Games and Pix from March Madness Swiss

On Saturday, I finished with 4 points out of 7 in the March Madness tournament at Chess Mates.

Round One: Philidor Counter Gambit

Thomas Elberling (USCF 2009) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Rahway NJ 3/29/2014

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 f5 4.d4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Ng5 Qe7 7.Bf7+ Kd8 8.Bd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 Qe8 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.O-O c6 12.f4 Nf7 13.Nxf7+ Qxf7 14.Nc3 Kc7

15.e5 dxe5 16.fxe5 Bc5+ 17.Kh1 Qe7 18.Qf3 Be6 19.Be3 Rad8 20.Rad1 Kb8 21.a3 g6 22.b4 Bxe3 23.Qxe3 Rxd1 24.Rxd1 Rd8 25.Qe2 Rxd1+ 26.Qxd1 Kc7 27.Qd4 Qd7 28.Ne2 Qxd4 29.Nxd4 Kd7 30.Kg1 Bd5

31.g3 b6 32.Kf2 a6 33.Ke3 c5 34.bxc5 bxc5 35.Ne2 Ke6 36.Kf4 h6 37.h4 g5+ 38.hxg5 hxg5+ 39.Kxg5 Kxe5 40.Nf4 Be4 41.c3 a5 42.g4 fxg4 43.Kxg4 Bc6 44.Kg3 Ke4 45.Ne6 Kd3 46.Nxc5+ Kxc3

 47.Kf4 Kc4 48.Ke3 Kxc5 49.Kd2 Kc4 50.Kc1 Kb3 51.Kb1 Kxa3 52.Ka1, draw.

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Round Six: Caro-Kann Defense, Exchange Variation

Michael O'Connor (USCF 1871) - Vladimir Polyakin (USCF 2142), Rahway NJ 3/29/2014

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Qc7 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Nbd2 e6 8.Nf1 Bd6 9.Ng3 Nf6 10.h3 Bxg3 11.hxg4 Nxg4 12.fxg3 Qxg3+ 13.Kd2 Nf2 14.Qf1 Nxh1 15.Qxh1 Rc8 16.Qh3 Qf2+ 17.Be2 O-O

18.Kd3 Nxd4 19.Nxd4 e5 20.Be3 Qf6 21.Rf1 Qa6+ 22.Kc2 Qxa2 23.Nf5 Rxc3+ 24.Kxc3 d4+ 25.Kd2 Qxb2+ 26.Ke1 dxe3 27.Qxe3 Rd8 28.Kf2 Qb6 29.Qxb6 axb6, Black forfeits.

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Round Seven: King's Indian Defense, Averbakh Variation

Vladimir Polyakin (USCF 2142) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Rahway NJ 3/29/2014

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 O-O 6.Bg5 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Qd2 exd5 9.cxd5 Re8 10.f3 a6 11.a4 Qa5 12.Ra3 Nbd7 13.Nh3 Ne5 14.Nf2 h5 15.O-O Nh7 16.Be3 Qd8

17.f4 Ng4 18.Nxg4 Bxg4 19.Bd3 Bd7 20.Kh1 b5 21.axb5 axb5 22.Rxa8 Qxa8 23.f5 b4 24.fxg6 fxg6 25.Ne2 Qa2 26.e5 Qxd5 27.Bxg6 Qxd2 28.Bxd2 Rxe5 29.Bf7+ Kh8 30.Nf4 Nf8 31.Nd3 Rf5 32.Rxf5 Bxf5 33.Nf4 Bxb2 34.Bxh5 Ne6

35.Nd5 Be4 36.Nb6 Bc3 37.Bf7 Nd8 38.Bxc3+ bxc3 39.Bb3 c2 40.Bxc2 Bxc2 41.Kg1 Kg7 42.g4 Kg6 43.h4 Bd1 44.g5 Ne6 45.Nc4 Nxg5 46.hxg5 d5 47.Ne3 Bb3 48.Kf2 Kxg5 49.Ke2 Kf4 50.Ng2+ Ke4 51.Kd2 c4 52.Ne3 d4 53.Ng2 c3+ 54.Kc1 d3, White resigns.

        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        *

 NM Art Macaspac was held to a draw by Ramneek Singh.

NM Mauricio Camejo lost to NM Vladimir Polyakin.

 David Zhurbinsky was defeated by Errol Singh.

FM Boris Privman won against Michael O'Connor.

Privman Wins March Madness

FM Boris Privman won yesterday's March Madness with 6.5/7. He clinched first place with a round to spare and finished 2 full points ahead of the field.

NM Mauricio Camejo and Expert Errol Singh tied for 2nd.

LM Vladimir Polyakin (U2200), Michael O'Connor (U1900) and Ramneek Singh (U1600) collected class prizes.

Here are some photos from the event, which featured 5 Masters and 14 participants, in all:

1562-rated Ramneek Singh (r) drew NM Arthur Macaspac (2224) in round 3.

7 year old, 1641-rated Merric Hu (playing Macaspac) finished at the bottom of the crosstable but drew NM Mauricio Camejo in the opening round.

 

The tournament room before the start of round 5. 

In the 6th round, Michael O'Connor (1844) cooked LM Vladimir Polyakin (r) in a Caro-Kann.

Thanks to everyone who turned-out on the rainy Saturday and made the tournament a success. We hope to go mad again in a few months.

James West Joins Chess Mates Blog

Chess Mates welcomes Life Master James West, author of Jim West On Chess, as a contributor to our own blog.

Duplicate Tournament Report

We sent in a duplicate report of Sunday's Scholastic G/30 and will notify the USCF about our mistake.