Mechanics' Institute Chess Room Newsletter #38

"Ideas. I never memorize lines."

    Bobby Fischer
1) Astana Supertournament 
2) April May Tuesday Night Marathon 
3) Chicago Open 
4) William Addison 
5) Gens Una Sumus 
6) Weikel Tournament - June 29-July 1 
7) Chess Camps 
8) Upcoming MI tournaments 
Please pay a visit to the MI website Mechanics' Chessroom, webmaster GM Alex Yermolinsky, which features a wealth of annotated games, crosstables, stories, pictures and information about upcoming events

1) Kramnik leads Astana Supertournament with two rounds to go

Not content with taking Garry Kasparov's world crown, Vladimir Kramnik looks as if he's determined to take his former mentor's coveted world No.1 spot.

With just two rounds left of the Astana Supertournament in Kazakhstan, Kramnik continues to hold a slender half-point lead over Kasparov, with the "2K's" scheduled to meet in a final round showdown that could well decided the destination of first prize.

Having beaten Kasparov in the match in London last year and also in Korchnoi's 70th Anniversary rapid finals in Zurich last month, Kramnik, who now holds a lead in games played between the top two, is on course to narrow the gap even further between first and second place on the rating list.

Apart from a share of first place with Kramnik at Linares 2000, Kasparov has taken first place at every classical chess event stretching back to Wijk aan Zee in January 1999 - a record that is now in grave danger of falling at this tournament.

Ironically, the last player in the tournament, former world junior champion Darmen Sadvakasov, is the reason for Kasparov lagging behind. Whilst Kramnik managed a 2-0 scoreline against the local player, Kasparov fell behind by his standards by conceding a draw in their first game, and now needs to go all out to win in his second game against Sadvakasov today to stay within reach of Kramnik.

1 V Kramnik (Russia) 6/8; 2 G Kasparov (Russia) 5.5; 3 B 
Gelfand (Israel) 4.5; 4 A Morozevich (Russia) 3.5; 5 A 
Shirov (Spain) 3; 6 D Sadvakasov (Kazakhstan) 1.5. 
G Kasparov - A Morozevich

Astana (8)

Slav Defence

1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 dxc4 5 a4 Bf5 6 Ne5 Nbd7 7 
Nxc4 Nd5 8 g3 e5 9 Bg2 exd4 10 Qxd4 Qf6 11 Qxf6 N7xf6 12 
Nxd5 cxd5 13 Ne3 Be6 14 0-0 Bc5 15 Rd1 0-0 16 Nxd5 Nxd5 17 
Bxd5 Rad8 18 e4 Bxd5 19 exd5 Rd7 20 Rb1 (20 Be3 Bxe3 21 
fxe3 Rfd8 22 e4 [22 Rac1 f5 23 Rc5 b6 24 Rb5 Rd6=] 22 ..f5! 
23 exf5 Rxd5 24 Rxd5 Rxd5 25 Rf1 Kf7=) 20 ..a5 21 d6 Rfd8 
22 Rd5 b6 23 Bf4 f6! 24 Rbd1 Kf7 25 Kg2 Ke6 26 Kf3 g6 27 g4 
Bxd6 28 h4 Bxf4 29 Rxd7 Rxd7 30 Rxd7 Kxd7 31 Kxf4 Kd6 32 
Ke4 Kc5 33 f4 Kb4 34 f5 gxf5+ 35 Kxf5 Kxa4 36 Kxf6 Kb3 37 
Kg7 Kxb2 38 Kxh7 a4 39 g5 a3 40 g6 a2 41 g7 a1Q 42 g8Q Qb1+ 
43 Qg6 b5 draw 
Thanks to John Henderson. This article originally appeared in The Scotsman.

2) Aigner and Gaffagan win April-May Tuesday Night Marathon

National Master Michael Aigner and Expert Steven Gaffagan won the April-May Tuesday Night Marathon last evening with tough last rounds wins. Gaffagan reached 6 1/2 from 8 by defeating early front-runner Expert David Steel, while Aigner matched his score by winning a long endgame against NM David Blohm. A total of 57 players competed in this event.

Top Scores: 1-2. NM Aigner and Gaffagan 6 1/2; 3-4. Ossipov and Samatra 6; 5-10. NM Blohm, NM Hills, Steel, Snyder, Grey and Peckham 5 1/2.

Complete results and games from the event can be found at the MI Chess Room website: Mechanics' Chessroom

3) Chicago Open

Grandmasters Alexander Goldin and Julian Hodgson scored 6 from 7 to win the Chicago Open held May 25-28 at the Hyatt Hotel in the Chicago suburb of Oakbrook. The two winners each received $7,500 for their efforts in finishing ahead of 13 other GMs and many IMs and NMs. Among the close to 900(!) players participating were MI members Vinay Bhat, David Pruess and Kayven Riese, each of whom turned in excellent performances. Vinay, who was tied for the lead with 4 from 4 at one point, ended up scoring 5-2, including a win over Latvian GM Normunds Miezes and a draw with GM Yury Shulman. Pruess, defeated the first GM in his career in round two (Alex Fishbein) and immediately followed up with a win over another GM (Dmitry Gurevich) in round three in route to 4 1/2 points. Kayven, who traveled from the Bay Area to Chicago and back by train, scored 6-1 to tie for first in the under 1600 section. Congratulations to these players for a job well-done!

D.Gurevich-Pruess, Chicago Open (3) 2001

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c6 4.Qc2 Nf6 5.g3 Nbd7 6.Bg2 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.Rd1 
Qe7 9.Nbd2 Re8 10.a3 e5 11.cd cd 12.de Ne5 13.Nd4 Bg4 14.h3 Rac8 15.Qb3 
Bc5 16.hg Bd4 17.e3 Bb6 18.g5 Nfg4 19.Nf3 Nf2 20.kf2 Ng4+ 21.Kg1 Qd6 
22.Rd4 Bd4 23.Nd4 Qg3 24.Qd3 Qf2+ 25.Kh1 Ne3 26.Be3 Re3 27.Qf5 Qh4+ 0-1 

4) William Addison

This Saturday the Mechanics' Institute will be holding a one-day tournament (5 round; G/45) to honor one of the giants of Bay Area Chess. International Master William Addison was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1933, but his transformation from amateur to one of America's best began when he moved to San Francisco in 1952. Prior to Addison, the MI had strong amateurs like Walter Lovegrove and A.J. Fink, but no players who consistently participated in US Championships and on the American Olympiad team.

Since Addison we have had Walter Browne, Nick deFirmian, Jay Whitehead and Vinci McCambridge in US Championships, but it was Addison who paved the way. He played in almost all the US Championships in the 1960s and capped off his career with an excellent result in 1969 which qualified for the 1970 Interzonal in Palma de Mallorca where he scored 9-14 against a strong field (Reshevsky had 9 1/2) to finish equal 18th. Addison played on the United States Olympiad teams at Tel Aviv 1964, where he won a bronze medal as second reserve with 7 1/2 point from 9 games, and Havana 1966, where the US Team, led by Bobby Fischer won the silver medal.

Addison served as chess director of the MI from 1965 to 1969. He retired from tournament play in 1970 and went to work for Bank of America where he is still employed. He is approaching the 50 year mark as an MI member and we salute his contribution to American and Bay Area chess. Please come out and support the tournament this Saturday! Full details of the event are available at the MI website Mechanics' Chessroom

5) Gens Una Sumus

The August 20, 2000, edition of the Dallas Morning News had a very interesting article about Dallas International Master Rade Milovanovic who escaped war-torn Bosnia to make a new home for his family in Texas. The article brings home the point that chessplayers tend to be much more independent thinking and internationally minded than the population at large.

Here is a brief excerpt from the piece. The entire article can be found at: dallasnews.com: Lifestyles

Rade also came away from his war experience with a greater appreciation for his "chess family." The extreme nationalism and ethnic hatred that incited the civil war in Yugoslavia was fueled by propaganda and self-serving politicians, he says. "Suddenly it's very important who you are, what's your religion. I see people break long friendships with people of another nationality." But he never saw this among chess players. "They supported each other. I think this is because they think independently. He points out the motto of the international chess organization, Federation International Des Echecs (FIDE): "Gens Una Sumas" - Latin for "We are all one people." "I know this was true for chess players during the war," Rade says. "I've seen this."

6) Big Open Swiss Comes to San Francisco June 29-July 1

Organizer Jerry Weikel is putting on the first big prize money open tournament in the Bay Area since Tom Dorsch's ill-fated event Universe Open in July of 1998. This tournament deserves the support of Bay Area chess fans if we are to see more events like it in the future. Tom generously sponsored the Universe Open for several years, consistently losing money which finally caused him to have to stop. Let's not let this happen this time around. Here are the details for the tournament which will feature a free lecture by GM Yermolinsky the evening of June 29.

"HAVE A GOOD KNIGHT" -FIRECRACKER-TOURNAMENT
JUNE 29-JULY 1, 2001 (3 TOURNAMENTS! Main + 2 Action)
HOLIDAY INN-San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf $8,000!!(b/150 players)-TD Jerry Weikel

FREE LECTURE! GM YERMOLINSKY!

5 Rd. Swiss-3 Sections-40/100 (20/40)(30/30)-Free Lecture Fri.(5:45-7pm) * PRIZE FUND: Open(2000-+)

1st-$1,000-600-400,(U2400)$550,(U2300)$550,(U2200)$550-300-150
Reserve Section(1600-1999)1st-$550-$300-$150,(U1800) $500-$250-$125
Booster Sect.(1599-below)1st-$450-250-125,(U1400)$400-200-100,(U1200)$300
(Note: $200 will be added to the class with the most paid players) Trophies to all 1st place winners. (Unrated players not eligible for cash prizes)

* ENTRY FEE: $105 (all) if postmarked by 6/22. After 6/22 and at site $15 more (please, no checks at site). Must be USCF member (available at site).

Unrated Players = $50 (eligible for trophy only, not cash prizes) GM & IM entry returned if they do not win a prize. Cal Chess members $3 discount.
Entries not received by 6/28 player will have to pay at site plus late fee. If entry is subsequently received the entry plus late fee will be returned (with prize fund check!)
* REGISTRATION: Fri.(6/29) 5:30-7pm (also Sat. 9:30-10:30am and taking a 1/2 pt. bye for round 1).
Players may still enter after deadline but may have to take a bye for that round. 2 byes maximum and must be requested before start of round 3. *
Jay Blem (National Chess & Games Books & Equipment) will be present. *
RD.Times 1=Fri.(7:30pm);Rd.2=Sat.(11am),Rd.3=(6pm),Rd.4=Sun(9am),Rd.5=(2pm) (2) Action (Game/50 minutes) (4-rd. Swiss) Tournaments (both 1-day) Sat.(6/30) & Sun.(7/1).Entry fee= $40 if sent by 6/22 ($50 at site). 65% of entries=prizes.

Reg.: 9-10am.Round Times: 10:15-12-3-5. Sections/prizes depending on turnout. * LOCATION: Holiday Inn (Fisherman's Wharf) 1300 Columbus Street, San Francisco.,Ca.(415)771-9000 * ENTER: Make checks payable (and send by 6/22) to: JEROME WEIKEL 6578 Valley Wood Dr., Reno.NV 89523, (775) 747-1405 e-mail: wackyykl @aol.com. (Bring clocks. Sets provided.) Note: (I will be on vacation from 6/10-6/27, for info during this time call Jay Blem (760) 248-1193)

7) Chess Camps

The Mechanics' Institute will be hosting three chess camps this summer. The first, on the weekend of June 16-17, is part of the Kolti Seminar series held to honor the late George Koltanowski. This event, which is being sponsored by the US Chess Trust, is open to players under 21 who are rated over 1600 and appear in either in the April or June USCF Top 50 list for their age. The instructor for this camp is GM Yermolinsky and tuition is free. NOTE - ENROLLMENT FOR THE KOLTANOWSKI SEMINAR IS NOW CLOSED.

A camp for intermediate and advanced youngsters will be held July 30-August 3 and a camp for beginners and novices from August 6-August 10. Information about these camps is available at the Chess Room website under programs for children. Mechanics' Chessroom

8) Upcoming Events at the MI

June 2 William Addison Open (5 rounds G/45 at 1/2 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 1/2 K)

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