DCC September 2023 Tournaments Report

... having all that prize money in his pocket.

Thanks to Mike Maloney, the Volodymyr Foundation, a humanitarian aid organization in Livi, Ukraine, has received 40 dollars and 61 cents from the DCC. Representative Maria Kvit-Flynn acknowledged the donation with a Thank You letter addressed to "Denver Chess Club Players". Mr. Maloney had asked DCC players to donate, and DCC players chipped in. The odd 61 cents was all one player had in his pocket. 

Butterfly pictures are courtesy of Pixabay images and have nothing to do with chess. Except the next time I lose a game, I'm blaming it on the butterfly effect :-)

The butterfly effect is the theory that a butterfly taking flight causes a minuscule change in the air pressure, and that could cause a tornado to form. Meaning any small change can have huge consequences. The DCC donation is a drop in the ocean, but maybe that extra 61 cents will turn the tide of the war. Admittedly not likely, but we can hope. Some of the best chess players in the world have come from the Ukraine. 

Daniel Herman (b) vs. Eamon Montgomery (w) Bob, in the background, is a casual player who enjoys watching the higher rated players' games.

That said, on to the prize winners of the DCC September tournaments. In the Tuesday night Premier section, with a - could not have been easy - last round win over Daniel Herman, Eamon Montgomery took clear 1st place with 3.5 points and won 192 dollars. It's good to see Mr. Montgomery back at the DCC, and I imagine he is glad to be back, having all that prize money in his pocket :-)

Eamon Montgomery (b) vs. Chris Motley (w) . Juan Brenes, on the other board.

Mr. Herman, Juan Brenes, and Alexander Steger all finished with 3 points and they share the combined 2nd and 3rd place prize of 192 dollars. Mr. Brenes also won the 20 dollar Honorable Mention Upset Prize for his huge Round 2 win against National Master Mattew Wofford. The 30 dollar Best Upset Prize went to William Wolf, for his Round 1 win over the DCC Treasurer, Luis Jimenez. Just forget to write his check, Luis :-)

An epic battle has attracted a crowd. Matthew Wofford (b) vs. Kenzie Moore (w). Mike Maloney, Daniel, and Shirley Herman in the background center. Juan Brenes on the left.  

In the Tuesday night U1900 section, Jeff Nohrden, Guillermo Lozano, and Vedanth Peesapaty all finished with 3.5 points. They share the combined 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, place prizes, and each player won 124 dollars and 24 cents. Tooting my own horn, I'd like to mention that it was me who held Mr. Nohrden to a round 3 draw :-) I believe Austin Battles is new to the DCC, and he made a splash by winning both Upset prizes. The rating point difference between him and his 3rd and 4th round opponents totaled up to 1025 points. A well earned 50 dollars for playing excellent chess.

Guillermo Lozano (b) vs. Kristopher Zelkin (w) Luis Jimenez in the stripped shirt.

Brandon Morris took 1st place in the Tuesday night U1500 section, with a perfect 4 -0 score. This fine performance put 186 dollars in his pocket. I am pleased to report that Shirley Herman tied for 2nd and 3rd place with Johnathan Lovell. They both ended up with 3.5 points, and they each won 93 dollars and 50 cents. I'm also pleased to report that Gera Cruz won the 30 dollar Best Upset prize by tricking longtime DCC player, Joe Aragon into a stalemate. The 20 dollar Honorable Mention Upset prize was won by Nick Sagerer. Surprisingly also against Mr. Aragon. These things happen, Joe.

Brandon Morris making a move against Richard Eveleigh

I don't think anyone will be surprised to learn that Daniel Herman again took 1st place with a perfect 4-0 score, in the Thursday night 1600+ Premier section. The icing on the cake was another win over NM Brian Wall. Mr. Herman pockets 87 dollars and 90 cents for his fine play. 

Ben DeGuire (w) vs. Bill Weihmiller (b)

Rocco Degeest is getting better by the game. Losing only to Mr. Herman, he took 2nd place with 3 points and won 67 dollars and 28 cents. Ben DeGuire is also improving his game. His 2.5 points included two big upsets and he won the 3rd place prize of 33 dollars and 64 cents. Will Wolf and Bill Weihmiller each won 16 dollars and 82 cents by splitting the Premier U1900 prize. Mr. Weihmiller also won the 20 dollar Upset prize for his win over the strong Expert, Kenzie Moore.  

Rocco Degeest (w) vs. Luis Jimenez (b). Other board is Alexander Steger (w) vs. Daniel Herman (b)

The Thursday night U1600 and Unrated section, was won by Mitchell Beyer with 3.5 points. Putting 89 dollars and 70 cents in his pocket. Jude Fee took 2nd place with 3 points to win 67 dollars and 21 cents. This in addition to winning the 20 dollar Upset prize. Unrated David Greaves won the 3rd place prize of 33 dollars and 64 cents. TD Weston Taylor won the same amount with a 2 point final score that won the U1600/U1300 prize.

This is what's great about chess. It's a level playing field for all ages, male or female, kids or adults. If you can think, you can play. 

As always a big THANK YOU to the players who participate in DCC tournaments. The popularity of chess is growing, and you are the reason for that. Thanks also to Shirley Herman for most of the pictures in this report. 

This month's Games Section is exclusively NM Brian Wall's games. Which are essentially chess lessons because there is always something to learn from his games. We'll start out with several sparking online games. Note: All "quotes" in the following games are by NM Brian Wall. Also in a few diagrams, (xxx) is asking you to find Brian Wall's move.

1) dewa-perang vs. Brian Wall. "Fishing Pole Hyper-Pole Peekabuh Bishop on a7 is often overlooked." Never mind Brian's phonetic spelling of Peekaboo :-) "That spelling is from the Pink Panther movies where Detective Peter Sellers drives his boss insane by mispronouncing so many words and acting like a complete idiot, miraculously solving each case." As for the game NM Wall says, "In the Art of Attack by Vukovic 80 years ago it is explained that 10. Bg5 to block my Queen out of the action is a mistake, triggering a Kingside Pawn Wave. Like Love my Queen finds a way to the King somehow, against all odds."

9) Anatryx vs. Brian Wall. "12 Move Fishing Pole. 5 ... h5 is my favorite blitz position due to miniatures like this."

10) Brian Wall vs. MiguelElduardoGB. At move 21. Bh4-f6 NM Wall has just played what Joel Johnson called a "Laydown Sacrifice" Here, just take my Bishop :-) "10 years ago I went to Phoenix Arizona and helped Joel Johnson with a chapter on exchange sacs, let's say on f6. One of the main ideas is that the f7-pawn is keeping all of Black's heavy pieces from participating in the defense. In this case it wasn't an exchange sac but a laydown sacrifice. My Bishop on f6 freezes the f7 pawn, allowing all my pieces to attack the Black King freely with a huge space advantage and numerical superiority of attackers vs defenders in the critical zone. Jack Young called this a Kingside feed."

11) Bander Tumbukani vs. Brian Wall. Final Position. Thursday. Round 1. NM Wall is prone to toying with an opponent when they won't resign in dead lost positions. In the game after 34. d5-d6 Black has a mate in 1. Which we all can see. Instead, NM Wall amuses himself for 60 more moves. Mr. Tumbukani played along, perhaps having fun too. Brian says, "I was bitterly disappointed when I couldn't give up a second army and mate with Bishop and Knight. I think Bander finally resigned due to 94. Kxc8 Be6#  but my plan was 94. Kxc8  Ra8+  95. Kd7  Rd8+  96. Ke7  Rd7+ 97. Ke8  Re7+  98. Kxe7  Qe6+  99. Kd8  Qd7+ 100. Kxd7 and mate with Bishop and Knight." I once saw NM Wall, in a long ago Colorado Open tournament, have an immediate mate by promoting to a Queen, but instead, he promoted to a Knight and delayed the start of the next round. Brian being Brian :-) 

12) Brian Wall vs. Alex Steeger. Thursday. Round 2. White has just played 28. b5-b6. "One of those games where the computer loves my position all game but I didn't know I had the advantage." I imagine Pawn Wave Guy knows now, with his pawns rolling down the board :-)

13) Daniel Herman vs. Brian Wall Thursday. Round 3. NM Wall, probably in time pressure, has just played 24...Qa6xa4, capturing a pawn. How does Mr. Herman win the Queen? "24. (xxx) is called Hook and Ladder but even without that, I had already analyzed every endgame to a loss. The Benko Gambit was popular when I was a kid."

14) Jeremy Roldan vs. Brian Wall. Tuesday. Round 1. NM Wall credits Mr. Roldan by saying "I watched Jeremy Roldan beat the 2023 Colorado Closed Champion Matthew Wofford and Christopher Motley from Colorado Springs in the 2023 Colorado Open." And in this position, Brian admits he "got lucky" when White played 14. f2-f4. 14...(xxx) 

15) Brian Wall vs. Brogan McGrath 2023 Colorado Open. Round 1. After 17...gxh4 "Brogan had an army of broken, isolated, doubled pawns. I grimly hung on until the apples started falling from the tree in McGrath's time pressure."

16) Josh Samuel vs. Brian Wall. 2023 Colorado Open. Round 2. Final Position. "For 50 years now Josh Samuel loses or draws me without winning. Alekhine's was popular when I was a kid. I hated my final position."

18) Vedanth Sampath vs. Brian Wall.  Colorado Open. Round 4. "I became a Colorado Chessmaster 45 years ago with Caro-Kann minority attacks like this game. Especially juicy was 43...(xxx) the only winning move, driving Vedanth's King out of the center." 

19) Sullivan McConnell vs. Brian Wall  2023 Colorado Open. Round 5. Final Position. Draw agreed. "I haven't beaten Sullivan in years so I was content with guaranteed second place money. Lately, I hardly win any money in Colorado tournaments. It's frustrating.  Lior Lapid, Richard Shtivelband, the McConnell boys, Rhett Langseth or the Hermans beat me to the table." - "The previous round FIDE Master Matt Hassen, 2338, had an obvious attack on Sullivan. Young Master McConnell remembered a game where I was a piece down and just started shoving pawns down the middle of the board. Sullivan used the same strategy against Matt and turned the game around. So Sullivan took out the highest rated guy in the Colorado Open and I took out the highest rated guy in the Denver Open." 

Thanks again to all, 

J.C. MacNeil