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Used reference materials for sale - books, magazines, videos, computer, printers. Click here.
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Recordsetter and National ChampionFranklin Elementary completed a very successful year by winning the K-5 section of the National Championship. This followed a Franklin's record setting win in the state championship, with a score of 24 out of 28. Franklin players took first, second, third place individually in the state championship tournament. Franklin also set a record for most consecutive team tournament victories. Tournament SeasonFranklin went a perfect 10-0 during the Illinois tournament season, including a first place victory in one Indiana tournament, and a first place finish in the K-5 section of the National Elementary Championship. State ChampionshipFranklin Elementary set a record for in their state championship result with a schore of 24 our of 28. Franklin had only one loss among their top four players. Franklin players took first (Robert Riddle, 6.5) second (Mark Rokita, 6.5), third (Robert Rasmussen, 6.0), and fourteenth (John-Garett Piergalski, 5.0). Robert Riddle took first, by defeating Matt Leali in a seesaw battle. He drew Andrew Hubbard in the final round to cement his position. Mark Rokita took second, also with 6.5, and Robby Rasmussen drew Leali in the last round to score 6. John Garett Piergalski scored 5.0, losing a close game in the final round that he was winning most of the way. William Bielski, Daniel Leung, Daniel Widing and Ed Mueller rounded out the Franklin team. Other players of note included Andrew Friedman, and Michael McNally. Friedman lives in Des Plaines, and started playing this past year. He came to our club all year, and attended many tournaments with us, although, of course, he could not play for our team. Andrew finished 4th, with one loss to Riddle, a fantastic result for his first year of play. Michael McNally, who attends the nearby Science and Arts Academy, took first place in K-3. Also, Daniel and Jordan Cohen of Buffalo Grove played at our club most the year, and took lessons from their "Uncle Ken", NM Ken Wallach. Both did very well in the state tournament. Supernationals in Knoxville, TennesseeFranklin Elementary Wins National TitleCaveman Chess Club's Narrow Victory at Nationals Completes a Perfect SeasonThe Franklin Elementary Cavemen of Park Ridge won the National K-5 Championship by scoring 20.5 points to finish a half point ahead of perennial winner Hunter College, and PS 116 of New York, each with 20. Dalton of New York took fourth with 19.5. 48 teams and 409 players competed in the section. Franklin thus completed a scholastic season that saw them take first place in ten consecutive tournaments including Nationals. This extended Franklin’s "Streak" (see sidebar) to twenty consecutive tournaments excluding National competition. Franklin took the lead in the first round with a perfect score, and never held less than a share of the lead throughout the seven round tournament. (See table following the top four teams.) Daniel Leung led Franklin with 5.5 out of seven points. Daniel, nicknamed "Dan the Rock" returned to steady form after a sub-par performance at the State Championship two months earlier. Daniel finished 21st individually in the nation. Leung won his first four games, lost his fifth, and then won and drew in the last two rounds. Daniel has consistently been one of the leaders of the Franklin team throughout the past three seasons. Illinois 4th-5th grade champion Robert Riddle paced the Cavemen by winning his first five games, including a crucial 5th round game against New York State K-6 Champion Eric Seiden of Hunter College. This game turned out to be a critical game as it was the only face-to-face encounter between Hunter and Franklin – and fittingly between the top players of each team and the respective Illinois and New York State Champions. Riddle took this game with a fierce attack on the white side of a Sicilian Sozin/Fischer variation. Riddle finally lost in round six in a close game to the eventual tournament winner Adam Maltese of New York. He also succumbed in his final game while pushing for a win in a drawn position to try to ensure his team’s first place finish. Riddle finished 35th overall. Rounding out the scoring for the Cavemen were William Bielski and Robby Rasmussen, each with five points. Rasmussen finished 51st overall while Bielski took 52nd. Robby scored steadily throughout the tournament, while Bill pulled into five points in the final round, finishing a nice comeback after a tough state tournament. Other members of the team and their scores were Mark Rokita, 5 points, 61st overall, John-Garrett Piergalski, 4.5, 72nd, Ed Mueller, 4 points, 181st, and Daniel Widing, 4 points 182nd. 409 players participated in this section of the 4,309 player event. Another interesting point about the tournament was the "Illinois vs. New York" aspect. While there are strong scholastic teams in Indiana, Arizona, Minnesota, Carolina, and a few other places, clearly New York offers the strongest group of teams. Throughout the tournament it was Franklin versus New York, and in the final round, good fortune came with a bit of irony. One of Illinois’ top players, Andrew Hubbard, and a nemesis of the Franklin team, defeated a player from PS 116 of New York, allowing Franklin to take first. It turned out to be a group effort from Illinois in the end! The Franklin Elementary Cavemen Chess Club encourages players from other schools to practice with the team, and several of them did excellently individually in the tournament. Finishing in 4th place in the Kindergarten section was Jordan Cohen of Pritchett in Buffalo Grove with 5.5 points. Jordan lost to the tournament winner on board 1 in the final round. In the same section, Franklin Swindell III finished with 4 points to take 20th place. In the K-3 section, William Ferguson scored 6 points to take 10th place overall, and Illinois K-3 state champion Mike McNally scored 5 points to finish 24th. An interesting side note is that the Franklin Cavemen have had three state champions over the last three years: Daniel Leung tied for K-3 1st in 1995, while this year Mike McNally took first in K-3 and Robert Riddle took 1st in 4th-5th. Following are some games from Nationals, and a few other games played by the Cavemen over the past year.
(75) Riddle,R (1400) - Seiden,E (1700) [B86]
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18.Bxh7
Black can no longer defend. The Bishop sacrifice rips open Black's position.
Kxh7 19.Rh3+ Kg8 20.Qh5 Bc5+ 21.Kh1 Kf8
Like a mobile quarterback, Black tries to roll out of the pocket.
22.Bg5
Keeping him in the box.
22...f6 23.exf6 Re7
Black's only chance for redemption.
24.fxe7+
I realized over the next several moves that there might be other wins, but I knew this was a key game and wanted a sure route.
24...Bxe7 25.Bxe7+ Kxe7 26.Rf3 Bd7 27.Rf7+ Kd8 28.Qh8+ Be8 29.Rxc7 Kxc7 30.Rxe6 Rd8
Because of the importance of the game, Seiden played on. It's over, though the mop-up operation was nice.
31.Qxg7+ Kc8 32.h3 Nd7 33.Rxc6+ Kb7 34.Rd6 Kc7 35.Rxa6 Kb7 36.Re6 Kc7 37.Nb5+ Kb7 38.Rxe8 Rxe8 39.Qxd7+ Kb6 40.Qxe8 Kc5 41.h4 Kb6 42.h5 Ka5 43.h6 Kb6 44.h7 Ka5 45.h8Q Kb6 46.Qc3 Kb7 47.Nd6+ Kb6 48.Qb5+ Ka7 49.Qa3# 1-0
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 This was a careless trade on her part; giving me the two bishops. 8.Nf3 Nc6 9.Bd3 Qd8 I wanted my queen on the queen side so I could create pressure on c3. 10.0-0 Be7 11.Re1 Qc7 12.Qe2 Bd7 13.Rad1 b5 14.a3 Bf6 Putting pressure on c3. 15.h3 Rc8 Putting even more pressure on the dark squares and c3. 16.Qd2 0-0 17.a4 Na7 I didn't trade because that would leave an isolated pawn on a6. 18.axb5 axb5 19.Rb1 Bxc3 20.Qxc3 Qxc3 21.bxc3 Rxc3 22.e5 d5 23.Ra1 Nc8 I don't want to give up the b-pawn. 24.Ra8 Bc6 25.Ra6 Bb7 26.Raa1 Rd8 27.Rec1 Bc6 28.Nd4 b4 29.Rab1 b3 I had nothing else to do with the b-pawn. 30.Nxc6 Rxc6 31.cxb3 Rxc1+ 32.Rxc1 Ne7 33.b4?
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33...Rb8 34.Rb1 Nc6 Fortunately, she falls right into a mini-fork winning a pawn. 35.b5 Nxe5 36.Be2 h6 37.g3 Kh7 38.b6 Nd7 Her passed pawn has passed away. 39.b7 Nc5 40.f4 Rxb7 41.Rxb7 Nxb7 The Rook trade was bad because I'm up pawns, so it's pretty much over at this point. 42.Bd3+ g6 43.Kf2 Kg7 44.Ke3 Nc5 45.Bb5 Ne4 46.g4 Kf6 47.Bd3 Nc5 48.Bc2 e5 49.h4 d4+ 50.Kf3 d3 51.Bd1 Ke6 52.Ke3 Kd5 53.Bf3+ e4 54.Bd1 f6 55.h5 gxh5 56.gxh5 f5 57.Kd2 Kd4 58.Ke1 Ke3 59.Kf1 Kxf4 I like this endgame myself! 60.Kf2 e3+ 61.Ke1 Ke4 62.Kf1 f4 63.Ke1 f3 64.Bxf3+ Kxf3 65.Kd1 Kf2 66.Kc1 e2 67.Kb2 e1Q 68.Ka3 Qc3+ 69.Ka2 Na4 70.Kb1 Qb2# 0-1
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bc4 e6 I was going to play a Dragon, but based on White's opening a Scheviningen or Najdorf looks better. 5.0-0 Be7 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 0-0 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.b3? a6 10.Qg3 Re8 11.Re1 Nc6 12.Nxc6 Qxc6 13.Rd1?
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13...b5 14.Bd3 Qxc3 15.Bd2 Qc6 16.Re1 Bb7 17.Bh6 g6 18.Bc1 Bf8 19.Bb2 Bg7 A Dragon after-all? 20.Qf3 Nd7 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.a4 Ne5 23.Qe3 Nxd3 24.Qxd3 f5 25.axb5 axb5 26.Qf3 Rxa1 27.Rxa1 Qxe4 28.Qxe4 Bxe4 My opponent should not have traded Queens, since I am up a Bishop. 29.Rc1 Rc8 30.c4 bxc4 31.Rxc4 Rxc4 32.bxc4 Bd3 33.g3 Bxc4 34.Kg2 e5 35.Kf3 d5 36.Ke3 d4+ 37.Kd2 e4 38.Ke1 Kf6 39.Kd2 Ke5 40.Ke1 f4 41.gxf4+ Kxf4 42.Kd2 Kf3 43.Ke1 e3 44.fxe3 Kxe3 45.h4 Be2 46.h5 d3 47.hxg6 d2# 0-1
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Bd3 Nbd7 7.Be3 e5 8.d5 a5 9.0-0 Nh5 10.Qd2 f5 I wanted to directly attack his King. 11.exf5 gxf5 12.Bc2 f4 13.Bxf4 exf4 14.g3 fxg3 15.fxg3 Rxf3 16.Rxf3 Qe7 17.Qe2 Bd4+ 18.Kf1 Ne5 19.Re1 Bh3+ 0-1
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.c3 Bd7 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Nce7 7.Bc4 Nf6 8.Nc3 Ng6 9.Bg5 Be7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Qd3 Bg4 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Qxf3 a6 14.Qd3 c6 15.a3 b5 16.Ba2 c5 17.f4 a5? 18.Nxb5 Rb8 19.a4 cxd4 20.Qxd4 Re8 21.Qc4! Rf8 22.Rad1 Rc8 23.Qb3 Nh5 24.Rxd6! Qe8 25.Bxe7 Qxe7 26.f5 Nh4 27.g3 Nxf5 28.exf5 Nf6 29.Qd3 Kh8 30.Qf3 Kg8 31.Rf2 Kh8 32.Re2 Rc1+ 33.Kg2 Rc2 34.Rxc2 Qe1 35.Rd1 Qb4 36.Rcd2 h6 37.Nc3 Kg8 38.Qf4 Qb7+ 39.Bd5 Qe7 40.Re2 Qa7 41.Nb5 Qb6 42.Qd6 Qxd6 43.Nxd6 g5 44.Bxf7+?! 44 fxg6 ep Nxd5 45 gxf7+ +- 44...Kg7 45.Re7 Kh7 46.Bg6+ Kh8 47.Rc1 Nd5 48.Rh7+ Kg8 49.Nf7 Nf6 50.Nxh6# 1-0
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Bc5 5.c3 0-0 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb6 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 d6 10.Re1 Bg4 11.h3 Bxd4 12.Bxc6 Bxb2 13.Bxb7 Rb8 14.hxg4 Rxb7 15.Nbd2 Bxa1 16.Qxa1 Re8 17.g5 hxg5 18.Bxg5 c5 19.Nh2 Qd7 20.Bxf6 gxf6 21.Qxf6 Qe6 22.Qg5+
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And White eventually won. 1-0
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.d3 Bc5 4.g3 c6 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.0-0 0-0 8.Qe1 Nbd7 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Bxf3 d4 11.Ne2 Qe7 12.Bd2 Qe6 13.Kg2 h5 14.h4 Ng4 15.Bxg4 hxg4 16.f3 Nf6 17.Bg5 Nh5 18.c4 f6 19.Bc1 f5 20.b4 Be7 21.Bb2 g5 22.hxg5 Bxg5 23.Rh1 gxf3+ 24.Kxf3 fxe4+ 25.Kg2 Nf6 26.dxe4 Nxe4 27.Qb1 Qf5 28.Rh5 Qf3+ 29.Kg1 Qxh5 30.Qxe4 Be3+ 31.Kg2 Rf2+ 32.Kg1 Qh2# 1-0
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 Bb4?! Loses time. 7.d3 h6 This move also wastes time. He should be developing more. 8.Bd2 Nd4 This gives me a free pawn, and also allows my Bg2 to be free. 9.Nxe5 d6 10.Nf3 Nxf3+ This is good for me, as now my bishop remains loose. 11.Bxf3 Seems like I have the time to snap off this pawn.... 11...Bh3 12.Re1 Ng4 13.Bxb7 Bxc3 14.Bxc3 Re8 15.Bg2 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 Re3 17.Qd2 Re7 18.Qf4 Qc8 19.Qd4 Qb7+ 20.f3 f6 21.Qxg4 Free Knight! 21...Rf8 22.Qf5 Rfe8 23.e4 a6 24.Qd5+ Qxd5 25.exd5 Re2+ 26.Rxe2 Rxe2+ 27.Kf1 Rxh2 28.Re1 Rh5 29.Kg2 Kh7 30.Re7 Rf5 31.Rxc7 Kg6 32.g4 Rf4 33.Kg3 Kg5 34.Bd2 1-0
The Franklin team came to Knoxville by car and by plane, some of us arriving on Thursday, April 24th, but some arriving Friday morning. The first round started Friday at 1:00, and the crunch of people at a tournament of 4,300 players and probably another 6,000 or more spectators/coaches was fantastic.
After the opening ceremonies, and before the first round, we got together for a few minutes, and talked about all the work we had done, all the hours of studying, and it was for this. We had finished fifth two years ago, third last year, and we told our team that this was our year. They still didn’t quite believe it, because the New York teams of Hunter College and Dalton Elementary are very formidable opponents. Hopefully, our preparation had been good enough that they could handle being in a race and take the prize when they had the chance.
We got off to a good start, with a 4-0 team score after round 1. We also managed to finish with a perfect second round. I went down to the tournament hall late that night, about 1:00 a.m., to get our pairings for the next morning. Sunil Weermantry, the coach of the Hunter team, was there, and he and I helped the TD’s put up the wall charts while we waited for pairings. Sunil and I had know neach other through a former shared student, Adam Lief, who eventually became a Senior Master and had won the U.S. Junior Open. When the team standings went up, Sunil looked at them and said "So it looks like it will be us and Dalton again, they had 7.5 and we have 7…." . His voice trailed off, and he said "So who’s this team with 8?" I shrugged my shoulders. "Ah, so it will be the three of us." said Sunil. Not wanting him to believe that, I just said, "My guys are beating fish. They can’t keep up this pace." We talked a little about how every scholastic tournament a team will have one so-so round and one horrible round in a seven round tournament like this. I hoped that we could avoid this.
We continued to set the pace Saturday morning with the next round, round 3, and actually started to distance ourselves from the pack a little. Our strategy was working, perhaps too well. Would the kids go from being disbelievers to being overconfident?
Before round four I gave another pep talk. It consisted of "Now do you believe!?" And for the first time in seven months, I knew that they did. We continued a good pace with round 4. Rokita was coming back, Bielski, Rasmussen and Piergalski were doing well, and Riddle and Leung still had perfect scores. Widing and Mueller both had reasonable scores, and were closely behind, in case our top players should stumble. The other teams had a great round four, while ours was only reasonable, a plus score. But we still had the lead, and we were playing very solidly.
Then came round five. We had hit the tough opposition as both Leung faced a 1700, and Riddle faced Eric Seiden, Hunter’s top board and the New York co-Champion. This game was very emotionally charged for me – my son against Sunil’s student, our chance for first place against their chance for first place.
And we dominated the round. Leung lost a tough game, but Riddle smashed Seiden with a strong piece sacrifice, and the rest of the team rolled. After five rounds we had our biggest lead of the tournament, 2.5 points, with only two rounds left. We would have a tough set of pairings on Sunday morning.
Late Saturday night I went to get the pairings, and Sunil was there. Always a gentleman, he very graciously congratulated me on Robert’s game, and said, "Your boy played a very fine game. He really played well." That meant a lot to me. I said: "We haven’t had our horrible round yet. If I have my choice, I hope its tomorrow morning, so we can have good pairings for the last round."
I hadn’t planned on being prophetic, but our fortunes of round five reversed in round six. Leung won, but nearly everyone else lost. Riddle played a tough game against Adam Maltese, the eventual tournament winner, but eventually lost. Leung and Riddle were now at five, and Bielski, Rokita, Rasmussen and Piergalski all had four.
Going into round 7, we had dropped into a tie for first, and our kids were depressed about the tough result from the round before. But, I told them, this is where we wanted to be, in the last round, close, with a chance to take first. Only it was even better, we were tied for first, and with maybe the easiest pairings of any team that round – and we had our depth. It was hard to imagine that we wouldn’t have at least four five point scores, so the real key was how well Leung and Riddle could do in the last round. ICA President Hector Hernandez came by to wish our team good luck.
The first result was that Leung drew. Then, Piergalski drew, finishing with 4.5. Bielski won, completing a nice turnaround from the State Championship, and finishing with 5 points. Rokita also won, as did Rasmussen, and they both also finished with 5. Widing and Mueller had also won to finish with plus scores at 4-0. Combined with Leung’s draw, our team now had at least 2.5 points out of 4 for the round. The other coaches knew this, knew of Riddle’s win over Seiden, and that we had told him to play for a win in this round and felt they couldn’t take any chances. Caissa smiled on us as they told their teams that draws didn’t help their team: everyone was playing for wins in the last round. And they all lost. Riddle had turned down a draw offer and had pushed for the win, only to lose.
Eventually we found that PS 116 also finished with 20, so the only question was Dalton. We watched the last Dalton player win his game, and followed him back to his coach. When we learned the results, we got our players together in our hotel room, and announced that we had finished ahead of Hunter, but had just watched the last Dalton player win his game – to pull them into 4th! We were the National Champs!
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