Spaqi stuns Tan, wins Your Next Move Blitz Tournament in playoff

Wilson Spaqi's latest victory was a bit more dramatic. 

Down material, in a worse position, and with just 3.9 seconds on the clock, Spaqi delivered a stunning checkmate over runner-up Ralph Tan to extend his tournament winning streak to three. 

This was the third weekly blitz tournament at the UnBar Cafe, and fielded 8 participants overall. Divided into 2 quads of 4, the top 2 finishers of each section advanced to the "Final Four", where a bracket-style elimination decided the winner.

The first quad was won by Spaqi and Hansen Song, each with 5 points after splitting their individual encounter. Tan dominated the second quad - sweeping the field with 6 straight points. Elmer Andaya almost won second place outright in his quad, but in the last game played the incredible move Qxc7??!

Per blitz rules, illegal moves forfeit the game, tragically leading to a loss for Andaya. The result was a three-way tie for 2nd place between Andaya, Calvin Marshall, and Donald McClendon, requiring a round-robin tiebreak. Andaya defeated both rivals after many time pressure adventures. The reader can find both of these games posted at the bottom of the article.  

Donald McClendon facing Elmer Andaya in the tiebreak game

The Final Four set, Spaqi and Tan convincingly defeated Andaya and Song in the semi-finals, leading to a final match between the two highest-rated players. 

Neither of the regulation games were particularly close.  Each player employed the caro-kann defense with the black pieces, found themselves strategically worse in the middle-game, lost material, and finally the game. The final score tied, a 3-minute tiebreak game was to decide the ultimate victor. 

The game did not appear to go well for Spaqi. Tan had masterfully outplayed his veteran opponent in the middlegame and built up an overwhelming advantage, both positionally and on the clock. Tan's success had stemmed from his awareness to strike in the center. In the below position, Tan found the precise 16.f3! , preparing the e2-e4 strike, and later d4-d5. 

Pretty much everything went Tan's way, even after missing a few decisive options to close the game. But just as a victory seemed inevitable (Spaqi had 5 seconds left), the master employed a final trick 40...Re2!:

White needs to keep the Queen on the a8-h1 diagonal, which protects the King. However, he erred with 41.Qh3??. I will leave it to the reader to find the game's conclusion (full game is also posted below). 

 Despite the disappointing finish, Tan can feel proud of his performance. He dominated the regular tournament, and more than held his own against of one Cleveland's premier players. He is a player to watch among the Cleveland circuit. 

Can Spaqi extend his winning streak this week? Or will another player take down the champion? Come to the Unbar on Friday, September 25th to find out!

Standings

Quads

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Games

Ralph Tan vs Wilson Spaqi, Final Playoff

Hansen Song vs Ralph Tan (Semi Final Game)

Calvin Marshall vs Elmer Andaya (Group of 4 tiebreak game)

Donald McClendon vs Elmer Andaya (Group of 4 tiebreak game)