Chess Room Newsletter #615 | Mechanics' Institute

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Chess Room Newsletter #615

Gens Una Sumus!

Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club Newsletter # 615
February 13, 2013


The game of chess is better known throughout the world now than any other aesthetic human invention. It is the first thing and the only thing thus far to gain admittance into the poets 'parliament of man, the federation of the world.' It is the first language to spread around the globe, none the less expressive for dispensing with words, and none the less intelligible for it is unerring appeal to reason and mental concentration, rather than to the diplomacy of the tongue. The communion of two minds at chess is not subject to the limits of language or nationality. Some knowledge for so universal a pastime should be regarded as a necessary accomplishment to all.

—Cook's Synopsis (1884), page 145.


1) Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club News

National Master Romy Fuentes leads the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon with 5.5 from 6, but likely faces tough tests in his last two games with top seeds International Master Elliott Winslow and Fide Master Andy Lee, who trail him by half a point. All other contestants in the TNM-record-setting 88-player field are a point or more behind the leader.


The Mechanics’ summer camp schedule has been announced by MI-Grandmaster-in-Residence Nick deFirmian.

Beginners Camp: July 8-12
Master Camp: July 15- 19, 10-4 pm
Main Camp: July 22-26, 10 am to 4 pm.

GM deFirmian, the lead instructor at these camps, will be providing more information very soon.


MI Wednesday Night Blitz Results for February 6, courtesy of Weekly Wednesday Night Blitz Coordinator Jules Jelinek. 

1st - Jules Jelinek
2nd - Carlos D'Avila
3rd - Joe Urquhart

2) Century West Open, by Ankit Gupta

IM Aldama, IM Amanov, IM Matikozyan, and WGM Abrahamyan took top honors at the recently-concluded tournament with final scores of 4-1.

Amanov, Matikozyan and Abrahamyan had 3.5-0.5 going into the final round which ultimately ended with indecisive games for them. However, Aldama, who had 3-1 going into the final round, had to win to catch the tournament leaders, as did his opponent SM John Daniel Bryant, and in what was a back-and-forth game, Aldama was finally able to end the (over 110 move) game in his favor.

NM Jeremy Stein took the U2200 honors, while Annie Wang won the U2000 section with a clear 5-0, the only perfect score of the tournament, en route to posting a rating gain of ~60. Chris Stychinsky, Gabriel Sam, and Alex Costello, in a three-way tie, took top honors in the U1800, while Peter Selvin took clear first in the U1600.
 

The tournament was run by Metropolitan Chess, Inc. on behalf of the Southern California Chess Federation—the first of several tournaments in the vicinity to be run by the organization.

3) Here and There

The Norway Chess Super Tournament will take place from the 8th to 18th May 2013. Among the 10 participants there will be 8 top players on the current FIDE rating list.

Participants:

Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov, Sergey Karjakin, Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, Hikaru Nakamura, Wang Hao and Jon Ludvig Hammer.

From the official website:

"With an average of 2776, so far this tournament might be the strongest ever. Tal Memorial 2012 had an average of 2776,4, so we need only that this fine group of players gains 5 points among themselves. Norwegians are proud to be represented by 2 Norwegians, the highest and lowest rated".


The 8th volume of the California Chess Reporter with Bob Burger on the cover is out now.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/4871875571
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ISBN=4871875571

Work is still being done on the 9th and final volume of this series, which is reprinting the entire run of the CCR from 1951-1976.


National Master John Blackstone of Las Vegas passes on the following two curiosities with a historical California connection.

The New York Sun (December 12, 1895) notes that Miss Farnsworth was a resident of San Jose, California.

Kings Gambit C37
Sidney Rosenfeld- Miss Nora Farnsworth
New York (Casual Game) December 1895

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.0-0 gxf3 6.Qxf3 Qf6 7.d3 d6 8.Bxf4 Bh6 9.Qg3 Qd4+ 10.Kh1 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Bxh6 Nxh6 13.Qg5 Nf7 14.Qh5 Qg7 15.Nc3 Nd7 16.Nb5 Nf6 17.Nxc7+ Kd7 18.Qa5 Rac8 19.Nb5 Rhg8 20.g3 Rxc2 21.Qxa7 0-1

The following game was published in the New York Sun (June 23, 1895)
 
Ruy Lopez C67
F. Pierce – A. Johnson
California (cor) 1895


1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Be7 6.Qe2 Nd6 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.dxe5 Nb7 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Nd4 Bc5 11.Qd3 Qe8 12.Bf4 Bxd4 13.Qxd4 Nd8 14.Ne4 Ne6 15.Qe3 Ba6 16.Rfe1 Kh8 17.Nc5 Bc4 18.b3 Nxc5 19.Qxc5 Be6 20.Re3 Qb8 21.Rg3 Qb6 22.Qc3 a5

22...d6 is the move the paper gives.

23.Bd2 Qb5 24.f4 g6 25.a4 Qb8 26.Rf1 Rg8 27.Rff3 Rg7 28.f5 gxf5 29.Rxg7 Kxg7 30.Rg3+ Kf8 31.Bh6+ Ke7 32.Bg5+ Kf8 33.Bf6 f4 34.Rg7 Bf5 35.e6 Qb6+ 36.Bd4 Qb5 White announced mate in six moves 1-0


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