2006 Missouri Open

After spending 34 hours as a TD for the Missouri Chess Festival, I am finally recovering. We had a record 162 players attend the festival.

Ron Luther won the 2006 Missouri State Championship, and I am proud to say The Chess Club is home to the last two state champions: Ron Luther and Bob Holliman.

Ron offered an early draw in his last round because he was winning on the second tie-break, wins with Black, over IM Michael Brooks. Ron won the $500 first prize and a plaque.

	NAME	Rating	State	1	2	3	4	5	6	Score
1	Michael Brooks	2447	MO		½	½	1	1	1	4.0
2	Kenneth Jones	2320	MO	½		0	½	½	1	2.5
3	Ron Luther	2215	MO	½	1		1	1	½	4.0
4	Bob Holliman	2151	MO	0	½	0		1	1	2.5
5	Tony Dutiel	1807	MO	0	½	0	0		0	0.5
6	Nick Karlow	1756	MO	0	0	½	0	1		1.5

Here is the win which sealed the state championship for Luther.

Jones,Kenneth (2320) - Luther,Ron (2230) [B01] 2006 Missouri Invitational (4^th Round), 9-17,2006

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.dxe6 Bxe6 5.Nf3 Qe7 6.Qe2 Nc6 7.d4 Bg4 8.Be3 0-0-0 9.d5 Qb4+ 10.Nc3 Na5 11.0-0-0 Bh5 12.h3 Re8 13.g4 Bg6 14.Nh4 Ne4 15.Nxe4 Bxe4 16.f3 Bg6 17.Nxg6 hxg6 18.Qd3 Nxc4 19.Bd4 Ne5 20.Qb5 Jones offered Luther a draw. 20...Bd6 21.Qxb4 Bxb4 22.Bb5 Re7 23.f4 Nd7 24.Bxg7 Rh7 25.Bxd7+ Kxd7 26.Be5 Re8 27.Rd3 Bd6 28.Bxd6 Kxd6 29.Kd2 Re4 30.Rf1

Luther fights for a win being a pawn down!

30...Ra4 31.a3 Ra5 32.f5 g5 33.f6 Rxd5 34.Rxd5+ Kxd5 35.Rf5+ Ke6 36.Rxg5 Rxh3 37.Rc5 c6 38.Ra5 a6 39.Ra4 Kxf6 40.Rb4 b5 41.a4 Ke5 42.axb5 axb5 43.Ke2 f6 44.Kf2 Rd3 0-1

Ron receiveing the wrong plaque but the right check from me!