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The Thematic Tournament on February 8 had fantastic turnout, once again showing the boost of popularity Chess has had since 2020. The Tournament is unusual because it was the Thematic Tournament, which has done quite well over the past couple of years.
The Thematic Opening was 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Be7 4. Bc4 Bh4+.
This is a peculiar variation of the Cunningham, and as expected led to a tremendous amount of fighting and interesting chess.
Black did score unusually well, despite being attacked so early after either of white's 5th moves: 5. Kh1 or 5. g3.
The placing is as follows:
- Christian Doctson took sole 1st with a perfect 4/4.
- Phillip Harmon took 2nd with 3/4.
- Nathaniel Zuraw took 3rd with 2.5/4, showing why draws can absolutely matter as one of his draws was enough to secure him a sole 3rd place and separating him from a pack of 4 players with 2/4.
The Grand Prix is also neck-and-neck with a total of 4 points separating 1st from 3rd.
As part of its series of special, one-day rated tournaments, the Roanoke Valley Chess Club recently held the 2022 Walter Muir Tournament. This 3-round event took place on Saturday, October 15, at Westhampton Christian Church at 2515 Grandin Road.
Tournament Director Courtney Barnes ran our 3-round event very smoothly, and also played, to avoid byes. We had 10 entries, all fighting hard over the board.
First/second places were shared between Courtney Barnes and Daniyar Zakirov, who each scored 2.5 points. Eric Diaz and Ben Dubuque split 3rd/4th places, with 2.0 points each. Nathaniel Zuraw was top U1200 player.
The Roanoke Valley Chess Club sincerely appreciates everyone who participated and made this Saturday Special event yet another successful one in our series.
Thanks also to Westhampton Church, for hosting our tournament in their Fellowship Hall.
Finally, we pause to remember Walter Muir (1905-1999), a great friend, benefactor, and former President of the Roanoke Valley Chess Club. Walter was also very instrumental in developing postal chess in the U.S., and was a top postal competitor both nationally and internationally for several decades. Walter, an International Correspondence Chess Master, was known as "The Dean" and "The Grand Old Man" of American Correspondence Chess.
The RVCC conducts this event every year in Walter Muir's honor, with his annual endowment, which makes our largest chess tournament possible!
-- Submitted by Mike Huff
RVCC members are now giving game score analysis on youtube.
Just click here