“Don’t look at chess this way because it is romantic. It is, but look at chess this way because it is the way to win. Contrary to the general notion, a positional advantage — that is, a better disposition of your forces generally — is always easier to exploit than an equivalent advantage in material, [...]

[Speaking of players who grab a pawn and head for the endgame]“Here we see the tyranny of the pawn in its vilest and most nauseating form. But there are degress, and even in master play we find weak moves being made through an insufficient contempt for pawns.” ~ C. J. S. Purdy

“Chess players may be divided into three classes: those who don’t know the principles, and are therefore very weak; those who know the principles and are less weak; and those who know how weak the principles are, and are strong.” ~C. J. S. Purdy

NM Alex Betaneli was too strong for the field, as he walked away unscathed from the field with clear first place. Second place went to former Junior Champion Anthony Parker. Steffen Thieme and Niel Gleason tied for third.

NM Betaneli holds a full-point lead over Anthony Parker going into the final round of the Roman Levit Memorial.

…in case anyone is interested. Posting current crosstables for events I’m running takes me about 5 minutes, now that I’ve worked out the kinks. This would extend only incrementally if the crosstable were several hundred players long.
Ain’t technology grand?

NM Betaneli continued undefeated, but not without a scare from Gary Aronovich. Including this round’s pairing against Patrick McElwee, NM Betaneli will have played all five of the players currently closest to him in the standings.

NM Alex Betaneli is in firm control of this year’s edition of the Roman Levit Memorial, with the only perfect score after 4 rounds. Gary Aronovich is a half-point back, while Steffen Thieme, Anthony Parker, David Cardenas, and Sou Her are all tied for 3-6.
This year’s Levit is experimenting with shorter time controls and more [...]

Clint Ballard is on a campaign to end draws. While we sympathize with his goal, and hope he finds a way, his current system isn’t it.
He’s created yet another scoring system that eliminates the zero-sum aspect of chess. In this system Black wins are worth 3 points, Black draws are worth 1 point, White wins [...]

A new top 100 list for the state is now available. It appears yr humble srvt has been underselling himself lately, having risen almost into the top 50. This should not yet be taken as a sign of the apocalypse, but it may not be far away.