You have, let us say, a promising politician, a rising artist that you wish to destroy. Dagger or bomb are archaic, clumsy and unreliable - but teach him, inoculate him with chess.

    H.G. Wells

GM Yury Shulman will be giving a special lecture tonight starting at 5:15 pm. Admission is free. This Saturday the 3rd Annual Charles Powell Memorial will be held starting at 10 am.

1) Wood Green Wins 4 NCL

Irish GM Alexander Baburin, who has played in many MI events, helped lead his team to victory in the 4 Nations Chess League by winning all three of his games on the last weekend of competition. John Henderson reports in his daily column in The Scotsman.

"IT'LL never work." That was the usual advice Chris Dunworth was given when in 1993 he embarked on creating a UK-wide professional chess league based on the model of the successful German Bundesliga.

Now, some ten years on, the 4 Nations Chess League (4NCL) has become Britain's premier team competition. As ever, the highlight of the 4NCL season is the 'Finals Weekend', played over the May Bank Holiday at the West Bromwich Moat House Hotel.

In previous years, Wood Green have been regarded as the perennial bridesmaids of the tournament, having been strong contenders in the past four seasons only to be pipped to the post by the likes of big-spending teams such as Slough and Index IT. However, as the opposition lost many of their star players through financial difficulties, Wood Green held on to their super-club status thanks to the unstinting support from club stalwarts Peter Sowray, IM Paul Littlewood and club captain Brian Smith.

With a star-studded line-up for the finals weekend that included the likes of Michael Adams, Nigel Short, Jon Speelman, Alexander Baburin and Bogdan Lalic, Wood Green took no chances going into the final three rounds of the weekend, and were odds-on to win their first 4NCL Div.1 title with a 100% score on 16 points out of 16 and a 2-point lead over their nearest rivals, Guildford and Barbican.

Easily outrating the opposition, Wood Green took no prisoners in the first two rounds of the final weekend with emphatic 7-1 and 8-0 victories, respectively, over Betsson.com and Perceptron Youth. On firepower alone, the only opposition they had came in the final game of the season, when they played Guildford. Despite being held to a 4-4 draw - a result that deprived them of being the only team in the history of the competition to win the title with a 100% score - at long last assured Wood Green of the title.

Final standings, Div.1: 1 Wood Green 1 21/22; 2 Guildford-ADC 1 19; 3 Barbican 4NCL 1 18; 4 Betsson.com 15; 5 Wood Green 2 12; 6 Richmond 11; 7 The ADs 1 10; 8 Slough 9; 9 Barbican 4NCL 2 6; Relegated - 10 Perceptron Youth 6; 11 S Wales Dragons 3; 12 Bristol 1 2.

A Baburin - R Pert
4NCL, (9.4)
Grunfeld Defence
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nf3 Bg7 4 g3 d5 5 cxd5 Nxd5 6 Bg2 Nb6 7 Nc3 Nc6 8 e3 0-0 9 0-0 Re8 10 d5 Na5 11 Nd4 Bd7 12 e4 c6 13 Bf4 cxd5 14 exd5 Rc8 15 Rc1 Nac4 16 b3 Nd6 17 Qd2 Rc5 18 Rfe1 Nbc8 19 Be3 Rc7 20 Nce2 Nf5 21 Nxf5 Bxf5 22 Nd4 Bd7 23 h4 h5 24 Nf3 Bg4 25 Ng5 Rd7 26 Qb4 Nb6 27 Qf4 Bf6 28 Bd4 Kg7 29 Rc5 Qb8 30 Be5 Qd8 31 Re3 Bf5 32 d6 Bxe5 33 Qxe5+ f6 34 Qxf5 gxf5 35 Ne6+ Kf7 36 Nxd8+ Rdxd8 37 dxe7 Rd1+ 38 Kh2 f4 39 gxf4 Rxe7 40 Rxe7+ Kxe7 41 Rxh5 Rd2 42 Rh7+ Ke6 43 Rxb7 Rxf2 44 Rxa7 Rxf4 45 Kg3 Rd4 46 h5 Rd3+ 47 Kf4 1-0

2) Here and There

Garry Kasparov, who recently turned 40, was the surprise winner of the 2002 Chess Oscar with 3082 points, finishing well ahead of Peter Leko (2668 points), Vishy Anand (2453), Ruslan Ponomariov (2145),Vladimir Kramnik (1471), Evgeny Bareev (1132), Veselin Topalov (964), Judit Polgar (771), Anatoly Karpov (741) and Alexander Grischuk (706).

SM David Pruess will be leaving his native Berkeley soon in search of opportunities in New York City. We wish him well.

The exhibition game between GMs Alex Yermolinsky and Yury Shulman, held last Wednesday at the MI, ended in a hard fought draw. Look for the game, with annotations by both players, to be up on the MI website sometime next week.

FM Bela Evans and NM Roger Poehlmann continue to lead the Thursday Masters with scores of plus one. The event concludes May 27.

3) Games from Recent MI Events

FM Keatinge-Clay - SM Mezentsev [E74]
MI Master/Expert (3), 2003
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0-0 5.Be2 c5 6.d5 d6 7.Bg5 h6 8.Be3 b5 9.e5 dxe5 10.Nxb5 Nbd7 11.f3 Ne8 12.Qd2 Kh7 13.Bd3 Nd6 14.Nc3 f5 15.Nge2 e4 16.fxe4 Ne5 17.b3 fxe4 18.Bc2 Qa5 19.Nxe4 Qxd2+ 20.Kxd2 Nexc4+ 21.bxc4 Nxc4+ 22.Kd3 Nb2+ 23.Kd2 Nc4+ 1/2-1/2

IM Shipman - NM Margulis [A45]
Spring Tuesday Night Marathon (7), 2003
1.d4 Nf6 2.g3 c5 3.d5 e5 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 Be7 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.h3 Bd7 8.a4 0-0 9.Nd2 Ne8 10.g4 Bg5 11.Nc4 g6 12.Bd3 Bxc1 13.Qxc1 Qh4 14.Ne3 Na6 15.Ng2 Qe7 16.Qh6 Nb4 17.Ne3 Rc8 18.Bb5 f6 19.Bxd7 Qxd7 20.f4 Qg7 21.Qxg7+ Kxg7 22.f5 Rf7 23.Kd2 b6 24.a5 Rb8 25.axb6 Rxb6 26.Nc4 Ra6 27.Rxa6 Nxa6 28.Ra1 Nb8 29.Nb5 a6 30.Nbxd6 Nxd6 31.Nxd6 Rd7 32.Nc4 h5 33.Ra5 Rc7 34.Ke3 Kh6 35.Kf3 hxg4+ 36.hxg4 Kg5 37.Kg3 gxf5 38.gxf5 Kh5 39.Ra1 Kh6 40.Kf3 Kg7 41.b3 Kf8 42.Ra5 Kf7 43.Ke3 Kf8 44.Kd3 Rc8 45.Nb2 Ke7 46.Na4 Nd7 47.Rxa6 Rh8 48.d6+ Kf7 49.Ra7 Rh3+ 50.Kc4 Ke8 51.Nxc5 1-0

4) Upcoming Events

Upcoming Tournaments at the MI

Full details at www.chessclub.org

Charles Powell: May 17
Stamer Memorial: June 6-8
William Addison: June 28

Scholastic Quads: May 31

West Coast National Events

Championship Qualifier A Heritage Event!
An American Classic Event!
June 13-15: 2003 National Open WGPP: 200Q Nevada 6SS, 40/2, SD/1 (scholastic and unrated sections 12-RDSS G/90). Riviera Hotel and Casino, 2901 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV 89109. $53,000 Prize Fund is Fully Guaranteed and will not be reduced. Championship. $$G: $5000-2500- 1200-600-300-150-150-150-150-150, U2500 $1100, U2400 $1000, U2300 $900. The winner of the Championship section receives a replica of the Edmondson Cup. 5 points wins at least $500, 4-1/2 wins at least $200. Under 2200: $$G: $2500-1200-600-300-150-75-75-75-75-75, U2100 $900. Under 2000: $$G: $2500-1200-600-300-150-75-75-75-75-75, U1900 $900. Under 1800: $$G: $2500-1200-600-300-150-75-75-75-75-75, U1700 $900. Under 1600: $$G: $2500-1200-600-300-150-75-75-75-75-75, U1500 $900. Under 1400: $$G: $1500-700-350-200-100-50-50-50-50-50, U1300 $600. Under 1200: $$G: $1000-500-250-150-100-50-50-50-50-50, U1100 $400, U1000 $200. Unrated: Open to players with no published USCF (or convertible international) rating. $500-250-125-75-50. Unrated prizes are USCF Gift Certificates. Scholastic Under 1200: Open to players in grades K-12 rated under 1200. Trophies to top 10 and top 5 in each 100 point rating group. All Sections: 5 points in any section (10 in unrated) wins at least 10% of first prize. Plus score bonus ($$G 8000) in addition to any other prizes: every player who finishes with 3-1/2 points (6-1/2 in unrated or scholastic section) or better wins a $25 USCF gift certificate. Plus score certificates will be given on site only. EF: (except scholastic and unrated) $95 by 5/26, $125 by 6/11, $150 on site. $30 off advance entry fee only for Juniors under 20 or Seniors over 65. Scholastic EF: $49 by 5/26, $69 by 6/11, $85 on site. Unrated EF: $65 by 5/26, $80 by 6/11, $100 on site. This is an open tournament - you may play in any section at or above your rating level, unrated players may play only in Championship, Unrated or Scholastic section (if age eligible). CCA minimum ratings may be used if higher than USCF June Supplement. Reg: 6-8 pm. Thursday June 12, 9-10:30 a.m. Friday June 13. Rds: 12-7, 10-5, 10-5. Late schedule: rounds 1 and 2, G/60, at 7 and 9:30 Friday. Add $1 to EF for this option. Not available in scholastic and unrated sections. Half point byes available in any round, but 5th or 6th round 1/2 point byes must be requested before the start of round 2. Add 50 cents to advance EF for 1st round 1/2 point bye only. Chess sets and boards provided for tournament play only; not for skittles. Please bring chess clocks! Many free extras and surprises! Free parking. Free airport shuttle for players only. Blitz tournament Thursday evening, June 12th, 80% of EF returned as prizes. Chess Camp Thursday June 12th. Free raffle with great prizes. Free lectures by GM Ron Henley. Free analysis of your games. Come early for Grandmaster SIMULS Thursday at 3:30 p.m. New LOW room rates! HR: $69 single or double includes free tickets to one of three Mardi Gras Riviera Las Vegas Shows Wednesday or Thursday. 1-800-634-6753 or (702) 734-5110. Don't be shut out; make your reservations early and be sure to ask for the chess rates; the Riviera sells out most weekends. Cutoff for special hotel rate is May 26th. Special $69 rates after cutoff only if rooms available! Credit card or one night room deposit will be required to hold reservation, refundable if reservation canceled 72 hours in advance. For travel discounts check our website or contact Classic Travel at Email: joet_classic@hotmail.com or (630) 980-7900. Tournament Registration: U.S. Chess Federation, 3054 RTE 9W, New Windsor, NY 12553, Attention: National Open Entries. Credit card entries accepted 8am-9pm Eastern at 1-800-388-KING Info: Alan Losoff (847) 858-7778, evenings central time, Email: Alan@Losoff.com, or Web: http://www.64.com/natlopen/. W. FIDE.

US OPEN AUGUST 3-15

LAX Radisson 6225 W. Century Blvd. · Los Angeles, CA 90045 · (310) 670-9000 $89 Chess Rate - Lowest in years!

A USCF National Championship

A Heritage Event!

Tournament Format
A one-section tournament with class prizes.
12 Round Swiss System. Several Schedules Available!
Traditional Schedule: One round daily at 7:30 pm 8/43-8/8 & 8/10-8/15.
Matinee 1st half: One round daily at 11 am 8/3-8/8, then 7:30 pm 8/10-8/15. Merges with Traditional after Round 6; 8-day option: All games 40/2, SD/1. Rounds 8/8-8/11 at 11 am and 7:30 pm, 8/12-15 at 7:30 pm. 6-day option: Rounds 1-7 are G/60. Rounds 8/10 12:30-3-6-9, 8/11 10:30-1:30-4, 7:30, 8/12-8/15 7:30 pm. 8-day and 6-day both merge with others after Round 7. Busy person special: Play only rds 7-12 at 7:30 pm 8/10-15. Over 2399 starts with 4 pts, 2200-2399 3.5, Expert 3, Class A 2.5, Class B 2, Class C 1.5, Class D 1, Under 1200 0.5, Unrated 0.5. Time Control 40/2, SD/1 except 1st 7 rounds of 6-day schedule are G/60. The August rating list will be used. 1/2 point byes are available. Maximum 2 byes available rds. 1-10. Half-point byes available in round 1, and in any round if player would have been rated above opponent. Bye counts zero if player would have been rated below opponent. Round 2-9 byes must be requested at least 3 hours before round; round 10 byes must be requested before round 9 and are irrevocable. No byes last 2 rounds. Players may not receive more bye points during the first 6 rounds than the busy player score for their class.

Prizes
$55,000 unconditionally guaranteed - second largest ever prize fund ever at a U.S. Open. Top places: $8000-4000-3000-2000-1500-1200-1000-800-600-400.
Qualifier for the 2004 U.S. Invitational Championship.
2449-2300: $2000-1000. 2299-2200: $2000-1000.
Expert: $2000-1000-600-500-300.
Class A: $2000-1000-600-500-300.
Class B: $2000-1000-600-500-300.
Class C: $2000-1000-500-400-300.
Class D: $1500-1000-500-400-300.
Class E: $1000-500-400.
Under 1000: $1000-400.
Unrated: $1000-400.
Unrateds are ineligible for Expert through Under 1000 prizes.
Elegant trophy for each class winner.
Biggest upset by non-prizewinner: $100.
Best games: $200-100-100 (one reserved for non-master).

Registration

If mailed by 7/26 or paid by phone, fax or online with credit card by 7/30.
$190 Traditional
$189 Matinee 1st half
$187 8-day
$186 6-day
$185 Busy Player
On site $220.
Registration closes 2 hours before 1st round in each schedule.
USCF Membership is required and must be current. You may pay USCF membership with your entry or on site. Regular Adult Memberhip, $49/year includes CHESS LIFE (12 issues) Senior Membership Age 65 & over, $36/year includes CHESS LIFE (12 issues) Youth Membership Age 19 and under, $25/year includes CHESS LIFE (12 issues) Scholastic Membership Age 14 and under, $19/year, includes CHESS LIFE (5 issues + Yearbook) Other membership categories available. Advance entries must include player's name and all fees to be accepted. Mail Entries to
U.S. Open Championship
U.S. Chess Federation
3054 RTE 9W
New Windsor, NY 12553.
Make Checks payable to USCF.
To enter by phone call (800) 388-KING.
Secure On Line Registration will be available soon.
All entries received will be posted here.
Advance registration is strongly encouraged.