1) Even if I won my last two games, a score of four points would probably not win money. As it turned out, Alexander Katz won the event with five points, in the last round defeating IM Dean Ippolito who finished a half point behind.
2) The scheduled time of 9am for round five is too early, especially for older players like myself. On Labor Day, the Marshall Chess Club held a six round game/30 tournament, with a starting time of 11am which is more reasonable. At the Marshall, I spoke with a FIDE master from New Jersey who echoed my sentiments, saying that he had avoided the New Jersey Open because of Monday's 9am scheduled time. Sleep deprivation is the inevitable result of a timetable that has the first round beginning at 12 noon on Saturday, the third round at 11am on Sunday, and the fifth round at 9am on Monday. Why not allow more time for a good night's sleep; or provide coffee to the players, as the Marshall Chess Club does?
Here are my games as Black from the game/30 Swiss.
Round Two: Budapest Gambit, Fajarowicz Variation
Juan Sena (USCF 2232) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 9/3/2012
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d6 3.c4 e5 4.dxe5 Ne4 5.Qd4 Bf5 6.exd6 Nc6 7.Qd5 Nxd6 8.Nd4 Nb4 9.Qe5+ Qe7 10.Qxe7+ Bxe7 11.a3 Nc2+ 12.Nxc2 Bxc2 13.e3 O-O-O 14.Nc3 Ne4 15.Nxe4 Bxe4 16.Bd2 Bf6 17.O-O-O Rhe8
18.f3 Bd3 19.Bxd3 Rxd3 20.Kc2 Red8 21.Bc1 Rxd1 22.Rxd1 Re8 23.e4 a5 24.Rd5 b6 25.b3 Re6 26.Bf4 Be7 27.Kb2 Rg6 28.g4 Bc5 29.h4 h6 30.Bd2 Re6 31.b4 axb4 32.axb4 Be7 33.h5 c6 34.Rf5 Bf6+ 35.Kc2 g6
36.Bxh6 gxf5 37.exf5 Re8 38.g5 Rh8 39.Kd3 Bxg5 40.Bxg5 Rxh5 41.f4 f6 42.Bxf6 Rxf5 43.Be5, draw.
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Round Four: Philidor Counter Gambit
Reynaldo Ramos (USCF 1619) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 9/3/2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 f5 4.d3 c6 5.Bxg8 Rxg8 6.Ng5 h6 7.Nh7 Qh4 8.Nxf8 Rxf8 9.O-O Na6 10.Nc3 f4 11.f3 Be6 12.Qe2 O-O-O 13.Bd2 Kb8
14.Qf2 Qxf2+ 15.Rxf2 g5 16.Ne2 c5 17.c3 h5 18.d4 g4 19.a4 gxf3 20.gxf3 Bc4 21.d5 Bxe2 22.Rxe2 Rg8+ 23.Rg2 c4 24.Be1 Nc5 25.Kh1 Rxg2 26.Kxg2 Rg8+ 27.Kf1 Nd3 28.Rb1 a5
29.b3 Nxe1 30.Rxe1 cxb3 31.Rb1 Rc8 32.Rxb3 Rc4 33.Rb6 Kc7 34.Rb5 b6 35.Rb2 Rxc3 36.Rg2 Rxf3+ 37.Ke2 Re3+ 38.Kd2 Rxe4 39.Rg5 Rd4+ 40.Ke2 Rxd5 41.Rxh5 Rd4, White resigns.
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Round Six: Philidor Counter Gambit
Michael Bogaty (USCF 1957) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 9/3/2012
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 f5 4.d3 c6 5.Bg5 Nf6 6.exf5 d5 7.Bb3 Bd6 8.Qe2 O-O 9.Nbd2 Bxf5 10.O-O-O Bg4 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Nxf3 Nbd7 13.h4 Qc7 14.Bd2 Nc5 15.Rdg1 Nxb3+ 16.axb3 Rae8
17.g4 e4 18.Nd4 exd3 19.Qxd3 Bf4 20.Nf5 Bxd2+ 21.Qxd2 Ne4 22.Qd4 Qf4+ 23.Qe3 Qxf2 24.Qxf2 Nxf2 25.Rh2 Nxg4 26.Nxg7 Kxg7 27.Rxg4+ Kh8 28.Ra4 a6
29.b4 Rf4 30.c3 Ree4 31.h5 Rh4 32.Rf2 Kg7 33.Rf5 Ref4 34.Rg5+ Kh6 35.Re5 Rf7 36.Kc2 Rxh5 37.Re6+ Kg7 38.Ra1 Rg5 39.Rh1 Rg6 40.Re5 h6 41.Reh5 Rff6 42.Re5 Re6 43.Rf5 Re2+ 44.Kb3 Rgg2 45.Rb1 Rgf2 46.Rh5 Kg6 47.Rhh1 h5 48.Rh3 Rg2
49.b5 axb5 50.Rbh1 Rxb2+ 51.Ka3 Ra2+ 52.Kb4 b6 53.c4 Rgb2+ 54.Kc3 Rc2+ 55.Kd3 bxc4+ 56.Kd4 Re2 57.Rxh5 Rad2+ 58.Kc3 Rd3+ 59.Kb4 Rb3+, White resigns.
