Archived News from 2010:

June 26, 27, 2010 -- Bakersfield Class Act II flyer in .doc format | flyer in RTF format [note: can't seem to get RTF to upload to site. I'll try again later--JWT]

IM Enrico Sevillano won his second Kern County Open Championship with a score of 4.5-.5. The sixteen player field was no match for the former U.S. Open Champion who will be competing in the U.S. State Champion of Champions later this week. Tied for 2nd were Kenneth J. Poole and Raul Bugnosen at 3.5-1.5. Other winners included Solomon Ruddell U2000, Numan Abdul-Mujeeb and Alexander Pearson U1800 and Isaac Ruddell U1600/UNR. The tournament was hosted by the Bakersfield Chess Club and directed by Kenneth Poole. The next major event will be the Bakersfield Class Act II on June 26th & 27th. IM Enrico Sevillano chose the following game as the most challenging of the tournament: Kern County Open Championship II Kenneth J. Poole (1837) IM Enrico Sevillano (2552) A62: Modern Benoni: Fianchetto Variation without early ...Nbd7 1. d4 c5 2. d5 e6 3. c4 exd5 4. cxd5 d6 5. Nc3 g6 6. g3 Bg7 7. Bg2 Nf6 8. Nf3 0-0 9. 0-0 Re8 10. Re1 Na6 11. Bg5 (last book move. 11. Bf4 does not commit to an exchange.) ...h6 12. Bxf6?! Qxf6 (Black has the pair of bishops.) 13. Qa4 (13. Nd2 Bf5 =) ...Qd8 14. a3 Bd7 15. Qf4 g5 16. Qc1 (16. Qxd6?? Bf8 wins the Queen.) ...b5?! (16. ...c4 17. Nd2 Rc8 18. Qc2) 17. Nd2 c4 18. a4 bxa4 19. Nxa4?! (19. Nxc4!? is interesting and would of given White a slight lead. 19. ...Bxc3 20. Qxc3) ...Rc8 20. Nc3 Qb6 21. Ra3 (Rook lift gives way to Qa1 and to aid the Kingside if needed.) ...Nb4 22. Bf1 Rc7 23. Rd1 (23. e3 is preferred here. The game is even at this point.) ...a6 24. Nf3? Bg4 25. Na4 Qb7 26. Qd2 Nd3! 27. Bg2 (27. h3 may of been best here.) ...Nxb2 28. Nxb2?? (With two minutes to finish the time control, White makes a natural albeit an incorrect move that allows Black through and escort the untouched c-pawn.) ...Qxb2 29. Qxb2 Bxb2 30. Rxa6 Bxf3 31. Bxf3 c3 0-1 To replay this game online our website, please click here.

March 20th & 21st, 2010: Kern County Open Championship II All USCF 2400+ rated FREE ENTRY - this is a State Championship qualifier!! Please select one of the three flier versions below: flier 1 (plain) flier 2 (color) flier 3 (rtf)

Congratulations to IM Enrico Sevillano for winning the 2009 Bakersfield Open! Thanks to all the players who came out. It was a strong tourney! I think over half of the players with 1800+. Bakersfield has set a tradition of hosting top-heavy chess tournaments.

Archived News from 2009:

April 4 23rd Visalia Open

Click here for 2009 KCOC Tournament Photos!!!

If you would like one of your games from the tournament posted, please e-mail it to us!

>2009 KCOC by Ken Poole:

IM Enrico Sevillano swept the field of 32-players at the Kern County Open Championship 5-0. Tied for 2nd-3rd place at 3 1/2 were Matthew Robertson, Indra Lahiri, James Castro, and Gary Latta. 1st place U1800 went to Raul Bugnosen and U1600 was won by Alexander Pearson.

The 23-player Scholastic tournament was won by Stan Liao (4-1) on tiebreaks over Matthew Poh and Joseph Constantine. Other winners: 1st K-2nd -- Grant Cowan; 1st 3rd-5th -- Anoush Sahakyan; 1st 6th-8th Knarik Sahakyan. Upset winner: Michael Slaughter (won $5!)

During round 4 I was needed as a house player in order to give an even number. This game has a very instructional endgame. Check it out!

W: Agata Bykovtsev (1311)
B: Kenneth Poole (1919)

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 g6 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Bf4 Nc6 7. e3 a6 8. Ne5 Qa5 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bd3 Bg7 11. 0-0 0-0 12. e4 dxe4 13. Nxe4 Rd8 14. Nxf6+ Bxf6 15. Qc2 Bxd4 16. Qxc6 Bd7 17. Qc1 Rac8 18. Qd2 Qxd2 19. Bxd2 Bb5 20. Bxb5 axb5 21. Rab1 Rc2 22. Bc3 e5 23. h3 f5 24. Kh1 Bxc3 25. bxc3 Rd5 26. f3 Rxa2 27. Rfd1 Rxd1+ 28. Rxd1 Rc2 29. Rd5 e4 30. fxe4 fxe4 31. Rxb5 e3 32. Re5 Rxc3 33. Kh2 Kf7 34. Kg3 Kf6 35. Re8 Kf5 36. Kf3 e2+ 37. Kxe2 Kf4 38. Kf2 Rc2+ 39. Re2 Rxe2+ 40. Kxe2 Kg3 41. Kf1 Kh2 42. Kf2 g5 43. Kf3 h5 44. Kf2 g4 45. h4 Kh1 46. Kg3 Kg1 47. Kf4 Kxg2 48. Kg5 Kf3 49. Kxh5 g3 50. Kh6 g2 51. Kh7 Kg4 52. h5 Kxh5 53. Kh8 g1(Q) 54. Kh7 Qa7+ 55. Kg8 Kg6 56. Kf8 Qf7#

A special thanks goes to Kristina Treadwell for her tireless effort in providing snacks and drinks to the players for each day! smile You made it a special tournament!!

March 5, 12, 19, 26 BCC IV (4 rd. tourney, one game per Thursday; 25/75 G/30; $10 BCC members; $15 non-members) CLICK HERE for full details of our monthly tournaments. If you cannot make one of the games, please notify Ken Poole in advance for a bye.

March 28-29 2009 Kern County Open Championship PLUS special scholastic tournament. You may also find it in the Feb. and March issues of Chess Life, and in the TLA online.

---Advanced Entries---

[Entry Form] - [Tournament Feedback Form]

A special BCC ~~Thank You!!~~ to Debbie Ormonde for giving us such a wonderful party! There was plenty of pizza, drinks, cake, and more. Thank you very much, and congratulations once again to the scholastic players for a job well done!

Feb. 26, PIZZA PARTY! to celebrate and honor our scholastic team's 3rd place finish at the 26th Annual Amateur Team West Tournament! Our thanks to Debbie Ormonde for sponsoring this event.

Please note: the party is at 5 pm! We will also be raffling off a ticket for free entrance into the upcoming Kern County Championship tournament. $5 per raffle ticket. All proceeds go to BCC.

Plus: RATED DOUBLE ROUND-ROBIN G/5 TOURNAMENT!! $5 to members, $10 non-members!! Registration for the tournament is at 6pm. Games begin promptly at 6:30 pm.

Feb. 22, 10am-6pm. Simul fundraiser at the East Hills Mall. ***CANCELLED***

Jan. 22, 29, Feb. 5, 12, 19 BCC III (5 rd. tourney, one game per Thursday; 25/75 G/30; $10 BCC members; $15 non-members) CLICK HERE for full details of our monthly tourneys. If you cannot make one of the games, please notify Ken Poole in advance for a bye.

Archived News from 2008:

The Bakersfield Chess Club would like to extend its sincere gratitude to all of the players who participated in the 2008 Bakersfield Open on Dec. 6 at the Clarion Hotel. We had players from Lancaster, Fresno, San Luis Obispo County, Taft, Tehachapi, and elsewhere! We felt this was truly a fun tournament and we will promise that our next event (planned for the end of March) will be even better, with many, many new touches added to make your experience all the more memorable. Stay tuned! Please feel free to e-mail with any feedback and/or suggestions. We'd also like to extend a special thank you to IM Enrico Sevillano, FM Joel Banawa, and NM John Bryant for participating in our inaugural event.

Congratulations also to Levi Ormonde for his first place overall victory in the Scholastic section.

Click here for photos of the event.

***Congrats to BCC Member John Ballow for going 6-0 in the ICCF Prelims. In the other 8 sections nobody went 6-0. John Ballow is now in the ICCF US Correspondence Chess Championships. Congratulations John! Click here for a crosstable of his results.

*** December 6th we will be hosting an Open tournament here in Bakersfield at the Clarion Hotel! Win $$$ in the Open Section, trophies in the Scholastic! For more info, download the flier, look here, or call Ken Poole (661-304-7468).

*****THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO PLAYED!!!!!*****

*** Saturday, Nov. 22 will be the Thanksgiving Youth Open Chess Tournament, presented by: The Bakersfield Chess Club and IGCS, at Sing Lum Elementary School. This event is sponsored by Panama-Buena Vista School District, Sing Lum Elementary, BCC, and IGCS.

Download the flier here in PDF or view it online here in jpeg format. If you need to speak with a live person, please contact John Marble @ 661-871-3220.

On Saturday, November 8, at the East Hills Mall, Bakersfield Chess Club Vice President Kenneth Poole played in a simultaneous chess marathon in Center Court from 10am - 7pm as part of a fundraiser for awareness of Bakersfield Chess. Many challengers came, but out of over two dozen games Ken "Red Bull" Poole conceded only one loss for the entire match (Congrats to Benjamin Miramontes!). Congratulations also to the young scholastic player who won the $100 East Hills Mall Gift Certificate! Thanks to you and your family for coming out and playing. Thank you also to all of the players and spectators and those of you who asked questions about the club and chess in general. We are especially thankful to Peter for playing four games and spending many great hours with us. We hope to see a lot of new faces at our weekly club meetings, as well as at our tournament in December. We would like give a huge thank you to the East Hills Mall management for being so incredibly gracious with us in allowing this event to happen, as well as to all of the merchants for their support. Click here for the flier.

Click here for photos from the event taken by J. Ballow.

IM Sevillano has done it again, winning the Los Angeles Open on tie-breaks! Club President Indra Lahiri and VP Kenneth Poole also played in the tournament. Tournament results can be found here.

IM Enrico Sevillano has won the 2008 Southern California State Championship on tie-breaks! Click here for a synopsis by Ken on Enrico's recent winning of the 2008 U.S. Open!

IM Jack Peters has kindly mentioned us in an article in the L.A. Times! (article is in .pdf)