Chess Room Newsletter #401

~Yuru Averbakh on his draw with Bobby Fischer in the 1958 Interzonal at Portoroz.

---

1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Gata wins National Open on tiebreak
3) Hikaru breaks 2700 FIDE
4) Lindsborg to Host U.S. Junior Closed and Cadet Championships
5) Here and There

---

Three rounds into the Mechanics' Institute Tuesday Night Marathon Rey Salvatierra, Oleg Shaknazarov, Steven Gaffagan, Romulo Fuentes and Evan Sandberg share first place with perfect scores. IM Ricardo DeGuzman and WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs are among those on 2 1/2.

Ten-year-old NM Nicholas Nip is on the cover of the June issue of Chess Life for Kids! along with Regis and Kathy. On Page 23 of the same issue there is a story and another photo of Nicholas and two photos of World Under 12 Champion Daniel Naroditsky throwing the first pitch and playing Andrew Brown and Huston Street in the Oakland A's clubhouse.

Irina Krush, the highest-rated women in the United States, is tentatively set to give a lecture on Tuesday, June 23, at the Mechanics', from 5:15 to 6:15, right before the Marathon. This event is free to all. Irina is in town to teach at the Berkeley Chess Schools summer camp this month.

The Mechanics Institute will be holding two chess camps this summer. Anthony Corrales will teach the beginner/ intermediate session from July 14-18 with GM-elect Josh Friedel in charge of the advanced camp from July 21-25. Go to http://chessclub.org for more information.

---

Gata Kamsky took the title of National Open winner on tiebreaks over fellow 5-1 scorers GMs Tigran Petrosian, Atanas Kolev, Laurent Fressinet, GM-elect Josh Friedel and IM Ben Finegold. This was the third outstanding event in a row for Josh who followed up making his third GM norm in the US Championship and beating Hikaru Nakamura in Chicago with a sensational performance in Vegas which included a win over GM Varuzhan Akobian and draws with Hikaru and Gata. Josh has broken through the plateau of 2475 FIDE he was in for the past year with his USCF rating going from 2511 to 2595 in the last three events.

David Pruess lost in the last round to GM Tigran L. Petrosian (rated 2666 for the event) but had the consolation of beating Hikaru Nakamura in round 5. Rey Salvatierra took home over $4000 for winning the Expert section with a score of 5.5 from 6 (and raising his rating to 2198). Another MI member, Batsaikhan Tserendorj, was tied for second in the Expert section with five points.

---

Since FIDE instituted ratings in 1970 only three Americans have achieved FIDE ratings over 2700. One passed away earlier this year and two were playing in Las Vegas. Although Hikaru Nakamura's rating is temporarily back down below 2700 after Las Vegas he crossed the threshold earlier this year with a sensational result in the French Team Championship where scored 8 1/2 from 11 beating GMs Bauer, A. Sokolov, Schlosser and Ninov and drawing Bacrot, Kasimdzhanov, Nisipeanu, Baklan and Vaiser.

Here are three of his wins from the last rounds of the competition. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 a6 6.h3 e6 7.g4 b5 8.Bg2 Bb7 9.0�0 b4 10.Nd5 exd5 11.exd5 Be7 12.g5 Nfd7 13.Nc6 Qc7 14.Nxe7 Kxe7 15.Qd4 Kf8 16.Bf4 a5 17.Rfe1 Nb6 18.Re8+ Kxe8 19.Qxg7 Bxd5 20.Qxh8+ Kd7 21.Re1 Nc6 22.Qxh7 Nd4 23.Be3 Qxc2 24.Qh5 Bxg2 25.Bxd4 Qf5 26.Kxg2 Nd5 27.Qf3 Qxg5+ 28.Kh1 Rg8 29.Qxf7+ Kc6 30.Qf3 Kb7 31.Be3 Qe5 32.Rd1 Kc6 33.Re1 Rh8 34.Bd2 Qh5 35.Qxh5 Rxh5 36.Kg2 Kc5 37.Re4 Rf5 38.h4 a4 39.Kg3 Nf6 40.Bxb4+ Kd5 41.Re2 Ne4+ 42.Kg2 Rf8 43.f3 Rg8+ 44.Kh2 Ng3 45.Rg2 Nf1+ 46.Kg1 Ng3 47.Be1 Ne2+ 48.Kf1 Rxg2 49.Kxg2 Nc1 50.h5 Ke6 51.Bd2 Nd3 52.b4 axb3 53.axb3 d5 54.b4 d4 55.b5 Kd5 56.f4 1�0 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Nc6 7.Nc2 d6 8.Be2 Nd7 9.Bd2 Nc5 10.0�0 0�0 11.f3 Bxc3 12.Bxc3 Na4 13.Qd2 f5 14.exf5 Bxf5 15.Kh1 Nxc3 16.Qxc3 Bxc2 17.Qxc2 Qb6 18.Qd2 Qd4 19.Rad1 Qxd2 20.Rxd2 Rac8 21.Kg1 Rf5 22.Rc1 a5 23.Kf2 a4 24.Rc3 Rc5 25.Rd5 Nb4 26.Rxc5 dxc5 27.a3 Nc6 28.Bd1 Ra8 29.Ke3 Nd4 30.Kd2 Kf7 31.Re3 Kf6 32.f4 Nf5 33.Re5 Rd8+ 34.Ke1 b6 35.Bxa4 Rd4 36.g3 Rxc4 37.Bb3 Rc1+ 38.Kd2 Rh1 39.Re6+ Kg7 40.Rxb6 Rxh2+ 41.Kc3 Nxg3 42.Bd5 Ne2+ 43.Kc4 Nxf4 44.Bb7 Rc2+ 45.Kb3 Rc1 46.a4 Ra1 47.Rc6 h5 48.Rxc5 h4 49.a5 Ne6 50.Rd5 h3 0�1 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.e3 c6 4.Nf3 e4 5.Nd4 d5 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.d3 exd3 8.Qxd3 Nc6 9.g3 Bb4 10.Bg2 Ne5 11.Qc2 Qa5 12.Bd2 Nc4 13.a3 Nxd2 14.axb4 Qxa1+ 15.Kxd2 Qa6 16.Ncb5 0�0 17.Nc7 Qd6 18.Nxa8 Bd7 19.Nc7 Rc8 20.Rc1 Ne8 21.Qc5 Qxc5 22.bxc5 Nxc7 23.c6 bxc6 24.Nxc6 Re8 25.Ne7+ Rxe7 26.Rxc7 Kf8 27.Rxa7 Be6 28.Ra8+ Re8 29.Rxe8+ Kxe8 30.Kc3 Kd7 31.Kd4 Kd6 32.b4 f6 33.Bf1 Bd7 34.Bd3 h6 35.Ba6 Bg4 36.Bb7 Be6 37.b5 Bf7 38.b6 Be6 39.Ba6 Kc6 40.b7 Kc7 41.Kc5 Bg8 42.Be2 1�0

---

Press Release June 4, 2008

Contact: Tom Brownscombe [email protected] 785-227-2224

Wes Fisk: [email protected] 785-227-4121

Lindsborg to Host U.S. Junior Closed and Cadet Championships

The Anatoly Karpov International School of Chess will host the U.S.Chess Federation�s most prestigious events for young players on June 13�18, in Lindsborg, Kansas. The top eight players under the age of 16 are invited each year to play in the U.S. Cadet Championship, and the top 10 players under age 20 are invited to play in the U.S. Junior Closed Championship. �We are excited to have players coming from throughout the United States,� said Tom Brownscombe, director of the Karpov Chess School. �These players are coming from California, New York, and many states in between.� Thirteen year-old Conrad Holt, Wichita, is the only Kansas participant.

The Cadet and Junior players will compete in round robin tournaments for money, trophies and bragging rights in the weeklong tournament, but it is the Cadet Championship that will offer the biggest prize. The winner will receive a four-year scholarship to the University of Maryland at Baltimore, valued at $69,760.00. The player lineup in the Cadet Championship includes: Gregory Young, San Francisco, CA; Patrick Tae, Oak Ridge, TN; Darwin Yang, Plano, TX; Alex Markovits, Cincinnati, OH; Andrew Shvartsman, Medford, NJ; Richard Tuhrim, New York, NY; and Conrad Holt, Wichita, KS.

The lineup in the Junior Championship includes Brian Goldstein, FL; Edward J.Lu, Annandale, VA; Daniel Yeager, Horsham, PA; Christopher Williams, Brighton, MA; Tyler B. Hughs, Wheat Ridge, CO; and Zhi-ya Hu, Potomac, MD. Additional players have yet to commit.

Marck R. Cobb, president of the International Chess Institute of the Midwest, who operates the Karpov Chess School said,� We are happy to work with the US Chess Federation in recognizing the highly qualified chess players who have been invited to compete in the Jr. Closed and the Cadet Championships.�

---

Alex Onischuk has 1 from 3 in the superstrong Aerosvit event in the Crimea which boasts an average rating of 2711.

1. Carlsen NOR 2765
2. Svidler RUS 2746
3. Ivanchuk UKR 2740
4. Shirov ESP 2740
5. Karjakin UKR 2732
6. Jakovenko RUS 2711
7. Alekseev RUS 2711
8. Eljanov UKR 2687
9. Volokitin UKR 2684
10. Nisipeanu ROU 2684
11. van Wely NED 2676
12. Onischuk USA 2664

GM Alex Baburin of Chess Today fame, has a huge online auction going on right now. He writes:

Dear Chess Collector,

Please note that our online chess auction has started at http://www.gmsquare.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction-main.cgi?all

Bidding is already open. Previously we gave 48 hours for bidding, but this time, because we are close to a holiday season, we allowed a week for bidding. Of course, most likely over 90% of all bids will come in the last hour of bidding, but at lease our clients have an option of putting a (proxy) bid in advance.

There are 35 lots listed so far (all - tournament books) - more lots will come in the next 2-3 days. To check them, please visit http://www.gmsquare.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction-main.cgi?all regularly! With any questions please contact me at [email protected]

LA IM Tim Taylor had a rough time in the latest First Saturday GM tournament but did have the satisfaction of winning the following game in convincing fashion. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.f4 Bg7 8.Bb5+ Nfd7 9.Be2 a6 10.a4 Qh4+ 11.g3 Qe7 12.Nf3 0-0 13.0-0 Bxc3 14.bxc3 Qxe4 15.c4 Nf6 16.Bd3 Qe7 17.Re1 Qc7 18.Bb2 Nbd7 19.Qd2 Re8 20.Qc3 Rxe1+ 21.Rxe1 b5 22.Re8+ Kg7 23.g4 1-0