"On Peak Tournament Performance"

Check out this great article by FM Carl Boor on chess.com.

More on the UNAM Invitational

Co-winner Carl Boor at work / play

Check out Keith Ammann's Chess Life Online article.

And after you've done so, we'd sincerely appreciate your tax-deductible donation  in support of the Chicago Chess Center.

Busy weekend: Chicago Chess Center UNAM Invitational

Sometimes chess gets in the way of chess blogging: I'll try to catch up.

Congratulations to Senior Masters Eric Rosen and Carl Boor for sharing first at the Chicago Chess Center's UNAM Invitational.  TD Keith Ammann reports.

I was the house player in the final round, and I got to kibitz this cool game. Coffeehouse chess?  Perhaps, but if so, it's a very tony coffeehouse.

Reeling in the big fish

Many have tried; few have succeeded.

Our own Carl Boor took down former U.S. Champion Alexander Shabalov last weekend:

Swiped from Carl Boor

...as originally posted on the Chicago Area Chess Facebook page:

Chicago Masters Dmitry Gurevich, Carl Boor, Gopal Menon, and Zach Kasiurak played this past weekend at the Cardinal Open in Columbus Ohio. Gurevich and Boor shared 2-3rd place behind Brazilian champion GM Andre Diamant. The tournament was excellently conducted with generous prizes and a higher attendance than projected. In addition to GM Gurevich and Diamont former US champions Alex Yermolinsky and Alexander Shabalov (upset by Boor in the final round) competed.

Menon lost only to GM Gurevich (he nicked GM Shabalov for a draw), and Kasiurak lost only to Shabalov.  The local competition is getting rather intimidating....

Nine-year-old David Peng also played and lost a few rating points: he's still comfortably higher rated than your 55-year-old blogger.

Crosstable here!

Illinois Chess Association affiliate upcoming events

Hot off the e-mail press, courtesy of ICA Secretary (and Immediate Past President) Tom Sprandel.

This Saturday in particular looks like a great day for players and students at all levels.  The North Shore Chess Center is hosting GM Robert Hungaski for a lecture and simul (great for adults and advanced students), William Aramil and Carl Boor are teaching in Oak Park (great for all young players), and UNAM Chicago in conjunction with the Chicago Chess Center is hosting Super Bowl quads with a $10 entry fee (such a deal).

Whether it's sixty degrees or six below, play chess this weekend!

Highlights later this month include the U.S. Amateur Team in Schaumburg on Feb. 15-17 and the Illinois Blitz Championship on Saturday the 16th at the same site.  Travelers should mark their calendars the K-8 Championship in Bloomington and the Greater Peoria Open (an Illinois Tour event).

For more events, see the ICA Tournament Calendar.

Affiliate Events

Date	Title with ICA Link	Location
2013-02-02	NSCC - GM Robert Hungaski Lecture and Simul	Skokie
2013-02-02	Dynamic Chess Oak Park Monthly Lecture	Oak Park
2013-02-02	Super Bowl Quads at UNAM Chicago	Chicago
2013-02-03	North Shore Chess Center Game-45 - Plus Score Event	Skokie
2013-02-09	North Shore Chess Center Game-60 - Plus Score Event	Skokie
2013-02-09	Village of Park Forest Chess Challenge?New Location	Homewood
2013-02-09	Wheaton Christian Scholastic Chess Tournament	Winfield
2013-02-10	2nd NSCC Scholastic	Skokie
2013-02-15 2013-02-17	2013 U.S. Amateur Team Championship -- North and Illinois Blitz C	Schaumburg
2013-02-16	Scholastic Class: Studying GM Lev Aronian	Skokie
2013-02-16	Central Illinois Holiday Scholastic Chess Tournament	Jacksonville
2013-02-16	Illinois Blitz Championship	Schaumburg
2013-02-16	Dynamic Chess Unrated Tournament in Oak Park	Oak Park
2013-02-18	IECS Naperville Scholastic Chess Tournament	Naperville
2013-02-23	Thomas Middle School Chess Tournament for Grades 6-7-8	Arlington Heights
2013-02-24	1st Skyrocket Chess Tournament	Glenwood
2013-02-24	1st Skyrocket Chess Tournament	Glenwood
2013-03-03	North Shore Chess Center Game-45 - Plus Score Event	Skokie
2013-03-09	NSCC - GM Alexander Shabalov Lecture and Simul	Skokie
2013-03-09 2013-03-10	2013 Illinois K-8 Chess Championships	Normal
2013-03-10	North Shore Chess Center Game-60 - Plus Score Event	Skokie
2013-03-17	3rd NSCC Scholastic	Skokie
2013-03-30 2013-03-31	17th North American Amateur - Plus Score Event	Skokie
2013-04-06	NSCC - GM Nick de Firmian Lecture and Simul	Skokie
2013-04-07	North Shore Chess Center Game-45 - Plus Score Event	Skokie
2013-04-13	North Shore Chess Center Game-60 - Plus Score Event	Skokie
2013-04-14	4th NSCC Scholastic	Skokie
2013-04-20 2013-04-21	Greater Peoria Open -- ILLINOIS CHESS TOUR	Peoria
2013-04-27 2013-04-28	18th North American Amateur - Plus Score Event	Skokie

Shulman & Amanov win Michigan Chess Festival

The field at last weekend's Michigan Chess Festival in Troy was ridiculously powerful: Grandmasters Sam Shankland, Alexander Shabalov, Yury Shulman, Victor Mikhalevski, Sergey Kudrin, Ben  Finegold, and Mesgen Amanov.

The two Illinois grandmasters, Shulman and Amanov, were the only players to win their first four games.  They drew each other in the final round, and nobody caught them.  And our Carl Boor didn't win any cash, but he was the top finisher under 2400, losing only to GM Shabalov. Excellent road trip, gentlemen!

International Master Irina Krush used day one of the event as the warmup for the Women's World Championship, giving her the dubious distinction of having been in Detroit and Siberia in the same week. Tomorrow, Krush faces Alexandra Kosteniuk in round one.

Crosstables here!

Eminem or Vanilla Ice?

We link; you decide. Ben Rothschild raps Morphy vs. Count and Duke.

Hat tip to Carl Boor

The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat

We'll be posting games from the 2012 Illinois Open over the next few days, courtesy of FM Albert Chow.

Senior Master Carl Boor had an interesting summer.  Congratulations to Matthew Stevens: it's not every day that a Class B player knocks off a 2400.

Carl Boor is now at foxvalleychess.com

Check it out!

Chicago Class recap: Master Section

You know it's a tough event when you beat a GM and finish out of the money.  WGM Anna Sharevich knocked off GM Nikola Mitkov in round 4, but lost to GM Mesgen Amanov in round 2 and IM Qignam Liu in the final round: ridiculously difficult pairings.  And Gopal Menon defanged GM Mitkov's Grand Prix attack and drew IM Angelo Young in the first two rounds, but had less fun on Saturday night, as he got ground down by GM Dmitry Gurevich in a rather harmless-looking ending. You have just joined a very large club, Gopal.

Oh yes, prizewinners.  GM Amanov converted against IM Young in the last round and made his 4-1 first place on tiebreaks ($1,366.67) look routine.  FM Carl Boor continues to impress: he beat GM Gurevich's pet anti-Catalan system, grinding the grinder down in an ending (no mean feat). IM Qignam Liu also had a very steady event, highlighted by his last-round win against WGM Sharevich.  Both Boor and Qignam Liu won $1,266.67.

I had the pleasure of losing to Guijue Zhou in round 4: in the postmortem, she had the most kind and tactful way of suggesting to me the stupidity of my middlegame planning.  She, Matthew Marsh of Tennessee, and super-junior Kevin Cao of Missouri each won $466.67.

Welcome to FM Carl Boor

...who, I learn from the World Open crosstables and the magic of Googling, is now teaching in Chicagoland!

Check out Carl's website.  I can't recall having met the gentleman, but he seems to be doing OK in the World Open (click on standings of the Under 2400 section, not yet final as of 2 a.m. Chicago time).

P.S. Monday a.m. - Carl tied for first.  NM William Aramil won his last two games to finish in the money in the same section.