GM Finegold Wins Action Championships

By on March 15, 2013 in

The combat was non-stop at the Saint Louis Action Championship. With such a prestigious title on the line, strong players such as Grandmaster Ben Finegold, FIDE Master Doug Eckert, National Master Kevin Cao and reigning Club Champion Iskandar Aripov all joined the fray.

Round 1 was good for the four favorites, but not so hot for chess expert Mark Ferber in his bout vs. Jay Lewis III. Playing white, Ferber was up an exchange in a rook vs. bishop endgame and had three passed pawns. But the position was not as clear as it appeared. White just played 60. a5 anticipating ...61. g2 62. Rxg2!! Kxg2 63. a6 black resigns. But Jay Lewis III would have none of that.

See if you can find black’s fantastic move to bring the full point home.

With that resounding 578-point upset, Jay was already planning how he was going to spend the $20 prize for biggest upset.

It was looking good for Jay until disaster struck in Round 4. Ryan Deering (USCF 765) was playing black against Gabriel Sison (USCF 1417), and he was getting pummeled. Gabriel has three different forced checkmates: A mate in two, a mate in three, and, according to Houdini, even a forced mate in six moves.

Can you find one of these?

[imagefield_assist|fid=16739|preset=fullsize|lightbox=true|title=|desc=|link=none|align=center|width=414|height=420]Instead, Gabriel tried to get fancy with 40. Qxg7 Rxg7 41. Rxg7 putting his opponent in a windmill. But Ryan came up with the brilliant…41. Nd4 severing the connection between the rook and bishop. With the comeback victory, Ryan went on to score the biggest upset prize! Although some could debate as to whether it was Gabriel or Jay Lewis III that had the biggest frown on their face after this catastrophe.

As for the Saint Louis Action Championship title, all the accolades went to none other than Grandmaster Ben Finegold. He could not be stopped on this day finishing a perfect 6-0.

To find out the answers to the puzzles, stop by the club. The chess associates will be happy to show you the solutions.

SwissSys Standings. Saint Louis Action Championship: Championship

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Tot	Prize
1	GM BENJAMIN FINEGOLD	2578	W14	W16	W5	W2	W3	W6	6.0	50.00
2	ISKANDAR ARIPOV	2147	W18	W12	W6	L1	W8	D4	4.5	31.67
3	KEVIN Y CAO	2126	W21	W8	D4	W13	L1	W11	4.5	31.67
4	ISAIAH GADSON	1844	W24	W25	D3	W11	D7	D2	4.5	31.67
5	DOUG D ECKERT	2075	W26	W9	L1	D12	W15	D7	4.0
6	ALEX VERGILESOV	1903	W23	W15	L2	W14	W13	L1	4.0
7	MARK FERBER	2154	L11	W24	W18	W16	D4	D5	4.0
8	MATT BARRETT	1815	W27	L3	W26	W9	L2	X18	4.0
9	WILLIAM NESHAM	1671	W31	L5	W23	L8	W17	W13	4.0	20.00
10	JAMES MCLAUGHLIN	2029	W17	L13	L11	W23	W14	W15	4.0
11	JAY LEWIS III	1576	W7	D20	W10	L4	W12	L3	3.5
12	JONATHAN SCHRANTZ	1689	W29	L2	W17	D5	L11	W19	3.5
13	SENAD SMAJLAGIC	1775	W28	W10	W20	L3	L6	L9	3.0
14	NATHAN TU PHAN	1653	L1	W19	W29	L6	L10	W20	3.0
15	JOSEPH F WOJCIK	1677	W22	L6	W25	W20	L5	L10	3.0
16	DANIEL ALDRICH	1778	W30	L1	W21	L7	L18	W25	3.0
17	BRETT ECKERT	1371	L10	W28	L12	W25	L9	W23	3.0
18	TIAN LU PENG	1564	L2	W27	L7	W24	W16	F8	3.0
19	RYAN DEERING	765	L20	L14	W28	W26	W21	L12	3.0	15.00
20	MARGARET M HUA	1828	W19	D11	L13	L15	W22	L14	2.5
21	GABRIEL R SISON	1417	L3	W31	L16	D22	L19	W30	2.5
22	KEVIN POWELL	unr.	L15	L23	W27	D21	L20	W24	2.5
23	WENDELL BETTON	1098	L6	W22	L9	L10	W27	L17	2.0
24	SACHIN LAXM MILLI	859	L4	L7	W30	L18	W26	L22	2.0
25	AKSHAY SRINIVASAN	1115	X32	L4	L15	L17	W28	L16	2.0
26	ANDREW STEVENS	1173	L5	W30	L8	L19	L24	W29	2.0
27	JAMES H SMITH	732	L8	L18	L22	W29	L23	W28	2.0
28	DERIAN RYKER	426	L13	L17	L19	W30	L25	L27	1.0
29	ROMAN RYKER	288	L12	B---	L14	L27	L30	L26	1.0
30	ZEVE BURTON	446	L16	L26	L24	L28	W29	L21	1.0
31	ESHAAN R TIBREWALA	unr.	L9	L21	U---	U---	U---	U---	0.0
32	JACOB WILKINS	1925	F25	U---	U---	U---	U---	U---	0.0