Round 4 - August 26, 2003

A half dozen or so players battled it out all the way in the August tournament, with top-seeded Igor Foygel and No. 3 Charles Riordan emerging as co-winners at 3.5 points each. No. 2 Petr Jirovsky was tied for the lead with a pair of wins and a third-round draw with Riordan, but had to take a zero-point last-round bye to lose all chance. Also in the hunt from start to finish was Geoff Polizoti, who won two games and held Foygel to a draw, but he lost to Riordan in the last round and thus also fell out of the money.

While this quartet was fighting it out round-by-round, 1783-rated Larry Eldridge pulled a pair of upsets after a first-round bye before "hitting the wall" in a last-round loss to Foygel. Also going the "Swiss Gambit" route was master John Curdo, who went draw-draw-win-win to finish at 3.0 while meeting only A and B players. Meanwhile expert Pat Sciacca, a second-round loser to Jirovsky, won all his other games to share third place honors with the same score.

The middle section also produced an exciting finish. Mike Barry had the only perfect score entering the last round, but Severine Wamala upset him to leapfrog ahead. George Goulding also won his last round game to share first place with Wamala at 3.5 points apiece, while Barry, Mark Kaprielian, and Andrew Taylor finished with 3.0 apiece to tie for third place.

Al Schaefer and James Klinkenberg tied for first place in the bottom section, also with 3.5 points each, followed by a five-player logjam at 3.0 among Tom Powers, Thomas Martin, Jim Krycka, John McLaughlin, and Luke Everett.

Wamala’s win over Barry, while only a 110-pointer, was the most important upset of the last round in terms of the standings, while the biggest one in terms of rating difference occurred in the bottom section where Larry Zhu 1047, knocked off Steve Eddins (1369). The only other upsets meeting our 100-point criterion in a basically form-following round were: Taylor (1307) defeating Matthew Phelps (1526) ;and Gabe Frieden (1725) drawing John Tempesta (1956).

Thirty players competed in the Open section, 25 in the middle, and 35 in the bottom group for a total field of 90.


Round by Round Upsets: Round 4. MCC Late Summer Swiss: Open
Name                 Pnts     Victim
Gabriel Frieden (1725) 115.5     John Tempesta (1956)

Round by Round Upsets: Round 4. MCC Late Summer Swiss: U1800
Name                 Pnts     Victim
Andrew Taylor (1307)   219.0     Matthew W Phelps (1526)
Severine Wamala (1650) 110.0     Michael Barry (1760)
George Goulding (1635)  12.0     David W Martin (1647)

 
Round by Round Upsets: Round 4. MCC Late Summer Swiss: U1450
Name                 Pnts     Victim
Larry Zhu (1047)       322.0     Steven L Eddins (1369)
Andrew D Ossmann (929)  80.0     Raymond Salemi (1089)
 

Round 3 - August 19, 2003

Petr Jirovsky and Charles Riordan battled to a draw on Board One while Igor Foygel, Geoff Polizoti, and Larry Eldridge won their games to catch the leaders, creating a five-way tie for first place going into the last round with 2.5 points apiece. John Curdo bounced back after a pair of draws to win his third-round game and head a group of six players half a point off the pace at 2.0. Depending upon the outcome of the last-round games, there could be one clear winner or anywhere from two to five players tied for top honors.

The top-seeded Foygel has now regained his accustomed place on Board One, where he’ll have the black pieces against the 1783-rated Eldridge, who reached the top group via a first-round bye and a pair of upsets. Riordan has black on Board 2 against Polizoti. The other leader, Jirovsky, has to skip the last round, which since it wasn’t requested in advance is a zero-point bye, leaving him out of contention.

On the next three boards it’s Curdo-Ames Abbot, Joseph Francis-Pat Sciacca, and Robert Powell-Eric Sonnenstuhl -- all still clinging to a mathematical chance to tie for first place in the unlikely event that the top two boards end in draws.

On the upset front in this section, Sonnenstuhl continued his "giant-killing" ways in his first crack at Open competition. The 1523-rated relative newcomer, who moved up after sweeping the bottom and middle sections in recent months, lost in Round One but has now defeated two straight strong A-players (Jack Martin this time) to gain his high standing entering the final round.

Eldridge defeated expert John Chamberlain to earn his date with Foygel, while other surprise results were Larry Pratt (1801) over John Tempesta (1956) and Eric Burgess (1576) drawing Na Ruthramoorthy (1886). Also noteworthy though not quite reaching our 100-point criterion was Riordan’s draw against the No. 2 seed Jirovsky -- a 90-pointer given the 2278-2458 disparity in their ratings.

Each of the other sections has a clear leader, Mike Barry in U1800 and Luke Everett in U1450, both with three straight victories. Severine Wamala, David Martin, and George Goulding all matched Barry’s Round 3 win to remain a half point behind the leader in the middle section, while Al Schaefer, James Klinkenberg, and Pat Cosentino similarly kept pace with Everett in the bottom group.

The last-round pairings in these two sections are Wamala-Barry, Goulding-Martin, Schaefer-Everett, and Cosentino-Klinkenberg.

Sonnenstuhl’s upset was the biggest of all in Round 3, but Mary Murphy (989) over Fred Harvey (1313) came close. This was the only 100-points or more form reversal in the bottom section, but there were three in the middle group: John J Bottini (1281) over Louis P Jacques (1565); Michael W Kaye (1374) over Donald Souliere (1655); and John Perrotta (1240) drawing David Plotkin (1638)

Four more players jumped in for Round 3, increasing the total field for all three sections to 89.
 

Round by Round Upsets: Round 3. MCC Late Summer Swiss: Open
Name                 Pnts     Victim
Eric Sonnenstuhl (1523) 330.0     John W Martin (1853)
Larry Eldridge (1783)   223.0     John Chamberlain (2006)
Eric M Burgess (1576)   155.0     Na Ruthramoorthy (1886)
Larry Pratt (1801)      155.0     John Tempesta (1956)
Charles Riordan (2278)   90.0     Petr Jirovsky (2458)
 

Round by Round Upsets: Round 3. MCC Late Summer Swiss: U1800
Name                 Pnts     Victim
John J Bottini (1281)   284.0     Louis P Jacques (1565)
Michael W Kaye (1374)   281.0     Donald Souliere (1655)
John Za Perrotta (1240) 199.0     David Plotkin (1638)
George Goulding (1635)   65.0     William Michael (1700)
Edwin F Burnett (1509)   60.5     Philip Mercurio (1630)
Matthew W Phelps (1526)  35.0     Ethan Thompson (1561)
 

Round by Round Upsets: Round 3. MCC Late Summer Swiss: U1450
Name                 Pnts     Victim
Mary L Murphy (989)     324.0     Fred L Harvey (1313)
Calvin F Bohn (1241)     64.0     Steven L Eddins (1369)
 

Round 2 - August 12, 2003

Expert Geoff Polizoti held top-seeded Igor Foygel to a draw in an exciting rook-and-pawn end game while No. 2 Petr Jirovsky and No. 3 Charles Riordan won their contests to stand as co-leaders at the halfway point. The latter pair thus square off in Round 3, with Riordan getting the white pieces.

Foygel and Polizoti head a group of eight players a half point off the lead, the others being John Chamberlain, Chris Williams, Robert Powell, Jason Spector, Larry Eldridge, and Ames Abbot. With Abbot taking a third-round bye, the pairings in this group line up Foygel-Williams, Powell-Polizoti, Spector-Chamberlain, with Eldridge facing master John Curdo, the highest-rated player with one point after playing two straight draws..

"Giant-killer" Eric Sonnenstuhl, meanwhile, staged yet another surprise by defeating Trevor de Koekkoek for the night’s biggest upset. Sonnenstuhl, after sweeping the U1400 a couple of months ago, then moving up and doing the same thing in U1800 in July, moved up again this month to the Open section although still officially rated only 1523. He lost to the strong Class A player Jason Spector in Round One, then pulled his stunner against de Koekkoek, an 1894-rated competitor who knows something about upsets himself, having knocked off none other than Foygel a few months ago.

Six players jumped in for Round 2 in the Open section, which now includes four masters, four experts, and 15 A-players (one of whom, Joseph Francis, was erroneously listed last week as a master). The other five players in the field are B-and C-players challenging themselves by playing up.

Top-seeded Mike Barry and No. 3 Mark Kaprielian have the only perfect scores in U1800 at the halfway point and will meet in Round 3, with Barry getting the white pieces. Seven players have 1.5 points in this 23-player section.

The U1450 section was full of surprises, with No. 14 Andrew Luff, No. 16 Jenshiang Hong, and unrated Luke Everett emerging as the only players with perfect scores at the halfway mark, followed by eight rivals a half-point back. Everett has white against Luff on Board One, while Hong gets black against James Klinkenberg (1.5) on the second board.

This section has now swelled to 34 players, making the overall field now 85 after last week’s jump-ins.

Other Open section upsets in addition to Sonnenstuhl's 371-pointer were Polizoti’s draw with Foygel despite a 466-point rating differential (2039-2505); Martin (1853) defeating Ed Epp (2027); Eldridge (1783) over John Tempesta (1956); Spector (1946) drawing Curdo (2211), and Abbot )1772) beating Fred Smith (1879).

Joshua Hanson (985) staged a big one in the U1800 section with a draw against 1635-rated George Goulding. Others: Andrew Taylor (1307) drew Bill Michael (1700); Ethan Thompson (1561) defeated Bill Stein (1742); Brian O’Rourke (1451) defeated Phil Mercurio (1630), and in the bottom section Luff (1286) gained his share of the leave via a win over Tom Powers (1386) that just made our 100-point "upset" criterion.
 

Round by Round Upsets: Round 2. MCC Late Summer Swiss: Open
Name 			Pnts 	Victim 
Eric Sonnenstuhl (1523) 371.0 	Trev De Koekkoek (1894) 
Geoffre Polizoti (2039) 233.0 	Igor Foygel (2505) 
John W Martin (1853) 	174.0 	Edward R Epp (2027) 
Larry Eldridge (1783) 	173.0 	John Tempesta (1956) 
Jason St Spector (1946) 132.5 	John A Curdo (2211) 
AMES M ABBOT (1772) 	107.0 	FREDERICK SMITH (1879) 

Round by Round Upsets: Round 2. MCC Late Summer Swiss: U1800
Name 			Pnts 	Victim 
Joshua A Hanson (985) 	325.0 	George Goulding (1635) 
Andrew Taylor (1307) 	196.5 	William Michael (1700) 
Ethan Thompson (1561) 	181.0 	William F Stein (1742) 
Brian T O'Rourke (1451) 179.0 	Philip Mercurio (1630) 

Round by Round Upsets: Round 2. MCC Late Summer Swiss: U1450
Name 			Pnts 	Victim 
Andrew Luff (1286) 	100.0 	Thomas E Powers (1386) 
Larry Zhu (1047) 	 42.0 	Raymond Salemi (1089) 
Jenshiang Hong (1285) 	 14.0 	John Mc Laughlin (1299) 

Round 1 - August 5, 2003


A powerful field headed by IM-to-be Igor 
Foygel and 2458-rated newcomer Petr Jirovsky turned out for Round One. Regulars 
Charles Riordan and John Curdo plus and another new player to the club, Joseph 
Francis, made it five masters overall, while there were also four experts and 
several high Class A players in the 22-player Open section field.


Only five of the nine masters and experts came through unscathed -- Foygel, Jirovsky, Riordan, Pat Sciacca, and Geoff Polizoti. They were joined by high-schoolers Jason Spector and Niki Konovalchuk in a seven-player group sharing the early 
lead with first-round victories. Spector earned his spot by defeating Eric 
Sonnenstuhl, who swept the bottom and middle sections 4-0 in two of the last 
three tournaments, then moved up to Open competition for the first time this 
month. Konovalchuk (1806) knocked off expert Ed Epp, while other top players who 
failed to win were Francis, who got a tough pairing and lost to Foygel on Board 
One; Curdo, who was held to a draw by Jeff Penta (1870); and expert John 
Chamberlain, who could only manage the half point against Larry Pratt (1801). 


Things look interesting again in Round 2, with projected pairings of 
Polizoti-Foygel, Jirovsky-Sciacca, and Konovalchuk-Riordan on the top three 
boards, while Spector gets black against Curdo, the highest-rated player in the 
half-point group. 


Mike Barry heads a group of nine first-round winners in the middle section, 
which also has 22 players, while James Klinkenberg tops an array of 13 players 
with one point in the 31-player bottom section. 


Youngster Anirudh Arun, rated only 317, staged the biggest upset of the first 
round by knocking off 989-rated Mary Murphy despite that a whopping 672-point 
rating difference, and in a battle of rising middle schoolers Andrew Taylor 
(1307) defeated David Plotkin (1606) for a 331-point upset. 


Other upsets with more than a 200-point difference were Konovalchuk (1806) over 
Epp (2027) and Joey Kagan (1545) drawing John Tempesta (1956). Not quite that 
big but significant in the standings were Penta’s draw with Curdo and Pratt’s 
with Chamberlain. 


Others:


Eric Burgess (1576) drew Derek Slater (1968); Louis P Jacques (1565) defeated 
Bill Stein (1742); and Matthew Phelps (1526)defeated Donald Souliere (1655).


The three sections added up to 75 players, a number certain to increase via 
"jump-ins" in Round 2.
 

Individual Upsets. MCC Late Summer Swiss: Open
Name 			Pnts 	Victim 
Niki Konovalchuk (1806) 221.0 	Edward R Epp (2027) 
Joey Kagan (1545) 	205.5 	John Tempesta (1956) 
Eric M Burgess (1576) 	196.0 	Derek C Slater (1968) 
Jeff Georg Penta (1870) 170.5 	John A Curdo (2211) 
Larry Pratt (1801) 	102.5 	John Chamberlain (2006) 

Individual Upsets. MCC Late Summer Swiss: U1800
Name 			Pnts 	Victim 
Andrew Taylor (1307) 	331.0 	David Plotkin (1606) 
Louis P Jacques (1565) 	177.0 	William F Stein (1742) 
Matthew W Phelps (1526) 129.0 	Donald Souliere (1655) 
Brian T O'Rourke (1451)  98.0 	David W Martin (1647) 
Edwin F Burnett (1509) 	 70.0 	Menno G Koning (1649) 

Round by Round Upsets: Round 1. MCC Late Summer Swiss: U1450
Name 			Pnts 	Victim 
Anirudh Arun (317) 	672.0 	Mary L Murphy (989) 
John Mc Laughlin (1299)  70.0 	Steven L Eddins (1369) 
Andrew Luff (1286) 	 47.0 	Harvey G Reed (1333) 
Jenshiang Hong (1285) 	 47.0 	Jason D Krienke (1332) 
Thomas J Martin (1327) 	 36.5 	Alan D Schaefer (1400)