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"I always play carefully and try to avoid unnecessary risks I consider my method to be right as any superfluous daring runs counter to the essential character of chess, which is not a gamble but a purely intellectual combat conducted in accordance with the exact rules of logic." Jose Raul Capablanca 1) Mechanic's Institute Chess Club News 2) Onischuk wins Lindsborg Knockout 3) East Bay Chess Club News 4) Kasparov in Sports Illustrated 5) USCF News 6) MI Book and Equipment Donations 7) Here and There 8) Upcoming Events 1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club NewsThe Mechanics' Institute will be hosting the Michael Franett Memorial, a Category 3 (+2312 FIDE average) IM norm round robin from January 2-16 along with the East Bay Chess Club. The field consists of IMs Vinay Bhat, Ricardo DeGuzman and Ganbold Odondoo, SMs David Pruess and Alan Stein, WGM Kamile Baginskaite, WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs and FMs Frank Thornally and Richard Lobo, plus NMs Nicholas Yap, Matthew Ho and Michael Aigner. Rounds on January 2 and 3 will be held at the East Bay Chess Club (located in Berkeley at the corner of Virginia and Milvia - about a half mile from either the Berkeley or North Berkeley Bart stations) Rounds will start at 10 and 3 on Sunday and 11 and 4 on Monday. Rounds will be held daily at the Mechanics' from January 4-16. In addition to place prizes and norm opportunities, there will also be a best endgame prize which has been donated by NM Ron Gross of Las Vegas who was a good friend of Michael's. Additional donations for this event made out to the Mechanics' Institute are most welcome. Please let us know if you want them to be earmarked for a special prize. The Winter Tuesday Night Marathon begins on January 11. Players will have a chance to warm up beforehand in the fifth annual Bob Burger Open held January 8 at the Mechanics' Institute. Bob, who is both a National Master and a noted problemist, is the author of the well received The Chess of Robert Fischer. He's been a member of the MI for over 50 years and is still going strong. Thanks to Elizabeth Shaughnessy who recently brought by a plaque honoring famous American chess journalists. The initial inductees in the American Journalists Hall of Fame are: I.A. Horowitz, Larry Evans, Harold Dondis, Frank Brady, Hermann Helms, and Burt Hochberg. An identical plaque is hanging in the Marshall Chess Club. 2) Onischuk wins Lindsborg KnockoutThe Lindsborg Open keeps getting stronger each year. Final Standings:
1-2 GMs Moiseenko & Ibragimov - 7 IM Renier Gonzalez made his second GM norm. Also in the running was Los Angeles IM Melikh Khachiyan, who just fell short of his third and final norm, but had the satisfaction of winning a beautiful game against the strong Atlanta Senior Master Stephen Muhammad. Stephen Muhammad- Melikh Khachiyan Lindsborg 2004 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nxc4 Qc7 8.Qd2 The hot continuation is 8.g3 e5 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.Bf4 Nfd7 11.Bg2 g5. The awkward text has some tricky points. 8...Nb6 Now the thematic 8...e5 9.dxe5 Nxe5 loses to 10.Qf4. Besides the text also possible is 8...e6 9.Qf4 (9.f3 Bb4 10.e4 Bg6 11.Qf4 e5 worked out well for Black in Gofshtein-Gausel,Hoogeveen 1998) 9...Qxf4 10.Bxf4 Nb6 11.Nd6+? (11.e3) 11...Bxd6 12.Bxd6 Nc4 and Black was doing well in Schmidt-Stahlberg, Parnu 1937. 9.Ne5 e6 10.f3 0-0-0! This move envisions the upcoming piece sacrifice. 11.a5 Nbd5 12.e4 Nb4 13.Qf2 If 13.exf5 then 13...Rxd4 14.Qe2 Bd6 (14...exf5 is also quite possible) 15.Be3 Bxe5 16.Bxd4 Bxd4. 13...Rxd4 14.Be3 Bc5 Also to be considered was 14...Qxe5 15.Bxd4 Qxd4 16.Qxd4 Nc2+ 17.Kf2 Nxd4 18.exf5 Nxf5. 15.Nd3 15.Nc4 Rxc4 16.Bxc4 Bxe3. 15...Rxe4! A very pretty move that emphasizes Black's lead in development. Note 15...Nxd3+ 16.Bxd3 Rxd3 doesn't work -17.Bxc5 Rhd8 18.exf5 Qe5+ 19.Kf1. 16.Nxe4 16.fxe4 Bxe3. 16...Nxe4 16...Bxe3 was also good. 17.fxe4 Bxe3 18.Qe2 Nxd3+ 19.Qxd3 Qf4 20.exf5 Qf2+ 21.Kd1 Rd8 22.Ra3 Rxd3+ 23.Rxd3 exf5 24.a6 f4 25.axb7+ Kxb7 26.Be2 Qxg2 27.Re1 Qxh2 28.Kc2 Qf2 29.Kd1 f5 30.b4 Kb6 31.Rf1 Qg2 32.Ra3 Qd5+ 33.Bd3 Qg2 34.Be2 g5 35.Ra6+ Kc7 0-1 Lindsborg Knockout GMs Alexander Moiseenko (Ukraine), Ildar Ibragimov (Russia) and Kamil Miton (Poland) qualified for the knockout from the Open, while others had to earn their places in the preliminaries. GMs Goldin, Wojtkiewicz, Onischuk and IM Gonzalez took 4 spots. GMs Ehlvest and Milov tied for the last qualifying place, then Ehlvest won the decisive game with White.
Quarter-finals: Alexander Onischuk won the knockout tournament in Lindsborg, Kansas by defeating GM Ildar Ibragimov in the final 3-2. There, two rapid games ended 1-1 and then two blitz games (5 minutes each) ended in the same score. Finally Onischuk won with Black in the last game, where Ibragimov had 7 minutes vs. 5 minutes, but he had to win. Both events were organized by Dr Mikhail Korenman and directed by Alex Relyea and Frank Berry, with Nita Patel as chief scorekeeper in the rapid event. Wes Fisk was coordinator. Dr. Korenman didn't have much time to rest. Immediately after these two events, he drove down to Wichita where he's hosting the Pan American Intercollegiate. Stanford has sent two teams and we hope to have a full report in the next Newsletter. 3) East Bay Chess Club NewsEBCC Dec Swiss SM David Pruess won the Open section with a 4-0 score. The U1700 section was won by Alan Howe with a score of 3.5. Making his return to Bay Area tournament chess after a long hiatus while studying at Stanford was NM Jordy Mont-Reynaud who finished sole second in the Open section with 3 points. Prizes were also won by Craig Andries, Carl Woebcke, and Sam Shankland (u1900 in the Open section) and Harold Parker and Csaba Toth (2nd and u1400 in the Reserve section). 20 players competed in the two day swiss at the East Bay Chess Club. The next weekend swiss there will be over the Martin Luther King Jr Weekend and will be 6 rounds. 4) Kasparov in Sports IllustratedSI's Richard Deitsch recently interviewed the 41-year-old chess grandmaster upon the release of the fourth volume (Kasparov on Fischer! My Great Predecessors) of his planned six-volume series on the game's great players. Here are a few highlights. SI: You turn 42 next April. Do you see a time where age will be too great a factor for you to play at the level you want? Kasparov: I don't have many illusions. The age is already a factor. It requires more energy for me to keep myself at the same level. Every game requires a lot of energy. The amount of information available for any player is virtually the same. It's unlimited. I don't have any extra advantages but working really hard and trying to come up with new ideas for virtually every game. At a certain point I have to admit that it will be very difficult to keep up with pace of changes. But I feel good that I have enough fire and energy to continue the quest. At the end of the day, it's not only about winning or losing but it's about making a difference. I still think I'm a leading force in the world of chess and that makes me run. SI: How physically taxing is chess when played at the highest level? Kasparov: For the last Russian championship I played 10 rounds and always under constant pressure, working 12 hours a day preparing, and than five or six hours for the session. I lost 4 kilos. It's not only about weight loss but loss of energy. SI: You've said for you "chess is a process of self-discovery." Where do you think you are along this process? Kasparov: I think anything we do seriously is a process of self-discovery because we are a constant search of achieving our potential. Sometimes, even if you make a success, it's not really achieving your potential, and I think many people stop prematurely. It's what I call the gravity of past success. We achieve success and then success turns to be a deadly enemy of our future improvement. For me, not chess as a concept, but a chess competition is a process of a self-discovery because I have to improve on a regular basis. I have a very difficult task, not learning for defeats, which is obvious, but learning from my victories. I lose from time to time but still the number of victories is overwhelming and it's quite complicated to force yourself to learn from your victories. Because every game even if you win is not necessicarily a result of your genius. It could be a number of mistakes exchanged by you and your opponent and you were lucky not to make the last 5) USCF NewsAll those of you who are thinking of running for the USCF Policy Board remember, you need to send in the signatures of 30 qualified USCF voting members by January 10, 2005, in addition to the filing fee. Among those who are said to be running are: Bill Goichberg, Robert Tanner, and incumbents Elizabeth Shaughnessy and Randy Bauer. I would imagine that perennial candidate Sam Sloan will also throw in his hat. There has been talk that two members of the America's Foundation for Chess board, Erik Anderson and Jim Roberts will be running, which would be fantastic news for USCF members. The AF4C's performance in past years stands in start contrast to the USCF, which has squandered over $2,000,000 in the last seven years. We also hope to see the name of Mikhail Korenman among those running for office. His proven fund raising ability, business sense and organizational skills are all qualities lacking on the current Executive Board All USCF members aged 16 and over are eligible to vote and one would sincerely hope that most of them will make an effort. Since the USCF has switched to one member/one vote, not even 5% of the electorate have bothered to exercise their right. This time the stakes are quite high. The future of the Federation will depend heavily on who is elected this coming August. Members will get their ballots next June inside their issues of Chess Life. Chess players usually hate chess politics with a passion and with very good reason. Quite often the individuals involved seem to have little interest in the game itself, their actions often self serving and petty. Still, if you don't vote, you lose a large part of your right to complain. The following information comes from the USCF website: Motions considered at the Executive Board Meeting December 19, 2004 in Boca Raton, FL. Note: Elizabeth Shaughnessy joined the meeting while in progress. Frank Brady and Bill Goichberg were on teleconference for a portion of the meeting. (Board) The Executive Board thanks GM Arnold Denker for his many contributions to chess and for serving as a great role model and ambassador of chess throughout the United States and abroad. PASSED 5-0 Shaughnessy and Brady Absent (Shutt) At the request of the Chess Trust the Executive Board considered the following motion: Amend FOURTH of the Chess Trust Declaration to delete the following sentence: "The Trustees shall have no power to amend the Trust with respect to procedure of power, to fill vacancies in the Trustees, or to appoint or remove Trustees except with the consent of the Policy Board (or it's successor) of the United States of America Chess Federation. PASSED 5-0 Shaughnessy and Brady Absent (Hanke) The USCF profit-sharing plan shall be named "The USCF Profit Sharing Plan" and two signatures shall be required for any checks or requests to the plan administrator, with the official signatories being the Executive Director, Chief Financial Officer and the Vice President of Finance. PASSED 5-0 Shaughnessy and Brady Absent (Hanke) Moved that temporarily the signatures on the USCF operating account will be Judy Misner, Glenn Petersen and the Chief Financial Officer. Checks will require two Signatures. PASSED 5-0 Shaughnessy and Brady Absent (Schultz) Resolved: Appendix B of the minutes of the 2003 USCF Delegates Meeting regarding College Chess Eligibility Requirements is hereby corrected to include the words "these titled" before the word "players" in the second line of the second paragraph of Rule 1. PASSED 5-0 Shaughnessy and Brady Absent (Board) The Executive Board asks the college Chess Committee to take a position on allowing individual titled players to petition for eligibility, as good-faith exceptions to Rule 1 of the College Chess Eligibility Requirements. PASSED 4-0-1 In Favor: Marinello, Hanke Bauer and Schultz; Shutt Abstaining; Shaughnessy and Brady Absent (Board) The USCF will rate the results of USCF members in certain international events starting with events to which USCF sends invited players, and events of FIDE category 4 and higher; with possible future expansion of this list of events; beginning with the August 2005 Rating Supplement. PASSED 5-0 Shaughnessy and Brady Absent (Bauer/Shutt) The Executive Board requests that the Ethics Committee examine the problems associated with player and spectator conduct during tournaments, including extended absences from the tournament hall and develop guidelines that address these issues. PASSED 5-0 Shaughnessy and Brady Absent
(Board) The Executive Board appoints the following transition team from January 1, 2005 to March 31, 2005: Passed 4-0-3 In Favor Shutt, Bauer, Hanke and Shaughnessy; Abstaining Marinello, Schultz and Brady. Brady voted via telephone (Brady/Schultz) Resolved that the Board thanks Executive Director Bill Goichberg for his dedicated service to the USCF and approves a retroactive salary for calendar year 2004 of $25,000. Passed 7-0 Brady voted via telephone (Hanke) Based on the advice of legal council, the Executive Board reserves the right to comment in Chess Life on the suitability of a candidate for the Executive Board. Such action would require 2/3 support of the Executive Board and would have to be approved by legal council. PASSED 7-0 Brady voted via telephone 6) MI Book and Equipment DonationsBook and equipment donations to the Mechanics' are always welcome. All donations to the Mechanics' are tax deductible due to the M.I.'s 501(c) (3) nonprofit status. If you have any chess books or equipment that have been lying around unused for some time consider donating to the Mechanics'. You will not only get a tax write off but also the satisfaction of seeing things put to good use. 7) Here and ThereMechanics' member Bud Setzepfandt has started a forum for chess players in the Bay Area to communicate: http://www.phpbbforfree.com/forums/index.php?mforum=chess The 2005 World Open has been moved to the Wyndham Hotel in downtown Philadelphia from it's traditional home at the Adam's Mark in the suburbs. Many players are not old enough to remember, but the World Open used to be played in downtown Philadelphia back in the late 1970s. I predict that many will enjoy the change in venue. The new location is near many historic sights and excellent restaurants. Chess players will no longer be forced to choose between TGI Fridays and Dennys and have to wait an hour to get served. Non-chess players will have plenty of things to do just outside of the hotel without renting a car. Potentially, this could be the biggest World Open ever. Note the World Open will not have a two-weekend schedule this year. The late Albrecht Buschke was one of the few Americans to reach the top of the chess world in their area of expertise. We all know about Bobby Fischer, Paul Morphy and William Steinitz as players, Sam Loyd as a problemist and Jeremy Gaige as a chess archivist, but Buschke, who passed away in 1986, was a tremendous resource. A noted book seller and bibliophile, Buschke did great work in preserving chess literature in his new homeland. Shortly after immigrating from Germany, he started to take note of all chess publications in the United States. In the late forties, in a most unlikely publication, the West Virginia Chess Bulletin, he wrote extensively about state publications and chess columns and newspapers. Here's what he had to say in the November 30, 1947 WVCB: CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Times: Chess column founded about 1927 (reports the present editor; the H.J.R. Murray list shows the column to have been published at least as early as 1931) by Clifford Sherwood, and taken over from him July 9, 1933 by the current editor, Herman Steiner, 108 No. Formosa Ave., Los Angeles 36, Calif. Appears Sundays. (J.D. This column continues to this day. When Steiner passed away suddenly in the mid-fifties, Isaac Kashdan stepped in and passed the baton to Jack Peters approximately 25 years ago.) MERCURY (Los Angeles) : We do not have the name of the founder of this column, published in a monthly magazine issued for the Los Angeles Athletic Club, Hollywood Athletic Club, the Pacific Coast Club (Long Beach), the Santa Monica Deauville Club, the Wilmington Yacht Club, the Sacramento Gun Club and the Riviera Country Club, with a circulation of over 10,000. It is now edited by Dr. R. H. Kuhns, 1256 W. 7th St., Los Angeles 14, Calif., who took it over in 1941. (J.D. I believe that Stasch Mlotkowski started this column around roughly 1915. Harry Borochow edited the column after the First World War. I'm not sure for how long.) SACRAMENTO UNION founded May 8th, 1943, by the present editor J. B. Gee, 5425 8th Ave., Sacramento 17, Calif. Carries the column head, "Chess" Sundays. m 5. 8) Upcoming EventsUpcoming Tournaments at the MI
Bob Burger Open - January 8 Local Jan 8. EBCC Scholastic Quads. 3RR, G/60. EF: $10, $15 after 12/1. $5 EBCC discount. Trophy to winner of each quad. Reg: 9-9:45 AM. Rds: 10-12:15-2:30. Info: tournaments@eastbaychess.com; 510 845-1041.
Jan 15-17 Regional 12th annual WESTERN CLASS CHAMPIONSHIPS Jan 14-17, 15-17 or 16-17, 2005 - Martin Luther King weekend at Los Angeles Airport Hilton $15,000 GUARANTEED PRIZE FUND- REDUCED ENTRY FEES! Jan. 14-17, 15-17 or 16-17 Southern California ChessCafe.com Grand Prix Points: 60 12th annual Western Class Championships. 6SS, 40/2, SD/1 (2-day option, rds 1-3 G/50), Los Angeles Airport Hilton, 5711 W Century Blvd, Los Angeles 90045. $15,000 prize fund, all unconditionally guaranteed! In 7 sections. Master (over 2199): $1400-700-400-200, clear winner bonus $100, top U2300 $500. If tie for first, top 2 on tiebreak play speed game for title & bonus prize. FIDE rated. Expert (2000-2199): $1200-600-400-200. Class A (1800-1999): $1200-600-400-200. Class B (1600-1799): $1000-500-300-200. Class C (1400-1599): $1000-500-300-200. Class D (1200-1399): $800-400-200-100. Class E (Under 1200): $700-400-200-100. Rated players may play up one section. Unrated must play in A or below with maximum prize A $500, B $400, C $300, D $200, E $100; balance goes to next player(s) in line.
4-day entry fee, if mailed by Jan 6: Master, Expert or A $109, B or C $89, D or E $69. Special entry fees: All $30 less to unrated. Re-entry (except Master) $50. Advance EF $10 less if paid with $49 USCF dues. SCCF memb. ($14, jrs $9) required for rated Southern CA residents. Advance EF minus $5 service charge refunded for withdrawals who give notice at least 1 hour before rd 1 (no service charge if fee applied to future CCA tmts).
4-day schedule: Reg. Fri to 6 pm, rds Fri 7, Sat 6, Sun 11-6, Mon 10-4:15. Hotel rates: $89-89-89-89, 310-410-4000, reserve by Jan 7 or rate may increase. Parking $6/day. Car rental: Avis, 800-331-1600, use AWD #D657633. Questions: 845-496-9658 or 845-234-0386. Entry: Continental Chess, c/o Goichberg, Box 661776, Arcadia CA 91066. Advance entries will be posted at chesstour.com 1/13. International Dear Chess Friends, Brunei Darussalam , a small beautiful country of 300,000 population is organising an open chess tournament from 14th to 20th Jan 2005. Brunei Darussalam is situated in the North of the Borneo island. Unspoiled sandy beach and abundant untouched rainforest can be found all over Brunei and the neighbouring countries. To the East of Brunei is the State of Sabah where Mount Kinabalu is situated and being the highest in South East Asia. To the West of Brunei is the state of Sarawak where the largest caves in Mulu can be found. For more information about Brunei visit http://www.brudirect.com/ Please extend our invitation to all chess players in your federation wishing to visit Brunei and participate in the above event. Below, please find the revised tournament details and regualtion. Total cash prize has now gone up to more than US$ 5000. In addition, first 10 GM/WGM register before 31st December will be provided with full board and lodging and first 10 IM/WIM register will be provided with twin room sharing and breakfast. Further information can also be access via our website http://www.bruneichess.org.bn/ |