Choose Your Weapon

Game Of The Week

By Tim Brennan

Thank you, Paul, for inviting me back for another installment of “Tim Brennan week!"

Things got back to somewhat “normal” chess wise in the later part of 2021 after over a full year of things being shut down by the pandemic.  I got to be one of the “gaming monks” again this year at the Renaissance Festival, which was fun.  The crowds were especially crazy this summer. 

While at the Ren Fest, I asked Buck, “What happened to Brian Wall’s emails.  Did he stop writing them”?  Buck laughed, and said “Oh heavens no!  Brian sends 20 emails per day!”  I contacted Brian, and it turns out that Yahoo! shutdown their groups service, which is how I was subscribed.  Brian got me signed up again, and my inbox was quickly flooded with people fiercely debating the DCC’s mask and vaccine requirements, which were amusing to read.  Kudos to the DCC for the way they have handled things during these unprecedented times.

The 2021 Colorado Open, played at the Embassy Suites Denver Tech Center North, over Labor Day Weekend, was my first chess tournament since the pandemic began.  It was exciting to play over the board, and to see many people that I had not seen in many months or even years.

Several new members were inducted into the Colorado Chess Hall of Fame, including Brian Wall and Todd Bardwick, which was well deserved!

Unfortunately, the tournament was not very well run.  There was an overwhelming number of new players (60+), computer issues, and not enough help.  The pairings were late, wrong, and in some cases nonexistent.  The open section had to skip a round because they could not get the pairings right.  People were paired in the wrong section, more than one section, and requests for half point byes were ignored, leading to unnecessary forfeit wins. 

For example, I requested a third-round bye because I had a fantasy football draft Saturday evening.  I ended up getting paired against Jeff Baffo, who had to sit around and wait to claim a forfeit win, and then the next day the pairing sheet showed that I had won the game, when I wasn’t even there!

I don’t want to trash the organizers and directors, because they were aware of the problems, and did their best to correct them.  I know they are all going to do an analysis of what happened, to make sure that this does not happen again.  Being a tournament director is a thankless job.  Sometimes everything goes wrong, and the dog really does eat your homework.  Everyone is rusty with different skills after endless months of pandemic.  So, I am giving everyone a “pass” this time.

My games were pretty “hit and miss.”  I won all my games Saturday but drank too much hydroxychloroquine mixed with horse worm pills on Sunday and lost all my games.

Here is my favorite game, played against Ken Doykos.  Ken and I have faced off several times over the years, and I know he knows his openings well.  I tried to take the game into uncharted waters so I wasn’t “bringing a knife to a gun fight."

Hope that everyone is safe and well, and things can continue to get back to normal.  Best of luck to the new CSCA board, congrats to the prize winners of the Colorado Open, and to the new Hall of Fame inductees!

Your friend,

Tim

White to move

Choose Your Weapon

[Event "Colorado Open"]

[Site "https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/"]

[Date "2021.09.04"]

[Round "2"]

[White "Brennan, Tim"]

[Black "Doykos, Ken"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "A00"]

[WhiteElo "1832"]

[BlackElo "1700"]

[PlyCount "69"]

[EventDate "2021.09.04"]

1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 e6 3. a3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c5 5. bxc5 Bxc5 6. e3 O-O 7. d3 Nbd7 8.

Nbd2 Qc7 9. Rg1 e5 10. g4 e4 11. g5 Ne8 12. dxe4 Bd6 13. exd5 Bxh2 14. Rh1 Be5

15. Nd4 g6 16. Qg4 f5 17. Qh4 Nb6 18. Nb5 Qe7 19. Bxe5 Rf7 20. Bd4 f4 21. Bd3

Bf5 22. e4 Nxd5 23. Kf1 Ne3+ 24. Kg1 Nd6 25. Nxd6 Qxd6 26. fxe3 fxe3 27. Bxe3

Qe5 28. Rf1 Raf8 29. Bc4 Be6 30. Bxe6 Qxe6 31. Rxf7 Rxf7 32. Qh3 Qe5 33. Nb3

Qxe4 34. Rh2 Qxc2 35. Rxc2 1-0

https://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=116923

This Week In Chess

On September 19th, the Colorado Springs Chess Club held a club match with the Air Force Academy Chess Club.

CSCC vs AFACC:  Colorado Springs Chess Club Won the Match
Finished On: Sep 19, 2021, 7:39 PM
Players per Team: 7
Time Control: 10 minutes|10

Colorado Springs Chess Club

14 vs 0

Air Force Academy Chess Club 

After the club match, the Colorado Springs Chess Club held the AFA Overflow Blitz Arena Online (90 min, G/5+0).  John Brezina won his 1st gold in the arena and completed the trifecta (gold, silver & bronze), while Paul Anderson was knocked down to silver by Jeff Fox.  Jeff Baffo tested out the arena for the first time and took home the bronze.

Place, AFA Overflow Blitz Arena, Score

1 "#1 Czechmate1972 (1763)" 33

2 "#2 cschessnews (2131)" 30

3 "#3 phatchess (1668)" 15

4 "#4 CosmicNovaGalaxy (1537)" 11

5 "#5 brokenarrow42069 (1730)" 10

6 "#6 albertgardner (1323)" 10

7 "#7 msmcgough (1437)" 5

8 "#8 bozhenoff (1942)" 5

9 "#9 jfoxhoot (1612)" 5

10 "#10 pretbram (1629)" 0

11 "#11 Cocomcfrecal (1085)" 0