Game Of The Week
This week's game comes from the Colorado Springs Chess Club's first over-the-board (OTB) event in more than a year. It was a rousing success and jumped to the top of the best events I have run for the club since 2015. Of course, it is just one event and the average may come down over time, but it did finish just one shy of the largest event at the club (25, 2019 City Champ).
I am just guessing, but the main reason the event did so well was because a pandemic locked-up chess players at home for more than a year. Even chess players like to get out every once in a while.
However, a lot of the reason for the great turnout was that I got a lot more help in putting this event together than usual.
First, there was the location. A hearty handshake goes to Ren Thorpe, Experience Coordinator at COATI Uprising, for letting us use their space. Even though the chess boards were split up between the upstairs bar and the back alley and the COATI equipment was too cutting-edge for my humble netbook, we got 10 blitz games done with limited troubles. You can see Ren fighting with my netbook just to the right of the screen. We needed a USB to USB cable (is that a thing?) to connect the netbook. If anyone has one of those and can bring it next Wednesday, that would keep me from going complete hoarse.
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| Ren Thorpe at the projector |
Also, we got split up for a couple of reasons. One, we had a lot more players than expected. Two, COATI runs a Nerd Fest once a month on Wednesdays and they had the larger space. You gotta hate nerds! Chess players are so much better.
Secondly, some of the success has to be credited to my new marketing team of Diego Arnedo and Adhya Spencer from Jaguart Art Experience. They were inspired by the "Queen's Gambit" to create chess-themed art for a live event on April 30th. Many of the exhibits are still on display until the end of June at COATI. They wanted the Colorado Springs Chess Club to donate some books to be a part of the one of the exhibits. I had to get up early and run downtown to get into the Acacia Apartment office, when the maintenance staff was there, and agonize over which of the club's books and magazines would be appropriate on Beth Harmon's bed from the orphanage. What I won't do for my art!
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| Name all 4 chess items on Beth's bed and win a prize! |
Ok, you can kind of see the bed on top of the bar, and if you squint really hard, you can see the club's stuff in the center of the bed. Many visitors to the art event commented that these items were their favorite part of the exhibit. I was just glad I could do my part.
Diego and Adhya also wanted me to create a chess puzzle for them to use with the advertising. Of course, that wasn't hard since I already had one from my last newsletter. When they got the diagram, they wanted me to translate the algebraic notation into something a beginner could understand and describe my motivation. Sometimes I forget that not everyone speaks chess, and I just told them my motivation was not to lose to Mark McGough.
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| Design Art by Diego Arnedo and Adhya Spencer - Chess Art by Paul Anderson and Mark McGough |
Thirdly, a round of applause goes to John Brezina, who came down from the Parker Chess Club to photograph our event. I am new to Google Photos, but I think you should be able to view his art with the following link:
And, yes, Virginia, there was chess.
I was hoping the players would be an even number all night, and I would be able to just direct (TD) the event. However, players did drop out, and I jumped in 4 times. In the first round, I was on board one and got paired with Erika Strnad. She was one of our unrated newcomers to the club. When I told her we were playing, she just sighed, "Oh great, I get to play the guy running this thing."
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| Erika vs Paul |
Of course, it could have been worse. I had printed out some score sheets, as Adhya wanted the full "Queen's Gambit" feel. However, I forgot to mention them to the players, and I was the only one to use one. Fortunately for Erika, I didn't record her game. Unfortunately for Alex Torres, I did record his game and only his. Therefore, he gets the game of the week prize, a Corona beer, for helping me create this position. I immediately thought I had smothered mate! I was wrong.
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| White to Move |
COATI Uprising
[Event "3rd Wednesday May COATI"]
[Site "https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/"]
[Date "2021.05.19"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Anderson, Paul"]
[Black "Torres, Alex"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A40"]
[WhiteElo "1957"]
[BlackElo "1643"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2021.05.19"]
1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. Nc3 Bb7 4. e4 Nf6 5. Bd3 d5 6. e5 Nfd7 7. f4 Be7 8. Nf3
O-O 9. O-O a6 10. Be3 f5 11. Qb3 Nc6 12. cxd5 Na5 13. Qc2 exd5 14. Bxf5 Rxf5
15. Qxf5 Nf8 16. Ng5 Bc8 17. Qf7+ Kh8 18. Qxd5 Bb7 19. Nf7+ 1-0
This Week In Chess
On May 19th, the Colorado Springs Chess Club held the 3rd Wednesday May Unrated Blitz OTB. Will Wolf took home 1st place and the sunglasses and mug donated by COATI.
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| I wear my sunglasses at night |
Place, 3rd Wednesday May Unrated Blitz OTB, Score
1 William Leo Wolf 9.0
2 Peter Barlay 7.0
3 Joseph H Pahk 7.0
4 Jose Llacza Magno 7.0
5 John Jose Brezina 6.0
6 Mark McGough 6.0
7 John Micha McCann 6.0
8 Alejandro Torres 6.0
9 Eugin E Pahk 5.5
10 Drew Tirado 4.5
11 Yuna T Pahk 4.5
12 David Mueller 4.5
13 Paul D Anderson 4.0
14 Ian Taruc 3.0
15 Mason Wilkinson 3.0
16 John Marshall 3.0
17 Erika Strnad 3.0
18 Tim Saffold 2.0
19 Patru Dumitru 2.0
20 Marcus Mazerall 1.0
21 Koen Beaver 1.0
22 Jacob McCloud 1.0
23 Jessica Diosdado 0.0
24 Case Regan 0.0
Colorado Senior Open
By Buck Buchanan
2021 Colorado Senior Open Championship
Open to players over age 50 at tournament date June 5
4 Round Swiss Tournament
Date: June 5 - 6, 2021
Time Control: G/90 plus 30 second increment
City: Manitou Springs
Site: Art Center 515 Manitou Avenue Manitou Springs
Entry Fee: $35 if rec'd by 6/4 (mail), $40 at site.
Prizes: Cash prizes per entries.
Registration: 8:30 - 9:30 AM.
Round Times: 10 AM, 3 PM Saturday; 10 AM, 3 PM Sunday
Entries: Make checks payable to CSCA c/o Richard Buchanan
Address: 1 Sutherland Rd., Manitou Springs CO 80829
Phone: (719) 685 1984
Email: buckpeace@pcisys.net
Second day Byes must be requested before Round 1.
We will be following the El Paso County CDC guidelines.
Under current guidelines all players will be required to wear a mask
in the building.
Players completing Covid vaccinations prior to this tournament is
strongly encouraged.
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