"You can permit yourself any liberty in the opening except the luxury of a passive position." Grigory Sanakoev (World CC Champion) 1) Seven-way tie in Agoura Hills 2) Vayntrub first in Bagby Memorial 3) Tserendorj leads Summer TNM 4) A.Ibragimov tops Wednesday Blitz 5) Bobby Fischer in the news 6) Mark Pinto International 7) US Junior and Cadet 8) Shivkumar Shivaji at the World open 9) Advanced Chess Camp to start soon 10) Upcoming Events 1) Seven-way tie in Agoura HillsGMs Alex Onischuk, Alex Yermolinsky, Ildar Ibragimov and Kamil Miton, GM-elects Melikset Khachiyan and Varuzhan Akobian and NM Lernik Manouikian tied for first at 4.5 from 6 in the 9th Annual Pacific Open. Several Bay Area players turned in excellent performances besides Mechanics' GM-in-Residence Yermolinsky. Albert Rich of San Jose tied for first in the Under 2200 section at 5.5 while San Francisco's Drake Wang was among the prize winners with 4.5. Ricky Yu tied for forth at 4.5 in the Under 2000 while Craig Yamamoto shared third at 4.5 in the Under 1600. Steve Immitt, Randy Hough and Walter Brown directed the well-run 252 player event for the Continental Chess Association. 2) Vayntrub first in Bagby MemorialDmitry Vayntrub won the 4th Annual Charles Bagby Memorial with a 5-0 score on July 17 at the MI. Tying for second at 4.5 were Batsaikan Tserendorj and Dan Schwartz. Anthony Corrales directed the 61-player event for the Mechanics'. 3) Tserendorj leads Summer TNMBatsaikan Tserendorj of Mongolia leads the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon with a score of 7-1 with one round to go. Right behind at 6.5 in the 85-player event is his last round opponent NM Igor Margulis. The remaining top scorers at 6 are WFM Tuvshintogs Batchimeg and Expert Anthony Rozenvasser. 4) A. Ibragimov tops Wednesday BlitzArthur Ibragimov won the July 14 Wednesday Night Blitz with a score of 14.5 to finish ahead of 17 other blitz enthusiasts. Anthony Rozenvasser was second at 13.5 followed by Felix German and Yefim Bukh on 13. 5) Bobby Fischer in the newsThere may be many answers to the question of who the World Chess Champion is, but there is only one as to who is the most famous. By now every chessplayer in the world knows that Bobby Fischer is being held in Japan, waiting to be deported back to the United States. Exactly why the Japanese elected to take action at this time is unclear as Fischer has been in and out of that country for many years. It's also unclear if the US government asked the Japanese to take action. Fischer was charged in 1992 with violating the US Trading with the Enemy Act for playing a match in Yugoslavia which was under sanctions and has not returned to the United States since. Simple mathematics would suggest that sometime around 2002, if not a little earlier, the US government issued Fischer a new passport. One would think this is not routinely done for individuals who are urgently wanted. Fischer comments after 9/11 didn't win him any friends nor did his venomous anti-Semitic rants on Filipino radio, but being thrown in jail seems a very sad end for one of the greatest chess players of all time. Will he end up sharing a cell with Charles Jenkins? Predictably, the Fischer Affair has generated comments in many quarters. Close to home Fischer's brother-in-law had this to say in the San Jose Mercury News . "What Bobby's accused of is playing chess 12 years ago in Yugoslavia," said Russell Targ, a former Stanford laser physicist whose late wife was Fischer's sister. ``It looks like it's a distraction from the war and the economy. Let's arrest Bobby Fischer. That will take people's minds off their troubles.'' Under the title "Chess may have been the only thing that kept the champion in touch with reality," Garry Kasparov wrote a curious article which appeared in this Monday's edition of The Wall Street Journal. Particularly strange were his comments about Fischer's chess behavior, especially so as Kasparov is not likely to be voted the Lady Bing trophy equivalent for good sportsmanship anytime soon. "The conventional wisdom says that Bobby Fischer was a guileless and petulant child who just wanted his own way." I believe he was conscious of all his actions and the psychological effect his behavior had on his opponents. The gentlemanly Mr. Spassky was ill-prepared to deal with the belligerent American in Reykjavik. The Philadelphia Inquirer has posted some of the documents from the 750-page FBI file on Regina Fischer Pustan, the mother of Bobby Fischer. The file was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Go to http://inquirer.philly.com/specials/2002/fischer/ if you want to know more although a lot of material has been blacked out by the FBI for security reasons. 6) Mark Pinto InternationalThe Mark Pinto International officially starts today. Top seeds are Filipino IMs Enrico Sevillano (now representing the United States) and Ricardo DeGuzman. Concurrent with this IM norm event are two FIDE rating events. Top seeds in Group A are NMs Russell Wong, Paul Gallegos, Andy Lee and Mark Pinto. There are still spots in the second group for players 1900-2250. Contact Anthony Corrales at apcorrales@hotmail.com for more information. 7) US JuniorVinay Bhat drew his first round in the US Junior.
Rensch,D (2421) - Bhat,V (2488) [C18] 8) Shivkumar Shivaji at the World openNM Shivkumar Shivaji send the following pretty win with notes. Shivkumar Shivaji - IM Anna Zatonshikh [B01] 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bc4 c6 5...Nc6 6.h3 Bf5 7.d3 Nbd7 8.Qe2 e6 9.g3 !? Be7 10.Bf4 Qb4 11.Bb3 Nc5 12.Ne5 a5 13.Bd2 Qd4 14.g4 Bg6 15.h4 ! Black is not threatening a4 and b5 yet as c6 is hanging. 15...a4 ! Denying the c4 square to the white knight. 16.Bc4 Bd6 17.Be3 ! Qxe5 18.d4 ! Better than f4 and Nd3+ does not win a pawn now. 18...Nd3+ 19.cxd3 Qa5 20.h5 Bxh5 21.gxh5 b5 22.Bxe6 [22.Qf3 bxc4 23.h6 (23.Qxc6+ Ke7 24.Qb7+ Nd7 25.dxc4 Rhb8 Again black is ok.) 23...a3 !! 24.hxg7 Rg8 25.Bc1 Rb8 And black surprisingly holds.] 22...fxe6 23.h6 0-0 ! 24.hxg7 Rf7 25.Bd2 a3 ! 26.b3 Bb4 27.Rc1 Rd8 28.Rh4² Nd5 ? A dubious move, but the followup is hard to see. 29.Rxh7 !! [29.Qxe6 Is a safer alternative. The threat is Rh7.] 29...Bxc3 [29...Kxh7 30.Qh5+ Kxg7 31.Bh6+ Kg8 32.Qg6+ Kh8 33.Qxf7 Bxc3+ (33...Rg8 34.Ke2 !! 34...Nxc3+ 35.Kf3 ! And Bg7+ is now unstoppable.; 33...Qc7 And now white can either go to a better ending after Qc7 or play Qh5 and continue the attack. In both cases white is clearly better.) 34.Ke2 Rg8 35.Bg7+ +5.50 !] 30.Rxc3 ! Nf4 [30...Kxh7 31.Rxc6 (31.Qh5+) 31...Qa7 32.Qh5+ Kxg7 33.Qg5+ Kh7 34.Qh4+ Kg7 35.Qxd8± The purpose of inserting Qh4+ was to force the king to g7 so that Qd4 can be answered by Bc3. White is practically winning here.] 31.Qe4 Rxd4 Desperation but black is dead lost anyway. 32.Rh8+ Kxg7 33.Qxd4+ 1-0 9 Advanced Chess Camp to start soonSpots are still open for the 4th Annual, MI Advanced Chess Camp which is open to all ages. Advanced Players (1200-2200) This is not a camp for players that want to jump two rating classes in five days. You won't learn how to win against the Sicilian every time using the Grand Prix Attack. So why our camp and not others? At the MI camp you will get a look inside a GM's laboratory and get a feel for how they work on their game from the ground up. You will learn not only the importance of analyzing your own games, but also how to do it properly. You will learn to identify the critical points of the game and to understand when and why things went wrong. You will learn how to use ChessBase and Fritz efficiently as part of a daily training program as well as utilizing resources on the Internet such as TWIC and the Internet Chess Club. Today chess books are cranked out at an incredible rate. Some of them are very good, many are quite bad. We will help students learn to select that which is truly useful. On the fun side our instructors have unique experience in international competition. Expect to hear stories and anecdotes about what it's like to play against Kasparov and defend first board in a Chess Olympiad. Instructors: Grandmaster Alex Yermolinsky, International Master John Donaldson, and MI Scholastic Director Anthony Corrales.
Who: Open to all ages from 8 and up. 10) Upcoming EventsUpcoming Tournaments at the MI
Charles Bagby Memorial - July 17 Mechanics' Institute Scholastic Quads 2004 Tournaments: July 24 Open to players age 18 and under (Limited to first 80 players) Game/45 Rounds : 10:30am, 12:15pm, 2:00pm Late Registration: 9:30am - 10:15am Open: to the first eighty players Note: Quads based on rating. USCF Rated. Unrated players face each other. You must be a USCF member to play in the quads. Time Control: Game in 45 minutes Entry Fee: $20 / $30 day of tournament/ $15 for MI members Checks payable to Mechanics' Chess Club Prizes: Trophies for the winners of each quad. California Events
Aug. 28 & 29: Sacramento Chess Club Weekend Swiss #13 GPP: 6 N. California
A Heritage Event! National Events Sept. 3, 4, 5, 6 23rd North American FIDE Open GPP: 150 Oklahoma 8SS, G/90+30 sec, Holiday Inn (Holidome) 2515 W. 6th Ave (Hwy-51) Stillwater, OK 1-405-372-0800. HR: 60-60-60-60. EF: $50. Free to FIDE rated players. Reg: Fri 11am-12:30pm. Rds: 1-6, 11-4, 11-4, 9-2. $$G 9,900 will not be lowered. $$G$1,500, $1,300, $1,100, $900, $700, $500. 11 plaques. $$G 600 each class X-E & below. Unr $200-$100. 2 byes rds 1-6. OCF req. Free Parking. Ent: Jim Berry PO Box 351 Stillwater, OK 74076. 1-405-624-2281. jaberrycg@aol.com. LS, W. FIDE. Acc pairings may be used |