Cherry Street Open #2 Underway

Chess Mates' Cherry Street Open #2 is underway, albeit some 15 minutes late, with 14 players. The field includes GMs Bryan Smith & Mark Paragua.

Late-joins will be accepted until the start of round 2, which is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. but is likely to begin at 1:30.

Here are some photos taken at the start of round 1:

The twins vs. the GMs! Roshan Idnani vs. Smith (top, in a Sicilian) & Paragua vs. Taran Idnani (bottom, in an English).

English Opening #2: FM Boris Privman (b) vs. Timothy Hoang.

LM Vladimir Polyakin (b) & Shikhar Ahuja waiting.

Ryan Hoang vs. NM Arthur Macaspac's Sicilian.

Yet another English! NM Sameer Mujumdar vs. Ryan Feng.

Ramitha Ravishankar vs. Rudy Tia & Bird's Opening.

Macaspac Wins Friday G/45

NM Arthur Macaspac won the Friday G/45 which began on November 7 & concluded last night.

NM Mauricio Camejo & Lev Zilbermintz tied for 2nd.

Another G/45 will begin next Friday (11/21).

Friday G/45 Starts Tonight

Chess Mates will be starting a 4-round, G/45 Swiss tonight (Friday 11/7), with rounds at 7:15 & 9:00 p.m. Rounds 3 and 4 will be played next Friday (11/14).

See the online TLA or click on the the image below for details.

Photos from Machan Open 10/25/2014

These pictures were taken by me on Saturday during the Dr. Luzviminda Machan Open.

Robert Vinson lost to William Graif.

Ryan Hoang was outplayed by FM Luis Flaquer, who won the tournament.

William Graif earned the title of national master by winning his game against NM Art Macaspac.

Ryan Hoang beat Ken Cohen.

Robert Vinson fell to FM Luis Flaquer.

Ken Cohen was defeated by Fermin Arias.

Flaquer Wins Machan; Graif Earns NM Title

FIDE master Luis Flaquer won yesterday's Dr. Luzviminda Machan Open, a half point ahead of William Graif who earned his national master title by breaking 2200.

Round Three: Philidor Counter Gambit

Ryan Hoang (USCF 1829) - Jim West (USCF 2209), Rahway NJ 10/25/2014

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 f5 4.d3 c6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.h3 Be7 7.a3 Na6 8.O-O f4 9.Ba2 h6 10.d4 Qc7 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.Qe2 g5 13.Qc4 Rf8 14.Nh2 Bd7 15.Rb1 O-O-O 16.b4 Kb8

17.b5 cxb5 18.Nxb5 Qxc4 19.Bxc4 Nxe4 20.Re1 Bxb5 21.Bxb5 Nc3 22.Rb3 Nxb5 23.Rxb5 Bc5 24.Ng4 e4 25.Nxh6 Rde8 26.Bb2 e3 27.f3 e2+ 28.Rxc5 Nxc5 29.Bg7 Ne6 30.Bxf8 Nxf8 31.Kf2 Re6 32.Nf7 Nh7

33.Rxe2 Rc6 34.Re8+ Kc7 35.Re7+ Kb6 36.Nd8 Rxc2+ 37.Kg1 Rc1+ 38.Kh2 Rc7 39.Re6+ Ka5 40.Re5+ Ka4 41.Ne6 Rf7 42.Nxg5 Nxg5 43.Rxg5 b5 44.h4 a5 45.h5 b4 46.axb4 axb4 47.Rg6 b3 48.Kh3 Rb7

49.Ra6+ Kb4 50.Ra1 b2 51.Rf1 Kc3 52.h6 b1=Q 53.Rxb1 Rxb1 54.Kg4 Rh1 55.Kxf4 Rxh6 56.g4 Kd4 57.g5 Rh8 58.g6 Kd5 59.Kf5 Rf8+ 60.Kg5 Rxf3 61.g7 Rg3+ 62.Kf6 Kd6 63.Kf7 Rf3+ 64.Kg6, draw.

Barbosa & Paragua Simul On October 26

 

On October 26, from 1:15 to 3:15 p.m., during Chess Mates’ Sunday Chess School, Grandmasters Oliver Barbosa and Mark Paragua will be giving a brief lesson, having a Q &A Session, and performing a Simultaneous Exhibition.

Barbosa, 28, earned his Grandmaster title in 2011. Last weekend, he tied for 1st–3rd, with Gata Kamsky and Sergey Erenberg at the Washington Chess Congress.

Paragua, 30, earned his Grandmaster title in 2005. He has represented the Philippines in 4 Chess Olympiads: 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2012.

The cost to participate in the 2-hour event is $25.

Adelson Leads October G/90

Serge Adelson leads Chess Mates' October G/90 at its midway point.

John Moldovan, Robert Vinson and Gabe Moreira are tied for 2nd, a half-point back.

There are 10 participants. Late-joins are permitted until the start of round 3 on October 22nd.


Round 1:

The Wednesday night faithful: Gabe Moreira, Ralph Warrick, Serge Adelson, Leo Moreira, Raja Ghosh and Ken Cohen.

 

L. Moreira 0-1 Adelson

Moldovan 1-0 Cohen

Round 2

John Lekocevic, Robert Vinson, Charlie Silver and Jack Silver late-joined. They received half-point byes for round 1.

Adelson 1-0 Lekocevic
J. Silver 1/2-1/2 G. Moreira
C. Silver 0-1 Vinson
Cohen 0-1 L. Moreira

Half-point byes: Ghosh, Moldovan.


Standings, after 2 rounds of 4:

1. Adelson (1835) 2.0
= 2-4. Moldovan (1795), Vinson (1214), G. Moreira (1143)
= 5-6. L. Moreira (1268), J. Silver (969)
= 7-8. Lekocevic (1548), Ghosh (1459), C. Silver (733)
10. Cohen (1246) 0.0

G/90 Returns To Wednesday, Starting October 8

Our G/90 tournament returns to Wednesday nights beginning October 8th. Click here for details.

In other scheduling changes:

• The Friday G/90s for October & November have been canceled.
• Casual Chess moves to Fridays.
• The Friday Chess School has been postponed until further notice.
• Private lessons will be available on Fridays between 7 & 9 p.m. Inquire to arthur.macaspac@chessmatesnj.com or call 760-583-8429.

More Pictures from Cherry Street Open

During the Cherry Street Open on Saturday, I took these pictures.

Smith & Prilleltensky Win Cherry Street Open

GM Bryan Smith & LM Matan Prilleltensky won yesterday's Cherry Street Open, with 3.5/4.

LM Vladimir Polyakin & NM Arthur Macaspac split the U2300 prize. Arthur also scored the biggest upset, with a 2nd round win over IM Justin Sarkar.

The U2100 prize was divided among NM Mauricio Camejo, Howard Weiss & Tom Polese.

Ken Cohen earned the U1900 honor and Ed Mc Donald was tops among U1600s.

Thomas Elberling Memorial Fund

Prior to today's Cherry Street Open, the players observed a moment of silence for Thomas Elberling, an 11-year old chess expert who was slain by his father some 2 weeks ago.

Some of the participants donated money that will go towards Thomas' Memorial fundraiser & many signed a sympathy card for his mother.

If you'd like to help out as well, visit http://www.youcaring.com/memorial-fundraiser/thomas-elberling/231724

Cherry Street Open: 4th Round Photos

Cherry Street Open

Photos taken at the start of the last round:

Cherry Street Open: 4th Round Pairings

Cherry Street Open

4th Round Pairings:

Sarkar took a half-point bye. Komunicky withdrew.

Cherry St. Open: 3rd Round Results, Standings

Cherry Street Open

3rd Round Results & Standings: