Chess Room Newsletter #443

Burt Hochberg

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1) Mechanics Institute Chess Club News
2) US Championship
3) Here and There
4) Horowitz in Los Angeles and at the Mechanics' Institute 1939
5) Places to Play in San Francisco

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The last round of the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon had an exciting finish. Four players had a chance to take first and they were paired with each other.

Snyder (5.5) - Sandberg (6)
Shakhnazarov (5.5) - Grey (5.5)

Here are the key two games. The first sees 67-year-old Larry Snyder defeat rising young star Evan Sandberg. This TNM Evan had an outstanding result scoring 3.5 from 4 against players rated in the top ten going into the last round but is outplayed by the wily veteran in the latter's pet c3 Sicilian. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.cxd4 d6 7.Bc4 Nb6 8.Bb3 dxe5 9.d5 Na5 10.Nc3 Nxb3 11.Qxb3 e6 12.Nxe5 exd5 13.Be3 Bd6 14.Qb5+ Kf8 15.f4 15.Nf3 Be6 16.0-0 with a slight edge is John Emms suggestion in Starting Out; The c3 Sicilian. 15...Bxe5?! So far so theory. This position has been reached several times with Black trying 15...Qe8; 15...Be6 and 15...f6. Parting with the dark-squared Bishops looks to favor White. 16.fxe5 Be6 17.Rd1 Qh4+ 18.Bf2 Qc4 19.Qa5 Nd7 20.Bd4 a6 21.b3 Qc6 22.0-0 g6? Evan had to try 22...Kg8 with the idea of ...h6 and ...Kh7. 23.Rc1 Kg8 Unfortunately the planned 23...Kg7 fails to 24.Ne4 Qb5 25.Rxf7+. 24.Qa3! Bf5 Black can make a square for the Queen with 24...a5 but his prospects for survival after 25.Ne4 Qa6 26.Nd6 are bleak. 25.Ne4 Qb5 26.Nd6 Qd3 27.Nxf5 gxf5 28.Rcd1 Qe4 29.Qe7 Nf8 30.Rfe1 Qg4 31.Qxb7 Re8 32.Qxa6 Ne6 33.Qe2 Ra8 34.a4 Kg7 35.Qxg4+ fxg4 36.Bb6 d4 37.a5 Rhc8 38.Rc1 Rxc1 39.Rxc1 Kg6 40.Rf1 d3 41.Rd1 Nf4 42.g3 Nh3+ 43.Kg2 Kf5 44.Rxd3 Kxe5 45.b4 f5 46.Rd8 Rxd8 47.Bxd8 Kd6 48.a6 Kc6 49.b5+ 1-0 Oleg Shakhnazarov and Peter Grey have had many battles over the years and have sharply contrasting styles with Oleg always charging forward and Peter taking a more theoretical approach. 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 d5 5.e3 0-0 6.Be2 c5 7.dxc5 dxc4 8.Qa4 Qc7 9.Qxc4 Na6 10.b4 Be6 11.Qh4 Nd5 12.Nb5 Qd7 13.Rb1 Nc3 14.Nxc3 Bxc3+ 15.Bd2 Bxd2+ 16.Nxd2 Bxa2 17.Rb2 Qa4 18.0-0 Qa3 19.Rc2 Nxb4 20.Rcc1 Qb2 21.Nf3 Qxe2 22.Qxb4 Bd5 23.Rfe1 Qa6 24.e4 Bc6 25.Nd4 e5 25...Qa4! 26.Qxa4 Bxa4 27.Ra1 Bd7 28.Reb1 offers White some compensation for the pawn but nothing more. 26.Ra1 Qd3 27.Nf3 Rfe8 28.Rad1 Qb5 29.Qc3 Rad8 30.Rxd8 Rxd8 31.Nxe5 Qa4 32.Qf3 Qa2 33.Qf6 Rc8 34.Ng4 Qe6? 34...Qd2 35.Qa1 Rd8 36.Nf6+ Kg7 37.Ne8+ Kf8 is Rybka's cold-blooded suggestion. White has strong pressure with 38.Nd6 Kg8 39.h4 h5 40.Re3 but Black can keep fighting. 35.Nh6+ Kf8 36.Qh8+ Ke7 37.Qxh7 Be8 38.Qh8 Rxc5 39.Ng8+ Kf8 40.Nf6+ Ke7 41.Ng8+ Kf8 42.e5 Bc6 43.Nf6+ 1-0 So in the end Larry Snyder and Oleg Shakhnazarov share first with 6.5 from 8, repeating their victory in the last TNM where they shared top honors with Igor Margulis. This was actually the third TNM in a row Oleg has either finished first or equal first while Larry has two shared first and second place in the Fall 2008 TNM.

Congratulations to former Mechanics' Institute Grandmaster in Residence Roman Dzindzichashvili who celebrated his 65th birthday on May 5. Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Roman came to the United States in the early 1980s by way of Israel and Germany. He tied for the first in the US Championship in 1983 and 1989.

Daniel Naroditsky leaves today for Kirishi, near St Petersburg, in Russia. The 13-year-old Mechanics' member will be competing in the Vanja Somov's Memorial – Young Stars of the World tournament. The official website is http://www.somovs-memorial.ru/ has both Russian and English pages . 2. BS Chess is also reporting on the tournament in English - http://www.bs-chess.com/latin/english.html.

Congratulations to MI members Yian Liou and Evan Sandberg who tied for first in the High School section of the Northern California Scholastic Championships this past weekend. NM Michael Aigner writes:

Yian, a precocious 6th grader from Alamo, continued the local trend of kids playing up and winning the K-12 section! In the final round, he defeated defending champion FM-elect Steve Zierk to claim his share of the title. After his recent results, including a pair of wins against my nemesis IM Ricardo DeGuzman, it seems very likely that Yian will become the next local master under the age of 18. He is also a bundle of energy, as became apparent after the last round when he joined my older students in bughouse.

Evan is more your typical high school student, a quiet yet very likable 10th grader from San Francisco. His recent tournament results have become increasing strong; in fact, he leads the Mechanics' Institute Tuesday Night Marathon heading into tonight's final round. Since Yian is not old enough, Evan qualified to represent Northern California at the Denker Tournament of High School Champions in Indiana this August.

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The 2009 US Championship will take place in St Louis on May 8-17, 2009. The prize fund is more than $130,000 thanks to the generosity of Rex Sinquefield . Among the 24 participants will be the three rated players in the country Gata Kamsky, Hikaru Nakamura and Alex Onischuk, and also the defending champion, GM Yury Shulman. GM Josh Friedel and high-school-senior IM Sam Shankland will represent the Mechanics' Instutute.

The Internet Chess Club (http://chessclub.com) will broadcast games live. US Chess Live (http://uschess.org) will have in depth daily coverage.

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The 1st MAAT Science Village Chess Club Tournament, originally scheduled for May 2nd from 11am to 3pm has been rescheduled to May 9 at the same time due to the heavy rain last Saturday (the venue is outside). The 7 round event with a $5 entry fee and a guaranteed first prize of $100 will be held at the Frank Ogawa Plaza in downtown Oakland. Call ((510) 290-7907) or e-mail ([email protected]) Marvin Willis for more information. Players are requested to bring their own clocks and sets.

There is an excellent video on Bobby Fischer at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7321059979584018314 with interviews of Frank Brady, Robert Byrne, Allen Kaufman, Shelby Lyman and Anthony Saidy - people who knew Bobby when he was growing up - of particular interest. Lyman quotes Taimanov saying " Fischer played liked Achilles without the Achille's Heel." Pictures of Paul Nemenyi show an uncanny resemblance between father and son. Caveat emptor - there are more than a few annoying advertisements embedded into this video.

Levon Aronian won the FIDE World Cup in Nalchik while American representative Gata Kamsky had an honorable finish and a particularly fighting tournament with many lengthy games.

1. Aronian (ARM, 2754) - 8½,

2-3. Leko (HUN, 2751) and Akopian (ARM, 2696) - 7½

4-5. Grischuk (RUS, 2748) and Bacrot (FRA, 2728) - 7

6-7. Alekseev (RUS, 2716) and Gelfand (ISR, 2733) - 6½

8-11. Kamsky (USA, 2720), Svidler (RUS, 2726), Karjakin (UKR, 2721) and Mamedyarov (AZE, 2725) - 6

12-14. Ivanchuk (UKR, 2746) Kasimdzhanov (UZB, 2695) and Eljanov (UKR, 2693) - 5½

Congratulations to American FM Erik Kislik, formerly of San Jose, for making an IM norm in the May First Saturday series in Budapest.

The 10th Karpov tournament in Poikovsky, Russia will take place from June 3rd to 12th. This year's participants are GMs Bologan, Efimenko, Gashimov, Inarkiev, Motylev, Naiditsch, Onischuk, Shirov, Sutovsky and Rublevsky.

IMs Leon Piasetski, Lawrence Day and Vicente Lee were joined by WFM Valeria Gansvind of Estonia in the winner's circle of the Grand Pacific Open held as part of the 3rd annual Victoria Chess Festival from April 10th to 13th. The last game to finish was a draw between Piasetski and Day who were battling it out in Eastern Canadian Swisses 40 years ago! Piasetski, a former member Olympiad team member and Interzonalist (Manila 1990), has recently returned to Vancouver after spending 15 years in Japan as a language instructor.

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The following is a condensed version of an article which first appeared in Chess Review in March of 1939.


When one leaves for an extended trip of ten weeks, it is generally to be expected that much time and effort is spent in preparation. Not so with a chessplayer. I hastily packed my belongings, and madly rushed to bid farewell to some of my friends. Then still somewhat in a daze, I headed for the depot. As the pleasant chant "a-b-o-a-r-d" was heard, I relaxed.

At long last, I arrived in Los Angeles. Los Angeles was a breathing spell for me, for I stayed a week and played only twice. And the weather was favorable.

I believe Los Angeles has the largest chess club in point of membership, in the world. The roster, I am told, records the names of over 400. And at the opening gong at nine, forty to fifty men assemble for combat and sociability. It is no particular miracle that the club is successful. For E. P. Elliot, champion of the American Chess Federation in the early 1900s, has devoted his full time and effort to building the club.

I played at the L. A. Club and also at the home of Gottfried Reinhardt. We topped off the evening at the latter’s home with a brand of New York rapid transit. It was fun.

My old teammate, Herman Steiner, did most of the honors at L. A. We visited Hollywood, and watched Fred Astaire rehearse, and saw them shoot a few scenes. We met actors and artists. Incidentally, Steiner is forming a new club to cater to these people. It was the particular delight of Mrs. Steiner to see that I regained the weight lost by the arduous labors of a tour. And I did. I must have gained six or seven pounds gorging at the Steiner household.

Simultaneous performance at the home of Gottfried Reinhardt.1 P-K4 P-QB4
2 Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3
3 P-Q4 PxP
4 KtxP Kt-B3
5 Kt-QB3 P-K3
6 B-K2 B-K2
7 0-0 0-0
8 Kt-Kt3 P-QKt3
9 P-B4 PQ3
10 B-B3 B-Kt2
11 Q-K2 P-QR3
12 B-K3 Q-B2
13 Q-B2 Kt-Q2
14 QR-Q1 QR-B1
15 P-KKt4 P-B3
16 P-B5 Kt-Q1
17 R-Q2 Kt-K4
18 B-K2 Kt-B5
19 BxKt QxB
20 BxP Q-B3
21 B-K3 B-R1
22 Kt-Q4 Q-B5
23 PxP KtxP
24 Kt-B5 KR-K1
25 KtxBch RxKt
26 RxP BxP
27 P-KR3 B-Kt2
28 KR-Q1 Q-QKt5!
29 B-B1 R-B5
30 P-R3 RxPch!
31 PxR QxPch
32 K-R2 Q-R4ch
33 K-Kt3 Kt-Kt4!
34 BxKt QxBch
35 K-R2 Q-R3ch!
36 K-Kt3 R-K6ch
37 QxR QxQch
38 K-R2 Q-B7ch
39 K-R3 Q-B6ch
ResignsThen I made the trek up the West Coast. From L. A. to Seattle, taking in Carmel, Frisco, Portland, I rode and played. Again I met many friends. There were Work and Whitman, and Clarke and Smith and Bagby and Boyette and Fink, and Chapman and Pelouse, and another of my old teammates, Arthur Dake. All made it a point to ease the tension of the grind. Then in Seattle there were Bourne Smith and Bart Bowen, and a host of others.

Occasionally I'd find time to meander. And at Santa Cruz, with Reynolds and Miller as guides, I visited the "Big Trees". Gigantic Redwoods towering into the sky, and broad.1 P-K4 P-K4
2 Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3
3 B-Kt5 P-QR3
4 B-R4 Kt-B3
5 0-0 KtxP
6 P-Q4 P-QKt4
7 B-Kt3 P-Q4
8 PxP B-K3
9 P-B3 B-K2
10 QKt-Q2 0-0
11 B-B2 Kt-B4
12 Kt-Kt3 Kt-Q2
13 R-K1 R-K1
14 QKt-Q4 KtxKt
15 KtxKt Kt-B1
16 P-KB4 P-QB4
17 KtxB PxKt
18 R-K3 P-B5
19 R-R3 B-B4ch
20 B-K3 Q-Kt320…BxBch followed by …Q-Kt3 was better.21 B-Q4 R-K2
22 K-R1 BxB
23 PxB R-B2
24 Q-Q2 P-Kt3
25 R-KB1 Kt-Q2
26 P-KKt4 QR-KB1
27 P-B5 K-R1If instead 27…KPxP; 28 PxP, PxP; 29 R-R6 followed by 30 P-K6!28 R-KKt1 KPxP
29 PxP RxP
30 Q-R6 ResignsNow I was headed eastward. The touch of nostalgia was eased by the thought that each exhibition brought me one step closer to home.

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Thanks to Eric De Mund and his website http://ixian.com/ba-chess.htm for providing the following information.

Cafe La Boheme Chess Group, San Francisco, CA

• Every evening, though Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings are best, in that order.
• Casual play.
• Cafe La Boheme; 3318 24th Street (between Valencia Street and Mission Street); San Francisco, CA 94110.
• No contact point or web site yet; Cafe La Boheme's telephone number is (415) 643-0481.
• Description at http://calchess.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=60. Play includes blitz as well as slow chess.
• Updated 2009.01.06 (WesB/EDeMund).

Fog City Knights Chess Club, San Francisco, CA

• Sunday afternoons, 4:00-7:00pm. Also occasional weekday evening meetings; email to confirm.
• Casual play.
• Cafe Abir; 1300 Fulton Street; San Francisco, CA 94117 (at the northwest corner of Fulton and Divisadero Streets).
          2008-07-30: Note that Cafe Abir is a cash-only establishment.
          Backup location: In the unlikely event that Cafe Abir is closed, proceed 2 blocks west and 1 block north to Cafe Neon; 1801 McAllister Street; San Francisco, CA 94115 (at the southwest corner of McAllister and Baker Streets).
• Club web site is http://www.citychess.net/ and Yahoo! group is http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/fogcityknights/. Contact person is David Tornheim <dat UNDERSCORE room AT hotmail DOT com> (note: no email availability for David between 6:00pm Fridays and 10:00am Mondays). Also, Cafe Abir may be telephoned for directions at (415) 567-6503. Cafe Neon, the backup location, may be telephoned for directions at (415) 567-8478.
• "Do you enjoy playing chess? Do you want to learn how to play chess?
          If you like playing chess and are looking for new people to play with, or if you want to play but don't know where you can find a friendly game in a warm energetic environment, your problem is solved!
          We are always looking for new people to join us. Whether you are a bullet blitz expert, a casual Caissan, or only know that the "horsie" moves in an L, there will be someone of commensurate skill for you to play with. All ages, skill levels, and all types of people are welcome and invited.
          There will be plenty of boards, pieces, and clocks (for those who wish to play with them), and beginners are sure to find patient and fun coaches to help them along. Also, Abir makes a great cup of coffee!" --Brandon Owens
• Reconfirmed 2009.01.04 (DTornheim/EDeMund).

Mechanics' Chess Club, San Francisco, CA

• Casual play Monday through Friday, 11:00am-9:00pm; and weekends 11:00am-5:00pm; Tuesday Night Marathon until 10:30pm. Children and beginner's class, Saturdays 10:00am-2:00pm. Women's class, Sundays 2:00-4:00pm.
• Rated tournament play, casual play, classes.
• 57 Post Street; San Francisco, CA 94104.
• Club web site is http://www.chessclub.org/.
• Reconfirmed 2009.01.04 (EDeMund).

Royal Ground Coffee, San Francisco, CA

• Monday and Friday evenings, 7:00-11:00pm (formerly 6:00-10:00pm).
• Casual play.
• Royal Ground Coffee; 2216 Polk Street; San Francisco, CA 94109.
• No contact point or web site yet; Royal Ground Coffee telephone number is (415) 474-5957.
• "Royal Ground Coffee at Polk and Vallejo (in SF) has a regular Chess & Scrabble night on Mondays starting around 8:00pm. [Now 7:00pm.] Plus, impromptu chess can be found most other days, including a less rigourously attended Friday night session."
          "Also, it is important to note that the cafe is at Polk & Vallejo as there is another cafe with the same name nearby at Polk & Sacramento. People often go the wrong cafe and get disappointed." --TXY
• Updated 2009.01.06 (TXY/EDeMund).