The Bergen County Closed Chess Tournament 2007, held at the Dumont ChessMates in Dumont, New Jersey, might finally come to a close. Its 5th and last round has been postponed four times albeit reasons are understandable. I am quite anxious to get this tournament done for two reasons: (1) I am one of the two leaders with 3.5 points after four rounds (2) postponements bring angst, and the sooner we have a conclusion the better. In case you are wondering, the term " closed " only means that you must be a member of the club to compete in the tournament. Anyway, we played Round Four on March 26th. Round Five on April 2nd was postponed to April 9th due to the beginning of a Jewish holiday. As it turned out, many of our members also observed the last day of the Jewish holiday so play was moved to April 16th. Now, nature intervened with a terrible storm that left many parts of New Jersey flooded. So, Round Five for April 16th needed to be moved to the following monday, the 23rd, but the high school in which the club meets is closed on that day. Finally, we come to April 30th.

More than a month has passed since Round Four, and an email messaged went around saying that some participants---due to the long delay---might have availability problems. Our erstwhile president declared that the pairings will be mended to accommodate those who have a problem unless you are in contention for a prize. Those who are will have to play no matter what or they will be forfeited. Ah, it is not easy running a chess club! Anyway, I don't want to win my last round via forfeit because I will lose in the tiebreak. I have figured out the standings to mean that a draw secures me 2nd place if the other leader wins. There is a chance that I could win the tournament if I win my last round and the other leader loses to his opponent. If we both win, then we have a tie. Again, the strategy is simple as it always has been---win every game!