Another action packed Tuesday Night Action, with the final results leaving everyone with a déjà vu type of feeling. First we broke the attendance record with a grand total of 18 players (19 counting Ron Young’s last round filler game). This led to record prizes with first prize being over $300! The two newcomers to the event were IM Irina Krush and Adam Robinson. This week I’m going to give some play by play action to some people who were asking for it. Maybe in future weeks Ill have some game scores of interesting games and will send those out as well.

ROUND 1

This round featured some upsets as Yudasin gave Lew Eisen a “puncher’s chance” and Eisen capitalized. Meanwhile on board three I blundered terribly in an endgame up 2 pawns versus Milman. In the end he had to mate me with bishop+knight vs king, with only 15 seconds on his clock (with time delay), but was able to do it fairly easily. Meanwhile last time I had to do it, it took me 45 moves, with 20 minutes on my clock. Furdzik held Krush to a draw and the other favorites (Novikov, Lapshun, D’Arruda, Sarkar and Stein) all won.

ROUND 2

This round marked the entrance of Donny Ariel and GM Alexander Stripunsky, thus bringing the total of players to 18. Stein was able to neutralize Novikov with the black pieces on board one. On board 2 there was a bishops of opposite colored ending, that eventually ended up drawn between Sarkar and Lapshun. D’Arruda brought Eisen back to Earth on 3rd board as he got a better ending with black and was able to convert. On board 4 Stripunsky won very quickly against Milman, as he hung some mate trick. So after Round 2 D’Arruda was the only perfect score.

ROUND 3

Novikov beat D’Arruda in a long game, which I missed entirely as I left to go eat pizza when Jay Bonin crushed me in 16 moves. Krush beat Lapshun on board 2 in a very interesting endgame. Meanwhile Alan Stein, the ex DENKER Champ fresh out of California, knocked off Stripunsky, giving him joint first place with Novikov and Krush.

ROUND 4

In the big money game on board 1, Novikov played his typical technical slightly better position and eventually wore down Irina’s defenses to finish with 3.5/4, thus giving him clear first place for the second consecutive week. The only player who could tie Novikov was Alan Stein, but faced with the black pieces against Yudasin this was not an easy task. Yudasin took home the point and clear 2nd with ¾. Bonin and D’Arruda had a chance to tie for 2nd with Yudasin, but both sides missed some winning chances and the game ended peacefully. Lapshun beat Stripunsky on board 4, and claimed that this was the first GM he had beaten in 2 years! Amazing for a player with Lapshun’s strength and rating. Also joining the massive tie for 3rd place was Donny Ariel, who defeated Sarkar with the black pieces. Milman tied as well with his traditional last round bye. Below is the crosstable and the prizes.

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8th New York Masters Action USA (USA), 7 v 2002
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                                           1   2   3   4  Total
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   1. Novikov, Igor A  g   2682 + 8 = 7 + 6 + 5   3.5  ($310)
   2. Yudasin, Leonid  g   2672 -11 +17 +13 + 7   3.0  ($160)
   3. Lapshun, Yury    f   2450 +14 =13 - 5 +12   2.5  ($15)
   4. Ariel, Donny     f   2436 =   - 5 +18 +13   2.5  ($15)
   5. Krush, Irina     m   2427 =16 + 4 + 3 - 1   2.5  ($15)
   6. D'Arruda, R      f   2414 +17 +11 - 1 = 8   2.5  ($15)
   7. Stein, Alan      f   2384 +19 = 1 +12 - 2   2.5  ($15)
   8. Bonin, Jay R     m   2390 - 1 +19 +10 = 6   2.5  ($15)
   9. Milman, Lev          2283 +10 -12 +11 =     2.5  ($15)
  10. Shahade, Greg    m   2549 - 9 +16 - 8 +18   2.0
  11. Eisen, Lewis         2307 + 2 - 6 - 9 +16   2.0
  12. Stripunsky, A    g   2630 =   + 9 - 7 - 3   1.5
  13. Sarkar, Justin   m   2419 +18 = 3 - 2 - 4   1.5
  14. Privman, Boris   f   2257 - 3 -18 =16 +17   1.5
  15. Young, Ronald    f   2272 --- --- --- +19   1.0
  16. Furdzik, Rafal       2224 = 5 -10 =14 -11   1.0
  17. Pader, Douglas       2218 - 6 - 2 +19 -14   1.0
  18. Robinson, Adam       2202 -13 +14 - 4 -10   1.0
  19. Corbblah, Jonathan   1950 - 7 - 8 -17 -15   0.0

1st Place - $310
2nd Place - $160
3rd Place - $85