Mackenzie Molner NJ Champ!

Mackenzie Molner became the the NJ Open and NJ Champion this past Labor Day weekend by finishing with a 5-1 score, ahead of such notables as GM Michael Rohde, IM Dean Ippolito, former state champ Tom Bartell, IM Mikhail Zlotnikov and Dragan Milovanovic, all just a half-point behind.

The Open had 203 players participating in various class sections.

In the Under 1900 section, Paul Joseph and Steve Ferrero tied with Alex Katz, Steve Himel and Mackinley Tan at 4.5 points. The Under 1600 Section was also a multiple tie situation among John Mancuso, Ziping Liu, Eugene Shapiro, Tom Stanics, Dan Selyutin and Grant Oen.

Only two shared first prize in the Under 1200 section: Shivani Shanmugadas and Michael Yen.

Andy Chen ran away with the Under 900 section as did Josh Katz in the Under 500 section.

The Blitz championship was won by a 1668 rated player, Andrew Ding, ahead of several higher rated players.

Ken Thomas directed the event, the seventh such Chief TD/Organizer experience with the NJ Open. He enthusiastically credits his assistant TDs Noreen Davisson and Aaron Kiedes with being key in having the event go so smoothly.

The best game prize was another shared opportunity. Fred Wilson was the judge and awarded the prizes to Larry Dulany and GM Michael Rohde. They should contact Roger Inglis for the $50 each they will receive.

Fred Wilson sent us the games with some comments, which we give here below:

Larry Dulany - Dario Dell'orte, Pirc Defense, 8/30/08, NJ Open (under 1900 section). Shared "Best Played Game Prize" with GM Mike Rohde, decided by Fred Wilson.
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Bg5 Bg7 5. f4 h6 6. Bh4 c6 7. Nf3 Bg4? 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 b5?? 10. e5! dxe5 11. dxe5 Nh7 12. Bxb5 Qb6 13. Nd5!! Qa5+ 14. b4 Qd8 15. Nxe7 g5 16. Nxc6 Nxc6 17. Bxc6+ Ke7 18. Bf2 f5 19. Bc5+ Kf7 20. Bd5+ Kg6 21. Qh5+! 1-0 A REAL "CROWD PLEASER"!!

IM Dean Ippolito - GM Michael Rohde, Nimzo-Indian, Classical/Capablanca Variation, NJ Open, 9/1/08. Shared "Best Played Game Prize" with Larry Dulany, decided by Fred Wilson.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. dxc5 O-O 6. Nf3 Na6 7. c6?! (according to Dean, a recent idea by Morozevic--Rohde was not very impressed) 7...bxc6 (How can it be bad to have a majority of pawns in the center?, said Rohde) 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. Qxc3 Nc5 10. Qc2 a5 11. Be3 Qe7 12. g3 Ng4 13. Bg5 f6 14. Bd2 d5 15. Bg2 Ne4 16. O-O Qc5! 17. Bb4?! (this is not really good & Mike expected either 17. Be1 or 17. e3, though Black is fine) axb4 18. axb4 Qxf2+! 19. Rxf2 Rxa1+ 20. Rf1 Ne3 21. Qd3? (21. Qb3! and it's still a game though Black is better) Nxf1 22. Bxf1 e5 23. Nh4 (forced, because 23. Kg2? loses to 23...Bh3+!, which is why White's queen shouldn't be on d3) Bh3 24. Ng2 Rfa8 25. e3 Rc1 26. cxd5 Raa1 27. dxc6 (hopeless, but there was nothing to be done) Rxf1+ 28. Qxf1 Rxf1+ 29. Kxf1 Nd6 30. Kf2 Bxg2 31. Kxg2 Kf7 32. c7 Ke6 33. b5 Kd7 34. b6 Kc6 35. Kf3 Kxb6 0-1

Mackenzie Molner - Daniel Yeager, Naidorf Sicilian, NJ Open, 9/1/08 (6th round)--the game which gave Molner the title of NJ State Champion.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Nbd7 8. Bc4 b5 9. Bxe6!? (Molner said Black is probably OK after this but he figured Yeager hadn't ever analysed this position) fxe6 10. Nxe6 Qa5 11. Qd4! Kf7? (this is bad and Black needs to find an improvement here--maybe 11... h6 or 11...Bb7!?--FW) 12. Bxf6 Nxf6 13. b4! Qa3 14. Ng5+ Ke8 15. O-O h6 16. e5! dxe5 17. Qxe5+ Be7 18. Rab1! (Black's queen is trapped!) hxg5 19. Rfe1 Ra7 20. Rb3 Qxb3 21. axb3 1-0 Perhaps a tiny bit early but his position is hopeless.