Missouri Invitational and Amateur Recap

By Bob Howe

Round Two

After two rounds little has been decided here at the Missouri Invitational and Amateur Championships. In the Invitational section, a few players remain undefeated after two rounds. NM Richard Benjamin was the first player to reach two out of two points, after he unseated Barry Manthe of Columbia. Joining him with a perfect score is the father and son duo of Ben and Spencer Finegold. The young Finegold-Ron Luther game saw all the queenside cleared of pawns save one, and the pieces took center stage as something like 47 pieces tangled up between the two sides on the open queenside. The tactics, pins, forks and checks were too lengthy to describe, but when the dust settled Spencer had a Horse and Queen facing Luther’s Queen, with a single passed pawn as compensation. The classic Queen/knight combo showed its strength again and Spencer emerged with a fine upset. Meanwhile Abhishek Mallela gave himself chances to draw Grandmaster Finegold when he entered an ending down a pawn but with opposite colored bishops. The GM showed his stuff though, steadily improving bit by bit until the joined the 2/2 club.

Young Margaret Hua had the start of a fine performance cut short. She managed to draw the always dangerous Mark Ferber in round one. Margaret pulled off a KC “swindle”, setting up a perpetual check on Ferber when her own King sat in grave danger. She followed up that game with a victory over LM Bob Holliman in round two. Margaret used the tried and true “pick up one pawn, then pick up another” strategy to come out ahead in that game. Margaret decided to call well enough alone and withdrew after those two rounds, as she wanted to assure she would cross the 2000 barrier. We’re sorry to see her go, but congratulate her on making expert.

In the Amateur Championship, there was a larger than average disparity in ratings during round one, with many games seeing 800 point differences between players. This led to a quick round with little in the way of upsets. (Owen Bitting (1008) did manage a draw against Dennis Taylor (1602) to prevent a full sweep by the higher rateds)

Round two turned out to be much more competitive, as top boards such as David Meliti, Jeffery Kovalic, Steven Bange, David Askin, and Selden Trimble all faced stiff competition from their round 2 opponents. Nathan Phan held Bange to a draw, Peter Harris did the same to Kovalic, while Matt Larson managed a 1-0 against Askins. Trimble and Meliti managed to come through unscathed, although they both were a bit worse for wear at the end of the struggle.

Round Three

First Board in the Invitational was all about the Benjamins. No, the money wasn’t decided, it was a face-off between GM Benjamin Finegold, and NM Richard Benjamin. The game turned crazy fast, as right out of the opening pieces were hanging, Kings were running and something went terribly wrong. Grandmaster Finegold emerged from the insanity with the only 3-0 score to lead heading into Sunday. On board two, Spencer Finegold lost his perfect score, but retains 2nd place after a draw with Mark Ferber. This leaves the Finegold pair dominating the tournament. Ron Luther won on board three, and William Nesham picked up his second upset win to join Luther and R. Benjamin with 2/3.

In the Amateur section, the two top seeds managed to advance to 3/3. Selden Trimble and David Meliti will square off on Sunday morning to see how will have the advantage going into round 5. Peter Harris is having a fine event, as his 2.5/3 holds third. He faces the other 2.5/3 player, Steven Bange. The winner of that game should face the winner of first board for a chance at the title. (unless draws allow others to catch up!)

Round Four

Sunday morning saw the pairings do what no other player could do, slow down GM Finegold on board one. With a forced pairing with his son, Ben Finegold apparently preferred risking his luck in round five over committing chess filicide, and offered a draw early in the game. Spencer, rated 600 points lower, mysteriously accepted the half point offered by the GM. Meanwhile, William Nesham’s magic run was stopped by Richard Benjamin, and in one of the last finishing games, Mark Ferber beat out Ron Luther. The Ferber game was an interesting contest, with both players holding passers on the 7th, but in the end Luther’s promotion cost Ferber his last minor, but Ferber’s would require the loss of Luther’s Queen, deciding the game in his favor. Nick Karlow and Frank Smith also picked up wins to help their standings.

The top board in the amateur section was the final game to finish in the round. The two top seeds battled tooth and nail, knowing this could easily decide the tournament winner. The ending saw David Meliti holding three connected pawns and a rook versus Trimble’s three separated pawns and bishop. Sounds like good news for Meliti, but Trimble pulled out every trick, and eventually forced Meliti to sacrifice his rook for two pawns, leaving a dead draw. Meanwhile Steven Bange won the board two matchup to catch the leaders, creating a three way tie at the top going into the final round. Other notable wins included a nice upset by Frank Smith (985) over Nathan Phan (1648)

Final Recap

GM Finegold held a half point lead going into the last round, giving him a nice advantage, but needing the full point to be guaranteed his second straight Missouri Invitational Championship. The game went his way, getting an advantage early against Mark Ferber. Ferber fought on, but the grandmaster steadily improved his own pieces while controlling his opponent’s options. Eventually Ferber’s active King became ensnared in a mating net, and he raised the white flag. Our resident GM once again holds off the local challenges and notches state Championship number two! Congratulations, Congratulations!

Board two was a face off between Spencer Finegold and Richard Benjamin. (It’s the Benjamin Finegold game jested Benjamin Finegold) A draw would secure both some prize money, but the guys battled hard for a win, trying to secure clear 2nd. The game would be the last to finish, as a tricky ending resulted. Benjamin had an extra pawn, but the opposite color bishops left his two passers blockaded, while Finegold tried to make something of his Kingside majority. Eventually the two ran out tricks, and a truce was agreed. Nick Karlow defeated Barry Manthe in a tactical sac-fest to deny Manthe a share of the prize, so Benjamin and S. Finegold share 2nd/3rd. Frank Smith also picked up a full point, giving him 2 wins on Sunday to finish strong after a rough start on the first day.

The amateur section would be decided late, as the 2nd to last game to finish was top board, David Meliti versus Steven Bange. The other leader, Selden Trimble, received a lucky break (on paper at least) and was paired down against a 1500, Karan Mehta from Kansas. As it turned out, it wasn’t all good, as Mehta’s unofficial rating was 100 points higher than his supplement, a clear sign the young man is playing excellent chess, and he showed it putting Trimble on the ropes in the middlegame. He had the game set up to be his, but Trimble did all he could to make it challenging, and when a mistake was made, the wily veteran jumped all over his opportunity. The comeback win for Trimble guaranteed him at least a tie for first. Things looked good for Trimble to win it all, as the Meliti/Bange game had even material into the ending and looked headed to a likely draw. Meliti, however, saw something I missed in my observation, and Bange must have missed as well, because he materialized an attack out of seemingly nowhere, and was able to grab the full point. This put the Meliti and Trimble in a tie at the top with 4.5/5 each, and the two are recognized at the 2011 Missouri Amateur Co-Champions. (Meliti got to carry home the trophy due to better tiebreaks) Congratulations to you both!

Other winners in the Amateur section included Steven Bange, Jeffery Kovalic, Peter Harris, Scott Andersen, Clark Berry Nathan Sobery, Fred Smith, and Bruce Levine, all of whom took home some cash for topping their class sections. Congrats to all the winners, and a big thanks to everyone who came out to play!