Harold Dondis injured

Chris Chase:

While leaving his firm's building a week from this past Tuesday, Harold was knocked to the floor by someone in a hurry. The building actually has the accident filmed by their security cameras. A building security guard came and got me from the car and I found Harold sitting in a chair in much pain and badly shaken. I drove him to Mt. Auburn Hospital's ER and found out that he had broken a bone in his right shoulder (I don't remember which one.) He was lucky in the sense as he didn't hit his head nor break his hip and the fracture is clean and will not require surgery but Harold, in his rather gloomy Maine - born approach, does not agree with me on this.

.
Anyway, he was at Mt. Auburn Hospital for three nights. His right arm is in a sling and will be for a while. Last Friday he was transferred to the Belmont Manor Nursing Home for rehab and 7/24 care. He is doing much better now. His spirit is much better and he is in much less pain. He should be leaving Belmont Manor this coming Friday. Further rehab will take place at home and it should take about 4 to 6 weeks before he can go back to work. It will probably be a little less time before he can return to playing chess.



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Get-well cards can be sent to his home address: 583 Belmont Street, Belmont, MA 02478

Grand Prix Standings Update

With the third round of the first 2012 Grand Prix only two days away, it's time to look upon the standings and gander who leads thus far in our great journey:

MASTERS
Chris Williams          4
Eric Godin               3.5
Carey Theil              3.5

U2200
Jesse Nicholas            5.5
Emmanuel Mevs         5
Michelle Chen            3
Sebastian Gueler        3

U2000
Greg Bodwin             3
Harold Dondis           3
Daniel Schmidt          2.5
Natasha Christiansen 2

U1800
Mike Griffin               4
Arthur Tang               4
Robert Holmgren       4
Nithin Kavi                3.5
Thomas Laaman        3.5
Jerry Williams            3.5
Bowen Wang             3
Carissa Yip                3

U1600
Steven Stepak           7.5
David Martin             5.5
Brandon Wu              3

U1400
Alyssa Stachowski    3
Matthew Ding           2

U1200
Eddie Wei                 3
Lucy Cai                   2
Justin Wu                  1.5

Remember, the tournament continues this Saturday, March 24th, at 10 AM!

Design a Chess Set

B.J. Richards 9:43am Mar 20 Have a great design for a chess set? Win a 3D printer! Design a Chess Set – Win a MakerBot! « MakerBot Industries www.makerbot.com As our fellow citizens at Thingiverse have proven time and time and time and time again, printing yo... B.J. Richards Have a great design for a chess set? Win a 3D printer! Design a Chess Set – Win a MakerBot! « MakerBot Industries www.makerbot.com As our fellow citizens at Thingiverse have proven time and time and time and time again, printing your own custom chess set can be one of the greatest joys of owning a MakerBot. Have you got a brilliant design for a chess set that you want to share? Want a MakerBot Replicator? · · · Share · Yesterday at 9:43am

Outstanding $10 Open

Saturday's $10 Open was outstanding, even for the ever-popular BCF event.

52 players entered [ 21 in the Open and 31 in the U1800 ].

Life Master Eric Godin topped the Open section with 3.5.
In the U1800 group Alexander Roy led with 4.0.

You can view details below, get a better view by clicking on each image or visiting the USCF cross table site.

Thanks to TD Bernardo Iglesias who handled the entire event over at a least a 12 hour day.

'Twas the Simul Last Week

As South Station clamored with rush hour thunder, 
At its center the crowds saw an int'resting wonder.
A great figure present, unbeknownst t' some of them, 
'Twas Larry. M. Christiansen, the famous GM. 

He played at a time up to two dozen and one, 
And as the games finished, more still would come. 
He had but one loss, and one loss alone
To the expert J. Nicholas, the Boylston club's own. 

Please know this event of its kind not the last, 
And far from the first, for now four we've amassed. 
And to those who more South Station Simuls should crave, 
The next's April 10th, so that date should be saved.  

REMINDER: Larry Christiansen Simul This Thursday!

Just a reminder to everyone, GM Larry Christiansen will be holding a 25-board simultaneous exhibition THIS THURSDAY, March 8th, at 5:00 P.M.
As the T.D. for this month's Thursday Night Swiss, I'd also like to remind people that that event will be held as usual, and the second round of the March tournament will begin at 7:00 P.M that same night. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THESE WONDERFUL EVENTS. If you aim to start your simul game closer to 5:00, you can still make the start of TNS. If you do choose to go this route, though, feel free to tell GM Christiansen of your intent, so he can show as little mercy as possible and help you get to the Boylston on time.
Good luck!

13th annual Paramount

For some people spring is signaled by the start of Red Sox reporting to spring training, by groundhog day, by the returning swallows to Capistrano...

But for many of us it is the Paramount.

This will be the 13th annual edition of the popular tournament, a ten-round, double round-robin. Initiated by Bryan Clark, this format [generous time control with two try's against known opponents bunched in competitive groups] remains popular. And it is one of the few tournaments left that incorporate adjournments.

Monday, March 5 – May 7: 13th Annual Paramount

10 Rounds, 2RR, Players divided into six player sections by rating; 40/120d5, G/50d5 Adjournments are allowed after 4 hours of play; Entry fee: $25, $20 to BCF members; Prizes: 50% EF Registration: 6:00 to 6:45 PM Round at 7PM.

TD Robert Oresick
assistant TD Bernardo Iglesias

Questions

• What happens if I have to miss a round? May I reschedule with my opponent? (Will we know the pairings ahead of time to allow that?)

Bernardo uses SwissSys to make pairings for the entire tournament on the first evening. So, you know your opponent and can prepare for him or her, except, of course, in that first round. If you need to reschedule a round, you just notify the TD and work it out with your opponent. All rounds should be completed by the end date of the tournament.

• I see that there are ten rounds and six players in each section (unless I'm misreading). How will the players be divided into sections? How are pairings determined? As in a Swiss?

The top six rated players will be in group one. If there are another six, they will be in group two. If there are more, another group of six or four will be formed, to maintain the double round-robin format.

• What level of participation do you usually see? What level players, approximately, and how many? Do you expect anything to be different this year?

We don't know what to expect this year, but in the past two years, we had 2 or 3 groups.

In 2011 we had two groups:



In 2010, we had three groups:

GM Larry Christiansen Simul at South Station

GM Larry Christiansen

will give a
25-board simultaneous exhibition

at South Station

on Thursday, March 8
(International Women's Day)

5 - 7 PM.

There is no pre-registration and no fee; as long as there is an empty board, you may sit down at any time up to 6:30 PM and try your luck.

E-mail natashaus@alum.mit.edu with any questions.

Note: starting a game against Larry closer to 5 PM will help ensure enough time to make it to the TNS at the Boylston starting at 7:00.

If you putter, your game will sputter - IM Silman on Cross v Franke, a game from the Boylston's Thursday Night Swiss

Natasha C. brought this post to our attention. IM Silman discusses a Benoni played recently at a Boylston Thursday Night Swiss.

[btw, if you have checked it out lately, the venerable TNS in recent months has grown larger and stronger than it has been in years.]

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If you putter, your game will sputter.

« Articles home

Submitted by IM Silman on Tue, 02/28/2012 at 11:02pm.

Franke: “

This is a game I’m quite proud of, even though I came away from it with a half point fewer than I should have.

With a USCF rating of 1984 and a recent peak at 2037, Ted is the strongest opponent by far whom I’ve ever achieved a draw against, and outcome aside, this is simply one of my best-played games.



I’ve only recently returned to tournament chess after abandoning it while in elementary school, so I’m still working my way up from my old rating of 778.

Although I’m therefore much stronger than my published rating, I feel that I typically play at about a 1650 level, which is quite a long way from Expert and makes this game a remarkable result.



I do feel like I’ve improved enough recently that I’m starting to discover my style, which I’d characterize as ‘tactical but conservative.’

I can literally calculate all day (even at the longest time controls, the clock is my nemesis), but I’ll always chose a solid positional move over a possible brilliancy whose soundness I’m not confident in, and I avoid getting into positions that are out of my depth, no matter if they’re out of my opponent’s depth as well.

I think all of these observations show through in this game.”

Ted Cross (1984) – Daniel Franke (1110), Somerville 2012

Read the detailed analysis and discussion of this game at:

http://www.chess.com/article/view/if-you-putter-your-game-will-sputter

with comments like these:

It’s clear that Franke is tactically astute. If he can add a bit more positional energy to his ability to calculate, and if he beats back his fear of enemy threats, he might find himself on a regular diet of baked/fried/boiled Expert (or Expert tartar, for those that like their meat fresh).

...

Franke: “With white’s light-squared bishop gone, my ...f6 sin is forgiven.”

Hey guy! I haven’t forgiven it! But I don’t look at your …f6 as just a bad move. Rather, I look at it as a misunderstanding about how to play chess. Meekly defending against perceived threats will ensure you never become the player you want to be. Refusing to bow to your opponent’s wishes will (faster than you imagine) change the way you look at chess, and propel you far ahead of the masses.

...

White was clearly having an off day. Or, as is common for players of all levels, he just wasn’t in tune with the nuts and bolts of this type of position. White needs to generate some activity, he needs targets (and hitting d6 by itself isn’t going to get the job done), and he needs to get his Rooks into the action. Thus, 22.a3 bxa3 23.Rxa3 Nc7 24.f3 Qxb2 25.Rb3 Qe5 26.Rb7 Rec8 27.Bf2 (heading for g3) and at least we’re having a bit of fun! That’s what active piece are – movable bundles of quivering fun. (None of that was forced, of course, but it does give you an inkling of what I’m trying to achieve.)

...

At this point Black needs to take a long look at the position and try and find the simplest, safest, and most deadly way to end the game. No need to be creative – keep it simple while simultaneously leading White to the slaughterhouse:

...

Now that you allowed him to block the pawn with his King, you need to have a deep think and find a way to follow the old, “simplest, safest, and most deadly way to end the game” formula. The fact is that in endgames, just puttering about will often allow your opponent to creep back into the game. You really need to hunker down at this final stage and look for the most incisive way to take home the point.

37...Rcxc7??

Yes, this is indeed winning. But you get two question marks because taking on c7 is a lazy decision that also creates a very bad mindset: you thought the game would win itself after this trade.

...

Franke: “Right after my opponent accepted my draw offer, I said to him, ‘I am probably going to shoot myself. I am going to get home, open up Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual, take one look at it, and then I am going
 to shoot myself in the head.’ IM Marc Esserman overhead this and looked at the position. After a single glance he said, ‘This is won.’ Then he sat down for five minutes pondering how he was going to back up that assertion. This made me feel a lot better!” 1/2-1/2.

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London Calling

After years of playing 1 c4, I finally traveled to the birthplace of the English Opening.

In the Tower of London (where the Beefeater guide at one point joked that we'd be heading off in such-and-such a direction), I happened upon the following image on an interior wall:

The artist rendered the board properly, all the way down to White's horrendous position with a blockaded pawn on a6 and multiple Black forces descending upon his king on g1. Ah, if only the folks who installed the immovable stone chess tables and chairs in front of the Somerville Library's Highland Avenue location had had such an eye for detail, they wouldn't have put a dark square at h1.


I made it to the London Chess Centre's well-stocked physical store, where I picked up a few items:

Dave Vigorito's new book on the Sicilian Dragon was displayed prominently:

I also caught up with our club's former President and First Lady, shown here standing next to the Lewis Chessmen in the British Museum.

Again the board is set up correctly. Here, White is up a pawn (okay, okay, it's the only pawn on the board).

£ for £, a pleasant trip across the pawned!

Amateur Team East

I am pleased to report that the

BU Terriers

won the

"Top College"

prize at this year's amateur team east.

NM Andrew Wang
Steve Chen
Lino Fabiani
Ben Burkholder



As you know Andrew is a long-time member of the Boylston Chess Club.

The Boston University team won 4 of 6 points.

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Al Lawrence gives a good account of the tournament at

http://main.uschess.org/content/view/11625/141/


Here are some photos of the many Boston, Boylston, and BU players
in Parsipanny.

More below:
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https://picasaweb.google.com/111141559718823650525/AmateurTeamEast2012
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