Port Huron Chess Club

NEWS FLASH!!!  Avery Jones wins 2018 Michigan Reserve Championship!

Avery Jones posted an undefeated 6.5/7 score in winning the Reserve  section of the 2018 Michigan Open Championships held over Labor Day weekend in Cadillac,  Michigan. Jones, a long time member of the club and international chess enthusiast from Sarnia, Ontario made a decisive statement winning the section a full 1.5 points ahead of the field. Games, pictures and a full write up will appear in the October issue of Chess Chatter as well as MI Chess Magazine's Winter 2018 edition!

Rutkofske Cashes in on 2018 PHCC August

Mini-Swiss

Lon Rutkofske completed an undefeated run, offering a draw to Avery Jones in the final round of the 2018 three week August Mini-Swiss, insuring a first place finish. This was a remarkable tournament in that the top two rated players dropped their first round games (Stu Wilkinson fell to a resurgent Bill Wingrove and Matt Morabito blundered his queen and the game to a less than sympathetic Noel Bedy – “musta” been something in the water that night!), giving Lon an opening to cruise, laying claim to the first place prize money.

One of the bright spots of the event was the play of Bill Wingrove, who had by far the most dubious distinction of facing the three highest rated tournament entries but claimed 1½ points  in scalps tying Noel Bedy for the under 1600 prize money. For his efforts he  garnering a whopping 67 rating points, took home a share of the under 1600 prize  money and put the top players on notice that he was no longer the “easy mark” they counted on….Nice Job, Bill!

The marvelous thing about this month’s event was that the eight member field competed without five time champion Alan Gregg, who was away doing battle with his fellow Brits at the 105th British Chess Championships (Please view his games in the member’s section of Chess Chatter.) who is one of the “usual suspects” in most PHCC events, but represented the club in remarkable fashion scoring in the top 15!

One of the fortunate circumstances occurred when Avery Jones, due to an internet issue, failed to register in time to be eligible for the event, but when fellow club member Niko Priouz showed up and wanted to play, citing similar technical issues, TD Lon Rutkofske acquiesced and reopened registration to permit both to participate.

This decision resulted in a smoothly run tournament with a plethora of positive tournament experiences for all, unless you were one of the top rated players!

New timeline for the 2019 PHCC Championships in the works for 50th anniversary celebration.  

Tournament Director, Lon Rutkofske has been working with Port Huron Recreation Department supervisor, Amanda Dickinson to ring in the new year with a completely new calendar format to kick off the PHCC’s 50th anniversary celebration.

In an effort to resolve the typical concerns revolving around a winter schedule for the customary PHCC Championships beginning in January, this year’s plan aims to resolve this by hosting the event in a 5 round Swiss format, to be held on a single weekend beginning with the first round slated for 7:00pm. on Thursday, January 13th and  the final four rounds (two each day with rounds at 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.) on January 15th and 16th. The entire tournament will be held at our Palmer Park site and conclude with the awards ceremony following the completion of the final round on January 16th. Amanda’s recommendation of reserving the following weekend (January 22-23) as a back up is a testament to the continued willing support of the PH Recreation Department.