Chiong-Rogers, 1-0. The two front-runners of the tournament settled down at the table and played one of the most exciting encounters yet. Typical of King Indians,  white sought play on the queenside and the Filipino IM got exactly just that.  In the middlegame, Chiong established two connected passed pawns. The game took a tactical turn with pieces flying. Since "Pete" Rogers didn't want to get steamrolled, he stirred up the game by offering a rook for a bishop with 27… Rd4!? With his king in the center, Chiong waited six moves before taking the bait! Perhaps Rogers was a bit too ambitious with 32… e4 and his position collapsed after 34.Qc4 Qf7 35.Rxg6! The game ended with the cute 38.h4! Rogers resigned in lieu of white's threat of 39. Nf6+!

Kriventsov-Formanek, 1-0.  This game featured yet another French Defense! Formanek employed an idea that doesn't see much action in top level play. The … b6 lines require a lot of exact play for black as he usually yields white a lot of activity. Formanek nestled his king on the kingside behind a wall of pawns, but "Stas" banged away with heavy fire. After the fireworks were over, white had bagged two pawns and was about to enter a technically won ending. Formanek had seen enough and resigned.

Adu-Charbonneau, ½-½. This interestingly complicated game is the longest game of the tournament thus far.  A slow plodding King's Indian Attack turned into a mess of a game. This is would be quite a game to watch live… double-edged and hard to figure what would happen next! After the middlegame explosion settled down, Charbonneau ended up a pawn to the good. Perhaps thinking of the fleeting chance of a norm, he made a futile attempt to play a R+P ending with  an extra pawn on the same side of the board. After seeing that Adu knew the drawing maneuver, the young Canadian FM agreed to a draw.

Schneider-Belorusov, ½-½. The fame featured what opening? Yep… another French. Belorusov appeared to waste a lot of time moving his queen in the opening and allowed white to get a large lead in development. White began to aim his weapons at the black monarch and thrust forward with 24.e6! This should've broken black since his king has no safe haven. In a sudden skirmish,  white won a piece with 28.Rxg6! hxg6 29.Ne5+ Ke7 30.Nxc4. However, the game took a turn as Black marched his king all the way up the board as an attacking piece! Apparently in a time scramble, white had to sack the extra piece to secure the draw. A see-saw battle!

Simpson-Muhammad, ½-½. This game took place on 26 February 2002. All the other players had finished their playing schedules, so only these two were left to put the last period on the tournament record. Besides, both of these players have to prepare for their next tournaments… Foxwoods maybe??


Standings: Chiong, Rogers, 4½; Kriventsov,  3½; Charbonneau, Formanek, 3; Adu, Belorusov, 2; Muhammad, 1½; Schneider, 1; Simpson, ½.

Games from Round Three (link to Penn State)
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Chiong-Formanek, 1-0. This was a speculative game featuring a piece sac for a winning initiative.  IM Chiong demonstrated tremendous understanding of the position at hand by probing the queenside with his knights and then reeling off the "#1 stunner" in 18.Nxc6! He would get three pawns for the piece and a dangerous attack. Black's king could not escape the blinding attack and the game turned into a route.

Rogers-Muhammad, 1-0. This game features two players coming off of good seasons and IM norms.  Muhammad defeated Rogers in the Wilbert Paige tourney last summer enroute to his 1st IM norm, but Rogers was determined to get back on track after a loss to Chiong.  This game featured a Guioco Piano and followed a slow, positional course… a style suited for both players.  In a minor piece ending,  the game appeared equal and a draw imminent. However, Rogers was able to penetrate with his king and hyperactive rook.  After a few more pawns were gobbled by both sides, Rogers established an unstoppable outside passer and Muhammad resigned.

Kriventsov-Adu, ½-½. Adu abandoned the French for the Najdorf Sicilian.  Kriventsov played the latest approach to attacking the Sicilian with 6.f3 and later 9.Be3 and 10.g4. The Nigerian master set up a classic Sicilian setup and the game turned into war with each side attacking on opposite sides of the board.  White had the better mobility, but after a series of trades, only the rooks and queens were left. The only issue left was who's pawns could run faster. However, this is hard to do with the heavy pieces still on the board.  As expected, the fleet-footed heavy pieces gobbled up pawns and the game ended when black could administer a perpetual check.

Schneider-Charbonneau, 0-1. The opening  saw white allowing equality rather easily. Charbonneau took the initiative and bored in on the queenside. With rooks doubled and pieces entrenched, the Canadian began to tighten the vice. To get out of the bind, white traded two pieces for a rook, but that didn't prevent black from coordinating his pieces to support a passed pawn.  In the final position, white could not avoid losing all of his pawns, nor could he stop black's rampaging pawn from queening. Impressive game by Charbonneau!

Simpson-Belorusov, 1-0. This game demonstrated some typical Simpson's traits… queen out early and attack with reckless abandon. However, things weren't that easy and Simpson had to regroup. Then it was the Russian's chance to attack, but he played the piece sac 21… Nf4?? trying to conjure up threats on the white king to no avail. White set some bait which was taken after 27… Qxf2 and black was forced to traded queens a piece down. White then forged ahead and settled the matter with 35.Ne7! Black played on a few more moves before realizing the futility of playing a piece down with no compensation.


Standings: Chiong, Rogers, 5½; Charbonneau, Kriventsov, 4; Formanek, 3; Adu, 2½; Belorusov, 2; Muhammad, Simpson, 1½; Schneider, 1.

Games from Round Five (link to Penn State)
Player Photo Gallery