Archive for August 30th, 2009

The fully-annotated version of my 8th round STCC win over chessforlove has been uploaded.

replay
PGN (includes yesterday’s Singh-Pilosof)

Haim Pilosof clinched 1st place in the WCL section & a spot in the Finals with another error-free victory over JP Singh. That result, in turn, gave me a clear 2nd place finish.

The semi-finals wrap-up next week.

MANGION CLINCHES

Ian Mangion won 2 games to extend his lead to 3 points & clinched 1st place when David Pawlowski upset 11-0 Mark Kernighan.

I beat Mikhail Kruglyak’s Slav to run my unbeaten streak to 10 (+7-0=3) & move to within a half-point of 2nd.

Greg Tomkovich lost to Don Carrelli but is still within range of the 3rd spot.

Max Sherer, Joe Renna & Pat Mazzillo collected wins on the lower boards.

The event concludes next week.

Results

• Mann 0-1 Mangion
• Mangion 1-0 Wojcio
• Pawlowski 1-0 Kernighan
• Moldovan 1-0 Kruglyak
• Tomkovich 0-1 Carrelli
• Cole 0-1 Sherer
• Renna 1-0 Sturniolo
• Mazzillo 1-0 Shiffman

Standings

• 1. Mangion 14.0
• 2. Kernighan 11.0
• 3. Moldovan 10.5
• 4. Tomkovich 9.0
• 5. Carrelli 7.0
• = 6. Sherer, Mann 5.0
• 8. Renna 4.5
• 9. Pawlowski 4.0
• 10. Mazzillo 3.5
• 11. Shiffman 3.0
• = 12. Sturniolo, Cole 2.5
• = 14. Lewis, Wojcio, Agress, Sokolosky 2.0
• 18. McAuliffe 1.5
• 19. Zhu 1.0
• = 20. Hart, Kruglyak, Balint, Castillo, Ruales 0.0

Java replay
PGN
Crosstable

29-year-old Iranian GM Morteza Mahjoob spent months preparing for the record attempt, which until then stood at 360 simultaneous games, set earlier this year by Bulgarian GM Kiril Georgiev. Mahjoob broke it by taking on 500 opponents and scoring 397 wins, 90 draws, 13 loses (= 88.4%). The effort lasted over 18 hours and was closely followed by the Iranian TV. Big illustrated report with videos.

The Editor of Chess
Notes reverts to the curious subject of missed mates, focusing on instances where chess authors have overlooked a mate in one move. There is, for example, the
case of the hapless writer who blundered immediately after mentioning an identical
oversight by someone else. And what about the suggestion that even Alekhine missed a mate in one?

They played each other in five big World Championship matches, most famously in 1984, when their first encounter was abandoned after 48 games without a final decision. Now to mark the 25th anniversary Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov will play a 12-game match – four rapid and eight blitz games – from 21 to 24 September, 2009, in Valencia, Spain. Details and statistics.

It has been a good few weeks for the middle-aged. At the Staunton Memorial 44-year old Nigel Short top-scored, despite being the oldest player in the event. In Canada the oldest player, IM Jean Hebert, won the national championship – 31 years after winning it as the youngest. And in Amsterdam the experienced players continue to dominate. Report by Steve Giddins, pictures by John Nunn.