A Fun Seth Homa Simil .....and Casual Chess on 082216 Monday

Seth Homa in his LCCC shirt ant cap before the simil!

Sorry for the lack of articles lately. Sometimes life gets in the way of chess. But the lack of posting does not mean a lack of activity at LCCC.

On August 15th the members of LCCC were treated to a fun night of chess as FIDE Master Seth Homa stopped by to give a similtaneous chess exhibition. As always, Seth was a gracious player and even allowed 3 passes per player to allow them to think a little longer. Later in the simil he allowed the players take as long as they wanted to move. Everyone tried to move in a reasonable amount of time, but it is difficult to do when you are trying to hold on against one of the very best players in Michigan!

Seth disposed of eight of his nine opponents - with only Vince Valente holding Seth to a draw! This was no fluke as Seth was held to a draw by Vince about two years ago when Seth did his first simil here at LCCC!

According to Vince the game was eerily similar with Seth getting an opening advantage, then Vince sacrificing a pawn to at least giving himself some play. Seth admitted to a blunder a short time after that - and the game ended fairly in a draw.

Now that I tempted you with this game - IT WILL BE annotated and posted here! Just as soon as LCCC's resident Expert - Jason Morris gets back from vacation, he will post it here. Your humble scribe will let the Expert handle this game for our readers.

On August 22, we had a casual chess night and eight players showed up for that. We even got a new member to our club as Sam G. stopped by for the first time! Welcome Sam!

We will have another casual chess night on August 29th. Some of us will use that night to do some final preparations for the Michigan Open chess tournament being played over the Labor Day weekend.

It will be held at the Detroit Marriott Livonia - 17100 Laurel Park Drive. You have your choice of a 4 day event, a 3 day event or just a 2-day event. Either way, state titles are on the line as well has chess club honors!

LCCC has finished no worse than 4th in Club points in this event and would love to finish 1st this year!  

Black to move and win!

Be sure to register for this tournament by clicking on the Michigan Chess links on the right side of this blog. Or at least stop by to see the great chess action and check out the latest in chess books and equipment at the local sellers that will be at the event.

Here is your puzzle to help you prep for the upcoming State tournament!

Black to move and win!