See you at Marbles in Lincoln Square Sunday at 3 p.m. for Sam Schmakel simul!

That's 3 p.m. this Sunday, March 10th, at Marbles: the Brain Store, 4745 N. Lincoln, Chicago. Kibitzers welcome!

Sorry, but I am sending this notice a second time because we had problems with our incoming email at ICA.  If any of you signed up for this event, we did not receive your registration.  If you wish to sign up, please write a second time to Mike Cardinale ataccounting@apartmentpeople.com. Jerry Neugarten ---------------- Come support the Illinois Chess Tour by joining us for a simul and fundraiser with 2012 Tour Champion Sam Schmakel.  Here are the details: http://bit.ly/Wx2HoG Mike Cardinale, Tour Commissioner, is actively looking for players of all levels, both adult and scholastic, to challenge Sam in the simul.  Challengers are limited to 16, but you can reserve your spot with a simple email to Mike at metrovp@il-chess.org.  Come out to play, watch, or shop on the 10th, and you will be doing your part to support the Tour! Subject:  Sam Schmakel Simul March 10th! Come support the Illinois Chess Tour by joining us for a simul and fundraiser with 2012 Tour Champion Sam Schmakel.  Here are the details: http://bit.ly/Wx2HoG Mike Cardinale, Tour Commissioner, is actively looking for players of all levels, both adult and scholastic, to challenge Sam in the simul.  Challengers are limited to 16, but you can reserve your spot with a simple email to Mike at metrovp@il-chess.org.  Come out to play, watch, or shop on the 10th, and you will be doing your part to support the Tour! Some of you may have students or know of others who might want to participate. Feel free to forward this email to them. Jerry Neugarten Chair, Youth Committee

Viktorija Ni at the World Team Championships

The U.S. Women's team isn't doing very well this week at the World Team Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, but Viktorija led the U.S. to a 2½-1½ victory over Turkey on Monday.

Do you see why White resigned?

Candidates pairings are up!

The eight-player, fourteen round Candidates tournament in London will determine the player to challenge Vishy Anand for the World Championship later this year.  Play begins March 15th: Magnus Carlsen vs. seven Russian-speakers. I don't have fears of a repeat of Curaçao 1962—the players are honorable sportsmen—but I like the chances of the former Soviet field.  Magnus is a marked man, and everyone will have a little something special for him.

+4 would be a very good score; +3 might be sufficient.

Here's my back-of-the-envelope handicapping (based on age and recent form).

Gelfand, Ivanchuk, Svidler: (each) 4% chance of winning
Radjabov & Grischuk: (each) 10% chance of winning
Aronian: 12% chance of winning
Kramnik: 20% chance of winning
Carlsen: 36% chance of winning

Spanked by Uncle Marv

Here's another Morris Giles vs. Marvin Dandridge encounter. The North Central Open was one of the Midwest's strongest tournaments in the early 1980s.

White asks more of his position than is there: not good policy against Dandridge.

Louisville vs. Chicago, 1877

John Dunlap Adair
The Hand-Book of Chicago Biography,
ed. John J. Flinn (Chicago: 1893), p.20

Thanks to our fellow blogger at A Chess Reader for pointing us to John S. Hilbert's great article on Chess Cafe.

I really don't link to Chess Cafe enough, as Chicago-themed items are relatively infrequent. But it's one of the best chess sites on the web.

60 players at Saturday's Evanston Tri-Level

Well, it is the best chess deal in the country.

On Saturday, NM Ken Wallach won the Gold section of the March 2013 Tri-Level 3½-½, ahead of NM Greg Bungo, Vytas Vitkauskas, and Eric Paniagua, all on 3-1.  Guest master NM Frederick Rhine (don't believe the rating: that's a USCF error) had a winning position against Jiri Kabelac in Round 2, but blundered in time pressure and lost. Rhine was lucky to salvage a draw in the last round against Paniagua, who had an impressive tournament, drawing both masters and beating his other two opponents.

Rahul Dhiman won the Silver section 4-0, ahead of Seth Kushinsky, Xander Nicolson, and Edward Zhang with 3 points.

Conrad Zborowski won the Bronze section 4-0; Clifford Adams, Mariel Rancel, Nicholas Johnson, and Matthew De Mario all tied for second with 3-1.

Crosstable here.

Maret Thorpe organized and directed for Evanston Chess.

The difficult opponent

Tal had a massive negative score against Korchnoi, Fischer lost several famous games to Geller, and the late Morris Giles had a miserable score against Marvin Dandridge. Marvin found three of the four games that he remembers having played against Morris, all wins; the fourth was an uneventful draw.

This game in from the final round of the 1984 edition Fred Gruenberg's Put the Fun Back into Chess, which Dandridge won ahead of GMs Bisguier and Gurevich, as well as Colias, Martinovsky, DeFotis, and several other strong masters.  You'll find the crosstable in the February 1985 Illinois Chess Bulletin. 

Although Morris lost this game, it's a nice example of his attacking style. Marvin rarely went looking for tactics, but had (and has!) an excellent sense of danger and (like Korchnoi) is a strong counterpuncher. Both players were several years away from their peak strength.