Mechanics' Institute Chess Room Newsletter #39"Genius. It's a word. What does it really mean? If I win, I'm a genius. If I don't, I'm not."Bobby Fischer 1) Salvatierra wins Addison 2) Stamer Memorial 3) Bruzon New Cuban Star 4) Chess Camps 5) Upcoming Events 1) Rey Salvatierra Wins William Addison OpenExpert Rey Salvatierra won the William Addison Open, a G/45 event held June 2, with a 5-0 score. Salvatierra defeated NM Ryan Porter, and Experts Victor Ossipov and Juan Luaces in route to the $200 first prize. Tying for second at 4-1 in the 42 player (12 over 2000) tournament were Porter, Ossipov, Luaces and NM Michael Aigner. Sharing 6th-11th at 3 1/2 were top seed Alexander Kretchetov (2401), NMs Eric Schiller and Mark Pinto, visiting Austrian Guenther Steinmiller and Yefim Bukh. Class Prize winners were: Under 2000 Yefim Bukh 3.5; Under 1800 Wesley Chen and Willie Campers 3; Under 1600 Ewelina Krubnik 3; Under 1400 Gilbert Yap, Stephen Wilson and Daniel Schmidt 2; Under 1200 Ryan Dooley 2 The one day, five round G/45 events, which are rated at 1/2 K (that is one half the normal USCF rating formula) are drawing more and more players from all over the rating spectrum. One pleasant surprise in the Addison was the large number of players in Class D (below 1200). We hadn't advertised a prize for this class, not expecting many entries, but added one the day of the event. Look for more class prizes in our next G/45 events which will be July 21 (Charles Bagby Memorial) and August 18 (Vladimir Pafnutieff Memorial). 2) The 38th Arthur Stamer Memorial this weekendThis Friday night, Saturday and Sunday the Mechanics' Institute will be hosting the 38th Arthur Stamer Memorial. This annual event is held each June to honor the longtime MI member and Chess Director who passed away on February 17, 1964. Registration is from 5 to 6 PM on Friday night, with round one starting at 6:30 PM . Complete details for this event can be found at the MI Chess Room website at Mechanics' Chessroom Arthur Stamer The September 1964 issue of the California Chess Reporter ran the following article on Arthur Stamer, who served as the Chess Room's first director from 1951 to his passing.
A.B. Stamer, one of the last of the old-timers of the Mechanics' Institute
Chess Club, died in San Francisco in early 1964 after a short illness.
Arthur was a veteran of the famous team which played telegraphic chess
in the 1920s (and started the North vs. South, over-the-board team matches
by meeting Los Angeles at Atascadero in 1926), and he was a contemporary
of E.W. Gruer, Dr. W.R. Lovegrove, A.J. Fink, E.J. Clarke, Dr. G.E.K.
Branch, Bernardo Smith, W.H. Smith, J.F. Smyth, L. Rosenblatt, E.O.
Fawcett and many other members of the Mechanics' Institute Hall of Fame.
Arthur won the premier tournament of the Mechanics' Institute in 1908. He
sometimes showed the inscribed gold medal to youngsters: One side
read "Champion, Mechanics' Institute Premier Tournament." Then
came his little joke when he showed the date on the reverse:
The first Stamer Memorial was held a few months after his death and according to the California Chess Reporter the event was the largest ever held by a San Francisco club with 52 participants. William Addison won with a score of 4 1/2 - 1/2, defeating Duncan Suttles in a dramatic last round game. Tying for second at 4-1 were Suttles, Earl Pruner, Roy Hoppe, John Blackstone, Robert Burger and Neil Falconer. Falconer won the best game prize for his last round victory over Blazo Sredanovic.
Duncan Suttles - William Addison A00 San Francisco (Arthur Stamer
Memorial) 1964 1.g3 Nf6 2.Bg2 d5 3.d3 c6 4.Nc3 e5 5.e4 Bb4 The opening is now a reversed Ruy Lopez. 6.Bd2 d4 7.Nce2 Bxd2+ 8.Qxd2 Qe7 9.f3 c5 10.Nh3 Nc6 11.Nf2 Rb8 12.0-0 0-0 13.f4 Ng4 14.Nxg4 Bxg4 15.Rae1 b5 16.h3 Bxe2 17.Rxe2 c4 18.Kh2 Qc5 19.b3 Rfd8 20.Ref2 Rb6 21.h4 h6 22.f5 f6 23.g4 Kf7 24.g5 hxg5 25.hxg5 Rh8+ 26.Kg3 Rbb8 27.Bf3 Qb4 28.Qe2 fxg5 29.Bh5+ Kf6 30.Rg2 Rh6 31.Qg4 The California Chess Reporter suggests that White could have won with 31. Kh2 , but this seems very optimistic. After 31.Kh2 Rbh8 32.Rxg5 cxd3 33.cxd3 Kxg5 34.Qg4+ Kf6 35.Qh4+ g5 36.fxg6+ Ke6 Black's King runs away. 31...Rbh8 32.Rh1 cxd3 33.Kf3 Ke7 34.Qxg5+ Kd6 35.Qxg7 Suttles in his analysis points to 35.cxd3 as the best chance. It works fine after 35...Qc3 36.Rc1 Qxd3+ 37.Kf2 Qe3+ 38.Qxe3 dxe3+ 39.Kxe3 Nd4 40.Be2 and even better after 37...Rxh5 38.Qg6+ Ke7 39.Qe6+ Kf8 40.Qd6+ Kf7 41.Rxg7+! mating. However, Black has every chance of winning after 37...Qxe4 38.Bf3 Qe3+ 39.Qxe3 dxe3+ 40.Kxe3 Nd4 41.Be4 Rh3+ 42.Kf2 Rh2. The last word on this complicated game will likely be provided by Vancouver FM Bruce Harper's massive two volume work on Suttles which is nearing completion after more than ten years of work. Inside Chess Enterprises of Seattle will publishing what looks to be one of the most entertaining and instructive game collections ever written. 35...Kc5 36.Rg6 Qd2 37.b4+ Kb6 38.Qxe5 Qe3+ 39.Kg2 Rxg6+ 40.Bxg6 Nxe5 41.Rxh8 Qf3+ 3) New Superstar in the MakingCUBA, home of the legendary Jose Raoul Capablanca, may have a new superstar in the making with their World Under-20 champion, Lazaro Bruzon. Last year Bruzon took the gold medal in the competitive world under-20 in Erevan with polished and mature strategic play beyond his years. In winning the title, Bruzon became only the third Cuban (Walter Arencibia in 1987) after Capablanca to hold a world crown. Though Spassky, Karpov, Kasparov and Anand all won this title, it has become somewhat devalued, as the best teenage talents tend to go straight into GM tournaments. One new tournament that's seen more and more as a stepping stone to greater things these days is the Olympic Capital Young Masters in Lausanne, organised by the world chess federation, FIDE, and regarded by many as "Junior Linares." Last year it proved to be the turning point in the career of Alexander Grischuk, who after winning it, went on to become a world championship semi-finalist and an invitation to the real Linares. Recently at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Bruzon came ahead of a field of twelve of the world's best young players under the age of 21 to win another gold medal at the latest edition of the knockout tournament, defeating the former French wunderkind Etienne Bacrot 2.5-1.5 in a tough final. Final Standings: 1 L Bruzon (Cuba); 2 E Bacrot (France); 3 K Sasikiran (India); 4 A Volokitin (Ukraine) 5 L Aronian (Armenia); 6 R Ponomariov (Ukraine); 7 Bu Xiangzhi (China); 8 P Harikrishna (India). Eliminated in the first round: A Kosteniuk (Russia), E Ghaem Maghami (Iran), F Jenni (Switzerland), Xue Zhao (China).
L Bruzon - Bu Xiangzhi Thanks to John Henderson who writes a chess column for The Scotsman. 4) Chess CampsThe 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 5) Upcoming Events at the MI
June 8-10
July 21
August 18 |