Viktor Levine Wins his 2nd Watertown Open

Andrew Jeselson and Viktor Levine face off in Round 1 of the 2018 Watertown Open.

Viktor Levine from the CNY area of Syracuse won his second Watertown Open tournament on May 12^th by scoring +3-0=1 over a mixed field of players from the North Country, Utica –Rome and Durham, No. Carolina. Mr. Levine seemed to hit the cycle by playing an opponent from each of the tournaments three regions. Mr. Levine missed a very ‘difficult to find win’ over Andrew Jeselson of the Utica –Rome area in round one, ending in a draw, but swept his remaining three opponents. In the round one game Mr. Levine, with under five minutes left on his clock decided on 51… Bg1, attacking h2, leading to a draw.

However, the curious looking move 51…a6 wins! The continuation by white with 52.Nd8 (no better for white is 52.Nb8 axb5 53.Nd7 g4+ 54.Ke2 Bd4 55.a6 Kc6 56.a7 Kb7 57.Kd3 Bg1 0–1) 52…axb5 53. a6 g4+ 54.Ke2 b4 and black wins.

The game continued with 52.Nxa7 Bxa7 53.b6 Bxb6 54.axb6 Kc6 55.Ke4 Kxb6 56.h3 g4 57.hxg4 hxg4 58.Kf4 ½–½.

The North Country’s top rated player, Dr. David Kistler ( USCF 2017) had won his 2^nd round game against Duke University graduate student Jeffrey Lacomb (originally from Adams, NY), and we all expected a block buster round 3 game between Levine and Kistler. But the NNY Champion decided to withdraw from the tournament and local journeyman Steve Wood, a recent convert from poker to chess in 2017 filled his spot in round 3. Mr. Jeselson rated 1863, was held to a draw in round 4 against USCF rated 1977 Jeffrey Lacomb of Durham to grab second place. Once again, as in last year, CNY chess players journeyed to Watertown and took all the top cash prizes.

In other NNY news Dr. Kistler, Don Klug and Ft. Drum employee Mick McGinnis of Manlius, N.Y. tied in the Watertown Chess Club’s 2018 kick-off Quick March Rapid Tournament at four points out of six each. Also, Dr. Kistler scored 7-0=1, to edge out Adolfo Prieto 7-1 in the clubs regular round-robin classic timed 2018 Spring Tournament, held from April 10^th to June 5^th.