Hans Ree

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1) Mechanics Institute Chess Club News
2) Jaan Ehlvest wins Chicago Open
3) 2009 NY International at the Marshall Chess Club
4) Here and There
5) John Donaldson wins Washington Open by Rusty Miller

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The Summer Tuesday Night Marathon started last night with 68 entrants headed by top seed NM Russell Wong.Normally round one sees the top half of the field deal mercilessly with the bottom group but there is a reason the gamesare played. Last night Tom Allen and Michael Hilliard showed the form charts don't always hold trueas they upset players rated over 400 hundred points above them. It's not to late to join the eight round Marathon witha half point bye for the first game.

George Sanguinetti has started up blitz tournaments on Wednesday nights starting at 6:30 pm. The entry fee is $5 witha one hundred percent payout ( 50% / 30% / 20%). The format is a round robin - double round robin if time allows. Playersare asked to bring clocks with digital preferred. Jules Jelinek and Romulo Fuentes were the winners the past two weeks,both events attracting eight players.

Payam Afkham-Ebrahimi has put together some interesting statistics on the Mechanics' Tuesday Night Marathonand weekend tournament series at ( http://www.tanakachessclub.com/chess_room). 20 players participated in all 5 Marathonslast year and John Chan is the most active MI member with 100 percent attendance at TNMs and close to 80 percent for weekendevents. That translates to over 100 games the past year.

Thanks to NM John Blackstone for finding the following article which appeared in The San Francisco Call of August 24, 1895.The article contained some nice caricatures of Mechanics' players of the time that can be viewed athttp://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn94052989/1893-08-24/ed-1/seq-7/;words=Chess+CHESS+chess. Rendezvous of the Local Crack Players.

Most Players Wear Beards

Scene in the Chessroom at Mechanics' Institute— Significant FactsAbout the Players.

There Is a dense cloud of tobacco smoke. There is a big crowd of well-dressed men,men not so well dressed and shabbily dressed men. There are chairs and tablesand books.

When your eyes have been accustomed to the rather opaque atmosphere you seethat the men, the chairs, the tables, the books are arranged with some regard toorder and regularity. Enough, at all events, to bespeak the original presencein the room of an orderly and designing mind.

It Is the chessroom of the Mechanics' Institute that you are viewing. The booksare on shelves on three of the four walls which enclose all this tobacco smoke andchairs and tables and men.

The men are mostly divided into quartets. So are the chairs, and there are notlacking evidences that once— early in the morning for instance— the chairs were soarranged around the chess-tables that regular passageways or aisles were leftbetween the quartets running the entire length of the long room.

You have to wind in and out considerably and tread your way carefully to gofrom one end of the room to the other. It is yet early in the afternoon, but thechess-players have been at their work so long that the day is old for them and theroom correspondingly disorderly.

Recently there has been a reawakening of local interest in the abstruse game ofchess. Lasker, the champion, is coming out here, and the consequent revival isvigorous and healthy.

This is the only chess room in the city. That is why it is crowded. It you stay awhole day in this room you will see all the chess-players in San Francisco beforeyou leave. Go there at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and you will see most of themin half an hour.

They are a strange lot of mortals. Silent as so many sphinxes they are. A seasonof silent prayer in a Methodist church is about the only thing that will compare atall favorably with the chessroom of the Mechanics' Institute.

Not a word is spoken. For long minutes not a sound is heard. Then the click of abishop is heard on the hard table. Then another click. Then a silence.

"Checkmate." is whispered lowly in a suppressed voice, choking with selfabsorption and material unconsciousness.

Once in a long time two players arise and go out. Immediately their places arefilled by two men who have been merely spectators. This makes a little noise, relieves somewhat the quiet monotony that pervades the big room. Occasionally, too, a kingor a pawn is shoved off the board and strikes with an awful din on the hard floor.In an ordinary crowd such slight disturbances as these would scarcely be noticed.In this chessroom they punctuate the stillness to the point of startling one almost.

If you go early in the morning you will find only two men, on an average, at eachtable, for only a couple. you know, can play at one table. But in the afternoonthere is not a game that has not at least two spectators and many have more.

Though you know little about the game, you can. at this hour, readily distinguishthe tables at which the crack players are at work. You have only to watch thecrowd. When there are six, eight or a dozen spectators there a brilliant game isin progress, and there you will find some couple out of the dozen or more crackchessmen in town.

At none of the tables will you find Joe Redding these days — though for years hewas the local champion— for he has given up the fascinating game now for the stillmore entrancing one of law.

You will probably find Dr. Walter Lovegrove, who took the last championshipchess game in this city, at one of the tables where the group of spectators is largest.And Dr. Benjamin Marshall. The doctor has retired from the practice of medicineand juts taken a hearty interest in the practice of chess. He finds it even moreabsorbing than the game of human life and health.
A. .V. Manson, A. Heinemann, Captain Scott— you will find either or all of themat some of the tables where the crowd is the largest or it will be a cold day for chessat the Mechanics' Institute.

Miller, Hendricks, Howe, Walsteln, Levy— these complete, or nearly complete.the list of players who can give you a couple of knights and all the pawns andthen beat you in a few moves.

These men are permanent fixtures in the chessroom. They are more than that.They are players of such recognized ability that their names are known, and wellknown in the literature of chess throughout the United States and in Europe.Does Dr. Marshall visit New York? He has only to make himself known at theManhattan Chess Club to be greeted as a brother.

Does Dr. Lovegrove journey to Europe? At Paris, at London, at Berlin there aresumptuously appointed clubhouses and intellectual club members waiting towelcome him as an honored guest.

Truly, there is no game like chess. Its origin is as old as that of history. TheHindus have it that the game originated in the fertile brain of an astronomer whoflourished several thousand years ago and was possessed of supernatural knowledgeand acuteness.

The Greeks claimed chess as the invention of Palameties, who employed it to beguile the tedium of the siege of Troy.

But the Arab legend is more likely. It is that chess was first devised for the instructionof a young despot by his tutor, a learned Brahmin, who sought thus to teach the youthhow a king was dependent on his subjects for safety.

Probably all of these are wrong, but it matters not. No other game is so absorbing as that of chess.No other game exhausts the gray matter of its devotees at such an alarming rate as does chess.

If you look but casually at the faces of the players in this big room you can judgethe intellectual character of their occupation. There are strong faces here. Someof them are stronger than the others, hut none are weak. Brains are the chief requisitefor chess. You will not find low foreheads nor narrow chins in this room.At least you ought not to find them here, and if you do the chances are that youhave found a physiognomical exception.That is for more likely than that you willfind a weak mentality in this room.

And mark this fact: three-fourths or more of all the. players here are beardedmen. Does the beard signify mental strength or intellectuality? Mark this,too: you will not find one clean-shaven face in all the room. One or two youthsyou may rind who go to learn chess, but no clean-shaven men. Is this a significantfact or a mere coincidence?

There is another fact worth noting about the faces in this big chessroom.They are almost to a man the faces of Americans, so far at least as may bejudged from a mere exterior acquaintance.

All day long they sit there and play and play and play, and never speak throughout it all,save to "check" or to "check mate." Do they get tired of it? Never.Are they dull and heavy?Not in the least; on the contrary, they are intensely excited, and when the day's work is overas much exhausted as ordinary folks are after ten hours of remunerative toll.

It is not play. It is work. It is absorbing work, that demands the whole individual as much an evenliterary composition does. And it demands all one's time to attain even a local prominence in thegame, say those who ought to know. And after a long lifetime spent in chess playing the devoteedies when he has reached the point where he is beginning to realize how little he knows of the greatgame.

This is chess. These are its devotees in San Francisco.

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The Chicago Open took place from May 22-25, 2009 in Wheeling, IL. GM Jaan Ehlvest took the title and additional bonus money with a win with the black pieces in the BlitzArmageddon playoff against GM Gabriel Sargissian. NM Michael Aigner of Davis tied for sixth in the under 2300 section with a score of 5 from 7.

Open section, Final standings:
1-2. GMs Ehlvest and Sargissian - 5½ out of 7,
3-8. GMs Van Wely, Shulman,Akobian, Kacheishvili, Shabalov and IM Finegold - 5,
9-12. GMs Petrosian and Sharavdorj,FMs Kleiman and Boor - 4½, etc.

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American norm hunters can't complain about a lack of opportunities the next month with the Copper State Invitational coming up in a few days followed by a trifecta on the Eastern seaboardstarting with the New York International followed by the Philadelphia International and ending with the World Open.

GMs, foreign IMs, and foreign WGMs ......................................... $100, returned on completion
........................................................................ of tournament; no money deducted from prize fund
USA IMs, USA WGMs, and Foreign FIDE-rated players...................... $150 in advance / $200 at site
USA players with FIDE ratings over 2200.............................................. $200 in advance / $250 at site
Players with USCF ratings over 2200 and FIDE rating U2200................ $250 in advance / $300 at site
Players with USCF ratings over 2200 with no FIDE rating...................... $300 in advance / $350 at site
Players under 2200 USCF………………………………………….$350 in advance / $400 on site
All except first category:...................................................... $25 less for Marshall Chess Club members
Enter:
In advance: By mail (checks only, made payable to The Marshall Chess Foundation) postmarked by 6/14, by phone (credit cards only) thru 6/16, in person (cash, credit card, or check) thru 6/16
On our website (credit cards only) thru 6/16, at site no later 30 minutes before your first game.

Special free entry fee available for juniors under 18 years of age. These scholarships are provided by the Marshall Chess Foundation in its mission to help talented juniors to compete in international tournaments. Juniors must be rated 2100 or over, limited to first five applicants.

Round one:	Friday, June 19, 12:00 Noon
Round two:	Friday, June 19, 7:00 PM
Round three:	Saturday, June 20, 12:00 Noon
Round four:	Saturday, June 20, 7:00 PM
Round five:	Sunday, June 21, 12:00 Noon
Round six:	Sunday, June 21, 7:00 PM
Round seven:	Monday, June 22, 12:00 Noon
Round eight:	Monday, June 22, 7:00 PM
Round nine:	Tuesday, June 23, 12:00 Noon

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IM Nikolay Minev has started a new column for Phil McCready's website (www.thechesslibrary.com). The column is called "Mini-Lessons From Short Games of the 21st Century"and a new one will appear about every three weeks. The link to the index is: http://www.thechesslibrary.com/minevcontentindex.html and to the first article directly (.pdf) is:http://www.thechesslibrary.com/files/MiniLesson001.pdf. A list of all the articles Dr. Minev wrote for Northwest Chess in the 1980s can be found athttp://www.thechesslibrary.com/magbiblio-northwestchess.html

Here is a Bobby Fischer game that is not published in any anthology devoted to him. It was played in a simul in Quebec City where Bobby went 48-0. It was first published in the May-June 2008issue of the Quebec magazine Echecs. 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 c6 3.d4 d5 4.exd5 exd4 5.Qxd4 c5 6.Qe5+ Qe7 7.Nf3 Qxe5+ 8.Nxe5 Bd6 9.Nc4 Kd7 10.Nxd6 Kxd6 11.Bf4+ Kd7 12.0–0–0 Nf6 13.h3 Kd8 14.g4 Re8 15.Nb5 Re7 16.d6 Rd7 17.Nc7 b6 18.Nxa8 Bb7 19.Bb5 Bxa8 20.Bxd7 Bxh1 21.Bf5 Be4 22.d7 Nbxd7 23.Rxd7+ Nxd7 24.Bxe4 g6 25.Kd2 Ke7 26.Bc6 Nf6 27.Bb8 a6 28.Ke3 Nd7 29.Bxd7 Kxd7 30.Ke4 Ke8 31.Bd6 c4 32.Kd5 Kd7 33.Be5 h5 34.Kxc4 hxg4 35.hxg4 Ke6 36.Bd4 f6 37.Bxb6 Ke5 38.b4 1–0 Issue 5 of 2009 of the German magazine Schach Magazin 64 has a very lengthy and detailed analysis of Yasser Seirawan's win over the young Dutch talent Robin Swinkels in a 4...Bf5 Caro-Kann.Here is another nice win by Yasser in the Caro that did not make it into TWIC. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 e6 5.g4 Bg6 6.Nge2 c5 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bb4 9.Bg2 h5 10.gxh5 Rxh5 11.Qg4 Rxe5 12.Qg3 Nd7 13.f4 Rxe3+ 14.Qxe3 Qh4+ 15.Qg3 Qf6 16.0–0–0 Ne7 17.Ncb5 Kf8 18.Bh3 a6 19.Nc7 Bd6 20.Ncxe6+ fxe6 21.Nxe6+ Kg8 22.Rhf1 Nf8 23.Ng5 Bf5 24.Bg2 Rc8 25.Rd2 Rc4 26.Qb3 b5 27.a4 Bxf4 28.Rxf4 Rxf4 29.Bxd5+ Kh8 30.Nf7+ Kh7 31.Rd1 Rf2 32.Rd2 Rxd2 33.Kxd2 Qd4+ 0–1 Michael Aigner writes about the remarkable performance of young star Samuel Sevian at the Bay Area Chess Memorial Day event held in San Jose which was organized and directed by Salman Azhar.

"FM Kenan Zildzic of Sacramento won the Master section, ahead of IM Ricardo DeGuzman, NM Arjoe Loanzon and 8 year old Samuel Sevian. The young rising star drew with five masters including IM DeGuzman and even beat one of the state K-12 co-champions! His new rating is 2036. Simply amazing!"

The Ukrainian Team Championship is being held from May 21-29, 2009 in Alushta.The main favourites are PVK Kiev Chess with GMs Ponomariov, A.Onischuk (USA), Miroshnichenko, Areshchenko, Beliavsky (SLO), Baklan, Vysochin, IM Nyzhny and after six rounds they are tied for first place. GM Onishuk is 4-0 so far.

Rusty Miller who helped organize the following event writes:

PGE Baseball Park in Portland Oregon has setup Chess Night for the Portland Beavers game against Las Vegas51s on July 28, 2009. The 2009 Oregon Chess Champion Carl Haessler of Lake Oswego Oregon will throw out the First Pitch that evening.Get your souvenir T-shirt or other item at: http://www.cafepress.com/ChessNight. Chess boards will be set up before to the game for skittles play. More information is available in Northwest Chess magazine and at http://www.nwchess.com

US Zonal President Beatriz Marinello writes:

The Confederation of Chess for Americas (FIDE) and the Brazilian Chess Federation are pleased to invite all Chess National Federations of Americas to the Continental Absolute Chess Championship 2009. It will be held in CXSP in Sao Paulo, a Sport and Financial city and capital of the Department of Sao Paulo between July 25th to August 2nd, 2009. Sao Paulo is a city located near Rio de Janeiro and is the main economic center of Brazil. All details can be found in the official web page http://www.continental2009.com/

GM Melik Khachian, IMs Enrico Sevillano and Andranik Matikozian and SM John Bryant tied for first at 4.5 from 6 in the Lena Grumette Memorial held in Los Angeles last weekend.

GM Sergey Kudrin won the annual NAO event in Stillwater, Oklahoma, last weekend scoring 6.5 from 7. Among those tied for second a point back were GM Alex Yermolinsky and IM Michael Brooks. Frank and Jim Berry organized and directed the event.

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The Washington Open, held at the Red Lion Hotel in Spokane over Memorial Day weekend, drew 103 players in 3 sections. This marked the first time the Washington Open was held in Spokane in 52 years!

IM John Donaldson of Berkeley won the Open section and the $1000 first prize with 5 points from 6 after NM Curt Collyer of Seattle forced a draw by repetition shortly after the parties made the first time control in round 6. NMs Josh Sinanan of Seattle and Nick Raptis of Portland drew their 6th round encounter to tie for second with 4.5. They were joined by young Experts and soon to be Masters Steve Breckenridge and Howard Chen who won their last round games.

The cross tables are posted on http://www.spokanechessclub.org plus the USCF website.

The information above comes from a report made by tournament director Kevin Korsmo. The event was sponsored by the Spokane Chess Club, the Gary Younker Chess Foundation and the Washington Chess Federation.

Photos of the event by Russell Miller can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/27748810@N03/sets/72157618763434113/