Mechanics' Institute Chess Club Newsletter #511If in the Maroczy Bind, Black manages to play ...a6 and ...b5, then he is not worse.
A new system is being used to mail out the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club Newsletter. Should you encounter any problems reading the Newsletter please contact us at jdonaldson@chessclub.org . You can find older Newsletters issues archived at www.chessclub.org and www.chessdryad.com. 1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Clubs News 2) A Chess Poem by Dennis Fritzinger 3) LA International by Ankit Gupta 4) Here and There 5) Upcoming Events 1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Clubs NewsThe San Francisco Mechanics' ended a painful season last night, losing 3-1 to the Miami Sharks. This defeat, the fifth(!) in a row, left the Mechanics' with a 4-6 season record and dropped them from the playoffs for the first time since the USCL was formed in 2005. The final score of the Miami match fails to register how competitive it was. All the members of the MI lineup - GM Jesse Kraai, IM Dmitri Zilberstein, FM Andy Lee and NM Yian Liou, diligently prepared for the match and fought hard, but it was not to be. Here are two interesting games from the match. In the first Dima wins a pawn in the early middle game but opts to return it with 18...Nf3+ for an attack instead of hanging on to material with 18...f5. Things quickly heated up and reached a key moment after 25...Bd7, but GM Gonzalez avoided trouble by bailing out to an even ending. GM Renier Gonzalez - IM Dmitri Zilberstein 1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Qe2 Nf6 4.Nf3 c5 5.g3 g6 6.Bg2 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.e5 Nfd7 9.c4 dxc4 10.dxc4 Nc6 11.Bf4 Nd4 12.Nxd4 cxd4 13.h4 h6 14.Na3 g5 15.hxg5 hxg5 16.Bd2 Nxe5 17.Qh5 g4 18.Rfe1 Nf3+ 19.Bxf3 gxf3 20.Bh6 Qf6 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.Qg4+ Qg6 23.Qxf3 Rh8 24.Nb5 Rh5 25.Qf4 Bd7 26.Qxd4+ Qf6 27.Qxf6+ Kxf6 28.Kf1 Bxb5 29.cxb5 Rxb5 30.b3 a5 31.Re4 Rc8 32.Rae1 Rc2 33.R1e2 Rbc5 34.Kg2 Rxe2 35.Rxe2 Rc3 36.Rd2 b5 37.Kh3 a4 38.bxa4 bxa4 39.Rd4 Ra3 40.Rd2 Kf5 41.Kg2 e5 42.f3 f6 43.Kf2 Rc3 44.Re2 Rd3 45.Re3 Rd2+ 46.Re2 Rd1 47.Re4 Rd2+ 48.Re2 Rd1 49.Re4 Rd2+ 50.Re2 1/2-1/2 Andy and Marcel followed a major theoretical highway that only ended with White's twenty-third move (23.Ra3 had been played previously). Had the match been developing differently Andy might have opted to bail out to an equal ending with 32.Bg5.
FM Andy Lee - FM Marcel Martinez 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7 12.Nbd2 exd4 13.cxd4 Nc6 14.d5 Nce5 15.a4 Rb8 16.axb5 axb5 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.f4 Ng6 19.Nf3 Bh4 20.Rf1 Bg3 21.f5 Ne5 22.Ng5 h6 23.f6 g6 24.Qd2 Nc4 25.Qd3 Bh4 26.Nf3 Bxf6 27.Bxh6 Re8 28.Ra7 Re7 29.Ra2 Nxb2 30.Qd2 Nc4 31.Qf4 Bh8 32.Ng5 Ne5 33.Qh4 f6 34.Nf3 Rh7 35.Qf4 Nxf3+ 36.Rxf3 g5 37.Rg3 Rxh6 38.Ra7 Rb7 39.Ra8 c4 40.e5 dxe5 41.Qf3 Qb6+ 42.Kh2 Rb8 43.d6 Qxd6 44.Ra7 Be6 45.Qe4 Bg7 46.Rga3 f5 47.Qe3 e4+ 48.Kh1 Qf4 49.Qe1 Be5 50.g3 Rxh3+ 51.Kg2 Rxg3+ 52.Rxg3 Qxg3+ 53.Qxg3 Bxg3 0-1 The top 8 teams continue into the USCL playoffs next week with ex-Mechanic IM Sam Shankland playing a key role for New England which posted a best-ever regular season record of nine wins and one draw. They will face stiff competition coming out of the East in defending champion New York and Boston, a perennial contender but never champion. Miami has played exceptionally well the second half of the season, and like Boston is a long-time elite team that is hungry for its first championship. Though they will have to give draws in the quarter and semi-finals Miami might just win it all this year. Their first three boards are quite good and if young Rosenthal plays in future matches as well as he did against Yian Liou their future looks bright. Peter Zavadsky heads the list of nine players who remain with perfect scores after two rounds of the Fall Tuesday Night Marathon. This round was particularly hard fought with 23 of the 24 games decisive (Krasnov-Wong was the only draw) and several upsets which saw the lower-rated player win with Black (Fuentes-Todortsev and Gaffagan-Byambaa). It's still not too late to enter the 55-player, 9-round event with half point byes for rounds 1 and 2. Jules Jelinek writes: Hello Blitz Lovers, We were very fortunate to have someone step forward to provide a $100 prize fund guarantee for the Nov 3. Blitz Tournament starting at 6:30 pm. If you only come occasionally to the weekly Wednesday Night Blitz Event, make this one of the days you come. The more MI Members that attend,the more likely it is that this type of guaranteed prize fund blitz event can occur more often. FM Daniel Naroditsky has 4 from 7 with two rounds to go in the Unive Open in Hoogoveen, Netherlands. Mechanics' youth are shining in the World Youth Championships in Halidiki, Greece, with FM Steven Zierk playing particularly well. Seeded 26th at 2391 he is tied for first with GM Samuel Ter-Sahakyan of Armenia with 7.5 from 9 with two rounds to go. Steven, with a performance rating of 2673, has already made his second IM norm and needs only to score a half point in his last two games and play a third Grandmaster to make his first GM norm. 2) A Chess Poem by Dennis Fritzingerbouncing back
bouncing back from the brink of defeat 3) LA International by Ankit GuptaThe Los Angeles Metropolitan Chess Club will host an IM norm invitationalnext month. This ten player round-robin will be the first such event in LA for five years. The nine rounds are spread out over consecutive weekends (November 12-14 and 20-21) at the California Market Center on 110 East Ninth Street in downtown LA. The time control is 40/90, G/30 with an increment of 30 seconds from move 1. The average rating of the field is 2338 FIDE, which makes it a respectable Category 4. Players must score 6.0 out of 9 to earn an IM norm. The field includes three International Masters: Enrico Sevillano, Tim Taylor and Zhanibek of Kazakhstan. Most of the norm seekers are role players for the Los Angeles Vibe team in the US Chess League: Roman Yankovsky, Alexandre Kretchetov, Tatev Abrahamyan, Joel Banawa, Jouaquin Banawa, Konstantin Kavutskiy and Ankit Gupta. Metro Club director Michael Belcher hopes to organize more international tournaments in the future. Any readers with interest in such norm tournaments in the future (either IM or GM norm tournaments) should send an e-mail with subject "METROCHESSLA" to Michael Belcher at td(at)chess(dot)com and Ankit Gupta at gupta.ankit.h(at)gmail(dot)com. You will receive more information from the Metropolitan Chess Club mailing list. 4) Here and ThereHikaru Nakamura, who is putting on a terrific show in the annual rapid tournament in Cap D'Agde, France, having scored 6.5 from 7 in the prelim against +2600 opposition and just beaten Jon Ludvig Hammer of Norway 2-0 in the quarter-finals, will be playing in several world class events in the next few months. He starts with the Tal Memorial in Russia, an 8-player elite in London in December and then the following tournament. The Tata Steel Chess Tournament (a successor of the Hoogovens and Corus tournaments) will take place on 14-30, January 2011. Most likely, the main tournament "A" will be a category 20 FIDE event. Group A Participants:
Carlsen NOR (currently No. 1 in the world, current Elo 2826) Melik Khachiyan of Los Angeles won a playoff match against Alex Shabalov to take home the title of 2010 Western States Open Champion. The two GMs each scored 5-1 in the 28th edition of this strong event held annually in Reno and organized and directed by Jerry and Fran Weikel every single time! . Several MI members did very well including thirteen-year-old Yian Liou whose 4-2 score included draws with GMs Khachiyan and Ivanov and IM Sal Bercys and Carl Woekcke who tied for first in the Class B section. NM Arjoe Loanzon won the 42-player Bay Area Chess 160 Fall Open with a score of 3.5 from 4. 5) Upcoming EventsMechanics' Chess Club Events (go to www.chessclub.org for more information)
Carroll Capps Memorial - November 6-7 2011 Berkeley International From January 2 to January 8, an international chess tournament will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA, organized by Arun Sharma (asharma AT math DOT berkeley DOT edu) and David Pruess (pruess AT gmail DOT com). The event is open to any player with a FIDE Rating of at least 2100 or any player under the age of twenty one with a FIDE Rating of at least 2000 (organizers do have discretion to make special exceptions in very rare cases). Note that in order to ensure players of having good chances to make GM norms, the number of players rated U2200 permitted to play will be limited. If you are such a player and wish to enter, you should contact the organizers as soon as possible (and prior to sending your entry), as it is possible that a spot might not be available. The tournament will be a ten round swiss under the following round time schedule:
January 2, 3, 4: 11:00, 6:00 The time control will be 40/90, SD/30 with 30 second increment, and both GM and IM norms will be possible. This tournament starts only a few days after the North American Open (December 26-29) in Las Vegas ends so those planning to attend that would only need to make a small trip afterwards to attend the Berkeley International also. The prize fund for the tournament is:
Overall: 3000 - 1500 - 1000 Any questions should be directed to one of the organizers listed above. Nov. 26-28 or 27-28 California Class Championship GPP: 40 Enhanced California Northern 6SS, 30/90 G/60 (2-day sched rds 1-3 G/60). Hyatt Regency SFO Airport, 1333 Bayshore Hwy., Burlingame, CA 94010. Hotel rate $89. $8,000 b/137 entries (80% guaranteed). 6 sections: Open (2200+ FIDE rated)> 1000-500-200-100-100. X (2000-2199), A (1800-1999), B (1600-1799) & C (1400-1599): 700-300-100-100-100 each. Section DE (1000-1399): 500-200-100 (u1200 200-100-100). The 5th place prize will be awarded only in the 2 largest sections. Unrated prize limit of $200 in all sections except Open. EF: $99 3-day & $98 2-day mailed by 11/23, online by 11/24, Onsite +$25, Play-up +$20. 5% off before 10/26. GMs/IMs free: EF subtr from prize. Re-entry $40. EF Econ Opt: EF minus $30 & 1/2 of computed prize. Nov 2010 Supp, CCA min & TD discretion used to place players accurately. TD/Org: McCumiskey, Langland, Azhar. 3-day sched: Reg Fri 10-11, Rds. Fri/Sat 11:30-5:30, Sun 10, 3:30. 2-day sched: Reg Sat. 9-9:30, Rds Sat 10-12:30-2:45-5:30, Sun. 10-3:30. Max two 1/2-pt byes & must commit bef rd 3. Ent: Bay Area Chess, 1590 Oakland Rd., Suite B213, San Jose 95131. T: 408-786-5515. E: ask@BayAreaChess.com, Info/Form/Entries: BayAreaChess.com/tg. NS, NC, W. Chess Magnet School JGP. Jan. 14-17 or 15-17 2nd Annual Golden State Open GPP: 150 Enhanced California Northern 7SS, 40/2, SD/1 (3-day option, rds. 1-2 G/75). 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. Prizes $40,000 based on 320 paid entries (re-entries & U1300 Section count as half entries), minimum guarantee $30,000 (75% of each prize). In 6 sections. Open, open to all. $3000-1500-1200-800-600-500-400, clear or tiebreak winner $200, top U2400/Unr $1800-1000. FIDE. Under 2200: $2400-1200-1000-700-500-400-300. Under 2000: $2400-1200-1000-700-500-400-300. Under 1800: $2400- 1200-1000-700-500-400-300. Under 1600: $2000-1000-800-600-400-300-200, top Under 1400 $800-400. Under 1300: $800-500-400-300-200-100-100, top Under 1100 $400-200. Unrated (0-3 lifetime games rated) may enter any section, with maximum prize U1300 $300, U1600 $500, U1800 $700, U2000 $900. Top 5 sections EF: 4-day $154, 3-day $153 mailed by 1/6, all $155 online at chesstour.com by 1/11, $160 phoned to 406-896-2038 by 1/11 (entry only, no questions), $180 at site. GMs free; $130 deducted from prize. Under 1300 Section EF: $4-day $74, 3-day $73 mailed by 1/6, $75 online at chesstour.com by 1/11 (entry only, no questions), $80 phoned to 406-896-2038 by 1/11, $100 at site. All: Special 1 yr USCF dues with magazine if paid with entry. Online at chesstour.com, Adult $30, Young Adult $20, Scholastic $15. Mailed, phoned or paid at site, Adult $40, Young Adult $30, Scholastic $20. Re-entry (except Open) $60. Mailed EF $5 less to CalChess members. 4-day schedule: Late reg. ends Fri 6:15 pm, rds. Fri 7 pm, Sat 11 & 6, Sun 11 & 6, Mon 10 & 4:30. 3-day schedule: Late reg. ends Sat 10:15 am, rds Sat 11, 2:30 & 6, Sun 11 & 6, Mon 10 & 4:30. Byes: OK all, limit 3; Open must commit before rd 2, others before rd 4. Unofficial uschess.org ratings usually used if otherwise unrated. Foreign player ratings: See chesstour.com. HR: Rate of $99-99 has been reduced to about $93-93, even lower for seniors 62 or over, 925-827-2000, for details see www.chesstour.com/gso11.htm, reserve by 12/31 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. Chess Magnet School JGP. |