Chess Tournament Saturday

The area's two strongest chess players will face each other across the board for the first time in a Lenoir tournament Saturday.

Alex Cibotarica and Randy Lovelace, both members of the Hickory/Lenoir-Rhyne Chess Club plan to enter the 2006 Foothills Holiday Chess
Tournament 2, to be held in the library of Hibriten High School. The two have only been active in the club at the same time recently, and have
never played each other.

Cibotarica, a native of Moldova, was once the number five player in his age group in that country. He is now working his way through college at CVCC, so he has little time to compete and has lately been experiencing a minor slump in his chess.

Lovelace, once a notable player in tournaments throughout North Carolina, suffers from poor health, and has not competed since 2001.

Cibotarica's provisional rating, according to the United States Chess Federation, is 1864, which is well below his true playing strength. Lovelace is rated 2018- how his time off from competition will affect that is unknown.

Both are expected to be entered in the top section of the tournament, but with strong players known to travel from as far away as Tennessee to enter Foothills Tournaments, it is not completely certain.

The lower sections will be largely composed of scholastic players.

For more information about the tournament, contact organizer & Tournament Director John Thomas at 828-757-3733, or email
tjohnboom@charter.net A flyer with full information can also be found at ncchess.org/tournaments/index.htm

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<For the outcome, see p.2 of the Hickory Chess Bulletin, Issue Three.>