Results from May 9
The third weekly Kids & Amateurs tournament drew eight participants ranging from novice to 1300. JensSchuetz emerged undefeated after four rounds. Well done! Check out his round 3 victory versus the top seed, converting a complex endgame of two minor pieces against a rook and an extra pawn.
Winners of Sac Kids & Amateurs #3:
- 1st JensSchuetz with 3.5
- =2nd Tijuanaboomboom with 3.0
- =2nd TommyCat60 with 3.0
The turnout for the sixth Sacramento Pawn Storm was modest - exactly a baker's dozen - with a pair of newcomers joining the fray. Nobody survived the five rounds unscathed. Chessboi2010 swindled his coach in round 1 and never looked back, winning four games and earning gold by virtue of the head-to-head result. No doubt 9 year old Kritin became the youngest to ever win a Sacramento area adult chess tournament. Wow! Congratulations kid!
Winners of Sac Pawn Storm #6:
- =1st chessboi2010 (Kritin) with 4.0 out of 5
- =1st NM fpawn (Michael) with 4.0
- =3rd Yash_Mago (Yash) with 3.0
- =3rd J3Chess24 (Javier) with 3.0
- =3rd vish1080 (Vishva) with 3.0
- =3rd BigLighthouse (anonymous) with 3.0
- =3rd MattDanger (Matthew) with 3.0
Once again, the first round went according to expectations, except for one game. Playing on board 1, chessboi2010 never surrendered in a difficult endgame and stole the full point when NM fpawn suffered a senior moment. As they say, nobody ever won a game by resigning.
What would young star chessboi2010 do for an encore? Black was winning the following wild game at one point. Alas, he could not stop the marching a-pawn from promoting.
The results of rounds 1 and 2 left two friends at the top of the standings. J3Chess24 managed to slow the chessboi train by stealing a pawn in the opening, taking the material all the way to the house. Or did he? The annotation shows black had chances to miraculously draw the endgame.
Alone in first place, J3Chess24 only needed to draw a master to maintain his grip on the tournament. After 26 moves, that draw seemed assured. Yet a few aggressive king moves later, the game teetered on the edge of a cliff. Sadly, our Jedi stumbled and fell, losing despite bishops of opposite color. On the lower boards, chessboi2010 showed no fear while demolishing MattDanger in 15 moves.
The standings heading into the final game showed four players in the lead, each having lost to one of the other leaders. Both NM fpawn and Yash_Mago lost to chessboi2010 in the first two rounds. But he lost to J3Chess24, who subsequently went astray against the master. On top board, fpawn quickly achieved a favorable endgame versus his valued customer and went on to win easily. However, only one of the juniors would keep pace, with chessboi2010 punctuating his fine result with another victory. Way to go young star!
If you enjoyed reading this report, then be sure to join the Sacramento Pawns club on Saturday afternoon, May 16, for more socially distanced chess! The Kids & Amateurs start at 1:30 PM while the open Pawn Storm begins at 3:00 PM. Be there or be square.
