Northeastern Open

September 4th, 2000

By Mike Hoffpauir, MACA Scholastics Coordinator

On Septmber 4^th, thirty-eight young chess players participated in the Scholastics Division of the Northeastern Open held at the Radisson Inn in Marlboro, Mass. Steve Frymer, organizer for the NE Open, billed the event as the last scholastic chess tournament of the summer vacation period. It promised the kids an opportunity to showcase the pawn-pushing skills they had developed over the long summer. Not suprisingly, several of the youngsters were in superb form after practicing their chess between the usual games of Pokemon, Nintendo, and GameBoy.

Shaking the opponent’s hand at the start of the tournament!

Tournament Director Bob Messenger and Assistant TD Mike Hoffpauir organized the kids into 4 sections: K-3, K-6 Under-900, K-6 Under-1300, and K-12. In the K-3 group, second-grader Elie Litvin (870) was the shining star, winning first place honors and running through the competition with a perfect 4-0 score. In Elie’s 4^th round game against Jason Stoll (645), Jason had a draw in his grasp (King and Pawn v. King), but missed the opportunity giving Elie the win. Jason … you gotta work on that ending!! Still, with a proud 3-1 performance, young Jason took home the first place trophy for best performance by an under-900 rated player in the group. Second place under-1300 went to Matt Arbesfeld (879), and third place to Chris Poggi (1016). Other trophy winners in the K-3 under-900 group included Noah Arbesfeld (757 and Matt’s brother) in second place, and Stephen Karman (813) in third.

The K-6 section was split into 2 groups. In the under-900 section, Bennet Pellows (836) ran up a 4-0 score en route to a nice first place victory. Glen Foulk, playing in his first tournament, captured second place honors; and, Tim Trubko (637) grabbed third. The under-1300 section of the K-6 group had some tough matches, but Joe Lieng (1034) took home the first place trophy with a 3.5-0.5 score. Joe’s final round match against eventual second-place finisher Thomas Mann (1194) went down to the wire, with Joe pulling out the win through superior end-game play. This was Joe’s only loss of the tournament. Christopher Williams’ (1043) score of 3-1 was good enough to take third place.

Seven scrapping young men fought it out in the K-12 group, with Eric Burgess (1078) taking top honors and notching an unblemished 4-0 tally. Mark Rice (1241) captured second with a solid 3-1 score, while Yury Olshansky (867) placed third also with a 3-1 record. Drew Pope (unrated), playing in his first tournament, brought home the first place trophy for an under-900 player in the group.

Play in the K-6 and K-12 Sections.

As a sample of the level of play, here is a game between Tom Mann (1194) and Daniel Hoffpauir (981). Slowly but surely, Tom develops a superior position, then gathers-in the point with some solid end-game play.

Date 9-4-2000, Round 2, Northeastern Open Scholastics

Under-1300 K-6

White Thomas Mann (1194)

Black Daniel Hoffpauir (981)

Modern Defense (B06)

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 c6 4. c4 d5 (play proceeds on typically “modern” lines, with white grabbing the center and black preparing to strike from the flank) 5. Nc3 Bg4 (Black would be wiser to have played 5. … dxe4 now rather than move the bishop because this gives White a small tactical opportunity to strike first) 6. Be3 dxe4 (White misses the tactical opportunity but still has a good position) 7. Nxe4 Nf6 8. Bd3 O-O 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Qxf3 Nxe4 11. Qxe4 Nd7 12. O-O Nf6 13. Qf4 Re8 14. Rfe1 Rc8 15. Rad1 e6 16. Be2 Qc7 17. Qxc7 Rxc7 18. b4 Ne4 19. Rd3 Rd7 20. f3 Ng3 21. Kf2 Nxe2 22. Rxe2 Red8 (going after d4—the tension builds!) 23. d5 cxd5 24. cxd5 Rxd5 (perhaps 24. … a6 would be better for Black as White now picks up a pawn and secures a lasting advantage). 25. Rxd5 exd5 26. Bxa7 (oops, there goes that pawn!) d4 27. b5 d3 28. Rd2 Bh6 29. Rd1 d2 (here, 29. … Ra8 may have been Black’s last chance to survive) 30. Be3 Bxe3+ 31. Kxe3 Rd5 32. Rxd2 Rxd2 33. Kxd2 h5 (Black’s goose is now cooked) 34. g4 hxg4 35. hxg4 b6 36. Kc3 Kf8 37. Kd4 Ke7 38. Kd5 Kd7 39. a4 f5 40. gxf5 gxf5 41. Ke5 f4 42. Kxf4 Kd6 43. Ke4 Kc5 44. Ke5 (finally, Black throws in the towel--he’s had enough!) 1-0

Here is a summary of the final standings in each of the four sections of the tournament. And kids, I apologize if any of your names are misspelled. You played some great chess!

	K-12: Eric Burgess (4-0, 1^st Place); Mark Rice (3-1, 2^nd Place); Yury Olshansky (3-1, 3^rd Place); Greg Stellfano (2-2); Yi Zhang (2-2); Scott Kolodzy (1-3); and, Drew Pope (1-3, 1^st Place U900).
	K-6, Under 1300: Joe Liang (3.5-0.5, 1^st Place); Thomas Mann (3-1, 2^nd Place); Christopher Williams (3-1, 3^rd Place); Andrew Ding (2-2); Izak Shapiro (2-2); Daniel Hoffpauir (2-2); Dan Ford (2-2); Nick Amphlett (1.5-2.5); and Andrew Mai (1-3).
	K-6 Under 900: Bennet Pellows (4-0, 1^st Place); Glen Foulk (3-1, 2^nd Place); Tim Brubko (2.5-1.5, 3^rd Place); Trevor Vogel (2-2); David Karman (2-2); Michael Boykin (1.5-2.5); and, Matt Bailey-Adams (1-3).
	K-3: Elie Litvin (4-0, 1^st Place under-1300); Jason Stoll (3-1, 1^st Place under 900); Matt Arbesfeld (3-1, 2^nd Place under-1300); Noah Arbesfeld (3-1, 2^nd Place under-900); Stephen Karman (3-1, 3^rd Place under-900); Aaron Klein (2-2); Winber Xu (2-2); Jack Rice (2-2); Thomas Schultz (2-2); Christopher Uliveri (2-2); William Nocka (2-2); Simon Wicoknor (1-3); Luke O’Connor (1-3); Samuel Wallis (1-3); and, Chris Poggi (1-3, 3^rd Place under-1300).