The Chess Blog of the Boylston Chess Club... The Boylston Chess Club (BCC) is a part of the Boylston Chess Foundation (BCF).
September 29th, 2009 
Chris Bird | Board | White | Result | Black |
| 1. | GM Leonid Kritz (2654) | 0-1 | GM Larry Christiansen (2662) |
| 2. | Denys Shmelov (2474) | 0-1 | GM Sergey Erenburg (2616) |
| 3. | FM Shinsaku Uesugi (2354) | ½-½ | Marc Esserman (2461) |
| 4. | Ilya Krasik (2252) | 1-0 | Ian Harris (2172) |
| Boston Blitz | 2½-1½ | Baltimore Kingfishers |
While carving out a niche for himself as a Mozartian singer who also often interprets modern works, Bass Nathan Resika has been praised for his “sonorous” voice by more than one critic. Metropolitan Opera tenor and diction coach Nico Castel wrote that Nathan is ”gifted with a splendid bass instrument…musical…intelligent..He had an excellent working relationship with his colleagues”. Of Nathan's february'09 performance in Center for Contemporary Opera's "Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", Award winning composer Barry O'Neal noted "Nathan can really act with his voice,which has an amazingly rich, dark sound,with powerful low notes". Raised in New York City by a musical family, Nathan sang, acted, and played classical & folk guitar from an early age,and continued his studies at both New England Conservatory and the Longy School. Nathan’s rising career has seen him performing roles with, among others, the Caramoor Opera Festival, the Center for Contemporary Opera, New Jersey Opera, Connecticut Lyric Opera, the Belleayre Music Festival, Utah Festival Opera, and Opera Orchestra of New York’s Artist Program. Upcoming performances include a May 9th concert as bass soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the New Britain Symphony and Hartford Chorale , Colonna(cover) in Wagner’s Rienzi with Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall(2010) , Colline in La Boheme with Opera in the Heights(Houston, 2010), as well as Don Silva in Ernani(2011), also with the latter. Highlights of the pastyear and 1/2 have seen Nathan performing the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro with Opera in the Heights, Polyphemus in Handel’s Acis and Galatea at the Irvington Music Festival, Colline in New Jersey Verismo Opera’s La Boheme, Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni with St.Petersburg Opera, and Don Alfonso in Cosi Fan Tutte with Underworld Productions at Symphony Space, NYC. In July, Mr.Resika made his debut at Caramoor as the Marchese di Calatrava in La Forza del Destino(while covering Padre Guardiano), and accompanied tenor Barry Banks on classical guitar in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (while covering Don Basilio). Recently performed roles also include Ferrando in Il Trovatore, Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Ramfis in Aida, Sparafucile and Monterone in Rigoletto, Police Sergeant in Pirates of Penzance, and Superintendent Budd in Britten’s Albert Herring. Nathan has performed in concert in Hungary, Greece, throughout the United States, and has sung the national anthem at several sporting events. Also a chessmaster and tutor, Mr.Resika has been ranked among the top 200 players in the USA.
Boston Blitz (2.0 - 1.0) vs Philadelphia Inventors (1.0 - 2.0) 
| Boston Blitz | Philadelphia Inventors | ||
| SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun: 2603 | 1.0 | 0.0 | GM Sergey Kudrin: 2602 |
| SM Denys Shmelov: 2474 | 0.5 | 0.5 | IM Bryan Smith: 2528 |
| SM Marc Esserman: 2461 | 1.0 | 0.0 | FM Tom Bartell: 2411 |
| NM Vadim Martirosov: 2235 | 1.0 | 0.0 | Kavinayan Sivakumar: 2048 |
| Avg Rating: 2443 | Avg Rating: 2397 | ||
| Boston Total ------- | 3.5 | 0.5 | ------- Philadelphia Total |
Capablanca? He's Dead!
There is no doubt that Capablanca was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate.
About four years ago about half a dozen of us went to Mike's restaurant of Davis Square between rounds for lunch. When you order at Mike's, they take your money and first name to call you when your order is ready to be picked up. Well that day I stood behind Mike Henroid 
and Mikhail Derazhne
both of whom gave the name Mike to the waitress. Not wanting to further confuse the Mike issue I gave the name Capablanca and thus I became known forever as Capablanca at Mike's.
Bernado
and I got to know the waitress Marisol very well and Marisol was always on the lookout for chess players
Then last Thursday night Tom Sifter appeared at Mike's for dinner and Marisol noticed Tom's chess equipment and asked Tom if he knew Bernado and Capablanca. To which Tom responded he knew Bernado and that Capablanca had died! Marisol was horrified?! Later that week Bernado told Marisol that Tom was talking about a different Capablanca.
Oddly enough, I (oresick) found a photo captioned "J.R.Capablanca VIVE (aka Bernardo Iglesias.)
The inscription on the picture that says: VIVE (AKA BERNARDO IGLESIAS) was written by NM Nathan Resika in the 90's when the club was at 140 Clarendon St.Please Comment
My (oresick) question is, is the Marisol you knew Marisol?
Thank You
Mike "Capablanca" Griffin
09/21/2009
| # | Name/Rtng/ID | Cl/Gr | Rd 1 | Tot | ||||||||
| 1 | VIGORITO,DAVID | B 9 | ||||||||||
| 2464 12426279 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||||||||||
| 2 | SHMELOV,DENYS KONSTANTIN | B 8 | ||||||||||
| 2492 13433622 | 0.5 | 0.5 | ||||||||||
| 3 | WILLIAMS,CHRIS | B 7 | ||||||||||
| 2239 12788759 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||||||||||
| 4 | CHASE,CHRISTOPHER | B 6 | ||||||||||
| 2333 10010985 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||||||||||
| 5 | RIORDAN,CHARLES ROBERT | ---- | ||||||||||
| 2397 12611870 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||||||||||
| 6 | TIMES,LAWYER | W 4 | ||||||||||
| 2292 12167330 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||||||||||
| 7 | CHERNIACK,ALEX | W 3 | ||||||||||
| 2297 11096239 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||||||||||
| 8 | THEIL,CAREY M | W 2 | ||||||||||
| 2240 12594672 | 0.5 | 0.5 | ||||||||||
| 9 | RUEDA,LIBARDO | W 1 | ||||||||||
| 2171 12497363 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| # | Name/Rtng/ID | Rd 1 | Tot | |||||||||
| 1 | WARFIELD,SIMON K | B 9 | ||||||||||
| 2183 12625572 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||||||||||
| 2 | GLICKMAN,DAVID S | B 8 | ||||||||||
| 1996 11195890 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||||||||||
| 3 | NEWMAN,KENNETH W | B 7 | ||||||||||
| 1939 10349346 | 0.5 | 0.5 | ||||||||||
| 4 | YEDIDIA,ADAM | B 6 | ||||||||||
| 1899 12871990 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||||||||||
| 5 | PORTUGUES,RUBEN | W 10 | ||||||||||
| 1862 13426034 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||||||||||
| 6 | DRISCOLL III,WALTER A | W 4 | ||||||||||
| 1819 12547513 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||||||||||
| 7 | SCHMIDT,DANIEL | W 3 | ||||||||||
| 1800 12603571 | 0.5 | 0.5 | ||||||||||
| 8 | ELDRIDGE,LARRY | W 2 | ||||||||||
| 1787 10017297 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||||||||||
| 9 | HO,KENNETH | W 1 | ||||||||||
| 1768 12436950 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||||||||||
| 10 | LEE,JONATHAN MARK | B 5 | ||||||||||
| 1756 12742928 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| # | Name/Rtng/ID | Rd 1 | Rd 5 | Tot | ||||||||
| 1 | FRAZIER,FRANK | B 9 | B 5 | |||||||||
| 1750 10014280 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||||||||||
| 2 | FELKER,PAUL | B 8 | B 4 | |||||||||
| 1734 12792069 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||||||||||
| 3 | INGHAM,SEAN THOMAS | B 7 | ---- | |||||||||
| 1674 12859758 | 0.0 | |||||||||||
| 4 | DONDIS,HAROLD B | B 6 | W 2 | |||||||||
| 1659 10018765 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||||||||||
| 5 | PRESSMAN,DAVID MARK | ---- | W 1 | |||||||||
| 1652 13469492 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | |||||||||
| 6 | SADYKOV,KHIKMET | W 4 | W 9 | |||||||||
| 1652 13897647 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||||||||||
| 7 | ORESICK,ROBERT J | W 3 | W 8 | |||||||||
| 1547 12659519 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||||||||||
| 8 | STEPAK,STEVEN PHILIP | W 2 | B 7 | |||||||||
| 1500 12437339 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||||||||||
| 9 | GORCZYCA,THADDEUS S | W 1 | B 6 | |||||||||
| 1307 12642210 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
One of the coolest things about chess web pages and blogs is that they are living documents of what's considered hot in chess. And not only do they disseminate current events that reflect chess life at the moment simultaneously they are building a view of chess into the past. The crosstables stored by the USCF since 1992 are a great resource.
Over time we are building a history unlike anything seen before in the chess. The BCF has gone out of its way in preserving much about Harry Lyman. And in addition the current BCF webpage is growing an asset about all local chess players great and common alike.
And I get a warm feeling when I occasionally view old photo's on the web site of all people, some now looking older, among those photos. Especially the players who have passed away, for example: Greg Hager, Everyday Ed Lafferty, Gus Goselin. Plus photo's of players who are no longer active around here, example: old nemesis Mikhail Derazhne, Kimani Stancil, Hal Fishbien. Great memories of past battles and moments of the past are generated within when I view these.
Perhaps we should create a special page of photo's containing BCF players that have gone onto that great chess hall in the sky? It would be nice to realize that some karma of your chess past would even exist after you are gone.
Please Comment.
Thank You
Mike Griffin
09/16/2009
Mike
We do have a section of photos in the club gallery (BCC Venerables and Luminaries) devoted to some past or deceased members like Harry and Gus, and we are trying to build up a photo collection of members and players at the Boylston. I think we have at least one photo of each of the folks you mentioned at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/oresick/BoylstonMembersAndPlayers02#
bob oresick
Chess Life Online 2009 September Christiansen Takes Senior Open | Christiansen Takes Senior Open |  |  |
| By WIM Alexey Root | |
| September 7, 2009 | |
 2009 U.S. Senior Champ, GM Larry Christiansen. Photo Betsy Dynako GM Larry Kaufman was clear second with 5 of 6, defeating GM Boris Gulko en route to his finish. He drew Christiansen and, in the last round, drew IM Walter Shipman. As the highest-finishing player over 60, Kaufman wins a trip to the World Senior in Northern Italy. The winner of the 6-round U.S. Women's Open is UTD sophomore WFM Saheli Nath with 5 out of 6. Second was WIM Iryna Zenyuk, who is the top American finisher and therefore qualifies for the 2010 U.S. Women's. Tied for 3rd through 5th with 4 points were UTD freshman Medina Parilla, WFM Chouchan Airapetian, and Jennifer Acon. UTD provided 5 of the 16 players in this first-ever U.S. Women's Open. The photo below shows all the participants of the Women's Open, except Margaret Hua and Jennifer Acon.  Back row left to right: Joanna Gossell, Iryna Zenyuk, Marilyn Pelias, Helen Jamison, Karina Vazirova, Courtney Jamison, Bayaraa Zorigt, Brianna Conley, Medina Parrilla, Julia Jones. From row is Alexey Root, Chouchan Airapetian, Saheli Nath, and Natasha Christiansen. |
September 10th, 2009 Chris Bird | Board | White | Result | Black |
| 1. | GM Eugene Perelshteyn (2588) | 1-0 | IM Jonathan Schroer (2429) |
| 2. | FM Oleg Zaikov (2388) | ½-½ | Denys Shmelov (2474) |
| 3. | Marc Esserman (2461) | 1-0 | FM Ron Simpson (2290) |
| 4. | Craig Jones (2275) | 0-1 | Ilya Krasik (2252) |
| Boston Blitz | 3½-½ | Carolina Cobras |
Emanuel Lasker (world champ 1894–1921) is my favorite chess player. 
Lasker and Pillsbury in 1895
Lasker played the opponent, had no weakness in his game, and had a chameleon like quality where he would try and put his opponent thru a torture test during a match. Bobby Fischer took after Lasker in 1972 when he played non e4 vs Spassky thus throwing out all Soviet preparation with white. A choice which implies Fischer decided that while e4 is the best, it is not as good as d4 or c4 against an unprepared opponent.
In fact Fischer was sure to face Spassky's Queen's Gambit Declined Tartakower variation, a line Spassky never lost with until game 6. For those who possess The Art of Positional Play by Samuel Reshevsky, there is a chapter about the Tartakower variation which is the best analysis of the defense I have ever read. Whereas in Ruben Fine's Bobby Fischer's Conquest of the World's Chess Championship Tartakower analysis pales when compared to Reshevsky.
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Unequivocally Gary Kasparov is the greatest but I like to re-evoke the discussion about how strong would a Lasker or Capablanca be in world class chess today. My feeling is any top world player of the past would be world class today if given the same opportunities that today's players have had. It's interesting to note that some local masters regard the likes of Frank Marshall as being "expert strength" when compared to today's masters, while other local masters show them more respect. Still there have been computer studies of games and players of the past that show that there were many tactical flaws in games of the past that were overlooked by these old timers. My feeling is that computers have done a good job in training contemporary player's minds to a much higher tactical skill level. And there are so many games e-published every day, visible almost immediately around the world, so variations are tested more quickly and the current chess junkies can keep a finger on the pulse of the bleeding edge. Whereas before WWII players had to be part of the European tour to be on the bleeding edge. And like Kasparov, we can take our ideas and beat on a stronger than human computer to harden our ideas. Feedback was never so good, pushback never so quick. Just like everything in today's world the cycles accelerate. With more room for improvement. What I think this means is that the greatest chess player is yet to arrive.
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How would the old timers rank today?
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Please Comment
Thank You
Mike Griffin 09/02/2009
| Queens Pioneers | Boston Blitz | ||
| GM Alex Stripunsky: 2628 | 0.0 | 1.0 | GM Larry Christiansen: 2662 |
| IM Eli Vovsha: 2539 | 0.0 | 1.0 | GM Eugene Perelshteyn: 2588 |
| FM Andrei Zaremba: 2398 | 1.0 | 0.0 | SM Marc Esserman: 2461 |
| Shaun Smith: 2038 | 0.0 | 1.0 | Andrew Wang: 2136 |
| Avg Rating: 2401 | Avg Rating:2462 | ||
| Queens Total ----- | 1.0 | 3.0 | -----Boston Total |
