Rooty Hill Open – 2005

A field of fortyone took their places for this year's Rooty Hill Open. There are six players rated above 1950 including last year's winner, Jim Holland.

Round 1:   Tony Bouchaaya had an early night with a quick win against Frank Kresinger on Board 1. Brian Jones set a conundrum for Bill Herreros who could choose to lose a knight, a rook or a queen. Bill settled on the knight and was able to hang on for the end game. Ben Zalac made the mistake of attacking before completing his development but showed future promise with some clever counterplay, and Ken MacGillivray (1373) scored the night's biggest upset by defeating Jeff Cabilin (1967) — Click here to see how he did it.

Round 2:   I'd never accuse Joe Ymalay of anything as despicable as sleight of hand, but after our exchange of queens I didn't realise for two moves that I was a piece down and wondered if he'd tried a little prestidigitation at my expense. Click here to see where it really went. Peter Watts and Shane Burgess had an interesting finish. Threatened with 37...Qg2# Peter found an unusual mate himself. Play through the game here . . .

The Warriors and the War
Peter Watts WHITE		Shane Burgess BLACK

. . . Round 2 provided a few surprises. Levi Descallar defeated Jeff Cabilin to take the Upset Prize (303 points difference) but unlucky to miss out was Greg Davis who beat Trent Parker (297 points difference). Rhys Holland (1164) can be pleased with his win over Munir Anjum who is stronger than his 1482 indicates, and Naz Cabale forfeited to Norrie Tique when his phone rang. Leo Tenorio once again proved to be a hard man to beat. He sacrificed a knight on move 14 and later left his other knight hanging. In the event, Allan Butler couldn't quite find time to capture it. For an entertaining game click here. Eight people now share the lead with 2 points.

Round 3:   Three players share the lead going into Round 4: Tony Bouchaaya, Jim Holland and Leo Tenorio. Right behind them, Brian Jones, Lee Jones and Joe Ymalay sit on 2½.
There were some interesting games. Frank Barisic, a rook down but with a passed a pawn defended stubbornly against Brian Jones while Rolando Gonzales gave Muhamed Buza a tough workout, though he'd lost his queen for rook and knight; and Chris Rust's four pawn advantage was too much for Peter Watts. The slugfest between Lloyd Fell and Trent Parker proved to be a battle of the pins. With a badly exposed king Lloyd found time to pin Trent's queen. Trent exchanged queen for rook then pinned the other rook. His minor pieces proved too strong in Lloyd's exposed position. Here's the game.
Jim Holland, defending his 2004 Open title, found himself in the diagramed position with Robert Ambalong and played g5. Trying to run away to e4 doesn't help since f5 forces the king to either f5 or d5, inviting the knight check on e7.
Lee Jones said he was a lucky to win against Levi Descallar. Had Levi played 23...Kxf7 he'd have been "roughly 2 pawns up". In the event he resigned after overlooking at knight fork on move 33. Check it out here.
The upset award this week went to Bill Herreros for his draw against Danny Esguerra (222 points difference).

Starting young 
Here's an interesting aside:   I took a phone call from a Donna Cook during the week. She asked if her 5YO son could come to Rooty Hill and watch us play. He didn't want to play himself, just watch.
She turned up tonight with young Gerasham (Gera for short) who hasn't quite made his fifth birthday yet and taught himself to play chess using a computer.
We played for about 30 minutes before the Round 3 games started and I saw Jeff Cabilin playing with him for at least 45 minutes after that.
Gera said he always plays white (his computer doesn't mind), opened with 1. Nf3 and played a slightly unconventional, fairly sound opening.
There were a few times he slipped into beginner mode and failed to recapture after an exchange, and once he left a piece en prise; but the only thing he really failed to understand was that he couldn't move his king into the square alongside mine. (He captured a pawn that was protected by my king and said I couldn't take his king because my king would be in check.)
He's no Capablanca but he does have an exceptionally good basis in the game and if he maintains his interest he's likely to go a long way.

Gera Cook gets some pointers from Robert Ambalong. That's Dad (Darren) looking on.

Round 4:   Tony Bouchaaya leads the Open with four straight wins ahead of Norrie Tique, Brian Jones & Lee Jones all on 3½. Since my game was the second last to finish I didn't get to see the other games this week so no commentry. King Henry and I stopped beating each other up after 41 moves and agreed on a draw. Click here. Norrie Tique should take the upset award with a win against Leo Tenorio, always a tough man to beat. The other games all went according to the ratings.

Round 5:   Tony Bouchaaya and Lee Jones share the lead following Tony's exciting draw with Brian Jones (see the diagram below), and Lee's win against Norrie Tique. Tony and Lee are on 4½ followed by Brian, Leo, and Hans Muller on 4.
Leo Tenorio can always be relied on to produce an interesting game and tonight's win against defending Open champion Jim Holland was no exception. He sacrificed two pieces and tore Jim's kingside wide open. Sit back and enjoy this.
Jeff Cabilin and Munir Anjum queened their last pawns on consecutive moves, but Munir queened with check. Her Majesty got up close and personal with Jeff's king who was anxious to get home to his own lady. The 500 point rating difference will be enough to win Munir the upset prize.
Michael Jansen and Mario Miletic fought out a king and pawn ending in which Michael's h pawn decided the issue.
Norrie Tique started well enough against Lee Jones but after he left a knight hanging he never got back into the game. Click here. Norrie has had a superb tournament so far and although his rating at the start of play was 1586 his rating performance so far througout the Open has been 2003. Congratulations, Norrie—that's well done.

White:   Tony Bouchaaya Black:   Brian Jones   From the diagrammed position the game continued:   25. g4!? Ne3 26. fxe3 Qxe3+ 27. Nf2 Qxf3 28. Bxd6 e4 29. Be5 e3 30. Qxb7 Rf8 31. Qa7 exf2+ 32. Rxf2 Qd1+ 33. Kg2 Qxg4+ 34. Bg3 Qe4+ 35. Kh3 Qxc4 36. Rxf8+ Bxf8 37. Qd7 Qf1+ 38. Kh4 Qf6+ 39. Kh3 Qf1+ 1/2-1/2   (You can move the pieces around on the board to follow the game.)

Rooty Hill Open Champion Lee Jones

Round 6:   With only one round to go we finally have a clear cut leader. Lee Jones beat Tony Bouchaaya to be 5.5/6 ahead of Brian Jones on 5. Tony and in-form Joe Ymalay are half a point back in third place. Lee's game with Tony was probably the pivotal game of the whole tournament. See it here. With regret you won't be able to see Lee's queen for the last few moves but you'll get the idea. We may be able to clear the bug.
Joe had an interesting win against Hans Muller this week. Click here to see the game.
That well-known chess player, Bill Shakespeare, would have said of Robert Ambalong's massive attack down the open g file, "this is the stuff that dreams are made on". Well nightmares, if you were Adam Saiti. Check it out HERE.
The upset prize went to Peter Watts (1240) who defeated Trent Parker (1480).

Round 7:   Congratulations to Lee Jones, Rooty Hill Open Champion for 2005. Lee conceded only one draw (with Brian Jones) who finished second. Tony Bouchaaya took third spot on 5.5 with Leo Tenorio placing fourth with 5 points.
Immediately behind them came a group of five players with 4.5 (Joe Ymalay, Robert Ambalong, Muhamed Buza, Jeff Cabilin, & Danilo Esguerra)
Play on the final night went pretty much according to ratings with Frank Kresinger taking the upset prize (and probably a share of the U1550 prize money) by defeating David Evans in one of the longest games of the night. He secured a passed pawn and I spent the rest of the night blockading it and for the first time ever ran into time trouble. Nice win, Frank.
Lee Jones's win against Joe Ymalay in an Exchange Caro-Kann was interesting. (See it here.)

Many thanks to Peter Cassettari for organising and adjudicating the tournament and to Steve who kept an eye on things when Peter was called away. It's appreciated.

                      – Report:   David Evans

Standings Place Name Loc Score M-Buch. 1 Jones, Lee R 2037 6.5 22.5 2 Jones, Brian A 2105 6 22.5 3 Bouchaaya, Tony 2108 5.5 22.5 4 Tenorio, Leonardo 1773 5 19.5 5-9 Ymalay, Joe M 1803 4.5 20.5 Ambalong, Robert 1781 4.5 19.5 Buza, Muhamed 1630 4.5 19.0 Cabilin, Jeff 1967 4.5 18.0 Esguerra, Danilo 1676 4.5 16.0 10-18 Holland, Jim 1951 4 22.0 Muller, Hans P 1796 4 21.0 Tiqui, Norie 1586 4 21.0 Barisic, Frank 1801 4 18.0 Carballo, Rick 1614 4 17.5 Rust, Chris 1612 4 16.5 Saiti, Adam 1502 4 15.5 Kresinger, Frank 1432 4 15.5 Anjum, M Munir 1482 4 15.0 19-21 Descallar, Levi 1664 3.5 20.5 Rara, Henry 1709 3.5 18.0 Davis, Greg 1192 3.5 14.0 22-27 Evans, David A 1575 3 19.0 Herreros, Bill 1454 3 19.0 Gonzales, Rolando 1398 3 18.0 Watts, Peter 1249 3 17.0 Lawrence, Edward 1467 3 16.0 Butler, Allan 1475 3 15.5 28-33 Burgess, Shane 1386 2.5 17.5 Parker, Trent 1489 2.5 16.5 Macgillivray, Ken 1373 2.5 16.5 Fell, Lloyd R 1239 2.5 16.5 Holland, Rhys 1164 2.5 16.5 Maletic, Mario 2.5 12.5 34-36 Jansen, Michael 2 16.5 Jansen, Adrian 2 10.0 Cassettari, Peter 1864 2 4.0 37-40 Mahmoodi, Rahman 1 14.0 Zalac, Ben 1 14.0 Zalac, Vince 1 12.5 Cabale, Nazarito 2018 1 7.0 41 Green, Nicholas 0 1.5		Submitted games: Click on the link to see them. > Jeff Cabilin - Ken MacGillivray (0-1) > Peter Watts - Shane Burgess (1-0) > David Evans - Joe Ymalay (0-1) > Leo Tenorio - Allan Butler (1-0) > Lloyd Fell - Trent Parker (0-1) > Lee Jones - Levi Descallar (1-0) > David Evans - Henry Rara (½-½) > Leo Tenorio - Jim Holland (1-0) > Norrie Tique - Lee Jones (0-1) > Lee Jones - Tony Bouchaaya (1-0) > Hans Muller - Joe Ymalay (0-1) > Adam Saito - Robert Ambalong (0-1) > Joe Ymalay - Lee Jones (0-1) To use a larger board click Chess Genie's icon & select RH Open 2005 This could be your next opponent! Picture courtesy of Steve Cassettari
Cross Table No Name Rtg 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Score 1. Bouchaaya, Tony 2108 27:W 16:W 10:W 6:W 2:D 3:L 9:W 5.5 2. Jones, Brian A 2105 26:W 3:D 9:W 8:W 1:D 12:W 6:W 6 3. Jones, Lee R 2037 23:W 2:D 15:W 11:W 19:W 1:W 8:W 6.5 4. Cabale, Nazarito 2018 25:W 19:L : : : : : 1 5. Cabilin, Jeff 1967 30:L 15:L 29:+ 14:W 23:D 13:W 19:W 4.5 6. Holland, Jim 1951 28:W 13:W 11:W 1:L 12:L 17:W 2:L 4 7. Cassettari, Peter 1864 :+ 17:W 12:- : : : : 2 8. Ymalay, Joe M 1803 22:W 20:W 19:D 2:L 15:W 10:W 3:L 4.5 9. Barisic, Frank 1801 10:L 32:W 2:L 22:W 25:W 20:W 1:L 4 10. Muller, Hans P 1796 9:W 18:W 1:L 24:W 17:W 8:L 12:L 4 11. Ambalong, Robert 1781 32:W 30:W 6:L 3:L 27:W 21:W 16:D 4.5 12. Tenorio, Leonardo 1773 33:W 24:W 7:+ 19:L 6:W 2:L 10:W 5 13. Rara, Henry 1709 31:W 6:L 27:W 20:D 16:L 5:L 29:W 3.5 14. Esguerra, Danilo 1676 : 25:W 26:D 5:L 28:W 29:W 15:W 4.5 15. Descallar, Levi 1664 :D 5:W 3:L 26:W 8:L 18:W 14:L 3.5 16. Buza, Muhamed 1630 34:W 1:L 28:W 18:D 13:W 19:D 11:D 4.5 17. Carballo, Rick 1614 37:W 7:L 30:W 21:W 10:L 6:L 26:W 4 18. Rust, Chris 1612 38:W 10:L 31:W 16:D 20:D 15:L 25:W 4 19. Tiqui, Norie 1586 36:W 4:W 8:D 12:W 3:L 16:D 5:L 3 20. Evans, David A 1575 40:W 8:L 33:W 13:D 18:D 9:L 27:L 3 21. Saiti, Adam 1502 : 39:W 36:W 17:L 24:W 11:L 31:W 4 22. Parker, Trent 1489 8:L 33:L 32:W 9:L :D 31:L 39:W 2.5 23. Anjum, M Munir 1482 3:L 34:L 38:W 31:W 5:D 26:D 28:W 4 24. Butler, Allan 1475 41:W 12:L 34:W 10:L 21:L 28:L 36:W 3 25. Lawrence, Edward 1467 4:L 14:L 41:W 34:W 9:L 36:W 18:L 3 26. Herreros, Bill 1454 2:L 37:W 14:D 15:L 30:+ 23:D 17:L 3 27. Kresinger, Frank 1432 1:L 40:W 13:L 36:W 11:L 34:W 20:W 4 28. Gonzales, Rolando 1398 6:L 38:W 16:L 37:W 14:L 24:W 23:L 3 29. Burgess, Shane 1386 :D 31:L 5:- 40:W 33:W 14:L 13:L 2.5 30. Macgillivray, Ken 1373 5:W 11:L 17:L 33:D 26:- 32:L 41:W 2.5 31. Watts, Peter 1249 13:L 29:W 18:L 23:L 40:W 22:W 21:L 3 32. Fell, Lloyd R 1239 11:L 9:L 22:L 41:W :D 30:W 33:L 2.5 33. Davis, Greg 1192 12:L 22:W 20:L 30:D 29:L 39:W 32:W 3.5 34. Holland, Rhys 1164 16:L 23:W 24:L 25:L 37:W 27:L 38:D 2.5 35. Green, Nicholas : : 40:- : : : : 0 36. Jansen, Michael 19:L 41: 21:L 27:L 38:W 25:L 24:L 2 37. Jansen, Adrian 17:L 26:L 39:W 28:L 34:L 41:L 40:W 2 38. Maletic, Mario 18:L 28:L 23:L 39:W 36:L 40:W 34:D 2.5 39. Mahmoodi, Rahman : 21:L 37:L 38:L 41:W 33:L 22:L 1.5 40. Zalac, Ben 20:L 27:L 35:+ 29:L 31:L 38:L 37:L 1 41. Zalac, Vince 24:L 36:L 25:L 32:L 39:L 37:W 30:L 1 by Swiss Perfect (TM)  www.swissperfect.com