Magnus on 60 Minutes This Sunday!

It may seem a polite game of quiet wit, but chess grandmasters are really out for blood. The number-one chess player in the world, Norway's Magnus Carlsen, tells Bob Simon that he especially enjoys making his opponent suffer in a game that is downright war. Simon profiles the 21-year-old chess prodigy for 60 MINUTES on Sunday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Read more at CBS News. Also make sure to vote in my poll on the right sidebar for who you think is currently the strongest chess player in the World.

Bay Area Shines on All-America Team

(Photos of local talents by Richard Shorman and Mark Shelton at ChessDryad.)

January 31 Press Release from Jerry Nash:

The United States Chess Federation (USCF) is pleased to announce the 2012 All-America Team sponsored by Trophies Plus. Team members were announced at the 2011 National K-12 held this past November in Dallas, Texas. Each member of the 2012 All-America Team receives a team jacket and plaque.

The All-America Team was created in 1987 to honor the very best players ages 18 and under. The team, one of the highest national honors attainable by a young chess player, is selected on the basis of age, rating, and activities during that year, similar to the selection process of “all conference” sports teams. This year’s candidates were selected based on their age as of January 1, 2011, and their peak post-tournament rating from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011. Since this award is a “post-season” selection, the minimum rating limits in each age group are reviewed annually by the USCF staff and the USCF Scholastic Council.

...

2011 All Americans from California

Age 17 (minimum peak rating 2400):

• Steven Zierk, CA-N

Age 15 (minimum peak rating 2300):

• Daniel Naroditsky, CA-N

Age 13 (minimum peak rating 2250):

• Yian Liou, CA-N
• Varun Krishnan, CA-S
• Michael William Brown, CA-S

Age 11 (minimum peak rating 2100):

• Kesav Viswanadha, CA-N

Age 10 (minimum peak rating 2050):

• Samuel Sevian, CA-N
• Cameron Wheeler, CA-N
  

Age 9 (minimum peak rating 1900):

• Albert Lu, CA-S
• Michael Wang, CA-N

Age 8 & Under (minimum peak rating 1800):

• Rayan Taghizadeh, CA-N

Commentary: This may be old news to many, but the official Press Release came out only a week ago. It can't hurt to congratulate these talented juniors again. The local names should be familiar to those who read this blog regularly. Note that they are all a full year older now. One sharp observer pointed out that there are 11 players from California (8 from the Bay Area), 9 from New York and 8 from Texas. No doubt, we have witnessed a westward shift over the past decade.

Amateur Team Fever Hits the Bay

(The photo at left shows the 2011 Amateur Team West champions, USC captained by IM Jack Peters. On the right is the 2000-01 Stanford chess team at the Pan Am Intercollegiate, with FM Philip Wang playing against GM Yuri Shulman of UT-Dallas.)

For more than 35 years, the President's Day weekend has been dedicated to the People's Tournament. Unfortunately, the traditional venue at UC Berkeley no longer was available for the past four years. Local organizers tried to find a viable replacement.

Now I can recommend a unique national tournament on February 18-20: Amateur Team West. Instead of playing just for yourself, join a 4-player team (plus an optional alternate). If you score 2.5 or more, you win the match and your team earns a point. Pairings each round are done by team, not individual players. (The individual scores contribute to the first tiebreaker.) The team that scores the most out of 6 rounds wins the tournament and advances to an internet playoff against champions from East, Midwest and South.

Sound fun? Yeah! Here are the details:

• Event: Amateur Team West (there's also East, Midwest and South)
• Dates: Feb 18-20 (no 2-day schedule)
• Venue: Santa Clara Hyatt Regency ($109/night)
• Rating: Average of top 4 < 2200 + board 4 within 1000 of board 3; use January ratings
• Format: 6-SS (team), all teams in one big section
• Rounds: Sat/Sun 11:30 and 5:00, Mon 10:00 and 3:30
• Time control: 30/90, SD/60 (max 5 hours per round)
• Prizes: Team Trophy and four Commemorative Clocks: top 3 overall, top U2000, U1800, U1600, U1400, U1200, top family, top all-junior, top school, top company plus board prizes
• Playoff: 1st place team faces winners from East, Midwest and South in an internet playoff!
• Entry: $188/team or $47/player by Feb 14
• Flyer: http://www.bayareachess.com/events/12/usatw12.pdf
• Info: http://www.bayareachess.com/events/12/usatw.php
  

If you are trying to win the tournament and thus qualify for the internet playoff, then you will probably need a team with average of 2100+. No doubt, whoever is on board 1 will face strong masters, probably a few IMs and maybe a GM. There are two common strategies to build a winning team:

• Balanced team, meaning everyone between 2050 and 2300
• Stack team, meaning two (or three) high rated masters and a low but underrated board 4 to keep the average under 2200 (note: the 1000 point rule prevents a team of 2600, 2500, 2400, 1299)
  

I prefer a balanced team, but the stack lineup can be very successful if board 4 is a B player who draws against experts. Keep in mind that this event uses the January rating list, generated shortly after Thanksgiving, so December and January tournaments do not count.

How to find a team? If you can play with your family, school, or long time chess buddies, then that always seems the most fun. Although everyone plays in the same section, there are plenty of class prizes (by rating) so a high average is not mandatory. If you can't find anyone, or have just 2 or 3 players, then register and get onto the "Looking for" lists.

Finally, make sure to pick a creative team name--there are special prizes! The 99 percent have already chosen to "Occupy FIDE". The "ChessPunks" (see photo at right from a year ago) may sound like a rap team from Da Hood, but instead they study the openings of classical composers like Taimanov, Reti and Philidor. And the organizer Salman Azhar asked me if I knew of any "fPWNers". Regretfully, I will not be able to attend, so my students will have to PWN for me.

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!

Levon Aronian Wins Tata 2012

(Giri vs Aronian, the beginning of a brilliancy. Photo from tournament website.)

This weekend, #2 ranked Levon Aronian further established himself among the World elite by taking clear 1st at the 2012 Tata Chess Tournament at Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands. The Armenian scored 9.0 out of 13, losing twice, but winning an impressive seven games to finish a point ahead of the field. Showing his ability to fight on either side of the board, three of his victories came with the black pieces. Aronian gained 15 FIDE rating points to push his live rating up to 2824, surpassed only by two men ever--Garry Kasparov and the current #1, Magnus Carlsen.

Special congratulations both to Aronian and his former coach, Melik Khachiyan (now living in Southern California). In fact, both Grandmasters have a taste for positional exchange sacrifices, such as move 13 in Giri vs Aronian (round 10).

Three challengers stayed hot on the winner's heels, but could not catch up. As the top seed, Carlsen can be disappointed with plus-3, especially his one defeat. In post game interviews, he criticized his own play, at one point even uttering a profanity. He did manage to hold on to his 2835 rating. Teimour Radjabov was the only player to escape defeat in Tata 2012, bringing his new rating up to 2784. And the young Italian star, Fabiano Caruana, cracked the top 10 of the World with four wins and just one setback, gaining 26 rating points.

Final Standings

• 9.0 Aronian
• 8.0 Carlsen, Radjabov and Caruana
  
• 7.5 Ivanchuk and Nakamura
• 7.0 Kamsky
• 6.5 Karjakin
• 5.5 Van Wely
• 5.0 Topalov, Gashimov and Gelfand
  
• 4.5 Giri and Navara
  

The bottom of the standings included a few surprises. Not so long ago, Veselin Topalov was at the top of his game. However, the Bulgarian lost four times in Wijk aan Zee, winning once. The oldest rated over 2700, Boris Gelfand still expected to score better than minus-3 as he prepares for a title match this May against World Champion Viswanathan Anand. Lastly, the Dutch youngster Anish Giri started out well at 4.0/7, but then lost five in a row to drop into the cellar. I am sure he will be back soon.

The two Americans moved up in the rankings with scores above 50%. Both won three rounds, but Gata Kamsky lost twice while Hikaru Nakamura just once. Nakamura now stands as #6 in the World, behind Carlsen, Aronian, Kramnik, Anand and Radjabov.

Let me complete my round-by-round list of favorite games from Group A.

1. Karjakin 0-1 Aronian -- Ruy Lopez closed
2. Aronian 1-0 Nakamura -- Dutch Leningrad
3. Carlsen 1-0 Aronian -- Queen's Gambit Declined + BN vs R endgame
   
4. Navara 0-1 Karjakin -- Ruy Lopez Berlin + pawn endgame
   
5. Nakamura 1-0 Navara -- English Opening, reversed Dragon
6. Gelfand 0-1 Nakamura -- Dutch Leningrad
7. Kamsky 1-0 Navara -- Ruy Lopez Berlin + R and B endgame
8. Giri 0-1 Gashimov -- Sicilian Najdorf, 6.Bg5
9. Ivanchuk 1-0 Giri -- Queen's Gambit Declined + R and N endgame
   
10. Giri 0-1 Aronian -- Queen's Gambit Declined + exchange sacrifice
    
11. Carlsen 1-0 Topalov -- Bb5 Sicilian (Canal-Sokolsky)
    
12. Gelfand 0-1 Aronian -- Queen's Gambit Declined, Petrosian
    
13. Kamsky 1-0 Topalov -- Queen Pawn Game, Indian
    

GM deFirmian Returns to Bay Area

News from Chess Room Director IM John Donaldson:

The Mechanics' Chess Club welcomes Nick deFirmian as its Grandmaster-in-Residence. This will be a return home for the native Californian and UC Berkeley graduate. Grandmaster deFirmian has a long association with the Mechanics' dating back to his days as an undergraduate, and served as a member of the organizing committee for the M.I.'s "Pan-Pacific" International Chess Tournaments in 1987 and 1991.

The past three decades Nick deFirmian has excelled in many areas of the chess world. A world class player for many years, Grandmaster deFirmian is a three-time US Champion and an eight-time member of the US Olympiad team. He served as the Captain of the US team at the 2002 Chess Olympiad held in Bled, Slovenia.

The author of several books on the games, including three editions of the well-received Modern Chess Openings, deFirmian has also written for such leading chess publications as New in Chess, Chess Life and Inside Chess.

He is well known for his role in helping prepare openings for the IBM computer Deep Blue that defeated World Champion Garry Kasparov in a historic battle in 1997. This was the first time a computer had beaten a reigning human World Champion in a match.

The past decade Grandmaster deFirmian has concentrated his energy on teaching chess to children in New York City. This teaching included working with Public School 130 in Chinatown and Horace Mann, a private school which won the 3rd and 5th grade national championships. He has also coached kids in such events as the World Youth Championships and taught at summer chess camps throughout the country.

Grandmaster deFirmian will focus his energy on the Mechanics' Chess Club's Scholastic Outreach program. He will also be the lead instructor at an expanded number of chess camps held at the Mechanics' and will start a Thursday evening group class for enthusiastic amateurs players.

Additional Links

• USCF Rating = 2573
• FIDE Rating = 2512
  
• Biography
• Chess Games

Additional comment by fpawn This certainly counts as exciting news! The Mechanics' has been without a Grandmaster-in-Residence since 2008, the year when Alex Yermolinsky moved to South Dakota. DeFirmian brings the experience of a veteran Grandmaster who won the US Championship three times and many times represented the country abroad. He also is one of only a few American GMs born in the USA! After the departure of Sam Shankland, Josh Friedel and Jesse Kraai, the Bay Area should embrace the new arrival. Welcome home!

Tata Through Round 7

(Gelfand faces the Dutch from Nakamura. Photo from Chessbase.)

The Tata Steel Chess 2012 tournament has reach the halfway point with the top two rated players in the World continuing to share the lead. In the past three rounds, both Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian drew twice and won once, leaving them with 5.0/7. American star Hikaru Nakamura picked up ground with a pair of exciting victories. On the other hand, three players lost twice since the first rest day: Vugar Gashimov, Boris Gelfand, and David Navara.

Standings After Round 8 of 13
Updated 1/22: All round 8 games were drawn except for Giri 0-1 Gashimov.

• 5.5 Aronian and Carlsen
• 5.0 Radjabov
• 4.5 Caruana, Ivanchuk and Nakamura
• 4.0 Giri and Van Wely
• 3.5 Kamsky, Karjakin and Topalov
• 3.0 Gashimov and Gelfand
• 2.0 Navara

The biggest surprises are the two local players, seeded 12th and 14th out of 14. The youngster Anish Giri has two wins against a single defeat (1/22: now two defeats) while the veteran Loek Van Wely managed seven straight draws. Most disappointed must be World Championship challenger Gelfand and the highly rated Vugar Gashimov. There is still plenty of time for fortunes to change since six rounds remain to be played.

Here are my favorite games from Group A, one for every round.

1. Karjakin 0-1 Aronian -- Ruy Lopez closed
2. Aronian 1-0 Nakamura -- Dutch Leningrad
3. Carlsen 1-0 Aronian -- Queen's Gambit Declined + BN vs R endgame
   
4. Navara 0-1 Karjakin -- Ruy Lopez Berlin + pawn endgame
   
5. Nakamura 1-0 Navara -- English Opening, reversed Dragon
6. Gelfand 0-1 Nakamura -- Dutch Leningrad
7. Kamsky 1-0 Navara -- Ruy Lopez Berlin + R and B endgame
8. Giri 0-1 Gashimov -- Sicilian Najdorf, 6.Bg5
   

Shankland Takes First at NorCal International

Fifth seed GM Sam Shankland won the 2012 Northern California International with an undefeated score of 7.0 out of 9. Rounds 6 and 7 turned out to be critical, when Sam defeated the early leader, IM Greg Shahade, and the top seed, GM Georg Meier of Germany, both in under 30 moves! A trio of Americans shared second place at 6.5: GM Alejandro Ramirez, GM Josh Friedel and IM Marc Arnold.

The tournament attracted 60 competitors to Fremont on January 2-8, including 8 Grandmasters and 16 International Masters. Players arrived from around the World, representing Georgia, Mongolia, Peru, Zimbabwe, and 9 other countries. The many flags hanging from the ceiling at the playing hall underscored the international flair.
One goal of any such event is to offer GM or IM norms to players who perform above 2600 or 2450, respectively. Three norms are required to earn a title. Kudos to Azeri master Faik Aleskerov for earning an IM norm with 5.0/9! IM Arnold and IM Shahade were among the leaders, but missed GM norms in the final round. C'est la vie! Unfortunately, the number of foreign participants (18) was less than expected (at least 20) due to multiple last minute dropouts, decreasing the norm opportunities. WGM Tatev Abrahamyan and 13-year old FM Kayden Troff both played very well to finish at 5.5/9, but alas, neither faced the requisite number of foreign opponents. Tragic!

• Final Standings
• Chess Life Online Article (by FM Kostya Kavutskiy)
  
• Games in Java Viewer OR Download PGN
• Brillancy Prize (judged by GM Vinay Bhat)
• Photos
  

Many thanks to organizers Arun Sharma and Ted Castro for hosting the tournament. By all accounts, people enjoyed a week of chess and mild weather in the Bay Area. For local participants, this was a chance to play against strong masters without traveling far. And the nine players under the age of 16 received an invaluable face-to-face learning opportunity. Given the high level of enthusiasm, hopefully the Bay Area will host many future Internationals!

(Photos courtesy of Inga Gurevich and Ted Castro.)

Wijk aan Zee Tournament

(World #1 Carlsen plays white against #2 Aronian. Photo by Chessbase.)

The beginning of each new year brings two of the most prestigious chess events: Wijk aan Zee in January and Linares in March. Both tournaments attract star players--this time 7 of the World's top 10. Chess enthusiasts from around the globe analyze every single game, hoping to understand the brilliant ideas behind the moves. Masters watch for the latest opening innovations while amateurs try to pick up a few tricks to use in their own games. Only the World Championship, Olympiad and World Cup can match this level of excitement.

More than a thousand serious fans brave the snow, cold and ocean breeze on the coast of the Netherlands to participate in a chess festival that began in 1938. Amateurs play in the same hall as the super-Grandmasters, and might even rub elbows with them. For over a decade, the steel company Corus funded the tournament. When Tata bought Corus two years ago, they assumed fiscal responsibility for continuing a tradition. Unfortunately, next year (2013) might bring the end; Tata has not indicated that it will continue the generous financial support.

Who are the players in Tata 2012? The all-star lineup in Group A includes the top 2 rated and 7 of the top 10 on the January FIDE Rating List. The bottom half of the field includes two (and a half) Americans. All but one player is rated over 2700--the unofficial threshold for super-GM. The average rating is a mind-boggling 2755!

• #1 Magnus Carlsen (NOR 2835) -- chasing record rating of 2851 set by Kasparov
  
• #2 Levon Aronian (ARM 2805) -- 2011 was best year of his chess career
  
• #5 Teimour Radjabov (AZE 2773)
• #6 Veselin Topalov (BUL 2770)
• #7 Sergey Karjakin (RUS 2769)
• #8 Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR 2766)
• #10 Vugar Gashimov (AZE 2761)
• #12 Hikaru Nakamura (USA 2759) -- top rated American
  
• #16 Boris Gelfand (ISR 2739) -- challenger to World Champion Anand in May 2012
• #17 Fabiano Caruana (ITA 2736) -- born in USA but moved to Italy at age 12
  
• #20 Gata Kamsky (USA 2732) -- second American and reigning US Champion
• #28 Anish Giri (NED 2714) -- youngest player at age 17, but top rated Dutchman
• #30 David Navara (CZE 2712)
• #54 Loek Van Wely (NED 2692) -- frequently plays Open tournaments in USA

Unfortunately, a pair of big names are missing from this list: #3 Vladimir Kramnik (RUS 2801) and reigning World Champion #4 Viswanathan Anand (IND 2799). Kramnik will probably play in Linares. Anand is taking an extended break to prepare for his title defense in May.

The traditional format is a 14-player round-robin, meaning all-play-all. The entire tournament lasts over two weeks--13 rounds interspersed by 3 rest days. Four rounds are now in the books, and the two 2800s share the lead at 3.0/4. They squared off in round 3, with Carlsen pulling out a victory in a wild endgame. On the other hand, Aronian won each of his other three games, including a middlegame win as black against Karjakin and a fighting game against Nakamura's Leningrad Dutch (see adjacent photo). Radjabov and the rising junior Caruana stand in third place, half a point behind the leaders.

• Official Website -- lots of video interviews
• LIVE Games -- 4:30am to approximately 10:30am PST
  
• Games in Java -- after school or work
• Crosstable
• Daily Bulletin
  
• Chessbase Reports
• ICC ChessFM -- video interviews and Game of the Day (Activities - Events)
  

I strongly encourage all of the advanced kids reading this article to play through the games of Group A. You may choose to select a couple of top players to follow throughout the year. Over time, you will learn the style of these Grandmasters and see what you need to do to improve. Although not my primary goal, you should also pick up some new opening theory. Any junior rated over 2000 should already be analyzing GM games on his/her own. I think most 1800s are strong enough as well. Now get to work! :-)

While browsing the Official Website, make sure to check out the B and C groups. Group B is an impressive Grandmaster tournament in its own right, with an average rating over 2600. The third invitational, Group C, seems somewhat weaker; still there are six Grandmasters, including two rated around 2650. One small detail: the winner of Group C earns a spot in Group B next year, while the champion of Group B plays with the big boys.

Golden State Open THIS WEEKEND in Concord

View Larger Map
This weekend's Golden State Open is the most exciting annual adult chess tournament in Northern California. Popular national organizer Bill Goichberg and his Continental Chess Association guarantee a minimum prize fund of $21K, with a projection of $30K based on 290 fully paid entries. The past two years saw an average of 250 participants and they hope for a modest increase.

Players may opt to stay at the comfy Concord Hilton while commuters benefit from easy access to I-680 at Willow Pass Road. Dining options are plentiful: Willows Shopping Center across the street (Claim Jumper, Quiznos and Jamba Juice), Sun Valley Mall just off the freeway, and family restaurants in almost every direction.

• Event: Golden Gate Open
• Dates: January 13-16 with 3-day and 2-day schedules (no Open in 2-day)
  
• Location: 1970 Diamond Blvd, Concord CA
  
• Format: 7 rounds in 5 sections (Open, U2100, U1800, U1500, U1200)
• Primary Time Control: 40/2, G/1, d/5
  
• 4-day schedule: Reg by Fri 6PM. Rds: Fri night, Sat (2), Sun (2), Mon (2)
  
• 3-day schedule: Reg by Sat 10AM. Rds: two G/75, then Sat night, Sun (2), Mon (2)
  
• 2-day schedule: Reg by Sat 9:30AM. Rds: four G/40, then Sun night, Mon (2).
• Entry fee: $150 on site
  
• Prize fund: guaranteed $21,000; projected $30,000
  
• Information: http://www.chesstour.com/gso12.htm
• Advance Entries: http://www.chesstour.com/ae-gso12.htm
  

No doubt, I would have played in this event. Alas, my long term health issues do not permit it. Sigh! However, I plan to visit for a few hours on either Sunday or Monday afternoon. It would be just my second Bay Area chess tournament since May 2010. I'm looking forward to seeing lots of old friends and former students! Please say hi!!

October Top 100 Lists

Udit Iyengar and Cameron Wheeler

I cannot believe that a full year has passed since my last report on the CalChess juniors ranked among the national Top 100 in each age. Alas, my previous blog post was indeed October 2010. My apologies! Without further ado, here are the PDF links everyone has patiently waited for.

• CalChess Top Age Lists
• CalChess Top 20 Lists

A total of 111 local students earned national recognition for their age, actually 2 less than a year ago. Another 8 girls appeared on the girls-only rankings. The most populous age groups were 11 years old (17 ranked, including 5 of the top 17) and 7 & under (15 ranked, including 5 age 6 and 2 age 5). No doubt this is a credit to the numerous school programs, concentrated in the South Bay.

The CalChess Top 20 lists keep growing stronger each month, despite the June graduation of four of the best high school players. Like last year, 16 kids are rated over 2000 USCF, a number already guaranteed to increase on the December supplement. Even more stunning is that 9 of 11 experts (2000-2199) are in middle school! Specifically, watch out for Kennedy Middle School at nationals, with top four players all currently rated above 2100 on MSA! (That's stronger than most high schools.) Finally, don't forget America's youngest master of all time, NM Samuel Sevian, who less than a year later is knocking on the door to 2300.

Ben Rood

In previous posts about the USCF Top 100 Lists, I created an unofficial medal system to honor the most talented CalChess juniors. Of course, those ranked #1 deserve an extra special mention. 15-year old IM Daniel Naroditsky falls somewhere between Superman and a 600 lb gorilla, considering that he has been at the top for some six years straight. On the other hand, 7-year old Ben Rood is the new kid on the block, winning both the CalChess 1-3 Championship and National K-1 Championship this year on the way to an impressive 1731 rating. Lastly, Chinguun Bayaraa starts off as the highest rated 5-year old in the country! Way to go Danya, Ben and Chinguun!

While only three #1s live in the Bay Area, there still are many star juniors. In fact, someone represents the Top 6 on every age list save two. (The exceptions are 13 and 17 years old.) Moreover, I counted two #2s and three #3s, all but one who reached the top before. With these statistics out of the way, let me announce the gold, silver and bronze medal winners! 14 gold, 17 silver and 9 bronze! (My students appear in bold and italics.)

IM Daniel Naroditsky

GOLD MEDAL (top 6)
Chinguun Bayaraa (#1 age 5)
Agnes William (#2 age 5)
Rishith Susarla (#4 age 6)
Ben Rood (#1 age 7)
Josiah Stearman (#6 age 8)
Michael Wang (#5 age 9)
Rayan Taghizadeh (#6 age 9)
NM Samuel Sevian (#2 age 10)
Cameron Wheeler (#3 age 11)
Jack Zhu (#6 age 12)
NM Yian Liou (#3 age 14)
IM Daniel Naroditsky (#1 age 15)
NM Gregory Young (#2 age 16)
IM Steven Zierk (#3 age 18)

SILVER MEDAL (top 17)
Solomon Ge (#9 age 8)
Anthony Zhou (#12 age 8)
Leyton Ho (#10 age 9)
Jeffrey Tao (#12 age 10)
FM Tanuj Vasudeva (#15 age 10)
Udit Iyengar (#7 age 11)
Vignesh Panchanatham (#11 age 11)
Colin Chow (#14 age 11)

IM Steven Zierk

Siddharth Banik (#17 age 11)
Kesav Viswanadha (#8 age 12)
Allan Beilin (#12 age 12)
Daniel Liu (#10 age 13)
Kyle Shin (#15 age 13)
Neel Apte (#16 age 13)
Paul Richter (#17 age 13)
Taylor McCreary (#17 GirlsU16)
NM Evan Sandberg (#15 age 18)

BRONZE MEDAL (top 30)
Zarek Azam (#21 age 7&under)
Jason Zhang (#23 age 7&under)
Arhant Katare (#28 age 9)
Kevin Moy (#22 age 11
Richard Yi (#24 age 11)
Art Zhao (#28 age 11)
James Kwok (#29 age 14)
NM Hayk Manvelyan (#20 age 17)
NM Rohan Agarwal (#19 age 18)

CalChess FIDE Rated Juniors - September 2011

Beware the 5th grade master!

When I earned my first international rating in January 2000, the recognition was more of rare bird than it is today, especially for non-masters and juniors.  Starting out at 2054, my FIDE actually dropped to 2011, barely above the absolute floor of 2000 back then.  My USCF rating bounced around 2100 at the time.

I participated in a handful of "Futurity" events at the Mechanic's Institute, intended for players to earn a published FIDE rating.  Only a handful of elite juniors were invited.  Consequently, I doubt that more than five kids in the Bay Area could boast of their world ranking at any one time.   

Fast forward to 2011...

CalChess FIDE Rated Juniors
(September 2011 FIDE ratings)

1. IM Daniel Naroditsky 2472
2. NM Gregory Young 2368
3. NM Yian Liou 2283
4. NM Samuel Sevian 2180
5. Daniel Liu 2063
6. Kyle Shin 2046
7. Siddharth Banik 2034
8. Arthur Liou 2024
9. Jack Zhu 1996
10. Cameron Wheeler 1962
11. Kesav Viswanadha 1938
12. Udit Iyengar 1917
13. Ojas Chinchwadkar 1915
14. Vignesh Panchanatham 1902
15. Allan Beilin 1899

Things certainly changed in a decade!  An amazing 15 youngsters are currently ranked, even after four graduated this past June.  Eight sport a FIDE rating over 2000.  With fellow World Youth gold medalist Steven Zierk now a freshman at MIT, Daniel Naroditsky lays an undisputed claim to the rank of 600 lb gorilla in Bay Area scholastic chess.

Reigning US Junior champion Gregory Young bounced up 72 points in the first half of 2011 before returning to his retirement due to school and basketball.  Hopefully he will submit the necessary paperwork and fee for the FM title that he duly earned by breaking 2300 FIDE.  Last year's US Cadet co-champion Yian Liou lurks within striking distance of FM as well, needing just one or two good tournaments.

After this trio of talented high school players, 10 of the remaining 12 local kids are in middle or elementary school!  Moving up from just below 2200 is Samuel Sevian, the country's youngest master ever (based on USCF rating).  The bottom six players on the Bay Area rankings may still be below 2000, but I bet they will shoot up quickly considering they all are in 5th or 6th grade (except Ojas Chinchwadkar).

CalChess Top 20 FIDE

Reigning state champion GM Sam Shankland (see photo) sits on top of the CalChess FIDE rating list for September 2011.  I still remember Sam as a B and C player way back in 2004.  He certainly came a long way since those days, winning three of the last four state titles (2008, 2009 and 2011), playing in three straight US Championships, finishing third this year, and defeating Peter Leko, former World Championship challenger, at the 2011 World Cup.  Although Sam now attends Brandeis University in Boston, he plans to play in one or two Bay Area tournaments each year.

Aside from Shankland's meteoric improvement, there are a couple of other noteworthy changes since my last ranking list in February 2010.  First, former state champion GM Josh Friedel moved to Wisconsin in search of happy cows.  Fair travels!  Secondly, teenage FMs Steven Zierk and Daniel Naroditsky upgraded their titles to IM, both gaining over 120 FIDE rating points in a year and a half.  Steven also moved to Boston for college after being admitted to MIT.  Would the state of Massachusetts kindly stop kidnapping the young chess stars of California?!

CalChess Top 20 FIDE

1. GM Sam Shankland 2553
2. GM Jesse Kraai 2514
3. GM Vinay Bhat 2511
4. IM Steven Zierk 2483
5. IM Daniel Naroditsky 2472
6. IM Dmitry Zilberstein 2403
7. IM John Donaldson 2390
8. IM David Pruess 2386
9. IM Ricardo DeGuzman 2382
10. IM Vladimir Mezentsev 2369
11. NM Gregory Young 2368
12. NM Arun Sharma 2331
13. FM Andrey Chumachenko 2325
14. FM Ronald Cusi 2313
15. FM Robin Cunningham 2295
16. NM Peter Zavadsky 2294
17. FM Shinsaku Uesugi 2292
18. NM Yian Liou 2283
19. NM Sevan Buscara 2271
20. FM Bela Evans 2262

Link to top players in Northern California ranked by USCF rating.

Study Math or Study Chess? Let's Ask Kasparov.

Hey all ya math and chess nerds! Garry Kasparov was interviewed on TV in Brazil:

I'll give you one example: there was an experience run in Germany by one of the German universities. They had classes, two classes. One had extra hours of mathematics. Another class, the same class, parallel, had extra hours in chess. At the end of the year, they compared the results in... mathematics! The class with chess won. But moreover it's about social integration, because it helps kids to gain some self-esteem, it boosts their attitude, sense of logic.

This sounds all too familiar to me.

2011 FIDE World Cup Begins

Bay Area star GM Sam Shankland (right) stunned super-GM Peter Leko (left) in round 1!

The FIDE World Cup has evolved into the largest and one of the most prestigious chess tournaments. An incredible 128 players arrived in the remote Russian oil town of Khanty-Mansiysk for a Wimbledon style knockout championship. Each mini-match consists of two classical games, one per day. If still tied, the match goes to a third day of tiebreaks, first rapid, then blitz and, if necessary, an Armageddon finale. Only one competitor can advance, meaning the competition is both grueling and nerve-wracking. The field shrinks in half after every round; round 2 has 64 players, round 3 has 32 and so forth.

The participants play for a huge prize fund of $1.6 million and three spots in the next World Championship cycle. Most players qualified either by rating (top 20) or by placing near the top of a country or continental championship (e.g. US Championship). The winner takes home $96,000; each of the 64 losers in round 1 gets $4,800. The two finalists plus the winner of the third place match advance into an 8-player Candidates Tournament (2013) to determine the challenger for a World Championship match (2014).

Considering these stakes, it seems a little surprising that only half of the top 10 rated players chose to participate. Of course, Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand are already busy preparing for a title match in May 2012. Then Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik probably expect to be invited to the Candidates Tournament by rating (top 3). However, the absence of Veselin Topalov and Hikaru Nakamura is more difficult to understand.

Six Americans made the lengthy trip to the middle of nowhere, or more precisely, 500 miles due north of Kazakhstan. Gata Kamsky earned his spot by rating; he actually won the 2007 World Cup. The other five (Alexander Onischuk, Yury Shulman, Ray Robson, Sam Shankland and Alexander Ivanov) all qualified at the 2011 US Championship in St. Louis.

Official website: http://chess.ugrasport.com/ (very good site!)

• List of Players
• Pairings Bracket
• Live Games - Unfortunately begin at 2am Pacific Time. :-(
• Complete Results
• Fpawn Twitter - Or see right sidebar of this blog.
• Daily Photo Albums
  

Games also available on ICC. Type "/finger WorldCup11" with library links at bottom.

American Results: MAJOR UPSET! Shankland eliminated Leko in round 1!!  Click here to view his win.  Unfortunately, only Kamsky managed to get past round 2.  Kamsky was knocked out by Svidler, who subsequently won the entire tournament!

• #8 Kamsky - eliminated by #9 Peter Svidler (Russian champ) 0.0-2.0 in round 4
• #51 Onischuk - eliminated by #14 David Navara in round 2
• #83 Shulman - eliminated by #43 Vladimiir Potkin in round 1
• #103 Robson - eliminated by #26 Etienne Bacrot in round 1
• #111 Shankland - eliminated by #82 Abhijeet Gupta in round 2
• #112 Ivanov - eliminated by #81 Igor Lysyi in round 2

Schedule:40/90, G/30 + 30 sec/move added from move 1

• Opening ceremony, August 27
• Round 1, August 28, 128 players
• Round 2, August 31, 64 players
• Round 3, September 3, 32 players
• Round 4, September 6, 16 players
• Quarterfinal, September 9, 8 players
• Semifinal, September 12, 4 players
• Rest Day, September 15
• Final + 3rd place, September 16 (two 4 game matches)
• Closing ceremony, September 20

Chess: The Road to College

(Where does this internationally certified chess nut go to college?)

The end of summer brings upon us the annual ritual of starting school. And those who managed to graduate from high school in June now begin a whole new chapter of their lives. Four of the Bay Area's elite scholastic players moved into college dorms this week. I was fortunate to have taught three of the four. They combined to win the past four state High School titles, with each victorious at least once. This post serves as a small tribute.

IM Steven Zierk definitely counts as the star of the class of 2011, both academically and based on chess results. He had many phenomenal results, but three stand out in my mind:

1. Clear 1st in A section of 2007 People's tournament with a published rating of 1527.
2. Beat GM Loek van Wely in 27 moves with black at 2009 Western States (Reno).
3. Gold medal at 2010 World Youth U-18 in Greece, earning the IM title.

While chess played big role in Steven's youth, he had a broad range of interests. As I found out accompanying him at the 2008 US Open in Dallas, he loves math puzzles and devours books of different genres. An active athlete, he played and refereed soccer, earned a second degree black belt in tae kwon do and even joined the school track and field team (shot put). Of course, he also excelled at Los Gatos High School. The photo at the top of this post leaves no doubt where Steven chose to go for college: MIT.


A year ago, NM Evan Sandberg (photo at right) became my sixth student to achieve the rank of master. Yet his greatest achievement came in 2009, when he shared 1st place in the High School section at the CalChess Scholastics (with Yian Liou), thereby earning the right to play in the Denker Invitational in Indianapolis. An active member of the Mechanics' Institute chess club, Evan continued to participate in the Tuesday Night Marathon through this summer. The streak will necessarily end since Evan decided to attend Rutgers University in New Jersey.

NM Rohan Agarwal (photo at left) reached 2200 despite never being one of my students. However, I wrote a tribute to his aggressive playing style titled "The Master Gambiteer". Sadly, he didn't have time for many tournaments over the past two years at Irvington High School in Fremont. He did leave a mark by teaching the next generation at Weibel Elementary. Rohan won't need to go far for college as he decided to attend UC Berkeley.


Expert Nicholas Karas (photo at right) of Rio Americano High School in Sacramento started out with a provisional rating of 395 and then rocketed through the rating scale to a peak of 2159. Much of the teaching credit goes to his first coach--and my longtime student--NM Daniel Schwarz. Nicholas saved the best for his senior year, winning clear 1st in the High School section at the CalChess Scholastics and then attending the Denker Invitational in Orlando. He also became a Golden Bear as he began studying at UC Berkeley.

ConGRADulations to Steven, Evan, Rohan and Nicholas! (I admit that I'm a little late.)

Each year, the most talented young chess players typically get admitted to the best universities around the state and nation. Take GM Robert Hess, America's top rated junior, as an example; he just matriculated at Yale University. Among my growing group of ex-students, there's no doubt that Berkeley has become the most popular school, with at least a half dozen: David C, Jeff Y, Kevin H, Charles S, Michael L and now Nicholas. Five of these six reached 2000 at chess, establishing a quasi benchmark for future Berkeley applicants. And I believe three guys remain at Stanford (Marvin S, Aaron G and Adam G) after the June graduation of Daniel Schwarz.

Numbers aside, however... Go Stanford! Beat Cal!

Naroditsky Finds GM Norm in Spanish Mountains

I submitted this article to Chess Life Online. The photo at left was taken at the 2011 US Championship. Congratulations Danya!

Always looking for interesting new places to play in Europe, IM Daniel Naroditsky participated in the XXXI Open International Villa de Benasque on July 7-16.

Located in the Pyrenees Mountains, this Spanish town is less than 10 miles from France, but 200 miles from the nearest large city, Barcelona. The majestic scenery attracted 31 Grandmasters and a total of 471 chess players seeking an excuse for a mountain vacation.15-year-old Naroditsky came to play Grandmasters and chase his first GM norm. ...

Please read the full article at Chess Life Online. There you will find a small sample of his games against Grandmasters.

Rybka Cheats!?

World Champion Chess Program Banned For Cheating
Gizmodo.com (tech web blog) republished from http://kotaku.com
June 30, 2011

The engine which emerged victorious from the past four World Computer Chess Championships, called Rybka ("little fish"), has been banned for cheating. But, uh, how can a computer cheat unless it's programmed to?

The answer lies not in its programming, but in its construction. The International Computer Games Association, which has both an awesome name and which runs the computer chess championships, has found that Rybka's creator, Vasik Rajlich, essentially plagiarised the work of other existing chess engines in creating his software, and has been stripped of all his titles and ordered to return all his prize money. (Which engines? Crafty and Fruit.)

Funnily enough, the ICGA didn't take the action because Rybka had stolen code. They took it because Rybka had used other people's code and not given credit.

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Do you think this story the truth or a fish tale? Perhaps people chose to slander Mr. Rajlich because of his success as an independent programmer!? I expect to hear more about this story in the coming weeks or months. I have not made up my mind yet.

For you kids out there, this article does contain one moral to learn and follow: Always cite your sources and give credit where it is due. If this news holds true, then the new program Houdini will be the undisputed leader in the world computer rankings. Coincidentally, Houdini openly borrows from other engines under an open source license.

Download the UCI engine for Houdini 1.5 (find the button about 1/4 down page) and run it in Chessbase, Fritz, Aquarium, Arena or Winboard. Here's the best part: Houdini is FREE!

Bay Area Showdown in St. Louis

(Photo from the website of the St. Louis chess club, host and sponsor for the US Junior.)

FRIDAY UPDATE: Gregory Young won round 8 to clinch clear first! Congrats!!

Thursday's showdown between Bay Area stars IM Daniel Naroditsky (white) and NM Gregory Young was easily the most critical pairing of the US Junior Invitational to date. Gregory took the early lead, 0.5 points ahead of his rival. By winning, Gregory extended the lead to 1.5 points with just two rounds left.

Click here to play through the moves. Danya set up the Maroczy bind against Greg's accelerated Dragon, deviating at move 11 from Giri - Tiviakov (Unive 2010). The placement of the white rooks (Rad1) is a central theme to this opening. By move 24, black achieved a small tactical advantage on the queenside. Amazingly, the black queen doesn't get trapped! The resulting opposite color bishops endgame was difficult to hold because of white's weaker pawn structure (down a pawn) and black's active pieces.

Despite the lead, Gregory can't rest yet. His final two opponents, FM Warren Harper and FM Victor Shen are both rated over 2400 and eager to play spoiler. In fact, seven of the ten players still have a mathematical chance to win the championship, should the leader slip. 


Final Standings

• 7.5 NM Gregory Young --2011 US Junior Champion
• 5.5 IM Conrad Holt, FM Victor Shen and FM Alec Getz
• 5.0 IM Daniel Naroditsky, FM John Bryant and FM Warren Harper
• 3.0 NM Kayden Troff
• 2.0 NM Jialin Ding
• 1.0 NM Raven Sturt