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