From: Ismail Sloan BEST COM> Date: 21 feb 1997 Subject: Donaldson, Shipman and Forman Win People's Open in Berkeley Donaldson, Shipman and Forman Win People's Open in Berkeley by Sam Sloan International Masters John Donaldson and Walter Shipman split first prize with expert Robin Forman to win the People's Open Chess Tournament held in Berkeley February 15-17, 1997. Donaldson, Shipman and Forman scored 4 1/2 - 1 1/2 each. Steve Krasnov won the Class A Prize. Elliot Temple won the kiddie's tournament for players under 14. The tournament was held on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. Don and Laura Shennum directed. The fact that a mere expert tied for first was remarkable, since this was a strong tournament with three international masters and more than a dozen masters. However, the top rated players all drew or knocked off each other. Going into the last round, nine players were in contention for first prize. Robin Cunningham made a quick grandmaster-like draw with International Master John Donaldson. Eric Schiller had the advantage but could only draw against Emmanuel Perez. International Master John Grefe was a full two pieces down against Dmirty Zilberstein but pulled out a miracle draw by perpetual check. Omar Cartagena made an ambitious sacrifice and lost a complicated struggle against expert Robin Forman. Finally, International Master Walter Shipman won a late night marathon rook and pawn endgame against Jon Baker. The Young People's Tournament featured 58 players under the age of 14. Noteworthy were the number of little Chinese girls playing, including Carrie Ho, Sharon Tseung and Judy Kuo. The "People's Open" along with another traditional campus tournament, the "Berkeley Class Struggle", derive their names from the by-gone era when the students at the University of California at Berkeley led the student revolution all across America. However, that was a long, long time ago. Nowadays, most Berkeley students are Chinese. They don't do that any more. Here are two of the games. Notes to the game Donaldson - Cartagena are by John Donaldson. [Event "People's Open"] [Site "Berkeley (USA)"] [Date "1997.02.15"] [Round "2"] [White "Donaldson John W"] [Black "Cartagena Omar"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D76"] 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.g3 Bg7 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.d4 O-O 8.O-ONc6 9.d5 Na5 10.Bf4 c6 11.dxc6 Nxc6 {11. ... Qxd1 was a little safer.} 12.Qc1 {This is from the Woman's World Championship Match between Zsuzsa Polgar and Xie Jun.} Bd7 {Black should probably play 13. ... e5.} 13.Rd1 Rc8 14.Bh6 Qe8 {14. ... Qc7 seems better.} 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.b3 f6 17.Qe3 Rd8 18.Rac1 Bg4 19.Nd4 { Now, White has the edge.} Nxd4 20.Rxd4 Rxd4 21.Qxd4 Bc8 22.a4 Qf7 23.a5 Nd7 24.Bd5 e6 25.Bg2 e5 26.Qd5 {26. Qxa7 Qxb3 27. Ne4 was also very good.} b6 27.Nb5 Qxd5 28.Bxd5 bxa5 29.Rc7 Kh6 30.Nd6 Nb6 31.Nf7+ Kh5 {Hoping for 32. Rxc8 Rxf7! and not 32. Rxc8 Nxc8 33. Bf3 checkmate!} 32.Bf3+ Bg4 33.Nxe5 { This combination leads to a winning endgame.} fxe5 34.Rxh7+ Kg5 35.h4+ Kf6 36.Bxg4 Rf7 37.Rh8 a4 38.bxa4 Nxa4 39.Rc8 Re7 40.Rc6+ Kg7 41.Kg2 Nb6 42.Be6 Na8 43.Bd5 Nc7 44.Be4 Ne6 45.Ra6 Nf8 46.g4 Ne6 47.e3 Nf8 48.g5 Ne6 49.Kg3 Nf8 50.Kg4 Ne6 51.Rc6 Nf8 52.f3 Ne6 53.f4 exf4 54.exf4 Nxg5 55.Rxg6+ Kf7 56.hxg5 Rxe4 57.Ra6 Rb4 58.Rxa7+ Kg6 59.Ra6+ Kg7 60.Rd6 Ra4 61.Kf5 Ra5+ 62.Ke4 Ra1 63.Ke5 Re1+ 64.Kf5 Re7 65.g6 Kh6 66.Kf6 Ra7 67.f5 Rb7 68.Re6 Ra7 69.Re7 Ra6+ 70.Kf7 Ra5 71.f6 1-0 [Event "People's Open"] [Site "Berkeley (USA)"] [Date "1997.02.17"] [Round "6"] [White "Forman Robin"] [Black "Cartagena Omar"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D86"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 O-O 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.O-O b6 10.Bg5 Bb7 11.Qd2 Qd6 12.f4 Na5 13.Bd3 c5 14.d5 e6 15.c4 exd5 16.cxd5 f5 17.Rac1 Rae8 18.Nc3 fxe4 19.Bb5 Bc6 20.Qe2 Bxb5 21.Nxb5 Qxd5 22.Nc7 Qd3 23.Qg4 h5 24.Qh4 Rc8 25.Ne6 Bd4+ 26.Kh1 e3 27.Nxf8 e2 { Cartagena is an extraordinarily aggressive player, but this time he goes too far. A simple recapture with 27. ... Rxc8 would have left him with a winning position.} 28.Rf3 Qf5 29.Nxg6 Qxg6 30.f5 Qf7 31.Be7 Qh7 32.Re1 Nc6 33.Rxe2 Ne5 34.Rg3+ Ng4 35.Qg5+ Kf7 36.h3 Rg8 37.Qf4 Re8 38.Qc7 Kg8 39.Qd7 Qf7 40.hxg4 h4 41.g5 hxg3 42.g6 Kg7 43.Bf6+ 1-0