Mechanics' Institute Chess Room Newsletter

by John Donaldson

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1) Mechanics Institute Chess Club News
2) Myron Johnson 1932-2010 by Kenn Fong
3) A Chess Poem by Dennis Fritzinger
4) Here and There
5) FIDE Transfer Rules
6) Upcoming Events

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Father and son, Hayk and Hovik Manvelyan, are tied for first with Dante Argishti with perfect scores after three rounds of the 52-player Winter Tuesday Night Marathon.

NM Michael Aigner writes at his blog ( fpawn.blogspot.com/) about the increasing strength of Bay Area juniors, many of whom are his current or former pupils.

The Calchess Scholastics ratings keep getting stronger and stronger. Ten players on the Top 20 for Age 12-17 are rated over 2000 and another 9 are over 1900; just 3-4 years ago, the 20th spot was well into the low 1800s. Incredibly, three ranked players are just 12 years old, with plenty of room to grow over the coming years.

Even with the graduation of IM Sam Shankland last June, there are still five active young Masters in the Bay Area.. Two recently broke 2400 USCF, earning the distinction of 'Senior Master' in addition to the FIDE Master title. Congratulations Danya and Steven! And Evan Sandberg is racing to break 2200, having gained an impressive 77 points in two months.

CalChess Top 20 for Age 12-17
(February 2010 rating and points gained in last two months)

1. FM Naroditsky, Danya 2425 50
2. FM Zierk, Steven 2417 30
3. NM Young, Gregory 2282 10
4. NM Liou, Yian 2211 -15
5. NM Agarwal, Rohan 2204 0
6. Sandberg, Evan 2162 77
7. Manvelyan, Hayk 2064 12
8. Shin, Kyle 2052 -14
9. Karas, Nicholas 2042 -3
10. Liou, Arthur 2010 -4
11. Lin, Michael 1974 0
12. Yeh, Andrew 1972 0
13. Bekker, Sam 1953 0
14. Liu, Daniel 1940 11
15. Xiao, Ted 1920 31
16. Kwok, James 1919 71
17. Chillakanti, Mukund 1907 0
18. Sun, Jerome 1907 0
19. Frei, Thadeus 1903 113
20. Kumar, Aditya 1884 37

Michael also wrote an excellent report (http://main.uschess.org/content/view/10076/571/) on the Golden State Open held January 15-18 at the Concord Hilton. This event featured a rare but most welcome performance by six-time US Champion Walter Browne.

Golden State Open winners

• Open: GM-elect Alex Lenderman at 6-1;
• 2-4th GM Walter Browne, GM Melik Khachiyan and Emory Tate 5
• U2400: IM Emory Tate at 5.0
• U2200: Oleg Shakhnazarov and Jim Geary at 5.5
• U2000: Michael Da Cruz at 6.0
• U1800: Vadim Smelansky, Edward Li, Andrew Mueckenberger and Evan Ye all at 5.5
• U1600: Joshua Cao and Joshua Percy at 6.0
• U1400: Abraham Choe at 6.0
• U1200: Gilbert Han and Evan Howard at 6.0
• U900: Trevor Stearman at 6.5

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Myron died Wednesday morning, January 13, at McClure convalescent hospital. He got very sick late last week and was hospitalized. He knew it was the end and refused food. He was lucid when his sister and brother-in-law visited him to say good-bye. He was 77. He is survived by his sister, Carol Wahlers, his ex-wife, and his ex-wife's son, Michael.

Myron suffered another stroke on Christmas Day. Originally, he was hospitalized after having a stroke and a heart attack in March. He received a pacemaker, which he said was functioning very well. I saw him last on January 4. He was lucid, and managed to get out a sentence.

In early December, he had a lot of energy and desire to speak and told me about going to U.S. Opens and Lone Pines. He told me how two Bay Area chess organizers -- both familiar names -- were working as assistants at one of the U.S. Opens and were fired for smoking pot.

He said he became an assistant at Lone Pine almost by accident. One year, a postal chess opponent of patron Louis Statham was on the staff. Unfortunately, he had very little tournament experience. One day there was an adjourned game, and the assistant took the sealed move envelope. When the game was scheduled to resume, the envelope could not be found. Soon after, the staff was short one assistant.

"I insinuated myself onto the staff" he said. Mind you, he had no evil intent; that's just Myron's sardonic humor. He started to help set up the boards and put them away after each round and straightened out the tournament hall. At the end of the tournament, Director Isaac Kashdan gave him an honorarium check. Myron politely refused it, but Kash insisted, and finally he accepted it. The following Winter, Myron wrote Kashdan saying he was coming back to Lone Pine again as a spectator and would be happy to help out. Kashdan enthusiastically accepted his offer and Myron was then a valued member of the staff for the remaining tournaments.

It was at Lone Pine where he met many of chess's elite. One year he stayed over an extra day, and "I was lucky enough to have lunch with [Danish grandmaster and a former candidate for the World Championship] Bent Larsen," who spoke with me about world history and chess history. He met two former World Champions, Tigran Petrosian and Vassily Smyslov, and about a third of the world's grandmasters at the time.

At Lone Pine, Myron met Arthur Dake, the retired chess master who lived in Portland and worked as a driver's license examiner for the state of Oregon. He and Dake formed a lifelong friendship that spanned two decades. Myron visited Dake at his home several times, and a few years ago attended a formal tribute reception for Dake given by a local chess organization.

Myron was a very loyal friend of mine for 42 years. I met him not long after I started playing tournament chess and attending tournaments as a fan and later as an organizer. He discovered that we lived in the same neighborhood near the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland, and from then on we'd bump into each other or he'd call and say, "be ready" and he would pick me up and we'd go together. Twice he gave me round-trip rides to Lone Pine. I don't think we ever played against each other as he was a strong "A" and I was never more than a high "C" player.

Myron was quite a loner. He had been married but subsequently was divorced and I never heard him talk about dating or having anyone special in his life, although he remained close friends with his former wife for over 40 years. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, a history major. He was an amateur historian with a strong interest in California history, and read every book written by Kevin Starr. On one of my visits, he talked at length about the circumstances leading into World War II, quoting a book he'd read last Spring. His sister told me he'd studied World War II quite thoroughly.

He also had an interest in genealogy, and discovered his great-grandfather's diary of 4 years in the Minnesota Reserves on the Union side of the Civil War. I remember contacting the Library of Congress on his behalf (it had not occurred to him, and I did it as a surprise) and he was very grateful to receive some photocopies of pages from reference books talking about his relative's platoon. His sister reported finding a four-foot stack of research notebooks and reference books. Myron had made voluminous notes and annotations referring to the diary. He'd researched the geography, weather, clothing, food, medical treatment, and other sociological details so the diary could be put into context.

I learned that Myron was close to his ex-wife's son from the time he was born. He taught Michael to play golf and play chess, and tutored him in history, Latin, and other subjects. They remained close, and into adulthood, Myron was a guest of Michael's family at every holiday. On Thanksgiving, they arranged for a special van to take Myron in his wheelchair to Michael's house, and they enjoyed dinner together. They had planned to be together again for Christmas Day; sadly, Myron suffered another stroke the day before.

I don't know what other jobs he had held but for the time I knew him, he drove a cab. There were times I'd be walking around in downtown Oakland, waiting for a bus and he would pull up in his cab and he'd say, "get in," and he'd drive me home.

He guarded his privacy very jealously. Only Thursday, I learned the name of his sister, Carol Wahlers, who lives in Portland. Myron was somewhat prickly. I remember dozens of phone calls where the phone would ring, it would be Myron. He'd give me some fact he'd gleaned from reading Jack Peter's chess column in the Los Angeles Times or some bit of chess news he had heard. Then he would very abruptly end the call. I'd have to call him back if I had any news or other supporting information.

Last August, I gave him a copy of Guthrie McClain and Bob Burger's book on Lone Pine, Grandmaster Chess, which had been reprinted. He wanted me to buy a copy for him, but I just gave him the one Dennis Fritzinger gave me. Although I did not have permission, I recovered the book from his room. It gave him a good deal of pleasure to have it. He had compiled some cross tables for Lone Pine and subsequently one of Kashdan's assistant directors, Myron Lieberman, used them to calculate estimated FIDE ratings.

Three years ago I moved from the house in Oakland I shared with my family and later just my Mother. The entire time I lived in that neighborhood, we'd bump into each other once a month or so on the street. It was very nice to see his familiar face. He always had just enough time to say hello and our in person meetings were much the same as the phone calls. I remember pursuing him on one or two occasions when he had said all he wanted to say, and then politely, but abruptly, said, "Goodbye," and then walked away.

Myron was born in 1932. He grew up in Escalon in central California, near Modesto. He learned chess from his father, who enjoyed the game although he never competed in tournaments or clubs. Myron belonged to a Swedish Lutheran church there, which celebrated its centennial this summer, and his sister flew in from Portland to attend. I never got a chance to meet her or his ex-wife.

Myron never really participated in the Internet age, although I know he would have loved it because he was always interested in chess columns. He read George Koltanowski's column in the San Francisco Chronicle every day. He read I. A. Horowitz's column in the Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday New York Times and later read every column by Robert Byrne. I know he also bought the Los Angeles Times every Sunday from the Grand Lake Smoke Shop -- where I also worked for while -- so he could read Isaac Kashdan's column. I know he was very happy when Jack Peters got the column.

He read Horowitz's column in the Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday New York Times and later read every column by Robert Byrne. I know he also bought the Los Angeles Times every Sunday from the Grand Lake Smoke Shop -- where I also worked for a while -- so he could read Isaac Kashdan's column. I know he was very happy when Jack Peters got the column. When I worked at DeLauer's News Agency in the early 80s, he would occasionally buy the London Times to read Raymond Keene's column. I know he also went to the library to read Kavalek's column in the Washington Post, which was discontinued at the end of the year. I wanted to tell him this Wednesday night, but did not get the chance.

Over the past few months, I read Myron a few of Dennis Fritzinger's poems. He got a good deal of pleasure from hearing them. When I saw him last, I played a voice mail recording of Dennis reciting Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening." It's a bit ironical, as for the last decade or so, Myron began to resemble Frost more and more, and in the end seemed to be his doppelganger.

Myron's death was not a great shock to me, as he had looked moribund on several visits, and about half the time was so weak he could not participate in the conversation beyond thanking me for the visit. But he was lucid right up to the end, and although discouraged by the recent stroke, was participating in physical therapy. He was somewhat grateful to hear that his friends and acquaintances cared, but I also got the sense that he didn't want me to tell everyone every detail. It was that Scandanavian sense of privacy and I apologize to him if I hurt his feelings.

Myron was a Korean War-era veteran. He was cremated on Thursday morning and his remains may be interred in Escalon or in a Veterans cemetery. His sister said there will be a memorial service in Escalon but no plans have been finalized.

His sister, Carol Wahlers, would be grateful if you'd share any remembrances of him.
AWahlers@mail2.cu-portland.edu
503-282-4286

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making a draw

sometimes
making a draw
can be just as satisfying
as winning.
the downs and ups,
arounds and arounds,
and back and forths
leading to a level position
can give a real feeling
of accomplishment,
if not relief.
this is usually only
the case if
your opponent is higher rated
than you are.
drawing a lower rated
opponent,
no matter how well fought the game,
can leave a bad taste
in the mouth
for days afterward

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2010 looks like it will be a very productive year for American GM Yasser Seirawan. Chess Base has released his five hour DVD covering 22 of his best games from 1975-1982 against the likes of Larsen, Gligoric, Kortchnoi, Tal, Timman, Karpov and others. This spring Everyman Chess will publish his 500-hundred-plus page memoir of battles against World Champions. To top it off Yasser is just finishing a non chess related novel that he has been working on for many years.

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis recently released the following press release.

Grandmaster Yury Shulman has agreed to put on a special lecture at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis on Sunday, January 31, at 2 p.m. The 2008 U.S. Chess Champion will put on a lecture at the club including game analysis and a special question-and-answer session.

Shulman recently returned from Bursa, Turkey, where helped the U.S. team earn a silver medal at the 2010 World Team Championship.

Tentative dates have been scheduled for the other representatives of the 2010 World Team Championship to put on special events at the CCSCSL.

They are as follows:

Robert Hess: February 6
Alexander Onischuk: February 20
Varuzhan Akobian: March 13
John Donaldson: March 27
Hikaru Nakamura: Saint Louis Open, April 10-11

Don't miss out on your chance to learn from the country's top players

Go to http://www.saintlouischessclub.org/ for more information.

GM Melikset Khachiyan, IM Andranik Matikozyan IM Enrico Sevillano and IM Puchen Wang shared first place with 4-1 scores in the Century West Open held January 8-10 in Los Angeles.

After the World Team Championship and the tournament in Reggio Emilia it makes sense to re-visit the Live Chess Rating website. Here is the updated world top-20 list after the World Team Championship and Reggio Emilia.

1. Carlsen 2810 0
2. Topalov 2805 0
3. Anand 2790 0
4. Kramnik 2788 0
5. Aronian 2782,3 +1,3 9
6. Mamedyarov 2759,5 +18,5 9
7. Grischuk 2756 +20 16
8. Wang Yue 2751,1 +2,1 1
9. Gelfand 2750,4 -10,6 7
10. Ivanchuk 2749 0
11. Svidler 2745,3 +1,3 12
12. Gashimov 2740,2 -18,8 7
13. Radjabov 2740,2 +7,2 7
14. Leko 2739 0
15. Ponomariov 2737 0
16. Eljanov 2735,4 -0,66 2
17. Vachier-Lagrave 2730,5 +0,5 4
18. Jakovenko 2725,1 -4,9 14
19. Nakamura 2722,6 +14,6 8
20. Navara 2722,6 +14,6 4

Dear Sir:

In your section on Bobby Fischer 1957-1958 in Newsletter #475, it was stated that Robert Fischer and Samuel Reshevsky were never Olympic team-mates. This is incorrect as both played for the US at Seigen 1970; Bobby on board one and Sammy on board two..

Thank you,
Nikolai Brunni
Honolulu, Hawaii

(Mr. Brunni is correct. Mea culpa!)

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Registrations, Transfers and Rules of Eligibility for Participation in FIDE Competitions

• 1. Registration under a Federation
• 1.1 A player may only be registered under one Federation at any one time.
• 1.2 A player who has dual citizenship must be registered under and only represent one Federation.
• 1.3 A player qualifies to be registered under a Federation:
• (a) if he or she is qualified by citizenship or naturalization in the country of that Federation; or
• (b) if he or she has resided for a continuous period of two years in a country of which he or she is not a citizen and, after thorough examination and clearance by the FIDE General Secretary, is approved for registration under the new Federation of his or her country of residence. This two-year period of residence shall be reduced to one year if the player has not participated in any FIDE competition (including continental individual and team events) for at least 5 consecutive years prior to the date of registration.
• (c) if FIDE has approved his or her transfer.
• 2. Transfers between the Federations
• 2.1 A player who wishes to change his Federation and register under a new Federation must apply through the new Federation to FIDE for a transfer. A notification fee of EUR250 is payable for all transfers.
• 2.2 Consent and Compensation Fee from New Federation
• 2.2.1 A player who qualifies to be registered under a new Federation may at any time transfer from one Federation to another Federation with the consent of the new Federation to which he wishes to transfer.
• 2.2.2 Provided the player does not have a continuous period of residence of two years, such consent shall be accompanied with a payment from the new Federation to the old Federation of a compensation fee (“Compensation Fee”) according to the following scale:
  
  FIDE Title/Rating Amount of Compensation Fee Payable
  GM rated 2700 and above: EUR 50,000
  GM rated 2600 to 2699: EUR 30,000
  GM rated below 2600: EUR 10,000
  IM rated above 2400: EUR 6,000
  IM rated 2400 or below: EUR 4,000
  FM or rated above 2300: EUR 2,000
  Women players rated above 2600: EUR 50,000
  Women players rated above 2500: EUR 20,000
  Women players rated above 2400: EUR 10,000
  Women players rated above 2300: EUR 5,000
  Women players rated above 2200: EUR 2,000
  WFM or rated above 2100: EUR 1,000
  
  The rating of the player shall be that as published on the last FIDE Rating List before the date of receipt by the FIDE Secretariat of notification of change of Federation.
• 2.2.3 The old Federation may at any time elect in writing addressed to FIDE and the new Federation to waive all or any part of any Compensation Fee(s) due to it from the new Federation.
• 2.3 All transfers shall be the responsibility of the new Federation and must be submitted to the FIDE Secretariat on the prescribed form in Annex A (“Notification of Change of Federation”), together with the relevant:
• (a) supporting documentary evidence of date and place of birth, citizenship and residence;
• (b) Notification Fee of EUR250;
• (c) Compensation Fee payable to the new Federation; and
• (d) Transfer Fee payable, if any.
• 2.4 Upon receipt of a Notification of Change of Federation that is in satisfactory compliance with 2.2 above, FIDE shall inform the old Federation and publish such notification on the FIDE website. If no objection is received in writing by FIDE within three months from the date of publication on its website, the notification of change of Federation shall be deemed approved.
• 2.5 Transfers with Payment of Transfer Fees
  
  A Federation may apply to FIDE to transfer a player before the stated period of residency in 1.3 if that player provides supporting evidence together with payment of a transfer fee (“Transfer Fee”) according to the following scale:
  
  FIDE Title/Rating Residence in new Federation for a period between 0 to 12 months / 13 to 24 months
  GM: EUR 5,000 / EUR 3,500
  IM: EUR 2,000 / EUR 1,500
  FM or rated above 2300: EUR 1,000 / EUR 750
  WGM: EUR 2,000 / EUR 1,500
  WIM: EUR 1,000 / EUR 750
  WFM or rated above 2100: EUR 500 / EUR 300
  Others: EUR 500 / EUR 300
  
  The rating of the player shall be that as published on the last FIDE Rating List before the date of receipt by the FIDE Secretariat of notification of change of Federation.
• 2.6 The date of commencement of any period of residence shall be the day after the date of receipt by the FIDE Secretariat of notification of change of Federation.
• 2.7 Any protest submitted to the FIDE Secretariat regarding transfers must be accompanied with a protest fee of EUR 500, which shall be refundable, if the protest is upheld. The Presidential Board shall decide upon all protests.
• 3. Entries and Eligibility for Participation in Official FIDE Competitions
• 3.1 The rules in this section on entries for participation in official FIDE competitions and the eligibility of players to represent a Federation shall apply to all official FIDE competitions at world level, including all Continental events that are qualifying competitions for World events.
• 3.2 Entries
• 3.2.1 All entries for participation in official FIDE individual and team competitions shall be made by the respective Federations only.
• 3.2.2 Players with personal right of entry (such as FIDE rating or qualification from another event) or nominees (such as by the President or Organiser) may, in the absence of an entry by the Federation, enter himself directly into such competition, provided that the player shall be personally liable for any financial obligations to FIDE in respect of such entry.
• 3.3 Eligibility
• 3.3.1 A player is eligible to participate in official FIDE competitions and qualifies to represent a Federation at any time only if he or she is registered under that Federation.
• 4. Penalties
• 4.1 The penalties in this section shall be imposed if it is found that a player has played for a Federation in an official FIDE competition in breach of the rules in 3.3 above.
• 4.2 Penalties shall be imposed as follow:
• (a) Individual competitions: The results of the offending player shall be annulled and his opponents shall be awarded the maximum score. The offending player also loses his right to any qualification as well as to claim any prize(s).
• (b) Team competitions: The results of the matches in which the offending player has played shall be annulled and the opposing teams shall be awarded the maximum score. The offending team also loses the right to any qualification as well as to claim any prize(s).
• 4.3 In 4.2(a) and (b) above, the results shall be annulled, but the games played shall continue to be rated. In addition, the results of the games played are valid for title applications only for the opponents of the offending player.
• 4.4 The Federation which registered the offending player shall be fined a penalty fee of EUR5,000 for each competition that the player was in breach of the rules in 3.3.
• 5. These regulations shall apply with effect from 1st July 2010

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