Vote to Support Earth vs Space

(Earth vs Space game after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Bb5 Qa5+ 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.O-O Nxc3 9.Qd2 Ne2+ 10. Qxe2 Ba6 11. Qe1 Qb6 12. dxc5 Qxc5 13. c4 Bxc4 14. Qc3. Black to move.)

Six weeks have passed since the opening move of the correspondence chess match between International Space Station resident Greg Chamitoff and his challengers on Earth. The team of earthlings led by elementary school champions from Bellevue, Washington has captured White's c4 pawn and must now withstand counterplay on the c-file, targeting the backwards c6 pawn. Of course, White threatens b2-b3 next move. Humanity needs to protect the queen, finish developing and castle before White's attack materializes. Do we have enough time?

Please vote on move 14 by 1pm on Saturday. You do not have to be a USCF member to participate. The team leaders from Stevenson Elementary School selected three candidate moves: Qb6, Qb5 and e7-e6. I won't reveal which one I chose; try to calculate two moves ahead and see which option makes the most sense.

• Click here to vote on the official match website!
• NASA webpage featuring astronaut Chamitoff and his velcro chess board in space.
• All Earth vs Space posts on this blog.

Fpawn Rating List - Largest Gains in 2008

(Rebekah poses with GM Susan Polgar at the Polgar Invitational in Texas last summer. This photo was taken from Polgar's excellent chess blog.)

Now that the December ratings have been released, it is time to look back at the improvements over the past 12 months (December 2007 to December 2008). A total of 20 students took advantage of my private lessons throughout the entire year 2008. All but one increased his or her USCF rating, with the average gain coming to 122 points. Five students (25%) impressively gained over 200 points!

The statistics become more significant when you consider that most of my students are already highly ranked, Six current students are rated over 2000 and three of those have an international rating. Another eight are A players; yet another eight are B players. All of these players know from experience how much harder it is to gain points at higher ratings, both due to the stiffer competition and because of the ratings formula (lower K factor).

Congratulations to CalChess Polgar representative Rebekah for demonstrating once again that, contrary to stereotypes, girls can beat all of the guys at chess! She gained nearly 300 points, jumping all the way to class A from a midrange class C rating last year. Her numbers actually pale in comparison to her little brother DanielL (see photo at right), who unbelievably gained almost 1000 points (from 734P to 1712)--he only began lessons with me in the middle of the year. "Math deity" Brian nearly matched Rebekah's success, earning 275 points to lead Saratoga High School's freshmen. Brian's teammates Kevin and EvanY also had a successful year and all three are now solid B players. Last yet certainly not least, CalChess Denker representative Steven cooled off a bit, but I dare say that improving by 177 points in the rare air of expert and master sections is no less impressive than the 554 points that he gained in 2007.

1. Rebekah +298
2. Brian +275
3. MichaeL +250
4. Tyler +240
5. Kevin +210
6. Steven +177
7. Yian +169
8. EvanY +163
9. Nicholas +132
10. James +113

Fpawn Rating List - December 2008

I updated the USCF rating for all of my chess students using the December rating supplement which is now available on the MSA site. The December ratings are considered the "annual" list for US Chess. Note that these calculations include only tournaments through the first Friday of November.

Click on the link to view the full Fpawn Rating List. Kudos to the following students for moving up into the next rating class: Michael Lin broke 2000 (plus he beat me over the weekend!); Rebekah Liu and James Kwok both officially became A players! Photos of Michael, Rebekah and James taken at this year's CalChess Labor Day festival may be found at the top of this story.

Top 5 Students Overall

1. NM Steven 2258
2. NM Gregory 2249
3. Yian 2056
   
4. Alan 2052
   
5. EvanS 2030

(Honorary: FM Danya 2379, NM DanielS 2321 and David 2095)

Top 5 Grades K-6

1. Yian 2056 -- CalChess Elementary (K-6) Champion
   
2. Kyle 1943 -- CalChess Elementary (K-5) co-Champion
3. James 1818
4. DanielL 1712
   
5. Eric 1611
   

Top 5 Grades 7-8

1. NM Gregory 2249 -- US Junior (U21) co-Champion
2. Sam 1900
   
3. Kevin 1747
   
4. Andrew 1695
   
5. Roland 1623
   

Top 5 Grades 9-12

1. NM Steven 2258 -- CalChess High School co-Champion and Denker representative
2. Alan 2052
   
3. EvanS 2030
4. MichaelL 2001
   
5. Jeff 1996 -- CalChess High School co-Champion
   

Shankland in Contra Costa Times

Last weekend's Contra Costa Times (link corrected 1:45pm) published an article featuring World U18 co-Champion IM Sam Shankland. Trying to compare chess to other sports, the reporter surmised that Sam "may not be able to outswim Olympic medalist Michael Phelps, but he could outmaneuver him — or almost anyone — in a game of chess." Having been outmaneuvered more than once, I would tend to agree with this assessment. Check out the story for interesting quotes by Sam, his father, Dr. Vladimir Naroditsky and even one comment from me.

Tournament Etiquette 101

Today's tournament at the Mechanics' Institute brought to light issues of sportsmanship and etiquette amongst chess players. Some players seem to lack proper schooling in the standards of behavior for adult tournaments. (Clarification: I do not wish to single out any player. I have at least four in mind just from this weekend. In the past, I have even seen some adults act like jerks.) To many, this is a black and white issue, like the squares of the chessboard. However, a few immature players ruin it for everyone else. Here are guidelines to make chess tournaments more enjoyable for participants of all ages.

• Know the rules! If you don't, buy or borrow the USCF's Official Rules of Chess.
• Follow the Golden Rule.
• Be polite to your opponent before and after the game.
  
• Always shake hands at both the beginning and end of a chess match.
• Be quiet as a courtesy to others!
• Turn off cell phones and other noise makers.
  
• If you must talk in the playing hall, keep your voice down.
• While talking with friends, never discuss your game in progress.
• Avoid making faces or other forms of nonverbal communication.
• Do not distract your opponent (and other players) in any way!
  
• The only words you should say to your opponent are "I resign", "I offer draw" or "I adjust". Any other issues should be addressed to the TD.
• Resign when your position is hopeless. Don't waste your opponent's time. Players over 1200 won't accidentally stalemate, except possibly in time pressure.
• Refrain from repetitive draw offers. Etiquette says you should never offer draw twice unless the position changed substantially.
• Do not offer or discuss a draw before a serious contest has begun (move 1).
  
• Avoid eating at the board, except for a light snack (no noisy wrappers).
• Dress appropriately for public. Avoid skimpy clothes or controversial messages.
  
• Walk slowly in the playing hall. Do not run or chase others.
  
• After your game ends, do not analyze in the playing hall.
  
• To minimize cheating suspicions, don't leave the playing site without permission.

Sometimes the worst transgressions are not by the players but by parents who aren't serious chess players. Here's a list specially for chess moms and chess dads.

• Emphasize sportsmanship at chess tournaments and in other arenas of life.
  
• Do not make noise in the playing hall during the round.
• Turn off cell phones and other noise makers.
• Always be polite to your child's opponents and their parents.
• Do not speak with your child during the round, unless he or she needs something.
  
• To minimize cheating suspicions, don't stand near the board for a long time.
• Be courteous to the TD. Note that he or she is often a volunteer or underpaid.
• In case of a dispute, be mature--like an adult. Set a good example!
  
• Encourage your child's competitiveness in a positive way.
• Always support your child after a loss. Never scold him or her just because of the result. It is better to teach your lesson later when the child is ready to listen.
• Remember that chess players only improve if they have fun as well!

Parents may also wish to read my May 13th post on the related topic: How should a parent behave at a chess tournament?

Capps Memorial in San Francisco

The 38th annual Carroll Capps Memorial takes place this weekend at the Mechanics' Institute in downtown San Francisco. Nearly 60 players showed up to compete for the $1600 prize fund, including International Masters Ricardo DeGuzman and Walter Shipman. After four rounds today, DeGuzman leads with a perfect score.

I am playing as well to support 8 of my students. Regretably, I am disappointed with my poor performance, although the 3.0/4 score doesn't seem that awful. I walked into a checkmate in the first round to 8 year old Vignesh Panchanatham (1623) and then struggled to beat 9 year old Allan Beilin (1533) in round 2. While the kids these days get good at a young age, the blame for today's results lies squarely on my shoulders.

I took these photos during round 4, after winning my only easy game of the day.

Saving Games to Library on ICC

(This screen shot of ICC's Dasher interface shows game board and library list.)

The Internet Chess Club gives each member a 100 game library. You can save your favorite online games or you can enter moves from real life tournaments. Once saved, you can show your best wins to your friends or your worst losses to your teacher. It is a good idea to enter your games soon after the tournament so that you remember what happened and can correct any mistakes in your notation. I also ask my students to upload their games so that we can review them more efficiently during class.

BlitzIn

1. To open a blank board, type /examine into any console.
   
2. Use your mouse to play through all of the moves.
3. Type /setwhitename Anand and /setblackname Kramnik for the player names.
4. (Optional) Type /tag whiteelo 2785 and /tag blackelo 2763 for player ratings.
5. Type /libkeep to save the game.
6. To see stored games, go to Actions Menu --> Show my personal library.
   
7. Right click on the game that you just entered and select Examine to play through it.
8. To manage your library, right click and use Libdelete or Libappend.
9. To save for Chessbase, Fritz or other program, right click and select Save PGN.
   
10. Open games from PGN file at Game Menu --> Open PGN.

Dasher

1. To open a blank board, go to Action Menu --> Enter Examination Mode
   
2. Use your mouse to play through all of the moves.
3. Type /setwhitename Anand and /setblackname Kramnik for the player names.
4. (Optional) Type /tag whiteelo 2785 and /tag blackelo 2763 for player ratings.
5. To store the game, click on Save to Game Library icon at top right of board.
   
6. To see stored games, go to View Menu --> My Profile --> Games and scroll down.
   
7. Right click on the game that you just entered and select Examine to play through it.
8. If you don't have Fritz, try the cool Toggle Computer Analysis Window.
   
9. To manage library, right click and use Delete Game or Save to Library Slot.
10. To save to Chessbase, Fritz or other program, click Save icon at top left of board.
11. Open games from PGN file by clicking on the Upload Game icon.

IM Sam Shankland Takes Bronze Medal!

The title of this post is not a misprint. It is my great honor to introduce the readers to America's newest International Master: Sam Shankland! Simply said, Sam fulfilled the unthinkable last night in Vietnam by defeating a strong young Grandmaster from the host country, Quang Liem Le (2583). Sam tied for 1st place in the World Youth U18, earning the BRONZE MEDAL on tiebreaks. Incredibly, there's more! According to FIDE regulations (see 1.21), up to three players tied for 1st shall earn the automatic IM title! (I reported incorrectly yesterday that the prize was a GM norm.) Gooooo Shankypanky!!!

Update midday Thursday: Mechanics' Institute Chess Room Director IM John Donaldson has confirmed Sam's automatic IM title through his connections within FIDE!

How did Sam do it? He faced two of the four players who tied with him, scoring 0.5/2. He played against two Grandmasters (1.5/2), two International Masters (1.0/2) and a total of seven opponents rated above 2300 FIDE (4.0/7). With a final score of 8.0/11 (+7 =2 -2), Sam's performance rating was 2552, incredibly a full 100 points above the IM norm threshold! His post tournament FIDE rating will be above 2450.

The final game was far from perfect. (Last round photos above from the official website show Sam in the black shirt.) It began as a Dragon Sicilian, but the queen trade on move 17 produced an even endgame. The draw would have no doubt been acceptable to Sam at that point, but probably not to his higher rated opponent. From then on, Sam got slowly outplayed and he was losing after 38... Nxh3 and 39... Kg5. His opponent missed the decisive blow and allowed Sam to generate tricky counterplay with 45.c5! and 46.d6! By move 53, Sam is miraculously winning despite being down a pawn! The game could have ended 53... Ke6 54.Kc4 e4 (if Rxd7 then b8Q wins) 55.Kxc5 Rh8 56.Kc6 Rd8 57.Rh1 and Black can neither capture d7 nor defend h2. Instead, Black tried the desperado 53... Rxd7 and resigned after Sam found the refutation 54.Rf1+ (to be followed by b8Q).


IM Shankland, Sam (2436) vs GM Quang Liem Le (2583)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O Nxd4 10. Bxd4 Be6 11. Kb1 Qc7 12. h4 Rfc8 13. h5 Qa5 14. hxg6 fxg6 15. a3 Rab8 16. Bd3 Bf7 17. Ne2 Qxd2 18. Rxd2 a6 19. Re1 Nd7 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. Nc3 b5 22. Bf1 Rc5 23. Rd4 Ne5 24. Nd5 Bxd5 25. exd5 g5 26. Re3 h5 27. g3 Rf8 28. Be2 Rf5 29. b4 Rc8 30. a4 Rh8 31. axb5 axb5 32. f4 gxf4 33. Rxf4 Rxf4 34. gxf4 Ng6 35. Bxb5 Nxf4 36. c4 h4 37. Bd7 Kf6 38. Bh3 Rg8 39. Bd7 Rh8 40. Bh3 Rb8 41. b5 Nxh3 42. Rxh3 Kg5 43. Kc2 Kg4 44. Re3 Re8 45. c5 dxc5 46. d6 e5 47. b6 h3 48. d7 Rd8 49. b7 h2 50. Re1 Kf5 51. Rb1 Rb8 52. Rd1 Rd8 53. Kc3 Rxd7 54. Rf1+ 1-0

After two weeks in Vietnam, the American delegation returns home on Halloween. That's not as scary as it sounds! Local star FM Danya Naroditsky had a disappointing result by his lofty standards, yet somehow he still finished in the top 10 (tied for 6th place). I am sure we can expect more next year when Danya returns for a second attempt to win U14. Fremont's little chess queen, Alisha Chawla, was no doubt outclassed but held her head high with 4.0/11. She finished with 50% in rounds 4-11 after losing her first three games on the international scene. Keep your head high!

Round 10:

• Sam beat IM P. Kartikeyan (2426) of India
  
• Danya drew with 2260 from Singapore
  
• Alisha beat UNR from Canada
  

Round 11:

• Sam beat GM Quang Liem Le (2583) of Vietnam
  
• Danya beat 2265 from Netherlands
  
• Alisha lost to UNR from New Zealand
  

Final Standings: (see official results online)

• IM Sam Shankland has 8.0, BRONZE MEDAL and tied for 1st, 2552 performance
• FM Danya Naroditsky has 7.5, tied for 6th place
  
• Alisha Chawla has 4.0

Six USA representatives ended the 11 day championship in the top 10 for their age group, including our own IM Shankland and FM Naroditsky. Despite struggling with 1.0 in the last three rounds, FM Darwin Yang of Texas finished 3rd in U12 and also earned a bronze medal! Young Jonathan Chiang, also from Texas, took 5th place in U8. Two young girls finished in the top 10 as well: Hannah Liu of Texas in Girls U8 and Simone Liao of Southern California in Girls U10. No doubt the future of American chess remains bright, especially in scholastic hot spots such as Texas and California!

US Chess League Photos #2

San Francisco Mechanics

versus

Miami Sharks

October 29, 2008
Click here for slide show!

1. GM Vinay Bhat uses a chess board with clock for his games.
   
2. Team manager IM John Donaldson sets up a board for IM David Pruess.
   
3. IM Dmitry Zilberstein focuses on the flat panel screen.
   
4. IM Pruess and NM Gregory Young are both in battle mode.

US Chess League Photos #1

San Francisco Mechanics

versus

Miami Sharks

October 29, 2008
Click here for slide show!

1. GM Vinay Bhat smiles before the round.
2. IM John Donaldson (seated) and IM Dmitry Zilberstein look over last minute prep.
3. IM David Pruess personifies intense focus.
   
4. NM Gregory Young keeps score to make it feel like a serious over-the-board game.

Chess Mania on Three Continents

October 29, 2008. What an exciting day to be a chess player!!!

Just a few minutes ago, Viswanathan Anand of India clinched the World Chess Championship by drawing Game 11 against Russian challenger Vladimir Kramnik. He won the match held in Bonn, Germany by a 6.5-4.5 margin to retain the title. Click to replay Games 1-10. Anand also gained 8 rating points from this match to tie Veselin Topalov on top of world rating list.

Tonight, I will report from the Mechanics' Institute in The City on the final week action of the US Chess League. Watch this blog for photos! Can the San Francisco Mechanics close out the 2008 regular season on top of the Western Division? All that SF needs is a 2:2 tie tonight against the 2nd place team, the Miami Sharks. The lineup for the good guys: GM Vinay Bhat, IM David Pruess, IM Dmitry Zilberstein and NM Gregory Young! Watch on ICC starting at 5:30pm!

Perhaps the biggest and most surprising news comes from the World Youth Chess Championship in Vung Tau, Vietnam. Local FM Sam Shankland (see photo at right) has unofficially earned his second IM norm by winning today's game against IM P. Karthikeyan (2426) of India. There's more! He will play the white pieces in the final round against #2 seed GM Quang Liem Le (2583) of Vietnam. If Sam (7.0/10) somehow wins, he guarantees at least the BRONZE MEDAL on tiebreaks and, depending on two other results, he could tie for 1st in the World U18! A tie for 1st would include another carrot: an automatic GM norm. Alisha Chawla (4.0/10) also won this morning while FM Danya Naroditsky (6.5/10) drew again.

Wow! I am out of breath! Time to pack for my trip to San Francisco.

More Results from Vung Tau

As the World Youth Chess Championship in Vietnam enters its second week, the tension on the top boards mounts. Everyone hopes to finish well in the 11 round event, either earning a medal for the top 3 places, or at least to score within the top 10. Considering the level of competition, any top 10 result is highly impressive.

After scoring a combined 3.5/4 over the past two days, FIDE masters Sam Shankland and Danya Naroditsky both have a shot at a respectable finish. Depending on his pairings, Sam even has a chance at bringing home his second IM norm (but he needs to play one more GM or IM). Danya has recovered from a rocky beginning to pull up to 5.5/8, just half a point out of a tie for fourth place. Either could medal with three straight wins to close out the week, although that may be unrealistic given the strength of opposition.

Update on Tuesday morning: Sam has 6.0/9 for a 2474 performance rating. Normally this would be enough for a norm, but he faced only 1 GM and 1 IM. As luck would have it, he is paired with an IM in round 10 and needs a draw for what appears to be a norm!

I update the daily results below. Check out the games from rounds 1-7 at ChessAsia.net.

Round 7:

• Sam beat 2262 from India
• Danya drew with 2200 from India
  
• Alisha lost to UNR from Peru

Round 8:

• Sam beat 2322 from Greece
  
• Danya beat 2170 from Russia
• Alisha lost to UNR from Iran

Round 9:

• Sam drew with FM Ruben Pereira (2437) of Portugal
• Danya drew with 2256 from Philippines
• Alisha got a full point bye
  

Standings after round 9:

• FM Sam Shankland has 6.0, tied for 6th place, 2474 performance
• FM Danya Naroditsky has 6.0, tied for 8th place
  
• Alisha Chawla has 3.0

The USA delegation consists of 28 players, parents and a half dozen coaches. Coverage on US Chess Online has been uncharacteristically disappointing due to a complete lack of first-hand news from Vietnam. Don't they pay enough for one of the coaches to spend 30 minutes to write up a daily blog story?

The following list includes 13 Americans with a score of 5.0 or more after round 8. Kudos to FM Darwin Yang of Texas, who leads the U12. Can Darwin repeat Danya's success from last year?

• Jonathan Chiang, 5.0 in U8
  
• Tommy He, 5.0 in U8
• Jeevan Karamsetty, 5.5 in U10
• FM Darwin Yang, 7.0 in U12 (section leader!!!)
  
• David Adelberg, 6.0 in U12 (tied for 3rd!)
• Atulya Shetty, 5.0 in U12
• FM Danya Naroditsky, 5.5 in U14 (tied for 8th)
  
• FM Sam Shankland, 5.5 in U18 (tied for 6th)
• FM Daniel Ludwig, 5.0 in U18
• Hannah Liu, 5.5 in Girls U8 (tied for 5th)
  
• Simone Liao, 6.0 in Girls U10 (tied for 4th)
  
• Caroline Zhu, 5.0 in Girls U12
• Alena Kats, 5.0 in Girls U14
  

Play Chess in the City? Check Out a New Blog!

Joe Russell started a new SFChessNews blog geared towards chess players in the city of San Francisco. Readers may recognize this "Average Joe" from tournaments at the Mechanics' Institute, where he plays with a class A rating. The current top stories on his blog explore different venues to meet and play in the City, such as Cafe Abir on Divisadero at Fulton (see photo above).

Earth vs Space Reaches Critical Position

Earth vs Space after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Bb5 Qa5+ 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.O-O Nxc3 9.Qd2. Black to move.)

The ongoing correspondence chess match between astronaut Greg Chamitoff (on left in NASA photo, posing with fellow American Richard Garriott) and us Earthlings has become tactical by move 9. After Earth voted for Qa5+ on move 5, White's resources along the a5-e1 diagonal were limited. Humanity has seized the initiative. On the bright side, the resident of the International Space Station still has a development advantage and even managed castled. Is that enough?

If you read this post by Sunday at noon Pacific time, please surf to the USCF website to vote on move 9. You do not have to be a member to participate. The champions from Stevenson Elementary School in Bellevue, Washington selected four candidate moves: Ne2+, cxd4, Bg4 and Ba6. I won't reveal which one I chose; instead, I urge the reader to calculate the tactical possibilities after each option.

• Click here to vote on the official match website!
• NASA webpage featuring astronaut Chamitoff and his velcro chess board in space.
• All Earth vs Space posts on this blog.

Western States Open Report on US Chess Online

(Photo of GM Kudrin playing against GM Sadvakasov in round 5.)

My final report on the 26th Western States Open has been posted at Chess Life Online. The article focuses on the results in the Open section. I annotated five games, including the critical round 5 pairing between Grandmasters Sergey Kudrin from Connecticut and Darmen Sadvakasov from Kazakhstan. Kudrin won that game and took clear first place.

• Official website with crosstables
• Rating report on USCF website
• Photo album and slideshow (over 60 photos)
• All blog posts on Western States Open
  

Kudos to these players from Northern California who finished near the top of their sections.

Open:
1st U2500 GM Vinay Bhat, East Bay
2nd U2300 NM Michael Aigner, NM Steven Zierk, IM Walter Shipman, Rohan Agarwal, Dana Mackenzie

Expert:
1st-2nd Igor Margulis, San Francisco

Class A:
1st Hayk Manvelyan, East Bay

Class B:
1st-6th Richard Haggstrom, Sacramento
1st-6th Kesav Viswanadha, South Bay
1st-6th Robert Russo, Sacramento

Class C:
1st-3rd Sam Young, Sacramento

Class D:
1st-2nd Suraj Nair, Sacramento
1st-2nd Darren Chapla, Chico

Class E:
1st Merak Arriola, East Bay
2nd-3rd Larry Webb, Sierra foothills
2nd-3rd Colin Chow, Sacramento

Golden Knights

I attended the college football game this evening at UC Davis. A highlight came at halftime when seven skydivers from the Army's elite Golden Knights landed on the field. (You may wonder if there is a connection to chess. Only in the name: the USCF correspondence chess open tournament each year is also called the Golden Knights.) As a footnote, the Aggies won the Great West Conference game by 34-21 over North Dakota.

World Youth Results

(Vung Tau lies on the coast of the South China Sea. Photo from German club website.)

The World Youth Chess Festival in Vung Tau, Vietnam invites only the best of the best from around the world. Anyone who holds their head high among this competition is a champion, even if they don't finish in the top three.

Northern California's three champions have not had it easy so far. FM Sam Shankland drew with a Grandmaster yesterday in U18, but lost to an equally strong International Master today. Still, his overall performance rating remains above the IM norm threshold. Proving that lightning doesn't strike twice, FM Danya Naroditsky has uncharacteristically struggled in U14 with two draws and a loss. Last but not least, Alisha Chawla plays the hardest event of her young life in Girls U8, but she is on the scoreboard with a win.

Results updated for round 6 on Friday morning. Danya is back on track after a rough start. Alisha won her second game. The next round is on Sunday.

I update the daily results below. Check out the games from rounds 1-5 at ChessAsia.net.

Round 5:

• Sam lost to IM Ivan Saric (2516) of Croatia
• Danya beat UNR from Finland
  
• Alisha lost to UNR from Vietnam

Round 6:

• Sam lost to 2377 from Russia
• Danya beat 2132 from Azerbaijan
• Alisha beat UNR from Kenya
  

Standings after round 6:

• FM Sam Shankland has 3.5/6, 21st place, 2410 performance
• FM Danya Naroditsky has 4.0, tied for 10th place
  
• Alisha Chawla has 2.0

Unfortunately, the playing conditions remain poor due to the tropical heat without fans, air conditioning or other means of ventilation. Danya's father, Dr. Vladimir Naroditsky collected testimonials from parents over the past two days for this summary:

• "Yesterday was very hot, my daughter said she had a headache. I felt the same way, I do not think the air conditioner was on. A lot of kids felt exhausted. I think we should complain about it."
• "The accounts are consistent with no air conditioning and all doors and windows to the arena open. I do not know the exact temperature but my wife and I are sweating just sitting in our seats watching the chess."
• "I have the same sentiment regarding the playing hall. The air condition is not working and not enough ventilation. I think this is unacceptable playing condition for our kids."
• "The playing conditions today were horrible, as it was too hot. There were no fans or AC. The rest rooms are below standard. The day got particularly tougher as there were two rounds today. If the organizers can arrange for some fans at least, that may be good."
• "I do not know how high the temperature is, but it is certainly hot and humid. I do not know what can be done; it is a big area (stadium) and is relatevely open (bad for air conditioning), but with quite bad ventilation."
• "Yes, this is absolutely correct. We went to complain and they said that they are fixing the A/C. It's been very hot there all three days but today is definitely the worst."
  

Hopefully enough coaches and parents from different countries complain so that the organizers will address this problem, either by fixing the A/C or at least installing an army of fans. If the parents suffer while just sitting and waiting, then I worry about the young chess players who try their best for 4+ hour long games in this heat.

What Is Wrong with Kramnik?

(Can white take the d4 pawn, intending to skewer the black queen and the knight on d7?)

The World Chess Championship in Bonn, Germany has taken an unexpected turn. Please stand up if you predicted that Vishy Anand would lead by three games at the midway point of his 12 game match against Vladimir Kramnik. The relevant question today is not "Will Anand win?" but rather "What is wrong with Kramnik?" For all practical purposes, the final games of the match merely serve as Anand's coronation as the 15th undisputed World Chess Champion.

The match turned with a pair of victories by Anand from the black side of Meran, which is a sharp variation of the semi-Slav defense (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6). The semi-Slav is Anand's favorite opening against 1.d4 and he is not afraid to mix it up. Black's king was stranded in the center in both contests, but he had counterplay on the g-file. In Game 3, Anand crashed through on the kingside and Kramnik subsequently blundered in a wild position. In Game 5, Anand again equalized and then Kramnik allowed a spectacular combination by capturing the poisoned pawn on d4 (see diagram at top of article). The game ended with 29. Nxd4?? Qxd4 30. Rd1 Nf6! 31. Rxd4 Nxg4 32. Rd7+ Kf6 33. Rxb7 Rc1+ 34. Bf1 Ne3!! 35. fxe3 fxe3 0-1
In between these two wins, Anand played the white pieces in Game 4. Perhaps content to just consolidate his lead, white achieved nothing in the Queen's Gambit Declined and a draw was agreed before move 30. By the time Game 6 began, Kramnik was two points in the hole and desperate for a win with either color. He overpressed in a position that he should have looked for ways to draw and Anand calmly scored another point. The score now stands at 4.5-1.5 in favor of the Indian superstar. After three misses, Kramnik is like the hero in Ernest Thayer's famous sonnet about America's pasttime: "mighty Casey has struck out."

The next two games are scheduled for Thursday and Friday at 6am PDT. Due to the end of summer time in Europe, the final four games on Sunday and next week begin at 7am. However, the match will immediately end when (if) one player achieves an insurmountable score of 6.5 points. Regardless of the winner, both players will split the 1.5 million Euro purse evenly. The catch is that the World Champion is guaranteed another rich purse soon while the loser fights his way through the complicated qualification cycle.

Concerns About Organization from Vietnam

Dr. Vladimir Naroditsky remained at home to tend to business while his wife Lena and son Danya traveled to Vietnam. Here are observations from several emails that Vladimir asked me to share with the public so that word gets out.

• The weather conditions are almost unbearable, especially since the air conditioning does not work inside the playing halls. Playing conditions are inhumane!
• There were no board numbers for round 1. Some players moved several times, apparently without explanation due to the language barrier.
  
• ID tags for some players were mixed up, creating confusion. Danya's round 1 opponent showed up late and appeared to be significantly older than 14.
  
• Internet does not work inside the hotel as promised, although some nearby hot spots have limited wireless access.
• On the bright side, the local people are very friendly and genuinely try to help.

How is this different from previous years? Certainly any large tournament with participants representing many different countries will have difficulties related to the language barrier and vastly different cultural expectations. Often the local organizers and hotel staff are ill-prepared for the crush of people from around the world. Nonetheless, most reports from the 2007 World Youth in Antalya, Turkey were positive with only minor inconveniences. On the other hand, the 2005 World Youth in Belfort, France was an unmitigated disaster! You may contrast Antalya and Belfort by reading the threads on the CalChess forums.

World Youth 2008 from Vietnam!

Readers of my blog may already be aware that the World Youth Chess Festival began last weekend in Vung Tau, Vietnam. The American delegation flew between 20 and 30 hours and then endured a bumpy 2-3 hour bus trip. On one hand, the venue is a beach resort on the southern tip of the country, about 100km outside of Ho Chi Minh City. On the other hand, the weather reports give temperatures in the 90s with extreme humidity, worse than Florida in the summer!

A total of 885 participants from 73 countries arrived in Vietnam for this annual tournament. Among this crowd are 28 American youths plus parents and coaches. The players compete in 12 sections: U18, U16, U14, U12, U10 and U8 for both boys (open) and girls, with age determined as of January 1, 2008. The competition is brutal and even the strongest often finish far away from the podium. The top three in each section earn medals and other prizes, including IM norms or automatic FM titles (depending on which age).

Three Northern California residents have made the trip to Vung Tau. FM Danya Naroditsky (left photo) is a true veteran of these tournaments, winning the World U12 last year. He moved up to U14 in 2008. FM Sam Shankland (center photo) also participated last year and now competes in the strong U18 section with 3 GMs and 9 IMs. Alisha Chawla (standing next to GM Susan Polgar in right photo) is the newcomer, playing in the Girls U8 division at her first international event. I plan to follow all three players on this blog.

The schedule includes rounds on most days at 3:00pm local time, which translates to 1:00 in the morning in California. The first round was on Monday and the final round will be on October 30. Exceptions: Both rounds 3 and 4 are today while Saturday is a rest day.

Here are the results from the early rounds. All ratings are FIDE. Sam is rated 2436, Danya is 2382 while Alisha is unrated.

Round 1:

• Sam beat 2142 from Vietnam
• Danya drew 2017 from Vietnam
• Alisha lost to UNR from Bulgaria
  

Round 2:

• Sam beat 2255 from Austria
• Danya drew 2046 from China
• Alisha lost to UNR from Mongolia
  

Round 3:

• Sam beat 2263 from Iran
• Danya beat 2044 from Canada
• Alisha lost to UNR from Vietnam

Round 4:

• Sam drew GM Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen (2567) of Vietnam
• Danya lost to 2093 from Switzerland :-(
  
• Alisha beat UNR from Sri Lanka
  

Standings after round 4:

• FM Sam Shankland has 3.5, tied for 1st, 2643 performance
  
• FM Danya Naroditsky has 2.0
  
• Alisha Chawla has 1.0

In contrast to some previous editions of the World Youth, this year's organizers have a strong web presence, albeit sadly without any live games broadcast. Chess Life Online reports daily with results from the American delegation, including photos and an exciting game annotated by FM Shankland. Web portal ChessAsia.net has posted colorful photos and some stories from the tournament. They also promise to upload more games on a java viewer (only round 1 so far).

Wrap-up of the Western States Open

Click here for the crosstables on the Reno chess website. The tournament has been USCF rated.

I returned home after a long and tiring weekend in Reno and slept in my familiar bed again. Reno has always been one of my favorite destinations, but this year's Western States Open was up and down both at the chess board and away from it. My wheelchair problem (see previous blog entry) distracted me a lot, although fortunately, my joystick worked well after I "fixed" it using my finger. Nonetheless, I blundered left and right in my final three games, still somehow scoring 1.5/3 after my last round opponent repeated moves in a winning position. Maybe I was more frustrated than usual because all of my opponents were from Northern California. My final score of 3.0/6 (two wins, two losses, a draw and a bye) was good for $135 in prize money, but I lost 3 USCF and 4 FIDE rating points. I picked up another $120 net from gambling. It could have been worse. :-\

Most of my half dozen students finished with respectable results. On the bright side, Nicholas (photo at upper left) was undefeated at 4.0/6 in the A section and 11 year old Yian (photo at upper right) gained valuable experience from 3.5/6 in the Expert section. NM Steven Zierk continued two contradictory streaks: he remained undefeated lifetime against Grandmasters by drawing with Alex Yermolinsky in round 1, but he also added to an otherwise mediocre record against IMs and 2400s. Getting to 2300 and beyond was never supposed to be easy. Congratulations to Sacramento area 12 year old Suraj (see photo at right) for winning the D section on tiebreaks with 5.0/6!

I expect the organizers to upload the final standings and submit the tournament for rating by Wednesday. In the meantime, please check out over 60 photos at Flickr: click to view the album or the slideshow.

My final report will appear at the USCF homepage later this week. Kudos to GM Sergey Kudrin for taking top honors at 5.0/6. Three tied for 2nd at 4.5: GM Jaan Ehlvest, GM Melik Khachiyan and IM Enrico Sevillano (photos below from left to right).