Gens Una Sumus!
"Playing for complications is an extreme measure that a player shouldonly adopt when he cannot find a clear and logical plan."
Alexander Alekhine
1) Nick DeFirmian ties for first in Rilton Cup
Nick DeFirmian tied for first with fellow GMs Tomi Nybackand Ralf Akesson with scores of 7 from 9 in the 33rd Rilton Cupheld in Stockholm over the New Years Holidays. Among the 143 player field,which included 23 GMs, were veterans Svetozar Gligoric (81 on February2) and Mark Taimanov (78 on February 7) who played impressivelyfinishing with 6 and 5 points respectively.
The following victory over German GM Phillip Schlosser in roundeight put Nick in the lead with a round to go.
DeFirmian - Schlosser
Rilton Cup 2003-2004
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f4 e6 7.a4 Nc6 8.Be2Be7 9.Be3 0-0 10.0-0 Qc7 11.Kh1 Re8 12.Bf3 Rb8 13.g4 Bf8 14.g5 Nd7 15.Bg2b6 16.Rf3 Bb7 17.Rh3 g6 18.Qg4 Bg7 19.Rd1 Nb4 20.Qh4 Nf8 21.Qf2 f6 22.f5exf5 23.exf5 fxg5 24.f6 Bxg2+ 25.Kxg2 g4 26.Rg3 Bh8 27.Rxg4 Rxe3 28.Qxe3Bxf6 29.Qf3 Be5 30.Nd5 Nxd5 31.Qxd5+ Kh8 32.Nc6 Re8 33.Nxe5 dxe5 34.Rc4Qe7 35.Kh1 e4 36.Qd4+ Kg8 37.Qd5+ Kg7 38.Qd4+ Kg8 39.Qd5+ Kg7 40.Re1 e341.Rf4 Nd7 42.Rf3 Nf6 43.Qd4 e2 44.Kg1 1-0
2) Winter Tuesday Night Marathon
IMs Ricardo DeGuzman and Walter Shipman and FM FrankThornally are the top seeds in the Mechanics' Institute Winter TuesdayNight Marathon which started last night. It's still possible to enterthe eight round event with a bye for the first round.
3) January 2004 Bay Area FIDE Top Ten
The following list is restricted to players who have played at least10 FIDE rated games over the last two years and excludes those who havebeen inactive like GMs Biyiasas and Tarjan as well as IMs Addison, Kaplan,McCambridge, Whitehead and Winslow.
1. GM Yermolinsky 2566
2. IM Donaldson 2460
3. GM Browne 2455
4. IM DeGuzman 2439
5. IM Bhat 2431
6. IM-elect Mezentsev 2385
7. FM Pruess 2376
8. FM Zilberstein 2370
9. WGM Baginskaite 2336
10. IM Rey 2334
4) Here and There
Congratulations to MI member Nicolas Yap who won an event atthe Sacramento Chess Club the weekend of December 20-21 with a scoreof 3.5 from 4 to earn his USCF Master title.
Those looking to play in the South Bay will want to check out the CampbellChess Club. Located at the Campbell Community Center at the intersectionof Winchester and E. Campbell it attracts approximately 80 players everyThursday night. Expert Frisco Del Rosario gives weekly lectures at 6:45.USCF rated play runs from 7:30 - midnight.
Former Bay Area Master and Stamer Memorial winner Jude Acershas a new book out. Go to
http://www.italiangambit.comfor more information.
Mike Runyon writes: "I am around 1950 and would like to playa 4 game rated match at the MI on the week ends on Saturdays or Sundays,one game a week over four or five weeks at a time control of 40 in 2 followedby game in 1 hour. My opponent should be rated 1800+. Contact meat (707) 554-6069 or
[email protected] ."
David and De Knudson have announced they will no longerbe running the annual Governor's Cup. Held every fall in SiouxFalls, South Dakota, this was one of the largest regional tournamentsin the country.
The third issue of Bob Long's Squares is out. This 64 page glossymagazine includes articles by GMs Rowson, Nielsen, Mueller, an in-depth article on the European Club Championship, an interview withChess Enterprises publisher Bob Dudley, tips on chess book collectingby MI member Andy Ansel and a 5-page piece on Tulsa 1931 by FrankBerry plus much more. Go to www.squares64.comfor more information.
Newsletter #174, 01/14/2004
"In opposite colored Bishop endings when both sides have weak pawnsone should not try for a big material advantage."
Mikhail Botvinnik
1) University of Texas at Dallas wins Pan Am Championship
The 2003 Pan Am Intercollegiate Team Championship held, December27-30 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Miami, was won by the Universityof Texas at Dallas, headed by GM Marcin Kaminski, IM Dmitri Schneider,IM Magesh Chandran and IM Amon Simutowe. They defeated favoredUniversityof Maryland at Baltimore County (GM Alexander Onischuk, GM PavelBlehm, IM Eugene Perelshteyn and IM Pascal Charbonneau)2.5-1.5 in the critical match). Berkeley and Stanford didn'tsend teams.
Top Teams:
1st:University of Texas, Dallas A-Team, 5.5 points
2nd:University of Maryland, Baltimore County A-Team, 5.0 points
3rd:University of Texas, Dallas B-Team, 5.0 points
4th:Miami-Dade College, 4.5 points
5th:Brooklyn College A-Team, 4.0 points
5th:(6th) University of Maryland, Baltimore County B-Team, 4.0points
5th:(7th) University of Toronto A-Team, 4.0 points
5th:(8th) Pontifica Universidad Catolica, 4.0 points
5th:(9th) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 4.0 points
10th: Princeton University, 3.5 points.
Individual Award Winners:
1st Board 1: GM Leonid Yudasin-(Brooklyn College A-Team)
1st Board 2: Vladimir Pechenkin-(Toronto A-Team)
1st Board 3: Eugene Perelshtein-(UMBC A-Team)
1st Board 4: Jeff Hawel-(Western Ontario B-Team)
Top Alternate: Michal Kujovic-(UTD B-Team)
Organizers of the 2003 Pan Am Intercollegiate Chess Championship wasArdenand Suzie Dilley and Chief TD was Dr. Ira Lee Riddle.
2) Winter Tuesday Night Marathon
IM Walter Shipman, FM Frank Thornally and NMs Andy Leeand Egle Morkunaite are among the leaders with perfect scores aftertwo rounds, but 14-year-old NM Nicolas Yap lost to veteran BenGross. It's still possible to enter the 74-player event with byes forthe first two rounds of the eight round tournament.
3) US Champion Alex Shabalov interviewed in Pittsburgh Gazette
US CHAMPION Alex Shabalov was interviewed by Jan Ackermanforthe Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on January 3rd of this year. Here area few highlights. The full interview can be found at http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20040103closeuplocal3p3.asp.
"It has been a very good year," Shabalov said yesterday from hishome. By December, newspapers were referring to him as the "American Playerof the Year" and he was featured in several international chess magazines.Shabalov said he won about $80,000 in prize money in 2003. With his gamein place, Shabalov plans to take a break in the spring and try to writeabout some of his experiences on the road. "I want to write something entertainingabout modern tournament life, the life of a tournament player. I thinkI have a lot of funny stories. I got so many offers," Shabalov said.
Who knows where it could lead? Could Alexander Shabalov build a reputationthat makes him a household name in chess, like Bobby Fischer did so manyyears ago? When Shabalov sits down at the computer to write, he is certainthat he won't be working on an autobiography -- not at age 36."It's a bitearly for that," he said. Shabalov, who has been playing chess since hewas 7, was trained according to the precepts of the Soviet School of Chess.He discovered the game by watching his father play with his friends inhis homeland. He became a professional chess player in 1988 and a Grandmasterin 1991. With the Soviet Union beginning to crumble, Shabalov and his wifeleft Riga, Latvia, in 1992 and settled in Pittsburgh, where his wife'ssister was already living. His wife, Olga, is a cardiologist at UPMC ShadysideHospital. They have two daughters, Anna, 15, and Kathy, 11.
4) Games of IM William Martz
Duane Catania recently donated a number of books and magazinesto the Mechanics' Institute. One of the items was a booklet produced bythe late IM Bill Martz (1945-1983) for a class he taught in hishometown of Milwaukee in 1976. The following three games are not givenin ChessBase Mega 2004. Does anyone know when and where they were played(Martz didn't give this information)?
Martz,W - Browne,W [E79]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 c5 7.Be2 cxd48.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Be3 Bg4 10.Nxc6 Bxe2 11.Nxd8 Bxd1 12.Rxd1 Rfxd8 13.Ke2 Rdc814.c5 dxc5 15.e5 Ng4 16.Rd7 b6 17.Rxe7 Re8 18.Rxe8+ Rxe8 19.Bc1 f6
Black should have tried 19...Nh6 and 20...Nf5 - Martz.
20.Kf3 Nh6 21.exf6 Bxf6 22.g4 Nf7 23.Rd1 Nd8 24.Nd5 Bg7 25.Nc7Rf8 26.Rd7 Nf7 27.Ke4 h5 28.gxh5 gxh5 29.Ne6 Ra8 30.Kf5 Bh8 31.Ng5 Nxg532.Kxg5 Re8 33.f5 Re1 34.Kg6 Rg1+ 35.Bg5 Rxg5+ 36.Kxg5 Bxb2 37.Kg6 Kf838.f6 Ke8 39.Rxa7 1-0
Martz,W - Van Buskirk,C [E79]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 c5 7.Be2 cxd48.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Be3 Bg4 10.Nxc6 Bxe2 11.Nxd8 Bxd1 12.Rxd1 Rfxd8 13.Ke2 Nd714.Rd3 Nc5 15.Bxc5 dxc5 16.Rhd1 Rxd3 17.Rxd3 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Kf8
Black would do better to give up a pawn to activate his Rook: 18...Rc819.Rd7 Rc6 20.Rxb7 Ra6 with good chances to draw - Martz.
19.Rd7 b6 20.g4 f6 21.h4 h6 22.a4 Kf7 23.f5 g5 24.h5 Ke8 25.Rc7Kf7 26.a5 bxa5 27.Rxc5 a4 28.Ra5 e6 29.c5 exf5 30.exf5 a3 31.Kd3 a2 32.Kc4Ke7 33.Rxa2 a5 34.Kb5 Rb8+ 35.Kc6 Rc8+ 36.Kb6 Rb8+ 37.Kc7 Rb3 38.c6 Rxc339.Rxa5 Rc4 40.Ra7 Rxg4 41.Kb8+ Kd6 42.c7 Rc4 43.c8Q Rxc8+ 44.Kxc8 Ke545.Ra5+ Kf4 46.Kd7 g4 47.Ke6 Kg5 48.Ra3 Kxh5 49.Kxf6 Kh4 50.Kg6 1-0
Grefe,J - Martz,W [B80]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.g3 a6 7.Bg2Nf6 8.0-0 d6 9.Re1 Bd7 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Na4 Be7 12.c4 0-0 13.c5 dxc5 14.Qc2c4 15.Qxc4 Qa5 16.Be3 Rab8 17.Bc5 Bxc5 18.Nxc5 e5 19.Nxd7 Nxd7 20.Red1Nc5 21.b3 Ne6 22.Qxc6 Nd4 23.Qd5 Rb5 24.Qd7 Rc5 25.Bf1 Rc2 26.Bd3 Rxa227.Rac1 Qb6 28.Rf1 g6 29.Rc8 Rd2 30.Rxf8+ Kxf8 31.Qc8+ Kg7 32.Bc4 Nf3+33.Kg2 Qf6 34.Qxa6 Ne1+ 35.Kh3 Qf3 36.Rxe1 Rxf2 37.Be2 Qg2+ 0-1
5) Here and There
Mig Greengard known for his work at Kasparov.com, hasBay Area roots having grown up in El Sobrante. Now he has his own websiteat http://www.chessninja.com .A recent article by Mig at this site featured former MI Chess DirectorJim Eade, author of the best-selling Chess for Dummies.
Speaking of Books. Through insider sources I've been keepingtabs on the best-selling chess books at one of America's largest onlineand offline booksellers. (No, not just checking their popularity rankingsonline, which vary dramatically due to complex and rigged formulas.) "Chessfor Dummies" outsells the rest, with the classic "Bobby Fischer TeachesChess" close behind. Both of these outsold the new Kasparov "MyGreat Predecessors" book if you take the average of its first few monthsof availability. Of course the massive "Predecessors" hardback costs twoto four times as much as the others. There has been a great deal of conjectureover which chess book is the best selling of all time, with most plumpingfor "Fischer Teaches..." That would certainly seem to be fair claim basedon how well it still sells. Chess historian Edward Winter has discussedthe various claims in his Chess Notes column (ChessCafe.com) and compilations.The top chess books far outsell the top bridge books. On the other hand,the top-selling nonfiction book, "The South Beach Diet," sells 250 timesthe top chess book, "Dummies." The good news is that the Dummies book,by Jim Eade, is an excellent primer. Even better is GM Patrick Wolff'sbook"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess". Put decorative paper dust-jacketson them if you're embarrassed to read them on the bus.
FM Eric Schiller writes:
Head over to www.chessbrain.net.Sign up the club, download the software, turn on the machines Friday morning,January 30th, and the club will earn part of a Guinness Record for Manvs. Machines event. All the information is up at their site. I'm workingwith them on the event. No cost, just a fun event which should get somedecent media coverage. Members can participate from their home/office/school,too. Each participant gets a certificate as part of the official Guinnessrecord. The game will be between GM Peter Nielsen and the Chessbraindistributed computing project. We expect over 1000 computers from aroundthe world to gang up on the GM.
Steinitz mistranslated? A recent exchange in GM AlexanderBaburin's Chess Toda (http://www.chesstoday.net)suggests that a well-known axiom attributed to Steinitz might bemisunderstood.
"Mr. Barsky misquoted Steinitz, who said only that failing toattack in a superior position would lose the advantage - not transfer itto the opponent writes IM
Anthony Saidy.
To which GM Baburin replies: I agree. More interesting, however, isthe (relatively) recent dispute between Mark Dvoretsky and GMIosif Dorfman on whether the stronger side has to attack in the superiorposition and whether this is what Steinitz claimed. As I understand, Dorfmanbelieves that Steinitz was misquoted when translated to Russian and Englishand that he never declared this necessity to attack – a good squeeze woulddo just fine!
Congratulations to MI Member Hugo Kitano for his third placefinish in the K-3 National Championships last December in Chicago.
IM Jay Whitehead of Berkeley is offering chess lessons. Contacthim at [email protected] or (510) 204-9278 .
Newsletter #175, 01/21/2004
"In American opens you have the first three, four prizes and therest is peanuts. You have to play very aggressively."
Alex Shabalov
1) Bill Goichberg named USCF Executive Director
Bill Goichberg, who has been involved in United States ChessFederation affairs for over forty years, was recently named ExecutiveDirector of the organization.
Best known as the founder of the Continental Chess Association whichruns tournaments from coast to coast, Goichberg brings a wide variety ofchess experience to the job. Back in the 1960s he worked in the USCF officeunder the late Ed Edmondson, serving as Ratings Director. Soon afterthis he founded the CCA and started organizing some of the first scholastictournaments in the United States. A strong master he served as Captainof the gold-medal winning US Olympiad team in Haifa, Israel, in 1976. Goichbergfounded and ran the successful National Chess League in the late 1970sand has been instrumental in supporting both the Professional Chess PlayersHealth and Benefit Program and the yearly Grand Prix. Each year he faithfullyattends USCF annual meetings and serves on many committees. It's hard tothink of anyone in US chess who had more involvement in such a wide varietyof chess activities in the United States.
Nay sayers will point to the apparent conflict of interest in havingthe largest tournament organizer in the country running the day to dayoperations of the USCF ignoring that Goichberg has not bid on a USCF nationalevent since the US Open in 1997. The fact that he is taking this positionwithout pay speaks volumes about his motivations. We wish him well in hisefforts to turn things around in New Windsor.
2) Andranik Matikozian and Haluk Akol win at Western Class Championship
Agoura Hills in Southern California was the scene of the firstmajor tournament of the year on the West Coast and IM Andranik Matikozianof Glendale was the surprise winner finishing ahead of several GMs. Matikozian,former Armenian junior champion, had a strange first half of the tournament.Playing in a short schedule he found himself in such a small section thathe was forced to play the same player, Tatev Abrahamiyan, twice! Four players in a four player group gave organizer Bill Goichberg no choice.Merging into the main schedule with a 4-0 score Matikozian escaped fromdifficult positions against GMs Jaan Ehlvest and Alex Yermolinskyto enter the last round with 5 1/2 points. He then drew with GM DashevegSharavdorj to take first at 6-1. Sharavdorj, who had an excellent event,was second at 5 1/2 followed by MI Grandmaster-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky(undefeated) and GM-elect Varuzhan Akobian.
The big news for MI members was the sensational result of Tuesday NightMarathon regular Haluk Akol. Mr. Akol, who is 80, showed severalyoung whippersnappers their place, tying for first in his section. Well-doneHaluk!
3) Ricardo DeGuzman tops at Bob Burger Open
Ricardo DeGuzman continued his domination of the MI's monthlyG/45 tournaments winning the Bob Burger Open on January 17 witha score of 5-0. Among his victories was a last round win over fellow IMJay Whitehead who was making a welcome return to the arena after abreak of many years. NM Batsaikhan Tserendorj was second at 4.5followed by George Sanguinetti, Clarence Lehmann and ErinHarrington at 4. Anthony Corrales directed the 56 player eventfor the Mechanics'.
4) Children's Wednesday Afternoon Class Returns
The popular Children's Wednesday Afternoon Class, which temporarilystopped when corporate sponsorship dried up, has been jump-started thanksto generous donations by Dee Karnad and Haluk Akol.The Class, which runs each Wednesday from 3:15 PM to 5:15 PM and is taughtby MI Scholastic Chess Director Anthony Corrales, is free to allchildren. If you like the idea of this sort of program consider offeringsupport. Donations to the Mechanics' are tax deductible due to the M.I.'s501(c) (3) nonprofit status.
5) Four-way tie in Winter Tuesday Night Marathon
IM Walter Shipman and NMs Igor Margulis, Egle Morkunaiteand Andy Lee are the only perfect scores left after three roundsof the MI Tuesday Night Marathon. Five rounds remain to be played in the80-player tournament. It is still possible to enter with half point byesfor the first three rounds.
6) Here and There
The Berkeley Chess Club has moved back to its old location atthe beautiful Berkeley City Club at 2315 Durant Avenue. The location isonly a block from the UC Berkeley campus and is a 5 minute walk from thedowntown Berkeley BART station. The club, which meets Fridays, offers weeklyUSCF rated play. The program for kids run 6:30 PM to 8 PM and for adults8 PM to Midnight. IM Jay Whitehead and NM Andy Lee have attended the clubrecently. Call Alan Glascoe at (510) 652-5324 for more information.
If you are in the East Bay and looking for new chess books check outGamesof Berkeley (across the street from the downtown Berkeley BART) whereNMAlan Benson works. Alan, who also gives private lessons, is noted forhis knowledge and love of chess literature. He can help you find the rightbook for your level..
Newsletter #176, 01/28/2004
"It has been said that man is distinguished from animal in that hebuys more books than he can read. I should like to suggest that the inclusionof a few chess books would help to make the distinction unmistakable."
Edward Lasker, 'The Adventure of Chess', 1949
1) Shipman leads Winter Tuesday Night Marathon
International Master Walter Shipman jumped into the lead in theWinter Tuesday Night Marathon by defeating National Master Andy Leein a tense game. Shipman leads the 80-player field with 4 points with FMFrankThornally, NMs Igor Margulis and Egle Morkunaite andExpert Igor Traub tied for second at 3 1/2. Among those playingTuesday night was noted Swedish book collector Peter Holmgren whoserved as the houseman defeating Haluk Akol.
Lee,A - Shipman,W [D31]
Winter Marathon (4), 2004
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.Nf3 Nd7 5.e4 dxe4 6.Nxe4 Ngf6 7.Bd3Nxe4 8.Bxe4 Nf6 9.Bc2 Be7 10.0-0 0-0 11.b3 c5 12.Bb2 b6 13.Qe2 Bb7 14.Rad1Qc7 15.Rfe1 Bxf3 16.Qxf3 cxd4 17.Rxd4 h6 18.Rg4?!
This looks very tempting but the prosaic 18.Red1 gives a clear advantage.
18...Nxg4 19.Qxg4 Bg5
White's point is that 19...g6 is met by 20.Rxe6.
20.Qe4 f5?!
This turns out well but 20...g6 21.Qd4 e5 would have given Blackthe better chances.
21.Qxe6+ Qf7 22.g3?
This is the losing move. White can't avoid the Queens coming offbut he can keep the Rooks on. 22.Bxf5 Rae8 23.Re4 Qxe6 24.Bxe6+ Kh7 25.Ba3Rd8 26.Bd5 would have given White the better chances. Now IM Shipman changesQueens and Rooks and the game is over.
22...Rae8 23.Qxf7+ Kxf7 24.Rxe8 Rxe8 25.Bxf5 Bf6 26.Bxf6 Kxf627.Bd3 Rd8 28.Bf1 Rd2 29.a4 Rb2 30.c5 bxc5 31.Bc4 Ke5 32.Kf1 Kd4 33.Ke1g5 34.h3 h5 35.Bf7 h4 36.gxh4 gxh4 37.Be6 Ke5 38.Bc4 Rb1+ 39.Ke2 Rh1 40.f4+Kxf4 41.Be6 Ke5 0-1
2) Reno Far West Open
Ernest Hong reports that information is up for Jerry Weikel's Reno FarWest Open scheduled for April 9-11.
The website is http://www.renochess.org/fwo/index.html and the printable PDF flyer is at http://www.renochess.org/fwo/flyer.pdf.
$25,000 PRIZE FUND!!! for this Six Round Swiss in Five Sections (basedon 300 paid players, $16,250 Guaranteed). Large prize fund made possibleby the generosity of the Sands Regency Casino Hotel. ADDITIONAL PRIZES!Top Senior (65 & over) and Top Club Money Prizes. Trophies awardedto top three places in sections A through D, top unrated player in sectionD. Free entry to main tournament for GMs and IMs. Free entry with a one-yearUSCF membership for unrated players (but ineligible for cash prizes).ADDITIONALEVENTS: FREE lecture by GM Larry Evans on Thursday evening. FREE game/positionanalysis clinic by GM Larry Evans on Saturday afternoon. GM Sergey KudrinClock Simul on Thursday night. Five Minute Blitz Tournament on Thursdaynight. HOSTED BY THE SANDS REGENCY CASINO HOTEL in Reno, Nevada. Site ofthe 1999 100th U.S. Open. Coffee and coffee cakes served each morning.SPECIAL HOTEL RATES. Discounted rates are Sunday-Thursday $19 (nineteen!!).Friday or Saturday $45, single or double occupancy, plus 13.5% room tax.To guarantee hotel reservation with credit card by telephone call 1-800-648-3553,group code CHE 408. (Please, no tournament entries by telephone.)
Contact chief organizer and head TD Jerry Weikel at [email protected].
3) Chess in the News
Fred Wilson writes:
"This will apparently be my LAST Internet radio show for chess.fm. It appears that ICC, while "moving and growing" chess.fm onto its website,is also jettisoning myself, Pete Tamburro, Jr., Dan Heisman, Riley Kellogg,Mark Diesen & Bill Paschall. HOWEVER, I have been "tossing some ideasaround" with Hanon Russell, founder of the well-known, terrific websitehttp://www.chesscafe.com, and it is possible "Chess & Books with Fred Wilson" will resurfaceon his site in early February, as a one hour prerecorded show, in an "MP3"type format-perhaps one or two times a month. PLEASE CHECK MY WEBSITEOR CHESSCAFE.COM FOR FUTURE DETAILS.
Finally, thank you all very much for listening and participating!I really enjoyed doing this show-especially talking with and learning fromso many great chess professionals, and also hearing from so many greatchess fans and enthusiasts! Hopefully, not so far down the road,I will be able to continue bringing you information and opinions from importantmembers of the chess community you want to hear from.
Best in Chess,
Fred Wilson"
Fred's last guest on Chess.fm, on Wednesday, Jan. 28th, willagain be the award winning and internationally acclaimed author IM JOHNWATSON.
John has not only won the CJA "Book of the Year" award for his terrific"Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy", but its superb sequel, "Chess Strategy
in Action" is in serious contention for the "2003 ChessCafe.com Bookof the Year"! John will discuss his brand new "Play the French, 3rdedition",
along with his views on the uneasy USCF situation, the current spateof new opening books, and his favorite new & recent titles. John'sperceptive,
and often piercing, column of "Book Reviews" is one of the most popularspots to visit on "The Week in Chess" at www.chesscenter.com. Please email
any questions you have for John Watson to [email protected]or [email protected].
EXTRA! EXTRA! IM John Watson will also list and discuss his "top10" personal favorite chess books published after 1960! You won'twant to miss this
fascinating selection from one of our most astute and accomplishedcontemporary critics!
John Henderson of America's Foundation for Chess writes:
"Not just the US Championships!
America's Foundation for Chess (AF4C) is committed to the educationof our children. By making chess a larger part of America's cultural fabric-
accessible in schools and in popular culture - AF4C hopes to elevatethe profile of chess in America so that it will soon become a regular partof
every child's classroom experience.
You can now access their fabulous AF4C video on the Web!
Go to www.af4c.org and click on "watch thevideo" in the left column.
He's on the road again. Rusty Miller writes that Jude Acers isback in action! You can find out about his nationwide tour at : http://hometown.aol.com/rmille9601/myhomepage/index.html. For more information about his new book go to http://www.italiangambit.com
4) Here and There
Congratulations to Teresa Haun who won the annual Sojourner Truthtournament in Menlo Park this past weekend with a score of 3 1/2 from 4.We hope to have more details next week.
Six-time US Champion Walter Browne is offering an almost completerun of his magazine Blitz Chess (just 2 of over 50 issues missing for $123.Individual issues are available at varying prices. Contact Walter at [email protected].
Here is a game from San Francisco's past courtesy of Andy Ansel.
Reshevsky, S -Bernstein, B
San Francisco (simul)
June 23, 1921
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Qxd5 4.Nc3 Qd8 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Bd3 e6 7.O-OBe7 8.Be2 Nc6 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 Nxd4 11. Bxb7 Rb8 12. Ba6 O-O 13. Bd3c5 14. b3 Nd5 15. Ne2 Nxe2+ 16.Qxe2 Bf6 17.Qe4 g6 18.Bh6 Bxa1 19.Bxf8 Kxf820.Rxa1 Qf6 21.Re1 Nc3 22.Qc6 Qe7 23.a4 Rd8 24.Qf3 Rd5 25.Bc4 1-0
Jaan Ehlvest won the 88th New York Masters on 20th January 2004with a score of 4-0, defeating three GMs along the way to pocket$310.. A record 7 GMs played. Go to http://www.newyorkmasters.com/for more information.
An issue of Wisconsin Chess from 1980 explains one reason the USCF hashad difficulties of late. Author Fred Cramer gives USCF annual duesprogression for 1940-80.
USCF dues:
1940 $1
1950 $3
1952 $5
1967 $10
1975 $15
1980 $20
(Today - 2004 $49)
Cramer then points out the for a period of time in the 60s and 70s,when dues were $10, it was possible to become a life member by paying $10for ten years in a row as a Sustaining Life Member. Yes, the exact sameamount as the regular yearly dues! Thousands paid their $100 over ten yearsand the USCF has been servicing these memberships for decades.
Newsletter #177, 02/04/2004
"Strategy requires thought, tactics require observation."
Max Euwe
The 4th Annual Henry Gross Memorial (5 rounds, G/45) will beheld this Saturday at the MI starting at 10 am.
1) Thornally and Shipman lead Winter Tuesday Night Marathon
Top seeds FM Frank Thornally and IM Walter Shipman sharethe lead at 4.5 from 5 and will face off in round six of the Mechanics'Institute's Winter Tuesday Night Marathon. Tied for third at 4-1in the eight round event are NMs Egle Morkunaite, Igor Margulis, VictorOssipov, Russell Wong and Nicolas Yap plus Experts Alex Setzepfandtand Larry Snyder.
2) Jamie Brett wins the Western Region Women's Chess Championship
Mea Culpa! Last week in the Newsletter it was reported that TeresaHaun won the Western Region Women's Chess Championship in Menlo Parkthe weekend of January 24-25. In fact it was 15-year-old JamieBrett. Jamie is ranked #80 among all women in the United States at1729 and we expect it won't be long before she finds herself a Class Aplayer.
3) Bonin-Shabalov - 2003 Marshall Chess Club Championship
2003 will go down in American Chess as the Year of Alex Shabalov.The Pittsburgh base GM won the US Championship as well as practically everyother significant event held in the country. One of the few titles to escapehis grasp was that of Marshall Chess Club Champion. This rare slip forShaba can be partly attributed to the following loss to the indomitableJayBonin. The veteran New York IM is well-known for his love of the gameand annually ranks among the most active players in the nation.
In the following game Jay tries an interesting novelty in the Semi-Slavvariation of the Queen's Gambit in which he sacrifices a pawn for pressure.Does he more than enough compensation for the pawn? Did Shaba over estimatehis chances? I'm not certain what the answer is in this fascinating game.
NOTE - Just before sending out this Newsletter I went out to themailbox and found the Winter 2004 issue of Chess Life waiting for me. InsideI found that GM Michael Rohde had beat me to the punch and already annotatedthe game! I encourage you to check out his excellent annotations on page37 . I have added a few of his comments to my annotations in critical positions.withattribution in bold and a larger font size.
Bonin,J - Shabalov,A [D46]
Marshall Club Championship 2003
1.d4 Nf6
It's interesting that Shaba uses 1...Nf6 as a way to reach the Slav.One reason might be that he wants White to commit a Knight to c3 or f3in the event of an Exchange Slav - 1...d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Bf4 (4.Nc3e5!?) 4...Nc6 5.e3 Nf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.Nc3 circumventing Botvinnik's old favorite1...d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Bf4 e6 7.e3 Nh5 . Anotherpossibility - and more likely - is he wants to avoid something like 1.d4d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 or 3.Bg5.
2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2
As we will soon see the game continuation could also arise from Zvaginsev'sline of the Meran: 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.0-0 Bd6 10.Qc2. Inthis line White would not necessarily choose to play Qc2, but if Jay'snovelty proves to be of long-term worth he will have killed two birds withone stone.
6...Bd6 7.Be2 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Bd3
The text is well-known but 10.Be2 is more popular here.
10...Bb7 11.e4 e5 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Nxe5 Bxe5 14.h3
White would like to grab space and get the Kingside pawns rolling butthe text is necessary preparation. In Tuzan-Mukhametov, Moscow 1990, Blackgot excellent play after 14.f4 with 14...Bd4+ 15.Kh1 Ng4 16.g3 Qc7 17.Nd1f5 18.h3 Nf6 19.e5 c5+ 20.Kh2 Nd5 21.Qd2 c4 22.Bb1 Rad8.
14...b4
The theoretical move that has been responsible for putting 10.Bd3 outof favor. Earlier continuations did not fare so well and ilustrate Bonin'sgreat experience in this variation:
(A) 14...Qe7 15.Be3 Rfe8 16.Rae1 a6 17.Ne2 Bd6 (17...c5! 18.Bxc5 Qc719.Bd4 ½-½ Portisch-Tukmakov, Reggio Emilia 1987 wascorrect) 18.Nd4 g6 19.Nb3 Nd7 20.Na5 Ne5 21.Nxb7 Qxb7 22.Be2 Rac8 23.f4Nd7 24.Bg4 Rc7 25.e5 Bb4 26.Rd1 Nf8 27.Bf3 Rcc8 28.Rc1 Re6 29.Bd5 and Whitewent on to victory in Bonin-Shabalov, New York 1992.
(B) 14...Re8 15.Be3 Qe7 16.Ne2 Bc7 17.Rad1 Bb6 (why not 17...Nxe4 18.Bxe4Qxe4 19.Qxe4 Rxe4 20.Rd7 Rc8 ?) 18.Nd4 and White had a clear advantage, Bonin-Alexopolous, New York 1994.
(C) Rohde suggest 14..Rc8! as Black's best meeting 15.Be3 with 15...c5!and 15.f4 with 15...Bd4+ 16.Kh1 c5! 17.e5 Ng4 18.Bxh7+ with a messy position.I'm not sure I totally agree with this. After 14...Rc8 (played by Portischagainst Z. Varga in the 1993 Hungarian Team Championship) 15.Be3 c5 (Portischplayed 15...b4 16.Na4 c5 and lost) I thing White came claim some advantagewith 16.Bxb5 and now:
(C1) 16...Bxc3 17.Qxc3 Nxe4 18.Qc2;
(C2) 16...Qa5 17.Bc4 Bxc3 18.Qxc3 Qxc3 19.bxc3 Nxe4 20.Rab1 Bc6 21.Rb3. In both cases White's Bishops should give him some pull.
15.Na4
Here 15.Ne2 c5 16.f3 c4! (16...Rc8 17.Bc4) 17.Qxc4 Qb6+ 18.Kh1 Rfd8is Illescas's great idea which gives Black good play.
15...Bd4
Black intends ...c5, ...Qe7 and ...Rfe8 with strong counterplay.
16.Be3!?
This is Jay's very interesting new idea in which he cripples his pawnstructure in return for activity. Odds are strong that he will lose thefront e-pawn but compensation will come in the form of more active pieces.Previously seen was 16.Rd1 Qe7 17.Bf4 c5 18.e5 Nh5 19.Bh2 f5 20.Be2 Qg521.Bf3 Bxf3 22.Qb3+ Kh8 23.Qxf3 f4 ½-½ Gutman-Goloshchapov, Alushta 1999. Note that 16.e5?! fails to 16...Bxe5 17.Nc5 Bc8 and Black'sposition is superior to the game continuation as he has no weakness one6.
16...Bxe3 17.fxe3 Nd7 18.e5 h6 19.e6
Another possibility was 19.Rad1 Qe7 20.Bh7+ Kh8 21.Bf5 Nxe5 22.Nc5,but I prefer Jay's choice.
19...fxe6 20.Bc4 Qe7 21.Qg6 Rf6 22.Rxf6 Nxf6 23.Rc1 Rd8
This certainly looks natural. An alternative was 23...Kh8 trying tokeep White's Knight from coming to c5. Rohde then suggests 24.Rf1! intendingto play Bc4-d3.
24.Nc5 Bc8 25.Nd3 Rf8 26.Nf4 Bd7
White definitely has compensation for the pawn, but probably no more.One could easily imagine Shaba playing White in such a position!
27.Qd3 Rf7 28.Ng6 Qc5 29.Qd4 Qg5
No doubt Shaba was playing for a win here, but I wonder if the textoverreaches. Maybe it was time to consider trying to bail out with 29...Qxd430.exd4 Nd5 31.Bxd5 exd5 32.Ne5 Re7 33.Nxd7 Rxd7 34.Rxc6 Re7. GM Rohdegives 29...Qxd4 30.exd4 Nd5 31.Ne4 as the way for White to play. He continues31...Re7 32.Bb3 Be8 and White can keep improving with Rc1-c5, Bb3-a4, Kg1-f2,etc. while Black watches.
30.Ne5 Re7 31.h4 Qg3 32.Rf1
White could reach an attractive ending after 32.Qf4 Qxf4 33.exf4 butJay, sensing blood, correctly keeps the Queens on.
32...Nd5 33.Rf3 Qe1+ 34.Kh2 Be8 35.Rg3 h5
It's difficult to suggest an improvement here. Trying to anticipateQd4-c5-d6 with 35...Rb7 runs into 36.Nd3 Qd2 37.e4.
36.Qc5 Rb7 37.Qd6 Nf6 38.Bxe6+ Kh7 39.Bf5+ Kg8 40.Nd3 1-0
4) US Women's Olympic Team Challenge
President's Day Weekend is known in the Bay Area as time for the PeoplesOpen and elsewhere in the country for the regional Amateur Team Championshipsbut the Heartland will have also a major event this year. Noted ArbiterFrankBerry will be bringing some of the best female players in the country(GM Polgar, WGM Goletiani, WGM Zatonskih, IM Krush andWIM Shahade)to Stillwater, Oklahoma, for a unique event. Details follow:
Feb. 14-16, 2004. <Oklahoma> US Women's Olympic Team Challengeand GM Susan Polgar Simul. One section 7-SS, (modified-see below), G -100+ 15 sec a move, Holiday Inn, 2515 W. 6th Ave (Hwy 51), Stillwater, Oklahoma74074. HR: $60 (1-4) 405-372-0800. EF: $50+15 OCF mem if mailed before2-7, $60+15 at site <$15 OCF mem required of all>. No phone entries.Tournament size limited to first 75 players. Guaranteed $$5,000 prize fund:$600, 500, 400, X-300, 200, 100, A-300, 200, 100, B-300, 200, 100, C-300,200, 100, 100, D-under 300,200,100,100, Unr-200, 100. Reg: Noon-1:30 Sat.Rds: 2-6, 9-1-6, 9-1; 2 half-pt byes available rd 1-5, Free Parking, --GM Susan Polgar Lecture and Simul 11AM Sat $25 limited to 25 players; Dream Team (includes GM Polgar, WGM Goletiani, WGM Zatonskih, IM Krushand WIM Shahade) will not be paired against each other and will not competefor announced prize fund as they will be available to play against allin the one section but for a separate prize fund: Frank Berry, 402 S. WillisSt, Stillwater, OK 74074; 405-372-5758, [email protected], NC, W. No comps available.
5) IM Silman vs The Rest of the World
Former MI member Jeremy Silman, now based in Los Angeles, hascome out of retirement to take on the world. Chessworld.net writes:
ChessWorld.net is hosting a "Rest of the World" match against IMJeremy Silman. This is a voting game where the "Rest of the World" (ROW)votes for the moves against Silman, and the highest voted move played afterfive days. The match has inspired the largest ROW team ever at ChessWorld,well over 300 players at last count. IM Silman opened the game with 1.d4 and the voting is underway. You can get in on the game at http://www.chessworld.net- head for Play!..World team games after logging in. The up to date positionis also available on the TWIC front page.
Newsletter #178, 02/11/2004
"Exposing a concrete error in a chess game is much easier than objectivelyassessing an overall scheme of play. Every strategic plan, including anincorrect one, is linked to certain distinct conceptions in the player'smind, and may be crowned with success given a fortunate conjunction ofcircumstances..."
Viacheslav Eingorn
1) Osmand Palos - 1949-2004
International Master Osmand Palos died last Saturday, February7, at the age of 54 in Chicago. The cause was lung cancer. Palos, who sufferedfrom diabetes for many years, had been in poor health for some time. Heleaves behind his sons Robert and Davor.
Osman Palos was born October 29, 1949, in Gracanica, Yugoslavia.He legally changed his name to Osmand after becoming a U.S. citizenin 2002.
Osmand was the strongest player in Tuzla, the second largest city inBosnia, for many years until he left in the late 1980s. His best yearsas a chess player were in the mid-1980s. During this time he received theIM title in 1985 and achieved his peak FIDE rating of 2440 in 1987. Hisbest ever result was winning the Pula Open in 1986 with a GM norm performancescore of 10 from 11. Two other good results were 8.5 from 13 in a Category4 (2328) round robin in Tuzla in 1991 and =2nd with GM Ikonnikovbehind GM Klinger at the 138 player Werfen Open in 1992. Palos wasa regular participant in Yugoslav Team Championships in the 1980s , winningthe gold medal on board 5 in 1982 with a score of 6 from 9.
Osmand played often in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the late1980s and early 1990s, collecting many GM scalps including those of Ikonnikov,Kudrin,Vukic, Kupreichik and Khenkin among others. Palos was a bigfighter when healthy and not one to respect reputations. To get an ideaof his persistence play over his 107 move draw with GM Eingorn fromGraz 1987.
Palos loved to play blitz and could often be found between rounds indulgingin his favorite pastime. He was an inconsistent but dangerous opponentwho could pose a danger to anyone. One example: his 2-0 score versus GMKrasenkovin the 1997 New York City Blitz Championship.
Much of his life Osman worked as a businessman, only becoming a full-timechess professional when things started to deteriorate in Yugoslavia. Oneof his last important duties in his old town was directing the Women'sInterzonal in Tuzla in 1987. Fleeing the Balkans he spent several yearsplaying in Western Europe before talking a position as a chess trainerin the United Arab Emirates in 1993.
Palos first arrived in Chicago in late 1996, quickly establishing himselfnot only as one of the top players in the city but also one of the bestchess coaches. Neil Gleason of Madison, Wisconsin, remembers: "Inearly 1999, I spent an evening arguing politics with him. The nextmorning, he gave me a 10 minute lesson in the exchange Caro Kann ("playsimple chess") over breakfast, whereupon I proceeded to use it with whiteto notch 2 convincing victories that same day in a quick tournament. He was a skillful instructor who would readily demonstrate that chess isa very simple game."
Palos was already in poor health by the time he arrived in the UnitedStates but he still managed to hold a USCF rating over 2400 until the lastfew years of his life, peaking at 2477. He was especially proud of histwo wins over GM Goldin, one of the best players in the US. Hislast major event was the Lindsborg Rotary Open in December of 2002 wherehe scored a respectable fifty percent against a field averaging 2442 FIDE.
Osman Palos will be remembered as a warm, modest and intelligent manwho gave his life to chess.
Unfortunately only 329 of Osmand's games are available in Mega 2004,representing probably less than 10 percent of those he played during hiscareer. Here is a small selection covering three decades.
Palos,O (2350) - Hazai,L (2475) [E73]
Tuzla (9), 1983
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.g4 c5 7.d5 e6 8.g5Ne8 9.h4 exd5 10.exd5 Nc7 11.h5 b5 12.Qd3 Re8 13.Qg3 Nd7 14.hxg6 hxg6 15.Bf4Ne5 16.0-0-0 Bf5 17.Nf3 bxc4 18.Nxe5 Rxe5 19.Bxe5 Bxe5 20.f4 Bg7 21.Bxc4Rb8 22.Rh4 Rb4 23.b3 Qb8 24.Bd3 Rxb3 25.axb3 Qxb3 26.Bxf5 Nb5 27.Qe3 Kf828.Bd7 Qa3+ 29.Kc2 1-0
Kupreichik,V (2535) - Palos,O (2390) [C02]
Cattolica op (5), 1993
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Ne7 5.Bd3 Nec6 6.Be3 Nd7 7.a3 a5 8.Nf3Be7 9.h4cxd4 10.cxd4 Nb6 11.Nbd2 Bd7 12.Ng5 Bxg5 13.Bxg5 Ne7 14.h5 Bc615.Qg4 Kd716.Rh3 Qf8 17.Ke2 f6 18.exf6 gxf6 19.Bh4 Qh6 20.Re3 f5 21.Qf3Nc4 22.g4 f423.Re5 Nxe5 24.dxe5 Rhf8 25.Kf1 Ng6 26.hxg6 Qxh4 27.gxh7 Rf728.Nb3 Rxh729.Bxh7 Qxh7 30.Rd1 Rh8 31.Nd4 Qh2 32.Ke2 Rh3 33.g5 Rxf3 34.Nxf3Qh5 35.Rg1 d4 0-1
Palos,O (2363) - Kaufman,L (2422) [A13]
World op 29th Philadelphia (9), 08.07.2001
1.c4 e6 2.Qa4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.e3 d6 6.d4 Bd7 7.Qd1 cxd48.exd4 Rc8 9.Bd3 Be7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Be3 e5 12.d5 Na5 13.Nd2 Ng4 14.Bxa7b6 15.Na4 Bxa4 16.Qxa4 Qc7 17.b4 e4 18.Bxe4 Nxc4 19.Nxc4 Qxc4 20.Bf5 Ra821.Qd7 Nh6 22.Bxb6 Bf6 23.Rab1 Qxd5 24.Bh3 Rxa2 25.b5 Rb2 26.Rxb2 Bxb227.Qc6 Qe5 28.Bc7 Ba3 29.b6 Bc5 30.b7 Ba7 31.Bxd6 Qf6 32.Qc7 Re8 33.g3Nf5 34.Bxf5 Qxf5 35.Qc6 Qe6 36.Rc1 h5 37.Qxe8+ Qxe8 38.Rc8 1-0
2) DeGuzman wins 4th Annual Henry Gross Memorial
Filipino IM Ricardo DeGuzman did it again, winning the 4th AnnualHenry Gross Memorial 5-0 on February 7th to continue his mastery of MIG/45 events. Here is his key 4th round win.
Tserendorj,B - DeGuzman,R [C88]
Henry Gross Memorial (4), 2004
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-08.a4 b4 9.a5 d6 10.d3 Rb8 11.Nbd2 Nd7 12.Nf1 Nc5 13.Bd5 Nd4 14.Nxd4 exd415.Ng3 Be6 16.Qf3 Bg5 17.b3 Bxc1 18.Raxc1 Qg5 19.Ne2 Qe5 20.Qg3 Bxd5 21.exd5Rfe8?!
21...Qxd5 22.Nf4 Qf5 23.Re7 gives White some play for the pawn butwas the right way to play.
22.Qg4 Qxd5 23.Nf4 f5
Now 23...Rxe1+ 24.Rxe1 Qc6 is rudely met by 25.Nh5 g6 26.Nf6+ Kg7 27.Qxd4.
24.Qxg7+
Also to be considered was 24.Rxe8+ Rxe8 25.Qxg7+ Kxg7 26.Nxd5.
24...Kxg7 25.Nxd5 Re5 26.Ne7 Rb5 27.Nc6 Rxe1+ 28.Rxe1 Kf6 29.Re7?
This allows a neat trick. Instead 29.Ra1! was indicated.
29...Nxb3! 30.Rxh7 Nxa5 31.Nxd4 Rd5 32.Rh6+?
The last chance to keep fighting was 32.Nf3.
32...Kg5 33.Re6 Rxd4 34.g3 f4 35.f3 b3 0-1
3) Four way tie in Winter Tuesday Night Marathon
IM Walter Shipman, FM Frank Thornally and NMs RussellWong and Nicolas Yap are tied for first at 5-1 with two roundsto go in the Mechanics' Institute Winter Tuesday Night Marathon.
4) Here and There
Thank to long-time MI Member Frank Ruys for his recent donationof books and magazines to the Institute.
IMs Andranik Matigozian and Tim Taylor tied for firstin the Foothills Open in Pasadena this past Sunday. The two winners, whoeach score 4.5 from 5, both drew with GM-elect Melikhset Khachiyan.
The USCF recently announced that the Executive Board scheduled a SpecialElection.
Due to the resignations of two Executive Board Members (Dr. JohnMcCrary and Frank Camaratta), the USCF will hold a special electionfor two one-year terms to the USCF Executive Board. Candidates must submitnomination petitions with the signatures of 30 Voting Members and mustpay a filing fee of $250.00. Nomination petitions must be received by theUSCF Secretary or the USCF office (ATTN: Barb Vandermark) by 5PM (EST)on Wednesday, March 31st, 2004. Any USCF member 16 years or older as ofJune 1st 2004 and living in the United States is a Voting Member. Candidateswill be entitled to a 150 word statement and picture in the May issue ofChess Life, and a half page in an election supplement which will appearin the June issue of Chess Life. The copy deadlines are April 1st for the150 word statement and photograph and May 1st for the half-page electionsupplement. Ballots will be included in the June issue of Chess Life. Thedate for ballot counting has not yet been set. The elected Board memberswill serve for one year, beginning with the certification of election resultsby the Delegates on August 14th, 2004, and through the end of the 2005Delegates Meeting.
Newsletter #179, 02/18/2004
"I've seen lots of players reach their peak and then stop all forwardprogress. Then they become useless hacks, good only for donating blood."
Larry Christiansen
1) DeGuzman wins Peoples Open
International Master Ricardo DeGuzman continued his winning waysin Bay Area tournaments by defeating NM Michael Aigner in the lastround of the People's Open held February 14-16 in Berkeley. DeGuzman,who scored 5-1 to take home the $500 first prize, was only nicked for drawsby FMs Adrian Keatinge-Clay and Bela Evans. NM Paul Gallegoshad an excellent result, finishing second at 4 1/2, losing only to DeGuzman.There was a big tie for third at 4 with Evans, Keatinge-Clay and Aignerjoined by IM Walter Shipman, SM Dmitry Zilberstein and NMMatthewHo.
Larry Snyder won the Expert section in fine style scoring 5-1.This result will put Larry comfortably over 2100 as he continues his questto reach 2200, a goal he briefly reached in 1997. Good luck Larry! DonShennum directed the 155 player multi-section event.
2) Shipman and Thornally lead TNM
International Master Walter Shipman and FM Frank Thornallylead the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon with scores of 6-1 with around to go. Tied for second a half point back are NM Andy Lee andExpert Ariel Mazzarelli. The next Marathon starts on March 16 andwill be a 9-rounder.
Here is how the two leaders did it last night.
Wong,R - Thornally,F [C89]
Winter TNM (7), 02.2004
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb30-0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d4 Bd6 13.Re2 Qh4 14.g3Qh5 15.Re4 Qg6 16.Bxd5!?
16.Bc2 Bf5 17.Re2 Rae8 18.Bxf5 Qxf5 19.Nd2
16...cxd5 17.Re1 Bg4 18.Qb3
18.f3 Bf5 19.Be3 Bxg3 20.hxg3 Qxg3+ 21.Kh1 a5 22.Qd2 Qh4+ 23.Kg1Ra6 24.Re2 Rg6+ 25.Rg2 Rxg2+ 26.Kxg2 Bh3+ 27.Kh2 Bg4+ 28.Kg2 Qh3+ 29.Kg1Re8
18...Rae8 19.Be3 f5?!
19...Qh5
20.Qxd5+ Kh8 21.f4?
21.Nd2 f4 22.Bxf4 Bxf4 (22...Rxe1+ 23.Rxe1 Bxf4 24.gxf4) 23.Rxe8Rxe8 24.gxf4 Bh3+ 25.Qg5 Qc2 26.Qh5
21...Bxf4 22.Bf2 Rxe1+ 23.Bxe1 Be3+ 24.Kh1
24.Bf2 Bxf2+ 25.Kxf2 f4
24...Qh5 0-1
Shipman,W - Yap,N [D01]
Winter TNM (7), 2004
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bg5 Nbd7 4.Qd3 c5 5.0-0-0 e6 6.e4 cxd4 7.Qxd4Bc5 8.Bxf6 Qxf6 9.Qxf6 Nxf6 10.exd5 Bxf2 11.Bb5+ Kf8 12.d6 Nd7 13.Nf3 f614.Rhf1 Be3+ 15.Kb1 a6 16.Bc4 Nb6 17.Bb3 Kf7 18.Rd3 Bh6 19.Ne5+ Ke8 20.Ng4Bg5 21.Ne4 h5 22.Ngf2 Bf4 23.g3 Be5 24.Nc5 h4 25.Ng4 1-0
3) Nick deFirmian ties for first in Denmark
GM Nick deFirmian, who has long ties to the Mechanics', recentlytied for first in the AS04 100 Centenary 2004 in Copenhagen, scoring7.5 from 9. Here is his last round game.
Ruslan Pogorelov (2451) - Nick deFirmian (2523) [A33]
AS04 Centenary Copenhagen (9), 15.02.2004
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.a3 Bc5 7.Nb3Be7 8.e4 0-0 9.Be2 b6 10.0-0 Bb7 11.Be3 Rc8 12.f4 d6 13.Rc1 Nb8 14.Qd3Nbd7 15.Bf3 Qc7 16.Nd2 Qb8 17.b4 Rfd8 18.g4 Nf8 19.g5 N6d7 20.Qe2 Re8 21.Qf2Bd8 22.h4 a6 23.h5 Ba8 24.Be2 Qb7 25.Qg3 Bc7 26.Kf2 Bb8 27.Rg1 b5 28.cxb5axb5 29.Nxb5 Nb6 30.Bxb6 Qxb6+ 31.Qe3 Qb7 32.Nb3 Qd7 33.Rxc8 Rxc8 34.Rc1Rxc1 35.Nxc1 Bc6 36.Qd3 d5 37.e5 Bxb5 38.Qxb5 Qa7+ 39.Kf3 Qxa3+ 40.Nd3Qa7 41.Nc5 Bc7 42.Qa6 Qb8 43.b5 Bb6 44.Qb7 Qxb7 45.Nxb7 h6 46.Kg4 Nd7 47.Nd6hxg5 48.Kxg5 Kf8 49.h6?
49.Kg4
49...gxh6+ 50.Kg4
50.Kxh6 Be3 51.Kg5 Nxe5
50...Bc7 51.Nc8 f6 52.exf6 Nxf6+ 53.Kf3 Nd7 54.Bf1 Ke8 55.Bh3Nc5 56.b6 Kd8 57.bxc7+ Kxc8 58.f5 Kxc7 59.fxe6 Kd6 60.Kg4 Nxe6 61.Bf1 Ng762.Kf4 Ke6 63.Bh3+ Kf6 64.Bc8 Ne6+ 65.Kg4 d4 66.Ba6 Nc5 67.Bf1 Kg6 68.Kf4h5 69.Bg2 Kf6 70.Bf1 d3 71.Bg2 Ne6+ 72.Ke3 h4 73.Be4 Nc5 74.Bg2 Ke5 75.Bh3Kd5 76.Bg4 Kc4 77.Kf4 Kd4 78.Kg5 Ke3 79.Kxh4 Ne4 80.Bd1 Nc3 81.Bb3 Ne282.Kg4 Nd4 83.Ba4 Nc2 84.Kf5 Kd2 85.Ke4 Kc3 86.Kd5 d2 0-1
4) More on Osmand Palos
Newsletter reader Michael Aigner shares his memories of Osmand.
"I was saddened to hear of the passing of IM Osmand Palosof Chicago. You probably didn't know, but he has special meaning to mebecause of one game we played in the summer of 2000 at the old ChicagoChess Club. I was visiting my dad in the Windy City, and on the spur ofthe moment, decided to play in a one-day G/90 tournament. As luck wouldhave it, I was paired up on board 1 in the first round. Of course, my opponentwas an institution of Chicago area chess, although I didn't know it atthe time. I'm sure that Palos wanted to quickly forget our game (he blundereda piece), but I will never forget it. Not only was this my first victoryagainst an International Master, but it was also the game that took meover 2200 USCF. I won the other two games in that tournament, withPalos watching me like a hawk. In the end, I took the first place prizethat he probably had hoped to win, but he was gracious in congratulatingme."
A photo of Osmand, taken by Tony Boren, can be found at http://www.kevinspraggett.com/osmanpalos.jpg.
5) Bay Area Chess History
Peter Dahl did a booklet on the life and games of Henry Grossalmost fifteen years ago Now he has a second edition, with many analyticalimprovements, available on CD for the bargain price of $1 (to cover thecost of the CD, packaging and postage). You can place orders with Peterby writing him at [email protected] or75 Inverness Dr., San Francisco, CA 94132.
You won't find the following game, sent in by NM Robert Hainesof Albuquerque, on any database.
Gross - Wade, R.G.
Bognor Regis Premier 1953
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bd2 dxe4 5. Qg4 Qxd4 6. Nf3 Nh67. Qf4 e5 8.Nxd4 exf4 9. Bxf4 c6 10. O-O-O Bxc3 11. bxc3 Nf5 12. Bc4 O-O13. Rhe1 Nxd4 14.Rxd4 Bf5 15. g4 c5 16. Rd2 Bxg4 17. Rxe4 Bf5 18. Re5 Be619. Bd3 Nd7 20. Rg5 f6 21. Rg1 Ne5 22. Be4 Bxa2 23. Be3 Rac8 24. f4 Ng625. Bxg6 hxg6 26. Rxg6 Be6 27.Rg1 b6 28. Kb2 Rfd8 29. Rgd1 Rxd2 30. Rxd2Kf7 31. Bf2 Ke7 32. Bg3 Rd8 33. Re2 Kd7 34. Rd2+ Kc8 35. Re2 Bf5 36. Kb3Kc7
End of first time control.
37. Re7+ Rd7 38. Re8 Kc6 39. Re2 a5 40. Be1 Kb5 41. c4+ Kc6 42.Bc3 Rd8 43. Rg2 Rd7 44.h4 Kd6 45. Ka4 Re7 46. Kb5 Kc7 47. Ka4 Kc6 48. h5Re3 49. Bb2 Be4 50. Rh2 Kc7 51. c3 Rf3 52. Rh4 f5 53. Kb3 Bd3 54. Bc1 Rf2
End of second time control.
55. Rh3 a4+ 56. Ka3
56. Kxa4 Bxc4
56... Bxc4 57. Bb2 Rxf4 58. h6 gxh6 59. Rxh6 b5 60. Rh7+ Kb661. Rh2 Rf1 62. Rc2 Bb3 0-1
Kerry Lawless site, www.chessdryad.com,is dedicated to preserving the chess heritage of California. To that enda concerted effort is being made to enter all significant tournaments gamesplayed in the Golden State into the CalBase database on the chessdryadsite (over 20,000 games so far). Among those events missing, for whichneither Kerry nor the MI have bulletins are:
Bagby Memorials (Northern California Championships)
1976 (won by Roy Ervin)
1984 (won by Paul Whitehead)
1986 (won by Peter Biyiasas)
3rd San Francisco International 1987 (organizer Guillermo Rey)
CalBase has all 41 games published in the bulletin for the 1994 SanMateo IM norm event, but the following four games are missing:
Shaked-Izumikawa 1/2-1/2, Summerscale -Busquets 1-0, Remlinger-Izumikawa1-0 and Remlinger-Mortazavi 1/2-1/2.
Can anyone help out?
Max Burkett, who served as the bulletin editor for many years,has recently posted all the games from the 1983 CalChess Masters at:
http://people.montana.com/~mburkett/tourneys/X83CCM.htm
6) Zsuzsa Polgar wins in Oklahoma
Zsuzsa Polgar came out of retirement to win the Dream TeamChallenge this past weekend in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Polgar, who hasn'tplayed a tournament game in about 6 years, scored 6.5 from 7 in the uniqueevent which was run as a Swiss, but with the stipulation that none of themembers of the Women's Olympic Training Squad could be paired witheach other. IM Irina Krush was second at 6 followed by FM JenniferShahade and WGM Rusa Goletiani on 5 1/2. IM Anna Zatonskihwas fifth at 5 with best male finishers Movses Moivsisyan and SergeyGalant at 4.5. Moivsisyan, who beat Krush and drew Polgar, earned enoughpoints to push his rating over 2200. Frank Berry organized and sponsoredthis unique tournament.
6) Here and There
GM Alex Baburin's online daily Chess Today recently publishedthe following information about an interview FIDE czar Ilyumzhinovgave regarding the FIDE World Championship situation.
The Championship shall take place in Tripoli, 8th May - 2nd June.The Prize fund will be 1 million 508 thousand US dollars. The winner willget one hundred thousand dollars. Regarding the problem with the Israeliplayers: Ilyumzhinov asked Khaddafi to allow them to visit the countryand hopes for a positive answer. There is also an idea originating fromKhaddafi's son - that of dividing the Championship into two groups. Oneof the groups will play in Malta, and Libya will pay foreverything.
One final interesting point from the interview - FIDE will send contractsto all 128 World Championship participants. Included in the contract isa clause making it obligatory for KO Championship winner to participatein the match against Garry Kasparov. Ilyumzhinov is sure that Anandwill play in Libya.
The official FIDE site has published an interesting statistic:The top chess countries by average rating of their 10 top players:
1. Russia - 2726
2. Ukraine - 2622
3. England - 2614
4. Hungary - 2613
5. France - 2612
6. USA - 2607
7. Israel - 2605
8. Germany - 2601
9. China - 2593
10. Netherlands - 2591
Newsletter #180, 02/25/2004
"Your body has to be in top condition. Your chess deteriorates asyour body does. You can't separate mind from body."
Bobby Fischer
1) Shipman and Thornally tie for first in Winter TNM
IM Walter Shipman and FM Frank Thornally tied for firstin the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon with scores of 6.5 from 8.The two winners each received $355 for their efforts in winning the 80-playerevent. Tying for third at 6 were NMs Egle Morkunaite, Russell Wongand Andy Lee, Expert Ariel Mazzarelli and Class A playerGaryLuke. The next Marathon, a nine rounder, starts March 16.
Steven Svoboda looked to have the A prize sewn up after a nicelast round victory but then Gary Luke pulled off a major upset.
Luke,G (1800) - Margulis,I (2259)
Winter TNM (8), 02.2004
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 f5 6.Bf4 d6 7.e3 Nf68.Bd3 Qa5 9.Qc2 Nbd7 10.Nf3 Nb6 11.0-0 Na4 12.Rfc1 b5 13.Nd2 Nb6 14.cxb5Nbxd5 15.c4 Nxf4 16.exf4 0-0 17.Re1 Qc7 18.Qc3 Bb7 19.Nb3 Rae8 20.Qa5 Qd721.Rad1 Ba8 22.Be2 Rc8 23.Qd2 Ne4 24.Qe3 Rfe8 25.f3 Nf6 26.Bf1 Kg7 27.a4Kf7 28.Rd2 e6 29.Red1 d5 30.Nxc5 Qd6 31.Nd3 Qc7 32.c5 Kg8 33.c6 a6 34.Ne5Qd6 35.Rc2 axb5 36.axb5 Qb4 37.Qd4 Qxd4+ 38.Rxd4 Re7 39.Rb4 Ne8 40.b6 Nd641.Ba6 Rf8 42.b7 Rc7 43.Nd7 1-0
Svoboda,S (1904) - Cendejas,J (1834)
Winter TNM (8), 02.2004
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nf3 e5 6.e4 f5 7.g3 Nf6 8.Ng5h6 9.Ne6 Bxe6 10.dxe6 Nc6 11.Bg2 fxe4 12.Nxe4 Nxe4 13.Bxe4 0-0 14.Bxg6Nd4 15.Bf7+ Kh8 16.Qh5 Qf6 17.0-0 Nxe6 18.Bg6 Nd4 19.Bxh6 Qf3 20.Be3+ Qxh521.Bxh5 Nc2 22.Rad1 Nxe3 23.fxe3 Rad8 24.Rxf8+ Bxf8 25.Rf1 Bh6 26.e4 Rd727.Rf6 Bg7 28.Re6 Bf8 29.Kg2 a6 30.Kh3 Re7 31.Rg6 Rf7 32.Kg4 Rf2 33.h4Rxb2 34.Kf5 Rc2 35.Ke6 Rxc4 36.Kf7 Rxe4 37.Rg8+ Kh7 38.Bg6+ 1-0
2) Collyer and Donaldson share first in 12th David Collyer Memorial
Organizer and director Kevin Korsmo writes: This popular annualtournament was held February 21-22 in Spokane, Washington. IM John Donaldsonand local Expert Curt Collyer tied for first in the 62 player DaveCollyer Memorial with scores of 4.5 from 5. Third place was shared by IMEricTangborn,
FM David Sprenkle, NM Nick Raptis, 9th grader DanielCopeland, Kent McNall, and Kirk Steinocher, all of whom scored4 points.
3) Northern California Chess History
In Newsletter 179 we made an appeal for the four missing games fromthe 1994 International in San Mateo. IM John Watson has broughtthe number down to two by supplying the missing games Shaked-Izumikawa1/2-1/2 and Remlinger-Izumikawa 1-0. Still missing are Summerscale-Busquets 1-0, and Remlinger-Mortazavi 1/2-1/2. By the way John's Chess Strategy in Action recently edged out GarryKasparov's My Great Predecessors, volume 1, as the winner of the 2003ChessCafeBook of the Year.
Izukiama - Remlinger [C07]
San Mateo, 1994
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Ngf3 cxd4 6.Bc4 Qd6 7.0-0Nf6 8.Nb3 Nc6 9.Nbxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 a6 11.c3 Bd7 12.Qf3 Qc7 13.Bb3 Bd6 14.h30-0-0 15.Rd1 Kb8 16.Be3 e5 17.Nc2 Bc6 18.Qe2 Ne4 19.Nb4 Bxb4 20.cxb4 f621.a4 Rxd1+ 22.Bxd1 Nd6 23.b5 axb5 24.axb5 Nxb5 25.Qg4 Re8 26.Qa4 b6 27.Qb4Rd8 28.Ba4 Nd4 29.Bxc6 Nxc6 30.Qxb6+ Qxb6 31.Bxb6 Rd2 32.Rb1 Kb7 33.Be3Rc2 34.Kf1 Nb4 35.Ra1 f5 36.Ra7+ Kc6 37.g3 Nd3 38.Rxg7 f4 39.gxf4 exf440.Ba7 Rxb2 41.Rxh7 Ra2 42.h4 Ne5 43.Kg2 Kd5 44.h5 Ke4 45.Re7 Kf5 46.h6Ng6 47.h7 Nxe7 48.h8Q Rxa7 49.Qf8+ Ke6 50.Qxf4 Nf5 51.Qc4+ Kf6 52.Qc6+Kg5 53.Qc1+ Kf6 54.f4 Rf7 55.Kf3 Kg7 56.Qg1+ Kh7 57.Ke4 Nh6 58.Qg5 Rg759.Qd8 Rf7 60.Qd6 Kg7 61.Qe5+ Kh7 62.Qc5 Kg7 63.Qg5+ Kh7 64.Ke5 Ra7 65.Qg1Re7+ 66.Kd6 Nf5+ 67.Kd5 Rf7 68.Ke6 Nh6 69.Qg5 Rg7 70.Qh5 Rg6+ 71.Ke5 Ra672.Qe2 Ra5+ 73.Ke6 Rf5 74.Qh2 Rf8 75.Qh4 Kg7 76.Qg3+ Kh7 77.Qg5 Re8+ 78.Kd7Rg8 79.Qh5 Rf8 80.Qe5 Nf5 81.Qc5 Kg8 82.Qg1+ Ng7 83.Qg4 Rf7+ 84.Kd6 Rf6+85.Ke5 Rf5+ 86.Ke4 Rf6 87.Qg5 Kf7 88.Qd5+ Kf8 89.Kf3 Ne6 ½-½
Newsletter #181, 03/03/2004
"Chess is not something that drives people mad, chess is somethingthat keeps mad people sane.
William Hartston
1) Bay Area Chess Activity Picking Up
This weekend's A.J. Fink Amateur Championship at the Mechanics' Instituteparks the start of a pickup in chess activity in the Bay Area. Later thismonth the Northern California Scholastic Championship will be held andtournaments are also scheduled for Vallejo, San Francisco and Berkeley.The latter will start a new event, The Berkeley Chess Club Friday NightMarathon, this Friday. Go to http://www.berkeleychess.com/marathonberk.htmfor more information.
2) NM John Braley turns 60
Longtime MI Members might remember a strong visitor from Seattle whooften visited the Chess Room in the late 1960s, skittling with then ChessDirector IM William Addison. That was John Braley who wenton to win three Washington State Championship titles in the 1970s and 80sand did an excellent job editing Northwest Chess in 1983-84. John turned60 yesterday, March 2. Congratulations!
Though noted for his skill in maneuvering in closed positions John couldalso play some beautiful sacrificial games. Here are two good examples.
NM John Braley- NM George Krauss
Seattle 1971
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.Bc4 c2 6.Qxc2 Bb4+ 7.Nc3
d6 8.Bg5 f6 9.Bh4 Nh6 10.0-0 Bxc3 11.Qxc3 Qe7 12.Bd5 Bd7 13.Qb3 g5 14.Bg3
g4 15.Nh4 0-0-0 16.Rac1 Rde8 17.Qe3 Nf7 18.Rxc6 Bxc6 19.Nf5 Qf8 20.Qxa7
Nd8 21.Rc1 h5 22.b4 h4 23.Bf4 Rh5 24.b5 Bxd5 25.Bxd6 Qf7 26.Qa8+ Kd7 27.Rxc7+
Ke6 28.Qc8+ 1-0
NM John Braley - NM Neil Salmon
Seattle 1983
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bc4 a6 7.0-0 Nf6
8.h3 e6 9.Qe2 Bd7 10.Rd1 Qb8 11.a4 Be7 12.b4 Nxb4 13.e5 dxe5 14.Nxe5 Qc8
15.Rxd7 Nxd7 16.Nxf7 Kxf7 17.Qxe6+ Ke8 18.Bg5 Qc5 19.Re1 Qxg5 20.Ne4 Qe5
21.Nd6+ Qxd6 22.Qxd6 Nc6 23.Bd5 Kd8 24.Rxe7 Nxe7 25.Be6 Ke8 26.Qxd7+ Kf8
27.Qxb7 1-0
3) Here and There
The March 1st edition of the New Yorker features a three page review of the new book Bobby Fischer Goes to War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of all Time by David Edmonds and John Eidinow.
American players did not have an easy time at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow. Top scorers were GMs Gregory Kaidanov and Boris Gulko with 5/9 followed by GMs Alexander Ivanov and Sergey Kudrin at fifty percent. IM Dmitry Schneider had 3. IM William Paschall had 4.5 from 9 in the B group.
Noted chess book collector Andy Ansel shares this recently unearthed game played by the late MI stalwart Henry Gross and NM Hugh Myers in the 1955 US Open.
NM Henry Gross - NM Hugh Myers
Long Beach (12), 1955
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 a5 7.Bd3 Bd7 8.0-0
cxd4 9.cxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Qxd4 11.Nc3 Qxe5 12.Re1 Qd6 13.Nb5 Qb8 14.Qf3
Bd6 15.Qxd5 Bxh2+ 16.Kh1 Nf6 17.Qd4 h5 18.Bg5 Ng4 19.Qc5 f6 20.Rxe6+ Bxe6
21.Bg6+ Bf7 22.Re1+ Be5 23.Nc7+ Qxc7 24.Qxc7 Bxg6 25.Qxg7 0-0-0 26.Qxg6
fxg5 27.Qb6 Kb8 28.f3 Bd4 29.Qxa5 Nf2+ 30.Kh2 Rd7 31.Re2 g4 32.f4 g3+ 33.Kxg3
Rg7+ 34.Kf3 Rhg8 35.Rxf2 Rg3+ 36.Ke2 Bxf2 37.Kxf2 Rxg2+ 38.Kf3 R8g3+ 39.Ke4
Re2+ 40.Kf5 Rd3 41.Kg5 Red2 42.Qe5+ Rd6 43.f5 R2d5 44.Qe8+ Rd8 45.Qxh5
Rg8+ 46.Kf6 Rf8+ 47.Ke6 Rfd8 48.Qh2+ Kc8 49.f6 Rd2 50.Qh3 R2d7 51.f7 Rf8
½-½
Source: Exploring the Chess Openings by Hugh Myers, pages 56-58.
One of the great bargains in American chess has to be a membership in
the Mechanics' Instititute. Where else can you find a club open 12 hours
a day, seven days a week, plus access to a general interest library that
includes over 1000 chess books and over 60 chess videos for only $95 a
year? Not quite the bargain, but still a real steal is membership in America's
second oldest continuosly operating chess club, the Franklin - Mercantile
of Philadelphia. Located in the downtown at 2012 Walnut Street, just off
Rittenhouse Square, the club only charges adults $50 a year and juniors,
students and those living over 25 miles away $25. Hours are:M-F 1pm-9pm;
Sat 1pm -12am, Sundays vary. Club President is IM Richard Costigan. Call
(215) 496-0811 for more information.
4) MI History: The 1976 Stamer Memorial
=1st Jeremy Silman, Roy Ervin and Frank Thornally 4.5-.5
Ervin,R - Whitehead,J
San Francisco Stamer (4), 1976
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 Nbd7 7.0-0 e5
8.d5 Nc5 9.Qc2 a5 10.Be3 Nh5 11.g3 Bh3 12.Rfd1 f5 13.Bxc5 dxc5 14.exf5
gxf5 15.Nxe5 Nxg3 16.hxg3 Bxe5 17.f4 Bg7 18.Kh2 Bg4 19.Bxg4 fxg4 20.Kg2
Bxc3 21.Qxc3 Qd7 22.Re1 c6 23.Re5 Rf5 24.Rae1 cxd5 25.cxd5 b6 26.Rxf5 Qxf5
27.Re5 Qf6 28.Re8+ 1-0
Menas,B - Fritzinger,D
San Francisco Stamer (5), 1976
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.a4 c6
8.d5 Nb6 9.Bb3 cxd5 10.a5 dxe4 11.Ng5 Nbd7 12.Bxf7+ Rxf7 13.Ne6 Qe8 14.Nc7
Qd8 15.Ne6 Qe8 16.Nc7 Qd8 17.Ne6 Qe8 18.Nc7 ½-½
Newsletter #182, 03/10/2004
"Fischer was a genius of concentration. He thought about chess day
and night. I also experienced an interesting case of concentration. It
happened while I was playing in England. I got up from my board and noticed
my wife. I realized that her face was familiar and I said ‘Good afternoon!’.
She ran away ... I think that in order to reach a really high level one
needs maximum concentration—both during the game and in preparation."
Svetozar Gligoric
1) Vayntrub and Lopez win A.J. Fink Amateur
Dmitry Vayntrub and Jacob Lopez tied for first place with
4-0 scores in the A.J. Fink Amateur Championship held March 6-7 at the
Mechanics' Institute.
Young Daichi Siegrist was third at 3.5 in the 45-player field
and we predict he will be an Expert before the end of the year. Anthony
Corrales and John Donaldson directed for the Mechanics'.
2) Chess and Poker
Last Friday the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article by MI member
Steve
Rubenstein on the Bay 101 Club Shooting Star poker tournament which
featured a first prize of $350,000. About half the article was devoted
to observations by Dennis Waterman, one of the best Bay Area players
in the mid-1970s, with a USCF rating over 2400.
Rubenstein wrote: "Waterman, who is also a World ranked chess player,
says he does not play poker on Saturday night with the boys, a six-pack
and a bowl of barbecue potato chips. "Poker is a job," he said. "You don't
do your job for fun. This is work."
Many strong Bay Area chess players like to play poker, and some quite
well. Six-time US Champion Walter Browne is a house player for the
Oaks Club n Emeryville while IM Elliott Winslow supports himself
these days playing poker on the Internet. FM Ralph Dubisch of Sunnyvale
played professionally for many years.
While a certain type of chess player can be a good poker player, you
never see the reverse, which can probably be explained by the differences
in psychology of the games. Many chess players only play chess, lacking
any sort of gambling/gaming interest. Conversely poker players are not
likely to be attracted to a game like chess where the gambling element
is limited."
3) Here and There
The first Berkeley Chess Club Friday Night Marathon got off to a very respectable start last week, attracting a field of 34 players to the Berkeley City Club near the UC campus. Top seed is NM Andy Lee followed by Experts Ian Zimmerman and David Barton. For more on this event visit http://www.berkeleychess.com/ .
Here is MI member Paul Gallegos convincing win over GM Raj
Tischbierek from last December's North American Open in Las Vegas.
Tischbierek is the editor of the highly respected German monthly Schach.
Gallegos,P - Tischbierek,R [B06]
North American Open, 2003
1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.Nc3 c6 4.Be3 b5 5.Qd2 Nf6 6.f3 Nbd7 7.h4 Nb6 8.Nh3
Bxh3 9.Rxh3 Qc7 10.g4 h5 11.g5 Nfd7 12.f4 e5 13.a3 a6 14.Rf3 Bg7 15.dxe5
dxe5 16.f5 Bf8 17.Qf2 Be7 18.0-0-0 Rd8 19.fxg6 fxg6 20.Bh3 Nc4 21.Be6 Nd6
22.Rf7 Rb8 23.Rxe7+ Kxe7 24.Bxd7 Rhf8 25.Qg3 Nb7 26.Qh3 1-0
American chess players have two double headers coming up in early April. Those on the East Coast will go for the Millennium Open in Virginia Beach and Foxwoods while West Coast players have events in Burbank and Reno. Go to http://www.westernchess.com/wpo04/wpo04.html for details of the LA area event.
The Marshall is not the only club thriving in the five boroughs of Manhattan. The Susan Polgar Chess Center has recently moved to new quarters. See the story and what the club looks like at http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1520
It's hard to say what the strongest chess city per capita in the United
States is. Certainly the campus of the University of Baltimore at Maryland
County, with GMs Alex Onischuk and Pavel Blehm and IMs Eugene
Perelshteyn and Pascal Charbonneau not to mention nearby residents
GMs Jaan Ehlvest, Alex Wojtkiewicz and Alex Sherzer,
is a pretty impressive concentration of strength. Removing special cases
like this and the University of Texas at Dallas, where scholarships have
brought in the talent, the winner might be Berkeley. Certainly New York
City has many more strong players, but one GM (Walter Browne) and four
IMs (Jay Whitehead, John Grefe, Vinay Bhat and John Donaldson)
is not bad for a city of 110,000.
4) Bobby Fischer Goes To War
The authors of Bobby Fischer Goes To War: How the Soviets Lost the Most
Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time, David Edmonds & John Eidinow,
will be giving a talk at the Mechanic's Institute, on Friday, April 2,
at 12:30 PM. The event is free for members and $5 for the public. Go to
http://www.milibrary.org/events.html
for more information.
Newsletter #183, 03/17/2004
"Laziness makes improvement impossible."
Bobby Fischer
1) 4th Max Wilkerson Open this Saturday
The 4th annual Max Wilkerson Open will be held this Saturday
starting at 10am. Named after the longest serving Mechanics' Institute
Chess Director (16 years) this five round event will differ from other
MI's other monthly G/45 event in that few kids are expected to play because
of the concurrent Northern California Scholastic Championships.
2) Spring Tuesday Night Marathon Starts
Seventy entrants are signed up for the Mechanics' Institute Spring Tuesday
Night Marathon with FM Frank Thornally the top seed. The nine round
event will run through early May. It is still possible to enter the tournament
with a half point bye for round 1.
3) 2nd SF International - 1986 Revisited
The 2nd San Francisco International, held at Mz. Brown's Kitchen in the Mission District and organized by Guillermo Rey, was a memorable event. Zsuzsa Polgar made her first appearance in California and Elliott Winslow achieved his third and final IM norm.
Category 4 (2344 FIDE average) IM norm = 8
1. GM Nick deFirmian 9.5/12; 2. FM Elliott Winslow 8.5 3-6. IMs John Donaldson, Victor Frias, Zsuzsa Polgar and Cris Ramayrat 8; 7. IM Jay Whitehead 6; 8-9. NMs Zaki Harari and Guillermo Rey 5; 10-11. NMs Benjamin Ferrera and Dennis Fritzinger 4; 12. FM Richard Lobo 3.5; 13. NM Steven Cross .5
Polgar,Z (2400) - Ramayrat,C (2430) [E84]
San Francisco 2nd San Francisco (2), 03.1986
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Be3 Nc6 7.Nge2 a6
8.Qd2 Rb8 9.Nc1 e5 10.d5 Nd4 11.N1e2 Nxe2 12.Bxe2 Nh5 13.0-0-0 f5 14.c5
Nf4 15.Bc4 b5 16.Bf1 Rf7 17.c6 Bf6 18.Kb1 Nh5 19.b4 f4 20.Ba7 Ra8 21.Bf2
Bh4 22.Kb2 Bxf2 23.Qxf2 g5 24.Be2 Nf6 25.a4 bxa4 26.Ra1 g4 27.Rxa4 Rg7
28.Rha1 g3 29.Qg1 gxh2 30.Qxh2 Rb8 31.Kb3 h5 32.Bxa6 Bxa6 33.Rxa6 Rg3 34.b5
Qf8 35.Ra7 Qc8 36.Kc4 Kg7 37.R1a2 Kg6 38.Qh1 Ng8 39.Qh4 Nf6 40.Ne2 Rg5
41.Qh3 Kh6 42.Qxc8 Rxc8 43.Nc3 h4 44.b6 cxb6 45.Nb5 1-0
De Firmian,N (2520) - Ramayrat,C (2440) [B87]
San Francisco 2nd San Francisco (4), 03.1986
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 b5
8.0-0 Bb7 9.Re1 Nbd7 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bxf6 Nxf6 12.Qd3 Nd7 13.Qh3 Nc5 14.Bd5
exd5 15.exd5+ Be7 16.Nf5 Bc8 17.Nxe7 Bxh3 18.Nc6+ Ne6 19.Nxd8 Kxd8 20.gxh3
Nf4 21.Re4 Nxh3+ 22.Kg2 f5 23.Rb4 Ng5 24.a4 bxa4 25.Rbxa4 Ke7 26.Rxa6 Rxa6
27.Rxa6 Rb8 28.b3 Nf7 29.Ne2 Rb5 30.c4 Rxb3 31.Nd4 Rb2 32.Nxf5+ Kf6 33.Nxd6
Ne5 34.c5 Rc2 35.Nc4+ 1-0
Winslow had beaten IMs Whitehead and Ramayrat and was contending for first when a loss near the end of the event nearly derailed him. The following game, from one of the last rounds, was critical to his success. Winslow quickly achieves a dominating position but then leaves his Queen hanging one move too long. That's when the real adventures start!
Winslow,E (2340) - Fritzinger,D (2215) [A54]
San Francisco 2nd San Francisco (10), 03.1986
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Nbd7 4.Nf3 e5 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 0-0 7.Qc2 Ne8
8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.0-0-0 c6 10.Bd3 g6 11.g4 Ndf6 12.h3 Ng7 13.c5 dxc5 14.dxe5
Nd7 15.Ne4 b5 16.Qc3 Ne6 17.Nf6+ Kh8 18.g5 Nb6 19.h4 c4 20.h5 cxd3 21.hxg6
fxg6 22.Qb4 Rf7 23.Nxh7 Nf4 24.exf4 Qxb4 25.Nf6+ Bh3 26.Rxh3+ Kg7 27.Rxd3
Qc4+ 28.Kd2 Qxf4+ 29.Ke2 Re7 30.Rh7+ Kf8 31.Rh8+ Kf7 32.Rh7+ Ke6 33.Nd4+
Kxe5 34.Rxe7+ Kd6 35.Nf5+ Kc5 36.Re4 Qxe4+ 37.Nxe4+ Kb4 38.Ne3 Nc4 39.b3
Nxe3 40.Rxe3 Rd8 41.Nc3 Rd4 42.Nb1 Kc5 43.Rc3+ 1-0
All the games from this event will soon be available at www.chessdryad.com
in its Cal Database.
4) Here and There
Filipino IM Ricardo DeGuzman will be giving a simul at the Burlingame
Chess Club on Thursday, April 1. Go to
http://www.burlingamechessclub.com/bccPAIR/2004tmts/deguzman/deguzman_simul.htm
for more information.
GM Alex Baburin in the excellent online daily Chess Today (http://www.chesstoday.net) recently shared some information about some strange incidents involving Kasparov at Linares.
Dmitry Komarov in the Ukrainian newspaper Facty told a story
about a little known aspect of the recent Linares tournament. Below
is our translation of
his text (in Russian):
"A real detective story happened in the last rounds of the Super
tournament in Linares. According to Silvio Danailov, manager of
RuslanPonomariov,
when playing against Vallejo, Kasparov before making his
move suddenly stood up and left the playing hall. He did the same the day
before when he played against Topalov. In accordance with the rules
such behavior is strictly prohibited because of the possible computer assistance
and is punished with a defeat. The arbiters noticed Kasparov's strange
maneuver and asked the girl who was working in the press center to follow
him. Garry went to his hotel room and stayed there for about fifteen minutes.
Coming back he explained to the arbiters that he had had to take some medicine
urgently. The arbiters gave Kasparov just a warning, while at the last
European Team Championship Ponomariov lost a full point for a lesser offense
– an accidental mobile phone call."
It's not at all clear that Kasparov was cheating, but can you imagine
what his reaction would be if one of his opponents left the board for an
extended period of time without consulting an arbiter? Though unquestionably
one of the greatest, if not the greatest player of all time, Kasparov is
not likely to be remembered as having great board manners. One only has
to recall his actively utilized repertoire of facial grimaces and the incident
with Judit Polgar where he violated the touch move rule. - J.D.
Newsletter #184, 03/24/2004
"I like to coax my opponents into attacking, to let them taste the
joy of the initiative, so that they may get carried away, become careless,
and sacrifice material"
Viktor Kortchnoi
The next issue of the Newsletter will include coverage of the recently concluded Northern California Scholastic Championships and a review of the new book on Pal Benko by Benko, Jeremy Silman and John Watson. This beautifully produced 668 page hardback has the heft of a New York City phonebook!
1) US Champion Alex Shabalov at the Mechanics' Institute tonight
US Champion Alex Shabalov of Pittsburgh will be a special guest
of the Mechanics' Institute this evening. The 36-year-old Grandmaster (2623
FIDE), who has won nearly every important American tournament the past
year, will face off with MI Grandmaster-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky
at 5:15 tonight in a Fischer-Random exhibition. Admission is free to all.
2) Upsets galore in round 2 of the Spring TNM
There were upsets galore in the second round as Masters Russell Wong,
Batsaikan
Tserendorj and Victor Ossipov were knocked off by 1800 players
Stephen
Krasnov, Henry Plotkin and Andre Persidsky. Nine players
remain with perfect scores in the 70-player field with 7 rounds to go.
3) IM Odondoo wins 4th Max Wilkerson Open
Ganbold Odondoo of Mongolia won the 4th Max Wilkerson Open held
March 20th at the Mechanic's Institute with a 5-0 score. Fellow IM Ricardo
DeGuzman, who lost to Odondoo, was second with 4 points. Alex Yermolinsky
directed for the Mechanics'.
4) Alan Benson website
Noted Bay Area tournament director Alan Benson, who organized
many of the People's Opens in the 1970s and early 1980s, is offering his
collection of chess books and memorabilia for sale. If you go to http://marspolaris.tripod.com/bookcoll.html
you will not only see what he is offering, but also be presented with some
interesting tidbits on Bay Area chess including Alan's reminiscences of
a visit by Vassily Smyslov to Berkeley.
5) 3rd SF International 1986 and Paul Masson 1980
The 3rd San Francisco International was held October 11-30, 1986, and saw tournament organizer Guillermo Rey make an IM norm while tying for second. Only a handful of games from this event made it into local chess magazines and none are in ChessBase. There was a bulletin for this event which will hopefully surface soon. Standings:
1. J. Whitehead 8/10
2-3. Frias and Rey 7.5
4. Remlinger 7
5. Alzate 5.5
6-7. Ramayrat and Buzbuchi 4.5
8-10. Beelby, Lobo and Salvetti 3.5
11. M. Anderson 0
The golden days of Bay Area chess were probably the late 1970s and early 1980s when the "Fischer influence" was still felt and tournament site costs had not yet exploded. One of the great annual events was the Paul Masson Open held at the winery in Saratoga. Thanks to Max Burkett many of the games from the 1980 event (1--5. GMs Browne, Gheorghiu, Tarjan, Christiansen and Biyiasas 3.5/4) were preserved. Here are two that you won't find in any database.
Ayyar,R - Tarjan,J [B84]
Paul Masson Saratoga (1), 1980
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be2 Be7 7.Be3 a6 8.0-0 Qc7 9.f4 0-0 10.Kh1 b5 11.a3 Bb7 12.Bf3 Nbd7 13.Qe1 Rac8 14.Qg3 Nc5 15.f5 e5 16.Bh6 Ne8 17.Nde2 Kh8 18.Bg5 Bxg5 19.Qxg5 Nf6 20.Ng3 Qb6 21.Rad1 Rfd8 22.Nh5 Nxh5 23.Bxh5 f6 24.Qh4 b4 25.Nd5 Bxd5 26.Rxd5 bxa3 27.bxa3 Qb2 28.Rfd1 Qxa3 29.Rxd6 Rxd6 30.Rxd6 Nd3 0-1
Christiansen,L - Batchelder,W [B42]
Paul Masson Saratoga (2), 1980
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 g6 6.0-0 Bg7 7.c3 Ne7
8.f4 Nbc6 9.f5 exf5 10.exf5 Nxd4 11.cxd4 Qb6 12.Kh1 0-0 13.Nc3 Nxf5 14.Bxf5
gxf5 15.Nd5 Qxd4 16.Ne7+ Kh8 17.Qxd4 Bxd4 18.Nxf5 Bg7 19.Nd6 Kg8 20.Rf5
a5 21.Bf4 Ra6 22.Rc1 Rc6 23.Rxa5 Bxb2 24.Rxc6 dxc6 25.Bh6 1-0
6) US Championship dates changed
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — (March 17, 2004) — America’s Foundation for Chess (AF4C) and NTC Foundation have set the dates for the 2004 U.S. Chess Championships. The national title tournament will take place from November 24 through December 5, 2004, at the Hilton Torrey Pines in La Jolla.
This will be the fourth year that AF4C has hosted the annual tournamentand its first year doing so with a co-sponsor. Expected to maintainits $250,000 prize fund, the 2004 U.S. Chess Championships will beheld over 12 days and is expected to attract attention from around the world. Chessmaster® is returning as a 2004 corporate sponsor.
“The national title championship is a prestigious event in the world of chess,” said Erik J Anderson, president and co-founder of AFC4.“San Diego is an ideal site, with wide appeal to players,spectators and the media. I believe locating the tournament inSouthern California will allow us to take our efforts to promote chess to the next level.”
Countdown Already Started for 2004 Championships
Already half of the 64-player field has been seeded directly into the championship as the nation’s top players on the February 2004United States Chess Federation Rating List, or have won through byqualifying from the 2003 cycle of major U.S. tournaments. Next month sees the start of the 2004 qualifying cycle with a further 32-playerslooking to do battle over the chessboard in the coming months for the honor of completing the line-up. Further details of who hasqualified so far and which events make-up the 2004 cycle can be foundat http://www.af4c.org/events.asp.
Event Offers Something for Chess Fans and Non-Chess Players Alike
The 2004 tournament will highlight not only the elite chess competition,but also offer valuable educational activities sure to make chessmore accessible to the general public. Promoting chess as a learningtool that is fun, engaging and available to people young and old, novice or master
“We anticipate 12 days of tournament play and complimentary events,compelling children and adults to have an active role in thechampionship,” said Murray Galinson, chairman of the NTC FoundationBoard of Directors. “AF4C is determined to inject excitement intothe game and recruit new players and fans.”
During this year’s Kids Simul event, more than 400 children will be given an opportunity to play against America’s finest chess players, with one grand master playing against 25 children at one time. Otherevents will range from chess demonstrations, opportunities to meetthe masters and a fund-raising party.
About NTC Foundation
The NTC Foundation, a private 501(C)3 nonprofit corporation, is charged with the preservation and renovation of 26 historical buildings that are part of the historic core of the former Naval Training Center in San Diego, California. NTC Promenade will be a newflagship for arts, culture, science and technology that will reflect, advance and strengthen San Diego as a center for innovation andcreativity.
About America’s Foundation for Chess
Founded on the hope of making chess a subject taught in every school
in theUnited States, AF4C, a nonprofit organization,
is committed to making chess a larger part of America's cultural fabric
— accessible in schools and in popular culture. By organizing events such
as the U.S. Championships, AF4Chopes to elevate the profile of chess in
America so that it will soon become a regular part of every child's classroom
experience.
7) Here and There
Tripoli, Libya, will be hosting the FIDE World Championship from June 18 till July 13 under the patronage of the Leader of the Libyan Jamahirya, H.E. Moammar Al Gathafi, who also provides the prize fund for the Championship. The rumor mill has it that Gary Kasparov will be playing the winner of this event in a unification scheduled to be held in Pyongyang, North Korea (just kidding)!
The authors of Bobby Fischer Goes To War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time, David Edmonds & John Eidinow, will be giving a talk at the Mechanic's Institute, on Friday, April 2, at 12:30 PM. The event is free for members and $5 for the public. Go to http://www.milibrary.org/events.html for more information.
The authors of Wittgenstein’s Poker have turned their prodigious talent
to a new book, Bobby Fischer Goes to War: How the Soviets Lost the Most
Extraordinary Chess Match of all Time. Returning to the scene of the
most notorious confrontation in chess history, Edmonds and Eidinow brilliantly
recreate the 1972 Fischer/Spassky world chess championship. Event is
with David Edmonds only. This free event will be held at the store, located
at 1010 El Camino Real in Menlo Park. 650.324.4321.
GM Larry Christiansen, who has long standing Bay Area ties, has
a new book out: Rocking the Ramparts: A guide to Attacking Chess (Batsford
2003). Like his earlier work, Storming the Barricades the reader gets plenty
of sharp attacking chess and some colorful stories. I particularly enjoyed
Hector-Christiansen, Reykjavik 1998 (pages 122-125) where Larry shows how
to put up maximum resistance, both chessically and psychologically, in
a difficult position.
Newsletter #185, 03/31/2004
"When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think
only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution
is not beautiful, I know it is wrong."
Buckminster Fuller
This Friday, April 2, at 12:30 pm the Mechanics' will be hosting the authors of Bobby Fischer Goes To War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time. This will be your only chance to see both authors, David Edmonds and John Eidinow, at the same time in the Bay Area. Details are given below. Don't miss this event!
1) Northern California Scholastic Championships
Mechanics' Institute Scholastic Director Anthony Corrales reports on the performance of M.I. members at the recently concluded Northern California Scholastic Championships held in Santa Clara.
Kindergarten: Leo
Kitano 3/5 = 6 - 13
K-3 Championship Daniel
Naroditsky 5/5 = 1st
K-3 unrated Will
Rothman 4.5/5 11th on tiebreak
K-3 Premier Jack
Damon 4/5 = 12 - 38
K-6 Championship Davis
Xu 6/6 1st
2nd
Hugo Kitano 5.5/6 2nd
10th
Jeremy Lowenthal 5/6 10th
14th
Trevor Lowenthal 5/6 10th
17th
Evan Sandberg 4.5/6 17th
The Mechanics' won the K-6 Team Championship with 21 1/2 out of 24 points.
K-8 Championship Daichi
Siegrist 6/6 1st
Shaun Tse 4/6 21st
Evan Frost 4/6 33rd
K-12 Championship: The Mechanics' team of Drake Wang (5),
Erin
Harrington (5), Nicolas Yap (4.5), and Ewelina Krubnik
(4) took first place in this section.
2) 1st SF International 1985
This event, held in the fall of 1985, was the first Bay Area event to offer IM norms. It was directed by Francisco Sierra and Kerry Lawless (the 2nd SF International was directed by Mike Goodall) and organized by Guillermo Rey. Andy Ansel has entered all the games which will soon be available at www.chessdryad.com. Here are some of the more interesting ones.
Standings:
1. IM Ramayrat 7/9; =2-3. J. Whitehead and Winslow 6 (IM norms)
4. IM Frias 5; 5-6. GM Biyiasas and P. Whitehead 4; 7-9. IM Strauss, Awate
and Lobo 3.5; Rey 2.
Ramayrat,C - Frias,V
San Francisco 1st Int (5), 1985
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6 6.Nc3 g6 7.f4 d6 8.Nf3 Bg7 9.e4 Bxf1 10.Rxf1 0-0 11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5 Ng4 13.Qe2 Qc7 14.d6 Qb7 15.h3 Nh6 16.dxe7 Re8 17.Bg5 Nf5 18.Qb5 Qc8 19.Ne4 Nc6 20.g4 Nfxe7 21.Nd6 Qb8 22.Qc4 Nxe5 23.Nxe5 Qxd6 24.Qxf7+ Kh8 25.Qxe8+ 1-0
Strauss,D - Lobo,R
San Francisco 1st Int (9), 1985
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6 4.g3 b6 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.0-0 Be7 7.Re1 d6 8.e4 Nbd7 9.d4 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Qc7 11.Be3 0-0 12.Rc1 a6 13.f4 Rfe8 14.f5 Bf8 15.b3 h6 16.Bf2 Rac8 17.fxe6 fxe6 18.Bh3 Kf7 19.Qe2 Qb8 20.Rf1 Qa8 21.Nxe6 Rxe6 22.Bxe6+ Kxe6 23.Nd5 Be7 24.Bd4 Ne5 25.Nxb6 Qb8 26.b4 Rf8 27.c5 dxc5 28.bxc5 Bd8 29.Rf5 Bc7 30.c6 Bc8 31.Rxe5+ Bxe5 32.Qc4+ Ke7 33.Bc5+ Bd6 34.e5 1-0
Whitehead,J - Frias,V
San Francisco 1st Int (9), 1985
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 Nbd7 6.Bg5 c5 7.d5 0-0 8.Nf3
b5 9.cxb5 a6 10.a4 h6 11.Bf4 axb5 12.Bxb5 Ba6 13.0-0 Ng4 14.Qe2 Qa5 15.Bd2
Rfb8 16.h3 Nge5 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.f4 Nd7 19.Qe1 Qd8 20.Qe2 Qc8 21.e5 Bxb5
22.Nxb5 dxe5 23.Bc3 Nb6 24.Bxe5 Bxe5 25.fxe5 Nxd5 26.Qf3 Qe6 27.b3 Rf8
28.Rac1 Rac8 29.Rfd1 Nb4 30.Qe3 Rfd8 31.Na3 Rxd1+ 32.Rxd1 Nc6 33.Nc4 Nd4
34.Nd2 Kg7 35.Rc1 Rb8 36.Rxc5 Nxb3 37.Rb5 Rxb5 38.axb5 Nxd2 39.Qxd2 Qb6+
40.Kh2 Qxb5 41.Qd4 Qb8 42.Kh1 Qb1+ 43.Kh2 Qf5 44.Qc5 Qf4+ 45.Kh1 e6 46.Qd6
h5 47.Qc7 g5 48.Qc3 g4 49.Qe1 Kg6 50.hxg4 hxg4 51.g3 Qd4 52.Kg2 Qd3 53.Kh2
Qc2+ 54.Kh1 Qf5 55.Kg1 Qf3 56.Qb1+ Kh6 57.Qc1+ Kh5 58.Qe1 Kg5 59.Kh2 Kf5
60.Kg1 Qd3 61.Qf2+ Kxe5 62.Qf4+ Kd5 63.Qxg4 f5 64.Qg8 Ke4 65.Qa8+ Qd5 66.Qb8
Qd1+ 67.Kh2 Qd2+ 68.Kh1 Kd3 69.Qb6 Qe3 70.Qb7 Qe4+ 0-1
3) Bobby Fischer Goes To War
The authors of Bobby Fischer Goes To War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time, David Edmonds & John Eidinow, will be giving a talk at the Mechanic's Institute, on Friday, April 2, at 12:30 PM. The event is free for members and $5 for the public. Go to http://www.milibrary.org/events.html for more information.
David Edmonds will be appearing at Kepler's books in Menlo Park
(1010 El Camino Real on Friday night at 7pm : 650.324.4321) while John
Eidinow will be at Cody's in Berkeley (2454 Telegraph Avenue at Haste:
510-845-7852) at 7:30pm the same evening.
4) Spring Tuesday Night Marathon
Upsets continue in the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon. 1800-rated Harry
Plotkin defeated his second Master in a row, downing Igor Margulis.
Joining Plotkin with 3-0 scores are Larry Snyder, Steven Krasnov
and Victor Todortsev. The seventy player event has six rounds to
go.
5) Here and There
Pal Benko: My Life, Games and Compositions by Pal Benko and Jeremy Silman is receiving some excellent reviews including one at ChessCafe that called it one of the best game collections of all time. Benko was one of the top American players for close to two decades. He is not the only chessplayer in the family. Go to http://www.math.tamu.edu/~benko/chess.htm and you will find the website of his son David, who is an Expert strength player and a member of the Math department at Texas A&M. He has a great picture of his father playing Tal at Curacao on the site.
Looking for a chess camp and live near Wisconsin? Check out NM Alex Betaneli's site at http://www.wichessacademy.com for more information.
Candidates running for two spots on the USCF Executive Board will soon
be announced. I know of at least four individuals that will be running.
They include the Bay Area's own Elizabeth Shaughnessy who divides
her time between the Berkeley Chess School and serving as President of
the Northern California Chess Federation, National Master Randy Bauer
of Iowa who is an accountant and Mikhail Korenman of Kansas who
organized the Lindsborg Chess Festivals and Karpov Chess School and is
in charge of the College Final Four this weekend where the University of
Maryland at Baltimore County and UTD will be renewing their rivalry. The
fourth Candidate is chess gadfly Sam Sloan who is rapidly becoming
the Harold Stassen of USCF politics.
Newsletter #186, 04/05/2004
"Games are usually lost, not through the taking of chances, but through
the failure to apprehend certainties."
Gerald Abrahams
This shortened edition of the MI Newsletter is coming out early due to the Foxwoods Open. The regular Wednesday schedule will return on April 14.
1) Nakamura and Ibragimov tie in 5th Millennium Open
GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Ildar Ibragimov tied for first in the 5th Millennium Open held April 2-4 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The two winners, who scored 4.5 from 5, each received $1850. Tying for third through seventh at 4-1 in the 67 player open section were GMs Alex Wojtkiewicz and John Fedorowicz, IM John Donaldson and NMs Alex Stamnov and Boris Zisman. Among those on 3 1/2 were GMs Jaan Ehlvest and Julio Becerra This years edition of the Millennium Open, organized by Tom Braunlich and directed by Ernie Schlich and Michael Atkins, attracted 270 players and maintained its reputation as one of the best run tournaments in the United States.
Donaldson - Reichstein English A34
5th Millennium Open (2) 2004
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6 4.g3 Nc6 5.Bg2 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.0–0
Nxc3 8.bxc3 e5?! 9.d3 Be7 10.Nd2 0–0 11.Rb1 Be6 12.Qa4 Qc7 13.Nc4 Bd7
14.Ne3 Qc8 15.Nd5 Bd6 16.Qh4 Qd8?
Black had to play 16...f6 or 16...Re8. The text loses on the spot.
17.Bg5 f6
Forced as 17...Qc8 loses to 18.Nf6+ gxf6 19.Bxf6 Ne7 20.Qh6 Nf5 21.Qg5+.
18.Be4 h6 19.Bxh6 gxh6 20.Qxh6 f5
Or 20...Rf7 21.Bh7+
21.Nf6+ Rxf6 22.Bd5+ Be6 23.Bxe6+ Rxe6 24.Qxe6+ Kh8 25.Rxb7 1–0
2) Jude Acers on Tour
Jude Acers will be visiting the following West Coast cities this June.
Friday, June 18 Chelan, Washington
1pm Riverwalk Books, 116 East Wooden 509-682-9103
www.riverwalkbooks.com
Saturday, June 19 - Seattle, WA King County Jail 10:30am-1:45pm
Sunday, June 20 - Bellevue, Washington
2 pm Crossroads Shopping Center 15 Board Exhibition
Tuesday, June 22 - McNeil Island Prison Exhibition in the evening
Wednesday, June 23 - Portland, Oregon
1pm Exhibition Lloyd Center
Sunday, June 27 - San Francisco, California
Wednesday, June 30 - Los Angeles, California
For more information go to:http://hometown.aol.com/rmille9601/myhomepage/index.html
or
write Russell Miller at [email protected]
.
3) Milan Vukcevich
National Master Dan Meinking of Cincinnati writes:
Milan Vukcevich: A Gentleman of Chess (compiled by John Donaldson)
Shortly after Dr. Vukcevich's passing in May 2003, International Master John Donaldson (director of the famed Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco) created a volume entitled "Milan Vukcevich: A Gentleman of Chess". This 87-page book contains biographical data on Dr. Vukcevich, articles written by and about him, 232 lightly annotated games (with diagrams), and a small selection of his problems. Since only 10 copies were printed, this book is not available to the general public.
However, IM Donaldson has authorized the distrubution of his book
on CD. This CD contains: (1) a printable Word document containing
all 87 scanned pages (in *.jpg file format); (2) games database files (ChessBaseLight
required; download it for free at: www.chessbase.com); and (3) a Word document
containing all 232 games (without diagrams). For a copy of this CD,
send $5(US) to: Dan Meinking / P.O. Box 389183 / Cincinnati, OH 45238-9183
(USA). All proceeds go to the Vukcevich Super Cup tournament (for
students) in Cleveland (May 22, 2004); www.vivacityinc.com for more details.
Email inquiries to: [email protected].
Newsletter #187, 04/14/2004
"The most important years for a developing chess player are between
12 and 14. What I learned in an hour then now takes me a week of study."
Alex Shabalov - during a recent talk at the Mechanics' Institute Chess
Club
1) Northern Californians dominate Far West Open
MI Newsletter reader NM Michael Aigner, who is profiled in the most recent issue of Chess Life, reports on last weekends Far West Open.
"The 4th Far West Open was held over Easter weekend in Reno,
Nevada. Intended to be a sister tournament of the annual Western
States Open in October, this tournament was also hosted by the Sands Regency
Hotel & Casino. 198 people came to Reno to gamble at the chess board,
which ensures that this event will happen again next year! The kudos
for organizing a fine tournament once again go out to Jerry Weikel
and his family.
The Open section was headed by GMs Alex Yermolinsky, Gregory
Serper, Sergey Kudrin, and Walter Browne, plus GM-elect Melikset
Khachiyan and a number of strong IMs. Each of these GMs ended
up tied for first at 4.5 out of 6. They were joined by two local
masters: Vladimir Mezentsev and Tigran Ishkhanov. After
an entertaining blitz playoff that ended early on Monday morning, GM Serper
emerged with the trophy.
Other local players joined Yermolinsky, Browne, Mezentsev, and Ishkhanov
at the cashier's cage. They included Ricardo DeGuzman and
Dmitry
Zilberstein, who each scored 4.0 in the Open section. Tied for
second under 2300 at 3.5 were Victor Ossipov and Michael Aigner.
Also at 3.5 but sharing the top expert prize was Alexander Setzepfandt.
Many of the prize winners in the class sections were also from Northern
California, including A section champion Yefim Bukh.
I expect that complete standings will be posted later this week
at http://www.renochess.org/fwo/index.html
Michael Aigner
2) Ildar Ibragimov wins Foxwoods Open on tiebreak
Grandmaster Ildar Ibragimov, formally of Kazan, Russia, and now
representing the United States, was the winner of the 2004 Foxwoods Open
on tiebreak. Ibragimov, whose 7-2 score was matched by fellow GMs Julio
Becerra, Jan Ehlvest and, I believe, Giorgi Kacheishvili (the
CCI report on Foxwoods is down as I write). Ibragimov was a deserving
winner as he played the top seeds facing by far the strongest opposition,
but even he needed a little luck in round 3 as Berkeley's David Pruess
had him completely beat with an extra piece and a big time advantage to
boot, before letting things get out of hand. It would have been a fantastic
double-header for Pruess had he converted because in the previous round
he beat GM Yury Shulman. Another Bay Area player, Alan
Stein, was in the running for an IM norm right up until the end. I'm
not sure whether he made it or not. I will have a full report on Foxwoods
next week.
3) Walter Shipman tops Lovegrove Senior Open
International Master Walter Shipman won the 4th Annual Walter
Lovegrove Memorial Senior Championship held at the Mechanics' on April
3rd-4th. Shipman, who came into the event as the second seed, defeated
National Master Victor Ossipov in the penultimate round and then
drew with Expert Larry Snyder to score 3.5 from 4 to take home the
$200 first prize. Tying for second at 3 - 1 were Ossipov, Snyder, Oleg
Shakhnazarov and Peter McKone. The latter, rated 1770, defeated
top-rated NM Igor Margulis in the last round. MI Grandmaster-in-Residence
Alex
Yermolinsky directed the 20-player event.
4) Larry Snyder leads Spring Tuesday Night Marathon
Larry Snyder defeated Victor Todortsev in round 5 to merge as the only perfect score left in the nine round event. A point behind the Berkeley Expert are FM Frank Thornally, NMs Russell Wong and Nicolas Yap, and Experts Alex Setzepfandt and Peter Grey.
Snyder, a retired anesthesiologist who teaches chess in the Berkeley
Chess School program, is threatening to regain the Master's title he held
briefly in 1997. Currently ranked 2085, he has a good number of points
coming to him from strong performances in the last TNM, the Lovegrove,
and an event in Southern California.
5) Banawa and Andrianov tops in Burbank
Southern California newcomer Jouaquin Banawa of the Philippines
and IM Nikolay Andrianov of Phoenix shared first place with 4.5
out of 5 in the 2nd Western Pacific Open held April 2-4 in Burbank. Tying
for third in the 54-player top section, which featured one GM and 11 IMs,
were Melikset Khachiyan, Andranik Matikozian, Enrico Sevillano
and Kong Deng. Bay Area IM Ricardo DeGuzman won the blitz
tournament with a perfect score. John Hillery organized and directed
for the Southern California Chess Association.
6) Weekly blitz returns to the MI
Weekly blitz tournaments will be returning to the Mechanics' Institute
every Wednesday evening starting April 21st. The events will be held starting
at 7 PM immediately after GM Alex Yermolinsky's weekly lecture (starting
time 5:15). Entry fee for the events is $5 with all money collected returned
in prizes. The format for the events will be round robin or Swiss depending
on entries. The tournaments will run approximately 1 1/2 hours.
7) Internet Chess Cheating
GM Alex Baburin's Internet chess daily, Chess Today, is getting better and better. Recently, it featured two interesting articles on the topics of Internet chess cheating and upcoming FIDE championship. It is definitely one of the best sources of chess content on the Internet. I concur with the sentiments offered below by Peter Tamburro:
"You guys ought to advertise in Chess Life similar to the way I describe on my website your site: If you look at Chess Today as a monthly chess magazine, you get 30 deeply annotated games by either an IM or GM, you get a database of hundreds of games, you get up to the minute chess news, great interviews, a whole bunch of chess problems and people with a sense of humor. Take 30 days of Chess Today, print them out, staple them and try to compare any monthly magazine in the world with that result. Chess Today wins every time! Pete Tamburro, USA"
The following piece written by Martin Fischer, tournament director for www.playchess.com, is especially timely in view of what happened at the recent Dos Hermanas Internet Tournament where the two winners, rightly or wrongly, were both disqualified.
"Indeed, I believe, if we allow enginehelp, Internet-Chess would
simply die very soon and we will have no more interesting Internet-Tournaments.
It is possible to see if a human played alone or with the help of
an engine: In my opinion most players, especially grandmasters, overestimate
their
abilities in comparison to an engine, at least in Blitz-Chess (which
is mostly played in the Internet). And, as a consequent follow up, they
underestimate the chance to see if a human has played a tournament or an
engine or a human with engine help. Let me explain my point of view: Almost
any game of blitz-chess will be decided by tactics. If any player makes
a tactical mistake in a game against an engine, he is lost. And even the
strongest grandmasters are not able to play to play a higher number of
blitzgames against equal, or almost equal, opponents without committing
a tactical mistake (enough, to lose against an engine). If anyone does
not believe me, he may have a look at several Big Databases and go over
the blitz games with an engine. No one even reaches ten games in a row
in a blitz tournament without serious tactical mistakes (if he/she plays
worthy opponents). The reasons for these are quite simple: Chess is so
rich that humans are not able to see anything relevant in a chess game
in five minutes. They simply have to trust their intuition and have to
take a chance (or they will overstep the time-limit). Sooner or later they
take the wrong chance. In addition, humans get tired, engines do not. Humans
are open to emotions, engines do not. Humans are vulnerable to psychological
influences, engines do not. Therefore humans can't play like an engine
during a tournament. They may do it in a single game, even two or three.
However, after several games the 'fingerprint' of an engine can't be hid.
Of course, the same applies to the human 'fingerprint'.
It is possible to detect the 'engine fingerprint' and to see who
is cheating:On www.playchess.com we have developed software able to analyze
any blitz game and look for the above mentioned 'engine-fingerprints'.
The software uses games from GMs like Adams, Seirawan, Dr. Hübner,
just to mention a few, and – of course – Fritz 8 and other engines - as
the basicsample. The software is updated in short intervals. The software
compares the game in questions with the data from the sample and realizes
indicators for 'engine-play'. A 'fingerprint' is defined when the software
sees several serious indicators for an engine (ab)use. As these fingerprints
may be a coincidence you need, like in real-live forensic, more than one
hint (in our case: game). Just to mention some numbers: The recent 2nd
German Internet championship (with €2,600 in prizes) is a good example.
Levon Aronian won that tournament. The software indicated an engine fingerprint
in one of his games (21 games were played in total). As he recently won
a very strong OTB blitz-tournament in Reykjavik ahead of Kasparov, Short
and Karpov, he is for sure one of the strongest blitz-players around and
need no engine help to win the German Championship. The same number of
'engine-fingerprints' we had in the games of Dr. Hübner, who played
in our office in Hamburg. On the other hand: We disqualified a player,
who later on confessed that he was using an engine for advice, as we found
12 'engine-fingerprints' in 21 games of his. So, we have a clear difference
between players who played honestly and a player who cheated. Of course,
for blitz-games only. In addition, before we will take any action against
any player we will crosscheck the games with experts and only when we have
surpassed the level 'beyond any reasonable doubt' a player will be disqualified
and banned from the server.
Final remarks: Internet Chess Tournaments are possible and interesting. An efficient cheating control is possible, if the tournament is a blitz-tournament and has an endurance-factor (higher number of games). If using an engine is prohibited and money is at stake the (ab)use of an engine is not a peccadillo or some kind of a joke, it is simply a criminal act. Any player, who is thinking about engine help, may keep these in his/her mind."
Martin Fischer, Tournament director
www.playchess.com"
For more information on Chess Today, please refer to http://www.chesstoday.net
8) FIDE World Championship
The following extract, from the new player's association headed by French GM Joel Lautier, was recently published in Chess Today and illustrates how FIDE continues to act in a very unsavory manner.
"The FIDE World Championship will be held from June 18 until July
13 in Tripoli (Libya) and Valetta (Malta). Qualified players have been
asked by the FIDE Secretariat to sign a copy of the "Player's Undertaking",
before the 21st of April 2004, as presented on the FIDE website. This document
does not constitute a proper contract between the participants and FIDE,
for the simple reason that it only describes the player's obligations towards
FIDE, whereas no mention is made of FIDE's obligations toward the players.
Moreover, the undertaking is to be signed only by the participant and bears
no signature from any FIDE representative, thus relieving FIDE of any legal
responsibility. This means that should a dispute arise, FIDE will have
a signed commitment from the participant to produce in court, while the
latter is left empty-handed.
Among several contentious points, we would like to draw your attention
to the obligation for the players to stay in the official hotels, either
in Libya or in
Malta. Although highly unpopular, this compulsory measure is once
more imposed on the participants, and this time without any mention of
the expected prices for accommodation."
9) Arthur Dake Memorial
National Master Clark Harmon of Oregon is familiar to many older MI members. Clark won the California Junior Open title many years ago and in 1974 won the largest tournament ever held at the Mechanics', a 119 player Stamer Memorial with a nice first prize of $700. Clark was a longtime friend of the late Arthur Dake and is planning to honor his memory with a series of International events in Oregon. I just got the following email from Clark which is an update on the flyer that appears below. Players interested in norm opportunities or obtaining a FIDE rating should contact him at: [email protected]
" We have the IM/GM spots pretty much tied down. We look OK for
the foreign players, but can always use a reserve. I do have openings
for 2 more non-titled FIDE rated players, and 2 more FM's or lower rated
IM's.
As you know I have been traveling to Budapest, which takes me away
from my business and home, not to mention the cost! I have
funding from my company to hold about two or three Cat II to Cat IV
tournaments per year. The Dake Memorial is the first, of course.
The plan is to eventually offer a Cat IV to VII GM tournament with FIDE
rating type tournaments to help with the funding. We won't be as
ambitious as the First Saturday guys, but hope to create some opportunities
for West Coast players."
The 2004 Arthur Dake Memorial IM will be held June 5th-13th at US Fiberglass, Inc. offices at 117 NE 5th Street, Suite D,McMinnville, OR 97128.
It will be a 10 player round robin and a FIDE rated CAT II to CAT IV event .
Time Control 40/2 SD60
Rounds: Daily at 5:30 PM. Last round at 10:30 AM
Players Meeting: 2:00 PM June 5th. Pairings Drawing at 2:30 PM.
Clocks and sets furnished.
Entry Fees:
$50 deposit must be received by May 10th, balance at players meeting.
Checks and all credit cards accepted. Note: there are 6 player slots available,
some have to be foreign players, and a FIDE rating average of at least
2275 must be achieved for CAT II. If you are not selected the deposit
will be returned on June 5th.
FIDE Rating USD
2100-2149
$450
2150-2199
$350
2200-2249
$250
2250-2299
$200
2300-2349
$150
2350-2399
$100
2400+
$ 50
IM/GM title holders will get "conditions."
Clark Harmon
10320 SE Hillview Drive
Amity, OR 97101
USA
[email protected]
1-503-472-1285 (US Fiberglass, Inc.)
1-800-711-7336 (US Fiberglass, Inc.)
1-503-474-1147 (Fax)
1-503-868-7027 (Home) 1-503-312-7278 (Cell)
10) US Womens Championship
The USCF recently issued the following information:
"The 2004 United States Women's Championship will be held
June 17-26 at St. John's University in Manhattan. An International round
robin Tournament will be playing there concurrently. The top seven rated
women and the 2003 champion (Anna Hahn) are invited to this event.
If any players decline their invitations, further invitations will be sent
to players in order of their April USCF ratings, but no one rated below
2200 will be invited. If seven or eight players accept their invitations,
the tournament will be a round robin. If six or fewer accept, it will be
a double round robin. The prize fund will total at least $8000. The Swiss
system Championship scheduled for this fall in San Diego will be held as
planned, but will be titled the 2005 US Championships and will include
those who qualify from the preliminary tournaments plus seeded players.
Besides the title of the 2004 US Women's Champion, the tournament will
also determine the fourth player for the 2004 US Women's Olympiad Team.
The three top women by rating, Polgar, Zatonskih and Krush
have already qualified for the 2004 US Women's Olympiad Team by virtue
of the rating formula criteria. The winner of this tournament will be the
fourth player for the US Women's Olympiad Team. In the event of a tie for
first including more than one than one candidate for qualification, a playoff
will be held immediately after the tournament to determine the qualifier.
If the Championship is won by one or more of the Olympiad Team qualifiers
(Polgar, Zatonskih or Krush), a four game match will be held immediately
after the US Championship between the top two finishers who are not already
qualified Olympiad Team members. The winner of this match will be the fourth
member of the 2004 US Women's Olympiad Team. In case of a multiple tie
by the top finishers not already qualified for the team, they will play
a double round robin immediately after the event to determine the fourth
member of the US Women's Olympiad Team."
11) Northern California Chess History
Thanks to Bay Area chess historian Andy Ansel of Walnut Creek who passes on the following two games which appeared in the California Chess News and News of the Pacific Coast , a short lived predescessor of the The California Chess Reporter.
Bean,S - Johnson,L
Atascadero CA North vs South mt (24), 1948
It is interesting that White is both blind and deaf.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 d6 5.d4 exd4 6.Nxd4 Bd7 7.Bxc6 Bxc6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.0-0 Be7 10.Qf3 0-0 11.Re1 Nd7 12.Ne2 Ne5 13.Qg3 f5 14.Nd4 Bh4 15.Qb3+ Kh8 16.Ne6 Qf6 17.Nxf8 fxe4 18.Re2 Rxf8 19.Be3 Qg6 20.Kh1 c5 21.Rf1 h6 22.Bd2 c4 23.Qh3 Be7 24.Bc3 Rf5 25.Bxe5 Rxe5 26.Qc8+ Kh7 27.Qxc7 Qe6 28.Qxa7 d5 29.a4 Bd6 30.Re3 Rh5 31.h3 Qe5 32.Rg3 Qxb2 33.Qf7 Qe5 34.Qg6+ Kh8 35.Qg4 Rg5 36.Qh4 d4 37.Re1 Qa5 38.Rxe4 Bxg3 39.Re8+ Kh7 40.fxg3 Qf5 41.Qxd4 Qxc2 42.Rc8 Rxg3 43.Qd5 c3 44.Qg8+ Kg6 45.Rc6+ Kh5 46.Qd5+ Rg5 47.Qf3+ 1-0
California Chess News and News of the Pacific Coast, Vol 1, No 8.
Alekhine,A - Pelouse,F
Portland simul, 1924
Played in a simultaneous exhibition Portland Oregon, March 1924
1.d4 e6 2.e4 c5 3.d5 d6 4.Nc3 a6 5.a4 Be7 6.f4 Bf6 7.Nf3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3
exd5 9.exd5 Nf6 10.Be2 0-0 11.0-0 Bf5 12.Rb1 b6 13.c4 Nbd7 14.Bd3 Bxd3
15.cxd3 Re8 16.Bd2 Rb8 17.h3 h6 18.g4 Nh7 19.Bc3 Ndf8 20.Qd2 Qd7 21.f5
Qd8 22.Qf4 Ng5 23.Nxg5 hxg5 24.Qd2 f6 25.Kf2 Rb7 26.Rfe1 Rxe1 27.Rxe1 Qd7
28.Ra1 b5 29.axb5 axb5 30.Ra6 b4 31.Ba1 Ra7 32.Qa2 Rxa6 33.Qxa6 Kf7 34.d4
Qc7 35.Ke3 Nd7 36.Kd3 cxd4 37.Bxd4 Ne5+ 38.Bxe5 fxe5 39.Qb5 Qc5 40.Qd7+
1-0
California Chess News and News of the Pacific Coast, Vol 1, No 8.
Newsletter #188, 04/21/2004
"Russians don't retreat!"
IM Igor Ivanov in response to why he sacrificed a knight on g5 on f7
after ...h6.
The MI starts its weekly blitz events this Wednesday at 7pm. Tomorrow Anthony Corrales will resume his popular free children's class (every Thursday 3:15-5:15) The Imre Konig Memorial will be held this Saturday starting at 10am.
1) Five-way tie in Spring TNM
Top-seed FM Frank Thornally defeated leader Expert Larry Snyder to force a five-way tie for first in the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon. Tied at 5-1 with three rounds to go are Thornally, Snyder, NM Russell Wong, Expert Alex Setzepfandt and Class A player Victor Todortsev.
Thornally,F - Snyder,L
Grunfeld [D93]
Spring TNM San Francisco (6), 2004
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.Rc1 0–0 6.e3 c6 7.Nf3 Qb6 8.Qb3
dxc4?!
Black's treatment of the opening isn't very dynamic but Hort and Uhlmann
have tried it on more than one occasion. The text, however, which gives
up the center and aids White's development looks wrong. Better is 8...Bg4
9.Ne5 Be6.
9.Bxc4 Qxb3 10.Bxb3 Nbd7 11.0–0 Nb6 12.h3 Bf5 13.Rfd1 Ne4 14.Ne2
White with more space avoids exchanges, preserving his advantage.
14...Rad8 15.Ne5 Bc8 16.Nd3 Nd5 17.Bh2 Bh6
Black has been developing patiently. Here 17...Be6 might be better
intending ...Bh6 the next move with the idea of meeting Nef4 with trades
on f4 and b3. In the game White's Bishop plays a much more powerful role
than its counterpart.
18.Nef4 Nxf4 19.Nxf4 Bg7 20.Nd3 Bh6 21.Bc7!
White increases his advantage with the next few moves and Black is
powerless to stop him.
21...Rd7 22.Bb8 a6 23.Ne5 Rdd8 24.Bc7 Rde8 25.d5!
Excellent! White opens the game and Black's queenside is defenseless.
25...cxd5 26.Bxd5 Ng5 27.Bb6 Bg7 28.Nc4 Ne6 29.b3 Nd8 30.Na5!
The classic square for the Knight to paralyze Black's queenside.
30...Be6 31.Bxe6 Nxe6 32.Rd7 Rc8 33.Rc4 Bf6 34.Nxb7
White has correctly waited for this moment - he only wins material
while still preserving a positional advantage.
34...Rxc4 35.bxc4 Rc8 36.c5 Kf8 37.Kf1 Ke8 38.Rd3 Be5 39.a4 Bc7
40.a5 Bxb6 41.axb6 a5 [41...Nxc5 42.Rc3] 42.Ke2 f6 43.Kd1 Nf8 44.Kc2 Nd7
45.Kb1 Rc6 46.Ka2 Nxb6 47.cxb6 Rxb6 48.Nxa5 Ra6 49.Rd5 e6 50.Rb5 1–0
A nice positional effort by FM Frank Thornally.
2) Birth of the Chess Queen: A History
The following event will be held on the 4th floor as part of the Author and Literary Events series. For more information contact Laura Sheppard, Director of Events at RESERVATIONS: [email protected], EVENTS OFFICE: [email protected] or (415) 393-0114.
Tuesday, May 25, 6:00 pm
Birth of the Chess Queen: A History
Marilyn Yalom
The history of the Chess Queen, and this game piece’s astonishing connection with the rise of female sovereigns in Europe is traced in Marilyn Yalom’s fascinating and well-researched book.
From medieval courts to the Virgin Mary to the cult of Romantic Love,
she reveals chess as both a “courting ritual” and a metaphor for royal
power. She is senor scholar at Stanford’s Institute for Women and
Gender and author of A History of the Wife.
Members free; Public $5
3) UMBC Wins Final Four
Lindsborg, Kansas, and Dr. Mikhail Korenman are keeping busy. Korenman, who is running for the USCF Executive Board this summer, is turning into one of the major organizers in the United States. The past three years he has held strong international tournaments in Lindsborg, producing two GM norms and four IM norms. Last year Anatoly Karpov won the inaugural Lindsborg Rapid Chess event and the first Karpov chess school in the US was set up in Lindsborg.
Not content to rest on his laurels Korenman and the Anatoly Karpov International School of Chess recently hosted the United States Chess Federation’s President’s Cup. The following USCF press release gives the details.
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) chess team celebrated a 3-2 victory over their archrival, the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). UMBC players won the title and the prestigious United States Chess Federation’s President’s Cup in a two-day match (April 3-4) at the Brunswick Plaza in Lindsborg, Kansas. Miami Dade scored one team point to beat out the team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The Anatoly Karpov International School of Chess sponsored the match. Each team consisted of four players, plus an alternate, with the exception of MIT, who didn’t bring an extra player. Each team played the others in the round-robin match. The University of Maryland team lineup included two Grandmasters, Alexander Onischuck and Pawel Blehm. Completing the lineup was IM’s Pascal Charbonneau and Eugene Perelshteyn. Bruci Lopez was the team alternate. Onischuck and Charbonneau are familiar names in Lindsborg in that they competed in several tournaments there, including the Karpov Invitational held in December 2003. IM Perelshteyn played in the Lindsborg Open in December. The UMBC and UTD teams had the same number of match points after rounds one and two. They met in the third and final round. After four hours of play Dr. Mikhail Korenman, Director of the Karpov School, announced that UMBC had won the Final Four with a score of 3-2. UMBC players, IM’s Charbonneau and Perelshteyn, were the top scorers with perfect 3.0 scores.
This summer Lindsborg and Korenman will be hosting both the US Junior
Closed and Open events as well as several chess camps featuring GMs Alex
Onischuk and Yury Shulman.
4) ChessCafe.com Sponsors 2004 Grand Prix
Things are looking up for the USCF which now has sponsors for both the
US Championship and Grand Prix. The only thing missing now is a backer
for the US Olympiad teams.
Bill Goichberg, Executive Director of the United States Chess Federation,
has announced that he has reached an agreement with ChessCafe.com for the
popular online website to sponsor the 2004 Grand Prix.
The Grand Prix is an annual year long contest, held each year since
1979, that causes more frequent play by top players, encourages organizers
to reward excellence by guaranteeing more prize money that Masters are
eligible to win, and helps to raise money for USCF’s Professional Players
Health & Benefits Fund.
ChessCafe.com will be the third corporate sponsor in the history of
the Grand Prix. The others were Church’s Chicken (1979-1986) and Novag
Computers (1988-1998). The event was sponsored by individual donors in
2001 and USCF in other years. This year’s prize fund will be the largest
since 2000 and will include 18 special merchandise prizes for juniors and
seniors. The Grand Prix winner for each of the past five years has been
Grandmaster Alex Wojtkiewicz.
"We are pleased to the sponsor of the Grand Prix Competition for 2004,"
stated founder and owner of http://www.chesscafe.com/Hanon
W. Russell. "It is a tradition that we are proud to be a part of."
Russell confirmed that a total of $10,000 in cash prizes and another $5,000
of merchandise has been guaranteed by ChessCafe.
Press Release courtesy of the USCF.
5) Here and There
This year's Western States Open in Reno in late October promises to be something really special with Boris Spassky the special guest of honor! Spassky will give a lecture and simul, and answer questions after a showing of the film, Clash of the Titans. Organizer Jerry Weikel will be supplying more information shortly.
Kudos to Virginia tournament director and organizer Michael Atkins who goes out of his way to preserve games of top players at major American tournaments. He rescued 160 games from the Foxwoods Open that would have otherwise disappeared. Games from US events are notoriously underrepresented in major databases. People like Michael and Andy Ansel are trying to correct that state of affairs and we applaud their efforts.
Scholastic Coordinator Anthony Corrales reports that several MI juniors have been doing very well of late. Greg Young won the K-3 Open State Championship on tie breaks (5-0) and in Pittsburgh at the recently concluded National Elementary Championships Daniel Naroditsky (2nd Grade) came in 6th and Hugo Kitano came in 7th on tiebreaks, tying for 3rd at 6-1.
Newsletter reader Dan Meinking writes: Not sure if this would be of interest to your readers, but... just wanted to mention that The Good Companions (ie. the U.S. Society of Chess Problemists) have a brand new website: www.StrateGems.org. "StrateGems" is, of course, the name of our publication. In the first 22 days we've had 93,000 'hits'.
The Mechanics' Institute is not only home to top players like former US Champions Alex Yermolinsky and Walter Browne plus US Women's Champion Camilla Baginskaite but also several top notch problemists including Bob Burger and Victor Baja not to mention the late A.J. Fink.
David Goldfarb leads the Berkeley Chess Club Friday Night Marathon with 6.5 out of 7 with one round to go. Jacob Lopez is second with 6.
The Berkeley Chess Club meets Friday nights for rated chess at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, in Berkeley. Youth chess starts at 6:30pm and children must be picked up by 8:00. Adults must register by 7:45 and play at 8:00. Entry fee is $4.00 per player. For more information contact Alan Glasscoe at 510.652.5324.
Congratulations to Newsletter reader FM Jonathan Berry of Canada who defeated wunderkind Sergey Karjakin (2580 FIDE) in the recent ACP blitz.
IM William Paschall of Boston had a good result in the latest First Saturday event in Budapest. Paschall scored 8/13 in the Category VII (2417) event to tie for second. Hungarian IM Sandor Kustar, who spends part of each year in South Dakota, had 7.5. FM Sean Nagle had 7.5/ 13 in the Category 2 (2293) IM group.
The 2004 US Championships will take place November 25th - December
5th at the Hilton Torrey Pines, La Jolla San Diego, California. Further
details of who has qualified so far and which events make-up the 2004 cycle
can be found at http://www.af4c.org/events.asp.
Further details: http://www.af4c.org/
Newsletter #189, 04/28/2004
"Not only Tal has changed but chess has changed. Chess is played
at a much higher level than 30 years ago. When we played we were grandmasters,
but it was grandamateurs. Now it is professional. I think the first real
professional in the best sense of the word was Bobby Fischer. I have no
real regrets. My chess life and career has, I think, been successful enough."
Mikhail Tal
1) Wong leads Spring TNM
NM Russell Wong defeated Victor Todortsev to take the
lead in the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon with two rounds to go.
Wong, who lost in the first round, has reeled off six straight wins. Tied
for second, a half point back at 5.5 are FM Frank Thornally and
Experts Alex Setzepfandt, Larry Snyder and Igor Traub.
2) DeGuzman wins 4th Imre Konig Memorial
It was business as usual for top seed IM Ricardo DeGuzman who
scored 5-0 to win the 4th Imre Konig Memorial held April 24 at the Mechanics'
Institute. Anthony Rozenvasser, David Ray, Dmitry Vayntrub
and Batsaikan Tserendorj tied for second at 4-1 in the 45-player
event directed by Anthony Coralles.
3) Bukh first in Wednesday night blitz
Yefim Bukh won the first of what will be a regular series of
blitz tournament at the Mechanics'. Bukh, fresh from taking the top A prize
in Reno which earned him a long overdue Expert's rating, scored 11-3 in
the 8-player double round. Right behind him was Felix Rudyak at
10.5 followed by David Ray at 8. Among those participating were
veteran MI members Neil Falconer and Vitaly Radaikin. The
second in the series of blitz events will be held tonight at 7pm immediately
following GM Alex Yermolinsky's free lecture. Entry fee is $5 with
a 100 percent returned in prizes.
4) World Championship in Libya
The following report by Alex Baburin comes from his outstanding online daily Chess Today.
No Malta, Libya only!
FIDE has published the following news item on its website: "The Libyan
Olympic Committee (LOC), the local organizing body of the event, guarantees
entry visas to all the 128 qualified participants of the Championship and
the invitation to the players is signed by the President of LOC, Eng. Mohammad
T
Moammar Al Gathafi. Consequently, all the games of the championship
will be played in Tripoli, Libya and no parallel event will be organized
in Malta."
Comments from Alex Baburin:
This is something I predicted a while ago. Logistically it would
not be easy to host the championship in two different countries – you need
to have
16, 32 or better 64 players in Malta then. But now players from
Israel will probably not go to the tournament. And players from USA might
think
twice before going to Tripoli – only recently there was tension
between Libya and USA. With more players not taking part in the event,
it's hard to
treat this tournament as a true world championship. It is rather
a chance for Gaddafi to show good will to the world and an opportunity
for chess
professionals to earn some money. Not that there is anything wrong
with that...
5) Goletiani wins 2004 Samford Scholarship
The winner of the eighteenth annual FRANK P. SAMFORD, JR. CHESS FELLOWSHIP is Rusudan Goletiani, a twenty-three year old chess teacher and Women's Grandmaster (WGM) of Hartsdale, New York. The Samford Fellowship identifies and assists brilliant young American chessmasters by providing the resources and funding needed to enhance their skills and reach their full potential. The total value of the Fellowship is approximately $32,000 per year. The prize is awarded for one year, renewable for a second year.
The winner was chosen by the Samford Fellowship Committee, consisting of Frank P. Samford III (son of Samford Fellowship founder Frank P. Samford Jr, former U.S. Chess Champion Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier and International Master John Donaldson. The winner's potential was determined based on her chess talent, work ethic, dedication and accomplishments.
Ms. Goletiani, the first woman to win the Samford, was born in Sukhumi, Soviet Georgia, in 1980. At age ten she won the USSR Chess Championship for Girls under age 12. While still in Georgia Ms. Goletiani won a number of other important chess contests, including the World under-14, under-16 and under-18 Championships for Girls. In 1999 she finished third in the World Championship zonal tournament which qualified her for the Women's World Championship.
In 2000 Ms. Goletiani emigrated to the United States. She won the Pan American Women's Championship in Venezuela in 2003, which also qualified her to compete for the Women's World Championship. Her other chess activities in America include teaching chess to schoolchildren from age five through middle school. Here is a typical Goletiani game:
WGM Rusudan Goletiani- WIM Elena Lopatskaya Moscow, 1998
1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 Nf6 3. d3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. Nbd2 e5 6. Bg2 Be7 7.0-0
0-0 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Rel f6 10. c3 Kh8 11. Nh4 Be6 12. f4 Qd7 13. f5 Bf7
14. Be4 b5 15. Qf3 Rfd8 16. a4 a6 17. axb5 axb5 18. Rxa8 Rxa8 19. c4 bxc4
20. dxc4 Ndb4 21. Ng6+ hxg6 22. fxg6 Be6 23. Bf5! Kg8 24. Qh5 Qd6 25. Ne4
Qd4+ 26. Be3 Qxc4 27. Bxe6+ Qxe6 28. Ng5 Black Resigns
Speaking of the opportunities offered by the Samford Fellowship, Ms. Goletiani said, "I have been dreaming about this since I was six years old."
The Samford Chess Fellowship was created by the late Frank P. Samford, Jr. of Birmingham, Alabama. Mr. Samford was a distinguished attorney and CEO of Liberty National Life Insurance Company (now Torchmark). He was active in civic, business, political, educational and cultural affairs and was an enthusiastic competitor in chess tournaments. The Samford Fellowship provides top-level coaching, strong competition and access to study materials. The Fellowship also provides a monthly stipend for living expenses so that the winners may devote themselves entirely to chess.
Over the last sixteen years the Samford Fellowship has proven very successful. Several of the Fellows have become grandmasters and a few have won the U.S. Chess Championship. Ms. Goletiani's term as Samford Fellow will begin on July 1, 2004. The Fellowship is administered by the U.S. Chess Trust (Ms. Barbara Vandermark, at 845-562-8350, Ext.138).
Generous contributions from Mrs. Virginia Samford and Torchmark Corporation support the Fellowship. The Samford Fellowship is a fitting memorial to an extraordinary man. The dedication, creativity and achievement that marked Mr. Frank P. Samford, Jr.'s life are examples for all chessplayers to admire and emulate.
Contact: Allen Kaufman (718) 544-5036 [email protected]
6) Dr. Mikhail Korenman: Candidate for USCF Executive Board
This summer the USCF will be holding a special election to select two people for one year terms to the Executive Board. Among those running is an individual who needs no introduction to Bay Area chessplayers. Elizabeth Shaughnessy founded the highly successful Berkeley Chess School over two decades ago and numbers among her supporters many members of the Mechanics' Institute including longtime Trustee Neil Falconer.
Another strong Candidate is Dr. Mikhail Korenman of Lindsborg, Kansas. Best known for setting up the first Karpov Chess School in the United States and organizing numerous important events, Korenman is strongly endorsed by the highest rated player in the United States Alex Onischuk and US Women's Olympiad team member Anna Zatonskih.
A brief biography of Dr. Korenman along with a list of accomplishments and qualifications follows:
Mikhail Korenman was born in Russia. He taught secondary school for 13 years. In 1994, he moved with his wife and two daughters to Kansas. He has Ph.D. in Education from K-State University. He is currently an Assistant Professor and Director of International Programs at Bethany College.
Dr. Korenman has experience working with nonprofit organizations (www.intecsus.org). He is a successful grant writer, receiving $261,000 to operate the first Karpov School of Chess in the US. He has organized professional and scholastic tournaments, including the Lindsborg Rotary Open (2001-2003); Lindsborg Open (2002-03); 2003 Lindsborg Invitational (FIDE category XIII). In 2004, he will organize the US Junior Open and Invitational, as well as the Pan-American. The 2004 Final Four Intercollegiate was saved with his initiative and fundraising and held in Lindsborg.
As an EB team member, Mikhail wants to work with the Scholastic Committee in developing training classes for chess coaches; continue to conduct chess research; plan more international competitions; promote intercollegiate chess activities; and work with the USCF EB members to stabilize the organization's budget.
Dr. Mikhail Korenman’s Accomplishments in Chess:
1. 2003 - Established the first Anatoly Karpov School of Chess in
the US.;
2. 2003 - received a $261,000 grant from Kansas Department of Commerce
to operate chess program in Lindsborg;
3. 2003/04 - In cooperation with Bethany College, develop two undergraduate
college level chess classes;
4. 2001-2004 - first chess camps in Kansas;
5. 2001-2004 - Tournament Organizer:
5.1. 8 local USCF tournaments;
5.2. ’01, ’02, ’03 Lindsborg Rotary Open;
5.3. ’02, ’03 Lindsborg Open (FIDE rated with GM and
IM norms);
5.4. ’03 Lindsborg Invitational (category XII FIDE);
5.5. ‘04 Final Four Intercollegiate Presidencial Cup;
5.6. ‘04 U.S. Junior Open;
5.7. ’04 U.S. Junior Invitational;
5.8. ’04 Pan American Intercollegiate
Remember to vote when you ballot comes in an upcoming issue of Chess
Life. The last election saw less than 10 percent of those eligible to vote
exercise their right to do so.
7) Here and There
The U.S. Chess Federation has hired Kenneth Thomas of Hackettstown, New Jersey to be its new Chief Financial Officer. Long an active chess organizer, tournament director, and tournament player, and formerly Editor of Atlantic Chess News, Mr. Thomas was previously Controller for Visiting Health Service of Morris County, NJ, Controller for Family Intervention Services of South Orange, NJ, and Accounting Manager and faculty member at Centenary College of Hackettstown, NJ. He graduated from the University of Houston in 1972 (Bachelor, Business Administration) and from that school's Five-year Professional Program (now MBA) in 1974.
SC Baden and SG Porz tied for first in the 2003-2994 Bundesliga competition and will have a special playoff on May 7-9. Here is an interesting game from the last round between one of the top players in the world and Germany's rising young star Jan Gustafsson.
Shirov,A - Gustafsson,J [B12]
Bundesliga 2004
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Be3 e6 5.Nd2 Nd7 6.f4 c5 7.Ngf3 Qb6 8.Rb1 Nh6 9.Nb3 c4 10.Nbd2 Bg6 11.h3 Nf5 12.Bf2 h5 13.g3 Qa5 14.a3 Be7 15.Be2 Nb6 16.0–0 Na4 17.Re1 0–0–0 18.Bf1 Kb8 19.b4 Qc7 20.Qc1 Nc3 21.Ra1 Ka8 22.Ng5 Bxg5 23.fxg5 h4 24.g4 Ng3 25.Bxg3 hxg3 26.Re3 Qb6 27.Nf3 Ne4 28.Kg2 Rh7 29.h4 Rdh8 30.h5 Qd8 31.Re2 Bxh5 32.gxh5 Rxh5 33.Qf4 Nxg5 34.Nxg5 Rxg5 35.Kg1 Rf5 36.Qg4 Rg5 37.Qf4 Rf5 38.Qg4 Rg5 ½–½
The Indianapolis Star has a interesting picture of Bobby Fischer giving a simul in Indianapolis in 1964. Go to http://www.IndyStar.com/flashback and you will see a thumbnail that you can enlarge to show a good shot of him.
FRENCH-AMERICAN WOMEN’S CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP TO BE HELD IN NEW YORK CITY
ChinaCommunications Corp., “ChinaCom,” presents the French-American Women’s Chess Championship, to be held September 16-17th 2004 at the Russian Samovar in New York City. A press conference will be held May 14, 2004, 5:30 pm, at the samel ocation. Attending the Press Conference will be the City of NewYork Sports Commissioner Kenneth Podziba, American Champion Irina Krush, and French Champion Almira Skripchenko.
This world-class chess event, sanctioned by the New York City SportsCommission, the US Chess Federation and the Association of Chess Professionals, will be the first to be broadcast in China via the Internet, with real-time move-by-move commentary, in Chinese, French and English.
“It is my pleasure to welcome the French-American Women’s ChessChampionship to New York City, said New York City Sports Commissioner Kenneth Podziba. People from around the world will be watching closely as these Champions square off to defend their countries in abattle of great minds.”
The Championship will feature Almira Skripchenko, who was crowned European Women’s Champion in 2001 and top-rated French woman in 2004, versus Irina Krush, who in 1998 was the youngest woman to win the American Championship and is currently the top-rated womanplayer in the USA.
“This International event aims to enhance French-American culturalrelations,” said ChinaCom CEO Robb Allen.
For contestants’ pictures, please visit www.ChinaCom.com
Chess Today reports that Grandmaster Shakriyar Mamedyarov of
Azerbaijan, former World Junior champion, beat erstwhile sole leader
Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine to win the 6th Dubai Open Championship
and the top prize of $5,000. Mamedyarov finished with 7 points out of 9.
Twelve
players shared second place with 6½ points each including Magnus
Carlsen of Norway who achieved his third norm to become the world's
youngest grandmaster.
Final standings: 1. Mamedyarov 7.0 2-13.Nisipeanu, Sasikiran, Iordachesvu,
Vladimirov, Harikrishna, Miroshnichenko, Eljanov, Minasian, Al-Modiahki,
Goloshchapov, Carlsen, Mamedov 6½
8) Jude Acers in Santa Rosa
Jude Acers, who made quite an impact on the Bay Area when he lived here in the late 1960s and early 1970s, will be in Santa Rosa this June.
Keith Halonen reports that Jude will give a 15-board Simul against Santa Rosa school kids, most of them winners from the city's Spring Youth Chess, on Saturday, June 26 at 1:00 PM. Immediately afterward there will be a book signing for Jude's recently published The Italian Gambit.
The event will take place in front of Waldenbooks in the Coddingtown Mall, 733 Coddingtown Mall, Santa Rosa, CA 95401, just off Steele Lane at Interstate 101.
For more information contact Keith Halonen at 16701 Spruce Grove Road, Middletown CA 95406-8426 - 707 987-0166.
A new chess club, The Santa Rosa King Pawns, meets Tuesdays -at
6:30 pm at the Woodcrest Clubhouse on 1123 Woodcrest Drive (off College).
Call Bill (707) 528-7989 or Keith (707) 546-0423 for more information.
9) Tournaments in Vallejo and San Jose
Bay Area chess players will have two increasingly rare opportunities to play in tournaments in this area that are not being held at the Mechanics'. For a while it looked like last February's Peoples open in Berkeley would be the only open event outside the MI this year. Fortunately things are looking up a bit. May 8-9 the Vallejo Chess Club will host an amateur event open to those under 2200. Call (650) 255-8587 for more information.
San Jose has been a dead area for non-scholastic chess events
for many years. To put it in perspective, IM Vinay Bhat, who grew
up in San Jose never played a regular tournament there. That's pretty amazing!
Academic Chess will be holding a Memorial Day event on May 29-30 to try
to jump-start things in the South Bay area. For more information contact
the organizers at: [email protected]
.
Newsletter #190, 05/05/2004
"There is, however, another side of acquiring chess experience which
cannot be measured in ordinary units, and that is contact with stronger
chessplayers, their living words, opinions and assessments."
Nikolai Krogius
1) Ricky Grijalva wins big in Las Vegas
R. Smith writes about another case of chessplayer makes good as pokerplayer.
"Former MI member Ricky Grijalva who had some good results in various chess tournaments a few years back finished 4th at the recently completed WPT tournament at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. This was the biggest money poker tournament ever (over 8 million dollars). Grijalva won $457,000. The entree fee to the event was $25,000, but Ricky got in by winning a satellite tournament."
SM David Pruess, who went to high school with Ricky in Oakland adds:
"The tournament was 5 days. After 4 days Ricky had reached the final
table along with 5 other players. A few of our mutual friends flew out
there to watch the last day, which will be aired on television in a couple
months. Ricky spends a lot of time in Vegas nowadays."
2) Russell Wong leads Spring TNM
NM Russell Wong leads the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon with
one round to go after drawing FM Frank Thornally in the eighth round.
Wong has 6.5 and is trailed by a large group at 6 which includes Thornally,
NM Egle Morkunaite and Experts Alex Setzepfandt, Larry Snyder,
Peter Grey and Ariel Mazzarelli. The final round round will
be played next Tuesday evening starting at 6:30 pm The Summer Marathon
begins on June 1st.
3) Jacob Lopez wins Berkeley Friday Night Marathon
Here are the final standings of the Berkeley Chess Club's marathon
tournament courtesy of David Goldfarb ( [email protected]
) who is the new contact for the BCC while long time stalwart Alan Glascoe
takes a well-served break. The Berkeley Chess Club meets Friday nights
for rated chess at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, in Berkeley.
Youth chess starts at 6:30pm and children must be picked up by 8:00. Adults
must register by 7:45 and play at 8:00.
7 points (out of 8) Jacob Lopez (1971) 1st place
6 1/2 David Goldfarb (1747) 2nd place
6 David Barton (2062) 3rd place
5 1/2: Brendan Purcell (1715)
5 Ian Zimmerman (2071)
Craig Andries (1902)
Kayven Riese (1833)
Sam Shankland (1537)
Jason Yun (1464)
4 1/2 Elmer Love (1927)
Daichi Siegrist (1869)
Brendan MacIntyre (1700)
Paul Nolan (Unr)
Theron Dyble (1445)
4 David Ceponis (1829)
Dwight Kearney (1725)
Stephen Shaughnessy (1631)
Gordon Wilson (1512)
3 1/2: Morgan Cooper (1815)
Franklin Ng (1679)
Kevin Walters (1438)
Andrew Yun (1343)
Teddy Stenmark (1285)
James Sawhill (Unr)
3 James Matz (1750)
Steve Mann (1614)
Morgan Baker (Unr)
2 1/2: Nick Casares (1657)
Yuki Siegrist (1308)
Jorge Barrera
Michael Seidel
2 Vincent Gonzalez
Withdrew: Andy Lee (2241), David Karapetian (2029), Francisco
Anchondo
(1931), Elizabeth Shaughnessy (1500), Tony Cole (1407), Reggie
Reynolds (Unr)
4) Batsaikhan Tserendorj wins Wednesday Night Blitz
Mongolian Master Batsaikhan Tserendorj of Ulan Bator easily won
the latest edition of the weekly MI Wednesday Night Blitz, scoring 19-1
in the 11-player round robin. Yefim Bukh was second followed by
David
Ray and Igor Traub.
5) American GMs Abroad
American players have been turning in some excellent results overseas. Hikaru Nakamura won the Decameron Resort and Casino in the Dominican Republic in late April with 8 from 10 which coupled with other results should put him around 2600 FIDE. Former Candidate Jaan Ehlvest and German GM Thomas Luther shared second with 7.5. Among those tied for fourth was IM Eugene Perelshteyn who looks to have made a GM norm. I believe this is the final norm for the former Sanford scholar. Well-done Eugene.
America's top-rated player, GM Alex Onischuk, scored an undefeated
5.5 from 8 to help his team, Norilsk Nikel, take second place in the recently
concluded Russian Team Championship in Sochi.
6) Almira Skripchenko to visit Bay Area
IM Almira Skripchenko of France will be making a whirlwind tour
of the Bay Area in late May thanks to the efforts of FM Eric Schiller.
Ms. Skripchenko, currently rated the 20th women in the world at 2456, serves
as treasurer of the newly formed Association of Professional Chess Players.
She will talk about the aims of that organization and answer listener's
questions at the Mechanics' Institute on Monday, May 24 from 5 to 6 PM.
The talk is free to the public. If you would like to learn more about Almira's
activities in the Bay Area contact Eric at [email protected].
For more information about the Association of Professional Chess Players
go to http://www.chess-players.org/eng
.
7) Qualification for US Olympiad Team and Championship
The 2004 Chess Olympiad is scheduled to be played in Spain this fall and it's not clear yet whether the US Chess Federation will be able to field representative teams due to financial pressures. That hasn't stopped a controversy from developing regarding the selection process for the US Women's Team. What follows is not addressed to that specific situation nor the US Men's team selection, but to point out the overall need to improve the process and some of the factors that need to be weighed.
Some countries in Europe, for example England, have a selection committee that choses which players participate. The United States has normally used a rating formula to choose its teams, though there have been some exceptions such as in 1984 when the American Chess Foundation formed a committee to select the men's team.
The formula for the US teams has been tweaked repeatedly the past decade. There have been different criteria for how quickly newcomers can become eligible to participate on the team, what sort of activity is required and what ratings (FIDE/USCF) are used to do the computations and how much each is weighted. Not so many years ago, American USCF ratings were adjusted to reflect changes in their FIDE rating. That has not been the case the past few years, partly because not too long ago FIDE was slow in issuing individual rating cards and also because the USCF lacked the man power to do the job. Today FIDE is quite efficient in getting the necessary information out, but USCF employees may have more than enough to keep them busy. Currently, as things stand, an American player could win the World Championship and not have it affect his or her USCF rating. It's also true that some very fast time controls (Game/30 for example) are rated at full K on the USCF system the same as a game played at 40/2; 20/1 followed by G/30. A minimum number of games have to be played in order to meet the activity requirement for the Championship and Olympiad, but there doesn't seem to be any minimum requirement for the opposition. It seems a GM could play the necessary games versus 1900 rated players and that would be sufficient.
A fundamental question is whether the men's and women's US Champions should be seeded. Not too long ago Joel Benjamin won the US Championship, but then didn't play on the Olympic team as he was not rated high enough. I think Larry Christiansen is the only US Champion to ever be seeded on an American team. The decision to seed the winner of 2002 championship seems to have been a direct response of the failure of Benjamin, who was in excellent form at the time, to play on the 2000 US Team. Joel won the 2000 title in a quick chess playoff. Should that count or does the winner need to win outright to be seeded? Does the fact that the US Championship is no longer an elite roundrobin, as it was in 2000, a consideration?
The USCF ratings of top players have dropped quite a bit the past few years as various deflationary measures have been put into effect. Individuals who only play a few games have been beneficiaries of this development as they advance up the top of the ratings list by standing still while others fall. How should this be addressed?
The current formula factors in rating lists over a two year period. Should recent results get a much heavier weighting? Currently the cutoff for the formula is often four to six months in advance of the Olympiad. It has happened in the past that a player has in effect gotten on the team for results achieved previous to the past Olympiad.
I'm not sure what the ideal way is to select the US teams is, but I
think it needs it needs as much as possible to be based on objective criteria
that is applied consistently. I wouldn't say it should necessarily
be 100 percent a rigid number crunch but in such a large country with players
from a wide variety of backgrounds it is essential that the process be
consistent and easily understood.
8) Elliott Winslow Annotates
Some previously unpublished annotations of IM Elliott Winslow where recently unearthed and will be shared with Newsletter readers. I think they will appreciate the quality of the annotations despite the passage of time. The following game was annotated by Elliott in 1976.
E. Winslow, (2255) - F. Thornally (2312) [C81]
Tempe-Skopje Sister City Open (4) 1974
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 a6
I'm not even messing with 6.Bxc6.
6.Ba4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Qe2 Be7 10.Rd1 0–0 11.c4 bxc4
12.Bxc4 Qd7
Nowadays one sees 12...Bc5! mostly.
13.Nc3 Nxc3 14.bxc3 Na5
14...f6 is the "long variation" here, when I feel 15.exf6
Bxf6 16.Ng5 Bxg5 17.Bxg5 h6 18.Be3 Qd6 19.Bb3 Ne5 20.Rd4 c5 21.Rh4!? (Evans)
is White's best.
15.Bd3
It seems like everybody (Larsen, Estrin, even Fischer!) has talked
about 15.Bxa6, but nobody has ever played it.
15...c5 16.Ng5!
T.N.! Ghizdavu's 16.h3 looks kind of slow to me.
16...h6
16...g6 17.Nxh7= (17.Nxe6!±) ; 16...Bg4 17.Bxh7+ Kh8 18.f3±;
16...Bf5 17.Qc2! g6!?.
17.Nxe6 Qxe6
17...fxe6? weakens the b1–h7 diagonal.
18.Qh5!
An "influence move".
18...Nc6 19.Bf4 f5 20.exf6 Rxf6 21.Bg3 Qf7 22.Qxf7+
22.Qe2!?
22...Kxf7 23.Rab1 Ra7 24.Rb6?!
On the way home to Kansas City I stopped for a few hours in Denver,
where John Watson has a Chess House. He noticed 24.c4! d4 (24...Nb4
25.cxd5 Nxd3 26.Rxd3±) 25.Be4± intending Bd5.
24...Na5?!
24...Ne5!? 25.Rxf6+ Bxf6 26.Be2 d4 27.cxd4 cxd4 28.f4 Nc6 29.Bf2.
25.Rb8 Bd6 26.Rd8 Bxg3 27.hxg3 d4 28.cxd4 Nc6 29.Rc8 cxd4 30.Be4
Ne7 31.Rc4 Nf5 32.g4 Nd6 33.Bd5+ Kg6?! 34.Rcxd4 Nb5 35.Be4+ Kg5?! 36.Rd5+
Kxg4 37.a4! Nc3 38.Bf3+ Rxf3 39.gxf3+ Kxf3 40.R1d3+ Ke4 41.R3d4+ Kf3 42.Rf5+
Ke2 43.Re5+ Kf3 44.Re3# 1–0
9) A New Discovery in Flohr-Fine, Hastings 1935 by John Grefe
IM John Grefe, who tied for first in the US Championship with Lubosh Kavalek in 1973, hasn't played the past few years, but he still enjoys studying. Here he shares a discovery he made while analyzing a classic game from the past.
Flohr - Fine [D61]
Hastings 1935/36
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.e3 Be7 6.Nf3 0–0 7.Qc2
c6 8.a3 Re8 9.Rd1 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Nd5 11.Bxe7 Qxe7 12.0–0 Nxc3 13.Qxc3 c5
14.d5 exd5 15.Rxd5 b6 16.Rfd1 Rf8 17.b4 cxb4 18.axb4 Nf6 19.Re5 Qc7 20.Ng5
Bb7 21.Ne6 Qc6 22.f3 Ba6 23.Rd4 Rfc8 24.Nd8
Now 24.Nxg7 Bxc4 25.Nf5 Qa4 26.Re8+ Rxe8 27.Rg4+ Kf8 28.Qxf6 Qd1+
29.Kf2 Qc2+ 30.Kg3 Qxf5 31.Qxf5 Be6 32.Qxh7 Bxg4 33.Kxg4 a5; 24.b5 Bxb5
25.Nxg7 Bxc4 26.Nf5 Qa4 27.Re8+ Rxe8 28.Rg4+ Kf8 29.Qxf6 and after Black
has run out of checks and he has no defense against Rg8+ (Kotov - page
21 in Think Like a Grandmaster) but John Grefe claims a draw with
... 29...Qd1+ 30.Kf2 Qc2+ 31.Kg3 Qxf5 32.Qxf5 Be6 33.Qxh7 Bxg4 and he looks
right on. For example: 34.Kxg4 a5 35.f4 a4 36.f5 Ke7 (36...a3? 37.f6).
24...Qc7 25.Rg4 Qxd8 26.Reg5 Qd1+ 27.Kf2 Nxg4+ 28.Rxg4 g6 29.Bxf7+
Kxf7 30.Rf4+ Kg8 31.Qf6 Qd7 0–1
10) Here and There
Some American players will be visiting the shores of Tripoli soon, but they will not be the first. That honor goes to Joan Arbil of Sausalito who played for Turkey in the counter-Olympiad in 1976. As far as we know she is the only American to have played chess in Libya. Max Burkett writes to inform us that others wanted to make the trek back then.
A few decades ago there was to be the alternate "Olympiad" in Tripoli. Dirty Jim McCormick organized a team in Berkeley for the event but plans for the "all expenses paid" vacation fell through when someone ratted them out to the USCF. Threatened with a lifetime suspension from the USCF, they chickened out.
For more on Max visit his website at http://people.montana.com/~mburkett
MI member Dmitry Zilberstein will be shooting for his second IM norm in the 2004 Arthur Dake Memorial IM Tournament which will be held June 5-13 in McMinnville, Oregon. The CAT III event with a FIDE average rating of 2318 will have an IM norm of 6.5 The participants are:
Erenburg Sergey ISR GM 2513
Anka Emil HUN GM 2422
Andrianov Nikolay RUS IM 2446
Zilberstein Dmitry FM 2392
Roper David FM 2292
Berry Jon CAN FM 2255
Van Meter Lester FM 2240
Raptis Nick 2262
Harmon Clark 2184
Stanford Mike CAN 2176
Newsletter reader Larry Snyder just spotted a tournament in Stockton on May 22-23. Go to http://www.stocktonchess.com/tournaments/northcentralchess2004.pdf for more details.
Those looking for a Memorial Day event bigger than the one in San Jose
and who don't want to go to Chicago may wish to consider the Lena Grummete
Memorial Day Classic in Los Angeles. Go to http://www.westernchess.com/mdc04/mdc04.html
for more information.
Newsletter #191, 05/12/2004
"…only an inferior taste could prefer that which is unnecessarily
complicated to that which is simple. The healthy mind chooses of two equally
suitable moves the one that is more straight forward and less sophisticated."
Emanuel Lasker
1) Morkunaite, Thornally and Setzepfandt win Spring TNM
Egle Morkunaite defeated fellow NM Russell Wong in the
last round of the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon to bump off the
leader and grab a share of the honors. Joining here at 7-2 and a tie for
first were FM Frank Thornally and young Expert Alex Setzefandt.
The Summer Marathon starts June 1.
2) Nicolas Yap wins Wednesday Night Blitz
San Francisco teenager NM Nicolas Yap won the latest Wednesday
Night Blitz with a score of 9.5 from 11, Taking second in the 12-player
round robin was Expert Anthony Rozenvasser followed by NM Batsaikan
Tserendorj. This weekly series, open to all, starts at 7pm on Wednesdays
and runs to around 8:30 or 9. Entry fee is $5 with all money collected
returned to the prize fund.
3) FIDE World Championship Fiasco
Chess Today, the online daily (subscription is 15 euro for 3 months http://www.chesstoday.net), continues to impress with its insightful and even-handed editorials. Founder GM Alex Baburin editor weighs in on the recent FIDE World Championship.
Libya won't let in Israelis The excellent Chess Base website has published a report on the current situation with the FIDE men's World Championship. Let us have a look at how things have been unfolding with the 2004 championship:
1) First FIDE claimed that the event will be split between Libya and Malta - those who can't go to Libya, would then play in Malta.
2) Later Libya welcomed all players, so FIDE cancelled the alternative venue (Malta). The Israeli players (Gelfand, Sutovsky and Smirin), as well as several US players said that they won't play. But at least that was their choice.
3) This Wednesday Mohammed Gaddafi, son of the Libyan leader, denies that he had invited Israeli chess players to take part in tournament. He said: "We didn't invite, nor will we invite, the Zionist enemy to the competition." He added: "We will not give up our principles even if that leads to cancelling holding the tournament in Libya."
4) Yesterday the Chess Federation of Israel demanded that the tournament would be moved to another country, not hostile to Israel. See report in Russian.
Comments from Alex Baburin:
"Now that is interesting – we begin to hear about cancellation of the
tournament! No wonder FIDE was (and is!) so keen on forcing the players
to sign completely one-sided 'contracts' – if the event is off, FIDE will
have no responsibilities at all. Its officials might even congratulate
themselves on finding another 'wise solution' in the 'interest of all players'.
I have a simple solution – why not host the championship in London or Paris – these great cities would suit everyone! Or hold it in any other big city in Europe. Of course, that would cost money. But have we all forgotten that FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov allocated (put in the FIDE bank) $50,000,000 of his money for 10 FIDE knockout championships?! If that claim is true, then there is nothing to worry about, right?
Well, probably that claim is not true after all. This would explain why official chess events are moved to pretty unsafe places – like Adjaria in Georgia and Libya – FIDE is desperate for money and any sponsor is deemed good enough. This also explains why one day speculative announcements are made (like hosting the Kasparov-Ponomariov match in Buenos Aires or organising Kasparov's match in 2005 in Vietnam) and then quickly dismissed and quietly forgotten. Unfortunately, FIDE has such a low reputation now that it does not even try to protect it. Many welcomed Ilyumzhinov to FIDE because the organisation then was on the brink of financial bankruptcy and he bailed it out with his personal money. That situation was (and is) clearly not sustainable, but most national chess federations pretend not to notice it.
It seems that now Ilyumzhinov does not put money into FIDE, while his
organising decisions are always controversial. Thus I fear that when Ilyumzhinov
leaves FIDE (for whatever reason), it might then be both financially and
morally bankrupt! Which will be a shame, for FIDE is a large and long-running
organisation with a great history.
4) Letter from USCF President Beatriz Marinello
Statement of United States Chess Federation
Addressed to the
FIDE Presidential Board
May 7th, 2004
Dear Members of the chess community:
As a President of the United States Chess Federation, one of the member nations of the Fédération Internationale des Echecs (FIDE), hereby express our grave concern over the FIDE Presidential Board's recent mismanagement of its responsibilities.
Indeed, the sole positive step has been FIDE's decision to move its Women's Championship event from Batumi, Georgia to Elista, Russia. This measure was essential in light of the widespread concerns that had been expressed for the safety of our players.
But the rest of the picture is bleak in the extreme. At present,
FIDE's accounts are appallingly in arrears. The FIDE President owe
millions of dollars to FIDE. Every assurance from him that payment
will be made on specific dates has come and gone without action.
Months ago, FIDE accepted the resignation of its Executive Director, yet
even today it has still not taken the requisite action to select a new
Executive Director.
FIDE's style of governance has been increasingly founded on diktat,
with dissenting views brushed aside.
FIDE World Championship Title
Ever since FIDE announced that Tripoli (Libya) would be the venue
of the 2004 World Championship it has been increasingly evident that players
from many countries would experience insurmountable problems in traveling
to and competing in the event. Many nations have national laws preventing
their citizens from traveling to and doing business with Libya.
It was premature for the FIDE Presidential Board to award the FIDE
World Championship event to Tripoli at a time when the United Nations had
not lifted its sanctions.
Players unable to compete in Tripoli were due to be given an alternative way of participating in the cycle, i.e. by playing in a parallel competition in Malta. Unfortunately, the Maltese event has been cancelled, which means that some players of FIDE member nations currently find themselves barred from the competition. The host nation of the FIDE World Championship is required to permit safe travel for all competitors, and since Libya is unable to offer such guarantees we call upon FIDE, in the spirit of its own motto, Gens una sumus, immediately to reinstate a parallel event in Malta so that all players entitled to participate in the World Championship cycle may do so.
Sincerely,
Please sign your name if you support this statement:
"Beatriz Marinello," President of the United States Chess Federation
5) Almira Skripchenko to visit Bay Area- CANCELLED
This just came in.
Dear Eric,
I am in NY now, and I just got the message from FIDE that I am entitled toplay the World Championship which will start on the 21st of May. This came as a completeshock to me, since I was on a reserve list. Now I have to change my plans completelyand to fly from NY to Moscow and then to Elista.I hope that it is not to late to apologize and to explain the situation to everyone involved,I hope that I will beable to come back soon, and do everything we planned.Thank you very much for your understanding,
Almira.
IM Almira Skripchenko of France will be making a whirlwind tour of the
Bay Area in late May thanks to the efforts of FM Eric Schiller. Ms. Skripchenko,
currently rated the 20th women in the world at 2456, serves as treasurer
of the newly formed Association of Professional Chess Players. She will
talk about the aims of that organization and answer listener's questions
at the Mechanics' Institute on Monday, May 24 from 5 to 6 PM. The talk
is free to the public. If you would like to learn more about Almira's activities
in the Bay Area contact Eric at [email protected]. For more information
about the Association of Professional Chess Players go to http://www.chess-players.org/eng
.
6) Winslow Annotates- Part Two
Robert Rowley (2287) - Elliott Winslow,E (2255) [B99]
Tempe-Skopje Sister City Open Tempe (5) 1974
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Be7
8.Qf3 Qc7 9.0–0–0 h6 10.Bh4 Nbd7 11.Be2
This move scared off Browne from the early ...h6, but the Chicago group
(DeFotis, Chellstorp) sticks with it.
11...g5!?
11...Rg8!? Winslow-Chellstorp, Illinois 5/1976.
12.fxg5 Ne5 13.Qf2?!
13.Qe3! Nh7 14.Rhf1! hxg5 15.Bg3 Nf8 16.Nf3 f6 17.Nxg5! fxg5 18.Bxe5
dxe5 19.Qf2! is the way from Feldman-Lukin, Leningrad 1970.
13...hxg5! 14.Bxg5 Nfg4 15.Qf4 Nf2! 16.Bb5+!?
Marovic and Susic in King Pawn Openings says 16.Ndb5 axb5 17.Nxb5
Qc5 18.Nxd6+ Bxd6 19.Qf6 with a "winning attack" but 19...Kd7!–+; 16.Bxe7
Nxd1 17.Qf6 (17.Nd5; 17.Bf6; 17.Bxd6 all are winning for Black, the last
from Haas-Winslow, Los Angeles 7/1976.) 17...Ng6 (17...Nxc3!? 18.Qxh8+
Kxe7 19.Qh4+ Kd7 20.bxc3 Qxc3 is the right way) 18.Nf5 exf5? (18...Nxc3!–+
Littlewood in ChessPlayer 3, but 19.Nxd6+ Kd7 20.bxc3 is unclear.)
19.Nd5 Qc6 20.Rxd1; 16.Qxf2 Bxg5+ 17.Kb1 Bd7 18.h4 Be7 19.g4 Qc5 20.Qg3
b5 won a few games in the mid-seventies - Black is probably slightly better.
16...axb5
I half-seriously considered 16...Bd7 17.Bxd7+ Kxd7.
17.Ndxb5 Qc5 18.Bxe7
18.b4?? Bxg5 19.Qxg5 Ned3+
18...Nxd1 19.Bxd6
19.Rxd1 Kxe7 20.Nxd6 f6!; 19.Qf6 Nxc3 idea 20...Qe3+.
19...Nxc3 20.Bxc5 Ne2+ 21.Kb1 Nxf4 22.Nc7+ Kd8 23.Nxa8 Nd7
Maybe a doubtful plan.
24.Bd6 Nxg2 25.Rf1
25.Rg1
25...f6 26.Nc7 e5 27.Nd5 Rxh2 28.a4
28.b3 Rh4 29.Rg1 Rg4 30.Be7+ Ke8 31.Nxf6+ Nxf6 32.Bxf6 Ne3 33.Re1 Rxe4
34.Bg5 Nd5
28...Rh4! 29.Rg1 Rg4 30.Be7+ Ke8 31.Nxf6+ Nxf6 32.Bxf6 Ne3 33.Re1
Nc4 34.b3 Kf7 35.Bh8 Rh4 36.bxc4
36.Rf1+ Ke8 37.Bf6 Nd2+
36...Rxh8 37.Kb2 Bd7 38.Kb3 Ra8 39.Ra1 Bc6 40.a5 Ke6 0–1
7) John Grefe with another discovery
The following game in effect decided the 1992 US Championship.
Fedorowicz,J - Sherzer,A ( [E88]
USA-ch (15), 1992
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0–0 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 c6 8.Bd3
cxd5 9.cxd5 Nh5 10.Nge2 f5 11.exf5 gxf5 12.0–0 Nd7 13.Qd2 Ndf6 14.Kh1 Bd7
15.a4 a6 16.a5 Qe7 17.Bc2 Rae8 18.Rae1 e4 19.Nf4 Qf7 20.Nxh5 Nxh5 21.f4
Nf6 22.h3 Nh5 23.Kh2 Qg6 24.Rg1 Qg3+ 25.Kh1 Bh6 26.Rgf1 Qh4 27.Qf2 Ng3+
28.Kg1 Kf7 29.Rc1 Rg8 30.Ba4 Bxa4 31.Nxa4 Rg4 32.Rc7+ Kg8 33.Rfc1 Bxf4
34.Rc8 Rxc8 35.Rxc8+ Kf7 36.Rc7+ Kg6 37.Bd4 Bh6?
37...e3! would have given Sherzer the US Championship title (final
scores were 1. Wolff 10.5; 2-3. Gulko and Sherzer 10.) 38.Bxe3 (38.Qe1
Bh6) 38...Bxe3 39.Qxe3 Re4.
38.Rd7 Rf4?
38...e3!
39.Rxd6+ Kf7 40.Rxh6 Qg5 41.Rxh7+ Kf8 42.Rg7 Rxf2 43.Rxg5 Rf1+ 44.Kh2
f4 45.Rxg3 fxg3+ 46.Kxg3 Ra1 47.Nc5 Rxa5 48.d6 1–0
8) Two games by the late Eugene Martinovsky
The late Eugene Martinovsky (1931-2000) lead an eventful life. Born in Skopje in 1931 he escaped from Yugoslavia in 1958 while playing in tournament in Italy. He made his way to England where he spent a few years before coming to New York where he worked five years as an emergency room physician . He later became a psychiatrist and lived in Michigan and Illinois. He was a true lover of the game who was always kind and generous.
The booklet Moves with Martinovsky: Gentleman Master compiled by Lawrence Cohen at the 2002 US Masters (sponsored by a $25,000 bequest from Martinovsy's will) only gives games from the latter part of Dr. Martinovsky's life. Here are two of his earlier efforts unearthed by Andy Ansel.
Eugene Martinovsky - Greg Nowak
Milwaukee North Central (op) 1966
(Donaldson)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 0–0 7.e4 Bg4
8.Be3 Nfd7 9.Qb3 Nb6 10.Rd1 Nc6 11.d5 Ne5 12.Be2 Nxf3+ 13.gxf3 Bh3 14.a4
The normal move in this tabiya position for the Grunfeld is the multi-purpose
move 14.Rg1, but the text can transpose.
14...Qc8
14...Qb8
15.Rg1 Nd7
15...c6
16.f4 Nf6 17.f5! gxf5?
17...a5; 17...Rd8
18.Bh6 Ne8 19.Nb5
19.Rd3 Bg4 20.Bxg7 Nxg7 21.Rdg3 Kh8 22.Bxg4 fxg4 23.Rxg4 Rg8 24.Qb4
with threats of Qxe7 and Qd4 is decisive.
19...f4?
19...Bg4
20.Rd3
20.Qc3 f6 21.Nxc7
20...Bd7 21.Bxg7 Nxg7 22.Rdg3! fxg3 23.Qxg3 Bg4 24.Bxg4 f5 25.Bh5
1–0
Source: Chess Life May1967, pages114–115.
Eugene Martinovsky - Thomas Wozney
Chicago Chess Club (op) 1967
(Donaldson)
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 c5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nc7 7.0–0 e5
8.d3 Be7 9.Nd2 Nd4
9...Bd7 is the modern way to meet the threat of Bxc6.
10.Nc4 f6 11.f4 exf4 12.Bxf4 0–0 13.a4
13.Bxc7 Qxc7 14.Nd5 Qd8 15.e3 Ne6 16.Rc1 was a strong alternative.
The Knight on d5 is very strong.
13...Rb8 14.Nb5! Ndxb5 15.axb5 Ra8 16.Na5
16.b6! Nb5 17.bxa7 Rxa7 18.Rxa7 Nxa7 19.Qb3 Kh8 20.Bxb7 leaves White
a healthy pawn up.
16...Bd6?
16...Nd5 was necesary.
17.Nxb7 Bxb7 18.Bxb7 Bxf4 19.Rxf4 Rb8 20.Qb3+ Kh8 21.Rxa7 Qe8 22.Bc6
Qe3+ 23.Rf2 c4 24.Qa3 cxd3 25.exd3
The text does the job but 25.Rxc7 Qc1+ 26.Rf1 Qe3+ 27.Kg2 Qxe2+ 28.Rf2
was the way out of the checks.
25...Qb6?
25...Rfc8
26.Qa5
26.Rb7
26...Qxa5 27.Rxa5 Rfd8 28.Rf3 Kg8 29.Re3 Kf7 30.Ra7 1–0
Source: Chess Life April 1967, page 88.
9) Here and There
If you have ever wondered where the giant bookcase in the Chess Room came from thank the late Herman Freund. A longtime-member of the MI and a habitue of the Chess Room Freund gave the chess club $3000 which purchased the book case and 8 chairs. The book case came from George V. Antiques (The Best of British) at 901 Battery Street and houses the club's bound volumes of the British Chess Magazine dating back to 1882.
MI member Robert Moore mentions that Nicholas Basbane's
fascinating Patience & fortitude : a roving chronicle of book people,
book places, and book culture has three pages on the noted bookdealer Walter
Goldwater and his wife who specialized in African-American literature
and chess. THe MI library has a copy of Basbane's books.
Newsletter #192, 05/19/2004
"Without technique, one cannot attain mastery of any form; it is
no less impossible in chess."
David Bronstein
1) Charles Powell Memorial
2) MI Wednesday Night Blitz
3) Santa Monica International
4) Shamkovich and Lein to be inducted into USCF Hall of Fame
5) BRAIN VERSUS BEAUTY - CLASH OF THE TITANS
6) Winslow Annotates
7) Here and There
8) Henry Plotkin Annotates
1) Charles Powell Memorial
NM Batsaikhan Tserendorj won the 4th annual Charles Powell Memorial
held May 15 at the Mechanics' Institute with a 5-0 score. Tying for second
in the event at 4-1 were IM Ricardo DeGuzman, David Ray, Dmitry Vaintraub
(who beat top-seed DeGuzman) and Nicolas Yap. Anthony Corrales
directed the 31-player event.
2) MI Wednesday Night Blitz
The MI Wednesday Night Blitz continues to grow. The May 12 edition had
14 players with Mongolian NM Batsaikhan Tserendorj first with 11.5.
Expert Anthony Rozenvasser was second with 10.5 followed by NM Igor
Margulis at 10. The weekly blitz event will be held tonight at 7pm.
3) Santa Monica International
Israeli GM Vitali Golod won the Category 9 (2459 FIDE average
- 2523 USCF average) Santa Monica International with a score of 6.5 from
9. Former MI member Alan Stein made an IM norm. Standings, with
a few games still to be played:
1. GM Golod 6.5; 2-3. GM Mikhalevski and IM Young 5/8; 4-5. FM Stein
and IM Matikozian 4.5/8; 6.GM Yudasin 4/8; 7. IM Sevillano 4/9; 8. IM Donaldson
3.5/9; 9. IM Kraai 3/9; 10. FM Pruess 2/8. GM norm = 6.5; IM norm =4.5.
4) Shamkovich and Lein to be inducted into USCF Hall of Fame
GMs Leonid Shamkovich and Anatoly Lein will be inducted
into the USCF Hall of Fame this August. The two Soviet born GMs came to
the United States in the mid-1970s and paved the way for many others who
followed in their footsteps. Shamkovich and Lein both had a considerable
impact on GMs-to-be John Fedorowicz, Joel Benjamin, Michael Rohde, Michael
Wilder and others who learned a lot from playing them in their formative
years.
5) BRAIN VERSUS BEAUTY - CLASH OF THE TITANS - BATTLE OF TWO WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONS
(NEW YORK, NY; LINDSBORG, KS) The United States Chess Federation (USCF) is pleased to announce the upcoming six-game Brain versus Beauty - Clash of The Titans between the two great World Champions Anatoly Karpov and Susan Polgar.
Legendary World Chess Champions Anatoly Karpov and Susan Polgar will compete in the most exciting triple chess challenge of Rapid, Blitz and Advanced Chess. This historic and unique match will mark the battle between two of the Greatest World Champions of all time.
7-time World Champion Anatoly Karpov and 4-time Women’s World Champion Susan Polgar have been true ambassadors of chess. This time, their historic battle is designed to promote US Chess, the Karpov School of Chess and the Susan Polgar Foundation.
On Saturday, September 18, 2004, the Brain versus Beauty - Clash of
the Titans Opening
Ceremony Chess Parade will be held downtown Lindsborg, KS from 10:00
AM - 11:00 AM. The Parade King and Queen -- World Champions Anatoly Karpov
and Susan Polgar - will lead a group of top grandmasters and scholastic
teams participated at the Champion’s Cup Scholastic Tournament. The
media press conference will be held immediately after the Parade.
The Battle of Two World Champions will be held at the Bethany College Theater on September 18-19, in 6 exciting matches with 2 Rapid games at the time control of 20 minutes with 5 seconds delay, 2 Blitz games at the time control of 5 minutes with 3 seconds delay and 2 Advanced Chess at the time control of 25 minutes with 5 seconds increments.
The United States Chess Federation (USCF) has sanctioned the match as the First Official Brain versus Beauty - Clash of the Titans.
The Karpov - Polgar match became available with support from the State of Kansas, City of Lindsborg, Anatoly Karpov Chess School, and Susan Polgar Foundation.
CONTACT: Mikhail Korenman or Paul Truong 785-906-0402
or 212-748-9587 [email protected]
or [email protected]
6) Winslow Annotates- Part Three
Jeremy Silman,J - Vince McCambridge A70
Bagby Memorial San Francisco, 1982
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5
Vince enjoys the Nimzo-Indian, but seems less inclined towards the
Queen's Indian; preferring the more combative openings. This delayed Benoni
also has the virtue of avoiding various White systems: the Four Pawns Attack,
the Bd3/Nge2 line, and the recently quite successful f3/Bg5 method (championed
for 20 years by Kortchnoi). Years ago Watson told me preferred this move-order
to let his opponents know he wasn't playing the Benko Gambit, so they were
more likely to play 4.d5!
4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6
In the next round Grefe played the highly preemptory 6...a6!?
against Jeremy. After 7.a4 g6 he has "gained" as White can't play the system
in the present game. But Jeremy has gained also, since after 8.Nd2! Nbd7
(forced0 9.e4 Bg7 10.Be2 (maybe 10.Nc4 is even better!) 10...0–0 11.0–0
Re8 This is a popular enough position, but not with Grefe! He prefers
...Bg4 lines, avoiding the congestion. Now Jeremy perhaps mixed methods:
12.h3 Qc7 13.Ra3 when John advanced with ... 13...c4! ; the pawn
was taken and returned, leading to a balanced endgame.
7.Bf4!?
A sophisticated system, where most famous encounter was probably Portisch-Fischer,
Interzonal 1970. It really is quite logical, putting pressure on the weak
d6 pawn (I believe that was Alekhine's reason for condemning the Benoni
in his notes to Nimzovich-Marshall, New York 1927!). Benoni players often
underestimate it.
7...a6
The alleged "solution" - after 8.a4 Bg7 there are no a4-e8 checks,
so Black gets developed. As we shall see things are not so easy, so perhaps
theory will return to 7...Bg7. My favorite example is Timman-Ljubojevic,
Amsterdam (IBM) 1972; [7...Bg7 8.Qa4+ Bd7 9.Qb3 Qc7 10.e4
0–0 There, that wasn't so tough! 11.Be2 Nh5 12.Be3 Bg4 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Bxf3
Nd7 15.Bxh5 gxh5 16.0–0 Rae8 17.Qc2 (17.Qd1!?) 17...a6 18.a4 Qd8 19.a5
Kh8! 20.Ra4 Qc8!? Lubo is as obtuse as ever! 21.Nd1 b5 22.axb6 Nxb6 23.Ra2
f5 24.Qb3 Qb7 25.exf5 Rxf5 26.Nc3 Bd4 27.Rfa1 Qg7 28.Qxb6 Rg8 29.Bxd4 cxd4
30.g3 Rxf2! (0–1, 37). This is why we play the Benoni!
8.e4!?
The "solution to the solution".
8...b5
Consistent yes, but perhaps just too risky.As far as I know Jeremy
first played this system against me (San Jose, November 1981) It went [8...Nh5
9.Bg5 Qc7 10.Be2 h6 11.Be3 Bg4 12.Qa4+ Bd7 13.Qc2 Bg4 14.Qa4+ Bd7 15.Qc2
Bg4 16.0–0 Nd7 17.a4 Bg7 18.h3 Bxf3 19.Bxf3 Nhf6 20.Be2 0–0 21.b3 Rfe8
22.a5 Re7 23.Ra4 Rae8 24.Rd1 This is a typical enough position, but with
our strange move-order I couldn't believe it was actually unoriginal -
yet a few days later move-order I saw in Informant 31 Larsen-Christiansen,
Mar del Plata 1981!. Larry played 24...b5! (I played 24...c4!? 25.bxc4
Nxe4 26.Nxe4 Rxe4 27.c5!? Rxe3! with more than enough compensation although
I went astray in the second time scramble and lost.) 25.axb6 Nxb6 26.Rxa6
Nxe4 27.Nb5 Qb8 28.Bf1 Rb7 29.Bf4 g5 obtaining the advantage (0–1, 68).
9.Qe2!
9.e5 has also been played, but the text is more impressive.
9...Nh5
In the original game, Kuuskkmaa-Salceanu, Cor. 1978, went 9...Ra7 10.e5
Re7 11.Be3 Ng4 12.Ne4 dxe5 13.d6 Rd7 14.Bg5 f6 15.Nxf6+ Nxf6 16.Nxe5 Qa5+
17.Bd2 Qa4 18.Nc4+ Re7 19.dxe7 1–0. 20.b3 is next. A pretty quick win against
the Benoni! So look at Silman-Sanchez, San Jose , December 1981:; 9...Bg4
10.e5 Bxf3 11.gxf3 Nh5 12.exd6+ Kd7 13.Bh3+ f5 14.Qe6# ! Kuuskmaa recommends
; 9...Be7 10.Qc2 0–0 11.Be2 "equal". Needless to say, no Benoni player
would be happy with that Bishop; but in our game here Black's pieces really
head for some novel squares.
10.Bg5 f6 11.Be3 Bg4 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Qxf3 Nd7 14.g4 Ng7 15.Qg3 Qe7
16.Bg2 0–0–0!
I can't think of another time Black has castled queenside in the Benoni!
17.0–0 h5 18.b4
18.a4? b4 gets closed up.
18...h4?!
Even though nothing concrete can be immediately seen on the Kingside,
locking it up can't be right.
18...cxb4 19.Qf3
19.Qh2 is concievable, but there is no need to imitate Black's passive
piece placement.
19...cxb4
Else 20.a4 liquidates the queenside.
20.Nb1
This is only temporary.
20...Ne5 21.Qe2 Ne8 22.Bb6 Rd7 23.Nd2 f5
Not enough.
24.f4 Nf7 25.Nb3 Bg7 26.e5 c5
is a very good square.
26...dxe5 27.Rac1+ Nc7 28.Nc5 exf4 29.Qf2
29.Nxd7? Bd4+ 30.Kh1 Qxe2 31.Rxc7+ Kd8 32.Rc2+ Bxb6 33.Rxe2 Kxd Jeremy
maintains the constriction through the final tactical phase.
29...Rxd5 30.Nxa6 Bc3 31.Nxc7 Rd2 32.Qxd2
Ending it.
32...Bxd2 33.Nd5+ Bxc1 34.Nxe7+ 1–0
7) Here and There
The Berkeley Chess School is once again offering summer camps for students in grades K-8. Camps begin June 21st in Berkeley, Danville, San Francisco, and Walnut Creek. International Master and former World Junior Champion David Goodman will be the lead instructor in Berkeley and National Master Roger Poehlmann will be the lead teacher in Danville and Walnut Creek. Please call (510) 843-0150 or visit www.berkeleychessschool.org for more details.
World Champion Anatoly Karpov International School of Chess 2004
U.S. Junior Open
July 23-25, 2004 Lindsborg, Kansas
Tournament Format: 6 Rounds, Swiss System. G/120
Three Sections: Under 21, Under 15, Under 11 (Ages as of 1/1/04)
Schedule: Pre-tournament Welcome night - July 22 at 7:00 pm.
Openning Ceremony - July 23 at 6:00 pm. Rounds: 07/23 - 7:00 pm;
07/24 - 9:00 am, 2:00 pm, 7:00 pm; 07/25 - 9:00 am, 2:00 pm. Closing ceremony
- July 25 at 6:30 pm.
Tour opportunity: July 22 and 26 the Organizers organizing tours
to the second largest space museum Cosmosphere (Hutchinson), Eisenhower
Presidential Center (Abeline), Zoo (Salina), Wichita Expocenter (Wichita).
For tours information please contact Lindsborg Chamber of Commerce at 785-227-2706.
Accomodations: See www.lindsborg.org for local hotels, motels,
and B&Bs. Bethany College dorm rooms available for $20/night per person.
Meals packages are available through the College cafeteria ($20/day per
person) or at downtown restourants.
Entrée Fees: $50 by June 5th, $70 after or on site. USCF
membership required for all participants. Players may take up to two ½
point byes if requested before round 2.
Please make checks payable to: Karpov School of Chess, 106 S. Main,
Lindsborg, KS 67456
Awards:
Under 21 - The winner is seeded into the 2005 U.S.Junior Invitational
Championship.
Trophies awarded to the top 10 for each of the category - Age 19, 18,
17, 16, 15, under 15.
Under 15 - Trophies awarded to the top 10 for each of the category
- Age 13, 12, 11, under 11.
Under 11 - Trophies awarded to the top 10 for each of the category
- Age 9, 8, 7, under 7.
For more details about the US Junior Open contact the Event Organizer:
Mikhail
Korenman (785) 906-0402 or [email protected]
8) Henry Plotkins Annotates
MI veteran Henry Plotkin annotates his upset over NM Margulis in the last Marathon.
Plotkin,H (1865) - Margulis,I (2259) [E61]
Spring TNM MI Chess Club (3), 30.03.2004
[Plotkin]
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nf3 0–0
Black bishop standed before his Majesty protecting all black squares.
6.Be2 d6 7.0–0 b6 8.d5 Na6 9.e4 Nc7 10.h3 a6 11.a4 Rb8 12.Nh2 e6
13.Bg5
White bishop made a pin, but Black doesn't want it.
13...h6 14.Bh4 g5 15.Bg3
White bishop used "a ladder" to go back.
15...e5 16.h4 Nxe4! 17.Nxe4 f5
Black soldiers decided to capture white "officer".
18.hxg5 hxg5 19.f3 fxe4 20.fxe4 b5 21.axb5 axb5 22.Rxf8+ Bxf8 23.Bh5
Black-squared bishop started his "ladder" to see his opponent...
23...Bg7
Instead black-squared bishop invited him.
24.Bg6!
An invitation accepted.
24...Ra8 25.Rc1 Ne8 26.Qh5
Queen footsteps her "officer".
26...Nf6 27.Qxg5 bxc4 28.Nf3 Qb6 29.Nh4 Qxb2 30.Rf1 Ra1 31.Be1
White "officer" is protecting his "colonel".
31...Qd4+ 32.Kh1 Qd3 33.Rxf6 Rxe1+
One of the white bishops sacrificed his life for the victory.
34.Kh2 Qd1 35.Bf7+
Light-squared bishop made last step on his "ladder", and black Monarh
doesn't have escape..
35...Kh7
If he goes 35...Kf8 then 36.Ng6#]
36.Rh6+
If last body-guard of king captures a rook, he opens a road for white
queen to g8.Black light-squared bishop looks what's going on around him
and the battle is over.If you will ask me where I saw bishop's "ladder",
I'll answer: "I saw it in one of Mr. Margulis game in S.F. chess club.
I know that he is one of the best chess players not only in our club.
1–0
Newsletter #193, 05/26/2004
"You call me Grandmaster. I am not Grandmaster, I am not even master.
Chess will always be the master of me, of Capablanca and of all of us."
Alexander Alekhine
1) Emmanuel Perez wins in Stockton
by William Haines
John: I went to the Stockton event this last weekend. The Scholastic
event was successful, but there were only five (5) entries in the Open
section. Emmanuel Perez (2350), William Davis from Santa
Rosa (2166), myself (2135), a young Mr. Tejes (2129), and Alan
Kobernat (2094).
The first day, they gave one point byes to Kobernat & Tejes.
Overnight Davis dropped and after round three Perez had played all present
entries. Neither Kobernat nor I had played Tejes, but both Kobernat and
Tejes had already had a bye. The only game in the last round was therefore
Kobernat and Tejes playing for the guaranteed third prize of $75.
Emmanuel got his $300. and I got $150 for second. All prizes were
guaranteed.
The real reason I'm writing is to report on what a GREAT bunch of
people are involved with Stockton Chess. I'm in a wheelchair, and one of
the organizers actually came to me and asked if there was anything not
being provided me I might desire in the way of comforts! When my first
round game went long, someone actually went to McDonald's for me to get
me sandwiches.
Nicest bunch of people I've run in to.
Arthur Braden came down to TD the Scholastic event from Sacramento
and did a nice job.
For complete standings for this event go to http://www.stocktonchess.com/tournaments/2004ncchess.html
.
2) Ibragimov wins Wednesday Blitz
NM Arthur Ibragimov won the May 19 edition of the Wednesday blitz
with an impressive 13-0 score. Other top finishers in the 14 player round
robin were:
2. Jorge Lopez 11
3. Zaslavsky 10.5
4. Ted Castro 9
5. Nicolas Yap 8.5
6. David Ray 8
7. Batsaikan Tserendorj 7
The next MI blitz event will be held this evening at 7pm immediately
following the lecture by GM Alex Yermolinsky.
3) MI Blitz Ratings
Mechanics' GM-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky has started an in house blitz chess rating system. Players start with their current USCF quick chess rating.
Rating List 5/25/2004
Igor Margulis 2297
Arthur Ibragimov 2210
Jorge Lopez 2095
B. Tserendorj 2078
Vladimir Zaslavsky 1956
Igor Traub 1941
Nicolas Yap 1920
A.Rozenvasser 1882
David Ray 1856
Yefim Bukh 1828
Neil Falconer 1800
Ted Castro 1657
Paul Thorpe 1649
Gende Oyunchimeg 1636
Felix Rudyak 1576
Marika Litras 1540
Tom Moore 1512
Tony Cole 1383
Ian Jones 1351
Mike Jacobo 1236
John Lavrentjev 1245
Nicholas Brown 1187
Jacob Eggers 1124
Joe Russell 989
4) Summer TNM to be FIDE rated
The Summer Mechanics Institute Tuesday Night Marathon will be
FIDE
rated. The 9-round event which starts next Tuesday, will provide an excellent
opportunity for Bay Area players to improve and earn FIDE ratings. Games
between two FIDE rated players will be rated for both players. Those between
rated and unrated only for the unrated player. Unrated players need 9 games
to get on the FIDE rating list. They need to play at least four rated players
in an event to pool the result with another event to get their nine games.
The current FIDE rating cutoff is now 1800. We anticipate approximately
10-15 of the 70 plus participants will have FIDE ratings.
5) USCF Elections: Korenman and Shaughnessy
Two of the candidates for the USCF Executive Board will offer USCF members
the chance to meet them in person and discuss issues of the campaign. Mikhail
Korenman of Kansas will be at the Chicago Open this coming weekend
while Elizabeth Shaughnessy of Berkeley will meet with MI members
this coming Tuesday evening right after GM Alex Yermolinsky's lecture at
approximately 6:15 pm.
The June issue of Chess Life came out recently with statements by the
six candidates. The July issue will contain the election ballot. Voters
will be asked to select two individuals for a one year term on the USCF
Executive Board. I believe that Mikhail Korenman and Elizabeth Shaughnessy
have done more for chess and have the best qualifications of those running
for office and will be voting for them. Please don't forget to vote.
6) US Open 1961
Andy Ansel recently entered all the available games from the
1961 US Open into ChessBase. The games from the event, which was held across
the street from MI at the Sheraton Palace, will be available at Kerry
Lawless' Chess Dryad site (www.chessdryad.com)
in the near future.
IM William Addison, who served as the MI Chess Director in the
late 1960s, was one of the strongest American players never to receive
the GM title. He played on the US Olympiad team and represented the United
States in the 1970 Interzonal in Palma de Mallorca. Though born in Louisiana,
Addison developed as a chessplayer at the Mechanics'.
Here is an exciting game of his from the 1961 US Open which was won
by Pal Benko.
Addison,W - Witeczek,J
San Francisco US op (10), 1961
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5
8.Bd3 Bb7 9.e4 b4 10.Na4 c5 11.e5 Nd5 12.dxc5 Qa5 13.0-0 Bc6 14.Bc2 Nxc5
15.Nxc5 Bxc5 16.Ng5 Qc7 17.Qh5 g6 18.Qf3 Bf8 19.Bd2 h6 20.Nxe6 fxe6 21.Bxg6+
Kd8 22.Rfd1 Kc8 23.Rac1 Kb7 24.Qh3 Qe7 25.Be4 Rc8 26.f4 Bg7 27.a3 bxa3
28.bxa3 Qf7 29.f5 exf5 30.Qb3+ Ka8 31.Bf3 Qb7 32.Qd3 Ne7 33.Rxc6 Nxc6 34.Rb1
Qc7 35.Rc1 Qb7 36.Qd6 Bxe5 37.Qe6 Bd6 38.Qxd6 Qb6+ 39.Kh1 Kb7 40.Ba5 Qb5
41.a4 Qxa5 42.Bxc6+ Ka6 43.Bb5+ Kb7 44.Bc6+ Ka6 45.Rb1 Rxc6 46.Qd3+ Rc4
47.Qxc4+ Qb5 48.Qxb5# 1-0
7) Here and There
GM Yasser Seirawan led Hilversum to a third place finish in the Dutch team championship winning both his games with excellent technical play.
Cuijpers,F (2489) - Seirawan,Y (2621) [B18]
Enschede NED-chT plof Enschede (1.4), 20.05.2004
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.h5 Bh7 8.Nf3 Nf6 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bf4 Qa5+ 12.Bd2 Qa6 13.Qb3 c5 14.dxc5 Nbd7 15.a4 Bxc5 16.Qb5 Qb6 17.Qxb6 axb6 18.Rh4 0-0 19.Rd1 Rfc8 20.b3 Bd6 21.c4 Bxg3 22.fxg3 Nc5 23.Rb1 Nfe4 24.Rg4 Kh7 25.Be3 f5 26.Rg6 Nf6 27.Ne5 Nxh5 28.g4 Nf6 29.g5 Ng4 30.gxh6 Nxe5 31.Rxg7+ Kh8 32.Ke2 Rg8 33.Bd4 Nc6 34.Ba1 Rxg7 35.hxg7+ Kg8 36.g4 e5 37.b4 Ne6 38.gxf5 Nxg7 39.f6 Ne6 40.b5 Ncd4+ 41.Ke3 Rc8 42.Ke4 Rc5 43.Rh1 Ng5+ 44.Kd3 Nde6 45.Bb2 Kf7 46.Bc1 e4+ 47.Kc3 Rf5 48.Be3 Nc5 49.Kb4 Nge6 50.a5 Nd3+ 51.Ka4 Nec5+ 52.Bxc5 Nxc5+ 53.Kb4 bxa5+ 54.Kxa5 Rxf6 0-1
Seirawan,Y (2621) - Schmaltz,R (2522) [A30]
Enschede NED-chT plof Enschede (2.2), 21.05.2004
1.c4 c5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.Nc3 d6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.b3 e6 7.0-0 Be7 8.d4
cxd4 9.Nxd4 a6 10.Bb2 0-0 11.Ne4 Nxe4 12.Bxe4 Nxd4 13.Qxd4 Bf6 14.Qd2 Bxb2
15.Qxb2 Bc6 16.Qd4 Bxe4 17.Qxe4 Qc7 18.Rfd1 Rad8 19.Rd4 Rd7 20.Qd3 Rfd8
21.e4 a5 22.Rd1 Qc5 23.Qe2 g6 24.R1d3 Qc6 25.Qd2 Qc5 26.Kg2 b6 27.Qh6 b5
28.Qd2 b4 29.Qh6 Ra8 30.h4 a4 31.Qg5 Qxg5 32.hxg5 axb3 33.axb3 Ra5 34.Rxd6
Rxd6 35.Rxd6 Ra3 36.Rd3 Kf8 37.e5 Ke8 38.f4 Ra2+ 39.Kf3 Rc2 40.Ke4 Ke7
41.Kd4 Ke8 42.g4 Ke7 43.Rh3 Ke8 44.c5 Rc1 45.Rxh7 Rc3 46.f5 exf5 47.gxf5
gxf5 48.e6 fxe6 49.g6 Kf8 50.Rb7 f4 51.Rxb4 Rc1 52.Rc4 e5+ 53.Kd3 1-0
The Sacramento Chess Club has a good website (http://sacramentochessclub.org/
) where I found a list of the club's top players.
# Name
Rtng
1 Andrey Chumachenko 2452
2 Michael Aigner 2272
3 Kenan Zildzic 2259
4 Arthur L Braden 2250
5 John Langreck 2223
6 Steven G Ross 2200
7 James Mac Farland 2200
8 John C Barnard 2151
9 Ziad A Baroudi 2144
10 Marc T Braverman 2075
Several issues back we reported on the upcoming IM norm event in McMinnville, Oregon. Organizer Clark Harmon reports that one of the original invitees, Sergey Erenburg, had visa problems and will be replaced by GM Vitali Golod. The revised field is:
Golod, Vitali ISR 2552
Anka Emil HUN GM 2422
Andrianov Nikolay RUS IM 2446
Zilberstein Dmitry FM 2392
Roper David FM 2292
Berry Jon CAN FM 2255
Van Meter Lester FM 2240
Raptis Nick 2262
Harmon Clark 2184
Stanford Mike CAN 2176
The IM norm for the Category 3 (2322) event remains a tough 6.5 from 9. We wish MI member Dmitry Zilberstein well in his quest for his second IM norm.
Full details for the Western States Open, which will feature Boris Spassky as a special guest, will soon be forthcoming. Here is a rough sketch.
Oct. 15-17, 2004. Spassky will have: Wed (Oct. 13) " an evening with Boris" (We think dinner & cocktails at 8: 30 PM. Thursday (Larry Evans Lecture at 6pm; Blitz tourney at 7:30pm & of course Spassky (25 board) Simul at 7:30pm ($100 includes commemorative writing pen to all participants in Simul) Spectators $5,. Friday Spassky autograph session from 10:30 am -11:30 am. Sat- Spassky 2:30 pm -4:30 pm Clinic ($10 to non players), Sunday Spassky 2:30 -4:30 PM Showing of the film "clash of the titans" followed by Question and answers by Spassky and GM Larry Evans ($10 fee to non tournament players). All Spassky events (except Dinner Wednesday night and participation in Simul) are free to main tournament players. Reno- Western States Open details are same as last year for round times, time controls 7 sections FIDE rated etc. Entry fees went up (to pay for Spassky) Open $150, X= $149, A=$148, B=$147, C= $146, D=145, E= $75. The rest of the detail s on the tournament should be very close to last year. note - no action tournament on Sunday and all Wed night side events are not happening.
A correction from the last newsletter where I ran a blurb from the Berkeley Chess School. IM David Goodman is not a former World Junior Champion. He was a member of the English team that won the World Student Team Championship.
SM David Pruess will be in town this summer and will be hosting a chess class from August 16-20. For more information, contact him at [email protected].
The Governors Cup will be back this year from October 29-31 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Full details are given below.
This weekend Bay Area players will have two events to choose from. Those
who like to travel may wish to venture down to Los Angeles. Closer to home
is a rare weekend event in San Jose. Information is given under upcoming
events
Newsletter #194, 05/31/2004
"My 60 Memorable Games almost never got published. Bobby was too
much of a perfectionist to omit the best lines, and too much of a competitor
to publish them."
Larry Evans
1) Ehlvest and Shabalov win in Chicago
2) Schiller tops San Jose
3) Resume for Elizabeth Shaughnessy - Candidate for the USCF Executive Board
1) Ehlvest and Shabalov win in Chicago
GMs Jaan Ehlvest and Alex Shabalov tied for first in the Chicago Open held May 28-31 at the Hyatt Regency in Oak Brook, Illinois. The two winners score of 6-1 was good for $7500 apiece. GMs Alexander Goldin, Alex Wojtkiewicz, Viktor Mikhalevski, Dasheveg Sharavdorj, GM-elect Varuzhan Akobian and IM Ben Finegold shared 3rd through eighth at 5 1/2.
The big surprise of the event was the performance of Chouchanik Airapetian. Rated only 2066 she scored 5 from 7, winning her last four games. Among her victims were IMs Justin Sarkar and Stephen Muhammad. Airapetian's performance was good for the Under 2300 prize of $2000 and also earned her a spot in the 2004 US Championship. Also earning trips to San Diego were GM Alex Fishbein and teenager Joshua Friedel on 5-2. The other two qualifiers are not yet clear. Among those on 4.5 were GMs Dmitry Gurevich and Anatoly Lein, IM Dmitry Schneider and FM Daniel Fernandez. Either one of two of them will qualify depending on how the rules are interpreted. This appears to be the first time that a women has scored enough points for an open qualifying spot in the AF4C US Championship format. When I left the tournament hall at 12:15 AM nobody seemed to know if another women would qualify as well as Airapetian or four men would be seeded
Here are the key last round games.
Shabalov,A - Nakamura,H [D97]
Chicago Open (7), 2004
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 0-0 7.e4 Na6 8.Be2 c5 9.d5 e6 10.0-0 exd5 11.exd5 Bf5 12.Be3 Qb6 13.b3 Rfe8 14.Rad1 Ng4 15.Bd2 Rad8 16.Rfe1 Bd4 17.Nxd4 cxd4 18.Na4 Qc7 19.Bxg4 Qxc4 20.bxc4 Bxg4 21.f3 Bd7 22.Nb2 b5 23.Ba5 Rxe1+ 24.Bxe1 bxc4 25.Nxc4 Bb5 26.Rxd4 Bxc4 27.Rxc4 Rxd5 28.Bc3 Rd8 29.Bf6 Re8 30.Bd4 Nb8 31.Bxa7 Nd7 32.Bd4 Ra8 33.Rc7 Nf8 34.Ra7 Rd8 35.Be3 Kg7 36.a4 Ne6 37.a5 Rd3 38.Kf2 Ra3 39.Bb6 Rb3 40.Ke2 Kf8 41.Kd2 Ke8 42.Kc2 Rb4 43.Kc3 Rb1 44.Be3 Ra1 45.Kb2 Ra4 46.a6 Kd8 47.Ra8+ Kd7 48.a7 h5 49.Rb8 Nc7 50.Kb3 Ra1 51.h4 Ra6 52.Bf2 Ra1 53.Bb6 Kc6 54.Bxc7 Rxa7 55.Bf4 Kd7 56.Rb6 Ra1 57.Kc3 Rg1 58.Rb2 f6 59.Kd3 Rh1 60.g3 Ke6 61.Rb6+ Kf5 62.Bd2 Rd1 63.Ke2 1-0
Ehlvest,J - Golod,V [C91]
Chicago Open (7), 2004
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.d4 Bg4 10.Be3 exd4 11.cxd4 Na5 12.Bc2 c5 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Qxf3 Nc4 15.Nd2 Nxd2 16.Bxd2 cxd4 17.Rad1 Nd7 18.Qd3 Ne5 19.Qxd4 Bf6 20.Qb4 Rc8 21.Bc3 Nc6 22.Qxd6 Bxc3 23.bxc3 Qa5 24.e5 Qxc3 25.Rc1 Qa5 26.Bf5 Rc7 27.Bxh7+ Kxh7 28.Qxf8 Nxe5 29.Qd8 Nc4 30.Re4 f5 31.Re6 Qa3 32.Rce1 Rf7 33.Qe8 Qf8 34.Qxf8 Rxf8 35.Rxa6 1-0
Airpateian,C - Muhammed,S [C78]
Chicago Open Chicago Open (7), 2004
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bb7 7.Re1
Bc5 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bh4 g5 12.Bg3 0-0 13.dxe5 Nxe5 14.Nxe5
dxe5 15.Nd2 Qe7 16.a4 Rad8 17.Qe2 Rd6 18.axb5 axb5 19.Nf3 Nxe4 20.Nxe5
Bxf2+ 21.Bxf2 Rd2 22.Qxb5 c6 23.Qc4 Nd6 24.Qc5 Qf6 25.Bd4 Nf5 26.Qxf8+
1-0
2) Schiller tops San Jose
FM Eric Schiller reports on this week's tournament in San Jose.
I won the San Jose Memorial Day Tournament with my first perfect score (4-0) in a long, long, time. Not only did I sweep the field, I won the brilliancy prize for my third round game against the #2 seed (I was #1), a strong young player who beat me in our last encounter. The revenge was sweet! Notes are very preliminary.
Black Knight Memorial Day (3)
Yap, Nicholas - Schiller, Eric
ECO C60
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nge7
First time I've tried this, but I've taught it to some students,
and have seen IM Walter Shipman use it very successfully. Knowing that
my opponent likes to capture the knight on c6 made this Cozio Defense seem
like a good idea.
4.O-O a6 5.Ba4 Ng6 6.c3 Be7 7.d4 b5 8.Bb3
Retreating to c2 has been played. This was new to me.
8..O-O 9.Nxe5 Ncxe5 10.dxe5 Bb7! 11.Qe2 Nxe5 12.f4
Just what I was hoping for. From this point forward I was thinking
only of attacking the king.
12...Ng6 13.a4 Bc5+ 14.Kh1 Qe7 15.Nd2 bxa4!?
I plan to offer up the a-pawn as a sacrifice, just to get his queen
away from the kingside.
16.Rxa4 Bc6!? 17.Rxa6 Rxa6 18.Qxa6 Be3! 19.f5 Nf4 20.Re1
The queen will return to f1, and then where will my attack be? Time
to plunge in!
20...Nxg2! 21.Re2
21.Kxg2 Qg5+ 22.Kf1 Bxd2 23.Bxd2 Qxd2 24.Qe2 Qf4+ , and Black is
definitely better.
21..Bxd2 22.Bxd2 Nh4 23.Bd5
23.Qd3 Nxf5 24.Bd5 Re8 25.Bf4 Nd6 and Black is still a pawn up.
23...Ra8! 24.Qc4?
24.Qd3! Bxd5 25.Qxd5 c6 26.Qd3 Ra1+ 27.Re1 Rxe1+ 28.Bxe1 Nxf5. Once
again, Black has an extra pawn in the endgame.
24...Qg5! 25.Be1 Ra1 26.e5 Nf3! 27.Qc5 Nxe1 0-1
White resigned. It is mate in 3!
3) Resume for Elizabeth Shaughnessy- Candidate for the USCF Executive Board
Elizabeth Shaughnessy, candidate for the USCF Executive Board.
Current CalChess President.
President, Berkeley Chess School, founded 1982, teaches 7000 students
in the
greater S. F. Bay Area.
Director, Berkeley Chess Club
Irish by birth, American by choice, an architect by profession.
Former President, Berkeley School Board.
Played for Ireland in four Chess Olympiads.
Former Irish Women's Chess Champion.
Former Director, Kolty Chess for Youth Foundation.
Endorsed by:
GMs: Walter Brown, Larry Christiansen, Nick De Firmian, Roman
Dzindzichashvili, Anatoly Lein.
IMs: Vinay Bhat, Ron Cusi, John Donaldson, David Goodman, Elliott Winslow.
Masters: Michael Aigner, David Blohm, Tom Dorsch, Leroy Dubeck, Jim
Eade,
Bob Hamm, Bob Hammie, Kenneth Hills, Allen Kaufman, Richard Koepcke,
Andy Lee, Craig
Mar, Monty Peckham, Manny Perez, Roger Poehlmann, Eric Schiller,
Robert
Snyder.
Experts: Mark Brown, Frisco Del Rosario, Michael Labins, Carl Pilnick,
Mikhail Semionenkov, Don Shennum, Larry Snyder, Liina Vark, Walter
Wood,
David Wait.
TDs: NTD and International Arbiter, Mike Goodall, ANTD Alan Glasscoe,
Senior
TD Joan Arbil
Former USCF board members: Doris Barry, Jim Eade, John Donaldson,
Tom
Dorsch, Steve Doyle,Leroy Dubeck, Rachel and Myron Lieberman.
Former US Senior Champion: Neil Falconer.
USCF Scholastic Council: Dewain Barber.
Hundreds of regular members including, Francisco Anchondo, Vincente
Andrade,
Craig Andries, Morgan Baker, Trendell Ball, Adam Baraz, Jorge Barrera,
Josh
Bowman, Jay Blem, Hans Borm, Major Castleberry 111, Dave Ceponis,
Jolly Chen, Wesley Chen, Alberto
Cisneros, Tony Cole, Arthur Connick, Theron Dyble, Jonathan Fan,
Allan Fifield, Mel Fong, Ursula
Foster, David Goldfarb, Vincent Gonzalez, Jacob Green, Peter Grey,
Ben Gross, Wallace Hannum, Eric Hicks, Ed Hirsch,
David Huff, Riley Hughes, Kurt Jacobs, Toby Kahn, Joshua Karnad,
Dwight Kearney, Mariusz Krubnik, Joe Kuchta, Tony Lama, Joe Lonsdale, Peter
Logan, Jake Lopez, Michael Lum, Kris Mac Lennan, Victor Manning, Chris
Mavraedis, John McCumiskey, Wilmot McCutchen, Brendan McIntyre,Andrew Milburn,
Nazee Moghadam, Damon Mosk-Aoyama, Wassim Nassif, Richard Newey, Ray Orwig,
Richard Peterson, Sam Petty, Jonathan Pines, Rene Plata, Bruce Radaiken,
Kayven Riese,Walter Roberts, Bret Rohmer, Bleys Rose, Ben Russack, George
Sanguinetti, Arina Semionenkova, 'Bud' Setzepfandt, Chris Shaikh, Doug
Shaker, Stephen Shaughnessy, Mark Shelton, Daren Smith, Eric Smith, James
Smith, Steve Stacy, Dave Stambuch, Dennis Steele, Keith
Storey, Andy Trotter, Fatima Uribe, Richard Veres, Ravi Verma, John
Wallace, Ernst Westphal, John Westphal, Max Wilkerson, Carolyn Withgitt,
Charles Wolff, Al Woolum.
Dear USCF voter,
If elected, I believe I would be an asset to the Board. I have twenty-two
years' experience as a successful organizer of youth chess. I am
currently
President of CalChess. I am an active player and have played for
Ireland in
four Chess Olympiads. I am involved in adult chess in Berkeley as
a player
and as a director. Outside of chess, my eight year tenure on the
Berkeley
School Board has given me experience in fiscal oversight and the
ability to
work effectively within a political structure. It would be a privilege
to
represent you at the national level. Please vote.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Shaughnessy ([email protected])
Newsletter #195, 06/08/2004
"Young players will find it beneficial to follow the truly majestic
unhurriedness with which the masters make the most obvious moves."
Alexei Suetin
Don't forget the Arthur Stamer Memorial at the MI this weekend.
1) Korenman and Shaughnessy for Executive Board
The June Chess Life recently came out with ballots for the USCF Executive
Board special election. There are six Candidates and you need to select
two on the ballot. I will be voting for Mikhail Korenman and Elizabeth
Shaugnessy. Randy Bauer would be my third choice. Don't forget
to vote.
2) Wednesday Night Blitz
The Wednesday Blitz events at the MI continue to increase in strength.
Yefim
Bukh won the event two Wednesdays ago with a score of 12-1. The next
three finishers were 2. Jorge Lopez 11.5; 3. Arthur Ibragimov
11 and 4. Nicolas Yap 10.5.
Last week's event was the strongest yet. IM Ricardo DeGuzman
was first with 11-1, losing only to NM Batsaikhan Tserndorj who
was second with 9.5. Other top scores were: 3. Jorge Lopez 8.5; 4. Arthur
Ibragimov 8; 5-6. Yefim Bukh and Oleg Shaknazarov 7.
3) Summer TNM Starts
The Summer Marathon started last Tuesday and will run through
July 27.The top seed, for the first time in the history of the TNM is a
women, Batchimeg Tuvshintugs of Mongolia, rated 2327. She
is visiting for the summer and will return in the fall to Maryland where
she is studying. There are 79 entries in the Summer TNM and it is still
possible to enter with half point byes for the first two rounds
4) Here and There
John Henderson of the AF4C reports that Chicago had four open qualifying spots and one women's seed. That means that GMs D. Gurevich and Fishbein, IM Finegold and Expert Chachounik Airapetian took the Open spots and Tatiana Vayserberg was the women's seed.
You can find the results for the Arthur Dake Memorial that is being played in McMinnville, Oregon, at the Portland Chess Club site.
Larry Snyder writes that San Jose organizer Albert Rich
has a survey he is circulating to poll local players on what sort of events
they would like. Write him at
[email protected] if
you are interested in participating.
You need no longer play at least four FIDE rated to have a ratable performance
as an unrated. Well-known organizer and rules/pairing expert Stewart
Reuben writes:
The regulations are that they need to play at least three FIDE Rated
players in each event and score at least one point
in the first event that counts.
This Tuesday Night Marathon is FIDE rated. We should have many ratable
performances from it.
Newsletter #196, 06/16/2004
"Once a chessplayer begins to understand how far from perfection
his game is, and perceives the necessity of learning from others, he has
made the first important step on the road to mastery in chess."
Gerald Abrahams
1) Shabalov and Fridman tie for first in Vermont
Alex Shabalov and Daniel Fridman tied for first in the
2004 CCA-Internet Chess Club International held June 8-14 at Stratton
Mountain, Vermont. The two Grandmasters, both of whom were born in Latvia,
reached their total of 7 1/2 from 10 in different ways. The top seed at
2624 FIDE, Shaba started like a rocket with 6 1/2 points from 7, including
a win over Fridman, but then overpressed in round 8 against GM Alex
Ivanov, bounced back to beat GM Pavel Blatny with Black
and then was crushed playing White against Canadian IM Jean Hebert
in the final round. A draw would have given him clear first and $5,000,
but that word is rarely in Shaba's vocabulary as is the concept of playing
safely. As it was, he shared $7,500 with Fridman, who defeated IM James
Rizzitano in a tough last round grind.
One of the principle reasons for holding this event was to give American
players a shot at earning norms for international titles. This year two
teenagers, Josh Friedel and Matthew Hoekstra, both made IM
norms. This was the second for Friedel this year and one suspects he will
make his third and final norm shortly. Josh, who has been coached by Larry
Christiansen, appears to be a real talent. The performance of Matthew
Hoekstra was also impressive. A student at Duke, Matthew hadn't played
in six months but showed no signs of rust as he made his first IM norm.
Three Bay Area players participated in the even led by six-time US
Champion Walter Browne. Walter had a very combative tournament
as he knocked heads with most of the top rated players in the event. He
finished on a high note defeating former World Championship candidate Jaan
Ehlvest in convincing fashion. Up to that point, things had been going
well for Ehlvest. A last round draw would have given him shared first.
MI
Chess Director John Donaldson made a second GM norm in Vermont last
year, but didn't come close this time around, scoring 4 from 7. Alan
Kobernat scored 2 from 9.
Bill Goichberg's Continental Chess Association and the Internet
Chess Club are to be commended for sponsoring this rare norm opportunity
for American players.
Final standings:
1-2. Fridman and Shabalov – 7½;
3. Ehlvest – 7;
4-5. Hebert and A. Ivanov – 6½;
6-9. Ardaman, Blatny, Browne and
Perelshteyn – 6 points, etc.
10 rounds, 34 players
2) DeGuzman and Rich tie in Stamer Memorial
International Master Ricardo DeGuzman and Expert Albert Rich
tied for first in the 41st Arthur Stamer Memorial held to honor
the memory of the MI's first Chess Room Director. The two winners, who
scored 4-0, each received $325. The big upset if the event was 14-year
old Eyeliner Krubnik's win over National Master Batsaikan Tserendorj.
The two players were rated almost 600 points apart.
3) Summer TNM and Wednesday Blitz set attendance records
The Summer Tuesday Night Marathon has set an attendance record for weekly events at the MI with 85 participants, making it by far the largest weekly tournament in the United States. This edition of the Marathon features players of a wide variety of playing strength with seven Masters (including WIMs from Mongolia and Lithuania), as well as players under 1000. This is the first TNM that will be FIDE rated in the history of the event going back to the early 1970s.
Attendance at the Wednesday Night Blitz is also up. Last week
there were 20 participants. The two section winners, Batsaikan Tserendorj
and Yefim Bukh, played off for first. They traded wins in the first
two games and Tserendorj had White in the six minutes to four minutes tie
breaker (Black with draw odds). Tserendorj was pushing but Bukh was able
to bail out with perpetual check, taking first prize. The next Marathon
will be held this evening from 7-9 PM. Entry is $5 with all money collected
going into the prize fund.
4) Here and There
GM Alex Ivanov continued his domination of local New England events by winning the Bradley Open in Windsor Connecticut in early June with a score of 4 1/2 from 5. Second was GM Ildar Ibragimov, who drew with Ivanov and was also nicked by NM Nelson Castaneda.
The US Senior Open, held June 5-12, in Boca Raton, Florida, was
FM
Fabio LaRota nudge out IMs Victor Adler and Larry Kaufman
for the title of US Champion over 50. All three players scored 5-1, but
LaRota got the US Championship qualifying spot on tiebreak. Among those
on 4 1/2 in the 67 player field, were California IMs Anthony Saidy
and Walter Shipman. Surprisingly, almost none of the top players
played each other.
5) Readers Write
Dear Mechanics' Institute Chess Room,
Greetings from Malaysia! You may now visit the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) website for the 2 (TWO) below mentioned tournament details: Official site: http://tcn.sourceforge.net Further details on both events e-mail: [email protected]
1st Dato Arthur Tan Malaysia Open
---------------------------------
The 1st Dato Arthur Tan Malaysia Open Chess
Championship takes place in Kuala Lumpur August
21st-31st 2004.
Further details: http://tcn.sourceforge.net/
specifically
http://tcn.sourceforge.net/atmalaysianopen.html
24th Merdeka Team Chess Championship 2004
-----------------------------------------
The 24th Merdeka Team Chess Championship 2004 takes
place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 27th-29th August
2004. This is followed by a Rapid Chess Open (Time
Control: 25 Minutes + 10 Seconds increment from move
1) takes place 29th-31st August 2004.
Further details: http://tcn.sourceforge.net/
specifically
http://tcn.sourceforge.net/merdeka2004.html
Hope you can also spread this news to your
chessfriends. Thank you very much.
best wishes,
K.L. Ching
Malaysia
http://chess.sf.net
Max Burkett writes:
If you visit http://people.montana.com/~mburkett you will see the largest collection of Kolty games extant, along with some "chessnicdotes". Check out "Walking George". I have other stories to add, the most notable of which are about George giving part of his fees to me. But I must do this later.
Jim Schmitt - Carroll Capps
San Francisco 1951
Nimzo-Indian E49
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Nc6
8.
Nf3 Re8 9.O-O e5 10.cxd5 Qxd5 11.c4 Qd6 12.d5 e4 13.dxc6 exf3 14.cxb7
Bxb7 15.Qb3 Ng4 16.g3 Bc6 17.Bf5 Ne5 18.Qc2 g6 19.Be4 Qe6 20.Bf5
gxf5 0-1
Jack Peters writes:
Dear John,
Can you tell some Northern California chessplayers about the online
survey that Chris Roberts created? He wants to get as many replies as possible.
The survey is at http://home.comcast.net/~zugz
Newsletter #197, 06/22/2004
"Chess is matter of timing. It's not enough to play the right
move, you've got to play it at the right moment. Restraint is one
of the most difficult things for the average chess player to learn."
Bobby Fischer
US Champion Alex Shabalov will give a free lecture at the Mechanics' Institute tomorrow (Wednesday) evening from 5:15 to 6:45. Shabalov, who dominated the US chess scene in 2003, shows no signs of slowing down with recent victories at the Chicago Open and CCA - ICC Vermont International. The personable GM will go over some of his recent victories and answer questions. The Wednesday Blitz will be held immediately afterward.
The 4th annual William Addison Open will be held this Saturday to honor the strong IM and former Chess Room Director who has been an MI member for over 50 years. IM Ganbold of Mongolia will be playing.
The MI Chess Camp for Beginners and Novice Players starts next Monday.
1) Richard Delaune Jr. (1954-2004)
I am very sad to report that International Master Richard Delaune
Jr. died of a heart attack on May 29th at the age of 49. Richard
and I both played in many of the same tournaments the past two decades,
but it was only last year at the World Open that we actually played each
other. He looked to be in excellent health and I would never have guessed
that he would die so young.
Though born in Georgia, Richard lived most of his life in Virginia
outside of Washington, DC. He was one of the strongest players to
develop in Virginia, winning the State Championship four times as well
as countless local tournaments. Richard was an International Master with
a peak FIDE rating of 2410 and a top USCF rating of around 2470. Unlike
many of the best over the board players in the United States, he was active
in correspondence chess, holding a Master rating. Richard didn't write
often but when he did he was very thorough. I still remember the excellent
article he did on the 1992 Eastern Open, which was published in the March-April,
1993 issue of Joel Benjamin's magazine Chess Chow.
It's customary when writing obituaries to emphasize the individuals
good qualities and overlook their foibles, but Richard really was a nice
guy. I never saw him getting upset or losing his temper, even after some
tough losses. It was characteristic of Richard that after he drew with
Kortchnoi
in a tournament in Canada in the early 1980s his expression made it impossible
to guess whether he won, lost or drew. He will be very sorely missed.
The Delaune family has asked that donations be made in his name to
the U.S. Chess Center to help fund a Richard K. Delaune Memorial Tournament.
Call 202/857-4922 for more information.
My impression of Richard was that he was a very solid player that relied
primarily on his excellent positional understanding. The following game
is an exception as he outplays fellow IM Jeremy Silman in a complicated
struggle:
Silman,J (2390) - Delaune,R (2360) [B09]
World op Philadelphia (8), 1990
1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 Nf6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Bd3 Na6 7.0-0 c5
8.d5 Rb8 9.a4 b6 10.Kh1 Nc7 11.Qe1 a6 12.Qh4 b5 13.f5 gxf5 14.Bh6 b4 15.Ne2
c4 16.Bxc4 Nxe4 17.Ng5 Bxh6 18.Qxh6 Nxg5 19.Qxg5+ Kh8 20.Nd4 e5 21.Qxd8
Rxd8 22.Nc6 Bd7 23.Nxd8 Rxd8 24.a5 Rg8 25.h3 f4 26.Rf2 Bf5 27.Ra4 Rb8 28.Kh2
Be4 29.Rd2 h5 30.Ra1 h4 31.Ra4 f5 32.Kg1 Kg7 33.Kf2 Kf6 34.Bb3 Ke7 35.Bc4
Kd7 36.Bb3 Rb5 37.Bc4 Rc5 38.Rxb4 Bxd5 39.Bxd5 Nxd5 40.Rb7+ Kc6 41.Rf7
e4 42.Re2 Ne3 43.c3 Rxa5 44.Rd2 Ra2 45.Rh7 Nc4 46.Rc2 Ne3 47.Rd2 Nc4 48.Rc2
Ne5 49.Rxh4 Nd3+ 50.Ke2 Ra1 51.Rh5 Rg1 52.Rxf5 Rxg2+ 53.Kd1 Nxb2+ 54.Kc1
Nd3+ 55.Kb1 Rg1+ 56.Ka2 f3 57.Kb3 f2 58.Rcxf2 Nxf2 59.Rxf2 Kd5 60.Rh2 e3
0-1
The following game, with abridged notes, appears with full annotations in a recent column by GM Lubosh Kavalek in the Washington Post. It was played in the 1996 US Open in Alexandria.
Brandon-Delaune
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be3 a6 7.Nxc6
bxc6 8.a3?! d5! 9.exd5 exd5 10.Be2 Rb8 11.Rb1 Bd6 12.0-0 0-0 13.Na4 Re8
14.c4 Ne4! 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.g3?! Bh3 17.Re1 Nxg3! 18.hxg3 Rxe3!! 19.fxe3
Qg5 20.Bg4 20...Bxg4 21.Qd2 Bxg3 0-1 (After 22.Rf1 d4! 23.Qxd4 Qh5
24.Qd2 Be2 black wins.)
2) Yermo wins National Open on tiebreak
He's back and he is nationwide. Mechanics' Grandmaster-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky won the 2004 National Open on tiebreak repeating his performance from 2002. Alex defeated NM Jerry Hanken, NM John Bartholomew, IM Igor Ivanov, drew GM Vitali Golod, drew GM Daniel Fridman and beat GM-elect Melikhset Khachiyan. Tying for first with Yermo were GMs Jaan Ehlvest, Evgeni Najer, Varuzhan Akobian and Fridman.
The qualifiers for the 2004 US Championship were Yermo, IM Stanislav Kriventsov, IM Blas Lugo and GM Anatoly Lein. 15-year-old Vanessa West, who is well on her way to breaking Jennifer Shahade's record for the youngest ever American born female to achieve a master rating, grabbed the women's spot. Vanessa is a student of former Mechanics' member IM Jeremy Silman. MI member Michael Aigner had an outstanding tournament, defeating IM Jesse Kraai and FM Marcel Milat but lost in the last round to GM Akobian to narrowly miss qualification for the US Championship on tiebreak. This was the second time in six months that a lost round loss to GM Akobian prevented Michael from qualifying but he can take consolation in his 2451 FIDE performance which emphasizes his continuing improvement. There are not too many players out there, especially non-juniors, who have gained over 200 FIDE rating points in the last three years. Keep it up Michael!
Here are two of Yermo's wins courtesy of Chess Today.
Ivanov,I (2512) - Yermolinsky,A (2620) [A30]
National Open Las Vegas (3.4)
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 b6 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.0–0 e6 6.Nc3 Be7 7.d4
cxd4 8.Qxd4 d6 9.Rd1 a6 10.b3 Nbd7 11.Bb2 0–0 12.Qe3 Qc7 13.Nd4 Bxg2 14.Kxg2
Rfe8 15.Rac1 Bf8 16.Nf3 Qb7 17.a4 Rac8 18.Kg1 Nc5 19.Nd2 d5 20.cxd5 exd5
21.Qf3 Rcd8 22.b4 Nce4 23.Na2 Qd7 24.Nxe4 Nxe4 25.Nc3 Nxc3 26.Bxc3 Qxa4
27.Rd4 Qc6 28.Qd3 Qb5 29.Qxb5 axb5 30.e3 Rc8 31.Rd3 Bxb4 32.Bb2 Rxc1+ 33.Bxc1
Rc8 34.Bd2 Bxd2 35.Rxd2 Rc5 36.e4 Kf8 37.exd5 b4 38.d6 Ke8 39.Rb2 Rc4 0–1
Yermolinsky,A (2620) - Khachian,M (2562) [D85]
National Open Las Vegas (6.4), 20.06.2004
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7
7.d4 c5 8.Be3 Qa5 9.Qd2 b6 10.Rc1 0–0 11.Bh6 cxd4 12.Bxg7 Kxg7 13.cxd4
Qxd2+ 14.Kxd2 Bb7 15.Bd3 Rc8 16.Rxc8 Bxc8 17.Rc1 Ba6 18.Rc7 Kf8 19.e5 Bxd3
20.Rc8+ Kg7 21.Kxd3 b5 22.d5 a5 23.d6 1–0
3) Shahade leads 2004 US Womens Championship
Jennifer Shahade is running away with the US Women Championship
that is being held at the Manhattan campus of St.John's University Jennifer
has 3.5 from 4 with a victory over her nearest rival Anna Zatonskih
who has 2 out of 3. Other scores: 3-4. Irina Krush and Tatev Abrahamiyan
2/4; 5. Battsetseg Tsagann 1/3; 6. Anjelina Belakovskaia 1/4; 7. Rusa Goletiani
.5/3. The top finisher, aside from Zatonskih and Krush who are qualified
by rating, earns a spot on the 2004 US Womens Olympiad team.
Go to http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~kerrt/sju04.html
for more information.
4) Americans in Libya
The US started out with four players in Tripoli in the FIDE knockout, and after two rounds 16-year-old Hikaru Nakamura has made it to the final 32 players having defeated GMs Sergey Volkov (2629) and Alexey Aleksandrov (2668)! In the first game of his second round match Hikaru defeated Aleksandrov in 102 moves! Here is how he held the balance in round two.
Aleksandrov,A (2668) - Nakamura,H (2580)
WCC 2004 0:17.56–0:36.33 (22), 22.06.2004
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.g4
dxc4 8.Bxc4 e5 9.g5 Nd5 10.Ne4 Bb4+ 11.Bd2 Bxd2+ 12.Qxd2 Qe7 13.a3 N7b6
14.Ba2 Bh3 15.Rg1 exd4 16.Qxd4 0–0–0 17.Ng3 f5 18.gxf6 Nxf6 19.Qb4 Qd7
20.Ne5 Qc7 21.Nf7 Nbd5 22.Qh4 Bg4 23.Nxd8 Qa5+ 24.b4 Qxa3 25.Kf1 Qd3+ 26.Kg2
Nxe3+ 27.fxe3 Qc2+ 28.Kf1 Qd3+ 29.Kg2 ½–½
Hikaru, who is currently rated 2580, has 18 points in the FIDE rating bank for four solid results in the first half of 2004. Coupled with his performance in Libya and he is over 2600!
Congratulations also go to Alex Wojtkiewicz who made it to the
second round defeating Bulgarian-Macedonian GM Kiril Georgiev. It
took Vadim Zvaginsev to defeat him in the quick chess playoff after
they had gone 1-1 in regulation.
5) Batsaikan Tserendorj wins MI Wednesday Night Blitz
Last Wednesday's event set a record with 23 entrants. Mongolian Master
Batsaikan
Tserendorj and NM Jorge Lopez won their respective sections
with Batsaikan winning the first place playoff. David Karapetian
defeated John Chung for third place. Ricardo DeGuzman, who
was absent from last week's proceedings, continues to top the MI blitz
ratings at 2649. Tommorow the Wednesday Night Blitz will be held immediately
after US Champion Shabalov's lecture, beginning at 7pm. Entry fee
for the Five Double Round Swiss (everyone plays 10 games) is $5.
6) Summer Tuesday Night Marathon
Victor Ossipov defeated fellow Master Igor Margulis to
grab the lead in the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon with a 4-0 score.
A record 85 entries are competing in the nine round event.
7) Gata Kamsky is back
GM Gata Kamsky returned to the tournament arena after a long layoff, playing in the New York Masters (Game/25) a week ago and tying for first at 3-1. Rumor has it that Gata recently graduated with a law degree and didn't want to start playing again until he finished his studies. This was the first event for Gata since the 1999 World Championship in Las Vegas where he lost to the eventual winner Alexander Khalifman.
Here is Gata's last round game.
Kamsky,G (2717) - Blatny,P (2451) [B00]
106th New York Masters New York (4), 15.06.2004
1.d4 b6 2.e4 Bb7 3.Bd3 Nf6 4.Qe2 Nc6 5.c3 e5 6.Nf3 d6 7.0–0 Nd7
8.a4 a5 9.d5 Ne7 10.Bb5 h6 11.Nbd2 Ng6 12.b4 Be7 13.bxa5 Rxa5 14.Nc4 Ra7
15.Be3 0–0 16.a5 Nc5 17.Bxc5 Nf4 18.Qc2 bxc5 19.a6 Ba8 20.Na5 Qc8 21.g3
Nh3+ 22.Kh1 f5 23.Nc6 Bxc6 24.dxc6 f4 25.Qe2 Qg4 26.Bc4+ Kh7 27.Rab1 Rfa8
28.Ra1 Rf8 29.Qd1 Qh5 30.Be2 Qg6 31.Qd5 Rb8 32.Ra2 Rb6 33.Bc4 Qh5 34.Qg8+
1–0
This evening (6/22) Gata played again in the Marshall Masters and was
defeated by GM Daniel Fridman in round three.
8) Golod and Anka win Arthur Dake Memorial
Grandmasters Vitali Golod of Israel and Emil Anka of Hungary
tied for first in the Arthur Dake Memorial held in early June in McMinnville,
Oregon with scores of 7.5 from 9. Washington Master David Roper
was a distant third at 5-4 in the category 3 (2322 FIDE average). MI member
Dmitry
Zilberstein was unable to follow up successfully on his IM norm in
last Decembers Lindsborg Open, but we have no doubt that he will soon become
an International Master with more opportunities.
Other scores were: =4-5 IM Andrianov and NM Raptis 4.5; 6-7 FM Zilberstein
and Stanford 4; 8 J. Berry 3.5; 9 Harmon 2.5; 10 Van Meter 2.
A Crosstable, photos and all the games from the Arthur Dake Memorial
are available at the Portland Chess Club website at http://www.aboutchess.org/
.
9) Here and There
IM Vinay Bhat, who hasn't played much the past two years due to academic responsibilities, is scheduled to play in the US Junior Closed in Lindsborg, Kansas.We wish the UC Berkeley Junior good luck.
IM William Paschall and FM Sean Nagle finished with identical scores of 4.5 from 10 in the recently concluded Category 7 (2419) First Saturday event in Budapest. 11-year-old Fabiano Caruana of New York (USCF 2260) did well in the second group scoring 5 from 10 for a FIDE 2304 performance.
Jude Acers, who made quite an impact on the Bay Area when he
lived here in the late 1960s and early 1970s, will be in Santa Rosa this
Saturday.
Keith Halonen reports that Jude will give a 15-board Simul against
Santa Rosa school kids, most of them winners from the city's Spring Youth
Chess, on Saturday, June 26 at 1:00 PM. Immediately afterward there
will be a book signing for Jude's recently published The Italian Gambit.
The event will take place in front of Waldenbooks in the Coddingtown Mall,
733 Coddingtown Mall, Santa Rosa, CA 95401, just off Steele Lane at Interstate
101. For more information contact Keith Halonen at 16701 Spruce Grove Road,
Middletown CA 95406-8426 - 707 987-0166.
IM Jeremy Silman's new book on Pal Benko is getting rave
reviews. Dutch GMs Jan Timman and Hans Ree give it high marks
in the latest issue of New in Chess magazine.
Last Sunday's New York Times had a very unfavorable article on King Kirsan and his reign in the kingdom of Kalmykia in the front section of the paper. Members of the opposition complained about the money Kirsan was spending on chess.
The East Bay Express for June 14-20 on page 32 reports that the formation
of a new chess group. The Oakland Chess Riders is operating at the Alice
Arts Center (1428 Alice Street in Oakland) and all scholastic age kids
are welcome. The program runs Mondays through Thursdays from 12-3 pm this
summer. There will be scholarships for low-income children. To learn more
visit
oaklandchess.org .
Newsletter #198, 06/30/2004
"It is even more important to look around than to look ahead."
C.S. Purdy
1) Nakamura shines in Libya
Hikaru Nakamura shined brightly in the FIDE World Championship
Knockout in Tripoli, Libya, advancing to the round of 16 before being
eliminated by world top ten player Michael Adams of England. Hikaru
defeated Russian 2600s Volkov, Aleksandrov and Lastin. This
result is the best by an American player in the World Championship knockout
series since Boris Gulko reached the fourth round in 2000. This
result will propel Hikaru solidly into the ranks of FIDE 2600 players and
clearly establishes him as one of the best players in the world under 21.
It may be premature to predict exactly how far Hikaru will go but clearly
the US has not had a player with this potential at this age since Gata
Kamsky.
Last Wednesday, US Champion Alex Shabalov gave a lecture at
the Mechanics' in which he was scheduled to go over some of his own games
from recent events. He modestly declined and instead went over Hikaru's
wins over Aleksandrov. This included Nakamura's epic 102 move win in the
first game which Shaba said "You could write a book on this game alone."
Here it is:
Nakamura,H (2580) - Aleksandrov,A (2668) [A18]
FIDE WCh KO Tripoli LBA (2.1), 21.06.2004
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e4 d5 4.e5 d4 5.exf6 dxc3 6.bxc3 Qxf6 7.Nf3 b6 8.d4 Bb7 9.Bd3 h6 10.0-0 Nd7 11.Nd2 Bd6 12.Qg4 Qg5 13.Qh3 Qe7 14.Ne4 Ba3 15.Qg3 0-0-0 16.c5 Bxc1 17.cxb6 axb6 18.Rfxc1 e5 19.a4 f5 20.Nd2 e4 21.Bb5 g5 22.Qe3 Nf6 23.a5 f4 24.Qe2 e3 25.fxe3 Qxe3+ 26.Qxe3 fxe3 27.Nc4 Nd5 28.a6 Ba8 29.Ne5 Rhf8 30.Be2 c5 31.dxc5 Kc7 32.Nc4 bxc5 33.Ra5 Kc6 34.Re1 Nxc3 35.Bf3+ Rxf3 36.gxf3 e2 37.Kf2 Rd4 38.Ne5+ Kb6 39.Ra3 Nb5 40.Re3 Bd5 41.R3xe2 Kxa6 42.Rb2 Rb4 43.Rd2 Rd4 44.Rc2 c4 45.Ke3 Rh4 46.Rb1 c3 47.Nd3 Ka5 48.Ra1+ Kb6 49.Rf2 Nd4 50.Rb1+ Kc7 51.Nb4 Bxf3 52.Rc1 Ne2 53.Rc2 Bh5 54.Nd5+ Kd6 55.Nxc3 Rh3+ 56.Kd2 Nd4 57.Rb2 Nf3+ 58.Kc1 Ne5 59.Rf6+ Kc5 60.Ne4+ Kd4 61.Nf2 Rc3+ 62.Rc2 Rxc2+ 63.Kxc2 Bg6+ 64.Kd2 h5 65.Ke2 g4 66.Kf1 Bc2 67.Kg2 h4 68.Rh6 h3+ 69.Kg3 Be4 70.Rd6+ Ke3 71.Nd1+ Ke2 72.Kf4 Bf3 73.Nc3+ Kf1 74.Rd2 Ng6+ 75.Kg3 Ne7 76.Nb5 Ke1 77.Ra2 Nc6 78.Rb2 Kf1 79.Rd2 Ke1 80.Rd6 Kf1 81.Re6 Nd8 82.Re3 Nc6 83.Re8 Be2 84.Nd6 Nd4 85.Ne4 Kg1 86.Nc3 Nf5+ 87.Kf4 Bf3 88.Kxf5 Kxh2 89.Kf4 Kg2 90.Ne2 h2 91.Ng3 Kh3 92.Rh8+ Kg2 93.Rb8 Kh3 94.Rb5 Be2 95.Rb3 Bd1 96.Ra3 Bf3 97.Nh1 Kh4 98.Nf2 Be2 99.Re3 Bd1 100.Re1 g3 101.Rxd1 g2 102.Rd6 1-0
It will be interesting to see what sort of team the US fields in Spain
for the Olympiad this fall. As mentioned in a previous newsletter, the
USCF has not been rating foreign FIDE events for USCF rating for several
years. This lapse first started when FIDE was slow in getting information
to the USCF, but that has no longer been the case for quite some time.
An exception was made to rate Rusa Goletiani's victory in the women's
Pan American last year. One would hope that Hikaru's excellent performance
in Libya will be counted. It's hard to imagine a more significant event
for a chess player. It also begs the question why games played at time
controls as fast as G/25 should count but high quality events that Hikaru
has played in, like Wijk aan Zee and Pamplona, don't. As I said before
the system of selection is due for a serious overhaul.
Normally the invitations for the Olympiad team would be out by now.
Since they haven't, a very complicated situation is developing. Gata
Kamsky seems to have returned to the tournament arena making the short
list for the Olympiad (with Shabalov is seeded as US Champion) in
no particular order: Onischuk, Kamsky, Novikov, Goldin, Kaidanov, Seirawan,
Gulko and Nakamura competing for five spots.
2) Shahade wins US Womens Championship
Jennifer Shahade won the 2004 US Womens Championship and
a spot on the Olympiad team by scoring 4.5-1.5. Taking for second were
top seeds IMs Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush at 4-2. Other
scores: 4. Battsetseg 3; 5. Goletiani 2.5; Abrahamiyan
2 and 7. Belakovskaia 1. For games and more information go to:
http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~kerrt/2004/sjuchess_main.html
A concurrent GM norm tournament, also held at the St. John's
campus in New York, was won by Leonid Yudasin at 7-2 with fellow
GMs Joel Benjamin and John Fedorowicz sharing second with
IM Eli Vovsha at 6-3.
3) James Al-Shamma wins William Addison Open
Expert James Al-Shamma won the 4th annual William Addison Open
held June 26 at the Mechanics' with a 5-0 score. Tying for second at 4-1
were Nicolas Yap, Drake Wang, Edward Pereplitsky, Ted Castro and
Jonathan
Soo Hoo. Anthony Corrales and Alex Yermolinsky directed
the 43-player event for the Mechanics' Institute.
4) Ossipov and Tserendorj lead Summer TNM
Victor Ossipov and Batsaikan Tserendorj are tied for first
at 4.5 from 5 in the 85-player Summer Tuesday Night Marathon. Four
rounds remain in the event.
5) Salvatierra first in Wednesday Blitz
Rey Salvatierra won the 20-player Wednesday Night Blitz on June
23rd with a score of 9.5 from 12 in the 6-double round Swiss.
Top MI Blitz ratings: 1. IM Deguzman 2649; 2. NM Salvatierra 2374;
3. NM Shibut 2256; 4. NM Margulis 2229; 5. A. Ibraginmov 2158.
The MI will host a special blitz event on Sunday, July 11.
Louie Ladow Memorial
July 11, 2004
Blitz Chess Tournament
Louie Ladow, a well-known cab driver and blitz chess specialist, passed away on April 7, 2003. His friends would like to remember him with a special blitz (5-minute) tournament at the Mechanics' Institute. Free entry to all cab drivers, $10 for others. Best cab driver $100, best overall $100, best Expert/A $50, best B/C $50, best D/E/Unr. $50.
Format 5 double round Swiss. Registration 11-11:30 AM. Rounds
12:30, 1:30, 2:00 and 2:30 PM.
7) Mechanics' Institute Chess Directors
The Mechanics' Chess Club has been around since 1854 but has only had
a chess director since 1951. Max Wilkerson is the longest serving with
16 years of service.
Arthur Stamer 1951-63
Kurt Bendit 1963-64
Howard Donnelly 1964-65
IM William Addison 1965-69
Alan Bourke 1969-71
Ray Conway 1971-80
Max Wilkerson 1980-96
FM Jim Eade 1996-98
IM John Donaldson 1998-
8) Here and There
Andy Ansel sends in the following duel between two of New England's best players that was not featured in either Vukcevich's or Curdo's books. It comes from the long-running New England magazine Chess Horizons.
Vukcevich, M - Curdo, J
Massachusetts Championship (Brokton) 1964
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4 Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. c3 Nd7 11. d4 Bf6 12. d5 Ne7 13. axb5 axb5 14. Rxa8 Qxa8 15. Na3 Nc5 16. Nxb5 Rd8 17. Bc4 c6 18. Nc7 Qc8 19. dxc6 Bxc6 20. Nd5 Qb7 21. Ng5 Nxd5 22. exd5 Bb5 23. Bxb5 Qxb5 24. Ne4 Nxe4 25. Rxe4 Ra8 26. Rb4 Qa5 27. Be3 h6 28. h3 Qa2 29. Qf3 Qb1+ 30. Kh2 Qd3 31. Bc1 Qb1 32. Bxh6 Ra1 33. Be3 Qg6 34. Qg4 Qxg4 35. hxg4 g5 36. Rb6 e4 37. b3 Be7 38. Rb4 1-0
Chess Horizons April 1964 Vol III, #2
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