GRANDMASTER Sam Shankland!

His odyssey lasted a year longer than he hoped. He took a year off before enrolling in Brandeis University to pursue this elusive dream. Frustrated by his inability to pick up one final norm, he threatened to quit chess. Fortunately for his students and many friends, he fought on. Along the way, he shared a World Youth title, won the US Junior Closed, earned 3rd place at the 2011 US Championship and scalped dozens of experienced chess professionals.

Within the past week, our hero Sam Shankland reached the pinnacle. The world governing body FIDE finally approved his Grandmaster title! He joined more than 1300 players at the highest level for a chess player. Sam was officially credited with four norms, needing only three: New York and Philadelphia in 2009 plus Berkeley and St. Louis in 2011. Bravo!

I still remember Sam as a rambunctious 12 year old rated 1750. It was already obvious back then that he had both the talent and enthusiasm to improve rapidly. In 2004 and 2005, he played a whopping 5,000 standard games on ICC. Kids, don't try this without parental permission. :-) Nonetheless, after so much practice, it is no wonder that his USCF rating shot upwards.

Date - USCF Rating

• 4/2003 - 1086
  
• 2/2004 - 1537
  
• 2/2005 - 1867
  
• 2/2006 - 2106
  
• 2/2007 - 2216
• 2/2008 - 2279
• 2/2009 - 2441
• 2/2010 - 2546
• 2/2011 - 2559
• current - 2613

Although I never formally taught chess to Sam, I didn't hesitate to chew him out when he needed it. Trust me, he deserved it! Over the years, I came to know Sam as well as my top private students, even though he was in fact a major rival. Yet I cheered him on while he trotted around the globe. The biggest highlight was the trip to Vietnam in October 2008, where he shared 1st place in World Youth U18. Well done master!

Despite his repeated claims to the contrary, I am confident that Sam won't quit anytime soon. He loves the royal game and has achieved so much. He will undoubtedly play during vacations plus in the online US Chess League in the fall, unfortunately for the defending champion New England Nor'easters. Sam also enjoys teaching private lessons and summer camps. Check out his chess website for more information. Don't worry, GM Shanky is here to stay!

Sam is the second Berkeley Chess School alumnus to have earned the Grandmaster title. They're the same age and, quite predictably, are friends. Who is the other?

Lecture on Sunday at Berkeley International

Today was the sixth round of the Berkeley International. Four rounds remain to be played, one on each day through Tuesday. Good luck to the local players hunting for norms!

Standings after round 6:

• 4.5 G.Kacheishvili
• 4.0 Z.Izoria, J.Friedel, I.Krush
  
• 3.5 L.Milman, D.Sharavdorj, D.Naroditsky, D.Rensch
  
• 3.0 J.Sarkar, D.Pruess, M.Esserman
  
• 2.5 J.Kraai, V.Bhat, B.Evans, I.Zenyuk,
  
• 2.0 D.Haessel
  
• 1.5 S.Kustar

Unofficial norm watch:

• FM Daniel Rensch has +1 against 2515 average, including 2 foreigners
• IM Irina Krush has +2 against 2419 average, including 4 foreigners
• FM Marc Esserman has 50% against 2492 average, including 2 foreigners
• FM Daniel Naroditsky has +1 against 2374 average, including 2 foreigners

(Estimate the performance after six rounds by adding 65 points to the average for +1 and 120 points for +2. Need 2451 performance for IM norm and 2601 for GM norm.)

Check out the pairings for the next round daily after 11:00pm. My fellow blogger Dana Mackenzie comments on some of the more exciting games on his chess blog.

Finally, the organizer IM David Pruess kindly asked me to spread the word of a 30 minute talk by FM Daniel Rensch on Sunday before the eighth round. The lecture begins at 1:20pm at 1581 Le Roy Avenue in Berkeley. FM Rensch presently has 3.5 out of 6 after facing three GMs and three IMs. He is well above the IM norm threshold and may even earn a GM norm. He operates American Chess Events in Phoenix, Arizona, teaching chess to kids and running scholastic tournaments. He is also a great guy whom I first met nearly 10 years ago when he was an up-and-coming teenager.

David Pruess Or Paul Morphy?

(IM David Pruess may show future students some of the tactics in the Cochrane gambit.)

Four rounds have been completed in the Berkeley International. After two rounds, the six Grandmasters in the field had combined for an unimpressive 5.5/12 score, under 50%. They stormed back with four wins in round 3 and two in round 4--more importantly with no defeats. The top two seeds, GM Zviad Izoria and GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (both from the country of Georgia) are tied for first at 3.0 out of 4. Order has returned to the leaderboard.

However, IM David Pruess prefers chaos over order on his chessboard. He no doubt shocked most observers by essaying the Cochrane gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nxf7) in the fourth round. Check out the game on Chess Publisher by clicking on this link. This gambit, which is considered theoretically dubious by most, leads to complications that favor a creative attacker such as Pruess. His opponent, FM Dale Haessel, was unable to cope with the surprising sacrifice and succumbed to checkmate on move 22. The fatal mistake may have occurred quite early; theory suggests a plan of either 5... c5 and 6... Be6 or 5... Be7 and 6... Re8, but not 5... Be7 and 6... c5. Pay attention kids: If your opponent mixes up opening lines in a sharp opening, look for a refutation!

There has been excitement on other boards too. FM Daniel Rensch from Arizona, who appears to be intimidated by nobody, remains tied for first place with two wins and two draws against a daily double of GMs and IMs. He appears to be on his way to an IM norm, and perhaps even a GM norm. The early leader, FM Marc Esserman from Florida, cooled off a bit but remains in contention for both norms because he has already faced four Grandmasters.

Local 13-year old star FM Daniel Naroditsky may be the shortest player in the field, but he stands tall at 2.0/4 with a 2383 performance rating after an impressive win in the Kan Sicilian over IM Sandor Kustar from Hungary. FM Bela Evans (see photo at left), who spends most days working for the Fremont area scholastic organization Success Chess, has collected a hat trick of draws against titled players, including GM Jesse Kraai. In the most entertaining game versus IM Justin Sarkar, Evans demonstrated the power of a pesky knight pair to overcome the deficit of an exchange (R+N vs N+N) in the endgame.

Standings after round 4:

• 3.0 Z.Izoria, G.Kacheishvili, D.Rensch
• 2.5 J.Friedel, I.Krush, D.Pruess, D.Sharavdorj, M.Esserman
  
• 2.0 V.Bhat, J.Sarkar, D.Naroditsky
  
• 1.5 J.Kraai, L.Milman, B.Evans, I.Zenyuk, D.Haessel
  
• 0.5 S.Kustar, S.Shivaji, S.Jahedi

Check out the pairings for the next round daily after 11:00pm. For analysis of some exciting games, please visit Dana Mackenzie's chess blog.

Berkeley International is Underway

(White to move. What did the Bay Area's magician IM David Pruess play in this normal looking French defense? Click here to replay the entire game.)

The third Berkeley International features some of the Bay Area's top masters against competitors from around the country. The 19 player field put together by organizer IM David Pruess (see photo at right) includes Grandmasters, International Masters and foreign players so that GM and IM norms may be possible. In fact, there are six GMs: Zviad Izoria and Giorgi Kacheishvili, both representing the country of Georgia, Dashzegve Sharavdorj from Mongolia plus the three locals Jesse Kraai, Josh Friedel and Vinay Bhat. They are joined by five IMs and one WIM. For more, read the thorough preview by GM Friedel for Chess Life Online.

The rounds take place daily at 2:00pm in the Berkeley Chess School building at 1581 Le Roy Avenue. However, the best way to follow the action is to log onto ICC and check the events list using either BlitzIn or Dasher interface. Type "/finger EastBay08" for information or "/liblist EastBay08" for completed games.

Standings after round 2:

• 2.0 M.Esserman
• 1.5 Z.Izoria, G.Kacheishvili, I.Krush, D.Pruess, D.Rensch, D.Haessel
• 1.0 J.Sarkar, D.Sharavdorj, B.Evans, I.Zenyuk
• 0.5 J.Kraai, J.Friedel, V.Bhat, L.Milman, D.Naroditsky, S.Kustar, S.Shivaji
• 0.0 S.Jahedi

Check out the pairings for the next round daily after 11:00pm.

There have been numerous upsets so far. That's obvious just by looking up the leader, FM Marc Esserman, who started out rated #15 out of 19. He defeated a pair of Grandmasters in the first two rounds, including an entertaining tactical slugfest against GM Sharavdorj, but faces top rated GM Izoria in round 3. All told, the six Grandmasters have combined for more losses than wins after the first two days!

The local norm candidates, IM David Pruess and FM Daniel Naroditsky, both were paired against two GMs but with mixed results. The difference was that Pruess drew with GM Izora and won with a deep Bxh7 sacrifice against GM Kraai while 13-year old Naroditsky, easily the youngest player (see photo at left), lost to GM Kacheishvili and drew GM Bhat. Go David and Danya!

Also check out Dana Mackenzie's chess blog for an on-site report from the first round.

2008 Berkeley International

I am writing on behalf of my friend IM David Pruess. He is organizing the 2008 Berkeley International, to be held in Berkeley on December 14-23. The tournament will be 10 rounds, one game per day. The field should be incredibly strong, with six Grandmasters and four IMs signed up to date. David is still recruiting more foreign players so that GM and IM norms are possible. Entries are restricted to FIDE rating of 2200 and juniors over 2100.

Update December 2: David told me earlier today that he recruited two more foreigners, including GM Zviad Izoria (2610 FIDE).

Sound like a good deal? Certainly there is no other local tournament to match this level of competition. If you count airfare and hotel, then it is much cheaper to play in Berkeley than, say, World Open in Philadelphia.

I know that some chess players have work or school during the week of December 15. Since the games are daily at 2pm, David suggests taking 2-3 byes if you are able to get out at noon on other days. Unfortunately, if you are looking for a norm, you will need to play all of the rounds.

• website: http://dotq.org/chess
• entries: http://dotq.org/chess-players
• playing site: 1581 Le Roy Avenue, Berkeley CA
  

If you have any questions or concerns about the tournament, please contact IM David Pruess using pruess (at) gmailNOSPAM.com or dpruess on ICC.