Chess Room Newsletter #483 | Mechanics' Institute

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Chess Room Newsletter #483

Gens Una Sumus!

Newsletter #483, 03/10/2010
Chess is a very easy game; all you need to do is calculate lines, and everything will be OK.

Alexander Beliavsky after winning Alicante 1978 with 13 points from 13 games. (A Course in Chess Tactics by Bojkov and V. Georgiev, page 5)



1) Mechanics Institute Chess Club News
2) 2010 U.S. Women's and Junior Closed Championships Awarded to Saint Louis
3) Here and There
4) Yasser Seirawan in the 2009-2010 Dutch Team Championship
5) Early California Chess Magazines
6) Upcoming Events

1) Mechanics Institute Chess Club News

This weekend the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club will host a doubleheader. Saturday and Sunday the Club will hold the A.J. Fink Amateur Championship, open to players rated under 2000. Complete details for the event are available at www.chessclub.org. Sunday, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. the club will host 14-year-old FM Daniel Naroditsky who will give a talk and sign copies of his book Mastering Positional Chess which will be available for sale. You can learn more about Daniel at his website - www.danielnaroditsky.com .

NM Michael Aigner has compiled a list of the top Bay Area juniors on the FIDE March rating list and noted there progress.
  1. FM Danya Naroditsky 2388
  2. FM Steven Zierk 2380 -- gained 74 points in 4 months!
  3. NM Gregory Young 2268
  4. NM Yian Liou 2229
  5. NM Rohan Agarwal 2197
  6. Evan Sandberg 2159
  7. Samuel Sevian 2144 -- gained 84 points (provisional) in 4 months!
  8. Hayk Manvelyan 2087
  9. Kyle Shin 2061
Congratulations to IM and long-time Mechanics' Institute Trustee Vince McCambridge who celebrated his 50th birthday on March 8th.

Frisco Del Rosario is off to an excellent start with his new chess column in the online San Francisco Examiner.

His first article was a historical piece on the great SF problemist and master A.J. Fink ( in honor of this weekend's A.J. Fink Memorial) and his second was on last weekend's Bay Area Chess Spring Open where 16-year-old Fremont Expert Hayk Manvelyan took first prize and $500 for his 5.5/6 score. Salman Azhar directed the 55-player event.
2) 2010 U.S. Women's and Junior Closed Championships Awarded to Saint Louis
Written by Mike Wilmering ( [email protected] - www.saintlouischessclub.org )


The USCF has awarded the 2010 U.S. Women's Championship and the 2010 U.S. Junior Closed Championship to the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The two events will be held concurrently July 9-19.

The U.S. Women's Championship will feature a prize fund at least as large as last year's record-breaking, $64,000 purse. The tournaments will take place simultaneously, and each will feature a 10-player field. The invitees will consist of 1. the defending champion for each event, 2. The US Women's Open Champion/The US Junior Open Champion, 3-9- Top players by rating (list to be used to be announced soon) 10. 1 Wildcard for each event.

"Encouraging more women and juniors to play chess are both vital goals of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis," said Executive Director Tony Rich. "So we are very excited to host the tournaments simultaneously."

The announcement of these two major tournaments are another step toward cementing Saint Louis as the premier chess destination in the country.

Anna Zatonskih will return to defend her title after winning the 2009 U.S. Women's Championship. That victory earned her a bid to compete in the 2010 U.S. Championship, scheduled to be held at the CCSCSL May 13-25.

The three most prestigious tournaments in United States chess are being held in Saint Louis this year, giving the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis the Triple Crown of chess.

Stay tuned to www.saintlouischessclub.org for more details.

3) Here and There

Reykjavik Open1-4. GMs I.Sokolov (BIH, 2649),Kuzubov (UKR, 2634), Gupta (IND, 2577) and Stefansson (ISL, 2574) - 7 out of 9
5-9. GM Baklan (UKR, 2654), IM Cori Jorge (PER, 2483), GM Dreev (RUS, 2650), GM Ehlvest (USA, 2600) and GM Shulman (USA, 2624) - 6 1/2
10-16. IM Harika (IND, 2471), GM Danielsen (ISL, 2495), GM Miezis (LAT, 2533), IM Lenderman (USA,2560), GM M.M.Ivanov (RUS, 2465), GM Kveinys (LTU, 2536) and GM Galego (POR, 2487) - 6, etc. (104 players).

March FIDE Ratings - Top 30


  1. Carlsen - 2813
  2. Topalov - 2805
  3. Kramnik - 2790
  4. Anand - 2787
  5. Aronian - 2782
  6. Mamedyarov - 2760
  7. Grischuk - 2756
  8. Svidler - 2750
  9. Gelfand - 2750
  10. Wang Yue - 2749
  11. Ivanchuk - 2748
  12. Gashimov - 2740
  13. Radjabov - 2740
  14. Shirov - 2737
  15. Ponomariov - 2737
  16. Eljanov - 2736
  17. Nakamura - 2735 (USA)
  18. Leko - 2735
  19. Vachier-Lagrave - 2727
  20. Jakovenko - 2725
  21. Karjakin - 2725
  22. Malakhov - 2721
  23. Almasi - 2720
  24. Morozevich - 2715
  25. Wang Hao - 2715
  26. Bacrot - 2714
  27. Dominguez Perez - 2713
  28. Vitiugov - 2710
  29. Movsesian - 2709
  30. Vallejo Pons - 2708
Other Americans in the top 100

#34 Kamsky, Gata - 2702
#44 Onischuk, Alex - 2687
#88 Seirawan, Yasser - 2651

Other Americans over 2600

Shulman, Yury - 2614
Akobian, Varuzhan - 2610
Lenderman, Alex - 2601

Italian-American Fabiano Caruana, representing Italy, is #52 in the world at 2680.

Note Linares 2010 was not included on this rating list.

Washington state not only has a long running magazine (Northwest Chess - monthly since 1947 and coming up fast on issue 750) but has also held a round robin tournament to determine its champion since 1932! Thanks to Andy Ansel and Eric Holcomb the booklet for the state championship with a very nice caricature of the winner Olaf Ulvestadand information about the 1932 and 1933 championships is available at http://www.nwchess.com/articles/history/WA_chess_champions.htm.

4) Yasser Seirawan in the 2009-2010 Dutch Team Championship

Yasser Seirawan has always enjoyed a reputation for being an excellent team player and his record in the ten Olympiads he played for the US between 1980 and 2002 bear this out. Yasser has two team silver medals and two bronze as well as gold and two silver individual medals. His career record of 66 points from 102 games (65 percent) was attained while holding down board one four times, board two on three occasions, twice on board three and once on board four ( statistics courtesy of http://www.olimpbase.org/). Therefore it comes as no surprise that while Yasser has been retired from serious tournament play since 2003, occasionally playing rapid and blitz events, his one connection to classical chess (regular time control) has been the Dutch Team Championship where he has enjoyed outstanding results. Yasser's FIDE rating was 2621 in October of 2003 and is presently 2651. The only rated games he has played the past seven years have been in the Dutch League where he has picked up 30 points in 30 games!

Thanks to Rene Olthof for supplying Yasser's game from this season.

Van Oosterom,Chiel - Seirawan,Yasser [D42]
Meesterklasse 2009-2010 (2.3), 2009
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3 Be7 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bd3 Nc6 9.0-0 0-0 10.Re1 Ncb4 11.Bb1 b6 12.a3 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Nd5 14.Qd3 Nf6 15.Bg5 g6 16.Ba2 Nh5 17.Bh6 Ng7 18.Qe4 Ba6 19.d5 Bb7 20.Rad1 Bf6 21.Ne5 Qc7 22.Bf4 Qxc3 1/2-1/2
Seirawan,Yasser - Dambacher,Martijn [D58]
Meesterklasse 2009-2010 (3.7), 21.11.2009
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 b6 8.Bxf6 Bxf6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.b4 c5 11.bxc5 bxc5 12.Rc1 c4 13.Be2 Nc6 14.0-0 Re8 15.Qa4 Bb7 16.Rb1 Qd7 17.Qb5 Rab8 18.Nxd5 Bxd4 19.Nxd4 Ba8 20.Qa4 1-0
Houben,Jaap - Seirawan,Yasser [B13]
Meesterklasse 2009-2010 (4.3), 2009
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.c3 Nc6 6.Bf4 a6 7.Nd2 Bg4 8.Ngf3 e6 9.Qb3 Ra7 10.0-0 Bd6 11.Ne5 Bh5 12.Rae1 0-0 13.Re3 Bg6 14.Bxg6 hxg6 15.Qd1 Nh5 16.Bg3 Nxg3 17.hxg3 Nxe5 18.dxe5 Bc5 19.Rd3 Qg5 20.Nb3 b6 21.Qe2 Rc8 22.Nd4 Rac7 23.g4 Bxd4 24.Rxd4 Rc4 25.f4 Qh4 26.Rfd1 b5 27.g5 b4 28.Qf3 bxc3 29.Rxc4 Rxc4 30.g3 Qh5 31.g4 Qh4 32.bxc3 Rxc3 33.Qxc3 Qxg4+ 34.Kf2 Qxd1 35.Qc8+ Kh7 36.Qxa6 Qd4+ 37.Kg3 Qg1+ 38.Kf3 Qh1+ 39.Kg3 Qe1+ 40.Kg4 Qd1+ 41.Kg3 d4 42.Kf2 d3 43.Ke3 Qe1+ 0-1
Piceu,Tom - Seirawan,Yasser [A46]
Meesterklasse 2009-2010 (5.1), 13.02.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 h6 4.Bh4 g5 5.Bg3 Ne4 6.Nbd2 Nxg3 7.hxg3 Bg7 8.e3 d6 9.Bd3 Nd7 10.c3 Qe7 11.Qe2 a6 12.e4 b6 13.Nc4 Bb7 14.Ne3 c5 15.d5 b5 16.a4 b4 17.c4 h5 18.Rd1 0-0-0 19.b3 Bc3+ 20.Kf1 Rdg8 21.Kg1 g4 22.Nh4 Kc7 23.Bc2 Qg5 24.Nf1 Be5 25.Qd3 Qf6 26.Qd2 a5 27.Qe3 Bc8 28.Rd3 Nf8 29.Qd2 Ng6 30.Ne3 Bb7 31.Nf1 Qe7 32.Ne3 Nf8 33.Bb1 Nd7 34.Qe2 Qg5 35.Nf1 Qg7 36.Qd2 Re8 37.Re3 Bd4 38.Re2 Bc3 39.Qd1 Qd4 40.Qc2 Qf6 41.Ne3 Rhg8 42.Kh2 Be5 43.Kg1 Qg5 44.Qd3 Bf6 45.Rd2 Qe5 46.Rd1 Be7 47.Bc2 Bg5 48.Nf1 Be7 49.Ne3 Nf8 50.Nf1 Nd7 51.Ne3 Qg7 52.Qd2 Rd8 53.dxe6 fxe6 54.Ng6 Nf6 55.Nf4 Qf7 56.Qe2 Rg5 57.Nf1 Nd7 58.e5 Rxe5 59.Ne3 Nf8 60.Qd2 Rg5 61.Re1 Bf6 62.Nd1 Re8 63.Be4 Bc8 64.Qd3 Be5 65.Qd2 Bf6 66.Qe2 Re7 67.Ne3 Be5 68.Nfd5+ exd5 69.Nxd5+ Kb8 70.Nxe7 Qxe7 71.Qd2 Bc3 0-1
Seirawan,Yasser - Solleveld,Maarten [E70]
Meesterklasse 2009-2010 (7.4), 06.03.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Bd3 0-0 6.Nge2 Nc6 7.f4 e5 8.fxe5 dxe5 9.d5 Nd4 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bh4 Qd6 12.0-0 Bg4 13.Qd2 Bxe2 14.Nxe2 Nd7 15.Bf2 c5 16.Be3 Kh7 17.g4 Qe7 18.h3 Nf6 19.Kg2 Ne8 20.Nxd4 cxd4 21.Bf2 Bf6 22.Qe1 Rc8 23.Rc1 Bg5 24.Rc2 Nf6 25.h4 Bf4 26.Bxd4 Nxg4 27.Bg1 Qd7 28.Rf3= Nf6 29.Kf1 Qg4 30.Qf2 Nh5 31.Qg2 Qxh4 32.Qh3 Qd8 33.Ke2 Bg5 34.Kd1 Nf4 35.Qf1 f5 36.Bh2 Qb6 37.exf5 gxf5 38.Bxf4 Bxf4 39.Rcf2 Qd4 40.Kc2 b5 41.Rxf4 exf4 42.Rxf4 Qxd5 43.Rxf5 Rxc4+ 44.Bxc4 Rxf5 45.Bd3 Kg6 46.Qh3 h5 47.Kc3 Kf6 48.Bxf5 Qxf5 49.Qh1 Qc5+ 50.Kd2 Kg5 51.Qg2+ Kh6 52.Qa8 h4 53.Qh8+ Kg5 54.Qg7+ Kf4 55.Qf6+ Kg3 56.Ke2 Qd5 57.Qf2+ Kg4 58.Qg1+ Kh5 59.Qxa7 Qe5+ 60.Kf3 Qg3+ 61.Ke2 Qe5+ 62.Kf3 1/2-1/2

5) Early California Chess Magazines

The first chess magazine published in California was the Western American Chess and Checker Bulletin, edited by C.C. Kanaga of San Francisco. Unfortunately the magazine, started in January of 1919, only lasted three (possibly four) issues. The next chess periodical to grace the Golden State came from Beverly Hills and was a first rate production. The Chess Reporter ( later the North American Chess Reporter) was published from 1931-33 by Henry MacMahon to promote the Pasadena 1932 tournament which Alekhine won. All but one of the 21 issues of the magazine are available for viewing/printing at http://www.chessdryad.com/articles/lawless/art_12.htm thanks to the generosity of chessdryad.com founder and driving force Kerry Lawless. No one has done more to preserve the history of chess in California and his site serves as a template for similar efforts.

The third California publication, the Western Chess Chronicle (1935-36), also came from the Southland. Edited by Alfred Paul of Lomita , the Western Chess Chronicle was the official organ of the Southern California Chess League. The magazine lasted nine issues of which two are available for online viewing/printing. The last issue, which features the game Kashdan-Fine with annotations by Fine is available in .jpg format at www.chessdryad.com/articles/wcc/wcc_vol1_no9/index.htm , while issue one has been scanned into PDF format at www.scchess.com by Al Pena can be found under News and Notes halfway down the page.

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