BCC GAME 80 (FOR THE THOUGHTFUL PLAYER): EVAN MEYER / JOE PERL 1-2ND // DAVID MARTIN / ROBERT ORESICK / RAY BEHENNA / 1-3RD U1800 // 25 PLAY ! //

BOYLSTON CHESS CLUB

CAMBRIDGE MA

GAME 80 IN 2 SECTIONS

OPEN SECTION

SHAKE RATTLE AND ROLL

NM Lawyer times, former BCC Club Champion,

offers his hand to young Evan Meyer, a serious

force emerging on the BCC chess scene.

INTENSE BATTLE::PEACEFUL CONCLUSION

 

Down to the wire, this endgame, observed by Professor Jerry

Williams, was a draw. Bravo, both! Evan scored 2.5/3

to share 1-2nd place with Joe Perl.

[Note: photo upper right: NM Anna Aksharumova former USSR

Women's Champion, and wife of GM Boris Gulko, plays World

Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov in 8 board master clock 

simul, Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 1989. 

Garry won all 8 games: 7 humans and one computer!

(photo: Steve Stepak)]

Joe Perl shakes hands with Brandon Wu in this Round 3 game

which Joe won. Joe scored 2.5/3 to share 1-2nd place with

Evan Meyer. Bravo, Joe!

REMAINING IN THE WINNING MIX

Richard Kahn, black vs David Martin.

David captured 1-3rd place with 2.5/3 points.

DESERVED SUCCESS

Raymond Xu, black vs Bob Oresick. This is Bob's first
top prize of 2015, Bravo, Bob. Keep up the good work!

Ray Behenna scored 2.5/3 to share

1-3rd place in the U1800 section.

Bravo, Ray!

KUDOS

8 yr old Derek Jin drew with Mateos

Sahakian and Professor Jerry Williams

to keep his rating over 1700. Derek

has a high rating point of 1787 and remains

Massachusetts' top 8 yr old and is 11th on the

USCF national ranking list. Bravo, Derek!

SCENES FROM AROUND THE HALL

LITTLE AND BIG

Derek Jin gets a chess lesson from NM Lawyer Times, Round 2.
GETTING INTO 
THE ENDGAME

Richard Kahn, black vs Winston Zhao, Round 3.

Brandon Wu, black vs Mateos Sahakian, 
Round 2. Brandon won this game and was
+4 to 2052 on the day. Bravo, Brandon!
STUDYING CHESS THEORY

Assistant Tournament Director Natasha Christiansen shares
some thoughts on chess theory with Professor Jerry Williams
during the break between Round 2 and Round 3.

Maxwell Zhao, black vs Bharath Heggadahalli in Round 1.
(background): Winston Zhao plays Stephen Savage; 
David Martin plays Richard Kahn; Mateos Sahakian,
black vs Derek Jin; Professor Jerry Williams thinking
vs Jason Tang.

Suraj Ramanathan, black vs Evan Meyer, Round 1.

Maxwell Zhao, black vs Jason Tang, Round 3.

Sebastian Gueler vs Pinyi Hu, Round 1.

Joe Perl defends with black vs Juan Payan, Round 1.

EVENT TD:

BERNARDO IGLESIAS

ASST TD: NATASHA CHRISTIANSEN

PHOTOS: STEVE STEPAK

BCC FRIDAY NIGHT BLITZ: AUGUST 28, 2015 // EVAN MEYER/KOSUN WAIDYARATNE SHARE 1-2ND PLACE // EUGENE SLAVIN 1ST U1800 PRIZE

BOYLSTON CHESS CLUB

CAMBRIDGE, MA

FRIDAY NIGHT BLITZ

NM Kosun Waidyaratne (2281) 8 points 1-2nd place

Evan Meyer (2200)* 8 points 1-2nd place

NM Alejandro Botta (2250)* 6

Eugene Slaven (1750)* 5 1st U1800

Nikita Roldon-Levchenko (1680)* 2.5

Steve Stepak (1740)* .5

WINNERS MEET

Evan Meyer, black vs NM Kosun Waidyaratne. Kosun won both

games in this double RR event. Kosun is a USCF master from

Cleveland Ohio, relocated to Boston for work in the business

sector.  Welcome Kosun!  Evan Meyer is an up and coming

master who would share 1-2nd with Joe Perl in the BCC Saturday 

event Game 80, the next day.  Bravo, both!

NM Alej Botta white vs Nikita Roldon-Levchenko. Nikita

split the result with Alej 1:1, in a stunning blitz rally flagging

Alej with seconds to play. Bravo, Nikita
SOLID PLAY

Eugene Slaven scored 6 points to take
1st U1800 prize. Bravo, Eugene!
TD: STEVE STEPAK

PHOTOS: STEVE STEPAK

BCC PRESENTS: CHARLES DRAFT MEMORIAL // RESULTS // MATEOS SAHAKIAN 1ST OPEN // DAVID MARTIN 1ST U1950 // STELLAR FIELD // 34 PLAY //

BOYLSTON CHESS CLUB

CAMBRIDGE

PREMIER VENUE

CHARLES DRAFT MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

IN 2 SECTIONS: OPEN & U1950

OPEN SECTION

 Mateos Gouren Sahakian 3.5/4: clear 1st place!

Mateos was +81 to 2091 rating! Bravo, Mateos!

CRITICAL GAME

Joe Perl plays white vs Mateos Sahakian in Round 4.

Mateos held even in the opening and won the endgame

struggle. Bravo, Mateos! Joe Perl scored 3/4 for a

+11 to 2114 rating and a share of 2-4th place.

FIGHTING CHESS

Nithin Kavi held tight with black vs Eric Feng in this

Round 4 game to score the full point, share a piece of

2-4th place and a earn a +7 to 2140. Eric was even on the 

day with 2/4.  Stellar performances in a very tough field.

CRITICAL GAME

Alex Yu vs Kevin Zifeng Lu, Round 4.

Alex won a well-calculated effort to score 3 points

and share a piece of 2-4th place. Alex earned a

+52 to 1963 rating. Kevin was even

with 2 wins and 2 loses. Bravo, both!

U1950 SECTION

David Martin, a solid, consistent player, 3 time

BCC Grand Prix winner, clinches yet another

1st place performance at the Charles Draft

Memorial 2015!.  David scored 3 wins [including

one against me, in a totally drawn endgame,

misplayed. I've got a bit of studying to do in

this area!] 

CRITICAL GAME

David Martin, black vs Stephen Savage, Round 4

David won this game to claim clear 1st place.

Bravo, David!

PROPHETIC SHOT

Arthur Emanuel Williams, MIT sophomore, steadly

improves. He scored 2.5 points in this event for a

+17 to 1641 rating performance. Bravo, Arthur! 

[Standing: Mr. Feng, father of Eric Feng. Photo: upper

right: World Chess Champion and World Blitz Chess

Champion GM Mikhail Tal. Photo taken by

Steve Stepak at BCC, Boylston Street, Boston, 1988.]

Arthur is a very serious and quiet person. Keep up the

great work, Arthur. You are an inspiration to all of us!

CRITICAL ROUND 4 GAME

 

Nowell Sheinwald, black vs Arthur Williams.

Nowell won this game, scored 3 points, shared 2-4th

place and was +1 to 1916 rating. Bravo, Nowell!

Jerry Li: 3/4 shares 2-4th place!

Bravo, Jerry!

Thomas Ha recovered from his loss to me

and scored 3 wins in a row to share 2-4th

place and a +196 to 1475 rating.

Bravo, Thomas!

TOURNAMENT ADMINISTRATION

CHIEF TD: WALTER DRISCOLL

AM TD: ANDREW BOYER

PHOTOS: STEVE STEPAK

Walter Driscoll, hard at work managing all the uncertainties,

anomalies, complaints and other unforeseen nightmares that normally

occur in a chess tournament of this size, seems to be happy, 

 nonetheless. Bravo, Walter, for a performance well done!

BOYLSTON CHESS CLUB

FRIDAY NIGHT BLITZ

ELITE 4X4

Alejandro Botta (2250) 12 points: 1st place

Steve Stepak (1740) 6.5 points: 2nd place

Sergio Miranda-Elmaleh (1680) 4.5 points: 1st U1800 prize

Michael Punzak (1350) 1 point

NM Alejandro Botta (2250) 12 points: 1st place

Steve Stepak (1740) 6.5 points for 2nd place.

Sergio Miranda-Elmaleh (1680) 4.5 points: 

1st U1800 prize. Bravo, Sergio !

TD: STEVE STEPAK

PHOTOS: STEVE STEPAK

BCC Summer G/80

 

Summer G/80

Saturday, Aug 29, 2015

 

40 Norris Street Cambridge, MA 02140 (map)

 

3SS. G/80 d10. 

 

Sections: Open & U1800. 

 

Entry fee: $35, $20 for BCF members. 

 

Prizes: $240 based on 20 paid entries: Open $100-$60, U1800 $50-$30. 

 

Rounds: 10:00am, 1:30pm, 4:30pm. 

 

Maximum One (1/2 point) bye. 

Bye for 3rd round must be declared before start of round 1. 

 

Registration: 9:15am - 9:45am.

 

 

 

New Chess Books for Adult Beginners

Dear BCC members,

Please indulge me in a bit of shameless self-promotion.

I recently wrote two chess books for adult beginners, a topic on which I have given free classes at the club for the past 20 years. I published the books a few weeks ago. They are available at the Harvard Book Store, both online and at the brick and mortar store at 1256 Mass. Ave. in Cambridge.

'Chess For Adult Beginners' is 170 pages long, with just under 100 exercises to solve (answers in the back). Covered is specific material I believe every chessplayer in the USCF 800-1200 rating range needs to know in order to improve: visualization, notation, being aware of your opponent's threats, creating your own threats, systematically choosing the best move, tactics, the importance of the center, basic endgame checkmates, and finding your own unique style. I geared the prose towards adults, although high school students should be able to follow it too. 

 'Chess Workbook for Adult Beginners' is 230 pages long, and has 640 exercises, with answers in the back. The workbook covers the same material as 'Chess For Adult Beginners,' and can be read on its own, but has less writing and more problems to solve. The difficulty of the problems range from easy (USCF 800) to moderate (USCF 1000 to 1200) to challenging (USCF 1200-1400, with a few tougher ones thrown in).

Thanks for indulging me. Again, these books are available at the Harvard Book Store (http://www.harvard.com/book/chess_for_adult_beginners/ and  http://www.harvard.com/book/chess_workbook_for_adult_beginners/). Unfortunately, the 'Look Inside' option isn't available online. I'll bring in and leave a copy of each book for the club this weekend, so that members can flip through the pages.

Thanks,
Alex Cherniack

Carissa Yip on the cover of Chess Life

 

Yip, Yip, Hooray!

"... Carissa is the youngest female in history to earn the chess master title."

Read Carissa's story in Chess Life.