Boston Blitz All-Stars

Unlike 2006, the Blitz were well represented in this year's US Chess League All-Star Team selections. Obviously playing well is important, but this year's difference seems to be the fact that most of their games were concentrated among four players.

Board 1: Larry Christiansen - 3rd Team

Board 2: Jorge Sammour-Hasbun - 1st Team

Board 3: Denys Shmelov - 2nd Team

Board 4: Chris Williams - 2nd Team

In addition, Sammour-Hasbun received Rookie of the Year honors.

**********

Due to the Boston Globe's standard chess article publishing delay, Harold Dondis' recap of the USCL finals finally came out today.

Chess Notes
By Harold Dondis and Patrick Wolff
Globe Correspondents

The US Chess League came to a climax in one event-filled evening that lasted until 2:30 in the morning. Dallas Destiny defeated the Boston Blitz in what must be called a most surprising finish. The two teams were matched in the first play-off as follows:

First board (Blitz v. Destiny): Larry Christiansen v. Drasko Boskovic; second board: Jorge Sammour-Hasbun v. Davorin Kuljasevic; third board: Denys Shmelov v. Jacek Stopa; fourth board: Chris Williams v. Bayaraa Zorigt. Christiansen, as Black, drew early when his opponent elected to play a repetition of moves. Sammour-Hasbun came up with a victory and Denys Shmelov drew against Stopa. Williams had the better position against Zorigt, but she gained material during time pressure, and the match was tied.

So the two teams went into the accelerated play-offs. The rules were that these would start with Board 4 and move to the top by elimination. A draw eliminated both players until only one player was left on a team. Boston Blitz seemed impregnable, with ICC champion Sammour-Hasbun and former US champion Christiansen on first board. Williams started off by avenging his defeat by Zorigt, but was eliminated by Stopa, who turned out to be a spoiler in the match. Stopa defeated Shmelov and then drew with Sammour-Hasbun, thus striking three Blitz players off the list. Christiansen was left alone to face Dallas' first two boards. Christiansen drew with Kuljasevic and then defeated him. He then moved on to Boskovic, but erred in the end game and Boskovic won. Thus did Dallas end Boston's long list of victories and became US Chess League champion. A remarkable win....

What's in a name? - Redux

Harold got it wrong, but in a rather amusing way...

The topic of last Saturday's Chess Notes column in the Boston Globe was GM Alex Stripunsky. Columnist Harold Dondis wrote that Alex...

"...will lead the New York Queens, one of two new teams in the US Chess League this year."

The New York Queens? Sounds like a transvestite cabaret group playing the Manhattan club scene. Then again, it probably makes more sense than Pioneers.

Related Post: What's in a name?

Mishkin crushes Tenn. High School Champ

The topic of last Saturday's Chess Notes column in The Boston Globe was this win by BCF member Paul Mishkin at the club. I am posting the full article since the editors at The Globe have yet to see fit to post the chess articles on the web. Hopefully none of the newspaper's lawyers read this blog:)

The Boston Globe, Saturday April 28, 2007

Chess Notes
By Harold Dondis and Patrick Wolff
Globe Correspondents

The Albin counter-gambit, which gives up a pawn for space in the center, is generally thought to be unsound, but Black has many tricks and traps to give him an advantage. In this game, Paul Mishkin v. Matan Prilleltensky, played at the Boylston Chess Club, Black instead falls into an opening trap set by White.

It is common in playing against a fianchetto setup to eliminate the strong fianchettoed bishop which sweeps the long diagonal. Here, however, the maneuver backfires, as on the ninth move Mishkin, White, uncorks a pawn offer that cannot be turned down. Black has three ways to take the pawn, all bad. After choosing one, Black's king position is decimated, and there is a slim chance only that he can survive. But Mishkin gets his pawn back and breaks down Black's king cover. Prilleltensky is a rated expert and the 2005 Tennessee High School Champion. Mishkin is a regular at the Boylston Club.

After 2...e5?! - The Albin counter-gambit is not a good opening. Although it is tricky, if White reacts correctly he obtains a very big advantage.

After 8.Qb3! - Notice that White indirectly protects the e-pawn since 8...Bxf3 9.Bxf3 Nxe5 is impossible with the queen hitting b7.

After 8...Bh3? - This is a famous trap. Better is 8...Nge7.

After 9.e6! Bxe6 - Forced, since 9...fxe6 10.Bxh3 and 9...Qxe6 10.Ng5 both lose material.

After 10.Ne5! Qd6 - Forced: of course 10...Nxe5?? 11.Qxb7# is mate, and 10.Na5? loses to 11.Bxb7+! Nxb7 (11...Kb8 12.Nxd7+) 12.Nxd7.

After 15.Qa4 - A pawn down, behind in material and with an exposed king, Black is of course completely lost. But the finish is still nice to see.

After 21.Bxc6+! - If Black does not take the bishop then he loses the rook, but after 21...Qxc6 then 22.Rb7+ wins the queen. Resignation is completely appropriate.

Annotations by Grandmaster Patrick Wolff

MonRoi and Copyright

Paul MacIntyre forwarded an e-mail thread to me which included the following post from USCF Executive Board candidate Joe Lux:

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:27 am
Post subject: Monroi and the US Championship

While "campaigning" in New England this weekend, some interesting developments have occured with serious ramifications for the chess community as a whole.

Stephen Dann has written a chess column for the Worcester Telegram and Gazette for over 30 years. Two weeks ago, he submitted a column that included a game score: Curdo-Rizzitano. The newspaper refused to include the gamescore. It was included on the Monroi website. It seems if you register to use the site, you have agreed to recognize Monroi's copyright on game scores.

A week ago, Harold Dondis had the same problem at the Boston Globe, where he has written a column for 50 years.

Both papers are own[ed] by the NY Times. I called Dylan McClain this morning. He has discussed th[e] matter already with NYT corporate lawyers, and is trying to reach Bill Hall.

I called Glenn Petersen, who probably has the most practical experience on publishing games and copyright laws in the chess community. He says there had been court cases where unannotated games are free from copyright laws, but that now with the internet, new rulings might be required.

Monroi will be recording all the games from the US Championship. Will they now hold hostage the distribution of these games around the world?

This is the type of issue that USCF must address. How does this effect Chess Life, and every other publication of chess? Is this what we can expect from endorsing the Monroi machine? I hope we don't need to find a chess attorney who can do pro bono work to stop Monroi, but we have to be prepared for that possibility. Maybe Monroi can be encouraged to change its policy before it goes that far.

Does anyone know about other chess journalists that have been effected by Monroi?

Chessically yours, Joe Lux

It seems to me that MonRoi is playing with fire. If they insist on their right to copyright unannotated game scores in contradiction to the long held precedent of free use, will organizers have any other option than to bar the use of MonRoi in their tournaments? Then again, if MonRoi cuts a deal with organizers which benefits them both at the expense of players and chess journalists, what then?

In light of this last question, Harold Dondis' contribution to the thread might be of some concern:

I have been in communication with Chris Bird who handles Monroi in this area. He has provided me with games from the Eastern Class and given me permission to publish games. I give Continental credit for the game score. I am sure Bill Goichberg will accord this privilege to others. HBD

While it is certainly "kind" of the CCA to give their permission, the real question is: why should we need to ask at all?

Can't we all just get along?

I just love this story about feuding chess parents in Gilbert, Arizona. It makes USCF politics seem tame.

During the Arizona Scholastic State Chess Championship last April at Gilbert High School, feuding Gilbert parents argued about everything from the display of banners to the proper place to eat snacks.

"The bickering has gone on so long," said Jill McKeever, a Finley Farms Elementary School chess mom, former association president and chess coach at Islands Elementary School. "It's gotten to this point now where we almost can't talk to each other."

What are they arguing about? Believe it or not, philosophy. Should scholastic chess emphasize fun and participation or winning?

"The philosophies of the organizations were always so different," said Christy Veit, a chess mom at Canyon Rim Elementary School. "They didn't get where we were coming from, and we didn't get where they were coming from."

The Burk club, which has won four consecutive state championships, trains with its own coach and focuses on winning. Other Gilbert schools take a more casual approach to chess.

Their coaches juggle eight or more clubs at the same time and root for all their players to do well at tournaments — even when the teams compete against each other. That has never made sense to the Burk parents.

"We don't see football, baseball or basketball coaches floating across schools in this district coaching at multiple schools," former Burk parent Lisa Haisley wrote in an e-mail. "I don’t think chess should either."

But now there are accusations of vote rigging and hostile takeovers.

Some chess parents say Burk families flooded the meeting. When they realized they didn't have enough votes to win, they stepped outside and called more friends on their cell phones.

Maneth, who earned a board position that night and now serves as president, said allegations that Burk staged a hostile takeover are false. He said Burk parents won the election because they offered the best vision for the future of Gilbert chess....

In the end, Burk parents emerged with control of the association they had previously shunned. And parents who had spent years building the association suddenly wanted nothing to do with it. The Gilbert chess world had turned upside down.

And who might you guess finds himself in the middle of this mess?

Many parents now take their children to tournaments organized by a rival group called SMARTChess. McKeever and three other Gilbert chess coaches started the nonprofit organization this summer.

One SMARTChess founder is Robert Tanner, the Gilbert coach who resigned this month from the U.S. Chess Federation executive board following an ethics reprimand. Tanner was disciplined in November following allegations that he manipulated tournament results in the early 1990s to boost his chess rating.

I can think of several directions this discussion might take. Here are a few questions you might want to ponder and comment on:

1. Should scholastic chess be casual or highly competitive?
2. Is parental involvement in organizing scholastic events a good thing? In the Boston area many scholastic events are organized by clubs (like the BCC) and independent organizers (e.g., Gus Gosselin).
3. What do you think about limiting coaches to working at only one school? Seems to me they find it hard enough to make a living working at several.
4. What's with Robert Tanner and controversy? I'd never heard of this guy until a few weeks ago and now suddenly he's everywhere.

*****
In a related note - At the Herb Healy, Harold Dondis mentioned that he had heard that Gus Gosselin was very ill. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery.

Susan and the BCC

Susan Polgar has a new blog where she is posting hundreds of photographs (why she's using Blogger instead of a photo sharing site like Flickr is beyond me, but whatever). I noticed two shots which have a Boylston Chess Club connection:

1. Susan with Boston Globe chess columnist and long-time BCC member Harold Dondis
   
2. A picture from one of her chess cruises including BCC member GM Larry Christiansen
   

Bobby Fischer visits Massachusetts

OK, it was 42 years ago but who's counting?

Dave Couture, webmaster for the Wachusett Chess Club, pointed me to several rare photographs from Fischer's March 1964 visit to Fitchburg. He played a 56 board simul scoring 49-5-2, including this famous loss to BCC member and Boston Globe columnist Harold Dondis:

[Event "Fischer tour simul"]
[Site "Fitchburg, MA"]
[Date "1964.03.??"]
[White "Fischer, Robert James"]
[Black "Dondis, Harold"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Eco "C27"]
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nxe4 4.Qh5 Nd6 5.Bb3 Nc6 6.d4 Nxd4 7.Nd5 Ne6 8.Qxe5 c6 9.Nc3 Qf6 10.Qxf6 gxf6 11.Nge2 Nf5 12.g4 Nfd4 13.Nxd4 Nxd4 14.Be3 Nxb3 15.axb3 d5 16.Rxa7 Rxa7 17.Bxa7 Bxg4 18.Bd4 Be7 19.Kd2 c5 0-1

To view the photos, go to the Wachusett Chess Club website and click on "History" and then "Bobby Fischer at the Club."

Stepping into the breach

Boston Globe columnist Harold Dondis reports that the Northeast Getaway tournaments may not become a casualty of Severine Wamala's legal troubles after all. Apparently Ken Ballou has decided to run the next one this coming weekend October 20-22. The event has been renamed the Sudbury River Chess 2006 Fall Classic and is still being held at the Courtyard Marriott in Marlborough (formerly known as the Hotel Marlborough).

GM Wolff annotates the BCC Championship

The Boylston Chess Club Championship was the topic of the Boston Globe's Chess Notes column on 12/14/04. Below I have reprinted the article including annotations by GM Patrick Wolff of the round 6 game between Chris Chase and Alex Cherniack. I've incorporated GM Wolff's notes into the game format I used in the 2004 BCC Championship Weblog (Note: The diagrams were not included in the Globe article).

Chess Notes By Harold Dondis and Patrick Wolff - Globe Correspondents

Christopher Chase of Somerville and Paul MacIntyre, president of the Boylston Club, were running neck to neck in the last round of the Boylston Club Championship. MacIntyre emerged the victor by a nose as he defeated David Glickman in a Bishop's opening in the last round while Charles Riordan held Chase to a draw arising from a Sicilian defense.

Had Chase not lost the game published today, he could have appropriated the championship. Here Alex Cherniack gets a clear advantage playing Black, as Chase elects on his 10th move to resist pressure on Black's Queen side, instead of reconnoitering his Queen's Knight to the opposite wing. Cherniack appears to win the battle for the center, and Chase banks on a pawn storm and minor piece attack on the Queen side. But Cherniack uses a Rook to defend against White's Bishop and Knight. With a little time advantage, Black finds the right squares to assault White's King with a surprising sacrifice and King hunt that ends the game.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.10.13"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Chase, Chris"]
[Black "Cherniack, Alex"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteUSCF "2289"]
[BlackUSCF "2228"]
[ECO "C66"]
[Opening "Ruy Lopez"]
[Variation "Steinitz Defense"]
[Annotator "GM Patrick Wolff"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Be7 4.0-0 Nf6 5.Re1

[The easiest way to advantage is 5.d4!]

5...d6 6.c3

[Here again, experience suggests 6.d4! is the easiest way to advantage]

6...0-0 7.Bxc6

[Having taken the trouble to set up d2-d4 with c2-c3, why make this exchange now before it is necessary? Simply 7.d4 still promises an edge]

7...bxc6 8.d4 Nd7 9.Nbd2 a5 10.a4?!

[White starts getting distracted by the queenside. Now that he has chosen this setup, he should continue consistently: 10.Nf1 Ba6 11.Ng3, followed by Be3, Qd2, etc.]

10...Ba6 11.Nb3 Bc4! 12.Nfd2? Be6

[White's pieces are discombobulated, and so he has fallen behind in development]

13.c4? f6

[Good enough, but even better is 13.f5! To blow open the center, e.g. 14.d5 cxd5! 15.cxd5 (15.exd5 Bf7 is just better for Black) 15.Bf7 16.Nc4 c6!?]

14.d5 Bf7 15.Nb1

[Or 15.dxc6 Nb8 and 16.Nxc6, with advantage]

15...Nb6 16.Qc2 f5! 17.dxc6 Nxc4 18.N1d2 Nxd2 19.Bxd2 fxe4 20.Nxa5 d5

[Black's center and two bishops are far better than White's queenside play]

21.Nb7 Qe8 22.Ba5 Rc8 23.b4 Bg6 24.Qc1



24...Qf7 25.Rf1 Bh5

[The attack masses on the kingside, and White is in big trouble!]

26.Qc2 Qg6! 27.Kh1 Rf6! 28.b5 Qxg2+!!



29.Kxg2 Rg6+ 30.Kh3

[Or 30.Kh1 Bf3#]

30...Bg4+ 0-1

[It is checkmate after 31.Kg2 (or 31.Kg3) 31...Bf3+ 32.Kh3 Rh6#]

For the record, here are my original notes to this game.