Gens Una Sumus!
~IM Cyrus Lakdawala
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Peoples Replacement Open by Michael Aigner
3) Eric Schiller on the Peoples Replacement Open
4) Here and There
5) New England Masters
Two key games from round seven
Winter TNM San Francisco (7) 2008
Winter TNM San Francisco (7) 2008
Should Nicholas beat Hikaru Nakamura's record for youngest Master he will be in good company. As Michael Aigner points out if he is successful he will become the third local youngster to hold this esteemed record. Back in 1995, young rivals Jordy Mont-Reynaud (10 years and 209 days) and Vinay Bhat (10 years and 176 days) both became the youngest USCF master in short succession. Jordy earned the FIDE Master title but never managed to maintain a rating much above 2300. Vinay now holds the Grandmaster title and is still active as a player.
Unfortunately, a scheduling snafu robbed us chess players of this tradition in 2008, for thesecond time in three years. When it appeared there would be no People’s Tournament at all, SouthBay organizer Salman Azhar stepped up to the plate despite only three week’s notice. The People’sReplacement Tournament was definitely not the Real Thing, but it would have to suffice. The eventwas moved 50 miles south to the library of a grade school in Santa Clara. Only four rounds wereplayed over two days, instead of the usual three-day schedule. And at least one veteran playercomplained about the lack of drums. On the bright side, the new venue allowed easy freeway accessand plenty of free parking.
About 80 players showed up for the 1200+ sections while another 40 kids played in the one-day sideevent restricted to players rated under 1200. These attendance figures allowed Dr. Azhar toincrease the advertised prize fund slightly to $2500, a respectable 71% of last year’s payout inBerkeley despite having 45 fewer players. Players competed in four sections: Master/Expert, ClassA, Class B and Class C/D. In an era of G/30, G/45 and G/60 tournaments, the People’s time controlwas slow enough for classical chess: 30/90, G/60. In fact, some parents remarked how pleased theywere to see their kids actually take their time to think while playing chess!
The top section featured local IM Ricardo DeGuzman as the top seed, followed by two FMs and twoNMs. Upsets began rolling in as early as the first round: fifth grader Yian Liou (1900) crushedFM Eric Schiller’s anti-Dutch system within 20 moves and high school student NM Sam Shanklandcould only draw against extensive opening preparation by adult expert Brendan Purcell (2023). Inthe third round, reigning world U12 champion FM Danya Naroditsky calmly held DeGuzman to a draw.That left this reporter as the only player with a perfect 3-0 score going into the final round,with DeGuzman, Shankland and Naroditsky tied for second at 2.5 each.
That set up my critical round 4 pairing with IM DeGuzman. We had played many times before, withDeGuzman scoring a lopsided 23.5/27 = 87%. I had never won, achieving just seven draws despiteseveral completely winning positions. Our typical game saw DeGuzman overcoming an openingdisadvantage through his creative and aggressive middle and endgame play.
Fortunately, history would not repeat itself. Known for impeccable play in the late middlegameand endgames, the sly magician blundered with the greedy 39… Bxa2 when the pawn push a3 would havesufficed for an advantage. The brilliant retreat 40.Be2 threatens three black targets on thea5-e8 diagonal and, from this point forth, black was in trouble. The bishop of same color endgameup a pawn that resulted from further trades on moves 44 and 45 was merely a matter of techniquedespite white’s doubled pawns. After nearly seven years since our first meeting, the monkey isoff my back!
Approximately a quarter of the players in the tournament won a part of the prize fund. Much hasbeen said about the rise of scholastic chess in our area, with many adults dropping out simplybecause they no longer can keep up with the tactical skill of underrated kids. In fact, the threeplayers who tied for second place in the Master/Expert section were age 12, 14 and 16. But thereis still a glimmer of hope for the older generation: the Class A and Class C winners were alladults! Hopefully this success by George Mandrusov, Harold Parker and Kenneth Voss can inspireplayers at their age not to quit but rather to keep fighting on.
List of WinnersMaster: 1st NM Michael Aigner; 2nd NM Sam Shankland and FM Danya Naroditsky
Expert: Rohan Agarwal
Class A: George Mandrusov
Class B: Kartik Chillakanti and Chris Tsai
Class C: Harold Parker and Kenneth Voss
Class D: Muhammed Mohideen
U1200: Daniel Liu, Stephen Leung and Rahul Swaminathan
U900: Linus Wang and Malik Khalil
U500: Muzammil Khan
Results: http://www.bayareachess.com/results/peoplerepl08.php1200+ rated: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200802179421.0U1200 rated: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200802179361.0Saturday photos: http://www.chessdryad.com/photos/santaclara/peoples/index.htmSunday photos: http://www.chessdryad.com/photos/santaclara/peoples_02/index.htm
Caro Kann B19
NM Michael Aigner has just started a very good blog. Check it out at http://fpawn.blogspot.com/.
MI Chess Director John Donaldson tied for first with NM Carl Haessler at 4.5 from 5 in the 67 player David Collyer Memorial last weekend in Spokane
IM Josh Friedel turned in a good result in the A2 group section of the Aeroflot Open, scoring 5.5 from 9.
The New England Masters 2008 will take place over the week of August 11-15, 2008, in Pawtucket (near Providence), Rhode Island, USA.
The tournament will be a 9 round Swiss open to players with a FIDE rating of at least 2100. The time control for all rounds will be 40/2 hours, SD/30 minutes. Round times will be at 11:00 am and 6:00 pm each day, apart from the first day which will have only one round at 6:00 pm.
This year's event will see a distinct push to try and attract more non-USA players to our shores in an attempt to increase the norm opportunities for everyone. For instance, non-USA IMs will receive a free entry and a discounted rate on accommodation (just $200 for a half-room), while all non-USA players receive a $100 discount off their relevant entry fees!
Talking about entry fees, all of them have been reduced from last year's event! This is thanks to allowing a new class of players (2100-2199) to participate in the event, benefiting all of the players above, especially those rated 2500 or higher who can now also play for free!
The event will be held at the To Kalon Club, 65 Main Street, Pawtucket. The To Kalon Club is home to the Blackstone Chess Academy who will be holding their own open weekend Swiss straight after the Masters event. (Further details to be announced.)
The Comfort Inn in Pawtucket has given us an $89/night room rate, which is a significant discount off their regular rates. They also include a free breakfast, free wireless internet, exercise room and a heated indoor pool. What more could a chess player need?
For more details on this exciting event, please visit the New England Masters 2008 website at http://www.NewEnglandMasters.com and please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions regarding this event.
Sincerely,
Chris Bird
New England Masters 2008
http://www.NewEnglandMasters.com
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