Colorado Springs Chess News

Game Of The Week

This past weekend I played in the Colorado Springs Open. I was hoping to earn 10 rating points to put me into expert rating for the first time.

Despite the fact that I didn’t lose any of the four games I played, I only averaged a 1-point gain per game. The problem was that I didn’t face any opponent within 150 rating points of me, and I drew my last round.

I knew going into the game that I needed a win. I was happy with how I played for most of the game, and I even got a break when my opponent started dropping material in time pressure. However, it turns out he put all his chips on one last ditch effort to get to my king.

It worked because one of my weaknesses is that I don’t use my time well when my opponent stops keeping score and I am still recording. I tend to rush my moves to make up for the fact that he is using my recording time against me.

I have to waste time keeping a record of the game while he is using that time to plot against me. Then he is going to ask me for that record, once he makes time control, and use all my hard work against me later in the game as part of a draw claim.

Needless to say, finding the right move with all those thoughts going on in my head is not easy. So, I ended up moving my king into the attack instead of away. The only thing that saved the loss was my opponent’s draw offer with 2 seconds left on his clock.

I suppose I could have tried a surprise move and quickly started his clock hoping to burn off the final seconds, but I felt like I didn’t deserve a win at this point anyway. Plus, I realized I would get some money for second place to help take away the agony of de-draw.

After the game, I realized that I had pulled off my own last ditch effort earlier in the tournament and put myself over 300 USCF-rated wins. I don’t know if 300 wins is much of a milestone in chess, but in the NFL it is.

In fact, only two coaches have broken that barrier. The first was George Halas and the second was Don Shula:

“On November 14, 1993 in Philadelphia, when the Dolphins defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 19-14, Shula won his 325th career game, moving him past the immortal George Halas (324-151-31) and setting an NFL record for most career victories, a mark once thought to be unreachable. Shula's 328 regular season wins also is an NFL record, surpassing Halas' former NFL mark of 318 regular season victories. Shula and Halas are the only NFL coaches to win 300 or more career games, as Shula recorded his 300th career win on September 22, 1991, with a 16-13 triumph over Green Bay in just his 29th year as an NFL head coach, as compared to 36 seasons for Halas to accomplish that feat.”

So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

300 Club

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=95895

[Event "Colorado Springs Open"]

[Site "http://cschess.webs.com/"]

[Date "2009.03.07"]

[Round "2.3"]

[White "Bagstad, Gary"]

[Black "Anderson, Paul"]

[Result "0-1"]

[ECO "B12"]

[WhiteElo "1718"]

[BlackElo "1990"]

[PlyCount "88"]

[EventDate "2009.03.07"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Nc3 Bg4 6. Be3 Qb6 7. Qd3 Bxf3 8. gxf3

c5 9. dxc5 Qxb2 10. Qb5+ Qxb5 11. Bxb5+ Nd7 12. Kd2 dxc5 13. e5 b6 14. Rad1 e6

15. Ne4 Bf8 16. Ke2 Rd8 17. Rd3 a6 18. Bxa6 Nb8 19. Bb5+ Ke7 20. Rxd8 Kxd8 21.

Rd1+ Kc7 22. Ng5 Nh6 23. Ne4 Be7 24. Ng5 Bxg5 25. fxg5 Nf5 26. Bc1 Nc6 27. Bd3

Nfd4+ 28. Kf2 Nb4 29. c3 Nxd3+ 30. Rxd3 Nf5 31. Bf4 Ra8 32. Rd2 Ra4 33. Bg3 Rc4

34. Rd3 Ne7 35. Ke2 Nd5 36. Kd2 Ra4 37. Kc2 Rxa2+ 38. Kb3 Ra8 39. c4 Ne7 40.

Rd1 Nc6 41. f4 Nd4+ 42. Kb2 Ra4 43. Rc1 Rb4+ 44. Kc3 Ne2+ 0-1

This Week In Chess

On March 3rd, the CSCC had 12 members in attendance. The evening’s event was a 4-round, double-Swiss, blitz tournament (G5). NM Josh Bloomer and new Colorado expert Mitch Anderson battled to a first place tie. Here are the results:

Score Player

7.0 Josh Bloomer

7.0 Mitch Anderson

5.0 Paul Anderson

4.5 Buck Buchanan

4.0 Jeff Fox

3.5 Bill Whinemiller

3.0 Dean Brown

2.5 Imre Barlay

2.0 Ken Dail

1.5 Joe Pahk

In February, the CSCC held the Poor Richard's Bookstore February Open. Here are the final results:

Score Player

4.0 Mitchell Anderson

3.0 Anthea J Carson

2.5 M Paul Covington

2.5 Daniel St John

2.0 Bill Whinemiller

2.0 Joseph T Fromme

1.5 Thomas Mullikin

1.5 Dragan Plakalovic

1.0 Gerald J Maier

0.5 Dean W Brown

0.5 Danielle Rice

0.5 Isaac Martinez

Spring is Sprung Open III

By Liz Wood

April 4, 2009

Spring is Sprung Open III --- A One-day Rated Chess Tournament

5SS, G/30 TD 5

Location: at the Daily Grind, 209 S. Union, Pueblo (take 1st Street exit, three blocks to Union; Union & D Street)

Registration 9:00-9:45, Rounds 10, 11:15, 12:30, 2:30, 3:45.

Entry fee: $20; Sr, Jr, Unr $15; CSCA & USCF required, OSA. Pre-registration entry fee: $15, which must be paid at the time of pre-registration. Cash prizes based on entry fees will be distributed at the conclusion of the event.

Final round byes must be requested before the start of Round 2, and are irrevocable.

For further information, contact Liz Wood, [email protected] or Jerry Maier

Send pre-registrations to: Jerry Maier at 229 Hargrove Court, Colorado Springs CO 80919-2213 or [email protected] by April 2nd.

Colorado Springs Open Results & Prizes

By Buck Buchanan

Below is the crosstable for the Colorado Springs Open, which I directed March 7-8 in Manitou Springs.

Score Place Prize Player

4.5 1st $115.00 Randy Canney

4.0 2nd $70.00 Paul Anderson

4.0 2nd $70.00 Julian Evans

4.0 2nd $70.00 Edelreich Deloslado

3.5 U1700 $55.00 Brendon Barela

3.0 U1500 $25.00 Fred Eric Spell

3.0 U1500 $25.00 Jeff Sallade

2.0 U1300 $22.50 Isaac Martinez

2.0 U1300 $22.50 Robert McMahon

Score Player

4.5 Randy Canney

4.0 Julian Evans

4.0 Paul Anderson

4.0 Edelreich De Los Lado

3.5 Jeff Baffo

3.5 Brendon Barela

3.5 Kevin Seidler

3.5 Mitch Anderson

3.0 Anthea Carson

3.0 Karl Irons

3.0 Rhett Langseth

3.0 Jeff Sallade

3.0 Fred Eric Spell

2.5 Ted Doykos

2.5 Dean Brown

2.5 Derek Fish

2.5 Mike Dempsey

2.5 Robert Rountree

2.5 Gary Bagstad

2.0 Kyle Leeds - Tilley

2.0 Bongee Boyce

2.0 Ramyashree Gangadhar

2.0 Jiri Kovats

2.0 Jerry Maier

2.0 Isaac Martinez

2.0 Robert McMahon

1.5 Ken Johnson

1.5 Ginny Gaige

1.5 Joe Aragon

1.5 DuWayne Langseth

1.5 Richard Buchanan

1.0 Phil O'Rourke

1.0 Kathy Schneider

0.5 Larry Tilley

0.0 Dave Kennedy

Upcoming Events

3/10 Team tournament - 2-player teams, CSCC

3/11,18,25 Poor Richard's Bookstore March Open - final rounds, CSCC

3/11 Boulder March Blitz Tournament, BCC

3/12 Family Chess Knight with the Colorado Avalanche, CSCA

3/17 Bughouse!!, CSCC

3/21 DCC March Madness, CSCA

For event details and additional events, see the following websites:

Colorado Springs Chess Club: CSCC (http://springschess.org/)

Boulder Chess Club: BCC (http://www.geocities.com/boulderchessclub/)

Colorado State Chess Association: CSCA (http://colorado-chess.com/)

Wyoming Chess Association: WCA (http://www.wyomingchess.com/)

Kansas Chess Association: KCA (http://www.kansaschess.org/)