Gens Una Sumus!
Newsletter #364, 10/01/2007
"I see people making a mistake, not being serious at age 14. You can have a job at any point in your life, but you can't go back and study chess."
~Alex Shabalov
From an interview with Betsy Dynako at Chess Life Online http://main.uschess.org/content/view/7861/381/. There he notes that his current chess strength came through hard work between the ages of 12-14. He wishes he worked even harder then because he sees 12-14 as the key age for chess improvement.
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Cal Chess Masters by Michael Aigner
3) Here and There
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
The San Francisco Mechanics' 15 match undefeated streak in the US Chess League ended against Seattle last week.

Seattle SluggersSan Francisco Mechanics
GM Gregory Serper: 25741.00.0IM Josh Friedel: 2535
IM Georgi Orlov: 25741.00.0IM David Pruess: 2452
FM John Readey: 23260.01.0IM John Donaldson: 2460
Joshua Sinanan: 2083Daniel Naroditsky: 2076
Avg. Rating: 2389Avg. Rating: 2381
Seattle Total ———3.01.0——— San Francisco Total
John Readey - John Donaldson
English A37
Seattle vs San Francisco (4) 2007
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nc3 e5 6.a3 a5 This stops b4 at all costs but White can try to benefit from not having had to play Rb1. The alternative 6...Nge7 7.b4 d5 is critical 8.bxc5 0—0 9.0—0 dxc4 10.Rb1 Na5 11.d3 is a probably an important sequence to evaluate the effectiveness of 7....d5. 7.0—0 d6 8.d3 Nge7 9.Ne1 9.Rb1 0—0 10.Bd2 Rb8 11.Ne1 Be6 12.Nc2 d5 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.Nxd5 Bxd5 15.Bxd5 Qxd5 16.b4 cxb4 17.axb4 b6 Altounian-Yermolinsky, US (ch) 2004 offers Black no difficulties. 9...Be6 9...0—0 10.Nc2 Be6 11.Ne3 f5 is another way to handle this variation. 10.Nc2 d5 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Ne3 Nde7 13.Ne4 b6 14.Ng5 Perhaps a more challenging idea is Gregory Kaidanov's 14.Nc4 0—0 15.Bg5 f6 16.Be3 with Qa4, Rfc1 and Rab1 to follow. White tries to get in b2-b4 with tactics.; If 14.Qa4 Black can choose between the solid 14...Rc8 and the more aggressive 14...0—0 15.Nxc5 bxc5 16.Bxc6 Nxc6 17.Qxc6 Rc8 18.Qa4 f5. 14...Bd7 15.Bd2 15.Nc4 0—0 16.f4 h6 17.Nf3 exf4 18.Bxf4 Be6 19.Rc1 Nd5 was fine for Black in Yermolinsky-Wedberg, NY 1991. 15...0—0 16.Rb1 a4 16...Rb8 was possible with a likely transposition to known positions but it didn't seem necessary here. 17.Nc4 h6 17...b5 18.Nd6 f6 was a different approach. 18.Ne4 Be6 To clamp down on f4 breaks. 19.Nc3 19.f4 Bxc4 20.dxc4 f5 21.Nf2 e4 should be very nice for Black. 19...Rb8 20.Qxa4 20.Bxc6 Nxc6 21.Qxa4 Nd4 22.Qd1 b5 23.Ne3 and now either 23...Bb3 or 23......Nb3 offers Black excellent compensation for the pawn. Critical is 20.Nxa4 b5 21.Nxc5 bxc4 22.Nxe6 fxe6 23.dxc4 At first glance White seems to be doing very well here but after 23...Rb7! 24.Be3 Rd7 followed by ...Nd4 I prefer Black though matters are not so clear. 20...Nd4 21.Qd1 b5 22.Ne3 Bb3 The immediate 22...f5 was interesting as 23.f4?? loses a piece to 23...b4. 22...Nb3 was also quite reasonable. Clearly Black has enough for the pawn, 23.Qe1 f5 24.f4 exf4 25.gxf4 b4 To open the c-file. 26.axb4 cxb4 27.Ncd1 Qb6 28.Kh1 Rfc8 29.Rc1 Rxc1 30.Bxc1 Qc5 31.Bd2 Bf7 Black's plan is ...Nb3 and ...Ne7-c6-d4. Here John decided to return the pawn to activate his pieces. This is especially understandable as he was getting very low on time. 32.Nc4 Bxc4 33.dxc4 Qxc4 34.e4 Threatening e5 activating his Bishop and killing mine. 34...fxe4 35.Qxe4 Qf7 36.Ne3 Kh7 37.Ng4 Nef5 Black's more cohesive position is much easier to play with both sides short of time. The time control was G/75 plus a 30 second increment each move. 38.Ne5 Qb3 39.Bc1 Re8 40.Re1 Re7 41.Qd5 Qc2 42.Be4 Qf2 43.Rd1 43.Nd3 Qh4 44.Rg1 Qh3 45.Bxf5 Nxf5 46.Ne5 Bxe5 47.fxe5 Nh4 (with ...Qf3+ threatened) 48.Rd1 g5 49.Qe4+ Ng6 and the e-pawn falls. 43...Bxe5 44.fxe5 Qh4? 44...Ne2 45.Bxf5 Qxf5 was the right follow up. 45.Bxf5 Nxf5 46.Bd2 Ng3+ 47.Kg2 Ne4 48.Be1? 48.Rf1 would have drawn. 48...Qg4+ Now Black is winning again. 49.Bg3 Qe2+ 50.Kg1 Nxg3 51.hxg3 Qxb2 52.e6 Qe2 53.Rf1 Qxe6 54.Qxe6 Rxe6 55.Rf7+ Kg8 56.Rb7 Re4 57.Kf2 h5 58.Kf3 Rg4 59.Kf2 Kf8 60.Kf3 Ke8 61.Kf2 Kd8 62.Kf3 Kc8 63.Rb5 Kc7 64.Kf2 Kc6 65.Rb8 Kc5 0—1 GM Patrick Wolff, IM John Donaldson, NM Sam Shankland and Expert Daniel Naroditsky will represent the Mechanics' this evening against the Tennessee Tempo starting at 5:30 pm. Spectators are welcome.

There was plenty of excitement last night in round eight of the Ben Gross Tuesday Night Marathon. Tournament leader SM Craig Mar was a half point ahead of IM Ricardo DeGuzman and for most of the game he was winning but Ricardo came up with an incredible save with both flags hanging. He won a Rook down in an ending, advancing his b-pawn while White's Rook on h3 was imprisoned.
Craig Mar - Ricardo DeGuzman
Kings Indian E97
Ben Gross Tuesday Night Marathon San Francisco (8) 2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0—0 6.Be3 Bg4 7.Be2 Nc6 8.0—0 e5 9.d5 Ne7 10.c5 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 Ne8 12.cxd6 Nxd6 13.Be2 f5 14.f3 Rf7 15.Rc1 f4 16.Bf2 g5 17.Qc2 Ng6 18.Nb5 Bf8 19.Qb3 Nxb5 20.Qxb5 Bd6 21.Qxb7 Rb8 22.Qc6 Rxb2 23.Rc2 Rb6 24.Bxb6 axb6 25.Bb5 Kf8 26.Rc4 Kg7 27.Ra4 g4 28.Qe8 Qh4 29.Qe6 gxf3 30.gxf3 Rf6 31.Qg4 h5 32.Qg2 Rf8 33.Bd7 Kh6 34.Be6 Qf6 35.Rc4 b5 36.Rc2 Ra8 37.Kh1 Ra3 38.Bf5 Nh4 39.Qh3 Rd3 40.Rg1 Be7 41.Rc6 Bd6 42.Qxh4 Qxh4 43.Rg6+ Kh7 44.Rg4+ Kh6 45.Rxh4 Rd1+ 46.Kg2 Rd2+ 47.Kf1 Kg5 48.Rh3 Rxa2 and ... 0—1 Unfortunately the rest of the score is not available as both players were blitzing.

Going into the final round the leaders are:
1-2. IM DeGuzman and Victor Ossipov 6.5/8;
3-6. SM Mar, NM Igor Margulis, Romulo Fuentes, and Daniel Naroditsky 6/8.

The past month the Mechanics' held its annual FIDE rating tournament for Masters and Experts and the final result was quite impressive. Expert Kimani Stancil won with 8 from 8 with one unplayed game. 9-year-old Nicholas Nip should gain a lot of USCF and FIDE rating points for his second place finish.

1. Kimani Stancil 8/8
2. Nicholas Nip 6.5
3. NM Michael Pearson 6
4. NM Igor Margulis 5
5. NM Paul Gallegos 3.5
6. Igor Traub 3/8
7. Vadim Smelansky, Jorge Ortega , Felix Rudyak 3/9
10. Murray Newcomb .5

All players played 9 games except Stancil and Traub.

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.
2) Cal Chess Masters by Michael Aigner
Hello Masters and eligible Juniors,

This email is just a reminder that the CalChess Masters will take place this coming weekend at the Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco. The tournament has received 14 entries as of Monday 9/24 and several additional players have expressed interest. With a first place prize of $700, I would not be surprised to see a few IMs and even possibly a GM show up. You can still enter on site for $60 between 9:00-9:45 on Saturday morning.

The CalChess Masters will be a four round swiss, 30/90 G/60, to be held at the Mechanics' Institute on September 29-30. Thanks to the financial support of CalChess and a suitable venue at the Mechanics' Institute, the prize fund of $2200 will be fully guaranteed. FIDE rated!

This tournament is open to all players rated over 2200, former masters who are currently over 2000, foreign players with FIDE ratings over 2200 and juniors (under 21) who are rated over 2000.
The September USCF rating list will be used (http://www.uschess.org/msa/MbrLst.php).

Flyer: http://www.calchess.org/controlpanel/files/CalChessMasters.pdf

Advance entries as of Monday 9/24:

1. NM Yap, Nicolas A 2300 (junior)
2. WIM Tuvshintugs, Batchmeg 2288
3. NM Aigner, Michael 2254
4. NM Frankle, Jonathan 2249
5. NM Von Krogh, Chris 2243
6. FM Keatinge-clay, Adrian 2239
7. Naroditsky, Daniel 2170 (junior)
8. Mackenzie, Dana N 2156
9. Stancil, Kimani A 2115
10. Snyder, Larry 2077
11. Nip, Nicholas 2029 (junior)
12. Agarwal, Rohan 2019 (junior)
13. Kislik, Erik Andre 2011 (junior)
14. Jones, James E 2000

If you have any further questions, please contact organizer Richard Koepcke at 650-964-2640 or by email at richardkoepcke@aol.com.
3) Here and There
Steven Krasnov and Art Marthinsen are tied for first with 3 from 3 in the six round Berkeley Chess Club Sunday Marathon. Here are the complete standings.

Mechanics' members Josh Friedel and David Pruess have traveled to Miami and start play today in a big nine round open that includes US Champion Alex Shabalov and Hikaru Nakamura. GM norm possibilities are advertised.

Congratulations to Val Zemitis and his wife Sibylle who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last Sunday. Val is keeping busy in retirement and recently co edited a book on the Latvian women player Milda Lauberte (3rd at the womens world championship in Stockholm in 1938).

The Western States Open in Reno is right around the corner. October 12-14 will be the 25th anniversary and it will be a very strong (many GMs ) and large (likely over 400 players) tournament. Don't miss it! Details below under upcoming events
Newsletter #365, 10/08/2007
"Recently, I've had a lot of critics saying I should concentrate more during the game. But I'm usually very nervous, that's why I walk around. Chess is a horrible game. I mean, the game is very nice, but for a profession it's something else. It's not easy to concentrate, you know? If you try to over-concentrate, you can break down. It must be a balance. In American chess, concentration is not so important."
~Jaan Ehlvest
From an interview with Elizabeth Vicary at USCL news and gossip (http://lizzyknowsall.blogspot.com/2007/09/interview-with-jaan-ehlvest.html).
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Michael Aigner wins Cal Chess Masters
3) Gary Kasparov
4) US Players Title Norm Request by Ernie Schlich
5) Here and There

Don't forget the Western States Open in Reno is coming up (October 12-14). Contact John Donaldson (imwjd@aol.com) if you would like to play for the Mechanics' team.
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
IM Ricardo DeGuzman defeated Victor Ossipov in the last round of the Ben Gross Tuesday Night Marathon to win the event with a score of 7.5 from 9. Tying for second at 7 were Romulo Fuentes and Daniel Naroditsky. It looks like Daniel, the top rated 11-year-old player in the country, earned his master rating from the event. Here is his last round upset of SM Craig Mar.
Craig Mar (2405) - Daniel Naroditsky (2161) [E81]
Ben Gross Memorial TNM (9), 2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Nh3 a6 8.Nf2 Rb8 9.Be2 c5 10.d5 b5 11.Qc2 bxc4 12.Bxc4 h6 13.Bd2 Nb6 14.Be2 e6 15.dxe6 Bxe6 16.0-0 d5 17.exd5 Nbxd5 18.Na4?! 18.Rad1 looks much more solid. 18...Nb4! 19.Bxb4 cxb4 20.Nc5 20.Rfd1 Qa5 21.Qc6 Nd5 looks very good for Black whose Bishops are raking White's position.. 20...Rc8! 20...Bf5 is not nearly as energetic. This pin is most unpleasant for White. 21.Bxa6 21.Nxe6 Rxc2 22.Nxd8 Rxe2 23.Nc6 Nd5 24.Rad1 Rc8 25.Rxd5 Rxc6 is winning for Black . 21...Qe7 22.Bxc8 Rxc8 23.Rac1 23.Nfd3 Nd7 24.Rac1 Nxc5 25.Nxc5 Bd4+ 23...Nd7 24.Qe4 Nxc5 25.Qxb4 Qa7 It's two very active pieces versus Rook and two pawns. 26.Kh1 Kh7 27.a3 Bf8 28.Qd4 Qa6 29.Ne4?? In likely time pressure ( TC was 30/90 followed by G/30) White commits the fatal blunder. Craig had to play something like 29.Qe3 when Black is for choice but matters are hardly decided. 29...Nb3! 30.Nf6+ Kh8 31.Qe5 Nxc1 32.Nh5+ f6 0-1 The Winter Tuesday Night Marathon starts October 23 and runs 9 rounds finishing on December 18. The Mechanics' rebounded from their round four loss to Seattle, sweeping Tennessee last Wednesday. Tonight the MI faces the league leading Boston Blitz led by former Californian Larry Christiansen. Action starts at 5:30 pm and spectators are most welcome. You can also catch this match and others in the league by going to the Internet Chess Club. The US Chess League is sponsored in part by PokerStars.
Tennessee vs San Francisco
1. IM Ron Burnett (TEN) vs GM Patrick Wolff (SF) 0-1
2. IM John Donaldson (SF) vs FM Todd Andrews (TEN) 1-0
3. FM Jerry Wheeler (TEN) vs NM Sam Shankland (SF) 0-1
4. Daniel Naroditsky (SF) vs James Wu (TEN) 1-0
Burnett,R (2407) - Wolff,P (2623) [B63]
USCL Tennessee vs San Francisco (5) 2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 Be7 8.0-0-0 0-0 9.f3 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 Qa5 11.h4 Bd7 12.Qd2 b5 13.e5 b4 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Qh6 Qxe5 16.f4 Qe3+ 17.Kb1 Qg3 18.f5 bxc3 19.Rh3 Qg7 20.Qe3 Rfb8 21.Rg3 Rxb2+ 22.Ka1 d5 23.Rxg7+ Kxg7 24.Qxc3 Rb6 25.fxe6 Bxe6 26.Qg3+ Kf8 27.Qf4 Rab8 28.Qh6+ Kg8 29.c3 Bf5 30.a4 Rb3 31.Bb5 Be6 32.Qf4 Rc8 33.Rd3 Kh8 34.Rg3 Rbxc3 35.Rxc3 Rxc3 36.Qb8+ Kg7 37.Qxa7 Bd6 38.Qf2 Bg3 39.Qf1 Be5 40.Kb1 Ra3 41.Kc2 Bg4 42.Kd2 Ra1 43.Qd3 Rd1+ 0-1
Wheeler,J (2200) - Shankland,S (2211) [D93]
USCL Tennessee vs San Francisco (5) 2007
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qc2 g6 5.Bf4 Bg7 6.Nc3 0-0 7.e3 a6 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 Nbd7 10.0-0 c5 11.dxc5 Nxc5 12.Rfd1 Qb6 13.Nd4 Bd7 14.a3 Rac8 15.Rac1 Ne6 16.Nxe6 Bxe6 17.Bxe6 Qxe6 18.h3 Nd5 19.Rxd5 Rxc3 20.bxc3 Qxd5 21.c4 Qc6 22.a4 Rc8 23.Qb3 h5 24.Rb1 e5 25.Bg3 Rc7 26.Rc1 Qc5 27.f4 Bh6 28.Kh1 b5 29.axb5 axb5 30.fxe5 bxc4 31.Qc2 Qxe3 White resigns 0-1
Naroditsky,D (2170) - Wu,J (2066) [B26]
USCL Tennessee vs San Francisco (5) 2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 e6 6.Be3 d6 7.Qd2 Nd4 8.Nd1 Ne7 9.c3 Ndc6 10.Ne2 0-0 11.0-0 Rb8 12.d4 b6 13.Bh6 Ba6 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.Re1 b5 16.Ne3 f5 17.Nf4 Bc8 18.exf5 exf5 19.dxc5 dxc5 20.Qc2 g5 21.Rad1 Qe8 22.Nfd5 f4 23.Nxe7 Qxe7 24.Nf5+ Bxf5 25.Rxe7+ Nxe7 26.Be4 Bh3 27.Qe2 f3 28.Qe3 h6 29.Qxc5 Kf7 30.Bxf3 a6 31.Bh5+ Kf6 32.Qd6+ Black resigns 1-0
John Donaldson (2458) - Todd Andrews (2337) [B38]
USCL Tennessee vs San Francisco (5) 2007
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.e4 Bg7 6.Be3 d6 Much like the line 6...Nf6 7.Nc3 Ng4 8.Qxg4 Nxd4 9.Qd1 Ne6 Black forgoes ...b5 or f5 breaks to play on the dark squares. 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.Be2 0-0 9.0-0 Bd7 10.Rc1 Nxd4 10...a5 11.Ndb5. 11.Bxd4 Bc6 12.f3 12.Qd3 Nd7 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.b4 Nf6 15.Kh1 a5 16.b5 Bd7 17.f4 Be6 18.Qd4 Kg8 19.f5 Bc8 20.Rcd1 Nd7 21.Nd5 f6 22.b6 Nc5 23.fxg6 hxg6 24.e5 fxe5 25.Rxf8+ Qxf8 26.Qh4 Kg7 27.Rf1 Bf5 28.g4 Be4+ 29.Kg1 Qd8 30.Nxe7 Nd7 31.c5 d5 32.Bb5 Nxc5 33.Qf6+ Kh7 34.Qf7+ Kh8 35.Rf3 1-0 Smyslov-Golz, Polanica Zdroj 1968, is a beautiful example of White's exploitation of his space advantage in the Maroczy. 12...Nd7?! 12...a5 intending ...a4 and stopping b4 is essential here. 13.Bxg7?! The right idea but not the most precise. Correct is the immediate 13.b4! Bxd4+ 14.Qxd4 and now Black must grovel with 14...b6 as(14...Qb6 15.Qxb6 Nxb6 is met by 16.e5! dxe5 17.b5 Be8 18.c5 Nd7 19.Nd5 e6 20.Ne7+ Kg7 21.c6 bxc6 22.bxc6 Nb6 23.c7 Bd7 24.Rfd1 Ba4 25.Rd6 Kf6 26.Rxb6 Kxe7 27.Rb7 Kf6 (27...Bd7? 28.c8Q Raxc8 29.Rd1; 27...Kd6? 28.Ba6 Bd7 29.Rd1+ Kc6 30.Rxd7 Kxd7 31.c8Q+) 28.Rcb1 Bc6 29.Rb8 Rc8 30.Rc1 Raxb8 (30...Bd7 31.Rxa8 Rxa8 32.Ba6 Bc8 33.Rb1!) 31.cxb8Q Rxb8 32.Rxc6 Rb2 33.Bc4 h5 34.h4 g5 35.hxg5+ Kxg5 36.Kh2 Rb4 37.Bb3 a5 38.Ra6 Rb5 39.Ra7 Kf6 40.Ba4 1-0 Razuvaev-Honfi, Cienfuegos 1976. 13...Kxg7 14.Qd4+?! Kg8?! 14...f6 is Black's second chance covering the e5 break and meeting 15.b4 with 15...Qb6 15.b4! Qb6?! Again 15...b6 was solid but passive. 16.Qxb6 Nxb6 17.e5! Rfd8 Played after a long thought by Andrews. No matter what Black decides here he faces a long and unpleasant defense. 17...dxe5 18.b5 Be8 19.c5 Nd7 20.Nd5 e6 21.Ne7+ Kg7 22.c6 bxc6 23.bxc6 Nb6 24.c7 is the Razuvaev game with an extra move pair added in. 17...Na4 18.b5 Nxc3 19.Rxc3 Be8 20.exd6 exd6 21.Rd1 wins a pawn. 18.exd6 exd6 19.Rfd1 f5 Black stops Ne4 and prepares ...Kf7 but creates some weaknesses. 20.Rd4 a5 21.b5 Be8 22.f4 22.Kf2 Rac8 23.Nd5 Nxd5 24.Rxd5 Bf7 and Black's pressure against c4 counterbalances the weaknesses on d6. 22...Rac8 22...Bf7 23.Bf3! (23.Rcd1 Rac8 24.Rxd6 Rxd6 25.Rxd6 Nxc4=) 23...Rab8 24.Rcd1 Nxc4 25.Nd5 Na3 26.Ra4 Nc2 27.Rxa5 with a clear advantage. 23.Bf3! Bf7 24.Bxb7 Rxc4 25.Rxc4 Bxc4 25...Nxc4 26.Nd5 Rb8 27.Bc6 Nb6 28.Nxb6 Rxb6 29.Kf2 Bxa2 30.Ra1 Bc4 31.Rxa5 and White's King comes quickly to d4. 26.Na4! Nxa4 27.Rxc4 White has a typically advantageous R+B versus R+N ending with a very useful passed b-pawn. 27...Nc5 28.Bc6 Kf7 29.Kf2 Kf6 30.Ke3 h6 31.Rc2 White repositions his Rook to support the advance of his passed pawn. 31...Ne6 32.Bd5 Nc5 33.Kd4 Re8 34.b6 Re1 35.Rb2 Rd1+ 36.Kc4 Rc1+ 36...Na4 37.b7 Nxb2+ 38.Kc3 Rxd5 39.b8Q Nd1+ 40.Kb3 Rd2 41.Qd8+ Ke6 42.Qxa5 and the a-pawn quickly decides things. 37.Kb5 Nd7 38.Bf3 38.Kxa5 was also possible. By this time both players were short of time. 38...g5 39.g3 gxf4 40.gxf4 a4 40...Rc5+ 41.Ka6. 41.b7 Rc3 42.Bg2 a3 43.Rd2 Ke7 44.Re2+ Kd8 45.Kb4! Rc1 46.Kxa3 Rc4 47.Kb3 Rxf4 48.Rc2 Rg4 49.Bc6 Rg8 50.Bd5 Rg1 51.Kb2 Rd1 52.Be6 1-0 Newsletter #364 incorrectly reported that NM Paul Gallegos scored 3.5 in the MI's Summer FIDE Rating Tournament. In fact he scored 5.5 . Tournament winner Kimani Stancil saw his rating jump from 2119 to 2195.
2) Michael Aigner wins Cal Chess Masters
NM Michael Aigner of Davis won the Cal Chess Masters this past weekend with a 3.5 from 4 score to take home the $700 first prize. Sharing second in the 24 player event, which attracted 2 IMs and 1 SM were NMs Daniel Schwarz and Nicholas Yap and Expert Daniel Naroditsky. John McCumiskey and Richard Koepcke directed and organized the event which was held at the Mechanics'. Cal Chess sponsored the prize fund.
Shankland,Samuel (2211) - De Guzman,Ricardo (2458) [B01] 2007 CalChess Masters (1)
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bc4 c6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.h3 Bh5 8.Bd2 Qc7 9.Qe2 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 e6 11.0-0-0 Nbd7 12.g4 Bd6 13.g5 Nd5 14.Nxd5 cxd5 15.Bd3 0-0 16.h4 Qb6 17.Be3 f5 18.gxf6 Nxf6 19.Rdg1 Kh8 20.Rg2 Qc7 21.h5 Ne4 22.Qg4 Bf4 23.Bxe4 dxe4 24.Rhg1 Rf5 25.Qxg7+ Qxg7 26.Rxg7 Bxe3+ 27.fxe3 Rxh5 28.R7g4 Rh2 29.Rxe4 Rc8 30.c3 b5 31.Rxe6 b4 32.Kb1 bxc3 33.bxc3 a5 34.c4 Rb8+ 35.Ka1 Rg8 36.Rxg8+ Kxg8 37.c5 Kf7 38.d5 h5 39.c6 1-0
Aigner,Michael (2254) - Yap,Nicholas (2300) [B25] 2007 CalChess Masters (4)
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.f4 Nf6 7.h3 0-0 8.g4 Rb8 9.Nce2 Bd7 10.Ng3 b5 11.Nf3 b4 12.0-0 a5 13.Rb1 Ne8 14.f5 Nc7 15.h4 Nb5 16.h5 a4 17.Ne2 Nbd4 18.hxg6 hxg6 19.Nf4 Nxf3+ 20.Rxf3 Ne5 21.Rh3 e6 22.Be3 Rc8 23.Qe2 Re8 24.Kf2 d5 25.Rbh1 exf5 26.gxf5 gxf5 27.Nxd5 Ng4+ 28.Kf1 Be6 29.Bf3 Bxd5 30.Bxg4 fxg4 31.Qxg4 Qf6+ 32.Rf3 Be6 33.Qg2 Qxb2 34.Rg1 Kf8 35.Qg5 Qa1+ 36.Ke2 Qc3 37.Bd2 Qe5 38.Qh5 Rc6 39.Rxg7 Kxg7 40.Bf4 Qc3 41.Qh6+ Kg8 42.Rg3+ Bg4+ 43.Rxg4+ Rg6 44.Rxg6+ fxg6 45.Qxg6+ Kf8 46.Bd6+ Re7 47.Qf5+ 0?-0?
3) Gary Kasparov
Garry Kasparov may no longer be playing chess but he is hardly retired. The former World Champion is gearing up to run in the Russian Presidential elections this fall, was recently on the news program 60 Minutes, has a new book out, How Life Imitates Chess ( written with Michael (Mig) Greengard) who grew up in the Bay Area) and a East Coast book tour planned for late October. The latest issue of the New Yorker has a 12-page article on G.K. by the respected writer David Remnick that is worth checking out.
4) US Players Title Norm Request by Ernie Schlich
The following comes from Ernie Schlich who processes many of the norm applications for the USCF.

I have problems in submitting complete title applications to FIDE for our players and need your help.

I would like to see something both on our website and in Chess Life telling our players to immediately submit any outstanding norm certificates to the office. This is important as first, FIDE had mandated that old norms be submitted by the end of '05. They are very nicely continuing to accept the old norms, but I have no hope that they may continue. The main problem we have it verifying that the old certificates meet the FIDE regulations at the time of the event and finding the supporting data. We need a complete crosstable with correct FIDE information and preferably some sort of public document that supports the submitted information would also be great.

It would also be a good idea to have a place on our website where we can list the norms we have for our players so they can see if we have them. We also need to inform our players that if they get norms from foreign events, they have to let us know and send a copy so we can follow up with the organizers to get the properly signed federation copy of the certificates.

The second important point is we now get them along with a request to submit the title application when time is short and everyone wants the norms submitted in time for the next PB meeting. This often does not give us much time if any for the necessary research. Your assistance in getting this request to our players attention will be greatly appreciated.

Regards, Ernie
5) Here and Threre
MI Members IMs Josh Friedel and David Pruess played in The Miami Chess Open held September 26-30 and won by GM Hikaru Nakamura on tiebreak. David just finished out of the 8-way tie for first with 6 points while Josh had 5.5.

October Rating List

FIDE has published a new rating list.
The new World Champion Vishy Anand fortified his position at the top—he crossed the 2800 barrier.
Top 20 (name/country/year of birth/rating/number of rated games):
1. Anand IND 1969 2801 21
2. Ivanchuk UKR 1969 2787 20
3. Kramnik RUS 1975 2785 21
4. Topalov BUL 1975 2769 0
5. Leko HUN 1979 2755 21
6. Morozevich RUS 1977 2755 19
7. Mamedyarov AZE 1985 2752 11
8. Radjabov AZE 1987 2742 9
9. Aronian ARM 1982 2741 14
10. Shirov ESP 1972 2739 11
11. Gelfand ISR 1968 2736 21
12. Svidler RUS 1976 2732 25
13. Adams ENG 1971 2729 16
14. Kamsky USA 1974 2724 9
15. Alekseev RUS 1985 2716 17
16. Grischuk RUS 1983 2715 23
17. Carlsen NOR 1990 2714 25
18. Akopian ARM 1971 2713 5
19. Jakovenko RUS 1983 2710 23
20. J. Polgar HUN 1976 2708 9

Women, Top 10:
1. J. Polgar HUN 1976 2708 9
2. Koneru IND 1987 2606 27
3. P. Cramling SWE 1963 2531 20
4. Zhu Chen QAT 1976 2531 9
5. Zhao Xue CHN 1985 2530 36
6. Kosteniuk RUS 1984 2515 0
7. Sebag FRA 1986 2509 12
8. Hou Yifan CHN 1994 2502 19
9. Chiburdanidze GEO 1961 2500 10
10. T. Kosintseva RUS 1986 2492 10

Bay Area Top Players (active):
1. GM Alex Yermolinsky 2512
2. GM-elect Vinay Bhat 2483
3. IM Josh Friedel 2477
4. GM Walter Browne 2440
5. IM John Donaldson 2420
6. IM Dmitry Zilberstein 2418
7. IM David Pruess 2417
8. IM Alan Stein 2405
9-10. IMs Vladimir Mezentsev and Ricardo DeGuzman 2398

Bay Area Top Women:
1. WGM Kamile Baginskaite 2309
2. WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs 2278

Michael Aigner writes: New local FIDE rated players include Gregory Young (2194), Batsaikhan Tserendorj (2021), Louiza Livschitz (2005), and David Chock (1999). Of the local juniors over 2000 USCF, I believe that only Nip, Agarwal and Zavortink lack FIDE ratings.

The recently concluded World Senior Championship in Gmunden, Austria, was won by IM Algimantas Butnorus with 9 from 11 in a field of 233 players. The top scoring American was Jude Acers of New Orleans at 7 followed by GM Anatoly Lein on 6.5, NM Edward Zelkind had 6 as did Leonid Bondar, Dan Mayers (possibly the oldest competitor in the event in his late 80s) and NM Carl Wagner had 5.5. WIM Esther Epstein had 6 points in the womens competition won by Hanna Erenska-Barlo of Poland. Men had to be over 60 and women over 50 to be eligible.

Jude had a fine result (2289 FIDE performance rating) in what was probably his first tournament with a slow time control since the 1970s. For more on Jude here is a recent e-mail from Rusty Miller:

Some of you might not have read the article Casey Bush wrote about his visit with Jude Acers in New Orleans. Casey mixes in some from the Oxford American Magazine article about Jude from the March/April 2000 issue which one can purchase online, find via a Google search "Oxford American Jude Acers." http://www.nwchess.com/articles/dinner_with_Acers.htm
Newsletter #366, 10/15/2007
"He looks like a tramp. He dresses badly and is not too clean. He doesn't know how to eat properly what's in front of him. He speaks only about chess, as if it is the most important thing in the world, and he talks about the game even with nonplayers who can't follow what he's saying. They think he's a madman. If you spend a couple of days with Murey, you forget that anything else exists in the world besides chess - it's a wonderful feeling. It is important to meet such people because then you realize how rich and deep the game really is."
~Joel Lautier
Lautier discusses fellow GM Jacob Murey in Paul Hoffman's King's Gambit (pages 127-28).
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Young Masters by Michael Aigner
3) Tal at the Mechanics' in 1991
4) A poem by Dennis Fritzinger
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
Boston 2.5 vs San Francisco 1.5
1. GM Larry Christiansen (BOS) vs GM Patrick Wolff (SF) 1-0
2. IM Vinay Bhat (SF) vs FM William Kelleher (BOS) 1-0
3. NM Denys Shmelov (BOS) vs IM John Donaldson (SF) 1/2-1/2
4. Gregory Young (SF) vs NM Chris Williams (BOS) 0-1

Notes to boards one and two come from GM-elect Vinay Bhat's commentary at the team's blog.

On board 1, we had a match-up of two players with a combined haul of 5 US Championships. I don't know what the opening line is about, but Black seemed to get a decent position. With 14...d5, Black has probably equalized - if 15.exd5, Black can play the simple 15...Nxd5 16.Nxd5 Rxd5 17.Rxd5 exd5 with a comfortable position, or mix things up with 15...Nb4.

It was around move 17 that Patrick said he began to lose the thread. 17...b5!? doesn't really help his position that much, and instead the immediate 17...Qe5 looks much more to the point. The real problem was that Black's moves didn't fit together very well at this point in the game. Larry offered a pawn with 20.g3 that was probably better left untouched, but once that pawn was taken, Larry was off to the races. 23.e5 and 27.Nd5! especially signaled the end, and he finished it off in style.

With that game in the books, we were down 2-0 ...
Christiansen,Larry (2669) - Wolff,Patrick (2623) [B63]
USCL Boston vs San Francisco (6) 2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 Be7 8.0-0-0 0-0 9.Nb3 Qb6 10.f3 Rd8 11.Qe1 a6 12.h4 Qc7 13.h5 h6 14.Be3 d5 15.Kb1 dxe4 16.Rxd8+ Bxd8 17.fxe4 b5 18.Bd3 Qe5 19.Qe2 Be7 20.g3 Qxg3 21.Rg1 Qh3 22.Bxh6 Nxh5 23.e5 Bb7 24.Qe4 Kf8 25.Qh7 Ke8 26.Bxg7 Kd7 27.Nd5 Rd8 28.Nf6+ Kc8 29.Qxh5 Qe3 30.Rc1 Nxe5 31.Bh6 Qg3 32.Ne4 Bxe4 33.Bxe4 f5 34.Bxf5 exf5 35.Qxf5+ Nd7 36.Bf4 Qf3 37.Nd4 Qb7 38.c4 1-0 Preparing for this game was a little tough, as I didn't have much to go on. As it was, I ended up facing a line that I normally only see from the black side. This was a little uncomfortable at first, as I've only played this line of the Meran (with the old 8...a6) with black, and I've generally been quite happy with my positions. In any case, 11...Ng4 was a small surprise, as it's not as popular as 11...axb5, but seems to have been scoring quite well in recent years. However, the opening turned out well for me (16...Bd5 appears to be the main theoretical move, as played by Ivanchuk) although I made a serious mistake after that. 19.Qg3 was based on a miscalculation, as I thought I could prepare to develop with c1-bishop and had guarded the e5-pawn indirectly. The line I was looking at was: 19...Nxe5 20.Qxe5 Rxd3 21.Nxc5 Rd5 22.Na4 Qb4 23.Qc7 Rc8 24.a3! (not 24.Qb6 Rb5) Qb3 25.Qb6 Rb5 26.Qd4! (the key point behind 24.a3), when 26...Rc8 is met by 27.Qd8#!. With this in mind, I happily continued with my plan of Qf4-g3, but then Kelleher played 19...Nxe5 anyways! At first I was quite happy, as I thought he maybe missed this a3 idea, but then I figured something was up and took another look - after 22.Na4 in the above line, 22...Qc6! is the plan, as then 23.Qe4 f5 and White can't hang on to everything, with a4 and g2 both needing constant attention. So I had just given up my extra pawn and had worse development to boot. Luckily for me, Black's pieces were for the most part on good squares but had nowhere to really go as an upgrade. I became progressively happier with my position, and after 29...Rd2, it's essentially over for Black. So we were now on the board, the only problem was that we only had one chance left to even up the score.
Bhat,Vinay (2465) - Kelleher,William (2392) [D49]
USCL San Francisco vs Boston (6), 2007
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 a6 9.e4 c5 10.e5 cxd4 11.Nxb5 Ng4 12.Qa4 Bb7 13.Nbxd4 Qb6 14.0-0 Bc5 15.h3 Bxf3 16.hxg4 Bb7 17.Nb3 0-0 18.Qf4 Rfd8 19.Qg3 Nxe5 20.Nxc5 Qxc5 21.Be2 Qd5 22.Bg5 f6 23.Be3 Rac8 24.Bb6 Rd6 25.Rad1 Qc6 26.Bd4 Rcd8 27.Bxe5 Rxd1 28.Bxd1 fxe5 29.Bb3 Rd2 30.Re1 e4 31.Qb8+ Bc8 32.Qf4 Rxb2 33.Rc1 Qd7 34.Qb8 Black resigns 1-0
Shmelov,Denys - Donaldson,John [D19]
Boston-SF USCL (6), 2007
Notes by John Donaldson 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 0-0 9.Qe2 Nbd7 10.e4 Bg6 11.Bd3 Bh5 Smyslov's idea. Black threatens ..e5 to induce White to play e5. 12.Bf4 The immediate 12.e5 is also possible. 12...Qe7 Another idea to resume the plan of ..e5 is 12...Re8. Then 13.e5 Nd5 14.Nxd5 exd5, intending ...Nd7-f8-e6 is interesting. The text connects Black's Rooks which allows him to quickly contest the c-file. 13.e5 Nd5 14.Nxd5 cxd5 15.Rfc1 15.Qe3 Rfc8 (15...Bg6 16.Bg5 Qe8 17.Bxg6 fxg6 18.Rfc1 h6 19.Qb3 a5 20.Be3 Nb6 21.Qd1 Nc4 offered equal chances in Ivanchuk-Motylev, Moscow 2002) 16.a5 a6 17.Ra4 Bg6 18.Bxg6 fxg6 19.Qb3 Rc4 20.Bg5 Qf8 21.Bd2 Bxd2 22.Rxc4 dxc4 23.Qxb7 Bxa5 24.Qxd7 Qe8 25.Qxe8+ Rxe8 26.Ra1 Rb8 27.Kf1 Rb5 28.Ng5 Bd2 29.Nxe6 Rxb2 30.Rxa6 c3 31.Ke2 Bh6+ 32.Kd3 c2 33.Ra8+ Kf7 34.Ra7+ Kxe6 35.Ke4 Rb4 0-1 Geller-Furman, Gorky 1954 - the pioneering game for this line. 15...Rfc8 16.Qe3 a6 16...Bg6 17.Bf1 Qd8 18.Qe2 a6 19.Bd2 Be7 20.Ne1 Rxc1 21.Rxc1 Nb8 22.Bc3 Nc6 23.Qd2 Rc8 saw Black getting his characteristic counterplay in Lugovoi-Kobalija, Moscow 1999. 17.Ng5 17.Bg5 Qf8 ½-½ Shulman -Donaldson,Stillwater 2001. 17...Bg6 18.Bxg6 fxg6 Black always captures this way in this variation to have breathing room on the kingside and to be able to evict the Knight with ...h6, but here 18...hxg6 was not out of the question as White doesn't have an attack. 19.Qh3 Nf8 20.Qb3 h6 21.Nf3 Nd7 21...g5!? intending ...a5, ...Qd7 and Ng6-e7-f5 was suggested afterwards by Vinay as a way to liven the play. 22.a5 On 22.Rc2, trying to grab the c-line, Black has Nb6 23.Bd2 Bxd2 24.Nxd2 Rxc2 25.Qxc2 Kh7 26.a5 Rc8 27.Qb3 Nc4. 22...Rxc1+ 23.Rxc1 Rf8 24.Bd2 Bxd2 Unfortunately Black's Knight is grossly out of play after 24...Rxf3?? 25.Qxb4 ( or 25.Bxb4 Rxb3 26.Bxe7 Rxb2 27.h4 Kf7 28.Bd6) 25...Qxb4 26.Bxb4 Rb3 27.Rc8+ Kf7 28.Ba3. 25.Nxd2 The position is equal. Black's weaknesses at e6 and b7 are counterbalanced by Whites at a5 and d4. Desperate maneuvering by Black the next twenty moves is caused by the need to win to equalize the score in the match. 25... Nb8 26.Qc3 Nc6 27.Nb3 Kh7 28.Rc2 Qh4 29.Qe3 Qg4 30.Rd2 Rc8 31.h3 Qf5 32.Qc3 Qb1+ 33.Kh2 Qe1 34.Rc2 Qe4 35.Rd2 Qf4+ 36.g3 Qf7 37.Nc5 Na7 38.Qd3 Nc6 39.Qc3 Na7 40.Qd3 Nb5 41.Kg2 Qe7 42.Rc2 Qf7 43.Rd2 Rc7 44.Rc2 Na7 45.b4 Nc6 46.Rb2 Na7 47.Rc2 Nc6 ½-½
Young,Gregory (2127) - Williams,Chris (2241) [B42]
USCL Boston vs San Francisco Internet Chess Club (6), 03.10.2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.Qe2 d6 7.c4 Nbd7 8.Nc3 Be7 9.0-0 Qc7 10.f4 b6 11.Kh1 Bb7 12.b3 h5 13.Bb2 h4 14.Rae1 Nh5 15.Nd5! Qd8 Played after a long thought. Capturing on d5 would be suicidal. 16.e5?? 16.Nxe7 Qxe7 17.Kg1! takes away Black's one threat and leaves White with a crushing position. 16...dxe5 17.Nxe6 Ng3+ 18.hxg3 hxg3+ 19.Kg1 Bc5+ 20.Nxc5 Rh1+ 21.Kxh1 Qh4+ 22.Kg1 Qh2#
2) Young Masters by Michael Aigner
The list of kids who achieved the title of USCF master before their 12th birthday is fairly short. Pending the rating of the Tuesday Night Marathon, this list will have the new name of Daniel Naroditsky (note - he came in at 2202). He joins two other local kids, Jordy and Vinay, who became masters at age 10 in the mid 1990s.

Stuart Rachels, 11 years
Marc Tyler Arnold, 11 years
Parker Zhao, 11 years
Ray Robson, 11 years
Jordy Mont-Reynaud, 10 years 209 days
Vinay Bhat, 10 years, 176 days
Fabiano Caruana, 10 years ?? days
Hikaru Nakamura, 10 years 79 days

The list includes two current Grandmasters (Nakamura and Caruana), one GM-elect (Bhat) and one IM (Rachels). Robson will undoubtedly become an IM by the end of next year, probably sooner. Obviously, the sky is the limit for Daniel Naroditsky's future chess achievements!

Mike Nolan also supplied a list of all USCF members who became a rated expert (2000+) before their 10th birthday. This list is also pretty exclusive: Brian Luo, Fabiano Caruana, Nicholas Nip, Marc Tyler Arnold, Hikaru Nakamura, Darwin Yang, Ray Robson and Vinay Bhat (in order of youngest to oldest).

The question now is when will Nicholas Nip break 2200? By my count, Nicholas has about 7 months to become America's first 9 year old master and over 9 months to break Nakamura's record. Can he do it? Stay tuned! (note - Nicholas is now around 2100)

John Donaldson adds the following. The above names are primarily drawn from post 1990 as the computerized USCF ratings only go back to mid 1991. The period between 1982 and 1990 is a blank. For February 1982 and before we have the following article. Note that while a good start it does not appear to be complete. One significant omission is Larry Christiansen and another Yasser Seirawan.

The cover of the February 1982 issue of Chess Life is titled America's Youngest Master and features John Jarecki 12 years, 6 months and Stuart Rachels 11 years, ten months.

The 4 page article lists the following other young masters:
August 1956 Robert Fischer (13 years, 5 months)
July 1977 Joel Benjamin (13 years, 3 months)
November 1979 John Litvinchuk (12 years, 7 months)
July 1981 John Jarecki (12 years, 6 months)
August 1981 Stuart Rachels (11 years, ten months)

Other young masters:
October 1964 Walter Browne (15 years)
November 1967 Ken Rogoff (14 years, 8 months)
July 1972 Peter Winston (14 years, 8 months)
July 1973 Kenneth Regan (13 years, 9 months)
February 1976 Michael Wilder (13 years, 6 months)
3) Tal at the Mechanics' in 1991
The legendary Mikhail Tal was a participant in the 1991 Pan Pacific Grandmaster tournament organized by the Mechanic's Institute. The playing site was the Holiday Inn in Chinatown, with one exception. Tal arrived late and missed some early rounds and played his game ( his only loss) with Patrick Wolff at the MI. Tal also played in a big blitz tournament at the Institute held on March 15. There were prelims and finals. Tal scored 15.5 from 17 to win his section ahead of Paul Whitehead (15 points) who got the second spot for the finals ahead of GMs Utut Adianto and Rosendo Balinas. Tal lost to Greg Kotliar and drew Joe Tracey, two of a handful of games that are missing. Whitehead proved to be the difference in the 4-player final as he took one vital half point from Tal while the latter split with Walter Browne. Final scores: 1. Browne 5 2. Tal 4.5 3. Whitehead 1.5 4. Lobo 1.

You can find crosstables, a selection of games and a fine story on the event by Alan Benson in the April-June 1991 issue of Blitz Chess.

Below are a selection of games that were kindly provided by John Blackstone who entered them into ChessBase. Note one game, versus Caruso, was not published in the Blitz Chess article. Another game which was not in the article, Frankle-Tal, is in CalBase at http://www.chessdryad.com/.

Note the following games are missing. Do any readers have leads? All are from the prelims - his loss to Kotliar, draw with Tracey, wins against Newey, Sheridan, Kastor, Rosenberg and Whitehead.

The following may only be blitz games but they are Tal's blitz games! How often would you see Tal faced the Blackmar-Diemer or essaying the Falkbeer or Winawer Counter gambits?

Balinas,Rosendo Carrean - Tal,Mikhail Nekhemievic [B54]
San Francisco "B" Pan Pacific San Francisco, CA, 1991 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Bd3 g6 6.c4 Nc6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.Nc3 Bg7 9.0-0 0-0 10.c5 d5 11.Bg5 Be6 12.Rc1 dxe4 13.Nxe4 Nd5 14.Qd2 Qc7 15.Bh6 Rad8 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Ng5 Bc8 18.Rc4 h6 19.Nf3 e5 20.Rh4 Nf4 21.Nxe5 Qxe5 22.Rxf4 Rxd3 23.Rxf7+ Rxf7 24.Qxd3 Qxc5 25.h3 Bf5 26.Qd2 Rd7 27.Qf4 Qd4 28.Qxd4+ Rxd4 29.Rc1 Be4 30.f3 Bd5 31.Rc5 Rd1+ 32.Kh2 Rd2 33.Kg3 Rxb2 34.a4 Kf6 35.Ra5 Rb7 36.Kf4 g5+ 37.Ke3 Ke5 38.Kf2 Kd4 39.Kg3 c5 40.h4 c4 41.hxg5 hxg5 42.Kf2 c3 43.Ke2 Re7+ 0-1 Christopher,R - Tal,Mikhail Nekhemievic [B21]
San Francisco "B" Pan Pacific San Francisco, CA, 1991 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 Nf6 4.c4 e6 5.dxe6 Bxe6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Nc3 Bd6 8.d3 Qd7 9.Be2 Bf5 10.0-0 0-0 11.h3 Rfe8 12.Kh1 Nh5 13.Kg1 Nxf4 14.Bxf4 Bxf4 15.a3 Bxh3 16.Nh4 Be3+ 17.Kh2 Be6 18.Bf3 Ne5 19.Be4 Ng4+ 20.Kg3 Qd6+ 21.Kf3 Qf4+ 22.Ke2 Nf2 23.Qe1 Bg4+ 24.Nf3 Nxe4 25.Nxe4 f5 26.Kd1 fxe4 27.dxe4 Qxe4 28.Qg3 Rad8+ 29.Ke2 Bf2+ 30.Kxf2 Qe3# 0-1 Creed,J - Tal,Mikhail Nekhemievic [D00]
San Francisco "B" Pan Pacific San Francisco, CA, 1991 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.f3 Nc6 5.d5 Ne5 6.fxe4 e6 7.dxe6 Qxd1+ 8.Kxd1 Bxe6 9.Nf3 0-0-0+ 10.Bd2 Neg4 11.Ke1 Bc5 12.Bd3 Nf2 13.Rf1 Nxd3+ 14.cxd3 Rxd3 15.Ke2 Bc4 16.b3 Ba6 17.Ke1 Re8 18.e5 Ng4 19.Ne4 Nxe5 20.Rc1 Nxf3+ 21.gxf3 Rxf3 22.Rxf3 Rxe4+ 23.Be3 Bxe3 24.Rc3 Bd4+ 25.Kd2 Bxc3+ 26.Kxc3 0-1 Tal,Mikhail Nekhemievic - Adianto,Utut [B10]
San Francisco "B" Pan Pacific San Francisco, CA, 1991 1.e4 c6 2.c4 e5 3.Nf3 d6 4.d4 Bg4 5.Be2 Bxf3 6.Bxf3 Be7 7.Nc3 Bf6 8.Be3 Nd7 9.Qd2 exd4 10.Bxd4 Ne5 11.Be2 c5 12.Be3 Ne7 13.0-0 N5c6 14.Rad1 0-0 15.Nb5 a6 16.Nxd6 Bd4 17.Bf4 Ng6 18.Bg3 Nce5 19.Nf5 Nc6 20.Kh1 Re8 21.Qc2 Qb6 22.b3 Rad8 23.f4 f6 24.Bf3 Nge7 25.Nxe7+ Rxe7 26.e5 fxe5 27.Bh4 exf4 28.Bxc6 Qxc6 29.Bxe7 Re8 30.Bg5 1-0 Tal,Mikhail Nekhemievic - Caruso,A [B30]
San Francisco "B" Pan Pacific San Francisco, CA, 1991 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 d6 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 e6 6.Nc3 Be7 7.Bd3 Nf6 8.Qe2 0-0 9.e5 dxe5 10.dxe5 Nd5 11.0-0 Nxc3 12.bxc3 Qc7 13.h4 Bc5 14.Bf4 Ne7 15.Bxh7+ Kh8 16.Bc2 Nf5 17.Ng5 g6 18.h5 Kg7 19.g4 Nh6 20.hxg6 fxg6 21.Qe4 1-0 Tal,Mikhail Nekhemievic - Dorsch,Thomas [C03]
San Francisco "B" Pan Pacific San Francisco, CA, 1991 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 f5 4.exf5 exf5 5.Ndf3 Nf6 6.Ne5 Bd6 7.Ngf3 0-0 8.Bd3 c5 9.c3 Nc6 10.0-0 cxd4 11.cxd4 Ne4 12.Bf4 Qb6 13.Nxc6 Qxc6 14.Rc1 Qb6 15.Bxd6 Qxd6 16.Qb3 Be6 17.Rc2 b6 18.Rfc1 Rac8 19.Ne5 Nd2 20.Qa4 Nc4 21.Nxc4 dxc4 22.Bxc4 Rcd8 23.Bxe6+ Qxe6 24.h3 f4 25.Qc4 Rd5 26.Re2 Qd7 27.Re5 Rd8 28.Rce1 f3 29.gxf3 Kf8 30.Rxd5 Qxd5 31.Qxd5 Rxd5 32.Re4 Kf7 33.Kf1 Rb5 34.b3 a5 1-0 Tal,Mikhail Nekhemievic - Webber,B [B30]
San Francisco "B" Pan Pacific San Francisco, CA, 15.03.1991 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.e5 Nxb5 6.Nxb5 Nd5 7.Ng5 f6 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qf3 Nb4 10.exf6 exf6 11.0-0 Be7 12.c3 Nc6 13.Ne4 d5 14.Ng3 0-0 15.d3 a6 16.Na3 Ne5 17.Qe2 d4 18.f4 Nc6 19.f5 Re8 20.Bf4 Bd7 21.Rae1 Bf8 22.Qf3 b5 23.Qd5+ Kg7 24.fxg6 hxg6 25.Nh5+ gxh5 26.Qxh5 1-0 Browne,Walter Shawne - Tal,Mikhail Nekhemievic [D10]
San Francisco fin Pan Pacific San Francisco, CA, 1991 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e5 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.e4 dxe4 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.dxe5 Nc6 8.Qd5 Qe7 9.Bf4 g5 10.Bg3 Bg7 11.Qxe4 Nxe5 12.Nd5 f5 13.Qe2 Qd6 14.Nf3 f4 15.Nxf4 gxf4 16.Bxd7+ Kxd7 17.Rd1 Nxf3+ 18.Qxf3 Re8+ 19.Kf1 Bd4 20.Bxf4 Qa6+ 21.Kg1 Ne7 22.Rxd4+ 1-0 Lobo,Richard - Tal,Mikhail Nekhemievic [E81]
San Francisco fin Pan Pacific San Francisco, CA, 1991 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0-0 5.Be3 d6 6.f3 Nbd7 7.Qd2 c5 8.Nge2 a6 9.d5 b5 10.cxb5 Rb8 11.a4 Qa5 12.Nc1 axb5 13.Nxb5 Qxd2+ 14.Bxd2 Ba6 15.Bc3 Nb6 16.b3 Nfd7 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.Na2 Rfc8 19.Nac3 c4 20.a5 Na8 21.bxc4 Ne5 22.Ra4 Nc7 23.Kd2 Nd7 24.Na7 Nc5 25.Ra2 Re8 26.Nc6 Rb3 27.Kc2 Rb7 28.Be2 e6 29.Rb1 exd5 30.cxd5 Rxb1 31.Kxb1 f5 32.Bxa6 N7xa6 33.exf5 Re1+ 34.Kc2 gxf5 35.Rb2 0-1 Tal,Mikhail Nekhemievic - Browne,Walter Shawne [B90]
San Francisco fin Pan Pacific San Francisco, CA, 1991 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3 Qc7 8.a4 Be7 9.Bg5 Nbd7 10.Nd2 b6 11.Bc4 Bb7 12.Qe2 h6 13.Bh4 g5 14.Bg3 Nf8 15.h4 Rg8 16.hxg5 hxg5 17.Nf1 Ne6 18.Ne3 Qc5 19.Bd5 Nd4 20.Qd3 Bxd5 21.Ncxd5 Nxd5 22.exd5 f5 23.c3 Nb3 24.Nxf5 Nxa1 25.Nxe7 Rg7 26.Rh8+ Kxe7 27.Rxa8 Nb3 28.Ra7+ Kf6 29.Qf3+ Kg6 30.Qe4+ Kf6 31.Ra8 Rf7 32.Rg8 Ke7 33.Rxg5 b5 34.Rg8 Qc4 35.Bh4+ Kd7 36.Qxc4 bxc4 37.Ra8 Nc5 38.Ra7+ Ke8 39.Rxf7 Kxf7 40.a5 Nb3 1-0 Tal,Mikhail Nekhemievic - Lobo,Richard [B66]
San Francisco fin Pan Pacific San Francisco, CA, 1991 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 h6 9.Be3 Be7 10.f4 Qc7 11.Be2 Bd7 12.Bf3 Rc8 13.Nxc6 Bxc6 14.g4 b5 15.Qg2 b4 16.Ne2 e5 17.Ng3 g6 18.g5 hxg5 19.fxg5 Nd7 20.h4 Nf8 21.h5 Rg8 22.hxg6 fxg6 23.Bg4 Bd7 24.Bxd7+ Qxd7 25.Rdf1 Ne6 26.Rh7 Nf8 27.Rhf7 Qe6 28.Kb1 Qxf7 29.Rxf7 Kxf7 30.Qf1+ Kg7 31.Qxa6 Ne6 32.Qb7 Rc7 33.Qxb4 Nf4 34.a4 Rh8 35.Bb6 Rcc8 36.Qb5 Kf7 37.a5 Rh3 38.Qd7 Ra8 39.Qb7 Rah8 40.a6 Rxg3 41.a7 Rxg5 42.Bc7 Rg1+ 43.Ka2 g5 44.Bxd6 1-0 Tal,Mikhail Nekhemievic - Whitehead,Paul [B80]
San Francisco fin Pan Pacific San Francisco, CA, 1991 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 e6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 a6 6.g3 d6 7.Bg2 Bd7 8.0-0 Nf6 9.Re1 Be7 10.a4 0-0 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.a5 d5 13.Be3 Rb8 14.Bb6 Qc8 15.Qd3 Bb4 16.Red1 Ng4 17.exd5 exd5 18.Qd4 Be7 19.Re1 Bf6 20.Qf4 Re8 21.Rxe8+ Qxe8 22.h3 Ne5 23.Na4 Nc4 24.Bd4 Bxd4 25.Qxd4 Nxa5 26.Nc5 Nc4 27.b3 Nd6 28.Rxa6 Nf5 29.Qf4 Rc8 30.Ra7 Qe1+ 31.Kh2 Be6 32.g4 1-0
4) A poem by Dennis Fritzinger
Newsletter #367, 10/22/2007
"The loss of my childhood was the price of becoming world champion in history. When you have to fight every day from a young age, your soul could become contaminated. I lost my childhood. I never really had it. Today I have to be careful not to become cruel, because I became a soldier too early."
~Garry Kasparov
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Serper Wins Western States Open
3) Americans Abroad
4) Berkeley Chess Club
5) Dennis Fritzinger Poem
6) Highest and Lowest Rated States
7) Tal at the 1988 Software Toolworks Open
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
Next Tuesday night, October 23, will be the start of the Fall Tuesday night Marathon. The nine round event ends December 18.

The San Francisco Mechanics' split their matches in weeks seven and eight in the US Chess League and remain in the hunt for the playoffs in the US Chess League. Vinay Bhat won against IM Lev Milman of Carolina. This makes Vinay 5-0 this year and an undefeated 11 out of 13 over three seasons! Vinay started the season the highest rating in the USCL (2729) and he has definitely improved on it.

Local high school student Sam Shankland, who was an all-star in the US Chess League last year on board 4 has given the Mechanics' two keys wins this season and improved his lifetime record in the USCL to 7.5 from 9 for a performance in the neighborhood of 2400. His win against Craig Jones was very nice and should be a contender for the best game of the week with its interesting opening novelty and crisp tactics.

Don't miss Dmitry Zilberstein's slugfest with fellow IM Marcel Martinez from week seven. Marcel sacs the house for mate but Dima comes up with 24...Nf3+!, 28...e3! and 30...Rb3! and Marcel has to bail out with a perpetual. Nice defense!

Next Monday night the MI squares off with Seattle in a key match for the playoffs.
Week 8
Carolina 1 vs San Francisco 3
1. IM Lev Milman (CAR) vs IM Vinay Bhat (SF) 0-1
2. IM David Pruess (SF) vs IM Jonathan Schroer (CAR) 1/2-1/2
3. FM Oleg Zaikov vs IM John Donaldson (SF) 1/2-1/2
4. NM Sam Shankland (SF) vs NM Craig Jones (CAR) 1-0
Milman,Lev (2531) - Bhat,Vinay (2465) [C96]
USCL Carolina vs San Francisco Internet Chess Club (8), 17.10.2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7 12.Nbd2 exd4 13.cxd4 Nc6 14.d5 Nce5 15.a4 Rb8 16.axb5 axb5 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.f4 Ng6 19.Nf3 Bh4 20.Rf1 Bg3 21.f5 Ne5 22.Ng5 Nd7 23.Nxh7 Kxh7 24.f6 g6 25.Qd2 Kg8 26.Qh6 Nxf6 27.Bg5 Be5 28.Ra3 c4 29.Kh1 Rb7 30.Raf3 Ng4 31.hxg4 f6 32.Bh4 g5 33.Rh3 Rh7 34.Qg6+ Rg7 35.Qh6 Bxg4 36.Be1 Bxh3 37.gxh3 Qe8 0-1
Pruess,David (2448) - Schroer,Jonathan (2449) [C92]
USCL Carolina vs San Francisco Internet Chess Club (8), 17.10.2007
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 d6 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.a4 h6 12.Qd3 exd4 13.axb5 axb5 14.Rxa8 Qxa8 15.cxd4 Nb4 16.Qxb5 Bxe4 17.Qxb4 Bxb1 18.Qc4 d5 19.Qxc7 Be4 20.Ne5 Qc8 21.Qxc8 Rxc8 22.Bd2 Rb8 23.Re3 Bd6 24.f4 Bb4 25.Bc3 Bxc3 26.Rxc3 Ra8 27.Rc1 Rb8 28.Rc3 Ra8 29.Rc1 Nh5 30.Rf1 Ng3 31.Re1 Rb8 32.Re3 Nf5 33.Nc6 Nxe3 34.Nxb8 Nxg2 35.Kf2 Nxf4 36.Ke3 g5 37.Nc6 h5 38.Bd1 Kf8 39.b4 Bf5 40.b5 Bxh3 41.b6 Bc8 42.Na5 Ke7 43.b7 Bxb7 44.Nxb7 f5 45.Nc5 h4 46.Bf3 h3 47.Bh1 Kd6 48.Nb7+ Ke7 49.Kf3 Ne6 50.Kg3 Nxd4 51.Kxh3 Ne6 52.Kg3 Nf4 53.Kf3 Kd7 54.Ke3 Kc7 55.Nc5 Kd6 56.Nb3 Ne6 57.Nd4 f4+ 58.Kd3 Nc5+ 59.Ke2 g4 60.Nf5+ Ke5 61.Nh6 g3 62.Ng4+ Kf5 63.Nh6+ Kg6 64.Kf3 Kxh6 65.Kxf4 Ne4 66.Bxe4 dxe4 67.Kxg3 Kg5 68.Kf2 Kf4 69.Ke2 e3 70.Ke1 Kf3 71.Kf1 e2+ 72.Ke1 Ke3 ½-½
Zaikov,Oleg (2369) - Donaldson,John (2458) [D11]
USCL Carolina vs San Francisco Internet Chess Club (8), 17.10.2007
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 5.Qb3 Qb6 6.Ne5 Bf5 7.cxd5 Qxb3 8.axb3 cxd5 9.b4 e6 10.b5 Nbd7 11.Nxd7 Kxd7 12.Nc3 Ne4 13.Nxe4 Bxe4 14.Bd2 Bd6 15.Bc3 Bc2 16.Kd2 Bb3 17.Bd3 Rhc8 18.Ra5 b6 19.Ra6 Kc7 20.h4 h5 21.Rg1 Kb7 ½-½
Shankland,Sam (2211) - Jones,Craig (2323) [C11]
USCL Carolina vs San Francisco Internet Chess Club (8), 17.10.2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 a6 11.Nb3 b6 12.Na4 Bxe3 13.Qxe3 Qc7 14.Bd3 b5 15.Nac5 Na5 16.Kb1 Nc4 17.Qh3 g6 18.Nxd7 Bxd7 19.Qh6 Rfc8 20.h4 Qd8 21.h5 Qf8 22.hxg6 Qxh6 23.Rxh6 hxg6 24.Rdh1 Kf8 25.Bxg6 Be8 26.Rh8+ Ke7 27.R1h7 Ne3 28.Nd4 Nxg2 29.Rxe8+ Rxe8 30.Bxf7 Kf8 31.Nxe6+ Ke7 32.Bxe8+ Kxe6 33.Bd71-0
Week 7
San Francisco Mechanics 1.5 vs Miami Sharks 2.5
1. IM Josh Friedel (SF) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 0-1
2. FM Marcel Martinez (MIA) vs IM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF) 1/2-1/2
3. IM David Pruess (SF) vs NM Miguel Espino (MIA) 1-0
4. NM Eric Rodriguez (MIA) vs Daniel Naroditsky (SF) 1-0
Friedel,Josh (2543) - Becerra,Julio (2634) [C96]
USCL San Francisco vs Miami Internet Chess Club (7), 10.10.2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7 12.Nbd2 exd4 13.cxd4 Nc6 14.d5 Nce5 15.Nxe5 Nxe5 16.f4 Ng6 17.Nf3 f5 18.e5 dxe5 19.fxe5 Bb7 20.d6 Bh4 21.Re2 Bg3 22.b4 Bxf3 23.gxf3 Qh4 24.Bxf5 Bxe5 25.Bxg6 Bxa1 26.Be4 Qg3+ 27.Kh1 Rad8 28.bxc5 Be5 29.Qf1 Bd4 30.Be3 Bxe3 31.Rxe3 Kh8 32.Re2 b4 33.Qe1 Qf4 34.Kg2 Qg5+ 35.Qg3 Qxc5 36.Rd2 Qe3 37.Rc2 Qh6 38.Rc6 Rf6 39.Qe5 Rfxd6 40.Qe7 Qd2+ 41.Kg3 Rxc6 0-1
Martinez,Marcel (2462) - Zilberstein,Dmitry (2453) [C78]
USCL San Francisco vs Miami Internet Chess Club (7), 10.10.2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.axb5 axb5 9.c3 d6 10.d4 Bb6 11.Na3 0-0 12.Nxb5 exd4 13.cxd4 Bg4 14.Be3 Nxe4 15.Qc2 Qe8 16.Ba4 Bd7 17.Nc3 Nf6 18.Rfe1 Qd8 19.Qd2 h6 20.Bxh6 gxh6 21.Qxh6 Ng4 22.Qh5 Nxd4 23.Ne4 d5 24.Bxd7 Nxf3+ 25.gxf3 Qxd7 26.fxg4 dxe4 27.Qg5+ Kh7 28.Ra3 e3 29.Raxe3 Bxe3 30.Rxe3 Rb3 31.Qh5+ Kg8 32.Qg5+ Kh7 33.Qh5+ ½-½
Pruess,David (2448) - Espino,Miguel (2307) [B15]
USCL San Francisco vs Miami Internet Chess Club (7), 10.10.2007
1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.Be3 d5 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.e5 Ng4 7.Bf4 f6 8.exf6 exf6 9.Qd2 Qe7+ 10.Be2 f5 11.0-0 0-0 12.Rae1 Nf6 13.Ng5 Ne4 14.Ngxe4 fxe4 15.f3 Qb4 16.Be3 exf3 17.Bxf3 Bf5 18.g4 Bd7 19.a3 Qb6 20.Na4 Qc7 21.Bh6 Na6 22.Bxg7 Kxg7 23.Re7+ Rf7 24.Rxf7+ Kxf7 25.Bxd5+ Ke7 26.Qe3+ 1-0
Rodriguez,Eric (2192) - Naroditsky,Daniel (2170) [E60]
USCL San Francisco vs Miami Internet Chess Club (7), 10.10.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.d5 Na5 8.Qa4 c5 9.Bd2 b6 10.Bc3 a6 11.Nbd2 Bd7 12.Qc2 e5 13.dxe6 fxe6 14.e4 e5 15.Bxa5 bxa5 16.Nb1 Bg4 17.Nc3 Qc8 18.Rad1 Nh5 19.Rd3 Bh3 20.Ne1 Be6 21.b3 Qc7 22.Qd1 Rad8 23.Nc2 Nf6 24.Qd2 Ng4 25.f3 Bh6 26.Qe2 Nf6 27.Rfd1 Rf7 28.Qf1 g5 29.Ne3 g4 30.f4 exf4 31.gxf4 Nh5 32.f5 Bxe3+ 33.Rxe3 Qe7 34.Qe2 Qg5 35.fxe6 Rf3 36.e7 Re8 37.Rxf3 gxf3 38.Qxf3 Rxe7 39.Rf1 1-0
WESTERN DIVISION W
 L
 Game
Points
Opp Avg Rating
 Opps Record  
Dallas @
 6.0 2.0 19.5/32 (61%)
2377
26.5-27.5 (49%)
Seattle 4.5
 3.5
 18.0/32 (56%) 

2371                   
29.5-24.5 (55%)
San Francisco 4.0 4.0 18.0/32 (56%)
2368
 28-26 (52%)
Carolina 3.5 4.5 15.0/32 (47%)
2377
 24.5-29.5 (45%)
Miami 3.0 5.0 14.0/32 (44%)
2361
 24.5-29.5 (45%)
Tennessee 2.0 6.0 11.0/32 (34%)
2369
 24-30 (44%)
(Opponent Record Column only counts match results against other teams.)

@ = clinched Playoff Berth
# = clinched Division Title
Whoever has the most points in the "W" (win) column, is in the lead in the standings.
Total game points + win percentage are used as a tiebreaker. To see the rest of the tiebreak procedures click here.

Playoff Procedures:

* Top three teams from each division qualify for the playoffs. Results are calculated by Total MATCH points.
** The first round of the playoffs will consist of the 2nd+3rd place team from each division playing each other in the "wildcard round". The 2nd place team gets draw odds. The division winners receive a first round bye.
*** The Semi-Finals of the playoffs consists of the wildcard winners facing off against the division champions. The division champions receive draw odds.
**** The League Championship consists of both Semi-Final winners playing each other. There are no draw odds in this match and if tied there will be a tiebreaker.

2007 MVP Standings after Week 8
 Pts.
1. GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 22
2. IM Vinay Bhat (SF)
 19
3. GM Gregory Serper (SEA)
 16
4. SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (BOS)
 14
5. IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) 12
6. NM Denys Shmelov (BOS) 11.5
7. GM Larry Christiansen (BOS) 11
8. IM Jacek Stopa (DAL) 8.5
9. IM John Donaldson (SF) 8.5
10. GM Sergey Kudrin (PHI) 8

Formula for MVP points:

a win on board 1 is worth 4 points, a loss on board 1 is worth -4 points
a win on board 2 is worth 3 points, a loss on board 2 is worth -3 points
a win on board 3 is worth 2.5 points, a loss on board 3 is worth -2.5 points
a win on board 4 is worth 2 points, a loss on board 4 is worth -2 points
if you draw or win with the black pieces you receive 1 bonus point.
2) Serper Wins Western States Open
Seattle GM Gregory Serper won a late night playoff to take the title of 2007 Western States Open in Reno last weekend. Tying with Serper for first at 4.5 from 6 in the open section of the 340-player event organized and directed by a team headed by Jerry and Fran Weikel and Barbara Woodward were GMs Ildar Ibragimov (West Haven, CT , Melik Khachian (Los Angeles), Alex Yermolinsky (Sioux Falls, SD), Alexander Ivanov (Boston) , Sergey Kudrin (Stanford, CT) and IM Enrico Sevillano (Tehachapi, CA). Several MI members did very well. To mention four: young NMs Sam Shankland and Daniel Naroditsky both turned in plus scores in the Open playing up nearly every round , veteran Victor Ossipov was undefeated in sharing second in the Experts section while San Ramon high school student Louiza Livschitz had 4 points playing up a class with the Experts. More details on this event next week.
3) Americans Abroad
One very welcome development at the top level of American chess is the activity of its top three FIDE rated players. Gata Kamsky, Alex Onischuk and Hikaru Nakamura don't have any high level round robins to play in the US but they are seeking out strong competition where they can find it. Gata and Alex both played in the European Club Championship which Gata's club, Linex Magic of Spain, won. Now Hikaru and Gata have strong round robins to play in.

Alexander Baburin's excellent online daily Chess Today offers the details.

Magistral d'Escacs, Barcelona

A Category 15 closed tournament takes place from October, 18th to 26th. The players are Lenier Dominguez (last year's winner with 8 out of 9, 1½ ahead of Ivanchuk), Michal Krasenkow, Vugar Gashimov, Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Beliavsky, Rafael Vaganian, Miguel Illescas, Marc Narciso, Jordi Fluvia and Josep Oms.

Tal Memorial, Moscow

This event will take place on November 9-19. Well-known Russian journalist, Yuri Vasiliev, wrote in Sport Express Daily that the 10 players participating in the round robin tournament with classical time control will be: Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Gelfand, Leko, Carlsen, Shirov, Kamsky, Mamedyarov, Alekseev and Jakovenko.

American representatives IM Robert Hungaski and FM Mackenzie Molnar both gained useful experience in the recently concluded World Junior in Erevan, Armenia. They each scored 6 from 13 in the event won by Egyptian GM Ahmed Adly ahead of many more highly rated players. Tatev Abrahamian finished with an even score in the Girls Under 20 World Championship.
4) Berkeley Chess Club
Art Marthinsen won the first Berkeley Chess Club Sunday Marathon scoring 5.5 from 6 to take home the $200 first prize. Sharing second at 4.5 were Steven Swoboda and Mike Anderson.

Here are the details for the next BCC Marathon which starts this Sunday.

Start Date: 7:00 P.M. October 21, 2007
Location: Room 17 at Hillside School, 1581 LeRoy, Berkeley. Tournament Format: Six rounds, one game every Sunday
Other Rounds:October 21, 28; November 4, 11, 18, 25
Time Control: 40/90 followed by G/30.
Byes: Up to two half-point byes are available for rounds 1-5. All byes should be requested before 12pm the Friday before the next round

Entry Fee: $30.00.
http://berkeleychessschool.org/chessclub.htm
5) Dennis Fritzinger Poem
6) Highest and Lowest rated States
Mike Nolan of the USCF, who has done so much to modernize the Federation's computer systems, provides the answer to which states are highest and lowest rated in the USCF. He writes:

This list only includes those who were USCF members as of 9/30/07, were 20 or older on 9/30 (or are in an adult membership category but without a birthdate) and who have been in at least one rated event since 1/1/2006:

Highest: If I group N Cal and S Cal together, the combined average is 1640.8, so MA would just beat them out. The 22 active players with military APO/FPO addresses have an average rating of 1649.3, so they'd qualify for 2nd place (or arguably for 1st place if I combine California.)

Lowest:
7) Tal at the 1988 Software Toolworks Open
John Blackstone of Las Vegas asks if anyone might have the following blitz games played by Mikhail Tal at the 1988 Software Toolworks blitz tournament in LA which are missing..

Stiwich 3 games out of 3
Andreopoulas 2 games out of 3
Cross, J 3 games out of 3
Fishbein, A 4 games out of 4
Duckworth 1 games out of 3
Newsletter #368, 10/29/2007
"We were in the fifth hour. He was lost, ruined, not a chance! I knew it, he knew it. But he sat there—almost an hour!—calculating, calculating, calculating! Inside he was screaming. He was pale, like a dead man, but this force was going through him like millions of volts. I could feel it smashing and smashing at me across the board. Well, it had an effect, I can tell you that. Five or ten minutes—all right. But an hour! In the end, I was the one screaming inside. When you play Bobby, it is not a question if you win or lose. It is a question if you survive."
~Boris Spassky after defeating Bobby Fischer at the Siegen Olympiad in 1970.
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Hikaru Nakamura lights up Barcelona
3) Rediscovered games of Jude Acers
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
San Francisco 3 vs Seattle 1 The Mechanics' defeated Seattle on Monday night to move into second place in the Western Division of the US Chess League with one match remaining in the regular season. The first three teams in each division advance so if we tie 2-2 with Dallas next week Seattle will have to beat Miami 4-0 and Carolina will have to beat both Miami and Tennessee 4-0 to tie with us. To read more about this match and see photos of the team in action go to NM Dana Mackenzie's newly started blog.

1. IM Josh Friedel (SF) vs GM Gregory Serper (SEA) 1-0
2. IM Eric Tangborn (SEA) vs IM Vinay Bhat (SF) 0-1
3. IM John Donaldson (SF) vs FM Loren Schmidt (SEA) 1/2-1/2
4. Josh Sinanan (SEA) vs Daniel Naroditsky (SF) 1/2-1/2

Josh and Gregory have a real rivalry going in the USCL. The score after 5 games is 3-2 in Josh's favor with White having won every game!
Friedel,J (2543) - Serper,G (2572) [B43]
USCL San Francisco vs Seattle Internet Chess Club (9), 22.10.2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.0-0 Nc6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Qe2 d5 10.Re1 Bb7 11.b3 Be7 12.Bb2 0-0 13.Na4 dxe4 14.Bxe4 Nxe4 15.Qxe4 c5 16.Qg4 g6 17.Qh3 Rfd8 18.Be5 Qc6 19.Nb2 Rd5 20.Nc4 Rad8 21.Qg3 Ba8 22.Ne3 R5d7 23.Ng4 f5 24.Nf6+ Bxf6 25.Bxf6 Rf8 26.Bc3 f4 27.Qg4 Rf5 28.Rad1 Rxd1 29.Rxd1 Rd5 30.Re1 Rf5 31.f3 Qd6 32.Qh4 Bc6 33.h3 e5 34.Qf2 h5 35.Qf1 Bb5 36.Rd1 Qe7 37.Qe1 Bc6 38.Bb2 g5 39.Qa5 Bb7 40.Qa4 Rf7 41.Qc4 Kh7 42.Rd8 Kg7 43.Qd3 Bc6 44.Rc8 Bb7 45.Rb8 Qc7 46.Rd8 c4 47.Qd2 cxb3 48.axb3 g4 49.Re8 Qc5+ 50.Kh1 gxf3 51.Bxe5+ Kg6 52.Qd3+ Kg5 53.Rg8+ Kh4 54.Qd8+ 1-0 Vinay improved his record this season to 6-0 with this win.
Tangborn,E (2475) - Bhat,V (2465) [D36]
USCL San Francisco vs Seattle Internet Chess Club (9), 22.10.2007
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 c6 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Qc2 g6 8.e3 Bf5 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Nbd7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Nd2 Re8 13.Rab1 a5 14.Rfc1 Bd6 15.Nf1 Qb8 16.f3 Nh5 17.g4 Ng7 18.Kg2 b5 19.b3 Qb7 20.Bh4 Rac8 21.Bf2 Ne6 22.Ng3 Bf8 23.Rc2 Bg7 24.Nge2 b4 25.Na4 c5 26.Nxc5 Nexc5 27.dxc5 Nxc5 28.Qd2 Ne6 29.Rbc1 Rcd8 30.Qd3 d4 31.e4 Ra8 32.Rc6 Red8 33.f4 Rac8 34.Rxc8 Rxc8 35.Rxc8+ Qxc8 36.f5 Nc5 37.Qc4 gxf5 38.gxf5 d3 39.Bxc5 dxe2 40.Kf2 Qc7 41.Kxe2 Qxh2+ 42.Bf2 Bf6 43.Kf3 Qh3+ 44.Ke2 Qg2 45.Ke1 h5 46.Qc6 Bc3+ 47.Ke2 Bd4 48.Qe8+ Kg7 49.Kd3 Qxf2 0-1 I had a big advantage from the opening (11...Qc5? 12.b4! was a Kasparov-Kramnik blitz game) but then lost my advantage through a combination of good defense by my opponent and lack of energetic play by myself ( around move 15 or so I should have been thinking about e4 and f4. Going into the endgame was not a good idea for Black. At the end White was winning a second pawn with a very likely win. The score was 2.5-.5 and prudence dictated locking in a draw to secure the tiebreak advantage going into the last week.
Donaldson,J (2458) - Schmidt,L (2430) [A39]
USCL San Francisco vs Seattle Internet Chess Club (9), 22.10.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.c4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 g6 6.g3 Bg7 7.Bg2 0-0 8.0-0 Ng4 9.e3 d6 10.Nde2 Qa5 11.Nd5 e6 12.Bd2 Qd8 13.Ndc3 Nge5 14.b3 Nd3 15.Rb1 a6 16.a3 Nde5 17.Qc2 Qc7 18.Rfd1 Ne7 19.Rbc1 Rb8 20.Qb1 b6 21.Ne4 f5 22.Ng5 h6 23.Nf3 Nxf3+ 24.Bxf3 Nc6 25.Bg2 Ne5 26.Nd4 Bd7 27.h3 Nf7 28.f4 e5 29.Ne2 Bc6 30.Nc3 Bxg2 31.Kxg2 b5 32.cxb5 Qb7+ 33.Kh2 axb5 34.Qd3 b4 35.axb4 Qxb4 36.Rb1 Rb7 37.Nd5 Qe4 38.Qxe4 fxe4 39.b4 exf4 40.gxf4 Nd8 41.Bc3 Rf5 42.Bxg7 Rxg7 43.Nc3 Nb7 44.Nxe4 g5 45.Ng3 Rb5 46.f5 d5 47.Ne2 Rc7 48.Nd4 Rb6 49.b5 Nd6 50.Rdc1 Nc4 51.e4 Rd7 52.exd5 Ne3 53.Rc6 Nxd5 54.Rbc1 Kf7 55.Kg3 Rbb7 56.Nf3 1/2-1/2 I though Josh had some advantage in the middlegame but Daniel defended very well.
Sinanan,J (2191) - Naroditsky,D (2170) [E97]
USCL San Francisco vs Seattle Internet Chess Club (9), 22.10.2007
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.d4 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.Re1 f5 11.Ng5 Nf4 12.Bf1 h6 13.Nf3 fxe4 14.Nd2 Nd3 15.Bxd3 exd3 16.Nde4 Bf5 17.Qxd3 g5 18.a4 Ng6 19.Ba3 Nf4 20.Qd1 Qc8 21.Re3 Bg4 22.Qd2 Qe8 23.c5 Qg6 24.b5 dxc5 25.Bxc5 Rfd8 26.Qa2 Qf7 27.f3 Bf5 28.d6 Qxa2 29.Rxa2 Bxe4 30.Nxe4 cxd6 31.Bxd6 Rac8 32.g3 Nd5 33.Rb3 Nf6 34.Nxf6+ Bxf6 35.Bb4 Rc4 36.a5 Rdd4 37.Bd2 e4 38.Be3 Rd3 39.Rxd3 exd3 40.Rd2 Rc1+ 41.Kf2 Rc2 42.Rxc2 dxc2 43.Bc1 a6 44.bxa6 bxa6 45.Ke2 Bc3 46.Kd3 Bxa5 47.Kxc2 Kf7 48.Kd3 Bb6 49.Kc4 Ke6 50.Bb2 h5 51.g4 hxg4 52.fxg4 Bc7 53.h3 Be5 54.Bc1 Bf4 55.Bb2 Be5 56.Ba3 Bd6 57.Bb2 Be5 Game drawn by repetition 1/2-1/2 NM Paul Gallegos defeated Expert Arthur Ismakov in the last round to win the 7th Annual J.J. Dolan Memorial with a 5-0 score last Saturday. IM Ricardo DeGuzman, who drew in round three with Ismakov, was second at 4 1/2 in the 49-player event.

The Mechanics' Institute Fall Tuesday Night Marathon featured upsets galore in the first round. Among them was 90-year-old Dan Litowsky's draw with NM Igor Margulis. It's not to late to enter the nine round event with a half point bye for round one.

NMs Daniel Naroditsky and Sam Shankland and Expert Louiza Livschitz will represent the United States in the World Youth Championships in Turkey this November.

Former Bay area players Hannelore and Duane Catania tied with Larry Sargeant for first place in the chess competition at the Huntsman Senior Games in St. George, Utah, earlier this month.
2) Hikaru Nakamura lights up Barcelona
Hikaru is on fire in a 10 player round robin in Barcelona which features an average rating of over 2600. He has 5 from 6, is a point and a half ahead of the field, and has played all the high rated competition. Hikaru is not just winning his games - he is doing it in style! It's not often you see the White King venture to h7 when the opponent still has Queen and Rook on the board, but that is what Hikaru did in round one.
Nakamura,H (2648) - Fluvia,J (2508) [D80]
Casino Barcelona ESP (1), 18.10.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Ne4 5.Bh4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 dxc4 7.e3 Be6 8.Qb1 Qd5 9.a4 Nc6 10.Nf3 Bh6 11.Be2 g5 12.Bg3 g4 13.Nh4 f5 14.0-0 0-0-0 15.Bd1 Qa5 16.Bc2 Rhf8 17.Qb2 Bg5 18.Rab1 b6 19.Rbe1 Bxh4 20.Bxh4 Bd5 21.Bg3 h5 22.f3 gxf3 23.gxf3 f4 24.Bxf4 Nxd4 25.cxd4 Rg8+ 26.Kf2 Qd2+ 27.Re2 Rg2+ 28.Kxg2 Qxe2+ 29.Rf2 Rg8+ 30.Bg3 Bxf3+ 31.Kh3 Bg4+ 32.Kh4 Qxe3 33.Qb5 Qxd4 34.Qe5 Qd8 35.Rd2 Bd7 36.Rd4 e6+ 37.Kxh5 Be8+ 38.Kh6 Qe7 39.Rf4 Bf7 40.Qf6 Qf8+ 41.Kh7 Kb8 42.Rf2 e5 43.Qxe5 1-0 Did you see 21...Qxf2+! at move 15?
Krasenkow,M (2668) - Nakamura,H (2648) [A14]
Casino Barcelona ESP (2), 19.10.2007
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.b3 a5 7.Nc3 c6 8.d4 Nbd7 9.Qc2 b6 10.e4 Ba6 11.Nd2 c5 12.exd5 cxd4 13.Nb5 exd5 14.Nxd4 Rc8 15.Re1 b5 16.Bb2 Re8 17.Qd1 bxc4 18.bxc4 Qb6 19.Rb1 dxc4 20.Nc6 Rxc6 21.Bxf6 Qxf2+! 22.Kxf2 Bc5+ 23.Kf3 Rxf6+ 24.Kg4 Ne5+ 25.Kg5 Rg6+ 26.Kh5 f6 27.Rxe5 Rxe5+ 28.Kh4 Bc8 0-1 Hikaru grinds down his chief rival.
Nakamura,H (2648) - Dominguez Perez,L (2683) [D20]
Casino Barcelona ESP (6), 23.10.2007
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 e5 4.Nf3 exd4 5.Bxc4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Bxd2+ 7.Nbxd2 Qf6 8.0-0 Ne7 9.Nb3 Nbc6 10.Nfxd4 0-0 11.Nxc6 Nxc6 12.Qc2 a5 13.a4 Qe7 14.f3 Rd8 15.Rfd1 Bd7 16.Bd5 Qb4 17.Qc5 Be8 18.Qxb4 axb4 19.a5 Kf8 20.Rdc1 Ra6 21.Rc4 Rda8 22.Kf2 R8a7 23.Ke3 Nxa5 24.Rxa5 Rxa5 25.Nxa5 c6 26.Nxc6 bxc6 27.Bxc6 Bxc6 28.Rxc6 Ra2 29.Rc2 b3 30.Re2 Ra1 31.Kd2 Ra6 32.Kc3 Rb6 33.Kc4 Ke7 34.Re3 Rh6 35.h3 Rg6 36.Re2 Rb6 37.f4 h5 38.g3 h4 39.g4 Rd6 40.Re3 Rd2 41.Kxb3 Rf2 42.f5 f6 43.e5 fxe5 44.Rxe5+ Kf6 45.Re3 Kg5 46.Kc3 Kf4 47.Rd3 Ke4 48.b4 Rf1 49.Kc4 Rb1 50.Rc3 1-0
3) Rediscovered Games of Jude Acers
Browne,W - Acers,J [D53]
Match (3), 1971
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.cxd5?! Nxd5 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.e4?! Nxc3 8.bxc3 0-0! 9.Nf3 c5 10.Be2 Rd8 11.0-0 cxd4 12.cxd4 Nc6 13.Qa4 Bd7 14.Rfd1! e5 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Qb3 Nxf3+ 17.Qxf3 Be6! ½-½ Source: Northwest Chess, May 1971, page 8. The match was played November 15-20. Notes by Jude.
Acers,J - Cross,S [C51]
Northern California Team Ch., 01.1971
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Be7?! 6.d4 d6?! 7.dxe5 Be6 8.Bxe6 fxe6 9.Qb3 Qd7 10.Qxb7 Rd8 11.exd6 Bxd6 12.0-0 Nf6 13.Nd4! Ne5 14.Qb3! Ke7 15.f4 Bc5 16.fxe5 Bxd4+ 17.cxd4 Qxd4+ 18.Kh1 Nxe4 19.Nd2!! Nxd2 20.Bxd2 Qxd2 21.Qa3+ Ke8 22.Qxa7 Qd7 23.a4 c6 24.Qf2 Qe7 25.Qb6 Qd7 26.a5 Rf8 27.a6 Rxf1+ 28.Rxf1 Ra8 29.Qc5 1-0 Source: Northwest Chess, May 1971, page 7. This event was played January 1971, notes by Jude.
Acers,J - Jones,C [B29]
Training Match-Redwood City, 17.11.1970
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Bc4 Nb6 7.Bb5 e6 8.Be3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Qc7 10.Qf3 Bd7 11.0-0-0 Bd6 12.Nxc6!! bxc6 13.Rxd6!! Qxd6 14.Ne4 Qc7 15.Bc5 f6 16.Nxf6+ gxf6 17.Qxf6 Nd5 18.Qxh8+ Kf7 19.Qxh7+ Kf6 20.Bd4+ e5 21.Bd3 Nf4 22.Qh6+ Kf7 23.Bc4+ 1-0 Source: Northwest Chess, May 1971, page 7. According to Jude this was round 9 and played November 17, 1970 ( in the middle of the match with Walter. Jude called C. Bill his " personal second, trainer and top secret confidant.")
Acers,J - Barnes,C [C44]
San Jose (3), 06.1970
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.Bc4 cxb2 6.Bxb2 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.Qc2 0-0 9.0-0-0 Qe7 10.e5! Nxe5? 11.Nxe5 Qxe5 12.Nd5 Ba3! 13.Bxa3 Nxd5 14.Bxd5 Re8 15.Bb2 Qf4+ 16.Kb1 c6 17.Qc3 Qh6 18.Rhe1! Rf8 19.Bf3 d5 20.Re7 b6 21.Rde1 Bf5+ 22.Ka1 a6 23.R1e5 Bc8 24.Rh5! Qg6 25.h4! h6 26.Rhe5! Rb8 27.Re1! Bb7 28.Qe5 Ba8 29.Bh5! Qxg2 30.Bxf7+ Kh8 31.Bxd5! 1-0 Source: Northwest Chess, May 1971, page 8. Notes by Jude.
Newsletter #369, 11/05/2007
"I know Kasparov as well as I know anyone. I know his smell. I can read him by that. I recognize the smell when he is excited and I know when he is scared. We may be enemies, but we are intimate enemies."
~Anatoly Karpov (King’s Gambit by Paul Hoffman, page 104)
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Hikaru Shines in Spain and Corsica
3) Chess Life/Chess Review/CLR on DVD
4) Interesting West Coast Websites
5) Here and There
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
The Mechanics' won its final match in the regular season over division leading Dallas 2.5-1.5 to finish 6-4 and second in the West. We will face a tough Miami team in the first round of the playoffs with draw odds.

San Francisco 2.5 vs Dallas 1.5

1. GM Patrick Wolff (SF) vs IM Drasko Boskovic (DAL) 1-0
2. IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) vs IM Vinay Bhat (SF) 1-0
3. IM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF) vs IM John Bartholomew (DAL) 1-0
4. WFM Lilia Doibani (DAL) vs Gregory Young (SF) 1/2-1/2

The following game was a key win for the team. Patrick, who finally got the White pieces after starting the season with three Blacks, defeated a strong opponent who does the difficult job of playing board one for a deep Dallas team ( Boskovic and Kuljasevic's FIDE ratings are respectively 2465 and 2464, Stopa has been over 2480 and Batholomew is 2435) but one that lacks a strong GM on board one.
Wolff,Patrick (2623) - Boskovic,Drasko (2520) [B85]
USCL San Francisco vs Dallas(10) 2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qc7 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be2 a6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Be3 Be7 9.f4 d6 10.Kh1 0-0 11.Qe1 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b5 13.a3 Bb7 14.Qg3 Bc6 15.Rae1 Qb7 Black hits e4 and plans ...a5 and ...b4. 16.Bd3 g6 17.b4 17.f5 is more common. The text aims to prevent Black's plan of playing for ...b4 in radical fashion. 17...a5 18.f5 e5 19.Be3 axb4 20.axb4 Ra3 21.Nd5 21.Bd2 21...Bxd5 21...Nxd5 22.exd5 Bxd5 23.f6 Bd8 24.Qg5 Kh8. 22.exd5 e4 23.Bc1 Ra1 24.Be2 Another possibility was 24.fxg6 hxg6 25.Bxe4 when 25...Rxc1 (25...Nxe4 26.Rxe4 Bf6 27.Qxd6 Ra6 28.Qf4 Qxd5) can be met 26.Bxg6 Rxe1 27.Bd3. 24...Qxd5 25.Bb2 Rxe1 26.Qxe1 Nd7 26...Qc6 was to be considered, not allowing White to play an immediate f6. 27.f6 Bd8 28.Qc1 Kh8 29.c4 Qe6?! 29...Qc6 30.Qh6 Rg8 31.Rf4 g5 would have improved as the Queen on c6 doesn't walk into Bg4. 30.Qf4 Nb6? 30...Ne5 had to be played. 31.Qh6 Rg8 32.Rf4 g5 33.Bg4 1-0 A high class resignation. After 33...Rg6 34.Qxg6 hxg6 35.Bxe6 gxf4 36.Bxf7 Nd7 37.cxb5 White wins the ending: a) 37...Nxf6 38.b6 b) 37...Bxf6 38.Bxf6+ Nxf6 39.Be6 c) 37...Kh7 38.Be6 Nxf6 (38...Ne5 39.g3! (39.Bd4 Bxf6) 39...fxg3 40.Bd4 Bxf6 41.b6 Bd8 42.b7 Bc7 43.hxg3 Nc6 44.Bc3 and White brings his King to the center and mops up. This is the first game that Vinay has lost in the US Chess League over three seasons and almost twenty games. He has played at a high level of excellence despite an extremely busy schedule - first a rigorous undergraduate program at UC Berkeley and now a demanding job near San Jose that means an hour long commute each way to matches after putting in a long day at work. Vinay is the heart and soul of our team and his addition to the roster mid season in 2005 immediately transformed an ordinary team to one of the very best in the USCL.
Kuljasevic,Davorin (2491) - Bhat,Vinay (2465) [E12]
USCL San Francisco vs Dallas(10) 2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Nc3 c5 7.e4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Nb3 Nc6 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bh4 Nd4 12.Nxd4 Bxd4 13.Bd3 Be5 14.Bg3 Qb8 15.0-0-0 0-0 16.Kb1 This position has been reached many times with a consensus that Black's grip on the dark squares compensates for White's advantage in space. 16...Rd8 16...Rc8 is more common but the text is fine and might save time in the event of a massive series of trades on the d-file. 17.Qe2 d6 18.Bxe5 dxe5 19.f3 Qc7 20.Qe3 Ba6 21.b3 Rd4 22.Ne2 Rd7 23.Bc2 b5 23...Rad8 was equal. Black is trying to unbalance the position. 24.cxb5 Bxb5 25.Nc3 Rc8 26.Kb2 a5 27.Rxd7 Nxd7 28.Rc1 Ba6 29.Na4 Bb5 30.Nc3 Bc6 It would have been more prudent to repeat with 30...Ba6 with an equal position and a likely draw. Looking at Vinay during the game I had the best impression that he was not his usual self and the lack of objectivity shown on this and the next couple of moves is not normal for him. All due credit to Davorin who has played very well for Dallas this season ( #3 in the MVP standings). 31.Bd3 Nb8?! Black had to play 31...Qb7 32.Nb5 Bxb5 (or 32...Rb8 33.a4) 33.Rxc8+ Qxc8 34.Bxb5 with some advantage for White. 32.Nb5 Qd7 33.Be2 Rd8?! Better was 33...Qd8 but after 34.Qa7 White is better. The rest is grim for Black. 34.Rd1 Qe8 35.Nd6 Qe7 36.Qb6 Kh7 37.Nf5 exf5 38.Qxd8 Qa7 39.exf5 Qf2 40.Rd2 Nd7 41.f6 Qe3 42.Qxa5 gxf6 43.Qc3 Qb6 44.Rd6 Nc5 45.Qb4 1-0 The following game was an impressive performance against a tough to beat opponent.
Zilberstein,Dmitry (2453) - Bartholomew,John (2488) [B12]
USCL San Francisco vs Dallas 2007
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.Nf3 Bxc5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Nge7 8.a3 Ng6 9.b4 Be7 10.Re1 0-0 11.Bb2 Bd7 12.c4 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Qc7 14.Nbd2 Rac8 15.Rc1 Qb8 16.Qe2 Rfd8 17.Qe4 a6 18.Qg4 b5 19.Bd3 a5 20.bxa5 Nxa5 21.h4 Nc4 22.Bxc4 bxc4 23.Rb1 Qa7 24.Bd4 Qxa3 25.h5 Nf8 26.Ne4 Bc6 27.Nf6+ Kh8 Trading on f6 doesn't improve: 27...Bxf6 28.exf6 g6 29.Ne5 Qd6 (29...c3 30.Qf4 Nd7 31.hxg6 hxg6 32.Nxg6 fxg6 33.Qh6 Qf8 34.f7+ Kxf7 35.Qh7+) 30.Bb6! (30.Qf4 Nd7=) 30...Re8 31.Rbd1 Qb4 32.Qg5 is decisive. 28.Ng5 Be8 29.Nxe8 Bxg5 30.Nd6 Rxd6 31.exd6 Bf6 32.h6 Ng6 33.Bxf6 gxf6 34.Qxc4 Rg8 35.Qb4 Qa8 36.Qe4 Qf8 37.d7 Qxh6 38.Red1 Rd8 39.Rbc1 Qf8 40.Qb7 Ne7 41.Rc3 Kg7 42.Rg3+ Ng6 43.Rc3 Ne7 44.Rdc1 Rb8 45.Qxb8 Qxb8 46.Rc8 1-0
Doibani,Lilia (2074) - Young,Gregory (2127) [B23]
USCL San Francisco vs Dallas (10) 2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4 4.Bc4 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Nxd4 cxd4 7.Qf3 Nh6 8.d3 0-0 9.Ne2 Ng4 10.Bxf7+ Everyone plays 10.Bb3. 10...Rxf7 11.Qxg4 d5 The reason is 11...Qc7! immediately recovering the pawn with the better game. 12.Qh4 dxe4 12...Qc7 13.exd5 Qxc2 14.Nxd4 Qxd3 was also possible. 13.Qxe4 Qc7 White maintains equal chances after 13...Qb6 with 14.0-0 Bf5 15.Qf3 Rc8 16.c4 dxc3 17.bxc3 Qb5 18.Rd1 Rd8 19.Nd4 Bxd4 20.cxd4 Rxd4 21.Bh6. 14.Nxd4 e5 15.Ne2 Qxc2 16.Qc4 Qxc4 17.dxc4 e4 18.Rb1 e3 19.Bxe3 Bf5 20.Rd1 Bxb2 21.0-0 Be6 22.c5 Bc4 23.Rd2 Ba3 24.Rfd1 Bxe2 25.Rxe2 Rc8 26.Red2 Bxc5 27.Rd8+ Rf8 28.Rxf8+ Kxf8 29.Rd7 Bxe3 30.fxe3 Rc1+ 31.Kf2 Rc2+ 32.Kf3 Rxa2 33.Rxb7 h6 34.h4 ½-½ Young stars Sam Shankland, Daniel Naroditsky and Nicholas Nip are among the leaders of the Fall Tuesday Night Marathon after two rounds as is 1600 rated Brendan MacIntyre who has defeated Experts in the first two rounds! It not to late to enter the nine round event with byes for the first two rounds.
2) Hikaru Shines in Spain and Corsica
In the Casino de Barcelona (October 18-26) tournament, Hikaru Nakamura finished with back to back wins against Illescas and Narciso, finishing the event with 7/9, a full point ahead of his closest rival, Lenier Dominguez of Cuba.

Final Standings

1. GM Hikaru Nakamura- 7/9
2. GM Leiner Perez Dominguez- 6/9
3-4. GM Vugar Gashimov and GM Alexander Beliavsky- 5.5/9
5-6. GM Rafael Vaganian and Michal Krasenkow- 4.5/9
7. GM Josep Pallise Oms-4/9
8. GM Miguel Cordoba Illescas- 3.5/9
9 GM Marc Dublan Narciso- 3/9
10. IM Jordi Fluvia, 1.5/9

He followed this with an impressive Corsica Masters rapid chess handily defeating Bareev and Kasimdzhanov in his final two matches.
Kasimdzhanov,R - Nakamura,H [D45]
Corsica Masters Bastia (4.1), 30.10.2007
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.e4 dxe4 8.Nxe4 Nxe4 9.Qxe4 Bb4+ 10.Bd2 Bxd2+ 11.Nxd2 c5 12.dxc5 Qa5 13.a3 Qxc5 14.b4 Qe7 15.Bd3 a5 16.Rb1 axb4 17.axb4 Nf6 18.Qe3 0-0 19.0-0 Rd8 20.Nf3 Qc7 21.Ne5 b6 22.Rfd1 Bb7 23.Bf1 Be4 24.Nd3 Ra3 25.Ra1 Rc3 26.Qf4 Qxf4 27.Nxf4 Rxd1 28.Rxd1 g5 29.Nh3 g4 30.Nf4 Kg7 31.h3 h5 32.hxg4 hxg4 33.Rd6 e5 34.Ne2 Rxc4 35.Rxb6 Bd3 36.Ng3 Rc1 37.Rd6 e4 38.Nf5+ Kg6 39.Ne3 g3 40.fxg3 Bxf1 41.Kf2 Bd3 42.Nd5 Kg5 0-1
Nakamura,H - Kasimdzhanov,R [E11]
Corsica Masters Bastia (4.2), 30.10.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.Qb3 Nb6 9.c5 Nc4 10.Qc2 b6 11.b3 Nxd2 12.Nbxd2 bxc5 13.dxc5 c6 14.b4 Qc7 15.e4 a5 16.a3 Ba6 17.Rfe1 Rfb8 18.e5 Nd7 19.Qc3 Bb5 20.Nd4 Nxe5 21.Nxb5 cxb5 22.Rxe5 Bf6 23.f4 axb4 24.axb4 Ra4 25.Rb1 Rba8 26.Bf1 Ra2 27.Bxb5 R8a3 28.Qd4 Rc2 29.Bf1 Raa2 30.Nf3 Qa7 31.Rd1 Qa3 32.Qxd5 g6 33.Rxe6 Qb2 34.Re8+ Kg7 35.Rd2 Qxb4 36.Qxa2 Qxc5+ 37.Kg2 Rxa2 38.Rxa2 Qd5 39.Rae2 Bc3 40.h4 h6 41.R8e3 Bb4 42.Rc2 Qd1 43.Rce2 Qd5 1-0
3) Chess Life/Chess Review/CLR on DVD
Having trouble thinking what to get your favorite chessplayer for Christmas? Worry no longer. Tim Tobiason of Nebraska has just completed the incredible project of scanning all issues of Chess Review (1933-1969), Chess Life (1946-1969) and Chess Life and Review from 1969 to 1975. This is a tremendous wealth of material much of which was either extremely hard to find (Chess Review 1930s) or difficult to use (Chess Life newspapers from the 1940s and 50s that crumble in your hands). It was also very expensive with years of Chess Review from the early 1930s alone running several hundred dollars a volume. Now you can get all this information for $29 plus $5 shipping. Go to http://stores.ebay.com/Toby-Chess or call (928-246-1580).

Mr. Tobiason, Joan Dubois and Mike Nolan of the US Chess Federation as well as the Executive Board of the USCF are to be commended for the teamwork that made this long overdue project be realized.
4) Interesting West Coast Websites
Two West Coast web sites that I can recommend for the historically inclined are:

1. Kerry Lawless' Chessdryad from Hayward, California - devoted to chess in California with games, photos, articles and much more.

2. Phil McCready's The ChessLibrary from Vashon, Washington - specializing in the career of IM Nikolay Minev but also offering many crosstables - primarily from the 1940s to 1980s.
5) Here and There
NM Emmanuel Perez won the Exchange Bank Fall Classic in Santa Rosa this past weekend, scoring 3.5 from 4. Tying for second with three points in the open section of the event which attracted 33 participants overall, were former US Champion IM John Grefe and Expert Clarence Lehman. This was John's first tournament since suffering a near fatal illness a year ago. Although not fully recovered he is doing much better. Mike Goodall, assisted by Paul Stagnoli, organized and directed.

Top Seniors and teams from the recently completed Western States Open in Reno.

Senior:
1st 5.0 E Vaughn Custer
T2 4.5 X Victor Ossipov
T2 4.5 A Robert Bond
T2 4.5 A Hans Morrow
T2 4.5 A Leonard Hill
T2 4.5 B Stan Beckwith
T2 4.5 B Tab Salvo
T2 4.5 D William Parker

Club:
1 Seattle
2 Mechanics I
3 Central Region
4 Mechanics III
Newsletter #370, 11/12/2007
"I actually played much worse because it was very depressing. I saw that he was so much faster than me and could constantly feel things on the chessboard that took me time to figure out for myself. There were many occasions where he wouldn't trust a variation before he did any calculations. He is a very intuitive player. He often decides immediately on his next move and spends his thinking time confirming his choice. When I play, I make a lot of my decisions by vigorously calculating everything. I close in on the right move by methodical, step-by-step analysis. Instead he feels the right move. That skill is very hard to learn – it’s more of a gift."
~Joel Lautier after serving as a second for Vladimir Kramnik (King’s Gambit by Paul Hoffman, page 129-130)
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) David Pruess makes second GM norm in Fance
3) US News
4) International News
5) Upcoming Events
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
The Mechanics' season ended on a sad note when they were eliminated in the first round of the USCL playoffs last night. This was a difficult season. After extending our unbeaten streak to 15 matches ( this will be a record not so easily broken) we lost to Seattle in round 4 and continued to struggle for much of the season until winning three key matches down the stretch to finish second in the division.

Miami 2.5 vs San Francisco 1.5

1. GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Patrick Wolff (SF) 1/2-1/2 2. IM Vinay Bhat (SF) vs IM Blas Lugo (MIA) 0-1 3. FM Marcel Martinez (MIA) vs IM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF) 1-0 4. Gregory Young (SF) vs Luis Barredo (MIA) 1-0

The match with Miami started on a positive note as Patrick Wolff easily equalized against League MVP Julio Becerra. Patrick's play this season was one of the positive points for our team as he scored 3 from 5 against 2 GMs and 3 IMs having the Black pieces four times.
Becerra,J (2634) - Wolff,P (2623) [B65]
USCL Miami vs San Francisco (11) 2007
Blas Lugo loves the Botvinnik System of the Semi-Slav but might have feared preparation and surprised Vinay with the Winawer Counter Gambit. Vinay knew next to nothing about it and soon emerged with a big advantage (the novelty 8...Nd7 is probably the culprit. Black should stick to 8...Ne3 as played in several all GM encounters). 23.Bd5 was just a fingerfehler. Vinay intended 23.Bxg7 Rg8 24.Bxb7 leaves White a pawn up with Black's King in the center but touched the wrong piece first. Some Thursday morning quarterbacks wondered why Vinay passed up draws in the ensuing ending, likely because they were not watching boards 2 and 4 at the same time. Greg was only winning (36.Rc6) when Vinay was already losing.
Bhat,V (2465) - Lugo,B (2430) [D10]
USCL Miami vs San Francisco (11) 2007
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e5 4.dxe5 d4 5.Ne4 Qa5+ 6.Nd2 Nh6 7.Ngf3 Nf5 8.g3 Nd7 9.Bg2 Ne3 10.fxe3 dxe3 11.0-0 exd2 12.Bxd2 Qc5+ 13.Kh1 Be7 14.Qc1 Nxe5 15.b4 Qd6 16.Bf4 f6 17.c5 Qe6 18.Qc3 a5 19.b5 cxb5 20.Nxe5 fxe5 21.Bxe5 b4 22.Qd4 Bd7 23.Bd5 Qxd5+ 24.Qxd5 Bc6 25.e4 Bxd5 26.exd5 Bxc5 27.Bxg7 Rg8 28.Rae1+ Kd7 29.Rf7+ Kd6 30.Rd1 Rae8 31.Bh6 Be3 32.Rxb7 Bxh6 33.Rb6+ Kc5 34.Rc6+ Kb5 35.Rxh6 Re2 36.d6 Rd8 37.d7 Ka4 38.Rh5 Rxa2 39.Re5 Rf2 40.Re8 Rf8 41.Rxf8 Rxf8 42.d8Q Rxd8 43.Rxd8 b3 44.Rb8 Ka3 45.g4 a4 46.g5 Kb2 47.h4 a3 48.h5 a2 0-1 This was partly my fault. With David and Josh in Europe Miami could just easily predict our lineup as we could there's. Dima played great against Marcel the first time around ( same variation of the Ruy as Black) and won a very nice game against John Bartholomew last week, but there are so many critical lines of the Archangel that Black is always vulnerable to extensive pregame prep ( Marcel says he had it worked out to move 28!). In retrospect I should probably have put myself in the lineup as Dima has such a limited repertoire.
Martinez,M (2462) - Zilberstein,D (2453) [C78]
USCL Miami vs San Francisco (11) 2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.axb5 axb5 9.c3 d6 10.d4 Bb6 11.Na3 0-0 12.Nxb5 exd4 13.cxd4 Bg4 14.Be3 Nxe4 15.Qc2 Qe8 16.Ba4 Bd7 17.Nc3 Nf6 18.Rfe1 Nb4 19.Qd2 Qc8 20.Bg5 Nfd5 21.Bb3 Qb7 22.Bh6 f6 23.Re7 Rf7 24.Rxf7 Kxf7 25.Re1 Re8 26.Rxe8 Bxe8 27.Nxd5 Nxd5 28.Ng5+ Kf8 29.Bxg7+ Kg8 30.Bxf6 c6 31.Qe2 Qd7 32.Qe4 Bg6 33.Bxd5+ cxd5 34.Qxd5+ Kf8 35.Ne6+ Ke8 36.Nc5 1-0 Miami 4th board Luis Barredo was once rated over 2300 FIDE when he played in Cuba but he had a long layoff before joining the Sharks in their lineup last year. He didn't play much this season (nor did Lugo) but it was clear this was Miami's best combination and having White on board one and three ( the plus side of giving draw odds) their best color allocation ( I would expect them to likely chose the same versus Dallas).

This was mainline Guimard theory and on move 18.Greg chose the double-edged 18.dxc5. I think this was a fine decision but he should have met 20...a5 with 21.b5! with very good compensation for the pawn. Instead after 21.Bc3? things started to go Black's way big time and had he found 32...Bd4 and then ...h5, instead of the immediate 32..h5? he would likely have won. Still I found it a very inspired fighting performance by 12-year-old Gregory who played the last 25 moves of the game with only a couple minutes on his clock.
Young,G (2127) - Barredo,L (2160) [C04]
USCL Miami vs San Francisco (11) 2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nc6 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nd7 6.Be2 f6 7.exf6 Qxf6 8.Nf1 Bd6 9.Ne3 0-0 10.0-0 Qg6 11.c4 Nf6 12.c5 Be7 13.Bb5 Bd7 14.Bxc6 Bxc6 15.Ne5 Qe8 16.a4 b6 17.b4 bxc5 18.dxc5 Bb7 19.Qd4 c6 20.Bb2 a5 21.Bc3 Ne4 22.f3 Nxc3 23.Qxc3 Rf4 24.Rfb1 Ba6 25.bxa5 d4 26.Qb4 Qf8 27.N3g4 Bxc5 28.Qb3 d3+ 29.Kh1 Qd6 30.Rd1 Rb8 31.Qc3 Rxg4 32.Nxg4 h5 33.Rac1 Bd4 34.Qxc6 Rd8 35.Qe4 hxg4 36.Rc6 Qd5 37.Rxa6 Qxe4 38.fxe4 Be3 39.Rc6 d2 40.Rc2 Rd4 41.Ra2 Rxe4 42.a6 g3 43.hxg3 Re5 44.g4 Re4 45.g3 Rxg4 46.Kg2 Rc4 47.a7 Bxa7 48.Rdxd2 Rc7 49.a5 e5 50.a6 Bd4 51.Rxd4 1-0 Ricardo DeDuzman won the annual Carroll Capps Memorial held November 3rd and 4th, topping the 50-player field with a score of 5.5 from 6. Here is his key win was over NM Michael Aigner in round five.
DeGuzman,R (2439) - Aigner,M (2257) [A87]
Capps Memorial San Francisco (5), 04.11.2007
1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.0-0 d6 6.c4 0-0 7.Nc3 Qe8 8.Re1 Qf7 9.Qb3 Nc6 10.d5 Na5 11.Qc2 e5 12.dxe6 Qxe6 13.b3 Ne4 14.Bb2 Nxc3 15.Bxc3 Bxc3 16.Qxc3 Nc6 17.Rad1 Qf6 18.Qd2 f4 19.c5 fxg3 20.hxg3 dxc5 21.Qd5+ Be6 22.Qxc5 Qf5 23.Qxf5 Bxf5 24.Nd4 Nb4 25.Bxb7 Rad8 26.Nxf5 gxf5 27.Rxd8 Rxd8 28.Rc1 Rd2 29.Rxc7 Rxa2 30.Bc8 f4 31.Be6+ Kh8 32.gxf4 Rxe2 33.f5 h5 34.f6 Re1+ 35.Kg2 Rxe6 36.Rc8+ Kh7 37.f7 1-0 Veteran IM Walter Shipman is still playing good chess in his 70s. He finished on 4.5.
Vickers,K (2200) - Shipman,W (2230) [D04]
Capps Memorial San Francisco (6), 04.11.2007
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bg4 4.c4 Bxf3 5.gxf3 c6 6.Qb3 Qb6 7.Nc3 e6 8.Qxb6 axb6 9.b3 Nbd7 10.Bb2 dxc4 11.bxc4 Ba3 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.f4 Ra5 14.Bd3 Rfa8 15.Bb1 Ne8 16.Rd2 Nd6 17.Bd3 Bb4 18.Kb1 Rxa2 19.Nxa2 Bxd2 20.Rd1 Ba5 21.Ba3 Ne8 22.d5 exd5 23.cxd5 Nef6 24.e4 cxd5 25.e5 Nh5 26.Bb5 Nc5 27.Bxc5 bxc5 28.Rxd5 Rd8 29.Rxc5 Nxf4 30.Bd7 Bb6 31.Rb5 Rxd7 32.Rxb6 Nd3 0-1 Many thanks to International Arbiter Frank Berry of Stillwater, Oklahoma, sponsor of the 2007 US Championship for donating a dozen chess clocks to the Mechanic' Chess Club which will be put to good use in the Tuesday Night Marathon and weekend tournaments.

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.

Women of all ages are invited to a weekly class taught on Sundays from 2-4 pm at the MI taught by Ewelina Krubnik. The class is free and beginner and intermediate players are most welcome. This class is made possible by a generous donation from the Wiskemann Foundation in memory of Martin Wiskemann.
2) David Pruess makes second GM norm in France
MI member David Pruess made his second GM norm in France last week, tying for first with 7 from 9. We hope to have more news soon. In the meantime here are two of David's game. Fellow MI member IM Josh Friedel played according to his rating and turned in a 2475 performance.
Bojkov,D (2520) - Pruess,D (2417) [B84]
7th Rohde Open Sautron FRA (7), 01.11.2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.Be2 b5 8.Bf3 b4 9.Na4 Bb7 10.e5 Nd5 11.Bxd5 Bxd5 12.Nf5 Bc6 13.Bb6 Qd7 14.exd6 exf5 15.0-0 Qxd6 16.Re1+ Kd7 17.Qe2 Kc8 18.Nc5 Be4 19.Nxe4 Qxb6 20.Ng5 Bc5 21.Nxf7 Rf8 22.Qc4 Ra7 23.Re6 Qc7 24.Ne5 Rb7 25.Rd1 Rb6 26.Kf1 Rxe6 27.Qxe6+ Kb7 28.Nd7 Rc8 29.Qxf5 g6 30.Qe6 Qc6 31.Nxc5+ Qxc5 32.Qf7+ Rc7 33.Qf3+ Qc6 34.Qb3 Qc4+ 35.Rd3 a5 36.a3 Qxc2 37.axb4 a4 38.Qxc2 Rxc2 39.Ra3 Rxb2 40.Rxa4 Nc6 41.b5 Rxb5 42.Rf4 Rf5 43.Rh4 Rf7 44.g3 Kc7 45.Kg2 Kd6 46.Ra4 Ra7 47.Rf4 Ke6 48.h4 Ne5 49.Rf8 h5 50.Re8+ Kf6 51.Rf8+ Kg7 52.Re8 Ra5 53.Rd8 Ra2 54.Rd4 Ng4 55.Rf4 Rd2 56.Kg1 Ne5 57.Kf1 Rb2 58.Kg1 Nd3 59.Rf3 Rb1+ 60.Kh2 Rd1 61.Kh3 Rd2 0-1
Vavrak,P (2454) - Pruess,D (2417) [D31]
7th Rohde Open Sautron FRA (9), 03.11.2007
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 c6 4.e4 Bb4 5.Bd3 dxe4 6.Bxe4 Nf6 7.Bc2 c5 8.a3 Ba5 9.b4 cxb4 10.axb4 Bxb4 11.Nge2 Nc6 12.Bb2 e5 13.d5 Na5 14.Bd3 Bd7 15.0-0 0-0 16.Na2 Bd6 17.c5 Bxc5 18.Bxe5 Re8 19.Bg3 b5 20.Nac3 Nc4 21.Bh4 h6 22.Bxc4 bxc4 23.Qd2 Bf5 24.Rfd1 a5 25.Nd4 Bg4 26.Rdc1 g5 27.Nc6 Qd6 28.Bg3 Qf8 29.Be5 Nd7 30.Bd4 Bb4 31.Qa2 Bxc3 32.Rxc3 Be2 33.Rg3 Qd6 34.Re1 Qxd5 35.Rxe2 Qxc6 36.h4 Re4 37.Rxe4 Qxe4 38.Qxc4 Ne5 39.Qc3 Ng4 40.Qd3 Rc8 41.Bb2 Nxf2 42.Qxe4 Nxe4 43.Re3 Rc4 44.hxg5 hxg5 45.Rd3 Kh7 46.Rd8 Kg6 47.g4 f6 48.Ra8 Rb4 49.Ba3 Ra4 50.Be7 Nc3 51.Kf2 Rf4+ 52.Kg3 a4 53.Kh3 Ne4 0-1
3) US News
Not far from the 50 year anniversary of the great Dallas tournament, held November 30-December 16, 1957, a strong GM event is being held in Texas. Paul Truong tells more.

2007 SPICE Cup International Invitational Chess Tournament
November 9 - 16, 2007
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, Texas

The average rating of this tournament will be approximately 2527, which is a category 12 event. This will be one of the strongest International round robin tournaments in the United States in many years. The FIDE time control will be 40 moves in 90 minutes + 15 minutes after move 40. There will also be a 30 second increment starting from move 1.

The International Arbiter and Chief TD will be IA Frank K. Berry. The assistant Chief TD will be Mr. Jim Berry, USCF VP.

1. To be announced shortly
2. GM Boris Gulko 2571 USA
3. GM Julio Beccerra 2568 USA
4. GM Imre Hera 2544 Hungary
5. GM Gilberto Hernandez 2536 Mexico
6. GM Eugene Perelshteyn 2536 USA
7. IM Dmitry Schneider 2502 USA
8. IM Manuel Leon Hoyos 2495 Mexico
9. IM Irina Krush 2475 USA
10. IM Blas Lugo 2411 USA

All games will be covered LIVE on http://www.monroi.com/

Texas Tech Hosts World-Class International Chess Tournament Texas Tech University's Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) will host a prestigious invitational tournament Nov. 9-16 at the Matador Room of the Student Union Building. The opening ceremony for the 2007 SPICE Cup International Invitational Tournament will begin at 2 pm. Texas Tech and Lubbock officials including Mayor David Miller will helplaunch an invitational tournament hosted by the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE). The 2007 SPICE Cup International Invitational Chess Tournament, held in memory of grandmaster Samuel Reshevsky, is the first international tournament at Texas Tech organized by chess giant Susan Polgar, director of SPICE, and Paul Truong, SPICE director of marketing.

The round-robin tournament will pit 10 internationally acclaimed chess players – hailing from countries including Poland, Hungary, Mexico, Russia and the United States – against each other through nine rounds of play over eight days. Participants have an average rating of 2527 – well above the 2400 required to earn the U.S.
Chess Federation's highest class designation of senior master. "This prestigious tournament will be one of the strongest international invitational round robin tournaments held in Texas since 1972 and the United States in the past decade", Polgar said. Children from a number of Lubbock schools are invited to attend the event each day to participate in special activities and raffles. SPICE was created in part as a tool for chess education and outreach. All games will be broadcast live on www.monroi.com.

The tournament also features an open section, slated for Saturday and Sunday, that will provide local chess aficionados an opportunity for compete for $500 in prizes. The open tournament will consist of three rounds at 10 a.m., 1p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday and two additional rounds at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday. For advance registration in the open section contact Hal Karlsson at (806) 742-3130, or chess@ttu.edu Polgar is director of SPICE and coach of the Knight Raiders chess team. She has won four women's world chess championships, five Olympic gold medals, and is the only world champion in history to win the triplecrown (classical, blitz and rapid women's world championships). Truong, a multiple-time national champion, is the director of marketing for SPICE and the Knight Raiders assistant coach. He was the captain of the 2004 U.S. Women's Olympiad Team, which captured two silver and two gold medals – a first for the U.S. Contact: Paul Truong, director of marketing, SPICE, Texas Tech University (806) 742-7742, or paul.truong@ttu.edu

SPICE Cup is a Category 12 event, with an average rating of 2527. This will be one of the strongest international round robin tournaments in the United States in many years. Can you name the last ten-player international round robin invitational tournament in the US that was Category 12 or stronger? Please send your answer to SusanPolgar@aol.com - there will be special prizes to ten random winners who submit the correct answer. The contest ends at midnight on November 14, 2007.

Sevan A. Muradian is a busy guy. He will be organizing the following IM and GM tournaments in the Chicago area next year.

Tentative Schedule for 2008
January 20-26 (IM Norm) July 20-26 (IM Norm)
February 17-23 (IM Norm) August 24-30 (IM Norm)
March 23-29 (IM Norm) September 21-27 (IM Norm)
April 20-26 (IM Norm) October 6-10 (GM Norm)
May 18-22 (GM Norm) November 16-22 (IM Norm)
June 22-28 (IM Norm) December 14-20 (IM Norm)
Why are Round Robins better than Swisses?
• Norm opportunity is guaranteed - no guessing
• Know your pairings in advance
• Prepare for your opponents
• Less distractions during the event
• Focus on the norm hunt!
Do you want to gain your FIDE title?
Do you want to stay local within North America?
Do you have the norm hunt fever?
For more information on these events visit:
http://www.nachess.org/fide
Or call 888.80.CHESS
Or email info@nachess.org
Sponsorship Opportunities Available
Entry Fee Schedule
FIDE 2500+ - Free
FIDE U2500 - $99 USD
FIDE U2400 - $ 149 USD
FIDE U2300 - $ 199 USD
FIDE U2200 - $ 299 USD
FIDE U2100 - $ 499 USD
Foreign Federation—50% off
Special EF - $99 if you scored a norm in a previous NA FIDE Invitational. Unrateds by special consideration only. ———————————————-
Where do the Entry Fee’s go?
To pay appearance fees for GM’s / IM’s, site costs, and any prize funds. The organizer keeps nothing! These events are organized by the 2007 USCF Organizer of the Year: Sevan A. Muradian. Conditions offered for GM’s and IM’s. Contact organizer for details.
All events are 9R-RR with a time control of G/90 + 30/sec increment

Muradian's North American Chess Association recently organized an event where 13-year-old Ray Robson made his first IM norm.

Chicago, IL - Oct 28 - Nov 3, 2008

1st - 7.0/9.0
FM Ray Robson
2nd - 6.5/9.0
IM David Vigorito
3rd - 5.5/9.0
FM Mehmed Pasalic
4th - 5.0/9.0
FM Todd Andrews
5th - 8th 4.0/9.0
IM Stephen Muhammad
IM Angelo Young
FM Igor Tsyganov
Dale Haessel
9th - 3.5/9.0
FM Albert Chow
10th - 1.5/9.0
WIM Ludmila Mokriak
4) International News
Tal Memorial This super-tournament will take place in Moscow between the 9th and the 19th of November. Round 1 will be played on Saturday. The participants are: Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2787), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2785), Peter Leko (Hungary,2755), Shakhriar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan, 2752), Alexey Shirov (Spain, 2739), Boris Gelfand (Israel,2736), Gata Kamsky (USA, 2724),Evgeny Alekseev (Russia, 2716), Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2714) and Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia, 2710).The time control is 1h 40 minutes for 40 moves, 40 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with 15 seconds increment for every move.

Here is a very nice game from the European Team Championship. White 28th move g4 might of tipped the balance between an unclear but balanced position to one where Black was only playing for two results.
Ivanchuk,V (2787) - Mamedyarov,S (2752) [D97]
Crete 2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Qb3 dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bg7 6.e4 0-0 7.Be2 c6 8.Nf3 b5 9.Qb3 Qa5 10.Bd2 b4 11.Na4 Nxe4 12.Bxb4 Qc7 13.0-0 Be6 14.Qc2 Nd6 15.Rfd1 a5 16.Ba3 Bd5 17.Nc3 Na6 18.Rac1 Qb8 19.Ne5 Nb4 20.Bxb4 axb4 21.Nxd5 cxd5 22.Nd7 Qc8 23.Nxf8 Qxc2 24.Rxc2 Kxf8 25.b3 Ne4 26.Rd3 e6 27.Kf1 Bf6 28.g4 Ra3 29.f4 Nc3 30.Rdd2 Kg7 31.Kg2 Bh4 32.Kf1 Bd8 33.Kg2 Bh4 34.Kf1 Kg8 35.Rb2 Ra8 36.Rbc2 Ra3 37.Rb2 Kf8 38.Rbc2 Be7 39.Kg2 Kg7 40.Rb2 h6 41.Rbc2 Bd6 42.Kf3 g5 43.fxg5 hxg5 44.Bd3 f6 45.Rf2 e5 46.dxe5 fxe5 47.Bf5 e4+ 48.Kg2 Bf4 49.h4 Kf6 50.h5 Ke5 51.h6 d4 52.h7 Ra8 53.a3 d3 54.axb4 dxc2 55.Rxc2 Kd4 56.b5 e3 57.b6 e2 58.b7 Rh8 0-1 Yasser continues to defend the colors for his team in the Dutch Club league competition.
Yasser Seirawan (2634) - Edwin van Haastert (2414) [E12]
LSG - HSG bord 3 (3), 03.11.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 g5 7.Bg3 Nh5 8.e3 Nxg3 9.hxg3 Bg7 10.g4 d6 11.Bd3 Nd7 12.Be4 Qc8 13.Nd2 Nf6 14.Bxb7 Qxb7 15.Qf3 Qxf3 16.gxf3 Ke7 17.Ke2 c6 18.Rac1 Rhc8 19.Rc2 Rc7 20.Nce4 Nd7 21.b3 Rac8 22.Rhc1 a6 23.Ng3 Bh8 24.Nde4 Bg7 25.Nh5 Bh8 26.f4 f5 27.gxf5 exf5 28.Neg3 Rf8 29.d5 c5 30.a4 Rb7 31.Ra2 b5 32.axb5 axb5 33.Rcc2 bxc4 34.bxc4 Rb3 35.Ra7 Rf7 36.Ra8 gxf4 37.exf4 Bd4 38.Kf1 Rb2 39.Rxb2 Bxb2 40.Ra7 Bd4 41.Ne2 Bh8 42.Nhg3 Bg7 43.Ng1 Kf6 44.Ra6 Bf8 45.Nf3 Ke7 46.Nh4 Kd8 47.Ke2 Kc7 48.Kd3 Kb7 49.Ra2 Re7 50.Ngxf5 Rf7 51.f3 Nf6 52.Ng3 Ne8 53.Ng6 Bg7 54.Re2 Nf6 55.Ne4 Kc7 56.Ra2 1-0
5) Upcoming Events
MI Events
Pierre Saint-Amant Memorial - November 17th
Jim Hurt Amateur - December 1st and 2nd
Guthrie McClain - December 8th
Northern California
I will be running USCF rated chess tournaments in Cupertino! Events for scholastic (K-12) players will be on Nov 25, Dec 22, Jan 12, and Feb 16. These will all be trophy prize quads. Please note the earlier start time of 2pm. Please check in before 1:45pm. I will also have an Adult tournament on Nov 24. These are octos, 3-SS. I expect some masters to play in this one. The players will be distributed into sections of 8 each. This allows a first prize of $100 for each section. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Albert Rich
USCF Tournament Director
USCF National Master
Nov. 10 California Classic Championship 4SS G/60. 3003 Scott Blvd., Santa Clara, CA 95054. EF: $39, Juniors $35. $16 more after 11/6, $2 Cal Chess Discount, $4 discount if combined with 10/6 Classic. $850 b/36: Open 200-100 U2000 50, Reserve: 200-100 U1600 50, U1400 50, U1200 50, U1000 50. Reg: Sat 9:00-9:30 AM, Rds: 10:00-12:00, lunch, 12:30-2:30 PM, 2:40-4:40 PM, 4:55-6:55 PM. Ent: Salman Azhar, 1551 Garvey Pl. San Jose, CA 95132. Payable to Salman Azhar or paypal to sazhar@yahoo.com. Info: http://www.bayareachess.com/. NS NC W albertjrich@yahoo.com
Regional
A Heritage Event!
An American Classic!
Nov. 22-25 43rd Annual American Open GPP: 100 California Southern

8SS, 40/2, SD/1. LAX Renaissance Hotel, 9620 Airport Bl, Los Angeles, CA 90045. $$40,000 b/o 400 entries, 50% of each prize gtd. In 6 sections (Unr. must play in Unr. or Open). Open: $4000-2000-1000-700-600-500, U2450/Unr. $1000-500, U2300/Unr. $600-300. U2200, U2000, U1800: Each $3200-1600-800-400. U1600: $2600-1300-650-350. U1400/Unr: $2200-1100-550, U1200 $1000-500 (not a separate section; U1200s also eligible for U1400 prizes), Unrated: $350-200 (Unrateds in this section eligible for these prizes only). EF: Open, U2200, U2000, U1800, U1600, U1400 $120 if rec’d by 11/20, $50 more for players rated under 2000 playing in Open, Unrated $40. All: $25 more at door. SCCF membership req’d, $14, $9 jrs under 19 includes Rank & File magazine, OSA. Elegant trophy each section winner. Special $1000 gtd. prizes in memory of Joyce Jillson: 100 (brilliancy), 100 (positional win by player 1700+), 100 (positional win by player U1700), 100 (known true gambit); biggest rating gain by established player rated over 1000: $400, 200 (latter female only). No checks at door – cash, credit card or money order only. 4-day schedule: Reg. closes noon 11/22, Rds. 12:30-7:30, 12:30-7:30, 10:30-5, 10-4:30. 3-day schedule: Reg. closes 11:30 a.m. 11/23, Rds. 12-2:30-5-8 (G/1), schedules merge in Rd 5 and compete for common prizes. Byes (2 max) with advance notice. CCA minimum ratings and TD discretion will be used to protect you from improperly rated players. November Rating Supplement used. Lectures and videos. HR: $99, (310) 337-2800, mention chess. Parking only $7. Info: NTD Randy Hough (626) 282-7412, randallhough@yahoo.com. Ent: American Open, PO Box 205, Monterey Park, CA 91754 or www.americanopen.org. NS, W, F.

Special guests are GMs Melik Khachian and Alex Yermolinsky and lecturer IM Jeremy Silman.

Dec 8, 2006 3rd Annual Igor Ivanov Memeorial. GPP 15

5SS, G/60, 1st round is G/45, St. George Chess Club Tournament, 354 E. 600 S. #301, St George, Utah 84770, JUST 120 MILES NORTH OF LAS VEGAS. EF:$35. GMs and IMs free entry. $150 appearance stipend for IMs and GMs; and free room and Lunch. Prize fund: $1200 absolutely guaranteed. $400-225-125, other distributed as class prizes Reg: Friday Dec. 7th, 6:30pm- 7:30pm, Saturday Dec. 9, 8:00am to 8:45am. Please register in advance if Possible. Rds: 1st round 9:00am. Next rounds ASAP. Byes must be submitted before the 2nd round for a half point. Award Ceremony: there will be an Awards Ceremony immediately after the last round. All cash prizes are unconditionally guaranteed. What to bring: chess clocks, pen. Please turn cell phones off. Ent: St. George Chess Center, the same address as given above. You can also register and have questions answered at: www.stgeorgechess.com or call Alan Crooks at1-888-GO-CHESS
Newsletter #371, 11/19/2007
"The ‘great game’ of chess is primarily psychological, a conflict between one trained intelligence and another, and not a mere collection of small mathematical theorems."
~G. H. Hardy – A Mathematician’s Apology
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Perelshteyn Leads Spice Tournament
3) US Championship News
4) US Olumpiad Qualification Regulations
5) International News
6) Rediscovered Pillsbury Games
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
Experts Jules Jelinek and Nicholas Nip defeated Masters Sam Shankland and Igor Margulis to emerge with the only perfect scores after four rounds of competition. This win puts the 9-year-old Nip's rating at around 2130 in his quest to become the youngest ever USCF rated master . He has about 6 months left to gain another 70 rating points.

MI members IMs David Pruess and Josh Friedel have 3 from 4 in a big open in Bad Wiessee, Germany. Top seed Alex Shabalov has 3.5.

Sam Shankland, Daniel Naroditsky and Louiza Livschitz fly to Antalya, Turkey, on Thursday for the World Youth Championships.

This Saturday the MI will be hosting the 7th Annual Pierre Saint-Amant- honoring the great player who served as French Consul in San Francisco during the Gold Rush.
2) Perelshteyn leads Spice tournament
Spice Cup 2007 (November 9-16) Lubbock, Texas

Standings after 6 rounds ( average rating 2527)

1.GM Eugene Perelshteyn 2536 USA 4.5
2-5. GM Julio Becerra 2568 USA, GM Imre Hera 2544 Hungary, GM Kamil Miton 2628 POL and GM Gilberto Hernandez 2536 Mexico 3.5
6.IM Manuel Leon Hoyos 2495 Mexico 3
7-8. IM Irina Krush 2475 USA and IM Dmitry Schneider 2502 USA 2.5
9. GM Boris Gulko 2571 USA 2
10. IM Blas Lugo 2411 USA 1.5

Go to www.monroi.com for live coverage
3) US Championship News
The USCF is proud to announce the 2008 Frank K. Berry U. S. Championship and the 2008 Frank K. Berry U. S. Women's Championship. These events will be held simultaneously on May 13th - 21st in Tulsa, Oklahoma. On the weekend following the initial event (Memorial Day Weekend), the two top finishers from each event will square off in a championship match finale in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

The US Championship Qualifier Open will be held on March 28th - 30th in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This tournament will have several qualifying positions into the Championship. More details will follow soon on all of the events.

The 2008 FKB US Championship and Women's Championship Organizing Committee consists of Frank Berry, Jim Berry, and Tom Braunlich. Special thanks to Frank Berry as the primary sponsor of the event. More details forthcoming.
4) US Olympiad Qualification Regulations
The following rules are presently in effect.

USCF REVISES OLYMPIAD QUALIFICATION RULES

The USCF Executive Board approved the following changes to Olympiad qualification rules at its November 5-6, 2006 meeting. The first paragraph applies to other invitational events as well, and is unchanged except for the revision date.

USCF INVITATIONAL EVENT REQUIREMENTS - (revised November 2005)

The following are the general requirements for USCF national and international invitations. Contact the USCF office for more details. Whenever possible, invitationsshall be issued several months prior to the scheduled beginning of the event. Eligibility for USCF invitations shall be based on several factors including: rating, age (if applicable), activity, and residency. Players must be USCF members in good standing at the time of invitation. Reasonable efforts shall be made to accommodate players with expired memberships who w