Volume 40 , Number 1 Colorado Chess Informant January 2013
Fort Collins Invitational Chess Tournament
by CSCA Vice President , Brad Lundstrom
Over the weekend of October 27 & 28 , 2012 , fifteen Colorado Chess players gathered together for an 1800 and over invitational chess tournament . The event was organized and hosted by Zach and Deanna Bekkedahl at their beautiful home in north Fort Collins . This 5 round event featured a G / 60 and a 30 second increment time control that has become popular in many current tournaments . The competition was fierce and many great fighting games were played at the event .
The home field must have been comfortable for Zach as he finished with 4.0 points and in clear 1st after drawing with former CSCA President , Paul Covington in the final round . Paul had an excellent tournament as well with 2 wins and 3 draws that became part of a 12 game unbeaten streak over his recent fall tournaments .
A key game was Zach Bekkedahl – Francisco Greus . Well known as a strong player in the Fort Collins chess community , Francisco has been unable to travel for tournaments in other areas due to his heavy workload at CSU . Francisco is a friendly gentleman from Spain and can relate interesting stories about his chess adventures in Spain if you get the opportunity to converse with him . Zach was a pawn down in their game but in mutual time trouble uncorked a beautiful shot to turn things around . Zach is well known in Fort Collins circles for being especially tough to beat and famed for sharp tactics to pull out tough positions .
Another newcomer , Robert Cousins from New Hampshire was top seeded but had some tough luck in some close games . When I talked to Robert after the event , I was impressed by his cheerful demeanor and philosophical attitude . He will see better results and good success in upcoming events without a doubt .
Kenzie Moore , a personable and talented CSU student started slow but played great chess down the stretch to tie Paul for 2 nd place overall and the top under 2000 prize .
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Other players that played solidly and finished with 3 points were Jackson Chen , Josh Samuel , Julian Evans and Suhaas Narayanan , an up and coming Ft . Collins prodigy and student of Zach ’ s .
Over the past year , Zach and Deanna have graciously hosted several strong tournaments and the feedback from the players is always highly appreciative and positive . Thanks to Zach and Deanna for their hospitality and congratulations to Zach who achieved his personal high 2148 rating during the event .
Zachary Bekkedahl ( 2138 ) Joshua Samuel ( 1998 )
1 . e4 e6 2 . d4 d5 3 . Nc3 Nf6 4 . Bg5 dxe4 5 . Bxf6 Qxf6 6 . Nxe4 Qh6 7 . Nf3 f5 8 . Neg5 Bd6 9 . d5 e5 10 . Bb5 Bd7 11 . Bxd7 Nxd7 12 . Ne6 Nf8 13 . Nfg5 Qf6 14 . Qh5 g6 15 . Qf3 h6 16 . Nxf8 Kxf8 17 . Ne6 Kf7
18 . Qb3 Rab8 19.0-0-0 Rhe8 20 . Nxc7 Bxc7 21 . d6 Qe6 22 . dxc7 Rbc8 23 . Rd7 Re7 24 . Rxe7 Kxe7 25 . Qxb7 Qd7 26 . Qxa7 Rxc7 27 . Qa3 Kf7 28 . Rd1 Qc6 29 . Qb3 Kg7 30 . Rd8 Rf7 31 . Qb8 Rc7 32 . Rg8 Kf6 33 . Qd8 Re7 34 . Rf8 Ke6 35 . a3 Qc5 36 . Rg8 Kf6 37 . Re8 Qc7 38 . Qxe7 1-0
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Group Photo ( from left ): Avinaya Subedi , Zach Bekkedahl , Julian Evans . Kenzie Moore , Robert Cousins , Jackson Chen , Justin Alter , Pierre Julien , Suhaas Narayanan , Brad Lundstrom , Paul Covington , Josh Samuel
Zachary Bekkedahl ( 2138 ) Francisco Greus ( 2125 )
1 . e4 e5 2 . Nf3 Nc6 3 . Bb5 a6 4 . Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6 . Re1 b5 7 . Bb3 d6 8 . c3 0-0 9 . d4 Bg4 10 . Bd5 Qd7 11 . Nbd2 exd4 12 . Bxc6 Qxc6 13 . cxd4 Rfe8 14 . d5 Qb7 15 . Qc2 Rac8 16 . Nd4 Bf8 17 . N2f3 Bxf3 18 . gxf3 Nxd5 19 . Bd2 Nb6 20 . Kh1 c5 21 . Nf5 d5 22 . Rg1 Re6 23 . Qc3 Rg6 24 . Nh4 d4 25 . Qc1 Rxg1 26 . Qxg1 Kh8
27 . Qg3 c4 28 . Rg1 Rc6 29 . Qe5 Qd7 30 . Nf5 Re6 31 . Qb8 Qe8 32 . Qxe8 Rxe8 33 . Nxd4 Rd8 34 . Be3 Na4 35 . b3 Nb2 36 . bxc4 bxc4 37 . Rc1 Rc8 38 . Nc2 a5 39 . Rb1 Nd3 40 . a4 Nb4 41 . Rc1 Bc5 42 . Kg2 Bxe3 43 . Nxe3 c3 44 . Kf1 g6 45 . Ke2 Kg7 46 . Nd1 c2 47 . Ne3 Kf6 48 . Kd2 Rd8 49 . Ke2 Ke5 ( This is the key moment in the fight for 1 st place in this