2005 Louisiana-Mississippi Team Championship

Cutcliffe's Revenge Sweeps 2005 Louisiana-Mississippi Team Championship with a 5-0 Score
Tournament Report by Douglas Stewart

Six teams participated in the 2005 Louisiana-Mississippi Team Championship, held January 8-9, 2005 in McComb, Mississippi. The number of teams allowed for a comfortable round-robin format with no byes. This tournament was co-sponsored by the Louisiana Chess Association (LCA) and Mississippi Chess Association (MCA). The tournament attracted players from 4 states.

The tournament was won by Cutcliffe's Revenge, an all-Mississippi team that was by a small margin the highest rated team. Their name was inspired by the recent firing of Ole Miss's coach David Cutcliffe, who had been fired after leading the team to a 44-29 record in six seasons. Led by Steve Perry on 1st board with Douglas Stewart on 2nd board and Chris Perry on 3rd board, this was a team with plenty of experience but also plenty of question marks. On one hand the team featured 3-time and a 1-time former Mississippi State Champions on boards 1 and 2, but on board 3 Chris had only played 1 regular rated game since 1999, which he had lost.

Finishing in 2nd place overall was You Played Me False, a team that featured the two top rated players in the tournament, hired gun and New York Expert Robert Feldstein, and up and coming Class A player Vincent Glorioso from New Orleans. Ramon Tajorda (father of scholastic phenomenon R J Tajorda) filled in at 3rd board.

Winning the U1600 prize was a mixed-bag team Insert Team Name Here, which consisted of tournament veteran John Fowler from Baton Rogue, local McComb player Thomas Simpson, and LCA President Anthony Jackson on 3rd board. This team finished with 2.5 teams to tie a team of Louisiana players named The Lame Brains, who were technically an over 1600 team per USCF rules, but were given an exception since their third board was unrated and estimated to be of a rating strength low enough to where if he was rated he would have pulled their team rating average under 1600. Insert Team Name Here narrowly won the trophy based on their number of board points.

Overall Team Results

Team	Players	Team Avg Rating	Team Points	Board Points
Cutcliffe's Revenge	Steve Perry, Douglas Stewart, Chris Perry	1777	5	13.5
You Played Me False	Robert Feldstein, Vincent Glorioso, Ramon Tajorda	1773	3.5	10.5
The Lame Brains	Ken Saltamachia, David Saltamachia, Rusty Laughlin	1613	2.5	7.5
Insert Team Name Here	John Fowler, Thomas Simpson, Anthony Jackson	1432	2.5	8.5
I-55 Mates	Anthony Maneclang, Ralph McNaughton, Lynn Bellah	1364	1.5	5
The Dominators	James Villes, Cleveland Washington, Curtis Taylor	925	0	0

Round 1

Cutcliffe's Revenge 1, Insert Team Name Here 0

The highest rated team got off to a shaky start when 3rd board Chris Perry played a Dutch Defense and dropped a piece fairly quickly. Fortunately 1st board Steve Perry and 2nd board Douglas Stewart won comfortably, and Chris was able to wiggle out with an agreed draw after winning back a pawn and an Exchange in his game. Knowing board could be critical in a later tiebreak though, the 2½/½ match score was a dissapointment.

Bd Score Insert Team Name Here
Score Cutcliffe's Revenue

1 0 John D Fowler Jr (W)
1 Steve A Perry (B)

2 0 Thomas Simpson (B)
1 Douglas Stewart (W)

3 ½ Anthony H Jackson (W)
½ Christopher G Perry (B)

You Played Me False 1, I-55 Mates 0

The 2nd highest rated team got off to a fast start, completely dominating on all three boards. This match was a ratings mis-match with at least a 250 point advantage on each board for You Played Me False, and it showed in the play.

Bd	Score	You Played Me False	Score	I-55 Mates
1	1	Robert Feldstein (W)	0	Anthony Maneclang (B)
2	1	Vincent Glorioso (B)	0	Raph McNaughton (W)
3	1	Ramon Tajorda (W)	0	Lynn Bellah (B)

The Lame Brains 1, The Dominators 0

The Lame Brains started off solidly with a sweep over a team of scholastic players from Siwell Middle School called The Dominators. Ken Saltamachia won quickly, as did unrated player Rusty Laughlin in his first game, but Cleveland Washington hung tough for a long time with David Saltamachia, a player who outrated him by hundreds of points but also had not played a rated game since at least 1982.

Bd	Score	The Dominators	Score	The Lame Brains
1	0	James Villes (W)	1	Ken Saltamachia (B)
2	0	Cleveland Washington (B)	1	David Saltamachia (W)
3	0	Curtis Taylor (W)	1	Rusty Laughlin (B)

Round 2

Insert Team Name Here 1, I-55 Mates 0

Insert Team Name Here scored a huge early victory, taking out one of their main rivals for the U1600 trophy by a 2½-½ margin despite having Black on 2 boards. Anthony Jackson took advantage of his rating advantage over Lynn Bellah on board 3 and Thomas Simpson overcame a pawn deficit in the endgame to avenge a previous loss to Ralph McNaughton on board 2. Only Tony Maneclang was able to salvage any points, by holding a draw in a difficult endgame.

Bd	Score	I-55 Mates	Score	Insert Team Name Here
1	½	Anthony Maneclang (W)	½	John Fowler (B)
2	0	Ralph McNaughton (B)	1	Thomas Simpson (W)
3	0	Lynn Bellah (W)	1	Anthony Jackson (B)

Cutcliffe's Revenge 1, The Lame Brains 0

Cutcliffe's Revenge rounded into form with a convincing 3/0 victory over 3rd rated team The Lame Brains. Boards 1 and 3 featured Caro-Kann defenses. On Board 1 Steve managed to grind down Ken, but on Board 3 Chris had to win what might have been a drawn opposite color bishop endgame by invading with his king. On Board 2 a sharp Sicilian was played with opposite sides castling. Douglas managed to keep Ken on the defensive on the queenside and then traded to a favorable endgame where White wasn't able to hold. Steve played a complex game against Ken where eventually he ground him down to collect the point.

Bd	Score	Cutcliff's Revenge	Score	The Lame Brains
1	1	Steve Perry (W)	0	Ken Saltamachia (B)
2	1	Douglas Stewart (B)	0	David Saltamachia (W)
3	1	Christopher Perry (W)	0	Rusty Laughlin (B)

You Played Me False 1, The Dominators 0

You would imagine that with the rating mismatches You Played Me False had over The Dominators that this match would be a sweep. On each board You Played Me False had a 700+ point rating advantage. Things went pretty much according to the script, except on board 1 class E scholastic player James Villes played the game of his life against New York Expert Robert Feldstein. Typically an experienced player will win pretty easily in a rook and pawn endgame, but James managed to survive to where each side only had 2 pawns on the kingside and a rook. Unfortunately for James he ended up losing, but it was definitely was a character building game for James.

Bd	Score	The Dominators	Score	You Played Me False
1	0	James Villes (W)	1	Robert Feldstein (B)
2	0	Cleveland Washington (B)	1	Vincent Glorioso (W)
3	0	Curtis Taylor (W)	1	Ramon Tajorda (B)

Round 3

Insert Team Name Here 1, The Dominators 0

Insert Team Name Here finished up an excellent day, scoring their 2nd point of the day by sweeping The Dominators in an efficient fashion. This win put Insert Team Name Here in the driver's seat, but they still faced a tough 4th round match versus They Might Be False on Sunday and a last round showdown against The Lame Brains. Unfortunately it looked like John Fowler wouldn't be able to stick around for that last round match, which made their 1st day lead a little shaky.

Bd	Score	Insert Team Name Here	Score	The Dominators
1	1	John Fowler (W)	0	James Villes (B)
2	1	Thomas Simpson (B)	0	Cleveland Washington (W)
3	1	Anthony Jackson (W)	0	Curtis Taylor (B)

Cutcliffe's Revenge 1, I-55 Mates 0

Cutcliffe's Revenge completed a excellent first day with a 3/0 team score and a 8.5/9 individual total. They swept I-55 Mates with some aggressive play.The Chris Perry-Lynn Bellah game was an uneventful win by Chris with a Dutch Defense. On board 2 Douglas Stewart beat Ralph McNaughton in an endgame with rooks and pawns after taking some dangerous but fruitless chances at winning earlier in the game. On board 1 Steve Perry played a Sicilian Dragon as Black and eventually won a tough struggle.

Bd	Score	I-55 Mates	Score	Cutcliffe's Revenge
1	1	Anthony Maneclang (W)	0	Steve Perry (B)
2	1	Ralph McNaughton (B)	0	Douglas Stewart (W)
3	1	Lynn Bellah (W)	0	Chris Perry (B)

You Played Me False 1, The Lame Brains 0

This match started off on the wrong foot for You Played Me False as unrated player Rusty Laughlin quickly won against Ramon Tajorda with a quick, possibly speculative, kingside sacrifical attack. Things were looking grim since Ken Saltamachia had what appeared to be an event position with the White pieces against 1st board Robert Feldstein and David Saltamachia with the Black pieces had a pawn advantage against Vincent Glorioso. All it would take is another half point out of those two games to guarantee at least a draw in the match for The Lame Brains. Somehow Robert managed to finish off Ken rather quickly though, so the focus was on board 2. David managed to win another pawn against Vincent but he was extremely short on time and playing with two knights against two bishops, something hard to do in time pressure. At one point it looked like David might have a winning position if he pushed his e-pawn with the threat of pushing an outside a-pawn, but he dropped the a-pawn and took too long to push the e-pawn. The position ended up with Black king on e3, Black knight on g5, White pawn on h6, and White king on g6 with each side having only 1 (!) second on a delay clock. The position is drawn if David sees .. Ne6! with a threat of Nf8+ if White plays h7. Black's knight can never be captured without having up the White pawn, so it should be a draw. Unfortunately for David he let his clock lapse there, probably because he didn't see .. Ne6! You Played Me False escaped with a narrow victory that put them behind in the tiebreak standings.

Bd	Score	The Lame Brains	Score	You Played Me False
1	0	Ken Saltamachia (W)	1	Robert Feldstein (B)
2	0	David Saltamachia (B)	1	Vincent Glorioso (W)
3	1	Rusty Laughlin (W)	0	Ramon Tajorda (B)

Round 4

You Played Me False ½, Insert Team Name Here ½

Since it was clear now that Insert Team Name Here would be losing their 1st board player in the last round, it was absolutely critical they get points here and some help. They took care of business here by getting a draw against the 2nd highest rated team You Played Me False. Things looked grim at first for Insert Team Name Here, as their 3rd board lost quickly. But not much longer, provisional class C player Thomas Simpson from McComb, playing in only his 2nd tournament, did the "local boy did good" scenario by crushing New Orleans A player Vincent Glorioso in 31 moves in a savage attack. White passed up a routine win of an exchange to go for Black's king instead, but settled for his queen and a resignation. Now everything would be settled on board 1, where John Fowler was playing up over 600 rating points, but holding a strong position against Robert Feldstein's Smith-Morra gambit. Eventually they agreed to a draw, giving Insert Team Name Here a much needed half point put still giving You Played Me False a chance to win the tournament in the last round.

Bd	Score	You Played Me False	Score	Insert Team Name Here
1	½	Robert Feldstein (W)	½	John Fowler (B)
2	0	Vincent Glorioso (B)	1	Thomas Simpson (W)
3	1	Ramon Tajoda (W)	0	Anthony Jackson (B)

The Lame Brains ½, I-55 Mates ½

After a rough first day, this was I-55 Mates last chance to get back in contention. To just get into a possible 3-way tie for the top U1600 team, they needed Insert Team Name Here to lose the rest of the way and to beat The Lame Brains. Even then they wouldn't really have a chance on tiebreak. Effectively they were in the role of the spoilers. Here they did a good job as a spoiler, by holding The Lame Brains to a draw and nearly beating them. The first game to finish was Rusty Laughlin beating Lynn Bellah, but there was so much back and forth in that game it didn't seem short. Lynn at one point missed what was effectively a mate in 2, in a queen and bishop versus 2 rooks situation, and even after dropping his Bishop still had a good position. Rusty was out of pawns with his 2 rooks and Lynn still had 2 pawns to go with his queen. Unfortunately for Lynn he let Rusty corner his king and then mate him with a rook. On board 2 it appeared Ralph won a pretty easy game, and on board 1 Tony Maneclang hung tough in a difficult position to defend and got a draw to tie the match.

Bd	Score	The Lame Brains	Score	I-55 Mates
1	½	Ken Saltamachia (W)	½	Anthony Maneclang (B)
2	0	David Saltamachia (B)	1	Ralph McNaughton (W)
3	1	Rusty Laughlin (W)	0	Lynn Bellah (B)

Cutcliffe's Revenge 1, The Dominators 0

This was the calm before the storm for Cutcliffe's Revenge. Knowing that a last round battle with You Played Me False was coming, they had an easy first round match against The Dominators. The only game that dragged on very long was the 2nd board, where Douglas Stewart nursed an extra pawn into an endgame and eventually won.

Bd	Score	Cutcliffe's Revenge	Score	The Dominators
1	1	Steve Perry (W)	0	James Villes (B)
2	1	Douglas Stewart (B)	0	Cleveland Washington (W)
3	1	Chris Perry (W)	0	Curtis Taylor (B)

Round 5

I-55 Mates 1, The Dominators 0

In a match with nothing on the line except for pride, I-55 Mates swept The Dominators, who almost broke through with their first board points of the tournament in board 3 in the game between Curtis Taylor and Lynn Bellah. Curtis was up an exchange and it appeared sure he would win, but he managed to drop his rook sealing the fate of The Dominators as 0/5 team and 0/15 individual. Despite their result, The Dominators fought hard in every game despite being underrated in each and every game. I-55 Mates finished with 1.5/5 points, which had to be a little dissapointing since they had some changes to do more. None of them had especially bad tournaments though. Even their 3rd board Lynn Bellah should gain rating points despite a 1/5 record.

Bd	Score	The Dominators	Score	I-55 Mates
1	0	James Villes (W)	1	Anthony Maneclang (B)
2	0	Cleveland Washington (B)	1	Ralph McNaughton (W)
3	0	Curtis Taylor (W)	1	Lynn Bellah (B)

The Lame Brains 1, Insert Team Name Here 0

Insert Team Name Here had a tall task in the last round. Missing their 1st board player, who had to leave early, and playing their rival for the U1600 trophy, 2nd and 3rd boards Thomas Simpson and Anthony Jackson had to move up to boards 1 and 2. They had to face Ken and David Saltamachia, who outrated them by an average of around 200 points a board. They had to forfeit the 3rd board game. It seemed a forgone conclusion that The Lame Brains would win the team match and even their score with Insert Team Name Here at 2.5/5 each. What was important was that they didn't damage their tiebreak lead too badly. If they scored only a half-point they would tie the first tie break and we would have to break out the rulebook and figureout what the second tie break should be. Getting swept they would be behind on tiebreak and lose. If they scored at least one point they would win the tiebreak. In a truly team effort they managed to get upset draws on both boards and with the U1600 trophies based on the first tie break. Not a bad result for a team that was put together at the tournament director's table! John Fowler had a great tournament losing only one game over the board and drawing an Expert. Thomas Simpson had an excellent tournament defeating an A player and finishing with 3.5/5. Anthony Jackson showed he's not the only one in the family that can play chess (his son is Expert Trevor Jackson) scoring 3/5. For The Lame Brains the performance of the Saltamachia brothers doesn't really seem to reflect how well they played. David especially on second board only scored 1.5/5, but he almost well enough to win against Vincent Glorioso and just didn't seem to have much luck at all. Rusty Laughlin entered rated chess with a bang - SwissSys estimates he will start with a 1600+ rating. I'm not sure if he's really quite that strong, but he's definitely at least C class strength. Rusty actually tied for the board 3 prize with a score of 4/5, but Chris Perry won it on tiebreak.

Bd	Score	Insert Team Name Here	Score	The Lame Brains
1	½	Thomas Simpson (W)	½	Ken Saltamachia (B)
2	½	Anthony Jackson (B)	½	David Saltamachia (W)
3	0F	Forfeit	1F	Rusty Laughlin

Cutcliffe's Revenge 1, You Played Me False 0

Having draw odds always makes your task earier, and that is what Cutcliffe's Revenge had in their match against You Played Me False. Because of You Played Me False's slip against Insert Team Name Here the previous round, all Cutcliffe's Revenge needed was 1.5/3 in this team match to clinch victory. The strategy was to hold board 2, where they had the Black pieces, but play for a win on board 1 where Steve was playing very well and board 3 where Chris had a rating advantage. Everything went mostly according to plan. Robert Feldstein transitiioned into a really bad endgame, and it was clear absent a blunder Steve would win. Now Cutcliffe's Revenge only needed a half-point from boards 2 and 3 combined to win. Douglas was holding steady against Vincent, but while Chris probably had an advantage on board 3, he let Ramon start a passed pawn rolling and was low on time. This created a tense situation since Douglas needed to not slip up and take the risk of losing both boards. Steve eventually converted his win, and kudos to Robert Feldstein for playing on to the bitter end - that was the mark of either a team player. Now all 4 remaining players were low on time. Chris had captured the passed pawn and was clearly winning, but was down to a couple of minutes and not playing on a time delay clock. Vincent slipped up though and allowed a rook to invade and it now looked like Douglas might win that game, so both games ended in agreed draws. Cutcliffe's Revenge won the match 2/3 and finished 5/0 and 13.5/5 overall.

Bd	Score	Cutcliffe's Revenge	Score	You Played Me False
1	1	Steve Perry (W)	0	Robert Feldstein (B)
2	½	Douglas Stewart (B)	½	Vincent Glorioso (W)
3	½	Chris Perry	½	Ramon Tajorda (B)