Tanuj Leads at National Elementary Championships

First grader Tanuj Vasudeva leads a small delegation of CalChess members attending the Bert Lerner National Elementary Championships this weekend. The biggest annual USCF rated tournament in the country drew 2100 players and an even larger number of parents and coaches to Pittsburgh. The competitors range from unrateds to about a dozen class A players and even one expert, all in kindergarten through 6th grades.

After four rounds, Tanuj maintains a perfect score in the K-1 division. Rated 1545 after recent tournaments, he is by far the top seed in his section--although I'm not sure that ratings really mean much among players so young. Kyle Shin has 3.5 in the K-5 section. Three more local kids have 3.0 out of 4: Alisha Chawla (K-1), Allan Beilin (K-3) and Armaan Kalyanpur (K-3). Good luck to all of our local representatives!

Update on Sunday night: Tanuj won tonight and still leads with 5.0/5 in the K-1 section. Likewise, Kyle won and, thanks to draws on all of the top boards, he now shares first place with ten other players at 4.5/5 in the K-5 section. Unfortunately, Armaan drew while Allan and Alisha both lost, all to much lower rated opponents. This tournament is proving to be quite a challenge for these young kids. Good luck to all in Sunday's final two rounds!

Special Prizes for CalChess Scholastics!

Thanks to the generosity of three sponsors, the winners at the CalChess Scholastics will receive special prizes in addition to a big trophy. In the event of a tie, these prizes will be awarded using the standard computer tiebreaks and will not be shared. Check out the following list:

• K section: 1st = 25 BayAreaChess.com dollars
  
• 1-3 Open: 1st = 50 BayAreaChess.com dollars
  
• 4-5 Open: 1st = 50 BayAreaChess.com dollars
  
• 4-6 Open: 1st = $50 Vega merchandise prize; 2nd and 3rd = 1 year ICC each
  
• 7-8 Open: 1st = $50 Vega merchandise prize; 2nd and 3rd = 1 year ICC each
• 9-12 Open: top 2 players who don't qualify for Denker = 1 year ICC each
• All Junior Varsity, Novice and Unrated sections: 1st = 25 BayAreaChess.com dollars
  

Spasibo to the Vega Capital Group for both their inspiration and financial support. Further thanks to BayAreaChess.com and the Internet Chess Club for their contributions to the biggest and best annual USCF rated tournament in the western half of the country!

Danya Undefeated in Two Simuls

In addition to throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game, World U12 Champion FM Danya Naroditsky recently gave a pair of simultaneous exhibitions. One occurred prior to the baseball game in the Oakland A's clubhouse, when Danya faced pitchers Andrew Brown and Huston Street repeatedly, beating both about a half dozen times within 30 minutes. The second simul (see photos below) was a fundraiser at the prestigious Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, which both Danya and his older brother Alan attend. Danya won all 16 games without difficulty. Thanks to blog readers and proud parents Vladimir Naroditsky and Carl Moy for sending these photos to me.

Naroditsky Takes the Mound

In recognition of his success at the World Youth Chess Festival, FM Danya Naroditsky took the mound on April 23 to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the baseball game between the Minnesota Twins and the Oakland A's. He was the guest of A's relief pitchers Andrew Brown and Huston Street, both who casually play chess. By the way, the home team won the game 3-0 with Street picking up the save.

Thanks for All of the Birthday Wishes!

Thank you to all my friends, students, parents and fans who wished me a Happy Birthday. I turned 34 today, to the surprise of at least two of my students who thought I was 20-something. My day was actually pretty low key except for a dinner with beer, but mom prepared a tasty strawberry cake with candles.

From the weird statistics department: I know that (at least) two of my chess students also were born on May 6! Others who share today's birthday include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, San Francisco Giants baseball star Willie Mays, New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul, Academy Award winning actor and producer George Clooney and pioneering psychologist Sigmund Freud.

Advance Entries for CalChess Scholastics (May 17-18)

801 players!
(as of midnight on May 6)
Check the advance entries on the official website.

Can we break the record of 1319 players? Contact your chess playing friends at school or work and tell the kids to attend the biggest rated chess tournament west of the Continental Divide!

Top players: High School --- Junior High --- Elementary --- Primary

GM Khachiyan Teaches Master Class at Mechanics' Institute

Grandmaster Melik Khachiyan, ranked #2 in California at 2566 USCF, flew north from his home base in Beverly Hills to teach a master class at the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club on Saturday, May 3. A native of the small country of Armenia, he studied under the tutelage of the 9th World Chess Champion Tigran Petrosian. Khachiyan has since progressed to becoming a successful chess teacher himself and he can include the super-GM Levon Aronian, now ranked #6 in the world, among his many pupils.

Saturday's three hour lecture in San Francisco was the latest in a series of training sessions for the Bay Area's top juniors. Khachiyan focused on the difficult skill of defense for the first half of the class. He demonstrated several tactical tricks to try to change the course of an inferior game, such as this exchange sacrifice on move 16 against GM Eugene Perelshteyn at the 2006 American Open (he shared first place). While entertaining the audience with occassional humor (see photo at right), the Grandmaster drilled home general principles: (1) look for combinations (sacrifices and other surprise moves) to activate your pieces and (2) when you see a serious threat, stop it now! In the second half of the session, Khachiyan shared his recommendations in a variety of openings, including the French defense, the Sveshnikov variation and the (semi-)Slav defense. He had strong opinions about nearly any opening that the audience could suggest.

By offering master classes such as this one and the March session taught by GM Gregory Kaidanov, the Mechanics' Institute seeks to develop a crop of talented young chess players from the Bay Area who can compete with the best of the nation and perhaps even the world. (Any readers who wish to support future classes should contact Chess Room director IM John Donaldson.) The invited students included four players ranked in the top 10 of the nation for their age and three more in the top 30. Regretably, some other invitees could not attend due to academic conflicts (SAT and AP exams).

• NM Gregory Young, 13, 2213
• NM Nicholas Nip, 10, 2207
• Steven Zierk, 14, 2147
• Yian Liou, 10, 1956
  
• Evan Sandberg, 15, 1942
• Adam Goldberg, 13, 1901
• Kyle Shin, 10, 1824
  

(Thanks to Yian Liou's parents, Chiiwen and Chi-Ju, for sharing these candid photographs. Front row: Kyle. Second row from left to right: Evan, Yian, Steven, Adam and Nicholas. Not pictured: Gregory.)

US Championship Fantasy Contest

(Defending US Champion GM Alexander Shabalov smiles for the camera.)

The 2008 Frank K. Berry US Championship begins next Tuesday, May 13 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A field of 24 players (plus 10 women) was selected either by rating, by qualification or by wild card. As the MonRoi website eloquently points out, the tournament "dates back to 1845 and includes among its victors such famous champions of the past as Morphy, Pillsbury, Marshall, Reshevsky and the late Bobby Fischer."

For the second year, Chess Life Online hosts an exciting Fantasy Contest to predict the best team of seven players in the US Championship (men) and US Women's Championship. Each fantasy team includes exactly seven distinct players of average rating at most 2555. To ensure fair comparisons between the men's and women's tournaments, 278 points were added to the rating of each lady. Your score for each of the nine rounds is the sum of the results of all seven players on your team. Prizes include a MonRoi Personal Chess Manager, a board signed by the players, USCF membership extensions and daily books!

Northern Californians may wish to cheer for the local delegation: IM Josh Friedel, IM David Pruess, NM Sam Shankland and WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs. Some readers still consider GM Alex Yermolinsky to be a member of the home team even though he moved to South Dakota. If you choose these five players, your last two team members may average up to 2708. Of course, you may predict that Josh will once again lose with R+K vs N+K or that Shanky may lose focus amongst so many women--feel free to be creative with your team choices! I have picked my lineup. Have you? Login now to start!

National Master Certificate

In a small ceremony on Saturday at the Mechanics' Institute, 10 year old Nicholas Nip received an official certificate from the US Chess Federation proclaiming him as a National Master. No doubt that many of us vividly recall the scene in the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer when coach Bruce Pandolfini pulled out copies of dozens of fake master certificates from his briefcase. No, this document was the Real Thing, signed by USCF officials! Chess Room director IM John Donaldson (photo on right) presented this prestigious award to San Francisco's and the nation's youngest master. Congratulations Nicholas!

CalChess Scholastics - High School

With NM Sam Shankland busy playing at the US Championship in Oklahoma at the same time, the defending champion must be a clear favorite for first place. However, this tournament serves as the Northern California qualifier for the Denker Invitational. Interestingly, two of the top three rated players are ineligible due to age or residency, which opens the chances to a competitive group of a half dozen experts, several who have proved themselves at the national level. Note: The other two masters, Gregory Young and Nicholas Nip, are both unlikely to play. :-(

1	FM Naroditsky, Danya	2307	CRYSTA
2	Zierk, Steven C	2145	LOSGAT
3	Erdos, Boglarka	2121	HUNGARY
4	Konda, Adarsh	2117	MSJHS
5	Agarwal, Rohan	2113	IRVING
6	Chock, David	2098	SARATO
7	Zhong, Michael	2086	LOSALT
8	Naroditsky, Alan	2049	CRYSTA
9	Livschitz, Louiza	1992	not entered
10	Young, Jeff A	1978	SARATO
11	Sandberg, Evan M	1955	GATEWY
12	Sathe, Rohan S	1939	LYNBRO
13	Kumar, Jay	1902	not entered
14	Sun, Charles	1901	SARATO
15	Belanoff, Ted	1886	MIDDLE
16	Manvelyan, Hayk	1880	HOPKIN
17	Richter, Paul	1879	CUPERH
18	Quan, Daniel	1874	MONTEV
19	Shah, Arnav S	1860	GUNN
20	Garg, Aaron	1813	SARATO
other
	Karas, Nicholas	1795	RIOAME
	Mohan, Vijay M	1777	MITTY
	Lin, Michael	1777	not entered
	Shu, Marvin	1768	SARATO
	Tsai, Chris	1725	not entered
	Law, Kenneth	1664	LYNBRO
	Liu, Rebekah	1656	GUNN
	Kumar, Avinash	1552	SARATO
	Lun, Alex	1547	SARATO
	Basu, Rik	1343	LOSGAT
	Aggarwal, Amol	1228	SARATO

Please check the official website for all of the entries. I will try to update this list when I have new information about who is playing and in what section.

CalChess Scholastics - Junior High

Any of the top six players appears to have at least a 10% chance each of winning the state title. Within that elite group, it will come down to daily performance and luck. I teach three of the top four--and the one whom I don't teach (Isaac) lives in my city! Good luck to all! May the best young man win.

1	Goldberg, Adam	1901	HOMESC
2	Bekker, Sam	1901	BOWDIT
3	Zhang, Isaac	1897	HOLMES
4	Liou, Arthur	1873	not entered
5	Chillakanti, Mukund	1868	CHAL-A
6	Yeh, Andrew	1823	CHAL-S
7	Chen, Andrew	1727	WINDEM
8	Wu, Christopher Y	1712	KENNED
9	Gadangi, Puneeth	1680	STMAR
10	Wai, Brian A	1674	REDWOD
11	Livschitz, Jennifer	1656	not entered
12	Xiao, Ted	1652	HOLMES
13	Bhat, Samyukta	1651	THORNT
14	Desirazu, Rahul	1650	HARKER
15	Vora, Partha M	1649	HARKER
16	Tian, Vincent	1588	HOPKIN
17	Garbe, Kevin	1587	REDWOD
18	Nukala, Harsha	1546	KENNED
19	Li, Andrew	1541	not entered
20	Ye, Evan	1540	REDWOD
other
	Shankar, Sankash	1404	REDWOD

Please check the official website for all of the entries. I will try to update this list when I have new information about who is playing and in what section.

CalChess Scholastics - Elementary

The field will be split up into two sections, the 4-5 and the slight stronger 4-6. In 4-6, it is hard for me to bet against the top seed, especially when he's my own student! However, James and Neel have the necessary experience to do well in this kind of tournament.

1	Liou, Yian	1950	ALAMO
2	Kwok, James G	1760	MSJE
3	Apte, Neel	1616	LINCOL
4	Azhar, Aamir Ali	1611	GRAND
5	Hao, Steven	1591	MILLER
6	Jangle, Hemang J	1498	MSJE
7	Gonda III, Tom	1482	EDNA
8	Giridharan, Arun	1477	MILLER
9	Chen, Eric L	1452	JENSEN
10	Wang, Wilson	1432	DUVEN

In 4-5, again I have a tough time betting against the top seed, even when he's not my student. Since I have only one current student in this section, almost anything can happen.

1	Shin, Kyle	1807	SFFREI
2	Zheng, Daniel K	1676	GARDEN
3	Zhu, Qijie [Jack]	1576	MARSHA
4	Ho, Daniel	1474	WEIBEL
5	Mohideen, Muham	1417	GRAND
6	Zhu, Jessica	1417	not entered
7	Luo, Anthony	1406	ALMOND
8	Liu, Daniel	1388	BARRON
9	Ganesh, Vikram	1340	FOREST
10	Lai, Clarence	1340	not entered

Please check the official website for all of the entries. I will try to update this list when I have new information about who is playing and in what section.

CalChess Scholastics - Primary

Can you say Tanuj? This section looks quite scary with the top four players all ranked in the top 20 of the nation for age 7&under or 8. We're looking at the future of the CalChess Scholastics right here. I'm just glad that I don't have to play in this section!

1	Vasudeva, Tanuj	1576	not entered
2	Viswanadha, Kesav	1512	not entered
3	Beilin, Allan	1490	NORTST
4	Panchanatham, Vig	1444	MURDOC
5	Chow, Aaron	1376	LAJOLL
6	Chow, Darren	1306	LAJOLL
7	Wheeler, Cameron	1280	REGNAR
8	Kong, Alvin	1240	MSJE
9	Tang, Kevin M	1216	CHERRY
10	Lo, Chester Elias	1209	WEIBEL

Please check the official website for all of the entries. I will try to update this list when I have new information about who is playing and in what section.

Chess Tactics Server

(Black to move and mate. Position from Inarkiev vs Kamsky, FIDE Grand Prix in Baku.)

The internet has so many cool websites that it is impossible to know each one. Sometimes you stumble on a great new site either by luck or upon another person's advice. When my round 4 opponent last Saturday suggested that I check out www.chesstempo.com, I was a bit puzzled. When I checked it out later, I was stunned. This chess tactics website is nearly everything that I could have dreamed of! Thanks to Alvin Pulley for this tip.

This Chess Tactics Server allows users to solve tactics puzzles and receive a rating. The standard rating requires only accuracy (get the correct solution) while the blitz rating requires accuracy plus speed (lose points if you take too long). The interface is quite easy to use. Best of all, registering for this exciting website is free!

Advantages:

1. Over 25,000 problems! You won't run out anytime soon.
2. A new problem pops up automatically (click on "last problem for session" to stop).
3. Wide variety of puzzles so that you won't get bored.
4. Harder problems have a higher rating and you get more points for solving.
5. All problems are from real games.
6. Some positions are easy (e.g. 1-movers) but the correct move is difficult to spot.
   
7. Can view your solving history and go back to problems you missed.

Disadvantages:

1. A few problems are dumb (e.g. a piece is hanging).
2. It is frustrating when you find an easily winning move, but there is an equal or better one (e.g. winning queen instead of checkmate or two different mates in 2).
3. There is no partial credit if you get the first move but mess up in the full variation.
   
4. Standard ratings are much lower than USCF (I'm about 1800).
5. Blitz ratings are higher than USCF (I'm about 2400).
6. Can't search the database for specific types of tactics.

I recommend this site to all of my students as well as other chess players. With the CalChess Scholastics coming up in two weeks, now would be a great time to sharpen your tactics by solving a few hundred positions on www.chesstempo.com! One hint: When you find a good move, first stop and try to find a better one!

Western Invitational Chess Camp in Arizona

(Photo from 2007 Western Invitational Chess Camp. Do you recognize GM Gregory Kaidanov's opponent in the simul? Hint: it is one of my students.)

I am posting this for my friend FM Robby Adamson from Tucson, Arizona. For the fifth straight year, Robby is hosting an elite chess camp that he bills as the strongest in the USA. Players must be rated a minimum of 1500 to be invited and the top group of participants will likely have an average rating around 2200. The instructors include Grandmasters Gregory Kaidanov, Yury Shulman and Alejandro Ramirez plus four other veteran masters. Inside joke: Make sure to invite Yury to Taco Bell.

The dates for this year are July 20-24 (yes, it starts on a Sunday) with the optional Ye Olde Pueblo Open tournament on the following weekend. The camp schedule include two daily lectures, a GM simul, a G/35 tournament (USCF quick rated), blitz and various fun activities each evening. For more information, please visit the Western Invitational Chess Camp website or contact Robby Adamson by email. One of my students went last year and I wouldn't be surprised to see at least three or four go this year. Please let me know.

Ask GM Joel

Grandmaster Joel Benjamin (see photo) answers a question on Chess Life Online about when parents should seek online lessons from a Grandmaster. Specifically, would an 8 year old rated 627 benefit? Here is part of the response.

"An eight-year-old needs most of all to establish a good rapport with an instructor. It is difficult to get to know someone without seeing them face-to-face. Your son may be reluctant to express himself to a stranger on the phone. Furthermore, you may end up with a high-rated teacher that isn’t a good match for your son."

To read the full text of Ask GM Joel, please click on the link to the USCF website. I completely agree with his opinion in this matter.

Busy Weekend of Chess Tournaments

(Photos of MichaelL, EvanY and Rebekah in action over the past year. Thanks to the awesome local website ChessDryad for all three photos.)

Twelve of my students and I played in five different chess tournaments in three states last weekend. These events were some of the last opportunities for kids to practice before the big CalChess Scholastics coming up in three weeks. Chess is like a sport: if you don't properly train and warm up, you may suffer from brain cramps or tactical blindness.

Those of you who did not play have only a few additional chances to get ready for the main event: the Cupertino Tournament on May 3 and the Charles Powell G/45 on May 10. I expect that both events will have sufficient strong players for anyone rated under 2000 to find adequate competition. Remember that practice makes perfect!

Imre Konig Memorial G/45 at the Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco

• NM Gregory Young (2197) took clear 1st ahead of IM Ricardo DeGuzman and three other masters, pushing his USCF rating over 2200 for the second time. He defeated NM Michael Pearson (2241) and drew with WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs (2287).
• MichaelL (1793) scored an impressive 3.0 points against five opponents rated 2157 average for his first master level performance! He beat NM Keith Vickers (2200) and former master Kenneth Hills (2132), boosting his rating to 1871.
  
• A total of five of my students played, all scoring at least 50%.

Bay Area Chess Championship 37 in Santa Clara

• EvanY (1540) took clear 1st in the U1700 section, finishing with 3.5 against three underrated kids and one veteran adult. His new rating of 1596 is almost up to Class B.
• Redwood Middle School top board Brian (1674) gained a few rating points with a solid 3.0 score, but had to take a last round bye or else he might have tied for first.
• A total of four of my students played.

Greater Sacramento Adult/Scholastic Championship in Roseville

• The fpawn shared top honors with four other players at 4.0 out of 5.
• Nicholas (1795) gave me a serious run for my money in the "Spanish torture" (closed Ruy Lopez) before succumbing to a desperate counterattack in time pressure.

5th Annual National All-Girl's Championships in Dallas, TX

• Rebekah (1675) shared 4th place in the Under 16 division, scoring a solid 4.0 out of 6. She defeated Karsten McVay (1949) from New Jersey for her highest rated tournament scalp ever. Goooo girls!
  

Arizona State Scholastic Championships in Flagstaff, AZ

• Tyler (1416) took home the 2nd place trophy for K-6 at the premier annual scholastic event in the state of Arizona. He scored 6.0 out of 7, losing only a hard-fought game against the eventual champion Brennen Lee (1959). Congrats on a great result!
  

I updated the Achievements page on my website to reflect the great results by Gregory, MichaelL, EvanY and Rebekah. Kudos to all who played and tried their best!

Episode 5 of Chess Diva TV Show

Believe it or not, the San Francisco Bay Area has a TV chess show! Thanks to the effort of amateur producers Lauren and Barbara Goodkind, the Community Access channel of Palo Alto has a show called Chess Diva. Lauren and Barbara are twin sisters who both have ratings around 1800, which places them in the Top 100 of the country for women. The 30 minute long TV show offers instructional content for novice and intermediate players as well as interviews with local players. The hosts hope to encourage more girls and women to push wood on the chess board.



The fifth episode of Chess Diva TV Show is now available on Google Video! The program starts out with an example of a king and pawn endgame, then continues with the post-mortem analysis of a tournament game between Lauren and my student Andrew Chen and ends with images from the People's Replacement tournament in Santa Clara, including IM Ricardo DeGuzman and me. Check it out! By the way, Andrew really looks cool in front of the camera!

More Photos from St. Alban's Tournament

Click on this link to Flickr for more photos from the St. Alban's tournament.

Photos from St. Alban's Tournament

These photos come from today's Greater Sacramento Adult/Scholastic Championship, a G/30 tournament hosted by the St. Alban's Country Day School chess club and directed by NTD John McCumiskey (see photo lower right). 92 players of all ages came to Roseville to play chess on a sunny Saturday. Special thanks to the parents of St. Alban's for once again offering a raffle with great prizes plus a full lunch and snack bar (great cookies)!

Since I managed to play like a doofus in the final round, the Open section ended in a five-way tie for first place between Joe Birt, Alvin Pulley, 7th grader Isaac Zhang, Stephen Pulley and Michael Aigner. Give credit to Joe Birt for alertly taking advantage of my careless opening play.

Percentiles of USCF ratings for Northern California

This data is restricted to all residents of Northern California who are active since January 2007 and have an established USCF rating based on at least 25 games played.

Histogram of USCF ratings for Northern California

This data is restricted to all residents of Northern California who are active since January 2007 and have an established USCF rating based on at least 25 games played.

• Number = 1361
• Maximum = 2539
  
• Average plus StdDev = 1800
• Average = 1267
• Average minus StdDev = 733
• Minimum = 100
  

Reminder: Naroditsky Pitches Tonight!

Baseball fan and chess player FM Daniel Naroditsky will throw out tonight's ceremonial first pitch to chess amateur and RHP Andrew Brown of the Oakland A's.








World U12 Champion FM Daniel Naroditsky will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at tonight's baseball game between the Oakland A's and the Minnesota Twins. The start time is 7:05pm with the first pitch typically a few minutes prior to that. The game will be televised on CSN-BayAreaPlus and MLB-TV. Tuesday's edition of the San Francisco Chronicle had an interesting article about some A's players, notably pitchers Andrew Brown and Huston Street, who prefer to play chess to relax. Today, they hope challenge the champion to a chess match before the ballgame begins. Go get 'em Danya!