Saturday, March 20, 2010

from the Volokh Conspiracy, via Andrew Sullivan

Too smart to become the chess world champion?

Magnus Carlsen says he's not quite as bright as John Nunn. It's interesting that this Carlsen interview got mentioned in two influential political blogs....

Friday, March 19, 2010

K-8 coverage at ICA

Penny Xu vs. Sam Schmakel

Andi Rosen has the story, accompanied by some nice photos taken by Eric Rosen.

I want my PGN

Just sayin' 

Denker and Girls' Invitational players (and their TDs) are invited to send me raw / annotated game scores.  That goes for last weekend's winners as well.  Or if you're a geezer like me who's played an interesting game lately, just send it in!  If you're from Chicagoland, that helps.

And just what is Portable Game Notation (PGN)?  It's a broadly-accepted format for sharing chess games between computer programs.  You can enter your games in PGN and share them with the rest of the world.

2010 World Amateur Championships in Skokie!



World Amateur Chess Championships

The action starts tonight!

You'll find more info at USCF, on the ICA Calendar and at the official website.

Illinois State Scholastic Championships

The 2010 Illinois State Scholastic Championships drew 594 players from kindergarten to 8th grade to the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles last weekend, March 13-14.

Jason Daniels (1286) took the K-1 section with a perfect 7-0; David Wallach and Sean Yu Li tied for second with 6-1.

Matthew Stevens (1587) won the Grades 2-3 section with a perfect 7-0 score.  Chetan Reddy, Nathaniel Sobery, Akhil Kalghatgi, Randaheer Tripuraneni, and Rishav Sinha all tied for second with 6-1.

Bryce McClanahan (1791) grabbed the Grades 4-5 section with 7-0; Zhaozhi Li (1808), Conrad Oberhaus (1692), Ian Gilchrist (1567), Lorenzo Barbin (1543), and Abe Sun (1506) tied for second with 6-1.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Yue Xu (1812) won the Grades 6-8 section, downing second place finisher Sam Schmakel (1960); Alex Bian (1796) and Samuel Heil (1528) also tied for second.

Jeff Wiewel and Gary Jannsen directed, assisted by Betsy Dynako, Erv Sedlock, Colley Kitson, Jeremy Von Hatten, Elizabeth Villaflor, Wayne Clark, James Greer, and Blair Machaj.  The event was organized by Machaj and Paul Raso of Illinois Chess Teachers.  Bill Barton served as bid liaison on behalf of the Illinois Chess Association.

ICA Denker Qualifier and Girls' Invitational this weekend!

Andi Rosen provides the details at the ICA website.

The "Denker Qualifier" is the Illinois Chess Association High School Invitational Championship.  Seven players face each other in a six-round round robin. As there's a odd player sitting out each round, the event actually takes seven rounds to complete.  Action begins tonight and continues through Monday.

The invitees this year are Michael Auger, Josh Dubin, Zach Kasiurak, defending champion Trevor Magness, Ashok Raife, Eric Rosen and Matt Wilber.

In this year's Girls Invitational Championship, the players are Victoria Bian, Adele Padgett, Shayna Provine, Rachel Ulrich, Sonya Vohra and Yue Xu (congratuations on making Class A in style, Penny!) . 

I've had the pleasure of playing against, analyzing with, or studying the games of virtually all this weekend's contestants.  Whoever wins, Illinois can be very proud of its representatives!


Thursday, March 18, 2010

The People's Champion


Vasily Ivanchuk (happy 41st birthday!) retakes sole first place at the Amber Tournament.  See the official website for today's report.

CPS Elementary Schools Sports Program - Regional Playoffs



David Heiser reports on the March 6 playoffs.  CPS finals will be at King High School on March 20th.  Read all about it at Chess Life Online!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Only a few hours left...

For preregistration at this year's Chicago Open.  Last chance to save a buck!

Note the big change in this year's format:

Open Section: 9 rounds, May 27-31. 5-day schedule only, 40/2, SD/1.

In all other sections, one is free to choose between the 4-day, 3-day, and 2-day formats, just as in prior years.

Chess without Borders at Navy Pier


Go read Kiran Frey's story on Chess Life Online!  Helping another human being is grabbing a pawn: it's worth a little trouble.

More at this blog.

Craigslist cut-and-paste

Again, I haven't bothered to check out the ad: job seekers, do your own due diligence!  (Looks similar to the one I linked to earlier.)

Fun, Enthusiastic Chess Teachers Needed! (Chicago and Suburbs)


Date: 2010-03-14, 2:46PM CDT
Reply to: job-uztwe-1643894702@craigslist.org


The largest chess academy in Illinois is looking for people to fill teaching positions immediately. We are looking for energetic, enthusiastic instructors to fill part-time teaching positions in a classroom setting. If you love chess, have teaching experience, and are free in the afternoon, this is the job for you. Strong chess ability, reliable transportation and a positive attitude required. If you feel that you could make chess fun for kids of all ages, please reply with:

1) Resume and contact information
2) Availability
3) A brief paragraph describing why you would be a great chess teacher

This job is an excellent source of supplemental income for students, actors, teachers, and people who love chess!
  • Location: Chicago and Suburbs
  • Compensation: $36-60 per hour
  • This is a part-time job.
  • Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
  • Please, no phone calls about this job!
  • Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.




PostingID: 1643894702

are you playing the Mid-America Open?

It's next weekend in St. Louis.... 

Chess Life Online needs a reporter!  Drop me a line if interested.