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Everyone can define chess in their own way. But in the first place chess is sport, because what we are really interested in is the name of the winner. However, I think that one's desire to win is not productive, unless it is grounded by one's striving to fight and to create something beautiful. But on the other hand, one can't be constantly winning when occupied with creating masterpieces. With me, however, as long as I have a desire to seek something new and to play beautiful games, I continue to win. Garry Kasparov |
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News 2) Karpov Interview 3) Andy Ansel on Chess.FM 4) Chess Columns in Northern California 5) Here and There 6) Upcoming Events IMPORTANT! USCF EXECUTIVE BOARD ELECTION- all USCF members age 16 or over may vote. Ballots will be in the June issue of Chess Life. Some ballots in the June Chess Life are missing the pre-printed voter info, so all voters will soon receive new ballots. It was first announced that if you wrote your info in this would not count, but this has now been changed and it will count if coming from a voter who received a defective ballot. You can also vote using your second ballot. If you vote twice, only the ballot in the June Chess Life will count. Ballots need to be in by July 19 1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club NewsNMs Batchimeg Tuvshintugs and Tony D'Aloisio are tied for first in the Mechanics' Institute Summer Tuesday Night Marathon with 4 points after four rounds.Tying for third at 3.5 are NM Oleg Shaknazrov, Expert Victor Ossipov and rapidly-improving Class A player Edward Perepelitsky. Four rounds remain in the event which has set a Marathon attendance records with 86 players. Congratulations to MI member Daniel Naroditsky who won the First Internet Scholastic Chess Championship this past weekend at Harrahs in Last Vegas. Organized by the World Chess Network, the event was held in two stages. In the first hundreds of kids from there United States and Canada played in qualifying sections over the Internet with the finals held face to face in Las Vegas. Daniel defeated Nicholas Orlov in the final. More information on this event, which was held to honor the memory of the son of Dato Tan, can be found at www.worldchessnetwork.com. The Bay Areas's newest IM, Vladimir Mezentsev, won the Stamer Memorial this past June with a dominating performance, scoring 6-0 while defeating IMs Walter Shipman and Ricardo DeGuzman and SM Craig Mar. Here are three of his games from the event.
Mezentsev,V (2516) - Salles,A (1724) C50
Mezentsev,V (2516) - D'Aloiso (2219) C53
Mar,C (2428) - Mezentsev,V (2516) B38 The MI's advanced Chess Camp, with GM Alex Yermolinsky as lead instructor, will be back for the fifth consecutive year this summer. The all day camp will run from August 1-5. Complete information for both the beginner (June 20-24) and advanced camps are available at www.chessclub.org, the official web site of the MI Chess Club. Book 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. 2) Karpov InterviewFormer World Champion Anatoly Karpov recently gave a very outspoken interview which appeared at both the ChessBase website (www.chessbase.com) and in Alexander Baburin' online daily (http://www.chesstoday.net). Some excerpts appear below. With Karpov by Hartmut Metz (Translation Eric van Reem) Anatoly Karpov is still able to fill headlines. The UNICEF ambassador is engaged in a project involving children who are suffering from iodine deficiency. He has more than 50 chess schools worldwide and he is also working for his own cause: Anatoly Karpov is one of the candidates to follow in the footsteps of the unpopular president of the world chess federation FIDE, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The European Chess Union (ECU) is positioning the chess legend against the president of the Republic of Kalmykia. Although we hardly see the 54-year bold ex-world champion at the board nowadays, Karpov still loves the game. On August 9 and 10 (starting at 16.00) Karpov will play in the Unzicker Gala, celebrating the 80th birthday of Wolfgang Unzicker in the Rheingoldhalle in Mainz. Not only will the grandmaster from Munich participate, Boris Spassky and Viktor Korchnoi will complete the field. - What do you think about Kasparov's sudden decision to stop playing tournament chess? - I guess, that his own political stratagems with Kirsan Ilyumzhinov exhausted him. He changed his point of view at least three times. At a certain point he was a good friend of the FIDE president, a short time later he was his fiercest enemy, but a month later they were on good terms again. Kasparov even traveled to Kalmykia to negotiate about his last chance to play in the world championship cycle, but Ilyumzhinov cheated on him once more and after that they were enemies again. In the end he knocked himself out and became a victim of his own pitiful diplomacy. After that, Kasparov stepped back from chess which is, and I want this to be clear, not good for chess in general at all. As a whole, the current situation in the chess world leaves a lot to be desired. - To change this situation, you are supposed to take over the FIDE presidency. The European Chess Union wants you to become a candidate for the job. - Of course, even somebody acting like an idiot would do a better job than Ilyumzhinov. The situation cannot become worse anymore, so it would be rather easy to improve in the beginning. The chaos in the chess world is caused by these "leaders" who are unable to do their job properly. The priority must be the unification of the world titles to straighten things out. But we should not wait that long anymore to change the situation, because we are running out of time. - If the ECU were to speak with one voice, you would have 53 votes and federations behind you. That would be a powerful alliance that should be enough to get rid of Ilyumzhinov, don't you think? - No, no, it is obvious that the ECU should act as a close alliance for the benefit of chess. At the moment it is more than clear for everybody that Ilyumzhinov must go as soon as possible. But not only he should pack his bags, also the rest of his gang, who are plundering FIDE. The problem is that you never can tell if these FIDE officials are telling the truth or are lying in your face again. Of course, the latter is mostly the case. It is far more difficult to catch them telling the truth (smiles). - In case of a victory you would follow in the footsteps of the Dutchman Max Euwe. He was world chess champion and FIDE president. - Let us not discuss this. One thing, however, is very clear: we need a new FIDE president and a new FIDE team. It is absurd to have people like Zurab Azmaiparashvili in the team, who is attacking policemen like a madman, or the convicted Indian Ummer Koya. And what about the arrested Romanian Crisan? A nice bunch of people, don't you think? It is no surprise that chess has a bad image nowadays. We have to change it and we should not forget that chess also has something positive to offer. I am thinking about chess in schools in particular. In the USA more than 3200 children competed in an event. In Kansas I have a chess school. Children can take lessons in that school via the Internet and can score extra points like e.g. in Geography or History. That sounds very promising and is a fantastic basis for future steps. - How many Karpov chess schools can we find worldwide nowadays? - That is not an easy question to answer. I have to admit that I do not know exactly how many schools I run. Last year I opened a few new schools. In Lithuania alone I opened no less than three schools. I have 25 schools in Russia at the moment. I think that you can find schools in more than 20 countries worldwide. More than 50 schools, I would say. - The Karpov Chess Center here in Baden-Baden was one of your first projects in that field. - Yes, next year we will celebrate its 10th anniversary. Only in Russia I started earlier with my schools. Baden-Baden meant a breakthrough in the globalization of the project. At first nobody could imagine that it would make sense to make chess an integral part of the education, but fortunately that point of view has changed. - You do also support UNICEF as an ambassador. - In particular, I am busy fighting iodine deficiency with children. As a result they stay behind in their development, which often occurs in many of the 29 Eastern European countries I am working for as UNICEF ambassador. Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of the countries constituted a law to improve the situation for these children. According to the latest statistics these countries do not only slowly gain up on the standards in Western Europe, but have overtaken them. Bulgaria is the first state that has been awarded for its excellent fight against iodine deficiency by UNICEF. Next year we should have reached all our goals, so than I have to find another challenge. I like to do projects in which you can see statistical results. I am very happy for all these small children, who have been the biggest group of victims of iodine deficiency. - So, for you as FIDE president, a unification of the world title would be the first point on your agenda? - Exactly. I am convinced that Kasimdzhanov would never have become world champion if he had played more than eight or more games per round. In Tripoli he showed some good nerves, but that is not enough to deserve the title. First of all, we have to go back to the classical time control. It is not a good thing however to play marathon matches like the ones I played against Kortchnoi or Kasparov. Besides, classical chess should not be mixed with rapid chess or even blitz. If we had played like this in the past, Mikhail Botvinnik or Boris Spassky would have never become world champions. - In the past, people knew the name of the world champion. Nowadays, everybody is exchangeable. - You are right. People knew about 110 years of chess history. Nowadays, nobody is able to tell you the name of the world champion of 2000. 3) Andy Ansel on Chess.FMThe Mechanics' Institute Chess Club lost a key supporter when Andy Ansel of Walnut Creek moved back East but you can hear him live tomorrow evening. Those who have an interest in chess books and chess book collecting will not to miss it. Hi folks: My internet radio show, Chess & Books with Fred Wilson, returned Tuesday evening, March 15th, at 8:00 PM (EST). You can access it easily by simply going to the excellent website: http://www.chess.fm . It will run every Tuesday night from 8:00 to 10:00 PM (EST), with a replay of the live show following almost immediately afterwards, for chess enthusiasts on the West Coast. There will also be a couple of replays the following afternoon. My fiftheenth guest,Tuesday evening July 12th, 2005, will be: "Fred's guest Tuesday evening July 12th, 2005 will be the well-known and very knowledgeable chess literature collector ANDY ANSEL. Andy, who has built one of the half dozen or so truly great chess book and periodicals collections in the United States, will discuss proper evaluation of both rare and standard out-of-print chess literature, and also the general unreliability of Ebay prices with regards to scarce chess items. We will also take a look at the current trends in chess publishing both in the UK and the US, along with how chess collecting itself has changed over the last two decades. Please send questions on chess book collecting, chess history and/or how to begin to accumulate a good chess library for either Andy Ansel or Fred to fred@fredwilsonchess.com or Tony Rook". I am very happy to be back and hope you will all listen in! Also, I welcome and encourage suggestions re possible future guests on my show.
Best in chess, Fred Wilson 4) Chess Columns in Northern CaliforniaOne of the late Ken Whyld's last projects was Chess Columns A list published by Moravian Chess (Olomouc 2002). Whyld says straight off that the 587 page hardback may be one of the most error filled books ever written. Possibly, but it will undoubtedly be one of the most useful. Building on the work of earlier researchers like Murray and Buschke this book attempts to provide as comprehensive a list as possible of chess columns published in newspapers around the world. Here is what Whyld has for Northern California. Can Newsletter readers add to this list which provide a first step for doing research, especially in the days before the California Chess Reporter? SF Chess Columns Argonaut Started by J.E. Tippett in 1st run, H. Ralston, weekly 1952 - 211 problems and 108 games in 1st series and an earlier column ran in an newspaper of the same name in 1884 California Spirit of the Times 1859 Golden Era 1859 2/20/1859 San Francisco Chronicle June 1921 -1930 E.J. Clarke; Kolti 1948-2000, Lyman 2000 to present San Francisco Journal 1903 San Francisco News 1956, Ralston Other Northern California Columns Berkeley Barb 1974 Jude Acers Santa Rosa Press Kolti 1956 Davis Enterprise Tom Dorsch 1974 Sacramento Bee R. Fauber and Frank Garosi 1974-187 Sacramento Union - Gee 1947-1953 5) Here and ThereSM David Pruess won the East Bay Chess Club July Swiss in Berkeley this past weekend defeating Batshaikhan Tsrendorj in the final round to go 4-0. The monthly event attracted 35 players. CHESS4LESS DENKER MEMORIAL (CROSSVILLE, TN)The Chess4Less Denker Memorial* is an IM Norm Round Robin that will be hosted by the Florida Atlantic University Chess Club in Boca Raton, Florida. The first round will start July 9 at 1 p.m. This will be the first norm round robin ever held in the State of Florida. As many of the games as possible will be broadcast around the world on ICC. Jon Haskel is the organizer and tournament director.
The list of participants is as follows: 6) Upcoming EventsUpcoming Tournaments at the MI
Charles Bagby Memorial - July 16 http://www.chessclub.org/Bagby.html Northern California
2005 Reno Western States Open Chess Tournament $52,400 PRIZE FUND!!! for this Six Round Swiss in Seven Sections (based on 500 paid players, $33,550 Guaranteed). At least 15 places paid in every section! Large prize fund made possible by the generosity of the Sands Regency Casino Hotel. RUB ELBOWS WITH THE MASTERS: Reception with Former World Champion GM Boris Spassky on Wednesday night. FREE lecture by GM Larry Evans on Thursday evening. $100 simul with GM Boris Spassky on Thursday night. Book signing session with GM Boris Spassky on Friday morning. Clinic by GM Boris Spassky on Saturday afternoon. Favorite game analysis with GM Boris Spassky on Sunday afternoon Chief TD (NTD) Jerry Weikel wackyykl@aol.com mailto:wackyykl@aol.com http://www.uschess.org/tournaments/InvitationfromArgentinaFederation.pdf Southern California
July 21-24, 22-24 or 23-24 10th Annual Pacific Coast Open GPP: 120 S. California
International I plan to organize in Teheran /Iran/ a GM and IM closed tournament with the title of: FRIENDSHIP and PEACE. GM group: 6 IRI players + 6 players from various NATO countries. - 12 players altogether, 11 rounds round robin, the IM event is the same. I would do it from 7th until 17th of January 2006. I have sent my info to the Iranian government across their diplomatic bodies in Budapest. If you like, you can publish that in the USA. Who wish to come there amongst the USA players around 2400 and 2300 ELO? Friendly regards:
Nagy Laszlo
The list of the chess tournaments from July till December 2005 in Hungary: |