Mechanics' Institute Chessroom Newsletter #45"If you wait for your luck to turn up, life becomes very boring."Mikhail Tal 1) Atalik and Wojtkiewicz to visit MI 2) Want to be World Champion? 3) Kramnik leads Dortmund 4) Hernandez, Ossipov and Becco leads Tuesday Night Marathon 5) Odds and Ends 6) Atalik Guest Lecturer at Advanced Chess Camp 7) Upcoming Events 1) Grandmasters Atalik and Wojtkiewicz to visit Mechanics' InstituteGrandmasters Suat Atalik and Alex Wojtkiewicz will be involved in activities at the Mechanics' Institute the next few weeks. Turkish GM Atalik, who represents Bosnia, will be a guest lecturer for the Mechanics' Advanced Chess Camp which starts July 30. GM Wojtkiewicz of Poland, the 2000 USCF Grand Prix winner, will be giving a special lecture next Wednesday (July 25) at the MI from 5:15 PM to 6:15 PM. Don't miss this special opportunity to hear about the life of a professional from one of the great chess troubadours. The two GMs appearance at the Mechanics' continues a tradition of almost 150 years of bringing top players from around the world to the Institute. Previous guests have included the likes of Alekhine, Fischer, Tal and Karpov.2) Want to be World Champion?Borrowing a page from Yasser Seirawan and the Seattle Chess Foundation the Brain Games Network has opened up the qualifying event to determine Vladimir Kramnik's next challenger. John Henderson reports in his daily column in The Statesman.The race is on to find a challenger for Brain Games world champion Vladimir Kramnik, with the announcement in Dortmund that next year's event will be a special Candidates-style tournament, the winner going through to challenge for the crown. Defeated champion Garry Kasparov gets a chance of revenge over his nemesis with an automatic invitation to the tournament, and likewise Fide world champion Vishy Anand. Four top players from the FIDE rating list, who will also receive invitations, will join them in the tournament. Another two slots will be contested in a worldwide Internet tournament, which for the first time will open a world championship event to the general public. The special online tournament (costing $10 to join) will start this August, and will be organised through the BGN site (www.braingames.net). Eight online qualifiers will be joined in a tournament with another eight specially invited players, the top two going through for a shot at the title challenge. The announcement was made during a press conference featuring World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, the president of Brain Games Network, Raymond Keene, and representatives of the organizers of the Dortmund super-tournament. The world championship qualifier, with a prize fund of over $200,000, will take place next year, running from July 6-21. The eight players will be seeded into two groups, in which two double-round robins will be held. Two winners from each group will go on to play in the semifinals (2 game KO) and then the final (4 game KO). The winner of the final will challenge Kramnik in a 16-game $2m plus match in Bahrain in October 2002. 3) Kramink Leads Dortmund after Six RoundsVladimir Kramnik leads the six-player double round robin in Dortmund after six rounds.Round 6 Standings: 1. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2802 4.0; 2. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2711 3.5; 3. Leko, Peter g HUN 2730 3.5; 4. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2749 3.0; 5. Adams, Michael g ENG 2744 2.0; 6. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2794 2.0;
V Kramnik - A Morozevich 4) Hernandez, Ossipov and Becco lead Summer Tuesday Night Marathon after Five RoundsNM Rudy Hernandez and Experts Victor Ossipov and Michael Becco are tied for first with 4 1/2 points after five rounds of the MI Summer Tuesday Night Marathon. Hernandez defeated Vladimir Todortsev, Ossipov beat Peter Grey and Becco won against Rey Salvatierra. Nine-year-old Emilia Krubnik beat John Chan (1485) in the biggest upset of the event so far.5) Odds and EndsMI GM-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky will be traveling to Cali, Colombia, to play in a special FIDE World Championship Event this August. Yermo will use the upcoming Continental Open in Las Vegas as a tune-up.IM Vinay Bhat of San Jose scored 4 1/2 - 4 1/2 in the strong Andorra Open a few weeks ago. Vinay and David Pruess of Berkeley will be playing in the US Junior Closed in Oklahoma later this month. The winner of this event qualifies for the World Junior Championship and is seeded into the US Championship. Michael Aigner of Stanford University continues to improve by leaps and bounds. His USCF rating is heading toward 2300 with his 8-1 victory in an MI FIDE Rating tournament. The average rating of that field was around 2100 USCF, but Michael has also shown he can play with top players, witness his draws with GM Wojtkiewicz and IM Guillermo Rey at the recent Firecracker Open. The Berkeley Voice, carried an article on Friday, July 13, about the Berkeley Bishops playing the Irish Chess Union. Last summer Berkeley visited Dublin, this year they hosted the Irish. MI members Daichi and Yuki Siegrist played for the Berkeley Chess School which is run by Elizabeth Shaughnessy The Charles Bagby Memorial, a one day five round (game in 45 minutes event) will be held this Saturday to honor the late Master and MI Trustee. The past few one day G/45 events have attracted over 40 players and we are hoping that this event will get fifty. 6) Atalik to serve as guest instructor at Advanced Chess CampGrandmaster Suat Atalik of Turkey will serve as a guest instructor at the MI Advanced Chess Camp held from July 30-August 3. The two GMs join full-time staffers Alex Yermolinsky, John Donaldson, Robert Haines and Anthony Corrales. This will be the strongest staff of instructors for any chess camp held in the United States this year. This camp is intended primarily for youngsters, but there are a limited number of spots for adults. NOTE - GM Lubomir Ftacnik, who was originally scheduled to come has just told us he will not be making a trip west at this time. He hopes to pay a visit to San Francisco late this year or in the spring of 2001.A camp for intermediate and advanced youngsters will be held July 30-August 3 and a camp for beginners and novices from August 6-August 10. Information about these camps is available at the Chess Room website under programs for children. Mechanics' Chessroom 7) Upcoming Events at the MIJuly 21Charles Bagby Memorial (5 rounds G/45 at 1/2 K) THIS SATURDAY at 10 AM
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