Warm-up Tournament

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   This was an unrated tournament, and yet was still treated seriously by the players.  With no realistic prospect of any tournaments soon, due to the covid, I voted to have this tournament be un-rated, largely to avoid renewing my membership.  Though there were only enough accommodations for two boards, it still bothered me a bit that there had been no advertised tournaments, which had actually taken place in Colorado, since the pandemic. 

To me, not listing or giving a notice of a tournament somewhere, during the pandemic, makes it seem a bit undercover.  That being said, I see nothing wrong with holding chess tournaments, and I believe that it is high time to go back to the past way of doing things; air elbow-bumps are cute, but no cigar.  It still didn't feel like this tournament was real, was really going to happen until the clocks started; it was a last second vote to agree on time-controls, and whether or not it would be rated. 

One thing I'll say about ratings is that whether or not you win or lose all of your games, you should have them rated because you deserve the recognition of your abilities, whether they are up or down.  There should be a record of your game statistics, tournaments played in, etc.  Paul's suggestion was to have the tournament un-rated, so as for not to get anyone hurt (over their rustiness, or lack of shape, I guess).  But, in chess, no one deserves to be put on a pedestal before a game is about to be played, even for their own sake - and trying out new openings should be no exception.  I found out all of this, the hard way.

This quad tournament was played at G/60, Inc 30.  Though I won all three games, after waiting six months to get revenge in an OTB game, my last rated game from March is still listed as a loss.  Competitive chess is always brutal, whether it is rated or not.

One of my goals was to play opening lines that I don't normally play.  Rhett allowed a King's Gambit, because he was also experimenting in this tournament, but neither of us had any considerable experience playing the Bishop's Gambit


Round 1

[Event "Unrated"]

[Site "Paul Covington's House"]

[Date "2020.09.19"]

[Round "1"]

[White "Alexander Freeman"]

[Black "Brian Rountree"]

[Result "0-1"]

[BlackElo "1903"]

[ECO "B83"]

[EventDate "2020.09.19"]

[TimeControl "G/60, Inc 30"]

[WhiteElo "1744"]


1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 e6 7. Be3 Be7 8. Qd2

a6 9. f4 Qc7 10. Bf3 Bd7 11. Nb3 Na5 12. Qf2 Nc4 13. Bc1 O-O 14. O-O Rac8 15.

Kh1 b5 16. Nd2 b4 17. Nd1 Bb5 18. Re1 d5 19. Nxc4 Qxc4 20. e5 Nd7 21. Qg3 Qxc2

22. f5 Qxf5 23. Bf4 Nc5 24. Ne3 Qg6 25. Ng4 Nd3 26. Re3 Nxf4 27. Qxf4 Bg5 28.

Nf6+ gxf6 29. Qd4 Bxe3 30. Qxe3 Qg5 31. Re1 Qxe3 32. Rd1 fxe5  0-1


Round 2

[Event "Unrated"]

[Site "Paul Covington's House"]

[Date "2020.09.19"]

[Round "2"]

[White "Brian Rountree"]

[Black "Rhett Langseth"]

[Result "1-0"]

[BlackElo "2138"]

[ECO "C33"]

[EventDate "2020.09.19"]

[TimeControl "G/60, Inc 30"]

[WhiteElo "1903"]


1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4 Qh4+ 4. Kf1 d6 5. Nf3 Qh5 6. d4 g5 7. c3 Bg4 8. Nbd2

Nd7 9. Kf2 Ngf6 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Rg8 12. Qxh5 Nxh5 13. Re1 Nb6 14. Bb3 Be7

15. a4 a5 16. Nc4 Nd7 17. e5 dxe5 18. Nxe5 Nxe5 19. Rxe5 Kf8 20. Bd2 Bd6 21.

Rf5 Rg7 22. Kf3 c6 23. Be1 Be7 24. Bf2 Nf6 25. Rd1 Nd7 26. d5 c5 27. d6 Bf6 28.

Bxc5 Be5 29. Bd4 f6 30. Be6 Ke8 31. Bxd7+ Kxd7 32. Bxe5 fxe5 33. Rxe5 Ra6 34.

Rb5 b6 35. Re5 Ra8 36. Rb5 Kc6 37. Kg4 h6 38. d7 Rd8 39. Rbd5 Rg6 40. Kf5 Rg7

41. Kf6 Rgg8 42. R5d4 h5 43. Rc4+ Kb7 44. Kf5 b5 45. axb5 Kb6 46. Rd5 g4 47.

hxg4 Rxg4 48. Rc8 Rgg8 49. Rxd8 Rxd8 50. Kxf4 a4 51. Kg5 Ka5 52. c4 Kb4 53. b6

Kxc4 54. Rd2 h4 55. b7 h3 56. gxh3 Rg8+ 57. Kf6 Rf8+ 58. Ke7 Rb8 59. d8=Q Rxb7+

60. Ke6  1-0


Round 3

[Event "Unrated"]

[Site "Paul Covington's House"]

[Date "2020.09.19"]

[Round "3"]

[White "Brian Rountree"]

[Black "Mark McGough"]

[Result "1-0"]

[BlackElo "1833"]

[ECO "C65"]

[EventDate "2020.09.19"]

[TimeControl "G/60, Inc 30"]

[WhiteElo "1903"]


1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O Be7 6. h3 O-O 7. c3 Bd7 8. Re1 a6

9. Ba4 b5 10. Bb3 Na5 11. Bc2 c5 12. Nbd2 Qc7 13. Nf1 Nc6 14. Ng3 g6 15. Bg5

Nd8 16. d4 Ne6 17. Bh6 Rfe8 18. d5 Ng7 19. Qd2 Kh8 20. Nh2 Ng8 21. Bxg7+ Kxg7

22. f4 exf4 23. Qxf4 Bf6 24. Ng4 Be5 25. Nxe5 Rxe5 26. Rf1 f6 27. Nh1 Rf8 28.

Nf2 Qc8 29. Ng4 Bxg4 30. hxg4 Rg5 31. Qxd6 Qxg4 32. Rf2 h5 33. Re1 h4 34. Bd1

Qg3 35. Qxg3 Rxg3 36. Rf3 Rg5 37. d6 Re5 38. Rd3 Rd8 39. Kf2 Ne7 40. d7 Re6 41.

Bg4 Re5 42. Bf3 g5 43. Red1 f5 44. exf5 Nxf5 45. Rd5 Kf6 46. Rxe5 Kxe5 47. Rd5+

Ke6 48. Rxc5 Rxd7 49. Bg4 Rf7 50. Ke2 Rf6 51. Kd3 Rf8 52. Ke4 Kd6 53. Rxf5 Re8+

54. Kf3  1-0







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