Chess Room Newsletter #478

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1) Mechanics Institute Chess Club News
2) Americans Abroad
3) Here and There

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A hard fought draw between Dante Argishti and Hayk Manvelyan in round five of the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon leaves Argishti remaining in the lead with 4.5 points. Close behind at 4 are FM Frank Thornally, NM Oleg Shaknazarov and unheralded Class B player Charles Kleiman who has knocked off Experts Igor Margulis and George Sanguinetti in consecutive rounds.

Thanks to Alice Wilkerson for the donation of her late husband Max Wilkerson's chess effects. Particularly nice were Max's game scores from many Mechanics' events.

The longest serving chess director in the history of the Mechanics' Institute (1980-1996) defeats the veteran Seattle Master "Dirty Jim" McCormick in the following game.

McCormick,James - Wilkerson,Max
9th Stamer Memorial
San Francisco 1973

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.e3 Be7 7.Be2 0�0 8.0�0 d6 9.b3 e5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bf3 Qb6 12.Bb2 Be6 13.Bc1 Bad8 14.Qc2 d5 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.Na4 Qb8 17.Qc7 Bd6 18.Qxb8 Bxb8 19.Bfd1 Bc8 20.Be2 Bxc1 21.Bxc1 Bc8 22.Nc5 Bf5 23.Ba6 Bd8 24.Bd3 Bc8 25.b4 Nd7 26.a4 e4 27.Be2 Ne5 28.b5 f5 29.Bd4 g5 30.a5 f4 31.b6 axb6 32.axb6 Nc6 33.Bf6 Bd6 34.Bxg5 f3 35.Ba6 Bf5 36.g3??

36.Bf4 wins

36...Bg6??

36...Nb4 followed by ...Rxb6 was equal.

37.Bh4

37.Bf4, 37.Bb5 and 37.Ne6 Bxe6 38.Bc8 were all winning. Time pressure likely had a strong influence on the ensuing play.

37...Nb4

Max doesn't miss his chance twice.

38.Bf1 Bxb6 39.Nb3?

39.Bd8 Bc6 40.Bb5 Bc8 41.Bf6=

39...Be5

39...Nd3! 40.Bxd3 exd3 41.Nd2 Be4 was better for Black

40.Bd8 Bb7 41.Nd4 Bxd4 42.exd4 Nc2 43.g4 e3!? 44.fxe3 Be4 45.Ba6 Bd7 46.Bf6?? Bd6 0�1

Book and equipment donations to the Mechanics' are always welcome. All donations to the Mechanics' 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.

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US Champion Hikaru Nakamura of Seattle gave evidence that he is among the world's elite by turning in outstanding back to back performances in the World Team Championship and Corus this past January. Take a look at the evidence: 6 from 8 at the World Team ( gold medal on board and 2851 performance) and 7.5 from 13 at Corus ( =4th with Anand and a performance of 2777). This was done in 21 games in 26 days against world class players with only three losses ( black versus Aronian and Kramnik and white versus Karjakin). This was a real iron man performance and it says something that other no other elite player tried this difficult double header. One can't help but think Hikaru might have done a little better in the second half of Corus if he had not played the World Team (as it was he was only a point out of first) where his participation was crucial to the US team's second place finish.

Hikaru has also cemented his performance as a team player par excellence. The World Team is the third time he has represented the US in international team competitions and he has three team medal and one individual medal to show for it. His performance down the stretch in helping the US to bronze medals to bronze medals in the 2006 and 2008 Olympiads is near perfect - 5.5 from 6 the last three rounds.

Having picked up 27 rating points this year Hikaru is now equal #15 in the world at 2735 with Leko and Eljanov. He will defend his US Championship this May in Saint Louis and is scheduled to play in a small swiss in that city in April as well.The latter is a thank you to Mr. Rex Sinquefield and the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis who very generously stepped in to sponsor the US team when the US Chess Federation backed out at the last minute due to financial problems caused by its ongoing litigation with Susan Polgar and Paul Truong (now resolved).

While the USCF has experienced significant challenges the past few years American teams have continued to shine with the women picking up silver in 2004 and bronze in 2008 and the men taking home three team medals as mentioned previously.

Interestingly the rating favorites have not faired well in the last three worldwide team competitions with Russia (2009 World Cup) the only medalist to be seeded in the top three before hand. The United States, for example, was seeded around number eight to ten in Turin and Dresden and was the fifth seed in Bursa. Fortunately the form charts don't always hold true as playing as part of a team and as an individual are different experiences.

2006 Olympiad