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We all blunder, and after doing so it's important to get up from the board, time permitting, and clear your head - nothing good can happen if you're still in the midst of an emotional backlash. Forget about the earlier, happier, position and treat this new situation as a challenge. Hunker down, get tough and insist on finding a way to put up a long, grueling resistance! IM Jeremy Silman (page 222 of Reassess your Chess - Workbook) |
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News 2) Bay Area Top USCF rated 3) Corus - Wijk aan Zee 4) International Events 5) Vallejo Chess Club 6) Upcoming Tournaments |
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club NewsThree rounds into the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon six players remain with perfect scores: NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, FM Frank Thornally, Romulo Fuentes, Josh Gutman, Daniel Naroditsky and Salar Jahedi. The following was played on board one last night. Black is the top rated eight-years-old in the US rated 1957.
Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg - Nip,Nicholas Sicilian Najdorf B98 It's easy to spot the young stars at the Mechanics', players like Nicholas Nip, Daniel Naroditsky and Gregory Young who occupy the number one spot for age eight and the top two spots for age 11 respectively, but the Institute is also the home of many honored veterans. An examination of the February 2007 USCF Top over 65 list has six Mechanics' members headed by IM Walter Shipman and includes NM Igor Margulis, Experts Viktor Ossipov and Peter Grey and high Class A players John Petrison and Viktor Todortsev. One player who isn't listed but whose achievements are quite remarkable is Dan Litowsky who will celebrate his 90 birthday this April. Dan has only been an active tournament play since his retirement in the early 1980s and his consistency has been impressive. During the past 15 years his rating has stayed in the 1700-1850 range at a time in life when a steady rating decline is the norm. Dan's win over Expert James Jones last week in the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon puts him around 1750. I know of no other player in the country his age who is playing 60 tournament games a year. NM Michael Aigner was the winner of the 7th Annual Bob Burger Open G/45 held this past Saturday. Aigner scored 4.5 from 5 to take home the top prize. His draw was in round four with Adarsh Konda. Michael kindly sends his round five game. Hello John, If you want a sample of terrible chess, here's my last round game from the G/45. It was a fun game, albeit far from perfect. With impending time pressure, both players missed 37. Qxf4 Rxf4 38. e7 d2 39. e8Q and now the promoted white queen defends the rook on e1. That means my move 35... Rxf4 deserves two question marks. With under 2 minutes on my clock, I had calculated the variation 49. Rf3 Ke6! 50. Rxg3 hxg3+ 51.Kxg3 Ke5 52. Kg4? Kd4 53. Kg5 Kxc4 54. Kxg6 Kb5 55. h4 c4 56. h5 b3! -+ and I queen on a1 before white gets to h8. But I missed that 52. Kf3 Kd4 53. h4 Kxc4 54. g4 Kd3 == and queens appear simultaneously. Luckily for me, my opponent played the vastly inferior 49. Rf4? and quickly lost.
Fuentes,Romulo (2137) - Aigner,Michael (2300) Taking for second at 4-1 in the 52-player event were NMs Batchimeg Tuvshintugs and Keith Vickers, Experts Romulo Fuentes, William Gray, Konda, and Michael Zhong plus rapidly improving Class A player Matt Zavortink. The latter earned his Experts ranking by defeating visiting German master Sebastian Schuck and NM Daniel Schwartz. 2) Bay Area Top USCF ratedLast Newsletter we ran a list of the top active FIDE rated Bay Area players. Here is the latest USCF list. Note that IM Vinay Bhat's excellent series of results in Europe last summer were not USCF rated hence the strange situation where his FIDE and USCF ratings are practically identical ( normally the USCF is about 50 points higher).
1. GM Alex Yermolinsky 2571 3) Corus - Wijk aan ZeeThis year's Corus tournament is producing lots of exciting chess and the technology is improving all the time for spectators. NM Michael Aigner writes: Check out the following link for videos from the ongoing Corus (Wijk aan Zee) super-GM tournament. After each round, the top GMs analyze their games for an audience. These have been recorded and posted on YouTube. Check out Topalov, Kramnik, Anand, Radjabov and others in English (with a thick Russian accent)! http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=corus&search=Search 4) International EventsDates for the following FIDE events have just been made available. Hopefully more information will be forthcoming. Pan American Youth Festival, Medellín, Colombia, July 2-7 Absolute Continental Championship, Cali, Colombia, July 11-24 Pan American Juniors/Girls, Ecuador, September. Ladies Continental, Venezuela, September. 5) Vallejo Chess ClubLong-time Bay Area chess stalwart William Haines reports that a new club is Vallejo is forming. It will meet Friday's from 6:30pm to 10:30pm at 601 Sacramento Street, Vallejo, CA. Start date unclear, but probably middle of February. Call or email Mr. Haines for start updates - (707) 643-8012 and whaines@sbcglobal.net . The playing site is the just refurbished Community Room at the Marina Towers, ground floor. Mr. Haines adds for those wishing to join, annual dues first year $20. for adults and $5. for students. No need to join immediately. USCF rated play available. 6) Upcoming Events
Henry Gross Memorial - February 10
Feb 17, 18 19 President's Day FIDE Open OK GP # 1 Stillwater |