FEBRUARY 2ND: BCC QUADS 3SS G/60(+5"DELAY)

Greetings Chess Community. It's already (almost) February. And the Boylston Chess Club, on behalf of Caissa, the Chess Goddess, wishes to invite you to the only round robin chess tournament in the New England Area on this Saturday, February, 2, 2013.

Caissa

There are two basic features of QUADS: 1. the round robin format allows you to know who you are playing and with what color for each of the three rounds you play.  2. This 3 round event finishes around 5:00 PM so there's time to rest before watching the Superbowl.

Play people in your own rating group.
Plan your strategy. Select a new opening and perform a novelty.
The BCC extends a special invitation to scholastic and female players of all strengths.

CHESS HISTORY IN PHOTOS: RUBINSTEIN FAMILY

One of the most curious photos of chess history is found in Arthur Rubinstein's (1887-1982) Memoir: (Vol 1) My Young Years. New York: Knopf, 1973. It is simply called: "Sunday Afternoon in Berlin" with no identification as to who the people in the photograph are.  Indeed, from left to right we have Akiba Rubinstein, the nanny, one of Arthur's sisters (Arthur was the youngest of 7 children) and finally the young music prodigy himself, Arthur. In the center of the table is a small chess set. The mystery is: was Akiba giving lessons to the you pianist?  Or did Artur know how to play already. We'll never know.  I spoke with John Rubinstein (b. 1946, in LA) who when asked about his father's chess activities, said he was not familiar with the matter. Arthur explicitly stated in his book that most of the photos which appear in this volume (1973) were given to him by friends. He had none. They were all destroyed by the Nazis in World War II.  Be that as it may, I'm sure there was a strong and fond relationship between the two prodigies. Akiba (1882-1961) was born in Stawiski (est. 1407) a small Polish town in northeastern Poland. The last of 13 children, Akiba was sent to his maternal grandparent's home in Bialystok (reminiscent of Fiddler on the Roof cultural ethos) to be raised. His family had hoped that Akiba become a rabbi.  Yet, due to circumstances beyond his contro, this was not to be. AR found chess, mastered it, and would have become World Champion had it not been for World War 1 which devastated Poland and Akiba's sense of emotional equilibrium. He played many brilliant games and won many tournaments, but the world chess championship was just out of his historical reach. He was in his prime in 1914. By 1920 after the war, Akiba was just not quite himself and never regained his composure to prosecute the arrangement of another championship match. Rubinstein was set to play Lasker in 1914, but the War interrupted the match.

 

Photo Above: GM Akiba (left), nanny, Artur's sister, Frania, 

and Artur, circa 1900 (Akiba 18; Artur 13)

 

 Artur Rubinstein at the keyboard, circa 1950

 שחוק השאך

   Ś’hok ha-shakh (Check and Chess)

Joseph Judah Loeb Sossnitz

[Sossnitz, Joseph Judah Löb, 1837-1910]

Vilnus, Russian Empire c 1880

Sossnitz Check and Chess Primer, 1880 title page (above)

Note: publication information (under horizontal line) is in Russian, 

as the work was produced in Vilnius, Russian Empire.

Page 15 of Sossnitz' Chess and Check, 1880, The text of this work in in Hebrew,

which is written and read right to left.  Note display of chess game above: 1.e2-e4 is white's first move, whereas if the text had been printed in English, the location of this move on the page would indicate, the second player's or Black's move.

The above title is the first chess book (a primer) which AR studied. A copy of this relic may be found in the Houghton Library at Harvard University. 

(Above: Early chess game of AR, 1897)

Jewish boys playing chess in Poland, circa 1920

 At some point, AR was beating all players in Bialystok. He heard that there was a chess master (Gersz Salwe) in Lodz, so AR traveled there to test his chess skills. It is from his attraction to the chess of Lodz that AR no doubt was received by the Rubinstein family (Arthur's parents) establishing a long-lasting relationship.   After a number of credible tries, AR finally beat Salwe, thus launching the career of one of the most artistic chess masters in history. Also, AR was received as a member of the Lodz Chess Society, in 1906. AR had two matches with Salwe in 1903. The 1st was drawn with the score of 5 - 5, the second AR won 5.5 - 4.5.

AR, circa 1907
There are more than one version of AR's early years. I found interesting two points: AR's father, died of TB  8 months before AR was born--thus Akiba was named after his father, a practice Jews did not engage in if the parent were alive. And, AR was the last of 14 children (many of his siblings died in early childhood). AR moved from Stawiski to Bialystok to live with AR's mother, Raisel's, family (Raisel's father, Aaron Denenberg, AR's maternal grandfather, was a wealthy lumber merchant). AR continued his Jewish studies and was set to attend Yeshiva (Jewish high school) to become a rabbi but the family was very warry of AR catching TB (and dying of it like his father did), so it was the family's decision and not AR's that he not to attend yeshiva. [It is to be noted on Page 25 of The Life and Games of Akiva Rubinstein: The Later Years, 2nd edition 2011, that Jonas Rubinstein, Akiba's eldest son, is quoted reporting that all but two children in AR's family died in early childhood. Only a sister and Akiba survived. The others perished from TB!]  AR, with lots of free time on his hands, was often found in Bialystok's taverns where he observed men playing chess.  Akiba became fascinated with the game. And it was from this friendly exposure to chess that AR became hooked on chess,  and began to study and analyze games and play seriously. So, unwittingly, it was AR's family's [justified] fear of TB which gave the chess world one of its most artistic players.

Akiba Rubinstein married Eugenie Lev on March 30, 1917. Jonas was born in Poland. Then the family moved to Sweden, and again to Rehbroeke, a small town near Potsdam, in eastern Germany, where World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker (seen in above photo playing AR in 1909) was said to be a frequent guest. The Rubinstein family then moved to Antwerp, Belgium in 1926. A year later, Sammy was born. The family then moved to Brussels in 1931 where they stayed put for the most part. It is to be noted that Akiba Rubinstein spoke Polish, Russian, Hebrew, German and Yiddish, fluently. Indeed AR conversed with his wife in Russian. Yet AR's sons did not learn Russian.

Akiba Rubinstein had two sons: Jonas (b. 1918, engineer)

Jonas Rubinstein, eldest son of GM Akiba Rubinstein. Photo on commemorative stamp.

 and Solomon "Sammy" (b. 1920, chessmaster FIDE: 2380 and artist) 

With natural artistic talent, Sammy received formal training in art at the Ecole des Beau Arts, Paris 1951-54. An example of his work is featured in the portrait of AR below:

 Akiba Rubinstein, drawn by his son Sammy, 1954
Sammy also did the portrait of David Bronstein (1924-2006) which appears on the grandmaster's magnum opus: The Sorcerer's Apprentice. London/New York: Cadogan Press, 1995.

And speaking of chess publications, IM John Donaldson, along with IM Nikolay Minev produced an absolutely marvelous Rubinstein history, with almost all AR's games, in easy to read algebraic notation as well as a rich assortment of historical notes on the Rubinstein Family covering over half a century, in 2 volumes. The work is called The Life and Games of Akiva Rubinstein Vol. 1 Uncrowned King. Milford CT: Russell Enterprise, Inc. 2006; and Volume 2: The Later Years, (2nd Edition) Russell Enterprise, Inc.  2011.
[Note of clarification on the name "Akiba" which is a derivation of the name Yaakov (Jacob): It is my experience that the common pronunciation of the name, at least in the USA of "Ayin Qoph Yodh Beth Aleph" is pronounced Akiba. Some Hebrew speaking communities say Akiva. The actual word is vowelized to read: A(gutteral)Kee(gutteral) Boh. Yet we say: A'Kee-ba. I choose to use the spelling: Akiba. Donaldson in his Rubinstein work, quoted here, uses the spelling Akiva.  The interesting point about the Hebrew alphabet and written language: there are no actual letters which serve as vowels, like in English (A, E, I, O, U).  So the Beth (second letter of Akiba's name can be pronounced either as a B or a V sound according to the custom of the linguistic region in which the name is pronounced.]

Akiba Rubinstein engaged in simultaneous exhibition in Palestine, May 1931.
This was AR's second visit. He had already visited the Holy Land in April, 1931, also giving simuls
at various locations.

Finally, a Rubinstein Family (son vs father) Master Chess Game:
Solomon ("Sammy") Rubinstein v Akiba Rubinstein
Brussels [Training Game] 1948 D06

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c5 3.cxd5 Nf6 4.e4 Nxe4 5.dxc5 Nxc5 6.Nc3 e5 7.Nf3 Bd6 8.Be2 O-O 9.O-O Bf5 10.Be3 Nbd7 11.Nb5 Qe7 12.Nh4 Bg6 13.Nxg6 hxg6 14.Rc1 a6 15.Nxd6 Qxd6 16.Qc2 Rac8 17.b4 Ne6 18.Qxc8 Rxc8 19.Rxc8+ Nef8 20.Rfc1 Qxb4 21.Rd8 Qb2 22.Bf1 Qxa2 23.Bc5 Nxc5 24.Rxc5 g5 25.d6 Qd2 26.Rxf8+ Kh7 27.Rd8 f6 28.d7 e4 29.Rh8+ Kxh8 30.Rc8+ Kh7 31.d8=Q Qe1 32.Qg8+ Kg6 33.Rc7 e3 34.Qf7+ Kf5 35.Rc5+ Kg4 36.h3+ Kf4 37.g3+ 1-0

It is to be noted that Sammy Rubinstein 

became Champion of Brussels in 1949.

One last note for the aficianados of the issue of inheritance of "cognitive" traits as suggested by chess prowess. On Page 25 of Donaldson's book, 2011, Anna Rubinstein, Jonas's wife wrote that Akiba Rubinstein might be proud of his grandchildren from his eldest son: daughter Daniele, b. 1956 who is an MD psychotherapist and medical journalist and Michel, b. 1957 who is a specialist in nuclear medicine. 

Akiba Rubinstein: Swan Song

Rubinstein - Bogoljubov, Prague (ol) 1931 D10

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be2 Be7
8.O-O O-O 9.Ne5 dxc4 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Bxc4 Qxd1
13.Rxd1 Nd5 14.Kf2 a5 15.Kf3 Bb7 16.Bd2 Nb6 17.Be2 Be7 18.e4
c5 19.Kf2 Rfb8 20.Be3 a4 21.Rac1 Bc6 22.Rc2 g6 23.Bb5 Bb7
24.a3 Ra5 25.Be2 Bc6 26.Rdc1 Nd7 27.e5 Nb6 28.Nd1 Be4 29.Rd2
Bd5 30.g3 Bb3 31.Nc3 Kg7 32.Ne4 Rc8 33.Nd6 Rc6 34.Bb5 Rxb5
35.Nxb5 Nd5 36.Nc3 h5 37.Ne4 Nxe3 38.Kxe3 Rc7 39.Nd6 Kf8
40.Rd3 Rc6 41.Nc4 Rc7 42.h4 Ra7 43.Nb6 Rc7 44.Rd7 Rc6 45.Nc4
Ra6 46.Rb7 Ra8 47.Nb6 Rd8 48.Nd7+ Ke8 49.Nxc5 1-0
Interesting to note are the medal winners and team members of the Prague Olympiad 1931. Gold: USA 48 points (Kashdan, Marshall, Dake, Horowitz and Steiner) Silver: Poland 47 points (Rubinstein, Tartakower, Przepiorka, Makarczyk, Frydman) Bronze: Czechoslovakia 46.5 points (Flohr, Gilig, Rejif, Opochensky, Skailcka) 4th place: Yugoslavia 46 points (Vidmar, Asztalos, Kostic, Pirc, Konig)


 Bogoljubov (left) vs Rubinstein, Moscow 1925 C28
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 d6 7.Nd5
g5 8.Bg3 Nxd5 9.Bxd5 Ne7 10.Bb3 Ng6 11.Ne2 Qf6 12.d4 exd4  (time of photo) 13.Qd3 h5 14.h3 h4 15.Bh2 Ne5 16.Bxe5 dxe5 17.Qb5+ Qc6
18.Qxc6+ bxc6 19.Ba4 Bd7 20.Nc1 f6 21.Nd3 Bb6 22.c4 dxc3
23.bxc3 c5 24.Bxd7+ Kxd7 25.Nb2 Kc6 26.a4 c4 27.Nxc4 Rhd8
28.Ke2 Rd7 29.Rhd1 Rad8 30.Rxd7 Rxd7 31.Rb1 a6 32.Rb4 Rd8
33.Rb3 Rd7 34.Rb4 Rd8 35.Rb1 Rd7 36.Rb2 Rd8 37.Rb4 Rd7 38.Rb3
Rd8 1/2-1/2

IM ESSERMAN SHINES IN BCC GRAND PRIX

IM Marc Esserman notched 4 points to go perfect,

capturing clear 1st place, in the Open Section,  

of the BCC January Grand Prix

IM Esserman writes down his move vs expert Jesse Nicholas in Round 2.

NM Andrew Wang (left) seen here facing off with Black vs Philip Nutzman 

in Round 2, scored 3 points and came in 2-4th in the Open Section. From this event, Wang's rating went over the 2300 mark to 2302.  Bravo Andrew!

Expert Emanuel Mevs (left) playing Black against NM Eric Godin,

scored 3 points good for 2-4th place in the Open Section.

Mateos Gourken Sahakian, (right) on the move with the white pieces,

vs. Mark Fins, also scored 3 points coming in 2-4th in the Open Section.

Veteran player expert Arthur Nugent seen here playing in Round 2 in the Open Section.

View of Open Section: Ross Eldridge v Luke Lung (foreground);

Mike Griffin v Nithin Kavi (background).

Matthew Duncan Manzo scored 3 points to come in clear first in the U1800 Section.

Eric Feng (right) plays White v Robert Holgren. Feng scored 2.5 points 

good for clear 2nd in U1800 Section.

Brandon Wu considers his move in Round 2.  Wu scored 2 points, 

good for clear 3rd in U1800 Section.

Rising Star, Mateos Sahakian: +37 rating points.

A day of many hard-fought battles and 

good strategic chess.

There were 26 participants in this event.

Going Over the Tactical Cliff at the Boston Chess Congress

All chess non-politics is tactical.
- Chess Tip O'Neill

It's been almost 14 years since I last played in a Continental Chess Association event, and it was a pleasure to return for the recent Boston Chess Congress at the Hyatt Harborside. Okay, losing my first three games was not so great, but each of those games had points of interest for me. Not having played a game since May 2012 may have contributed to my frequently incomplete move evaluations which repeatedly sent me over the tactical cliff. Still, I was happy that during some games I noticed some tactical ideas quickly, even if my execution of them left something to be desired.

Rated 1806, I entered the 3-day schedule of the 1600-1899 Booster section. That section turned out to be the largest, with 33 players.

Enjoying the games is always my primary goal, but the large prizes of this tournament caused a 1900-rated inner voice in me (last heard from in 1991) to cry out that he is still here, trying to get out and excel in the section. However, in the end, the 1700 player in me rather effortlessly muffled that 1900 voice....

Friday night I had Black against Syed Al-Mamun in round 1. At the following point I felt my position was going somewhat downhill:

I considered taking perpetual check with 18...Bxh3 19 gxh3 Qg3+ 20 Kh1 Qh3+. If White interposed his queen against either check (which at the time I imagined might be viable, but didn't examine closely), I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to make anything out of my extra pawn after playing ...Qxe3 -- I had failed to update my mental image of where White's queen would be, so I thought it was both on g2 or h2 having blocked my queen check, and was also simultaneously back on d2 protecting the d3 pawn. Only looking at that variation now do I see that I was hallucinating, and that I would have been up two pawns (Calculating apparatus operating normally? CHECK!), from which I'm rather more confident I would have been able to make something. However, Syed would presumably not have gone down such a line, despite his having told me later that, during the game, he strongly wished to avoid a draw.

Then I abruptly noticed 19 Bf2 and, dismayed that I had overlooked an obvious refutation, hastily and mistakenly concluded that 18...Bxh3 doesn't work. If I had bothered to look, oh, one more move, I would have seen that my queen and bishop are both fine after 19...Qg4. tChess Pro revealed that insight after I'd returned home that night; Syed later related that he'd similarly found it with a computer, though he hadn't seen 18...Bxh3 during the game.

We continued to the following position after 24 exf5:

24...Rxf5?

This move should be good enough. What could possibly go wrong?
- Yours Truly, and Unfortunately Frequently

Correct is 24...Bxf5, when after 25 Qh4 Bxd3 26 Rxf8+ Rxf8 27 Bxh6 Rh6 Black has material equality although he is facing two passed pawns. After 25 Qh4, I continued my accelerating slide over the tactical cliff.

Later in the weekend, Syed commented that on the 24th move I had had enough clock time (around 27 minutes, per my scoresheet) to have instead chosen the bishop capture. I had indeed looked at both captures, but was vaguely concerned that after 24...Bxf5 I would have trouble with White's pressure down the f-file, and I didn't even notice the 25 Qh4 file reply to either capture. Not having appreciated the significant differences between the two captures, I was unduly concerned about making a move quickly to avoid getting into a situation where I'd have less than a minute for each move remaining to the time control.

So I barreled out of the gate with a loss. With my strong dislike of fast time controls, I never seriously considered the $50 re-entry option to play a replacement game 1, plus game 2, at G/75, d5, instead of 40/2, SD/1, d5. I was chatting with someone who joked that if you did use the re-entry option and had a really bad tournament, you could lose 6 games in what was ostensibly a 5 round tournament. No thank you....


In round 2 on Saturday, I had White against Tom Medrek. Despite having an edge right out of the opening, I eventually played too casually, overlooking a tactic (which I had seen earlier but subsequently forgotten) and was forced to give back the extra pawn I'd won way back on move 7. In the following position after 30...Rd4, I was feeling pressed for time on the clock:

I hallucinated that 31 Rxd4+ cxd4 would give Black two connected passed pawns, which I was not about to allow, and I instead chose:

31 Rc2?? Rd1+ 32 Kh2 Bd3 after which I was forced to give up my b-pawn, and was clearly losing. I persisted a bit longer, eventually capping things off with the stupendous:

35 Ra6+?? Bxa6 What the? Who put that bishop there?
0-1

We had inadvertently started that game with the board set up with the letters and numbers upside down. Tom discovered the mistake after a few moves, and we agreed to fix it before proceeding (although when we pushed all the pieces off, our neighbors may have thought there had been a very fast resignation). I (and perhaps Tom as well) sometimes look to those letters and numbers for confirmation when recording moves. However, during the post-mortem I noticed that I had recorded 23 Rad1, but I was pretty sure I had actually played that rook to e1 with 23 Rbe1. Tom agreed that that's what happened, but apparently he too (!) had recorded my move as 23 Rad1. An odd double hallucination-recording of both starting and ending files; the Mon Roi may be the only cure for habitual offenders like me.


In round 3, I had Black against Ed Chornoboy. This was the crown jewel of the three losses, since it answered an opening question that has been gnawing at me for some time.

In earlier games at our club against Kyle Clayton and Dan Schmidt, I'd come to the following position as Black after 6...Ng4:

Kyle played 7 Rf1? and after 7...Nxh2 I eventually won.

Dan played 7 Qe2 and after 7...Bf2+ 8 Kd1? I was the first to achieve a clearly better or won position, but missed a tactic and in the end we agreed a draw (although that is only half of that game's story).

When Ed played into this line as well, I quite enthusiastically gave 6...Ng4 another go.

Ed replied:

7 Ng5

which seems like it may be the best response.

7...Bf2+? Odd, I don't even know why I played this move without provocation. I could have just castled. 7...O-O 8 Rf1 exf4 9 Bxf4 Nce5 10 Bd5 Ne3 is a slight advantage for Black (-0.57) according to tChess Pro. 8 f5 seems better, although after that, tChess Pro gives 8...Bf2+ 9 Kf1 Ne3+ 10 Bxe3 Bxe3 11 h4 h6 12 Qh5 Bxg5 13 hxg5 Qxg5 14 Qxg5 hxg5 (+0.06), when it seems White has a good position and can easily win the c-pawn to restore material equality, so I don't think Black can be very happy with his position.

8 Kf1 O-O 9 f5 Shutting down Black's light-square bishop, and opening up the diagonal for White's dark-square bishop.

9...Ne3+ 10 Bxe3 Bxe3 11 h4

 I knowingly played into:

11...Bxg5 (11...g6 would seem to have been more circumspect; tChess Pro gives 12 Nd5 Bc5 13 Ke1 Na5 14 b4 Nxc4 15 bxc5 (-0.39)) 12 hxg5 Qxg5 13 Rh5 Qf4+ 14 Kg1

I had figured that I "merely" had to keep control of f6 with my queen, after which I could play ...g6 to chase White's rook away and liquidate his f5 pawn. Only after reaching this position did I notice that I would first have to break White's bishop's pin on the f-pawn, so I played the unbelievably bad:

14...Na5??

Only after making that move did I notice that 15 Nd5 would attack my queen on f4 and also my unprotected c-pawn. Now I spent a brief time telling myself that I should have played 14...Qe3+ (15 Kh1) first, but I would still have had problems with my queen (and with other things).

15 Nd5 Qg3 16 Ne7+

I thought, hey, he didn't take my c-pawn, I'm getting off easy!

16...Kh8 17 Rxh7+ Oops, not that easy.
1-0

Dave Harris, who was selling chess books and equipment at the tournament, suggested we may have duplicated some Steinitz game. Well, now I think I know why 6...Ng4 isn't in the theory books!


Sunday I had the dubious pleasure of finding that I was prominently listed three times as the higher rated victim on the Upset List for my section, including being the "most-disgraced", since Ed was rated 240 points below me. Syed, my first round opponent, made some comment to me in passing, expressing some concern about my rating point loss. I replied with a smile that I had nothing to worry about -- I've got a 1700 floor! I don't think he quite understood my humor. Perhaps after he spends a decade or so stuck in a limited rating range he will understand where I'm coming from....

I finally redeemed myself a tad in rounds 4 and 5 with wins, but not without some suffering. Having misremembered some opening analysis, I had been worse as White for much of my game 5 against Cornel Osadsa, and in the following position jettisoned my d-pawn to free my long-suffering dark-square bishop:

21 d5 Bxd5 22 Rhd1 Rad8 23 Qc2

23...Qc7? During the game, I mistakenly thought this lost major material, and I quickly played:

24 Bxf6

24...Rxf6?? The real blunder, but I never even considered the absolutely necessary 24...gxf6 which tChess Pro pointed out, further giving 25 Rxd5 Rxd5 26 Bxd5 Qb6+ 27 Kg2 cxd5 28 Kh3 d4 29 Rd1 Re8 30 Qxf5 Qd6 (-0.15).

25 Rxd5

And White is winning. Fortunately for me, 25...Qb6+ fails to 26 Rc5 (26...Rd2+ 27 Qxd2 Qxc5+ 28 Qe3 and Black is still down a piece for a pawn), since...uh, I hadn't thought to examine it.

25...Rxd5 26 Bxd5 Qb6+ 27 Kg2 Rd6

28 Bb3 Controlling d1 and shielding the b-pawn against Black's queen.

28...Rf6 29 Re1

29...Rf8?? Succumbing to the optical illusion that this move adequately protects the back rank.

30 Qxf5 Cornel is not the only opponent from whom I've "stolen" material twice within the span of several moves, both "thefts" occurring in broad daylight because back rank mate prevents recapture. The first shocking capture can apparently throw one's senses for quite a loop.

Eventually we reached this position after 38...Kf6

It is important to find the shortest or simplest route to victory.
- Judit Polgar

39 Re8 Snuffing out the last whimper of any counterplay, forcing the rook exchange.


The hotel generously provided free coffee and tea, and also made convenient, affordable food options available both days, from which I had a wonderfully tasty vegetarian lunch on Sunday (maybe that helped me win my last game?). They also regulated the temperature in the playing hall perfectly, in my opinion. Usually I have to wear my coat's inner layer (or more!) at hotel tournaments, but I could actually dress normally during my games this time. The Boston Chess Congress is now in recess, but I hope it returns for another session at the Hyatt Harborside!

BCC HOSTS WEEKEND OF GP CHESS: SAT & SUN

Your chair (right) awaits you. Come and play!

Two stunning chess events will be held at the BCC this weekend, for very reasonable entry fees. First, the Grand Prix, 4SS 60/SD (+ 5" delay) open to all, will take place on Saturday, January 26th. Registration will begin at 9:30 am. First round at 10:00 am. [Check BCC Home Page "Calendar of BCC Events" for details.] 

Then on Sunday, January 27th, there will be a very special event for the kids: The BCC Scholastic Grand Prix. 4SS, G/30, USCF rated. Sections: Age 8 and under; 11 and under; and 14 and under. Registration will be at 10:00 am and Round 1 will start at 10:30 am. See BCC Home Page "Calendar of BCC Events" for details.

Girls are encouraged to play in all BCC events!

So, mark your calendar for a weekend 

of fun and adventure in chess.

Boylston Chess Club, centrally located in Davis Square, Somerville, on the Red Line.

Scholastic Grand Prix

Sunday, January 27

Sunday, January 27: Scholastic Grand Prix 

4SS. G/30
USCF Rated;
Sections: 8 and under, 11 and under, 14 and under.
Registration: 10:00-10:20 AM Rounds: 10:30 –12:00 – 1:00 and 2:00 PM.
Entry fee: $10 to BCC Members, $15 for non- Members.
Prizes: Trophies for 1st- 2nd in each age group. Medals for: 3rd - 4th in each age group. And the very popular chess pencils to all!
Requirements: USCF membership required.
All USCF rules of play will be in effect: time controls; touch move, score keeping, good sportsmanship, etc.
Grand Prix: Points in Grand Prix tournaments will accumulate towards winning prizes in each age group at the end of January.

IM ESSERMAN CAPTURES 1ST AT LEGENDS LARSEN

IM Marc Esserman fought his way to clear first with 3.5 points in the BCC "Legends of Chess" honoring the world renowned attacking player, GM Bent Larsen.

IM Esserman vs Levon Aronian look-a-like Oliver Traldi, Round 3.

Traldi scored 2.5 points and finished the event 6-8th.

Harvard Chess Club President Tony Blum plays black vs FM Chris Chase.

Blum and Chase each scored 3 points for 2nd-5th place.

Face off between the presidents:

Tony Blum (Harvard CC) vs Nathan Smolensky (BCC President)

NM Eric Godin (center) looks intensely on . . . 

Godin scored 3 points and finished 2nd-5th.

Philip Nutzman, who scored 3 points and finished 2-5th,

 prepares his opening thoughts.

Jason Tang plays Luke Lung in Round 2.

Both players scored 2.5 points and finished 6-8th.

Adrian Johnston vs Jerry Williams (background).

Traldi captures Esserman's knight in early action from their Round 3 game.

Legends of Chess (Larsen) Round 3 players. . . 

There were 21 participants in this event.