Chess Room Newsletter #364

"I see people making a mistake, not being serious at age 14. You can have a job at any point in your life, but you can't go back and study chess."
~Alex Shabalov
From an interview with Betsy Dynako at Chess Life Onlinehttp://main.uschess.org/content/view/7861/381/. There he notes that his current chess strength came through hard work between the ages of 12-14. He wishes he worked even harder then because he sees 12-14 as the key age for chess improvement.

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1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Cal Chess Masters by Michael Aigner
3) Here and There

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The San Francisco Mechanics' 15 match undefeated streak in the US Chess League ended against Seattle last week.

Seattle Sluggers			San Francisco Mechanics
GM Gregory Serper: 2574	1.0	0.0	IM Josh Friedel: 2535
IM Georgi Orlov: 2574	1.0	0.0	IM David Pruess: 2452
FM John Readey: 2326	0.0	1.0	IM John Donaldson: 2460
Joshua Sinanan: 2083			Daniel Naroditsky: 2076
Avg. Rating: 2389			Avg. Rating: 2381
Seattle Total ———	3.0	1.0	——— San Francisco Total

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nc3 e5 6.a3 a5This stops b4 at all costs but White can try to benefit from not having had to play Rb1. The alternative 6...Nge7 7.b4 d5 is critical 8.bxc5 0—0 9.0—0 dxc4 10.Rb1 Na5 11.d3 is a probably an important sequence to evaluate the effectiveness of 7....d5.7.0—0 d6 8.d3 Nge7 9.Ne19.Rb1 0—0 10.Bd2 Rb8 11.Ne1 Be6 12.Nc2 d5 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.Nxd5 Bxd5 15.Bxd5 Qxd5 16.b4 cxb4 17.axb4 b6 Altounian-Yermolinsky, US (ch) 2004 offers Black no difficulties.9...Be69...0—0 10.Nc2 Be6 11.Ne3 f5 is another way to handle this variation.10.Nc2 d5 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Ne3 Nde7 13.Ne4 b6 14.Ng5 Perhaps a more challenging idea is Gregory Kaidanov's 14.Nc4 0—0 15.Bg5 f6 16.Be3 with Qa4, Rfc1 and Rab1 to follow. White tries to get in b2-b4 with tactics.; If 14.Qa4 Black can choose between the solid 14...Rc8 and the more aggressive 14...0—0 15.Nxc5 bxc5 16.Bxc6 Nxc6 17.Qxc6 Rc8 18.Qa4 f5. 14...Bd7 15.Bd2 15.Nc4 0—0 16.f4 h6 17.Nf3 exf4 18.Bxf4 Be6 19.Rc1 Nd5 was fine for Black in Yermolinsky-Wedberg, NY 1991.15...0—0 16.Rb1 a416...Rb8 was possible with a likely transposition to known positions but it didn't seem necessary here.17.Nc4 h6 17...b5 18.Nd6 f6 was a different approach.18.Ne4 Be6 To clamp down on f4 breaks.19.Nc319.f4 Bxc4 20.dxc4 f5 21.Nf2 e4 should be very nice for Black.19...Rb8 20.Qxa420.Bxc6 Nxc6 21.Qxa4 Nd4 22.Qd1 b5 23.Ne3 and now either 23...Bb3 or 23......Nb3 offers Black excellent compensation for the pawn. Critical is 20.Nxa4 b5 21.Nxc5 bxc4 22.Nxe6 fxe6 23.dxc4 At first glance White seems to be doing very well here but after 23...Rb7! 24.Be3 Rd7 followed by ...Nd4 I prefer Black though matters are not so clear.20...Nd4 21.Qd1 b5 22.Ne3 Bb3The immediate 22...f5 was interesting as 23.f4?? loses a piece to 23...b4. 22...Nb3 was also quite reasonable. Clearly Black has enough for the pawn,23.Qe1 f5 24.f4 exf4 25.gxf4 b4To open the c-file.26.axb4 cxb4 27.Ncd1 Qb6 28.Kh1 Rfc8 29.Rc1 Rxc1 30.Bxc1 Qc5 31.Bd2 Bf7 Black's plan is ...Nb3 and ...Ne7-c6-d4. Here John decided to return the pawn to activate his pieces. This is especially understandable as he was getting very low on time.32.Nc4 Bxc4 33.dxc4 Qxc4 34.e4Threatening e5 activating his Bishop and killing mine.34...fxe4 35.Qxe4 Qf7 36.Ne3 Kh7 37.Ng4 Nef5Black's more cohesive position is much easier to play with both sides short of time. The time control was G/75 plus a 30 second increment each move.38.Ne5 Qb3 39.Bc1 Re8 40.Re1 Re7 41.Qd5 Qc2 42.Be4 Qf2 43.Rd1 43.Nd3 Qh4 44.Rg1 Qh3 45.Bxf5 Nxf5 46.Ne5 Bxe5 47.fxe5 Nh4 (with ...Qf3+ threatened) 48.Rd1 g5 49.Qe4+ Ng6 and the e-pawn falls.43...Bxe5 44.fxe5 Qh4?44...Ne2 45.Bxf5 Qxf5 was the right follow up.45.Bxf5 Nxf5 46.Bd2 Ng3+ 47.Kg2 Ne4 48.Be1? 48.Rf1 would have drawn.48...Qg4+ Now Black is winning again.49.Bg3 Qe2+ 50.Kg1 Nxg3 51.hxg3 Qxb2 52.e6 Qe2 53.Rf1 Qxe6 54.Qxe6 Rxe6 55.Rf7+ Kg8 56.Rb7 Re4 57.Kf2 h5 58.Kf3 Rg4 59.Kf2 Kf8 60.Kf3 Ke8 61.Kf2 Kd8 62.Kf3 Kc8 63.Rb5 Kc7 64.Kf2 Kc6 65.Rb8 Kc5 0—1 GM Patrick Wolff, IM John Donaldson, NM Sam Shankland and Expert Daniel Naroditsky will represent the Mechanics' this evening against the Tennessee Tempo starting at 5:30 pm. Spectators are welcome.

There was plenty of excitement last night in round eight of the Ben Gross Tuesday Night Marathon. Tournament leader SM Craig Mar was a half point ahead of IM Ricardo DeGuzman and for most of the game he was winning but Ricardo came up with an incredible save with both flags hanging. He won a Rook down in an ending, advancing his b-pawn while White's Rook on h3 was imprisoned. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0—0 6.Be3 Bg4 7.Be2 Nc6 8.0—0 e5 9.d5 Ne7 10.c5 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 Ne8 12.cxd6 Nxd6 13.Be2 f5 14.f3 Rf7 15.Rc1 f4 16.Bf2 g5 17.Qc2 Ng6 18.Nb5 Bf8 19.Qb3 Nxb5 20.Qxb5 Bd6 21.Qxb7 Rb8 22.Qc6 Rxb2 23.Rc2 Rb6 24.Bxb6 axb6 25.Bb5 Kf8 26.Rc4 Kg7 27.Ra4 g4 28.Qe8 Qh4 29.Qe6 gxf3 30.gxf3 Rf6 31.Qg4 h5 32.Qg2 Rf8 33.Bd7 Kh6 34.Be6 Qf6 35.Rc4 b5 36.Rc2 Ra8 37.Kh1 Ra3 38.Bf5 Nh4 39.Qh3 Rd3 40.Rg1 Be7 41.Rc6 Bd6 42.Qxh4 Qxh4 43.Rg6+ Kh7 44.Rg4+ Kh6 45.Rxh4 Rd1+ 46.Kg2 Rd2+ 47.Kf1 Kg5 48.Rh3 Rxa2 and ... 0—1 Unfortunately the rest of the score is not available as both players were blitzing.

Going into the final round the leaders are:
1-2. IM DeGuzman and Victor Ossipov 6.5/8;
3-6. SM Mar, NM Igor Margulis, Romulo Fuentes, and Daniel Naroditsky 6/8.

The past month the Mechanics' held its annual FIDE rating tournament for Masters and Experts and the final result was quite impressive. Expert Kimani Stancil won with 8 from 8 with one unplayed game. 9-year-old Nicholas Nip should gain a lot of USCF and FIDE rating points for his second place finish.

1. Kimani Stancil 8/8
2. Nicholas Nip 6.5
3. NM Michael Pearson 6
4. NM Igor Margulis 5
5. NM Paul Gallegos 3.5
6. Igor Traub 3/8
7. Vadim Smelansky, Jorge Ortega , Felix Rudyak 3/9
10. Murray Newcomb .5

All players played 9 games except Stancil and Traub.

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.

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Hello Masters and eligible Juniors,

This email is just a reminder that the CalChess Masters will take place this coming weekend at the Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco. The tournament has received 14 entries as of Monday 9/24 and several additional players have expressed interest. With a first place prize of $700, I would not be surprised to see a few IMs and even possibly a GM show up. You can still enter on site for $60 between 9:00-9:45 on Saturday morning.

The CalChess Masters will be a four round swiss, 30/90 G/60, to be held at the Mechanics' Institute on September 29-30. Thanks to the financial support of CalChess and a suitable venue at the Mechanics' Institute, the prize fund of $2200 will be fully guaranteed. FIDE rated!

This tournament is open to all players rated over 2200, former masters who are currently over 2000, foreign players with FIDE ratings over 2200 and juniors (under 21) who are rated over 2000.
The September USCF rating list will be used (http://www.uschess.org/msa/MbrLst.php).

Flyer: http://www.calchess.org/controlpanel/files/CalChessMasters.pdf

Advance entries as of Monday 9/24:

1. NM Yap, Nicolas A 2300 (junior)
2. WIM Tuvshintugs, Batchmeg 2288
3. NM Aigner, Michael 2254
4. NM Frankle, Jonathan 2249
5. NM Von Krogh, Chris 2243
6. FM Keatinge-clay, Adrian 2239
7. Naroditsky, Daniel 2170 (junior)
8. Mackenzie, Dana N 2156
9. Stancil, Kimani A 2115
10. Snyder, Larry 2077
11. Nip, Nicholas 2029 (junior)
12. Agarwal, Rohan 2019 (junior)
13. Kislik, Erik Andre 2011 (junior)
14. Jones, James E 2000

If you have any further questions, please contact organizer Richard Koepcke at 650-964-2640 or byemail at [email protected].

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Steven Krasnov and Art Marthinsen are tied for first with 3 from 3 in the six round Berkeley Chess Club Sunday Marathon. Here are the complete standings.

Mechanics' members Josh Friedel and David Pruess have traveled to Miami and start play today in a big nine round open that includes US Champion Alex Shabalov and Hikaru Nakamura. GM norm possibilities are advertised.

Congratulations to Val Zemitis and his wife Sibylle who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last Sunday. Val is keeping busy in retirement and recently co edited a book on the Latvian women player Milda Lauberte (3rd at the womens world championship in Stockholm in 1938).

The Western States Open in Reno is right around the corner. October 12-14 will be the 25th anniversary and it will be a very strong (many GMs ) and large (likely over 400 players) tournament. Don't miss it! Details below under upcoming events.