The Michigan Action Championship for 2005 was back to its usual six rounds. The turnout of 46 was respectable. Ben Finegold continued his habit of completely dispensing with the competition. Three players tied for second place with five points out of six, Bradley Rogers, Will Rhee, and Jennifer Skidmore.

I did not have time to enter the games from the tournament this year, so here is a smattering of games that were sent to me by the players involved.

Action Games

Ben Finegold (2656)
Kurtis Droge (1399)
Round 1
D10

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Bf5 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Qb3 Nc6 6.Nf3 e6 7.Qxb7 Qb6 8.Qxa8+ Ke7 9.g4 Bxg4 10.Bg2 g6 11.0-0 Bg7 12.Na4 Qc7 13.Bf4 e5 14.Nxe5 Nxe5 15.Bxe5 Bxe5 16.dxe5 Bxe2 17.Rac1 Qxe5 18.Rfe1 Qh5 19.Rc7+ Kf6 20.Qf8 d4 21.Qxf7+ Kg5 22.Rc5+ Kh6 23.Qf8# 1-0

Heather Swan (1690)
Ben Finegold (2656)
Round 2
A00

1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 Bxb4 3.Bxe5 Nf6 4.Nf3 0-0 5.e3 d5 6.c4 Be6 7.Qb3 Nc6 8.Be2 Nxe5 9.Nxe5 Bd6 10.Nf3 c5 11.d4 dxc4 12.Bxc4 Bxc4 13.Qxc4 cxd4 14.Nxd4 Rc8 15.Qxc8 Qxc8 16.0-0 Bb4 17.a3 Ba5 18.Nb3 Qf5 19.N1d2 Bxd2 20.Nxd2 Ne4 21.Nf3 Nc3 22.Nd4 Qd3 23.Rac1 g6 24.Rc2 Nb5 25.Rb2 Nxd4 26.exd4 b6 27.Rc1 Qxd4 28.Rbc2 Kg7 29.Rc7 Rd8 30.g3 Rd7 31.R7c4 Qd5 32.a4 Qf3 33.Rf1 Rd1 34.Rc1 Rxf1+ 35.Rxf1 Qa3 36.a5 b5 37.Rb1 b4 38.a6 b3 39.Kg2 b2 40.h3 Qa2 41.Rf1 b1R 42.Rxb1 Qxb1 43.h4 Kf6 44.f3 Ke5 45.f4+ Ke4 46.Kf2 Qc2+ 47.Kf1 Kf3 48.Kg1 Qg2# 0-1

Ben Finegold (2656)
Clint Prong (1786)
Round 3
A01

1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 Bf5 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.d3 Bc5 6.e3 0-0 7.Ne2 Nbd7 8.h3 e5 9.Nd2 Re8 10.e4 dxe4 11.dxe4 Bg6 12.0-0 c6 13.Kh2 Qc7 14.Nc1 Rad8 15.Nd3 Bb6 16.Qe2 Nc5 17.Nxc5 Bxc5 18.Nc4 Bd4 19.c3 Bb6 20.Ba3 Re6 21.Rad1 Ne8 22.Rxd8 Qxd8 23.Rd1 Qc7 24.Bf3 f5 25.Nxb6 axb6 26.exf5 Bxf5 27.Bg4 Bxg4 28.Qxg4 Qf7 29.Kg1 h6 30.Rd8 Kh7 31.Qe4+ g6 32.Qd3 Nf6 33.Rf8 Qg7 34.Qc4 Nd5 35.Qg4 Rf6 36.Re8 Nxc3 37.Qc4 Nd5 38.Qe2 Qf7 39.Qxe5 Qg7 40.Bb2 h5 41.h4 Qf7 42.Qb8 Qg7 43.Qd8 b5 44.Bxf6 Qxf6 45.Qxf6 Nxf6 46.Rb8 Nd5 47.Rxb7+ 1-0

Jennifer Skidmore (1903)
Ben Finegold (2656)
Round 4
B13

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.Ne2 g6 7.0-0 Bg7 8.Bg5 0-0 9.f4 Ne4 10.Bh4 Bf5 11.Nd2 Nxc3 12.bxc3 Bxd3 13.Rf3 Bxe2 14.Qxe2 Nxd4 15.cxd4 Bxd4+ 16.Kf1 Bxa1 17.Bxe7 Qd7 18.Bxf8 Rxf8 19.Rd3 Re8 20.Qf3 Qe6 21.Qd1 Qa6 22.Nb3 Bd4 23.g3 Re3 24.Nc1 Bb2 25.Kg2 Bxc1 26.Rxd5 Qe2+ 0-1

Heather Swan (1690)
Anthony Holden (1500)
Round 4
A13

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.Nf3 d6 5.e4 Qe7 6.Be2 Nd7 7.Be3 b6 8.Qd2 Bb7 9.d5 e5 10.Bd3 Ngf6 11.b4 a5 12.Nb5 Qd8 13.0-0 h6 14.a3 Ng4 15.h3 Ngf6 16.Rfc1 Ba6 17.Qc2 g5 18.c5 g4 19.cxd6 Bxb5 20.dxc7 Qc8 21.Bxb5 gxf3 22.Bxb6 0-0 23.Bxa5 fxg2 24.Kxg2 Nh5 25.Bc6 Nf4+ 26.Kh2 Nf6 27.Bxa8 Qxh3+ 28.Kg1 Qg2# 0-1

Ben Finegold (2656)
Will Rhee (1858)
Round 5
A01

1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3 g6 4.d4 exd4 5.exd4 Bg7 6.Nf3 Nge7 7.Be2 0-0 8.0-0 d6 9.Na3 Nd5 10.Re1 Nf4 11.Bf1 Ne7 12.Bc1 Nfd5 13.c4 Nf6 14.Nc2 Bd7 15.d5 Nfxd5 16.cxd5 Bxa1 17.Nxa1 1-0

Lineas Baze (2009)
Ben Finegold (2656)
Round 6
B15

Notes by Ben Finegold

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Ng3 e5 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Nf3 Nxe3 8.fxe3 Nd7 9.Bc4 Be7 10.dxe5 Qa5+ 11.Qd2 Qxd2+ 12.Kxd2 Nc5 13.Rhd1 h5 14.Nd4 g6 15.b4 Na4 16.Rab1 Bg4 17.Rf1 Rf8 18.Ne4 Nb6 19.Bd3 0-0-0 20.h3 Be6 21.Nxe6 fxe6 22.Rxf8 Bxf8 23.Ng5 Rd5 24.Nxe6 Bh6 25.Nf4 Rxe5 26.Nxg6 Rxe3 27.Kc3 Nd5+ 28.Kb3 Rg3 29.Re1 Ne3 30.Ne7+ Kd7 31.Ng6 Rxg2 32.Ne5+ Kc7 33.h4 Nd5 34.Nf7 Bd2 35.Re2 Rxe2 36.Bxe2 Bxb4 37.Bxh5 Be1 38.Ne5 Bxh4 39.Bf3 Nf4 40.Nc4 Bf6 0-1

Here we both had less than 4 minutes. The game went another 20 moves or so, and I checkmated him With My Ka5, Nb5, Pa4, Bf6 and his Ka3. The last move of the game was Nxb5 mate.

Heather Swan (1690)
Kurtis Droge (1399)
Round 6
A27

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bc5 4.e3 d6 5.Be2 Bd7 6.0-0 f5 7.d4 Bb6 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.e4 fxe4 10.Nxe4 Qe7 11.Bg5 Nf6 12.Rc1 0-0-0 13.c5 Bf5 14.Qa4 Bxe4 15.cxb6 axb6 16.Bxf6 Qxf6 17.Qxe4 g6 18.Bb5 Nd4 19.Be2 Rhe8 20.Rfd1 Re7 21.Qg4+ Kb8 22.Nxd4 exd4 23.Bd3 Qe5 24.Qg3 Qe6 25.Bc4 Qf6 26.Re1 Red7 27.Qe5 Qf8 28.Bb5 Rd6 29.Qe7 Qf5 30.Rxc7 Qd5 31.b3 d3 32.Bxd3 R6d7 33.Rxd7 Rxd7 34.Qf8+ Rd8 35.Qf4+ Ka7 36.Bc4 Qd7 37.h3 Qc7 38.Qxc7 Rb8 39.Re6 Ka8 40.Rxb6 Ka7 41.Bd5 h5 42.Rxb7+ Ka6 43.Rxb8 g5 44.Qb6# 1-0