Women's Grand Prix in August, Hou Yifan - Humpy Koneru match in November?

Alexandra Kosteniuk passes along a credible rumor from a Russian chess news site: Hou Yifan of China and Humpy Koneru of India may play their world championship match in Chicago later this year.

And look at the powerhouse lineup for the Grand Prix event to be held here in Chicago August 1-15!

When FIDE is involved and the lead time is short, I get a bit nervous. Please let us know if we can help!

Heh: see the comments for the (amusing) probable explanation!  You know, we'd be a great site for the Anand-Gelfand match....

Rafeh Qazi featured in Skokie Patch

Brad Rosen reports.

Remember those fabulous eighties?

Hikaru Nakamura is certainly trying to make something happen in the final rounds of the Bazna Kings, but it's not so easy to beat one's 2750+ peers. Today, Nakamura resurrected the Petrosian System against the Queen's Indian, a favorite weapon of Kasparov in the early 1980's.

Karjakin makes the position look like of these newfangled Grünfeld lines, and Nakamura can't do anything with his slight edge. A reasonable draw.

Houdini

And if your father is an übergeek, the strongest chess engine in the world is absolutely free!  Download here.

You will need a UCI-compatible chess graphical user interface.  ("A thingie that allows you to look at the game.")  I use ChessBase, but both Arena and Winboard are free.

From the Houdini homepage:

Houdini is appreciated by many players including top Grand Masters and the current chess World Champion. After his match against Alexei Shirov, chess World Champion Vishy Anand was asked "OK, three: Fritz, Rybka or Houdini?". Anand's reply: "Houdini" (read the full interview).   In another recent interview, when asked the question "If you had to pick one player to represent earth in a chess game vs. aliens, which active player would it be? You can pick different active players for the white and black side, if you feel it necessary", super GM Peter Svidler had the same simple reply: "Houdini".

Fathers' Day Emergency?

A few last-minute book recommendations.  Links are provided, but they ain't gonna arrive Sunday morning!

If Dad is a amateur who regularly plays in clubs, tournaments, or the Web, the fourth edition of Jeremy Silman's How to Reassess Your Chess is great.  And a classic by the late GM Larry Evans was recently republished, New Ideas in Chess.

If Dad just wants to read about chess, Frank Brady's Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness is a page-turner.

 
If Dad is into photography, Harry Benson's Bobby Fischer (just published this week: I haven't seen a copy yet) might be great for the coffee table.
 
If Dad doesn't mind the occasional reference to Bourdieu and Foucault, he may well enjoy Counterplay: An Anthropologist at the Chessboard (I just started reading this today).  (Fathers' Day P.S.: I finished it yesterday: refreshingly intelligent discussion of what it's like to be an serious amateur player.)

For the semi-serious player, Yakov Neishadt's Improve Your Chess Tactics: 700 Practical Lessons & Exercises is very good (I carry this with me on the train).  And if Dad likes to bore his opponents to death, Grandmaster Chess Strategy: What Amateurs Can Learn from Ulf Andersson's Positional Masterpieces is another book that's good for commuters.

If Dad wants to learn to play chess, then Bruce Pandolfini's Beginning Chess: Over 300 Elementary Problems for Players New to the Game is a fine start.

Last-minute shoppers might be able to find these books at the Barnes & Noble or Borders on State Street.

Nakamura-Carlsen: Spanish torture at Bazna Kings

Doesn't look like Hikaru got very much today with the White pieces.  World #1 Carlsen (still two years younger than the amazing Rory McIlroy) and child groom Sergey Karjakin are a full point ahead of Nakamura with four rounds to go: the rest of the field trails.

Niles North recruiting video

One hopes IHSA doesn't go overboard on sanctions ;-)

Click this link to view: http://vimeo.com/24758462 I removed the embedding because it was loading automatically.

Seriously, fun stuff! Could we get a list of the actors in order of appearance?

FIDE Continental Americas Amateur Chess Championship, Rosemont, July 1-4

This too is a cut-and-paste from my email.  In case you were wondering, the venue is the InterContinental Chicago O’Hare in Rosemont.

Hmm, two friends of mine are running events against each other on the July 4th weekend.  I'll most likely be playing in one of them, but I sure as heck am not going to tell you folks which one to play in.

As with the previous post, no endorsement, express or implied! 

$15,000 Prize Fund Guaranteed

FIDE Continental Americas Amateur Chess Championship

The only 4th of July tournament in Chicago with a Guaranteed Prize Fund!

7R-SS Game 90 + 30/sec increment

Only $75 until 6/18

The FIDE Continental Americas Amateur Chess Championship is brought to the US for the first time in the tournaments history. The event will provide the opportunity to meet and compete against international chess players from North, Central, and South America.

The $15,000 prize fund is guaranteed and will increase in accordance to participation. All participants will compete in a single section with prizes available based upon rating classes:

Overall: $2000-1250-750; Top Female: $800-400
Top 2199-2100 and 2099-2000: $500 each
(1999-1800): $1000-600-400-200
(1799-1600): $1000-600-400-200
(1599-1400): $1000-600-400-200
(Under 1400): $1000-600-400-200

To be eligible to participate you must have a FIDE rating below 2200 and no title or no FIDE rating at all. This makes the event eligible to almost all players!

To get the lowest entry fees REGISTER NOW or visit our website for full details.
Round times that are easy to remember, spacious enough to have a great meal between rounds and are holiday conscious:

Rds 1 and 2 - July 1st @ 12pm and 6pm
Rds 3 and 4 - July 2nd @ 12pm and 6pm
Rds 5 and 6 - July 3rd @ 12pm and 6pm
Rd 7 - July 4 @ 12pm or take a bye!

As with all North American Chess Association organized events, all equipment is provided for you to make your chess playing experience the simplest and most enjoyable that it can be!

You have the chance to create fireworks over the board and then head to Navy Pier to watch a fireworks celebration over Lake Michigan! Or spend time at the world famous Taste of Chicago and try out multiple mouth watering cuisines from local restaurants!

July 2-3: All-American Double Class in Oak Brook

Cut and pasted from my email (exclamations and all).  Mailed entries save several dollars over online entries: deadline is Friday.

Note the innovative/weird schedule of play (ideal for out-of-towners and members of Reform congregations): two games on Saturday at 2:15 and 7:15, three games on Sunday, 9:45 a.m.-2:15 p.m.-7 p.m..

NO LONG HOTEL STAY! NO HOTEL PARKING TO PAY!

NO SATURDAY MORNING ROUNDS! FREE TO MASTERS!

FREE RAFFLE for BREWER-CUBS Tickets [or Pirates-Cubs].

JULY 2-3 ALL AMERICAN DOUBLE CLASS.

In 4 sections rating restricted. M/X [1900 & higher],

A/B [1500-1999], C/D [1100-1599], E/U [Unrated & Under 1200]

At the Doubletree Hotel in Oak Brook, site of 2006 US Open.

UPSET PRIZE in EACH SECTION of $100 on 7/2, and $50 on 7/3.

GRAND PRIX EVENT. MAGNET SCHOOL JUNIOR GRAND PRIX EVENT.

Go to http://allamericaschess.eventbrite.com for credit card entry

and tournament details, or e-mail allamericaschess@gmail.com for

more information and any questions.

EF: M/X $97, A/B $86, C/D $75, E/U $64 if mailed by 6/17/11.

Unrated players $30 off, but Unrated can ONLY play in E/U section!

Mail Entries to: Lawrence Cohen P.O. Box 6632 Villa Park, IL 60181.

Details also available in JUNE Chess Life,& JUNE Chess Life for Kids.

Downers Grove Chess Club news

Brian Smith provides an update on the ICA Forum.

Bazna round 1: Carlsen beats Nakamura

...in a vigorous attack reminiscent of Nakamura!  Story at ChessVibes.

Nakamura will have White against Carlsen soon....

Three Eric Rosen games from the HS Nationals

See ICA's chess blog for annotations!

Aronian interview on Crestbook

Interesting reading!

Amanov lecture / simul at North Shore Chess Center this Saturday

Cut and pasted from my email:

The North Shore Chess Center is proud to present you with Grandmaster Mesgen Amanov for our June Special Event. GM Amanov will present a 90 minute lecture followed by a simultaneous exhibition.

The lecture will begin at 2:00pm and go until 3:30pm. We will take 30 minute break after the lecture and begin the simul at 4:00pm.

Anyone that can beat GM Amanov will receive a 1 year membership to the North Shore Chess Center.

Anyone that draws GM Amanov will receive 1 year extension to their USCF membership (if you are a Life Member then you will receive a prize of equal value).

This event is free to members of the North Shore Chess Center or $10 per event (lecture or simul) / $20 for both events.

For online registration and list of more events please visit - http://www.nachess.org/events

Space is limited!

I have no clue what happened

In the last round of the Chicago Open, I kibitzed this wild Najdorf between Tatev Abrahamyan (who was just awarded the WGM title) and our own Adarsh Jayakumar. After move 24 or so, I thought Adarsh was simply winning, but perhaps it's not so clear. In fact, Abrahamyan brought home the full point. Ouch!

P.S. The FIDE ratings of both players substantially lag their USCF ratings; Abrahamyan is around 2450; Jayakumar, 2260.

more on smartphone cheating

...at ChessVibes and Chess Ninja.

Time capsule: 2923 N. Southport

How many years has it been since the Chicago Chess Center closed?  Since Jules Stein passed away?

I stumbled across this 1988 article from the Chicago Tribune.

cellphone cheating

A law student (!!) with a FIDE rating of 2363 was consulting his cellphone during the just-completed German Championship.  Story on ChessBase.

Rumor has it that one local player consulted his iPod (chock-full of chess applications) during a recent national championship event.  Isn't your reputation, and your school's reputation, worth more than a win in an ultimately meaningless board game?

Game postponed due to stolen motorcycle :-(

I didn't get to play Rob Eaman in Citadel's CICL Summer 2011 event tonight, but I did get to watch Matthias Pfau's cool knight vs. pawns ending on YouTube.



So what happens if, instead of 1.Kg4, White simply pushes 1.b4?  Wouldn't poor horsie have his hooves full?

Shulman in 2011 World Cup

The city of Khanty-Mansiysk, known to chess fans worldwide as Yugra's answer to Elista, will host the 2011 World Cup this coming August and September.  The raw power of the invitees compensates for the unglamorous site.  Our own Yury Shulman, 2009 U.S. Champion and runner-up to Kamsky in both 2010 and 2011,  is one of seven invitees from the USA in the 128-player field.  He's done very well in this event before!

4 Illinois students qualify for World Youth Championships

Story here!

Congratulations to Illinois students Aydin Turgut (K-1 National Champion), Susanna Ulrich (Girls 8 & Under), David Peng (Boys 8 & Under), and of course Eric Rosen (K-12 National Champion).

I hope Brazil survives the onslaught of 8-year-old Awonder Liang of Wisconsin, the US's top-rated (currently rated 2005 on the June 2011 rating list).

Blood from a turnip

Mesgen Amanov has a gift for squeezing the maximum from apparently sterile positions on the White side of the Slav.

Not a grandmaster draw

I have a feeling that both Yury Shulman and Dmitry Gurevich wanted to win this game!

Quadrupled pawns in action

For those of you who (like me) enjoy such things, the June 2011 issue of Chess Life for Kids (accessible to USCF members via the USCF website) features an article by Jon Edwards with the finest (well OK, the only) collection of games with quadrupled pawns that I've ever seen. Edwards argues that quadrupled pawns aren't always bad - and indeed, the "quadruplet" owner achieves a 95% score (9.5/10) in the games he discusses. Edwards doesn't mention the granddaddy of them all - perhaps because it doesn't fit in with his thesis. Alekhine gets quadrupled pawns on move 38 and resigns five few moves later.

It was only blitz, but...

Leo Kaushansky played last weekend!

For the uninitiated, Kaushansky was Chicago's top player for at least one year in the pre-Gurevich 1980s.  He, Dmitry, and Albert Chow were among the co-champions of the 1994 U.S. Open in Chicago.

As long as we're posting articles from NY papers....

Great article on James Black in yesterday's Daily News.

Here's my challenge to Rahm: why can't we turn out greater champions in Chicago?

P.S. You can also watch the WNYC interview with James Black:

Handball, chess, scholastic competition, and the amateur ideal

Today's New York Times reports that two 17-year-old handball champions were disqualified from the Public Schools Athletic League handball championship "because they had entered a tournament that awarded cash prizes, which is against league rules."

In chess, as in handball, one becomes a better player by facing stronger opponents. I don't like teenagers playing games for money. But I think the definition of "amateur" needs to be re-examined by the Illinois High School Association and Chicago Public Schools. Merely competing against non-amateurs should not jeopardize one's amateur status. In my opinion, it's reasonable to ban students from accepting prizes.

Organizers can help (and possibly help their profit margins) by offering amateur entry fees to their events. If a high school kid can't accept a $5,000 prize, then why should that kid have to pay $200+ to enter the event?

Frederick's Sicilian traps video, embedded

This should work....

Sicilian Defense traps - YouTube video

I just uploaded my third video on opening traps to YouTube. To find all my videos (three so far) search for "Chicago Chess Blog."

Chess Drum on Chicago Open

International Masters Farai Mandizha of Zimbabwe and Oladapo Adu of Nigeria

Photo: Daaim Shabazz

The Chess Drum visits a suddenly-old friend from Jules Stein's Chicago Chess Center and takes some cool photos.

A cute minature from yesterday

Courtesy Dennis Monokroussos at The Chess Mind.

Chen-Stopa, Chicago 2011

Black to play and win immediately

Vanity combination (relegated to the notes)

So what was I thinking yesterday when I played 18...Ng4!? in the position below?  Yes, taking on f2 with check is threatened, but there is no mate, and it seems that White could play 19.dxc6 "for free." Don't let Rybka decide for you: use your noggin. Post the critical variation(s) in the comments.

In the post-mortem, my genial opponent (a NM from Virginia) and I suspected that the move was possibly not the best, but definitely the most fun to play in the last round.

NM Adarsh Jayakumar (left) and a Cro-Magnonesque blogger desperately trying to stay awake after Yet Another Giuoco Pianissimo

Courtesy DeKalb Chess

"Gareyev Hot in Chicago"

Photo: Betsy Dynako

So does the Chicago Open winner prefer the English transliteration "Gareev" (per Wikipedia, which is never wrong, and by analogy with Russian supergrandmaster Bareev) or Gareyev (per USCF)?  Nice article by Jamaal Abdul-Alim at Chess Life Online with several key games.

And here's a photo gallery by Betsy Dynako, and a mid-tournament story featuring GM Pentala Harikrishna.

Last but not least, USCF's Member Services Area has already rated the event: kudos to them!

Aurora-Naperville Chess Club event June 5

Details here!

The club itself meets every Tuesday (but not tonight): more info at the club's blog.

DeKalb Chess Club

Not strictly Chicagoland, but not that far: looks like a congenial place to play!

The club's next USCF event is June 25: details here.

Timur Gareev wins Chicago Open

Congratulations to Uzbek/Texan Grandmaster Timur Gareev, who won the $10,200 first prize in the 2011 Chicago Open with a very impressive 7½-1½ score.

GMs Pentala Harikrishna of India, Robert Hess of New York, and Alejandro Ramirez of Texas tied for second with 7 points.  GM Mesgen Amanov was tops among the four local grandmasters with 6½ points.

You can find results and prizewinners for all sections here: much more to follow!

YouTube Video on Modern/Robatsch Defense trap

I uploaded a second video to YouTube, this one about a trap in the Modern/Robatsch Defense. Check it out!

Caro-Kann YouTube video

I produced, and just uploaded to YouTube, a video on an opening trap in the Caro-Kann. Please let me know what you think of it.

Shipov on Game 6

Good stuff.

It's not too late to enter the Chicago Open, this weekend in Wheeling

The tournament site is the Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel in Wheeling.

For the top players (and patzers like me who wish to try their luck against them), play begins tomorrow night at 7 p.m.  But if one doesn't wish to devote 4½ days to chess, there are also 3½-day (1st round Friiday night), 3-day (Saturday a.m.), and 2-day (Sunday a.m.) schedules.

Details here!  Note the garish colors and vintage-1995 HTML layout.

Enter here!  The instructions say that you can enter online up to two hours before the first game, but I wouldn't cut it that close.

"Gelfand to Challenge Anand for World Championship!"

 Story at Chess Life Online.  A wonderful game for us spectators!

A bang or a whimper?

Boris Gelfand and Alexander Grischuk have been battling like sumo wrestlers or sprint cyclists.  The match looks maddeningly peaceful to the spectators, but the experts assure us that they're both playing to win.

If you're reading this post Wednesday morning, check out Game 6, the final game of regulation.  Chess in Translation has been live-blogging a translation of Shipov's commentary.

Hello, East Orange

For the next few minutes, today is still Bob Dylan's 70th birthday.  Dylan is best known for having reportedly had a conversation with Bobby Fischer circa 1980.  He also wrote a few songs.

Who Was That Masked Man?

I beg you, please check out this video from ChessNetwork about an utterly astounding combination played by some unknown player (Black) in an online game against a FIDE Master (White). One of the most amazing combinations I have ever seen. Frankly I can't recall ever seeing a finer combination by anyone, ever. Anyone who can find such a combination over the board is either extremely strong player or using an engine. I hope it was the former.

Queen to Play - last night!

It looks like tonight is the last night to see the chess-themed movie Queen to Play at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave in Chicago. Tonight's showtimes are at 5:15, 7:30, and 9:45 p.m. Be there or be an equilateral rectangle (or 64 of them).

Roger Ebert's review of the film is here. The trailer for the film is here.

Bad news, good news

Bad news for the U.S.: Gata Kamsky lost a thriller in the Candidates Semi-Final to Boris Gelfand of Israel.  Congratulations to Gata on a marvelous performance in the Candidates!  It's heartbreaking to be one move away from moving on....

Good news for Chicagoans: Boris has plenty of local connections.  Andi Rosen explained in this 2009 article for Chess Life Online.

I called Tamara Golovey immediately after the Gelfand-Kamsky playoff ended: she was positively giddy!

More at The Week in Chess and ChessVibes; trash talking (sometimes informed) at Chess Ninja.

Silly Internet game #964

CICL Playoffs Saturday!

Round 1 has already been played (results here).  Downers Grove Chess Club, Hedgehogs, Motorola Knights, and St. Charles Chess Club won their opening matches.

Rounds 2 & 3 will determine the 2011 Chicago Industrial Chess League Champion: if you're playing in Evanston, stop by the North Shore Chess Center afterwards to find out who wins!

Gelfand-Kamsky game 2 drawn

A very close call for Kamsky, and a very interesting fight!

Shipov annotates.  (Not a permalink.)

Kamsky-Gelfand game 1 drawn

I'm glad to see that Kamsky has decided to do battle in current theoretical positions: the line after 20.Qa5 has been played several times before at the GM level. Didn't work today; might work on Saturday!

In the other Candidates Grischuk was surprised by a Kramnik novelty

TWIC is back up

Grave of the greatest attacking genius (no, not Tal) ever?

Photo © Alex McFarlane.

More Candidates quarterfinals coverage at The Week in Chess.

Evanston CC Tri-Level this Saturday - only $5

Levy Senior Center
300 Dodge Ave
Evanston, IL 60202

Evanston Chess Presents:

Tri-Level

4SS G/45
Three Sections
USCF Dual Rated

May 14, 2011
9:00am-5:00pm

Section Gold: 1700 and over
Section Silver: 1200 - 1699
Section Bronze: Under 1200 and Unrated

1600 - 1699 may play up to Gold.
1100 - 1199 may play up to Silver.
Published USCF Regular Rating determins eligibility.
Unrated players may be placed up at TD discretion.

From time to time Evanston Chess pays one or more titled players to play in our events. We usually do not pair them against each other. Even if they should lose (it does happen) we may pair them with the highest score groups.

Four rounds. Digital clocks are required and will be set to G/40 plus 5 seconds delay. Accelerated or decelerated pairings at TD discretion. Sections may be combined at TD discretion.

Registration from 9:00 to 9:30 AM. Players must check in by 9:30 am; players who arrive late will receive a half-point bye for the first round. First Round 9:45 am, last round over roughly 5:00 pm. You may take one half-point bye in any round but the last.

Entry fee is $5, please pay cash (no checks) at the door. Masters and Experts play free.  Send name, USCF number, and telephone number to enter@evanstonchess.org.
 
Junior players (under fourteen years) rated 900+ are welcome. Sorry, but we do not accept junior players rated under 900. Must be accompanied by a parent throughout the event.

Bring clocks. -- Wheelchair accessible. No Smoking.

"Queen to Play"

I had a blog entry sixteen months or so ago about the French film Joueuse.  It's being released here as Queen to Play.  Roger Ebert reviews.

Kramnik-Radjabov press conference

As you may have read on ChessBase, at one point in the Kramnik-Radjabov tiebreaks, there was a moment when Radjabov was literally seconds away from winning the Candidates quarterfinal match: all he had to do was draw a tricky (but objectively drawn) rook plus opposite-color bishop ending.  After move sixty, there was a clock malfunction, and the arbiters took thirteen minutes (!!) to restart the blitz game.  Kramnik managed to win and force yet another two-game blitz tiebreaker, which he also won, and with it, the match.

Interview here: congratulations to Teimour Radjabov for acting in such a sporting fashion after such a heartbreaking turn of events.

Incidentally, interest in the match was so high (and English-language real-time coverage so wanting) that The Week in Chess crashed: the TWIC live site is still offline.

Candidates quarterfinals complete

Grischuk upsets top seed Aronian, and Kramnik somehow survives against Radjabov.  English-language coverage is spotty at best: I'll add links later today.  In the meantime, here's an English translation of Shipov's commentary on yesterday's Topalov-Kamsky game.

Semifinals pairings: Kamsky (USA) vs. Gelfand (Israel), and Kramnik (Russia) vs. Grischuk (Russia).  Play begins this Thursday.  The survivor will challenge Vishy Anand for the world title next year.

"Niles North teen is U.S. chess king"

From this morning's Sun-Times.  Don't take the headline too literally, as Kamsky and Nakamura might object.

"Frogs, Chessboards and Grids"

Victoria Livschitz, CEO of Grid Dynamics

Copyright The New York Times

An entrepreneuer explains how chess contributed to her success.

Daniel Wright JHS wins National Elementary Title

Good news from Dallas this weekend makes Illinois moms proud.  Congratulations to Daniel Wright Junior High School in Lincolnshire, which just won the National Elementary Title (K-6th grade) by two full points!

             BIAN, Alex (5.0,1839)             
             WEI, James (5.0,1856)             
             YU, Haoyang (5.0,1595)            
             HOLECEK, Zachary (4.5,1907)       
             OBERHAUS, Conrad (4.5,1888)

You can find the full results here.  More to follow, I'm sure. 

Unnaturally tough resistance brings Kamsky victory

In annotating the final game of the Kamsky-Topalov match for ChessBase, Alejandro Ramirez wisely writes, "In most cases in chess, the position is as natural as it seems."  In other words, most of the time, natural moves are sufficient to win a won game.  Only the strongest players have the fighting spirit to offer maximum resistance even when the game is objectively lost. 

Acccording to the computers, Gata Kamsky was hopelessly lost.  But Kamsky drew convincingly, without an obvious blunder by Topalov.

Veselin Topalov-Gata Kamsky

2011 Candidates Match, Kazan, Round 4

After 42...Ke8: White to play

What would you play as White?  How deeply would you calculate?

Veselin Topalov-Gata Kamsky

2011 Candidates Match, Kazan, Round 4

After 49.Qd8: Black to play

Black has several reasonable tries here (and perhaps more than one way not to lose), but only one move is clearly best.  Can you find it?

Congratulations to Gata Kamsky!  Later this week, he'll be facing Boris Gelfand, who has many friends in Chicago himself.

"How best to stimulate hair growth?"

At least that's what seems to be on the mind of the player in the foreground, who looks vaguely familiar.  Citadel offers one of the nicest playing sites in the city (check out the view!).

Matthias Pfau reports on Round 1 of Citadel's summer 2011 event on the Citadel Investment Group Chess League Blog.

My AMA Rogue Squadron teammate Jim Duffy may have missed some chances after pressing in the knight ending, but he won an objectively drawn pawn ending (the PGN appears to be wrong on the Citadel site):

The final two rounds of the CICL playoffs will be held next Saturday, May 14th, at the North Shore Chess Center. Details to follow.

Worst iPhone chess app ever?

It would be rather harsh to call ChessBase Online 1.1 (ChessBase GmbH, $4.95 in the iTunes Store) a bad application, because, strictly speaking, it achieves its modest and useful goal.

I can enter a position that I reached in a recent game...

..and discover the most popular replies and their performance...

...and load individual games to learn how top players handled the line.

Select one of the above games, and it loads painlessly.  So far, so good.  (Very handy for the bathroom stall at the Chicago Open, the cynic thinks.) 

But on the iPhone 4, the chess board interface is so buggy and annoying (compare the interfaces for iPhone engines such as tChess Pro, Shredder, and Stockfish, all of which are excellent), that I really can't recommend this app.

Perhaps this works better on the iPad (I don't own one), but if I'm at home, I'm going to be looking at ChessBase on a laptop with Rybka running.  That's not yet an option on the iPad..

The concept is great, and I love ChessBase products in general. But not this one: hold out for Version 2.0.

4th North American Amateur Open begins tonight

4th North American Amateur Open - 5R-SS G/90 + 30/sec increment. North Shore Chess Center, 5500 West Touhy Ave Suite A, Skokie, IL 60077. 847.423.8626.  Open to players with any established FIDE rating or an established USCF rating of 1600+. Max 50 players. All participants compete in a single section.  EF: $40 for non-members of the chess center, $30 for members of the chess center received by 5/5. All $10 more onsite. Onsite registration - up to 15 minutes prior to round 1 or round 2. If registering prior to round 2, you will receive a half-point bye for round 1. Round times: Friday - 7:00pm, Saturday 12pm and 6pm, Sunday 11am and 5pm. Half-point byes available in any round. Prizes: 1st - $60 Best Buy Gift Card, 2nd - $30 Barnes & Noble Gift Card, 3rd - $15 Starbucks Gift Card.  Parking: Free self-parking. Mail entries with registration information to: North American Chess Association (make checks payable to), 4957 Oakton Street Suite 113, Skokie, IL 60077. Online registration preferred. Additional questions email to: sevan@nachess.org . USCF and FIDE rated. For online registration and list of more events please visit - http://www.nachess.org/events

Kamsky blows Topalov off board with Black

Topalov's Exchange sac on move 23 looked scary, but Kamsky counterattacked quickly and accurately.  Gata leads, 1½-½.

Candidates Matches underway

Eight players play knockout matches this month: the survivor will challenge Vishy Anand for the World Championship next year.

Follow the action live at http://kazan2011.fide.com/live-games.html

"Rosen Tops High School Nationals"

 Story (but no games as of 1:30 p.m. - coming soon?) at Chess Life Online.

Catching up with the ICA website

Lots of good stuff on the ICA website just in the past week!

• Leo Vilker on NM Ken Wallach's win in Highland Park and the amazing Awonder Liang
• Jon Burgess on Sam Schmakel (hey, Maret, please add HTML permalinks as a feature!)
• Jeff Wiewel on Yury Shulman at the US Championship
• Jon Burgess on the Scott Silverman Memorial and NM William Aramil's draw against GM Mesgen Amanov

If you go to the main ICA page and scroll down to "Chess in Philly," you'll be able to play through Aramil-Amanov in Chess Flash (sorry, no permalink available).  Mesgen showed me the game afterward: he explained that William blundered a pawn in the opening (the right idea is to play Nh4 before Qb3, as in the game continuation, 8...Bc2! just wins a button).  But after that inaccuracy, Aramil defended flawlessly (when pawns are on one side of the board, R+N are much stronger than R+B).  33.Re5! is a particularly good defensive move.  

Eric Rosen wins National High School Championship!!

Stolen from proud father Brad Rosen's Facebook post:

It's official--- Eric won the 2011 National High School Chess Championship this weekend in Nashville scoring 7.0/7.0, including a final round victory over IM Marc Arnold. Pretty amazing....thanx to Deren Getz for the photo and keeping Andi and I posted during the final.

The crosstable has already been posted: there were 1134 players in six sections, including 294 players in the Championship Section.  Eric's rating went from 2274 to 2333. Performance ratings involving perfect scores are very misleading, but I'm calculating a 2700 performance rating for Eric in this event!

Two Illinois teams finished in the top ten in the nation (click on "Team Standings:" to see details).  Led by Rosen, Niles North finished fourth.  But all four players had outstanding events: based on pre-event ratings, Rafeh Qazi's 4½ points was a phenomenal performance.

ROSEN, Eric S (7.0,2278)
QAZI, Rafeh (4.5,1621)
SPIEGEL, Evan (4.0,1767)
GUPTA, Saagar (3.5,1809)

Whitney Young finished tenth, led by Sam Schmakel and National High School Blitz champion Michael Auger, each with an excellent 5-2 score.

SCHMAKEL, Sam A (5.0,2099)
AUGER, Michael W (5.0,2111)
SWAN, Charles (3.5,1930)
WAECHTER, Mark Woodbury (3.0,1617)
MEI, Brian (3.0,1309)
CHAN, Kessidy (3.0,1617)
PENA, Cristian (3.0,1431)

Gata Kamsky repeats as U.S. Champion

Story at US Chess Online.  Congratulations to Gata Kamsky, a most worthy champion, and good luck against Veselin Topalov in next month's Candiates Match! 

And double congratulations to Chicago's Yury Shulman, who showed once again that he's at the very top of American chess.  He won the title in 2008, finished second in 2010, and second once again this year.  Yury and Viktoria's son Gabriel was born this past Sunday.

Michael Auger wins National High School Blitz Championship

The senior at Whitney Young is in my opinion the most naturally gifted player we've had since Morris Giles.  Congratulations!

Crosstable here. Michael's teammate, Sam Schmakel of Whitney Young, took second on tiebreaks; Eric Rosen of Niles North tied for seventh.  Aakassh Meduri of Hinsdale Central tied for ninth.

Standings for the main event are here.  After three rounds, Eric Rosen and Evan Spiegel of Niles North and Mark Waechter of Hinsdale Central all have perfect scores.

K-12 chess camps this summer

As always, no endorsement, express or implied! (NM William Aramil and I were playing on adjacent boards in the last few rounds of the Philadelphia Open.)

Summer Chess Camps

June 20th-24th, 2011 at Whitney Young High School, 211 S. Laflin, Chicago, Illinois

July 18th-22nd, 2011 at Grace Episcopal Church, 924 Lake Street, Oak Park, Illinois

August 1st-5th, 2011 at Creativo! School, 5407 W. Devon, Chicago, Illinois

August 8th-12th, 2011 at Grace Episcopal Church, 924 Lake Street, Oak Park, Illinois

Experienced Tournament Section (Whitney Young Camp Only)
Featuring International Grandmaster Dmitry Gurevich
--2009 US Open Champion
--2010 Illinois Open Champion
Open to all 4th-12th grade chess players. Players should be regular participants in USCF rated chess tournaments. Space is limited.
Advanced Entry Fee - $300 (until 3/31/11); Regular Entry Fee - $350
Time - 9am to 3pm

Scholastic Section
Featuring National Master William Aramil
--2003 Denker National High School Champion
--Author of Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess Openings
--Trainer of 2011 Whitney Young High School State Champions
Open to K-12 chess players of all levels
Details: Advanced Entry Fee - $200 (until 5/31/11 for WY, 7/1/11 for OP, and 7/15/11 for Creativo); Regular Entry Fee - $250
Time - 9am to 2pm (Extended time from 2pm to 3pm for an additional $25/week)

Both sections include daily lunch, t-shirt, and recreation time at the high school gym (WY) and at nearby parks.

Register Online
For more information contact Paul Kash at paulkash@dynamicchessinc.com or (773) 512-2811

Shulman beats Hess: championship finals against Kamsky begin today

Big news from Yury's interview with Maurice Ashley and Jennifer Shahade: Gabriel Shulman was born on Sunday. Congratulations to mom and dad!

Coverage at Chess Life Online and ChessBase.

The two-game finals match begins at 2 p.m.: follow it live at uschesschamps.com!

The shortest post

Hello from Philadelphia! Sometimes playing chess gets in the way of blogging about chess.

Gata Kamsky beat Sam Shankland to reach the finals of the 2011 U.S. Championship. Our own Yury Shulman faces Robert Hess in a rapid playoff to determine the other finalist tomorrow. Follow the action at uschesschamps.com: the Shulman-Hess playoff begins at 2 p.m.

The longest game

Many websites claim that the longest possible chess game is 5,949 moves. Very few of them attempt to explain this number. I'm sure that it's wrong. In the first place, there is no limit to a game's length unless you compel the players to invoke the 50-move rule. A player may claim a draw if no pawn has been moved, and no piece captured, for 50 moves, but it's not mandatory. Rule 9.3 of the Laws of Chess provides that the draw occurs only if a correct claim of such is made by the player who is on move. For an example of this in practice, see Fressinet-Kosteniuk. The last capture of the game (of the last pawn) was on move 121, leaving a rook and bishop verus rook ending. Yet the game continued until move 237, when Fressinet resigned. (In Wikipedia, I explain why Fressinet did not try to claim a draw.)

OK, we'll take care of that by stipulating that each player must invoke the 50-move rule as soon as possible. We'll also stipulate that the game will be declared an immediate draw once there is insufficient material to checkmate (e.g. king and bishop versus king, king and knight versus king, or king versus king).

There is another wrinkle. Traditionally, one thinks of 50 moves as beginning with White's move number x and ending with Black's move x + 49 (for example, moves 1-50). Suppose, however, that White captures a piece on, say, move 1,000, and the next capture or pawn move occurs on Black's move 1,050. There is a strong argument that the interval from Black's 1,000th move through White's 1,050th move constitute 50 moves by each side, thus allowing the 50-move rule to be invoked. (Black has played moves 1000 to 1049, and White, moves 1001 to 1050.) I'm sure there's some simple way to deal with this, but since it doesn't come to mind, I'm going to ignore this problem. My final number may thus be a little too high - but it will be enough above 5,949 to show that that number is wrong.

OK, let's start counting. The players start out just bouncing their knights around. 1.Nc3 Nf6 2.Nh3 Na6. The 50th move by both players is 50.Ng8 Rxg8. The 100th moves is 100.Nb8 Rxb8. For the next 100 moves, Black keeps moving his knights, while White plays Ra1-b1-a1 and Rh1-g1-h1. White captures Black's knights on moves 150 and 200. 200 moves down, knights gone, we move on to pawn moves. There are sixteen pawns, each of which can move six times. 6 x 16 x 50 = 4,800. Then you take 50 moves each to capture the sixteen promoted pawns, the four rooks, the four bishops, and the two queens. 26 x 50 = 1,300. Make sure to save a rook or a queen for last, so the game can't be declared a draw because there's no mating material. After the pieces and pawns are gone, we're left with two kings, and the game is declared a draw. How long is the game? Adding the numbers together, we get 200 + 4,800 + 1,300 = 6,300 moves. As I say, this number may be a little too high because of the wrinkle explained in the prior paragraph. But even if we reduced it by a fiftieth (which I'm sure is too high), the number would be 6,174, so 5,949 is clearly too low. Another myth bites the dust.

UPDATE: Professor John Gossage points out a small flaw in my count. The pawns will not be able to get past each other unless you give them something to capture. So a few moves will have to be subtracted from my 6,300 number to account for that.

FURTHER ADDENDUM: Phony Benoni observes as ChessGames.com, "I think the pawn captures might have more of an effect on your longest move computation than you think. For all the pawns to promote, there must be at least eight pawn captures. For example, White might play axb, cxd, exf, gxh, while Black plays bxa, dxc, fxe, hxg.

This would reduce your count by 400 moves, dropping it from 6300 to 5900. The difference might be due to the usual counters not making your assumption to immediately declare a draw with K vs. K before playing an additional 50 moves."

Hmm, I'm afraid Phony Benoni makes an excellent point. I figured that each pawn move and each piece capture would add another 50 moves to the game's length. If many of the pawn moves have to be both pawn moves and piece captures, that radically reduces the number of moves. So it seems that I am full of it and that 5,949 or something close to it may indeed be correct. Dang. As Emily Litella would say, "Never mind."

YET ANOTHER ADDENDUM: Correspondence Grandmaster Jesper Norgaard says that the correct number is 5,898 - counting king versus king as an instant draw, which is a relatively recent addition to the FIDE Laws of Chess. So, taking the rosiest view of things, you could say that I was on the right track, apart from failing to recognize that eight pawn captures are necessary and that these shave 400 moves off the maximum.

Song-Mitkov

Mitkov is joint leader after 3; he's playing round 4 now.

Amanov-Lapshun

William Penn and Mesgen Amanov

Center City Philadelphia is a wonderful place to visit: lots to see and do, many great placed to eat. Walking is a pleasure!

Chicagoland organizers, please give some thought to your out-of-town guests when planning weekend events!

Daniel Wright Jr. High (Lincolnshire) at K-8 Nationals

Congratulations to Alex Bian, Conrad Oberhaus, Zachary Holecek, and Victoria Bian, who led Daniel Wright Jr. High to 2nd place in K-8 nationals.

First place was (of course?) New York's I.S. 318 team.  Now that Elizabeth Vicary is engaged and maddeningly succesful, we do not find her quite so charming ;-)

Hat tip to David Holecek.

1 NYI318 I.S. 318, Brooklyn,NY (25)           23.5 92.5 126.5 205.0 97.0 
             BLACK, James A, Jr (6.5,2156)     
             FENG, Danny (6.0,1993)            
             KIM, David (5.5,1777)             
             WILLIAMS, Rashawn J (5.5,1778)    
  2 ILDWJH Daiel Wright JHS, Lincolnshire, (5)  19.5 70.0  98.0 139.0 77.0 
             BIAN, Alex (5.5,1839)             
             OBERHAUS, Conrad (5.0,1888)       
             HOLECEK, Zachary (4.5,1907)       
             BIAN, Victoria (4.5,1516)    

Citadel's CICL blog

Matthias Pfau reports on Citadel's CICL season and provides video commentary on several of his teammates' games.   Check it out!

25 CICL players are playing in Citadel's summer league tournament.  The conditions are ideal, and the folks at Citadel are most gracious hosts.

Hello from Philadelphia

How can anyone lose the White side of the Catalan in 24 moves?  I just did, and I've got eight rounds of torture to go!

GM Amanov and NM Aramil are both here: of course, they were paired against each other.  (They're still playing: looks drawish.)

NM Andrew Karklins lost to an IM in the first round.

Nice field for this weekend's Scott Silverman Memorial

IM Felecan, FM Chow, and NMs Jayakumar, Weber, and Burgess are among the preregistrants, not to mention the legendary Les Bale.  Register now: the field will be capped at 40.

Last-round pairings at K-8 Nationals

I believe that play is already over; no results posted online yet....Board "65" is top board in this event.

65.     Mc Clanahan, Gav (5.5,ILG009,1958)     Karamsetty, Jeev (5.5,VAH001,2158) 
66.     Li, Brian S (5.5,VAC003,2044)          Black, James A,  (5.5,NYI318,2156) 
67.     Deatrick, Alexan (5.5,MIA007,1916)     Colas, Joshua (5.0,NYW006,2181) 
68.     Wang, Tianqi (5.0,NCJMRO,1998)         Pershad, Yash (5.0,AZS011,1755) 
69.     Feng, Danny (5.0,NYI318,1993)          Wolfe, Tip (5.0,VAMOOD,1908) 
70.     Attanagoda, Isur (5.0,VALOUA,1958)     Williams, Rashaw (5.0,NYI318,1778) 
71.     Best, Ronald, Jr (5.0,MDB015,1753)     Fishbein, Matthe (5.0,MEC002,1942) 
72.     Sen, Samir (4.5,WAV007,2067)           Mittal, Rohan (4.5,AZT003,1794) 
73.     Berman, Jacob (4.5,NYN007,1821)        Ainsworth, Micha (4.5,NYW006,1993) 
74.     Holecek, Zachary (4.5,ILDWJH,1907)     Kim, David (4.5,NYI318,1777) 
75.     Zinski, Maximili (4.5,ILW006,1770)     Li, Richard Zide (4.5,VAC003,1902) 
76.     Cao, Alvin (4.5,VAF001,1735)           Bian, Alex (4.5,ILDWJH,1839) 
77.     Mhaskar, Rohan (4.5,WIB003,1825)       Daniel, Tarun (4.5,GARIVE,1585) 
78.     Kobajlo, Jakob (4.5,NYI318,1643)       Moon, Kyle (4.0,NYP126,2045) 
79.     Chen, Jackson (4.0,COSUMM,1916)        Garcia, John Pau (4.0,NYI318,1697) 
80.     Song, Edward (4.0,MIBOUL,1912)         Mathine, Thomas (4.0,AZT021,1697) 
81.     Oberhaus, Conrad (4.0,ILDWJH,1888)     Bikus, Joey (4.0,ILM004,1689) 
82.     Dommalapati, Abh (4.0,VAF001,1692)     Bagley, Taylor M (4.0,KYL010,1885) 
83.     Schein, Aaron O (4.0,NYHORA,1867)      Cai, Jesse (4.0,VALONG,1686) 
84.     Zhou, Jonathan (4.0,INCANT,1699)       Marupudi, Pranav (4.0,NJM009,1857) 
85.     Chu, Ken N (4.0,NCC017,1839)           Lu, Mandy (4.0,MIP002,1685) 
86.     Tuff, Sean Theod (4.0,MNFALC,1652)     Nguyen, Kendrick (4.0,AZS016,1821) 
87.     Li, Hans (4.0,VAC003,1646)             Chen, Derek H (4.0,AZT003,1817) 
88.     Bhatta, Rohit (4.0,TXE008,1676)        Mendez, Fernando (4.0,TXVELA,1812) 
89.     Whitehorn, Grego (4.0,PAP002,1810)     Naguleswaran, Ann (4.0,OHDCE,1644) 
90.     Santoyo, Edgar A (4.0,TXVELA,1644)     Rivera, Randy (4.0,NYI318,1800) 
91.     Mo, Jack (4.0,PAP007,1614)             Coulter, Jarod M (4.0,AZC010,1791) 
92.     Shankar, Roshan  (4.0,ILW002,1592)     Khattar, Tanmay (4.0,VAF001,1765) 
93.     Rajasekaran, Vig (4.0,VAMOOD,1725)     Chandler, Camero (4.0,NCC003,1525) 
94.     Pennock, Joshua  (4.0,AZT003,1493)     Sun, Abe (4.0,ILG011,1717) 
95.     Lorenzon, Marco (4.0,MIA006,1715)      Li, Haoxuan (4.0,NCJMRO,1476) 
96.     Mc Clanahan, Bry (3.5,ILG009,1845)     Budejen-Jerez, A (4.0,PAJRMA,1256) 

4-round Swiss at North Shore CC tomorrow

If you drop me an email for your event, I'll generally cut-and-paste the notice "as-is."  Sometimes I forget: it's OK to remind me!

Sunday April 17 

North Shore Chess Center G/45 - 4R-SS G/45 + 10/sec increment. North Shore Chess Center, 5500 West Touhy Ave Suite A, Skokie, IL 60077.847.423.8626. EF: $20 for non-members of the chess center, $15 for members of the chess center received by 4/16. All $5 more onsite. Onsite registration - up to 15 minutes prior to round 1 or round 2. If registering prior to round 2, you will receive a half-point bye for round 1. Round times: 1pm for round one and then 15 minutes after final game from previous round completed. Half-point byes available in any round. Prizes: Book prizes for top three finishers. Biggest upset (150+ points): Free entry to following month G/45 + book prize.Parking: Free self-parking. Mail entries with registration information to:North American Chess Association (make checks payable to), 4957 Oakton Street Suite 113, Skokie, IL 60077. Online registration preferred. Additional questions email to: sevan@nachess.org. USCF rated. For online registration and list of more events please visit - http://www.nachess.org/events