Wednesday, January 31, 2007

#68 Mazzillo, O'Neal Quad Winners In Westfield

A pair of Kenilworth U1500 trophy hopefuls were winners at Sunday's Westfield Quads. Pat Mazzillo finished 1st in section 5 and Jevon O'Neal, making his rated-event debut, tied for 1st in section 7.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

#67 Kernighan wins Springfield G/10

NM Mark Kernighan (2200) won the Springfield 10-Minute Tournament on Sunday. He finished with a perfect 7-0 score, 1 point ahead of expert Mauricio Camejo (2026). Unrated Vladimir Ronin took 3rd.

Final crosstable

#66 Stoyko-Bliznikas

FM Steve Stoyko & Ziggy Bliznikas stopped by the Checkmate Chess Club on Sunday & went over their 3rd round game. So, we now have the full score & notes by both players. Steve also took the time to explain what the books say about the King's Indian line we played in round 2 & show how I should've played moves 14-19 (14...f5, 15...Ng6 & 19...Rd7) against NM Mark Kernighan.

Here' the updated, 3rd round Java-replay page & zipped PGN file.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

#65 More Kenilworth Annotations

I have annotated 5 games from the KCCC's U1800 section : Mann-Cole (B22), Selling-Renna (C02), Gadgil-Selling (E91), Shiffman-Roach (D02/E60) & Sokolosky-Mann (D07). Hope you enjoy them.

Java-replay
Zipped PGN

Friday, January 26, 2007

#64 3rd Round KCCC Update

They're here.. The set of 3rd round KCCC games that is!... Hot off the e-mail wire, courtesy of TD Geoff McAuliffe. All we're missing is Polese-Massey & the 2nd half of Stoyko-Bliznikas (Need your help, Ziggy!).

Here are 85% of Thursday's contests in
Java-replay & zipped PGN.

#63 Kernighan - Moldovan

I've posted the notes to my round 3 loss against NM Mark Kernighan & the score from round 1's Renna-Sokolosky.

Here is the Java-replay page & zipped PGN file for the former and the replay + PGN for the latter.

#62 Kenilworth Championship - Round 3

Open Section

FM Steve Stoyko (3.0) maintained his lead, with a win over Ziggy Bliznikas. NM Mark Kernighan (2.0) kept pace by beating me (see below) & NM Scott Massey (1.5) did likewise against Tom Polese.


The cream is rising to the top of this group but, with two Master vs. Master games on the horizon (Massey-Stoyko & Kernighan-Massey), one of the also-rans could close the 3rd-4th place gap.


Kernighan - Moldovan
before 19...f5??

U1800 Section

Greg Tomkovich, Ed Selling, Joe Demetrick & Ted Mann (3.0) stayed in a 4-way deadlock for the U1800 lead & now hold a full point lead over their nearest rival, Mike Wojcio (2.0).

Jevon O'Neal became the 15th entry in this section & had a successful debut.


I have just one score at this point but hope to get the others in the coming days. For now, you can

- Play through & download Mark's victory...

- Check out the Open & U1800 cross-tables.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

#61 Kernighan & Minkov Lead Springfield G/10

Mark Kernighan & Ari Minkov (4.0) are tied for first after week one of the Springfield 10-Minute Tournament. Mauricio Camejo, Vladimir Ronin & Bob Sherry (3.0) are a full point back.

The event concludes Sunday (1/28).

Java-replay & zipped-PGN

#60 More 2nd Round Games From Kenilworth

Tournament Director Geoff McAuliffe sent me several games from Round 2 and we now have the complete set of 9!

Kernighan-Polese, which I "Fritzed" for you & all the rest can be found on the updated
Java-replay page & in the revised PGN file; along with an improved version of the previously posted Moldovan-Stoyko.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

#59 Moldovan-Stoyko

Well, I've finally posted the notes to my battle with Steve Stoyko. It was, as my opponent said afterward, "a really interesting game". Hope you all agree.

Here's the updated
Java-replay page & zipped PGN file for round 2.

Friday, January 19, 2007

#58 Kenilworth Championship - Round 2

FM Steve Stoyko extended his open section lead to a full point last night, with a fine maneuvering win against this reporter :

John Moldovan (1774) - Steve Stoyko (2310)
E67 King's Indian Defense

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.d4 0-0 5.g3 d6 6.Bg2 Nbd7 7.0-0 e5 8.Qc2 c6 9.Rd1 Qe7 10.b3 h6! 11.h3 (N) e4 12.Ne1 Re8 13.Be3 a6 14.Qd2 Kh7 15.Rac1 b5 16.cxb5 axb5 17.Nc2 d5 18.Re1 Nb6 19.a3 Bb7 20.Nb1 Nfd7 21.Nb4 Rec8 22.Qc2 f5 23.Red1 Bf8 24.Qd2 Qg7 25.Rc2 Nb8 26.Rdc1 g5 27.f4 Be7 28.Kh2 (= ...but it's all downhill for me from here.) Qg6 29.Bf1?! Na6 30.Nxa6 Rxa6 (=/+) 31.Ra2 Rg8 32.Qe1 Nd7 (-/+) 33.Qf2 Nf6 34.Bg2 Bd6 35.Rf1? Bc8 36.a4 Nh5 37.Rg1 Ra7 38.Nd2 b4 39.Bh1? Rag7 40.Raa1 Qf7 41.Rg2 Qc7 42.Rf1 Kh8! 43.Rgg1


43...Nxg3! 44.Rxg3 gxf4 45.Bxf4 Bxf4 46.Qxf4 Qxf4 47.Rxf4 Rxg3 48.Rh4 Kh7 0-1


NM Mark Kernighan moved into 2nd place with a win over new entry Tom Polese (1895).


In the U1800 group, Greg Tomkovich, Ed Selling, Joe Demetrick & Ted Mann won to remain tied for 1st.

The full set of 2nd round games & my annotations will follow in a couple of days. For now, you can :

- Play through or download Steve's, Joe's & Ted's victories...
- Check out the Open & U1800 cross-tables.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

#57 Stoyko-Kernighan

I have annotated the exciting, opening round, Kenilworth Championship game between FM Steve Stoyko & NM Mark Kernighan and updated the previously posted Java-replay page & zipped PGN file.

New crosstables for the open & U1800 sections have also been added. These ChessBase-generated versions will have the current standings.

I'll try to acquire some more games for you tonight. If my efforts fail, the next post will be on Friday.

Friday, January 12, 2007

#56 Kenilworth Championship - Round 1

The 17th Kenilworth Championship got underway last night and, thanks to the Open Section make-up, there was a feisty marquis match-up right off the bat :

Steve Stoyko (2310) - Mark Kernighan (2200)
D10 Slav Defense

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 dxc4 4.a4 Nf6 5.e4 e5 6.Nf3 exd4 7.Qxd4 Qxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Nf5 Ng4


10.Nxg7+ Kf8 11.f3 Nf2 12.Bh6 Nxh1 13.Ne6+ Ke7 14.Nxc5 b6 15.Bxc4 bxc5 16.Be3 Rg8 17.g4 Nd7 18.0-0-0 Ke8 19.Rxh1 Ne5 20.Be2 c4 21.Bd4 Nd3+ 22.Bxd3 cxd3 23.e5 Rg6 24.Ne4 Be6 25.Rd1 Rh6 26.Rxd3 Rxh2 27.Bc5 Bd5 28.Nf6+ Kd8 29.Nxd5 cxd5 30.Rxd5+ Ke8 31.b4 Ra2 32.a5 a6 33.Rd2 Rxd2 34.Kxd2 Kd7 35.Kd3 Kc6 36.Ke4 Re8 37.Kf5 Re6 38.Ke4 Rh6 39.f4 Rg6 40.Kf3 Kd5 41.f5 Rg8 42.Kf4 Rc8 43.g5 Re8 44.e6 fxe6 45.f6 e5+ 46.Kf5 e4 47.f7 Re5+ 48.Kf4 e3 49.Bxe3 Re4+ 50.Kf3 1-0

I’ll have a look at this game, “Fritz” it & perhaps review it with Mark before uploading comments to it.

In the only other Open contest, I drew against NM Scott Massey. In U1800 action, Greg Tomkovich, Joe Demetrick, Ted Mann, Mike Wojcio & Ed Selling won while Joe Renna & Bill Sokolosky split a point.

I've annotated my game & put in Java-replay + PGN along with the Stoyko and Selling games. 1st round pairings & crosstables.

#55 Record 19-Player Field For 2007 KCCC!

The worries about a potentially small 2007 Kenilworth Club Championship field were dispelled last night as many late entries swelled the number of hopefuls to a record 19.

Headlining the 5-player Open section are 2-time defending titlest FM Steve Stoyko (2310), many-time KCCC winner NM Scott Massey (2220) & last year's runner-up, NM Mark Kernighan (2200).

Among those signed for the 14-player Under 1800 section are 2006 Kenilworth Summer Tournament victor Greg Tomkovich (1759), 2006 KCCC U1800 runner-up Ed Selling (1694) & Mike Wojcio (1648).

2006 KCCC U1800 Champ Bob Pelican, expert Michael Goeller & 3-time Kenilworth G/30 winner Ari Minkov are the most notable absentees.

The top group will play a double round-robin. The lower group is currently slated as a 13-round all-play-all event but that is subject to change.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

#54 Kenilworth Championship Reminder

Play in the 17th Kenilworth Chess Club Championship starts tonight. Last-minute entries will be accepted until around 8:30 p.m.

Friday, January 05, 2007

#53 2007 KCCC Registration - Six In, Many Iffy

Most members at Kenilworth are undecided about playing in the 2007 Club Championship, which starts next Thursday. Gordon Agress (unrated), Joe Demetrick (1583), Pat Mazzillo (1319), Justin Roach (1708), Bert Shiffman (1434) & I were the only ones to enter last night but, hopefully, the field will fill out & rival last year's & 2005's.

For tournament details, see post #47.