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IT’S OVER! We have the results from the Big Spring Classic event!

First Place U2400 : Danilo Cuellar! 

Congrats to Danilo, a real chess powerhouse!  Finishing with a perfect score and winning the cash prize! His first win at Piermont Chess in a standard format.

First Place U1200 : Stephane Derveaux and Jacob Kim! (tied) 

This section was remarkably evenly matched.  They were in a dead heat with 4 players entering the last game with 2 pts each. It was anyone’s game with multiple possible outcomes. Congrats to Stephane, who is the latest to have crossed the 1000 ELO threshold in regular time control!  He turned his tournament around after an early loss to Joseph and worked carefully to upset Peter, who was on a similar streak and in the lead for most of the tournament.  And congrats to Jacob, who also started with a loss to Damian only to even the score in the last round.  He entered as the youngest and lowest rated player of this section, but is leaving with a significant jump in ELO, and we’re sure to only see this trend continue!

First Place U800 : Serena Cuellar! 

Running away with her first tournament at Piermont Chess, Serena (like her Dad!) achieved a perfect 4 pts!  And we must mention David Ganassi who performed very well, coming in second with 3pts! This section was also quite evenly matched, and we can’t wait to see the results of future events!

Games from Round 4

Peter Graham vs. Stephane Derveaux

One of the title matches for the U1200 section, Black found their chance and turned things around in the endgame. White lost a tempo with 41. Nxb5?? which gave Black time to swing the rook around to h1 to trade rooks, win a knight, while also positioning a passed pawn to promote. All this and white’s king was essentially trapped in the corner. With little counterplay for white, Black swiftly won the game and the tournament with a well earned checkmate.

Seth Courtwright vs. Artem Aleksenko

Easily one of the highest rated performances ever by two of the highest rated players at Piermont Chess club. It was a real treat to see these two go at each other in a serious classical game when they are usually found blitzing casually. See for yourself as you scroll through the game!

Michael Dugan vs. Danilo Cuellar

Fantastic final game for both Danilo and Michael who performed well above rating against the section leader. Very strong play by both until the usually powerful mate threat 14. Bh6?? this time allowed 14…Bxe5! taking a pawn, winning a tempo on the a1 rook, defending the g7 square, taking control of the center and ultimately winning material after pushing the White queen off the g-file and taking the bishop on h6 with 15…f5 16.Qh3 gxh3!

Anna Kupchik vs. Serena Cuellar

A demonstration of the dominating tactical power of the Cuellars! Things were very even until move 14. A common position but Black found a tactic that white failed to equalize on. 14. Bg5? permitted 14…Nxd5!. Here white took back with the e pawn, though the engine preferred the c pawn. But more importantly prioritized the wrong bishop after 15…Nd4. Here white could have kept the trading equal with Bxe7 forcing the queen to take back buying time to defend the f3 bishop. But White chose to protect with the queen and left the g5 bishop hanging. The was enough to bring down the defenses after some sharp knight maneuvers. With that the U800 section had its winner!

Billy Zifchak vs. Joseph Burns

Joe and Billy had a rough run this tournament but neither got shut out in the end. Billy got the white pieces in the final round and used the Scotch to devastating effect to end his slump. The opening was strong for both, but Black pushed the g pawn with 11…g5 to relieve some pressure from the bishop pin, but this weakened the king defenses a bit too much and White capitalized after 15…f6?? which left g6 available for the queen to infiltrate with check. The final tactic that sealed Blacks fate was 19. Be5, a bit of zugzwang for Black, but white actually had a faster way to checkmate with a similar bishop + queen pattern: 19. Rxf8+ Qxf8, THEN 20. Be5+ Qf6 21. Bxf6#

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A small but great selection of games this week! Really strong showings from Jacob Kim, and Serena Cuellar. Both young players are having stellar tournaments. But topping the list this week is Damian with a standout game against Peter. Very high accuracy and performance for both players yet Damian showed mastery of the London system.

Stay tuned for the finale! This Saturday June 15th is round 4, and we’ll finally have our winners!

Games from Round 3

Joseph Burns vs. Jacob Kim

Damian Bias vs. Peter Graham

Serena Cuellar vs. Tom Nassisi

Tournament Standings after round 2:

Games from Round 2

Kareem Khan vs. Amin Eshtiaghi

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David Ganassi vs. Serena Cuellar

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Jacob Kim vs. Billy Zifchak

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Peter Graham vs. Joseph Burns

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Josh Pinchuk vs. Michael Dugan

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Anna Kupchik vs. Tom Nassisi

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Stephane Derveaux vs. Damian Bias

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Artem Aleksenko vs. Alex Lexy

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Seth Courtwright vs. Danilo Cuellar

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Great start to the first round of the tournament! Challenging games for all. Scroll down to see a selection of games and commentary.

Standings after round one

Select Games from Round 1

Damian Bias vs. Jacob Kim

A relatively balanced game at first that White got the better of and steadily increased the pressure. Both played a good opening (London met with Indian Defense), but the middle game was a bit reckless with the first blunders and missed opportunities. White was the one first at risk with 16. Rxb7?? which allowed 16…h5! This would have trapped the g4 knight and turned the game over to Black significantly. But neither Black nor White was not focused on the kingside at the moment. 16. h4 was the only way to give the knight an out. Instead Black seemed desperate to simplify after the second error 17…Rb8? Ultimately White obliged the precarious piece trades Black designed despite having some effective counterplay options. Black was right to head to the endgame as play improved for both, but White was confident enough to convert thanks to some significant pawn advantages. One final attempt to stalemate didn’t pan out and White won by resignation.

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Joseph Burns vs. Stephane Derveaux

A tough game lost by a mistake. Black missed a chance to get ahead early with move 6 in this Rossolimo Sicilian. 6…Nxc3! would have removed the defender for the b5 bishop while winning a tempo on the queen while disrupting White’s plans significantly. A relatively hard to see idea so early on when the focus is more on position but 6…Nc7? turned out to be too passive. Funny enough, White did something similar on the very next move pulling the bishop back instead of trading in a similar fashion. The beginning of the end came with 13…f6?? Black was hyper focused on the e5 pawn and wanted it out of there but this allowed 14. Qh5+! Addressing e5 became a self fulfilling prophecy and all of Black’s worst fears were realized when that pawn made its way to the f file and promoted.

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Tom Nassisi vs. Kareem Khan

This was a wild game with lots of back and forth favoring Black until Black allowed a winning attack. 17…N37?? to block the rook check was ill advised pinning the only material advantage and giving White time to create the rook battery. Castling was also shortsighted as it disregarded the king as an effective defender of the knight so Kd7 was actually preferable. The endgame started evenly but White managed to shoulder Black’s king and convert for the win.

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Billy Zifchak vs. Peter Graham

This was was lost soon after the opening for White. White tried to increase offensive pressure on the d4 square with too few attackers instead of neutralizing Black’s attackers, for example 8. h3?! where 8. Qa4! pinning the knight would have been much better as b5 was not possible impeded by the bishop. Black’s pawns tied things up on the dark squares and White was too distracted by the queenside pressure and fell too far behind to capitalize on the opportunities they had tried to create in the center. One such tactic that was hard to see: After 19. Bd5 Rab8 White had the simple 20. e5! After the obligatory-or face a discovered check-20…dxe5 there was 21. Bxf2! luring the king but also winning a pawn, cracking open the center, and preparing to take the knight while delivering check with Rxd7+! But Black expertly used rooks, pawns, and tempo to keep White on their heels.

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Saturday May 4th, 2024, The Jedi Order trounced The Dark Side yet again!

Don’t be complacent! The Sith are never to be counted out. Until next time!

The results are in for what turned out to be a surprisingly exciting spring tournament!

First prize went to Bobby Burstein and Brian Bogart who tied for first with perfects scores and split the prize!

The Best Under 1000 prize winners were Billy Zifchak and Jacob Kim who also tied with 2 pts each!

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who competed!

Select Games from the Tournament

Explore these 9 analyzed games! *Any discrepancies are due to legibility and other scoresheet inaccuracies. Desktop computers show engine analysis.

Stephane Derveaux vs. Joseph Burns

An intense and serious 50+ move game. Black opened with a great French Defense-Steiner Variation in response to 1. c4, but White was a cut above even that. Evolving into a kind of Scandinavian looking variation, development continued smoothly until the first real mistake at 15…fxg6?! White maintained pressure and was slightly ahead though the game was still anyone’s to win. Everything was decided with 26…b5?? where Black hung the queen. Black did their best to defend, but the imbalance was too much and White won with an eventual checkmate [not recorded] after promoting the a pawn.

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Josh Pinchuk vs. Jacob Kim

Another French opening. This time the Marshall Variation. The first shots fired were a pin from White with 9. Bg5?! Black’s response to this was 9…Nf5! A great move that threatened to win a bishop or, with accurate play, even a rook. Play continued with Black increasing space and positional advantage. Then came a painful fork for White with 15…Nc2+ winning the rook on a1. Black now had open diagonals for the queen and bishops to exploit. They flanked White on the queenside, and drove home the win with a with a quartet of tactics: a queen fork, a king skewer, an intermezzo rook trade, and a bishop fork for the coup de grâce.

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Stephane Derveaux vs. Brian Bogart

A dubious English Opening: Anglo-Indian, Anglo-Grünfeld Defense from both sides. Out of the opening White was steadily losing control, until 13…Nd4? where 14. Bxd3 would have given a positional advantage, won a pawn, developed the bishop, and secured the defense of the e4 pawn. 14. Nxd3 was played instead, hanging the e4 pawn and allowing both knights to infiltrate White’s territory. Moments later the threat from the knight on e4 was realized when 16. d3?! was played. Attempting to kick the e4 knight and defend their own knight on f4 allowed 16…Nc3! a knight fork winning the rook. This opened the door to a checkmate sequence. White’s best chance to reach a R+N vs. R+R endgame was 21. Qd1 instead of 21. Ne2? which couldn’t defend the battery on the c file.

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Joseph Burns vs. Amin Eshtiaghi

A competitive game with the Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense opening which Black handled even better than white. The first move out of book was 7. Nxe5 which was good, but taking the knight with 7. Bxc6 was best. White was ok with this though: If 7…Nxa4?? there’s 8. Nxc3+!! winning the queen with a discovered check from the rook. Development continued well until 16. Rfe8?? where White had a sequence that would win a knight [17. Na4 Qd6 18. Nxc5 Qxc5 19. Qxf4! Qxc2 20. Be5] but that was hard to see. A completely even game throughout, White let it slip with 29. Qg6? losing time and defense. The finale wasn’t clearly recorded, but Black appears to have worked the queen in on the kingside to coordinate with a strong rook battery on the e file and deliver checkmate on g2.

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David Ganassi vs. Billy Zifchak

White went with the Ponziani Opening and things were looking good until 9. O-O?? Perhaps the knight guarding made it appear safe, but the b5 bishop was left out to dry (Black didn’t fully capitalize on the error [9…Bxc3 10. bxc3 cxb5]). Black continued playing normally but carefully and White defended very well almost regaining the lost material. It got very interesting on the 24th move. 24…g5? was less correct than 24…Be2 allowing 25. Qh5! winning tempo. Black retorted with 25…Be2! still great but a move late and was the only way to defend the knight and threaten a rook. (25…g4?? would have been a huge blunder with the bishop’s eye on h6.) White made a seemingly smart threat to trade rooks using that gained tempo to deliver a few queen checks, but the attack fizzled out in a closed position and time ran out. Interestingly for Black, when Black attacked the rook on move 25, the threat offered an incredible tactic, 26…Ng1! This would have revealed a huge fork and trapped the queen!

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Brian Bogart vs. Alex Levy

A balanced Pirc Defense opening, but a messy middlegame with tons of traded tactics that White managed to get the better of. Black came right out of the gate winning a rook on move 10. Undeterred, White pressed on regained composure and went on the attack. Things took a turn with 19…b5?? White’s pawns were in shambles and capturing another one on d3 was ideal whereas pawn to b5 lost time. White responded with a checkmate threat. Black’s best defense meant allowing the elusive en passant to erode their defenses. The last blunder (as often is the case) was 23…Bb7 coming a move late after the King advanced to f7 to stop a newly passed pawn. This permitted a knight fork leaving Black a much harder path to victory. Notation ended after that. It is assumed Black resigned there or shortly after.

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Bobby Burstein vs. Josh Pinchuk

A very competitive game but White took advantage of opportunities in the opening. Here we had the Philidor Defense: Nimzowitsch Variation but the move 4…Be7?? allowed white to open the middle of the board and gain tempo. Black didn’t take back on e5 hoping to prevent a queen trade that would cancel castling rights, only to suffer that indignity a few moves later. By move 15 White was up only 2 pawns, but had a much better position. Things improved for Black as they simplified toward a knight v. bishop endgame. Unfortunately White had the knight and the pawns. Enough to severely restrict Black’s movement. Notation stopped here. White won either from time-out or resignation.

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Billy Zifchak vs. Bobby Burstein

A really sharp game where both players had chances. White played remarkably well for their ranking, but an inability to see in the moment how well things were going undermined the end of the game. The opening in question was a Scotch Game: Classical, Potter Variation. Then there was a tense 20 moves with no blunders mistakes or inaccuracies. They tested for weaknesses and held tension over the center. Strong tactics were being carefully avoided. It was going to come down to creating small advantages, like the one White missed with 21. a3 neglecting to take a free pawn on a7. This was merely considered a “miss” but it certainly changed the game’s trajectory. Around the 5 minute mark Black began pulling out the stops desperately trying to open up the board, and simplify. Notation stopped on move 26 but the game continued where White was actually pulling ahead. In the end Black was moving so quickly and confidently that White rushed and blundered a knight exchange leaving them in a losing endgame. White resigned around move 35.

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Amin Eshtiaghi vs. Billy Zifchak

This final round game flip flopped 4 times! The Vienna Game: Max Lange Defense opening was balanced although 3. Qf3 was a little dubious and Black immediately responded with and aggressive 3. Nd4. White reassessed and pressed, gaining an edge trying to create diversions by attacking the bishop on c5 with 9. Na4?! followed by 10. c3? This allowed 10…b5! trapping that knight. White took 5 minutes to come to terms with this but again regrouped. Both continued carefully improving their positions when suddenly 16…Nxf4?? was played now costing Black a rook. White was back! Black was now reassessing and shoring up defenses, but White was struggling to make headway. Their king was somewhat open from the earlier destruction of the kingside pawn structure and Black was able to give some checks and gain tempo. White began advancing their pawns and Black tried to break them up with 28…Qxc3 threatening the rook. White missed this and played 29. dxc5?? and tables were turned yet again with 29…Qxa1+. A few moves later Black found a checkmate as the clocks were very close to zero.

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Piermont Chess April 27th Open: Register Here

Results are in for the latest rated tournament at Piermont Chess! Thanks to everyone who participated.

Prize Winners:

First place: Artem Aleksenko

Best U1000: Damian Bias and Billy Zifchak

Final Standings

Select Games from the Tournament

1. Peter Graham vs. Joseph Burns

This was a very competitive game. Both players had a performance rating of 1250. It started with 1. b4 the Polish opening. Black was dominant in the opening, but White increased accuracy through to the end outplaying Black the majority of the time. The critical moment (as seen by the peak on the graph) was a blunder by Black that went unnoticed by White: 23…Nxe4?? Black played this presuming that the knight was protected by the rook on e8, however, sparing the knight was a miss for White: If 24. Rxe3 Rxe4?? then there’s M2 with a back rank disaster [25. Rd8+! Re8 26. Rxe8#]. Presumably, Black would not have allowed this and simply given up the knight. However this was missed and Black diffused the situation taking a brief lead. They entered a R+N endgame, maneuvered the knights to find a position, but no progress was to be made. The game was ultimately a draw.

2. Ronald Holland vs. Billy Zifchak

A surprising computer analysis for this first round game showing high level play by both players despite the massive blunder that cost Black the game. White and Black played a very strong Giuoco Piano opening but White took a slight advantage. Black regained momentum in the middlegame and held an even line until a really unfortunate blunder on move 24. White opened lines and had a strong center that seemed dangerous, and Black hyper-focused on a threat of check by the queen on h5 (oblivious to the fact that the bishop was hanging). A simple 24…Be4 would have easily closed the center with a tempo on the queen. Black’s pieces were all well defended and any checks wouldn’t have really lead anywhere. The analysis results were very exciting for considering the mismatched player ratings. Had the mistake not been made the game might have been a real show.

3. Joseph Burns vs. Ronald Holland

An interesting opening, a Franco-Sicilian with 1… e6 and 2…c5. This transposed into the Alapin Variation on move 5. White played solid and took a steadily increasing lead until around move 28 when after a series of mistakes Black cracked open the defenses. Move 10. Bxc6+! helped assuage an aggressive 8…Qa5 with an even trade and a better position. Both seemed to struggle to find optimal positions in the middle game but Black wasn’t giving up. White was unable to press the advantages they had all while allowing the f pawn to infiltrate the king side which was ultimately disastrous.

4. Billy Zifchak vs. Kareem Khan

This was a nail biter. Both played a clean opening with Black going for a Modern exchange variation of the Slav defense. With no dubious moves from either side until move 14, things were off to good start. Black was beginning to tighten the screws. White neglected to castle on move 18 which was a dangerous oversight allowing 20…Qc6. And still White didn’t castle, instead playing 21. Rg1? But Black gave things away with 21…Ra5? attempting to win a knight, and that rook was quickly snatched by the d2 Bishop. Black held on hard and maintained a strong defense. A seemingly chaotic game in the moment that was really well played by both according to analysis. Strong defense by Black playing well above rating level. Notation ends on move 38. but white was able to go into a Q vs Q+R endgame. Near the end Black noticed the time and smartly traded queens to make checkmate more difficult in this sudden death time format. White almost lost on time because of this but began to target the remaining pawns, abandoning the attempt to checkmate just in time. They ultimately reached a position where Black believed there was a stalemate and offered his hand to end the game. But White thought Black was resigning! This prompted a review and White was declared the winner. Further post mortems of the game confirm that Black did in fact have at least one pawn move and so the result was correct.

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Thanks to everyone who came out and played in this event!

Congrats to the top three finishers: Ron Young, Ethan Kurian, and Stephane Derveaux.

Final Standings

Games from Board #1

Round 1: Ronald Young vs Stephane Derveaux

Round 2: Josh Pinchuk vs Ronald Young

Round 3: Ronald Young vs Ethan Kurian

Round 4: Joseph Burns vs Ronald Young

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Results are in for the first rated tournament games of the year at Piermont Chess! It was a nice and succinct, 3 round competition on a bright, cold day. 

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Congratulations to the winners!

First place: Artem Aleksenko

Best U1000: Peter Graham

Select Games from the Tournament

1. Jacob Kim vs. Joseph Burns

That game was pretty competitive. At 75 moves, it ended as a draw and was a dead heat the majority of the time, and each player received high marks from the engine, playing ~83% accuracy ~1300 rating level. But both players missed significant chances to take a win, (there were also 3 instances of “draw by repetition”!) Admittedly, the final forced stalemate was pretty clever.

White had advantages through most of the opening and middlegame and was the first to miss a winning chance on move 43. White played 43. Qh4?! but Qe3+ forced a trade of queens that gave white better chances to promote and win. On move 60 Black made a major blunder that went unnoticed with 60…g4?? White could have pinned the queen, again forcing a trade of queens and allowing a winning promotion.

With 68…Qxf2+, Black had their chance, but lost the line with 69….Qxg3 clearly hoping for a mate. Instead, 69…Qf1+ would have allowed 70. Kh2 Qh3+! forcing the queen trade in Black’s favor this time… c’est la vie.

2. Stephane Derveaux vs. Damian Bias

A very competitive game. White took the advantage toward the middlegame and held on to it but almost let it slip toward the end. White missed a hard to find tactic on move 12. Black played 11…Rad8 which was marked a blunder because White could play 12. f5! attacking the bishop. This is significant because the bishop must take the pawn or be captured. Once the pawn is taken, White will have been forced to walk into a double attack of two pieces defended only by the now overloaded queen. The bishop will fall to the rook on f1, after Nxd5 and Qxd5. No matter what, White is up a full piece.

White almost lost it with 20. Rae1?? but Black missed the move 20…Nd2 forcing white to give up a rook. Black had one more chance after 36. d5? but it was also hard to see while under pressure. The pawn on a3 was very close to promoting and with the right sequence Black could have won White’s rook and entered a favorable rook vs. bishop endgame. But it appears white picked off enough pawns that Black resigned.

3. Parth Gulati vs. Stephane Derveaux

Very nice game by both players. White was playing very nicely showing understanding of some advanced concepts, but missed something that even Black did! 8…Qxb2?? was a huge blunder! Very hard to see, but White could have trapped Black’s queen with 9. Na4!! and gone a queen for a rook very early in the game. The knight forks that White did decide to employ were initially a good idea, but unfortunately led to losing a knight when black forked two pieces with 16…d5. Black held onto that advantage, and White threw in the towel at move 36.

4. Peter Graham vs. Stephane Derveaux

Another competitive game where Black may have been able to equalize with more accurate play. Both had a decent opening, but White overpowered Black in the middlegame. Black did their best to keep things balanced but allowed a renegade bishop to escape unharmed. When White moved in with the knights and forked the bishop and rook, Black was already down 1 piece. With another on the chopping block Black’s position was all but lost. The notation ended here but white went on to simplify and win maintaining a 1 piece advantage.

5. Artem Aleksenko vs. Billy Zifchak

Intense game, but white generally had the upper hand throughout. Black neglected to push the push the d pawn and take other advantageous positions where white had left opportunities, but white had space advantage and was able to penetrate the kingside. Black’s big mistake was 21…Bb7, completely focused on a minor double attack to crack the queen side, while oblivious to the queen and bishop battery threatening an h7 mate.

6. Artem Aleksenko vs. Josh Pinchuk

A powerhouse game of chess between the #1 and #2 for 1st place, where both players were performing well above their ratings. A balanced opening led to a tricky position where Black missed a move that was hard to see, playing 19…Qe7?? leaving a knight hanging. The best option for Black was actually 19…fxe3 where White is encouraged to trade bishops thereby letting Black defend the knight with the rook on a8. Alternatives put the White queen in danger while losing tempo. White continued to gain on its advantage through the middle game and with 27…Rxf3?? Black appeared to read things as futile.

7. Billy Zifchak vs. Anna Kupchik

Opening with 1. Nf3, White couldn’t help but try the Tennison gambit when Black played 1…d5. But Black took an early lead refusing to fall into any traps. White was feeling the pressure until a fork was revealed. The knight guarding f7 was forced to displace and 21…Nc6?? allowed 22. Bf7! that turned the tables. The end of the game wasn’t notated as the clocks were within 1 minute of flagging. White was ultimately able to simplify, promote a pawn and catch a mate on the A file. Wild but intense game.

8. Damian Bias vs. Billy Zifchak

What a wild game! Excellent opening by both throughout move 15, with wild swings afterward. Tricky positions and misplaced priorities allowed misses and blunders on both sides. Every candidate move that Black considered-but didn’t make-was apparently the best move. White was hyper-focused on getting that mate in the corner, but once things were equalized and the king side was opened up, it was too late to promote that passer pawn on e7.

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