NM Bryon Doyle and Class B players Timothy Werby and Sos Hakobyan each scored 3-1 to share 1st-3rd place at the BCS G/45 June 30 at The Berkeley Chess School. 

Doyle directed eight players in the open G/45, and six in the blitz tournament following, where he won again with 5-1, tied with NM Michael Walder.

A possibility of the classic Arabian Mate arose in Warby-Hakobyan in round 2:

From the diagram, it was Black to play:

1 … Rg8 2 Rfa2 Qe8 3 Qf3 Rg7 4 Nf6 Qb5 5 Ra8 Rb7 6 Qh5 Rg7 7 Kh2 Qb7

White  to play has 8 Qe8+! Rg8 (8..Rxe8 9. Rxe8+ Rg8 10 Rxg8#) 9 Qxg8+ Rxg8 10 Rxg8#.

A different kind of  missed opportunity arose in my game as White with Daniel Oshima. 

The obscure Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit (1. d4 Nf6 2. g4) is my favorite. Black’s answer 2…e5 is the Oshima Countergambit, hatched during an analysis session  Oshima shared with FM Clyde Nakamura (another Gibbins-Weidenhagen enthusiast). Nakamura gave Oshima credit for the invention.

Oshima and I played at the 2017 CalChess Senior Open,  where I told a friend I didn’t know what I’d do if I had White against Oshima. My friend said: “How many times has he been able to play that?! You have to play your 2. g4 to give him that chance.”

I told Oshima this story, and he laughed. But when I had White against him at the G/45, and started 1. d4, he replied 1…e6.

“Where’s the Oshima Countergambit?” I said.

“You’d have to play the Gibbins”, he said.

Didn’t he think I would after that conversation at the Senior Open?