Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 Subject: fpawn's newsletter March/April 2005 Hello chess students, parents and esteemed friends, I know it isn't quite April yet, but a lot is happening in scholastic chess over the next few weeks. Hence the extra newsletter. 1. Recent tournament news 2. California scholastic championships on April 15-17 3. Supernationals III on April 8-10 in Nashville 4. Lesson interruptions in April 5. Upcoming tournaments 6. Recommended tournaments during the summer 7. New section on my chess website ------------------------- 1. Recent tournament news ------------------------- Some of my students and I played in three different tournaments during the month of March. Unfortunately for me, the first two didn’t go so well. Congratulations to Matt and Corey for winning money at the Max Wilkerson G/45 tournament in San Francisco. Matt (1892) took under 2000 honors for his 3.5/5 score and defeated teenage star Drake Wang, rated 2148. Corey (1594) had a more modest 2.5/5 in the Open section but managed to draw with Matt. Daniel and I traveled to Reno for the annual Far West Open on March 18-20 with FIDE rating points on our minds. I played rather uninspired chess and failed to find several strong tactics. Perhaps you will understand if I say that I got checkmated by a 2060 player in 31 moves. As a consequence, I ended up with merely 2.5/6—-but my worst games were against FIDE unrated opponents so my international rating didn’t take a big hit. Daniel (2104) finished with the same 2.5/6 score, which means he performed much better than I did. He faced five players rated over 2280 USCF, drawing three of them (sadly, one of the draws was against his teacher). He even managed to draw IM David Vigorito in the last round! As a consequence of this performance and two other tournaments over the past seven months, Daniel has earned a published FIDE rating of 2192 (estimated). The Sacramento chess club team championship ended this past week with yet another victory by the TactiTals, captained by yours truly. The team won board prizes on the top four (out of six) boards, including my 4.5/5 result against two masters and three experts on top board. My student Caleb (1313) played on sixth board and scored 50% against difficult opposition. Other team members were John McCumiskey, John Cohen, Glenn Leotaud, Marvin Gilbert, Tyler Wilken, Jerry Schwarz and David Warner. Also notable was the performance of Daniel as the top player on a competing team, finishing with 3.5/4 including games against two masters. ------------------------------------------------------ 2. California scholastic championships on April 15-17 ------------------------------------------------------ If anyone has a time machine so that I can be in two cities at the same time, would you kindly let me borrow it. I really wish that certain adults could behave like mature adults so that we wouldn't have this ugly dilemma. However, we must accept it now. This means that I had to make a decision about where to spend my time. Since I have repeatedly recommended the Regionals tournament in San Jose, I will also be coaching the most at that tournament. Specifically, I plan to spend most of the day on Saturday, April 16 and the morning of Sunday, April 17 in San Jose. I will be available to go over games after my students finish rounds 1-4 in San Jose. Once the fifth round starts, I'll catch a train to Oakland in time to spend 90 minutes there before the final round. To summarize: I intend to be in San Jose for rounds 1-4 and in Oakland for rounds 5-6. I expect a majority of my students to follow my recommendation to play in San Jose. Daniel will, of course, be playing for the Denker prize in Oakland. I am aware that 2 or 3 of my other students plan to go against my recommendation and play in Oakland anyways. Regardless of where you play, my thoughts and good luck wishes are always with you! I hope to see everyone at least once over the weekend--so don't be shy!!! Entries for San Jose: (about 520 total right now) http://www.calnorthyouthchess.org/CalNorthRegionals2005/ENTRIES.html Entries for Oakland: none available ------------------------------------------------- 3. Supernationals III on April 8-10 in Nashville ------------------------------------------------- I will in Nashville, Tennessee, for Supernationals, leaving Sacramento on Wednesday, April 6 and returning home on Monday, April 11. 3466 players are signed up as of this minute, and they will likely break 5000 players. I will be coaching the Saratoga group (David, Jeff, Jojo, Tejas, Vijay, Elisha) in Nashville. Other local players already signed up include 8th grade rising star Sam Shankland (up to about 2000 with recent results), 6th grade state champion Tatsuro Yamamura, 4th grader Hugo Kitano and the top seed in the K-3 section Daniel Naroditsky (up to about 1900 with recent results). If you aren't going to Nashville, you can at least wish us good luck. :-) -------------------------------- 4. Lesson interruptions in April -------------------------------- The regular lesson schedule will be interrupted due to Supernationals and the state championships weekend. I will see most of you anyways at least once during that period. Tuesday 4/5 -- Gregory, Jeff and Jojo all 60 minutes instead of 90 minutes Wednesday 4/6 through Monday 4/11 -- NO LESSONS (I'm in Nashville) Tuesday 4/12 -- Gregory only Friday 4/15 through Sunday 4/17 -- NO LESSONS (I'm in San Jose and Oakland) I know that some of you have spring break during the week of 4/11-15. If you want to schedule an afternoon makeup lesson during that week, please let me know. I think Albert and Charles would be highest on the list of those interested. ----------------------- 5. Upcoming tournaments ----------------------- Check out the CalChess tournaments listings for events and flyers. I personally update the following two websites: adult schedule: http://www.calchess.org/tournamentschedule2.shtml scholastic schedule: http://www.calchess.org/scholasticschedule.shtml --------------------------------------------- 6. Recommended tournaments during the summer --------------------------------------------- Two parents have asked me which chess tournaments that I can recommend for those who are serious about improving their game. The summer is a great time to travel a little in order to play in bigger tournaments. Yes, there is a cost issue. However, not only do you get to feel the atmosphere of a 800+ player adult tournament, you also get to watch the country's elite players at work. Simply said, it is an experience that local events can't replicate. I recommend three tournaments this summer for those with the desire, time and a little money. I will almost certainly play at the first two and am thinking seriously about the third. 2005 National Open at the Las Vegas International Chess Festival Friday through Sunday, June 10-12, 2005 at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas http://www.64.com/natlopen/ I have attended the past two years and have enjoyed it both times. It is the largest annual adult tournaments west of the continental divide, drawing around 900 players. The tournament is directed by several of the country's top TDs, which means it runs smoothly despite the size. Another bonus is that hotel room rates at the Riviera merely $69-79 instead of typical $100 rates. 2005 Sacramento Chess Championship Saturday through Monday, July 2-4, 2005 in Sacramento No website yet. This tournament has become one of the largest events in northern California and doubles as a mini reunion for my chess students. Each year, John McCumiskey capably directs about 100 players in three sections. This year, I hope to organize a pizza dinner for my students, just to socialize, play blitz and eat good food! 106th U.S. Open Tuesday through Sunday, August 9-14, 2005 (6-day schedule) in Phoenix, Arizona No website yet. This is one the flagship events of the USCF. All players, from GMs to 1000s, play in one big section, but everyone competes for class prizes. Hence, if you are rated 1700 and do well, you might play several 2000+ rated opponents but still compete for under 1800 prizes. Have you ever dreamed of playing a world class GM? At the 2003 US Open in Los Angeles, I played on the stage against GM Julio Granda from Peru, then ranked #49 in the world (I lost in 48 moves). The downside to this event is that even the shortest schedule takes five days, so the hotel costs are significantly higher than other tournaments. ---------------------------------- 7. New section on my chess website ---------------------------------- You all should bookmark my chess website http://www.fpawn.com/chess/ for chess news and useful links. You can also check my lesson schedule (and cancellations). At the upper right are quick links to the CalChess tournaments listings and the USCF ratings calculator. The new section on my website is called Teaching Resources. Here you will find various bits of useful advice from other notable chess players and myself. For example, before you play in Nashville, San Jose or Oakland, check out the Top 10 list of things to remember at tournaments. I also linked various opening reference documents (I will create some more shortly) and annotated games. ---------------------------------- That's all for now. I hope to see everyone somewhere during April. Good luck to those who play! May all your pawns promote. Michael