Mechanics' Institute Chess Club Newsletter #486

The Spring Tuesday Night Marathon has close to 60 players but after three rounds only two players have perfect scores: NM Peter Zavadsky of Slovakia and Expert Ed Rosenthal of Santa Rosa. Here is the latter's upset from last night against NM Oleg Shaknazarov, winner of several recent TNMs.

Rosenthal-Shaknazarov
Spring TNM (3) 2010
Ruy Lopez

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. c3 d6 8.Nbd2 Na5 9. Bc2 c5 10. Nf1 h6 11. h3 g5 12. d4 Qc7 13. d5 Nc4 14. a4 b4 15.Qe2 Nb6 16. a5 Nbd7 17. Ne3 b3 18. Bd3 Nf8 19. Nc4 N6d7 20. Ra3 Rb8 21.Nfd2 Ng6 22. g3 h5 23. Qd1 h4 24. Rxb3 hxg3 25. fxg3 Nf6 26. Rxb8 Qxb8 27.Bf1 Nh5 28. Qf3 Nf6 29. Nb6 g4 30. hxg4 Rxh1 31. Qxh1 Bxg4 32. Bxa6 Nh5 33. Nf1 Kd8 34. Be2 Bxe2 35. Kxe2 Nf6 36. Qh3 Qb7 37. Qf5 Nxe4 38. Qxe4 Qa6+ 39. Qc4 Qxa5 40. Na4 f5 41. Nd2 e4 42. Nb3 Qa7 43. Bf4 Bf6 44. Bxd6 Qh7 45.Nbxc5 Qh5+ 46. Kd2 e3+ 47. Kxe3 Bg5+ 48. Bf4 Bxf4+ 49. gxf4 Qh3+ 50. Kd2 Nxf4 51. Ne6+ Nxe6 52. dxe6 Ke7 53. Nc5 f4 54. Ne4 f3 55. Qd5 Qh6+ 56. Kc2 Qh2+ 57. Kb3 Qb8+ 58. Kc4 1-0 IM Ricardo DeGuzman and Expert Michael Da Cruz tied for first in the Max Wilkerson Memorial Game/45 held March 27 at the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club with scores of 4.5 from 5. Da Cruz had an especially memorable event as he defeated NMs Michael Aigner and Yian Liou before drawing DeGuzman in the last round. Forty one players attended the event including one IM and four NMs.

Arthur Ismakov won the Mechanics' Wednesday Night Blitz on March 24th with 9 from 10. Jules Jelinek was second at 8.5 in the six-player double round robin.

IM Sam Shankland was one of four players to advance to the finals of the US Tournament of State Champions last Wednesday and Thursday. He is competing for a spot in the US Championship. MI members currently qualified for the event to be held in Saint Louis this May are GMs Jesse Kraai (qualification from the US Open) and Vinay Bhat (wildcard).

Thanks to Colin Ma for his continuing generosity to the Mechanics' Institute. One of his recent gifts was a hardback copy of Karsten Muller's Bobby Fischer: The Career and Complete Games of the American World Chess Champion.

2) Boris Kostic at the Mechanics' in 1915

The following article has appeared before in the Newsletter but the accompanying three games are recently rediscovered by Master John Blackstone of Las Vegas. The former Californian, who represented the United States in the 1968 World Student Team Championship, has found many long-forgotten treasures in the chess column of Hermann Helms in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the source of these games.

The Serbian Grandmaster Boris Kostic (1887-1963) was one of the greatest travelers in chess history, circling the globe in the days before the beginning of commercial aviation. Among the places he visited was the Mechanics' Institute in August of 1915. The American Chess Bulletin from 1915 (p.195) writes about Kostic's exploits.

Boris Kostics and his Movements

Boris Kostic, of Budapest, proposes to become thoroughly acquainted with chess players of the United States and especially so in the far West, where he has been since the middle of July. After leaving Chicago, early in the month, he traveled by way of St. Louis, Kansas City, Topeka, Lincoln, Omaha, Denver, Colorado Springs to California, where he stopped in turn at San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento. Wishing to visit the Yellowstone Park, the Hungarian master invested in a special tour, which took him first northerly by way of Portland, Seattle and Vancouver to Spokane, Butte and Yellowstone Park, and from there back to San Francisco by way of Salt Lake City.

He made another protracted stay at the Golden Gate and in addition to giving his usual exhibitions, he met, among others, such strong players as Dr. Lovegrove, S. Mlotkowski, N.T. Whitaker, S. Rubinstein and G. Hallwegen. All went down to defeat before the powerful play of the visitor, whose extraordinary brilliancies have captivated chess lovers wherever he went. Kostic was so well pleased with San Francisco that he prolonged his sojourn there far beyond the time originally intended. Consequently, points in the South which had been notified of his coming were disappointed at his nonappearance. His itinerary will take him though portions of Texas to New Orleans, after which he will come North again by way of Lafayette, Nashville, Memphis, Louisville, Lexington, Cincinnati and Indianapolis, and then proceed to Milwaukee, Madison, St. Paul and Minneapolis before returning to Chicago. His continental tour will be concluded with visits to Saginaw, Toledo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Editor - The mentioning of Mlotkowski and Whitaker in connection with San Francisco is interesting as the former is normally associated with Los Angeles (and the East Coast) and the later the East Coast.

Cal graduate and chemist E.W. Gruer was California state champion in 1921, 1926 and 1927.

Kostic,B - Gruer,E
San Francisco 1915
Petroff C42
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 d5 6.Qe2 Be7 7.Nxe4 dxe4 8.Qxe4 0-0 9.Bc4 Nd7 10.d4 Nf6 11.Qd3 Bg4 12.c3 c5 13.d5 Qc7 14.0-0 Rad8 15.Bb3 b5 16.c4 Nxd5 17.cxd5 c4 18.Qe4 Bxf3 19.Qxf3 cxb3 20.Qxb3 Qe5 21.Rd1 Bc5 22.Be3 Bxe3 23.fxe3 a6 24.Rd3 Rd6 25.Rad1 Rc8 26.Rd4 Rf6 27.d6 Rd8 28.Qd3 Re6 29.e4 Rf6 30.h3 Rg6 31.Qd2 Qg5 32.Qxg5 Rxg5 33.b4 Rg6 34.Rc1 Rg3 35.a4 f6 36.a5 Kf7 37.Rc7+ Ke6 38.Re7# 1-0 Source: (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1915.09.23 p.02)

Gruer,E - Kostic,B
San Francisco 1915
Nimzo-Indian E38
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.e3 Nc6 6.Nf3 d5 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 b6 9.Bd3 0-0 10.0-0 dxc4 11.Bxc4 Na5 12.Be2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Bb7 14.Bd2 Rc8 15.Qa4 Bc6 16.Qd1 Qd5 17.Ne1 Nc4 18.f3 Rfd8 19.Nd3 Qg5 20.Ne1 Ba4 21.Qxa4 Nxd2 22.f4 Qh6 23.Ba6 Nxf1 24.Bxc8 Nxe3 25.Bb7 Qxf4 26.Nf3 Qg4 27.Ra2 a5 28.Qc6 Nfd5 29.Rf2 h6 30.Ba6 Nf4 31.Rd2 Nfxg2 32.Ne5 Qf4 33.Qxb6 Rc8 34.Qb2 Nh4 35.Rf2 Qg5+ 36.Kh1 Nd1 0-1 Source: (Brooklyn Daily Eagle , 1915.09.23 p.02)

E.J. Clarke, who was the chess columnist for the SF Chronicle in the 1920s, tied for first in the 1922 California State Championship with Harry Borochow.

Clarke,E - Kostic,B
San Francisco 1915
Albin [D08]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 Be6 6.a3 Qd7 7.g3 Nge7 8.Bg2 Ng6 9.b4 Be7 10.Bb2 Rd8 11.0-0 0-0 12.Rc1 Ngxe5 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.Nb3 Nxc4 15.Bxd4 b6 16.e3 Nxa3 17.Bc6 Qc8 18.b5 a6 19.bxa6 Qxa6 20.f4 Bc4 21.Rf2 b5 22.Qg4 g6 23.f5 Qxc6 24.f6 Bb4 25.Qg5 Rfe8 26.Nc5 Qd6 27.Rf4 Re5 28.Bxe5 Qxc5 29.Rh4 Bd2 30.Re1 Nc2 0-1 Source: (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1915.09.23 p.02)

3) Yasser Seirawan leads HSG in Dutch League

Yasser Seirawan defeated GM Sipke Ernst to help lead his team (HSG) to within one match of winning the Dutch league on March 27. HSG plays HMC Calder on April 18th. Thanks to New in Chess Editor René Olthof for the following information.

Seirawan-Ernst
Dutch League (8) 2010
Reti A13
1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. b3 d4 5. Bg2 Nc6 6. O-O Bc5 7. Na3 O-O 8. d3 h6 9. Nc2 a5 10. e3 e5 11. exd4 exd4 12. a3 Re8 13. Rb1 Bf8 14. b4 axb4 15. axb4 Bg4 16. h3 Bxf3 17. Bxf3 Qd7 18. Bg2 Rab8 19. f4 b5 20. c5 Ne7 21. Qf3 Nf5 22.Bd2 Qe6 23. Rb2 Rbd8 24. Re1 Qd7 25. Rbb1 Re6 26. Re5 Rxe5 27. fxe5 Nd5 28. Re1Be7 29. Rf1 Nde3 30. Bxe3 Nxe3 31. Qxf7+ Kh8 32. e6 Qe8 33. Qxe8+ Rxe8 34. Nxe3 dxe3 35. Bc6 Rd8 36. Rf7 Rxd3 37. Kf1 Rd1+ 38. Ke2 Rd2+ 39. Ke1 1-0

5) Anand-Topalov Match Playing Schedule