by Ben Shedlock
Michael Cambareri (4.0) alone topped the Spokane Chess Club’s late-August quick Swiss, which provided a night of exciting and unpredictable chess. With 9 entrants of 14 rated in the C & D classes, 8 players ended the evening with scores between 2 and 3. Two unrated players made their rated debuts with scrappy showings of 2.0 each, splitting the U1400 prizes while shutting experienced regulars out of the money. John Dill, Tito Tinajero, and Jeremy Burnett tied for 3 points apiece, splitting the remaining overall prizes and the U1700 kitty for the four-round game 15/d3 event.
While the middle of the field struggled to find any daylight to separate them, it was the bottom half of the cross table that shone bright. Jordan Fischer—the lowest-rated player of the evening—tallied a whopping 530-point upset against Jeremy Burnett—who shared the second-place prize—to start off his campaign. Not to be outdone, the top-seeded U1400 player, Logan Faulkner, scored the evening’s second biggest upset with perhaps the night’s most brilliant find—a quiet bishop move deep in time trouble that earned him a 339-point upset over Dakota Wickel. Logan’s bishop set up the impressive back rank checkmate in game-winning style, supporting his rook to trap the king Wickel had hoped to use to support a pawn promotion. The closely rated competition led to another first round surprise, with unrated J. Carper gaining tempo early against Devin Wolford and staying a move and a piece ahead for the rest of the game.
Though things began to settle in Round 2, several games continued the excitement. Unrated Aspen Seiver converted a challenging win against Dave Griffin, earning the win while up time but down material. In the hunt for a repeat upset, Fischer pushed a brutal queen-side pawn squeeze on John Dill, who converted a 7-pawn endgame with a promotion, taking the win in a hotly contested endgame.
The third round brought more thrillers. The unrated Carper went up a piece with a passed pawn early against Griffin, converting a rook advantage to dominate a 5-pawn endgame. Taking his revenge on the unrated, Wolford forced Seiver’s white king to take a lonely walk back to the 7th rank with no other pieces in sight, winning when white ran out of room to roam.
While the fourth round still failed to separate the middle of the field in several deliberately played games, Cambareri and Dill blitzed out a couple dozen moves in the winner-takes-all match up, resolving to an endgame that favored Cambareri’s two passed center pawns.
At the bottom of the cross table, Carper earned his way into the second highest scoring group with an odd number of players, pitting him against the tournament’s second seed, Dakota Wickel. Carper played an aggressive opening, dropping only an exchange before losing several middle-game pawns on the way to a tough loss. The game was a fitting coda to the evening, with the young unrated player equaling Wickel’s overall score.
The local chess scene looks forward to more explosive play from these newcomers and intense battles from our strong crop of experienced, intermediate regulars.
The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for AUGUST QUICK TOURNAMENT (Event 202208250112)