THE PROGRESSIVE THOUGHT TOURNAMENT SUMMARY - CEVDET KIZIL RANKS 3rd

    Bora Altınordu earned champion title of "The Progressive Thought Tournament" by gaining 10,5 points out of 12. He only lost against Cem Berk once, the champion of Adile Mermerci Anatolian High School. Then, he also had a draw against the English player, Steven Chapman. His other games were very successful. He did beat Şükran Adalı, Onur Ciritçi, Refik Can Bayrakçı and me with the white and black pieces. His calculations were accurate, especially for the endgames. His participation in the "Istanbul Seçmeleri" tournament also seemed to be advantageous for him since he was really in good shape. The effects of the tournament were still fresh on him. Congratulations to Bora Altinordu for his title!

    Then, the runner-up of the tournament was Cem Berk. He was just a half points back of the champion! (10 pts.) He really played well, did beat Onur Ciritçi, Şükran Adalı, Steven Chapman and Refik Can Bayrakçı with the white and black pieces. Then, once did beat the champion of the tournament, Bora Altınordu! Plus, he could win against me in one of our matches. If he could win the last game of the tournament, he was going to finish the competition 1st. He also played very well in the last game of the tournament against me, despite the fact that he had the black pieces. We both had equal chances to win until the endgame. However, the endgame was very very tough. I had first immobilized Cem Berk's bishop in the corner with my pawn chain. Thus, Cem Berk had no way to bring his bishop to the battle which was imprisoned. After, I decided to march my pawns straight ahead for promotion. Cem Berk, realizing this, brought his knight into defense. He was really successful in avoiding the promotion, but now his two pieces were stuck. One was being used for defense and the other was immobilized, so I decided to take advantage of Cem's disadvantages. I brought my king into the game to support my pawns for promotion. But, Cem was still not giving up! He also brought his king into game for supporting his defense and avoiding my promotion. It was clear that he had an experience of such tough situations. So, now I had only one last chance left. I had to sacrifice my knight to break Cem's pawn-king, this was the only way out. It really worked and after the sacrifice, I was able to promote one of my pawns to a queen. So, finally Cem Berk resigned.

    This result punished Cem Berk with the 2nd place (but it was still a very good result) and I ranked 3rd, because I had beat Refik Can Bayrakçı, Onur Ciritçi and Şükran Adalı two times while beating Steven Chapman once. To talk for the other players, it was not Refik Can's day and Steven Chapman, the english player was sometimes amazingly well, but usually not good. Şükran Adalı was only successful against Onur Ciritçi, who had completed the tournament with zero points.