A few photos:
Monday, March 8, 2010
DGCC Chess tournament
The tournament on this Saturday at Downers Grove was a great success! 27 Players showed up for a rating average of 1664 with 7 A players, 2 experts in attendance. It was won by Chris Wood with 3.5/4 (half pt bye for rd1). 6 Players tied for second with 3. The full crosstable can be seen at: http://main.uschess.org/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,181/
A few photos:
A few photos:
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Waste of time?
During a game do you waste a lot of time? pacing? watching other games? thinking about other things to clear your mind... you do this natural during the course of your day whether you notice it or not. How often do you find yourself in a slightly worse position though and just completely lose concentration? You think "it is over" or "there is next game." These are signs of lack of concentration. How to build concentration? But more important do you stare at your rating or your results and say "I've made no progress." Sure you do. We all do. Whether our ego is too big to admit it or not. We have all done that. The way around it is by believing in yourself. There is no "stall." There is simply psychological barriers we have created within our own mind. There is no super secret: practice makes perfect. You get around these confidence and concentration issues by coming back to fight again. There is next game, next tournament and next study session. Anyone can attain their goals if they put forth enough time and effort!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Support the Chicago Blaze!!
The Chicago Blaze, Illinois’s very own chess team, is about to begin its second season in the U.S. Chess League. Our first game of 2009 takes place tonight, and I would like to invite all chess fans in Chicago and Illinois to follow the team, root for it, enjoy it, and support it.
Chess at the Ballpark
Also part of the season opening will be a scholastic tournament to raise funds for the team on Saturday, September 12, at U.S. Cellular Field. Here is a flyer with the details that you can tack up on the fridge. Please help spread the word about this tournament to kids and the parents of kids in grades K-12 who play chess. We need a good turnout, and it should be a lot of fun. Every kid who plays in the rated tournament will get a spiffy, new Chicago Blaze t-shirt.
Here’s how you can follow the Blaze.
* First, go to our main Web site to find out more about the team. In particular, take a look at the season schedule. The regular season runs through early November, and since we hope to make the playoffs this year, we expect to be playing beyond that. (Please bear with us if portions of the site aren’t entirely up to date; the Blaze is a volunteer effort, and we’re doing our best.)
* Come back regularly to this blog as we post news.
* Follow us on Twitter. We’ll be posting news about the team and the league, and if we can manage it we’ll be doing some live tweeting during the matches.
* Become a fan of the Blaze on Facebook.
* Attend the matches at the Holiday Inn Skokie, 5300 West Touhy. Fans are welcome to attend the games at no charge.
* If you can’t make it to the games, follow them live on the Internet Chess Club.
Chess at the Ballpark
Also part of the season opening will be a scholastic tournament to raise funds for the team on Saturday, September 12, at U.S. Cellular Field. Here is a flyer with the details that you can tack up on the fridge. Please help spread the word about this tournament to kids and the parents of kids in grades K-12 who play chess. We need a good turnout, and it should be a lot of fun. Every kid who plays in the rated tournament will get a spiffy, new Chicago Blaze t-shirt.
Here’s how you can follow the Blaze.
* First, go to our main Web site to find out more about the team. In particular, take a look at the season schedule. The regular season runs through early November, and since we hope to make the playoffs this year, we expect to be playing beyond that. (Please bear with us if portions of the site aren’t entirely up to date; the Blaze is a volunteer effort, and we’re doing our best.)
* Come back regularly to this blog as we post news.
* Follow us on Twitter. We’ll be posting news about the team and the league, and if we can manage it we’ll be doing some live tweeting during the matches.
* Become a fan of the Blaze on Facebook.
* Attend the matches at the Holiday Inn Skokie, 5300 West Touhy. Fans are welcome to attend the games at no charge.
* If you can’t make it to the games, follow them live on the Internet Chess Club.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
IM Ray Robson scores second GM norm!
http://www.nachess.org/:
"orm Updates
Well the week is finally drawing to a close and the following hunters either have their trophies or will be fighting for the last point.
IM Ray Robson has clinched his 2nd GM norm by having a monstrous first 8 rounds and going 6.5/8. He plays IM Mulyar in the morning and regardless of win, lose, or draw, Ray will have his second GM norm. He is going to be at the SPICE Cup next month going for his final GM norm. His rating will already be over the 2500 mark!
Mac Molner of NY has also had a great event. He has 4.5/8 and is paired with IM Shankland. Win, lose, or draw Mac has secured his IM norm.
Finally we have another young New Yorker, Michael Thaler, who needs to win his final round for his first IM norm. Michael is paired against FM Kleiman and must fight to the bitter end for his norm.
The final round starts at 10am Chicago time.
Good Chess to All,
Sevan A. Muradian
FIDE Arbiter and International Organizer
North American Chess Association"
I'll add some photos I took of the event later but for now... enjoy the few uscf articles!
http://main.uschess.org/content/view/9662/544/
and
http://main.uschess.org/content/view/9661/544
"orm Updates
Well the week is finally drawing to a close and the following hunters either have their trophies or will be fighting for the last point.
IM Ray Robson has clinched his 2nd GM norm by having a monstrous first 8 rounds and going 6.5/8. He plays IM Mulyar in the morning and regardless of win, lose, or draw, Ray will have his second GM norm. He is going to be at the SPICE Cup next month going for his final GM norm. His rating will already be over the 2500 mark!
Mac Molner of NY has also had a great event. He has 4.5/8 and is paired with IM Shankland. Win, lose, or draw Mac has secured his IM norm.
Finally we have another young New Yorker, Michael Thaler, who needs to win his final round for his first IM norm. Michael is paired against FM Kleiman and must fight to the bitter end for his norm.
The final round starts at 10am Chicago time.
Good Chess to All,
Sevan A. Muradian
FIDE Arbiter and International Organizer
North American Chess Association"
I'll add some photos I took of the event later but for now... enjoy the few uscf articles!
http://main.uschess.org/content/view/9662/544/
and
http://main.uschess.org/content/view/9661/544
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
A US Open Pictoral Photos Report!
Congrats to the 6 winners (GM Alex Lenderman, GM Alex Yermolinsky, IM Jacek Stopa, GM Jesse Kraai, GM Sergey Kudrin, GM Dimitry Gurevich) who all tied for first and additional congratulations to the 5 who will be at the 2010 US Championship in St. Louis. While the politicians were playing their dirty game during the day, 453 players came to play chess during the night! A fantastic event even if the host city was quite barren of things to do. A bit of irony, Lenderman might have set a record by winning a tournament 7.5/9 and STILL losing rating points. Usually those two things do not go hand in hand!
And now it is time for the 110th US Open Photo Report:
In the game 15 side event, GM Alex Lenderman won 4.5/5.
In rd3, WIM Alisa Melekhina- GM Alex Lenderman
Lenderman is already slightly better, play continued with: 1... Rxh3 2. Rxf7 Rh2+ 3. Ke3 Na5 4. Kd3 b6 where Alisa blunders with 5. Rb1?? and Lenderman tactically finishes the game Nc4 6. a3 e5 7. Rf6+ Ke7 8. Rxf5 e4+ 9. fxe4 dxe4+ 10. Kxe4 Nd6+ 11. Kf4 Rf2+ resigns 0-1
In rd4, GM Alex Lenderman vs GM Kaufman:
It can be seen that Kaufman has 7 seconds left, the following moves are played
1. Bd3 Qc2 2. Qd5 d2 which creates the following position:
Play continued 3. b5 Bc5 and Lenderman blunders with 4. Qc6?? (and the amazing 4. Be2 keeps equality!) and ... d1=Q 5. Bxd1 Qxf2+ 6. Kh3 Qf1+ 7. Qg2 Qxd1 8. Qa8+ Bf8 9. b6 Qh5+ and Kaufman manages to draw by perpetual check with 2 seconds on his clock!
Co Winners GM Sergey Kudrin and GM Alex Lenderman battling out their 9th round draw:
GM Alexander Shabalov
2009 US Champion, San Sebastion 2009 Winner, GM Hikaru Nakamura at the beginning of his 25 person simul (which he won 25-0).
Local Hero Fide Master Jim Dean vs Official winner GM Dimitry Gurevich:
A trendmendous event for the young Eric Rosen who finished on 6.5/9 by defeating GM John Fedorwicz in the final round (and drawing Co-winner GM Jesse Kraii in rd3!) to become Illinois' newest National Master. Congratulations to Eric Rosen! Here is a photo of Eric and two of his games:
[Event "US Open"]
[Site "Indianapolis"]
[Date "2009.08.09"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Fedorowicz, John P"]
[Black "Rosen, Eric"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2531"]
[BlackElo "2184"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2009.??.??"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Bf5 7. g4 Be6 8. h3
Nbd7 9. f4 Nb6 10. Bd3 Be7 11. Nf3
Pictured left to right are IM Emory Tate, GM Mesgen Amanov, NM! Eric Rosen making his 11th move.
... Qd6 12. f5 Qg3+ 13. Kd2 Ne4+ 14. Nxe4 dxe4
15. Bxe4 Qf2+ 16. Kc3 Bb4+ {resigns in light of} 17. Kxb4 Qxb2+ 18. Qb3 (18. Kc5 Qa3#) (18.
Ka5 Qc3#) 18... c5+ 19. Kxc5 Bxb3 0-1
[Event "US Open"]
[Site "Indianapolis"]
[Date "2009.08.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kraai, Jesse"]
[Black "Rosen, Eric"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteELO "2584"]
[BlackELO "2184"]
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4 Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bf4 Nd5 11. Nc3 Nxf4 12. gxf4 Bd6 13. e3 Nd7 14. Kh1 Nf6 15. Rg1 Ne4 16. Nxe4 Bxe4 17. Ng5 Bxg2 18. Rxg2 Be7 19. Rag1 Bxg5 20. Rxg5 g6 21. Rc1 c6 22. a5 Qe7 23. Qc5 Qxc5 24. Rgxc5 Rfd8 25. Kg2 Rd5 26. b4 Rad8 27. h4 h5 28. Kf3 Kg7 29. Ke4 Kf6 30. Kd3 Ke7 31. Kc4 Ke8 32. Rg1 Ke7 33. Rb1 Ke8 34. Rxd5 Rxd5 35. e4 Rb5 36. Rg1 Kd7 37. Rg5 Kd6 38. f3 b6 39. axb6 Rxb6 40. Ra5 Kd7 41. f5 exf5 42. exf5 Rb5 43. fxg6 fxg6 44. Rxa6 Rf5 45. Ra7 Kd6 46. Rg7 Rf6 47. Rg8 Kc7 48. Kc5 Rf5 49. Kc4 Rf6 50. b5 cxb5 51. Kxb5 Rxf3 52. Rxg6 Rf4 53. Kc5 Rxh4 54. Rg7 Kd8 55. Rh7 Rg4 56. Rxh5 Rg6 57. Rh8 Kc7 58. Rh7 Kd8 59. Ra7 Rh6 60. Rb7 Rg6 61. Rh7 Rf6 62. d5 Rg6 63. Rh5 Rf6 64. d6 Rf1 65. Kc6 Rc1 66. Rc5 Rxc5 67. Kxc5 Kd7 68. Kd5 Kd8 69. Kc6 Kc8 70. d7 Kd8 71. Kd6
1/2-1/2
A picture of the playing hall:
And now it is time for the 110th US Open Photo Report:
In the game 15 side event, GM Alex Lenderman won 4.5/5.
In rd3, WIM Alisa Melekhina- GM Alex Lenderman
Lenderman is already slightly better, play continued with: 1... Rxh3 2. Rxf7 Rh2+ 3. Ke3 Na5 4. Kd3 b6 where Alisa blunders with 5. Rb1?? and Lenderman tactically finishes the game Nc4 6. a3 e5 7. Rf6+ Ke7 8. Rxf5 e4+ 9. fxe4 dxe4+ 10. Kxe4 Nd6+ 11. Kf4 Rf2+ resigns 0-1
In rd4, GM Alex Lenderman vs GM Kaufman:
It can be seen that Kaufman has 7 seconds left, the following moves are played
1. Bd3 Qc2 2. Qd5 d2 which creates the following position:
Play continued 3. b5 Bc5 and Lenderman blunders with 4. Qc6?? (and the amazing 4. Be2 keeps equality!) and ... d1=Q 5. Bxd1 Qxf2+ 6. Kh3 Qf1+ 7. Qg2 Qxd1 8. Qa8+ Bf8 9. b6 Qh5+ and Kaufman manages to draw by perpetual check with 2 seconds on his clock!
Co Winners GM Sergey Kudrin and GM Alex Lenderman battling out their 9th round draw:
GM Alexander Shabalov
2009 US Champion, San Sebastion 2009 Winner, GM Hikaru Nakamura at the beginning of his 25 person simul (which he won 25-0).
Local Hero Fide Master Jim Dean vs Official winner GM Dimitry Gurevich:
A trendmendous event for the young Eric Rosen who finished on 6.5/9 by defeating GM John Fedorwicz in the final round (and drawing Co-winner GM Jesse Kraii in rd3!) to become Illinois' newest National Master. Congratulations to Eric Rosen! Here is a photo of Eric and two of his games:
[Event "US Open"]
[Site "Indianapolis"]
[Date "2009.08.09"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Fedorowicz, John P"]
[Black "Rosen, Eric"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2531"]
[BlackElo "2184"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2009.??.??"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Bf5 7. g4 Be6 8. h3
Nbd7 9. f4 Nb6 10. Bd3 Be7 11. Nf3
Pictured left to right are IM Emory Tate, GM Mesgen Amanov, NM! Eric Rosen making his 11th move.
... Qd6 12. f5 Qg3+ 13. Kd2 Ne4+ 14. Nxe4 dxe4
15. Bxe4 Qf2+ 16. Kc3 Bb4+ {resigns in light of} 17. Kxb4 Qxb2+ 18. Qb3 (18. Kc5 Qa3#) (18.
Ka5 Qc3#) 18... c5+ 19. Kxc5 Bxb3 0-1
[Event "US Open"]
[Site "Indianapolis"]
[Date "2009.08.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kraai, Jesse"]
[Black "Rosen, Eric"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteELO "2584"]
[BlackELO "2184"]
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4 Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bf4 Nd5 11. Nc3 Nxf4 12. gxf4 Bd6 13. e3 Nd7 14. Kh1 Nf6 15. Rg1 Ne4 16. Nxe4 Bxe4 17. Ng5 Bxg2 18. Rxg2 Be7 19. Rag1 Bxg5 20. Rxg5 g6 21. Rc1 c6 22. a5 Qe7 23. Qc5 Qxc5 24. Rgxc5 Rfd8 25. Kg2 Rd5 26. b4 Rad8 27. h4 h5 28. Kf3 Kg7 29. Ke4 Kf6 30. Kd3 Ke7 31. Kc4 Ke8 32. Rg1 Ke7 33. Rb1 Ke8 34. Rxd5 Rxd5 35. e4 Rb5 36. Rg1 Kd7 37. Rg5 Kd6 38. f3 b6 39. axb6 Rxb6 40. Ra5 Kd7 41. f5 exf5 42. exf5 Rb5 43. fxg6 fxg6 44. Rxa6 Rf5 45. Ra7 Kd6 46. Rg7 Rf6 47. Rg8 Kc7 48. Kc5 Rf5 49. Kc4 Rf6 50. b5 cxb5 51. Kxb5 Rxf3 52. Rxg6 Rf4 53. Kc5 Rxh4 54. Rg7 Kd8 55. Rh7 Rg4 56. Rxh5 Rg6 57. Rh8 Kc7 58. Rh7 Kd8 59. Ra7 Rh6 60. Rb7 Rg6 61. Rh7 Rf6 62. d5 Rg6 63. Rh5 Rf6 64. d6 Rf1 65. Kc6 Rc1 66. Rc5 Rxc5 67. Kxc5 Kd7 68. Kd5 Kd8 69. Kc6 Kc8 70. d7 Kd8 71. Kd6
1/2-1/2
A picture of the playing hall:
Sunday, August 2, 2009
US Open Starts!
Blogging has been light because I've been out of town alot but in two days I shall join the fun at the US OPEN which is already under way! Check back later for stories, updates and PHOTOS!!!
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