Organized Bedlam Update

The 12 player round robin is progressing slowly through the summer months. It hasn't been helped by vacations or unexpected delays trying to get back from vacation. I had gotten off to a rough start when I lost Dario in my first match. Since that time I've only lost one other game to the number one player, Isaac Sherman. Isaac is an older (70s I think?) Eastern European emigre who didn't start playing in rated tournaments until August of 2006.

Isaac is an interesting example of a player who has what some refer to as an incestuous rating. All of his games are amongst players who attend 2 small chess clubs. All of his games have been at the Westchester Chess Club or the Bob Peretz Chess Club. A few of his opponents including me play at both clubs. His published rating is 1799. Up this tournament he's only played 79 rated games, against 20 different opponents. His record is 45 wins, 11 draws and 23 losses. 8 of those games have been against me (4 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses), 9 against Andre rated 1420(9 wins!) 12 against Karl rated 1620 (8 wins, 1 draws and 3 losses) and 14 games against Dan rated 1740 (4 wins, 2 draws, 8 losses.) Dan seems to be the only one who can beat him on a consistent basis. Isaac seems to totally have Andre's number.

One has to ask is he stronger or weaker then that rating indicates? The ratings of his opponents during this time has ranged from 1420 to 2200. He's 9-0-0 against a player who never plays anywhere except the Westchester Chess Club. He's got a losing record against a player who has played outside our club and also in North Carolina. He's got a winning record against me who plays.....Never mind, you know where I play.

Some people tend to be under rated when they play a small group of players, and others tend to be over rated. Here is a summary of his overall history, not counting this tournament. All this cool data can be gathered by using the program from this site.

18 higher rated players: Wins = 10 Draws = 3 Losses = 5
0 equally rated players: Wins = 0 Draws = 0 Losses = 0
61 lower rated players: Wins = 35 Draws = 8 Losses = 18

9 players rated + 100 : Wins = 3 Draws = 2 Losses = 4
32 players rated +/-100: Wins = 18 Draws = 6 Losses = 8
38 players rated - 100 : Wins = 24 Draws = 3 Losses = 11

Personally I think he's probably solid 1800 strength. Whether he's under rated or over rated it doesn't matter, he's kicking butt in this tournament. He's is 7-1 so far. Dario is the only one who has nicked him for a win. Last Wednesday he chalked up win #5 against me. He plays very unorthodox moves in the opening. He pushes pawns like crazy, and attacks hard. However after he attacks like crazy and gets small material edge he knows when to take it to the ending. We reached this position after 44. R1h3. He was content to keep the pressure up and not trade pawns with 44. Rxa3 Rxe5.

I made the mistake of playing 44...f4? with the idea of playing Rgxe5. Bad plan because he played 45. Be4! After 45...Rgg7 White has a very easy win. No crushing attacks needed, just simple endgame technique. The game continued 46. Rxh7+ Rxh7, 47. Rxh7+ Rxh7 48. Bxh7 Kxh7 49. c6! Black resigns. No stopping the c pawn from its' destiny as a queen.

This week I managed to redeem myself with a tough win against Dan. A typical game for us goes down to the wire with one or both of us in severe time trouble. This game was no different though for a change I wasn't the one having a time pressure meltdown.


Polly - Dan 082708.pgn