Chess Room Newsletter #480

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1) Mechanics Institute Chess Club News
2) Alex Janushkowsky 1922-2010C
3) Here and There
4) Berkeley Chess Club News by Marc Newman
5) Remembering Max Wilkerson

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Dante Argishti defeated Oleg Shaknazarov last night and with one round to go in the 54-player Winter Tuesday Night Marathon has clinched at least a tie for first with 6.5 from 7. Only fellow Expert Evan Sandberg, who is clear second at 5.5, can catch him. The two leaders will meet in the last round.

Dante Argishti � Oleg Shakhnazarov
Queen Pawn A40
WTNM (7), 2010
1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 Be7 3.c4 d6 4.Nc3 g5 5.h3 Nd7 6.e4 h5 7.Qd2 f6 8.Qc2 e5 9.Be3 c6 10.Be2 Nh6 11.0-0-0 Nf7 12.g3 Qc7 13.d5 c5 14.Qa4 Bd8 15.Nd2 Qa5 16.Qc2 a6 17.Rdf1 h4 18.Nb3 Qc7 19.Nd2 Nf8 20.Rfg1 Ng6 21.gxh4 Rxh4 22.Bg4 b5 23.Nf3 Rh8 24.Ne2 bxc4 25.Ng3 Qa5 26.Qxc4 Rb8 27.Bxc8 Rxc8 28.Nf5 Rb8 29.Bd2 Qb5 30.Qxb5+ axb5 31.h4 Nf4 32.Bxf4 exf4 33.Ng7+ Kd7 34.Ne6 Be7 35.Kd2 Ra8 36.a3 Ra4 37.hxg5 Rxh1 38.Rxh1 Nxg5 39.Nfxg5 fxg5 40.f3 g4 41.Ke2 b4 42.fxg4 bxa3 43.bxa3 Rxe4+ 44.Kf3 Ra4?

Oleg's typically unconventional play landed him in hot water from the start but he has clawed his way back into the game and with 44...Re3+ 45.Kxf4 Rd3 he would have had good chances of saving the game. For example: 46.Ke4 (46.Rh5 c4) 46...Rg3. Stopping the White g-pawn was mandatory.
45.g5! Rxa3+ 46.Kxf4 Ra4+ 47.Kf5 Ra2 48.g6 Rf2+ 49.Nf4 Bf8 50.g7! Bxg7 51.Rh7 Kc7 52.Rxg7+ Kb6 53.Rd7 c4 54.Rxd6+ Kc5 55.Rc6+ Kd4 56.d6 Ke3 57.Rxc4 Rd2 58.Ke6 Kf3 59.d7 Kg4 60.Nd5+ 1-0

It�s time to mark March 14 on your calendars. 14-year-old Foster City FM Daniel Naroditsky will give a short talk and sign copies of his Mastering Positional Chess at the Mechanics' Institute from 2 to 3pm in the 4th Floor Cafe and Meeting Room. Copies of the book, recently published by New in Chess, will be available for sale for $24. Daniel, the World under 12 Champion in 2007, is now the youngest ever-published chess author.

Three Mechanics' members are playing in the giant open (652 players!) in Cappelle la Grande, France. GM Vinay Bhat is the top scorer for the MI squad with 3.5/5 (2636 performance rating) while FM Daniel Naroditsky is in the hunt for an IM norm with 3 points ( 2530 PR). IM Sam Shankland has 2.5 (2384 PR).

13 players competed in the Mechanics' Wednesday night blitz last week with Hayk Manvelyan taking top honors with 9.5 from 12. Tying for second at 7.5 were Jorge Lopez and Romy Fuentes.

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Dr. Alex Janushkowksy, five-time champion of the Capitol City Chess Club in Sacramento, died February 9th at the age of 87 of cancer. Born in 1922 in Vitebsk in present day Belarus, Janushkowsky was the son of an officer in the Russian czar's army who was executed by the Soviets in 1937. He and his wife fled the Soviet Union during World War 2 and ended up as doctors in a displaced persons camp. The International Red Cross helped them to settle in California and not long after he began a distinguished career as a family practitioner.

Janushkowksy was an active from roughly 1950-1970, playing in many Sacramento events, team competitions with other cities and in major events like the 1961 US Open held in San Francisco.

His most famous game was actually a loss, to Bobby Fischer who defeated all ten of his Master/Expert opponents in a clock simul in Davis, California in the spring of 1964.

Fischer,Robert James - Janushkovsky,A [C52]
Davis sim Davis, 1964


1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.0-0 d6 8.Qb3 Qe7

Fischer remarks in My 60 Memorable Games in his notes to Fischer-Fine, " someone played 8...Qd7 against me at an exhibition (Davis College 1964); 9.cxd4 Bb6 10.Bb5 Kf8! 11.d5 Na5 and Black saves a piece.". That someone was NM Erik Osbun who was one of three players to defend the Evans Gambit in the 10-board clock simul at UC Davis. The third was Ojars Celle whose famous loss is game number fifty in My 60 Memorable Games.

9.e5 dxe5 10.Ba3 Qf6 11.cxd4 e4 12.Ne5 Nh6 13.Nxc6 bxc6 14.Qa4 Bb6 15.Nc3 Bd7 16.Nxe4 Qf4 17.Nc5 Bxc5 18.Bxc5 Nf5 19.Rfe1+ Kd8 20.Bxf7 Nd6 21.Be6 Re8 22.g3 Qf6 23.Bxd7 Kxd7 24.d5 Nb5 25.Red1 Kc8 26.Qa6+ Kd8 27.dxc6+ Nd6 28.Bxd6 cxd6 29.Qb7 1-0

Noted author and problemist NM Robert Burger recalls Dr. Janushkovsky.

" Yes, I knew Alex well, and played often with him, especially at the hospital in Sacramento where he was doing his residency, starting in 1950. He was a very jovial and "Herman Steiner" type of guy. I met him some time later at the U.S. Open of 1961 at the Palace Hotel in SF. We played more chess then! He was not a scientific player, preferring to play wild rather than to knuckle down and win, but I learned a lot from him."

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IM Ricardo DeGuzman won the 98-player People's Open held last weekend at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Concord, scoring 4.5 from 6 in the top section. NMs Yian Liou and Michael Aigner tied for second with 4 points in the event organized by Salman Azhar and directed by Richard Koepcke.

The Marshall Chess Club will be hosting two special events this spring writes President Frank Brady. �Yes, we are going to hold the Marshall Chess Club International again (our third year) from Friday June 18th until Tuesday, June 22nd. (Nine rounds, $10,000 in prizes guaranteed). We are also holding a 5-minute nine round Swiss, The Bobby Fischer Memorial Speed Tournament on Friday evening, March 9. $500 guaranteed. It's Bobby's birthday. He would have been 67."

FM Michael Langner and Experts Sergey Galant and Devin Hughes tied for first with 5.5 from 7 in the 40-player Jerry Hanken Memorial OCF FIDE Open held in Stillwater, Oklahoma over President's Day Weekend. International Arbiter Frank Berry organized and directed the tournament.

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Rated chess is alive and well in Berkeley! A modern record 41 participants played in our last five-week tournament. The new six-week tournament starts this Friday, the 19th, and we'd love to have more new faces.

The Berkeley Chess Club's page is always here and note, there is now a full schedule for the year:

http://www.berkeleychessschool.org/pages/show/20

The crosstable for the last tournament is here:

http://www.berkeleychessschool.org/pages/show/133

Todd Rumph won with 4.5 points. Next were John Smail and Roger Poehlmann with 4.0.

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We continue our look back at the career of the Mechanics' longest serving chess director (1980-1996), the well-liked and well-loved Max Wilkerson.

The 1971 San Francisco Class Championship, held at the Travel Lodge at the Wharf and organized and directed by Martin Morrison and Elwyn Meyers, was possibly the greatest result of Max's career. He won the Master/Experts sections a point ahead of NMs Ervin Middleton and Craig Barnes and future IM Guillermo Rey. Max defeated Middleton and Barnes and drew with Rey en route to victory. The crosstable for this event is in the California Chess Reporter (September-October 1971, p. 28).

The following game from Max's archives indicates that he was in a fighting mood that weekend.

Max Wilkerson - Erwin Middleton
Kings Indian E61
San Francisco Class Championship (1),1971

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.d4 0�0 5.e3 d6 6.Be2 Nbd7 7.0�0 e5 8.Qc2 Re8 9.Rd1 e4 10.Nd2 Qe7 11.b4 Nf8 12.a4 Bf5 13.Ba3 h5 14.Rac1 h4 15.Qb3 h3 16.g3 c6 17.d5 N8h7 18.c5 dxc5 19.d6 Qd7 20.bxc5 Ng5 21.Rb1 Rab8 22.Nc4?

Max gives a question mark to this move on his scoresheet but if 22.Qc2 Bg4 starts to strip away the kingside defenders.

22...Bg4

22...Nf3+ looks more to the point.

23.Qc2 Qf5?

23...Bxe2 24.Nxe2 Nf3+ looks indicated. Now Max starts to turn the tables.

24.d7! Nf3+

Black should have considered limiting his losses with 24...Red8 25.Nd6 Qe6 26.Nxb7 Rxd7.

25.Kh1 Nxd7 26.Nd6 Qf6?

Queried by Max on his scoresheet. Probably 26...Qh5 27.Nxe8 Rxe8 28.Rxb7 Nxc5 had to be tried.

27.Ncxe4

Now White is in charge.

27... Qe7?

If 27...Rxe4 then 28.Qxe4 Ng5 29.Qxg4 Qxf2 30.Rg1 Ne5 31.Qf4 Qxe2 32.Rb2.

28.Nxe8 Rxe8 29.Nd6 Nd4

29...Rb8 30.Rb4 (30.Bb2).

30.Rxd4 Bxe2 31.Rf4! Bh5 32.Rxf7 Qe5 33.Bb2 Qd5+ 34.e4 1�0