McGuire Open Round 2 - Justin The Nick of Time
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6/5/2012
David Argall (left) in his round 2 win over Melvin Bond.
The McGuire Open tournament started Monday, May 21 and, following a break for Memorial Day, round 2 took place last night. The evening produced several upset results, although
most of the pre-tournament favorites avoided any shocks.
On board 1, Craig Faber (2211) faced off against Arcadia's newest 1900 player, John Anderson. Faber played his trademark London System with the white pieces and, although material
was even going into the late middle game, white was able to invade with his queen and rook. This caused havoc in black's position and Faber brought home the full point.
Board 2 saw Gordon Brooks (1900) vs Melandro Singson (2156) in a symmetrical English. Black got all sorts of play on the kingside, with a menacing pawn on g4 and queen and knight swarming
around white's king. This proved enough to give black victory and keeps Singson in amongst the early leaders on 2/2.
Hendry Castro (2078) was paired against Eduardo Linsangan (1818) on board 3. Castro's rating actually went over 2100 recently, although that won't be reflected until the next USCF rating supplement.
This meant he was a heavy favorite against Linsangan, especially with the white pieces. Black was able to win a pawn early on but it was arguably poisoned as white got a lot of activity for his queen and
rooks. After the queen invaded on f6 and the rooks started joining in the fun, black's position crumbled.
On board 4, David King (1813) was white against Michael Cooper (2040) and looked to have a great position for much of the game. Black played the King's Indian but didn't seem to get much play but Cooper's
higher rating eventually proved decisive. The result keeps him on 2/2 with Faber, Singson, Castro and a few others.
There were also routine wins for David Argall (2000), Oscar Ortiz (1988), Wendell Salveron (1949), Phil Chase (1937), Matthew Hayes (2074), and Gregg Fritchle (2064). Tim Thompson (1948) also won but far
less routinely as his game against Tony Grauso (1640) was the last to finish.
There were several upset results in round 2, starting with Justin Chang's (1480) sensational draw with expert Dave Matson (2010). Matson, who had the white pieces, played a risky game by going into the
French Exchange, a notoriously drawish opening. Sure enough, black was able to navigate to a knight vs bishop endgame in which black, who had the knight, might have even had winning chances at one stage. The
draw was Chang's second terrific result in a row, after he also drew with Randy Hough (2005) in round 1.
Other shock results included Ryan Chen's (1254) win over Xavier Armagnac (1535), Hector Valdez (1368) who beat Tim Deng (1519), Titus Wu (993) who defeated Daniel Zhou (1406), and Allen Qiu (823) who won with
the black pieces against Mel Clark (1501).
The McGuire Open will continue Monday, June 11.
