Mechanics' Institute Chess Room Newsletter #72
"Chessplayers are of varying character. Some, in order to be confident
of success, have to see their opponents as a friend, while others must,
without fail, feel enmity towards the opponent... There are many more of
the second type, and it must be admitted that the author belongs to this
group." 1) Bay Area Masters Grand Prix I 2) Winter Tuesday Night Marathon 3) Western Class Championships 4) Hercules Amateur Championship 5) Chess Column in the San Francisco Alta (1859) 6) Bay Area Tournaments this Weekend 7) Upcoming Events 1) Bay Area Masters Grand Prix IIM Ricardo De Guzman won the Bay Area Masters Grand Prix I, held January 25-27 at the Mechanics' Institute. The 3-time Filipino Olympiad team member scored 4-1, including a victory over top seed SM Vladimir Mezentsev. MI Chess Director John Donaldson and NM Adrian Keatinge-Clay shared second with 3 1/2 points. This was a particularly fine performance by Adrian as he scored 1 win and 3 draws against 3 IMs and a SM rated 2550. Adrian, who has one IM norm to his credit, made only one mistake in the tournament. He forgot to give organizer Guillermo Rey an address to send his prize money. We expect to hear from Adrian soon! Rounding out the list of plus scores at 3 points, in the 13-player field, were Mezentsev, IM Rey and NM Michael Aigner. Two other events in this series open to players rated over 2200, will be held May 10-12 and June 14-16. Full details will soon be available on the MI website (www.chessclub.org). A big thanks goes to IM Guillermo Rey for sponsoring these events which provide a much needed opportunity for the Bay Area's top players to keep in shape and to Anthony Corrales for directing. 2) Winter Tuesday Night MarathonThe Mechanics' Winter Tuesday Night Marathon has four leaders after three rounds. Topping the 66-player field are Victor Ossipov, Larry Snyder, Peter Grey and James Jones. There is still time to enter the eight round event with half point byes for the first three rounds. 3) Western Class ChampionshipsBill Goichberg's Continental Chess Association returned to Los Angeles the weekend of January 19-21 with the Western Class Championships. The top section saw a tie for first between GM Alex Wojtkiewicz and Armenians Varuzhan Akobian and Meliks Khachiyan at 5 1/2 from 7. Sharing fourth and fifth at 5 were SMs Cyrus Lakdawala and Levon Altounian. Several MI members made the trip south. SM David Pruess was in the running for a top prize throughout, but lost in the final round to Akobian to finish with four points. Expert Monty Peckham had a sensational result. The 16-year-old high school student, rated 2057 going into the event, scored 3 1/2 beating 2 masters and drawing with IM Ziatdinov. One of Lithuania's top young female talents, Egle Morkunaite, who is currently living in San Francisco, defeated two masters while scoring 2 1/2 points. 4) Hercules Amateur ChampionshipTournament organizer Rico Adkins writes: here is the report from the Hercules Amateur Championship held at the Mechanics Bank Operations Center in Hercules this past weekend. In the 16 player event, eight players out of sixteen won cash. Larry Snyder finished 4-0 for 1st place. Teri Lagier and Kayven Riese finished tied for 2nd overall and Best B prize with 3 points. Kris MacLennan was the Best and worst A player with 2 1/2 points. Alan Howe and Tom Allen tied for Best C with 2 points and Ben Laufer and Gregory Ihde tied for Best D/below with 1 point. For Gregory, it was his first win as an Unrated player. Look for the next event planned for April! Flyers will be available at the Mechanics' and Berkeley Chess Club as well as Bay Area chess events such as the 29th Annual Peoples Tournament in Berkeley. 5) Chess Column in the San Francisco Alta (1859)Sibylle Zemitis has unearthed evidence of a regular San Francisco chess column from 1859. The May 22 edition from that year of the San Francisco Alta features two Morphy-Mongredien games with annotations and a problem by Conrad Bayer. The column appears to have run every Sunday. We would welcome more information. 6) Bay Area Tournaments this WeekendThe Mechanics' Institute will be hosting the 2nd Annual Henry Gross G/45 this Saturday. Among the early entrants in this five round Swiss are IM Ricardo De Guzman and NMs Egle Morkunaite and Keith Vickers. IM Guillermo Rey will be hosting the Town School Spring Chess Challenge this Saturday at the Town School (2750 Jackson Street in San Francisco). The event is open to grades K-8 and runs from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM. Contact Guillermo at reyg@ix.netcom.com or (650) 355-0305 for more information. 7) Upcoming Events
The Henry Gross Memorial Saturday, February 2, 2002
PRIZES: REGIONAL TOURNAMENTS
A Heritage Event
Mar. 23-24. National Events
*A U.S. Championship Qualifier* |