Botvinnik tried to take the mystery out of Chess, always relating it to situations in ordinary life. He used to call Chess a typical inexact problem similar to those which people are always having to solve in everyday life.
Garry Kasparov
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) 1886 San Francisco Argonaut Journals by Kerry Lawless
3) Hurt-Sheets, Washington State Championship 1941
4) 2007 US Womens Championship
5) GM Danny King Simul in Berkeley
6) Here and There
7) Upcoming Events
Don't miss the 7th Annual William Addison Open G/45 this Saturday at the MI.
Due to summer vacation you are receiving two issue of the MI Newsletter this week. The next issue will come out on July 4th.
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
FM Frank Thornally defeated Scottish Expert William Gray to grab sole possession of first place after four rounds of the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon. Half a point behind Thornally's 4-0 score are NM Albert Rich, Experts Romulo Fuentes, Victor Ossipov and Larry Snyder plus Class A players Murray Newcomb and Payam Afkham-Ebrahimi
MI US Chess League top board Josh Friedel will be hunting for his final GM norm in the World Open in a few weeks. Good luck Josh! To learn more about Josh's recent exploits go to US Chess online
http://beta.uschess.org/frontend/news_7_415.php to read his first hand account of the US Championship and Chicago and National Opens.Newsletters
349 and 350 dealt in part with Josh Waitzkin's new book The Art of Learning which has now been subjected to a rigorous review in the latest issue of New in Chess by Jonathan Rowson. The Scottish GM does an excellent job of analyzing the books strengths and weaknesses as well as that of Gary Kasparov's latest How Life Imitates Chess. I encourage you to read this review. If you are not a NIC subscriber, but are a Mechanics' member, you are in luck as the MI Library is a subscriber. You will find issue #4 of 2007 of NIC at the 3rd floor circulation desk.As an added plus this issue has a great article on the 2007 US Championship with a very nice annotated game by US Champ Shabalov ( over GM Ibragimov) . NIC,as a magazine that comes out 8 times a year, is not particularly noted for its speedy reporting but this time they were amazingly quick with a turnaround of not much more than a month for a detailed report.
2) 1886 San Francisco Argonaut Journals by Kerry Lawless
1886 SF ARGONAUT JOURNALS WITH CHESS COLUMNS DONATED TO THE MI LIBRARY
by MI Life Member Kerry Lawless
According to Ken Whyld’s resource book, Chess Columns A List, The Argonaut was the third newspaper to carry a chess column in San Francisco. It’s listed as being published from December 1, 1884 through 1888. The other two, the Golden Era and California Spirit of the Times, had columns published in 1859. Even though the journal was first published in 1877, according to Wikipedia, the chess column didn’t begin until 1884. But, when in 1884 won’t be answered until the entire run for that year has been examined. A 1952 issue of the magazine Canadian Chess Chat published an article which credits J. F. Welsh as the first editor of The Argonaut; even though Whyld’s book only specifies editor J. E. Tippett.
Even though the City had a population of about a quarter million people by this time, the chess players had their own little community where everybody knew everybody. There is no doubt, that even if Mr. Tippett wasn’t a member of the Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club, he frequented it. The column for January 9, 1886 has this to say about itself: "The Argonaut chess column to-day enters upon the third year of its existence. It is exceedingly gratifying to note that its influence in the cause of chess has been productive of so much good, and that its efforts to foster and encourage the study of the game have met with such success. Much of this is due to the interest manifested by our contributors, who have so largely aided in accomplishing these results not only by their words of encouragement and advice, but also by practical assistance in the shape of problems, games, and notes of interest. The steadily increasing list of solvers attests the appreciation of this large class of our readers to the excellence of problems composed expressly for the column by such well-known composers as W. A. Shinkman, A. F. Mackenzie, F. B. Phelps, C. H. Wheeler, J. J. Hanauer, H. and E. Bettmann, George J. Slater, J. Jespersen, and Fritz Peipers. The game department, which during the past year received many valuable additions in original games played by some of our best local players, will continue to maintain its excellence, and the latest chess news will always be given for the benefit of the chess-players throughout the coast." Longtime MI member, Robert Burger, has had a chance to go over the entire run from 1884 to 1888 and he confirms that many columns did, indeed, have local content.
Recently, I was able to acquire and donate the 1886 Journal issues that actually had a chess column. J. E. Tippett was the editor and the column titled "The Chess-Player" came out every Saturday. Interestingly enough, there wasn’t a column in the December 26, 1885 issue. The Argonaut issues for 1886 were
Volume 18, Number 1, January 2, 1886
Volume 18, Number 2, January 9, 1886
Volume 18, Number 3, January 16, 1886
Volume 18, Number 4, January 23, 1886
Volume 18, Number 5, January 30, 1886
Volume 18, Number 6, February 6, 1886
Volume 18, Number 7, February 13, 1886
Volume 18, Number 8, February 20, 1886
Volume 18, Number 9, February 27, 1886
Volume 18, Number 10, March 6, 1886
Sadly, none of the above columns had local content. As previously mentioned, they had the obligitory chess problem, one grandmaster game and snippetts of information from various international chess magazines for filler. Most of the columns after January 9, were concerned with the (then) current official world championship match between world champion Wilhelm Steinitz and his challenger Johannes Zukertort.
Appearing at the end of the March 6 column was this announcement, "Mr. J. E. Tippett, who for a long time has so ably conducted the Chess column of the Argonaut, is about to leave San Francisco, to take up his permanent residence in Boston. This will involve his abandoning the charge of this department. Those readers of the paper who are interested in chess will regret Mr. Tippett’s departure as much as we do.—Eds. Argonaut."
The following two columns had no editor and consisted entirely of the last part of the Steinitz-Zukertort match.
Volume 18. Number 15, April 10, 1886
Volume 18, Number 16, April 17, 1886
There were no further chess columns in 1886. It will take some further research to uncover exactly when the regular chess column resumed and who assumed the editorship position.
3) Hurt-Sheets, Washington State Championship 1941
Jim is best known to Bay Area players for the many events LERA events he organized 4 times a year for several decades. What many may not know is that Jim, who grew up in San Francisco, studied at the University of Washington during the Depression. A serious student, he didn't have much time to play, but he was a regular in the Washington State Championship playing six times and winning five, one in a field that included future US team member Olaf Ulvestad ( who split with Bronstein in the 1946 USA-USSR match).
Jim Hurt - J. L. Sheets
Washington State Championship Seattle, 1941
Annotations by Fred Reinfeld
"Poor opening play gives Black a permanently bad game." - Reinfeld
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.Qb3
Out of place in this opening. Black should simply continue with ...Nbd7 and ...e5; in this way he would obtain a good game and soon demonstrate the pointlessness of Qb3.
6...c6 7.Be2 Qb6 8.0-0 Na6 9.Bf4 Bg4 10.Rfd1 Rfe8 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 Nd7
Black's pieces are very poorly placed, his prospects are meager, and the enemy's two Bishops are likely to become troublesome.
13.Be3 Rab8 14.Bg4 Qc7 15.a3 e6 16.Qc2 f5 17.Be2 Rf8 18.f4 Rbc8 19.e5 d5
Black's pieces are so badly placed that he naturally prefers to block the position.
20.c5 Nab8 21.b4 Rfe8 22.Qd2 Nf8 23.Kh2 Nbd7 24.Rg1
White has the choice between a4 and b5 ( queenside attack) and g4 ( kingside attack). He decides in favor of the latter, since the crowded position of the Black pieces makes satisfactory defense impossible in the long run.
24...Kf7 25.Qe1 Qd8 26.g4 Ra8 27.h4 Qc7 28.Qg3 Re7 29.Kh1 Kg8
This is inconsistent. The King should flee to the queenside, which would greatly increase the difficulties of White's task. 30.h5 fxg4 31.Bxg4 Rae8 32.Ra2 Rf7 33.hxg6 Nxg6 [If 33...hxg6 , White can triple his forces on the King Rook file and bring his Knight to g5 with decisive effect.
34.Rf2 Ndf8 35.Ne2 Ne7 36.Bh5 Nfg6 37.Rh2 Nf5
This leads to the loss of a pawn. However, if 37...Bf8 38.Qh3 Qd7 39.Bxg6 Nxg6 40.Rxg6+.
38.Qh3 Kf8 39.Bxg6 hxg6 40.Rxg6 Ke7 41.Bf2 a5 42.Qg4
White has at last broken through and Black's collapse is only a matter of time.
42...axb4 43.axb4 Kd7 44.Rh7 Rh8 45.Rxh8 Bxh8 46.Ng3 Rh7+ 47.Kg1 Ng7 48.f5 Qd8 49.f6 Ne8 50.Nh5 Qa8
The position is hopeless. If 50...Nc7 51.Rg8 Ne8 52.Nf4 Instructive position play by Hurt.
51.f7 Ng7 52.Nf6+
1-0The Chess Correspondent
, January-February 1944, page 19.
4) 2007 US Womens Championship
They are at it again. Frank Berry and his twin brother Jim who is running this year for the USCF Executive Board, are putting on another big event on top of the US Championship they held in May. So far NMs Kamille Baginskaite, Katerine Rohonyan, Tatev Abrahamyan, Batchimeg Tuvshintugs and Tsagaan Battsetseg and Experts Chouchanik Airapetian and Alisa Melekhina have signed up to play. They are expected to be joined by defending US Womens Champion Anna Zatonskih and top rated US women Irina Krush plus one other player.
The 2007 Frank Berry U.S. Women's Championship will be held in Stillwater, Oklahoma from July 16-20, with $25,000 in prizes ( $7,000 for first) and three tickets to the Womens World Championship cycle. The Women's Championship will be followed by two other exciting events, a blitz open with a $1500 prize fund on Friday, July 20th and a $2500 weekend five round Swiss on July 21-22.
U.S. Women's Championship Schedule
5) GM Danny King Simul in Berkeley
The Berkeley Chess School is sponsoring a simul by GM Daniel King at 7:00 PM on Friday, June 29th in Berkeley. This is in conjunction with GM King's visit to teach the top class for two weeks of summer camp at the Berkeley Chess School the weeks of June 18th and June 25th. The simul is limited to 30 boards and the cost is $15. Location is room 17 at Hillside School, 1581
LeRoy Avenue, Berkeley. To register please contact the Berkeley Chess School at 510-843-0150 or bcschool@pacbell.net. Our mailing address is The Berkeley Chess School, PO Box 10073, Berkeley, CA 94709.
6) Here and There
Northern California USCF members 16 and over should have or will soon be receiving a ballot for the upcoming Executive Board elections in their June Chess Life. Don't forget to vote!
Alex Onischuk has 1.5 from 3 in the super strong Aerosvit roundrobin which features an average rating close to 2700.
Van Wely,L (2674) - Onischuk,A (2663) [D37]
Aerosvit Foros UKR (2), 19.06.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Rc1 c5 8.a3 cxd4 9.exd4 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Nb6 11.Bd3 Nbd5 12.Nxd5 Nxd5 13.Be5 Qa5+ 14.Nd2 Bg5 15.h4 Bh6 16.Rc5 Qd8 17.Nf3 f6 18.Bg3 b6 19.Rc2 Bb7 20.Qe2 Re8 21.0-0 Nf4 22.Bxf4 Bxf4 23.Be4 Qd7 24.Re1 Rad8 25.Qd3 Bxe4 26.Qxe4 Bb8 27.Rce2 Re7 28.h5 Qd5 29.Qg4 Rde8 30.Nd2 f5 31.Qh4 e5 32.Qg5 Qf7 33.g4 fxg4 34.dxe5 h6 35.Qxg4 Rxe5 36.Rxe5 Bxe5 37.Nc4 Rf8 38.Re2 Bf4 39.Qe6 Qxe6 40.Rxe6 Rc8 41.Nd6 Bxd6 42.Rxd6 Rc5 43.b4 Rxh5 44.Rd7 a5 45.bxa5 bxa5 46.Ra7 Kh7 47.Ra6 Rf5 48.Kg2 h5 49.Kg3 g6 50.f3 Kh6 51.a4 Rc5 52.Ra8 Kg5 53.Rb8 h4+ 54.Kf2 Rc2+ 55.Ke3 h3 56.Rh8 h2 57.Rh7 Ra2 58.Rh8 Ra3+ 59.Kf2 Rxa4 60.Kg3 Ra2 61.Rh7 a4 62.Rh8 Rb2 63.Rf8 a3 0-1
NM Iryna Zenyuk will be one of the official US representatives in the Womens Continental Championship scheduled to begin in late August in San Luis, Argentina.
The USCF is running its two major youth invitationals in Tampa right now.
Standings after five rounds in the Junior Invitational (under 21)
1-2- Mackenzie Molner and Marc Arnold- 3.5
3-4- Ray Robson and Ryan Milisits- 3
5-6- Corey Acor and Xiao Cheng -2.5
7-8- Alexander Barnett and Elliott Liu -2
9-10- Eric Rodriguez and Teddy Coleman- 1.5
Standings after six rounds in the Cadets (under 16)
1- Evan Ju- 5/6
2-3 Robert Lau and Alec Getz- 3.5/6
4- Warrne Harper- 3/6
5- Jeffrey Haskel- 2/6
6- Thomas H. Riccardi- 1/6
GM Anatoly Lein and WIM Esther Epstein will represent the United States in the World Senior Championships for Men (over 60) and Women ( over 50) to be held in Gmunden, Austria, in mid September.
Dr. Frank Brady was recently unanimously elected as the new president of the Marshall Chess Club.
7) Upcoming Events
MI events - go
www.chessclub.org for more informationWilliam Addison Open - June 23rd
Charles Bagby - July 14th
Vladimir Pafnutieff - August 11th
Bernardo Smith Amateur - August 18th and 19th
June 29-July 1
47th Annual Pacific Southwest Open
July 1
PSW Scholastics
July 1
PSW Hexes
July 6-8 2007 Sacramento Chess Championship GPP: 6 California Northern
SITE: Best Western Expo Inn, 1413 Howe Avenue, Sacramento, CA. ON-SITE REGISTRATION: 7/6 – 8:30 am - 9:45 am; 7/7 – 8:30 am - 9:15 am. ROUNDS: 3-day: 7/6 – 10 & 3:30, 7/7 – 11 & 4:30, 7/8 – 10 & 3:30. 2-day: 7/7 – 9:30, 11:45, 2, & 4:30, 7/8 – 10 & 3:30. TIME CONTROLS: 3-day: 30/90 G/1. 2-day: Rounds 1-3, G/75, Rounds 4-6, 30/90 G/1. 5-second delay on all time controls. SECTIONS: Master/Expert (above 1999), Reserve (U2000). ENTRY FEES: 3-day $65 (Juniors $45) postmarked by 6/29. $75 (Juniors $50) after 6/29. IMs/GMs free. Entrants may play up one section for $10. $5 discount to CalChess members. Reentry after round 1 of the 3-day schedule: $40. PRIZES: 1st Place in each section $325 & trophy (1st prize guaranteed in the Master/Expert section). Prize fund of $2570 based on 75 full paid adult entries and 10 full paid junior entries overall (with 60 full paid adult entries and 10 full paid junior entries, the prize fund will be $1,900). HOTEL: Best Western Expo Inn, (916) 922-9833 or 1-800-643-4422. Ask for the Sacramento Chess Club rates. ADVANCE ENTRIES & INFO: John McCumiskey (TD), 6700 50th St, Sacramento, CA 95823-1306; e-mail:
July 6-8
2007 Sacramento Chess Championship GPP: 6 California NorthernSITE: Best Western Expo Inn, 1413 Howe Avenue, Sacramento, CA. ON-SITE REGISTRATION: 7/6 – 8:30 am - 9:45 am; 7/7 – 8:30 am - 9:15 am. ROUNDS: 3-day: 7/6 – 10 & 3:30, 7/7 – 11 & 4:30, 7/8 – 10 & 3:30. 2-day: 7/7 – 9:30, 11:45, 2, & 4:30, 7/8 – 10 & 3:30. TIME CONTROLS: 3-day: 30/90 G/1. 2-day: Rounds 1-3, G/75, Rounds 4-6, 30/90 G/1. 5-second delay on all time controls. SECTIONS: Master/Expert (above 1999), Reserve (U2000). ENTRY FEES: 3-day $65 (Juniors $45) postmarked by 6/29. $75 (Juniors $50) after 6/29. IMs/GMs free. Entrants may play up one section for $10. $5 discount to CalChess members. Reentry after round 1 of the 3-day schedule: $40. PRIZES: 1st Place in each section $325 & trophy (1st prize guaranteed in the Master/Expert section). Prize fund of $2570 based on 75 full paid adult entries and 10 full paid junior entries overall (with 60 full paid adult entries and 10 full paid junior entries, the prize fund will be $1,900). HOTEL: Best Western Expo Inn, (916) 922-9833 or 1-800-643-4422. Ask for the Sacramento Chess Club rates. ADVANCE ENTRIES & INFO: John McCumiskey (TD), 6700 50th St, Sacramento, CA 95823-1306; e-mail:
sactochess@sbcglobal.net; phone: (916) 524-9479, checks payable to Sacramento Chess Club. Full flyer and advance entries: http://sacramentochessclub.org under Weekend Events. OTHER INFO: No Smoking, No Computers, Wheelchair Access. 07/07 rating list only. Please bring clocks and equipment. Maximum of two ½ point byes and are available in all rounds, maximum 2 byes per entry. ½ point byes for rounds 5 & 6 must be requested prior to round 1.. For more info, contact: John McCumiskey.Clark Harmon Memorial Open
July 14-15
$1500 Guaranteed!
Sponsored by Portland Chess Club and contributors to the
Harmon Memorial Fund
5-round Swiss: One open section
Time Control: Saturday 40/90, SD/30; Sunday 40/120, SD 60
Registration: Saturday 9-9:45 am. Registration is limited to first 50 entrants. Advanced registration is strongly encouraged.
Rounds: Saturday 10:00; 2:30 & 7:00; Sunday 9:30 & 4:30
Location: Portland Chess Club, check
http://www.pdxchess.org/ for directionsByes: 2 half-point byes available if requested before 1st round. GMs & IMs may enter in round 2 with 1 point or round 3 with 1.5 points.
1st $425 2nd $250 3rd $150
U2000, U1700, U1400 each 1st $150, 2nd $75
Entry: $50; $40 for PCC members.
Memberships: USCF and OCF/WCF required (OSA). Harmon NW Grand Prix.
This is the First Annual Harmon Memorial. We hope players will join in this tribute to one of the Northwest’s premier players and ambassadors of the game. The prize fund is underwritten through the generosity of contributors to the Harmon Memorial Fund. To date the following have contributed:
Sherry Harmon; Alexey Root; Neil Dale; Jonna Schuder; Taylor Bailey; Mike Morris; Shirley Venhaus; Marvin Hayami; Russell Miller; Mike Schemm; Grisha Alpernas; Jon & Barbie Fortune; Michael Ratliff; Laszlo Szalvay; Ted Lundin
Any net proceeds from this tournament will be added to the fund, so that this will become an annual event
July 19-22, 20-22 or 21-22
12th annual Pacific Coast Open GPP: 80 California Southern6SS, 40/2, SD/1 (2-day option, rds 1-3 G/60). Renaissance Agoura Hills Hotel, 30100 Agoura Road, Agoura Hills CA 91301 (US-101 to Reyes Adobe Road exit). Adjacent to the Santa Monica Mountains, 26 miles west of Burbank, 12 miles from Malibu, 28 miles from Ventura. Free parking. Prizes $20,000 based on 250 paid entries (re-entries count as half entries, U800/Unr Section as one-third), minimum $16,000 (80% of each prize) guaranteed. In 7 sections. Open: $2000-1000-500-300, U2300/Unr $1200-600. FIDE. Under 2100: $1500-700-500-300. Under 1900: $1500-700-500-300. Under 1700: $1500-700-500-300. Under 1500: $1500-700-500-300. Under 1200: $1200-600-400-200. Under 800/Unr: Trophies to top 8. Unrated may play in any section, with maximum prize U2100 $700, U1900 $600, U1700 $500, U1500 $400, U1200 $300; balance goes to next player(s) in line. Top 6 sections EF: 4-day $104, 3-day $103, 2-day $102 mailed by 7/11, all $105 online at
chesstour.com by 7/16, $110 phoned by 7/16 (406-896-2038, entry only, no questions), $120 (no checks, credit cards OK) at tmt. SCCF membership ($14, jrs $9) required for rated Southern CA residents. U800/Unr Section EF: 4-day $24, 3-day $23, 2-day $22 mailed by 7/11, all $25 online at chesstour.com by 7/16, $30 phoned by 7/16 (406-896-2038, entry only, no questions), $40 (no checks, credit cards OK) at site. Re-entry $50; not available in Open Section. Advance EF $10 less if paid with $49 USCF dues. GMs free, $100 deducted from prize. 4-day schedule: Reg Thu to 6:30pm, rds Thu 7 pm, Fri 7 pm, Sat 12-7, Sun 10-4:30. 3-day schedule: Reg. Fri to 11am, rds Fri 12-7, Sat 12-7, Sun 10-4:30. 2-day schedule: Reg Sat to 9 am, rds Sat 10-1-4-7, Sun 10-4:30. All schedules: Bye all, limit 2, Open must commit before rd 2, other sections before rd 4. HR: $82-82-82-82, 818-707-1220, reserve by 7/5 or rate may increase. Car rental: Avis, 800-331-1600, use AWD #D657633. Ent: Continental Chess, PO Box 249, Salisbury Mills NY 12577. $10 charge for refunds. Questions: www.chesstour.com, 845-496-9648. Advance entries posted at chesstour.com.