Hinsdale Central vs. Niles North for the title!

UPDATE: Niles North wins a sqeaker with Hinsdale Central for the IHSA title, 35½-32½.


Other round seven results on the top boards of this 125-team event (these are finals):


Whitney Young 46 - Naperville North 22
Northside Prep 48½ - Nequa Valley 19½
Evanston Township 47 - Illinois Math and Science Academy 21
University 42 - Benet Academy 26
Stevenson 51 - Prospect 17
Glenbrook South 58 - Downers Grove North 10


Round six results:


Hinsdale Central 35 - Whitney Young 33
Niles North 37 - Lincolnshire 31
Northside Prep 68 - Riverside Brookfield 0
Evanston Township 58½ - Downers Grove 9½
University (Urbana) 36 - New Trier 32
Glenbrook South 65 - Glenbard North 3
Neuqua Valley 54½ - Marengo 13½


All results are here!


Brad Rosen sends a mobile message from the front lines:

Round 7 just kicked off with Niles North facing off against Hinsdale Central. To get there, Hinsdale Central beat Whitney Young in a wild scramble at the end.  Aakash [Meduri] held Sam [Schmakel] to a draw on board 1 and edged out the Dolphins 35-33. Meanwhile, Niles North eked one out against Stevenson: David Paykin won a dead lost position on board 3 against Matthew Wang with drama and panache . And I do mean drama. A short respite and then they were back at it again... a bit of a fight club, warriors, cage match feel down here at the big dance. 

IHSA Team Championship update

After five rounds, four perfect scores remain: Niles North, Whitney Young, Stevenson, and Hinsdale Central.  Looks like one team may go 7-0, after all!

In the first clashes of pre-tournament favorites, Linconshire knocked off CPS powerhouse Northside Prep 44-24, and Whitney Young trounced Glenbrook South 52-16.  Niles North had a tough time with Naperville North, but won 44-24.  Hinsdale Central beat upstart Neuqua Valley 35½-34½.

http://www.ihsa.org/SportsActivities/Chess/StateSeriesInformationResults.aspx?url=/data/ct/1result1.htm

Round 6 (which should be wrapping up soon) features Hinsdale Central - Whitney Young and Stevenson - Niles North on the top two boards.

March of the Grandmasters

GM Kaidanov is at the North Shore Chess Center tomorrow!

My friend Noureddine Ziane (founder of USA Chess, Inc.)  took online lessons with Kaidanov some years ago.  He said that Kaidanov is a wonderful teacher, and passed along this bit of advice:

• Take your last ten losses
• Identify the final critical moment (the moment where you made the losing move)
• Look for similarities: you will find them!  

I did this once, and I was amazed to find that in three of my last ten losses, I had automatically rejected a move that allowed a double check.  Maybe your results won't be quite that specific.   Anyway, tomorrow's session is highly recommended!

Candidates 2012 in London?

That's the well-sourced rumor. Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan would be the wild card.

A final installment of games from TJWO

....as well as the crucial game from December's Illinois Class, in which Dr. Tansel Turgut beats eight-year-old Awonder Liang (whose name makes him a Wünderkind in more than one sense).

Dr. Turgut annotates his game (only the introduction was written by me).  I annotate my game with Patrice Connelly, in which two reasonably competent players each cram their share of mistakes into a short game: the Marshall Attack demands precise play.  All other annotations are by FM Albert Chow, who's covering the games of the 2012 Illinois Tour.

Other featured players include Dean Arond, Avinash Rahendra, NM Greg Bungo, Jiahua Zhang, Andy Applebaum, and NM Ken Wallach,


Games are here!

Adventures in the Botvinnik Variation

 Losing a won position in the first round of a Swiss System event is never fun.  But Akshay Indusekhar found an extremely cool tactical shot.  Such is chess.

I came up with a "better" move in the post mortem, but that move throws away the win, too.

Here's the critical position: can you do better than me?

Brock-Indusekhar

Tim Just's Winter Open, 2012

White to play and win

Also, the position after move 18 is a theoretical tabiya: some of the famous games I'd forgotten are included in the notes below.

IHSA finals in Peoria tomorrow and Saturday!!

The Illinois High School Association's team championship will be held tomorrow and Saturday in the Peoria Civic Center.  More info here!

Here are the round 1 pairings (oops, I'd omitted the link this a.m.): two Chicago selective enrollment schools, Whitney Young and Northside Prep, are the top seeds.  FM Eric Rosen is playing in his last state event for third seed Niles North.  Realistically, I think any of the top eight teams have a chance to win (FM Gauri [Shankar] Manoj and Gavin McClanahan both play for #8 seed Glenbrook South!), and it's going to be very hard for any team to go through this event with a clean score. 

More games from Tim Just's Winter Open

TJWO part three games are here: featured players include tournament winner NM Tenzing Shaw, NM Alexander Velikanov, David Peng, Dean Arond, Vince Hart, NM Sam Schmakel, and Avinash Rajendra.

2012 Illinois Tour commentary is provided by FM Albert Chow.

recovering nicely: Andrew Karklins

Andrew had a triple bypass on December 5th.  I spoke to him today, and he sounds pretty darn good!

Lunch with Kenneth Rogoff

From Friday's Financial Times.  (Thanks to Michael Aigner.)

Job listing crossposted from craigslist

This is a cut and paste: no endorsement, express or implied, and I don't recall having met the owner.

But Les Bale (who also has nothing to do with the following, and who's a Baptist!) was telling me great things yesterday about the Archdiocese of Chicago's "Protecting God's Children" course, and he strongly recommends it for all chess instructors working with young people.

Original ad with contact info here.

kids think inc. is a small company offering after school chess programs to K-8 kids in Chicago and the suburbs. We are looking for chess instructors who have a strong background in and love of chess, and who also have experience teaching or tutoring children. We will provide you with a well developed curriculum, all teaching materials, and training. You will need your own very reliable automobile transportation. You will need to pass a federal background check and must attend the "Protecting God's Children" course sponsored by the Archdiocese of Chicago. This is a part time job, limited to between 1 and 5 hours each week during the school year.

We currently have openings in Lemont and Elmhurst. Hourly rate (contact time) is $50 - $75.

Patience, humor, and the ability to instruct and encourage children are necessary traits of successful chess teachers. A strong presence in the classroom is very valuable. If you are interested and feel you have the skills needed, please include the following information in your response:

• Your level of chess knowledge and ability
• Your experience with children - teaching or tutoring
• Your resume
• The area in which you live and how far you would be comfortable traveling
• Which days you are available, and how many days you would like to teach
• Whether you would be available for the entire school year or only part of the year

We also have summer opportunities for chess and other "camps". Let us know if you are interested in working during the day during June and July.

Join our small but growing company in making a positive impact in the lives of small but growing children!

Evanston Chess: Unrated & Quick Quads this Saturday

Another email cut-and-paste.  Both events charge the usual $5 entry fee, experts and above play for free.

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

Evanston Chess Presents:
Feb. 4, 2012, 9:00am-1:00pm

Rapid, 5SS G/26+3 second delay

Quads, Non-Rated

This is our experimental tournament. We're trying two things:

"Quick quads" — a format that allows players to fit in three games and still have Saturday afternoon free.

"Unrated" — Have you never been USCF rated? Have you never played a tournament? Were you rated in the past, but haven't played a tournament in years? This is your chance to test (or re-test) the waters of tournament play, without having to make a major investment in time and cash. We will play in regular tournament conditions, and we will follow USCF rules.

Quads

Published USCF Regular Rating (or tournament director's estimate, if the player is not USCF-rated) determines player seeding. Players will be grouped into 4-player quads starting with the top-seeded player. If the bottom group has between 5 and 7 players, the bottom group will be paired as a Swiss section. No byes. Please come planning to play three rounds.

Three rounds. Digital clocks are required and will be set to G/26 plus 3 seconds delay. Some club clocks are available for use by players who do not own clocks.

Schedule: Registration from 9:00 to 9:30 am. Registration/sign-in for pre-registered players will close and quads will be formed at 9:30 a.m. sharp. First Round 9:45 am, rest of rounds ASAP (estimated ending time 12:30 p.m.).

No byes, no lunch break. Out of consideration for your quad-mates, please plan on playing all three rounds.

Send name, USCF number (if you have one), and telephone number to enter@evanstonchess.org

Junior players (under fourteen years) rated USCF 900+ are welcome. Sorry, but we do not accept junior players rated under USCF 900. Must be accompanied by a parent throughout the event.

Bring clocks -- Wheelchair accessible -- No Smoking.

Greater Chicago Primary & Junior High Championships

This Saturday at the Hilton Northbrook.  Details on ICA website.

Spassky turns 75

Today (already yesterday in France) is/was Boris Spassky's 75th birthday!

Here's a ChessBase interview (still in German for the time being; Google Translate version here). Spassky is now confined to a wheelchair, but he reports that his second stroke only affected one hemisphere, and that he can still speak and think. With a self-deprecating laugh, he adds, "Above all, the side responsible for chess works, and is as reliable as before."

I met Spassky in a Mandarin restaurant in Grenoble in the summer of 1978.  It was Spassky who started making small talk with me: perhaps he caught my shock of recognition (I wasn't sure it was Boris, and only found out later that he and Marina indeed lived in Grenoble).  Perhaps he simply wondered what a grubby American college student was doing there.  I remember that I had mu shu pork, that he asked about my studies, and that we didn't talk about chess. He seemed like a very kind man.

More games from Tim Just Winter Open

FM Albert Chow annotates more games from the Illinois Tour for ICA's Chess Blog. Featured players include NM Gopal Menon, Robert Moskwa, NM Alexander Velikanov, Patrice Connelly, NM Mark Marovitch, Jonathan Kogen, and Chow himself.

Welcome to the blogosphere

Three-time Wisconsin state champion Jeremy Kane (now out East) has a new blog. Check out Minor Pieces.

Just another silly Internet game

As usual, the hapless NN proves unable to cope with the Black Knights' Tango. A double rook sacrifice ends the game. In the final position, I was expecting White to try 18.Nf4 exf4 19.Rae1+, when 19...Be3! ends matters. Instead, he resigned.

Three Americans in the top 14!

OK, one of them is a dual citizen who plays for Italy: #10 Fabiano Caruana, who is also the strongest teenager in the world after Anish Giri's collapse.

Hikaru Nakamura and Gata Kamsky both recovered from slow starts at Wijk aan Zee to finish in the top half of the Tata Steel crosstable: Nakamura is now #6 in the world and Kamsky (who truly has solved his Topalov problem) is #14.

Silly Internet game du jour

The Black Knights' Tango (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6!?) allows Black to get a big attack effortlessly if White plays passively. A case in point:

Gata makes Magnus say a bad word

Kamsky plays brilliantly in the opening, and the frustrated Carlsen admits he [messed] up, using a Norwegian dialect phrase not suitable for work. Cover your ears, children.

But Magnus buckles down and holds the draw: check it out at The Week in Chess. (Postscript 1/30/2012: GM Ian Rogers hits the highlights of this game in his article for Chess Life Online.)


Nakamura beats Van Wely and moves to number six in the world. Aronian beats Gelfand with Black, and will win Wijk aan Zee tomorrow if he can draw Radjabov with the White pieces.