Starting with ICC. Both of the events I am in there are drawing to a close.
In 2007Seven.02 I have four wins (as White against John3v16 and AntonioMendonca and as Black against jonesey and OnGoldenPawn) with no draws or losses. Two games are yet to be decided. As Black against Stahlberg I am a Bishop to the better and have a King side attack brewing in the middle game of a Caro-Kann: Panov-Botvinnik attack. As White versus az2112 I played the London and we are just entering the middle game. Again, I have a strong King side attack brewing and am a pawn to the better. I came into the event as the highest rated player but I have had to fight for each point.
In 2007Quad.08 I have two wins, two draws, and no losses (yet). I have finished my games with The7thGuest and Molton having won once and drawn once with each. Both games versus my last opponent (Boromir) are ongoing. As White, I played a suspect line in the London System but I think I have equalized out of a bad spot. I grabbed a pawn in the opening and have been paying for it... Grabbing pawns in correspondence chess when there are other things to be done is a no-no! In my game with Black we have entered the middle game of a Reti/KID and I think I have at least equalized and may have a small plus.
az2112 and Boromir have both over stepped the time limits and have been warned by the TD. Hopefully we can get those games going in good fashion again.
I would post cross tables but it seems they have not been updated since the events began. With my latest result (the win over Molton), I have achieved my highest ICC Correspondence rating so far (1999).
Woah... Maybe I should play 3's and 9's on the lottery. I have a 1999 rating as of 19 November with 33 wins, 3 losses, and 3 draws for a total of 39 games. Cue the spooky music!
Over at ICCF I have finished all my games in WS/O/109. Several of the leaders have yet to finish games. Right now I am in Third, but I anticipate no better than a Fourth place finish. As I wrote in September, for my first ICCF event I think I had satisfactory results. My loss to Pötz hampered my goal to finish near the top.
| WS/O/109 | TD Millstone, Michael | |||||||||||||||
| Rated | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Score | SB | R | Place | |||||
| 1 | AUT | 10588 | Pötz, Florian | 1800P | ½ | 1 | . | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | 9.5 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2 | CZE | 130711 | Kýhos, Alois | 1701 | ½ | ½ | . | 1 | 1 | 1D | 4 | 7.75 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 3 | USA | 514360 | Owens, Steve | 1800P | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1D | 4 | 7 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4 | POL | 421419 | Deren, Marcin | 2019F | . | . | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1D | 3 | 4.25 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 5 | USA | 514348 | Thomas, Gerald K | 1800P | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 6 | GER | 85582 | Kaspschak, Mrs. Karola | 1800P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 7 | ITA | 241236 | Barzaghi, Andy | 1800P | 0 | 0D | 0D | 0D | 0 | 0D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
XF = FIDE Elo
XP = provisional
Sorted by place. Click to sort by start list order.
In event WS/O/120 I am in clear second with one game to go. The three of us at top each have only to finish our games with Sanchez Carmona. Of course, I don't know how the other games are going, but in my game with Sanchez Carmona I am the Exchange up as Black in a Caro-Kann: Gurgenidze System. We are entering the end game (R,B,B vs. R,R,B and four pawns each) and I just need to put this puppy away. I could finish anywhere from first to third. I think second is most likely. I had too many draws in this event. Jan Gantar has four wins already to my three.
| WS/O/120 | TD Marconi, Ralph P. | |||||||||||||||
| Rated | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Score | SB | R | Place | |||||
| 1 | SLO | 480238 | Gantar, Jan | 1800P | ½ | 1 | . | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | 7.5 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2 | USA | 514360 | Owens, Steve | 1800P | ½ | ½ | . | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 3 | AUS | 30119 | Ramsden, Jim E. | 1852 | 0 | ½ | . | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.5 | 4 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 4 | ESP | 160980 | Sánchez Carmona, Gerardo | 1800P | . | . | . | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 5 | USA | 514396 | Lynn, Bret | 1800P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 6 | TUR | 490209 | Ciklabakkal, Metin | 1800P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 7 | NOR | 360548 | Stenseth, Bjørn Gunnar | 1800P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
Sorted by place. Click to sort by start list order.
In my latest ICCF event, WS/O/138, again I have too many draws to be a favorite, but I'll finish near the top. I missed my chance to stand out from the pack with Black against Dumitrescu in a Spanish Berlin game. I had a clear advantage but missed the win in the end game with two passed pawns. Pareschi and Sarak are still playing thier game and so have a chance to pass Dumitrescu and me in the standings. I'll at least finish second or third assuming I can take care of my last game with Van hentenryck.
| WS/O/138 | TD Millstone, Michael | |||||||||||||||
| Rated | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Score | SB | R | Place | |||||
| 1 | ROM | 440627 | Dumitrescu, Florian | 1800P | ½ | ½ | ½ | . | 1 | 1 | 3.5 | 5.75 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2 | USA | 514360 | Owens, Steve | 1800P | ½ | ½ | ½ | . | 1 | 1 | 3.5 | 5.75 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 3 | ITA | 241242 | Pareschi, Remo | 1800P | ½ | ½ | . | . | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4.5 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 4 | GER | 84051 | Sarak, Michael | 1800P | ½ | ½ | . | . | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4.5 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 5 | BEL | 40214 | Van hentenryck, Alain | 1689 | . | . | . | . | . | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | ||
| 6 | USA | 511398 | Peterson, Miss Janet | 1676 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 7 | SUI | 100390 | Galanti, Sergio | 1628 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
Sorted by place. Click to sort by start list order.
I am in the midst of my second USCF Walter E. Muir event (USCF/WS/07WM41). Back in August I finished first in USCF/WS/07WM27. This one is going to be much, much tougher. I have wins in both games against Bill Evans again. No knock on Bill, sometimes another person just seems to have your number. My opening repertoire seems to be set up perfectly for his. The other players in this event all have multiple first place Muir finishes.
As an example of how tough this event is, here are the tournaments won by participants in the last several months:
OCTOBER WINNERS
Walter Muir Webserver
William Evans 07W28 5-1
William Evans 06W22 3 ½-2 ½
Thomas Haggard 06W22 3 ½-2 ½
William Evans 07W08 5-1
Joe Hoffmann 07W25 6-0
SEPTEMBER TOURNAMENT WINNERS
John Collins
Thomas Haggard 05C39 4-2
Walter Muir
Joe Hoffmann 07W16 4 ½-1 ½
William Evans 07W01 6-0
William Evans 07W21 6-0
Yikes!
Also of note: friend of the blog Anthony Ragan has a Muir win, too!
SEPTEMBER TOURNAMENT
WINNERS
Walter Muir
Anthony Ragan 07W16 4 ½-1 ½
In my games with Bill Evans, as Black we played a Semi-Slav: Meran. In the early middle game I was able to disturb his King side pawns with an exchange of his f3 Knight for my light Bishop. The open g file left by the recapture of the light Bishop was immediately exploitable by my Queen and King side Rook. In the other game Evans responded to 1.d4 with a Dutch Defense. I used a Catalan/Reti style setup with which I was familiar, and advanced my Queen side pawns aggressively. At about move 16 Bill dropped the f pawn in an exchange of Knights. A few moves later I was able to win the Exchange and then invade the seventh and eighth ranks with my rooks.
The other games are ongoing.
Against Thomas Haggard, in my game with Black Tom opened with what he called the "Haggard Gambit" in the Caro Kann Exchange. I'm not sure he has received compensation, but play continues... In my game as White, we are in a Bogo-Indian and things are very much in flux. Both games are in the opening stages.
Against Joe Hoffman, as Black I have the Bishop pair in the late middle game of a Caro Kann Exchange game. What is it with all these Exchange and Panov games? Has everyone abandoned the Advance against the CK? In our game that I have White, we are in the late middle game stages of another Bogo-Indian. It has been very tight but I am a pawn up. As compensation Black has a protected passed central pawn while my passed pawn is outside and isolated.
| USCF/WS/07WM41 | TD Dunne, Alex | ||||||||||||||||
| Unrated | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | Score | SB | R | Place | |||||
| 1 | USA | 514322 | Hoffmann, Joe | . | . | 1 | 1 | . | . | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | ||||
| 2 | USA | 514360 | Owens, Steve | . | . | 1 | 1 | . | . | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | ||||
| 3 | USA | 514306 | Evans, William | 1620 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | . | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | |||
| 4 | USA | 514316 | Haggard, Thomas | . | . | . | . | . | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | ||||
My USCF rating is up to 1621 as of yesterday. If my current games are any indication I may be leveling off at between 1600 and 1700 for USCF Correspondence.
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