IS 318 in Chicago

Girls from Elizabeth Vicary's famous IS 318 team in Brooklyn came to Chicago to participate in the All Girls, and (not surprisingly) did rather well.  Read all about it!

Vicary analyzing with her student Mariah

Moya-Cogshell, Chicago 2011

White to play and win

Analyze forcing moves first!

Games from Downers Grove

Daniel Parmet presents a very nice overview of the action at ICA's Chess Blog.

The following howler makes me feel a little better about my own blunders (as it did for Daniel).  Strong masters do silly things, too...though not as often.

Monokroussos-Stamnov, Downers Grove 2011

Black answered 58.Qe5 with 58...Rf7?? 

2012 K-8 Championship scheduled for Rockford

Details on the ICA website!

Grandmaster Josh Friedel simul at North Shore Chess Center

 
19 wins; 2 draws.  Story and games at Chess Life Online!

So what do chess and tennis have in common?

Jim Egerton explains here.  (Via tennis dad Brad Rosen.)  Do check out Jim's Chess Now website!

Chess meetup in Evanston

Another cut-and-paste:

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

Apr 16, 2011
12 noon - 4 p.m.
Chess Meet-up

Evanston Chess Club will hold an open chess session on Saturday, April 16 from noon to 4 p.m. Stop by and play as many -- or as few games -- as you want. Players of all strengths, age 14 years and older are welcome.

We're sponsoring this Chess Meet-Up as part of the International chess.com meetup. We're extending a special welcome to chess.com online players in our area to come out and play over-the-board.

No registration required. For more information, please contact Maret Thorpe as noted below.
Send name, USCF number, and telephone number to Maret Thorpe enter@evanstonchess.org
Bring clocks. -- Wheelchair accessible. No Smoking.

Final results of All Girls National

...are on the Renaissance Knights website.

Congratulations to Penny Xu, who took 2nd place in Girls' Under 18, and to Adele Padgett, who tied for first (taking 2nd on the fourth tiebreak!) in Girls' Under 16.  Story to follow on Chess Life Online.

After three rounds of All Girls National Championships

Standings are on Renaissance Knights' website; play concludes tomorrow!

Dennis Monokroussos wins Downers Grove

FM Dennis Monokroussos won a powerful Swiss today organized by Daniel Parmet and the Downers Grove Chess Club.  Monokroussos beat Matthew Holloway, Gregory Bungo, Isaac Braswell, and FM Aleksandar Stamnov to score 4-0. 

IM Florin Felecan and FM Albert Chow drew on Board 1 in the final round to tie for second with 3½-½.

Alex Ziqi Ding beat NM Trevor Magness to earn a provisional USCF rating of 2286; Ding, Braswell, Stamnov, Chenliang Luo (who upset FM Aun Thant Zin in round 2), Awonder Liang, and Benjamin Stern tied for fourth with 3-1 scores.

Crosstable here!

IM Josh Manion featured in April Chess Life

Josh Manion & Julie Oberweis

...not that many years ago!

Courtesy of Chess Life, Andi Rosen's interview with Josh Manion is now available on the ICA website.  

As long as we've got the family photo album open, here's Julie on the cover of the July-August 1991 ICB.

Tireless Wikipedian Frederick Rhine

One of the co-editors of this blog gets well-deserved kudos at Dana Blogs Chess for his contributions to WikiProject: Chess.

Frederick and I rewrote large sections of Wikipedia's Bobby Fischer article a couple of years ago.  This reminds me that I need to write a review of Frank Brady's Endgame after tax season, as the article's weakness mirrors one of the biggest flaws in Brady's book (otherwise strongly recommended!): the coverage of Fischer's miracle years 1970-71 is embarrassingly thin.

223 preregistered for All Girls National Championship!

Here's the current registration list for this USCF National Event, here in Chicago this weekend!

There's still time to enter: fortunately for the out-of-towners, the All Girls is at the Doubletree Mag Mile (and not some godforsaken suburban location, far away from tourist attractions and public transportation).

Rosen-Magness, Skokie 2011

Here's one of the two decisive games from the last round of the Illinois Denker Qualifier (which, just to refresh your collective memory, is the Illinois Chess Association's High School Invitational Championship).

I'm very impressed by Magness's choicce on move three!

Rosen-Magness, Skokie 2011

Black to play

3...c5 was Karpov's choice against Korchnoi in the 1978 world championship.  The idea of swapping the c-pawn for White's d-pawn is positionally sound, and Black scores well with this variation.  But I always felt a little uncomfortable after 4.e5 Ng8.  The artificial isolation of the e5 pawn offsets White's space and time advantages, but doesn't make the opening fun to play!  And Karpov lost that game.

After 4...Ng8: White to play

Would you be comfortable with the Black pieces?

3...d5 is the most popular move here, but White just seems to have a nice position after 4.e5 d4 5.exf6 dxc3 6.bxc3 Qxf6 7.d4.

After 7.d4: Black to play

Seems pleasant for White!

Trevor's radical choice was new to me, but it's been played recently by the Filipino prodigy Wesley So:

After 3...e5!?

Beginner's move or brilliant idea?

One idea behind Black's deliberate waste of time is that White's combination of e2-e4 and c2-c4 is double-edged, as dark squares are weakened.  Another way of looking at this position: it's as if this were a Vienna Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6) in which White gets the move c2-c4 "for free," but the value of the extra tempo is unclear.  Anyway, 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.d4 cxc4 6.Nxd4 seems like a critical continuation.  White would love to trick Black into an advantageous version of the Scotch Four Knights (recall that there's a line in which White plays Nc3-a4 to gain space with c2-c4), but Black doesn't have to allow such nonsense.

In the game above, Eric played more quietly against Trevor, and didn't get anything from the opening.  If I can learn a new move on move three of an opening that I defended against for twenty years, then I've got to believe that chess is still full of surprises!

After busy season, I'll have more to say about this game on the ICA website.  Perhaps in the interim, folks can explain this opening to me :-)

Photos from this weekend on the "ICA Warren Junior Chess Scholars" Facebook page

Here's the link: enjoy! 

(Fixed broken link...I hope!)

Wendi Fischer of America's Foundation for Chess featured in USA Today

Check it out!  AF4C has a substantial Chicago presence.

Tragicomedy with major pieces

Here's the 2nd round game between NM Eric Rosen and NM Adarsh Jayakumar from this weekend's Denker Qualifier.  As both players had dropped points in the first round, the loser would be eliminated from contention for first. 

Rosen-Jayakumar, Skokie 2011 
Black to move

So you're playing the Black pieces in the position above.  You've just made the "standard" rook for five pawns sacrifice, and White's king is walking.  But you're living off the thirty-second increment, which means you've got to come up with the best move quickly.  What do you do?

Look for the answer (and annotations) on the ICA website  in a few days.

Special thanks to Adarsh Jayakumar for seeing the humor in this painful loss!

Chicago connections - Tim Redman

The Filipino IM Julio Catalino Sadorra, who plays for the University of Texas at Dallas, just earned his third GM norm in a grandmasters-vs.-UTD students "Scheveningen style" event.

So what's the Chicago connection, and why am I linking to an article in a Manila business paper?  The answer: Tim Redman.

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....

Victoria Bian wins Illinois Girls' Invitational

Cheryl Liu beat Victoria in the round three encounter of the leaders, but then Cheryl lost to Rachel Ulrich (who was ten years old the last time I asked!) in round 4.

=1st-2nd: Victoria Bian and Cheryl Liu, Victorial Bian wins on tiebreaks.

Other top finishers in this five-round round robin: Sonya Vohra (3-2) and Rachel Ulrich (2½-2½).

Crosstable here!

Andi Rosen organized for the Illinois Chess Association; Sevan Muradian directed.

A note to parents

Rumor has it that some parents (no one's given me any names) want the PGN of their young stars' games embargoed until after the national championships.  Carlsen, Anand, and Aronian don't have this luxury!

Wouldn't it be better to publish the games, warts and all?  Then the young players can discover their opening errors, correct them, and prepare their repertoire in even greater depth?  This worked for Fischer.

Zachary Holecek wins 2011 Barber Qualifier

 The Illinois Chess Association held its first "Barber Qualifier," to select the Illinois representative to the USCF's new tournament of K-8 state champions, named in honor of retiring scholastic organizer Dewain Barber.  The event, held at the North Shore Chess Center in Skokie, was organized by Andi Rosen of the Illinois Chess Association's Warren Junior Program and directed by Sevan Muradian.  Sixteen of the top K-8 players in the state were invited.

Zachary Holecek and James Wei tied for first with 4-1 scores; Zachary won on tiebreaks.  Gavin McClanahan and Max Zinski tied for third with 3½-1½ scores.  Conrad Oberhaus and Day One leader Bryce McClanahan tied for fifth with 3-2 scores; Penny Xu and Nathaniel Kranjc had even scores.

Crosstable here!

 Proud father David Holecek writes:

Zachary Holecek is a five-time Illinois State Champion [...] winning his 17th place as a preschooler in K-3 section and winning his first state title in Kindergarten.  

He loves chess and keeps busy with his other activities (basketball, soccer, scholastic bowl, and assists Dave Monatelli with the Sprague elementary chess team).

Chicago Conference Chess Championship

Lifted from the Fenwick High School website: congratulations to Ian Kowalski!

Friar Wins Chicago Conference Chess Championship

 The Fenwick Chess Team ended the season in third place in the Chicago Chess Conference.  Chess players compete both as a team and as individuals. Senior Ian Kowalski played the "first board"--the most competitive position in team chess.  He ended the regular season in first place in the conference and then won the individual championship in a tournament held at St. Patrick's High School on Saturday March 25th.  Kowalski and senior Jen Concepcion completed the five-round regular tournament in a four-way tie with two players from St. Patrick's.  In a two game blitz playoff (an overtime in chess play,) Ian took first place and Jen placed fourth. 

Also competing in the individual tournament were Jan Concepcion, Josh Orenic and Valente Herrera. 

The Chicago Chess Conference consists of the Catholic High Schools in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Cool new feature on MSA

The U.S. Chess Federation's Member Services Area keeps improving each month!

If you visit Adarsh Jayakumar's MSA page, you'll find out that as of the April 2011 rating list (already out), Adarsh is ranked #374 among all active players in the US, and #59 among juniors.

Eric Rosen is #354 in the nation, #55 among juniors.

Sadly, Yury Shulman does not make the top juniors list, but he's tied for 6th in the nation.

It works for mere bloggers, too.

Hat tip to the South Suburban Chess Club of Greater Chicago for calling this to our attention, and thanks to Mike Nolan for his hard work!

March Madness in Skokie

 Penny Yu vs. Sam Schmakel

Brad Rosen takes a look at the big weekend ahead.  ICA sponsors three different invitational youth championships this weekend!  Stop by the North Shore Chess Center for a glimpse of the action!  (But be aware that access to the tournament floor may be limited.)

Perhaps the blogger quoted in the article meant his last sentence ironically, signalling that he had run out of tired clichés.  But these young men and women are truly brilliant, hard-working, and nice people.

Korchnoi at 80

 Age is just a number: Korchnoi beat Fabiano Caruana just a couple months ago!

Coverage at ChessBase and ChessVibes.

French players suspended for cheating

The French Chess Federation has suspended GMs Sebastian Feller and Arnaud Hauchard, and IM Cyril Marzolo, concluding that they cheated during the September 2010 Olympiad held in Khanty-Mansiysk. Here is how they allegedly did so:

[A]ccording to Jean-Claude Moingt the cheat the system went as follows: Cyril Marzolo sent SMS text messages with phone numbers which functioned as code. The first two digits were always 06, the following two were the number the move, the 5th and 6th figures would refer to the starting square, the 7th and 8th to the ending square, and finally, two counts of no importance. For example: 06 01 52 54 37, 06 01 57 55 99, 06 02 71 63 84, 06 02 67 65 43 are the codes for the moves constituting the Latvian Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5). This is actually the international notation of correspondence chess.
Arnaud Hauchard kept the two phones with him: his own and that of Sebastien Feller. He consulted and then returned to the bar at the venue. The way to indicate moves to Feller was as follows: the opponent of Vachier-Lagrave: A and 1, the opponent of Fressinet: B and 2, the opponent of Tkachiev: C and 3, the opponent of Feller: D and 4, Feller: E and 5, Tkachiev: F and 6, Fressinet: G and 7 and finally Vachier Lagrave: H and 8. For example if Arnaud Hauchard revolved around the table and stopped some time behind the opponent Tkachiev, and then behind that of Fressinet, he was signalling square c2.

ChessBase and ChessVibes (the source of the above quotation) have more. Just two months before the Olympiad, Feller (then rated 2611) had won the Paris Championship with an 8-1 score and an "amazing" 2859 performance rating. One has to wonder whether that result was legitimate.

Angelo Young, Andrew Karklins tie for first in St. Louis

Angelo even took first on tiebreaks; the field included GMs Kudrin and Finegold.

Crosstable here!

Story here!

North Shore Chess Center tourney tomorrow

Another email cut-and-paste:

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 3/19. 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. Additional questions email to: sevan@nachess.org. USCF rated. For online registration and list of more events please visit - http://www.nachess.org/events

CheckMates Chess Academy classes beginning soon in Lincolnshire

Via George Krasnopolsky and the CheckMates USA blog:

Info here!

Get your brackets ready...

...for the ICA's equivalent of March Madness:

• the 2011 Denker Qualifier (High School Invitational Championship)
• the 2011 Girls' Invitiational
• the brand-new Barber Qualifier (Invitational K-8 Championship)

The participant list is here!  These championship events will be held over the weekend of March 27-28 at the North Shore Chess Center in Skokie.

Betsy Dynako's photos featured in New in Chess 2011.1

Loek van Wely (photo Betsy Dynako)

Certainly I would have beaten GM Van Wely's lovely friend WIM Sonia Zepeda in last year's Chicago Open, had the troublemaking Betsy Dynako not urged me immediately prior to the beginning of the game to pay less attention to the board and more to the objectification of my opponent.  

Dynako: "She's very pretty."

blogger: "I only look at the women that I'm not playing."

Ms. Zepeda found a couple nice shots to turn a probable loss into a smooth win.

If you can afford the steep price, the trial subscription ($48 for five issues of New in Chess) is a very good deal!

Only a few hours left to save $20!

I paid $203 today to enter the Chicago Open online.  The price goes up $20 tomorrow!

Lufei Ruan at North Shore Chess Center

Brad Rosen reports on last Saturday's lecture.

Carlsen seems to be taking Amber seriously....

...according to the profile (teaser only online) in this week's New Yorker, available in both of Chicago's remaining bookstores.

Charlie Sheen, Bobby Fischer, and #notwinning

In the Wall Street Journal, of all places.  (Hat tip to Kevin Bachler.)

If Tigran Petrosian and Simon Webb had #tigerblood, so too must Tiger Hillarp Persson.

OK, enough of that.

Motokimi Yono

Motokimi Yono is in the Industrial Design program at UIC.  Here are two of several chess-related designs in Motokimi's portfolio:

Free live commentary of the Amber event

Sunday's Round 2 commentary begins (I think!) at 8:30 Central Daylight Time. 

In his Round 1 wrapup, Ronen Har-Zvi covered a hilarious series of double blunders by Nakamura and Carlsen (in their defense, they were playing blindfold), and features Alexander Grischuk's amazing win against Vladimir Kramnik (also blindfold!).

Most absurd Internet game yet

It turns out that my fourth move is a novelty, deviating from the more subtle 4...Bd6 of Krebs-Diemer, Germany 1974 (0-1, 13). Diemer (1908-90), a Nazi, shares billing credit for the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and wrote the 1957 book "Playing for Mate From the First Move."

Chess: The Song!

Don't miss Chess: The Song! Amusing, though I don't think it'll be a mainstream hit like One Night in Bangkok.

20th annual Chicago Open

Another cut-and-paste from my email: make your plans for Memorial Day weekend!  Please remember that Illinois Chess Association membership is required for all rated Illinois residents.  You get a discount when you renew your ICA membership at the same time you register for the Chicago Open!

CHICAGO AREA CHESS FESTIVAL
Memorial Day Weekend

20th annual CHICAGO OPEN
Open Section: May 26-30, 9 rounds, norms possible
Other Sections: May 27-30, 28-30 or 29-30, 7 rounds

At the luxurious, AAA four diamonds Westin North Shore Hotel, Wheeling, Illinois.  Special chess rates $99 for 1-4 in room.  Reserve your room as early as possible by calling 800-937-8461 or 847-777-6500.  The reservation deadline is May 13, but the chess block may sell out earlier.

$100,000 GUARANTEED PRIZE FUND

     NEW THIS YEAR!
     1) FREE ANALYSIS OF YOUR GAMES by Grandmaster John Fedorowicz.  Begins two hours after the start of each 4-day round and continues for about three hours.  All players are welcome to submit their game scores for analysis.
     2) FREE LECTURES by Grandmaster John Fedorowicz each day May 27-30, beginning 5 pm May 27, 9 am each day May 28, 29, 30.
     3)  QUICK OR BLITZ side events twice daily May 28, 29, 30.
     4)  LARGE CLASS PRIZES in each section in addition to the place prizes. This event has had Master class prizes in the past, but this year will also have a $1000 class prize for U2000 in the U2100 Section, U1800 in the U1900, U1600 in the U1700, U1350 in the U1500, and $800 for U1000 in the U1200.          In 6 sections.  FIDE ratings used for Open Section, USCF official May list for other sections.  ENTER BY MARCH 15 FOR LOWEST FEE.
OPEN SECTION: $10000-5000-2500-1200-1000-700-600-500-400-400, clear or tiebreak 1st $200 bonus, top FIDE 2300-2499 (NOT 2449) $2500-1500-1000, top FIDE Under 2300 or unrated $2500-1500-1000.  300 Grand Prix Points (enhanced). 

UNDER 2100 SECTION: $6000-3000-1500-1000-700-500-400-300-300-300, top U2000 $1000.  Unrated may not win over $2000.

UNDER 1900 SECTION: $6000-3000-1500-1000-700-500-400-300-300-300, top U1800 $1000. Unrated may not win over $1500.
UNDER 1700 SECTION: $6000-3000-1500-1000-700-500-400-300-300-300, top U1600 $1000. Unrated may not win over $1000.

UNDER 1500 SECTION: $5000-2500-1300-1000-700-500-400-300-300-300, top Under 1350 $1000. Unrated may not win over $600, provisional (4-25 lifetime games) may not win over $2500.

UNDER 1200 SECTION: $4000-2000-1000-700-600-500-400-300-300-300, top Under 1000 $800.  Unrated may not win over $300, provisional (4-25 lifetime games) may not win over $1500.

RATING DROP PRIZE LIMIT: Players who have had official ratings more than 30 points above section maximum any month May 2010 through April 2011 may not win over $1500.

 Full details (in many garish colors) here!

 Enter here!

Natalie Broughton?

Illinois Chess Association Treasurer Carl Dolson is the managing trustee of the ICA's Broughton Fund, which periodically awards the Natalie Broughton Life Achievement Award.  Carl's been asked to write a short biography of Natalie for the ICA website, and was stumped.  He writes:

The only thing I can find on the internet is from a Time Magazine article from 1972 on “Why They Play: The Psychology of Chess” in which Natalie Brougton, “a Chicago suburban housewife” is quoted as saying “My favorite gambit against male opponents is Sitzfleish. If you sit long enough, staring and pondering, you don’t have to have a fast mind. The other person will become so annoyed and tired that he finally slips.” I thought you, or other Chicagoans you know, would be able to fill in some of the blanks on Ms. Broughton.

I also found a notice of death from the June 7, 2002 Chicago Tribune for Natalie W. Broughton of Evanston, age 85, beloved wife of the late Donald B. Broughton, burial at Memorial Park Cemetery, Skokie. No obituary.

I moved to Chicago in 1979, and I don't recall having met Mrs. Broughton.  Readers?

Schmakel-Felecan now on ICA chess blog

Black to play

What's the best move?

 Follow this link to enjoy this cool game!

Downers Grove Swiss April 9th

Cut and pasted from Daniel Parmet's email!

Downers Grove Chess Swiss #7 tournament on April 9th is now up to 4 Guaranteed Masters participating!!! IM Florin Felecan, NM Trevor Magness, FM Albert Chow and NM Mariano Acosta will be in attendance! A great warm-up for the Chicago Open!!

I'm running on April 9th [sic] in Downers Grove Chess Club. Time control will be G/60 with 5 second delay. 4 round swiss, boards, sets and clocks provided.

See the ICA Tournament Calendar for more info!

Quiz answer

Here's the answer to the quiz that I flunked in over-the-board play:

Hayhurst-Brock

Chicago Industrial Chess League, 2011

After 71...g5: White to play and win

It would have been time for me to throw in the towel after the simple but difficult 71.hxg5! hxg5 72.Nd5!   It would have been a well-deserved victory for the Bh3, which had been engaged in a domination struggle with the Ne3 for a couple dozen moves.

Both players knew that White could not afford to trade away all his pawns, so we both overlooked that in certain situations, White might want to initiate the trade.  (Hayhurst was in severe time pressure, but I had a good twenty minutes.)

"Taking It Up a Level"

Do you have the proper mindset when you sit down to play a higher-rated player?

Check out NM Jon Burgess's article on the ICA website, based on his recent lecture to the Evanston Chess Club.

Schmakel-Felecan, Skokie 2011

Today I had the pleasure of co-annotating Sam Schmakel's fascinating game with IM Florin Felecan.  Look for the article shortly on the ICA website!

Free lessons at Chicago Chess Kids, CPL Edgebrook branch

Details here!

Soap opera not involving Charlie Sheen

Bobby Fischer's estate has been awarded to Miyoko Watai, pending appeal to the Icelandic Supreme Court.

"Chess Without Borders Help Build Future for Meher "

Rishi Sethi gives us an update at Chess Life Online.

But doesn't every 501(c)(3) need a PayPal link?   :-)

"Watson Still Can't Think"

Hubert Dreyfus himself contributes to the discussion on Stanley Fish's blog at the New York Times. The philosopher who famously marked the limits of artificial intelligence forty years ago observes that computers still lag humans in understanding contexts.

And human beginners are capable of understanding the position below (recycled yet again!) far better than the best chess computer programs.

Here's another example from the 2006 World Computer Championship: check out Black's horrible 71st move, a move that no human master would ever allow.

Yet another silly Internet game

This game has an unusual concluding move. Equally good was 17.Nh6! - but no points for 17.Nxd8?, which would have let Black play on for a few moves.

February 2011 CICL Bulletin

Here it is!

Greater Chicago K-12 Championships

Jeff Caveney reports!

Another game from the DRW-AMARS match

Steve Goredetskiy and Rob Eaman finished just after Hayhurst-Brock was agreed drawn, and the match was drawn 3-3....but not for want of trying on both sides!

Blood on the board, redux

On my way to last Tuesday's Chicago Industrial Chess League match (DRW Trading Group vs. the AMA Rogue Squadron), I was carelessly crossing Wacker Drive (under construction) while checking my iPhone for DRW's address. Just south of the Lyric Opera on Madison, I tripped on the curb and hit the sidewalk hard. It was fortunate that I only bloodied an elbow and not my noggin.

When I told my wise wife that I'd tripped, she said that I needed to spend more time in the real world. I strategically "forgot" to confess the part about not looking where I was going. Fortunately for me, she does not read this blog.

The hospitable folks at DRW help me dress my wound and had Lou Malnati's pizza waiting for us. My clumsiness carried over to the game. After I made my 23rd move, I realized I'd dug a strange little trap for myself, which Lyle Hayhurst of DRW quickly found. The tactic is memorable for being an immediate killer that takes several moves to come to fruition--is that a contradiction?

I sacked a piece in desperation, after which the cool 30.Ng5! would have won immediately. The ending after 41.Nxd2 should also be won for White, but it's nontrivial. Your computer will mislead you if you don't have a tablebase installed: remember that king plus bishop plus rook pawn of the wrong color vs. king is a draw. But if Black sacks the knight for White's g3 pawn, White can blockade the pawns, win them, and then win the KBN vs. K ending (not as hard as it sounds). One idea for White, therefore, is to play h4-h5 an an opportune moment. However undeservedly, I escaped with a draw.

In other February 2011 blood-on-the-chess-board-in-Chicagoland news, NM Pete Karagianis led a his students into battle at the U.S. Amateur Team North. One of his young teammates lost a tooth, and Pete had to render first aid during play.

P.S. White still had a win as late as move 71.  Can you find it?

After 70...g5

White to play and win

Former USCF President Harold Winston, Chairman/CEO of the U.S. Chess Trust

You can read a bit about Harold here.  His office is a few blocks away from my office.....

And you can donate to the U.S. Chess Trust here!  It's a 501(c)(3) organization, and money donated to the Trust goes to good use!

March 5: $5 event at Evanston Chess

Yet another email cut-and-paste:

Levy Senior Center, 300 Dodge Ave, Evanston, IL 60202
Evanston Chess Presents:
Mar 05, 2011, 9:00am-5:00pm
Three x Three
3SS G/65
Three Sections, USCF Regular Rated
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.

Three rounds. Digital clocks are required and will be set to G/65 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. No Lunch Break: We need to be finished by 5:00 PM, so there will be no extra time between rounds for lunch.

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.

Jeopardy, Fischer, anthropology, phone-a-friend

Random links....

Stanley Fish discusses Hubert Dreyfus's critique of AI.  And Kasparov opines...

White to play

Can you evaluate this position more accurately than Rybka?

If so, why?

Sevan Muradian told me that Robert R. Desjarlais's Counterplay: An Anthropologist at the Chessboard looks like interesting reading.

Garry Kasparov reviews Frank Brady's Endgame.  Mig discusses that review, too.


And guess who was on the Georgian version of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?

2011 Warren Scholars announced

Warren Junior Program director Andi Rosen (who's been busy this week!) announces the 2011 awards on the ICA website.

First Illinois Elementary School Association championship results!

Mike Zacate reports at the Illinois Chess Association website!

Forty-three teams at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington

U.S. Amateur Team North results!

Andi Rosen reports at Chess Life Online.

 The uchicago.edu team finished 2nd on tiebreaks

Next year, why not "Straight outta Quadrangle"?

Here's the list of prizewinners and here are the MSA results by player.

Beginners' trap?

Local Class A player Dean Arond plays many objectively dubious openings.  But he knows them very well, he has fun playing these sharp lines, and more than one master has fallen into his snare.  In the following game, Dean equalizes against Whitney Young's Sam Schmakel with an opening best known as a beginners' trap.

White to play

Sam Schmakel-Dean Arond, Skokie 2011

I thought the ending was interesting, too!  You can play through the game on the interactive board below:

"Chess crown eludes Niles North"

Michael Chinitz of Niles North

Brad Rosen reports at SkokiePatch.

"Lufei Ruan to Appear at North Shore Center"

See Sevan Muradian's article at Chess Life Online!

"Secrets of a Mind-Gamer"

Essential reading: the section on techniques for breaking through plateaus is of particular interest to chess players.

Santarius wins Blitz, Angelo Young wins title

NM Erik Santarius won the ICA Blitz Championship with an excellent 9-1 score against very tough competition.    As Erik is a Wisconsin resident, the second-place finisher, IM Angelo Young, adds the title of 2011 Illinois Blitz Champion to his five "slow" titles.  Anglelo scored 7½-2½.  Two-time US Game/30 champion Michael Auger, NM Eric Rosen, NM Atulya Shetty, and Matthew Wilber tied for third with 7-3.

NM Gopal Menon, who's one of the strongest "bullet" (one-minute game) players on the Internet Chess Club, didn't win a prize this year, nor did NMs Stamnov or Karagianis.

Results are here!

Frank Brady on CSPAN2 tonight

Mr. Brady will be discussing Endgame at 7:15 Central Time.  The interview is about 40 minutes.  (Hat tip to Ken Marshall for the heads-up.)

1001 Deadly Checkmates

I recently got John Nunn's new book 1001 Deadly Checkmates. It's a collection of (you guessed it) 1001 positions from actual play (mostly in the last few years) where the player on move can checkmate by force in a few moves. It is a great book, which I think will be useful to a wide range of players, say from 1400 to 2400. I'm 2200 OTB and can solve most of the problems pretty quickly (197 out of the first 200), but still find them useful for honing my tactical skills. They should be even more useful for lower-rated players, who will find a lot of mating ideas that are new to them. Chess is largely a matter of pattern recognition, so exercises like these are useful to everyone. It's reasonably priced, too - only $15.75 at Amazon.com.

Here is a position, from Kotrotsos-Stiri, Iraklion 2005 (No. 640 in Nunn's book) that surprised me. I solved it quickly enough, but might not have if I hadn't known that there was a mate to be found. White, on move, must force mate.

A trap in the Slav

This trap is similar to several others where a player plays B-KN5 (i.e. Bg5 or Bg4, depending on color), then follows it up with P-K3 (e3 or e6), allowing the opponent to win the unprotected bishop with Q-R4+ (Qa5+ or Qa4+). These include (a) the notorious 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 c6 3.e3?? Qa5+ 0-1, Z. Đorđević-M. Kovačević, Bela Crkva 1984; (b) 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c6 3.Bg2 Bg4 4.c4 e6 5.cxd5 cxd5?? 6.Qa4+ Bachler-Van Meter, Midwest Masters 1985; and (c) 1.g4? d5 2.Bg2 Bxg4 3.c4 c6 4.Qb3 e6 5.cxd5 cxd5?? 6.Qa4+ Van der Heijden-Van Ranwooy, Walwijk 1978. These games offer further evidence for GM John Nunn's "LPDO" (Loose Pieces Drop Off) principle.

Evanston Chess Club email cut & paste

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

Evanston Chess Presents:

Feb 22, 2011

7:15pm - 8:15 pm

Lecture: Taking It Up a Level

Our Evanston Chess Club simuls in September and December left some of our players asking, "How can I play better chess?" By popular demand, NM Jon Burgess will give an informal lecture on a variety of ways club players can improve their games. The lecture is free and open to those who are high school age and older.

Coming Events:
--Feb 22, 2011, Lecture: Taking It Up a Level
--Mar 05, 2011, 3SS G/65 Three x Three
--May 14, 2011, 4SS G/45 Tri-Level

See http://evanstonchess.org/ for details.

North Shore Chess Club tournament tomorrow

Another cut-and-paste from my email:

Game-45 Sunday Afternoon Tournament 2/20

We have our monthly Game-45 tournament on Sunday afternoon February 20 @ 1pm.
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 2/19. 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 

View the pre-registration list by clicking here.

State Blitz Championship tomorrow night!

Begins at 8 p.m. tomorrow in Northbrook!  Instead of watching a movie, play ten blitz games!

More info here!

Register here!

ICA STATE BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIP
FEBRUARY 19, 2011

Crowne Plaza, 2875 N Milwaukee, Northbrook, Illinois 60062, (847) 298-2525,

$79 Room Rate (single, double, triple, quad) Includes FREE Breakfast Buffet!.

$79 Hotel Room Rates - Free Breakfast Buffet with room - And More...

Bring Sets, Boards, & Clocks

$500 b/30

1st: $150 & Title (determined by tiebreaks)

2nd: $125

3rd: $50

U2200: $47

U2000: $46

U1800: $45

U1600: $44

U1400: $43

UN can win top prizes only

ENTRY FEES & info

$25 received by 2/16 USPS

$25 on-line by 2/18, 6 PM

$30 at the site

5 Rounds

2 Games with each opponent

Round 1: 8 pm

(and as available after that)

Byes Round 1 only

Chess Party of the Year starts tonight / tomorrow!

You still have a few hours to put together a team for the U.S. Amateur Team North (Crowne Plaza, 2875 N. Milwaukee, Northbrook).  Seriously....there's a split first round: if you can't play tonight at 7 p.m., your team can begin play tomorrow a.m.

Enter here!

Read all about it here!

Andi Rosen tells us that there's a Wisconsin team with GM Friedel on first board and former Wisconsin champion Alex Betaneli on third board!

not directly about chess....

...but chess players who have experienced the amazing capacities and surprising limitations of chess engines can probably relate to IBM's Watson project better than most of the general public.

I've lived in Chicago all my adult life, and I'd always assumed that Midway Airport was named after the Midway Plaisance.  Oops!

P.S.  Others are seeing the relevance to chess, too: here, Kasparov is invoked to argue for human-cylon collaboration.

Scholastic national events coming up!

Our Twin Cities friend Mark Nibbelin reminds us to register for nationals. (pdf)

• 2011 K-9 Championship,  April 15 - 17,  Columbus Ohio
  
• 2011 National High School K-12 Championships,  April 29 - May 1,  Nashville, TN 
• 2011 National Elementary K-6 Championships,  May 6 - 8,  Dallas TX 

"Music Box Acquires Sundance's 'Bobby Fischer'"

Cool Chicago connection: Music Box Films, which just acquired the documentary "Bobby Fischer Against the Rest of the World" is owned by the same corporation that owns my favorite Chicago art house.

Story here!

Joel Benjamin wrote up his Sundance visit on Chess Life Online.

Whitney Young team featured on WGN TV

 

There will be (G-rated, fake) blood in Bloomington this weekend

Next weekend, the Downstate action shifts from Peoria to the Twin Cities.  From today's Bloomington Pantagraph:

Almost 400 elementary students from 50 schools across Illinois will guard their kings and queens this week in a new competition at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington.


The Illinois Elementary School Association’s first state chess tournament will be Friday and Saturday.

Chess is one of two activities that IESA added to its official sports and activities list this year. Bowling is the other.

“It’s a great opportunity for a lot of kids,” said Pat Bodame, IESA administrative specialist. “We are all about providing as many opportunities as we can.”

There are seven rounds starting at noon on Friday. Individual and team awards will be given at a ceremony following the last round of competition on Saturday.

Online information is available at www.iesa.org.

Admission each day will be $5. Children younger that kindergarten age are free.

 The article continues with an overview of how Central Illinois schools did at the IHSA championships.

It's too late to register for the IESA championships, but if you'd like to visit, you'll find more info on the ICA tournament calendar.

"In Chess, There Is No Penalty for Piling On"

White to play and mate quickly

Vince Hart chooses a few instructive moments from the games of Mike Monsen, 5th board for Prospect High School, which looks to have a very strong team next year!

Father of the Constitution, Chess Nerd

So says the Sun-Times.

"Stevenson High School finishes fifth in state"

Check out yesterday's Daily Herald article: there's a nice photo of Kent Cen.

While Stevenson is a big school (I think the enrollment is about the same as Chicago's Lane Tech HS), you wouldn't expect it to be able to compete successfully with schools like Whitney Young, which draws the best public school students from the entire city.  But it does, year after year....

From the article:

In fact, this year’s tournament was the biggest in its 37-year history, drawing teams from 132 high schools across the state. With eight players on each team, it meant 1,400 chess players and 200 coaches converged on Peoria’s civic center over the weekend.

Hmm, what does 132 x 8 equal?  And if each team brought two alternates, 132 x 10 = how many players?  (The Daily Herald may well be right, but I believe the nose count is closer to a still-phenomenal 1,100.  It may well be that 300 players were "DNP - coach's decision.")

"One Coach, Many Young Champions"

Michael Aigner (copyright New York Times)

I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Aigner at the 2010 Chicago Open.  Dylan Loeb McClain features Aigner's playing and teaching achievements in yesterday's New York Times column.