'04 Tarrant County Championship

The 2004 Tarrant County Championship was held in North Richland Hills, Texas on Saturday October 23, 2004. This is an annual event sponsored by the Watauga Chess Club and the 2003 open champion Aurelio Gonzalez and reserve champion Jay Arendt returned to define their crowns. The 2004 edition featured a strong field highlighted by the participation of IM's Michal Kujovic (2300) and Peter Vavrak (2487) and NM and Texas State Champion Nicholas Schoonmaker (2255) . In the end, Michal Kujovic won the tournament with a last round victory over Peter Vavrak. Kujovic finished 4-0, however with Kujovic and Vavrak, along with their friend and driver Kain Nonchev (2071), residing in Dallas, the 2004 Tarrant County Champion trophy went to Nick Schoonmaker (An obviously more prestigious award than the Texas State Championship). Schoonmaker finished with a 3-1 score after a 3rd round loss to Vavrak. In the game, Schoonmaker held a winning position but with both players fighting the sudden death clock, Schoonmaker hung his queen, thus ending the game. The final round Kujovic vs. Vavrak match was an exciting one to watch and I'm sure there is a good story behind it. Having seen Kujovic and Vavrak draw whenever paired against each other in prior tournaments I was expecting the same but as the game reached its conclusion it was clear that Kujovic had a forced win. Kujovic let the last 20 minutes on his clock run down to near zero as he watched other games and seemed generally disinterested in his own game. Finally with only a few seconds left he played the winning move and offered a draw. Vavrak made his forced moved and again Kujovic offered a draw on his next move with a mate in 1 to follow. Again Vavrak made his forced move and finally, with reluctance, Kujovic mated Vavrak.

Rounding out the open section, 2nd place was a 3-way tie between Kalin Nonchev, Pater Vavrak, and Nicholas schoonmaker with 3-1 scores. Kujovic had defeated Nonchev in the 3rd round. Charles Poston (1755) took the 1st Class B prize with a 2.5-1.5 score and Jacob Lee (1477) took home the 1st class C prize with a 1.5-3.5 score.

A new reserve Tarrant Country Champion was crowned with Mathew Riddle's (1295) 4-0 finish for 1st place. Tom Crane (1019) finished in 2nd with a 3.5-0.5 score and finally saw some payoff for all his work as the Watauga Chess Club's president. 1st class D went to Paul Renfro (1327) with a 2.5-1.5 score and 1st E/Unr. went to Tafadzwa Gwaze (1103) with a 3.0-1.0 score.

Thanks to Darrel Knobloch who directed his first offical Watauga Chess Club event. As a side event, Nick Schoonmaker offered a chess problem for solution and a $10 prize when to Kalin Nonchev who was the first person to submit a correct solution. The problem can be found at the Watauga Chess Club's website at http://www.geocities.com/wataugachess. The club's 2005 tournament schedule can also be found at the club's website.

2004 Tarrant County Championship Final Standings: Open Section
#	Name			Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Tot	
1	MICHAL KUJOVIC		2300	W12	W7	W3	W2	 4.0	
2	PETER VAVRAK		2487	W11	W13	W4	L1	 3.0	
3	KALIN K NONCHEV		2071	W15	W10	L1	W5	 3.0	
4	NICHOLAS SCHOONMAKER	2255	W16	W6	L2	W10	 3.0	
5	KEVIN W FLEMING		2125	D8	W14	W13	L3	 2.5	
6	TAPIWA GWAZE		1829	W18	L4	W12	D7	 2.5	
7	AURELIO GONZALEZ JR	1892	W19	L1	W16	D6	 2.5	
8	CHARLES POSTON		1755	D5	W9	L10	W14	 2.5	
9	JIM HOLLINGSWORTH	1875	D14	L8	W17	W11	 2.5	
10	THOMAS E KUSNIERZ	1854	W20	L3	W8	L4	 2.0	
11	ROBERT J HASKELL	1783	L2	W17	W15	L9	 2.0	
12	CARMEN A CHAIREZ	1775	L1	W19	L6	W18	 2.0	
13	RANDY SPENCE		1999	W17	L2	L5	W16	 2.0	
14	JACOB LEE		1477	D9	L5	W19	L8	 1.5	
15	JONATHAN CEARLY		1750	L3	W18	L11	D19	 1.5	
16	DAVID JACKSON		1765	L4	W20	L7	L13	 1.0	
17	JULIE ANNE O'NEILL	1660	L13	L11	L9	W20	 1.0	
18	HARVEY J BLINN		1384	L6	L15	W20	L12	 1.0	
19	AUSTEN J GREEN		1553	L7	L12	L14	D15	 0.5	
20	WAYNE YEE		1458	L10	L16	L18	L17	 0.0	

2004 Tarrant County Championship Final Standings: Reserve Section
#	Name			Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Tot	
1	MATTHEW N RIDDLE	1295	W9	W3	W6	W4	 4.0	
2	THOMAS E CRANE		1019	D4	W11	W13	W7	 3.5	
3	TAFADZWA T GWAZE	1103	W17	L1	W9	W6	 3.0	
4	PAUL C RENFRO		1327	D2	W8	W7	L1	 2.5	
5	JON MCKEE		1032	W16	L6	W12	D8	 2.5	
6	NATHAN W WOODWORTH	1163	W10	W5	L1	L3	 2.0	
7	MICHAEL CARLIN		1092	W14	W12	L4	L2	 2.0	
8	ROBERT S VAN HOUSEN	1091	W15	L4	D10	D5	 2.0	
9	TOMMY SIMSON		990	L1	W17	L3	W15	 2.0	
10	KYLE BETTERTON		949	L6	W16	D8	D11	 2.0	
11	MICHAEL M ROARK		1121	D13	L2	W14	D10	 2.0	
12	JAY J ARENDT		1301	W18	L7	L5	W13	 2.0	
13	TREVOR T LAITY		931	D11	W18	L2	L12	 1.5	
14	MICHAEL V SWABOWICZ	836	L7	W15	L11	H---	 1.5	
15	CHRIS CARTER		unr.	L8	L14	X17	L9	 1.0	
16	ALEX VAN ROEKEL		unr.	L5	L10	X18	U---	 1.0	
17	BRAD JOYCE		904	L3	L9	F15	U---	 0.0	
18	TYLER CAMPBELL		1001	L12	L13	F16	U---	 0.0