Wednesday, April 30, 2014

BCC PRESENTS A SHOT FROM THE PAST: ST JOHN / NEW BRUNSWICK / CANADA // 1988 // WORLD BLITZ CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP // FINAL GAME AND COMPUTER ANALYSIS // VAGANIAN VS TAL //

DEVELOPING A FORMAT 
FOR PRESENTING
CHESS GAME ANALYSIS
by Steve Stepak
THE SETTING:
St. John, New Brunswick, "World Chess Festival",
World Blitz Chess Championship, 1988.
Raphael Vaganian(2670) vs Mikhail Tal(2705), Round 5
[Penultimate Round]
(Tal easily drew Round 6 and won the title
ahead of Kasparov, Karpov and Vaganian.
He claimed the prize too: $37,500!)
Sky-view of the opening position.
Vaganian is slightly better, here.
Tal casts his spell.
Vaganian immerses himself in Tal's king position.
Tal silently provokes Vaganian's kingside assault.
Maestro Tal calmly considers his options.
Vaganian noticing Tal's a-pawn (in disbelief!) . . .
Note: Man behind Vaganian writing down the moves on a pad.
Critical Moment!
After thorough consideration of the position, Vaganian realizes
that he cannot stop Tal's a-pawn from queening. So he 
offered his hand in resignation.
Maestro
                                                                                                              Photo: Steve Stepak
Grandmaster Mikhail Tal, World Blitz Chess Champion, 1988,
at the Boylston Chess Club, Boston for 30 Board Simul.
(Boston is Tal's first US city visited in his entire life!)

Monday, April 28, 2014

BCC APRIL GRAND PRIX // YOUTH SHINES // NEW AND OLD FACES // 19 PLAYERS // STANDINGS TIGHTEN //

BOYLSTON CHESS CLUB
APRIL GRAND PRIX 
IN 2 SECTIONS
OPEN
ON THE ROAD TO CHESS MASTERY
Andrew Hoy 3 points for 1-2nd place.
Andrew was 3 for 3 and withdrew the event
in the last round! His rating was +35 to 2120.
Matthew Manzo vs Arthur Tang, Round 1.
Arthur scored 3 out of 4 and shared 1-2nd place.
He was +4 to 2050 rating.
Michael Mahoney vs NM Hal Terrie.
Michael put up a good fight but lost in the end.
Hal went on to score 2.5 out of 4 for clear 3rd place.
Poised beyond his years . . . 
Natasha Christiansen white vs Derek Jin, Round 2.
Derek held his ground for the full point.
(backgound): Mark Neale
Prodigy marches onward and upward
7 year old Derek Jin scored 2 points in the Open Section
for clear 4th place. His rating was +34 to 1481
tops in his age category in Massachusetts.
Under the gaze of the Masters
Arthur Tang vs Ross Eldridge, Round 2.
U1800 SECTION
Daniel Zhou v Richard Alan Chen, Round 1.
Richard won this game and shared 1-3rd with
Daniel's brother David Tianyi Zhou and Alex Brown.
Daniel was 2 for 4 on the day with a +99 to 1052 rating.
YOUTH FACE OFF
David Tianyi Zhou vs Jesse Enoch Liu, Round 1.
David scored 3 points to share 1-3rd place.
Jesse is a new face at the BCC, a junior veteran who
plays regularly out of Waltham, MA with 133 games
under his belt and a 50 percent + win/loss/draw average.
David Zhou has played 106 games 51wins; 13 draws;  42 loses,
for a 54.2 percent average.
REMATCH!
Sammi Pan plays Alex Brown: a see-saw battle, with
Sammi having the win in her view at one point, could not
close the deal and Alex went on to find the checkmate for
the full point. Alex, the lowest rated player in the field, received
a full-point bye in Round 1 and went on to score a respectable 2 out of 3
to collect the 3 points and a share of 1-3rd. With this result,
Alex earned a +117 to 1035 rating and a 3 point total 
in the  BCC GP U1200 standing. Bravo, Alex!
Keeping pace in the GP standings:
                                                                                                      Photo: Bernardo Iglesias
Phu Si Vo plays Steve Stepak in Round 2.
Vo won this D94 Gruenfeld but lost to Richard Chen.
So Phu and Steve share 4-5th place with 2.5 points each.
Critical Game
 
Richard Alan Chen defends vs Alex Brown, Round 3.
Richard won this game and was 3 for 3 at this point. He
chose to withdraw from the event and did not play Round 4.
(background): David Tianyi Zhou vs Ed Chiu.
Jesse Enoch Liu plays white vs Tony DiNosse, Round 3.
UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYE OF HARRY LYMAN
BCC GRAND PRIX, ROUND 1.
(left to right): Matt Manzo v Arthur Tang;
Andrew Hoy v Mark Neale; 
Michael Mahoney v NM Hal Terrie.
Grand Prix Category Leaders through April
NM Hal Terrie 1st U2400: 4 
Nithin Kavi 1st U2200 7;
Andrew Hoy, Arthur Tang 2-3rd 3
Aashish Welling 1st U2000: 7
Steve Stepak 1st U1800: 10
Phu Si Vo 2nd, 9.5
Julian Morris 1st U1600: 4
Richard Alan Chen 1st U1400: 5
David Zhu Sun 2nd, 4.5
David Zhou 3rd, 4
Ed Chiu 4th, 3.5
Daniel Zhou 1st U1200: 5.5
Tom Shneer 2nd, 5
Boshen Li, Dongping Zhou, Alex Brown,
3-5th, 3
Bernardo Iglesias was
the tournament director 
for this event.
PHOTOS BY STEVE STEPAK
except the one of Vo-Stepak, Round 2,
which was taken by Bernardo Iglesias!
GASHIMOV MEMORIAL 2014 UPDATE
CARLSEN REGAINS THE LEAD!
(adds new meaning to "warming up")
ps: Carlsen goes 4/5 in second
half of event to win 1st place:

Saturday, April 26, 2014

New England Chess Photo Archive Albums 2000 - 2014


I put up on the web about 1,300+ photos of mine covering New England Chess players and events over the 2000 - 2014 period.

The focus is on ...

1) Non-scholastic chess events in New England. I also included the 2003 World Open.

2) Local players - with some exceptions. I tried to include as many different players as possible.

The link below takes you to my Picasa Album site with the 4 separate albums of these photos:


Any help with some missing player names is welcome.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

BCC::GRAND PRIX // APRIL 26 // GAME 60 // 4SS // FRIENDLY // ENJOYABLE // WIDE OPEN RACE //

BCC GRAND PRIX
This Saturday, April 26, 2014
JANUARY THROUGH DECEMBER
A 12 MONTH AFFAIR
[Editor's note: I started in August and missed winning my rating prize by only 1/2 point!]
So, it's surely not too late to join in!
Serious, yet friendly chess environment!
Young and Old play good chess at the BCC Grand Prix
BCC GRAND PRIX
CHESS FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
New hair style // new rating record:
World Chess Champion, Magnus Carlsen
up, up and away, playing in the "Vugar Gashimov Memorial"
in Shamkir, Azerbaijan, won his first two games and has a
"live" rating of 2888! 
BACK DOWN HERE ON THE EARTH
BOYLSTON CHESS CLUB GRAND PRIX 
RATING CATEGORY LEADERS THROUGH MARCH
U2400: NM Hal Terrie, NM Almir Dzhumaev 2;
NM Eric Godin 1.
U2200: Nithin Kavi 7; 
Sebastian Gueler, Luis Baez-Rosario 2.5
U2000: Aashish Welling 7; Jason Tang 6.5; Alex Yu 5
Robert Neale 4.5; Mike Griffin 3.5
U1800: Steve Stepak 7.5;  Phu Vo 7;
Harold Dondis, David Martin 4.5
U1600: Julian Morris 4;
Jacob Gillis, Mark O'Brien 3.5;
Suraj Ramanathan, Michael Yu, Evan Welch 3
U1400: David Sun 4.5;
Mark Buckles 3; Edward Chiu 2.5;
Pooja Welling, Richard Chen, Derek Zhao 2
U1200: Tom Shneer 5; Daniel Zhou 3.5;
Boshen Li, Dongping Zhou 3;
Winston Zhao 2; Aaron Huang 1.5;
Joy Cao, Brian Yin, Alexander Shi Jin, Sammi Pan 1
BCC Grand Prix
See you all this Saturday!

Sunday, April 20, 2014

BCC HOSTS $5 OPEN // ARUN DOMINATES / MARTIN TAKES U1950 / 26 PLAYERS // 2 SECTIONS // UPSETS // ACCOMPLISHMENTS // CHESS AT ITS BEST //

BCC $ 5 OPEN
IN 2 SECTIONS
OPEN
NM Siddharth Arun goes 4 - 0 for 1st place; +13 to 2244 rating,
here playing white vs Brandon Wu in Round 3.
ACCOMPLISHMENT
10 yr old Brandon Wu goes 2-4 to share 4-9th .
Brandon rating is +41 to 1911.
(NOTE: Bobby Fischer's USCF rating was 2186 at 12 yrs old!)
IN THE GROVE
Veteran BCC chess player Arthur Nugent was on stride
and undefeated with 3 points out of 4, 
sharing 2-3rd place with Nithin Kavi, for a +18 to 2018 Rating.
Arthur took points from NM Andrew Liu and Michael Yu
Bravo, Arthur!
Nithin Kavi v Alex Yu (Jason Tang, [center]  2/4, 4-9th), Round 2.
Nithin scored 3/4 points for 2-3rd place in Open Section.
Mateos Sahakian plays Eric Feng in Round 3. 
Mateos and Eric scored 2/4 for a share of 4-9th place.
(background): Nithin Kavi, black v Joe Kelly; 
Conway Xu v Matthew Manzo; Hal Terrie plays Mike Griffin.
Eric Feng was +40 for 1828 rating; Matt was +57 to 1766;
Nithin, +6 to 1977; 
UPSETS
Brandon Wu takes a point from Jesse Nicholas, Round 1.
CONFIDENCE
Brandon Wu loads up for a successful adventure vs 
Mateos Sahakian, Round 2.
NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Matthew Manzo (right) plays white vs Nithin Kavi in Round 1.
Matt took the full point, showing solid chess technique and creativity.
(background): Arthur Nugent vs Mike Griffin: draw!
U1950 SECTION
Brian Yin vs David Martin, Round 3.
David won this game and the section with 3.5/4 points.
Brian took clear 2nd with 2.5/4 points and a +19 to 1318 rating.
3-5th PLACE
Bernie Xu vs David Martin, Round 4.
Bernie was 2/4 and a share of the 3-5th place prize.
DAVID VS DAVID
David Martin v David Zhu Sun, Round 3.
David Sun was 2/4 and shared in the prize with
Bernie Xu and Sammi Pan.
CRITICAL GAME
Sammi Pan defended stalwartly vs a talented Derek Zhubo Zhao
in Round 4. The position was dynamic, and looked to favor
White; yet Sammi put on her thinking cap and came up with
the full point and a share of the 3-5th place prize.
A PROUD FAMILY CELEBRATES!
Camille, beams with pride as she looks at her two talented
daughters, Stella, and Sammi Pan.
(Sammi displays her 2 "free entry" coupons as the prize.)
[Note: black and white photo of Sammi Pan at the chessboard,
displayed above her head, on the cabinet.]
DUAL PERFORMANCE
Brian Yin plays Bernardo Iglesias, event TD, in Round 4.
This game ended in a draw. Bernardo was undefeated with 1.5/2,
as he kept track of his pawn structure as well as the tournament issues!
Bravo, Bernardo for another splendid display of directing.
NEW FACE AT THE BCC
Cesar Hernandez from Venezula. This is Cesar's first
rated chess game. He enjoyed his experience at the
BCC $5 Open and expressed interested in becoming
a regular at the Club!  Welcome, Cesar!

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

BCC QUADS // A QUALITY EVENT // FOR THE SELECT FEW // 14 PLAYERS // JUNIORS SHINE //

BCC QUADS
A TALE IN 3 SECTIONS
QUAD 1
Jason Tang plays NM Almir Dzhumaev, Round 2.
Almir scored 2.5/3 to win Quad 1, and +8 to 2267 rating.
CRITICAL GAME: CLASH OF MASTERS
NM Siddarth Arun writes as NM Almir Dzhumaev makes
his move in this critical Round 3 game.
Almir won this game and the Quad.
CREDIBLE PERFORMANCE
Expert Michael Mahoney impresses with 3 draws in Quad 1
for share of 2-3rd place. Rating +8 to 2083.
QUAD 2
10 year old Brandon Wu poised playing white vs veteran 
Tim O'Malley in Round 2. Brandon was 2.5/3 to clinch 1st place,
and a +21 to 1870 rating (Bobby Fischer did not have this
kind of rating at the age of 10!)
Tom Medrek vs Nicholas Lesieur, Round 2.
Nick scored 2/3 for clear 2nd place and a +15 to 1814 rating.
3SS (small swiss)
Soren Sandmann Pedersen from Denmark
was the only player in the tournament to win
all three games, taking clear 1st place in the 3SS
and a +135 to rating (provisional) 1619!
Bravo, Soren!
Phu Si Vo plays white vs Suraj Ramanathan: draw!
9 year old Suraj scored 2.5/3 for clear 2nd place 
and a +4 to 1693 rating. (Note: this is a swiss paring,
and Pedersen and Ramanathan did not play each other,
this time!)
3SS ACTION: ROUND 3
Sammi Pan plays Boshen Li. Sammi is getting so very 
close to chess mastery. As postmortem analysis of Sammi's
3 games confirmed, she had forced wins in 2 of them,
thus emphasizing the need for perseverance in a chess career.
(background): Phu Si Vo, black vs Soren Pedersen.
Bernardo Iglesias, TD
PHOTOS BY STEVE STEPAK
Remember, Chess Fans,
BCC $5 OPEN THIS COMING SATURDAY
APRIL 19, 2014
Get your entry fee paid by the deadline
to receive a discount!