Chess in the Court !

Bella Iomdina gave a simultaneous exhibition at noon on Thursday, February 26, 2009 in Edmonton Court, Portage Place.

Players had a chance to win a prize from sponsor Rinkside Restaurant and Bar !

Here are links to some articles about the event:

Winnipeg Sun - Peg chess wiz goes on blitz

Canstar: Winning by Hook or Rook

February Sectional Results

The tournaments have been rated. Congrats to Swift, Lipic, Letain, Wiebe, and Atem who established new high ratings !

Your blogger entered the last round with a half point lead, but lost, allowing Kaptsan and Wiebe to leapfrog to tie for first.

		1	2	3	4	5	6
1	Kaptsan	*	1	½	1	0	1	3½
2	Wiebe	0	*	½	1	1	1	3½
3	Boron	½	½	*	1	1	0	3
4	Greenberg	0	0	0	*	1	1	2
5	Atem	1	0	0	0	*	1	2
6	Khedkar	0	0	1	0	0	*	1

Second section

4 - Swift
3.5- Lipic
3 - Goodman
2.5 - Gannon, Wood, Letain
1 - Magnusson, Gibbons

Games and analysis to follow.

Cecil's Saturday Puzzle - February 14, 2009

From the Winnipeg Free Press

Mate in 3 (Shinkman)

Well, queening looks too obvious, and if you try it, it will not work.
After ...Kxa5, the b6 is available so perhaps.
1. a8(N) Kxa5 2. e8(R) Kb5 3. Rd5#

but 1...Kc5 and the K can run.

1. e8(R) Kc5 2. a8(Q) Kb5 3. Qd5#

February TNT Round 1

Campbell - Khedkar 0-1
White varies from the natural 19.dxc6 and never does recover the pawn.

Oberton - Lipic 1-0
Black misses his good chance to play e5 on move 15 or 16. White slowly increases his grip on the position, winning an exchange.

Trinidad - Mundwiler 0-1
Black gets in 18...d5 under favourable circumstances. He then forces the win of a couple of pawns and the ending is easy.

Kernetsky-Evans 1-0
Double attack with 12.Qc2 nets a pawn on c7, to be followed by a rook fork on c7.

Letain- Lauritson
A series of zwischenzugs on moves 15 and 16 livens up the game. In the final position Black can win the g2 pawn, but it may not be enough to win.

Ott-Wiebe 1-0
Upset of 2009 thus far.
Black gets careless and misses 29. Bxf4 which breathes life into White's attack.
35...Ng4 is a mistake - Bf5 is better, but the defence is very difficult.

Rutter - Leor Wasserman DRAW
Black escapes with half a point when White cooperates to set up a miracle perpetual! 49 Bxd7 should lead to a relatively easy win for White. Or 55. Be8 Kb6 56. Bb5. Or 65. Be4

Czarny - Magnusson 1-0
Critical moment at move 23. Black played 23...Bxg2 which leaves him with only a queen against 2 rooks and a knight. However, the surprising 23...Qxc2 ends with material equality.

Gibbons - Arie Wasserman 0-1

Cecil's Saturday Puzzle - January 31, 2009

From the Saturday Winnipeg Free Press

White to mate in 5 (Loyd)

Here is my basic try - stalemate the Black pieces (except one of them), move the g pawn, then mate with Bg2+.

1.Ra1 Be5 2.g3 Nf4 3.Bc8 Ng2 4.Bb7 Bxa1 5.Bxg2#

But 1...Nf4 spoils all that;

1.Ra1 Nf4 2.Bc8 Ne2 3.Bb7 Nd4 4.Rc1 Nb3 5.Rd1
Nc5 6.Ke2+ Be1 7.Rxe1#

But it was correct idea (well, quite frankly it is the only idea), but wrong rook move.
The answer is:

1. Rf8 Nxf8
[1... Nf4 2. Rxf4 Bxf4 3. g3 Be3 4. Bg2#;
1... Ne5 2. Ke2 Nf3 3. Rxf3 Bf2 4. Rxf2 Rg1 5. Rf1#]
2. Bf5 Ng6 3. Bxg6 Bf2 4. g3 Bxg3 5. Be4#

A few Costales games

I have unearthed a few of Servillano's games - more can be found in some of the larger databases readily available.

The first two are from game sheets I found on the weekend; I thought I had played him back in the day - it turns out I played him twice in the early 80s. He came to Canada in 1977 - I am not sure if he played in CFC tourneys before 1980.

Fast forward 10 years to 1991 - In the September 1991 Exclam ! Rory Curtis reports for round 4 of the Winnipeg Open, "Once again Gentes' flag hung precariously at the first time control in his confrontation with the hitherto undefeated Costales. Although Gentes eventually won that encounter, he was gracious enough to point out that either 25...Nxf2 or 27...Qxh3+ would have given Costales a win."

In his last year of rated play, 2004, Costales was still a formidable opponent; he defeated Kaptsan in the August Active (no game score available) and at age 90 he beat Lauritson in a fine effort at the Yanofsky Memorial.

Scroll below the board below to select one of the 4 games.

Servillano Costales

I was saddened to read today that our chess veteran "Costales" has passed away.
More to follow.


SERVILLANO COSTALES (published on February 04, 2009 in the Winnipeg Free Press)

SERVILLANO COSTALES Peacefully Servillano passed away on February 2, 2009 at the Seven Oaks General Hospital, at the age of 94 years. Lamay to be held Friday, February 6, 2009 at Mosaic Funeral Chapel, 1839 Inkster Blvd. commencing at 6:00 p.m. and concluding at the request of the family. Prayer service will be held at 8:00 p.m. on Friday evening at Mosaic Funeral Chapel. Mass of the Resurrection will be held on Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. from St. Edwards Roman Catholic Church, 818 Arlington Street, Father Mariano Batucan Celebrant. A complete obituary will be placed in Thursday's edition. For online condolences or to light a memorial candle please log onto www.mosaicfunerals.ca. MOSAIC FUNERAL, CREMATION AND CEMETERY SERVICES 1839 INKSTER BLVD. 275-5555  > Details Search: Winnipeg Free Press Passages All Titles Enter Search Advanced Search Today's Obituaries|   Last 30 Days Obituaries|   Today's In Memoriams|   Last 30 Days In Memoriams Notices are posted by 10 am Monday through Saturday ❮ Go Back to Listings SERVILLANO (OLPO) COSTALES Date of Passing: Feb 02, 2009   Send Flowers to the Family Offer Condolences or Memory Adjust Text Size: A+ A- SERVILLANO (OLPO) COSTALES It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Servillano (Olpo) Costales on February 2, 2009 at the Seven Oaks General Hospital, at the age of 94 years. Servillano was predeceased by his wife Elis, sons Arthur, Andrew and Albert. He is survived by his children Emilie de La Cruz and her son Elmer; Eleen, Aureo, (Lourdes) and their children, AC, Alou and Ina; Elsie Cobarrubias (Mel) and their children, Francis, Megan, Molly and Mitch; Ester Manipol (Mandy) and their children Arvin and Elaine; Mercy and Mike Monilles. He will be missed by his other family of the Philippines daughter-in-law Mary and her children, Armil, Liza; grandchildren, Maribeth and Catherine. Also left to mourn his passing are his sister Clara (Dr. Paul Orallo) of Winnipeg and their children, Irene, Liza, George and their families; a sister Virginia of San Diego, California and her children; brother Judge Joven Costales (Perla) of the Philippines and their son Jojo; his nephew Joel Domingo (Marie) and nephews and nieces from the United States and the Philippines. He was Chief of Police in his hometown, Naguilian, La Union and then a Bureau of Internal Revenue Agent before migrating to Canada in 1977. He had a passion for chess, tennis, ping pong and badminton. He will be remembered for his fighting spirit and strong determination. He was a great man; loved and admired by his family, relatives and friends around the world...He will surely be missed by all his relatives and friends with whom he shared much joy, enthusiasm and happiness. We would like to thank all of the staff at the Seven Oaks General Hospital for their effort, compassion and care, especially Dr. Moncek. Also special thanks to the Balite, Daquigan and Florendos families for their continuous support during our ordeals. Lamay to be held Friday, February 6, 2009 at Mosaic Funeral Chapel, 1839 Inkster Blvd. commencing at 6:00 p.m. and concluding at the request of the family. Prayer service will be held at 8:00 p.m. on Friday evening at Mosaic Funeral Chapel. Mass of the Resurrection will be held on Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. from St. Edwards Roman Catholic Church, 818 Arlington Street. Reception will be held at the Pampanga Restaurant after Mass on Saturday. Father Mariano Batucan Celebrant. Interment will follow in the Philippines. For online condolences or to light a memorial candle please log onto www.mosaicfunerals.ca. MOSAIC FUNERAL, CREMATION AND CEMETERY SERVICES 1839 INKSTER BLVD. 275-5555 As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Feb 05, 2009

February TNT Round 4

Wiebe, D. - Kernetsky, M. 1-0
Black should have considered 15...Bxd6 to eliminate one of White's attackers.
White could have wrapped up the game early with 19. Nxe7 Nxe7 20. Ng5 threatening two different mates. Only move is 20...h6 (note that 20...Qg6 fails to 21. Qxh7+ !) 21. Nf7+ Kh7
22. e6 (with the threat 23. Rxg7+) Ng6 23. Qh5.
In the game, Black has to try 26...Qf4+, when White has some work to do to get the full point.

Green, J. - Swift, R. 1-0
White plays a dubious novelty 10. bxc3, spurning the better 10. Nxc3.
Black drops his c pawn (27...c4 would have kept it on the board).
White could have wrapped this one up earlier as well with 30. Rxc6 bc6 31. d7.
Black would have had good chances to save the opposite colour bishop ending with 46...g6.


Mundwiler, L. - Green, A. 1-0
Black's pawn on f4 was serving to block the diagonal, but 28...f3 gives life to White's black square bishop.
31...Ke8 is the last mistake.

Lauritson - Lipic 1-0
Black's opening leaves a lot of weak squares; he had to try 14... Rf6 to try to cover e6.

Rutter, B. - Campbell, G. 1-0
Black may have resigned a bit early; he has some compensation in development for his lost pawn.

Trueman, F. - Czarny, K. 0-1
White plays his usual setup but it is not effective against an early f5.

Evans, B. - Goodman, C. 1-0

Ott, R. - Milord, F. 0-1
White sacrifices a piece, but Black consolidates easily.