A Pittsburgh team, Keating Four Pawn & Loan, finished tied for 2nd (2nd
on tiebreaks) in the U.S. Amateur Team East just completed in Somerset,
New Jersey, February 16-18.  Our team, consisting of Mark Eidemiller,
Bruce Leverett, John McCalmont (now living in Rome, N.Y.), and Scott Thomas,
finished with 5.5 match points out of 6.  Winners were the Collins Kids
Graduates (Jon Litvinchuk, Sal Matera, William Lombardy, and Joe Ippolito),
with 6.  This was the dreaded ``stacked team,'' with three players of
international strength and a player rated below 1300.  Other teams with 5.5
were Roman Numerals (with Roman Dzindzichashvili on first board) and Collins
Kids Kings (Yuri Zaderman, John Viloria, Dan Benjamin, and Dean Ippolito).
Keating Four drew with Collins Kids Kings in the third round.

There were two CMU teams at the tournament, including one led by Sohan
Ramakrishnapillai and Sergey Iskotz that finished with 4-2.  There was also
a team from IUP.  I did not meet any other Pittsburgh teams at the tournament.

Keating Four also won the plaque for best Pennsylvania team.  My
score of 5.5 was not good enough for 2nd board prize as someone had 6 (and
several others had 5.5).  Eidemiller and McCalmont both finished with 4.5
and Eidemiller did not lose any games.

Here is my cute game from our 5th-round match:  Leverett-Brownscombe:
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c5 4 d5 exd5 5 cxd5 d6 6 e4 g6 7 f4 Bg7 8 Bb5+ Nfd7
9 a4 O-O 10 Nf3 Qe7 11 O-O Bxc3 12 bxc3 Qxe4 13 f5 a6 14 Bd3 Qg4 15 h3 Qg3
16 Bh6 Re8 17 Qd2 Ne5 18 Nxe5 dxe5 19 Rf3 Qh4 20 Bg5 resigns.