[imagefield_assist|fid=6720|preset=frontpage_200x200|lightbox=true|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=200|height=200]The CCSCSL was host last weekend to the Missouri Invitational Championship and the Missouri Amateur Championship. The Invitational had 15 participants, and the Amateur had 55, much more than expected.
I played well (for once) and won the Invitational with 4.5-0.5. A mild surprise was clear-second finisher Kevin Cao, who once again broke 2200, and beat IM Michael Brooks along the way, scoring an impressive 4-1. IM Brooks took clear third with 3.5-1.5.
The Amateur was full of surprises, as several class A players (Alex Marler, Spencer Finegold, and Al Howlett) fought for first place! Spencer lost in the last round to Expert Mark Ferber, whilst Marler won a long game from Howlett. Ferber and Marler tied for first with 4.5-0.5, with Alex winning the State Title on tiebreak! Congrats to CCSCSL employee Alex Marler for not only winning, but getting a ton of rating points to boot.
Final standings of both events can be found at: http://main.uschess.org/assets/msa_joomla/XtblMain.php?201008150941
I was able to beat KDJ (Kevin Dale Johnson in round 1) by employing the rare (for me) 1.e4! The game was a weird Alapin (c3) Sicilian, where my opponent missed a cute tactic, and his king paid a dear price!
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I played Kevin Cao in round 2, and tried the Caro-Kann, which I play occasionally nowadays. The game was about equal for a long time, then Kevin made some positional concessions and eventually lost a weak pawn and his position collapsed.
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Round 3 was a perfunctory draw with IM Brooks. In fact, I spent a lot of the day going home to help Alisa Melekhina prepare for her next game in the 2010 World Junior Championship! Alisa finished up with 8.5-4.5, drawing her only game in the last round, after a 50+ move battle. I was her "coach" even though she was in Poland and I was at the CCSCSL (thank you Internet). Info on her event at: http://www.wjcc2010.pl/en/listauczestnikow
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Round 4 started bright and early at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, and I once again trotted out 1.e4! I always wanted to broaden my repertoire, and preparing Alisa for her games gave me the confidence to play 1.e4 this event. Nick Karlow played a sharp variation of the Sicilian whereupon he wins 2-3 pawns at the expense of his king safety and development. The complications were too difficult for Nick, as he lost a miniature. IM Brooks lost a wild game to Kevin Cao, so first place was in my hands, if I could win the last round.
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I had black versus Jialin Ding and decided to play the Sicilian. Jialin played an early king-side fianchetto (g3) against my Classical Variation, and a positional battle ensued. Jialin made too many weaknesses on the dark squares (a4, c4, e4, g4 were all played by white by move 15!)...and I was able to break through on the king side and win a nice game.
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My next tournament will be next weekend, in Indianapolis, http://www.chesstour.com/io10.htm. The last time (and only time!) I played there was the 2009 U.S. Open.
Enjoy the games!
