2005 President's Invitational

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April 16, 2005

Report 5
By Ian Wilkinson,
President, JCF

2005 PRESIDENT INVITATIONAL REPORT ON ROUNDS 1-3 and rnd 5 games

"THE RETURN OF THE “PRESIDENT”

After three rounds of the LASCO- sponsored 2005 President’s Invitational tournament being staged alongside the National Championships at the Norman Manley Law School, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica’s veteran NM John Powell leads with a perfect 3-0. Powell, winner of a silver medal in the Chess Olympiad in 1984, is playing his first tournament on local soil since 1994. The former president of the Jamaica Chess Federation survived a blunder in round one (35…Qf2+??) against rising junior Mikhail Solomon but steadied himself with consecutive wins over Germaine Griffith and Ian Wilkinson in rounds two and three, respectively.

The surprise so far of the twelve-player single round-robin tournament is the young Phillip George Pryce, a late replacement for Melisha Smith. Pryce, in joint second with the veteran Humphrey Gayle on 2.5/3, had a default win over Griffith who failed to show in round one and followed this up with a draw in round two with the black pieces against journeyman Sidley Matthews Jnr. and a clinical destruction of the “Ninja” Mark Bowen in round three.

The defending champion Gary Hew has not started too well. His Sicilian Dragon was dismantled by Bowen in round two, handing him an early loss in the tournament. He drew after 53 moves against Sidley Matthews in round one (when he had a winning position on his very next move – 54.g5!) and also shared honours against Candidate Master Daren Wisdom in round three.

Camille Casserly, the sole female entrant, got on the board with a win over junior Zachary Ramsay in round three after losing to Wilkinson and Gayle in rounds two and three, respectively. Solomon recorded another upset in round two in an exciting King’s Indian Defence when Wilkinson, well ahead on the clock and in at least a drawn position, blundered with 32…Kh8?? When 32…Rg6 would have preserved good winning chances.

In the standings Bowen and Wisdom come next on 2/3 with six players on 1/3. Ramsay is yet to score. The fourth round, to be played on Saturday, 16th April, 2005, will see Powell-Matthews, Bowen-Griffith, Wisdom-Pryce, Casserly-Hew, Solomon-Ramsay and Wilkinson-Gayle.

Ian Wilkinson
President,
Jamaica Chess Federation

ROUND 5 GAMES

(1) Gayle,Humphrey (1949) - Powell,John (2144) [A52]
President's Invitational, NMLS (5.1)
[Wilkinson, I]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bf4 Bb4+ 6.Nbd2 Qe7 7.a3 Ncxe5 8.Bxe5 Nxe5 9.Nxe5 Bxd2+ 10.Qxd2 Qxe5 11.e3 d6 12.Be2 Be6 13.0–0 0–0 14.Qd4 f5 15.b4 f4 16.Qxe5 dxe5 17.c5 Bd5 18.Rac1 Rad8 19.exf4 exf4 20.Bc4 Bxc4 21.Rxc4 Rd3 22.a4 f3 23.Re4 g5 24.g3 Kg7 25.Rfe1 c6 26.a5 a6 27.h3 Rf7 28.g4 Rb3 29.Kh2 Kg6 30.Kg3 h5 31.Re6+ Kg7 32.gxh5 Rxb4 33.Rg6+ Kh7 34.Rxg5 Ra4 35.Re6 Rxa5 36.h6 Rb5 37.h4 a5 38.Reg6 a4 39.Rg7+ Rxg7 40.hxg7 Kg8 41.h5 Ra5 42.h6 Ra8 43.Kxf3 a3 44.Rg1 a2 45.Ra1 Kh7 46.Ke4 Kxh6 47.g8Q Rxg8 48.Rxa2 Rg5 49.Rb2 Rxc5 50.Rxb7 Kg6 51.Rd7 Rc1 52.Ke3 c5 53.Rc7 Kf5 54.Kd2 Rc4 55.Kd3 Rc1 56.Kd2 ½–½

(2) Ramsay,Zachary (1555) - Wilkinson,Ian (1780) [C10]
President's Invitational, NMLS (5.2), 17.04.2005
[Wilkinson, I]
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 Bb4 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d5 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.Bd2 Bxc3 8.Bxc3 Nxc3 9.bxc3 0–0 10.0–0 Qf6 11.Re1 b6 12.Qd2 h6 13.Be4 Bb7 14.c4 Na5 15.Bxb7 Nxb7 16.Rad1 Nd6 17.Ne5 Rfd8 18.Re3 Nf5 19.Rd3 c5 20.Nc6 Rd6 21.d5 Qh4 22.Qc3 Qg5 23.Qd2 Qg4 24.Qc3 f6 25.Re1 e5 26.Rf3 Nd4 27.Nxd4 Qxd4 28.Qxd4 cxd4 29.c3 Rc8 30.cxd4 Rxc4 31.dxe5 fxe5 32.Rd3 Rc5 33.Red1 b5 34.Kf1 Rc2 35.R3d2 Rc4 36.Ke2 Kf7 37.Rd3 Kf6 38.Ke3 a5 39.g3 b4 40.f4 exf4+ 41.gxf4 Kf5 42.Rd4 Rc3+ 43.R1d3 Rc2 44.Rd2 Rxd2 45.Kxd2 g5 46.fxg5 hxg5 47.Kd3 Ke5 48.Kc4 Rd8 49.Rd3 Ke4 50.Rd4+ Ke5 51.Rd3 Kd6 52.Rg3 Rc8+ 53.Kd4 Rc2 54.Rxg5 Rxh2 55.Rg6+ Kd7 56.d6 Rxa2 57.Kc5 Rc2+ 58.Kb5 b3 0–1

(3) Hew,Gary (1784) - Solomon,Mikhail (1677) [D85]
President's Invitational, NMLS (5.3), 17.04.2005
[Wilkinson, I]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Be3 0–0 9.Rc1 Nc6 10.d5 Ne5 11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.f4 Bg7 13.Be2 Qa5 14.Qd2 Rd8 15.0–0 e6 16.c4 Qxd2 17.Bxd2 b6 18.Rfd1 Bb7 19.Bc3 exd5 20.cxd5 f5 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.exf5 Bxd5 23.fxg6 hxg6 24.a3 Bb3 25.Re1 Rd2 26.Bf3 Rf8 27.Rc3 Bd5 28.Bxd5 Rxd5 29.Re7+ Rf7 30.Rxf7+ Kxf7 31.Kf2 b5 32.Ke3 a5 33.g4 Ke6 34.h4 Kd6 35.Rd3 b4 36.axb4 cxb4 37.Rb3 Rd1 38.f5 gxf5 39.g5 White lost on time. 0–1

(4) Pryce,Phillip (1624) - Casserly,Camille (1435) [E92]
President's Invitational, NMLS (5.4), 17.04.2005
[Wilkinson, I]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.e4 0–0 6.Be2 e5 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Bg5 Nc6 10.Nd5 Rd6 11.c5 Rxd5 12.exd5 Nxd5 13.Rb1 Bf5 14.Rd1 Be6 15.Bc4 Ndb4 16.Bxe6 fxe6 17.a3 Nd5 18.b4 e4 19.Nd2 h6 20.Be3 Nf6 21.0–0 Rd8 22.b5 Nd4 23.Bxd4 Rxd4 24.Rfe1 Ra4 25.Ra1 Rd4 26.Nb3 Rd8 27.Rad1 Rxd1 28.Rxd1 Nd5 29.c6 b6 30.Nd4 Kf7 31.Ne2 Be5 32.g3 g5 33.Kg2 Kf6 34.h3 Bd6 35.a4 e3 36.Rf1 Ke5 37.Kf3 Bc5 38.fxe3 Nxe3 39.Rh1 Kd5 40.h4 g4+ 41.Kf2 e5 42.Ke1 Ng2+ 43.Kd2 Bb4+ 44.Kc2 Ne3+ 45.Kb3 Bc5 46.Kc3 Ke4 47.Rh2 Kf3 ½–½

(5) Griffith,Germaine (1686) - Wisdom,Daren (2054) [C70]
President's Invitational, NMLS (5.5), 17.04.2005
[Wilkinson, I]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Bc5 5.c3 Nf6 6.d4 exd4 7.Bxc6 dxc6 8.cxd4 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.Nbxd2 Bg4 11.Qc2 Qe7 12.Ne5 Rd8 13.f3 Bc8 14.Nb3 Nh5 15.g3 0–0 16.0–0–0 Be6 17.f4 Nf6 18.Rhe1 a5 19.f5 Bxb3 20.Qxb3 c5 21.Nf3 cxd4 22.Kb1 c5 23.Ng5 h6 24.Nh3 Nxe4 25.Qd3 Rfe8 26.f6 gxf6 27.Nf4 c4 28.Qf1 c3 29.Nh5 Nd2+ 30.Rxd2 Qxe1+ 31.Rd1 c2+ 32.Kxc2 Qe4+ 33.Kd2 Rd6 34.Qxf6 Qe2+ 35.Kc1 Rc8+ 36.Kb1 Qxd1# 0–1

(6) Matthews,Jnr (1704) - Bowen,Mark (1672) [A84]
President's Invitational, NMLS (5.6), 17.04.2005
[Wilkinson, I]

1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 f5 3.c4 Nf6 4.a3 Be7 5.Nc3 0–0 6.Qc2 a5 7.e3 Qe8 8.h3 b6 9.Be2 Bb7 10.Bd2 d6 11.0–0–0 Ne4 12.Rdf1 Na6 13.Rhg1 Kh8 14.Ne1 Bh4 15.g3 Bf6 16.f3 Nxc3 17.Bxc3 e5 18.Kb1 ½–½