DCC October 2023 Report
3:55pm Saturday, November 4th, 2023
It's when you win or lose the money :-)
The heading photo is TD Peter Barlay just waiting for me to violate the rules :-) All the Tuesday night photos in this report are by John Brezina. They show Mr. Brezina's talent for capturing the expressions of chess players.
Such as youngster, James Corbett, being not happy about something :-)
At any chess tournament - regardless of the number of players in the room - I've always been stunned by the near total silence of the room immediately after a round starts. Thanks to Liesl Johnson and her Make Your Point vocabulary column, it's safe to say there is never any "shivaree" once the games begin. I can also say my quest to get better at chess is "quixotic" because I lack "sapience". I know that my analysis of a position is usually "erroneous", and often I don't have a "soupcon" of an idea for the best move. I get a feeling of "compunction" when I allow a mate in one. Clearly, I lack a "desideratum" of chess knowledge. I might say Brian Wall's game is the "apotheosis" of Colorado chess, but to be snarky I would add, in his own mind :-) Ms. Johnson's column is "quintessential" and free. To subscribe simply click the link and supply an email address.
Eamon Montgomery taking a nap between moves :-)
With those fancy words said, here are the "victor ludorum" - sorry, I couldn't resist - of the DCC October tournaments. In the Tuesday night Premier section Eamon Montgomery took 1st place and won 192 dollars with a last round win against Turpana Molina to finish with 4 points. Daniel Herman had 3.5 points going into Round 5 and would have tied or taken 1st place with a draw or win in his game against Mathew Wofford.
Juan Brenes thinking about the position.
But in a hard fought game, Mr. Wofford took the full point to also finish with 3.5 points. Then Juan Brenes won a tough last round game against Mike Maloney to also end up with 3.5 points. Thus, Mr. Herman, Mr. Wofford, and Mr. Brenes share the combined 2nd and 3rd place prize, with each player winning 64 dollars. The last round is called the money round for a good reason. It's when you win or lose the money :-)
Guillermo Lozano also thinking about the position.
Guillermo Lozano won the 30 dollar Best Upset Prize for his 360 point rating difference win over Jermy Roldan in Round 4. Mr. Lozano also had an upset draw against the DCC Treasurer, Luis Jimenez in Round 1. The 20 dollar Honorable Mention Upset Prize was won by Forrest Lundstrom for his 236 point draw against Kenzie Moore in Round 3.
Jeremy Roldan in a typical chess player pose
In the Tuesday night U1900 section Jeff Nohrden held the higher rated Kristopher Zelkin to a last round draw, to also finish with 4 points, and they share the combined 1st and 2nd place prize of 297 dollars. There was a three way tie for 3rd place. Charles Larimer, Darshan Satishkumar, and Lev Shulman all had 3.5 points and they each won 25 dollars and 33 cents. Mr. Larimer blew me off the board in round 4, but somehow, I won against Darshan in round 1. I gotta mention these few and far between wins :-)
Jeff Nohrden with the black pieces...
...Darshan Satishkumar has opened with the king's pawn...
...and Lev Shulman is looking at the camera.
Niall Case also finished with 3.5 points but won the higher value Best Upset Prize of 30 dollars. The 20 dollar Honorable Mention Upset Prize was won by Rayansh Agarwal when he held Bill O'Neil to a draw in round 4.
Long time DCC player, Bill O'Neil who along with...
... Randolph Schine...
...Paul Kullback...
...and Joe Aragon, have all been playing at the DCC since forever.
Richard Fiet and long time DCC player Joe Aragon tied for 3rd place with 3.5 points and they each won 38 dollars. I predict that Nivid Singhal won't have a three digit rating for long. He lost to Mr. Wannell and Mr. Lovell, but Nivid won both Upset Prizes by winning his other three games. His rating difference in those games totaled up to 1643 points!!
New to the DCC, Unrated Jeff Wannell took 1st place in the Tuesday night U1500 section with 4.5 points. Only allowing a Round 2 draw to Johnathan Lovell. This fine performance put 186 dollars in Mr. Wannell's pocket. Mr. Lovell won the 2nd place prize of 111 dollars with 4 points. See all of Mr. Brezina's excellent Tuesday night photography of round 1 .
The following photos were taken by your reporter on Thursday night and don't compare at all to Mr. Brezina's pictures. I'm mad at Shirley Herman for focusing on her games and not taking pictures :-)
Ben DeGuire is waiting for his opponent to arrive.
I am glad to say the DCC Thursday night tournament continues to attract new players and the attendance is growing. Slowly but surely. Going out on a limb, I predict that soon the average attendance will be over 30 players each Thursday. Then I'll start pushing for 40 players a week :-)
Daniel Herman (b) vs. Rocco Degeest (w) and Juan Brenes (b) vs Brian Wall (w)
In the Thursday night Premier section, Brian Wall took the full point from Daniel Herman in round 3, then secured 1st place with a last round draw against Juan Brenes. NM Wall won 83 dollars and 80 cents. Mr. Herman won the 2nd place prize of 62 dollars and 85 cents with 3 points.
Luis Jimenez (b) vs. Kenzie Moore (w)
Thursday night TD and DCC Treasurer, Luis Jimenez, and Mr. Brenes each ended up with 2.5 points and they share the 3rd place prize of 31 dollars and 44 cents. Two - getting better by the game - youngsters, Grayson Manuel and Rocco Degreest share the U1900 prize with each player winning 15 dollars and 72 cents. Rocco also won the 20 dollar Upset prize, for his Round 2 win over Kenzie Moore. This is in addition to also drawing against Mr. Brenes and winning against higher rated Jordan Edmonson. Only losing to Mr. Herman in the last round.
Johnathan Lovell (b) vs. Shirley Herman (w)
Johnathan Lovell won the Thursday night U1600 and Unrated section with a perfect 4-0 score. Taking home 83 dollars and 80 cents. Shirley Herman and Unrated Will Evans each won 47 dollars and 14 cents with 3 points, tying for 2nd and 3rd place. Ms. Herman also won the 20 dollar Upset prize for her big Round 3 win against the strong Alexander Barraza. Brian Hood won the 31 dollars and 43 cents U1600/U1300 prize with 2 points.
It's great to see kids this age playing serious tournament chess.
As always a big THANK YOU to everyone who participates in DCC tournaments. Also, no tournament happens without Tournament Directors. Many thanks to Phil Brown and Peter Barlay on Tuesdays, and Weston Taylor and Luis Jimenez on Thursdays.
We'll begin the Games Section like usual with Brian Wall's games, including a selection of his scintillating online games.
1) Grayson Manuel vs. Brian Wall. Round 1. Thursday. After 14. Qd2xf4, capturing a Knight, how does NM Wall win a piece?
2) Brian Wall vs. Luis Jimenez. Round 2. Thursday. Looks like 36... Qc6-c1+ is going to win a Rook. Why is that not true?
3) Daniel Herman vs. Brian Wall. Round 3. Thursday. In this position after 34. Ne3-f5 Brian says, "I had no time and no position until Daniel played 34 Nf5+? instantly without thinking. Why was that a dubious move? Also when playing through this game, why does NM Wall criticize 18. Nc3-d1? See the answers below after the last diagram.
4) Juan Brenes vs. Brian Wall. Round 4. Thursday. After 36. Bc4-d3 Mr. Brenes played 36...Rd2-f2. What would either of two other moves have possibly led to a significant advantage?
12) Turpana Molina vs. Daniel Herman. Tuesday. Round 2. Final position. Mr. Molina resigned when he played 32. Qb8-b3. Which may have been a hand slip or time pressure, because it allows 32... Qf5-e4 I guess.
12) Alexander Barraza vs. Shirley Herman. Thursday. Round 3. Final position. Mr. Barraza dropped a piece early and Ms. Herman, with fine technique, did not let him recover.
12) Jeff Wannell vs Gera Cruz. Tuesday. Round 3. In this position, after 10. Nd5-f4, maybe ...Be6xc4 is OK, but 10...Qd8-f6 sure doesn't work.
13) Gera Cruz vs. Luna Levine. Tuesday. Round 2. With 51. b5-b6 Mr. Cruz has done a Brian Wall style pawn wave.
14) Vedant Ratnakar vs. Alexis Kirkpatrick. Thursday. Round 1. When Vedant played 11. dxe5 what did he overlook?
J.C. MacNeil