Chess Room Newsletter #378

"If you're going to be a great classical chef you must learn French. If you're going to be an opera singer, you have to know Italian. If you're going to be a chessplayer, you have to know Russian."
~Joel Lautier (King�s Gambit by Paul Hoffman, page 132)

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1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Nakamura and Pruess tie for first in Las Vegas
3) UTD wins Pan Am Intercollegiate
4) Two new teams for US Chess League

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The US Chess School started today at the MI with instructor GM Yury Shulman explaining the intricacies of the Carlsbad variation of the Queen's Gambit to eight of the nation's best young players ages 9-12. The camp continues daily through Sunday.

The Winter Tuesday Night Marathon starts January 8 and the Bob Burger Open, honoring the noted Bay Area master, author and world class problemist, will be held January 12.

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MI member David Pruess defeated GMs in the last three rounds to tie for first with Hikaru Nakamura in the North American Open held in Las Vegas from December 26 to 29.

North American Open
Final Standings

1-2- Hikaru Nakamura and IM David Pruess- 6/7
3-5- GM Alexander Shabalov, GM Julio Becerra and FM Alex Kretchetov- 5.5/7
6-10- GM Varuzhan Akobian, GM Jesse Kraai, Denys K.Shmelov, GM Gildardo J. Garcia and IM Vladimir Mezentsev- 5/7
11-20- GM Ildar Ibragimov, IM Enrico Sevillano, FM Jake Kleiman, FM Slava Mikhaliuk, GM Dashze Sharavdorj, Dennis Monokroussos, Rodelay Medina, FM David Lucky,Ilia Serpik and Sean Higgins.

These two last round games decided the top places.1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Nd2 a6 8.a4 Nbd7 9.Nc4 Nb6 10.Na3 Qe7 11.g3 Bg7 12.Bg2 O-O 13.O-O Rb8 14.h3 Na8 15.Nc4 Rd8 16.e4 Nd7 17.f4 Ndb6 18.Ne3 Nc7 19.a5 Nd7 20.e5 b5 21.Ne4 Ne8 22.e6 fxe6 23.dxe6 Ndf6 24.f5 d5 25.Ng5 d4 26.Nf7 Bxe6 27.Nxd8 Rxd8 28.fxe6 dxe3 29.Qf3 Nc7 30.Bxe3 Nxe6 31.Rae1 Qd6 32.Kh2 Nd4 33.Qb7 Qd7 34.Bg5 Qxb7 35.Bxb7 Rd6 36.Bf4 Rd7 37.Bc8 Rd8 38.Bxa6 Ra8 39.Bb7 Rxa5 40.Be5 Ra7 41.Bg2 Ra6 42.Kh1 Nc2 43.Re2 Nb4 44.Rd2 h5 45.Bc3 Kh7 46.Rd8 Nc2 47.Ra8 Rd6 48.Ra7 Kh6 49.Rc7 Ne3 50.Be5 Re6 51.Bf4+ g5 52.Bxe3 Rxe3 53.Rxc5 b4 54.Rf3 Re1+ 55.Kh2 g4 56.Rf2 Re3 57.h4 Kg6 58.Rb5 b3 59.Rb6 Kf7 60.Rxb3 Re5 61.Rb7+ Kg6 62.Rb6 Kf7 63.b4 Ke7 64.Rb7+ Kf8 65.b5 1-0 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.h3 g6 5.Bd3 Bg7 6.Bc2 Nc6 7.O-O O-O 8.Re1 e5 9.a3 Ne8 10.b4 Nc7 11.d3 b6 12.Nbd2 Kh8 13.Rb1 Ne6 14.Bb3 Rb8 15.Bd5 Qc7 16.b5 Ne7 17.Ba2 Nf4 18.Nc4 Be6 19.Ng5 Rbd8 20.Nxe6 fxe6 21.Ne3 d5 22.Qc2 c4 23.dxc4 d4 24.Nf1 d3 25.Qd1 Ne2+ 26.Rxe2 dxe2 27.Qxe2 Ng8 28.a4 Rfe8 29.Bg5 Bf6 30.Be3 Be7 31.Nd2 Nf6 32.Rf1 Nd7 33.c5 Nxc5 34.Qc4 Rc8 35.Nf3 Bf6 36.Rc1 Qb7 37.Bb1 Red8 38.Qb4 Kg7 39.Rf1 Qc7 40.Ng5 h6 41.Nf3 Nd3 42.Qb3 Qc4 43.Qxc4 Rxc4 44.a5 Nc5 45.Rc1 Na4 46.axb6 axb6 47.Bd2 Nxc3 48.Bxc3 Rdc8 49.Rd1 Rxc3 50.Rd7+ Kf8 51.Ba2 Rd8 52.Bxe6 Rxd7 53.Bxd7 Ke7 54.Bc6 Bg7 55.Kf1 Kf6 56.Ne1 Bf8 57.Ke2 Bb4 58.h4 Rc1 59.Nd3 Rc2+ 60.Kf3 Bc3 61.g3 Bd4 62.Bd5 Rd2 63.Bc4 h5 64.Kg2 Rc2 65.Bd5 Rc3 66.Ne1 Rc5 67.Bc6 Rc1 68.Nd3 Rd1 69.Nb4 Rd2 70.Nd5+ Kg7 71.g4 hxg4 72.Kg3 Bxf2+ 73.Kxg4 Rd3 0-1

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The University of Texas at Dallas has once again won the Pan Am Intercollegiate which was held over the Christmas holidays in Miami.

Stanford University (NM Matthew Ho, NM Daniel Schwarz, Kartik Viswanathan and Daniel Mihelich, seeded 11th (2223 average) out of 28 teams, faced strong opposition in finishing 3 from 6. The Cardinals won their first three matches, upsetting a strong University of Toronto, but then faced GM/IM teams in UTD A and B in rounds 4 and 5 before going down to UT-Brownsville in the final round. Individual highlights included draws with GM Panchanathan andIM Boskovic (by Ho) and IMs Fernandez and Kulajevsevic (by Schwarz).

Pan American Intercollegiate Championship
Final Team Standings
1. University of Texas at Dallas-A- 5.5/6
2-4. University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of Texas at Dallas B, New York University- 4.5/6
5-9. Miami Dade College, University of Texas at Brownsville, Duke University, Yale University, University of Maryland Baltimore County B-4/6

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League commissioner Greg Shahade writes:

I'm pleased to announce that the Chicago Blaze and the Arizona Scorpions will be joining the USCL for 2008. They will be placed in the West Division and Carolina will move back to the East.

Chicago Manager: Glenn Panner
Chicago Assistant Manager: Sevan Merudian
Arizona Manager: Leo Martinez
Arizona Assistant Manager: Robby Adamson