Meet Team USA

Pranav and Griffin battle at the 2018
World Junior for Players with Disabilities.
Credit: Dora L. Martinez

This article does not introduce the usual suspects named Fabiano, Wesley and Hikaru. While those gentlemen play a mean game of chess, they are not special enough to qualify for this team. The six members of Team USA competing at the FIDE Online Olympiad for People with Disabilities drive wheelchairs, wear limb supports, endure surgeries and therapies, perceive the world from one eye, struggle with social interactions and still thrive amidst a laundry list of unique circumstances.

Without further ado, please meet Team USA:

1. NM Michael Aigner from California, 2207 USCF, 2006 FIDE
2. Griffin McConnell (age 16) from Colorado, 2051 USCF, 1823 FIDE 
3. Pranav Shankar (age 13) from New Jersey, 1914 USCF, 1499 FIDE
4. Jessica Lauser from Missouri, 1804 USCF, unrated FIDE
5. Oskar Zoffer (age 11) from Massachusetts, 1680 USCF, unrated FIDE
6. Nguyen Tran (age 8) from Louisiana, 1132 USCF, unrated FIDE

Team captain is NM Lior Lapid from Colorado, 2302 USCF, 2124 FIDE.

Jessica Lauser won the US Blind
Championship the last three years!
Credit: Mike Dudley of Maine Chess

While the top four boards have an average USCF rating of 1994, the tournament uses an average FIDE rating of 1582 by assigning unrated players as 1000. This leaves the Americans seeded 39th out of 61 teams. Winning a medal seems unlikely given the fierce competition, but this young team aspires to surprise opponents and improve on its initial ranking. 

Stay tuned for updates. The first round begins on Saturday at 6:00 AM Pacific time. All games should be broadcast on Chess24. Go U-S-A!

Zkid, Students Dominate Birthday Blitz

Steven Zierk at age 12.

Grandmaster Steven Zierk won the first eight rounds en route to victory in the Fpawn Birthday Blitz Bash on Chess.com. For the second straight Sunday, Zkid dominated Northern California's best at blitz, scoring a combined 19.5 out of 22. This week, after overcoming difficult positions in rounds 3 and 4, the GM asserted himself with the white pieces in the English opening. This game would determine the top medals, as IM Yian Liou became the lone competitor to finish within shouting distance of the region's 800 lb gorilla.

Saratoga HS and Redwood MS
teams in 2007.

This evening of socially distanced blitz doubled as the birthday party for Coach Fpawn. Nearly half of the 36 participants were either current (5) or former (12) private students. Here's a big shout out to four members of the Saratoga High School team that captured six consecutive state titles from 2005 to 2010: Brian, Charles, David and Evan! Kudos to school captain David Chock for a strong performance a dozen years after his last USCF rated chess tournament. Other past students who joined the virtual party were Alex, Andrew, Dan, Eric, Gabe, Josh, Steven and Yian.

Perhaps it comes as small surprise that the top six places were occupied by five former students and one current mentee. The domination was complete; only one unaffiliated player scored more than 5 out of 10! Thanks guys for making your coach proud even after so many years.

Final Standings of the Fpawn Birthday Blitz Bash (full results here)

1. GM Zkid (Steven Zierk) 9.0 out of 10
2. IM RolyPolySword (Yian Liou) 8.5
3. NM 2Bf41-0 (Kirk Ghazarian) 7.5
4. IM cheese111 (Gabe Bick) 7.0
5. NM DSchwarz (Dan Schwarz) 7.0
6. chockbored (David Chock) 6.0
7. chessforme17 (Advay Bansal) 6.0
8. Ten tied at 5.0: mzhong21, fpawn, ericlgame, agrossman, mykehawke, championps, EM-TheChessShark, vish1080, knvsback and Mangonel

Mechanics' Institute
in San Francisco

Unfortunately, yours truly failed to play up to his usual standards. The frustration ran deep, e.g. flagging up a pawn with two extra minutes on the clock or moving a knight into capture in an easily winning position. Then came the inexcusable 21 move loss against the hippo. Next time!

Thanks to everyone who joined! It felt great watching some of you push pawns after so many years. Also thanks to Judit Sztaray of the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club for promoting the evening and hosting the virtual Meet & Greet on Zoom before the first round.

GM Zierk Wins Mechanics' Memorial Blitz

Due to the COVID pandemic, the Mechanics' Institute organized its annual Memorial Blitz online at Chess.com. This special event honors the memory of three masters who have departed after leaving their mark on the Bay Area chess community: NM Ray Schutt, SM Steve Brandwein and IM Jay Whitehead. In previous years, the large crowd of participants would socialize and munch on snacks between rounds of serious chess.

GM Steven Zierk
(credit: Alberta Chess)

Fortunately, the mandatory move online did little to dampen attendance - 104 players joined, including two Grandmsters, two International Masters, three FIDE Masters and at least seven National Masters. The competition was fierce starting in the first round, when three titled players lost or drew and a fourth overslept. No doubt, Ray, Steve and Jay would have enjoyed watching all of the fighting chess, even while socially distanced.

Veteran IM Elliott Winslow stormed out of the gate for the early lead, winning six straight games. The top seed, super-GM Rauf Mamedov of Azerbaijan, finally reeled him in. After round 7, four players shared the lead with 6-1: GM Mamedov and IM Winslow were joined by GM Steven Zierk and talented 13-year old IM Christopher Yoo.

The two Grandmasters clashed in round 9. Zierk, playing the black pieces, emerged victorious in a theoretical line of the Tarrasch variation of the French, gaining the advantage of two minor pieces against a rook and extra pawn.

Both Zierk and Mamedov held serve in rounds 10 and 11, allowing the local GM to clinch the tournament despite blundering into last round draw by repetition against this reporter. Congratulations Steven!

Final Standings of the Memorial Blitz (full results here)

1. GM Zkid (Steven Zierk) 10.5 out of 12
2. GM Muisback26 (Rauf Mamedov) 10.0
3. FM KyronGriffith 9.0
4. qing29 (Abhinav Penagalapati) 9.0
5. IM ChristopherYoo 8.5
6. NM 2007checkmate (Vyom Vidyarthi) 8.0
7. FM Marty435 (Jason Liang) 8.0
8. IM ecwinslow (Elliott Winslow) 8.0
9. NM jij2018 (Ruiyang Yan) 8.0
10. NM fpawn (Michael Aigner) 8.0
11. Atrozen (Anthony Rozenvasser) 8.0 

The blitz tournament was broadcast on Twitch with live commentary from the multi-talented Mechanics' Institute staff, including GM Nick de Firmian and FM Paul Whitehead. Replay the entire show at your leisure on YouTube! The game Mamedov vs Winslow begins at 1:25:00 while Mamedov vs Zierk starts at 1:48:40. Readers of this blog might enjoy the tense final round match between Zierk and Aigner at 2:20:25.

Check Out My Teaching Website

Off and on for the past 2+ years, I worked on my new Fpawn Chess website.  This site will not replace my chess blog, but instead functions as my teaching homepage.  I also post regularly on two social media platforms: Facebook and Twitter.  The reader can guess my username.

Check out the following categories on the left side:

Photo in July 2013
issue of Chess Life.

• Chess Bio and Photo Album - All about me!
• Chess Rules & Advice - Rules of thumb to know..
• Chess Quotes - 55 of my favorite quotes.
• Student Goals - 10 goals for a chess student.
• Chess Links - Dozens of interesting chess websites.
• Honor Roll - Achievements of my top students.
• NorCal Top 100 - Top juniors and adults in NorCal.
• Chess Lessons - Check them out!

Yes, I am open to accept some new students over the summer.  Please read my lessons page for more information.  The majority of my experience has been coaching students in 7th grade and older, rated at least 1500.  That said, I may consider younger or lower rated students, especially with referral from someone I know.  Contact me at michaelNOSPAM@fpawn.com (remove the six letters in caps from the address).

Ten Student Goals for Chess Lessons

Neel Apte and Daniel Liu with Coach Fpawn at 2009 CalChess Scholastics.

The beginning of each academic year gives students time to review their personal goals for chess lessons.  The following list appears at my teaching website: www.fpawn.com.

1. Become a more confident chess player!
2. Critique your games for mistakes and improvements.
3. Develop the necessary patience to carefully consider the consequences of every move played during a chess game.
4. Improve pattern recognition and understanding of tactics.
5. Learn positional and strategic concepts, such as tempo, space, pawn structures, weaknesses, good/bad pieces, and threats.
6. Apply standard opening rules and develop an opening repertoire.
7. Understand the theory of common endgames.
8. Cope with psychological pressures caused by different game situations, such as a winning or losing position.
9. Prepare for tournaments or even specific opponents.
10. Have fun!

Wanted: Chess Player

Welcome!

Welcome to the fpawn chess blog. I just created this feature, which I hope to use more frequently later this year as I travel to tournaments. For now, just visit my homepage and check out my finger notes on ICC for the latest news.

In case you're wondering, the above photo was taken recently, on February 10. Thanks to Mark Shelton of ChessDryad, one of my favorite Northern California chess websites.

May all your pawns promote!

Michael Aigner