Mechanics' Institute Chess Club Newsletter 523

One despairs when one thinks of all the effort expended on the study of chess, and of the poverty of results. Year after year the same elementary mistakes are repeated, the same antediluvian traps claim their victims. It is almost incredible, yet so it is...

Eugene Znosko-Borovsky, in How Not to Play Chess (first published in 1931)

1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Greg Hjorth 1963-2011
3) Jimmy Quon Memorial by Ankit Gupta
4) Upcoming Events

IM Walter Shipman, NM Robin Cunningham and Expert Todd Rumph are tied for the lead at the mid-way point of the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon with scores of 3.5 from 4. Rumph has been playing particularly well the past few months, going from 2043 in mid-September to his current personal best of 2161. This would be rapid improvement for anyone but is all the more remarkable as Rumph is 50-years-old.

Next Tuesday (February 1st) the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club will honor Daniel Naroditsky for winning the 2011 Falconer Award for being the highest rated player under 18 in Northern California. His cash prize is equal to his current rating of 2483. All are welcome to attend the ceremony which will run from 5pm to 5:15pm.

Tuesday, February 15, the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club will celebrate the donation of chess artwork to the Institute by Lise Pearlman. The sketches and drawings depicting scenes at the 1976 Chess Olympiad in Haifa and the 1995 Pan Pacific International were done by Ms. Pearlman's mother, the artist and long-time Mechanics' member Amalia Rapaport Pearlman (1918-2009). There will be a short talk at 6pm followed by light refreshments in the Mechanics' 4th floor cafe and lounge. All are welcome.

The Mechanics' Institute Chess Club has been host to some significant chess personalities this January. Loek Van Wely, following in the footsteps of fellow Dutch GMs Lodewijk Prins (early 1950s) and Hans Ree (1971) , gave a lecture on January 11 to Tuesday Night Marathon regulars. Last Saturday Swiss IM Richard Forster, best known for his monumental work on Amos Burn, paid the MI an impromptu visit.

NM John Blackstone passes along the following "lost" game he recently found in Hermann Helms' column in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of July 8, 1920 on page 3. It comes from the annual matches held between Los Angeles and San Francisco which were conducted by telegraph until the mid 1920s when the advent of the automobile made possible face to face encounters at mid-way points like Atascadero.

Fink,A - Mlotkowski,S [A00]
Los Angeles-San Francisco Telegraph, 1920

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.Qe2 Nc5 7.Bxc6 dxc6 8.d4 Ne6 9.dxe5 Bc5 10.Be3 Bxe3 11.Qxe3 0-0 12.Nbd2 b6 13.Rad1 Qe7 14.c3 c5 15.Ne4 Re8 16.Ng3 Nf8 17.Rfe1 Ng6 18.Qe4 Rb8 19.Rd3 Bb7 20.Qf5 Bxf3 21.gxf3 Rbd8 22.Rde3 Qe6 23.Qxe6 Rxe6 24.Nh5 Rd2 25.f4 Nh4 26.Kf1 Rxb2 27.Rd1 h6 28.Rd8+ Kh7 29.Rd7 Kg6 30.Ng3 Rxa2 31.f5+ Nxf5 32.Nxf5 Kxf5 33.Rxf7+ Kg6 34.Rxc7 Ra4 35.Kg2 Rf4 36.Kg3 Rf7 37.Rc8 Kh5 38.f4 g5 39.fxg5 Rg6 40.e6 Rxg5+ 41.Kh3 Rf4 42.Rg3 Re5 43.Rd8 Rfe4 44.Rf8 Rh4+ 45.Kg2 Rhe4 46.Kh3 Rg5 47.Re8 Rxg3+ 48.hxg3 Kg6 49.e7 Kf7 50.Rh8 0-1 Adjudicated a win for Black

Results of last week's Mechanics' Wednesday Night Blitz

Top scorers: 1. Arthur Ismakov 16-4; 2. Carlos D'Avila 14; 3. Jules Jelinek 13.

The Australian IM and Mathematician, Greg Hjorth, who lived much of the past twenty years in the United States, died suddenly on January 13, 2011, in Melbourne. The cause was sudden heart failure for reasons not yet known.

Hjorth was one of Australia's most talented players of the 1980s representing his country in several World Junior Championships (he was sixth in 1980 event won by Garry Kasparov) and the 1984 and 1986 Olympiads.

Earlier on Hjorth decided not to become a professional chess player. A man of many interests he continued to play in tournaments off and on throughout his life but math and philosophy were what he devoted his energies to, becoming a first-rate logician. Hjorth was a professor at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Melbourne .In 2003 he received the Karp Prize with Alexander S. Kechris for work on Borel equivalence relations, especially countable Borel equivalence relations and applications in the theory of turbulence

Bay Area chess players got to know Greg Hjorth during his doctoral studies in mathematics at UC Berkeley in the early 1990s. Despite the heavy course load he managed to find time to play in several events including the 1991 Stamer Memorial at the Mechanics' Institute where he shared first with the late Igor Ivanov, former Chess Room Director Jim Eade and NM Richard Koepcke.

Greg Hjorth will be remembered by his many friends for not only his sharp intellect but his kindness and strong sense of social justice. He will be missed.

The following win against Tony Miles was when the Englishmen was near the height of his powers and close to being one of the ten best players in the world.

Miles,Anthony J (2565) - Hjorth,Greg (2440) [D34]

BCF-ch Brighton (4), 1984

1.d4 e6 2.c4 d5 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.g3 Be7 7.Bg2 Nf6 8.0-0 0-0 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Bg5 d4 11.Bxf6 Qxf6 12.Nd5 Qd8 13.Nd2 a6 14.Rc1 Ba7 15.Re1 Re8 16.Qb3 Rb8 17.Nf4 Re5! 18.Nc4 Rb5 19.Qa3 Nb4 20.Nd3 Nxd3 21.Qxd3 Be6 22.b3 Qe7 23.Nd2 Re8 24.Be4 g6 25.Rc2 Bg4 26.Rec1 Bb6 27.Kh1 Re5 28.f3 f5! 29.Qc4+ Kg7 30.Bd3 Bh3 31.b4 Rxe2! 32.Bxe2 Qxe2 33.Rg1 d3 34.Qc3+ Kh6 35.Rcc1 Bxg1 36.Rxg1 Qf2 37.Qc1 f4 38.Qc7 Bg2+ 0-1

3) Jimmy Quon Memorial by Ankit Gupta

The Jimmy Quon Memorial (2nd Metropolitan FIDE Invitational), a 10-player invitational round robin, concluded this past weekend. GM Mark Paraguatook first solo, starting with a remarkable 6-0 result, and finishing with 7.5 - 1.5. GM Melikset Khachiyan came in 2nd with a result of 6-3. No one qualified for any GM or IM norms. IM Mackenzie Molner, the closest participant to a GM norm concluded the event with a result of 5-4, having needed 2 more points to achieve the GM norm. NM Alessandro Steinfl, the only contender vying for an IM norm, ended with 2-7, requiring 3 more points for an IM norm. The tournament, which was a respectable category 7 with a rating average of 2421, was organized and hosted by Metropolitan Chess <www.metrochessla.com>. The next invitational, expected to be an IM norm invitational, will be held at the end of February. Inquiries in regards to this invitational series can be sent to ankit.gupta@metrochessla.com.

We add to NM Gupta's report that Bay Area participants IM Jacek Stopa and IM-Elect Daniel Naroditsky both finished with 4.5 from 9.

Feb. 19-21 or 20-21 2011 37th Annual Peoples Tournament
GPP: 40 Enhanced California Northern

6SS, 30/90 G/60 (2-day sched rds 1-3 G/60). Marriott, 46100 Landing Pkwy., Fremont, CA 94538. Hotel rate $89. $8,000 b/137 entries (80% guaranteed). 6 sections: Open (2100+) $1000-500-200-100-100. XA (1900-2099), AB (1700-1899), BC (1500-1699), CD (1300-1499), DE (under 1300): $700-300-100- 100-100 each. The 5th place prize in the 2 largest sections only. Unrated prize limit of $200 except in Open section. EF: $99 3-day & 98 2-day mailed by 2/15, online by 2/16, Onsite +$25, Play-up +$20. 5% off before 1/18. GMs/IMs free: EF subtr from prize. Re-entry $40. EF Econ Opt: EF minus $30 & 1/2 of computed prize. Feb 2011 Supp, CCA min & TD discretion used to place players accurately. TD/Org: Koepcke/Azhar. 3-day sched: Reg. Sat 10-11, Rds. Sat/Sun 11:30-5:30,Mon 10-3:30. 2-day sched: Reg Sun 9-9:30, Rds. Sun 10-12:30-2:45-5:30, Mon 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. $20 for refunds. T: 408-786-5515. E: ask@BayAreaChess.com, Info/Form/Entries: BayAreaChess.com/ppl. NS, NC, W.

Chess Magnet School JGP.

Spring Chess Festival - Saturday, February 25th, 2011

Presented by:
Atlantis Business Insurance Solutions, LLC
AND NorCal House of Chess
5 Round Swiss
A One Day G/45 USCF rated Event
Location: 45401 Research Avenue, Suite 141, Fremont, CA 94539
Entry Fee: Regular Entry - $60. Economy Entry - $40. 5 discount to members of NorCal House of Chess. Economy Option pays 50% of calculated prize money. The remaining amount goes back to the budget to offset Economy Fee Discount.

Time Control: Game in 45.
Regestration & Schedule: Registration: 9:00 am-9:30 am. Rds: 10 am, 12:00 pm, 2:00 pm, 4 pm, 6 pm.
Prizes: $1400 - total, based on 40 fully paid entries. Open Section: $400-$200, U2200: $180, U2000: $150, U1800: $140, U1600 $130, U1400 $130, U1200 - $100.
Cash Prizes in every round! - $20 cash prize will be awarded in each round to a player scoring afirst win AND to a player scoring the biggest upset. All lower-rated players are eligible to win higher class prizes.

Questions? - Call TD Felix German at (415) 335-0900 or email: felix@atlantisbusinessinsurance.com
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Mail advance entries to: 14 Sullivan Ave, Daly City, CA 94015. Make checks payable to: Felix
German.