Gens Una Sumus!
"The art of treating the opening stage of the game correctly andwithout error is basically the art of using time efficiently."
Svetozar Gligoric
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
The Mike Franett Memorial has started. The early leaders with1.5 from 2 are IM Vinay Bhat, WGM Kamile Baginskaite and FM DavidPruess. Rounds are being held daily at the Mechanics' Institute andup-to-date standings and games can be found at the Mechanics' website underFranett Memorial on the front page. Players are fighting for IM norms,place prizes, and special awards for best opening novelty (donated by LawrenceTotaro), best game, and best endgame (donated by Ron Gross)
2) Arnold Denker 1914-2005
Arnold Denker has died at the age of 90. Born on February 20th1914 in New York City, Denker died January 2nd 2005 in his home in FortLauderdale after a brief struggle with brain cancer. Denker led a fullchess life. He was US Champion in 1944 and retained it in 1946 after beatingHermanSteiner in a match. In 1945 he played Botvinnik on top boardin the US vs USSR Radio match and then traveled to Moscow the followingyear for the return match over the
board where he played Smyslov. He was 3rd at Hastings 1945/46.His most important tournament was Groningen 1946 where he finished
10th.
Denker authored two editions of his best games - If You MustPlay Chess (1947) and My Best Chess Games 1929-1976 (1981). He also co-authored
The Bobby Fischer I Knew and other Stories with Larry Parr.During the last decades of his life he served as USCF Zonal President toFIDE, as a member of the USCF Policy Board and on the US Chess Trust. Hisproudest chess accomplishment may have been founding the Arnold DenkerHigh School Tournament of Champions.
Denker, who became an IM title in 1950 and received the HonoraryGM title from FIDE in 1981, was never a full-time professional. Hooperand Whyld in their Oxford Companion to Chess remark, " Denker was unfortunatein that he was perhaps at his best at a time when, because of war, littlechess was being play. and American chess was dominated by Fine andReshevsky."
3) University of Texas at Dallas wins Pan Am
Cindy Tsai, who has represented the United States in numerousinternational youth world championship and participated in the US Championship,has not had many opportunities to play since beginning her studies at Stanfordbut did extremely well at the recently concluded PAN AM intercollegiateheld in Wichita and organized by Mikhail Korenman. We are pleasedto see that after the terrible year suffered by the Raiders and 49ers,at least one Bay Area coach, Stanford's chess trainer Alex Yermolinsky,is no in danger of getting sacked!
Hi Alex and John,
Just wanted to update you on how Stanford did at the Pan-AmIntercollegiate Team Championships, which finished on the 30th in Wichita...I'm very proud
to report that the Stanford A team (average rating: 2160) made itinto the Final Four! We actually had our own little showdown against Yalein the last
round for the fourth spot. I scored an upset point against MattTraldi on board 2, but Pat Mihelich was upsetted on board 3.So we ended up tieing the
match since Anish Das Sarma won on board 4 and Nate Solonlost on board 1. We beat Yale on tiebreaks by almost 5 points to take the4th spot. Overall,
we tied for 7th, but lost to Catholic University of Peruon tiebreaks to finish 8th.
The President's Cup will be held in Lindsborg sometime in April.Not surprisingly, the other three teams are UTD, UMBC and Miami-Dade Community
College. UTD upsetted the pre-tournament favorite UMBC to take firstplace. There were several strong Canadian and Peruvian teams. The B Team,which had an average rating of 1850, scored some upset points, but finished16th out of 23 teams. The tournament was nicely organized by MikhailKorenman.
Personally, I had one of my best touranments in a long time by scoring5 out of 6-- I was winning in my two drawn games, including one againstGMBlehm.
Dan Ben-Moshe, who was first board on the B team, scoreda win against WGM Rohonvan from UMBC.
Hopefully, this is just the beginning of the return of Stanfordchess! I couldn't have imagined that this would have happened two yearsago... I chose Stanford, knowing that the Stanford club was at rock bottomafter the retirement or graduation of several masters, whereas Harvardand MIT had strong chess teams. Ironically, Harvard and MIT chess seemedto have declined, especially since neither of them participated this year.I'm very excited that this year we've considerably strengthened chess atStanford.
Happy New Year!
Cindy
4) Four way tie for first in North American Open
The North American Open, held December 26th to 29th in Las Vegasended in a tie for first between GMs Moiseenko, Akobian, Miton andSerper at 5-1. Tying for 6-11 at 4.5 were GMs Shabalov and Kudrin, IMs Milman,I. Ivanov and Sevillano and FM Tate.
MI and Bay Area players were very successful further down.
Under 2000 =1st Kofi Tatum 5/6
ThomasMaser 4.5/6
Under 1800 Jared Wood =2nd 5 out of 6
Under 1600 Davis Xu =1st 5.5/6
5) Lindsborg in the New York Times
Dr. Mikhail Korenman continues to amaze with his energy and abilityto promote chess. His most recent accomplishments (Lindsborg Open 1-2.Moiseenkoand Ibragimov) , Lindsborg Knockout (Onischuk winningahead of 15 other GMs and the 2005 PAN AM - see news item number 3above) were not only noticed by this Newsletter. The New York Times, onChristmas Day, ran a full page story with two photos on page A10! It'sa great pity that Mr. Korenman was not elected to the USCF Executive Boardlast year. His proven abilities to organize, attract national publicityand cultivate sponsors are qualities sorely lacking in the current ExecutiveBoard
In One Kansas Town, the End of the Year Game Is Chess
December 25, 2004
By STEPHEN KINZER
LINDSBORG, Kan., Dec. 21 - Fifteen chess grandmasters, includingpresent or former national champions from five European countries, arespending the last days of December in a windswept Kansas town that hassuddenly become a world chess center.
"I never thought it would go this far or get this big," said MikhailKorenman, a Russian émigré who has brought his passionfor chess to a most unlikely place.
Like countless other small towns across the Midwest, Lindsborg,which has a population of 3,500, is struggling to survive as rural lifebecomes more difficult and people move to cities or suburbs. Until a fewyears ago, it relied on its niche as Little Sweden, a place where touristscould buy Swedish crafts and eat pancakes with lingonberry sauce.
Swedish flags are still visible around town, but now the bannersalong Main Street say, "Welcome Anatoly Karpov School of Chess." The school, which Mr. Korenman runs, opened last year, paid for with donationsfrom local business people and a $216,000 economic development grant fromthe Kansas
Department of Commerce and Housing. It has already staged severalimportant competitions. This year, both the United States junior championshipand the Final Four collegiate championship were held here.
Mr. Korenman has brought Mr. Karpov, a former world championfrom Russia who is considered one of the best players of the last century,to Lindsborg three times. Mr. Karpov has given the school his officialsanction, something he has previously done only for schools in big citieslike Damascus and Istanbul.
In September, Mr. Karpov played an exhibition match here againstSusanPolgar, the first ever between former male and female world champions.For that event, which he billedas "Clash of the Titans," Mr. Korenman stageda parade through the center of town, complete with floats and a marchingband. Both players spent hours signing autographs and posing for pictures,he proudly recalled.
"If a kid here is interested in football, what he really wants isto see the Kansas City Chiefs or maybe Denver Broncos in real life," Mr.Korenman said. "The chance to meet and talk to a world champion in chessis also something special. It has an effect on these kids, believe me."
Mr. Korenman's enthusiasm, imagination and web of contacts havebeen crucial to the burgeoning appeal of chess here, but this is also atown that was ready to accept what he had to offer. Lindsborg's Swedishheritage has given it a cosmopolitan identity. It stages several festivalsevery year, and people here are used to welcoming outsiders.
Mr. Korenman arrived in 1999 to teach chemistry at Bethany Collegehere. His interest in chess has overtaken his interest in chemistry, andhe recently quit the college faculty to devote his full time to it. Thismonth Mr. Korenman is staging three tournaments in succession, with thelast ending on Dec. 30. A grandmaster who is playing, Anna Zatonskih,26, a former women's champion in her native Ukraine who is now one of thetop-ranked American women players, said Lindsborg had "a great reputation"among chess players.
"It's amazing what has happened here," Ms. Zatonskih said. "Youcan understand this kind of enthusiasm in New York, because there are 20grandmasters living there. But even in New York, there isn't this kindof huge attention to us and what we do."
Some local people are amazed, too.
"Here's a guy who lands here with his wife and starts this chessthing," said Jim Richardson, a local photographer. "We're all going,'Right, sure.' Next thing you know, Anatoly Karpov is in town."
"The Midwest still does have this inferiority complex," Mr. Richardsonsaid. "We really do think that things happen somewhere else. Now they'rehappening here. A world champion is coming down the street, and we're partof the bigger world."
This year the United States Chess Federation named Lindsborgas its "chess city of the year," a title that in past years it has givento large cities like New York,
Seattle and Miami. It also chose Mr. Korenman, who is 44, as its"chess organizer of the year."
6) USCF Executive Board Elections
The January 10 deadline for filing for the 2005 USCF Executive Boardelections is looming. On that note we will start to take a look at someof the issues that are likely to become lightning rods in the upcomingcampaign. One that is going to be near the front is the present Board'sanimosity towards America's Foundation for Chess which has sponsored theUS Championship since 2000.
In Newsletter #223 I wrote:
“Since then the AF4C has done a fantastic job of running the USChampionship, one of the core responsibilities of the USCF, without anyexpense to the USCF.” A reader writes in: "Well that was a bit ofan understatement. The USCF MAKES MONEY on the US Championships. The AF4C pays the USCF $7,500 for each event. The idea was that theUSCF would be able to “afford” to send a representative Unfortunately noneof the USCF Executive Board made it to La Jolla."
Former USCF President John McCrary adds:
"It is worth noting that the prize fund of the US Championship wasalmost equal to USCF's positive bottom line, but the former was achievedby only a
few wealthy donors; by contrast, the latter required over 85,000members and a volunteer Executive Director. However, USCF President BeatrizMarinello reportedly told the Board that she sees " no need to negotiatenow" with AF4C. She did not send a statement for the US Championship program,and canceled her personal appearance there. She did send a statement tobe read at the Final ceremony, but I noted that it avoided any referenceto even the possibility of enhanced cooperation between the entities."
7) John McCumiskey resigns from Cal Chess Board
December 25, 2004
Public Letter of Resignation to CalChess Board
Dear CalChess Board members,
In late October and early November I contemplated resigning from theCalChess Board because my workload at CSUS kept me from attending scheduledmeetings. At that time, I was asked to stay on the board, but recent eventshave caused me to reconsider my position.
Last weekend I was informed about the withdrawal of the original lawsuitagainst Richard Peterson. At another time during the weekend, I was informedabout the new legal strategy that had been devised to recover the $26,000that had been taken. Further, I was informed that Peterson had made a settlementoffer and it had been rejected. None of this information was provided tome through the normal communication channels of the CalChess Board, butinformally by two board members.
While I understand the reasoning behind these decisions and that theremay have been a need to make them quickly and without Board input, I findit unacceptable that I, as a CalChess Board member, was not notified immediatelyafterward, nor was Board input solicited. To date, I have not receivedany official word from CalChess President Elizabeth Shaughnessy about:
the status of the Peterson lawsuit;
the change in legal strategy;
an offer of a settlement.
The only news from Elizabeth regarding these issues was Peterson's requestfor a restraining order on December 22, 2004 which had been denied. Unfortunately,Peterson's two e-mail messages of December 23, 2004, have been more informativethat anything I have received in an official capacity from CalChess. Iconsidered resigning immediately when I heard about all of this last weekend,but I decided it would be wiser not to act on a snap judgement. However,after a week of thinking about it, I have not changed my mind. My problemis not with any individual on the CalChess Board nor with the situationsthat are being dealt with. The problem is not being given timely informationabout CalChess operations and lack of Board input.
Effective immediately, I resign from the CalChess Board. Even thoughI will no longer be a member of the CalChess Board, I will continue tobe an active organizer and tournament director in CalChess. This lettermay be distributed to anyone who requests to see it.
Sincerely,
John P McCumiskey
Mr. McCumiskey's resignation was the second in the past few months bya well-known Bay Area chess worker (Michael Aigner was the other) in atrend that does not bold well for CalChess.
8) Here and There
Kudos to FM Eric Schiller for producing the first electronicissue of the CalChess Journal. Go to http://www.calchess.org/and look on the upper right-hand corner of the front-page.
The 31st Eastern Open, held over the Christmas holidays in WashingtonD.C. was won by GM Alexander Ivanov with a score of 7 from 8, goodfor $1500.
IM Stanislav Smetankin was second at 6, earning him $1000.
All those who have followed Bobby Fischer's career remember that1958 was a breakout year for him. The famous trip to the Soviet Union andlater Yugoslavia, where he played in the Interzonal and qualified for theCandidates tournament, is well known.
Newsletter reader Rusty Miller has sent in an article from theAugust 1958 Washington Chess Letter that sheds further light on Bobby'sfirst trip to Europe. Larry Finley, a chess-playing high schoolstudent from Lake Oswego, Oregon, in Europe for the summer and reportingabout his adventures for the Portland paper the Oregon Journal, befriendedBobby and wrote about it. Bobby and his sister Joan had a few daysin Belgium before flying on to Moscow, and Larry heard that Bobby wouldbe spending the weekend in Brussels. The World's Fair was being held thereand Larry, who was working as a guide, offered to show Bobby and his sisteraround. Finley mentions that the Soviet exhibit with its emphasis on technologyand big machines was a hit with Bobby.
He concludes his report by noting that they played a game at the endof Bobby's stay which Fischer won easily.
Congratulations to MI member Shivkumar Shivaji who had an excellentresult in Lindsborg a few weeks ago. Shiv played a strong field and defeatedIM Anna Zatonskih (the second time in six months) and FMs John Bickand Movses Movsesian while drawing with GM Nikola Mitkovand IM Ron Burnett. His only losses were to GM Yury Shulmanand IMs Jesse Kraai and Renier Gonzalez.
Newsletter #226, 01/12/2005
As for the principles of how to improve your game, they can be statedvery simply:
a) Immerse yourself in chess culture
b) Analyze your own games, avoiding self deception
c) Play in the best tournaments you can get
And that's it.
Nigel Davies
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
The past week has been a busy one at the Mechanics'. Last night wasthe start of the nine round Winter Tuesday Night Marathon. It isstill possible to enter this FIDE-rated event with a half point bye forthe first round.
IM Vinay Bhat leads the Michael Franett Memorial, a 12-playerIM norm roundrobin, with 6.5 from 8 followed by FM David Pruesswith 5.5. Complete standings and games can be found at http://www.chessclub.org/Franett05.html. Here is the most critical game so far in the race for first place.
Pruess (2394) - Bhat (2410)
Michael Franett Memorial San Francisco (6), 2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.Nf3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Ndb5a6 8.e4 Nb4 9.Bg5 f6 10.Bxf6 Qxd1+ 11.Rxd1 axb5 12.Rd8+ Kf7 13.Rxc8 Kxf614.a3 Na2 15.e5+ Kxe5 16.f4+ Kxf4 17.Be2 Nxc3 18.bxc3 Ke5 19.Rf1 b4 20.axb4Ra1+ 21.Bd1 Nd7 22.Rf7 Nf6 23.Rcxf8 Rxf8 24.Rxf8 Ne4 25.Rc8 Kf4 26.Rf8+Ke5 27.Rc8 Rc1 28.Rb8 Rb1 29.Rc8 Rc1 30.Rb8 Nxc3 31.Kd2 Rxd1+ 32.Kxc3 Rd733.Kc4 Kd6 34.Rh8 h6 35.Kd4 Kc6+ 36.Ke3 Re7 37.Ke4 Kb5 38.Ke5 Kxb4 39.Kd6Rf7 40.Rh7 b5 41.h4 Kc3 42.g4 b4 43.g5 hxg5 44.hxg5 b3 45.g6 Ra7 46.Rh3+Kb4 47.Rh4+ Ka3 48.Rf4 b2 49.Rf7 Rxf7 0–1
The 5th Annual Bob Burger Open held this past Saturday featuredplenty of upsets. IM Ricardo De DeGuzman was defeated by SlovakMaster Peter Zavadsky in round four and Zavadsky was defeated inturn by Anthony Rozenvasser in the last round. Rozenvasser's 5-0score puts him very close to earning his USCF Master title. Tying for secondat 4 in the 44-player field were Zavadsky, Victor Ossipov, Keith McDanieland Sam Shankland. Anthony Corrales directed for the MI.
2) USCF EB Candidates
The January 10 deadline has passed and 9 Candidates have collected their30 signatures and paid a $250 filing fee to run for the USCF ExecutiveBoard. Four spots are open on the Board for the nine Candidates. Bauer,Shutt and Shaughnessy are incumbents, Goichberg is aformer EB member. Tanner, John and Sloan have runbefore but not been elected. There are two new faces running. Joel Channingis a businessman from Florida and a member of the USCF Chess Trust. InternationalMaster Gregory Shahade is by far the strongest chessplaying memberof those running for office. The past few years he has cut back on hisplaying to start up and run the New York Masters, a weekly tournament featuringparticipation from many Grandmasters. This event has been consistentlysuccessful in attracting a variety of sponsors, an area where the USCFhas always had difficulty. The mail ballot election, in which all USCFmembers age 16 and over are eligible to vote, will be this summer. Ballotswill appear in Chess Life.
Randy Bauer
Joel Channing
Bill Goichberg
George John
Steve Schutt
Greg Shahade
Elizabeth Shaughnessy
Sam Sloan
Robert Tanner
3) Nakamura vs. Polgar Chess Exhibition
17-year-old U.S. Chess Champion Hikaru Nakamura and World Women'stop-ranked Grandmaster Susan Polgar have agreed to play a uniqueexhibition game during the Millennium Chess Festival on February 26, 2005,in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA, it was announced today.
The unique annual event is called the GM Dinner / Exhibition Match,and features two grandmasters playing each other from separate rooms beforea live audience with moves relayed by radio. As they play, the GMs explainfor the audience what they are thinking about and why they are choosingcertain options. For the average casual player it is an opportunity forinsight into the amazing mind of a chess grandmaster. (The GMs play on?wallboards? that allow the audience to follow along with the moves he/sheis discussing.)
This year's event, the fourth in a popular series started in 2002 atthe Millennium Chess Festival, features two very famous players:
GM Susan Polgar was a child prodigy in her native Hungary, and becamethe first woman to earn the men's chess Grandmaster title. She taught hertwo younger sisters how to play and they also became grandmasters (theyoungest, Judit, now ranked #9 on the world men's rankings list.). Susanwon her 4th World Championship title in 1996 before retiring to have afamily. Now a U.S. citizen she returned to chess in 2004 to lead the USAto a first-ever medal in the prestigious World Chess Olympiad. Inaddition to the team Silver medal, Susan also captured 2 additional individualGold medals and 1 Silver medal including best overall performance of theWomen?s Olympiad bringing her total medal count to 10 (5 Gold, 4 Silverand 1 Bronze). In addition, she has a 56 consecutive Olympiad gamescoring streak without a single loss (this is comparable to Joe DiMaggio'sincredible 56-game hitting streak in baseball). In fact, she has neverlost a single game in the Olympiads.
GM Hikaru Nakamura last month won the U.S. Chess Championship, at justage 17. At age 10 years and 2 months, he became the youngest American master,shattering Bobby Fischer's record. He was born in Japan and now livesin New York. Nakamura is regarded by many experts as the best Americantalent since Bobby Fischer to have a chance to one-day challenge for theWorld Championship. He is known for hyper-aggressive and imaginative tacticalplay and has been shooting up the world rankings. On January 1, 2005,Hikaru for the first time broke through the world?s top 100 ranking.
The GM Dinner / Exhibition Match will take place Saturday, February26, 2005, at 7:30pm, at the Millennium Chess Festival at the Ramada PlazaOceanfront Resort, 57th & Atlantic Street, in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
The Millennium Chess Festival (Feb 25-27) is sponsored by the consultingfirm of Booz Allen Hamilton and is presented by Beach Events and the cityof Virginia Beach.
The Festival also includes the main tournament, in which many GMs andother players of all strengths will compete in various class sections,plus other special events including a lecture by Susan Polgar and a Fischer-RandomChess blitz tournament.
For more information, see http://www.geocities.com/millenniumchessfestival
Contact: Tom Braunlich
[email protected]
(918)749-3163
4) Pal Benko My Life, Games and Compositions wins BCF Award
BRITISH CHESS FEDERATION
BOOK OF THE YEAR 2004
The choice this year came down to two books of contrasting but greatmerit. The first is:
My Great Predecessors 2 by Gary Kasparov Everyman £25.00continues the high standard established in volume 1, which won last yearsBook of the Year Award. Indeed if anything it is even better as Kasparovis on more familiar ground as he met and played most of the champions discussedin the second volume, which considers Euwe, Botvinnik and Smyslov and Tal,with vignettes on Bronstein and Keres. He is particularly good on his earlycoach and mentor, Botvinnik writing with great sympathy about that remarkablemans strengths and weaknesses. As before the book is beautifully produced.
The second book is quite different as it concentrates at great length-668 pages in all-on one player.Pal Benko My Life, Games and CompositionsGM Pal Benko and IM Jeremy Silman Siles Press £31.50. It is furthersubtitled Opening Survey by IM John Watson and Foreword by GMSusan Polgar.
This is a remarkable work. Silman explains that he was dissatisfiedwith the conventional best game collections and wanted to create a chessbiography of a man that he "admired, who was part of chess history, whoplayed many beautiful games, and who lived a colourful life that transcendedmere chess concerns-life death struggles, sexuality, financial stabilityetc". All this and more can be found here and the book paints a vivid pictureof Benko's eventful life and times by means of interviews, photographsand stories of the personalities met on the way.
The chess side is also very well covered with 138 annotated games, adescription of the evolution of the Benko Gambit by the founder himselfand a 132 page survey by John Watson on Benko's contribution toopening theory. Last but not least, the book includes 91 pages on Benko'sworldwide reputation as a problem and end game study composer.
No wonder, then, that this book is one of the heaviest chess books thejudges have seen- but it is also one of the best.The choice then was adifficult one; but the judges unanimously selected the Benko volume asit exemplified a new and refreshing approach to chess biography. Gary canconsole himself that he has another 3 volumes coming out in his My GreatPredecessors series, which will surely be in contention for the Book ofthe Year award in the future.
6) Here and There
The annual Rilton Cup, held in Stockholm over the New Year waswon by GMs Sergey Volkov and Evgeny Gleizerov of Russia andthe Swede
Emanuel Berg with 7 from 9. The Bay Area's Nick deFirmianwas among those tied for fourth at 6.5.
The January 2005 FIDE shows some changes at the top with Bulgaria'sVeselinTopalov moving into the number three spot the most prominent.GaryKasparov showed how tough it is to pick up points when you are ratedover 2800. His 7.5 from 10 score in winning the Russian Championship nettedhim only 5 rating points while he dropped 14 in the European Club Championship.Meanwhile Viswanathan Anand picked up 5 in the Chess Olympiad. Ibelieve the 18 point gap is the narrowest ever between these players. Ifresults were only counted in for the past few years Anand would be numberone.
1. Kasparov – 2804
2. Anand – 2786
3. Topalov – 2757
4. Kramnik – 2754
5. Leko – 2749
6. Morozevich – 2741
7. Adams – 2741
8. Svidler – 2735
9. Bacrot – 2715
10. Shirov – 2713
The US has five players in the top 100 - Onischik is =46 at 2652to top the list. Others are:Seirawan at 69 (2631), Kaidanovat 71 (2629), Goldin at 73 (2628) and Nakamura at 99 ( 2613).The US Championship which ended close to the FIDE rating deadline was notcounted and will be included on the April list as will two other Nakamurasuccesses - the Western States Open ( 3.5 from 4 vs. 2550 GMs plus twoother wins) and the match with Karjakan (4.5-1.5).With these eventscounted he should be in the 2640s, close to 2650.
Top ten women:
1. Z. Polgar - 2577
2. Xie Jun – 2573
3. Koneru – 2512
4. Chiburdanidze – 2509
5. Zhao Xue – 2502
6. Zhu Chen – 2494
7. Stefanova – 2491
8. Kosteniuk – 2490
9. Xu Yuhua – 2487
10. Cramling – 2481
Zsuzsa Polgar returns to the list and takes the top spot afterher great result in the Olympiad. Notice the huge gap between the top twoand the rest.
Other US players in the top 50 include: Irina Krush at #17 (2466)and Anna Zatonskih at #29 (2435).
Newsletter #227, 01/19/2005
"Chess, like any creative activity, can exist only through the combinedefforts of those who have creative talent, and
those who have the ability to organize their creative work."
Mikhail Botvinnik
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
IM Vinay Bhat has won the Michael Franett Memorial. Bhathas 8.5 from 10 with one game remaining with IM Ricardo DeGuzman.The race for second has yet to be decided. FM David Pruess justmissed the IM norm by half a point and finished with 7.5 points from 11games. Mongolian IM Odondoo Ganbold has 5 from 8 with three gamesremaining. Standings and games played to date can be found at http://www.chessclub.org/Franett05.html.
IM Odondoo Ganbold and Batchimeg Tuvshintugs are the top seedsin the 70-player Mechanics' Institute Tuesday Night Marathon. It'sstill possible to enter the 9 round event with byes for the first two rounds.
Tonight the MI Wednesday Night Blitz will be held at 7pm.
2) Victor Frias 1956-2005
One of America's friendliest International Masters, Victor Frias, passed away this past Saturday, January 15, at the age of 48 in New Yorkafter a brief illness. Born February 10, 1956, in Santiago, Chile, Victor represented his birthplace in three Olympiads (1976, 1978 and 1984)but played most of his chess in the United States, his homeland for thelast twenty years of his life. Awarded the IM title in 1982 Victor wasfor at least a decade one of the strongest International Masters in theworld. His peak FIDE rating of 2530 attests to his strength.
Victor played very little the last part of his life. Bay Area chessfans will remember his second place finish in the 1997 San Francisco Internationalorganized by Jim Eade. His final event, a rapid tournament on LongIsland last April, saw him go 3-1, drawing GMs Hikaru Nakamuraand Alexander Stripunsky.
Besides being a very strong player Victor was a longtime coach. Hismost successful job was helping GM-to-be Ilya Gurevich win the WorldJunior Championship on tiebreak from Alexey Shirov. GM PatrickWolff was another Samford Scholar that Frias worked with extensively.Victor led many US delegations to World Youth, World Junior and Pan AmericanChampionships. He coached at Dalton Academy, managed the Marshall ChessClub and directed the Yonkers Projects Chess Club Program. Despite allof his considerable chess accomplishments Victor will be best rememberedby his many friends for his love of life and sharp wit. He may have onlylived 48 years but he burned the candle brightly.
Victor was cremated on January 17. A memorial service will beheld Saturday, January 22, 2005 at the Marshall Chess Club in Manhattanat 1:00pm He is survived by his wife, Zoe Ann Tiltonand two sons, Camilo and Pablo.
Victor was never a great opening specialist. He didn't particularlylike opening books and stopped playing before laptop computers became requiredfor professionals. I remember him telling me once that Larsen's Best Gameswas the book that influenced him the most. He was a particularly good endgameplayer and frequently outplayed strong players in this phase of the game.The following game is a good example.
Frias (2515) - Wojtkiewicz (2575) [E32]
San Francisco Mechanics San Francisco (5), 1997
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 b6 7.Nf3Bb7 8.g3 d6 9.Bg2 Nbd7 10.0-0 c5 11.Rd1 Rc8 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bxf6 Nxf6 14.dxc5Rxc5 15.b4 Rc7 16.Qd4 Qe7 17.Qxd6 Qxd6 18.Rxd6 Bxf3 19.Bxf3 Rxc4 20.Bb7Rb8 21.Ba6 Rc3 22.Kf1 Kf8 23.Ke1 Nd5 24.Rd7 Rc7 25.Rxc7 Nxc7 26.Bd3 Ke727.Rc1 Kd7 28.f4 f6 29.Kf2 Rc8 30.Kf3 Nd5 31.Rxc8 Kxc8 32.Bc4 Nc7 33.Kg4Kd7 34.Kh5 Ke7 35.Kg6 Kf8 36.e4 a6 37.h4 a5 38.bxa5 bxa5 39.a4 Ne8 40.Bxe6Nd6 41.Bd5 Nc8 42.Kf5 Nb6 43.Bb3 Nd7 44.Bc4 Nc5 45.Bb5 Kf7 46.h5 Ke7 47.e5fxe5 48.Kxe5 Ne6 49.Kd5 Nf8 50.Kc5 Ne6+ 51.Kb6 Nd4 52.Kxa5 1-0
3) The battle of the Dmitrys: 2004 US Championship
Senior Master Dmitry Zilberstein of Fremont was in tremendousform the first seven rounds of the US Championship with a scoreof 4-3 versus 6 GMs and 1 IM, but then he faced the other Dmitry in thetournament. The following notes are based on those that Dmitry Gurevichgave immediately after the game while doing commentary for the ICC andspectators at the event. Incidentally our Dmitry won a special prize forhis brilliant win over GM Alexander Ivanov in a game that is appearingin chess magazines around the planet. I just saw it featured in LarryChristiansen's report in the German monthly Schach.
Gurevich - Zilberstein [D38]
US Champ, 2004
1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3
I saw that Dmitry played well against my normal Catalan (4.g3) andso decided to try something different
4...Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.Qa4+
I adopted this system of play after analysing a game of my studentIgor Tsyganov who played it against Georgi Kachieshvili.
8...Nc6 9.e3 0-0 10.Be2 Be6 11.0-0 a6
The idea is to be able to play ...Bd6 without being bothered by Nb5.
12.Rfc1 Bd6
The battle lines are drawn. White will attack on the queenside andBlack the kingside. The late Tigran Petrosian handled the White side ofsuch positions with great understanding.
13.a3 Ne7 14.Qd1
A multi-purpose move. I strengthen my Kingside and free a4 for theKnight.
14...Rad8 15.Na4 Bc8 16.Nc5 c6
More direct was 16...g5 when I planned 17.e4
17.b4
Here it was very difficult to choose between the move which I playedlaunching a minority attack and 17.Qb3 Bxc5 18.Rxc5 which is very appealingsince Black's attacking Bishop has been exchanged off.
17...g5 18.g3
A preventive move. Now if 18...g4 I have 19.Nh4.
18...Nf5 19.Ne1
Another prophylactic move designed to stop ...h5.
19...Kg7
In view of what occurs Black might consider the immediate 19...h5 butafter 20.Bxh5 Kg7 21.Bg4 Rh8 22.Qf3 I see no clear compensation for thepawn.
20.Bh5
Radically stopping ...h5 by occupying the square.
20...Bc7 21.a4
White continues with his queenside attack and is getting ready to playb5.
21...Nd6 22.Bg4
Trading Bishops blunts Black's attack. White is counting long termon his superior structure.
22...Bxg4 23.Qxg4 Qe7 24.Ned3 Bb8 25.Qh3 Rfe8 26.Ra2 f6 27.Rac2Qf7
The critical position of the game. Here at first I thought I was muchbetter. All my pieces look good but how to improve them? Then I realizedthat I couldn't and that if I didn't immediately undertake active operationsI might soon be worse. Another factor in choosing the following courseof action was that my opponent was down to less than 10 minutes to reachmove 40 while I had 25.
28.Nxa6 bxa6 29.Rxc6
For the sacrificed piece I have two pawns and the promise of a thirdcoming. Objectively I am no better but it is a difficult psychologicalmoment for my opponent who must adapt to the changed circumstance. Previouslyhe had a very solid structure (...c6, ...d5) but now it's an extra piecebut a loose position.
29...Qb7?
Dmitry immediately blunders. Instead 29...a5 30.bxa5 Nc4 31.a6 wascritical.
30.Nc5 Qxb4?
This was the fatal error but easy to explain as Dmitry wanted to justifyhis previous move. Instead he had to return with his Queen: 30...Qf7.
31.Ne6+ Rxe6 32.Qxe6 Ne4 33.Kg2 Kg6 34.Rc8 Qd2 35.R1c2 Qa5 36.Rxd8Qxd8 37.Rc8 Qd6 38.Rg8+ 1-0
4) Here and There
IM Melik Khachiyan was the easy winner of the Western ClassChampionship held January 15-17 in Los Angeles. Khachiyan beat IMTim Taylor and GM Amir Bagheri to take first with a score of5.5 from 6. IM Enrico Sevillano lost in round two but then won fourgames in a row to take second with 5 points. Tying for third at 4 in the27-player Open section were Bagheri, Taylor and FM Michael Casella.205 players competed in the multi-section event organized by Bill Goichberg'sContinental Chess Association.
Correspondence IM Simon Fitzpatrick died last August at 51 aftera long struggle with cancer. A Senior Lecturer in Mathematics at the Universityof Western Australia, Simon did his Doctorial studies at the Universityof Washington in the mid-1970s and was quite active in the Seattle chessscene.
De Faria - Fitzpatrick
ICCF 1997
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4 5.Qxd4 Nc6 6.Qd1 exd5 7.Qxd5Bd7 8.Nf3 Nf6 9.Qd1 Bc5 10.e3 Qe7 11.Be2 0-0-0 12.0-0 g5 13.Qc2 g4
14.Nd2 Kb8 15.a3 Rc8 16.b4 Bd6 17.Nc4 Bc7 18.Bb2 Ne5 19.Nd2 Rhg820.Rac1 Bc6 21.b5 Bxh2+ 23.Kxh2 Qe5+ 24.g3 Qh5+ 25.Kg1 Bxf3 26.Nxf3 gxf3
27.Ne2 Rxc2 28.Be5+ Qxe5 29.Rxc2 fxe2 0-1
USCF Election News: The ballots will be in the June 2005issue of Chess Life. Eligible voting members are those USCF members onJune 30, 2005 who are 16 or older as of June 30, 2005 and who reside inthe United States. USCF members who are eligible to vote but do not receiveChess Life as a membership benefit
must request a ballot by mailing a request for a ballot, includingtheir date of birth and a self-addressed stamped envelope, to the USCFoffice by June 15th, 2005.
The following minature by 75-year-old San Francisco IM Walter Shipmanappeared not too long ago in IM Jack Peters' column in the LA Times.
IM Walter Shipman - IM Kong Deng
Dutch A80
American Open Los Angeles, 2004
1.d4 f5 2.Bg5 h6 3.Bh4 g5 4.e4 Rh7 5.Qh5+ Rf7 6.Bxg5 hxg5 7.Nf3fxe4 8.Nxg5 Nh6 9.Nc3 c5 10.0–0–0 cxd4 11.Rxd4 Qa5 12.Rd5 Qb6 13.Rf5 1–0
Newsletter #228, 01/26/2005
"You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5,and the path leading out is only wide enough for one."
Mikhail Tal
IM Vinay Bhat won the Michael Franett Memorial with theconvincing score of 9 from 11. Tying for second and third at 7.5 were IMOdondoo Ganbold and FM David Pruess. The latter just missedmaking his final IM norm by half a point. Youngsters Nicolas Yapand Matthew Ho held their own against higher-rated and more experiencedopposition. The Category 3 ( 2311 FIDE) tournament was particularly hard-foughtwith only 14 draws from 66 played.
Other scores: 4-5. IM DeGuzman and FM Stein 6.5; 6. NM Yap 6; 7.NM Ho 5.5; 8. NM Aigner 5; 9. FM Lobo 4.5; 10. WGM Baginskaite 3.5; 11.WFM Batchimeg 3; 12. FM Thornally 1.5.
Go to http://www.chessclub.org/Franett05.html for the crosstable andall games from the event. STEIN - DeGuzman (best game), Thornally-BAGINSKAITE(best opening) and Ho-GANBOLD (best ending) were selected by GM Alex Yermolinskyand NM Stephen Brandwein for special prizes.
Tuvshintugs Batchimeg, Igor Margulis, Victor Ossipov, Lazar Shnaidermanand Igor Traub are tied for first with perfect scores after three roundsof the Mechanics' Institute Tuesday Night Winter Marathon. A half pointback are IM Odondoo Ganbold and FM Frank Thornally.
2) The Andrew I Knew
The Andrew I Knew
By Don Schultz
The Andrew I knew went by the name of Arnold. His real name was Andrew,but an Uncle kept calling him Arnold and it stuck. Family, the chess worldand everyone always called him Arnold and few knew that was not his name.
“Hello Don, this is Arnold” - Over the last quarter century, Arnoldwould call me at every few days and these were the words I first heard.I’ll never hear them again and, each time my telephone rings, I will thinkof Arnold.
Yes, I will miss him, but I will also look back with pleasure at thefun time of the past, how fortunate I was to have as my friend: “The ManChess Loved”
When I think of Arnold, I think of the press rooms of the great worldchampionships of the eighties. Typically you would see, surrounded by journalists,Arnold and a few of his friends such as Tal and Najdorf holding court.There were no computers to help the press, only the candid discussion amongthese giants of the chess world.
At chess meetings, Arnold had a little trick that few ever realized.It was always pre-planned and always worked though used sparingly for justthe right debates. Here is how it worked. During the debate, Arnold wouldremain quiet. Then suddenly he would jump up, rush to the mike, pay noaddition to those waiting to be recognized and bypassed them in line. Hewould shout in the microphone: “This is a disgrace, I can’t believe youare even thinking of doing this; I’m getting out of here.” He would thenturn and head for the door. Always, before he reached the door someonefrom the opposition would say” “Wait Arnold, don’t leave, we will workthis out, how about . . .”
When I think of Arnold, I think of Gabriel Schartzman whom we bothmet at the chess Olympiad in Thessalonika, Greece in 1988. Gabriel, then12 years old, came to us and said: “Hello, my name is Gabriel Schwartzmanand I am a chessplayer, Would you like to see some of my games.” “Sure,”we said. Well, we were so impressed that we arranged for a match betweenGabriel and Arnold in Florida. Gabriel and his family later became lifelongfriends of ours. Gabriel also became the youngest grandmaster in the world,He went to the U of Florida, studied business administration and has achievedgreat success as an American businessman. He and his parents are now enjoyinga life in Florida they would never have realized had they stayed in Romania.Both Arnold and I take great satisfaction in having had something to dowith that.
Another time, Rhona Petroysan, widow of former world champion TigranPetroysan asked Arnold if he could help her move to the States. Arnoldand I discussed this and decided the easiest way was to find an Americanchessplayer for Rhona to marry. We decided our friend Donald Stone wasthe perfect person. “What are you nuts?” were Stone’s immediate reply toour request. We were a bit taken back by this since Donald , who was inhis late seventies, always responded to a call for help when it involvedthe game he loved. Nevertheless, we weren't about to be put off so easily.Stone continued: “I’m only a B player. I've been married before and vowedI’d never do it again. I’m too old.” We listened to all these attemptsby Stone to avoid his responsibility but remained undeterred. Finally ourpersistence succeeded: “Okay” he said, “Is she pretty?” We gave Rhona andDonald the information they needed in order to get in touch with each other.But, the marriage never took place as Rhona found a way to enter the U.S.through more conventional means.
Arnold’s second passion was going to the race track. He and I wouldsit indoors watching the odds change, suddenly he would jump up and rushaway to place his bet. He’d return and say in a loud voice to me: “I betten big ones on number five,” heads would turn to see who the big bettorwas. What they didn’t realize was ten big ones meant ten bucks which iswhat Arnold and I generally would bet on any race.
Upon leaving the track, I’d generally drop Arnold off at his apartmentand head home. Arnold would call Teresa to let her know I’m on my way.When Teresa answered, she would immediately say: “Okay Arnold, how muchmoney did you almost win today?” You see Arnold would never lose; he wouldwin or almost win.
Another time as I was about to leave my seat, Arnold said to me: “Don,I was up all night handicapping this race and number six can’t lose, takemy word for it.” Now Arnold was an excellent handicapper, so I left andbet on six. I returned to my seat and looked over at Arnold still studyingthe race. He turned and said: “Gosh, how did I miss this look at that fourhorse, I’m betting big bucks on him.” Arnold jumped up, left and bet onthe four horse. Of course the four horse won and the six horse came inlast.
In many ways, Arnold was the most impatient man I ever knew. He wouldnever wait for a red light. Whether in Buenos Aires, New York or Paris,Arnold would rush across the street weaving left and right dodging carslike any football star rushing downfield on a hundred yard run.
Arnold and I didn’t always agree. One time we had a serious argument.Finally Arnold got up, left my hotel room and slammed the door. I rushedto the door opened it up and called to Arnold; “Okay, we will do it yourway.” He turned, smiled and said: “See it always works!”
3) FIDE
This and the following section on the USCF (4) might offer more on chesspolitics than Newsletter readers want to see, but I would argue that thestakes for International and American chess are higher than they have everbeen. Chess on the Internet is growing by leaps and bounds, more kids areplaying than ever before and some serious groups (AF4C, HB Foundation)are getting involved, but the USCF and FIDE are both disfunctional organizations.Chessplayers need to educate themselves on the issues and remember to votein the USCF EB elections this summer.
Many have no doubt read about Garry Kasparov's recent decision to dropout of the Prague Agreement after much frustration of the organizationof his match with Kazimzhanov. The following is a response to IMTony Saidy by GM Yasser Seirawan who has done much to try to patch up theschism in the chess world.
Dear Tony
Thanks for forwarding. I had read Kasparov’s statement at theChess Base website. Reading Golubev’s comments provided an interestingcontrast. So, Kasparov is out of the picture. I guess a lotof folks at FIDE will be happy. Now they can get back to their committeemeetings and help WADA with its lists of banned drugs that must be controlled. Kramnik can breathe easier. He won’t have to exhaust himself defendinghis title for another five years. And those who criticized Kasparov’sinclusion will be mighty pleased. Apathy, the greatest force in theuniverse, wins again!
Personally, I think it a very sad day for chess when the greatest playerever, gives up playing for the highest honor. For well over two years,since December 2002, I saw this day coming. I saw how incompetentOmuku was. Later, when his corruption was revealed, he was forcedto resign. I have seen how Makro and others behave at FIDE and Irealized that organization is a colossal under-achiever. I have seenthe brazen lies and dirty dealings of our FIDE representatives Doyle andKelleher and knew that they would support the status quo. And fordecades I’ve witnessed how the leaders of the USCF are more interestedin advancing their personal agendas then they are in helping chess growand blossom. What a collective embarrassment for the chess world.
Unfortunately, chess has not reached its low mark. I’ve watchedhow the most talented players from around the world have given up chessto earn a living in the public and private sectors. New teen talentswill always be found. When they in turn move on from chess, new teentalents will emerge. Chess is on a downward spiral and it will, sadto say, continue unless new leaders step forwards. I’ve tried tobring new people into chess and whether it is the USCF’s leaders or FIDE’s,the knee-jerk reaction has been to say to them, “Go away. We aredoing fine without you!” Remarkable but true. While we areall poorer for where we stand today, the real losers are the players andfans.
Yasser
4) USCF
Kalev Pehme was recently fired as editor of Chess Life by a 5-2 voteof the USCF Executive Board (Marinello, Hanke, Shutt, Shaughnessy and Bauervoted to fire Pehme, Schultz and Brady against). Glenn Peterson has beennamed acting editor. The USCF was in the process of conducting a searchfor a new editor but it now appears this may be delayed until after theExecutive Board elections in August.
Evaluating Chess Life editors is not easy to do. The magazine you readis one way to judge but doesn't factor in what sort of resources were madeavailable to the editor. How many pages did the budget allow? What sortof staff support was there? What was the funding for contributors? Theanswers to all these questions need to be factored in. Readers may havedifferent tastes but no one can fault Kalev Pehme on fulfilling two majorobligations of every editor. Under his direction Chess Life came out ina timely fashion, more so than any other editor in recent memory. Thisfact was no doubt appreciated by the many organizers that place tournamentannouncements in Chess Life. Readers of the magazine probably enjoyed thatstories were current and not recaps of events they had read about on theInternet 6 months ago. Mr. Pehme, while producing issues promptly, wasalso successful in avoiding the horrible. Little mistakes did creep inhere and there but nothing close to disastrous. Judging his performancecompared to past editors it would appear he fell from grace with the currentEB for political rather than performance related issues.
The direction of the USCF and in particular the question of how to attractsponsors is coming to the front as a major issue in this year's USCF ExecutiveBoard elections. The mail ballot election, in which all USCF members age16 and over are eligible to vote, will be this summer. Ballots will appearin Chess Life. Don't forget to vote!
Former USCF President John McCrary writes:
The fundamental problems for USCF are these two:
1) Our old membership is aging and being insufficiently replaced;
2) There is a huge boom in chess interest in our culture, but USCF lacks
the resources to tap into that boom. ( I just saw a new major TV commercial
mentioning chess.)
Unfortunately, some are now trying to argue that if the budget is balanced
on existing revenues, that achievement, however, laudable, will be
sufficient. I firmly feel, however, that unless our lagging membership
trends are reversed, in a few years we will be balancing a much smaller
budget for a shrunken organization.
My suggested solution has been to develop working relationships withmajor
sponsors. Only then can we correct our membership trends by creatinga new
system of positive feedback, with seven-figure fund-raising, to replacethe
current system of negative feedback with diminishing resources whichlead
to more diminishing resources, etc. Much of my effort as President( at my
own expense of thousands of dollars) was devoted to trying to createsuch
relationships with major sponsors for the long-term future.
Keep in mind that the US Championship fund of over $250,000 was raisedby
only a few sponsors, but it nearly equaled USCF's budget surplus that
required the entire USCF membership to create! Yet, AF4C, when theytried
to initiate talks for larger involvement with USCF, had the door slammed
rudely in their faces last summer and fall, by officers who refusedeven to
call them to talk or just to be courteous. I fear they may soon jointhe
ranks of previous sponsors who have concluded that working with USCF's
bizarre political/Internet culture is impossible. Yet, without sponsorship
the USCF has no long-term hope. Just look at the demographics.
regards, John McCrary
USCF Members Certified as Candidates for 2005 Election to USCF ExecutiveBoard-in order as a result of the drawing
1. Robert Tanner
2. Sam Sloan
3. Bill Goichberg
4. Greg Shahade
5. George John
6. Elizabeth Shaughnessy
7. Steve Shutt
8. Randy Bauer
9. Joel Channing
This information was provided by Don Schultz, USCF Secretaryafter the drawing.
5) CalChess
Dear CalChess Coach,
The president and board of CalChess invite you to attend a coaches meetingat Fort Mason, San Francisco, room C355 on Sunday January 30, 2005 from2:30
to 5:30 pm. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the 2005 CalChessScholastic State Championships which will take place at the Herbst Pavilionat Fort Mason, San Francisco, on May 6, 7, and 8, 2005. I will email anagenda of the meeting nearer to the date.
We expect the meeting to be collaborative as opposed to confrontationalso there will be no votes taken on issues though if there is a strong sensein the room for a particular change we will certainly give it strongconsideration.
Larger chess programs are requested to have just one person as theirspokesperson. In the days following this meeting the CalChess scholasticcommittee will draw up a rules and regulations statement which will becirculated by email for comment to all the participants. The final draftwill be issued shortly after all comments on the first draft have beenreviewed.
Thank you all for your work with children. I hope you will come andhelp shape the future of CalChess State Scholastic Championships. We willbuild on our fine tradition and carry it forward.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Shaughnessy, President, CalChess.
6) Here and There
"Dear John
I am writing to you regarding a new web site that I think will beof great interest to your members in terms of improving their chess andraising some money
for your club. The website is called www.improveyourchess.com andis dedicated to improving the play of all players up to 2000 grading orso.
As you will see when you visit the site, players like Jennifer Shahade,our Associate Director (United States) and John Watson recommend us veryhighly.
The site is not due to take off until February, but as you willsee we are making special offers to early responders who indicate an interestin joining our
Chess Gym. In return for any of your members joining the gym wewill donate $5 to your club, an offer that will be open until February.
A great deal of work has gone into the gym and we are confidentthanks to the help from average club players and grandmasters alike thatit will make a significant contribution to the world of chess.
I do hope you can forward this message to your members and I thankyou in anticipation.
Yours in chess,
Tony Kosten
Grandmaster
Editor
PS We will donate the $5 even if your members come in
on a cut price subscription
goto:www.improveyourchess.com to guarantee becoming a winner.
The following marathon from the second group in Wijk aan Zee saw Stefanovatwice saddled with the dreaded Irish pawn center (tripled pawns) as dubbedby the late Tony Miles.
Cheparinov - Stefanova
Corus Chess 2005 Wijk aan Zee (8), 2005
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Bb78.Nc3 b4 9.Nd5 Nd4 10.Nxd4 Bxd4 11.c3 bxc3 12.bxc3 Ba7 13.d4 Nxd5 14.exd5exd4 15.Re1+ Kf8 16.d6 cxd6 17.Qh5 Qf6 18.Bg5 Qg6 19.Qxg6 hxg6 20.Re7 d521.Rxd7 Bc6 22.Rc7 Be8 23.g3 Bb6 24.Rb7 Ba5 25.Bxd5 Bxc3 26.Rab1 Rh5 27.h4Rxg5 28.hxg5 Rd8 29.Bc4 d3 30.Rb8 Rxb8 31.Rxb8 d2 32.Bb3 Ke7 33.Rb7+ Bd734.Kf1 a5 35.Ke2 Kd6 36.f3 f6 37.Bc2 fxg5
38.g4 Bc6 39.Rb8 Kc5 40.Rc8 Kd6 41.Bd1 Kd7 42.Rh8 Ke7 43.Kd3 Bb444.Rg8 Kf6 45.Rc8 Bd7 46.Rb8 Be6 47.Rb7 Bf7 48.Rb6+ Ke7 49.Ra6 Be6 50.Kd4Bf7 51.Ra7+ Kf6 52.Rc7 Ba3 53.Rc2 Bb4 54.Rc6+ Ke7 55.Ke4 Ba3 56.Rb6 Bb457.Rb5 Kf6 58.f4 gxf4 59.g5+ Ke7 60.Rb7+ Kf8 61.Kxf4 Bd5 62.Rb6 Bf7 63.Ke5Ke7 64.Rb7+ Kf8 65.Rc7 Ba2 66.Rb7 Bf7 67.Ke4 Be6 68.Kd4 Bf7 69.Kd3 Be670.Ke3 Bd5 71.Rd7 Be6 72.Rd8+ Ke7 73.Rh8 Ba2 74.Rh7 Kf8 75.Rh1 Ke7 76.Rh7Kf8 77.Kd3 Be6 78.Rh4 Ke7 79.Ke2 Bf5 80.Ke3 Kd6 81.Rh8 Be6 82.Rh7 Bf5 83.Rxg7Ke5 84.Rc7 Bb1 85.Rb7 Bf5 86.Rb5+ Ke6 87.Kd4 Bb1 88.Bb3+ Kd6 89.Rb6+ Kc790.Ra6 Bf5 91.Bd1 Bb1 92.Re6 Kd7 93.Rf6 Kc7 94.Kc4 Kd7 95.Kb3 Bf5 96.Kc4Bb1 97.Rf1 Bf5 98.Kd5 Be7 99.Rg1 Be6+ 100.Ke5 Bf5 101.Rg2 Bb4 102.Kd5 Ke7103.Re2+ Kd7 104.Rh2 Be6+ 105.Kd4 Bf5 106.Rh1 Kd6 107.Rh8 Bc5+ 108.Kc3Bb4+ 109.Kd4 Bc5+ 110.Kc4 Bb4 111.Re8 Bd7 112.Ra8 Ke5 113.Kd3 Kf4 114.Rd8Bf5+ 115.Kc4 Kxg5 116.Kd4 Kf4 117.Rh8 Kg5 118.Rh1 Kf4 119.Rf1+ Kg5 120.Ke3Kf6 121.Kd4 Kg5 122.Ke3 Kf6 123.Kd4 Ke6 124.Bb3+ Kd6 125.Bd1 Bc5+ 126.Kc4Bb4 127.Kd4 Bc5+ 128.Kc4 Bb4 129.Rh1 Be4 130.Rf1 Bd5+ 131.Kd4 Be6 132.Kd3Ke5 133.Ke3 Bf5 134.Rh1 Bc3 135.Rh8 g5 136.Re8+ Kd6 137.Rd8+ Ke6 138.Re8+Kf6 139.Rf8+ Kg6 140.Rg8+ Kf6 141.Rf8+ Kg6 142.Kf3 Bb4 143.Rg8+ Kf6 144.Ra8g4+ 145.Kg3 Bd6+ 146.Kh4 Bb4 147.Ra6+ Ke5 148.Kg3 Kd4 149.Ra8 Be6 150.Rd8+Ke4 151.Re8 Kf5 152.Bxg4+ Kg5 153.Rxe6 Bc3 154.Rc6 Bb4 155.Bd1 1–0
The State of Nebraska has contributed many brilliant minds of nationalrenown, but it now appears that this State has been holding out on us,for within its borders resides a chess genius of no mean ability as evidencedby his records, which speak for themselves. The winner of the Minor ChessTournament, held at Pasadena, California during the latter part of August1932, while the Major Tournament was in progress, was Mr. Howard E.Ohman, Assistant Pastor of the First Central Congregational Churchof Omaha, Nebraska.
Mr. Ohman won the Tournament, mentioned above, in which several Stateand Sectional Champions were entered, including Irving Spero, a formerchampion of Ohio, to whom Mr. Ohman lost his only game. The final scorebeing 9 won, 1 lost, and 1 draw. The draw being with Professor Bateman.Some short time ago Mr. Arthur Dake of Portland, Oregon, and a chessexpert of considerable reputation, paid Omaha a visit, and of course nothingwas more natural than for Mr. Dake and Mr. Ohman should exchange complementsin three informal sets of ten games in all.
Mr. Dake managed to win 5 to 3, with 2 drawn games. Mr. Ohman had aclear win in the last game, but made an oversight that cost him a pieceand the game; otherwise the final score would read, 4 to 4 with 2 draws.At any rate, the score actually made reflects great credit to winner andloser, alike.
Still later, and to convince possible skeptics that no fluke existed,Mr. Ohman won the City Championship by the remarkable score of 26 wins,none lost, with 2 drawn. And believe it or not, this makes the seventeenthstraight year that Mr. Ohman has won the Championship of Omaha!! As a fittingclimax, he also defeated the winner of the Class B Tournament by the scoreof 4 wins, with none lost.
Texas Chess Magazine 1933
Newsletter #229, 02/02/2005
"You sit at the board and suddenly your heart leaps. Your hand tremblesto pick up the piece and move it. But what Chess teaches you is thatyou
must sit there calmly and think about whether it's really a goodidea and whether there are other better ideas."
Stanley Kubrick
The Mechanics' will be hosting the 5th Annual HenryGross Memorial this Saturday. Round one of the five round G/45 event startsat 10am.
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
NM Igor Margulis is alone in first after four rounds of theWinterTuesday Night Marathon with a 4-0 score. Tied for second at 3.5 inthe nine round event are IM Ganbold Odondoo, NMs Batchimeg Tuvshintugs,Nicolas Yap and Russell Wong and Experts Victor Ossipov,Larry Snyder and Igor Traub.
Berkeley Class A player Steven Svoboda sends the following excitinggame against fellow Marathon regular Arthur Dembling.
Svoboda, S - Dembling, A [E28]
Fall Marathon, 2004
annotations by Donaldson
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 c5 6.e3 b6 7.Bd3 Bb78.f3 0-0 9.Ne2 Nc6 10.Bd2?!
This commits the Bishop to a passive square. The main line runs 10.0-0Na5 11.e4 Ne8 12.f4 f5 or 12...Ba6 13.f5 f6 . Note Black must prevent thef-pawn coming to f6; 13...Bxc4? 14.Bxc4 Nxc4 15.f6 Nxf6 16.Bg5 with a crushingattack.
10...d6
More energetic is 10...Na5 11.Ng3 (11.0-0 Ba6) ...Ba6 12.Qe2 d5 13.cxd5Bxd3 14.Qxd3 Qxd5 15.0-0 Qc4 with good play.
11.0-0 Na5 12.Ng3 Ba6 13.Qe2 Rc8 14.d5 e5?
This gives White a free hand. A better try is 14...Qd7!?
15.Nf5 Re8 16.e4 Nb3?
Necessary was 16...Nh5. Black cannot allow Bg5, pinning the Knight,in the Saemisch.
17.Bg5! Nxa1 18.Qf2!?
Possible was 18.Rxa1but Svoboda has bigger game in mind!
18...Rc7?!
Black had to try something radical like 18...h6 19.Bxh6 (19.Bh4 Kh720.Rxa1 g6 21.Ne3 g5 22.Bg3 Nh5) 19...Nh5.
19.Qh4 h5
This doesn't work well and neither does 19...Nb3 20.Nxg7! At this pointit is hard to suggest improvements.
20.f4!
20.Rxa1 was possible but the text is more to the point.
20...Bc8 21.Ng3?!
21.Nxg7 Kxg7 22.fxe5 wins immediately.
21...Bg4 22.h3 Qd7
On 22...exf4 then 23.Rxf4 Bd1 24.Bxf6 gxf6 25.Rxf6, with Nf5 coming,is decisive.
23.f5
If 23.fxe5 then 23...Nh7!. 23.Bxf6 gxf6 24.hxg4 Qxg4 25.Qxg4+ hxg426.Rxa1was also possible.
23...Nh7 24.hxg4 f6
Maybe 24...Nb3 25.gxh5 (25.Nxh5 f6 26.Be3 with g5 coming isn't so clear.)25...Nxg5 26.Qxg5 f6 had to be played.
25.Be3 Nb3 26.gxh5 Qe7 27.h6
Now the second wave of the attack picks up.
27...Ng5 28.Nh5?
28.hxg7! Qxg7 29.Nh5 won on the spot.
28...Qd8?
28...gxh6! and Black is still alive.Now White finishes the job.
29.Nxg7 Rxg7 30.hxg7 Kxg7 31.Qh5 Rg8 32.Kf2 Rh8 33.Qg6+ Kf8 34.Bxg5fxg5 35.f6 Rg8 36.Qh6+ Kf7 37.Qh7+ Kf8 38.f7 1-0
2) Matthew Ho wins 2005 Falconer Award
San Jose high school student Matthew Ho is the 2005 Falconeraward winner. Ho, who represented the United States in the World YouthChampionships in Greece last fall, received $2259, matching his 2259 ratingon the December 2004 USCF rating list. Previous recipients of theFalconer, given to the top player in Northern California under 18, includeNicolasYap, Michael Pearson and Vinay Bhat (3 times). This award ismade possible by the generosity of longtime MI Trustee Neil Falconer.
3) Ursula Foster (1927-2204)
Recently MI regular Mark Kastor asked me why he hadn't seen UrsulaFoster at any recent tournaments. I found the sad answer at the USCF websitein the section for remembering recently deceased members. Many Californiaplayers will remember Ursula for her love of the game and good cheer.
A lengthy obituary appears on the Modesto Bee website..http://www.modbee.com/local/story/8982645p-9876591c.html
4) Shulman-Miton match in Oklahoma
The Berry brothers of Stillwater are at it again. Frankand Jim Berry, who have run the North American Open for over a decade,and grown it into one of the strongest Labor Day tournaments in the UnitedStates will be sponsoring a match between young Polish 2600 GM KamilMiton and GM Yury Shulman of Brooklyn who recently tied for
third in the US Championship. The six game, featuring a $3000 prize fund
($2000 to the winner) will be held Feb 19-21 alongside the OCF Winter
NAO FIDE Open. See upcoming tournaments below for details about the latter
event.
5) Nakamura tied for lead in Gibraltar
GM Hikaru Nakamura is tied for first with 6 from 8 with two rounds to go in the Gibtelecom Masters. Among those sharing the lead with him are top seed Alexey Shirov. Here is Hikaru's 8th round win over English GM Chris Ward.
NAKAMURA,H - WARD,C
Gibtelecom Masters 2005 Caleta Hotel Gibraltar (8.6), 01.02.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Nge2 Ne4 6.Qc2 Bb7 7.Nf4 0-0
8.Bd3 f5 9.0-0 Bxc3 10.bxc3 c5 11.f3 Nd6 12.e4 Nc6 13.e5 Nf7 14.Qf2 Rc8
15.Be3 Qe7 16.Rac1 Kh8 17.Rfe1 Na5 18.Qe2 Ba6 19.Bf2 Qg5 20.Nh3 Qh5 21.Be3
Qh4 22.Bf2 Qh5 23.Be3 Qh4 24.Red1 Rc7 25.f4 cxd4 26.cxd4 Rfc8 27.c5 Bxd3
28.Qxd3 bxc5 29.Qb5 Nc6 30.Rxc5 Ne7 31.Rxc7 Rxc7 32.d5 Nxd5 33.Ng5 g6 34.Nxf7+
Kg7 35.Nd6 Nxe3 36.Ne8+ Kh6 37.Qb4 d6 38.Nxc7 Nxd1 39.Qd2 dxe5 40.Nxe6
exf4 41.Nxf4 Nb2 42.Nd3+ g5 43.Nxb2 Qe4 44.Nd1 f4 45.h3 f3 46.g4 Qe2 47.Qd6+
Kg7 48.Qd4+ Kg8 49.Nf2 Qxa2 50.Qd8+ Kf7 51.Qd7+ Kf8 52.Qf5+ Ke8 53.Qe4+
Kd8 54.Qxf3 a5 55.Nd3 a4 56.Qf8+ Kc7 57.Qg7+ Kc8 58.Qh8+ Kc7 59.Qxh7+ Kc8
60.Qh8+ Kc7 61.Qe5+ Kc8 62.Qc5+ Kb7 63.Qb4+ Kc7 64.Qc3+ Kd8 65.Nc1 Qe6
66.Kf2 Qb6+ 67.Ke2 Qg1 68.Kd2 Qg2+ 69.Ne2 1-0
6) Here and There
John Henderson of America's Foundation for Chess, which has sponsored the US Championship since 2000 writes about the qualifying events for the 2006 event which will be held in February in San Diego.
"I have the 2006 Qualifying cycle ready - we now have to agree (within
the next week or two) with the USCF before publication. However,
I can tell you that it
includes two new events: the American Open and the National Congress.
Seeds will be based on the September 2005 USCF list; there will also be
an
Additional spot made up of the player who accumulates the most points
from the qualifying cycle but fails to gain a spot proper - a sort of Grand
Prix if you wish."
Readers of the Newsletter may recall that the AF4C stepped in when the USCF was unable to hold the event. The initial tournaments for men and women in 2000 were run on the traditional format roundrobin format. Since then, in 2002, 2003 and 2004 a 64 player, nine round, mixed gender Swiss has been the template. The qualifying events generated a great deal of interest last year and I suspect that even more players will be trying to make it into next February's Championship. American chess players owe a big thanks to the AF4C and in particular Board Member Erik Anderson who has shown a particularly keen interest in the US Championship. Hearty thanks also go to GM Yasser Seirawan who was instrumental in the founding of the AF4C in his hometown of Seattle.
There are so many websites devoted to chess that it is hard to keep
track of what is happening. One excellent one that I visited recently and
is well worth checking out is the site of the world's leading chess historian,
Edward
Winter. You can find it at http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/index.html.
Newsletter #230, 02/09/2005
"Now that I've become one of the 10,000 fairly good players who've
retired from tournament chess, I can clearly see what I should have seen
when I was active --- that for most of us, chess is less of a serious competitive
sport than a lifelong love affair."
IM David Strauss
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
Ricardo DeGuzman was the convincing winner of the 5th Annual Henry Gross Memorial G/45 last Saturday. The Filipino IM won his first four games before clinching the victory with a draw against teenager Sam Shankland. Sam had an excellent result tying for second at 4-1 with Dutch Master Marcel Beulen and Expert Victor Ossipov. Anthony Corrales directed the 28-player event for the Mechanics'.
Five rounds into the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon there is five-way tie for first at 4.5 between IM Odondoo Ganbold, NMs Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, Nicolas Yap, and Igor Margulis, and Expert Igor Traub.
Thanks to Providian Financial as part of their Providian Cares program WGM Camilla Baginskaite will begin teaching a free class for women of all ages on Sundays from 2-4 pm very soon. The next Newsletter will have complete details.
The MI's advanced Chess Camp, with GM Alex Yermolinsky as lead instructor, will be back for the fifth consecutive year this summer. The all day camp will run from August 1-5.
Mea Culpa - Nicolas Yap and not Matthew Ho was the 2004
Falconer Award winner.
2) East Bay Chess Club News
SM David Pruess writes:
EBCC February Swiss
There’s a new chess player in town, and his first tournament was a resounding
success. New York NM Ben Dean-Kawamura, recently relocated to the
Bay Area, won his first tournament in these parts with a resounding 4-0
score. To reach this mark he had to face the #1, 3 and 4 seeds in the tournament
(he was the #2 seed), knocking them off in succession in rounds 2-4. He
played an excellent attacking game against SM David Pruess in round
2.
Second was taken by Mingson Chen with a score of 3.5/4. U2000
honors went to Robert Russo, U1700 to Jonathan Soo Hoo, and
U1500/unr to Jamie Sawhill. The East Bay Chess Club holds a weekend
swiss once a month, the next one being March 12-13.
Bayareasliga to open soon
A chess league will be starting its first season in the Bay Area shortly.
The matches will be played once a month between 4 man teams (though the
teams may have many alternates on their roster). The first two match dates
are Feb 27th and March 26th. It is still not too late to get into the league,
there is room for a few more players. If you would like to have a team
or be placed on a team, please contact David Pruess at [email protected]
ASAP.
3) Jay Bonin triumphs
The 132nd, and for the moment final, New York Masters took place on 1st February 2005. Alex Shabalov and Gata Kamsky finished in joint first on 3/4. The two previous events IM Jay Bonin went on a tear winning both tournaments scoring 5.5 from 6 against strong GMs!
Bonin,J (2342) - Stripunsky,A (2533) [A21]
130th NY Masters New York USA (2), 18.01.2005
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.Qc2 c6 4.a3 Bxc3 5.Qxc3 Qe7 6.d4 d6 7.c5 Nd7
8.cxd6 Qxd6 9.dxe5 Qxe5 10.Qxe5+ Nxe5 11.Nf3 Nxf3+ 12.gxf3 Be6 13.e4 Nf6
14.Rg1 g6 15.Be3 Nd7 16.f4 a6 17.b4 f5 18.Bh3 0–0–0 19.0–0–0 Nf6 20.exf5
Bxf5 21.Bxf5+ gxf5 22.Bd4 Rhf8 23.Rg7 Nh5 24.Rxh7 Nxf4 25.Bb6 Rxd1+ 26.Kxd1
Nd5 27.Bd4 Rd8 28.Rh8 Rxh8 29.Bxh8 Kd7 30.Kd2 Ke6 31.Kd3 Nf4+ 32.Kd4 b6
33.Bg7 Nh3 34.f3 Ng5 35.Ke3 Kf7 36.Bd4 b5 37.Kf4 Ne6+ 38.Ke5 Ng5 39.Kxf5
Nxf3 40.Be5 Nh4+ 41.Kg4 Ng6 42.Bb2 Nf8 43.h4 Ne6 44.Kf5 c5 45.h5 c4 46.h6
Nf8 47.Ke5 Kg6 48.Bc1 Kh7 49.Kd6 Ng6 50.Kc6 Ne5+ 51.Kb6 Nd3 52.Be3 c3 53.Kxa6
c2 54.Kxb5 Ne5 55.a4 Nf3 56.a5 Nd4+ 57.Kc4 Nf5 58.Bc1 Nd6+ 59.Kc3 1–0
Yudasin,L (2547) - Bonin,J (2342) [C00]
130th NY Masters New York USA (4), 18.01.2005
1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Qe2 b6 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bd2 Bxc3 7.Bxc3
Nf6 8.Qf3 Qxf3 9.Nxf3 Bb7 10.Ne5 Nc6 11.Nxc6 Bxc6 12.f3 Rg8 13.Kf2 Nd5
14.Bd2 g5 15.Be2 f5 16.h4 g4 17.fxg4 fxg4 18.Kg3 Ne7 19.h5 Nf5+ 20.Kf4
0–0–0 21.Bc3 Rdf8 22.Rac1 g3 23.Rhg1 Nh4+ 24.Ke3 Nxg2+ 25.Kd2 Nf4 26.Be5
g2 27.Bxf4 Rxf4 28.Rce1 Rg3 29.Bd1 Kd7 30.c3 Kd6 31.d4 Bb5 32.a4 Rf2+ 33.Kc1
Bd3 34.Bb3 Bf5 35.Bc4 Rc2+ 36.Kd1 Rxb2 37.Be2 Rxc3 0–1
Stripunsky,A (2550) - Bonin,J (2343) [C42]
131st NY Masters New York USA (2), 25.01.2005
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Be7 7.0–0 Nd6
8.Re1 0–0 9.Nc3 c6 10.Ne2 Bf5 11.Ng3 Bxd3 12.Qxd3 Nd7 13.a4 a5 14.b3 Nf6
15.Bg5 Re8 16.Re2 Nfe4 17.Bxe7 Rxe7 18.Rae1 Re8 19.c4 Nxg3 20.Rxe8+ Nxe8
21.hxg3 Nc7 22.Qf5 g6 23.Qg4 Ne6 24.Ne5 Qf6 25.Re3 Rd8 26.c5 Qf5 27.Qxf5
gxf5 28.Nf3 b6 29.cxb6 Rb8 30.Rc3 Rxb6 31.Kf1 f6 32.Ke2 Kf7 33.Ke3 Rb4
34.Kd3 Ke7 35.Kc2 Kd6 36.Rd3 c5 37.dxc5+ Nxc5 38.Re3 d4 39.Re8 d3+ 40.Kd2
Rxb3 41.Nd4 Rb2+ 42.Ke3 d2 43.Ke2 Nxa4 44.Rd8+ Kc5 45.Ne6+ Kc4 46.Rd4+
Kb3 47.Rxd2 Nc3+ 48.Kd3 Rxd2+ 49.Kxd2 Ne4+ 50.Kc1 Nxf2 51.Nd4+ Kc3 52.Nxf5
Ne4 53.Kb1 Kd3 54.g4 Ke2 55.Nd4+ Kf2 56.Nc6 a4 57.Ka2 Kxg2 58.Ka3 Nc5 59.Ne7
Kg3 60.Nd5 Ne4 61.Kxa4 Kxg4 62.Kb3 h5 63.Kc2 Kf3 64.Kd3 h4 65.Ne3 Ng3 66.Nc4
h3 0–1
Bonin,J (2343) - Wojtkiewicz,A (2536) [E61]
131st NY Masters New York USA (3), 25.01.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 0–0 5.e4 c6 6.Bd3 d6 7.h3 e5 8.0–0
exd4 9.Nxd4 Re8 10.Bc2 Na6 11.Bf4 Nc5 12.Re1 Nh5 13.Bh2 Be5 14.Nf3 Bxh2+
15.Kxh2 Qf6 16.Qd2 Nf4 17.Rad1 Nxh3 18.b4 Nd7 19.Kxh3 Ne5+ 20.Kg3 Nxc4
21.Qd4 Qe6 22.Bb3 Qg4+ 23.Kh2 Ne5 24.Qxd6 Nxf3+ 25.gxf3 Qxf3 26.Qg3 Qh5+
27.Kg2 Qh6 28.e5 Bf5 29.Ne4 Bxe4+ 30.Rxe4 Rad8 31.Rxd8 Rxd8 32.Rf4 Rf8
33.e6 fxe6 34.Bxe6+ Kh8 35.Qc3+ 1–0
Kamsky,G (2717) - Bonin,J (2343) [A46]
131st NY Masters New York USA (4), 25.01.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bg5 Nbd7 4.Nbd2 e5 5.c3 Be7 6.e4 exd4 7.cxd4
Nxe4 8.Nxe4 d5 9.Qe2 dxe4 10.Qxe4 Nb6 11.Bd3 Be6 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.0–0 0–0–0
14.a4 Nd5 15.a5 a6 16.Rac1 Qf6 17.Ne5 Qf4 18.Qe2 Nb4 19.Bc4 Rhe8 20.Bxe6+
Rxe6 21.Qc4 Nc6 22.Nxf7 Qxf7 23.d5 Re5 24.dxc6 Qxc4 25.Rxc4 Rxa5 26.cxb7+
Kxb7 27.g3 Ra2 28.Rfc1 Rd7 29.R1c2 a5 30.Kg2 Rf7 31.h4 a4 32.Rb4+ Kc8 33.Rc3
Rf6 34.g4 Kd7 35.Kg3 Rb6 36.Rd4+ Kc8 37.Rdc4 Rb7 38.f3 Ra7 39.Rc2 a3 40.bxa3
Rxc2 41.Rxc2 Rxa3 42.Kf4 Kd7 43.h5 h6 44.Ke4 Kd6 45.f4 c5 46.Kf5 Ra4 ½–½
Miton,K (2583) - Bonin,J (2343) [E81]
132nd NY Masters New York USA (2), 01.02.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0–0 6.Bg5 h6 7.Be3 c5 8.d5
e6 9.Qd2 exd5 10.cxd5 h5 11.Nge2 Re8 12.Nc1 Na6 13.Be2 Nc7 14.0–0 Rb8 15.a4
a6 16.N1a2 b5 17.b4 c4 18.Bd4 bxa4 19.Nxa4 Bd7 20.N4c3 Bb5 21.Rac1 Nd7
22.Bxg7 Kxg7 23.Nd1 Ne5 24.Nf2 f5 25.exf5 gxf5 26.f4 Ng4 27.Bxc4 Ne3 28.Bxb5
Nxb5 29.Rfe1 Qb6 30.h3 Re7 31.Nc3 Rbe8 32.Qd3 Kh6 33.Kh2 Rg8 34.g3 h4 35.g4
fxg4 36.hxg4 Nxg4+ 37.Nxg4+ Rxg4 38.Ne4 Rxe4 39.Qf3 Rgxf4 40.Qg2 Rxe1 0–1
4) LA Masters starts
Just as the New York Masters has shut down the LA Masters
has started up. The 1st Los Angeles Masters took place on 31st January
2005. The format is similar to that of the New York Masters with four games
in an evening Timerate in LA is g/30. The event takes place every Monday
at the LA Chess Club . Sponsor:
Kreiman
Chess Academy . IM Andranik Matikozian won the first event with 3.5/4
and GM Vauzhan Akobian the second with an identical score.
Official site: http://lachessmasters.com/
5) Ursula Foster
Several Newsletter readers responded to the piece on Ursula Foster in the last issue.
Duane & Lore Catania wrote:
Thanks for reporting the news of Ursula Foster. We knew her for 27 years. We will miss the dignity and respect that she brought with her to every tournament.
Mike Maloney writes:
I suppose you might be looking for a game or two of Ursula's. This is the only game I have in my files. It isn't great, but it does show Ursula to have been a solid player and worthy opponent. She had a substantial advantage in the final position.
Maloney,M (1943) - Foster,U (1610) [B18]
Sacramento Championship (3), 07.07.2001
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.Nf3 Nd7 7.h4 h5
8.Bc4 Qc7 9.Qe2 Ngf6 10.Ng5 Nd5 11.Bd2 0-0-0 12.0-0-0 e6 13.Rhe1 Re8 14.N3e4
Kb8 15.g3 Ka8 16.a3 N7f6 17.Bd3 Nxe4 18.Nxe4 Be7 19.c4 Nf6 20.Bf4 Qa5 21.Nxf6
Bxd3 22.Rxd3 Bxf6 23.Kb1 Qf5 24.Ka2 Rd8 25.Be3 e5 26.d5 e4 27.Rd2 cxd5
28.b3 dxc4 29.bxc4 Rd3 30.Bf4 1/2-1/2
7) Royal Game of Chess
Newsletter reader Rusty Miller passes along the following article that was rediscovered by Stephen Wright of British Columbia. Mr. Wright runs an excellent website devoted to BC chess history at http://www3.telus.net/public/swright2/homepage.html
Royal Game of Chess (from Seattle Daily Times, February 19, 1898, p. 13)
It is likely the Hudson Bay Company’s factors and other employees,
who came to this Northwest Coast early in the present century, whiled away
the long winter evenings at the chess table, and that the young army officers
of the United States stationed at Forts Vancouver and Steilacoom in the
50's, including Harney, Grant, McClellan, Sheridan, Kautz, Pickett and
others whose names are now on the page of the immortals, included chess-pIaying
among their accomplishments, but no record of the fact has come down to
us.
The writer has no knowledge of chess-playing in Seattle prior to
1860. During the winter of 1860-1 Hon. L.B. Andrews spent most of
the long evenings at chess in a little gunsmith shop that stood on Commercial
Street a little to the north of the present Squire-Latimer Building. Mr.
Andrews made new guns and mended old ones by day, and his shop was his
parlor, dining room and bedroom as well. English and American muskets of
the last century, yagers and Kentucky squirrel rifles, shotguns and pistols
of now almost forgotten types kept company with each other while awaiting
a new ramrod, tube, mainspring or stock. In the same old, dingy gunshop
the writer saw Mr. Andrews make the first tests of the coal from his Squak
coal mine, which has since been known as the Gilman mine, and which is
a part of the same coal measures as those at Newcastle. The latter were
discovered a year or two later, but were developed much earlier.
During the two decades ending with the ‘70’s there were few accessions
to the ranks of the chessplayers. O.J. Carr, afterward postmaster,
David
Kellogg, B.F. Briggs, William H. Gilliam, Isaac Parker and a few of
the old pioneers helped to keep the traditions of the old game alive for
twenty years or more. About 1883 the town began a more vigorous growth,
and among the newcomers were a few chess players. From about 1881 to 1889
- the year of the fire - Griffith Davies' bookstore became the headquarters
of the lovers of the game. Kendricks, from Seabeck, Bagley, from
Olympia, and visitors from abroad were there welcomed, and it was no unusual
event for a game to start when the doors were closed in the evening and
close only when it was necessary to open them again to patrons in the morning.
During the latter part of this period a young Englishman arrived here,
coming by way of Australia and California, who had been trained in the
clubs of London, and who was at once recognized as the strongest player
in this part of the country, with the exception of Kindrick. This was Thomas
Piper, who participated in the recent match and was the leader of the
Victoria team. He is a young gentleman in every sense of the word, whose
merits are recognized by the military authorities at Esquimalt, where he
occupies a responsible position. Of the Iocal players Bagley was for a
long time at the head, but along about the time of the fire Griffith Davies
took the lead and held it for a year or two and then dropped out of the
leading rank. In 1890 a chess club was organized, with a membership of
some half hundred, large rooms were fitted up in the Frye Block, and the
Chamber of Commerce Building had a chessroom attached, but after a time
interest waned, heavy expense fell upon Davies, Jenner and Bagley and the
rooms were closed. About three years ago a new club was organized in a
modest way and early in 1897 it was consolidated with the Iocal whist organization
under the name of the "Seattle Whist and Chess Club,” which keeps a good
membership and includes among its members some strong players, both whist
and chess.
Rodney Kendrick, formerly of Seabeck, then of Port Hadlock,
and now of San Francisco, and Mr. Piper, mentioned above, were of equal
strength and both were a shade stronger than any others here. Mr. Chapman
of the Victoria team, who played in the recent match, is nearly as strong
as those two, and with one other gentleman of Victoria, whose name the
writer has forgotten, these gentlemen rank with the strongest players of
the Pacific Coast. Of the Iocal players, Messrs. Dickey, Peterson and Bagley
are recognized as the strongest, and it is a point of dispute as to which
is entitled to take precedence. Each one will tell a friend in confidence
that he (the confider) is a shade the better player, but actual contests
over the board have left the matter unsettled, with no promise of adjustment.
Mr.
Davies is probably nearly as strong, but as he does not play with men
who call out his powers, it is uncertain as to his rank. Messrs. Lerch,
Barto, Jenner, Steele, Williams, Cadien, Baldwin, Getman, Curtis and others
are players of more than ordinary strength, and, many other gentlemen of
the city take an active interest in the game, so that Seattle bids fair
to attain and hold good rank in the chess-playing world.
At the recent-match Seattle's best players were outplayed by Victoria's
best players, but in turn the Victoria second-rank men were no match for
the Seattle second rank, so that the total score was in favor of Seattle
-12 to 9. It is probable that a return match will be played before midsummer,
and there is also talk of a telegraphic match with San Francisco.
The late Col. Granville O. Haller was an enthusiastic lover
of the game in earlier years, and he and the writer lightened the tedium
of a long sea voyage together from New York to San Francisco in 1864 with
many a game between themselves and others on the steamer, and the writer
has always remembered with enthusiastic delight the rage of the Major,
as he then ranked, when the steward of the boat would come at 10 o’clock
each evening with a deprecatory flourish and the order, “Lights out, sah."
This regulation was strictly enforced at that time owing to the depredations
of the Alabama and other Confederate cruisers. In the daytime only the
best steam coal, with no smoke, was used, and after dusk all external Iights
were forbidden and all interior ones put out after 10 o'clock. These precautions
and frequent changes of course made were in order to lessen the danger
from such cruisers.
8) Here and There
Congratulations to Ed Labate who bought out the inventory of the late Ken Smith's Chess Digest.You can check out Ed's offerings at labatechess.com.
The latest issue of New in Chess (2005/1) has plenty of California connections. There is a big story on the US Championship held last fall in La Jolla. There is a picture of Dmitry Zilberstein of Fremont who annotates his prize winning victory over Alexander Ivanov. The subject of Just Checking for this issue is GM Larry Christiansen who grew up in Riverside.
Those with good memories will remember Dennis Monokroussos as one of the strongest players Nevada has ever produced. He has recently been very active on the ChessBase website and is now starting his own blog.
Chess fans,
Check out this "blog" by our local Chess Master, Dennis Monokroussos!
http://chessstuff.blogspot.com/
Dennis M's Chess Site
This is a blog for chess fans by a chess fan. I enjoy winning as much
as
anyone else, and I've had a reasonable amount of success as a competitor,
but what keeps me coming back to the game is its beauty. And that,
primarily, is what this site will be about! All material copyrighted.
About Me:Name:Dennis Monokroussos
Location:South Bend, IN
I'm a USCF master (current rating 2352) and a once and hopefully future
senior master (peak rating 2434), but my time in chess these days is
dedicated primarily to training juniors and others to achieve their
own
successes in our great game. For fun, I also teach philosophy; for
a
challenge, I'm trying to complete my doctoral dissertation!
Newsletter #231, 02/16/2005
"Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find
outside of an advertising agency."
Raymond Chandler
1) Mechanics' Chess Club News
NMs Nicolas Yap and Batchimeg Tuvshintugs are tied for the lead in the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon after 6 rounds with scores of 5.5. The big upset last night was NM Nicolas Yap's win over top-seed Ganbold Odondoo.
Yap - Odondoo [C70]
Winter TNM, 2005
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nge7 5.0–0 g6 6.c3 Bg7 7.d4 d6 8.Be3
0–0 9.Nbd2 h6 10.Re1 Kh7 11.Bc2 f5 12.exf5 Nxf5 13.dxe5 Nxe3 14.Rxe3 Nxe5
15.h3 Nxf3+ 16.Nxf3 Qf6 17.Qd2 Bd7 18.Rae1 Rae8 19.Nd4 Rxe3 20.Rxe3 Qf4
21.Qe1 Qf6?
21...d5 22.Ne6 Bxe6 23.Rxe6 Rf6 24.Re7 Rf7=
22.Rg3 Qe5
22...Bf5 23.Nxf5 gxf5 24.Re3 leaves White clearly better; 22...Be8
23.Rf3 wins.
23.Bxg6+ Kh8 24.Qxe5 Bxe5 25.Rf3 Kg7 26.Rxf8 Kxf8 27.Nf3 Bf6 28.Be4
b5 29.g4 a5 30.Kg2 b4 31.cxb4 axb4 32.b3 c6 33.Ne1 d5 34.Bd3 Be5 35.Kf3
c5 36.Ke2 Be6 37.Ng2 c4 38.Bb1 Bd6 39.Ne3 Kf7 40.Bf5 c3 41.Kd3 Bc5 42.Bxe6+
Kxe6 43.Nf5 h5 44.Ng7+ Ke5 45.f4+ Kf6 46.Nxh5+ Kg6 1–0
Three members of the Mechanics' Institute are ranked in the top 15 in the country in the Under 10 category. Congratulations to Daniel Naroditsky, Gregory Young and Hugo Kitano!
February 2005 USCF Top Age 9
1 Heung, Christopher 9
FL 1860
2 Wang, Andrew C 9
MA 1695
3 Naroditsky, Daniel A 9
CA 1688
4 Ding, Richard 9
AZ 1662
5 Finney, Stuart S 9
RI 1647
6 Silberman, Sam E 9
FL 1621
7 Bindumadhavan, Krishna 9
VA 1609
Lung, James 9
MA 1609
9 Karp, Justin D 9
NY 1607
10 Moon, Ryan Joseph R 9
GA 1605
11 Young, Gregory 9
CA 1598
12 Lessen, Zachary 9
NY 1572
13 Rozovsky, Daniel 9
CT 1558
14 Wu, Hengyi 9
FL 1543
15 Kitano, Hugo C 9
CA 1542
2) Our Man in Moscow
The 4th Aeroflot Chess festival started on February 15 and is being held at the Hotel Rossija in Moscow. Thirty two of the top 100 players in the world are competing led by top seeds: 1 Etienne Bacrot 2 Vassily Ivanchuk 3 Vladimir Akopian 4 Levon Aronian 5 Viktor Bologan 6 Konstantin Sakaev 7 Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 8 Emil Sutovsky 9 Teimour Radjabov 10 Alexander Motylev 11 Vladimir Malakhov 12 Alexander Khalifman 13 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 14 Krishnan Sasikiran 15 Vadim Zvjaginsev 16 Pavel Smirnov 17 Pavel Eljanov 18 Aleksej Aleksandrov 19 Alexander G Beliavsky 20 Mikhail Kobalia 21 Gregory S Kaidanov 22 Pavel V. Tregubov 23 Ni Hua 24 Sergei Movsesian 25 Evgeniy Najer For further details visit http://www.aeroflotchess.com/
MI Grandmaster-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky, our Man in Moscow, drew his first round game with Polish GM Robert Kempinski.
Yermolinsky,A - Kempinski,R
AEROFLOT OPEN 2005 (1)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0–0 5.Nf3 c6 6.Bd3 d6 7.0–0 Na6 8.h3 e5 9.d5 Nc5 10.Bc2 a5 11.Be3 Qc7 12.a3 cxd5 13.cxd5 Bd7 14.Rc1 Rfc8 15.b4 axb4 16.axb4 Na6 17.Na4 Bxa4 18.Bxa4 Qd8 19.Rxc8 Qxc8 20.Qb1 Qc4 21.Nd2 Qxb4 22.Bb5 Bf8 23.f3 Nh5 24.Bxa6 Qxb1 25.Rxb1 bxa6 26.Ra1 Be7 27.Ra4 f5 28.g4 Nf6 29.Kf1 fxe4 30.fxe4 Bd8 31.Ke2 a5 32.Kd3 Nd7 33.Nc4 Bc7 34.Ra3 Kf7 35.Rb3 Ke8 36.Nb2 Kd8 37.Na4 Kc8 38.g5 Kd8 39.h4 Nb8 40.Bc1 Nd7 41.Ba3 Kc8 42.Kc4 Rb8 43.Rxb8+ Kxb8 44.Kb5 Kb7 45.Bc1 Nb6 46.Nb2 Bd8 47.Bd2 a4 48.Bb4 Bc7 49.Ba3 Bb8 50.Nd3 Nc8 51.Kxa4 Ba7 52.Kb5 Bg1 53.Bb4 Na7+ 54.Kc4 Nc8 55.Be1 Nb6+ 56.Kb5 Nd7 57.Bb4 Kc7 58.Ba5+ Kb7 59.Nb2 Nc5 60.Bb6 Nd3 ½–½
Alex is paired with Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami in round 2.
3) Pal Benko: My Life, Games and Compositions win Chess Cafe Book of the Year
Hanon Russell, owner and founder of ChessCafe.com, writes:
After the first round of voting which ended January 26, the top three
vote-getters made the "short list". These three books were Pal Benko:
My Life, Games and Compositions by Pal Benko and Jeremy
Silman, Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors; Part
Four: Fischer by Garry Kasparov with Dmitri Plisetski and
Chess
Exam and Training Guide by Igor Khmelnitsky.
Previous years had seen 300-500 votes cast for our Book of the Year.
This year, over 900 votes were received. And, much like previous years
- and with no disrespect intended to any book or author - this year's contest
was really a two-book race between the Benko book and Kasparov's MGP v4.
After all the votes were in and counted, Benko's magnificent work was
the clear winner, the 2004 ChessCafe.com Book of the Year. Our congratulations
to the authors, publishers and of course you, our readers, for making it
happen.
I believe Benko and Silman have become the first authors to win the
US Chess Journalists Cramer Award, the British Chess Federation's
Book of the Year and the ChessCafe.com Book of the Year for the same
book.
4) Linares
The seven players for Linares this year are: Garry Kasparov,
Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, Peter Leko, Michael Adams, Francisco
Vallejo Pons and Rustam Kasimdzhanov. The Category 20 (2743)
event will run February 22-March 10 with rest days on March 1st and 7th.
Go to http://www.marca.com/linares/ for more information.
5) Seirawan second in Dutch Blitz Chess Open
The 10th Open Dutch Blitzchess tournament took place on February 5th 2005. There were 17 rounds (34 games) played in this traditionally strong event. Ukrainian GM Vladimir Baklan became the sole winner while "retired" American GM Yasser Seirawan was second.
Final Standings:
1. Baklan 25/34
2. Seirawan - 24.5
3. Fridman - 24
4-7. Kasimdzhanov, I. Sokolov,
Speelman and Bosboom - 23;
8-9. P. Nikolic and Smeets - 22.5
10-15. van den Doel, van Wely, L'Ami,
Stellwagen, Jonkman & Schrool - 21.5
etc (200 participants).
More details and the archive of information on previous Blitzchess events
can be found at http://www.blitzchess.nl/eng
6) Susan Polgar in Lifestyles magazine
Susan Polgar - Long Live the Queen
by Nancy Ruhling
Grandmaster Susan Polgar settles herself into the folding
chair on the makeshift podium, folds her arms demurely in front of her
and trains her enormous coffee-brown eyes on the green and white chessboard
before her. She lost the coin toss to her opponent, Hall of Famer Lev
Alburt, so he, as white, will be making the first move in the 4th annual
Chess-in-the-Parks Rapid Open in New York City's Central Park.
Polgar, the No. 1 ranked player in the United States and the No.
1 player in the world, earned her first checkmate when she was only 41/2
and since then has played against all the big names—Bobby Fischer, Boris
Spassky, Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov—but this is no ordinary game
and this is certainly no ordinary venue.
As Polgar and Alburt make their moves, the results are bellowed
out via microphone and 32 hyper grade-schoolers, posing as chessmen, mimic
the players' maneuvers on a life-size chessboard beneath the park's angel-topped
Bethesda Fountain. The object of this demonstration is not so much to win
or lose but to show children how much fun the game of chess really can
be.
As the clock ticks, the gray sky is spitting rain, the security
guards are squealing into their squawkers, the live chess pieces are bopping
up and down like Mexican jumping beans, the trumpeter is punctuating each
move by playing a peppy phrase and the fans are calling out advice—“Take
a bishop, why doesn't she take a bishop!” Then someone trips and tips over
the empty chair next to Polgar. She doesn't so much as blink. Her rapt
concentration wavers only once, when a little voice yells out a big shout
of “Mommy! Mommy!” Reflexively, Polgar, the mother of two little sons,
glances to the side.
An hour later, amid all the noise, nuisance and nonsense, the game
ends: It's a tie. As the live chessmen boogie off the board, Polgar stands
tall in her black stilettos and puts her hand on her forehead as if the
motion alone will clear her mind and get her to concentrate on her next
move, which is right into the crowd to greet all her fans.
“Chess is in many ways like life itself,” she says. “It's all condensed
in a playful manner in a game format and it's extremely fascinating because
first of all I'm in control of my own destiny, I'm in charge. You have
to be responsible for your actions, you make a move, you had better think
ahead about what's going to happen, not after it happens, because then
it's too late. Chess teaches discipline from a very early age. It teaches
you to have a plan and to plan ahead. If you do that, you'll be rewarded;
if you break the rules, you will get punished—in life and in chess. You
need to learn the rules to break the rules.”
Learning the game of chess, she says, gave her a head start on the
game of life, and that's why she has been devoting her life to being an
advocate and an ambassador for chess, all with the goal of making chess
as all-American as Mom, apple pie and baseball. In addition to participating
in events like the live chess game, she has established the Polgar Chess
Center in Forest Hills, New York, where she teaches students and hosts
major chess events, and has set up the Susan Polgar Foundation, a nonprofit
organization to introduce the social, educational and competitive benefits
to American youngsters, especially girls.
“Chess is very good to teach children because it's a very playful
game,” she says. “Once you understand a little bit about chess, you can
really see the beauty in it like in art or in music.”
It is that beauty that taught her to focus, to concentrate and to
be disciplined enough to play and win, even when the odds were stacked
against her. As a woman and a Jew growing up in Hungary, she faced discrimination
on two levels. Chess was, and for the most part still is, a man's game,
and it was she who was the first to break through the gender barrier. While
her early wins made her a curiosity in her own country, they only brought
her awards and acclaim, not acceptance. “The antisemitism was more subtle,”
the 35-year-old Polgar says, adding that all of her grandparents are Holocaust
survivors. “The woman problem was more open. Even though by 1984, when
I was 15, I was the top-ranked woman in the world, my real breakthrough
didn't come until 1988, when for the first time ever, my two younger sisters,
Sofia and Judit, and I won the gold medal in the World Chess Olympiad for
Hungary. This was the first time any country had ever won over the Soviets.
The government started applauding us, and we became national heroes.”
The win made her the Michael Jordan of the chess world. Even today
she is a household name in Hungary, and when she visits her homeland, fans
stop her on the street and ask for her autograph. By the time her reputation
was established, she was besting the male masters. “They were disappointed
to lose,” she says, “but they weren't disappointed because I was a woman
but simply because they lost.”
Polgar went on to win nine other Olympic medals, along with a slew
of other honors, including being named Women's World Champion four times,
that have allowed her to remain ranked among the top three female players
for the last two decades. Her most recent victory took place in October
2004, when she and the U.S. team brought home America's first-ever medal
for the women's competition—the silver—in the 36th World Chess Olympiad
that was played in Calvia, Spain. In that competition, she further distinguished
herself by bringing home two gold medals—one for best overall performance
and one for the most points scored in the entire Women's Olympiad —and
a silver for racking up the second-best percentage.
Since the birth of her sons—Tom is 5 and Leeam is 4—Polgar has devoted
herself to promoting, not playing chess. Indeed, the 2004 Olympiad was
her first international tournament in eight years.
“Now I concentrate on revolutionizing the game and bringing it to
the next level of popularity,” she says.
(Sofia, who lives in Israel, stopped playing when she was ranked
No. 6 in the world but still ranks in the top 20; Judit, who replaced Susan
as No. 1, has been inactive recently because she had a baby.)
It was her father who taught Susan chess and it was she who got
Judit and Sofia into the game. “He was a chess fan and wanted to have an
opponent,” she says. “But he was never a professional player, and he never
even owned a book on chess until we started playing together.”
Polgar, who was homeschooled, was introduced to the game at 4 and
her first win, a perfect 10-0 score in the girls-under-11 championship
in Budapest, turned her into a media sensation. By age 10, she was beating
her father at his own game. By age 15, she was the No. 1 female player
in the world.
When she was ready to enter college, Polgar could say “Checkmate!”
in seven languages—Hungarian, English, German, Russian, Spanish, Hebrew
and Esperanto—and decided to major in physical education and sports teaching,
taking a special degree in chess at the Academy of Physical Sports and
Education in Minsk, Belarussia.
Her victories and “firsts” have been steady throughout her career.
The only world champion, male or female, to win the triple crown—rapid,
blitz and traditional world championships—she also is the first woman to
win the U.S. Open Blitz Championship; the first woman to win the Grandmaster
of the Year Award; the first woman to break the gender barrier to earn
the Men's Grandmaster title, and the first woman to qualify for the Men's
World Championship.
The award-winning, best-selling author and columnist also is a three-time
winner of the Chess Oscar.
What is Polgar's winning combination? There is a lot more to it
than merely making the right moves at the right time, she says. Before
the game even begins, Polgar does extensive study and research on her opponent's
previous games and on overall strategies. “I have to set my mind so that
I get the proper sleep. I have to be organized and really focused for the
hours that it takes to play the game,” she says. “I also work on improving
my endurance by going to the gym. It can take seven to eight hours for
one game in top competitions, and it's very tense.”
Although chess is popular in Europe, in America it is considered
intellectual, difficult and worst of all, boring. “It's not any of those
things,” Polgar insists. “In Europe, you can make a living playing chess.
In the United States, you can't. I hope to improve the image of chess and
the life of professional players. I could teach you in an hour all the
basics. You have to understand the rules and the logic. After that, it's
all a matter of practice.”
To prove her point, she has written a number of books, including
Teach Yourself Chess in 24 Hours and The World Champion's Guide to Chess,
which will be published in March 2005.
Some 45 million people in the United States spend time moving black
and white kings and queens from square to square on chessboards and some
200,000 children in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have learned to
cheerfully declare “Checkmate,” but only a few schools teach it. “In Europe,
there are over 30 countries that use it in the school curriculum,” Polgar
says. “I'm trying to get U.S. schools to use chess as a tool nationwide.
Unlike a lot of other sports like baseball and football, it's very affordable.
You can buy a chess set for $10, and two people can play, and it can be
used over and over for years.”
What's more, playing chess helps children develop critical thinking
that is useful not only in the game but also in academics, social situations
and life in general, she adds. “Test scores improved by 17.3% for students
regularly engaged in chess classes, compared with only 4.6% for children
participating in other forms of enriched activities,” Polgar notes. “Chess
has been shown to develop decision-making, critical thinking, logical thinking,
evaluating, planning, problem solving and perseverance skills. It improves
concentration, memory, intuition and self-control and promotes independence,
imagination and creativity. And it inspires self-motivation, self-esteem
and self-confidence. And this is why I am working very hard to raise money
for my foundation. I want to be able to help all children in America do
better in school and life through chess.”
Indeed, Polgar dreams of making chess so popular that it competes
with other sports, like tennis, baseball and football. “We hope to get
many more colleges to start offering scholarships for chess,” she says.
“And we are working to promote chess as a grassroots movement in some of
the smaller cities.”
Once the potential of chess is understood, there will be an explosion
of interest, Polgar says. “In terms of popularity, it's still in its infancy,”
she maintains. “The whole boom in professional chess will create a whole
chain reaction that can revolutionize the game and influence society in
a positive way.”
That's why Polgar wants to put a chess piece in the hand of every
child in America and to bring the game to life just as the Central Park
demonstration did. As part of that effort, she is working on a concept
for an educational and entertaining television show that would introduce
children to chess.
“I found my first chess set when I was looking in the closet at
home for a new toy,” Polgar relates. “I originally was attracted to the
shape of the figures. Later, it was the logic that fascinated me and the
challenge. When I won with my first perfect score, it gave me self-confidence.
And I can see the difference in my own sons; they are more focused, they
are more disciplined.”
As Polgar is leaving Central Park, yet another young awestruck fan
approaches and asks for an autograph. While she's signing, another fan
from across the courtyard points her out to a companion, and in an I-can't-believe-it-tone,
exclaims, “Wow! That's Susan Polgar!!”
8) Northern California Chess Magazines
Northern California, until recently, has been blessed with a series
of fine magazines for more than 50 years. George Koltanowski's California
Chess News (1948-49) and Chess Digest (1950) were followed by the
outstanding California Chess Reporter which appeared from 1951 until 1976.
The more modest Chess in Action appeared from 1951 (maybe 1953) until 1970,
in the last decade quarterly and before that intermittently.
The Scacchic Voice first appeared in the late 1960s and quickly morphed
into the Central California Chess Voice and then Chess Voice before ceasing
publication in 1985. A year later the California Chess Journal started
up and ran until 2004 when it ceased publication as a print magazine for
lack of funds. It continues as an online magazine while Northern California
is without a hard copy journal. Amazingly in the late 1960s the California
Chess Reporter, Chess in Action, Scacchic Voice/Central California Chess
Voice and the Oakland Chess Clubs En Passant were all coming out at the
same time. Those were the days! Thanks to Max Burkett, Neil Falconer, Myron
Johnson and the late Paul Vayssie the Mechanics' has an almost complete
run of all the magazines mentioned except some early issues of Chess in
Action from the 1950s and a few issues of Scacchic Voice/Central California
Chess Voice/Chess Voice.
9) Here and There
Washington Post Chess Columnist GM Lubosh Kavalek is now writing for the Chess Cafe. You can find his work at http://www.chesscafe.com/skittles/skittles.htm
The Far West Open in Reno is only a month away. Chris ([email protected]) writes:
"I don't trust my car to go that far so I would be looking to split gas cost or gas + rental cost, and possibly split hotel cost as well."
Defending champion SM Slava Mikhailuk is leading the Washington State Championship with a score of 4 from 4. Tied for second in the 8-player round robin being held at the Oki Foundation Meeting Center in Bellevue are NMs Bill Schill and Viktors Pupols.
The top ten USCF rated players at the Sacramento Chess Club are led by NM Michael Aigner.
# Name Rating
1 Michael Aigner 2285
2 Kenan Zildzic 2262
3 Arthur L Braden 2250
4 John Langreck 2210
5 James Mac Farland 2208
6 Steven G Ross 2200
7 Ashot Minasyan 2157
8 Ziad A Baroudi 2122
9 Daniel Schwarz 2088
10 Marc T Braverman 2059
Dear Chess Enthusiasts,
In the second week of the LA Masters, we had 4 additional players
(17) and were pleased to have the California's highest-rated player, Varuzhan
Akobian compete. As a result of increased participation, we increased
the prizes accordingly and distributed $600 instead.
For each round, top board game was broadcast live on ICC for thousands
of players worldwide ( if you missed this event, you can type "Fin
LAmasters" on ICC to go over board 1 games for each event).
Also, this event was radio broadcast on Chess.fm web site live!
As before, special thanks to GM Boris Kreiman for commentary
and Michael Jeffreys for ICC move transmissions.
We are very optimistic that this would be the beginning of an exciting,
strong, and long tradition in the West Coast.
We are also hopeful that more individuals and organizations would offer
donations towards the prizes in order to continue to provide this event
at the level it deserves. Your name/organization will be mentioned as donor
(LA Chess Club is a Non-profit organization; and therefore your donations
are tax-deductible). With a minimum of $100 donation, you will receive
complimentary visitation right for life as well!
As usual, your suggestions and/or criticisms are welcomed!
PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO THE VALENTINE AND WESTERN TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP, OUR NEXT TOURNAMENT WILL BE HELD ON FEBRUARY 28TH.
Regards,
Mick Bighamian
Newsletter #232, 02/23/2005
"The proper attire for a chessplayer is not a business suit but a
ninja outfit"
Vladimir Epishin
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
Batchimeg Tuvshintugs defeated fellow teenager NM Nicolas Yap to grab a point lead with 6.5 from 7 with two rounds to go in the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon. Tied for second at 5.5 in the 71-player field are Yap, IM Odondoo Ganbold, NM Igor Margulis and Expert Igor Traub.
The Mechanics' will hold a blitz tournament on Saturday, April 9, to celebrate Val Zemitis' 80th birthday. More details shortly.
Thanks to Providian Financial as part of their Providian Cares program
WGM
Kamile Baginskaite will begin teaching a free class for women of all
ages on Sundays from 2-4 pm starting this week on February 27.
2) DeGuzman wins Peoples Open
32nd Annual People's Chess Tournament
by Michael Aigner
This past weekend saw the continuation of a tradition in Berkeley
that dates back to the days of protests against wars of a previous era.
The 32nd edition of the People's Tournament was held in the beautiful
Pauley ballroom at the M.L. King student union on the campus of UC Berkeley.
A total of 146 players competed in the main tournament held on Saturday
through Monday while another 159 youngsters came on Monday for the annual
Young People's Tournament. Both events were organized by the Berkeley
student government. Richard Koepcke directed the adult tournament
while Mark Shelton ran the scholastic event.
The combined open and expert section featured 28 players, of which
9 were masters. Top seeded Filipino IM Richardo DeGuzman was
held to a surprising draw in round 1 by teenager Drake Wang but
then recovered to defeat four other opponents, including NM Michael
Aigner and FM Bela Evans. His
5.0 out of 6 score was sufficient for clear first place. Aigner
scored four victories in six rounds to overcome the defeat at the hands
of DeGuzman and finish in second place at 4.5 points. Tied for third and
under 2300 honors were NM Andras Erdei of Hungary and local superstar
junior NM Nicolas Yap. Since the expert section was combined
with the open, 3.5 points was sufficient to win first place expert.
Four players achieved this score: veterans Victor Ossipov and Alexander
Levitan plus 10th graders Drake Wang and Daniel Schwarz.
The competition was just as fierce in the lower sections.
Mechanics' Institute member Yefim Bukh won Class A with 5.0
out of 6. Varun Behl won his first five games in Class
B before taking a last round draw that clinched first place. Daniel
Moglen and Trevor Showalter shared the top honors in the Reserve
(under
1600) section by drawing their game in the last round.
For complete tournament results (both adult and scholastic) plus
dozens of pictures, please check out the following links on the CalChess
and ChessDryad websites.
http://www.calchess.org/tournament_results/2005Peoples.htm
http://www.calchess.org/tournament_results/2005YoungPeoples.htm
http://www.chessdryad.com/photos/berkeley/people_05/index.htm
http://www.chessdryad.com/photos/berkeley/people_05b/index.htm
3) Our Man in Moscow Part Two
Armenian GM Vladimir Akopian defeated tournament leader Andrei Kharlov to force a 5-way tie for first between these two players, Vassily Ivanchuk, Emil Sutovsky and Alexander Motylev at 6.5 from 9 in the Aeroflot Open. Leading the American participants were Alexander Shabalov and Alex Yermolinsky at 5. Yermo had a fine result playing up every round against an average opposition of 2627 for a performance rating of over 2660. His only loss was to tournament co-winner Motlyev. Next Tuesday and Wednesday Alex will be talking about some of the highlights of Aeroflot Open starting at 5:15 pm in the Chess Room.
Levon Aronian didn't win the Aeroflot Open but if there had been a competition for give-away chess he would have been a prime contender as evidenced by this sacrificial orgy.
Aronian,L (2684) - Popov,V (2588) [D15]
Aeroflot Open Moscow RUS (4), 2005
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 a6 5.Nf3 b5 6.c5 g6 7.Qb3 a5
8.Ne5 Bg7 9.Nxb5 cxb5 10.Bxb5+ Kf8 11.0–0 Ba6 12.a4 Ne4 13.Nd3 Bb7 14.f3
Nf6 15.Ne5 Qc7 16.Bd2 h5 17.c6 Bc8 18.e4 Qb6 19.Be3 Be6 20.Rac1 Na6 21.f4
Nc7 22.f5 Bc8 23.Rc5 Ba6 24.Bg5 Bc8 25.Kh1 Nxe4 26.Bxe7+ Kxe7 27.Rxd5 Nxd5
28.Qxd5 Ng5 29.Nxg6+ fxg6 30.Re1+ Be6 31.Rxe6+ Kf8 32.Qd6+ Kg8 33.Bc4 Kh7
34.Re7 gxf5 35.Qf6 Rhg8 36.Qxg5 1–0
4) Shulman-Wojtkiewicz match
The six-game match between Grandmasters Yury Shulman and Alex Wojtkiewicz, held February 19-21 in Stillwater, Oklahoma, finished 3-3 in regulation before going into sudden death where Shulman won the second blitz game to win. This match was sponsored by Frank Berry and the Oklahoma Chess Foundation with Frank Berry, Fred Roper, Alex Relyea and Jim Berry serving as arbiters. This was yet another special event organized by the Berry brothers who have put Stillwater on the world chess map.
Wojtkiewicz-Shulman Game 3 Catalan
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4
7. Ne5 Nc6 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9. Nxc6 Qe8 10. Nxe7+ Qxe7 11. Qa4 c5 12. Qxc4 cxd4
13. Qxd4 e5
14. Qh4 Rb8 15. b3 Qe6 16. Bg5 Nd5 17. e4 Nb4 18. Be7 Re8 19. Bxb4
Rxb4 20.Nc3 Bb7 21. Rfe1 Rd4 22. Qg5 h6 23. Qe3 Red8 24. Rad1 f5 25. f3
fxe4 26.fxe4 Qg4 27. Rxd4 exd4 28. Qd3 Qg5 29. Nd5 Bxd5 30. exd5 Qxd5 31.
Qc4 Draw
Shulman-Wojtkiewicz, Game 4 Slav
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7.
Nxc4 Nb6 8. Ne5 a5 9. g3 e6 10. Bg2 Bb4 11. O-O O-O 12. e3 h6 13. Qe2 Bh7
14. Rd1
Nbd7 15. Nxd7 Nxd7 16. e4 Qe7 17. Be3 Rfd8 18. d5 exd5 19. exd5
Bxc3 20.bxc3 cxd5 21. Rxd5 Nf6 22. Rxd8+ Rxd8 23. Qb5 Be4 24. Qxa5 Bxg2
25. Kxg2 Ng4 26. Bd4 Qe4+ 27. Kg1 Rd5 28. Qa8+ Kh7 29. h4 Rxd4 30. cxd4
Ne3 31. fxe3 Qxe3+ 32. Kh2 Qe2+ 33. Kh3 Qe6+ 34. Kh2 Qe2+ 35. Kh3 Draw
5) Here and There
This Year Linares will not feature huge appearance fees, instead the money is being put into the prize fund with the players competing for a top prize of roughly $130,000.
1º 100.000 € ; 2º 75,000 €; 3º 50,000 €; 4º 25,000 €; 5º 20,000 €; 6º 15,000 € et 7º 12,500 €.
SM Slava Mikhailuk won the Washington State Championship with
a score of 7.5 from 9. Tying for second at 6 in the 10-player event, which
has been held annually for over seventy years (except a break during World
War 2), were NMs Bill Schill and Viktors Pupols. The latter,
who competed in his first Washington State Championship in 1954, turns
70 this summer but is still going strong.
Newsletter #233, 03/02/2005
"Dazzling combinations are for the many, shifting wood is for the
few."
Georg Kieninger
1) Mechanics' Chess Club News
NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs has clinched a tie for first with a round to go in the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon. Tuvshintugs has 7.5 from 8 with NM Nicolas Yap on 6. FM Frank Thornally and Expert Michael Becco are tied for third at 6 in the 71-player event. The TNM and Mechanics' say goodbye to IM Ganbold Odondoo who recently moved back to Los Angeles.
Last Sunday former US Women's Champion Kamile Baginskaite started her Sunday afternoon classes for Women of all ages. The weekly class runs from 2-4 pm and is free thanks to a grant from Providian Financial.
The MI will celebrate the 80th birthday of Val Zemitis on April 9 with a birthday blitz.
Val Zemitis 80th Birthday Blitz
April 9 at the Mechanics’ Institute
5 double round blitz – WBCA rules used
Prizes (guaranteed)
1st $150 2nd $75 3rd $50 Top Under 2200 $50 Top Under 1800 $50
Book prizes to all contestants
2) Melik Khachiyan makes final GM norm
Southern California Champion Melik Khachiyan made his third and
final GM norm by half a point by winning the Ibar International
held in Los Angeles from February 23-27 with an undefeated 7 from 9. Khachiyan
was a former member of the Armenian national team before settling in the
United States several years ago. He is a graduate of the Petrosian Chess
School and you can find his nice win over Rozentalis from Baku
1983 annotated by the late World Champion and Khachiyan in Petrosian's
Chess Legacy (pages 105-106.) GM-elect Khachiyan has long concentrated
on his work as a chess trainer, numbering GM Tigran L. Petrosian
among his pupils.
Khachiyan was not the only player to make a GM norm. Also reaching
the required 6.5 points were IMs Andranik Matikozian and
Lev
Milman as well as GM Varuzhan Akobian.
Other scores in the Category 8 (2437 average) event: 5. GM V. Georgiev
5; 6.GM Mitkov 4.5; 7. FM Stein 4; 8. FM Banawa 2.5; 9. FM Krechetov 1.5;
10.FM Lucky 1.
The Ibar International was made possible by sponsorship from Ibar Development
and Chairman and CEO Asbar Karabayev.
For more information go to http://www.chesschampionschool.com/
3) CalChess Scholastic Update
For the past several months, CalChess, Richard Peterson and Elizabeth
Shaughnessy have been involved in a dispute relating to the affairs
of CalChess, during which allegations of alleged wrongdoing were asserted
by all parties. Upon further investigation of the facts and circumstances
surrounding these disputes, CalChess, Mr Peterson and Mrs. Shaughnessy
have agreed to withdraw any and all such claims and/or allegations, and
are pleased to report that they have resolved their dispute in its entirety.
In light of the above, the 30th annual CalChess Scholastic Chess Championship
will proceed as previously scheduled in Oakland, CA on April 15, 16
and 17, at the Oakland Marriott Hotel.
4) Donaldson wins 13th David Collyer Memorial
MI Chess Director John Donaldson won the 13th annual David
Collyer Memorial held February 26-27 in Spokane with 4.5 from 5. Among
those tied for second at 4 were IM Eric Tangborn and NMs David
Sprenkle and Curt Collyer. 11-year-old Michael Lee of
Seattle, rated close to 2000, made a strong impression drawing IM Tangborn
and losing only to the tournament winner.
5) Here and There
Among the big guns who have already signed up for the Far West Open in Reno in three weeks are GMs Gregory Serper, Sergey Kudrin and Alex Yermolinsky.
Most eyes are focused on Linares but the Poikovsky Cup is also very strong with an average rating of 2682. American Olympiad team first board Alex Onischuk is doing well at plus one.
Poikovsky 2005
Standings after 4 rounds:
1. Bologan - 3;
2-4. Bacrot, Grischuk, Onischuk - 2½
5-7. Dreev, Svidler and Vaganian – 2
8-9. Dominguez and Rublevsky - 1½
10. Sadvakasov – ½
Newsletter #234, 03/09/2005
"Before Geller we did not understand the King's Indian Defence!"
Mikhail Botvinnik
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs won the MI Winter Tuesday Night Marathon with the convincing score of 8 from 9, a point ahead of second place finisher NM Nicolas Yap. Tying for third at 6.5 in the 71-player Swiss were FM Frank Thornally, NM Igor Margulis and Experts Peter Grey, Larry Snyder, Michael Becco and Victor Ossipov. The next Marathon begins March 29th.
13-year-old Sam Shankland of Orinda took a first round bye in the A.J. Fink Amateur (open to under 2000) held last weekend but then reeled off 5 wins in a row to take home the $300 first prize. Among his victims were Yefim Bukh and Ted Castro, both frequent winners of Class A prizes in big tournaments in the West. Bukh was second at 5 followed by Maximo Fajardo and Alok Singh at 4.5 in the 48-player event.
Here are two victories by the tournament winner who has been playing for 2 1/2 years and will be comfortably over 2000 when the USCF catches up with rating events. There looks to be about a two-month backlog at present.
Shankland,S - Bukh,Y
AJ Fink Amateur San Francisco, 2005
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Qd7 5.f4 b6 6.Bd3 Ba6 7.Nf3 Bxd3 8.Qxd3 h5 9.0–0 Nh6 10.Ne2 Be7 11.c3 h4 12.Be3 Nf5 13.Bf2 Nc6 14.a4 Na5 15.Nd2 Qc6 16.Qb5 a6 17.Qxc6+ Nxc6 18.g4 hxg3 19.hxg3 Kd7 20.Kg2 g5 21.Rh1 gxf4 22.gxf4 Bh4 23.Bxh4 Nxh4+ 24.Kf2 Ne7 25.Rag1 Nhg6 26.Nf1 b5 27.a5 Rxh1 28.Rxh1 b4 29.Nd2 bxc3 30.bxc3 Rb8 31.Rh7 Ke8 32.Ng3 Rb2 33.Ke3 Kf8 34.Nf3 Rg2 35.Rh3 Rc2 36.Kd3 Ra2 37.Nh5 Nf5 38.Rh1 Rxa5 39.Ng5 c5 40.Nf6 Ra2 41.c4 cxd4 42.cxd5 Nxf4+ 43.Kc4 exd5+ 44.Kb3 Rg2 45.Rh8+ Kg7 46.Rg8+ Kh6 47.Nxf7# 1–0
Shankland,S - Castro,T
AJ Fink Amateur San Francisco, 2005
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.N1c3 a6 7.Na3 Nf6
8.Bg5 Be7 9.Nc4 Nd4 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.Nd5 b5 12.c3 bxc4 13.cxd4 exd4 14.Bxc4
0–0 15.0–0 Be6 16.Qd3 Bxd5 17.Bxd5 Rb8 18.b3 Qb6 19.Rac1 Rbc8 20.Rc4 Qa5
21.b4 Qa4 22.Rfc1 Rxc4 23.Qxc4 Qa3 24.Kf1 Be5 25.h3 g6 26.Rc2 d3 27.Rd2
Bc3 28.Qxd3 Qxb4 29.Rd1 a5 30.Rb1 Qc5 31.Rb5 Qa3 32.g3 Qc1+ 33.Kg2 Bb4
34.Rb7 Qa1 35.Qf3 Qg7 36.Ra7 h5 37.Qf4 g5 38.Qf5 h4 39.Rc7 hxg3 40.fxg3
Bc5 41.Rb7 a4 42.Kf3 a3 43.Kg4 Be3 44.Rd7 Bc5 45.Qxg5 Qxg5+ 46.Kxg5 Kg7
47.h4 Bf2 48.g4 Bg3 49.h5 Be5 50.h6+ Kh7 51.Kh5 Kh8 52.Rxf7 Rg8 53.g5 Rb8
54.g6 Bg7 55.hxg7+ 1–0
2) Americans Abroad
Rene Olthof, jack of all trades at New in Chess, sends the following
report on the Dutch chess league where Yasser Seirawan's retirement(!)
continues successfully.
"We have not had any cold weather this winter but with March solidly
under way, all of a sudden snow has hit Holland! It's been 20 years exactly
since such masses of snow have invaded our country. Due to transportation
problems half of the country has come to a standstill. It must be God's
punishment for Hilversum (headed by Yaz) beating my club HMC
Calder 0.5 : 9.5 last weekend in Round 7 of the Dutch Team Championship,
effectively killing our last hope for joining the Final Four in May! Seirawan's
game features a model minority attack!"
Seirawan,Y (2631) - Fridman,D (2590) [E35]
KNSB Meesterklasse Den Bosch (7.1), 26.02.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.a3 Bxc3+ 9.Qxc3 0?0 10.e3 c6 11.Nf3 Bf5 12.Be2 Nd7 13.b4 Bg4 14.0-0 Nb6 15.a4 Rac8 16.Rfc1 a6 17.h3 Bh5 18.Qe1 Nc4 19.Bxc4 Bxf3 20.Bf1 Be4 21.b5 axb5 22.axb5 Ra8 23.bxc6 Rxa1 24.Rxa1 bxc6 25.Qb4 Re8 26.Qb7 h5 27.Ra6 Re6 28.Ra8+ Kh7 29.Rf8 Re7 30.Qa8 g6 31.Rc8 Re6 32.Qb7 Kg7 33.Ra8 Kh7 34.Qc8 Bf5 35.Qg8+ Kh6 36.Ra7 Qg7 37.Qxf7 Qxf7 38.Rxf7 c5 39.dxc5 d4 40.g4 hxg4 41.hxg4 Bxg4 42.Rf4 dxe3 43.Rxg4 e2 44.Bxe2 Rxe2 45.Rc4 Re7 46.c6 Rc7 47.Kg2 Kg5 48.Kg3 Kf5 49.Rc1 Kg5 50.Rc5+ Kf6 51.Kg4 Ke6 52.Kg5 Kf7 53.Rc3 Kg7 54.Rc4 Rc8 55.c7 Kf7 56.f4 Kg7 57.Rc1 Kf7 58.Rc6 1-0
Alex Onischuk will not be satisfied with his minus one score in the recently concluded Poikovsky Cup in Russia, but the event was incredibly strong. Four points was good for a performance rating of 2641!
1-2. Bacrot (FRA, 2715) and Bologan (MDA, 2683) – 6 out of 9
3-4. Grischuk (RUS, 2710) and Dreev (RUS, 2704) - 5½
5. Svidler (RUS 2735) - 5
6-8. Vaganian (ARM, 2670), Onischuk (USA, 2652) and Dominguez (CUB,
2661) - 4
9. Rublevsky (RUS, 2650) - 3½
10. Sadvakasov (KAZ 2635) - 1½.
John Fedorowicz made a rare overseas performance, sharing second
prize with Alex Baburin in the Bunratty Masters in Ireland
with a 4.5 from 6 score. The event was won by IM Brian Kelly with
5 points.
3) Shulman and Ehlvest tie for first in Millenium Open
Michael Atkins reports:
The Millennium Chess Festival VI was another success story. Along
with the regular tournament, there was an exciting Fischer-Random
blitz vent which featured a last round match between US Champ GM Hikaru
Nakamura and 4-time Women's World Champ Susan Polgar. It also
featured the exhibition match between the same two players, which GM Polgar
has analyzed at http://www.chesscafe.com/polgar/polgar.htm
Booz Allen Hamilton was a big sponsor this year. Senior Vice
President Mark Hermon, a lifetime chess player, introduced the players
at the start of the exhibition match. We look forward to working with them
in future events. The tournament was held at the Ramada Plaza Oceanfront
Resort in Virginia Beach, Virginia over the weekend of February 25-27.
The tournament itself was exciting and somewhat of a surprize finish.
GM
Jaan Ehlvest as 4-0 and leading the pack going into the final round.
He drew quickly with GM Alex Wojtkeiwicz which left the interest
in the match between US Champ GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Yury Shulman
who needed to beat Hikaru in order to tie for first. Nakamura had given
up 3rd and 4th round draws to Wojtkeiwicz and GM Pavel Blatny and
was in the role of potential spoiler. Shulman eventually won and joined
Ehlvest as winners with 4.5
Wojtkeiwicz and Blatny, along with FM Bryan Smith finished with
4-1 to take 3rd-4th/Top U 2400. Chris Bush won the under 2000 with
4.5; Ryan Thunder Rust (great chess name!) and Bradley Marts
took the U1800 with 4.5; Sara Walsh took the U1600 with 4.5; and
Kyle
Ward-Dahl won the U1300 section with the tournaments only perfect 5-0.
The exhibition match is always a crowd favorite. This time it was special with the reigning US Champ and highest ranked Woman in the world. Players talked about their moves in separate rooms, analyzing the game and talking about their thoughts so the average player can see the process. Hikaru and Susan fielded many questions from the audiences, explaining their ideas and looking at why suggested spectator moves were not so good. All this went on while spectators were enjoying a nice dinner. This game joined all the previous exhibition results as a draw, but it probably would have been an ok draw in the upcoming Minnesota HB Global Challenge, definitely not a Grandmaster draw!
The Fischer-Random Blitz event was a unique experience to most of the players. It was a 4-round double blitz event with 4 printed Fischer-Random positions. It was run under WBCA rules where illegal moves lose if correctly claimed and most of the correct claims seemed to happen out of incorrectly placed King-Rook positions after castling. No matter where the K-R are in this version of chess, the final castled position is the same as regular chess with all the same rules of castling. If the King is on C1 and the Rook is on E1, the King Side castled position was still Kg1 and Rf1. One strong master didn't castle once in all eight games! The tournament was won by GMs Namamura and Blatny with 7.5/8.
All final standings are at the tournament website: http://www.geocities.com/millenniumchessfestival/
Thanks to Tom Braunlich for organizing another great Millennium Chess Festival and to the new major sponsor Booz Allen Hamilton. It was directed by Ernie Schlich and Michael Atkins. Viriginia Beach's Beach Events also continues to be a major sponsor as were Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and Dominion Scholastic Chess Supplies.
--------------------------------------------------------
Millennium Open Virginia Beach USA (USA), 25-27 ii 2005
--------------------------------------------------------
1. Ehlvest, Jaan
g EST 2622 4.5
2. Shulman, Yuri
g USA 2551 4.5
3. Wojtkiewicz, Aleksander g USA 2536 4.0
4. Blatny, Pavel
g CZE 2456 4.0
5. Smith, Bryan G
f USA 2339 4.0
6. Ibragimov, Ildar
g USA 2603 3.5
7. Sarkar, Justin
m USA 2386 3.5
8. Adu, Oladapo
m NGR 2296 3.5
49 players
GM Susan Polgar (2577) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2660)
[D09] Virginia Beach, 02.27.2005 (Game 60)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.g3 Nge7 6.Bg2 Ng6 7.Bg5 Qd7
8.e6 fxe6 9.0–0 e5 10.Nbd2 h6 11.Bh4 Bd6 12.c5 Bxc5 13.Qc2 Nxh4 14.Nxh4
Bb6 15.Ng6 Rg8 16.Qc4 Qe6 17.Bxc6+ bxc6 18.Nxe5 Qxc4 19.Ndxc4 c5 20.Rfc1
a5 21.e3 dxe3 22.Nxe3 Be6 23.Nd3 0–0–0 24.Nxc5 Bh3 25.Rc2 Rge8 26.Rac1
Kb8 27.a3 a4 28.Rc3 Rd2 29.Nxa4 Bxe3 30.Rxe3 Rf8 31.Rb3+ Ka8 32.g4 Bxg4
33.Rxc7 Rfxf2 34.Nb6+ Kb8 35.Nd5+ Ka8 ½-½
4) David Unlucky
Head ChessBase Megadata Base gardener Lubo Ftacnik doesn't have an easy job standardizing all the names of players today. Many languages and different alphabets keep the hardworker from Bratislava on his toes, but what about players who change their name? The past provides us Leo Fleischmann who later played as Forgacs. Andras Adorjan played the first part of his career under Jocha while Kasparov used his father's name Weinstein. The reasons for name changes are many and varied. I remember while living in Cincinnati that a player disappointed with his USCF rating decided to start over and bought a new membership. Overnight he went from Mike Rice to Ekim Ecir. Reversing his name yield some initial success but soon Mike's rating was right back to where it started. A second try under the moniker Forrest Wynn didn't lead to many forced wins and Mike finally reverted back to his real name.
The number of active players in the US over 2400 is pretty limited, and excepting a recent immigrant, one usually has watched them rise through the ranks. A few years ago Joel Benjamin and I were at the Chicago Open and we both happened to notice the name Eric Torman on the pairing sheet with a USCF rating of 2500 listed from Michigan. We asked each other simultaneously, who is Torman? Neither of us had a clue so we wandered over to Torman's board only to find Vadim Tsemekhman sitting where Torman should have been. Only then did Joel and I realize that Tsemikhman =Torman. But how does poor Ftacnik put this together?
Last issue I reported on IM Melik Khachiyan who won the Ibar International in Los Angeles, making his third and final GM norm in the process. Going over the games from the event I must confess to being curious. Who was this player David Lucky with a very respectable FIDE rating of 2335? Why had I never heard of him, especially since he was listed as USA on the FIDE list. Determined to solve the mystery I went back into Mr. Lucky's rating reports on the FIDE list and bingo, Mr. Lucky use to be David Gliksman. Those with good memories will remember David as a talented Southern California master. Remember the famous novelty in the Slav (16.Qf7!!) which David Strauss uses to defeat Cyrus Lakdawala in 1992? That was David Gliksman's work. Unfortunately the name Lucky proved to be unlucky for David at the Ibar. Check out how GM-elect Khachiyan defeats him in fine style.
Khachiyan,M (2462) - Lucky,D (2335)
IBAR Inv Santa Monica USA (2), 24.02.2005
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Qd7 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 b6 7.Qg4 f5
8.Qg3 Ba6 9.Bxa6 Nxa6 10.Ne2 0–0–0 11.a4 Nb8 12.a5 Nc6 13.axb6 cxb6 14.0–0
Na5 15.Rxa5 bxa5 16.Ba3 Kb7 17.Nf4 Nh6 18.c4 dxc4 19.Rb1+ Ka6 20.Nd3 Rc8
21.Nc5+ Rxc5 22.Bxc5 f4 23.Qc3 Qa4 24.Qb2 Qd7 25.Qa2 Qd5 26.Qa4 1–0
Newsletter #235, 03/16/2005
"Chess problems demand from the composer the same virtues that characterize
all worthwhile art: originality, invention, conciseness, harmony, complexity,
and splendid insincerity."
Vladimir Nabokov, Poems and Problems, 1969
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
NM Nicolas Yap won the 5th Annual Max Wilkerson G/45 last Saturday at the MI with a 4.5 from 5 score. Among his victims was IM Ricardo DeGuzman. Tying for second at 4 were Victor Ossipov and Stephen Krasnov. The event was directed by Anthony Corrales.
Mechanics' Institute Grandmaster-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky heads a large group of MI members who will be playing in Reno this weekend in the Far West Open. If you are an MI member, playing in Reno and would like to play for the MI team please contact John Donaldson at [email protected] . Any prize the team wins will be donated to the MI Chess Club to fund special events.
GM Yermolinsky won't be limiting his play to Reno in the next month. He and fellow GMs Suat Atalik and Dasheveg Sharavdorj will headline a GM norm event in Berkeley this April at the East Bay Chess Club. The event, the strongest in the East Bay since the 1984 US Championship, also numbers IM Andranik Matikozian and SMs David Pruess and Alan Stein among the contestants. There are still spots for players with FIDE ratings over 2400. Contact David Pruess at [email protected] for more details.
The MI will celebrate the 80th birthday of Val Zemitis on April 9 with a birthday blitz.
Val Zemitis 80th Birthday Blitz
April 9 at the Mechanics’ Institute
5 double round blitz – WBCA rules used
Prizes (guaranteed)
1st $150 2nd $75 3rd $50 Top Under 2200 $50 Top Under 1800 $50
Book prizes to all contestants
This year's Imre Konig Memorial G/45 on April 16 will be something
special. The normal first and second prizes ($200 and $100) will be doubled
and are guaranteed. GMs Suat Atalik and Alex Yermolinsky have confirmed
their participation and we suspect some other strong players, possibly
IM
Tony Saidy of Los Angeles, will be participating.
2) Garry Kasparov's Retirement
There have been several articles in the popular press the past few days following Garry Kasparov's bombshell announcement last week that he is retiring from chess. Several are at the ChessBase website including an article by Garry in yesterday's Wall Street Journal - http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2265
Below are a few excerpts from a piece written by Stephen Moss
that appeared Monday March 14 2005 in The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/
It seems that Garry's next challenge will be politics.
His decision to quit after Linares seemed bizarre because he had been
back to his very best. So why, at 41, has he decided to retire? "I made
a conscious decision well before the tournament," he says. "These kind
of decisions you don't make overnight. It takes time before you decide
to quit one of the most successful careers in the history of any sport.
I grew up with chess, built up my character with chess, won everything
at the chessboard, gained recognition as
the best chess player. So for me every aspect of life was related to
chess. In your early 40s in chess you don't feel like retiring, especially
if you are still the No1-rated player in the world. But I had to find a
new target. My nature is that I have to excite myself with a big challenge."
"The tragedy of Russia - and western leaders don't want
to recognise it - is that Putin has already crossed the red line
where he could just retire as Yeltsin did. He and his group have
to fight to keep power because they have too many enemies, too many unsettled
scores - and that is why they are desperate to retain power. Their wealth
is based on their grip on power. They are seizing new properties, seizing
more control of Russian finances by using their power. The
moment they lose this grip, it will be a different ball game."
"On the American political scale I would probably be somewhere near
Arnold
Schwarzenegger," he says. "Economically conservative but socially liberal,
definitely pro-choice, non-religious. I don't qualify as a new Republican.
But on the other side I will be for lowering taxes and reducing the size
of the state." In any case, he says, because Russia has no conventional
politics, terms such as left and right are redundant. "That's why we can
work with strange bedfellows. You just have to find a number of vital elements
that people can agree on. It's about wrecking the nomenklatura state
and bringing law back to Russia."
Kasparov is obsessed with what George Bush Sr once called "the vision
thing". "Today we have very few, if any, visionaries," he says. "There
are too many managers. Of course you need managers, but you also need visionaries."
Anyone can drive along the highway, he says, but when you get to a crossroads
you need a vision of where you are going. "Today I think our civilization
is at a crossroads, yet we're still trying to manage it."
3) Far West Open
Organizer Jerry Weikel and the Sand Regency will be hosting the Far West Open this weekend (see full details below under upcoming events). Among the GMs signed up to play are Suat Atalik, Alex Yermolinsky, Sergey Kudrin and Gregory Serper. Serper, who lives near Seattle, played one of the greatest sacrificial games of all time at the St. Petersburg Open in 1993 where he gave away virtually all of his pieces. This game should not be missed.
Serper,G (2575) - Nikolaidis,I (2440) [E70] St Petersburg op St
Petersburg, 1993
1.c4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.d4 d6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Nge2 Nbd7 6.Ng3 c6 7.Be2 a6
8.Be3 h5 9.f3 b5 10.c5 dxc5 11.dxc5 Qc7 12.0-0 h4 13.Nh1 Nh5 14.Qd2 e5
15.Nf2 Nf8 16.a4 b4 17.Nd5 cxd5 18.exd5 f5 19.d6 Qc6 20.Bb5 axb5 21.axb5
Qxb5 22.Rxa8 Qc6 23.Rfa1 f4 24.R1a7 Nd7 25.Rxc8+ Qxc8 26.Qd5 fxe3 27.Qe6+
Kf8 28.Rxd7 exf2+ 29.Kf1 Qe8 30.Rf7+ Qxf7 31.Qc8+ Qe8 32.d7 Kf7 33.dxe8Q+
Rxe8 exf2+ 34.Qb7+ Re7 35.c6 e4 36.c7 e3 37.Qd5+ Kf6 38.Qd6+ Kf7 39.Qd5+
Kf6 40.Qd6+ Kf7 41.Qxe7+ Kxe7 42.c8Q Bh6 43.Qc5+ Ke8 44.Qb5+ Kd8 45.Qb6+
Kd7 46.Qxg6 e2+ 47.Kxf2 Be3+ 48.Ke1 1-0
4) Alan Benson Needs Assistance
Noted organizer and director NM Alan Benson needs assistance.
Mr. Benson, who organized many of the popular Peoples Opens in Berkeley
in the 1970s and 80s, has fallen victim to a serious bout of bad luck and
ill health. Hospitalized for several weeks in January with a bad case of
pneumonia with several complications, Alan was unable to continue his job
at Games of Berkeley. Now he is selling his chess library to pay off bills
and raise money for rent. You can find a partial listing of the titles
Alan has for sale at http://marspolaris.tripod.com/bookcoll.html
. Among the items not listed are many complete years of Chess Life from
the 1960s and 1970s as well as foreign periodicals from this time.
Please note that Alan needs to be contacted exclusively via e-mail at [email protected]
and that some of the information on his site regarding payment (Paypal,
wiring money to a bank account) is no longer relevant as he no longer has
bank and checking accounts. Please consider showing your support for someone
who has given a lot to chess.
5) Fred Wilson Returns on Chess.FM
Hi folks:
My internet radio show, Chess & Books with Fred Wilson,
returns Tuesday evening, March 15th, at 8:00 PM (EST). It will run
every Tuesday night from 8:00 to 10:00 PM (EST), with a replay of the live
show following almost immediately afterwards, for chess enthusiats on the
West Coast.
Fred's first guest will be the very popular, author, teacher and chess historian IM JOHN DONALDSON. John has written over 25 highly regarded books, including the definitive work on the Accelerated Dragon and, with Nicolai Minev, the epochal two volume biographical games collection "Akiba Rubinstein: Uncrowned King". This Tuesday evening John will discuss the upcoming new edition of his "BOBBY FISCHER: LEGEND ON THE ROAD, along with his new book on the legendary California IM, author & teacher Imre Konig. John will also touch upon the crucial upcoming USCF elections for the policy board in June, along with the formation of a new, exciting national chess league by Greg Shahade, via the ICC. Additionally, John, who was co-commentator with John Watson at the recent US Championships, will share his impressions of this exciting and dramatic event. John will also, of course, give his take on the recently concluded Linares super-tournament, and Garry's "apparent" retirement. Please email questions for John Donaldson about chess history, literature, teaching, or the Mechanic's Institute Chess Club in San Francisco (which John manages) to [email protected] or Tony Rook.
In future weeks I hope to have GM Maurice Ashley, IM Jennifer Shahade,
Bruce Pandolfini, IM Larry Kaufman, GM John Fedorowicz, GM Lev Alburt,
GM Larry Christiansen and many, many more important members of our
chess community on my show. Please feel free to email me interesting
questions for these chess professionals.
I am very happy to be back
and hope you will all listen in!
Best in chess, Fred Wilson
6) Long Beach US Open 1955
Newsletter reader James Schroeder's question about who Sammy Reshevsky played in the last round of the 1955 US Open in Long Beach (answer James Sherwin) made me realize the fifty year anniversary of this famous event is now approaching. Older readers with good memories will recall first place was a brand new 1955 Buick and second $1000. Obviously the Buick could not be divided so in the event of a first place tie the owner of the car would be decided on tiebreak. This was a big difference as the Buick reportedly sold for $2250 (say about $15,000 in todays dollars - if only US Open winners today were so lucky - all the place prizes in Arizona this summer total only $13, 500!)
Chess Review in 1955 described the situation before the last round in which, Reshevsky, a man not universally loved by his peers, was tied for first with Evans and Rossolimo.
" After eleven rounds, Reshevsky, Evans and Rossolimo were tied. Reshevsky then won from Sherwin, ahead of time to avoid playing on his Sabbath, and the title and top prize hung on the result between Evans and Rossolimo. At very late hour, tournament-wise, Evans almost unaccountably, botched a draw and Rossolimo won"
Chess Review mentions that Rossolimo just nudged Reshevsky on the second-tiebreak. Does any Newsletter reader have access to the 1955 issue of Chess Life newspaper that printed the crosstable, presumably with the tiebreak of the top finishing contestants?
Evans,,L - Rossolimo,N [C98]
Long Beach, 1955
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6
8.c3 0–0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 Nc6 13.d5 Nd8 14.a4 Rb8 15.c4
b4 16.Kh2 Ne8 17.Nf1 g6 18.g4 Ng7 19.Ng3 f6 20.Rg1 Nf7 21.b3 Bd7 22.Be3
Kh8 23.Qd2 Rbe8 24.Rg2 Qc8 25.Rh1 f5 26.gxf5 gxf5 27.exf5 Nxf5 28.Nxf5
Bxf5 29.Rhg1 Rg8 30.Ng5 Nxg5 31.Bxg5 Bxg5 32.Rxg5 Bxc2 33.Qxc2 Rxg5 34.Rxg5
Rf8 35.Qe2 Qd8 36.Rg4 Qf6 37.Kg2 Qf5 38.Qe3 Qf6 39.Qg3 Qf5 40.Qe3 Qc2 41.h4
Qf5 42.Qg3 Qc2 43.Qe3 Qf5 44.Kg3 Rf7 45.f3 Rf8 46.Kg2 Qc2+ 47.Kg3 Qf5 48.Re4
Rg8+ 49.Rg4 Rf8 50.Kg2 Qf7 51.Qe4 a5 52.Kf2 Qd7 53.Kg3 Rf6 54.h5 Qf7 55.Rh4
h6 56.Kf2 Rf5 57.Qg4 Qf6 58.Rh3 Rg5 59.Qe4 Qf7 60.Rh4 Rxh5 61.Qg4 Rxh4
62.Qxh4 Kg7 63.Qd8 Qf8 64.Qh4 Qf6 65.Qe4 Qf4 66.Qe1 Qh4+ 0–1
7) Fischer Update
Chess legend Fischer must be deported to United States, Japan official says
By AUDREY McAVOY
Associated Press Writer
TOKYO (AP) -- Chess legend Bobby Fischer shouldn't be exempted
from Japan's rule that foreigners who are ordered deported must be sent
to their homeland, Japan's top immigration official said Tuesday.
Fischer and his supporters are asking that he be allowed to go to
Iceland, where he has been granted a special passport for foreigners, instead
of the United States, where Japan has ordered him sent.
Japanese authorities have detained him since July for allegedly
trying to leave for the Philippines on a revoked U.S. passport.
Under Japanese law, a foreigner may only be deported to a country
of which he or she is a citizen unless the foreigner is recognized as refugee
under international law or is exempt for other special circumstances, said
Masaharu
Miura, the head of the immigration bureau at Japan's Justice Ministry.
"This case is not an exception,'' Miura told a parliamentary committee
Tuesday.
Washington has sought Fischer -- who became world chess champion
in a 1972 match in Iceland against the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky
-- on charges of violating international sanctions against the former Yugoslavia
by playing chess there in 1992.
Fischer has denounced the U.S. deportation order as politically
motivated. He wants to renounce his U.S. citizenship and has applied to
marry a Japanese chess official.
Some of Fischer's Icelandic supporters have campaigned to help him
out of gratitude for putting Iceland in the global spotlight with his 1972
match against Spassky.
Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura rejected a suggestion
that Tokyo might be pursuing its case against Fischer due to pressure from
the United States.
"I don't think the Justice Ministry is interpreting the law out
of consideration for the United States,'' Machimura
JD- It's interesting how this case is being handled compared
to that of Charles Jenkins who defected to North Korea during the
Cold War and married a Japanese national while living in Pyongyang. One
would have thought Jenkins, like Fischer living in Japan and subject to
US efforts to extradite him to the US, would have done serious jail time.
In fact he got only a slap on the wrist. It happens that the story of Jenkin's
wife, who was kidnapped by the North Koreans many years ago before being
repatriated recently, captured the attention of the Japanese public which
pressured the government to let Jenkins stay with his family. It may be
that there was some sort of quid pro quo between the Japanese and US governments.
Newsletter #236, 03/23/2005
"We don't hate FIDE, we hate the people who are out of chess but
in FIDE."
Suat Atalik
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
Several events are coming up at the MI. Tuesday, March 29, the Spring
Tuesday Night Marathon begins. April 2 and 3 the MI will host its annual
Senior
Open. Players 50 and over are eligible to compete. The following weekend
a blitz tournament will be held to honor longtime Bay Area stalwart
Val
Zemitis.
Val Zemitis 80th Birthday Blitz
April 9 at the Mechanics’ Institute
5 double round blitz – WBCA rules used
Prizes (guaranteed)
1st $150 2nd $75 3rd $50 Top Under 2200 $50 Top Under 1800 $50
Book prizes to all contestants
This year's Imre Konig Memorial G/45 on April 16 will be something special. The normal first and second prizes ($200 and $100) will be doubled and are guaranteed. GMs Suat Atalik and Alex Yermolinsky have confirmed their participation.
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.
2) Atalik and Yermolinsky tie for first in Far West Open
Suat Atalik and Alex Yermolinsky tied for first in the Far West Open held March 18-20 in Reno with scores of 5-1. The two GMs drew with each other in the middle of the tournament in a tough battle and drew in the last round with GM Gregory Serper and IM Igor Ivanov respectively. IM-elect Vladimir Mezentsev was alone in third with a score of 4.5. This excellent result included a win over GM Serper and a draw with GM Sergey Kudrin. Mezentsev's only loss was to Atalik. Tying for fourth at 4 in the multi-section event which attracted 192 players five GMs and five IMs were Kudrin Ivanov and Serper.
The Mechanics' had over 30 players competing in Reno. GM-in-Residence Yermolinsky lead the way but there were several other stars helped lead the M.I. to first in the team competition. Nine-year-old Daniel Naroditsky of Foster City scored 5.5 from 6 in the B section. This result, an excellent performance in the last Marathon and a perfect score in the People's scholastic section should put Daniel's rating around 1900 and in the top two for his age in the country.
Expert Igor Traub continues to push towards 2200. His score of 4.5 from 6 gained him a prize in the Expert section. Victor Ossipov was right behind him with 4. MI veteran Dan Litowsky tied for fourth in the B section with 4 points and Chris Cortese was equal sixth in the C section with the same score. John Jaffray of Santa Rosa won the A section with 5 points.
NTD Jerry Weikel, his wife Fran and Barbara Woodward of the Sands Regency Hotel and Casino organized the event which attracted 192 players. The Western States Open will be held this October in the same venue.
For complete standings go to the Reno Chess Club website ( http://www.renochess.org/ ) where webmaster Ernie Hong does an excellent job. Contact Jerry Weikel at [email protected] for a mailed copy of the Games Bulletin for $6 including 116 games from the Open section.
Here are a few of the most important encounters.
DeGuzman,R - Atalik,S [A46]
Far West Open Reno (2), 2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 c5 4.e3 Be7 5.Nbd2 cxd4 6.exd4 b6 7.c3 Bb7
8.Bd3 Qc7 9.0–0 d6 10.Re1 Nbd7 11.a4 a6 12.Qb1 h6 13.Bh4 0–0 14.h3 Rfe8
15.Ne4 e5 16.dxe5 dxe5 17.Nxf6+ Bxf6 18.Be4 Bxh4 19.Nxh4 Rad8 20.Re3 Bxe4
21.Qxe4 Nf6 22.Qc2 e4 23.Nf5 Qd7 24.Ng3 Qd2 25.Qb3 b5 26.axb5 axb5 27.Rae1
Re5 28.Nxe4 Nxe4 29.Rxe4 Qxe1+ 30.Rxe1 Rxe1+ 31.Kh2 Re5 32.Qb4 Rd2 33.Qf4
Ree2 34.Qb8+ Kh7 35.Qxb5 Rxf2 36.b4 Rxg2+ 37.Kh1 g6 38.Qc4 Kg7 39.Qf1 Rg3
40.c4 Rgd3 41.Qf4 Rc2 0–1
Atalik,S - Yermolinsky,A [A40]
Far West Open Reno (3), 2005
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+ 3.Nd2 b6 4.Ngf3 Bb7 5.Qb3 Bxd2+ 6.Bxd2 d6
7.g3 Nf6 8.Bg2 0–0 9.0–0 Nbd7 10.Rad1 Qe7 11.Rfe1 a6 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bxf6
Nxf6 14.d5 e5 15.e4 Rab8 16.Nd2 c5 17.dxc6 Bxc6 18.Nb1 b5 19.cxb5 Rxb5
20.Qc2 Rb6 21.Nc3 Rfb8 22.b3 Bb7 23.Na4 Rc6 24.Qb1 a5 25.Bf1 Rbc8 26.Bb5
R6c7 27.Bd3 Bc6 28.Nc3 Bd7 29.Bc4 Be6 30.Nb5 Rd7 31.Rc1 Rdd8 32.Nc3 Bxc4
33.bxc4 Rc5 34.Nd5 Nxd5 35.cxd5 Rdc8 36.Rxc5 Rxc5 37.Rc1 Qc7 38.Rxc5 Qxc5
39.a4 Qb4 40.Qc2 g6 41.Kg2 Kg7 42.f3 ½–½
Serper,G - Mezentsev,V [D53]
Far West Open Reno (3), 2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nf3 h6 6.Bh4 0–0 7.Qc2
b6 8.0–0–0 dxc4 9.e4 Ba6 10.d5 Qe8 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.e5 Bd8 13.Qe4 exd5 14.Nxd5
Nd7 15.Ne3 Bg5 16.Nxg5 hxg5 17.h4 Qxe5 18.Qd5 Rad8 19.hxg5 c6 20.Qf3 Qxg5
21.Rh5 Qf6 22.Rf5 Qe6 23.Ng4 Rfe8 24.Qg3 Qg6 25.f4 Nf8 26.Rxd8 Rxd8 27.Rg5
Qd6 28.Ne3 Ne6 29.Rg4 Qd2+ 30.Kb1 c3 0–1
Yermolinsky,A - Kudrin,S [A40]
Far West Open Reno (4) 2005
1.Nf3 g6 2.e4 c5 3.c4 Bg7 4.d4 Qb6 5.dxc5 Qxc5 6.Be2 d6 7.0–0
Nc6 8.Nfd2 Qb6 9.Nb3 Qd8 10.Nc3 Bxc3 11.bxc3 Nf6 12.Bh6 Nxe4 13.Bf3 Nc5
14.Re1 Qc7 15.Nxc5 dxc5 16.Qd5 Be6 17.Qxc5 0–0–0 18.Rab1 Qa5 19.Rb5 Qxc3
20.Reb1 Qd4 21.Qa3 Bf5 22.Re1 Qd6 23.Qe3 f6 24.g4 Bd7 25.Reb1 b6 26.c5
bxc5 27.Rxc5 g5 28.Qc3 1–0
3) Fischer Icelandic Citizen
Iceland's parliament granted citizenship to fugitive U.S. chess star
Bobby
Fischer on Monday. Whether this will succeed in freeing Fischer from
his detention cell is unclear. What follows is a condensed version of reports
from several sources.
Trouble began for Fischer in 1992 when, ignoring a U.S. Executive Order,
he participated in a rematch tournament against Boris Spassky in
the former Yugoslavia, which at the time was levied with international
sanctions.
Fischer defeated Spassky and won $3.3 million. But later that same
year, he was issued with an arrest warrant carrying a maximum penalty of
10 years in prison for violating the economic embargo.
Fischer has since declared his retirement from professional chess and
kept a very private life, with the occasional exception of making controversial
appearances on obscure radio programs to tongue-lash at the United States,
or spew off his anti-Semitic views.
One of his most notorious outbursts was in 2001, on the day of the
Sept. 11 attacks, when he called into a radio station in Baguio, Philippines.
"This is all wonderful news," he exclaimed. "It's time to finish off the
U.S. once and for all."
But, as Fischer continued to travel between Asia and Europe, no effort
seemed to have been made by the U.S. government to apprehend him.
In 1997, he walked into the U.S. Embassy in Switzerland and had his
passport renewed and even had new pages added to his travel document five
years later.
Nevertheless, 13 years after the warrant was issued, Fischer was finally
captured by Japanese immigration officials at Tokyo's Narita Airport, acting
on a tip from the U.S consular office.
Several lawsuits were immediately filed by his lawyers to prevent his
deportation to the United States. Fischer even unilaterally renounced his
American citizenship from his detention cell, declaring "enough is enough.”
"He put our country on the world map when he beat Boris Spassky
in 1972," said Einar Einarsson, the former head of the Icelandic
Chess Association. "Iceland is the only country in the world to step forward
and help Bobby Fischer.”
But so far, the Japanese authorities have refused to release him. It
is unclear how the Japanese government will react to the Icelandic parliament
granting Fischer citizenship on Monday.
"In principle, one must be deported to the country of origin,"
maintains Masaharu Miura, head of Japanese Immigration Bureau. "This
is no exception.”
The insistence by Japanese officials that Fischer be deported to the
United States has some even suggesting that Tokyo is under pressure from
Washington.
When Kazuya Shinba, a member of the major opposition party Minshuto
raised these allegations during a recent parliamentary hearing, Foreign
Minister Nobutaka Machimura replied, “I don’t recall being asked
by the United States to do anything about Mr. Fischer."
But opposition lawmakers are still charging that there is a bias in
the way Fischer's case has been handled by Japanese authorities.
"This is absolutely incomprehensible,” said Mizuho Fukushima,
a former human rights lawyer and the leader of the Social Democratic Party
who is also fighting for his release. “Had this been anyone else, he would
have been freed already.”
Meanwhile, Fischer, who turned 62 this month, is said to be the oldest
person held at the detention center and supporters are urging for a quick
resolution.
The United States demanded Tuesday that Japan hand over Bobby Fischer despite Iceland's move to accept the chess legend currently detained by Japanese immigration authorities since last July.
"That's what we've asked for," Adam Ereli, deputy spokesman for
the U.S. State Department, told reporters, when asked if the United States
wants Japan to hand him over to the United States.
Ereli expressed "disappointment" about the Icelandic parliament's decision
Monday to grant citizenship to Fischer, 62.
"It's an arrangement that we're disappointed by. Mr Fischer is a fugitive
from justice. There is a federal warrant for his arrest. He's being detained
in Japan, awaiting deportation and that's the step that we're looking forward
to," he said.
Following Iceland's decision, the Japanese Justice Ministry began considering
whether to allow Fischer to leave for Iceland, ministry officials said
Tuesday.
4) Frank Brady Resigns from Executive Board
Ms. Beatriz Marinello, President
March 21, 2005
U.S. Chess Federation
Dear Ms. Marinello:
On the weekend of April 1, I am required to meet with the Deans of St. John’s University to discuss a number of crucial actions that I am planning for my Communications majors: a new television studio, a radio station, and a computer animations and special effects lab. Additionally, I am attempting to move certain offerings in my programs to our Manhattan campus. All of this takes a great amount of time, let alone the bureaucratic hurdles that must be confronted. I already have had a feasibility study done by a team of architects and interior designers, but I must now discuss with the University administration the details of the expenditure of millions. Therefore, I will not be able to participate in the upcoming USCF Executive Board meeting in Berkeley this April.
That being said, because of my increasing and demanding commitments outside of chess, I think it is time, after close to four years of service, that I offer my resignation as a member of the USCF Executive Board, effective immediately. Please remove my name from the masthead of Chess Life.
As you know, over the past seven months, I am on record voting for the minority in a number of policy and practical issues that have come before the Board. However, despite my critical stance, I wish the Board the best of luck in all its future endeavors, and I sincerely hope that the move to Crossville and the other radical changes that have been, and are continuing so exponentially to be made, prove to be prudent and successful, all for the good of chess and our distinguished organization.
Sincerely,
Dr. Frank Brady
5) US Open 1955
Last Newsletter the controversial last round of the 1955 US Open in Long Beach was revisited. Several readers wrote in with more information:
Hi John,
I note you were asking about the 1955 U.S. Open in Long Beach, California. I played in that one, my first U.S. Open.
I have two sources for the crosstable for that tournament:
Chess Life, Tuesday, September 20, 1955
The crosstable itself doesn't show any tie-break, just the 10-2
score that Rossolimo and Reshevsky scored. But on a separate page it shows
the tie-break breakdown for both players. It show each of their opponents
and their scores, adjusted scores, median points (62.0 for each), Solkoff
points (92.5 each), and S-B points (Rossolimo 76.25 and Reshevsky 76.0).
I can make a photocopy of that and send it to you if you like.
Spence Limited Editions Vol. XVII American Tournament Series, A Selection
of Games from the 56th United States Open Chess Championship, Long Beach,
California, 1955.
The book (spiral bound) of 61 pages and 310 games doesn't go into
the tie-breaking.
The James E. Warren Chess Book Collection of 4,491 Volumes is up for sale if you or anyone you know in your area is interested. Let me know I can send detailed information on it. It is completely computerized.
Regards,
Jim Warren
(Interested parties can contact Jim at [email protected])
Dear John,
The prize was initially given to Rossolimo on the basis of incorrectly
scored tiebreaks. This was contested [apparently there were
some
earlier forfeit wins by other players that were incorrectly accounted
for]. When the tiebreaks were redone, they still favored Rossolimo
on
the tertiary [not 2d, as in Chess Review] tiebreak by only 0.5 point
.
I don't remember which systems were used [I'm at work on another
15
hour day], but can look it up if anyone is really interested. There
was
cross-table in Chess Life, but a nice picture of the Buick with
R- and
the car dealer who donated it!
CL didn't give the tiebreaks of the other players.
Regards,
Richard Reich
6) Fischer in Lawrence, Kansas
A new edition of Legend on the Road, a comprehensive look at Bobby Fischer's 1964 transcontinental simul tour, will be coming out in the next few weeks. This revised and enlarged edition is written by Mechanics' Institute Chess Director John Donaldson and will be published by Russell Enterprises, owners of the popular ChessCafe website. Despite efforts to be as thorough as possible one forgotten stop on the tour is not featured in the book. Expert Alan Anderson of Arizona found the following material on Bobby's stop in Lawrence, Kansas, just last week.
Alan writes:
Hello John,
I talked with Fred Huff yesterday about the Bobby Fischer exhibition at the University of Kansas at Lawrence on April 30, 1964. Fred confirmed Professor Horak's information as to the date, April 30, 1964, and the location, although Fred refers to it as the University of Kansas Student Union building. Fred remembers the exhibition as taking place on the second floor. He also thought Horak's name "sounded familiar."
Fred has a very clear memory of the exhibition as being a 45-board exhibition; the fee for playing was $5.00 a board. Fred says Fischer won 44 games and gave up one draw, "because it was past Fischer's bedtime." Fred remembers Fischer moving instantly during the exhibition, in some cases having his hand on his piece (or pawn) ready to make his move while his opponent was in the process of completing their own move.
The person who wrote the following information about the Fischer exhibition and played in it is Henry G.Horak, a former professor at University of Kansas. His website is dated Christmas, 1998 and he was 79 at the time of writing. The URL to his website is: http://www.physics.ku.edu/astronomy/history/horak.html
This next few paragraphs may seem out of place, but they do pertain
to the visit of an interesting personality to K.U. My interest in the game
of Chess developed when I was a teen-ager in the 1930's, and had the opportunity
to learn the game and play against some strong players in Kansas City.
We chessplayers met regularly at the Y.M.C.A. every Saturday afternoon,
and in a few years I became rather proficient at the game, eventually winning
a few tournaments there. My rating was about that of an "Expert" (just
below a "Master"). From time to time a touring Grandmaster would visit
us to give a simultaneous exhibition, and we would each invest a few dollars
to play against him. Israel Horowitz, the one-time U.S. champion, visited
us at least three times; I managed to draw the first two times, but the
third time the exhibition wasn't completed because half-way through the
simultaneous event (I suppose about thirty of us were there) one of the
participants, Mr. Arthur Harris, a good friend of mine in his fifties,
had a sudden heart attack and died (January 20, 1941). It was quite shocking
to see the dark shadow move across his face, and his life disappear in
just a minute. Indeed, it is not generally realized that Chess can be a
very exciting game, so I took a quick look at his position. I didn't see
anything there that would have particularly evoked stress, for his position
seemed safe enough.
Now at K.U., at least as far as I could discover, there has never
been much serious interest in Chess; this is understandable, since competing
in it is hard sedentary work, akin to academic studying for a final, and
students would rather participate in physical sports for their recreation.
However, early in the year 1964 some of the students got together and were
able to entice the International Grandmaster Robert (Bobby) Fisher to give
a simultaneous exhibition on April 30 at the K.U. Union Building. Bobby
was only twenty-one years old, and the strongest player ever produced in
the United States; he was destined to become the World's Chess Champion
in 1972, when he would decisively defeat the then World's Champion from
the Soviet Union, Boris Spassky. Fischer had learned Chess in the New York
environment of strong master players, and he had succeeded in besting all
of them. His style was geared more to attacking than to defending, and
he played all phases of the game (opening, middle and end games) equally
well. His attitude towards the game was entirely practical, and he had
studied very hard to attain his goals. He also possessed a rather low opinion
of so-called intellectuals (I sometimes think he was right). When he played
against us at K.U., he had about 50 or 60 opponents (I would guess), and
he completed his exhibition very quickly in only a few hours; I was one
of the last to go down in what to me was a difficult end game. I don't
remember Fischer's total score against us; if he had lost a game, we would
undoubtedly have heard about it. Nevertheless it was an interesting experience.
I wonder how he would fare against the "Big Blue" computer that recently
(1997) defeated the present (human) World's Champion, Kasparov? Unfortunately
we'll probably never know, because Fischer retired from active competition
immediately after gaining the World's Championship
7) Chess Poems by Dennis Fritzinger
billy the kid
it's been a long time
since i was
the new
billy the kid,
riding into town
with a chess set
in my saddlebag
and a chess clock
like a six-gun
in the holster
by my side.
victory dance
the best thing
about winning a chess game
is the victory dance.
7of course you don't do it
after a tournament game,
but after a 5-minute game
it's perfectly permissible.
dances differ,
depending on the person:
each one is unique.
for someone like petrosian
a raised eyebrow
or funny face would be enough.
the rest of us
pump our fists in the air,
go "AW RIGHTT!"
or do an impromptu
war dance around the chair
before sitting back down
and setting up the army,
the pieces, the men
again.
8) Here and There
The USCF is having its Executive Board meeting at the Berkeley City Club on April 2 and 3, 2005 and the meetings will be open to the public from 3pm to 6pm on both days. The Berkeley City Club, once home to the Berkeley Chess Club, is at 2315 Durant Street not far from Telegraph Avenue and the UC Berkeley campus. It's about a 10 minute walk from the downtown Berkeley BART station.
Bill Townsend reports: The US Amateur Team East 2005 took place
February 19th-21st 2005 in Parsippany, at Parsippany, in central New Jersey.
There were three other Amateur Team events run the same weekend in different
parts of the U.S.A. (West, Midwest and South) but the East is where the
Amateur Teams started thirty-five years ago, and traditionally it is much
larger than the other three put together. In keeping with the trend of
recent years Team East broke its own attendance record yet again with 1,205
players competing in 286 teams. This has to be the largest team tournament
ever held in North America, and perhaps even the Western Hemisphere.
Just like the last two years, the tournament ended in a four-way tie
at 5.5-0.5 with the final places determined by tiebreaks. In first place
was "My 60 Memorable Anti-Semitic Rants," originally seeded eighth
with an average team rating of 2193. The team members were: Eli Vovsha,
Samson Benen, Evan Rosenberg, and Joshua Bromberg.
Second through fourth were: "UTD Orange" from the University of Texas at Dallas, "Fock Lenderman," and "Cambridge Ringers."
I should explain that the term "Amateur" is something of a misnomer: players of any rating can compete so long as the average team rating is below 2200 USCF. There were a number of world-class grandmasters playing such as former U.S. Champions Larry Christiansen and Arthur Bisguier and even a former world champion, GM Susan Polgar. One team even featured both reigning U.S. Champions: GM Hikaru Nakamura and WGM Rusudan Goletiani played boards one and two for "San Diego Two-Step" which finished a half point out of first place with 5-1.
Further info: http://www.uschess.org/tla/yState.php?st=Natl
Alex Yermolinsky passes on a few more name changes for those of you who like to update your ChessBase game files
Booth to Muhammad
Popov to Nikolaidis
Popa to Komliakov
Nenashev to Graf
Azos to Krasenkov
Eric Schiller writes:
I set up an instant runoff poll at http://www.demochoice.org/dcballot.php?poll=chswks01 to determine the three greatest chess players of all time. The poll uses a method similar to that of the SF elections, where every vote counts. Please tell people about it, it is fun and is a great example of how the voting system works.
Eric Schiller
http://www.ericschiller.com/
Please join
GM Joel Benjamin
GM Larry Christiansen
GM Susan Polgar
and other great chess players
next January 14-21 in the Caribbean on a fantastic Chess Cruise:
<http://www.GeekCruises.com/chess>
Greetings,
As a leader in the Chess Community I wanted you to be aware of a new
chess event on the horizon: "Chess Moves", a "Geek Cruise" to the
Caribbean January 14-21, 2006.
So far GMs Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen, and Susan Polgar have
signed up to deliver classes. Other GMs will be added to our faculty
as
well.
Here's a sampling of SOME of the 1.5-hour classes the GMs will give:
* Practical Opening Tips for Black
* Hypermodern Opening Strategy in Action
* Ideas to Save a Hopeless-Looking Game
* The Art of Attack
* Bishop v. Knight
* Gaining the Initiative -- When Time Is of the
Essence
* The Art of the Exchange Sacrifice
* Strategy: Center Control and Space
* Practical Hints for Tournament Players
* Rook Endgame Essentials
* Exploiting Endgame Advantages (3 hours)
There will be two concurrent tracks -- delivered by the Grandmaster
faculty -- while the ship is sailing between ports. When the ship is
docked in port, everyone is on vacation. For this particular sailing,
<http://www.geekcruises.com/itinerary/cm01_itinerary.htm>, there
are
two and one-half "sea days". That means there will be 20 hours of
daytime lectures!
In addition to classes, Chess Moves will host an informal Blitz
competition and everyone will have a chance, with either a Master or
Grandmaster, to either play chess or get some private/lesson time.
If you're involved in a chess club or group of players, consider
promoting the event within your club or organization to save money:
Not
only can everyone in your group enjoy a sizeable group discount, but
you could earn a free laptop AND free passage on "Chess Moves":
<http://www.geekcruises.com/standard_interface/free_stuff.htm>
All of the details are available here: <http://www.GeekCruises.com/chess>.
If you would like some printed literature, please contact me, Neil
Bauman,
Geek Cruises "Captain", directly: <mailto: [email protected]>
or just
reply to this email. Here's an online version of our full-color flyer:
<http://www.GeekCruises.com/pdf/ChessMoves_Flyer.pdf>
Geek Cruises is a unique company that hosts educational cruise-
conferences, on all sorts of topics, all over the world. "Chess Moves"
will be Geek Cruises' 30th event at sea. Past cruises have covered
topics from Linux to the Apple Macintosh ... and the cruise
destinations have included Hawaii, the Eastern Mediterranean, Mexican
Riviera, the Caribbean, the Baltic Sea, and Alaska.
Geek Cruises' high-tech cruise-conferences offer advantages to attendees
that land-based events just can't:
* Sailing allows significant, uninterrupted time for our intense
work
schedule. There simply are no distractions. Conversely,
ports-of-call allow for free time to relax and unwind.
* The GMs do not have a plane to catch. They are with you for
a full
week providing valuable, additional contact thus increasing
the
value of the sessions.
* Small, interactive sessions -- with Grandmasters!
* An intellectual immersion experience free of distractions
* Unprecedented access to GMs before, during, and after the
cruise-conference
* Actual adventure!
I look forward to meeting you in Ft. Lauderdale for "Chess Moves"!
--
Neil R. Bauman, Captain & CEO
Geek Cruises (www.GeekCruises.com)
1430 Parkinson Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301
650-327-3692; Fax: 928-396-2102
Newsletter #237, 03/30/2005
"Chess is now entering a new stage of its development, with an even
greater wealth of internal and external substance. It would be too
much to reject the
practical side too quickly for the sake of analytical and romantic
creativity. I am sure the further development of chess will move along
a harmonious blending of what seem at first glance to be mutually exclusive
principles."
Garry Kasparov
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
Former US Champion John Grefe is the top rated contestant in the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon. Other top rated players include FM Frank Thornally and NMs Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, Nicolas Yap, and Igor Margulis. It's possible to enter the nine round event with a half point bye for the first round. Byes are also possible for rounds eight and nine due to the conflict with the HB Global Challenge. Byes for these two rounds are irrevocable and must be taken before the start of round two.
The MIs annual Walter Lovegrove Senior Open will be held this Saturday and Sunday. The event is open to all players age 50 and older.
Val Zemitis 80th Birthday Blitz
April 9 at the Mechanics’ Institute
5 double round blitz – WBCA rules used
Prizes (guaranteed)
1st $150 2nd $75 3rd $50 Top Under 2200 $50 Top Under 1800 $50
Book prizes to all contestants
This year's Imre Konig Memorial G/45 on April 16 will be something special. The normal first and second prizes ($200 and $100) will be doubled and are guaranteed. GMs Suat Atalik and Alex Yermolinsky have confirmed their participation.
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.
2) Atalik and Yermo win in Southland
GMs Suat Atalik and Alex Yermolinsky, fresh from their
victory in Reno the previous weekend, were again successful March 25-27,
tying for first in Burbank in the Pacific Coast Open. Suat and Alex
won their first four games, numbering among their victims GM-elect Melik
Khachiyan and IMs Andranik Matikozian and Enrico Sevillano,
before drawing in the last round.
3) Nakamura dominates Foxwoods
The Foxwoods Open took place March 23rd-27th 2005. It is one of the five US Tournaments with a prize fund of $100,000, it is held at the World's largest casino on the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation in Connecticut. Hikaru Nakamura won clearly with 7.5/9. US Championship qualifiers were Alexander Ivanov, Alexander Stripunsky, Julio Becerra and Yury Shulman plus Iryna Zenyuk and Esther Epstein.
Website: http://www.foxwoodsopen.com/ - current details: http://www.chesstour.com/fox05.htm
Leading Final Round 9 Standings:
1 GM Hikaru Nakamura
2752 7.5 $8031
2 GM Ildar Ibragimov
2701 7 $3212
3 GM Alexander Ivanov
2610 7 $3212
4 GM Alek Wojtkiewicz
2651 6.5 $446.23
5 GM Ilya Smirin
2812 6.5 $446.23
6 GM Julio Becerra
2622 6.5 $446.23
7 GM Jaan Ehlvest
2697 6.5 $446.23
8 GM Vladimir Georgiev
2542 6.5 $446.23
9 GM Evgeniy Najer
2678 6.5 $446.23
10 GM Alexander Stripunsky 2663 6.5
$446.23
11 GM Yury Shulman
2600 6.5 $446.23
12 GM Varuzhan Akobian
2641 6.5 $446.23
13 GM Nikola Mitkov
2600 6
14 IM Igor Foygel
2490 6
15 IM Ronald Burnett
2444 6 $803
16 IM Dean J Ippolito
2443 6 $803
17 GM Rodrigo Vasquez
2642 6
18 FM Alex Lenderman
2436 6 $803
19 FM Marcel Martinez
2469 6
20 GM Alexander Shabalov 2640
5.5
21 FM Joshua E Friedel
2477 5.5
22 FM Lev Milman
2474 5.5
23 IM Eugene Perelshteyn 2576
5.5
24 FM Zhe Quan
2403 5.5
25 GM Alonso Zapata
2596 5.5
26 FM Boris Privman
2308 5.5
27 IM Danny Kopec
2383 5.5
28 FM Stephen A Muhammad 2398
5
29 FM Igor Schneider
2323 5
30 GM Anatoly Lein
2416 5
31 WGM Rusuda Goletiani
2368 5
32 IM Mikhail Zlotnikov
2358 5
33 IM Joseph H Fang
2351 5
34 FM Ilye Figler
2249 5 $602.25
35 FM Miles F Ardaman
2376 5
36 IM Slavisa Peric
2323 5
37 FM Andrew Karklins
2310 5
38 Raja Panjwani
2242 5 $602.25
39 Daniel Pomerleano
2193 5 $602.25
40 FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat 2453
5
41 GM Sergey Kudrin
2646 5
42 IM William Paschall
2396 5
43 IM David E Vigorito
2377 5
44 Corey B Acor
2208 5 $602.25
45 Salvijus Bercys
2453 5
46 Mackenzie Molner
2325 5
47 IM Mladen Vucic
2436 4.5
48 Shiyam Thavandiran
2275 4.5
49 IM James A Rizzitano
2407 4.5
50 Jake Kleiman
2286 4.5
51 IM Milos Scekic
2497 4.5
52 David M Vest
2133 4.5
53 Jack Stolerman
2280 4.5
54 Alex Cherniack
2274 4.5
55 GM Alexander Goldin
2683 4.5
56 Chikwere G Onyekwere
2358 4.5
57 GM Gildardo Garcia
2523 4.5
58 David Harris
2085 4.5
59 IM Justin Sarkar
2368 4.5
60 Charles R Riordan
2272 4.5
61 Iryna Zenyuk
2068 4.5
62 Alexander Betaneli
2280 4.5
63 Peter Yeh
2103 4.5
64 GM Arthur B Bisguier
2241 4.5
65 Christopher Williams
2049 4.5
121 players
Nakamura,H (2752) - Smirin,I (2812)
Foxwoods Open Connecticut (5), 25.03.2005
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 Nf6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.e5 Nfd7 7.h4 c5 8.h5
cxd4 9.hxg6 dxc3 10.gxf7+ Rxf7
11.Bc4 Nf8 12.Ng5 e6 13.Nxf7 cxb2 14.Bxb2 Qa5+ 15.Kf1 Kxf7 16.Qh5+
Kg8 17.Bd3 Qb4 18.Rb1 Bd7
19.c4 Qd2 20.Bxh7+ Nxh7 21.Qxh7+ Kf8 22.Rh4 1-0
4) East Bay Chess Club news
David Pruess writes:
GMs Yermolinsky, Atalik and Sharavdorj, IM Roussel-Roozmon, Stein, and myself are competing in a GM norm event. The rounds are at 1 pm daily from Mar 29 -Apr 6, with the exception of Sat Apr 2nd when we play a double round, 11 am and 6pm.
EBCC March Swiss
The March Swiss featured $500 in guaranteed prizes, but this was
not enough to lure any masters out of hiding. EBCC director SM David
Pruess was the sole player over 2200, and he took first with a 4-0
score, despite several tough games. Tying for second at 3-1 were Kenneth
Voss, Larry Snyder, Salar Jahedi, and Nima Ferdosi, the first
three only losing to Pruess, while Ferdosi had a bye, and played one draw.
2nd under 1700 went to Thomas Boyd with 2.5.
EBCC March Scholastic Swiss
A record 50 players turned out the next weekend for the Scholastic
Swiss, in three section, K-3, 4-6, and 7-12. The K-3 section was the
largest, drawing half
that number of players. After 5 rounds, Hemang Jangle emerged
the untouched winner at 5-0. Right behind him Austin Lloyd and Jerome
Sun finished at 4, losing only to Jangle. 10 place trophies were given
out in each section, but additionally Jangle and Lloyd (on tiebreaks) won
free private lessons at the EBCC.
Things were a little calmer on Sunday as the two older sections played
the second half of their tournament. In the 4-6 (which featured quite an
impressive level of
chess), Rahul Desirazu dominated the event through 5 rounds,
defeating the 4 highest rated players in the section. But in the last round
Ray
Hua Wu pulled out
an amazing game to nick the winner. Rahul’s 5 points were still good
for a terrific sole first. Pulling up behind him was other top seed Kevin
Zhu who reached 4.5, followed by 3rd-4th place Andrew Li and
Wu at 4. Desirazu and Zhu won the free lessons.
In the 7-12 section, there was another perfect score. Top seed Ted
Belanoff mowed down his competition, and won the event with 6/6. Second
seed Sreekar Jasthi took second, scoring 5, and Arnold Hua
(a very strong unrated) third with 4.
The event went pretty smoothly with rounds starting as scheduled, and
awards ceremonies each day after the last game was done. The EBCC plans
to hold another event like this in June or July.
5) Here and There
Eric Schiller writes about the Chess Festival coming up at Fort Mason. By the way Eric has just produced the online March issue of the CalChess magazine.
Dear Master.
You are invited to take part in the San Francisco Masters Invitational,
May 6-8 at Fort Mason. The winner will be recognized as San Francisco Champion.
This will be a 5-round event, with prizes of $500-250-150-100 plus
some additional prizes for best games, women and juniors. GMs and IMs free,
others pay $50 EF. USCF and FIDE rated. Some details, such as time control,
are still being determined, but I'd like to know if you are interested.
Because we have two games per day on Saturday and Sunday, a 5-hour time
contol seems reasonable. However, please indicate your preference, knowing
that the schedule is Fri eve, 2 Sat, 2 Sun.
The event will have approximately 24 players, first selected by invitation
based on title and rating (and ability to receive email), and then other
players over 2200 (plus selected women an juniors) will fill out the field.
The event is sponsored by CalChess as part of the big SF Chess Festival.
CalChess is providing the prize fund, entry fees will be used to cover
other expenses.
I'll send out more information in about a week, but please let me know
if you are interested (this will also confirm that the email address I
have for you is accurate!)
Eric Schiller
www.ericschiller.com
Ernie Hong, webmaster for the Reno Chess Club corrects the last
Newsletter's info about Far West Open bulletins:
Thanks for the compliment in your newsletter, but I have to point
out some inaccuracies, mainly due to some faulty webmastering on my part.
The games bulletin that you refer to was last year's 2004 edition.
The 2005 edition costs $7 (not $6) from Jerry Weikel and contains
only 70 open section games, plus 21 expert games and probably another 14
class games. Last year's Open section included all the experts, partly
why there were substantially fewer open games this year.
IM John Donaldson won the Joshua Tree Open held March
26 with a score of 5-0. NM Stane Karafiloski was second with 4-1.
Mark
Muller organized and directed the event for the Joshua Tree Chess
Club. Mark holds monthly Grand Priz events in Joshua Tree which is
about 2 hours from Los Angeles.
Newsletter #238, 04/06/2005
"An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made
in a very narrow field."
Niels Bohr
1) Mechanic's Institute Chess Club News
Larry Snyder is the 2005 MI Senior Champ coming from behind to grab the title by defeating Yefim Bukh in the last round with 3.5 from 4. Tying for second at 3, in the event held April 2-3, were Bukh and Mingsen Chen.
Bukh bounced back last night drawing top seed IM John Grefe in the second round of the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon. It is still possible to enter the 66-player nine round competition with two half point byes.
Daniel Naroditsky and Hugo Kitano will be traveling to Nashville this weekend for the Supernationals. MI Scholastic chess instructor Anthony Corrales will also be making the trip. Daniel and Nicolas Yap have been invited to play in the World Youth to be held in France this summer.
Last Friday and Saturday members of the USCF Executive Board and candidates for the Executive Director position toured the MI premises.
This Saturday the MI will host the Val Zemitis Birthday Blitz honoring Mr. Zemitis' 80th.
Val Zemitis 80th Birthday Blitz
April 9 at the Mechanics’ Institute
5 double round blitz – WBCA rules used EF $15 (Free to IMs
and GMs), Registration 12-12:45, The tournament will run from 1-3 pm.
Prizes (guaranteed)
1st $150 2nd $75 3rd $50 Top Under 2200 $50 Top Under 1800 $50
Book prizes to all contestants
2) Atalik leads East Bay GM tourney
GM Suat Atalik leads the East Bay GM tournament with a score
of 6 from 9 with one round remaing. Right behind him is young Canadian
IM
Thomas Roussel-Roozman at 5.5 followed by MI-GM-in-Residence
Alex
Yermolinsky with 5. Mongolian GM Dasheveg Sharavdorj is fourth
at 50 percent. FMs David Pruess and Alan Stein bring up the
rear with 3 but have the distinction of having only decisive games.
3) Fischer-Benko Match ???
According to the Russian major news agency RIA 'News', chess ex-champion
Bobby
Fischer, who has recently settled in Iceland, is planning to visit
Serbia again.
Janos Kubat, Fischer's colleague and friend, informed on Wednesday
press-conference in Belgrade that Fischer wants to visit a small town Kaniza,
where he lived for 8 months in 1993 (located on a border between Serbia
and Hungary) to play a chess match.
Kubat said that he has already selected two hotels in Kaniza that are
suitable for a match with Pal Benko - the Hungarian-born American
who currently lives in Budapest.
'I have already found a sponsor. Now it fully depends on Icelandic
authorities permitting Fischer to come to Serbia', - said Kubat.
Go to http://www.rian.ru/sport/20050330/39595519.html
for more information for those who read Russian.
4) April 2005 FIDE rating list
Garry Kasparov heads the list at 2812 but Vishy Anand
and Veselin Topalov are not far behind at 2785 and 2778 respectively.
Rounding out the top five are Peter Leko 2763 and Vladimir Kramnik
2753.
Gata Kamsky is the top American after coming out of retirement
to play in the US Championship last fall. He is tied for number 20 but
the big news is 17-year-old Hikaru Nakamura who jumps to #43 in
the world at 2657. The only juniors rated higher are Andrei Volikitin
and Teimour Radjabov. The rating of 2657 does not include a small
rating loss in the Millennium Open where Hikaru scored 4-1 (losing to Yury
Shulman) or a very nice gain in Foxwoods where he beat many GMs on the
way to a score of 7.5 from 9. Look for Hikaru to be closer to 2670 when
these events are in.
Other US players over 2600 include Alex Onischuk (2638), Yasser
Seirawan (2631), Alexander Goldin (2615), Gregory Kaidanov
(2614) and Ildar Ibragimov (2611).
5) Hikaru Nakamura in Wisconsin
BREAKING NEWS: our country's champion GM HIKARU NAKAMURA joined the camp's teaching staff!!! We expect entries to pour in after this weekend (Supernationals in Nashville will draw about 7,000 kid and ALL of them will get a flyer!), so let me know ASAP if you wish to participate! Cheers.
Alex Betaneli
Camp Director
WI CHESS ACADEMY
Dates: June 19-24th
CAMP SITE: Best Western Milwaukee Airport Hotel (5105 S. Howell Avenu,
Milwaukee, WI 53207, 414-769-2100)
All sleeping rooms are newly renovated. Free shuttle from airport is
provided.
ELIGIBILITY: players of all ages and strengths are encouraged to attend.
If children under 12 want to stay overnight, then their parents need to
make special arrangements with the organizers.
DAILY ACTIVITIES: Chess lectures, analysis, seminars, informal discussions,
and many tournaments. Hotel has a tropical indoor pool complex featuring
Jacuzzi, game area, sauna and fitness center. Please bring clothes and
shoes for outdoor sport activities.
INFORMATION: please contact the main organizer Alex Betaneli with any
questions. [email protected] or [email protected] or
Internet Chess Club (ICC) handle: Aristophones or telephone 608-233-0923
STAFF
GM Hikaru Nakamura: Current USA Champion, number one rated player
in the country!
GM Alex Goldin: Current champion of the whole continent of America!
Winner of six World Open titles.
IM Stan Smetankin: Current Mid-America Open Champion. Winner
of many national events in the past two years.
IM Joshua Friedel: Current New England champion. One of the
youngest International masters in the country.
NM Alex Betaneli: Current North Central Open champion. Coach
of reigning WI Junior Open Champions and of WI High School Team Champions.
NM Jon Burgess: arriving from England last year, Jon is already
of the most well-known chess players and instructors in Midwest.
COST: $300 for five and half days of instruction. Every participant
should provide address, home phone number, emergency phone number, and
email. Registration will be confirmed over email. Detailed camp schedule
will be emailed shortly after registration deadline.
FOOD: for $100 three daily meals plus snacks and juices will be provided.
Lunch-only option can be provided for $50.
HOTEL: five nights total is $150 if you wish to stay in a double room
(two beds, one roommate). PLease indicate if you would like to have a specific
roommate. PLEASE RESERVE HOTEL WITH CAMP ORGANIZER TO GET THIS EXCELLENT
RATE.
ENTRIES: make checks payable to Alex Betaneli, send to:
Alex Betaneli, WI CHESS ACADEMY CAMP, PO Box 260313, Madison WI 53726.
This camp is limited to the first fifty interested participants.
Register by May 31st.
Please bring chess boards, sets, and clocks!
http://www.wichessacademy.com/
6) Opinions and Observations by Paul Poschel Eight-Times Michigan State Champion
Reprinted in Chess Scribe Instruction Magazine (May 1981) from Michigan Chess
The following observations about time trouble and how to handle it are still germane today more than 20 years after this article first appeared. Some conditions have changed - no adjournments and faster time controls to name two - but much of Poschel's advice is still good.
Time trouble
This topic deserves a lot of thought, because if you are prone to
serious time pressure, and if you did nothing more than correct this problem,
your rating would quickly jump 75-100 rating points. Before giving some
pointers on how to cure the problem (it isn't easy), it is best to gain
some perspective.
To a great extent the time pressure you encounter in our weekend
tournaments is caused the conditions of play Think about it. In most of
our tournaments we play 45 or 50 moves in two hours. After the first time
control there is no adjournment to provide you with time to rest and plan
the future course of the game. You keep right on playing, and in many tournaments
the rate of play is then even speeded up! Compare this with the lot of
the grandmaster. He plays only 40 moves in 2 1/2 hours. Moreover, he always
has an opportunity to prepare an opening for a givenopponent, and in addition
he has great knowledge of opening theory, to begin with. So of the 40 moves
he has to play in 21/2 hours, he can usually play the first 0-12 from memory,
using just a trivial amount of time. If the game reaches the first time
control, it is then adjourned, which gives time for analysis (frequently
with the help of a second.) When play is resumed in the next day or two,
the grandmaster arrives at the board well rested, with reams of prepared
analysis in his head, and as icing on the cake, the rate of play is never
speeded up. And with al these advantages many grandmasters still get into
time trouble! Considering the facts, is it any wonder that we, under our
much more demanding conditions of play frequentlv get into time trouble?
I don'tthink so
We can not basically change the conditions of play in weekend tournaments,
for obvious reasons. Thus, the only way to reduce time problems in
our games, without adopting a superficial style of play, is to conserve
time on the clock, whenever we can. The following set of rules can help
you do this, and are the ones that have helped me. (Yes, I am not as bad
as I used to be, and I keep working on the problem.)
First, only play opening variations that you know rather well. A
tournament game is not the time to experiment
Second, force yourself to make about the first 10 moves of the game
in six minutes or less.
Third, do not waste time by walking around in the tournament room,
while your opponent's clock is running. Sit at the board instead, analyzing
general positional factors. When you simply must get up from the board
for exercise, continue to analyze the existing position in your mind's
eye.
Fourth, except for a quick glance at the openings adopted, totally
ignore the other games going on in the room. Although this can sometimes
be hard to do. you should remember that your own game is the only really
important one for you.
Fifth, whenever an opportunity presents itself to repeat moves,
do it routinely. The only exceptions to this rule are when your opponent
is much shorter of time than you are, or when you have a bad position and
both you and your opponent are in time trouble.
Sixth. On your turn to move. note all the candidate moves before
you begin any concrete analysis at all. Then the first candidate move you
analyze should be the one that you intuitively want to make. the one that
you would probably play in a speed game.
Seventh, and the most basic rule of all, rid your self of unrealistic
perfectionist demands you make of yourself. This has always been difficult
for me to do, and I feel that most other players with a time pressure problem
are perfectionists. We look for that one "correct" move. Instead, we should
really believe that in many positions there isn't just one correct move.
Several may be about equally good and it is mainly a matter of style. We
should realize that in tournament play it is sometimes correct not to spend
a lot of time analyzing a complex move if you have a soundsimpler alternative
available. The time you save on the clock can be much more valuable than
making the very best move.
I am reminded of an incident that happened in one of my games with
Tom Jenkins many years ago After the opening, a fairly even position was
reached. I was looking for some way to complicate the game or gain an advantage.
I saw the possibility of offering a pawn sacrifice. But was it correct
? I spent 30 minutes analyzing that question and finally concluded that
the sacrifice led to a complex game with good practical chances for me.
So I offered the sacrifice. To my surprise and displeasure, Tom looked
at the position for about two minutes and then made a simple alternative
move instead, declining my sacrifice offer. I hid my annoyance, which arose
from the fact that now I had a lot less time for the rest of the game than
my opponent, and I wondered how could he
move so rapidly in that complex position. After the game I asked
him about it. He replied, in effect, "Oh, I didn't even consider accepting
your sacrifice. I knew it was sound because you spent 30 minutes on it.
Why should I have wasted a lot of time repeating your analysis. which I
trusted."
At the time, I thought to myself that Tom was totally wrong. You
can't play chess like that! Now I know that he was absolutely right and
that he showed a sophisticated practical approach to tournament play that
I could not do at that time. I was too much of a perfectionist. If you
have any doubts about the correctness of Tom's tactics in this instance,
consult page 80 of Kotov's Think Like a Grandmaster. You will find that
grandmasters also use these kinds of practical tactics in their games.
So you should, too, in certain situations Incidentally, the above incident
occurred well before Kotov's book was available to us in this country,
so Tom's sophisticated approach to saving time on the clock had been worked
out on his own.
7) Here and There
Dear Friend of Nashville Chess Center,
If you attend one chess event this year, make it SuperNationals III.
We are very fortunate that the tournament will be held right here in Nashville
this week April 7-10 at the Opryland Hotel.
SuperNationals III will be the largest tournament ever held in the
US with over 5,000 participants.
This event is truly a chess extravaganza. While the tournament itself
is a scholastic event, there are numerous activities for every chess enthusiast
including extraordinary free lectures led by GM Maurice Ashley,
former US Woman's Champion WIM Shahade, current US Champion Nakamura,
former US Champion Yasser Seirawan, and former World Champions Polgar
and Karpov!!! This is an unprecedented assembly of elite chess superstars
in Nashville!
The top four U.S. college chess teams, decided by the Pan-Am results,
competed this past wekend for the President's Cup title in Lindsborg, Kan.,
home of the World Champion Anatoly Karpov International School of Chess.
With a score of 10 points, UMBC defeated teams from the University
of Texas at Dallas, Miami Dade College and Stanford University.
The event was organized by Mikhail Korenman.
Newsletter #239, 04/13/2005
"A new move? In these days one can hardly make such a claim, for,
sooner or later, some person will come forward and prove black on white
that he used this move decades ago in some class C tournament or perchance
in a coffeehouse game and hence demand parental recognition. But many very
promising moves are well forgotten."
Alexander Alekhine
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
The Val Zemitis 80th Birthday Blitz, held last Saturday, April 9, attracted 20 players to the Mechanics'. Among them were three International Masters, five National Masters and veterans Neil Falconer, Bob Burger and honored guest Val Zemitis. IM Ricardo DeGuzman won the five double round blitz with a score of 8-2, good for $150. Second at 7.5 was MI Chess Director IM John Donaldson followed by NM Oleg Shakhnazarov at 7 and newly minted IM Vladimir Mezentsev and NM Nicolas Yap on 6.5.
NMs Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, Igor Margulis and Victor Ossipov
and Expert Igor Traub are the four remaining perfect scores after
three rounds of the Spring Mechanics' Institute Tuesday Night Marathon.
Among those at 2.5 in the 68-player field are former US Champion IM
John Grefe and FM Frank Thornally. It's still not to late to
enter the nine round competition with half point byes for the first three
rounds.
Congratulations go to Tuesday Night regular Joe Russell who
picked up 127 points in the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon.
Alberto Cisneros played giant killer last night in the TNM in the following entertaining game.
Alberto Cisneros (1694) - Yefim Bukh (1924) B15
Spring TNM 2005
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Ng3 e5 6.Qe2
Taking Yefim out of his Bukh.
6...Qxd4 7.Nf3 Bb4+ 8.Bd2 Bxd2+ 9.Nxd2 0–0
9...Qxb2 10.Rb1 Qc3 was quite feasible.
10.0–0–0 Qa4 11.Qxe5 Qxa2 12.Bc4 Nbd7
The direct 12...Qa1+ 13.Nb1 b5 14.Bb3 a5 was very much to the point.
13.Qg5
Here 13.Bxa2 Nxe5 14.Nge4 Nxe4 15.Nxe4 should have been considered
with some compensation for the pawn.
13...Qa1+ 14.Nb1 Nb6 15.Nh5
This and White next moves get prizes for imagination but are totally
unsound. They succeed, however, in rattling Bukh.
15...Nxh5 16.Bxf7+ Kxf7
16...Rxf7 17.Rd8+ Rf8 18.Rxf8+ Kxf8 19.Qxh5 Be6 was another win.
17.Qxh5+ Kg8 18.Rd3 Bf5??
Black completely overlooks White's threat. 18...Be6 19.Ra3 Ba2
would have ended things quickly.
19.Ra3
Oops!
19...Qxa3 20.Nxa3 Rae8 21.g4 Bg6 22.Qa5 Rxf2 23.Qxa7 Ree2 24.Qxb6
Be4 25.Rg1 Rxh2 26.Qd8+ Kf7 27.Rf1+ Kg6 28.Qd6+ Kg5 29.Qe5+ Kg6 30.Qe6+
Kg5 31.Qe7+ Kg6 32.Qf7+ Kh6 33.Rg1 Kg5 34.Qe7+ Kg6 35.Qd6+ Kg5 36.Qd8+
Kg6 37.Qe8+ Kg5 38.Qe7+ Kg6 39.Qxb7 h6 40.Qe7 Bd5 41.Qd6+ Kg5 42.Qc5 Kg6
43.b4 Be4 44.g5 h5 45.Qd6+ Kh7 46.g6+ 1–0
This Saturday the M.I. will host it's 5th Annual Imre Konig Memorial with a twist. Competing in the five round competition are GMs Alex Yermolinsky and Suat Atalik. The first and second place prize have been raised to $400 and $200 and are guaranteed. Those who don't like to play against strong underrated kids will be happy to know that almost no juniors will be competing in this tournament due to two huge concurrent scholastic events.
Former US Womens Champion Kamile Baginskaite is holding free
weekly beginner and intermediate classes for women of all ages, Sundays
from 2-4 pm. For more information on this program, which is made possible
by Providian as part of its Providian Cares program, e-mail [email protected]
or call (415) 421-2258.
2) Daniel Naroditsky wins US Grade 3 and Under Championship
Naroditsky and others win at Supernationals
by Michael Aigner
This past weekend saw the largest chess tournament in U.S. history
taking place in Nashville, Tennessee: the third Supernationals. Over
5200 children representing 48 different states participated in these national
scholastic championships. About 30 players from northern California
travelled to Nashville. And many successfully came back home with
trophies!
The story of the weekend was the first place finish by third grader
Daniel
Naroditsky in the K-3 championship section. In a tournament full
of upsets, Daniel had the skill, poise and determination required to win
every game. Daniel's victory was hardly a fluke, since his USCF rating
is an incredible 1847 after his 5.5-0.5 result in the B section in Reno
last month. Alan Kirshner reports that Daniel became the first
local national champion since Vinay Bhat and Jordy
Mont-Reynaud in the mid 1990s.
Other players earning top 10 finishes were David Chock and
Sam
Shankland. David took 4th place in K-9 championship, just behind
the three co-winners. His biggest victory came in the last round
against New York junior high school champion Sarkis Agaian (2174
USCF). David also finished 6th in both the K-12 blitz and K-12 bughouse
tournaments. Sam blitzed his way to a perfect score and a first place
trophy on tiebreaks in the K-8 blitz tournament.
The following players earned trophies at Supernationals III. Trophies were awarded to the top 25 finishers plus all ties for 25th.
Nicholas Nip: 15th place in K-1 championship
Daniel Naroditsky: 1st place in K-3 championship
Hugo Kitano: 33rd place in K-5 championship
Christopher Tsai: 34th place in K-6 championship
Sam Shankland: 17th place in K-8 championship, 1st place
in K-8 blitz
Jeff Young: 34th place in K-8 championship, 11th place in
K-12 bughouse
Avinash Kumar: 57th place in K-8 u1250
David Chock: 4th place in K-9 championship, 6th in K-12 blitz,
6th place in K-12 bughouse
Jojo Zhao: 28th place in K-9 championship
Elisha Garg: 6th place in K-12 bughouse
Over half of the northern California players in Nashville represented
two local scholastic communities: Saratoga H.S. / Redwood M.S. in Saratoga
and St. Mark's School in San Rafael. The rest were independent from
any school teams, but many had ties to the Mechanics' Institute, East Bay
Chess Club, Berkeley Chess School, Academic Chess or Success Chess.
Saratoga High School: 9th place team in K-9 championship
Redwood Middle School: 13th place team in K-8 championship
St. Mark's School: 17th place team in K-8 u1250
St. Mark's School: 11th place team in K-8 u1000
For complete results, please check the following website:
http://alchess.com/chess/05/super/?page=STANDINGS&xsection=
Chock,David (1913) - Agaian,Sarkis (2174)
Supernationals III, K-9 championship (7)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Be3 e5
7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 Be7 9. Qd2 O-O 10. O-O-O b5 11. g4 b4 12. Nd5 Bxd5
13. exd5 a5
14. Kb1 Qc7 15. g5 Nfd7 16. h4 a4 17. Nc1 Na6 18. Qf2 f5 19.
f4 Nac5 20. Bg2 a3 21. b3 Ne4 22. Bxe4 fxe4 23. Ne2 Rac8 24. Rc1 exf4 25.
Bxf4 Ne5 26. Qd4 Rxf4 27. Nxf4 Nf3 28. Qxb4 Qa7 29. Rhd1 e3 30. Qe4
Ne5 31. Nd3 Qc7 32. c4 Rb8 33. Nxe5 dxe5 34. d6 1-0
Tong,W - Naroditsky,D
Supernationals III, K-3 Champ (3),
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Bf4 Bg7 4.Nf3 0–0 5.Nc3 d6 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Bd3
Re8 8.Qc2 e5 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Bg5 c6 11.0–0–0 Qa5 12.Kb1 Nc5 13.Bxf6 Bxf6
14.Ne4 Nxe4 15.Bxe4 Be6 16.h4 Qb4 17.Bd3 e4 18.Bxe4 Bxc4 19.Nd2 Be2 20.Rde1
Bb5 21.a3 Qa5 22.Nb3 Qb6 23.h5 Ba4 24.hxg6 hxg6 25.Bxg6 Bxb3 26.Qf5 Ba2+
27.Kc1 Qxb2+ 28.Kd1 Rad8+ 29.Qd3 Bb3# 0–1
3) Suat Atalik wins East Bay Grandmaster Tournament
GM Suat Atalik won the East Bay Grand Master Tournament in convincing fashion with a 2600 + FIDE performance. Young Canadian IM Thomas Roussel-Roozmon made an even score with the three GMs missing a GM norm by a point. FMs Alan Stein and David Pruess were combative as usual with no draws for either player the entire event.
Standings: 1. GM Atalik 7/10; 2. IM Roussel-Roozmon 6; 3. GM Yermolinsky 5.5; 4. GM Sharavdorj 4.5; 5. FM Stein 4; 6. FM Pruess 3.
Go to http://www.eastbaychess.com/tourney/05/GMXtable.html
for a crosstable and games from the event.
4) Karpov Chess for Peace Program
KARPOV INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF CHESS
106 S. Main, Lindsborg, KS 67456 -- Phone:
785-227-2224
Contact: Wes Fisk 785-227-4121
World Peace Initiative Launched in Lindsborg
On Tuesday, April 12, World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov came
to Lindsborg to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his first World Chess
Championship.
The celebration included Karpov’s announcement of an initiative to
promote world peace through chess. The yearlong program, titled Chess for
Peace, will
promote Internet chess competition and friendship among the youth of
various countries, and it will also include the exchange of scholastic
chess players
between countries.
The first exchange will take place on May 14 when Swedish Chess Champion
Eugene Agrest will bring 20 scholastic chess players from Sweden to Lindsborg.
“We think this program is very exciting and will be very successful,” said
Mikhail
Korenman, Director of the Karpov School of Chess.
Karpov has the necessary credentials to make the program work.
He is the Russian ambassador to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
and the
President of the Russian Peace Foundation. His involvement with
various charitable causes has earned him praise from the world community.
Many heads of
state have hosted Karpov during his extensive travels for chess and
for UNICEF. The Chess for Peace program will also feature a number
of planned events in which some of these noted political figures will participate.
Karpov held a press conference at 10 a.m. at the Lindsborg City Hall
on Tuesday, April 12.
This was followed by a simultaneous chess exhibition at 2:30 p.m. in
front of the Karpov School of Chess, 106 S. Main, in which students from
Soderstrom Elementary participated.
At 3:30 p.m. he met with the Master Class students at the Karpov Chess
School. The public was invited to hear Karpov give an address at
Burnett Center at 6 p.m about his 30 years as World Chess Champion, and
about the Chess for Peace program.
5) Here and There
The editor of the Russian magazine 64, Alexander Roshal, has reported:
Moscow, Russia – Viswanathan Anand of India won his second consecutive "Chess Oscar" as best player of 2004. He easily won the vote, which counts ballots from chess writers and others from around the world and is awarded by the Russian chess magazine "64". It is Anand's fourth such award.
The Russian Chess Observer "64" (the editor-in-chief - Alexander Roshal) defined the owner of "Oscar" - the international award which is handed over to the best chess player of the last year for the 10th time. 445 chess experts from 75 countries of the world have taken part in the anniversary voting (including 74 grandmasters). They have named the top ten strongest, in their opinion, chess players of 2004. The 1st place in the list was estimated by 13 points, 2nd - 11, 3rd - 9, 4th - 7, 5th - 6, …, 10th - 1 point.
The Indian GM Viswanathan Anand, who achieved 5205 points is the owner of the bronze statuette of "The Fascinated Wanderer". He is the only one mentioned in all the lists, and in 279 lists he is on the first place! And no wonder: " The Tiger from Madras " has a unique collection of the first places at various tournaments in classical and rapid chess. Vishy was certainly a leader of the Indian team at the Olympiad in Spain. In general, his present victory, as well as the previous ones, is undisputed.
This is the second "double" for Anand - he successively became the owner of Oscar in 1997 and 1998. In the newest history of this award only Garry Kasparov achieved the same results (1995-96 and 2001-02). Kasparov and Anand together have received 9 of 10 Oscars from "64". One more was received by Vladimir Kramnik in the year 2000.
Further in the list of "Oscar-2004":
2. Garry Kasparov, the Champion of Russia - 3664 points (60
first places);
3. Peter Leko (Hungary), the finalist of the classical world
championship - 3485 (43);
4. Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), classic chess champion of the
World - 3344 (37);
5. Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan), FIDE world champion
- 2088 (12);
6. Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), the owner of the third (after
Kasparov and Anand) top Elo in the world - 1858 (2);
7. Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), the European champion and
the leader of the Olympic champions from Ukraine - 1398 (7);
8. Michael Adams (England), the finalist of FIDE world championship
- 1378 (2);
9. Alexander Morozevich (Russia), the winner of the prestigious
tournaments in Monaco and Biel - 1128 (2);
10. Alexander Grischuk, the silver prize-winner of the Russian
championship - 868.
International Master Tim Taylor turned back strong opposition to win the 3rd LA Masters held April 5 at the West LA Chess Club.
1. IM Taylor 3.5 $200 2-3. SM Manukyan and IM Odondoo 3 $75 each. 4. GM Khachiyan 2.5
Short and Sweet - You won't find this pretty minature in any database.
Ivanov,I - Aaron [D14]
Hong Kong - Commonwealth Ch, 1984
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 Bf5 7.e3 e6 8.Bb5 Nd7 9.Qa4 Qb6 10.Nh4 Bg6 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.e4 dxe4 13.d5 Nc5 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.Bxc6+ Ke7 16.0-0-0 Nxa4 17.Rd7+ Ke8 18.Bxa4 Bb4 19.Rxa7+ Kf8 20.Rxa8+ Ke7 21.Rxh8 Bxc3 22.bxc3 Qxf2 23.Bg5+ f6 24.Rd1 1-0
Players Chess News, Volume 6, page 212
Andy Ansel passes along the following game played between two well-known Bay Area masters of the 1970 and 80s.
Subramanian,S - Fritzinger,D
Saratgo Paul Masson (4), 1973
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.a4 d5 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Be3 Nf6 7.h3 Bxf3 8.gxf3 Qa5 9.e5 Nfd7 10.Qd2 e6 11.h4 a6 12.b4 Qxb4 13.Rb1 Qa5 14.Rxb7 c5 15.f4 cxd4 16.Bxd4 Nc6 17.Be2 Nxd4 18.Qxd4 Rc8 19.Rh3 Nc5 20.Rb4 Bf8 21.Kf1 Ne4 22.Nxe4 Bxb4 23.Nf6+ Kf8 24.h5 Bc5 25.Qb2 gxh5 26.Qb7 Qc7 27.Nd7+ Ke8 28.Nf6+ Kd8 29.Bxa6 Be7 30.Nxh5 Qxc2 31.Qb6+ Ke8 32.Bb5+ Kf8 33.Nf6 Bxf6 34.exf6 Qd1+ 35.Kg2 Rg8+ 36.Rg3 Rxg3+ 37.fxg3 Rc2+ 38.Kh3 Qh5#
Source: Prisoner's Chess Institute Newsletter, Sept 1973, page 8
Checkmate! A Chess Master Makes Moves in NY Premiere of Suspense-Thriller Fit to Kill, April 9-30
By Kenneth Jones
April 7, 2005Fit to Kill, Victor L. Cahn's new suspense-thriller about a chess master and his successful wife, begins previews April 9 at Off-Broadway's Harold Clurman Theatre in the Theatre Row complex. Opening is April 11.Broadway's Jana Robbins (The Tale of the Allergist's Wife) stars in what's billed as a witty and elegant play in the tradition of Sleuth and Deathtrap. Rachel Reiner Productions presents the New York premiere staging, directed by Eric Parness. Performances continue to April 30. Playwight Cahn penned Roses in December, which starred James and Keira Naughton Off-Broadway. The new drama "is a suspense-thriller about strategy, deception, and betrayal," according to production notes. "Adrian, a charming but self-indulgent chess master, lives a life of luxury thanks to his marriage to Janice, an older but sexy and vibrant woman, who has made her fortune as the CEO of an exercise empire. When Amy, a young reporter with an agenda of her own, starts asking too many questions, a whirlwind of deadly schemes ensue, leading to a series of twists and surprises that will keep audiences guessing until the final seconds."
Susan Polgar, a four-time World Chess Champion, five-time Olympic Champion
and the first woman in history to break the gender barrier in chess, is
chess consultant for the new play. The cast also includes Lanie MacEwan
(Peccadillo Theater Company's Counsellor-at-Law) and Patrick Melville (the
New York premiere of Charles Mee's Time to Burn at the Manhattan Ensemble
Theater). Designers are Robert R. Sweetnam (scenic design), Sidney Shannon
(costume), Pamela Kupper (lighting) and Nick Moore (sound). Cahn's numerous
other plays include Getting the Business, Embraceable Me (which will be
given a future Off-Broadway staging), Of My Father's House, Sheepskin/Bottom
of the Ninth and A Dish for the Gods. Rachel Reiner Productions' upcoming
projects include an off-Broadway production of Embraceable Me by Victor
L. Cahn, and Crazy for the Dog by Chris Boal. Recently, Rachel Reiner Productions
produced developmental productions of Zimmerman by Frank Barth at the Sanford
Meisner Theater and Embraceable Me at the 78th Street Theatre Lab. Rachel
Reiner Productions was Associate Producer for the Directors Company's production
of Love in the Age of Narcissism by Brad Desch and Rapt by Roland Tec at
the Culture Project. The Clurman in Theatre Row is at 410 W. 42nd Street.
The performance schedule for Fit to Kill is Thursdays through Saturdays
at 8 PM, Sundays at 3 PM and Mondays at 7 PM. Tickets are $15 and can be
reserved by calling TicketCentral at (212) 279-4200 or online at www.TicketCentral.com.
For additional details, visit http://www.fittokill.com/.
Newsletter #240, 04/20/2005
"I'm going to teach you the greatest of all games, the ethereal creation of human intelligence."
John Steinbeck writing in his novel Sweet Tuesday (1954) in praise of
chess.
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
The 5th Annual Imre Konig Memorial was a fitting tribute to the
well-loved International Master who made San Francisco his home from 1953
to the early 1970s. The strongest G/45 ever held at the MI saw Mechanics'
Institute Grandmaster-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky take top honors
with 4.5 from 5. Tying for second at 4-1 were GM Suat Atalik, IM Ricardo
DeGuzman and Dutch master Marcel Beulen. The top four finishers
had perfect scores after three rounds with round four proving decisive
for the final standings. Yermo drew with IM DeGuzman while Beulen upset
GM Atalik who had a promising position but got low on time. Beilin, leading
the event, was defeated in the final round of the competition by Yermo.
Top Under 2200 was Yefim Bukh on 3.5. Also on that score in the
25-player event was MI Trustee Mark Pinto. Alex Yermolinsky played
and directed for the MI.
2) Jane Grimm: The Chess Set
April 21 – August 10, 2005
Reception: April 21, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Jane Grimm: The Chess Set
Oakland Museum of CA Sculpture Court
1111 Broadway
Located in downtown Oakland
The Oakland Museum of California Sculpture Court at City Center is
a collaboration between the Oakland Museum of California and the 1111 Broadway
Building.
Sculpture Court hours are Monday through Friday 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.; Third
Thursdays 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. Closed on holidays.
Presented by the Oakland Museum of California Professional Services
division
Professional Services Exhibition Archive
Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) Off-Site presents Jane Grimm: The Chess Set at The Sculpture Court in Oakland City Center. This exhibition features 16 monumental chess pieces, inspired by themes of femininity, war and the frivolity of life.
San Francisco artist Jane Grimm has been a practicing ceramic sculptor for over 30 years. Once a jewelry designer and manufacturer, Grimm has spent the past fifteen years exploring the theme of life as a game through her artwork. Depicting people as bowling pins, billiard balls and dartboard targets, her humorous sculptures reflect her observation that we are pawns in the game of life and therefore should not take it too seriously.
As this metaphorical theme evolved for Grimm, she began developing a series of female busts placed on columns, each adorned with symbolic imagery, such as tears, flames and vines. She supplemented these female icons with new ceramic pieces – pawns, towers, bishops and unicorns – to complete The Chess Set. The pieces are monumental in scale, measuring up to 6’ in height. For Grimm, the large scale was an important element in emphasizing the power of the pieces. The neutral color palette further underscores this implication of force.
The characters in Grimm’s set are of her own creation and only loosely based on those in a traditional chess set. While chess is often thought of as a dignified and cultured endeavor, Grimm’s pieces reflect the aggression, power and strategy of the game. She incorporates her own iconography to explore the dichotomous issues of femininity and war. “The queen is the ultimate weapon in defense of the king. Although she is blindfolded or gagged, she retains ultimate power,” explains Grimm. “While the unicorn is a symbol of chastity, it also can represent, with its twisted horn, an ambassador for the king during wartime. Fire and tears emitting from the eyes suggest the duality in thoughts of war – anger and fear, destruction and healing.”
Grimm was born and raised in San Francisco, where she is currently living and working as a ceramic sculptor. She received her education on the East Coast at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and at Sarah Lawrence College in New York State. After completing her formal training, she began her career as a jewelry designer and manufacturer in New York City. Her jewelry was featured in magazines such as Harper's Bazaar and Vogue and was sold in many department stores and boutiques across the U.S. and Europe.
While still on the East Coast, Jane started working with clay in the early 70's. She taught jewelry making and began raising her family. Upon returning to San Francisco, she continued to create jewelry while embarking on a more intensive study of clay. The sculptures in The Chess Set are coil-built using low-fire clay, underglazes and glazes.
In 1992, she received her MFA in Ceramics with High Distinction from the California College of Arts and Crafts, having studied with Viola Frey and Art Nelson. Her sculpture has been on display nationally in many museums, galleries and alternative spaces. She also has received corporate art commissions.
Her most recent exhibitions include Contemporary Craft at the Olive Hyde Gallery in Fremont, CA; Calm, Cool and Collected at the Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA; and Subtractions & Additions: Ceramic Sculpture and Installations at the Ft. Mason San Francisco Museum of Craft and Folk Art.
Jane Grimm: The Chess Set is presented by the Oakland Museum of California
in partnership with Shorenstein Realty Services. The exhibition is part
of a changing exhibition series at Oakland City Center and represents an
ongoing collaboration between the museum and Shorenstein to showcase contemporary
artists. The Sculpture Court is located in the rear atrium lobby of 1111
Broadway
3) Igor Ivanov gives a lesson in the KID
Igor Ivanov gives a lesson in his favorite line versus the King's Indian, the Petrosian System, against the late Billy Colias.
Ivanov - Colias E92
Chicago International (3), 1992
Notes by Igor Ivanov
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.d4 0–0 6.Be2 e5 7.d5
The Petrosian System is a very solid one, in which White bases his
hopes on the space advantage.
7...a5 8.Bg5
In this position I have tried 8.h3; 8.h4; 8.g3; 8.a3 and consider
all of them quite good, but 8.0–0 or the text are more in "the book".
8...h6 9.Bh4 Na6 10.0–0 Qe8 11.Ne1 Nc5
I like this move although the book says that 11...g5 12.Bg3
Nxe4 leads to a quick draw.
12.f3
12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.Bg4 is a reasonable alternative, but have
a bad memory of it.
12...Nh7
12...Nh5 heading for f4 looks more energetic.
13.Nb5
This move forces the Black Knight back to a6 or the uncomfortable
text move by the Black Queen.
13...Qd7 14.Nd3 Nxd3 15.Bxd3 c5
Black wants to close the Queen's flank but the slow 15...c6 16.Nc3
c5 would be more prudent - the Knight on b5 is too dangerous.
16.a3
White decides on Queenside action, but Black finds an interesting
defense.
16...b6
Now on 17.b4 Black has 17...Ba6 18.bxc5 Bxb5 19.cxb5 dxc5! (but
not 19...bxc5 20.b6! and White is on top). Now the resulting position looks
defendable for Black unless White decides on the pawn sacrifice 20.d6 Qxd6
21.Bf2, when White will dominate the light squares. Whether such an advantage
is enough for a win is puzzling. I would not want to bet my wallet on i!
But a much less evident continuation, namely 18.bxa5!, was a very good
try for a win.
17.Bc2
With the idea of meeting 17...Ba6 by 18.Ba4 and White's light squared
Bishop becomes active.
17...Bf6
A natural manuever, but it opens some more new opportunities for
White, this time on the Kingside.
18.Bxf6 Nxf6 19.Qd2
With the obvious intention to continue with f3-f4 so Black strives
to stop it.
19...g5
Now that 20.f4 is seemingly impossible, three different plans come
to mind:.
20.b4 does not promise a certain victory due to massive exchanges,
for example 20...Ba6 21.Ba4 Bxb5 22.Bxb5 Qc7 23.Bc6 Rab8 24.Rfb1
Kg7 25.Rb3 Ng8 26.Rab1 Ne7 27.bxc5 bxc5 28.Rb7 Nxc6 29.Rxc7 Rxb1+ 30.Kf2
Nd4 and Black is doing fine. Of course White could play differently on
many occasions, e.g. 29.dxc6 with the better position, but the fact is
that I wasn't sure, while trying to imagine a possible course of events
after 20.b4, that White would win.;
Another obvious assault begins with 20.h4 Once again it was
difficult to foresee how the open h-file alone would bring White the victory.For
example: 20...Nh7 21.hxg5 hxg5 22.Kf2 Kg7 23.Rh1 Rh8 24.Rh5 f6 25.Rah1
Ba6 26.g3 Bxb5 27.cxb5 Rag8 28.Kg1 Nf8 It is quite possible that White
can improve this line which is no more than just an illustration of a master's
thinking over the board.
Finally the question: Could f3-f4 be prepared by g2-g3? The question
is sad and simple:; 20.g3 Nh7 21.f4 f6 and Black remains solid. But doesn't
Black's position look somewhat flimsy, and couldn't that perforated construction
be opened somehow? With violence if necessary.
20.f4
I am proud of this move although the idea is as old as the
game of chess. Remember 1.e4 e5 2.f4!.
20...gxf4
20...exf4 21.g3 Nh5 22.Bd1 (22.gxf4 Nxf4 23.Rxf4 gxf4 24.Kh1 is
good, too.) 22...g4 23.Rxf4 and White is on his way to victory.
21.g3 Kh7
Black wants to exploit the g-file and to keep his h-pawn protected,
but the position of the Black King on the same diagonal as the White Bishop
suggests recapture of the f4-pawn with the Rook.
22.Rxf4 exf4 23.e5+ Kh8
The Black King position is no longer defensible.
24.exf6 Qg4 25.Rf1 Bf5 26.Rxf4 Qg5 27.Bxf5 Qxf6 28.Bc2 1-0
Chess Life, July 1992, page 44
4) Dawg bites Man
"Every dawg has its day"
Frank Berry (1760) – Movses Movsisyan (2250) [B34]
April FIDE Tulsa (2.2), 16.April.2005
[F Berry]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.e5
Ng8 8.Bc4 Qa5 9.Qe2 Bg7 10.Bf4 Qb4
Afterwards all the Russians thought that MM overlooked the sure
win of a piece: 10...d5 11.Bb3 d4? (¹11...Ba6 Kriventsov) but 12.Qc4!!
actually leaves White with the advantage 12...dxc3 13.Qxf7+ Kd8 14.0–0–0+
Kc7 15.Qxg7.
11.0–0 Ba6 12.Bxa6 Qxf4 13.Rfe1 Nh6 14.Rad1 Rd8 15.g3 Qb4 16.Ne4
0–0 17.c3 Qb6
Where it remains out of play and is unable to protect the Black
castle in case of a crisis.
18.Ng5 f6 19.Bc4+ Kh8 20.exf6 Bxf6 21.Nh3 d5 22.Bb3 e5 23.Kg2
Nf5 24.Rd2 Nd6 25.Qg4 Ne4 26.Rde2 Kg7 27.f4 h5 28.Qf3
Not sure now what to do NM Movsisyan thinks for a long time and
moves.
28...a5 29.Bc2 Nc5 30.fxe5 Bg5
If 30...Bxe5 then 31.Qe3 Bf6 32.Nf4
31.Nf4 Bxf4 32.gxf4 Ne6 33.f5 g5 34.f6+ Kh6 35.Qf5 Nf4+ 36.Kh1
Qc7 37.e6 Rh8 38.e7 1–0
5) Wojtkiewicz wins USCF Grand Prix
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Joan DuBois
April 19, 2005 USCF Media Director
Press Release #14 of 2005 (845)565-8687 [email protected]
GM Aleks Wojtkiewicz of Maryland Wins The 2004 ChessCafe.com Grand
Prix
(CROSSVILLE, TN)For the sixth time Grandmaster Aleks Wojtkiewicz
takes first place in the Grand Prix. The 2004 Grand Prix, a United
States Chess Federation competition, was sponsored by ChessCafe.com owned
and operated by Hanon W. Russell.
Total case prize fund was $10,000.00 with an additional $5,000.00 in chess merchandise prizes. Wojtkiewicz wins $4,000.00 for his outstanding accomplishment with having scored 377.78 grand prix points. 2nd place went to Grandmaster Ildar Ibraginov of Connecticut with 327.52 points and 3rd to Grandmaster Jaan Ehlvest of New York who totaled 288.78 points.
Hundreds of chess tournaments run each year under the auspices of the US Chess Federation but only a few meet the criteria of being deemed Grand Prix Events. It is from these events that players achieve grand prix points based on their performance. The Grand Prix is an annual year long contest, held each year since 1979, that causes more frequent play by top players, encourages organizers to reward excellence by guaranteeing more prize money that Masters are eligible to win, and helps to raise money for USCF’s Professional Players Health & Benefits Fund.
ChessCafe.com is the third corporate sponsor in the history of the Grand Prix. The others were Church’s Chicken (1979-1986) and Novag Computers (1988-1998). The event was sponsored by individual donors in 2001 and USCF in other years. This year’s prize fund will be the largest since 2000 and will include 18 special merchandise prizes for juniors and seniors.
Other cash prize winners were:
4th place prize of $800.00: GM Alexander Ivanov of MA - 230.21
pts.
5th place prize of $700.00: GM Hikaru Nakamura of NY - 166.44
pts.
6th place prize of $600.00: GM Varuzhan Akobian of CA – 160.99
pts.
7th place prize of $500.00: IM Andranik Matikozyan of CA
– 158.47
8th place prize of $400.00: IM Stanislav Kriventsov of PA
– 154.66.
$5,000.00 worth of chess merchandise credit will be distributed amongst:
9th place ($350.00 cr) GM Alexander Stripunsky of NY with
151.19 pts.
10th place ($350.00 cr) Stanislav Smetankin of MN with 146.66
pts.
11th place ($350.00 cr) GM Julio Becerra of NC with 140.14
pts.
12th place ($350.00 cr) GM Sergey Kudrin of NJ with 133.75
Two other categories of the 2004 ChessCafe.com Grand Prix were: Junior Categories and Senior Category. Winners in these age categories will also receive respective chess merchandise credit (1st: $300.00; 2nd $200.00, 3rd: $100.00) from ChessCafe.com.
Junior Categories:
Born between 1981-1983: 1st place: GM Varuzhan Akobian of
CA – 160.99 pts.; 2nd: FM Todd Andrews of TN – 61.70 pts.; 3rd:
Andrew
Samuelson of VA – 29.32 pts.
Born between 1984-1986: 1st: Kamil Miton of NY – 90.00 pts.;
2nd: IM Joshua Friedel of NY – 45.96; 3rd: Bruci Lopez of
FL – 25.83.
Born between 1987-1988: 1st: GM Hikaru Namakura of NY – 166.44
pts.; 2nd: Dmytro Kedyk of NY - 55.41 pts.; 3rd: Thomas Gossell
of MO - 25.40 pts.
Born between 1989-1990: 1st: FM Alex Lenderman of NY – 45.98
pts.; 2nd: Corey Acor of FL – 16.10 pts.; 3rd: Alexander Barnett
of MD – 8.71 pts.
Born between 1991 and after: 1st: FM Fabiano Caruana of NY
– 10.40 pts.; 2nd: Kasun Waidyaratne of OH – 9.00; 3rd: Michael
Thaler of NY 6.25.
Senior Category:
Born 1939 and before: 1st & 2nd tie between Zakhar Fayvinov
of PA and Klaus Pohl of SC – 8.00; 3rd: Avraam Pismennyy
of MA – 7.25 pts.
Newsletter #241, 04/27/2005
"Chess isn't 99% tactics, it's just that tactics takes up 99% of
your time."
Rashid Ziatdinov
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs defeated Expert Igor Traub in round four of the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon and has the only perfect score. IM John Grefe, FM Frank Thornally and NMs Igor Margulis and Victor Ossipov are tied for second in the 68-player, nine round competition.
Former MI Chess Director Kurt Bendit and MI Life Member Roger Creet are both living at the San Francisco Community Convalescent Hospital (2655 Bush St., SF, CA 94115 - corner of Bush and Divisadero, (415) 922-4141) and are looking for new opponents to play.
Congratulations to MI member NM Nicolas Yap who is the Northern California High School State Champion by virtue of his first place finish in Oakland a few weeks ago. This victory earns Nicolas the right to represent Northern California in the Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions which will be held alongside the US Open this August in Scottsdale, Arizona. Congratulations also go to Nic's longtime coach IM Guillermo Rey. Elisha Garg and MI member Louiza Livshitz tied for the top finishing girl in Oakland and will play a two game match in May at the Mechanics' to decide who will represent Northern California in the Susan Polgar Girls Championship, also in Scottsdale. The Mechanics' Institute was the top finishing team in the High School and placed second 2nd in K-8 and K-6.
The same weekend as the State Championship there was another Scholastic event in San Jose, organized by Alan Kirshner's Success Chess that attracted more than twice as many entrants as Oakland. The High School events in Oakland were stronger than San Jose because they were qualifiers for the Denker and Polgar but not the lower sections. MI member Daniel Naroditsky repeated his triumph from the previous week's Nationals, but this time the Foster City 9-year-old moved up to the Grade 6 and under Elementary section. The San Jose event is well covered at both http://www.chessdryad.com/ (photos and games) and http://www.successchess.com/ (standings).
Speaking of Chess Dryad. This website, run by Kerry Lawless with support by Mark Shelton and Richard Shorman, continues to get better and better. Go http://www.chessdryad.com/photos/shormancollection/s_10/s_10_2.htm for historical Shorman photos of Tigran Petrosian's simul at the Mechanics' on April 16, 1978. It's impossible to accurately measure Richard Shorman's contributions to Bay Area chess. His skills as a photographer are well known as is his excellence as a teacher. Berkeley Chess School leader Elizabeth Shaughnessy swears by Richard's teaching syllabus and believes that it is so good that an adult, newly introduced to the game, can teach beginning kids immediately if they follow Richard's script to the letter. How far do Richard's contributions go? I have a Xerox copy of the nicely produced 1960 Oakland YMCA Invitational won by Arthur Wang ahead of Julius Loftsson. Who produced it? Richard Shorman.
MI Chess Director John Donaldson will join GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Goldin and Gregory Serper plus IMs Stanislav Smetankin and Josh Friedel on the staff of the Wisconsin Chess Academy June 19-24th in Milwaukee. Consult Newsletter 238 (under MI Newsletter archives) or contact Camp Director Alex Betaneli at [email protected] or [email protected] or Internet Chess Club (ICC) handle: Aristophones or telephone 608-233-0923 for more information.
Phillip Pereplitsky is looking for match opponents rated from
2000-2200. If you are interested contact him at [email protected]
.
Mea Culpa - Last Newsletter's quote mistakenly referred to the John
Steinbeck novel as Sweet Tuesday but as Max Burkett kindly reminded
me it's Sweet Thursday ( I did write the Newsletter on Tuesday). Thanks
Max.
2) MI Member Larry Snyder in the New York Times
For an American chess player probably the closest thing to getting your picture on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine is having one of your games appear in the chess column of the New York Times. You would be correct if you guessed that Mechanics' Institute Grandmaster-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky has received that honor many times, but can you think of another Chess Club regular? One hint, he is a Tuesday Night Marathon veteran. Another, he was a whiz kid back in his native Philadelphia in the late 1950s. Give up?
Expert Larry Snyder of Berkeley was featured in the New York Times of July 4, 1963 and May 1963 issue of Chess Life for his win over Sergei Goregliad in the New Jersey Amateur Championship. The victory helped Larry tie for second place in the event, a half point behind Stewart Reuben's winning score of 5.5 from 6, and also earned him the best game prize as judged by the veteran master and director William Ruth.
Al Horowitz had these words to say about the prize winning game.
The criteria by which "best-played" games are evaluated ought to be revamped. It is common practice to award an honorarium for the "best-played" game to the winner. The loser also should share the booty; not the lion's share, perhaps, but a modest portion, for contributing to an outstanding performance.
William Ewart Napier, a former British champion and an original writer on chess, always asserted that his best game was the one he lost to the world champion Emanuel Lasker, at Cambridge Springs. This was an epic battle of attack and counterattack, thrust and parry, where the outcome was in doubt until the last few moves.
The following game, Larry Snyder versus Sergei Goregliad, won the "best-played" prize in the recent New Jersey amateur tournament at Camden.
A King's Indian Defense shapes up in Sicilian garb. White exercises restraint in not playing 12.Bxe5. This would have led to extensive liquidation and a tame draw. White hopes for more.
Black later could have played 17...Qb8, but believed that the ensuing exchange of two pieces for Rook and two pawns was not to be feared. White was the better strategist here. The winning sequence is logically clear.
Larry Snyder - Sergei Goregliad
King's Indian E79
New Jersey Amateur Championship 1963
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0–0 6.f4 c5 7.Nf3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Be3 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 e5 11.fxe5 dxe5 12.Be3 Qa5 13.0–0 Be6 14.a3 Rfd8 15.Qc2 Nd7 16.b4 Qc7 17.Nb5 Qc6 18.Nxa7 Rxa7 19.Bxa7 b6 20.Rfd1 Ra8 21.Bxb6 Qxb6+ 22.c5 Qc6 23.a4 Bf8 24.Bb5 Qc7 25.Kh1 Nb8 26.Bc4 Bxc4 27.Qxc4 Nc6 28.b5 Nd4 29.c6 Qb6 30.Qd5 Nc2 31.a5 Rxa5 32.Rxa5 Ne3 33.Qd8 Qc5 34.Ra8 Nxd1 35.Qxf8+ Qxf8 36.Rxf8+ Kxf8 37.c7 1-0
Chess Life, May 1963 and The New York Times, July 4, 1963
3) Igor Ivanov: Master Alchemist
Play over this game, ably annotated by GM Shamkovich at the time, but if you really want to know what was going on get the April 25th edition of the Washington Post (page C10) where GM Lubomir Kavalek really gets to the heart of things.
GM Kavalek writes:
"A quarter-century ago, a young Russian chess player decided he would defect from the Soviet Union. Returning from a tournament in Havana, he would attempt to dash for freedom during a refueling stop at the Gander, Newfoundland, airport. A few people who knew about his idea nicknamed him the Eagle and when he had landed successfully, they rejoiced. Igor Ivanov was the strongest Soviet master who made North America his new home. He played for Canada before he moved to the United States. He now lives in Utah".
A Real Grandmaster
Ivanov became an International Master in 1981. Many of his formidable opponents, including world champions Boris Spassky, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov, can attest that Ivanov played like a strong grandmaster, although that title somehow eluded him. It now appears that he made several grandmaster norms in the past and, hopefully, FIDE will seriously consider awarding him the well-deserved title. In his most exciting game, Ivanov defeated IM Vitaly Zaltsman in New York 1983 in the Tarrasch defense. After outplaying his foe with his healthy, active positional style, Ivanov went wild, sacrificing his two rooks and a queen. It became an emotional roller coaster with the powerful white pawns finally swarming the black king.
To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/24/AR2005042401193.html?referrer=emailarticle
Igor Ivanov - Vitaly Zaltsman
Tarrasch Defense D34
NY Kavkasian New York, 1983
Notes by GM Leonid Shamkovich
1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.d4 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.g3 Nc6 6.Bg2 Nf6 7.0–0
Be7 8.Nc3 0–0
The key position of this variation has arisen after some transposition.
9.Be3 White has a great choice of reasonable moves: 9.b3, 9.Bf4, 9.dxc5
and 9.Bg5. Theoreticians do not consider the text to be best. Most popular
now is 9.Bg5. 9...c4?! A doubtful move, since Black releases tension in
the center and so gives White a free hand to develop his intended K-side
attack. Preferable is, in our opinion (see the forthcoming book by E. Schiller
and myself The Tarrasch Defense) is 9...Ng4 10.Bf4 Be6.
10.Ne5 Qa5 11.Bg5 Rd8 12.e3
It is necessary to protect the d4 pawn 12.f4 Nxd4 before White
begins the attack on the K-side. By the way, this plan is most logical
after 11...Be6 also, instead of the well-known 12.e4?!, Simagin-Yudovich,
Moscow 1962.
12...h6 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.f4 Bxe5
It was impossible to deal with such a strong Knight.
15.fxe5 Be6 16.Qh5
More accurate was 16.a3 avoiding 16...Nb4 and ...Nd3.
16...Rd7? 17.Rad1 Rf8 18.a3 Qd8
Black must go on the defensive due to White's threats on the K-side.
19.h4
Preventing the counter-threat ...Qg5 and preparing a pawnstorm.
19...a6 20.Rd2 b5 21.Rdf2 Qe7
Black is wasting time. Better was 21...Ne7 right away. Now his position
becomes very difficult.
22.g4 Qd8 23.g5
White's threats on the K-side become more dangerous with every move.
23...Ne7 24.Ne2!
The best move - White transfers the Knight to the K-side. Not so
strong is 24.gxh6 g6 25.Qg5 Kh7 offering chances for resistance,
e.g. 26.Bh3 Nf5 27.Rxf5 Qxg5+.
24...g6 25.Qxh6 Nf5 26.Rxf5 Bxf5 27.Rxf5!
The sacrifice of the second Exchange is, probably, the only way
to the victory, as the alternative 27.Ng3 Bd3 28.Rf6 is unclear due to
28...Qa5! with the idea of ...Qe1+.
27...gxf5 28.Ng3 f6 29.Nxf5?!
This looks very strong because White is threatening the terrible
20.Bxd5+, but actually it seems to lose White's great advantage. Much stronger
is, in fact, 29.g6 Rc7 30.e6 Qd6 (30...Re8 31.Nxf5 Rxe6 32.g7 etc.)
31.g7 winning.
29...Rh7 30.Qg6+ Kh8 31.gxf6
The alternative 31.exf6 is also interesting.
31...Rg8 32.h5!!
A new and stunning sacrifice.
32...Rxg6
The attempt 32...Qa5 now doesn't work, since 33.f7!
Qe1+ 34.Kh2 Rxg6 35.f8Q+ Rg8 36.Qf6+ Rgg7 37.h6 and White wins
33.hxg6
A unique position! Two minor pieces and three passed pawns are more
than equal to Black's Queen and Rook!
33...Qd7?!
Time pressure. Black should play 33...Rh5 34.g7+ Kh7
though after 35.f7 Rxf5 36.g8Q+ Qxg8 37.fxg8Q+ Kxg8 38.Bxd5+ White's
chances in the endgame are still better.
34.e4?
A counter surprise. Ivanov misses the forced win 34.g7+ Rxg7 (34...Kg8??
35.Bxd5+) 35.fxg7+ Kh7 36.Bxd5! (even so!) 36...Qxd5 37.Ne7 Qf7 38.g8Q+
Qxg8+ 39.Nxg8 Kxg8 40.Kf2! and White has time to stop Black's pawns in
the endgame.
34...dxe4?
34...Rh5! is still very strong. In this case White could find a
draw, perhaps, by 35.Ng7!? Rg5 36.e6 Qa7 37.e7 Qxd4+ 38.Kh1 but if there
is a draw after 38...Qxf6! 39.e8Q+ Kxg7 I am not aware of it. Obviously
Black should play this and destroy White's heroic plans.
35.Bxe4 Kg8
Only 35...a5! would give Black some chance to be rescued.
36.Kg2!
Preventing ...Qa7 after White plays d5. Black is now absolutely
helpless (if 36...Rh5 37.Ne7+).
36...a5
It's too late.
37.d5 Qc7
The last attempt to free Black's Queen.
38.d6!
White's pawns continue implacably to advance. This position deserves
a special diagram.
38...Qc5 39.gxh7+ Kxh7 40.f7 Qxe5
If 40...Qc8 41.Ne7+
41.f8Q Qxe4+ 42.Kg3 Qd3+ 43.Kf4 Qd2+ 44.Ke4 1-0
Players Chess News 1983, pages 350–352
5) American Players Abroad
13th Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament
The Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament was co-arranged by the Malmo-based Limhamn Chess Club and the Copenhagen Chess Federation. The first five rounds were played at the classical Hipp Theater in the center of Malmo, and the tournament was concluded with four rounds in Copenhagen (at Quality Hotel in Hoje Taastrup). The event took place April 15th-24th 2005. Jan Timman and Krishnan Sasikiran finish on 6.5/9 with US Champion Hikaru Nakamura right behind them.
Hikaru will probably not be completely satisfied with his result as he lost unnecessarily against GM Krishnan Sasikiran (his only loss) but he was also somewhat fortunate against the another winner, Jan Timman. So his final score of 6-3, good for a small rating gain on the basis of a 2685 performance, was not out of line. Europeans were definitely impressed by Hikaru's fearless attitude. Read the following from the official website.
Nakamura surprised Sasikiran with what looked suspiciously like an attempt at fool's mate (1.e4 e5 2.Qh5!?, what is this opening called!?). Around move 35, Nakamura compromised himself positionally in an attempt to play for a win (without really spending any time on this decision). A little while later, he sacrificed a pawn without any obvious compensation. Commentator GM Lars Bo Hansen meant that decisions of this type are not to be recommended against strong GMs like Sasikiran. Sometimes you have to accept that your opponent has earned a draw by defending well!? Lars Bo Hansen meant that Nakamura will have to learn this if he wants to be able to match +2750 players in the future. However, Lars Bo also meant that it would be great for chess if Nakamura would establish himself at the very top with his "I want to win all games" attitude. No matter what, the spectators love it and so do the Sigeman organizers.
Final Round 9 Standings: 1. Timman, Jan H g NED 2607 6.5; 2. Sasikiran, Krishnan g IND 2642 6.5; 3. Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2657 6.0; 4. Hansen, Curt g DEN 2633 5.5; 5. Hector, Jonny g SWE 2513 5.0; 6. Iordachescu, Viorel g MDA 2609 4.0; 7. Palo, Davor m DEN 2525 4.0; 8. Hansen, Sune Berg g DEN 2553 3.5; 9. Hermansson, Emil m SWE 2432 2.5; 10. Hillarp Persson, Tiger g SWE 2533 1.5;
Official site: http://www.ksu.dk/sigeman/
American women shine in China
Congratuations to Anna Zatonskih on her excellent result in winning The Three Arrows Cup held in Jinan, China from 14th-19th April 2005. Irina Krush was third. Official site: http://www.64.net.cn/ (Results: http://www.64.net.cn/web1/javalive.htm) and Games http://www.64.net.cn/view/05chessgirls.htm. Additional info: http://www.chessbase.com
Baltimore GM Alex Onischuk is playing as a member of the CFM
team in the Russian Team Championship in Sochi. Here are two of
his games from this powerful event.
Onischuk (2628) -Akopian (2703)
Sochi 2005
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4
Bb4 8.O-O Nbd7 9. Nh4 Bg6 10. Be2 O-O 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. Qc2 Rc8 13. e4
c5 14. d5
exd5 15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. exd5 Qh4 17. Be3 Rcd8 18. Rad1 Rfe8 19. d6
Nf6 20.g3 Qh3 21. Bg5 Re5 22. Bxf6 gxf6 23. f4 Re3 24. Rf3 Rxf3 25. Bxf3
c4 26.
Qxc4 1/2-1/2
Timofeev (2622) - Onischuk (2638)
Sochi 2005
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. c3 b5 7. Bb3
d6 8.a4 Bg4 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Qxf3 Na5 11. Bc2 b4 12. Qd1 O-O 13. d4 exd4
14. cxd4
Bb6 15. b3 Re8 16. Re1 c5 17. Nd2 cxd4 18. Bb2 Nd7 19. Nf3 Nc6 20.
a5 Bc5 21. Qd2 Rc8 22. Re2 Qf6 23. Bd3 Ra8 24. Bc4 Nde5 25. Nxe5 Nxe5 26.
Bd5 Rac8 27. Rd1 Qd8 28. Bxd4 Bxd4 29. Qxd4 Qxa5 30. Ra1 Qb5 31. Rea2 Nc6
32. Qd2 a5 33. Qf4 Red8 34. Qxf7+ Kh8 35. Qf4 Nd4 36. Qd2 Nc6 37. Kh2 Qb6
38. f4 Rf8 39. Qf2 Qb5 40. Qg3 Rce8 41. Rc1 Ne7 42. Rc7 Qb6 43. Rd7 Qc5
44. f5 Qc3 45.Be6 d5 46. Rxa5 dxe4 47. Qd6 e3 48. Rc5 Qf6 49. Qe5 Qxe5+
50. Rxe5 Nxf5 51.g4 Nh4 52. Rxe3 Nf3+ 53. Kg2 Ng5 54. Rd6 g6 55. h4 Nxe6
56. Rdxe6 Rxe6 57.Rxe6 Rf4 58. Kg3 Rd4 59. Re3 h5 60. g5 Kg7 61. Rf3 Rg4+
62. Kh3 Rd4 63. Kg3 Rg4+ 64. Kh3 1/2-1/2
Thanks to Mark Crowther's outstanding The Week in Chess (http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html)
for help in preparing this report.
6) Chess And Drugs
It's a commonly held assumption that there are really no drugs that
can help a chess player. Sure coffee or a chocolate bar might keep you
more alert but they don't really do anthing more than that. The following
article, which first appeared in The Washington Times (www.washingtontimes.com)
suggests that this may no longer be the case in the a few years.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brainpower drugs coming for sports
By Patrick Hruby
Susan Polgar will never be mistaken for Jose Canseco.
For one thing, she's a mother of two; but more to the point, she's far
too smart. A four-time women's world champion in chess, Miss Polgar lifts
kings and queens, not dumbbells and subpoenas.
So imagine Mrs. Polgar's surprise when officials
asked for a urine sample after her four-medal performance at last year's
Chess Olympiad in Calvia, Spain.
"I can't say it was a pleasant experience," said
Mrs. Polgar, 35, a chess grandmaster from Forest Hills, New York. "I have
no idea what they were really testing for."
Try this: anabolic steroids, human growth hormone
and a host of other banned substances. Two years ago, the International
Chess Federation adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency's universal drug
code, subjecting chess players to the same standards as Olympic sprinters.
Never mind that Mrs. Polgar needs a syringe of
THG about as much as track star Marion Jones needs a better Sicilian defense.
"Even if a drug makes you bigger and stronger,
it won't help you think better," Mrs. Polgar said. "You need logic, planning,
concentration. To my knowledge, there is no drug that would help us play
better chess."
In the near future, that may not be the case.
While muscle-building drugs spawn home runs and congressional hearings,
a coming era of cognitive enhancement promises boosted brains to rival
baseball's bulging biceps.
Picture a golfer who never gets nervous, a basketball
player learning to shoot perfect free throws with the help of a pill.
Can't quite conceive it? Don't worry -- there
may be a pill for that, too.
"The idea of [cognitive enhancement] is starting
to take hold on a larger and larger scale," said Dr. Vernon Williams, a
sports neurologist and pain-management specialist at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic
Clinic in Los Angeles. "Lots of people are still kind of unaware. But that's
only temporary.
"Before long, this will be something that is
potentially as much an issue in sports as steroids."
'Doogie' mice
The year is 1999. Princeton University scientists
are studying two groups of mice: one normal, the other given extra copies
of NR2B, a gene linked to memory and learning.
Both types of mice are dropped into a pool of
water. The modified mice find a hidden escape ramp twice as quickly as
their normal counterparts. In other tests, the NR2B mice show improved
memory.
Scientists nickname them "Doogies," after precocious
television doctor Doogie Howser. In football terms, the Doogie mice are
pro star quarterback Peyton Manning, the others are quarterback bust Ryan
Leaf.
"Imagine a quarterback who has improved ability
to memorize and recognize defensive schemes," said Dr. Williams, who works
with the Los Angeles Lakers, Dodgers and Kings. "That could have a significant
effect on the win-loss column."
Safe and effective human genetic therapy remains
years away. Still, the athletic implications are profound. Beyond his "flaxseed-oil"
physique, what makes San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds fearsome
is his baseball IQ -- his ability to discern good pitches from bad ones,
to lock in and crush a pitcher's mistake.
Two decades ago, Penn State epidemiologist Charles
Yesalis approached legendary Iowa State wrestling coach Dan Gable at a
meet. The coach looked him in the eye, and said, "I can't believe how mental
sport is."
"At any level of competition, what really separates
the top 10 guys or gals is the mental aspect," said Mr. Yesalis, an expert
on steroids in sports. "Physiologically, they're almost the same. The difference
comes in handling pressure."
At the IMG Academies in Bradenton, Fla., sports
psychologist Trevor Moawad teaches athletes such as D.C. United's soccer
star Freddy Adu to limit "self-talk," the 1,000-plus words running through
the mind in any given minute. The goal? Develop Barry Bondslike focus.
Though Mr. Moawad shies from brain-boosting drugs
and supplements, he suspects others in sports are less circumspect.
"It's definitely something that's out there,"
Mr. Moawad said. "Anything that can be used as a performance enhancer,
it's tough to imagine that people wouldn't take shortcuts."
Modafinil and beyond
Imagination isn't necessary. Two years ago, American
sprinter Kelli White swept the 100 and 200 meters at the track and field
world championships in France.
She also tested positive for modafinil, a drug
used to treat the sleep disorder narcolepsy. That year, five other American
athletes were caught taking the same medication, which according to Cambridge
University researchers can boost memory and motor control in healthy people.
"This drug allows you to be very focused," said
Dr. Olivier Rabin, science director for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
"I have a friend who took it when driving at night. He said it was almost
like driving in the day."
Modafinil since has been placed on WADA's banned
substance list. As other drugs with cognitive effects that could give athletes
an unfair competitive advantage are developed, the list is likely to lengthen.
Nobel laureate Eric Kandel, a leading memory
scientist, predicts medications for age-related memory loss will exist
within the next decade. Donepzil, an Alzheimer's disease drug, already
has been shown to increase the concentration and alertness of pilots in
a flight simulator.
Johns Hopkins University scientist Daniel L.
Alkon is working on two promising medications: One that enhances learning;
another that helps short-term memories become permanent.
While both drugs are designed to treat neurological
disorders, they could augment healthy people in the same way that steroids
used to alleviate AIDS-related wasting can build bigger muscles.
"We test our drugs on animals that are compromised
with Alzheimer's genes, and also on normal animals," said Mr. Alkon, scientific
director of the school's Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute.
"We want to see if it enhances their memory. I think inevitably that will
happen."
Memory is just the beginning. Medications that
help stroke patients relearn motor skills, for instance, could help healthy
individuals learn to play the piano -- or throw a perfect football spiral.
In trials, the beta-blocking heart drug Propranolol
has been shown to dampen the traumatic memories of patients injured in
accidents. Picture a kicker popping a pill to forget a botched field goal.
"I don't have a crystal ball, but I see things
like this as a real likelihood," Mr. Alkon said. "And not so far into the
future. It's not too early to start thinking about it."
Imperfect drugs
Or to start worrying. Like Donepzil, the Alzheimer's
drug Aricept improves flight-simulator performance.
It also triggers dizziness, vomiting and fainting
-- hardly desirable in a cockpit setting, let alone a football huddle.
"Drugs are so imperfect," Mr. Alkon said. "Improving
performance will be a matter of art and sophistication. You can see the
potential for extremes and excesses."
Consider the protein IL-6, which spikes in the
body after long workouts and signals the brain that muscle tissue is breaking
down. When flooded with IL-6, the brain prevents additional harm by creating
a feeling of exhaustion.
Develop a drug that blocks the brain's IL-6 receptors,
researchers at the University of Portsmouth speculate, and you could blunt
fatigue. The downside: Increased injury risk. If your arm feels ready to
fall off, there likely is a good reason.
Similarly, a focus-enhancing pill could work
too well -- after all, a batter needs to concentrate on a high-and-inside
fastball, but not so much that he neglects to duck.
Add in the seeming interdependence of various
brain functions, and Dr. Williams wonders whether mental boosters will
violate the first rule of medicine: Do no harm.
"You're taking all these medications to increase
memory," he said. "What about information overload? You're talking about
changing brain chemistry, or even changing the anatomy of the brain."
Remember the Doogie mice? Additional tests showed
they not only were smarter, but also more sensitive to chronic inflammatory
pain.
"There's a known relationship between cognition
and mood," Dr. Williams said. "The more people remember, the more intently
focused they are, the more they tend to have depression. It's the old statement,
'Ignorance is bliss.' "
Not always. If a pill possibly aids performance,
Mr. Yesalis said, athletes will take it; if a pill definitely aids performance,
athletes will take two dozen.
Sports stars could become unwitting lab mice.
"Do large doses of these medications work the
same way in normal people as they do in the sick?" Dr. Williams asked.
"That's a little scary, because we don't know. Despite our desire to be
careful, the public doesn't want to wait for that."
Brave new world?
Nor do they wait. Ritalin, a prescription drug,
is used to treat attention deficit disorder. It also is used by students
cramming for exams and professionals looking for a productivity boost.
An elementary school janitor in Indiana swiped the drug from her school's
nursing office, hoping it would speed her cleaning.
The drug has penetrated sports, too.
"I've spoken to athletes on the college and high
school levels who readily admit, 'Yeah, I know guys who pop a Ritalin just
before game time,' " Dr. Williams said. "That's happening now. They do
it for improved focus."
Which hardly makes them unique. According to
the scientific journal Nature, Americans spend $1 billion a year on dietary
supplements claiming to boost brain power. The demand for cognitive enhancers
already exists. As medicine advances, the supply will catch up.
When that occurs, sports organizations will face
an ethical dilemma: Should they prohibit the same drugs eagerly embraced
by the rest of society?
"If and when these drugs have a real effect on
normal people, they are going to put Viagra to shame," said Dr. Paul Root
Wolpe, NASA's chief of bioethics. "Look at the market for Prozac, for Ritalin.
Americans take psychopharmaceuticals at a greater rate than any other country.
And we agonize about it more than any other country."
Ultimately, predicts futurist Jerome Glenn, there
will be two leagues -- one for natural humans, and one for their chemically
enhanced counterparts.
Think brave new world, only with golf handicaps.
"I remember conversations in the mid-1960s where
people actually said, "If you transplant a heart, you've lost your soul,'
" said Mr. Glenn, executive director of the American Council for the United
Nations University. "There's a time lag with these things. But there is
no stopping the human desire to be better."
Should such a future come to pass, count chess champion Polgar among the naturals. For her, sport is a matter of self-expression, not advanced pharmacology.
Besides, she isn't even keen on the only substance
currently thought to improve chess performance.
"I don't really drink coffee religiously like
some chess players," she said with a laugh.
7) SF Masters Postponed
Because of actions taken by the CalChess Board, the SF Masters Invitational is being rescheduled. Rather than stipulating a new date, I'd like to get your views on a few issues.
1) Would you prefer mid-July, early November or MLK weekend in January?
2) How many rounds would you prefer?
3) Time control assuming 2 rounds per day
4) Should Southern California masters also be invited?
5) Any other desires?
I greatly apologize for the inconvenience, but because the overall festival was replaced by a kid's tournament, there is no way to integrate the Masters with the publicity and public attention it deserves. We'll have a good event, done properly, but it won't be this May.
Eric Schiller
http://www.ericschiller.com/
Newsletter #242, 05/05/2005
"Chess players are madmen of a certain quality, the way the artist is
supposed to be, and isn't, in general."
Marcel Duchamp
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs took a sixth round bye but still leads the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon with 5.5 points. Tied for second at 5 are IM John Grefe, Expert and soon to be Master Igor Traub and former Expert George Sanguinetti who upset NM Russell Wong last night. Three rounds remain for the 68-player field.
Not able to visit the Chess Room in person? Go to http://www.monkeyview.net/id/965/chess/index.vhtml and see how MI member Kayven Riese has photographed much of the MI Chess Club.
MI Chess Director John Donaldson took home the $1000 1st prize
in the Idaho Open this past weekend in Pocatello. Donaldson scored 4.5,
drawing soon-to-be GM Igor Ivanov in round four. Ivanov, who took
a second round bye, was second at 4 followed by many-time Montana Champion
Greg
Nowak in third at 3.5 in the multi-section event held at Idaho State
University and organized by Herb Maschner.
2) In Memory of Connor Schroth, a Mechanics' Inspiration - by Bob Burger
Fifty-five years ago this month I was introduced to a chessplayer, at Mechanics' Institute, whose memory remains with me, in several ways, to this day. His mother, Helen, and his father, George, lived near my parents in Lafayette. They had met at the Olympic Games in Paris, 1924 -- the games memorialized in the film Chariots of Fire. Helen swam the 400 meters for the U.S., George was the captain of the U.S. water polo team. Both of them starred in their events. They married in San Francisco a year later, and their son Connor was born in 1926.
Unfortunately, Connor's nervous system was damaged at birth. He was a "spastic," as it was then called, for the rest of his life.
Well ahead of his time, Connor learned to ignore this 'stigma' and face the life that was dealt to him. His arms paralyzed except to grasp a support, he learned how to repair radios with tools held in his mouth. He started a business, bought his first car, a Cord, got a driver's license based on a specially built steering wheel, and then learned about chess.
Connor and I went to Mechanics' Institute in the fall of 1950 and played a few pickup games on a Saturday afternoon there. I recall that Earl Pruner and Jim Schmitt, two MI stalwarts, watched the games. Connor had to use a long chopstick, held in his mouth, to move the pieces. In a few months he was playing at about 1900 level. He was a handsome young man, with thick black hair and strong features. But of course everything about him was contorted by his partial paralysis.
Connor joined the Koltanowski "Chess in Action" group, at my suggestion, then the Golden Gate Chess Club, where Henry Gross made him especially welcome. He progressed to the point where he played on the GG team in the Bay Area Chess League. Henry pointed out to me the little dents in the boards at the club where Connor's chop stick banged the squares.
Connor opened a boat shop in Sausalito, where he could use his mechanical talents to fix engines, radios, and sell excursions. He met a young woman who came in looking for a hobby, for she was in a wheelchair. He married her; my wife Theresa and I were best man and bridesmaid. Her name was Helen.
George Schroth had been the swimming coach at Cal for many years. When he retired, he kept his hand in by coaching the water polo team at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. Finally, realizing his son was fending for himself despite his enormous handicap, he and his wife retired to Mexico.
In 1978, however, Connor's condition took a bad turn. We talked by phone,
we met. But he was in severe pain and could find no way out. In a few months
I learned he took his own life. Helen told me he wanted me to have his
chess set. It's the one I now use in Arcata. The board still has those
wonderful little dents in it.
3) Leonid Shamkovich (1923-2005)
Grandmaster Leonid Shamkovich passed away recently. Shamkovich, who was born June 1st, 1923, in Rostov-on-Don, was a two-time champion of the Russian Federation (in 1954 and 1956). He took part in several USSR championships (best result – equal 5th in 1964/1965) and became a Grandmaster in 1965. In 1974 Shamkovich immigrated to Israel and in 1976 moved to the United States. Along with Anatoly Lein, Shamkovich launched the wave of immigration from the Soviet Union that transformed American chess. He took part in several U.S. championships and was twice U.S. Open Champion (1976 and 1977). Shamkovich qualified for the 1979 Interzonal in Brazil and played on the 1980 U.S. Olympiad team in Malta. Besides his many successes as a player GM Shamkovich was a well-respected writer who wrote several books on the opening and middlegame including the Modern Chess Sacrifice.
Shamkovich,L - Kholmov,R B17
29th USSR-ch Baku (10), 30.11.1961
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Bc4 Ngf6 6.Ng5 e6 7.Qe2 Nb6 8.Bd3 h6 9.N5f3 c5 10.Be3 Qc7 11.Ne5 Bd6 12.Ngf3 0–0 13.g4 c4 14.Nxc4 Nxc4 15.Bxc4 Nxg4 16.Rg1 e5 17.0–0–0 Nxe3 18.Qxe3 Kh8 19.Rxg7 Kxg7 20.Rg1+ Kf6 21.dxe5+ Bxe5 22.Qxh6+ Ke7 23.Re1 Be6 24.Nxe5 Rfe8 25.Qg5+ Kf8 26.Qf6 Rec8 27.Ng6+ Ke8 28.Bb5+ 1–0
Shamkovich,L - Kolarov,A D42
Varna, 1970
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3 Be7 7.cxd5 Nxd5
8.Bd3 0–0 9.0–0 Nc6 10.Bc2 Ncb4 11.Bb1 Nf6 12.Bg5 Bd7 13.a3 Nbd5 14.Qd3
g6 15.Bh6 Re8 16.Ne5 Bc6 17.Ba2 Nh5 18.Qf3 Ndf6 19.d5 Bxd5 20.Nxd5 exd5
21.Rad1 Bf8 22.Nxf7 Qb6 23.Bxf8 Rxf8 24.Ng5 Qxb2 25.Bxd5+ Nxd5 26.Qxd5+
Kh8 27.Rb1 Qc3 28.Rxb7 Nf6 29.Qd6 a5 30.Qe7 Rg8 31.Qxh7+ 1–0
4) Ben Finegold Makes GM Norm in Chicago
The Chicago Spring Invitational took place 16th-22nd April 2005. The 12 player Category 8 event saw Benjamin Finegold make a GM norm in finishing level with Varuzhan Akobian on 8/11. Jan Van de Mortel made an IM norm.
Official site: http://www.ilchess.org/ and Ben Finegold gives round by results and his games at: http://www.angelfire.com/ult/chessassociation/ChicagoPairings.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spring Inv Chicago USA (USA), 16-22 iv 2005
cat. VIII (2436)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Finegold, Benjamin m USA 2522
* = = = 1 = 1 = = 1 1 1 8.0 2602
2. Akobian, Varuzhan g USA 2556
= * = = = 1 = = 1 1 1 1 8.0 2599
3. Smetankin, Stanislav m BLR 2479 = = * =
= = = = 1 1 1 = 7.0 2533
4. Mitkov, Nikola
g MKD 2530 = = = * = = 0 = = 1 1 1 6.5 2491
5. Georgiev, Vladimir g MKD 2535
0 = = = * = = = = 1 1 1 6.5 2491
6. Kraai, Jesse
m USA 2416 = 0 = = = * 1 1 = = 1 0 6.0 2473
7. Van de Mortel, Jan f NED 2410
0 = = 1 = 0 * = = = 1 1 6.0 2473
8. Matikozian, Andranik m ARM 2515 = = = =
= 0 = * = = 0 1 5.0 2392
9. Burnett, Ronald
m USA 2433 = 0 0 = = = = = * 0 1 1 5.0 2399
10. Goletiani, Rusudan wg USA 2332 0 0 0 0
0 = = = 1 * = 1 4.0 2342
11. Karagianis, Pete
USA 2259 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 = * 1 2.5 2240
12. Chow, Albert
f USA 2239 0 0 = 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 * 1.5 2144
5) Gorbachev to Promote World Peace in Lindsborg
Contact: Dr. Mikhail Korenman (785) 227-2224
Gorbachev to Promote World Peace in Lindsborg
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will visit Lindsborg, Kansas
in October or November to participate in the Chess for Peace initiative
that was
launched on April 12 by World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov.
Karpov, who announced his Chess for Peace initiative two weeks ago in Lindsborg,
returned to Moscow with a letter from Mayor Ron Rolander inviting Gorbachev
to Lindsborg. Karpov telephoned Gorbachev and read the letter
to him. Karpov said Gorbachev agreed to accept under two conditions:
one, that Karpov would accompany him to Lindsborg and two, that Karpov
would play a game of chess with him in Lindsborg.
Karpov, a close friend of Gorbachev’s, said his Chess for Peace
initiative will feature a yearlong series of chess events to promote friendship
as well as
gamesmanship among the youth of countries throughout the world.
Gorbachev, who was instrumental in ending the Cold War, will be one of
several dignitaries to promote Chess for Peace. “I think it’s
wonderful that Gorbachev is coming to Lindsborg, because he is a humanitarian
and is committed to peace,” said Dr. Mikhail Korenman, Director of the
Karpov International School of Chess.
The Chess for Peace initiative will begin with a series of Internet
chess matches between the youth of different countries. During the
yearlong initiative,
groups of students will also travel to other countries to play chess
and make lasting friendships. The events will climax in the summer
of 2006, when an
expected 2,000 students from throughout the world will converge
on Lindsborg to compete in the Chess for Peace Festival.
6) Chess Poem by NM Dennis Fritzinger
famous once
people i didn't know
would come up to me and say "hello"
because i was famous once.
when i played i had nerves of steel,
icewater in my veins for real--
that's why i was famous once.
i blue-skyed many a game,
which brought me points and fame--
like i said, i was famous once.
in the depths of the tournament hall
i would play and beat them all--
that's why i was famous once.
but age brought a sudden chill--
after that, it was all downhill--
now it's just "i was famous--once
7) Ivanov-Karpov
Igor Ivanov is probably the only American player with a plus score against World Champions with the following win over Anatoly Karpov and draws against Gary Kasparov and Boris Spassky. The following game was first anotated by Igor in the Russian chess magazine 64. The English language translation was done by Correspondence Grandmaster Jonathan Berry.
Ivanov,I (2415) - Karpov,A (2705) B43
URS Spartakiad Moscow (1), 1979
Annotations by Igor Ivanov
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 b5
A reasonable but provocative move.
6.Bd3 Bb7 7.0–0 Ne7 8.Kh1
8.Nb3 leads to a more complicated struggle.
8...Nbc6 9.Nxc6 Nxc6 10.Qg4 h5 11.Qe2 Ne5
Otherwise after 12.f4 Black will have no compensation for his weakened
K-side.
12.f4 Ng4 13.Rf3 Qh4 14.h3 Bc5 15.Bd2
I was not filled with unwarranted optimisim. I would have been content
if Karpov had given a perpetual check.The world champion's decision is
easily understood , but with his next move White completes his development,
while the Black King is not very safely placed.
15...g6 16.Raf1 Qe7 17.a3
Preparing counterplay on the Q-side.
17...f5 18.Re1
Played on general considerations. Now I had no regrets about my opponent's
refusal to repeat moves.
18...Qf8
Loosens the coordination between Black's pieces, therefore White decides
to play actively. After 18...0–0 White would be wise to limit himself
to the more modest 19.Ref1; Also not bad was 18...Kf7 , for
example 19.b4 Bd4 20.exf5 gxf5 21.Bxf5 Bxf3 22.Qxf3 Nf2+ 23.Kh2 Qf6 24.Ne4
Nxe4 25.Bxe4 with chances for both sides.
19.b4 Bd4 20.a4 Rc8 21.Nd1
The f2 square is now safely defended, but the White Knight does not
stand too well.
21...Qf6
Unclear was 21...bxa4
22.c3 Ba7 23.axb5 axb5 24.exf5
The Bishop on b7 is very strong, and in order to initiate successful
manoeuvres on the Q-side. I decided to sacrifice my Rook for it. The decision
to sacrifice was made much easier because of the fact that White doesn't
really have much else to do.
24...gxf5 25.Bxb5 Bxf3 26.Qxf3 Rc7
Weaker is 26...Rb8 27.Qd5 with threats against d7 and e6.
27.c4
Threatening to cut off the Bishop with the pawns.
27...Bd4 28.Qd5 Kd8 29.Qd6 Nf2+
Also after 29...Rg8 30.c5 Qg7 31.Bf1 Nh6 32.Ne3 Nf7 33.Qb6 White
has enough compensation for the pawn.
30.Nxf2 Bxf2 31.Be3
After 31.Re2 Qd4 32.Qxd4 Bxd4 33.Be1 an equal ending would arise.
31...Bxe3
31...Bxe1 32.Bb6 with mating threats.
32.Rxe3 Qe7 33.Qd2
If 33.Qd4 Rg8 and probably 34...Qg7.
33...Ke8 34.Qd4
Black's troubles grow. Perhaps the World Champion was not pleased that
after 34.Ra3 White can draw with 35.Ra8+ Rc8 36.Ra7 Rc7 37.Ra8+.
I feel that in this position White, without great risk, can attempt to
create bigger threats. First a threat, then a double-threat that cannot
be neutralized.
34...Rg8
Also not safe is 34...Rh6 35.Rg3.
35.Qb6 Qg7
Or 35...Kd8 36.Ra3
36.Qxe6+
For the first time in the game I felt I might win, and just here I
made a mistake. After 36.Rxe6+ Kf7 37.Re2 the Rook on c7 is out of
play and White wins easily. Everyone knows you must keep your composure
until the very end, but how many of us actually do?
36...Kd8 37.Qd5 Ra7
I realized what I had done and felt just awful. But I calmed myself
with the thought that 36.Qxe6+ was my payment for 33...Ke8.
38.Rd3
38.Re1 Ra1 39.Rxa1 Qxa1+ 40.Kh2 Qg7 41.Bxd7 Qg3+ would draw.
38...Ra1+?
After this it's a loss. Correct was 38...h4 and White can choose
between two draws: 39.Rd1 Ra1 40.Rxa1 and then as in the example
above, or (40.Qxg8+ Qxg8 41.Rxa1 etc.White could even mate himself with
39.39.Kh2 Qg3+. Also bad for White is 39.Qf3 Qg3.)
39.Kh2 Ra2 40.Bc6 Ra7 41.Qc5 Rc7 42.Qb6 1–0
The threat is 43.Rxd7+. If 42...Ke8 then 43.Qa6+ Kd8 44.Qa8+ Ke7 45.Re3+
Kf6 46.Qa1+. 42...Kc8
CCE # 43, Sept-Oct 1980, page 22
8) Here and There
Remember the National Telephone League? Founded by Bill Goichberg in the mid 1970s it ran for several years before fizzling out in the early 1980s. Now IM Gregory Shahade, founder of the successful New York Masters series which ran for over four years and a candidate for the USCF Executive Board, is bringing the League back via the Internet. Go to http://www.uschessleague.com and you will discover that all the groundwork is in place for the start later this year. Eight teams (New York, San Francisco, Miami, Boston, Dallas, Charlotte, Philadelphia and Boston) have signed up with GMs Larry Christiansen, Alexander Stripunsky and Julio Becerra among the top rated players competing.
Los Angeles based IM Jeremy Silman may no longer play in tournaments but he can still play a mean game of blitz as witnessed by the following rout over a fellow Southland IM at 5 minute.
Jeremy Silman - IM X
E13
USA 2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 b6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 Bb7 7.Nd2 g5 8.Bg3 Bxc3 9.bxc3 Nh5 10.Be5 f6 11.e4 Ng7 12.Bg3 Nc6 13.h4 Kf7 14.Bd3 Qe7 15.f4 gxf4 16.Bxf4 e5 17.Be3 exd4 18.cxd4 Qd6 19.e5 fxe5 20.0–0+ Ke7 21.Ne4 Qa3 22.d5 Nb4 23.Qg4 Rag8 24.Rf7+ Kxf7 25.Qxd7+ Kg6 26.Ng5+ Kh5 27.Be2+ Kxh4 28.Qg4# 1–0
Noted organizer Bill Goichberg, whose prudent financial measures
while serving as Executive Director in 2003-2004 helped the USCF stave
off bankruptcy, has a campaign website, http://www.checkmate.us/
, where interested voters can learn about his positions on a variety of
issues. Hopefully all candidates running for office this year will have
similar sites as the space allocated in Chess Life magazine for campaign
issues is understandably limited. As mentioned in previous Newsletters
the June issue of Chess Life will have a ballot inside it. The two previous
elections in which "one member one vote" was used less than 10 percent
of those eligible to vote chose to. Hopefully this percentage will rise
in this most important of elections.
Newsletter #243, 05/10/2005
"Much though some of the world would like to believe that chess talent
is a divine gift - lazy English school of thought - or the result of great
education and
training - Soviet school of superiority - it is clear that the simple
hard work approach does work. I have no style - I just make moves."
Tony Miles
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
The Chess Room says good-bye to GM Suat Atalik who has been visiting the Bay Area the past month. During his time here Suat tied for first with MI-Grandmaster-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky in events in Reno and Burbank as well as winning outright the East Bay Chess Club GM roundrobin. Suat and Alex will fly tonight to Albany after Alex's lecture. They will be playing in the Lake George International organized by Bill Goichberg and sponsored by his Continental Chess Association and the Internet Chess Club. Good luck Suat and Alex.
Summer is just around the corner with the 5th Annual Charles Powell
Memorial this Saturday and the 42nd Arthur Stamer Memorial on
June 4th and 5th.
We recently received the following letter from Arthur's daughter Marian.
Dear Members,
It's amazing that my dad's name lives on in the 42nd Arthur Stamer Memorial.
My niece found Mechanics' Institute Chess Room Newsletter number
218 on the Internet and mailed me a copy. In it was a letter I had written
to Mike Goodall in 1996. This was such a surprise to see! And I
enjoyed it very much except for one factual error I had made in that letter.
Mr. Goodall very tactfully pointed out that William Addison, one
of the finest chess players California ever produced, had won the first
tournament and not my brother, Chet. I had just assumed Chet won because
of all the hoopla at home over a victory he had against a formidable player.
That's a sister for you. I thought he had won the whole thing.
I'm writing to set my tiny part in the records of the tournament
straight, and to wish you all a very successful 42nd.
I also send a special greeting to Mike Goodall, Max Wilkerson, and all who remember Arthur Stamer.
Sincerely,
Marian Stamer Simmons
Bay Area scholastic organizer Alan Kirshner, who recently ran a very successful tournament in San Jose that attracted in the neighborhood of 1000 kids (visit http://www.calnorthyouthchess.org/photographs.html ), recently honored MI member Daniel Naroditsky.
MARCH 2005 KUDOS
This month's Kudos go to third grader Daniel Naroditsky even though
he is not presently affiliated with SCS. Daniel, with a posted
rating of 1715, will likely be 1800 when his victories of the last two
months are posted at the US Chess Federation's web site. This should move
him up from third on the Top 100 list to first or second in the nation
in his age group. He recently, February 21, took home top honors in the
K-6 section of the Young People's Tournament in Berkeley against some older
formidable opposition. Daniel hopes to repeat this success against top
older players at the California Northern Scholastic Regionals in April
where he has selected to forgo the Primary School Championship to compete
in the Elementary School Open Division and be named the first CalNorth
Regional Champion for K-6.
My main reason for providing my Kudos to Daniel for March is his recent media presence. NBC has used an interview with Daniel on at least four different TV shows that highlights his chess and underlines the maturity of this talented young man. I was very impressed by the artistry of the spot and the articulation of this young man. I might add that while a few of Northern California's talented players have received TV coverage in the past, none have had their interviews repeated as many times on different shows. CONGRATS, DANIEL!
MI Chess Director John Donaldson recently had a revised, expanded version of A Legend on the Road published by Russell Enterprises. The book, which deals with Bobby Fischer's 1964 North American simul tour, is a 198 page paperback with 10 pages devoted to Bobby's stop at the MI on April 13.
Eagle-eyed Andy Ansel of Walnut Creek found one game from the tour not found in the book. Can Newsletter readers find others?
Fischer,R - Zalys,I [C33]
simul Montreal, 1964
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bb3 d5 6.exd5 cxd5 7.d4 Bd6
8.Nge2 f3 9.gxf3 Nh5 10.Be3 Bb4 11.a3 Ba5 12.Qd3 a6 13.0–0–0 Be6 14.Ng3
Nxg3 15.hxg3 h6 16.f4 Bxc3 17.Qxc3 Nd7 18.g4 Bxg4 19.Rdg1 Nf6 20.Bf2 Ne4
21.Qb4 Qd7 22.Bh4 a5 23.Qe1 f5 24.Kb1 b5 25.Rg3 h5 26.Bg5 Kf7 27.Re3 Rhe8
28.c3 Ra6 29.Bc2 Rae6 30.Ka1 Nxg5 0–1
The Mechanics' Institute library, which has over 1000 books in its collection,
has a copy of the new edition of A Legend on the Road.
2) US Chess League Schedule Set
International Master Greg Shahade is keeping a busy schedule these days. In addition to running for a spot on the USCF Executive Board the native Philadelphian is the founder and commissioner of the US Chess League that starts in just a few months. Below you will find a list of the teams that will be competing along with the playing schedule. For complete team rosters and other information go to the USCL website at http://www.uschessleague.com/index . The Mechanics' team will play their matches in the Chess Room and spectators are most welcome.
Eastern + Western Divisions are Set
---------------------------------------------
by USCL Commissioner - Greg Shahade
---------------------------------------------
The divisional placement of the USCL teams was decided today, and the league will be aligned as follows:
Eastern Division:
1. Baltimore Kingfishers
2. Boston Blitz
3. New York Knights
4. Philadelphia Masterminds
Western Division:
1. Carolina Cobras
2. Dallas Destiny
3. Miami Sharks
4. San Francisco Mechanics
The divisional placements are important for a few reasons. First you
will play each team in your division twice during the season, yet play
the teams from the opposite division only once. Also two teams from each
division will advance to the playoffs and play each other. The winner of
each divisions playoff match will then move on to the finals for the League
Championship. The official league schedule will be published shortly.
Official USCL Schedule (Team listed first gets white on boards 1+3)
WEEK 1 - August 31st 2005
1. Boston Blitz vs New York Knights
2. Miami Sharks vs Baltimore Kingfishers
3. Dallas Destiny vs Philadelphia Masterminds
4. Carolina Cobras vs San Francisco Mechanics
WEEK 2 - September 7th 2005
1. San Francisco Mechanics vs Dallas Destiny
2. Miami Sharks vs Carolina Cobras
3. Philadelphia Masterminds vs Boston Blitz
4. Baltimore Kingfishers vs New York Knights
WEEK 3 - September 14th 2005
1. New York Knights vs San Francisco Mechanics
2. Dallas Destiny vs Miami Sharks
3. Carolina Cobras vs Boston Blitz
4. Philadelphia Masterminds vs Baltimore Kingfishers
WEEK 4 - September 21st 2005
1. New York Knights vs Philadelphia Masterminds
2. San Francisco Mechanics vs Miami Sharks
3. Dallas Destiny vs Carolina Cobras
4. Boston Blitz vs Baltimore Kingfishers
WEEK 5 - September 28th 2005
1. Baltimore Kingfishers vs Dallas Destiny
2. Philadelphia Masterminds vs Miami Sharks
3. Carolina Cobras vs New York Knights
4. Boston Blitz vs San Francisco Mechanics
WEEK 6 - October 5th 2005
1. Miami Sharks vs Boston Blitz
2. Dallas Destiny vs New York Knights
3. Philadelphia Masterminds vs Carolina Cobras
4. San Francisco Mechanics vs Baltimore Kingfishers
WEEK 7 - October 12th 2005
1. Miami Sharks vs Dallas Destiny
2. New York Knights vs Boston Blitz
3. Baltimore Kingfishers vs Philadelphia Masterminds
4. San Francisco Mechanics vs Carolina Cobras
WEEK 8 - October 19th 2005
1. Boston Blitz vs Dallas Destiny
2. New York Knights vs Miami Sharks
3. San Francisco Mechanics vs Philadelphia Masterminds
4. Baltimore Kingfishers vs Carolina Cobras
WEEK 9 - October 26th 2005
1. New York Knights vs Baltimore Kingfishers
2. Dallas Destiny vs San Francisco Mechanics
3. Boston Blitz vs Philadelphia Masterminds
4. Carolina Cobras vs Miami Sharks
WEEK 10 - November 2nd 2005
1. Miami Sharks vs San Francisco Mechanics
2. Philadelphia Masterminds vs New York Knights
3. Baltimore Kingfishers vs Boston Blitz
4. Carolina Cobras vs Dallas Destiny
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS - November 9th 2005
1. 1st place finisher from East Division vs 2nd Place finisher from
East Division (1st place finisher receives draw odds)
2. 1st place finisher from West Division vs 2nd place finisher from
West Division (1st place finisher receives draw odds)
League Championship Round 1 - November 16th
1. Eastern Division Champion vs Western Division Champion - ROUND 1
League Championship Round 2 - November 17th
1. Eastern Division Champion vs Western Division Champion - ROUND 2
3) The 6th Annual Bruce Bowyer Memorial Chess Tournaments
The Bruce Bowyer Foundation
Results!
The 6th Annual Bruce Bowyer Memorial Chess Tournaments Were held
at the Hotel New Yorker, at 8th Avenue & 34 Street, NYC on April
16 & 17th, 2005
Sponsored by our dear friends at the Royce Funds( www.roycefunds.com)
, a wonderful time was had by all, both players and kibitzers. Pictures
will be sent in a separate message, and results/pix will be posted to our
website this week. (www.bbowyer.org)
Results and related information below provided by The Bruce Bowyer Foundation.
We had an excellent turnout this year , with 42+ players each day. Since
this is only our second year at the New Yorker, and is a larger group than
last year, we are very glad to see a ‘growth trend’.
This annual event in Bruce's honor continues to grow and is rapidly
becoming a favorite in the NY chess world.
We did a little survey this year to get some feedback from our players
on what they did and didn’t like about our tournament, and how we might
improve it.
Take a look at some of the replies when we get them on the website,
they are quite interesting, and in some cases, my brother would have said,
'vastly amusing'... especially the players who said their favorite thing
about the tournament is my daughter, Sunny... I guess a warm hug from a
pretty girl is a definite value-add for this tourney :-) And, not a big
surprise, among the kids' favorite aspects is the free food.
* Saturday's Open tournament ended in a 4-way tie for First Place, winners
were :
Two-time U.S. champion and Grand Master Joel Benjamin, Jay Bonin,
Asa Hoffman and Larry Tamarkin.
Winners split the prize money for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and under 2200, with
the trophy going to Joel on points.
* That evening, we held a"Bughouse" tournament. Bughouse is a fast-moving
variant
of chess, played by teams of two, that was a favorite and specialty
of Bruce's. Bughouse results were both fast and funny:
First Place and trophy went to the newlyweds, chess power-couple of
the year, Joel Benjamin and Debbie Quinn
Second Place was to the upset team of Rafael Orville and Edeel
Khokhar
* In Sunday's Junior tournament, we had a *lot* of winners:
A 3-way tie for First Place, shared by Nile Smith, Edeel Khokhar
and Paris Heymann
Since the total prize money was $25. and change for each section below, we rounded up and paid a few dollars more to each winner where prizes were shared.
The Under 1800 prize was shared by Umar Khokhar, Niazuddin Ahmed
and Willy Edgard
The under 1600 prize was won by a single player, Nia Blackmon
The under 1400 prize was shared by several players: Khalid Francis,
Krystof Mezgiel and Leon Sukhoo
The under 1200 prize was shared by Valicio Palha, Manuel Dominquez,
Zohaib Anwar, and Sheikh Shahnawaz
Congratulations to all the winners! We look forward to seeing you all next year!
Many thanks to the Hotel New Yorker and its staff, and special thanks
to
Nick Conticello and Ron Young , our Tournament Directors
Logistical/administrative/emotional support (&catering) were provided
by
Bruce's sister Pat and his niece, Sunny, along with family members
Ariel and Rebecca Gendelman.
The event would not have been possible without the continued help and
support from Chuck Royce and so many of Bruce’s Royce colleagues and friends.
We would like to especially thank:
John & Crystal Burke, David Wilson, Dan O’Byrne and family,
Peter Kopke, Mark Penkower, George and Tony Necakov and their families,
Robert Boddington, Mary Murphy, John Deysher, Joe LeDu, and Fran&
Bill Buckley, Mr. John Galvin of I.S. 318, and Fritz & Katherine of
Chess in the Schools.
The tournament was a tremendous success, and we so are proud to have
once again
hosted an event that celebrated Bruce Bowyer's memory by honoring his
beliefs.
4) Ivanov-Timman, Lucerne (ol) 1982
Olympiad Luzern (8), 1982
[Ivanov]
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Nxd5 Qxd5 7.Bg2
g6 8.0–0 Bg7 9.d3 0–0 10.Be3 Bd7 11.Nd4 Qd6 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.Bxc6 Qxc6 14.Rc1
Qe6 15.Rxc5 Qxa2 16.Rb5 b6 17.Qa1 Qe6
Until now the two players have followed the game Karpov-Ribli. The
latter had exchanged Queens and Karpov had won after a long and difficult
endgame. After Timman's move Black seemed to have equalized.
18.Qa6
Karpov, who was an attentive spectator of this game which was fought
not far from him, smiled at the 18th move of Ivanov. The game is just beginning
for him, he may have thought.
18...Qd7 19.Ra1 h5
19...Rfc8 is not good because of 20.Rxb6 axb6 21.Qxa8 Rxa8 22.Rxa8+
Bf8 23.Bh6 Instead of 19...h5 it is preferable to play 19...Rac8.
20.Rb4 Rfc8 21.Qa4 Qb7
Had Black exchanged Queens the game would probably have ended in a
draw.
22.h4
White could have tried to exchange a draw again by offering the exchange
of Queens.
22...Be5
This move is not good because latter the White center pawns are going
to advance with gain of time.
23.Qb3 Rc6 24.d4 Bf6 25.Bf4 a5 26.Rba4
Once again White could have forced a draw by 26.d5 axb4 27.Rxa8+ Qxa8
28.dxc6 Qxc6 29.Qxb4 , etc.
26...Qa6 27.e4 Rac8 28.e5
White's advantage is now obvious.
28...Bg7 29.d5 Rc2 30.Re4 b5 31.d6 Qb7 32.Rae1 a4 33.Qd3
White still had the choice of a draw with 33.Rxa4 exd6 34.Rae4.
33...Rxb2 34.d7
Probably 34.Bg5 would have won easily.
34...Rd8 35.e6 Bf6
The losing move. A slight hope of defense remained after 35...fxe6
36.Bg5
36.Bg5
36.Be5 was probably better.
36...Rb3 37.exf7+ Kf8
The only move!
38.Qe2
If the White King had been on h2. a sacrifice of the Queen would have
forced the mate: 38.Rxe7 Rxd3 39.Bh6+ Bg7 40.Re8+ Kxf7 41.R1e7+ Kf6 42.Bxg7+
Kf5 43.Rf7+ Kg4 44.Rf4+ But this is only possible because of the White
King being on h2.
38...Bxg5 39.Rxe7 Qb6
After this move Black is completely lost. After 39...Re3 the position
is less clear, but White still has the advantage.
40.hxg5 Rxg3+ 41.Kf1 1–0
Players Chess News, Volume 3, pages 118–119
Last Newsletter (#241) we ran the game Ivanov-Karpov, which had been translated from the Russian magazine 64 by Jonathan Berry for the Canadian national magazine En Passant in the early 1980s. Here are a few corrections/additions by Jonathan. Incidentally, among his many accomplishments Jonathan writes the chess column for the Globe and Mail and hold the titles of Correspondence Grandmaster and FIDE Master. He has just written a well-thought and attractively produced guide for beginners entitled The Pocket Guide to Chess. The publisher is Master Point Press.
Dear John:
In the game Ivanov-Karpov, there was a typo in the transcription.
In the note to White's 31st, EP had 31.Rd2, which is illegal because
the R is at e1. You corrected this error with the reasonable-looking
move 31.Re2, but that is wrong. The original Russian has 31.Rd1,
which makes the variation he gives make sense, and also does not lose horribly
to Qf6-a1+. Sorry for the 25-year-old typo!
In the same game, Igor's note after 33...Ke8 does not exactly
make sense. I remember that it puzzled me at the time,1980, but I
decided to stay true to the original Russian text.
Here is perhaps what he meant to say (all I've done is insert two half-moves
for Black, and bring the note back to after Black's 33rd, where it was
originally):
II - Black's troubles grow. Perhaps the World Champion was not pleased that after 33...Rg8 34.Ra3 Qg7 White can draw with 35.Ra8+ Rc8 36.Ra7 Rc7 37.Ra8+. I feel that in this position White, without great risk, can attempt to create bigger threats.
The following note belongs with White's 34th.
II - First a threat, then a double-threat that cannot be neutralized.
42...Kc8 was a sealed move.
For more games by Igor and information on him go to http://www.ivanovchess.com/games/games.html
5) Jamie Duif on Chess.FM tonight
Hi folks:
My internet radio show, Chess &
Books with Fred Wilson, returned Tuesday evening, March 15th, at 8:00 PM
(EST). You can access it easily by simply going to the excellent
website: http://www.chess.fm/ . It will run every Tuesday night from
8:00 to 10:00 PM (EST), with a replay of the live show following almost
immediately afterwards, for chess enthusiasts on the West Coast.
There will also be a couple of replays the following afternoon.
My eighth guest,Tuesday evening, May 10th, 2005, will be:
Jamie Duif Calvin, who has
has worked with media and grassroots organizations in a number of different
roles for three decades, as well as working in online communications. She
was an issues analyst for a US Representative in Washington, worked in
public outreach for two different international service organizations,
served on the nine person Governing Board for the HTML Writers Guild (a
10,000 member organization), was the Webmaster and weekly online news editor
for the US Chess Federation for several years, and was listed in Who's
Who in the World in 2000 and 2001. As an ecommerce consultant, she has
worked with several Fortune 500 companies and major retailers, including
12 of the top 25 most successful online stores as listed by the National
Retail Federation. She is also one of the top 100 female chessplayers in
the US by rating. Duif was forced to retire due to disability in 2001,
but still keeps in touch with the chess community when she can. You
can read her fascinating, important and illuminating article "The
Dark Secret to Promoting Chess" on the Chessbase news website, and
her important International Directory of Chess Teachers can be found, with
much else of interest, at her website: http://www.jaderiver.com/chess
.
Please send questions about promoting chess in general, and specifically
to women and children, and how, in general chess touches peoples lives
to [email protected]
or
Tony Rook.
Here's the direct link to the Chessbase article on The Dark Secret
of Promoting Chess:
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2364
Duif will also be discussing her position against gender-segregated chess and why she recommends so highly HOW TO FATHER A SUCCESSFUL DAUGHTER by Nikki Marone, which deals with the unfortunate fact that we, as a nation, lose many talented girls in science, math, and, of course, chess, to a combination of societal & peer pressure.
SO, I WANT SOME GOOD QUESTIONS OUT OF YOU GUYS (AND GIRLS)!!
In future weeks I hope to have IM Jennifer Shahade, GM John Fedorowicz, GM Larry Christiansen, GM Alexander Baburin, GM Joel Benjamin, IM John Watson, GM Max Dlugy and many, many more important members of our chess community on my show. Please feel free to email me interesting questions for these chess professionals.
I am very happy to be back and hope you will all listen in!
Best in chess, Fred Wilson
6) Here and There
The latest edition of the Los Angeles Masters, held at the Los Angeles Chess Club, was won by GM-elect Melik Khachiyan and GM Varuzhan Akobian with 3.5 from 4. Here are two games from the weekly G/25 event.
Akobian,V (2662) - Khachian,M (2570) [D90]
Los Angeles Masters Los Angeles Chess Club (2.1), 02.05.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4
c5 8.e3 cxd4 9.exd4 0–0 10.Bc4 Nb6 11.Bb3 Nc6 12.d5 Na5 13.0–0 Bg4 14.h3
Nxb3 15.axb3 Bxf3 16.Qxf3 Bxc3 17.bxc3 Qxd5 18.Qxd5 Nxd5 19.c4 Nf6 20.Bxf6
exf6 21.Rfd1 a6 22.Rd7 Rab8 23.Re1 Rfd8 24.Rc7 Rdc8 25.Rd7 Rd8 ½–½
Manukian,G (2501) - Khachian,M (2570) [D19]
Los Angeles Masters Los Angeles Chess Club (4.2), 04.05.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4
Bb4 8.0–0 0–0 9.Qe2 Nbd7 10.e4 Bg6 11.Bg5 Bxc3 12.bxc3 Bxe4 13.Ne5 Bg6
14.h4 Qa5 15.Qd2 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Nd5 17.Bf4 Nxc3 18.Qb2 Nd5 19.Bxd5 cxd5 20.Qxb7
Rab8 21.Qe7 Qb4 22.Qg5 Rfc8 23.Rfe1 h6 24.Qg3 Rc4 25.h5 Bxh5 26.Bxh6 Rg4
27.Qh3 Rh4 28.Qg3 Qg4 29.Qxg4 Rxg4 30.Be3 a6 31.a5 Bg6 32.f3 Rc4 33.Bb6
d4 34.Rac1 Rbc8 35.Rxc4 Rxc4 36.Rd1 d3 37.Rd2 f6 38.exf6 gxf6 39.Kf2 e5
40.Ke3 Kf7 41.g3 Rc1 42.Kf2 Ke6 43.Be3 Rb1 44.Ra2 Kd5 45.Bd2 Be8 46.Ke3
Bb5 47.Ra3 Rh1 48.Kf2 Rh2+ 49.Ke1 Re2+ 50.Kd1 Rf2 51.f4 Rf1+ 52.Be1 e4
53.Kd2 e3+ 54.Kxe3 0–1
Paris Hilton, Usher and the HB Global Chess Challenge What will screen
vixen Paris Hilton, R & B superstar Usher and the winner of
the HB Global Chess Challenge have in common? They will all be sporting
the same glamorous accessory on their wrists. Polanti Watches, makers of
luxury time pieces, has agreed to donate one of their dazzling instruments
from their 3 Time Zone collection to the top performer in the Open section
of the Minneapolis tournament. The HB Global Chess Challenge, the
world’s richest open tournament with a record-breaking prize fund of $500,000,
is already rewarding the winnerof its premier section with a first place
prize of $50,000.
Last Newsletter I ran the campaign website address for USCF Executive
Board Candidate Bill Goichberg. This week I include the addressfor
Candidates
George John, Elizabeth Shaughnessy, Randy Bauer and Steve Shutt
who are running as a slate - http://www.uschesssuccess.com/.
I welcome the opportunity to pass on similar information for independent
Candidates Joel Channing, Robert Tanner. Greg Shahade and Sam Sloan.Those
who have gotten their May issue of Chess Life will find campaign statements
by each of the Candidates. Hopefully this information plus that gleaned
from reading the respective websites will allow voters to make a more informed
decision.
The big Memorial Day tournament will again be Bill Goichberg's Chicago
Open but two other interesting events are the traditional Lina Grumette
tournament in Los Angeles and the 24th North American Open.
The latter tournament. moved from it's traditional Labor Day weekend dates
by an Oklahoma State Football game has signed up an impressive number of
strong players including GMs Alex Onischuk, Yury Shulman and Sergey
Kudrin, IMs Stanislav Kriventsov, Martha Fierro and Anna Zatonskih
plus WIMs Nadya Ortiz and Mila Mokriak.
Max Burkett writes that the Chessbase website recently ran an
interesting piece on chess and madness in response to a Time magazine essay
by Charles Krauthammer. Go to( http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2353)
to check it out.
GM-elect Melik Khachiyan and IM Enrico Sevillano tied
for first with 3.5 from 4 in the Orange County Open held May 7-8
in Costa Mesa.
Bay Area chess has yet another strong Mongolian master living in the
area. NM Genden Altanoch won the East Bay Chess Club Swiss
last weekend with a score of 3.5 from 4. Tying for second with 3 points
in the 23 player event were NM Andy Lee (who doubled as TD), Edward
and Philip Pereplitsky, Kenneth Hills and Salar Jahedi.With
IM
Ganbold Odondoo back from Los Angeles the city of Oakland is now home
to one IM and 3 NMs from Mongolia.
Newsletter #244, 05/17/2005
"An opening novelty is to the chess Grandmaster what a slick draw
is to the gunfighter. You gotta have one or you're gonna die!"
Yasser Seirawan
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
Longtime Mechanics' member David Gee died in the Chessroom yesterday (May 16) afternoon. Mr. Gee, a rated Expert, was watching a game when he was suddenly stricken. He died of cardiac arrest despite the efforts of Gary Luke and James Clarke who administered CPR. We will have more on Mr. Gee in the next Newsletter.
NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs leads the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon with 6.5 points from 7 but will be taking a bye in round 8 to play in the HB Global Challenge in Minneapolis this week. This will give some of her pursuers with 5.5 (IM John Grefe, NM Victor Ossipov and Igor Traub) a chance to close the gap. Ms. Tuvshintugs, who became the first women in the history of the TNM to win the event last March, is trying to repeat her triumph in the Winter Marathon.
IM Ricardo DeGuzman won the 34-player 5th Annual Charles Powell Memorial held May 14. DeGuzman, who scored 5-0 in the upset filled event, defeated NM Nicolas Yap in the last round. Yap finished second with 4. Among those tied for third with 3.5 points was Mongolian Chess Federation President and FIDE Executive Board Member FM Genden Altanouch. Anthony Corrales directed for the Mechanics.
The MI's advanced Chess Camp, with GM Alex Yermolinsky
as lead instructor, will be back for the fifth consecutive year this summer.
The all day camp will run from August 1-5. Complete information for
both the beginner (June
20-24) and advanced camps
are available.
2) Boris Spassky to return
Hi John,
Have you heard the news from Jerry that Boris and Marina Spassky
are going to return to Reno for the Western States Open again this year?
They had such a great time that they want to come back!
GM Spassky will be in Reno October 12-16, 2005 for the Western
States Open. The tournament is a six round swiss, seven sections, $52,400
prize fund based on 500, $33,550 guaranteed. There is a Welcome Reception
for GM and Mrs. Spassky on Wednesday 10/12; the GM Spassky simul, with
boards selected by random draw of entries received, on Thursday 10/13;
a book signing on Friday 10/14, GM Spassky clinic on Saturday 10/15, and
on Sunday 10/16 GM Spassky will give a "favorite game" analysis.
All of the details will be posted soon at www.renochess.org/wso.
Best regards,
Barbara Woodward
Sands Regency Casino Hotel - Reno
3) World Record simul attempt
US Executive Board Candidate Joel Channing is organizing an attempt by Zsuzsa Polgar to break the world record for playing the greatest number of chess games simultaneously. Details for the event and some feedback by Jack Peters follows. Older readers of the Newsletter might remember that IM Peters, was sponsored by Church's Chicken to give simuls around the country before taking his present job as chess columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
Location: The Gardens Mall, 3101 PGA Boulevard
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 33410
Date: Monday, August 1st - 2nd (a 24-hour period)
Start Time: 10am
World Record Ratification Body:
Guinness Book of World Records
World Record Attempt:
Playing the greatest number of chess games simultaneously
Challenger:
Grandmaster Susan Polgar
Challenger’s Qualifications:
¨ Currently #1 ranked female chess player in the United States
¨ 4-time Women’s World Chess Champion – The only World Champion in history (male of female) to win the Chess Triple-Crown (World Rapid, Blitz and Classical Chess Championship)
¨ 5-time Chess Olympiad Champion (5 Gold, 4 Silver and 1 Bronze)
¨ 1st American woman ever to rank #1 in the world (January 2005)
¨ 1st ranked #1 in the world at age 15 – Top 3 in the world for more than 20 straight years
¨ 1st woman to become a Grandmaster (1991)
¨ 1st woman to qualify for the Men’s World Championship (1986)
Opponents: Chess enthusiasts from all over Florida
Supporting Organizations: Susan Polgar Foundation, the Gardens Mall, Channing Corporation, Northern Palm Beaches Chamber of Commerce, Boca Raton Chess Club, Palm Beach County Sports Institute
Purpose of this event: Raise money for the Susan Polgar Foundation to promote chess, with all its social, educational and competitive benefits throughout the United States, for young people of all ages, especially girls.
How does it work? More than 350 Chess stations are set up in the Gardens Mall. Each chess station consists of a table and chair, a chess board and pieces. Each player is assigned to a station. Susan walks along the rows of tables. At each station she will observe her opponent move. Then she will respond with her move. Then she walks to the next station and repeats the process.
Susan should take 15-20 minutes to complete one full lap in the early stages, from 20-45 minutes during the mid-sections of the games, and 10-20 minutes towards the end as games are completed and stations start to empty out. Susan must win 80 percent of the games to be eligible for the world record.
How does Susan manage to play so many games like this? As Susan walks along the tables, rather than picture each game as a set of individual pieces, she is able to envision the whole as an image, and capture the positions of the pieces intuitively. This allows her to very quickly ascertain her situation in the game, and where her opponents’ weaknesses lie.
Information on the World Record as it stands:
Current Holder: International Chess Master Andrew Martin
# of simultaneous games played: 321
Location & Date of current record:
Crowthorne, England, February 21st 2004
I have a lot of experience giving simuls and I know that many things could go wrong with Zsuzsa's attempt to play 350 people at once. In my opinion, such a record says more about the organizer than the player.
Will they find 350 (or more) players willing to spend 12 hours or more at the board? Will the opponents actually play their moves instantly when she gets to their boards? Even in small simuls, the rate of play varies tremendously; it opponents hesitate for a few seconds when the master arrives, the whole simul drags on much longer. Zsuzsa will want to make most of her moves in a second or two. It's up to the organizer to inform players, repeatedly, that they must move instantly.
My toughest simul was 48 boards in San Antonio in 1978. It was the last stop on one of my exhibition tours, I was tired, there were several strong opponents, and the simul took about seven hours. Those who stuck around seemed to enjoy it, but many left as soon as their game finished. I don't think I succeeded in making it a thrilling experience for most of them.
I estimate 7 to 10 boards per hour as a reasonable pace against adult opposition (club players). Zsuzsa will have to play much faster, but she will probably face many near-beginners who will neglect defense of f7. Capablanca supposedly could beat 40 club players in one hour.
I once had to play 72 kids in 70 minutes and I made the mistake of telling them that unfinished games would count as draws. I went as fast as I could and completed 67 games.
Best wishes, Jack Peters
4) Fritzinger-Burkett
Open up a book on combinations and there is a reasonable chance that
a position from a game played between Max Burkett and Dennis
Fritzinger in 1969
will be included. However you might not recognize it from the names
given. Fritzinger survives translation into Cyrillic and back to the Latin
alphabet remarkably well, not so Burkett which is squeezed down to Bircut
(not beergut - Max has been a long distance bicyclist for many years now).
NM Dennis Fritzinger of Berkeley tells the story behind the game.
Hi John,
You can find the position in Blunders & Brilliancies by Ian Mullen
& Moe Moss, published by Pergamon Press.It's position #38, page 17,
and correctly attributed: "Burkett-Fritzinger, California 1969".
Here's the game--with notes.
Dennis
Max Burkett - Dennis Fritzinger, Bay Area Team Championships 1969
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 d6
Hoping for a Philidor.
3. Nf3
White obliges.
3...Be6
End of my book knowledge at the time.
4. Bxe6 fxe6 5. d4 exd4
Nowadays I would play 6...Nc6 and say "What you got?"
6. Nxd4 Qf6 7. c3
Instead 7. Qh5+ looks strong: 7..g6 8. Qb5+ Nd7 9. Qxb7 wins, but 8...c6
9. Qxb7 Qxd4 10. Qxa8 Qb6 and the queen is out of play, which may be
why white didn’t go in for this line.
7...Nd7 8. O-O e5 9. Nf5 Nc5 10. Be3 g6 11. Ng3 Ne6 12. Qb3 O-O-O
I’ll say this much: black has guts.
13. Bxa7
Why not?
13...h5
Continuing the attack.
14. a4 Nf4 15. Be3 h4 16. Bxf4 exf4 17. Ne2 f3 18. Nd4 fxg2 19.
Kxg2 h3+ 20. Kh1 Re8 21. Nd2 Qf4 22. a5 Nf6
I didn’t like the looks of 22...Qxd2 23. a6 so I thought I’d develop
a piece-novel idea!
23. a6 bxa6 24. Rxa6 Qxd2
I decided 24...Nxe4 was too slow, so I might as well grab the piece.
25. Qf7!
Should win.
25...Qd3
Setting a trap. In all honesty, I thought I was winning at this point:
both rooks are hanging, and I’m threatening Qxe4. Of course, being
in severe time pressure may have had something to do with my rosy assessment.
26. Rfa1??!
Gaining white negative immortality. Can you spot the win he missed?
26...Qxe4+
Black, on the other hand, seizes the day.
27. f3 Qe1+ 0-1
Poor Max, instead of winning brilliantly (26. Ra8+, Kb7 27. Qb3+ Kxa8
28. Ra1+ and mate next move) he lost "brilliantly". But if it wasn’t for
the dramatic turnaround I doubt the game would have got as much publicity
as it did.
5) The Readers write
Hi John,
You neglected to include 15 year-old Joel Banawa in your list
of winners at the Orange County Open. Joel drew with Sevillano in
a tough game in
the last round to tie with Sevillano and Khachian
at 3.5. Joel also recently won the Junior High School Championship
(and four-year UTD scholarship) at the Supernationals in Nashville, while
his brother Jouaquin tied for first for the High School championship.
Tak Kurosaki.
One of the recent pleasures of directing the Tuesday Night Marathon is an opportunity to discuss chess with former US Champion John Grefe who shared the title with GM Lubomir Kavalek at El Paso in 1973. John is making a return from tournament chess after a break of several years. Understandably he is a bit rusty but he still possesses a discerning eye. Check out the following correspondence between two-little known masters that caught his attention. It brings to mind Alekhine's assertion that gold can be gleaned from players of all levels, not just top GMs, it just requires a lot more sifting.
Stanishevski,A - Nikonov,A]
Correspondence, 1992
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.d3 g6 6.0–0 Bg7 7.e5
Ne7?! 8.Nc3 0–0 9.Ne4! d5 10.Nxc5 Nf5 11.d4 Rb8 12.Bg5 Qc7 13.b3 Rb6 14.Kh1
a5 15.Qd2 Ba6 16.Rg1 h6 17.Bf6 Bxf6 18.exf6 Kh7 19.g4 Nd6 20.Rae1 Bb5 21.Qf4
Qd8 22.Re3 Ne8 23.Nd7!! Qxd7 24.Ne5 Qd8 25.Nd7!! Qxd7 26.Rh3 h5 27.gxh5
g5 28.Qxg5 Qd8 29.h6 Qxf6?
29...Bf1!! 30.Rh4 (30.Qg7+ Nxg7 31.hxg7+ Bxh3; 30.Rxf1 Qxf6; 30.Rh5!
Be2! 31.Rh3 Bf1 32.Rh5 Be2 Draw!) 30...Qxf6 31.Qg7+ Nxg7 32.hxg7+ Qxh4
33.gxf8Q Qe4+
30.Qg7+ Nxg7 31.hxg7+ Qh6 32.gxf8N+ Kh8 33.Rxh6 1–0
Schach Magazin 64, 3/1994, pages 77-78
Newsletter reader Andy Ansel sends in the following tactical
masterpiece by former World Junior Champion Max Dlugy that is not to
be found in Mega DataBase 2005.
Dlugy,M - Weeramantry,S
New York Marshall CC Philidor Int, 1981
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.e4 Nc6 5.d5 Ne5 6.f4 Nd7 7.Nf3 c6 8.Be2
cxd5 9.cxd5 Qb6 10.Bd3 Nc5 11.Bb5+ Kf8 12.e5 Bg4 13.Be3 dxe5 14.fxe5 Bxe5
15.Nxe5 Bxd1 16.Bxc5 Qc7 17.Nd7+ Kg7 18.Rxd1 f6 19.0–0 Qa5 20.Rf4 Rd8 21.Ra4
Qc7 22.d6 Qc8 23.dxe7 Rxd7 24.e8N+ Kh6 25.Be3+ g5 26.Bxd7 Qb8 27.Nd6 Kg6
28.Bf5+ Kh5 29.Nf7 Ne7 30.g4+ Kh4 31.Bf2+ 1–0
Source: Open Lines May/June 1981 page 13.
7) US Championship Qualifiers
The list of qualifying events for the US Championship and the number of qualifiers from each does not appear to have been published anywhere yet. An educated guess might suggest the following but I would very much welcome any clarification and confirmation. The AF4C and USCF sites do not have the information up.
Overall + women
Foxwoods 4+2
Chicago 4+1
National Open 4+?
Senior Open 1
World Open 5+2
US Open 5+2 (?)
National Chess Congress 2
American Open 2
North American Open 4+1
Newsletter #245, 05/24/2005
"Chess is a domain in which criticism has not so much influence as
in art; for in the domain of chess the results of games decide, ultimately
and finally."
Richard Reti - Modern Ideas in Chess
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News - Nick DeFirmian lectures tonight!
GM Nick DeFirmian will be the special guest lecturer this evening.
Nick's lecture will begin at 5:15 and run approximately an hour. The last
round of the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon will start at 6:30.
Many Mechanics' members made the trip to Minnesota this past weekend.
Among the standouts were: (Open) Alan Stein , David Pruess, Tigran Ishkhanov,
and Andy Lee 5.5 from 9. This result was good for an IM norm for
Alan (his second) and might possibly be Andy's first. Vladimir Mezentsev
had 5 as did Shivkumar Shivaji. MI Trustee Mark Pinto's 4.5
score was very good as a he played up the entire tournament and faced an
average opposition well over 2300.
Larry Snyder and Batsaikan Tserendorj were the top MI
finishers in the Under 2200, but it was the Under 2000 that the MI's top
scorer was playing. Yefim Bukh scored from 7 from 9 to tie for 6th
in his section and finally earn his Experts rating. Bay Area Class A players
take note, you won't have to compete with Yefim anymore for Class A money.
NM Shivkumar Shivaji writes about his experiences in Minneapolis.
Hi,
I finished on 5/9. I am enclosing my 18 move win
over IM Ron Burnett as Black (where I thought I introduced a new move on
move 5!). Amongst other Bay Area players, Andy Lee's 5.5/9 finish netting
a decent prize was quite notable.
HB Global Chess Challenge
Burnett, Ronald - Shivaji, Shivkumar
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd5 e5!?
I came up with this move over the board after 30 minutes thought.
It is an interesting way to avoid the solid lines after ..Nxd5. Unfortunately,
e5 is not a new move and has been played twice according to the database.
It was first played by GM Bondarevsky back in 1938!
6. Nxe5?
6.e4 or Bg5 are better moves. It is often hard to respond to an
unusual move correctly.
6... Nxd5 7. Qa4+ Nc6
7...Bd7 is also playable.
8. cxd5
8. Nxc6?? Nb6! wins a piece for Black! ( 9. Nxd8+ Nxa4 The white
knight cannot escape.)
8... Qxd5 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10.Bd2 Bd6 11. e3
Bd2 followed by e3 loses a tempo as White is forced to capture
with the bishop on e3 anyway.
11..dxe3 12. Bxe3 O-O 13. Rd1 Qe5 14. Qd4?
The losing move. Though Black is better, Be2 or Bd3 should have
been
played.}
14..Qa5+ 15. Bd2? Re8+ 16. Be2 Rxe2+ 17. Kxe2 Ba6+ 18. Kf3 Qh5+
0-1
White resigned as Qg4 loses to Be2+ and g4 loses to Qh3+ Ke4 Re8+
Kf5 Bd3+. Ke4 loses to Re8+.
2) Izoria wins HB Global Challenge
Georgian GM Zviad Izoria took home $50,000 by scoring 7.5 from 9 to finish clear first in the HB Global Challenge. Izoria's key win was in round eight against Alexander Beliavsky who had just defeated Hikaru Nakamura and Loek Van Wely with Black.
Beliavsky,A (2760) - Izoria,Z (2707)
HB Global Chess Challenge Minneapolis (8.1), 22.05.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 0–0 7.0–0
c6 8.Qc2 b6 9.Rd1 Ba6 10.b3 Nbd7 11.Bf4 Rc8 12.Nc3 Qe8 13.e4 dxc4 14.h3
Bb4 15.Re1 h6 16.bxc4 Bxc4 17.a3 Be7 18.Nd2 Ba6 19.Qa4 Bd3 20.Re3 Bb5 21.Nxb5
cxb5 22.Qxa7 g5 23.Bc7 Ra8 24.Qb7 Qc8 25.Qxc8 Raxc8 26.Be5 Nxe5 27.dxe5
Nd7 28.Nf3 Rc5 29.Rb3 Nxe5 30.Nxe5 Rxe5 31.Rab1 Rd8 32.Rxb5 Rxb5 33.Rxb5
Bc5 34.Rb3 Rd2 35.Rf3 Ra2 36.Bf1 Bxa3 37.Bc4 Ra1+ 38.Kg2 Bc5 39.Rc3 Re1
40.Kf3 Kg7 41.Rc2 h5 42.Rd2 Rc1 43.Be2 Kf6 44.Kg2 h4 45.gxh4 gxh4 46.Rd7
Rc2 47.Kf1 Kg6 48.e5 Rb2 49.f4 Rb4 50.Bd3+ f5 51.exf6+ Kxf6 52.f5 exf5
53.Rh7 Rf4+ 54.Ke2 Rf2+ 55.Ke1 Rf3 56.Bf1 Kg5 57.Rh5+ Kxh5 58.Be2 Kg5 59.Bxf3
Kf4 60.Bc6 Kg3 61.Bd7 f4 0–1
The event was very well run and attracted over 1600 players, a record for an Open event, and quite remarkable considering it was not held on a holiday weekend or in a major chess center. Credit goes to the HB Foundation and GM Maurice Ashley.
Go to http://www.hbfoundation.org/gcc/index.shtml for excellent website coverage. Below are the top standings and a few more games from the website.
-------------------------------------------------
HB Global CC Minneapolis USA (USA), 18-22 v 2005
-------------------------------------------------
1. Izoria, Zviad
g GEO 2602 7.5
2. Smirin, Ilia
g ISR 2649 7.0
3. Kamsky, Gata
g USA 2700 7.0
4. Beliavsky, Alexander G g SLO 2630
7.0
5. Harikrishna, P
g IND 2646 7.0
6. Ehlvest, Jaan
g EST 2614 7.0
7. Najer, Evgeniy
g RUS 2615 7.0
8. Ibragimov, Ildar
g USA 2611 7.0
9. Jussupow, Artur
g GER 2601 7.0
10. Yudasin, Leonid
g ISR 2538 7.0
11. Fridman, Daniel
g LAT 2562 7.0
12. Nakamura, Hikaru
g USA 2657 6.5
13. Epishin, Vladimir g
RUS 2605 6.5
14. Shabalov, Alexander g USA 2593
6.5
15. Stripunsky, Alexander g USA 2565
6.5
16. Benjamin, Joel
g USA 2563 6.5
17. Milman, Lev
f USA 2439 6.5
18. Foygel, Igor
m USA 2438 6.5
19. Van Wely, Loek
g NED 2687 6.0
20. Milov, Vadim
g SUI 2653 6.0
21. Motylev, Alexander g
RUS 2680 6.0
22. Moiseenko, Alexander g UKR 2665
6.0
23. Sadvakasov, Darmen g
KAZ 2605 6.0
24. Filippov, Valerij g
RUS 2621 6.0
25. Goldin, Alexander g
USA 2615 6.0
26. Kacheishvili, Giorgi g GEO 2597
6.0
27. Onischuk, Alexander g USA 2638
6.0
28. Novikov, Igor A
g USA 2589 6.0
29. Adianto, Utut
g INA 2588 6.0
30. Mikhalevski, Victor g ISR 2572
6.0
31. Akobian, Varuzhan g
USA 2556 6.0
32. Wojtkiewicz, Aleksander g USA 2535 6.0
33. Kudrin, Sergey
g USA 2554 6.0
34. Mitkov, Nikola
g MKD 2530 6.0
35. Ivanov, Alexander g
USA 2563 6.0
36. Antonio, Rogelio jr g PHI 2513
6.0
37. Christiansen, Larry M g USA 2524
6.0
38. Sevillano, Enrico m
USA 2450 6.0
39. Shulman, Yuri
g USA 2550 6.0
40. Khachiyan, Melikset m USA 2473
6.0
41. Matikozian, Andranik m ARM 2515
6.0
42. Mariano, Nelson
g PHI 2468 6.0
43. Gonzalez, Renier
m USA 2483 6.0
44. Sharavdorj, Dashzeveg g MGL 2453
6.0
45. Li Wenliang
m CHN 2422 6.0
46. Schneider, Dmitry m
USA 2466 6.0
47. Mahesh Chandran, P m
IND 2473 6.0
48. Friedel, Joshua E f
USA 2425 6.0
49. Simutowe, Amon
m ZAM 2435 6.0
50. Milovanovic, Rade m
USA 2399 6.0
51. Taylor, Timothy
m USA 2297 6.0
52. Fernandez, Daniel USA f USA 2406
6.0
53. Ardaman, Miles
f USA 2308 6.0
54. Del Mundo, Anton
PHI 2264 6.0
55. Barnett, Alexander
USA 2193 6.0
56. Glek, Igor V
g GER 2597 5.5
57. Kiriakov, Petr
g RUS 2565 5.5
58. Vasquez, Rodrigo
g CHI 2551 5.5
59. De Firmian, Nick E g
USA 2549 5.5
60. Zarnicki, Pablo
g ARG 2523 5.5
61. Serper, Grigory
g USA 2546 5.5
62. Gurevich, Dmitry
g USA 2515 5.5
63. Perelshteyn, Eugene m USA 2507
5.5
64. Sokolin, Leonid M m
USA 2513 5.5
65. Kraai, Jesse
m USA 2416 5.5
66. Young, Angelo
m PHI 2413 5.5
67. Kustar, Sandor
m HUN 2379 5.5
68. Muhammad, Stephen A f USA 2334
5.5
69. Ippolito, Dean
m USA 2402 5.5
70. Pruess, David
f USA 2394 5.5
71. Stein, Alex
f USA 2362 5.5
72. Ortiz, Eduardo
PHI 2336 5.5
73. Ginsburg, Mark
m USA 2354 5.5
74. Quan Zhe
f CAN 2397 5.5
75. Wendt, Jan-Dietrich
GER 2289 5.5
76. Vuilleumier, Alexandre SUI 2245
5.5
77. Moe, Win
USA 2373 5.5
78. Ishkanov, Tigran
USA 2342 5.5
79. Pismenny, Avraam
RUS 2301 5.5
80. Ponomarev, Philipp
USA ---- 5.5
81. Betaneli, Aleksandr
USA 2222 5.5
82. Santalla, Andres
CUB 2075 5.5
83. Lee, Andy C
USA 2215 5.5
84. Becerra Rivero, Julio g USA 2552
5.0
85. Rodriguez, Andres g
URU 2536 5.0
86. Georgiev, Vladimir g
MKD 2535 5.0
87. Gonzales, Jayson
m PHI 2474 5.0
88. Dableo, Ronald
m PHI 2440 5.0
89. Van de Mortel, Jan f
NED 2410 5.0
90. Vavrak, Peter
m
SVK 2406 5.0
91. Mezentsev, Vladimir
RUS 2397 5.0
92. Burnett, Ronald
m USA 2433 5.0
93. Laylo, Darwin
PHI 2344 5.0
94. Lugo, Blas
m USA 2406 5.0
95. Renteria, Jorge
COL 2295 5.0
96. Adamson, Robby
f USA 2344 5.0
97. Moncayo Romero, Evelyn wm ECU 2267 5.0
98. Nagle, Sean
f USA 2397 5.0
99. Lawson, Eric
m CAN 2367 5.0
100. Zlotnikov, Mikhail m
USA 2346 5.0
101. Swathi, Ghate
wg IND 2238 5.0
268 players
Shulman,Y (2606) - Zimbeck,D (2236) [B00]
HB Global Chess Challenge Minneapolis (1.35), 18.05.2005
1.d4 Nc6 2.Nf3 d6 3.e4 Bg4 4.Be2 e6 5.c4 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.exd5 Qxd5 8.Nc3 Qh5 9.d5 0-0-0 10.Qa4 Ne5 11.Nxe5 Bxe2 12.Bf4 Ba6 13.g4 Qh3 14.0-0-0 Nh6 15.Nc6 Bc5 16.Qa5 Bb6 17.Nxa7+ Kd7 18.Qa4+ Ke7 19.d6+ cxd6 20.Rhe1+ Kf6 21.Nd5+ 1-0
Kamsky,G (2777) - Pruess,D (2441) [C11]
HB Global Chess Challenge Minneapolis (2.3), 19.05.2005
Notes by GM Maurice Ashley
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6
8.Qd2 b5 9.Bd3 b4 10.Nd1 Qb6 11.0-0
Usual moves here are 11.Qf2 or 11.cxd4. Kamsky decides to let the
d-pawn as he realizes that he would have long term king-side attacking
chances.
11...Nxd4 12.Nxd4 cxd4 13.Bf2 a5 14.Bh4 g6 15.Nf2 Bg7 16.Ng4
Ba6 17.Rae1 Bxd3 18.cxd3 h5
A natural move to chase the Knight but giving White a weakness to
chew on with a later g4 push.
19.Nf2
19.Nf6+ This aggressive looking move is not promising. After 19...Bxf6
20.exf6 0-0-0 White's Bishop on h4 is a random piece.
19...Rc8 20.Kh1!!
The commentators Kaidanov and Ashley struggled to explain this move
to the audience. Later the game proves the depth of Kamsky's conception
as he saw that this facilitated his future king-side attack.
20...Rc6 21.Qd1!
A good waiting move, asking Black the question of where he would
like to put his King. White can still improve his position with the idea
of Nh3 to g5, while Black is running out of ideas with his King stuck in
the center.
21...0-0 22.g4! hxg4 23.Nxg4 Rfc8
Even here it doesn't look like Black's position is too bad. However,
White finds the perfect maneuver to increase the pressure and break through
Black's king position.
24.Qf3 Rc2 25.Qh3! Rxb2 26.Bf6 Rcc2
26...Bxf6 27.exf6 Nxf6 28.Nxf6+ Kg7 29.Qh7+!! Kxf6 30.f5! exf5 31.Rxf5+!!
Kxf5 ( 31...gxf5 32.Qh6#) 32.Qxf7+ Kg5 ( 32...Qf6 33.Rf1+) 33.h4+ Kh5 34.Qf3+
Kh6 35.Qf4+ Kh7 36.Re7+
27.f5!! exf5
27...gxf5 28.Bxg7 Kxg7 29.Qh6+ Kg8 30.Rg1! This move highlights
the depth behind the move 20.Kh1!!. Of course Kamsky could not have seen
this variation but it is his incredible intuitiveness that allowed him
to realize the power of the move.
28.Bxg7 Kxg7 29.Qh6+ Kg8 30.e6! fxe6 31.Qxg6+ 1-0
31.Qxg6+ Kf8 32.Rxe6
Schneider,D (2503) - Van Wely,L (2687) [B41]
HB Global Chess Challenge Minneapolis (6.2), 21.05.2005
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Bd3 Qb6 6.Nb3 Nc6 7.Be3
Qc7 8.f4 d6 9.Nc3 a6 10.a4 b6 11.0-0 Be7 12.Qf3 0-0 13.g4
13.a5 bxa5 14.e5 dxe5 15.fxe5 Nd7 16.Qh3 g6 17.Bh6 Ncxe5 18.Bxf8
Bxf8 19.Ne4 f5 20.Nxa5 Rb8 21.Ng5 Nf6 22.b3 Nfg4 23.Qg3 Bd6 24.h3 Nxd3
25.Qxd3 Bc5+ 0-1 Santo Roman,M-Benjamin,J/Cannes 1992/CBM 28 (25)
13...Re8 14.g5 Nd7 15.Rae1 Nb4 16.Qh5 g6 17.Qh4 Nc5 18.Nxc5 bxc5
19.Rf3 Nxd3 20.cxd3 Rb8 21.Qf2 Bb7 22.Rh3 Ba8 23.Re2 Rb4 24.Rc2 d5 25.Na2
Rxa4 26.b3 Ra3 27.Bd4 Rxa2!!
This move turns out to be a Queen sacrifice, but Van Wely has calculated
it to the bitter end.
28.Rxh7 cxd4
28...Kxh7?? 29.Qh4+ Kg8 30.Qh8#
29.Rh8+ Kxh8 30.Qh4+ Kg8 31.Rxc7 dxe4 32.dxe4 d3! 0-1
32...d3 33.Qe1 Rc2
Onischuk,A (2692) - Shulman,Y (2606) [D31]
HB Global Chess Challenge Minneapolis (4.11), 20.05.2005
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qxd4 7.Bxb4
Qxe4+ 8.Be2 Na6 9.Bd6 b6 10.Nf3 Bb7 11.0-0 c5?! 12.Nh4!!
A beautiful piece sacrifice to open lines against the uncastled
Black King.
12...Qxh4 13.Qa4+ Kd8 14.Rad1 Kc8 15.Qe8+ Qd8 16.Qxd8+ Kxd8 17.Bf8+
Kc7 18.Bxg7 Nf6 19.Bxf6
White wins his piece back and although material is equal, the Black
pieces will struggle to develop.
19...Rhg8 20.g3 Nb8 21.Be5+ Kc8 22.f4 Bc6 23.Rd6 Rd8 24.f5 Rxd6
25.Bxd6 Nd7 26.fxe6 fxe6 27.Rf7
The game is over and Black could easily resign here.
27...Kb7 28.Rxh7 Be4 29.Re7 Rh8 30.Rxd7+ Kc6 31.Be5 1-0
Schneider,D (2503) - Benjamin,J (2653) [B48]
HB Global Chess Challenge Minneapolis (4.17), 20.05.2005
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Qd2
Nf6 8.f3 d6 9.g4 Be7 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.h4 Nd7 12.g5 b5 13.g6 hxg6 14.h5
White plays to open lines on the king-side.
14...Nxd4 15.Bxd4 Ne5 16.h6! Bf6 17.hxg7 Bxg7 18.f4 Bb7?
Much better was 18...Ng4 although Black's position is still very
critical.
19.Qh2! Rfd8 20.fxe5 dxe5 21.Be3 Rxd1+ 22.Kxd1 b4 23.Na4 Qd7+
24.Bd3 Qxa4 25.Qh7+ 1-0
25.Qh7+ Kf8 26.Bc5+ Ke8 27.Qxg7
3) Igor Ivanov Grandmaster
Congratulations go to Igor Ivanov, America's newest Grandmaster.
Igor received his long-overdue title at the FIDE Presidential Meeting held
in Doha, Qatar, May 21-22. Ivanov, who nearly qualified for the Candidates
in 1982, has been among the top players in North America for two decades
and won the USCF Grand Prix a record 9 times. Igor is one of the few players
to have a plus score against World Champions (a victory over Karpov
and draws with Kasparov and Spassky).
Chairman Mikko Markkula, assisted by fellow FIDE Qualification
member Stewart Reuben and USCF Zonal President and Executive Board
Candidate Robert Tanner, were instrumental in making this happen
and deserve credit for a job well-done.
4) Susan Polgar starts blog
May 24, 2005
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
For a long time, I have always championed the idea of top chess players being much more interactive with the everyday fans. Chess has a big fan base (nearly 45 million strong in America and around 700 million worldwide) and we need to maximize it.
I followed my own advice by allowing fans to vote for the opening of their choice in my monthly award-winning “Opening Secrets” column in Chess Life. My personal e-mail address has always been available to the public and I correspond with thousands of fans each month about as many topics as I can possibly handle. I hope more people will join my crusade by making chess friendlier, more popular and more interactive.
Today, Amy (a friend of mine) helped me build my own site where fans can blog 24/7. The address of my site is http://www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com/. This will be a site where fans can communicate directly to me and where we leave ugly chess politics at the door.
Please feel free to visit this site and express your views. I would like to make chess better and more popular than ever. I need your help and I am always interested to hear what you have to say! The only thing I ask for is to keep it clean so fans of ALL AGES can enjoy! Happy blogging everyone!
Thank you for your support!
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
5) US Championship Qualifying Information
1) Who will play in the U.S. Championships?
The tournament will feature a 64-player field, composed of 19 seeded players (as determined by the October 2005 U.S.C.F Rating List), 43 tournament qualifiers and 2 wild cards. The seeded players include the defending U.S. Champion, Hikaru Nakamura; Women’s Champion, Rusudan Goletiani; the 2004 Grand Prix winner, Aleks Wojtkiewicz; the 2005 U.S. Junior Champion; the 2005 U.S. Senior Champion; 8 top-rated Overall players, and 6 top-rated female players from the rating list.
If any of the above seeded players declines his or her spot, it will be filled from the October, 2005 USCF rating list. Any player who pays the $75 qualifying fee and is subsequently seeded will get a refund from the AF4C.
2) How can I qualify?
41 players, with 11 spots reserved for woman players, will qualify from 8 top U.S. tournaments in the period March through December 2005. The breakdown of the qualifying spots and the tournaments will be as follows:
23-27 March - Foxwoods Open (4 Overall; 2 Women); 27-30 May - Chicago Open (4 Overall; 1 Woman); 10-12 June - National Open (4 Overall; 2 Women); 30 June-4 July - World Open (5 Overall; 2 Women); 6-14 August - U.S. Open (4 Overall; 2 Women); 25-27 November - American Open (2 Overall only); 25-27 November - National Congress (2 Overall only); 26-29 December - North American Open (4 Overall; 2 Women)
A new, innovative qualifying process will have one spot decided by the player who —while not qualifying directly— accumulates the highest score from playing in as many of (or all!) the qualifying tournaments. After each tournament, the latest placing for this will be posted on the dedicated U.S. Championship website (www.uschesschampionship.com).
In the event of a qualifier from any of the above tournaments having to withdraw from the US Championships, his/her place from that particular qualifying tournament will go to the next eligible player from the same tournament — BUT such changes must be done 30 days before the start of the US Championships, otherwise any vacant spot will be filled from the October 2005 USCF Rating List. For a “last minute withdrawal,” 30 days before the start of the US Championships, the AF4C reserves the right to invite a house eligible player.
Again there will be an online event of all 2005 US State Champions. The 50 State Champions (split into two conferences of East and West) will compete in an online event held over two weekends — the first, with each conference split into two zones, being a double-round all-play-all to determine four winner, who will then go forward to the knockout ‘Final Four’ Weekend, played under supervised conditions.
This event will take place October 2005 in conjunction with State Associations, the AF4C, the USCF and the Internet Chess Club.
A new online event will see the winners of the Denker High School Championship, the Super National Championships, the Polgar Girls Championship and the U.S. Cadet Championship playing a similar styled online event on the ICC for one spot.
This event will also take place under supervised conditions in October 2005, with full details to be announced on the Championship website at www.uschesschampionship.com.
3) Can a seeded player take a qualification spot?
No. A seeded player can happily participate in the qualification events but is neutral and will not take a spot.
4) Do I have to pay a fee to be eligible to qualify for the Championships?
Yes, to be eligible to qualify for the U.S. Championships there is a $75 non-refundable qualifying fee to be paid to the tournament organizer. This fee is required from those who wish to qualify only. You can play in any of the eight tournaments without paying this fee, but you will not be eligible for the U.S. Championships. The qualifying fees will be forwarded to America’s Foundation for Chess to support the U.S. Championships prize fund.
5) When do I have to declare my eligibility?
You must decide whether or not to pay the $75 before playing your first game. Some of the qualifying tournaments have different schedules. You can choose any schedule you would like but you must declare your eligibility and pay your qualifying fee before playing your first game within your schedule. A player is not allowed to declare eligibility after starting their playing schedule. A player is not allowed to forfeit or to take a bye and must play all the games of their chosen schedule. A forfeit or a bye on the player’s request will disqualify the player from eligibility.
6) Can I re-enter the tournament and still be eligible?
Where an option exists, a player can re-enter the tournament as they choose. However, each player will get only one shot at eligibility. Once you’ve chosen your schedule of eligibility, that is the only schedule that counts. The organizer will inform the eligible players in the competition who are competing for qualification places.
7) Can I play in several Qualification Tournaments and be eligible?
Yes. A player can play in two or more events, paying the $75 eligibility fee in each event in order to qualify.
8) Are all USCF members eligible?
While a player must be a USCF member, and their rating is not a restriction for eligibility, the U.S. Championships are a national competition restricted to U.S. citizens and certain foreign players who have declared residency in the U.S.
Players without previous international experience and/or FIDE ratings shall usually be given U.S. status immediately by both the USCF and FIDE. If a question arises as to USCF versus FIDE requirements, USCF’s criteria shall be used for national events and FIDE’s criteria will be used for international events
The following is adapted from the residency requirements for participation as published and revised by the USCF board in February 2002 (this being subject to change).
Before becoming eligible for USCF invitations, non-United States citizens who have FIDE ratings or have represented another country in a chess competition must fulfill the following residency requirements:
Complete three continuous years (36 months) of United States residency,
with a U.S. address, immediately prior to the event in question. In addition,
for FIDE team competition (Olympiad, World Team, etc.) candidates may be
required to provide a written promise that they will apply for U. S. citizenship
as soon as legally possible.
Players under age 20 are considered eligible upon proof of full-time
enrollment in a U.S. school. However, FIDE may still, at its discretion,
require that such individuals fulfill a waiting period of up to three years.
Players must complete and sign a USCF residency form, and this residency
form must be received by the USCF prior to the time when invitations are
determined. The USCF shall then contact FIDE to arrange for the player’s
national affiliation code to be changed to reflect the player’s status
as a U.S. player. Blank residency forms can be obtained from the USCF office.
A player who has not submitted a residency form before the start of
a qualifying tournament would not be eligible to qualify for the Championship
by virtue of a result in that particular tournament.
Players must refuse to represent other countries within the waiting
period as specified above. Playing for another country at any time requires
a candidate for invitations to begin the waiting period anew (i.e., three
years from the time of the infraction for adults; at least one year for
players under age 20).
Representing another country is defined as playing in the national
championship of another country, and/or playing as a member of another
country’s national team in international competition.
4) Zonal events: In years in which the U.S. Championship and U. S. Women's Championship are also Zonal tournaments, any qualification spots allotted by FIDE from these events for the FIDE world championship competition will be offered only to the highest-scoring players who also fulfill all FIDE requirements. If a question arises as to USCF versus FIDE requirements, FIDE's criteria shall be used.
Players shall, in general, suffer no penalty for simply participating in a FIDE rated event under their current national affiliation code (such as in futurities or other norm granting events not listed above), until such time as their code is changed to reflect their status as a U.S. player.
Invitations are a privilege, not a right Note: USCF invitations are a privilege, not a right afforded to any player by virtue of his or her status as a USCF member. The USCF reserves the right not to issue invitations to any particular event, or to change these criteria without advance notice.
The organizers will have the right to replace a player who drops out at the last minute with a USCF eligible replacement player at their discretion. The organizers have the option to invite two USCF eligible wild card players.
9) What happens if I tie for a qualification spot?
If there are ties for a qualification spot, a tie breaking system will be used. Ties will not be broken by playoff games. The following are the tie breaking systems in the order that they will be used to resolve ties:
• Modified Median
• Solkoff
• Cumulative
• Cumulative of Opposition
How does the first tie breaking system, Modified Median work?
The Median System evaluates a player's result by summing the final scores of his/her opponents and then discarding the highest and lowest of these scores.
"Modified Median" uses the original Median system only for even scores. For ‘plus’ score ties, only the lowest scoring opponent is discarded and for ‘minus’ scores, only the highest scoring opponent is discarded.
Un-played games by the opponent count as half a point each for tiebreak credit. If the player involved in the tie has a win by forfeit or a full point bye, this counts as zero. If a player who scored in actual play ties with one who’s entire point total is due to un-played games, the player who scored in actual play wins automatically.
Will the U.S. Championships offer norm chances?
Yes! The U.S. Championships will offer norm chances.
Where can I get further information?
Both the USCF (http://www.uschess.org/)
and the U.S. Chess Championship (www.uschesschampionship.com)
websites will post press releases and details about the tournaments throughout
the year. Please consult these websites and Chess Life magazine for all
the details.
6) John Fedorowicz on Chess.FM
Hi folks:
My internet radio show, Chess & Books with Fred Wilson, returned
Tuesday evening, March 15th, at 8:00 PM (EST). nbsp; You can access it
easily by simply going to the excellent website: http://www.chess.fm .
It will run every Tuesday night from 8:00 to 10:00 PM (EST), with a replay
of the live show following almost immediately afterwards, for chess enthusiasts
on the West Coast. There will also be a couple of replays the following
afternoon. My ninth guest,Tuesday evening, May 24th, 2005,
will be:
"Fred's next guest on Wednesday,
Nov. 12th, will be his friend, and one of the most entertaining and knowledgable
American chess professionals, GM John Fedorowicz. He will discuss his work
on the excellent website http://www.chesspublishing.com ,wherein
he conducts a monthly survey on recent Sicilian theory, and his currently
quite active playing and coaching career. Also, he will field questions
on his new book about "The English Attack against the Sicilian" co-wriiten
with Nick DeFirmian. I'm also sure Jogn will have a lot to say about
the terrific HB Global Chess Challenge, just completed in Minneapolis.
GO JOHN! Please email some good questions about anything related
to chess (or even sports!) for GM John Fedorowicz to either [email protected]
or Tony Rook".
SO, I WANT SOME GOOD QUESTIONS
OUT OF YOU GUYS (AND GIRLS)!!
In future weeks I hope to have IM Jennifer Shahade, NM Nick Conticello (expert on life & career of CAPABLANCA) GM Larry Christiansen, GM Alexander Baburin, GM Joel Benjamin, IM Jack Peters, GM Andy Soltis, GM Arthur Bisguier and many, many more important members of our chess community on my show. Please feel free to email me interesting questions for these chess professionals.
I am very happy to be back and hope you will all listen in!
Best in chess, Fred Wilson
7) 2nd Dato’ Arthur Tan Malaysia Open Chess Championship 2005
Dear IM John Donaldson,
Greetings from Malaysia!! :) The details of our 2nd Dato’ Arthur
Tan Malaysia Open Chess Championship 2005
(20 - 26 Aug) is out!! It's available at the official site: http://tcn.sourceforge.net/
Hope you can spread this news around to all your chessfriends.
For further inquiries or registration, players should email directly
to the organiser, Mr. Hamid Majid
Other events during this August period:
Merdeka Team Championship 2005 ( 27 Aug - 1 Sept) Zone 3.3 Championship
( 2 - 10 Sept)
Thank you very much.
best wishes,
K.L. Ching
Malaysia
http://www.gilachess.com
Newsletter #246, 06/01/2005
"Do not forget that chess after all is a recreation and not an occupation."
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
The June Chess Life, which was just mailed out, contains USCF member's (age 16 and over) ballots for the 2005 Executive Board election. Please take the time to vote. Previous issues of the Newsletters have given the campaign website for several of those running. Candidates statements are in the May and June issues of Chess Life.
Those who wish to know who I am supporting - as an interested USCF member and not as an employee of the Mechanics' Institute - may e-mail me at [email protected] - John Donaldson.
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
IM John Grefe defeated NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs in the
last round of the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon to come from behind
and win the tournament.
Grefe, who scored an undefeated 7.5 from 9 took home $400 for his efforts.
Ms. Tuvshintugs tied with Victor Ossipov for 2nd and 3rd with 7
points. Sharing 4th place with 6.5 were Igor Traub, Frank Thornally
and Philipp Pereplitsky. A crosstable of the event can be found
at the MI website at http://www.chessclub.org/TNMstandings.html
. The Summer Tuesday Night Marathon, an eight rounder, will start June
14.
This weekend the Mechanics' will host its annual Arthur Stamer Memorial.
The event, named after the M.I.'s popular first chess director, has been
run using several formats during it's 40 odd years. Back in the 1960s and
70s it was a 7 round Swiss over the July 4th weekend. The 1974 Stamer set
the Mechanics' attendance record with 107 participants with this format,
one not likely to be broken as Fire Marshall regulations no longer allow
placing extra tables in every nook and cranny on the 4th floor. Incidentally
the winner of that event was NM Clark Harmon who pocketed $750 -
not a bad pay day 31 years ago.
The Stamer switched to a 3 day, 5 round format in the 1980s and continued
into the 1990s with this schedule until the mid 1990s when approximately
a third of the field was requesting first round byes. Saturday and Sunday
with 4 rounds was the most recent format but has some clear disadvantages
- not nearly enough rounds to produce a winner and fewer games between
opponents of similar rating.
This leads to this year's experiment which was first tested in last fall's Carroll Capps Memorial - namely 4 rounds Saturday at G/1 followed by two games on Sunday at 30/90 followed by G/1. The idea is more rated chess for the entry fee, more competitive games and better chances for a clear winner. Note that this is a novel format. The Continental Chess Association introduced tournaments with variable time controls many years ago but always with the possibility to play an entire "slow chess" schedule. Two other factors that prompted this experiment were the increasing percentage of young players participating on the weekends who like to play a lot of chess and the emergence of the East Bay Chess Club which is holding monthly two day, four round Grand Prix events in Berkeley. It doesn't seem like it makes a lot of sense to duplicate efforts, especially when these are pretty much the only two organizers for adult chess in the Bay Area (the Peoples Open, Labor Day State Championship and occasional event in Vallejo excepted).
If this chess duathlon sounds interesting we hope to see you this Saturday. Complete details are available at the MI Chess Room website at www.chessclub.org .
Mea Culpa - In Newsletter 244 It was reported that Nicolas Yap
finished second in the Charles Powell Memorial. In fact it was Victor
Ossipov. Nicolas tied for third with NM Michael Aigner, FM Genden
Altanouch, Daniel Schwarz, Edward Pereplitsky, Sam Shankland and Dmitry
Vayntrub.
2) Memorial Weekend Tournaments
Chicago Open
Igor Novikov took home the title of 2005 Chicago Open winner after winning a quick chess playoff over fellow GMs Vadim Milov, Peter Kiriakov and Jaan Ehlvest. The four winners each scored 5.5 from 7 with Novikov taking home $4975 and the other three $4675. Among those tied for fifth at 5 were GMs Alex Shabalov and Dmitry Gurevich and IM Ben Finegold who joined Novikov in qualifying for the US Championship. Chouchanik Airapetian (2155), who always plays well in Chicago, took the women's seed with an excellent score of 4-3 which tied for the under 2300 prize. The open section was particularly powerful this year with 26 GMs among the 82-players in the Open section. Among the also-rans were such heavyweights as GMs Motylev, Fillipov and Epishin.
Attendance was down this year in Chicago (2002 -724, 2003 -708, 2004 - 726, 2005 - 628) which was not surprising considering the HB Global Challenge was held the previous weekend. Executive Board Candidate Bill Goichberg was a good sport for not protesting the scheduling which was a definite drag on both events. There were certainly more high-rated GMs in Chicago because of the HB event but not so many class players who doubled up. I saw very few Bay Area players in Chicago who normally make the trip. Conversely I spoke to many Chicago players who would have played in Minneapolis if not for the dates. The question is what dates would better for another HB event. Most three day weekends are spoken for and Minnesota weather precludes winter dates but summer might sense, perhaps after the US Open and before Labor Day weekend.
North American Open, Oklahoma
by Frank Berry
61 players competed in the 2005 North American Open held in
Stillwater, Oklahoma. It was a 9-round open played over 4 days. The time
control
was 120 minutes per game each, with 10 seconds increment. Alex
Relyea was the Chief TD and Frank Berry was the organizer. GM
Alex Onischuk won with 7½ points, followed by GM Yuri Shulman
on 7 points. 5 players tied for 3-7 places with 6½ points: IM
Brooks of Kansas City, GM Kudrin of NYC, M.
Mosvisyan of Norman, OK, WGM Zatonskih of Ohio and
Pete
Karagianis of Iowa.
Shulman,Y (2550) - Zatonskih,A (2435) [D15]
North American Open Stillwater, Oklahoma (4), 28.05.2005
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.a4 e6 6.Bg5 a5 7.e3 Be7 8.Bd3
Na6 9.0–0 Nb4 10.e4 Nxd3 11.Qxd3 dxe4 12.Nxe4 0–0 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.Rfe1
Kh8 15.Rad1 b6 16.Qe3 Bb7 17.Nc3 Bb4 18.Qh6 Rg8 19.Re4 Rg6 20.Qh3 Rc8 21.Rh4
Qg8 22.Ne2 Rd8 23.Nf4 Rg7 24.Nh5 Rg6
25.Nxf6! Rxf6 26.Ng5 Kg7 27.Rxh7+ Kf8 28.Rh8 Ke7 29.Rxg8 Rxg8 30.Qh4
1–0
Onischuk,A (2638) - Brooks,M (2501) [E94]
North American Open Stillwater, Oklahoma (4.1), 28.05.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0–0 6.Be2 e5 7.Be3 Nbd7
8.0–0 c6 9.Qc2 Ng4 10.Bg5 f6 11.Bh4 Nh6 12.d5 c5 13.a3 Nf7 14.Ne1 g5 15.Bg3
Nh6 16.Bd3 Rf7 17.b4 b6 18.Qb1 Nf8 19.Nc2 f5 20.exf5 Bxf5 21.Ne4 Ng6 22.Ne3
Bc8 23.Re1 Nf4 24.Bc2 Bf8 25.a4 a5 26.bxc5 bxc5 27.Nc3 Rb7 28.Nb5 Qf6 29.Ra3
Kh8 30.Rb3 Qf7 31.Be4 Be7 32.Qc2 Bf8 33.Reb1 Ra6 34.f3 Kg8 35.Be1 Rbb6
36.Bc3 Rb7 37.Rf1 Be7 38.g3 Nh3+ 39.Kg2 Bd8 [39...Bf8 40.Ng4 Nf5] 40.Ng4
Kg7 41.Bxh7 Nf5 42.Nxd6 Rxd6 43.Rxb7 1–0
Kriventsov,S (2409) - Kudrin,S (2554) [B76]
North American Open Stillwater, Oklahoma (4.2), 28.05.2005
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3
0–0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0–0–0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 e5 13.Bc5 Be6
14.Ne4 Re8 15.g4 Qc7 16.h4 h6 17.g5 h5 18.Bc4 Red8 19.Qf2 Qa5 20.a3 Nf4
21.Rxd8+ Rxd8 22.Bxe6 Nxe6 23.Bxa7 Nd4 24.Bc5 Qb5 25.Re1 Rb8 ½–½
Shulman,Y (2550) - Onischuk,A (2638) [E15]
North American Open Stillwater, Oklahoma (6), 29.05.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2
c6 8.Bc3 d5 9.Ne5 Nfd7 10.Nxd7 Nxd7 11.Nd2 0–0 12.0–0 Rc8 13.e4 c5 14.exd5
exd5 15.dxc5 dxc4 16.c6 cxb3 17.Re1 b2 18.Bxb2 Nc5 19.Ba3 Bf6 20.Bxc5 bxc5
21.Rc1 Bb5 22.Rxc5 Qb6 23.Ne4 Be7 24.Rc1 Bxc6 25.Nd6 Bxd6 26.Qxd6 Bxg2
27.Qxb6 ½–½
Washington Open
GM Nick DeFirmian and IM Georgy Orlov tied for first in the Washington Open with 5-1 scores, good for $1500. GM Gregory Serper was among those tied for third at 4.5.
Also on Memorial Day weekend
CORPUS CHRISTI-- by Andres Araiza
The Susan Polgar South Texas Chess Center held its grand opening on Saturday, and to mark the occasion, World Chess Champion Susan Polgar played twenty aspiring chess players at the same time.
Polgar made her moves in seconds, and even though it seemed like an
unfair match, it was a learning experience for kids like ten year old Carolina
Rivera.
"I know I'm going to lose because she is really good," Rivera said.
"But I feel like I'm lucky to get to play her."
The center will bear Polgar's name. The chess grand master says
the game is a great mental workout.
"The chess helps children to think smarter, focus better, be better
at decision making, planning, strategies and improve their patience,"
The chess center also offers lectures and classes open to everyone.
If you would like more information just go to http://www.susanpolgartexas.com/
3) GM Vladimir Savon (1940-2005)
Ukrainian Grandmaster Vladimir Savon recently died in Kharkov
at age 65. Savon played in 10 USSR championships, winning in 1971 ahead
of Tal, Smyslov and Karpov. This earned him a spot on the 1972 Soviet Olympiad
team where he scored 87 percent in helping to lead them to victory.
4) 2006 U.S. CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP LAUNCH
64 of the Nation's Best Chess Players Compete for $250,000 in Cash Prizes
San Diego May 25, 2005 - The U.S. Chess Championship returns to San Diego from February 22 through March 5, 2006 and will be held at its new permanent home at NTC Promenade. The Championship was brought to San Diego last year by America's Foundation for Chess and the NTC Foundation and will be one of the first signature events to inaugurate the new Special Event Center at NTC Promenade.
The tournament will feature a 64-player field, composed of 19 seeded players (as determined by the October 2005 U.S.C.F Rating List), 43 tournament qualifiers (two of which being online) and 2 wild cards selected by the AF4C. The seeded players include the defending U.S. Champion, Hikaru Nakamura; Women's Champion, Rusudan Goletiani; the 2004 Chess Cafe Grand Prix winner, Aleks Wojtkiewicz; the 2005 U.S. Junior Champion; the 2005 U.S. Senior Champion; 8 top-rated Overall players, and 6 top-rated female players from the rating list.
41 players, with 11 spots reserved for woman players, will qualify from 8 top U.S. tournaments in the period March through December 2005. The breakdown of the qualifying spots and the tournaments will be as follows:
23-27 March - Foxwoods Open; 27-30 May - Chicago Open; 10-12 June - National Open; 30 June-4 July - World Open; 6-14 August - U.S. Open; 25-27 November - American Open; 25-27 November - National Congress; 26-29 December - North American Open.
A new, innovative qualifying process will see one spot decided by the player who while not qualifying directly accumulates the highest score from playing in as many (or all!) of the qualifying tournaments. After each tournament, the latest placing for this Qualifier Grand Prix will be posted on the dedicated U.S. Championship website.
Again there will be an online event of all 2005 US State Champions. The 50 State Champions (split into two conferences of East and West) will compete in an online event held over two weekends ? the first, with each conference split into two zones, being a double-round all-play-all to determine four winner, who will then go forward to the knockout ?Final Four? Weekend, played under supervised conditions.
This event will take place October 2005 in conjunction with State Associations, the AF4C, the USCF and the Internet Chess Club.
A new online event will see the winners of the Denker High School Championship, the Super National Championships, the Polgar Girls Championship and the U.S. Cadet Championship playing a similar styled online event on the ICC for one spot.
In addition to the championship games, there will be other exciting chess-related events & exhibits as part of the US Championship Chess Fest 2006. For more information about the U.S. Chess Championships or the events surrounding the 2006 games, please visit http://www.uschesschampionship.com/
About America's Foundation for Chess
AF4C was founded on the hope of making chess a subject taught in every
school classroom (focusing on second and third grade) in the United States.
AF4C is a 501[c][3] nonprofit organization, committed to making chess a
larger part of America's cultural fabric ? accessible in schools and in
popular culture. AF4C hopes to elevate the profile of chess in America
so that it will soon become a regular part of every child's classroom experience.
About NTC Foundation
The NTC Foundation, a 501[c][3] nonprofit organization, is responsible
for the renovation of the 26 historic buildings on 28 acres at the former
San Diego Naval Training Center in Point Loma into a new arts, civic and
cultural district called NTC Promenade. NTC Promenade will be the
permanent home for the U.S. Chess Championship.
Contact:-
Event press officer:
John Henderson (AF4C)
(+1) 206-229-9233
[email protected]
5) Fabiano Caruana makes IM norm
Congratulations to 12-year-old Fabiano Caruana who made his first
IM norm playing in the May First Saturday International Master Tournament
in Budapest. Hungary from May 7th through May 19th Fabiano exceeded the
norm requirement of 9.5 from 13 scoring 10 points against a field averaging
2276 for a performance of 2487 which gained him 58 FIDE rating points!
Fabiano is on a roll of late and his FIDE rating will go from 2219 (January
2005) to 2381 (July 2005) for an impressive jump of 162 points. Good going
Fabiano.
Newsletter #247, 06/08/2005
"The main problem in studying the opening is to understand the positional
essence of certain 'key position' as Bronstein calls them. Once a player
has studied the key positions of certain openings he will find it easier
to understand key positions in other openings, which differ slightly; then
little by little he will come to understand the whole opening."
Alexander Kotov
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
International Master Vladimir Mezentsev won the 42nd Arthur Stamer Memorial held June 4-5 at the Mechanics' Institute with the impressive score of 6-0! Among his victims were IMs Ricardo DeGuzman and Walter Shipman and SM Craig Mar. DeGuzman was second at 5 in the 54-player Swiss. There was a big tie for third at 4.5 featuring Mar, IM Odondoo Ganbold, Drake Wang, Victor Ossipov and Batsaikhan Tserendorj. 10-year-old Gregory Young, rated 1600, had a phenominal event scoring 4 from 6 while playing at least 350 points up every round. He defeated Tserendorj (2136) and drew with Mar (2428), losing only in the last round to IM Ganbold. Anthony Corrales directed for the Mechanics'.
Mechanics' Grandmaster-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky flew the
MI's colors in Canada this weekend where he won a round robin in Edmonton
with a score of 4.5 from 5. Masters Greg Huber and Jeff Reeve
were second and third respectively. Edmonton will be hosting the Canadian
Open this July and Ivanchuk, Shirov and Bologan
are all signed up to play!
2) East Bay Chess Club News
Hi everybody,
We realized that our previous email did not actually reach most people
for some reason, so we are sending this email again. The 13th East Bay
Chess Club
Newsletter is now up! There are two links that shortly follow: one
is a complete PDF file of the newsletter (news, notes, games), while the
second is a PGN
(portable game notation) file of the game section.
Full Newsletter (news, games) as .PDF file: http://www.eastbaychess.com/news/newsletters/EBCCNewsletter13.pdf
Newsletter (games only) as .PGN file: http://www.eastbaychess.com/news/newsletters/EBCCNewsletter13.pgn
Free PDF viewer: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
Free PGN viewer: http://www.chessbase.com/download/cblight/register.asp
Enjoy!
David, Andy, and Vinay
3) Our man in Bolivia
Walter Dorne is unquestionably one of the best-travelled chess players on the planet. The Mechanics' member, who divides his year into 6 month driving a cab in San Francisco and 6 months travelling, is still blessed with wanderlust well into his 6th decade. Presently he is travelling in Bolivia and recently sent the following e-mail.
"I finished 22nd in a field of 89 in the Santa Cruz Open in Bolivia - (5.5 out of nine rounds) which was good enough for the Senior 2nd Place Prize - some Fide Master came in 6th & got First. Unfortunately, I got the "Gringo Special": they changed the prize structure to one per category & I was a man without a category - no unrated!; it was only $20 & worth the anecdote! Granda (GM Julio Grand Zuniga -JD) Won it at 7.5, with a Swedish Player, (GM) Hellsten coming in second. Bolivia being a Third-World Country, the players are all underrated because there´s not that much tournament activity - the B-Players played BETTER positionally than the Experts!, but the batter were better Tactically!!
Luck, Walt"
4) Fred Wilson and Chess.FM
Hi folks:
My internet radio show, Chess & Books with Fred Wilson, returned
Tuesday evening, March 15th, at 8:00 PM (EST). You can access it
easily by simply going to the excellent website: http://www.chess.fm
. It will run every Tuesday night from 8:00 to 10:00 PM (EST), with
a replay of the live show following almost immediately afterwards, for
chess enthusiasts on the West Coast. There will also be a couple
of replays the following afternoon. My eleventh guest,Tuesday
evening June 7th, 2005, will be:
"Fred's next guest on Tuesday, June7th, 2005, will be the acclaimed
chess journalist and lecturer NM NICK CONTICELLO. Nick, who has won
two CJA awards, is a widely acknowledged expert on the life, games and
career of CAPABLANCA, and has given several sold-out lectures on the life
of the great Cuban world champion in the NYC area. Nick was also
the manager of the world famous MANHATTAN CHESS CLUB for the last 13 years
before its unfortunate demise and is ready, willing and able to discuss
his views on why this happened. Additionally, Nick has an abiding
interest in CHESS IN THE CINEMA and is willing to share his opinions about
such chess-related films as "Dr. No", "Return From the Ashes", "Casablanca"
and many others. Please send questions about Capablanca, the Manhattan
Chess Club, chess in the movies and/or the great classics of chess literature
to [email protected] or Tony Rook".
SO, I WANT SOME GOOD QUESTIONS FOR NICK OUT OF YOU GUYS (AND GIRLS)!!
In future weeks I hope to have IM Jennifer Shahade, IM Igor Khmelnitsky
(author of the superb "Chess Exam"), GM Larry Christiansen, GM Alexander
Baburin, GM Joel Benjamin, IM Jack Peters, GM Andy Soltis, GM Arthur Bisguier,
famed chess book collector Andy Ansel and many, many more important
members of our chess community on my show. Please feel free to email
me interesting questions for these chess professionals.
I am very happy to be back and hope you will all listen in! Also, I welcome and encourage suggestions re possible future guests on my show.
Best in chess, Fred Wilson
5) Internet Chess Club Taps Joel Berez as New CEO
Computer game veteran joins leading Internet chess service.
Pittsburgh, PA June 7, 2005 – The Internet Chess Club (“ICC”), the world’s premier online subscription chess service, has today announced the hiring of Joel M. Berez as its Chief Executive Officer. Berez has served as CEO or executive officer in seven businesses, ranging from total startups to two public companies. He built his first startup, Infocom, into one of the leading computer game publishers of the 1980s, and co-founded the Software Publishers Association (now the Software and Information Industry Association).
Along the way, Berez has also consulted for such firms as the National Geographic Society and Art Institutes International to help them develop corporate strategies to address the explosion of digital media. He holds a degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Sloan School of Management. Most recently, Berez headed GamesParlor, Inc., where he created Chess Live in partnership with the U.S. Chess Federation and chess federations in other countries, developing an online chess service noted for its family-friendly atmosphere and rich, intuitive software.
“The Internet Chess Club has led the market for the past ten years,” says Lilya Lorrin, a founder of ICC and past CEO, “but we recognize that to maintain and grow our position over the next ten years will require fresh ideas and new leadership. Joel is the ideal candidate to face this challenge. I’m impressed by his accomplishments with Chess Live, starting from scratch. With the strong history and resources of ICC behind him now, he’ll be able to do so much more.”
As Joel Berez puts it, “The Internet Chess Club has long been the icon in the world of online chess, the service that every serious player knows and that every competitor wants to become. I have long been impressed with the accomplishments of the ICC founders as well as the dedicated staff of employees and community volunteers and now feel honored to be called upon to lead them.” While Berez has been involved in many types of games in the past, he finds chess to be “not just an entertaining diversion, but a life-long intellectual pursuit that stimulates critical-thinking skills and can offer children as well as adults tremendous feelings of confidence and accomplishment.”
Founded in 1995 as one of the first premium gaming sites on the Internet, today ICC is firmly established as the premier online chess service, with more members, more Grandmasters, more volunteers, and more loyalty from its members than any other classical game service on the Internet. More than 30,000 dues-paying members from all over the world regularly enjoy playing casual or tournament chess games against each other; watching others play, including hundreds of titled chess masters; attending online lectures, classes, and special events; or simply socializing with fellow chess enthusiasts in a club house that’s always open.
Newsletter #248, 06/15/2005
"It is impossible to keep one's skill in a showcase, like a jewel."
Adolf Anderssen (on the effects of not playing for a period
of time)
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
Mechanics' members and other USCF voters please note the following from the frontpage of the USCF website.
"Because of production problems during the assembling and binding
of the June issue of Chess Life, some of the ballots in the magazine were
not personalized with the voting member's name and address. There may also
have been some cases of voting members who did not receive a ballot in
their magazine.
USCF Secretary Don Schultz, Executive Director Bill Hall
and Director of Publications Glenn Petersen have decided that the
problems at our printer warrant sending out a new set of ballots to all
voting members.
A replacement ballot form is being prepared. It will be printed
and mailed out via first class mail as soon as possible.
We'll update this notice as we have more information.
We apologize for any inconvenience."
This evening the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon starts at 6:30 and runs eight weeks.
Many MI members made the trip to Las Vegas this past weekend for the
National
Open. Chess Room Director John Donaldson was the top MI scorer
in the Open section with 4 from 6. A draw in the last round would have
given him in a spot in the US Championship on tiebreak as he played three
of the winners, but he was ground down by GM Dmitry Gurevich
in
a tough game. Dmitry Zilberstein and Alan Stein were also
looking for a spot in San Diego but, like Donaldson, lost in the last round
to finish on 3.5, a score also equaled by Matthew Ho.
2) Four way tie in National Open - Dmitry Gurevich wins playoff
2005 US NATIONAL OPEN NEARS 700 PLAYERS by Al Losoff
(Live from Las Vegas) This years event drew 697 players to the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The five-day chess festival offered not only chess but also the Polgar Simul and breakfast, game analysis by GM Arthur Bisguier, chess lectures and International Chess Camp by GM Susan Polgar, and tournament rules workshop by Tim Just. Chess merchandise was available by Rochester Chess Center and Chess ‘n Stuff. Daily tournament bulletins were produced by Chris Bird.
National Open Championship:
GM Nick E. De Firmian of Denmark, IM Benjamin Finegold of Michigan, GM Dmitry Gurevich of Illinois, GM Dashzeveg Sharavdorj of Texas all tied for first with 5.0. GM Dmitry Gurevich won the Edmondson Cup in a blitz playoff against GM De Firmian.
Under 2200:
Henrik Pashayan of California and Vinh Loc Tran of Utah tied with 5.0.
Under 2000:
Joshua Gutman of California and Anthony Lee New York tied with 5.5.
Under 1800:
Danton T. Lee of Hawaii and Josh Hickenlooper of Utah tied with 5.5.
Under 1600:
Rohan Agarwal of California won with 5.5.
Under 1400:
Charles Sun of California and Albert Hong of Idaho tied with 5.5.
Under 1200:
Jonas T. Mutuc of California had a perfect 6.0!
Unrated:
Plamen S. Peychev of Nevada finished with 11.0.
Scholastic:
This section is growing quickly with so many young chess enthusiasts competing! 65 chose to compete in this prestigious National Open this year! Sean Vibbert of Indiana and Adam Z. Jiang of Idaho tied with an impressive 11 points out of 12.
The National Open Blitz Championship was won by GMs Dmitry Gurevich and Varuzhan Akobian with a final score of 12.5.
The Intergalactic Bughouse Championship attracted 8 teams of players and was won by Diaz-Lee and Barkell-Choch with tied scores of 2.0.
Among many outstanding events at the festival was The Polgar Simul and Breakfast. For the first time in 10 years all three Polgar Sisters were together. Judit, Susan and Sofia played a grueling 4 hour Triplex Simul consisting of 81 boards. It is impressive as well as historical. The final score of The Polgar Sisters was 64 wins, 11 draws and just 6 losses!
GM Susan Polgar along with National Open organizers Fred Gruenberg and Al Losoff announced that at next years 2006 National Open a new event will be held – Susan Polgar World Open Chess Championship for Girls – Las Vegas, Nevada – June 15-18, 2006 at the Riviera Hotel & Casino.
For over 40 years chess enthusiasts have been competing in this event. Spectators are always welcome to view not only some exceptional chess competition but also all of the side events, lectures, simuls and more. Your next move should be to check out the official website for the National Open http://www.64.com!
1 De Firmian, Nick E Q
2619 5.0 W55 W61
D13 W10 W28 D2
2 Finegold, Benjamin MI 2613
5.0 W38 W74 W14 D9 W30
D1
3 Gurevich, Dmitry IL
2582 5.0 W78 W19
W47 D30 D9 W13
4 Sharavdorj, Dashzeveg TX 2526
5.0 D39 W60 W62 D13 W29 W14
5 Ibragimov, Ildar CT
2683 4.5 W48 L9
W18 W16 W46 D11
6 Akobian, Varuzhan Q CA 2646
4.5 W92 W49 D10 D28 W45 D9
7 Perelshteyn, Eugene Q MA 2576
4.5 W79 D62 W12 D11 D15 W27
8 Anka, Emil
HUN 2515 4.5 W57 W21
D16 D15 D12 W28
9 Gonzalez, Renier Q FL 2513
4.5 W34 W5 W91 D2 D3
D6
10 Schneider, Dmitry Q NY 2480
4.5 W67 W23 D6 L1 W62 W30
11 Kriventsov, Stanislav Q LA 2474
4.5 W93 D33 W22 D7 W47
D5
12 Vigorito, David E Q NV 2372
4.5 W69 W59 L7 W56 D8 W24
13 Donaldson, W John Q CA 2445
4.0 W100 W75 D1 D4 W32
L3
14 Rensch, Daniel Q AZ
2418 4.0 W94 W76
L2 W54 W43 L4
15 Manukyan, Garush CA
2409 4.0 W81 D53
W36 D8 D7 D17
16 Ginsburg, Mark Q AZ
2389 4.0 -X- W64
D8 L5 D21 W51
17 Kretchetov, Alexander RUS 2363
4.0 D88 L73 W40 W82 W63 D15
18 Lu, Xiaosha Sarah CHN 2303
4.0 D73 W88 L5 W37 W70 D26
19 Chase, Christopher MA 2296
4.0 W42 L3 D55 D57 W78 W54
20 Yanayt, Eugene
MA 2268 4.0 W86 L26
D57 W67 D44 W45
21 Feinstein, Michael TX 2240
4.0 W99 L8 W100 D26 D16 W46
22 Small, Gregg H
CA 2235 4.0 W72 D27
L11 D42 W79 W49
U.S. Championship Qualification Race
# Player Name Qualification Method
1 GM Hikaru Nakamura Defending US Champion
2 WGM Rusa Goletiani Defending US Women's Champion
3 GM Aleks Wojkiewicz 2004 ChessCafe.com Grand Prix Winner
4 GM Alexander Ivanov Foxwoods 2005
5 GM Alexander Stripunsky Foxwoods 2005
6 GM Julio Becerra Foxwoods 2005
7 GM Yury Shulman Foxwoods 2005
8 Iryna Zenyuk * Foxwoods 2005
9 WM Esther Epstein * Foxwoods 2005
10 GM Igor Novikov Chicago Open 2005
11 GM Alexander Shabalov Chicago Open 2005
12 IM Benjamin Finegold Chicago Open 2005
13 GM Dmitry Gurevich Chicago Open 2005
14 Chouchanik Airapetian * Chicago Open 2005
GM deFirmian and IM Gonzalez, who had a fantastic result with
wins for Ehlvest and Ibragimov, qualified for San Diego. I am not sure
about the other spots.
3) Chess4Less Denker Memorial Invitational
Chess4Less Denker Memorial Invitational will be held at Florida
Atlantic University in Boca Raton right after the World Open. The IM norm
event, honoring the memory of the late Arnold Denker includes GM Michael
Rohde and IMs Renier Gonzalez and Emillo Pupo.
5) Koltanowski-Keres
The following game, in which San Francisco Chronicle readers were invited to suggest moves for White for the first 30 moves, pitted Chronicle columnist George Koltanowski against Paul Keres. It looks to have been played in 1964, the same year that Keres annotated his victory over Robert Byrne (Buenos Aires 1964) as a guest columnist for the Chronicle.
Koltanowski,G - Keres,P D71
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nb4 7.d5 c6 8.Ne2
cxd5 9.a3 Qa5 10.0-0 d4 11.Nxd4 N4c6 12.Nxc6 Nxc6 13.Bd2 Qd8 14.Nc3 0-0
15.Be3 Be6 16.f4 Bc4 17.Rf2 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Qa5 19.e5 Rfd8 20.Qe1 Bd5 21.Bf1
Qa4 22.Rb2 b6 23.Bf2 Bb3 24.Bg2 Rac8 25.Bxc6 Rxc6 26.Bd4 Bd5 27.Qd1 Qa6
28.Rd2 Qc8 29.Qf1 Rc4 30.h3 h5 31.f5 Qxf5 32.Qxf5 gxf5 33.Kf2 Bb7 34.Rb2
e6 35.Rb4 Rdxd4 36.cxd4 Rc2+ 37.Ke3 Rc3+ 38.Kf4 Kg7 39.Kg5 Rxg3+ 40.Kxh5
Rxh3+ 41.Kg5 Rg3+ 0-1
Newsletter #249, 06/22/2005
"It is astonishing how much hot water a master can wade into in the
first dozen moves, despite a century of opening study".
William Napier (who died in 1952)
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
IM John Grefe, FM Frank Thornally and NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs are the top seeds in the 75-player MI Summer Tuesday Night Marathon. It is still possible to enter the 8 round competition with half points byes for rounds one and two.
This Saturday the Mechanics' will hold its fourth annual William
Addison Open to honor International Master Addison. Born
in Louisiana, Addison came to San Francisco in the early 1950s while still
in his early 20s. He rapidly developed into one of the top players on the
West Coast and competed in several US Championships with distinction. He
represented the US in both Olympiad and Interzonal competitions before
retiring in the early 1970s. IM Addison is still remembered by MI veterans
for the excellent job he did while serving as Chess Room director in the
late 1960s.
2) GM Hikaru Nakamura Named 2005 Samford Chess Fellow
by Allen Kaufman
Hikaru Nakamura, a seventeen year old Grandmaster from White
Plains, New York, has been selected as the nineteenth FRANK P. SAMFORD,
JR. CHESS FELLOW. Already ranked among the world's elite players, Hikaru
is currently the highest rated player in the world at 17 years and under
with a FIDE (International Chess Federation) rating of 2613 on the January
2005 rating list.
The Samford Fellowship identifies and assists brilliant young American
chessmasters by providing the resources and funding needed to enhance their
skills and reach their full potential. The total value of the Fellowship
is approximately $32,000 per year. The prize is awarded for one year, renewable
for a second year.
The winner was chosen by the Samford Fellowship Committee,
consisting of Frank P. Samford III (son of Samford Fellowship founder Frank
P. Samford, Jr.), former U.S. Chess Champion Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier
and International Master John Donaldson. The winner's potential was determined
based on his chess talent, work ethic, dedication and accomplishments.
The young grandmaster was born in 1987, an American citizen in Japan,
son of a Japanese father and an American mother. He moved to the United
States at age two. His stepfather is the renowned chess teacher Sunil
Weeramantry who is a FIDE master and former New York State Chess Champion.
Learning chess at age seven and a half, Hikaru holds the record
for being the youngest American grandmaster ever. He earned his title in
February 2003 at the age of 15 years 2 months, eclipsing the earlier record
set in 1958 by former World Champion, GM Bobby Fischer. Previously,
Hikaru had set the mark for the youngest American master when he reached
that milestone at the age of 10 years 2 months.
Hikaru is the current U.S. Chess Champion, a laurel he attained
at the age of sixteen. He is the second youngest player ever to win the
title. Additionally, Hikaru scored several impressive victories in the
2004 FIDE World Championship held in Tripoli, Libya in June. In the 128
player knock-out format, he reached the final 16 before losing to GM
Michael Adams of England.
An active tournament player, Hikaru competes extensively both internationally
and around the United States. Among his recent successes are: 1st place,
Foxwoods Open, Ledyard, Connecticut (March 2005); 1st place, Western States
Open, Reno, Nevada (October 2004); 1st place, Decameron Open, Santo Domingo
(May 2004); 4th place, Corus Invitational Grandmaster B, Wijk aan Zee (January
2004); 3rd equal, Continental Championships for the Americas, Buenos Aires
(August 2003), and 1st equal, National Open, Las Vegas, Nevada (June 2003).
Hikaru earned the silver medal for the United States at the 2001
World Youth Championships in Oropesa, Spain. He was the 2001 U.S. Junior
Champion and has won several other national championships in various age
groups. The Samford Chess Fellowship was created by the late Frank P. Samford,
Jr. of Birmingham, Alabama. Mr. Samford was a distinguished attorney and
CEO of Liberty National Life Insurance Company (now Torchmark). Mr. Samford
was active in civic, business, political, educational and cultural affairs.
He was also an enthusiastic competitor in chess tournaments.
The purpose of the Samford Fellowship is to identify and assist
the best young American chessmasters by providing top level coaching, strong
competition and access to study materials. The Fellowship also provides
a monthly stipend for living expenses so that the winners may devote themselves
entirely to chess without having financial worries.
Over the last eighteen years the Samford Fellowship has proven very
successful. Several of the Fellows have become Grandmasters and a few have
won the U.S. Chess Championship. Hikaru's term as Samford Fellow will begin
on July 1, 2005. The Fellowship is administered by Barbara DeMaro of the
U.S. Chess Trust.
Generous contributions from Mrs. Virginia Samford and Torchmark
Corporation support the Fellowship. The dedication, creativity and achievement
that marked Mr. Frank P. Samford, Jr.'s life are examples for all chessplayers
to admire and emulate. The Samford Fellowship is a fitting memorial to
an extraordinary man.
Nakamura's style is distinguished by astonishing creativity and
relentless determination. His play is highly original and marked by unexpected
moves and a will to win. Here are two recent games.
The first game is from a match in Cuernavaca, Mexico, 2004 against
another young chess genius, Sergey Karjakin of the Ukraine.
White: Hikaru Nakamura, Black: Sergey Karjakin
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Nxc6
bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8. exd5 O-O
9. O-O cxd5 10. Bg5 c6 11. Na4 h6 12. Bh4 Re8 13. c4 Bd6 14.
Rc1 Rb8 15. b3 Be6 16. cxd5 Bxd5
17. Bc4 Bf4 18. Rc3 Be5 19. Rc2 Qd6 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 21. Bxd5 cxd5
22. Nc5 Be5 23. g3 Rbc8
24. Nd3 Bc3 25. Nf4 d4 26.Qd3 Ba5 27. Rc4 Rxc4 28. bxc4 Qe5 29.
Rb1 Bc3 30. Rb7 Re7
31. Rb5 Qd6 32. Nd5 Re6 33. Rb7 Re8 34. Qf3 Rf8 35. Rxa7 Bb4
36. Qf5 Bc5 37. Rc7 Ba3
38. c5 Bxc5 39. Rxc5 g6 40. Nf6+ Kg7 41. Ne4 1-0
Here is a win at the 13th Sigeman & Co. tournament in Copenhagen, Denmark in April of 2005.
White: S.B. Hansen, Black: Hikaru Nakamura
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. a4 e5
7. Nf3 Qc7 8.Bg5 Nbd7
9. Nd2 h6 10. Bh4 g5 11. Bg3 Nc5 12. a5 Be6 13. h4 Bg7 14. Ra3
Rd8 15. Qe2 d5
16. f3 d4 17. Nd1 Nh5 18. Qf2 Bf6 19. hxg5 Nxg3 20. Qxg3 Bxg5
21. Qh2 Ke7 22. Nc4 d3
23. cxd3 Bxc4 24. dxc4 Bd2+ 25. Ke2 Ne6 26. g3 Qxc4+ 27. Kf2
Qc5+ 28. Ne3 Bxe3+
29. Rxe3 Rd2+ 30. Be2 Rxb2 31. Rd1 Rb3 32. Qh4+ f6 33. Rdd3 Rxd3
34. Bxd3 Qxa5 0-1
3) Walter Browne wins US Senior Open in Las Vegas
IM Tony Saidy writes:
In the Senior Open, all hinged on my last-round game with my nemesis Walter Browne, who habitually gets White vs. me. He followed his game versus. Karpov in Queen's Indian; I found the wrong way. Browne is the new US Senior. Champ, qualifying for the US Championship. GM Anatoly Lein was second, GM Arthur Bisguier, FM Joe Bradford, IM Roman Pelts, and defending champ Fabio La Rota(who escaped my attack) played too in the strongest Senior Open ever.
More News from the National Open from Michael Aigner:
Two South Bay juniors managed to achieve great success. Rohan Agarwal scored 5.5 out of 6 in the under 1600 section, merely giving up a draw in the fifth round to another local player. Charles Sun also scored 5.5 out of 6, but that was sufficient only for a share of first place in the under 1400 section. Congratulations to both Rohan and Charles!
Local players were also successful in the side events. NM Albert Rich defeated the three Polgar sisters (Susan, Sofia and Judit) in a simultaneous exhibition. The sisters alternated moves and faced 81 opponents. This author scored well against titled players in the blitz and G/10 championships, picking up a win against the young southern Californian GM Varuzhan Akobian.
Polgar sisters -- Rich,Albert (2207)
Simultaneous exhibition
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. Nbd2 Nbd7 6. Bd3 e5 7.
cxd5 Nxd5 8. O-O exd4 9. exd4 Be7 10. a3 Bh5 11. Qc2 Nf4 12. Bc4 Nb6 13.
Bb3 Ne2+ 14. Kh1 Bg6 15. Qd1 Nxd4 16. Nxd4 Qxd4 17. f4 Nd5 18. Qf3 Bd3
19. Re1 f5 20. Bxd5 Qxd5 21. Qe3 Qd6 22. b4 Kf7 23. Nf3 Be4 24. Ne5+ Kg8
25. Bb2 Bf6 26. Rad1 Qe6 27. Rd2 h6 28. Qg3 g5 29. Red1 Bd5 30. Re2 Rh7
31. Qf2 Be4 32. Red2 gxf4 33. Rd6 Qb3 34. Rxf6 Qxd1+ 35. Qg1 Qe2 36. Rg6+
Rg7 37. Rxg7+ Kxg7 38. Bd4 Rg8 39. Nd3+ Kf7 40. Nxf4 Qd2 41. Be3 Rxg2 42.
Bxd2 Rxd2+ 43. Ng2 Rxg2 44. Qxg2 Ke6 0-1
Akobian,Varuzhan (2646) -- Aigner,Michael (2298)
US G/10 Championship (5)
1. d4 f5 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 Nf6 4. e3 g6 5. Bd3 Bg7 6. Nf3 c6 7. O-O
O-O 8. h3 Ne4 9. Ne2 Nd7 10. c4 e6 11. Qc2 h6 12. Ne5 Bxe5 13. Bxe5 Nxe5
14. dxe5 Nc5 15. Nd4 Nxd3 16. Qxd3 g5 17. c5 Qe7 18. Qc2 f4 19. Rfe1 Bd7
20. Rad1 Qh7 21. Rd3 Qg7 22. Rb3 Rab8 23. Ra3 Qxe5 24. Rxa7 Qg7 25. Nf3
e5 26. exf4 e4 27. Ne5 gxf4 28. Nxd7 f3 29. g4 Qxd7 30. Qc3 Qc7 31. Qb3
Rf7 32. Re3 h5 33. a4 hxg4 34. a5 gxh3 35. a6 Rg7+ 36. Kh1 Rg2 0-1
There were also four US Championship qualification spots available and they went to GM Nick De Firmian, IM Eugene Perelshteyn, IM Renier Gonzalez and IM Dmitry Scheider.
A big highlight of this year's event was the Polgar Sisters Triplex simul that took place on the Thursday before the National Open. The Polgar Sisters collectively took on 81 players and finished with a final score of 64 wins, 11 draws and 6 losses. Susan informed me that this was the first time they had performed such an event, and despite the fact they were exhausted after the grueling 4 hours of play, they all thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
In other events that compiled the entire Las Vegas International Chess
Festival, GMs Dmitry Gurevich and Varuzhan Akobian shared
the National Open Blitz Championship and GM Alex Wojtkiewicz won
the US G/10 Championship that was held on the following Monday.
Official site: <http://www.64.com
4) Daniel Fernandez wins US Junior Invitational
(CROSSVILLE, TN) What happens when the top juniors get together? They got together in Kings Island, Ohio to participate in the 2005 Junior Invitational Championship. It was like a bulldozer ran through the competition as Daniel Fernandez (2399), from Florida, emerged victorious as he went undefeated scoring eight points in this 10 round event. Finishing tied for a distant second through fourth with six points were John Bartholomew (2444), from Minnesota, Robert Hess (2336), from New York, and Mackenzie Molner (2318), from New Jersey. By coming in first, Fernandez earned the right to play in the 2005 U.S. Championship and face off against some of the country’s best.
This event was organized by the Warren County Convention and Visitors Bureau and directed by Mike Anders. The event is open to the top juniors under 21 years old. Next year the event will be held in Dallas, Texas in July.
USCF Press Release
5) US Players at the Pan American Junior
Four U.S. players claimed medals at the 2005 Pan-American Youth Chess Festival in Balneario Camboriu, Brazil. Robert Hungaski achieved the Silver in the Boys Under-18. Julia Kerr brought home the Silver in the Girls Under-16. Ray Robson won the Silver in the Boys Under-12. And Christopher Heung took the Bronze in the Boys Under-10.
U.S. Team results:
Stephanie Heung- U12-Girls- 11th Place
Julia Kerr- U16-Girls- Tied for 2nd - Silver Medal
Anjanie Sriram - U16-Girls- 35th Place
Alanna Katz- U18-Girls- 9th Place
Christopher Heung- U10-Boys- 3rd Place - Bronze Medal
Ray Robson- U12-Boys- Tied for 1st-2nd - Silver Medal
Christian Tanaka- U12-Boys- 5th Place
Michael Yee- U12-Boys- 4th Place
Marc Arnold- U14-Boys- Tied for 4th (9th on tiebreaks)
Peter Yeh- U16-Boys- Tied for 18th (26th on tiebreaks)
Robert Hungaski- U18-Boys- 2nd Place - Silver medal
Igor Schneider - U18-Boys- 7th Place
Congratulations are due the U.S. team, coached by Aviv Friedman (Head
of Delegation) and Armen Ambartsoumian, which took 5th place overall. This
is an excellent showing considering the relatively small size of the U.S.
delegation -12 players- compared to delegations such as Argentina and Ecuador
with 41 and Brazil with 119. 380 players from 14 countries gathered for
this annual FIDE (World Chess Federation) event. The U.S. Chess Trust helps
to sponsor the American representatives.
The official website for the tournament is <http://www.interspace.com.br/jardel/14A.php
USCF Press Release
6) Here and There
IM Andranik Matikozian won the 2005 Lina Grumette Memorial Day Classic held May 27-30 at the Hilton at LAX with a score of 5.5 from 6. Tying for second were IMs Enrico Sevillano and Vladimir Mezentsev at 5. Sharing fourth at 4.5 were GM-elect Melik Khachiyan, IM Jack Peters and Carlos Garcia.
Sevillano,E (2450) - Matikozyan,A (2515) [B22]
Memorial Day Classic (4), 29.05.2005
1.e4 c5 2.c3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.dxc5 Nc6 5.Qc2 dxc5 6.Be3 e5 7.Na3 h6
8.Bb5Qc7 9.Nf3Bd7 10.Nc4 a6 11.Bxc 6Bxc6 12.Nfxe5Bxe4 13.Qe2 b5 14.Bf4
bxc4 15.Ng6Bd6 16.Bxd6Qxd6 17.Nxh8Qd3 18.Qxd3 cxd3 19.f3Bd5 20.b3 c4 21.Kd2
Kf8 22.Rab1 Kg8 23.bxc4Bxc4 24.Rb4Bxa2 25.Ra1Be6 26.Rab1Nd7 27.Nxf7 Kxf7
28.Rf4+ Ke7 29.Re4Nc5 30.Re5 Kd6 31.f4Bd5 32.Ke3 a5 33.Rb5Rc8 34.Rxa5 d2
35.Ra1Nb3 36.Ra6+Rc6 37.Rxc6+ Kxc6 38.Ke2Bxg2 39.Re3 Kc5 40.Kd1 Kd5 41.f5
h5 42.h4Bh1 43.Ke2Be4 44.c4+ Kd4 0–1
Khachiyan,M (2473) - Mezentsev,V (2397) [B31]
Memorial Day Classic (4), 29.05.2005
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3Bg7 6.Nc3 c4 7.d4Bg4 8.Be3Bxf3
9.Qxf3Bxd4 10.0–0–0Bxe3+ 11.Qxe3Qb6 12.Qh3 Kf8 13.f4 Kg7 14.e5Nh6 15.g4Qc7
16.Rde1Rhe8 17.f5 f6 18.Rhf1Nf7 19.e6Nd6 20.g5 fxg5 21.fxg6 hxg6 22.Qg3Rf8
23.Qe5+Rf6 24.Ne4Nb5 25.Nxf6Qxe5 26.Nh5+ gxh5 27.Rxe5 Kh6 28.Rff5Nd4 29.Rxg5Nf3
30.Rxh5+ Kg6 31.Rc5 b6 32.Rhf5 bxc5 33.Rxf3Rh8 34.h3Rh4 35.Kd2Re4 36.Ra3Rxe6
37.Rxa7 c3+ 38.Kxc3 Kf7 39.a4Rh6 40.Kc4Rxh3 41.c3Rh5 42.a5 Ke6 43.a6 Kd6
44.Rb7Rh1 45.a7Ra1 46.b3Ra2 47.Kd3Ra1 48.Ke4Ra5 49.c4Ra1 50.Kf5 e5 51.Rh7Rf1+
52.Ke4Re1+ 53.Kd3Rd1+ 54.Kc2Ra1 55.Kb2Ra5 56.Kc3Ra1 57.Kd2Ra3 58.Rg7Ra1
59.Rb7Ra2+ 60.Ke3Ra1 61.Ke4Re1+ 62.Kf5Rf1+ 63.Kg6Ra1 64.Kf7 e4 65.Re7Ra3
66.Kf6Ra1 67.Re6+ Kc7 68.Rxe4 Kb7 69.Re7+ Ka8 70.Kf7Rb1 71.Ke6Re1+ 72.Kd6Rxe7
73.Kxe7 Kxa7 74.Kf7 Kb7 75.Ke8 Ka8 76.Kf8 Kb8 77.Kg7 Kc7 78.Kf6 Kb6 ½–½
The First Saturday June tournaments took place 4th-16th June 2005. Attila Czebe won the GM event with 6.5/10. American IM William Paschall tied for 4th in the Category 7 (2406) event with an undefeated 5.5 points. Fabiano Caruano scored 6.5 from 12 in the IM norm event.
The 5th Annual Emory Castle Grand Prix took place June 10th-12th,
2005. GM Julio Becerra Rivero and WGM Anna Zatonskih finished
on 4/5 with GMs Yury Shulman and Gregory Serper among those
tied for third with 3.5.
Newsletter #250, 06/29/2005
"Chessplayers want to live like bohemians, earn like sporstmen and
have the reputation of scientists."
IM Ilya Odessky
Players in Northern California should be receiving their replacement ballots for the USCF Executive Board elections this week. Please don't forget to vote! Past Newsletters provided websites for the Candidates where you can find information on their positions on many issues.
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
Former US Champion IM John Grefe is among those tied for first in the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon with a score of 3-0. This event has tied the all-time TNM attendance record, set last summer, with 85 entries, in the series going back to the early 1970s.
Last weekend NM Nicolas Yap won the 5th Annual William Addison
Open with a perfect score, defeating NMs Michael Pearson and
Batchimeg
Tuvshintugs in the final two rounds. Tuvshintugs (who beat IM Ricardo
DeGuzman), Pearson, DeGuzman, Batsaikhan Tserndorj and IM
Ganbold Odondoo shared second at 4-1 in the 38-player event directed
by Anthony Corrales.
2) GM Igor Ivanov - Part One: Battle versus three connected passed pawns
I. Ivanov- K. Lerner D25
USSR Beltsy 1979
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 dxc4 4.e3 Bg4 5.Bxc4 e6 6.Nbd2 Nbd7 7.Qb3
Nb6 8.Ne5 Bh5 9.0–0 Bd6 10.a4 0–0 11.a5 Nxc4 12.Ndxc4 Be2 13.Re1 Bxc4 14.Nxc4
Rb8 15.h3 Ne4 16.Qc2 Qh4 17.Nxd6 cxd6 18.g3 Nxg3 19.fxg3 Qxg3+ 20.Kf1 Qxh3+
21.Qg2 Qh5 22.Re2 Rbc8 23.Ke1 e5 24.Qh2 Qg6 25.Rg2 Qe4 26.Qg3 g6 27.Rh2
f5 28.Qh4 Qxh4+ 29.Rxh4 e4 30.Bd2 Rc2 31.Bc3 d5 32.Ra3 Kg7 33.Rb3 Rf7 34.Rb5
g5 35.Rh3 Rd7 36.Rc5 g4 37.Rh4 Kf6 38.Kf1 Kg5 39.Be1 Rxc5 40.dxc5 d4 41.exd4
f4 42.a6 bxa6 43.Rh2 g3 44.Rd2 e3 45.Rd3 Kg4 46.c6 Re7 47.Rc3
This position is number 127 in John Nunn's excellent Chess Puzzle Book.
47...f3!
47...Re8 48.c7 Rc8 49.d5 Kf5 50.d6 Ke6 51.Rc4 Kxd6 52.Rxf4 Rxc7 53.Bxg3
Rc1+ 54.Ke2 Kc5 55.Kxe3 with winning chances for White.
48.Bxg3!
48.c7? e2+ 49.Kg1 f2+
48...Kxg3 49.c7 Kf4
If 49...e2+ then 50.Ke1 Kg2 51.Rxf3 Rxc7 52.Rf2+ Kg3 53.Rxe2 saves
the day.
50.Rc1!
After 50.c8Q e2+ 51.Ke1 f2+ 52.Kd2 e1Q+ 53.Kc2 f1Q 54.Qf8+ Kg4 55.Qg8+
Kh4 Black wins material.
50...e2+
50...Kg3 51.Rc3 repeating.
51.Ke1 Ke3
51...f2+ 52.Kxf2 e1Q+ 53.Rxe1 Rxc7 54.Re6 is also a draw.
52.Rc3+ Kxd4
52...Kf4? 53.Rxf3+ Kxf3 54.c8Q and White wins.
53.Rc4+!
To the point as 53..Rc1 f2+ 54.Kcf2 e1(Q)+ 55.Rxe1 Rxc7 would offer
Black fair winning chances.
½–½
3) Chess Drug
During the National Open there was a booth set up for a company extolling
a pill that was alleged to make chess players play better. Returning home
I was surprised to discover that the USCF and President Beatriz Marinello
were supporting it.
''Can a Brain Pill Make You a Better Chess Player?''; 2005 US
Open Chess Masters Get a Sin City View of the New Cognitive Supplement
That
Helps Them Think Faster!
Chess masters and fans at the 2005 US Open Chess Championship will
get a sneak preview of Natrol(R) brainSpeed(TM), the new cognitive health
supplement designed to help improve mental agility, promote attention and
maintain memory.(a) This innovative nutritional product hits the
chess world June 11, 2005 at the famed Riviera Hotel grand ballroom.
In a twist on chess tradition, Natrol and the US Chess Federation will
present the brainSpeed Human Chess Challenge, a regulation match
where two world-famous Grandmasters control a gigantic chessboard featuring
human beings as the chess pieces.
Natrol brainSpeed has been developed to take chess players to the
next level by targeting the cholinergic system - the key to mental processing
speed - by helping to accelerate reaction time, improve decision making
velocity and promote mental acuity. US Chess Open attendees are invited
to find out for themselves by attending the match and visiting the Natrol
table onsite at the Riviera.
According to Beatriz Marinello, President of the US Chess Federation,
"Clearly chess is a game of the mind and working at the top of your mental
processing powers is critical to tournament play. We are delighted to be
embarking on this alliance with Natrol and we see a direct connection between
brainSpeed and our membership. We look forward to many unique events together
in the future."
The human chess pieces will also issue brainspeeding tickets to attendees,
inviting them to take the brainSpeedOmeter(TM) online test to measure their
current mental agility. This test establishes a brainSpeed benchmark for
attention, memory and mental performance and then allows people to track
their progress as they use the product. The product will also be made available
for sales during the Open before its official retail launch in August.
4) National Open revisted
AF4C's John Henderson wrote the following about one of the latest qualifiers.
June 20, 2005 – It was Viva Las Vegas! for the third leg of the U.S. Championship qualifying cycle, as the 2005 National Open took place at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Sin City.
The five-day chess festival ended in a four-way tie at the top, as GM
Nick De Firmian of Denmark, IM Benjamin Finegold of Michigan,
GM
Dmitry Gurevich of Illinois and GM Dashzeveg Sharavdorj of Texas
all tied for first place with 5/6.
Although Gurevich won the Edmondson Cup in a blitz playoff against
former three-time U.S. champion De Firmian, the latter had the consolation
prize of being the top qualifier for San Diego!
Also joining De Firmian by booking their passage to San Diego were:
IM
Renier Gonzalez of Florida, IM Stanislav Kriventsov of Los Angeles
and IM Dmitry Schneider of New York, who all scored 4.5/6.
While the competition for the overall spots was as fierce as ever,
sadly this wasn't the case with the two women's spots on offer. Only one
player registered to have the National Open act as a qualifier. So Kelly
Cottrell of Michigan goes forward to play in her first U.S. Championship.
With no player taking the second spot on offer, this will now be filled
by a a player from the October 2005 USCF Rating List.
The AF4C are concerned about this recent lack of interest shown by
women players for qualifying spots in the last two tournaments. Presently
we are in discussion with the USCF and other parties to find a solution
to this problem.
Chris Bird, who produced an excellent bulletin of the National Open,
has circulated the following correction to information that appeared in
a recent Newsletter.
"The list of US Championshipn qualifiers from the 2005 National Open
should have included IM Stanislav Kriventsov and not IM Eugene Perelshteyn
as originally
reported. Also, Kelly Cottrell-Finegold qualified as the top
female. Apologies for any confusion this may have caused.
Immediately after the National Open the US Senior Open ( age 50 and
over) and US Under 50 Championships wrere held in downtown Las Vegas. The
former was won by 6-time US Championship Walter Browne with a score
of 5.5 from 6, nicked only by FM Joe Bradford who was coming back
from a layoff of over 10 years from competitive chess. GM Anatoly Lein
was second with an undefeated 5 from 6. The US Under 50 was dominated by
Las Vegas number one IM David Vigorito who scored 5.5 from 6, well
ahead of second place finisher FM Emory Tate who finished with four
points. IM Stan Kriventsov and Expert Albert Rich of San Jose were
among those tied for third with 3.5.
5) Memories of Kolty
Casey Bush, author of the biography of Arthur Dake - Grandmaster from Oregon passes on the following recollections.
by George Swift
In the case of George Koltanowski, yes, he was a friend of my father's,
and Kolty told me so. No, they were not what you would call "bosom
buddies", but, yes, they were certainly more than chess acquaintances.
Maybe they could be called "business" friends. They corresponded
for a number of years, which began to dwindle when Kolty started to become
famous and had little idle time. It seems that Kolty came to the United
States about the time of the Great Depression. Trying to make a living
at chess was not easy. Dad negotiated chess engagements for him in
Salem. The chess club members did not have the money to pay Kolty's
normal fee, so compromises were reached. Each time Kolty came, he
played about a thirty game simul, an eight game blindfold simul, a blindfold
knight's tour exhibition, gave a lecture on chess, and told jokes.
He could correctly repeat the scores of all the games from memory.
It was wonderful for a young lad like me to witness. And, it was
obvious that Kolty appreciated the "business" a lot, especially when money
was hard to come by. One time, because Dad was busy, he asked me to meet
Kolty at the Greyhound bus depot, which was only a few blocks away.
I walked with him as he told me that he had the flu. "Oh, I am so
sorry that you cannot play; will your schedule permit you to stay over
a day or two?" I asked. He answered "No, no matter how sick
I feel, my schedule must be kept, so I shall perform, anyway". And,
he did. After one of his exhibitions, one of my cousin's invited him to
stay a few days at his family's ranch near Sutherlin, Oregon. He
accepted the invitation, and had a good time. They did not play chess.
George Koltanowski wrote a little book on chess, which I think I still
have, in which he recommended the Colle opening for white. I looked
at the Colle carefully, when I was in high school, and decided that I could
defend against it, adequately. So, after WWII when I was a student
at the University of Oregon, I played into the Colle confidently in one
of Kolty's simuls. It was the last game still being played, so Kolty
sat down and the game became "over the board". A position occurred
where it appeared to me that I could draw with the famous chess master
by trading off both rooks, and I quickly went for it. Disaster!!
After the game, Koltanowski gave me two pieces of advice: first, trading
just one rook (not both) would have resulted in a draw; and, second, playing
against a master by using the very opening recommended by that master is
not a smart thing to do.
6) Here and There
JEFF SIEBRANDT CLAIMED THE 2005 USCF BLIND CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP ON TIEBREAKS
(CROSSVILLE, TN)The U. S. Blind Chess Championship held June 24-25,
2005 in Elkins, West Virginia was organized by Rich Varchetto at the Hampton
Inn. Jeff Siebrandt and Alex Barrasso with 3.5 points each split the first
and second place prize money to collect $300 each. Agan Hajric took third
place honors and $175 with 3 points.
With 2 points out of 4 each and tied for the U1800, U1600, and U1400
prize Michael Davis, Albert Pietrolungo, Henry Olynik, Richard Mc Straw,
James Hart, and Virginia Alverson all took home $62.50 each. Joseph Wassermann
and Allen Betts rounded out the field of 11 players with each scoring 1.0.
Three different scholastic programs supplied the game scorers each
round while Rich Varchetto and the Elkins Lions Club (PO Box 1002, Elkins,
WV 26241 for donations--Please make a note that the donation is for the
2005 US Blind Championship) supplied the financial support to present this
event. Tim Just and Ira Lee Riddle were the Tournament Directors. The Hampton
Inn supplied the playing site, sleeping rooms and food.
Additional details, the wallchart and the games in PGN can be found
at: http://www.chessforlife.com/chess/blind05.html, provided by Chess For
Life, LLC.
Big time chess arrives in USA then goes around the world with American
savvy: Nashville International Studios announces production
of a 2-hour television program on chess. Spokesperson Rob Mitchell
said that the match, New York City, USA, versus St Petersburg, Russia,
is a 2-round match over four boards played at distance chess, and will
be the biggest televised broadcast of a chess event of all time.
Board One feature a clash of two former World Champions:Board One:
Khalifman vs Polgar
Board Two: Sakaev vs Onishuck
Board Three: Alekseev vs Gulko
Board Four: Vitiugov vs Stripunsky
Alternates: Ivanov; Alburt or Polatnik Historically, said Mitchell,
it reconnects the two countries since the last distance play event over
60 years ago. It is being broadcast in 30 major US markets on broadcast
Television. It is being sent via satellite to 40 countries world
wide. Chess clubs, tell your members. Tune in your dials.
Check the internet. For more information, write to mailto:[email protected]
IM Tony Saidy writes that the August issue of Psychology Today has an eleven-page article on the Polgars entitled "The Grandmaster Experiment".
U.S. CHESS FEDERATION ANNOUNCES TWO MORE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS CROWNED
2005 U.S. Cadet Championship
(CROSSVILLE, TN) Kings Island, Ohio was the site of the 2005 U.S. Cadet
on June 12-16, 2005 where a close battle was waged between Elliott Liu
(2230), from California, and Sarkis Agaian (2123), from New York. A double
round robin was played to determine the title of U.S. Cadet Champion and
it was so close that a playoff was used to determine first place and the
scholarship. Although both Liu and Agaian are considered co-champions,
Liu earned the four-year scholarship which was offered by University of
Maryland at Baltimore County (UMBC).
The tournament was organized by the United States Chess Federation
and the Warren County Convention and Visitors Bureau and directed by Mike
Anders.
The U.S. Cadet Championship is an invitational tournament held every
year for the top players under 16 years old.
The Jerry Spann Memorial and 60th Oklahoma State Championship took place in Norman, Oklahoma 18th-19th June 2005.
Movses Movsisyan won the Oklahoma State Championship title with a score of 4.5 from 5 games at the Oklahoma University Student Union in Norman, Oklahoma held June 18-19, 2005. Sergey Galant came in 2nd with 4 pts followed by Jake Ferguson with 3.5. The Reserve section was won by Marvin Lee with 4.5 pts from 5. Alex Relyea directed. Time rate: G-120 + 10 sec. Event sponsored by Oklahoma Chess Foundation. News: Frank K. Berry
Canadian Open
The Canadian Open takes place July 9th-17th 2005.
Players include: GM Vassily Ivanchuk 2739 GM Alexei Shirov 2737
GM Viktor Bologan 2700 GM Alexander Moiseenko 2665 GM Alexander Shabalov
2631 GM Igor-Alexandre Nataf 2603 GM Dmitri Tyomkin 2549 GM Mark Bluvshtein
2529 IM Pascal Charbonneau 2527 IM Irina Krush 2466 IM Thomas Roussel-Roozmon
2425 IM Eric Lawson 2373 IM Martha Fierro 2330. Shirov will give a
lecture during the event.
The official website is: <http://www.edmontonchess.org/CdnOpen2005/>
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