Mechanics' Institute Chess Club Newsletter 463

Playing chess, being at the chessboard, almost five years after retirement, that was quite a challenge. If I hadn't started my cooperation with Magnus earlier this year I would not have accepted the offer, because I knew the difficulties I would face. Even in preparation, because you lose your instincts. It is very hard to explain to non-professionals. If you don't play chess, at the chessboard, in the auditorium, facing real opponents – nothing can substitute that. Even if you do chess studies at home, if you play chess on the Internet, there’s a huge difference. Internet blitz is causing some damage, because you play with a different kind of instincts.

Garry Kasparov in an interview about his match with Anatoly Karpov by Robert Fontaine ( http://www.chessbase.com/ )

Yian was a little better on the board after 25...c4 but way ahead on the clock. He was a pawn up in the ending after 38...Qd5 but Recio defended very well to split the point. Maybe 41...a5 intending 42...b4 was a better winning try.

I was looking at the rating results from your tournament as it is already FIDE rated. Your club is picking up some rated players. Kyle Shin, Jayakrishnan Ramachandran and Prashant Periwal had FIDE ratings for September but your tournament started in August so it do not help some of the players this time. Hovik Manvelyan and Willie Campers will be rated starting in November. Weston Leavens is up to 8 games, Mikhail Chernobilskiy and James Jones have 6, Joe Russell and Kavyen Riese have 4 and Charles Bultman 3. If they continue to play and are able to play three FIDE rated players in their tournaments, your club will really start getting a lot of rated players. This last tournament had 25% FIDE rated with 15/59.

MI Tuesday Night Marathon Schedule for 2010 ( events are FIDE rated)

Winter Tuesday Night Marathon
January 5 - February 23 ( 8 rounds)

Spring Tuesday Night Marathon
March 16-May 4 ( 8 rounds)

Summer Tuesday Night Marathon
May 25 -July 13 ( 8 rounds)

Peter Grey Tuesday Night Marathon
August 3- September 28 ( 9 rounds)

Fall Tuesday Night Marathon
October 19-December 14 ( 9 rounds)

One of the giants of American Chess passed away this past week. Though he didn't learn the rules of the game until he was 19 ( an incident he wrote about in a story called The Hook - see Chess Chow, March-April 1994), few American players have bitten by the chess bug harder than Jerry Hanken. He played in his first USCF tournament in 1957 and fifty years later he had lost none of his love for the game. Whether it was playing, writing or organizing Jerry enjoyed all of it.

Though he had already played in the 1957 US Open in Cleveland (the one where Bobby Fischer tied for first at 14) Jerry's chess career really began when he moved to Los Angeles in 1960. That November he first came to the attention of California players by tying for second with 4.5 from 6 in a strong Palo Alto open won by William Addison. He improved steadily the next few years and won the California Open in Fresno in 1964, one of the high points of his career.

Jerry was always a self-taught practical player without much formal training. Such players tend to do best when they play a lot which may explain why Jerry's rating was still near its peak, and close to 2300, at age 60 - being retired and no longer with family responsibilities gave him more time for chess. Jerry definitely had his way of handling the opening and with White loved 1.c4, 2.Nc3, 3.g3, 4.Bg2, 5.e3 and 6. Nge2 against most Blacxk setups - Hankin's English he dubbed it.

During the 1966 US Open in Seattle Jerry met Bill Goichberg who would become one of his closest friends for the rest of his life. Jerry's primary interest in chess up to that point had been playing but under Bill's tutelage he developed a passion for USCF governance. He served three terms on the USCF Policy (later Executive) Board and when not holding elected office relished his self-appointed role as the Federation's consigliere. Jerry definitely loved to be in the center of the action!

Most chess players will remember Jerry primarily as an organizer and a writer but may be surprised to learn that both of these were relatively late developments in his life. It was only around 1990 that Jerry started to organize the American Open tournaments that he became synonymous with. The US Opens of 1991 and 2003 as well several US Championships were his babies. Jerry was one of the first American organizers to offer conditions to Grandmasters who attended his events and the 1991 US Open remains the second strongest strong in the series stretching over 100 years behind only Reno (1999).

This past decade it was hard to open an issue of Chess Life without finding an article by Jerry - usually a tournament report on one of the big opens. Though Jerry loved to write he had one major problem. He couldn't type and his handwriting could generously be described as challenged . It was a blessing when he found that his good friend Randy Hough could actually decipher the Hanken scrawl. Later Frank Berry taught him how to use ChessBase and Jerry was fully-armed. It's a pity that he did not live long enough to complete his memoirs or his long-planned interview with Jacqueline Piatigorsky, a project he was uniquely equipped for as the two had been friends for close to fifty years.

Jerry was not a man of pretensions. Earthy and indifferent to personal appearance he nonetheless cut an imposing figure in his prime at around 6' 2"" and 230 pounds. His always present bushy beard and mustache gave him the look of an Old Testament patriarch but Jerry was anything but a prude. He was fill of life and while he might have not loved his Los Angeles Lakers as much as Caissa they were definitely a close second. Jerry may not have been center court with Jack Nicholsen but his friends quickly learned never to call him when the Lakers were playing.

Jerry would be the first person to tell you that he wasn't a saint. He had a terrible temper and more than once in his days serving on the USCF Policy Board friends had to walk him around the block after he exploded, but he never held a grudge. One of the few USCF members from the 1950s still active, Jerry could remember back to the days when the Federation had less than 5,000 members - to the time when it was more was like a large family. He took matters involving the USCF very personally and when he was convinced he was right it was hard to dissuade him.

The last few years of his life found Jerry in and out of the hospital and often in constant pain. There were financial problems as well but Jerry shouldered on in large part because of the love he had for the game and the many friends he made through chess.

Jerry Hanken, noted chess journalist and former USCF Policy Board member, dies at 74 by George Mirijanian

Jerry Hanken, one of the most colorful personalities in U.S. Chess, died Thursday, October 1, in Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles - one month before his 75th birthday. He had been hospitalized for about three weeks after surgery and passed away from complications of diabetes. He was known to tens of thousands of American players as a longtime reporter and interviewer for Chess Life. He was also a USCF life master and served on the federation's Policy Board (now Executive Board) for 10 years between 1978 and 1994. In addition, he was president of the Chess Journalists of America.

Jerome "Jerry" Bernard Hanken was born on October 30, 1934 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated there in 1951 from Walnut Hills High School and later received his bachelors degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. While a resident of Cincinnati, he became the top player in the city's chess club and in 1959 won the second-ever Cincinnati Chess Club Championship. Two years earlier he played in his first U.S. Open in Cleveland, scoring 6-6. He moved to Southern California in the early 1960s and competed in the 1961 Southern California Chess Championship. He went on to become one of the most active tournament players in the country, competing in events from coast to coast. He had a predilection for the English Opening (1. c4) as White and the Robatsch, aka Modern Defense (1...g6) as Black. In 1964, he won the California Open in a very strong field and with it earned the title of USCF life master, awarded to those who maintain a master's rating for 300 consecutive games. His appearances in New England in the past decade were limited to the Foxwoods Open in Connecticut, where he competed seven times, and to the 2001 U.S. Open in Framingham, Mass., and the 2002 Continental Open in Sturbridge, Mass. The U.S. Opens were by far his most favorite event and he competed in them just about every year from 1957 through 2008, including 1964, 1970 and 1988 in Boston. At the 1990 U.S. Open in Jacksonville, Florida, Hanken initiated a column in the round-by-round game bulletins titled "Hanken's Corner" and they became popular as part of the games bulletins for the next two decades. As a journalist, he won many awards from the Chess Journalists of America. And in 1997, the CJA honored him with the prestigious Cramer Award by naming him Chess Journalist of the Year.

Described by some as a "friendly bear-type" but with a fiery disposition, Hanken worked for 39 years as a deputy probation officer for Los Angeles County until his retirement. He gained the respect and the admiration from his department and the juveniles he mentored. When not working or playing chess, he performed occasionally in amateur theatrical productions in the Los Angeles area. And his knowledge of Shakespeare was extensive, being able to quote passages without hesitation. But chess was Hanken's lasting passion - not only as a player and journalist but also as an organizer. He played a major role in bringing the 1991 and 2003 U.S. Opens to Los Angeles. And in 1990, his organizational skills saved the American Open after the event had lost its corporate sponsorship that year. Decades earlier, he worked with chess philanthropist Louis Statham and Los Angeles Times chess columnist GM Isaac Kashdan in helping organize the successful Lone Pine grandmaster tournaments that were held between 1972 and 1981 in California. It was during those years - in 1977 to be precise - that he played a key role in creating the Southern California Chess Federation, when the state of California was split into two by the USCF for voting purposes, and served on the SCCF board of directors for many years and also a term as its president.

Hanken's last USCF-rated tournament was the 14th Pacific Coast Open, a Continental Chess Association-sponsored tournament in July of this year in Agoura Hills, Calif., where because of health reasons he had to drop out after playing two games out of six. The U.S. chess community has lost one of its finest, most knowledgeable and most passionate promoters of chess. He was unique in the annals of U.S. Chess. He is survived by his former wife, Barbara (Kirschner) Hanken, and their children, Andrea and Dan.; Tax-deductible donations in memory of Jerry Hanken may be made to MACA's Living Memorial Chess Fund and be sent to Robert D. Messenger, MACA Treasurer, 4 Hamlett Drive #12, Nashua, NH 03062-4641.

The following reminiscence by Michael Carr deals with Jerry's part in the success of the 1963 Piatigorsky Cup. Ten years later, and for close to a decade, Jerry would again play a major role in another important Southern California tournament series - Lone Pine.

Jerry was the head of the Communications Committee. This Committee had twelve of us young local players that made it up. Besides myself there was Donn Rogosin, Robert Bliss, Tom Lux, Andrew Sacks, Michael Sheehan, Steven Rains, Ted Jester, Randy Kluz, Martin Cooper, Stephen Englund, and Kenneth Pfeiffer. Tom Lux ( who became a U.S. Amateur Champion) was the oldest at about 20, and Andy Sacks was the youngest at 15. I was 17 at the time.

This Committee was in charge of making the moves on large demo boards behind all the players so the audience could see the positions of all the games at any time. Four of us would also sit behind the players recording the moves of the games. The last group of four were running the moves into the analysis room were a group of local masters (headed by Irving Rivise) would analyze the games. Other members of that group were IM William Addison, Carl Pilnick, Robert Jacobs, and Saul Yarmak.

Jerry had to make sure that all of us were doing what we were supposed to do, and do it without intruding on the players.

As to any anecdotes involving Jerry. Well, you know that Jerry always liked to be the center of attention and play the big cheese. He liked to hobnob with the GM's. Actually he became close friends with GM Fridrik Olafsson. Jerry kind of became Fridrik's unofficial second. During a weekend day between rounds he had Fridrik come over to his apartment for a pool party. He invited all twelve of us on his committee. Well one thing lead to another and Jerry suggested that we play a blitz tournament. Fridrik was quite willing. So here we had 14 players playing a 13 round 5 minute tournament. And Fridrik didn't give any of us time odds. It was 5 to 5. Well needless to say Olaffson won 13-0. I ended up somewhere in the middle, but I did beat Jerry. Jerry actually ended up toward the bottom. Most of us kids had 9 to 14 years of youth on Jerry and just moved faster. Afterwards, Jerry said maybe the tournament hadn't been so good an idea.

Olafsson did very well in the tournament, tied for 3-4th with Najdorf. In fact he was tied for the lead with Keres after 10 rounds, but losses in the 11th and 13th rounds set him back. He was still tied for the lead with Petrosian after 12 rounds.

Another great event was the pretournament garden party hosted by the Piatigorsky's at their home. All of us kids were invited. I was in awe as I stood only a couple of feet away from the inlaid chess table were Petrosian and Keres were playing over a game. Mr. Piatigorsky pulled out his cello and entertained all of us with some of the most beautiful music. Now Jerry loved to hobnob with the GM's, but he loved food more. Most of his time was spent by the magnificent spead of the food table. He would stand there and talk with any GM who came to the table; but he never once left the table. Jerry was even bigger at that time then he was later on.

I can only say that this was probably the most elegant tournament ever held on U.S. soil. The venue; the Embassy Room at the Ambassdor Hotel (home of the famous Coconut Grove) were most of the rounds were held was magnificent. It brings back fond memories.

Max Burkett writes about the vaunted Hanken temper and his ability to laugh at himself.

Anna Zatonskih leads the US Womens Championship in Saint Louis with 3.5 from 4 having just defeated her chief rival, fellow IM Irina Krush. The youngest participant, 18-year-old Alisa Melekhina, is doing very well with 3 from 4, good for clear second.

The US Chess Hall of Fame has found a great new home in the Saint Louis Chess Club. Add rescuing the Hall of Fame, which recently lost its home in Miami, to the chess resume of Rex Sinquefeld - right next to holding the 2009 US Championship and the 2009 US Womens Championship. Mr. Sinquefeld is also responsible for revitalizing the St. Louis Chess Club with a beautiful new home and acquiring a significant collection of Fischer memorabilia which will be on public display in the future. St. Louis is not only close to the geographic center of the US it is rapidly becoming the heart of American chess.

America's big three - US Champion Hikaru Nakamura, Alex Onischuk and Gata Kamsky - all have 2 from 3 in the European Club Cup being held in Ohrid, Macedonia. Hikaru is playing for Husek Wien, Alex for Kiev PKV and Gata for Alkalod Skopje.

J.J. Dolan Memorial - October 10
Carroll Capps Memorial - November 7- 8
Pierre Saint-Amant Memorial - November 21
Guthrie McClain Memorial - December 5

Northern California

Oct. 17-18 Fremont Open GPP: 6 California Northern

4-SS, 30/90; SD/60. Fremont Adult School, 4700 Calaveras Ave., Fremont, CA 94538. $$B 80 paid entries (not counting unrateds). Three Sections: Open $400-260 U2200 $250-150; A/B A $250-150 B $250-150; Reserve C $250-150 D/E $250-150 Unr: Trophy First. Reserve players playing in the A/B section compete for the B prizes. All, EF: postmarked by 10/12 $60, $70 at site. Unrateds $20 in the Reserve section or may play up to the Open section for the regular fee. USCF memb. req'd. May play up for add'l $10 per section. Reg.: Sat 10/17 9:00-9:45am. RDS.: Sat 10:00 & 3:30; Sun 10:00 & 3:30; One 1/2 pt bye available if requested in advance (bye in rds 3 or 4 must be requested before rd 1). 2009 October Ratings List, CCA minimums and Directors discretion will be used to place players as accurately as possible. Please bring clocks and equipment. INFO: Ken Zowal (510)-623-9935. Email: kenneth.zowal@sbcglobal.net or richardkoepcke@yahoo.com. Ent: Ken Zowal, P.O. Box 3211, Fremont, CA 94539. No Phone entries. WCL JGP.

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-

101) -- A: $500-200-100-100 (u1900: 201-101) -- B: $500-200-100-100

(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

January

Jan. 15-18, 16-18 or 17-18 Golden State Open GPP: 200 Enhanced California Northern

7SS, 40/2, SD/1 (3-day option rds. 1-2 G/75, 2-day option rds. 1-4 G/35, no 2-day Open Section.) Under 900 Section plays separate 2-day schedule Jan 17-18 only, G/35. At Concord Hilton Hotel, 1970 Diamond Blvd., Concord, CA 94520 (I-680 Willow Pass Rd exit). Free shuttle between hotel and Concord BART station. Free parking. $$60,000 based on 450 paid entries (re-entries & U900 Section count as 1/3 entries), minimum guarantee $40,000 (2/3 each prize). Open, open to all. $$4000-2200-1300-1000-800-700-600-500-400-400, clear or tiebreak winner $300, top U2400 $2000-1000. FIDE. Under 2200: $3000-1500-800-700-600-500-400-300-200-200. Under 2000: $3000-1500-800-700- 600-500-400-300-200-200. Under 1800: $3000-1500-800-700-600-500-400-300-200-200. Under 1600: $2500-1300-700-600-500-400-300-300-200-200. Under 1400: $2000-1000-700-500-400- 300-200-200. Under 1200: $2000-1000-700-500-400-300-200-200. Under 900: $800-400-200-150-100-80-70. Prize limits: 1) Unrated (0-3 lifetime games rated) may enter any section, with maximum prize U900 $200, U1200 $400, U1400 $600, U1600 $900, U1800 $1200, U2000 $1500. 2) Players with under 26 lifetime games rated may not win over $400 in U900, $800 in U1200 or $1200 in U1400. 3) If more than 30 points above section maximum on any list 1/09-12/09, prize limit $1000. 4) Balance of any limited prize goes to next player(s) in line. Top 7 sections EF: 4-day $174, 3-day $173, 2-day $172 mailed by 1/7, all $175 online at chesstour.com by 1/12, $180 phoned to 406-896-2038 by 1/12 (entry only, no questions), $200 at site. GMs free; $150 deducted from prize. Under 900 Section EF: $52 mailed by 1/7, $55 online at chesstour.com by 1/12 (entry only, no questions), $60 phoned to 406-896-2038 by 1/12, $70 at site. All: Special 1 yr USCF dues with Chess Life if paid with entry: online at chesstour.com $30; mailed, phoned or paid at site $40. Re-entry (except Master) $60. Mailed EF $5 less to rated CalChess members. 4-day schedule: Reg. ends Fri 6:15 pm, rds. Fri 7 pm, Sat 11 & 6, Sun 11 & 6, Mon 10 & 4:30. 3-day schedule: Reg. Sat to 10:15 am, rds Sat 11, 2:30 & 6, Sun 11 & 6, Mon 10 & 4:30. 2-day schedule: Reg Sun to 9:15 am, rds Sun 10-12-2-4-6, Sun 10-4:30, not available for Open Section. Under 900 schedule: Reg. Sun to 9:15 am, rds. Sun. 10-12-2-4, Mon. 10-12-2. Byes: OK all; Open must commit before rd 2, others before rd 4; limit 3 byes in Open. Unofficial uschess.org ratings based on 4 or more games usually used if otherwise unrated. Foreign player ratings: See chesstour.com. HR: $99-99-109, 925-827-2000, reserve by 1/1 or rate may increase. Car rental: Avis, 800-331-1600, use AWD #D657633. Questions: chesstour.com, 845-496-9658. Ent: Continental Chess, c/o Goichberg, Box 661776, Arcadia, CA 91066. $15 service charge for withdrawals. Advance entries posted at chesstour.com. WCL JGP.

WESTERN DIVISION	W	L	Game Points	Opps Avg Rating	Opps Record
Seattle	5.0	1.0	14.5/24 (60%)	2415	15.5-14.5 (52%)
San Francisco	4.0	2.0	13.5/24 (56%)	2417	17.5-10.5 (63%)
Miami	4.0	2.0	13.5/24 (56%)	2395	10.5-17.5 (38%)
Arizona	3.0	3.0	13.5/24 (56%)	2406	16.0-14.0 (53%)
Dallas	2.5	3.5	11.5/24 (48%)	2434	19.5-10.5 (65%)
Tennessee	2.0	4.0	11.0/24 (46%)	2413	14.0-16.0 (47%)
Chicago	1.5	4.5	9.0/24 (38%)	2412	15.5-14.5 (52%)

	2009 MVP Standings	Pts.
1.	GM Hikaru Nakamura (SEA)	14.0
2.	FM John Bick (TEN)	12.5
3.	IM Alex Lenderman (PHI)	12.0
4.	GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS)	12.0
5.	NM Yaacov Norowitz (NY)	11.0
6.	GM Joel Benjamin (NJ)	10.0
7.	GM Jaan Ehlvest (TEN)	10.0
8.	GM Julio Becerra (MIA)	9.0
9.	NM Yian Liou (SF)	9.0
10.	FM Andrei Zaremba (QNS)	8.5

Mechanics' Institute Chess Club Newsletter #463