Saturday, October 26, 2013

The Story: Chess Podcasts

Last night NPR featured two stories, a book review and a touching chess story about a player that went to prison and is trying to get his life back on track.

"Checkmate" featured in The Story

"Chess Rumble" Book Review



Thursday, October 3, 2013

2013 Player's Memorial Results


The ICA sponsored a Player's Memorial tournament at Boise State University, Student Union Building the weekend of Sept. 21-22.  I proceeded to load the family up for a weekend in Boise and some fabulous chess.  Desmond, Dylan, Darwin, and myself were all registered in the Reserve Section (U1400) and we were nearly half the field of ten players.  Nearly everyone that were at the Summer Classic were signed up.  The Open Section had 14 players.  Alise Pemsler provided to be a valuable House Player in the Reserve Section.  House Players are valuable in that they are able to play in rounds that players might have a bye.  In this way, players can have a game in every round.

Darwin plays Desmond in Round 1.
Desmond won 1st place and a cash prize of $146.  He smoothly cruised to the top, like I did in the Summer Classic.  Our results were reversed except that I didn't win third place!

My results were unlike the Summer Classic in that my second days games were terrible.  Consequently my placement in the Reserve were lower than the Summer Classic, even though I was virtually playing in the same field as earlier.  Games on the first day finished quickly with two wins in less than 20 moves (one 13 move game!).  In round 3, I drew against Jamie Lang in a game that I was lucky that he accepted.  According to Fritz, I was down nearly 4 points, though the material was identical;  my position was less than ideal.
Lang v. Porth, after move 26 when I offered a draw which was accepted.  This endgame looked too complex for each of us to solve.  What would be your next move if you were white? Be5 looks best as this sets up a nice sacrifice to remove the g-pawn and slay the critical e-pawn.  
On Sunday, I had a dismal endgame against Zane Roberts where I thought I could earn a draw.  I drew against him at the Summer Classic, but in this tournament he pulled out an A game that crushed me early in the game.  After fighting back hard to equalize position and material, I miscalculated a seemingly trivial move to pin his Knight.
Here is the critical position between Porth v. Roberts.  What would you do as white?  Looks pretty good for me, doesn't it?

Qd3 looks sage but is a game loser!  Nd3 was better and might have secured a win for me, and a better 4th round pairing and maybe 1st or 2nd place!
I should have been more serious in my fourth round, but I believed I didn't have a chance at a placement in the top three.  I wish I had been more serious as I could have earned second place.  I feel privileged to have played Isaac Blake, however, because of a wonderful combination that I hadn't even considered.  This is worth seeing.
Position after black moves 30. ...Re6 challenges the queen.  Do you see the killer move?  A queen sacrifice, 31. Qxd8! Qxd8 32. c7 Qc8 33. Bd7 Qxd7 34. c8=Q Qxc8 35. Rxc8.  Very nice, Isaac!

Here is the full game:


Open Section
##
Player
Rating
Score
Solk
Med
CumOp
Cum
1
Cameron Leslie
2006
4
14
46
12
2
Jeffrey T. Roland
1701
4
11½
40
10
3
Charles Hughes
1701
14½
9
43½
13
4
Paul Edvalson
1556
16½
8
5
Cody Gorman
1657
3
13½
8
36½
9
6
Caleb Paul Kircher
1823
3
10½
35
10
7
Tom R. Booth
1602
11
6
33
6
8
George W. Lundy III
1584
2
16½
11½
46½
8
9
James Patrick Brooks
Unr.
2
11
7
26½
2
10
Hank Harris
1486
2
10½
33
11
Brett B. Hamilton
1761
2
10
6
25
12
Jarod Buus
1201
2
25
13
Kenneth Sanderson
1700
1
10½
6
31
14
Ryan Gallivan
1406
1
12

U1400 Reserve Section
##
Player
Rating
Score
Solk
Med
CumOp
Cum
1
Desmond Porth
1050
13½
39
14
2
Jamie Lang
1380
4
15½
49
12½
3
Zane A. Roberts
1237
3
15
47½
10
4
Isaac RR Blake
871
3
14
43½
6
5
Adam Porth
1345
14
8
33½
10½
6
Lucas Knoll
1183
11½
7
33½
7
Roger J. Hunter
843
2
10½
30
5
8
Dylan Porth
721
2
22
9
Reid Pelton
541
1
10½
27
10
Darwin Albert Porth
495
1
5
26
2
11
Alise Byer Pemsler
557
0
0
10½
0


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