Gens Una Sumus!
Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News 542
"I started playing chess at a very young age. It was fun and at the same time relaxing and invigorating. But when I reached competition, it became hard. During the four hours of tournament play under time pressure, tension accumulates with no release. At the end of a tournament, exhausted and drained, I thought, 'I am too old for this.' Chess had become too tiring. So what did I do? I switched to tennis. "
Growing as We Age by Jacqueline Piatigorsky 2003
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
2) Gregory Young wins US Junior Closed
3) Jude Acers versus Portland (1973)
4) Here and There
5) Upcoming Special Events at the Mechanics' Institute
6) Upcoming Events
1) Mechanics' Institute Chess Club News
The lead in the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon changed hands last night as front runner Todd Rumph of Berkeley was defeated by 19-year-old Frenchmen Sevan Buscara who now joins fellow masters Robin Cunningham and Evan Sandberg in the driver's seat with scores of 5-1. Two rounds remain for the 60-player field.
Grandmaster Sam Shankland, the third place finisher in the 2011 US Chess Championship, will give a free lecture next Tuesday evening, July 5th, from 5:15pm to 6:15pm at the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club. All are welcome.
News from the Past - Louis van Vliet
The horrible fire that followed the earthquake that struck San Francisco in 1906 burned the Mechanics' Institute to the ground and with it whatever records the M.I. Chess Club had dating back to its inception in 1854. It appeared that accounts of the early days of chess at the Mechanics' were lost forever but fortunately it is turning out that San Francisco papers did a reasonably good job of preserving some of the most important moments. Bit by bit the past is being revealed and the picture that emerges is of a vital and active institution that attracted many of the movers and shakers of the day including doctors, lawyers, businessman and politicians who all shared a strong passion for the game.
By the standards of the day the play was on a high level and then as now the Bay Area could lay a strong claim to being the strongest chess-playing city on the West Coast. This assertion could be supported by strong results in in matches against other cities and in the performance of its members when they visited chess clubs on the East Coast and in Europe.
One of the very first players with an international reputation to live in San Francisco was Louis van Vliet who was given a historical rating of 2400 by Professor Arpad Elo. We are indebted to Peter de Jong of De Meern, The Netherlands, for unearthing the following information on van Vliet whose early chess career was hitherto a mystery. The following material draws heavily on the research of Mr. de Jong.
Louis Van Vliet was born in Amsterdam in 1854. Both Berger in his Schachjahrbuch and the well-known chess historian Olimpiu Urcan were wrong about this fundamental fact as was the great archivist Jeremy Gaige, who quotes Berger in Chess Personalia, giving 1868 as the year of birth.
Between 1865 and 1868 both of van Vliet's parents passed away and he moved to England to live with his uncle Edward van Vliet. Edward's brother Leon already lived San Francisco and Louis moved there in 1884 and began work as a clerk at Leon's store. Van Vliet is a Jewish name and it doesn't surprise me (de Jong) that Leon van Vliet was a pawnbroker, selling watches, jewelry and diamonds. Part of the Van Vliet family lived in Holland (Amsterdam and Rotterdam), another part in London and yet another in San Francisco. All Van Vliets were related.
Louis learned to play chess from his uncle Edward. By the time he moved to San Francisco he was already 29 or 30 years old and a good player, but not nearly as strong as he would later become. Not long after his arrival he was playing an active role in the chess community and was among the 12 players who faced Zukertort (blindfolded) on August 8th, 1884 at Irving Hall (139 Post Street - just a block from the present day Mechanics' Institute location). A few days later Zukertort played again. Nine players participated, two of whom were English of which the names "could not be learned". Van Vliet must have been one of them.
The San Francisco Chronicle of July 31,1885, mentions a tournament in the chess rooms of the Mechanics' Institute and van Vliet again is one of the players. Van Vliet played and won matches against Redding in 1886 and Jefferson in 1887 before returning to London later that year. Unfortunately no games played by him during his time in San Francisco have been found. In fact the first of his games presently available was published in England in the Field in 1888. Around this time the Hereford Times referred to van Vliet as the "best player" on the Pacific Coast.
In 1889 van Vliet came back to Amsterdam and played in the first international Dutch chess tournament, together with among others Emanuel Lasker and Amos Burn. Van Vliet knew Rudolf Loman, who like him was originally from Amsterdam but lived for some years in London. Most likely Loman arranged that Van Vliet could play in Amsterdam and not without success as he defeated Lasker and took fourth place. Incidentally van Vliet was the only native Dutch player to beat Lasker in a serious game.
Below are two mentions of van Vliet in the San Francisco Chronicle
Van Vliet defeats Joseph Redding
A match game of chess has recently been concluded which excited no little interest among the amateurs of this city. For the past two or three years Joseph D. Redding has claimed to be the champion player of the coast, but there are several experts of the game in San Francisco who did not seem prepared to admit Mr. Redding's claim to that honor. Conspicuous among them was L. M. Van Vliet, who contended that he could defeat Mr. Redding in a set match if such a match could be brought about. Through the kind offices of H. I. Heynemann, a match was finally arranged, the winner of the first four games to be declared the winner, drawn games to count as nil, the match to be played at the residence of Dr. Marshall on Sutter street.
Mr. Redding won the first game and the third, Mr. Van Vliet winning the second, fifth, seventh and tenth games, and thereby the match by a score of four games to two.
San Francisco Chronicle, September 7, 1886.
The Royal Game Chess and Checkers in the Mechanics' Institute
A very interesting chess tournament has been in progress for a week past in the Chessroom of the Mechanics' Institute. The player winning the greatest number of games of the tournament will be rewarded a handsome oil painting of Tampa, which is mounted in a heavy gilt frame and is valued at $100. It was presented by Dr. B. Marshall. The following well-known chess players are engaged in the tournament: Manson, Heynemann, Redding, Ott, Reiss, Van Vliet, Peipers, Lynch, Halwegan, Scott and Peck. As the game now stands Mr. Heynemann is ahead, having won seven games, all he played, and having only three more to play. Reiss has played seven, of which won five, lost one and one was a draw. Van Vliet has won three, lost two and two were draws. Each player has to play against every other man.
A series of interesting checker games have also been played recently. William Bowe, a celebrated checker player of New York, arrived in the city on June 24th, and has played a series of games with checker players of this city and the Mechanics' Institute. He met his match in P.P. Cain, with whom he played a number of games. In the first sitting Cain won five, Bowe one and three were draws. Bowe also played with varying fortune with A. Bartlett, John Robinson and Cardinal Vanderburgh.
The Chessroom of the Mechanics' Institute is said to have no superior in the United States. The room is provided with fifteen tables for chess and checker playing. Most of the games are played in the afternoon.
San Francisco Chronicle, July 31, 1887
2) Gregory Young wins US Junior Closed
Gregory Young of San Francisco became the 2011 US Junior Closed late last week at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The 15-year-old Young, who has played at the Mechanics' his entire career, scored a sensational 7.5 from 9 to finish two full points ahead of the field in the ten-player round robin that averaged 2408 U.S.C.F. Seeded seventh in the field by rating, Young, started off with a bang winning his first four games to take the lead which he never relinquished. For taking first Gregory received $3000 and a spot in the 2012 US Championship.
This marks the third time in four years that a Mechanics' member has either tied for first or won the US Junior Closed outright. It follows on the heels of two gold medals by MI members in the World Youth Championships (Daniel Naroditsky in the Under 12 in 2007 and Steven Zierk in the Under 18 in 2010) and a tie for first place in the World Youth Championship in 2008 (Sam Shankland in the Under 16 - third on tiebreak). The Mechanics' is also home to the two youngest players to have achieved the US Chess Federation Master title - Samuel Sevian and Nicholas Nip and 2010 US Cadet c0-champion Yian Liou.
1. Gregory Young 7.5/9
2-4. Victor Shen, Conrad Holt and Alec Getz 5.5
5-7. Daniel Naroditsky, Warren Harperand John Bryant 5
8. Kayden Troff 3
9. Jialin Ding 2
10. Raven Sturt 1
3) Jude Acers versus Portland (1973)
Jude Acers has been one of the greatest chess promoters in the United States for over 40 years plugging the game by his writing, his many exhibitions and through his long-running stall in the French Quarter in New Orleans where he has played all-comers for several decades.
Derek Bridges has recently written an excellent piece on this American icon that can be found at
http://barkbugsleavesandlizards.com/2011/06/20/therell-be-no-need-for-me-to-cry/
The following article was sent in by Rusty Miller. It first appeared in the Portland Oregonian and later Northwest Chess.
JUDE ACERS VERSUS PORTLAND
At 10:08am on Saturday April 21,1973, Chess Master Jude F. Acers of San Francisco made his first move on board 1 of a 117 board simultaneous World Record for number of players played all at the same time. It was 13 hours and 41 minutes later when he shook hands with the Iast player to resign. Acers played the exhibition without a break which no one ever is going to top, but did down 25 cups of coffee and 1 peanut butter sandwich offered to him by a spectator.
The score at end of play was Acers 98 1/2 opponents 18 1/2, breaking down to 93 wins, 11 draws and 13 losses. The record event was held at Lloyd Center in Portland, Oregon. Mr. Acers was paid $1,000.00 to do the exhibition. The Lloyd Center had 140 players signup hoping for 120 players to take part but some no shows and some arriving late did not allow this. One newspaper report before the event said Mr. Acers "would attempt to play 120 players at once". Attempt was not the right word for if the players were there Mr. Acers sure was going to play them. Mr. Acers remarked when exhibition was over that he is ready for a 200 board exhibition next time.
Event drew TV cameramen from all three Portland area stations. K0IN TV sent newsman Arnie Mason to play in the event.
Players ranged in age from about 10 years old to about 60.including two
women, Cynthia McBride and Ruth Stromquist, Miss Stromquist was the next to last to finish and drew her game in a ending she should have won. 0ther players who drew were Portland residents: Tony Miller, Mel Peterson, Bob Slayton, Paul Austin, Gerald Reiner, Don Nash plus high school students Dale Schwartzenhauer of Grant High, Jim Allen of Rex Putman, Dave Wong of Cleveland and Andrew Hodge of Benson.
The players who won were: Mike Calcagno of Sam Barlo High in Gresham (He won in 21 moves when Acers overlooked a one move mate on King Rook two), Richard Wood of Lincoln High and Mitchell Groh of Roosevelt High plus adults Bob Malone, Arvin Dangerud, Mike Shank, Mert Bong, William Ballard, Chuck Cummings, Gary Webb, John Wolf and Steve Radosevich.
At end of ten hours play 53 games were still in progress, it eleven hour mark 46 games, at twelve hours 34 games and at thirteen hours 19 games.
The rules of the exhibition were that players could have either White or Black move instantly when Mr. Acers arrived at their boards, the masters move on a board was not complete until he had made a move on the next board.
International Master Arthur Dake of Portand dropped by the exhibition and was heard to say" An exhibition of this type is very good for chess". He wished Mr. Acers good luck when they shook hands. This was the first time the two had ever meet but Acers had played over a number of Dake's games. Oregon Chess Champion Clark Harmon was among the spectators of which there must have been several thousand during the course of the event.
The event was held in the open area and it rains a lot in Portland but this day the rain gods held off until after the exhibition was over. It got dark about 7:00pm and from then on the lighting was not the best plus it was rather on the cool side.
The monitors for the exhibition were Russell and Kathy Miller of Yakima, Washington.Russell is President of Washington Chess Federation and Jude Acers Tour Manager.
Theirs was an easy job as there was 100% cooperation from the players.
There was much discussion about Mr. Acers ability to continue play without any breaks. He never refused any coffee. The final game went about 40 moves.
4) Here and There
Nick Pope's site Chess Archaeology ( http://www.chessarch.com/ ) is a gold mine for those interested in chess history with many scanned magazines and chess columns from the past going back to the 1850s.
Congratulations to 1952 Washington State Co-Champion Arthur Murray who celebrated his 90th birthday this past month. Murray tied for first with Olaf Ulvestad in the tournament, defeating him in their individual game, but lost a subsequent match to Ulvestad who in 1946 had split a two game match against David Bronstein during the epic USSR-USA match in Moscow.
Digne De Lenea writes:
Chess players in Marin have recently played two team matches against Sonoma (winning 7.5-2.5) and the Berkeley Chess Club (lost 2-14).
Sonoma consisted of 3 clubs (a Santa Rosa Starbuck's, SR JC and Petaluma Senior Center), and Marin (San Rafael Border's Books Cafe and Fairfax Cafe). There are many casual chess players in this area who are not interested in tournaments or ratings but who always want to play new people and get out of their familiar settings once in a while.
I think team chess, unrated, one day events will pull in casual players into organized chess - not necessarily U.S.C.F. - and more importantly grow chess in the Bay Area. I remember the 1960's and 70's chess team leagues of the Puget Sound-Seattle area: University of Washington, Seattle CC, Tacoma CC, Boeing CC, and others, was an enjoyable option to tournaments. It's hard to imagine the Bay Area with a much larger population not having that possibility.
I'm working on getting the Marin players organized to play Mechanics for a 10-player match some Sat., similar format to Sonoma/Berkeley match but under-2000 and non-rated.
Mechanics' players rated below 2000 interested in playing in such a match should contact John Donaldson at [email protected] .
GM Sam Shankland gives a free lecture on July 5 at the MI.
July 31st Neil Falconer Blitz
6) Upcoming Events
Scholastic Championship - July 9
Charles Bagby Memorial - July 16
Vladimir Pafnutieff Memorial - August 6
Bernardo Smith Memorial - August 20-21
Howard Donnelly Memorial - September 17
J.J. Dolan Memorial - October 8
Carroll Capps Memorial - November 5-6
Pierre Saint-Amant Memorial - November 19
Guthrie McClain Memorial - December 3
July 2-4 or 3-4 2011 Sacramento Chess Championship GPP: 6 California, Northern ROUNDS: 6. FORMAT: Swiss. RATING: Full-K. Best Western Expo Inn, 1413 Howe Ave., Sacramento, CA. ON-SITE REGISTRATION: 7/2-8:30 am-9:45 am; 7/3-8:00 am-8:45 am. ROUNDS: 3-day: 7/2-10 & 3:30, 7/3-10:30 & 4, 7/4- 10 & 3:30. 2-day: 7/3-9, 11:15, 1:30, & 4, 7/4- 10 & 3:30. TIME CONTROLS: 3-day: 30/90 G/60. 2-day: Rounds 1-3, G/60, Rounds 4-6, 30/90 G/60. 5-second delay on all time controls. SECTIONS: Master/Expert (above 1999), Reserve (U2000). ENTRY FEES: 3-day $65 (Juniors $45) postmarked by 6/28. $75 (Juniors $50) after 6/28. IMs/GMs free. Entrants may play up one section for $10. $5 discount to CalChess members (excluding reentries). Reentry after round 2 of the 3-day schedule: $40. PRIZES: Master/Expert 1st Place $350 & trophy, 2nd Place $275. 1st Place Reserve $350 & trophy. Prize fund of $2800 based on 75 full paid adult entries and 10 full paid junior entries overall (with 60 full paid adult entries and 10 full paid junior entries, the prize fund will be $2,000). HOTEL: Best Western Expo Inn, (916) 922-9833 or 1-800-643-4422. Ask for the Sacramento Chess Club rates. ADVANCE ENTRIES & INFO: John McCumiskey (TD), e-mail: [email protected]; phone: (916) 524-9479. Checks payable to Sacramento Chess Club and mailed to 6700 50th St., Sacramento, CA 95823-1306. Full flyer and advance entries: http://sacramentochessclub.org under Weekend Events. OTHER INFO: No Smoking, No Computers, Wheelchair Access. 07/11 rating list only. Please bring clocks and equipment. 1/2 point byes available in any round and must be requested before the completion of the previous round. Maximum two 1/2 point byes per entry. 1/2 point byes for rounds 5 & 6 must be requested prior to round 1 and may not be changed. Chess Magnet School JGP.
Pine, San Francisco. $$B 160 paid entries (not counting free or unrated entries). Six Sections: Master $1500-750-400-350 U2300 $300; Expert $700-350-200-150. "A" $700-350-200-150. "B" $700-350-200-150. "C" $700-350-200-150. "D/E" $700-$350-$200 U1200 $200-150. Unr:
Trophy First. Trophy to top finisher (State Champion) in each section. All, EF: postmarked
by 8/29 $115. $125 at site. Unrateds $20 in the D/E section or may play up to the Master
section for the regular fee. $5 discount to CalChess members. USCF memb. req'd. May
play up one section for add'l $10. GM/IM free entry. Reg.: Sat 9/3 8:30-9:30am, Sun 9/4
8-9am. RDS.: Choice of schedules- 3-day, 2-day merge at round 4, all compete for the same prizes. 3-day schedule: Sat 10:00-3:30; Sun 11:00-4:45; Mon 10:00-3:30. 2-day schedule: Sun 9:30-11:45-2:00-4:45; Mon 10:00-3:30. 1/2 pt bye(s) any round(s) if requested in advance
(byes rds 5-6 must be requested before rd 1). 2011 September Ratings List, CCA minimums and Directors discretion will be used to place players as accurately as possible. Please bring
clocks and equipment. HR: Golden Gateway Holiday Inn (415)-441-4000. INFO: Richard
Koepcke (650)-224-4938. Ent: Richard Koepcke, P.O. Box 1432, Mountain View, CA 94042. No Phone entries. Master Section FIDE Rated. Chess Magnet School JG
2012 Northern California International Presented by NorCal House of Chess
Dates: January 2nd - January 8th
Location: NorCal House of Chess at Northwestern Polytechnic University
47655 Warm Springs Blvd.
Fremont, CA 94539
Rounds: Jan 2nd: 6:00; Jan 3rd, 5th: 11:00 & 6:00; Jan 4th, 6th, 7th: 4:00; Jan 8th: 11:00
Time Control: 40/90, SD/30 with 30 second increment
Organizers: Arun Sharma <asharma AT math.berkeley.edu> and Ted Castro <ted0712 AT yahoo.com>
Section A (GM-norm Round Robin)
Section B (Swiss)
GM and IM norms possible in both sections!
GMs interested in playing and potentially receiving conditions should contact Arun as soon as possible if they wish to have the best chance of doing so.
The Northern California International begins only a couple of days after the North American Open in Las Vegas ends so is a very convenient event for those who are playing in the latter.
http://dotq.org/chess/
Southern California Events
July 2-4 or 3-4 51st Annual Pacific Southwest Open A Heritage Event
Grand Prix Points: 30 6-SS, 40/2, SD/1 (2-day schedule rds 1-3 G/1, then merges).
Location: LAX Hilton, 5711 W Century Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045.
Prizes: $8,000 b/200, 50% of each prize guaranteed. 2 sections: Open, $1400-700-400-300-200, U2200 600-300-150, U2000 600-300-150. Amateur, open to U1800/Unr, 600-300-150, U1600 500-250-150, U1400 400-250, U1200 150, Unr 150. Unr may win Unrated prize only.
All EF: $69 if rec'd by 7/1, $79 at site. SCCF memb. required ($18, jrs. U18 $10, includes Rank & File magazine), OSA.
Reg: 3-day 9-10 am 7/2, 2-day 8:30-9:30 am 7/3. Rds: 3-day: 10:30-5 Sat-Sun, 10-4:30 Mon. 2-day: 10-12:14-2:30 Sun., then merges.
Ent: SCCF, PO Box 205, Monterey Park, CA 91754, online at www.scchess.com.
HR: $89 (310) 410-4000, mention chess. Parking: $8/day.
Inf: (626) 282-7412 or [email protected].
State Championship Qualifier
Chess Magnet School JGP.
NS, W, F.
And upcoming at Metropolitan Chess:
July 8-10, July 22-24, July 29-31 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th Metropolitan Chess FIDE Qualifier
Qualify into an International Norm Event! FIDE Rated!
Run under Metropolitan Chess, Inc (2011 USCF Chess Club of the Year)
Organized by National Master Ankit Gupta (2011 USCF Organizer of the Year) Invitation Based. Minimum of 1800 USCF and maximum of 2249 FIDE to participate. Requires organizer approval to participate.
Two (2) qualification seats per event.
E-mail [email protected] to inquire into specific details about event or visit www.metrochessla.com.
July 9-10, July 23-24, July 30-31 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Metropolitan Chess Booster Qualifier
Run under Metropolitan Chess, Inc (2011 USCF Chess Club of the Year)
Organized by National Master Ankit Gupta (2011 USCF Organizer of the Year) Invitation Based. Minimum of 1200 USCF and maximum of 1899 USCF to participate. Requires organizer approval to participate.
E-mail [email protected] to inquire into specific details about event or visit www.metrochessla.com.
Aug 17-21
1st Metropolitan Chess International
GM, IM, WGM, WIM Norm Event!
GM Michael Adams, GM Loek Van Wely, GM Ilya Smirin, GM Timur Gareev, and other GMs committed to the tournament.
Currently has 27 foreign players, 10 grandmasters, and 37 titled play
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