I think we mislearn a lot about chess and acquire bad thinking habits. Central to this is not checking things carefully and instead going by 'feel'. There is, for example, a huge overestimation of the strength of 'attacking positions' at club level. Unless players start checking positions for themselves at some point (ie processing the information which comes their way) they'll continue to misassess these things based on generalities such as 'this looks dangerous'. This is why we must ANALYSE, ANALYSE, ANALYSE. And NOT generalize!

GM Nigel Davies

1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) DeFirmian leads Marshall Chess Club Championship
3) Two Rediscovered Fischer Games
4) Here and There
5) Upcoming Events

Note this is the second Newsletter this week which takes the place of the one that would normally appear next Tuesday.

1) Mechanics' Institute Club News

NM Igor Margulis is a point ahead of the field with 6.5 from 7 with one round remaining in the Fall Tuesday Night Marathon having defeated Edward Perepelitsky in round 7. He will play the other Perepelitsky twin, Phillip, in the finale. Sharing second with Phillip at 5.5 is 15-year-old Louiza Livschitz, rated only 1891.

The Winter Marathon, an 8-rounder, will start on January 10 and run through March 7 with a free day on February 14. There will be no lectures the next two Tuesday and Wednesdays due to the Holidays. MI GM-in-Residemce, Alex Yermolinsky will resume his regular routine on January 3rd.

This Saturday Anthony Corrales will be running Quads for kids. Registration is from 9:30 to 10:15.

2) DeFirmian leads Marshall Chess Club Championship

UC Berkeley grad GM Nick DeFirmian leads the Marshall Chess Club Championship with 5 of 9 rounds completed. DeFirmian has 4.5 followed by fellow GM Leonid Yudasin at 4. Among those tied at 3.5 in the 37 player field are GMs Ildar Ibragimov and Joel Benjamin.

Those with a good memory will remember IM Renato Naranja, formerly of the Phillipines who lived in the Bay Area for many years. Now residing in New Jersey, Naranja has started playing a few months ago and seems to be regaining his old strength (remember his draw with Bobby at the Palma Interzonal in 1970?) having already upset GM Rohde in the Marshall Championship.

The two weekend event, which has attracted 37 players, concludes this weekend.

3) Two Rediscovered Fischer Games

Tom Burns of Minnesota sends in the following two games from Fischer's Montreal simul which have not appeared in any books.

[Date "1964.02.23"]
[White "Fischer, Robert James"]
[Black "MacDonald, Jonathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B93"]
[EventDate "1964.02.23"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f4 e5 7. Nf5 Bxf5 8. exf5 Nc6 9. g4 Be7 10. g5 Nd7 11. h4 Nd4 12. Bg2 Nxf5 13. Bxb7 Ra7 14. Bg2 Qb6 15. Nd5 Qd4 16. c3 Qxd1+ 17. Kxd1 exf4 18. Bxf4 Ne5 19. Be4 g6 20. Bxf5 gxf5 21. Re1 Nd3 22. Re2 Nxf4 23. Nxf4 h6 24. Kc2 Kd8 25. g6 fxg6 26. Nxg6 Rh7 27. Rae1 h5 28. Re6 Rb7 29. Nxe7 Rbxe7 30. Rxd6+ Kc7 31. Rxe7+ Rxe7 32. Rxa6 Re4 33. Rf6 Rxh4 34. Rxf5 Rh1 35. b4 h4 36. Rh5 h3 37. a4 h2 38. Kb2 Kb7 39. Rh6 1-0

[Date "1964.02.23"]
[White "Fischer, Robert James"]
[Black "Zalys, Ignas"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C33"]
[EventDate "1964.02.23"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bb3 d5 6. exd5 cxd5 7. d4 Bd6 8. Nge2 f3 9. gxf3 Nh5 10. Be3 Bb4 11. a3 Ba5 12. Qd3 a6 13. O-O-O Be6 14. Ng3 Nxg3 15. hxg3 h6 16. f4 Bxc3 17. Qxc3 Nd7 18. g4 Bxg4 19. Rdg1 Nf6 20. Bf2 Ne4 21. Qb4 Qd7 22. Bh4 a5 23. Qe1 f5 24. Kb1 b5 25. Rg3 h5 26. Bg5 Kf7 27. Re3 Rhe8 28. c3 Ra6 29. Bc2 Rae6 30. Ka1 Nxg5 0-1

4) Here and There

The latest issue of New In Chess Magazine (8/2005) is as usual full of plenty of excellent material. I found GM Jonathan Rowson's review of the controversial Chess Bitch by Jennifer Shahade to be quite balanced and well reasoned.

This Saturday marks the start of the East Bay Chess Club's GM/IM norm Swiss. Tops guns in the 9-round event which runs through December 27 are GMs Jaan Ehlvest, Alex Yermolinsky and John Fedorowicz. Spectators are welcome and some games will be shown live on the ICC. Go to www.eastbaychess.com for more information.

Chess in Oakland is starting to grow. Many (many) years ago the city of 400,000 had a thriving chess scene but that has not been the case for more than 30 years. The Mechanics' Institute, as part of it's program to help chess in the Bay Area gave 25 sets to NM Robert Hammie for his program in the Oakland Public Schools. In Newsletter #253 we reported on the work of MI member Demetrius Goins, who with donations from the Institute, has started a program at the Lakeview Branch library (550 El Embarcadero) every Wednesday from 3:30pm to 5:15pm (contact Mr. Goins or Mary Farrell at (510) 238-7344 for more information).

Now Robert Johnson and Jose Guerrero have started up a club at the Cesar Chavez Public Library a half block from the Fruitvale BART station which meets Mondays from 5pm to 7:45pm, thanks in part to a donation of sets, boards, books, magazines and score sheets from the Mechanics. For more information contact them at (510) 684-9696/(510) 535-1241 or by e-mail chess_oakland@yahoo.com or rtdjohnsonii@yahoo.com .

Andy Ansel sends two exciting encounters you won't find in any database from the golden years of California chess.

Spinner,L - Steiner,H
Hollywood Invitational, 1953

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Qe2 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.d3 d4 10.cxd4 Nxd4 11.Nxd4 Qxd4 12.Be3 Qd6 13.Rc1 Ng4 14.Bd5 Rb8 15.Ba7 Qh6 16.Qe1 Qxh2+ 17.Kf1 Bh4 18.Nd2 Qf4 19.Nf3 Nh2+ 20.Nxh2 Qxh2 21.Qe3 c6 22.Bxb8 cxd5 23.f4 d4 24.Qf3 Bg3 25.Bxe5 Qh4 26.Bxd4 Bg4 27.Qe3 Bxf4 28.Qf2 Bg3 29.Qe3 f5 30.e5 f4 31.Qe4 Qh1+ 32.Bg1 f3 33.Qd5+ Kh8 34.gxf3 Rxf3+ source: Chess Life, July 5, 1953 page 6. 0-1

Mazner,S - Rivise,I
Hollywood Invitational, 1953

1.f4 e5 2.d3 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bd6 4.e4 exf4 5.d4 g5 6.h4 g4 7.Ng5 h6 8.Nxf7 Kxf7 9.Bc4+ Kf8 10.Bxf4 Bxf4 11.0-0 d5 12.Rxf4+ Kg7 13.Rxg4+ Bxg4 14.Qxg4+ Kf8 15.Nc3 Nf6 16.Rf1 dxc4 17.Nd5 Rg8 18.Qh5 Kg7 19.Rxf6 Qxf6 20.Nxf6 Kxf6 21.Qxh6+ Ke7 22.d5 Nd4 23.c3 Ne2+ 24.Kh2 Raf8 25.h5 Nf4 26.g3 Nxh5 27.Qe6+ Kd8 28.e5 Nxg3 29.d6 Nf1+ 30.Kh1 cxd6 31.exd6 Rg7 source: Chess Life, Sept 20, 1953 page 8. 0-1

5) Upcoming Events

Mechanics' Institute

Bob Burger - January 7
Henry Gross - February 4
A.J. Fink Amateur - March 4 and 5

National

THE ST. GEORGE CHESS CENTER PRESENTS

St. George Chess Club North American Warm-up 5SS, G/60
Location: St George Chess Center, 354 E. 600 S. #301, St George, Utah 84770.

Date: December 18, 2005
Entry Fee: $35
GMs and IMs free entry. $100 appearance reward for IMs and GMs.
Free Room and Board for Titled Players.

Prize fund: $1200 absolutely guaranteed.
Registration: Friday 17th, 6:30- 7:30, Saturday 18th 8:00 to 8:45 am.
PLEASE REGISTER IN ADVANCE

Rounds: 1st round 9:00 am. Next rounds ASAP.
Byes must be submitted before the 2nd round for a half a point.
Award Ceremony: there will be an Awards Ceremony immediately after the last round.
All cash prizes are unconditionally guaranteed.

What to bring: chess clocks and a pen.
PLEASE TURN CELL PHONES OFF
You can also register and have questions answered at 435-656-2117