Seirawan to St. Louis!

Cut and pasted from an email:

Seirawan to Saint Louis as Acting Resident GM

SAINT LOUIS (August 24, 2012) -- Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan will arrive in Saint Louis on September 3 to serve as the acting Resident Grandmaster of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.

Seirawan, a four-time U.S. Champion and former World Championship contender, came out of retirement in 2011 to play in the U.S. Championship, which was held in Saint Louis. He cited the exciting developments of the Saint Louis chess scene as a contributing factor for his renewed interest in competitive chess and the U.S. Championship.

“First, it is a great event, and I wanted to thank the good folks at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis for all their wonderful work,” he said. “Secondly, I got bored watching the young lions at play and felt the urge to join them.”

Seirawan followed the 2011 U.S. Championship with a stunning performance at the 2011 World Team Championship, where he finished with a 2773 performance rating, which was almost 140 points higher than his rating at the time.

This move will allow him to have a direct impact on the rapidly growing chess movement in Saint Louis.

For more information on the CCSCSL, visit www.saintlouischessclub.org.

Nakamura wins U.S. Championship

Nakamura, after winning (as Black) against Kamsky, had a half-point lead over Kamsky going into the last round. Naka had White against Seirawan, who was having a horrible tournament, while Kamsky was Black against Robert Hess. The safe, "professional" thing to do would be to play solidly against Seirawan and keep an eye on Kamsky's game. If it looked like Kamsky was going to draw or lose, Naka could draw and clinch the win; if it looked like Kamsky would win, Naka could press for the win against Seirawan. Instead, Naka trotted out a "Brand X" line against Seirawan's French (1.e4 e6 2.f4?!), which is almost never seen (less than a third of a percent of the games with the French Defense) and gives Black a plus score! The critics (including me) would have said "What was he thinking!" if Naka had lost. But no, it worked like a charm - Naka crushed Seirawan, while Kamsky drew. This gave Naka the championship by a full point, undefeated, 8.5/11 (6 wins, 5 draws). This is comparable to Fischer's typical score in U.S. Championships. Congratulations to Hikaru Nakamura on his gutsy play and incredible performance!

U.S. Championship Round 9

Kamsky takes the lead with a brilliancy:

Kamsky-Seirawan
2012 U.S. Championship, St. Louis
White to play and win

So why didn't Black play 23...Nd7, one asks?  The answer is not hard to find, but it's very beautiful.

Kamsky-Seirawan (variation after 23...Nxd7?)
White to play and win

GM Yasser Seirawan simul on March 17th

Another email cut-and-paste: if you can't make it to Peoria next weekend, this is a nice alternative: Seirawan is a wonderful lecturer.


Saturday March 17, 2012 - North Shore Chess Center (Skokie, IL) GM Yasser Seirawan Lecture (morning & afternoon). Enjoy a 6 hour lecture with Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan followed by a simulatenous exhibition. North Shore Chess Center, 5500 West Touhy Ave., Suite A, Skokie, IL 60077. 847.423.8626. EF: $100 for non-members of the chess center, $75 for members of the chess center received by 3/10. All $120 onsite.Begins at 11:30am and continues to 5:30pm. Bring snacks, lunch, and drinks (drinking vending machine onsite). Simul begins at 6pm. 

Beat the Grandmaster in the simul and receive free entry to the following month GM lecture. Draw the Grandmaster and receive a 50% discount on the following month GM lecture. 

Parking: Free self-parking. Online registration only. Additional questions email to: sevan@nachess.org. For online registration and list of more events please visit - www.nachess.org/events. Max 40 participants.

GM lecture series at North Shore Chess Center!

Another email cut and paste.  If you'd like me to plug your event, please drop me a copy with minimal formatting (blogger.com is picky).

March of the Grandmasters! Come learn from the best and then take them on!

I'm pleased to announce that the final Grandmaster has been secured for our first 4 months of the year. In March, Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan will be out guest GM joining others before and after him such as GM Akobian, GM Finegold, GM Shankland, GM Kaidanov, and GM Charbonneau!

Don't hesitate for minute about signing up for these great events. The lecture and simul together is $100 for non-members and $75 for members for a 6 hour lecture followed by a simul! Where else can you get that kind of instructional quality for an affordable price!

In the last 2 months of 2011 we brought you GM's Varuzhan Akobian and Ben Finegold. Thanks to the great demand it generated we have a great lineup of Grandmasters heading our way for 2012!

January 14 - Grandmaster Sam Shankland

February 11 - Grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov

 March 17 - Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan 

April 21 - Grandmaster Pascal Charbonneau

The Grandmasters will provide a 6 hour lecture from 11:30am - 5:30pm followed by a simultaneous exhibition.

For details and online registration visit - http://www.nachess.org/events

Seirawan interview in ChessBase

 Back when I had hair, Yasser had an Afro....

A good read.  I love the following comment for acknowledging one of the major challenges facing players over fifty:

I’m disgusted with the (FIDE) time controls! My chief complaint is that they are not standardized. To my mind, there are three types of chess tournaments: classical, rapid and blitz. Honestly, I don’t care what the time controls for these three disciplines are, only that they should be the same for all tournaments! Today, a “Classical” tournament will have all kinds of different time controls. It is terrible. For a professional, they are constantly recalibrating themselves for all these controls which can be different from event to event in the extreme. This too, has been a failure from FIDE, official federations and the professional players. In fact, it is just stupid.

If I were chess dictator I would say: “For the next two years we will play our three disciplines with these and only these standard time controls. Full stop. At the end of two years, we will review the results. If we discover that some tweaking is necessary, we will change the standard and practice them for two years…” And so forth and so on, eventually settling on the three standards that we all like best, which works for all parties, including organizers.

I would start with a classical time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves with a thirty second bonus for all moves made from move one. For the second time control 30 minutes for 20 moves (with the thirty second bonus); for the third time control 15 minutes (with the thirty second bonus) for the rest of the game. My reasoning for this time control is that a classical game will obviously be the longest of the three disciplines. A player has physical needs, such as nutrition, drinks, visiting the restroom and so on. The three distinct time controls, allow the player to comfortably meet their physical needs. It is simply intolerable to be sitting at the board, with a strong physical need to go to the restroom and being unable to do so because you are playing on increment time only.

 Read the rest of his interview with IM Ana Matnadze at ChessBase.

A cute trap...

...as highlighted by Yasser Seirawan in his wonderful online commentary at the Internet Chess Club.

Aronian-Kramnik

Tal Memorial, Round 1

White to play and win

Only one move wins: everything else appears to lose!