Harold Dondis of New England, born 1922 and still an active tournament player.

From an interview with FM Jim Eade in the June 2008 issue of the US Chess Trust Newsletter

1) Mechanics' Chess Club News

2) July FIDE Rating List

3) Here and There

4) Croatian IMs visit Bay Area by Kenneth Zowal

5) Sacramento July 4 event by Michael Aigner

6) Berkeley Chess Club News by Marc Newman

7) Upcoming Events

IM Ricardo DeGuzman moved into the driver's seat in the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon by defeating NM Albert Rich in a time scramble last night. DeGuzman, who took a first round bye, now has 5.5 from 6 followed by WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs and Expert Oleg Shakhnazarov at 5. Two rounds remain in the competition.

Rich,Albert - DeGuzman,Ricardo [A65]
Spring Tuesday Night Marathon San Francisco (6), 2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.e4 Bg7 6.Bd3 0-0 7.Nge2 e6 8.f3 exd5 9.cxd5 Nbd7 10.0-0 a6 11.a4 Rb8 12.Ng3 h5 13.Bg5 Qc7 14.Qd2 Ne5 15.Be2 Nh7 16.Bh6 h4 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.Nh1 f5 19.f4 Nf7 20.Nf2 Qe7 21.Rae1 Qf6 22.Rb1 [22.Bd3] 22...Bd7 23.b4 Qd4 24.Rfd1 Qxd2 25.Rxd2 cxb4 26.Rxb4 Rfc8 27.Nfd1 fxe4 28.Rdb2 b5 29.axb5 axb5 30.Nxe4 Nf6 31.Ndc3 Nxe4 32.Nxe4 Rc1+ 33.Kf2 Re8 34.h3 Re7 35.Bg4 Bxg4 36.hxg4 Rc4 37.Nd2 Rxb4 38.Rxb4 g5 39.Nf3 gxf4 40.Nxh4 Rb7 41.Nf5+ Kf6 42.Nd4 Ne5 43.Rxb5 Ra7 44.Rb6 Ra2+ 45.Ne2 Kg5 46.Rxd6 Nxg4+ and ... 0-1

Santa Fe GM Jesse Kraai, who will be representing the United States in the Mind Sports Olympiad in China this fall, will give a lecture at the Mechanics' on his adventures Tuesday night, October 21.

GM-elect Vinay Bhat just left for Europe where he is playing two events in Spain before joining up with fellow MI member IM David Pruess in Germany for the huge Ordix Fischer Random tournament.

Sam Shankland had a strong first half in the recent Philly International drawing GM Kunte of India and IM Mulyar of the US and defeating WGM Ghate and WIM Mohanty but two late losses stopped him from making an IM norm. Sam, David Pruess, Daniel Naroditsky, Josh Friedel and Batchimeg Tuvshintugs are all playing in the World Open this week.

FIDE Top 20 (note Foros was not rated or Carlsen would be number 2)
.
1. Anand IND 2798 2 -5
2. Morozevich RUS 2788 20 14
3. Kramnik RUS 2788 0 0
4. Ivanchuk UKR 2781 25 41
5. Topalov BUL 2777 10 10
6. Carlsen NOR 2775 16 10
7. Radjabov AZE 2744 31 7
8. Mamedyarov AZE 2742 23 -10
9. Shirov ESP 2741 11 1
10. Leko HUN 2741 0 0
11. Svidler RUS 2738 32 -8
12. Aronian ARM 2737 11 -26
13. Adams ENG 2735 20 6
14. Grischuk RUS 2728 21 12
15. Karjakin UKR 2727 27 -5
16. Movsesian SVK 2723 53 28
17. Kamsky USA 2723 28 -3
18. Gelfand ISR 2720 10 -3
19. Ponomariov UKR 2718 10 -1
20. Gashimov AZE 2717 34 38

5 Best Juniors
1. Carlsen NOR 2775 1990
2. Karjakin UKR 2727 1990
3. Wang Hao CHN 2691 1989
4. Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2681 1990
5. Caruana ITA 2630 1992


10 Best Ladies
1. J. Polgar HUN 2711 1976
2. Koneru IND 2622 1987
3. Xie Jun CHN 2574 1970
4. Hou Yifan CHN 2557 1994
5. Stefanova BUL 2550 1979
6. Cramling SWE 2544 1963
7. Sebag FRA 2529 1986
8. Zhao Xue CHN 2522 1985
9. T. Kosintseva RUS 2511 1986
10. Kosteniuk RUS 2510 1984

1. IM Josh Friedel 2524 (GM-elect)
2. IM Vinay Bhat 2483 (GM-elect)
3. IM David Pruess 2438
4. GM Walter Browne 2435
5. IM John Donaldson 2411
6. IM Vladimir Mezentsev 2400
7. FM Vladimir Strugatsky 2397
8. IM Ricardo DeGuzman 2389
9. IM Dmitry Zilberstein 2388
10. FM Craig Mar 2372
11. IM John Grefe 2369
12. NM Sam Shankland 2368 (FM-elect)
13. FM Daniel Naroditsky 2313
14. FM Shiv Shivaji 2308
15. WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs 2288
16. NM Nicolas Yap 2279
17. NM Andy Lee 2240
18. NM Michael Aigner 2234 
19. NM Gregory Young 2233
20. IM Walter Shipman 2224

1. NM Sam Shankland 2368 (FM-elect)
2. FM Danya Naroditsky 2313
3. NM Gregory Young 2233
4. Rohan Agarwal 2199
5. NM Nicholas Nip 2150
6. Alan Naroditsky 2136
7. Steven Zierk 2132
8. Adarsh Konda 2115
9. Michael Zhong 2113
10. Adam Goldberg 2008
11. David Chock 1999
12. Louiza Livschitz 1972

 that powerhouses Russia and Armenia will field.

Men's team: Kramnik, Morozevich, Grischuk, Svidler and Jakovenko (reserve player). The first candidate in
Alekseev.

According to AZG Armenian Daily, the following players will represent the 2006 Olympiad winners, Armenia at
the Chess Olympiad in Dresden: GM Aronian, GM Akopian, GM Sargissian, GM Art. Minasian and a
new player GM T.L.Petrosian - he substituted GM Karen Asrian, who tragically died earlier this month.

John Blackstone passes along the following game from California's past.

Rooney,R - McKee,J [C65]
PNAAC 1900

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.e5 Ne4 6.Nxd4 Be7 7.0-0 Nxd4 8.Qxd4 Nc5 9.f4 b6 10.f5 c6 11.Qg4 cxb5 12.Qxg7 Rf8 13.f6 Ne6 14.fxe7 Nxg7 15.exd8Q+ Kxd8 16.Bh6 Rg8 17.Rxf7 Ne6 18.Nd2 Bb7 19.g3 Rh8 20.Raf1 Kc7 21.Bg7 Nxg7 22.Rxg7 Bd5 23.Rf6 Rae8 24.Rd6 Bc6 25.Nb3 Rxe5 26.Rd2 Rf8 27.Rd1 Re2  0-1

(Source Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1900.04.08 p.09)

Fremont organizer Kenneth Zowal reports on the visit that occurred right after the National Open in early June.

The blitz tournament went well and lasted two and one-half hours.  The IMs were Milan Brigljevic and Goran Antunac.

Richard Koepcke was our TD and played in the tournament.  He brought his computer and did the upfront pairings, and implemented the required changes as the rounds were played.  Bravo, Richard!

Finding highly rated players was tough, so it was hastily organized at the last minute. 

Ed Lewis, a student of Francisco Anchongo, came out on top, ahead of two IMs and one French Master!  Everyone, including spectators, had a good time.

We showed a lot of good sportsmanship and California hospitality.  Gifts were exchanged with the Croatian IMs at the end (our Steinbeck books, Ray Charles and Miles Davis CDs, their Croatian Chess mouse pads).

We also took them on a whirlwind tour of the Monterey Peninsula, and benchmarked three chess schools in the Bay Area (Alan Kirschner's beginnings, Bela Evans' SuccessChess School and the Berkeley Chess School), all in four days.

All in all, a successful effort!

I recommend the 3-day schedule for my students to play serious tournament games at a long time control, but the 2-day option may work better for some players and their parents. Juniors rated between 1800 and 1999 should consider playing up, depending on whether they seek experience against stronger opponents or an opportunity to win money

Berkeley Chess Club News by Marc Newman

There’s some big news from the BCC this month.  Our tournament night is switching from Sundays to Fridays.  Friday was the traditional Berkeley Chess Club night for decades and we are returning to that night starting July 11th.  The new six-week tournament will be July 11th through August 15th and the new start time is seven pm.  As always, time control is 30/90 and G/30 and there are cash prizes for the top finishers.  We hope to see some new faces on the 11th!

Please bookmark the BCC homepage at:

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

It has the schedule, the standings, and plenty of games you can click through from previous rounds.  The Berkeley Chess Club has met near-continuously since 1964.

Our latest tournament ended June 29th.  First place went to Farid Watson, second and third place went to David Petty and Neil Van Gorder.