Cliff Adams ran a perfect 4-0 record to first place in the Reserve Section at this weekend's Route 20 Chess Club's tournament.
Cliff prevailed over a dozen other competitors, including our own Rick Andersen, who did very well himself.
The tournament was officially called the Pecatonic Octads, held at Highland Community College in Freeport.
Of course, no tournament would be complete without Cliff playing Route 20's Gary Sargent. Both were undefeated going into the fourth round before Cliff's victory.
For his efforts, Cliff's USCF rating jumped above 1300 again... and he nabbed a nifty $20 check suitable for framing. It'll just about pay for the gas if he cashes it!
Andersen went 3-1 on the day participating in a three-way tie for second. He bumpied his ranking 23 points in his quest for 1000. A few more tournaments and he's likely to hit that milestone.
DeKalb Club member Phil Jarrette tied for second in the Octad section losing a tough but fascinating second round match to Expert Glen Gratz. Good to see Phil in action again... and good seeing Mr.Gratz playing another tournament!
The Jarrette-Gratz match is profiled at the Route 20 website: Route 20 CC .
Here are the first few moves with white threatening a nasty knight fork at c7 if he can distract the queen away... but black has his own threats!
Thanks for another good write-up, Bill. It was a great time and a good confidence builder. My only loss coming from time makes me feel that time control may be something I need to seriously work on if I want to improve. Of course I made some other mistakes that need addressing, but none of them cost me games like running out of time did. In any case, I'm looking forward to the next tournament and I'll be playing a bunch of 30/G online games to keep myself sharp.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to post on the site, Ricky D! What's your algorithm before you make a move? Do you have a process or are you just looking for threats and opportunities?
ReplyDeleteI want to SAY I look at why the person made the move they did and what they can do from there. I'm pretty sure I don't do it to full effect on every move, though. I'm starting to also consider the positional strength of each move before I make it. Otherwise, I like to look for combinations or tactics rather than simple threats.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we could play chess more like Risk where players agree not to attack on different fronts in cooperative harmony!
ReplyDeleteIn Risk tournament play, alliances are illegal. ;)
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