Portland Chess Club Centennial ends today

On Board 1, Howard Chen and Georgi Orlov wish each other good luck to start round 4 of the Portland CC Centennial

Round 6 starts at 5 p.m. today.

Click here for results in the Championship section through round 5.

Click here for results in the Amateur section through round 5.

The Championship pairings for round 6 are here

The Amateur pairings for round 6 are here

Round 5 started at 10 a.m. today.

The Championship pairings for round 5 are here.

The Amateur pairings for round 5 are here.

USCF Master Steven Breckenridge ponders his next move during round 3 of the Portland Chess Club Centennial

Oregon co-champion Steven Breckenridge received the $100 "most interesting game" prize for his effort against Steven Deeth at the 2011 Oregon Closed Championship which was held at the Portland Chess Club this past February. The game was selected by GM Susan Polgar from among the six best games nominated by the players themselves. Susan analyzed the game on a demonstration board during her well attended breakfast meeting held this morning before the start of round 5.

Breckenridge,S (2211) - Deeth,S (2086) [B22]
Oregon Closed Portland OR (6)
February 20,2011
1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nf3 e6 6.Bc4 Nb6 7.Bb3 d6 8.exd6 Nc6 9.cxd4 Qxd6 10.0-0 Nb4 11.Nc3 Bd7 12.Ne4 Qc7 13.Bg5 Bc6 14.Rc1 Be7 15.Ne5 Rd8 16.Qg4 Bxg5 17.Nxg5 Rd7 18.Bxe6 fxe6 19.Qh5+ Ke7 20.Nxe6 Kxe6 21.Rfe1 Kd6 22.Nc4+ Nxc4 23.Qc5# 1-0

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Here are three game scores from GM Susan Polgar's 10-board clock simul. She scored a perfect 10-0-0. Many thanks to Chuck Schulien for taking the time to go over these games.

1) Polgar,Susan - Schoffstall,Karl [D09]
simul, 13.08.2011
[Schulien,Charles]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.g3 Nge7 Morozevich's move, which led to a small comeback for this opening. 6.Bg2 Ng6 7.Bf4 Bg4 8.Nbd2 Qd7 9.Qb3 Bb4 10.0-0 a5 11.c5 a4 12.Qc2 h5 13.Ne4 a3 14.Rad1 Bf5 15.bxa3 Rxa3 16.Nxd4 Nxd4 17.Qc4 Nxf4 18.gxf4 Nxe2+ 19.Qxe2 Qa4 20.Rd4 Rxa2 21.Rxb4 Qxb4 22.Qxa2 0-0 23.Qb1 1-0

(2) Polgar,Susan - Breckenridge,Steven [E14]
simul, 13.08.2011
[Schulien,Charles]
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 b6 4.Bd3 Bb7 5.c4 c5 6.0-0 Be7 7.Nc3 cxd4 8.exd4 d5 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Ne5 0-0 Rather bad luck, or just lack of knowledge of his opponent, led Steven to this position. Susan has played it at least 5 times in tournaments, including a win against Karpov in the Amber blindfold event, and a draw with Jan Timman. No wonder she makes this game look easy, despite facing a strong young master in a simul! 11.Qg4 f5 12.Qe2 Bf6 13.Bd2 a6 14.Rac1 Re8 15.Bc4 Nd7 16.f4 Nb8 17.Be3 Qd6 18.Nxd5 Bxd5 19.Bxd5 Qxd5 20.Rc7 Bd8 21.Qh5 Rf8 22.Rf7 Qd6 23.Rc1 Bf6 24.Rcc7 Qd8 25.Rxf8+ Qxf8 26.Qf3 1-0

(3) Polgar,Susan - Sun,Maxwell [C45]
simul, 13.08.2011
[Schulien,Charles]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nxc6 Qf6 6.Qf3 Qxf3 7.gxf3 bxc6 8.Bd2 Bd4 9.c3 Bf6 10.Na3 Rb8 11.0-0-0 Ne7 12.f4 d6 13.Re1 0-0 14.h4 g6 15.h5 gxh5 16.Rxh5 Bg7 17.Bd3 Ng6 18.Reh1 Bg4 19.Rxh7 Bf3 20.R1h2 Bg4 21.Nc4 f5 22.Na5 Rb6 23.Bc4+ d5 24.exd5 Kf7 25.dxc6+ Kf6 26.Be3 Rd8 27.Bd4+ Rxd4 28.cxd4 Nf8 29.Rh8 Bxh8 30.Rxh8 Ng6 31.Rh7 Nxf4 32.Rxc7 Ne2+ 33.Bxe2 Bxe2 34.Rxa7 Ra6 35.Rxa6 Bxa6 36.Nb3 Ke7 37.Nc5 Bc8 38.b4 Kd6 39.b5 Kc7 40.a4 Kb6 41.Kb2 f4 42.Kb3 Kc7 43.a5 1-0

2011 Portland Chess Club Centennial (5)
David Hendricks (1548) vs. Randall Smolensky (1859)
August 14, 2011
1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 e6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bd3 Nbd7 5. Nf3 c5 6. c3 c4 7. Bc2 Be7 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. Ne5 g6 10. h4 h5 11. Qf3 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Ng4 13. Qg3 Qb6 14. Rb1 Kg7 15. Ke2 Bc5 16. Nf3 Be7 17. Nd4 Bd7 18.f3 Nh6 19. Qh3 Rh8 20. g4 hxg4 21. fxg4 Qd8 22. Rbg1 Qb6 23. Bg5 Bxg5 24. hxg5 Nf5 25. Qf3 Qxb2 26. gxf5 exf5 27. Kd2 b5 28. Qxd5 b4 29.Qxd7 Qxc3+ 30. Ke2 Rae8 31. Rxh8 Rxe5 32.Rh7+ 1-0

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Blitz Tournament Coverage:
Saturday's 16-round blitz tournament was won by Nick Raptis with 13 points, 1/2 point ahead of Bindi Cheng. John Donaldson was third in the 24-player side event. Click here to see the final crosstable.

A special ceremony was held prior to round four to present 2011 Orgeon Senior co-champions, Mike Janniro and Steven Deeth, with their trophies. Mrs. Irene Hall, widow of Dr. Ralph L. Hall, who died earlier this year, made the presentations.
Left to right are Steven Deeth, Mrs. Irene Hall (widow of Dr. Ralph Hall) and Mike Janniro. Deeth and Janniro are 2011 Oregon Senior co-champions.

Thanks to Andrei Botez for taking the photos in today's blog update.