There are quite a lot of people around with great chess skills. Not very many of them are that bloodthirsty - in a good way.
Peter Svidler talking about Hikaru Nakamura, his teammate in the French League. ( Chess Life, August 2009, page 25)
1) Mechanics's Institute Chess Club News
2) Alex Shabalov and Fidel Corrales tie for first in the Continental Absolute Chess Championship Americas
3) Some Grandmasters are older and wiser, but weaker
4) Hikaru Nakamura wins 6th Chess 960 Rapid World Championship
5) Four way tie for first in Silicon Valley Challenge #7 by Charles Sun
6) Here and There
7) Upcoming Events
Note the Newsletter will take a two week break for summer vacation resuming August 26th.
1) Mechanics's Institute Chess Club News
The Max Wilkerson Memorial Tuesday Night Marathon started last night with NM Andy Lee as the top seed. It's still possible to enter the nine round event with a half point bye for the first round.
George Sanguinetti writes: Last week's Wednesday Night Blitz tournament had an attendance of 10 players. 1st place going to new Champion Rey Salvatierra, who scored 7 out of 9 points. Congratulations Rey! Wednesday Night Blitz Winners for the Week of 07/29/2009 are:
1st : Rey Salvatierra $ 25.00 (7 points) 2nd & 3rd : Fuentes, Bukh and Traub $ 8.33 1/3 each (6 points)
The Mechanics' roster for the 2009 US Chess League is almost filled. The top boards will be manned by GMs Patrick Wolff, Josh Friedel, Jesse Kraai and Vinay Bhat.
MI member Evan Sandberg of San Francisco played in the Denker Invitational for High School State Champions in Indiana last weekend. He scored 4.0/6 and tied for 5th.
Samyukta Bhat finished tied for 4th in the Polgar Championship for Girls.
Thanks to Colin Ma who has been donating many excellent new chess books to the Mechanics' Institute Library.
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.
This Saturday the Mechanics' will host the 9th Annual VBladimir Pafnutieff Memorial , a 5 round Swiss ( G/45) starting at 10 am.
2) Alex Shabalov and Fidel Corrales tie for first in the Continental Absolute Chess Championship Americas
GMs Alex Shabalov of the United States and Fidel Corrales of Cuba tied for first in the Continental Absolute Chess Championship Americas held July 25th to August 2nd in Brazil with scores of 9 from 11. The remaining four World Cup Qualifying spots were taken by Gilberto Milos, Diego Flores, Julio Granda Zuniga and Alexander Ivanov who edged out Mauricio Flores Rios and Josh Friedel. The six players all finished on 8.5 from 11 and then played a series of tiebreak games to produce four qualifiers. This was especially unlucky for Josh who also missed qualifying from the US Championship by one spot.
3) Some Grandmasters are older and wiser, but weaker
A fascinating article in the Los Angeles Times ( http://www.latimes.com/features/puzzles/chess/la-ca-chess2-2009aug02,0,5390170.story) by longtime columnist IM Jack Peters compares cyclist Lance Armstrong, golfer Tom Watson and grandmaster Anatoly Karpov, who each challenged much younger rivals last month. Peters notes that only Karpov failed miserably -- a dreadful score of 1.5-.7.5, his worse performance since the late 1960s. One could argue that Karpov was quite out of practice having played little chess aside from rapid and blitz events the past decade. Still the question remains. Can chess, not a physically demanding sport, really be so difficult for its aging champions?
Peters' conclusion is aabsolutely! He points to the rating lists to provide conclusive evidence that the ability to play chess at a very high level declines sharply after age 50. Even those rare grandmasters who remained successful in their mid-50s, such as Viktor Korchnoi and Sammy Reshevsky, were markedly weaker than in their prime years. For most grandmasters, the drop is between 100 and 200 rating points. Others, though, retire rather than let their rating plummet.
Peters questioned seven titled players, all in their late 40s or older, how they had been affected by aging. Most of the respondents cited fatigue as a significant factor, particularly playing two games a day ( by far the norm in the US). Interestingly
all but one claimed to assess positions better than in their 20s and 30s despite the fact that one picked age 27 as his peak year and the others their late 30s.IM Peters, who came within one game of the GM title and was over 2500
FIDE for much of his career, has some interesting conclusions:
I
suspect that most of the rating drop is caused by impaired calculation.
Computers have shown that processing speed matters far more than chess wisdom.
For many players, loss of calculating speed means that they cannot foresee far
enough ahead to land the knockout punch in a favorable position. However, those
who were exceptionally fast at calculating in their youth (such as Korchnoi and
Reshevsky) may retain enough tactical ability to finish games decisively. Also,
the highest-rated stars seem better at making adjustments to capitalize on their
strengths and conceal their weaknesses.
4) Hikaru Nakamura wins 6th Chess 960 Rapid World Championship
Hikaru Nakamura added to an outstanding list of achievements in 2009 ( moved into the World Top 20, US Champion, =1st World Open) by winning the Chess 960 Rapid World Championship in Mainz, Germany. Hikaru defeated Levon Aronian 3.5-.5 in the final.
5) Four way tie for first in Silicon Valley Challenge #7 by Charles Sun
The following excerpted article comes from NM
Michael Aigner's blog. Go to http://fpawn.blogspot.com to read
the full report.
The Silicon Valley Challenge #7 held on
the August 1st, 2009, attracted a total of 43 players to the Century
Arts Alliance Foundation near the Great Mall in San Jose. The Open section
was filled with 32 players. Master players include Steven Zierk (2319), Emmanuel Perez (2267), Michael Aigner (2263), Rohan Agarwal (2227) and Richard Koepcke (2222). Three Expert-players
rated 2000 to 2200 and seven A-players rated 1800 to 2000 also joined in fierce
competition. After acing his first three games, NM Aigner lost the last round to
one of his students, FM-elect Zierk. At the
end, Zierk, Koepcke, Kyle Shin
(2070) and Samuel Sevian (2055) tied
the first place and shared the top prizes.
5)
Here and There
Mention strong brother combinations and the Bolbochans ( Julio and Jacobo), the Byrnes ( Robert and Donald) and the Horvaths ( Joszef and Csaba) are three families sure to be mentioned but IM Jack Peters points out that the Zhigalko brothers from Belarus are strong contenders for the title of all time strongest siblings and are still young enough to continue improving . Andrey (born 1985) is 2600, and Sergei (born 1989) is 2621.
Top-seeded grandmaster Melikset Khachiyan scored 4.5-.5 to win the Westwood Summer Open July 26 at the Los Angeles Chess Club. Joel Banawa, who drew Khachiyan in the final round, and Ryan Porter shared second place at 4-1. IM Tim Taylor was among those on 3.5.
Michaell Goeller has a nice feature on chess in New York City ( http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/kenilworthian/2006/07/chess-tourist-in-new-york-city.html ) on his website. One of the spots he recommends as a must-visit is Fred Wilson's Chess Books ( 80 East 11th Street, Suite 334 New York, New York 10003 , 212-533-6381 Hours: Monday thru Saturday 12-7, http://www.fredwilsonchess.com ) which has been in operation for over 40 year. Fred, who started out in there business when famous New York booksellers like Albrecht Buscke and Walter Goldwater were still around, provides the sort of knowledge and experience you won't find on E-bay. Check him out online or in person!
Chess players at all levels may curse Silicon oracles for making opening theory unmanageable and beating up on the World's best but sometimes they unearth something that alters our fundamental conception of the game. Many pawn up endgames are drawn but two healthy connected pawns? Even worse could there be positions where split pawns are better than connected ones? Chess Today ( www.chesstoday.net) had a report by Alex Baburin based upon the game Nepomniachtchi - Anand from the World Rapid Chess Championship in Mainz which caught more than one IM's attention. Anand, who has dominated rapid chess competitions the past decade, desperately needed a win against "Nepo" and two connected pawns up in a Queen ending looked to have it but the game ended in a draw. It turns out that White with best defense draws the position- W:Kg2, Qe3 versus B: Kh7; Qf7; Ps h5,g4.
6) Upcoming Events
Vladimir Pafnutieff
Memorial - August 8
Bernardo Smith Memorial -
August 22-23
Howard Donnelly
Memorial - September 19
J.J. Dolan Memorial -
October 10
Carroll Capps Memorial -
November 7-8
Pierre Saint-Amant
Memorial - November 21
Guthrie McClain
Memorial - December 5
Labor Day Chess Festival
September 5 -
September 7 2009, San Francisco, California
A Six Round Swiss System
Tournament in Six Sections
Master $700-$400-$250 B $380-$200-$150
U2400:
$250 C $380-$200-$150
Expert $380-$200-$150 D/E $380-$200-$150
A
$380-$200-$150 U1200: $150
Unr: Trophy First
Trophy to top player in Each
Section
Prize fund based on 160 fully paid entries, not counting free entries
and unrated entries.
Registration: Sat 9/5 8-9:30 am, Sun 9/6 8-9
Sets and
boards provided. Please bring clocks. USCF membership required
Rounds: 2-Day
Schedule: Sun 9:30, 11:45, 2:00, 4:45; Mon 10:00, 3:30
3-Day Schedule: Sat
10:00, 4:00; Sun 11:00, 4:45; Mon 10:00, 3:30
1/2 pt byes Available for any
round upon request, rds 5 or 6 must be requested before rd 1.
Time Control:
2-Day Schedule: Rounds 1-3, G/60; Rounds 4-6 30/90, G/60.
3-Day Schedule:
30/90, G/60 all rounds.
Entry Fee Postmarked by 8/31 $70 (jrs $60). On site:
$80 (jrs $70). USCF required, $5
CalChess discount (must be current). Players
may play up one section for $10
(jrs $5). GM/IM free entry. Unrated players,
$20 in D/E section or may play in
the Master section for the regular
fee.
Re-entry fee: $40. After rounds 1-2 of 3 day schedule, new start in
2-day schedule.
Location: Golden Gateway Holiday Inn, Van Ness at Pine San
Francisco
Hotel: Golden Gateway Holiday Inn (415-441-4000), limited number of
rooms at the
CalChess rate ($125) if booked by 8/2/2006. Hotel may sell
out.
If so, try nearby hotels: Cathedral Hill (415-776-8200),
Richielieu(415-673-
4711), Majestic (415-441-1100), Vagabond Inn
(415-776-7500).
Information: Richard Koepcke 650-224-4938: Email: richardkoepcke@yahoo.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Entry
Form Name _______________________________________ Entry Fee:
________________
Address: _____________________________________ Play up 1
section ($10) ______
City/State/Zip _________________________________ Cal
Chess Discount __________
Section: ____________ Phone#:___________________
USCF renewal ($42) ________
Rating _____________ 1/2 pt bye Rds 1 2 3 4 5 6
Total: ___________________-
USCF ID _________________ Schedule 2-Day _____
3-Day ______
Make checks payable to Richard Koepcke P.O. Box 1432, Mountain
View, Ca 94042
Oct 31-Nov1 Adults Only Open (17 and older only)
4SSx30/90 G/60 at BayAreaChess Center,
4423 Fortran Ct, Ste 160, San Jose, CA 95134.
Rounds:
Both days
11am-4pm. Free lunch – donations welcome.
EF:
$49 bef
9/19, $57 bef 9/29. $65 onsite. Prizes:
$1,000 based on 38 paid entries.
2
sections. Open (1800+): $200-100-50
(u2000: 100-50)
Reserve
(u1800):
$150-100-50 (u1600: 100, u1400: 50, u1200:
50)
ENT:
BayAreaChess, 4423 Fortran Ct, Ste 160, San Jose, CA
95134.
More info BayAreaChess.com. Info.
& Orientation
BayAreaChess.com/events/09adults. Email: contact@BayAreaChess.com. NS NC
W.
Oct 31-Nov1 Fall Open 4SSx30/90 G/60 at BayAreaChess
Center,
4423 Fortran Ct, Ste 160, San Jose, CA 95134.
Rounds:
Both days
11am-4pm. Free lunch – donations welcome.
EF:
$55 bef
10/17. $63 bef 10/27. $71 onsite. Prizes:
$2,002 based on 66 paid entries.
2
sections. Open (over 1800):
$300-200-100-60-60 (u2000: 150-100-55-55) –
Reserve
(u1800):
$200-150-101-60 (u1600: 100-55, u1400: 100-55, u1200:
100-55)
ENT:
BayAreaChess, 4423 Fortran Ct, Ste 160, San Jose, CA
95134.
More info BayAreaChess.com. Info.
& Orientation
BayAreaChess.com/events/09oct. Email: contact@BayAreaChess.com. NS NC
W.
A State Championship Event!
Nov. 27-29 or 28-29, GPP: 40 California
Northern
CalChess Annual State Championship 2009 6SS 40/2, SD/1
(2-day
option,
rounds 1-3 G/60). Hotel: Hyatt Regency Santa Clara, 5101
Great
America Parkway, Santa Clara, CA 95054. Free parking. Prizes:
$8,010
based on 166 paid entries. 7 sections.
Master/Open (FIDE rated): $1000-
500-300-200, (u2300 $201-101) - EXPERT: $500-200-100-100 (u2100:
201-
(u1700: 201-101) -- C:
$500-200-100-100 (u1500: 201-101) -- D:
$300-200-
100-100 (u1200: 201-100). Unrated may enter any section but prize limit
of
$200 in all u2000 sections; balance goes to next player(s) in line.
EF: $85
3-
day, $79 2-day mailed or online by 11/13. Add $15 for 11/14-11/25, add
$25
onsite, add $19 for play-up, and subtract $45 for BayAreaChess Pass.
GMs
&
IMs
free before 11/7 (entry feed
deducted from prize). Re-entry $39. TD may
assign ratings. 3-day
schedule: Reg.: Fri 10-10:30a, Fri/Sat 11a 5:15p,
Sun
10a, 4:15p. 2-day sched:
Reg.: Sa 9-9:30a, Sat 10, 12:15, 2:30, 5:15p.
Sun
10am, 3:15pm. Tel 408-786-5515. Byes must commit before rd 3. Max 2
byes.
Hotel
$99
BayAreaChess rate, 800-233-1234. reserve by 11/13 or rate
may
increase. Ent: BayAreaChess, 4423 Fortran Ct., Ste. 160, San Jose,
CA
95134. $20 service charge for refunds. Questions:
contact@BayAreaChess.com, Info &
Entries: BayAreaChess.com. More
info: BayAreaChess.com/events/ccc09. NS NC W. WCL JGP