DCC 2024 Fall Classic Report

7:45am Wednesday, October 16th, 2024

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I will certainly not complain about a record registration of 134 players...

NM Chris Peterson's Best Game selection, along with some other games, has been added to the Games Section.  When the Denver Chess Club was thinking about adding a weekend tournament to our yearly calendar - in addition to the MLK and the Denver Open - long time DCC player Randolph Schine came up with the perfect name for the event: The DCC Fall Classic. We have since also added the DCC Spring Classic which had a 2023 inaugural registration of 90 players. followed by a registration of 133 players this year. Increasing attendance in all DCC tournaments shows the increasing interest in chess worldwide.  The first DCC Fall Classic was in 2016. That report has this comment: "...a great tournament, with a total of 84 players taking part." So all these years later I will certainly not complain about a record registration of 134 players at the 2024 DCC Fall Classic.


As usual, I couldn't resist another room shot.


Daniel Herman is quite pleased to be receiving his prize check from TD Peter Barly.

Note: This photo is by Shirley Herman. All other photos are by John Brezina. 

So then, on with who earned USCF rating points and won prize money at the 2024 DCC Fall Classic. First, let me say that DCC President Earle Wikle could not have been more fair with how he allocated the nearly 5000 dollar prize fund, which included an Upset prize for each section. As usual at a DCC tournament any player, regardless of their rating, has a chance to take home prize money. We'll start out this DCC report with a few pictures of special guest, FM Issak Parpiev. Brian Wall played the youngster at an IHOP tournament in Colorado Springs shortly after Issak came to America, and had this to say, "I messed up the opening against Young Master Parpiev and... I just couldn't recover". Also saying, "Richard Shtivelband constructed a winning bind against Isaak. Isaak wriggled out and won anyway." I believe it's safe to say we have another real strong player in Colorado.


The game between FM Isaak Parpiev (w) against NM Daniel Herman (b) is about to begin...


... and FM Parpiev may be thinking Mr. Herman has some verve invading his side of the board with a pawn...


...and here the star of the tournament is checking out some other games.

In the Premier section, FIDE Master Isaak Parpiev had no trouble with our local Colorado players. His 5-0 perfect score took 1st place, and he took home 665 dollars. USCF National Masters Daniel Herman and Eamon Montgomery, along with Candidate Master Rhett Langseth all ended up with 4 points. Each player only lost to the young FM Parpiev. They share the combined 2nd and 3rd place prize of 951 dollars for their fine play.  Forest Lundstrom (1830) won the 95 dollar Premier Upset Prize when he won his round 1 game against NM Abhishek Mallela (2160) 


Grayson Manuel is in full focus mode.

Of note is the young, and fast rising Colorado chess star, Grayson Manuel (1768), who finished with 3 points that were all from upsetting much higher rated players. The rating difference totaled up to 554 points!! Ben DeGuire's 3 points were also from winning against higher rated players. 


Ben DeGuire making sure he doesn't talk out loud about what he is thinking :-) 

In the U1800 section, Incredibly five players all finished with 4 points. Thus, Wyatt Backhouse, John Schoenke, Theodore Hood, Joseph Pelso, and Austin Battles each won 171 dollars. In addition, Mr. Battles (1409) also won the 95 dollar U1800 Upset Prize for his win against Eli Cohrs (1769) in the last round. Mr. Hood was higher rated than all his opponents. The other players combined to have 11 Upset wins. Once again proving you can't look at a player's rating and predict the result of the game.


 TDs Earle W and Peter B in the background. Keeping an eye on things... 


... and here they are on the job at the registration table.

Triston Cruz ruled the U1600 section. His perfect 5-0 score put 333 dollars in his pocket. Karthikeyan Kannan only lost to Mr. Cruz to end up with 4 points and win the 2nd place prize of 214 dollars. Zephyr Zink finished with 3.5 points and won 119 dollars for 3rd place. Wow, clear 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. The young Navid Singhal (1236) won the 95 dollar U1600 Upset Prize when he beat Conner McKenzie (1394) in round 3. This is the same Navid Singhal who ruled the DCC September Tuesday night U1500 section. 

In the U1400 section, Neel Yadatore and Danie Hunninghake both finished with 4 points. Neel had a forced 1st round 1 point bye and Danie only lost to Neel, but otherwise had three Upset wins. Tying for 1st place they each won 257 dollars. Justin Barhite and Henry Dejesse both finished with 3.5 points and share the 3rd place prize of 105 dollars. Mr. Dejesse's points include an upset win and two upset draws. One of the draws earned a split of the 95 dollar U1400 U1400 Upset Prize. The other half went to Ryan Hajjali for his 194 point rating difference win over Lan Truong in round 1. 


My bad for not being able to properly identify these players, and in the following photos.  

In the U1200 section, Nick Hvizda and Tarun Karthikeyan both had 4 points going into the last round and were paired against each other. Their game ended in what I'm sure was a hard fought draw and they both won 237 dollars and 50 cents. Jonah Platt's USCF rating of 834 is going to take a big jump. He finished with 4 points, which were all upsets totally up to a 735 rating point difference. This earned Mr. Platt the U1000 place prize of 143 dollars, in addition to the 95 dollar Upset Prize for his round 2 win against Tim Wendel (1148). The 3rd place prize of 95 dollars. was won by Unrated Zach Andriese who had also ended up with 4 points. 


The youngster is about to make what I'm sure will be a good move...


... and this youngster is making a good move against John Rose. 

So many players, so much prize money, and so much of a great DCC tournament. Thanks first and foremost to all the players who make DCC tournaments successful and exciting. Thanks to DCC President Earle Wikle for making all the arrangements and directing the tournament. Thanks to TD Peter Barlay for making sure Mr. Wikle got things right :-) Thanks also to John Brezina for the pictures. See all of John Brezina's great photography from Round 2 , and Round 5. As an appetizer, here is a selection of his black and white pictures from the tournament. 


I've got to keep my head together.


Uh-oh, that move is a problem.


What's going on over there?


Oh Yeah, that's looking like a good move.


I've got to think about this. 


Let's see here.


Ok, I'm off to a good start.


Games Section


Best Game

by NM Christofer Peterson

Congratulations to everyone who won prizes! Clicking through the games on the DGT boards was a joy. There were so many interesting games to look at. If you have a chance, take a look at the games and find the one you found most interesting. For me, it was the round 5 struggle between Marmer and Wilcox on board 5 of the premier section. It was an intriguing game as it features an opening weapon usually used by stronger players to torture weaker players but this time it is turned on its head. It also includes an early sacrifice, extreme material imbalances, creative piece play, and enough blunders to make your head spin. Despite the flaws, it is my pick for the best game because of all of the interesting lessons that can be learned from it. It is a wild ride so let's jump into the analysis.
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Marmer, Daniel (1793) - Wilcox, Craig (2060)

Round 5 of DCC Fall Classic 2024

2024.10.13

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1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4The Jobava London has become really popular at all levels. It has proven to be a dangerous weapon in the hands of aggressive attacking players. It sides steps a lot of classical opening theory and has some nasty traps. If black is familiar, though, he can often come out of the opening in a relatively easy to play position. Sometimes the traps backfire, too. As GM Hans Niemann found out when he lost in just 12 moves to GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov at the World Rapid in 2022. 3... g6 4. e3 Bg7 5. h4 c5 6. h5( 6. Nb5 Na6 7. Be2It is probably better to support the h5 move rather than play it immediately. A common chess adage is "the threat is better than the execution". Leaving the h5 break in the air means black has to worry about it. Pretty soon black will have to deal with it by playing h6 or h5 himself. If the timing is wrong, white can play h5 and open up lines of attack. ) 6... Nxh5 7. Rxh5 gxh5 8. Qxh5White has sacrificed an exchange for pawn but now his pieces are on menacing squares and he has a huge lead in development. Black must play precisely to avoid major trouble. 8... e6??It seems like a natural move to bolster the center but it critically weakens the d6 square. Black's lack of development is already hurting him. It would be better to get some pieces developed or distract in the center:( 8... Nc6 )( 8... cxd4 ) 9. Nb5The threats are Nc7 and Nc6. 9... Kf8( 9... Bd7?? 10. Nd6+ Ke7 11. Qxf7# )( 9... Nc6 10. Nd6+ Ke7( 10... Kd7 11. Nxf7 Qe8 12. Bb5Black's king is staggering around and exposed. ) 11. Qxf7# ) 10. Nc7( 10. Nd6 Qd7 11. Bb5 Nc6 12. Nf3 f6 13. c4 ) 10... Nc6 11. Nxa8 cxd4 12. exd4 Nxd4 13. Bc7( 13. O-O-OCastling here makes a lot of sense. Sometimes you need to take a pause from your initiative to remove counterplay. Kasparov was a master of prophylactically eliminating counterplay before seizing the initiative. ) 13... Qf6 14. Bd3 Nxc2+ 15. Bxc2 Qxb2 16. Bd6+ Kg8 17. Qd1??( 17. Rd1Material is being lost anyway, I am not sure why white decided to give up a whole rook rather than just a bishop. 17... Qxc2 18. Ne2 ) 17... Qxa1 18. Qxa1 Bxa1My general theory of chess is that the game is won through imbalances. In the analysis of a previous best game, we talked about different types of positional advantages: space, pawn structure, king safety, material, initiative, lead in development, and control of key squares. Each of these positional aspects can have varying levels of advantage and disadvantage as the game progresses. Typically to get beyond a winning threshold, you will need a cumulative advantage in these categories that outweighs the disadvantages. In this position, black has a clear material advantage by pure numbers. It is two knights vs a rook and three pawns. That is roughly 6 points vs 8 points. With proper control of the other positional aspects, black should be able to steer the game to victory. 19. Nc7( 19. Bb8 Bd7( 19... a6 20. Nb6And black will have a hard time developing his light squared bishop ) 20. Bxa7 ) 19... Bd7 20. Nf3 f6 21. Bd3 a6Black is working hard to prevent the white knight from escaping. It is not entirely clear how the knight will be won but limiting your opponent's piece flexibility is usually not a bad idea. 22. Na8 Bc3+ 23. Ke2 Kf7 24. Nb6 Bc6( 24... Bb5Black should be looking for trades. Every trade increase the value of his material advantage. This is best understood as a ratio. Before the bishop trade, the ratio of material is 15:17 in black's favor. After the trade, the ratio is 12:14 or 6:7 which is a slightly larger gap. 25. Bxb5 axb5It does not feel great to double the b-pawns but the game is going to be won with the center pawns, not the queen side pawns. ) 25. Bc5 e5?The e-pawn was doing a good job keeping pieces away from the light squares.( 25... h5 ) 26. Bf5 Ba5 27. Nc8 Bc7 28. Nh4( 28. Nd6+ Bxd6 29. Bxd6Trades aren't good for white but it may be worth getting rid of black's bishop pair and the precarious knight. ) 28... Rd8 29. Bg4 Bd7?( 29... d4White's pieces are firmly under control, black can start advancing the center pawns to gain more space and pressure white's king. ) 30. Bh5+ Kg7 31. Ne7 Kh6?Somehow black has managed to get his king in trouble. Now with the king safety comrpomised, black's material advantage is insignificant. Fortunately for black, the king is not lost. 32. g4( 32. Bf3 e4 33. Be3+ Kg7 34. Bh5White is setting up to blockade the center pawns and push black's king to the back rank. 34... b5 35. Nhf5+ Bxf5 36. Nxf5+ Kg8And there may be nothing better for either side than perpetual check. 37. Ne7+ Kg7 38. Nf5+ Kg8 39. Ne7+ Kg7 40. Nf5+ ) 32... d4A nice idea to shut out the darksquared bishop. It also sets up a nice tactical idea but the calculation is flawed. 33. Bb4( 33. Nhf5+ Kg5 34. Kf3 Bxf5 35. Nxf5 Rd5White is still fighting for a draw but all of black's advantage is lost. ) 33... Bxg4+?? 34. Bxg4 Kg5 35. f3!Black must have missed this move which defends the h4 knight indirectly thanks to black's weakened king. Taking stock of the new material imbalance, it is roughly even at three minors vs a rook and four pawns. Considering white's superior piece placement and black's weakend king, white should have a winning advantage here. These extreme material imbalances are notoriously difficult to play, however, because the tactics can be difficult to spot. 35... e4( 35... Kxh4 36. Be1+ Kg5 37. Bd2+ Kh4 38. Nf5# ) 36. Nef5??Oh no! White throws the advantage away.( 36. Nhf5 d3+( 36... exf3+??Actually gets checkmated 37. Kxf3 Bf4 38. Be1 Bg3 39. Bd2+ Bf4 40. Bxf4# ) 37. Kd1 exf3 38. Bxf3 Kf4 39. Bg2 Kg4 40. Ne3+ Kg5 41. N7d5these knights are going to blockade the entire center ) 36... Bf4 37. Ng2??( 37. Ng7!The knight on h4 is still immune. 37... Kxh4 38. Be1+ Kg5 39. Ne6+And black loses the rook ) 37... d3+Suddenly black is back in the driver's seat as the initiative as shifted. 38. Kd1 exf3 39. Nge3 f2??Here is an example of why endings like this are so difficult. Black has an easy tactic here to win the game. The problem is the piece configuration obfuscates the tactic.( 39... Bxe3! 40. Nxe3 Rd4!This tactic may have been seen by black over the board but he was unsure if all the possible outcomes still lead to winning endgames. These can be very difficult to calculate, espeically if time is running low. It is why I always try to emphasize studying endgames. Having a solid foundation in the endgame will allow you to make decisions like this with more confidence. ) 40. Bh3Ok now we are back to some form of equality. Even know black has managed to snag another pawn for his material advantage, white has plenty of compensation. Black's king is exposed, the pawns are fractured, and white's pieces are actively placed. 40... Re8 41. Bd2( 41. Kd2could send the rook back to d8 and limit black's activity. ) 41... Re5 42. Nd4??I am assuming this is to threaten the fork on f3. It is a terrible blunder, though, as black could win the knight on e3.( 42. Bf1 ) 42... Kh5??I can see on the DGT board that both players were in time pressure, white with less than 1 minute on the clock and black with less than 90 seconds. Considering the complex nature of the position, we have to forgive some tactical mistakes. Seeing the winning moves Rxe3 or Bxe3 should be automatic, however. Missing this speaks to either a lack of experience playing endgames with these types of imbalances or inexperience in time pressure. Typically when you are short of time and wining, you want to simplify the position as much as possible. Instead, black opts to keep it complicated which helps white. Now white can keep pieces on the board which, considering he has the four minor pieces, helps him in maintaing relative chaos.( 42... Bxe3 43. Nf3+ Kf4 44. Nxe5 fxe55 pawns vs a single minor piece, plus three of the pawns are well advanced. Black should be winning easily. )( 42... Rxe3 43. Bxe3 Bxe3 44. Nb3 Kh4 45. Bf1 Kg3Again black is going to be winning this easily. There is a simple, unstoppable plan of playing the king to g1 and winning white's bishop. Afterwhich the h-pawn will be uncontested. ) 43. Nf1 Kh4 44. Bg2( 44. Bf5 Kh5( 44... h6 45. Nf3+ Kh5 46. Nxe5 Bxd2 47. Nxd3 Be1 48. Bc8White should be winning )( 44... h5 45. Nf3#A funny little checkmate ) 45. Bxh7 Bxd2 46. Kxd2 Ra5 47. Bg8 Re5 48. Bc4 f5 49. Bxd3White has gotten rid of the scariest parts of black's position and should be winning. ) 44... Bxd2?? 45. Kxd2??( 45. Nf3+ Kh5 46. Nxe5 fxe5 47. Kxd2And white should be winning ) 45... Kh5The rest of the game is a time pressure struggle of black trying to convince himself he is winning. White does a great job picking off pawns as they become loose and keeping his pieces defended. 46. Bf3+ Kg6 47. Kxd3 Re1 48. Be2 Ra1 49. Ke3 Rxa2 50. Kxf2Black, at just about any time, could sacrifice the rook for the knight to force a draw. 50... a5( 50... Rxe2+ 51. Nxe2With two rook pawns to defend against, white still has to be careful. Knights are really bad at defending against rook pawns. ) 51. Ke3 a4 52. Bd3+ Kh6 53. Nd2 Ra3 54. Nc4 Ra1 55. Nc2 Rh1 56. N4a3 Kg5( 56... Rh3+ 57. Ke2 Rxd3 ) 57. Kf2 Kf4 58. Bb5 Rh2+ 59. Ke1 Ke4 60. Bxa4 Kd3 61. Nb4+ Kd4 62. Nac2+ Ke5 63. Nd3+ Kd5 64. Bb3+ Kd6 65. Nf2 f5 66. Ke2 Rh4 67. Ne3 Rb4 68. Nxf5+ Kd7 69. Bc2 Rb2 70. Kd2 h5 71. Kc3 Ra2( 71... Rxc2+ ) 72. Ne4 Ke6White wins on time( 72... Ke6 73. Bb3+ Kxf5 74. Nd6+ Ke5 75. Nf7+ Kf6 76. Bxa2If white knows the knight and bishop checkmate pattern it should be a win. )1-0
And so I must congratulate Daniel Marmer on this excellent victory over Craig Wilcox. It is a 267 point upset which is already rare but the addition of the attacks, material imbalance, and all the unique features of the game, it is absolutely one of a kind. If any of the blunders were capitalized on in a serious way, it would have removed the luster from the game. Continue striving for these imbalances and continue to see your rating skyrocket as you upset the stronger players. See all the DGT board games  

NM Nick Petersen also provides excellent analysis, and comments. Here are his games from the tournament. All "comments" in quotation marks are by NM Petersen.

r1b1k2r/ppq2ppp/4pn2/2bp4/3Q1B2/1P4P1/P1P1PPBP/RN3RK1 w kq - 9 18
1) Eamon Montgomery Vs. Nick Petersen. DCC Fall Classic. Round 5. Mr. Petersen has just played 9...Bf8-c5 Why does he say, "One of the worst moves I’ve ever played in tournament play."

3r2k1/5p2/6p1/3bq2p/3RN2P/5P2/3R1BP1/6K1 w - - 57 114
2) Nick Petersen vs. Christopher Motley DCC Fall Classic. Round 4. Black has just played 57...Be6-d5, which Mr. Petersen labels with a "??" Do you see why? 

4rbk1/3n2pp/8/pp1p2q1/2pPrp1P/P1P1NQB1/1P3PP1/R4RK1 b - - 27 53
3) Shubh Misra vs. Nick Petersen.  DCC Fall Classic. Round 1. After 27. h3-h4 Mr. Petersen credits his opponent with this comment, "White has managed to keep the game afloat." 

r1b2rk1/pp1nqpbp/2p2np1/4p1B1/2P1P3/2N2N1P/PPQ1BPP1/R4RK1 b - - 11 21
4) Nick Petersen vs. Jason Nigatu. DCC Fall Classic. Round 2. After 11. Bc1-g5 Mr. Petersen says, "The goal was to provoke h6 before bringing the bishop to e3. However, the bishop really belongs on e3 to challenge c5, and my opponent responded quite nicely" What move did Jason play?

                                                                                                                     
Thanks again to all,

J.C. MacNeil






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