Mechanics Institute Chess Room Newsletter #263

   The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of truth--that the error and truth are simply opposite. They are nothing of the sort. What the world turns to, when it is cured on one error, is usually simply another error, and maybe one worse than the first one.

H. L. Mencken

1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Chess-playing area to be built in downtown Chico
3) Top Ranked Bay Area Stars by Michael Aigner
4) Mike Senkiewicz on Chess.FM
5) Chess for Peace Seeks Sponsorships
6) Peter Lapiken
7) Here and There
8) Upcoming Events

1) Mechanics' Institute Club News

Batchimeg Tuvshintugs is first with 5 from 5 in the Tuesday Night Marathon after having just defeated NM Albert Rich of San Jose. Class A player Felix Rudyak is a surprising second with 4.5 having upset three higher-rated opponents in a row. Tied for third in the 69-player event, which runs eight rounds, are RIch and fellow NMs Russell Wong and Tony D'Aloisio.

The MI won it's first US Chess League match last Wednesday defeating top-ranked Miami.

1. IM John Donaldson (SF) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 1/2-1/2

2. FM Marcel Martinez (MIA) vs FM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF) 1/2-1/2

3. FM David Pruess (SF) vs Jorge Diaz (MIA) 1-0

4. Dr. Erik Moskow (MIA) vs NM Nicolas Yap (SF) 1/2-1/2

Standings in the West are now: 1. Miami 2.5/4 2. Dallas 2/4; 3. MI 1.5; 4. Carolina 1.

This week's match:

(2.0-2.0) Boston Blitz vs San Francisco Mechanics (1.5-2.5)

Starts at 8:00 PM ET Time Control - Game 60 with 30 second increment

Boston Blitz San Francisco Mechanics

IM Eugene Perelshteyn - 2576

x

x

IM John Donaldson - 2442

IM Josh Friedel - 2477

x

x

FM Dmitry Zilberstein - 2435

NM Charles Riordan - 2272

x

x

FM David Pruess - 2432

Ilya Krasik - 2123

x

x

NM Andy Lee - 2231

Avg Rating - 2362

x

x

Avg Rating - 2385

Boston Total -------

0

0

------- San Francisco Total

2) Chess-playing area to be built in downtown Chico

By ARI COHN - Staff Writer Chico Enterprise Record 9/21/2005

A chess-playing area and a large mural, totaling nearly $250,000, soon could grace Chico's downtown City Plaza.

The City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday to approve the money for the project.

Artist Elizabeth Devereaux and landscape architect Greg Melton are set to design the chess area, to be situated mid-block on the Broadway side of City Plaza. The area could include permanent tables and seating, and a sculpture carved out of wood from elm trees that shaded the plaza until the city cut them down in 2003 because the trees were old and unhealthy.

That portion of the project has been estimated at $178,000, including landscaping, lighting and decorative concrete.

A $10,000 mural -- a 10-foot by 20-foot reproduction of a large photograph of downtown Chico in sepia tones -- is slated to grace the side of the future restrooms structure in the plaza. Chico arts officials have expressed a preference for an old photograph of the historic trolley on Main Street.

Inspection, contingency and overhead costs put the total price tag for the mural and chess area at more than $249,000.

There were some reservations about the project. Mayor Scott Gruendl, who along with Vice Mayor Maureen Kirk and Councilor Andy Holcombe ultimately voted in favor of it, said City Plaza may be getting too crowded with design features.

"I'm growing concerned that we're programming a lot of the park and that may hinder the type of activities we have there in the future," Gruendl said.

Councilor Dan Herbert objected to having the consultant, Devereaux, not only design and construct the chess-playing area, but also have control of the project's budget. Councilor Steve Bertagna joined Herbert in voting against the allocation, while Councilors Ann Schwab and Larry Wahl recused themselves because they own property downtown.

Herbert said the process of awarding the project to an artist should have been competitive, with several artists bidding for the contract.

"I can't imagine any other place in the city where we'd accept that," he said. "I'm voting against the principle and the process, not the artist or the project."

Devereaux said she has done projects like this all over the country, and it's standard procedure. "They ask what I charge and they either choose me or they don't," she said.

Artist Greg Payne said he was wary about the council approving money for a project whose designs have not been aired publicly.

"None of us have even seen a drawing," he said. "We have no idea what you're about to approve right now."

Parks Director Dennis Beardsley said the chess-playing area will be similar in size to a veterans memorial to be located on the opposite side of the park. The privately funded veterans monument will consist of seven vertical monoliths of polished gray granite, erected side by side along Main Street.

Beardsley said the entire City Plaza renovation, to include such features as a large fountain, a bandstand, walkways and grassy areas, should be finished by next April. The total cost to the city for the overhaul has been pegged at nearly $3.5 million.

3) Top Ranked Bay Area Stars by NM Michael Aigner

Hello John,

I just posted the following on the CalChess forums. You may want to include it in the newsletter. Yermo is still holding steady at #26 overall but he is the only local player in the top 50.

Michael

-------------------------------

I just updated all of the data from the USCF website for the October 2005 top 100 lists. Check them out! And please send any corrections to me.

http://www.calchess.org/modules.php?name=Information&page=02_calchess_scholastics/top100.php

The following CalChess players are ranked in the top 10 for October. Congratulations to them and all of the rest of the top 100!

women: #6 WGM Camilla Baginskaite
women: #9 WFM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs
age 18: #7 NM Michael Pearson
age 17: #10 NM Matthew Ho
age 15: #6 NM Nicolas Yap
age 13: #9 Samuel Shankland
age 10: #5 Gregory Young
age 9: #1 Daniel Naroditsky
age 7 & under: #9 Nicholas Nip

4) Mike Senkiewicz on Chess.FM

This week's guest on the internet radio show "Chess and Books with Fred Wilson" will be MIKE SENKIEWICZ. The show runs from 8:00 to 10:00 PM (EST) every Tuesday evening. As always, there will be replays of the show almost immediately afterwards for our chess enthusiasts on the West Coast & elsewhere, and often there will be several replays the following day. You can access it easily at the website: http://www.chess.fm

"Fred's guest on Tuesday evening, Sept. 27th, 2005, will be one of the most successful American professional game players MIKE SENKIEWICZ. Mike, who is a USCF master and was a major contributor, along with (now) GM's Soltis and Rogoff, to the US Team's upset victory in the 1971 World Student Team Chess Championship in Haifa, Israel, 1971, was also clearly the best American SCRABBLE player about 30 years ago and was probably the first top player to articulate correct strategic Scrabble theory. Additionally, Mike is one of the best BACKGAMMON players of all time, having been ranked number one or two in the world for six years based on a poll of the top players! Nowadays Mike is playing a lot of "Texas Hold'Em" POKER and describes himself as "a consistently winning player" in online tournaments. Mike also has a fine "working" chess library and is extremely knowledgable about the literature of all the games he plays. Please send questions about CHESS, SCRABBLE, BACKGAMMON or POKER for Mike Senkiewicz to fred@fredwilsonchess.com or Tony Rook".

Best in chess, Fred Wilson

--

Fred Wilson Chess Books
80 East 11th Street Suite 334
New York, NY 10003
Hours: Noon-7:00 P.M.,
Monday through Saturday
Phone: (212) 533-6381
email: fred@fredwilsonchess.com
fredwilsonchess.com

5) Chess for Peace Seeks Sponsorships

CHESS FOR PEACE

106 South Main, Lindsborg, Kansas 67456 - 785-227-2224

For Immediate Release 9/21/05

Contact: Mikhail Korenman 785-227-2224

Chess for Peace Seeks Sponsorships

As part of the Chess for Peace initiative, students from throughout the world will play a series of Internet chess matches with one another to determine which student teams will be invited to Lindsborg, Kansas to compete in the Chess for Peace Festival in June 2006. More than 2000 students are expected to compete in the week-long festival. However, not all students will be able to afford the once-in-a-lifetime experience. This is especially true of student teams from Third World countries, who because of the lack of money, often have to turn down invitations to play outside of their native countries. "We are looking for individuals and companies to sponsor teams from various countries," said Mikhail Korenman, director of the Karpov School of Chess and the Chess for Peace initiative.

The Chess for Peace initiative will kick off their program with a day long series of events on October 29, 2005 when former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and former World Chess Champions Anatoly Karpov and Susan Polgar come to Lindsborg to participate in several events. Karpov and Polgar will interact with an expected 200 scholastic chess players from throughout Kansas, then play a chess match at 3:30 p.m. in Presser Hall on the Bethany College campus. Gorbachev will deliver a major address at 7:30 p.m., also at Presser Hall. Those interested in attending the events or becoming a sponsor can contact the Karpov School of Chess in Lindsborg, phone 785-227-2224.

GORBACHEV ADDRESS: 7:30 p.m., Oct. 29, at Presser Hall. Prime Seating: $53.50. General Admission $27. KARPOV-POLGAR MATCH: 3:30 p.m., Oct. 29, at Presser Hall.Adults: $10.50. Students: $5.50. Credit cards are welcome.Karpov Chess School, 106 S. Main, phone 785-227-2224.

6) Peter Lapiken (1905-1983)

Newsletter 260 had some information on Dr. Peter Lapiken and now we know much more thanks to the efforts of Tom Kalaris (tkalaris@msn.com) and one of Lapiken's relatives, Vladimir Shkurkin.

Older Mechanics' members and those that played in US Opens in the 1950s and 60s will remember Dr. Peter Lapiken, the strongest player ever to live in Montana. Perhaps best known for his performance at the US open in Long Beach in 1955 where he narrowly missed beating Sammy Reshevsky (it ended in a draw) and also drew with the event's winner GM Nicholas Rossolimo, Lapiken was a many of many talents. Fluent in Russian, Chinese, French and English Lapiken received a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in Russian studies. A master at bridge as well as chess, Lapiken was also a concert level classical violinist who knew an amazing number of scores by heart. Often at social occasions Lapiken was the life of the party having in his memory many poems, witty lyrics, etc

Born in Riga the son of a Russian Orthodox priest, Lapiken's family moved East around 1916, eventually settling in Harbin. He lived in this refuge for White Russians until 1935 when the Japanese invaded. He then moved to Shanghai before coming to the United States in 1939. Based in Seattle for a short while he managed to find time to play in the Washington State Championship. Soon after he went south to begin his studies at UC Berkeley and finished third in the 1940 Mechanics' Institute Championship. During the Second World War he served in the US military in intelligence and afterwards taught foreign languages to armed forces personnel. Lapiken returned to California in the early 1950s and finished his PhD. He was on the faculty of USCA for several years before taking a position at the University of Montana which he held until his retirement. The last ten years of his life were spent in San Francisco and he would often drop in at the Mechanics' Chess Room.

7) Here and There

The 10th Annual Governor's Cup, to be held October 28-30 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, looks like it might be the strongest ever. Among those attending are GMs Jaan Ehlvest, Joel Benjamin, Alex Yermolinsky, Sergey Kudrin and Aleks Wojtkiewicz.

Can any Newsletter reader shed light on The Chess-Master Board by Gregory Tscharanov ? This treatise, which advertises learn chess in one hour, features an introduction by Arnold S. Denker US Champion and was published by Games Unlimited of San Francisco. The 26 page booklet must have done okay as it went through at least 2 editions in 1944-45. It was one of a relatively short list of books published in San Francisco. If you factor in Jim Eade's Hypermodern Press and works by George Koltanowski the only other publications I can think of were several by the California Chess Reporter (Lone Pine 1975, The Unknown Tal, Capablanca vs. Marshall and Steinitz vs. Andersen) plus a self-published work by James Buff and one by Peter Dahl on Henry Gross. Can readers think of others?

8) Upcoming Events

Mechanics' Institute

J.J. Dolan - October 1
Carroll Capps - November 5 - 6
Pierre Saint-Amant - Nov. 19
Guthrie McClain - December 3

California and Nevada

2005 Reno Western States Open Chess Tournament
October 14-16, 2005. Reno, Nevada.

$52,400 PRIZE FUND!!! for this Six Round Swiss in Seven Sections (based on 500 paid players, $33,550 Guaranteed). At least 15 places paid in every section! Large prize fund made possible by the generosity of the Sands Regency Casino Hotel. RUB ELBOWS WITH THE MASTERS: Reception with Former World Champion GM Boris Spassky on Wednesday night. FREE lecture by GM Larry Evans on Thursday evening. $100 simul with GM Boris Spassky on Thursday night. Book signing session with GM Boris Spassky on Friday morning. Clinic by GM Boris Spassky on Saturday afternoon. Favorite game analysis with GM Boris Spassky on Sunday afternoon
Chief TD (NTD)
Jerry Weikel
wackyykl@aol.com mailto:wackyykl@aol.com
http://www.uschess.org/tournaments/InvitationfromArgentinaFederation.pdf

A Heritage Event!
An American Classic!
A U.S. Championship Qualifier!
Nov. 24-27 or 25-27 41st Annual American Open GPP: 100 S. California
8SS, 40/2, SD/1. LAX Renaissance Hotel, 9620 Airport Bl, Los Angeles, CA 90045. $$40,200 b/o 400 entries, 50% of each prize gtd. 6 sects. (Unr. must play in Unr. or Master). Open: $4000-2000-1000-700-600-500, U2450/Unr. $1000-500, U2300/Unr. $800-400. U2200 (not a separate section; Experts eligible for all other prizes in section) $2600-1300-700. U2000, U1800, U1600: Each $3200-1600-800-400. U1400: $2200-1100-550, U1200 $1000-500 (not a separate section; U1200s also eligible for U1400 prizes). Unrated: $350-200. EF: Open, U2200, U2000, U1800, U1600, U1400 $119 if rec'd by 11/22, $30 less for jrs. under 15 playing up, $50 more for players rated under 2000 playing in Open, Unrated $39. All: $21 more at door. SCCF membership req'd, $14, $9 jrs under 19 includes Rank & File magazine, OSA. Elegant trophy each section winner. Best game prizes gtd: $100-50-50 (one must be from non-Master). No checks at door - cash, credit card or money order only. 4-day schedule: Reg. closes noon 11/24, 12:30-7:30, 12:30-7:30, 10:30-5, 10-4:30. 3-day schedule: Reg. closes 11:30 am 11/25, 12-2:30-5-8 (G/1), schedules merge in Rd 5 and compete for common prizes. Byes (2 max) with advance notice. CCA minimum ratings and TD discretion will be used to protect you from improperly rated players. October Rating Supplement used. HR: $89, (310) 337-2800, mention chess. Parking only $5. Info: NTD Randy Hough (626) 282-7412, randallhough@yahoo.com. Ent: American Open, PO Box 205, Monterey Park, CA 91754 or www.americanopen.org. NS, W, FIDE Rated. U.S. Championship Qualifier.

Nov. 25-27 or 26-27 EBCC Thanksgiving Swiss GPP: 20 N. California

6SS, 30/90, SD60. East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St, Berkeley, CA, 94709. EF: $60, $70 after 11/12. $5 EBCC discount. $$1000G (top 4 prizes) plus $2000 b/80. Open: 400-300-200-100, u2200: 200-125-75. U2000: 250-150-100, u1800: 200-125-75 U1600: 200-125-75, u1400: 150-100-50. Special Event: Simul by IM Vinay Bhat Fri at 7:30 pm. Reg: 3-day 9-10:30 11/25; 2-day 9-9:45 11/26. Rds: 3-day: 11-4:30 daily. 2-day: rds 1-3 G/45: 10-12-2, merge in rd 4. Info: tournaments@eastbaychess.com; 510-845-1041.

National

Oct. 28-30 10th Annual Governor's Cup GPP: 80 South Dakota

5SS, 40/2, ALL/1, Full-K. Holiday Inn City Centre, 100 West 8th Street, Sioux Falls, SD. 605-339-2000. HR: $79. $$10,000 Gtd. Sections: Open (all): $$5550; Prizes: $1200-1000-800-600, Master $500-300-100, Expert $400-250-100, U2K $200-100. Premier (U2000): $$2375; Prizes: $700-500-300, Top B $300-200-100, U1600 $175-100. Reserve (U1600): $$2075; Prizes: $600-450-300, Top D $250-150-75, U1200 $150-100. All, EF: $55 if rec'd by 10/25, $75 at site. Reg: 10/28 from 4-5pm. Rds: 6; 10-4:30; 9-3:30. USCF memb. required. Info: 18 & under preregistering in Reserve section, pay $35. GMs, IMs & over 2400, free. Adv. Ent: Sioux Empire Chess Foundation, 2100 Slaten Court, Sioux Falls, SD 57103, 605-371-0154, jebarth@msn.com. NS, NC, W, FIDE.

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