Chess Room Newsletter #389

~Benjamin Franklin

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1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Schein-Friedman Awards Announced - By Mark Schein/Aviv Friedman
3) Fischer Photos
4) Local News

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IM John Grefe gave a well-received lecture at the Mechanics' Institute last night and will give another one on Tuesday, April 1, from 5.15 to 6.15pm.

Go to http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8264/443/ to read a story on newly minted Master Nicholas Nip who turned 10 on March 10 including a win over FM Ron Cusi.

IM David Pruess is seconding Irina Krush in the strong Ataturk women's masters in Istanbul. Go to this ChessBase article to find a photo of David from the event.

The Spring Tuesday Night Marathon has 73 players competing including 19 over 2000. Heading the field are IM Grefe, FM Frank Thornally and Daniel Naroditsky and NMs Sam Shankland and Andy Lee. The form charts were almost 100 percent correct with higher rated players wining all but two of the games. Troy Pendergraft, visiting from Oregon, drew FM Thornally and rapidly improving Kyle Tom drew Glenn Leotaud, the ironman of Northern California chess players. Each Tuesday night Glenn drives from his home near Sacramento to either Richmond or Pittsburg then BARTs in making his commute over 2 hours each way. That's dedication!

It is not to late to enter the 8 round event with a bye for round 1.

Crime and punishment from round one. 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.b3 g6 4.Bb2 Bg7 5.g3 Nc6 6.Bg2 0�0 7.0�0 e6 8.d4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 e5 11.Qd2 Re8 12.Nc3 a6 13.Rfd1 Qc7 14.Rac1 Rb8 15.Ba3 Bf8 16.Bxf8 Rxf8 17.Qg5 Kg7 18.Qxf6+ 1�0 Thanks to the generosity of the Schutt family the Bay Area's strongest blitz tournament is back. Last year's event was won by GM Walter Browne with IMs Ricardo DeGuzman and Dmitry Zilberstein right behind.

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By Mark Schein/Aviv FriedmanMarch 11, 2008

The Schein - Friedman Scholastic Recognition Project is glad to announce its first year scholarship recipients.

Our top recipient is Floridian IM-elect Ray Robson, who will receive a $6,000 scholarship. Ray is a rising star on the US youth scene, and is an amazing talent. He is a hard worker, who is expected to make it far in the chess world.

Second place, and a $4,000 scholarship goes to Daniel Naroditsky of California. Daniel is another leading talent, who caused a sensation when he won the gold medal and world championship for boys under age 12, in Turkey last year.

The third scholarship, for $2,500 goes to IM Robert Hess from New York. Robert is already a strong International Master, with a rating nearing the 2500 mark. He is actively pursuing his Grandmaster title.

The three winners were selected from am impressive list of promising young applicants, in cooperation with the US Chess Trust (special thanks to Barbara DeMaro).

The project is a two-tier program, designed to help some of our younger champions improve and dedicate themselves more to chess, while offsetting the financial expenses that usually come with those. Hopefully the project will reward excelling youngsters, and help them become tomorrow�s best players and Grandmasters. At the same time they would be serving as role models and inspiration to the entire scholastic community.

The program is generally designed for youngsters age 7-17. Occasionally, in cases of unusual excellence (considerably exceeding the program�s criterions), applications by players up to age 20 would be considered.

We expect to announce our application process for the 2009 year, sometimes in November 2008.

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Newsletter reader Lawrence Totaro of Las Vegas points out a nice link pertaining to photos of Bobby Fischer with over 600 pictures.
Go to http://www.echecs-photos.be/BobbyFischer-photos/index.html

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David Petty, Salar Jahedi and Farid Mark Watson tied for first with 4.5 from 6 in the 24 player Berkeley Chess Club Bobby Fischer Marathon held February 10th to March 16th.

Below are details for the next Sunday Marathon scheduled to start in a few weeks.

Start Date: 6:00 P.M. February 10, 2008
Location: Room 17 at Hillside School, 1581 LeRoy, Berkeley.
Tournament Format 6 rounds, one game every Sunday
Other Rounds: March 30, April 6, 13, 20, 27, May 4
Time Control: 30/90 followed by SD/30.
Byes: Up to two half-point byes are available for rounds 1-4. All byes should be requested before 12pm the Friday before the next round. Byes for rounds 5 and 6 must be requested by round 3.
EF $30

Open at 5pm and closes at 10.30. http://berkeleychessschool.org

It is not yet official but chances are very good that the People's Open will be held in Berkeley on April 12-13 as a four round Swiss at the Hearst Gymnasium just a short walk from the normal Student Union venue on the US Berkeley campus. Final confirmation should come in the next few days.

Ted Castro ([email protected]) writes:

Hello everyone,

Beginning April 4th we will meet regularly every Friday at 7pm at the Newark Library and holdtournaments but will also have casual games for those who simply want to play.