End Of The Season
Tuesday August 25, 2009
Well, another chess season has come to a close for me. It is time for me to move on to managing the website for my other hobby (https://spamfootball.blogspot.com/), but I will return after the football season ends.
Before I go, I wanted to clean up some loose ends. Of course, you can still send in news items or articles during the off-season, and I will email them along to the subscribers. Any games I receive will be stored at the Colorado Springs Chess News’ Yahoo! group. You can also join the group to keep receiving chess games all year round.
So, before I finish typing my chess thoughts for another year, I want to thank all the people who sent in games and articles, all the people who took the time to tell me something nice about the newsletter, and all the people who take the time to read this.
Game Of The Year
Well, I was going over the previous year for my new chess scrapbook and the end of the year newsletter when I realized that a lot has happened in the past 12 months. According to last year’s calculations (https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/2008/08/game-of-year-v.html), this was going to be an off year.
However, things started quite differently as I scored 3 upsets in my first 2 events of 2009. In addition, I put out my first chess video at the beginning of the year, and I wrote an article for the Colorado Chess Informant (January) about the video (https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/2009/02/whinemiller.html).
Later in the year, I wrote a couple more articles for the Informant, including The Gift Of Chess (April, https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/the-gift-of-chess.html) and Make Haste Slowly (July, https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/2009/07/make-haste-slowly.html).
The number of milestones started early in the year with my 300th USCF-rated victory (https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/2009/03/300-club.html), and continued throughout the summer with my 500th USCF-rated game (https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/2009/06/the-quincenchessial.html) and my 150th newsletter (https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/2009/06/the-sesquicenchessial.html).
There was also a number of firsts for me this year. I received my first response from a grandmaster about the newsletter when WGM Jennifer Shahade accepted my friend request on Facebook and I sent her a copy (https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/2009/06/joseph-of-aragon.html). I also gave my first simultaneous exhibition with the help of Mitch Anderson (see This Week In Chess).
However, the biggest first for me has to be making it past the expert level (2002) on my 500th game. So, it seemed like the obvious choice for the Game Of The Year would have to be the one that put me over 2000.
There were several games to choose from since it was actually a combination of 2 events that contributed to the ratings gain. The last game I played before going over was against Jeff Csima, but I wrote about that one in the 500th game newsletter and it was a grandmaster draw (hardly the highlight of the year).
However, the last game that was rated by USCF before going over was against Jeff Fox in the June Mating Game, but that game was played earlier and just rated afterwards, so it only helped contribute to the ratings gain because I did well in the Southern Colorado Open. If I had done poorly in the Southern Colorado Open, Jeff’s game wouldn’t have mattered.
So, the key game had to come from Southern Colorado Open. The game before Jeff Csima was probably the key, but I only won it because of a long rook and bishop versus rook endgame that did not get recorded, which makes it hard to publish.
So, I have chosen the victory prior to that one. It is a game against Mark Krowczyk, who was also my opponent in the first Game Of The Year (https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/2004/09/game-of-year.html).
We have played twice, and he has made the Game Of The Year both times. It is like I have something against him, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I just have really enjoyed our games together. They are not easy wins, and the positions are very appealing to me.
In this game, Mark takes a gamble on move 29 that doesn’t work out, but it leads to my favorite chess position. It is kind of surprising that the game felt like it was over at move 29, but it went on for 40 more moves.
I found myself getting lost in how beautifully the knights worked together holding on to all my pawns while Mark’s rook ran around franticly trying to find some purpose in life.
Then on move 52 it appeared.
 |
| The Hanging Knights Formation |
It was the first time I had seen one of the Seven Wonders of the Chess World, and I was in awe. The knights seemed to float there unsupported, yet completely protected with every piece working in harmony. I agonized over what to move. How do I break this up?
My best move was to resign and have the board bronzed with this position locked in place for all posterity. Then I realized that I had the score sheet, so I moved.
Game Of The Year VI
[Event "Southern Colorado Open"]
[Site "https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/"]
[Date "2009.06.13"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Krowczyk, Mark"]
[Black "Anderson, Paul"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A42"]
[WhiteElo "1765"]
[BlackElo "1986"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2009.06.13"]
1. d4 c6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 Bxf3 7. Bxf3 Qb6 8. Ne2
Qb4+ 9. Bd2 Qxc4 10. Bc3 Nd7 11. O-O Nh6 12. Nf4 Qb5 13. a4 Qb6 14. g4 a5 15.
Qd2 Qc7 16. Nd3 f6 17. d5 Nf7 18. Be2 Ng5 19. Qe3 e5 20. f4 Nf7 21. Rf3 cxd5
22. exd5 Qb6 23. Nf2 Qxe3 24. Rxe3 O-O 25. Bb5 Nb6 26. Rd1 Bh6 27. Nh3 Rfc8 28.
Re2 Rc5 29. Bxa5 Rxa5 30. b4 Raxb5 31. bxc5 Rxc5 32. Ra2 Nxd5 33. Rb2 b6 34.
fxe5 fxe5 35. Kf2 Be3+ 36. Kg3 Bd4 37. Rb3 Nc3 38. Re1 Nxa4 39. Ra3 Rc3+ 40.
Rxc3 Nxc3 41. Nf2 Bxf2+ 42. Kxf2 d5 43. Ke3 d4+ 44. Kd3 b5 45. Ra1 h5 46. h3
hxg4 47. hxg4 Kg7 48. Ra6 Kh6 49. Rf6 Ng5 50. Rb6 Nf3 51. Kc2 Kg5 52. Kb3 e4
53. Kc2 e3 54. Re6 Ne1+ 55. Kc1 Nd3+ 56. Kc2 Nf4 57. Rd6 Nce2 58. Rb6 d3+ 59.
Kb3 Kxg4 60. Rd6 Nc1+ 61. Kb2 d2 62. Kc2 Kf3 63. Rb6 Ke2 64. Rd6 b4 65. Rd4 b3+
0-1
This Week In Chess
On August 18th, the CSCC had 7 members in attendance. The Director of Creative Chess Events, Renae Delaware, added another notch on her belt with the evening’s event.
The Anderson brothers had to face the club in a tandem simul without consulting each other. All participants played black and faced Mitch Anderson on the odd moves and Paul Anderson on the even moves. Here are the results:
Result Move Player
0.0 20 Jason Feith
1.0 21 Buck Buchanan
0.0 25 Dean Brown
0.5 99 Jeff Fox
Comments From Email
Martin Deschner, Tuesday, August 18, 2009 3:06 PM
I, too, have a policy for lost games, Paul. I just tear up the score sheet! Doesn't help with the learning process, does it?
Martin Deschner, Tuesday, August 25, 2009 12:51 PM
Wow! 96 moves in Cabrera versus Anderson! That's one more than the 95 Theses of Martin Luther. DId anyone check for 50 moves without pawn move or capture draw option?
Regards.....Martin in Denver
[Comments are about this newsletter: https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/2009/08/first-diagram.html]
2009 Monument Open Results with prize breakdowns
By Jerry Maier
2009 Monument Open: OPEN
Score Place Prize Player
5.0 1st $75.00 Daoud Zupa
5.0 1st $75.00 Hans M Morrow
4.5 U2000 $55.00 Julian Evans
4.0 Randy C Canney
4.0 Jim Geary
4.0 U1900 $25.00 Gordon Randall
4.0 $25.00 Armin Rapaport
3.5 Buck Buchanan
3.5 Kevin M Seidler
3.5 David Meliti
3.5 Duwayne Langseth [WITHDREW]
3.5 Gerardo Neri
3.0 Paul Anderson
3.0 Jeffrey J Csima
3.0 Paul Covington
3.0 Shaun T Macmillan
3.0 Daniel Zhou [WITHDREW]
3.0 U1700 $45.00 Rhett Langseth
2.5 Jeffrey Baffo [WITHDREW]
2.5 Timothy Martinson
2.5 Joseph T Fromme
2.5 Robert Rountree
2.5 Jeremiah Haynes
2.0 Anthea J Carson
2.0 Ted K Doykos
2.0 Chris Hanagan
1.5 Kurt Kondracki
1.5 Dean W Brown
1.5 Danielle Rice [WITHDREW]
1.5 Tom Mullikin
0.0 Gerry Morris [WITHDREW]
2009 Monument Open: U1500
Score Place Prize Player
6.0 1st $65.00 Chaitanya Neuhaus
4.5 2nd $50.00 Jim Cummings
4.0 U1450 $23.00 Yelena Kandybey
4.0 U1450 $23.00 Frank Riley
3.5 Alexa Lasley
3.5 George Kovats
3.5 Tim Kohler
3.0 Edward F Cronin
3.0 U1000 $14.00 Ginny Gaige
3.0 U1000 $14.00 Brian Riley
3.0 U1000 $14.00 Cynthia Langseth
2.5 Michael Martinson
2.5 Kathy Schneider
2.5 Mark Wells
2.0 Gary Crites
2.0 Cory Kohler
2.0 Asher Macenulty III
1.5 Frank Atwood
0.5 Alexander Freeman
Upcoming Events
8/25 Ladder games, CSCC
8/25 August 2009 G/29 Grand Prix Event, CSCA
8/26 2009 August East Coast Deli final round, CSCC
8/27 2009 August USAFA Chess final round, CSCC
8/29 USAFA Quads #13, CSCC
9/1 Speed tournament, CSCC
For event details and additional events, see the following websites:
CSCC: Colorado Springs Chess Club (http://springschess.org/)
BCC: Boulder Chess Club (http://www.geocities.com/boulderchessclub/)
CSCA: Colorado State Chess Association (http://colorado-chess.com/)
WCA: Wyoming Chess Association (http://www.wyomingchess.com/)
KCA: Kansas Chess Association (http://www.kansaschess.org/)
UCA: Utah Chess Association (http://www.utahchess.com/)
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