Chess Mates Ch. - Round 1 Live Blog

2:16 p.m.

The tournament started some 15 minutes late (about 1:45 p.m.), with 8 players, including 6 Chess Mates members and 1 filler.

FM Boris Privman (2353) is the top seed. LM Jim West (2202) is the only other titled player. Half the field is over 2100. The rest are under 1700.

Here are the board by board pairings:

1. Privman - Roshan Idnani (1696)
2. Taran Idnani (1644) - West
3. Mauricio Camejo (2183) - Sriram Kumar (1615)
4. Ranmneek Singh (1307) - Alexander Crump (2112)

Late-joins for the 2-day schedule will be accepted until the start of round 3.

2:33 p.m.

The openings employed in this round are, from top board to bottom: London System QP, Philidor Counter Gambit, King's Gambit Declined and Dutch Stonewall.

The games on 2 & 4 are the most interesting, with T. Idnani having the Bishop pair vs. 2 Rooks and both of Crump's Knights already off. I'd prefer the lower-rated players' positions in both.

2:38 p.m.

Singh's weakened his pawn structure, let his half-open b-file get closed, freed Black's bad B and is now equal at best.

3:11 p.m.

Privman and Crump won. Taran Idnani forced a draw by repetition against West. One more game to go. Camejo is a piece ahead against Kumar.

3:56 p.m.

Kumar somehow nicked Camejo for a draw.

So... the standings after round 1 are: = 1-2. Privman & Crump 1.0, West, Camejo, T. Idnani & Kumar 0.5, R. Idnani & R. Singh 0.0.