Disability Article in July Chess Life

Life is a beach!

Check out the July 2013 edition of Chess Life magazine for an article about disabled chess players.  The author, freelance writer Christen McCurdy, interviewed seven chess enthusiasts from around the country, each with significant physical limitations.  The bottom line: the royal game offers "A Level Playing Board" for persons who cannot compete in mainstream sports.

The story includes several lengthy quotations from yours truly, plus an annotated game and two photos.  The full page photo on page 31 shows the fpawn at the Pacific Ocean during a weekend trip to Monterey.  Great picture Dad!  The annotated game with GM Alex Yermolinsky was played at Agoura Hills in 2006.  Yermo exacted his revenge in Reno two years later, in a game that he annotated for the Sioux Falls Chess Club. 

If you subscribe to Chess Life magazine, then watch your mailbox this week.  If you do not, you can read the magazine online.  A current USCF membership is required.

Aronian Analyzes Round 10 Victory

Have you ever wondered what an elite Grandmaster thinks about while playing? Shortly after a spectacular positional win, the champion of Tata 2012 shares some of his thoughts with the media and an internet audience. This video on YouTube lasts 17 minutes.

The official website has many similar videos from every round. Watch candid interviews with Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and even some players in Groups B and C. Enjoy!



As a small tribute to Levon Aronian, the Internet Chess Club released its Game of the Day video from round 12 to the public. Aronian clinched first place with this win as black against Boris Gelfand. Watch nearly an hour of detailed analysis by the popular Alex Yermolinsky!

2010 US Championship Underway

The 2010 US Championship began on Friday at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. Thanks to club sponsor Rex Sinquefield for backing a most generous prize fund of $170,000, including $35,000 for 1st place and $3,000 minimum for last. The novel format is a nine round swiss with one major variation. After round 7, the top four players split from the main swiss and face off in a round-robin quad to determine the top prizes. The "Final Four" plays ten games to determine the national champion while everyone else completes the nine round swiss, with the winner earning 5th place. This ensures that the best players face each other at the end.

The field of 24 participants includes all of America's top Grandmasters, a few older veterans and the brightest young talent. Will defending champion Hikaru Nakamura (photo by Betsy Dynako at top right) flex his muscles to become the first repeat winner in 25 years? Or will fellow Olympiad team (photo by Mike Klein below) members Gata Kamsky, Alex Onischuk, Yury Shulman and Varuzhan Akobian snatch the top honors? Or perhaps one of the three talented teenagers will surprise everyone, like last year when Robert Hess took 2nd place.Defending champion: Nakamura
Favorites: Kamsky, Onischuk
Contenders: Shulman, Akobian, Lenderman
Star Juniors: Hess, Robson, Shankland
Former Champions: Shabalov, Christiansen, Benjamin, Yermolinsky
The Field: Ehlvest, Kaidanov, Kudrin, Stripunsky, Bhat, Finegold, Khachiyan, Kraai, Gurevich, Krush, Altounian

Of course, many readers of this blog will cheer for the California players. Vinay Bhat has come home after spending more than a year traveling the European chess circuit. Gaining 73 FIDE rating points in the past 9 months, he may be a dark horse to surprise everyone. CalChess State Champions Sam Shankland and Jesse Kraai both have the potential to beat anyone, but it is unclear if they can maintain that high level of play over the full 9 or 10 rounds. Many Bay Area chess fans still consider 2-time US Champion Alex Yermolinsky as a local hero, although he moved to South Dakota a few years ago. Finally, Melik Khachiyan of Los Angeles has developed an pool of students from Northern California.

Readers may watch games live daily beginning at noon Pacific time. The Internet Chess Club offers live audio and video broadcasts from Saint Louis for its members (observe boards 1 through 12). Monroi broadcasts live moves for free. The official tournament website also promises live games, but their bandwidth was too low yesterday.

Key Round 1 Results: Stripunsky 0-1 Nakamura, Kamsky 1-0 Robson, Shulman 1/2 Bhat, Lenderman 0-1 Khachiyan (photo at right by Betsy Dynako), Hess 1-0 Shankland, Kraai 1/2 Shabalov.

Yermolinsky Stuns Shabalov in Round 1 of US Championship

(Final position of today's game Yermolinsky-Shabalov. White to move and win.)

What do GM Alexander Shabalov and IM Ricardo DeGuzman have in common? They both overlooked the same elementary knight tactic to lose material. DeGuzman blundered at the People's Replacement tournament (click here for the game) to end an undefeated streak of 27 games against me. Shabalov's gaffe, however, was far more painful as it came during round 1 of the US Championship, a tournament which he impressively won last year. The solution to the position above appears at the end of this column.

The 2008 Frank K. Berry US Championship began today in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Sponsored once again by the financial generosity of Mr. Berry, the tournament drew 24 men and 10 women to the geographic center of the nation for nine days of intense chess. The players will compete for a first place award of $8,000 (and $5,000 for women) out of a total prize fund of $80,000. The rounds begin daily at 12:30 Pacific time and may last up to six hours under the time control of 40 moves in 100 minutes followed by the rest of the game in 30 minutes, plus an increment of 30 seconds starting on move 1. At the end of the tournament next Wednesday, May 21, the new US Champion shall be crowned.

Five masters with ties to Northern California are participating: GM Alex Yermolinsky, IM Josh Friedel, IM David Pruess, NM Sam "Shanky" Shankland and WIM Batchimeg "Chimi" Tuvshintugs. The Yermonator, who moved to South Dakota last fall after many years at the Mechanics' Institute, stunned the defending champion Shabalov in 18 moves in the above featured game. Batchimeg outplayed Esther Epstein (2194) with the black pieces. David did well to draw with the very strong Cuban-American Grandmaster Julio Becerra. Unfortunately, Josh and Sam both lost to veteran Grandmasters and, as punishment, are paired against each other in round 2. Check out the MonRoi website for all of the games (registration is free).

Each day, I will pick one Game of the Day for the readers of this blog to enjoy, with a bias towards the games involving CalChess players. While I was tempted by the Yermolinsky miniature, it was decided by just one blunder. Instead, I chose the wild and imperfect tactical slugfest Tuvshintugs-Epstein in the Ponziani opening (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3). The position after move 7.Ke2 looks more like a game between scholastic players than the country's top women. I dedicate my choice to chess teacher extraordinaire Richard Shorman (see photo) and the hundreds of players attending this weekend's CalChess Scholastics who have been touched by his many lessons.

Some of my readers have inquired which players that I selected for the US Championship fantasy contest. I picked a mixture of veteran players and younger up-and-coming stars: GM Yury Shulman, GM Julio Becerra, IM Josh Friedel, IM David Pruess, IM Irina Krush, FM Daniel Ludwig and NM Sam Shankland. Despite a slow start of 3.0/7 in round 1, I have high expectations for my lineup.

Solution to the position: The black queen and knight on e7 are both undefended, so white can play the double attack 19.Nxd5. If Qxd2 then 20.Nxe7+ Kf7 21.Rxd2 Kxe7 22.Bc5+ wins an exchange plus a pawn. Objectively best is the response Nc6 when white is simply two pawns up after 20.Qxa5 Nxa5 21.Nxf6+ gxf6 22.Bxa7.

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!

Loose Ends From the Tulsa Qualifier

The US Championship Qualifier in Tulsa was finally USCF rated. NM Sam Shankland is up to 2332 and he should receive the FIDE Master title after the next FIDE rating list comes out in July. Kudos to Sam on qualifying and taking a giant leap forward! Reigning World U12 Champion FM Danya Naroditsky also gained a significant number of rating points and now sits at 2320. Even your humble reporter saw his rating increase, back up to 2276.

In other news, the organizing committee for the 2008 Frank K. Berry US Championship announced three wild cards for the tournament on May 13-21 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Congrats to IM Josh Friedel (Northern California) along with FM Michael Langer (Texas) and expert Sergey Galant (Oklahoma) for this honor. Good luck to all of our CalChess representatives in Oklahoma: IM Friedel, IM David Pruess and NM Shankland (some of you may also include former Bay Area resident GM Alex Yermolinsky).

Spokesman Tom Braunlich published the nearly complete list of players in his latest story on Chess Life Online. The top seeds are defending champion GM Alexander Shabalov and highest rated GM Alexander Onischuk. Other exciting participants in the field of 24 include: GM Gregory Kaidanov, GM Jaan Ehlvest, GM Varuzhan Akobian, GM Yury Shulman, GM Julio Becerra, GM Eugene Perelshteyn, GM Jesse Kraai and IM Ben Finegold.

Breaking News from Tulsa

Qualifiers for 2008 Frank K. Berry US Championship (May 13-21): GM Jesse Kraai (5.5), GM Alex Yermolinsky (5.5), IM Dean Ippolito (5.5), GM John Fedorowicz (5.5), FM Daniel Ludwig (5.0), NM Sam Shankland (5.0) and IM David Pruess (5.0). Click here for the complete crosstable at the bottom of the article.

Note that GM Julio Becerra (5.5), GM Alexander Ivanov (5.0), GM Sergey Kudrin (5.0) and GM Eugene Perelshteyn (5.0) are officially seeded by rating (because several higher rated players declined to participate) and therefore didn't actually have to play in the Qualifier.

Other noteworthy Northern California scores: IM Vinay Bhat (4.5), FM Danya Naroditsky (4.5), NM Michael Aigner (4.5) and IM Walter Shipman (4.0). For those of you wondering, NM Sam Shankland will now skip the CalChess Scholastics because it conflicts with the US Championship.