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If chess is a science, it's a most inexact one. If chess is an art, it's too exacting to be seen as one. If chess is a sport, it's too esoteric. If chess is a game, it's too demanding to be "just" a game. If chess is a mistress, she's a demanding one. If chess is a passion, it's a rewarding one. If chess is life, it's a sad one. Source Unknown |
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess News 2) Garry Kasparov the Politician 3) Susan Polgar on the cover of Parade Magazine 4) Canadian Open ends in a 5-way tie 5) Chess.FM 6) The readers write 7) Upcoming Events 1) Mechanics' Institute Club NewsIM Vladimir Mezentsev and NM Nicolas Yap tied for first in the 5th Annual Charles Bagby Memorial held July 16th at the Mechanics' Institute with scores of 4.5 from 5. The two winners dropped their half points early, to Edward Perepletsky and Dmitry Vayntraub respectively, but came through in the last few rounds., Mezentsev beating NM Paul Gallegos and IM Ricardo DeGuzman while Yap defeated rapidly improving Phillip Perepletsky (up 100 rating points in the last two months and heading toward 2200) and NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs. Tying for third at 4-1 in the 44 player field were IM DeGuzman, NMs Michael Pearson, Alex Bessonov and Phillip Perepletsky. The Bagby was directed by Anthony Corrales with assistance from Alex Yermolinsky. The next MI G/45 is August 6th and honors the memory of the late Vladimir Pafnutieff. Good luck to MI members Daniel Naroditsky (Under 10) and Nicolas Yap (Under 16) who will represent the United States in the World Youth Championships in Belfort. The event runs from July 19 to 28 and you can follow our young Turks at www.belfort-echecs.com . NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs leads the Tuesday Night Marathon after five rounds with a perfect score. Edward Peperepletsky is right behind with 4.5 after having defeated former US Champion IM John Grefe in the fifth round. The two leaders meet tomorrow night. 2) Garry Kasparov the PoliticianGarry Kasparov announced his retirement from tournament play after this year's Linares tournament and made it clear he would focus on his political activities. How is he faring? The following excepts from a story by Alex Rodriguez in the Chicago Tribune suggest not to well.
Chicago Tribune Garry Kasparov had nothing left to conquer. For two decades he reigned over international chess with the swagger of a Cossack and a memory that took on supercomputers. His peers vanquished and his patience worn thin by the politics of his game, the fiery, unpredictable chess legend yearned for a new arena. This year he found one. Announcing his retirement from professional chess in March, Kasparov threw himself headlong into Russian politics, undaunted by its tripwires or its steely overseer, President Vladimir Putin. In fact, Kasparov has made clear he sees Putin as his new arch rival. Kasparov is virtually alone in Russian politics in calling for the dismantling of Putin's regime, and in the use of large-scale street rallies to try to get the job done. Russian political analysts view Kasparov's endeavor as quixotic and ultimately doomed. Polls suggest most Russians are unaware of Kasparov's career move. Nearly two-thirds say they never would elect him president. Kasparov is not accustomed to being the underdog, but it doesn't appear to faze him either. State-controlled television has ignored him since he announced his switch from chess to politics, so he has begun seeding grass-roots backing in Russia's provinces. In mid-June he took his message of democracy and regime change to Kostroma, a small provincial capital along the banks of the Volga River. Last week he appeared in the volatile North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, recently besieged by a wave of bombings and violence spilling over from the 10-year separatist conflict in neighboring Chechnya. "I'm not so stupid as to evaluate our chances with great enthusiasm," Kasparov said at his downtown Moscow office. "But at same time, I can feel that the monolith of [Kremlin] power is no longer that solid. Every action, every move by Putin and his associates to strengthen their grip on power . . . inevitably reduces their power base, because it always hurts someone else's interests." Kasparov's colleagues and friends worry that it may be Kasparov who gets hurt. The first rule Russian politicians learn is that in Russian politics, there are no rules. Nine members of parliament have been killed since 1994. Most observers believe former Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky was sentenced recently to 9 years in prison because he dared to fund campaigns of Kremlin opponents. "We're all terrified for him," said Frederic Friedel, a close friend of Kasparov's and an editor at ChessBase.com. "I tried to give him sound advice: I told him, `Be careful--for God's sake, be careful!'" Kasparov, 42, no longer is world champion--he lost that title in his 2000 match with countryman Vladimir Kramnik in London. Nevertheless, he is widely regarded as the greatest chess player ever and has been ranked No. 1 in the world by the World Chess Federation since 1984.His style of play was legendary. He rarely settled for draws, instead aggressively pursuing his opponents with daring attacks. Most players strive to betray as little emotion as possible, but Kasparov grinned, chuckled, huffed and winced through matches. "A lot of players lost to him because they felt his intensity," Friedel said. "[Russian chess professional] Vladislav Tkachev once said to me, `Kasparov was shorter than me, but when I played him, he towered over me.'" Viktor Korchnoi, a longtime rival of Kasparov's who defected from the Soviet Union in 1976 and lives in Switzerland, defeated Kasparov only once, losing 11 times. "He has tremendous knowledge, more than any other modern grandmaster," Korchnoi said. "And he invests into any given chess game a huge amount of energy, more than anyone else can." With his energy focused exclusively on Russian politics, Kasparov is applying the same all-out, no-holds-barred philosophy he used on the chessboard. He routinely labels Putin's regime "a dictatorship." In January he called the president a "fascist," and in a recent Wall Street Journal commentary he likened Putin to the Roman emperor Caligula. Kasparov is convinced Putin will either try to change Russia's constitution to allow for a third successive term or install a surrogate whom he can direct from behind the scenes. He won't rule out running for the presidency in 2008, but he said his current focus is Putin's ouster from power. Kasparov has discussed alliances with other Russian liberal democrats, but those talks have stalled because, as Kasparov said, other liberal politicians are unwilling to go as far in denouncing Putin as he is. "The big roadblock with Kasparov is that he considers Putin's regime to not be legitimate," said Boris Nadezhdin, a leading Russian liberal and member of the Union of Right Forces party. "That gives us too little room for negotiations. We still think that we should negotiate with the regime." For now, Kasparov is content with grass-roots support for the kind of street protests that led to bloodless revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine. His whistle-stop tour across Russia has taken him from St. Petersburg to the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, from Kostroma, 186 miles northeast of Moscow, to the Caspian Sea port of Makhachkala. 3) Susan Polgar on the cover of Parade MagazineSusan Polgar is on the cover of Parade Magazine for July 17, 2005, along with Meg Whitman (E-bay CEO), Condi Rice, Sandra Day O'Connor, Sally Ride, Meryl Streep, Oprah, Bill Clinton, Ralph Lauren, Warren Buffet, Steven Spielberg, Picasso, Jackie Chan, etc.. The article she is featured in, entitled Are men Smarter than Women?, compares the smartest men such as Albert Einstein, Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking to the smartest women such as Marie Curie, Sandra Day O Conner and of course Susan Polgar. http://parade.com/ and www.parade.com/current/coverstory/index.html 4) Canadian Open ends in a 5-way tie2700 GMs Viktorl Bologan, Alexey Shirov and Vassily Ivanchuk were joined in the winner's circle in Edmonton this past weekend by IMs SR Chowdhury and Mark Bluvshtein with 8 from 10. The young Canadian beat Alexey Shirov in a minature.
Shirov,A (2705) - Bluvshtein,M (2525) [C42] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 c6 9.Qc2 Na6 10.a3 Bg4 11.Ne5 Bf5 12.b4 f6 13.Nf3 Qe8 14.b5 Qh5 15.bxa6 Bg4 16.Re1 Bxf3 17.gxf3 Qxh2+ After more than the draw offered by 17...Qh3 18.f4 Qg4+ 19.Kf1 Qh3+ 20.Ke2 Qg4+ 21.f3 Qg2+ 22.Kd1 Nf2+ 23.Kd2 Ne4+. 18.Kf1 f5 19.cxd5 cxd5 20.fxe4 fxe4 21.Bxe4 dxe4 22.Be3 Bg3 23.Ra2 Rf3 0-1 5) Chess.FM - IM Igor KhmelnitskyHi 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 sixteenth guest,Tuesday evening July 19th, 2005, will be: Fred's guest Tuesday evening July 19th, 2005 will the well-known chess teacher, and author of the best-selling, superb instructional masterpiece "Chess Exam and Training Guide", IM IGOR KHMELNITSKY. Igor has won many national and international tournaments in Ukraine, Russia, Germany, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bulgaria, and the United States. At various points during his playing career, he has defeated many of the game's best players - including Lev Alburt, Boris Alterman, Viorel Bologan, Roman Dzindzikhashvili, Vasily Ivanchuk, Alexander Ivanov, Oleg Romanishin, Alexander Shabalov, Evgeniy Sveshnikov, Patrick Wolfe, and Alex Yermolinsky. In total, Igor has beaten over 30 different Grandmasters. Igor was also a participant in the Ukrainian National Championship and in the US National Championship (three times). After moving to the US in 1991, Igor began coaching in the Philadelphia area where he now instructs players of all levels, from novice through master. He has created two excellent websites: http://www.IamCoach.com and http://www.ChessExam.com . Please send questions for IM Igor Khmelnitsky to fred@fredwilsonchess.com or Tony Rook". In future weeks I hope to have Maurice Carter (correspondence chess expert), GM Larry Christiansen, GM Alexander Baburin, GM Joel Benjamin, IM Jack Peters, GM Arthur Bisguier, IM Eugene Perelshteyn. IM Jennifer Shadade and many, many more important members of our chess community on my show. Please feel free to email me interesting questions for these chess professionals. 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 6) The readers writeLast week's list of chess columns in Northern California papers caused several readers to write. Rusty Miller points out that Jude Acers column in the Berkeley Barb also ran in 1972 and 1973 and that you can find some examples of the column online at http://www.chessdryad.com/articles/#13 . Frisco Del Rosario wrote a column for the Redwood City Weekly News from 1989-1991. Bob Burger writes : regarding the Sacramento Union column by J.B. Gee: I learned chess by reading this column in 1942. Gee published it weekly in the Sunday Union, as the Bee didn't have a Sunday paper then (I know -- I delivered the Bee for three years). Jay was a good friend of mine for the rest of his life, cut short by lung cancer in about 1959. . The other great names from that era were M.O. Meyer, Alex Janushkowsky, and Neil Austin, guys I will always remember fondly. Despite being one of the largest cities Oakland has been an under served chess community. MI member Demetrius Goins is trying to change that. The Lakeview Branch library in Oakland (550 El Embarcadero) is offering free lessons by expert Demetrius Goins every Wednesday from 3:30pm to 5:15pm. Contact Mr. Goins or Mary Farrell at (510) 238-7344 for more information. USCF President Beatriz Marinello recently wrote that the USCF will be sending a entry to the World Team Championship scheduled for Israel this fall. Under the possible title of caveat emptor Newsletter reader and ICC maven Duncan Oxley of Marina writes about a tournament scheduled for this September 14-17 ( this might be a typo and it will be held September 15-18) in Las Vegas - http://www.chessinvegas.com/worldwide-challenge.htm John, not saying it is a scam but could possibly be someone in over their head. They want us to send 400 bucks to the UK? What if you can't get your money back say if it flops? I think Duncan is definitely right to wave a red flag. The organizers are advertising $110,000 in prizes with plans to add more. Do any readers have more details? Newsletter reader Frank Berry sends in the following game between two 2006 US Championship qualifiers from last weekend's Kansas Open.
IM Kriventsov (2460) - GM Shulman (2600) [C19] 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Nf3 Bd7 8.h4 Nbc6 9.h5 Qa5 10.Bd2 0-0-0 11.h6 gxh6 12.Rxh6 Ng8 13.Rh4 f6 14.Bd3 fxe5 15.Nxe5 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Ne7 17.Rh3 Rdg8 18.Kf1 Qa4 19.Bxh7 Rg7 20.Bd3 Rxh3 21.gxh3 Bb5 22.Rb1 a6 23.Be3 Nf5 24.Bxc5 Qe4 25.Bxb5 axb5 26.Rb4 Qh1+ 27.Ke2 Rg1 28.Qd2 Qxh3 29.Be3 Qf1+ 30.Kf3 Rg3+ 31.Kf4 Qh3 0-1 Former Seattle Chess Club President Phillip McCready has been gathering IM Nikolay Minev's games the past few years and made a couple of trips to Cleveland to visit the John G. White Collection to assist him in his quest. Unfortunately even that famous library failed to fill in some gaps. Phillip asks if Newsletter readers might be able to help him with the following tournaments:
Subotica 1965 7) Upcoming EventsUpcoming Tournaments at the MI
Vladimir Pafnutieff - August 6 http://www.chessclub.org/Pafnutieff.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: |