Chess Room Newsletter #436

Garry Kasparov talking to the media in India in early March 2009

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1) Mechanics Institute Chess Club News
2) Spice Tournament Starts
3) ICC Tournament of State Champions
4) Michael Aigner on the Western Chess Congress

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The Spring Tuesday Night Marathon started last night with 60 entrants headed by Russell Wong, Oleg Shakhnazrov and Igor Margulis. It's still possible to enter the eight round event with a bye for round one.

Felix Rudyak won the A. J. Fink Amateur, open to players below 2000, in convincing fashion this past weekend scoring 5.5 from 6. Tying for second at 5 in the 41-player event were Tim Werby and Wallace Hannum.

Good luck to MI member GM Vinay Bhat who leaves for Iceland this Friday. He will be playing in the upcoming Reykjavik International along with US Champion Yury Shulman.

Northern California state champion IM Sam Shankland will represent his region in the ICC Tournament of State Champions to compete for a spot in the US Championship.

Thanks to Colin Ma who has been donating many excellent new chess books to the Mechanics' Institute Library. One recent highlight was Bologan's book on the Chebanenko Slav.

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.

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The 2009 SPICE Spring Invitational, a double round robin event with an average rating of 2505 FIDE featuring two of America's strongest junior players, begins today in Lubbock, Texas.

The participants are:

GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (Georgia)
GM Timur Gareev (Uzbekistan)
GM Dashzegve Sharavdorj (Mongolia)
IM Gergely Antal (Hungary)
IM Robert Hess (USA)
IM Ray Robson (USA)

Go towww.SPICE.ttu.edu for more information.

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ICC hosts online U.S. State Champion of Champions Tournament

Internet Chess Club, in conjunction with St. Louis Chess Club, sponsors of the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship, and the United States Chess Federation is pleased to announce details of the upcoming 2009 U.S. State ‘Champion of Champions’ online tournament, the winner of which will go forward to play in the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship, May 7th through 17th in St. Louis, MO.

State champions from Alaska through California to Hawaii and from Maine through to New York and Florida will come together as one over the internet on Saturday, March 28th at chessclub.com for this unique online tournament, with the four qualifying conference winners going forward to the knockout finals on the weekend of April 4th-5th.

Apart from the attraction of one of the final spots up for grabs at what promises to be a memorable U.S. Chess Championship, in a spectacular new setting and with a prize fund exceeding $130,000, the winner will also receive the title of State Champion of Champions, a round trip ticket to St. Louis and a glass trophy designed by The Stained Glass Store of Des Moines, Idaho.

ICC has organized and sponsored this tournament four times now with great success on each occasion. Not only has it proved to be a popular event with all the players, but it also ably demonstrates that online chess and over-the-board chess can indeed be a perfect mix. “We have always looked at ways of bringing the virtual world of ICC into the real world of tournament chess,” commented ICC President Joel Berez. “And thanks to this perfect symbiosis with our partners at the St. Louis Chess Club and USCF, the State Champion of Champions event helps us work further towards that goal.”

Full rules and regulations for the U.S. State Champion of Champions tournament can be found here: www.chessclub.com/activities/cofc_2009.html

Further information:

John B. Henderson

ICC Director of Chess Content

Tel: 847-347-9593

E-mail: [email protected]

JOHN B. HENDERSON

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The following comes from NM Michael Aigner's excellent blog at fpawn.blogspot.com.

My recap from the Western Chess Congress in Concord appeared today on Chess Life Online (http://main.uschess.org/content/view/9190/520/). Check it out for highlights of the first big money event in the Bay Area since the mid 1990s. Premier section champion FM Daniel Naroditsky kindly annotated his crucial win against IM Sam Shankland and I added some comments on three other games.

http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200903082981.0 for the rating report

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fpawn/sets/72157614935821684/show/ for a pictorial on the event

A total of 15 current or past students attended, spread out from the Premier through U1700 divisions. Three students won money: Steven Zierk (2311) tied for 2nd overall, Evan Sandberg (2044) shared 3rd in U2100 and Kenneth Law (1705) returned after an extended break from chess to tie for 2nd in U1900 with an impressive 4-1 score. Steven increased his FIDE rating to 2296, four points shy of the FIDE Master title, while 11-year old Yian Liou expects to earn his first published FIDE rating at 2140. Kudos to these successful players and everyone else who tried their best!

I finished with 2.5 out of 5 and gained a few rating points for both USCF and FIDE. I was happy with a pair of draws against IM Sam Shankland and IM John Donaldson, but was upset after hanging a piece in a superior position in the last round, although I miraculously still drew that endgame. It was a nice weekend and I look forward to returning in January!