Sept 12 Feed Your Greed for Speed

The Hackettstown Chess Club is holding the first ever Quick Chess Festival where you can to try your hands at various Quick Time controls.

Feed Your Greed for Speed
Multi-time-control quick-rated: Rd 1 G/5, Rd 2 G/10, Rd 3 G/15, Rd 4 G/20, Rd 5 G/25.
Entry Fee: $10.
Prizes (b/16): $75/40/25, U1800 $20, free entry top U1500.
Reg.: 7 pm 9/12. Rds.: 7:30 pm, ASAP.
angelodp@gmail.com.

Life on the Wire

Tom Ostrosky won the Hackettstown Swiss International. Rich Buschgans came in 2nd Place.

My 2nd round encounter against Tom shows that life on the wire is a delicate balancing act as a great number of forces can quickly be directed at the uncastled King. Things went quickly downhill once I opened up the position with my knights on the rim after 22 ... dxc4 instead of Nxc4.

August 1, 8, 16, 23 Hackettstown International Swiss

4-SS. 40/90, SD/60.
Entry Fee: $14.
Prizes (b/16): $75/$40/25, $20 each U1800, U1500. Reg: 7 pm 8/1. Rds. 7:30 pm each Monday.
GM norms unlikely. Half-point byes available all rds (rd 4 must commit before rd.3). angelodp@gmail.com

Bust Your Prawn Swiss Result

Steve Ferrero and Isara Thanakit tied for 1st place in the July Bust your Prawn Swiss. Our next Monthly tournament is the Hackettstown International Swiss which starts on Monday, August 1st.

Intergalactic Quick Chess Results

Karl Dehmelt and Charles Pole tied for first place. Charles Miller took 2nd place prize. Numerous class prizes were awarded.

The Bust your Prawn Quads or Swiss based on turnout starts July 11. You can check our complete tournament listings here

July 11, 18, 25 Bust Your Prawn Quad/Swiss

Quad or 3-SS, depending on entries. 40/90, SD/60.
Entry Fee: $12.
Prizes $35 (b/16) top in quad or $60/30/20, $20 each U1800, U1500.
Reg: 7 pm 7/11. Rds: 7:30 pm each Monday. angelodp@gmail.com.

The Hackettstown Chess Club is closed on July 4 and all major holidays.

June 27 Intergalactic Open Warmup G/10

5 or 6-SS, depending on entries. G/10.
Entry Fee: $8.
Prizes (b/16): $40/25/15/10, $10 each U1800, U1500.
Reg: 7 pm 6/27. Rds: 7:30 pm, then ASAP. angelodp@gmail.com.

June is Busting Out Quads Results

Paul Joseph won the top Quad.

Russ Avarella captured 1st place in the B Quad.  Russ overcame a slip that cost him the full point but he managed to hold the draw against Todd Jobson by building a fortress with Knight and passed pawns against the rook.

                           Quad A

Ostrosky, Tom   0 - 1    Joseph, Paul

Ferrero, Steve    1   0   Buschgans, Rich

                         Quad B

Jobson, Todd  1/2 -  1/2   Avarella, Russ

Walters, Al     1/2  - 1/2    Crawford, Clay

King on the Wire

The May Swiss featured another delayed encounter between the runner up and the winner of the April Shower Swiss. I had a chance to take my fate into my own hands while Rich had his eyes set on a Three-peat. I  telegraphed my aggressive intention  by launching a pawn storm on the King side. Rich cooly replied by opening lines on the Queen side with a pawn sac. The stranded White King was forced to take a perilous walk toward the Queen side while the rest of White forces managed to snuff out the Black King from his safe haven just in the nick of time

Joseph, Paul  (1936) - Buschgans, Rich, (1967)
May Swiss, Hackettstown, NJ, May 9, 2011

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 d6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. f3 Bg7 8. Nc3 O-O 9. Qd2 Bd7 10. g4 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bc6 12. h4 a6 13. h5 b5 14. hxg6 fxg6 15. cxb5 axb5 16. Bxb5 Bxb5 17. Nxb5 Qd7 18. Nc3 Rfc8 19. Nd5 Qb7 20. Nb6 Nxe4
21. Qe3

(21. fxe4 Qxe4+ 22. Qe3 Qxh1+ 23. Kd2 Qxa1 24. Nxc8 Bxd4 25. Qxd4 (25. Nxe7+ Kf7 26. Qxd4 Kxe7) 25... Rxc8) (21. Qd3 Ng5 22. Nxc8 Nxf3+ 23. Kf1 Nxd4 24. Nxe7+ Qxe7 25. Rh3 Rf8+)

21... Bxd4 22. Qxd4

22. ... Rxa2!?

It feels like a crushing blow but the simple  22... Ng5 may be better after  23. Qd5+ Qxd5 24. Nxd5 Rc2 25. Rf1 e6 26. Nc3 Rxb2 27. f4 Nf7 28. Rf2 Rb4

23. Rxa2 Rc1+ 24. Ke2 Ng3+ 25. Kd2 Rxh1 26. Ra8+ Kf7 27. Qf4+ Ke6 28. Qc4+

I declined the draw by repetiton after Qe3+

28. ... d5 29. Qc5 29. Nxd5 Rh2+ 30. Kc3 d4+ 31. Kb3 Qxf3+ 32. Ka2 Kf7 33. Qc4+ Kg7 34. g5 Qf7 35. Nd5 Nf5 36. Ka3 e6 

Here I forgot about the clock and sank into deep thought with 2 min left . I look up on time to see my last second flash and rushed to play 

37. Qc8  leading to a forced mate on the back rank.

37. ... Rh3+ 38. Ka2 Ra3+   39. Kxa3 1-0

May Swiss Results

Tom Ostrosky won the May Swiss. Paul Joseph and Rich Buschgans tied for 2nd place.
Click here for the complete tournament crosstable.
Our next event June is Busting Out Quads starts on June 7.