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It is impossible to keep one's skill in a showcase, like a jewel. Adolf Anderssen (on the effects of not playing for a period of time) |
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News 2) Four way tie in National Open - Dmitry Gurevich wins playoff 3) Chess4Less Denker Memorial Invitational 4) Chess & Books with Fred Wilson 5) Koltanowski-Keres 6) Upcoming Events 1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club NewsMechanics' members and other USCF voters please note the following from the frontpage of the USCF website. Because of production problems during the assembling and binding of the June issue of Chess Life, some of the ballots in the magazine were not personalized with the voting member's name and address. There may also have been some cases of voting members who did not receive a ballot in their magazine. USCF Secretary Don Schultz, Executive Director Bill Hall and Director of Publications Glenn Petersen have decided that the problems at our printer warrant sending out a new set of ballots to all voting members. A replacement ballot form is being prepared. It will be printed and mailed out via first class mail as soon as possible. We'll update this notice as we have more information. We apologize for any inconvenience. This evening the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon starts at 6:30 and runs eight weeks. Many MI members made the trip to Las Vegas this past weekend for the National Open. Chess Room Director John Donaldson was the top scorer in the Open section with 4 from 6. A draw in the last round would have given him in a spot in the US Championship on tiebreak as he played three of the winners, but he was ground down by GM Dmitry Gurevich in a tough game. Dmitry Zilberstein and Alan Stein were also looking for a spot in San Diego but, like Donaldson, lost in the last round to finish on 3.5, a score also equaled by Matthew Ho. 2) Four way tie in National Open - Dmitry Gurevich wins playoff2005 US NATIONAL OPEN NEARS 700 PLAYERS by Al Losoff (Live from Las Vegas) This years event drew 697 players to the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The five-day chess festival offered not only chess but also the Polgar Simul and breakfast, game analysis by GM Arthur Bisguier, chess lectures and International Chess Camp by GM Susan Polgar, and tournament rules workshop by Tim Just. Chess merchandise was available by Rochester Chess Center and Chess 'n Stuff. Daily tournament bulletins were produced by Chris Bird. TOP TOURNAMENT RESULTS (for complete results see http://www.64.com/) National Open Championship: GM Nick E. De Firmian of Denmark, IM Benjamin Finegold of Michigan, GM Dmitry Gurevich of Illinois, GM Dashzeveg Sharavdorj of Texas all tied for first with 5.0. GM Dmitry Gurevich won the Edmondson Cup in a blitz playoff against GM De Firmian. Under 2200: Henrik Pashayan of California and Vinh Loc Tran of Utah tied with 5.0. Under 2000: Joshua Gutman of California and Anthony Lee New York tied with 5.5. Under 1800: Danton T. Lee of Hawaii and Josh Hickenlooper of Utah tied with 5.5. Under 1600: Rohan Agarwal of California won with 5.5. Under 1400: Charles Sun of California and Albert Hong of Idaho tied with 5.5. Under 1200: Jonas T. Mutuc of California had a perfect 6.0! Unrated: Plamen S. Peychev of Nevada finished with 11.0. Scholastic: This section is growing quickly with so many young chess enthusiasts competing! 65 chose to compete in this prestigious National Open this year! Sean Vibbert of Indiana and Adam Z. Jiang of Idaho tied with an impressive 11 points out of 12. The National Open Blitz Championship was won by GMs Dmitry Gurevich and Varuzahn Akobian with a final score of 12.5. The Intergalactic Bughouse Championship attracted 8 teams of players and was won by Diaz-Lee and Barkell-Choch with tied scores of 2.0. Among many outstanding events at the festival was The Polgar Simul and Breakfast. For the first time in 10 years all three Polgar Sisters were together. Judit, Susan and Sofia played a grueling 4 hour Triplex Simul consisting of 81 boards. It is impressive as well as historical. The final score of The Polgar Sisters was 64 wins, 11 draws and just 6 losses! GM Susan Polgar along with National Open organizers Fred Gruenberg and Al Losoff announced that at next years 2006 National Open a new event will be held - Susan Polgar World Open Chess Championship for Girls - Las Vegas, Nevada - June 15-18, 2006 at the Riviera Hotel & Casino. For over 40 years chess enthusiasts have been competing in this event. Spectators are always welcome to view not only some exceptional chess competition but also all of the side events, lectures, simuls and more. Your next move should be to check out the official website for the National Open http://www.64.com/!
1 De Firmian, Nick E Q 2619 5.0 W55 W61 D13 W10 W28 D2 # Player Name Qualification Method
1 GM Hikaru Nakamura Defending US Champion GM deFirmian and IM Gonzalez, who had a fantastic result with wins for Ehlvest and Ibragimov, qualified for San Diego. I am not sure about the other spots. 3) Chess4Less Denker Memorial InvitationalChess4Less Denker Memorial Invitational will be held at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton right after the World Open. The IM norm event, honoring the memory of the late Arnold Denker includes GM Michael Rohde and IMs Renier Gonzalez and Emillo Pupo. 4) Chess & Books with Fred WilsonHi folks: My internet radio show, Chess & Books with Fred Wilson, returned Tuesday evening, March 15th, at 8:00 PM (EST). You can access it easily by simply going to the excellent website: http://www.chess.fm . It will run every Tuesday night from 8:00 to 10:00 PM (EST), with a replay of the live show following almost immediately afterwards, for chess enthusiasts on the West Coast. There will also be a couple of replays the following afternoon. My twelfth guest,Tuesday evening June 14th, 2005, will be: Fred's guest Tuesday, June 14th, 2005, will be AMERICA'S NEWEST GRANDMASTER GM (ICCF) JOHN TIMM. John, who has qualified for the XIX World Correspondence Chess Championship Finals, kindly sent us a brief chess biography: "I began to play tournament-level OTB (over-the-board) chess as a freshman in college, and was an active OTB player for about 20 years, peak rating about 2350. However, I have only played one OTB tournament in the last 20 years. I gave up OTB chess for the usual reasons (full-time job, wife, son, other responsibilities). Basically, I found it impossible to live the rest of my life and still play in the major weekend or longer tournaments with GM/IM norms I needed to play in to improve. As my OTB career was winding down, I started to play CC because it fit into my schedule much better than weekend OTB tournaments. I played in one domestic CC tournament (Golden Knights, 17 1/2 of 18, tied for first), then switched to international play to find stronger opposition. I started international play with seven-player Master sections, qualifying for and winning the 2nd Anglo-Pacific Zonal Championship. That tournament was the real catalyst for my international career. Because of that result, I was invited to play on the US Olympic Team, XIII Olympiad Prelims (10 1/2 of 12 on fifth board) and qualified to play in the XIX World Championship Candidates Tournament (first place, GM norm, qualification for a World Championship Final). I made my second and final GM norm in the Veinger Memorial (a closed invitational tournament)". John will discuss both his successful OTB and correspondence chess careers, and the transitions he necessarily went through to become a world class correspondence chess grandmaster. Please send questions for GM John Timm to either fred@fredwilsonchess.com or Tony Rook. 5) Koltanowski-KeresThe following game, in which San Francisco Chronicle readers were invited to suggest moves for White for the first 30 moves, pitted Chronicle columnist George Koltanowski against Paul Keres. It looks to have been played in 1964, the same year that Keres annotated his victory over Robert Byrne (Buenos Aires 1964) as a guest columnist for the Chronicle. Koltanowski,G - Keres,P D71 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nb4 7.d5 c6 8.Ne2 cxd5 9.a3 Qa5 10.0-0 d4 11.Nxd4 N4c6 12.Nxc6 Nxc6 13.Bd2 Qd8 14.Nc3 0-0 15.Be3 Be6 16.f4 Bc4 17.Rf2 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Qa5 19.e5 Rfd8 20.Qe1 Bd5 21.Bf1 Qa4 22.Rb2 b6 23.Bf2 Bb3 24.Bg2 Rac8 25.Bxc6 Rxc6 26.Bd4 Bd5 27.Qd1 Qa6 28.Rd2 Qc8 29.Qf1 Rc4 30.h3 h5 31.f5 Qxf5 32.Qxf5 gxf5 33.Kf2 Bb7 34.Rb2 e6 35.Rb4 Rdxd4 36.cxd4 Rc2+ 37.Ke3 Rc3+ 38.Kf4 Kg7 39.Kg5 Rxg3+ 40.Kxh5 Rxh3+ 41.Kg5 Rg3+ 0-1 6) Upcoming EventsUpcoming Tournaments at the MI
William Addison Open - June 25 Northern California
June 18-19 EBCC June Swiss
2005 Sacramento Chess Championship. July 2-4. GPP: 6 Southern California July 21-24, 22-24 or 23-24 10th Annual Pacific Coast Open GPP: 120 S. California 6SS, 40/2, SD/1 (2-day option, rds 1-3 G/60), Renaissance Agoura Hills Hotel, 30100 Agoura Road, Agoura Hills CA 91301 (US-101 to Reyes Adobe Road exit). Adjacent to the Santa Monica Mountains, 26 miles west of Burbank, 12 miles from Malibu, 28 miles from Ventura. Free parking. Prizes $40,000 based on 320 entries; minimum $30,000 (75% each prize) guaranteed. In 7 sections. Open: $4000-2000-1000-600-400, clear winner bonus $200, U2400 $1500, U2300/Unr $1500. If tie for first, top 2 on tiebreak play speed game (white 7 min, black 5 min and gets draw odds) for title &bonus prize. FIDE rated. Under 2200: $2500-1200-600-400-300. Under 2000: $2500-1200-600-400-300. Under 1800: $2500-1200-600-400-300. Under 1600: $2500-1200-600-400-300. Under 1400: $2500-1200-600-400-300. Under 1200: $1600-900-600-400-300. Unrated may play in any section, with maximum prize U2200 $1200, U2000 $1000, U1800 $800, U1600 $600, U1400 $400 U1200 $200; balance goes to next player(s) in line. Top 6 sections EF: 4-day $164, 3-day $163, 2-day $162 mailed by 7/13, all $161 online at chesstour.com by 7/18, all $170 phoned by 7/18 (406-896-2038, entries only, no questions), all $190 (no checks, credit cards OK) at tmt. SCCF membership ($12, jrs $7.50) required for rated Southern CA residents. Under 1200 Section EF: all $40 less. Re-entry (except Open) $80, count as half entries. Advance EF $10 less if paid with $49 USCF dues. 4-day schedule: Reg Thu to 6:30pm, rds Thu 7 pm, Fri 7 pm, Sat 12-7, Mon 10-4:30. 3-day schedule: Reg. Fri to 11am, rds Fri 12-7, Sat 12-7, Sun 10-4:30. 2-day schedule: Reg Sat to 9am, rds Sat 10-1-4-7, Sun 10-4:30. All schedules: Bye all, limit 2, rd 4-6 byes must commit before rd 3. HR: $79-79-79-79, 818-707-1220, reserve by 7/7 or rate may increase. Car rental: Avis, 800-331-1600, use AWD #D657633. Ent: Continental Chess, PO Box 249, Salisbury Mills NY 12577. Advance EF minus $5 service charge refunded if you withdraw and give notice at least an hour before rd 1. Questions: http://www.chesstour.com/, 845-496-9658. Advance entries posted at chesstour.com 7/20. |