Tournament Report

Having skipped 2002, the Space City Open was held this year on July 26-27, 2003 at the University of Alabama in Huntsville Bevill Conference Center and Hotel. Unlike the 2001 Space City Open that attracted 60 players including three Grand Masters, the turnout for this tournament was somewhat disappointing. Only 10 players registered in the Open section (no GMs) and 18 in the Reserve section. Perhaps the lower turnout was partly due to the lower prize fund offered this year ($1250 versus $3185 in 2001) or perhaps the growing popularity of Internet Chess is siphoning some of the players away from over-the-board competition. Whatever the reason, the turnout could easily have been even smaller if not for Don Maddox offering to play on the spur of the moment due to the odd number of players in the Open section and me registering to play even though I wasn't motivated due to a lack of preparation. The last rated tournament I played in was the 2001 Space City Open.

It just so happened that the first day of this competition fell on the same day as the final time trial in the Tour de France. Lance Armstrong was going for his fifth straight win and was leading Jan Ullrich by just over a minute. The results of this time trial were going to determine the overall winner of the race. Jan was already on the road racing (they stagger the starts in the time trials) and Lance was just starting when it was time for me to head down to the Bevill Center. I came close to staying home and watching the race to its conclusion but managed to pull myself away from Outdoor Life Network's coverage of it. It helped knowing that OLN replayed its coverage many times throughout the day, in between its coverage of "The Running of the Bulls".

Round 1

The Reserve section was another story. There were no less than four upsets! Eddie Koen (1442) knocked Greg Funaro (1775) off first board with a draw, Malcolm Estrada (1185) beat Miles Melvin (1573), Eleanor Harrison (1051) beat Buddy Coleman (1558), and Steve Webb (1021) defeated David Worley (1535).

Round 2

Due to Greg's draw in round one in the Reserve section, Bill Savoie (1755) was playing on board one and I, Roger McIntyre (1685), moved up to board two. Bill beat Jafar Daskar (1452) and I defeated Malcolm Estrada but my win was far from easy. Malcolm had me in trouble at one point but made a dubious move on move 22. Right after I made my response to it he commented that he should have moved 22. Rxb7! Yea, in the post-mortem analysis Fritz pointed out that there was a mate in six moves from that point. Even after that dubious move the game was about even but I outplayed him in the endgame for the full point. Meanwhile Greg's woes continued when Miles beat him with a brilliant attack.

Round 3

In the Reserve section Bill Savoie defeated Charles Ashmore (1529) to stay on first board. My game with Joe Chaffee (1477) was wild. I played more aggressively (maybe foolishly is a better word) than normal and got him into some trouble in the opening but he managed to equalize. But then he let his guard down and fell into a mating net. Greg Funaro finally got on the right track with a win over Steve Webb. About the only upset in this round was Robert Rieves' (1278) win over Miles Melvin.

Round 4

Because my game was over so quickly I was able to browse around the room and watch some other games. Bill Melvin and Cris Lasky were going at it in the Open section. Chris gave up his 'a' pawn for an attack on Bill's King. Bill then gave back two pawns in order to get his rook behind his passer and start pushing it. It looked impossible for Chris to stop that pawn from queening and in fact Bill did eventually queen the pawn and win the game, however in the post analysis Fritz pointed out that Bill made a blunder with 47. Kf1? which would have allowed Chris to push his own passer with 47... h5!! and it would have been Bill who was the one in trouble. Chris said he considered this move only after he made the losing move. Are mulligans allowed? Meanwhile on board one, Gerald Larson made quick work of Jeff Wien to remain undefeated.

Round 5

My fifth round game against Charles Ashmore was my best. Right from the opening I kept pressure on him until I capped it off with a combination that won his queen. That win gave me 4.5 points. The only one who could catch me was Bill Savoie. When I looked over at his game with Buddy Coleman he was up a couple pawns. Phooey! Looks like I will have to share first place. Bill continued increasing his advantage and eventually did win the game. Greg won his game with Joe Chaffee for his third win in a row. Even after that slow start his 3.5 points earned him third place by himself. Malcolm Estrada had yet another upset when he beat Jafar Daskar.

Prize Winners

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Gerald Larson had an excellent tournament and took first place in the Open section with 4.5 points, a full point ahead of his closest rival. One interesting thing I've noticed about Gerald Larson's rating is the fact that it doesn't move. When I first met him a few years ago he was rated about 2100. Every tournament I've seen him play in his performance rating was well above his actual rating, yet his rating remains the same?! His rating was 2109 at this tournament. I'm making a note of it and if it doesn't move more than a point after his performance here I'm going to assume his rating has some kind of hex placed on it. Bill Melvin and Jeff Wien tied for second but Bill got the second place trophy due to tiebreaks. Maybe the most notable performance in this section was that of Chris Lasky. He scored 2.5 points from opponents whose average rating was more than 300 points higher than his.

Bill Savoie and I tied for first place in the Reserve section with 4.5 points. I got the first place trophy due to tiebreaks. Probably the most notable performance in this section was that of Malcolm Estrada. He even outdid Chris Lasky by scoring 3.0 points from opponents whose average rating was more than 300 points higher than his. His performance would have been even better if I didn't escape defeat by the skin of my teeth in my game with him.

Oh yea, and Lance Armstrong did win his fifth Tour de France.

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