This Year's Brandon Open is Largest Ever

Tournament report by Douglas Stewart

Crosstable - http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200708188521

Pictures - http://www.mcachess.org/pictures/2007/2007_brandon_open/index.html

On August 18 the 2007 version of the Brandon Open was held at the Red Roof Inn.  This was the 5th consective year that the tournament has been held.  Previously the event had drawn between 7 and 16 people, so this year's attendance of 21 was a pleasant surprise that should bode well for the future!

Pre-tournament favorites based on rating were MCA President and Expert Douglas Stewart (2006), California Expert Alan Kobernat (2000), and 'A' player Travis Keys (1900) from Hattiesburg.

Ratings held and the overall winner was Douglas Stewart with a 4-0 score.  The performance raised his rating to an all time high of 2017!  Finishing in 2nd at 3-0 were the Kobernat, Keys,  4th seed Jay Mitchell (1601), and scholastic player Matthew Riddle (1210)!  Matthew won the U1400 prize outright as a result.  The U1400 2nd place was shared by MSU student Clay Polk (1355) and Jerelee McGlotha (1189), each with a score of 2.5/4.

The tournament winner definitely didn't have an easy time of it, as there were tense moments in every game.  In the first round with Black against Harold Wheeler Jr (1212), an interesting transposition occured.  White had played 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 c3 d5 4 e5.  This is an unusual continuation, that isn't even in the Fritz 10 opening book.  Several moves are popular here, but Black chose 4 .. Qb6, aiming for an Advance French, which was familiar although not part of his usual repertoire.  The game eventually ended up in a position similar to the Milner-Barry line of the Advance French, where White sacrifices his d-pawn (and sometimes e-pawn) for an attack.

Here White could have made life very difficult with 13 h4, where the position is quite unclear.  Instead after 13 O-O O-O 14 Nd2 a5 White was under some pressure and went downhill starting with 15 b5.

In the second round Stewart-Brooks was a maneuvering affair for the first 25 moves, until the following position:

Here Black thought he was winning a pawn with 27 .. Qxe2, but 28 f3 definitely mixed things up.  On the surface it looks like White is now going to win a piece, although our Silicon friend says that 28 .. d5 keeps Black in the game.  Instead after 28 .. Qe3+ Black quickly ended up down a piece and White went on to win.

In the 3rd round there was Jay Mitchell-Stewart, where Black was almost knocked out.

Here White played 15 Bxf6 Bxf6 16 Bxh7+, which wins big after 16 .. Kxh7 17 Qh5+ Kg8 18 Rh3.  Black must give up his Queen to keep playing.  Instead after 16 .. Kh8 17 Be4 Bg5 18 Qh5+ Bh6 things were quite unclear.  White has a nice attack, but he also has a lot of hanging material.

The losing move came later, in this position.

Here Mitchell played 26 gxh6 and lost instantly to 26 .. Qxh4.  Instead 26 Rh3 keeps some hope alive.

Also in the 3rd round was Kobernat-Keys, which was an endgame time scramble affair where White eventually won.

That set up Stewart-Kobernat for the last round.   The game was fairly even most of the way, all the way to the endgame, although there were several traps along the way for White to avoid.  In the endgame Black failed to find a critical continuation to preserve the draw.

White is threatening 33 Nxc6 Bxc5 34 Bxc5 Nxc5 35 Nxe5, where he is up a pawn.  If Black would have seen 33 .. f6, he would have had an easy draw.  This saves the e-pawn and Black will still win the White c-pawn.  Instead Black ended down a pawn, although in a defensible position where each side has a knight and all the pawns are on one side of the board.

Another critical moment then came up a few moves later.

Here Black really needs to play 37 .. Kg7, where he would still have excellent drawing chances.  Instead after 37 .. Kg5 the situation is pretty dire.  Play continued 37 .. Kg5 38 Kg3 and then Black blundered with 38 .. Nd7 ( 38 .. Kh5 was necessary but not obvious).  After 38 .. Nd7 39 f4+ Kh5 40 e5 Black is in zungzwang and after 40 .. g5 41 f5 he resigned.

Matthew Riddle's second place finish in an adult tournament was a notable first for him.  The critical game for him came in the 4th round when he defeated tournament veteran George Brooks, a 290 point upset.

Mr. Kobernat is making a chess tour of all 50 states plus the District of Columbia.  Some might remember when Robert Feldstein came in town in the early 90's working towards something similar.  In case you're wondering, he's already hit Hawaii.