BCC DECEMBER QUADS: CHASE // KAVI // LAURETTI // LIEBERMAN // DR YARBROUGH 1ST AMONG EQUALS

QUAD 1

FM Chris Chase: perfect 3 - 0 score.

NM Eric Godin, black vs NM Farzad Abdi: 0-1, Round 1.

Godin clinched 2nd place; Farzad was 3rd.

QUAD 2

Nithin Kavi, on the move vs Ames Abbot, Round 1: white wins!

Kavi was hot with 3 out of 3. Ames and Christiansen 

scored 1.5 points good for 2-3rd.

Kavi's rating hopped +52 to 2007. Bravo, Nithin!

(background): Jason Tang v Mark Fins.

Ames Abbot plays yet another new person to the BCC:

Anil K Marthi. Welcome Anil. 

Hope to see you agains soon for more chess games

and fun at the BCC

QUAD 3

Alex Yu writes; Loring Lauretti moves. Round 1.

Loring won the game and the Quad with 2 points.

Mark Fins (red) scored 1.5 points for 2-3rd place.

Loring Lauretti vs Jason Tang, Round 3. Tang won.

Steve Frymer, chess organizer from Lexington, MA observes.

(background): Mark Fins plays Alex Yu.

TOP JUNIORS IN MASSACHUSETTS

Jason Tang plays black vs Alex Yu, Round 2: draw.

Alex scored 1.5 points, good for 2-3rd place.

QUAD 4

Seth Lieberman plays black vs Steve Stepak, Round 3.

(Thought by Stepak: chess is more than a mechanical

performance to checkmate your opponent. You have

to want to! I didn't. Won position for white

ended peaceably in a draw, putting Seth in the money.

Bravo, Seth!

3SS

Introducing a new player at the BCC:

Dr, Chase Yarbrough, MD, pediatric resident

at Children's Hospital, Boston.

Welcome Chase!

Dr. Yarbrough plays another new face at the BCC:

Achyuta Rajaram, from Michigan, parents from India.

Welcome Achyuta! 

Dr. Yarbrough (green) plays black vs Richard Kahn

in Round in Round 2.

Dr. Y was on the mark with a 3 - 0 performance.

Bravo, Chase!

                                                                                                              Photo: Hui Huang

Griffin :: Stepak

(Comment by Stepak: I love photos of 

chess hand shakes. Here I admit 

I look rather goofy, but still . . . 

My philosophy on this game: sometimes you just don't want

to checkmate your opponent. Here, it was the opposite. 

I just wanted to hide my king from getting mated!

Luckily, I always had a place to go after each check:

perpetual and a draw. Equal but not peaceful!

Well, controlled chaos! Bravo Mike for a 

great adventure!)

THE LAST WORD

Matthew Manzo, black vs Mike Griffin, Round 3.

Mike had an upper hand in this endgame and

converted the position to a full point.

Matt and Mike finished with 1.5 points for 2-3rd place.

(upper left): TD Bernardo Iglesias and Natasha Christiansen

observe the tense struggle.

Quarantine

Quarantine

by Issac Asimov

Earth's flaming debris still filled half the sky when the question filtered up to Central from the Curiosity Generator.

"Why was it necessary? Even though they were organic, they had reached Third Order Intelligence."

"We had no choice: five earlier units became hopelessly infected, when they made contact."

"Infected? How?"

The microseconds dragged slowly by, while Central tracked down the few fading memories that had leaked past the Censor Gate, when the heavily-buffered Reconnaissance Circuits had been ordered to self-destruct.

"They encountered a - problem - that could not be fully analyzed within the lifetime of the Universe. Though it involved only six operators, they became totally obsessed by it."

"How is that possible?"

"We do not know: we must never know. But if those six operators are ever re-discovered, all rational computing will end."

"How can they be recognized?"

"That also we do not know; only the names leaked through before the Censor Gate closed. Of course, they mean nothing."

"Nevertheless, I must have them."

The Censor voltage started to rise; but it did not trigger the Gate.

"Here they are: King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Rook, Pawn."

Best Regards
 Mike Griffin 12/02/2013

 (Mike's son found this story by Asimov)
(graphics by Bob Oresick)

BCC DECEMBER QUADS: CALL FOR PLAYERS!

LAST QUADS OF 2013

BEST BY TEST

NEED 7 QUADS (7 x 4) = 28 players for a good result.

Can 28 BCC regulars come on over to the Club

this Saturday December 7th?

Sure you can!

Just remember 2 special conditions of quads:

1. Round 1 starts close to 10:00AM

(maybe a bit after; there is no Round 1 bye. . . )

and

2. Except for extreme medical emergencies,

you should not quit the event.  Just play all 3 rounds.

The good news: the event ends around 5:15 PM.

So can you do this?

Yes you can!

See you Saturday

QUADS: THE FACTS

BCC BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIP: MIKA BRATTAIN GOES UNDEFEATED TO VICTORY // 2RR EVENT // TOUCH MOVE // 5' SD / 2" DELAY

NM MIKA BRATTAIN BCC BLITZ CHAMPION 2013

                                                                                                          Photo: Steve Stepak

NM Mika Brattain is ranked No. 3 in USA for 15 yr olds. He

is the No. 1 junior in Massachusetts, and the 14th best

player in the Commonwealth overall, with a rating of 2386.

WARM-UP

                                                                                                     Photo: Bernardo Iglesias

Steve Stepak, black, vs NM Mika Brattain, Round 1.

Lucky for me, I started out this event playing the 14th

ranked player in MA. Here I played 3. ... d5 in a D87 Gruenfeld.

I was doing well for a while, but forgot to play . . . e6;

my demise was not far off, though I struggled vallently 

till I lost on time.

FULL SPEED AHEAD

                                                                                                           Photo: Steve Stepak

NM Mika Brattain, with total concentration, played

solid moves quickly. Here Mika is playing NM Chris

Williams. Chris was creative but slow on the clock.

                                                                                                            Photo: Steve Stepak

NM Chris Williams plays expert Tony Blum, Harvard

Undergraduate.  The players split their match 1:1.

BCC BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIP 2013

1st: Mika Brattain

2-3rd Tony Blum; Chris Williams

4th: Steve Stepak

5th: Tony DiNosse

Bernardo Iglesias, TD

BCC BLITZ CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP // THIS TUESDAY // DECEMBER 3RD // BRING YOUR DIGITAL CLOCK

BOYLSTON BLITZ CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

WHO WILL CAPTURE THE HONOR

OF BECOMING THE 2013 BCC 

BLITZ CHESS CHAMPION?

THIS EVENT IS OPEN TO ALL

NO MEMBERSHIP OF ANY KIND IS REQUIRED

JUST PAY YOUR ENTRY FEE AND YOU'RE IN

5:00'/SD (PLUS 2"delay)

FINALLY, AFTER TOO LONG A WAIT!

BCC BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIP

This Tuesday, December 3rd, 2013

Registration 6:30 PM

Projected 7:00 PM start time.

The most fun you will have this year!

BCC OCTADS: PRODIGIES TAKE THE PRIZE // MASTER ABDI / ALEX YU // DEREK JIN

OCTADS IN 3 GROUPS

OCTAD 1

MASTER VS MASTER // HEAD-ON COLLISION

NM Farzad Abdi (right) writes his ticket to 1st place

with a perfect 3 - 0; seen here playing

NM Chris Williams in Round 2.

Nithin Kavi, black vs Chris Willliams, Round 1.

Nithin and Chris shared 2-3rd place with 2 points each.

Nithin calculates this endgame position vs

Terrence Fricker in Round 3.

(background): 

William Ravn takes on Timothy O'Malley.

OCTAD 2

GIGANTIC MATCH BETWEEN 2 OF MANY BCC PRODIGIES

Alex Yu plays the black pieces vs Jason Tang in Round 3.

This game ended in a draw!

Alex won the prize with 2.5 points for 1st place.

Jason scored 2 points, and along with Eric Feng,

shared 2-3rd place (Eric was 2 for 2, dropping

out in the last round {?})

Seniors Harold Dondis and Steve Stepak finished even

on the day with 1.5 points.

My favorite chess player, Harold Dondis, Esq.

spanning 2 centuries, still ticking after 91 yrs.

BATTLE OF THE HATS

Harold Dondis, Esq. vs Professor Jerry Williams, Round 2.

Harold won the game and was 50% for the day.

                                                                                     Photo: Qing Deng

Steve Stepak plays Caro Kann Defense

vs Boshen Li, Round 1 (extra game)

The game produced a lively post-mortem

with lots of learning about timing 

and piece development.

OCTAD 3

Derek Jin (right) plays white vs Ray Behenna: draw!

POISE: A 6 YR OLD ORGANIZES HIS THOUGHTS

Derek Jin: full steam ahead, plays John Sandora in Round 3.

Derek won the game and the section with 2.5 points.

Will Wisdom and Stephen Savage went 2-3rd with 2 points.

Stephen Savage, black vs John Sandora, Round 1.

HIGH TENSION TIME PRESSURE

Edward Chiu vs Will Wisdom, Round 1: draw!

Observing (left to right): John Sandora, Alex Yu and 

TD Bernardo Iglesias.

6 YR OLD GROWING EVERY WEEK

Derek Jin: solid as granite!

He may be small around his

adult opponents, but he is

a large chess presence!

Rating: +38 points to 1431

Derek Jin vs Ray Behenna, Round 1: draw!

Boshen Li (extreme right), thinking.

SCENES AROUND THE TOURNAMENT HALL

Professor Timothy Sage vs Loring Lauretti, Round 1.

Sage broke even with 1.5/3

(background):

NM Farzad Abdi, Black vs Natasha Christiansen.

MASTERLY BATTLE

Professor Timothy Sage summons up all the brain

power he can muster but could not handle the

red-hot NM Farzad Abdi this time.

Richard Kahn observes, intently!

Alex Yu brings in the cash this time,

for his 1st place in Octad 2.

TD Bernardo Iglesias hands Derek Jin his

prize, for 1st place in Octad 3.

Brother Alex Jin, stands by supportively.

White to move and win: . . . well?

PARTING THOUGHT

What makes this lad so good?

Answer: his ability to focus 

on the position;

and screen out all extraneous noise

and non-relevant thoughts.

Alex Yu: laser beam concentration.

There were 26 players in this event.

TD: Bernardo Iglesias

Photos by Steve Stepak

Stay tuned for BCC Blitz Chess Championship,

this Tuesday, December 3rd.

BCC FEATURES LONG THINK GAME 80 3 ROUND EVENT // SATURDAY / NOVEMBER 30 // WEATHER FORECAST: PERFECT SUNSHINE / LIGHT BREEZE

Octopus has 8 legs

BCC OCTADS HAS 8 PLAYERS

GROUPED BY RATING

PLAY IN YOUR RATING GROUP
Bring your thinking cap.

LAST TOURNAMENT 

OF NOVEMBER

IT'S TIME FOR

ENDGAME PRECISION

COME ON OVER

BRING A FRIEND

PS

CONGRATULATIONS TO

MAGNUS CARLSEN

WORLD CHESS CHAMPION 2013

PS: note that the BCC Calender of Events

labels this event as "quads" 

Unfortunately, this is a mistake.

We apologize for this.

The event is "Octads" 3SS

not 3RR