Southern Illinois Summer Open

The Southern Illinois Summer Open saw a small but enthusiastic group of 16 players on August 17 at the Community Center in Salem. 3 rounds were fought in Swiss format without sudden-death, with only one draw in 23 games. Crosstable

The big surprise was the performance by Edward Baur (St Louis, MO), who went 3-0 with considerably higher rated opponents, only 2-1/2 months after heart surgery. A well-known and popular youth chess coordinator, Ed gained 119 USCF rating points in this event. He was joined in a 3-0 score by Rodney Vaughn (St. Louis).

Other prizewinners were Jacob Evans (Granite City), Mike Devilbiss (Centralia) Terry Fathauer (Fordsville, KY) and Carl Purcell (Salem), who shared the B/C prize with 2 points. John Bean (Belleville) won the D/E/Unr prize, also with 2 points.

The event, one of two held each year here by the Southern Illinois Chess League, was organized by Carl Purcell, and directed by Jim Davies (St. Louis). The event features playing conditions popularized by the late Mark Oestreich (Centralia). Our next tournament will be the 12^th annual Oestreich memorial, to be held early in March.

In this crucial game, White exploits loose play by Black to obtain two passed Q-side pawns before the 30^th move. Black responds with an energetic exchange sacrifice trying to obtain an ending where his strong Bishop pair has excellent drawing chances. White returns the exchange to obtain a tricky ending. Black’s Bishop and a passed h-Pawn try to keep the White Knight corralled until the extra pawns finally decide.