The formal schedule for the Preliminaries of the Schenectady Championship ended on December 16. Delayed games yet to be played will take at least two more weeks to finish.
This past Thursday, Christmas Eve Eve you might say, two of those delayed games from the Prelim Section A were contested. John Phillips and Brij Saran fought to a draw in a French Defense in 30 moves. John tried out his favorite early 4 Qg4 variation, Brij countered well. A drawn position was reached early. At least that is how it looked to this observer. After Rybka chews on the game for awhile maybe we see a different conclusion.
In the other game Richard Chu lost to Bill Little in after missing a couple of tactics in the Exchange Slav. The game was over in 29 moves.
With the games above included the standings are:
Section A
Leading and with a lock on first place is Patrick Chi, the local scholastic star. His score is 7 ½ - ½ with one game to play versus Little.
In second is John Phillips. He has played all of his games and scored 7 - 2 winning all except draws with Saran and Mockler and a loss to Chi.
Third place is held for the moment by Richard Chu. He has completed his schedule. Losses to Phillips, Chi, Saran and Little gives him a 5 - 4 score.
Now tied for third is Brij Saran with the same score as Richard. He lost to Chi, Little and Northrup while drawing with Mockler and Phillips.
Trailing these two is Bill Little with a 4 ½ - 2 ½ score and two games to play, Chi and Stanley. These two games yet to be played are a big part of the drama left in the Section. Winning one and drawing the other will vault Little into the third qualifying spot from the section.
Behind Little is Michael Mockler. He has 3 ½ - 3 ½ score with two games to play, Yogi Kanakamedala and Mike Stanley. Based on rating Michael is likely to win both games. There is a ‘but’ in this. Mr. Mockler’s results this season have been unusual; one win, one loss (to Chu in the last regularly scheduled round) and no less than five draws. If one more draw slips into Michael’s results he will be unlikely to reach the third qualifying spot. More drama for Section A would be a playoff game between Little and Mockler for the third spot.
After Mockler the scores drop off with Zachery Calderon 4 -5, Northrup at 3 ½ - 5 ½, Kanakamedala at 1 - 7 and Stanley at 0 - 7 rounding out the field. Both Calderon and Northrup racked up good results this year and promise problems for the leaders next year.
Section B
The winner in this Section is clear. Philip Sells has won seven games with one left to play and no one can challenge mathematically for first place.
In second at the moment is Ricahrd Moody. His score is 4 ½ - 2 ½ with games to play; the redoubtable Mr. Sells. If this were a wagering situation, the odds favor Sells to win that game on rating and performance in this event. However, Moody has a “puncher’s chance”. He did defeat Alan Le Cours. On the other side of the ledger, a distracted loss to Dilip Aaron and a draw with David Connors show Richard is not always consistently strong yet. Should Mr. Moody bring his best game to the table and win there could well be a three way tie for the last two qualifying spots.
Barring an upset John Barnes (4 - 2 with two games to play; Connors and Le Cours) and Alan Le Cours (4 - 2 with two games to play; Barnes and Capitummino) may be expected to finish at 5 ½ points each - a draw with each other and winning their other game. A defeat for either Barnes or Le Cours in their head-to-head clash lets the winner through to the Finals pretty certainly. So, in sum, much remains to be resolved in Section B.
Trailing those in contention for a qualifying spot are; Dilip Aaron with 3 ½ - 3 ½ , and a game to play versus David Connors; Herman Calderon with 2 ½ - 5 ½, David Connors with 2 - 4 and two games to play, Barnes and Dilip Aaron, Jeff Capitummino on 1 ½ - 4 ½ still to play Clough and Le Cours, and in last place Matthew Clough with 1 - 6 and a game to play against Capitummino.
Overall in the Section it must be said that Philip Sells has again demonstrated a high level of chess skill. Other noteworthy results were Moody’s win over Le Cours, Matt Clough’s sound defeat of Barnes and Jeff Capitummino’s strong fight in a losing effort versus Sells. These successes signaled the lower rated participants that they have the ability to do more at chess, and are a warning to the higher rated players that next year may not be as easy as in the past.
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday. More soon.
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