Chess Room Newsletter #433

Isaac Lipnitsky, Questions of Modern Chess Theory (page 90)

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1) Mechanics Institute Chess Club News
2) Topalov-Kamsky
3) Aeroflot Open
4) Cozianu wins Washington State Championship
5) Haessler wins Oregon State Championship

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Larry Snyder, Igor Margulis, Oleg Shaknazarov and Evan Sandberg tied for first at 6-2 in the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon which concluded yesterday evening. The Spring TNM, an 8-round USCF and FIDE rated Swiss, starts March 17.

John Blackstone points out that the Brooklyn Chess Chronicle for 1884 has more information on Zuckertort's visit to San Francisco. On August 15, 1884, on page 161 it reports:

On the 3rd of July , Zuckertort contested 7 blindfold games at the Mechanics' Library, winning 6 and losing 1. On the 8th he gave another blindfold exhibition, meeting 12 opponents simultaneously. The Doctor won 9 games, drew 1 with Mr. Walstein, and lost 2 to Messrs. Welsh and Redding.

Dr. Zuckertort left San Francisco for China on the 26th of July. During the last week of his stay he played 11 blindfold simultaneous games against Messrs. Krouse, Levy, Jacobi, SCammel, Gates, Reis, Halweigen, McCrea, Wilhern, Richard and J.D. Condon, winning all of them. He also played a match of 5 games with Mr. J.D. Redding, with the condition that Mr. Redding should have the move on every game and would play the Evans Gambit. The Doctor backed himself, giving his opponent the odds of 5 to 1. Mr. Redding lost all the games.

A month (page 178) later the BCC writes that Zuckertort, who did not go to China but returned to the Eastern US, played 12 games with Mr. Fritz Peipers. Six games even and six games with the odds of a Knight. The result was that of the even games the Doctor won 4 and Mr. Peipers 1; of the odds games Mr. Peipers won 5 and lost 1.

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Veselin Topalov leads Gata Kamsky 3.5-2.5 with two games remaining in their match. One interesting aspect about it is the time control with the increment only kicking in for the last time control. Time Control: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves : add 60 minutes after move 40 : add 15 minutes plus 30 seconds inc. after move 60. This seems like the best of both worlds using the traditional time limit for the first two controls and the increment only at the end of the game.

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Congratulations to GM Melik Khachian of Los Angeles who turned in a near 2700 performance to tie for first in the second group of the Aeroflot Open with a 7-2 score. Jann Ehlvest was the top scoring American in the A group with 5 from 9 followed by Alex Onischuk at 4.5 and Varuzhan Akobian at 4. 15-year-old Ray Robson had an eventful tournament. He had only 1 draw in rounds 1-3 and 7-9 but in the middle of the tournament he beat three 2600 players in consecutive rounds.

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Top seed FM Costin Cozianu (USCF 2566), formerly of Romania, came from behind in the last round to win the Washington State Championship with a 7-2 score. NM Michael Lee (2374) was leading throughout but lost his last game to US Womens Olympiad team member WGM Katerine Rohonyan in the event held in mid February at the Microsoft Campus in Redmond, Washington. Players competed for $3500 prize fund in the annual round robin which dates back to 1932. Defending champion GM Gregory Serper did not play.

Top scores in the 10-player round robin

1.FM Cozianu 7; 2-3. NMs Lee and Curt Collyer 6.5; 4-5. NM Josh Sinanan and Howard Chen 6; 6. WGM Rohanyan 5.

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NM Carl Haessler won the Oregon Championship, held in the middle of February with a 7-2 score. Roger Martin was second at 6 with Radu Roua, Steve Breckenridge and Mike Pendergast sharing third on 5 points. Neil Dale directed the event the 10-player round robin for the Oregon Chess Federation.