"Chess is a sea in which a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe."
   Hindu proverb

The A.J. Fink Amateur Championship, open to all players rated below 2000, will be held this weekend starting Friday night at 6:30 PM.

1) Linares
2) Six-way tie for first in Winter TNM
3) NM Michael Pearson winner of 2003 Falconer Award
4) Maurice Ashley returns to the Bay Area
5) Midwest Amateur Team Championship
6) Here and There
7) MI Chess History CD: Volume 1 
8) Upcoming events

1) Linares

The seven player double round robin in Linares has already witnessed one big upset with 15-year-old Teimur Radjabov defeating Garry Kasparov with the black pieces. Standings after 4 rounds. Note: (3) means three games played so far.

+1 Kramnik (4), Anand (3) and Leko (3)
= Radjabov (4), Vallejo Pons (3)
-1 Kasparov (3)
-2 Ponomariov (4)

G Kasparov - T Radjabov
Linares, (2)
French Defense
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7 5 f4 c5 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 Be3 a6 8 Qd2 b5 9 a3 Qb6 10 Ne2 c4 11 g4 h5 12 gxh5 Rxh5 13 Ng3 Rh8 14 f5 exf5 15 Nxf5 Nf6 16 Ng3 Ng4 17 Bf4 Be6 18 c3 Be7 19 Ng5 0-0-0 20 Nxe6 fxe6 21 Be2 Ngxe5 22 Qe3 Nd7 23 Qxe6 Bh4 24 Qg4 g5 25 Bd2 Rde8 26 0-0-0 Na5 27 Rdf1 Nb3+ 28 Kd1 Bxg3 29 Rf7 Rd8 30 Bxg5 Qg6 31 Qf5 Qxf5 32 Rxf5 Rdf8 33 Rxf8+ Nxf8 34 Bf3 Bh4 35 Be3 Nd7 36 Bxd5 Re8 37 Bh6 Ndc5 38 Bf7 Re7 39 Bh5 Nd3 0-1

2) Six-way tie for first in Winter TNM

There was a six-way tie for first at 6-2 in the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon with IM Walter Shipman, NMs Russell Wong, Igor Margulis, and Victor Ossipov plus Experts Win Aung Ye and Nicolas Yap taking top honors. The next Marathon begins March 18.

3) NM Michael Pearson winner of 2003 Falconer Award

NM Michael Pearson is the winner of the 2003 Falconer Award given annually to the highest rated player under 18 in Northern California. Michael, who is 15 and lives in San Mateo, narrowly missed qualifying for the US Championship at last years US Open. His prize for winning the Falconer is $2,201 which matches his rating of 2201 at the end of December 2002. The Falconer award is named after its benefactor, MI Trustee and former US Senior Champion Neil Falconer.

Falconer Award Winners

2000 Vinay Bhat
2001 Vinay Bhat
2002 Vinay Bhat
2003 Michael Pearson

4) Maurice Ashley returns to the Bay Area

On February 27th GM Maurice Ashley will be at Contra Costa College in San Pablo, Ca. in conjunction with the Windsor East Bay Chess Academy. We would like contact local chess clubs to see if they are interested in sending one or two teams of players to play GM Ashley on the 27th between 2:00 and 4:00pm at the college. Please forward to chess clubs in the West Contra Costa County area or let me know how I can contact them. Thanks!

5) Midwest Amateur Team Championship

MI and Berkeley Chess Club member Andy Lee, who is attending college in the Heartland, sends in the following report.

My collegiate team (Carleton College in Minnesota) won the Midwest Amateur Team Championship on President's Day Weekend with a 5-0 score. We were big underdogs, since our 1884 team rating made us the 13th seed in a field of about 40 teams. I went 5-0 on board one which was matched by our 3rd board.

Here's my game from the last round:

W: SM Mehmed Pasalic (2419) B: NM Andy Lee (2202)

1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. g3 Bd6 6. Bg2 Nge7 7. O-O O-O 8. Re1 Qc7 9. Qe2 f6 10. c3 b5 11. Nh4 Rb8 12. f4 d4 13. c4 a6 14. Bh3 Qa5 15. Nhf3 Bc7 16. a3 Qb6 17. Kh1 Qa7 18. Rg1 Ba5 19. cxb5 axb5 20. b4 Bxb4 21. g4 Bc3 22. Rb1 Ng6 23. Nf1 Qc7 24. f5 Nf4 25. Bxf4 Qxf4 26. Ng3 Ne5 27. Nxe5 Qxe5 28. Nh5 h6 29. Rbf1 c4 30. Nf4 Rf7 31. Ng6 cxd3 32. Qxd3 Qd6 33. g5 fxg5 34. e5 Qc6+ 35. Bg2 Qc4 36. Qg3 Qc7 37. h4 Bd2 38. Qg4 exf5 39. Qxd4 Kh7 40. h5 Qc3 41. Qd5 Bb7 42. Qxb7 Rfxb7 43. Rxf5 Rb6 44. Rgf1 Bf4 45. Nxf4 gxf4 46. R1xf4 Rd8 47. Rf7 Rd1+ 48. Kh2 Rd2 49. Rg4 Qxe5+ 50. Kg1 Rd1+ 51. Bf1 Rxf1+ 0-1

Well done Andy!

6) Here and There

The FIDE Man vs. Machine World Chess Championship, between Gary Kasparov and the computer Deep Junior is scheduled to re-air on ESPN2 Wednesday, March 5 at 2:30 p.m. ET.

GM Yasser Seirawan of Seattle is on the fast track to becoming a peace negotiator for the United Nations. A few years he played a big role in rescuing the US Championship and more recently he has volunteered large amounts of time to try to reunify the World Chess Championship crown. As you might guess this has been a truly thankless task! To learn more about his efforts and the difficulties faced check out the new interview he did with GM Mikhail Golubev which is posted at GM Square site - http://www.gmsquare.com/interviews/seirawan2.html. The interview first appeared at GM Alex Baburin's well regarded online daily Chess Today (http://www.chesstoday.net/) No 836.

IM John Donaldson won the 11th David Collyer Memorial held February 22-23 in Spokane with a 5-0 score. Kevin Korsmo organized and directed the 54-player event.

7) MI Chess History CD: Volume 1

The staff of the Mechanics' Institute recently completed the first of a two volume series on the history of the Mechanics' Institute Chess Room. The fruits of their research are available on a CD which includes almost 90 pages of text, approximately 10 photos from the MI archives and over 150 games in ChessBase format. Visits of World Champions Lasker (twice), Capablanca, Alekhine (twice), and Euwe, are among the highlights. The price of the CD is $10 + $1 for shipping. To order, send a check payable to the Mechanics' Institute for $11 to: Mechanics' Institute, Room 408, 57 Post Street, San Francisco, CA, 94104.

8) Upcoming events

Upcoming Tournaments at the MI

Full details at www.chessclub.org

A.J. Fink Amateur: February 28, March 1-2, 2003
Max Wilkerson Open: March 15, 2003
Walter Lovegrove Senior Championship: April 12-13, 2003
Imre Konig Memorial: April 26, 2003

Other Northern California Events

7 th Coastside Scholastic Chess Meet
March 1, 2003, 1:00 -6:00 PM
Farallone View School, Montara CA
Morphy Group: Grades K-5 Steinitz Group: 6-12, Adults.

Beginners welcome, no experience required. Relaxed, stress-free environment .Each player plays 5 games, no elimination. Each player has 20 minutes to complete all moves. Prizes to top 10 and best result in each grade K-6 . Chess sets supplied for all games. Players receive Coastside ratings (not USCF rated) Directions: From South: Take route 92 West until it ends in Half Moon Bay. Turn right (N) on Rt. 1. Proceed about 8 miles to 2nd Street. From North: Take Rt. 1 south to Montara. 2nd street is first turn. To get to Rt. 1, use 280, or Skyline Blvd (rt 35) On 2nd Street, go one block to Main Street, turn right, then immediately turn left on 3rd street. Up two blocks, school is on the left at Le Conte Ave. Please arrive by 1:00 so that we can start the games promptly at 1:30. Games will begin at approximately 1:30, 2:20, 3:15, 4:00 and 4:45, with playoffs, if needed, at 5:30. Organized by Coastside Chess Club (Naomi Hirayasu, President). Directed by International Arbiter Eric Schiller. For more information, contact coastsidechessclub@yahoo.com.

To enter, send the following information, together with a check for $15 made payable to Coastside Chess Club, to Coastside Chess, c/o Chessworks, P.O. Box 1048, El Granada CA 94018. Entries must be received by February 27, 2003. Late registration available on site, but the entry fee is $20 if not entered in advance. Please also email the information to coastsidechess@chessworks.com, so that we can confirm your entry by email.

Player Name
School Grade
Date of Birth
Parent(s) Name
Email
Phone Number
USCF rating (if any)

Mar. 29-30. 2003 Central California Adult & Scholastic Chess Congress
10 Grand Prix Points

Open, Scholastic & Beginner Scholastic. Edison High School, Grant Taggart Gym, 1425 S. Center St., Stockton. Open: (G/2, 5 sec. delay) $$2,000 Gtd: $400-200, X, A, B, C, D, E, & Unr. $200 ea. Trophies to ea. 1st. EF: $35 by 3/28, at site $45. Late Reg. 8-9:30. Byes requested bef. Rd. 1 only. Rds: 10-2:15, 10-2:15. EF includes G/5 Bughouse, G/5 Blitz, G/10 Quick (Rated), Simultaneous & Blindfold challenge (limited 8 highest rated challengers). Trophy/Title prizes for all side events. Scholastic Championship: 5SS, G/1. 4 Sections: K-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-12 (Trophies 10, 15, 15, 10 Resp.). EF: $20 by 3/28, at site $30. Late Reg. at site 8-9:30. Byes requested before Rd. 1 only. Rds: 10-1:15, 10-1:15,3:30. EF includes G/5 Bughouse, G/5 Blitz, G/10 Quick (Rated), Simultaneous. Trophy/Title Prize for all side events. Beginner Scholastic Championship: (3/29, Non Rated) 6SS, G/30. K-8. Certificates to all grade winners + participants. Free USCF membership to all scoring 4 or more pts. EF $10, $20 at site. Late Reg. at site 8-9:30. No byes. Only eligible Simultaneous. Rds: 10-11-12-1-2-3. Prizes all side events. Info: STKNCHES.go.cc or JacobGreen@msn.com. John Charles Barnard, 209-785-7895. 50 cents of ea entry donated to CalChess. Ent: Edison High School Chess Club, 1425 S. Center, Stockton CA 95206 W.

Southern California

April 11-13. Western Pacific Open
40 Grand Prix Points

5SS, 3-day 40/2, SD/1, 2-day Rds. 1-2 G/75 then merges. LAX Radisson Hotel, 6225 W. Century Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045. $$10,000 b/200, 50% of each prize guaranteed. In 3 sections: Open: $1500-1000-800-400-200 plus $200 (G) bonus for clear 1st, U2400 $400-200, U2300 $200, U2200 $750-500-300. EF: $79 advance, $95 door, $30 more if rated U1800. Premier: (U2000) $750-500-300-100, U1800 $500-300-200. EF: $79 advance, $95 door, $30 more to U1400, no unrated. Amateur: (U1600) $400+trophy-250-100, U1400 $100+trophy-50, U1200 $100+trophy, Unr. $100+trophy, unrated may win unrated prize only. EF: $64 advance, $75 door. Reg: 5:30-6:30pm 4/11, 8:30-10am 4/12. Rds: 3-day 7 p.m., 11-5:30, 10-4:30. 2-day: 10:30-1:30 (G/75), then merges. All: $50 Best Game prize, all sections eligible. One 1/2-pt. bye Rds. 1-3 if requested with ent. SCCF membership req. of rated S. Cal. res., $12 reg, $7.50 Jr. No credit card entries. No checks at door. HR: $84, 310-670-9000, mention chess. Parking: $5/day. Info: Mike Carr, 949-768-3538, mrcarr@pacbell.net; John Hillery admin@westernchess.com. Web site: www.westernchess.com. Ent: SCCF, c/o John Hillery, 835 N. Wilton Pl., Los Angeles, CA 90038. State Championship Qualifier. FIDE.