Dutchmen finish fifth in Capital District Chess League tourney
Aaron defeats long-time dominant player
By Peter Henner
The Schenectady A team has won the 2010 Capital District Chess League team tournament, with a final record of 6 ½ - ½, giving up a draw in its match against Saratoga A, while defeating its archrival, Albany A.
In the decisive match, the Capital District’s newest master (having achieved a rating of over 2200), Deepak Aaron, defeated Matthew Katrein, who has been the dominant chess player in the Capital District for more than 30 years, to lead his team to a 3-1 match victory. For many years, Katrein was the highest rated player and the only rated master in the area; in the 1980s, he was joined by Steve Taylor, who plays first board for Saratoga A, as the only local players over 2300.
Aaron also drew Taylor, in the Schenectady-Saratoga match.
Second place will go to the winner of the match between Albany A team (with one loss), and Saratoga A, which gave up an upset draw to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in addition to its draw against Schenectady A.
Dutchmen fifth
The Guilderland Dutchmen lost their last match against Schenectady A to finish with a record of 3-4, for fifth place in the eight-team league. John Morse completed a fine showing as the team’s first board by drawing Aaron to finish with a record of three wins, two draws and one loss, while Art Alowitz lost a tough game against another rising high-school star, Patrick Chi, on third board. On second board, I sacrificed a pawn for interesting attacking possibilities against Phil Sells, but eventually lost, while Chuck Eson lost against John Barnes, who is rated about 1,000 points higher.
The local chess blog of the Eastern New York Chess Association, enyca.blogspot.com, commenting on the reforming of the Albany Chess club, which meets Wednesday nights at the Hamilton Union Presbyterian Church in Guilderland, characterized the Guilderland team as “the second team of the Albany chess club,” and expressed the thought that next year, the teams may be more “rationally” named.
It remains to be seen whether we will be able to maintain a distinct Guilderland team next year, or whether we will simply become part of Albany.