Gens Una Sumus!
Vladimir Kramnik
1) Mechanics Institute Chess Club News
2) Max Wilkerson 1925-2009
3) Nakamura and Najer tie for first in World Open
4) Aigner wins in Sacramento
5) Jerry Weikel: Organizer and Player
6) Here and There
George Sanguinetti reports on the weekly Wednesday Night Blitz:
Last week the Wednesday Night Blitz tournament tied the high to date attendance of 13 players and saw a new 1st place finisher, IM Vladimir Mezentsev. This was Mezentsev's first time to join the tournament; he scored 11 out of 12 losing only to Igor Traub who tied with Felix Rudyak for 3rd. Igor and Felix took it upon themselves to play a playoff for the 3rd place money – the game ended in a draw ( !) and before there could finish another one it was closing time. Anthony Rozenvasser did not show up to defend his title from last week, when he went undefeated.
Wednesday Night Blitz Winners for the week of 07-01 are:
1st : IM Vladimir Mezentsev $ 32.50 (11 points)
2nd : Reynaldo Salvatierra $ 19.50 (10 ½ points)
3rd : Igor Traub & Felix Rudyak $ 6.50 each (8 points)
Arrive between 6:00 pm and 6:30 pm to be assured a spot in the weekly blitz
Tributes to Max will be published in upcoming Newsletters. The next Tuesday Marathon will be called the Max Wilkerson TNM in his honor.
Final Standings Over 2400 section:
1-2. GMs Najer and Nakamura – 7/9
3-7. GMs Kamsky, Smirin, Stocek,Akobian and Yudasin - 6½
8-14. GMs Ehlvest, Mikhalevski,Gareev, Kudrin, Perelshteyn, Bareev and IM Lenderman – 6, etc.
(98 players)
GM Jesse Kraai was the top scorer from the Bay Area with 5.5 points. Here is a smooth win by Jesse in his characteristic style which is primarily technical but mixed with tactics when the position calls for it.
World Open Philadelphia (2),2009
The annual Sacramento Chess Championship on 4th of July weekend provides a leisurely opportunity to push pawns on a holiday weekend. Even the mild weather was enjoyable this year! The 72 player attendance was down nearly 20% from last year, but that did not decrease the competition in the top section. I was paired with three veteran masters and three talented youngsters who all may be over 2200 by next summer. At the end of three days, I finished at 5.0 out of 6 for undisputed 1st place. NM Zoran Lazetich, NM Richard Koepcke and 11 year old Kyle Shin (rated only 1956 officially) shared 2nd at 4.5, with Kyle earning the top prize for players under 2200.
As a scholastic coach, I focus attention on the many up and coming local juniors. Two earned 2250+ performances in their quests to become masters themselves! 12 year old Yian Liou started out hot with a perfect score after three rounds, beating FM Kenan Zildzic. However, he lost twice to finish with a modest rating gain, leaving him 39 points short of his goal of 2200. Not to be outdone, 11 year old Kyle Shin picked up the slack. After losing badly in the first round, he recovered to win four straight games, including a pivotal victory against Yian. Kyle was even tied for the lead going into the final round, but only was able to draw. With an impressive 2273 performance rating, Kyle gained 48 rating points to 2045, and he may be near 2100 when the ongoing Tuesday Night Marathon is rated next week!
Several other youngsters gained both experience and rating points in the Master/Expert section. Honorable mention goes to Roland Zhu (3.0 points, +14 rating) and 8 year old Tanuj Vasudeva (2.5 points, +26 rating). Kudos to everyone who fought hard!
On a personal note, I must mention how difficult it is to play a serious game against your own students. On one hand, I want the kids to do well and improve; on the other hand, I really hate to lose or even draw! Making matters worse, the kids know my favorite openings, forcing me to improvise. This led to disaster in round 2, when Yian beat me after a stupid blunder--I hung an undefended knight on c6 to a simple fork with Qd5 check. I reentered into the 2-day schedule and was determined to atone for my mistake; unfortunately for Kyle, he was first in line to play an angry fpawn. The fresh start worked out well for me, and luckily Kyle was able to bounce back from the loss.
The 48 player Reserve (under 2000) section saw stiff competition between the A players and the up-and-coming adult B players. With the elite juniors all playing up in the Master/Expert section, this was the opportunity for Sacramento resident Robert Russo to dominate. By scoring 5.5 out of 6, Robert certainly earned his promotion to A player! Mathew Benson (rated only 1646 going in) and Michael Da-Cruz shared second place at 5.0. Amazingly, the only junior to win money in the Reserve section was Ted Xiao at 4.0--who won the "top junior" prize.
USCF rating report
http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200907059161.0
Photo album on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fpawn/sets/72157620964825973/
Reno Chess Club Championship (prelims) 2008
15...Nd5+ 16.cxd5 Qd4+ 17.Kb3 Nxa1+ 18.Ka3 Nc2+ 19.Kb3 Na1+ ½–½ Gomez Esteban- Illescas Cordoba, Lisbon 1993. 16.Qxe5? 16.Bxe5? suffers a similar fate: 16…Qc1+ 17.Kb4 c5+ 18.Qxc5 a5+ 19.Ka3 (19.Kb5 Bd7+ 20.Kb6 Qh6+ 21.Bd6 Ra6+ 22.Kc7 Rc6+) 19...Nc2+ 20.Ka4 Bd7+ mating.
Critical is 16.Qd2 Qxd2+ 17.Kxd2 0–0–0+ 18.Kc3 Rxh8 19.Nxf5 Nxf5 20.Bd3 with perhaps a small edge for White who has a Bishop versus Knight and slightly more active King. 16...Qc1+ 17.Kb4 c5+ 18.Kxc5 Or 18.Ka3 Nc2+ 19.Kb3 a5! 20.a4 Nd4+ 18...Rc8+ 19.Kb4 Qd2+ 20.Qc3 Qd6+ 21.c5 Nd5+ 22.Ka3 Rxc5 23.Qe1+ Be6 24.Ka4 Nb6+ 25.Kb4 Nc2# 0–1
Rohan Agarwal is in first place at the US Cadet (under 16) Invitational with 2.5/3. He beat Jarod Pamatmat (TX) and Deepak Aaron (NY) and drew with Christian Tanaka (CA/S). All three of his young opponents are rated in the low 2200s. I will provide round-by-round updates on the Twitter feed at the right sidebar of my blog (http://fpawn.blogspot.com). For more information, check out this press release: http://main.uschess.org/content/view/9505/319/
IM Jack Peters writes:
Your inquiry about chess books at UCLA made me think about another local college's collection. Here's a link to an article about chess at Cal State LA:
http://www.calstatela.edu/univ/ppa/spotlight/archive/2009/chess.php
By the way, Konstantin Kavutskiy is a former student of mine. He was in a weekly kids' class when he was in second and third grade. He stopped playing for years, but now he's 16 years old (he skipped high school to begin college early) and rated 2100.
Chief Arbiter Frank Berry passes along the list of participants for the US Junior Closed which begins July 13 in Milwaukee.
1.Alex Lenderman (2654)
2.Sam Shankland (2564)
3.Ray Robson (2553)
4.Salvijus Bercys (2503)
5.Elliott Liu (2405)
6.Joel Banawa (2392)
7.Michael Lee (2384)
8.Maxx Coleman from Wichita (2182, winner of the 2008 Junior Open)
IM Enrico Sevillano won the Pacific Southwest Open last weekend in Los Angeles with 5.5 from 6. GM Melik Khachiyan and Joel Banawa shared second with 5 points. John Hillery organized and directed for the Southern California Chess Federation.
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