Gens Una Sumus!
Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club Newsletter #586
May 30, 2012
In the end, the problem seems impossible to solve: it’s a Catch-22 situation. The aim to please the audience has already destroyed many beautiful aspects of chess, inevitable though it might have been. Chess is not destroyed by computers, but by people who say it will be. The fact is that chess will never appeal to people who don’t appreciate the intense effort and satisfaction of trying to come up with the right move, even if it’s a dull one. This is precisely why chess is such a great game, but it’s also precisely the reason why it will never be popular. So let’s stop pretending otherwise.
—Arne Moll, Chess Vibes
1) Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club News
Two rounds into the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon there are only nine perfect scores in the 64-player field. Heading the names of those tied for first are FIDE Masters Andy Lee and Frank Thornally. It’s still possible to enter this 8 round event with half-point byes for the first two rounds.
This Saturday the Mechanics’ will host the William Addison Memorial, named for the San Francisco International Master who passed away in 2008. Addison came to Northern California in the early 1950s from his native Louisiana, and over the course of the next ten years worked his way from expert to a competitor in the U.S. Championship. During the 1960s Addison played in five of these events and finished with a healthy overall plus score, including a second-place finish in 1969, which qualified him for the Interzonal.
Hello everyone,
As always,the M.I. weekly blitz tournament starts no later than 6:40 pm with sign-up beginning at 6:20 pm. Entry is $10 with a clock, $11 without. Prizes are 50%, 30% , 20% of entry fees.
The winners last week were
1st -Jules Jelinek
2nd-Elliott Winslow
3rd-Merim Mesic
Merim Mesic
Weekly Wednesday Night Blitz Coordinator for June
2) Karpov versus Seirawan, by Mike Wilmering
SAINT LOUIS, May 24, 2012—The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis is proud to host former World Champion GM Anatoly Karpov in a special match against four-time U.S. Champion GM Yasser Seirawan.
The two will face off June 9-13 in a unique competition that will test their classical chess skills along with their abilities at both blitz and rapid play.
Tourney Format:
- Two Classical Games: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting from move one.
o Each Classical game is worth three points.
- Two Rapid Games: 25 minutes plus a five-second increment.
o Each Rapid game is worth two points.
- Ten Blitz Games: Five minutes plus a two-second increment.
o Each Blitz game is worth one point.
Prize Fund:
1st Place: $10,000 2nd Place: $7,000 The opening ceremony for the event will take place on June 9 at 6 pm Central, and will feature a special book-signing event for fans and spectators. Play begins on June 10 at 1 pm Central with the first round of classical chess. Visit www.saintlouischessclub.org/karpov-vs-seirawan for the full event schedule and more information.
3) A Chess Poem from Dennis Fritzinger
a game of cheese
a mouse sat down with a cat
for a friendly game of cheese;
the table where they sat
was somebody’s masterpiece.
the mouse he made his move,
and the cat made his reply;
the mouse thought he was smooth,
but the cat was way too sly.
finally each move and counter
on the little mouse took its toll—
he realized he was in trouble,
and headed for his mouse hole.
headed, but didn’t make it—
for the cat got there ahead;
he played with him a little while,
but then the poor mouse was dead.
so listen up, all you mousies—
if you’re skinny or if you’re fat,
better find another partner
to play cheese with than a cat!
4) Here and There
The Tal Memorial starts June 7th in Moscow.
Magnus Carlsen NOR 2835
Levon Aronian ARM 2823
Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2803
Teimour Radjabov AZE5 2784
Hikaru Nakamura USA 2783
Fabiano Caruana ITA7 2772
Alexander Morozevich RUS 2769
Alexander Grischuk RUS 2761
Evgeny Tomashevsky RUS 2738
Luke McShane ENG 2708
Participating are the number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 16 and 36th-ranked players in the world.
Gabriel Sargissian won the Chicago Open, held over Memorial Day weekend. His score of 7-2 was good for $10,200.
Final standings:
1. GM Sargissian (2679) - 7 out of 9,
2-8. GMs Hess (2635), Gelashvili (2600), Ramirez (2593), Perunovic (2577), Mitkov (2518), Amanov (2518) and IM Ludwig (2456) - 6½. Daniel Ludwig made a GM norm.
Life Master David Vest of Georgia upset International Master Danny Kopec of New York on Board 1 in the final round, and Peter Giannatos of Georgia upset Life Master Klaus Pohl of South Carolina on Board 2, to share first place with 4½ points each in the 2012 South Carolina Open Championship held in Greenville on May 25-27. For more information on this event go to www.scchess.org
Hikaru Nakamura will be playing in the top section of the Biel Festival, held from July 25 to August 3. Joining him in the double round robin are Alexander Morozevich, Wang Hao, Lenier Dominguez, Etienne Bacrot and Anish Giri.
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