Gens Una Sumus!
Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club Newsletter #774
January 27, 2017
Yes, at chess24 our audience during the tiebreaks was about four times higher than in the most interesting games from the classical part of the match. It’s very possible that the future really is rapid chess, but at the same time you have to understand: broadcasting rapid, never mind blitz, is impossible without really good commentators.
—Peter Svidler, discussing the recent World Championship and the popularity of faster time controls for spectators.
See the entire interview with Svidler.
1) Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club News
International Master Elliott Winslow leads the 108-player Winter Tuesday Night Marathon at the half-way point with a score of 4–0. Masters Conrado Diaz, Bryon Doyle, Russell Wong and Romy Fuentes and Experts Michael Askin and Igor Traub are a half-point behind.
From round 4 of the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon:
 |  |
| White to move (Diaz–Walder after 29...Nf4) | White to move (Stearman–McKellar after 8...b5) |
 |  |
| Black to move (Andries–Tsodikova after 13 Nf3) | White to move (Thornally–Poling after 19...Bd7) |
 |  |
| Black to move (Yanofsky–Moor after 14 Rxd3) | Black to move (Maser–Allen after 21 Qh3) |
 | |
| White to move (Brown–Baer after 18...Qf6) | For the solutions, see the game scores for round 4. |
The Mechanics’ entry in the Pro Chess League lost in round three against a powerhouse team from Webster University of St. Louis, 4½-11½. The bright spot for the Mechanics’ was the performance of Grandmaster Vinay Bhat, who scored 2½ from 4. Next week the Mechanics’ faces Seattle in a must-win match.
Many thanks to Maria Osler for her generous donation of over 200 chess books to the Mechanics’ Institute, in honor of her late husband Scott M. Osler. Mr. Osler, who learned to play chess as a kid, was a member of the Mechanics’ Institute and a life-long member of the United States Chess Federation. A successful San Franciscan businessman, specializing in software development, Mr. Osler will be long remembered.
Donations such as this have helped the Mechanics’ Institute Library become the largest public repository of chess books west of the Mississippi, with over 2,500 volumes in its collection.
After three rounds, GM Sam Shankland is 3–0 in a nine-way tie for first in the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival, a 10-round Swiss. He has just reached 2680 FIDE.
As reported, the Mechanics’ lost in round two of the Pro Chess League, but there were some bright spots. Here young Cameron nearly beats one of the world’s best.
Blumenfeld Countergambit E10
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2766)–Cameron Wheeler (2398)
Pro Chess League (2) 2017
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 b5 5.Bg5 exd5 6.cxd5 d6 7.e4 a6 8.Bd3 Be7 9.a4 Nxd5 10.exd5 Bxg5 11.axb5 0–0 12.0–0 Bb7 13.Nc3 Bf6 14.Ne4 Bxb2 15.Rb1 Bf6 16.Qc2 axb5 17.Rxb5 Bxd5 18.Nxf6+ Qxf6 19.Bxh7+ Kh8 20.Be4 Bxe4 21.Qxe4 Nd7 22.h3 Rfe8 23.Qd5 Ra1 24.Rbb1 Rxb1 25.Rxb1 Ne5 26.Nd2 Qe6 27.Qb7 c4 28.Qe4
28...Qg6?
After 28...d5 or 28...Rc8 Black should be winning.
29.Qxg6 fxg6 30.f4 c3 31.fxe5 cxd2 32.Rd1 Rxe5 33.Rxd2 d5 34.Kf2 Kg8 35.Ra2 Kf7 36.Ra6 Re6 37.Ra5 Re5 38.Ra6 Re6 ½–½
Here another one of the M.I.’s youngsters also puts up a great fight against Shak.
Pirc B07
Rayan Taghizadeh (2317)–Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2766)
Pro Chess League (2) 2017
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Ng4 5.Bc1 Nf6 6.Be3 c6 7.f3 Nbd7 8.Qd2 b5 9.g4 b4 10.Nce2 a5 11.g5 Nh5 12.Ng3 Nxg3 13.hxg3 Bg7 14.Bd3 c5 15.Ne2 Qc7 16.c3 Bb7 17.Kf2 e5 18.dxc5 Nxc5 19.Bb5+ Bc6 20.Bxc5 dxc5 21.Bxc6+ Qxc6 22.Rad1 0–0 23.Qd7 Qxd7 24.Rxd7 Rfd8 25.Rhd1 Rxd7 26.Rxd7 a4 27.c4 h6 28.gxh6 Bxh6 29.Rd5 Rc8 30.Rd7 Kg7
31.Ra7?
This pawn grab doesn’t necessarily lose, but giving away the d-file gives away White’s advantage, After 31.f4 White is playing for only two results—win or draw.
31…Rd8 32.Rxa4 Rd3 33.b3 Be3+ 34.Ke1 Bd2+ 35.Kf2 Be3+ 36.Ke1 Rd2 37.Ra7 Rb2 38.Rd7 Rxa2 39.Rd3 Ra1+ 40.Rd1 Bf2+ 41.Kd2 Ra2+ 42.Kd3 Rb2 43.Nc1 Bxg3 0–1
Sam Shankland was the top scorer for the Mechanics’ with 2½ from 4. Here is a smooth win.
King’s Indian E94
Sam Shankland (2674)–Konstantin Kavutskiy 2377)
Pro Chess League (2) 2017
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0–0 6.Be2 Nbd7 7.0–0 e5 8.Be3 Qe7 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Nd5 Qd8 11.Qc2 c6 12.Nxf6+ Bxf6 13.Rfd1 Qe7 14.c5 Re8 15.Rd6 Nf8 16.Rad1 Bg4 17.Qb3 Rab8 18.Bc4 Bxf3 19.gxf3 Kg7 20.Kf1 h5
21.Bxf7 Qxf7 22.Bh6+ Kg8 23.Rxf6 Qxb3 24.axb3 Kh7 25.Bxf8 Rxf8 26.Rd7+ Kh6 27.Rxf8 Rxf8 28.Kg2 Rb8 29.Re7 b6 30.Rxe5 bxc5 31.Rxc5 Rxb3 32.Rxc6 Rxb2 33.Ra6 Rb7 34.f4 Kg7 35.Kg3 Re7 36.f3 Rb7 37.Kh4 Kh7 38.Kg5 Rg7 39.h4 Rb7 40.Rxg6 Rb5+ 41.f5 a5 42.Ra6 Rc5 43.f4 Rb5 44.e5 Rc5 45.Ra7+ Kg8 46.f6 Kf8 47.Kg6 Rc8 48.Rh7 1–0
2) Carroll M. Capps Memorial Winners
This event, named after the well-liked Bay Area master and science fiction author (C.C.McApp), is traditionally held the second weekend of November. Among the winners are such noted players as former World Junior Champion Julio Kaplan, 6-time U.S. Champion Walter Browne, 1973 U.S. co-champion John Grefe, two-time U.S. champion Nick de Firmian, noted author International Master Jeremy Silman, Grandmasters Alexander Baburin and Igor Ivanov.
National Masters Batchimeg Tuvshintugs (2006) and Uyanga Byambaa (2015) are the only women to ever win the Capps. International Master Ricardo DeGuzman has won the most Capps Memorials with nine titles to date.
Vladimir Pafnutieff, Carroll Capps and Henry Gross playing in the 1952 Northern California–Southern California match. (Photo: unknown)
1971 Julio Kaplan
1972 Craig Barnes
1973 James Tarjan
1974 Walter Browne
1975 David Strauss and Paul Cornelius
1976 Jay Whitehead and Max Burkett
1977 Jeremy Silman and Cicero Braga
1978 Tournament Cancelled
1979 (July) Nick deFirmian and (November) ???
1980 John Grefe, Jay Whitehead and Charles Powell
1981 Peter Biyiasas and John Grefe
1982 Jeremy Silman, Peter Biyiasas, Alan Pollard and Vince McCambridge
1983 Peter Biyiasas, Craig Mar and Victor Baja
1984 Charles Powell, Victor Baja and Bill Orton
1985 Nick deFirmian, Peter Biyiasa, Charles Powell and Rudolfo Hernandez
1986 Igor Ivanov and Jay Whitehead
1987 Marc Leski, John Grefe and Gustavo Darcy Lima
1988 Guillermo Rey, Bill Orton and Romulio Fuentes
1989 Vladimir Strugatsky, Charles Powell and Rudolfo Hernandez
1990 Loal Davis
1991 Walter Browne, Jay Whitehead, and Greg Kotlyar
1992 Walter Browne and Renard Anderson
1993 John Grefe, Emmanuel Perez and Adrian Keatinge-Clay
1994 Craig Mar, John Grefe and Rostislav Tsodikov
1995 Enrico Sevillano and Joe Weber
1996 Igor Ivanov and Omar Cartagena
1997 Alexander Baburin
1998 Mladen Vucic, Mark Pinto, Omar Cartagena, Ron Cusi and Jonathan Baker
1999 Russell Wong, Paul Gallegos, David Blohm, Walter Shipman, Agnis Kaugars, Keith Vickers and Larry Snyder
2000 Kenneth Hills and Ryan Porter
2001 Ricardo DeGuzman
2002 Ricardo DeGuzman and Victor Ossipov
2003 Ricardo DeGuzman and Batsaikhan Tserendorj
2004 Nicolas Yap
2005 Ricardo DeGuzman and Ron Cusi
2006 Batchimeg Tuvshintugs
2007 Ricardo DeGuzman
2008 Ricardo DeGuzman
2009 Ricardo DeGuzman and Andy Lee
2009 Vladimir Mezentsev
2010 Ricardo DeGuzman
2011 Hayk Manvelyan and Michael Lin
2012 Ricardo DeGuzman and Gabriel Bick
2014 Paul Gallegos and Andrew Hong
2015 Uyanga Byambaa
2016 Jack Zhu
The 1978 event was scheduled for the normal dates, the second week of November, but canceled at the last minute. A tournament was held in July of 1979 and another was advertised in Chess Voice to be held in November of that year. All indications are that it was held. We have been unable to find results for this event and ask for assistance.
3) Here and There
Grandmaster Andrey Baryshpolets recovered from a first-round loss to win the top section of the Golden State Open with a 6–1 score. The 288-player event, which was directed for the Continental Chess Association by David Hater and Tom Langland over the M.L.K. weekend, was a coming-of-age tournament for two Bay Area players.
Jack Zhu, who spent the second half 2016 trying to get over 2400 USCF, had a spectacular tournament in Concord. His 5½ point score, good for a tie for second, included two wins and a draw with Grandmasters the last three rounds. This performance raised his rating from 2411 to 2446.
Andrew Hong was also quite impressive in tying for second with 5½ points. He defeated Grandmasters Andrey Stukopin and Enrico Sevillano to become the Bay Area’s latest Senior Master going from 2371 to 2406.
Mechanics’ Chess Club regulars also shined. Isaiah Kim tied for second in the under-2100 section with 5½ points, while Arthur Ismakov and Michael Walder finished in the prize money, a half-point behind. Christian Jensen shared third place money in the under-1800 and Renate Otterbach was among the leaders in the under-1200 group.
4) Northern California Top 10 USCF rated, January 2017
1. GM Sam Shankland 2755
2. GM Parimarjan Negi 2742
3. GM Daniel Naroditsky 2732
4. GM Cristian Chirila 2593
5. GM Nick DeFirmian 2566
6. IM Steven Zierk 2559
7. IM-elect Cameron Wheeler 2479
8. SM Arun Sharma 2468
9. IM Kesav Viswanadha 2456
10. IM Vignesh Panchanatham 2450
5) Top Women and Juniors on January 2017 FIDE Rating List
10 Top-Rated Women
1. Hou Yifan CHN 2651
2. Ju Wenjun CHN 2583
3. Anna Muzychuk UKR 2558
4. Humpy Koneru IND 2557
5. Alexandra Kosteniuk RUS 2549
6. Mariya Muzychuk UKR 2546
7. Dronavalli Harika IND 2539
8. Viktorija Cmilyte LTU 2538
9. Kateryna Lagno RUS 2530
10. Nana Dzagnidze GEO 2525
The U.S. has two players among the top ten juniors in the world.
10 Top-Rated Juniors
1. Wei Yi, 17 CHN 2706
2. Jan-Krzysztof Duda, 18 POL 2684
3. Jeffrey Xiong, 16 USA 2667
4. Vladislav Artemiev, 18 RUS 2655
5. Matthias Bluebaum, 19 GER 2641
6. Grigoriy Oparin, 19 RUS 2625
7. Jorden Van Foreest, 17 NED 2612
8. Maksim Vavulin, 18 RUS 2604
9. Samuel Sevian, 16 USA 2603
10. Benjamin Gledura, 17 HUN 2589
6) This is the end
This position appeared in a simul.
White to move
Show solution
You can browse through our archived newsletters using the "next" and "previous buttons".
Want to save this newsletter for reading at a later time? Click here to learn how.
Want to be notified when the next newsletter is published? Join Our Email List →