Chess for Chicago's youth

I've read a string of wonderful stories in the last week about young Chicago-area players making their mark on their chessboard:

• The Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship is winding up today in Lubbock, Texas. Most of the young masters on the University of Illinois team are from the Chicago area. Today, the "walk-ons" play a much stronger team from Texas Tech (international players on chess scholarships!) to try to return to the Final Four of chess for a second consecutive year. Please join me in wishing Eric Rosen, Michael Auger, Xin Luo, and Akshay Indusekar the best of luck today! By the time you read this, you may be able to see whether the Illini qualified.
• David Peng of Wilmette (whose coach is Grandmaster Dmitry Gurevich of Chicago) just won a silver medal in the World Under-10 Championship in Al-‘Ain, United Arab Emirates. Who won the gold medal in the same section? Awonder Liang of Wisconsin, who often studies with Chicago grandmasters.
• And just a couple of weeks ago, Sam Schmakel of Chicago's Whitney Young High School won his fifth national scholastic title. For this accomplishment, Sam was featured in yesterday's New York Times.

I've played tournament games against six of these seven young people, and have analyzed with the seventh.  I feel honored to know them!

So chess in Chicago must be doing wonderfully, no? Not according to Dylan Loeb McClain, the author of the Schmakel feature:

Schmakel's school, Whitney Young High, is a magnet school that is part of the Chicago public school system and is where Michelle Obama graduated. It was the only representative at the K–12 Championships from the city, which is not known as a chess stronghold. More students are enrolled in scholastic chess programs and are sent to tournaments across the country from schools in New York, which sends more teams to competitions than any other city; Miami; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and even Brownsville, Tex.

It is unusual for a city as large as Chicago, with 2.7 million people, to have only one school enter a tournament as prestigious as the K–12 Championships. By comparison, Los Alamos, N.M., population 18,000, also sent one school.

It helps to go to a great magnet school. It helps to have parents who are willing to make financial sacrifices in order to give their children the opportunity to succeed. But most of the talented young people in our city won't be admitted to Whitney Young. And many of their parents would love to give their children greater opportunities but are barely making ends meet.

In my last fundraising pitch, I also asked for financial assistance to send teams from two Chicago West Side schools to the same Florida event at which Sam Schmakel won his fifth title. In the end, the schools could not accept the money that several kind people (including a CPS administrator) pledged. The airfares jumped in price as the deadline approached, and the trip was called off.

Could these kids have succeeded at Nationals? Of course they could have: the team from Faraday Elementary, which draws its students from some of the most dangerous neighborhoods on the West Side, just finished third in a December 14 Youth Chess Foundation of Chicago event.

The Chicago Chess Center does not want to turn children away because their parents can't afford to pay us. Please help us open our doors: please help us help them.

Speaking only for myself, I don't have very much interest in turning young players into grandmasters. It matters more to me that one of my former students is a freshman at an Ivy League school than his having earned an International Master norm. Chess is a fun way to teach critical thinking skills, the skills that turn kids into high achievers.

Children don't get to choose how much money their parents have, and they don't get to choose the neighborhood they are raised in. We want to be there for all of these children, but we can't do it without your support.

We are fortunate to have GMs Dmitry Gurevich, Yury Shulman, Nikola Mitkov and Mesgen Amanov on our advisory board, which also includes leaders from Chicago's nonprofit and business community.

My friend and fellow board member Dave Ducat made a compelling pitch on Facebook the other day. I can't improve on it, so I'll steal Dave's words:

Of course you're thinking that this is Chicago and that there has to be such a place already . . . an actual "Chicago Chess Center" somewhere . . . right?

Nope.

There is no physical "Chicago Chess Center" location in the city, and there hasn't been one within the city limits for over 20 years. Cities like St. Louis and Dallas have developed premier chess clubs, have set the new standard and have seen their international exposure and tourism increased over the last three to five years. I want that for Chicago. I want Chicago to become the center for chess in the United States, and I want it to set the example for other cities to follow.

I need your help to make the Chicago Chess Center a reality. I need your financial contributions to create a physical location, centralized and within easy access of public transportation, so that chess-playing people of all ages, all walks of life, and all neighborhoods in and around the city can have a place to call their own. I need your help to shape the future of chess in Chicago and shape it with our youth in mind.

When the CCC was founded, the board put together a campaign to raise $30,000 within a year to fund the acquisition, furnishing and rent of a suitable space to call the Chicago Chess Center. To date, through tireless solicitation by the board of directors as well as through key personal and corporate investments [...], we've been able to raise over half that amount [we're now over $18,000—BB]. It's my hope that you can find a few dollars to contribute to this worthy cause and help the CCC reach its goal of opening the doors of a new location in early 2014. We need your support to make this happen.

Please take a moment to review our website and click the "Donate Now" button. Please consider a donation of $50; however, any amount will be gratefully accepted. For the price of one latte a day for one week, you can make a lasting contribution to a worthwhile cause and help us achieve our mission.

Bill again.  Without your financial support, we may not be able to fulfill our mission. And we are so close to opening our doors . 

Please make your tax-deductible year-end donation now. Thank you for caring.

Bill Brock
Treasurer
Chicago Chess Center NFP Inc.

P.S.  If you'd like to make your donation by check, here's our mailing address:

Chicago Chess Center NFP Inc.

P.O. Box 180095

Chicago, IL 60618

Hmm, November 16th is a busy day....

Two nice events at Whitney Young (but a bit of a scheduling snafu), as there's a great unrated scholastic event in the city and a great USCF-rated state championship event in the Twin Cities.  Oh well: there are only so many weekends in the year, and stuff like this happens.  The trick is to minimize the calendar conflicts....

But note the Winter Camp on January 2-3, 2014.  Michael Auger is simply wonderful with children!  (He's not bad with AARP members like me, either.)

K-8 Chess Tournament:
Date:  November 16th, 2013

Place:  Whitney Young High School (2nd Floor Library)  211 S Laflin, Chicago
Schedule:  4 rounds, Game 30, Check in 9:00-9:45am, 1st round begins at 10am, last round ends around 2pm
Sections: All USCF Rated: K-2, K-8 Open, and K-8 U1000; USCF membership is required and can be purchased at the event.

Entry Fee:  $20 online registration by 11/15, $25 on site.
Awards are given to the top 5 individuals and top team (3 players) in each section.

Register at www.chesskash.com



Winter Camp Details:

All Camps run from 9am - 2pm, feature master level instruction, include lunch, both casual and tournament play, including blitz and bughouse, and recess usually in a gym or outside.

January 2-3 @ Whitney Young High School

211 S Laflin, Chicago, IL 60607

Featured instructors:  National Master Michael Auger and State Champion Chess Coach Paul Kash
Entry Fee $50 per day

U of I press release

The Fighting Illini's very successful chess team has more than its share of Chicagoans: story here.

Extremely unofficial congratulations....

...(unofficial only because MSA hasn't updated yet) to our newest National Master, Michael Auger!

2216!

Busy weekend: Chicago Chess Center UNAM Invitational

Sometimes chess gets in the way of chess blogging: I'll try to catch up.

Congratulations to Senior Masters Eric Rosen and Carl Boor for sharing first at the Chicago Chess Center's UNAM Invitational.  TD Keith Ammann reports.

I was the house player in the final round, and I got to kibitz this cool game. Coffeehouse chess?  Perhaps, but if so, it's a very tony coffeehouse.

More Final Four hype

...thanks to Whitney Young grad?  DNAinfo.com adds its own spin.

"University of Illinois is a bracket-buster — in chess"

Story in the Chicago Tribune. It's amusing that Illini freshman Eric Rosen, the 2011 National High School Champion, is given credit for "having captured the third-grade Illinois state championship."

Go Illini!

The Illini Schmakelers win U.S. Amateur Team North

Congratulations to The Illini Schmakelers (in board order: FM Eric Rosen, NM Sam Schmakel, Michael Auger, and Akshay Indusekar), who won the 2013 U.S. Amateur Team North title this past weekend in Schaumburg with a team score of 4½-½ and 16 game points out of a possible 20.

Taking second on tiebreaks was another local team, Touch Move Chess Center: Mating Specialists (IM Angelo Young, FM Albert Chow, Florentino Inumerable, and Robert Loncarevic), who scored 4½ match points and 14 game points.

Many heavy hitters came to this amateur event. The average team ratings must be under 2200, but one can allocate power between boards in any fashion one pleases. This year, the balanced strategy did well.

Inscrutably, the best team name was awarded to "We Always Need a 4th," which is neither amusing nor groanworthy.

Final team standings are here; look for the ratings and individual performances soon.  Update: here are the individual performances on MSA.

Slips happen (and TJWO results)

IM Angelo Young - Michael Auger (I think!)
Oak Brook 2013
Black to move

Here (more or less) is the position of the weekend. I say "more or less" because I've reconstructed the above position (from the game between two of the tournament leaders in Round 4 of Tim Just's Winter Open) from memory, so a couple Black pieces might be incorrectly placed.  But all the pieces on the first four ranks are in their proper spots.

Immediately before the diagrammed position, Angelo (who is down the Exchange and a pawn, and who only has minutes left on his clock) played 1.Nf3-g1.  With forty minutes plus increment left on his clock, Michael (who would almost certainly earn his long-overdue National Master title with a victory in this game) now unhurriedly plays 1...e4. 

Can you spot White's subtle reply, which turned a totally lost position into a quick win?  And which blunder in chess history was this most like?  Of the examples on in the Wikipedia article on blunders in chess, I'd compare it to Petrosian's famous blunder against Bronstein.


Most players would be kicking themselves, but after the tournament, Michael was good-naturedly demonstrating 1...e4?? 2.Nxe2 to a roomful of players, laughing and marveling at his blind spot.  The ability to be critical of your play without being too critical of yourself makes chess much more enjoyable!

***

Oh yes, the prizewinners: the full list is here.  I'll call out the most notable performances.  Congratulations to Angelo Young, Angel Angelov, and the angelic Tommy Ulrich, all with 4½-½ scores in the Open Section.  And special congratulations to eight-year-old Aydin Turgut, who took first Under 2000 with a 3½-1½ score!!

Gee Leong and Nathan Beauchamp took home the big money of the weekend by splitting the Reserve Section title; Giorgi Vanderway (1080) won the Under 1400 prize.

In the Scholastic sections, Robert Barr (slightly underrated at 291!) won the Under 1200 section, and Trevor Tompkins won the Under 700 section.  See the full list of trophy winners here!

Round 5 at Pan-Ams: U of Illinois 2½, U Texas Brownsville 1½

Four very interesting games, and a great upset victory for the Illini!

University of Illinois ties for first in Pan-Am Intercollegiate

Results are in from this weekend's Pan-Am, hosted by Princeton University.  The University of Illinois finished in a five-way tie for first place with four teams that offer full chess scholarships.  Illinois drew Cornell and the University of Chicago, and won its other four matches. Crosstable is here.Congratulations to the Illini!

 The team includes three names long familiar to Chicago chess players, Eric Rosen, Aakaash Meduri, and Michael Auger. The Illini's fourth board, Xin Luo, scored a spectacular 6-0.

Look for story on Chess Life Online shortly. In the meantime, here's a game from U of I's last-round win over Columbia University, which proves once again that queen endings are too hard for mere human beings:

Braswell Memorial Blitz results

I've known for a long time that Michael Auger and William Aramil are infinitely better blitz players than I am.  But I really got a kick out of losing to the third-place finisher, George Li. 

It's one thing to lose a game by overlooking NxK or to draw a game because one fails to look at the clock when one's position is overwhelming and one's opponent flagged several seconds earlier, which happened in my games with other honorable opponents.  It's another to get squashed like a bug in a theoretical line, which is what George did to me.  I forgot the event was USCF blitz-rated, and shouted in horror, "My position is wretched!" or something like that.

"SHHH!!"

(Only slightly more quietly): "But it is wretched." 

After the game, I peppered George with move-order questions in his deadly 4.e3 Slav, and he was kind enough to answer them.  George is 12 years old.

Crosstable here. The three prizewinners received enormous chocolate bars: Isaac would have approved

Before the event, organizer Maret Thorpe was honored by Mike Cardinale of the Illinois Chess Association for her past & current contributions to ICA. Thank you, Maret!

Game of the tournament

When two geniuses with a reputation for disdaining opening theory finally get around to playing an Open Sicilian, this is what happens.   Michael was effusive in his praise of Jon's play: both winner and loser had a lot of fun!

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.

NM Trevor Magness wins his second Illinois Denker Qualifier

Wow: Trevor joins Kayin Barclay and Yelena Gorlin as a two-time winner of the Illinois High School Invitational Championship title(*).  As in 2009, Trevor will represent Illinois in the Denker Tournament of High School Champions.  After losing to freshman Sam Schmakel in round 2, Trevor reeled off consecutive wins against Michael Auger, Jonathan Kogen, and NM Eric Rosen to take clear first with a 4-1 score.

I expect Tommy Ulrich to earn his master title soon.  He was leading the tournament until losing to Rosen in round 4, and took second on tiebreaks with 3½-1½.  NM Adarsh Jayakumar was essentially eliminated from contention after being held to half a point by Kogen and Rosen in the first two rounds, but won out to tie for second with Ulrich.

Defending champion Eric Rosen, day one co-leader Sam Schmakel, and Michael Auger finished with 3-2 scores.  Jonathan Kogen had a strong 2½-2½, losing only to NMs Rosen and Magness, and drawing NM Jayakumar.

Andi Rosen organized the event for the Illinois Chess Association's Warren Junior Program.  Sevan Muradian directed, and donated the facilities of the North Shore Chess Center.


Crosstable here!

(*)  P.S.  I was reminded that NM William Aramil also won the Illinois Denker Qualifier twice, not to mention the Denker!  So there's a new goal for Trevor....

"Juniors Excel in National Action Events"

Michael Auger repeats as U.S. Game/30 Champion

(photo: Betsy Dynako)

NM Matan Prilleltensky reports at Chess Life Online!

Romanticism in chess

There are objectively better openings than the Danish Gambit, but an opening has to fit your personality.  Michael Auger likes to go for the jugular. 

Michael Auger repeats as U.S. Game/30 Champion

Michael Auger played his usual entertaining chess to repeat as U.S. Game/30 Champion.  Michael won his first four games then held a draw against FM Albert Chow to clinch.  NMs Matan Prilleltensky and Aleksandar Stamnov tied for second with 4-1, Chow and Charles McMillan tied for fourth.

Jason Flanders and Gee Leong tied for first in the Reserve section with 4-1 scores.  Jason Daniels and Alexander Hu tied for first in the Booster, also with 4-1.

An impressive performance by Illinois juniors this weekend!

Crosstable here! 

Meet the Warren Scholars

Jonathan Tan, Lincoln Elementary, Mundelein

Andi Rosen is adding bios of the Warren Scholars to the ICA website.  Check it out!

You can support the activities of the Warren Junior Program (and have more fun than watching the Bears play the hapless Buffalo Bills) by attending the ICA Banquet Sunday, November 7, at Buca di Beppo in Lombard.  Details here!

Illinois Open, day one

Two state champions bit the dust in round 2: Michael Auger beat defending co-champ IM Florin Felecan and Aakaash Meduri beat FM Albert Chow.   5-1 won the tournament last year, so who knows....

On a personal note: it was a pleasure to see NM Mariano Acosta back at the board after a period of ill health.  It was not a pleasure to be defending an endgame against him!  (I drew, but only with a little luck.)

Open and Reserve standings are here.