Fpawn Rating List - April 2009

I updated the Fpawn Rating List for the April USCF supplement. Since my last blog post in December, the names at the top of the list remain largely unchanged.

Top 5 Students Overall

1. NM Steven 2311
2. NM Gregory 2249
3. Yian 2082
4. EvanS 2044
5. Alan 2035
6. Jeff 2013
7. MichaelL 2001
   

(Honorary: FM Danya 2341, NM DanielS 2317 and David 2095)

However, the ratings continue to inch upwards with every month. In fact, my students gained an average of +39 points since the December supplement just four months ago, with 19 gaining points and only 6 posting small losses. Kudos to the following big winners.

Largest Rating Gain (Past 4 Months)

1. DanielC +323
2. Suraj +170
3. Roland +125
4. Neel +94
5. Andrew +76
6. Aamir +74
7. Brian +71

Special kudos to Saratoga High School chess team senior Jeff Young (see photo by Richard Shorman) for cracking 2000 at this year's People's Tournament, an achievement that in my opinion was long overdue. He was rated 1173 when I began teaching him in November 2003. Jeff's most memorable win came at the 2006 National High School championship when he crushed 2437 rated IM-elect Salvijus Bercys.

Practice Before Nationals and States

Here is a post that I first wrote in February 2008. With the upcoming national and state championship tournaments, I feel this bit of advice is especially apt now.

Every few months, I beg my students to take advantage of the opportunity they have to practice chess against live opponents on the Internet Chess Club (or even other game sites). In fact, the internet is the #1 reason why kids are more advanced than their counterparts even 10 or 15 years ago. Today anyone can easily find a strong opponent from the comfort of home without having to drive to a chess club or a tournament.

Think about it this way: playing chess is like playing a sport or an instrument. Your coach can demonstrate new techniques to you, but in the end, it all comes down to you executing. You need to spend time repeating your moves or your songs, over and over. Practice makes perfect! In fact, you can't lie to your sports or music teacher because he or she can easily tell who diligent and who was lazy. Chess is not much different.

The fastest way to get a game on ICC is to join one of the so-called pools. When you enter one of the pools, you wait a few seconds (up to a minute or two for the slow pool) and a game with a human opponent near your rating will automatically pop up. You don't need to issue a seek or do anything else. It is that easy! I highly recommend the 15-minute and 5-minute pools to anyone trying to improve or looking for practice.

• type 5 for the 5-minute pool - practice tactics and try out openings
• type 15 for the 15-minute pool - more time to think and calculate
• type 1 for the 1-minute pool - exercise your mouse (warning: fun yet addictive)

Now what are you waiting for? Get off your %$@# behind and get some practice!

Last Round of Sacramento Team Championship Tonight

(This photo of the UC Davis Chess Club is posted on their website.)

The Sacramento Chess Club Team Championship wraps up tonight. The scene will be a bit anticlimactic as the UC Davis Knights already clinched first place with a dominating 6-0 match score and 74% of all possible game points. Last week they defeated the Warriors, a team that many thought would compete for top honors, by a convincing 4.5-1.5 margin (Heiserman defeated Ross on board 1). Thanks to this victory, the Knights lead B-Nam by 1.5 match points heading into the final round. Three teams are tied for third place way back at 50%: the above mentioned Warriors, my squad from Elk Grove and the overachieving King Hunters.

TEAM STANDINGS (after round 6)

1. UC Davis Knights 6.0 MP, 26.5 GP
2. B-Nam 4.5 MP, 22.5 GP
3. Warriors 3.0 MP, 20.5 GP
4. Elk Grove 3.0 MP, 20.0 GP
5. King Hunters 3.0 MP, 15.5 GP
6. UC Davis Bishops 2.5 MP, 18.0 GP
7. Zoka Zoki Academy 1.0 MP, 12.0 GP
8. Daze Knights 1.0 MP, 8.0 GP

Kudos to the UC Davis Chess Club and the members of the mighty Knights: NM Jimmy Heiserman, club President Zach Han, Rohan Sathe, Anthony Blessing, Erik Friedlander, Marcus Langston, Brian Eller, Ryan Leung and David Whiteneck.

Here are the unofficial board prize standings. I listed all players who have scored at least 3.0 in the first 6 rounds, or are within a point of the leader. To be eligible for the board prize at the end of the tournament, the person must play 60% of the rounds at that board. Boards 1 and 2 are pretty close to being settled, but at least three players have a shot at winning each of the others. Look at board 5: even Mike Parmon has a shot!

BOARD 1

• 5.5 NM Zoran Lazetich (ZOKA) -- defeated MacFarland, Heiserman and Ross
  
• 4.5 NM James MacFarland (BNAM) -- defeated Aigner
  
• 4.5 NM Michael Aigner (EG) -- defeated Heiserman and Ross
  
• 3.5 NM Jimmy Heiserman (UCD-N) -- defeated Ross
  

BOARD 2

• 5.5 John Cohen (UCD-B)
• 3.0 Alonzo McCaulley (WAR)
• 3.0 Zach Han (UCD-N)
  

BOARD 3

• 4.5 Kevin Dooley (KING)
• 4.0 Joe Birt (WAR)
• 4.0 Romeo Pilar (EG)
• 3.0 Dalton Peterson (BNAM) -- 3 games on board 3 and 3 games on board 4
  

BOARD 4

• 4.5 Erik Friedlander (UCD-N)
  
• 4.5 Brady Hill (KING)
• 4.0 Nebojsa Gvozden (BNAM)
• 4.0 Bob Baker (WAR)
• 3.0 Robert Russo (EG)
  

BOARD 5

• 3.5 Everett Penn (WAR)
• 3.5 Michael Parmon (KING)
• 3.0 Brian Eller (UCD-N)
• 2.5 Marcus Langston (UCD-N)
  

BOARD 6

• 4.5 Ryan Leung (UCD-N) -- 3 games on board 6, 2 on board 5 and 1 on board 4
• 4.5 Donald Dixon (EG)
• 4.0 Joel Iniquez-Aguiar (BNAM)
• 3.0 Justin Garvin (WAR)

Check Out Article on Chess Life Online

(Are these kids even old enough to play at an adult tournament?!?!)

My recap from the Western Chess Congress in Concord appeared today on Chess Life Online. Check it out for highlights of the first big money event in the Bay Area since the mid 1990s. Premier section champion FM Daniel Naroditsky kindly annotated his crucial win against IM Sam Shankland and I added some comments on three other games.

• Click here for the rating report.
• Click here for a slideshow on Flickr.

A total of 15 current or past students attended, spread out from the Premier through U1700 divisions. Three students won money: Steven Zierk (2311) tied for 2nd overall, Evan Sandberg (2044) shared 3rd in U2100 and Kenneth Law (1705) returned after an extended break from chess to tie for 2nd in U1900 with an impressive 4-1 score. Steven increased his FIDE rating to 2296, four points shy of the FIDE Master title, while 11-year old Yian Liou expects to earn his first published FIDE rating at 2140. Kudos to these successful players and everyone else who tried their best!

I finished with 2.5 out of 5 and gained a few rating points for both USCF and FIDE. I was happy with a pair of draws against IM Sam Shankland and IM John Donaldson, but was upset after hanging a piece in a superior position in the last round, although I miraculously still drew that endgame. It was a nice weekend and I look forward to returning in January!

Board Standings After Round 5

(Joe Birt covers his face with his hands while Bob Baker remains stoic. These teammates on the Warriors are in the hunt for prizes on boards 3 and 4.)

Here are the unofficial board prize standings for the Sacramento Chess Club Team Championship. I listed all players who have scored at least 2.5 in the first 5 rounds. To be eligible for the board prize at the end of the tournament, the person must play 60% of the rounds at that board. Send any corrections to my email address at the right sidebar.

Click here for the team standings and a brief recap of round 5 (photos included).

BOARD 1

• 4.5 NM Zoran Lazetich (ZOKA) -- defeated MacFarland, Heiserman and Ross
  
• 3.5 NM James MacFarland (BNAM) -- defeated Aigner
  
• 3.5 NM Michael Aigner (EG) -- defeated Heiserman and Ross
  
• 2.5 NM Jimmy Heiserman (UCD-N)
• 2.5 Valeriy Timofeyev (UCD-B)
  

BOARD 2

• 4.5 John Cohen (UCD-B)
• 2.5 Alonzo McCaulley (WAR)
• 2.5 Zach Han (UCD-N)
  

BOARD 3

• 3.5 Joe Birt (WAR)
• 3.5 Kevin Dooley (KING)
• 3.0 Romeo Pilar (EG)
• 2.5 Henry Wong (UCD-B)
• 2.5 Jamshid Alamehzadeh (BNAM)
  

BOARD 4

• 4.0 Erik Friedlander (UCD-N)
  
• 3.5 Brady Hill (KING)
• 3.5 Bob Baker (WAR)
• 3.0 Nebojsa Gvozden (BNAM)

BOARD 5

• 3.5 Everett Penn (WAR)
• 2.5 Marcus Langston (UCD-N)
• 2.5 Michael Parmon (KING)
  

BOARD 6

• 4.0 Donald Dixon (EG)
• 3.5 Ryan Leung (UCD-N)
• 3.0 Joel Iniquez-Aguiar (BNAM)
• 3.0 Justin Garvin (WAR)

Quick Update from Concord

(Top boards for round 2 of 3-day schedule: IM Mark Ginsburg vs FM Eugene Yanayt in back and NM Andy Lee vs FM Daniel Naroditsky in front.)

I am currently in between rounds at the Western Chess Congress in Concord. My score is 0.5/2 against a pair of International Masters, which would normally be respectable except that the quality of my play has been rather poor. Last night, I somehow drew a losing endgame versus World U18 Champion IM Sam Shankland. This morning's game was more pathetic; I hung a pawn to IM Dmitry Zilberstein out of the opening--as white. Sigh!

The tournament has approximately 200 players, of which about 90% come from Northern California. I hoped to see more participants from Los Angeles, Nevada or the Pacific Northwest; maybe they will come next year. In many ways, this weekend feels like another Labor Day tournament, except held in the spring. The titled players in the 3-day schedule include IM Shankland and IM Zilberstein (yes, my first two opponents) plus IM Mark Ginsburg (from Arizona) while the 2-day schedule has FM Vladimir Strugatsky, IM John Donaldson, IM Vladimir Mezentsev, IM Ricardo DeGuzman and the enigmatic IM Emory Tate (from Indiana). Surprisingly, there are no Grandmasters present, perhaps because the El Cerrito gang traveled to France for Cappelle la Grande.

The two schedules merge tonight at 6pm for round 3. Click on this link for photos on Flickr.

Sacramento Team Championship Round 5

The UC Davis Knights prevailed 3.5-2.5 in Wednesday's showdown against second place B-Nam. The match was tight throughout and it came down to the top board between NM Jimmy Heiserman and the multiple time Sacramento champion NM James MacFarland. The UCD freshman from Texas drew the game and now the Knights hold a nearly insurmountable 1.5 match lead with just two weeks to go. Congratulations!

While many had predicted a victory by the Knights, few people saw the low rated King Hunters defeating my Elk Grove squad by 4-2! When I looked up after winning a sloppy endgame on board 1, my teammates were literally staggering from a shutout on boards 2-5. I am sure to hear about this score for the rest of 2009. Big sigh!

TEAM STANDINGS (after round 5)

1. UC Davis Knights 5.0 MP, 22.0 GP
2. B-Nam 3.5 MP, 17.0 GP
3. Warriors 3.0 MP, 19.0 GP
4. UC Davis Bishops 2.5 MP, 15.5 GP
5. Elk Grove 2.0 MP, 16.5 GP
6. King Hunters 2.0 MP, 11.5 GP
7. Zoka Zoki Academy 1.0 MP, 10.0 GP
8. Daze Knights 1.0 MP, 7.5 GP

Captions for the photos, counterclockwise from top left:

• NM Jimmy Heiserman, board 1 for UCD Knights.
• NM James MacFarland, board 1 for B-Nam.
• NM Steven Ross (on left) and Alonzo McCaulley, boards 1 and 2 for Warriors.
• Mike Parmon, captain of the King Hunters, making a point to his students.
  
• Donald Dixon (on left) and William Lombard, Elk Grove team.
• Robert Russo (from left), Romeo Pilar and Bernie Lu, Elk Grove team.
  

Hip Hop Chess Video

The Hip Hop Chess Federation hosted the second annual Mind over Matter festival last Saturday in San Francisco. The following YouTube video vividly shares the event's atmosphere. Do you recognize some of the chess celebrities? I saw rapper RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, the enigmatic yet legendary IM Emory Tate, top board of the Stanford chess team FM Elliott Liu and prolific author FM Eric Schiller.



As a side note, IM Tate is giving a simul tonight at BayAreaChess.com headquarters in San Jose (4423 Fortran Court). The action begins at 6:45, but make sure to reserve your spot by sending email to contact(at)bayareachess.com (limit 20 players).

CalChess Squeaks by South Africa 8-6

(Samyukta Bhat on left and Evan Ye on right each scored 2-0 to lead the CalChess delegation.)







The friendship scholastic chess match between CalChess and South Africa occurred as scheduled on Saturday morning with only minor complications. Seven members of each team played a pair of 45 5 games on the Internet Chess Club against an opponent halfway around the world. Most of the participants were between age 12 to 14 and rated 1500 to 1800; unlike a similar match against Australia in 2006, none of the well known elite juniors in California played. The tightly contested South Africa match lasted 3.5 hours and the outcome was in doubt until the final 15 minutes.

In the end, the CalChess team won 8-6, winning both the first round (playing black on all boards) and the second round (playing white) by 4-3. However, the local squad had its back against the wall for much of the morning after losing quickly on boards 1 and 2. Since some boards took much longer than others, we were actually down 3.5-5.5 at one point, but with two games still in progress from round 1. We clinched the match when Roland Zhu pulled a rabbit out of his hat to swindle a losing king and pawn endgame (he won!).

The most valuable players for the local team were Samyukta Bhat and Evan Ye, who both scored 2-0. Samyukta, who recently won the 2009 CalChess Girl's Championship, won a drawn endgame in round 1 and then crushed her opponent on the queenside in an instructive King's Indian Defense. Evan first outplayed his opponent in a wild time scramble with both players relying on the 5 second increment. However, in the second game, the Saratoga High School freshman left nothing to doubt when he executed the "Spanish Torture" in the Ruy Lopez.

Samyukta Bhat (1641) vs Byron Ter Morshuizen
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 Nc6 7. O-O e5 8. d5 Ne7 9. Be3 Ne8 10. Nd2 f5 11. f3 f4 12. Bf2 g5 13. Qb3 h5 14. h3 c6 15. Rfd1 cxd5 16. cxd5 b6 17. Rac1 Bb7 18. Nb5 a6 19. Na3 b5 20. Nc2 Rc8 21. a4 Ng6 22. axb5 axb5 23. Qxb5 Rf7 24. Nb4 Rfc7 25. Bb6 Nf6 26. Bxc7 Rxc7 27. Rxc7 Qxc7 28. Nc4 Kh7 29. Nxd6 Qxd6 30. Qxb7 Qc5+ 31. Kh1 Nh4 32. Bf1 Qf2 33. Nd3 Qc2 34. Rc1 Qd2 35. Qb4 Qe3 36. Re1 Qa7 37. Nxe5 Qf2 38. Nd3 Qg3 39. Qd2 g4 40. Qxf4 Qxf4 41. Nxf4 gxf3 42. gxf3 Nxf3 43. Re3 Ne5 44. Ne6 Bh6 45. Re1 Nc4 46. Bxc4 Nd7 47. e5 Bd2 48. Re2 Bb4 49. d6 Kg6 50. Bb5 Nb8 51. d7 Nxd7 52. Bxd7 Kf5 53. Nd8+ Kf4 54. e6 Kf3 55. Re1 Bxe1 56. e7 Bh4 57. e8=Q Bxd8 58. Qxd8 Ke2 59. b4 Kd3 60. b5 Ke4 61. b6 Kf3 62. b7 Kg3 63. b8=Q+ Kf3 64. Bc6+ Kf2 65. Qd3 h4 66. Qb2+ Ke1 67. Qdb1# 1-0
Click here to replay Samyukta's game in Chess Publisher's java viewer.

Evan Ye (1658) vs Vikash Magu
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. h3 Nf6 8. Re1 O-O 9. c3 Re8 10. d4 Bb7 11. d5 Nb8 12. a4 bxa4 13. Bxa4 Nbd7 14. Nbd2 h6 15. Nc4 Rb8 16. Na5 Qc8 17. Nc6 Bxc6 18. Bxc6 Rf8 19. b4 Nb6 20. Qd3 Nh7 21. Rxa6 f5 22. exf5 Rxf5 23. Ra7 Rf8 24. Nd4 Bd8 25. Ne6 Rf7 26. Bxh6 Bf6 27. Qg3 Kh8 28. Bg5 Qg8 29. Bxf6 Nxf6 30. Qh4+ Nh7 31. Ng5 Rf6 32. Qxh7+ Qxh7 33. Nxh7 Kxh7 34. Rxc7 Rbf8 35. f3 Nc4 36. Re4 Nd2 37. Rg4 Rg8 38. Bd7 Kh6 39. Be6 Rgf8 40. Rgxg7 Nxf3+ 41. gxf3 Rxf3 42. Rh7+ Kg5 43. Rcg7+ Kf4 44. Rf7+ Ke4 45. Rxf8 Rxf8 46. Rh4+ Kd3 47. c4 Rg8+ 48. Kf2 Rf8+ 49. Kg3 Ra8 50. c5 dxc5 51. bxc5 Ra3 52. c6 e4 53. Bf5 Kc4+ 54. Kf4 Kxd5 55. c7 Rf3+ 56. Kg5 Rg3+ 57. Kf6 Rc3 58. c8=Q Rxc8 59. Bxc8 e3 60. Ba6 e2 61. Bxe2 1-0
Click here to replay Evan's game in Chess Publisher's java viewer.

Board Standings After Round 4

(Coach Zoran leads his Zoka Zoki team by example with 3.5-0.5 on board 1.)

Here are the unofficial board prize standings for the Sacramento Team Championship. To be eligible for the board prize, the recipient must play 60% of the rounds at that board. Two people played twice on one board and twice on another; for now, I ranked them under the higher board. Please send corrections to my email address at the right sidebar.

BOARD 1

• 3.5 NM Zoran Lazetich (ZOKA) -- defeated MacFarland and Heiserman
  
• 3.0 NM James MacFarland (BNAM) -- defeated Aigner
  
• 2.5 NM Michael Aigner (EG) -- defeated Heiserman and Ross
  
• 2.0 NM Steven Ross (WAR)
• 2.0 NM Jimmy Heiserman (UCD-N)
  

BOARD 2

• 3.5 John Cohen (UCD-B)
• 2.0 Charles Brunton (BNAM)
• 2.0 Bernie Lu (EG)

BOARD 3

• 3.0 Erik Friedlander (UCD-N)
• 3.0 Romeo Pilar (EG)
• 2.5 Joe Birt (WAR)
• 2.5 Kevin Dooley (KING)
  

BOARD 4

• 3.0 Nebojsa Gvozden (BNAM)
• 2.5 Brady Hill (KING)
• 2.5 Bob Baker (WAR)
• 2.0 Robert Russo (EG)
  

BOARD 5

• 2.5 Marcus Langston (UCD-N)
• 2.5 Everett Penn (WAR)
• 2.0 Brian Eller (UCD-N)
• 2.0 Brian Hu (ZOKA)
  

BOARD 6

• 3.0 Donald Dixon (EG)
• 3.0 Joel Iniquez-Aguiar (BNAM)
• 2.5 Ryan Leung (UCD-N)
• 2.0 David Whiteneck (UCD-N)
• 2.0 Justin Garvin (WAR)

Sacramento Team Championship Round 4

The Sacramento Chess Club Team Championship is the most popular event of the year, attracting some players on Wednesday nights who play in few other local tournaments. This year, there are eight teams of 6 players (plus 3 alternates) with an average rating under 1750 each week. The teams play a round-robin over seven weeks from February 4 until March 18.

The list of top board players is impressive: masters Zoran Lazetich, James MacFarland, Steven Ross, Jimmy Heiserman and your blogger are joined by three others rated above 2000. It is special to see so many of the active chess players in the Sacramento region turn out for this tournament.

After four rounds, two teams have separated themselves from the field. The UC Davis Knights are 4-0 with NM Heiserman and three other players rated over 1800. However, the strength of the Knights lies on the bottom boards, where they field several unrated players. Jamshid Alamehzadeh's B-Nam team trails close behind at 3.5-0.5, featuring NM MacFarland and two 1900s. Tied for third place at 2-2, but unfortunately well out of contention, are Elk Grove (my team) and Warriors (Joe Birt's team with NM Ross).

TEAM STANDINGS (after round 4)

1. UC Davis Knights 4.0 MP, 18.5 GP
2. B-Nam 3.5 MP, 14.5 GP
3. Elk Grove 2.0 MP, 14.5 GP
4. Warriors 2.0 MP, 14.0 GP
5. UC Davis Bishops 1.5 MP, 11.0 GP
6. Zoka Zoki Academy 1.0 MP, 9.0 GP
7. King Hunters 1.0 MP, 7.5 GP
8. Daze Knights 1.0 MP, 5.0 GP

Pairings for CalChess vs South Africa Match

A friendship scholastic chess match between CalChess and South Africa is scheduled for Saturday morning. The games on the Internet Chess Club will begin at 8:00am San Francisco time, which is 6:00pm in Johannesburg. Eight kids from each team will square off, playing two 45 5 games that may take up to three hours. Most of the participants are 12 to 14 years old and rated between 1500 and 1800.

Here are the pairings for the match. South Africa will be white in the first game and CalChess will be white in the second one. I will update the results live on this blog.

1. 2.0:0.0 SouthAfrica1 (Darren B, 1800) vs CalChess (Ojas C, 1801)
   
2. 1.5:0.5 SouthAfrica5 (Craig B, 1788) vs CalChess (Steven H, 1731)
   
3. 1.0:1.0 SouthAfrica2 (Francois O, 1620) vs CalChess (Alex G, 1739)
   
4. 1.0:1.0 SouthAfrica8 (Divek S, 1675) vs CalChess (Roland Z, 1748)
   
5. 0.5:1.5 SouthAfrica7 (Petrus B, 1650) vs CalChess (Aditya K, 1689)
   
6. 0.0:2.0 SouthAfrica3 (Vikash M, 1550) vs CalChess (Evan Y, 1658)
   
7. 0.0:2.0 SouthAfrica6 (Byron TM, 1550) vs CalChess (Samyukta B, 1641)
8. board 8 was canceled because one player from each team did not show up
   

TOTAL = South Africa 6.0 -- 8.0 CalChess

To follow the match live on ICC, simply observe the corresponding SouthAfrica account. To watch board 1, type: /observe SouthAfrica1. For board 2, type: /observe SouthAfrica5.

Big $$$ Tournament in Concord

Bill Goichberg is coming to town! As the founder of the Continental Chess Association and the current USCF President, Goichberg is well known for successfully organizing chess tournaments around the country, including the aptly named World Open. However, until now, the only CCA events on the west coast have been in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

The Western Chess Congress on March 6-8 changes all that. This event will be located at the Concord Hilton in the shadow of Mt. Diablo (see photo above). Those of us old enough will recall that the 1995 US Open took place at the same hotel. That was, sadly, the last high profile adult tournament held in Northern California. Since then, only the annual CalChess Labor Day Championship has consistently drawn over 150 players, including multiple GMs and IMs.

• Event: Western Chess Congress
• Dates: March 6-8 (3-day) or 7-8 (2-day) -- play Fri night or 2 rapids on Sat
  
• Location: 1970 Diamond Blvd, Concord (off I-680 at Willow Pass Road)
• Format: 5 round swiss in 8 sections (Open, U2100, U1900 through U900)
• 3-day schedule: Reg by Fri 6:30. Rounds: Fri 7:30, Sat 11 and 6, Sun 9:30 and 4
• 2-day schedule: Reg by Sat 10. Rounds: Sat 11, 2:30 and 6, Sun 9:30 and 4.
• Time control: 40/2, G/1 (rounds 1 & 2 of 2-day schedule at G/75)
• Entry fee: $120 online by March 3 or $140 on-site (U1100 and U900 are $60)
• Prize fund: $20,000. $1600 for 1st in Open; $1400 for 1st in other sections.
  
• Website: http://www.chesstour.com/wcco09.htm
• Advance entries: http://www.chesstour.com/ae-wcon09.htm (updated 2/18)
• Click here for hotel rooms (still available although the deadline passed)
  

In fact, the details for this tournament look much like the Agoura Hills events that many local players have attended in recent years. Let's hope that some of the LA players will come north for a change. If the Bay Area can support this event, then it may be the start of a longterm commitment. In fact, Goichberg plans to hold this event as a 7 round swiss on the Martin Luther King weekend in January beginning next year. Be there!

Recruiting Juniors for CalChess vs South Africa

Northern California will engage in a friendly internet match next Saturday against a group of juniors from the country of South Africa. Chess is a game played worldwide, yet most players never compete against someone from another country. In 2006, about 25 local kids took on the entire continent of Australia, winning by a handsome margin. This year's match will be smaller but hopefully just as enjoyable as the last one.

• What: Internet friendship match between CalChess and South Africa.
• Where: Internet Chess Club (ICC).
  
• When: Saturday, February 28 from 8-11 in the morning PST.
• Format: 8 board match + 2 alternates; play 2 games with opponent.
• Time control: 45 5 (G/45 with 5 second increment).
  
• Who: We need 10 players, age 12-16 and rated 1500-2000.
• Other: Not USCF or FIDE rated. ICC experience required.
  

If you are interested in playing on the CalChess team, send email to michael AT fpawn DOT com. Include your real name, age, USCF rating and ICC username. Make sure that you can wake up in time to log in at 7:45 on Saturday morning! In putting together our team lineup, I will give priority to players who have ICC experience.

If you are interested, please email me ASAP so that I can put together our lineup.

Update 2/24: I currently have commitments from 6 players and need 2-4 more.
Update 2/26: I now have 9 players and don't need any more.

I'm baaaaaaaack

Many of my readers have wondered what happened to this blog. Five weeks have passed since my last post. Did I give up blogging? Did I quit chess? Is something else seriously wrong?

Fortunately, I can assure everyone that rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated. Yes, I was sick for a while with nagging cold/flu symptoms. I also felt sad and burned out and wanted a little time simply to "chill" and recharge my mental batteries.

As the recent photo by Richard Shorman of ChessDryad at left proves, my enthusiasm for chess has not waned. I maintain a busy weekly teaching schedule with only occasional interruptions. Despite heavy rain on President's Day weekend, I joined 11 students and about 90 other chess enthusiasts at the People's Tournament in Berkeley. IM David Pruess beat me and won the Open section ahead of five other masters. Kudos to National 5th Grade Champion Kyle Shin for winning the U2200 section and to Saratoga High School senior Jeff Young for finally earning the rank of Expert! During February and March, I also participate in the annual Sacramento Chess Club Team Championship; unfortunately, neither my team (Elk Grove) nor I have played terribly well so far.

In other CalChess news, Samyukta Bhat (see photo at right) scored an undefeated 4.0/5 to take clear first for K-12 at the CalChess Girl's Championship, thereby earning our state's qualifying spot in this year's Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls in Lubbock, Texas on July 26-31. Rebekah Liu plans to attend the same invitational after winning the high school section of the Susan Polgar National Open in Glendale, AZ. Goooo girls!

I will try to catch up with some stories over the next week. Please check back soon!

USCF Top 100 Juniors (U21) for February

(Here's a blast from the past. Daniel Schwarz and Drake Wang set up to play at the 2001 CalChess Scholastics in Santa Clara. Both were in 6th grade at the time; Daniel was rated 1675 and Drake was 1844. However, top seeded Alexander Setzepfandt took clear 1st place with 5.5 out of 6, drawing with Schwarz in the final round.)

It has long been established that Northern California is a mecca for scholastic chess that can compete with the rest of the nation. The February Top 100 lists confirm this fact. Impressively, 13 local juniors and college students are ranked on the most prestigious ranking list for juniors: Under Age 21.

At the top, IM Sam Shankland (#7) does not require much of an introduction after winning both the CalChess State Championship and the World U18 Championship. Besides Shankland, the most impressive player over the past four months was NM Steven Zierk (#30), who gained 74 USCF points since Labor Day, thereby cracking 2300. See a photo of Steven from 2nd grade at right. The two youngest masters in the Bay Area are also well known to readers of this blog: 13 year old FM Danya Naroditsky (#17) and 10 year old NM Nicholas Nip (#70).

These rankings are also the last hoorah for the previous generation of junior masters, those who have now gone off to college. For many years, NM Daniel Schwarz (#25), NM Nicolas Yap (#27), NM Matthew Ho (#40) and NM Drake Wang (#49) dominated the local scene. Now Daniel and Matthew attend Stanford University together FM Elliott Liu (#15) from San Diego and NM Vaishnav Aradhyula (#60) from Tucson. Go Stanford!!

• #7 IM Sam Shankland (2441)
• #15 FM Elliott Liu (2398) - attending Stanford University from Southern California
• #17 FM Danya Naroditsky (2358)
• #25 NM Daniel Schwarz (2316)
• #27 NM Nicolas Yap (2315)
• #30 NM Steven Zierk (2308)
• #37 NM Julian Landaw (2292) - attending UC Berkeley from Southern California
• #40 NM Matthew Ho (2281)
• #49 NM Drake Wang (2262)
• #51 NM Gregory Young (2249)
• #60 NM Vaishnav Aradhyula (2225) - attending Stanford University from Arizona
• #69 NM Rohan Agarwal (2212)
• #70 NM Nicholas Nip (2211)

Fun Games from North American Open

Check out Chess Life Online for the official recap of North American Open in Las Vegas at the end of December. Georgian GM Giorgi Kacheishvili took clear first place in his second major tournament in a row after a spectacular sacrificial game against Armenian-American GM Varuzhan Akobian in the penultimate round.

As usual, my main focus has been on Northern California players. Fortunately, I found a spectacular sample of games to post on this blog. The games include two draws against Grandmasters and an incredible pair of victories against the colorful IM Emory Tate (see photo at right). To view these games online, just click on this link for a webpage automatically generated by Chessbase.

• S Zierk 1/2 V Akobian: Steven holds a pawn down endgame vs a strong GM.
  
• E Tate 0-1 R Agarwal: The legendary IM Tate has no answer to Philidor gambit.
• Y Liou 1-0 J Irrzary: Yian goes king hunting after a strange Alekhine opening.
• M Nita 0-1 M Aigner: This expert quickly bows to the power of the Dutch defense.
• R Hess 0-1 S Shankland: IM Shankland smokes his main junior rival IM Hess.
• S Shankland 1/2 J Ehlvest: For an encoure, a solid draw against a veteran GM.
• S Zierk 1-0 E Tate: The local juniors sure gave IM Tate the one-two punch!
• R Agarwal 1-0 K Mackinnon: NM Agarwal shows off the power of gambits.
• M Aigner 1-0 D Haessel: The Trompowsky takes down a FM in a quick win.
  

January Player of the Month: The Master Gambiteer

(Rohan Agarwal in deep thought at the CalChess Scholastics in San Jose last May.)

I will begin recognizing one deserving Northern California chess player each month who has achieved significant success within recent weeks or occasionally an accumulation over a longer time period. It is my pleasure to award the first Fpawn Blog Player of the Month to the Bay Area's newest National Master, 15 year old Rohan Agarwal from Fremont. By earning the hallowed title of Master at North American Open in Las Vegas, Rohan became the sixth Bay Area junior in K-12 to break 2200 USCF and also solified his spot among the elite of the nation (there are only about 35 masters under age 18).

• Name: Rohan Agarwal
• Title: National Master
  
• Current ratings: 2212 USCF and 2190 FIDE
• National ranking: #11 for age 15
• CalChess ranking: #5 for age 12-17
  
• First tournament: December 2002
• First established rating: 1248 in November 2003
  
• Last 12 months: gained 142 points in 65 rated games at 11 tournaments
• Latest tournament: Scored 3.5/7 in Open at North American Open in Las Vegas for a 2335 performance, including win against IM Tate and a draw with GM Lein.
• Biggest scalps: IM DeGuzman (9/07) and IM Tate (12/08)

Rohan learned how to play at Weibel Elementary School in Fremont under the tutelage of legendary coach Richard Shorman. Even today, Rohan enjoys the opening gambits that he first learned years ago and he is not afraid to essay the Philidor Counter Gambit or the Sicilian Wing Gambit even against masters. His style may be best described as tactical or even insane--I still remember a year ago when Rohan beat a master after playing Kh1 by move 20, which wouldn't have been too unusual except that he was black in that game!?

In a newsletter, longtime Weibel advisor Dr. Alan Kirshner wrote a moving tribute. "Rohan, under the mentorship of Richard Shorman at Weibel, accomplished a milestone. I congratulate Rohan not because he was trained better than other Fremont players, but because he worked harder and had the perseverance and determination to go all the way. I might add that he is also a great all around person. I know he will spend the remainder of his High School years teaching the students at his Elementary School alma mater. I look forward to seeing him, in the future, win many more titles." Coach Agarwal's (see photo at right) young proteges won first place team trophies in both 5th and 6th grade last month at the CalChess Grade Level Championships in Stockton.

The following crush from Las Vegas illustrates Rohan's attacking style. He chooses to mix it up against the iconic IM Emory Tate out of Philidor's defense. The sly IM quickly got an inferior position (16.Nb1 simply admits failure) and it went downhill from there. White's retreat 21.Bg2 lost instantly to Nxg2 followed by an invasion along the h-file.

IM Emory Tate (2390) vs Rohan Agarwal (2196)
2008 North American Open (2)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c4 f5 4. d3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. Be2 O-O 7. c5 Nc6 8. cxd6 Qxd6 9. O-O a6 10. a3 Be6 11. Ng5 Nd4 12. Nxe6 Qxe6 13. exf5 Qxf5 14. Be3 Rad8 15. Bxd4 exd4 16. Nb1 Nd5 17. Bf3 Nf4 18. Be4 Qg5 19. g3 Rd6 20. Nd2 Rh6 21. Bg2 Nxg2 22. Kxg2 Qf5 23. h4 Bxh4 24. g4 Qf4 25. Ne4 Bxf2 26. Rh1 Rg6 27. Kh3 h5 28. Qe2 Rxg4 29. Qxf2 Qxf2 0-1

To replay this game, click on this link to Chess Publisher.

CalChess FIDE Rated Juniors - January 2009

A total of twelve juniors from Northern California now have official FIDE ratings published on the January 2009 list. Special kudos to my 15 year old student Evan Sandberg (photo above) for earning his brand new international rating. Evan's FIDE rating is even quite respectable at 2131, thanks largely to a master level performance at the Tuesday Night Marathon last summer. Way to go Evan!

1. IM Sam Shankland 2453
2. FM Daniel Naroditsky 2362
3. NM Gregory Young 2264
4. NM Steven Zierk 2259
5. NM Rohan Agarwal 2190
6. NM Nicholas Nip 2150
7. Alan Naroditsky 2133
8. Evan Sandberg 2131
9. Adarsh Konda 2115
10. Michael Zhong 2113
11. Adam Goldberg 2008
12. Louiza Livschitz 1963

CalChess FIDE Top 20 - January 2009

The following list includes the top 20 players (plus ties) presently living in Northern California who played in at least one FIDE rated event on the West Coast during the past year.

Source: January 2009 FIDE rating list.

Youth will be served! Fully 40% of the players listed below are under the age of 21, including four college undergraduates, two high school students and two middle school kids. Inevitably these young players will continue to improve. At the top, CalChess Champion and World U18 co-Champion IM Sam Shankland gained 17 points and closed the gap separating him from his former teachers at the top of the rankings.

1. GM Josh Friedel 2511 (photo at upper left)
   
2. GM Vinay Bhat 2495 (photo at upper right)
   
3. IM Sam Shankland 2453
   
4. IM David Pruess 2422
5. IM Andrei Florean 2420
6. IM John Donaldson 2411
7. IM Vladimir Mezentsev 2403
8. IM Ricardo DeGuzman 2402
9. FM Vladimir Strugatsky 2397
10. IM Dmitry Zilberstein 2393
11. FM Daniel Naroditsky 2362
12. FM Elliott Liu 2356
13. IM John Grefe 2348
14. FM Shiv Shivaji 2308
15. NM Julian Landaw 2286
16. NM Gregory Young 2264
17. NM Steven Zierk 2259
18. NM Nicolas Yap 2255
19. NM Andy Lee 2240
20. NM Daniel Schwarz 2228

(My current and former students appear in boldface in the rankings. Four are now rated above my current FIDE rating of 2227.)

Recap of North American Open

The annual North American Open attracted 583 chess enthusiasts to Bally's Casino (above photo taken by official webmaster Chris Bird) at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. Between the Christmas and New Year's holidays, the city bustles with tourists, gamblers and revelers--plus a few wood pushers amongst the crowds. The winter weather offered a perfect excuse to spend long hours at the chess board (especially for those under the legal gambling age of 21). Everything, from the tournament hall to hotel rooms to restaurants, is conveniently located under one roof. In fact, you can walk from Bally's to France--or at least to the adjacent Paris Casino.

About 40 Northern California players and their parents took the 1 hour flight or drove for 8-10 hours. Fortunately, gas prices are quite reasonable now! Those who arrived in the evening on Christmas Day battled heavy traffic and even an ice storm, but the rest of the week was sunny and cold, but dry. Nine of my students showed up for their final chess competition of 2008.

The tournament began rather auspiciously. Nobody could have predicted that IM David Pruess and FM Daniel Naroditsky would each start 0-2 against substantially weaker opponents, yet as a testiment to their fighting spirit, they both recovered to finish above 50%. Somehow, all five of my students in the U2100 section lost in round 1, but one still ended up tied for third. Even I struggled with draws against two low experts, perhaps a consequence of a bout with the stomach flu.

Fortunately, the final results were far more encouraging. Below are some notable scores from local players. Please click on the link for the USCF ratings report.

• IM Sam Shankland, 5.0 in Open (top U2500, see photo above)
• IM David Pruess, 4.5 in Open
  
• FM Daniel Naroditsky, 4.0 in Open
• NM Steven Zierk, 4.0 in Open (broke 2300 USCF)
• NM Michael Aigner, 4.0 in Open
  
• NM Rohan Agarwal, 3.5 in Open (broke 2200 USCF)
  
• Yian Liou, 5.5 in U2100 (tied for 3rd place)
• Karim Seada, 5.5 in U2100 (tied for 3rd place)
  
• Michael Da-Cruz, 6.0 in U1900 (tied for 2nd place)
• Mukund Chillakanti, 5.5 in U1900 (tied for 5th place)
• Samuel Sevian, 4.5 in U1900
  
• Roland Zhu, 4.5 in U1900 (+137 rating points up to 1760)
• Seid Seidov, 7.0 in U1700 (clear 1st place)
• Rahul Desirazu, 5.5 in U1700
  
• Merak Arriola, 6.0 in U1300 (tied for 2nd place)
• Jeffrey Zhang, 5.5 in U1300 (tied for 5th place)
• Rohan Kapre, 5.5 in U1000 (tied for 3rd place)
  

Five local juniors had an especially memorable tournament and deserve special recognition. Two won significant money and the other three all achieved rating milestones.

• IM Sam Shankland tied for 7th place overall and earned top U2500 with 5.0/7. After a disappointing draw in round 1, he caught fire and beat his major rival IM Robert Hess with black and then drew GM Jaan Ehlvest. At least there's still room for improvement: Sam got schooled by GM Zviad Izoria in the penultimate round.
• NM Steven Zierk (see photo at right) impressed with 4.0 against 7 FIDE titled players with an average rating of 2408 USCF. His highlights included a solid draw against GM Varuzhan Akobian, ranked #5 in the USA, and a crushing win against IM Emory Tate. Steven also can still improve: he lost quickly to IM Shankland in the final round.
• Please join me in congratulating California's newest master, NM Rohan Agarwal! He had quite a memorable tournament, defeating IM Emory Tate and drawing with GM Anatoly Lein on his way to a 2335 performance. Rohan's style and opening repertoire always generate many exciting tactical slugfests.
• Young expert Yian Liou no doubt has his eyes on the master title after he tied for third place in the U2100 section with a 2219 performance. He got a much needed kick in the rear end by losing round 1, but after five straight wins, he was on board 1 in the final round (a draw with section winner Jared Tan).
• Las Vegas was my first opportunity to watch new student Roland Zhu (see photo at right) play. Suffice it to say that he left quite an impression, far exceeding my expectations by scoring 4.0/7 while playing up in the U1900 section. As a reward, his rating jumped from 1623 to 1760!

The winner of the Open section was--no, not me!--Grandmaster Giorgi Kacheishvili with 6.0 out of 7. He took control in the fourth round and never relinquished the lead, picking up three wins and two draws against fellow Grandmasters. Five GMs tied for second: Zviad Izoria, Melik Khachiyan, Alexander Shabalov, Julio Becerra and Jaan Ehlvest. Check out the interesting tournament blog by USCL's Blogger of the Year Chris Bird for further details and a few key positions from the top boards.

Nation's Top Kids in Las Vegas

Clockwise from top left corner:

• World U18 co-Champion IM Sam Shankland, 2441, #1 age 17.
  
• IM Robert Hess, 2527, #1 age 16 (recently turned 17).
  
• FM Michael Lee, 2374, #3 age 14 (will be #2 on next list).
• FM Daniel Naroditsky, 2358, #1 age 12 (recently turned 13).
  
• FM Darwin Yang, 2303, #1 age 11 (recently turned 12).
  
• Expert David Adelberg, 2027, #7 age 11 (was my round 2 opponent).
  

Grandmasters Play in Las Vegas

Clockwise from top left corner:

• GM Giorgi Kacheishvili from the country of Georgia won both the Berkeley International and North American Open.
• GM Varuzhan Akobian won a bronze medal with the US Olympiad Team.
• GM Melik Khachiyan is a highly respected teacher in Los Angeles.
• GM Anatoly Lein still is going strong at 77 years old!
• Reigning US Champion GM Yury Shulman teaches the prestigious US Chess School this week in Arizona, including local NMs Steven Zierk and Gregory Young.
• GM Slavko Cicak came to Las Vegas from Sweden.
  

Happy New Year 2009!

Dear readers,

First of all, I wish all of you a Happy New Year 2009!

The beginning of each calendar year is a good time to reflect on your chess goals. Do you want to reach a certain rating? Or win a specific championship? Maybe you want to study tactics for 30 minutes four times a week, or learn a new opening repertoire? Perhaps you hope to overcome your mental weaknesses, e.g. poor play against lower rated opponents. Whatever your goal, it must be something reasonable. For example, it might be a reasonable challenge to aim for 2000 if you're 1800 today, but jumping all the way to master within a year is unlikely.

I have a few exciting ideas to expand my blog for the new year.

1. Annotated Game of the Week. (probably not every single week)
2. More short reports from super-GM tournaments.
   
3. NorCal Player of the Month.
4. Fpawn Student of the Month.

I hope to post the POTM awards within the first week of each month, but I reserve the right to maintain some flexibility. The NorCal recognition will normally go to one of the elite juniors in Northern California, whether they are my student or not. Naturally, the Student of the Month award will be limited to private students, including those with lower ratings. A player may not win a second POTM award within 12 months unless they achieve something remarkable, e.g. winning a national or international tournament.

(Undoubtedly some of you are waiting for my final report from North American Open. I was feeling ill for half of my trip to Las Vegas and have slowly recovered since then. Strangely, my performance was decent--but not quite as good as some local juniors.)