“Knight to rook four, checkmate” probably isn’t as exciting a call as “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” but for several chess masters and senior masters, there was plenty of excitement in the township as close to 20 chess champions came home for a high-level tournament featuring some of the best strategists in the Delaware Valley.
Chess players come from all backgrounds, said Dov Gorman, a U.S. Chess Federation tournament director and Evesham Township resident. The way you play a match — whether it be aggressive or passive — can say a lot about what kind of a person you are, Gorman said.
“I think what attracts many people to the game is that it’s a way to express themselves and their personality. If you are cautious, or if you’re very aggressive, you see that in a game. I like more of a balanced game. It creates many artistic opportunities, because if you know the game and the rules, you can create many aesthetically pleasing combinations,” Gorman said. “That’s my style, but there are many people who are more positional. My style is more tactical. People are more positional where they work in a very orderly way to achieve very small advantages and to take small risks.”
About 15 masters from the Delaware Valley flocked to Gorman’s home in Evesham Township on Super Bowl weekend for their own ultimate championship, competing in the first-ever sanctioned chess tournament in Marlton.
“There are lots of similarities between chess and football. Winning a football match is not based on strength; it’s based on a lot of intelligence and strategy,” he said.
Gorman knows the game in and out, as the U.S. Chess Federation recognizes him as a senior master.
Each game played was kept to a one-hour time-limit, Gorman explained, and competitors racked up points through wins and draws.
It was a Swiss System-style tournament, with each competitor playing the same amount of matches and playing every entrant.
The winner, Peter Minear, Reading, Pa., finished with a score of 3.5.
Tom Bartell, also of Pennsylvania, finished in a second place tie with Ian Schoch, who came up from Maryland to participate in the tournament.
Both players scored a 3.0.
All competitors competing in the tournament were either masters or senior masters.
Karl Dehmelt, a master from Allentown, Pa., said it was fantastic to have a tournament of this caliber in the Delaware Valley.
Tournaments, even when held in Philadelphia by the chess federation, don’t feature this many master players, he said.
“I decided to come down because it’s rare to have a tournament around here that features all masters. It was great to play against people of my own strength, you tend to learn more when you’re playing against the best competition,” Dehmelt said. “Unless there is a big tournament that is run by the continental chess tournament, you don’t find many masters around here. You might find one or two masters at an event, but to find 14 is phenomenal.”
Dehmelt finished fourth in the tournament.
The master was once a senior master in the ’80s, but has since fallen to only 2,295 points.
In the world of ranked chess, your point ranking is akin to hitter’s batting average. The higher number you have, the better a player you are, Gorman said.
Points are either won or lost through competing against other ranked players in federally sanctioned tournaments, Gorman said.
The higher ranked player you beat, the more points you win, he said.
But woe to the player who loses to a lower-ranked opponent.
Points can be won or lost in a split second; either a brilliant trap with the queen can send you skyrocketing up the ladder or leaving your bishop exposed can send you tumbling down into oblivion.
A master is a player who has won 2,200 points and a senior master has won 2,400. At his peak, Gorman said he had 2,550. The highest player in the world at that time had 2,800.
Gorman started to seriously play chess when he was 13 and living in Israel. The now 49-year-old senior master has said it’s been a passion of his ever since.
The Gorman family recently moved into Evesham Township from Virginia, he said, and he quickly found there were few opportunities for events here.
Gorman, a Virginia champion back in 2010, needed to play, but the opportunities just weren’t available in South Jersey. But hey, a tournament director can hold tournaments himself, Gorman thought, so why not one in his own home?
“This was a rated tournament. I advertised that it was being held and we attracted a bunch of masters,” Gorman said. “We’re looking to make it a reoccurring thing here in town.”
If it gets really big, maybe Gary Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov will show up at his door with Big Blue in a wagon. A chess master can dream right?
Interested in sharpening your chess match skills and looking to climb up the chess rung?
Check out Gorman’s weekly tournaments in Voorhees, which are rated G/10. They’re held on Wednesdays from 7 to 9 p.m. at Coffee Works in the Voorhees Town Center.
