Boylston Chess Club Weblog: August 2017

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Call for Tournament Directors ...

More TOURNAMENT DIRECTORS needed!

The Boylston Chess Club
Needs Your Help

We urgently need more tournament directors (TDs) to keep offering a wide variety of tournaments each month. Our small core group of currently active TDs is stretched quite thin, and we cannot run as many events at our beautiful site as we would like due to insufficient (wo)manpower.

Please consider becoming a certified USCF tournament director, if only to act as an assistant TD from time to time.

Bernardo and Andrew photo: Tony Cortizas, Jr.

The certification process is extremely straightforward:
.

1) Read the USCF rulebook ("USCF Official Rules of Chess"), available at the club or online, e.g., on Amazon.

2) Fill out and return the following form to the USCF:

Parents, please consider helping out as a TD occasionally to keep the tournaments we all enjoy running smoothly. For example, perhaps you can help direct while your child plays to help support the club's contributions to scholastic chess.

Anyone who is interested in becoming a TD is very welcome to attend a TD training session to be held on September 20 at the club, complete with pizza and free of charge:

https://boylstonchess.org/events/250/td-training

Please feel free to contact me or any other TD if you have any questions. We look forward to working with you.

Natasha photo: Tony Cortizas, Jr.

Natasha Christiansen

Board Member, BCF

boylstonchess@gmail.com

Thursday, August 24, 2017

BCF August Scholastic

Nicholas Sterling added 23 photos to the album:

BCF August Scholastic - August 20, 2017.

Fellow BCF Scholastic Players,

Thanks to the Scholastic players who came to our August Scholastic this past Sunday. It was small but enjoyable for everyone. By a strange twist of events - involving the TD's error X-( - Anthony German got to play me in a side game and emerged with a draw. Well done, Anthony!

Winners:

Fitch Perkins (left)

14U

1st: Fitch Perkins
2nd: Anthony German
Medal: Leonard Sweeney-Barrett

1st: Jericho Carlson
2nd: Bryan Li Henroid
Medal: Lena Ishii

The BCF September Scholastic is on 9/24/2017. We'll see you - and hopefully more - all then.

Nicholas P. Sterling, Ph.D.
BCF Scholastic TD Director

Drafts photos

A few iphone7 photos from the Charles Drafts Memorial by Tony Cortizas, Jr.

Christopher Williams, Jerry Li. BCC Charles Draft Memorial 2017.

Walter Driscoll. BCC Charles Draft Memorial 2017.

Alex Yu, Walter Driscoll. BCC Charles Draft Memorial 2017.

Zubin Baliga. BCC Charles Draft Memorial 2017.

Liam Putnam, Lewis Tu. BCC Charles Draft Memorial 2017.

Nithin Kavi. BCC Charles Draft Memorial 2017.

Monday, August 21, 2017

CHARLES DRAFT MEMORIAL AT THE BCC: KAVI / SAGE /1-2ND // SLESSARCHUK CLEAR 1ST / U1950 // 4 MASTERS / 47 PLAY //

OPEN AND U1950 4SS GAME 60 DELAY 5"

OPEN SECTION

NM Timothy Sage, black vs NM Nithin Kavi, Round 2: draw!

Tim and Nithin each scored 3.5 points to share 1-2nd place.

CRITICAL GAME

NM Chris Williams plays red vs NM Tim Sage, playing

the white pieces in this Romanian Classic Chess Set,

Round 4. Tim won this game to tie Nithin for 1st place.

Chris, the highest rated player in the event, finished 4-10th.

U1950 SECTION

Yelena Slessarchuk vs Steve Stepak, Round 1: draw!

Yelena went on to win her next 3 games to take clear

1st place with 3.5 points. Steve finished with 2.5 points.

SCENES FROM AROUND THE HALL

BIG AND LITTLE

NM Chris Williams plays white vs 9 yr old Liam Putnam

CELEBRITY CHESS PLAYER

Dimitar Mardov and Liam Henry Putnam

are the National K-3 co - Champions

The event was the SuperNationals VI,

held from May 12-14 at the Gaylord Opryand in

Nashville,Tennesses: billed as the largest chess tournament

in human history total participation 5,577!!

Liam is 9, from Long Island, NY. He

plays out of the Marshall Chess Club in NYC!

His rating is 1936!

This was his first trip to the BCC!

Liam is a great kid, full of energy, smiles and

chess curiosity. Welcome Liam!

BCC looks forward to your next visit!

Liam Putnam at the BCC

Charles Draft Memorial, Round 2.

FACULTY

NM BU Professor Dr. Alejandro Botta plays white vs

Zubin Baliga, in Round 2. Dr. Botta scored 2.5 points.

Zubin scored 2.

NM Hal Terrie from New Hampshire, plays white vs

event Asst. TD, Natasha Christiansen, in Round 1.

EVENT ORGANIZER

Sir Walter Driscoll, 3rd, (orange, writing) long-time friend

of Charles Draft, striving to keep the Draft name in

exemplary memory of a disabled person overcoming

hardship. Walter cared for Charles for 24 years after his

accident and has put together this memorial event

every year since Charles death in 2000. Bravo, Walter!

MATH PRODIGY

Yelena Slessarchuk is from Almaty, Kazakhstan,

scene of a rich chess culture. Yelena is studying

mathematics for the summer here in Boston. She

hopes to attend Harvard University when she finishes

high school in a few years. Good luck and good

chess. Hope to see you next summer at the BCC!

ALMATY CAPITAL CITY-SCAPE

SKITTLES FUN

BLITZ CHESS IS FUN TO PLAY AND TO WATCH TOO!

THINKING AND PLANNING

CHARLES DRAFT MEMORIAL: FULL HOUSE

TOURNAMENT

ADMINISTRATION

CHIEF TD:

BERNARDO IGLESIAS

ASSIST TD

NATASHA CHRISTIANSEN

PHOTOS: STEVE STEPAK

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Tornado #129

Banner: Tony Cortizas, Jr.

Tornado #129

Date	Saturday, August 26, 2017
Event Format	4S
Time Control	G/60 d5
Sections	Open & U1800
Entry Fee	$35, $20 for BCF Members, $5 more if not registered online
Prizes	$$360 Guaranteed: Open 1st $150, 2nd $90 U1800 1st $72, 2nd $48
Registration	9:15am - 9:45am
Round Times	10:00am, 1:00pm, 3:30pm, 6:00pm
Entry List	Current Pre-Registration List

Friday Night Action

Banner: Tony Cortizas, Jr.

Friday Night Action

Date	Friday, August 25, 2017
Event Format	4SS
Time Control	G/25 d5
Entry Fee	$40, $30 for BCF members, $5 more at door
Prizes	$150-$100-$50, U2200 $50 based on 19 paid entries
Registration	6:45pm - 7:15pm
Round Times	7:30pm, 8:45pm, 9:45pm, and 10:45pm
Entry List	Current Pre-Registration List

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

August Scholastic

Banner: Tony Cortizas, Jr.

August Scholastic

Date	Sunday, August 20, 2017
Event Format	4SS
Time Control	G/30 d5
Sections	14 & Under and 8 & Under
Entry Fee	$25, $20 for BCF members, $5 more at door
Prizes	Trophies for 1st/2nd each age group, medal for 3rd
Registration	10:00am - 10:20am
Round Times	10:30am, 11:50am, 1:00pm, 2:00pm
Entry List	Current Pre-Registration List

Save $5 !

Monday, August 14, 2017

Charles Drafts Memorial

Banner: Tony Cortizas, Jr.

Charles Drafts Memorial

Date	Saturday, August 19, 2017
Event Format	4SS
Time Control	G/60 d5
Sections	Open & U1950
Entry Fee	$35, $20 for BCF Members, $5 more at door
Prizes	$$400 guaranteed: $100-$60-$40 in each section
Registration	9:15am - 9:45am
Round Times	10:00am, 1:00pm, 3:30pm, 6:00pm
Entry List	Current Pre-Registration List

Save $5

_______________

24nd annual

Charles Drafts Memorial

........

This is a great tournament for several reasons:

guaranteed prize fund,
good turn-out,
competitive level, and
an event honoring a truly remarkable man.

Please consider playing.

Walter Driscoll has for 24 years honored and remembered his friend Charles Drafts by helping sponsor a tournament for which he personally guarantees the prize fund.

Walter is a long time member of the Boylston, chess traveler [having competed in Hungry and visited Fischer's home and grave in Iceland before he was exhumed], former boxer, actor, and stand-up comedian.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Charles Drafts

by David Glickman

[republishing of a previous post]

This Saturday the ... Annual Charles Drafts Open is being held at the Boylston Chess Club. Charles died several years ago and so for newer members of the club and the broader readership of the weblog I thought it might be worthwhile to briefly review his story.

Charles was a disabled, double-amputee living in the housing projects in Mission Hill. He loved to play chess but his condition made it difficult for him to come to a club or attend tournaments. At some point in time he contacted the BCC to see if any players would be willing to come to his apartment to play. Over the years several heeded the call, but in particular club member Walter Driscoll was a frequent visitor. I believe Walter was also the driving force behind the Charles Drafts Open. At the beginning and for many years, the tournament was held at Charles' building in Mission Hill so that at least one time a year Charles would have an opportunity to play in a "traditional" chess tournament. Since his death, the tournament has continued at the club as a memorial event.

The introduction of internet chess was obviously a boon to Charles and he was an active player on the ICC. It was, in fact, in the middle of a chess game on the ICC in 1996 when the event occurred which thrust Charles into momentary international prominence:

BOSTON -- A disabled man who became ill while logged on to an Internet chess site reached out to fellow players from around the world for emergency assistance.

Charles Drafts, a double amputee who types using a stick in his mouth, was playing chess in cyberspace Saturday on the multi-use World Wide Web site where 159 others also were logged on.

Suddenly, he sent out this message: "i'm having physical illness problems and need help."

"He was starting to have some really bad feelings, shortness of breath and dizziness, and he typed in a message to all our members," said Daniel Sleator, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University near Pittsburgh who founded the Internet Chess Club.

"It took a little while to know whether it was serious or not because there's an awful lot of kidding and bantering that goes on," Mr. Sleator said. "At first, I think some people were thinking it was a joke. But others realized it was a serious thing and started getting the information right away."

Mr. Drafts managed to type in his address.... while several users tried to find out what symptoms Drafts was suffering, Andy McFarland of Owensboro, Kentucky, was calling Boston's emergency medical services on his second phone line. "When he finally got through, he told dispatchers where he was calling from and explained the situation," Howland relates. 'I think I lost them for just a second,' McFarland said. 'It's not something they get every day.'"

...firefighters rushed to Draft's home, but no one answered the door. They called McFarland back to verify the address. McFarland told the wire service, "The last thing I heard them say was, `We're going in,' and they hung up." ...a short while later Boston firefighters broke down his door to get inside. They rushed the 48-year-old man to Beth Israel Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition ..., suffering from an undisclosed ailment.

About 20 minutes later, a Boston dispatcher called to tell McFarland that they had found Drafts inside and that he had needed help.

[This text is a re-gifting of David Glickman's 2005 post.]