The Markowski Open is 7 rounds, with two 1/2 point byes available (last round byes must be requested before the 2nd round and are irrevocable). Entry Fee is $25, plus $60 for 2008 annual dues (this can be paid at a later date if needed). Time control is 40/90, SD/60 with 5 second delay.
This game drew a lot of interest from the crowd as it became apparent that Mariano was holding his own. See Cyrus Annotates . The move 42...h3 seemed to be a focal point of the kibitzers after the game, and Antonio Gonzalez thought it deserved a !!, but after some analysis, the large crowd of Mexicanos assembled in the office (Sainz, Lozano, Robles, Murra, and others) decided that if Carl had replied 43.g3! fxg3 44.hxg3= then Carl would have been fine and maybe even a bit better.
Todd Smith contemplates Ed's bold but risky move - was there a hidden trap in there??
A close game for quite a while, Ed had the Bishop pair bearing down on White's King versus a pair of Knights, one of which was pinned down. Then Ed gave up a Bishop for back rank attack that didn't work out. This was the Longest Game of the Night. Photo shows position after Black played Rb6?!. After Rxd5 Rb2+ Black wasn't getting enough play for his piece.
This was initially reported incorrectly by me last night, but Ron did win, it was just a typo (hey, it was 1 AM, so I am bound to make a "misteak" here or there, and by the way, thanks to Bob Defore for pointing it out first). If ever you see something wrong please email me, Chuck Ensey (chucnglo@aol.com ), that's one of the benefits of this website - that if we make an error someone may spot it right away and it can be quickly rectified.
Ignacio felt that arriving late may have hurt his chances here as apparently he got in time trouble.
Wow, a close battle right down to the wire. Both players were very low on time and were many moves short of the 40 moves required for the first time control when they started blitzing out moves. It looked like Alejandro was trying to win on time, but he wasn't writing down the moves, just check marks. I didn't know if Bob understood that he couldn't lose on time if Alejandro was misssing more than 3 moves, but afterwards he told me he was aware of that rule.
A nice game by Rich, once again proving he can beat almost anyone on any given day (or night).
This was a real crowd pleaser as Esteban's Rook battled a string of connected passed pawns.
Black (Buddy) just played 74...d2, and White (Esteban) went on to play 75. Rb8+ Kh7 76.Rd8 to stop the pawn from Queening. At this point Bud got tired and played the natural looking 76...c3? instead of the saving move b2! Now White can't play 77.Rxd2? because b1=Q wins. So therefore White would have to take a perpetual check with 77.Rd7+ Kh8 78.Rd8+ etc. After four plus hours of brain-bending chess, it is easy to make a mistake like this... See the game on Cyrus Annotates, although Cy hasn't had a chance to annotate it yet.
Fred fought on in a hopeless position for probably too long, but hey, you pay your entry fee so you might as well get your money worth was the thinking there I guess.
Carey says he is feeling good and recovering nicely from his recent hospital stay.
The upsets just keep coming folks, and we are not done yet!
Monica won a piece with a Queen check and managed to hang on to her material to close out the win against the higher rated Class C Champion David Hall.