May 26, 2011
Alan Crook's Southern Utah Open
Duane Catania started talking to me one night. He had a suggestion that Utah should have more tournaments with a longer time control, perhaps spanning over a couple of days instead of just one. We ended up deciding on a 5 round tournament with a G/90 time control. Thus Alan Crook's Southern Utah Open was born. Alan allowed us to use his amazing venue, The St. George Chess Center (pictures of which are in a past article). The tournament would not have been able to take place without his support, so thank you Alan. Also, the UCA voted to make the tournament a Utah Grand Prix event, which really made it great! Now… on to the results!
Bryon Doyle took home the title of Southern Utah Chess Champion and $300 by winning all of his games and only conceding one draw! His final score was 4.5/5. The following is a nice game of Bryon taking out Alex Gustafsson, who is currently leading Utah in the Grand Prix standings.
White: Bryon Doyle
Black: Alex Goose
1. e4 c5
2. d4!?
Nf3 really is better, the Smith Morra is perhaps even dubious.
2. ...exd4
3. c3 Nf6!
Best way to decline!
4. e5 Nd5
5. cxd4 e6
6. Bd3?! d6
7. Nf3 dxe5
8. dxe5 g6?
9. 0-0 Bg7
10. Be4 Nc6
11. Re1 0-0
12. Bxd5 exd5
13. Bg5 Qb6
14. Nc3! Qxb2
15.
Nxd5 Bf5
Bg4 is maybe better.
16. a4!
Hinting at Re2! and the Queen is trapped.
16. ...Nxe5??
An idea of freeing the Queen and winning a pawn at the same time, but this loses.
White to play and win
17. Nxe5 bxe5
18) Rxe5! Qxe5
19. Bf6!
Hinting at Ne7+!
19. ...Rd8
20. Bxe5
Black resigns.
Alex Gustaffson, Duane Catania, and David Vasquez all performed strongly and tied for second place with 3.5/5. They evenly split the second place prize.
The U1600 section was a different story. We had a three-way tie for first place! Andrew Roach, (only 9!) Joshua Haley (who is heading to Florida to represent Utah in the National Denker tournament) and Tom Martin all had 3/5 points! They each took home $75.
Tom had an especially tough tournament as he had to play Bryon Doyle in the last round for the championship and ending up losing; however, with his tough pairings he picked up 100 points, so all is fair in love and war.
During the tournament the players asked if they could play a blitz tournament after the regular tournament was over (just goes to show you how much these Utah players love chess!!). Everybody put in $5 and the winner took home 100% of the prize.
The blitz tournament was a double round robin event with a 5 minute time control.
In the blitz Alex Gustafsson showed who was really who as he took first place, scoring 8/10! Bryon Doyle was close behind with 7.5 but alas, ‘twas not enough.
This Tournament Director would like to thank everyone that came and played! I loved the tournament! Everyone showed amazing sportsmanship and true chess grit. It was truly an honor to be a part of this event; thank you to all who played and others who gave their support.
Bryon Doyle, USCF Tournament Director
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