Colorado Springs Chess News

Game Of The Week

This week’s game comes from the club event, the Cabin Fever Reliever. It is typically my first event back at the Colorado Springs Chess Club after my off-season and one that has been very good for me.  My winning percentage in this event is 77% and my prize winnings are about 2.6 times my entry fees.

So, I look forward to this event with eager anticipation every year. Of course, nothing ever goes as planned, and after the first week of the tournament, I found myself in 5th place with little hope of any prize money and likely to finish with a 50% winning percentage.

But as I prepared to play Dean Brown in the 3rd round on the top board, it dawned on me that the top 3 players had not showed up this week. It was as if, all of a sudden, I was Terrell Davis in Super Bowl 32 and the Packers defensive line had parted revealing a clear path to the end zone.

I was busy counting my un-hatched chickens when the top 2 players finally arrived. My heart sank as I realized that NM Josh Bloomer would probably go undefeated, and I would have to win out to even have a shot at an under prize.

I tried to envision a scenario where Jeff Fox would have to play the master, and I would finish with 3 points. It made perfect sense in my mind how I could be paired with Kathy Schneider in the last round and finish in second place.

However, nothing ever goes as planned, and I was paired with NM Josh Bloomer in the final round. I think we both expected another pounding of my Caro-Kann by Josh.

However, for some reason I played the King’s Indian. I haven’t played the black side of the King’s Indian in USCF-rated play since 2002 when I beat Anthea Carson with it, and the only other time I won with it was against Frank Shotwell in 1999.

It seemed as though there was nothing that could stop NM Josh Bloomer from a perfect tournament. But then again, nothing ever goes as planned…

A Giant Upset

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=94619

[Event "Cabin Fever Reliever"]

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

[Date "2008.02.19"]

[Round "4.1"]

[White "Bloomer, Josh"]

[Black "Anderson, Paul"]

[Result "0-1"]

[ECO "E91"]

[WhiteElo "2222"]

[BlackElo "1904"]

[PlyCount "86"]

[EventDate "2008.02.12"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 c5 7. d5 e6 8. O-O

exd5 9. exd5 Na6 10. Bf4 Nc7 11. h3 a6 12. a4 Rb8 13. Qd2 Re8 14. Rfe1 Ne4 15.

Nxe4 Rxe4 16. Bd3 Rxe1+ 17. Rxe1 b5 18. axb5 axb5 19. b3 bxc4 20. bxc4 Rb2 21.

Qa5 Rb3 22. Bc2 Bc3 23. Qa4 Rb4 24. Qa2 Bxe1 25. Nxe1 Qf6 26. Nd3 Rb7 27. Bc1

Bf5 28. Qa3 Qe7 29. Be3 h5 30. Qa4 Kh7 31. Qc6 Ne8 32. Bg5 Qd7 33. Qa6 f6 34.

Bf4 Qe7 35. Be3 Ng7 36. Qc6 g5 37. Qa4 Bg6 38. Qa2 Nf5 39. Bc1 Nd4 40. Be3 Nxc2

41. Qxc2 Qe4 42. Qa4 Qxd3 43. Qc6 Rb1+ 0-1

This Week In Chess

On February 19th, the CSCC had 9 members in attendance. Most of the group played in the conclusion of the Cabin Fever Reliever (4SS, G30). NM Josh Bloomer suffered one defeat as he tied for 1st place with myself. Here are the results:

Player Score Place $

Josh Bloomer 3.0 1st $17.50

Paul Anderson 3.0 1st $17.50

Jeff Fox 2.5

Bill Whinemiller 2.0

Dean Brown 2.0 U1600 $10.00

Virgil McGuire 1.5

David Moritz 1.5

Buck Buchanan 1.5

Dan Southard 0.5

George McDermith 0.5

Kathy Schneider 0.0

Comments From Email

Tim, Wednesday, February 20, 2008 6:24 PM

Nice knight sac by Bill - 22. Qh1! is a neat defense from fritz. [ http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/cs_chess/message/161 ]

Prob would have voted for this one if the bloomer game wasnt a 300 pt upset - Nice game! For some reason I find bishop forks like the one you did to josh easy to miss as well! Congrats!

I'm off to Poor Richards :-)

Cheers,

Tim

Upcoming Events

2/26 Bughouse!!, CSCC

2/28 February 2008 G/29 Grand Prix Event, WCA

3/1 CU Rapid VII & CU Unrated Open, BCC

3/1 DCC March Quick Tournament, CSCA

3/4 Speed Tournament, CSCC

3/5,12,19,26 Poor Richard's Bookstore March Open, CSCC

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/ )