The Last Round

There are two kinds of players who sit down for the last round; those who have something for which to play, and those who simply love to play chess! The oldest player in the field, the wiley ol' vet, Klaus Pohl and the most fortunate, Longshot Larry Johnson, sat down on board one a half point ahead of the competition. Larry had the advantage of having the White pieces, but it was not enough against Life Master Pohl! The Viktor Korchnoi of Southern chess won $156 for his first place finish. His PR of 2321 was reminiscent of halcyon days decades ago! The fact that Klaus won this tournament is an amazing thing. Just this week I received an email from a former state champion in answer to by query concerning his participation in the upcoming Ga Senior. This is his answer: "I have no plans to play any over-the-board tournaments. After 65 the competitive juices are not quite the same." When I watch someone like Klaus, and High Plains Vest, I cannot help but be astonished at their energy level and wonder from where it emanates. Certainly everyone ages differently. All you have to do is look at the PGA Senior tour and you will see that some of the most famous, and best, players in their younger days simply cannot make the cut, while former club pros now compete with the very best. As for myself, the thought of having to play a long game of chess, grabbing some grub and sticking it down my gullet and sitting down at the board again before it has even had a chance to begin being digested is abhorent to me! I actually had a president of a state organization tell me that he did not understand why Seniors could not do it, as high schoolers don't have a problem. HIGH SCHOOLERS, mind you! There have been seven POTUS since I was in HS, with Landslide Lyndon being the last. To expect the same from me as from a young person in high school is shear lunacy! If anyone wants to argue with that, I suggest they they go to: http://www.nhchess.com/ , and check out the clash between the 'Rising Stars' and 'Experience' at the 3rd NH Chess Tournament in the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in the centre of the Dutch capital. The old guys are taking a beating not seen since Fischer vs Taimanov & Larsen! I do wish, though, that they had put more emphasis on the 'Rising' and less on the 'Stars'...
Damir Studen beat Paul Taylor to finish clear second with a score of 4-1, taking $104 from the House. His PR was 2216. Longshot finished clear third, winning $104 as first U2200. Alan Piper, with his win over David Bernat, Wayne Christensen, with his win over Michael Christianson, and Michael Easterwood, who drew with Daniel Gurevich, split the $52 2nd U2200 with their 3-2 score. Gurevich and Paul Taylor each won $78 with the same score as the players above, 3-2. It pays to be lower rated in some chess tournaments!
Carter "Pinky" Peatman put on a show in the U1800, winning his last round game vs Calvin Grier, to run the table, 5-0! He fully deserved his $156 first prize. I must mention that Pinky attended not one, but both summer camps held here at the House by Larry Stanfield and I can't help but think it has helped Mr Peatman immensely! His performance rating for this tournament was close to expert level at 1962! He gained almost one hundred rating points and has moved into a solid class "B" player, for the moment. I have a feeling his will be a temporary stopover there...I've watched as this young man has gotten stronger and stronger. I believe it helps to have a father who takes an interest to the point of actually playing in a few tournaments himself.
Chris Roberts beat Brennan Bukovics in the last round to finish 4-1 and clear second, winning $104. His PR was 1786 and he gained 39 USCF points. Lewis Byrne won over William Day to finish 3-1, as did Brandon Chen, who was given a half point bye in the last round. It doesn't seem fair that they should both win $78, but who said a chess tournament would be fair?
In the U1400 section, the zombie, Thomas Gilbreath beat Keith Sewell to finish with 4 1/2, making his re-entry pay off after losing friday night to Ananth Punyala. The zombie won $156. Gary Loveless drew with the aforementioned Punyala to finish with 3 1/2, as did Alexander Foster, who beat Erick Lorinc in the last round. The three split 2nd in the section, plus first U1200, a total of $208, each taking $69.33 from the House. Mention must be made of Punyala who had a PR of 1603 and gained a whopping 122 rating points! Alexander Foster had a PR of 1334 and gained 117.

A few last round games, and I do mean a few. The only reason I have these is that I asked several of the players to make a copy for me, even though they had given a copy to the representative of the GCA. It would seem that, since I publish the games on the blog almost immediately, while the GCA publishes the games in the magazine several months later, at the earliest, and, as is the case with the latest issue, many months later, it is only logical I have access to the scoresheets in a timely manner, would it not? Funny thing, though, at the last tournament I handed the scoresheets over to the GCA representative, asking only that he send me the games once put into the 'puter and return the scoresheets. I have seen neither, lo' these many months later...

Damir Studen (2171) - Paul Taylor (1920) [D02]
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 c5 5.0–0 Nc6 6.a3 Be7 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.b4 Bd6 9.Bb2 a6 10.Nbd2 0–0 11.c4 d4 12.Nxd4 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Bxg3 14.Bxf6 Bxh2+ 15.Kxh2 Qxf6 1–0

Carter Peatman (1589) - Calvin Grier (1664) [B76]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be3 g6 7.f3 Bg7 8.Qd2 0–0 9.0–0–0 Bd7 10.h4 Qa5 11.g4 Rfc8 12.Nb3 Qd8 13.h5 Ne5 14.hxg6 Rxc3 15.gxh7+ Kh8 16.bxc3 Nxf3 17.Qf2 Bxg4 18.Be2 Nxe4 19.Qg2 Nxc3 20.Bxf3 Nxd1 21.Rxd1 Bxf3 22.Qxf3 Qc7 23.Qxf7 Rc8 24.Qg6 Qc4 25.Rg1 Qc3 26.Bd4 1–0

Brennan Bukovics (1616) - Chris Roberts (1581) [B53]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Bd7 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Qd2 g6 7.b3 Bg7 8.Bb2 Nf6 9.0–0–0 0–0 10.Bd3 Qa5 11.Bb5 a6 12.Bxc6 bxc6 13.h3 Rfc8 14.g4 Qb6 15.e5 dxe5 16.Nxe5 Be6 17.f3 a5 18.h4 h5 19.gxh5 Nxh5 20.Qe2 Ng3 21.Qe1 Nxh1 22.Nxg6 Nf2 23.Nxe7+ Kf8 24.Nxc8 Rxc8 25.Ba3+ Kg8 26.Na4 Bh6+ 27.Kb1 Qe3 28.Qg1+ Kh7 29.Bc5 Nxd1 30.Bxe3 Nxe3 31.Nc3 Rd8 32.Kb2 Rd2 33.Ne4 Rxc2+ 34.Kb1 Rg2 35.Qe1 Bf5 36.Ka1 Nc2+ 0–1

Brian Klarman (1621)-Samuel Zimmerman (1667)
1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Nf3 g5 4 h4 g4 5 Ng5 h6 6 Nxf7 Kxf7 7 Qxg4 Nf6 8 Qxf4 Bd6 9 Bc4+ Kg7 10 e5 Bxe5 11 Qf3 d5 12 Bb3 Bg4 13 Qd3 c5 14 Qb5 Bg3+ 15 Kf1 Qe7 0-1