Wachusett Chess Club
George Mirijanian
Bruce Felton of Fitchburg won the 2004 Wachusett CC Championship, held April 28-June 9 at First Church Unitarian Universalist in Leominster. The 51-year-old Class A player scored 5-1 (four wins, two draws) to finish a half-point ahead of his closest rivals, George Mirijanian of Fitchburg and George O'Rourke of Concord. The round-robin tournament started out with eight players, but it was reduced to seven after 2003 club champion Philip Leasure of Gardner withdrew following his loss to Felton in the third round. Felton and Mirijanian, who drew each other in Round 4, were the only undefeated players. Larry Gladding of Leominster directed.
George Mirijanian won the Tigran Petrosian Memorial Blitz tournament on June 16 with a score of 10.5-1.5. Tied for 2nd-3rd place with 7.5-4.5 tallies were Bruce Felton and Mike Filippone of Sterling. Capturing fourth place with a 7-5 score was Gary Brassard of Leominster. Martin Laine of Lunenburg took fifth position with a score of 6.5-5.5. The double round-robin 5-minute tournament honored the memory of world champion Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian, who was born 75 years ago (June 17, 1929) in Tbilisi, Georgia, and died 20 years ago (Aug. 13, 1984) in Moscow -approximately two and a half years after he put on a simultaneous exhibition at the Wachusett Chess Club in Fitchburg in February 1982.
Larry Gladding won the 2004 Wachusett CC ‘B’ Championship on June 30 after finishing with a score of 8.5-1.5 in a 17-player Swiss tournament held in two parts, consisting of five rounds each. Paul Giovino of Lunenburg captured second place with a 6.5-3.5 tally, while Tom Fratturelli and Brian Biglow, both of Leominster, tied for 3rd-4th place with 6-4 scores. Deadlocked in 5th-6th place with 5.5-4.5 results were Michael Meehan and Dave Couture, both of Westminster.
Larry Gladding and Tom Fratturelli tallied 4-1 to share top honors in the Harlow B. Daly Memorial tournament, held July 7-August 4. Club champion Bruce Felton scored 3.5-1.5 to tie for 3rd-4th place with Kenneth Gurge of Leominster. Deadlocked in 5th-6th place with 3-2 performances were George Mirijanian and Paul Giovino. Tied for 7th-10th place with 2.5-2.5 scores were Gary Brassard, Michael Meehan, Brian Biglow and Matthew Migliozzi of Fitchburg. Larry Gladding directed. Going into the final round, Felton was leading the field of 20 players with a score of 3.5-0.5, but then he was upset by Class C participant Fratturelli while Gladding defeated Class A rival Brassard:
White: Larry Gladding (1812)
Black: Gary Brassard (1871)
Round 5, August 4, 2004
[A 15] English Opening
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 b6
Alexander Alekhine, commenting on his simultaneous exhibition game played (as Black) in March 1929 in New York against consulting players Alex Kevitz and Albert Pinkus, wrote of this move: "One of the different ways of meeting adequately White's opening play. Black intends herewith to transform the game into a typical Queen's Indian Defense. 3.g3 Bb7 4.Bg2
Alekhine continues: "Allowing Black to choose a more aggressive form of development. Instead, 4.d4 e6 5.Bg2, etc. would lead to well-known variations. 4...e6
Here Brassard departs from Alekhine's continuation, 4...e5, which he played against Kevitz and Pinkus and comments as follows: "This move has its advantages and defects, for the center pawn may become exposed. Still, the experiment was worth trying since not much risk is attached to it."
5.0-0 Be7 6.b3 0-0 7.Bb2 c5 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.e4 e5 10.d3 d6 11.Nd5 Bc8 12.Ne3 Be6 13.Ng5 Qd7 14.Nxe6 fxe6 15.Bh3 Bd8 16.f4 exf4 17.gxf4 Qf7 18.Kh1 e5 19.f5 Qh5 20.Bg4 Nxg4 21.Nxg4 Kh8 22.Qf3 Bf6 23.Qg2 Rf7 24.Rf3 R7f8 25.Rh3 Qf7 26.Rf1 g6??
This blunder costs Black the game.
27.fxg6 Qxg6 28.Rh6 Qg5 29.Bc1 Qg7 30.Rfxf6 Rxf6 31.Nxf6 Qxg2+ 32.Kxg2 Kg7 33.Nd5 Kg8?? 34.Rxd6 and White eventually won on the 49th move. 1-0
The tournament honored the memory of two-time Massachusetts state champion Harlow Bussey Daly, who died 25 years ago (July 8, 1979) at age 95 in Framingham. A large collection of his games on index cards in his own handwriting is kept on file in the archives of the Boylston Chess Club in Somerville. A tribute to Daly was published in the October-November 1979 issue of Chess Horizons.
(Article by George Mirijanian from "Chess Horizons" magazine.)