Dumas Technology Academy tournament

Barbara Radner, the director of the Center for Urban Education at DePaul's School for New Learning, runs a summer enrichment program at Dumas Technology Academy, 6650 S. Ellis.  This past Friday, Barbara, Gary Childers, and the other wonderful teachers in this program (my apologies for not having all your names!), invited Jerry Neugarten and me (on behalf of the Illinois Chess Association) to help run the program's chess championship.  It was a wonderful day: Jerry and I had a lot of fun, and the love these young players have for the game is palpable.

These pictures were taken at the end of a round: the crowd was much larger!

 

Shomari Tillett took first place.  Second was shared by Coriyana Richardson and Robert Redmond.  Other plus score awards were given to Royon McCoy, Michael Harper, Eddie Jackson, Demeatreas Whately,  Tevin White, Martinez Butler, Eaon Pier, Gregory Bennett, Zachary King, and Jamariah Crider.

Congratulations to all who played!

 Jerry Neugarten gets the tournament underway (courtesy Barbara Radner)

The end is near.... (courtesy Barbara Radner)

Trevor Magness at the Denker

The Illinois representative is one of the early leaders at the Denker Tournament of High School Champions in Orlando.

In today's game, Trevor finds a nice shot in the hyper-theoretical Romanishin Variation of the Nimzoindian.

Noodling around with the laptop

I was reading Kasparov's classic My Great Predecessors, Part 2 this afternoon (with Houdini running in the background). Houdini discovered a very cool variation that Kasparov doesn't mention, which suggests that White may have had more than one way to draw.

What's White's best move: 24.axb4, 24.Kb3, or 24.Qxb4?

Please check this!

Amazingly, the position after White's 19th move was home preparation by Botvinnik! This would be impressive in the computer age, let alone 1930.

P.S.  Fritz 6 also finds this same line easily, which makes me think that this is an editorial snafu.

Moving chess set from Chicago Robotics

Enjoyable video.

1st World Chess Games for Disabled in Dresden, Germany, October 24-30

I hadn't heard of this event before.  Link to details at Chess Life Online.  Please note that entrants must be sponsored by their national federation, which means that if you'd like to play, you need to get in touch with USCF as soon as possible.

There are separate titles for the blind, the deaf, and the physically disabled.  Unfortunately for me, "patzer" is not one of the disability categories.

Cool ratings site

Mesgen Amanov annotates

Mesgen steamrolled one of America's top juniors in the first round of this month's World Open in Philadelphia.  The game ends with a cute sacrificial flourish.

He discussed the game in a lecture at the North Shore Chess Center, and was gracious enough to share the game with those of us who weren't there.  Here's the link!

No-draw puzzles

Bill Smythe of Rogers Park posted some ingenious and amusing puzzles on the U.S. Chess Federation's "All Things Chess" forum.  Imagine some minor modifications to the rules of chess: repetitions of position are now prohibited, and the definitions of checkmate and stalemate are altered.

Can you figure out the theoretical result of king vs. king without resulting to brute force?  I can't!

Rachel Ulrich's first master scalp

I asked 11-year-old Rachel Ulrich if she could send the PGN of yesterday's win against NM Steve Tennant at the Downers Grove event. She modestly replied, "Yes, this is my first win against a master. Thanks to Mr. Tennant for playing in this event. I appreciate his time spent playing me."

And now we adults must be wary of another precocious young player.  White's play in this game is very smooth and very impressive! 

Young, Magness win Downers Grove #8

IM Angelo Young and NM Trevor Magness tied for first in yesterday's Downers Grove Chess Club #8 with 3½-½ scores.  In the final round, Young downed tournament leader NM Pete Karagianis, while Magness beat Mikhail Korenman. 

One-day, four-round Swiss System events are called "tornadoes."  This was certainly the strongest tornado in the Midwest this summer: two International Masters, three FIDE Masters, five National Masters, and several experts played.

11-year-old Rachel Ulrich (post-event rating 1714) beat NM Steve Tennant.  Tennant crushed me in the CICL playoffs a couple months ago.  Hmm.

Daniel Parmet organized for the Downers Grove Chess Club, assisted by Brian Smith.

Crosstable here!

Free tournament at Oak Park library tomorrow!

The event is unrated; it's also free!  Details here.

Downers Grove tomorrow!

Another email cut-and-paste:

Hello chess friends!

I am running the 8th Downers Grove swiss tournament tomorrow! It is already a very strong event with 10 masters and 8 experts signed up! We already have 40 players including IM Angelo Young, IM Mateusz Bobula, FM Albert Chow, FM Aleksanda Stamnov, FM Zin, Aung Thant, NM Trevor Magness, NM Petros Karagianis, NM Alex Ding, NM Sam Schmakel, NM Steven Tennant! 4 rounds of Game 60 EF $25

Announcement of DGCC's July 23, 2011 USCF tournament:

July 23, 2011 Downers Grove Swiss #8

4-SS G/60 plus 5 sec delay. Fairview Village, 200 Village Drive, Downers Grove, IL

IM Angelo Young 7 time IL State Champion and Chicago Blaze player is playing in this event. FM Albert Chow, FM Aung Thant Zin, NM Steven Tennant, NM Trevor Magness are playing in this event. More masters are expected to play, see here for a current list of pre-registered players.

Early Entry fee is $20, if you preregister and payment is received by July 18th. After that EF is $25.

This is a CICL-friendly event. For current Chicago Industrial Chess League members (those who played in the 2010-2011 season), the EF is $20 (including at the door), and you are eligible for the best CICL-player non-cash prize.

Prizes: Based on 40 entries: 1st $325, 2nd $150, 3rd $75. (At least 70% of EFs will be returned as cash prizes.) Book prizes, DVDs, or McDonald's gift certificates for best u2000, u1800, u1600, CICL-player, and upset. Unrated players can only win cash prizes.

Pre-registration: maximum number of players is 52, advanced registration is advised. Send mail with your name, phone number, USCF id number and a check payable to "Brian Smith" to

    Brian Smith

   483 Nantucket Road

   Naperville, IL 60565

Onsite registration: 8:45 to 9:15 a.m. If paying at the door, pay cash only (no checks).

Rounds: rd1 9:30am, rd2 12:30pm, rd3 2:45pm, rd4 5pm

Clocks and sets provided. Daniel Parmet is the TD.

Email questions to brs483@att.net More info at http://sites.google.com/site/downersgrovechess

USCF rated, USCF membership required. Players may take a half point bye in any round except the last round. A half point bye must be requested before the round starts. Zero point bye only in final round. Free parking, but park only in  a space marked for visitors. "200 Village Drive" is the "Village Apartments" building. Enter its main entrance, and tell receptionist you are there for the chess tournament. Multiple sections possible. Junior players (under sixteen years) rated 900+ are welcome, and must be accompanied by a parent throughout the day. Sorry, but we do not accept junior players rated under 900.


Regards,
Daniel Parmet
TD

Bughouse Informant

Here's the third in a great series on bughouse theory and praxis—from junior high school students!

I don't think I've played bughouse since I was 19, but reading the series makes me want to try.

Tommaso Dorigo

Tommaso Dorigo must have a good life: he's an experimental particle physicist, and he plays chess!  Tomasso is a veteran of the Chicago Industrial Chess League, having played for Fermilab.

Will the "God particle," the Higgs boson, be unveiled later this week?  Dorigo is pessimistic.  (More here.)  Are there baryons to be discovered?  You bet.

And does Tommaso have any good ideas for the White side of the Catalan?

Evanston Rapids July 30: $5, such a deal

Email cut-and-paste:

Levy Senior Center, 300 Dodge Ave, Evanston, IL 60202
Evanston Chess Presents:
Jul 30, 2011, 9:00am-4:30pm
Rapid 5SS G/29
One Section, USCF Quick Rated

Join us for our "light" summer event--five rounds of quick rated chess. Let your regular rating take a vacation. It's your chance to try out those crazy new opening lines. NM Eric Rosen will be playing Board one.

Five rounds. Digital clocks are required and will be set to G/29 plus 3 seconds delay. Accelerated or decelerated pairings 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 4:30 pm.

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.

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.

Lots of masters at this weekend's Downers Grove Swiss #8

Details here!

Wrapup of the 2011 FIDE Continental Americas Amateur Chess Championship

The title of this event seems somewhat longer than the article by Sevan Muradian on the ICA website.

"The Father of High School Chess in Illinois Is My Dad"

Mike Zacate is profiled by his daughter Betsy Dynako on the Illinois Chess Association website.

The next Bobby Fischer?

Nakamura profile in St. Louis's Riverfront Times.  An excerpt:

"I know the general idea is that I can be an arrogant [*******]," Nakamura says. "But that's not all I can be."

Nakamura's level of hubris is the kind that comes with youth, talent and the pressure of being both the symbol and the future of one the country's most dedicated microcosms. He uses this to his advantage: No one reinforces that pressure more than he does, and he channels arrogance to turn the hope that he can win into the knowledge that he, in fact, will. Nakamura never enters a game thinking he is the underdog, an aggressive philosophy that usually guarantees he is not. It also leads to dramatic changes in mood and behavior. "Bobby was crazy," says Rich, making that ubiquitous Fischer comparison. "Hikaru's just arrogant."

Particularly in his teenage years, Nakamura established a reputation of misbehavior, of emotional reactions and rude exchanges with other players. It has been hard for him to leave this behind.

"When I play chess, it's a competition," Nakamura says. He pauses. "I'm trying to think of how I want to put this: When I was a bit younger, I was a bit of a bad boy. I didn't exactly have the greatest manners, which has improved greatly, but a lot of people still remember when I was a jerk." The result is that today, people don't know what to expect from him. "I rather enjoy that."

Although he is always confident, he is not the same person away from the board as he is at it — or thinking about it. If he is angry, disappointed or depressed — as he can be often, depending upon his performance in a tournament — that fact is pronounced.

"When you're competing at such a high level, you have to wear a mask to some extent," says Sunil Weeramantry. His stepson, he says, isn't as aware of how he comes across as he should be: "He pretty much wears his feelings on his sleeves. He can be moody, and in the next instant, he can be absolutely charming."

Mitkov, Gurevich, Sarkar, Rosen win Chicago Class

GM Nikola Mitkov, GM Dmitry Gurevich,  IM Justin Sarkar, and NM Eric Rosen tied for first with 4-1 scores.  Sarkar is from New York, but we otherwise defended our turf.  GMs Amanov and Kekelidze also played.

I tied for dead last with two former masters (edit: they're under 2200, but the NM title is for life) and a future master, and I didn't play that badly: tough event! 

Congratulations to Max Villareal, who I believe was the only clear winner of a section.  Max won Class C with a perfect 5-0, going from 1412 to 1598 in five games.  (He was rated 1244 after the Chicago Open, then went from 1244 to 1412 at the Conitnental Americas Amateur--history here.)  At this rate of progression, we expect to see him playing for the 2013 World Championship.

ICA Secretary Maret Thorpe picked up 97 Elo in the Under-1000 section.  I kibitzed the under-1000 section a bit on Saturday: my impression is that most players with established ratings under 1000 have deflated ratings, simply because they're playing improving juniors in under-1000 sections. 

More to follow....

Results here!