Thursday, May 29, 2014

BCC REGULARS EXCEL // THROUGHOUT // AT "MASS OPEN" (MASSACHUSETTS STATE CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP) 2014

KUDOS TO:
THE 2014 MASSACHUSETTS STATE 
CHESS CHAMPION: OPEN SECTION
NM MIKA BRATTAIN
NM Mika Brattain, the current BCC Blitz 
Chess Champion, excels with a score of 5/6,
ahead of GM Alexander Ivanov and NM Denys Shmelov.
Congratulations, Mika! Well done!
2-4th PLACE, OPEN SECTION:
FM Chris Chase, former BCC Champion and winner
of many BCC Saturday Swisses! Bravo, Chris!
Chris scored 4.5 points (for a +18 to 2408 rating) sharing 2-4th 
with GM Alexander Ivanov, many-time winner of BCC classical and blitz 
events for the past 3 decades! and Denys Shmelov, former 
BCC Blitz Chess Champion.
5-7th PLACE, OPEN SECTION
[MACA breakdown: top U2300: 1-2nd,
Chris Williams, Arthur Tang.]
NM Chris Williams, 3.5 points sharing with
IM Igor Foygel and Arthur Tang.
Arthur Tang 3.5 points, +53 to 2054 rating.
[TOP U1950]
Natasha Christiansen, along with Robert Campbell, 
Jose Feliu Camacho, and James Zhou, 3.5 points.
Bravo to all these talented chess players!
SPECIAL NOTE:
Carissa Yip is on track to become the
youngest female USCF master. Her birthday
is coming up soon. Her rating stands now at: 2158.
The entire BCC family of chess players wishes her good 
chess and good luck in her quest to reach this milestone!
Brava Carissa!
U2100 SECTION 1-5th PLACE
Luis Baez-Rosario scored 4.5 points out of 6 to share 1-4th place
in the U2100 Section, with John Vaughan, Brett Kildahl, 
Peter Korzeb, and Aashish Welling. Luis was +17 to 2104 rating!
Aashish Welling, 4.5 points, for 1-5th place, 
+48 to 1993 rating! Bravo, Aashish!
U1800 SECTION: 1-4th
[MACA breakdown: 1st U1800: Robert Stewart;
1-3rd top U1650: Buckles, Shur, Estremera.]
Mark Buckles, 5/6 points to share 1-4th place
with Robert Stewart, Sandra Shur and Chris Estremera.
Mark achieved a +110 rating to 1763! Bravo Mark!
U1500 SECTION
[Top U1350 Prize]
David Tianyi Zhou scored 4.5/6 points to win the top U1350 prize 
and a share of 2-4th place with Andrew The, and Alon Trogan,
for a +7 to 1399 rating. Bravo David!
[Top U1200 Prize]
Alex Brown, (above) David Sigman and
 Edward Chiu each with 3.5 points.
Bravo David, Alex and Edward!
MACA SCHOLASTIC
K-3 U1200 SECTION
2nd Place:
Evan Wei 3 points. Bravo! Evan.
Sammi Pan, 3-5th with Advait Natti 
and Raymond Xu 2.5 points. Brava Sammi Pan!
MASS OPEN 
BLITZ CHESS CHAMPION
NM ANDREW LIU
NM Andrew Liu went 8 out of 10 to clinch 1st place
and the title in the Mass Open Blitz Chess Championship.
Bravo, Andrew! The other top players in this event were:
2nd place: NM Vadim Martirosov; 7.5/10; Libardo Rueda 7/10
for clear 3rd place; 4-7th place 6.5/10 was shared by:
FM Steve Winer, FM Charles Riordan, NM Farzad Abdi
and Josh Marcus. Top U2200 Libardo Rueda 7 points.
Top U2200 Prize
Libardo Rueda, 7 points.
Bravo, Libardo!
Top U2000 Prize
Nathan Smolensky, won the top U2000 blitz
prize scoring 5.5 points. Nathan was also re-elected 
President of MACA at their Annual Meeting. 
Bravo, Nathan, and congratulations!
and Bravo to all your talented and fast players!
PHOTOS: STEVE STEPAK

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

BCC MAY GRAND PRIX HAS ARRIVED // MAY 31st // GAME 60 // 4SS // STRONG COMPETITION // TALENTED FIELD // FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY //

BCC MAY GRAND PRIX
REGISTER EARLY FOR DISCOUNT
POPULAR
BOYLSTON CHESS CLUB FEATURES THE MOST
TALENTED CHESS KIDS IN THE COMMONWEALTH
THIS EVENT IS OPEN TO ALL: KIDS/ADULTS,
BEGINNERS/MASTERS, THOSE WHO HAVE PLAYED
JAN, FEB, MAR, APR GP's, [some or all, or none!]
It's never too late to play in a BCC GP event.
It's always good practice; always a learning experience.
FEATURING TOP 7 YR OLD IN MA
A FUTURE MASTER
7 Yr old Derek Jin, poised beyond his years!
Come on over to watch this lad play.
Better still, sign up for the GP and play him!
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
See you this Saturday!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

CHESS / MUSIC / MATH // INTERFACE

INTRODUCING THE GREATEST 
CONCERT PIANIST OF ALL TIMES: 
YUJA WANG
Yuja Wang was born in Beijing February 10, 1987. 
She started playing piano at the age of 6. 
[Yuja Wang plays Chopin Waltz in 
C Sharp Minor, Op. 64, No. 2 at the age of 8.]
A student of the Central Consevatory of Music,
China, Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada,
and the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia, with Gary Graffman,
Yuja has matured into a sparkling force on the piano.
{Yuja Wang plays "Flight of the Bumble-Bee, in 2008}
Check out her performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1
played in the Helsinki Music Center with the Finnish Radio Symphony
Orchestra, Hannu Lintu, Conductor:
Yuja Wang recently visited Boston on October 18, 2013,
Jordan Hall, playing Chopin, (a total sell-out crowd) and
at Symphony Hall, on March 27-29, 2014, playing Prokofiev 
Piano Concerto No. 2 with the BSO, Sir Andrew Davis, guest conductor.
FRONT ROW, CENTER!
This intimate photo of Yuja Wang playing in an "Open Rehearsal"
Thursday, March 27, was taken by Hillary Sowa, sitting front-row, center. 
The whole family attended this concert: Mr. Sowa, Hillary and their two sons: 
Aidan and Ryan. The boys are studying piano and enjoy playing, that is
when they are not thinking about chess. These are the same two
lads who regularly attend BCC Saturday tournaments and they are
both headed towards chess mastery. I have noted that there are many
BCC junior chess stars who not only excel in chess but also pursue the
study and enjoyment of the piano and music in general. For as Philidor 
(1726-1795) illustrated so brilliantly, there is a strong interface between chess,
music and mathematics. [Note: Emanuel Lasker, World Chess Champion from 1894 to 
1921 was also a Ph.D in mathematics. Chessmetrics.com rates Emanuel's top performance 
at 2886. Older brother Berthold, who taught Emanuel chess, earned a Ph.D. and was 
Professor of Medicine, in Berlin. Also note that Dr. Berthold Lasker visited the USA in 
1902 when he won the New York State Chess Championship!] 
 Many of the parents of BCC chess juniors are
successful computer programmers and researchers in medical science. 
These occupations require a lot of mathematical talent. And the kids
of these parents demonstrate this talent as they execute combinations
and successfully navigate complex chess endgames in their quest to 
win chess games and master the Royal Game.
FROM THE BALCONY
Another perspective of Yuja Wang in action during the Open Rehearsal.
Photo: Steve Stepak. Yes! I was lucky to have been assigned the best seat
in the balcony for viewing music featuring a piano (left side). [It was Mr. Sowa
who gave me a heads-up about this event, when we met at the 2014 Boston
Chess Congress!] [Note: computer devices: "tablet" and "i-phone" sitting 
on top of the piano. Yuja Wang has all her "sheet music" and notes on her 
repertoire loaded into the tablet.  Wow! This is the 21st Century!]
Though I could not make a recording of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2,
as performed by Yuja Wang with the BSO in Boston, I provide this
youtube below, recorded at an earlier date, so the reader can get the full
impact of her genius.  Yuja Wang is indeed the Magnus Carlsen of the piano!
Now, check out this interview/chat with
Gustavo Dudamel, Conductor of the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra
and Yuja Wang. The SBSO Group made a "live" recording of Yuja giving
a concert where she played not only Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2,
considered one of the most difficult concerti ever written, but if that
were not enough to wow her audience, many of whom were kids, as we
see in the intro to this video, she performed Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2,
not only difficult but absolutely heavenly to listen to. Yuja plays with
passion and precision, a rare combination in the performing arts world.
Take a listen: 
and the complete Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2
Listening to Yuja Wang perform is like playing over games
of the former world chess champion Jose Raul Capablanca!

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

BCC GAME 80: FEATURED GAME // LUIS BAEZ ROSARIO vs FM CHRIS CHASE // R=3 // MAY 17, 2014 //

BCC GAME 80: FEATURED GAME
Luis Baez-Rozario (2087) vs FM Chris Chase (2390)
THE BATTLE FIELD: BO6 MODERN DEFENSE
Baez-Rosario vs FM Chase
A chess game is an event of significant movement over time and space.
It is a choreography, a grand ballet of measured effort, directed
vectors of force controlling key squares on a grid of 8 x 8 squares.
The "perfect" chess game will always end in a draw. Yet for many
reasons, the player of the White or the Black pieces, upsets the
balance of equality to psychologically test the opponent: how to respond?
Chess is not only the display of accurate movement of pieces but also
an opportunity to "speak" to the opponent words of threat, wit, scorn, daring,
deception. [The great BCC impresario Harry Lyman used to say: Chess is an argument
between two players who each assert their point of view in a prevailing struggle of wit
and whim, debating the value of their chosen moves toward victory or equality.] And on
top of this absolute appraisal of what a particular chess game is, there remains the issue
of time: the duration of the game. In reviewing the featured game, keep in mind that the
time control is G80:  80 minutes for each player (80 + 80 = 160 minutes total) and this
game is played in Round 3, so we have 160 x 2 = 320 minutes possible already expended
 in serious cogitation before the Round 3 game even began.  By this time,
the mind is active, yet fatigued, in a delicate state, where one is prone to rush one's
moves or act impetuously, or shyly, or overlook something otherwise obvious.
(Remember the epic struggle between Akiba Rubinstein vs Alexander Alekhine,
Karlsbad, 1911, Round 23 {D15} which went 76 moves, testing the endurance
of both players. Wow! What a brain scorcher!) As you review the game below,
keep in mind that, objectively, White had maintained equality through move 20!
This is against a player rated over 300 points higher than himself--no small
accomplishment in itself. I offer a rather long continuation to equality on Move 10.
[10. exf6 Bxf6 11.dxc5] only to demonstrate an artful and efficacious movement
of pieces, as afforded by the opening sequence in an effort to maintain the creative
balance in the game. Indeed, the purpose of this exposé on the game is to have it serve as
a learning experience for all chess players as they try to improve their own play on the
road to master chess. As you observe the moves below, think of what you might have
done, move after move, confronted with similar chess opportunities and time constraint.
Of course, the final point that you might be keeping in the back of your
mind is: what if White had found 21.Ba6 etc. through 23. . . . Nf6 = (?)
We still have to ask, as the clock ticked down to "time pressure"
what would have been the outcome of the game? Would White have cracked
under the psychological pressure of fatigue and blundered? Would Black have?
Would there have been a draw proposed and agreed to, before the blunder was made?
Well, at this point, we will never know the answer, regarding this
game.  Let us hope that these two players will meet again to test their
chess prowess in yet another struggle of wit and courage in the Royal Game.

Monday, May 19, 2014

BCC PREMIER EVENT:: PARAMOUNT COMPLETED // NM ERIC GODIN WINS OPEN / IGLESIAS / CORTIZAS SHARE U1800 HONORS // 12 PLAYER FIELD

BOYLSTON CHESS CLUB
PARAMOUNT (10 rounds): 
IN 2 SECTIONS
OPEN
NM Eric Godin 8.5/10 for clear 1st place.
Ted Cross vs Walter Driscoll, Round 2.
Ted scored 7.5/10 for clear 2nd place in Open Section.
Jonathan Lee (right) takes the full point from Terrence Fricker
to score 6/10 for clear 3rd place in the Open Section.
Tim O'Malley tries his luck with the white pieces vs
NM Eric Godin but Eric prevailed for the full point.
U1800 SECTION
EVENT TD TIES FOR 1ST!
Bernardo Iglesias, TD was in good form, scoring 6.5/10 to share 
1st place with Tony Cortizas. Here Bernardo is playing Tom Medrek.
Tony Cortizas plays black vs Bob Oresick. Tony scored 
6.5/10 for a share of 1st place with Bernardo Iglesias
and a +19 to 1699 rating.
Mark Buckles plays Ray Behenna for the full point.
Mark scored 6/10 for clear 3rd place,
for a +32 to 1653 rating.
PHOTOS BY STEVE STEPAK
EVENT DIRECTED BY BERNARDO IGLESIAS

BCC GAME 80 REPORT: OPEN: CHASE / U1950: GRIFFIN / PERFECT 3-0 // 22 PLAYERS // COMPETITIVE CHESS // STUNNING ENDGAMES //



BOYLSTON CHESS CLUB GAME 80
OPEN SECTION
FM Chris Chase 3-0 performance: clear 1st place.
+6 to 2390 rating.
STRONG PERFORMANCE WITH WHITE
Andrew Hoy takes on Nithin Kavi in Round 3,
for the full point and clear 2nd place: +9 to 2129 rating.
STAGE 1
Luis Baez-Roserio, black vs Natasha Christiansen, Round 1.
Luis went 2 for 3 and a +10 to 2087 rating.
(background): Nithin Kavi vs Brandon Wu; 
Professor Jerry Williams black, v Jason Tang. Luis shared 3-5th place
with Jason Tang [+12 to 1970] and Aidan Sowa [+14 to 1936].
CRITICAL GAME
With the white pieces: Luis Baez-Rosario faces off with
FM Chris Chase in the 3rd and last round of this event!
But! Chase held strong and prevailed for the full point.
FACES COGITATING FACES
Jason Tang // Brandon Wu // engaging
the chess brain . . . 
U1950 SECTION
SOUL ON FIRE
Bill Stein plays old rival Mike (Misha Tal) Griffin in Round 1.
Mike was perfect 3-0 on the day taking clear 1st place,
for a +65 to 1783 rating.
CRITICAL GAME: UNDERDOG PREVAILS
Top seed Terrence Fricker plays black with Mike Griffin
in Round 1. Terrence could not stop the determined Mike 
from taking the full point, scoring 1.5 points for 4-6th place.
THE DEEP MIND OF A 7 YR OLD IMPRESSES
Derek Jin played 2 rounds of chess:
He drew Round 2 vs Tim O'Malley (1751);
Derek won Round 3 vs Bill Stein (1685);
He scored 2 points sharing 2-3rd place and a
+48 to 1529 rating.
CHESS ANALYSIS: draw agreed
We are looking forward to the day when Derek can take this
game to the next level: proceed to play smart and win!
PERSPECTIVE OF A YOUNG CHILD
Bill Stein vs Derek Jin, Round 3.
An amazing size differential. What does a young boy
think when he looks up at his opponent, twice his size?
DENMARK IN THE MIX vs NEW FACE AT THE BCC
Danish born Soren Sandmann Pedersen plays black vs
new-comer to the BCC Paul Becotte (NH). Welcome Paul!
Soren scored 2 points to share 2-3rd place with Derek Jin.
BATTLE OF THE LAWYERS
Natasha Christiansen, Esq. black, vs Harold Dondis, Esq. Round 2.
Natasha won the day stopping BCC's top 91 yr old, this time.
OPENING SCENE
Tony DiNosse squares off with Mike Griffin, Round 1.
(background): Seth Lieberman vs Tom Shneer.
Jeff Weinstein observes.
ANDOVER MA FAVORITE SON
Tom Shneer played a respectable game vs top seed Terrence Fricker 
in Round 2. Tom, a high school junior, from Andover, MA, 
was 1.5/3 for a +108 to 1368 rating. Bravo Tom!
GOOD SPORTS!
Aashish Welling shakes hands with Harold Dondis, Round 1.
PHOTOS BY STEVE STEPAK
A SPECIAL 'THANK YOU' TO BERNARDO IGLESIAS, TD
WHO ADMINISTERED THIS EVENT WITH
FLAWLESS PERFECTION AND DEEP WISDOM