Gens Una Sumus!
~ Willy de Winter
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) World Youth in Vietnam
3) Here and There
The Mechanics' Institute Chess Club website (chessclub.org) has been down since Sunday but Verio promises they will have the problem fixed soon.
Last night the Mechanics' suffered a tough loss to the defending champs, the Dallas Destiny. 10-year-old NM Nicholas Nip made a promising debut and had his opponent under pressure for much of the game. Next week's match with Miami will determine the top seed for the Western Conference.
![]() | Dallas Destiny (4.5-3.5) vs San Francisco Mechanics (6.5-1.5) | ![]() |
All Time Series Record (San Francisco leads 5-2)
Starts at 8:30 PM ET Time Control - Game 75 with 30 second increment
Dallas Destiny | San Francisco Mechanics | ||
IM Marko Zivanic: 2552 | 0.5 | 0.5 | IM Josh Friedel: 2595 |
IM Davorin Kuljasevic: 2528 | 0.5 | 0.5 | GM Vinay Bhat: 2481 |
FM Igor Shneider: 2396 | 1.0 | 0.0 | IM David Pruess: 2479 |
WFM Bayaraa Zorigt: 2217 | 0.5 | 0.5 | NM Nicholas Nip: 2207 |
Avg Rating: 2423 | Avg Rating: 2441 | ||
Dallas Total ------- | 2.5 | 1.5 | ------- San Francisco Total |
EASTERN DIVISION | W | L | GamePoints | Opp Avg Rating | Opps Record | |
@ - Queens | 7.0 | 2.0 | 23.0/36 (64%) | 2398 | 32.0-36.0 (47%) | |
@ - Carolina | 6.0 | 3.0 | 21.5/36 (60%) | 2388 | 32.5-35.5 (41%) | |
@ - Boston | 5.0 | 4.0 | 19.5/36 (54%) | 2405 | 30.0-38.0 (44%) | |
New Jersey | 4.5 | 4.5 | 18.5/36 (51%) | 2416 | 34.0-34.0 (47%) | |
New York | 4.0 | 5.0 | 15.5/36 (43%) | 2414 | 33.0-35.0 (49%) | |
X - Philadelphia | 2.0 | 7.0 | 13.5/36 (38%) | 2433 | 33.0-35.0 (49%) | |
X - Baltimore | 1.5 | 7.5 | 12.5/36 (35%) | 2403 | 33.0-35.0 (49%) |
WESTERN DIVISION | W | L | GamePoints | Opp Avg Rating | Opps Record | |
@ - San Francisco | 6.5 | 2.5 | 22.0/36 (61%) | 2402 | 35.5-34.5 (51%) | |
@ - Miami | 6.0 | 3.0 | 24.0/36 (67%) | 2407 | 37.0-33.0 (53%) | |
@ - Dallas | 5.5 | 3.5 | 18.5/36 (51%) | 2420 | 37.5-30.5 (55%) | |
Seattle | 4.5 | 4.5 | 16.5/36 (46%) | 2398 | 34.0-36.0 (49%) | |
Chicago | 4.0 | 5.0 | 18.0/36 (50%) | 2391 | 31.5-36.5 (46%) | |
Arizona | 3.5 | 5.5 | 15.0/36 (42%) | 2396 | 41.0-29.0 (59%) | |
X - Tennessee | 3.0 | 6.0 | 14.0/36 (39%) | 2397 | 36.0-32.0 (53%) |
# = clinched Division Title
X = Eliminated from the Playoff Race
Whoever has the most points in the "W" (win) column, is in the lead in the standings.
Total game points are used as a tiebreaker. To see the rest of the tiebreak procedures click here.
Playoff Procedures:
The top four teams in each division qualify for the postseason.
-1st place in each division players 4th place. 1st place gets draw odds and chooses colors.
-2nd place in each division plays 3rd place. 2nd place gets draw odds and 3rd place chooses colors (if the very rare case occurs that the higher seed feels colors are more valuable to choose, they can do this instead)
-In semifinals, the higher seeded team gets draw odds, and the lower seeded team chooses colors ONLY if they are just one seed lower than the higher seed. Otherwise the higher seed gets draw odds and chooses colors. So 1 vs 2 = 1 gets draw odds, 2 chooses colors, but 1 vs 3 = 1 gets draw odds AND chooses colors
-In the final match the team with the better regular season record chooses colors but neither team gets draw odds, and if the match is tied 2-2, it goes to a blitz tiebreaker.
Leaders After Week 9, 2008 | Pts. |
1. IM Alex Lenderman: QNS | 21.5 |
2. GM Julio Becerra: MIA | 20 |
3. SM Marc Esserman: BOS | 15.5 |
4. GM Sergey Erenburg: BAL | 15 |
5. GM Jaan Ehlvest: TEN | 15 |
6. FM Sam Shankland: SF | 14.5 |
7. GM Alex Stripunsky: QNS | 13 |
8. GM Hikaru Nakamura: SEA | 13 |
9. NM Eric Rodriguez: MIA | 11 |
10. IM Josh Friedel: SF | 11 |
a win on board 1 is worth 4 points, a loss on board 1 is worth -4 points
a win on board 2 is worth 3 points, a loss on board 2 is worth -3 points
a win on board 3 is worth 2.5 points, a loss on board 3 is worth -2.5 points
a win on board 4 is worth 2 points, a loss on board 4 is worth -2 points
if you draw or win with the black pieces you receive 1 bonus point.
Ties are broken by
1. Total games played
2. Overall Team Record
3. Avg Board Number. 1st beats 2nd and so on.
4. Avg Opponent's Rating* - Only regular season matches count towards the MVP Award
** - A player cannot win the MVP award without playing 6 matches for their team, however they will be listed above anyway.
In future seasons there will be no minimum game requirement.
Readers of my blog may already be aware that the World Youth Chess Festival began last weekend in Vung Tau, Vietnam. The American delegation flew between 20 and 30 hours and then endured a bumpy 2-3 hour bus trip. On one hand, the venue is a beach resort on the southern tip of the country, about 100km outside of Ho Chi Minh City. On the other hand, the weather reports give temperatures in the 90s with extreme humidity, worse than Florida in the summer!
A total of 885 participants from 73 countries arrived in Vietnam for this annual tournament. Among this crowd are 28 American youths plus parents and coaches. The players compete in 12 sections: U18, U16, U14, U12, U10 and U8 for both boys (open) and girls, with age determined as of January 1, 2008. The competition is brutal and even the strongest often finish far away from the podium. The top three in each section earn medals and other prizes, including IM norms or automatic FM titles (depending on which age).
Three Northern California residents have made the trip to Vung Tau. FM Danya Naroditsky is a true veteran of these tournaments, winning the World Under 12 last year. He moved up to U14 in 2008. FM Sam Shankland also participated last year and now competes in the strong U18 section with 3 GMs and 9 IMs. Alisha Chawla is the newcomer, playing in the Girls U8 division at her first international event. I plan to follow all three players on this blog.
Here are the results from the early rounds. All ratings are FIDE. Sam is rated 2436, Danya is 2382 while Alisha is unrated.
Round 1:
- Sam beat 2142 from Vietnam
- Danya drew 2017 from Vietnam
- Alisha lost to UNR from Bulgaria
- Sam beat 2255 from Austria
- Danya drew 2046 from China
- Alisha lost to UNR from Mongolia
- Sam beat 2263 from Iran
- Danya beat 2044 from Canada
- Alisha lost to UNR from Vietnam
- Sam drew GM Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen (2567) of Vietnam
- Danya lost to 2093 from Switzerland :-(
- Alisha beat UNR from Sri Lanka
- Sam lost to IM Ivan Saric (2516) of Croatia
- Danya beat UNR from Finland
- Alisha lost to UNR from Vietnam
- FM Sam Shankland has 3.5/5, 7th place, 2498 performance
- FM Danya Naroditsky has 3.0
- Alisha Chawla has 1.0
Black: Bao Khoa
White: Poetz, Florian
Black: Shankland, Sam
Sevan Muradian writes that the 16th North American FIDE Invitational is about to begin!
The event will be held October 18 - 24, 2008
For events specifics including round times visit - http://www.nachess.org/fide
All games will be held at the Holiday Inn Northshore Hotel in Skokie, IL
Round times are 1pm and 6:30pm Chicago time on Sat & Sun; 6:30pm Chicago time Mon - Fri.
Participants include:
IM Ben Finegold (USA)
IM Valay Parikh (IND)
IM Angelo Young (PHI)
IM Emorty Tate (USA)
IM-elect (FM) Mehmed Pasalic (GER)
FM Florin Felecan (USA) - holds 1 IM norm
FM Peter Bereolos (USA)
FM Aleksander Stamnov (MKD)
FM Dale Haessel (CAN)
WIM-elect (WFM) Alisa Melekina (USA) - holds 1 WGM norm and 1 IM norm both earned at the 10th NA FIDE Invitational
IM Norm - 6/9; WGM norm 5.5/9
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