News written by Alan Beck, except as indicated.

Friday June 25, 2004

Since I was only able to play one round of the June WCC G/60 Swiss myself, for this report I'll turn it over to those intrepid time travelers and chess players Bill and Ted, whom most of you'll know from their movies Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
 
Bill: "Tough crowd, Dude."
Ted: "A master and four experts, mixed in with the usual battle-hardened class players and up-and-coming juniors."
Bill: "How about Larry Zhu running off with the U1400 prize?"
Ted: "Excellent, Dude. He's definitely someone to watch."
Bill: "Did you see that massive tie for the U1800 loot between six players? Talk about competition!"
Ted: "Yeah, Dude. But only Michael Gosselin, Peter Sherwood, Tom De Plonty, and Michael Lease were playing for prize money. Still you gotta give credit to Amrit Gupta, who also scored three points despite missing four rounds. And I was impressed by James Lung. Rated only 1401, and competing under the scholastic discount, he knocked off an 1814 player."
Bill: "Most excellent, Dude."
Ted: "Quite so. But David Plotkin at 1844 motored by four higher-rated players to take clear second with four and a half points."
Bill: "Outstanding, Dude. Did you know he also won the upset prize?"
Ted: "Most outstanding."
Bill: "But how about that Lawyer Times taking clear first with five points?"
Ted: "Bodacious, Dude."
Bill: "Hey, Dude, we'll have to stop by this great club again. Did you thank the tournament director, Michael Lease?"
Ted: "Sure did, Dude. And I'm marking this club down as 'most bodacious.' "

Saturday May 22, 2004

"Even a blind chicken sometimes finds a kernel of corn," was the typically humble and humorous comment Dr. Ed Epp made to me after taking clear first with 3½ out of 4 in the WCC May 21st G/29. Ed told me that it was a favorite expression of the late chess master Al Horowitz.  When the good doctor emailed me earlier in the day he wasn't sure he could make the tournament, as he'd just returned from Washington D.C., where he consults with major organizations like The National Academy of Science. So I'm glad that he managed to squeeze us into his busy schedule, and that he found a nice fat kernel in the form of prize money. 
 
Another of Ed's favorite expressions is to call a successful player a 'heavy lifter.' That term certainly applies to Lawyer Times and Todd Chase, who shared second with 3 each. Lawyer surely has the most euphonious name in chess. He is also one of the great gentlemen in the game. Todd got there the hard way by drawing nailbiters in rounds 3 and 4 against the two top seeds. He always impresses with his superb endgame technique and nerves of steel.
 
Alan Beck also finished on 3 points with a healthy dose of luck, thereby gaining first in the U1600s. Our superb webmaster Peter Sherwood took second, despite being his usual helpful self doing everything from gathering entries to manning the computer and printing out the round pairings. There could have been some confusion with the announcements, as the father/son McDermott duo came. They both have the first name of Michael to boot, so when pairings were first called it sounded as though there was but one super player who was going to play two games simultaneously. Anyone who has seen Michael the elder in his full Renaissance attire (finely made by his wife), complete with sword, quickly realizes how a propos it is that he plays the game of kings.
 
Robert Farrell and Mustafa Buxamusa shared the U1200 loot. Robert had a fine upset win over a strong class player. Little Mustafa finished 15th in the April K3 nationals. Earlier this year he took 7th place in New England, and 3rd in Massachusetts. His bright and curious mind seemed fascinated by our fancy club laptop and its Swiss Sys software. He picked up quickly and helped me enter the round scores. Do we have both a budding TD and a possible world-beater here? 
 
Chess must surely be unique in that it requires one to play at so many time controls. There is a world of difference between playing one-minute chess on the Internet and conducting a long, slow correspondence game that could last well over a year. Fortunately the powers that be do at least have separate ratings for things like correspondence and blitz. But the remaining branches of the game are just arbitrarily divided into quick and regular ratings. Yet quick play can run from 10 to 59 minutes. Regular play can go from 60 minutes for an entire game to just twenty moves in two hours. Those are big differences. It's hard to think of any other sport that requires such a range and the consequent adaptability.
 
Traditionally the most respected form has been the regular rating with long time frames. So once or twice a year our club rolls out a long-play tournament running a number of weeks. It was appropriate that the three heaviest hitters (in rating order) -- Charles Riordan, Frank Sisto, and Lawyer Times -- shared first place in the WCC April Long-Play event played at 40/90, SD/30. They are all wonderful players and good people. I'm always impressed by the fact that they are constantly willing to go over games with those much weaker than they are, while freely sharing their knowledge and insight.
 
Peter Sherwood deservedly won the U1800 prize. Although one of our club players does forestry work, sadly it isn't Peter, as I'd so enjoy referring to him as the Sheriff of Sherwood Forest. Stephen De Souza, of pranic healing fame, split the U1500 money with youngster James Lung. Along the way James beat a player 466 points higher. Way to go James. Despite that the resident upset king, George Comeau, snagged the upset prize yet again by knocking off a player rated 525 points above him.
 
Special thanks to Mike Lease and Peter Sherwood, both club stalwarts, for doing their usual superb job of directing.
 
Thursday May 21, 2004
There is a curious dichotomy about time, in that while it can be objectively measured, nonetheless it is experienced subjectively. What a difference there is between half an hour in the dental chair and half an hour enraptured in a favorite activity. The former seemingly takes forever, while the later flies by. So what does this have to do with chess, you are asking? Patience little grasshopper, all will soon be revealed.
 
One prediction of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity was that as an object approached the speed of light, time would slow down. Sure enough, particles emitted from the sun with very short lifetimes, that should be long over before arriving on earth, actually survive the journey. In a sense they are miniature time travelers who've gone beyond their own future. Likewise, in some ways those playing blitz chess are also time travelers, for I'm sure all of you have experienced the slowing down of time in games. On a good night multiple variations flash before you, your moment expands, and you can see in a fraction of time what would normally take many minutes. This phenomenon is known in sports. Top quarterbacks have talked about this slowed state of time where they see the whole field and seemingly have ages to make the correct decision, even though outwardly only a few seconds elapse before the arrival of the on-rushing 300-pound behemoths. 
 
So my theory is that our minds are somehow linked to time. Perhaps our seemingly subjective experience is objective in the sense that when our minds are greatly stimulated then the speed of thought creates this time-dilation effect. And quick chess can provide that stimulus.
 
The top time-travelers in the WCC March 5th blitz were Lawyer Times and Justin Brown, both with a phenomenal 13 out of 15. Stanimir Ilic was close on their heels with a worthy 12. Stan recently called me from Colorado, where he has relocated, to say how much he missed everyone. We sure all miss him too. The under-1800 winners were Simon Slutsky and Alan Beck at 8½. Special mention should be made of Ily Rozonoyer, who won cash with a fine 9½, despite having one of the lowest ratings (1351) in a strong field with many experts. 
 
The winners for the May 6th blitz were Frank Sisto and Max Enkin, with John Guzman taking third place loot only a half-point back. Frank had the advantage of much prior experience time-traveling on the tennis courts, where he is quite a handful. Max is ranked in the top ten nationally in chess for his age group and shows great promise. John must also experience some time dilation when driving, as he called me from Rhode Island around 7, yet somehow made it in time to play.
 
The WCC G10, May 13, featured the return of all three Brandeis musketeers (two playing, one observing), with head honcho Steven Winer claiming sole first. Steven will have no problem utilizing his cash, as he majored in economics and history. He conceded only one draw, to Lawyer Times, who took clear second with 6 out of seven. Lee Pendexter and Alan Beck shared the U1700 money. Our club Webmaster Peter Sherwood, the sparkling Marielle Murphy, and the noted bookseller Randi Malcuit split the last under prize. Marielle, who is quite the speed specialist, upheld the honor of the fair sex by knocking off a player close to 500 points higher along her way. Thanks to Peter Sherwood for his flawless directing, and to Steve Carlin for all of his invaluable help.  

Thursday March 25, 2004
Stan the Man, also known as Stanimir Ilic, lived up to his nickname at the WCC G/29 on March 19. Much like the old Stanley Steamer car, he steamed through all his opponents the way to a perfect 4-0 score. It was a strong field, as evidenced by the triple tie for second among Lawyer Times, Charles Riordan, and John Guzman. And I can vouch for their strength, as I had to play two of them!
 
Howard Goldowsky and John Sutherland split the U1700 prize, while Stephen De Souza ran off with a bundle, taking clear first in the U1500, as well as winning the upset prize money for knocking off a player with a rating over 300 points above his. Despite all those free blitz lessons I gave him, he didn't share any of his loot with me!
 
Congratulations should also go to Jack Appelmans, who, though coming off a long layoff and being outrated by over 400 points, still fought to a tough draw against his first-round opponent. Mustafa Buxamusa, while only a youngster, gallantly battled all of his much more experienced foes. He's a real fighter, who was in every game. As young and talented as he is, it won't be long before he becomes a contender.
 
Many thanks to Steve Carlin, Michael Gosselin, and Peter Sherwood for their invaluable assistance.
 
This coming Friday, March 26, will be an open night for blitz, analysis, and bughouse. If there's enough interest, I'd be happy to run a fun blitz event.  On April 2nd, we'll kick off our four-round, long play (40/90, SD/30) tournament that will run every Friday of the month, with the exception of April 9th, when Peter Sherwood will be directing the club's inaugural Fischer-Random event.
 
On a personal note, my review of Decision-Making at the Chessboard was posted yesterday at the fine www.ChessCafe.com site. If you like it, let them and me know, and I'll consider doing more reviews for them. And of course I'd love to hear any comments or helpful criticism, as that is always useful for doing a better job next time. If you're not already familiar with Chess Cafe, it contains a really nice blend of news, reviews, articles, history, and opening theory. Many consider it the best chess site on the web. Chess Cafe already has a well-deserved reputation for being an excellent provider of chess books and related  items. Now that they've picked up the USCF business, they will the first stop for most players looking for chess-themed books, equipment, or software. Over the years I've received outstanding service from them, sometimes getting orders in only two days! Hanon Russell, who might be familiar to some as the creator of the fine yearly chess calendars, is the owner, and he is one of the finest gentleman in the chess world.

Tuesday March 16, 2004
Last Friday saw some exciting chess, in a seven-round G/10 open Swiss. The field of 17 was dominated by WCC’s own Lawyer Times, who was a perfect gentleman in winning all seven of his games and the $60 first prize. A point behind, with only a loss to Lawyer, was Stanimir Ilic (an imperfect gentleman?!), who got $30 for his efforts. John Guzman and Geoff Collins, who both have deceptively low quick ratings, tied for third, splitting a $20 prize.

John Sutherland, who cleverly took a first-round bye, won the Under-1700 prize, collecting $50 for his 3½-point effort. There was a three-way tie for second, among Alan Beck, Randy Malcuit and Steve De Souza, each with 3 points and 10 extra dollars in his pocket.

Fred Smith, returning to tournament chess after some absence, got the proverbial drink from a fire hose, and had to take a bye in round 3 to recover his poise. Nick Sterling, although unable to enter the tournament, did get in one convincing win as a house player in the last round.

In a memorable round 2 game, Alan Beck was winning against Steve De Souza in every respect, save one (mate in one, that is). Hearts and flowers to Alan and exact change (no bills, please) to Steve.

The printer had run out of ink at the end of the previous tournament, so the computer pairings had to be copied by hand, just like in the good old days.

As a bonus, Peter Sherwood, the TD, generously contributed a piece (or more) to most of his opponents.

Preceding the tournament, several WCC members puzzled over the study below, found on the Chessbase Web site last week. Our resident endgame and study expert Jacob Nemchenok solved it in approximately 30 seconds.
Study diagram-White to move and win
White to move and win

Following the G/10, some serious bughouse (is that an oxymoron?) took place.
--Sherwood

Monday January 26, 2004
The “Battle of the Ages” took place in the last round of the WCC G/29, 4-round Swiss, held January 23: George Comeau, age 71, versus Michael Oliveri, age 7. In this particular duel George's greater experience won out, but young Michael definitely showed talent. Much credit goes to him for his courage in competing in an event where he was the only scholastic. I didn't even know the moves at his age!
 
That fine gentleman, Stanimir Ilic, won yet again, with a perfect score no less. He has now won four outright first places in five tries. Lawyer Times, Eric Willmann, and yours truly tied for second with 3 points each. Since I also qualified for the first under prize through some luck, Lawyer and Eric split the second-place loot. Sharing the U1450 money were Buddhadeb Biswas and Stephen DeSouza. Special thanks to Michael Lease for his flawless directing, and to Stephen Carlin for, as always, his help with promotion, registration, and a myriad of other things. The club is lucky to have them both.
 
That "other" tournament in Wijk aan Zee ended Sunday with Anand taking clear first with 8½ out of 13 (five wins vs a lone loss). Leko and Adams were a half-point back on 8. Other scores: Topolov/Bologon 7½; L van Wely/Bareev/Kramnik (three losses!) 6½; Akopian/Shirov/Svidler 6; Sokolov/Zhong Zhang 5; Timman 4. This was certainly a major disappointment for Kramnik. The next super-tournament will be in Linares in February. Kasparov will be playing.
 
After chowing down at Country Buffet in the Watertown Mall recently, I noticed some really nice chess sets in the store opposite them—Tobacco Shed. In addition to practical plastic sets, they also have fine ones made of wood and onyx. There were also a number of thematically-designed sets, such as one featuring firemen. I almost bought a set from Greece with a most unusual and attractive design. Fortunately, considering I already have more sets than I know what to do with, reason won out. But anyone looking for a fine playing set, or who likes to collect unusual sets, might want to check them out. The address is 550 Arsenal Street in Watertown. (617) 923-8187. I'm still thinking about that set from Greece!  
 
This coming Friday will be a casual night. Then starting Feb 6, we'll be running a six-round, regular-rated, G/60 tournament. There will be two rounds per night, then, and on Feb 13th and 20th.

Sunday, January 18, 2004
Lucky ‘21’ is associated with some mysterious barriers. It is the age separating childhood from adulthood. It is also linked to the mystical boundary leading to the afterlife. For it is said that at the moment the soul crosses into “the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns” the body loses exactly 21 grams. On January 16th, at the Waltham Chess Club’s 2004 inaugural G/10, the ‘barrier to victory’ was a tough field of, you guessed it, 21 seasoned chess warriors.

The man with the most mojo turned out to be the chief musketeer from Brandeis, Steven Winer, who was undefeated in taking clear first with 6½ out of 7. Max Enkin finished just a half point back, also going undefeated. At only fourteen he has a bright future, and is currently ranked in the top five nationally in his age group. Max is a fine young man. I will always remember his courtesy in reminding me to punch my clock after I’d forgotten to in a tournament game many years ago at the Armenian Cultural Center. Beating out seven higher-rated players, Simon Slutsky, another of the fabled Brandeis musketeers, grabbed third place. It’s a shame our game wasn’t recorded, as Simon’s positional play was masterly. He must have been studying Nimzowitsch’s immortal zugzwang game, as he squeezed me until I had no decent moves left.

Despite tough pairings (six of his seven opponents were higher rated), Geoffrey Collins scored an outstanding 4½ to seize the top U1700 prize. Close on his heels were Neil Cousin and Peter Sherwood. Neil only lost to the top two finishers and an expert. Peter is doing yeoman work setting up our club web site. You’ll be able to view the crosstable at http://walthamchessclub.org/ as soon as I can get the new laptop set up for sending files. Hopefully that will be some time tomorrow.

Next week the WCC will be holding a 4-round, rapid-rated, G/29 Swiss. Registration will be 6:45 till 7:15 p.m., with the first round as close to 7:30 as we can get it. Entry fee: $15 ($20 non-members), with 80% returned in cash prizes.

P.S. For those interested in top-flight chess, after seven rounds of the super tournament at Corus-Wijk aan Zee, Anand leads with 5. Adams and Kramnik have 4½ each.

Leko, Svidler, and Topolov follow with 4. Akopian and van Wely have 3½. Bareev (whose French Defense is taking a battering), Bologan, and Shirov have 3. Sokolov and Timman trail with 2½. No surprise that Zhong Zhang brings up the rear with 2. But seeing Shirov on only 3 is a bit of a surprise. The Latvian genius (who once made what many experts consider the greatest move of all time) seems to be in a bit of a lull. However there are still six rounds to go. A number of sites are carrying the games live. Here are two: www.coruschess.com or www.ruschess.com. Round 8 games start tomorrow, January 19, at 8:30 a.m. our time. Enjoy!

Thursday, January 15, 2004
Chess seems especially popular in cold climates. So it is appropriate that the Waltham Chess Club will be running a seven-round, quick-rated, G/10 tomorrow (Friday, Jan 16), which is predicted to be the coldest morning in these parts in half a century. This is your chance to play on a historic day inside a warm and cozy site. Registration will begin at 6:45 p.m., with round one starting approximately at 7:30. Entry fee: $15 for members; $20 non-members. Cash prizes for top finishers and under sections winners.
 
Thanks to the yeoman efforts of Peter Sherwood we now have a club website http://walthamchessclub.org/. Obviously it is just getting off the ground right now, and additions will continue to be made.  Suggestions or help will always be welcome.
 
Now on to last week's G/5 tournament. Checkmate comes from the Persian 'shah' (king) and 'mat' (defeated), so it was fitting that 'king capture' was used in these blitz games. Stanimir Ilic kept his WCC record perfect by winning his third tournament in as many tries. I'll have to find out his secret. Hot on his heels, just a half-point behind, above a number of experts, were Jacob Nemchenok and Frank Sisto. David Plotkin ran away with the top under prize, scoring three and a half points more than Randy Malcuit and John Sutherland, who tied for second. Special mention should be made of young (all of 7) Winber Xu, who could only play a few games before having to depart for bed. Nonetheless, before he left he'd taken the scalps of two much higher rated (close to 600 point differential) players. He will bear watching.
 
Thanks to Todd Chase for his superb directing, and to Steve Carlin, who did his usual, much appreciated, behind the scenes work, to ensure a smooth-running event.