Chess Room Newsletter #407

~ Bobby Knight (US basketball coach)

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1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Sam Shankland and Company conquer Agoura Hills by Michael Aigner
3) Mechanics' members shine abroad
4) Jerry Hanken writes
5) Here and There
6) Gary Lane on Chess Talk with IM John Watson tonight (Tuesday, July 22)

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IMs Andrei Florean (a new addition to Bay Area chess) and the ever-active Ricardo DeGuzman tied for first place last Saturday in the 50-player, 8th Annual Charles Bagby Memorial G/45, with 4.5 from 5. They both drew with visiting San Diego IM Cyrus Lakdawala who as top-seed had the hardest pairings and finished equal third with 4 points. 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c5 3.c3 cxd4 4.cxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.g3 Bf5 7.Bg2 e6 8.0-0 Be7 9.Nh4 Bg4 10.h3 Bh5 11.g4 Bg6 12.e3 Rc8 13.Nxg6 hxg6 14.Bd2 Nd7 15.f4 f5 16.g5 a6 17.Rc1 Nb6 18.Na4 Nxa4 19.Qxa4 Kf7 20.Rc2 Bd6 21.Qb3 Qd7 22.Qb6 Ne7 23.Rfc1 Rxc2 24.Rxc2 Rc8 25.Qb3 Rxc2 26.Qxc2 Qc6 27.Qd1 Nc8 28.h4 Bf8 29.h5 gxh5 30.Qxh5+ g6 31.Qh8 Bg7 32.Qd8 Ne7 33.Bc3 Qc8 34.Qb6 Qc6 35.Qd8 Qc8 ½-½ The Mechanics' would like to thank FM Eric Schiller for his recent generous donation of several hundred books to the Mechanics'. Book and equipment donations to the Mechanics' are always welcome and such donations are tax deductible due to the M.I.'s 501(c) (3) nonprofit status. If you have any chess books or equipment that have been lying around unused for some time consider donating to the Mechanics'. You will not only get a tax write off but also the satisfaction of seeing things put to good use.

Bill Goichberg, who heads the Continental Chess Association which organizes many of the largest US events ( World, Chicago and North American Open to name but three), is considering organizing tournaments in Concord (where he held the 1995 US Open) , possibly as soon as early next March. Such events, aimed at attracting not just local players but from throughout the Western US, would be a most welcome addition. It has been a long time since an open event with over 300 players has been held in Northern California.

Congratulations to Steven Zierk for earning his Master's title and to Yian Liou and Demetrious Goins for raising their ratings above 2000. FM Sam Shankland, at 2398, is only 2 points shy of becoming a Senior Master.

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Led by the exuberant teenager Sam Shankland, a small yet highly talented group of Northern California juniors left their mark on the top sections at the Pacific Coast in Agoura Hills (near Los Angeles). Three local kids took 1st place in either their division or class prize, each winning over $750. Two broke major rating milestones this weekend. Two scored against Grandmasters (one win and one draw).

FM-elect Sam Shankland tied for 1st place in Open section with 4.5 out of 6!

• Sam defeated top rated GM Sergey Erenburg in final round. (Click http://www.chesspublisher.com/v1/viewgame.php?id=1216645616 for the game.)
• NM Steven Zierk finished with 4.0 in the Open section, good for top U2300.
• Steven faced six 2300 players, losing just once and drawing with GM Melik Khachiyan.
• Kudos to Steven for breaking 2200 USCF and earning the National Master title!
• Michael Zhong scored 5.0 to take top honors in the U2100 section.
• Yian Liou finished with 4.0 against six experts to push his own rating over 2000!

Congratulations to all four juniors for an impressive tournament! Of course, the key to a successful weekend is to win the final round, something which these kids did better than I did. Sadly, I lost miserably on Sunday night to FM Joel Banawa to finish at 50%.

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FM Daniel Naroditsky has started with an undefeated 2.0/3 in the Czech Open in Pardubice. . He has two draws with 2400+ FIDE rated opponents and is paired with yet another strong player today ( update - he drew another 2400+ FIDE). His brother Alan also has 2.0/3 in the "Open B" division. This event will be covered more in the next Newsletter.

Vinay Bhat is half a point out of first at 6 from 8 with two rounds to go in the annual open in Balaguer, Spain. Top seeds are FIDE 2600s GMs Baklan, Burmakin, Delchev and Kurnosov. Vinay start off the event seeded 14th. Here are his games from rounds 6 to 8. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.a3 Bb7 11.h3 a5 12.Qc2 Rc8 13.e4 b4 14.axb4 axb4 15.Na4 c5 16.dxc5 Nxc5 17.Nxc5 Bxc5 18.e5 Nh5 19.Rd1 g6 20.Bh6 Bxf3 21.gxf3 Qh4 22.Bxf8 Qg3+ 23.Kf1 Qxh3+ 24.Ke1 Kxf8 25.Ba6 b3 26.Qd2 Ng3 27.Qf4 Bxf2+ 28.Kxf2 Qh2+ 29.Ke3 Nf5+ 30.Qxf5 gxf5 31.Bxc8 Qxe5+ 32.Kd3 Qd5+ 33.Kc3 Qc5+ 34.Kxb3 Qxc8 35.Rd3 h5 36.Ra4 Kg7 37.Rc4 Qb8+ 38.Ka2 Qb5 39.Rdc3 Qd5 40.Ka3 Qa5+ 41.Ra4 Qb6 42.Rac4 Qa7+ 43.Ra4 Qf2 44.b4 h4 45.Kb3 Qf1 46.Ra2 f4 47.Ka4 Qe1 48.Rb3 Qg1 49.Kb5 e5 50.Ka6 Qd1 51.Rbb2 Qxf3 52.b5 Qd3 53.Rd2 Qc4 54.Rdc2 Qd3 55.Rd2 Qc4 56.Rdc2 ½-½ 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Qe2 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d6 9.Rd1 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.d5 Bd7 13.b3 Rfe8 14.h3 Nb7 15.Be3 g6 16.Nbd2 Nh5 17.Nf1 Bf8 18.Qd2 Bg7 19.Rac1 c4 20.g4 cxb3 21.Bxb3 Nf6 22.Ng3 Na5 23.g5 Nh5 24.Nxh5 gxh5 25.Nh4 Nxb3 26.axb3 Bxh3 27.f3 a5 28.c4 bxc4 29.Rxc4 Qb7 30.Rc3 Rec8 31.Rdc1 Rxc3 32.Rxc3 a4 33.bxa4 Rxa4 34.Kh2 Bd7 35.Kg3 Ra8 36.Qc2 Rc8 37.Rxc8+ Bxc8 38.Bb6 h6 39.g6 Bf6 40.gxf7+ Kxf7 41.Qc7+ ½-½ 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.h3 Bg7 8.Nf3 0-0 9.Bd3 b5 10.Bxb5 Nxe4 11.Nxe4 Qa5+ 12.Nfd2 Qxb5 13.Nxd6 Qa6 14.N2c4 Rd8 15.Qe2 Bf8 16.Nxc8 Qxc8 17.Ne3 Nd7 18.Bd2 Nb6 19.Ba5 Bh6 20.0-0 Rd7 21.Rad1 Qe8 22.Qf3 Bxe3 23.fxe3 Nc4 24.Bd2 f5 25.Bc1 Qe4 26.Qxe4 fxe4 27.Rf4 Re8 28.b3 Nb6 29.d6 Re5 30.Bb2 Re6 31.Ba3 Re5 32.Rdf1 Rf5 33.Rxf5 gxf5 34.Bxc5 Rf7 35.Bxb6 axb6 36.Rd1 Rd7 37.Kf2 Kf7 38.Kg3 Ke6 39.Kf4 h5 40.g3 b5 41.a4 1-0

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John,

The marvelous chess school taught by Nick Defirmian., who is one of the most likable and self effacing of GMs, and Josh Friedel., will undoubtedly produce many future chess very strong players I envy the rich programs of the MI and wish we had something equivalent in Southern Calif..We have fine teachers and programs but nothing to match the continued super high quality of the wonderful MI programs Would I had such instruction in my long ago youth! I might have become a good player!.

I sometimes find the poems of my old friend Dennis F a bit too prosey, but he hits just the right note in his piece on cooking clams and blitz! He captured in verse the lure of fast chess to young and old alike.

Hearty congratulations for once again having the honor of being Captain of a fine Mens' Olympic team. Also a special congratulations to our two Southern California Olympians, Tatev Abrahamyan and Varuzhan Akobian. .Both of our teams should be very competitive for medals. Those nay-sayers who seem to take endless delight in trashing our Federation should take note as to the quality of our International Competitors on ALL levels! And, last but not least, a hearty pat on the back of Vinay Bhat for his last performance and his nailing down his much deserved GM title. When he was twelve, he won a marvelous game from me which I love to go back and look at. With so many young talents, American chess is in good hands for the foreseeable future.

Jerry Hanken

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Biel Chess Festival 2008
Standings after three rounds
1. Magnus Carlsen 2775- 2.5
2-3. Alexander Onischuk 2670 and Evgeny Alekseev 2708-2
4. Lenier Dominguez 2708-1.5
5-6. Etienne Bacrot 2691 and Yannick Pelletier 2569-0.5

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Nbd2 Bb4 6.Qc2 O-O 7.Bg2 d5 8.O-O c5 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Ne4 Nb4 12.Qd2 Be7 13.a3 Qxd2 14.Bxd2 Nd5 15.Nd4 Bc5 16.Nxc5 bxc5 17.Nf5 Nc6 18.Rfc1 Nd4 19.Nxd4 cxd4 20.Bb4 Rfd8 21.Bc5 e5 22.Rc2 Rac8 23.Rac1 Nc3 24.bxc3 Rxc5 25.cxd4 Rxc2 26.Rxc2 exd4 27.Be4 Kf8 28.f3 Ke7 29.Kf2 d3 30.Rc7+ Kf8 31.Rxa7 d2 32.Bc2 Rc8 33.Bd1 Rc1 34.Rxa6 Rxd1 35.Ke3 h5 36.a4 Rh1 37.Kxd2 Rxh2 38.Rc6 h4 39.gxh4 Rxh4 40.a5 Ra4 41.a6 g5 42.e4 Ke7 43.Kc3 Kd7 44.Rf6 Ke7 45.Rb6 Kd7 46.Kb3 Ra1 47.Kc4 Ra3 48.Kb4 Ra1 49.Kb5 Rb1+ 50.Kc5 Rc1+ 51.Kd5 Ra1 52.Rb7+ Kc8 53.Rxf7 Rxa6 54.Ke5 Ra1 55.Kf6 Rg1 56.e5 Rg3 57.Ke7 1-0 Final Standing of the super-strong Poikovsky Cup in Russia.1-4. Shirov, Jakovenko, Rublevsky and Gashimov – 5½;
4-5. Wang Hao – 5;
6. Bologan – 4;
7-10. Onischuk, Sutovsky, Inarkiev and Volokitin – 3½;

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Tune-in for Chess Talk with IM John Watson on ICC Chess.FM. John's weekly 60+ minute show will feature an interview with leading chess personalities. All shows run on demand for members after airing.

This week (Tue., 22 July), joining IM John Watson on Chess Talk is author, columnist, coach and professional player, IM Gary Lane.

A former two-time Commonwealth Chess Champion, English-born Gary Lane married and moved "Down Under" to Australia in 2000. He has since won the 2004 Australian Chess Championship, and represented Australia in the 2002 and 2004 Chess Olympiad, the latter of which he helped his new team to a stunning 2-2 draw against former team England, after he sensationally beat Nigel Short.

He's also considered one of the leading chess authors in the world. He has written over 20 books - many of which have been critically acclaimed, such as Improve Your Chess in 7 Days, The Bishop's Opening and The Scotch Game Explained. He also writes the popular Opening Lanes monthly column on ChessCafe.com.

JOHN B. HENDERSON
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910 8th Ave., #1110
Seattle, WA 98104
Cell: 847-347-9593