Newsletter #199, 07/07/2004

"In my opinion Fischer had a dual or split personality. He had great chess talent and charisma but his personality was weak with too many flaws. If you like it was like too much great wine in a small vessel. His personality was too shallow to carry the weight, the burden of being the chess messiah."
 Garry Kasparov

Los Angeles based GM-elect Varuzhan Akobian won the 2004 World Open in Philadelphia with a fantastic performance scoring 7.5 from 9. Among his victims were GMs Shabalov, Wojtkiewicz and Golod. He drew with GMs Goldin, Smirin and Nakamura en route to collecting the $14,000 first prize. Tying for second at 7-2 were GMs Nakamura, Najer, Ehlvest, Smirin, Stocek, Novikov, A. Ivanov, Onischuk and Kunte.

The World Open was a qualifier for the US Championship. Very unofficially it looks like Jesse Kraai, Dmitry Zilberstein, Stephen Muhammad and Enkhbat Tegshuren took tie open seeds and Tsagaan Battsetseg and Laura Ross the womens spot but don't quote me. Four players made IM norms including MI-member Dmitry Zilberstein (his second). Other scores for Bay Area players: GM Nick deFirmian 6, GM Walter Browne 5, Paul Gallegos 5, Shivkumar Shivaji 5, IM Walter Shipman 4.5 and Jonathan Frankle 4.5.
 For more information go to: http://www.worldopen.com/results2004.htm
 Here was the only decisive game by the winner that was available as of this morning.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 a6 7.Rc1 Qb6 8.Na4 Qa5+ 9.Bd2 Qd8 10.Qb3 e6 11.Nb6 Rb8 12.e3 Ne4 13.Nxc8 Nxd2 14.Nxd2 Bb4 15.a3 Bxd2+ 16.Kxd2 Qxc8 17.Bxa6 0-0 18.Be2 Qd7 19.Rhd1 Qd6 20.g3 e5 21.dxe5 Qxe5 22.Ke1 d4 23.exd4 Nxd4 24.Qe3 Qxe3 25.fxe3 Nc6 26.Rd7 Rfe8 27.Kf2 Re6 28.Bb5 Na7 29.Ba4 Ra6 30.Bb3 Rf6+ 31.Ke2 Nc6 32.Bd5 Kf8 33.Bxc6 bxc6 34.b4 Rh6 35.h4 Rg6 36.h5 Rxg3 37.Rxc6 Rg2+ 38.Kf3 Rg5 39.Rcc7 Rf5+ 40.Ke2 h6 41.a4 Kg8 42.b5 Rxh5 43.Rxf7 Rg5 44.Rb7 Ra8 45.Ra7 Rb8 46.Rfb7 Rf8 47.b6 Rg2+ 48.Kd3 Rf1 49.a5 Rb1 50.a6 h5 51.Rxg7+ 1-0

IM Andranik Matikozian of Glendale won the traditional Pacific Southwest Open held over the July 4th weekend at the Hilton near LAX airport with a score of 5.5 -.5, defeating GM-elect Melikset Khachiyan in the last round. Tying for second at 5-1 were IM Vinay Bhat (draws with Khachiyan and Donaldson) and young Expert Ivan Biag. Among those on 4.5 were IMs Donaldson (draws with Bhat and NM Abrahamyan and a last round bye), Jack Peters and Tim Taylor.
MI-member Matthew Ho of San Jose had 4-2 including a draw with Peters. Randy Hough directed the event which attracted 133 players.

NM Michael Aigner reports:

IM Ricardo DeGuzman won the Sacramento Chess Championship over the 4th of July weekend, scoring an undefeated 5.0 out of 6 to separate himself from the field.  Playing in the 2-day schedule, DeGuzman defeated FM Bela Evans and NM Kenneth Hills but gave up draws to NMs Michael Aigner and Timothy Taylor.  Finishing in clear second place with a spectacular performance was high school student Ankit Gupta.  Gupta, rated 2083, impressively scored 4.5 out of the first 5 rounds, including a win against FM Kenan Zildzic, before losing a 5th hour time scramble to DeGuzman in the last round.  Since Gupta earned the 2nd place overall prize, the under 2200 money winners were Hills, Taylor, and Larry Snyder, each scoring 4.0.
95 players total came to Sacramento for this annual event. Franciso Anchondo won the reserve section with an undefeated score of 5.0 out of 6.  Second place and top under 1800 honors went to junior Aaron Garg and Jamshid Alamehzadeh.  The amateur section saw a 4-way tie for first between Fredy Ferrer, Michael Gosk, Jojo Zhao, and Jeff Kottcamp after Ferrer and Kottcamp drew each other in last round.  Over a third of the players were juniors
The tournament was, as usual, capably organized and directed by John McCumiskey with assistance from Sacramento club President Steve Bickford.  Perhaps the biggest story this weekend was the heat.  The temperature outside approached 100 degrees, and with so many players crammed into the playing hall, the air conditioning struggled to keep up.  Ice water was a valuable and necessary accessory for most players this weekend.  On Sunday evening, while chess fireworks erupted approaching the end of the sudden death time control, the real 4th of July fireworks also could be heard.
Full results:  http://sacramentochessclub.org/weekend_events/2004scc.htm

P.S. John Donaldson might be as confused with the name Timothy Taylor as I was on Saturday morning.  Timothy F Taylor played in Sacramento, not the more well-known IM Timothy W Taylor.

FM Frank Thornally and NMs Batsaikan Tserendorj and Victor Ossipov lead the 85-player Summer Tuesday Night Marathon with 5-1 scores and three rounds remaining. This Marathon and the next one start in late August are both being FIDE rated allowing many club members their first chance to earn an international rating.

Batsaikan Tserendorj of Mongolia won the strongest Wednesday Night Blitz in the series ahead of IM Ricardo DeGuzman and NMs Nicolas Yap and Batchimeg Tuvshintugs. The next event is held this evening and provides great practice with only a $5 entry fee.

Louie Ladow Memorial
July 11, 2004
Blitz Chess Tournament
Louie Ladow, a well-known cab driver and blitz chess specialist, passed away on April 7, 2003. His friends would like to remember him with a special blitz (5-minute) tournament at the Mechanics' Institute. Free entry to all cab drivers, $10 for others. Best cab driver $100, best overall $100, best Expert/A $50, best B/C $50, best D/E/Unr. $50.
Format 5 double round Swiss. Registration 11-11:30 AM. Rounds 12:30, 1:30, 2:00 and 2:30 PM.

NM Macon Shibut of Virginia was able to locate the late Richard Delaune's draw with Viktor Kortchnoi from Toronto 1985,
which is not in any databases. It appeared on page 12 of Players Chess News, August 28, 1985. Kortchnoi tries to grind down Richard with no success.

1 d4 e6 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 g3 b5 4 Bg2 Bb7 5 0-0 Be7 6 Ne1 Bxg2 7 Nxg2 c5 8 dxc5 Bxc5 9 c3 0-0 10 Bg5 d5 11 Qb3 a6 12 Bxf6 Qxf6 13 a4 bxa4 14 Rxa4 Nc6 15 Nd2 Rfc8 16 Qa2 a5 17 Nf4 Rab8 18 e3 Bb6 19 Kg2 h6 20 Nf3 Rd8 21 Rd1 Bc7 22 Rd2 Rb7 23 h3 Ne5 24 Nxe5 Qxe5 25 Qa3 Bd6 26 Qa1 Bc7 27 Qd1 Rdb8 28 Nd3 Qf5 29 Qg4 g6 30 Qd4 Bb6 31 Qf4 Qxf4 32 Nxf4 Bc7 33 Nd3 Bb6 34 Kf1 f6 35 Ke2 Kf7 36 e4 dxe4 37 Rxe4 Rd8 38 Rc4 Rbd7 39 f4 g5 40 Rc6 Bc7 41 fxg5 hxg5 42 g4 Bf4 43 Rd1 e5 44 Rc4 Ke7 1/2

This Labor Day weekend the largest prize fund event in the country will not be held on the East or West Coasts but in the center of the United States in Stillwater, Oklahoma, featuring 150 Grand Prix points.

Cal Chess President Elizabeth Shaughnessy, a candidate for the USCF Executive Board,  reports the next issue of  the California Chess Journal, edited by Eric Hicks of San Francisco, is due out in late July or early August.

International Master Calvin Blocker is available for telephone and in-person chess lessons, coaching, lectures, simuls and camps. IM Blocker has been Ohio champion twelve times and is a multiple winner of the National Open. Very experienced teacher. All levels. $60 per hour; minimum of two hours for phone lessons; minimum of three hours plus travel expenses (if not in Cleveland) for in-person.
Call 1 – 216 – 921 – 3774 seven days.

"My father taught me how to play chess at seven and introduced beautiful concepts that I try to pass on to my kids. The elements and concepts of life are so perfectly illustrated on a chessboard. The ability to accurately assess your position is the key to chess, which I also think is the key to life.
Everything you do in your life is a move. You wake up in the morning and you walk out on the street - that's a move. You've made a move and the universe is going to respond with its move.  Whatever move you're going to make in your life to be successful, you have to accurately access the next couple of moves - like what's going to happen if you do this? Because once you've made your move, you can't take it back. The universe is going to respond."
 Actor Will Smith

The Mechanics' Institute Chess Club will proudly host the Mark Pinto International from July 21-August 1. This Category 3 (approx. 2322 FIDE average) event, with a score of 7.5 from 11 necessary for an IM norm, is named after National Master and M.I. Trustee Mark Pinto as a small thank you for all the time and generosity he has given the Institute over the years. The Mechanics' Chess Club would never have been able to offer the many programs it has without his constant support. Thanks Mark!
The Pinto International will feature an interesting field with IMs Enrico Sevillano, Ricardo DeGuzman and Odondoo Ganbold and MI members Dmitry Zilberstein (2 IM norms), David Pruess (1 IM norm) and Alan Stein (1 IM norm) next by rating. Other participants include FMs Frank Thornally, Bela Evans and Richard Lobo plus NMs Shivkumar Shivaji and Michael Aigner as well as WFM Tuvshintogs Batchimeg. Participants come from Mongolia, England, Philippines and the United States.
The Mark Pinto International is one of a continuing series of international events at the Mechanics' offering norm opportunities that since the end of 1998 have produced 2 GM norms and 16 IM norms. Pointing to the lack of opportunities in the United States, particularly on the West Coast, Vinay Bhat and Vladimir Mezentsev made all their IM norms at the MI, while Jesse Kraai and Cyrus Lakdawala made two each. Only one player rated below USCF 2450 has ever made an IM norm at the Mechanics', FM Richard Lobo in 2000.
The Mechanics' Institute will be holding a FIDE rating tournament concurrent with Pinto International. If you have a FIDE rating and would like to play contact the Mechanics' Chess Club at chessroom@milibrary.org  immediately as spaces are almost filled.

The Mechanics' Institute will be sending a mini-armada to the center of the country this summer. USCF Executive Board Candidate Mikhail Korenman (have you voted yet?) continues to amaze as he is organizing not only the US Junior Closed but the US Junior Open and US Cadet Championship as well.
IM Vinay Bhat, participating in the 10-player US Junior Closed, will lead the Bay Area delegation. He will have plenty of company as three of the 10 participants in the Cadet (Under 16) are MI members (Ho, Yap and Setzepfandt).

Igor Schneider        16    2304
Matthew Ho        15    2236
Elliott Liu        14    2226
Nicolas A. Yap        14    2199
Teddy Coleman        14    2197
Mackenzie S. Molner    15    2181
Daniel J. Ludwig        14    2132
Alexander Setzepfandt    14    2125
Kurt Schneider        15    2107
Alexander James Chua    16    2102

FM Eric Schiller plans to bring a group of Bay Area kids to the US Junior Open.

NM Batsaikan Tserendorj defeated number two seed FM Frank Thornally to grab the lead in the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon with two rounds to go. A half point behind Tsrendorj's 6-1 score are fellow Mongolian WFM Tuvshintogs Batchimeg and NMs Victor Ossipov, Igor Margulis, Russell Wong and Nicolas Yap.

Teenager Drake Wang won the July 7 edition of the weekly Wednesday Night Blitz with an impressive 12-1 score. NM Jorge Lopez was second art 11 and NM Batsaikan Tserendorj was third at 10 1/2 in the 14-player round robin. The weekly blitz event will be held tonight at 7pm immediately following the lecture by GM Alex Yermolinsky.

Anthony Rozenvasser won the 2nd Louie Ladow Memorial held last Sunday at the M.I. Rozenvasser scored 8 from 10 in the five double round Swiss. Tying for second through fourth at 7 were Jason Childress, Yefim Bukh and Gary Lambert. Steve Brandwein directed for the Mechanics'.

Olaf Ulvestad gave an exhibition at the Hollywood Chess Group. He won 12, lost 3, to H. Gordon, I. Revise and A. Weiss and drew against G. Benedetti and M. Cook...and at the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club in S.F. with the clock, he beat H. Donnelly and V. Svalberg, drew against Leslie Boyette and lost to Earl Pruner.

Pruner,E - Ulvestad,O [C97]
Clock Simul, 1949

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 Na5 9.Bc2 c5 10.d4 Qc7 11.h3 0-0 12.Nbd2 Re8 13.Nf1 g6 14.a4 Bb7 15.axb5 axb5 16.g4 exd4 17.cxd4 Bf8 18.Ng3 Bg7 19.Bf4 Qb6 20.g5 Nd7 21.dxc5 Qxc5 22.Bxd6 Qc8 23.Bb4 Nc6 24.Rxa8 Bxa8 25.Bc3 Bxc3 26.bxc3 Nce5 27.Kg2 Nxf3 28.Qxf3 Ne5 29.Qe3 Nc4 30.Qf4 Ne5 31.Qe3 Qc7 32.Bb3 Rc8 33.Bd5 Bc6 34.Ra1 Bd7 35.Ne2 Qd6 36.Nf4 Qe7 37.Ne2 h6 38.gxh6 Qh4 39.Qg3 Qh5 40.Nf4 Qxh6 41.Ra7 Bc6 42.Nxg6 Nxg6 43.Bxf7+ 1-0

California Chess News 1949

Former World Junior Champion Tal Shaked, currently studying at the U of Washington, gave a simul at the Microsoft Chess Club in Redmond on July 5.

We recently learnt from Everyman Chess that volume 3 of Kasparov's series will be out this October. Originally this was going to focus on Petrosian, Spassky and Fischer, but due to the overwhelming amount of material that Kasparov has put together, Everyman have decided that it just wouldn't all fit into one book. Therefore, in November they will be publishing volume 4, which will devoted to Fischer and will include 55 of his games.

Mike Goodall, who has been a member of the Mechanics' Institute for almost forty years was pictured on the inside cover of the latest Chess Life with his custom license plate and wearing his M.I. T-shirt.

IM William Paschall and FM Sean Nagle improved their Elo ratings by scoring 6/11 in the Category 7 (2411) July First Saturday event in Budapest won by Bosnian IM Borki Predojevic.

An unusual event was recently held in British Columbia FM Bruce Harper reports:
The second half of the Vancouver GM Festival was held on the evening of July 7, 2004, when Grandmasters Pia Cramling (Sweden), Juan Bellon (Spain), Yasser Seirawan (United States) and Duncan Suttles (Canada) squared off in three “Pairs” games.

The Pairs rules are simple. One player makes the first move for White, then the players alternate, each making two moves in a row. Partners may not talk about the game while playing or otherwise give hints or advice to their partner. They may tell their partner to move (“It’s your move.”) and tell them to move quickly (“Hurry up, we have 20 seconds left!!”). Profanity and physical violence is not allowed except under extreme circumstances. If a player moves out of turn, the opposing team may either allow the move or insist that the player who ought to have moved make a different move.

The final standings were: Seirawan (2.5), Cramling, Bellon (1.5), Suttles (.5).  Go to http://www.chessbc.com/reports.html for more information and the ongoing Western Canadian Open.

Noted author, teacher and book dealer Fred Wilson has a  "audio column", entitled  "Fred Wilson Talks Chess", which began May 19th, 2004 on http://www.chesscafe.com/ .  His third guest will be the always popular and candid GM John Fedorowicz.

Alex Wojtkiewicz and Alex Stripunsky tied for first in the New York Masters last night scoring 3.5 from 4. Leonid Yudasin, Jaan Ehlvest and Julio Becerra tied for third at 3-1 as GMs grabbed all the top spots in the 26-player Action Chess event. Go to http://www.newyorkmasters.com/ for more information.

"You can permit yourself any liberty in the opening except the luxury of a passive position."
 Grigory Sanakoev (World CC Champion)

GMs Alex Onischuk, Alex Yermolinsky, Ildar Ibragimov and Kamil Miton, GM-elects Melikset Khachiyan and Varuzhan Akobian and NM Lernik Manouikian tied for first at 4.5 from 6 in the 9th Annual Pacific Open. Several Bay Area players turned in excellent performances besides Mechanics' GM-in-Residence Yermolinsky.  Albert Rich of San Jose tied for first in the Under 2200 section at 5.5 while San Francisco's Drake Wang was among the prize winners with 4.5. Ricky Yu tied for forth at 4.5 in the Under 2000 while Craig Yamamoto shared third at 4.5 in the Under 1600.
Steve Immitt, Randy Hough and Walter Brown directed the well-run 252 player event for the Continental Chess Association.

Dmitry Vayntrub won the 4th Annual Charles Bagby Memorial with a 5-0 score on July 17 at the MI. Tying for second at 4.5 were Batsaikhan Tserendorj and Dan Schwartz. Anthony Corrales directed the 61-player event for the Mechanics'.

Batsaikhan Tserendorj of Mongolia leads the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon with a score of 7-1 with one round to go. Right behind at 6.5 in the 85-player event is his last round opponent NM Igor Margulis. The remaining top scorers at 6 are WFM Tuvshintogs Batchimeg and Expert Anthony Rozenvasser.

Arthur Ibragimov won the July 14 Wednesday Night Blitz with a score of 14.5 to finish ahead of 17 other blitz enthusiasts.  Anthony Rozenvasser was second at 13.5 followed by Felix German and Yefim Bukh on 13.

There may be many answers to the question of who the World Chess Champion is, but there is only one as to who is the most famous. By now every chessplayer in the world knows that Bobby Fischer is being held in Japan, waiting to be deported back to the United States. Exactly why the Japanese elected to take action at this time is unclear as Fischer has been in and out of that country for many years. It's also unclear if the US government asked the Japanese to take action. Fischer was charged in 1992 with violating the US Trading with the Enemy Act for playing a match in Yugoslavia which was under sanctions and has not returned to the United States since. Simple mathematics would suggest that sometime around 2002, if not a little earlier, the US government issued Fischer a new passport. One would think this is not routinely done for individuals who are urgently wanted. Fischer comments after 9/11 didn't win him any friends nor did his venomous anti-Semitic rants on Filipino radio, but being thrown in jail seems a very sad end for one of the greatest chess players of all time. Will he end up sharing a cell with Charles Jenkins?

Predictably, the Fischer Affair has generated comments in many quarters.

Close to home Fischer's brother-in-law had this to say in the San Jose Mercury News .

``What Bobby's accused of is playing chess 12 years ago in Yugoslavia,'' said Russell Targ, a former Stanford laser physicist whose late wife was Fischer's sister. ``It looks like it's a distraction from the war and the economy. Let's arrest Bobby Fischer. That will take people's minds off their troubles.''

Under the title "Chess may have been the only thing that kept the champion in touch with reality," Garry Kasparov wrote a curious article which appeared in this Monday's edition of The Wall Street Journal.   Particularly strange were his comments about Fischer's chess behavior, especially so as Kasparov is not likely to be voted the Lady Bing trophy equivalent for good sportsmanship anytime soon.

"The conventional wisdom says that Bobby Fischer was a guileless and petulant child who just wanted his own way. I believe he was conscious
of all his actions and the psychological effect his behavior had on his opponents. The gentlemanly Mr. Spassky was ill-prepared to deal with
the belligerent American in Reykjavik.

 The Philadelphia Inquirer has posted some of the documents from the 750-page FBI file on Regina Fischer Pustan, the mother of Bobby Fischer. The file was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Go to http://inquirer.philly.com/specials/2002/fischer/ if you want to know more although a lot of material has been blacked out by the FBI for security reasons.

The Mark Pinto International officially starts today. Top seeds are Filipino IMs Enrico Sevillano (now representing the United States) and Ricardo DeGuzman.
Concurrent with this IM norm event are two FIDE rating events. Top seeds in Group A are NMs Russell Wong, Paul Gallegos, Andy Lee and Mark Pinto.
There are still spots in the second group for players 1900-2250. Contact Anthony Corrales

Vinay Bhat drew his first round in the US Junior.

Rensch,D (2421) - Bhat,V (2488) [C18]
USA 04 Jr Closed Lindsborg (1), 20.07.2004
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 0–0 8.Bd3 Nbc6 9.Qh4 Ng6 10.Nf3 Qc7 11.0–0 c4 12.Bxg6 fxg6 13.Qg4 Qa5 14.Bd2 Bd7 15.h4 Rf5 16.Ng5 Raf8 17.Qe2 h6 18.Nh3 Qd8 19.g3 Ne7 20.Bf4 R5f7 21.Rfb1 b6 22.Qg4 Ba4 23.Ra2 Qd7 24.Bd2 Rf5 25.Nf4 Kh7 26.Rf1 Qc8 27.Be3 Bd7 28.a4 Qe8 29.a5 b5 30.Bc1 Nc6 31.Ba3 h5 32.Qf3 R8f7 33.Bc5 a6 34.Qe3 Rxf4 35.gxf4 Ne7 36.Bxe7 Qxe7 37.Qg3 Qf8 38.f3 Rxf4 39.Rf2 Be8 40.Ra1 Qf5 41.Raf1 ½–½

NM Shivkumar Shivaji send the following pretty win with notes.

Shivkumar Shivaji - IM Anna Zatonshikh [B01]
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bc4 c6
5...Nc6
6.h3 Bf5 7.d3 Nbd7 8.Qe2 e6 9.g3!? Be7 10.Bf4 Qb4 11.Bb3 Nc5 12.Ne5 a5 13.Bd2 Qd4 14.g4 Bg6 15.h4!
Black is not threatening a4 and b5 yet as c6 is hanging.
15...a4!
Denying the c4 square to the white knight.
16.Bc4 Bd6 17.Be3! Qxe5 18.d4!
Better than f4 and Nd3+ does not win a pawn now.
18...Nd3+ 19.cxd3 Qa5 20.h5 Bxh5 21.gxh5 b5 22.Bxe6
22.Qf3 bxc4 23.h6 (23.Qxc6+ Ke7 24.Qb7+ Nd7 25.dxc4 Rhb8 Again black is ok.) 23...a3!! 24.hxg7 Rg8 25.Bc1 Rb8, and black surprisingly holds.
22...fxe6 23.h6 0–0! 24.hxg7 Rf7 25.Bd2 a3! 26.b3 Bb4 27.Rc1 Rd8 28.Rh4 Nd5?
A dubious move, but the followup is hard to see.
29.Rxh7!!
29.Qxe6 Is a safer alternative. The threat is Rh7.
29...Bxc3
29...Kxh7 30.Qh5+ Kxg7 31.Bh6+ Kg8 32.Qg6+ Kh8 33.Qxf7 Bxc3+ (33...Rg8 34.Ke2!! 34...Nxc3+ 35.Kf3!,  and Bg7+ is now unstoppable.; 33...Qc7 And now white can either go to a better ending after Qc7 or play Qh5 and continue the attack. In both cases white is clearly better.) 34.Ke2 Rg8 35.Bg7+ +5.50  !]
30.Rxc3! Nf4
30...Kxh7 31.Rxc6 (31.Qh5+) 31...Qa7 32.Qh5+ Kxg7 33.Qg5+ Kh7 34.Qh4+ Kg7 35.Qxd8± The purpose of inserting Qh4+ was to force the king to g7 so that Qd4 can be answered by Bc3. White is practically winning here.
31.Qe4 Rxd4
Desperation but black is dead lost anyway.
32.Rh8+ Kxg7 33.Qxd4+ 1–0

"I give 98 percent of my mental energy to Chess. Others give only 2 percent."
Bobby Fischer

NM Batsaikan Tserendorj drew his last round game with NM Igor Margulis to win the Mechanics' Summer Tuesday Night Marathon with a score of 7.5 from 9 and take home the $500 first prize. Tying for second in the 85-player field were fellow Mongolian Batchimeg Tuvshintugs and Margulis at 6.5 . The Robert Jordan Tuesday Night Marathon will start on August 17 and run until October 5 (8 rounds). Advance entry fee is $35.

Tournament Director Frank Berry sent in the following report on the recently concluded US Junior Invitational and Cadet (under 16) Championship. MI members Vinay Bhat (his first serious event in a couple years), Matthew Ho, Nicolas Yap and Alex Setzepfandt played.

USA Junior and Cadet Invitational, Lindsborg, Kansas

FM Lev Milman scored 6.5/9 and finished alone in first place in the 2004 USA Junior Open (U-21) held July 20-25 in Lindsborg, Kansas.  2003 Junior Open champ Salvijus Bercys of New York finished clear 2nd   with 6 pts  Mikhail Korenman organized the 10-RR that was held concurrently with the USA Cadet Invitational (U-16) which was won outright with 7.5/9 by Dan Ludwig of Orlando, FL, followed closely by Matt Ho and FM Igor Schneider each with 6.5 points.  The winner of the Cadet won a college scholarship and the winner of the Junior gets seeded in the USA Championship.

USA Junior Invitational

Lev Milman f 2428 6.5 / 9
Salvijus Bercys 2279 6.0
Bruci Lopez f 2400 5.0
Josh Friedel f 2433 5.0
Matt Hoekstra f 2358 4.5
Daniel Rensch f 2384 4.0
Dmitry Schneider m 2454 4.0
Samson Benen f 2323 3.5
Dan Fernandez f 2317 3.5
Vinay Bhat m 2431 3.0

USA Cadet Invitational

Daniel Ludwig 7.5 / 9
Matt Ho 2242 6.5
Igor Scheider f 2266 6.5
Mack Molner 4.0
Kurt Schneider 4.0
Nicolas Yap 2191 3.5
Alex Setzepfandt 2167 3.5
Teddy Coleman f 2256 3.5
Elliott Liu 2132 3.0
Alex J Chua 2238 3.0

The following game was featured in Alexander Baburin's online daily Chess Today.

Setzepfandt,A - Liu,E
Sicilian B22
US Cadet 2004

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nf3 e6 6.cxd4 b6 7.Nc3 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Qc7 9.Be2 Bb7 10.0–0 d6 11.Bf4 Nd7 12.Re1 Be7 13.d5 0–0 14.exd6 Bxd6 15.Bxd6 Qxd6 16.dxe6 Qxd1 17.Raxd1 Nf6 18.exf7+ Kh8 19.Ne5 Rac8 20.Rd3 Bd5 21.Bg4 Rc5
White is two pawns up and has a well-advanced pawn on f7. What's the best way to victory?
22.Ng6+! hxg6 23.Rh3+  1–0

The following material on Mechanics' Chess Club employee Stephen Brandwein was kindly sent to us by longtime Boston Globe columnist Harold Dondis who notes in his cover letter "that the description of Steve still applies to a great extent". The column, the third of Dondis' career, appeared on October 11, 1964.
Stephen Brandwein, winner of the James Burgess trophy, is the highest placed Massachusetts player in the U.S. Open has favored us with a game annotated by him from that event. Brandwein is a unique figure in chess circles. He plays with airy unconcern, being apparently more taken with getting the game over with than winning. He plays at amazing speed and will upon the vaguest pretense of equilibrium, either offer or accept a draw. He has not lost a game for longer than we can remember.
Against John Collins in the U.S. Open, Brandwein accepted a draw with a superior position and with almost an hour ahead on his clock! He has an enormous knowledge of the openings, game not so much from study but from genuine interest in other peoples' games. Either there is method in his casualness or Brandwein is one of the more gifted player in the United States.
In the game below Brandwein makes a succession of three bad moves out of five, leaves a pawn en prise, saddles himself with a backward pawn but of course wins the game.

McKelvie,N - Brandwein,S
King's Indian [E78]
US Open Boston, 1964

Notes by Brandwein

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.f4 c5 7.Nf3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nbd7
As in Benko-Byrne, Chicago 1963.
9.Be3 a6 10.0-0 e5
Probably bad.
11.Nc2 exf4
Afraid of f5, g4 etc.
12.Bxf4 Ne5 13.Qd2 Be6 14.b3 b5
Very bad.
15.c5!
Crushes me. Much better than 15.cxb5 axb5 16.Bxb5 Nxe4 17.Nxe4 Qb6+ when 18.Nd4 is bad and Black gets play after 18.Kh1 Qxb5 19.Nxd6 Qb6.
15...b4
I didn't see the pawn was en prise when I pushed it (whoever heard of a Knight on c2?), but it seems to be the best chance.
16.Nxb4 Qa5 17.Bxe5
17.cxd6 Qxb4 18.Bxe5 Nxe4 19.Nxe4 Qxd2 etc.. If 17.Qxd6 Qxb4 18.Bxe5 Ne8.
17...dxe5 18.Nd3 Rfd8 19.Qb2 Rd4 20.b4 Qc7 21.a3
21.b5 looks more energetic. The e-pawn is held by an eventual Bf3.
21...Rb8 22.Rad1
Trading the e-pawn for the a-pawn is a bad idea. Nf2 looks possible.
22...Nxe4 23.Nxe4 Rxe4 24.Nf2 Re3 25.Bxa6 e4
The Queen really has no place to go and the a-pawn is lost.
26.Qc1 Rc3 27.Qg5 h6 28.Qh4 Rxa3 29.b5?
Loses a piece, but if  29.Be2 Rxb4 probably best is 30.Rd6 and if  30...Bf8 31.Rxe6 with interesting play.
29...e3 30.Ne4
A whole Rook now goes.
30...e2 31.b6 exf1Q+ 32.Bxf1
32.Kxf1 Qe5 33.Rd8+  loses. Also,  White gets mated if he tries to get 2 queens.
32...Qc8
32...Qc6 is much better.
33.Bb5 Bf5 34.c6
Now if 34...Bxe4 then 35.c7.
34...Qe6
This ends it, Rd8+ again loses. The Queen restrains the pawns by threatened check at b6
0-1

Steve, who was 21 when this game was played, was top Expert at the 1964 US Open with a score of 8 1/2 from 12. The October rating of 1964 has him at 2271 and not long after he cracked the Top 50 list at 2302. He retired from tournament play in the mid-1960 but never lost his interest in studying the game or his passion for blitz.

Visiting IM Enrico Sevillano of Las Vegas won a strong blitz tournament at the MI last Wednesday with a score of 10.5 from 11. Mongolian IM Ganbold Odondoo and countryman NM Batsaikan Tserendorj tied for second at 9 in the 12-player round robin. A blitz event will be held tonight starting at 7pm. Entry fee is $5.

Former World Champ is coming to Reno, Nevada, to be part of 22nd Annual Reno-Western States Open (Oct 15-17). More details for the tournament can be found  in CHESS LIFE and on www.nwchess.com

Spassky's schedule is as follows:
(All events at the Sands Regency Hotel/Casino)

Oct 13 (Wed) 8:30pm -  "An Evening with Boris". $30 (includes dinner). Reservations required.

Oct.14 (Thurs.) (6pm-7:15pm GM Larry Evans free lecture which will be about Boris Spassky) ; [7:30pm Blitz (5-min) tourney]; 7:30 pm Gm Boris Spassky (25 board) Simul ($100, includes a commemorative pen) spectator fee: $5 *.

Oct. 15 (Fri) Boris Spassky-Book Signing Session (free) 10-11 am.

Oct. 16 (Sat) Boris Spassky- Clinic (4:30 pm - 6pm) spectator fee: $10 *

Oct. 17 (Sun) Boris Spassky- "Clash of the Titans" film(Bobby Fischer vs. Boris Spassky) will be shown followed by a question & answer session with GM Boris Spassky & Gm Larry Evans. Spectator fee: $10 *
* Players who are playing in main tournament receive free attendance to these 3 Spassky events.

Elizabeth Shaughnessy of Berkeley and NM Randy Bauer of Iowa were elected to the USCF Executive Board for one year terms and will be welcome additions.

Final vote subject to confirmation by the USCF Delegates:

Shaughnessy 712
Bauer   687
Sloan 349
Korenman 305
Huff 197
Praeder 161

A detailed breakdown of the voting can be found at http://www.uschess.org/2004resultseb-del.php

Sadly only around 1200 of the approximately 45,000 (age 16 and over) USCF members eligible to vote bothered to do so. Perennial gadfly Sam Sloan who use to finish dead last in previous campaigns continues to improve in each election. Judging from this result he stands a pretty good chance of being elected next time around, especially in a race where more than two spots are being contested. Voters sent a clear message to organizer extraordinaire Mikhail Korenman (US Junior Closed, US Junior Open, US Cadet, College Final Four, College Pan American Championship - just in 2004!) that they didn't want to waste his talents by sending him to New Windsor.

"We cannot say that we are anxious to see exhaustive  printed analyses of the openings. The way to learn the
openings is to seize the spirit or strong  characteristic points of them, and to perceive the  principles on which
each salient feature of attack or defence is based; to rely upon knowing the book  replies to every move is certain
to produce a poor  player."
Samuel Boden
The Field
3/12/1859

FM David Pruess of Berkeley won the Mark Pinto International in convincing fashion. Pruess, who was coached for many years by NM Robert Haines, easily made his second IM norm. His undefeated score of 9-2 in the Category 3 (2323) FIDE average - USCF 2374) event exceeded the norm by 1.5 points. International Masters took the next three places with Enrico Sevillano second at 8 followed by Odondoo Ganbold and Ricardo DeGuzman at 7. FM Dmitry Zilberstein was fifth at 6 followed by WFM Batchemeg Tuvshintugs at 5.5, a point over the WIM norm.

Other scores in the event, named in honor of longtime MI benefactor Mark Pinto: 7. FM Alan Stein 5; 8. NM Michael Aigner 4.5; 9-10. FM Richard Lobo and NM Shivkumar Shivaji 4; 11. FM Bela Evans 3.5; 12. FM Frank Thornally 3.

2) Paul Vayssie 1924-2004

Paul Vayssie, a Mechanics' Member since the early 1960s, died over the weekend in San Francisco.  A fireman by profession, Vayssie was a  longtime participant in MI tournaments, but  stopped playing in club events in the mid-1990s. Though he no longer played he still came by regularly to catch up on news and kibittz. The last week of his life Paul visited the club and seemed to be in good health. He was his normal friendly self.

Paul was a regular at US Opens playing in 27 including pretty much everyone the past two decades. His rating fluctuated between Class A and B, but he could be dangerous in the individual game as witnessed by the following upset over National Master Donato Rivera at the 1965 National Open.

Rivera-Vayssie (C89)
Las Vegas 1965
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.Bxd5 cxd5 13.d4 Bd6 14.Re3 Qh4 15.h3 f5 16.Qb3 Bb7 17.Nd2 Qh5 18.Nf3 g5 19.Re6 g4 20.Rxd6 gxf3 21.Bf4 fxg2 22.Kxg2 Rf7 23.Qd1 Rg7+ 24.Kh2 Qh4 25.Bg3 Qg5 26.h4 Qe7 27.Qe1 f4 28.Re6 fxg3+ 29.fxg3 Qf7 30.Qe2 Rf8 31.Re1 Qf2+ 32.Qxf2 Rxf2+ 33.Kg1 Rgf7 34.R1e2 Rxe2 35.Rxe2 Kg7 36.Kg2 Bc8 37.Re5 Kf8 38.a3 Bf5 39.Kf3 Be4+ 40.Kg4 Rf6 41.h5 Kf7 42.Kh3 Rf2 43.g4 Rxb2 44.g5 Rc2 45.g6+ hxg6 46.hxg6+ Bxg6 47.Rxd5 Rxc3+ 48.Kg4 Rxa3 49.Kf4 b4 50.Rd6 b3 51.Rb6 Bc2 52.d5 Ra2 53.Rb7+ Ke8 54.Ke5 b2 55.Ke6 Kf8 56.Kf6 Kg8 0-1

UC Berkeley grad Nick DeFirmian tied for first in the recently concluded Politiken Cup in Copenhagen defeating Alexander Beliavsky in the last round. This is the third time that Nick has defeated " Big Al" as the always fighting but not too tall Beliavsky is known to colleagues on the circuit. Their lifetime score is 4-2 in Nick's favor.

De Firmian,N (2537) - Beliavsky,A (2679) [C88]
Politiken Cup 2004 Copenhagen (10), 31.07.2004
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 b4 9.d3 d6 10.a5 Be6 11.Nbd2 Rb8 12.Nc4 Nd7 13.Be3 Bf6 14.c3 bxc3 15.bxc3 Rb7 16.Qc2 Na7 17.d4 Qb8 18.d5 Bg4 19.Nfd2 h6 20.h3 Bh5 21.Ba4 Nb5 22.Na3 Nc5 23.Bxc5 dxc5 24.Reb1 Nxa3 25.Rxa3 Rxb1+ 26.Nxb1 c4 27.g4 Bg6 28.Nd2 Qa7 29.Nxc4 Bh4 30.Ra2 f6 31.Qd3 Bg5 32.Rb2 Qc5 33.Kg2 Rd8 34.Rb7 h5 35.Bd1 Be8 36.Ne3 Bb5 37.c4 Bxe3 38.fxe3 Bxc4 39.Qc2 hxg4 40.hxg4 c6 41.d6 1-0

Irina Krush recently played in a super-strong all women round robin in Russia. She finished with a fifty percent score and defeated the recently crowned FIDE Women's World Champion in spectacular style in the last round. IM Almira Skripchenko of France won the event.

Krush,I (2459) - Stefanova,A (2527) [D11]
North Urals Cup Krasnoturinsk (9), 01.08.2004

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 5.Qb3 Qc7 6.Ne5 Be6 7.Nc3 Nbd7 8.Nxd7 Qxd7 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.e4 Nxc3 11.Qxc3 f5 12.f3 Bf7 13.Bc4 Bxc4 14.Qxc4 fxe4 15.fxe4 Rd8 16.Be3 Qg4 17.Qc2 e5 18.0-0 exd4 19.Qc4 Qd7 20.Bg5 Rc8 21.Rf5 Bd6 22.Raf1 b5 23.Qb3 h6 24.Bh4 g5 25.Rf7 gxh4 26.Rxd7 Kxd7 27.Rf7+ Be7 28.Qb4 c5 29.Qxb5+ Kd8 30.e5 Re8 31.e6 Rc7 32.Qb8+ Rc8 33.Qd6+ 1-0

International Master Ricardo DeGuzman won the Wednesday Night Blitz on July 28th scoring 7 from 9 in the ten-player round robin. Yefim Bukh and NM Batsikhan Tsrendorj shared second at 6-3.

Michael Greengard (aka Mig) is a well-known chess personality on the Internet but few locals know that he grew up in the East Bay in El Sobrante. His excellent Chess Ninja site http://www.chessninja.com had an interesting article on July 30 on how Garry Kasparov sees the play of Vladimir Kramnik.

Stock Exchange Chess

Garry Kasparov, no doubt with a few sour grapes underfoot, coined that term to describe the conservative, play-the-percentages chess style epitomized by the man who took away his world championship title in 2000, Vladimir Kramnik. The basic precepts are:

1) Don't lose. That sounds obvious, but it means not risking a loss, or playing what the Russians call "for two results," win or draw only.

2) Save energy to maximize advantages. Don't tire yourself out playing for a win if you get an equal or even a better position with black. Take the draw asap so you are fresher when you have the white pieces. This combines the advantages of energy and the first move.

3) Don't press too hard. If you lose the advantage with white, offer a draw immediately. Again, maximize advantages. Don't risk overpressing just because you have white. Be pragmatic. This is contrary to the old conventional wisdom - still followed by many players - that you need to press hard to win with white even if your opening advantage is gone.

4) Play the position, never the player. Ignore factors like opponent's tournament standing or rating, etc. These can interfere with your best judgment at the board, and it's not pragmatic to waste time and energy considering them.

It doesn't take examples to realize that following these rules leads to lots and lots of draws, many of them short and without interest as chess games. GMs today make very few mistakes, so being good at avoiding mistakes and punishing errors does not guarantee tournament success. UNLESS you are in a match situation like a FIDE KO or a tournament with a format like this year's Dortmund. Then, by never losing, you win!

I should point out that I have tremendous respect for Vladimir Kramnikas a chessplayer. He has created things on the chessboard that will stand forever as brilliancies. In a way, that makes results like his current results in Dortmund even more disappointing. Here is this massive talent drawing eight consecutive games, four of them against players he out-rates by a wide margin.

It's not just the results, it's the innocuous games themselves. Anand, Kasparov, Shirov, and Morozevich draw too, it's the nature of the high level of the modern game. But you can see from the games that they are usually making every effort to outplay their opponent and will risk to do so instead of being 100% sure that a move cannot backfire. Today nobody plays each game to the death the way Fischer and Larsen did in the 60's. Now it's all "professionalized." Do they think the profession will last long with games like these?
Peter Leko reinvented his game a few years ago, playing risky chess after years of drawishness. Lately he seems to have backslid a bit, but it's hard to tell if he's just being cautious before his match with Kramnik. Still, seeing them play a combined 16 consecutive draws in Dortmund is painful.

Kramnik, thanks to winning some blitz games, is now in the final match against Anand, starting tomorrow. If they draw both games and Kramnik wins in rapid or blitz he could become the first player ever (?) to win first prize in a tournament without winning a single game! Then get ready to hear that old refrain, "you can't criticize the winner." Join me for a beer?

It use to be common knowledge that Russian Experts were stronger than American players with USCF ratings of 2400, but has the tide turned? Recently Expert Andrei Blokhin of Maryland (currently rated 2138 USCF/ 2395 FIDE) received the title of International Master in recognition of IM norm performances achieved in round robin events in Moscow in late 2001 and early 2002. Mr. Blokhin, who has played in several Under 2200 sections in World and Chicago Opens without ever winning top prizes is not a sandbagger. His USCF rating, based on plenty of activity, has floated between 2081 and 2167 for the period 1993-2002.  Shortly after making his norms he scored 3.5 from 6 against USCF 2100s in Chicago. Does this mean that things have changed and USCF Experts would be 2400 IMs in Russia?

The latest on the Bobby Fischer saga has him still detained by Japanese immigration. Facing deportation to the United States Fischer is actively pursuing the possibility of  asylum to a third country. Germany, where his father was a citizen, was one country that he was considering. Since both his parents are Jewish there was a theoretical possibility of Israel, but considering his history it was unlikely Fischer would make that request. Now GM Bozidar Ivanovic has been quoted as saying that Montenegro is willing to offer him sanctuary. Stay tuned for more.

Many MI youngsters are on the August USCF top 100 10-15 age group lists. Apologies to anyone inadvertently left out of the following list.

Age 8: Daniel Naroditsky is #2
Age 9 Hugo Kitano is #8 and Gregory Young is #44
Age 11 Davis Xu is #40
Age 13 Louiza Livshitzb #49
Age 14 Alex Setzepfandt is #10, Nicolas Yap is #11,  and Drake Wang is #13, Daichi Siegrist is #44, and  Ewelina Krubnik is #78
Age 15 Matthew Ho is #9 and Ankit Gupta is #17

Congratulations to Varuzhan Akobian of Glendale who was recently awarded his Grandmaster title.

Thanks to IM Jay Whitehead for this week's quote. Jay doesn't play much these days but he is hard at work collecting  games and articles from players from the time of Morphy.

"I think my subconscious mind is working on chess all the time - even when I'm not playing or studying."
Bobby Fischer at age 13

The US Open in Fort Lauderdale (actually Weston), Florida, has started. It's still too early to tell the total number of entries as the five-day schedule starts this morning but there looks to be over 400 with GM Alex Onischuk as top seed. Several Northern Californian's have made the long trek across the country. Mechanics' Chess Director John Donaldson scored 4 from 5 in the Weekend schedule, drawing IM Renier Gonzalez and SM Dario Cruz. He resumes play on Thursday evening when all the schedules merge. Benjamin Tejes had 1.5 from 2 in the Arnold Denker High School Tournament of Champions while Elisha Garg had 2 from 2 in the Susan Polgar Girls Tournament. MI stalwart Mike Goodall has been attending USCF workshops and playing at nights in the Traditional schedule. He will be joined at the US Delegates meeting by fellow CalChess members Richard Koepcke and newly elected USCF Executive Board Member Elizabeth Shaughnessy. Chilean GM Rodrigo Vasquez was the easy winner of the US Open Blitz tournament on Sunday scoring 12 1/2 from 14, beating second place finisher Alexandra Kosteniuk (11 points) twice. There is no information on the internet on the US Open at present but there are plans to post information later this week. The best place to look would be the USCF homepage - www.uschess.org.

Monday I visited southern Miami hoping to tour the World Chess Hall of Fame but should have checked in advance to find out it is not open Monday-Wednesday. The Hall of Fame, which is easily visible from the Florida Turnpike, is located in an industrial park (next to sponsoring Excalibur Electronics) not far from the Metro Miami Zoo and the Southern Florida Railroad Museum. The World Chess Hall of Fame is not the only Hall of Fame in South Florida. The World Swimming Hall of Fame is located in Fort Lauderdale. Both museums have the same admission charge - $5.

If you find yourself in Coral Gables check out Cafe Demetrio (300 Alhambra - (305) 448-4949. I stumbled in there looking for something to eat and was very surprised to find two nice wooden chess sets available to play on and a dozen or so framed photographs of famous chess players of the past hanging on the walls. I was told that some small tournaments are held at the Cafe.  It's not far from Books & Books Inc. (265 Aragon Avenue) which seems to be one of only a handful of non-chain bookstores in a land more interested in outdoor pursuits.

Chess activity in the East Bay promises to heat up soon with the opening of a new chess center in Berkeley. Located at the corner of Milvia and Virginia, an easy half mile walk from both the Berkeley and North Berkeley BART stations, the East Bay Chess Center is the brainchild of IM Vinay Bhat, FM David Pruess, NM Andy Lee and Expert David Steel. The grand opening is set for August 14th and will run through the 21st. During this time the Center will be offering free entry for all its activities and is hosting a non-USCF rated 4 round tournament on August 14-15. The venue has space for 50-60 players. Besides being a daily chess club with instructors for chess lessons, the Center will also be offering academic tutoring. For more information go to http://www.eastbaychess.com/ or e-mail them at eastbaychess@gmail.com

Ildar Ibragimov continued his winning ways this summer, defeating fellow GM Alexander Stripunsky in a post-tournament playoff to win the 2004 Continental Open in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Ibragimov took home $2430 and Stripunsky $2250. A half point behind the winners 5-1 scores were GMs Leonid Yudasin, Alex Onischuk, Hikaru Nakamura and Alexander Ivanov. Just out of the prizes was GM Yury Shulman who faced the toughest schedule meeting four of the top five finishers. Bill Goichberg's Continental Chess Association organized the event.

4) Jim Hurt Remembered

The late Jim Hurt was a driving force for chess on the West Coast for close to 70 years. A four-time Washington State Champion while attending the University of Washington in the 1930s, Hurt became best known to Bay Area players for his longtime organizing of the LERA tournaments in Sunnyvale that were held like clockwork four times a year. He taught many kids to play chess in his retirement and was honored for his efforts by the US Chess Federation in Reno 1999, not long before he passed away.
The following game shows he was just as skilled at correspondence as over the board play.

Hurt,J - Graham,D [A96]
9th Grand National -prelim, 1960
(notes by Hurt)

1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.Nf3 d6 5.0?0 Be7 6.c4 0?0 7.Nc3 c6 8.Qc2 Qe8 9.e4 fxe4 10.Nxe4 e5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.Nfg5
White's plan is to prevent Black from developing his QN as long as possible and in the mean time to attack vigorously in the hope that his lead in development may result in a win..
12...g6
It is true that 11...Nd7 would lose the exchange but Black could have answered White's threatened mate with ...Qg6 or 12...Bf5 13.Qb3 Qc8 The text weakens Black's f6 and h6.
13.Qc3 h6
Not an attractive move, but White was threatening 14.Qxe5 and the alternative 13...Bd8 14.Nd6 Qd7 (losing the e-pawn) or; 13...Nxe4 14.Nxe4 Bf6 (losing a move) are less attractive.
14.Nxf6+ Bxf6 15.Ne4 Bg7 16.b3 Qe7 17.a4 Rd8 18.Ba3 Qc7 19.Rfd1 Rxd1+
This exchange may seem premature, but Black has a definite plan in mind and the alternative ...Nd7 and ...Bf5 both lost at least a pawn.
20.Rxd1 Bf5 21.Bd6 Qd8
Surprise! The Black Queen pins the Bishop. 22.f4 Counter-surprise! The White Queen pins the e-pawn ( 22...exf4 23.Qxg7+).
22...Nd7
The QN finally moves. After 22...Bxe4 23.Bxe4 exf4 24.Qxg7+ Kxg7 25.Be5+ Qf6 26.gxf4 White wins the ending with ease.
23.Bxe5 Bxe5 24.fxe5 Qe7 25.Nd6 Nxe5 26.c5!
The winning move. White has the permanent threat of Nxb7 (threatening Bxc6) and the immediate threat of 27.Re1 winning the Knight.
26...Nf7 27.Re1 Qd7 28.Qf6 Kf8 29.Bf1 1-0

The Chess Correspondent , September 1960

The latest edition of the Wednesday Night Blitz had a strong European flair with several participants from across the Atlantic. Visiting Irish FM Stephen Brady drew in the first round with Felix German but then reeled off 9 straight wins to take a full point lead over his closest pursuer, NM Arthur Ibragimov, who just happened to be his last round opponent. Arthur won in a tense battle to grab a share of first place at 9.5 from 11 in the 12 player round robin. NMs Jorge Lopez and Rey Salvatierra shared third place with 9 points.

The New York Masters is heating up. Hikaru Nakamura and Gata Kamsky tied for first on August 3rd with 3.5 from 4 to pick up $310 apiece. The two winners played some common opponents. Gata drew with GM Alex Wojtkiewicz and beat GM Kamil Miton while Nakamura drew Miton and beat Wojtkiewicz. There were 5 GMs and 5 IMs in the 27-player field.

Kamsky,G (2717) - Miton,K (2597) [A43]
112th New York Masters New York (4), 03.08.2004

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 g6 4.d6 Bg7 5.Nc3 0–0 6.Bf4 Nc6 7.e3 b6 8.Be2 Ne8 9.0–0 Nxd6 10.Bxd6 exd6 11.Qxd6 Qe7 12.Rfd1 Qxd6 13.Rxd6 Nb4 14.a3 Na6 15.Nd5 Rd8 16.Bxa6 Bf8 17.Bxc8 Bxd6 18.Ba6 Rab8 19.Rd1 Kg7 20.a4 Bf8 21.Ne5 f6 22.Ng4 f5 23.Ne5 Bd6 24.Nc4 Bf8 25.g3 Kf7 26.c3 d6 27.Na3 Rd7 28.Bb5 Rdd8 29.Kg2 Kg7 30.Bc4 Rd7 31.h4 1–0

"I would not like to defend or justify Bobby Fischer. He is what he is. I am asking for only one thing. For mercy, charity.
Put sanctions against me also. Arrest me. And put me in the same cell with Bobby Fischer. And give us a chess set."
Boris Spassky

The 2004 US Open held August 7-15 in Ft. Lauderdale (Weston), Florida, ended in a 7-way tie for first. GMs Alexander Onischuk, Ildar Ibragimov, Alex Wojtkiewicz, Rodrigo Vasquez, IMs Andranik Matikozyan and Renier Gonzalez plus FM Marcel Martinez each won approximately $1,500 for ther 7 1/2 - 1 1/2 scores. Martinez also earned a spot n the US Championship as did IM Dmitry Schneider, FM Bruci Lopez and NM Jake Kleiman who finished on 7.  WFMs Anna Levina and Olga Sagalchik took the women's qualification spots. Top scorers from the Bay Area were six-time US Champion Walter Browne and IMs John Donaldson and Walter Shipman on 6 1/2.

It's hard to follow the action in a tournament with 430 players competing in five sections that doesn't merge until the sixth round, but some performances stood out. GMs Onischuk and Ibragimov were at the top throughout the event, but leading the peleton all the way allowed the field to catch them at the end.  Being top-rated in US Swiss events is a disadvantage. You consistently play stronger opposition without any compensation. The European practice of using tiebreaking points to divide prize money is an idea worth considering, especially in an event like a 9 round US Open where players on the same score can face such different opposition. One idea might be to divide half the money equally and the other half by a tiebreak percentage formula.

The attendance for the US Open was definitely helped by the fact that there are many Cuban Americans living in South Florida. Playing in the weekend schedule, I got to meet quite a few of them and it was nice to see how successful they were in Ft. Lauderdale. IM Renier Gonzalez, who made a GM norm at the Foxwoods tournament earlier this year, tied for first, as did FM Marcel Martinez. Some MI members might remember that Marcel won the US Junior Closed at the Mechanics' in 1999. Unfortunately, for reasons that were never completely clear to me, the USCF decided he was not able to participate in the US Championship. He stopped playing, got married and went into the family business. He only recently started playing again but he was most impressive in the US Open, playing on the top boards throughout the event. Another Cuban-American youngster, Bruci Lopez, also played very well and grabbed a qualification spot. This year in San Diego, Spanish will be the third native language spoken with Gonzalez, Martinez, Lopez, IM Blas Lugo and GM Julio Becerra all qualified to compete.

IM Matikoziyan of Glendale had an outstanding event drawing GM Julio Becerra, defeating GM Hikaru Nakamura and drawing GM Ildar Ibragimov in the final three rounds. Berkeley GM Walter Browne played in the Five Day Schedule, which was by far the strongest, defeated GMs Wojtkiewicz and Alexandria Kosteniuk - with 1.e4! in consecutive rounds (see below). A 100 move draw with Nakamura in round five sapped his strength and Walter lost two later games by overpressing.

The tournament was relatively strong with 12 GMs and plenty of IMs competing. It's hard to figure out exactly what attracted many top players to the event. Walter Browne and I flew back on the same fight from Miami to SFO and talked about this. We both agreed that one reason some strong players showed up in Florida was to try to qualify for the US Championship. I'm sure that GMs Browne, Fedorowicz and Sagalchik would never have considered playing if not for the fact that they needed to get a ticket to the US Championship.  The prize fund at the top followed a sad practice at recent US Opens with only $11,000 of the $40,000 prize fund in place prizes. This meant that several of the players who tied for first and played the traditional schedule, probably only broke even or maybe even lost money after deducting a $1,000 hotel bill for ten days, air fare and meals. This is not exactly an endorsement for becoming a professional chess player! This years US Open only paid out 25% in place prizes, the same as the 2000 and 2001 US Opens. I'm sure the USCF was happy with the turnout but clearly this is a tournament that has seen much better days. Last years event in Los Angeles was a step up and Reno in 1999 was outstanding (26 GMs, $63,000 prize fund, almost 500 entries, $59 rooms nights) but much of the past 15 years has been a steady decline into the second rank of major American events. My suggestion for rescuing this dinosaur is to hook it up with the US Championship and run the latter as a knockout. Anyone who was in Los Angeles in 1991 will agree that that was an exciting chess festival. Spectator attendance at the Championship set records and players who got knocked out early could jump right into the US Open. I'm not sure exactly why this idea was never tried again.

You might guess that with USCF President Marinello and Executive Board Member Schultz living in Southern Florida, they would have played a major role in this years US Open, but that looks not to be the case. US Open bids are normally decided several years in advance and Marinello and Schultz were not on the Board at that time. It looks like the 105th US Open was the work of former Executive Director Frank Niro who nearly drove the Federation into bankruptcy.  He made several trips to South Florida while serving as ED and It looks like he didn't do a very good job negotiating the hotel contract. Chess players paid approximately $100 a night with taxes, pretty much the same as walk up guests, with the exception that the resort fee was waived.  Four star hotels within easy driving distance could be found for half the price, which is not surprising since tourists in South Florida in August are about as common as visitors to Buffalo in January. Temperatures were consistently in the 90s with humidity that caused you to feel like you were in a sauna within a few minutes. If this US Open wasn't warm enough, not to fear. Next year, it's in Phoenix where it's 102 degrees today. One consolation for architecture fans is that the 2005 event will be held at the venerable Biltmore, the only Frank Lloyd Wright design influenced hotel in the world. Charging rates around $300 a night in winter the Biltmore is offering a $99 per day to stay during the very-off-peak season. Oh, how I wish I could go back in time and play in the Aspen and Ventura US Opens!

NMs Mackenzie Molnar of New Jersey and Pieta Garrett of Arizona tied for first in the Denker Tournament of Champions with 5-1 scores. Northern California Representative Benjamin Tejes was =11th in the 46-player field with 3.5, drawing Molnar in round 4. A welcome innovation was the Susan Polgar Invitational Tournament for Girls. Top-seed Roza Eynullayeva (2085) of Massachusetts won with 5. Bay Area resident Elisha Garg had an excellent result, sharing second at 4.5 while facing the top three seeds.

The USCF held its annual Delegates Meeting the last weekend of the US Open and the Bay Area was represented by newly elected Executive Board member Elizabeth Shaughnessy, NM Richard Koepcke and Mike Goodall. The news was distinctly positive compared to a year ago when the Executive Director failed to show up, then announced his resignation from afar not long after it was discovered that the Federation was near bankruptcy. Today things are much better after an eventful year. The new Executive Director, Bill Goichberg, served without pay, which saved the USCF at least $100,000 (the base pay for ED Al Lawrence in the early 1990s) and negotiated an excellent outsourcing book and equipment deal with Hanon Russell's Chess Cafe.  Two of the big questions coming into the Delegates Meetings were would Goichberg continue on and would the USCF stay in their present location. The answer to the former is yes, at a token salary of $25,000. Keeping Goichberg on for another year is critical for the USCF to keep steadying the boat. The finances the past year showed a huge turnaround but some of the improvement came from one time situations (selling off assets, laying off employees) and things could slip back without prudent management.

Exactly where the USCF office will be located a year from now is not exactly clear. When things were difficult last year the USCF was forced to sell the building it owned for many years and rent it back from the buyer.  This is mutually acceptable at present but the long term situation is unclear. Crossville, Tennessee, home of longtime USCF supporter Harry Sabine, offered the Federation free land and other incentives several years ago. The city and Federation seemed close to a deal but it was not closed. Crossville still seems interested as does Lindsborg, Kansas, which sent several city representatives to the US Open along with major organizer Mikhail Korenman. The deal Lindsborg is offering is said to include both land and a building, for free. Neither Crossville or Lindsborg could be considered to be a major metropolitan area but both are considerably more cosmopolitan than one might suspect. Offers from two locations in South Florida were floating around a year ago but neither seems remotely as attractive as the two deals mentioned above. The USCF office has been in the Newburgh/New Windsor area for close to 40 years after moving 60 miles up the road from New York City, but US Chess has not always been East Coast based.  The USCF was founded in 1939 in Illinois and before that one of the two US Chess organizations, the Western Chess Association, was headquartered in St. Louis. The USCF staff is greatly reduced from a year ago and, with technology being what it is, could conceivably be based almost anywhere. Housing prices and employee salaries in New Windsor are effected to some extent by the proximity to New York City. Most likely nothing will change in the short term but it is good to know that the USCF has some attractive offers on the table. It would be nice to see the Federation owning its home.

The crosstable for the US Open can be found at: http://www.uschess.org/tournaments/2004/usopen/index.php?page=results and then click Traditional and then Standings.

The following two games were a shock at the US Open. Walter was a major 1.e4 player in his youth, but it's been a very long time, at least two decades, since he's played it. Time control was Game/60.

I would have loved to have seen Wojt's reaction when Walter played 1.e4. The perennial Grand Prix Champion is a major league Najdorf man, but Walter has played it all his life.

Browne,W - Wojtkiewicz,A [B90]
US Open, 2004

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e6 7.Be3 b5 8.g4 Nbd7 9.Qd2 Nb6 10.0–0–0 Nfd7 11.Ndxb5 axb5 12.Nxb5 Ba6 13.Nxd6+ Bxd6 14.Qxd6 Nc4 15.Bxc4 Bxc4 16.Qd4 Rxa2 17.Kb1 Qc8 18.Qxg7 Rf8 19.Rxd7 Kxd7 20.Rd1+ Kc6 21.b3 Qa6 22.Qe5 Qa3 23.Qd4 Ra1+ 24.Qxa1 Qxa1+ 25.Kxa1 Be2 26.Rd4 e5 27.Ra4 f6 28.f4 exf4 29.Bxf4 Bxg4 30.Kb2 Re8 1–0

 Browne,W - Kosteniuk,A [B66]
US Open, 2004

 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0–0–0 Be7 9.f3 Bd7 10.Be3 h5 11.h4 b5 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.Bg5 Qc7 14.Kb1 Rc8 15.Bd3 Bb7 16.a3 Qb6 17.Ne2 Bc6 18.Be3 Qb7 19.Nd4 Bd7 20.Bg5 Ra8 21.f4 Qb6 22.c3 Ng8 23.f5 e5 24.Nc2 a5 25.Ne3 Bc6 26.Bc2 Nf6 27.Bxf6 gxf6 28.Nd5 Bxd5 29.Qxd5 1–0

This is where the bulletin stops. I am certain the game didn't end here. The players probably quit keeping score at this point. By the way, the bulletin produced by Phil Smith of Minnesota appeared punctually and with a large number of games. Unfortunately, many of the battles between the top players didn't make it in. I'm not sure if this was because they played their first few games at fast time controls, their score sheets were illegible or they just didn't bother to turn them in. A set of bulletins for the nine round event, with the last mailed to your home, set you back $35. I'm not sure how many were sold, but it always struck me that it would be a better deal for everybody if the organizer just tacked on $5 or $10 to the entry fee and just provided bulletins for everyone, whether paper or electronic. At present, I don't think any of the games have been released for public consumption. I entered the two above from the bulletin.

Stephen Christopher passed away on May 30th in Washington State. Mr. Christopher was the first major book and equipment seller in the Pacific Northwest and one of the driving forces behind the 1966 US Open in Seattle. Chess has many unsung heroes and Stephen was one of them. ChessCo founder Bob Long wrote in a memorial in the July issue of Northwest Chess how he would have been forced to close his business long ago if Mr. Christopher had not stepped in to help him. IM Jeremy Silman is known today as one of the premier instructional writers in the chess world but his classic Reassess Your Chess might never have seen the light of day if Mr. Christopher hadn't help to finance its publication. Although Christopher played in one Washington State Championship, he was never much higher than a low class A player, but he really loved the game and played in hundreds of tournaments in the NW. Many players benefited from his small kindnesses whether it was giving someone a ride to the tournament, sponsoring their entry fee or giving them a book or set. He was a real gentleman and will be greatly missed.

The Robert Jordan Tuesday Night Marathon started last night and illustrated once again why the first round of Swiss system events can be full of surprises. This time third seed NM Igor Margulis was upset by Class B player Guadalupe Sainz. Approximately 70 players have signed up so far for the eight round FIDE rated Swiss system event. It's still possible to enter the competition with a half point bye for the first round.

Are you wondering who Robert Jordan is? Anybody who has been to the Mechanics' at closing time might wonder how the pieces on the 40 chess tables and the main room are reset (This isn't Europe where the players do it when the game is finished!). The answer is, every morning, without fail, Bob Jordan comes in and sets up each table and he has been doing if for at least five years. We very much appreciate his efforts.

IM-elect Vladimir Mezentsev won the latest edition of the weekly Wednesday Night Blitz with a 13-0 score. NM Arthur Ibragimov was second in the 14-player round robin with 11 points followed by Ted Castroat 9.5 and Daichi Siegrist at 9. The action resumes this evening at 7 PM.

The late William Martz passed away shortly after tying for first in the US Open in St. Paul. Some Newsletters ago, we included some unpublished games of his from a class he taught in Milwaukee in the 1970s. The games didn't have the location where they were played, but recently Arlen Walker was able to contact one of Martz's opponents, veteran Southern California Master Charles Van Buskirk, who kindly provided not only the venue but another game they had played.

Martz-VanBuskirk
Anderson, Indiana  (Round 2) January17,1976

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. e4 d6 4. d4 Bg7 5. Be2 O-O 6. f4 c5 7. Nf3 cxd4 8. Nxd4
Nc6 9. Be3 Bg4 10. Nxc6 Bxe2 11. Nxd8 Bxd1 12. Rxd1 Rfxd8 13. Ke2 Nd7
14. Rd3 Nc5 15. Bxc5 dxc5 16. Rhd1 Rxd3 17. Rxd3 Bxc3 18. bxc3 Kf8 19. Rd7 b6
20. g4 f6 21. h4 h6 22. a4 Kf7 23. f5 g5 24. h5 Ke8 25. Rc7 Kf7 26. a5 bxa5 27.
Rxc5 a4 28. Ra5 e6 29. c5 exf5 30. exf5 a3 31. Kd3 a2 32. Kc4 Ke7 33. Rxa2 a5
34. Kb5 Rb8+ 35. Kc6 Rc8+ 36. Kb6 Rb8+ 37. Kc7 Rb3 38. c6 Rxc3 39. Rxa5 Rc4 40.
Ra7 Rxg4 41. Kb8+ Kd6 42. c7 Rc4 43. c8=Q Rxc8+ 44. Kxc8 Ke5 45. Ra5+ Kf4
46. Kd7 g4 47. Ke6 Kg5 48. Ra3 Kxh5 49. Kxf6 Kh4 50. Kg6 1-0

Martz-VanBuskirk
Davenport, Iowa (Round 2)
May 5, 1977

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. d4 e6 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bc4
cxd4 8.exd4 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Re1 Bf6 11. Ne4 h6 12. Nxf6+ Nxf6 13. Bf4 b6
14. a3 Bb7 15. Ba2 Ne7 16. Be5 Ned5 17. Qd3 Rc8 18. Rad1 Qe7 19. Bb1 Rfd8 20. h3
Ba8 21.Nh2 Qb7 22. Ng4 Qe7 23. Re3 h5 24. Nxf6+ Nxf6 25. Rg3 g6 26. Qe3 h4 27.
Qg5 hxg3 28. Bxf6 Rxd4 29. Rf1 gxf2+ 30. Kh1 Qc5 31. Qh6 Bxg2+ 32. Kxg2
Qd5+ 33.Kxf2 Rd2+ 34. Ke3 Qb3+ 35. Kxd2 Qd5+ 36. Ke3 1-0

IM Calvin Blocker will be attempting to set an Ohio record for the most games played in a simultaneous exhibition on August 29th at the Eton Square Mall in Cleveland.

One of the greatest players in American chess history, GM Walter Browne, is available for lessons. Contact him at: wbkingchess@aol.com.

IM Kong Liang Deng won the Southern California Invitational Championship held July 10-25th in Los Angeles. Deng, who lost only to second place finisher IM Jack Peters, scored 6-1.  Other scores in the eight player round robin were: 2. IM Peters 5 1/2; 3. IM Taylor 4; 4. FM Van Buskirk 3 1/2; 5. FM Casella 3; 6. I. Miller 2 1/2; 7. Bruno 2; 8. West 1 1/2

NM Brandon Ashe beat NM Michael Casella in round five of the Westwood Doubletree Open last Sunday to take first with a score of 4 1/2 from 5. Ashe's only draw was to Class A player Frederick Field who many may recognize for his generous sponsorship of numerous chess events, including the 1990 World Championship in New York. Casella shared second at 4-1 with IMs Cyrus Lakdawala and Tim Taylor both of whom he had defeated earlier in the competition. 60 players played in the one day event organized by John Hillery for the Southern California Chess Association.

Gambiteer and former Bay Area Master Max Burkett is busy adding to his website. His latest project has been to collect as many Frank Marshall games as possible. Check it out at: http://people.montana.com/~mburkett/

"Scholastic chess  has a different goal and purpose from adult chess in that chess is developmental at the scholastic level and recreational at
 the adult level. CalChess therefore urges scholastic coaches and instructors to emphasize the developmental aspects of chess, such as
good sportsmanship, team spirit, generous in winning and gracious in losing and to de-emphasize by word and by example the competitive aspect of the game."
CalChess Scholastics web page

We suspect Vince Lombardi was not a CalChess Scholastic coach but are skill at chess and good sportmanship mutually exclusive?

Filipino IM Ricardo DeGuzman and San Francisco teenager Nicolas Yap tied for first in the 4th Annual Vladimir Pafnutieff Memorial held at the Mechanics' Institute on August 21. DeGuzman defeated NM Roger Poehlmann and Yap upset IM-elect Vladimir Mezentsev in round four and the two winners drew in round five. The event marked a welcome return to form by the 15-year-old Yap who had gone through a bad patch the past few months.
Tying for third at 4-1 in the 53 player event directed by Anthony Corrales and Alex Yermolinsky were Mezentsev, Clarence Lehman, Stephen Svoboda, Stephen Krasnov, and Michael De La Cruz.

NM Vladimir Pafnutieff was one of the strongest players in Northern California from the 1930s until the 1970s and was associated with the Mechanics' Institute for almost 60 years. His book How to Create Combinations (Hypermodern Press 1996) is not only a guide to tactics but also gives 70 of his best games. Do any Newsletter readers know how to contact his widow Eugenia?

The latest Tuesday Night Marathon doesn't look like it will break the attendance record set by the last one (85 players), but may be one of the strongest ever. Among the 78 players signed up for the Robert Jordan Tuesday Night Marathon are IM Ricardo DeGuzman, FM Frank Thornally and 18-year-old Mongolian WFM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs (USCF 2327). It is still possible to enter the eight round event with half point byes for the first two rounds.

IM Ricardo DeGuzman won last Wednesday's Blitz tournament with a 11-0 score. Tying for second at 8 in the 12-player round robin were Nicolas Yap, Ted Castro and Arthur Ibragimov. There will be a tournament at 7pm tonight, immediately following a lecture by IM John Donaldson. The lecture begins at 5:15 pm.

The German website ChessBase  is covering the Bobby Fischer case closely. Here is a short excerpt from today.

Dramatic moments around Fischer's deportation

First the Japanese Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa issued a deportation order against former world champion Bobby Fischer's, then Fischer's lawyers filed a lightning appeal on the grounds that physical deportation would be a flagrant violation of Fischer's right to full legal recourse and protection under Japanese law. Here's the full story by Fischer's legal coordinator.

The full text of Fischer's legal coordinator, John Bosnitch, which came in three stages as the drama developed, is given below. In summary we can tell you that just before 5:00 pm Japanese time on Tuesday Japanese Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa decided against requests filed by Bobby Fischer against his deportation to the USA. The ministry rejected Fischer's demand for protection as a political refugee, saying that the charges outstanding against him in the United States are not political in nature. Normally the plaintiff has seven days to appeal such a decision, but, according to Bosnitch, the ministry tried to deny him due process by immediately deporting him.

Fischer's lawyers Masako Suzuki and Takeshi Ohashi contacted authorities to legally block a deportation on the grounds that the whole procedure is now before the courts and a deportation would be a flagrant violation of Bobby Fischer's right to full legal recourse and protection under Japanese law. "If Bobby Fischer is deported tonight," wrote Bosnitch yesterday, "it will be the best proof so far that this entire unlawful detention and entrapment is nothing more than the will of the United States' government being dutifully executed in violation of the law by Japanese authorities."

New York Masters

As might be expected the weekend after the US Open was a quiet one for American Chess. The big news is the New York Masters () where the pot has been sweetened with some sponsorship. IM Gregory Shahade's brainchild routinely sees some of the best players in the country stepping through the doors of the Marshall Chess Club on Tuesday nights. The event on August 17 saw GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Joel Benjamin share first place at 3.5 and divide $800. Benjamin won a special playoff for an additional $50 after spectators watching on the ICC wanted to see a clear winner after the two New York GMs had battled to a long draw in their last round game. Sharing third at 3-1 in the 22-player event were US Champion Alex Shabalov, former World Championship Candidate Leonid Yudasin, strong young Polish GM Kamil Miton and GM Leonid Sokolin. Gata Kamsky played again, but this time he finished out of the money at 2 1/2 , losing to Miton and drawing with Yudasin.

2004 U.S. Class Chess Championships

The USCF prepared an excellent press release on the 2004 U.S. Class Chess Championships.

173 chess players representing over 20 states took part in the 2004 U.S. Class Championships in Des Moines, Iowa August 20-22. The geographical diversity of the field, with nearly every region of the country represented, imparted a true national flavor more typical of a U.S. Open, to the competition in the Midwest. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the Hotel Fort Des Moines, the largest hotel in Iowa, served as a fitting venue for this national tournament, Iowa's first national.
Top-rated International Master Stanislav Smetankin, originally from Belarus and currently a student at the University of Wisconsin, shared top honors in the Masters' Section with second ranked Aleksandar Stamnov, a national Master (NM) from Chicago. Both finished with four points after five games. Virginia NM Steve Greanias, and Iowa experts Tim Mc Entee and Jasmin Zulic all tied for 3rd-6th, with 3 points.
One of the most impressive performances of the weekend came from thirteen-year-old Tyler Hughes of Colorado, who swept the Expert Section with a 2494 tournament performance, winning all five games. Fourteen-year-old Christopher Nienart lost only to Hughes but defeated the others, to place second at 4-1. Tim Walsh took third with 3.5.
William Murray bested the A Class with 4.5, while Thomas O'Connor and 9-year-old Michael Yang tied for second with 4 points.
Jesse Allen scored 4.5 points to emerge the Champion of Class B, and 11-year-old Albert Zhou took second place with 4. The logjam for third place consisted of seven players who scored 3.5 points: Daniel Lindquist, Dan Gannon, Joshua Suresh, Laurence Coker, Jeremy Madison, Kent Cen and Matthew Anzis.
Jason Juett's 4.5 points gave him the Class C title, with Yueqin Cen in second a half point back. A (slightly) smaller logjam at 3.5 consisted of Jim Froehlich, Dan Brashaw, Tyler Conway and Daryn Moran.
Four players divvied up the prize money in Class D: Andrey Golovan, Paul Evenson, Curtis Ware and Phani Sathiraju, who each scored 4-1.
The co-champions of Class E are Scott Tan and Kevin Lufkin, who drew each other and won their other four games. Four players, Randy Hoelscher, Christopher Adkins, Caleb Brown and Adem Music, tied for 3rd-6th.
The other sweep of the weekend occurred in the Unrated Players' Section, where Robert Keating won all five games. Christopher Mc Kinney was clear second at 4-1, while Aaron Priluck and Franjo Sicanica tied for 3rd-4th with 3 points.
An interesting piece of tournament "theory" was put to the test at the U.S. Class, when Kansas Expert Tim Steiner proved why the time delay clock is now an indispensable component of the serious tournament player's competitive regimen. With his time running out, Steiner's lone White Queen was compelled to distract the opposing King, Rook and Bishop from otherwise shepherding the Black f-pawn to an inevitable coronation. Through an amazing, whirlwind series of checks, pins, and "quiet" threats of forks and skewers, Steiner was able to stave off the advance of the f-pawn for over 60 moves-- despite having exactly ONE SECOND left on his time-delay chronos! His opponent, rated over 500 points higher and with over ten minutes remaining, was unable to prevent a successful 50-move rule draw.
The time delay was absolutely necessary to prevent a brilliant drawing motif from coming to a tragic end. No claim of "insufficient losing chances" could ever be considered, as the chances for either side to lose were mind-boggling indeed, let alone "sufficient." Without the time delay, White's flag falls well before he can rattle off even a fraction of the 50 required moves. With the time delay, he proves, over the board for all to see, that his opponent can make no progress beyond his half of the point.
Most of the games were not nearly as exciting and fever-pitched, giving TD's Walter Brown and Steve Immitt ample opportunity for more mundane tasks as well, directing the tournament on behalf of the U.S Chess Federation.

Vermont Resort Open

Stratton Mountain was the scene of a peculiar Swiss this past weekend. The overall attendance for this Continental Chess Association event was quite reasonable with 102 entries but only 12 elected to play in the Open section.  GMs Alex Stripunsky, Alex Wojtkiewicz and Alexander Ivanov towered over the opposition and one could easily imagine a scenario where the three drew with each other and shared first place at 4-1, but such was not the case. Stripunsky easily took top honors and $800 with his 4.5 - .5 score, nicked only by Ivanov, but what were the odds he would never play Wojtkiewicz, who faced neither of his colleagues? That came to pass when Wojt dropped a point and a half early on. The perennial Grand Prix champion bounced back to finish on 3.5 which amazingly enough was good for second place and $400. The cause of the upsets in this event shared third at 3.  Max Enkin (2111) beat Wojtkiewicz and drew GM Alexander Ivanov while Ashok Aaron (1971) beat Ivanov. The latter, despite having a rare awful result, still took home $100 for his even score.

National Master Jim Schmitt was one of the best players in the Bay Area in the 1950s and 1960s after moving south from Portland. He annotated the following game for the Washington Chess Letter which still appears monthly as Northwest Chess. It is the oldest continuiosly published state magazine (Oregon and Washington) in the country dating back to 1945. During it's almost 60 year existence it has changed names several times (Bremerton Chess Letter, Everett Chess Letter, Washington Chess Letter and Northwest Chess).

Schmitt,J - Capps,C [D35]
Mechanics' Institute Championship San Francisco, 1952
Notes by Schmitt

After a triple tie between James Schmitt, Carroll Capps and Fred F. Byron, he playoff was won by Schmitt who is therefore champion for the current year.Here is a game annotated by James Schmitt, a former Portland player, now in the service at the Presidio.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 0-0 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 Re8 9.0-0 h6 10.Bf4 c6 11.Qc2 Nf8
If 11...Nh5 then 12.Nxd5!
12.Rab1 Ne6 13.Be5 a5 14.a3 Bd7 15.b4 axb4 16.axb4 Ra3 17.Qb2 Qa8 18.Bxf6
If now 18.Ra1? then 18...Bxb4.
18...gxf6
If 18...Bxf6 then 19.Ra1.
19.Nh4 Ng7 20.Rfc1
To free the Queen for Kingside activity.
20...b5
To make room for the Queen so as to double the Rooks.
21.Qe2 Bxb4! 22.Nxd5 cxd5 23.Rxb4
Black's pawns are all isolated and weak.
23...Qa5 24.Rcb1
Concentrating on the b-pawn.
24...Rc8
Eyeing Qxb4.
25.h3 Ra2
This chases the Queen to where it wants to go, but it is doubtful the position can be held.
26.Qf3 Ra1 27.Qxd5!
Tricky, but sound.
27...Rc1+ 28.Kh2 Qc7+ 29.f4
Not g3 because of ...Bc6.
29...Raxb1 30.Rxb1 Rc3
Black begins to feel the time pressure, as will White shortly.
31.Qa8+ Ne8 32.Qe4 f5 33.Nxf5 Nf6 34.Qa8+ Ne8 35.Ne7+
At long last simplification!
35...Kf8 36.Nd5 Qc8 37.Qxc8
The rest is easy.
37...Rxc8 38.Nb6 Rc7 39.Nxd7+ Rxd7 40.Bxb5 Rb7 41.Bd3 Re7 42.e4 Nf6 43.e5 1-0

Washington Chess Letter, September 1952.

The Browne-Wojtkiewicz game featured in last week's Newsletter is starting to make the rounds. You can find excellent annotations to the game with the complete score (it was truncated in the bulletin) in the Washington Post where GM Lubos Kavalek writes a really great weekly column. Go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25007-2004Aug22.html?referrer=emailarticle .

Ukrainian GM Mikhail Golubev writing in a recent issue of Chess Today has this to say about the Browne-Wojt game:
"Walter Browne's victory over Alex Wojtkiewicz somehow inspired me to prepare an overview of the knight sacrifice in the Sicilian Najdorf which was introduced by Grischuk in 2002. Surely, it was one of the most amazing novelties in recent years."

Golubev came across the game because noted chess director and historian Frank Berry had gone to the trouble of reentering games from the US Open bulletin back into ChessBase. Yes, this does seem like a sad duplication of effort, but as of today I still have not seen any games from the US Open on its website or at Mark Crowther's The Week in Chess, where information is normally disseminated throughout the chess world. One would hope this situation is corrected soon.

Bay Area and Oakland chess recently got a big boost with the addition of International Master Odondoo Ganbold of Mongolia who had previously been living in Los Angeles. NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, who studied in Maryland last year has also decided to settle in Oakland as has NM Batsaikan Tserendorj making Oakland the world headquarters of Mongolian expatriate chess players.

Exactly who the strongest player in the world is at classical chess is an unresolved question at present, but the King of Rapid Chess (G/25- G/30) has already been crowned. Viswanathan Anand. GM Mikhail Golubev writes in Chess Today, " Viswanathan Anand absolutely dominated the tournament in Sao Paulo: after winning all five games in the second half, he finished three full points ahead of Ivan Morovic who took second place. Final standings:
1. Anand – 8½; 2. Morovic –  ½; 3. Leitao – 4½; 4- . Karpov and Vescovi – 4; 6. Milos – 3½.. It  can be said without hesitation that the chess world now has a clearly strongest player (and a world champion!) in Rapid Chess at least. Anand's  recent  results  in  rapid  events speak for themselves:"

Noted author and trainer Jeremy Silman of Los Angeles turns 50 this Saturday. Silman who recently co-authored a tremendous book on Pal Benko is currently working on an instructional endgame work and preparing 15-year-old Vanessa West for the 2004 Championship in San Diego this fall. West, currently rated 2149, has approximately six months to break Jennifer Shahade's record as the youngest native born women to achieve a master rating.

The MI FIDE summer rating tournament is starting to come to a close. John Langreck of Davis has the best percentage score in the 12-player round robin with 6.5 from 8 followed by fellow NMs Russell Wong at 6.5 from 9 and Andy Lee on 7 from 10.

Bay Area chess players have a double-header the next two weekends with events in Sacramento and San Francisco (see upcoming events for more details)

A photograph of UC Berkeley student Ben Bednarz playing chess at Sproul Plaza appeared on page 2 of the August 17-18 edition of the Berkeley Daily Planet.

Ewelina Krubnik leads the East Bay Youth Invitational with a 2-0 score. Daichi Siegrist is second at 1.5. The event is being held at the recently opened East Bay Chess Center Upcoming events include:

    Saturday, August 28th: Scholastic Quads (starting at 10 AM)
    Sunday, August 29th: Open Quads (starting at 10 AM)
    Monday, August 30th: Club Mini-Marathon (starting at 7 PM)

For more info, go to: http://www.eastbaychess.com

Book and equipment donations to the Mechanics' are always welcome. All donations to the Mechanics' are tax deductible due to the M.I.'s 501(c) (3) nonprofit status. If you have any chess books or equipment that have been lying around unused for some time consider donating to the Mechanics'. You will not only get a tax write off but also the satisfaction of seeing things put to good use.

"This sort of nonsense is so frustrating.  Why not de-emphasize winning and losing at team sports??  They are supposed to build
character right?  I think that this sort of sophistry just begins the move to eliminate chess masters from chess instruction."
Bill Schill

"Scholastic chess  has a different goal and purpose from adult chess in that chess is developmental at the scholastic level and recreational at
 the adult level. CalChess therefore urges scholastic coaches and instructors to emphasize the developmental aspects of chess, such as good sportsmanship, team spirit, generous in winning and gracious in losing and to de-emphasize by word and by example the competitive aspect of the game."

For more on this debate you may wish to go to http://www.chessville.com/Editorials/ScholasticsAndTheSoulOfChess.htm where Oklahoma Master Tom Braunlich has written an interesting article entitled Scholastics and the Soul of Chess.

The Mechanics' Institute is very pleased to announce that funding for the Mechanics' Institute Inner-city Youth Chess Program is
provided by Providian Cares, Providian Financial's community giving program. Thanks to Providian the M.I. is offering free Thursday afternoon classes to Bay Area youngsters both at the M.I. and at select San Francisco schools. Contact M.I. Scholastic Coordinator Anthony Corrales for more information.

NMs Russell Wong and Victor Ossipov and Expert Kenneth Hills are the only remaining perfect scores after three rounds of the Robert Jordan Tuesday Night Marathon. Among those tied for fourth at 2 1/2 are IM Ricardo DeGuzman and FM Frank Thornally. Five rounds remain for the 77-player field.

Ted Castro won the Wednesday Night Blitz on August 25, scoring 9.5 from 12. Yefim Bukh was second at 8 with Anthony Rozenvasser third at 8 in the 12-player round robin. Action resumes tonight at 7pm, immediately after GM Alex Yermolinsky's lecture.

Lubomir Ftacnik (2600 FIDE) of Bratislava, Slovakia, will be giving a free lecture on the classic battle Bishop versus Knight on Saturday, September 11, from 1-2:30pm at the Mechanics' Institute.  GM Ftacnik, who played in the 1991 Pan Pacific International in Chinatown and won the 1999 David Bronstein Jubilee (ahead of I. Gurevich, Dzindzihashvili, Browne and Seirawan) is noted as an excellent speaker and outstanding teacher. Don't miss this lecture and the blitz tournament which follows from 3-5pm (5 double round Swiss or round robin depending on entries) with a $10 entry fee ($50 guaranteed first prize).

M.I.Grandmaster-in-Residence Alex Yermolinsky will be lecturing and playing in an event in Medicine Hat, Alberta, the weekend of September 11-12.

The Mechanics' Thursday Afternoon Lecture and USCF rated play return this fall. Chess Club Director John Donaldson will give lectures from 12:15 to 1pm each Thursday. Immediately afterward USCF rated play is available.

Chess Dad recently paid a visit to the Mechanics' and wrote about it in his online blog http://chessdad64.journalspace.com/

Left My Queen in San Francisco : A Visit to the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club -- Entry # 12
posted 08/22/04 (edited Sunday, Aug 22, 2004 10:37)

During our family’s recent vacation to Northern California, we had the distinct pleasure of visiting the Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club located in downtown San Francisco on 57 Post Street. The Mechanics’ Institute is one of the oldest chess clubs in the US having been established in the 1850’s.  The Club itself is physically located on the 4th floor of the vintage Mechanics’ Institute Building. The space is dedicated to chess exudes class and tradition. When entering you see the built-in wooden chess tables accommodating about 50 games and a few computer terminals to the side for online play. Old time photographs of players and matches line the walls reminding of the Club’s rich history and tradition.

When we arrived on August 11th, a Wednesday evening, Grand Master Alex Yermolinsky was midway through his analysis of a recent game where Irina Krush, one of the strongest woman players in the world, came from behind to beat GM Alex Strupinsky.

After the lecture and a short break, the ever cheerful and friendly Yermolinsky oversaw 13 rounds of a round robin Blitz Tournament where each player had 5 minutes to complete all of his moves, and each competitor played each other. The players were serious and competitive but also friendly and welcoming to Chessdude64 who at age 10 was the youngest competitor on the scene. Chessdude held his own winning 5 matches, losing 7 (most of which were tough battles) and drawing one.

The top finishers were all top notch players. They  included Ted Castro (3rd place), a young man who moves the pieces with skill, grace, and an uncanny quickness, and who is also a very nice guy. 2nd place went to Daichi Siegrist, a well spoken young man  who is entering his freshman year of high school. I later learned Daichi was California’s recent Junior High Champion.   And lastly there was International Master Vladimir Mezenstev who won all 13 of his games, and finished as the clear winner of the tournament.

We would like to thank all of those at the Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club for their hospitality and making Chessdude64 and Chessdad64 feel welcome. It was a memorable and magical night.

Chessdad 64

IM Ricardo DeGuzman won the 7-player Master/Expert section in the Sacramento Chess Club Weekend Swiss #13 with a 4-0 score held August 28-29. Tying for second at 2.5 were NM Michael Aigner and Class A player Brendan Birt. MI regular Ted Castro won the Reserve section with a 4-0 score with Daichi Siegrist sharing third at 3-1. A total of 54 players competed. Go to http://sacramentochessclub.org/weekend_events/sccws13.htm for crosstables of the three sections.

The Week in Chess wrote the following:

Konstantin Aseev born 20th October 1960 died on 22nd August 2004 at the age of 43 after a long illness. Aseev hadn't played since October last year and was a coach to Andrei Kharlov and Maia Chiburdanidze. He became an IM and then a GM in the early 1990s. He had a rating high of 2591 in 2001-2. He made significant contributions to theory in the Rauzer Attack and Queen Indian Defence.

Alex Yermolinsky shares his memories of his fellow Grandmaster, who he first met in 1983, after Aseev moved to Leningrad after growing up in a small town on the Volga.

" Konstantin was friendly but reserved. One of those rare people who think of others more than themselves. I still remember our game from the 1983 Leningrad Absolute Championship where we played in the last round and a win gave either of us the title. After a tough battle it finally ended in a victory for me. The first to congratulate me was Konstantin who gave me a big bear hug and said how well I had played.

Aseev was a creative player who used the whole board. He liked big strategic concepts and stayed true to his style even though it could be impractical. Time pressure was his mortal enemy and he lost many games to silly blunders after hours of building up winning positions. He loved to research openings and was generous in sharing his novelties with teammates in team competitions.

Konstantin was not a drinker or smoker and in the 1980s was in excellent physical condition. When I saw him in 1994 at the Lloyds Bank tournament in London he looked worn down. I'm not sure what had caused the change, it might simply have been the difficulties of living in Russia in the early 1990s, where everything was difficult, including getting proper food. Characteristically, when I asked him how things were, he didn't answer directly but instead asked how I was.

My memory of Konstantin is of a family man who liked the quiet life. Perhaps more than even playing chess, his greatest pleasure was returning to the small town where he grew up and going fishing with his father on the banks of the Volga."

4) Ian Mullen 1960?-2004

John,

Just heard some sad news regarding Ian Mullen.

Older players will remember Ian known as Spike to his friends. Ian was a strong player about 2200 and played for Edinburgh Chess Club, Castle and
Wandering Dragons. As well as being a strong player Ian also co-wrote two chess books, Blunders & Brilliancies and Master Chess A Course in 21
Lessons.Due to illness Ian had to give up playing chess but still followed the game through friends and newspapers. Sadly Ian died on 28th July and his
funeral was on 20th August.

John B Henderson

Former MI Chess Club Director Kurt Bendit is living at the  San Francisco Community Convalescent Hospital, Room 3A,
at 2655 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA  94115 (Bush and Divisadero) - phone (415) 922-4141 . He welcomes visitors.

I. A. Horowitz toured the US extensively from the 1930s until the late 1950s promoting his Chess Review magazine and made many visits to the Mechanics' Institute. Here, in what might have been his last appearance at the club, he succumbs to Bendit's use of the tricky Dilworth variation in the Open Ruy.

Horowitz,A - Bendit,K [C82]
Simul at Mechanics' Institute San Francisco, 1958

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.c3 Bc5 10.Nbd2 Nxf2 11.Rxf2 0-0 12.Bc2 f6 13.Nb3? Bxf2+ 14.Kxf2 fxe5 15.Kg1 Bg4 16.Qe1 Bxf3 17.gxf3 Rxf3 18.Be3 e4 19.Nd2 Ne5 20.Kh1 Rh3 21.Bf4 Qf6 22.Bg3 Rf8 23.Bb3 Nc4 24.Bxc4 bxc4 25.Qe3 Qb6 26.Qg5 Qe6 27.Rg1 Rh6 28.Qe3 c6 29.Re1 Qg4 30.Rg1 Rg6 31.b3 cxb3 32.axb3 Qd7 33.Qd4 Qe7 34.Qe3 h5 35.c4 h4 36.Bf2 Rxg1+ 37.Bxg1 Qe5 38.cxd5 cxd5 39.b4 Rc8 40.Qb6 h3 41.Qxa6 Rc1 42.Qe2 e3 43.Nf3 Qe4 44.b5 Re1 0-1

The California Chess Reporter, pages 58-59, 1958

GMs Alex Onischuk, Alexander Goldin, Gregory Kaidanov, Alex Shabalov, Igor Novikov and Boris Gulko will make up the team which will represent the United States in Spain this October. It looks like former Russian captain Boris Postovsky will be the leader for his new country. Zsuzsa Polgar , Irina Krush, Anna Zatonskih and Jennifer Shahade will represent America in the women's competition with Paul Truong serving as Captain.

This Olympiad will mark the first time that the US Team has no native born players. Yasser Seirawan's (born in Syria but moved to the US before age 5) rating still puts him easily in the top six, but he announced his retirement from serious competitions last year - a pity as he won the silver medal on board two at the 2002 Olympiad, the only brifght spot for the US Team. 16-year-old Hikaru Nakamura, who made it four rounds into the FIDE World Championship in Libya earlier this year, has been playing extremely well of late, but the USCF formula includes results over the past two years which caused him to narrowly miss a spot. It would be a safe bet to count Hikaru on the team for 2006 and we would not be surprised to find GM Varuzhan Akobian also earning a spot.

The 2004 squad will feature three newcomers to the team, but they are hardly inexperienced. Alex Onischuk and Igor Novikov were both members of several Ukrainian Olympic teams and Alexander Goldin played very successfully for the United States in a match against China a few years ago. They will be part of the first US team in history in which all six players have FIDE ratings over 2600. This will have them seeded in the top ten, but whether they can fight for medals as US teams did so successfully in the period 1974-1998 (1 gold, 2 silver and 6 bronze from 13 Olympiads) or suffer as the last two squads (40th place results in Istanbul and Slovenia) did is unclear. Boris Gulko has played very infrequently the past two years, his only event in 2004 the Aeroflot Open. He would have played in the FIDE World Championship except that it ended up in Tripoli. Understandably at age 57, Gulko is not particularly interested in playing in the tiring world of two-games-a-day US weekend Swisses. Unfortunately with no foreign invitations this means he rarely gets to play outside the US Championship. This time around he barely played enough games and if the USCF beefs up its activity requirements this might be his last Olympiad (I believe he has represented the US continuously since 1988) even if his rating keeps him in the top six.

Gregory Kaidanov has also played very infrequently this year. Like most of the US team he was qualified for the FIDE World Championships but didn't play. Gregory debuted for the United States in 1993 at the World Team Championship in Lucerne where the Americans took home the gold, and has represented the United States ever since. He appeared to have reached his peak around 1993-94 but showed there was still room for improvement when he had a spectacular result in the Aeroflot Open in 2002. Unfortunately for a player of his level he gets few invitations to play in serious event and spends most of his time running a very successful chess coaching program. The only two members of the 2004 team, one of the oldest the US has ever fielded with an average age well over 40, that are extra ambitious are top-board Alex Onischuk and US Champion Alex Shabalov. The US team will need big results from these two players and solid performances from the other four members to crack the top five. The experience and knowledge are there the question is whether they will have the energy. We wish them the very best success.
The US Womens team is another story. The USCF has never fielded a team with a former Womens World Champion (Polgar), two players who play like good male IMs (Krush and Zatonskih) and a reserve player (Jennifer Shahade) who has two IM norms and a FIDE 2350+ rating. Go back 20 years ago and with the exception of Diane Savereide there were no US players above 2200! Time have changed and so have expectations. The tourists of the past have been replaced by a team that definitely is aiming for a medal, preferably gold. Manager Paul Truong has arranged for training and other support the past two years and the players know each other well. Prospects look bright but there are a lot of strong women players out there. The world of women versus women chess is rapidly disappearing, but experience from the past has taught us that the top-rated teams don't necessarily win. Just as the US Mens Basketball team in Athens had a hard time adjusting to the international rules the US players, who play almost entirely against men, may need to make some adjustments. Still, if they stay healthy, have good morale and are able to use all four players frequently, there are excellent chances for an outstanding result.

Good luck!

IM Bill Paschall of Boston scored 4 from 10 in the Category 7 (2420) GM norm August First Saturday series in Budapest held August 7-19. Seattle FM Bill Schill scored 7-6 in the IM norm section (Category 1 - 2269 average) was won by New York teenager Alex Lenderman with a score of 8.5-4.5 (one forfeit win).

GM Chanda Sandipan of India won the annual Curacao tournament held August 5-14 with 7.5 from 9.  US Champion Alex Shabalov of Pittsburgh was second at 7, while a point back Jennifer Shahade, Anna Zatonskih and Rusa Goletiani shared fourth at 6. New Orleans FM  John Bick was tied for ninth at 5. 34 players competed.

Stillwater, Oklahoma, is likely to be hosting the strongest tournament this Labor Day weekend. Confirmed GMs competing include the Bay Area's own Walter Browne, Alex Wojtkiewicz, Alex Stripunsky, Sergey Kudrin and Pavel Blatny. IMs scheduled to play include Michael Brooks, Anna Zatonskih and Jesse Kraai. Good luck Walter!

GMs John Fedorowicz and Nick DeFirmian have a new book out on the English Attack in the Sicilian. Batsford is the publisher.

IM Pascal Charbonneau is the 2004 Canadian Champion after defeating FM Master Eric Lawson in a playoff after they tied for first in a nine round Swiss. The 20-year-old Lawson had a breakout event defeating IM Igor Ivanov (representing Canada once again as he did in the 1980s) and top-seed Kevin Spraggett in the last two rounds. Go to http://www.chessontario.com/2004closed/ for more information.

45th US Armed Forces Open

The 2004 (45th annual) US Armed Forces Open (USAFO) Chess Tournament will be held from Saturday October 9 to Monday (Columbus Day) October 11, 2004 at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. This year the event has been opened up to any chess players from around the world who are in a military status (active, reserve, retired, national guard, militia, cadet, midshipman, or their national equivalent). The event is also on the World Chess Federation calendar. The organisers would love to see one or more players from the UK show up this year. Military chess players from all nations of the world are cordially invited. The US Department of State told the organisers that there are no restrictions on whom they may invite. To speed up the visa application process [for those nations who do not have a "reciprocal no visa agreement" with the US], the event is on a special list of approved events at all U. S. consulates and embassies around the world. The superb venue this year is at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. So far, players from India, Macedonia, Israel, Malaysia and Greece have indicated their intent to participate. There is the hope many other nations will also attend. So far the strongest military player that may compete is GM Efstratios Grivas (ELO 2520) from Greece, who is an instructor at the Hellenic Army Academy in Attica, Greece near Athens. The entrance fee is free. Registration is via e-mail using the form provided on the website. Further info: http://www.freewebs.com/usafco

The upcoming issue of Squares magazine will have articles by Californians Jerry Hanken (Lone Pine reminiscences) and Andy Ansel (book collecting). Go to http://www.chessco.com/  for more information.

The English Olympiad team for Spain is 1 Michael Adams, 2 Nigel Short, 3 Luke McShane, 4 Jon Speelman, 5 Mark Hebden, 6 Peter Wells.

The Ukrainian Championships, which is being run as a knockout, is producing lots of exciting chess. Here are two games that attracted my eye. The final sees 19 year old Anton Korobov (2565) play 18 year old Andrei Volokitin (2638).

Romanishin,O - Neverov,V [D58]
Ukrainian Championship Kharkov UKR (1.4), 25.08.2004

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 b6 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.0-0 Nbd7 10.Bg3 c5 11.Qe2 cxd4 12.exd4 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Nh5 14.d5 Nxg3 15.hxg3 exd5 16.Bxd5 Rb8 17.Rad1 Bf6 18.Qe4 Bxc3 19.Bxb7 Qc7 20.Rxd7! Qxd7 21.Bc6 Qd6 22.bxc3 Qa3 23.Ne5 Rbc8 24.c4 Qxa2 25.Bd5 Rc7 26.Ng6 Rd8 27.Ne7+ Kf8 28.Nc6 Rdc8 29.Qh7 Rxc6 30.Re1 Re6 31.Bxe6 Qd2 32.Rf1 1-0
 

Korobov,A (2565) - Goloshchapov,A (2577) [D10]
UKR Championship (final) Kharkiv (4.1), 30.08.2004

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 dxc4 4.e3 b5 5.a4 b4 6.Ne4 Qd5 7.Ng3 Nf6 8.Nf3 Ba6 9.Be2 e6 10.0-0 Bd6 11.Bd2 Nbd7 12.b3 c5 13.bxc4 Qb7 14.dxc5 Bxc5 15.Nd4 Ne5 16.Qb3 Rc8 17.Nb5 Qe7 18.Rfb1 Nc6 19.Bf3 Na5 20.Qxb4 Bxb4 21.Bxb4 Rc5 22.Bxa5 Rxc4 23.Na3 Rc5 24.Bb4 0-0 25.Nb5 Rb8 26.Rd1 Bxb5 27.axb5 Qc7 28.Bxc5 Qxc5 29.Bc6 h5 30.Ne2 Ng4 31.h3 Ne5 32.Nd4 Rc8 33.Rdc1 Qb6 34.Ra6 Qb8 35.Rca1 Kh7? 36.Be4+ Kh6 37.Nf5+ Kg5 38.f4+ Kf6 39.fxe5+ Qxe5 40.Nd6 Rc7 41.Ne8+ Kg5 42.Nxc7 Qxe4 43.Rxa7 Qxe3+ 44.Kh1 Kh6 45.Ne8 Qb6 46.Rxf7 Qxb5 47.Nxg7 h4 48.Raf1 Qe2 49.Nxe6 1-0

 BRAIN VERSUS BEAUTY - CLASH OF THE TITANS - BATTLE OF TWO WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONS (NEW YORK, NY; LINDSBORG, KS) The United States Chess Federation (USCF) is pleased to announce the upcoming six-game Brain versus Beauty - Clash of The Titans between the two great World Champions Anatoly Karpov and Susan Polgar. Legendary World Chess Champions Anatoly Karpov and Susan Polgar will compete in the most exciting triple chess challenge of Rapid, Blitz and Advanced Chess.  This historic and unique match will mark the battle between two of the Greatest World Champions of all time. 7-time World Champion Anatoly Karpov and 4-time Women’s World Champion Susan Polgar have been true ambassadors of chess.  This time, their historic battle is designed to promote US Chess, the Karpov School of Chess and the Susan Polgar Foundation. On Saturday, September 18, 2004, the Brain versus Beauty - Clash of the Titans Opening

Ceremony Chess Parade will be held downtown Lindsborg, KS from 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM. The Parade King and Queen -- World Champions Anatoly Karpov and Susan Polgar - will lead a group of top grandmasters and scholastic teams participating at the Champion’s Cup Scholastic Tournament.  The media press conference will be held immediately after the Parade. The Battle of Two World Champions will be held at the Bethany College Theater on September 18-19, in 6 exciting matches with 2 Rapid games at the time control of 20 minutes with 5 seconds delay, 2 Blitz games at the time control of 5 minutes with 3 seconds delay and 2 Advanced Chess at the time control of 25 minutes with 5 seconds increments. The United States Chess Federation (USCF) has sanctioned the match as the First Official Brain versus Beauty - Clash of the Titans. The Karpov - Polgar match became available with support from the State of Kansas, City of Lindsborg, Anatoly Karpov Chess School, and Susan Polgar Foundation. CONTACT: Mikhail Korenman or Paul Truong 785-906-0402 or 212-748-9587 mkorenman@yahoo.com or USChessOlympiad@aol.com

The US Chess Federation is pleased to announce that effective immediately,the price of most memberships including Chess Life has been reduced by $2if purchased online through our website at uschess.org.  Early Renewal, AutoRenewal, 6 Month, Blind, Prison, and Economy memberships are not affected.
The most popular categories reduced are:

Regular: lowered from $49 to $47
Promotional (new or last expired 2002 or before): lowered from $38 to $36
Senior (over 65): lowered from $36 to $34
Youth (under 20): lowered from $25 to $23
Scholastic (under 15): lowered from $19 to $17
Multi-year memberships in these categories have also been reduced in price by $2.
Affiliate commissions for all these categories are now $2 in our TD/affiliate area, and affiliates may obtain the $2 online discount as well, so the cost for affiliates who submit memberships online is Regular $45, Promotional $34, Senior $32, Youth $21, Scholastic $15.  We are confident that these lower fees will result in more USCF-rated scholastics being held, and more clubs recruiting new members (and those expired 2002/before) through the Promotional memberships!

The $13 Economy Scholastic membership (without Chess Life) is still available upon request, but that membership rate does not qualify for an online discount and affiliates do not receive a commission.

The net due from affiliates for the $19 Scholastic Memberships is only $15 through our TD/Affiliate area (after the $2 online discount and $2 affiliate commission), for a membership that includes 6 issues of Chess Life including our new "Chess Life Kids" supplement!  We urge all affiliates to promote this bargain membership!

On September 19th, the American Foundation for Chess (AF4C) in partnership with the Detlef Schrempf Foundation is hosting the "First Move Chess
Challenge". This event will pit celebrities against five top scholastic players. 2003 Women's Champion Anna Hahn will also be in town to give a
simultaneous exhibition that will will kick off at Bellevue Square and last from 2:00-5:00pm. Salome Thomas-EL, author of best-selling book, "I Choose
to Stay" (which is now being turned into a Disney film), will deliver the keynote address later in the evening.

For those who may not know, Detlef Schrempf had a successful career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) where he had his most successful
seasons with the Indiana Pacers and the Seattle Supersonics. The 6'9'' sharp-shooting forward is a native of Germany scored more than 15,000 points
in his career and was an NBA All-Star in 1997. He retired after the 2000-2001 season.

"Chess is in its essence a game, in its form an art, and in its execution a science."
 Baron Tassilo von Heyderbrand und der Lasa

IM-elect Vladimir Mezentsev of Mountain View is the 2004 Northern California Champion, scoring 5 from 6 in the annual Labor Day event held September 4-6 at the Holiday Inn on Van Ness in San Francisco. Mezentsev, who drew with IMs Ricardo DeGuzman and John Donaldson, took home $700 for his efforts. DeGuzman, who scored 4.5, was second, while Donaldson, SM David Pruess and Expert Drake Wang tied for third at 4 in the small open section. Wang, an up-and-coming teenager, had a breakout event, winning four in a row after a first round loss before succumbing to Mezentsev in the last round. Pruess, who took a first round bye, had a very tough loss to DeGuzman while Donaldson was undefeated and earned the right on tie-break to represent Northern California on September 19 in ICC blitz qualifier for the US Championship (Mezentev represents Russia and De Guzman the Philippines). A total of 182 players, one of the better turnouts in recent years for a non-scholastic event, competed in this multi section event directed by Richard Koepcke and John McCumiskey.

Frank Berry, who organized and directed this event with his twin brother Jim, sent in the following report.

"81 players competed in the Stillwater, OK OCF-NAO held last weekend including 5 GMs, 2 WGMs and 2 IMs.
GMs Sergey Kudrin, Walter Browne and Alex Stripunsky tied for 1st with 6.5 out of 8, receiving $1,300 apiece. Tying for fourth at 6 pts, goof for $525 apiece, were GM Pavel Blatny, IM Jesse Kraai, IM (WGM) Anna Zatonskih and IM Michael Brooks. GM Alex Wojtkiewicz ended with 5 points losing in the last two rounds to Browne and Kudrin."

The following key game was Browne's second win over perennial Grand Prix champ Wojtkiewicz, in less than a month, and features annotations by the six-time US Champion. Thanks to Frank Berry for sending out this material so quickly. This is in sharp contrast to the US Open, which finished nearly a month ago, and still the last round bulletin has yet to appear!

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e6 7.Be3 b5 8.g4 Nfd7 9.Qd2 Nb6 10.a4
10.0–0–0 N8d7 11.Bxb5 axb5 12.Ndxb5 Ba6 13.Nxd6+ Bxd6 14.Qxd6 Nc4 15.Qd4 e5  looks good for Black.
10...Nc4
A brand new move by Wojo.  10...bxa4 11.Nxa4 Nxa4 12.Rxa4 Be7 13.g5! Topalov-Anand WAZ, 2004
11.Bxc4 bxc4 12.0–0–0
12.a5 Be7 13.Na4! also causes Black some problems
12...Nd7 13.f4 Bb7 14.f5 e5
14...Nc5 15.fxe6 fxe6 16.Qe2 Rc8 (16...Qd7 17.Qxc4 Nxe4 18.Nxe4 Bxe4 19.Nxe6 d5 20.Nc7+ Kd8 21.Nxd5 Bxh1 22.Bg5+ Ke8 23.Nc7++-) 17.Qxc4 Qd7 18.Rhf1 Nxe4 19.Qxe6+ Qxe6 20.Nxe6 Nxc3 21.bxc3 Rxc3 22.Bd4 Rf3! 23.Rfe1 Kd7 24.Bxg7 Bxg7 25.Nxg7 with good winning chances.
15.Nde2
15.Ne6 fxe6 16.fxe6 Be7 (16...Nf6 17.Qf2 Qe7 18.Nd5 Bxd5 19.exd5 and Wojo survives but not so easy!) 17.exd7+ Qxd7 18.Rhf1 and white is better.
15...Qa5
15...Nf6 16.Bg5 Be7 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Nd5 Rb8 19.Nec3 Bxd5; 15...Be7 16.g5 0–0 17.Rhg1 Kh8 18.Nd5 with a big edge]
16.g5 Bc6 17.Nd5 Qxa4 18.Kb1
18.Nec3 Qa1+ 19.Nb1 Bxd5! (19...Rb8? 20.Qc3 Bxd5?! 21.Rxd5 with the idea Ra5 with compensation for White.) 20.Qxd5 Rb8 21.b3 cxb3 22.cxb3 Rc8+ 23.Kd2 Qb2+ and Black is much better.
18...Rb8 19.g6
19.Nec3 Qa5 20.Qe2 Bxd5 21.Nxd5 Qa4 22.g6 hxg6 23.fxg6 fxg6 24.Qg4 c3 25.Qxg6+ Kd8 26.Bg5+ Kc8 27.Nxc3 Qb4 28.Qe8+ and white wins.
19...hxg6 20.fxg6 fxg6 21.Nec3 Qa5 22.Qe2
22.Qg2 Kd8 23.Qxg6 Rh3 24.Rhf1 Rxe3 25.Rxf8+ Nxf8 26.Qxd6+ Nd7 27.Qxc6 wins.
22...Bxd5 23.Nxd5 c3
23...Nf6 24.Qxc4 Nxd5 25.Rxd5 Qb4 26.Rxe5+ (26.Qc6+ Kf7 27.Qd7+ Be7 28.Rf1+ Kg8 29.Qe6+ Kh7 30.Bc1 Qxe4 31.Rd3 with a superior position. 31...Bh4) 26...dxe5 27.Qe6+ Be7 28.Qxg6+ Kd8 29.Rd1+ Kc7 black wins
24.b3 Nf6
24...Qa3 25.Nxc3 and white has better pieces and a safer king.
25.Qc4 Be7
25...Nxd5
26.Qc6+
26.Nc7+ Kd8 27.Ne6+ Kd7 28.Nc5+ Ke8 29.Nxa6 Ra8 30.Nc7+ Kd7
26...Kf7 27.Nxe7 Kxe7 28.Rxd6 Rhc8 29.Re6+ Kf7 30.Rxf6+! gxf6 31.Qd7+ Kg8
31...Kf8 32.Bh6+ Kg8 33.Qg7#
32.Qe6+ Kg7 33.Qe7+ Kg8 34.Qe6+ Kg7 35.Rd1 Rxb3+
35...Rc7 36.Rd6 (36.Rd7+ Rxd7 37.Qxd7+ Kh8 38.Qh3+ Kg8 39.Qe6+ Kg7 40.Qe7+ Kg8 41.Bh6+-) ; 35...Rd8 36.Qe7+ Kg8 37.Rg1 g5 38.Bxg5; 35...Rb7
36.Qxb3 Qc7 37.Kc1 Rb8 38.Qe6 Rb7 39.Rd6 Qf7 40.Qxf7+ Kxf7 41.Rxa6 Rb4 42.Rc6 Rxe4 43.Rxc3 Rh4 44.Bg1 f5 45.Kd2 Rg4 46.Rg3 Ra4 47.Bf2 f4 48.Rg4!
Otherwise the pawns are dangerous!
48...Kf6 49.Bh4+ Kf5 50.Rg5+ Ke4?!
I thought 50...Kf6 was more stubborn
51.Rxg6 Kf3 52.Kc3 e4 53.Kb3 Rd4 54.Bf6 Rd6 55.h4 Rb6+ 56.Ka2 Rc6 57.Kb2 e3 58.h5 e2 59.Bh4 Rc5 60.h6 Rh5 61.Be1 Rh1 62.Bb4 e1Q 63.Bxe1 Rxe1 64.c4 Re5! 65.Kc3 Ke4
65...Ke3 66.h7 Rh5 67.Re6+ Kf2 68.Re7 f3 69.Kd2 Kg1 70.Rg7+ Kf1 71.c5 f2; 65...Ke2 66.Kd4
66.h7 Rh5 67.Re6+ Kf5 68.Re7 Kf6 69.Rb7 f3 70.Kd3 Rh2 71.c5 Ke6 72.c6 Kd6 73.c7 Kd7 74.Rb8 1–0

NM Russell Wong is alone in first with a perfect score after four rounds of the Robert Jordan Tuesday Night Marathon.
Tied for second at 3.5 are IM Ricardo DeGuzman, NM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs and Experts Nicolas Yap and Larry Snyder.

Yefim Bukh won last Wednesday's Blitz event with David Ray second. Action resumes this evening at 7pm.

GM Lubomir Ftacnik will give a free lecture on Bishop versus Knight this Saturday at 1pm until 2:30 pm. Immediately afterwards
there will be a five double round blitz tournament with a $10 entry free. The first prize of $50 is guaranteed with other prizes based on entries.

The America's Foundation for Chess announces the 2005 US championship wild
card selections:

The stated mission of the AF4C is to use two wild card spots in the US Championship to promote the development of exceptionally promising junior
players. Last year, in line with our mission, we selected Varhuzan Akobian (based on his being the Samford fellow) and Laura Ross (based on her being
the highest rated girl under 16). Those turned out to be fine choices, with Akobian battling for first place in the final round, and Ross benefiting
from her experience to earn a qualifying spot for this year's championship at the World Open.
This year one wild card spot has been offered to Salvijus Bercys.  Bercys, who is 14 years old, is the #1 US rated player under the age of 16 (USCF
rating 2424). He was the 2003 US junior open champion and finished clear second in the 2004 US Junior invitational championship, half of a point
behind Milman (who earned a US championship qualifying spot for this victory) and ahead of Josh Friedel, Bruci Lopez, Matthew Hoekstra and Dmitry
Schneider (all of whom have earned qualifying spots at other tournaments).
This was an unusual year with so many top juniors earning qualifying spots. Because of this unique situation, the AF4C was in a position to recognize
the return of Gata Kamsky to active tournament chess, and offer him the second wild card spot. Gata Kamsky is America's highest rated USCF chess
player, and one of the top rated players in the world. In 1996 he played Karpov for the world championship. Having