Warren Scholars seminar

Andi Rosen reports at the ICA homepage.

Evanston Game/45 event on Saturday the 13th!

Levy Senior Center
300 Dodge Ave
Evanston, IL 60202

Evanston Chess Presents:
Mar 13, 2010
9:00am-5:30pm
Tri-Level
4SS G/45
Three Sections
USCF Dual 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.

Four rounds. Digital clocks are required and will be set to G/40 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 5:30 pm.

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.

Coming Events:
--Mar 13, 2010, 4SS G/45 Tri-Level 9:00am-5:30pm
--Apr 24, 2010, 5SS G/29 Rapid 9:00am-4:30pm
--May 30, 2010, 0SS G/0 No May Tnmt
--Jun 12, 2010, 3SS G/70 Swiss Groups 9:00am-5:00pm

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

Happy 75th!

 Bent Larsen

Best birthday wishes to the player who taught us all to push rook pawns and who never let us forget that Nimzowitsch was Danish, too.  

ChessBase

ChessVibes

FIDE

Skakbladet (in Danish, but lots of great photos)

And here's Flohr-Larsen, Copenhagen 1966.

P.S.  If you know Weiss from Schwartz, you might enjoy Larsen's collection of his games through 1973.

all in a day's work

I have a 9 a.m. business meeting with one of my clients. We finish by 10, and to my surprise he pulls up this position from his computer:

Larsen-Miles, Bled/Portoroz 1979

White to play and win 

I solve the puzzle in thirty seconds (go to Black's 59th move in this link: must remember to analyze forcing moves first!), think to myself how cute the postion is, then wonder how the heck my client got ahold of such an elegant problem.

Then he hits me with this one, and I start laughing:

Shirov-Dominguez, Corus 2010

Now I know that my client is not reading this blog, as I've previously posted on this combination, though admittedly I never got around to discussing this amazing position.  

Oh, what the heck!  Find White's only drawing move (which even gives White winning chances if Black blunders!):

I even show my client why 29.Qh5 would have lost (essential to closing any business deal!).

Now I really begin to wonder where my friend (an enthusiastic amateur whose initial rating would probably be below 1200) is getting this cool stuff. So he shows me the following app:


Aha! Very cool! We can all learn from our clients....

At 10:30 I give my client a ride from Oprah-ville to City Hall & tell him the story of the aborted Shirov-Kasparov match and how Kramnik became world champion. Somehow this is harder to explain than the combinations....

an oldie but goodie

We all make mistakes!

Post-Linares interview with Topalov

From ChessVibes!

The Chess Pavilion

Tobey Maguire?

After seeing The Aviator, I'd argued for DiCaprio.  But I could see Tobey Maguire.

Topalov-Gelfand annotated

On ChessBase.

Topalov wins Linares

Veselin Topalov wins clear first at Linares for the first time.  (He tied for first with Kasparov in 2005 in the latter's final event of his active career.)

His win against Gelfand is worth looking at! Amazing creativity in a "dead drawn" ending.

Greater Chicago Scholastic Championships this weekend!

It's the Greater Chicago Scholastic Championships (co-organized by Renaissance Knights and the Kasparov Chess Foundation) in Northbrook this weekend, February 27th and 28th!

Adamson on IM Norm #2 at the North American Masters

 Sevan Muradian & Robby Adamson

At Chess Life Online.

Topalov back on top

Veselin Topalov is +3 at Linares, and he may go to +4 shortly (he has Aronian on the ropes in a game going on right now).

Here are the top five according to the live ratings:

01     Topalov    2814,7
02     Carlsen     2812,9
03     Kramnik   2789,9
04     Anand       2788,7
05     Aronian     2779,8

Hmm, GM Sergey Zagrebelny at the Russian site ChessPro is saying that Topalov just blundered.

P.S.  Game drawn.

Pinoy Pride

Alex Betaneli recaps the victory of Pinoy from Chicago (IM Angelo Young, NM Camilo Pangan, Florentino Inumerable, Rene Ancheta and Virgilio Forro) in Chess Life Online.

Camilo Pangan is an incredibly creative player: it's great to see he's in action again!

Interested in becoming a part-time chess instructor?

I do not vouch for this Craigslist entry, but it came up in my Google alert, and it appears interesting and legitimate on its face.

Learn to play chess at Kelly Library, 6151 S. Normal, Chicago

Every Tuesday and Thursday (at least through the end of April) at 1 to 3 p.m., at Chicago Public Library's Kelly Library, 6151 S. Normal, in Chicago.

The library is convenient for folks in Washington Park / West Engelwood: more info here.


View Larger Map

Fields set for Illinois Chess Association Denker Qualifier & Girls' Invitational

On the ICA website!

Linares midpoint

Topalov is +2 after beating Grischuk today; nobody else is above breakeven.  Details at TWIC.

Anish Giri annotates the epic Topalov-Grischuk battle on ChessBase.

North Shore Chess Club

From the listing in Wilmette Life:

The North Shore Chess Club meets from 7 to 9 p.m., Wednesdays, at Starbucks, 347 Park Ave., Glencoe. The club has a relaxed, drop-in atmosphere and is open to players, adults and teenagers, at all skill levels. The club doesn't offer any formal classes but advanced players are always willing to help those who are less experienced. There are no tournaments and no fee. Members need only bring their own chess sets. E-mail: guntherrice@gmail.com.

Hunkering down....