[Event "ChessCube Game"]
[Site "www.chesscube.com"]
[Date "2012.10.18"]
[Round "-"]
[White "jewbinson@chesscube.com"]
[Black "zts10000@chesscube.com"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1971"]
[BlackElo "1944"]
[ECO "E00"]
[Time "17:38:18"]
[TimeControl "300"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. Bd3 Bg7 8. Bd2 a6 9. a4 O-O 10. f4 Bg4 11. Nge2 Re8 12. h3 Bxe2 13. Qxe2 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 f5 15. O-O-O fxe4 16. Rhe1 Qb6 17. Bc3 Bxc3 18. bxc3 Nd7 19. Bxe4 Nf6 20. Qc2 Kg7 21. g4 Qd8 22. f5 Nxe4 23. fxg6 Ng5 24. h4 Nf3 25. Rf1 Nxh4 26. Rf7+ Kh6 27. Rxh7+ Kg5 28. Rh5+ Kxg4 29. Rxh4+ Kxh4 30. Qg2 Qg5+ 31. Qxg5+ Kxg5 32. Rg1+ Kh6 33. g7 Rg8 0-1

I was white. I'm not sure where exactly where my win was, but I felt that 23. fxg6 was correct. Maybe it's 28. Qd2+.

A. If Kxg6 then Qh6#

B. If Kxg4 then Rg1+ looks too dangerous.

C. If Kf6 then Qf4+ looks super strong so I'm not going to look into this further.

Let's check B. Kxg4 Rg1+. If Kh3 then Qh2 is a nice mate. If Kf3 then Rf7+ Ke4 Re1#. If Kf5 then Rf7+ Ke5 or Ke4 then Re1#.

So yeah 28. Qd2+ wins....

Well, that appears to be it. After 28 rated tournaments, and finishing with a USCF rating of 1920 (80 points short of an EXPERT rating) Allen appears to have stopped playing. His last tournament was more than a year ago.

I haven't heard anything about the big bet... I'm guessing it never materialized.

And now, after more than a year off, Allen would have lost whatever edge he might have had. I know from experience after you stop playing for awhile, you're just not as strong.

Too bad. Allen, at his peak, would have given Howard a good game. I would have enjoyed seeing it.

Update: Confirmed. Still no new tournaments for Allen. His last tourney was April of 2012... coming up on two full years ago.

That's it. If someone ever sees him in person some day, you can ask him if is game against Howard ever happened. I'm guessing it didn't, which is a shame. It would have made for a great story, whether Allen won or lost. I was really looking forward to playing over that game, too. Oh well.

Update: Not that anyone cares or is still reading this thread, but I just happened to be browsing the standings of the Pacific Coast Open, that was held this weekend in Van Nuys, California.

I saw a familiar name. Yep, Allen Cunningham entered.

With a rating of 1815, he entered tin he Under 1900 Section. The final standings are not yet posted, but it appears he has 2.5 points out of 5, at the start of Round 6.

But what's more interesting is that he's very active again. I checked he recent tournament results at uschess.org. After competing in a small Los Angeles Tournament in April of 2012... he didn't play again for almost seven years! (See my prior post to this.) But he competed in a tournament earlier this year, in January of 2019. And since January he's competed in about 18 other tournaments! Wow! I had no idea he had returned to the game.

I have to wonder why. The chess bug bit him again, after a seven-year layoff?

His USCF rating appears to have dropped a bit. (And that's expected after such a layoff.) He was about 1900+ in 2012, which I though was very impressive. He achieved that rating after just a couple of dozen or so tournaments. But h's now back down in the low to mid 1800 range.

Allen, you've posted in this forum before. If you see this, what's the story? Did your bet with Howard ever materialize? If so, what was the result? How come you're playing again?

That's pretty cool! Glad to hear he's playing again!

Cunningham has been showing up in feeds a lot as he photobombed GM Moradiabadi at the U.S. Open:

https://twitter.com/USChess/status/1160724879328665600

Since my last post at the end of July, Allen has entered 16 or so additional tournaments, including the 120th Annual US Open which was held in Florida this year, the 55th Annual American Open in Costa Mesa, California and the 29th Annual North American Open, held the weekend after Christmas in Viva Las Vegas. Allen is definitely very, very active again.

In fact, I was at the tourney in Vegas and I saw him playing. (Seeing him reminded me about this thread and I thought it about time to check his activity again.)

I saw him playing the Aussie Millions the other day. If I’d known about this thread I might have asked him. If I happen to come across him while he’s down my way I might bring it up

If he hasnt gotten there by now, he wont get there. Also 2100 Fide or USCF, about 100 points difference.

Looked it up. Allen Cunninghsm´s Fide rating is currently 1708, latest games being counted are from April of this year.