|
I may look calm and sober when I'm playing, but that's a facade. On the inside I can hear my heart pounding. Everyone brings a particular characteristic to the way they play. I bring my calmness to the table. Chess is warfare waged in solitude. In many ways, the game prepares you for the challenges that life hurls in your direction. Viswanathan Anand |
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News 2) Clark Harmon 1942-2007 3) Michael Zhong ties for first in National HS 4) Fabiano Caruana makes second GM norm 5) Here and There 6) Upcoming Events |
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club NewsCongratulations to IM Walter Shipman who won the 2007 Walter Lovegrove Memorial this past weekend. This event, which serves as the Mechanics' Championship for players 50 and over, was small and hard fought as usual with 17 players competing including 7 over 2000. Shipman won his first two games, drew with Expert Larry Snyder and defeated Expert Victor Ossipov. Tying for second at 3-1 were Snyder and Expert James Jones. This Saturday the Mechanics' will be hosting the 7th Annual Imre Konig Memorial. This one day, five round G/45 event, will offer a first prize of $400 and a second prize of $200. Among those competing will be 6-time US Champion Walter Browne. Experts Victor Ossipov and Romulo Fuentes drew in round five of the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon and continue to lead with 4 1/2 from 5. NM Sam Shankland is the top rated of the group on four points. 2) Clark Harmon 1942-2007It was a shock to hear that NM Clark Harmon of Oregon recently passed away. One of the nicest guys to ever play chess, Clark, despite living his entire life in the Northwest, played in many California tournaments. He first came to the attention of the chess world when he won the California Junior Championship in Lancaster in 1959 at the age of 16 by scoring 6 1/2 from 7 in a strong field. Though he had only been playing for less than two years Clark defeated Experts Arthur Wang and Steven Sholmanson and drew with top seed Gil Ramirez. The result was a sensation at the time. Clark won the largest event ever held at the Mechanics' in 1974 when he topped a 119(!) player field to win the Arthur B. Stamer Memorial a point ahead of the field with a score of 6 1/2 - 1/2 which earned him $700. The California Chess Reporter notes that tournament director Ray Conway limited the entrants to advance entries.
Browne,Walter - Harmon,Clark 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.e3 Nc6 6.Nc3 0-0 7.Be2 Re8 8.0-0 Ncxe5 9.Nd4 Nf6 10.b3 d5 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Qxd5 13.Bb2 Qe4 14.Kh1 Qh4 15.Nf3 Nxf3 16.Bxf3 Bd6 17.g3 Qe7 18.Bg2 c6 19.e4 f6 20.f4 Be6 21.Qc2 Rac8 22.Rad1 c5 23.e5 fxe5 24.Be4 c4 25.Bxh7+ Kh8 26.Bg6 Bg4 27.Rde1 cxb3 28.Qxb3 Rf8 29.fxe5 Bb4 30.Rb1 Be2 31.Qe3 Bxf1 32.e6 Rf6 33.Bxf6 Qxf6 34.Be4 Bc5 35.Qb3 Qf2 0-1 Funeral services for Clark R. Harmon of Amity will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, April 19, in the Macy & Son Funeral chapel. The Rev. Bernard Turner will officiate. Visitation is scheduled for 2 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 18, in the chapel. Interment will be conducted in the Hopewell Cemetery. Mr. Harmon died of cancer on Thursday, April 12, 2007, at his home. He was 64. Born in Portland on Oct. 18, 1942, he was the son of Edwin and L. Rose (Parker) Harmon. He grew up in Portland, graduating from Clackamas High School. He attended Portland State University, where he earned an accounting degree. He lived in Seattle for a short time, working for Boeing, then returned to Portland to work for Freightliner. He later established his own certified public accountant practice in Olympia. In 1989, he went into the business of manufacturing and selling greenhouses. He married Sherry Correla on March 30, 1991, in Vancouver, Wash. He moved to McMinnville in 1991 and Amity in 1996. A master chess player, he was a 10-time winner of the state chess championship. He belonged to the Portland Chess Club and U.S. Chess Federation. He also enjoyed horses, horse camping at the beach and reading. "He was an easygoing, mild-mannered man who was very non-judgmental and took everyone at face value," his family said. In addition to his wife, Mr. Harmon is survived by two sons, Calvin of McMinnville and Charles of Los Angeles; a daughter, Christina Schwartz of Amity; a sister, Susan Prothero of Corvallis; and three grandchildren. Contributions may be made to the Portland Chess Club, care of Macy & Son Funeral Directors, 135 N.E. Evans St., McMinnville, OR 97128 3) Michael Zhong ties for first in National HSMichael Aigner writes: Congratulations to UNITED STATES HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPION Michael Zhong from Los Altos High School! He tied for first at 6.5/7 with IM Alex Lenderman and NM Alex Barnett. Way to go Mike! Three other local players won trophies for a tie for 8th at 5.5/7. Kudos to NM Sam Shankland (11th), NM Daniel Schwarz (19th) and David Chock (22nd). The Saratoga High School team finished in fifth place for the team championship. The following comes from the USCF press release written by Jerry Nash. USCF 2007 National High School Chess Championship Breaks Record! The 2007 USCF National High School (K-12) Championship broke a record with 1447 young chess competitors in Kansas City, Missouri! The U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) held this 7 round national championship at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in their new Exhibit Hall April 13-15, 2007. Each player in the five sections: K12 Championship; K12 Under 1500; K12 Under 1200; K12 Under 900 and K12 Unrated played under a G/120 time control. In addition to individual competition, team competition was at stake in each section. All five sections for individuals ended in a time and a variety of tie-break systems were used to determine who would receive the trophy. Players that tied do share the section title of Co-Champions! K12 Championship: Alex Lenderman (NY) won the tie-break against Alexander Barnett (MD) and Michael Zhong after a tied score of 6.5 points. K12 Team Championship: Catalina Foothills H.S. from Tucson, AZ won the trophy after a tie-break with the Edward R. Murrow H.S. from NY. Tied score was 22.0 points. Catalina has won two of the past three National High School Championships! K12 Under 1500: Nick Graves (MN) took home the trophy after a tie-break with Joshua D. Miller of WI. Tied score after seven rounds was 6.5. K12 Team Under 1500: Minneapolis Southwest secured the title of Team Champion, second year in a row, with a final score of 20.5! K12 Under 1200: Dominique Myers and Alfonso Chie tied with 6.5 scores. Myers secured the trophy after tie-break. K12 Team Under 1200: Archbishop McCarthy H.S. from Ft. Lauderdale, FL took the title and trophy with a score of 20.0. K12 Under 900: Mark A. Salita (MD) tied with Deborah Simoes also from Maryland with 7.0 scores. Salita took home the trophy. K12 Team Under 900: Northwest H.S. from Germantown, Maryland secured the title with a final score of 25.5. K12 Unrated: Justin Bernard Braddy of Illinois won the tie-break with Fedor M. Titov also from Illinois to secure the trophy. Braddy and Titov tied with 6.5 scores. K12 Team Unrated: Mcclintock High School from Tempe, Arizona won the K12 Team Unrated title with a final score of 22.0. MyChessPhotos.com (official photographer) awarded a $250.00 scholarship to Caleb Molitoris of California for the biggest upset prize. Caleb rated 1073 beat his opponent rated 2016! Co-champions Daniel Schwarz of CA, Corey B. Acor of FL and Landon Brownell of AZ tied with 11.0 scores in the 2007 Blitz Championship. Schwarz won on tie-break. The tournament crosstable can be found at: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200704126081 4) Fabiano Caruana makes second GM norm14 year old Italian-American IM, Fabiano Caruana (2513), won the April First Saturday tournament making his second GM norm. Caruana represents Italy but is a dual national who lives in New York City.
Final standings:
Caruana, Fabiano (2513) - Buy, Vinh (2483) [B43] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Bd3 b5 7.0-0 Bb7 8.Re1 Nc6 9.Nxc6 Qxc6 10.a4 b4 11.Nd5 Nf6 12.Bd2 Nxd5 13.exd5 Qc5 14.Be4 0-0-0 15.Be3 Qc7 16.c3 bxc3 17.Rc1 Bb4 18.Qd4 exd5 19.Qxb4 dxe4 20.Bb6 Qe5 21.Rxc3+ Kb8 22.Bd4 1-0
Caruana,Fabiano (2513) - Prohaszka,Peter (2443) [B17] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Ng5 Ngf6 6.N1f3 e6 7.Bd3 Bd6 8.Qe2 h6 9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.Qxe4 Qc7 11.Qg4 Kf8 12.0-0 b6 13.Re1 c5 14.c3 Bb7 15.Qh3 c4 16.Be4 Bxe4 17.Rxe4 Qc6 18.Rh4 Rg8 19.Bf4 Ke7 20.Rd1 Bxf4 21.Rxf4 Qd6 22.Qg3 Qd5 23.Re1 g5 24.Rfe4 Nf6 25.Re5 Qd7 26.Rf5 Qb7 27.Qe5 Nd7 28.Rxf7+ Kxf7 29.Qxe6+ Kg7 30.Qe7+ Kh8 31.Re6 Rg7 32.Rxh6+ Kg8 33.Qe6+ Rf7 34.Rg6+ Kf8 35.Nxg5 Nf6 36.Nxf7 Re8 37.Qd6+ Qe7 38.Rxf6 Kg7 39.Qe5 Qxf6 40.Qxe8 Qg6 41.h3 1-0 5) Here and ThereA GM norm round robin will be held in Miami from April 18-22 organized by Gilberto Luna II. The participants are GM Julio Becerra (2544), GM Eugene Perelshteyn (2531, GM Magesh Panchanathan (2482), IM Jesse Kraai (2477), IM Renier Gonzalez (2454), FM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (2449), IM Blas Lugo (2426), IM Amon Simutowe (2419), FM Marcel Martinez (2386) and FM Daniel Ludwig (2376). IM Vinay Bhat will be taking a short but intense break from work when he journeys to Spain this summer in search of his final GM norm. He will be playing in three tough events in a month: Sort (June 25-July 3), Benasque (July 5-14),and Balaguer (July 16-25). Good luck Vinay! Vinay Chess Maecenas NM Eric Moscow will make his debut as an international sponsor and play as well in Gausdal, Norway, this spring. Check out this field!
GM Eduardas Rozentalis(LIT, 2578) 6) Upcoming EventsMI Events - go to http://www.chessclub.org/ for more information
Imre Konig Memorial - April 21st
April 28-29
A Classic Event!
Jun.16 14th California Classic Championship California, Northern
May 15-23, Oklahoma
Aug. 14-19 2007 U.S. Senior Open S. California |