I didn't have any ideas in any games. It's very difficult to have ideas when you are playing two games a day.

GM Vadim Milov in an interview after the 2007 Chicago Open

1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News

2) Alex Shabalov wins US Championship

3) Vadim Milov and Yury Shulman tie for first in Chicago

4) Canadian Open

5) Here and There

6) Upcoming Events

The past two weeks have been busy ones at the Mechanics'. Saturday, May 19th, IM Josh Waitzkin gave a talk on his new book The Art of Learning that was very well received. Signed copies of Josh's book are available for $25 from room 408 at the MI. Sunday afternoon 24 blitz aficionados gathered at the MI for the Cliff Lundberg Memorial. IM Ricardo DeGuzman won the 6 double round blitz in a strong field with a score of 10 from 12 with Expert Jules Jellinek right behind at 9 1/2. Carlos Davila was third at 8 1/2.

The following Saturday a playoff was held to determine the 2007 Northern California representative for the Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions NMs Ricard Kopecke and Michael Aigner have more.

Michael Aigner


Since fifth grader Daniel Naroditsky won the K-12 section of the CalChess Scholastics, a G/45
playoff was conducted among six players tied for second place. The winner of this playoff would
represent CalChess at the national Denker Tournament for High School Champions. (Per wishes of
Arnold Denker, this person must be in high school, thereby making Naroditsky ineligible.)

I was there on Saturday. It was ugly. Really ugly. Unless your name is Nicolas Yap or Adarsh
Konda. Anyone who predicted that G/45 wizard NM Sam Shankland and reigning National High School champion Michael Zhong

would combine for 1.5 out of 8 against the other four players in the field should book a ticket to National Open (to play at the
casino). Three players broke 2100, but two going in the wrong direction.

At least three people did well in the round-robin. Congratulations to top seed NM Nicolas Yap for
earning his second trip to the Denker Tournament of High School Champions with an impressive 4.5
out of 5 result. He also hit 2300 USCF for the first time ever and is two points away from the FM
title. Since Nic will graduate from high school in two weeks, the Denker will be his final
scholastic tournament ever.

Further kudos to Adarsh Konda for drawing with both of the masters and breaking 2100 (in the
upwards direction) and to lowest rated Micah Cohen for breaking 2000 with a respectable 50% score.
The sixth player was David Chock. At least everyone who didn't win can still try again next year.

CalChess Denker Playoff
NM Nicolas Yap 4.5
Adarsh Konda 4.0
Micah Cohen 2.5
NM Sam Shankland 2.0
David Chock 1.5
Michael Zhong 0.5

The Summer Tuesday Night Marathon started last night with NM Albert Rich and FM Frank Thornally the top seeds. It is still not to late to enter with a half point bye for round one.

A hearty congratulations to Alex Shabalov who won the 2007 US Championship, held May 15-23 in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in excellent fighting fashion. Shaba started out like a rocket but then suffered a horrendous loss midway through the event to defending champion Alex Onischuk. He showed great strength of character to rebound and finish strongly.

Onischuk also turned in an impressive performance, especially when one considers that he (and Ildar Ibragimov) both played in the Russian Team Championship which ended just a few days before Stillwater. The US Championship was actually the third event in a row for Onischuk who played the Ukrainian Team Championship right before the Russian event. Alex isn't a glutton for punishment - the late scheduling of the US Championship made the crowded schedule a necessity.

If it hadn't been for Frank and Jim Berry it is likely there would have been no US Championship this year -something to think about in a few weeks when the June issue of Chess Life comes out with an election ballot insert (Jim Berry is running for the Executive Board).

The 2007 US Championship doubled as a Zonal so the first five players advance in the World Championship cycle.

1. 7.0/9- Alexander Shabalov
2. 6.5 Alexander Onischuk
3-5- Gregory Kaidanov, Yury Shulman and Julio Becerra.
6-9- 5.5- Sergey Kudrin, Boris Gulko, Varuzhan Akobian, and Alex Stripunsky

Likely none of the five Bay Area representatives (GMs Yermolinsky and Browne, IMs Friedel and Pruess and NM Aigner) was entirely pleased with their performance. Mechanics' GM -in-Residence turned in the best result, a score of 4.5 from 9 against strong opposition that actually netted him a few rating points.

Congratulations to Joe Bradford and Michael Langer for their IM norms. This was the fourth or fifth for Bradford who will receive his decades overdue IM title this June. Bradford was the only non-GM with a plus score in the event in which GM upsets were very rare. Langer, who was one of the organizers wildcards, was one of the pleasant surprises in Stillwater making his first norm.

3) Vadim Milov and Yury Shulman tie for first in Chicago

GMs Vadim Milov and Yury Schulman tied for first in the Chicago Open held over Memorial Day weekend with scores of 6 from 7 in a field that included 16 GMs and 9 IMs. Milov, a frequent visitor to the US, was but one of many strong foreign GMs who were attracted by the $10,000 first place - the weak dollar not being a deterrent. For the consistent Shulman this was yet another fine result and his USCF rating is now on the verge of crossing 2700. The performance of 21-year-old Omaha, Nebraska, resident GM Valeriy Aveskulov , is not to be overlooked. He defeated GMs Ehlvest and Shabalov, losing only to Milov, in raising his USCF rating to 2642. Counting reentries over 730 players participated in the Continental Chess Association event organized by Bill Goichberg.

1-2- Vadim Milov and Yury Shulman- 6.0
3-6- Zviad Izoria, Merab Gagunashvili, Valeriy Aveskulov and Sergey Erenburg- 5.5
7-9- Jaan Ehlvest, Dmitry Gurevich and Josh Friedel- 5.0
10-14- Alexander Shabalov, Salvijus Bercys, Amon Simutowe, Mehmed Pasalic and Jake Kleiman- 4.5

IM Josh Friedel, first board for the MI's winning team in the 2006 US Chess League, defeated the new US Champion.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Qc7 5.O-O Nd4 6.Nxd4 cxd4 7.Nd5 Nxd5 8.exd5 Qc5 9.c4 dxc3 10.Qb3 a6 11.Be2 c2 12.d4 Qd6 13.g3 e6 14.Bf3 Qb4 15.Qxc2 Bd6 16.Rd1 O-O 17.a4 Qa5 18.Bd2 Qd8 19.a5 Rb8 20.dxe6 dxe6 21.Be3 Qe7 22.Qb3 Bd7 23.Qb6 Bb5 24.Rac1 Rfd8 25.Bg2 Rd7 26.d5 Rbd8 27.dxe6 Qxe6 28.Rd4 h6 29.Bxb7 Rb8 30.Rc8 1-0

4) Canadian Open

Dear chess player,

Here's a tops-of-the-waves status report on the 2007 Canadian Open Chess Championship, a blockbuster of an event that will be held in Ottawa, Canada's capital, July 7 to 15 at the Ottawa Marriott. Please feel free to circulate this email, post it on blogs, etc. if you think the news below will be of interest to folks you know...

The latest stats on the 2007 Canadian Open include:

• The projected prize fund has increased to $25,000 CAD based on 200 paid entries
• We've confirmed 15 GMs and 7 IMs, representing more than a dozen chess federations (Norm-seekers take note!) The top seeds are GMs Nigel Short, Vadim Milov, Sergey Tiviakov and Victor Mikhalevski. The other GMs are GMs Mark Bluvshtein (Canada), Viorel Iordachescu (Moldova), Suat Atalik (Turkey), Alex Yermolinsky (USA), David Howell (Great Britain), Borislav Ivkov (Serbia), Valerie Aveskulov (Ukraine), Abhijit Kunte (India), Frank de la Paz (Cuba), Tu Hoang Thong (Vietnam) and Tomas Likavsky (Slovakia).
• We have 160 registered players, of which more than 130 are paid entrants.
• We're working on a great slate of side events, made possible because during the weekdays of our event, there is only one evening round. On tap are lectures by GMs Yermolinsky (the Classical Sicilian), Mikhalevski (the Gruenfeld Defence) and Likavsky (chess psychology/preparing for specific opponents). IM Lawrence Day will launch his book on the late Canadian IM Bryon Nickoloff. We'll have a number of simuls as well, and some titled players will be offering individual and group lessons.
• A blitz tournament with an enhanced prize fund and a bughouse tournament are in the works.

The 2007 Canadian Open will be staged at the Ottawa Marriott from July 7 to 15 in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. Ottawa is a 90-minute direct US Air flight from Philadelphia, if you are playing the World Open but feeling like more chess after. If you haven't registered yet for the Canadian Open, but are thinking about it, please bear in mind:

• Until May 31, the entry fee is $125 CAD. After, until July 6, the entry fee is $150 CAD. At the Marriott, the entry fee will be $175 CAD.
• Until June 6, Canadian Open players can reserve hugely discounted accommodation at the Ottawa Marriott -- $89/night single or double; $99 CAD/night triple; $109 CAD/night quad. After June 6, the rate will almost certainly soar, and we recommend that out-of-towners reserve if there's a chance they will play -- the reservations can be cancelled with no penalty until July 2.

• online registration
• online reservation of accommodation at the Ottawa Marriott
• full tournament details
• a constantly updated list of registered players
• a blog with detailed tournament news and updates

IM Enrico Sevellano won the Memorial Day Classic in Los Angeles this past weekend scoring 5 from 6 to finish half a point ahead of IM Andranik Matikozyan, Joel Banawa, Alexander Kretchetov and Leonid Furman in an upset filled-event.

NMs Richard Koepcke and Paul Gallegos tied with Expert William Davis and Class A player Christopher Black in the Second Annual Frank Doyle Open held May 19-20 in Santa Rosa. Mike Goodall, a 2007 candidate for the USCF Executive Board, organized and directed the 38-player multi-section event.

John Blackstone, one of the top California players in the 1960s and now living in Las Vegas, sends in the following games from the Mechanics' past.

Horowitz,I - Fink,A [C83]
Simul Horowitz San Francisco, CA, 1938

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4
b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.c3 Be7 10.Nbd2 0-0 11.Bc2 Nc5
12.Nb3 Nd7 13.Re1 Re8 14.Nbd4 Nxd4 15.Nxd4 Nf8 16.f4
c5 17.Nxe6 fxe6 18.Re3 c4 19.Rh3 Bc5+ 20.Be3 Qb6
21.Bd4 Re7 22.Kh1 Bxd4 23.cxd4 Rc7 24.Qd2 g6 25.Rf1
Nd7 26.g4 Rf8 27.f5 Kh8 28.Rg1 exf5 29.gxf5 Rxf5
30.Qh6 1-0


Horowitz,I - Gross,H [C42]
Simul Horowirz San Francisco, CA, 1957

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bc4 Nc6 5.0-0 d6 6.Nd5
Bg4 7.c3 Bc5 8.d3 h6 9.b4 Bb6 10.a4 a5 11.b5 Nb8 12.h3
Bh5 13.Nxb6 cxb6 14.d4 Nbd7 15.Ba3 Qc7 16.Bd3 0-0-0
17.Qe2 Nf8 18.Qe3 g5 19.Nd2 g4 20.h4 Ne6 21.g3 Bg6
22.Rfe1 Kb8 23.Rac1 d5 24.dxe5 Qxe5 25.Qxb6 dxe4
26.Nc4 Qc7 27.Qxc7+ Nxc7 28.Bf1 ½-½

6) Upcoming Events

June 9–10 BENT CREEK WINERY OPEN

A Classic Event!
Jun.16 14th California Classic Championship California, Northern