Chess Room Newsletter #587

Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club Newsletter #587
June 6, 2012

What do you think dominates modern chess—talent and creativity, or a good memory and the mechanical reproduction of computer knowledge obtained by a daily working routine?
 
I think both should be present but, in my view, the scales are now gradually tipping towards work. There’s more and more opening theory and you need to learn it, however reluctant you are. However, even that still requires talent, of course, as talented people remember variations more quickly and grasp unfamiliar positions more swiftly, more often than not. But I think that’s already a slightly different type of talent—simply a good memory—and I’m not particularly happy about that. Chess should be about creating something, and not painstakingly recalling it.

I want to play creatively, but I want to win even more, particularly in team events. And that means I’m prepared to play out 25 moves of theory mechanically in order to achieve the necessary result.

—David Navara (from Chess Vibes)

1) Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club News

The surprise leader of the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon is Class A player Jason Ochoa. An upset win over Igor Traub, coupled with several draws on the top boards, puts Ochoa on top of the 66-player field with a 3-0 score. Among those tied for second on 2½ are FIDE Masters Andy Lee and Frank Thornally, and National Master Russell Wong.

Dutch A82
Russell Wong–Mikhail Chernobiltsky
Tuesday Night Marathon (3), 2012

1.d4 f5 2.e4 fxe4 3.f3 Nf6 4.Nc3 exf3 5.Nxf3 g6 6.Bd3 Bg7 7.0–0 d6 8.Ng5 0–0

w________w
[rhb1w4kd]
[0p0w0wgp]
[wdw0whpd]
[dwdwdwHw]
[wdw)wdwd]
[dwHBdwdw]
[P)PdwdP)]
[$wGQdRIw]
w--------w

9.Rxf6!? exf6

9...Bxf6 10.Nxh7 Bxd4+ 11.Kh1 Bxc3 12.bxc3 Rf5 13.Bxf5 Bxf5 14.Ng5 Nc6=; 9...Rxf6 10.Bc4+ e6 11.d5 e5 12.Ne6 Bxe6 13.dxe6 Kh8 14.Bg5 c6=

10.Nxh7

w________w
[rhb1w4kd]
[0p0wdwgN]
[wdw0w0pd]
[dwdwdwdw]
[wdw)wdwd]
[dwHBdwdw]
[P)PdwdP)]
[$wGQdwIw]
w--------w

10...Kxh7?

10...f5 had to be tried.

11.Qh5+ Kg8 12.Bxg6 Rf7 13.Bxf7+ Kf8

w________w
[rhb1wiwd]
[0p0wdBgw]
[wdw0w0wd]
[dwdwdwdQ]
[wdw)wdwd]
[dwHwdwdw]
[P)PdwdP)]
[$wGwdwIw]
w--------w

14.Bh6 Bxh6 15.Qxh6+ Kxf7 16.Qh7+ Kf8 17.Qh8+ Ke7 18.Qg7+ Ke6 19.Re1+ Kf5 20.Re4 1–0

The Portland Chess Club and the Mechanics’ Institute will renew their battles from the 1920s on June 23 at 1pm in a six-board friendly match. This time the teams will transmit over the Internet instead of by telegraph.

The time control for the event will be game in 90 minutes with a thirty-second increment starting at move one. Each team will field a Master, an Expert and Class A, B, C and D players. Board one will see FIDE Masters Nick Raptis of Portland and Andy Lee of the Mechanics’ leading their teams.

Other members of the MI team are Todd Rumph (Expert), Captain Payam Afkham-Ebrahimi (Class A), Scott Poling (Class B), MI Trustee Michael Hilliard (Class C) and David Olson (Class D).

Bay Area spectators are welcome to watch the match at the Mechanics’ site in person or online at the Internet Chess Club: www.chessclub.com.

12th Mechanics’ Institute Chess Camp for Beginners and Novice Players
(below 1200 USCF)

•        This is a fun camp for youngsters that want to learn how to play chess, or who know the basics and would like to improve their skills.

•        Instructors: Three-time US Champion Nick de Firmian and celebrated junior trainer Anthony Corrales have a wealth of experience teaching youngsters. Students will learn the basic skills of chess, including checkmates, openings, middlegames and how to play simple endgames. Pupils will also learn how to take chess notation, and to play using a chess clock.

•        Who: Open to youngsters 5-14.

•        When : June 25–29, 2012 from 10 am to 4 pm daily.

•        Where: 57 Post Street, 4th floor (Montgomery BART station).

•        Cost: $250 for Mechanics’ members, $285 for non-members. Non-members will receive a one-year membership in the MI. There is a limit of 20 players for this camp. If you can’t attend the whole camp there is a drop-in fee of $60 a day.

2) US Olympiad team and Women’s team for Istanbul 2012

The 2012 US Olympiad team will be led by US Champion Hikaru Nakamura, currently rated number five in the world. Other team members are Gata Kamsky, Alex Onischuk, Varuzhan Akobian and Ray Robson. John Donaldson is the captain, and Yury Shulman and Ben Finegold are the coaches. Robert Hess and Yasser Seirawan missed making the team by a very narrow margin.

The US women’s team is led by US Women’s Champion Irina Krush. Other team members are Anna Zatonskih, Rusa Goeltiani, Sabina Foisor and Tatev Abrahamyan. Michael Khodarkovsky is the captain and Melekset Khachian is the coach.

The 2012 Olympiad will be held in Istanbul from August 28^th to September 9^th. The U.S. team is sponsored by the U.S. Chess Federation, Kasparov Chess Foundation and the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.

3) Metropolitan Chess IM tournament

Metropolitan Chess, Inc. is hosting an International Master norm round-robin tournament from June 6th to June 10th, 2012. The tournament is sponsored by California Market Center, Fashion Business, Inc, Law Offices of Steinfl & Bruno, Chess.com, MonRoi, LawyerFy, and Betty Bottom Showroom.

This tournament is the 19^th in its series and is being held in Suite C855 of the California Market Center on 110 East 9th Street, Los Angeles 90079. The tournament is organized by Ankit Gupta, FA, IO and the chief arbiter is Randy Hough, IA. The participants include: IM Zhanibek Amanov (KAZ), IM Andranik Matikozyan (ARM), IM Larry Remlinger (USA), FM CJ Arvind (IND), FM Kayden Troff (USA), FM Victor Shen (USA), NM Samuel Sevian (USA), NM Alexander King (USA), NM Arun Sharma (USA) and NM Vadim Kudryavtsev (RUS). The IM norm is 6.5/9.0.
The tournament will be a 10 player round-robin (all play all), with rounds scheduled as follows – 6th: 7:00 PM, 7th: 11:00 AM & 5:00 PM, 8th: 11:00 AM & 5:00 PM, 9th: 11:00 AM & 5:00 PM, 10th: 10:00 AM & 4:00 PM. Spectators are welcome and encouraged to come to watch the games in person at the tournament site

The standings can be found on the Metropolitan Chess, Inc. website: http://metrochessla.com/schedule.php

Best Regards,
Ankit Gupta, NM

President
Metropolitan Chess, Inc.

4) Here and There

Native son Yasser Seirawan will return to the Pacific Northwest this August to play in the 2012 U.S. Open in Vancouver, Washington. The nine-round event is being held at the Vancouver Hilton, just across the Columbia river from Portland.