How to reach the Tournament Directors:

How to reach the Tournament Directors
Chris Wainscott chris.wainscott13@outlook.com 414-839-5232
Robin Grochowski rgrochowski@wi.rr.com 414-861-2745
Allen Becker allenbecker@wi.rr.com 414-807-0269

Monday, October 05, 2009

Hales Corners Challenge X (Oct 17)

Tournament RATED
PRIZEWINNERS:
1st Place - GM Mesgen Amanov
2nd Place - NM Erik Santarius, NM Steve Tennant and NM Ashish Vaja
Class A - Richard Martin III and Yingming Liang
Class B - Troy Zimmermann
RESERVE:
1st Place - Steve Etzel
2nd Place - Joanna Huang
Class D - Bryan Dotzour, Rachel Ulrich, and Alena Huang
Class E - Ken Pagenkopf and Ryan Thomas

Best Game Prize won by Evan Seghers, for his win over Derek Sachs (see game in posts).

Goddesschess prizes:
Open:
1st - Nicole Niemi
2nd -Sandra Pahl
Reserve:
1st - Joanna Huang
2nd=3rd - Alena Huang, and Rachel Ulrich

Some photos:
Round 4:


GM Mesgen Amanov and Expert John Veech ponder their moves on Boards 1 and 2.

Video
Top boards in Reserve Section

VideoRound 3 action: Nicole Niemi draws with Expert Anthony Parker:

Amanov 1-0 Williams; Vaja 1/2:1/2 Santarius (with a fun video of Ashish demonstrating how to hold the draw in the K+P endgame).

Top Boards in Reserve Section, Round 3:

Check out additional coverage on Goddesschess.com:


Masters in attendance:
GM Mesgen Amanov
NM Erik Santarius (current WI State Champion)
NM Steve Tennant
NM Alex Stamnov
NM Ashish Vaja
NM Bill Williams

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Robin

What's the early Vegas line on whether attendence will exceed April's 107 player turnout?


Scott

Robin said...

The early line is about 25 to 1 against. However, the long odds pay better!:)

JB said...

An extra 5-10 players could be had if there was an expert prize!?

Robin said...

Do not miss your chance to perhaps play GM Amanov!! Register now!

Pre-registering saves you Dollars!

Send us an e-mail and pre-register soon. Hope to see a nice crowd of chess players at HCC X in October.

Nicole said...

That would be nice if the attendence beat the 107.

Alex Betaneli said...

Let's break the record and demonstrate once again that this tournament MODEL (hefty EF/lofty prizes) works in Wisconsin! I will certainly do my best to encourage friends and students to play.
Alex

Anonymous said...

Watch for Amanov to lose the first round to Jerry Zhou

Nicole said...

Well c you guys in a week.

AEB said...

Excellent organization and a very active club draw participants. SWCC does a good job of promoting the game and should be commended. There's a fine line in finding the median to bring out the Masters and the rest of us. Do it for the love of the game!

Jan said...

AEB - Ann Buhr - nah, that can't be you, I don't think you even know how to play chess!

Six full days to go now to Challenge X, I do hope that more people will sign up for Challenge X, particularly girls and women chessplayers.

I went out on a limb after Challenge IX's outstanding turnout of 107 players to lobby the Goddesschess folks for an increased prize fund for the chess femmes for Challenge X. I was able to argue - look, there was an increase in overall participation from Challenge VIII (when Goddesschess first sponsored a prize just for the chess femmes) and in the female participation that was better in Challenge IX, etc. That effort was successful. I want folks to know the prize fund money from Goddesschess isn't just coming from me. The supporters and backbone of Goddesschess aren't rich, but there are several of us who pool money -- so turnout and overall participation is important in generating enthusiasm for continuing support for future Hales Corners Chess Challenges among the contributors to the Goddesschess cause.

I was knocking my head against a wall, trying to think up things I might be able to do (as I am usually the only blogger at the Goddesschess blog, and also run Chess Femme News as part of the Goddesschess website) to generate more interest and participation for Challenge X after a successful campaign for Challenge IX. I was not at all sure of the reception I would receive, but I brought our efforts to the attention of GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, who supports the Goddesschess goal of encouraging more females to play tournament chess. She was very gracious (much to my relief, whew!) and generously donated many more items than what I requested to be distributed as prizes and/or gifts to the female players. I would LOVE to see more female players than we have items to distribute. I can tell you -- if that is the case, we will make up for it in Challenge XI, one way or another.

For the HCC Challenge X, Goddesschess has funded two prizes for females playing in the "Open" and now offers three prizes in the "Reserve" section just for the chess femmes.

I intend to make a big push to increase prize funding for the female chess players in Challenge XI to $250 or perhaps even $300. My personal goal is to fund 3 chess femme prizes for the Open and 4 chess femme prizes for the Reserve, but to do that I need to be able to point to solid increases in female participation.

So please, if you read this, please spread the word. I am currently blogging about the 2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship, and I am so proud of those players. None of them is slacking off just to settle for prize money - they are all fighting hard for positions, both on the boards and in the results list. Goddesschess is sponsoring a $500 Fighting Chess Award in this year's USWCC, and the ladies have not disappointed in displaying a fighting spirit in the tradition of the Polgar sisters. GM Susan Polgar will be selecting the winner of the 2009 Goddesschesss Fighting Chess Award, and her job will NOT be easy this year!

I would love to see this happen at future Hales Corners Chess Challenges among the female players. I'm pushing hard for increased Southeastern Wisconsin chess sponsorship from Goddesschess. Please help me! As you see, I'm not above begging :)

Jan Newton
www.goddesschess.com
www.goddesschess.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

If pairings were made now, Amanov would play Yingming Liang...

Robin said...

We hope to get at least 300-400 walk-ups at the door, so I am sure the pairings will change some!:)

nicole said...

Would be something to get 300-400 walkups. One heck of a tourney. Give me Amanov first round lol

Robin said...

We will also offer a Best Game Prize, with the prize being the book “Kasparov's Fighting Chess 1999-2005” Please submit all games to either Tom Fogec or Robin Grochowski. All submitted games must have a complete and accurate score sheet to be considered. Thanks for playing in HCC X!

Mark Seghers said...

This is a great club, and looking forward to a great tournament for my boys!

Anonymous said...

thanks for the OUTSTANDING coverage of the tournament for those who aren't there....THANK YOU!

peter said...

I second that. Didn't play in the tourney, but the organization and blog coverage have been superb. Great job!

Anonymous said...

Congrats to Southwest on another great tournament! By the way, who were all the money winners?

Alex said...

Congrats to the organizers on another successful event! One suggestion for future improvement: it would be helpful to have a nicely airconditioned room. It's a bit harder to play at 85 degrees, even when it's freezing outside. For example, the room that was used for skittles can be requested instead of Directors 7.

Other than this, the tournament is virtually perfect and should continue to do well!

Alex

Anonymous said...

When will the best game prize be announced? Will you post it?

Tom said...

Alex, on behalf of Robin, Allen and myself, thank you for your kind words. It is always great to have you there cheering on the players at this event. Regarding the temperuture, four times we contacted the hotel management to lower the temperature in the Open Section Room and they claimed to adjust it each time. We were not pleased with their results and will deal with them further on this issue. Alex we hope to see you on April 17, 2010 as either a spectator or, even better, a player in Hales Corners Challenge XI.

Southwest Chess Club said...

We will post the best-game winner. We have about 10+ games to sift through, and we will publish the winning game as well.

Allen

Anonymous said...

Many thanks to Allen, Robin and Tom for running the tournament. You did your normal great job!!!

Scott & John V

Alex said...

Tom, Allen, and Robin:

Again, thank you for the tournament. It is nice to see such high attendance every time!

Sorry, April 17th is out: it's the weekend of K-12 Nationals and I usually report for Chess Life at this event. Many high schoolers will be missing, I hope adults can compensate for their absence!

Alex

Tom said...

Alex, Congratulations on your first place tie in the Chicago Midwest Class Championship. That is very impressive !! I wish you much success in your drive to achieve the International Master title.

Anonymous said...

Who won the best game prize?

Southwest Chess Club said...

The Best Game Prize was won by Evan Seghers, for his victory over Derek Sachs. Here is the game:

Seghers,E (1512) - Sachs,D (1850) [B01]
HCC X Milwaukee, WI, 17.10.2009

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bd2 c6 6.Bc4 Bf5 7.Nd5 Qd8 8.Nxf6+ gxf6 9.c3 Rg8 10.Qb3 e6 11.Qxb7 Nd7 12.Qxc6 Rc8 13.Qa6 Rxg2 14.Qb7 Rg8 15.Bb5 Rc7 16.Qf3 Bd6 17.c4 Bxh2 18.Ne2 Bd6 19.Ba5 Qb8 20.Bxc7 Bxc7 21.Qc6 e5 22.Ng3 Ba5+ 23.Ke2 Bg4+ 24.f3 exd4 25.fxg4 Qxg3 26.Qxd7+ Kf8 27.Qe8+ Kg7 28.Rxh7+ Kxh7 29.Qxf7+ Kh6 30.Qxf6+ Kh7 31.Rh1+ 1-0

Lupara (CC) said...

Very nice selection for Best Game Prize. Evan should be proud of his game. Congratulations! Enjoy the book.

Mark Seghers said...

Evan was very happy with his game of course... thanks for a great tournament guys!
Here is a link to a playable version of Evan's game:
http://chess.maribelajar.com/chesspublisher/viewgame.php?id=1256571387

Anonymous said...

Its interesting that Derek chose such a loosing opening against Evan.