Gens Una Sumus!
~Georg Marco, in KARLSBAD 1907 INTERNATIONAL CHESS TOURNAMENT (Caissa Editions, 2007).
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Chess Charivari
3) Here and There
4) Hikaru Nakamura on Chess.FM
5) A Chess Poem by Dennis Fritzinger
NM Michael Aigner writes about newly crowned World Under 12 Champion Daniel Naroditsky:
Here are four important new media events involving World 12 Champion FM Daniel Naroditsky. Thefirst article in San Francisco Chronicle appeared last Thursday.
1. Danya was interviewed today at school by KRON 4 for a segment that will appear on the eveningnews tonight.
2. Also today, Danya will appear LIVE on NBC 11 during the 5pm newscast.
3. In Sunday's New York Times, chess columnist Dylan Loeb McClain annotated Danya's round 10 winagainst Gene Nakauchi of Australia.
4. Last but certainly not least, Chess Room director IM John Donaldson has asked me to spread wordthat Danya will go over his favorite games tomorrow at 5:30pm at the Mechanics' Institute, justbefore the weekly round for the Tuesday Night Marathon.
To get an idea of how rare an accomplishment Daniel's victory is for an American was consider that only two other US players in the last twenty years (John Viloria in 1998 and Alex Lendeman in 2005) have taken home the gold.
Here is a list of US Players who have medalled since the inception of the event including the Mechanics' Vinay Bhat.
US Medallists in World Youth Championships (1997-2007)
2007 Daniel Naroditsky (gold B-U12) Sarah Chiang (silver G- U10)
2005 Alex Lenderman (gold B-U16)
2001 Hikaru Nakamura (silver B-U14)
1998 Vinay Bhat (B-U14) (=3rd but lost bronze on tiebreak)
1996 Vinay Bhat (bronze B-U12)
1995 Vinay Bhat (shared second bronze on tiebreak B-U12)
1990 Nawrose Nur (gold B-U10)
1988 John Viloria (gold B-U10)
1987 Yvonne Krawiec (gold G-Under 14), Susan Urminska (gold G-Under 10), John Viloria (gold B-U10), Jessica Ambats (silver (tied for 1st but lost on tiebreak)
Note that there were not many countries represented in the inaugural event in 1987. I believe Nawrose was representing the US by 1990 but he may still have been with his native Bangladesh.
One column you will not find listed in Chess Columns: A List ran in the Winnipeg Tribune from October 31, 1953 to June 19, 1954. The 33 columns that appeared focused primarily on international news, but national and local events were also covered. A typical column featured a chess problem, news and one or two annotated games - often in great depth. Books reviews and the occasional photo rounded things out. Chess Charivari, as Dr. Nathan Divinsky called his column, was meaty and well written but that didn't stop it from being dropped in the summer of 1954. The Winnipeg Tribune gave the case as low readership - in a poll commissioned by the paper out of 120 readers there were only three regular and six occasional readers of Chess Charivari! Divinsky received a total of $160 for his work on his column that deserved a better fate.
The following excerpt gives a small taste of the good stuff to be found in Chess Charivari. Much of the information to be found in it is unavailable elsewhere.
Chess Charivari
by Dr. Nathan Divinsky Feb 20, 1954
Reshevsky Simultaneous
This event proved to be a highlight in Winnipeg chess. The most enjoyable chess evening fans have had for many years. Dr. W. W. Wright, president of the Manitoba Chess Association introduced the grandmaster.For the first 15 minutes Reshevsky answered questions from the floor, explaining that he would very much like to get Botvinnik ALONE in a match for the world's championship! Then the play began.
Thirty three Winnipeg stalwarts opposed the grandmaster. Having participated ourselves, we can assure our readers that his opening play was faultless, that his speed was phenomenal, and after an hour, a half dozen players had already suffered defeat. The middle game was played at a more reasonable rate. It is here that the grandmaster is at a disadvantage - he does not have sufficient tie to consider all the combinations, whereas the individual player has a bit more time and peace. Several players obtained an advantage, some in position and a few in material. However as more and more fell away, and the ranks were thinned to ten, Reshevsky seemed to be coming around at breakneck speed - and one MUST move when he comes!The difficult part was over, and after only 3 hours of play, 31 had gone down to defeat. Only your editor and Mr. Abe Kussim obtained draws. We expect to hear more of Mr. Kussim in Winnipeg chess.
Though Winnipeg's result compares with Calgary (33 losses and 1 draw) and Vancouver (33 loses and 4 draws), we feel that a much stronger group of players could have participated,. With players like Mogle, Blinder, A. Dreman, B. Deitchman, H. Frank and M. Desser in the line-up we are convinced that several winds would have been scored. To say nothing of I. J. Dreman and H. Yanofsky. Not only would they themselves have had good chances, but they would have helped slow up Reshevsky and given all the others more time to think. We sincerely hope that the next generation of A players will take a more sincere interest and give all chess enthusiasts pleasure and enjoyment. We were happy to see many young and talented players in the line-up.
There were a great number of spectator (close to 100) and they all seemed to be having a wonderful time.
Besides your editor and Mr. Kussim, the following players participated:
E. Budnitsky, C. F. Ashmore, A. Boxer, P. H. Buhr, T. F. Carter, S. F. Cooper, S. Choslovsky, A. D. Divinsky, J. Enns, B. Fortier, J. Filkow, N. Garfinkle, L. Guberman, P. Hildebrandt, K. Knapheus, N. Klassen, P. Katz, W. Krawitz, G. Love, W. R. Mitchell, H. R. MacKean, J. L. Matynia, R. Newbury, J. J. Promislow, S. Pedlar, B. Richman, J. Steigerwald, P. Sidney, J. Shebaylo, A. Vincent, Dr. W. W. Wright.
Winnipeg (simul) 1954
[Divinsky]
GM Vinay Bhat was just named to the third team of the US Chess League All Stars for second boards. IM John Donaldson got an honorable mention for board three and board four all stars have yet to be annonunced. .
Those who like chess and enjoy mysteries will appreciate Zugzwang (Bloombury 2007, HC, $24.95) by Ronan Bennett. Set in St.Petersberg in 1914 around the time of the great international tournament it starts with a character named Gulko (O.V. not Boris) being killed and not long after the great Rozental (= Rubinstein) makes his appearance. Along with the narrative the author offers the ending phase of Spethmann-Kopelzon, St. Petersberg 1913/4 which is based on the following game.
John's special guest this week (Tue., 4 Dec.) will be man-of-the-moment GM Hikaru Nakamura, the youngest US champion since Bobby Fischer. In his prodigy days, Hikaru, who at 15 years and 79 days is the youngest US grandmaster ever, broke every Fischer age-group record save for that of US champion. In 2004, at the age of 16, he won the US championship in San Diego.
Hikaru is regarded as something of a legend on ICC (playing under the handle of Smallville), where his status as one of the best blitz players in the world - both o.t.b and online - is seldom challenged. After a lean period on the international scene, Hikaru hit a purple patch in October with big back-to-back victories in two very strong European tournaments: the Magistral D'Escacs in Barcelona, and the Corsican Masters.
JOHN B. HENDERSON
---------------------------------
910 8th Ave, Apt. 1110
Seattle, WA 98104
Cell: 847-347-9593
when you're playing timed chess,
be careful how your clock ticks--
sometimes tactics decide the game,
and sometimes it's the tock ticks.
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