Thursday at Schenectady

Thursday evening was a make up round for the Schenectady Preliminaries. Even with Thursday’s games in the record there are several more to be made up. Without question play will not be finished until after the holidays because Connors and Le Cours are involved in just about all of the games still to be played.

Thursday saw an upset; Herman Calderone held Alan Le Cours to a draw. The 400+ point rating difference made this a surprise for sure. Their Queen’s Pawn Game/Colle System opening took a slightly odd turn early on and the game was drawn by repetition on move 25. Mr. Calderone has had a pretty good outing in this year’s preliminaries. He still has one game to play versus Matt Clough and has scored three draws with two losses so far. If he wins from Clough, finishing at -1 when you are the lowest rated player is not too bad at all. I don’t expect this set-back to prevent Alan Le Cours from qualifying for the Finals. He has to face Richard Chu and his Saratoga club mate, David Connors. Mr. Le Cours has good records against these two, and the withdrawal of Ahkil Kamma from the Finals removes most of the uncertainty for Alan’s qualification.

The other Calderone, Herman’s son and rising scholastic player, Zack, fought hard against Philip Sells, one of the leaders in Section A. Mr. Sells got into his usual difficulties with the clock, although for Sells it was by no means the worst case of time trouble he has successfully navigated. Sells’ clock problems seemed to have a bigger effect on Zack than it did on Philip. In the final few moves, Zack missed a trick that could have rescued the half-point. Even if Zack had managed to draw, Sells would have still qualified to the Finals. However, that possible half-point would have helped Zack in his quest for a qualifying spot. As it is, the third seat in the Finals may well be decided by the Zachery Calderone - Aaron Dilip game to be played soon. If either can win and reach a 4 - 2 score to join Sells and Varela in the Finals from Section A it will be nice step forward for a young player.

Matt Clough and David Connors played an odd line in the Scandinavian. But for a couple of oversights, the game was well played. Mr. Connors emerged the winner in an endgame where he saw the longish sequence leading to the win instantly when it became available. He played the finish surely and confidently. This win probably settled the battle not to be the “tail ender” in the section, however both players have more make up games: Clough has to play Richard Chu, and Connors has Le Cours and Phillips yet to play. Upsets in these last contests could change the order of finish. Connors’ task is at least twice as hard as is Clough’s. Mr. Chu is sometimes variable, and it not inconceivable he might drop a point to Mr. Clough. Mr. Connors is variable in his own right. When he plays his best, David can upset contenders. He’s done so in the tough Saratoga Championship in years past. The upshot is there are still games to be played in both sections, and all outcomes are not yet completely clear.

More soon.