Valley Chess Championship

The Valley Chess Championship ended yesterday. The tournament was a ten-round Swiss, held over five weeks. Time control was G/30.

Final Standings
1 Joel Johnson 10-0
2-3 Pete Karagianis, Randy Ho 6-4
4-5 James Beauregard, Richard Smouse 5.5-4.5
Total 18 Players

Official Crosstable

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In Round 1, I was White against Andrew Kelly. I think that I misplayed the opening just a little.



White is pinned all over the place. I got lucky, because Black blundered with 13...Nd4? which allowed 14. Nxe5. I think that if Black had played f6 first to protect that pawn, then Nd4 would have been very crushing. After that blunder, my position freed itself up and I eventually won.

In Round 2, I was Black against Joel Johnson.



For the last 15-20 moves, I felt uncomfortable pressure. If I ever want to be good at chess, I need to learn to defend these types of positions. The patzer inside me revealed itself when I lashed out irrationally with 37...Bxe5?? 38. fxe5 Qxe5, and White won quickly.

In Rounds 3 and 4, I took Half-Point Byes, because Ben was visiting Phoenix that weekend.

In Round 5, I was White against Alexis McKenzie.



In this position, I won material with 18. Na5, and I eventually won.

In Round 6, I played Joel Johnson again, this time with White.



I played the interesting move 31. g4!? Jenny would approve. But I did not follow through properly. Joel played 31...Bg5. Now I should have played 32. gxf5 here, instead I played 32. Bxg5 and I eventually lost on time. Pete was very interested in this position. After the game, he was trying to find a win for White.

In Round 7, I was Black against Dan Marsalone. I played a Sicilian Dragon against him.



The game continued 25...f3 26. Bxf3 Bxf3 27. gxf3 and White lost on time. I think that I would have played 27...Qg5+ winning the Rook on d2.

In Round 8, I was Black against Pete Karagianis.



I was getting squeezed, but this time I tried not to do anything rash, like I did in Round 2. In this position, I saw a glimmer of hope and played 27...Nxd5 winning a Pawn. The game continued 28. exd5 Bxd3. But then I made a few inaccurate moves and soon found myself in ZugZwang and lost. 29. Qd7 Bb5 30. Qg4 Notice how White's Rook and Queen prevent Black's Rook and Queen from activating.

I showed up four minutes late to Round 9, and Tournament Director Joel had already made the pairings. He decided to give me a Full Point Bye instead of redoing the pairings.

In Round 10, I was Black against Josh Zhu. I found myself in slight difficulties after move 16.



My d-Pawn is about to fall. What can Black do? I felt that 16...d5 was my only chance, so that's what I played, without calculating everything till the end. That move turned out well for me, because I soon got the type of position that I am comfortable in. Eleven moves later, I had the following position.



I think that Black wins material here. The game continued 28. Rxd8 Qxe3+ 29. Kh1 Nxd8, Black has won a piece. Then a weird thing happened after I was trying to checkmate him with a Queen and Bishop. It was the second time in my USCF career that I moved my Queen to a square where it could be taken for free. Fortunately, I was still winning after I hung my Queen, so I won.