MetroWest Chess Club - Summer Swiss
June   1, 8, 15, 22, 29   2004

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Commentary 
Round 5 - June 29, 2004

Round by Round Upsets: Round 5. MCC Summer Swiss: Open
Name 			Pnts 	Victim 
John Chamberlain (2062) 208.5 	Igor Foygel (2479) 
Niki Konovalchuk (1761) 134.0 	Walter Driscoll (1895) 
Calvin G Hori (1733) 	 67.0 	Edward Astrachan (1867) 
Na Ruthramoorthy (1944)  66.0 	Ilya* Krasik (2076) 
Robert Hubscher (1817)   38.0 	Neil B Cousin (1855) 
John W Martin (1752) 	 25.5 	Joseph A Francis (1803) 
Alexand Paphitis (1803)  21.0 	Howard Goldowsky (1824) 
Randy Brueckner (1997) 	  3.0 	Edward R Epp (2000) 

Round by Round Upsets: Round 5. MCC Summer Swiss: U1700
Name 			Pnts 	Victim 
Justin P Grimes (1035) 	381.0 	James A Krycka (1416) 
Andrew D Ossmann (1336) 133.0 	George W R Duval (1469) 
Jenshiang Hong (1404) 	108.0 	James H Rafferty (1512) 
Chris Berg-Jones (1571)  94.0 	Ethan Thompson (1665) 
Alan D Schaefer (1424)   83.0 	Edmund Staples (1590) 
Douglas Thompson (1331)  79.0 	Plamen Krastev (1489) 
Robert J Oresick (1541)  70.0 	Mark Kaprielian (1611) 
Matthew W Phelps (1588)  36.0 	Walter Champion (1660) 
Jesse M Nicholas (1375)  30.5 	Jame Klinkenberg (1436) 
Gatumba Z Abu (1580) 	  9.5 	Menno G Koning (1599) 
Round by Round Upsets: Round 5. MCC Summer Swiss: U1400
Name 			Pnts 	Victim 
Fred L Harvey (1109) 	125.0 	Robert Matthews (1234) 
Lior Rozhansky (1078)    98.0 	David L Levens (1176) 
Trent Masiki (970)       74.0 	Travis A Nilsson (1044) 




Round 4 - June 22, 2004


Round by Round Upsets: Round 4. MCC Summer Swiss: Open
Name                                 Pnts     Victim 
William Michael (1769)        86.0     Neil B Cousin (1855) 
Howard Goldowsky (1824) 35.5     Walter Driscoll (1895) 
John Chamberlain (2062)       1.0     Bijan Haririan (2063) 

Round by Round Upsets: Round 4. MCC Summer Swiss: U1700
Name                                 Pnts     Victim 
David C Law (1478)          112.0     Edmund Staples (1590) 
Anabel Bacon (1395)         105.0     Keith Mc Caughin (1500) 
John J Bottini (1376)            93.0     George W R Duval (1469) 
Jenshiang Hong (1404)         85.0     Plamen Krastev (1489) 
Hadrian Zbarcea (1503)       69.0     Edwin F Burnett (1572) 
Douglas Thompson (1331)   52.5     Jame Klinkenberg (1436) 
Matthew W Phelps (1588)   38.5     Ethan Thompson (1665) 
Jesse M Nicholas (1375)       5.0     Christop Oliveri (1380) 

Round by Round Upsets: Round 4. MCC Summer Swiss: U1400
Name                                 Pnts     Victim 
Travis A Nilsson (1044)     229.0     Steven L Eddins (1273) 
Trent Masiki (970)             139.0     Fred L Harvey (1109) 
Sam A Giler (1010)           104.0     Gregory W Cermak (1114)

Round 3 - June 15, 2004

Eight-year-old year-old Michael Oliveri has been the sensation of the tournament so far, posting three consecutive victories including a third-round upset of top-seeded Harvey Reed to lead the Under 1400 section with the only perfect 3.0 score.
 
Matthew Phelps has also won three straight games to emerge as the sole leader in the U1700 section, while Bijan Haririan and John Chamberlain share the Open section lead with the same score.
 
Young Oliveri, who just finished second grade, has established a 1216 rating which made him the No. 5 seed in the 25-player field, so despite his age, his first two victories were hardly major surprises. Beating the veteran 1375-rated Reed certainly qualifies as an upset, though, and now he is faced with another daunting task as he goes up against high-school student Greg Siciliano, the No. 2 seed, in Round 4.
 
Siciliano, rated 1369, has won two straight games after a first-round bye to stand just a half-point back with 2.5 points. Also still in the hunt are David Levens with that same score plus a group of nine players headed by Reed with 2.0 each.
 
Phelps, the eighth seed in the middle section, emerged on top as all of those ahead of him stumbled via at least one loss or draw in the first three rounds. Top-seeded Ethan Thompson, with two wins after being held to a first-round draw, gets the next crack at the leader in Round 4, while also still in strong contention with 2.5 points are Mark Kaprielian with two wins and a draw, and Menno Koning, with two victories after a first-round bye.
 
Haririan and Chamberlain have come through as the Open section co-leaders through a combination of their own strong play and byes taken by top seeds Igor Foygel and John Curdo, who both won their other two games to lurk right behind with 2.5 points, as does Na Ruthramoorthy (1944) after a Round 3 upset of David Harris (2179). The leaders square off on Board One in the penultimate fourth round, with Chamberlain getting the white pieces, while it's Foygel-Curdo on Board 2.
 
Other Round 3 form reversals in addition to those by Oliveri and Ruthramoorthy were:
 
Anabel Bacon (1395)  defeated George Goulding (1659); Anbu Damodaran (1314)  topped George W R Duval (1469) ; Valerie Ruth Law (604)  surprised  Jim Merullo (927); and Sam A Giler drew     Steven L Eddins (1273)
 
Nine players jumped in for Round 3, raising the total entries to 89.

Round by Round Upsets: Round 3. MCC Summer Swiss: Open
Name                                 Pnts         Victim
Na Ruthramoorthy (1944)     235.0     David Harris (2179)
Larry Eldridge (1811)             69.5     Alec Stothert (1950)
Amrit Gupta (1789)                58.0     Jeff Georg Penta (1905)
Joseph A Francis (1803)        58.0     Simon A Slutsky (1861)
Alfred G Ward (1800)            17.0     Robert Hubscher (1817)
John W Martin (1752)              9.0     Niki Konovalchuk (1761)

Round by Round Upsets: Round 3. MCC Summer Swiss: U1700
Name                                 Pnts         Victim
Anabel Bacon (1395)             264.0     George Goulding (1659)
Anbu Damodaran (1314)       155.0     George W R Duval (1469)
John J Bottini (1376)                56.5     Plamen Krastev (1489)
Matthew W Phelps (1588)         2.0     Edmund Staples (1590)

Round by Round Upsets: Round 3. MCC Summer Swiss: U1400
Name                                     Pnts     Victim
Valerie Ruth Law (604)           323.0     Jim Merullo (927)
Michael Oliveri (1216)            159.0     Harvey G Reed (1375)
Sam A Giler (1010)                131.5     Steven L Eddins (1273)


Round 2 - June 8, 2004

A combination of upsets and byes in the first two rounds has wreaked havoc in the Open section, setting up what should be an exciting series of battles over the remaining weeks.
 
With the top five seeds knocked back one way or another, experts Bijan Haririan and John Chamberlain along with A-players Randy Brueckner and Ed Astrachan emerged as the only players with perfect  scores. But breathing down their necks a half-point behind are seven players led by IM Igor Foygel, Master John Curdo, and experts Pat Sciacca, Ilya Krasik, and Ed Epp.
 
Edmund Staples and Matthew Phelps were the co-leaders at 2.0 in the U1700 section, followed by a group of nine competitors at 1.5. Eight-year-old Michael Oliveri is the early talk of the U1400 section, joining top-seeded Harvey Reed and David Levens in a threesome sharing the lead there with two points, followed by five players at 1.5.
 
Upsets weren't as plentiful in Round 2 as they had been in the opening session. The only big one occurred in the bottom section, where James Taggert knocked off Mary Murphy despite a 417-point rating differential (787-1204). Others in this section were Travis Nilsson (1044) over Robert Matthews (1234) and Sam Giler (1010) over Max Abugov (1181). There were only a couple of relatively mild ones in the Open section: Calvin Hori (1733) over Neil Cousin (1855) and Astrachan (1867) over Trev De Koekkock (1987), while Terry O'Neill (1489) defeated George Goulding (1659) for the only form reversal meeting our 100-point criterion in the U1700 section.
 
Nine players jumped in for Round 2, raising the total entries to 30-28-23 -- 81.

Round by Round Upsets: Round 2. MCC Summer Swiss: Open
Name                                 Pnts     Victim
Calvin G Hori (1733)         122.0     Neil B Cousin (1855)
Edward Astrachan (1867)  120.0     Trev De Koekkoek (1987)
Joseph A Francis (1803)      92.0     Walter Driscoll (1895)

Round by Round Upsets: Round 2. MCC Summer Swiss: U1700
Name                                 Pnts     Victim
Terry M O'Neill (1489)     170.0     George Goulding (1659)
Jenshiang Hong (1404)        89.0     Michael W Kaye (1493)
Paul Felker (1585)              13.0     Mark Kaprielian (1611)

Round by Round Upsets: Round 2. MCC Summer Swiss: U1400
Name                                 Pnts     Victim
James Taggert (787)             417.0     Mary L Murphy (1204)
Travis A Nilsson (1044)       190.0     Robert Matthews (1234)
Sam A Giler (1010)              171.0     Max Abugov (1181)
 

Round 1 - June 1, 2004
Upsets were plentiful right off the bat as 72 players began play in the five-round Summer Swiss.

Both the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds fell in the Open section, as Ed Astrachan (1867) won a long, hard-fought rook-and-pawns end game over David Harris (2179) in the last game to finish, and Simon Slutsky (1861) knocked off Ilya Krasik (2076). The only other form reversal in this section was provided by high school student Andrew Taylor, who despite playing up and being ranked near the bottom of the 24-player field at 1685, held No. 11 seed Na Ruthramoorthy (1944) to a draw. The rest of the games followed their expected courses, as top-seeded Igor Foygel, No. 2 John Curdo, Bijan Haririan, John Chamberlain, Ed Epp, Randy Brueckner, Trevor De Koekkoek, and Alex Stothert won their opening tests.

The U1700 section also went a bit topsy-turvy right at the start as the top three seeds -- Ethan Thompson, Walter Champion, and George Goulding -- were all held to draws.

The biggest upsets in terms of the numbers, however, were staged by Justin Grimes (1035) via a win over Michael W Kaye (1493), and Greg Rose (656) with a shocker over Greg Cermak (1114) -- both, coincidentally, computing out to identical 458-point rating differences.

Other upsets meeting our 100-point criterion:

U1700 Section: Douglas Thompson (1331) defeated Hadrian Zbarcea (1503) and James Klinkenberg (1436) drew Goulding (1659).

U1400: Jim Merullo (927) overcame Mary L Murphy (1204) and Trent Masiki (970) downed Robert Matthews 1234.

Grimes and Thompson joined seven other first-round winners led by No. 4 seed Eric Berkey for the early middle section lead, while Rose, Merullo, and Masiki are in a group of 10 opening night winners headed by top-seeded Harvey Reed in the bottom section.

A total of 72 players (24-26-22) entered in Round One, with "jump-ins" likely to boost that total in the second week.


Round by Round Upsets: Round 1. MCC Summer Swiss: Open
Name Pnts Victim
Edward Astrachan (1867) 312.0 David Harris (2179)
Simon A Slutsky (1861) 215.0 Ilya Krasik (2076)
Andrew Taylor (1685) 129.5 Na Ruthramoorthy (1944)

Round by Round Upsets: Round 1. MCC Summer Swiss: U1700
Name Pnts Victim
Justin P Grimes (1035) 458.0 Michael W Kaye (1493)
Douglas Thompson (1331)       172.0 Hadrian Zbarcea (1503)
Jame Klinkenberg (1436)         111.5 George Goulding (1659)
Jesse M Nicholas (1375)           98.5 Edwin F Burnett (1572)
Terry M O'Neill (1489)             88.0 Ethan Thompson (1665)
Plamen Krastev (1489)              85.5 Walter Champion (1660)

Round by Round Upsets: Round 1. MCC Summer Swiss: U1400
Name Pnts Victim
Gregory W Rose (656) 458.0 Gregory W Cermak (1114)
Jim Merullo (927)                 277.0 Mary L Murphy (1204)
Trent Masiki (970)                 264.0 Robert Matthews (1234)