Hello Chess Fans,

The 2011 Utah Chess TEAM Tournament will be noted as the most successful, and highly attended USCF rated TEAM event in the history of Utah !!!!! 85 players total, some from as far away as Price, Moab, St. George, and Las Vegas! There were many reasons for this amazing turn-out: A FIDE Master, willing to step in and play, thereby giving a few lucky players a shot at the highest rated player that lives in Utah. People going out of their way to "recruit" teammates. Consistent advertising. The UCA setting the TEAM tournament up as a "booster" event, in order to attract new players. Chess playing families,, some experienced veterans,, some new! Great college advisers from the U. of U.,, BYU,,, and persistent recruiting by UVU. Steve Gordon, who brought a team from Mt. Jordan Middle School. Tom Debord who brought 15 brand new players to the tournament (plus one re-newing player),,, all from Newman Elementary!

However, if YOU were there,, and you were ready to play,,, then YOU are responsible for the outstanding level of participation at this year's Utah Team Chess Championship !!!

Here is a Top Ten re-cap of the tournament.

10. A special Thank You to the Black family, the Troff family, and Grant Hodson,,,, for sticking around and helping out with some long-term clean-up. That sets the stage for this little blurb: Very early on in the clean-up process, I had removed the trash sack from the Men's restroom, which was packed and overflowing. After replacing it with a new sack, I then wiped down the sink,,, and threw that ONE paper towel into the new, clean sack. A few minutes later,,, one of the people from the above list,, who had removed the sack from the Ladies restroom, decided to go in and remove the sack in the Men's room. Now, mind you, they had NO idea that I had already emptied the sack in there. So in they go, with every expectation of finding an even fuller sack than what they had just removed from the Ladie's room, and much to their surprise find a sack with ONE single paper towel in it. Well,,,,, at the end of a very long day, there was only one conclusion to draw from this unusual evidence.

A cry went out,,,,,, " GROSS,,,, this bathroom was used HUNDREDS of times today,,, and only one guy washed their hands!!!" Let's just say, that a genuine laugh was enjoyed by all.

9. Fully 1/4 of the entire list of players, were brand new USCF members. Thank you to Steve Gordon, and to Tom Debord, for bringing their young players, and introducing them to the ups and downs of tournament chess.

8. A shout out to Don Haley, who went out of his way to create Trophies that would have fit right in with awards that are presented at national level events.

7. Here are the category results. IN the U-1400 Section, the Briseno Family took home the Best Family medals. Newman Elementary found themselves at the top of the Elementary category! Mt. Jordan Middle School wins the Jr. High award. The Knightmares win the High School prize. The Jimmer Jammers were the best Club Team. U. of U. "B" takes Top College! In the Open Section,, the Black Family won the Best Family prize ( there were no complete "family" teams, but the Blacks had 4 family members on hand to play !!!). The Maverick Knights (from Las Vegas) took Top High School. BYU took Top College! Coffee Club "A" won Top Club,,, (more about them later).

6. Here are the Top Board prizes. In the U-1400 Section, new player Robert McKay was the Top Board 3 with four points. Eliza McIntosh takes home the Tob Board 2 trophy by going 4-0. New player Craig Jewkes from Mt. Jordan Middle School wins the Top Board 1 Award. In the Open Section, Jose Garcia (who now joins the "1700" club) wins the Top Board 3 trophy on tie-breaks over John Coffee,, both scored 3.5/4. Antonio Padron earns the Board Two Award for scoring 3.5 out of 4 games played. And the winner of the Top Board 1 Prize,, also scoring 3.5/4 is Steve Gordon!

5. Not only did we have a GREAT turnout,, we had a STRONG turnout. With one FIDE Master (Kayden Troff), 3 Candidate Masters (Harold Stevens, Frank Flynn, and Steve Gordon), and 3 Experts ( Randy Zumbrunnen, Reigning State Champion Damian Nash, and Scott Treiman), we had a top 7 list could easily belong on a Regional Team event,,,, but we were sure glad to have them join us and play in SLC.

4. Travelers! As mentioned above,,, we had a fair number of players travel long distances to be part of this great tournament. Dean Hull from Price, Bryon Doyle and Antonio Padron from St. George, and Cameron Patterson, Harrison Stanton, and Jonathan Mikolic made the drive from Las Vegas. The Senile Moab Troglodytes deserve special mention. Damian Nash and Harold Stevens made their way in from Moab, to join their Salt Lake area teammate Frank Flynn. What a strong team it is, when the current State Champion is playing on board 3 !!!!!!!!!!

3. As mentioned at the tournament, JD Smith held a mega-round Blitz Tournament at his house after the TEAM Championship,,, and we're still not sure exactly how he did it,, but somehow, JD won the tournament by a wide margin over the clearly tired and exhausted field of competitiors!

2. Upsets Galore! Individual Upsets: Ed Hartley wins vs. a player rated 300 points higher! Jonathan Mikolic ( Las Vegas ),, earns a 371 point upset. David Catalini scores an upset at the 401 point range! Andrew Stock almost scores a 500 point upset (495) !!! TEAM Upsets: The Sultans of Zugzwang overcame the powerful Dream Teens. Steve Hoisington found himself in a middle game with opposite color bishops, and just couldn't quite reach the endgame quickly enough to avoid Kayden's persistent attack. David Vasquez and Scott Treiman reached a Rook and Pawn vs. Rook ending,, with David having the winning chances,, and Scott having very little time on his clock. Scott did as well as any Chess Expert could, but ultimately, David hung tough, and earned the full point. Tim Stakland and Alex Gustafsson squared off on board 3, and although I did not see it,,, my understanding is that the game was over with "somewhat early" with Tim earning the victory.

Now, I would like to write about "the" upset. Anybody writing an article about such matters has to be somewhat careful treading these waters,,, so here it is, from my own "recollection". In round 3, Coffe Club "B" sat down to play The Dream Teens. Now certainly, before the tournament, this would have been considered an unlikely pairing for the penultimate round,,, but such was the case. On Board One, Shahram Nazarinia (1779) sat down to play FM Kayden Troff (2387). Shahram had white,,, and by the time I had a chance to look at the game,, I saw one of those positions that was so interesting, so complicated,,, and so "edgy",, that it made me TRULY glad that I was not one of those players sitting there trying to figure everything out. At some point, Kayden "sacrificed" his queen (knowing full well he would get it back the next move). But after all of these exchanges, Shahram was up a pawn (although his extra pawn was doubled),, and eventually he ended up with enough of an attack against Kayden's king that Shahram offered Kayden a chance to "win" a piece. Kayden, wisely decided not to accept the Trojan Horse,, as it would have led to a forced mate for Shahram. So, after much maneuvering,, Shahram's pressure eventually led to a position where another one of Kayden's pawns would have to be lost,,, and just like that pawn,,,, so went the game. This was a game of chess, where a LOT of credit has to be given to BOTH players. Even though he was probably stinging inside,,, Kayden handled the loss with a level of maturity that we all might like to display, were we to ever find ourselves in that type of situation. Suffice it to say that Shahram was as happy as happy can be, and deservedly so, for playing a GREAT game against a great player. Congratulations to Kayden,,,, and Congratulations to Shahram !!!!!

1. The final TEAM Results !!! In the U-1400 section, there was a tie for 2nd place, between U. of U. "B" (Jeff Scott, Taylor Child, Ali Momeni) and the Knightmares, a H.S. Team with (Joseph Blanton, Seth Callister, and Robert Mckay,,, who by making it through the day undefeated, ends up with a provisional rating of "2008" !!!!! ). Both of these 2nd place teams scored 3/4. The winners of the U-1400 section were,,, "The Wheelies"! (Joshua Haley, Eliza McIntosh, Gatlin Black) The Wheelies made it through the tournament "unscathed" as a team to finish with a perfect 4-0 !!

In the OPEN Section, there was a 3-way tie for 2nd place. In Tie-Break order,,, The Rookies ( Michael Parsons, Bryan Leano, Jose Garcia ),,, The Dream Teens ( Kayden Troff, Scott Treiman, Alex Gustafsson ),,, and the Sultans of Zugzwang ( Steve Hoisington, David Vasquez, and Tim Stakland). All of these Teams scored 3 points.

The 2011 Utah TEAM Chess Champions are the players form Coffee Club "A" !!! ( Steve Gordon, Randy Zumbrunnen, John Coffey, and Grant Hodson as this team's alternate for the first 2 rounds ). John Coffee has had a knack for consistently forming strong teams over the years, and then adding to their success by performing very well himself. This team, Coffee Club "A", also made it through the entire tournament without giving up a loss, or even a draw, to finish with a perfect 4-0,,, which is not an easy thing to do in the OPEN section. For their efforts, each of these players took home enough prize money to retire on.

Congratulations to the champions,,, and a genuine THANK YOU to each and every one of you who made this 2011 Utah TEAM Chess Championship such a tremendous success.

Yours in Chess,

Morry