Mechanics' Institute Chess Club Newsletter #504"The austerity of one's interactions with a computer is
something that appealed to me," It is like chess - chess is very austere,
in that you don't have many rules, there is no randomness, and the problem is
very hard."
Julian Assange (WikiLeaks) - The
New Yorker, June 7, 2000, page 46-47. 1) Mechanics' Institute
Chess News
2) Americans in Europe
3) Chess Columns in San Francisco
4) Upcoming Events
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess News
The 61-player field in the Peter Grey Tuesday Night Marathon is starting to separate after
three rounds. Leading the way are FM Andy Lee, NM Romulo Fuentes and Expert
Steven Gaffagan, the three remaining perfect scores, but the real highlight so
far was 93-year-old Dan Litowsky's win over 1940 rated George Sanguinetti.
Litowsky has been on his rating floor at 1700 for awhile so this was a real
upset. It's still not to late to enter this nine round event with half point
byes for rounds 1-3.
The San Francisco Mechanics' start the 2010 US Chess League season this
coming Wednesday, August 25th, against the
Dallas Destiny. The 2006 champs, who hold the all-time USCL records for
best match and individual winning percentages, the Mechanics' will be missing
two of the League's great performers this season in GM Vinay Bhat and IM Sam Shankland, but welcome 2010 Denker
Champion Steven Zierk to the team. This season the MI will be using a much more
balanced lineup approach than in season's past.
It was Vinay Bhat versus the Cubans in Badalona, Spain, with Vinay finishing 6th in a strong
open behind the Cuban quartet of Bruzon, Quesada, Almeida and Corrales. Vinay
writes about the event which had an unusual format:
I played better in Balaguer, but then I regressed a bit in Badalona.
The overall finish was fine (6th), but I wasted a lot of chances. The tournament
format was also tough, as it started as a 6-round swiss after which the top 8
broke off to form their own little KO-style bracket. The rest of the tournament
continued for 3 more rounds. The problem was that I lost to Bruzon after getting
a double black in the main event (I played quite well and then had two ways to
make him force a draw and instead gave him my queen) and ended up as the #8 seed
in the playoff.
In every game of the playoff, the higher seed gets the white pieces (there's only one classical game before rapid tiebreaks), so as the #8 seed, I got the black pieces in the final 3 games. I ended up losing in the 7th round, winning in the 8th round (a win in the rapid tiebreaks), and lost again in the 9th round. Amazingly, in none of my losses was I worse before I was better - I threw away advantages (sometimes large ones) in all 3 games. I think my formerly good record with black has disappeared this year. =) I played in a pretty strong rapid tournament yesterday (August 14th) and finished in a tie for 3rd (4th on tiebreaks). Bruzon won that event as well. My final event starts on the 20th. The Mechanics' will be hosting the 6th Annual Bernardo Smith Memorial this weekend. The two day tournament, open to players under 1800, is named after the Mechanics' organizer and tournament director from the first quarter of the 20th century. Book
and equipment donations to the Mechanics' are always welcome and are tax
deductible due to the M.I.'s 501(c) (3) nonprofit status. If you have any chess
books or equipment that have been lying around unused for some time consider
donating to the Mechanics'. You will not only get a tax write off but also the
satisfaction of seeing things put to good use.
2) Americans in Europe
This summer many Americans are playing in Europe. Leading the
way are Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana who respectively have 3.5 and 3 from 6
in helping Youth to a 15.5-14.5 lead over Experience in the NH tournament in
Amsterdam. Four rounds remain
in the 6 player aside Scheveningen event.
Congratulations go to Turkish GM Suat Atalik who had a fantastic result in
winning the Negroponte Open in Chaldiki, Greece, with a score of 8 from 9.
Atalik, seeded 7th at 2607, turned in a performance rating of 2849! American GM
Robert Hess, who lost only to
Atalik, also had a great tournament in scoring 7.5, good for clear second
and 12 FIDE rating points which puts now puts him at 2600. MI member Josh
Friedel was undefeated with 6 points but drew too many games to contend for the
top spots.
Alisa Melekhina turned in one of the best results ever for an American in
the World Girls Under 209 Championship held in Poland, scoring 8.5 from 13 to tie
for 6th place. Marc Arnold, the US representative in the World Junior, scored
7.5-5.5 to tie for 22nd.
3) Chess Columns in San Francisco
San Francisco is blessed with having three regular chess columns. The
first, by Shelby Lyman which is syndicated, appears daily with local news on Thursdays. Lesser known but with much more space is
Victor Todortsev's long running column in the SF Russian language newspaper
Kstati (To the Point). Victor,
who is a fixture in the Tuesday Night Marathon, writes a fine column taking
advantage of the newspaper size page he is allotted, filling it with
news, games (typically three per column), photos and problems to solve.
Issue # 799 for August 5, 2010 was devoted to Daniel and Alan
Naroditsky.
Last and certainly not least Frisco Del Rosario, well-known to Bay Area chess community for over thirty years, is the chess
columnist for the online version of the San Francisco Examiner. Go to http://exm.nr/9nfeUh for his latest column an in
depth look at the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon including a picture of
James Jones and two of his
games from the event with annotations.
4) Upcoming Events Bernardo Smith Memorial - August 21-22 Howard Donnelly Memorial - September 18 J.J. Dolan Memorial - October 9 Carroll Capps Memorial - November 6-7 Pierre Saint-Amant Memorial - November 20 Northern California Events
6SS, 40/2, SD/1 (2-day option, rds 1-3 G/60), no 2-day Open Section. Radisson Hotel, 2233 Ventura St., Fresno, CA 93710. Free parking, free airport shuttle. Co-sponsored by Fresno Chess Club. $$ 17,000 based on 160 paid entries (re-entries & $60 less EF players count half), minimum $12,000 (70.6% of each prize) guaranteed. In 6 sections: Open: $2000-1000-500-300, clear or tiebreak 1st $100, top U2200 $1200-600. FIDE. Under 2000: $1500-700-300-200. Under 1800: $1500-700-300-200. Under 1600: $1200-600-300-200. Under 1300: $1100-600-300-200. Under 1000: $700-400-200-100, trophies to top 7. Unrated may enter any section, with prize limits: U1000 $100, U1300 $200, U1600 $300, U1800 $500. Balance goes to next player(s) in line. Top 5 sections EF: 4-day $134, 3-day $133, 2-day $132 mailed by 8/11, all $135 online at chesstour.com by 8/16, $140 phoned to 406-896-2038 by 8/16 (entry only, no questions), $150 at site. EF for all in Under 1000 Section, or unrated in U1300 Section: all $60 less. Mailed EF $20 less to Fresno Chess Club members. GMs free, $120 deducted from prize. All: Unofficial uschess.org ratings based on 4 or more games usually used if otherwise unrated. Special 1 year USCF dues with Chess Life if paid with entry: Online at chesstour.com, Adult $30, Young Adult $20. Mailed, phoned or paid at site, Adult $40, Young Adult $30. Re-entry $60; not available in Open Section. No checks at site, credit cards OK. 4-day schedule: Reg. ends Thu 6 pm, rds Thu 7 pm, Fri 7 pm, Sat 11 & 6, Sun 10 & 4:15. 3-day schedule: Reg ends Fri 11 am, rds Fri 12 & 7, Sat 11 & 6, Sun 10 & 4:15. 2-day schedule: Reg ends Sat 9 am, rds Sat 10, 12:30, 3 & 6, Sun 10 & 4:15, no 2-day Open Section. Byes: OK all, limit 1 bye towards class prizes; must commit before rd 2. HR: $89-89, 800-241-0756, 559-268-1000, request chess rate, reserve by 8/12 or rate may increase. Car rental: Avis, 800-331-1600, use AWD #D657633, or reserve car online through chesstour.com. Ent: Continental Chess, Box 249, Salisbury Mills, NY 12577. Questions: 845-496-9658. Advance entries posted at chesstour.com. Chess Magnet School JGP.
A State Championship Event! 6-SS, 30/90, SD/1 (2-day option rds 1-3 G/60). Golden Geteway Holiday Inn. Van Ness at Pine, San Francisco. $$B/160 paid entries (not counting free or unrated entries). Six Sections: Master $1200-$650-$400 U2300 $250; Expert $600-$300-$150. "A" $600-$300-$150. "B" $600-$300-$150. "C" $600-300-150. "D/E" $600-$300-$150 U1200 $150. Unr: Trophy First. Trophy to top finisher (State Champion |