Archive for March 15th, 2010

Carlsen: What is important is that I have a life beyond chess.

SPIEGEL: Why?

Carlsen: Chess should not become an obsession. Otherwise there’s a danger that you will slide off into a parallel world, that you lose your sense of reality, get lost in the infinite cosmos of the game. You become crazy. I make sure that I have enough time between tournaments to go home in order to do other things. I like hiking and skiing, and I play football in a club.

    SPIEGEL: Do you have a favourite club?

Carlsen: Real Madrid, the royals.

    SPIEGEL: Many football players use music to get in the mood before a game. Do you do that too before sitting down in front of the board?

Carlsen: Oh, yes. If I am feeling gloomy before a game, I listen to gloomy music.

    SPIEGEL: Such as?

Carlsen: You probably won’t know it, a song by Lil Jon. A silly rap song, but it does me good, I loosen up. I listen to music on the Internet, but don`t download any songs. It’s all totally legal. Many people may find that boring, but I think it is important.

Here is the Kenilworth Chess Club’s revised calendar for April:

April 1 – Garden State League : Hamilton-Kortchnois & Kramniks-Karpovs
April 8 – ChessBase Tutorial with John Moldovan. (Admission fee : TBA)
April 15 – Lecture by IM Marc Esserman on the Smith-Morra Gambit. ($10)
April 22 – Kenilworth Consultation Game #5, week 1
April 29 – Kenilworth Consultation Game #5, week 2

The Kenilworth Gauntlet knock-out tourney has been postponed. There should be room for it in September.

Ari Minkov & Mark Kernighan played to a draw & are tied for 1st with 1.5/2.

Ken Chieu & Don Carrelli were ejected for not late-registering via e-mail. I forfeited to the TD, in protest, & withdrew.

For other results & the full standings, see the Checkmate CC site. No game scores from this round, as yet.

It’s doubtful I’ll be able to cover the rest of the event, as I may play in the Only NJ Championship next weekend & will be directing at Chess Mates when they open.

On March 20th and 21st, the Dean Of Chess Academy (3150 U.S. Route 22 West in Branchburg, NJ) will be hosting the First “Only New Jersey” Championship (see USCF for official details). You can enter online at http://entryfeesrus.com or by mail, sending checks (payable to NJSCF) to Ken Thomas, 115 West Moore Street, Hackettstown, NJ 07840-2233 or by making an on-site cash payment from 8:00-9:45 a.m. on Saturday 3/20.  Due to space limitations, only the first 100 paid entries (total, regardless of section) will get to play.  The Masters-Experts (rated 2000 or higher) is a 4 Round Swiss, 40 moves/120, SD/60, $70 entry (half price for former NJ State champs).  Prizes : $500-300-200-100 (for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th), $100 to Top Expert, plus trophies to 1st, 2nd, 3rd & Top Expert.  Rounds : Saturday 3/20 @ 10 a.m. & 4:30 p.m., Sunday 3/21 @ 9 a.m. & 4 p.m.  Entries so far include current NJ champ Dean Ippolito, former champ Steve Stoyko, Jim West, and Anna Matlin.

Class A-B (For those rated 1600-1999) and Class C (For those U1600 & unrated) are 5 Round Swisses, G/100, with $65 entry fee.  Rounds at Saturday 3/20 @ 10 a.m., 2 p.m. & 6 p.m., Sunday 3/21 @ 11 a.m. & 3 p.m.

For more information, contact Ken (the Tournament Director), at acn@goes.com or (908)763-6468.

The German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel is the largest and most influential in Europe. At irregular intervals it turns its spotlight on chess. Today’s edition has an unprecedented three-page interview with the world’s number one player, with questions regarding general intelligence, chess talent, work ethics and his chess trainer Garry Kasparov. Interesting new insights.

The youngest and oldest players took painful 0-2 defeats on the first day in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament. On the second day both bounced back with 2-0 wins. Magnus Carlsen demolished defending champion Levon Aronian, Gelfand fared similarly with Azeri GM Vugar Gashimov. Vasily Ivanchuk and Ruslan Ponomariov are in the lead in the overall standings with 3.0/4. Round two report.