"U.S., Russian inmates to battle on chessboard"

This RIA Novosti story got picked up by Business Standard, an India-based publication covering worldwide business.  So this Chicago program is literally making news around the world.

One hears through the grapevine that Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is very interested in expanding Mikhail Korenman's chess program at Cook County Jail.

Juvenile offenders in the Cook County system need to be served as well: housing one juvenile offender for a year is incredibly expensive to taxpayers.  And these kids will be a cost, not a benefit, down the road if they don't turn their lives around: many read at a 2nd-grade level.

"Mount Zion boy a chess prodigy"

Aydin Turgut, a third-grader from Mount Zion, Ill., has made a name for himself nationally as one of the best chess players in his age group. | AP Photo/Herald & Review, Lisa Morrison

It is really dangerous to make predictions...but we've got several players in the Midwest who are capable of reaching the very highest levels in chess.

Aydin Turgut is one of them.

Top 200 in Illinois

So as not to discriminate against all you suburbanites (me, for example), and downstaters, here's the list of the top 200 players in Illinois:

1 GM YURY SHULMAN 2638
2 GM DMITRY GUREVICH 2577
3 GM NIKOLA MITKOV 2577
4 IM FLORIN FELECAN 2421
5 FM ADARSH JAYAKUMAR 2407
6 FM CARL BRANDON BOOR 2406
7 IM ANGELO YOUNG 2396
8 FM ERIC S ROSEN 2389
9 ANGEL YOSIFOV ANGELOV 2361
10 TANSEL TURGUT 2359
11 TIMUR ALIYEV 2350
12 WIM VIKTORIJA NI 2335
13 WILLIAM J ARAMIL 2332
14 SAM A SCHMAKEL 2304
15 WGM IRINA ZAKURDIAEVA 2302
16 FM IGOR TSYGANOV 2294
17 GOPAL S MENON 2276
18 WGM OLGA STJAZHKINA 2267
19 STEVEN TENNANT 2257
20 TENZING W SHAW 2256
21 JONATHAN S KOGEN 2248
22 XIN LUO 2245
23 BOYAN ANGELOV ANGELOV 2237
24 FM DAVID E FINOL 2234
25 ZACH KASIURAK 2228
26 PETROS DEMETRIOS KARAGIANIS 2221
27 FM ANDREW KARKLINS 2221
28 FM DAN WOLF 2219
29 KENNETH T WALLACH 2219
30 STEVEN J SZPISJAK 2214
31 FM KEVIN BACHLER 2207
32 TREVOR S MAGNESS 2202
33 LEN J WEBER 2200
34 MARIANO A ACOSTA 2200
35 FM ALBERT C CHOW 2200
36 TAM NGUYEN 2200
37 FM CAMILO C PANGAN 2200
38 AUDRIUS MACENIS 2186
39 FREDERICK S RHINE 2185
40 MATTHEW K WILBER 2183
41 MICHAEL WILLIAM AUGER 2183
42 GORDON J RUAN 2163
43 ILAN MEEROVICH 2161
44 DAVID PLOTKIN 2160
45 MARINA ASEEVA 2159
46 DANYUL LAWRENCE 2158
47 DAVID TIANJIAN PENG 2146
48 JOHN M KROM 2138
49 STEVE ARLINSKY 2138
50 MICHAEL E ELLIS 2135
51 STEFFEN HELMUT KLUG 2120
52 ALEX ZIQI DING 2117
53 MARK ROBLEDO JR 2104
54 KURT W STEIN 2100
55 ZHAOZHI LI 2097
56 AAKAASH MEDURI 2097
57 DAVID FRANKLIN 2096
58 ROBERT MOSKWA 2087
59 ALEX BIAN 2086
60 KRZYSZTOF FLAGA 2083
61 GLEN E GRATZ 2082
62 FRED SCOTT ALLSBROOK 2079
63 KENT CEN 2076
64 JAMES MICHAEL PAVESE 2072
65 GAVIN JACOB MC CLANAHAN 2072
66 FLORENTINO V INUMERABLE JR 2071
67 WILLIAM H BROCK 2069
68 JOSEPH ST PIERRE 2065
69 HONORIUS CONSTANTIN 2064
70 JAMES A MARSHALL 2063
71 SERGE MININ 2055
72 SEDRICK PRUDE 2049
73 NATHAN WONG 2039
74 JORDAN S COHEN 2033
75 MAXIMILIAN JOSEPH ZINSKI 2031
76 DAVID LONG 2026
77 DUSAN TUTUSH 2022
78 VINCENT J HART 2021
79 BEN ROTHSCHILD 2019
80 SPENCER BLEDSOE 2018
81 THOMAS D MURPHY 2017
82 ERIK KARKLINS 2016
83 AKSHAY INDUSEKAR 2016
84 D GREGORY BUNGO 2016
85 PAUL D MECHEM 2015
86 KARTHIKEYAN POUNRAJ 2015
87 NATHANIEL AUSTIN KRANJC 2010
88 ROBERT LONCAREVIC 2009
89 ZACHARY HOLECEK 2007
90 ROBBY HECHT 2007
91 WILLIAM A NAFF 2006
92 LAWRENCE S COHEN 2005
93 ARANDEL MARKOVIC 2003
94 JAMES B FAGAN 2002
95 MIOMIR STEVANOVIC 2000
96 MARK MAROVITCH 2000
97 LEONID BONDAR 2000
98 JUAN HERNANDEZ 2000
99 DMITRI A SERGATSKOV 1998
100 CHRISTOPHER GIRARDO 1995
101 ERIC A HEISER 1994
102 JEFF S DIXON 1989
103 DENNIS PLOTT 1979
104 ILYA KOGAN 1979
105 JOSHUA DUBIN 1977
106 RUDY NEIL ENRIQUEZ 1977
107 MARK P HAMILTON 1977
108 ZHEYUAN FAN 1972
109 STEVEN NAPOLI 1970
110 JEFF K WIEWEL 1968
111 MATTHEW JAMES STEVENS 1968
112 CHENGLIANG LUO 1966
113 TODD A PLAGEMANN 1961
114 BRIAN T RUGGIERO 1951
115 MARK KORIN 1947
116 JANYL TILENBAEVA 1947
117 DANIEL R DUGOVIC 1944
118 JOHN L EASTER 1944
119 RAFEH QAZI 1938
120 ANSHUL ADVE 1935
121 CHARLES SWAN 1935
122 VINCENT DO 1932
123 SPENCER GEORGE LEHMANN 1930
124 ROBERT HILL 1927
125 BENJAMIN P STERN 1925
126 SITARAM AUDIPUDY 1925
127 RODNEY M KINNAIRD 1925
128 STEVEN CRAIG MILLER 1924
129 MIKHAIL KORENMAN 1917
130 YUE PENNY XU 1916
131 ERIC PANIAGUA 1915
132 SAM M FORD 1913
133 LOGAN STALIONS 1913
134 VALDIS M TUMS 1912
135 MICHAEL LEALI 1911
136 THOMAS FRISKE 1908
137 AYDIN TURGUT 1907
138 LUIS M PERALTA 1907
139 SCOT L HENDERSON 1906
140 WILLIAM BLACKMAN 1906
141 JOE EMOLE 1905
142 JAMES D OBERWEIS 1901
143 DOUGLAS ALAN MIDDLETON 1900
144 JONATHAN HRACH 1900
145 JAMES K CONDRON 1900
146 JOE DAMOCLES 1900
147 JOSEPH O ALFORD 1900
148 DAVID PAYKIN 1899
149 CYRILL OSELEDETS 1895
150 THEODORE C MERCER 1895
151 JIMI AKINTONDE 1892
152 HAZIM MALKOC 1890
153 JAMES WEI 1888
154 WESLEY K UNDERWOOD 1886
155 DAVID S GILCHRIST 1885
156 TIMOTHY ZHOU 1885
157 JOSEPH CYGAN 1884
158 GLEB FRIDMAN 1883
159 KYLE J MILES 1882
160 BENNETT JOSEPH 1882
161 TIAN LU PENG 1879
162 BRIAN J BECK 1878
163 GUY KITTILSEN 1878
164 ABE SUN 1874
165 CHRISTIAN D KAVOURAS 1871
166 CONRAD OBERHAUS 1869
167 ANDREW TAYLOR 1867
168 HOWARD COHEN 1865
169 MIKE A CRONIN 1857
170 GODSWILL OGODOGU 1849
171 RAJIV S DESHPANDE 1849
172 EZGI MENZI 1847
173 VICTORY V A FERIA 1846
174 JOHN KLEIN 1845
175 JACK THOMAS CURCIO 1843
176 DANIEL SAJKOWSKI 1842
177 JAMES ABBOTT 1841
178 OLEG TRIFONOV 1839
179 PETER MC CONAGHIE 1837
180 ADRIAN ZOLKOS 1836
181 MATTHEW Y YANG 1836
182 HECTOR R HERNANDEZ 1835
183 DANIEL R MODES 1832
184 DEAN AROND 1832
185 AAMIR ANSARI 1832
186 BRADLEY GUAN 1831
187 PATRICK G MORAN 1830
188 WILLIAM G COX 1829
189 JEFFREY E DAVIS 1828
190 GEORGE WILLIAM STONE 1827
191 JIRI V KABELAC 1826
192 PAUL SEET 1825
193 TOM TAYLOR 1823
194 RAMA YALAVARTHI 1822
195 CHRISTOPHER BAUMGARTNER 1820
196 MICHAEL A CHINITZ 1818
197 JOHN MICHAEL CRISSMAN 1817
198 ROBERT MICHALAK 1817
199 JAMES KRUEGER 1817
200 AKHIL KALGHATGI 1817

Top 100 players in Chicago

Please take this list with a grain of salt: I had to hand-edit the list.  (If I'm #12, the list has to be wrong....)

If you want to be added, just drop me an email with your snail mail address, and I'll update the list.

Ratings are already stale, March 1, 2013.

1			GM DMITRY GUREVICH	2577
2			IM ANGELO YOUNG	2393
3			TIMUR ALIYEV	2350
4			FM ANDREW KARKLINS	2241
5			FM DAVID E FINOL	2234
6			FM ALBERT C CHOW	2200
7			MICHAEL W AUGER	2183
8			DANYUL LAWRENCE	2158
9			WILLIAM M LOPES	2145
10			KRZYSZTOF FLAGA	2083
11			DAVID GARRETT	2081
12			WILLIAM H BROCK	2069
13			FLORENTINO V INUMERABLE JR	2059
14			HONORIUS CONSTANTIN	2037
15			ERIK KARKLINS	2016
16			ANDREW H SCHULTZ	2001
17			JUAN HERNANDEZ III	2000
18			N ERIC PEDERSEN	1995
19			ROBERT LONCAREVIC	1991
20			PHILIP MICHALIK	1986
21			JOHN P BUKY	1977
22			CHARLES SWAN	1960
23			JAMES G TANAKA	1956
24			ALEX CHANG	1954
25			FIDEL G SERRANO JR	1944
26			CHENGLIANG LUO	1940
27			HARRY A SMITH	1932
28			DUSHYANTH REDDIVARI	1921
29			SAM M FORD	1913
30			GWAYNE LAMBERT	1900
31			J A MILLER	1895
32			MICHAEL R FAILOR	1889
33			GLENN A T BEARD	1886
34			RICHARD A SMILEY	1883
35			THEODORE C MERCER	1881
36			CHRISTIAN D KAVOURAS	1871
37			DAVID KASSIN	1865
38			GUY KITTILSEN	1862
39			ERIC PANIAGUA	1860
40			ROBERT E MARCOWKA	1852
41			DEAN AROND	1849
42			GODSWILL OGODOGU	1849
43			EDWARD L LATIMER	1845
44			JAMES ABBOTT	1840
45			JOSEPH WILLIAM FENNESSEY	1835
46			PAUL SEET	1825
47			KIM C PINDAK	1821
48			MARTIN T MILLER	1802
49			BILL SMYTHE	1800
50			JIRI V KABELAC	1798
51			AKHIL KALGHATGI	1795
52			NATHANIEL D ROGERS	1789
53			FREDRIC S COHEN	1786
54			STEVEN MONTI	1786
55			VYTAUTAS VITKAUSKAS	1773
56			WILLIE GRANDBERRY JR	1768
57			STEPHEN JENNINGS	1761
58			ARIEL CRAWFORD	1755
59			ELCHONON DAITCHMAN	1752
60			UBE MASCARENAS LEOPOLDO	1749
61			NIKHIL KALGHATGI	1745
62			DAVID LUM	1743
63			OLIVER NATARAJAN	1740
64			LAURO NAVA	1739
65			DANIEL MURRAH	1739
66			MARK WAECHTER	1738
67			CHARLES R DOBROVOLNY	1736
68			BENJAMIN G BRONNER	1732
69			ERIC BLACKMON	1731
70			KYMANTAS ALBOROVAS	1730
71			MARK S COLEMAN	1727
72			JIM BROTSOS	1723
73			DIMITRI KOSTERIS	1715
74			JOSHUA SCHWARTZ	1703
75			TALHAH T CHAUDHRY	1700
76			PETER KIMBALL	1698
77			DOUGLAS WILLIAMS	1690
78			TERRANCE KNOX	1683
79			CHARLES E GILLHAM	1676
80			KESSIDY CHAN	1674
81			KAMIL RACHWAL	1674
82			MICHAEL A BENNETT	1668
83			DANIEL A LEROY	1664
84			JORGE BARRERA	1663
85			ARJUN SHASTID NANDY	1663
86			DEONTE S SPENCER	1663
87			CRISTIAN PENA	1648
88			TODD MICHAEL SUMMERS	1645
89			JAYCE LABEN FEIGER	1641
90			FREDERICK A BRAUCHER	1636
91			RYAN TOEPFER	1627
92			EDMOND Z JAY	1623
93			JON WINICK	1609
94			MARVIN J JOHNSON	1607
95			JOHNSON SMITH	1601
96			JOHN N PANDIS	1582
97			SETH JAY KUSHINSKY	1570
98			JAE H LIM	1565
99			RALPH G LARSON	1565
100			EMMETT L BRADBURY JR	1559

Everybody makes mistakes

...especially when the clock is ticking. The reigning Women's World Champion, Anna Ushenina, joins the large and distinguished group led by Grandmaster Vladimir Epishin who have failed to mate in fifty moves with king, bishop, and knight against king.  It's really not that hard if you've studied the ending. (I think I could do it on increment alone, but I'm honestly not sure: I saw games between strong class players in the 2012 U.S. Open and a recent Chicago Open in which the game was similarly drawn.)

Ushenina knew the "W" technique for driving the defending king to a corner controlled by the bishop. But she didn't understand the one position in which the defender seems to escape the side of the board, only to be caught in a net that includes the "danger corner" controlled by the bishop.

Suppose you want to drive the defending king from a1 (a dark corner) to h1 (a light corner controlled by your bishop). 

• You will want to put your knight on c2 to keep the defender from returning to a1. (Ushenina did this this on move 78.) 
• Then you will want to put your bishop on a2 (star move!) to keep the defender from returning to b1. (Ushenina did this on move 79.) 
• Now the horse on c2 is freed to execute the "W-manuever" to transfer the knight from c2 to e2. (A knight always controls squares of the opposite color, so you want to hurry your horse from c2 to e2 as quickly as possible: it's not doing you any good when it's controlling squares of the same color as the bishop.) 
• Ushenina's first major inexactitude was 82.Bd5?! The correct move here is 82.Ne2, and if Black tries to break toward freedom with 82...Kf3, then 83.Be6! Now White controls e4 with king, f4 and g3 with knight, and g4 and h3 with bishop: that's a very effective force field!
• Olga Girya ran away from the dangerous h1 square to the relative safety of the h8 square. 
• On move 101, Ushenina seems to have lost confidence in her technique, as she fails to implement the winning 101.Bh7! (an idea she'd already used earlier.) 

I was an expert for many years before I learned the correct technique from a beginner's book: thank you, Pandolfini's Endgame Course.

U.S. Championships: Shulman-Gareev, Round 4

In this variation of the Nimzoindian, the bishop looks oddly placed on a5. But it works in practice!

Still time to register for Chicago Chess Center UNAM Invitational

If you're not a Chicago Chess Center Founders' Court member yet, it's not too late! Anyone interested in participating in our first preview event, the CCC UNAM Invitational, May 11 and 12, may donate at the Founders' Court level ($250 or more) right up to the day of the event. We still need your help to open our doors and begin offering events to the Chicagoland chess-playing public in our own space. Please give generously and become a founding member of this important new civic, educational and recreational institution.

This exclusive event open only to masters, junior experts and CCC Founders' Court members will have a time control of G/75 plus 30-second increment, with rounds beginning at 10 AM and 2:30 PM each day. Entry is just $15 for CCC members, and we're giving out a guaranteed $600 in prizes (five place prizes of $250, $150, $100, $60 and $40). Nonmember masters and junior experts are eligible to participate for an entry fee of $25. Sets and duplicate scoresheets will be provided; we appreciate your helping us out by bringing your own clock. FIDE Master Carl Boor and junior experts Michael Auger and Akshay Indusekar will be in attendance.

UNAM Chicago is at 350 W. Erie St. in River North. Off-street parking will be available for $5 per day in the lot on the northeast corner of Erie and Orleans streets. UNAM Chicago is also an easy five-minute walk from the CTA's Chicago/Franklin Brown Line 'L' station.

RSVP by May 8 to info@chichess.org or send entries by mail to Chicago Chess Center NFP Inc., c/o William Brock, 230 W. Monroe St., Suite 330, Chicago, IL 60606. On-site registration will be open Saturday morning between 9 and 9:45. We hope to see you there!

A trap in the Classical Sicilian

In the Classical Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6), 6.f4 is a fairly rare choice by White. Mega Database 2013 shows it as being only White's seventh most popular move, after 6.Bg5, 6.Bc4, 6.Be2, 6.Be3, 6.f3, and 6.g3. Black can respond with 6...g6, transposing to the Levenfish Variation of the Sicilian Dragon; 6...e5, intending to reach a Boleslavsky Sicilian-type position; and 6...e6, among others. According to Mega Database 2013, 6...e5 is the best-scoring of Black's major moves, with White scoring only 47.2% in 287 games. (White scores 51.1% in 321 games against 6...g6, and 55.5% in 267 games against 6...e6.)

White's best response to 6...e5 is 7.Nf3. My opponent played instead 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.fxe5, presumably intending to respond to 8...dxe5 with 9.Qxd8+ with a favorable endgame for White (58.3% in 12 games, according to Mega). I instead responded with the much stronger 8...Ng4! (White scores only 33.3% in 18 games), offering a gambit that White should decline (as almost everyone does) with 9.Be2!, when Black has a very pleasant position after 9...Nxe5. Instead, White greedily took the pawn with 9.exd6? After 9...Bxd6, White's position was very unpleasant, with Black's bishop and knight trained on White's kingside and Black threatening to introduce the queen into the attack with 10...Qh4+ or 10...Qc7. White should try 10.Bg5! f6 (10...Qxg5 12.Qxd6) 11.Bh4 0-0 12.Bc4+, when he stands much worse but could play on. Instead he found 10.h3?? and then resigned, evidently having realized that 10...Qh4+ is crushing (10...Bg3+ also wins), e.g. 11.Kd2 Bf4+ 12.Kd3 (12.Ke2 Qf2+ 13.Kd3 Ne5#) Ba6+ 13.Nb5 0-0-0+, winning boatloads of material.

One should never play a blunder like 10.h3??, especially in a correspondence game. Alexander Kotov in his famous book Think Like a Grandmaster explained that once having decided on one's move, one should look at the position "through the eyes of a patzer" and ask questions like, "Does he threaten mate? Do I have a piece hanging? Am I overlooking a check he can play?" and so forth. This is not always possible in over-the-board games with fast time controls, but one should always do this in correspondence games.

I'm now 69-0 on GameKnot, but will have to give up a draw soon.