGN

#498 Checkmate Knockout - Round 2

I surprised Bob Sherry with a Sveshnikov Sicilian & got an edge against 6.Nb3(?!) but fell behind on the clock & made an error at move 17. A draw was agreed soon after.

Here's the brief but interesting replay & PGN.

Next week, Bob has Black vs. Bert Shiffman.

#497 Checkmate Knockout - Round 1

The disappointingly tiny, 4-player Checkmate Knockout tourney began last Sunday with Bob Sherry defeating Ted Mann & Bert Shiffman holding me to a draw.

Tonight, I have Black vs. Sherry & Shiffman gets a bye. So, there will be at least 1 more round to follow.

Here are the week 1 games in java-replay & zipped PGN.

#496 Garden State Update

The Kenilworth Kortchnois (3-0) sit atop the Garden State Chess League standings after winning in Hamilton on May 6th, 3-1. Kenilworth's other team, the Karpovs, however, could not keep pace & fell at West Orange 2.5-1.5.

In the other 3rd round action, Staten Island won against Maplewood 3.5-0.5 & Summit beat Sparta 3-1.

Once again, my Maplewood team (0-3) could not make the most of its chances. I misplayed a clear plus vs. Jackson Hueckel & lost while Gordon Agress turned an upset win over Ed McCormack into tragic defeat.

You can replay the S.I. games here or here & download the PGN for later viewing.

Further update 5/18 @ 11:57 p.m. - Summit's win makes next month's match vs. the Kortchnois a battle for first-place!

#495 Carrelli Ties for 9th At Interservice

The KCC's Don Carrelli tied for 9th place at the 2009 U.S. Interservice Championship but failed to qualify for the upcoming NATO Championship.

Here are his games from the event:

C01 French Defense
Exchange Variation

C01 French Defense
Exchange Variation

B13 Caro-Kann Defense
Exchange Variation

D12 Queen's Gambit
Slav Defense

C01 French Defense
Exchange Variation

D00 QP Game
Stonewall System

D15 Queen's Gambit
Slav Defense

Replays and PGN courtesy of Monroi.

#494 More Ellner Annotations

I have annotated & uploaded Thursday's Mann-Sturniolo game. Refer to post #492 for replay & PGN links.

Meanwhile, over at the Kenilworth Kibitzer blog, Ian Mangion has posted excellent notes to his 2nd round game vs. Mark Kernighan. You can download the zip of that one here (replay forthcoming).

#493 This Week's GSCL Schedule

Here is this week's Garden State Chess League schedule :

Tuesday 8 p.m.
Kenilworth Karpovs at West Orange
Sparta vs. Summit (at W. Orange)

Wednesday 7:30 p.m.
Kenilworth Kortchnois at Hamilton

Thursday 8:15 p.m
Maplewood vs. Staten Island (at Kenilworth)

#492 Kernighan Takes Ellner Title

Mark Kernighan continued his run of recent successes with a 3-0 score & 1st-place finish at the Irving Ellner Memorial Swiss in Kenilworth. Ari Minkov & Greg Tomkovich tied for 2nd, with 2.5. Ted Mann & I were next at 2.0.

The event concludes this Thursday (5/7) with Joe Renna & Brian Balint playing to decide the 1 remaining prize :

• If Joe wins... he gets the U1500 & the U1800 goes to Ted (who is already assured of a prize).
• If Brian wins or the game is drawn... there's a problematic 5-way tie for 6th place!!
  

While the TD worries about the latter possibility you can check-out Mark's fine, final round win against me in java-replay or PGN.

Moldovan-Kernighan
after 16...Qa5 =

critical middlegame position

Update : Renna won his last-round game.

#491 Geocities Closing

Later this year Yahoo will close Geocities, which hosts my Checkmate Chess Club & Garden State Chess League sites.

So... my lame designs are in need of a new, preferably free, home. Any suggestions or recommendations?

#490 Correction To Post #475

In #475, I erroneously called Joe Renna's bi-monthly newspaper the Peterstown Press. The correct name is "Around About Peterstown".


Also, instead of publishing his USATE win over Kern, Joe opted to use our 2009 Checkmate Championship game.

#489 More Ellner Games

I have 8 more games from the Ellner Memorial for you - 4 from Round 1 (courtesy of TD Geoff McAuliffe & Fritz 10) & 4 from last week.

Sorry I could only annotate my undeserved win vs. Mike Wojcio. Other games with openings of interest may be addressed at some future point.

1st round : replays PGN
2nd round : replays PGN

Moldovan-Wojcio
after 29.Raf1 -/+

turning point

#488 Last-Round Pairings

Here are the last-round pairings for the KCC's Irving Ellner Memorial :

1. Moldovan (2.0) - Kernighan (2.0)
   
2. Minkov (1.5) - Mangion (1.0)
   
3. Wojcio (1.0) - Tomkovich (1.5)
4. Mann (1.0) -Sturniolo (1.0)
   
5. Shiffman (0.0) - Mazzillo (0.5)
   
6. Renna (0.5) - Balint (0.0)
   

Games are to begin at 8:45 p.m. but paired players may start earlier, at 8:30, if they need or want to.

#487 KCC Calendar Update

The Kenilworth Chess Club Calendar of Events has been updated.

Here is the revised May-early June schedule :

May

5 TUESDAY Garden State match : K. Karpovs at West Orange, 8 pm
6 WEDNESDAY Garden State match : K. Kortchnois at Hamilton, 7:30
7 Garden State match : Maplewood vs. Staten Island, 8:15 p.m.
Quiet skittles for those not playing in the match.
14 Meeting to consider becoming a 501c7 Not-For-Profit Organization
21 Non-league mega-match between the Karpovs & Kortchnois
G/60. No board or rating limit. All KCC members can play.
28 To be announced. Suggestions welcome.

June

4 Garden State match : Hamilton at K. Karpovs, 8:15 p.m.

The Summit-K. Kortchnois match is officially slated for 6/2 in West Orange but I hope it can also be played on the 4th.

#486 Tonight's Pairings

The Ellner Memorial pairings for tonight are :

1. Kernighan - Mangion
2. Tomkovich - Minkov
3. Moldovan - Wojcio
4. Shiffman - Mann
5. Mazzillo - Renna
6. Balint - Sturniolo

The round starts at 8:30 p.m.

#485 Checkmate KO Tourney Starts 5/10

The Checkmate Chess Club in Springfield will run a Knock-Out Tournament starting May 10th. Details here.

#484 Ellner Memorial - Round 1

NM Mark Kernighan, Ari Minkov, Ian Mangion, Greg Tomkovich, Mike Wojcio & I won the opening round games at the 2nd Irving Ellner Memorial Swiss in Kenilworth.

A java-replay page & a zipped PGN file with full annotations to Mark's win over Ted Mann & my victory vs. Lou Sturniolo have been uploaded. More scores will likely follow.

Sturniolo-Moldovan

after 33.Qxd5

Black to win

#483 Revised GSCL Annotations

I have tweeked the notes  to my Garden State League games & posted the full score of last week's Agress-Bliznikas. See posts #472 & 479 for the replay & PGN links.

#482 USATE Annotations

Annotations to my 2009 USATE games have been posted.

Java-replay   PGN

#481 STC Open

One of my USATE teammates, Arunas Simonaitis (aka knightrunner), tied for 16th place in the recently concluded STC Open on ICC. 

Here are the round by round links to his games, which featured 2 Philidors (rounds 2 & 5), a Grand Prix Sicilian, a Pirc & a KI Attack :

• replays - 2  4  5  6  7.
  
• PGN - 2  4  5  6  7.

#480 Kortchnois Edge West Orange 2.5-1.5

On Tuesday night, the Kenilworth Kortchnois got wins from Yaacov Norowitz & Ari Minkov plus a draw by Bill Sokolosky to beat West Orange 2.5-1.5.

The Kortchnois next Garden State Chess League match will be against Hamilton.

more GSCL news :

4/11

• replay & PGN from the W. Orange match uploaded (1 game)
  
• Ed Selling reports Staten Island-Summit was drawn (see comments)

4/13

• Marty Sobin reports : Hamilton 3 Sparta 1
  

#479 Karpovs Beat Maplewood 3-1

Don Carrelli & Ziggy Bliznikas won on boards 3 & 4 to lead the Kenilworth Karpovs to a 3-1 Garden State Chess League victory over Maplewood last night.

Mike Patrucker (who should've beaten Ian Mangion) & I had draws for the losing club.

Here are 3 full games from the match (including the fully annotated Moldovan-Massey) + 1 partial score in java-replay & PGN.

The Karpovs' next opponent will be West Orange (5/5).

#478 GSCL Match Tonight

The Kenilworth Karpovs go for their 2nd straight Garden State Chess League win tonight when they play host to Maplewood at 8:30 p.m.

The visitors narrowly lost to Kenilworth's other entry last month but face a much tougher task this time around as the bottom half of their lineup will be out-rated by 1102 points, instead of 193!

The board by board pairings :

1. Moldovan (M, 1800) - Massey (K, 2209)
2. Mangion (K, 1839) - Patrucker (M, 1717)
3. Agress (M, 1134) - Bliznikas (K, 1819)
4. Carrelli (K, 1715) - Cole (M, 1105)
   

#477 Quads Wrap-Up

To close out my coverage of the recent Kenilworth Quads, here are 7 more games from the event in java-replay & PGN. Thanks to TD Geoff McAuliffe for annotating 5 of them.

#476 Ellner Memorial Swiss

2nd Irving Ellner Memorial Swiss

Dates : April 16th, April 23rd, April 30th

Site : Kenilworth Chess Club

Format : USCF-rated, 3/SS
Time Control : G/45

Rounds : 8:40 p.m. on 4/16, 8:30 p.m. on 4/23 & 4/30

Entry Fee : $10

Prizes : Cash; based on the number of entries... 80% of entry fees returned

For example, if there are 8 players, there would be a $64 prize fund with 1st place getting $29, 2nd place $15, 3rd place $10, U1800 $5, U1500 $5.

Register : 4/2 & 4/9 from 8:15-10:00 p.m. (or later), 4/16 from 8:15 to 8:30 p.m.

Late entries accepted until the 2nd round is paired (0 pt. bye awarded for round 1)

#475 Another USATE Game

Joe Renna asked me to annotate one of his USATE games - a nice win over Jack Kern of N.Y. - for an upcoming issue of the Peterstown Press. Here it is in java-replay & PGN.

BTW, I'm half-done with my mediocre Parsippany parties & should finish them in the next month or 2.

#474 Kenilworth Quads - 3rd Round Games

I've uploaded three annotated games, in java-replay & PGN, from round 3 of the Kenilworth Quads. There will be more in a wrap-up post next week.