Mechanics' Institute Chess Club Newsletter #448

Nothing is dearer to a chess player’s heart than his rating. Well, of course everyone knows he’s under-rated, but his rating, its ups and downs, however miniscule, are his ego’s stock-market report.

Lev Alburt

This weekend the Mechanics' will host the 46th Annual Arthur Stamer Memorial.

1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News

2) Annotating Old Games - a poem by Dennis Fritzinger

3) Akobian and Sevillano tie for first in National Open

4) Here and There

5) Upcoming Events

1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News

There were upsets galore last evening in the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon. 11-year-old Class A player Kyle Shin defeated NM Russell Wong

to join Romulo Fuentes and Jayakrishna Ramachandran in first place with 3-0 scores. The latter knocked off his second strong teenage Expert

in two weeks (first Evan Sandberg and last night Hayk Manvelyan). Rounding out the list of underdog heroes was Kayven Reise who took out former Master

Igor Margulis. It's still possible to enter the 8 round, 72-player event, with half point byes for the first three rounds.

George Sanguinetti is the ring leader behind the resurgent Wednesday Night Blitz. He sends in the following results and information about the weekly series.


May 27th we had 7 players.
1st Jules Jelinek
2nd Romy Fuentes
3rd - 6th Tom Stevens, Felix R., Vadim Smelansky, Jayakrishnan Ramachandran

June 3rd we had 10 players.
(New Players Mr. Bukh, Traub and Jones)
1st Jules Jelinek
2nd - 3rd Romy Fuentes, George Sanguinetti

Hello Blitz Chess Fans,

Today is Wednesday and time for a few quick games of Chess!

6:30 pm start
$5 entry
50% - 30% - 20% prizes
Please bring:
Clocks, preferably digital.
Small bills so we make those "one-way-intra-city-BART-ticket payoffs" if need be.

Come early and start play at 6:00 pm if you like. (Romy should be there if I am not.)
No entries after 7:00 pm

NM John Blackstone of Las Vegas , one of the strongest player in California in the 1960s,

has found more gold from the past. Below are two rediscovered games from Zuckertort's visit

to San Francisco in 1884.

Zukertort - Redding

San Francisco July 3, 1884

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.e5 d5 6.Bb5 Ne4 7.Bxc6+ bxc6
8.Nxd4 Bd7 9.0-0 c5 10.Ne2 c6 11.f3 Ng5 12.Bxg5 Qxg5 13.Ng3 Qe3+ 14.Kh1
Be7 15.f4 0-0 16.Nc3 Rab8 17.Rb1 Kh8 18.Qh5 Qd2 19.Nce4 Qxc2 20.Ng5 Bxg5
21.Qxg5 Rxb2 22.Rxb2 Qxb2 23.Qe7 Rg8 24.Qxd7 Qxa2 25.Qxf7 Qa6 26.e6 Qc8
27.f5 c4 28.Qxa7 1-0

Source: The Chess player's Chronicle 1885 p.160

Zukertort,Johannes Hermann - Welsh
Simul (blindfold) San Francisco July 8, 1884

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 a6 3.Nf3 d6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e5 6.Nf3 Be7 7.Bc4 Qc7 8.Bb3 Nf6
9.h3 Nbd7 10.Be3 Nc5 11.Nd2 Nxb3 12.axb3 Be6 13.f4 d5 14.f5 d4 15.fxe6 dxe3
16.exf7+ Kxf7 17.Nc4 Bc5 18.Qe2 Rhd8 19.0-0 Kg8 20.Rf5 Bd4 21.Raf1 Rf8 22.Kh2
Qc5 23.Na4 Qc7 24.c3 b5 25.cxd4 exd4+ 26.e5 bxc4 27.Nb6 Qxb6 28.exf6 Rxf6 29.Qxc4+
Kh8 30.Rxf6 gxf6 31.Qd3 Qb5 32.Qe4 Qe5+ 33.Qxe5 fxe5 34.Kg3 e2 0-1

Source: The Chess player's Chronicle 1885 p.87

2) Annotating Old Games - a poem by Dennis Fritzinger

annotating old games

after the game,
fresh blood on my sword and helmet,
recounting the blows given, the blows taken
is done in a breathless manner.
at this late date,
hair streaked with gray,
it's like telling campfire stories--
there's something disembodied about it.
it may be, with time passing,
i see deeper into the position,
deeper the psychologies, the motives
of the actors,
yet the analysis
is almost too machine-like--
not perfect, but mechanical;
it lacks the adrenaline
i know was present,
the silent roar of the crowd
surrounding the board,
and the cheering for the victor.

3) Akobian and Sevillano tie for first in National Open

Southern California GMs Varuzhan Akobian and Enrico Sevillano tied for first in the National Open in Las Vegas last weekend.

The two winners received $4,641 apiece for their 5-1 scores. Akobian defeated French GM Laurent Fressinet in the last round

while Sevillano beat Evgeny Bareev. The top finishing Northern Californian was GM Jessie Kraai who shared 3rd place with his 4.5-1.5

score which included a win over former Candidate Jan Ehlvest. Mechanics' member Payam Afkham-Ebrahimi had a great result tying for

first in the Class B section scoring 5.5 from 6 to take home close to $3000. Payam has been on an incredible roll of late and I will not

be surprised if he is an Expert by the end of summer if not sooner.

Payam organizes round robins for players 1900-2100 at the Mechanics' on Thursday evenings.

Tanaka Chess Club
Mechanics' Institute Chess Room
Thursdays, 5:00-9:00 pm
3 DRR: 30/90; SD/25+5s
http://www.TanakaChessClub.com/wallchart/
Tanaka.ChessClub@gmail.com
http://twitter.com/TanakaChessClub

4) Here and There

The final rounds of the French Team Championship took place from 28-31 May 2009 in Marly.
Evry Grand Roque won the Poule Haute with Svidler, Nakamura and Vachier-Lagrave playing for them.

Poule Haute Final Standings:
1. Evry Grand Roque - 32
2. Clichy - 31
3. Chalons en Champagne - 25
4. Montpellier Echecs - 25
5. Vandoeuvre - 24
6. Cannes - 24
7. Mulhouse Philidor - 24
8. Noyon - 19

US Champion Hikaru Nakamura went 4-0 against GMs averaging close to 2600 FIDE.

Nakamura,Hikaru (2701) - Bauer,Christian (2605) [B01]
French League TOP 16 Le Port Marly FRA (8.2), 28.05.2009

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bc4 Bg4 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Bb5 Nd5 8.Qd3 Ndb4 9.Qe4 Bxf3 10.Bxc6+ bxc6 11.gxf3 e6 12.Bd2 Qa6 13.Ne2 Nd5 14.b3 Nf6 15.Qe3 0-0-0 16.c4 Nd7 17.Bc3 c5 18.Rd1 cxd4 19.Nxd4 Bc5 20.Qe4 Nb8 21.0-0 Qb7 22.b4 Bxd4 23.Bxd4 Nc6 24.Bc5 Rxd1 25.Rxd1 Rd8 26.Rxd8+ Nxd8 27.Qxh7 Qxf3 28.Qxg7 Qe4 29.h3 Qxc4 30.Be7 Nc6 31.Qxf7 Nd4 32.Bc5 Nf5 33.a4 a6 34.Qg8+ Kd7 35.Qg4 Qc1+ 36.Kg2 a5 37.Qe4 Qg5+ 38.Kh2 axb4 39.Bxb4 Nd6 40.Bxd6 cxd6 41.Qb7+ Kd8 42.Qb8+ Ke7 43.Qc7+ 1-0

Nakamura,Hikaru (2701) - Krasenkow,Michal (2622) [C54]
French League TOP 16 Le Port Marly FRA (9.1), 29.05.2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.Bb3 Bb6 7.Nbd2 0-0 8.h3 Ne7 9.Nf1 Ng6 10.Ng3 c6 11.0-0 d5 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bxf6 Qxf6 14.exd5 cxd5 15.Bxd5 Nf4 16.Be4 Qd6 17.d4 f5 18.Bc2 e4 19.Ne5 Bc7 20.Nh5 Ng6 21.f4 exf3 22.Nxf3 Be6 23.Re1 Rae8 24.Bb3 Kh7 25.Bxe6 Rxe6 26.Qd3 Qc6 27.d5 Qb6+ 28.Kh1 Rxe1+ 29.Rxe1 Qxb2 30.d6 Bb6 31.c4 Qxa2 32.Qd5 Qa5 33.Qxb7 Qc3 34.Kh2 Bd4 35.Qd5 Bb6 36.Re6 Qc1 37.Qb7 Qa1 38.Re1 Qb2 39.c5 1-0

Fontaine, Robert (2546) - Nakamura,Hikaru (2701) [B07]
French League TOP 16 Le Port Marly FRA (10.3), 30.05.2009

1.d4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.e4 d6 4.c3 Nf6 5.Nbd2 0-0 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 e5 8.dxe5 Nxe5 9.Nxe5 dxe5 10.Nc4 Qe7 11.a4 Nh5 12.Re1 Nf4 13.Bxf4 exf4 14.e5 Be6 15.Bf1 Qg5 16.Nd2 Rfd8 17.Nf3 Rxd1 18.Nxg5 Rxe1 19.Rxe1 Bb3 20.a5 b6 21.a6 Rd8 22.Nf3 c5 23.Bb5 h6 24.h3 Kf8 25.Kf1 Ke7 26.Ke2 Ke6 27.Nd2 Bd5 28.f3 Bxe5 29.Nc4 Bc7 30.Rd1 Ke7 31.Na3 Be6 32.Rxd8 Kxd8 33.Kd3 Bd6 34.Nc4 Ke7 35.Nd2 g5 36.Ne4 f6 37.Ke2 Be5 38.Nd2 Bd7 39.Bxd7 Kxd7 40.Kd3 b5 41.c4 b4 42.Kc2 Kc6 43.h4 f5 44.hxg5 hxg5 45.Nb3 Kb6 46.Nc1 Bd4 47.Nd3 Kxa6 48.Kb3 Ka5 49.Ne1 Be5 50.Nd3 Bd6 51.Nf2 Kb6 52.Ka4 Be5 53.Nd3 Bc7 54.Kb3 Kc6 55.Ka4 a6 56.Kb3 Kd6 57.Kc2 Bb6 58.Kb3 Ke6 59.Kc2 Kf6 60.Nc1 Kg6 61.Kd2 a5 62.b3 Kf6 63.Nd3 Ke6 64.Nb2 Bd8 65.Na4 Kd6 66.Kd3 Bf6 67.Nb6 Kc6 68.Na4 Be7 69.Ke2 Kd6 70.Nb6 Ke6 71.Na4 Kf7 72.Kf1 Kg6 73.Nb2 Bf6 74.Nd3 Bd4 75.Nc1 Be3 76.Nd3 Kh5 77.Ne5 Bd4 78.Nd3 Kh4 79.Nc1 Be3 80.Nd3 Kg3 81.Ne1 g4 82.fxg4 fxg4 83.Ke2 Bf2 84.Nd3 Bd4 85.Ne1 Be3 86.Kf1 Kh2 87.Nd3 f3 88.gxf3 g3 89.Ne1 a4 0-1

Hamdouchi,Hicham (2596) - Nakamura,Hikaru (2701) [B75]
French League TOP 16 Le Port Marly FRA (11.2), 31.05.2009

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.a3 b5 10.a4 b4 11.Nd5 Nxd5 12.exd5 Bb7 13.Nc6 Bxc6 14.dxc6 Ne5 15.Qxb4 Nxc6 16.Qa3 d5 17.Rb1 Bd4 18.Bxd4 Nxd 4 19.Bd3 Qb6 20.a5 Qa7 21.Qa4+ Kf8 22.0-0 Nxf3+ 23.Kh1 Nd2 24.Rxf7+ Kxf7 25.Qf4+ Kg7 26.Qe5+ Kh6 27.Qf4+ g5 28.Qxd2 e5 29.Re1 Qe7 30.Bf5 Rad8 31.Re3 Kg7 32.Qe2 e4 33.Qxa6 Rd6 34.Qe2 h5 35.g4 hxg4 36.Qxg4 Rh4 37.Qg3 Rf4 38.Bh3 d4 39.Re1 Qf6 40.Qg1 d3 41.cxd3 exd3 42.Rd1 d2 43.Bg2 Ra4 44.b4 Rxb4 45.a6 Rxa6 0-1

International Master Jay Whitehead, a great fan and expert on chess played in the 1840s to 1880s sends in the following comments from Howard Staunton that were

published in the Illustrated London News of November 1, 1856. Jay notes this was 11 months before Paul Morphy won NY 1857 and that such praise--curiously written to well-known names--from a man infamous for avoiding and denigrating rivals (and praising his victims), is remarkable.

"...the capital game won by the New Orleans PHENOMENON, when thirteen years of age, of the Hungarian..." (to Eugene B. Cook);

"...the extremely-interesting specimen of precocious Chess play...If the young Philidor of New Orleans proceeds as he has begun, HE WILL SOON RIVAL THE oldest and BEST PLAYERS OF THE AGE." (to Charles A. Maurian)

The King's Tournament (Turneul Regilor) will take place in Bazna , Romania from 14-25 June 2009. It will be a Category 20 tournament and feature the participation of American GM Gata Kamsky.
The field consists of: Radjabov (AZE, 2756), Ivanchuk (UKR, 2746), Shirov (ESP, 2745), Gelfand (ISR, 2733), Kamsky ( USA , 2720) and Nisipeanu (ROU, 2675).

Macedonian GM Nikola Mitkov, based for several years in Chicago , is scheduled to play July 4th weekend in Pacifica in a tournament organized by John Galpin. You will not find the 6th Pacifica Chess Open listed on the Cal Chess website as it was not run by the Northern California USCF tournament house and conflicts with a traditional annual event in Sacramento, but Mr. Galpin has been running large ads in Chess Life promoting the event ( see June 2009, page 58) which features $12,000 in prizes based on 100 players (meaning that the event must pay out at least $6,000 in prizes regardless of the turnout). The tournament, which has an entry fee of $150 offers a novel format - winner take all. For the top group this means a prize of $6,000 ( $3,000 guaranteed) for the winner. This will be the first rated tournament the sponsoring American Tournament Chess Club has organized.

5) Upcoming Events

Mechanics' Events ( go to www.chessclub.org for more information)

Arthur Stamer Memorial - June 13-14
William Addison Open - June 20
Charles Bagby Memorial - July 18
Vladimir Pafnutieff Memorial - August 8
Bernardo Smith Memorial - August 22-23
Scholastic Championship - July 11

July 3-5 or 4-5 2009 Sacramento Chess Championship & nbsp; GPP: 6 California Northern

ROUNDS: 6 FORMAT: Swiss RATING: Full-K. SITE: Best Western Expo Inn, 1413 Howe Avenue , Sacramento , CA. ON-SITE REGISTRATION: 7/3 - 8:30 am - 9:45 am; 7/4 - 8:00 am - 8:45 am. ROUNDS: 3-day: 7/3 - 10 & 3:30, 7/4 - 10:30 & 4, 7/5 - 10 & 3:30. 2-day: 7/4 - 9, 11:15, 1:30, & 4, 7/5 - 10 & 3:30. TIME CONTROLS: 3-day: 30/90 G/60. 2-day: Rounds 1-3, G/60, Rounds 4-6, 30/90 G/60. 5-second delay on all time controls. SECTIONS: Master/Expert (above 1999), Reserve (U2000). ENTRY FEES: 3-day $65 (Juniors $45) postmarked by 6/27. $75 (Juniors $50) after 6/27. IMs/GMs free. Entrants may play up one section for $10. $5 discount to CalChess members (excluding reentries). Reentry after round 2 of the 3-day schedule: $40. PRIZES: 1st Place in each section $320 & trophy (1st place guaranteed in the Master/Expert section). Prize fund of $2540 based on 75 full paid adult entries and 10 full paid junior entries overall (with 60 full paid adult entries and 10 full paid junior entries, the prize fund will be $1,840). HOTEL: Best Western Expo Inn, (916) 922-9833 or 1-800-643-4422. Ask for the Sacramento Chess Club rates. ADVANCE ENTRIES & INFO: John McCumiskey (TD), 6700 50 St, Sacramento , CA 95823-1306 ; e-mail: sactochess@sbcglobal.net; phone: (916) 524-9479, checks payable to Sacramento Chess Club. Full flyer and advance entries: sacramentochessclub.org under Weekend Events. OTHER INFO: No Smoking, No Computers, Wheelchair Access. 07/09 rating list only. Please bring clocks and equipment. 1/2 point byes available in any round and must be requested before the completion of the previous round. Maximum two 1/2 point byes per entry. 1/2 point byes for rounds 5 & 6 must be requested prior to round 1 and may not be changed.WCL JGP.