Reports

October 2009 Calvin

Reported by Eugene Brumley

On what usually sets the scene for a perfect day to play chess – cold and rainy weather – the October Calvin Challenge drew only eight players, plus two house players.  Three came to play in the Scholastic section and five came for the Open section.  Tournament director Katy Ford speculated the cause of the low attendance was due in part to the MSU vs. U of M football game, Artprize and homecomings drawing would-be tournament competitors to other loves.

Wickering Shows His Stuff

  Photo Credit:  Eugene Brumley

Allen Wickering led the Open section with a perfect score en route to winning his first Calvin Challenge sectional.  Allen has been competing in tournaments since 2003 and almost exclusively in the Grand Rapids area.  His long gait and passion for chess are a familiar experience to those who frequent his favorite haunt, a chess club called Common Ground.

In almost all of my conversations with Allen we have discussed various aspects of his opening repertoire.  Often he has asked what I think about the Giuoco Piano, or the QGD Tarrasch, or some other setup with a fancy name.  Lately though, the content of our conversations has changed.  Allen has developed an interest in perusing GM games.  Now he prefers to talk about various aspects of Karpov’s style, or that game where, “Morphy lost an exchange, and then stopped his opponent from penetrating until he broke through with a sacrifice…”

Allen’s play this year, as well as in the 2009 October Calvin Challenge, has been qualitatively greater than that of any prior years.  Notice how, in his game with Belton Shumpert, he centralized again and again and again.  Even when his attack broke through he centralized.  Class players who study openings don’t centralize in the middlegame.  Class players who study GM games learn by example how to centralize throughout the entire game.

Lions at Rest

Isaac Zylstra, who also has improved much lately, earned clear second, losing only to the top-seeded Allen Wickering in the second round.  Isaac is a tough player, and he’s been getting tougher.  His rating jumped more than 200 points since March, raising him to Class C.

Congratulations to Allen and Isaac and thanks to all who braved the crisp and rainy weather to compete in the Calvin Challenge!

A selection of games can be found below.  The featured game is Allen Wickering’s round 3 win over Belton Shumpert:

Games