Gens Una Sumus!
Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club Newsletter #635
July 3, 2013
Well, yes. And actually, I cannot blame them. I understand that the women’s competitions are at a completely different level. It is different from, say, playing with number one Magnus Carlsen, who I just met in Mexico. But the victory is a victory, is not it? I think women know that if women’s chess were abolished, they will suddenly be ”nobodies” in the chess world.
—Judit Polgar, responding to the statement that women are in favor of the “separation”, because it is easier.
From an interview at http://whychess.com/en/node/6938
The Mechanics’ Institute Scholastic Championship will be held this Saturday starting at 10am. There are USCF-rated (must be a USCF member to play) and unrated sections. This event has no entry fee.
1) Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club News
NM Hayk Manvelyan defeated IM Elliott Winslow in a tough up-and-down struggle and leads the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon with 6 from 6. Experts Demetrius Goins and Alexander Ivanov are tied for second, a point back. Two rounds remain for the 90 contestants.
Congratulations to MI Chess Club stalwart Chris Mavraedis, whose story on the epic Warren Spahn–Juan Marichal game (July 2, 1963) was recently published in Andrew Baggarly’s column at CSNBAYAREA.com. You can find it at http://www.csnbayarea.com/blog/andrew-baggarly/july-2-1963-spahn-vs-marichal-best-pitchers-duel-live-ball-era.
Hi everyone,
Every Wednesday evening is the time for the weekly round-robin blitz tournament at Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club. As always, the last entry is accepted at 6:40 pm, with sign-up beginning at 6:20 pm and games starting soon after. Entry is $7 with clock; $8 without clock. Non-member entry is $9 with clock; $10 without clock. Prizes are 50%, 30%, 20% of base entry fees ($7 per player) collected. Time control preferably is 3 minutes, increment 2 seconds; otherwise 5 minutes, no increment.
Two weeks ago we had 9 players in the Blitz. The winners were
1st – IM Ray Kaufman
2nd - Jeff Sinick
3rd - Joe Urquhart
Last week we had 9 players in the Blitz. The winners were
1st - Jules Jelinek
2nd – IM Elliott Winslow
3rd - Jeff Sinick
See you tonight!
Jules Jelinek
Weekly Wednesday Night Blitz Coordinator
2) FIDE July Ratings - Classical, Rapid and Blitz
The July FIDE ratings are out and besides the traditional list for “Classical Chess”, there are ones for Rapid and Blitz Chess. Four players appear on all three lists: Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura and Sergey Karjakin.
Top-10 Classical:
1. Carlsen - 2862
2. Aronian - 2813
3. Caruana - 2796
4. Kramnik - 2784
5. Grischuk - 2780
6. Karjakin - 2776
7. Nakamura - 2775
8. Anand - 2775
9. Gelfand - 2773
10. Topalov - 2767
Top-10 Rapid:
1. Carlsen - 2845
2. Grischuk - 2830
3. Karjakin - 2824
4. Nepomniachtchi - 2804
5. Nakamura - 2795
6. Anand - 2794
7. Mamedyarov - 2792
8. Topalov - 2790
9. Aronian - 2783
10. Svidler - 2761
Top-10 Blitz:
1. Karjakin - 2873
2. Carlsen - 2856
3. Nakamura - 2844
4. Le Quang Liem - 2839
5. Grischuk - 2825
6. Vachier-Lagrave - 2825
7. Nepomniachtchi - 2821
8. Aronian - 2817
9. Ponomariov - 2797
10. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son - 2791
3) Here and There
Humpy Koneru of India won the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix, held in Diljan, Armenia. Former Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club member and Tuesday Night Marathon regular Batchimeg Tuvshintugs had an outstanding event. Normally, finishing minus one in the middle of the field would be nothing to write home about, but “Chimi” was the lowest player in the tournament, her rating of 2316 more than 100 points below the next player and about 200 points below the tournament average.
Final standings:
1. GM Koneru (2597, IND) – 8/11,
2-3. GMs A.Muzychuk (2593, SLO), Dzagnidze (2550, GEO) - 7,
4. GM T.Kosintseva (2526, RUS) - 6,
5. GM Ushenina (2499, UKR) - 5½,
6-8. GM Stefanova (2531, BUL), WGM Batchimeg (2316, MGL), GM Harika (2492, IND) – 5
Gata Kamsky will be returning to action today when the FIDE Grand Prix Series moves to Beijing. Competing in the 12-player round robin are
Gelfand, Boris ISR
Giri, Anish NLD
Grischuk, Alexander RUS
Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR
Kamsky, Gata USA
Karjakin, Sergey RUS
Leko, Peter HUN
Mamedyarov, Shakriyar AZE
Morozevich, Alexander RUS
Topalov, Veselin BUL
Wang, Hao CHN
Wang, Yue CHN
FIDE has its share of critics, but one area where the criticism is ill-founded is in the number of events it holds. 2013 has been non-stop action to date, and the FIDE Grand Prix has nicely complemented events like the Tal and Alekhine Memorials and Norway Chess.
The best professional players (top 20) are benefitting from the plentiful number of strong events, not only in terms of having regular strong competition, but also in the prize money offered. The prize fund to be shared by the players in Beijing is 170,000 EUR (over $220,000), while a further 70,000 EUR is being provided to the accumulated prize fund for the overall Grand Prix series standings.
The Grand Prix Series consists of six tournaments to be held over two years (2012-2013). 18 top players participate in 4 of these 6 tournaments. The winner and second-place player overall of the Grand Prix Series will qualify for the Candidates’ Tournament to be held in March 2014.
IM Andranik Matikozyan is the 2013 Southern California state champion, winning a 8-player round robin held June 20th-23rd in Monterey Park. This was Matikozyan’s third title.
Final standings:
1. IM Matikozyan – 5 out of 7,
2. GM Khachyan – 4½
3. GM Sevillano – 4,
4-5. FMs Kretchetov and Landaw – 3½,
6. IM Yankovsky – 3,
7. FM Bryant – 2½,
8. IM Aldama – 2
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