This page contains pictures of me at
chess tournaments. Enjoy!
Most of my photos are now on the
CalChess website in my photo album.
Please follow this link for literally hundreds of more photos of my
students and other Northern California chess players.
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Spring is the season for major scholastic tournaments. In 2007, we had three! First came the National
Junior High School Championship in Sacramento on March 30 to April 1. About 15 of my students attended and one,
Gregory Young, shared first place! Next
was the National High School Championship in
Kansas City. I coached the Saratoga
High School team along with long-time student NM Daniel Schwarz. See the three pages of photos below. Finally, the CalChess
Scholastics is the largest annual chess tournament west of the Continental
Divide. The 32nd edition was
held at the San Mateo Expo Center on April 28-29. This event also serves as a reunion for my students, over 20 in
all! Two students, Danya Naroditsky and
Steven Zierk, won the High School and Junior High divisions, respectively. Check out six pages of photos below.
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The largest annual tournament in Sacramento is the Sacramento
Chess Championship on the 4th of July weekend. The top adults and juniors from the Bay Area
battle each other and the triple digit heat of the central valley. Please see five pages of photos from the
2005 edition.
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National Open in Las Vegas is always one of
my favorite tournaments. In past years, I have been quite successful, even
winning under 2300 before. The 2005 edition wasn't so kind to me, except in the
blitz and G/10 championships. Six of my students also attended, and two played
well enough to win significant money prizes. Here are 18 pictures from this
tournament, including one of me playing (and defeating!) Grandmaster Varuzhan
Akobian.
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The 2004 edition of the CalChess Labor Day
tournament saw roughly 165 players venture into San Francisco to play at the
Holiday Inn on Van Ness. Senior Master Vladimir Mezentsev won the Master
section. I didn't exactly do too well as a player, but I am pleased to report
that most of my students who went performed quite well. I took 26 pictures of
players during round 3 of the tournament.
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In May 2004, I survived a 21 hour bus and train trip (each way!) to Tucson,
Arizona, to coach at the National Junior High School
championship. Since I already gave private lessons to about half of the
top players from Saratoga (near San Jose), I ended up coaching their entire
team. This photo was taken before
the final round by Rajiv Mulye (one of the chess dads). As usual, I was the
only one who brought a chair to sit on. ;-)
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These photos are from two big chess tournaments in Nevada during late 2003:
the Western States Open (Reno) and the North American Open (Las Vegas). Although I didn't do
so well in Reno, I tied for first under 2300 in Las Vegas. Maybe most
importantly, I had a blast at both tournaments.
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These were taken on my digital camera at a local tournament in February
2002. See the fpawn in action,
and see the board that he is
contemplating. His opponent was IM
John Donaldson. The game ended in a draw!
Here's another shot of me playing, this time
at the Berkeley People's
tournament on February 2001 versus IM Guillermo Rey.
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I spent the Winter Holidays 2000-01 in Milwaukee and Chicago, both playing
chess in the Pan American Intercollegiate chess
tournament and vacationing with my folks. Click here for some photos.
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Here is am posing in front of the Alps
in southern Germany. I am in my backup wheelchair here.
In 1997, I graduated from the University of California at Davis with B.S.
degrees in mechanical engineering and mathematics. Here is fpawn the graduate wearing his
engineering honors society (Tau Beta Pi) stole.
