IM Dean Ippolito and FM Tommy Bartell shared first place and champion honors yesterday at the New Jersey State Chess Championship in Somerset. (Update: According to Ken Thomas, though his USCF membership still says "NJ" Bartell now officially resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, therefore only Ippolito owns this year's title). Also tied for first was GM Michael Rohde of New York, who entered on the two-day schedule. The tournament was directed by Ken Thomas and Aaron Kiedes. It was a great event with lots of star power, not least because of so many entries from former state champions (who were able to enter the tournament for only $1 this year). Update: Final standings are now available online from the New Jersey State Chess Federation website and crosstable at the USCF.
Kenilworth Chess Club regular and past champion Steve Stoyko shared a nice game with me from Round 5 against former NJ champ Steve Pozarek (whom I first met at his peak in the early 80s when we all played regularly at the Westfield Chess Club). The game offers a nice example of the attacking potential of the Colle-Zukertort and is likely to appeal to fans of the "Zuke 'em" approach.
Related Links
- Labor Day Round-up Part I: Dean and Alec Annotate at USCF
Coverage of various state championships on Labor Day weekend, with a nice game by Ippolito over Stoyko. - Ippolito Is 2009 NJ State Champion by Jim West
- 2009 NJ Open, Day 3, 2009 NJ Open, Day 2 and 2009 NJ Open, Day 1 by Jim West
- 2009 New Jersey Open Chess Championship, Final Standings at the NJSCF site
- NJ Open 2009 at the USCF site
- Ken Thomas's website
5 comments:
Mike,
I'm excited to say that I won the U1300 top honors as co-champ with the advantage in tie break point.
Kenilworth Chess club was well represented.
Had I played this year in the NJ Open I probaly would have be in the win/place/or show column but duty calls.....diamondback
Wow. I find myself defending positions like this one quite a lot. Sometimes I'll play this in reversed colors from an English. Black lost his way when he lost control of the center. Constant pressure on the center, and especially on d5/e4 via the a8-h1 diagonal is necessary.
This type of Queen's Indian takes patience, and at times courage to defend, but really Black was fine until he played 18...Qd7. The path is narrow, and the choices are few. Here are some examples.
18...Bb4 is Black's best, seizing important dark squares in White's camp with tempo. 19.Re2 Rc8 20.Qh3 Nc3 takes the steam out of White's threats.
18...Rc8 doesn't quite work. 19.Qe3 Bb4 20.Bxe4! Bxe1 20.Nf5!! gxf5 21.gxf5 22.Bxf5 Bxf2+ 23.Qxf2 Rc6 and White has loads of compensation for the Exchange.
18...Nc5 doesn't work either. 19.Qh3 Qd7 20.Nf5! Ne6 (20...gxf5? 21.Qg3+ Kh8 22.d6 curtains)21.Bd3 Bb4 22.Nh6+ with a huge edge for White.
18...Bc5 might hold the game together. 19.a3 a5 20.Qh3 Ng5 21.Qh6 Ne6 21.b4!? axb4 22.axb4 Bxd4 (not 22...Bxb4 23.Bxg6 fxg6 24.Nxe6)23.Bxd4 Re8 and maybe it's playable.
I believe the decision to exclude Tom Bartell from the title is outrageous. Tom is only registered as an NJ player and resides in NJ for official purposes (including license). Despite "residence" in PA, he renewed his USCF membership in NJ. Lots of players reside in various places at certain times, but have "official" residences in a particular place. Tom is only a "PA" player according to the NJ state chess federation crosstable. USCF lists him as an NJ player, and he hasn't filed any address change. Tom is not eligible for the PA or any other state championship. The issue here is the US championship qualifying tournament entry that the state championship title provides. Tom plans to take up this issue with the USCF.
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