05.30.11 On May 14, 2011 twelve players gathered in South Portland to compete in the Portland Quick Chess Marathon. The event was a ten round, G/15 tournament in two sections (Open and U1500). Steve Abrahams took first in the Open section with 7.0 points and Brett Parker scored 8.0 points to take first in the U1500 section.

Thanks to Philip Lowell, Roger Morin Dan Fishbein for contributing to this report.

Both sections drew six players apiece so the tournament was shortened to 10 rounds.

Open Section entries (listed by higest rating first):

1. Alan Schalk 6.5
2. Roger Morin 5.5
3. Steve Abrahams 7.0
4. Matthew Fishbein 6.5
5. Barry Magda 1.0
6. Andrey Savov 3.5

This section was very competitive among the top four players. In their games against each other no player scored a 2-0 against another.

The final round pairings (two games) were:
Abrahams (6) vs. Fishbein ( 5.5)
Morin (5) vs. Savov ( 2 )
Schalk (4.5) vs. Magda (1)

This meant Abrahams or Fishbein was guaranteed at least a share of 1st leaving Morin an outside chance of tieing for 1st with two wins over Savov.

Abrahams & Fishbein played two hard-fought draws but Savov proved the spoiler scoring 1.5 against Roger Morin leaving Steve Abrahams the clear winner with 7.0 points . Matthew Fishbein took the prize for best score in the bottom half of the section with 6.5 points.

U1500 Section Entries (listed by higest rating first):

1. Brett Parker 8.0
2.Lee Doucette 6.0
3.William Bonney 6.5
4.Gheorghe Teodorescu 5.0
5.Daniel Fishbein 2.5
6 Dennis Lemieux 2.0

Brett Parker survived a bump in the road in rounds 5 and 6 ( 0.5- 1.5 ) vs. Bonney to win the U1500 section by two points. After six rounds Parker and Bonney were tied with 4.5-1.5 but Lee Doucette swept his two games vs. Bonney in rounds 7 and 8 paving the way for a Parker romp.

Gheorghe Teodorescu scored 50% (5-5) to win the prize for top score in the bottom half of the U1500 section.

USCF Crosstable of this Event

Barry Magda prepares to do battle.

Roger Morin finished with 5.5 points in the Open section.

Gheorghe Teodorescu (foreground left) plays Brett Parker while Lee Doucette (background left) plays Dan Fishbein in the U1500 section.

Andrey Savov (foreground right) concentrates on the board during his game with Steve Abrahams.

Tournament Director Philip Lowell sporting his ChessMaine.net t-shirt.