Mechanics' Institute Chess Room Newsletter #29

"Chess is my profession. I am my own boss; I am free. I like literature and music, classical especially. I am in fact quite normal; I have a Bohemian profession without myself being a Bohemian. I am neither a conformist nor a great revolutionary."

Bent Larsen

1) Kasparov Keeps Winning

Former world champion Garry Kasparov, who lost his title to Vladimir Kramnik last fall, has been a man on a mission this year. A victory in the 1st FIDE World Cup of Rapid Play in Cannes marked his third tournament win in 2001. Fellow countryman Evgeny Bareev, who served as one of Kramnik's seconds, lost to Kasparov in the final 1.5-0.5. Garry's only difficult match was in the semifinal against Alexander Grischuk where the 17-year-old Muscovite went 1-1 in regulation before losing the playoff.

2) Smyslov Turns 80, Kortchnoi 70

Former World Champion Vassily Smyslov turned 80 on March 23. While Smyslov no longer plays due to poor eyesight, Viktor Kortchnoi is still going as strong as ever. Kortchnoi, who turned 70 on March 23, recently won a strong double round robin blitz tournament in his old hometown of St. Petersburg.

1. GM K Sakaev (Russia) 8/10; 2-3. GM V Korchnoi (Switzerland), GM S Rublevsky (Russia) 6; 4. GM V Popov (Russia) 5.5; 5. G Chepukaitis (Russia) 3; 6. GM M Taimanov (Russia) 1.5.

V Korchnoi - M Taimanov

Nimzo Indian Defence

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Qc2 c5 5 dxc5 0-0 6 a3 
Bxc5 7 Nf3 b6 8 Bg5 Bb7 9 e3 Nc6 10 Rd1 Be7 11 Be2 
Ne8 12 Bf4 Rc8 13 0-0 a6 14 Qb1 d6 15 b4 Qc7 16 c5 
bxc5 17 bxc5 Nd8 18 Ne4 Bxe4 19 Qxe4 Qxc5 20 Bxa6 
Rb8 21 a4 Rb4 22 Rd4 d5 23 Qd3 Nc6 24 Rxb4 Nxb4 25 
Qe2 Nd6 26 Bb5 Ne4 27 Be5 Bd6 28 Bd4 Qc7 29 Qb2 f6 
30 Rc1 Qb7 31 Nd2 Bxh2+ 32 Kxh2 Nxf2 33 Qxb4 Nd3 34 
Qxf8+ Kxf8 35 Bxd3 e5 36 Bc5+ Kg8 37 Bb5 Qb8 38 Kg1 
h5 39 Nf1 h4 40 Rd1 Qa8 41 Bb6 g5 42 a5 g4 43 a6 d4 
44 exd4 h3 45 Ne3 Qe4 46 dxe5 f5 47 a7 f4 48 Bc4+ 
Kg7 49 Bd5 h2+ 50 Kh1 1-0 

3) Wong Wins Tuesday Night Marathon

National Master Russell Wong won the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon that ended on March 27 by defeating Victor Todortsev in the last round. Wong scored an undefeated 7-1 to take home the first prize of $300. A point back was NM David Blohm at 6-2 followed by a five-way tie for third at 5 1/2 between Todortsev (first Class A) and Experts Victor Ossipov, Peter Grey, George Sanguinetti and Mark Brown. Other class prize winners were: 1st B Arthur Dembling and Wilmot McCutcheon with 5; 1st C Tom Gullickson and Daichi Siechrist at 4.5; 1st D Andres Fuentes-Affleck 4. The next Marathon will start on April 10th.

4) Dorsch First in Jesse Jeans Open

Organizer and Director Jerry Weikel of Reno writes:

Jessie Jeans Open II Chess Tournament - Santa Rosa, Ca. - March 16-18, 2001

Even with the ever popular National Open (Las Vegas) being held one week before this tournament we still had a reasonable turnout of 65 players between the 2 tournaments. Many players stopped by to observe but informed me they were too "chessed out" to play another tournament! We knew this when we scheduled this event but it was either hold the tournament on this weekend or not at all! The players that did show appeared to have a good time and many well-fought games were realized in all sections!

Tom Dorsch pulled the 'ol Swiss Gambit when he over speculated his attacking chances in round 1 vs. Kyle Kowalske and lost (Paul Morphy would be proud to watch Tom's style!) but then settled down to dispose of his next 4 opponents (including me!) to win 1st place ($250) with a fine 4-1 score. Congrats, Tom! With only 10 players in the Open Section it almost was a round robin affair and 60% of the players winning money!

The reserve section (1600-1999) was won by Benjamin Haun (Santa Rosa) with a score of 4. The key game in this section appeared to be the hard fought draw between Curtis Munson and Benjamin Haun in round 4. Going into round 5 (with Haun being held to a draw by Teri Lagier) Munson had a chance to win the Section but was defeated by Michael Marque. Interesting that this section's first 4 places were claimed by "B" players and not an "A"! Also interesting, was the fact that with so many players dropping out after a couple of losses 3rd place (U1800) was won with 1 ½ points!! The "A" trophy was won by John Jaffray of Santa Rosa.

The Booster Section (1599-below) saw a real dogfight for the championship. With one round to go Michael Shaw (1333-Nevada City) had the led with 4 points. Matched up against him with 3 ½ points was the ever surprising Michael Gosk (823!!- Santa Rosa). Gosk had to win the game to win the championship(!) but could only manage a draw. Catching Michael for a 2nd place tie was Willie Campers(1504-Santa Rosa). They both had 4 points and a fine, fine tournament. Michael Gosk appears to be vastly underrated and will expect to see him continue his rise. Even the champion was a dark horse being ranked 7th on the wall chart with the # 1 ranked player 230 points above him! Shaw won the "D" trophy and Gosk won the "E" trophy. The "C" trophy was won by Campers.

The Action tournament (Game/50 min. - 4 rd. Swiss) was a tie between the #1 seed Bill Davis (2124-Santa Rosa) and the # 5 seed Mariusz Krubnik (1625!-Alameda) in the Open Section and in the Booster Section (1399-below) by Naryan DeVera (1136-Occidental,Ca). Conrats to all!

Also, a special THANKS to Mark Pinto who played just one game for the only purpose of supporting this tournament to help keep it's existence. He also insisted on paying full entry fee including late fee! (They don't make too many of these kind of chess supporters! Tom Dorsch is another one. He traveled to Santa Rosa even though he just got back from the National Open and must have been tired! Thanks guys). I'll see you all at the next (JJ III) tournament on April 20-22,2001!

OPEN SECTION - MAIN TOURNAMENT (40/100)
NAME HOME RATING Rdl Rd2 Rd3 Rd4 Rd5
SCORE PRIZE

 
1. Tom Dorsch Menlo Park (2239) L8 W10 W5 W2 W4 
4 $250+Champ.Trophy 
2. Jerry Weikel Reno, NV (2056) W10 W8 W4 L1 D5 
3 ½ $146 
3. Peter Stubbs Sacramento (1854 ) D6 L4 W10 W7 (1) 
3 ½ $146 
4. Chris Mavraedis Pleasanton (1946) (½) W3 L2 W6 L1 
2 ½ $90 
5. Alex Setzepfandt Oakland (1864 ) (½) D6 L1 (1) D2 
2 ½ $68 
6. Barry Nelson Forest Ranch (2137) D3 D5 W7 L4 (½) 
2 ½ $68 
7. David Peterson Reno, NV (1868) (½) D9 L6 L3 - 
1 
8. Kyle Kowalske Pacific Grove (2115) W1 L2 - - - 
1 
9. Mark Pinto Sebastopol (2200) (½) D7 - - 
- 1 
10.Alan Bishop Ventura (1931) L2 L1 L3 - - 
0 

RESERVE SECTION (1600-1999)

1. Benjamin Haun Santa Rosa (1794) W10 W6 W9 D3 D2 
4 $140 + B trophy 
2. Teri Lagier San Jose (1795) W8 W11 L3 W5 
D1 3 ½ $95 
3. Curtis Munson Oakland (1753) W7 W9 W2 D1 L4 
3 ½ $95 
4. Michael Marque Antioch (1760) L9 D7 W6 W10 W3 
3 ½ $95 
5. John Jaffray Santa Rosa (1860) L11 W8 W10 L2 W7 
3 $45 
6. Matt Sankovich Ukiah (1602) (½) L1 L4 (1) 
W10 2 ½ $45 
7. Mike Cardillo Livermore (1900) L3 D4 W11 D8 L5 
2 $36 
8. Conrad Cota Antelope (1668) L2 L5 (1) D7 
- 1 ½ $36 !! 
9. Benjamin Gross Sebastopol (1900) W4 L3 L1 - 
- 1 
10.James Holwell Santa Rosa (1606) L1 (1) L5 L4 
L6 1 
11.Roy McCollough Fairfield (1703) W5 L2 L7 - 
- 1 

BOOSTER SECTION (1599-below)

1. Michael Shaw Nevada City (1333) W17 W16 W8 W3 D2 
4 ½ $125 + D trophy 
2. Michael Gosk Santa Rosa ( 823) W9 D6 W10 W5 D1 
4 $90 + E trophy 
3. Willie Campers Santa Rosa (1504) W18 W11 W5 L1 W8 
4 $68 
4. Joe Anderson Clearlake (Unr) L6 W12 D16 W10 W9 
3 ½ Unrated trophy 
5. Jamie Brett Santa Rosa (1195) W13 W7 L3 L2 
W14 3 $45 
6. Michael Fischer Auburn (1250) W 4 D2 L9 W16 D7 
3 $45 
7. Kobie Mahiri Berkeley (Unr) W12 L5 W18 D9 D6 
3 
8. Tom Allen El Cerrito (1477) (½) W19 L1 W11 
L3 2 ½ $29 
9. John Wyatt Santa Rosa (1349) L2 W17 W6 D7 L4 
2 ½ $29 
10.Nicolas Yap San Francisco (1253) (½) W14 L2 L4 W13 
2 ½ $29 
11.Peter Brett Santa Rosa (1191) W19 L3 (½) L8 
W16 2 ½ $29 
12.David Berosh Santa Rosa (1266) L7 L4 W19 L13 W15 
2 
13.Bleys Rose Sebastopol (1485) L5 (½) D14 W12 
L10 2 
14.Alan Howe San Jose (1563) (½) L10 D13 W18 
L5 2 
15.Keith Givens Santa Rosa (Unr) L16 L18 (1) W17 
L12 2 
16.Naryan DeVera Occidental (1136) W15 L1 D4 L6 L11 
1 ½ 
17.Juan Cruz Santa Rosa (Unr) L1 L9 (½) L15 
(1) 1 ½ 
18.Garland Comins Santa Rosa (1247) L3 W15 L7 L14 - 
1 
19.Bryan Bilby San Francisco (1356) L11 L8 L12 - 
- 0 

5) GM Patrick Wolff Simul Today (Thursday 3/29) at Burlingame Chess Club

Two-time US Champion Patrick Wolff will give a lecture and simultaneous at the Burlingame Chess Club this evening starting at 7 p.m. Cost is $25 for adults and $15 for juniors. Membership to the Burlingame Chess Club is not required. The exhibition is limited to 30 boards so reservations are required. Call Frisco Del Rosario at (650) 574-6029 for more information.

6) A.J. Fink Amateur 3/30-4/1

One of the Mechanics' Institute's most popular tournaments, the A. J. Fink Amateur, starts this Friday evening at 6:30 pm. The MI Chess Room website chess has full details.

7) MI Chess Book Collection Grows

Thanks to the generosity of members like Val Zemitis, Neil Falconer and Alex Yermolinsky the collection of chess books in the Mechanics' library continues to grow. Donations are always welcome and tax deductible as the MI has 501 (3) (c) status. See John Donaldson in room #408 or call (415) 421-2258 or imwjd@aol.com for more information.

8) Upcoming Events

March 30-April 1
A.J. Fink Amateur Championship (open to players below 2000)

April 7
Imre Konig Memorial (5 rounds G/45 at ½ K)

April 28-29
Walter Lovegrove Senior Open (players 50 and over)

May 13
Charles Powell Memorial (G/60)

June 2
William Addison Open (5 rounds G/45 at ½ K)

June 8-10
Arthur Stamer Memorial

July 21
Charles Bagby Memorial (G/29- QC)

August 18
Vladimir Pafnutieff Memorial (5 rounds G/45 at ½ K)

More details on these events can be found at the MI Chess Room website chess

If you have trouble reading any part of this newsletter it can be found in its entirety at the MI Chess Room website

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