Chess Room Newsletter #592 | Mechanics' Institute

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Chess Room Newsletter #592

Gens Una Sumus!

Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club Newsletter #592
July 11, 2012

Viktor Kortchnoi was always saying: if you want to make progress, you have to learn new openings all the time. If such a person gives you such an advice, you should listen to it.

—Boris Gelfand

1) Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club

National Master Peter Zavadsky took byes in the first two rounds of the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon, but that didn’t stop him from taking first place, as he won his next 6 games, including a victory over upset king Brendan Lacounte last night.

Zavadsky’s 7-1 score, which earned him $400, put him a full point ahead of International Master
Elliott Winslow and Experts Todd Rumph and Art Zhao. The latter upset National Master Russell Wong, while Rumph, who is in his early 50s, is now just a few points from raising his rating above 2200 for the first time.


International Master Daniel Naroditsky of Foster City starts play today in the US Junior Closed, taking place at the St. Louis Chess Club. The event is being held as two eight-player round robins, with a match between the winners of each section at the end to decide the title and a spot in the 2013 US Championship. Go Daniel!

All members of the Mechanics’ Chess Room were very happy to see
95-year-old Dan Litowsky after an absence of several months. A regular in Tuesday Night Marathons for the past few decades, Litowsky recently underwent a successful surgery and looked hale and hearty.

Here is
11-year-old Cameron Wheeler’s first win over a Grandmaster.


King’s Indian Attack C00
Gildardo Garcia – Cameron Wheeler
9th Philadelphia International(7) 2012


1.e4 e6 2.d3 c5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.0–0 Nge7 7.Re1 d6 8.c3 e5 9.a3 a5 10.a4 0–0 11.Na3 h6 12.d4 exd4 13.cxd4 Nxd4 14.Nxd4 cxd4 15.Nb5 Qb6 16.Bf4 Rd8 17.h4 Be6 18.Qd2 Bc4 19.Na3 Ba6 20.Bxh6 Bxh6 21.Qxh6 d3 22.Qg5 Nc6 23.h5 Qc5 24.e5 Nxe5 25.Qf4 Qb4 26.Bd5 d2 27.Re4 Qxb2 28.Rd1 Rd7 29.Nb5 Bxb5 30.hxg6 Nxg6 31.Qg5 Kg7 32.axb5 Qc2 33.Qxd2 Qxd2 34.Rxd2 Rc8 35.Ra4 Rc1+ 36.Kg2 b6 37.Bc6 Rd8 38.Rad4 Ne5 39.Bd5 Rh8 40.Rd1 Rc5 41.f4 Ng4 42.Kf3 f5 43.Be6 Kf6 44.Bc4 d5 45.Bd3 Rh2 46.Bxf5 Kxf5 47.Rxd5+ Rxd5 48.Rxd5+ Ke6 49.Rd8 Nf6 50.g4 Rh3+ 51.Kg2 Rb3 52.g5 Nh5 53.Rf8 Rxb5 54.Kf3 Rf5 55.Rh8 Nxf4 56.Ke4 Ng6 57.Re8+ Ne7 58.Rxe7+ Kxe7 59.Kxf5 a4 0–1


2) US Players—July FIDE ratings

The United States is currently ranked number 7 in the world for the average of its top 10 players (2646) behind 1.Russia 2748; 2. Ukraine 2697; 3. France 2664; 4.China 2662 5. Hungary 2659; and 6. Armenia 2658. The US has 71 GMs and 121 IMs.



#NameTitleFedRatingGB-Year
 1 Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2778 23 1987
 2 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2744 11 1974
 3 Onischuk, Alexander g USA 2666 11 1975
 4 Hess, Robert L g USA 2639 20 1991
 5 Seirawan, Yasser g USA 2620 13 1960
 6 Akobian, Varuzhan g USA 2617 25 1983
 7 Lenderman, Aleksandr g USA 2613 17 1989
 8 Robson, Ray g USA 2601 17 1994
 9 Ehlvest, Jaan g USA 2596 3 1962
 10 Shulman, Yuri g USA 2588 20 1975
 11 Kaidanov, Gregory S g USA 2586 11 1959
 12 Shankland, Samuel L g USA 2579 9 1991
 13 Christiansen, Larry M g USA 2577 2 1956
 14 Ramirez, Alejandro g USA 2576 30 1988
 15 Novikov, Igor A g USA 2563 0 1962
 16 Benjamin, Joel g USA 2559 8 1964
 17 Stripunsky, Alexander g USA 2553 11 1970
 18 Becerra Rivero, Julio g USA 2551 0 1973
 18 Goldin, Alexander g USA 2551 0 1964
 20 Ibragimov, Ildar g USA 2539 0 1967
 21 Kudrin, Sergey g USA 2537 22 1959
 22 Sevillano, Enrico m USA 2535 11 1968
 23 Shabalov, Alexander g USA 2534 16 1967
 24 Gulko, Boris F g USA 2532 0 1947
 25 Ivanov, Alexander g USA 2529 11 1956
 25 Arnold, Marc T m USA 2529 9 1992
 27 Perelshteyn, Eugene g USA 2525 8 1980
 28 Dlugy, Maxim g USA 2519 9 1966
 28 Yermolinsky, Alex g USA 2519 0 1958
 30 Zatonskih, Anna m USA 2512 9 1978
 31 De Firmian, Nick E g USA 2510 0 1957
 32 Friedel, Joshua E g USA 2503 9 1986
 33 Holt, Conrad m USA 2500 18 1993
 34 Yang, Darwin m USA 2498 18 1996
 35 Finegold, Benjamin g USA 2493 10 1969
 36 Hungaski, Robert Andrew m USA 2488 9 1987
 37 Naroditsky, Daniel m USA 2486 9 1995
 38 Ludwig, Daniel m USA 2482 9 1990
 39 Molner, Mackenzie m USA 2479 14 1988
 40 Zierk, Steven C m USA 2478 6 1993
 40 Khachiyan, Melikset g USA 2478 0 1970
 42 Gurevich, Dmitry g USA 2476 18 1956
 43 Gonzalez, Renier g USA 2472 0 1972
 44 Orlov, Georgi m USA 2469 9 1964
 45 Foygel, Igor m USA 2468 8 1947
 46 Root, Douglas m USA 2465 0 1963
 47 Krush, Irina m USA 2464 9 1983
 48 Shahade, Gregory m USA 2462 9 1978
 49 Lapshun, Yury m USA 2458 0 1972
 50 Esserman, Marc m USA 2450 0 1983

3) Here and There

Wall Street trader Victor Niederhoffer reports in his book The Education of a Speculator that he and legendary billionaire trader George Soros took lessons for a while from Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier. Niederhoffer says he never defeated the GM at R odds, but Soros won twice. Soros and his father whiled away the time hiding from the Nazis during WW II by playing lots of chess. They played for a cookie.


Grandmaster Sam Shankland has a busy summer. Currently playing in the World Open in Philadelphia, Sam will also participate in tournaments in Biel and Latvia, besides teaching several sessions at the Berkeley Chess School.


Dear Friends,

As you know world chess Olympiad will be organised from 27 August to 10 September 2012 in Istanbul. http://www.chessolympiadistanbul.com/en/

Parallel to this event, we announce following traditional top events regulations:

World Youth Under 16 Chess Olympiad 28 August - 6 September: http://wyco2012.tsf.org.tr/
11th Istanbul Festival 30 August - 8 September : http://istfest2012.tsf.org.tr/

All events will be organised in the same venue. It will be unique for our future children, amateurs, tourists, everyone who loves chess.

Don't miss it!

Ali Nihat YAZICI,
Head of Organising Committee


The 45th Biel Chess Festival, which will start on the 21st of July, will be the strongest chess tournament ever held in Switzerland. This was made possible by the last-minute replacement of GM Lenier Dominguez of Cuba by Magnus Carlsen (who had become available when the King's Tournament in Romania was cancelled).The players are

1. Carlsen NOR 2837
2. Nakamura USA 2778
3. Morozevich RUS 2770
4. Wang Hao CHN 2739
5. Bacrot FRA 2713
6. Giri NED 2696


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