Blitz unveil "Secret Weapon"

Pre-Match Comments:

As Team Captain Paul MacIntyre hinted awhile back, the Boston Blitz introduce the newest member of their team in tonight's match vs. the Dallas Destiny. FM Steven Winer arrives sporting a rating of 2389 -- just perfect for slotting into Board 3 in their top heavy line-up. As a result, the Blitz will be fielding one of their strongest teams of the year against the Destiny -- IM Perelshteyn, IM Friedel, FM Winer and Ilya Krasik (average rating of 2391). This will make for some very balanced competition with Dallas across all four boards, at least on paper. Perelshteyn actually takes in an 11 point rating advantage against GM Ramirez (Editor's Note: Ramirez became available for the Destiny after his other team, the Boston Red Sox, failed to get out of the first round of the MLB playoffs), while Boards 2 & 3 are a virtual ratings wash. That leaves Board 4 where Krasik should have the advantage against lower rated expert Andres Suarez. All in all, it looks like a night where the Blitz should have good chances of securing a "W."

The odds-makers at Pinnacle Sports have the Blitz as a slight favorite (-115/+105). In the individual games they favor Perelshteyn (-121/+111), Winer (-111/+101) and Krasik (-112/+102) but have Friedel (+106/-116) as an underdog.

vs.

Post-Match Comments:

It turned out to be a tough and interesting match for the Blitz and in the end Boston's "Secret Weapon" came through. The result: a 2-2 Draw (See Greg Shahade's official report here).

On Board 1, Perelshteyn and GM Ramirez played a relatively short but complex game in the French Winawer. Ramirez gave up the exchange for a couple of pawns, but Eugene seemed to neutralize Black's activity. Just when it looked like White might be turning tables by winning back one of the pawns, the Grandmaster found a perpetual check combination to secure the draw.

The next game to finish was Board 4. As Black, Krasik sacrificed a pawn in order to trap his opponents Bishop behind enemy lines. Unfortunately, this allowed White to push forward in the center and simultaneously take advantage of the position of Black's Queen on g6. What ensued was a hail of tactics which brought Dallas a win. I'm not certain whether the initial pawn sac was unsound or if the losing move occurred later. In any case, this game is probably worth running through Fritz since some of the combinations might make good tactical exercises for the Knights Errant.

Next up was Friedel's game vs. IM Vavrak. This one was up-and-down the whole way through. Vavrak allowed his queenside pawn structure to be crippled for kingside attacking chances. At first, things looked scary as White continued to bring pieces over to the kingside while Josh's Knights were stuck on the queenside; but, Friedel's position stayed solid and he managed to neutralize White's threats. Then it looked like Black might be able to take advantage of the weak queenside pawns in the ending, but White's two bishops seemed to hold the balance (during the game I was wondering if there was anything to 31...Rf8 [instead of 31...Na4] pinning the f5 bishop to White's King. Maybe I'll look at it later). Somewhere along the way Josh gave up the exchange for a few pawns. Ultimately, all the pawns came off the board and a draw was agreed in the position K+R vs. K+N.

So, the final result rested on the shoulders of newcomer Steven Winer. His Board 3 game was one of those maneuvering affairs with few fireworks early on. When he retreated his Bishop on h6 back to e3, I thought Black had probably equalized. However, from that point forward Winer seemed to consistently outplay his opponent. Fernandez defended well enough to stave off immediate defeat and kept extending the game, but Winer successfully ground him down in 78 moves. No doubt Blitz fans will be looking forward to seeing more of Steven's games in the final two weeks of the season.

The drawn match would have eliminated Boston from the playoff chase if not for the bizarre occurrences on Board 1 of the Baltimore-Carolina Match. The Kingfishers were well on their way to a win when FM Enkhbat blundered away a completely winning position. He was then unable to compose himself and take advantage of reasonable drawing chances. A few moves later he was forced to resign, handing the match to the Cobras. As a result, the Blitz retain a narrow path to the post season which involves winning their remaining two matches against Philadelphia and Baltimore and hoping that Baltimore falls to New York next week.

Stay tuned as the USCL goes down to the wire.

Hollywood Chess II

Chess plays a prominent role in the opening shots of the trailer for the soon to be released movie "Stay." (Quicktime required)

Chess or Poker?

Tommy Trouble explains why he prefers chess to poker:

Bizarrely, chess is unbelievably unpopular. Okay it is popular, but not popular enough....Poker is unbelievably popular, as is the lottery. The lottery is completely based on luck, and you can never say, with any confidence, that the best player will win. Poker also relies on luck, although there is some skill. However, I reckon I could beat (and be beaten by) anybody in the world. I could not say the same for chess. Maybe this is why people like poker, because everybody has a chance to win. Me, I prefer the honesty of chess. If you are bad at chess, no amount of Aces will help you to beat somebody significantly better than yourself. If you want a reliable challenge of mental ability, play chess.

Just a few thoughts -- while luck does play a role in poker, skill obviously is a very important component. How else can you explain the frequency with which the same top players (e.g., Ivey, Hansen, Hellmuth, Greenstein, etc.) reach final tables? On the other hand, these massively large tournaments like the Main Event at the WSOP do seem to be evolving into crap shoots with amateurs winning year after year. Chess probably does reward the better player more often (with wins, not money), though upsets do still occur.

Boston Blitz in Action #2

From the US Chess League 2nd round match vs. the Philadelphia Masterminds. Click on the pictures to enlarge. (Photos by Matt Phelps)

GM Larry Christiansen

It looks like IM Josh Friedel chose
to hide out in another room

FM Paul MacIntyre

MacIntyre shares his
thoughts on his position

Ilya Krasik refuels during the game

Go ask Alice

Plutonianshore is reading Lewis Carroll and thinking about chess:

"It's too late to correct it," said the Red Queen: "when you've once said a thing, that fixes it, and you must take the consequences." - Through The Looking Glass, L. Carroll

As in chess, as in life.

Championship Crosstables

Crosstables for the 2005 BCC Championship and Hauptturnier are now available in the News section of the BCC website. They are at least a week out of date at this point, but do give a reasonable sense of how things are progressing. NM Charles Riordan appears to be running away with the Championship; A-players Bob Fuhro and Mike Henroid are tied with B-player Bernardo Iglesias at the top of the Haup.

The Championship schedule still bears the scars of the chaos which ensued at the beginning. As you will see, Round 1 is scheduled to be played tonight, "logically" sandwiched between Rounds 5 and 7. Round 6? Beats me.

Chess Shoes

Hypebeast introduces us to a new product concept from Adidas - sneakers with Chinese words laser engraved into the heel. What are those words?

...some rules and tips for Chinese Chess...

Chess, Drugs, and Rock-n-Roll

Well, no mention of illegal substances actually, but here are two articles about chess playing rockstars Ryan Adams and The Strokes: "Ryan Adams and The Strokes Form Chess Club" from Gigawise.com and "The Strokes And Ryan Adams' Chess Challenge" from Contactmusic.com.

Location, Location, Location

Are you a high-rated expert or barely a master with a long-held dream to win a state championship?

Move to Wyoming.

BCC George Makenzie Octads

What better way to spend another rainy day than play in octads G/90. NM Riordan, FM Chase, almost master (so close) Lawyer Times, expert Eric Hernandez and strong A player Scott Didham.

Fine job of TDing by Bernardo Iglesias, of course.

Badly Outnumbered

Link

Missing!

GM Chabanon reports that Peruvian GM Julio Granda Zuniga has gone missing. Here is an article about his disappearance from Peru.com (in Spanish).

The Fat Lady has finished her warm-ups

The Boston Blitz have seen their slim playoff hopes all but disappear with a 2.5-1.5 loss to the Eastern Division leading New York Knights. Since I didn't get a chance to watch the match this week, I'll refer you to Greg Shahade's official report for the details. In an otherwise disappointing night, Greg notes two bright spots for the Blitz -- Krasik's first win of the season capped off by a very nice back rank mate tactic and Friedel's "almost-win" with Black against GM Stripunsky.

These interesting games notwithstanding, Greg points out that Boston's inability to field their strongest possible team for the second week in a row compromised their chances. One might wonder why this seems to be more of an issue for the Blitz than many other teams in the league (though the loss of IM Foygel for the season may be a contributing factor).

Hollywood Chess

At Delusions Of Adequacy, they are not looking forward to seeing the new movie "In Her Shoes":

We need another hackneyed [Cameron] Diaz vehicle like the president of the chess club needs a cold sore on prom night.

O.K., this actually has nothing to do with chess, but it was a good excuse to post the picture.

Wisdom in traffic

From Mixxing Culture's Bumper Stickers about Life:

When you're finally holding all the cards,
why does everyone else decide to play chess?

When was the last time you won...

...a National Championship?

A few days ago Knight Errant Guru mentioned that she had won the National Ladies Championship in Barbados. Now, The Barbados Advocate has filed a report on her accomplishment.

Congratulations to the first National Champion Knight. Who's next?

New Blog Listings

The last few weeks have been rather productive in terms of finding new chess blogs to list. Here are some of the recent additions:

Hot Rock Teamchess Teams - Follows the adventures of The Hot Rock teams which play in the FICS leagues. Knights will be happy to hear that in T28, "The Hot Rock didn't start so well, losing the first round with De la Maza U2000 by 1:3."

Fooblog - Blogger Foobob describes himself as a "Patzer at just about everything."

Consultation Game - Just what it sounds like -- currently on move 13. Seems to have some association with GameKnot.

Winward Chess Club Forum - Covers chess events in Hawaii and links to the Hawaiian Knight, Pawn Sensei.

Coffeehouse Chess Monster - Master painter Lee Gordon Seebach's chess blog.

Nigeria Chess Player Forum - Covers the chess exploits of Nigerian players.

Central Oregon Chess Journal - Chess in and around Bend, Oregon.

はむれっとのチェス日記 - A Japanese chess blog. The Google translation to English is somewhat readable, though I'm not sure about the significance of all the "rabbit" references.

White to move

Link

Chess in the background

Here is an addition to Goran's posts (1, 2) on chess-related computer backgrounds -- a blogger creates his own chess-themed wallpaper (larger image).

I wish they all could be California...

...Chess Girls.

Safety and Security through Chess

When is Mate in 16 better than Mate in 1?

Read "Pentagon Stuns Terrorists With "Non-Checkmate" Move In Homeland Security Chess Match" from The Therapist.

US Chess League Announces 2006 Line-Up

After two days of intensive meetings, Commissioner Greg Shahade and DG's Mother-in-law emerged from US Chess League Headquarters in New York City to report to the media on plans for the 2006 USCL Season. Here is a transcript of their press conference.

Greg Shahade: I would like to thank all of you for coming. Today, we'd like to announce the team lineup and division structure for the 2006 USCL season. While the league will remain the same size next year, we wanted to provide opportunities for some new cities to participate. As a result, some very difficult decisions needed to be made. Now, here are next year's teams --

Eastern Division

Boston Blintzes
New York Bagels
Carolina Kreplach
Miami Matzo Balls

Western Division

Chicago Chubs
Kansas City Knishes
Houston Challah
Los Angeles Latkes

I'm sure there will be some questions about the 2005 teams which are not on the list, so let's cover each of them in turn. First, in the Eastern Division, the Baltimore Bialys...

DG's Mother-in-law: What is a Bialy anyway? Some sort of bastard cousin to the bagel. Oops, can I say that Greg?

Greg Shahade: I think it's ok.

DG's Mother-in-law: There really is nothing better than a New York Bagel. Bagels and Bialys just would have been too confusing.

Greg Shahade: I'm sure you can begin to see some of the hard bargaining and tough decision-making we've gone through over the past two days. Let's move on to the Philadelphia Perogies.

DG's Mother-in-law: From the old country sure, but so associated with a single country.

Greg Shahade: And after we decided to put a team in Chicago, we didn't want to do anything that might split the loyalties of a portion of their fan base.

DG's Mother-in-law: They did offer an alternative name, but Philadelphia Pastrami really doesn't roll off the tongue that well.

Greg Shahade: Who goes to Philadelphia for a pastrami sandwich anyways? ... Ok, before we move on are there any other questions about the Eastern Division? ... PETA?

DG's Mother-in-law: They're asking if we're concerned about PETA disrupting the matches in Miami?

Greg Shahade: Oh ok, I can handle this one... I had extensive discussions with Miami team officials. They assured me that they work exclusively with farms that raise free-range Matzos and that use only the most humane removal methods... Let's move on to the Western Division. Dallas...

DG's Mother-in-law: To be perfectly honest, until I got involved in this process I didn't even realize that Texas was part of the United States. In any case, the Dallas Donuts really wasn't on point at all. Hopefully they'll send their marketing people to a couple of Hadassah meetings before next year's selection process.

Greg Shahade: Next up is the San Francisco Sissel Bread.

DG's Mother-in-law: Bagels, Bialys, Challah, Sissel and then there was the late entry from Rochester.

Greg Shahade: Oh right, the Rye Toast.

DG's Mother-in-law: Why they didn't go with Rugelach, I'll never know. No matter, but in this day and age of low-carb dieting, how much bread can you really put on the table?

Greg Shahade: We couldn't really have two teams from California ... Well, sure, San Francisco has the longer chess history, but wait 'til you taste these latkes -- crisp, fried potato pancakes with a dollop of applesauce. Absolutely delicious!

DG's Mother-in-law: I made him an extra batch to take home.

Greg Shahade: Other teams that didn't make the cut? ... Well, there were actually two different proposals from Chicago. A group from the North side of the city put together the bid for the Chubs; meanwhile, South Siders were looking to form a separate team, the Whitefish.

DG's Mother-in-law: Of course, we couldn't have two teams in Chicago. Can you imagine how much confusion would have been created distinguishing Whitefish from Chubs? We had to line up both proposals side-by-side in order to make a final decision.

Greg Shahade: The Whitefish were definitely easier to eat, but the Chubs had so much more flavor.

DG's Mother-in-law: There was also the Lincoln Lox. But, between you and me, I bet you can't find half-a-dozen people in all of Nebraska who can explain the difference between a piece of Scottish Salmon and a slice of Nova.

Greg Shahade: We also had some preliminary discussions about 2007. We're considering allowing smaller cities and towns to combine forces. Two cities in Washington State -- Kennewick and Vancouver -- have already started talking in anticipation of this opportunity.

DG's Mother-in-law: The Kennewick/Vancouver Kasha Varnishkes -- alone each is nothing special, but together they are a tasty combination.

Greg Shahade: Well, I think we'll wrap it up there. The buffet tables up-front are now open. Everyone dig in!

DG's Mother-in-law: Be sure to try both the blueberry and the cheese blintzes and don't forget the sour cream.

Greg Shahade: In the meantime, I'll be heading back upstairs to attend to an acute personal bloating issue.

DG's Mother-in-law: Isn't he cute? Someday, he's going to make a wonderful husband for some very lucky girl ... You are going to want to put those directly into your soup, dear...

Lemon Chess Gooey Butter Cake

Bottom layer:

1 (18.25-ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 egg
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, melted

Filling:

2 large lemons
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
2 large eggs
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, melted
2 tablespoons white or yellow cornmeal
3- 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

Prepare bottom layer as directed for Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake.

To make filling, rinse and dry the lemons. Grate the zest and set aside; you should have about 2 teaspoons. Cut the lemons in half, and squeeze juice into a small bowl; you should have about 6 tablespoons.

Place the cream cheese in the same mixing bowl you used to make the crust, and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and add the lemon juice, lemon zest, eggs, melted butter and cornmeal; beat on medium speed 1 minute.

Stop the machine and add the confectioners' sugar. Beat on medium speed until the sugar is well incorporated, 1 minute more.

Pour the filling over the crust, spreading with a rubber spatula so it covers the surface and reaches the sides of the pan. Bake until cake is browned but the center still jiggles when you shake the pan, about 45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack 30 minutes before cutting. Makes 16 servings.

Courtesy of The Huntsville Times.

Chess, an easier sell than Comics

Which is the bigger draw for passersby, the comics or the chess?
The chess. Unfortunately, the chess. They come to watch a good match. People stand and watch and wait to play. I used to charge a dollar, then went to a tip jar...but it'’s better if I don'’t charge. I'd rather people bought a comic. Sometimes you get a big crowd of people just watching a good chess match.

Read an interview with Franklin Crowe, sidewalk comic book salesman/chess player, from the Gothamist.

Queen for a day

A chess riddle from The Mind of Jeffrey Stapleton.

Develop your zalduns before your strelecs

Here's a follow-up to our discussion on Springers, Horses and Knights -- the names of chess pieces in 72 different languages.

BCC Championship - Round 3 Games

[Event "2005 BCC Championship"] [Site "Somerville, MA"] [Date "2005.09.26"] [Round "3"] [White "Theil"] [Black "Christiansen,N"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteELO "1991"] [BlackELO "1810"] [ECO "B27"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.e5 Nc6 6.Qa4 Nd5 7.Qe4 Nc7 8.Nc3 Bg7 9.Bg5 b6 10.Rd1 Bb7 11.Qe3 h5 12.a3 0-0 13.Bc4 b5 14.Bb3 Qc8 15.0-0 Ne6 16.Rfe1 Nxg5 17.Qxg5 a6 18.Qxg6 Na5 19.Ng5 1-0

[Event "2005 BCC Championship"] [Site "Somerville, MA"] [Date "2005.09.26"] [Round "3"] [White "Riordan"] [Black "MacIntyre"] [Result "1/2"] [WhiteELO "2283"] [BlackELO "2315"] [ECO "E68"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Nbd7 7.Qc2 c6 8.Rd1 Re8 9.Nc3 Qc7 10.e4 e5 11.h3 exd4 12.Nxd4 Nc5 13.Bf4 Nfd7 14.Be3 a5 15.b3 Nf8 16.Rac1 h5 17.Qd2 Nh7 18.Nde2 Bf8 19.Bf4 Re6 ½-½

[Event "2005 BCC Championship"] [Site "Somerville, MA"] [Date "2005.09.26"] [Round "3"] [White "Cherniack"] [Black "Clayton"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteELO "2279"] [BlackELO "1888"] [ECO "A86"]

1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nh3 d6 6.d5 a5 7.Nf4 0-0 8.Nc3 Na6 9.Be3 Qe8 10.0-0 Bd7 11.Bd4 g5 12.Nh3 Qh5 13.f4 h6 14.Qd2 g4 15.Nf2 Qg6 16.Rae1 Nc5 17.e4 Nfxe4 18.Ncxe4 Bxd4 19.Qxd4 e5 20.fxe5 Nxe4 21.e6 Nxf2 22.Rxf2 Rae8 23.Ref1 Bc8 24.Qd3 Qg7 25.Rxf5 Rxf5 26.Qxf5 Rf8 27.Qe4 h5 28.Rf4 b6 29.Bf1 Qxb2

30.e7 Rxf4 31.Qxf4 Bd7 32.Qf8+ Kh7 33.Bd3+ 1-0

Weighty Thoughts

Sir Chubalot shares his indisputable proof "that chess makes you fat."

Sharks bite down on Blitz

The Boston Blitz had a tough time in Round 6 of the US Chess League losing to the Miami Sharks 3-1. This loss, combined with wins by New York and Baltimore, leaves but a small flicker left in the Blitz' playoff hopes.

The evening started out quietly enough as FM Kelleher drew FM Martinez by three-fold repetition in a Bird's Variation of the Ruy Lopez. The game itself was relatively short and not particularly interesting as Queens came off early and after Black moved his rook to the 7th, White had little choice but to oppose it wherever it moved.

Things went downhill for the Blitz when FM MacIntyre blundered his Rook to a simple Knight fork and was forced to resign. While he certainly wasn't winning prior to this error, his position seemed playable enough. Time pressure must have played a role in this oversight; Paul doesn't allow these kinds of tactics when he is playing me.

Next to fall was IM Friedel, but he surely made it interesting. Josh sacrificed his Queen for a Rook, Knight and advanced passed c-pawn. Perhaps the ensuing complications would have been a problem for a lesser player, but GM Becerra played precisely and notched up a win for Miami.

On Board 4, NM Riordan had his hands full with Jorge Diaz. Charles didn't seem to get much going against what, to me, seemed like a fairly strange opening. The resulting position had elements of the Nimzo-Indian (White's doubled c-pawns) and the Dutch Leningrad (Black pawns on f5 and g6) -- though Black's fianchettoed Bishop had already left the board. Eventually the position took on a rather drawish character with double rooks and bishops of opposite color, but Riordan pushed forward looking for winning chances. One of the ICC kibitzers suggested 40.b5 (instead of 40.c5) as a winning try, but I'm not so sure.

From about move 35 on Diaz made draw offers on four or five consecutive moves. In my view, these repeated draw offers were not appropriate, and potentially annoying to the opponent. I'm sure Charles knew that Jorge was willing to take a draw after his first offer (and certainly after his second one). In any case, Riordan finally concluded that he little hope of creating winning chances and offered the draw himself on move 43.

Next week, the Blitz face the New York Knights for the second time this season in a must win match if they hope to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. Boston drew their previous encounter with New York 2-2.

Next Stop: Paparazzi

The Dean of New England chess journalism, Harold Dondis, was kind enough to make BCC Weblog the topic of his Chess Notes column in Monday's edition of The Boston Globe. Here is the article (hyperlinks and notes in italics are mine):

Monday, October 3, 2005

Chess Notes
By Harold Dondis and Patrick Wolff
Globe Correspondents

Readers who connect with the Boylston weblog (Boylston-chess-club.blogspot.com) are in for a treat. The blogmaster for the Boylston Club is DG, a regular player there. He has developed a sensible reportage of goings-on in the local chess arenas and also keeps tabs on national developments. The blog spot so far is thankfully free of much of the rancor that exists in many partisan blogs on the Internet.

A recent rundown of the blog shows a number of subjects. For example, the Boylston Championship has commenced with the following participants: Paul MacIntyre, Charles Riordan, Alex Cherniack, Vadim Martirosov, and Kyle Clayton. Matt Klegon withdrew after entry. Missing this year is one of the past year [champions], Chris Chase. [Click here for an updated list of participants.] Withdrawal, if it occurs during the tournament, is one of the problems with these long-term championships, as it prevents an accurate score. After Round 1 MacIntyre, Riordan, and Martirosov had one point apiece. DG's coverage includes games and chess positions.

Another event going on is the US Chess League in which major cities are having a go at one another with chess teams of equivalent ratings. The Boston Blitzes, waging a parallel competition to the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, faced a nemesis in the New York Knights and drew their match. A similar draw followed against the Philadelphia Masterminds. The team players for the Blitzes include Larry Christiansen, Bill Kelleher, Josh Friedel and Ilya Krasik. At last reporting, the Blitzes came up with a 2.5-1.5 victory over the Carolina Cobras, thus upstaging the New England Patriots in their game against the Carolina Panthers. But, as the Red Sox struggled with the Baltimore Orioles, the Blitzes bowed to the Baltimore Kingfishers 3.5-.5.

An unusual occurrence arose in the game between Friedel and International Master Shroer of the Cobras. Friedel had the better position and moved his Queen en prise, which was happily taken by a pawn. It turns out that the move was a slip of the mouse, in short, an unintended move. After negotiation, the position was restored and the proper Queen move was made. Friedel went on to win.

One of the services of the Boylston blog is to bring readers up to speed on other blogs. Apparently the most popular chess blog is the Daily Dirt Chess Blog, which receives about 5,000 postings a day [actually, Mig reports ~5,000 unique visitors a day]. Chess players [who are members of the Boylston Chess Foundation] can apply for the right to post on the Boylston blog. One report covers an AOL lawsuit that nailed chess spammers who hijacked an AOL address and used it for unsolicited e-mail.

Chess players often play in a vacuum, not knowing what is going on in their chess world. All in all, the Boylston chess blog is a welcome local addition to the local chess tradition.

As I'm sure you noticed, Harold referred to the Boston Blitz as the Blitzes throughout the article. When my mother-in-law, who unsurprisingly is not a frequent reader of The Boston Globe chess column, finished the article she asked, "Why is the team from Boston named the Blintzes?"

Surprise! Surprise!

I really thought that FIDE would cave to the players on the issue of writing your moves down before you play them. However, it seems that they stuck by their guns and the players blinked first.

From Guert Gijssen's most recent "An Arbiter's Notebook" column at ChessCafe.com:

In other news from Dresden: The Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) agreed with the new article that players may not record the moves in advance...

Now we just need to wait another 40 or 50 years for USCF to get on board.

Related Posts: Notetakers Rejoice! - No writing moves in advance at the US Championship! - Put your pen down ...

Jason reports on the Boston Open at U-Mass Boston

Boston area chessfans! Jason Rihel here with a report on the Boston Open, which took place Oct 1 - 2 at the U-Mass Boston beautiful new campus center.

First, it must be said that the turnout for this event was horrible-- there were a total of 8 players in the Open section, and the other sections had between 4-12 players each. While, I suspect that the beautiful weather, coupled with the Red Sox-- Yankees rivalry did much to keep people away, the relatively poor advertising for the event and the already low chess turnout these days could not have helped.

Also, while the harbor view is gorgeous, and the RedLine a free bus ride away, U-Mass Boston is too isolated for a good tournament. On Saturday, the only food option was a snack bar with some cold sandwiches and salads. On Sunday, there were NO food options at all! After a tough 4.5 hour scrape of a win in Round 3, I had to eat chips and pretzels out of a snack machine in preparation for my game against 2300-rated Avraam Pismennyy! I personally will not attend another weekend tournament held at U-Mass Boston, or will at least bring my own meals. If I had only been told about it.....

The low turnout led to some interesting outcomes for the Open section. After I defeted Matt Klegon in the first round, he withdrew, leaving just 7 players in the Open section battling it out for 5 prizes!! The lowest rated member of the group, Azaivier Davis (Just rated below your humble reporter), actually won 3rd prize outright after receiving a FULL POINT BYE in the last round. Going into the last round, Chris Williams and Davis had 1.5 points, Jared Becker had 1 point from an earlier full point bye he received, and I had 2 points. This left Chris Williams to play a 2100 player, Leonid Tkach, and it left me to play the top-rated Pismennyy. Meanwhile, Davis, at the bottom of the rating and score list, leapfrogged us in the standings with his bye!! Chris and I went down to defeat to co-winners Pismennyy and Tkach, leaving Davis sole possessor of 3rd place at 2.5 points (actually, he received the under 2200 prize, which was worth slightly more). Jared Becker (boosted with a full point bye), and I split the 3rd place and under 2100 prize, and Chris Williams, who had to play four tough rounds, was left out of the money.

In the other sections, Stephen Brudno and Philip Nutzman won the Under 2000 section with 3 points, Thomas Sifter was the sole winner of the Under 1700 section with a 3.5 score, and Mark Huston scored 3.0 to win the Under 1400 prize.

They also had a one day event, which was won by 1700 rated Felix Yang with a perfect 4.0 score. In the side Scholastic Events, Frederick Law won the K-6 event with a 4.0 score, and Nicholas Zhang scored 4.0 to win the K-3 section.

So, the lingering question remains-- how do we increase interest in the local area chess competitions? Was this a fluke of Red Sox Mania? Can regular Internet reports about local activity boost interest? I'm guessing it can, which is why I am writing this piece. I encourage all the Boston chess players to write up their own chess experiences here on this BCC blog, and maybe chess publicity can generate chess interest.

Lost in translation

The German company Springer unveiled their new logo:There is a certain logic in it since the Knight is called a Springer in German. However, their marketing people must have been using one of those web-based translation programs when they put up this press release on their English site. "The horse chess piece..."?

Analytics vs. Intuition

As a fairly analytical person myself, I found Michael Lewis' book "Moneyball" to be a revelation. Lewis chronicles the Oakland Athletics' use of baseball statistics in forming their team and making day-to-day decisions on the field. His underlying thesis is that General Manager Billy Beane's embrace of a statistical approach to baseball has allowed the Althletics to compete year in and year out with teams that have much greater resources at their disposal. Along the way, Lewis discusses the tension that was created between old-time baseball people who primarily used intuitive and emotional approaches to decision-making (e.g., identifying five tool players, going with gut instincts, staying with the hot bat, etc.) and the new-breed of statistical geeks (e.g., OBP, previous head-to-head matchups, ignoring pitchers' save numbers and won-loss records in favor of different performance measures, etc.).

I suspect that similar approaches (and tensions) are applicable in the US Chess League as well. In a previous post I discussed how analytics might play a role in team formation; but, I think over time, the search for an extra edge will lead to additional applications. For example, in determining the line-up each week previous head-to-head matchups might be considered. The historical success of your player against the typical opening repetoire of the expected opponent might also be factor. And with the existence and accessibility of large scale chess game databases, these types of analyses are reasonably easy to perform.

Today, I want to take a look at another potentially useful measure. Five weeks into the season, we can begin to look at the performance ratings of the various players. This measure can be thought of as the chess equivalent of a batter's OBP or a pitcher's ERA. By comparing a player's performance rating to their actual rating, we can assess how well each player is performing for the team relative to the expectation implied in their official USCL rating. Since the USCL imposes a rating cap each week, the overall success of a team is largely driven by the individual players' ability to perform above rating expectations.

So let's take a look at the relative performance ratings of the Boston Blitz through week 5. The format of the data is as follows -- Player Name (# of games played) - USCL Rating, Performance Rating, Performance Rating-USCL Rating. I have sorted the players by relative over/under-performance:

IM Perelshteyn (2) - 2576, 2953, +377
NM Riordan (2) - 2272, 2400, +128
IM Friedel (4) - 2447, 2520, +73
--------------------------------
GM Christiansen (3) - 2596, 2562, -34
Krasik (5) - 2123, 1979, -144
FM MacIntyre (2) - 2316, 2137, -179
FM Kelleher (2) - 2383, 1992, -392

Of course the sample sizes are fairly small, so you need to be careful about reading too much into these numbers (especially for those players who have played only two games). Nevertheless, they do reflect the actual performance of the players under USCL playing conditions.

The first thing to notice is that the team as a whole has just slightly underperformed by -33/game. As such it is not surprising that the Blitz' record through week 5 is right at .500 (2.5-2.5). This data can also be used to assess the validity of statements like "player x is on the team because he/she is actually stronger than their published rating." These claims of 'under-ratedness' can now be evaluated in the light of day.

The last use of performance rating information which I would like to discuss today is its application to the week-to-week team selection process. It definitely should not be used as the only input (that would be equivalent to riding the hot batter regardless of other mitigating factors), but I think it can be a useful source of information in selecting the line-up with the best chance of winning each week.

While not the best example to illustrate this point, let's take a look at the line-ups for this week's match against the Miami Sharks:

IM Josh Friedel (2477) vs. GM Julio Becerra (2622)
FM William Kelleher (2383) vs. FM Marcel Martinez (2469)
FM Paul MacIntyre (2316) vs. NM Miguel Espino (2272)
NM Charles Riordan (2272) vs. FM Javier Torres (2231)

Notice that the Blitz' line-up includes two over-performing players and two under-performing ones. This in itself is not remarkable; the Blitz don't really have the option of fielding all over-performing players at this point in time. However, I don't particularly like this line-up because one of the over-performing players (Friedel) is facing a major rating deficit on Board 1. As such, there is a reasonable chance that his relatively strong play won't result in any points for the team. In the middle of the line-up, Boston's under-performing players face a small rating deficit on Board 2 and a minor advantage on Board 3. Only on Board 4 does the team have both a rating advantage and an over-performing player. Of course, anything can happen in the games when they are played on Wednesday, but my pre-match assessment is that a 2-2 draw is the best the Blitz can reasonably expect from this line-up (Friedel 0, Kelleher 0 or 1/2, MacIntyre 1/2, Riordan 1).

Let's look at a couple of other options the Blitz might have considered (and, for all I know maybe they did -- e.g., IM Foygel may still be unavailable due to family issues and IM Perelshteyn may not have been able to play for some other reason). The first option would be to replace IM Friedel with IM Perelshteyn on Board 1. This doesn't change the mix of over and under-performing players, but does put a player on Board 1 with a much smaller rating deficit vs. his opponent. In addition, Eugene has already demonstrated an ability to successfully take on GMs in this league.

The second option is to go with the lineup -- Foygel, Friedel, MacIntyre, Riordan. Certainly Igor would have a hard time on Board 1, but in compensation the Blitz would have had rating advantages on the remaining three boards (two of the three with over-performing players). Had this option been feasible (and as mentioned earlier, it may very well have not been), it would have been my first choice.

For now, we'll wait for Wednesday and see what happens. As for BCC Weblog coverage of this week's match, I may do something a bit lighter on Wednesday night or just a post-match wrap-up. We'll see how much energy I have left after watching another round of San Luis.

ChessBoxing Action

Juergen at Random Good Stuff attended the European ChessBoxing Heavyweight Championship in Berlin. His report on the event is particularly noteworthy since it includes a couple of video clips of the action -- the first "live" ChessBoxing action I've seen.

I thought that NFL Europe had helped pull Berliners out of the middle ages of sports entertainment, but I guess we need to introduce them to baseball too.

Speaking of strange sports, in Arkansas they seem to have created their own form of chess-related competition:

A lot of people showed up here Friday night to watch Prairie Grove and Shiloh Christian meet in a chess match played on a green, grassy 100-yard gameboard.

For someone who has everything

What does dead_mike want for his birthday?

I don't care if anyone gets anything for me as long as you are all there and I get some chess action.

Chess is for the Birds

Here's a less than obvious combination of afternoon activities:

CHESS AND FALCONS IN CENTRAL PARK

Tomorrow, noon to 4 p.m., a "Falconry Extravaganza," with winged visitors in the East Meadow, Fifth Avenue and East 99th Street. Information: 311. Sunday at 10 a.m., the Annual Youth Chess Tournament, open to kindergarteners to eighth graders, at Chess and Checkers House, midpark, south of 65th Street; registration: (212) 338-5350.

...brings new meaning to the idea of a "Kingside attack."

Chess Box

Chess Heroes

In the absence of a formal national chess training program in the United States, bringing the game to new generations of potential players usually depends on the interest and passion of local volunteers. Here are pieces on two such individuals:

'Chess guy' spreads his gift for the game (Kansas)

Ouwinga leaves chess legacy (Michigan)

Insight leads to improvement

Most chess instructors emphasize the importance of annotating your own games to find opportunities you missed and uncover flaws in your thinking process. In that vein, Praha in Spring shares one of his recent games. What did he learn?

DON'T PLAY CHESS DRUNK.

Tandem Live Blogging: Boston vs. San Francisco

Welcome everyone to another night of Boston Blitz chess action! We're starting a little later tonight as the Blitz are taking on the far western representative of the USCL, the San Francisco Mechanics. It may be dark here, but the sun is still shining brightly in California, that is assuming that San Francisco isn't covered in clouds and fog.

vs.

Coming into tonight's match the Blitz find themselves in third place in the Eastern Division after being crushed 3.5-0.5 last week by the Baltimore Kingfishers. The Mechanics are also in third place in their division coming off a 2.5-1.5 win against the Miami Sharks.

As for the individual match-ups, it's another top-heavy vs. balanced battle this evening. On Board 1, Boston's IM Eugene Perelshteyn takes in a 100+ point rating advantage and the white pieces against IM John Donaldson. IM Josh Friedel stays on Board 2 and faces what's likely to be a competitive game with FM Dimitry Zilberstein. On Board 3, soon to be new Boylston Chess Club Champion NM Charles Riordan will have an uphill battle against FM David Pruess. And finally, we'll see Ilya Krasik with the Black pieces against NM Andy Lee on Board 4. The Blitz bring in an average rating of 2362 vs. the Mechanics' 2385.

We have a little twist planned for tonight's coverage. Both Rihel and DG will be commenting on the games. You'll find Rihel's notes in green and DG's in whatever this color looks like on your monitor. This should be interesting.

Now, before we begin, let's take a short break for station identification:

This is BCC Weblog -
Your independent source for coverage of
the Boston Blitz and the United States Chess League

Alright, we're off to the action on the ICC.

8:32pm:

Hi everyone! Let me jump right in, DG, and say that I am curious about the line-up tonight. I think that the Blitz really have a tough match-up tonight. I'm guessing that Board 4 Krasik will need to pull out a WIN to give the Blitz a good chance to win. That being said, I wonder why Charles isn't on Board 4 tonight, with maybe MacIntyre on Board 3. Krasik is proving to be underrated, but Charles would be a good matchup on Board 4 tonight.

Well, Jason, the only problem with that option is that Friedel wouldn't be able to play since the Blitz would overstep the average rating requirement. As I posted earlier this week, this was definitely a week when the team needed to consider the merits of both top-heavy and balanced line-up options. Obviously, they chose to stick with the top-heavy approach.

In my view, this match is likely to come down to Boards 2 & 4. Eugene just has to win on Board 1 for the Blitz to have a chance and if they get anything from Riordan it will be gravy. So I figure they need 1.5 pts from Friedel and Krasik; problem is, they both have Black. If Krasik really is underrated then tonight would be a great night to breakthrough against a "low-rated" master.

Well, they are a bit slow in getting started, so let me make a quick comment on the World Championships -- Leko lost to Topalov as White in a very exciting game. Also, Judit Polgar lost to Anand as White in a strange game. She seemed surprised out of the opening and chose a dubious plan.

If I could play twice as dubiously as Judit, I'd be thrilled!

8:52pm:

OK, let's take a look at the openings. On Board 2, Friedel is on the Black side on an Open Ruy; 11 moves in and it's all theory so far. Over on Board 3, Riordan is facing a Semi-Slav, but he responded with the unusual move 5.Qd3.

And on Board One we have an Accelerated Dragon position, and on Board four, Krasik responded to a Classical KID setup with Bg4. I am not familiar with that particular line, but Chessbase will show us the way in a few minutes.

9:03pm:

After 8...b4 by Pruess, I found 10 games that reached this position. On the White side names like Rubinetti, Epishin, Speelman and Gurevich; for Black -- Sveshnikov, Oll, Wells and Fontaine.

Well, as I thought, according to Chessbase, Bg4 by Board 4 Krasik is an unusual move, played only about 100 times in the database of 4 million games. This does not mean that it is a bad move, though—in past encounters, White has scored badly (based on games in the database.) In fact, the particular line being played has White with a 22% score, which includes draws! This could very well be some home cooking by Krasik tonight!

Board 1 is on more familiar ground, with the game in “book” through 19. a3. Donaldson’s reply 19… h5, however, appears in the database exactly once, Yoos-Taylor, 1996. A more common reply here was 19…a5 or 19… Be5, although it seems that many other moves have been tried.

9:30pm:

Board 3 is looking pretty equal. I think Riordan let his opponent off the hook by immediately trading off on c5. Now Black's bishops look impressive on the a8-h1 and a7-g1 diagonals. Over on Board 2 they are 15 moves in and while I haven't looked it up, I wouldn't be surprised if it's still in theory.

Perelshteyn looks fine to me, eventhough Black has the a-file. And it's still really early on Board 4 where Krasik is setting up to chip away at White's center. Any thoughts, JR?

Board 1 is still following the Yoos-Taylor game until 21…Ne6. It looks like Eugene is spending a lot of time in the position already, 38 minutes to 60 minutes for Donaldson. While I like White’s position here, the time could become a factor later on.

On Board 4, let’s consider the point of the early trade of light squared Bishop. In Classical KID positions, Blacks light squared B can be hard to develop properly. By trading it for White’s Knight, that problem is solved. Now, I suspect White will try to make his center dominate, giving his extra Bishops more space, while Black may try to keep it closed, letting the Knights have their way. Of course, Black has the strong fianchettoed dark-square Bishop, which could become a monster if lines open up. So I guess Black is going to pry the center open, carefully.

I have to say, I like the Blitz's positions here on Boards 1 and 4 so far.

9:45pm:

There are pieces hanging all over Board 3 after 16...Nb6. But now it looks like everybody got out of harm's way without captures. I must say that Black looks more active and Riordan's Queen looks funny on b5 surrounded by Black's minor pieces.

I understand that both Donaldson and Perelshteyn are experts on the Accelerated Dragon. An interesting struggle for theory on Board 1 ???

Board 3 has started to become very interesting, I agree. I also think that Black must be better here. After 18... Be4, where is White going to put his queen?

9:57pm:

Action on Board 2 where Zilberstein has sacked the exchange for an attack against f7. I think Josh might be in real trouble after 22.Qxd8. After 22…Rexd8 23.Nxf7 looks good.

On Board 3, I guess Charles could have played to Qa6 after Be4, but now, after 18…a5, that queen is seriously running out of room. Ba6 is a threat. At the very least, Black will gain a number of tempi as Charles tries to get the queen out of danger. Plus, Black really has no weaknesses for White to exploit.

Yes, Riordan's position does look shaky and Friedel's as well. Josh took with the other rook, Raxd8. Now Black is thinking about which piece to capture with on f7 (at least that's what I would be thinking about). Board 4 is starting to open up a bit also, but I'm not sure it's to anyone's advantage yet.

10:12pm:

Looking at Board 4, I feel that White is starting to get a slight pull. The position is starting to open up in favor of White’s Bishop pair, as White has claimed more queenside space. True, Black’s Bishop is eying the Knight on c3 and Rook on a1, but once those pieces clear the long diagonal, the Bishop will hit nothing important. Still, there is a lot of tension in the position, and anything can happen.

So, overall, I only have a good feeling about Eugene's position on Board 1. The others are starting to look shaky, with Krasik losing the thread a little, but still holding a decent position.

I don't know, Jason. Lee's c-pawn might turn out to be weak and Krasik might be able to put more pressure on it or somehow trade it for his backward d-pawn.

Ok, DG, let's duke it out! On Board 4, 19. b5 is going to be a tough move, if played. After 19 b5 axb5 20. Nxb5 Qb8 21. f4, white will get a firm plus. It is the d pawn that is weak, not the c pawn. True, Black can try down the a-file, but that is going to take some moves to reorganize. Meanwhile, White is going to break open the center.

On Board 3, is Charles managing to get out of the complications OK? I still like black, but White is putting up some tough resistance in a tricky position.

10:30pm:

Jason, you seem pretty passionate about your convictions on Board 4 so I'll just watch to see what happens.

Hold on! Did Zilberstein just blunder? After 25.Bg5, can’t Friedel just take on d6 twice? Wait, maybe not. After 25…Bxd6, then 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27. Rd1 and White can keep piling up on the pinned rook with Ne3, if necessary.

As for Board 3, I still think you need to like Black's position with those two rooks on the open files and two active bishops.

Whoa! On board 4, Krasik just sacked his Rook for the Exchange on c4. I don’t understand this move. Doesn’t it just drop the pawn on d6 after 21…. Qxc4 22. Rxd6? If now 22…Qxb4, 23. e5! So 22…bxa4 23. Rc1 threatens e5, so 23….e5 and 24. Qxa4. Black is an exchange down with no comp.

I'll take a look, DG, now at the Zilberstein game and see what is what.

10:42pm:

No Rxd6 on Board 4 as you suggested, but Black's in big trouble anyways. Still down the exchange and now his b5 pawn has fallen. It's not looking good for the Blitz here.

10:54pm:

Alright, let's do a quick rundown of the positions. I still like Eugene on Board 1. Josh looks like he might be wriggling out on Board 2, but he still has those doubled pawns and a bad bishop to worry about. Blitz fans shouldn't expect more than a 1/2 pt. here.

Riordan's hanging in there, but no more than that. And Krasik looks to be in a heap of trouble. Right now, I say the Blitz are looking at 2-2 in a best case scenario. Of course, time trouble can change everything!

11:01pm:

Board 1 is over! Perelshteyn wins! 1-0 Blitz.

That was a nice clear game from the beginning. GO Blitz! It looks like that will be 1-1, as Krasik is on his last legs on Board 4. It all comes down to Boards 2 and 3 -- I think Friedel is worse, looking at White's dangerous b pawn, but maybe he can pull one out in time pressure. Charles is holding, but time pressure is going to decide that game one way or the other.

Friedel is only slightly worse according to Fritz, after 37. Kf1. I bet it is a drawn endgame now. Black’s advanced King and Pawns hold the balance here. Charles looks fine now, with a lot of play in the position, but time is a major factor now.

11:18pm:

Board 2 is a draw by repitition. Friedel managed to extricate himself from a position that looked bad earlier on. So that's 1.5-0.5 Blitz, though the Mechanics are probably going to tie it up on Board 4.

Riordan is down to two minutes. The Blitz are likely going to need him to hold on if they want to avoid another loss.

11:22pm:

I think that Charles is coming out better! He has the opportunity to play, 45. Nxe5, winning a pawn. DG, am I hallucinating?

Instead, Charles takes the Knight on d4 with his rook, sacking the exhange. The action is flying, and I can't post and watch at the same time. DG, help me, what is going on?

Yes, we are going to have to look at Nxe5 after the game. Maybe Riordan thought the exchange sack offered better winning chances. He's got 2 pawns for it now, so maybe his idea is sound. Of course time trouble ensures that neither side will play this ending perfectly.

I just whipped out Fritz on this game, I couldn't help myself -- it gives Charles an advantage after the queen trade of +1.00 He is in good shape here, if he can manage his time.

11:32pm:

Krasik just resigned on Board 4. That evens it up at 1.5 each. I said at the beginning that anything Riordan provided would be gravy; well Boston Blitz, it's gravy time!

After Rc2+, the IMs in the gallery are suggesting that Charles might be in trouble.

11:44pm:

After 65…Ra3, Fritz calls this position a dead draw. We’ll see what happens. We always have to be careful with Fritz, especially in endgames. I am running 6 piece tablebases, which does boost Fritz’s endgame power tremendously, though.

11:48pm:

Well, right after I said that, I check again and Fritz tilts strongly towards Black. Of course, Black can't lose now, so Charles is going to be tortured with this position for a while until there is no more play. Black is in good shape to pull out a win.

At this point, Riordan is not going to win. Best we can hope for is a drawn match.

After 81.Bb7, Fritz is firmly in the draw evaluation! It hovered back and forth, with Pruess perhaps missing a forced win earlier on, but now it says draw. I think Charles has it now, too, as Black cannot prevent white from trading the B for the h pawn and then shuffling the a pawn forward with the king. Great game so far by Charles to hold on!

12:10am:

That’s it, Riordan draws. It’s a drawn match as well 2-2.

Well, the Blitz managed to squeeze out a draw tonight. It was certainly an exciting finish, but another disappointment for the team overall. Eugene did his job and Charles managed a half point against strong opposition. However, at the top I said that Boston needed 1.5 points out of Boards 2 & 4 and that just didn’t happen. Josh could easily have lost (I think) but played well enough to secure a draw. Ilya went down again.

I hope the Blitz take the next few days to do a serious rethink about their approach to these matches. It seems clear at this point that what they are doing, so far, is not going to be enough to make the playoffs.

WoW! A stressful but well earned draw from this match. Coming into this match as slight underdogs, I think that a drawn match is a good result. A misstep on Board 2 was neutralized by the great tenaciousness that Charles showed on Board 3. I am not so sure that the approach of the team is at fault here. If Josh had a better night at Board 2, then Charles's great toughness on Board 3 would have paid off. With Eugene anchoring the top board with a very nice win, this lineup had every chance to win this round. True, Krasik underperformed on Board 4, it looks like he miscalculated with his Exchange sac, but I don't see how the team would have fared much better with a different lineup. Then again, Charles is proving to be solid on Board 3, maybe against weaker opponents on Board 4, he could notch up some wins for the Blitz. Even still, in almost all imagined scenarios, there is a relative rating hole at Board 3, leaving lots of pressue on Board 1 and 2. Why not give those Boards the best chances to win, and leave Boards 3 and 4 as underdogs who are also perhaps underrated?

Anyway, I have to say, DG, that I had a blast! I don’t know how you commented on 4 games at once by yourself. Thanks for having me on, and I'm looking forward to trying it again.

Thanks Jason. We'll see you all next week for more USCL and Boston Blitz action. Good night everyone.

BCC Championship - Another Round 2 Game

Natasha Christiansen nicks Alex Cherniack for half a point in a minor upset.

[Event "2005 BCC Championship"] [Site "Somerville, MA"] [Date "2005.09.19"] [Round "2"] [White "Christiansen,N"] [Black "Cherniack"] [Result "1/2"] [WhiteELO "1810"] [BlackELO "2279"] [ECO "D02"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Qb3 c4 6.Qc2 g6 7.Nbd2 Bf5 8.Qc1 Nc6 9.h3 Bg7 10.e3 0-0 11.Be2 Nd7 12.e4 Bxe4 13.Nxe4 dxe4 14.Nd2 e5

15.Nxc4 Qd8 16.dxe5 Ndxe5 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.Bxe5 Bxe5 19.Qe3 Qc7 20.0-0 Rfe8 21.Bb5 Bf4 22.Qe2 Re7 23.Rad1 Kg7 24.Rd5 Rd8 25.Rxd8 Qxd8 26.Rd1 Qb6 27.Rd7 Rxd7 28.Bxd7 Qd6 29.Ba4 Qe7 30.Bc2 e3 31.fxe3 Bxe3+ 32.Kf1 f5 33.Bb3 f4 34.Qc4 Kh6 35.Qf7 Qe4 36.Qf8+ Kh5 37.Bd1+ Kh4

38.Qf6+ Kg3 39.Qg5+ Kh2 40.Qg4 Bc1 41.Qf3 Qc4+ 42.Be2 Qc5 43.Qf2 Qxf2+ 44.Kxf2 Bxb2 45.Bf3 b6 46.c4 Bd4+ 47.Kf1 h6 48.Be4 g5 49.Bf3 Kg3 50.a4 Bc5 51.Bh5 Kh4 52.Bg4 h5 53.Bf3 g4 54.hxg4 hxg4 55.Bc6 Kg3 56.Bd5 Kh2 57.Be4 Kg3 58.Bd5 f3 59.gxf3 gxf3 60.Bb7 Kf4 61.Bd5 Ke3 62.Bc6 f2 63.Bd7 Kd2 64.Bb5 Kc2 65.Ke2 Kb3 66.Kf1 Kb4 67.Ke2 Ka5 68.Kf1 a6

69.Bc6 Kb4 70.Bb7 b5 71.cxb5 a5 72.b6 Kxa4 73.Bc6+ Kb4 74.b7 Ba7 75.b8Q+ Bxb8 76.Kxf2 a4 77.Bxa4 ½-½

One is the loneliest number

Find out more...

Wednesday 8:30pm EDT [GMT-4], here at BCC Weblog.

National Open Attendance

In Jerry Hanken's article on the 2005 National Open -- "Las Vegas International Chess Festival: Gurevich Triumphant in National Open" (Chess Life, September 2005) -- he mentions the following almost in passing before moving on to the winners and the games:

The National Open attendance, 703, was somewhat off from last year's, as has been the case with almost every large tournament this year.

If it is true that attendance has been off at almost every large tournament this year (and I have no reason to believe it is not true), then this seems like an issue deserving of more attention. Here are some hypotheses that might explain this phenomenon:

1. The Conventional Perspective: The convenience of on-line chess is drawing people away from OTB tournaments.
   


2. The Maurice Effect: Many players who made the financial and time commitment to play in the HB Global Chess Challenge have cut back on other tournament activities to conserve both.
   


3. The Beatrice Syndrome: People finally have had enough with USCF shenanigans and are starting to vote with their feet.

What do you think? Any other ideas? International readers, are you seeing the same trend in attendance in your major OTB events?

No rest for the weary

“When you play chess alone it’s always your move.” -- Charles Simic from his poem 'School for Visionaries.'

Hat Tip: Life Sentences

Ball game? Board game?

From "Fun starts when the 'chess' ends" at telegraph.co.uk:

On Match of the Day Hansen described Liverpool's draw at St Andrew's as a "magnificent" game; Green spent all afternoon telling Radio 5 Live listeners it was "awful".

In truth it was somewhere in the middle. The first-half chess match gave way to a wild game of draughts in the second, and both sets of fans went home happy.

Boston Blitz in Action #1

From the US Chess League Round 1 match vs. the New York Knights. Click on the pictures to enlarge. (Photos by Matt Phelps)

IM Eugene Perelshteyn

FM Bill Kelleher

Ilya Krasik

Theological Chess

“In an attempt to secure the sovereignty of God, theologians have overstated their case and left us with a chess-player God playing both sides of the board, making all his moves and all ours too....” John Eldredge, Wild at Heart

Hat Tip: Paul's Ponderings

C is for Championship

It looks like it's going to be one of those crazy years at the BCC Championship. After a number of withdrawals both before and after the first round, the line-up for this year's championship has been significantly re-worked. Here is the current list of contestants:

FM Paul MacIntyre (2315)
NM Charles Riordan (2283)
NM Alex Cherniack (2279)
NM Vadim Martirosov (2239)
Carey Theil (1991)
Kyle Clayton (1888)
Natasha Christiansen (1810)

Several first round games need to be rescheduled to catch everyone up through two rounds (I'm not sure if they've taken place yet or not). I also suspect that the Klegon-MacIntyre game from Round 1 is not going to count in the standings. And if that isn't enough, apparently the MacIntyre-Theil encounter resulted in a forfeit win for Carey when Paul failed to show up for the game.

What are the standings at this point? Who knows.

I did get one second round game score from Bernardo. As you will see below, the weirdness continues as an encounter between two masters results in a 15-move miniature.

[Event "2005 BCC Championship"] [Site "Somerville, MA"] [Date "2005.09.19"] [Round "2"] [White "Martirosov"] [Black "Riordan"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteELO "2239"] [BlackELO "2283"] [ECO "A70"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 exd5 6.cxd5 g6 7.e4 a6 8.Bf4 b5 9.Qe2 Be7 10.e5 dxe5 11.Bxe5 Nbd7 12.Bc7

12...Qxc7 13.0-0-0 0-0 14.Qxe7 Re8 15.d6 Qa5 0-1

C is for, what's looking to be, a Chaotic and Crazy Chess Club Championship!

Related Posts: 2005 BCC Championship - 1st Round - Championship Season Redux

The USCL and the Blogosphere

Greg Shahade penned a piece on coverage of the USCL in the chess blogosphere for the official US Chess League site. He's missing a word in the second paragraph (probably "coverage"), but based on the time stamps of a few of the e-mails he's sent me I'm guessing he probably wrote the article between 4 and 5 in the morning.

Greg mentions the coverage here at BCC Weblog as well as an overview piece at The Kenilworthian. In addition to these two, you can find weekly summaries at Chess News and Events and single posts from The Closet Grandmaster and OnlineChess.ca.

Update: A new post today on the USCL and BCC Weblog coverage from OnlineChess.ca.

New Inductees

The Knights are beginning another of their periodic growth spurts. In the last week Tempo has discovered Montse and SiliconPawn. Stop by and wish them luck with their chess improvement efforts.

A Balanced Blitz?

In team matches with an average rating ceiling (like the US Chess League) there are two basic strategies for composing a line-up. In the top heavy approach, you put much higher than average rated players on the top boards and balance things out with much lower than average rated players on the bottom boards. In a four board match, the winning strategy for this type of team is to win the games on Boards 1 and 2 and hope for a draw out of either board 3 or 4 -- this is how the Blitz defeated the Cobras. However, it is not uncommon for the match to be drawn 2-2 if the lower boards fail to score -- see the Blitz vs. the Masterminds. And, of course, if your top boards fail to do their job, well then, all hell breaks loose like last week's debacle against Baltimore.

The alternative approach to team composition is a balanced strategy. Choose four players who all group reasonably closely around the average rating ceiling. With this strategy, you are typically accepting underdog status on board 1, but in compensation you are a favorite on board 4 and very competitive in the middle. Last week's line-up for the Kingfishers was structured exactly this way with ratings of 2506, 2453, 2331 and 2309.

This coming week against the San Francisco Mechanics, the Blitz are likely to face a similar line-up. San Francisco doesn't have any 2600 players on their roster and, while they don't have any 2300 players either, they will by definition field an all-master team. Consider the ratings of the team that upset Miami last week -- 2442, 2435, 2432 and 2209. The key question for the Blitz this week is whether to stick with the top heavy strategy or try to field an all-master line-up of their own.

The problem that the Blitz face is that their roster is not well structured for this type of balanced approach. Team captain Paul MacIntyre admitted to me that not much thought was put into the team composition issue when the roster was initially created, although to be fair, it's not as if we have a large supply of 2300+ players around the Boston area to choose from. In any case, I played around in Excel for awhile and identified the only 3 possible options for the Blitz to field an all-master team.

Option #1: Foygel - 2490, Friedel - 2447, MacIntyre - 2316, Riordan - 2272; Average = 2389

Option #2: Christiansen - 2596, Kelleher - 2383, MacIntyre - 2316, Riordan - 2272; Average = 2392

Option #3: Perelshteyn - 2576, Kelleher - 2383, MacIntyre - 2316, Riordan - 2272; Average = 2387

Option #1 looks most intriguing to me and would probably lead to competitive encounters with San Francisco across all four boards. The other two options seem to be twists on the top-heavy strategy -- strong on Boards 1 & 4, weaker in the middle. In a couple of days we'll see what the Blitz come up with for this Wednesday's match.

Armed Forces Championship

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