Sam Schmakel featured on Chess Cafe

Here's a link to Steve Goldberg's "Scholastic Chess" column. Chicago's own Sam Schmakel of Whitney Young High School, who won the national tenth grade title this past November at the K-12 Nationals in Dallas, is one of two players featured in this month's column.

Sam Schmakel (second from left) with teammates Cristian Pena, C.J. Swan, and Mark Waechter

 Permalink (pdf) here.

The kids are alright!

I managed to keep my "undefeated against players under nine years old" streak alive, but eight-year-old David Peng gave me a serious scare.

We don't have the luxury of consulting the computer during play: as it turns out, David was closer to the brink of defeat than I was.  Lesson to be learned: if we adults believe in ourselves, we can win against any elementary-school-age player!

More seriously, the Warren Junior Scholars Program is working! 

Winter Scholastic 2012

Joseph Fennessey won the Under 1200 Section of the Winter Scholastic 2012 in Oak Brook, scoring a perfect 5-0.  Andrew Bean, Elliot Krueger, and Patrick Yasutake tied for second with 4-1.

Ross Fox Schneider won the Under 700 Section, also with a clean 5-0.  Yury Tytla, Mara Flaherty, and Adam Rubinberg tied for second with 4-1.

Crosstable here!

Daniel Parmet directed for Chess for Life LLC.

Shaw, Hrach, Ford win Tim Just's Winter Open XVIII

NM Tenzing Shaw won clear first in the Open Section of the 2012 Tim Just's Winter Open, scoring 4½-½.

Jonathan Hrach and Adam Ford tied for first in the Reserve Section, also with 4½-½.

Crosstable here!

More coverage to follow.  Look for extensive games coverage by FM Albert Chow on the ICA website.

"Giri wins Reggio Emilia as Nakamura falters"

Bummer.

Story at Chess Life Online.

Touch and Go Chess Party

On this unseasonably warm January afternoon, we really should be playing chess in front of the Art Institute.  I've spent several pleasurable afternoons at the "Touch and Go Chess Party."

The songbirds promised me this morning that springtime woud be here soon: in the meantime, enjoy!

Five studies by Richard Réti

The following study by the great Richard Réti shares a key theme with Wednesday's study by Frederick Rhine. Give it a whirl!

Réti

Teplitz Schönauer Anzeiger, 1922

White to play and win

Here's one of Réti's greatest hits:

Réti

Hastings and St. Leonards Post, 1922

White to play and win

In the rook versus pawn(s) battle, the defender can use a similar theme:

Réti

Shakhmatny Listok, 1929

White to play and draw

Réti's most famous study often appears in beginner's books (but it's far from simple!):

Réti

Deutsch Österreichische Tageszeitung, 1921

White to play and draw

Réti composed a variation on this theme that deserves to be better known:

Réti

Deutsch Österreichische Tageszeitung, 1921

White to play and draw

You'll find more Réti studies at this cool website and on the highly recommended HHdbIV.

Preregister today for Tim Just's Winter Open tomorrow!

You have until 6 p.m. today (Friday, January 6th) to preregister for this weekend's Tim Just Winter Open XXVIII!   The TJWO is the first event of the Illinois Chess Association's reboot of the Illinois Tour.  (Please thank Mike Cardinale for his work in resurrecting the Tour!)

Play begins at 9 a.m. tomorrow Saturday, January 7th, for the two-day Open and Reserve. Preregistrants in the Open Section include FM Chow and NMs Bungo, Schmakel, Macenis, and Shaw.

Play begins at noon tomorrow for the one-day Scholastic event (in two sections).

Enter here!

You can enter the Scholastic Section here!

The most famous study with a Chicago connection?

Emanuel Lasker & Gustavus Reichhelm

Chicago Tribune, 1901

White to play and win

This is probably the second-most famous study with a World Champion as (co-)composer (Lasker's famous 1890 rook ending gets top honors).  Solution here: block an hour out of your schedule and allow yourself to be mystified.  (But try it yourself first: if the White king makes it to b5, Black has no defense.  And if the White king makes it to g5, Black has no defense.)

HHdvIV gives the source as "Literary Digest 1901," but according to one Wikipedia editor, this version (with kings on a1 and a7) was first published in the Trib.  

Does this study have something to say about the postmodern condition?  (Two fools wandering aimlessly in a barren landscape?)  Marcel Duchamp co-authored a book with the endgame composer Halberstadt that was inspired by this study, L'Opposition et les cases conjugées sont réconciliées (not to be confused with the 1980s electronic music album of the same name by the French band Etant Donnés!).  Andrew Hugill has persuasively suggested that the theory of coordinate squares influenced Samuel Beckett's Endgame.  (Beckett, a chess player, knew Duchamp.)

And please: Vladimir Nabokov composed problems, not studies.

And have I indulged in enough pointless blather for one morning?

GM lecture series at North Shore Chess Center!

Another email cut and paste.  If you'd like me to plug your event, please drop me a copy with minimal formatting (blogger.com is picky).

March of the Grandmasters! Come learn from the best and then take them on!

I'm pleased to announce that the final Grandmaster has been secured for our first 4 months of the year. In March, Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan will be out guest GM joining others before and after him such as GM Akobian, GM Finegold, GM Shankland, GM Kaidanov, and GM Charbonneau!

Don't hesitate for minute about signing up for these great events. The lecture and simul together is $100 for non-members and $75 for members for a 6 hour lecture followed by a simul! Where else can you get that kind of instructional quality for an affordable price!

In the last 2 months of 2011 we brought you GM's Varuzhan Akobian and Ben Finegold. Thanks to the great demand it generated we have a great lineup of Grandmasters heading our way for 2012!

January 14 - Grandmaster Sam Shankland

February 11 - Grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov

 March 17 - Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan 

April 21 - Grandmaster Pascal Charbonneau

The Grandmasters will provide a 6 hour lecture from 11:30am - 5:30pm followed by a simultaneous exhibition.

For details and online registration visit - http://www.nachess.org/events

Inspired by the Saavedra position

Alexander Fishbein & Dmitry Gurevich 

Illinois Chess Bulletin, 1991 

White to play and win

Matt Pullin tried to solve yesterday's Karstedt study by sacrificing the horsie to transpose to the Saavedra position.  That made me think of this study, co-authored by our own GM Dmitry Gurevich and first published in the Illinois Chess Bulletin.

Solution to yesterday's study (Karstedt, 1911)

You're going to need a couple hints for this one....

This blog's very own Frederick Rhine is the author of today's study (cribbed once again from the terrific HHdbIV).

Frederick Rhine

Chess Life, 2002

White to play and draw 

There was a Karpov-Kasparov game in 1991 that reached the pawnless ending KBNN vs. KR.  The game was drawn, and subsequent research confirmed that this ending is theoretically drawn in the general case.  (The rook can sacrifice itself for the bishop, after which KNN vs. K is drawn.)

Black is threatening checkmate in the above position: do whatever it takes to stop Black!  But kindly do it in the right order.

New Lev Alburt website

Grandmaster Lev Alburt knows a little about chess: he's a three-time U.S. Champion, three-time Ukrainian Champion, and lead author of one of the most successful instructional series ever!

Former USCF Executive Director Al Lawrence, one of Lev's frequent co-authors, just rolled out the beta of Alburt's official website.  Check it out!  Doubtless more effective than those ads in the New York Review of Books...and you can order autographed copies for no additional charge!

First event of 2012 Illinois Tour this weekend!

Don't miss the inaugural event of the Illinois Chess Association's 2012 Illinois Tour.  It's the 28th edition of Tim Just's Winter Open!

Once again, the site is the DoubleTree in Oak Brook.  Play begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, January 7th, for the two-day Open and Reserve; play begins at noon Saturday for the one-day Scholastic event (in two sections).  No Bears in the playoffs, no snow in this weekend's forecast: why not play chess?

Enter here!  (Online preregistration closes Friday afternoon.)

You can enter the Scholastic Section here!

Parents will go to great lengths for their children

That study made me think of this one.  I had to dig out my copy of Sutherland & Lommer to find the position.

Max Karstedt

Deutsches Wochenschach, 1911

White to play and win

Solution to Kleiman study

Become the alpha nerd in your club with Dr. Harold van der Heijden's endgame study database HHdbIV!

M. Kleiman 

Chess Life and Review, 1968

White to play and win

Tim Just's Winter Open this coming weekend!

Don't miss the inaugural event of the Illinois Chess Association's 2012 Illinois Tour, the humpty-humpf annual Tim Just's Winter Open. (It's being called the 28th annual TJWO, but that appears to be a conservative estimate: last year, Wayne Clark said that Tim simply lost count!)

The site is the DoubleTree in Oak Brook.  Play begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, January 7th, for the two-day Open and Reserve; play begins at noon Saturday for the one-day Scholastic event (in two sections).

Enter here!  Even with the mildly annoying $3 "convenience" fee, you'd be wise to save time and money by preregistering.  The total cost of $67 (Open and Reserve) is very reasonable.  If you enter on site, it'll cost you $80, plus you'll have to arrive at the site before 8:30 a.m. in order to register.  (There's an additional $10 fee for players rated below 1800 to play in the Open Section.  Any ambitious player rated above 1600 should give this option serious consideration.)

You can enter the Scholastic Section on the same page: $26 for five good games is very reasonable.  (But consider playing in the Reserve section: this is an excellent event for scholastic players to test themselves against adult opponents!)

Check out pre-entries here!

Tournament wrapup on Chess Life Online

Story by Sevan Muradian.  Nice event, interesting format!

The most exciting opening?

One can make a strong argument for the Botvinnik Variation of the Semi-Slav.  The position after Black's 10th move was first reached by Grünfeld (!) in 1936,  Botvinnik came up with the amazing idea of castling queenside in 1941, and in 2012, I have yet to meet a person who claims to understand what's going on in this crazy opening.

Thanks for visiting!

Happy 2012 to you and yours!  In the past week, we've had visitors (more than 5 pageviews) from the US, Russia, German, Japan, France, Poland, the UK, Canada, China, and the Czech Republic.  Even allowing for bots and Chicagoans on the road, that's gratifying and most appreciated!

In lieu of a tip jar, I hope you'll consider donating to the Illinois Chess Association's Warren Junior Scholar Program.  If you choose to follow this blog or share a blogpost, I'd be grateful.

If you'd like to contribute to the blog, please drop me a line!  Always happy to plug upcoming Chicagoland events: lightly formatted HTML suitable for cutting and pasting is always appreciated.

The Nakamura Express pulls away at Reggio Emilia

GMHikaru tweets "The freight train appears to be back on track!"  Hopefully the train will have enough fuel to make it through Wijk aan Zee.  Nakamura's defense of his Tata Steel title begins on January 13th.

 Photo © |http://www.ippogrifoscacchi.it

In today's game, look at all the compensation Nakamura gets for the investment of a mere wing pawn.

One has to feel for Nikita Vitiugov, who's only 24 years old.  It's hard for a Russian grandmaster to get foreign invitations when the GM is not one of the elite dozen players in the world.  It's doubly hard to play in one's inaugural "2700+ only" event.  Even the teenagers Giri and Caruana are grizzled veterans,  relatively speaking.

For more coverage of today's action, check out The Week in Chess.

A nice New Year's present

If you're rated over 1700 (or want to be!), or if you enjoy endgame studies, or simply enjoy beautiful chess positions, here's the PGN file for you!

Dr. Harold van der Heijden, the editor of EG magazine, sells his collection of over 76,000 endgame studies for 50 EUR. I've had HHdbIV, the fourth edition, for a couple of days, and am really enjoying it!

M. Kleiman  

Chess Life and Review, 1968 

White to play and win 

This one is very amusing!

Final standings, 27th North American Masters

Unofficial, with FIDE ratings (hat tip to Keith Ammann).  GM Mesgen Amanov wins the Schiller System event comfortably, while FM Gauri Shankar and NM Adarsh Jayakumar score IM norms.  I believe that one doesn't get the IM title until one gets one's FIDE rating over 2400, so both Gauri and Adarsh have their work cut out for them.

Official results (with USCF ratings) are now up on MSA!

 #    Name            Rtng Rd1  2   3   4   5    6  7   8   9   Tot
 1 Mesgen Amanov      2524 W3  D2  D4  W12 D10 W11 W6  W8  W9  7.5
 2 Adarsh Jayakumar   2197 W5  D1  W7  L6  D8  D9  W12 W10 W11 6.5
 3 Gauri Shankar      2274 L1  D7  W5  W9  W6  D8  W10 D11 W12 6.5
 4 Eric S Rosen       2305 L7  D5  D1  W8  W9  W6  D11 D12 W10 6.0
 5 Angelo Young       2350 L2  D4  L3  W11 W12 D10 W8  D9  D6  5.0
 6 Aung Thant Zin     2300 D10 W11 D12 W2  L3  L4  L1  W7  D5  4.5
 7 Arjun Vishnuvardan 2308 W4  D3  L2  D10 D11 W12 D9  L6  D8  4.5
 8 Nikhilesh Kumar    2249 W12 D10 W11 L4  D2  D3  L5  L1  D7  4.0
 9 Trevor S Magness   2154 D11 W12 D10 L3  L4  D2  D7  D5  L1  3.5 
10 Albert C Chow      2205 D6  D8  D9  D7  D1  D5  L3  L2  L4  3.0 
11 Dan Wolf           2259 D9  L6  L8  L5  D7  L1  D4  D3  L2  2.0 
12 Matthew Waller     2257 L8  L9  D6  L1  L5  L7  L2  D4  L3  1.0

No cigar

FM Albert Chow has beaten his share of grandmasters over the years.  He can't quite reel in GM Mesgen Amanov in this game:

Nakamura leads Reggio Emilia

...and is currently #5 in the world on the "live" list!

The gap between the top four and the closely bunched pack at 5 through 10 is substantial, but Hikaru is making progress.



 Mark Crowther reports on today's wild Nakamura-Ivanchuk game.

Congratulations to NM Adarsh Jayakumar!

Adarsh also made it to the magical 6½-2½ necessary to earn an IM norm, his first!

Here's the crucial Round 9 game.White wins material out of the opening, but has to deal with the "meh" bishop vs. good knight conversion issue.  Adarsh finds an energetic solution to the problem.

Congratulations to FM Gauri Shankar!

It's not yet official, but Gauri appears to have earned his second IM norm at the 27th North American Masters!

Later today, NM Adarsh Jayakumar will play his postponed Round 5 game. A draw in that game will give him his first IM norm!

From Facebook: "I won and I played one of the best chess games I've ever played today!"

Liz Garbus's Fischer documentary on YouTube

Here's an embedded link to the BBC 4 documentary Genius and Madman (released in the USA by HBO as Bobby Fischer Against the World).

Essential viewing!

Another good fight

FM Nikhilesh Kumar neutralized Eric Rosen's anti-Grünfeld system and had a pleasant middlegame advantage. But if you have to trade punches with Eric Rosen, try to stay out of the endgame. Very impressive play by Eric!

Another Bogo-Indian

Illinois Co-Champion FM Aung Thant Zin knows how to make his opponent suffer!

Stop by the North Shore Chess Center to catch the action! Rounds are at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Fighting chess

Congratulations to NM Adarsh Jayakumar, who became a United States citizen yesterday! 

Adarsh and IM Arjun Vishnuvardhan had a fun brawl on Tuesday.  Arjun makes me want to start playing the Bogo-Indian: he was very close to putting the game away.  But Adarsh slipped away to a tenable ending, Arjun pushed too hard, and....

(Updated to correct scoresheet transcription error.)

Mitkov leads North American Open

Local Grandmaster Nikola Mitkov is tied for first with four other GMs (including Spanish super-GM Vallejo) at the North American Open at Bally's Casino Resort in Las Vegas. 

Standings are here.  FM Aleksandar Stamnov is tied for first in the Under 2300 section, and Jim Egerton has a perfect 4-0 in the Under 1900 section.

More from Monday: Young 0 - Jayakumar 1

NM Adarsh Jayakumar won two games and drew GM Mesgen Amanov.  A round four loss doesn't help his hunt for an International Master norm: he needs to score 4-1 in the final five games.


Here's how he beat IM Angelo Young in the first round:

Updated to correct scoresheet transcription error: Adarsh writes, "I played 7...Qc7 against Angelo. Qe7??? haha."

Play continues Wednesday at the North Shore Chess Center, with rounds at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.

More of Monday's action

NM Matthew Waller plays a critical modern continuation, then improvises.  Only a couple moves out of theory, NM Trevor Magness gets a winning position with the Black pieces.  Fear the Marshall Gambit!

Play at the 27th North American Masters resumes tomorrow at 1 p.m.

Still more games from the Illinois Class

On the ICA website!

Today's Round 1 action: 27th North American Masters

Black against Grandmaster Mesgen Amanov is the second-toughest pairing possible in Illinois!  FIDE Master Gauri Shankar almost made it to a tenable endgame.  But not quite....

Round 2 is wrapping up right now; Round 3 begins at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

More holiday puzzles

Ottó Bláthy, The Chess Amateur, 1922

White to play and win

NM Adarsh Jayakumar showed me this problem when he was ten years old.  (His teacher, IM Stan Smetankin, had given it to him for homework.)

If you enjoy this problem, Steven Dowd's latest column in Chess Life Online has similar fun stuff!  As you've doubtless already learned from your PlayStation or Xbox, sometimes a king and one other piece can take out an entire army.

Yule enjoy these puzzles

It's time for the ChessBase Christmas Puzzles 2011!

I found the "obvious" (and cute) solution to today's puzzle, but I admit to being stumped by the "Black's best defence" hint.  There is no way for Black to lose a tempo, is there?

Aha: NM Pete Karagianis posted a link to the answer on his Facebook page.  I didn't take the variation deep enough.

Tkachiev interviews Anand

World Champion Viswanathan Anand

Photo: Irina Stepaniuk for WhyChess

Another great WhyChess interview!  (Hat tip to Chicago's strongest vegan, NM Gopal Menon, who was disappointed that Vishy isn't a true vegetarian.)

Still another silly Internet game

Black in this blitz game played the dubious Symmetrical or Austrian Variation against the Queen's Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c5?!). My 5.Nc3! is a well-known trick leading to a White advantage after either 5...Qa5 6.Nxd4 or, as played, 5...Qd8 6.Qxd4, heading for a favorable ending. Black's 7...a6? is a known blunder, allowing the very strong 8.Nd5! At move 10, possibly even stronger was 10.Be3, when Hook-Marumo, Novi Sad ol 1990 continued 10...e5 11.Nc2 Bf5 12.O-O-O+ Ke8 13.Nd5 b6 14.Bxb6, winning a pawn for starters. In my game, Black's 11...Nxb6?? gave me a choice of amusing mates.

Magnus Carlsen interview

Evgeny Atarov interviewed Magnus for my favorite Russian site, chesspro.ru. You'll find an English translation of highlights on WhyChess. Interesting stuff!

27th North American Masters begins Monday!

Come watch our local masters in search of international title norms.  GM Mesgen Amanov, IM Angelo Young, and IM Arjun Vishnuvardhan face of against local stars Kumar, Aung Thant Zin, Rosen, Jayakumar, Chow, Waller, Wolf, Shankar, and Magness!  (But please don't ask me to explain the Schiller System format.)

Rounds are at 1 and 6 p.m. this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday;  there's one game on Friday at 1 p.m.  All action is at the North Shore Chess Center in Skokie.

Ron Paul on Bobby Fischer

Not the greatest topic for the holiday season, but it's timely.

Noted without comment (see "Spassky vs. Who?" on the pdf).  The reader is invited to draw his or her own conclusions.  The site is hosted by The New Republic.  Context here and here.  (Watching the Garbus documentary wouldn't hurt, either.)

2012 Illinois Tour kicks off with Tim Just's Winter Open XXVIII

See you January 7-8 in Oak Brook!  The prize fund is $4,175 based on 125 players (50% guaranteed).

Details here!

Enter by January 4th to save money!

There's also the 2012 Winter Scholastic on January 7th.

Liz Garbus's Bobby Fischer documentary now on YouTube

Via ChessCafe, which I really don't link to as often as this excellent site deserves.  (This is not a permalink.)

Well worth 87 minutes of your time.

Another great chess app for iPad / iPhone

e+Chess is a chess book reader that comes with one free title, Capablanca's Chess Fundamentals. (This is the same book I started to excerpt on this blog and will get around to finishing someday: it's out of copyright.) As you might imagine, displaying both the text of a chess book and an interactive chess board is a bit much on an iPhone, but it's legible in landscape mode.

Here's a screen capture from my iPhone: I touch "1.f5" on the left side (the text of the book), and the move is made on the board. And I can shuffle the pieces investigating my own variations (as long as the moves are legal). Cool.

Here's a screen capture from my iPad: as you can see, there's a lot more room on the larger screen.

Silman's Complete Endgame Course is available in this format for $17.99. You're much more likely to study the iPad version than the paperback! But unless you absolutely love your iPhone, I wouldn't buy the book to read on the tiny platform: just too darn small. But that's not the fault of this great app.  There are even nuggets of Silman's wisdom sprinkled through the text as audio files.    To be clear, e+Chess falls far short of the true multimedia available through ChessBase, but this is a promising start.

There's also a Valeri Beim book on middlegame strategy available in this format (Beim is one of my favorite authors, but I'm not familiar with this book), and a few oddball titles.  It remains to be seen how popular this format becomes (e+Chess could go the way of Betamax).  And the serious player is more likely to get more utility from ChessBase or PGN formats.  But ease of consumption is a strong counterargument: the platform looks very promising to me!

If you own an iPad and you want to join Vince Hart in studying Silman's Complete Endgame Course (an excellent book for anyone from complete beginning to aspiring master), you can't go wrong downloading e+Chess.  If you own an iPhone, download it anyway, if only to read a free interactive copy of Chess Fundamentals, one of the greatest chess books ever written.  But I wouldn't spend money on content unless you're buying for the iPad.

White to play 

As long as we're on this page, here's a famous passage.  Capa writes, "In the above position White can't win by 1.f5.  Black's best answer would be 1...g6, draws.  (The student should work this out.)"  Your thoughts, students?

Capablanca shoulda been a physicist

From Wikipedia: "According to Capablanca, he learned the rules of the game at the age of four by watching his father play, pointed out an illegal move by his father, and then beat his father twice."

Checking distance in K,R & P vs. K & R

After some embarrassing play at the Illinois Class, I have decided to take another run at getting basic endgame theory straight in my head.  Since I figure an expert should know Philidor and Lucena, I'm starting with King, Rook and Pawn vs. King and Rook.  My resources in this endeavor are Fundamental Chess Endings by Muller & Lamprecht, Batsford Chess Endings by Speelman, Tisdal & Wade, Comprehensive Chess Endings by Averbakh, Silman's Complete Endgame Course by some guy whose name I don't remember, and the 5-piece tablebase in ChessBase 8.

Here is a position from Batsford Chess Endings (p. 334) which I have looked at in the past.  1...Re1 is the only move that saves the draw for Black, and the reason given by BCE is "This move stops the e-pawn's advance after Ra8+ Kf7."

Here's the kind of position I might find myself playing as White in a tournament with my time running low.  I vaguely recall the position from BCE so I am somewhat encouraged when my opponent plays 1...Rg1+.  I'm not sure it's a blunder, but I'm pretty sure that 1...Rf1 would have drawn.

After 2.Kf6 Kg8 3.Ra8+ Kh7 4.Kf7, I am once again encouraged when my opponent plays 4...Rc1 because I know that checking distance is important and that his rook would be better off on the b-file.  So I play 5.f6 Rc7+ 6.Ke6 Rc6+ 7.Ke7 Rc7+ 8.Kd6.

Then my opponent suddenly scoots off with 8...Rb7! and I am left wondering whether I missed something or whether I never really had anything in the first place.  If I am lucky, I still hold the draw.  If not, my time runs out while I'm trying to figure out what happened.

So let's go back to the first position where 1...Re1 is necessary according to BCE because it "stops the e-pawn's advance."  This reason now strikes me as just plain wrong.  The tablebase tells me that the Black can draw even if the pawn advances to e7.  The reason 1...Re1 draws isn't because it stops the pawn from advancing.  The reason is that it forces White to bring his rook to e8 which allows the Black rook to take the a-file!  2.Ke6 Kf8 3.Ra8+ Kg7 4.Re8 Ra1!  1...Rd1+? loses to 2.Ke6 Kf8 3.Ra8+ Kg7 4.Ke7 Rb1 5.e6 Rb7+ 6.Kd6 Rb6+ 7. Kd7 Rb7+ 8.Kc6 when the Black rook can't scoot away.  BCE's comment that "the rook is misplaced on d1" isn't particularly instructive either.

The example in the second diagram actually comes from Fundamental Chess Endings rather than one of my games.  It gives 1...Rf1 as best but says. "1...Rg1+ is less accurate as White can penetrate further . . . although this still isn't sufficient to win."  I think that sentence would be much better if it ended with "because the Black rook still has adequate checking distance on the side."  It's not that BCE, FCE, and CCE don't mention checking distance frequently, it's that they don't cite it as the reason for a move when it plainly seems to be.

I would be very happy if anyone else would like share their experiences trying to learn these types of endings.  I feel like being able to articulate a better explanation for a move than I find in any of my books is itself a real step forward.  Of course, the test will come the next time I have to play one of these positions in a game.

More games from the Illinois Class

Opinions are like, er, belly buttons: everybody's got one.  More annotations here!  Your corrections and comments are always welcome.

Look for another batch later this week!

Profoundly embarrassing!

I heard a report Thursday that was confirmed yesterday. Prize checks from last weekend's Illinois Class Championships issued by Mikhail Korenman's IntECS, Inc., were returned unpaid, marked "Account Closed." Mikhail Korenman is currently out of the country and will return on December 22nd.

There may be a reasonable explanation for this.  Or not. Whatever the cause, the Illinois Chess Association is profoundly embarrassed that this happened in one of its championship events, and yesterday, ICA board members voted unanimously to pay the prizewinners in full and to reimburse them for any returned item or other bank fees that they may have incurred.

Sevan Muradian has recreated the prizewinners' list for me, and ICA Treasurer Carl Dolson will have checks in the mail as soon as he has contact info for the prizewinners.

EDIT: I have email addresses for fourteen prizewinners: please drop me a line with your mailing address.

Again, our apologies!

Games from the 2011 Illinois Class (part one)

Annotations on the ICA website!

Illinois Class Championships: Under 1000 and Under 700

These two sections were listed as Game/75, but try to get kids to think about anything for seventy-five minutes.  Pairings were made as soon as the previous round was completed, and the five-round event was done before the other sections began round two! 

Kyle Kras took clear first in the Under 1000 section with a 3½-1½ score; Giorgi Vanderway, James Calcagno, and Ankush Moolky tied for second with 3-2.

Daniel Polski swept the Under 700 section with a perfect 5-0!  Alexander Smirnov lost only to Polski and took clear second with 4-1.

Illinois Class Championships: Classes C, D, and E

Congratulations to Jonathan Hrach for winning clear first in Class C with 3½ points and picking up 90 ELO points in the process.  Cristian Peña took clear second with 3-1. In Class D, Anthony Gasunas drew his first game, then reeled off three in a row for 3½ points and the title. His Round 1 opponent, Richard Lewis, took clear second with 3-1 and gained 80 ELO. Class E was a bit of a bloodbath, as there were no undefeated players. Shereya Mangalam lost Round 1, then won three straight to execute a perfect Swiss Gambit: Shereya's 3-1 took the undisputed title. George Ries, Robert Kunke, Douglas Campbell, and Brian Suganraj finished in a four-way tie for second at 2½-1½.

"Local organizer to bring in best young chess players in the world to suburbs"

Awonder Liang (photo: Jeff Vorva, Chicago Tribune)

Patzer doesn't shave, wears flannel shirt, finds photo in paper

(photo: Jeff Vorva, Chicago Tribune)

Jeff Vorva reports.

A Basic Drawing Technique in King, Rook and Rook's Pawn v. King and Rook

Consider the following two positions which were inspired by Robert Moskwa's game at the Illinois Class with World Under 8 Champion Awonder Liang. White has just checked the Black king with his rook and Black has the choice of moving away from the White king and pawn with 1...Kd7 or towards them with 1...Kb6. The only difference is that the White rook is on c4 in the first and c3 in the second.  Both positions are theoretical draws if Black makes the correct choice. See if you can figure out what the right move is in each case before you look at the analysis on my blog.

Illinois Class Championships: Classes A and B

Classes A and B were combined.  15-year-old Nathaniel Kranjc of Wheaton (a 2011 ICA Warren Scholar) won the tournament (and Class A) with a 4-0 score.  Eight-year old David Peng of Northbrook (another 2011 ICA Warren Scholar, and one of several veterans of the just-completed World Youth Championships in Brazil) took clear second with a 3-1 score.

The winners of Class B were one of Chicago's finest, Dmitri Kosteris (adults can play chess, too!), Brian Harrigan of Indiana, and Rachel Ulrich of Wisconsin, a home-schooled sixth-grader.  (Rachel and I compared our age-ten-ratings last year: divide her rating by two, and you'll get my original rating.)

Look for games on the ICA website in the next few days!

Nakamura clear second in London!

The tournament is over (Nakamura beat Adams, all other games drawn.)  Final scores (unofficial):

Kramnik 16
Nakamura 15
Carlsen 14
McShane 13
Anand 9
Aronian 9
Short 6
Howell 4
Adams 3

Update: Nakamura won with the King's Gambit!  The game is here.  The final round report should appear here soon.

Tansel Turgut wins Illinois Class

ICCF Grandmaster Tansel Turgut knows something about over-the-board play, too, as evidenced by his victory in this past weekend's 2011 Illinois Class Championships with a 3½-½ score.

Dr. Turgut had a narrow escape in the final round against 8-year-old (!!!) Awonder Liang.  It appeared to this kibitzer that Awonder (in clear first at the beginning of the round) had his esteemed opponent on the ropes at one point.  But he lost, and tied for second with FM Albert Chow with 3-1 scores (Chow was undefeated and beat NM Greg Bungo in the last round.  Don't ask me what I was thinking when I wrote the last sentence: Chow and Bungo played a very correct draw, and I even played a small role in the post-mortem.) 

In the skittles room, Awonder was disconsolate about his loss in an eight-year-old kinda way.  But his father and siblings reminded him that he played very well, that he should be proud, and it's that only a game. (Useful advice for adults, too.)  Dr. Turgut came to collect Awonder's signature on the scoresheet "so I can show other people someday that I beat a world champion."  Adream Liang chimed in, "But he's already world champion!"  Thus cheered up, Awonder started kibitzing my post-mortem:

Brock-Moskwa (variation)
White to play and win with style

(yes, 1.Bf4 and 1.Rf4 are good enough, but look for the coolest move)

I don't think it took Awonder more than two seconds to spot the shot.  (Hint: leave your queen and rook en prise, and allow Black to capture a third piece with check.)  What a phenomenal talent!

Thanks to the Orland Park Cultural Center, organizer Mikhail Korenman, and TD Sevan Muradian for a smooth and fun event.

A report on the other sections will follow: look for games on the ICA website in the next few days!

Edit: here are the crosstables!