Youth Invitationals: Second Round

Second Round Pairings:

Denker Qualifier

Dubin v. Moskwa  0-1

Meduri v. Kogen  0-1

Schmakel v. Qazi  1-0

Girls' Invitational

Harihara v. Padgett 1-0

Mangalam v. Xu  0-1
Provine v. Liu 0-1

Barber Qualifier

Li v.  Gilchrist   1-0

Bronfeyn v. Lehmann  0-1
Kalgahtgi  v. Heil 1-0
Adve v. Sun  1/2-1/2

Xiao v.  Parker-Turner 1/2-1/2

Hrach v. Do 0-1

11:00 AM:  The second round is underway.  Aakaash Meduri is seeking to avenge his loss to Jonathan Kogen in last year's Denker Qualifier, which is the only previous meeting between the two.  In the other two Denker matches the players are meeting for the first time.

11:15 AM:  It's closed games in the Denker this morning.  Schmakel plays the English and Qazi responds with 1...e5.  Moskwa is playing the Grunfeld and Dubin goes with the Bf4 line.  Meduri opened with 1.d4 and Kogen has put paws on d6, e6, and h6.  I'm not sure what that variation is called.

11:20 AM:  Harihara is playing the King's Indian Attack against Padgett French.  Mangalam and Liu look to be playing the Four Knights Game.  Provine started out with the Grand Prix Attack against Liu's Sicilian, but now they have transposed into the Scheveningen variation.  Gilchrist is playing the Albin Counter-Gambit against Li (at least I think that's what it's called) while Lehmann simply played the Queen's Gambit Declined against Bronfeyn.

11:30 AM:  Schamakel has invited Qazi to build up a big center with pawns on d5, e4, and f5.  Kogen's defense seems to be in the Queen's Indian/Hedgehog neighbor, and Dubin snatched the c7 pawn.

11:35 AM:  Mangalam has opened a little space around Xu's king with Bxf6 gxf6, but her king is on that side of the board.  Provine castled long which means that fireworks may be forthcoming shortly.

11:40 AM:  Kalgahtgi  played an Open Sicilian against Heil while Hrach played a Closed Sicilian against Do.  Adve and Sun are playing an Italian Game while Xiao and Turner are in the Vienna.

11:50 AM:  I think that Kogen's defense can safely be called a Hedgehog at this point.  Moskwa offered Dubin a bishop which was declined as he is already lagging in development.  Mangalam is trying to open up the position to take advantage of Xu's drafty king position.  Liu is leaving her king in the center for the time being. Li seems to have neutralized Gilchrist's gambit.

11:55 AM:  Although Kalgahtgi played the Open Sicilian, it's Heil who's attacking on the kingside.

12:05 PM:  Hrach is attacking aggressively although he is leaving quite of bit of space around his king to do it.  Moskwa is trying his best to get at Dubin's uncastled king.  Qazi played ...dxc4 and his center is looking slightly less imposing.

12:10 PM:  Lehmann's got a pawn on e2 which is either going to be very very strong or very very weak. Xu seems to be thwarting Mangalam's attempts to open up the position.

12:15 PM:  Gilchrist has recovered his pawn at the price of a cramped position.  Provine is pressing forward in the center as Liu has refrained from castling.

12:25 PM:  Meduri has finally decide to make contact with e5.  Dubin is still ahead by a pawn but his king is trapped in the middle by his bishop on f1 and his queen on e2.

12:25 PM:  First result:  Lehmann defeats Bronfeyn.  It turns out the pawn was very very strong.

12:35 PM:  Xu has managed to turn the half-open g-file from a liability into an asset.  Meduri is turning his space advantage into a kingside attack.

12:45 PM:  Xu has broken open the g-file and Moskwa has gone up an exchange.  Kalgahtgi  v. Heil and Hrach v. Do are both in wide open attacks and I'm not sure who's ahead in either one.

12:50 PM:  Meduri played Bxh6 and it doesn't look like Kogen can take it.  I know these Hedgehog positions can be stronger than they look, but I wouldn't want to be defending it.  Meduri also has a knight on c3 en prise to a pawn on d4 but it doesn't look like Kogen can take that either.

12:55 PM:  Moskwa has gone up by a clean rook against Dubin.

1:00 PM:  The dust is starting to settle and Kalgahtgi is up by two pawns.  Turner has knight and two extra pawns against Xiao rook and pawns, but the extra pawns look pretty weak.  Moskwa defeats Dubin.

1:05 PM:  Liu seems to have weathered Provine's attack.  She finally castled and she's up a pawn.  Harihara is generating some serious pressure on Padgett's king.

1:05 PM:  Li defeats Gilchrist

1:20 PM:  Harihara converted her attack into a rook plus ending.  Kogen finally took one of the pieces Meduri offered and he is hanging on.

1:25 PM:  Adve looks like he has a winning king and pawn ending.  Schmakel and Qazi have only played twenty moves and only traded a pair of pawns.

1:30 PM:  Hrach has two rooks and five pawns against Do's rook, two bishop and four pawns.  Adve is having trouble finding the right plan.  Harihara defeats Padgett.

1:35 PM:  Xu defeats Mangalam.

1:45 PM:  Kogen appears to have consolidated the extra piece.  Schmakel and Qazi have traded a couple  pairs of minor pieces but there is still a lot of lumber on the board.

1:55 PM:  Kalgahtgi defeats Heil.  Adve and Sun draw.

2:05 PM:  Schmakel has a queen, a good bishop and seven pawns against Qazi's queen, knight and seven pawns.  Both players are approaching ten minutes on the clock.  Liu defeats Provine.  Do defeats Hrach.

2:10 PM:  Kogen has rook, bishop and two pawns v. Meduri's rook and two pawns.

2:15 PM:  Turner and Xiao are in an even pawn ending with all the major pieces still on the board.  Turner is down to one minute on his clock.

2:25 PM:  Turner and Xiao draw.  Schmakel penetrates with his queen and picks off a couple pawns.

2:30 PM:  Kogen defeats Meduri.

2:40 PM:  Schmakel defeats Qazi.

Second Round Games are all posted:  Denker, Girl's Invitational, Barber.

Round 1: Heil-Adve

From Heil-Adve after 22...Na2.

At first glance, one might think that this is just a typical position in K-8 chess with pieces en prise, kings in the middle, and development ignored.  That would be a mistake.

This was in fact one of the most hard fought and interesting games of the first round.  It wasn't that the players didn't understand basic opening principles.  Rather, they understood them well enough to know that sometimes the tactical demands of the position take precedence.  Not flawless, but great fun to watch.

Take a look. 

Round 1: Xu-Harihara

I was going to title this post "Penny Xu, bloodthirsty killer," but thought better of it.

I've seen a few games of the winner of the 2012 Greater Peoria Open: kingside attacks are her thing!

Xu-Harihara

White to play

The real attacking prowess was in building up this already-decisive position: Xu's execution is ruthless.

23.Bxh6 (OK, we all saw that) 23...Rg8 24.Rf1 Nac4 25.Bxc4 Nxc4

 Xu-Harihara

White to play

26.Qf4 f6 27.Qh4 (she makes it look simple, no?) 27...gxh6

Xu-Harihara

White to play and crunch

28.Rxf6! and White won in a couple moves...

Round 1: Kogen-Qazi

Thanks to Vince Hart for his wonderful work in yesterday's posts!  Please scroll below to read Vince's coverage.

The Jonathan Kogen—Rafeh Qazi game from the ICA Denker Qualifier (state invitational high school championship) was extremely well played by both sides, and a draw seems logical. Here are some nice moments:

Kogen-Qazi

White to play

With 25.Re3, White envisions an attack on h7.  There's no mate (White would have to bring the bishop on c1 to the a3-f8 diagonal), but it's not necessarily fun for Black, either.   

Qazi avoids this with the cool defensive move 25...Qe7! 26.Rh3 h5!  If White doesn't take en passant, the h-file buildup was pointless, but in that case, Black can exchange queens.  So 27.gxh6 (the g5 pawn takes the h5 pawn as if it had only moved one square to h6: our silly en passant rule is only an option immediately after the opponent's pawn has moved two squares) 27...Qxh4 28.Rxh4 Bf6

 Kogen-Qazi

White to play

So White has to move the attacked Rh4, no?  No! Kogen plays a cool move of his own: 29.Be4!?, with the point that 29...Bxh4 is answered by 30.Bxc6, forking a8 and e8, and recovering the Exchange.   

Black decided to work on the backward c-pawn instead: 29...Bxe4 30.Rxe4 Rac8 31.Bd2 (finally completing development!) 31...Red8 32.Re2 e4

Kogen-Qazi

White to play

White is temporarily a pawn up, but Black has the initiative.  White played 33.Be1, which wasn't really necessary.  White was probably concerned about the fork trick 33.a4 Rxd2? 34.Rxd2 Bxc3 (echoing the tactical theme of the previous diagram), but the pin 35.Rc1 wins.  It doesn't really matter, however, as Black has plenty of activity after 33.a4 Bxc3 34.Bxc3 Rxc3 35.axb5 axb5 36.Rxe4 Rd2: in rook endings, rooks on the seventh rank often offer full compensation for a pawn.

Very well played!

Barber Round 1

Girls' Invitational Round 1

Denker Round 1

Youth Invitationals: First Round

First Round Pairings are as follows:

Denker Qualifier

Dubin v. Schmakel  0-1

Moskwa v. Meduri  1/2-1/2

Kogen v. Qazi  1/2-1/2

Josh Dubin and Sam Schamel last played in 2003.  Josh won.    Robert Moskwa defeated Aakash Meduri at the 2012 Tim Just Winter Open.  Jonathan Kogen and Rafeh Qazi have never played.

Girls' Invitational

Provine v. Padget   1/2-1/2

Liu v. Mangalam  1-0
Xu v. Harihara    1-0

Barber Qualifier

Parker-Turner v. Li  0-1

Sun v. Bronfeyn  0-1

Heil v. Adve  1/2-1/2

Lehmann v. Hrach  1-0

Gilchrist v. Xiao   1-0

Do v. Kalgahtgi    0-1

I will update this post as the round goes on.

6:30 PM:  It's a half hour before the round and about there are about a half dozen players here so far, mostly from the Barber Qualifier.

7:00 PM:  Jerry Neugarten, Chairman of the ICA Youth Committee pushes the first pawn and we are underway.

7:20 PM:  Schmakel plays the Semi-Slav against Dubin. Meduri plays what looks like a Dragon/Najdorf hybrid against Moskwa.  Qazi is playing the Breyer variation of the Ruy Lopez against Kogen.  Padget is playing the French against Provine and Liu and Mangalam have a Catalan going.  Most of the Barber games have entered variations whose names I do not know.

7:40 PM:  The players still seem to be feeling each other out.  I'm not sure whether all the Denker games are still in book, but they look like fairly thematic positions.  In the Girl's and Barber, there is a pawn up here and there, but no more than that.

7:45 PM:  Heil v. Adve is the first game to heat up.  Out of an English Opening, White is up the exchange and Black has lost the right to castle, but White's knight is trapped on a8.

7:55 PM:  Do and Kalgahtgi have reached an ending where Black has 2 rooks, a bishop and 6 pawns against White's rook, knight, bishop, and 6 pawns.  At this point, Black's rooks haven't found any open lines and White seems to have a good grip on the center.  Moskwa is poised for the thematic kingside attack against Meduri's Dragon, but Black's hasn't castled yet.

8:15 PM: Heil v. Adve and Do v. Kalgahtgi are still the only games with a material difference greater than a single pawn.   In the former, White's knight is still stuck on a8, but he is threatening to open some holes for it to get out with his b and c pawns.  In the latter, Black seems to be finding some room for his rooks to operate.  Lehmann and Hrach have castled on opposite sides out of a Petroff.  Material is still even,  but White's pawn storm seems to be farther along.

8:25 PM: Liu is the first player to go up by as much as a piece by forcing a Black knight to the side of the board where it was trapped.

8:30 PM:  Schmakel has gone up a pawn on Dubin.  Lehmann has got a pawn to g6.  After shifting the focus to the center, Meduri finally played ...0-0.

8:35 PM:  The first result is in.  Provine and Padget agree to a draw.  It looks like Provine forced a repetition.  Qazi plays ...d5 against Kogen and it looks like things will get exciting.

8:50 PM:  Kalgahtgi has managed to activate his rooks and picked up a pawn.  Lehmann sacked a pawn and it's looking a bit drafty around Black's king.

9:00 PM:  Second game to finish, Kalgahtgi defeats Do.  Schmakel has gone up by a piece against Dubin.   It looks like Kogen has sacked a pawn to lock up the center and gain some freedom to attack on the kingside.

9:15 PM:  Dubin resigns against Schmakel.

9:25 PM:  Kogen has gone ahead by a pawn on Qazi although it looks vulnerable.  Lehmann converted his attack into a rook and pawns v. bishop and pawns endgame advantage.  Heil still has a knight sitting on a8, but Adve has knights on a2 and b1.  I'm not sure what's going on there.  Meduri broke with ...d5 and Moskwa has an isolated pawn on g5 that may be a liability.

9:35 PM:  Gilchrist defeats Xiao.  Bronfeyn defeats Sun.

9:40 PM:  Qazi got his pawn back and it's rook and pawns v. rook and pawns with Qazi's rook looking more active.

9:45 PM:  Lehmann defeats Hrach and Li defeats Turner.

9:50 PM:  Xu has developed a scary looking attack against Harihara's king.

10:00 PM:  Kogen v. Qazi is starting to look like one of those rook and pawn endings where all the pawns are going to get eaten by the rooks.  Meduri seems to have found a way to exploit Moskwa's pawn weaknesses.

10:05 PM:  Kogen and Qazi agree to a draw.  Meduri is up a pawn on Moskwa.

10:25 PM:  Xu defeats Harihara.

10:45 PM:  Liu defeats Mangalam.  Heil has a rook and three pawns against Adve's two knights and three pawns.  Moskwa and Meduri both have queen and three pawns.

11:15 PM:  Heil and Adve draw.  Meduri has queen and two pawns v. Moskwa's queen and one pawn.

11:30 PM:  Moskwa and Meduri draw.

I hope to get most of the games posted tonight when I get home.

12:02 AM:  I'm home and I'll post the Denker games as soon as I input Robert and Aakaash's 81 move draw.  Then we'll see how many more I can get posted before I fall asleep.

12:27 AM:  Denker Round 1 is posted.

12:55 AM:  Here's the Girl's Invitational Round 1.

1:05 AM:  Here are three games from the Barber Round 1.  I think that's all I've got in me for tonight.

11:10 AM: All the first round Barber games have been posted.

Youth Invitationals this Weekend

Three different invitational tournaments will be held Friday through Sunday at the North Shore Chess Center.   The Denker Qualifier and the Barber Qualifier will determine the Illinois representatives at the Denker Tournament of High School Champions and the Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions both of which will be held during the U.S. Open in Vancouver Washington in August.  The winner of each qualifier receive a travel stipend to attend the national tournaments.   There is also Girl's Invitational whose winner will receive a travel stipend to a designated national event.

Participants in the Denker Qualifier will be Sam Schmakel, Jonathan Kogen, Aakaash Meduri, Robert Moskwa, Josh Dubin, and Rafeh Qazi. The Girls Invitational will feature Yue (Penny) Xu, Adele Padgett,  Shayna Provine, Caeley Harihara, Miranda Liu, and Shreya Mangalam. George Li, Abe Sun, Anshul Adve, Spencer Lehmann, Jack Xiao, Vincent Do, Phillip Parker Turner, Daniel Bronfeyn, Samuel Heil, Jonathan Hrach, Ian Gilchrist, Haoyang Yu will be playing in the Barber Qualifier.

I will be attending the events and blogging about it here.

Earlybird entry fee for Chicago Open due tomorrow!

Time to open the piggy bank!  The Chicago Open will held in Wheeling May 24th to May 28th.  Only the Open Section has a 5-day schedule; most of us will be playing a 4-day, 3-day, or 2-day schedule.  Info here.

For the top seven sections, you can enter by tomorrow for $205 to $207; preregistration will cost about 10% more after tomorrow, and onsite registration will cost $250.

Players over 65 get a $100 discount; the Under 1100 and Under 900 sections are significantly less expensive.  Players who have never been rated over 2200 FIDE (like me) would have to pay an extra $100 to play in the Open Section.

While your primary goal in the Chicago Open is to have fun playing chess, a good secondary goal is to take more money from Bill Goichberg than you give him.  So enter early: it's good for you and good for him!

Enter online here.  Before you complete your entry, you can renew your Illinois Chess Association membership (I just did!.  Then, back on CCA's Chicago Open entry website, click the radio button that looks like the one below to receive $5 off on your Chicago Open entry fee AND be eligible for Illinois Tour prizes!

ICA member with paid entry?:

$5 off to ICA member

March chess roundup

Apologies, this link is three weeks overdue...

Dan Leroy reports on the ICA website.

Proof that spring has arrived

As if proof were needed this year.

"It's time to develop toward the center"

Introducing the Chicago Chess Center!

Glenwood March Chess Tournament this Saturday, March 31st

Registration begins at noon on Saturday: info on the ICA website.

Sounds like a pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

"Awonder Liang, the eight-year-old chess prodigy"

Hat tip to GM Mesgen Amanov, who also makes an appearance in the video.

Another review of Brooklyn Castle

Let's do this (the chess program, not necessarily the documentary) in Chicago, and let's do this on a large scale.

Soon to be a major motion picture: Charlize Theron is Elizabeth Vicary.

More support for ICA's Chicago Public Schools proposal

Chess teaches children many of the critical thinking skills necessary to succeed in an information economy. So let's bring chess to Chicago's Title I schools. (Generally, at least 40% of students in Title I schools come from low-income families.) Schools that can afford to pay service providers will of course be able to continue their current relationships.

Personal reflection: when I was a teenager, my family lived in public housing in an Appalachian coal mining town. I wound up getting a scholarship to MIT. Would this have happened without chess? My decades-belated thanks to Mr. Reed, Mr. Dombrowski, Mr. Meyers, and many others in Shamokin, Pennsylvania: debts like this can only be paid forward.

That darn Kantorovich/Steckner position

Mark Dvoretsky made the winning technique famous in Dvortesky's Endgame Manual.  But is this practical rook ending a draw after all?

White to play: 

Is 1.Kd4 sufficient to win? 

 Karsten Müller explains in his Chess Cafe column.

A trap in the Black Knights' Tango

The Black Knights' Tango (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6!?) is an offbeat but sound defense that has been favored by such players as Joel Benjamin and Alex Yermolinsky. Black immediately takes a lead in development, and will strike back in the center with ...e5 or ...d5. The opening has successfully weathered aggressive attempts at refutation like the Lunge Variation 3.d5 Ne5 4.e4 e6 (4...Nxe4?? 5.Qd4!) 5.f4 Ng6 6.e5 Ne4.

White players often are unfamiliar with the Tango, and commonly fall into the trap below. I have played the opening many times on FICS, and find that about 10% of my opponents have fallen into it. After 3.Nc3 (3.Nf3, the most common move, avoids Black's counter-thrust 3...e5) e5! 4.d5 Ne7 5.e4 Ng6 6.Bd3 Bc5 (see diagram), the blunder 7.Nge2?? is one of White's most popular moves! The database www.365chess.com contains 12 games with 7.Nf3, 11 with 7.a3, and 10 with 7.Nge2?? After 7.Nge2?? Ng4!, striking at the f2 square, White is already lost. For example, (a) 8.Be3 Bxe3 9.fxe3 and now either (1) 9...Nxe3 10.Qd2 Nh4 (or 10...Nxg2+), or (2) 9...Qf6; (b) 8.b4?! Nxf2 9.Qb3?? Nxd3+ 0-1 Collier-Yermolinsky, New York Open 1993; (c) 8.Rf1 (sad, but maybe the best practical try) Nxh2! (better than 8...Qh4 9.Ng3! Nxh2? 10.Rh1! with a weird position where Black's knight is marooned on h2) 9.Rh1 Ng4 10.Rf1 Qh4. White often makes a terrible position even worse with (d) 8.0-0? Qh4!, striking both h2 and f2, as in Kosov-Chiarotto below and many other games. Black wins an exchange and a pawn after the forced 9.h3 Nxf2 10.Rxf2 Qxf2+ 11.Kh1 (not 11.Kh2?? Nh4! winning the house, Seifert (2099)-Llobel Cortel (2198), Litohoto 1999, since White cannot play 12.Qg1 Nf3+). White gave up after a few more moves.

Brooklyn Castle

Brooklyn Castle Trailer from Rescued Media on Vimeo.

Review here. These young players are amazing. but jeepers, give me a break: "Just to give you an idea of how incredible these young kids are at chess, if Albert Einstein, who was rated 1800, were to join the team he’d only rank fifth." Have any of these kids mistakenly believed that the cosmological constant was their biggest mistake? Another review here. Thanks to Mike Cardinale and to US Chess Online.

Isaac Braswell memorial service

Per Gloria Johnson of the YMCA, the memorial will be a "very informal" gathering of Isaac's friends from Lawson and elsewhere.  

If you're in the West Loop and want to share a taxi around 10:30 tomorrow, please drop me a line.

PLACE: Lawson House YMCA, 30 W. Chicago Avenue (Chicago and Dearborn), Chicago.

DATE: Tuesday, March 13th

TIME: 11 a.m.

Gloria Johnson, the Executive Director of Lawson House, writes: "[T]he family memorial service will be Thursday at 3:30 p at A. A. Rayner Funeral Home at 318 E. 71st Street . Members of the family plan to attend the memorial service at the Y (1st fl. Lounge this morning at 11A). Residents of the Y put together a memorial altar in Issac’s memory in the lounge and it is so touching."

A wonderful endgame swindle

As we saw from his final game, Isaac Braswell was no pushover in the ending.

I was Isaac's victim in this 1999 game:

White to play

Brock-Braswell, Chicago 1999

Evaluate the position, and find White's best move

Jasaitas - Braswell, CICL, 3/1/2012

Tony was kind enough to share his notes to this game. These annotations, lighthearted yet informative, were written after Isaac's death, but days before any of us in the chess community learned the sad news. Both players had fun!

The game itself demonstrate that good things can happen to those who persevere in the face of adversity.

(Incidentally, the ratings are CICL ratings, not USCF.  While Tony's rating is probably representative of his current strength (his USCF rating, somewhat stale, is above 2000), Isaac's last USCF rating will be 2075, and he peaked above 2100.)

Three GM events at North Shore Chess Center, right now!

Busy week for the North Shore CC:

GM Georg Meier of Germany (one of Germany's top players, currently #109 in the world) is playing GM Wesley So of the Phillippines (#99 in the world).  Game one of their four-game classical match was drawn today.

And there are TWO GM norm events going on this week: a six-player double round-robin, and a ten-player single round-robin.  Local participants include GM Mesgen Amanov, IM Angelo Young, IM Florin Felecan, and cheesehead GM Josh Friedel.  GMs Bykhovsky (Israel), Boros (Hungary), Diamant (Brazil), Moradiabadi (Iran), and IMs from the USA, Canada, Israel, and Azerbaijan make the fields truly international.

IM Mackenzie Molner might be the best US hope for a GM norm in these events.

More info here!

A Love Supreme

When there is an elephant in the room, one should not ignore the elephant.

I generally try to keep this blog kid-friendly and light.  After all, chess is only a game. Feel free to skip this post: it's therapeutic for me, and (I hope) for a few others.  But this post is not kid-friendly, and it's not light.

No offense is intended to the deceased or to his many friends.  Several friends and I are heartbroken and angry at ourselves.  (Well, I am.)

And we are not the ones who were closest to Isaac...

Our dear friend Isaac Braswell had a very difficult life. He was not fortunate enough to be raised by his parents. He struggled with serious health problems, with disability, with poverty, and (we now know) with depression. But he was the most cheerful person I knew in the Chicago chess community.

And Isaac was a genius. Although there are probably a dozen or more players in Chicago's African-American community who were stronger (Isaac would have been the first to tell you that he was nowhere near Morris Giles or Marvin Dandridge in ability), I believe that Isaac had the honor of being the highest-rated active African-American tournament chess player in metropolitan Chicago at the time of his death. (Apologies if I'm overlooking someone.) His tactical sight was amazingly fast, far faster than mine and (in my opinion) faster than that of many 2300 players. There were some obvious and gaping holes in his play (as there are in mine: that's why we 2100-ish players are not masters), but there was no reason to think that with good health and a little study, he would not break that barrier soon.

Isaac looked healthier than he had for years: he'd lost considerable weight and looked like the handsome teenager I'd met in the 1990s. But he was undergoing a crisis of chess form in this year's CICL play. Not a big deal, I thought, it's something all players go through, especially those who live by the tactical sword. For example, in our match against the Citadel / U of Chicago superteam some weeks ago, he got destroyed on the White side of a Milner-Barry. (Sidebar about chess opening references in obituaries: I met a NM who's a friend of Craig Chellstorp at the funeral of a mutual friend last fall, and immediately said, "Did you know that Chellstorp was the first to play the Benko Gambit against Benko?"  My wife—good at providing clues to the clueless—nudged me and said, "He really doesn't want to talk about chess.")   Soon after that game, Isaac told us that he would not be available for the remainder of the season. It wasn't us, it was his personal problems:

Shortly thereafter, I was scheduled to play for one of the Evanston teams on the U.S. Amateur Team North. I asked Isaac whether he'd be available, and he immediately accepted.

I picked him up on Friday, February 18th, at Chicago and Dearborn. He greeted a friend, apparently a fellow Lawson YMCA resident, with a hug before he got in my car. We drove to Northbrook, talking shop and listening to Little Steven's Underground Garage.  I knew he was a jazz aficionado, but had no idea his knowledge of rock music was equally deep.

Two days later, I picked him up in the same spot, but he crossed Dearborn from the west, apparently coming from his girlfriend's home. We talked openings and listened to A Love Supreme. Isaac had lost to NM Sasha Velikanov the previous day, but won his next two games.

Between rounds 4 and 5 (still Sunday the 20th), Isaac and I were analyzing in the skittles room.  It was driving me crazy that he could see so much more than I could, and yet missing so much because of his  impulsiveness. I was trying to get him to slow down his analysis by teasing him mercilessly for the benefit of a small audience (you know who you are).  He was making grand pronunciamentos about the relevance of chess to life: I was saying "stop making sweeping generalizations, look at the darn position." My ribbing was intended to be good-natured—getting to the truth of a position has a lot to do with stripping away our preconceptions—but I wonder now whether I hurt his feelings.

So we go upstairs for round five.  Isaac played a speculative attack against Daniel Parmet, which Daniel defused without too much trouble.  It seemed to me that the game had reached a typical moment.  The Black king was walking, but White had almost run out of ammo, and had to find a move to keep Black from  consolidating and winning easily. But Isaac found an amazing sacrifice (still objectively losing) that kept the game alive.  In a computer vs. computer match, Black would win every time.  But Isaac caught Daniel in a surprising mating net.  Cool game!  He caught a ride home with a friend, and I called him to congratulate his brilliant play.  We tied for second in the USAT North (only fifth on tiebreaks, but still a great result), and Isaac's wins were critical to our success.

Isaac was so buoyed by the weekend that he returned to CICL play.  He won a game against our worthy opponents at DRW that enabled us to hold DRW to a 3-3 tie and clinched the Rogue Squadron's spot in the Industrial League playoffs.  Later that same evening, a good friend talked to Isaac for hours, and learned of his many troubles.

We had a big ratings advantage for the Tradelink match (Rogue Squadron is an "alumni" team drawing from veterans of many different CICL teams, while the Tradelink players are indeed traders and thus a "pure" team). We were expected to win fairly handily on the lower boards, which we did.  But both Isaac and I fell into opening difficulties against Tony Jasaitas and Mack Smith, respectively.  I eventually won; Isaac told me that he was probably lost against Tony, but didn't look too worried, and was in apparent good spirits.  I left (we were leading 5-0).  Isaac somehow turned an unattractive ending into a win.  6-0 shutout: not bad.  Tradelink took the loss in stride, and the two teams exchanged analysis of several interesting games the next day, Friday, March 2nd.

That very same day, Isaac took his life.  According to one eyewitness account (third-hand to me, but I know the intermediate sources very well), the witness "stood next to Isaac on the L platform before he mumbled something [...] and made a swan-style dive in front of an L train."  The coroner's ID was only made two days ago (Thursday), and the chess community only found out yesterday.

If I did not know the man, I would say that was a selfish and inconsiderate way of ending one's life.  But I cannot judge Isaac by the last minute of his life.  None of us know, or can know, what he had endured.

Isaac was one of the kindest and most good-natured people I've ever known.  He "struggled daily with the demons of his past," as a friend wrote, but he made other people smile.  He was enthusiastic in his passions, whether mastery of chess or tyro at classical guitar, and he was enthusiastic about the success of his friends, always ready with smiles, laughs, and compliments.

In the last week of his life, someone reflexively asked Isaac what he did for a living, not realizing that Isaac was unable to work full-time because of his disability.  Isaac's response was classic Isaac: "I'm blessed."

Feeling depressed?  It gets better.  You have friends in this world.

Escheriana

Via Andrew Sullivan's blog: I for one could use a mental health break. (And yes, 2^64 - 1 is a fairly large number.)

INSPIRATIONS Wireframes from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.

Isaac Braswell, rest in peace

 Isaac Braswell at the USAT North, February 18, 2012

(Maret Thorpe)

Our teammate and friend Isaac Braswell died last Friday.  Cherish your friends.

Update 3/10/12: Isaac's aunt is in town making arrangements.  We are trying to contact her via Lawson YMCA.  Lawson itself is planning a memorial, probably on Tuesday.  That's all I know at the moment: would appreciate info from those who know more.

Update 3/10 p.m (unconfirmed as of now, per a kind anon in comments).: the Lawson YMCA memorial service for Isaac will be held this Tuesday March 13th at 30 W.Chicago Avenue at 11:00 a.m.

More later....

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.

Illinois Tour: Greater Peoria Open next weekend!

Details here!

The Greater Peoria Chess Federation always organizes quality events, the Lakeview Museum is a great site, and you still have a couple days to enter this two-day event for only $35!  Have fun and boost your standing on the 2012 Illinois Tour....

If you'd like more info, contact Wayne Zimmerle at 309-692-4480 day or 309-686-0192 evenings. If you'd like to carpool, drop me a line.

Game/90 at North Shore Chess Center this Saturday

Another email cut-and-paste:

Saturday March 10, 2012 @ 10am

Saturday March 10 - North Shore Chess Center (Skokie, IL) 8th NA Amateur Open - 3R-SS G/90 + 30/sec increment. North Shore Chess Center, 5500 West Touhy Ave., Suite A, Skokie, IL 60077. 847.423.8626. EF: $40 for non-members of the chess center, $30 for members of the chess center received by 3/3. All $5 more onsite. Onsite registration - up to 15 minutes prior to round 1 or round 2. No half-point bye for round 1. Round times: 10am, 3pm, 8pm (or sooner based on when the last game ends). No byes available since this is just a 3 round event. Prizes:3.0 = $150, 2.5 = $100, 2.0 = $75; Top U1800 & U1600 - DGT 960 clock or DGT NA Clock. Comparable prizes provided if you have previously won these prizes. Biggest Upset (150+ points): Free entry to following month Amateur Open tournament + book prize. Parking: Free self-parking. Online registration only. Additional questions email to: sevan@nachess.org. USCF & FIDE rated. For online registration and list of more events please visit - www.nachess.org/events. More info and registration see http://www.nachess.org/events. Max 40 participants.

Mesgen Amanov Chess Academy

A reliable rumor has it that the greatest thing since sliced bread will soon be unveiled.

Grades K-1: Stefan Musikic goes 7-0

Of the 540 players in the four sections of the ICA K-8 Championships, only Stefan Musikic scored a perfect 7-0.  Stefan won the 86-player K-1 section by a full point over Nikolai Rhodes and Kelebrant Hays, each of whom scored 6-1, losing only to Musikic.  Aaron Gan, Emmanuel Antony, and Vishal Yelamanchili each scored 5½-1½ for equal fourth place.

Crosstable here!

Betsy Dynako and James Aman directed this section for Bubbacat Chess.  Chief TD for the whole schmeer was Wayne Clark, assisted by Keith Ammann.

Thanks to all who played, worked, parented, and volunteered at this event!

Jason Daniels wins Grade 2-3 section

162 players!!  Crosstable here.

Top-ranked Jason Daniels (1576) was held to a draw by Si Li (1019) in round 4, but won all other games to take clear first with 6½-½.  Shreya Mangalam, Sean Yu Li, Brian Gong, Kushal Mungee, and Ivan Mitkov tied for second with impressive 6-1 scores.

Gary Janssen and Donna Wallach directed for Bubbacat Chess.

Miranda Liu wins Grade 4-5 Title

Congratulations to Miranda, who had a result that most adults would be delighted with: her 6½-½ score included three wins and a draw against Class B players in the last four rounds!  Vincent Do, Nikhil Kalghatgi, Hanson Hao, Akhil Kalghtgi, Chetan Reddy, Jonathan Tan

Daniel Parmet directed for Bubbacat Chess, assisted by James Aman.

Crosstable here: 183 players in this section, including some very strong young players!  5 points was a very impressive score in this section....

ICA K-8 Championships - Samuel Heil wins Grade 6-8 Title

The results are in from Rockford!

Samuel Heil won the 109-player Grades 6-8 section with an undefeated 6½-½ score.  Phillip Parker-Turner, Joey Bikus, Andrew Fei, and Ryan Toepfer tied for second with 6-1.

Crostsable here!  Matthew Wiewel directed for Bubbacat Chess, assisted by Mike Zacate.

(Pardon my telegraphic style: tax season.)

2012 U.S. Open Championship in Vancouver, Washington

The 9-round event happens August 4-12; if you can't afford that much time off work, shorter schedules are available.  Vancouver, Washington, is a suburb of Portland, Oregon.

Info here!

Illinois K-8 Championship in Rockford this weekend

At the Clock Tower!  Details here.  Although it's been a warm winter, the outdoor pool will probably be closed.

Here's a preview  in the Rockford Register Star.

CICL action

The big fish get away precisely because they are big fish. David Franklin of the Rogue Squadron annotates his loss last week to Igor Tsyganov of DRW Trading Group. (Last November, Igor drew GM Alexander Shabalov at King's Island.)

The Kamikaze Rook

Few things are more frustrating in chess than to outplay an opponent for an entire game only to fall for a stalemate trick. This postion occurred on 6th Board at the recent IHSA State Tournament.

After Black played 52...c2 rather than 52...Rf1#, White uncorked 53.Rxg6+! and Black cannot capture the kamikaze rook without allowing stalemate. Black's first thought is to maneuver the White rook to a square where one of the pieces confining the White king can capture it, but the White king is too thoroughly trapped. Can Black still gain the full point? The solution can be found here.

Deerfield Park District news and classes

Info in the Deerfield Review.

CCA Tournament Location Survey

Want to see more CCA events in the locations you prefer?  Take this survey!

"Chess X-Men Win USAT North"

Two smilers and three tough guys

Maret Thorpe reports on the ICA website.

Credit where credit is due for this great event: "The tournament was organized by Tim Just and Glenn Panner, directors were Just, Panner, Maret Thorpe and Keith Ammann. Bookseller was Checkmate Chess Supply and sets and clocks for the event were supplied by North Shore Chess Center."

May 7-20 in St. Louis: U.S. Chess Championship

Press release at Chess Life Online: time for a road trip!

The field is incredibly strong: our own Yury Shulman is seeded tenth, and GMs like Shankland, Christiansen, Benjamin, and Shabalov did not make the cut (don't know whether GM Jaan Ehlvest declined an invitation or missed the cut).

 The women's field is equally impressive. It's nice to see the U.S. Championship return to an élite event!

March 3: Evanston Tri-Level

Another email cut-and-paste.  ($5, such a deal.)

Levy Senior Center, 300 Dodge Ave., Evanston, IL 60202


Evanston Chess Presents:
March 3, 2012 9:00am-5:00pm
Tri-Level: 4SS G/40 d5
Three Sections, USCF Dual Rated
Guest master: NM Jon Burgess
 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 determines 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.

An astounding tactical resource

ChessCafe.com recently named Invisible Moves by Yochanan Afek and Emmanuel Neiman its 2011 Book of the Year. Invisible Moves beat out very tough competition, including fellow finalists How to Reassess Your Chess (4th edition) by Jeremy Silman and Lessons With a Grandmaster by Boris Gulko and Dr. Joel R. Sneed.

Here is a remarkable position from that book. In the diagrammed position, White's position looks hopeless, with his poor king under siege. Unsurprisingly, White immediately succumbed with 36.Qxg3? Qh1#. White missed an amazing resource that would have saved the game! Can you see it?

US Amateur Team North - well, that was fun!

It's tax season, so this post is going to be far shorter than it deserves to be.  

171 players on 39 teams had a lot of fun this weekend!  GM Alexander Shabalov played for a team from Pittsburgh: GM Dmitry Gurevich (who won Saturday night's Illinois Blitz Championship) was a constant spectator.

GM Dmitry Gurevich 

2012 Illinois Blitz Champion

(swiped from Brad Rosen's Facebook page)

Full team results are here.  The event is already rated: MSA reports here.
Congratulations to the Chess X-Men (NM Mariano Acosta, MN Tenzing Shaw, NM Scott Allsbrook, and Dmitri Sergatskov) for keeping the USAT North title in Chicagoland!

Maret Thorpe was both an assistant TD and the sponsor of two Evanston Chess Club teams: her report is here. If you friend the South Suburban Chess Club of Greater Chicago, you can see lots of cool event photos! Thanks to TDs and organizers (who I'm not naming only because I'm afraid I'll leave a key person out!) for a very smooth and enjoyable event!