Archive for July 25th, 2009

NM David Grasso vs. IM Dean Ippolito

Dean Ippolito and Jesse Kraai report at the USCF site (see “Jesse Wins Futurity; Dean Wins 1st FIDE Event“) on the two recent New Jersey FIDE events: the 3rd New Jersey Futurity (won by GM Jesse Kraai) and the 1st Dean of Chess Academy / Transnet FIDE Invitational (won by IM Dean Ippolito, with NM David Grasso a close second). Both were held at the Dean of Chess Academy in Branchburg. Kevin E. Chen took some excellent photos of the FIDE event (see sample above), which have been posted at Diamondback and Jim West’s blogs. Jim West also offers quite a bit of coverage, annotating several of his games and posting photos by Steve Ferrero. Special thanks to IA Glenn Petersen, TD Aaron Kiedes, and the sponsors — including TransNet Corporation, Dean of Chess Academy, and Michael Khodarkovsky’s International Chess School — for making it possible to offer FIDE rating and norm opportunities in the Garden State.

Chess, as we all know, is a magnificent game. It is also a great promotional tool. Banks, insurance companies, law firms – everyone seems to use chess motifs these day. Even car companies, and even in the Ukraine. Earlier this month German auto manufacturer Daimler presented two new Mercedes models, and invited WGM Natalia Zhukova to star in the event. Pictorial report.

In 2006 a 15-year-old lad scored a double victory over Alexander Morozevich in the Biel Tournament – which in spite of this the Russian won. That was Magnus Carlsen. This year another chess prodigy, Fabiano Caruana, has defeated Morozevich in the first half of the double round robin. At halftime Ivanchuk and Morozevich lead, with 3.0/5 points. Report after round five.