Carey Theil wins the 2007 Hauptturnier

While Carey will tell you that he got lucky in a couple of his games, the fact is he thoroughly dominated this year's 12-man field. Carey scored 10 out of 11, going undefeated and allowing only two draws. Further, he went 3-0 against the other experts in the field. Congratulations to Carey on an outstanding performance.

Second place went to David Glickman with 8.5, a game and a half behind the winner. Eddie Chisam secured third with 8.

Here are the final standings:

10.0 - Carey Theil (2031)

8.5 - David Glickman (2027)
8.0 - Eddie Chisam (2063)
7.0 - Ken Newman (1909)
6.0 - Joshua Haunstrup (1898)
6.0 - Ruben Portugues (1823)
5.5 - Alex Slive (2000)
5.0 - Jon Lee (1724)
4.0 - Walter Driscoll (1800)
4.0 - Frank Frazier (1600)
2.0 - Robert Oresick (1472)
0.0 - Ted Gorczyca (1380)

Click here for the final crosstable.

Blitz almost lose, almost win, and finally lose

Cancel the plans for the rolling rally. Don't bother waiting for another Chris Williams Riverdance. And forget about a celebratory Championship video (which probably isn't a bad thing, since several Championship spectators expressed their displeasure with the Eastern Division Championship version). They're holding the parties at UTD, while Bostonians are left to contemplate the reality that a single blitz game shattered their US Chess League Championship dreams.

The storyline is fairly well known by now. The Blitz appeared well on their way to defeat after GM Christiansen could achieve no more than a draw by repetition against Boskovic on Board 1 and things looked dire for the good guys on all three remaining boards. Sammour-Hasbun was fighting an uphill battle after Kuljasevic sacrificed a piece in a French Tarrasch; Shmelov's promising position had given away to a strong attack by Stopa against his King; and William's opponent, Zorigt, had secured an advanced passed pawn and nice piece outposts for the exchange.

However, it wasn't that long before the tables had turned completely. First, Shmelov managed to find a nifty resource to secure a drawn position. Next, Jorge finally coordinated his pieces, broke through and traded off to a won two pieces vs. a rook ending. Suddenly, the Blitz were just a draw away from the title and fortuitously, Williams' game had suddenly become eminently drawable. Yet it was not to be, as Chris blundered away his chances and allowed the Destiny to the tie match.

So, off they went to blitz tiebreaks. While there are certainly many paragraphs that could be written about the tiebreak games, in my view the USCL tiebreak system makes only the top board matchup relevant, by design....

I suppose an aside to explain this view is warranted, since I'm sure some will disagree with my supposition. While it is theoretically possible that a team's 1st board might be defeated by the 2nd or 3rd board of the other team, I suspect the actually probability of this is fairly low. Therefore, more often than not, it doesn't really matter what happens in the preliminary blitz games because eventually the 1st boards will face each other for the title. So far, this is how things have played out the two times tiebreaks have been used. It's only a guess on my part, but I'd bet that over the next several decades, this will be the case more than 9 out of ten times (we should only be lucky enough that the USCL shows enough longevity to generate such a large sample).

....In the game that mattered, GM Christiansen eschewed a draw and played on seeking winning chances. Instead, it was Larry who made the critical blunder and a minute later Boston's season was over. Some might claim that Christiansen's loss was attributable to the fact that he had to play three blitz games as opposed to his opponent's one. I find this highly unlikely. Larry may very well have been tired, but only because it was 2:00 am, not because he had to play an extra 30 minutes of chess.

**********

You can find analysis of key positions from the match at Braden's blog and Arun offers his overall impressions. I thought I might try to get inside the heads the combatants themselves. While everything that follows is conjecture and speculation, there are two key moments which I'd like to explore.

First, why did Williams throw away his rook with 50.Rxf7? It doesn't take a master to see that there was no winning follow up to this sacrifice and Chris is more than strong enough to have realized this. Instead, I think he thought he had found a quick way to draw the game, only to realize after the sacrifice that his key move wasn't possible.

NM Williams - WFM Zorigt

After 49.Qd3

When he played 49.Qd3, not only was he offering to trade queens, but he also had setup the variation 50.Rxf7 Rxf7 51.f6+ Kg8 52.Qd8+ Kh7 (if Rf8 then 53. f7+) 53.Qd3+ with perpetual check. However, only after he sacrificed the rook did he realize that Black's 49th move, Qxa5, covered the d8 square. There was no check and no perpetual. Time pressure certainly played a role, but I think impatience was a factor also. Chris was looking for a quick way to bring the game to a close since the alternative was likely returning the exchange for the pawn on d2 and playing on for awhile to draw a slightly inferior but eminently drawable endgame.

Second, I've been pondering why Larry decided to risk it all in a totally equal position in the last blitz game when he could have simply taken a draw and tried for more in the next one. There are certainly plausible explanations like it was late and he just wanted to get things over with, or he thought he could outplay Boskovic in the ending, or he didn't think his chances of winning with Black in the next game were particularly high. While one or more of these may very well have been a factor, I think an off-board occurrence may well have influenced the final outcome the match.

GM Christiansen-IM Boskovic
after 31...Rd7

Larry certainly could have
considered taking a draw here

You may recall that there was an extra long delay before the last blitz game commenced. My understanding is that this was due to the fact that the UTD Student Center, where Dallas was playing, was being shut down for the night and the team needed to move to another location. While there had been no internet connection problems throughout the long match, there was one after Dallas moved to the new location, right in the middle of the final blitz game. Why did this matter? Because early on in the game, Larry had been using much more time than his opponent. At the time of the disconnection, he had only about two minutes left to his opponent's three and a half or so. I contend that if that deficit had remained the same, Larry would likely have acquiesced to a draw later on and played another game. Instead, because of the disconnection, he was given an extra 2 minutes. As a result, at the key moment (when he had to decide whether to take a draw or risk going for a win) he had a time advantage and this may very well have influenced his decision to play on. Maybe UTD Security should be given an assist for their role in securing Dallas' victory?

All speculation as I said before, but perhaps the players in question will shed some light on what was actually going through their minds.

**********

I suppose my comments above on the tiebreak system might be viewed as a critique. While I actually don't mind the current system and found watching the tiebreaks to be very exciting, I do think there is at least one viable alternative which, among other things, would probably take less time. What about just switching colors and having the same players play each other again (1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, etc.) at a time control of G/10? If the match draws again, switch colors again and repeat at G/5. Keep going until one team wins. I think this makes sense and would likely take far fewer rounds.

**********

So that's it for the 2007 season, except for post season awards and the USCL hot stove season. Dallas and Boston both had great seasons and played an exciting Championship match. The league itself also continued to make major strides forward and the USCL blogosphere had some significant growth as well. Where's it all going to be years from now? Beats me, but it's a good bet that things will be bigger and better in 2008.

BCC Weblog provides independent coverage of the United States Chess League. It is not affiliated with the USCL or the Boston Blitz.

Greg Hager died on Tuesday

Our chess friend Greg Hager died on Tuesday at his home in Somerville, where he had been cared for by his venerable mother and aunt.

For many years Greg had played chess at the BCC, been a member, and for some years, served as a board member.

Over the years as his illness progressed, his calculation and perceptive abilities declined, but not his fighting attitude - Greg always played an interesting game, full of attack and sacrifice.

After he became less and less mobile, he was unable to come to the club; we gave him a little token of appreciation which he kept on a bookcase.

Though confined, he still played in Monday night and Thursday night Swiss tournaments -- his opponents played him at his bedside at home, moving on a demo board he had arranged. His mother and aunt made tea and his dog Zeppo kept vigil.

His flag has dropped and we all miss him.

Rest in peace.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gregory R. Hager
November 27, 2007

Gregory R. Hager, 58 of Somerville, died Tuesday at home after a long illness.

Born in Newton, NJ, he was raised in Rochester, New York and lived in Somerville for the past 10 years. Gregory was a Realtor, CRS and GRI with Charles Associates in Cambridge for 10 years. Formerly he was Chemist with the Seamen Company in Boston. Gregory attended Rochester Schools, Fordham University and the University of Maryland where he received his Masters Degree. He also was an avid reader and for many years was a member of the Boylston Chess Club in Somerville.

Cherished son of Angela M. (Dovi) Hager of Rochester, NY and Somerville and the late Robert E. Hager. Loving nephew of Anna Louise Huguenin of New York City. His faithful dog Zeppo. Also survived by many many loving friends. A funeral service will be conducted in the Dello Russo Funeral Home, 306 Main St., MEDFORD Saturday at 4 pm. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend, and may visit with the family from 3 thru 4. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be sent in Gregory's name to the VNA of Middlesex East and Visiting Nurse Hospice, 607 North Ave., Suite 17, Wakefield, MA 01880.

Two makes a chess blog genre

First there was Claywizard Chess Sets and now, Greybishop's Chess Set. Greybishop takes us through his efforts to fufill his dream of creating a superhero chess set that doesn't suck.

Really? Are you sure?

From the Chess.FM coverage of the USCL Championship match:

"Some of the best women players in the US are women" - John Donaldson

From the Boston Blitz bulletin board

Elizabeth Vicary has done a nice job this week getting members of the Dallas Destiny to talk unguardedly about their opponents in tonight's US Chess League Championship match.

Dallas 3rd board IM Jacek Stopa on Ilya Krasik:

I have never heard of that guy. Frankly, I don’t really care about random people expressing their ridiculous opinions. I’m ok with whatever leaves that gentleman’s mouth.

Dallas 1st board IM Draks Boskovic on Ilya Krasik:

Well, I don’t really know who this person is (Ilya Krasik).... If four players like Ilya Krasik played against Dallas, they wouldn’t score more than ½ point. hahaha.

After slights like these, we can expect to see an extra special effort from Boston's head cheerleader tonight. No doubt he's warming up the Championship pom-poms as we speak.

**********

I'd also like to thank Elizabeth for eliciting some positive press for BCC Weblog with her question about "top five chess-related websites."

Boston Blitz 1st board GM Larry Christiansen:

TWIC, Chesslab. Chessgames.com, ICC, Chessbase and BoylstonCC I get recent games, news, and local color. Chesslab is easy to use, TWIC has great timely info, Chessbase has it all and the Boylston blog keeps me informed on local issues. ICC is simply the best site out there.

USCL Commissioner IM Greg Shahade:

Hmmm, uschessleague.com, uschess.org (at least before they did the terrible makeover), lizzyknowsall.blogspot.com, boston-blitz.com, boylstonblog.blogspot.com (probably got the url wrong, but you know what I mean)

Let's hope Greg has us bookmarked since that url isn't going to help him find his way here.

BCC Weblog provides independent coverage of the United States Chess League. It is not affiliated with the USCL or the Boston Blitz.

Channeling Nixon

Ever wonder what actually goes on at a USCF Executive Board Meeting?

Sam Sloan has posted several snippets of audio from their recent meeting on November 3rd in Crossville, Tennessee. Of course, everyone knows that Sam is pursuing a political (and legal) agenda against the Federation, so there is no need to accept his interpretations of the events on the tapes. However, since you can listen to the raw material, feel free to generate your own opinions. By the way, in a couple of the clips you can hear the voice of blogger Jack Lemoine.

Clip 1 - Clip 2 - Clip 3

For those who are closely following Sloan's lawsuit against Polgar/Truong et. al., you might also be interested in this additional piece of audio of USCF Board Members being served summonses in the case.

Deciding not to cheat = good sportsmanship?

Dana Mackenzie posted a lengthy piece on John Donaldson and the USCL's San Francisco Mechanics. It is quite a good read, though I was taken aback by the following paragraph:

In fact, Bhat’s loss was a triumph of good sportsmanship. As shown in my previous post, in league competition Bhat plays his moves on a regular board and with a regular clock, then enters them into the computer. (At least until the time pressure gets too intense, then he switches to all-computer mode.) Against Lugo, Bhat played 23. Bd5 and then realized it was a bad move. However, according to Donaldson, because he had already made the move on his board "he felt honor bound to make that move on the computer."

I'm not sure what to make of this. The USCL rules clearly state that entering a different move into the computer than was made on the board is illegal:

A player may also play with a physical board at their side, as some players can concentrate better on an actual chessboard as opposed to playing directly at a computer. In this case the players would first make their move on the chessboard and then input it into the computer. The player is FORCED to make whatever move they made on the chessboard on the computer as well. If a TD sees that they have done otherwise then the player will be penalized.

Were this rule not in place, players would be able to use their physical boards to analyze the position prior to selecting a move to play on the computer -- a clear violation of the principles of OTB play.

So, when Mackenzie/Donaldson say that Bhat showed "good sportsmanship," what could they possibly mean? ...that Vinay considered the option of cheating, but chose not to because "he felt honor bound?" ...that the TD wasn't looking, so Vinay realized he could get away with playing another move, but didn't do so since he realized it would be wrong? Could they possibly mean to disparage Bhat's reputation in this way?

Isn't it more likely that Vinay played the inferior move on the computer because that's what the rules required and he never considered anything other than following them? That's what I'd like to believe. I'd also like to believe that playing by the rules is an expectation of all players in the league. Therefore, I don't think we need to be handing out good sportsmanship medals and badges of honor to those who do so.

Thirsty for Chess

Chessaholic describes how our favorite game can become a pervasive influence in one's life.

USCL Finals Set

We now have answers to some of our questions about the US Chess League Championship match:

Who will the Blitz be playing? The Dallas Destiny

When will it be? Wednesday, November 28th at 8:00 pm EST

How much will Blitz management be charging for those Harvard Astrophysics Center luxury box seats? We still haven't heard, but I bet there will be tickets available "for sale" at the door.

**********

With seven of the eight players the same as in their team's previous playoff round, it's difficult to find any intrigue in the line-up decisions. Nevertheless, those stretching for a story might note that Boston could have put GM Perelshteyn on Board 2 without changing the rest of the lineup. While this would have increased the Blitz's rating advantage, I doubt anyone seriously contemplated sitting Jorge and his 2800+ USCL performance rating.

**********

Here are the matchups (Boston has White on Boards 2 & 4):

GM Larry Christiansen: 2663 vs. IM Drasko Boskovic: 2532
SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun: 2558 vs. IM Davorin Kuljasevic: 2489
NM Denys Shmelov: 2251 vs. IM Jacek Stopa: 2414
NM Chris Williams: 2175 vs. WFM Bayaraa Zorigt: 2196

Although the average ratings of the two teams are close (Boston - 2412, Dallas - 2408), the Blitz probably have an edge on the top two boards, and possibly on Board 4 as well. In addition, with a GM up top, you have to like Boston's chances if the match goes to tiebreaks.

BCC Weblog provides independent coverage of the United States Chess League. It is not affiliated with the USCL or the Boston Blitz.

Can't say I saw this coming

Hard to believe, but apparently the Chess Blog Carnival is now a source of controversy.

In a recent post, Chess Tyro writes that the most recent addition of the Carnival ... "left a sour taste in my mouth and make[s] me question, perhaps unfairly, whether the coordinator’s original intention was really as noble as he made it out to be..."

He lists three major complaints:

1. "...an internet money-making scheme that has a big fat zero relation to chess..." was included
   
   
2. "...no editorial work [was] done..."
   
   
3. The Carnival was "...posted in a newly created discussion forum known to be owned by a currently controversial chess personality that the coordinator seems to be closely associated with..."

While Chess Tyro thinks something nefarious is going on, I'm inclined to believe that most of this can be explained by lack of effort and attention to detail on the part of this month's Carnival editor. Although, in Jack's defense, it's not as if any of us offered to take on the task.

Wamala gets 20-40 years

From "Wamala sentenced for repeated sexual assaults on girl" at the Nashua Telegraph:

A former Lowell (Mass.) High School math teacher and chess coach was sentenced Monday to 20-40 years in prison for repeatedly raping a young girl....

Prosecutors had urged an even stiffer sentence of 30-60 years in prison. Assistant County Attorney Patricia LaFrance recognized Wamala won't become eligible for parole unless he admits his guilt as part of the prison's sex-offender treatment program and thus may serve the maximum term, effectively a life sentence.

"If he chooses to step up and admit what he did, he has the chance to get out of prison before he dies," she said. "It's on him . . . the ball is in his hands."The victim, now 16, said though her life has improved since his arrest, Wamala had "ruined my life in a lot of different ways."

"There's nothing he can do to erase the past six years of my life. The damage is done," she said....

Wamala spoke at length before he was sentenced. Wamala said he agrees that a person found guilty of sexual assaults should be removed from society, but he said juries sometimes make mistakes and did so in his case.

Wamala said the girl had lied many times during her life, usually to cover up when she got into trouble. He spoke at length about instances when he said she lied about hitting another child in sixth grade, using a cell phone in school and sharing test answers with friends. Repeatedly, he remarked, "everything I have said can be verified by someone other than me."

"You have fooled people," he told her. "You know how to make yourself a victim, to appear as a victim."....

Chess Blogger Q & A

Pokemon Chess interviews Goran Urosevic of Chessdom and the Chess Strategy blog.

Ding! Dong!

Once the winds stopped swirling, all could see that Jorge's house had come crashing down upon the Canadian menace. Pascal was dead. Pascal was dead! After three years of tyranny, his reign of terror upon Blitzville had ended and Blitzkins everywhere piled into the streets and celebrated long into the night.

**********

The game was a classic example of what Blitz fans had been seeing from Sammour-Hasbun all throughout the US Chess League regular season -- time pressure, complications, and an ability to outplay his opponent from a potentially inferior position when everything was on the line. Sixteen moves in, Jorge was already under ten minutes. Each time Pascal closed the gap by contemplating his move for an extended period, Jorge expanded his time disadvantage on the next several moves. It was as if Jorge was luring Pascal into a time scramble. "Come play my kind chess," he must have been thinking. And once both reached single digits on the clock, it was Jorge who found the necessary moves and Pascal who made the catastrophic blunder.

Others have pointed out Charbonneau's error and an improvement that he didn't find until the game was long over (check out posts by Adamson, Bournival and Hoffman). Instead, I'd like to look at something different -- the position after Pascal's 15th move.

SM Sammour-Hasbun - GM Charbonneau

After 15...f5

I don't know how many club players, like myself, would have looked past 16.Qxg7. It restores the material balance and looks potentially threatening in conjunction with a bishop check on h5. Yet, it turns out to be inferior to Jorge's move 16.c4. After 16.Qxg7 Qf6 17.Qxf6 Rxf6 18.c4 bxc3 19.bxc3 Black's superior minor pieces must confer him some advantage. Instead, Jorge realized that he had better long-term prospects on the Queenside by eschewing the g7-pawn. It is critical moments like these that highlight the chasm in understanding between the likes of Jorge and the rest of us.

**********

Question: When is having a 2700 player on your team, not like having a 2700 player on your team?

Answer: When he doesn't take the team or the league seriously.

What other conclusion can be drawn from these remarkable comments that GM Nakamura made on the ICC after he drew his game with GM Christiansen:

"This isn't a real tournament"
"I'm not going to waste any of my d4 prep on this"

Now to be fair to Hikaru, even if he is being paid to play in the USCL (and I don't know that he is), it is a small pittance at best. As a world class player, it pales in comparison to the potential rewards of winning a critical game at a major international tournament or a big money swiss. Therefore, from a perspective of self interest, you can't really blame him for his attitude.

However, this raises serious concerns for the growth and development of the league. Surely the popularity of the USCL depends on recruiting the best players to play. Yet, how can fans and, more importantly, sponsors be expected to take the league seriously if the top players don't?

**********

The Board 4 encounter between Williams and Zenyuk did turn out to be critical to the outcome of the match. However, it is not a game that will be enshrined in the USCL Hall of Fame. Even though I don't know a heck of a lot about the King's Indian, I immediately recognized that 7.Bd2 was, to be kind, somewhat unusual. And 14.Kf1 was, shall we say, not exactly classical. On the other hand, perhaps this was Chris' strategy all along since Iryna responded with two inferior moves in row (14...Bf5 and 15...Qd7) which left her with a lost position.

Braden Bournival rightly points out that William's technique in closing out the game was less than precise. While watching on the ICC, I don't know how many times I asked myself, "Why doesn't he just take the pawn on d6?" or ...

NM Williams - WFM Zenyuk

After 37...h6

... "what's wrong with 38.Ne6?"

Of course, Chris never put the full point at risk and did eventually close out the game and the match for Boston.

**********

There's not much point in spending a lot of time on a game which didn't play a role in the final result, though I suppose it's worth noting that NM Shmelov suffered his first loss of season. I'm sure he'll be studying up on how not to lose better endgames prior to the Championship match.

**********

Did I forget to mention that the Blitz defeated the New York Knights 2.5-1.5 to advance to the US Chess League finals? Ah yes, the USCL Championship match...

Who will they be playing? We're not sure yet.

When will it be? According to a note on the USCL homepage, there seems to be some uncertainty about that too.

Most importantly, how much will Blitz management be charging for those Harvard Astrophysics Center luxury box seats?

BCC Weblog provides independent coverage of the United States Chess League. It is not affiliated with the USCL or the Boston Blitz.

Be Like Mike

With thanks to The Knights of Castle Kimbark ... the young player pictured above must be a big fan of Noah Pang's chess career.

Noah Pang

Charbonneau goes down!

Blitz are through to the US Chess League finals ... more later.

Consistency is...

I always get nervous about group think. Nevertheless, here is a round up of the USCL prognosticators' predictions for tonight's Boston Blitz-New York Knights playoff match.

• JG: 2-2 (Boston advances)
  
  
• Ron Young: 2-2 (Boston advances)
  
  
• Arun Sharma: 2-2 (Boston advances)
  

Sparkling Moves

Here is a position from Round 3 of the 2007 BCC Championship with Black to move.

NM Wang-IM Vigorito

After 25.Bb2-c3

Highlight the space between the brackets for the continuation.

[Dave finished off Frank with 25...Re3!! The game concluded 26.d3 (if 26.dxe3 then 26...Rd1 wins) Rexd3 27.Ba5 (27.Bxd3 Rxd3 and Black still can't be stopped from playing Rd1) Rd1 28.Rxd1 cxd1=Q 0-1]

By the way, the final crosstable for the Championship is now available in the news section of the BCC website.

More Globe coverage of the Boston Blitz

The Boston Blitz were again a topic of the Boston Globe's Chess Notes column (on Monday, November 12th). BCC Weblog received a mention as well. The article covers the regular season and was obviously submitted prior to the first round of the playoffs.

Chess Notes
By Harold Dondis and Patrick Wolff
Globe Correspondents

Chess has its heroes but they cannot parade through the streets of Boston to the acclaim of thousands. The Boston Blitz chess team does not claim to be a nation, like the Red Sox, but it has clinched the Eastern Division of the US Chess League. The Blitz does not have a Jonathan Papelbon to whiff ninth-inning batters and do a folk dance before a full stadium of fans. It doesn't have a Jacoby Gazellesbury to steal a base and win free Tacos for every person in the nation. However, it has its heroes who toil at the chessboard and come up with victories in live games on the Internet in front of a worldwide audience. Larry Christiansen and [Jorge] Sammour-Hasbun have nearly always held Board 1, facing the likes of Hikaru Nakamura and Alex Stripunsky, with no losses and with plus scores. Eugene Perelshteyn and Bill Kelleher have generally bulwarked second place, Denys Shmelov is Boston's third-place guy with no losses and a plus score. Fourth Board has been defended by Ilya Krasik and Chris Williams (who has a plus score).

Recall that the Boston Blitz won its Division last year but succumbed to New York in the playoffs. This year, New York has again qualified as a wild card. Jay Bonin came through with a critical win against the New Jersey Knockouts in the last round.

The schedule appears to be that the Philadelphia Inventors will play the New York Knights in Round 1. The winner will then face the Boston Blitz. In the West, the San Francisco Mechanics will play the Miami Sharks for the right to play the Dallas Destiny team. The winners of the two divisions will then face each other for the finals. [DG] in his Boylston Chess Blog has used a computer calculation to predict the winners, and he has [the] Boston Blitz on top, but like the computer printouts for global warming, we must wait and see actual results....

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Board 4 matchup between the Knight's Iryna Zenyuk and the Blitz's Chris Williams could be the critical one tomorrow night. At USCL news & gossip, Liz Vicary got the two combatants to comment about each other.

Zenyuk on Williams:

I think Chris is very dangerous opponent. Looking at his games I see great determination from his side, he is an aggressive player, calculates very well, he is not afraid to go into sharp, double-edged play where the price of tempo can cost you a point. The first game we played was very sharp, at some point I thought I lost the thread of a game, after 21.Nd6 I thought I was just worse, my attack didn’t work and my king was bad. Then, after 21…Nb6 I found nice rook maneuver, of course giving up his bishop was a mistake but we were both in time pressure, so it was hard to find the best moves. I hope for a hard fought game on Wednesday! And btw the song about Chris is great!

Williams on Zenyuk:

Well in our last game I really just messed up at the end, I didn’t play my fav move of all time quite possibly, I had my mouse about to release it instead I like just gave her a bishop and was lost the move was Qe6 sacking the queen for 2 pieces some pawns and tremendous dirty potential specially with her time situation. Iryna is a very strong player shes original, solid, and methodical, my game with her will be a hard one im sure I just hope I will be able to keep a consistent mind set throught the entire game.

Apparently, punctuation is a lost art.

BCC Weblog provides independent coverage of the United States Chess League. It is not affiliated with the USCL or the Boston Blitz.

BU Open 2007 results

The 13^th annual BU Open was held on Saturday, November 10 on a lovely day in the student union of Boston University. More than eighty players competed in what all agreed was a very pleasant venue – natural light from many windows, well-spaced tables and comfortable chairs, and a Starbucks a minute away in the food court (where one could grab pizza and burgers, sushi and salads, Chinese and turkey dinners between rounds.) TD Bernardo Iglesias of the Boylston Chess Foundation (under whose affiliation the tournament was rated) did his usual professional job. Of course, the tournament was sponsored by the Boston University Chess Club (Roza Eynullayeva and Barry Lai, co-presidents, Steven Abrahams, vice-president, Melvin Zhang, treasurer, and Richard Soohoo, secretary, and Robert Oresick, advisor.

This year a new prize, the Allan Ong prize for top undergraduate student, was added to honor Allan, who was the first president of the modern BU Chess Club and started the BU Open. After 14 years of living in Toronto and Boston, Allan returned to his native Manila in the Philippines.

The Open Section was won by Harvard freshman FM Teddy Coleman with 4 of 4 points.

Steven Abrahams, a BU freshman, won the U1900 section with 4 also. Teddy and Steven both tied for the 1^st annual Allan Ong prize for the top undergraduate college student.

Travis Dover, a BU alum and former BU Chess Club president, won the U1600 section, also with a perfect 4.

Stuart Finney of the Barrington School had a very upsetting tournament. Stuart (1951) defeated NM Christopher Williams (2302; BU Open Champion of 2005), drew with NM Jacob Chudnovsky (2397; BU Open Champion in 1997, playing again for the first time in 10 years after a sojourn in California), and drew with LM Eric Godin (2200).

You can view crosstables and photos of the BU Open at

http://picasaweb.google.com/oresick/BuOpen2007

and

http://picasaweb.google.com/oresick/BuOpen2007Stepak

Open section:

1st FM Teddy Coleman (4.0; $300)

2nd NM Christopher Williams (3.0; $40) & NM Lawyer Times (3.0; $40)

Top U2200 WIM Esther Epstein (3.0; $40) & Dr. Aung Kyaw Lwin (3.0; $40)

U1900 section:

1st Steven Abrahams (4.0; $75)

2nd Kapil Chandran (3.5; $40)

U1600 section:

1st Travis Dover (4.0; $75)

2nd Soheil Saadat (3.5; $20) & Corey Tolbert (3.5; $20)

Top U1200 Akshay Saini (3.0; $40)

Allan Ong Top Undergrad:

FM Teddy Coleman (4.0) & Steven Abrahams (4.0)

Corey Tolbert (3.5; $50)

(Corey won the prize money because Teddy and Steven qualified for more lucrative prizes.)

Top College – Northeastern University

Artem Sharamet, Soheil Saadat, Corey Tolbert, Eric Lawless, Kent Leung

(Only the top three scores were counted.)

Top High School – Newton North High School

Jesse Nicholas, Lior Rozhansky

Top Primary School - Clark

James Lung, Christine Lung, Timothy Lung