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No. you don't cheat anybody out of their experience, whatever it is. I promise you, it's all part of what makes you who you are down the road. And if a match is getting blown out one way or the other, you've got to learn from it and understand it for what it is. I've been on the other side of that. I wouldn't want to cheat anybody out of that experience Tennis great Andre Agassi, when asked whether he eased up on over matched opponents. |
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News 2) Yury Shulman wins US Open 3) Nelson Lopez and Abby Marshall win Denker and Polgar 4) Mike Goodall 5) FM Schiller offers lessons by IM Anthony Saidy 6) USCF Delegates Meeting 7) Upcoming Events |
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club NewsRicardo DeGuzman won the 49-player Vladimir Pafnutieff Memorial G/45 held August 5th at the Mechanics'. The Filipino IM scored 5-0 to finish a point ahead of Batsaikhan Tserendorj, Josh Gutman, Kimani Stancil, Edward Perepletsky, James Jones and Zachary Cohn. Second seed NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs was upset in round two by Alan Naroditsky. The next MI tournament is the Bernardo Smith Amateur for players under 1800, which will be this weekend. Next Tuesday is the start of the Paul Vayssie Memorial Tuesday Night Marathon. Former World Champion Boris Spassky and his wife Marina will be guests of the Mechanics' Institute from September 28 to October 3. During this time Spassky will give a clock simul, lectures, answer questions, work with junior players and sign books. He will give a clock simul on Saturday, September 30 on 25 boards. Cost for the simul will be $100 (The same as the past two years in Reno). The simul starts at 2:00 PM. There are only 25 spots which will be allocated on a first-come first-serve basis, but to sign up before September 1, you must be a Mechanics' member. Ten of the twenty five boards are gone after the few weeks so if you want to play don't delay. Book and equipment donations to the Mechanics' are always welcome. All donations to the Mechanics' are tax deductible due to the M.I.'s 501(c) (3) nonprofit status. If you have any chess books or equipment that have been lying around unused for some time consider donating to the Mechanics'. You will not only get a tax write off but also the satisfaction of seeing things put to good use. MI member Daniel Naroditsky recently ventured to Cuenca, Ecuador, for the Pan American Juniors where he won a bronze medal in the Under 12 Championships. Good job Daniel! American Results- (medalists in bold)
Boys U18 - Elliot Liu -7/9- Gold Medal! 2) Here and ThereChicago GM Yury Shulman continued his successful run in 2006, adding the US Open title to his second place finish in the US Championship. Shulman, who teaches chess to kids for a living, was undefeated with 8 from 9, drawing only GM Joel Benjamin in round 6 and in the final round with 15-year-old Peruvian IM Emilio Cordova. His key victory was in round 8 against GM Alex Shabalov. For his efforts Shulman won $6,000. Tying for second at 7 1/2 in the event, which attracted over 500 players to the Doubletree Inn in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, were Shabalov, Benjamin, Cordova, GMs John Fedorowicz, Giorgi Kacheishvili, Dmitry Gurevich, Zviad Izoria , IM Alfonso Almeida and NM Michael Aigner. Yes, you read it right, Michael Aigner of Davis tied for second in a career best event. Well done Michael! Here is what he posted on the CalChess website. Hello chess friends! Oh my goodness!!! I just received a prize check for SECOND PLACE in the US Open in Chicago. I scored 7.5 out of 9 and finished tied with seven GMs and two IMs (top player under 2400 USCF). GM Yury Shulman took first place a half point ahead. final standings: http://www.chessforlife.com/chess/mergstand9.html
Highlights: My longtime student Daniel Schwarz had his ups and downs. He started well and finished well but struggled in between. His score of 7.0/9 in the US Open was good for a share of second place U2400 (behind me). He also ended up with 3.5/6 in Denker after a disappointing last round game. Nonetheless, he stands to earn roughly a 10 point rating gain from this week. Review all nine games from the 2006 US Open in Chicago. I got really lucky at least twice (Mattson and Taylor) and had a couple nice wins too (Selzler and Ballard). I played three titled players, losing to GM Izoria, defeating IM Taylor and drawing with GM Fedorowicz. To learn more about Michael go to his website at www.fpawn.com/chess. Incidentally Joel Benjamin and I both thought that Michael had the neatest score sheets of anyone competing in the Open.
Shabalov,A - Kacheishvili,G 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Be3 e6 5.Nd2 Nd7 6.Be2 Ne7 7.Ngf3 Qb6 8.0-0 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qxa2 10.Rxb7 Nc8 11.c4 dxc4 12.Bxc4 Qa3 13.d5! exd5 14.Nd4! Nc5 15.Nb5! cxb5 16.Bxb5+ Bd7 17.Bxc5 Bxc5 18.Bxd7+ Kf8 19.Bxc8 Rxc8 20.Ne4 Rd8 21.Nxc5 Qxc5 22.Qf3 f6 23.Qh5 1-0
Benjamin,J - Kaidanov,G 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 g6 7.Bg5 Bg7 8.Nbd2 0-0 9.Nf1 Bd7 10.Ne3 Ne7 11.Bb3 c6 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.h4 h5 14.g4 hxg4 15.Nd2 Kg7 16.Nxg4 Ng8 17.Qf3 Bxh4 18.0-0-0 Bg5 19.Rdg1 Nf6 20.Ne3 Bxe3 21.Qxe3 Rh8 22.f4 Ng4 23.Qf3 Rxh1 24.Rxh1 exf4 25.Qh3 Qh8 26.Qf3 Qd8 27.Qxf4 Qe7 28.Nc4 d5 29.exd5 cxd5 30.Nb6 Rh8 31.Qd4+ f6 32.Rxh8 Kxh8 33.Nxd7 Qxd7 34.Qxd5 Qxd5 35.Bxd5 b6 36.Kd2 Kg7 37.c4 Kf8 38.d4 Ke7 39.Bf3 Nh6 40.b4 Nf5 41.Kd3 Nh4 42.Bb7 a5 43.bxa5 bxa5 44.c5 f5 45.d5 f4 46.d6+ Kd7 47.Ke4 1-0
Almeida,A - Shulman,Y 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.e4 h6 4.Bxf6 Qxf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Qd3 d5 7.e5 Qd8 8.a3 Be7 9.f4 b6 10.0-0-0 Ba6 11.Qg3 0-0 12.Bxa6 Nxa6 13.f5 exf5 14.Qd3 Nb8 15.Qxf5 b5 16.Nf3 b4 17.axb4 Bxb4 18.e6 Bxc3 19.bxc3 Qd6 20.exf7+ Rxf7 21.Qe5 Qc6 22.c4 dxc4 23.d5 Qa4 24.Qc3 Nd7 25.Rd4 Nb6 26.Ne5 Rf5 27.Nxc4 Nxd5 28.Qb2 Qe8 29.Rhd1 Nf4 30.Qa2 Ne2+ 31.Kd2 Kh8 32.Rd3 Rf2 33.Re3 Qd8+ 34.Ke1 Rf1+ 35.Kxf1 Qxd1+ 36.Kf2 Rf8+ 37.Rf3 Qg1+ 0-1
Shulman,Y - Shabalov,A [D15] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.a4 e6 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 dxc4 8.a5 c5 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.d5 Qd8 11.Ne5 Nd7 12.Nxc4 Be7 13.dxe6 fxe6 14.g3 b5 15.axb6 Bb7 16.e4 0-0 17.Bh3 Rf6 18.Qb3 Nb8 19.Rd1 Qf8 20.Ne5 Rxf2 21.Qxe6+ Kh7 22.Qg6+ Kh8 23.Qg4 Kh7 24.Ng6 Qf6 25.Nxe7 Nc6 26.Ned5 Qf7 27.Nf4 Bc8 28.Rd7 Bxd7 29.Qxd7 Qxd7 30.Bxd7 1-0
Cordova,E - Benjamin,J [A45] 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.e3 c6 4.Nd2 Qb6 5.Rb1 Bf5 6.Bd3 Bg6 7.f4 Bxd3 8.cxd3 Nbd7 9.Ngf3 h6 10.Bxf6 exf6 11.0-0 Bd6 12.b4 a6 13.Qb3 0-0 14.Nh4 Rfe8 15.Qd1 Bf8 16.Qg4 Re6 17.Rf3 Rae8 18.Nf1 Qb5 19.Rd1 Qxb4 20.Rg3 c5 21.Nf5 g6 22.Nh4 R6e7 23.Nf5 cxd4 24.Nxe7+ Rxe7 25.f5 g5 26.Qxd4 Qxd4 27.exd4 Re2 28.Re3 Rxa2 29.Re8 h5 30.Rd8 Nb6 31.Re1 1-0 3) Nelson Lopez and Abby Marshall win Denker and PolgarNM Nelson Lopez and Abby Marshall won the Arnold Denker and Susan Polgar tournaments, open to High School boys and girls, held concurrently with the US Open. MI member Louiza Livshitz of San Ramon tied for second in the Polgar with 5 from 6 while Nor Cal Denker representative Daniel Schwarz was among the leaders but lost in the last round to finish 10th with 3 1/2 points. Good job Louiza! 4) Mike GoodallInternational Arbiter Mike Goodall, who directed over 100 hundred tournaments at the Mechanics Institute in the 1960, 70s, 80s and 90s, is making an excellent but slow recovery from his car accident in early August. Mike is currently undergoing rehab at the Kentfield Hospital (1125 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Kentfield in Marin County) . He expects to be there for several months and warmly welcomes visitors. Michael's phone number is (415) 485-3502 and his room number is 122B . 5) FM Schiller offers lessons by IM Anthony SaidyChess author, arbiter and organizer, FM Eric Schiller has been released from hospital and is recuperating at home following a stroke. He is expected to recover fully but for some time will be unable to travel. He will be offering lessons at his home in Moss Beach, California and via Internet conferencing during his recovery to help cover his considerable medical bills. While he welcomes all assistance, he would prefer that those wanting to help take some lessons. FIM Schiller can be reached at eric@ericschiller.com and has a website at www.ericschiller.com. His latest book, the Big Book of Chess, is an introductory book about chess aimed especially at parents and new chess players. He writes regularly for www.chesscountry.com. Eric hopes to be back in action at the Gibraltar Chess Congress in January and looks forward to seeing his many chess friends there. 6) USCF Delegates MeetingThe absence of US Open stalwart Mike Goodall prompted Cal Chess President Richard Koepcke to appoint me a delegate for Northern California for the USCF annual meetings. Prior to the invention of the laptop such assignment could have been considered cruel and unusual punishment but no more. During the meetings in Oak Brook it looked like half the Delegates were happily and productively multi-tasking. The meeting was pretty quiet but here are a few of the highlights. Among the winners at the annual awards luncheon was longtime Western States Open organizer Jerry Weikel of Reno whose 1999 US Open was the strongest in the series with 27 GMs participating. Congratulations also goes to the World Champion of chess archivists Jeremy Gaige and the chess author and popularizer Irving Chernev who will be inducted into the US Hall of Fame at the US Open in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, next August. The late Soviet GM Alexander Kotov, who advocated writing down one's move before playing it on the board, would be displeased with the USCF edict that henceforth such action will be considered note taking and not permitted. FIDE implemented the decision a few years ago but domestic action seems to have been spurred by a desire for consistency with the Monroi electronic score keeping devices that have been appearing at major tournaments of late. The latter produced some enthusiastic responses inn Oak Brook but at $359 a pop many would be purchasers appear to be looking for a price drop. Another rule change that appears right around the corner is one barring headphones of any kind except hearing aids during tournament play. Newly anointed Executive Board member Sam Sloan proposed such legislation which was sent to committee The consensus among Delegates was not if the ban will be enacted but how soon. There was a unanimous decision to award up to $10,000 to NM Beatriz Marinello. Marinello, who is a current EB member and former President, is suffering from a serious kidney disease that prevented her from attending the meetings in Chicago. This is the third time in the approximately 15 year existence of the Professional Chess Players Health and Benefits Fund that moneys have been earmarked. Previous recipients were IM John Watson and the late GM Igor Ivanov. The USCF currently has about $500,000 in the bank about $150,000 of which is tied up with the new USCF building in Crossville, Tennessee. 7) Upcoming EventsBernardo Smith Amateur - August 19 and 20 Other California Events Sept 2-4 CalChess Labor Day Championships GPP: 10 California, Northern 6SS, 30/90, SD/1 (2-day option rds 1-3 G/60); Golden Gateway Holiday Inn. Van Ness at Pine, San Fransisco. $$B 160 paid entries (not counting fee for unrated entries.) Six Sections: Master $700-$350-$200; U2400, $300; Expert $400-$200-$100. "A"$350-$175-$100. "B" $350-$175-$100. "C" $350-175-100. "D/E": $350-$175-$100; U1200 $225. Unr: Trophy First. Trophy to top finisher (State Champion) in each section. All, EF: postmarked by 8/28 $65 (Jrs. $55). $75 at site (Jrs $65). Unrateds $20 in the D/E section or may play up to the Master section for the regular fee. $5 discount to CalChess members. USCF memb. req'd. May play up one section for add'l $10 (Jrs. $5). GM/IM free entry. Reg: Sat 9/2 8-9:30, Sun 9/3 8:15-9:15am. Rds: Choice of schedules- 3-day, 2-day merge at round 4, all compete for the same prizes. 3-day schedule Sat 10:00-4:00, Sun 11:00-4:45; Mon 10:00-3:30. 2-day schedule Sun 9:30-11:45-2:00-4:45; Mon 10:00-3:30. 1/2 pt bye(s) any round(s) if requested in advance (byes rds 5-6 must be requested before rd 1). 2006 August Ratings List, CCA minimums and Directors discretion will be used to place players as accurately as possible. Please bring clocks and equipment. HR: Golden Gateway Holiday Inn (415) 441-4000. Info: Richard Koepcke (650) 964-2640. Ent: CalChess, P.O. Box 1432, Mountain View, CA 94042. No phone entries. Master Section FIDE Rated.
September 2-4 Sept 2-4 CalChess Labor Day Championships GPP: 10 California, Northern 6SS, 30/90, SD/1 (2-day option rds 1-3 G/60); Golden Gateway Holiday Inn. Van Ness at Pine, San Fransisco. $$B 160 paid entries (not counting fee for unrated entries.) Six Sections: Master $700-$350-$200; U2400, $300; Expert $400-$200-$100. "A"$350-$175-$100. "B" $350-$175-$100. "C" $350-175-100. "D/E": $350-$175-$100; U1200 $225. Unr: Trophy First. Trophy to top finisher (State Champion) in each section. All, EF: postmarked by 8/28 $65 (Jrs. $55). $75 at site (Jrs $65). Unrateds $20 in the D/E section or may play up to the Master section for the regular fee. $5 discount to CalChess members. USCF memb. req'd. May play up one section for add'l $10 (Jrs. $5). GM/IM free entry. Reg: Sat 9/2 8-9:30, Sun 9/3 8:15-9:15am. Rds: Choice of schedules- 3-day, 2-day merge at round 4, all compete for the same prizes. 3-day schedule Sat 10:00-4:00, Sun 11:00-4:45; Mon 10:00-3:30. 2-day schedule Sun 9:30-11:45-2:00-4:45; Mon 10:00-3:30. 1/2 pt bye(s) any round(s) if requested in advance (byes rds 5-6 must be requested before rd 1). 2006 August Ratings List, CCA minimums and Directors discretion will be used to place players as accurately as possible. Please bring clocks and equipment. HR: Golden Gateway Holiday Inn (415) 441-4000. Info: Richard Koepcke (650) 964-2640. Ent: CalChess, P.O. Box 1432, Mountain View, CA 94042. No phone entries. Master Section FIDE Rated. |