Shakmaty Bereolos - The Official Chess Site of Peter Bereolos

5/31/03 - Cumberland County Spring Open

The Cumberland County Spring Open was the largest one-day open they have had at the Fairfield Glade site. The tournament has grown so large that it looks like they are going to move these events from the Fairfield Glade resort to a larger site in Crossville.

I was the highest rated but somehow ended up playing Black against the number two seed, Mirko Remec in round 2. He tried the Moller attack, but it still looks like that opening needs a serious improvement for White. We followed the first 19 moves of the game Shchukin-Bereolos 2000 Springs Inn Open

20. Qf3 It looks like this move has surpassed 20.b4 in popularity since the Shchukin game, but still shouldn't worry Black 20...Qa5 21. Qxf6 Eddie Ray Wood tried 21. Rd1 against me in the 2000 Cumberland County Summer Open, but after the centralizing 21... Qe5 Black was in total control. I think Mirko's sacrifice looks like a better try, but it doesn't seem to be enough against accurate play. 21...Qxe1+ 22. Bf1 O-O-O The only move, but sufficient 23. Qxe7 Qe4 Another strong centralization of the queen. Black controls all the key squares. I actually found 4 games that got to this point. Black is winning, but after 24. b4 in 3 of the games, careless play only got him 1.5 points. The fourth game continued 24. Qf7 Qf5 and in Le Borgne-Leygue France 1999, Black won after 25. Bd3 Qxf7 26. exf7 Kd7 27. Bxg6 Ke7 28. Kg2 Rf8 0-1 instead Mirko immediately swapped queens, 25. Qxf5 gxf5 and Black eventually won

In the final round, I had Black against David Justice. We reached a dynamically equal position, where I didn't find the correct plan.

I was a bit concerned that White had a simple plan of bringing his king to g3 and get his pawn majority rolling. I could see the plan I chose of breaking up the kingside was very risky, but went ahead anyway since I didn't see the relatively simple tactics associated with ...Rh3 22...Be7 It is better to activate the pieces with 22... Rh3 (23. Kg2? Bxg4) 23. Nf2 Bc5 23. Ne4 b6 again 23... Rh3 24. Kg2? Bxg4 25. fxg4 Rxd3 26. Rxd3 Nf4+ 24. Rd2 Nh4?! just about the last chance for 24... Rh3 25. Kf2 Rh6 26. Kg3 f5? much too loose, black should just accept a passive position at this point. 27. exf6 gxf6 28. Re2 Kf8 29. Bc1 Rh7?? A complete disaster, but White is much better after 29...Rh8 30. Ng5 winning a piece.


5/30/03 - Catching Up

As one might guess from my recent lack of posts, I took some time off from working on chess. There really weren't any nearby events, so it seemed like a good time to take a little break. I did play in a one day event in Crossville in mid-April. That one didn't go too successfully for me as I was upset in the final round. Last weekend I played in the Chicago Open and had a reasonable result. I'll be posting highlights and lowlights from these two events starting tomorrow.


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