Mechanics' Institute Chess Room Newsletter # 102"Your body has to be in top condition. Your chess deteriorates as your body does. You can't separate body from mind." Bobby Fischer
Honor Roll of Imre Konig Memorial donors: Tibor Weinberger, Mark Pinto, Jim Eade, Neil Falconer, Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass, Larry Christiansen, John Kekker, Toshio Imai, Vince McCambridge, Vivek Nambiar, Bryan Bilby, Bear Stearns, Tom Allen, Max Wilkerson, John Cannon, Mervyn Field, Dr. Joe Wagner, Haluk Akol, Mike Goodall, Dr. Ben Gross, Smartchess, Alex Baburin, Peter Stevens, Kevan Gross and anonymous. GM Alex Baburin writes: "I would like to help the Konig fund raising by making a special offer on new subscriptions to my daily Internet chess magazine Chess Today - rates ($19 for 4 months, $25 for 6 months and $44 for one year) and encourage them to subscribe. When they subscribe, in the reference field they should write 'Imre Konig' and I will give 50% of their subscription to the tournament." Go to http://www.chesstoday.net for more information on one of the best chess magazines in the world and help support the Konig! 1) Konig Memorial 2) Shakhnazarov and Margulis lead Imre Konig Tuesday Night Marathon 3) Sergey Karjakin becomes a GM at age 12 4) Here and There 5) Imre Konig blitz 6) Upcoming Events 1) Konig MemorialThe Imre Konig Memorial starts a week from today, Wednesday, September 4 at 11 AM. Rounds are daily except the free days which are being held on September 6,10 and 13. The event has been cut back from 12 to 10 players as Larry Christiansen and Lubomir Ftacnik were forced to withdraw for personal reasons. Larry will be with the tournament in spirit, if not in person, as he has donated $500 to the tournament. I don't know the last time a reigning US Champion has done that. Thanks Larry! The field will consist of GMs Suat Atalik, Alexander Baburin, Walter Browne, Nick DeFirmian, John Fedorowicz, Yuri Shulman, Alex Wojtkiewicz and Alex Yermolinsky plus America's top two young players IM Varuzhan Akobian and IM Hikaru Nakamura. The prize fund for the category 12 (2538 FIDE average) will be $9,450 with $9,050 in place prizes and Oscar Samuels Best Game Prize $200 and Henry Gross Best Game Prize $200 made possible by Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass. Samuels was MI Champion twice in the 1890s, while Gross was a standard bearer for Northern California chess for over fifty years. The two IMs will not only be competing for prize money. They will also both be trying to make their second GM norm, which for this event is 5 1/2 points. Rounds will start each day at 11 AM and run through approximately 4 PM. IM John Donaldson will provide commentary daily from noon to 1:30 PM. Admission is free to all. There will be a blitz tournament on Saturday, September 7 from 5-7 PM. Full details are given below. 2) Shakhnazarov and Margulis lead Imre Konig Tuesday Night MarathonNational Master Igor Margulis defeated Expert James Jones and Oleg Shakhnazarov upset top seed Fide Master Frank Thornally to emerge as the only perfect scores after three rounds of the Imre Konig Tuesday Night Marathon. The event, which has set an attendance record for TNMs, was 72 players. It's still open for entry. Those wishing to participate with half point byes for the first three rounds should contact the Chess Room by Friday, noon. 3) Sergey Karjakin becomes a GM at age 12Sergey Karjakin (pronounced 'car-yack-kin'), following his earlier GM results this year in Moscow and Alushta, made his final qualification norm at Sudak in the Crimea Peninsula last week;his unbeaten score of 10/13 in the category 7 tournament (average rating: 2405) there also giving him third place. Aged just 12-years seven months, he smashed the previous record held by China's Bu Xiangzhi by more than a year. Fischer set the record for youngest GM at age 15 1/2 in 1958, and held it for over 30-years before Judit Polgar bettered his record by over a month in 1991. Since then a steady stream of prodigies have continually lowered the record. Timeline of youngest GM's down the years: Bobby Fischer (15 years, 6 months, 1 day), Judit Polgar (15y, 4m, 28d), Peter Leko (14y, 4m, 22d), Etienne Bacrot (14y, 2m, 0d), Ruslan Ponomariov (14y, 0m, 17d), Bu Xiangzhi (13y, 10m, 13d), Sergey Karjakin (12y, 7m, 2d). 4) Here and ThereCongratulations go to WIM Camilla Baginskaite who has qualified to play on the 2002 US Womens Olympic Team. Camilla played for the US in Istanbul in 2000 with distinction and was the top American female scorer in the 2001 China/USA match. Santa Fe IM Jesse Kraai, the strongest player in the history of New Mexico chess, is aiming his sights at the GM title. His recent performance at the third John Rowell Invitational in Glendale should push his FIDE rating closer to 2500, one of the two criterion to become a GM. Results: 1.Kraai 7; 2. Altounian 6 1/2; 3. Matikozian 6; 4. Ambartsoumian 5 1/2, 5. Kretchetov 5; 6-7. Akopian and Casella 3 1/2; 8. Taylor 3; 9-10. Hermansen and Hanley 2 1/2 Housing prices are not the only thing going up in Seattle. Our neighbor to the North recently gained a new Grandmaster, former World Junior Champion Tal Shaked, who will be doing graduate work at the University of Washington. Greater Rain City can also boast GMs Yasser Seirawan, Gregory Serper plus IMs Nikolay Minev, Georgy Orlov and Eric Tangborn. This weekend Richard Koepcke will be holding the 2002 CalChess Labor Day Festival at the Golden Gate Holiday Inn in San Francisco. This event deserves your support. Richard and Tom Dorsch have both been trying to bring back large weekend Swisses to the Bay Area at considerable time and money. We can't save their time but by supporting their tournaments we can make sure they don't lose money and that events of this type will continue to be held in Northern California. Full details are given below. 5) Imre Konig blitz
Imre Konig Blitz: September 7
For more information contact IM John Donaldson at the above number or reach
him at imwjd@aol.com 6) Upcoming eventsEver fancy competing in the Iron Man? No, not the event held in Hawaii, but the North American Open in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The late Charles Powell won the first event in 1970, which was a twenty rounder in five days! These days, the distance has been shortened, but you still get your monies worth, and more, with ten rounds in four days. The organizer, Jim Berry, kindly provides the players with a free pizza feed before the start of the eighth round to give them a little last minute fuel to finish the event. This year, the one of a kind tournament features GMs Alex Baburin and Yury Shulman, who will be warming up for the Konig Memorial. Full details for this event are below. Note two new additions to the calendar under national listings: the always popular Governor's Cup and a rare opportunity for GM and IM norms this December in Lindsborg, Kansas. Howard Donnelly Memorial: Sept. 21 This event is a 5-rounder, G/45, run on the Swiss system starting at 10 AM. Regional Events
Aug. 31-Sept. 2 GPP: 15 N. California National Events
Aug. 30-Sept. 2 GPP: 20 Oklahoma Dear Chess Friends, Hope the 7th Governor's Cup Chess Tournament is on your fall calendar--October 11-13--in Sioux Falls, Sourth Dakota. The tourney will be at a new site this year--downtown at the Holiday Inn City Centre at 100 West 8th Street. Once again we will distribute $10,000 in prize money. Call (605) 339-2000 as soon as possible and ask for the $79 chess rate. ( Let me know if you have any difficulty making a reservation. I know that the state soccer tourney is in town that same weekend which may be a problem for you if you wait too long to reserve a room.) The tourney will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday night. All state chess associations are invited to nominate their current state champion or one of their best to represent their state in this event. Please spread the word to chess association presidents. At this time I do not plan to have the Governor's Office send out invitations like I have done in the past. The entry fee will be $50 in advance--entries must be postmarked by October 5 to receive this rate. After that entry fees will be $70. Free entry to all GM's, IM's, and players rated above 2400. Remember to indicate your section when you register: Open, Premier, or Rserve. (Premier is Under 2000, and Reserve is Under 1600).
2nd Annual
Lindsborg Rotary Open Chess Tournament |