Richard Morris Memorial Round 3 - The Great Dane

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11/29/2011

Dane Hinrichsen beating Jesse Victoria in round 3.

The Richard Morris Memorial continued last night with a superb win on board 1 for Dane Hinrichsen (2000) over Jesse Victoria (2091). Victoria, who had the black pieces, looked to have a decent position with a dangerous passed h pawn but Hinrichsen was able to squeeze out a win in the endgame. The result means that Hinrichsen is the only player with a perfect 3/3 score at the halfway stage of the tournament.

On board 2, Matthew Hayes (2017) built up a large advantage against David Argall (2000) but a combination of time trouble and Argall's endgame skill meant he was unable to convert his position into a win. The draw keeps both players in contention. Board 3 was also drawn, with Tim Thompson (1955) and Dave Matson (2015) trading down into a rook endgame that didn't promise much for either side. Melandro Singson (2126) had a more routine win on board 4 vs Ryan Yeung (1746) in one of the evening's quicker games to finish.

In addition to Singson, Hayes, Argall, Matson and Thompson, there are several other players just behind Hinrichsen on 2.5/3 waiting for him to slip up. Mike Carlson (2091) took a bye in round 3 but will be back for round 4. Gregg Fritchle (2049) had a comfortable win over Michael Bond (1665) and also moves to 2.5/3. Randy Hough also had a routine win over Jeffrey Schwartz (1582) and joins the chasing pack just behind Hinrichsen. Finally, Dave King (1752) and Aaron Taing (1658) are both having excellent tournaments and are hoping to score upsets wins in the next round to move on to 3.5/4.

Elsewhere, Gordon Brooks (1912) employed his trademark English Opening against Queena Deng (1567) and notched up a victory. Eduardo Linsangan (1839) remains very much in the hunt for prizes after his win over Mel Clark (1540). John Anderson (1771) bounced back from last week's loss by beating Joseph Jao (1436), as did Ron Morris (1760) who wasted no time dispatching James Marshall (1398). Mark Self (1225) got his first win of the tournament by downing Dan Vanda (609) in a seesaw game where Vanda won a pawn and had a good position at first until Self's higher rating eventually told.

There were two upsets in round 3. Firstly, Bob Head's (1530) tournament went from bad to worse as he could only draw against Ryan Yang (932). On the board next to theirs, Ryan Chen (1012) was busy securing his own upset result by beating the much higher rated Harry Gaul (1409).

The Richard Morris Memorial will resume Monday, December 5.