Colorado Springs Chess News

Game Of The Week

This week's game comes from my list of upsets.  In fact, it is my 60th upset I have published.  I created the list early on when I had limited access to other player's chess games, and I wanted an easy way to pick one of my games to publish for the newsletter.

I just filtered my database for games where my estimated rating change was +16 or higher.  I also had to remove the duplicates, as the Colorado Springs Chess Club had its own rating for a while and the USCF rates some time controls as dual-rated.  So, most of the games are standard time control of G/30 or longer, with the exception of a couple of quick-rated events at G/24+5.

I was surprised to see how few and far between the upsets were.  How did I get my peak USCF rating to 2102 when I rarely beat someone higher rated?  It was kind of a depressing report with drought years in 2018 and 2020 and single digits all over the place. 

But these are the numbers.  And as a stat guy, you learn to face the data head-on.

Year, Upsets

2019 1

2017 2

2016 1

2015 2

2014 2

2013 3

2012 2

2011 1

2010 2

2009 3

2008 2

2007 3

2006 4

2005 3

2004 4

2003 5

2002 2

2001 6

2000 5

1999 2

1998 5

Grand Total 60

The numbers just kept getting worse when I looked at from where my multiple upsets were coming.  My top 2 upset opponents make up 1/3 of all my upsets.  I guess this is what you get when you only play at club.

My Opponent, # of Upsets, My Rating, Opp Rating

BUCHANAN 11 1896 2006

FOX, JEFF 9 1636 1759

BLOOMER 5 1933 2228

TELINBACCO 2 1824 1882

HORTILLOSA 2 1666 1936

ANDERSON, ROBERT 2 1534 1556

The only consolation I had was that my numbers are eerily similar to a young chess prodigy, as he was playing at his local club.

Bobby's Opponent, # of Upsets, Bobby's Rating, Opp Rating

Bisguier 11 1896 2006

Fox, Maurice 9 1636 1759

Alekhine 5 1933 2228

Tal 2 1824 1882

Hort 2 1666 1936

Byrne, Robert 2 1534 1556

White to move

See the diagram and answer here:

https://cschess.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=206280809

My 60 Memorable Upsets

https://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=115698

[Event "March Swiss 90"]

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

[Date "2019.03.19"]

[Round "3.1"]

[White "Anderson, Paul"]

[Black "Bloomer, Josh"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "E68"]

[WhiteElo "1934"]

[BlackElo "2343"]

[PlyCount "87"]

[EventDate "2019.03.05"]

[TimeControl "5400+30"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O

d6 6. c4 Nbd7 7. Nc3 e5 8. e4 c6 9. Be3 Ng4 10. Bc1 exd4 11. Nxd4 Nc5 12. b3

Ne5 13. Nde2 f5 14. Be3 fxe4 15. Bxc5 Nf3+ 16. Kh1 dxc5 17. Qxd8 Rxd8 18. Rad1

Bf5 19. Rxd8+ Rxd8 20. Rd1 Rxd1+ 21. Nxd1 b5 22. Ne3 Be6 23. Nf4 Kf7 24. Nxe6

Kxe6 25. Bh3+ Kd6 26. Bf1 b4 27. Bh3 Bd4 28. Nd1 Nd2 29. Bg4 a5 30. Ne3 Bxe3

31. fxe3 Nxc4 32. bxc4 a4 33. Bd1 b3 34. a3 h5 35. h3 Ke5 36. Kg2 g5 37. Kf2 h4

38. gxh4 gxh4 39. Ke1 Kf5 40. Kd2 Ke5 41. Kc3 Kd6 42. Bg4 Ke5 43. Bd7 Kd6 44.

Be8 1-0

This Week In Chess

On August 16th, the Colorado Springs Chess Club held the CSCC Owen Nomore Rapid Online event (4SS, G/10+10).

https://www.chess.com/tournament/live/cscc-owen-nomore-rapid-online-1509808

Place, CSCC Owen Nomore (4SS, G/10+10), Score

1 "#1 bozhenoff (1737)" 4.0

2 "#2 Czechmate1972 (1608)" 3.0

3 "#3 jfoxhoot (1563)" 3.0

4 "#4 DuWayneL (1539)" 2.0

5 "#5 cschessnews (1627)" 2.0

6 "#5 tristancruz (1057)" 2.0

7 "#7 KingVed (1479)" 2.0

8 "#8 msmcgough (1468)" 2.0

9 "#9 Navajo36us80917 (1134)" 1.0

10 "- Honeybrook (1344)" 0.0

11 "- RecurringMiss (1889)" 0.0

12 "- Termenoil (1846)" 0.0