CICL: Big upset for Tornado Snakes

The East Division of the Chicago Industrial Chess League is going to be interesting this year!

Mark Coleman scores a convincing upset against yours truly.  (I have a backlog of recent losses to publish: it's therapeutic.)

December 2012 Chicago Chess Player is out!

Enjoy!

CICL: a lucky escape

My Rogue Squadron teammate David Franklin doesn't get positionally rolled very often, but Mike Failor of Enova Financial inflicts some serious positional hurt. Then things get complicated, and both players miss some shots....

October Chicago Chess Player is out

“The Final Round” By Patrice Connelly

Boo!  New issue is here.  It's the first issue of the season, so basically a roster update.

First game won for the franchise

Chopper Trading lost its first match to Rogue Squadron in the Chicago Industrial Chess League 4½-1½, but Reza Gholidzadeh had the honor of the team's first individual win...against yours truly.

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

David Franklin annotates a game from the first round of the CICL season. With the center locked, the White king wanders out of the shire and wanders back with a win in its pocketses.

Steinitz was famous for king walks under fire, but Petrosian lifted the idea of the prophlyactic king walk (evacuating His Majesty from the kingside prior to a kingside break) from Nimzowitsch.
 

New CICL Bulletin online

Check it out! (pdf file)

The new Industrial League season will be beginning soon.  If you're interested in forming a team, drop the league a line!  (I'm wondering why we don't have a Google team in the league yet....with Google's Motorola Mobilty division coming to the Mart in the summer of 2013, I hope that changes soon.)

Avoid rook endings at all costs...

...if you're playing Jim Duffy.  When Jim won the second section of last month's CICL Individual Championship (Larry Cohen won the first section, with the same 3-0 score as Jim), I asked him to send me his effortless first-round game.  He pointed out that he had won an even more seemingly colorless game in the second round.

Some players have a modest rating, but are exceptionally strong in one phase of the game.  If you are strong in the endgame, you will save many lost games and win most of your "hopelessly drawn" games. Cultivate your strengths!

Active rook + active king = won game.  Jim provides some light notes.

CICL Banquet

Downers Grove Chess Club
2012 Chicago Industrial Chess League Champions

The Chicago Industrial Chess League held its annual shindig at the Alpine Banquet Hall on Friday, June 1st. The league champions, Downers Grove Chess Club, accepted the traveling trophy.

Rob Eaman of Rogue Squadron and other generous CICL members bought a chess table that will be donated to Lawson House YMCA in memory of Isaac Braswell later this month. CICL is also buying chess books and equipment to accompany the table: they're not yet ordered, so if you'd like to contribute to Lawson House in Isaac's memory, please drop Rob a line!

Some assembly required

More from CICL Playoffs

My teammate David Franklin annotates his loss to a formidable opponent, NM Tenzing Shaw of St. Charles CC:

Use your fingers and toes

Nik Goncharoff of the Motorola Kings has played 612 (!!) games in the Industrial League.  So it's not surprising that he knows how to count reserve tempi.  Create zugzwang in a pawn ending, and the player who has more pawn moves in reserve will usually win:

Downers Grove CC wins 2012 CICL Title

Every team's goal: to add its name to the trophy underneath First National Bank, Western Electric, the Argonne Knights....

The trophy has a stylish traveling case:

The players had a panoramic view of Chicagoland from the 16th floor of Concord Place in Northlake (the Loop's skyline is barely visible in the picture below).

Yes, that's the Chicago skyline barely visible on the horizon

Round 2: Motorola Kings vs. DRW Trading Group

Round 2: Wombats vs. Motorola Knights

Final playoff standings per chicagochess.league.org:

Left: 2012 CICL Champions, Downers Grove CC

Downers Grove Chess Club 3-0 League Champions
Rogue Squadron 2.5-.5 2nd place
South Suburban Chess Club Wombats 2-1 3rd place
DRW Trading Group 1.5-1.5
St. Charles Chess Club 1-2
Motorola Knights 1-2
Motorola Kings 1-2
Citadel / U of Chicago 0-1 (dropped out) 

Members of 2nd place Rogue Squadron in action against St. Charles CC

May CICL Bulletin

The May CICL Bulletin is out! 

Tom Friske has retired as the Industrial League's webmaster and games editor: thanks to Tom for his years of service from someone who knows what it's like....

CICL Playoffs - Round 1

Motorola Knights and the Rogue Squadron tied 3-3.

Downers Grove Chess Club beat the Motorola Kings 4½-1½.

The Wombats upset Citadel / University of Chicago 3-2 in games played.  (CITUC forfeited Board 4, so the official match score was 4½-2, with ½ point awarded to the Wombats for the upper board forfeit.)

Rounds two and three tomorrow, and the Chicago Industrial Chess League will have a new champion tomorrow night!

Round two pairings:

Downers Grove CC (1-0) - St. Charles CC (1-0)
Wombats (1-0) @ Motorola Knights (½-½)
Rogue Squadron (½-½) @ CitUC (0-1)
DRW Trading Group (0-1) @ Motorola Kings (0-1)

Irwin Gaines writes:

There may be a little confusion about the location of the playoffs.  Both the team and individual events take place at Concord Place, 16th floor, 401 W Lake St, Northlake, IL 60164.  Some early mailings used the same address but referred to Midwest Conference Center, which is a different building with the same address.  Please make sure all teams and lndividuals know that they should go to Concord Place.

2012 CICL Individual Tournament

This tourney is open to all CICL members, and also open to all potential, future CICL members. You must be 16 years of age or older to play in this tournament. USCF membership is not required!

Email cut and paste follows:

2012 CICL Individual Tournament Announcement

To be played Saturday May12 starting at 9:00 am at

Midwest Conference Center, 16^th floor, 401 W Lake St, Northlake, IL 60164 

Please Pre-register for the 2012 CICL Individual Tournament by sending an email to:

Art Olsen
Email Address:  aolsen14@comcast.net
Cell phone: 224 829-7214 (Voice or Text)

with "Chess Tournament" in the subject line.  If unrated, please provide an estimate of rating. 

2012 CICL Individual Tournament

• Format: 3 round Swiss tournament, with multiple sections as needed
• Time Control: G/60
• Time & Date: Arrive by 9:00am sharp on Saturday May 14. Rounds expected to be at 09:15 am, 01:00 pm and 3:30pm.
• Location:

• Entry Fee: none
• Prizes: $30 for 1^st place and $20 for 2^nd place of each section. (But only for 1st place if the section has less than 7 players). All prizes are only in gift certificates or trophy (your choice).. If the value of a prize is less than $10 due to ties, cash only may be issued. Only members of the CICL are eligible for prizes..
• Registration: Please pre-register by sending email to TD Art Olsen (Email: aolsen14@comcast.net)  with Chess Tournament in the subject line. If unrated, please provide an estimate of rating.  
• Eligibility: This tourney is open to all CICL members, and also open to all potential, future CICL members. You must be 16 years of age or older to play in this tournament. USCF membership is not required.
• Ratings: Games are rated by the CICL for CICL members. Games add to CICL members' Centurion game count. Games are not rated by the USCF. Where reasonable, paring of unrated players will be avoided to help them get ratings quicker.
  
  
• Chess equipment: Please bring a chess set chess clock. and game scoresheets.
  
  

Directions to the 2012 CICL Individual Tournament  

• Midwest Conference Center is located on Lake St just off of I 290
• If you are running late on the day of the event, the tournament TD, Art Olsen, can be contacted via voice or text at 224 829-7214.

Chicago Industrial Chess League playoffs

Round 1 of the playoffs is underway: DRW (led by FM Igor Tsyganov) lost to St Charles (led by NM Tenzing Shaw) 5-1  Result here  (Any team that can put NM Mariano Acosta on Board 3 is kinda strong!)

Tonight, the Rogue Squadron plays the  Motorola Knights, and the Motorola Kings face the Downers Grove Chess Club.  Also this week, the Wombats face off against the Citadel/University of Chicago superteam.

Rounds 2 and 3 will be held this weekend at the 16th floor of Concord Place, 401 W Lake St, Northlake.

Ahoy kitty

Cap'n Fred Furtner of the AMA Tornado Snakes

(with kitty mug)

The March issue of The Chicago Chess Player is out.

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.)

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.)

New CICL bulletin is out!

In the December issue of The Chicago Chess Player, Chuck Dobrovolny tells us how he won $200 pushing pawns, and Tom Friske shares tactics problems from his online play.