Ari Minkov won a pawn-up Knight ending against Joe Renna on Sunday & leads NM Mark Kernighan by 0.55 points entering the final round.
For full standings & 4th round links, please visit the Checkmate CC site.
Thanks to TD Bob Sherry for his reports & game submission.
The new ChessBase Magazine presents the greatest chess tournament of the year
so far, Wijk an Zee, in a worthy fashion: six of the main protagonists (tournament
winner Carlsen, Anand, Kramnik, Shirov, Short, and Van Wely) have commented
on their best games, some even in video or audio format. A total of 13 up-to-date
openings articles on the DVD once again enforce your repertoire with new ideas
and tricks. Order CBM
135 now, or read this preview.
Every book on rook endings tells us that positions with
pawns on the same wing are usually drawn, even when one side has
an extra pawn. In Nice, Magnus Carlsen demonstrated that even with an equal number
of pawns (four against four on the kingside) there are still plenty of practical chances,
especially in a rapid game. Playchess spectators were enthralled to see how a hopelessly drawn
endgame turned in the hands of the Norwegian into a winning position. In his analysis for ChessBase Magazine Online, Karsten
Müller reveals to you exactly where Carlsen’s opponent Ponomariov left the path
which led to a draw.
USCF online has posted some of IM-elect Mackenzie (”Mac”) Molner’s “Macnificent Games” from the recent 25th North American Masters tournament, March 20-24th in Skokie, IL (alongside the World Amateur Championship). The former New Jersey stand-out and current NYU student tied for first with GM Ben Finegold, securing both his final IM norm and first GM norm. His games are worth a look, including an interesting example of the Gunsberg Variation of the Two Knights as White (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Bd3!?)
I have added 2 Checkmate Championship games to my PGN Archive for 2010 :
Updated standings & 4th round replay + zip to follow.
Ken Chieu, Don Carrelli & Ted Mann won the Kenilworth Quads #3 held March 11-25th. Chieu’s victory moves him close to the magic 2200 level.
Final Standings
& 3rd Round Results
Section 1
1. Ken Chieu (2180) 2.5
2. NM Mark Kernighan (2200) 1.5
3. Arthur Macaspac (2131) 1.0
3. Ari Minkov (1968) 1.0
3/25
Kernighan 0-1 Chieu
Minkov +- Macaspac (colors not chosen)
Section 2
1. Don Carrelli (1866) 3.0
2. Ian Mangion (1923) 1.0
2. Glen Hart (1707) 1.0
2. Joe Demetrick (1660) 1.0
3/25
Mangion 0-1 Carrelli
Demetrick 0-1 Hart
Section 3
1. Ted Mann (1515) 3.0
2. Lou Sturniolo (1507) 2.0
2. Gordon Agress (1331) 2.0
4. Dan Komunicky (1481) 1.0
4. Bert Shiffman (1315) 1.0
5. Jim Cole (1133) 0.0
3/25
Agress 0-1 Mann
Sturniolo +- Komunicky
Shiffman 1-0 Cole
This is not just any event – it took place on the campus grounds of the University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica, nestled in a lush valley, one of the most scenic areas in Greater Kingston. On the free day participants could typically scramble up waterfalls or swim with dolphins. The chess action was dominated by Uzbek GM Timur Gareyev from the University of Texas. Big pictorial report.
The world economic crisis is being felt in chess. In Bulgaria the the annual MTel tournament has been cancelled this year, and the very popular Mainz Chess Classic has been reduced to a three-day simul and open. Still, two world champions are part of the former, and a very large elite field of GMs is expected to play in the latter, which carries a prize fund of €30,000. Press release.
Thinking about these issues, I was naturally intrigued by Michael Brick’s “Etymologist on a word quest, from ‘Big Apple’ to ‘Dallas’” (The Dallas Morning News, March 28, 2010), which tells the story of amateur word sleuth and chess master Barry Popik, best known for tracing the origins of the term “Big Apple” to describe New York City. The story of Popik’s quest to solve the mystery of “The Big Apple” is well told — beginning with his motives for taking it up:
[Popik thought:] “I’ll answer the question about the Big Apple; it’s the most asked question at the New York Public Library. People asked about it because there wasn’t an answer – this was before the Internet – and I’ll answer it and the mayor will give me a gold medal.”
After a considerable amount of squinting into microfilm, Popik tracked the term far beyond its use as a tourism slogan in the 1970s, all the way to 1920s horse racing writer John J. Fitz Gerald, who had likely appropriated it from New Orleans stable hands.
He scoured reports from the winter racing season, a feat of diligence at which mainstream researchers would later marvel. His work, which would eventually become grist for an eight-part series on his Web site (one part is called “1970s-present: False Etymologies”), gained the attention of prominent lexicographers.
“The Big Apple racing circuit had meant ‘the big time,’ the place where the big money was to be won,” Popik wrote. “Horses love apples, and apples were widely regarded as the mythical king of fruit.”
Respectful citations followed, but no gold medal.
Although Vassily Vassilievich Smyslov, who died last Saturday, was best known as a chess player and World Champion, he had a great love for music. “My study of chess was accompanied by a strong attraction to music,” he wrote, “and it was probably thanks to this that from childhood I became accustomed to thinking of chess as an art.” Listen to Smyslov sing Stenka Razin.
Former World Chess Champion Vasily Smyslov died Friday night at the Moscow hospital, having turned 89 on March 24th. There is a report and obituary at ChessBase and there will likely be many remembrances over the coming weeks. Though he held the world title for only a short time (1957-1958), he was the best player in the world throughout the 1950s, during which he played a series of closely contested championship matches with Mikhail Botvinnik. His best and most famous result was finishing first (two points ahead of the field!) at Zurich 1953, considered by many one of the greatest chess tournaments of all time and made immortal by David Bronstein’s widely admired book. His games have a positional character rather like that of Vladimir Kramnik today (who admired his play) and he often proved himself the Endgame Virtuoso, as demonstrated in his great book by that title. His chess career continued to late in his life as he participated in the 1980s candidates matches (losing only to Kasparov in a match at Vilnius 1984), won the first senior championship in 1991, and last played in the Ladies vs Veterans tournaments through 2001. I have looked closely at several of his late games in my series on A Black Fianchetto System in the Open Games and was very impressed by his play at such an advanced age.
“The Magic of Chess Tactics” is a unique collection of positions and game fragments
by German trainer Claus Dieter Meyer. Late last year a DVD was released, along with
GM Karsten Müller, with more than three hours of video presentation.
Louis Lima from chesscafe.com
thoroughly tested it and found a new favourite among his Fritz
Trainer DVDs. Buy
it now or read his review.
He was “one of the great chess geniuses of the twentieth century” (Boris Spassky). Vasily Vasiliyevich Smyslov was born on March 24, 1921, auditioned as a baritone singer at the Bolshoi Theatre before he took up chess as a full-time career. In 1957 he beat Botvinnik in the world championship match and held the title for a year. Smyslov died in the night to Saturday March 27, 2010. In memoriam.
Last week GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili, President of the Georgian Chess Federation and Vice President of FIDE, turned fifty. Many dignitaries and old friends turned up for the occasion in the capital Tbilisi – amongst them FIDE President Ilyumzhinov and former World Champion and buddy Garry Kasparov. We bring you a big pictorial report of the birthday celebrations.
Last week GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili, President of the Georgian Chess Federation and Vice President of FIDE, turned fifty. Many dignitaries and old friends turned up for the occasion in the capital Tiblisi – amongst them FIDE President Ilyumzhinov and former World Champion and buddy Garry Kasparov. We bring you a big pictorial report of the birthday celebrations.
Last week GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili, President of the Georgian Chess Federation and Vice President of FIDE, turned fifty. Many dignitaries and old friends turned up for the occasion in the capital Tiblisi – amongst them FIDE President Ilyumzhinov and former World Champion and buddy Garry Kasparov. We bring you a big pictorial report of the birthday celebrations.
Two days ago we published a statement by the Turkish Chess Federation supporting the candidacy of the President of FIDE Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is seeking re-election, during the General Assembly in Khanty-Mansiysk this September, for the term 2010-2014. Four FIDE Continental Presidents have joined the TCF in declaring support for the incumbent. Public statements.
The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament has ended in an overall victory for Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and Ukraine’s Vasily Ivanchuk. Ivanchuk caught up with the leading Carlsen in the final round thanks to a 1½-½ victory over Boris Gelfand, while Magnus shared the points with Alexander Grischuk with one win apiece. Big pictorial report with some really cool Google imagery of Nice.
Hamilton defeated Staten Island 3-1 last night & clinched the 2009-10 Garden State Chess League Championship.
… usually is of enormous power. In this endgame, however, its range there is pretty ’short’. White’s last move was 40.g5-g6, whereupon Black had to evaluate the consequences of 40…Nxg6 41.Rxd7 Nh4+ 42.Kg3 Nxf3 43.Kxf3 Kf8. What do you think about it?
A) good idea, Black traps the rook on d7;
B) a return sac leads to equal chances;
C) White wins.
The solution is here,
but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.
During the 39th Chess Olympiad, which takes place in September in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia, the elections for FIDE President will be held. Two candidates are running: the incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov seeking reelection, and a challenger, the twelfth World Champion Anatoly Karpov. The Turkish Chess Federation has announced its support for the former. Press release.
In round ten Magnus Carlsen reclaimed first place in the overall standings with a 2-0 win over Ruslan Ponomariov. With one round and two games to go, the Norwegian grandmaster is half a point ahead of Vasily Ivanchuk and one and a half points ahead of Vladimir Kramnik. Ivanchuk and Kramnik drew their mini-match today after two hard-fought games. Round ten report.
Very sad news from Russia: the talented young player Elena Tairova, born on August 28 1991, has died at the age of just 18. Elena became a WGM at just 14 years of age, and a full IM the following year. She won a succession of European and World girls’ junior titles, and in 2006 was the Russian women’s under-20 champion. We offer our deepest
condolences to her family and friends.