Gens Una Sumus!
"In my opinion Fischer had a dual or split personality. He had greatchess talent and charisma but his personality was weak with too many flaws.If you like it was like too much great wine in a small vessel. His personalitywas too shallow to carry the weight, the burden of being the chess messiah."
Garry Kasparov
The Louie Ladow blitz will be held at the Mechanics' this Sunday.Details below under blitz.
1) Akobian wins World Open
Los Angeles based GM-elect Varuzhan Akobian won the 2004 WorldOpen in Philadelphia with a fantastic performance scoring 7.5 from 9. Amonghis victims were GMs Shabalov, Wojtkiewicz and Golod. Hedrew with GMs Goldin, Smirin and Nakamura en route to collectingthe $14,000 first prize. Tying for second at 7-2 were GMs Nakamura, Najer,Ehlvest, Smirin, Stocek, Novikov, A. Ivanov, Onischuk and Kunte.
The World Open was a qualifier for the US Championship. Very unofficiallyit looks like Jesse Kraai, Dmitry Zilberstein, Stephen Muhammadand Enkhbat Tegshuren took tie open seeds and TsagaanBattsetseg and Laura Ross the womens spot but don't quote me.Four players made IM norms including MI-member Dmitry Zilberstein (hissecond). Other scores for Bay Area players: GM Nick deFirmian 6,GM Walter Browne 5, Paul Gallegos 5, Shivkumar Shivaji5, IM Walter Shipman 4.5 and Jonathan Frankle 4.5.
For more information go to: http://www.worldopen.com/results2004.htm
Here was the only decisive game by the winner that was availableas of this morning.
Akobian,V (2526) - Wojtkiewicz,A (2551) [D13]
2004 World Open Philadelphia, USA (7), 04.07.2004
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 a6 7.Rc1Qb6 8.Na4 Qa5+ 9.Bd2 Qd8 10.Qb3 e6 11.Nb6 Rb8 12.e3 Ne4 13.Nxc8 Nxd2 14.Nxd2Bb4 15.a3 Bxd2+ 16.Kxd2 Qxc8 17.Bxa6 0-0 18.Be2 Qd7 19.Rhd1 Qd6 20.g3 e521.dxe5 Qxe5 22.Ke1 d4 23.exd4 Nxd4 24.Qe3 Qxe3 25.fxe3 Nc6 26.Rd7 Rfe827.Kf2 Re6 28.Bb5 Na7 29.Ba4 Ra6 30.Bb3 Rf6+ 31.Ke2 Nc6 32.Bd5 Kf8 33.Bxc6bxc6 34.b4 Rh6 35.h4 Rg6 36.h5 Rxg3 37.Rxc6 Rg2+ 38.Kf3 Rg5 39.Rcc7 Rf5+40.Ke2 h6 41.a4 Kg8 42.b5 Rxh5 43.Rxf7 Rg5 44.Rb7 Ra8 45.Ra7 Rb8 46.Rfb7Rf8 47.b6 Rg2+ 48.Kd3 Rf1 49.a5 Rb1 50.a6 h5 51.Rxg7+ 1-0
2) Matikozian first in Pacific Southwest Open
IM Andranik Matikozian of Glendale won the traditional PacificSouthwest Open held over the July 4th weekend at the Hilton near LAXairport with a score of 5.5 -.5, defeating GM-elect Melikset Khachiyanin the last round. Tying for second at 5-1 were IM Vinay Bhat (drawswith Khachiyan and Donaldson) and young Expert Ivan Biag.Among those on 4.5 were IMs Donaldson (draws with Bhat and NM Abrahamyanand a last round bye), Jack Peters and Tim Taylor.
MI-member Matthew Ho of San Jose had 4-2 including a draw withPeters. Randy Hough directed the event which attracted 133 players.
3) DeGuzman heats up in Sacramento
NM Michael Aigner reports:
IM Ricardo DeGuzman won the Sacramento Chess Championshipover the 4th of July weekend, scoring an undefeated 5.0 out of 6 to separatehimself from the field. Playing in the 2-day schedule, DeGuzman defeatedFM Bela Evans and NM Kenneth Hills but gave up draws to NMsMichaelAigner and Timothy Taylor. Finishing in clear second placewith a spectacular performance was high school student Ankit Gupta. Gupta, rated 2083, impressively scored 4.5 out of the first 5 rounds, includinga win against FM Kenan Zildzic, before losing a 5th hour time scrambleto DeGuzman in the last round. Since Gupta earned the 2nd place overallprize, the under 2200 money winners were Hills, Taylor, and Larry Snyder,each scoring 4.0.
95 players total came to Sacramento for this annual event. FrancisoAnchondo won the reserve section with an undefeated score of 5.0 outof 6. Second place and top under 1800 honors went to juniorAaronGarg and Jamshid Alamehzadeh. The amateur section sawa 4-way tie for first between Fredy Ferrer, Michael Gosk, Jojo Zhao,and Jeff Kottcamp after Ferrer and Kottcamp drew each other in lastround. Over a third of the players were juniors
The tournament was, as usual, capably organized and directed byJohnMcCumiskey with assistance from Sacramento club President SteveBickford. Perhaps the biggest story this weekend was the heat. The temperature outside approached 100 degrees, and with so many playerscrammed into the playing hall, the air conditioning struggled to keep up. Ice water was a valuable and necessary accessory for most players thisweekend. On Sunday evening, while chess fireworks erupted approachingthe end of the sudden death time control, the real 4th of July fireworksalso could be heard.
Full results: http://sacramentochessclub.org/weekend_events/2004scc.htm
P.S. John Donaldson might be as confused with the name TimothyTaylor as I was on Saturday morning. Timothy F Taylor playedin Sacramento, not the more well-known IM Timothy W Taylor.
4) Ossipov, Tserendorj and Thornally lead TNM
FM Frank Thornally and NMs Batsaikan Tserendorj and VictorOssipov lead the 85-player Summer Tuesday Night Marathon with5-1 scores and three rounds remaining. This Marathon and the next one startin late August are both being FIDE rated allowing many club members theirfirst chance to earn an international rating.
5) Tserendorj tops Wednesday Night Blitz
Batsaikan Tserendorj of Mongolia won the strongest WednesdayNight Blitz in the series ahead of IM Ricardo DeGuzman and NMs NicolasYap and Batchimeg Tuvshintugs. The next event is held this eveningand provides great practice with only a $5 entry fee.
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 witha special blitz (5-minute) tournament at the Mechanics' Institute. Freeentry 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.
6) Here and There
NM Macon Shibut of Virginia was able to locate the late RichardDelaune's draw with Viktor Kortchnoi from Toronto 1985,
which is not in any databases. It appeared on page 12 of Players ChessNews, August 28, 1985. Kortchnoi tries to grind down Richard with no success.
Kortchnoi - Delaune
Toronto 1985
A46 Queen's Pawn Game
1 d4 e6 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 g3 b5 4 Bg2 Bb7 5 0-0 Be7 6 Ne1 Bxg2 7 Nxg2c5 8 dxc5 Bxc5 9 c3 0-0 10 Bg5 d5 11 Qb3 a6 12 Bxf6 Qxf6 13 a4 bxa4 14Rxa4 Nc6 15 Nd2 Rfc8 16 Qa2 a5 17 Nf4 Rab8 18 e3 Bb6 19 Kg2 h6 20 Nf3 Rd821 Rd1 Bc7 22 Rd2 Rb7 23 h3 Ne5 24 Nxe5 Qxe5 25 Qa3 Bd6 26 Qa1 Bc7 27 Qd1Rdb8 28 Nd3 Qf5 29 Qg4 g6 30 Qd4 Bb6 31 Qf4 Qxf4 32 Nxf4 Bc7 33 Nd3 Bb634 Kf1 f6 35 Ke2 Kf7 36 e4 dxe4 37 Rxe4 Rd8 38 Rc4 Rbd7 39 f4 g5 40 Rc6Bc7 41 fxg5 hxg5 42 g4 Bf4 43 Rd1 e5 44 Rc4 Ke7 1/2
This Labor Day weekend the largest prize fund event in the countrywill not be held on the East or West Coasts but in the center of the UnitedStates in Stillwater, Oklahoma, featuring 150 Grand Prix points.
Cal Chess President Elizabeth Shaughnessy, a candidate for theUSCF Executive Board, reports the next issue of the CaliforniaChess Journal, edited by Eric Hicks of San Francisco, is due outin late July or early August.
International Master Calvin Blocker is available for telephoneand in-person chess lessons, coaching, lectures, simuls and camps. IM Blockerhas been Ohio champion twelve times and is a multiple winner of the NationalOpen. Very experienced teacher. All levels. $60 per hour; minimum of twohours for phone lessons; minimum of three hours plus travel expenses (ifnot in Cleveland) for in-person.
Call 1 – 216 – 921 – 3774 seven days.
Newsletter #200, 07/14/2004
"My father taught me how to play chess at seven and introduced beautifulconcepts that I try to pass on to my kids. The elements and concepts oflife are so perfectly illustrated on a chessboard. The ability to accuratelyassess your position is the key to chess, which I also think is the keyto life.
Everything you do in your life is a move. You wake up in the morningand you walk out on the street - that's a move. You've made a move andthe universe is going to respond with its move. Whatever move you'regoing to make in your life to be successful, you have to accurately accessthe next couple of moves - like what's going to happen if you do this?Because once you've made your move, you can't take it back. The universeis going to respond."
Actor Will Smith
The 4th Annual Charles Bagby Memorial willbe held at the Mechanics' this Saturday.
1) Mark Pinto International
The Mechanics' Institute Chess Club will proudly host the Mark PintoInternational from July 21-August 1. This Category 3 (approx. 2322FIDE average) event, with a score of 7.5 from 11 necessary for an IM norm,is named after National Master and M.I. Trustee Mark Pinto as asmall thank you for all the time and generosity he has given the Instituteover the years. The Mechanics' Chess Club would never have been able tooffer the many programs it has without his constant support. Thanks Mark!
The Pinto International will feature an interesting field with IMsEnricoSevillano, Ricardo DeGuzman and Odondoo Ganbold and MI membersDmitryZilberstein (2 IM norms), David Pruess (1 IM norm) and AlanStein (1 IM norm) next by rating. Other participants include FMs FrankThornally, Bela Evans and Richard Lobo plus NMsShivkumarShivaji and Michael Aigner as well as WFM Tuvshintogs Batchimeg.Participants come from Mongolia, England, Philippines and the United States.
The Mark Pinto International is one of a continuing series of internationalevents at the Mechanics' offering norm opportunities that since the endof 1998 have produced 2 GM norms and 16 IM norms. Pointing to the lackof opportunities in the United States, particularly on the West Coast,VinayBhat and Vladimir Mezentsev made all their IM norms at the MI,while Jesse Kraai and Cyrus Lakdawala made two each. Onlyone player rated below USCF 2450 has ever made an IM norm at the Mechanics',FM Richard Lobo in 2000.
The Mechanics' Institute will be holding a FIDE rating tournament concurrentwith Pinto International. If you have a FIDE rating and would like to playcontact the Mechanics' Chess Club at [email protected] immediately as spaces are almost filled.
2) MI Chess Club Members in Lindsborg, Kansas
The Mechanics' Institute will be sending a mini-armada to the centerof the country this summer. USCF Executive Board Candidate Mikhail Korenman(have you voted yet?) continues to amaze as he is organizing not only theUSJunior Closed but the US Junior Open and US Cadet Championshipas well.
IM Vinay Bhat, participating in the 10-player US Junior Closed,will lead the Bay Area delegation. He will have plenty of company as threeof the 10 participants in the Cadet (Under 16) are MI members (Ho, Yapand Setzepfandt).
Igor Schneider 16 2304
Matthew Ho 15 2236
Elliott Liu 14 2226
Nicolas A. Yap 14 2199
Teddy Coleman 14 2197
Mackenzie S. Molner 15 2181
Daniel J. Ludwig 14 2132
Alexander Setzepfandt 14 2125
Kurt Schneider 15 2107
Alexander James Chua 16 2102
FM Eric Schiller plans to bring a group of Bay Area kids to theUS Junior Open.
3) Tserendorj leads TNM
NM Batsaikan Tserendorj defeated number two seed FM FrankThornally to grab the lead in the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon withtwo rounds to go. A half point behind Tsrendorj's 6-1 score are fellowMongolian WFM Tuvshintogs Batchimeg and NMs Victor Ossipov, IgorMargulis, Russell Wong and Nicolas Yap.
4) Blitz at the MI
Teenager Drake Wang won the July 7 edition of the weekly WednesdayNight Blitz with an impressive 12-1 score. NM Jorge Lopez wassecond art 11 and NM Batsaikan Tserendorj was third at 10 1/2 inthe 14-player round robin. The weekly blitz event will be held tonightat 7pm immediately following the lecture by GM Alex Yermolinsky.
Anthony Rozenvasser won the 2nd Louie Ladow Memorial heldlast Sunday at the M.I. Rozenvasser scored 8 from 10 in the five doubleround Swiss. Tying for second through fourth at 7 were Jason Childress,Yefim Bukh and Gary Lambert. Steve Brandwein directedfor the Mechanics'.
5) Ulvestad at the Mechanics'
Olaf Ulvestad gave an exhibition at the Hollywood Chess Group.He won 12, lost 3, to H. Gordon, I. Revise and A. Weiss and drew againstG. Benedetti and M. Cook...and at the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club inS.F. with the clock, he beat H. Donnelly and V. Svalberg, drew againstLeslie Boyette and lost to Earl Pruner.
Pruner,E - Ulvestad,O [C97]
Clock Simul, 1949
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3d6 8.c3 Na5 9.Bc2 c5 10.d4 Qc7 11.h3 0-0 12.Nbd2 Re8 13.Nf1 g6 14.a4 Bb715.axb5 axb5 16.g4 exd4 17.cxd4 Bf8 18.Ng3 Bg7 19.Bf4 Qb6 20.g5 Nd7 21.dxc5Qxc5 22.Bxd6 Qc8 23.Bb4 Nc6 24.Rxa8 Bxa8 25.Bc3 Bxc3 26.bxc3 Nce5 27.Kg2Nxf3 28.Qxf3 Ne5 29.Qe3 Nc4 30.Qf4 Ne5 31.Qe3 Qc7 32.Bb3 Rc8 33.Bd5 Bc634.Ra1 Bd7 35.Ne2 Qd6 36.Nf4 Qe7 37.Ne2 h6 38.gxh6 Qh4 39.Qg3 Qh5 40.Nf4Qxh6 41.Ra7 Bc6 42.Nxg6 Nxg6 43.Bxf7+ 1-0
California Chess News 1949
7) Here and There
Former World Junior Champion Tal Shaked, currently studying atthe U of Washington, gave a simul at the Microsoft Chess Club in Redmondon July 5.
We recently learnt from Everyman Chess that volume 3 of Kasparov'sseries will be out this October. Originally this was going to focus onPetrosian,Spasskyand Fischer, but due to the overwhelming amount of material thatKasparov has put together, Everyman have decided that it just wouldn'tall fit into one book. Therefore, in November they will be publishing volume4, which will devoted to Fischer and will include 55 of his games.
Mike Goodall, who has been a member of the Mechanics' Institutefor almost forty years was pictured on the inside cover of the latest ChessLife with his custom license plate and wearing his M.I. T-shirt.
IM William Paschall and FM Sean Nagle improved their Eloratings by scoring 6/11 in the Category 7 (2411) July First Saturday eventin Budapest won by Bosnian IM Borki Predojevic.
An unusual event was recently held in British Columbia FM Bruce Harperreports:
The second half of the Vancouver GM Festival was held on the eveningof July 7, 2004, when Grandmasters Pia Cramling (Sweden), JuanBellon (Spain), Yasser Seirawan (United States) and DuncanSuttles (Canada) squared off in three “Pairs” games.
The Pairs rules are simple. One player makes the first move for White,then the players alternate, each making two moves in a row. Partners maynot talk about the game while playing or otherwise give hints or adviceto their partner. They may tell their partner to move (“It’s your move.”)and tell them to move quickly (“Hurry up, we have 20 seconds left!!”).Profanity and physical violence is not allowed except under extreme circumstances.If a player moves out of turn, the opposing team may either allow the moveor insist that the player who ought to have moved make a different move.
The final standings were: Seirawan (2.5), Cramling, Bellon (1.5),Suttles (.5). Go to http://www.chessbc.com/reports.htmlfor more information and the ongoing Western Canadian Open.
Noted author, teacher and book dealer Fred Wilson has a "audio column", entitled "Fred Wilson Talks Chess", which began May19th, 2004 on http://www.chesscafe.com/. His third guest will be the always popular and candid GM JohnFedorowicz.
Alex Wojtkiewicz and Alex Stripunsky tied for first inthe New York Masters last night scoring 3.5 from 4. Leonid Yudasin,Jaan Ehlvest and Julio Becerra tied for third at 3-1 as GMsgrabbed all the top spots in the 26-player Action Chess event. Go to http://www.newyorkmasters.com/for more information.
Newsletter #201, 07/21/2004
"You can permit yourself any liberty in the opening except the luxuryof a passive position."
Grigory Sanakoev (World CC Champion)
1) Seven-way tie in Agoura Hills
GMs Alex Onischuk, Alex Yermolinsky, Ildar Ibragimov and KamilMiton, GM-elects Melikset Khachiyan and Varuzhan Akobianand NM Lernik Manouikian tied for first at 4.5 from 6 in the 9thAnnual Pacific Open. Several Bay Area players turned in excellent performancesbesides Mechanics' GM-in-Residence Yermolinsky. Albert Richof San Jose tied for first in the Under 2200 section at 5.5 while San Francisco'sDrakeWang was among the prize winners with 4.5. Ricky Yu tied forforth at 4.5 in the Under 2000 while Craig Yamamoto shared thirdat 4.5 in the Under 1600.
Steve Immitt, Randy Hough and Walter Brown directed thewell-run 252 player event for the Continental Chess Association.
2) Vayntrub first in Bagby Memorial
Dmitry Vayntrub won the 4th Annual Charles Bagby Memorial witha 5-0 score on July 17 at the MI. Tying for second at 4.5 were BatsaikhanTserendorj and Dan Schwartz. Anthony Corrales directedthe 61-player event for the Mechanics'.
3) Tserendorj leads Summer TNM
Batsaikhan Tserendorj of Mongolia leads the Summer Tuesday NightMarathon with a score of 7-1 with one round to go. Right behind at 6.5in the 85-player event is his last round opponent NM Igor Margulis.The remaining top scorers at 6 are WFM Tuvshintogs Batchimeg andExpert Anthony Rozenvasser.
4) A. Ibragimov tops Wednesday Blitz
Arthur Ibragimov won the July 14 Wednesday Night Blitz with ascore of 14.5 to finish ahead of 17 other blitz enthusiasts. AnthonyRozenvasser was second at 13.5 followed by Felix German and Yefim Bukhon 13.
5) Bobby Fischer in the news
There may be many answers to the question of who the World Chess Championis, but there is only one as to who is the most famous. By now every chessplayerin the world knows that Bobby Fischer is being held in Japan, waitingto be deported back to the United States. Exactly why the Japanese electedto take action at this time is unclear as Fischer has been in and out ofthat country for many years. It's also unclear if the US government askedthe Japanese to take action. Fischer was charged in 1992 with violatingthe US Trading with the Enemy Act for playing a match in Yugoslavia whichwas under sanctions and has not returned to the United States since. Simplemathematics would suggest that sometime around 2002, if not a little earlier,the US government issued Fischer a new passport. One would think this isnot routinely done for individuals who are urgently wanted. Fischer commentsafter 9/11 didn't win him any friends nor did his venomous anti-Semiticrants on Filipino radio, but being thrown in jail seems a very sad endfor one of the greatest chess players of all time. Will he end up sharinga cell with Charles Jenkins?
Predictably, the Fischer Affair has generated comments in many quarters.
Close to home Fischer's brother-in-law had this to say in the San JoseMercury News .
``What Bobby's accused of is playing chess 12 years ago in Yugoslavia,''said Russell Targ, a former Stanford laser physicist whose latewife was Fischer's sister. ``It looks like it's a distraction from thewar and the economy. Let's arrest Bobby Fischer. That will take people'sminds off their troubles.''
Under the title "Chess may have been the only thing that kept thechampion in touch with reality," Garry Kasparov wrote a curiousarticle which appeared in this Monday's edition of The Wall Street Journal. Particularly strange were his comments about Fischer's chess behavior,especially so as Kasparov is not likely to be voted the Lady Bing trophyequivalent for good sportsmanship anytime soon.
"The conventional wisdom says that Bobby Fischer was a guileless andpetulant child who just wanted his own way. I believe he was conscious
of all his actions and the psychological effect his behavior had onhis opponents. The gentlemanly Mr. Spassky was ill-prepared to dealwith
the belligerent American in Reykjavik.
The Philadelphia Inquirer has posted some of the documents fromthe 750-page FBI file on Regina Fischer Pustan, the mother of BobbyFischer. The file was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.Go to http://inquirer.philly.com/specials/2002/fischer/ if you want toknow more although a lot of material has been blacked out by the FBI forsecurity reasons.
6) Mark Pinto International
The Mark Pinto International officially starts today. Top seeds areFilipino IMs Enrico Sevillano (now representing the United States)andRicardo DeGuzman.
Concurrent with this IM norm event are two FIDE rating events. Topseeds in Group A are NMs Russell Wong, Paul Gallegos, Andy Lee andMarkPinto.
There are still spots in the second group for players 1900-2250. ContactAnthonyCorrales
7) US Junior
Vinay Bhat drew his first round in the US Junior.
Rensch,D (2421) - Bhat,V (2488) [C18]
USA 04 Jr Closed Lindsborg (1), 20.07.2004
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg40–0 8.Bd3 Nbc6 9.Qh4 Ng6 10.Nf3 Qc7 11.0–0 c4 12.Bxg6 fxg6 13.Qg4 Qa5 14.Bd2Bd7 15.h4 Rf5 16.Ng5 Raf8 17.Qe2 h6 18.Nh3 Qd8 19.g3 Ne7 20.Bf4 R5f7 21.Rfb1b6 22.Qg4 Ba4 23.Ra2 Qd7 24.Bd2 Rf5 25.Nf4 Kh7 26.Rf1 Qc8 27.Be3 Bd7 28.a4Qe8 29.a5 b5 30.Bc1 Nc6 31.Ba3 h5 32.Qf3 R8f7 33.Bc5 a6 34.Qe3 Rxf4 35.gxf4Ne7 36.Bxe7 Qxe7 37.Qg3 Qf8 38.f3 Rxf4 39.Rf2 Be8 40.Ra1 Qf5 41.Raf1 ½–½
8) Shivkumar Shivaji at the World open
NM Shivkumar Shivaji send the following pretty win with notes.
Shivkumar Shivaji - IM Anna Zatonshikh [B01]
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bc4 c6
5...Nc6
6.h3 Bf5 7.d3 Nbd7 8.Qe2 e6 9.g3!? Be7 10.Bf4 Qb4 11.Bb3 Nc512.Ne5 a5 13.Bd2 Qd4 14.g4 Bg6 15.h4!
Black is not threatening a4 and b5 yet as c6 is hanging.
15...a4!
Denying the c4 square to the white knight.
16.Bc4 Bd6 17.Be3! Qxe5 18.d4!
Better than f4 and Nd3+ does not win a pawn now.
18...Nd3+ 19.cxd3 Qa5 20.h5 Bxh5 21.gxh5 b5 22.Bxe6
22.Qf3 bxc4 23.h6 (23.Qxc6+ Ke7 24.Qb7+ Nd7 25.dxc4 Rhb8 Again blackis ok.) 23...a3!! 24.hxg7 Rg8 25.Bc1 Rb8, and black surprisingly holds.
22...fxe6 23.h6 0–0! 24.hxg7 Rf7 25.Bd2 a3! 26.b3 Bb4 27.Rc1Rd8 28.Rh4 Nd5?
A dubious move, but the followup is hard to see.
29.Rxh7!!
29.Qxe6 Is a safer alternative. The threat is Rh7.
29...Bxc3
29...Kxh7 30.Qh5+ Kxg7 31.Bh6+ Kg8 32.Qg6+ Kh8 33.Qxf7 Bxc3+ (33...Rg834.Ke2!! 34...Nxc3+ 35.Kf3!, and Bg7+ is now unstoppable.; 33...Qc7And now white can either go to a better ending after Qc7 or play Qh5 andcontinue the attack. In both cases white is clearly better.) 34.Ke2 Rg835.Bg7+ +5.50 !]
30.Rxc3! Nf4
30...Kxh7 31.Rxc6 (31.Qh5+) 31...Qa7 32.Qh5+ Kxg7 33.Qg5+ Kh7 34.Qh4+Kg7 35.Qxd8± The purpose of inserting Qh4+ was to force the kingto g7 so that Qd4 can be answered by Bc3. White is practically winninghere.
31.Qe4 Rxd4
Desperation but black is dead lost anyway.
32.Rh8+ Kxg7 33.Qxd4+ 1–0
Newsletter #202, 07/28/2004
"I give 98 percent of my mental energy to Chess. Others give only2 percent."
Bobby Fischer
Late News - IM Enrico Sevillano leads the Mark Pinto IM norm eventwith 8/10 (one game left). IM Ganbold Odondoo finished with 7/11. FM DavidPruess has 6 from 8 and IM Ricardo DeGuzman 5.5 from 8. A full report wilappear in Newsletter 203.
1) Batsaikan Tserendorj wins MI Summer TNM
NM Batsaikan Tserendorj drew his last round game with NM IgorMargulis to win the Mechanics' Summer Tuesday Night Marathonwith a score of 7.5 from 9 and take home the $500 first prize. Tying forsecond in the 85-player field were fellow Mongolian Batchimeg Tuvshintugsand Margulis at 6.5 . The Robert Jordan Tuesday Night Marathon willstart on August 17 and run until October 5 (8 rounds). Advance entry feeis $35.
2) Milman wins US Junior and Daniel Ludwig tops Cadet
Tournament Director Frank Berry sent in the following reporton the recently concluded US Junior Invitational and Cadet (under 16) Championship.MI members Vinay Bhat (his first serious event in a couple years), MatthewHo, Nicolas Yap and Alex Setzepfandt played.
USA Junior and Cadet Invitational, Lindsborg, Kansas
FM Lev Milman scored 6.5/9 and finished alone in first placein the 2004 USA Junior Open (U-21) held July 20-25 in Lindsborg, Kansas. 2003 Junior Open champ Salvijus Bercys of New York finished clear2nd with 6 pts Mikhail Korenman organized the10-RR that was held concurrently with the USA Cadet Invitational (U-16)which was won outright with 7.5/9 by Dan Ludwig of Orlando, FL,followed closely by Matt Ho and FM Igor Schneider each with6.5 points. The winner of the Cadet won a college scholarship andthe winner of the Junior gets seeded in the USA Championship.
USA Junior Invitational
Lev Milman f 2428 6.5 / 9
Salvijus Bercys 2279 6.0
Bruci Lopez f 2400 5.0
Josh Friedel f 2433 5.0
Matt Hoekstra f 2358 4.5
Daniel Rensch f 2384 4.0
Dmitry Schneider m 2454 4.0
Samson Benen f 2323 3.5
Dan Fernandez f 2317 3.5
Vinay Bhat m 2431 3.0
USA Cadet Invitational
Daniel Ludwig 7.5 / 9
Matt Ho 2242 6.5
Igor Scheider f 2266 6.5
Mack Molner 4.0
Kurt Schneider 4.0
Nicolas Yap 2191 3.5
Alex Setzepfandt 2167 3.5
Teddy Coleman f 2256 3.5
Elliott Liu 2132 3.0
Alex J Chua 2238 3.0
The following game was featured in Alexander Baburin's onlinedaily Chess Today.
Setzepfandt,A - Liu,E
Sicilian B22
US Cadet 2004
1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nf3 e6 6.cxd4 b6 7.Nc3 Nxc38.bxc3 Qc7 9.Be2 Bb7 10.0–0 d6 11.Bf4 Nd7 12.Re1 Be7 13.d5 0–0 14.exd6Bxd6 15.Bxd6 Qxd6 16.dxe6 Qxd1 17.Raxd1 Nf6 18.exf7+ Kh8 19.Ne5 Rac8 20.Rd3Bd5 21.Bg4 Rc5
White is two pawns up and has a well-advanced pawn on f7. What's thebest way to victory?
22.Ng6+! hxg6 23.Rh3+ 1–0
3) 40 Years Ago at the US Open: Stephen Brandwein
The following material on Mechanics' Chess Club employee StephenBrandwein was kindly sent to us by longtime Boston Globe columnistHaroldDondis who notes in his cover letter "that the description of Stevestill applies to a great extent". The column, the third of Dondis' career,appeared on October 11, 1964.
Stephen Brandwein, winner of the James Burgess trophy, is the highestplaced Massachusetts player in the U.S. Open has favored us with a gameannotated by him from that event. Brandwein is a unique figure in chesscircles. He plays with airy unconcern, being apparently more taken withgetting the game over with than winning. He plays at amazing speed andwill upon the vaguest pretense of equilibrium, either offer or accept adraw. He has not lost a game for longer than we can remember.
Against John Collins in the U.S. Open, Brandwein accepted adraw with a superior position and with almost an hour ahead on his clock!He has an enormous knowledge of the openings, game not so much from studybut from genuine interest in other peoples' games. Either there is methodin his casualness or Brandwein is one of the more gifted player in theUnited States.
In the game below Brandwein makes a succession of three bad moves outof five, leaves a pawn en prise, saddles himself with a backward pawn butof course wins the game.
McKelvie,N - Brandwein,S
King's Indian [E78]
US Open Boston, 1964
Notes by Brandwein
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.f4 c5 7.Nf3 cxd48.Nxd4 Nbd7
As in Benko-Byrne, Chicago 1963.
9.Be3 a6 10.0-0 e5
Probably bad.
11.Nc2 exf4
Afraid of f5, g4 etc.
12.Bxf4 Ne5 13.Qd2 Be6 14.b3 b5
Very bad.
15.c5!
Crushes me. Much better than 15.cxb5 axb5 16.Bxb5 Nxe4 17.Nxe4 Qb6+when 18.Nd4 is bad and Black gets play after 18.Kh1 Qxb5 19.Nxd6 Qb6.
15...b4
I didn't see the pawn was en prise when I pushed it (whoever heardof a Knight on c2?), but it seems to be the best chance.
16.Nxb4 Qa5 17.Bxe5
17.cxd6 Qxb4 18.Bxe5 Nxe4 19.Nxe4 Qxd2 etc.. If 17.Qxd6 Qxb4 18.Bxe5Ne8.
17...dxe5 18.Nd3 Rfd8 19.Qb2 Rd4 20.b4 Qc7 21.a3
21.b5 looks more energetic. The e-pawn is held by an eventual Bf3.
21...Rb8 22.Rad1
Trading the e-pawn for the a-pawn is a bad idea. Nf2 looks possible.
22...Nxe4 23.Nxe4 Rxe4 24.Nf2 Re3 25.Bxa6 e4
The Queen really has no place to go and the a-pawn is lost.
26.Qc1 Rc3 27.Qg5 h6 28.Qh4 Rxa3 29.b5?
Loses a piece, but if 29.Be2 Rxb4 probably best is 30.Rd6and if 30...Bf8 31.Rxe6 with interesting play.
29...e3 30.Ne4
A whole Rook now goes.
30...e2 31.b6 exf1Q+ 32.Bxf1
32.Kxf1 Qe5 33.Rd8+ loses. Also, White gets mated ifhe tries to get 2 queens.
32...Qc8
32...Qc6 is much better.
33.Bb5 Bf5 34.c6
Now if 34...Bxe4 then 35.c7.
34...Qe6
This ends it, Rd8+ again loses. The Queen restrains the pawns bythreatened check at b6
0-1
Steve, who was 21 when this game was played, was top Expert at the 1964US Open with a score of 8 1/2 from 12. The October rating of 1964 has himat 2271 and not long after he cracked the Top 50 list at 2302. He retiredfrom tournament play in the mid-1960 but never lost his interest in studyingthe game or his passion for blitz.
4) IM Sevillano wins Wednesday Blitz
Visiting IM Enrico Sevillano of Las Vegas won a strong blitztournament at the MI last Wednesday with a score of 10.5 from 11. MongolianIM Ganbold Odondoo and countryman NM Batsaikan Tserendorjtied for second at 9 in the 12-player round robin. A blitz event will beheld tonight starting at 7pm. Entry fee is $5.
5) Boris Spassky in Reno
Former World Champ is coming to Reno, Nevada, to be part of 22nd AnnualReno-Western States Open (Oct 15-17). More details for the tournament canbe found in CHESS LIFE and on www.nwchess.com
Spassky's schedule is as follows:
(All events at the Sands Regency Hotel/Casino)
Oct 13 (Wed) 8:30pm - "An Evening with Boris". $30 (includesdinner). Reservations required.
Oct.14 (Thurs.) (6pm-7:15pm GM Larry Evans free lecture which willbe about Boris Spassky) ; [7:30pm Blitz (5-min) tourney]; 7:30 pm Gm BorisSpassky (25 board) Simul ($100, includes a commemorative pen) spectatorfee: $5 *.
Oct. 15 (Fri) Boris Spassky-Book Signing Session (free) 10-11 am.
Oct. 16 (Sat) Boris Spassky- Clinic (4:30 pm - 6pm) spectator fee:$10 *
Oct. 17 (Sun) Boris Spassky- "Clash of the Titans" film(Bobby Fischervs. Boris Spassky) will be shown followed by a question & answer sessionwith GM Boris Spassky & Gm Larry Evans. Spectator fee: $10 *
* Players who are playing in main tournament receive free attendanceto these 3 Spassky events.
6) Shaughnessy and Bauer elected to USCF EB
Elizabeth Shaughnessy of Berkeley and NM Randy Bauer ofIowa were elected to the USCF Executive Board for one year terms and willbe welcome additions.
Final vote subject to confirmation by the USCF Delegates:
Shaughnessy 712
Bauer 687
Sloan 349
Korenman 305
Huff 197
Praeder 161
A detailed breakdown of the voting can be found at http://www.uschess.org/2004resultseb-del.php
Sadly only around 1200 of the approximately 45,000 (age 16 and over)USCF members eligible to vote bothered to do so. Perennial gadfly Sam Sloanwho use to finish dead last in previous campaigns continues to improvein each election. Judging from this result he stands a pretty good chanceof being elected next time around, especially in a race where more thantwo spots are being contested. Voters sent a clear message to organizerextraordinaire Mikhail Korenman (US Junior Closed, US Junior Open, US Cadet,College Final Four, College Pan American Championship - just in 2004!)that they didn't want to waste his talents by sending him to New Windsor.
Newsletter #203, 08/04/2004
"We cannot say that we are anxious to see exhaustive printedanalyses of the openings. The way to learn the
openings is to seize the spirit or strong characteristic pointsof them, and to perceive the principles on which
each salient feature of attack or defence is based; to rely uponknowing the book replies to every move is certain
to produce a poor player."
Samuel Boden
The Field
3/12/1859
1) David Pruess wins Mark Pinto International
FM David Pruess of Berkeley won the Mark Pinto Internationalin convincing fashion. Pruess, who was coached for many years by NM RobertHaines, easily made his second IM norm. His undefeated score of 9-2in the Category 3 (2323) FIDE average - USCF 2374) event exceeded the normby 1.5 points. International Masters took the next three places with EnricoSevillano second at 8 followed by Odondoo Ganbold and RicardoDeGuzman at 7. FM Dmitry Zilberstein was fifth at 6 followedby WFM Batchemeg Tuvshintugs at 5.5, a point over the WIM norm.
Other scores in the event, named in honor of longtime MI benefactorMark Pinto: 7. FM Alan Stein 5; 8. NM Michael Aigner 4.5; 9-10. FM RichardLobo and NM Shivkumar Shivaji 4; 11. FM Bela Evans 3.5; 12. FM Frank Thornally3.
2) Paul Vayssie 1924-2004
Paul Vayssie, a Mechanics' Member since the early 1960s, diedover the weekend in San Francisco. A fireman by profession, Vayssiewas a longtime participant in MI tournaments, but stopped playingin club events in the mid-1990s. Though he no longer played he still cameby regularly to catch up on news and kibittz. The last week of his lifePaul visited the club and seemed to be in good health. He was his normalfriendly self.
Paul was a regular at US Opens playing in 27 including pretty mucheveryone the past two decades. His rating fluctuated between Class A andB, but he could be dangerous in the individual game as witnessed by thefollowing upset over National Master Donato Rivera at the 1965 NationalOpen.
Rivera-Vayssie (C89)
Las Vegas 1965
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.Bxd5 cxd5 13.d4 Bd614.Re3 Qh4 15.h3 f5 16.Qb3 Bb7 17.Nd2 Qh5 18.Nf3 g5 19.Re6 g4 20.Rxd6 gxf321.Bf4 fxg2 22.Kxg2 Rf7 23.Qd1 Rg7+ 24.Kh2 Qh4 25.Bg3 Qg5 26.h4 Qe7 27.Qe1f4 28.Re6 fxg3+ 29.fxg3 Qf7 30.Qe2 Rf8 31.Re1 Qf2+ 32.Qxf2 Rxf2+ 33.Kg1Rgf7 34.R1e2 Rxe2 35.Rxe2 Kg7 36.Kg2 Bc8 37.Re5 Kf8 38.a3 Bf5 39.Kf3 Be4+40.Kg4 Rf6 41.h5 Kf7 42.Kh3 Rf2 43.g4 Rxb2 44.g5 Rc2 45.g6+ hxg6 46.hxg6+Bxg6 47.Rxd5 Rxc3+ 48.Kg4 Rxa3 49.Kf4 b4 50.Rd6 b3 51.Rb6 Bc2 52.d5 Ra253.Rb7+ Ke8 54.Ke5 b2 55.Ke6 Kf8 56.Kf6 Kg8 0-1
3) Nick DeFirmian and Irina Krush Shine
UC Berkeley grad Nick DeFirmian tied for first in the recentlyconcluded Politiken Cup in Copenhagen defeating Alexander Beliavskyin the last round. This is the third time that Nick has defeated " BigAl" as the always fighting but not too tall Beliavsky is known to colleagueson the circuit. Their lifetime score is 4-2 in Nick's favor.
De Firmian,N (2537) - Beliavsky,A (2679) [C88]
Politiken Cup 2004 Copenhagen (10), 31.07.2004
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb30-0 8.a4 b4 9.d3 d6 10.a5 Be6 11.Nbd2 Rb8 12.Nc4 Nd7 13.Be3 Bf6 14.c3 bxc315.bxc3 Rb7 16.Qc2 Na7 17.d4 Qb8 18.d5 Bg4 19.Nfd2 h6 20.h3 Bh5 21.Ba4Nb5 22.Na3 Nc5 23.Bxc5 dxc5 24.Reb1 Nxa3 25.Rxa3 Rxb1+ 26.Nxb1 c4 27.g4Bg6 28.Nd2 Qa7 29.Nxc4 Bh4 30.Ra2 f6 31.Qd3 Bg5 32.Rb2 Qc5 33.Kg2 Rd8 34.Rb7h5 35.Bd1 Be8 36.Ne3 Bb5 37.c4 Bxe3 38.fxe3 Bxc4 39.Qc2 hxg4 40.hxg4 c641.d6 1-0
Irina Krush recently played in a super-strong all women roundrobin in Russia. She finished with a fifty percent score and defeated therecently crowned FIDE Women's World Champion in spectacular style in thelast round. IM Almira Skripchenko of France won the event.
Krush,I (2459) - Stefanova,A (2527) [D11]
North Urals Cup Krasnoturinsk (9), 01.08.2004
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 5.Qb3 Qc7 6.Ne5 Be6 7.Nc3 Nbd78.Nxd7 Qxd7 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.e4 Nxc3 11.Qxc3 f5 12.f3 Bf7 13.Bc4 Bxc4 14.Qxc4fxe4 15.fxe4 Rd8 16.Be3 Qg4 17.Qc2 e5 18.0-0 exd4 19.Qc4 Qd7 20.Bg5 Rc821.Rf5 Bd6 22.Raf1 b5 23.Qb3 h6 24.Bh4 g5 25.Rf7 gxh4 26.Rxd7 Kxd7 27.Rf7+Be7 28.Qb4 c5 29.Qxb5+ Kd8 30.e5 Re8 31.e6 Rc7 32.Qb8+ Rc8 33.Qd6+ 1-0
4) DeGuzman wins Wednesday Night Blitz
International Master Ricardo DeGuzman won the Wednesday NightBlitz on July 28th scoring 7 from 9 in the ten-player round robin. YefimBukh and NM Batsikhan Tsrendorj shared second at 6-3.
5) Stock Exchange Chess
Michael Greengard (aka Mig) is a well-known chess personalityon the Internet but few locals know that he grew up in the East Bay inEl Sobrante. His excellent Chess Ninja site http://www.chessninja.comhad an interesting article on July 30 on how Garry Kasparov sees the playof Vladimir Kramnik.
Stock Exchange Chess
Garry Kasparov, no doubt with a few sour grapes underfoot,coined that term to describe the conservative, play-the-percentages chessstyle epitomized by the man who took away his world championship titlein 2000, Vladimir Kramnik. The basic precepts are:
1) Don't lose. That sounds obvious, but it means not risking a loss,or playing what the Russians call "for two results," win or draw only.
2) Save energy to maximize advantages. Don't tire yourself out playingfor a win if you get an equal or even a better position with black. Takethe draw asap so you are fresher when you have the white pieces. This combinesthe advantages of energy and the first move.
3) Don't press too hard. If you lose the advantage with white, offera draw immediately. Again, maximize advantages. Don't risk overpressingjust because you have white. Be pragmatic. This is contrary to the oldconventional wisdom - still followed by many players - that you need topress hard to win with white even if your opening advantage is gone.
4) Play the position, never the player. Ignore factors like opponent'stournament standing or rating, etc. These can interfere with your bestjudgment at the board, and it's not pragmatic to waste time and energyconsidering them.
It doesn't take examples to realize that following these rules leadsto lots and lots of draws, many of them short and without interest as chessgames. GMs today make very few mistakes, so being good at avoiding mistakesand punishing errors does not guarantee tournament success. UNLESS youare in a match situation like a FIDE KO or a tournament with a format likethis year's Dortmund. Then, by never losing, you win!
I should point out that I have tremendous respect for Vladimir Kramnikasa chessplayer. He has created things on the chessboard that will standforever as brilliancies. In a way, that makes results like his currentresults in Dortmund even more disappointing. Here is this massive talentdrawing eight consecutive games, four of them against players he out-ratesby a wide margin.
It's not just the results, it's the innocuous games themselves. Anand,Kasparov, Shirov, and Morozevich draw too, it's the nature ofthe high level of the modern game. But you can see from the games thatthey are usually making every effort to outplay their opponent and willrisk to do so instead of being 100% sure that a move cannot backfire. Todaynobody plays each game to the death the way Fischer and Larsen did in the60's. Now it's all "professionalized." Do they think the profession willlast long with games like these?
Peter Leko reinvented his game a few years ago, playing riskychess after years of drawishness. Lately he seems to have backslid a bit,but it's hard to tell if he's just being cautious before his match withKramnik. Still, seeing them play a combined 16 consecutive draws in Dortmundis painful.
Kramnik, thanks to winning some blitz games, is now in the finalmatch against Anand, starting tomorrow. If they draw both games and Kramnikwins in rapid or blitz he could become the first player ever (?) to winfirst prize in a tournament without winning a single game! Then get readyto hear that old refrain, "you can't criticize the winner." Join me fora beer?
6) Are USCF Experts Stronger than Russian IMs?
It use to be common knowledge that Russian Experts were strongerthan American players with USCF ratings of 2400, but has the tide turned?Recently Expert Andrei Blokhin of Maryland (currently rated 2138USCF/ 2395 FIDE) received the title of International Master in recognitionof IM norm performances achieved in round robin events in Moscow in late2001 and early 2002. Mr. Blokhin, who has played in several Under 2200sections in World and Chicago Opens without ever winning top prizes isnot a sandbagger. His USCF rating, based on plenty of activity, has floatedbetween 2081 and 2167 for the period 1993-2002. Shortly after makinghis norms he scored 3.5 from 6 against USCF 2100s in Chicago. Does thismean that things have changed and USCF Experts would be 2400 IMs in Russia?
7) Here and There
The latest on the Bobby Fischer saga has him still detainedby Japanese immigration. Facing deportation to the United States Fischeris actively pursuing the possibility of asylum to a third country.Germany, where his father was a citizen, was one country that he was considering.Since both his parents are Jewish there was a theoretical possibility ofIsrael, but considering his history it was unlikely Fischer would makethat request. Now GM Bozidar Ivanovic has been quoted as sayingthat Montenegro is willing to offer him sanctuary. Stay tuned for more.
Many MI youngsters are on the August USCF top 100 10-15 age grouplists. Apologies to anyone inadvertently left out of the following list.
Age 8: Daniel Naroditsky is #2
Age 9 Hugo Kitano is #8 and Gregory Young is #44
Age 11 Davis Xu is #40
Age 13 Louiza Livshitzb #49
Age 14 Alex Setzepfandt is #10, Nicolas Yap is #11, andDrake Wang is #13, Daichi Siegrist is #44, and Ewelina Krubnik is#78
Age 15 Matthew Ho is #9 and Ankit Gupta is #17
Congratulations to Varuzhan Akobian of Glendale who was recentlyawarded his Grandmaster title.
Thanks to IM Jay Whitehead for this week's quote. Jay doesn'tplay much these days but he is hard at work collecting games andarticles from players from the time of Morphy.
Newsletter #204, 08/11/2004
"I think my subconscious mind is working on chess all the time -even when I'm not playing or studying."
Bobby Fischer at age 13
1) US Open News
The US Open in Fort Lauderdale (actually Weston), Florida, hasstarted. It's still too early to tell the total number of entries as thefive-day schedule starts this morning but there looks to be over 400 withGM Alex Onischuk as top seed. Several Northern Californian's havemade the long trek across the country. Mechanics' Chess Director JohnDonaldson scored 4 from 5 in the Weekend schedule, drawing IM RenierGonzalez and SM Dario Cruz. He resumes play on Thursday eveningwhen all the schedules merge. Benjamin Tejes had 1.5 from 2 in theArnoldDenker High School Tournament of Champions while Elisha Garghad 2 from 2 in the Susan Polgar Girls Tournament. MI stalwartMikeGoodall has been attending USCF workshops and playing at nights inthe Traditional schedule. He will be joined at the US Delegates meetingby fellow CalChess members Richard Koepcke and newly elected USCFExecutive Board Member Elizabeth Shaughnessy. Chilean GM RodrigoVasquez was the easy winner of the US Open Blitz tournament on Sundayscoring 12 1/2 from 14, beating second place finisher Alexandra Kosteniuk(11 points) twice. There is no information on the internet on the US Openat present but there are plans to post information later this week. Thebest place to look would be the USCF homepage - www.uschess.org.
Monday I visited southern Miami hoping to tour the World Chess Hallof Fame but should have checked in advance to find out it is not openMonday-Wednesday. The Hall of Fame, which is easily visible from the FloridaTurnpike, is located in an industrial park (next to sponsoring ExcaliburElectronics) not far from the Metro Miami Zoo and the Southern FloridaRailroad Museum. The World Chess Hall of Fame is not the only Hall of Famein South Florida. The World Swimming Hall of Fame is located in Fort Lauderdale.Both museums have the same admission charge - $5.
If you find yourself in Coral Gables check out Cafe Demetrio(300 Alhambra - (305) 448-4949. I stumbled in there looking for somethingto eat and was very surprised to find two nice wooden chess sets availableto play on and a dozen or so framed photographs of famous chess playersof the past hanging on the walls. I was told that some small tournamentsare held at the Cafe. It's not far from Books & Books Inc. (265Aragon Avenue) which seems to be one of only a handful of non-chain bookstoresin a land more interested in outdoor pursuits.
2) East Bay Chess to open soon
Chess activity in the East Bay promises to heat up soon with the openingof a new chess center in Berkeley. Located at the corner of Milvia andVirginia, an easy half mile walk from both the Berkeley and North BerkeleyBART stations, the East Bay Chess Center is the brainchild of IMVinayBhat, FM David Pruess, NM Andy Lee and ExpertDavidSteel. The grand opening is set for August 14th and will run throughthe 21st. During this time the Center will be offering free entry for allits activities and is hosting a non-USCF rated 4 round tournament on August14-15. The venue has space for 50-60 players. Besides being a daily chessclub with instructors for chess lessons, the Center will also be offeringacademic tutoring. For more information go to http://www.eastbaychess.com/or e-mail them at [email protected]
3) Continental Open
Ildar Ibragimov continued his winning ways this summer, defeatingfellow GM Alexander Stripunsky in a post-tournament playoff to winthe 2004 Continental Open in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Ibragimovtook home $2430 and Stripunsky $2250. A half point behind the winners 5-1scores were GMs Leonid Yudasin, Alex Onischuk, Hikaru Nakamura andAlexanderIvanov. Just out of the prizes was GM Yury Shulman who facedthe toughest schedule meeting four of the top five finishers.Bill Goichberg'sContinental Chess Association organized the event.
4) Jim Hurt Remembered
The late Jim Hurt was a driving force for chess on the West Coastfor close to 70 years. A four-time Washington State Champion while attendingthe University of Washington in the 1930s, Hurt became best known to BayArea players for his longtime organizing of the LERA tournaments in Sunnyvalethat were held like clockwork four times a year. He taught many kids toplay chess in his retirement and was honored for his efforts by the USChess Federation in Reno 1999, not long before he passed away.
The following game shows he was just as skilled at correspondence asover the board play.
Hurt,J - Graham,D [A96]
9th Grand National -prelim, 1960
(notes by Hurt)
1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.Nf3 d6 5.0?0 Be7 6.c4 0?0 7.Nc3 c6 8.Qc2Qe8 9.e4 fxe4 10.Nxe4 e5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.Nfg5
White's plan is to prevent Black from developing his QN as long aspossible and in the mean time to attack vigorously in the hope that hislead in development may result in a win..
12...g6
It is true that 11...Nd7 would lose the exchange but Black could haveanswered White's threatened mate with ...Qg6 or 12...Bf5 13.Qb3 Qc8 Thetext weakens Black's f6 and h6.
13.Qc3 h6
Not an attractive move, but White was threatening 14.Qxe5 and the alternative13...Bd8 14.Nd6 Qd7 (losing the e-pawn) or; 13...Nxe4 14.Nxe4 Bf6 (losinga move) are less attractive.
14.Nxf6+ Bxf6 15.Ne4 Bg7 16.b3 Qe7 17.a4 Rd8 18.Ba3 Qc7 19.Rfd1Rxd1+
This exchange may seem premature, but Black has a definite plan inmind and the alternative ...Nd7 and ...Bf5 both lost at least a pawn.
20.Rxd1 Bf5 21.Bd6 Qd8
Surprise! The Black Queen pins the Bishop. 22.f4 Counter-surprise!The White Queen pins the e-pawn ( 22...exf4 23.Qxg7+).
22...Nd7
The QN finally moves. After 22...Bxe4 23.Bxe4 exf4 24.Qxg7+ Kxg7 25.Be5+Qf6 26.gxf4 White wins the ending with ease.
23.Bxe5 Bxe5 24.fxe5 Qe7 25.Nd6 Nxe5 26.c5!
The winning move. White has the permanent threat of Nxb7 (threateningBxc6) and the immediate threat of 27.Re1 winning the Knight.
26...Nf7 27.Re1 Qd7 28.Qf6 Kf8 29.Bf1 1-0
The Chess Correspondent , September 1960
5) MI Wednesday Night Blitz
The latest edition of the Wednesday Night Blitz had a strongEuropean flair with several participants from across the Atlantic. VisitingIrish FM Stephen Brady drew in the first round with Felix Germanbut then reeled off 9 straight wins to take a full point lead over hisclosest pursuer, NM Arthur Ibragimov, who just happened to be hislast round opponent. Arthur won in a tense battle to grab a share of firstplace at 9.5 from 11 in the 12 player round robin. NMs Jorge Lopezand Rey Salvatierra shared third place with 9 points.
6) New York Masters
The New York Masters is heating up. Hikaru Nakamura and GataKamsky tied for first on August 3rd with 3.5 from 4 to pick up $310apiece. The two winners played some common opponents. Gata drew with GMAlexWojtkiewicz and beat GM Kamil Miton while Nakamura drew Mitonand beat Wojtkiewicz. There were 5 GMs and 5 IMs in the 27-player field.
Kamsky,G (2717) - Miton,K (2597) [A43]
112th New York Masters New York (4), 03.08.2004
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 g6 4.d6 Bg7 5.Nc3 0–0 6.Bf4 Nc6 7.e3 b68.Be2 Ne8 9.0–0 Nxd6 10.Bxd6 exd6 11.Qxd6 Qe7 12.Rfd1 Qxd6 13.Rxd6 Nb414.a3 Na6 15.Nd5 Rd8 16.Bxa6 Bf8 17.Bxc8 Bxd6 18.Ba6 Rab8 19.Rd1 Kg7 20.a4Bf8 21.Ne5 f6 22.Ng4 f5 23.Ne5 Bd6 24.Nc4 Bf8 25.g3 Kf7 26.c3 d6 27.Na3Rd7 28.Bb5 Rdd8 29.Kg2 Kg7 30.Bc4 Rd7 31.h4 1–0
Newsletter #205, 08/18/2004
"I would not like to defend or justify Bobby Fischer. He is whathe is. I am asking for only one thing. For mercy, charity.
Put sanctions against me also. Arrest me. And put me in the samecell with Bobby Fischer. And give us a chess set."
Boris Spassky
Don't forget this Saturday is the fourth annual Vladimir PafnutieffMemorial at the MI starting at 10 AM. Details below under Upcoming Events.
1) 7-way tie in US Open
The 2004 US Open held August 7-15 in Ft. Lauderdale (Weston),Florida, ended in a 7-way tie for first. GMs Alexander Onischuk, IldarIbragimov, Alex Wojtkiewicz, Rodrigo Vasquez, IMs Andranik Matikozyan andRenierGonzalez plus FM Marcel Martinez each won approximately $1,500for ther 7 1/2 - 1 1/2 scores. Martinez also earned a spot n the US Championshipas did IM Dmitry Schneider, FM Bruci Lopez and NM JakeKleiman who finished on 7. WFMs Anna Levina and OlgaSagalchik took the women's qualification spots. Top scorers from theBay Area were six-time US Champion Walter Browne and IMsJohnDonaldson and Walter Shipman on 6 1/2.
It's hard to follow the action in a tournament with 430 players competingin five sections that doesn't merge until the sixth round, but some performancesstood out. GMs Onischuk and Ibragimov were at the top throughout the event,but leading the peleton all the way allowed the field to catch them atthe end. Being top-rated in US Swiss events is a disadvantage. Youconsistently play stronger opposition without any compensation. The Europeanpractice of using tiebreaking points to divide prize money is an idea worthconsidering, especially in an event like a 9 round US Open where playerson the same score can face such different opposition. One idea might beto divide half the money equally and the other half by a tiebreak percentageformula.
The attendance for the US Open was definitely helped by the fact thatthere are many Cuban Americans living in South Florida. Playing in theweekend schedule, I got to meet quite a few of them and it was nice tosee how successful they were in Ft. Lauderdale. IM Renier Gonzalez, whomade a GM norm at the Foxwoods tournament earlier this year, tied for first,as did FM Marcel Martinez. Some MI members might remember that Marcel wonthe US Junior Closed at the Mechanics' in 1999. Unfortunately, for reasonsthat were never completely clear to me, the USCF decided he was not ableto participate in the US Championship. He stopped playing, got marriedand went into the family business. He only recently started playing againbut he was most impressive in the US Open, playing on the top boards throughoutthe event. Another Cuban-American youngster, Bruci Lopez, also played verywell and grabbed a qualification spot. This year in San Diego, Spanishwill be the third native language spoken with Gonzalez, Martinez, Lopez,IM Blas Lugo and GM Julio Becerra all qualified to compete.
IM Matikoziyan of Glendale had an outstanding event drawing GM JulioBecerra, defeating GM Hikaru Nakamura and drawing GM Ildar Ibragimov inthe final three rounds. Berkeley GM Walter Browne played in the Five DaySchedule, which was by far the strongest, defeated GMs Wojtkiewicz andAlexandriaKosteniuk - with 1.e4! in consecutive rounds (see below). A 100 movedraw with Nakamura in round five sapped his strength and Walter lost twolater games by overpressing.
The tournament was relatively strong with 12 GMs and plenty of IMs competing.It's hard to figure out exactly what attracted many top players to theevent. Walter Browne and I flew back on the same fight from Miami to SFOand talked about this. We both agreed that one reason some strong playersshowed up in Florida was to try to qualify for the US Championship. I'msure that GMs Browne, Fedorowicz and Sagalchik would neverhave considered playing if not for the fact that they needed to get a ticketto the US Championship. The prize fund at the top followed a sadpractice at recent US Opens with only $11,000 of the $40,000 prize fundin place prizes. This meant that several of the players who tied for firstand played the traditional schedule, probably only broke even or maybeeven lost money after deducting a $1,000 hotel bill for ten days, air fareand meals. This is not exactly an endorsement for becoming a professionalchess player! This years US Open only paid out 25% in place prizes, thesame as the 2000 and 2001 US Opens. I'm sure the USCF was happy with theturnout but clearly this is a tournament that has seen much better days.Last years event in Los Angeles was a step up and Reno in 1999 was outstanding(26 GMs, $63,000 prize fund, almost 500 entries, $59 rooms nights) butmuch of the past 15 years has been a steady decline into the second rankof major American events. My suggestion for rescuing this dinosaur is tohook it up with the US Championship and run the latter as a knockout. Anyonewho was in Los Angeles in 1991 will agree that that was an exciting chessfestival. Spectator attendance at the Championship set records and playerswho got knocked out early could jump right into the US Open. I'm not sureexactly why this idea was never tried again.
You might guess that with USCF President Marinello and ExecutiveBoard Member Schultz living in Southern Florida, they would haveplayed a major role in this years US Open, but that looks not to be thecase. US Open bids are normally decided several years in advance and Marinelloand Schultz were not on the Board at that time. It looks like the 105thUS Open was the work of former Executive Director Frank Niro whonearly drove the Federation into bankruptcy. He made several tripsto South Florida while serving as ED and It looks like he didn't do a verygood job negotiating the hotel contract. Chess players paid approximately$100 a night with taxes, pretty much the same as walk up guests, with theexception that the resort fee was waived. Four star hotels withineasy driving distance could be found for half the price, which is not surprisingsince tourists in South Florida in August are about as common as visitorsto Buffalo in January. Temperatures were consistently in the 90s with humiditythat caused you to feel like you were in a sauna within a few minutes.If this US Open wasn't warm enough, not to fear. Next year, it's in Phoenixwhere it's 102 degrees today. One consolation for architecture fans isthat the 2005 event will be held at the venerable Biltmore, the only FrankLloyd Wright design influenced hotel in the world. Charging rates around$300 a night in winter the Biltmore is offering a $99 per day to stay duringthe very-off-peak season. Oh, how I wish I could go back in time and playin the Aspen and Ventura US Opens!
NMs Mackenzie Molnar of New Jersey and Pieta Garrett ofArizona tied for first in the Denker Tournament of Champions with5-1 scores. Northern California Representative Benjamin Tejes was=11th in the 46-player field with 3.5, drawing Molnar in round 4. A welcomeinnovation was the Susan Polgar Invitational Tournament for Girls.Top-seed Roza Eynullayeva (2085) of Massachusetts won with 5. BayArea resident Elisha Garg had an excellent result, sharing secondat 4.5 while facing the top three seeds.
The USCF held its annual Delegates Meeting the last weekend of the USOpen and the Bay Area was represented by newly elected Executive Boardmember Elizabeth Shaughnessy, NM Richard Koepcke and MikeGoodall. The news was distinctly positive compared to a year ago whenthe Executive Director failed to show up, then announced his resignationfrom afar not long after it was discovered that the Federation was nearbankruptcy. Today things are much better after an eventful year. The newExecutive Director, Bill Goichberg, served without pay, which savedthe USCF at least $100,000 (the base pay for ED Al Lawrence in the early1990s) and negotiated an excellent outsourcing book and equipment dealwith Hanon Russell's Chess Cafe. Two of the big questionscoming into the Delegates Meetings were would Goichberg continue on andwould the USCF stay in their present location. The answer to the formeris yes, at a token salary of $25,000. Keeping Goichberg on for anotheryear is critical for the USCF to keep steadying the boat. The finances the past year showed a huge turnaround but some of the improvement came from one time situations (selling off assets, laying off employees) and things could slip back without prudent management.
Exactly where the USCF office will be located a year from now is not exactly clear. When things were difficult last year the USCF was forced to sell the building it owned for many years and rent it back from the buyer. This is mutually acceptable at present but the long term situation is unclear. Crossville, Tennessee, home of longtime USCF supporter Harry Sabine, offered the Federation free land and other incentives several years ago. The city and Federation seemed close to a deal but it was not closed. Crossville still seems interested as does Lindsborg, Kansas, which sent several city representatives to the US Open along with major organizer Mikhail Korenman. The deal Lindsborg is offering is said to include both land and a building, for free. Neither Crossville or Lindsborg could be considered to be a major metropolitan area but both are considerably more cosmopolitan than one might suspect. Offers from two locations in South Florida were floating around a year ago but neither seems remotely as attractive as the two deals mentioned above. The USCF office has been in the Newburgh/New Windsor area for close to 40 years after moving 60 miles up the road from New York City, but US Chess has not always been East Coast based. The USCF was founded in 1939 in Illinois and before that one of the two US Chess organizations, the Western Chess Association, was headquartered in St. Louis. The USCF staff is greatly reduced from a year ago and, with technology being what it is, could conceivably be based almost anywhere. Housing prices and employee salaries in New Windsor are effected to some extent by the proximity to New York City. Most likely nothing will change in the short term but it is good to know that the USCF has some attractive offers on the table. It would be nice to see the Federation owning its home.
The crosstable for the US Open can be found at: http://www.uschess.org/tournaments/2004/usopen/index.php?page=results and then click Traditional and then Standings.
The following two games were a shock at the US Open. Walter was a major 1.e4 player in his youth, but it's been a very long time, at least two decades, since he's played it. Time control was Game/60.
I would have loved to have seen Wojt's reaction when Walter played 1.e4. The perennial Grand Prix Champion is a major league Najdorf man, but Walter has played it all his life.
Browne,W - Wojtkiewicz,A [B90]
US Open, 2004
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e6 7.Be3 b5 8.g4 Nbd7 9.Qd2 Nb6 10.0–0–0 Nfd7 11.Ndxb5 axb5 12.Nxb5 Ba6 13.Nxd6+ Bxd6 14.Qxd6 Nc4 15.Bxc4 Bxc4 16.Qd4 Rxa2 17.Kb1 Qc8 18.Qxg7 Rf8 19.Rxd7 Kxd7 20.Rd1+ Kc6 21.b3 Qa6 22.Qe5 Qa3 23.Qd4 Ra1+ 24.Qxa1 Qxa1+ 25.Kxa1 Be2 26.Rd4 e5 27.Ra4 f6 28.f4 exf4 29.Bxf4 Bxg4 30.Kb2 Re8 1–0
Browne,W - Kosteniuk,A [B66]
US Open, 2004
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0–0–0 Be7 9.f3 Bd7 10.Be3 h5 11.h4 b5 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.Bg5 Qc7 14.Kb1 Rc8 15.Bd3 Bb7 16.a3 Qb6 17.Ne2 Bc6 18.Be3 Qb7 19.Nd4 Bd7 20.Bg5 Ra8 21.f4 Qb6 22.c3 Ng8 23.f5 e5 24.Nc2 a5 25.Ne3 Bc6 26.Bc2 Nf6 27.Bxf6 gxf6 28.Nd5 Bxd5 29.Qxd5 1–0
This is where the bulletin stops. I am certain the game didn't end here.
The players probably quit keeping score at this point. By the way, the
bulletin produced by Phil Smith of Minnesota appeared punctually
and with a large number of games. Unfortunately, many of the battles between
the top players didn't make it in. I'm not sure if this was because they
played their first few games at fast time controls, their score sheets
were illegible or they just didn't bother to turn them in. A set of bulletins
for the nine round event, with the last mailed to your home, set you back
$35. I'm not sure how many were sold, but it always struck me that it would
be a better deal for everybody if the organizer just tacked on $5 or $10
to the entry fee and just provided bulletins for everyone, whether paper
or electronic. At present, I don't think any of the games have been released
for public consumption. I entered the two above from the bulletin.
2) Stephen Christopher 1908-2004
Stephen Christopher passed away on May 30th in Washington State.
Mr. Christopher was the first major book and equipment seller in the Pacific
Northwest and one of the driving forces behind the 1966 US Open in Seattle.
Chess has many unsung heroes and Stephen was one of them. ChessCo founder
Bob
Long wrote in a memorial in the July issue of Northwest Chess how he
would have been forced to close his business long ago if Mr. Christopher
had not stepped in to help him. IM Jeremy Silman is known today
as one of the premier instructional writers in the chess world but his
classic Reassess Your Chess might never have seen the light of day if Mr.
Christopher hadn't help to finance its publication. Although Christopher
played in one Washington State Championship, he was never much higher than
a low class A player, but he really loved the game and played in hundreds
of tournaments in the NW. Many players benefited from his small kindnesses
whether it was giving someone a ride to the tournament, sponsoring their
entry fee or giving them a book or set. He was a real gentleman and will
be greatly missed.
3) Robert Jordan Tuesday Night Marathon
The Robert Jordan Tuesday Night Marathon started last night and illustrated once again why the first round of Swiss system events can be full of surprises. This time third seed NM Igor Margulis was upset by Class B player Guadalupe Sainz. Approximately 70 players have signed up so far for the eight round FIDE rated Swiss system event. It's still possible to enter the competition with a half point bye for the first round.
Are you wondering who Robert Jordan is? Anybody who has been to the
Mechanics' at closing time might wonder how the pieces on the 40 chess
tables and the main room are reset (This isn't Europe where the players
do it when the game is finished!). The answer is, every morning, without
fail, Bob Jordan comes in and sets up each table and he has been doing
if for at least five years. We very much appreciate his efforts.
4) Mezentsev wins Wednesday Night Blitz
IM-elect Vladimir Mezentsev won the latest edition of the weekly
Wednesday Night Blitz with a 13-0 score. NM Arthur Ibragimov was
second in the 14-player round robin with 11 points followed by Ted Castroat
9.5 and Daichi Siegrist at 9. The action resumes this evening at
7 PM.
5) William Martz
The late William Martz passed away shortly after tying for first in the US Open in St. Paul. Some Newsletters ago, we included some unpublished games of his from a class he taught in Milwaukee in the 1970s. The games didn't have the location where they were played, but recently Arlen Walker was able to contact one of Martz's opponents, veteran Southern California Master Charles Van Buskirk, who kindly provided not only the venue but another game they had played.
Martz-VanBuskirk
Anderson, Indiana (Round 2) January17,1976
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. e4 d6 4. d4 Bg7 5. Be2 O-O 6. f4 c5 7. Nf3
cxd4 8. Nxd4
Nc6 9. Be3 Bg4 10. Nxc6 Bxe2 11. Nxd8 Bxd1 12. Rxd1 Rfxd8 13. Ke2
Nd7
14. Rd3 Nc5 15. Bxc5 dxc5 16. Rhd1 Rxd3 17. Rxd3 Bxc3 18. bxc3 Kf8
19. Rd7 b6
20. g4 f6 21. h4 h6 22. a4 Kf7 23. f5 g5 24. h5 Ke8 25. Rc7 Kf7
26. a5 bxa5 27.
Rxc5 a4 28. Ra5 e6 29. c5 exf5 30. exf5 a3 31. Kd3 a2 32. Kc4 Ke7
33. Rxa2 a5
34. Kb5 Rb8+ 35. Kc6 Rc8+ 36. Kb6 Rb8+ 37. Kc7 Rb3 38. c6 Rxc3 39.
Rxa5 Rc4 40.
Ra7 Rxg4 41. Kb8+ Kd6 42. c7 Rc4 43. c8=Q Rxc8+ 44. Kxc8 Ke5 45.
Ra5+ Kf4
46. Kd7 g4 47. Ke6 Kg5 48. Ra3 Kxh5 49. Kxf6 Kh4 50. Kg6 1-0
Martz-VanBuskirk
Davenport, Iowa (Round 2)
May 5, 1977
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. d4 e6 6. e3 Nc6 7.
Bc4
cxd4 8.exd4 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Re1 Bf6 11. Ne4 h6 12. Nxf6+ Nxf6
13. Bf4 b6
14. a3 Bb7 15. Ba2 Ne7 16. Be5 Ned5 17. Qd3 Rc8 18. Rad1 Qe7 19.
Bb1 Rfd8 20. h3
Ba8 21.Nh2 Qb7 22. Ng4 Qe7 23. Re3 h5 24. Nxf6+ Nxf6 25. Rg3 g6
26. Qe3 h4 27.
Qg5 hxg3 28. Bxf6 Rxd4 29. Rf1 gxf2+ 30. Kh1 Qc5 31. Qh6 Bxg2+ 32.
Kxg2
Qd5+ 33.Kxf2 Rd2+ 34. Ke3 Qb3+ 35. Kxd2 Qd5+ 36. Ke3 1-0
6) Here and There
IM Calvin Blocker will be attempting to set an Ohio record for the most games played in a simultaneous exhibition on August 29th at the Eton Square Mall in Cleveland.
One of the greatest players in American chess history, GM Walter Browne, is available for lessons. Contact him at: [email protected].
IM Kong Liang Deng won the Southern California Invitational Championship held July 10-25th in Los Angeles. Deng, who lost only to second place finisher IM Jack Peters, scored 6-1. Other scores in the eight player round robin were: 2. IM Peters 5 1/2; 3. IM Taylor 4; 4. FM Van Buskirk 3 1/2; 5. FM Casella 3; 6. I. Miller 2 1/2; 7. Bruno 2; 8. West 1 1/2
NM Brandon Ashe beat NM Michael Casella in round five of the Westwood Doubletree Open last Sunday to take first with a score of 4 1/2 from 5. Ashe's only draw was to Class A player Frederick Field who many may recognize for his generous sponsorship of numerous chess events, including the 1990 World Championship in New York. Casella shared second at 4-1 with IMs Cyrus Lakdawala and Tim Taylor both of whom he had defeated earlier in the competition. 60 players played in the one day event organized by John Hillery for the Southern California Chess Association.
Gambiteer and former Bay Area Master Max Burkett is busy adding
to his website. His latest project has been to collect as many Frank Marshall
games as possible. Check it out at: http://people.montana.com/~mburkett/
Newsletter #206, 08/25/2004
"Scholastic chess has a different goal and purpose from adult
chess in that chess is developmental at the scholastic level and recreational
at
the adult level. CalChess therefore urges scholastic coaches
and instructors to emphasize the developmental aspects of chess, such as
good sportsmanship, team spirit, generous in winning and gracious
in losing and to de-emphasize by word and by example the competitive aspect
of the game."
CalChess Scholastics web page
We suspect Vince Lombardi was not a CalChess Scholastic coach
but are skill at chess and good sportmanship mutually exclusive?
1) IM DeGuzman and Yap tie in 4th Annual Pafnutieff Memorial
Filipino IM Ricardo DeGuzman and San Francisco teenager Nicolas
Yap tied for first in the 4th Annual Vladimir Pafnutieff Memorial held
at the Mechanics' Institute on August 21. DeGuzman defeated NM Roger
Poehlmann and Yap upset IM-elect Vladimir Mezentsev in round
four and the two winners drew in round five. The event marked a welcome
return to form by the 15-year-old Yap who had gone through a bad patch
the past few months.
Tying for third at 4-1 in the 53 player event directed by Anthony
Corrales and Alex Yermolinsky were Mezentsev, Clarence Lehman,
Stephen Svoboda, Stephen Krasnov, and Michael De La Cruz.
NM Vladimir Pafnutieff was one of the strongest players in Northern
California from the 1930s until the 1970s and was associated with the Mechanics'
Institute for almost 60 years. His book How to Create Combinations (Hypermodern
Press 1996) is not only a guide to tactics but also gives 70 of his best
games. Do any Newsletter readers know how to contact his widow Eugenia?
2) Robert Jordan Tuesday Night Marathon
The latest Tuesday Night Marathon doesn't look like it will break the
attendance record set by the last one (85 players), but may be one of the
strongest ever. Among the 78 players signed up for the Robert Jordan Tuesday
Night Marathon are IM Ricardo DeGuzman, FM Frank Thornally
and 18-year-old Mongolian WFM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs (USCF 2327).
It is still possible to enter the eight round event with half point byes
for the first two rounds.
3) IM DeGuzman wins Wednesday Night Blitz
IM Ricardo DeGuzman won last Wednesday's Blitz tournament with
a 11-0 score. Tying for second at 8 in the 12-player round robin were Nicolas
Yap, Ted Castro and Arthur Ibragimov. There will be a tournament
at 7pm tonight, immediately following a lecture by IM John Donaldson.
The lecture begins at 5:15 pm.
4) Bobby Fischer Staves off Deportation
The German website ChessBase is covering the Bobby Fischer case closely. Here is a short excerpt from today.
Dramatic moments around Fischer's deportation
First the Japanese Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa issued a deportation order against former world champion Bobby Fischer's, then Fischer's lawyers filed a lightning appeal on the grounds that physical deportation would be a flagrant violation of Fischer's right to full legal recourse and protection under Japanese law. Here's the full story by Fischer's legal coordinator.
The full text of Fischer's legal coordinator, John Bosnitch, which came in three stages as the drama developed, is given below. In summary we can tell you that just before 5:00 pm Japanese time on Tuesday Japanese Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa decided against requests filed by Bobby Fischer against his deportation to the USA. The ministry rejected Fischer's demand for protection as a political refugee, saying that the charges outstanding against him in the United States are not political in nature. Normally the plaintiff has seven days to appeal such a decision, but, according to Bosnitch, the ministry tried to deny him due process by immediately deporting him.
Fischer's lawyers Masako Suzuki and Takeshi Ohashi contacted
authorities to legally block a deportation on the grounds that the whole
procedure is now before the courts and a deportation would be a flagrant
violation of Bobby Fischer's right to full legal recourse and protection
under Japanese law. "If Bobby Fischer is deported tonight," wrote Bosnitch
yesterday, "it will be the best proof so far that this entire unlawful
detention and entrapment is nothing more than the will of the United States'
government being dutifully executed in violation of the law by Japanese
authorities."
5) Tournament Reports Around the United States
New York Masters
As might be expected the weekend after the US Open was a quiet one for American Chess. The big news is the New York Masters () where the pot has been sweetened with some sponsorship. IM Gregory Shahade's brainchild routinely sees some of the best players in the country stepping through the doors of the Marshall Chess Club on Tuesday nights. The event on August 17 saw GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Joel Benjamin share first place at 3.5 and divide $800. Benjamin won a special playoff for an additional $50 after spectators watching on the ICC wanted to see a clear winner after the two New York GMs had battled to a long draw in their last round game. Sharing third at 3-1 in the 22-player event were US Champion Alex Shabalov, former World Championship Candidate Leonid Yudasin, strong young Polish GM Kamil Miton and GM Leonid Sokolin. Gata Kamsky played again, but this time he finished out of the money at 2 1/2 , losing to Miton and drawing with Yudasin.
2004 U.S. Class Chess Championships
The USCF prepared an excellent press release on the 2004 U.S. Class Chess Championships.
173 chess players representing over 20 states took part in the 2004
U.S. Class Championships in Des Moines, Iowa August 20-22. The geographical
diversity of the field, with nearly every region of the country represented,
imparted a true national flavor more typical of a U.S. Open, to the competition
in the Midwest. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the
Hotel Fort Des Moines, the largest hotel in Iowa, served as a fitting venue
for this national tournament, Iowa's first national.
Top-rated International Master Stanislav Smetankin, originally
from Belarus and currently a student at the University of Wisconsin, shared
top honors in the Masters' Section with second ranked Aleksandar Stamnov,
a national Master (NM) from Chicago. Both finished with four points after
five games. Virginia NM Steve Greanias, and Iowa experts Tim
Mc Entee and Jasmin Zulic all tied for 3rd-6th, with 3 points.
One of the most impressive performances of the weekend came from
thirteen-year-old Tyler Hughes of Colorado, who swept the Expert
Section with a 2494 tournament performance, winning all five games. Fourteen-year-old
Christopher
Nienart lost only to Hughes but defeated the others, to place second
at 4-1. Tim Walsh took third with 3.5.
William Murray bested the A Class with 4.5, while Thomas
O'Connor and 9-year-old Michael Yang tied for second with 4
points.
Jesse Allen scored 4.5 points to emerge the Champion of Class
B, and 11-year-old Albert Zhou took second place with 4. The logjam
for third place consisted of seven players who scored 3.5 points: Daniel
Lindquist, Dan Gannon, Joshua Suresh, Laurence Coker, Jeremy Madison, Kent
Cen and Matthew Anzis.
Jason Juett's 4.5 points gave him the Class C title, with
Yueqin
Cen in second a half point back. A (slightly) smaller logjam at 3.5
consisted of Jim Froehlich, Dan Brashaw, Tyler Conway and
Daryn
Moran.
Four players divvied up the prize money in Class D: Andrey Golovan,
Paul Evenson, Curtis Ware and Phani Sathiraju, who each scored
4-1.
The co-champions of Class E are Scott Tan and Kevin Lufkin,
who drew each other and won their other four games. Four players, Randy
Hoelscher, Christopher Adkins, Caleb Brown and Adem Music,
tied for 3rd-6th.
The other sweep of the weekend occurred in the Unrated Players'
Section, where Robert Keating won all five games. Christopher
Mc Kinney was clear second at 4-1, while Aaron Priluck and Franjo
Sicanica tied for 3rd-4th with 3 points.
An interesting piece of tournament "theory" was put to the test
at the U.S. Class, when Kansas Expert Tim Steiner proved why the
time delay clock is now an indispensable component of the serious tournament
player's competitive regimen. With his time running out, Steiner's lone
White Queen was compelled to distract the opposing King, Rook and Bishop
from otherwise shepherding the Black f-pawn to an inevitable coronation.
Through an amazing, whirlwind series of checks, pins, and "quiet" threats
of forks and skewers, Steiner was able to stave off the advance of the
f-pawn for over 60 moves-- despite having exactly ONE SECOND left on his
time-delay chronos! His opponent, rated over 500 points higher and with
over ten minutes remaining, was unable to prevent a successful 50-move
rule draw.
The time delay was absolutely necessary to prevent a brilliant drawing
motif from coming to a tragic end. No claim of "insufficient losing chances"
could ever be considered, as the chances for either side to lose were mind-boggling
indeed, let alone "sufficient." Without the time delay, White's flag falls
well before he can rattle off even a fraction of the 50 required moves.
With the time delay, he proves, over the board for all to see, that his
opponent can make no progress beyond his half of the point.
Most of the games were not nearly as exciting and fever-pitched,
giving TD's Walter Brown and Steve Immitt ample opportunity
for more mundane tasks as well, directing the tournament on behalf of the
U.S Chess Federation.
Vermont Resort Open
Stratton Mountain was the scene of a peculiar Swiss this past weekend.
The overall attendance for this Continental Chess Association event was
quite reasonable with 102 entries but only 12 elected to play in the Open
section. GMs Alex Stripunsky, Alex Wojtkiewicz and Alexander
Ivanov towered over the opposition and one could easily imagine a scenario
where the three drew with each other and shared first place at 4-1, but
such was not the case. Stripunsky easily took top honors and $800 with
his 4.5 - .5 score, nicked only by Ivanov, but what were the odds he would
never play Wojtkiewicz, who faced neither of his colleagues? That came
to pass when Wojt dropped a point and a half early on. The perennial Grand
Prix champion bounced back to finish on 3.5 which amazingly enough was
good for second place and $400. The cause of the upsets in this event shared
third at 3. Max Enkin (2111) beat Wojtkiewicz and drew GM
Alexander Ivanov while Ashok Aaron (1971) beat Ivanov. The latter,
despite having a rare awful result, still took home $100 for his even score.
6) Jim Schmitt Remembered
National Master Jim Schmitt was one of the best players in the Bay Area in the 1950s and 1960s after moving south from Portland. He annotated the following game for the Washington Chess Letter which still appears monthly as Northwest Chess. It is the oldest continuiosly published state magazine (Oregon and Washington) in the country dating back to 1945. During it's almost 60 year existence it has changed names several times (Bremerton Chess Letter, Everett Chess Letter, Washington Chess Letter and Northwest Chess).
Schmitt,J - Capps,C [D35]
Mechanics' Institute Championship San Francisco, 1952
Notes by Schmitt
After a triple tie between James Schmitt, Carroll Capps and Fred F. Byron, he playoff was won by Schmitt who is therefore champion for the current year.Here is a game annotated by James Schmitt, a former Portland player, now in the service at the Presidio.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 0-0 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.cxd5
exd5 8.Bd3 Re8 9.0-0 h6 10.Bf4 c6 11.Qc2 Nf8
If 11...Nh5 then 12.Nxd5!
12.Rab1 Ne6 13.Be5 a5 14.a3 Bd7 15.b4 axb4 16.axb4 Ra3 17.Qb2
Qa8 18.Bxf6
If now 18.Ra1? then 18...Bxb4.
18...gxf6
If 18...Bxf6 then 19.Ra1.
19.Nh4 Ng7 20.Rfc1
To free the Queen for Kingside activity.
20...b5
To make room for the Queen so as to double the Rooks.
21.Qe2 Bxb4! 22.Nxd5 cxd5 23.Rxb4
Black's pawns are all isolated and weak.
23...Qa5 24.Rcb1
Concentrating on the b-pawn.
24...Rc8
Eyeing Qxb4.
25.h3 Ra2
This chases the Queen to where it wants to go, but it is doubtful
the position can be held.
26.Qf3 Ra1 27.Qxd5!
Tricky, but sound.
27...Rc1+ 28.Kh2 Qc7+ 29.f4
Not g3 because of ...Bc6.
29...Raxb1 30.Rxb1 Rc3
Black begins to feel the time pressure, as will White shortly.
31.Qa8+ Ne8 32.Qe4 f5 33.Nxf5 Nf6 34.Qa8+ Ne8 35.Ne7+
At long last simplification!
35...Kf8 36.Nd5 Qc8 37.Qxc8
The rest is easy.
37...Rxc8 38.Nb6 Rc7 39.Nxd7+ Rxd7 40.Bxb5 Rb7 41.Bd3 Re7 42.e4
Nf6 43.e5 1-0
Washington Chess Letter, September 1952.
7) Here and There
The Browne-Wojtkiewicz game featured in last week's Newsletter is starting to make the rounds. You can find excellent annotations to the game with the complete score (it was truncated in the bulletin) in the Washington Post where GM Lubos Kavalek writes a really great weekly column. Go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25007-2004Aug22.html?referrer=emailarticle .
Ukrainian GM Mikhail Golubev writing in a recent issue of Chess
Today has this to say about the Browne-Wojt game:
"Walter Browne's victory over Alex Wojtkiewicz somehow inspired me
to prepare an overview of the knight sacrifice in the Sicilian Najdorf
which was introduced by Grischuk in 2002. Surely, it was one of the most
amazing novelties in recent years."
Golubev came across the game because noted chess director and historian Frank Berry had gone to the trouble of reentering games from the US Open bulletin back into ChessBase. Yes, this does seem like a sad duplication of effort, but as of today I still have not seen any games from the US Open on its website or at Mark Crowther's The Week in Chess, where information is normally disseminated throughout the chess world. One would hope this situation is corrected soon.
Bay Area and Oakland chess recently got a big boost with the addition of International Master Odondoo Ganbold of Mongolia who had previously been living in Los Angeles. NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, who studied in Maryland last year has also decided to settle in Oakland as has NM Batsaikan Tserendorj making Oakland the world headquarters of Mongolian expatriate chess players.
Exactly who the strongest player in the world is at classical chess
is an unresolved question at present, but the King of Rapid Chess (G/25-
G/30) has already been crowned. Viswanathan Anand. GM Mikhail Golubev
writes in Chess Today, " Viswanathan Anand absolutely dominated the tournament
in Sao Paulo: after winning all five games in the second half, he finished
three full points ahead of Ivan Morovic who took second place. Final standings:
1. Anand – 8½; 2. Morovic – ½; 3. Leitao
– 4½; 4- . Karpov and Vescovi – 4; 6. Milos – 3½..
It can be said without hesitation that the chess world now has a
clearly strongest player (and a world champion!) in Rapid Chess at least.
Anand's recent results in rapid events speak
for themselves:"
Noted author and trainer Jeremy Silman of Los Angeles turns 50 this Saturday. Silman who recently co-authored a tremendous book on Pal Benko is currently working on an instructional endgame work and preparing 15-year-old Vanessa West for the 2004 Championship in San Diego this fall. West, currently rated 2149, has approximately six months to break Jennifer Shahade's record as the youngest native born women to achieve a master rating.
The MI FIDE summer rating tournament is starting to come to a close. John Langreck of Davis has the best percentage score in the 12-player round robin with 6.5 from 8 followed by fellow NMs Russell Wong at 6.5 from 9 and Andy Lee on 7 from 10.
Bay Area chess players have a double-header the next two weekends with events in Sacramento and San Francisco (see upcoming events for more details)
A photograph of UC Berkeley student Ben Bednarz playing chess at Sproul Plaza appeared on page 2 of the August 17-18 edition of the Berkeley Daily Planet.
Ewelina Krubnik leads the East Bay Youth Invitational with a 2-0 score. Daichi Siegrist is second at 1.5. The event is being held at the recently opened East Bay Chess Center Upcoming events include:
Saturday, August 28th: Scholastic Quads (starting
at 10 AM)
Sunday, August 29th: Open Quads (starting at
10 AM)
Monday, August 30th: Club Mini-Marathon (starting
at 7 PM)
For more info, go to: http://www.eastbaychess.com
8) MI Book and Equipment Donations
Book and equipment donations to the Mechanics' are always welcome. All
donations to the Mechanics' are tax deductible due to the M.I.'s 501(c)
(3) nonprofit status. If you have any chess books or equipment that have
been lying around unused for some time consider donating to the Mechanics'.
You will not only get a tax write off but also the satisfaction of seeing
things put to good use.
Newsletter #207, 09/01/2004
"This sort of nonsense is so frustrating. Why not de-emphasize
winning and losing at team sports?? They are supposed to build
character right? I think that this sort of sophistry just
begins the move to eliminate chess masters from chess instruction."
Bill Schill
FM Schill, a longtime scholastic chess teacher in the Seattle area writes in response to last week's quote:
"Scholastic chess has a different goal and purpose from adult
chess in that chess is developmental at the scholastic level and recreational
at
the adult level. CalChess therefore urges scholastic coaches
and instructors to emphasize the developmental aspects of chess, such as
good sportsmanship, team spirit, generous in winning and gracious in losing
and to de-emphasize by word and by example the competitive aspect of the
game."
For more on this debate you may wish to go to http://www.chessville.com/Editorials/ScholasticsAndTheSoulOfChess.htm
where Oklahoma Master Tom Braunlich has written an interesting article
entitled Scholastics and the Soul of Chess.
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
The Mechanics' Institute is very pleased to announce that funding for
the Mechanics' Institute Inner-city Youth Chess Program is
provided by Providian Cares, Providian Financial's community
giving program. Thanks to Providian the M.I. is offering free Thursday
afternoon classes to Bay Area youngsters both at the M.I. and at select
San Francisco schools. Contact M.I. Scholastic Coordinator Anthony
Corrales for more information.
NMs Russell Wong and Victor Ossipov and Expert Kenneth Hills are the only remaining perfect scores after three rounds of the Robert Jordan Tuesday Night Marathon. Among those tied for fourth at 2 1/2 are IM Ricardo DeGuzman and FM Frank Thornally. Five rounds remain for the 77-player field.
Ted Castro won the Wednesday Night Blitz on August 25, scoring 9.5 from 12. Yefim Bukh was second at 8 with Anthony Rozenvasser third at 8 in the 12-player round robin. Action resumes tonight at 7pm, immediately after GM Alex Yermolinsky's lecture.
Lubomir Ftacnik (2600 FIDE) of Bratislava, Slovakia, will be giving a free lecture on the classic battle Bishop versus Knight on Saturday, September 11, from 1-2:30pm at the Mechanics' Institute. GM Ftacnik, who played in the 1991 Pan Pacific International in Chinatown and won the 1999 David Bronstein Jubilee (ahead of I. Gurevich, Dzindzihashvili, Browne and Seirawan) is noted as an excellent speaker and outstanding teacher. Don't miss this lecture and the blitz tournament which follows from 3-5pm (5 double round Swiss or round robin depending on entries) with a $10 entry fee ($50 guaranteed first prize).
M.I.Grandmaster-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky will be lecturing and playing in an event in Medicine Hat, Alberta, the weekend of September 11-12.
The Mechanics' Thursday Afternoon Lecture and USCF rated play return this fall. Chess Club Director John Donaldson will give lectures from 12:15 to 1pm each Thursday. Immediately afterward USCF rated play is available.
Chess Dad recently paid a visit to the Mechanics' and wrote about it in his online blog http://chessdad64.journalspace.com/
Left My Queen in San Francisco : A Visit to the Mechanics' Institute
Chess Club -- Entry # 12
posted 08/22/04 (edited Sunday, Aug 22, 2004 10:37)
During our family’s recent vacation to Northern California, we had the distinct pleasure of visiting the Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club located in downtown San Francisco on 57 Post Street. The Mechanics’ Institute is one of the oldest chess clubs in the US having been established in the 1850’s. The Club itself is physically located on the 4th floor of the vintage Mechanics’ Institute Building. The space is dedicated to chess exudes class and tradition. When entering you see the built-in wooden chess tables accommodating about 50 games and a few computer terminals to the side for online play. Old time photographs of players and matches line the walls reminding of the Club’s rich history and tradition.
When we arrived on August 11th, a Wednesday evening, Grand Master Alex Yermolinsky was midway through his analysis of a recent game where Irina Krush, one of the strongest woman players in the world, came from behind to beat GM Alex Strupinsky.
After the lecture and a short break, the ever cheerful and friendly Yermolinsky oversaw 13 rounds of a round robin Blitz Tournament where each player had 5 minutes to complete all of his moves, and each competitor played each other. The players were serious and competitive but also friendly and welcoming to Chessdude64 who at age 10 was the youngest competitor on the scene. Chessdude held his own winning 5 matches, losing 7 (most of which were tough battles) and drawing one.
The top finishers were all top notch players. They included Ted Castro (3rd place), a young man who moves the pieces with skill, grace, and an uncanny quickness, and who is also a very nice guy. 2nd place went to Daichi Siegrist, a well spoken young man who is entering his freshman year of high school. I later learned Daichi was California’s recent Junior High Champion. And lastly there was International Master Vladimir Mezenstev who won all 13 of his games, and finished as the clear winner of the tournament.
We would like to thank all of those at the Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club for their hospitality and making Chessdude64 and Chessdad64 feel welcome. It was a memorable and magical night.
Chessdad 64
2) DeGuzman wins Sacramento Chess Club Weekend Swiss #13
IM Ricardo DeGuzman won the 7-player Master/Expert section in
the Sacramento Chess Club Weekend Swiss #13 with a 4-0 score held August
28-29. Tying for second at 2.5 were NM Michael Aigner and Class
A player Brendan Birt. MI regular Ted Castro won the Reserve
section with a 4-0 score with Daichi Siegrist sharing third at 3-1.
A total of 54 players competed. Go to http://sacramentochessclub.org/weekend_events/sccws13.htm
for crosstables of the three sections.
3) Konstantin Aseev 1960-2004
The Week in Chess wrote the following:
Konstantin Aseev born 20th October 1960 died on 22nd August 2004 at the age of 43 after a long illness. Aseev hadn't played since October last year and was a coach to Andrei Kharlov and Maia Chiburdanidze. He became an IM and then a GM in the early 1990s. He had a rating high of 2591 in 2001-2. He made significant contributions to theory in the Rauzer Attack and Queen Indian Defence.
Alex Yermolinsky shares his memories of his fellow Grandmaster, who he first met in 1983, after Aseev moved to Leningrad after growing up in a small town on the Volga.
" Konstantin was friendly but reserved. One of those rare people who think of others more than themselves. I still remember our game from the 1983 Leningrad Absolute Championship where we played in the last round and a win gave either of us the title. After a tough battle it finally ended in a victory for me. The first to congratulate me was Konstantin who gave me a big bear hug and said how well I had played.
Aseev was a creative player who used the whole board. He liked big strategic concepts and stayed true to his style even though it could be impractical. Time pressure was his mortal enemy and he lost many games to silly blunders after hours of building up winning positions. He loved to research openings and was generous in sharing his novelties with teammates in team competitions.
Konstantin was not a drinker or smoker and in the 1980s was in excellent physical condition. When I saw him in 1994 at the Lloyds Bank tournament in London he looked worn down. I'm not sure what had caused the change, it might simply have been the difficulties of living in Russia in the early 1990s, where everything was difficult, including getting proper food. Characteristically, when I asked him how things were, he didn't answer directly but instead asked how I was.
My memory of Konstantin is of a family man who liked the quiet life. Perhaps more than even playing chess, his greatest pleasure was returning to the small town where he grew up and going fishing with his father on the banks of the Volga."
4) Ian Mullen 1960?-2004
John,
Just heard some sad news regarding Ian Mullen.
Older players will remember Ian known as Spike to his friends. Ian
was a strong player about 2200 and played for Edinburgh Chess Club, Castle
and
Wandering Dragons. As well as being a strong player Ian also co-wrote
two chess books, Blunders & Brilliancies and Master Chess A Course
in 21
Lessons.Due to illness Ian had to give up playing chess but still
followed the game through friends and newspapers. Sadly Ian died on 28th
July and his
funeral was on 20th August.
John B Henderson
5) Kurt Bendit
Former MI Chess Club Director Kurt Bendit is living at the
San Francisco Community Convalescent Hospital, Room 3A,
at 2655 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA 94115 (Bush and Divisadero)
- phone (415) 922-4141 . He welcomes visitors.
I. A. Horowitz toured the US extensively from the 1930s until the late 1950s promoting his Chess Review magazine and made many visits to the Mechanics' Institute. Here, in what might have been his last appearance at the club, he succumbs to Bendit's use of the tricky Dilworth variation in the Open Ruy.
Horowitz,A - Bendit,K [C82]
Simul at Mechanics' Institute San Francisco, 1958
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.c3 Bc5 10.Nbd2 Nxf2 11.Rxf2 0-0 12.Bc2 f6 13.Nb3? Bxf2+ 14.Kxf2 fxe5 15.Kg1 Bg4 16.Qe1 Bxf3 17.gxf3 Rxf3 18.Be3 e4 19.Nd2 Ne5 20.Kh1 Rh3 21.Bf4 Qf6 22.Bg3 Rf8 23.Bb3 Nc4 24.Bxc4 bxc4 25.Qe3 Qb6 26.Qg5 Qe6 27.Rg1 Rh6 28.Qe3 c6 29.Re1 Qg4 30.Rg1 Rg6 31.b3 cxb3 32.axb3 Qd7 33.Qd4 Qe7 34.Qe3 h5 35.c4 h4 36.Bf2 Rxg1+ 37.Bxg1 Qe5 38.cxd5 cxd5 39.b4 Rc8 40.Qb6 h3 41.Qxa6 Rc1 42.Qe2 e3 43.Nf3 Qe4 44.b5 Re1 0-1
The California Chess Reporter, pages 58-59, 1958
6) US Olympiad Teams named
GMs Alex Onischuk, Alexander Goldin, Gregory Kaidanov, Alex Shabalov, Igor Novikov and Boris Gulko will make up the team which will represent the United States in Spain this October. It looks like former Russian captain Boris Postovsky will be the leader for his new country. Zsuzsa Polgar , Irina Krush, Anna Zatonskih and Jennifer Shahade will represent America in the women's competition with Paul Truong serving as Captain.
This Olympiad will mark the first time that the US Team has no native born players. Yasser Seirawan's (born in Syria but moved to the US before age 5) rating still puts him easily in the top six, but he announced his retirement from serious competitions last year - a pity as he won the silver medal on board two at the 2002 Olympiad, the only brifght spot for the US Team. 16-year-old Hikaru Nakamura, who made it four rounds into the FIDE World Championship in Libya earlier this year, has been playing extremely well of late, but the USCF formula includes results over the past two years which caused him to narrowly miss a spot. It would be a safe bet to count Hikaru on the team for 2006 and we would not be surprised to find GM Varuzhan Akobian also earning a spot.
The 2004 squad will feature three newcomers to the team, but they are hardly inexperienced. Alex Onischuk and Igor Novikov were both members of several Ukrainian Olympic teams and Alexander Goldin played very successfully for the United States in a match against China a few years ago. They will be part of the first US team in history in which all six players have FIDE ratings over 2600. This will have them seeded in the top ten, but whether they can fight for medals as US teams did so successfully in the period 1974-1998 (1 gold, 2 silver and 6 bronze from 13 Olympiads) or suffer as the last two squads (40th place results in Istanbul and Slovenia) did is unclear. Boris Gulko has played very infrequently the past two years, his only event in 2004 the Aeroflot Open. He would have played in the FIDE World Championship except that it ended up in Tripoli. Understandably at age 57, Gulko is not particularly interested in playing in the tiring world of two-games-a-day US weekend Swisses. Unfortunately with no foreign invitations this means he rarely gets to play outside the US Championship. This time around he barely played enough games and if the USCF beefs up its activity requirements this might be his last Olympiad (I believe he has represented the US continuously since 1988) even if his rating keeps him in the top six.
Gregory Kaidanov has also played very infrequently this year. Like most
of the US team he was qualified for the FIDE World Championships but didn't
play. Gregory debuted for the United States in 1993 at the World Team Championship
in Lucerne where the Americans took home the gold, and has represented
the United States ever since. He appeared to have reached his peak around
1993-94 but showed there was still room for improvement when he had a spectacular
result in the Aeroflot Open in 2002. Unfortunately for a player of his
level he gets few invitations to play in serious event and spends most
of his time running a very successful chess coaching program. The only
two members of the 2004 team, one of the oldest the US has ever fielded
with an average age well over 40, that are extra ambitious are top-board
Alex Onischuk and US Champion Alex Shabalov. The US team will need big
results from these two players and solid performances from the other four
members to crack the top five. The experience and knowledge are there the
question is whether they will have the energy. We wish them the very best
success.
The US Womens team is another story. The USCF has never fielded a team
with a former Womens World Champion (Polgar), two players who play like
good male IMs (Krush and Zatonskih) and a reserve player (Jennifer Shahade)
who has two IM norms and a FIDE 2350+ rating. Go back 20 years ago and
with the exception of Diane Savereide there were no US players above
2200! Time have changed and so have expectations. The tourists of the past
have been replaced by a team that definitely is aiming for a medal, preferably
gold. Manager Paul Truong has arranged for training and other support the
past two years and the players know each other well. Prospects look bright
but there are a lot of strong women players out there. The world of women
versus women chess is rapidly disappearing, but experience from the past
has taught us that the top-rated teams don't necessarily win. Just as the
US Mens Basketball team in Athens had a hard time adjusting to the international
rules the US players, who play almost entirely against men, may need to
make some adjustments. Still, if they stay healthy, have good morale and
are able to use all four players frequently, there are excellent chances
for an outstanding result.
Good luck!
7) Americans Abroad
IM Bill Paschall of Boston scored 4 from 10 in the Category 7 (2420) GM norm August First Saturday series in Budapest held August 7-19. Seattle FM Bill Schill scored 7-6 in the IM norm section (Category 1 - 2269 average) was won by New York teenager Alex Lenderman with a score of 8.5-4.5 (one forfeit win).
GM Chanda Sandipan of India won the annual Curacao tournament
held August 5-14 with 7.5 from 9. US Champion Alex Shabalov
of Pittsburgh was second at 7, while a point back Jennifer Shahade,
Anna Zatonskih and Rusa Goletiani shared fourth at 6. New Orleans
FM John Bick was tied for ninth at 5. 34 players competed.
8) Here and There
Stillwater, Oklahoma, is likely to be hosting the strongest tournament this Labor Day weekend. Confirmed GMs competing include the Bay Area's own Walter Browne, Alex Wojtkiewicz, Alex Stripunsky, Sergey Kudrin and Pavel Blatny. IMs scheduled to play include Michael Brooks, Anna Zatonskih and Jesse Kraai. Good luck Walter!
GMs John Fedorowicz and Nick DeFirmian have a new book out on the English Attack in the Sicilian. Batsford is the publisher.
IM Pascal Charbonneau is the 2004 Canadian Champion after defeating FM Master Eric Lawson in a playoff after they tied for first in a nine round Swiss. The 20-year-old Lawson had a breakout event defeating IM Igor Ivanov (representing Canada once again as he did in the 1980s) and top-seed Kevin Spraggett in the last two rounds. Go to http://www.chessontario.com/2004closed/ for more information.
45th US Armed Forces Open
The 2004 (45th annual) US Armed Forces Open (USAFO) Chess Tournament will be held from Saturday October 9 to Monday (Columbus Day) October 11, 2004 at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. This year the event has been opened up to any chess players from around the world who are in a military status (active, reserve, retired, national guard, militia, cadet, midshipman, or their national equivalent). The event is also on the World Chess Federation calendar. The organisers would love to see one or more players from the UK show up this year. Military chess players from all nations of the world are cordially invited. The US Department of State told the organisers that there are no restrictions on whom they may invite. To speed up the visa application process [for those nations who do not have a "reciprocal no visa agreement" with the US], the event is on a special list of approved events at all U. S. consulates and embassies around the world. The superb venue this year is at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. So far, players from India, Macedonia, Israel, Malaysia and Greece have indicated their intent to participate. There is the hope many other nations will also attend. So far the strongest military player that may compete is GM Efstratios Grivas (ELO 2520) from Greece, who is an instructor at the Hellenic Army Academy in Attica, Greece near Athens. The entrance fee is free. Registration is via e-mail using the form provided on the website. Further info: http://www.freewebs.com/usafco
The upcoming issue of Squares magazine will have articles by Californians Jerry Hanken (Lone Pine reminiscences) and Andy Ansel (book collecting). Go to http://www.chessco.com/ for more information.
The English Olympiad team for Spain is 1 Michael Adams, 2 Nigel Short, 3 Luke McShane, 4 Jon Speelman, 5 Mark Hebden, 6 Peter Wells.
The Ukrainian Championships, which is being run as a knockout, is producing lots of exciting chess. Here are two games that attracted my eye. The final sees 19 year old Anton Korobov (2565) play 18 year old Andrei Volokitin (2638).
Romanishin,O - Neverov,V [D58]
Ukrainian Championship Kharkov UKR (1.4), 25.08.2004
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 b6 8.Bd3
Bb7 9.0-0 Nbd7 10.Bg3 c5 11.Qe2 cxd4 12.exd4 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Nh5 14.d5 Nxg3
15.hxg3 exd5 16.Bxd5 Rb8 17.Rad1 Bf6 18.Qe4 Bxc3 19.Bxb7 Qc7 20.Rxd7! Qxd7
21.Bc6 Qd6 22.bxc3 Qa3 23.Ne5 Rbc8 24.c4 Qxa2 25.Bd5 Rc7 26.Ng6 Rd8 27.Ne7+
Kf8 28.Nc6 Rdc8 29.Qh7 Rxc6 30.Re1 Re6 31.Bxe6 Qd2 32.Rf1 1-0
Korobov,A (2565) - Goloshchapov,A (2577) [D10]
UKR Championship (final) Kharkiv (4.1), 30.08.2004
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 dxc4 4.e3 b5 5.a4 b4 6.Ne4 Qd5 7.Ng3 Nf6 8.Nf3
Ba6 9.Be2 e6 10.0-0 Bd6 11.Bd2 Nbd7 12.b3 c5 13.bxc4 Qb7 14.dxc5 Bxc5 15.Nd4
Ne5 16.Qb3 Rc8 17.Nb5 Qe7 18.Rfb1 Nc6 19.Bf3 Na5 20.Qxb4 Bxb4 21.Bxb4 Rc5
22.Bxa5 Rxc4 23.Na3 Rc5 24.Bb4 0-0 25.Nb5 Rb8 26.Rd1 Bxb5 27.axb5 Qc7 28.Bxc5
Qxc5 29.Bc6 h5 30.Ne2 Ng4 31.h3 Ne5 32.Nd4 Rc8 33.Rdc1 Qb6 34.Ra6 Qb8 35.Rca1
Kh7? 36.Be4+ Kh6 37.Nf5+ Kg5 38.f4+ Kf6 39.fxe5+ Qxe5 40.Nd6 Rc7 41.Ne8+
Kg5 42.Nxc7 Qxe4 43.Rxa7 Qxe3+ 44.Kh1 Kh6 45.Ne8 Qb6 46.Rxf7 Qxb5 47.Nxg7
h4 48.Raf1 Qe2 49.Nxe6 1-0
9) Battle of Two World Champions
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 participating 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]
10) USCF DUES REDUCED!
The US Chess Federation is pleased to announce that effective immediately,the
price of most memberships including Chess Life has been reduced by $2if
purchased online through our website at uschess.org. Early Renewal,
AutoRenewal, 6 Month, Blind, Prison, and Economy memberships are not affected.
The most popular categories reduced are:
Regular: lowered from $49 to $47
Promotional (new or last expired 2002 or before): lowered from $38
to $36
Senior (over 65): lowered from $36 to $34
Youth (under 20): lowered from $25 to $23
Scholastic (under 15): lowered from $19 to $17
Multi-year memberships in these categories have also been reduced
in price by $2.
Affiliate commissions for all these categories are now $2 in our
TD/affiliate area, and affiliates may obtain the $2 online discount as
well, so the cost for affiliates who submit memberships online is Regular
$45, Promotional $34, Senior $32, Youth $21, Scholastic $15. We are
confident that these lower fees will result in more USCF-rated scholastics
being held, and more clubs recruiting new members (and those expired 2002/before)
through the Promotional memberships!
The $13 Economy Scholastic membership (without Chess Life) is still available upon request, but that membership rate does not qualify for an online discount and affiliates do not receive a commission.
The net due from affiliates for the $19 Scholastic Memberships is only
$15 through our TD/Affiliate area (after the $2 online discount and $2
affiliate commission), for a membership that includes 6 issues of Chess
Life including our new "Chess Life Kids" supplement! We urge all
affiliates to promote this bargain membership!
11)"First Move Chess Challenge"
On September 19th, the American Foundation for Chess (AF4C) in partnership
with the Detlef Schrempf Foundation is hosting the "First Move Chess
Challenge". This event will pit celebrities against five top scholastic
players. 2003 Women's Champion Anna Hahn will also be in town to
give a
simultaneous exhibition that will will kick off at Bellevue Square
and last from 2:00-5:00pm. Salome Thomas-EL, author of best-selling book,
"I Choose
to Stay" (which is now being turned into a Disney film), will deliver
the keynote address later in the evening.
For those who may not know, Detlef Schrempf had a successful
career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) where he had his most
successful
seasons with the Indiana Pacers and the Seattle Supersonics. The 6'9''
sharp-shooting forward is a native of Germany scored more than 15,000 points
in his career and was an NBA All-Star in 1997. He retired after the
2000-2001 season.
Newsletter #208, 09/08/2004
"Chess is in its essence a game, in its form an art, and in its execution
a science."
Baron Tassilo von Heyderbrand und der Lasa
GM Lubomir Ftacnik will give a free lecture at the MI this Saturday from 1-2:30 pm. A blitz tournament will follow immediately afterwards.
1) Mezentsev wins Northern California State Championship
IM-elect Vladimir Mezentsev of Mountain View is the 2004 Northern
California Champion, scoring 5 from 6 in the annual Labor Day event held
September 4-6 at the Holiday Inn on Van Ness in San Francisco. Mezentsev,
who drew with IMs Ricardo DeGuzman and John Donaldson, took
home $700 for his efforts. DeGuzman, who scored 4.5, was second, while
Donaldson, SM David Pruess and Expert Drake Wang tied for
third at 4 in the small open section. Wang, an up-and-coming teenager,
had a breakout event, winning four in a row after a first round loss before
succumbing to Mezentsev in the last round. Pruess, who took a first round
bye, had a very tough loss to DeGuzman while Donaldson was undefeated and
earned the right on tie-break to represent Northern California on September
19 in ICC blitz qualifier for the US Championship (Mezentev represents
Russia and De Guzman the Philippines). A total of 182 players, one of the
better turnouts in recent years for a non-scholastic event, competed in
this multi section event directed by Richard Koepcke and John
McCumiskey.
2) Browne, Kudrin and Stripunsky tie in Oklahoma
Frank Berry, who organized and directed this event with his twin brother Jim, sent in the following report.
"81 players competed in the Stillwater, OK OCF-NAO held last weekend
including 5 GMs, 2 WGMs and 2 IMs.
GMs Sergey Kudrin, Walter Browne and Alex Stripunsky
tied for 1st with 6.5 out of 8, receiving $1,300 apiece. Tying for fourth
at 6 pts, goof for $525 apiece, were GM Pavel Blatny, IM Jesse
Kraai, IM (WGM) Anna Zatonskih and IM Michael Brooks.
GM Alex Wojtkiewicz ended with 5 points losing in the last two rounds
to Browne and Kudrin."
The following key game was Browne's second win over perennial Grand Prix champ Wojtkiewicz, in less than a month, and features annotations by the six-time US Champion. Thanks to Frank Berry for sending out this material so quickly. This is in sharp contrast to the US Open, which finished nearly a month ago, and still the last round bulletin has yet to appear!
Browne,W (2500) - Wojtkiewicz,A (2500) [B90]
OCF-NAO Oklahoma (7.2), 06.09.2004
[Browne]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e6 7.Be3 b5
8.g4 Nfd7 9.Qd2 Nb6 10.a4
10.0–0–0 N8d7 11.Bxb5 axb5 12.Ndxb5 Ba6 13.Nxd6+ Bxd6 14.Qxd6 Nc4
15.Qd4 e5 looks good for Black.
10...Nc4
A brand new move by Wojo. 10...bxa4 11.Nxa4 Nxa4 12.Rxa4 Be7
13.g5! Topalov-Anand WAZ, 2004
11.Bxc4 bxc4 12.0–0–0
12.a5 Be7 13.Na4! also causes Black some problems
12...Nd7 13.f4 Bb7 14.f5 e5
14...Nc5 15.fxe6 fxe6 16.Qe2 Rc8 (16...Qd7 17.Qxc4 Nxe4 18.Nxe4
Bxe4 19.Nxe6 d5 20.Nc7+ Kd8 21.Nxd5 Bxh1 22.Bg5+ Ke8 23.Nc7++-) 17.Qxc4
Qd7 18.Rhf1 Nxe4 19.Qxe6+ Qxe6 20.Nxe6 Nxc3 21.bxc3 Rxc3 22.Bd4 Rf3! 23.Rfe1
Kd7 24.Bxg7 Bxg7 25.Nxg7 with good winning chances.
15.Nde2
15.Ne6 fxe6 16.fxe6 Be7 (16...Nf6 17.Qf2 Qe7 18.Nd5 Bxd5 19.exd5
and Wojo survives but not so easy!) 17.exd7+ Qxd7 18.Rhf1 and white is
better.
15...Qa5
15...Nf6 16.Bg5 Be7 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Nd5 Rb8 19.Nec3 Bxd5; 15...Be7
16.g5 0–0 17.Rhg1 Kh8 18.Nd5 with a big edge]
16.g5 Bc6 17.Nd5 Qxa4 18.Kb1
18.Nec3 Qa1+ 19.Nb1 Bxd5! (19...Rb8? 20.Qc3 Bxd5?! 21.Rxd5 with
the idea Ra5 with compensation for White.) 20.Qxd5 Rb8 21.b3 cxb3 22.cxb3
Rc8+ 23.Kd2 Qb2+ and Black is much better.
18...Rb8 19.g6
19.Nec3 Qa5 20.Qe2 Bxd5 21.Nxd5 Qa4 22.g6 hxg6 23.fxg6 fxg6 24.Qg4
c3 25.Qxg6+ Kd8 26.Bg5+ Kc8 27.Nxc3 Qb4 28.Qe8+ and white wins.
19...hxg6 20.fxg6 fxg6 21.Nec3 Qa5 22.Qe2
22.Qg2 Kd8 23.Qxg6 Rh3 24.Rhf1 Rxe3 25.Rxf8+ Nxf8 26.Qxd6+ Nd7 27.Qxc6
wins.
22...Bxd5 23.Nxd5 c3
23...Nf6 24.Qxc4 Nxd5 25.Rxd5 Qb4 26.Rxe5+ (26.Qc6+ Kf7 27.Qd7+
Be7 28.Rf1+ Kg8 29.Qe6+ Kh7 30.Bc1 Qxe4 31.Rd3 with a superior position.
31...Bh4) 26...dxe5 27.Qe6+ Be7 28.Qxg6+ Kd8 29.Rd1+ Kc7 black wins
24.b3 Nf6
24...Qa3 25.Nxc3 and white has better pieces and a safer king.
25.Qc4 Be7
25...Nxd5
26.Qc6+
26.Nc7+ Kd8 27.Ne6+ Kd7 28.Nc5+ Ke8 29.Nxa6 Ra8 30.Nc7+ Kd7
26...Kf7 27.Nxe7 Kxe7 28.Rxd6 Rhc8 29.Re6+ Kf7 30.Rxf6+! gxf6
31.Qd7+ Kg8
31...Kf8 32.Bh6+ Kg8 33.Qg7#
32.Qe6+ Kg7 33.Qe7+ Kg8 34.Qe6+ Kg7 35.Rd1 Rxb3+
35...Rc7 36.Rd6 (36.Rd7+ Rxd7 37.Qxd7+ Kh8 38.Qh3+ Kg8 39.Qe6+ Kg7
40.Qe7+ Kg8 41.Bh6+-) ; 35...Rd8 36.Qe7+ Kg8 37.Rg1 g5 38.Bxg5; 35...Rb7
36.Qxb3 Qc7 37.Kc1 Rb8 38.Qe6 Rb7 39.Rd6 Qf7 40.Qxf7+ Kxf7 41.Rxa6
Rb4 42.Rc6 Rxe4 43.Rxc3 Rh4 44.Bg1 f5 45.Kd2 Rg4 46.Rg3 Ra4 47.Bf2 f4 48.Rg4!
Otherwise the pawns are dangerous!
48...Kf6 49.Bh4+ Kf5 50.Rg5+ Ke4?!
I thought 50...Kf6 was more stubborn
51.Rxg6 Kf3 52.Kc3 e4 53.Kb3 Rd4 54.Bf6 Rd6 55.h4 Rb6+ 56.Ka2
Rc6 57.Kb2 e3 58.h5 e2 59.Bh4 Rc5 60.h6 Rh5 61.Be1 Rh1 62.Bb4 e1Q 63.Bxe1
Rxe1 64.c4 Re5! 65.Kc3 Ke4
65...Ke3 66.h7 Rh5 67.Re6+ Kf2 68.Re7 f3 69.Kd2 Kg1 70.Rg7+ Kf1
71.c5 f2; 65...Ke2 66.Kd4
66.h7 Rh5 67.Re6+ Kf5 68.Re7 Kf6 69.Rb7 f3 70.Kd3 Rh2 71.c5 Ke6
72.c6 Kd6 73.c7 Kd7 74.Rb8 1–0
3) Mechanics' News
NM Russell Wong is alone in first with a perfect score after
four rounds of the Robert Jordan Tuesday Night Marathon.
Tied for second at 3.5 are IM Ricardo DeGuzman, NM Batchimeg
Tuvshintugs and Experts Nicolas Yap and Larry Snyder.
Yefim Bukh won last Wednesday's Blitz event with David Ray second. Action resumes this evening at 7pm.
GM Lubomir Ftacnik will give a free lecture on Bishop versus
Knight this Saturday at 1pm until 2:30 pm. Immediately afterwards
there will be a five double round blitz tournament with a $10 entry
free. The first prize of $50 is guaranteed with other prizes based on entries.
4) AF4C announces 2005 US championship wild card selections
The America's Foundation for Chess announces the 2005 US championship
wild
card selections:
The stated mission of the AF4C is to use two wild card spots in the
US Championship to promote the development of exceptionally promising junior
players. Last year, in line with our mission, we selected Varhuzan
Akobian (based on his being the Samford fellow) and Laura Ross
(based on her being
the highest rated girl under 16). Those turned out to be fine choices,
with Akobian battling for first place in the final round, and Ross benefiting
from her experience to earn a qualifying spot for this year's championship
at the World Open.
This year one wild card spot has been offered to Salvijus Bercys.
Bercys, who is 14 years old, is the #1 US rated player under the age of
16 (USCF
rating 2424). He was the 2003 US junior open champion and finished
clear second in the 2004 US Junior invitational championship, half of a
point
behind Milman (who earned a US championship qualifying spot for
this victory) and ahead of Josh Friedel, Bruci Lopez, Matthew Hoekstra
and Dmitry
Schneider (all of whom have earned qualifying spots at other tournaments).
This was an unusual year with so many top juniors earning qualifying
spots. Because of this unique situation, the AF4C was in a position to
recognize
the return of Gata Kamsky to active tournament chess, and
offer him the second wild card spot. Gata Kamsky is America's highest rated
USCF chess
player, and one of the top rated players in the world. In 1996 he
played Karpov for the world championship. Having reached the pinnacle of
the chess
world, Kamsky unexpectedly took a sabbatical from chess to pursue
a higher education, and has just recently graduated with a degree in Law.
He is
preparing to take the NY bar exam.
With the completion of his formal education, Kamsky has returned
to chess, is a regular player at the New York Masters and is anxious to
participate in
the US Championship. As the only American to become the official
challenger for the World Championship since Bobby Fischer, Gata is a most
deserving contender for the US Championship. His omission at a time
that he is actively playing chess would be a serious oversight. As the
US Championship
is the premier event in America, the AF4C is very excited to have
the opportunity to offer to Gata, who is now the number one ranked player
in the
US, a wild-card spot.
The chairman of the selection committee was AF4C co-founder and
board member, Dr. Jim Roberts, and committee members were GM Yasser
Seirawan, AF4C president Erik Anderson and chess journalist
John
Henderson. The committee would like to thank numerous US championship
players and others in the chess community for their input into these decisions.
http://www.af4c.org/events.asp
For further information contact John Henderson of the AF4C at +1 (206)
229-9233 or by email: [email protected]
John B Henderson
6) Here and There
IM Calvin Blocker set an Ohio simul record scoring 110 wins and 6 draws in an 11-hour marathon held at the Eton Collection shopping center in Woodmere, a Cleveland suburb on August 29. Blocker is a 12-time state champion and the only Ohio native to earn the International Master title.
Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura won the 2004 New York State Championship held September 4-6. Nakamura took home $1600 for his score of 5.5 from 6. Tying for second at 5 were IM Jay Bonin and Igor Nikolayev (the only player to draw with Nakamura).
One of the most successful players of 2004 has been GM Ildar Ibragimov
who defeated former Candidate Jaan Ehlvest in the last round of
the Atlantic Open held in Washington D.C. on August 27-29. Ibragimov's
4.5 from 5 score earned him $2000. Among those tied for second at 4-1 were
US Champion Alex Shabalov and GM Dmitry Gurevich.
Newsletter #209, 09/15/2004
"Chess, with all its philosophical depth, its aesthetic appeal, is
first of all a game in the best sense of the word; a game in which are
revealed your intellect, character and will."
Boris Spassky
1) Mechanics Chess Club News
An audience of 30 showed up for Slovak GM Lubomir Ftacnik's instructive lecture last Saturday. Immediately afterward a 14 player Blitz was won by IM Ricardo DeDuzman. Batsikan Tserendorj was second while 8-year-old Hugo Kitano picked up the under 1800 prize.
David Ray won the weekly Wednesday blitz on September 8. The next event is this evening at 7pm.
IM Ricardo DeGuzman is now tied for first in the Robert Jordan Tuesday Night Marathon after reeling off four wins in a row after taking a first round bye. Tied with him at 4.5 are NM Russell Wong and young Expert Nicolas Yap.
The 4th Howard Donnelly Memorial (5 rounds; G/45) will be held this
Saturday at the MI starting at 10am.
2) Yermo tops in Medicine Hat
Mechanics' Institute Grandmaster-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky
went 5-0 to take first place in the Medicine Hat Open held September 11-12.
Organized by Bill Taylor, the event drew players from as far away
as Edmonton and Calgary to the rapidly growing city located not far from
the Alberta-Montana border. Yermo reports the 2005 Canadian Open is scheduled
to be held in Edmonton.
3) Khaciyan, Peters and Bagheri tie for first in Burbank
1-3. IMs Melik Khaciyan and Jack Peters and Iranian GM Amir Bagheri tied first in the Southern California Open over Labor Day weekend with 5 from 6. Bagheri and Khaciyan drew quickly in the last round allowing LA Times Chess Columnist Jack Peters to catch up with a last round win over IM Andranik Matikozyan. Here are two key games.
Bagheri,A (2491) - Sevillano,E [A46]
26th So. Cal. Open Burbank (5), 06.09.2004
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 Be7 4.Nbd2 d5 5.e3 0–0 6.Bd3 Nbd7 7.c3 c5
8.Ne5 cxd4 9.exd4 Nxe5 10.dxe5 Nd7 11.Qh5 g6 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Qe2 Nc5 14.Nf3
Bd7 15.0–0 Rab8 16.Bc2 b5 17.b4 Na4 18.Qe3 Nb6 19.Rad1 Rfc8 20.Bb3 Rb7
21.Rd3 Be8 22.Nd4 Rbc7 23.f4 Na4 24.Bxa4 bxa4 25.Qg3 a6 26.Rff3 Bb5 27.Rde3
Rc4 28.h4 Rxd4 29.cxd4 Qxb4 30.Kh2 Qxd4 31.h5 Qb4 32.f5 exf5 33.e6 d4 34.Re5
Kf8 35.exf7 Kxf7 36.Qf4 Bd7 37.hxg6+ hxg6 38.Rh3 Kf6 39.Rd5 Be8 40.Qe5+
Kg5 41.Rg3+ 1–0
Matikozyan,A - Peters,J (2424) [C76]
26th So. Cal. Open Burbank (6), 06.09.2004
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.c3 Bd7 6.0–0 g6 7.d4 Bg7 8.Be3
Nf6 9.Nbd2 Ng4 10.Bg5 f6 11.Bh4 Qe7 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.Qe2 0–0 14.Ne1 Nh6
15.Nc2 Nd8 16.Bxd7 Qxd7 17.Rfd1 Ne6 18.f3 Nf7 19.Nb3 Qb5 20.Qxb5 axb5 21.Bf2
Rfd8 22.Nb4 Nd6 23.Nc5 Nxc5 24.Bxc5 Bf8 25.Nd5 Ne8 26.Bxf8 Kxf8 27.a3 Kf7
28.Kf2 Ke6 29.Ke2 f5 30.exf5+ gxf5 31.Ne3 Nd6 32.g4 f4 33.Nd5 Rd7 34.Nb4
h5 35.h3 hxg4 36.hxg4 Rh8 37.Nd3 Rh2+ 38.Kf1 Rdh7 39.Re1 Kf6 40.Nf2 Nc4
41.Rac1 Nd2+ 42.Ke2 Rxf2+ 0–1
4) AF4C, USCF and ICC announce online ‘Champion of Champions’ event
THE America's Foundation for Chess, the United States Chess Federation and the Internet Chess Club are pleased to announce a new online event of US State Champions, the winner of which will go forward as the final competitor in the 64-player field for the 2005 Chessmaster US Championships in San Diego.
First held in 1845, the US Championship is rightly regarded as one of the world's oldest and most famous national titles. Yet, in its long and illustrious history, there has never been a way to recognize the State Championship structure by finding a way for the best-of-the-best to directly win through for a coveted spot at the US Championships.
Now, thanks to the cooperation of our online partners the ICC, the AF4C will hold a Champion of Champions event that will see State Champions from as far as Alaska through California to Hawaii, and from Maine through New York to Florida coming together in an innovative new online event that will run 18-19 September, with the top four going forward to the knockout finals 25-26 September.
Apart from the lure of a lucrative spot for the US Championships for the winner, thanks to the ICC and Erik Anderson, co-founder and president of AF4C, there will also be a $1,000 prize fund ($500 to the winner, $250 to the runner-up and $125 each for 3-4 place) on offer to the four players going forward to the knockout final.
The first stage of the new event will be a 9-round Swiss-styled tournament split into two sections of East and West. On Saturday, 18 September at 15.00 ICC Time (EST), the East coast State Champions will battle it out to find their top two players, and the following day Sunday, 19th September at 15.00 ICC Time (EST), the West coast will do likewise to find their top two. Both of these events will operate under a fast time control of 3 minutes plus one second per move to successfully whittle down the numbers.
All four will then go forward to the grand knockout finals the following week with a time control of Game 60 minutes and with official independent observes on hand to ensure fair play with so much at stake.
On Saturday, 25 September at 15.00 ICC Time (EST), the winner of the East coast stage will meet the runner-up of the West coast stage and vice-versa. The two winners will then go forward to the grand final on Sunday, 26 September starting at 15.00 ICC Time (EST), the winner of which will be crowned Champion of Champions and will go forward to the US Championships in San Diego as a representative of all the states.
Over Labor Day Weekend of 3-6 September, almost half of the 50 states within the US held their individual State Championships - and the field is now ready to take part in this new online event.
With the world's top prize fund on offer of $253,600, the 2005 Chessmaster US Championships will take place 24 November through December 5 at the Hilton Torrey Pines in La Jolla, San Diego, Calif. "The national title championship is a prestigious event in the world of chess," said Erik J. Anderson, president and co-founder of AFC4. We have always looked at ways we could bring all of America together to take part in the US Championships and thanks to the help of our online partners the ICC, this new event helps us work towards that goal.
This will be the fourth year that AF4C has hosted the US Championships and its first year doing so in conjunction with the NTC Foundation in San Diego. Added Mr. Anderson: Since taking over the US Championships in 2000, we have found new ways to help revamp and reenergize this sleeping giant by continually moving forward. From opening the field up with our cycle of qualifying tournaments to having all sexes do battle as one, and now to this exciting new online event, we've strived to show that change can be good for all the Championship, its players and the sponsors.
The Internet Chess Club is proud to join with America's Foundation for Chess and the United States Chess Federation to present the 2004 Champion of Champions online tournament. "ICC is excited to be hosting this first ever online qualification tournament," said George MacDonald, General Manger of ICC. "We host hundreds of tournaments for our members every week, but this event is unique. It offers USCF State Champions a chance to compete for a slot in the 2005 United States Chess Championships. ICC wishes all the participants good luck!"
For further information contact John Henderson at the AF4C on 206-229-9233 or George MacDonald of ICC at 408-363-0701
Full rules and regulations for the event will be posted on the AF4C
site at www.af4c.org and on the ICC site
at
www.chessclub.com.
5) Here and There
NM Michael Aigner writes:
I posted about two dozen pictures from the Labor Day tournament on my website. Your readers might be particularly interested in some photos of the players in the Master section. Some images came out a little dark because I refused to disturb the players with flash.
http://www.fpawn.com/pictures.html
(Aigner's main picture page)
http://www.fpawn.com/CalChess2004/page1.html
(Labor Day tournament Master section)
Teenage NM Oleg Zaikov won the Oregon Open with a score of 5.5 from 6 on Labor Day weekend while NM Dan Scoones took top honors in the Victoria Labour Day Open in British Columbia with 5 from 6.
Noted journalist Seymour Hersh recently gave a talk at Hampden-Sydney
College in Virginia and used a chess analogy. Early on Mr. Hersh said,
"We're in trouble in Iraq and Afganistan. Basically we are playing chess
& they are playing go. We cannot win with force."
Newsletter #210, 09/22/2004
"Chess is a kind of mental alcohol. Unless a man has supreme self-control.
It is better that he should not learn to play chess. I have never allowed
my children to learn it, for I have seen too much of its evil results."
J.H. Blackburne
1) DeGuzman wins 4th Annual Donnelly Memorial
IM Ricardo DeGuzman continued his winning ways scoring 5-0 to
take home the first prize in the 4th Annual Howard Donnelly Memorial
held September 18. WGM Camilla Baginskaite made a welcome return
to the tournament arena, winning her first four games before taking a last
round bye. Her score of 4.5 was good for second, a half point behind were
Experts Batsaikan Tserendorj, Alexander Levitan and Dmitry Vayntrub.
Vinzaent Davies, rated only 1288, had an excellent result scoring 3.5 from
5 while playing up every round. Anthony Corrales direct the 37-player
event for the Mechanics'
2) Five-way tie in Robert Jordan TNM
IM Ricardo DeGuzman narrowly escaped against teenager Nicolas
Yap last night, saving a lost ending. This draw and the bye taken by
the other leader, NM Russell Wong, enabled FM Frank Thornally
and NM Igor Margulis to join these three players in first place
at 5-1 with two rounds to go in the Frank Jordan Tuesday Night Marathon.
3) A. Ibragimov tops Wednesday Night Blitz
Arthur Ibragimov won the Wednesday Night Blitz last week with
David
Ray second. Play starts tonight at 7pm following Alex Yermolinsky's
lecture.
4) Pruess tops in East Bay Chess Club Swiss
SM David Pruess scoring 3.5 from 4 (one half point bye) to win
the 19-player East Bay Chess Club September Swiss held September 18-19.
Salar Jahedi was second at 3 with Andy Lee, Ariel Mazzarelli,
Craig Andries, George Matchen, Corey Chang, Bleys Rose and Tatsuro
Yamamura
sharing Third/U2200,U2000,U1800,U1600 at 2.5.Go to http://www.eastbaychess.com/
for more information about this chess club located in North Berkeley.
5) Burnett, McHugh, Ginsburg and Zaikov advance in AF4C/ICC US Ch Qualifier
IM Ron Burnett (Tennessee) and NM Edward McHugh (Connecticut)
will represent the East and IM Mark Ginsburg (Arizona) and NM Oleg
Zaikov (Oregon) the West in a G/60 knockout this weekend on the ICC
with the last US Championship spot up for grabs. First round pairings are
Arizona vs Connecticut and Tennessee vs Oregon. Zaikov is a rapidly
improving junior and McHugh is looking for a breakthrough, but the smart
money will probably be on IM Ron Burnett, the highest rated player in the
field, to advance. Veterans will root for University of Arizona professor
Mark Ginsburg who has been trying to qualify for the 2004 US Championship
for much of the past two years. It seems like in every event Mark started
slowly, battled back, then lost the qualifier spot on tiebreak. Here is
hoping his luck changes. Go Mark!
The four finalists emerged from two 9 round blitz tournaments (3 minutes with one-second increment), each made up of approximately 20 state champions, including Northern California representative John Donaldson who was fourth in the West. This first time event, the AF4C repechage if you will, was ably run by ICC administrator Duncan Oxley (autobot on the ICC). One improvement for next year would be to have standings available after each round so the players don't have to guess how they are doing. It wasn't readily apparent that West favorite IM Kong Deng of Los Angeles who got confused with the starting time, wasn't playing until after the event was over.
CofC-Tennessee - CofC-Connecticut [B40]
ICC tourney 582 (3 1 u) Internet Chess Club (3), 18.09.2004
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.b3 b6 4.Bb2 Bb7 5.Qe2 d6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 a6
8.Nc3 Nf6 9.0–0–0 Nbd7 10.g4 Ne5 11.g5 Nfd7 12.f4 Nc6 13.Nxc6 Bxc6 14.Bg2
Qc7 15.h4 b5 16.Nd5 Qb7 17.Nb4 Rc8 18.h5 Nb6 19.Nxc6 Qxc6 20.h6 Rg8 21.hxg7
Bxg7 22.Rxh7 Bxb2+ 23.Kxb2 Qc5 24.Bf3 Na4+ 25.bxa4 Qb4+ 26.Kc1 Qa3+ 27.Kd2
Qc3+ 28.Kc1 Qa1+ 29.Kd2 Qc3+ 30.Kc1 Qa1+ Game drawn by mutual agreement
½–½
6) Polgar - Karpov 3-3 tie
Here is a brief report from Paul Troung. If you go to ChessBase.com you will find a complete report with many pictures of yet another first class event organized by Mikhail Korenman.
Rapid: Karpov 1.5 - Polgar .5
Fischer Random Karpov 1 - Polgar 1 (1 win - 1 loss)
Blitz: Karpov .5 - Polgar 1.5
Progressive score:
Karpov 1/2 1
0 1 1/2 0
= 3
Polgar 1/2 0
1 0 1/2 1
= 3
There were about 2,000 at the Champions Parade. 176 new USCF memberships were signed up.
There were about 500 people in the audience the first day and about 800 combine for both days. Nearly 100 had the opportunity to dine with Polgar and Karpov on Saturday evening. The entire event was a true spectacle to promote US Chess at the highest level.
Polgar went for the win in each game, sacrificing material in just about
every game. In game 5, Karpov offered a draw with only 10 seconds
left on the clock and no increment. However, the position was clearly
even and Polgar graciously accepted. There were plenty of media and
the players were warmly greeted. GM Shulman, IMs Charbonneau,
Krush and Zatonskih were on hand to help out and promote chess
to kids. Approximately 200 kids participated in the Champions Cup
tournament.
7) USCF No-Confidence Motion in King Kirsan
If you go to the front page of the USCF website (uschess.org) you will find a link to letter that President Beatriz Marinello and Executive Board Don Schultz wrote asking FIDE put a no-confidence motion on its agenda for the Congress to be held during the Olympiad in Spain this fall. The motivation for this action seems to be Kirsan's attempt to whitewash a recent report by the FIDE Verification Committee which was scathing in its criticism of the FIDE czar. Its not clear what sort of support the USCF initiative has or how aggressively it is lobbying other disgruntled national federations. Going it alone will definitely not produce results as the USCF is not a major player in FIDE.
Former American Zonal President and MI Chess Room Director Jim Eade raises some good points on the effectiveness of the no-confidence measure on his blog at http://journals.aol.com/jimeade/JimEadesWeblog . The author of the best-selling Chess for Dummies is due out with a new book, The Chess Player's Bible, later this year.
"I have mixed feelings about the USCF's latest FIDE initiative.
As you know, I consider the current state of affairs a complete mess, but
I am not confident that the problem has been correctly identified.
My concern is that there will be posturing and chest thumping, but no real
reform. I am weary of empty rhetoric. Don Schultz once passed a motion
that the USCF's WEB site would be "second to none." However, there was
never any intention of committing the resources necessary to make that
happen. Fixing FIDE requires more than mere words. The
first question to ask is whether FIDE, or something like FIDE is necessary.
When Kasparov was unable to secure a return match against Kramnik, I believe
his reluctant conclusion was that it is. Yet, FIDE as an organization
is extremely complex. I would submit that any international
organization governed by a General Assembly, and Executive Board, a Presidential
Board and a President is bound to experience some difficulties. If
I told you that the organization's Treasurer was not a full time paid employee,
you'd probably think I was joking. The real joke would
be on us. FIDE's audit and verification processes cannot withstand
scrutiny. One must question the independence and qualifications of
those involved. Until these systemic problems are addressed there
will be no real reform in FIDE. Reform is needed, but a vote
of no confidence in the President, is only for show. Demand a full
time Chief Financial Office. Insist on Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles. Engage an independent auditor. And, oh by the way,
tell me how these things will be paid for. It is difficult
to take these demonstrations seriously, however well intended they may
be."
8) HB Global Chess Challenge
Just when it looked like it was all doom and gloom for US Chess GM Maurice Ashley has made a fantastic move, landing a sponsor who will be organizing the biggest prize fund Swiss event ever next May. Well-done Maurice!
With a guaranteed prize fund of $500,000, Generation Chess is pleased to announce the richest open chess tournament in history. This event will be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota from May 18-22, 2005.
HB Global Chess Challenge
For further information, contact: For Immediate Release Brian Molohon,
HB Foundation, +1 (651) 209-3067
Maurice Ashley, Generation Chess, +1 (646) 495-6092
LARGEST EVER OPEN CHESS TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN U.S. IN MAY 2005,
ATTRACTING TOP PLAYERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
HB Foundation posts $500,000 prize fund for the HB Global Chess Challenge, a Maurice Ashley-led event expected to bring more than 4,000 participants to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Announcing that the world of chess is about to be transformed, Grandmaster Maurice Ashley revealed that the HB Foundation is sponsoring the largest open tournament ever, the HB Global Chess Challenge, which is expected to attract more than 4,000 players from around the globe. The HB Foundation has established a guaranteed prize fund of $500,000 for the tournament, which will be held May 18-22, 2005 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
PRIZE FUND: $500,000 absolutely guaranteed
Open Section:
1st place - $50,000
2nd place - $25,000
3rd place - $12,500
4th - $7,000 5th - $3,500 6th - $2,000
7th - 20th each $1,000 21st to 50th - each $500
2300-2449: 1st place - $20,000 2nd place - 10,000 3rd place - $5,000
UNDER 2300: 1st place - $20,000 2nd place - 10,000 3rd place - $5,000
Under 2200, U2000, U1800, U1600 SECTIONS:
1st place - $20,000
2nd place - $10,000
3rd place - $5,000
4th place - $2,500 5th place $1,500 6th place -$1,000
7th - 20th each $500 21st - 50th each $300
Under 1400 Section
1st place - $12,000
2nd place - $6,000
3rd place - $3,000
4th place - $2,000 5th place - $1,500 6th place - $1,000
7th – 20th each $500 21st - 50th each $300
Top Under 1200 $10,000-5,000-3,000-2,000-1,000
Top Under 1000 $4,000-2,000-1,000-1,000-1,000
UNRATED Section
1st place - $2,000
2nd place - $1,000
3rd place - $600
4th place - $500 5th place $400 6th – 10th $200
Entry Fee: $345 before 1/1/05; $345 from 1/1/05 through 1/30/05;
$375 from 2/1/05
through 5/1/05; $400 from May 1 to noon, May 17.
Discounts: Sign with a friend before 1/1/05 and each of you will
receive $50 off
your entry fee.
9) Hans Ree Interview
When one thinks of the best chess magazines in the world New In Chess and Schach are two names that come to mind, but a challenger is GM Alex Baburin's online daily Chess Today which at cost of around $45 a year offers you 365 issues filled with recent news, annotated games, book reviews and interviews. There is a team of editors, but I particularly enjoy the work of GM Mikhail Golubev who recently interviewed the famous Dutch chess writer Hans Ree .Here are a few exceprts.
You are particularly critical of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Do you see any positive results of his leadership in FIDE?
- None whatsoever. As you wrote yourself, even ten Kasparovs cannot
generate the sponsorship that Kirsan
chases away from chess on his own. I cannot imagine any other big international
organisation where a
person like him would be allowed to rule.
- Whom would you like to see in FIDE President's place?
- Bessel Kok, who in the past organised great tournaments, hosted
the Prague agreement which was
supposed to create a universally recognized World Championship, and
then was ruthlessly dumped, so that it
will all come to nothing.
-In the latest New in Chess Magazine 6/2004 you discussed highly
controversial topics: Fischer & Spassky. You supported Fischer's liberation.
Should, basically, the chess world forgive its main heroes such sins as
publicly expressed anti-Semitism? Alekhine wasn't forgiven by his
colleagues at his time...
- Forgiving or not is a personal matter, commenting on the fact if somebody
should end up in jail is something else. I think there is a difference
between Alekhine and Fischer. At a time when Jews where persecuted
and murdered Alekhine joined the murderers with his articles on Jewish
and Aryan chess. Fischer joins nobody and it is easier to forgive him
because he is obviously mentally disturbed. Anyway, the case against him
is not
his anti-Semitism, but the fact that he played against Spassky in Yugoslavia
in 1992. I didn't like him playing there, for money from a shady Serbian
arms
dealer who later also proved to be a fraudulent banker. But I don't
think
he
deserves a prison sentence.
- When did you decide that you should be a Grandmaster? And to what extent have you fulfilled your goals in chess?
- I never had any long-time goals in chess. I was studying mathematics
and I expected to become a professional mathematician, but then when I
had
finished my studies I realized that the life of a chess-player was
much more attractive. No alarm clock waking you up, but freedom and travel.
I never
really decided to become a chess professional, I just decided not to
take a job.
10) ACP Time Control Survey
Polish Grandmaster B. Macieja recently published the results of a survey down by the Association of Chess Professionals which points once again to dissatisfaction among top players of the G/90 with 30 second increment favored by King Kirsan.
Statistics of the participants
- 86 ACP Members and 68 non-ACP Members,
- 20 Women (14 WGMs, 4 WIMs, 2 other ACP Members) and 141 Men (78 GMs,
48 IMs, 15 other participants including 8 ACP Members),
- 36 players rated at least 2600 and 118 players rated below 2600,
- Total number of surveys taken into account: 161-7=154.
Final conclusions and recommendations: 161 players have taken part in
the survey about the time control. 7 completed surveys have been excluded,
as the players are neither ACP members nor WIM/WGM/IM/GM. The Remaining
154 completed surveys clearly show, that a majority of the players disagree
with the current official FIDE time control and prefer to come back to
7-hour time control. At the same time, a majority of the players prefer
to play with an increment of 30 seconds. Taking into account the results
of the survey, we ask FIDE and continental federations not to ignore the
players' point of view and come back to 7-hour rounds with an increment
of 30 seconds. We propose the following time control: (100'/40+50'/20+10'/SD)+30"
[100 minutes for 40 moves + 50 minutes for 20 moves + 10 minutes to the
end of the game + 30 seconds per move (added from move 1)], which was chosen
by the players as best for use in official events like the World Championships,
Continental Championships, and Zonal Tournaments.
11) Here and There
Sergey Kudrin drew with fellow GM Ildar Ibragimov in the last round to win the 2nd Annual Eastern Chess Congress held September 17 - 19, 2004, in Stamford, Connecticut. Kudrin's score of 4.5 from 5 was good for $800. Tying for second at 4 were Ibragimov and GM Alex Wojtkiewicz. 129 players competed in the multi-section event run by the Continental Chess Association.
Congratulations to David Pruess of Berkeley who is now officially
a Senior Master (2438 USCF) after winning the the Mark Pinto INternational
at the MI
this summer. Pruess needs one more IM norm for the title.
The latest issue of the Davenport, Iowa, produced Squares magazine has
a very interesting article by Michael Negele and the Bay Area's
own Andy Ansel on great American chess book collectors, focusing
on Albrecht Buschke.
Newsletter #211, 09/29/2004
"The act of playing chess is an act of creative cooperation. Even
though you're trying to defeat your opponent, you're still creating something
in partnership with him, a brand new game. Whether that creation is ultimately
beautiful or ugly makes no difference, the aesthetics don't matter - you're
still teaming up to make a game that's never been played before."
David Bronstein
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
IM Ricardo DeGuzman defeated NM Igor Margulis to grab the lead with one round to go in the Robert Jordan Tuesday Night Marathon. A half point behind DeGuzman's score of 6-1 are FM Frank Thornally, NM Russell Wong, and Experts Nicolas Yap and Ariel Mazzarelli.
NM Rey Salvatierra won a closely contested Wednesday Night Blitz on September 23 with a score of 7.5 from 9. Bay Area newcomer NM John Cline, formerly of Texas and Virginia, and David Ray shared second at 7 with Yefim Bukh fourth at 6.5.
This weekend the Mechanics' will host the 5 round, G/45 minutes, J.J. Dolan Memorial. The event is rated 1/2/K and will offer a good chance to get some practice before the upcoming Western States Open.
The main Chess Room will be closed from October 6 to October
25. During this time a new linoleum floor will be installed. Chess Room
activities will continue as usual in room 407.
2) Mike Valvo ( 1942-2004)
IM Michael Valvo of Chanhassen, Minnesota, passed away on September 18, 2004, at age 62. Valvo, who had suffered a stroke a few years ago, had a history of heart trouble.
Born in Albany, New York, Michael Valvo was a graduate of Columbia University and spent much of his life working with computers. He is perhaps best known to the public for his job as commentator for the Kasparov versus Deep Blue Matches in 1996 and 1997, but he accomplished many things in a chess career going back to the late 1950s.
Valvo learned the game from his father Frank, who was also a USCF master. Michael made quick progress and in 1964 was a member of the U.S. team that competed in the 11th Student Olympiad in Cracow, Poland, in 1964 along with Bill Lombardy, Raymond Weinstein, Charles Kalme, Bernard Zuckerman and Mitchell Sweig. The Americans finished in fourth place behind the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. He quit playing chess in 1969, but came back with a big bang by earning a FIDE rating of 2530 in the late 1970s after an excellent performance in a NY Futurity. FIDE awarded him the IM title in 1980.
A respected opening theoretician Valvo played 1.e4 for much of his career before adding the English to his repertoire. He was a lifelong fan of the Dragon and a early pioneer (1963) of a Benko-gambit type approach - 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 a6 followed by ...c5 with ...b5 to follow d4-d5. He tested many of his lines in correspondence chess throughout his career. Valvo was a co-author of a book on the 1990 Kasparov-Karpov match and was the technical editor of Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess along with Raymond Weinstein. He did the game annotations for the 1966/67 US Championship bulletin.
Valvo loved other games besides chess, especially competitive bridge which he played at a high level. He was also known as an excellent blackjack player.
He will leave behind many friends in the places where he spent his life including New York, New Jersey, Colorado and Minnesota.
Valvo,M (2465) - Zapata,A (2410) [A26]
New York MCC New York (1), 1980
1.c4 g6 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.g3 d6 4.Bg2 e5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.0–0 Nf6 7.Rb1 0–0
8.b4 Be6 9.d3 h6 10.b5 Ne7 11.a4 Qd7 12.Re1 Nh7 13.Ba3 f5 14.Qc2 Nf6 15.Nd2
Rab8 16.c5 Rfd8 17.Nc4 Ne8 18.Na5 Qc8 19.c6 bxc6 20.bxc6 Rxb1 21.Rxb1 Qa6
22.Nb7 Rc8 23.Nb5 Nf6 24.Rc1 Nfd5 25.e3 Bf7 26.d4 Nb6 27.Nxc7 Rxc7 28.Bxd6
Nbd5 29.Bxc7 Nxc7 30.a5 Bd5 31.Qc5 Kf8 32.Bxd5 Ncxd5 33.Qd6 exd4 34.exd4
Kg8 35.Qe6+ Kh7 36.Nd6 Nxc6 37.Qxd5 Nxd4 38.Rc8 Nf3+ 39.Qxf3 Qxd6 40.Qb7
Qd4 41.a6 f4 42.Rf8 fxg3 43.hxg3 h5 44.Ra8 Kh6 45.Rxa7 Bf6 46.Kg2 Qd2 47.Qf3
1–0
Valvo,M (2465) - Peters,J (2465) [C81]
New York MCC New York (10), 1980
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5
8.dxe5 Be6 9.Qe2 Be7 10.Rd1 0–0 11.c4 bxc4 12.Bxc4 Bc5 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.Qxe3
f5 15.exf6 Qxf6 16.Rxd5 Bxd5 17.Bxd5+ Kh8 18.Bxe4 Qxb2 19.Qc3 Rad8 20.Bc2
Qc1+ 21.Ne1 Nd4 22.Bd3 Qf4 23.Qd2 Rde8 24.f3 Rxe1+ 25.Qxe1 Nxf3+ 26.gxf3
Qd4+ 27.Kh1 Qxa1 28.Qh4 h6 29.Qe4 g6 30.Qxg6 Qg7 31.Qxg7+ Kxg7 32.Kg2 Rb8
33.Kg3 c5 34.Nc3 c4 35.Be4 Kf6 36.Kf4 Rb2 37.h3 Rh2 38.Bf5 a5 39.a4 Rb2
40.Nd5+ Kg7 41.Ke5 Rb3 42.Kd4 Rxf3 43.Bd7 c3 44.Nxc3 Kf6 45.Nd5+ Kg5 46.Nb6
Rf7 47.Kc5 Re7 48.Kd6 Re4 49.Kd5 Re3 50.Nc4 Rd3+ 51.Kc6 Rd4 52.Be6 Kh4
53.Kc5 Re4 54.Bd7 Re7 55.Kd6 Rxd7+ 56.Kxd7 Kxh3 57.Nxa5 h5 58.Nc4 1–0
3) Ron Burnett qualifies for US Championship
John Henderson writes:
"The inaugural winner of the US Chess Federation, America’s Foundation
for Chess, and the Internet Chess Club’s US State Champion of Champions
online event is IM Ronald Burnett from Tennessee, who took the title
on Sunday.
Thirty-eight USCF state champions from Eastern and Western states
competed in separate Swiss style Blitz qualifying tournaments on Saturday,
September 18 and Sunday, September 19, hosted by the ICC. The finalists
from the Eastern conference were Ronald Burnett (Tennessee) and
Edward
McHugh (Connecticut), with the Western conference finalists being Mark
Ginsburg (Arizona) and Oleg Zaikov (Oregon).
The Finals Weekend with a prize fund of $1,000 and an added lure
of a spot in the 2005 Chessmaster US Chess Championships was held 25-26
September, though this time with a more fitting time-control of Game 60
with so much at stake. And for added safety, an independent proctor was
allocated to each of the four finalists to ensure fair play for all.
In the semifinals, pre-tournament favorite IM Mark Ginsberg surprisingly
lost 2-0 to NM Edward McHugh, while IM Ronald Burnett comfortably beat
Oleg Zaikov 1.5-0.5. In the final, Burnett became the first player to be
crowned US State Champion of Champions after beating McHugh 1.5-0.5 to
take the title.
This is the first time an online event has been used to qualify
for the US Chess Championships, and IM Ronald Burnett goes forward to San
Diego as the final competitor in the 64-player field that will do battle
for the $25,000 first prize.
This popular new event proved that online chess and over-the-board
play can be a perfect mix – even for one of the world’s most famous tournaments.
First the players had to prove themselves o.t.b by winning their relevant
state championships to be invited, then had to play online on the ICC (both
Blitz Swiss and Game 60) to claim the final spot for the 2005 US Championships,
one of the most prestigious events in the world of chess.
The final piece of the jigsaw is now in place for the 2005 Chessmaster
US Championships, which will take place 24 November through 5 December
at the Hilton Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif. With a record prize fund
of $253,600, this will be the fourth year that AF4C has hosted the US Championships
and its first year doing so in conjunction with the NTC Foundation in San
Diego.
CofC-Tennessee - CofC-Connectic [B40]
ICC tourney 588 (60 3 u) Internet Chess Club (1), 26.09.2004
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.b3 b6 4.Bb2 Bb7 5.Qe2 Nf6 6.Nc3 d6 7.d4 cxd4
8.Nxd4 a6 9.0–0–0 Nbd7 10.g4 b5 11.Bg2 Nb6 12.Nf5 Qc7 13.Nd5 exd5 14.e5
Ne4 15.exd6 Bxd6 16.Nxd6+ Qxd6 17.Qxe4+ dxe4 18.Rxd6 Nc8 19.Rd4 0–0 20.Bxe4
Nd6 21.Bxb7 Nxb7 22.Re1 a5 23.Re5 b4 24.Rg5 h6 25.Rb5 Nd8 26.Rdd5 Nc6 27.Rd6
Ne7 28.f4 Ra7 29.f5 f6 30.Bd4 Rc7 31.Rxa5 Rfc8 32.c4 bxc3 33.Bb6 Rc6 34.Rxc6
Rxc6 35.Bd4 c2 36.h3 h5 37.Bc5 Nd5 38.gxh5 Kh7 39.a4 Kh6 40.Kxc2 Kxh5 41.Kb2
Nf4 42.Be3 Nd3+ 43.Ka3 Rc3 44.Rd5 Ne5 45.Bf4 Nc6 46.a5 Rxh3 47.a6 Rf3 48.Bd6
Rf1 49.Ka4 Na7 50.Ka5 Nc8 51.Bc5 g5 52.fxg6+ Kxg6 53.Rd8 Ra1+ 54.Kb5 Black
resigns 1–0
4) USCF looking for permanent home
Back in late August in Newsletter 205 I wrote:
Exactly where the USCF office will be located a year from now is not exactly clear. When things were difficult last year the USCF was forced to sell the building it owned for many years and rent it back from the buyer. This is mutually acceptable at present but the long term situation is unclear. Crossville, Tennessee, home of longtime USCF supporter Harry Sabine, offered the Federation free land and other incentives several years ago. The city and Federation seemed close to a deal but it was not closed. Crossville still seems interested as does Lindsborg, Kansas, which sent several city representatives to the US Open along with major organizer Mikhail Korenman. The deal Lindsborg is offering is said to include both land and a building, for free. Neither Crossville or Lindsborg could be considered to be a major metropolitan area but both are considerably more cosmopolitan than one might suspect. Offers from two locations in South Florida were floating around a year ago but neither seems remotely as attractive as the two deals mentioned above. The USCF office has been in the Newburgh/New Windsor area for close to 40 years after moving 60 miles up the road from New York City, but US Chess has not always been East Coast based. The USCF was founded in 1939 in Illinois and before that one of the two US Chess organizations, the Western Chess Association, was headquartered in St. Louis. The USCF staff is greatly reduced from a year ago and, with technology being what it is, could conceivably be based almost anywhere. Housing prices and employee salaries in New Windsor are effected to some extent by the proximity to New York City. Most likely nothing will change in the short term but it is good to know that the USCF has some attractive offers on the table. It would be nice to see the Federation owning its home.
The latest developments have new offers from Louisville and Texas, but
none appears to be close to that of Lindsborg which is offering to give
the USCF a 9, 000 sq.f building and $73,000 in relocation help. It
will be hard for the USCF Executive Board to pass up this offer when their
financial situation is still delicate. Right now the two things that have
contributed more than anything else to keeping the USCF afloat are Bill
Goichberg's serving as Executive Director for free in 2003 and for
$25,000 in 2004 and the book and concession outsourcing deal with Chess
Cafe which is bringing in over $300,000 a year guaranteed. This deal was
negotiated by Goichberg. It was considerably better than an offer from
south Florida which the EB almost excepted before Goichberg was hired.
5) Chess Olympiad to start soon
Chess Olympiad, which runs October 14-31 in Calvia, Spain, will soon be starting. GMs Alex Onischuk, Alexander Goldin, Gregory Kaidanov, Alex Shabalov, Igor Novikov and Boris Gulko will make up the team which will represent the United States with Boris Postovsky as Captain. Zsuzsa Polgar , Irina Krush, Anna Zatonskih and Jennifer Shahade will represent America in the women's competition with Paul Truong serving as Captain.
Garry Kasparov was recently interviewed (9/26) by Bay area native
Michael
Greengard (Mig) for his chess ninja website
and had some things to say about the upcoming Olympiad.
Re 2004 Olympiad predictions (he's not playing): "Russia of course,
India could surprise. Anand on board one changes everything, it's huge.
The young Ukrainian team."
I asked him what he thought of Nakamura not being on the US
men's team and he initially didn't want to comment. "They got us (the Kasparov
Chess Foundation) to work with the women's team only!" Eventually he settled
for "I'll just say it's strange to see a US team without Nakamura."
6) William Addison in Louisiana
Three-time US Champion Alex Yermolinsky is by far the strongest MI employee, but he is not the only one to represent the US in an Olympiad or Interzonal. Sharing that distinction is IM William Addison, who served as the Mechanics' Chess Room Director in the late 1960s. Addison developed into a strong player after moving from his native Louisiana to San Francisco in the mid-1950s. His best result was clear second in the 1969 US Championship which qualified him to play in the 1970 Interzonal. He retired after competing in the latter event at the age of 37.
Addison's early career in Louisiana has always been a bit of a mystery to MI members from the 1960s who were never sure how strong a player he was when he first ventured into the Mechanics'.
Last May I paid a visit to the John G. White collection at the Cleveland Public Library and was able to shed a little light on the matter thanks to the Louisiana
Chess Association Newsletter from 1949-1951. Incidentally, while the J.G. White had issues of the magazine from the 1950s and 1970s there were none from the 1960s, which is a pity as several contemporary publications from 1964 make reference to the publication's coverage of Fischer's visit to New Orleans that year. It's no surprise that Dale Brandreth refers to US state magazines as the rarest of all publications. It's not that they are valuable, but just that no one thinks to preserve them. A few decades pass and all trace is lost. If you want something to be preserved send a copy to Cleveland and the Mechanics'.
Annotations to the following two games are by Sammy Reshevsky.
Addison was 17 when they were played in July of 1950 . The first ever USCF rating list (through events played to July 31, 1950), which was published in Chess Life on November 20, 1950, had Addison at 2008 which put him in the Class A ranks (2700+ = GM, 2500-2700 = SM, 2300-2500 = NM) and 2100-2300 = Expert). Van Valkenburg was 2091 and Gladney 2084. I couldn't find a rating for Loring.
Loring - Addison, W [B03]
Baton Rouge, 1950
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.exd6 exd6 7.Nc3 Be7
8.Bd3
The Bishop does not belong on this square. 8.Be2 0-0 9.b3 followed
by 0-0 is usual. To be considered is 8.h3 Bh5 9.g4 Bg6 10.b3 Nc6
11.0-0 with a fine game.
8...0-0 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Be3 Bf6 11.Re1
This loses valuable time. Necessary was 11.h3 Bh5 12.g4 Bg6 13.Bxg6
fxg6 13...hxg6 might be a good alternative. 14.b3 with a playable position.
11...Re8
11...Bxf3 12.Qxf3 Bxd4 13.Bxd4 Nxd4 14.Qxb7 leads to an even position.
12.Be2?
12.h3 was still the best try.
12...Bxf3 13.Bxf3 Nxc4 14.Ne4 Nb6! 15.Nxf6+ Qxf6 16.Rc1 d5 17.b4
Qd6 18.Rc5 Nd8
Black is able to consolidate his position and remove the pressure
on his QBP.
19.b5
There isn't any point for this move. White should have tried 19.Qb3
Ne6 20.Rc3 followed by a4-a5.
19...Ne6 20.Rc3 a6! 21.a4 axb5 22.axb5 Ra2 23.Qb3 Rea8 24.Rec1 R8a3
25.Qd1 Nc4
Stronger was 25...Rxc3 26.Rxc3 Qb4 27.Rb3 Qa4.
26.Rxa3 Rxa3 27.Qe2
It's pitiful to see two Bishops so completely inactivated.
27...f5 28.g3 Rb3 29.Bxd5
This loses, but White's position is hopeless. If 29.Rxc4 dxc4 30.Qxc4
Rb4.
29...Qxd5 30.Qxc4 Qxc4 31.Rxc4 Rxb5 32.Kf1 Kf7 33.Ke2 Ke7 34.Kd3
Kd6 35.Bd2 Kd5 36.Bb4 Rb6 37.f4
37.Bc3 was necessary to prolong the game.
37...Rc6 38.Rxc6 Kxc6 39.Kc4 b5+ 40.Kd3 Kd5 41.Bc3 g6 42.Bb4 Nxd4
0-1
Black conducted the game with understanding.
Addison,W - Gladney,F [D34]
Baton Rouge, 07.1950
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.g3 c5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7
8.Nc3 b6 9.dxc5 bxc5 10.Na4 0-0 11.Be3 Qa5 12.Rc1 c4 13.Nd4 Nxd4 14.Bxd4
Bb7 15.Nc3 Rad8 16.Qa4 Qxa4 17.Nxa4 Bc6 18.Nc3 a6 19.Rfd1 Rfe8 20.Rc2 Ne4
21.b3 cxb3 22.axb3 Nxc3 23.Bxc3 Bf8 24.e3 Ba8 25.Ra2 Rc8 26.Bd4 Bb7 27.Bf1
Rc6 28.Ra5 Rh6 29.Rc1 Bb4 30.Ra2 a5 31.Rc7 Bc8 32.Bb5 Rd8 33.Rac2 Bf5 34.R2c6
Bd6 35.Ra7 Bd7? 36.Rxd6? [36.Rxd7] 36...Rxd6 37.Bc5 Bxb5 38.Bxd6 Rc8 39.Rxa5
Rc1+ 40.Kg2 Bf1+ 41.Kf3 h6 42.Rxd5 Ba6 43.Rd2 Bb7+ 44.Kf4 Rb1 45.b4 Bc8
46.h4 h5 47.Rd5 Bg4 48.Rd2 Kh7 49.Bc5 Kg6 50.e4 Rb3 51.e5 Rc3 52.Rd6+ Be6
53.Ke4 Rc4+ 54.Rd4 Rc2 55.Rd6 Rc4+ 56.Kd3 Rc1 57.Be3 Rd1+ 58.Kc2 Re1 59.Rxe6+
fxe6 60.b5 Ra1 61.b6 Ra8 62.Kc3 Kf7 63.Kc4 Ke7 64.Kb5 Kd7 65.b7 Rb8 66.Kb6
1-0
7) Boris Spassky and the Western States Open
Boris Spassky will be the very special guest of the Sands Regency Hotel and Casino which is hosting the 22nd Western States Open. If you will be playing in the event, scheduled for October 15-17, and would like to compete for the Mechanics' Institute in the team competition you are encouraged to do so with the following understanding.
1. You must be an MI member. 2. Any prize the team wins goes to the Chess Room to sponsor special events like last years visit by US Champion Alex Shabalov. Note tha Masters, Class E and Unrated are not eligible.
There is a signup sheet at the Mechanics' or if you prefer contact John
Donaldson at [email protected].
8) Reuben Fine at the MI
Steve Brandwein has been able to dredge up some details concerning Reuben Fine's visit to the MI in 1940 on Thursday, September 5. That day the San Francisco Chronicle published a short piece under the heading: CHESS CHAMP to PLAY
Reuben Fine, well-known chess expert and runner-up in the United States Championship competition this year will play simultaneous matches with thirty members of the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club at 8pm tonight at the club headquarters, 57 Post Street.
Unfortunately neither the Chronicle or other local papers of the time
followed up. Aidan Woodger's recent book on Reuben Fine gives SF +18, =1
on page 318 as the result of the exhibition. He also gives Sacramento +13,
=1 (Septermber 4) and Carmel +23, =1 with the LA Times as the
source. Can anyone add to this?
9) 1967 US Intercollegiate Championship
Newsletter reader and former MI member Mike Morris of Portland writes of the 1967 UC Berkeley team that won the PAN AM Intercollegiate. Morris and Steven Spencer joined Frank Thornally, Sam Sloan and Captain Mike Goodall on the winning team.
Mike Goodall was the captain and Frank Thornally was the top rated player for the UC Berkeley chess team that played in and won the 1967 Intercollegiate Championship in Hoboken, NJ. Sam Sloan was also on the team. In the 4th round Frank played Ginsberg . I was watching his game as I was playing mine-- I was very impressed by Frank's aggressive opening play and how he won the game. However, when it was over he threw the scoresheet in the trash--he did not think it was a good game at all! I retrieved the score and saved it all of these years. I see now it is not the brilliancy I recalled-- but it is still an amusing story about an interesting game.
Ginsberg--Thornally 12/28/1967
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3
dc 5. a4 Na6 6. Ne5 Ng4 7. Nc4
e5 8. Ne5 Ne5 9. de Qd1+ 10. Kd1
Be6 11. Bg5 h6
12. Bf4 O-O-O 13. Kc2 Nb4+ 14.
Kc1 g5 15. Bg3 Bb3 16. e3
Nd3+ 17. Bd3 Rd3 18. Ne4 Bb4 19. Ra3
Ba3 20. ba Be6
21. Kc2 Ra3 22. Nd6+ Kc7 23. Nf7
Ra2+ 24. Kb1 Rf8 25. Nh6 Rd8 26. Nf5
R8d2 27. Nd4 Bc4 28. e6+ Kd8 29. Be5
c5
30. Nf3 Bd3+ 31. Kc1 Rac2+ 32.
Kb1 Rb2+ 33. Ka1 Ra2 0-1
10) Here and There
IM Andranik Matikozian and NM Alexander Kretchetov tied for first in the LA Open held September 24-26 at the Hilton at LAX. Tying for third at 4, a half point behind the winners were NMs Michael Casella and Ilya Serpik and Zoran Djoric.
Larry Snyder and William Davis scored 3-1 to tie for first in the lightly attended Frank Harris Memorial held September 25-26 in Vallejo.
Alex Yermolinsky will pay a visit to the heartland in a month. First he will play in the Governor's Cup in Sioux Falls and then he will be part of Bob Long's (Chessco) chess festival in Iowa.
Correction - there were 166 not 182 in the Nor Cal Labor Day event.
That is done from 195 last year.
11) 4th Annual Chess-in-the-Parks Rapid Open
Paul Truong writes:
Commissioner Podziba and Commissioner Benepe today announced the 4th Annual Chess-in-the-Parks Rapid Open to be held on October 2nd at Central Park's Bethesda Fountain beginning at 10:0 0a.m.Duringthisannual event, the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation offers New Yorkers the chance to outwit each other in the great game of chess.
"Chess-in-the-Parks couples a game that strengthens the mind with an environment that fortifies the soul," said Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe. "We look forward to hosting this event, where every child will reign as king or queen over the chess board."
Parks & Recreation, in collaboration with Chess-in-the-Schools, is sponsoring this six-round chess tournament.
"The 4th Annual Chess-in-the Parks Rapid Open is a great way for Chess-in-the-Schools to kick off the 2004-2005 chess tournament season," said Commissioner Podziba. "Central Park is an ideal setting for the event as participants will have the opportunity to challenge themselves mentally and relax in the peaceful environment of the world's most famous park. Chess-in-the-Schools has continually excelled in providing public school children with opportunities to learn the game of chess and I would like to thank them for their efforts and wish all of this year's participants the best of luck."
A human chess game will also take place featuring children as game pieces. The game will be conducted by two of the most accomplished Grandmasters in the United States, Susan Polgar and Lev Alburt.
Susan Polgar is a four-time Women's World Champion and one of the world's leading pioneers for the promotion of women's chess. She is an award-winning and best-selling author and will be representing the United States at the Chess Olympiad this October. Susan has also established the Polgar Chess Center in Queens, which provides New Yorkers with an opportunity to learn and play chess. For more information on Susan, please visit her website at www.SusanPolgar.com or contact her at 212-748-9584.
Lev Alburt is a three-time United States Champion who was inducted into the United States Chess Hall of Fame last year. He is a prolific and award-winning author and accomplished chess teacher. He will be donating his chess books as awards to tournament winners. For more information about Lev Alburt, please visit www.chesscafe.com.
Tournament winners will also receive trophies and medals to be awarded following the last round of competition.
Chess-in-the-Parks is free and open to all. To register, email [email protected] or send a fax to 212-564-5523, and include your name, phone number, e-mail address and USCF chess rating (if applicable). Registration is limited to the first 500 entrants. Registered participants must check in at 9:30 a.m. at Bethesda Fountain (enter park at 72nd Street and 5th Avenue or Central Park West). If weather conditions are unsuitable for play, the event will be relocated to Chelsea Recreation Center, located at 430 West 25th Street in Manhattan. Call 311 for more information.
The New York City Sports Commission ensures the continuation and
growth of a healthy environment for professional, amateur and scholastic
sports activities in New York City. In recent years, the Sports Commission
has played a role in attracting or creating many new sporting events, including
the NFL Kickoff Live from Times Square, the BMC Software NYC Cycling Championship,
the NYC Fiesta Cup, Senior Men's Tennis Championship, Let Freedom Run and
The Wild Onion Urban Adventure Race. The agency is also working with NYC2012
to bring the Olympic Games to The World's Second Home(tm).
Newsletter #212, 10/06/2004
"The turning point in my career came with the realization that Black
should play to win instead of just steering for equality."
Bobby Fischer
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
GM Dmitry Gurevich will give a special lecture next Wednesday night, October 13, in the MI Members Lounge on the 4th. The lecture, which runs from 5:15 to 6:30, is free to all. Dmitry's talk should be a great warm-up for the Western States Open which starts Friday, October 15, in Reno. If you would like to play for the Mechanics' team please contact John Donaldson at [email protected] before October 11.
Last night Filipino IM Ricardo DeGuzman won a tough last round battle against FM Frank Thornally to take first place in the Robert Jordan Tuesday Night Marathon. Tying for second, half a point back of DeGuzman's score of 7-1, were Experts Nicolas Yap and Ariel Mazzarelli. Both players scored two upsets against masters during the event.
Prize Winners:
1st Overall: De Guzman - $435
2nd - 3rd Overall: Yap and Mazzarelli - $250 each.
Best Under 2200: Ossipov and Traub - $78.50 each.
Best Under 2000: Castro - $156
Best Under 1800: Wood, Litras and Livschitz - $51.66 each.
Best Under 1600 and Best Under 1400: McCutchen and A.Naroditsky
- $153.50 each.
Best Under 1200 or Unrated: Braden, Russell, Woebcke and Chi - $38
each.
IM DeGuzman was again successful in the 4th annual J.J. Dolan Memorial held October 2 at the Mechanics' scoring 5-0 to take first. Tying for second at 4-1 were Dmitry Vayntraub and Felix German (formerly Rudyak), while Yefim Bukh and Ewelina Krubnik were equal fourth in the 29-player event directed by Anthony Corrales.
Arthur Ibragimov won the September 29th Wednesday Night Blitz followed by John Cline and Yefim Bukh.
The main Chess Room is closing until October 25 for the installation
of new flooring but the club's regular activities will consider as usual
in Room 407.
2) October FIDE Rating List
The new FIDE rating list is out with GMs Morozevich and Topalov creeping towards Vladimir Kramnik's number 3 position.
1. Kasparov - 2813
2. Anand - 2781
3. Kramnik - 2760
4. Morozevich - 2758
5. Topalov - 2757
6. Leko - 2743
7. Adams - 2740
8. Svidler - 2735
9. Polgar - 2728
10. Shirov - 2726
11. Bacrot - 2718
12. Bareev - 2715
13. Ponomariov - 2710
14. Ivanchuk - 2705
15. Grischuk - 2704
16. Dreev - 2698
17. Sutovsky - 2697
18. Gelfand - 2693
19. Akopian - 2692
20.Nisipeanu - 2687
US players in the top 100 are:
=43. Onischuk 2653
= 64. Seirawan 2631
=83. Nakamura and Goldin 2620
=98. Kaidanov 2611
Other US players at 2600 and above are Shabalov (2608) and Gulko (2600).
Top West Coast players are GMs Akobian (2571) and Yermolinsky (2568).
3) New Book by Kasparov
The New York Post reports that Penguin Press, the Penguin Group
(USA) imprint run by ex-Random honcho Ann Godoff, bought two big
ticket items at auction for a combined price of more than $750,000. In
both cases, the agents held on to foreign rights, with the intention of
pitching them at Frankfurt. After three days of incremental bidding, Emily
Loose at Penguin agreed to pay close to $500,000 for "How Life Imitates
Chess," by champion Garry Kasparov. The Azerbaijan-born Kasparov
has been the No. 1 ranked chess player in the world since 1984, according
to the 31-page proposal that was sent to nine publishers. "Before I knew
much about life, I understood chess," it begins and then goes on to explain
how advantage, initiative, opinion, threat and hope (among other ideas)
influence both life and game. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Crown and Simon
& Schuster were the underbidders for the philosophical self-help tome.
Kasparov's co-author, is Mark Reiter, who is also acting as agent.
4) East Bay Chess Club Activities
SM David Pruess writes:
"International Master Vinay Bhat to take on Fritz chess program.
One of Berkeley's strongest chess players, International Master Vinay
Bhat, will be taking a day off from his studies at Cal to
take on premier chess program Fritz in a two game match, Saturday
October 9th. The games will be played at the recently
opened East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St (at Milvia) in Berkeley,
at 11:00 A.M. and 3 P.M. Live move-by-move
commentary will be provided in the next room by International Master
John
Donaldson and National Master Andy Lee, two of
Berkeley's other leading players.
IM Bhat set a U.S. record, becoming the youngest master in the country
at the age of 10 in 1995. He went on to earn his
International Master title at the young age of 16. He is now a fulltime
student in Political Economy at UC Berkeley, teaching
and directing at the East Bay Chess Club part-time.
Fritz is a commercial version of a program, which in recent years
has (under the names "Deep Fritz" and "X3D Fritz") drawn
matches with the current world champion, Vladimir Kramnik,
and the world's #1 rated player, Garry Kasparov. It is developed
by the ChessBase team, and can be obtained at their website, www.chessbase.com."
East Bay Chess Club G/60 Tournament
Sunday, October 10th, 2004
One section, 4-round, USCF Rated Tournament
Open to all players
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Location: 1940 Virginia St., Berkeley, CA
(cross street Milvia, only a short walk
from Downtown and North Berkeley BART)
Registration/Check-in: 9-9:45 AM the day of the tournament.
Or save time by filling out the form
below, and just pay when you get to the Club!
Rounds: 10 AM, 12:15 PM, 2:45 PM, and 5:00 PM
All games will be over by 7:00 PM.
Time control: Game in 1 hour.
Entry fee: $15 if mailed before 10/2, $20 at site.
$5 discount for East Bay Chess Club
Members
Submitting your form online counts as
mailing it on the day of submission
If you'd like to mail your entry, print
out the form here.
Please mail completed entries to:
East Bay Chess
1940 Virginia Street, Box C
Berkeley, CA 94709
Please make checks payable to "East
Bay Chess."
Prizes: (Based on 30 full entries):
Overall: $90 - $60 - $30
Under 2000: $30
Under 1800: $30
Under 1600: $30
Under 1400: $30
Directors: David Pruess, Vinay Bhat, Andy Lee
5) Val Zemitis win Merk Memorial
Val Zemitis of Davis won the Merk Memorial Correspondence Tournament organized by Northwest Chess magazine. Here is a key win in Zemitis' favorite Latvian Gambit.
Thompson,L - Zemitis,V [C40]
Merk Memorial, 2004
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.Bc4 b5 4.Bxg8 Rxg8 5.exf5 Nc6 6.Qe2 Qf6 7.d4
Qxf5 8.0-0 Ba6 9.a4 e4 10.Nbd2 0-0 11.Qxe4 Qxe4 12.Nxe4 bxa4 13.Rd1
Be2 14.Rd2 Bxf3 15.gxf3 d5 16.Ng5 Re8 17.Rd1 a3 18.b3 h6 19.Nh3 g5 20.Kf1
Bd6 21.f4 Re4 22.c3 g4 23.Ng1 Na5 24.b4 Nc4 25.Ne2 Rf8 26.Ra2 Kd7 27.Kg2
Re7 28.Rd3 a5 29.bxa5 Rfe8 30.Be3 Nxe3+ 31.fxe3 Rxe3 32.Rdd2 Ra8 0-1
6) Here and There
Crossville, Tennessee, appears to be the clear front runner in
the race to become the new home of the United States Chess Federation despite
a clearly superior financial offer from Lindsborg, Kansas. Both
offers are good for the USCF. Crossville is offering free land, the ability
to use the land as equity to secure an interest free loan to put up a building
and a place to operate from rent free while construction is going on. Lindsborg
is offering free land and a building (already constructed) plus $72,000
in relocation money. Also still in the mix is an offer from Liberty, New
York. The Executive Board will vote on a final decision in a few weeks.
The annual Isle of Man tournament was won by GMs Ehsan Ghaem
Maghami of Iran and Petr Kiriakov of Russia with 7 from 9. Hikaru
Nakamura, who lost his last two games to finish =16th at 5.5, could
not have been happy about his result but still had a 2592 FIDE performance
IM Dmitry Schneider (2454 FIDE) had a solid 5 from 9 for a 2504
result.
Frequent Mechanics' guest GM Suat Atalik of Turkey turns 40 on October 10.
The 1st Sevastopol Invitational 2004 was held September 23-26 with a time control of G/25.
Final Standings:
1. Karjakin (UKR) 3.5 out of 5
2-3. Malakhov (RUS) and Bologan (MOL) 3
4. Onischuk (USA) 2.5
5. Malaniuk (UKR) 2
6. Slobodjan (GER) 1
Sergey Kudrin, Yury Shulman and Alex Yermolinsky are the invited GMs for the 8th annual Governor's Cup in Sioux Falls, South Dakota from October 29-31. Bob Long's ChessCo will handle the book concession.
MI GM-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky will continue his trip to the Heartland the following week. He, IMs Andrew Martin and Igor Khmelnitsky and CGM Jonathan Berry will be the featured guests at Bob Long's chess festival in Iowa. Go to http://www.chessco.com/ for more information.
The September issue of the German magazine Schach reports that Amsterdam based Yasser Seirawan took part in two events this past August in Mainz. He finished =14th with 7.5 from 11 in the 207 player 960-Open (Fischer Random Chess) in a very strong field and did even better in the Ordix-Open. This 542-player rapid chess event featured 31 of the top 100 players in the world. Alexander Grischuk was first at 9.5 from 11 with Yasser, Vaganian, Rublevsky, Zvaginsev, Morozevitch, Dautov and Greenfeld sharing second with 9 points. Retirement seems to be suiting Yasser well!
GM Alex Wojtkiewicz of Maryland and IM Stanislav Smetankin
of Minnesota tied for first in the 63rd Indiana State Championship held
September 25-26 in Indianapolis. The two winners score of 4.5 from 5 was
good for $638 each. NM Jim Dean became Indiana State Chess Champion
with his 4-1 score.
NM Nick Adams scored 3.5 with a draw versus Wojtkiewicz and
a win over SM Todd Andrews.
Longtime Cal Chess Journal editor and Bay Area chess teacher Frisco
Del Rosario has just published his first book. A First Book of Morphy
(213 pages; perfect bound) illustrates basic principles by world correspondence
champion Cecil Purdy and grandmaster Reuben Fine with 65
games by the legendary American champion Paul Morphy. The author
was named Teacher of the Week by the San Jose Mercury News on Aug. 19,
2004. Copies can be ordered at http://www.trafford.com/robots/04-1714.html,
or by sending send $20 to Frisco at 126 15th Ave., San Mateo 94402.
Newsletter #213, 10/13/2004
"There were quite a few in the chess world who had a sober outlook on life; but while taking this sober look at the world they could not help but start drinking".
Viktor Kortchnoi speaking about Anatoly Lutikov's love of the bottle
in the Soviet Union.
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
GM Dmitry Gurevich, fresh from his victory in the Midwest Class Championship in Chicago, will be lecturing this evening at the M.I. from 5:15 to 6:30. The talk is free to all and should serve as good inspiration for this weekend's Western States Open.
Congratulations to Ariel Mazzarelli and Vincent Mo who both achieved FIDE ratings from the recent Tuesday Night Marathon. Speaking of the next TNM, it will start on October 26, running 9 consecutive Tuesday nights, finishing December 21. Up to three half point byes are available for the first seven rounds. The event will be FIDE rated. Entry fee remains $35 in advance, $45 at the door.
Those playing in the upcoming Marathon will be in for a surprise. The main chess room has been undergoing remodeling and in the process of removing the carpeting and installing new flooring it was discovered that the tile that runs from the elevator to the chess room door actually extends to the back stairs. The new look of the club will incorporate this tile, the first time it has seen the light of day in over fifty years.
Arthur Ibragimov continued his domination of the Wednesday Night
Blitz on October 6 with Jorge Lopez second. There will be no blitz
tonight. Play will resume the following Wednesday, October 20.
2) Kasparov-Kasimdzhanov set for January
The reunification match between FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov
and Garry Kasparov is scheduled to take place next January in the
United Arab Emirates. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov clinched
the deal with Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum in Dubai. The prize sum is US
$1.2 million. The news comes at a time when people were just beginning
to give up any hope of the Prague reunification process coming to fruition.
3) Kramnik-Leko
Three games remain with Leko up by one and Kramnik having
White twice. The match has been heavily criticized for the large number
of draws. IM David Levy had this to say.
"Although one might accept the approach of Kramnik and Leko as being
the epitome of professionalism, insofar as they are both trying their very
best to end their match as the holder of the World Championship title,
this does not mean that at the same time one has to applaud games that
are devoid of artistry. Imagine watching a boxing match in which the two
antagonists dance around on opposite sides of the ring, afraid to go too
near each other more than once
every few rounds in case of a lucky blow coming in the opposite direction.
If that was the approach of World Heavyweight Championship contenders,
how long would boxing last as a spectator sport?"
4) Karpov Tour of US in 2005
April 4, 2005, will mark the 30th anniversary of GM Anatoly Karpov’s
ascendancy to the throne of World Chess Champion. Since that time,
GM Karpov has done what no other World Champion has done; he has played
in hundreds of Grandmaster level chess tournaments throughout the world,
winning a record 154 of these international tournaments.
Since GM Karpov became the World Champion, he devoted much of his time
advocating for the popularization of chess around the world. In doing so,
he opened many Karpov chess schools in his home country, Russia, and abroad.
In 2003 Grandmaster Karpov opened the first “Anatoly Karpov International
School of Chess” in the United States – in Lindsborg, KS.
It is our pleasure to announce that Grandmaster Karpov has agreed to
do a promotional tour of the United States during the last week of March
and the first week of April, 2005, for the 30th Anniversary of his World
Championship title. GM Karpov will be available for lectures, presentations,
and simultaneous exhibition games. On April 4-6, 2005 Lindsborg,
KS will host the World Championship weekend in honor of GM Karpov’s achievements
in chess and world peace activities. More information about this
event will be presented later this year.
To plan GM Karpov’s tour of the United States, we would like to ask
all interested organizations to contact Dr. Mikhail Korenman, Director,
Karpov Chess School in Lindsborg, KS before December 1, 2004. The
contact phone: 785-227-2224 or e-mail [email protected]
5) Western States Open
The Western States Open starts this weekend (details under upcoming
tournaments). This is traditionally by far the largest tournament for Northern
California (yes, I know it's Reno!) and this year looks like a huge turnout.
If you would like to play for the MI team here are the conditions:
You must be an MI member. Any prize the team wins goes to the Chess
Room to sponsor special events. Masters, Class E and Unrated are not eligible.
Last year the MI won a prize that helped bring US Champion Alex Shabalov
to the MI.
6) Boris Spassky
The former World Champion will be a special guest of this year's Western
States Open. Spots in the simul are already sold out but there are plenty
of chances to hear him speak over the weekend. The last time Spassky was
in Northern California/Nevada was at a Paul Masson in the 1970s.
Spassky has yet to write a book himself but here are some titles devoted
to one of the greatest all around players in the history of the game.
Books on Spassky with the author and year it was published:
English language - Cozens (1966), Schroeder (1967), Soltis (1973) -
this hardback was an expanded version of his 1969 paperback, Cafferty (1972)
and Semkov (1998)
Serbo Croatian - Bjelica (1977) and Marovic (1981)
French - Le Monnier (1965 - the first book on Spassky)
Russian - Bondarevsky (1966) and two volume red hardbacks edited by
Krogius (2000)
Italian - Castelli (1967)
7) Burlingame Open
Organizer and Tournament Director Richard Koepcke reports that
IM Ricardo DeGuzman won the 52-player Burlingame Open last weekend.
We hope to have more results for Burlingame and last Sunday's G/60 event
at the East Bay Chess Club in the next Newsletter. In the meantime Kerry
Lawless and his website Chessdryad (www.chessdryad.com)
have set a record of sort with 67 photos from the Burlingame event available
for viewing!
8) USCF Relocation
As detailed in the past few Newsletters the USCF Executive Board now faces one of the most important decisions in the federation's history, one that is likely to have major consequences for decades to come. Not so long ago the USCF had a paid up building and over 2 million dollars in the bank. A year ago it was in danger of closing its doors. Tremendously increased competition for book and equipment sales and declining adult membership were factors, as was the decline in the stock market, but a number of inept decisions by a series of Executive Boards also bears the blame. Included in this would be some very poor selections for the Executive Director position. With very few exceptions Executive Board members typically have excellent chess-related backgrounds and a long record of devoted service to the federation. What you don't often see are accomplished lawyers, doctors, judges, financial professionals, managers, etc, who generally make up boards across the country and who have a wide breadth of expertise and perspective. This range of skills help them when evaluating business proposals.
Now the current Executive Board must choose from several candidates including front-runner Crossville, Tennessee, which hosted the most recent EB meeting a month and made a favorable impression on several members. Last Newsletter I mistakenly wrote that Crossville, which is offering free land would be giving the USCF an interest free loan to construct a building. That is not in fact the case, it would be a normal commercial loan. As mentioned before the Crossville bid does include the use of an existing building, rent-free, while construction is going on.
Also still in the mix is an expected offer from Liberty, New York. This bid, which could be the most favorable financially for USCF, offers a 21,000 square foot building and 30 acres of land for $250,000. The building is owned by one of the 40 wealthiest people in the US (Alan Gerry), who is promoting economic and cultural development in his home town. One estimate of the value of the land plus building is over $1,000,000,
Lindsborg is offering free land and a building in its downtown. The building requires some renovation which would be covered for the most part by a $72,000 relocation grant from the state of Kansas. In effect the USCF instantly goes from renter to office owner with no mortgage at very little or no cost. That sort of deal certainly doesn't sound bad, especially for an organization whose financial performance a times makes it seem like it would be better served by having a trustee dole out a monthly allowance.
As previously mentioned almost the entire Executive Board visited Crossville Only recently have a couple made it to Liberty. Friday a EB member will visit Lindsborg for the first time. First impressions are often powerful, especially when you haven't visited the other two sites, so it is understandable that momentum is in Crossville's favor. Still it would be regrettable if the EB went with the first place they visited without due reflection.
If Liberty comes through as expected, the selection of Crossville would be similar to the B & E outsourcing proposal the Board was determined to accept in January, which offered no guarantee, a low percentage commission, and required 72 Chess Life pages free; with further negotiation the USCF later got $350,000 minimum, a higher commission, and ads at cost price.
This would seem like one decision it would be prudent not to rush. One
where politics should not play a role as there will be only one chance
to get it right.
9) Chess Olympiad to Start
The very best of luck to the 2004 US Olympiad Teams which begin play tomorrow in Calvia, Spain. GMs Alex Onischuk, Alexander Goldin, Gregory Kaidanov, Alex Shabalov, Igor Novikov and Boris Gulko will make up the team which will represent the United States with Boris Postovsky as Captain. Zsuzsa Polgar , Irina Krush, Anna Zatonskih and Jennifer Shahade will represent America in the women's competition with Paul Truong serving as Captain.
GM-elect Boris Kreiman hopes to have his title confirmed at the
concurrent FIDE Congress. Boris will soon begin teaching for Academic Chess
in LosAngeles.
10) Here and There
New in Chess Magazine's 20th anniversary issue, 2004/7, is currently at the printers and features a nice article by US Womens Champion Jennifer Shahade on Sonja Graf. Shahade recently completed a book on womens chess for IM Jeremy Silman and Gwen Feldman's Siles Press.
New from the past - Bagby and Boyette tie in Northern California Chess Championship.
1.-2. Bagby and Boyette 5-1
3-4. McClain and Pafnutieff 4
5. W. Hendricks 3
6. B. Popoff 2.5
7. Ralston 1.5
Chess Life September 20, 1950
The world's longest running annual tournament, Hastings, is trying something very new.
"The Hastings Congress 28 December 2004 to 9 January 2005 takes on a unique format this year. The Hastings Premier and Challengers are combined into one knockout tournament. Let us imagine 120 players enter for the event which finishes 6 January. Then 60 players go forward from the first round, with 4 lucky losers. These 64 players play a second round of knockout. The 56 losers play in the Challengers Swiss. The 64 players continue in one game knockouts until there are 8 players left. These 8 play in the Premier of 2 game knockouts. All players knocked out will be contracted to play in the Swiss Challengers, except for the losing finalists. Players when knocked out will carry forward their score in the standardplay games. Of course White would have been a big advantage. Thus White will have 70 minutes and Black 90 in which to make their first 40 moves and 20 minutes for the rest, with the addition of one minute per move cumulatively from the first. Where games are drawn, ties will be resolved first by blitz games, failing that an Armageddon play-off. Players will be able to gain title results from either event. The event will be part of the Association of Chess Professionals GP. The weekend tournament takes place 7-9 January. Full details from Con Power [email protected] http://www.hastingschess.org.uk Players seeking conditions should contact [email protected]"
GM Dmitry Gurevich won the 13th Annual Midwest Class Championship
held October 8-10 in Oakbrook, Illinois, by winning a blitz playoff after
tying with GM Alex Wojtkiewicz, IM Stanislav Smetankin (who
drew both GMs), IM Angelo Young and John W. Cole at
4-1. The multi-section Continental Chess Association event drew an excellent
299 players.
Newsletter #214, 10/20/2004
"Chess is an incredibly emotional game. If everything around you
is harmonious, when you are feeling good, you are in a creative mood. If
something is
disturbing you and you are in a bad mood, then it is difficult to
be creative. So you have to create the right atmosphere.''
Vladimir Kramnik
The Fall Tuesday Night Marathon starts next Tuesday, October 26.
1) Kramnik retains title
Vladimir Kramnik won the last game of his match with Peter
Leko in Switzerland to tie the score at 7-7 and retain his title. Kramnik
will now face the winner of the match between FIDE World Champion Rustam
Kasimdzhanov and Garry Kasparov set for January 7th to 24th
January 2005 in Dubai.
2) USCF chooses Crossville
USCF VOTE TO MOVE TO CROSSVILLE BY March 31, 2005
At a teleconference on Sunday evening Oct 17, 2004 the USCF Executive Board voted to move to Crossville, Tennessee by March 31, 2005. Here are the relevant two motions:
EB 05-14 (Brady and Schultz): Considering the AF4C Foundation has requested we delay our decision for two weeks and that AF4C has demonstrated good faith in the past by relieving USCF of the burden of our having to fund an annual US championship thus saving us a hundred plus thousand dollars annually, that when we failed to merge with AF4C we told them we still wanted to find ways to work with them, and that AF4C has stated they will know in two weeks whether they will buy the Liberty, NY building and as a result offer us free office space for five years with an option to buy at the end of that period, considering all this, we delay our relocation decision for two weeks. FAILED 3-4 In favor: Bauer, Brady and Schultz; Opposed: Marinello, Hanke. Shutt and Shaughnessy
EB 05-15 (Hanke): The USCF will move its national office to Crossville, Tennessee in accordance with the previous Executive Board vote in 2003. Negotiations with the Crossville bank and the architect will begin as soon as possible.USCFwillcompleteitsmoveintothefree interim office space in Crossville by March 31, 2005. PASSED 4-1-2 In favor: Marinello, Hanke, Shutt and Shaughnessy; Opposed Brady; Abstain: Bauer and Schultz.
Don Schultz
USCF Secretary
During the meeting the only Board Member to visit Lindsborg, Kansas, Randy Bauer, made the argument that the Lindsborg offer was financially superior. Bauer is the budget director for the state of Iowa. All Board Members visited Crossville except Frank Brady. A couple made it to Liberty. Several Board Members wanted to give two more weeks to see if the AF4C would buy a property in Liberty, New York ( 60 miles from the current USCF headquarters), but were voted down. One diplomatic way to characterize the voting was that the majority felt that the commitment had been made to Crossville by the last Board, that new construction was preferred, and it was time to move forward.
One result of the move to Crossville, which would have also been true of Lindsborg, is that there is likely to be a big turnover of office personnel. How this will effect membership services remains to be seen. The Crossville move will be in two parts. First the organization will move into an office in Crossville and then later will move into its own building after construction of the new USCF office is completed.
This year the USCF under the direction of Executive Director Bill Goichberg looks to be $300,000 up on the plus side of the ledger, the second year in a row they have shown a profit (you have to go back almost a decade for the previous profitable year). One reason for this turnaround is that Goichberg worked for free in 2003 and for $25,000 this year. He has been the acting ED, the Executive Board waiting on a permanent decision until the city for relocation was chosen. Now that this has been decided the job will be open with a likely salary of around $100,000 judging from what previous EDs were paid. Among those said to be interested in the position are Goichberg and current USCF President Beatriz Marinello.
The $508,000 the USCF made from the sale of its building in New Windsor
went to the Life Member Assets fund, but this is still not enough to cover
its future obligations.
3) Nakamura dominates Western States Open
This is part one - more coverage will appear in the next Newsletter.
Hikaru Nakamura mowed down three GMs, an IM and an FM, yielding
only a quick last round draw to GM Alexander Ivanov to win the Sands
Regency Western States Open held October 15-17 in Reno, Nevada. The 16-year-old,
2620 FIDE rated GM, picked up $5000 for his efforts. Just a few days before
he had won the NY Masters beating GM Alex Wojtkiewicz and drawing
Gata
Kamsky. Clearly he will be one of the favorites in the US Championship
in San Diego this November.
Tying for second at 4.5 were GMs Alex Yermolinsky, Ildar Ibragimov,
Alex Wojtkiewicz, Alexander Ivanov, IM Enrico Sevillano and I believe
IM Andranik Matikozian.
The Mechanics' Institute members made up more than 10 percent of the
425 player field. The A team won the prize for top scoring club and the
$750 will be spent on special activities at the MI.
Boris Spassky and his wife Marina were the special guests
of the Sands Regency and the Western States Open. The former World Champion
was very warmly received. His 26 board simul ($100 a board) sold out within
two days of being advertised and had a waiting list of over a dozen players.
Among the participants in the event were MI members Ian Jones, Phil
Bond, Daniel and Alan Naroditsky and George Stone. The
latter joined Norman Wyatt, Sharon Bennum, Jerry Weikel and Payam
Parhami as the only players to draw Spassky.
Spassky,B (2548) - Stone,G (1719) [B39]
Reno Simul 15.10.2004
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Be3 Ng4 8.Qxg4 Nxd4 9.Qd1 Ne6 10.Qd2 0-0 11.Be2 Qa5 12.Rc1 d6 13.0-0 Bd7 14.Rfd1 Bc6 15.f3 Rfe8 16.b3 Rac8 17.Nd5 Qxd2 18.Rxd2 b6 19.b4 Bxd5 20.exd5 Nf8 21.Bd1 Rc7 22.Ba4 Rec8 23.Bb5 Nd7 24.Rdc2 Nf6 25.Ba4 h5 26.Kf2 Kh7 27.Ke2 Bh6 28.Bxh6 Kxh6 29.Kd3 e6 ½-½
The following game between GM-elect Boris Kreiman of Los Angeles and David Vigorito of Henderson, Nevada, who has three IM norms, was the most spectacular of the event even if it later proved to be unsound.
Boris Kreiman- David Vigorito C67
Reno Western States Open (4.9), 16.10.2004
1.e4 e5
A new look by Vigorito who is a well-known Najdorf aficionado.
2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.Re1
Trading the Queen's by 6.d4 Nd6 7.Bxc6 dxc6 8.dxe5 Nf5 9.Qxd8+ is not
to Kreiman's taste. Interestingly in IM Larry Kaufman's The Chess
Advantage in Black and White he suggests that Black answer the Ruy Lopez
with the Berlin in one section of the book and in another he advocates
opening 1.e4, recommending 5.Re1 against the Berlin!
5...Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bd3
Kaufmann prefers the more positional 7.Bf1. Such is not the way that
Ironman Boris "Bench Press" Kreiman plays chess.
7...Nxe5 8.Rxe5 0–0 9.Nc3
This position was familar to players in the early 1900s.
9...Ne8
More common are 9...c6, 9...Bf6 or 9...Re8. Kaufmann credits the text
to GM Alex Sherzer.
10.Nd5 Bd6 11.Rh5?!!
Normal here is 11.Re1 with equal chances and a not very exciting game.
The text is incredibly imaginative unfortunately it doesn't quite work.
11... g6 12.Qf3
There is no turning back. If 12.Rh3 has 12...c6 13.Nc3 Be5 and with
...d5 and possibly ...Bg7 Black is doing very well.
12... c6
As 12...gxh5 13.Qf5 loses instantly.Can you find White's next move?
13.b3
White wants the long diagonal.
13...cxd5 14.Bb2 Ng7?
There was only one move here, 14...Qe7, but it works: 15.Rxh7 Be5 16.Re1
d6 17.Bxg6 Qf6 and the defense triumphs. GMs Yermolinsky and Serper spotted
this defense during the game but it was very easy to miss.
15.Rxh7!
Now that tables have turned and Black is lost.
15...Kxh7 16.Qh3+ Kg8 17.Qh6 d4 18.Bxd4 f6 19.Bxg6 Rf7 20.Qh7+ Kf8
21.Re1 Be5 22.Bxe5 fxe5 23.Rxe5 1–0
As usual this event was very well organized by the team of Jerry and
Fran Weikel and Barbara Woodward of the Sands Regency.
4) Ukraine and China lead Chess Olympiad
Ukraine, with Vassily Ivanchuk in tremendous form, leads the Chess Olympiad after five rounds, but Russia just scored a huge 3.5-.5 victory over Israel to move near the front. The Chinese women were three points ahead of the field after five rounds and just beat Russia 2-1.
The US team, seeded tenth, lost a tough match to India (Anand board one) and another to Uzbekistan (Kasimdzhanov board one) but bounced back with a win over a good Croatian team.
The US women lost a difficult match to Russia in round 4, drew a not particularly strong Swedish team in round 5, but have now rebounded to beat Georgia 2-1 with Susan Polgar leading the way with a win over Maya Chiburdanidze.
USA - Round 1 Dominican Republic 3.5-.5, Round 2 Lithuania 2-2, Round 3 Iran 3.5-.5, Round 4 India 1.5-2.5, Round 5 Uzbekistan 1.5-2.5 Round 6 Croatia 2.5-1.5
1st Board Onischuk 3-2 (+1, =4)
2nd Board Shabalov 1.5-2.5 (+1, =1, -2)
3rd Board Kaidanov 3-1 (+2,=2)
4th Board Goldin 2-1 (+2, -1)
5th Board Novikov 3-1 (+2, =2)
6th Board Gulko 2-2 (+1, =2, -1)
USA Women Round 1 Venezuela 2.5-.5, Round 2 Lithuania 2.5-.5, Round 3 Slovenia 2.5-.5, Round 4 Russia 1-2, Round 5 Sweden 1.5-1.5, Round 6 Georgia 2-1
1st Board Polgar 4-2 (+2, =4)
2nd Board Krush 3-1 (+3, -1)
3rd Board Zatonskih 4.5-1.5 (+4, =1, -1)
4th Board Shahade .5-1.5 (=1, -1)
5) DeGuzman wins Burlingame Open
Filipino IM Ricardo DeGuzman won the top section of 2004 Burlingame Open outright with a perfect 4-0 score. The other two section winners were Julian Standen in the Reserve Section ( U1800 ), also with a perfect 4-0 score and Philipp Semenenko in the Booster Section ( U1400 ) with a 3.5 - 0.5 score. The tournament drew 53 players which is slightly less than the 60 player the organizers had hoped for, but a respectable showing for a first tournament at a new site. The event was directed by the Author and Robert Blatt. The Burlingame Chess Club was the host for the site. For more information on the event, along with prize winners and amounts see http://www.burlingamechessclub.com/bccPAIR/2004tmts/burl_open2004/standings.html
Regards,
Richard Koepcke
Newsletter #215, 10/27/2004
"By some ardent enthusiasts, chess has been elevated into a science
or an art. It is neither; but its principal characteristic seems to be
what human nature most delights in - a fight."
Emanuel Lasker
1) Mechanics' Chess News
Mongolian IM Ganbold Odondoo is the top seed in the 68-player Winter Tuesday Marathon which started last night. Other high-rated players include FM Frank Thornally and female NMs Batchimeg Tuvshintugs and Egle Morkunaite. It is still not to late to enter the event with a first round bye and eight games to play. The tournament will end December 21.
Jorge Lopez won last Wednesdays blitz with David Ray second. There will be another blitz tournament this evening starting at 7pm.
Thanks to Michael Savage, Mohammed Shaikh and Anthony Corrales for moving all the chess tables from the 4th floor to the basement and back again. Yes, the Chess Room has gotten rid of its old carpet and now has a beautiful new slate green linoleum flooring which passed the sound test at last night's TNM with flying colors. Come and check out the new look.
Last Newsletter I mentioned that the MI won the team competition at the Western States Open. Among those who scored heavily for the Mechanics' was Team Naroditsky ( Daniel and Alan and Vladimir) Tom Allen points out they scored an incredible 16 out of 18 (!) in winning and tying for second in the C section and winning the D section. Good job! Other top Bay Area players included Victor Todortsev (=3rd Class A) and Rico Adkins (=1st Class B).
2) Ukraine and China lead Chess Olympiad
Ukraine, lead by first board Vassily Ivanchuk (8.5/11 - 2855 performance) and second reserve 14-year-old GM Sergey Karjakin (5.5/6 -2897 performance) continues to hold a 2.5 point lead over Russia with just three matches left. The US is playing very well with five of the six team members playing at or above their rating. They will face the always dangerous Armenians who have been bolstered by the addition of Levon Aronian who is playing board 2, behind Vladimir Akopian. The big point scorer is third board Rafael Vaganian who has 6.5 from 8 ( performance 2824).
The Chinese women are four points ahead of the field and face what will be probably their last test in the 4th seeded Georgian women's team which started poorly but has moved into second. The US women are doing very well. Second board Irina Krush, who is having a tremendous event, was the star of the match with China winning the only decisive game. The match against the underrated Hungarians (seeded 13th) will be interesting. Veteran Ildiko Madl is holding her own points but ithe team is scoring most of its victories on boards two and three.
1. Ukraine 32; 2. Russia 29.5 3. Armenia 29 4. Israel 28; 5-6. India and USA 27.5
USA - Round 1 Dominican Republic 3.5-.5, Round 2 Lithuania 2-2, Round 3 Iran 3.5-.5, Round 4 India (#5) 1.5-2.5, Round 5 Uzbekistan 1.5-2.5 Round 6 Croatia 2.5-1.5 Round 7 Singapore 3.5-.5; Round 8 Azerbaijan (#14) 2.5-1.5, Round 9 Spain A (#7) 3.5-.5; Round 10 Ukraine (#2) 2-2; Round 11 Russia (#1) 1.5-2.5
1st Board Onischuk 5.5/10 (2673 performance)
2nd Board Shabalov 4/7 (2647)
3rd Board Goldin 5/8 (2658)
4th Board Kaidanov 5.5/7 (2730)
5th Board Novikov 5/7 (2628)
6th Board Gulko 2.5/5
Women
1. China 26, 2. Georgia 22, 3-4. USA and Hungary 21.5
USA Women Round 1 Venezuela 2.5-.5, Round 2 Lithuania 2.5-.5,
Round 3 Slovenia 2.5-.5, Round 4 Russia (#2)1-2, Round 5 Sweden 1.5-1.5,
Round 6 Georgia (#4) 2-1 Round 7 India (#6) 1.5-1.5 Round 8 Armenia
(#14) 2-1, Round 9 Poland (#7) 2-1, Round 10 China (#1) 2-1 Round
11 Slovakia (#12) 2-1
1st Board Polgar 7.5/11 (2571)
2nd Board Krush 6.5/ 9 (2546)
3rd Board Zatonskih 7/11 (2413)
4th Board Shahade .5/2
Late news !!
Round 12 USA- Armenia (#4) 2-2 (Onischuk .5, Shabalov 0, Goldin .5, Kaidanov 1)
Round 12 USA women versus Hungary (#13) 2.5-.5 ! Polgar and Zatonskih won with White and Krush drew with Black.
The official olympiad site (http://www.36chessolympiad-daily.com/index.php?idioma=en)
has excellent coverage. For a US perspective go to www.uschess.org
where you can find Paul Truong's daily reports
3) Reactions to the Kramnik - Leko Match
I found the following observations gathered together at www.chessville.com
.
David Norwood: "The fact remains that Kramnik won the first game and the last game and played like a traumatized tortoise in the middle. That middle consisted of twelve games in which Kramnik lost two, won none and drew the rest. Much of the time he was happy to agree a draw before he had left his home preparation; ie, before he even had to think about moves for himself. This match took the emerging concept of non-chess to a whole new level. Now Vlad is the Champion, retaining the title because the match was drawn, which is somehow wonderfully appropriate. What must the sponsors think? Not that chess players worry much about sponsorship -- until it all disappears. During this match, for the first time in my life, I began to feel happy that chess is not a televised sport. The Kramnik-Leko charade has done for chess what the Ice Age did for dinosaurs."
Nigel Short: "Neither of these two Titans deserved to win the World Championship, so it is most appropriate that neither of them did. We will not be fooled into believing that this was an interesting match just because the last two games were exciting. No, the overriding impression was of a turgid and dreary affair. Once upon a time they would have got away with it. When chess fans received their monthly magazine with carefully distilled highlights, the dross was discreetly hidden away. Now, in the age of live internet broadcasts, there is no junk game filter. The rubbish is clearly visible."
Tim Krabbe: "When the 11th match game between Kramnik and Leko was drawn in 17 moves, and there was nothing to say about the chess, ChessBase interviewed Carsten Hensel, who is the personal manager of both players. It was a remarkable interview.
Here are some questions.
Q: Do Kramnik and Leko feel any pressure to play more fighting chess?
Q: Have Kramnik and Leko noticed the fans' disappointment about their
short draws?
Q: Could it be that Kramnik and Leko feel intimidated by the title
they are playing for?
Q: Do Kramnik and Leko feel an obligation to be creative in their games?
Q: How do Kramnik and Leko justify playing only two moves beyond their
home preparation?
Q: Do Kramnik and Leko like chess?
Q: Is it difficult for Kramnik and Leko to look their sponsors in the
eye after a 17-move draw?
Q: Are Kramnik and Leko afraid they will not be able to keep a straight
face when they collect their fees?
Q: Are Kramnik and Leko concerned that they are turning away this new
sponsor from chess?
Q: Would Kramnik and Leko admit to being cowards?
Q: Do the Dannemann representatives in Brissago know so little about
chess that they don't know they're being ripped off by Kramnik and Leko?
Not one of these questions was asked. Hensel is a strong pingpong player,
and he likes his wife's potato salad."
Lubomir Kavalek: "Both players are being accused of contaminating the picturesque place on the Lake Maggiore with too many short draws and lack of fighting spirit. We saw two highly skilled chess technicians at work. True, some of the games were not exciting, but Kramnik and Leko are not the first to make a farce out of a world championship match. In their first match in 1984-1985 in Moscow, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov managed to draw 18 games under 23 moves and nobody called it the end of modern chess."
Jack Peters: "The exciting finish only partly redeems one
of the dullest matches in history. Too many games ended without a real
fight. Until Kramnik went for broke in the last two games, both players
seemed to wait for the opponent to take the initiative. The drawn result
should not enhance either's reputation."
4) US Championship field set
John Henderson gives the field for the upcoming US Championship
due to start in late November.
USCF 10/02 rating
1 Gata Kamsky 2777
2 Gregory Kaidanov 2730
3 Alexander Goldin 2705
4 Boris Gulko 2705
5 Igor Novikov 2690
6 Alexander Shabalov 2689
7 Alexander Onischuk 2680
8 Hikaru Nakamura 2676
9 Ildar Ibraigimov 2671
10 Varuzhan Akobian 2665
11 Alex Yermolinsky 2642
12 Alexander Stripunsky 2640
13 Alexander Ivanov 2633
14 Nick De Firmian 2626
15 Ben Finegold 2621
16 Joel Benjamin 2620
17 Larry Christiansen 2611
18 Sergey Kudrin 2607
19 Gregory Serper 2598
20 Aleks Wojtkiewicz 2590
21 Yury Shulman 2590
22 Julio Becerra 2582
23 Eugene Perlshteyn 2579
24 Alex Fishbein 2575
25 Dmitry Gurevich 2551
26 Lev Altounian 2546
27 Renier Gonzalez 2536
28 Yury Lapshun 2527
29 Stanislav Kriventsov 2504
30 Dmitry Schneider 2503
31 Jesse Kraai 2493
32 Tegshuren Enkhbat 2481
33 Irina Krush 2472
34 Marcel Martinez 2466
35 Joshua Friedel 2464
36 Anna Zatonskih 2459
37 Lev Milman 2455
38 Stephen Muhammad 2455
39 Anatoly Lein 2436
40 Ronald Burnett 2423
41 Dmitry Zilberstein 2419
42 Salvajius Bercys 2418
43 Bruci Lopez 2417
44 Blas Lugo 2413
45 Matthew Hoekstra 2409
46 Robby Adamson 2400
47 Rusdan Goletiani 2375
48 Jennifer Shahade 2346
49 Fabio LaRota 2336
50 Michael Casella 2329
51 Jake Kleiman 2310
52 Tatev Abrahamyon 2305
53 Anna Hahn 2256
54 Tsagaan Battsetseg 2238
55 Beatriz Marinello 2206
56 Laura Ross 2195
57 Esther Epstein 2178
58 Olga Sagalchick 2154
59 Chouchanik Airapetian 2149
60 Cindy Tsai 2148
61 Vanessa West 2119
62 Anna Levina 2099
63 Iryna Zenyuk 2094
64 Tatiana Vayserburg 2037
5) ACP General Assembly Report by Jonathan Berry
ACP General Assembly Report by Jonathan Berry
The Association of Chess Professionals held its General Assembly on October 21st in Calvia, at the Casino where the Olympiad is being played, but not today because it is the first rest day. Unlike many organizations, the ACP conducts no important business at its annual General Assembly. No elections, no motions. At the head table were board members GMs Bartek Macieja, Almira Skripchenko, Joel Lautier, Pavel Tregubov, Alexander Baburin, and Yannick Pelletier.
The 70 participants, mostly GMs, were treated to a bilingual (English and Russian) presentation of reports. The ACP can declare "victory" now in its battle to allow participants in the Euro Championship to stay elsewhere than the hotel specified by the organizers. Typically, organizers would charge high-season maximum rates for events held in low or shoulder season, and the profits would reappear as sponsorship. In effect, the players were sponsoring their own tournament, under somebody else's name. While the ACP had success in dealing with the ECU (Euro Chess Union), the same could not be said for its advocacy of players in relation to FIDE. No substantive reply except from the FIDE Ethics Committee, which confirmed that some Euro nominations to the 2004 World Championship were improper. Just beginning is the case of Swiss GM Vadim Milov (who travels under an Israeli passport), which has been accepted at the Court of Sports Arbitration in Lausanne. He wants compensation from FIDE because they made it difficult or impossible for him to play in the 2004 World Championship.
For money, the ACP has about 5,000 Euros in the bank, out of more than 9,000 collected mostly for 2004 dues with some 2005 dues as well.
Anna Hahn and Yannick Pelletier were welcomed to the Board, with thanks to departing members Svetlana Matveeva and Viorel Bologan.
The three ACP Internet tournaments were a great success. The ACP Tour is going ahead, with 35 of 38 tournaments contacted reacting positively. There are plans for another series and for a women's grandmaster series.
ACP Prez. Joel Lautier discussed a possible Euro Super-League, a 8-team RR with 7 coming from the Euro Club Cup and 1 nominated by the sponsor. They will propose this to the ECU. Although I wonder what they need the ECU for if they have a sponsor? I guess the answer is that the ACP is trying hard to work with existing organizations, realizing that cooperation works better than discord.
More info on these issues, and the full reports, are at the ACP website: http://www.chess-players.org/eng/
The rest of the time available, about 45 minutes, was an open discussion, mostly on the question of short draws. GM Lautier put forward the initial topic, whether it should be illegal to propose or agree to a draw before move 40. Viktor Kortchnoi said that such a proposal is too severe. How about starting with a suggestion to players that they do not make quick draws. I thought: with the FIDE Rules Commission meeting in a couple of days, what an opportunity to put this into practice! Later I thought that such a proviso might already be in the Laws, but on checking them discovered that not only was there no such provision, but the rule prohibiting draws before a real contest had begun had also been removed. Maybe it's gone to the Code of Ethics, a weapon which has been used to vilify a journalist for writing controversial articles, but which has not nabbed anybody for buying or selling points. So, yes, there is an empty spot in the Laws for Mr. Kortchnoi's proposal. Vishy Anand suggested that some positions do become dead quite early and that perhaps players who agreed to a draw before move 30 or 40 should have to explain why to the audience. This raised some laughter, but GM Lautier pointed out that at a lot of tournaments, for example these Olympiads, there is no live audience. Stewart Reuben and GM Yuri Yakovich made the same point: prohibiting draws before move x will encourage pre-arranged games in x or x+1 moves; and that the best way to avoid short draws is to invite fighting players to your tournament.
GM Lautier again replied to both of these points: first, short draws do not arise from prearrangement, they happen for chessic and psychological reasons. If they were forbidden before move x, he personally would be happy, one less thing to think about. Second, not all participants are invited; they qualify or they enter. Other possibilites were mooted, such as changing the scoring system, or replaying a drawn game (with reducing time controls) until a decisive result comes out.
Short draws are an impediment to sponsorship because in, say, a Swiss, you're likely to have a game in the final round on top board ("the final game" it might be called) agreed drawn in a few moves. Sponsors obviously don't like that. Knockout was put forward as the solution, but even there we saw in the 2004 World Championship where players would agree to short draws in the regular games and then shoot it out in the rapid playoffs. Maybe it's a question of adjusting the schedule. The 1992 Fischer-Spassky match had a provision that if the game was drawn quickly, the next game would start at once.
I would add that the problem of short draws is increased when bodies
choose inappropriate methods of competition. The Swiss System is good for
determining a winner from a large pool of players. But to use it for determining
dozens of qualifiers, such as the Euro Championship does to the World Championship,
is asking for trouble. In my arbiter's report from the 1988 World Active
(Rapid, Action ...) Championship in Mazatlan, I noted that the Swiss system
was inappropriate. Players would achieve the level they needed to qualify
for the playoffs, +3 or +4 or whatever, and then for the rest of the tournament
agree to 12-move draws. And that was Rapid Chess! I suggested instead a
64-player knockout tournament, Wimbledon style, with seedings so that the
#1 player would play #64 in the first round. This would be an added attraction
for the organizer, because their nominee, likely to be #64, would be in
the world spotlight, if only for that one match. FIDE eventually went the
knockout route, but at first used random pairings, which did not work so
well. It took about 15 years, but they finally came around. The Swiss style
Continental Championships with multiple qualifiers from each are great
if you like short draws. Like if you are a bulletin editor paid for every
game entered.
6) USCF relocation revisited
The vote by the Executive Board 4-3 against waiting two weeks for the final decision on relocation is causing quite a lot of commotion. Erik Anderson of America's Foundation for Chess, which saved the US Championship, was in negotiation with billionaire Alan Gerry trying to work out a favorable deal for USCF, including at least five years of free rent. Many, even those who preferred other bids over Liberty, are wondering why the haste.
Two corrections. It has been reported that Bill Goichberg, who
volunteered his services for free last year, was receiving a partial salary
of $25,000 this year. In fact he has not received anything to date. As
the USCF is no longer in the book and equipment business its likely
that a salaried Executive Director's pay would be more in the range of
$80,000 than $100,000.
7) New tournament clearinghouse for Northern California
Hello tournament directors!
I would like to introduce myself as the new tournament clearinghouse
person for northern
California (CalChess). My primary responsibility is to maintain
a calendar of local events with
the purpose of minimizing scheduling conflicts. This position
covers tournaments held in the
following zip codes: 932xx and 936xx-961xx. For events in southern
California, contact Michael
Nagaran at <[email protected]>.
PLEASE REFER TO THE CALCHESS WEBSITE FOR THE LATEST TOURNAMENT LISTINGS.
http://www.calchess.org/tournaments.html
This website will list basic information for all events, including the
tournament name, date(s),
city (with new!! links to Yahoo maps) and contact information (email
address) for the organizer or
tournament director. Additional information may include links
to a website, a PDF flyer and a
list of advance entries. SEND EMAIL TO ME AT <[email protected]>
WITH TOURNAMENT SUBMISSIONS and
I will update the website as soon as possible, usually within a few
days.
If you would like to run a tournament, FIRST VERIFY THAT THE DATES YOU
ARE INTERESTED IN ARE
AVAILABLE. Everyone would like to avoid having two conflicting
tournaments on the same date(s)
within reasonable driving distance. Thus, an event in San Jose
would conflict with one in San
Francisco, but another tournament in Fresno would be far enough away.
However, a scholastic
tournament would not conflict with a nearby regular (previously referred
to as adult) event.
Please note that the USCF does not give the clearinghouse person the
authority to prevent an
organizer from running a conflicting tournament. The sanctions
at my disposal only include not
promoting the conflicting event on the CalChess website (e.g. no website
links).
The CalChess clearinghouse website will emphasize (using a larger font
and color) tournaments
that fall into any of the following three categories:
<1> events sanctioned or sponsored by CalChess
<2> events that offer a discount to CalChess members
<3> large annual events with at least a three year history
I furthermore intended to restrict the privilege of posting a website
link or tournament flyer to
these events. CalChess would like to encourage players using
its tournament website to join the
state organization. However, due to the current CalChess political
climate, I will delay the
implementation of this new policy indefinitely and will provide additional
notice before making a
change.
In addition to emailing information about your upcoming events to me,
I WOULD APPRECIATE RECEIVING
ANY NEWS AFTER THE TOURNAMENT. If you have a website with results
or crosstables, then I can post
a link on the CalChess site. I also welcome a brief report (one
to two paragraphs please) to post
on the CalChess homepage, especially about your bigger events (both
regular and scholastic). I
hope to see stories from a variety of different clubs and organizations,
but that variety depends
on your participation!
I look forward to working with all of you, the tournament organizers
and directors of northern
California! Without your hard work, few people would be able
to play chess over the board. As an
active tournament player myself, and on behalf of other chess players
young and
old, I thank all of you!
Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Michael Aigner
CalChess Clearinghouse
Member-at-Large, CalChess Board of Directors
8) Trying to locate Senior Master John Hall
Can anyone help Fred Wilson with the following request? SM John Hall was living in San Francisco around 2000-2001 but has not been seen in a couple of years.
Dear John:
I am still trying to locate chess author & USCF senior Master John Hall. Dover Publications, Inc. would like to discuss with him a possible reprint of one of his books but we have been unable to find a current address, phone number or email for him. If you or anyone at the Mechanic's Institute knows anything about John Hall's whereabouts-even two or three years ago-it would be of great help to us. Also, this would almost certainly benefit John Hall!
I have also sent this email to several other "West Coast" chess professionals in the hope that one of them may know how to contact John Hall, along with copying it to my contact at Dover, John Grafton, Senior Reprint Editor.
Best regards,
Fred Wilson, consultant on chess literature to Dover Publications, Inc.
--
Fred Wilson Chess Books
80 East 11th Street Suite 334
New York, NY 10003
Hours: Noon-7:00 P.M.,
Monday through Saturday
Phone: (212) 533-6381
email: [email protected]
fredwilsonchess.com
9) Here and There
US FIDE delegate Bill Kelleher reports that Boris Kreiman just received his GM title. Well done Boris!
Jon Haskel writes that southern Florida will be hosting an IM norm tournament shortly. Among the contestants are IMs Renier Gonzalez and Blas Lugo, FMs Fabio LaRota and Daniel Fernandez, NM Eric Moscow and up and coming junior Jeffrey Haskel.
IM Stan Kriventsov won the 2004 OCF Tulsa FIDE Open held
October 23-24 with a score of 4.5 from 5. Tying for second at 4-1 in the
39-player field were
NMs Ron Luther, Mikhail Langner and Moises Movsisyan.
The event was organized by Jim and Frank Berry.
Ed Labate is back in the book business. Visit him at http://labatechess.com
Cindy Tsai, who is a sophomore at Stanford, writes that the university
will be sending two teams to the 2004 Pan-American Intercollegiate Championships,
to be held in Wichita, Kansas from December 27-30. The event is being organized
by Mikhail Korenman who will hold two international events in Lindsborg
immediately before it.
Newsletter #216, 11/03/2004
"A chess tournament is not a horse race. Besides official results,
it leaves something much more important: games - products of human intellect."
Mikhail Krasenkow
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
Round two of the Fall Tuesday night Marathon saw IM Odondoo Ganbold of Mongolia maintain his position as top seed.
This weekend the Mechanics' will host its annual Carroll Capps Memorial
but with a twist. This year more rounds will be offered with six instead
of four. The time control the first day will be G/1 with four rounds. Sunday
it will be two rounds of 30/90 followed by G/1. The extra rounds will provide
more opportunities to play and as well as more competitive pairings in
the later rounds.
2) Chess Olympiad
The big news for American chess is the tremendous results turned in by the US Men's and Women's teams. First here are the press releases by the USCF for the two teams.
2004 US WOMEN'S OLYMPIAD CHESS TEAM MAKES HISTORY WITH FIRST-EVER
MEDAL
Mallorca, Spain, November 1, 2004 – The 2004 US Women’s Olympiad Chess
Team has just made history by capturing Silver, the first ever Olympic
medal for the United States. The international competition consisted of
87 teams from around the world and represented the strongest Women’s Olympiad
since its inception in 1924.
The US team finished second behind China but ahead of Russia, the famous chess powerhouse, who took home the Bronze medal. Although the US Women’s team defeated China in a head-to-head match, China’s total number of points scored against other teams allowed them to capture their third consecutive Olympic Gold.
The US team consisted of four players, a team captain/manager, head
coach and special theoretical consultant. The team members included:
Board 1:Grandmaster Susan Polgar (Queens, NY)
Board 2:International Master Irina Krush (Brooklyn, NY)
Board 3:International Master Anna Zatonskih (Bowling Green, OH)
Reserve:Women International Master Jennifer Shahade (Brooklyn, NY)
Captain/Manager:FIDE Master Paul Truong (Queens, NY)
Head Coach:International Master Michael Khodarkovsky (Montville,
NJ)
Theoretical Consultant:Grandmaster Alexander Chernin (Budapest,
Hungary)
GM Susan Polgar captured a total of 4 medals during this Olympiad. In addition to the team Silver medal, GM Susan Polgar also took home the Silver medal in scoring percentage on board 1, Gold medal for most points scored with a total of 10.5 out of 14 games, and Gold Medal for the best overall performance of the Women’s Olympiad. She also extended a number of incredible records which very few players in the world can match.
1. GM Susan Polgar played all 14 games on board 1 without a break in four consecutive Olympiads that she participated over a span of 16 years.
2. In each of these four Olympiads, she captured both team and individual medals (10 total medals: 5 Gold, 4 Silver and 1 Bronze).
3. She has a 56 consecutive game scoring streak without a single loss (this is comparable to Joe DiMaggio's incredible 56-game hitting streak in baseball). In fact, she has never lost a single game in the Olympiads.
According to Head Coach, Michael Khodarkovsky, the first ever US Women’s Olympiad Training Program began 18 months ago, as team members were able to go head-to-head with the world’s best players. “Their dedication and hard training paid off, as our women performed extraordinarily, taking home the Silver.”
The team is sponsored by The Kasparov Chess Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. KCF provided the financial and training resources necessary to support a winning performance.
The U.S. Women’s Chess Olympiad team has made their country proud. The team is looking forward to the next World Chess Olympiad to be held in Turin, Italy in 2006.
New Windsor, NY)The USA Men's Olympiad Team, sponsored by the United States Chess Federation, finished fourth in the 36th Chess Olympiad held in Calvia, Spain - October 14-31, 2004. The USA Men's Team nearly earned a place on the medal podium, narrowly losing out to Russia and Armenia.
The Men's division at the Olympiad included 129 teams. The final standings
for the Men's leaders were as follows:
1st: Ukraine (39.5 points)
2nd: Russia (36.5)
3rd: Armenia (36.5)
4th: USA (35.0)
5th: Israel (34.5)
The team earned their high standing by playing well against some of the toughest competition in the tournament. They recorded match wins against Spain and Azerbaijan, drew matches with Ukraine, Armenia and Israel, and suffered only the narrowest of defeats against India and Russia. The team's overall match score was an impressive 7 wins, 4 draws and 3 losses.
The USA Men's Team was comprised of six top grandmasters: GM Alexander Onischuk, GM Alexander Goldin, GM Gregory Kaidanov, GM Igor Novikov, GM Alexander Shabalov and GM Boris Gulko. GM Kaidanov turned in an especially impressive performance, finishing second in the individual standings for all board four players. He scored eight points in ten games (80%), with a performance rating of 2763.
Additional details can be found at the 36th Chess Olympiad Official Website. All players played on electronic chessboards. Links for coverage and replay of all games provided by the Olympiad and Chess21 - Playzone and are available from US Chess Federation Official Website.
Daily results and photos on both the USA Women's Team (Sponsored by Kasparov Chess Foundation) and USA Men's Team also available at: GM Susan Polgar website.
Courtesy US Chess Federation.
Here are the results of the two teams in their final three matches and
individual statistics.
Men Round 12 USA -Armenia (#4 seed) 2-2, Round 13 USA-Ukraine (#2 seed) 2-2, Round 14 USA-Norway(#31) 3.5-.5.
Board 1 Onischuk (2658) 7.5/13 - PR 2698 Board 2 Shabalov (2608) 5/10 PR 2614; Board 3 Goldin (2620) 6.5/10 2677; Board 4 Kaidanov (2611) 8/10 PR 2763; Board 5 Novikov (2588) 5.5/8 PR 2629; Board 6 Gulko (2600) 2.5/5 PR 2463 PR = performance rating
Women Round 12 USA -Hungary (#13) 2.5-.5, Round 13 USA-France (#8) 1.5-1.5; Round 14 USA-Vietnam (#22) 2.5-1.5
Board 1 Polgar (2567) 10.5/14 PR 2622 Board 2 Krush (2461) 7.5/12 PR
2476 Board 3 Zatonskih (2440) 9.5/14 PR 2438 Board 4 Shahade (2361) .5-2
The results of the two teams were fantastic. Their combined result of 6 (2nd and 4th) was just behind Russia (5) and eclipsed the old US record of 8 from Novi Sad 1990 (Men 2nd Women 6). If anyone had predicted this before the end of October they might have been committed to an asylum. The Women's team was seeded third going in but a lot of that was due to the rating of top board Zsuzsa Polgar who had not played a serious tournament in many years. She proved herself going undefeated while playing all fourteen rounds. Zsuzsa had the best performance rating of the Olympiad and really showed her mettle winning her last four games. Well done! The next two boards, IMs Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih, played almost exactly according to their ratings which place them respectively #19 and #28 in the world among women. Reigning US Women's champion Jennifer Shahade got off to a rough start and then fell ill in the middle of the event which helps explain why she saw so little action. All said the US team made the best possible result in winning the silver with 28 points. China had a fantastic start and at one stage was 6 points ahead! Their final score of 31 meant that they could have effectively sat out one round. Xie Jun (710 PR 2597) and Zhao Xue (10/12 PR 2596) were both in excellent form.
As fantastic as the women's result in Spain was in many ways the men's result was even more remarkable. The team went in seeded tenth but with only top boards Onischuk and Shabalov having got much serious practice in 2004. The team was probably one of the oldest at the Olympiad with an average age of 42 (Onischuk 30, Shabalov 37, Goldin 39, Kaidanov 45, Novikov 42 and Gulko 57). Contrast that with Azerbaijan who played with teenagers. Results in the past two Olympiads at Istanbul (around #30) and Bled (around #40) suggested that the US team had not adapted well to the new time control of G/90 with 30 second increment. It looked like matching their seeding with a tenth place finish would be outstanding but they accomplished much more
The first hero of the team was top board Alex Onischuk. Alex has been the top-rated American player on the FIDE list since his arrival in the United States several years ago but his solid style has prevented him from dominating American Swiss system events. In Bled he showed why he has been rated close to 2700 FIDE. US teams have traditionally relied on their depth, sharing the work, with second boards often playing on first board (Alex Yermolinsky comes immediately to mind) , but in Calvia Alex did it alone and in great style. His only loss to world class opposition that was out to beat him was to Peter Svidler with Black. He beat Alexey Shirov with the same color! A 2700 result on board one is a great way to lead a team.
Second board Alex Shabalov was his usual combative self on board two. The reigning US Champion suffered a pair of losses early but bounced back. His win over Vallejo Pons (2678) helping to lead the US team to a 3.5-.5 victory over a tough Spanish team that really got them moving after a sluggish start.
The US got its major scoring from the middle of the lineup with GMs Alexander Goldin, Gregory Kaidanov and Igor Novikov combining for 20 of the team's 35 points. All three played excellently, particularly Kaidanov who won the silver medal four the second best percentage score on board four. His performance rating was a tremendous 2763, one of the ten best results of the Olympiad.
The only player on the team to perform below his rating was Boris Gulko who struggled early and played only once after the sixth round. Age may possibly be catching up to Boris but I suspect that the fast FIDE time control and a lack of practice have contributed. The last time the traditional time control was used in Elista in 1998 Boris scored 5.5 from 8 with a 2691 result. The past two Olympiads he is 6.5 from 13 against an average opposition of 2480. Boris has played in every Olympiad and World Team Championship since making his debut in 1988 for the US team and taken home 1 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze team medals. It was nice to see him get to play with a team that had a great success after the frustrating performances of US teams in Istanbul and Bled, as this might have been his last Olympiad.
One question that is certain to be asked is whether the US team could have won a medal with Hikaru Nakamura as the second reserve. Certainly 14-year-old Sergey Karjakin was jet fuel with 6.5 from 7 as he helped lead Ukraine to an out of this world result of 39.5, a full three points ahead of Russia (second on tiebreak) and Armenia. These two teams were a point and a half ahead of the US, both with clearly superior tiebreak, so it would not have been easy but Hikaru's results in 2004 have been close 2700 FIDE. The US team result in Spain was the best since 1998, and they even scored a half point more than the US squad which took home the silver medal that year. That team however faced stronger opposition and it still continues to impress as five of the six team members performed around 2700. While the 2004 US Women's result was the best ever for the Men the standard in the post World War Two era continues to be the silver medal from Elista and the gold and silver medals from the 1993 and 1997 World Team Championships.
Speaking of World Team Championships the next one is scheduled for 2005 in Goa, India. The FIDE rules for Qualification are:
Qualification for the World Chess Team Championship
The four continental Champions.
(GA `95) The three highest-placed men`s teams in the Chess Olympiad before the World Chess Team Championship. If one or more of the top three teams have already qualified for the World Team Championship by winning a Continental Championship, their qualification as Continental team champions will pass to the team placed next in the respective Continental Championships.
Since Russia won the European Team Championship in Plovdiv in 2003 it would appear that the United States, by taking fourth place in this Olympiad, has qualified for the World Team Championship next year.
The site schach.wienerzeitung.at: Der österreichische Schachserver
/ The Austrian Chess Server and the official website but offered excellent
coverage of the Olympiad. The former had this to say:
From the 14th to 31st October the 36th Chess Olympiad took place in
Calvià, on the Spanish island Mallorca. 129 men teams (4 player
with two substitutes) and 87 women-teams (3 player with one substitute)
(with a replacement player) (with 2 substitutes) took part on this event.
1100 participant fought 17 days (14 rounds) and played approximately
5400 games for the medals.
Remark: As players of Bermuda and Papua New Guinea have refused the doping control, Bermuda becomes 3,5 and Papua Papua New Guinea 7,5 points for the final ranging list (and only there!) denied.
Can any Newsletter reader tell me more about the doping controls? Was
steroid use rampant in Spain?
3) Russian Championship
Chess fans everywhere will really look forward to the 57th Russian Championship (Super-Final) which will take place 14 November - 1 December in the "Rossija" hotel in Moscow.
Participants are:
1 Garry Kasparov 2813
2 Vladimir Kramnik 2760
3 Alexander Morozevich 2758
4 Peter Svidler 2735
5 Evgeny Bareev 2715
6 Alexander Grischuk 2704
7 Alexey Dreev 2698
8 Anatoly Karpov 2682
9 Alexander Khalifman 2669
10 Alexander Motylev 2651
11 Artyom Timofeev 2611
12 Vladimir Epishin 2599
13 Alexey Korotylev 2596
14 Vitaly Tseshkovsky 2577
4) Governor's Cup
Grandmasters Sergey Kudrin, Alex Wojtkiewicz and Yury Shulman were joined by IM Stanislav Smetankin it a tie for first in the 9th Annual Governor's Cup held October 29-31 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The four winners score of 4-1 was matched by a ...Expert!! Teenager Thomas Gossell of Missouri had a phemonenal performance beating Shulman and three players in the 2300s. His only loss was as Black to GM Alex Yermolinsky. This result should catault him into the Master ranks and none to soon.
The event was organized by David and De Knudsen. David
only scored two points in the tournament but was re-elected to the South
Dakota Senate yesterday and didn't have to wait overnight for the result.
Fiscal conservatives will be pleased to note that he spent less than $1000
on his campaign, a tad less than both sides in the bitter Dasche-Thune
US Senate race (won by Thune) where the two opponents raised so many millions
that one wire service calculated that $50 was spent for every South Dakota
voter. Now if only we could get that sort of money into chess!
5) Kasparov Letter to the FIDE Congress
Wednesday, 27th October, 2004
FIDE General Assembly FAX 011 34 971 234 875
RE: 2005 FIDE World Chess Championship
Ladies & Gentlemen,
I believe that everybody in attendance is aware of the press announcement of the FIDE World Championship in Dubai Jan 7th – 24th, 2005. The fact that this match appears to be following the same disastrous sequence of last years two failed FIDE World Championship events is of considerable concern to me and to most of the chess world.
The feeling of déjà vu is overwhelming as once again I see the same trend looming. Deadlines coming and going. Grand media announcements totally devoid of real detail or substance. This time, the FIDE Congress must act and put people in charge who know how to negotiate and agree contracts before issuing grandiose statements.
The harsh facts are that nobody can go into serious TRAINING and PREPARATION for a World Title with this uncertainty. It’s just not possible!
Unless we have an agreement that I can sign – with acceptable payment terms by October 31st, I would like to suggest the following.
That FIDE appoints a three man committee to immediately negotiate with the Turkish Chess Federation, backed up by the Turkish Republic.
If they can move quickly the match can still be played in January, but unless I have a fully executed Escrow Account in place by Nov. 10th, the match must be moved to a date mutually acceptable to the two players, the organizer and FIDE.
From the time of the Prague Agreement on May 6th, 2002 to the present, I have stuck to my word to FIDE to work hard toward the reunification process.
True chess aficionados know that chess must see an undisputed World Chess Champion and then and only then will normal sponsorship flow into our noble game. In this way the game will grow and the sport will flourish.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has contacted me on several occasions about this match and my reply to him has been consistent.
Given the two failed attempts in 2003, I told Kirsan personally that while I was ready and willing to play the match, I would not sign any document until he had irrefutable proof of funding and could set up an escrow account or satisfactory instrument of payment. Kirsan agreed to this and many times during the past days and weeks told me “The agreement and proof of payment will be with you soon.”
On Friday 22nd October, I called Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and informed him that representatives of the Turkish Chess Federation, backed by the Turkish Republic, are highly interested in organizing and funding this tournament. They will only need 10 days, once FIDE gives them the sole option to present the Championships in Turkey.
I understand that Kirsan is now on his way back from Dubai. He has had a month or more to get it done in Dubai. Unless he has the money, we should give somebody else the authority to act.
I do not enjoy giving deadlines so instead you can view this as a REALITY.
UNLESS THE $1M PRIZE MONEY IS IN ESCROW BY OCT 31ST, 2004 (for DUBAI) or Nov 10th, 2004 (for TURKEY) I WILL NO LONGER BE AVAILABLE TO PLAY IN JANUARY of 2005.
It must be of concern to everybody present that FIDE is in danger of losing control of the World Chess Championship cycle and a delay could mean that the impetus is lost. There are those at large who would love to see FIDE fail and reunification die – FIDE MUST NOT LET IT HAPPEN!
The first step toward reunification MUST be taken now. Then FIDE will only be one step away from its stated goal.
Give people like Georgios Makropoulos, Zurab Azmaiparashvili, and Israel Gelfer only 10 days to negotiate with Turkey and we will know one way or the other. At least it will not float in the air
Awaiting a response.
Garry Kasparov
6) DeGuzman wins in San Jose
DeGuzman Scares the Competition on Halloween
by Michael Aigner
International Master Ricardo DeGuzman came out on top of the October Open at the Academic Chess BlacKnight Palace in San Jose with a score of 3.5/4. In his classic "trick or treat" playing style, DeGuzman defeated NM Michael Aigner on Halloween morning with the rare Saragossa opening (1. c3). Only FM Eric Schiller managed to escape with a half point after a difficult endgame against DeGuzman. Second place went to Aigner with 3.0/4 while Schiller and Amarnath Mukherjee shared third place and the top under 2200 honors at 2.5/4.
40 players took part in this event, which was capably directed by Albert Rich. Half of those players were in the competitive booster (1600-1999) section. Amazingly, nobody managed to score more than 3.0/4, resulting in a six-way tie for first place and top under 1800 between Jan De Jong, Eric Madriaga, Patrick Shepherd, Arnav Shah, Stephen Young, and Ken White. The only person to achieve a perfect score in the tournament was reserve section champion Alberto Calderon. The under 1400 honors went to Albert Gu, Jonathan Pak, and Yukihiro Suda.
tournament crosstables:
http://www.calchess.org/tournament_results/BlacKnightHalloween.html
DeGuzman,R. - Aigner,M.
1. c3 f5 2. d4 Nf6 3. f3 d5 4. Nh3 c5 5. Nf2 Nc6 6. e3 Qb6 7. Qb3
Qxb3 8. axb3 e5 9. Bb5 cxd4 10. exd4 exd4 11. cxd4 Kf7 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13.
Nd3 Bd6 14. Bf4 Bxf4 15. Nxf4 Bd7 16. Nd3 Rhb8 17. Nd2 Ke7 18. Kf2 Kd6
19. h4 Ne8 20. b4 f4 21. Ra4 Rb6 22. Nb3 Nc7 23. Rha1 Bf5 24. Nbc5 Bxd3
25. Nxd3 Nb5 26. Nxf4 Rb7 27. Rd1 Re8 28. Rd2 Rbe7 29. h5 Re1 30. Ne2 Rh1
31. Ng3 Rc1 32. Nf5+ Kc7 33. Nxg7 Ree1 34. Nf5 Kb6 35. g4 Nc7 36. Ra3 1-0
7) East Bay Chess Club News
SM David Pruess writes:
Item 1 is Salar Jahedi's hot streak. Back in our September Swiss
he had distinguished himself with sole second, drawing Andy along the
way. Now in our October Swiss he took sole first, defeating Larry
Snyder along the way. In our current Monday Night tournament he has
beaten me and then drawn Andy to go into the last round tied with
Andy Lee for first. The tournament wraps up this Monday, with 5 players
having
a chance at first.
Item 2 concerns that last round: we have created a new icc handle,
eastbaychess. It will be used to broadcast games that may be of
interest to the Northern California chess community on ICC. We have
already started doing this with the Monday Night tournament, with me
giving commentary on the top board's game while it is in progress.
IM Vinay Bhat joined me this past Monday on an account of his to
discuss the
game. The finger notes of the account will have info about upcoming
broadcasts.
Our weekly schedule has changed.
Change in weekday club hours: On Monday, the club will open at 11 AM instead of 10 AM; on Thursday and Friday, the club will be open until 10 PM, rather than 11 PM
Change in weekend club hours: club will open an hour before the first round for registration, and 30 minutes before the round otherwise; the club will stay open until 30 minutes after the last game of the day finishes
The weekly blitz events, previously held on Monday nights will be moving to Thursday nights; registration is from 6-6:45 PM and the tournament will start at 7 PM; there will be no simultaneous exhibitions on Thursday nights
The weekly lecture for advanced and intermediate level players, previously held on Friday nights from 6-7 PM, are moving to Monday nights from 6-7 PM, directly before the start of the Mini-Marathon games
Friday nights will be open for more casual chess, chess variants,
and even other board games; the weekly bughouse (or other chess variant
tourney) will run from 7 PM to 9:30 PM
8) Here and There
The organiser of Linares, Mr Gutierrez, held a press-conference in Calvia and announced that next year appearance fees will not be paid to players, but, instead, the prizes will be high: 1st 100. 000 Euro 2nd 75 000 3rd 50 000 etc. The names of four players are already known: Anand, Leko, Kasparov and Vallejo. Also invited are Kramnik and Morozevich, they are considering the invitation now.
The next Olympiad will take place in Turin (2006) and Dresden (2008).
You can find the Alan Benson book collection at http://marspolaris.tripod.com/bookcoll.html. The well-known Berkeley master is selling his personal library.
Felix German writes: I was wondering if I could ask you
to send my challenge to anyone who is rated 2000+ for a 6 games, rated
match in a next newsletter. Felix can be contacted at [email protected].
Newsletter #217, 11/10/2004
"A recorded game of chess is a story in symbols, relating in cipher
the struggle of two intellects; a story with a real plot, a beginning,
a middle, and an end, in which the harmonies of time and place are scrupulously
observed; the fickleness of fortune is illustrated; the smiles of the prosperous,
the struggles of adversity, the change that comes over the two; the plans
suggested by one, spoiled by the tactics of the other - the lures, the
wiles, the fierce onset, the final victory. An hour's history of two minds
is well told in a game of chess."
Jose R. Capablanca
1) MI Chess News
14-year-old Nicolas Yap regained his Master's rating with an
excellent result in the 34th Annual Carroll Capps Memorial held
November 6-7 at the Mechanics' Institute. The high school student from
San Francisco defeated FMs Emmanuel Perez and Ron Cusi and
drew with IM Ricardo DeGuzman in the last round to take first place
and $400 with a score of 5.5 from 6. Tying for second at 5 in the 46-player
event were Cusi and FM Bela Evans.
34th Carroll Capps Memorial
Yap,N - Vayntrub,D [B78]
Carroll Capps Memorial San Francisco (5), 11.2004
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6
8.Qd2 0–0 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0–0–0 Ne5 11.Bb3 Rc8 12.Kb1 Nc4 13.Bxc4 Rxc4 14.g4
b5 15.b3 Rc8 16.Ndxb5 Qa5 17.a4 a6 18.Nd5 Qxd2 19.Nxe7+ Kh8 20.Rxd2 axb5
[20...Rce8 21.Rxd6 Rxe7 22.Rxa6 gives White four pawns for the piece.]
21.Nxc8 Rxc8 22.Rxd6 Bc6 23.axb5 Bxb5 24.c4 Bc6 25.Rhd1 Ne8 26.Rd8 Rxd8
27.Rxd8 Be5 28.Bd4 Bxd4 29.Rxd4 Kg7 30.b4 Kf8 31.b5 Bb7 32.c5 Ke7 33.c6
Bc8 34.b6 1–0
NM Arthur Ibragimov took first in the Wednesday Night Blitz on November 3 with David Ray second and Yefim Bukh third.
Mechanics’ Institute Chess Room 150th Year Celebration
December 4th 2004 from 10am –5pm
Come celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Mechanics’ Institute Chess Room and Institute with a fun-filled day of activities. Highlights will include:
Children’s Chess Class - 10-11am
Free simul by teenage stars Nicolas Yap and Ewelina Krubnik - 11am-1pm
Blitz Tournament – 5 double round Swiss - $10 entry fee if you bring
a clock, $15 without.
Guaranteed Prizes - $100 first; $60 second, First Under 2000 $40.
More per entries. 1-3pm
Live analysis of US Championship by International Master John Donaldson.
Come watch the games of Bay Area stars Alex Yermolinsky and Walter Browne.
3-5pm
Mechanics’ Institute – 57 Post Street, 4th Floor, (415) 421-2258,
[email protected], Montgomery BART
2) Matthew Ho at the World Youth Championships in Greece
Follow Matthew Ho at World Youth!
by Michael Aigner
San Jose junior NM Matthew Ho was selected to represent the United States at the World Youth Chess Championship in Crete, Greece on November 4-13. Matthew is the highest rated junior in Northern California, with current ratings of 2259 USCF and 2277 FIDE. He has his work cut out for him in Greece, since he is seeded 41st out of 116 players in the B16 (boys 16-and-under) section, with two Grandmasters sitting at the top boards. Matthew joins an American delegation of 14 boys and 10 girls who play in five age categories. Southern Californians, NM Elliott Liu (B16) and WFM Tatev Abrahamyan (G16) are the only other west coast participants.
Check out the following link for daily pairings, results, and standings.
http://www.greekchess.com/wycc2004/
Latest standings (after 7 rounds) Top US scorers are Daniel Ludwig #1
in the Under 16 with 6 , Alisa Melikhina =3rd with 5 in the Girls Under
14 and Josh Friedel is =7th with 5 in the Under 18. California scores:
Matthew Ho has 4 and Elliot Liu 2.5 in the Under 16 while Tatev Abrahamiyan
has 4.5 from 7 in the Girls Under 16.
3) Olympiad Controversies
The recently concluded Olympiad in Calvia, Spain, seems to have produced more than its share of controversies. By now most chessplayers in the world know of the incident involving Georgian GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili and security guards at the closing ceremony that resulted in his arrest by Spanish authorities. This was not the only one incident involving Georgians. Another concerned the last round match Georgia-Armenia GM Alex Baburin's online-daily Chess Today (wwwchesstoday.net), which just celebrated its fourth birthday, had this to say about the alleged dumped match.
The Armenia-Georgia Match by GM Alex Baburin
Chess Today got a copy of the letter (see below) from the Israeli Chess Federation, concerning the last round match at the recent Olympiad between Armenia and Georgia. Georgia lost that match ½-3½, which nearly allowed Armenia to take silver medals (they got bronze on tiebreak, after Russia won 3-1 vs. China). I already commented in CT-1460 (see directly below JD) that such results were not impossible even between roughly equal teams, but this letter mentions some suspicious details, so the case is still open. Interestingly, the letter is not on the FIDE website.
CT- 1460 - As long as there are big upsets in the round, there
will always be some parties not happy about it. But I recall that in Bled
2002 Armenia beat
Georgia 3-1 in the last round and nobody protested. If I remember correctly,
then Georgians were ahead before the match, so no foul play
could be suspected. These teams are similar in strength, but a big
score between them is certainly possible
Attention: Mr I. Leong, Chief Arbiter of the 36th Chess Olympiad
Copy: Fide President
Fide General Secretary
Chairman of the organizing committee
"Dear Sir,
Following my conversation with Mr Mena - Chief Arbiter of
the men section, before the beginning of the last round, I hereby apply
to you with
an urgent request, to check deeply the course of events in the match
between Georgia and Armenia. Few hours before the match we heard
numerous rumours about a possibility of an agreement in advance
between the mentioned teams, including extremely strange odds on the
outcome of the game in the Internet (www.betsson.com). However,
we didn't believe in such a thing to happen in such an important event,
despite all the rumours around. These rumours were reinforced by
the fact that the team of Georgia didn't include their two first boards,
which is
absolutely unique in the last round. Therefore I approached Mr Mena
before the beginning of the games and informed him about the facts. Mr
Mena
was aware of the facts but understandably didn't take any actions.
The progress of the games verified our suspicions, as 3 Georgian players
lost
one after another in a very strange way and quite quickly, clearly
not according to their usual level of play.
Though Georgian team felt down deeply, the players themselves were
just smiling and even joking around.I think this situation must be investigated,
as the outcome of this match had a huge impact on the final results of
the Olympiad. Hence, we require to establish very urgently a special committee
to check
all the events regarding this match:
1. List of players
2. The possibility of an agreement in advance
3. The professional level of the games
Yours sincerely,
Innon Boim, President of the Israeli
Chess Federation"
Another Chess Today regular contributor G Mikhail Golubev wrote:
The Israeli chess observer Dr Mark Livshits has published two quite remarkable articles recently. Both of them will stir up some controversy. At the Bestsportnews site, Dr. Livshits reviews the results of the Olympiad and claims that the last round match between Armenia and Georgia (Armenia won, 3½-½) was fixed. Livshits also cites the Israeli team coach IM Alexander Kaspi who said that the result was "suspicious" and that the Israeli federation has already distributed a protest letter among the participants and the FIDE officials in Calvia. In my (MG) view, similar accusations should always be supported by strong evidence. But it would be interesting to know the opinion of FIDE about all of that. FIDE, supposedly, received the official letter from the Israelis (the existence of the Israelis statement is confirmed in Ana Matnadze's open letter), and, therefore, should react in some way.The site Olimpbase.org, meanwhile, says that there is "some claim the match had not been fair". So, as I understand it, FIDE should have enough reasons now to investigate the situation.
Mark Crowther at The Week in Chess had this to say.
The Israeli Chess Federation sent a letter to FIDE officials questioning
the result of the match between Georgia and Armenia. Game fixing in chess
goes on (particularly in lesser events where prize money and norms are
concerned), its however incredibly difficult to prove and in general ignored
by FIDE. The rules in Calvia were however extremely clear "2.10 Prior agreement
between players as to the result of individual games or of a match shall
be penalized with the utmost severity. If any such agreement is proved
to have taken place, the points apportioned by it shall be annulled and
the matter shall be referred to the Appeals Committee for the fixing of
the penalty." However there weren't any unusual betting patterns seen by
Betsson (mentioned in the letter) on the Georgia - Armenia match and the
amount of money was pretty small. Its certainly the case that in Olympiads
teams as a whole have agreed 2-2 draws in the past with no censure at all
(and these really do annoy me as they tend to be potentially the most exciting
matches and in these days of betting surely should also be explicitly banned
as I'm pretty sure the teams don't think them wrong) and there looks to
be at least one case of that in the recent Olympiad.
Here are the four games from the match.
Akopian,V (2692) - Izoria,Z (2600) [E12]
Calvia ol (Men) Mallorca (Spain) (14.4), 29.10.2004
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Nc3 c5 7.e4 cxd4
8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Nxc6 Bxc6 10.Be2 Qb8 11.0–0 Qe5 12.Bf3 Bc5 13.g3 g5 14.Rd1
a5 15.b3 g4 16.Bb2 Qg5 17.Bg2 0–0 18.Qe2 e5 19.Nd5 Bxd5 20.exd5 Rfe8 21.Bc3
Qf5 22.Qb2 d6 23.b4 Bd4 24.Bxd4 exd4 25.Qxd4 Qe5 26.Qxb6 Reb8 27.Qc6 Rc8
28.Qa4 Rxc4 29.Rac1 Rxc1 30.Rxc1 Qb2 31.Qc6 Re8 32.bxa5 Re2 33.Qc3 1–0
Jobava,B (2614) - Aronian,L (2675) [E11]
Calvia ol (Men) Mallorca (Spain) (14.4), 29.10.2004
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Qe7 5.g3 Nc6 6.Nc3 Bxc3
7.Bxc3 Ne4 8.Qc2 Nxc3 9.Qxc3 0–0 10.Bg2 d6 11.d5 Nd8 12.0–0 e5 13.e4 c5
14.Ne1 Bd7 15.a4 a5 16.f4 f6 17.Nd3 Nf7 18.b3 b6 19.Rae1 g5 20.Kh1 Kh8
21.Re2 gxf4 22.gxf4 Rg8 23.Qe1 exf4 24.Nxf4 Ne5 25.Qh4 Bg4 ½–½
Vaganian,R (2640) - Gagunashvili,M (2567) [D12]
Calvia ol (Men) Mallorca (Spain) (14.4), 29.10.2004
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg4 7.Qb3 Qc7
8.h3 Bh5 9.g4 Bg6 10.Nxg6 hxg6 11.g5 Nfd7 12.e4 dxe4 13.Nxe4 e5 14.Be3
Na6 15.Bg2 exd4 16.Bxd4 Nac5 17.Qe3 0–0–0 18.0–0–0 Re8 19.Rhe1 Nxe4 20.Bxe4
Bb4 21.Re2 f5 22.gxf6 gxf6 23.Qf3 Rhg8 24.Bxg6 Rxe2 25.Qxe2 c5 26.Qe6 Rxg6
27.Qe8+ Qd8 28.Qxg6 cxd4 29.Rxd4 Qe7 30.Qf5 Kc7 31.h4 Ne5 32.h5 Qc5 33.Qe4
b5 34.h6 Nxc4 35.Qd5 Ne5+ 36.Qxc5+ Bxc5 37.h7 Nf7 38.Rg4 Kc6 39.Rg7 Nh8
40.Rg8 Nf7 41.f3 1–0
Gelashvili,T (2576) - Lputian,S (2634) [D58]
Calvia ol (Men) Mallorca (Spain) (14.4), 29.10.2004
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 0–0 7.e3 b6 8.Bd3
Bb7 9.0–0 Nbd7 10.Bg3 c5 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Bxd5 13.Rc1 cxd4 14.Bc7 Qe8
15.e4 Bb7 16.Nxd4 Rc8 17.Bb5 Bc5 18.Bg3 a6 19.Ba4 Bxe4 20.Re1 Bd5 21.Nf5
Qd8 22.Bh4 Nf6 23.Ne3 b5 24.Bc2 Bb4 25.Ng4 Bxe1 26.Nxf6+ gxf6 27.Qg4+ Kh8
28.Qf4 Bd2 29.Qxd2 Kg7 30.Bd3 Rh8 31.Rd1 Qc7 32.Bb1 Qe5 0–1
The Georgian top boards were Azmaiparashvili and Kacheishvili. Both were playing more or less according to their rating though the latter's only win was in round one. It might also be expected that Azmai would sit out the final round as he is highly involved in FIDE administrative matters which tend to concentrate toward the ending of the Olympiad. Georgia, with 31 points was in no position to hope for a medal, even in the event of an extremely unlikely 4-0 victory. With 31 points going in the last round they were in a big tie for eighth, two points behind Armenia. Their only real chance for glory lay in fourth board Baadur Jobava who had the best result in the event with 8 from 9 for a performance of well over 2850! He didn't have to play. The requirement is that boards 1-4 play at least 60 percent of their matches so 9 games was enough. Had Jobava sat, the gold medal on board 4 and gold medal for best result of the event were his. He did play, gaining the Georgians their sole half point of the match. A loss would have cost Jobava both his gold medals. It would be quite understandable if the Georgian team captain decided to give him the white pieces. Since Georgia had White on 2 and 4 and Jobava was board four either they would have play the top four or drop two of the three boards above him, otherwise he would be Black. Playing the bottom four left Vaganian and Lputian, both in excellent form, against Gagunashvili and Gelashvili who were really struggling. Add to that Akopian with White on board one and the final result doesn't look so surprising. Though the two teams are not so widely apart by rating the Armenians have a tradition of playing together very well as a team. Players like Lputian also have excellent reputations as good sportsman. I wasn't there but from the outside I see nothing to suggest collusion.
One other mini-scandal was US team captain Boris Postovsky's interview with the Russian press where he accused the USCF of trying to replace sixth board Boris Gulko with up-and-comer Hikaru Nakamura. I have not seen any concrete evidence to support this claim but as mentioned in previous Newsletters the selection criteria could definitely be tightened up. Objective criteria is needed that is easy to understand and check. Here is what is currently on the USCF site:
3. FIDE Olympiad and FIDE Women’s Olympiad:
Average of the 1) current published USCF rating at time of invitation; 2) peak published USCF rating (going back 24 months from time of invitation); 3) current published FIDE rating at time of invitation
2. For the U.S. Championship or FIDE Olympiad, players may satisfy the activity requirement by their participation in the immediately preceding event.
FIDE events are supposed to be USCF rated but with a few exceptions (Goletiani's 1st place in the 2003 Pan American Womens Championship) they have not. Changes in the USCF rating formula have resulted in a drop in the ratings of top players, especially those who are active. Those who have played little USCF rated play have tended to move up the list through inactivity. Exactly how to reflect the difference between USCF and FIDE when doing conversions has been a bone of contention as the latter are lower. Players who like one game a day play like Boris often find it hard to find serious events in the US, but if they play exclusively in Europe they run the risk of not satisfying the activity requirement. The USCF staff wastes a lot of time doing the calculations.
My solution. Scrap the USCF ratings from the calculation. Simply take the FIDE average for 6 lists and the current FIDE rating at the time of invitation and average them. For the 2006 Olympiad in Dresden that would be the January, April, July, October 2005 and January and April 2006 FIDE rating lists averaged plus the April 2006 rating.
Some traditionalists might shudder at the idea of dropping the USCF rating from the calculation but how many significant US events are not FIDE-rated? Not many. What events would you be leaving out? Games played faster than G/60 and minor Swisses. In their place you would be giving more weight to Olympiad results, performances in World Championship cycle events, and play in strong roundrobins. Wouldn't these be precisely the sort of events that should count?
One additional advantage of going to all FIDE is that it would be make the eligibility criteria less artificial. It shouldn't be a problem for any player to be able to play 20 games between Olympiads. The idea that playing in the preceding Olympiad automatically meets the activity standard strikes me as a bad idea. It was designed over ten years ago for semipro women players with limited vacation time. It no longer applies. Speaking of the women how will the team for 2006 be chosen? Will it follow a formula or have a training squad for several years? It would be probably be a good idea to clarify matters shortly
One other issue. Should the US Champion and womens champion be automatically
be seeded? This regulation went into effect when the Championships were
roundrobin tournaments. Should they still apply now that they are Swisses?
4) East Bay Chess Club News
EBCC Monday Night Tournament by SM David Pruess
Salar Jahedi wrapped up the second Monday Night tournament at
the East Bay Chess Club, in fine fashion. With the one player tied with
him (NM Lee) forced into a sudden 0 point last round bye, he only needed
a draw to claim sole first. However, lose, and he could find himself tied
with as many as 4 players for first. And playing white against him would
be the winner of the first Monday Night Tournament, Craig Andries.
It was fitting that he would have to battle the previous winner to take
his place.
After defending a worse position for much of the game, the scramble
to time control left Jahedi with an equal position. He was able to set
up a full board blockade, and for several moves neither player was able
to make any progress, but there was no indication that either had offered
a draw. Just when it began to seem very likely that the game would end
in a draw, Jahedi, to the surprise of the spectators on the Internet Chess
Club, used the one breakthrough in the position to rekindle the game, even
though it offered him somewhat worse chances. His confidence appears to
have been justified as in the sudden death time crunch he was able to win
clearly on the board. A brave fighting decision and a well earned first
place.
The next Monday Night Tournament will begin next week.Itwill run four
consecutive weeks. As with the last rounds of this one, the top board in
each round will be broadcast on ICC, with live commentary by SM Pruess.
We are also happy to announce the sponsorship of the New York Masters (www.newyorkmasters.com)
for this tournament. They are offering entry to their tournament to the
first place finisher as well as to any non-master to defeat a master during
the tournament. If you
are rated u2200, this could be your way in to a weekly tournament that
features many of the US's top players like Kamsky and Nakamura.
5) Here and There
Viswanathan Anand showed why he is clearly the best rapid chess player in the world as he won the Corsica Masters in Bastia, France, held 29th October - 4th November 2004, for the fifth year in a row. After a 9 round Swiss which took place 29th-31st October with three points for a win the top 16 players played off for places in the knockout part of the event. Anand won the final after dropping just a single draw in the 8 games he played to win the event. He beat Nenad Sulava 1.5-0.5 and then Mikhail Gurevich, Etienne Bacrot and finally Sergei Rublevsky 2-0 to take the KO event.
As reported in Newsletter #216 the Russian Championship starts this Sunday. Vladimir Kramnik has withdrawn from the competition.
IM Dmitry Schneider shared first place in the 11th Bela Papp Memorial held October 16-24 in Torokbalint, Hungary. Joining him in the winner's circle in the Category 8 (2428) GM round robin were Hungarian IMs Miklos Galyas and Gabor Papp. The winning score of 6 from 9 was a point short of the GM norm. American IM William Paschall was last in the Papp with 3 points but has bounced back with an excellent start in the November First Saturday event in Budapest where he leads the Category 7 (2412) event with 3.5 from 4. Fellow American IM Rashid Ziatdinov has 1 from 4.
Russian GM Yury Shabanov successfully defended his World Senior crown taking first on tiebreak at 8.5 from 11 in the annual event held in Halle, Germany from October 24-November 5. Americans IM Tony Saidy and FM Eduard Zelkind were among those tied for 23rd at 7 points in the 205 player field.
NM Braden Bournival won 10th Annual Green Mountain Open and Vermont
State Championship held November 5 - 7 in Stratton Mountain, Vermont.
NM David Timberlake was the top scoring player from the Green Mountain
State, earning the title of state champion. Bill Goichberg's Continental
Chess Association organized the 37-player event.
6) Bay Area Chess History
Koltanowski,G - Steiner,H [D04]
Atascadero North-South Match, 1949
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 c5 4.c3 Qc7 5.Nbd2 Nbd7 6.Qa4 a6 7.c4 dxc4
8.Bxc4 e6 9.0?0 Rb8 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Qc2 b5 12.Bd3 Bb7 13.b4 Bd6 14.Qxc7
Bxc7 15.Bb2 0-0 16.a4 Nd5 17.axb5 Nxb4 18.Be2 axb5 19.Ba3 Nc2 20.Bxf8 Nxa1
21.Be7 Ra8 22.Bxb5 Nf6 23.Rc1 Bxf3 24.Nxf3 Nd5 25.Bc6 Nb3 26.Bxd5 exd5
27.Rd1 Ra5 28.g3 f6 29.Nd4 Nxd4 30.Rxd4 Kf7 31.Bb4 Rb5 32.Ba3 Ke6 33.Rb4
Draw California Chess News July 1949, page 5
In MI Newsletter #127 I published a list of winners of the annual People's Open in Berkeley since its inception in 1974. Information for four years was missing.
We can now add the following thanks to the USCF MSA service.
1994 Burt Izumikawa , Victor Baja and Richard Kelson 4.5/6 152 players
1996 Peoples Open Artak Akopian and Dmitry Zilberstein 5/6 226 players
Results are still needed for 1984 and 1986.
Newsletter #218, 11/17/2004
"Chess is so interesting in itself, that those who have leisure for
such diversions cannot find one that is more innocent, but advantageous,
to the vanquished as well as the victor. "
Benjamin Franklin
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
IM Ganbold Odondoo and NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs lead the Fall Tuesday Night Marathon with perfect scores after four of the nine rounds. Half a point behind the Mongolians are Victor Ossipov, Peter Grey and Vincent Mo.
Yefim Bukh won the Wednesday Night Blitz on November 10 with
a score of 11.5 from 12. Joe Urquhart was second at 9.5.
2) US Championship
Here is the revised player list for the US Championship which is scheduled for November 24-December 5 in La Jolla (San Diego), California. Note the addition of 6-time US Champion Walter Browne and San Diego IM Cyrus Lakdawala. Complete details can be found at the America's Foundation for Chess website at http://www.af4c.org/events.asp. Those who like to combine activities will want to consider pairing a visit to the US Championship with playing in the American Open in Los Angeles. Information for the latter can be found below under upcoming events.
USCF 10/02 rating
1 Gata Kamsky 2777
2 Gregory Kaidanov 2730
3 Alexander Goldin 2705
4 Boris Gulko 2705
5 Igor Novikov 2690
6 Alexander Shabalov 2689
7 Alexander Onischuk 2680
8 Hikaru Nakamura 2676
9 Ildar Ibraigimov 2671
10 Varuzhan Akobian 2665
11 Alexander Yermolinsky 2642
12 Alexander Stripunsky 2640
13 Alexander Ivanov 2633
14 Nick De Firmian 2626
15 Ben Finegold 2621
16 Joel Benjamin 2620
17 Larry Christiansen 2611
18 Sergey Kudrin 2607
19 Gregory Serper 2598
20 Aleks Wojtkiewicz 2590
21 Yury Shulman 2590
22 Julio Becerra 2582
23 Eugene Perlshteyn 2579
24 Alex Fishbein 2575
25 Dmitry Gurevich 2551
26 Lev Altounian 2546
27 Cyrus Lakdawala 2545
28 Renier Gonzalez 2536
29 Yury Lapshun 2527
30 Walter Browne 2508
31 Stanislav Kriventsov 2504
32 Dmitry Schneider 2503
33 Jesse Kraai 2493
34 Tegshuren Enkhbat 2481
35 Irina Krush 2472
36 Marcel Martinez 2466
37 Joshua Friedel 2464
38 Anna Zatonskih 2459
39 Lev Milman 2455
40 Stephen Muhammad 2455
41 Anatoly Lein 2436
42 Ronald Burnett 2423
43 Dmitry Zilberstein 2419
44 Salvajius Bercys 2418
45 Bruci Lopez 2417
46 Blaus Lugo 2413
47 Matthew Hoekstra 2409
48 Robby Adamson 2400
49 Rusdan Goletiani 2375
50 Jennifer Shahade 2346
51 Fabio LaRota 2336
52 Michael Casella 2329
53 Jake Kleiman 2310
54 Tatev Abrahamyon 2305
55 Anna Hahn 2256
56 Tsagaan Battsetseg 2238
57 Laura Ross 2195
58 Esther Epstein 2178
59 Olga Sagalchick 2154
60 Chouchanik Airapetian 2149
61 Vanessa West 2119
62 Anna Levina 2099
63 Iryna Zenyuk 2094
64 Tatiana Vayserburg 2037
“The Bent Larsen US Championship Prize”
Dear US Championship Participants,
A hearty welcome to each and every one of you! The organizers of the US Championship proudly announce an exciting additional prize for this year’s event. We want to give special recognition to players who consistently bring fighting spirit to the tournament, who decline the easy and perhaps convenient draw, and find ways to carry their games to exciting and successful conclusions. Hence, Professor Jim Roberts, Co-Founder of America’s Foundation For Chess, his wife Pam and their children, Jacob and Emma, have generously agreed to donate a $5,000 cash prize to reward the player who "brings it to the table" when it matters.
They consider that the legendary and always gracious Bent Larsen of Denmark is the player who has best captured this ideal of over-the-board courage. The $5,000 prize, as well as recognition as the “Bent Larsen Prize Winner,” will go to the most combative player at this year’s event; the participant whose performance stands out for eschewing early draws and for fighting hard throughout the event. To be eligible a player will have to finish with an even or plus score, and particular attention will be paid to fighting spirit shown in the final two rounds. The $5,000 will be shared if it is considered that two or three players jointly deserve this special award.
The winner or winners will be chosen by Jim Roberts in association with the organizers of the US Championship. Their decision will be final.
Wishing you all a successful and combative tournament!
The Organizers, on behalf of Pam, Emma, Jacob and Jim Roberts
One of the best free weekly chess news updates on the web is produced by IM Malcolm Pein whose London Chess Center sponsors the very popular The Week in Chess (TWIC). His Chess Express (www.chesscenter.com) recently published an interesting little snippet on the top seed in this year's US Championship.
By IM Malcom Pein
The top seed in the upcoming US championship is the former Fide championship finalist Gata Kamsky, who emerged from retirement to play at a few of the Tuesday night Rapid tournaments at the Marshall Chess Club earlier this year and will now face his first real test after a five year break which he spent studying law.
Kamsky has been far from convincing so far in his comeback and came to grief in the following game after eschewing the critical lines with 8…Nc6. Recent analysis confirms that 8…Bd7 does not yield sufficient counterplay against the white centre.
19.e6! frees the e5 square for the white knight with disastrous consequences for Black. If 19…Nxe6 20.Ne5 forks queen and rook and if 20…Kxf7 21.Ne5+ with another fork. 23…Kxf7 24.Qd5+ wins the Rc4; after 23…Qxf7 24.Ne5 Qe6 defends but 24.Ng5! which intends Rxe7+ if the queen moves is decisive. In fact White's position was so good he could also have won with 21.Qxd6 exd6 22.Nd2! (22.Re8? Rc1+) and if 22…Rc3 23.Re8 Rc1+ 24.Nf1.
Bonin,J (2342) - Kamsky,G (2717)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3
c5 8.Bb5+ Bd7 9.Bxd7+ Qxd7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Rb1! cxd4 12.cxd4 Rc8 13.Bb2 Na6
14.Re1 Rc4 15.d5 Bxb2 16.Rxb2 Qc7 17.e5! Nc5 18.d6 Qd7 19.e6! Qxd6 20.exf7+
Kg7 21.Rd2 Qf6 22.Rd8! Rxd8 23.Qxd8 Qxf7 24.Ng5! Ne6 25.Nxf7 Nxd8 26.Nxd8
b5 27.g3 Kf8 28.Ne6+ Ke8 29.Re5 a6 30.Nc5 Rc2 31.Nxa6 Rxa2 32.Nc7+ Kd7
33.Nxb5 Ra5 34.Kg2 e6 35.f4 Ra2+ 36.Kh3 Rd2 37.Nc3 1-0
3) Arthur Stamer
The Mechanics' Institute will celebrate its 150th annivevsary on December 4th, but it has only had a chess director since 1951. Arthur Stamer was the first, from 1951 until 1963. Here, in a letter to longtime Stamer Memorial Director Mike Goodall, Stamer's daughter Marion Stamer Simmons recalls her much-loved father.
March 19, 1996
Dear Mr. Goodall;
Here goes. Will try to give you a glimpse of Arthur B. Stamer.
He was born in Berkeley, California in 1884. The family moved in
his early years to San Francisco where his father opened the Bee Hive Restaurant.
It was there one of the waiters introduced him to the game of chess. He
married Edith Aitken in 1914. Chester Arthur Stamer (Chet) was born in
1916 and I was born eight years later. Chet joined the Chess Club and won
top prize in the first Stamer Memorial Tournament. Chet died in 1981.
To me, chess was a game my father and brother were forever playing
and I didn't pay attention to victories, loses, or tournaments. The medals
and papers enclosed were in my brother's effects. I hope you will find
then interesting and will return them to me. The mimeographed papers are
yours if you'd like them.
For years we lived on 28th Avenue between Irving Street and
Lincoln Way. On the long street car ride downtown, dad would move tiny
ivory pieces into the pockets of a chess wallet he always carried. I remember
old men sitting on benches playing chess under the trees in Golden Gate
Park. I'm sure my dad was often one of them. Many chess friends turned
into poker, bridge, and anagram pals. There was always some game going
on at home.
Next to chess building radios was a consuming hobby. Every
radio in our home he built. I remember being called to his basement workshop
to hear Big Ben brought in all the way from London on a short-wave radio.
Being the youngest in the family, I always felt young. But this story is
getting to me! Was all this really that long ago?!!
His formal education was not remarkable but he was. Perhaps it really
was remarkable because although it ended with graduation from the eighth
grade, his love of learning never stopped. My picture of him walking home
from the streetcar is with a cigarette in one hand, a book under the other
arm, and a chocolate bar in his pocket for me. He must have checked out
every nonfiction book in the library. I believe that he and my mother could
point out every star in the sky, know the name of every flower and tree,
as well as the name of every poet or author whose work they read. An exaggeration
perhaps but even today I would like to see them on Jeopardy.
When he was Superintendent of Delivery for the Post Office in the
1920s you could see the Ferry Building from his office in the Ferry Annex.
When working an Rincon Annex, He retired in 1951 as First Assistant General
Superintendent of Mails, San Francisco. His retirement picture with and
signed by then San Francisco Postmaster John Fixa thanks him for 41 years
of devoted service. Walking along the street with him, it wouldn't be unusual
for a mail truck to come to a fast stop and for a mail carrier to jump
out, shake his hand, and say hello.
As a husband, he would say he wasn't the best - too much chess,
too much radio. But my mother said he was "God's Gentleman." As a father,
you would have probably guessed, he earned undying love.
I don't know if Mr. McCain was the one who wrote the tribute for
the first Stamer Memorial, but I am grateful. Whoever wrote it knew him
well and said it all.
Mike, I'm afraid you have here more than you need for a few short
remarks, but I got carried away!
My dad loved that Chess Club, and being its Director must have been
icing on the cake. He'd have been down there every day anyway.
Wishing you all the best tournament ever -
Marion Stamer Simmons
4) Here and There
Sara Nelson writes in the November 11 edition of the New York Post
Josh Waitzkin — the chess prodigy at the heart of the acclaimed
book, "Searching for Bobby Fischer" — has just signed his first deal for
a book that's not about chess.
The tentatively titled "The Art of Learning," an inspirational memoir-and-advice
book, has just been sold to Simon & Schuster's Free Press for nearly
$300,000.
Waitzkin was a champion chess player from childhood, and his story
was chronicled by his father Fred Waitzkin in "Bobby Fischer" — and later
made into a movie.
Now in his late 20s, Waitzkin is no longer a professional chess player,
and is an expert at a form of tai chi known as tai chi push hands.
The new book — represented by Waitzkin Sr.'s longtime agent, Amanda
"Binky" Urban — discusses the skills Waitzkin believes are essential to
chess, to tai chi, and to most endeavors.
His 40-page proposal was full of anecdotes from Waitzkin's life and
discussed such concepts as "having a beginner's mind" and how to build
mental stamina.
The underbidders included Doubleday and Riverhead
Rusty Miller writes: A&E Cable TV channel is carrying what appears to be a 60 minute Bobby Fischer bio program at 4 AM Thursday Nov 18. Set your VCRs. Hopefully they will run it in the future at a more reasonable time. Thanks to Don Schultz former USCF Pres & GM Yasser Seirawan for the tip on this event.
Richard Koepcke has won the 2004 Goodwin Memorial held at the Burlingame Chess Club with a round to spare. The Mountain View NM's score of 6-0 puts him a point and ahalf ahead of the field.
The November First Saturday tournament Grandmaster section was won by Serbian GM Zlatko Ilincic with 8 from 11. William Paschall of Boston tied for fifth with 6 points in the Category 7 (2412) event. Fellow American IM Rashid Ziatdinov finished with 3.5 points.
American youngsters turn in solid performances in the World Youth Championships in Crete. Here are a few highlights.The top US scorer was Daniel Ludwig who finished 4th on tiebreak in the Boys Under 14 with 8 from 11. Alisa Melikhina tied for fourth in the Girls Under 12 with 7.5 points while Josh Friedel was =11th in the very strong Boys Under Eighteen with seven points. California scores: Matthew Ho of San Jose had 5.5 and Elliot Liu of Los Angeles 5 in the Boys Under 16 while Tatev Abrahamiyan of Glendale had 6.5 in the Girls Under 16.
GM Alex Wojtkiewicz won the annual event at King's Island, just
north of Cincinnati, last weekend. His score of 4.5 from 5 was good for
$2,142. Tying for second at 4-1 were GMs Kamil Miton, Dmitry Gurevich
and IM Jan Van De Mortel. A total of 334 players competed in the
Continental Chess Association event.
Newsletter #219, 11/24/2004
"Chess is a struggle and a sport to me. But I feel the obviousness
of chess as a fusion of science and art ... I am grateful to chess, first
of all, because it helped me to understand myself more clearly, to choose
my way in life ..."
Garry Kasparov
Mechanics’ Institute Chess Room 150th Year Celebration December 4th 2004 from 10am –5pm
Come celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Mechanics’ Institute
Chess Room and Institute with a fun-filled day of activities.
Highlights will include: Children’s Chess Class - 10-11am, Free
simul by teenage stars Nicolas Yap and Ewelina Krubnik - 11am-1pm, Blitz
Tournament – 5 double round Swiss - $10 entry fee if you bring a clock,
$15 without. Guaranteed Prizes - $100 first; $60 second, First Under 2000
$40. More per entries. 1-3pm, Live analysis of US Championship by International
Master John Donaldson. Come watch the games of Bay Area stars Alex Yermolinsky
and Walter Browne. 3-5pm Mechanics’ Institute – 57 Post Street, 4th Floor,
(415) 421-2258, [email protected], Montgomery BART
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
IM Ricardo DeGuzman scored 5-0 to win the 4th Annual Pierre Saint Amant Memorial held November 23rd at the M.I. Tying for second at 4 in the 36-player event were Yefim Bukh, Wesley Chen and Alok Singh. Ewelina Krubnik, who score 3.5 beating two players above her and losing only to DeGuzman, was top under 1800. If you wonder why the M.I. holds's a tournament every year honoring Saint Amant the answer is that he served as the French Consul in San Francisco during the Gold Rush and was the city's first great chess player.
Continuing our look back at the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club as it prepares to celebrate its 150th birthday here are some articles that appeared in the American Chess Bulletin.
San Francisco is a stronghold of American Chess concerning which players in the East hear all too little, except on those rare occasions when a Lasker or a Pillsbury finds his way to that somewhat isolated center. That there are players of some weight out on the Pacific coast is evident from the fact that neither of these two great masters named here have come away unscathed on the occasion of their pilgrimage there. The leading club at the Golden Gate is that of the Mechanics' Institute, the championship tournament of which was recently concluded in favor of Wallace E. Nevill, who secured chief honors with a total score of 12 1/2 points out of a possible 16. The other scores were Martin, 10 to 5; Spaulding, 8 1/2 to 6 1/2; Jones 8 to 8; Thompson, 6 1/2 to 6 1/2; Colesworthy, 5 1/2 to 7 1/2; Cleve, 3 1/2 to 8 1/2; Durkin, 4 1/2 to 8 1/2; Sternberg, 4 to 11. The winner is a native of Victoria, Australia, but, since coming to this country some eleven years ago, has become an American citizen. Mr. Nevill is also quite expert at simultaneous chess and is of a literary mind.
ACB 1904 pages 139-140
The famous chess and checker club connected with the Mechanics' Institute at 57 Post Street, San Francisco, Cal., is again in a flourishing condition, numbering 150 members. Sixteen tables are constantly "working." The club has a well equipped room and many fine players. At the head of this fine club is J. J. Dolan with J. L. A. Jaunet as secretary.
ACB 1911 page 154
Beyond the Mississippi- IV
CHESS IN SAN FRANCISCO
From time immemorial the general chess center of the GOLDEN GATE CITY has been the Mechanics' Library, located, since the period succeeding the great earth quake, in a fine new building near the front of Post Street. The chess club si a sort of annex to the Library Association and I think there is no official organization. In time past, it numbered a good many strong players, but lately these, on account of gathering years, have mostly retired, and many have resigned to the Pale Master and have passed on. Play is still very active at the Library, however, and on the afternoon of my visit there were twenty-eight boards in operation. I did not find much of what I should call the "chess spirit." Few of the players I met take chess periodicals, or appear to care anything about what is going on in the chess world. They seemed not to take the royal game very seriously and most of the play was on the skittles order, and there is a decided dearth of even moderately strong players. Perhaps the strongest of them is George Hallwegen, who, I believe, is a reporter for the Evening Post. In a few off-hand games, I found him to be a formidable antagonist
There is material and opportunity for a vigorous chess organization in Frisco, if some persistent enthusiast would take hold of the situation and get things going. Some of these days, this is likely to happen, and then we expect to see the metropolis of the Pacific Coast back on the chess map again.
Knight Errant
ACB 1912 page 259
I don't know who "Knight Errant" was but reading his accounts of West
Coast chess that were serialized in the American Chess Bulletin he was
clearly someone who quickly formed opinions, many of which were not altogether
accurate. Walter Lovegrove, who might possibly have been in Europe at the
time of Knight Errant's visit was the strongest Bay Area player from the
1890s until the 1920s when he was eclipsed by A.J. Fink. Both were Masters.
The MI. Chess Room has been part of the Mechanics' Institute since 1854.
2) US Championship
The US Championship starts today. Live coverage will be available at the official site - http://www.uschesschampionship.com and the ICC. The former has lots of photos up from the opening ceremonies including one of the Bay Area's Dmitry Zilberstein signing boards flanked by GMs Boris Gulko and Gregory Kaidanov. New Mexico IM Jesse Kraai will face Gata Kamsky with White in round 1.
There are many previous US Championship titleholders in the field including:
Joel Benjamin 3 (titles)
Larry Christiansen 3
Nick De Firmian 3
Alex Shabalov 3
Boris Gulko 2
Alex Yermolinsky 2
Alexander Ivanov 1
Gata Kamsky 1
All of the above will be contenders plus the other 17 GMs competing including Olympiad stars Gregory Kaidanov, Alexander Goldin, Alexander Onischuk and Igor Novikov not to mention the number three rated US player and top-rated World for those born after December 1987, Hikaru Nakamura.
Joel Benjamin ( aka Joel Ripken/Gehrig) will be playing in his record 22nd straight US Championship!
SAN DIEGO, Nov. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Thanks to the vision of one man, the "game of kings" will take front and center on the national stage this month as 64 of the nation's finest chess players go head to head in a nine-day tournament being held at the tony Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines (10950 North Torrey Pines Road, in La Jolla) near San Diego, Calif. Multi-millionaire entrepreneur Erik Anderson, a Seattle resident and devotee of the game, saved the 159-year-old U.S. national championships from extinction four years ago and has since invested millions of dollars of his own money to ensure that the games go on.
This year's "world series" of chess is expected to draw 2,000 spectators a day and an additional 1.2 million others who will keep up with the proceedings thanks to newly developed and complicated Internet technology. The 2005 U.S. Chess Championship will begin on Wednesday, November 24 and continue each day through Sunday, December 5 at which time $250,000 in prize money will be awarded to the best players at an awards ceremony that will be held in the hotel's Scripps Ballroom from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The public is invited to view the competition free of charge.
Anderson secured the rights to the national chess championships in 2000 from the United States Chess Federation and formed the America's Foundation for Chess (AF4C). In addition to sponsoring the national championships, the nonprofit organization mounts an aggressive program called First Move to introduce chess to American grade school children. Studies suggest that youngsters who play chess develop their critical thinking, math and problem solving skills more effectively than those who do not play the game. In conjunction with the nine-day tournament of master players, which will feature the nation's current chess champion, Alexander Shabalov, a number of other activities are being planned. Among the highlights are the Kid's Simul, an exciting interactive event for children ages 5 through 18. Approximately 300 youngsters of all ages and abilities are encouraged to "make their best moves" in simultaneously held games in a massive exhibition of chess-playing abilities. Joining the activity will be 25 U.S. Championship master players who will rove about the arena and offer pointers to the children. The Kids' Simul will be held on Saturday, November 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in downtown San Diego (off Pacific Coast Highway at Gate 4). Those interested in registering may do so by calling Dawn Spears at (619) 226-1491, ext. 110 or via e-mail to [email protected].
"Chess has been viewed as an extension to the arts, sports and sciences
since its inception nearly 1,400 years ago. When I discovered that America's
premiere chess championship series was in danger of losing its funding,
I knew that something had to be done," said Anderson. "More than any other
activity, chess stimulates one's creative and analytical skills and can
be used with phenomenal success as a fun and educational tool for children.
I am delighted to announce that the 2005 U.S. Chess Championships will,
once again, take place and look forward to exposing this amazing game to
a new generation of enthusiasts."Among the sponsors of the 2005 U.S. Chess
Championship are Chessmaster 10th Edition, ZMD, NTC Promenade, America's
Foundation for Chess, Swarovski Crystal and the Anderson Family Foundation.
3) Hikaru Nakamura Interview
There is a fascinating interview at Chess Cafe (http://www.chesscafe.com/skittles/skittles.htm) by Howard Goldowsky entitled A Conversation with Hikaru Nakamura and His Stepfather, Sunil Weeramantry. The interview reveals Hikaru to be remarkable insightful for a 16-year-old. Here are a few excerpts.
HG: You have progressed very quickly. How much of an importance do you put on rating, and if you don’t put a lot of importance on rating, how do you generate a metric to determine your progress?
HN: That’s very difficult. If you don’t look at the rating at all, it’s hard to set goals. Otherwise, you’re just playing a game and there’s really no purpose. So there is definitely some emphasis on the rating. But usually, I just try to play better, keep improving. If your rating goes up, great. If it stays the same, that’s just what happens. Basically, it just comes down to trying out your stuff, playing everything, and just trying to improve.
HG: So I take it that you don’t have a big fixation on your rating?
HN: No, not really.
SW: [laughing] And I suppose when you don’t fixate on it you tend to do well. I was just joking with Hikaru before you came, and it looks like the MSA site right now has him at 2698 (USCF), and there are a number of tournaments that he has won lately that have not been rated. [Most notably, Nakamura won the Reno Western States Open in late October, where he defeated Wojtkiewicz, Kudrin, and Yermolinsky, in succession.] So he’s easily over 2730. He seems to have very quietly done that. He has certainly won his share of tournaments – very quietly.
HG: As your Dad says, you’ve snuck up on a lot of people on the rating list. Do you feel any pressure at all, getting so good, so fast? Do you feel people are out to get you now, now that you’re on the radar screen?
HN: Not really. I haven’t felt pressure. Why should I feel pressure? You know, I’m not the top player, so…I’ve slowly climbed up. I haven’t won any big tournaments.
HG: Do you feel any rivalry with other top juniors throughout the world, like Radjabov?
HN: Most of them I haven’t played, actually. So no, not really…SW: Radjabov is what, nine months older, right? Right now on the rating list, if you look at Hikaru’s age, it is pretty clear that he is number one at his age and below.
HG: In general, do you think that being a nice guy, having too much empathy, is a handicap for being a good chessplayer?
HN: That’s a difficult question. If you look at Anand, he’s the nicest guy around as far as grandmasters go. You probably won’t find someone nicer. But it has hurt him. It seems that the nice guy is never really the top player. [laughs] You look at any sport, and it always seems to be that way. It probably is a handicap because if you have all this empathy towards people you probably aren’t as aggressive in the way you play.
HG: Do you have any favorite chess books that you’ve read over the years?
HN: I think when I was younger, around 2000 (USCF), I looked at Fischer’s
60 Memorable Games. I’ve looked at some other ones, but not many. I think
I read a Tarrasch book once, but I can’t remember. Lately, I really have
not looked at chess books at all. Now I just use my computer.
4) East Bay Chess Club News
SM David Pruess writes:
The Opening Season of the Bayareasliga
Call for Players
2005 will see the first season of a chess league in the Bay Area.
In its first year the league will have 8 teams in both an adult and a scholastic
section. The
league will function as an 8 team round robin, with one match about
every month for the first seven calendar months. These matches will be
over 4 boards, and
will all be hosted in this first year at the East Bay Chess Club
in Berkeley. Teams can have as many alternates as they like in order to
field 4 players for
each match. The teams can represent pretty much anything, for example
a city, company, school, organization...
Several people have already expressed an interest in organizing
teams. However there is still room for a couple more team captains, as
well as players to fill
the teams already envisioned. If you are interested in playing in
the league or in organizing a team, please get in touch with David Pruess
of the East Bay Chess Club as soon as you can. I will be glad to fill you
in on more details. Email [email protected]
As with our Monday tournament, some games from this event will be broadcast on the ICC.
Also another news item:
6 tied for first in the EBCC Monday Night MiniMarathon. After 2 rounds, there are already no perfect scores in the EBCC Monday Night tournament. 6 players stand at 1.5/2, but there have certainly not been any short draws! Catch rounds 3 and 4 on ICC in the next two weeks (handle: EastBayChess).
This weekend those not venturing south for the American Open, where GMs Jaan Ehlvest and Pavel Blatny will be top seeds, can play at home as the East Bay Chess Club will be hosting a Thanksgiving Weekend event.
Nov. 26- Nov. 28 East Bay Chess Club Thanksgiving Swiss. 5SS, 40/2,
SD/1. EBCC 1940 Virginia St., Berkeley CA 94709. EF: $35, $40 after 11/16.
$5 EBCC discount. $$1200b/50, 2 sections. Open: 200-150-100, u2100 100,
u1900 100. Reserve Section: 150-100-50, u1500 75, u1300 75. Reg: 5-5:45
Fri, with 1st rd bye, 9-9:45 Sat. Rds: Fri 6 pm, Sat 10-4:30, Sun 10-4:30.
Info: eastbaychess.com; [email protected]; 510 845-1041
5) The Readers Write
Grandmaster Yury Shulman writes:
I played blitz in Brooklyn college today (Sunday November 21) . Guess
how many GM's were there with a first prize of $300? 7!
Results: 1.GM Miton 11/13, 2-3.GMs Kamsky and Shulman 10.5/13; 4-5.
GMs Wojtkiewicz and Yudasin 9.5, ... GM Sagalchik, GM Rohde, WGM Fierro,
IM Lapshun.
Rusty Miller writes of the recent program on Bobby Fischer.
I woke up for some reason at 4am Thursday so grabbed a quilt and went out into our TV room and watched almost the whole program, commercials and all. Seemed accurate, a number of recent interviews with chess people, Former USCF Pres- Don Schultz, GM Arthur Bisquier, Frank Brady, Al Lawrence, Fischer lawyer Paul Marshall plus others including the authors of BOBBY FISCHER GOES TO WAR. One fellow who was labeled a friend of Fischer gave a name to Fischer's illness. Lots of film from the past, including an interview with Fischer from years ago. They showed him getting THE KEY TO NEW YORK CITY in 1972 several times. There was film from both matches with Spassky. The cost of the tape is $19.95. The program that aired at 4am on Thursday Nov 18, 2004 on cable channel A&E about Bobby Fischer will be available for purchase/shipping Dec 30, 2004. Type "Fischer" in the Search the Store box at A&E.
CalChess, the governing body for chess in Northern California, has been going through some hard times of late do due some serious shrinkage in their treasury caused by the organization's last treasurer, but is taking steps to make things better. Chess in the Bay Area has been blessed by a series of excellent publications dating back to the late 1940s and early 1950s (California Chess News and Chess Digest), 1951-1976 (The California Chess Reporter), 1970s and 80s (Chess Voice) and the 1980s to present (California Chess Journal.
The magazine has been coming out very infrequently since Fisco Del
Rosario stepped down after spoiling us with his reliablity. Now FM
Eric Schiller has kindly stepped in and volunteered his services to produce
an online magazine.
He writes:
If you can, send me a write-up of tournaments for CalChess. I'm putting
together an electronic magazine to send out soon, as we still don't have
the funds to do the printed one. Because we are electronic, we can include
as much as you can send, including games, photos, whatever. You can contact
Eric at
[email protected] . His website is http://www.ericschiller.com/
.
Class A player Felix German (1935) is looking to play a match with players rated 1950+. Interested parties contact him at [email protected] .
Frank Berry played in the Northwest East Chess Fall Getaway in
Marlborough, Masschusetts, last weekend and passes along the following
results:
1. GM Ildar Ibragimov 4 from 5. Shared second IM Igor Foygel and
Joshua Bakker 3.5.
There were 91 players in the multi-section event.
Tournament Director René Olthof passes on news of the
10th ARVES study competition held in the Dutch town of Vught. Some familiar
FIDE over the board titled players were among the top finishers. Swedish
IM Axel Ornstein took first and English GM Jonathan Mestel shared
third. Here is one of the easier(!) ones
W-Kc7, B's b4, c4, Pg5
B- Kh7, B's f8, g8 (7 total)
White wins.
1.Bd3+ Kg7 2.Bc3+ Kf7 3.Kd7
3.Bc4+? Kg6=; 3.g6+ Ke6 4.Bc4+ Kf5 5.Bxg8 Kxg6=
3...Be7
3...Bg7 4.g6+ Kf8 5.Bb4#; 3...Bc5 4.g6+ Kf8 5.g7+ Kf7 6.Bc4+ Kg6 7.Bxg8
Be3 8.Be6 winning
4.g6+ Kf8 5.Be2
Not 5.g7+? Kf7 6.Bc4+ Kg6 7.Bxg8 Bf6=; 5.Bd4 Bg5 (5...Bb3 6.g7+ Kf7
7.Bh7) 6.g7+ Kf7 7.Bc4+ Kg6 8.Bxg8 Bh6 9.Ke6 Bxg7=]
5...Bg5 6.g7+ Kf7 7.Bh5# 1–0
Newsletter #220, 12/01/2004
"Though most people love to look at the games of the great attacking
masters, some of the most successful players in history have been the
quiet positional players. They slowly grind you down by taking away
your space, tying up your pieces, and leaving you with virtually nothing
to do!"
Yasser Seirawan
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
IM Odondoo Ganbold is in clear first after six rounds of the
Fall Tuesday Night Marathon. Odondoo has 5.5 from 6, a half point ahead
of FM Frank Thornally who beat USCF 2300 Batchimeg Tuvshintugs
and Expert Michael Becco who defeated NM Nicolas Yap.
2) Stripunsky leads US Championship
GM Alex Stripunsky of Brooklyn leads the US Championship after six round with 5 points. Right behind him on 4.5 are GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Gregory Kaidanov, Yury Shulman and Gregory Serper. Top scores for the women are IM Anna Zatonskih and WGM Rusa Goletiani on 3.5. Top scorer among Bay Area participants is FM Dmitry Zilberstein at 3.5. His result is tremendous as he has faced an all GM-field and has yet to lose a game. Here is his spectacular round two victory.
The following notes are by IMs Donaldson and Watson with assistance by FM Zilberstein. They come from the official site -http://www.uschesschampionship.com/ Additional coverage is available at www.chesstoday.net and www.chessninja.com. The two Johns are doing live commentary for the audience at the US Championship and are also being broadcast live over the ICC's Chess.FM. Many of the players have also been commentating on their games. Coverage is from 1:30 pm to approximately 6:30 pm PST.
Ivanov,A (2582) - Zilberstein,D (2379) [C78]
US Championship 2005 San Diego USA (2), 25.11.2004
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8
8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.Na3
A line that was popular about 5 years ago among the world's elite.
10...0-0
Black gambits a pawn for activity and pressure on the center. Games
between players like Shirov, Leko, and Anand eventually seemed to show
an advantage for White, but recently this verdict is being challenged again.
11.axb5 axb5 12.Nxb5 exd4 13.cxd4 Bg4 14.Ra4 Re8 15.Bc2!?
Not the normal move. White usually plays Re1 or Bg5.
15...Qd7!
Indirectly attacking the N on b5 and as we shall see, allowing the
queen to infiltrate White's position.
16.Nc3 Bxf3 17.gxf3
17.Qxf3? Nxd4
17...Qh3 18.Be3
This seems very solid and it's hard to believe that Black has any
attack. But with a series of brilliant moves, Dmitry Zilberstein shows
otherwise:
18...Re5!! 19.Re1
19.dxe5 Nxe5 and suddenly White has no defense against ...Nxf3+.
19...Rh5 20.Bf4
With a bishop coming to g3 it looks like Ivanov has successfully
defended.
20...Rh4! 21.Bg3 Nh5!
A key move. On 22.Bxh4, 22...Nf4 mates next move.
22.Re2
To defend along the 2nd rank but also with hopes of stopping the
attack by Qf1.
22...Ne5!
Beautiful. Now there are too many pieces in the attack. To begin
with Black threatens ...Nxf3+.
23.Rd2
23.dxe5 Nxg3 and White has no way to recapture because of the pin
on f2.
23...Nf4 24.Bxf4
Giving up the queen is forced, in view of [24.Qf1 Nxf3+ 25.Kh1 Qxh2+
26.Bxh2 Rxh2#
24...Nxf3+ 25.Qxf3 Qxf3
Black has a queen for two pieces, plenty to win.
26.Bg3 Rh6 27.Nd5 Re6
or 27...Qg4
28.Ra3 Qh5 29.Kg2 Ree8 30.Bf4 c6
30...f6 was easier, giving the queen an escape square on f7.
31.Rh3 Qg4+ 32.Rg3 Qh4 33.Bg5
This seems to trap Black's queen due to 33...Qh5 34.Nf4, but Black
cashes in some of his material:
33...Qxg3+ 34.hxg3 cxd5 35.exd5 Ba5! 36.Rd3 Rxb2
Now the 2 rooks dominate. The rest is easy to understand:
37.Bd1 Be1 38.Be3 Ra8 39.Kf1 Bb4 40.Bg4 Rb1+ 41.Kg2 Ra2 42.Bf4
Ra3 43.Rxa3 Bxa3 44.Be2 Kf8 45.g4 Ke7 46.Kf3 Bc1 47.Bd3 Ra1 48.Bg3 Ra4
49.Bxh7 g6 50.Bh4+ Kf8 51.Bf6 Bh6 0-1
The top board board pairings for round 7 which will be played Thursday (Wednesday is a free day).
1 GM Alex Stripunsky - GM Yury Shulman
2 GM Gregory Kaidanov - GM Hikaru Nakamura
3 GM Boris Gulko - GM Gregory Serper
3) Chess and Celebrities
Chess: the new rook'n'roll?
Madonna's influence has helped the game become cool
Stephen Moss
Saturday November 20, 2004
The Guardian
"Chess is the game which reflects most honour on human wit" - Voltaire.
Chess has had an image problem. It conjures up thoughts of bespectacled
men in anoraks hunched over boards in the upstairs rooms of grotty pubs,
or spotty, gangly schoolboys who can't get a girlfriend and make do with
the Sicilian Defence (Winawer variation).
"Dysfunctionality" is the word that springs to mind. As former British champion Bill Hartston said: "Chess is not something that drives people mad; it is something that keeps mad people sane." The board's 64 squares are so much less challenging than life.
Chess was not something you could admit a passion for - until now. For Tesco has announced that sales of chess sets are booming and that its new own-brand set is selling at double the rate forecast. It attributes the sales spurt to the fact that celebrities such as Madonna play, and makes a startling claim: chess is trendy.
"Chess, of all the really traditional board games, has undergone an image transformation," said Karen Harris, Tesco's senior buying manager. "Being able to play chess is fast becoming a very cool skill for young people." At last, we chess lovers can out ourselves.
"The celebrity factor is important," said Gerry Walsh, president of the British Chess Federation. "They are role models for the young and encourage them to take up the game. When chess was featured in the first Harry Potter film, we noticed a sudden upsurge in interest."
Madonna and her husband, Guy Ritchie, who have taken chess lessons from former Scottish champion Alan Norris, are the best-known celebrities. But a surprising number of famous names enjoy the game: former world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis; Andrew Flintoff, the superstar of English cricket, who used to play chess for Lancashire; former snooker world champion Steve Davis; and pop stars Bono, Moby and Sting.
British chess has, however, yet to unearth anyone to rival the Norwegian Simen Agdestein, who is both a chess grandmaster and played football for Norway. If only Wayne Rooney knew the intricacies of the Modern Benoni. "Anything that can get us away from this nerdy image of chess has got to be good," said John Saunders, editor of the British Chess Magazine. "That image has never been true in countries outside the UK and US. In Russia and much of Europe, it's a mainstream sport."
Here, the government has refused to put chess on its list of recognised sports (a move that would have tax advantages). Walsh said his priority was to convince the government to change its mind. The artist and chess obsessive Marcel Duchamp had no doubts. "Chess is a sport, a violent sport," he insisted. "If it's anything at all, it's a fight."
Saunders believes that in the UK the nerdy stereotype dates from the immediate post-war period, when chess was a middle-class, grammar school activity. "If you flick through back copies of the British Chess Magazine from the 1940s and 1950s," he said, "you see an endless succession of elderly men in horn-rimmed spectacles and tweed jackets."
Chess is now played well beyond the confines of grammar schools. According to Walsh, there has been a huge increase in the number of primary-school pupils playing - up to a hundred in every school. Last year's British Land UK Chess Challenge, a nationwide knockout competition for pupils of all ages, attracted 71,000 entries. "The interest in primary schools is enormous," said Walsh, "though there is a big falling off when they go to secondary school, and we don't know why." He added that chess was no longer seen as a boys-only activity. "At primary level it's about 50-50," he said.
It is helping the chess-in-schools cause that the education secretary, Charles Clarke, is a keen player - he lists it as a recreation in Who's Who. Clarke's father, the senior civil servant Sir Richard Clarke, was an excellent player and invented the British chess rating system (every player registered with the British Chess Federation has an official rating for tournaments.)
"Chess is a mind game," Mr Clarke told the Times last year. "It forces you to think. If you tried to prove that playing chess helps you with GCSEs, that would be difficult, but it forces thinking. It's a game which develops logic and strategy."
The growth in the number of sets being bought has been fuelled by the encouragement of chess in primary schools. But Saunders, whose magazine sells 3,000 copies a month, said he had seen no evidence of a boom in top-level chess. There are around 18,000 registered players in the UK - players who have ratings and compete in tournaments - but the figure does not appear to be rising.
The internet has encouraged more people to play. There are many sites, both subscription-only and free, on which it is possible to play one-to-one games against players all round the world. But, said Walsh, that could act as a disincentive to players to join their local club.
Saunders said there was an inevitable lag between an increase in popular interest in the game and the emergence of top players. The boom in the mid-1970s, driven by the world championship match in Reykjavik in 1972 between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, produced a generation of strong British players 10 years later. But now the UK is lagging again. In the recent chess olympiad in Spain, England had one of their worst ever results, and Scotland, Wales and Ireland also finished well down.
The question now is: can Madonna and Bono have the same effect as Fischer and Spassky did 30 years ago, producing a generation of cool chess players who can challenge the Russians and Ukrainians? Anyone fancy some rook'n'roll?
Queen's gambit
· Madonna plays chess in two of her music videos
· U2 frontman Bono said: "At 12 I studied the grandmasters, and I was fascinated"
· World boxing champion Lennox Lewis was said to play chess as part of his build-up to bouts.
· Sting and his band took on champion Garry Kasparov simultaneously at a charity match in New York in 2000 - they were defeated.
· Jude Law was a keen player at primary school.
4) A Chess Poem by Dennis Fritzinger
chess books
the chess books i used to pick up
from the small, crowded store
across the street from where
they sold russian pastries,
small jewels mad with preserves
of apricot and fig,
the chess books had hard backs
like their subjects, and thin pages
almost as thin as rice paper,
with careful diagrams etched on them
and words in cyrillic, the russian
alphabet, faint and exotic.
the positions blew me away--
so much raw energy there,
so much beauty and artistry,
even heartbreak--
you could see the history
of a people recorded in chess moves,
this time the thunder of knights
instead of mongol horses,
and western bishops instead
of bearded patriarchs.
Dennis Fritzinger
5) Here and There
Melik Khachiyan had an excellent result in winning the American Open over Thanksgiving in Los Angeles. The Glendale IM scored 6.5 from 8, defeating fellow IMs David Vigorito and Kong Deng while drawing GM Boris Kreiman, IM Andranik Matikozian and FM Alexander Kretchetov. Tying for second at 6 were Kreiman and Matikozian while Vigorito and Kretchetov were fourth at 5.5. IM Walter Shipman was the top scoring MI member at 4.5 which included a win over IM Kong.
Ted Castro of San Leandro will not be in the A class much longer after scoring 7 from 8 to win the Under 2000 section. The MI regular finished a point ahead of the competition in his section.
196 players competed in the 4 day event with another 59 competing in scholastic sections.
GM Lubosh Kavalek is doing the commentary at the Alexey Shirov-David Navara match in Prague.
The Berkeley Chess Club is moving.
Starting December 3rd, the BCC's Friday Marathon will now be run by
the East Bay Chess Club
NM Andy Lee will give a free lecture to club members from 7-7:45
PM, and games will begin at 8 PM
Friday events are free for club members, $5/night drop-in fee otherwise
The official 2005 CalChess Scholastic championships will be held in
beautiful Fort Mason, San Francisco, in the Herbst Pavilion, May 7-8, 2005.
Newsletter #221, 12/08/2004
"If you can't find a good move don't play a bad one."
Dmitry Gurevich
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
The Mechanics' had a busy weekend. Saturday the Institute celebrated its 150th anniversary with a day full of activities. The Chess Room started off with a tandem simul by teenagers NM Nicolas Yap and Ewelina Krubnik. Next on the schedule was a blitz tournament which was won by IM Ricardo DeGuzman and SM David Pruess with 8 from 10 followed by FM Ron Cusi and NM Yap. Ted Castro was the top under 2000 in the 16-player event which was run as a five double round Swiss. Live analysis of the last round of the US Championship rounded out the day's activities.
Sunday IM DeGuzman was again victorious the 4th annual Guthrie McClain Memorial, scoring 4.5 from 5. Yefim Bukh was second at 4 followed by Nicolas Yap, Dmitry Vayntraub, Sam Shankland, Ewelina Krubnik and Ramanathan Thirupathy at 3.5. Anthony Corrales directed the 28-player event for the Mechanics'.
IM Odondoo Ganbold is running away with the Fall Tuesday Night
Marathon. His score of 6.5 from 7 puts him a full point ahead of the field.
Tied for second are FM Frank Thornally, NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs
and Jesus Cendejas. Two rounds remain in the competition which ends
on December 21.
2) Mike Franett 1941-2004
Jonathan Berry writes:
My old friend Michael Franett died peacefully, of an apparent
heart attack in his sleep. He was 63.
For all but a bit of the dozen years of Inside Chess magazine, Michael
was the Editor. He organized, negotiated, paginated, made comprehensible.
Throughout, he adhered to two tenets: get the magazine out on time, and
"avoid the horrible". For example, Issue 1 of Volume 1 had the wrong year
printed on the cover, the kind of error which Michael did not allow to
pass when it became his turn.
A man of great charm, when so inclined, he was known around the
office as "Grizzly" or "The Grizz" (derived from the animal names which
John Donaldson gave to several of the staff. Ursus horribilis, the Grizzly
Bear, was the one that stuck), his alter ego as Editor. With a gruff working
demeanour and a 6-foot-5 frame, he was a natural.
Despite the prickliness, he was a generous man, and he loved animals.
Schooled by the Jesuits, Michael had a variety of careers: soldier,
medical orderly, taxi driver, bartender, chef ... which gave him a rich
but unromanticized view of life. He was well-informed on many subjects,
was a voracious reader (not just in chess), and also liked sports (particularly
basketball and American football, both professional and college).
As a chessplayer, he had been Washington State Champion. His understanding
of strategy let him play even with grandmasters sometimes, but on other
occasions his disdain for detail could lead to debacles against lesser
players. An Editor who disdained detail? His work was in broad strokes.
There was a copy editor and a proofreader for that other stuff.
After Inside Chess, he did some writing at Chess Cafe and also taught
chess in the schools in his native Seattle.
In the dozen years of Inside Chess, I used to pop down to Seattle
three or four times a year to keep the computers in order (inter alia)
and it was de rigueur to have Lunch with Michael where he would offer his
unique view on what was happening. I usually stayed at Grizzly Manor, the
home of Michael and his wife Janice (Mrs. Grizzly, though a more un-apt
nickname could not be invented). But Michael did not bring work home; it
was at lunch break that the full majesty of his thoughts came through.
John Donaldson writes:
I knew Michael for 25 years. Back in 1979 I recruited him to play
for the Seattle entry in the National Telephone League, and he became a
key member of the team that finished the season tied for third in the country.
The first time I saw him was at the 1973 Airport Open at SeaTac. He was
the reigning state champion and soon to win his third title while I had
only taken up the game the previous fall, influenced like many by the Fischer-Spassky
match.
Michael was an unusual chess player. Most players start playing
and continue for life, many quit once and come back again, but few come
and go with regularity. Michael was one such player. A native of Seattle
he learned to play in his early teens. He first appears in the Washington
Chess Letter (today's Northwest Chess) in 1957 so its probably safe to
say he learned to play a year or two earlier. He was a frequent visitor
of the Seattle Chess Club throughout the late 1950s but his defining moment
came when he joined the Seattle Chess Center, not long after it opened
in the summer of 1957. Michael, Jim Blair, and another up-and-coming junior,
John
Braley, all became regulars at the Chess Center which was run by Olaf
Ulvestad. Michael and John, who was a few years younger, both made
rapid progress and were rated Experts under Robert Karch's Pacific
Coast Ratings (later NW ratings) before graduating from High School.
The first, of what would be many Washington State Championships
for Michael, saw him finishing third in 1960 behind Jim McCormick
and Viktors Pupols. The following year he was =6th as the field
in the State Championship expanded to a 12 player round robin. He was again
third in 1962 in what would be his last state championship for some time.
Michael's first break from the game was from roughly 1963-1969.
Some of this time must have coincided with his tour of duty in the US Army
where he served as a medic and was based in Germany. Back in Seattle in
the late 1960s he resumed playing and won the first of three
state titles in 1970 at the Seattle Chess Club, then based at the Bush
Hotel in the International District. Only a win by John Braley, in 1971,
kept Michael from winning four in a row at a time when 2300 Masters like
Pupols, McCormick and Johnny Walker competed regularly.
He disappeared a second tine from 1973 until, as mentioned earlier,
he played for the Seattle Rain in the NTL. This comeback was short-lived,
he took part in the 1980 and 1981 State Championships held on Mercer Island,
but shortly after went into hibernation again, not to emerge until he was
rescued from his job driving a cab for Farwest Taxi. His salvation was
become a staff member of Yasser Seirawan's new magazine Inside Chess
at the end of 1987. Michael was listed on the first issue as a staff member,
and later held the titles of production manager, associate editor, managing
editor and finally plain old editor. He held this job until Inside Chess
retired as a print magazine at the beginning of 2000.
It is hard to explain just how essential Michael was for Inside
Chess, a magazine that for most of its existence was a 32 page, twice a
month, magazine. That works out to around 750 pages a year, and not small
pages! Multiply that by 12 years and you have around 9000 pages and Michael
worked on everyone, doing whatever was needed. He did the page layout,
entered copy and edited. Producing a few magazines for a few months can
be fun, doing it for yeasr requires you be a professional. I remember once,
a few years into his editorship, Michael told me he started to measure
things not in terms of days and months but rather by where things stood
in the production schedule. It was not for nothing that after sending an
issue to the printer he would take what he called "a mental health day".
This usually meant, a good meal, some drink, maybe a little pool and always
good conversation.
Michael was an excellent writer and you can see examples from his
column The Wanderer at the Chesscafe (http://www.chesscafe.com/fromarchive/fromarchive.htm),
but what he really liked was editing. The readability of the magazine benefited
immensely from the surgery he performed on articles written by chess players
whose second language was English, and some for whom it was their native
tongue!. Like the former Chess Life article Burt Hochberg, Michael
had the ability to rewrite material in such a way that the original writer's
voice was still heard and didn't sound like the Editor ad nausea. This
is a very rare ability. It might seem a stretch to compare Michael with
some of the great American editors of the past like Hermann Helms who produced
the American Chess Bulletin from 1904 until 1963 or I.A. Horowitz
and his Chess Review which started in 1933 and merged with Chess Life in
1969, but compare their records. The ACB and Chess Review had much longer
runs, 60 and 37 years respectively, but for much of its life the ACB was
produced every other month, perhaps no more than 200 small pages a year.
Chess Review was more substantial, but still probably not more than 400
pages a year. Helms and Horowitz both had chess columns while Michael helped
edit many of the ICE publications. Perhaps Helms and Horowitz rank higher,
but just comparing Michael with them shows how important he was for American
chess.
Michael was a true friend to those who knew him well. He will be
sorely missed by many.
Michael Franett's Memorial service will be at St. Joseph's Church
in Seattle on Capital Hill (Corner of 19th & Alhoa) at 11:30 AM Friday,
December 10th. Following the service, everyone is invited to go Janice's
home for a celebration of his life."
The following game was annotated by Michael and GM Lubomir Ftacnik for Chess Informant 52. When GM Ftacnik came to work for Inside Chess in 1991 he had serious reservations about the cultural literacy of Americans. When he left Michael had personally shown him there was a least one large exception to this rule. The two spent many a lunch hour discussing books and affairs of the day.
Franett - Gutman,R [A68]
Portland, 1991
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0–0 5.f4 d6 6.Nf3
c5 7.d5 e6 8.Be2 exd5 9.cxd5 Bg4 10.h3
Bxf3 11.Bxf3 Re8 12.0–0 a6 13.a4 Nbd7 14.Qc2 Qc7
A novelty 14...c4 - was tried in Informant 30, game 158.
15.a5 c4 16.Be3 Nc5?!
16..Rac8
17.e5! Nfd7
17...dxe5!? 18.fxe5 Rxe5 19.Bf4 Nfd7 was worth considering with
White somewhat better.
18.Ne4 Nxe4
Here 18...dxe5 19.d6 Qc8 20.Nxc5 Nxc5 21.Qxc4 left White with a
clear advantage.
19.Bxe4 dxe5
Or 19...Rac8 20.e6 fxe6 21.dxe6 Nc5 22.Bd5 and White is on top.
20.f5 Rac8
As 20...Nf6 21.Bb6 Qc8 22.Ra4 is better for White.
21.d6! Qxd6 22.fxg6 hxg6
On 22...fxg6 23.Bxb7 Rb8 24.Rad1 Qe7 25.Bxa6 White is winning.
23.Rad1 Qc7
Or 23...Qe7 24.Bxb7 Rb8 25.Bxa6 and Black is defenseless.
24.Bd5 Nf6 25.Rxf6! Bxf6 26.Qxg6+ Bg7 27.Bh6 Qc5+ 28.Kh1 Qf8
29.Bxg7 Qxg7 30.Bxf7+ Kf8 31.Bxe8 1-0
Michael Franett - Peter Biyiasas
Modern Defense A42
NW Invitational Portland (1) 1971
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.e4 d6 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Be3 e5 6.d5 Nce7 7.g4 f5
8.gxf5 gxf5 9.Qh5+ Kf8
9...Ng6 10.exf5 Qh4 is considered safer.
10.Bh3 Nf6 11.Qf3 f4 12.Bd2 Ng6
12...h5 13.Bxc8 Qxc8 14.0-0 0-0 Bh6 15.Qd3 Rg8 16.Nf3 Rg2 17.Qf1
Rg7 18.Kb1 was a little better for White in Portisch-Ree, Amsterdam 1967;
12...c6 13.Nge2 Bxh3 14.Qxh3 Qd7 15.Qxd7 Nxd7 16.Nc1 Rc8 17.Nb3 and again
White has a small advantage, Portisch-Minic, Ljubljana/Portoroz 1973.
13.Bxc8 Rxc8?!
13...Qxc8 is better keeping the h3-c8 diagonal under control.
14.0-0 0-0 c6 15.Kb1 Kf7 16.Qh3 Re8 17.Nf3 Kg8 18.Rhg1 cxd5 19.cxd5
Rxc3
19...a6 20.Rg2 b5 21.Ng5 Nf8 22.Rdg1 Re7 is assessed as equal by
Bob Zuk in the tournament booklet. I think 23.Qf5 or 23.Ne6 leaves White
on top.
20.Bxc3 Nxe4 21.Be1 Nc5?
21...Qc8 was a better try. Now White finishes things off in style.
22.Ng5 Nf8 23.Qf5 Re7 24.f3 Na4 25.Bf2 Nxb2 26.Rc1!
26.Kxb2? e4+ is not what White wants.
26...Rc7 27.Rxc7 Qxc7 28.Qxf8+! 1-0
3) Nakamura wins US Championship
Dmitry Zilberstein, who has been playing at the Mechanics' since he was a kid, made an IM norm with 4 from 9, against a very strong field which included 7 GMs. His win over Alexander Ivanov, featured in the last Newsletter, took one of the Best Game prizes. Mechanics' GM-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky led the Bay Area crowd, tying for ninth with 5.5. Six-time US Champion Walter Browne played lots of fighting chess and ended up on 4.5.
Congratulations go to Hikaru Nakamura and Rusa Goletiani.
Also serving special recognition are GM Alex Stripunsky and WGM
Anna
Zatonskih. Stripunsky, did everything but win the US Championship and
continues to improve in his thirties. GM Golubev had this to say
about him in Chess Today, " Alex came to the USA from Kharkov, the second
largest town in Ukraine. He is one of the pupils of the famous Kharkov
coach, Alexander Vaisman. The main traits of his approach to chess,
perhaps, are logic and self-confidence. Stripunsky, born 18 August 1970
belongs to 'Ivanchuk's generation' of Ukrainian players." Zatonskih easily
played the toughest field of any of the female participants in La Jolla
and had wins over GMs Shabalov and Browne, but ran out of steam
at the end, losing her last three games.
The official website, http://www.uschesschampionship.com/
has a huge amount of information on it including all of the games, two
of which are annotated per round.
The following press release comes from John Henderson, press-officer
of the 2005 US chess championships:
"The final day of this year's "Super Bowl of Chess" turned out to
be a nail biter. Both the overall champion and women's champion were decided
in
playoff games on the last day of competition. The final day of competition
was a fight to the finish for the share of the $253,000 prize money and
the prestigious title of best player in the U.S.
Hot-shot favourite Hikaru Nakamura, the teenage ace from White Plains,
NY, beat Alexander Stripunsky for the championship title and the $25,000
prize. He is now the youngest winner of the 159-year-old title since
Bobby
Fischer. Although he had broken every Fischer age record in the U.S.,
he failed in one. Fischer won the US title at the age of 14 in 1957.
Nakamura holds the record for being the youngest American Grandmaster
ever. He earned his title in February 2003 at the age of 15 years 2 months,
eclipsing the record set in 1958 by Bobby Fischer, who went on to
become World Champion.
On the women's side, Rusudan "Rusa" Goletiani, 24, from Hartsdale,
NY, beat Tatev Abrahamyan, 16, from Glendale, CA to claim the $12,500
women's
prize.
If chess is the "game of kings," these winning players are the new
royalty. The newest U.S King and Queen of chess were crowned and awarded
their prize money in a special ceremony. Erik Anderson, Founder
of the America's Foundation for Chess, will present the championship trophies,
a
Swarovski Crystal Chess set, to the Overall Champion and the Women's
Champion.
The Championship was visited by over 63,000 people who viewed over
2.2 millions pages over the Internet at http://www.uschesschampionship.com/
The U.S. Chess Championship was presented in San Diego for the first time
by America's Foundation for Chess and NTC Foundation. The new home for
the championship will be at NTC Promenade, beginning in February 2006."
Bent Larsen Fighting Chess Prize - $5000. Presented by Jim Roberts
and family.
GM Alex Fishbein (full report on this prize coming soon)
Best Game Prizes: $1000 each
1) Dmitry Zilberstein for round 2 game against Ivanov.
2) Alex Stripunsky for round 9 game against Goldin.
3) Joel Benjamin and Yury Shulman for round 5 game. ($500 each)
Best Endgame: $300
Alex Fishbein for round 3 game against Lopez.
Best Swindle: $200
Alex Stripunsky for round 5 game against Shabalov.
The Sunday blitz tournament was won by Dmitry Gurevich, $1000.
Onischuk
and Becerra 2-3, $400 each. Kamsky and Ibragimov 4-5,
$150 each.
2005 US CHESSMASTER CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZE DISTRIBUTION
7.0 points
1st (won playoff): GM Hikaru Nakamura $25,000
2nd (lost playoff): GM Alex Stripunsky $17,000
6.0 points (top five places decided by tiebreak formula)
3rd: GM Gregory Kaidanov $13,000
4th: GM Sergey Kudrin $10,200
5th: GM Yury Shulman $8,100
6.0 points, 6th – 8th
GM Joel Benjamin $5,200
GM Gregory Serper $5,200
GM Alexander Onischuk $5,200
5.5 points, 9th – 17th
GM Alexander Goldin $4,294.44
GM Ildar Ibragimov $4,294.44
GM Boris Gulko $4,294.44
GM Julio Becerra $4,294.44
GM Alexander Fishbein $4,294.44
GM Gata Kamsky $4,294.44
GM Varuzhan Akobian $4,294.44
GM Alek Wojtkeiwicz $4,292.44
GM Alex Yermolinsky $4,292.44
5.0 points, 18th – 31st
IM Renier Gonzalez $3,250
Salvijus Bercys $3,250
GM Igor Novikov $3,250
FM Lev Milman $3,250
GM Dmitry Gurevich $3,250
GM Alexander Shabalov $3,250
GM Nick de Firmian $3,250
IM Levon Altounian $3,250
IM Eugene Perelshteyn $3,250
GM Larry Christiansen $3,250
IM Yury Lapshun $3,250
IM Cyrus Lakdawala $3,250
IM Ben Finegold $3,250
GM Alexander Ivanov $3,250
4.5 points, 32nd – 39th
IM Dmitry Schneider $2,693.75
IM Blas Lugo $2,693.75
GM Walter Browne $2,693.75
WGM Rusudan Goletiani 1st Women's (won playoff), $12,500
IM Stanislav Kriventsov $2,693.75
IM Ron Burnett $2,693.75
FM Michael Casella 32th – 39th $2,693.75
WFM Tatev Abrahamyan 2nd Women's (lost playoff), $9,200
4.0 points, 40th – 47th
FM Dmitry Zilberstein $2,525
FM Joshua Friedel $2,525
IM Irina Krush 3rd Women's, $7,100
WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg 4th Women's, $5,500
FM Marcel Martinez $2,525
FM Matt Hoekstra $2,525
FM Stephen Muhammad $2,525
FM Tegshuren Enkhbat $2,525
3.5 points, 48th – 54th
WGM Anna Zatonskih $2,400
FM Robby Adamson $2,400
IM Jesse Kraai $2,400
FM Bruci Lopez $2,400
GM Anatoly Lein $2,400
Iryna Zenyuk $2,400
Chouchanick Airapetian $2,400
3.0 points, 54th – 60th
FM Fabio La Rota $2,200
FM Laura Ross $2,200
WIM Jennifer Shahade $2,200
WIM Anna Hahn $2,200
WFM Anna Levina $2,200
Tatiana Vayserberg $2,200
2.5 points, 61st – 63rd
Jake Kleiman $2,200
Vanessa West $2,200
WIM Esther Epstein $2,200
0.5 points, 64th
WFM Olga Sagalchik $2,200
______________
Total prize fund = $277,462
Special prizes = $8,500
4) Kasimdzhanov-Kasparov Match
One of the best sources for balanced reporting for what is going on in the chess world is GM Alex Baburin's online daily Chess Today (http://www.chesstoday.net/). If you are looking for a stocking stuffer for a holiday gift I can highly recommend a subscription.
Kasimdzhanov-Kasparov Match
by GM Alex Baburin
FIDE has circulated a press-release concerning the match between
FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Garry Kasparov.
The match was supposed to take place in January 2005 in Dubai.FIDE gave
the organisers from Dubai till 5th December to come up with the financial
guarantees. Yesterday it terminated its negotiations with them. The match
is now scheduled for spring of 2005. Read the full story on the Chess Base
website. Strangely enough,
at the time of writing the press-release was not on the FIDE website.
This is yet another public failure of FIDE. Its leadership and the
lack of strategic direction have put off sponsors and I would be surprised
if things will get better any time soon. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov became the
President of FIDE on the back of his promise to pump money into the organisation.
Most people were
uncomfortable with him, but the phrase "money talks" proved true
again.Kirsan did put money into FIDE, but his involvement with FIDE soon
ran out of steam. His announcement that he had set aside $50 million for
the World Championships for the next 10 years was certainly not true. FIDE
Commerce is dead. The Prague Agreement is heading that way too. The FIDE
Championship in Libya this year was controversial, to say the least. Add
to that the ill-considered change of time controls and recent unpopular
anti-drug testing in chess, and you will get a pretty depressing picture.
Of course, kids (and there are more of them!) still learn how to play chess
and people still enjoy the game, but the professional chess is in turmoil.
Most likely things will get worse before they get better with professional
chess and chess as a whole suffering long-term damage...
5) USCF News
This Friday New York Supreme Court Justice Judge Lawrence Horowitz will listen to arguments from Sam Sloan that some of the members of the USCF Executive Board acted improperly in authorizing the move of the Federation's headquarters to Crossville, Tennessee. That they improperly failed to consider other offers. Previously the Judge ruled that the USCF financial assets are not to be moved to Crossville, and must remain at Key Bank in New Windsor until matters are resolved. The New York State Attorney General's office has taken an interest in the case. The Federation, acting as a nonprofit in organization in New York State, was required to consult with the A.G.'s office before selling their building. What action will result from this failure to "consult" is unclear but could range from a slap on the wrist to declaring the sale of the building to be invalid.
The USCF's original papers of incorporation were drawn up in Illinois but it has been based in New York State for more than 40 years. The question of which state has jurisdiction could become relevant if one of the Board Members decides to resign and then immediately attempts to take a paid position with the USCF. Many states have laws limiting "revolving doors" for nonprofit organizations. When I served on the USCF Policy Board from 1990-93 I vaguely remember there was a rule requiring one year had to pass from serving on the Board to taking a paid position with the USCF. I don't recall it being removed.
The move to Crossville and the events surrounding it are sure to provide plenty of fodder for next years USCF Executive Board elections. Four (possibly five) positions will be opening up on the seven member board. Interested in serving? To become eligible to run you need to collect 30 signatures of current USCF members and pay a $250 filing fee by January 10, 2005. Among those said to be running our current USCF Executive Director Bill Goichberg (who will be stepping down on December 31 after volunteering his services to the USCF free of charge for a year and a half) and US Championship Assistant TD and FIDE Zonal President Robert Tanner.
Crucial to the continuing vitality of the USCF will be if Hanon Russell's
Chess Cafe decides to renew it's outsourcing agreement with the USCF. This
currently brings in $350,000 a year (guaranteed) into the USCF coffers.
This agreement, which is subject to review by both parties next April,
might continue status quo, be the subject of renegotiation or Russell may
decide not to continue it. This outsourcing deal, the generosity of the
current ED to work without salary and the firing of approximately
half the USCF staff are responsible for the improved balance sheet, not
a change in the retention of adult members.
6) HB Global Chess Challenge
HB Global Chess Challenge
For Immediate Release For further information, contact:
Maurice Ashley, Generation Chess, 347-678-7158, [email protected]
HB GLOBAL CHESS CHALLENGE, WORLD'S RICHEST AND LARGEST OPEN CHESS
TOURNAMENT, OFFERS ENTRY FEE INNOVATIONS BENEFITING CHESS CLUB MEMBERS
AND
"CHESS BUDDIES"
May 2005 Minneapolis event, with its $500,000 prize fund, will also
feature a trophy for the "Best College Chess Team," with funds for scholarships
and
chess groups. Explaining that astute chess players can now reap some
substantial savings, Grandmaster Maurice Ashley has unveiled a series of
innovations that can yield savings on entry fees for the HB Global Chess
Challenge, aswell as a new honor for the most accomplished college teams.
The May 18-22 tournament, expected to attract some 4,000 players, is
sure to draw many of those competitive people who belong to chess clubs
or are on
school teams, said Ashley, the tourney organizer. "The HB Global
Chess Challenge will give any club or team registering at least five players
one free additional entry, for a total of six players," he said.
"Clubs can use the free entry any way they wish, whether to reduce the
cost of entry for all team members or to give a free ride to a selected
individual." This savings is in addition to the "register with a
friend" policy, which can produce an entry fee of $295. Each player
can get $50 off the $345 entry fee when they register with a friend.
Brian Molohon, the executive director of the HB Foundation,
which is sponsoring the tournament, said: "These offers, which make participation
in this richest ever open tournament even more affordable, are a recognition
that chess is more and more becoming a social or group activity, where
people who love chess band together."
The May 2005 tourney is attracting wide interest in the chess world,
said organizer Ashley. "Each day I'm hearing from another grandmaster
saying they wouldn't miss this event for the world."
The new collegiate trophy also is expected to stimulate great enthusiasm
and activity on campuses around the globe. "I think college players
are going
to welcome this opportunity to show just how good the level of play
is at their school. There is no better place to display your talents
and abilities than at the HB Global Chess Challenge," Ashley said.
The collegiate trophy will go to the school with four players whose
total score is higher than the top four players of any other institution
participating. "This could be the start of a whole new collegiate
rivalry, with schools vying for the honor each year," Ashley said.
The HB Global Chess Challenge will be held at the spacious Minneapolis
Convention Center and is expected to draw more competitors than ever before
for any open chess tourney.
The impressive cash prizes, including the first place award of $50,000
in the Open section, are sure to draw many of the world's best players,
together with a broad array of nonprofessionals. There will be 56
cash winners in the Open section, with most of the other sections giving
away up to 50 cash prizes, including first place prizes of $20,000.
The HB Global Chess Challenge, which has been endorsed by the U.S.
Chess Federation and the Association of Chess Professionals, is sponsored
by the
Minneapolis-based HB Foundation, a nonprofit foundation that promotes
the cognitive and academic benefits that children and youth gain from learning
and playing chess.
This biggest ever chess tourney will have multiple side events, including
lectures, simultaneous exhibitions, autograph signings by leading GMs,
live
game analysis of the top boards, musical entertainment, silent and
live auctions, drawings, and gift memberships in the U.S. Chess Federation.
Those who wish to get more information or to register are urged to
go to the HB Foundation website, www.hbfoundation.org, or for info,www.generationchess.com,
or to contact the Call Center at 205-941-4448 or 1-800-964-2448.
For more information about the activities of the HB Foundation, call 651-209-3067.
7) Lindsborg
GMs Vadim Milov, Alex Onischuk, Alex Moiseenko, Jaan Ehlvest, Kiril
Georgiev, Evgeny Agrest, Kamil Miton, Nikola Mitkov, Alex Wojtkiewicz,
Julio Becerra, Pavel Blehm, and Trace Nedev are among those
that will be competing in the multi-event Lindsborg Chess Festival that
should once again offer excellent norm opportunities. For details on these
events look under upcoming events below.
8) Game Over Kasparov and the Machine
Michael Bacon passes along the following review from the Village Voice
which appeared on December 3.
When Superman Met Supermachine
By NED MARTEL
arely does a little film get to tackle big themes like communism versus the individual, corporate interests versus intellectual honesty, man versus machine. But although "Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine" stirs up these heady conflicts, this deflating documentary gives up its quest for answers too easily.
In 1997 the chess legend Garry Kasparov went several rounds against an I.B.M. computer in a much-hyped showdown, and the turning point came in the second game. Suddenly, the computer's moves and countermoves turned radical, aggressive. That strategy was too much like Mr. Kasparov's own furious style, and he conceded defeat in exasperation, not noticing that he had walked away from a chance for at least a draw.
"Game Over," a frustrating film that opens today at Cinema Village in Manhattan, recaps that event and stops similarly short when supporting its implication that the corporate sponsors were up to some funny business. As I.B.M. was losing to newcomers like Microsoft, it sought an intellectual straw man, the film asserts. If its techies could devise a machine to vanquish a category-killer like Mr. Kasparov, then the company could seem agile, innovative and worthy of investment.
"It was a great idea," Mr. Kasparov says. "I liked it and I played straight into their hands."
The company was also appealing to Mr. Kasparov's own need to rekindle his fame, which was reduced to a flicker. Ten years before, he had famously dethroned Anatoly Karpov, the Russian grandmaster and supposed darling of the Politburo. The film trails Mr. Kasparov as he revisits the Moscow and Manhattan sites of his most famous matches, and in both places he describes what he perceives as the backstage shenanigans of his opponents.
The film likens the creaky, shadowy Soviet system to what it presents as the secretive corporate culture at I.B.M., but most of its postulates are atmospheric or secondhand. In fact, as Mr. Kasparov complains in retrospect about behind-the-scenes pressures in both showdowns, his own behavior starts to seem suspect. In the Midtown skyscraper, he starts talking about secret locked chambers, building passes that suddenly don't work and a telescope seen in a window facing his hotel room.
None of these seem all that sinister, but clearly Mr. Kasparov's anxiety level was high at the time, and his every move was on 24-hour cable news. His whispering coterie of aides were in tow, including an agent who seems like an upper-crust Don King and a so-called science adviser who seems like a tech-savvy Svengali. Add to them his own mother, who was telling him at one point to "be a man" and face the cameras in defeat.
Vikram Jayanti, who directed "James Ellroy's Feast of Death," accomplishes a similar mix of archival film, fresh interviews and a tour of key places where a spooky calm has replaced the frenzy of long ago. Mr. Jayanti's cameras also gain entry to the I.B.M. low-rises in Yorktown Heights, in Westchester County, N.Y., where scientists are alternately proud of their machine's prowess and chagrined that it wound up proving a limit to mankind's capacity. The scientists insist that they just wanted to make Deep Blue a machine that could win. In a subsequent interview one of them recalls that overnight they made "a few minor adjustments to correct some specific flaws."
The Kasparov camp alleges, then as now, that there was something all too human about Deep Blue's decisions. The computer had played the first round so mechanically and then the second so shrewdly that Mr. Kasparov suspected some tinkering overnight, or worse, some grandmaster consultants telling programmers how to play. He asked for printouts, and maintains that I.B.M. promised to provide them but then did not. The machine itself is now in some confusing state of disassembly, which the film uses as a sign of corporate duplicity.
Sadly, this partisan documentary leaves viewers with half-drawn conclusions about all sides. Mr. Kasparov comes off as twitchy and diminished, although he's a competitor whose outsider status has long motivated him. The I.B.M. brainiacs appear as repressed and cypherlike as Beeker on "The Muppet Show." Inside their skulls or file cabinets or hard drives, there are answers that are either unobtainable or unpresentable because of the filmmaker's aversion to detail and complication, and the viewer never knows which is the case. Then, when one reminiscing programmer breaks into actual glee, even that seems a glum discovery for the rest of us: "We thought we had broken him," the scientist says, "We really did."
Directed by Vikram Jayanti; director of photography, Maryse
Alberti; edited by David Hill; music by Rob Lane; produced
by Hal Vogel; released by ThinkFilm. Running time: 84 minutes. This
film is not rated.
9) Here and There
Grandmaster Pentyala Harikrishna became the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to win the World Junior Chess Championship when he drew the final round game after a long 50-move encounter at Casino Hotel in Kochi on a historical Tuesday.
Harikrishna scored 10 points, half point more than the rest in the 71-player field. "It was my career-best result," said Harikrishna who would be gaining around 15 Elo points from this event. It was his second world title. Harikrishna had won the World U-10 championship at Menorca, Spain in 1996.
The girls title was won by top seed Ekaterina Korbut of Russia with 10.5/13. Elisabeth Paehtz of Germany who needed a win for the title was outplayed by India's Kruttika Nadig. Paehtz left the hall in tears for her second place with 9.5 points. IWM Eesha Karavade of India beat Zhang Jilin of China for her second 13-game WGM norm and bronze medal. She too scored the same 9.5 points. "We got into a drawish ending and she (Zhang) kept pushing and lost a pawn and I won," a delighted Karavade explained her game
Final standings:
Boys: 1 Pentyala Harikrishna (Ind, gold) 10/13, 2-3 Tigran Petrosian
(Arm, silver),
Zhao Jun (Chn, bronze) 9.5 each, 4 Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Pol) 9, 5-11
Evgeny Alekseev
(Rus), Ferenc Berkes (Hun), Vlad-Cristian Jianu (Rom), Yuri Drozdovsky
(Ukr), Deep
Sengupta (Ind), Koneru Humpy (Ind), Elshan Moradibadi (Iri) 8.5
each...71 players.
Girls: 1 Ekaterina Korbut (Rus, gold) 10.5/13, 2-3 Elisabeth Paehtz
(Ger, silver),
Eesha Karavade (Ind, bronze) 9.5 each, 4 Kruttika Nadig (Ind) 8.5,
5-8 Anna Ushenina
(Ukr), N.Vinuthna (Ind), Marlies Bensdorp (Ned), P.Sivasankari (Ind)
8 each, 9-12
Zhang Jilin (Chn), Siti Zulaikha (Mas), Tania Sachdev (Ind), I.Ramya
Krishna (Ind)
7.5 each.
Strangely there were no American representatives in either event, probably a first. One might suppose that the concurrent US Championship complicated matters but surely there must have been some interested players.
IM Ben Finegold writes: You can hear an NPR interview of US Champ
Nakamura at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4207346
Nice interview.
Grandmasters Jaan Ehlvest and Leonid Yudasin tied for first at 5 from 6 in the National Chess Congress held over Thanksgiving Day Weekend in Philadelphia. Sharing 3rd through 10th in the Continental Chess Association event were GM Petr Kiriakov, IM Pascal Charbonneau, GM Michael Rohde, FM Daniel Fernandez, NM Igor Schneider, FM Alex Lenderman, NM Thomas Bartell and Ryan Thurlow. For more information, including games from the event, go to http://www.nationalchesscongress.com/
Daniel and Alan Naroditsky and Hugo and Leo
Kitano will be representing the Mechanics' Institute Chess this weekend
in Florida at the National K-12/Collegiate Championship.
Newsletter #222, 12/15/2004
"It is remarkable what lengths the human mind will go to justify doing
what it wanted in the first place."
Peter Svidler
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
The Mechanics' Institute will be hosting the Michael Franett Memorial, a Category 4 (+2325 FIDE average) IM norm round robin from January 2-14 along with the East Bay Chess Club. Among those who have already accepted their invitations for the 12-player tournament are IMsVinay Bhat, Ricardo DeGuzman and Ganbold Odondoo, SM David Pruess, WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs and FMs Frank Thornally and Richard Lobo and Nicholas Yap. There are at least 16 players we would have liked to put in this event but just didn't have room. Now that we have two foreign IMs living in the area we are hoping to have three of these events each year.
Mariusz Krubnik was the convincing winner of the 1st Jim Hurt Amateur Memorial held December 11-12 at the Mechanics'. Krubnik scored 5.5 out of 6 to win the 28-player-event, half a point ahead of Ian Jones. Davis Xu, who scored an undefeated 4.5, was third. A crosstable of the event can be found at http://www.chessclub.org/Hurt04.html. Anthony Corrales and John Donaldson directed, assisted by Steve Brandwein.
IM Odondoo Ganbold won last night in round 8 of the Fall Tuesday Night Marathon and clinched at least a tie for first with 7.5 from 8. Fellow Mongolian, NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, is second at 6.5 followed by FM Frank Thornally and NM Nicolas Yap on 6. TNM regular Victor Todortsev, who writes a chess column for a San Francisco Russian language newspaper, celebrated his 72nd birthday last night with a victory. Next Tuesday will mark the end of the Fall TNM. The Winter Tuesday Marathon begins J anuary11.
Thanks to Haluk Akol for his $90 donation for a fourth place in the Fall Tuesday Night Marathon and to Richard Shorman for his gift of Frisco Del Rosario's A First Book of Morphy to the MI library.
The MI Chess Room, and the Institute as a whole, will be closed some days during the upcoming Holidays.
Dec.24 Closes 3pm
Dec.25, 26 and 27(Saturday-Monday) Closed
December 31 Closes 3pm
January 1-3 (Saturday-Monday) Closed
Neil Brennen sends in the following information from one of San Francisco's first chess columns which appeared in the Golden Era.
We have had the pleasure of reading three of the first issues of a chess department in the Golden Era, of San Francisco, California. The first number is excellent, containing all the laws of the game. No.2, the problem is faulty, admitting of a solution in one less move than the stipulation. No.3 contains a beautiful and masterful problem. The composer's name is not given. We cannot give the Era a greater compliment than giving the problem to our readers, which we do with pleasure below. We are happy to see chess so ably sustained in the land of gold. It cannot fail of success.
Winona Republican, April 15, 1859, reprinted from the Golden Era, issue #3 1?0
W-Kh4; Qh5; R's c1 and c7; N's c3 and c5; P's a3 and b6 B- Kd4; N's c2 and c6; Ra6; Bh7
1.Qxh7! (1...Ke5 2.Qe4+ Kf6 3.Qe6#; 1...Nxa3 2.Qe4+ Kxc5 3.Rxc6#)
2) Nakamura defeats Karajkan
Veni Vedi Vici ! Hikaru is on a roll. First 5.5 from 6 score to win the Western States Open in Reno, beating three GMs in a row. Then the title of US Champion in La Jolla after scoring 7 from 9 and beating Alexander Stripunsky in the tiebreaker. Now he has defeated Ukrainian wunderkind Sergei Karjakin 4.5-1.5 in a match played December 9-14 in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Look for Hikaru, who was 2620 FIDE on the October list, to cross the 2650 barrier in January if the USCF office gets the rating reports ASAP.
Nakamura,H (2620) - Karjakin,S (2576)
Cuernavaca (1) 2004
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Nxc6
bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.exd5 0-0 9.0-0 cxd5 10.Bg5 c6 11.Na4 h6 12.Bh4 Re8 13.c4
Bd6 14.Rc1 Rb8 15.b3 Be6 16.cxd5 Bxd5 17.Bc4 Bf4 18.Rc3 Be5 19.Rc2 Qd6
20.Bxf6 Bxf6 21.Bxd5 cxd5 22.Nc5 Be5 23.g3 Rbc8 24.Nd3 Bc3 25.Nf4 d4 26.Qd3
Ba5?
This seems to be the source of Black's future troubles as White
now establishes a beachhead on d5 and infiltrates down the b-file.
27.Rc4! Rxc4 28.bxc4 Qe5 29.Rb1 Bc3 30.Rb7 Re7 31.Rb5 Qd6 32.Nd5
Re6 33.Rb7 Re8 34.Qf3 Rf8 35.Rxa7 Bb4 36.Qf5 Bc5 37.Rc7 Ba3 38.c5 Bxc5
39.Rxc5 g6 40.Nf6+ Kg7 41.Ne4 1-0
Nakamura,H (2620) - Karjakin,S (2576)
Cuernavaca (5) 2004
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 Nf6 6.e5 Nc6 7.Bb5
Nd7 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.e6 Nf6 10.exf7+ Kxf7 11.Nf3 h6 12.Ne5+ Kg7 13.Nxc6 Qc7
14.Nb4 e5 15.Qf2 Qc4 16.a3 a5 17.Nba2 Bf5 18.b3 Qe6 19.0?0 d5 20.h3 Bd6
21.Re1 Rhf8 22.fxe5 Bxe5 23.Bxh6+ Kxh6 24.Qe3+ Kg7 25.Qxe5 Qxe5 26.Rxe5
Bxc2 27.Nxd5 Nxd5 28.Rxd5 Bxb3 29.Rd3 Bxa2 30.Rxa2 Rad8 31.Rg3 Rd1+ 32.Kh2
Rfd8 33.Rc2 R1d3 34.Rg4 R8d4 35.Rg5 Rd5 36.Rxd5 Rxd5 37.Rc4 Kf6 38.Ra4
g5 39.Kg3 Kf5 40.Kf3 Rb5 41.Re4 Rb3+ 42.Re3 a4 43.g4+ Kf6 44.Ke4 Rxe3+??
GM Ruslan Scherbakov, who annotated this game extensively
for ChessToday (http://www.chesstoday.net),
had this to say about Karjakin's fatal mistake.
"This terrible move was probably caused by the illusion that Black
can achieve the position with his king in front of White's passed g-pawn
- however, it is impossible here! Black should have kept his rook on the
bfile: 44...Rb1 45.Kd4 ¦Rb8 46.Kc3 Rd8+ 47.Kc5 Rb8 although White
could still try to exchange to take the a4-pawn by the cost of his h3-pawn
- in this case Black had to be ready to
get his king close to the g4-pawn...
45.Kxe3 Ke5 46.Kf2 Kf6 47.Kg3 Ke6 48.h4 gxh4+ 49.Kxh4 Kf6 50.Kh5
Kg7 51.Kg5 Kh7 52.Kf6 Kh6 53.g5+ Kh7 54.Kf7 Kh8 55.Kg6 1-0
The match looks to have been very well organized. Both the official site, http://www.uaem.mx/noticias/notas/duelo/, which offered commentary by GM Marcel Sisniega, and the ChessBase website had complete coverage. The average game of this fighting match was 52 moves! It's a pity that the USCF does not organize similar events. A lack of funds is not an answer. The Federation spent somewhere between $5000 and $10,000 to send a delegation to Calvia, Spain, to the FIDE Congress. Some of the individuals paid their own way while others air, hotel and meals were covered. I do not know if the big dinner that included some of the FIDE politicos like Makropoulis was paid for privately or out of USCF funds, but would guess the latter if long-standing tradition was followed. Considering that the USCF motion to toss out Kirsan had considerably less chance to succeed than George W. Bush carrying the vote in Berkeley, I would say two representatives are more than sufficient to represent US chess interests. When you add the cost of things like the Olympiad junket to money wasted on Executive Board meetings where members are flown in from all over the country to one location for a weekend, when phone or teleconferencing are considerably less expensive, you can easily make money available for high level events.
The current USCF Executive Board's lack of interest in top chess was
also shown by their absence from the US Championship in La Jolla. America's
Foundation for Chess rescued the US Championship in 2000 when
a floundering USCF said they had no money to run the event. Since then
the AF4C has done a fantastic job of running the Championship, one of the
core responsibilities of the USCF, without any expense to the USCF. Unfortunately
it seems that the AF4C's expertise is seen as a threat by the current EB.
3) Chess Festival in Iowa
Mechanics' Institute Grandmaster-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky
recently attended Bob Long's 4th annual Chess Festival in Iowa.
Long founded the book and equipment selling company Chessco and
its publishing department, Thinkers Press, in the early 1970s.
GM Yermolinsky writes:
"It gave me great pleasure to participate in the Annual Chess Festival
in Iowa organized by Bob Long. For a tournament circuit traveler it was
an unusual experience. Instead of fighting for prize money, which always
leaves most people unsatisfied, it was a nice change of pace to do something
where everybody wins!
The program consisted of lectures, simuls and simply chess chat.
The participaring celebraties offered a nice mix of learning activities
and fun.
IM Igor Khmelnitsky talked about his unique teaching methods
based on his recent book "Chess Test". He distributed the worksheets beforehand
to give us a chance to think, and then went over the positions on the demo
board. It turned out nobody had a perfect score, but the subsequent discussion
got everybody involved.
IM Andrew Martin's witty performance dealt with unusual and
even bizarre occurances in tournament practice. Some of the positions were
simply hard to believe. Andrew's dry British humor kept us all in stitches.
The highlight of the event was a courageous performance of CCGM
Jonathan Berry who faced 12 players in a blindfold simultaneous exhibition.
The whole thing lasted for over 6 hours and at the end Jon simply wore
them down!
As for myself, I gave a lecture on the hot topic of the recently
concluded World Championship Match between Kramnik and Leko.
Many probing questions were asked, and the conclusion was that in order
to play good chess every game has to be played to the last pawn.
On the last day, the titled players split in two tandem teams and
took on all comers. This concluded the enjoyable three days I spent in
the Quad Cities area.
I certainly hope to be back in the future".
4) Here and There
Congratulations to America's newest International Master, David Vigorito of Henderson, Nevada. Thanks go to FIDE Qualification Chairman Mikko Markkula of Finland who helped David receive his title. FIDE requires that players typically score 3 norms (2450+ FIDE) results totaling 27 or more games against international fields as defined by the FIDE Handbook. Also required is that the player must have had a rating of 2400 or over at one time. IM Vigorito had been close on several occasions but never had a published rating over 2400. Mr. Markkula, on his own initiative, was able to pinpoint that David had been over 2400 at a point in between rating lists which met the rating criteria requirement. This episode is quite typical of FIDE. Many of the skilled volunteers who serve on various committees are quite dedicated, generously giving their time and paying for expenses out of pocket. It's only when you get very close to the top that the unsavory aspects of the organization start to come into play. Witness the recent Dubai debacle where the organizers dropped out of the running to put on the Kasparov-Kasimzhanov match. Hopefully the Turks will be able to host this match on short notice.
Filipino IM Jayson Gonzales is the early leader at 3.5 from 4 in the Edward Lasker Memorial and 88th Annual Marshall Chess Club Championship which is being played December 11-19. Several GMs are competing for the $2000 first prize including Alexander Stripunsky and Jaan Ehlvest who are tied for second at 3 points in the 20-player field. Go to http://www.marshallchessclub.org/ for current results.
Ehlvest-Stripunsky
Marshall Championship 2004 (4)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. e3 a6 6. b3 Bb4 7. Bd2
O-O 8. Bd3 Nbd7 9. O-O Qe7 10. Qc2 dxc4 11. bxc4 e5 12. Nh4 g6 13. f4 Ng4
14. Nf3 Bxc3
15.Qxc3 e4 16. Bc2 exf3 17. gxf3 Ngf6 18. e4 Nh5 19. Kh1 Re8 20.
Rg1 Nf8 21. f5 Qh4 22. Bd3 c5 23. d5 Qf6 24. Qc1 Nd7 25. Be2 Qe7 26. a4
Ne5 27. Ra3 Ng7 28. f4 Nxc4 29. fxg6 Nxa3 30. gxh7+ Kh8 31. Bf3 c4 32.
Bc3 f6 33. e5 Rf8 34. d6 Qf7 35. exf6 Nf5 36. Rg7 Nxg7 37. fxg7+ Kxh7 38.
Qe1 Bg4 39. gxf8=N+ Rxf8 40. Bxg4 Qd5+ 41. Kg1 Qc5+ 42. Kg2 Qd5+ 43. Kg1
Qc5+ 44. Kg2 Qd5+ 1/2-1/2
Gonzales - Sarkar
Marshall Championship 2004 (4)
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. d4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 g6
7. Qb3 Bg7 8. e3 O-O 9. Be2 Nd7 10. O-O b6 11. a4 Qc7 12. a5 Rb8 13. axb6
axb6 14. Bb2 Bb7 15. Ra7 Ra8 16. Rfa1 e6 17. Nd2 Rxa7 18. Rxa7 Ra8 19.
Qa4 Rxa7 20. Qxa7 cxd4 21. exd4 Qf4 22. Bc1 Bc6 23. g3 Qb8 24. Qxb8+ Nxb8
25. Nc4 Nd7 26. Bf4 Nf6 27.Nxb6 Ne4 28. Bf3 Nxc3 29. Bxc6 Ne2+ 30. Kg2
Nxf4+ 31. gxf4 Bxd4 32. Nc4 Kg7 33.Ne5 Bc5 34. Kf3 Bd4 35. Be8 Kf8 36.
Ba4 Ba7 37. h3 Bd4 38. Kg3 Ba7 39. Bb5 Bd4 40. Nf3 Bc3 41. Ng5 h6 42. Ne4
Bb4 43. Nf6 Bc3 44. Ng4 Kg7 45. Kf3 Bd2 46. Be8 Kf8 47. Ba4 Kg7 48. Ne5
Kf8 49. Bd7 Ke7
50. Bc8 Kf6 51. Ba6 Kg7 52. Bb5 Kf8 53. Ng4 Kg7 54. Bd7 Bc3 55.
Ke3 Bb2 56. Ne5 Kf8 57. Bxe6 fxe6 58. Nxg6+ Kg7 59. Ne5 h5 60. Ke4 Kf6
61. Nd7+ Ke7 62. Nc5 Kf6 63. Nd7+ Ke7 64. Nb6 Kf6 65. Nc4 Bc3 66. Ne3 Be1
67. Kf3 Kg6 68. Nf1 Kf6 69. Ke3 Kf5 70. Ng3+ Kg6 71. Kf3 Bd2 72.Ke4 Be1
73. Ke5 Bxf2
74. Ne4 Be3 75. Nd6 Bc1 76. Nb7 Bd2 77. Nd8 Bc3+ 78. Kxe6
Bf6 79. Nc6 Bh4 80. Ne5+ Kg7 81. Nd7 1-0
The University of Texas at Dallas is hosting a Category X (2481 FIDE) tournament 7th-15th December 2004. GM Yury Shulman is leading with 4/5. Other top scores: 2-3. GM Novikov (USA) and IM Mahesh (IND) 3.5; 4-6. GM Moiseenko (UKR) , IM Vavrak (SLO) and GM Ramirez (CRC) 2.5.
The 2nd Ashdod International in Israel was super strong and featured
rare American International representation.
1-4. GMs Smirin (ISR), Avrukh (ISR), Rozentalis (LIT) and Gelfand
(ISR) 3; 4-6. Kaidanov (USA) and Sutovsky (ISR) 1.5
Vietnamese IM Ngoc Toungson Nguyen made his third and final GM norm by winning the December First Saturday event. American IM William Paschall of Boston has 3.5 from 10 with one round left to play.
The Seattle Chess Club, which has had at least 20 homes in its vagabond existence, is celebrating its 125th birthday this weekend.
A new chess club is meeting Fridays 7-10pm in the party room at the
Castro Valley McDonalds. Adults and Kids are welcome. A one hour
lecture on tactics and opening traps is held each week. Afterwards a blitz
tournament is held for which the entry fee is $5. 90 percent of entries
are returned in prizes. Please bring sets and clocks. Call Cisco at (510)
828-6105 for more information.
Newsletter #223, 12/22/2004
"Chess pieces are the block alphabet, which shapes thoughts; and
these thoughts, although making a visual design on the chessboard, express
their beauty abstractly, like a poem."
Marcel Duchamp
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
The final round of the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon saw IM Ganbold Odondoo defeat NM Nicolas Yap to win the event with the convincing score of 8.5 from 9. Fellow Mongolian, WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, was second at 7.5, FM Frank Thornally third at 7 and veteran Victor Todortsev fourth at 6.5 in the 72-player field. Incidentally Ganbold is featured in the final chapter of the new book Test Your Chess with Daniel King (Batsford 2004). In the chapter entitled Wizard , King asks if Ganbold wasn't in The Lord of the Rings. He then describes him as a very erratic player, who when he is in the mood can create some fantastic games. King then annotates the following effort in his book. Below are notes by GM Luke McShane from ChessBase that have been abbreviated.
Ganbold,O (2405) - Banikas,H (2540) [B41]
Istanbul ol) (3) 2000
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Qc7 6.Nc3 a6 7.Be2
Nf6 8.0–0 Bb4 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.Qc2 Bc5 11.Kh1 Bd4 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bh4 g5 14.Bg3
e5 15.Rad1 d6 16.Rxd4!?
A sacrifice so bold that it deserves to work, even if it shouldn't.
Banikas must have felt quite confident once he had settled down to life
a rook up, only to be bowled over by a stunning piece of brute force tactics.
Seriously considering such a brave course of action during a game deserves
rewards in itself. Most players wouldn't consider a move like this
even during analysis!
16...exd4 17.c5 dxc3 18.Bxd6 Qd8 19.Qxc3 Rg8
White has a mighty bishop on d6, untouchable for the moment at least,
but it cannot give mate on its own. The black king is caught in the center
and White controls all the dark squares, but something must be done before
these advantages wane.
20.f4! gxf4 21.Rxf4 Rg6 22.Bh5!! Rg5 23.Rxf6 Rxh5 24.Rg6!! Rg5
25.Qh8+ Kd7 26.Qh7 Qe8 27.Rf6 Kd8 28.Rxf7 Bd7 29.Re7 Re5 1–0
2) Lindsborg Open
GMs Ildar Ibragimov and Alex Moiseenko tied for first
in the Lindsborg Open at 7-2. IM Renier Gonzalez made a GM norm,
his second. A rapid tournament is being played today with 16 GMs participating
headed by Milov, Onischuk, Goldin and Ehlvest. There will
be a full report next week.
3) Monterey Open 1973 - Franett and Blohm tie for first
This tournament, held during the Fischer boom, looks like it caught
the organizers off guard. It attracted 128 participants and they must have
run out of scoresheets because Michael Franett's scores, which are
xeroxes, are from regular sheets of paper with no move numbers on them.
Michael was seeded eighth with an artificially low USCF rating of 2143.
During this time he very rarely played outside of the Northwest which probably
accounts for the low USCF grading when he was over 2300 on the Northwest
rating system.
Michael won all five of his games in the upset-plagued event and tied
for first with NM David Blohm at 5-0, good for a two-way split of
$375 according to the California Chess Reporter
Franett,M (2143) - Montchalin,M (2000) [A79]
Monterey Open (4), 1973
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 d6 4.Nc3 g6 5.e4 Bg7 6.Be2 0–0 7.Nf3 e6
8.0–0 exd5 9.cxd5 Re8 10.Nd2 Na6 11.f3 Nc7 12.a4 b6 13.Nc4 Ba6 14.Rb1 Nh5
15.g4 Bd4+ 16.Kh1 Ng7 17.Bf4 Bxc4 18.Bxc4 a6 19.Ne2 Bf6 20.Qd3 Qd7 21.Nc3
Reb8 22.e5 dxe5 23.Ne4 Qd8 24.g5 exf4 25.Nxf6+ Kh8 26.d6 Nce6 27.Bxe6 Nxe6
28.Qd5 h6 29.h4 hxg5 30.hxg5 Kg7 31.Ne4 Qh8+ 32.Kg2 Kf8 33.Rbd1 Ke8 34.Nf6+
Kd8 35.Rh1 Qf8 36.Rh7 Nxg5 37.Qxg5 Kc8 38.Qd5 Rb7 39.Rdh1 1–0
4) US tournament Attendance
The past few years US tournament attendance for adult events has been
in a decline. One bright spot has been the MI's Tuesday Night Marathon
series which has been consistently drawing 70-80 players.
TNM 2000
March-May 59
May-July 62
July-September 49
September-November 50
November-January 45
TNM 2001
February-March 46
April-May 56
June-August 56
August - October 58
October-December 53
TNM 2002
January-March 66
March-May 61
June-July 69
August-October 72
October-December 72
TNM 2003
Jamuary-February 80
March-May 76
June-July 81
August-September 78
October-December 77
January-February 80
TNM 2004
January-February 79
March-May 72
June-July 85
August-October 77
October-December 71
5) Michael Aigner writes
"Dear fellow board members and others interested in Northern California chess,
I am sad to have to write today that my time serving CalChess has come to an end. It has been a really interesting experience for me. During my first two years, the Board struggled with the loss of funding from the USCF and writing a new set of bylaws. Various issues related to the state scholastic championship and difficulties arising from the change in magazine editor have dominated the agenda over the last two years.
What saddens me the most is that the CalChess that I agreed to serve for in 2001 is so much different from the CalChess today. At the beginning of the new millenium, CalChess was a small organization with about 400 members, mostly adults and higher rated juniors who played in adult tournaments. The annual budget was very tight, with barely enough money to publish the magazine on a regular schedule. But it came out regularly, with 5 or 6 quality issues every single year. The board often struggled to find people willing to serve, and the elections at the annual meeting were never filled with great anticipation. Board meetings typically took less than an hour and normally were scheduled during the lunch break at adult tournaments where a majority of the board members were either playing or directing. The emphasis was clearly on adult chess, except for hosting the annual state scholastic championship.
Today, CalChess is a much larger organization with 1500 members, the vast majority of those being juniors who had to purchase membership at the state scholastic championship. The annual budget is a bit murky to me, but the most telling number is the $26,000 that was in our bank account before it was removed for "safekeeping." The magazine has seen its second editor change within a year, and only two issues have come out in 2004 (with a third issue ready any day now). The board still struggles to find willing members, but that seems to me to be a consequence of the extremely politicized environment at the annual meeting. Board meetings now drag on for three hours or more and most controversial decisions lead to lengthy and heated debates. Today, the board's attention is dominated by scholastic chess issues, and coping with the conflicts arising from the frictions between various scholastic chess entities.
Maybe the three-fold growth in membership and five-fold (or more!) growth in annual budget are signs of progress. If so, CalChess is definitely feeling the growing pains. Additional money brings with it conflicts of interest, or even merely the appearance of such conflicts. A lot of controversial actions and decisions bring accusations of improprieties, in most cases by competitors in the business world. Sadly, *all* factions of the CalChess political (scholastic) landscape are guilty of this.
My resignation today may be interpreted as a vote of no confidence in the leadership and direction taken by the CalChess President and Vice President. I feel that these "growing pains" are still growing, with no treatment in sight. This resignation was triggered by a specific personal incident involving the CalChess leadership that, in my opinion, underscores how feelings hurt by the deep conflicts in CalChess have taken a role in relatively benign topics such as editing a section of the website.
Please note that nobody asked me to resign. This is my personal decision. In fact, several board members have specifically asked me not to resign, saying that I can do more good by voicing my opinions on the board. Unfortunately, whenever I voice my opposition, certain individuals inevitably question my motives. As one board member recently wrote: "I have the feeling that we are being manipulated by someone who is not on the board." I've seen the writing on the wall for a while now. Today is just the time to act.
Please also note that my decision is NOT related to the ongoing efforts to return the missing $26,000 to the CalChess bank account.
I am resigning all of my roles and duties in CalChess except for the Clearinghouse position. I am happy to continue serving in that capacity as long as I can do so independent of the CalChess leadership. Please keep sending tournament listings and results to [email protected] and I'll post them on the website.
Thank you everyone for the time we spent together and, in most cases, the positive relationships which we have forged. I sincerely wish CalChess the best of luck, and if I can be of assistance in a non-controversial capacity, then I am definitely willing to help out.
Michael Aigner"
6) Chess from the Past
Try to guess when the following was written.
The game of Chess has of late become so popular among all classes in this country, that any statement of its attraction is almost superfluous. Coming to us as it has, invested with every dignity and importance that antiquity can give, it has kept pace for more than five centuries with the most rapidly advancing civilization. Never forgotten in any country where it has once set foot, it has only been neglected where art, science and every intellectual pursuit have been neglected also. It has been for centuries the favorite recreation of the greatest minds; it has survived every political change and every distraction of fashion, and it is, today, more widely known and practiced than any other game in the world. Who, in view of these facts, and making the slightest claim to culture, can afford to neglect it?
That it is an extremely difficult game, and that its study involves no small expenditure of time, must be admitted; but these cannot be regarded as drawbacks. No knowledge or proficiency, easily acquired, could be held in such high and general esteem; and the time involved may, especially in the case of young students, be looked upon as well spent. It constitutes a mental training of the greatest possible value, and promotes a taste which can only be elevating. An interest in Chess once roused, the fascination of games of chance, with their inseparable temptation to gambling, is lost forever.
R.F. Green in the introduction to his primer Chess (December 1889!)
7) Here and There
Last week in the Newsletter I wrote “Since then the AF4C has done a fantastic job of running the US Championship, one of the core responsibilities of the USCF, without any expense to the USCF.” A reader writes in: "Well that was a bit of an understatement. The USCF MAKES MONEY on the US Championships. The AF4C pays the USCF $7,500 for each event. The idea was that the USCF would be able to “afford” to send a representative Unfortunately none of the USCF Executive Board made it to La Jolla.
GM Jaan Ehlvest won the Marshal Chess Club Championship with 7 from 9. Tying for second in the 20-player field were GMs Alex Stripunsky and John Fedorowicz and IM Jayson Gonzales. Go to http://www.marshallchessclub.org/ for more information.
The Far West Open will be held in Reno March 18-20.
Iceland has offered a residency visa to Bobby Fischer, to help him get out of jail in Japan. For more information go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4100409.stm
In this week's Sports Illustrated (December 20) on page 24 in the Scorecard Q + A section--Garry Kasparov is featured.
NM Ron Hermansen won the 6th annual Joseph Illeto Memorial held
December 11-12 in Monterey Park with a score of 4.5 from 5.
8) HB Global Chess Challenge
NM John Langreck writes:
I had a question regarding the HB Global Chess Challenge organized by GM Ashley. There are two incentives for prospective players. First, if you join with a friend by 1/1/05, the EF is $295 ($50 discount). Second, if you join as part of a club and 5 people sign up, the 6th EF is free. I'm thinking about playing. Anyone else from Mechanic's that might play so we can take advantage of these discounts?
John
Interested parties can contact John at [email protected]
Newsletter #224, 12/29/2004
"I always play carefully and try to avoid unnecessary risks I consider
my method to be right as any superfluous daring runs counter to the essential
character of chess, which is not a gamble but a purely intellectual combat
conducted in accordance with the exact rules of logic."
Jose Raul Capablanca
1) Mechanic's Institute Chess Club News
The Mechanics' Institute will be hosting the Michael Franett Memorial, a Category 3 (+2312 FIDE average) IM norm round robin from January 2-16 along with the East Bay Chess Club. The field consists of IMs Vinay Bhat, Ricardo DeGuzman and Ganbold Odondoo, SMs David Pruess and Alan Stein, WGM Kamile Baginskaite, WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs and FMs Frank Thornally and Richard Lobo, plus NMs Nicholas Yap, Matthew Ho and Michael Aigner.
Rounds on January 2 and 3 will be held at the East Bay Chess Club (located in Berkeley at the corner of Virginia and Milvia - about a half mile from either the Berkeley or North Berkeley Bart stations) Rounds will start at 10 and 3 on Sunday and 11 and 4 on Monday. Rounds will be held daily at the Mechanics' from January 4-16. In addition to place prizes and norm opportunities, there will also be a best endgame prize which has been donated by NM Ron Gross of Las Vegas who was a good friend of Michael's. Additional donations for this event made out to the Mechanics' Institute are most welcome. Please let us know if you want them to be earmarked for a special prize.
The Winter Tuesday Night Marathon begins on January 11. Players will have a chance to warm up beforehand in the fifth annual Bob Burger Open held January 8 at the Mechanics' Institute. Bob, who is both a National Master and a noted problemist, is the author of the well received The Chess of Robert Fischer. He's been a member of the MI for over 50 years and is still going strong.
Thanks to Elizabeth Shaughnessy who recently brought by a plaque
honoring famous American chess journalists. The initial inductees in the
American Journalists Hall of Fame are: I.A. Horowitz, Larry Evans, Harold
Dondis, Frank Brady, Hermann Helms, and Burt Hochberg. An identical
plaque is hanging in the Marshall Chess Club.
2) Onischuk wins Lindsborg Knockout
The Lindsborg Open keeps getting stronger each year. Final Standings:
1-2 GMs Moiseenko & Ibragimov – 7
3-4. GMs Miton and Becerra - 6½
5. IM R Gonzalez – 6
6-10. GMs V. Georgiev, Kreiman, IM
Khachiyan, IM Burnett & Langer - 5½,
etc.
IM Renier Gonzalez made his second GM norm. Also in the running was Los Angeles IM Melikh Khachiyan, who just fell short of his third and final norm, but had the satisfaction of winning a beautiful game against the strong Atlanta Senior Master Stephen Muhammad.
Stephen Muhammad- Melikh Khachiyan
Lindsborg 2004
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nxc4
Qc7 8.Qd2
The hot continuation is 8.g3 e5 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.Bf4 Nfd7 11.Bg2 g5.
The awkward text has some tricky points.
8...Nb6
Now the thematic 8...e5 9.dxe5 Nxe5 loses to 10.Qf4. Besides the
text also possible is 8...e6 9.Qf4 (9.f3 Bb4 10.e4 Bg6 11.Qf4 e5 worked
out well for Black in Gofshtein-Gausel,Hoogeveen 1998) 9...Qxf4 10.Bxf4
Nb6 11.Nd6+? (11.e3) 11...Bxd6 12.Bxd6 Nc4 and Black was doing well in
Schmidt-Stahlberg, Parnu 1937.
9.Ne5 e6 10.f3 0–0–0!
This move envisions the upcoming piece sacrifice.
11.a5 Nbd5 12.e4 Nb4 13.Qf2
If 13.exf5 then 13...Rxd4 14.Qe2 Bd6 (14...exf5 is also quite possible)
15.Be3 Bxe5 16.Bxd4 Bxd4.
13...Rxd4 14.Be3 Bc5
Also to be considered was 14...Qxe5 15.Bxd4 Qxd4 16.Qxd4 Nc2+ 17.Kf2
Nxd4 18.exf5 Nxf5.
15.Nd3
15.Nc4 Rxc4 16.Bxc4 Bxe3.
15...Rxe4!
A very pretty move that emphasizes Black's lead in development.
Note 15...Nxd3+ 16.Bxd3 Rxd3 doesn't work -17.Bxc5 Rhd8 18.exf5 Qe5+ 19.Kf1.
16.Nxe4
16.fxe4 Bxe3.
16...Nxe4
16...Bxe3 was also good.
17.fxe4 Bxe3 18.Qe2 Nxd3+ 19.Qxd3 Qf4 20.exf5 Qf2+ 21.Kd1 Rd8
22.Ra3 Rxd3+ 23.Rxd3 exf5 24.a6 f4 25.axb7+ Kxb7 26.Be2 Qxg2 27.Re1 Qxh2
28.Kc2 Qf2 29.Kd1 f5 30.b4 Kb6 31.Rf1 Qg2 32.Ra3 Qd5+ 33.Bd3 Qg2 34.Be2
g5 35.Ra6+ Kc7 0–1
Lindsborg Knockout
GMs Alexander Moiseenko (Ukraine), Ildar Ibragimov (Russia) and Kamil Miton (Poland) qualified for the knockout from the Open, while others had to earn their places in the preliminaries. GMs Goldin, Wojtkiewicz, Onischuk and IM Gonzalez took 4 spots. GMs Ehlvest and Milov tied for the last qualifying place, then Ehlvest won the decisive game with White.
Quarter-finals:
Moiseenko – Goldin 1½-½
Ehlvest – Wojtkiewicz 1½-½
Onischuk - Miton 1½-½
Ibragimov - Gonzalez 2-0
Semi-finals:
Ibragimov - Moiseenko 1½-½
Onischuk – Ehlvest 1½-½
Alexander Onischuk won the knockout tournament in Lindsborg, Kansas
by defeating GM Ildar Ibragimov in the final 3-2. There, two rapid games
ended 1-1 and then two blitz games (5 minutes each) ended in the same score.
Finally Onischuk won with Black in the last game, where Ibragimov had 7
minutes
vs. 5 minutes, but he had to win.
Both events were organized by Dr Mikhail Korenman and directed
by Alex Relyea and Frank Berry, with Nita Patel as
chief scorekeeper in the rapid event.
Wes Fisk was coordinator.
Dr. Korenman didn't have much time to rest. Immediately after these
two events, he drove down to Wichita where he's hosting the Pan American
Intercollegiate. Stanford has sent two teams and we hope to have a full
report in the next Newsletter.
3) East Bay Chess Club News
EBCC Dec Swiss
SM David Pruess won the Open section with a 4-0 score. The U1700
section was won by Alan Howe with a score of 3.5. Making his return
to Bay Area tournament chess after a long hiatus while studying at Stanford
was NM Jordy Mont-Reynaud who finished sole second in the Open section
with 3 points. Prizes were also won by Craig Andries, Carl Woebcke, and
Sam Shankland (u1900 in the Open section) and Harold Parker and Csaba Toth
(2nd and u1400 in the Reserve section). 20 players competed in the two
day swiss at the East Bay Chess Club. The next weekend swiss there will
be over the Martin Luther King Jr Weekend and will be 6 rounds.
4) Kasparov in Sports Illustrated
SI's Richard Deitsch recently interviewed the 41-year-old chess grandmaster upon the release of the fourth volume (Kasparov on Fischer! My Great Predecessors) of his planned six-volume series on the game's great players. Here are a few highlights.
SI: You turn 42 next April. Do you see a time where age will be too great a factor for you to play at the level you want?
Kasparov: I don't have many illusions. The age is already a factor. It requires more energy for me to keep myself at the same level. Every game requires a lot of energy. The amount of information available for any player is virtually the same. It's unlimited. I don't have any extra advantages but working really hard and trying to come up with new ideas for virtually every game. At a certain point I have to admit that it will be very difficult to keep up with pace of changes. But I feel good that I have enough fire and energy to continue the quest. At the end of the day, it's not only about winning or losing but it's about making a difference. I still think I'm a leading force in the world of chess and that makes me run.
SI: How physically taxing is chess when played at the highest level?
Kasparov: For the last Russian championship I played 10 rounds and always under constant pressure, working 12 hours a day preparing, and than five or six hours for the session. I lost 4 kilos. It's not only about weight loss but loss of energy.
SI: You've said for you "chess is a process of self-discovery. Where do you think you are along this process?
Kasparov: I think anything we do seriously is a process of self-discovery
because we are a constant search of achieving our potential. Sometimes,
even if you make a success, it's not really achieving your potential, and
I think many people stop prematurely. It's what I call the gravity of past
success. We achieve success and then success turns to be a deadly enemy
of our future improvement. For me, not chess as a concept, but a chess
competition is a process of a self-discovery because I have to improve
on a regular basis. I have a very difficult task, not learning for defeats,
which is obvious, but learning from my victories. I lose from time to time
but still the number of victories is overwhelming and it's quite complicated
to force yourself to learn from your victories. Because every game even
if you win is not necessicarily a result of your genius. It could be a
number of mistakes exchanged by you and your opponent and you were lucky
not to make the last
5) USCF News
All those of you who are thinking of running for the USCF Policy Board remember, you need to send in the signatures of 30 qualified USCF voting members by January 10, 2005, in addition to the filing fee. Among those who are said to be running are: Bill Goichberg, Robert Tanner, and incumbents Elizabeth Shaughnessy and Randy Bauer. I would imagine that perennial candidate Sam Sloan will also throw in his hat. There has been talk that two members of the America's Foundation for Chess board, Erik Anderson and Jim Roberts will be running, which would be fantastic news for USCF members. The AF4C's performance in past years stands in start contrast to the USCF, which has squandered over $2,000,000 in the last seven years. We also hope to see the name of Mikhail Korenman among those running for office. His proven fund raising ability, business sense and organizational skills are all qualities lacking on the current Executive Board
All USCF members aged 16 and over are eligible to vote and one would sincerely hope that most of them will make an effort. Since the USCF has switched to one member/one vote, not even 5% of the electorate have bothered to exercise their right. This time the stakes are quite high. The future of the Federation will depend heavily on who is elected this coming August. Members will get their ballots next June inside their issues of Chess Life. Chess players usually hate chess politics with a passion and with very good reason. Quite often the individuals involved seem to have little interest in the game itself, their actions often self serving and petty. Still, if you don't vote, you lose a large part of your right to complain.
The following information comes from the USCF website:
Motions considered at the Executive Board Meeting December 19, 2004
in Boca Raton, FL.
Note: Elizabeth Shaughnessy joined the meeting while in progress. Frank Brady and Bill Goichberg were on teleconference for a portion of the meeting.
(Board) The Executive Board thanks GM Arnold Denker for his many contributions to chess and for serving as a great role model and ambassador of chess throughout the United States and abroad.
PASSED 5-0 Shaughnessy and Brady Absent
(Shutt) At the request of the Chess Trust the Executive Board considered the following motion: Amend FOURTH of the Chess Trust Declaration to delete the following sentence: “The Trustees shall have no power to amend the Trust with respect to procedure of power, to fill vacancies in the Trustees, or to appoint or remove Trustees except with the consent of the Policy Board (or it’s successor) of the United States of America Chess Federation.
PASSED 5-0 Shaughnessy and Brady Absent
(Hanke) The USCF profit-sharing plan shall be named “The USCF Profit Sharing Plan” and two signatures shall be required for any checks or requests to the plan administrator, with the official signatories being the Executive Director, Chief Financial Officer and the Vice President of Finance.
PASSED 5-0 Shaughnessy and Brady Absent
(Hanke) Moved that temporarily the signatures on the USCF operating account will be Judy Misner, Glenn Petersen and the Chief Financial Officer. Checks will require two Signatures.
PASSED 5-0 Shaughnessy and Brady Absent
(Schultz) Resolved: Appendix B of the minutes of the 2003 USCF Delegates Meeting regarding College Chess Eligibility Requirements is hereby corrected to include the words “these titled” before the word “players” in the second line of the second paragraph of Rule 1.
PASSED 5-0 Shaughnessy and Brady Absent
(Board) The Executive Board asks the college Chess Committee to take a position on allowing individual titled players to petition for eligibility, as good-faith exceptions to Rule 1 of the College Chess Eligibility Requirements.
PASSED 4-0-1 In Favor: Marinello, Hanke Bauer and Schultz; Shutt Abstaining; Shaughnessy and Brady Absent
(Board) The USCF will rate the results of USCF members in certain international events starting with events to which USCF sends invited players, and events of FIDE category 4 and higher; with possible future expansion of this list of events; beginning with the August 2005 Rating Supplement.
PASSED 5-0 Shaughnessy and Brady Absent
(Bauer/Shutt) The Executive Board requests that the Ethics Committee examine the problems associated with player and spectator conduct during tournaments, including extended absences from the tournament hall and develop guidelines that address these issues.
PASSED 5-0 Shaughnessy and Brady Absent
(Board) The Executive Board appoints the following transition team from
January 1, 2005 to March 31, 2005:
Pat Knight- Crossville Relocation Coordinator, based in Crossville
Judy Misner- Director of Business Operations, based in Crossville
Beatriz Marinello- Volunteer Chief Operating Officer, based in New
Windsor
Grant Perks- Acting Chief Financial Officer, based in New Windsor and
traveling to Crossville as necessary
Glenn Petersen- Publications Director, based in New Windsor
Mike Nolan- Technical Consultant
Elizabeth Shaughnessy-Board Liaison to Crossville Architect
Passed 4-0-3 In Favor Shutt, Bauer, Hanke and Shaughnessy; Abstaining Marinello, Schultz and Brady. Brady voted via telephone
(Brady/Schultz) Resolved that the Board thanks Executive Director Bill Goichberg for his dedicated service to the USCF and approves a retroactive salary for calendar year 2004 of $25,000.
Passed 7-0 Brady voted via telephone
(Hanke) Based on the advice of legal council, the Executive Board reserves the right to comment in Chess Life on the suitability of a candidate for the Executive Board. Such action would require 2/3 support of the Executive Board and would have to be approved by legal council.
PASSED 7-0 Brady voted via telephone
6) MI Book and Equipment Donations
Book and equipment donations to the Mechanics' are always welcome. All
donations to the Mechanics' are tax deductible due to the M.I.'s 501(c)
(3) nonprofit status. If you have any chess books or equipment that have
been lying around unused for some time consider donating to the Mechanics'.
You will not only get a tax write off but also the satisfaction of seeing
things put to good use.
7) Here and There
Mechanics' member Budd Setzepfandt has started a forum for chess players in the Bay Area to communicate: http://www.phpbbforfree.com/forums/index.php?mforum=chess
The 2005 World Open has been moved to the Wyndham Hotel in downtown Philadelphia from it's traditional home at the Adam's Mark in the suburbs. Many players are not old enough to remember, but the World Open used to be played in downtown Philadelphia back in the late 1970s. I predict that many will enjoy the change in venue. The new location is near many historic sights and excellent restaurants. Chess players will no longer be forced to choose between TGI Fridays and Dennys and have to wait an hour to get served. Non-chess players will have plenty of things to do just outside of the hotel without renting a car. Potentially, this could be the biggest World Open ever. Note the World Open will not have a two-weekend schedule this year.
The late Albrecht Buschke was one of the few Americans to reach the top of the chess world in their area of expertise. We all know about Bobby Fischer, Paul Morphy and William Steinitz as players, Sam Loyd as a problemist and Jeremy Gaige as a chess archivist, but Buschke, who passed away in 1986, was a tremendous resource. A noted book seller and bibliophile, Buschke did great work in preserving chess literature in his new homeland. Shortly after immigrating from Germany, he started to take note of all chess publications in the United States. In the late forties, in a most unlikely publication, the West Virginia Chess Bulletin, he wrote extensively about state publications and chess columns and newspapers. Here's what he had to say in the November 30, 1947 WVCB:
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times: Chess column founded about 1927 (reports the present editor; the H.J.R. Murray list shows the column to have been published at least as early as 1931) by Clifford Sherwood, and taken over from him July 9, 1933 by the current editor, Herman Steiner, 108 No. Formosa Ave., Los Angeles 36, Calif. Appears Sundays.
(J.D. This column continues to this day. When Steiner passed away suddenly in the mid-fifties, Isaac Kashdan stepped in and passed the baton to Jack Peters approximately 25 years ago.)
MERCURY (Los Angeles) : We do not have the name of the founder of this column, published in a monthly magazine issued for the Los Angeles Athletic Club, Hollywood Athletic Club, the Pacific Coast Club (Long Beach), the Santa Monica Deauville Club, the Wilmington Yacht Club, the Sacramento Gun Club and the Riviera Country Club, with a circulation of over 10,000. It is now edited by Dr. R. H. Kuhns, 1256 W. 7th St., Los Angeles 14, Calif., who took it over in 1941.
(J.D. I believe that Stasch Mlotkowski started this column around roughly 1915. Harry Borochow edited the column after the First World War. I'm not sure for how long.)
SACRAMENTO UNION founded May 8th, 1943, by the present editor J. B. Gee, 5425 8th Ave., Sacramento 17, Calif. Carries the column head, "Chess" Sundays.
You can browse through our archived newsletters using the "next" and "previous buttons".
Want to save this newsletter for reading at a later time? Click here to learn how.
Want to be notified when the next newsletter is published? Join Our Email List →