11th David Mote Memorial

This past weekend, I played in the 11th David Mote Memorial in Springfield, IL. The turnout was actually quite good for a local downstate event as 40 participants showed up to compete.

Unfortunately, there were four undefeated scores headed into the final round and so I was unable to play the only other player above 2000, but I did have an interesting position in round 3 against Shawn Rhoney:

Karagianis-Rhoney, Rd. 3 11th David Mote Memorial. Position after 18. Rc7

Here, I saw that black could safely play

18. ...Nf6! leaving the queen en prise...

...which he did! The point is that after 19. Rxe7 Rxd1+ 20. Bf1 Bh3 Black's attack looks extremely scary. However, I correctly calculated during the game that I could in fact take the queen, for example after 20. ...Bh3 the game can go on: 21. Qe2! (the only defense, and white is playing for a better endgame). 21. ...Rxf1+ 22. Qxf1 Bxf1 23. Kxf1 and white's active rook should give an edge.

However, I felt I had a solid position and didn't want to simplify. Instead I played:

19. Rxd8

19. Rdc1 happened to be best.

19. ...Qxd8 20. Qc2

And after a short tactical sequence, the game soon found itself into a better endgame for white, which I was able to convert in time pressure.

My next tournament will be the 50th Anniversary of the Greater Peoria Open (http://www.peoriaopen.org/)