The Charter School of Wilmington brought four chess club members to Salesianum High School on Friday, May 13, 2005 to take on the top 4 Sallies players. The Charter Force took the overall victory on the day by a score of 3 wins to 1 loss after two and a half hours of fighting chess. The individual game results were:
Chase Butler (CSW) defeated Bill Frame (Sallies) in what was expected to be the biggest battle of the event but turned out to only last 10 moves as Bill obviously and uncharacteristically blundered in the opening!
Ben Riblett (CSW) defeated Ted Geneva (Sallies) in what started out looking ominous for black (Riblett). Unfortunately, Geneva blundered away his queen on move 9 when he didn’t realize a pinned piece was no longer pinned. Obviously, the game took a decided turn from there. It was very disappointing because the position they had reached prior to losing the queen was quite interesting, as our post game analysis showed.
Matt Fendt (Sallies) defeated Matt Borowski (CSW) in a 149 move marathon where both players seemed resistant to offering a draw, claiming a three position repetition or claiming the 50-move rule. Borowski decided to go for a risky move that finally cost him the game.
Phil Saponaro (CSW) defeated Joe Savage (Sallies) in what probably turned out to be the most interesting game of the match. This was a classic full of good moves and blunders and one dubious sacrifice by Savage that showed daring and vision - a move most young players would never have even considered. Phil found a solid enough defense that tested Savage’s ability to make the most of his sacrifice but, unfortunately, Joe played the wrong move and Phil went on to take back control in a game that changed hands repeatedly. You can view this game, along with some annotations, by going to http://www.delawarechess.org/chessviewer/cswsallies.htm
Another great chess day for two schools. We all look forward to a scholastic league next year!