Home

GM Ben Finegold's Blog: Musings of a Grandmaster


Ben's Blog: Spring Spice Cup - Rounds 1 and 5

Tue., 3/16/2010 - 10:43 pm — ben2600

Another tough day and two more tough draws.  I was lucky in both games, as I stood worse for about 90% of the moves today!

IM Irina Krush and I played a crazy game, which started quietly, then, after she won a pawn, I got some good counterplay.  Irina was better, but, after we both missed some tactics, and both got lucky at various points, a draw was the logical result. Afterwards, we had a nice lunch at Applebee's (Is that possible?) although Irina's salad had too much dressing. It's nice to have a pleasant dining experience with your opponent after such a hard fought battle, and the feeling of camaraderie amongst the players here is great.

My round 5 game was pure torture as IM Davorin Kuljasevic tried to exact revenge for his quick loss last year in the Spice Cup B Group in September 2009.  He was putting the squeeze on me the whole time, but I would not budge (most people have trouble budging me).  I was happy to draw after a tough defense. Several players went to Abuelo's after the afternoon/evening round, and that was quite cool!

Two more games tomorrow, white against GM Jesse Kraai (at 9AM!) and black against FM Eric Hansen. The games I have played thus far have been exceedingly difficult and I can feel the pressure every move!

Dacorin Kuljasevic (2552) vs. Ben Finegold (2534)

Standings after 5 rounds:

1. Becerra 4.0 (+3)
2-5. Yang, Ippolito, Antal, Papp 3.0 (+1)
6. Finegold 2.5 (=)
7. Kuljasevic 2.0 (-1)
8-10. Hansen, Krush, Kraai 1.5 (-2)

Honey Bee

  • Share/Save

Ben's Blog: Spring Spice Cup - Rounds 3 and 4

Mon., 3/15/2010 - 10:26 pm — ben2600

A very tough day at the office.  Two long draws, and I struggled in each game.

I was slightly worse with black against IM Gergely Antal.  We drifted into time trouble, and I was able to equalize against inexact play. 

Gergely probably had a nice advantage somewhere, but after 33.Qe2? I should be equal or better.  I played badly in mutual time trouble and was lucky to draw.

I played well against IM Dean Ippolito, then made the terrible move 23.Bb2? missing his reply.  After mutual errors in time trouble, I was completely winning, and blew it.  I guess I should be happy I drew!

I play IM Irina Krush tomorrow morning at 9AM and then I play IM Davorin Kuljasevic at 3PM.  I am black in both games.

It looks likely FM Darwin Yang will get at least an IM, and possibly a GM norm! Dean still has chances for a GM norm.  FM Eric Hansen has good chances for his last IM norm, as he was able to win a tough battle against Irina in round 4.

Gergely Antal (2511) vs. Ben Finegold (2534)

Ben Finegold (2534) vs. Dean Ippolito (2466)

Standings after Round 4:

 
1-2. Yang, Becerra 3.0 (+2)
3. Ippolito 2.5 (+1)
4-5. Antal , Papp 2.0 (=)
6. Finegold 1.5 (with 1 game to play) (=)
7-8. Kuljasevic, Hansen 1.5 (-1)
9. Krush 1.0 (with 1 game to play) (-1)
10. Kraai, 1.0 (-2)

Until next time.....  Honey Bee

  • Share/Save

Ben's Blog: Spring Spice Cup - Round 2 Report

Sun., 3/14/2010 - 9:34 pm — ben2600

Today was quite boring from a chess point of view, as GM Julio Becerra and I played a snoozer of a game.  I prepared quite a while for Julio's Slav/Semi-Slav/a6 Slav, but, I decided to also do a little prep for his other openings, King's Indian and Gruenfeld. 

I prepared a line I have never played before, that I could do against any Nf6/g6 combination, but, unfortunately, Julio played solidly, and the game was equal throughout. Tomorrow there are two rounds, and I play black versus IM Gergely Antal in the morning, and white versus IM Dean Ippolito in the afternoon.

 

I got quite a nice tour of the University, along with the father of wunderkind Darwin Yang, from tournament organizer GM Susan Polgar.  She also took us to the Buddy Holly Museum, which was quite cool.  When I told my mom last year that I was playing chess in Lubbock, TX, she said "Buddy Holly is from there."

Darwin was able to win today against IM Davorin Kuljasevic. IM Dean Ippolito drew quickly with IM Gabor Papp.  IM Irina Krush showed up in good from, winning a nice game from IM Gergely Antal.  GM Jesse Kraai drew FM Eric Hansen.

Ben Finegold (2534) vs. Julio Becerra (2538)

Standings after 2 rounds:

1-3. Ippolito, Becerra, Yang 1.5
4. Krush 1.0 (with 1 game to play)
5. Kraai 1.0
6. Finegold 0.5 (with 1 game to play)
7-10. Antal, Kuljasevic, Papp, Hansen 0.5

Not much of a report, but, until next time.....  Goodbye Baaaaaby!

Ben

  • Share/Save

Ben's Blog: Spring Spice Cup Begins

Sat., 3/13/2010 - 11:47 am — ben2600

Hello avid blog readers! The Spring Spice Cup starts today in beautiful Lubbock, TX.  The event is a ten-player RR, with possible GM and IM norms.  At the moment, the belief is 6 points will secure a GM norm, and, for Darwin Yang and Eric Hansen, the only FMs, each will need 4 points to earn an IM norm.

The event starts today at the beautiful campus of Texas Tech University.  The games will be played in the English building.  Opening ceremonies start today, March 13, 2010, at 1PM CST.  I had to think a bit about the "CST", as tonight we move the clocks forward an hour!

 

Games will be broadcast live at www.monroi.com and there will also be moves and some analysis at Susan Polgar's blog: http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/  ...also, I will be blogging like crazy every day!

I am paired with IM Irina Krush in round 1, but, she will be arriving late tonight from another chess event, so, we will postpone the game, and likely play Tuesday.

Here are my pairings:

Rd 1 - IM Irina Krush-Finegold

Rd 2 - Finegold-GM Julio Becerra

Rd 3 - IM Gergely Antal-Finegold

Rd 4 - Finegold-IM Dean Ippolito

Rd 5 - IM Davorin Kuljasevic-Finegold

Rd 6 - Finegold-GM Jesse Kraai

Rd 7 - FM Eric Hansen-Finegold

Rd 8 - Finegold-FM Darwin Yang

Rd 9 - IM Gabor Papp-Finegold

 

Ben

  • Share/Save

Ben's Blog: Texas Trip and Skokie Sacrifices

Mon., 3/8/2010 - 8:06 pm — ben2600

Yo yo yo!!

Time for me to earn my salary, as I go to two big tournaments.

First, the strong Spring Spice Cup in Lubbock, TX. 

Each year, SPICE puts on two strong tournaments, The Spring Spice Cup, and the Spice Cup (usually in September).  The Spring Spice Cup is usually a Category 8-10 RR, whilst the Spice Cup in the Fall features at least two strong RR tournaments, with the "A" group average rating over 2625.

 

The 10 player RR features the following heavyweights (in drawing of lots order):

1. Irina Krush
2. Gergely Antal
3. Davorin Kuljasevic
4. Eric Hansen
5. Gabor Papp
6. Julio Becerra
7. Dean Ippolito
8. Jesse Kraai
9. Darwin Yang
10. Ben Finegold

The 2010 Spring Spice Cup takes place March 13-19, 2010.

After the last round in Lubbock, I will fly to Chicago for the 25th NACA Masters.  The tournament is a nine-round Swiss, with at least 5 GMs, 5 IMs, and other assorted FIDE rated players.  There will be GM and IM norm opportunities, and I expect 20-25 players overall. The NACA FIDE Masters will be held March 20-24, in Skokie, IL.

So far, here are the confirmed participants:

  • GM Atanas Kolev (BUL) - 2571
  • GM Ben Finegold (USA) - 2531
  • GM Mesgen Amanov (TKM) - 2482
  • IM Michael Mulyar (USA) - 2408
  • IM Angelo Young (PHI) - 2334
  • IM Arjun Vishnuvardhan (IND) - 2285
  • FM Gauri Shankar (IND) - 2295
  • Siddharth Ravichandran (IND) - 2458
  • Adarsh Jayakumar (USA) - 2109
  • Janyl Tilenbaeva (KGZ) - 2060
  • Mariano Acosta (USA) - 2180
  • Jose Perez Reisler (PUR) - 1900
  • Timur Aliyev (ISR) - 2250

I will be back Friday, March 26th, just in time to see IM John Donaldson's great leacture, Saturday March 27!

Ben

  • Share/Save