March Matches

Tuesday 3/2 at West Orange, 8 p.m.

• Karpovs (2-2-1) vs. Sparta (2-3-0)

This will be the 1st match between the 2 teams.
Sparta needs at least a draw to keep its 1st place hopes alive.

• Summit (1-2-2) vs. Staten Island (1-2-1)
  

Previous meeting : April 7th, 2009 at W. Orange, a 2-2 tie.
Summit needs a draw or better to stay in the title-hunt.

• West Orange (2-2-1) vs. Kortchnois (2-2-1)

Previous meeting : April 7th, 2009 at W. Orange. The Kortchnois won 2.5-1.5.


Thursday 3/4 at Kenilworth, 8:15 p.m.

• Hamilton (3-0-1) vs. Kramniks (2-2-1)

Previous meeting : June 30th, 2009 at W. Orange. Hamilton swept 4-0.
If Hamilton wins again, they secure a tie for 1st, eliminate the Kramniks & at least 3 other teams!
In fact, if the other 3 matches end-up 2-2, Hamilton can knock-out 7 teams at once!!!


To be announced

• Hamilton vs. Staten Island

This match was to take place in January but was postponed. It will be played at Hamilton's convenience.

Magic & Tragic Numbers

Here are the current magic & tragic numbers for clinching 1st place or being eliminated from the race (discounting tiebreaks) :

Magic number

• Hamilton 1.5

Tragic Numbers

• Karpovs, Kortchnois, Kramniks, Staten Island, West Orange 1.5
• Sparta, Summit 1.0

Schedule Change

Next week's match between league-leading Hamilton & the Kramniks has been shifted to Thursday, March 4th at Kenilworth.

The other 5th round matches will be played at West Orange on Tuesday, March 2nd, as scheduled.

Staten Island 3 Karpovs 1

Staten Island received wins from Jackson Hueckel, Alexander Negron & Pete Cavaliere while notching their 1st match-victory of the season.

This reporter was in prime position to tie the match at 2 but blundered in moderate time-pressure.

Cavaliere - Moldovan
after 33.Nc1?

Black to Win

With the Karpovs' loss, Hamilton leads by 1.5 games & can clinch 1st place by going 1-1-1 against S. Island, the Kortchnois & Kramniks.

Updated 5th round replay & PGN.

Karpovs Add Two

The Karpovs have added 2005 Kenilworth U1800 Champ Joe Demetrick (1660) & Team 45 45 League vet SATELLITE-DAN (1496-rated Dan Komunicky) to their roster.

The latter was on the Kramniks' list but did not play for them.

Hamilton 2.5 Sparta 1.5

Hamilton edged Sparta on Feb. 2nd. &, for the moment, leads the league by a full game.

The Karpovs have a chance to cut the margin tomorrow night, when they host Staten Island at the Kenilworth Chess Club (8:15 start time).

More 5th Round Games

I have added 2 games from the Kramniks-West Orange match to the 5th round's replay page & zipped PGN file.

West Orange 3.5 Kramniks 0.5

West Orange defeated the Kenilworth Kramniks last night, 3.5-0.5. Fermin Arias had 1 of the wins & upped his record to 4-1.

Update 2/7 @ 12:13 a.m.- Bryan Cohen & Paul Corcoran also won.

Kortchnois 2 Summit 2

The Kenilworth Kortchnois, enabled by a draw from last-minute sub Richard Lewis, got a lucky win by Ari Minkov & a 2-2 tie at Summit.

Glen Hart had the home team's victory.

Java-replay

PGN