We live in good times for chess professionals, with many opportunities for steady income through teaching, writing, and Internet work, but bad times for chess players. The competition is extremely intense with too many players for the market to bear. Conditions for players in the U.S. have not improved over the years. Anyone who wants to devote their career to playing chess has to be prepared to put their work above everything else. I think that to compete with players overseas you have to move to Europe for a more professional environment.
Joel Benjamin interviewed by Jim Eade at the US Chess Trust website (http://www.uschesstrust.org/WP/?m=20080417)
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) US Championship
3) Fischer Games
4) Here and There
5) Upcoming Events
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
IM Ricardo De Guzman and WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs shared first place with 4.5 from 5 in the 8th Annual Charles Powell Memorial G/45 held May 10.
Foster City TV has produced a 30-minutes episode about Mechanics' member Daniel Naroditsky, the reigning World Under 12 Champion. You can watch by downloading it from:
The Mechanics Institute will be holding two chess camps this summer. Anthony Corrales will teach the beginner/ intermediate session from July 14-18 with IM (2 GM norms) Josh Friedel in charge of the advanced camp from July 21-25. Go to
www.chessclub.org for more information.
Book and equipment donations to the Mechanics' are always welcome. All donations to the Mechanics' are tax deductible due to the M.I.'s 501(c) (3) nonprofit status. If you have any chess books or equipment that have been lying around unused for some time consider donating to the Mechanics'. You will not only get a tax write off but also the satisfaction of seeing things put to good use.
2) US Championship
The 2008 Frank K. Berry US Championship and US Women's Championship started yesterday in Tulsa. The games can be followed live at no cost at
www.monroi.com . Round one saw the Mechanics' four participants ( IMs Josh Friedel and David Pruess, NM Sam Shankland and WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs) scored 1.5-2.5 with three of the four paired up. Here is David's hard fought draw.
David Pruess- Julio Becerra,
2008 US Championship (1)
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c6 4. Be3 d5 5. Nf3 dxe4 6. Nxe4 Nd7 7. c4 Ngf6 8.Nc3 O-O 9. Be2 b6 10. O-O Bb7 11. Qd2 e6 12. Rad1 Qe7 13. Rfe1 Rad8 14. Bf1 Rfe8 15. Qc2 Qf8 16. Qa4 Ra8 17. c5 a5 18. Qb3 Ba6 19. Bxa6 Rxa6 20. Qc4 Raa8 21. cxb6 Nxb6 22. Qxc6 Nbd5 23. Qa4 Qb4 24. Qc2 Rec8 25. Rc1 Qb7 26. Qe2 a4 27. Ne5 Rcb8 28. Nd3 Bf8 29. Bg5 Qb6 30. Be3 Qb7 31. h3 Qa6 32. Ne5 Qb7 33. Qf3 Nxe3 34. Qxe3 Bg7 35. Rc2 Rd8 36. Rd1 Rac8 37. Rcd2 Nd5 38. Qf3 Qa7 39. a3 Nxc3 40. bxc3 Qc7 41. Qf4 Bxe5 42. dxe5 Rxd2 43. Rxd2 Qxc3 44. Kh2 Qxa3 1/2-1/2
3) Fischer Games
Ever year the new edition of the Chess Base product MegaBase includes hundreds of thousands of new games, most played in the past year but also some from the past as well. How do they get there? The game scores from most important recent events are preserved and made available by organizers around the world, te United States being one notably deficient exception though Michael Atkins, Jim and Frank Berry, Chris Bird, Sevan Muradian and Ernest Wong all do their part to preserve the chess culture.
For older games Caissa relies on her loyal unsung heroes to locate and enter them from old and forgotten books, magazines, bulletins and newspapers. Three of these heroes in the United States are Andy Ansel, Richard Reich and Eduardo Bauza Mercere.
Andy's special interest are games played in the United States and he has done much to preserve the records of US Championships and US Opens. You can find his many contributions to California chess at the excellent website
www.chessdryad.org .
Thanks to Richard Reich of Madison, Wisconsin, here are four games played by Bobby you will not find in any commercial database or Fischer anthology. The source for the games, played in a simul in Cordoba, is the Argentine book X Torneo Abierto de Ajedrez del Centro de la Republica Copa Feigin: 50 Anos de Ajedrez en Cordoba
.
Fischer,Robert James - Marchetti,Francisco [B29]
simultaneous Cordoba, 1971
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bb5+ Bd7 5.e5 Bxb5 6.Nxb5 a6 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.e6 fxe6 9.Nxe4 dxe4 10.Ng5 Qd5 11.d3 exd3 12.0-0 Nc6 13.cxd3 h6 14.Qh5+ Kd7 15.Qh3 Qf5 16.Ne4 b6 17.g4 Qd5 18.f4 g6 19.Nc3 Qd6 20.Ne4 Qd5 21.Nc3 Qd6 22.Ne4 Qd5 ½-½
Fischer,Robert James - Salvi,Carlos [C25]
simultaneous Cordoba, 1971
1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 e5 3.d4 d6 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 6.f4 f6 7.Nf3 Bd6 8.fxe5 fxe5 9.Ng5 Ke7 10.Bc4 Nf6 11.Nf7 Rf8 12.Nxd6 Kxd6 13.0-0 Be6 14.Bd3 Nbd7 15.a4 Nc5 16.h3 b6 17.Be3 Nxd3 18.cxd3 c5 19.a5 Kc6 20.Rfc1 Rfd8 21.Bf2 b5 22.Na2 c4 23.b3 Kd7 24.bxc4 bxc4 25.dxc4 Nxe4 26.Be3 Ke8 27.Nb4 Rdc8 28.c5 Rab8 29.Rab1 Nf6 30.Na6 Rxb1 31.Rxb1 Bc4 32.Nb4 Nd5 33.Nxd5 Bxd5 34.g4 a6 35.Rb6 Rc6 36.Rb7 Rg6 37.Ra7 Bc4 38.Kf2 Rf6+ 39.Ke1 Rf7 40.Ra8+ Kd7 41.Kd2 Kc6 42.Kc3 Bb5 43.Rd8 Rd7 44.Rxd7 Kxd7 45.Bf2 Ke6 46.h4 Kd5 47.g5 Ke4 48.Bg3 Bc6 49.Kd2 g6 50.Bh2 Kf5 51.Ke3 e4 52.Bg3 Ke6 ½-½
Fischer,Robert James - Buraschi,Osvaldo Mario [C59]
simultaneous Cordoba, 1971
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Be2 h6 9.Nh3 Bd6 10.d3 Rb8 11.0-0N g5 12.Kh1 Be6 13.Nc3 Bc7 14.Ng1 c5 15.Nf3 Nc6 16.Ne4 Nd7 17.b3 f5 18.Ned2 Nf6 19.Nc4 g4 20.Nh4 Nd5 21.g3 Nc3 22.Qe1 Bd5+ 23.Bf3 Bxf3+ 24.Nxf3 Qd5 25.Qxc3 Ba5 26.Nxa5 Nd4 27.h4 gxh3 28.Kh2 Nxf3+ 29.Kxh3 Ng5+ 30.Kh2 Nf3+ 31.Kh3 Ng5+ 32.Kh2 Nf3+ 33.Kh3 Ng5+ ½-½
Fischer,Robert James - Canova,Guillermo [C52]
simultaneous Cordoba, 1971
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 d6 7.Qb3 Qd7 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Ba3 Bb6 10.Nbd2 Na5 11.Qb4 c5 12.Qb2 Nxc4 13.Nxc4 f6 14.Rd1 Qc6 15.Nd6+ Ke7 16.Nh4N Nh6 17.0-0 Rd8 18.Nc4 Be6 19.Nd2 Rd6 20.f4 exf4 21.e5 fxe5 22.Rde1 Rad8 23.Ndf3 Nf7 24.Nxe5 Nxe5 25.Rxe5 Kd7 26.Nf5 Bxf5 27.Rxf5 Kc8 28.c4 [perhaps the game went: 28.Qf2 g6 29.Rg5 (29.Rxf4 c4) 29...h6 30.Rg4 g5 31.h4 Qd7 32.Qf3 Rd3 33.hxg5 Rxf3 34.gxf3 Rg8 35.Bc1 Rxg5] 28...g6 29.Rg5 h6 30.Rg4 g5 31.h4? Qd7 the game score continues here: 32 D3AR T6D 33 PxP TxD 34 PxT T1C 35A1A TxP 0-1 32.Qe2 -- 33.Qf3 Rd3 34.hxg5 Rxf3 35.gxf3 Rg8 36.Bc1 Rxg5 0-1
Eduardo Bauza Mercere, sent the following game to Inside Chess some years but it has also not in any commercial database or Fischer anthology.
Fischer,R - Anelli,A
Buenos Aires simul, 1971
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 b5 8.0-0 Be7 9.f4 0-0 10.a3 Bb7 11.f5 e5 12.Nde2 Nbd7 13.Ng3 Rc8 14.Bg5 a5 15.Bxf6 Nxf6 16.Nh5 b4 17.Nxf6+ Bxf6 18.axb4 axb4 19.Nd5 Bxd5 20.Qxd5 Qb6+ 21.Kh1 Rc5 22.Qd3 Ra5 23.Bd5 Rc8 24.Qb3 Rf8 25.c3 Qa6 26.Rad1 bxc3 27.Qxc3 Rc5 28.Qd3 Qxd3 29.Rxd3 remainder unavailable; 1-0 in about 60 moves
4) Here and There
Hikaru Nakamura scored 35 wins and two draws ( Len Molden and Henry Ji) in a 37 board simul on May 9 in Richmond, British Columbia.
The following item first appeared in GM Alex Baburin's outstanding online daily Chess Today -
www.chesstoday.net .
The 2007 Chess Oscar award for the best chess player of the year went to Vishwanathan Anand. This is Anand's fifth Chess Oscar, and it was a blowout: he received more first place votes than all the other players combined. 64 Magazine (Russian) coordinates the contest which dates back to 1967. Journalists and Grandmasters serve as judges. The most exciting news for American chessplayers is that American World Championship candidate Gata Kamsky placed third, the highest showing for an American since Bobby Fischer's first place finish in 1972.
1. Anand
2. Kramnik
3. Kamsky
4. Topalov
5. Carlsen
6. Ivanchuk
7. Aronian
8. Morozevich
9. Gelfand
10. Radjabov
5) Upcoming Events
Events at the Mechanics'
May 24-26
Bay Area Chess Memorial Day FestivalSanta Clara, CA. Main event- 6SS x 30/90 G/60. Expected $3,025 prize fund b/100. 6 sections (Master, Expert, A, B, C, D/E/Unr); 2 day schedule with 3 x G/60 merges in Round 4. 3-day Masters FIDE rated. EF: $59. 5/24 Side events- 1-day Swiss in 6 sections & Blitz. Adults can enter in 3 over 1100 sections. EF: Swiss $29. Blitz: $12. Trophies to all with more wins than losses and all teams with 2+ players in u1400 sections. 1 free future entry for 3.0/4.0 points in over 1400 sections. 5/26 Side event - Blitz. Expected $200 prize b/25 entries. EF: $15. Chief TD: Sr. TD Tom Langland. Info, details, and entry forms at
bayareachess.com or email to salman@bayareachess.com. WCL JGP.
May 24-26