Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 Subject: fpawn's newsletter March 2007 Hello chess students, parents and friends! Here is yet another edition of the fpawn newsletter. This issue should have come out a week or so ago, but I have been awaiting further details on the main story: the US Championship. In January, I reported that I qualified. In February, I was disappointed that the sponsor had dropped out. Today, I have good news for all of you: a new sponsor has signed up and the US Championship will be held in Oklahoma this coming May. You can bet that I'll be there! For most of the rest of you, the main event in the coming months will be the nationals (either K-9 in Sacramento or K-12 in Kansas City) and the CalChess state scholastic in San Mateo. I will be coaching at all three of these tournaments. It has been my policy in the past to coach for free. However, this year I am implementing a voluntary but recommended fee equivalent to the cost of one lesson for each event (e.g. K-9 nationals and CalChess states are two different events). IF I AM ABLE TO GO OVER GAMES WITH YOUR CHILD AT THESE MAJOR LOCAL SCHOLASTIC TOURNAMENTS, I RECOMMEND THIS SMALL FEE TO COVER MY TIME AND EFFORT. A higher fee may apply for tournaments involving significant travel such as flights. For more details, I have included a section for each tournament in the newsletter. It will be a very busy time for me. This will mean substantial interruptions to my teaching schedule throughout April (four major tournaments in five weekends). I will completely stop all teaching in May except for a few top students who are able to assist me in my opening preparation for the US Championship itself. PLEASE READ SECTION 4 CAREFULLY FOR MY SCHEDULE DURING THE SPRING. Those of you who read my entire newsletter will find a small editorial about teaching at the end. Essentially the editorial is a work in progress. I have not made any firm decisions nor will I make any decisions in the near future. I do, however, welcome input. There will likely be multiple newsletters in April: The first will cover the National K-9 Championship in Sacramento (14 out of my 15 California students young enough to play are signed up). The second will cover the Far West Open adult tournament and the National K-12 Championship in Kansas City (6 of my high school students will attend). My May newsletter will cover the CalChess Scholastics and will discuss my preparation for the US Championship. Finally, many of you might be aware of the ChessCafe incident. I don't want to make a bigger deal about it, but you can rest assured that I have lost sleep over having one of my students falsely accused of dishonesty when the other guy clearly was in violation of USCF rules. I was at the tournament and personally witnessed the offensive behavior. I am disappointed that ChessCafe would publish such a disparaging story, especially when it was refused by at least two other leading chess websites. I URGE ALL OF MY STUDENTS, PARENTS AND FRIENDS TO REFRAIN FROM ALL PURCHASES FROM THE CHESSCAFE WEBSITE UNLESS THE EDITORS COME BACK TO THEIR SENSES. Michael ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. US Championship in Oklahoma in May! 2. People's Tournament in Berkeley 3. Player of the Month 4. Fpawn's schedule for spring 2007 5. National K-9 Championship in Sacramento 6. Far West Open in Reno 7. National K-12 Championship in Kansas City 8. CalChess Scholastics in San Mateo 9. April USCF ratings and Top 100 lists 10. Upcoming tournaments 11. Lesson schedule and website 12. Editorial -------------------------------------- 1. US Championship in Oklahoma in May! -------------------------------------- In the January newsletter, I wrote: "The stunning news came hours before round 1 (of North American Open in Las Vegas) when the USCF President Bill Goichberg congratulated me on qualifying for the 2007 US Championship. Unknown to me, my result and tiebreaks at the US Open last summer in Chicago were sufficient for a qualifying spot." In the February newsletter, I wrote: "Now it turns out that I qualified for a tournament that might not ever take place. This reminds me of my mom's advice when I was younger: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Everything unraveled on January 10 when the sponsor of the US Championship (America's Foundation For Chess) withdrew its funding for 2007." The up and down saga finally came to an end on February 28 when the USCF announced that a new sponsor had been found. The Frank K. Berry US Championship will take place on May 15-23 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Mr. Frank Berry is a wealthy businessman in Oklahoma who has supported chess over the past few years. The tournament, featuring a prize fund of at least $65,000, will be a nine-round swiss. This exactly what was planned by AF4C before they dropped out in January. A total of 31 players have qualified either by rating or at tournaments during 2006, including your own fpawn! Three additional players will be chosen by the sponsors and, in a controversial move, anyone else can play by paying Patron entry fees ranging from $5,000 for Grandmasters to $20,000 for 2200s to $50,000 for those under 2000. I am the lowest rated of the 31 qualifiers, although it is likely that one or more of the additional players might be below me. I don't remember the last time when I was the lowest rated player (or close to it) in a tournament! This will definitely be a great learning experience. If I play well, the US Championship offers the opportunity for an IM norm (the requirement of foreign players is dropped for a national championship). I intend to report on the tournament daily via a blog and perhaps on ICC. List of 31 players qualified in order of February 2007 USCF rating: GM Gata Kamsky, GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Alexander Onischuk, GM Gregory Kaidanov, GM Ildar Ibragimov, GM Jaan Ehlvest, GM Yury Shulman, GM Alexander Shabalov, GM Joel Benjamin, GM Varuzhan Akobian, GM Alexander Ivanov, GM Alexander Stripunsky, GM Sergey Kudrin, GM Eugene Perelshteyn, GM Julio Becerra, GM Susan Polgar, GM Dmitry Gurevich, GM Nick DeFirmian, IM Enrico Sevillano, GM Melikset Khachiyan, WGM Anna Zatonskih, FM Joseph Bradford, IM David Pruess, IM Irina Krush, IM Justin Sarkar, IM Bryan Smith, FM Robert Hess, IM Michael Mulyar, IM Ron Burnett, FM Ray Robson, NM Michael Aigner ---------------------------------- 2. People's Tournament in Berkeley ---------------------------------- (Many of you may have already received this in a separate email.) Thirteen current and one former student played in Berkeley at the People's Tournament. It was really nice to see all of you. The event actually went quite well for my group as a whole. Although most of my students played up a section, the "worst" results were 2.5 out of 6 and 2.0 out of 5. Thus it is no surprise that 11 of my 14 students gained rating points. In fact, the average rating gain over all 14 kids was +26 points. That's impressive when you realize that a many of these students are already rated over 1800. Way to go!!! My students (and I) had the greatest impact on the Open and A sections. Danya was leading the Open section after the first four rounds, having drawn with top rated FM Craig Mar. In the end, Danya had to face all three of the masters who tied for first place. Matt and David both drew against the top local junior NM Nicolas Yap. And I played OK with an undefeated score of 4.0/6, drawing with FM Mar and NM Yap. The A section was completely dominated by my students. There were no less than six students in this one section! Congratulations to Steven (officially rated 1527) for taking clear first place! Of course, his rating was a joke and everyone knows he is really closer to expert strength. Alan also did well but stumbled on the last day to finish in second place. KevinH took the opposite route, stumbling early but winning the final two rounds against 1900+ rated opponents. OPEN SECTION Michael (2308) = 4.0/6 = 4th place Danya (2115) = 3.5/6 = faced three masters and drew FM Craig Mar (2425) Matt (1985) = 3.5/6 = now rated 2046 David (2110) = 2.5/6 EXPERT SECTION Arthur (1814) = 3.0/6 CLASS A Steven (1527) = 5.0/6 = 1st place and now rated 1860 and rapidly rising Alan (1916) = 4.5/6 = shared 2nd place and +15 rating KevinH (1646) = 4.5/6 = shared 2nd place and +105 rating Aaron (1846) = 3.5/6 Marvin (1822) = 2.5/6 Adam (1627) = 2.0/4 CLASS B James (1551) = 3.5/6 = +46 rating Andrew (1460) = 2.0/5 = +17 rating RESERVE SECTION Rik (1220) = 3.0/5 = shared 2nd place U1400 and now rated 1320 Rebekah (1403) = 1.0/2 To read more about the People's Tournament, please check out my photo story on the CalChess homepage (http://www.calchess.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=90000). At the bottom of the page, you can view a couple of games with the Java board. That story also has links to hundreds of photos taken by various individuals, including yours truly. Keep up the good work kids! ---------------------- 3. Player of the Month ---------------------- The Player of the Month for March is one of my newer students. I don't like to give awards to newcomers because it is difficult to judge whether their improvement came from me or from previous chess instruction. However, Steven Zierk's leap in rating has simply been too great to ignore. He was rated 1527 in December when he returned to chess after a five year layoff. When he started working with me in January, he was 1549. In just four tournaments since then, Steven has gained over 300 rating points to 1860. His greatest achievement to date has been taking clear first in the A section of the People's tournament. He also played well in the Silicon Valley Challenge, defeating NM Albert Rich (2286) and two other opponents rated over 1900 to finish tied for second in the open section. Those of you don't know Steven may not be aware that he was ranked #2 in the nation way back in 2nd grade. He is the only Northern California player to win the World Open (under 1400 section) since I became active in the community in themid 1990s! I actually taught Steven a few lessons back in the summer of 2001--I wonder if he remembers. Unfortunately, he quit chess for about five years, playing only one or two tournaments a year. I am convinced that Steven is still very much underrated. He has already completed two 2200+ performances (People's and SVC), which seems to indicate that he is at least expert strength. In fact, Steven's goal was to an expert by April 1. Whether that was a fool's joke or not, I don't think it will happen. But there is little doubt that Steven will be an expert soon, probably this summer. Keep up the good work! Honorable mention: Last month I promised Player of the Month recognition to any student who beats me. I didn't think I would have to eat my words just a few days after sending the newsletter. Congratulations to Gregory for outplaying your teacher in a complicated middlegame at the Gross G/45 tournament at Mechanics'. Perhaps he was inspired by his old "brother" Jeff beating me a few weeks earlier (Jeff Young and Gregory Young are not really related). Jeff and Gregory join Daniel Schwarz (2005) and Robert Chan (2001) as the only students to ever beat me. With a current rating of 2073 at his 12th birthday, Gregory now has a shot (with a little effort) at becoming a chess master even before he becomes a teenager. ----------------------------------- 4. Fpawn's schedule for spring 2007 ----------------------------------- I have a busy schedule ahead of me for the next three months. My teaching schedule in April and May will be practically non-existent. In fact, there will be only one week of regular lessons: Wednesday, April 18 through Wednesday, April 25. I make up for this by making myself available at various scholastic tournaments. today thru Wed 3/28 = normal schedule Thu 3/29 - Sun 4/1 = National JHS Championship in Sacramento (coach and volunteer) Mon 4/2 - Wed 4/4 = lessons limited to students attending Reno or Kansas City tournaments only Thu 4/5 - Tue 4/10 = Far West Open in Reno and mini-camp for Saratoga team (player and coach) Wed 4/11 = rest day Thu 4/12 - Mon 4/16 = National HS Championship in Kansas City (coach) Tue 4/17 = rest day Wed 4/18 - Wed 4/25 = normal schedule Thu 4/26 = rest day Fri 4/27 - Sun 4/29 = CalChess State Scholastics in San Mateo (coach and TD) Mon 4/30 = rest day Tue 5/1 - Mon 5/14 = preparation for US Championship -- lessons limited to and 2000+ rated who help me and those playing in National Elementary Championship in Nashville Tue 5/15 - Thu 5/24 = US Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma (player) Fri 5/25 - Mon 5/28 = rest days I have posted this schedule on my website (http://www.fpawn.com/chess/schedule.htm). Please bookmark that page and check it if you are unsure of your lesson schedule. ------------------------------------------ 5. National K-9 Championship in Sacramento ------------------------------------------ National Junior High School (K-9) Championship March 30 - April 1 Sacramento, CA http://www.uschess.org/tournaments/2007/jhs/ A total of 14 students are signed up for the National Junior High School Championship in Sacramento. I guess I will be quite busy. My plan is to stake out a table or group of tables in the parents/skittles room and hang out there for much of the weekend. I will be available to go over games and for a shoulder to cry on. I plan to volunteer at the tournament on Thursday (bughouse and blitz championships) and perhaps also on Friday (round 1 only). After that, I have no specific plans other than to make myself available to my students. I will write another email before the tournament, but I want to take this opportunity to share one rule that I will enforce strictly. I DO NOT want to see any of my students come out of the playing room within the first 90 minutes of the round (G/120 time control). You MUST TAKE YOUR TIME AT A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. I allow only one exception: If you can demonstrate to me that your opponent played fast and really badly (e.g. lost pawn on move 10 and a piece on move 15), then I will let you off the hook. It has been my policy in the past to coach for free. However, this year I am implementing a voluntary but recommended fee equivalent to the cost of one lesson for each event (e.g. K-9 nationals and CalChess states are two different events). IF I AM ABLE TO GO OVER GAMES WITH YOUR CHILD AT THESE MAJOR LOCAL SCHOLASTIC TOURNAMENTS, I RECOMMEND THIS SMALL FEE TO COVER MY TIME AND EFFORT. A higher fee may apply for tournaments involving significant travel such as flights. If you ever need to get a hold of me, my cell phone number is (530) 848-8221. Save it! LIST OF STUDENTS: K-9 Danya Naroditsky, 2115, 5th Gregory Young, 2060, 6th Charles Sun, 1899, 9th Aamir Azhar, 1392, 5th (still listed in K-8) K-8 Steven Zierk, 1527, 8th (Fisher, April rating of 1860) Arthur Liou, 1814, 7th Sam Bekker, 1703, 5th Yian Liou, 1637, 4th Adam Goldberg, 1627, 7th James Kwok, 1551, 4th (MSJE) Kevin Garbe, 1541, 6th (Redwood) Rebekah Liu, 1403, 8th Evan Ye, 1341, 7th (Redwood) Rik Basu, 1220, 8th (Fisher, still listed in K-9) ------------------------ 6. Far West Open in Reno ------------------------ Far West Open April 6-8 Reno, NV http://www.renochess.org/fwo/index.html entry form: http://home.nvbell.net/wayern/renochess/fwo/FWO2007Flyer.pdf Those of you who have been my students for a while know that Reno is my favorite destination for chess tournaments. I regularly support both the spring and fall events. While Reno is an adult entertainment center (gambling), I consider the chess tournament to be sufficiently safe even for children (as long as they stay away from the slot machines). Many top California juniors attend regularly. Unfortunately, this year the spring tournament is scheduled between the major scholastic events, e.g. the National JHS Championship in Sacramento. Four of my students are already committed to playing (Danya, Jeff, Charles and Aaron) and another four have told me that they are considering attending. If I have time between rounds, I will be in my hotel room and available to review games. Perhaps we can also have a pizza social together sometime, or go out for a walk to Taco Bell (1/2 mile away). Please be aware this is my last opportunity to play before the US Championship. As such, it is important for me to take this tournament somewhat seriously. If I'm tired between rounds, do not be surprised if I ask to have some quiet time. Thanks for understanding. --------------------------------------------- 7. National K-12 Championship in Kansas City --------------------------------------------- National High School (K-12) Championship April 13-15 Kansas City, MO http://www.uschess.org/tournaments/2007/hs/ I will fly to Kansas City on the morning of Thursday, April 12, together with Daniel Schwarz and his father. I have absolutely no agenda while in Kansas City, except to see some good games of chess. I will also be available on Thursday evening, Friday morning and between rounds for specific preparation. After the first hour or two of each round, I expect to be in my hotel room reviewing games. High school kids are old enough to be responsible for coming to see the "chess doctor" on their own. I will not hunt people down, although I expect to see everyone at least once after every game. You can also reach me on my cell phone at (530) 848-8221. LIST OF STUDENTS: K-12 Daniel Schwarz, 2229, 12th David Chock, 2110, 11th Jeff Young, 1910, 10th Charles Sun, 1899, 9th Aaron Garg, 1846, 10th Marvin Shu, 1822, 11th ------------------------------------ 8. CalChess Scholastics in San Mateo ------------------------------------ 32nd CalChess State Scholastic Championships April 28-29 San Mateo, CA http://www.calchessscholastics.org/ I will write more about this tournament in the April newsletters. I hope to see MOST of my Northern California students at this event. Hopefully none of you have serious conflicts with school like defending K-12 champion Daniel Schwarz. Sigh! I will mention only three items of concern right now. 1. Get your entries in early. Early registration takes off some of the last minute load for the volunteer organizer, Dr. Alan Kirshner. 2. I will be available for coaching during rounds 2-6. I also intend to reserve a team space for my group to hang out between rounds. For the most part, I will be hiding out in that team area. 3. I am one of the TD's for the bughouse (Friday night) and blitz (Saturday night) championships. You all are, of course, welcome to play. If any of the parents who play also chess want to volunteer to help me, that would be appreciated as well. --------------------------------------- 9. April USCF ratings and Top 100 lists --------------------------------------- The official April rating list was released about a week ago. Please note that the USCF has switched to monthly rating lists, but the Top 100 lists will still be released every other month. My top students have remained fairly constant in the past two months. Danya (2145) and David (2095) still lead the field, with Gregory (2073) close behind. The top 5 is rounded out by Jeff (1956) and Alan (1928), who both improved but flip-flopped their spots from February. Of course, everyone is still chasing honorary student Daniel, who slipped about 20 points to 2206. Here are my student K-6 and 7-12 top lists. Congratulations to everyone who qualified. Top K-6 1. Danya 2145 2. Gregory 2073 3. Sam 1731 4. Yian 1646 5. Embert 1607 Top 7-12 1. David 2095 2. Jeff 1956 3. Alan 1928 4. Charles 1899 5. Steven 1860 A total of 20 (!!!) students are currently ranked in the top 100 of the country for their respective age groups. This is up by two from February. Congratulations to everyone, especially newcomers KevinH (ranked #94 for age 16) and Steven (ranked #31 for age 13). Wow!!! I really feel blessed to have such great students. Thanks everyone! Here's a list of my students ranked in the top 20 of the country for their age. The top two students are ranked in the top 100 for all juniors (under 21): Daniel at Daniel (2206) is #16 age 17 and #56 under 21 David (2095) is #13 age 16 Danya (2145) is #1 age 11 and #89 under 21 Gregory (2073) is #2 age 11 Yian (1646) is #12 age 9 James (1590) is #20 age 9 student rankings: http://www.fpawn.com/chess/rankings.htm ------------------------ 10. Upcoming tournaments ------------------------ It is important to make sure that you get practice playing chess. If all you do is take lessons and learn, then you won't know how to apply what you learned! That could be embarrassing later at state or national championships. I recommend that everyone try to play at minimum one tournament every two months. Serious players can aim for one event each month. For all upcoming tournaments in northern California, check out the CalChess website at: http://www.calchess.org/modules.php?name=Information&page=01_regular_tournaments/schedule.php East Bay Chess Club monthly swiss March 10-11 and April 21-22 East Bay Chess Club near Oakland airport http://www.eastbaychess.com/tourney/07/marchswiss.php http://www.eastbaychess.com/tourney/07/aprilswiss.php The EBCC is a very kid friendly chess club that runs adult and scholastic tournaments on the weekends. The weekend swiss format is simple: four rounds of slow chess (30/90 + SD/60) with two games each day. The events usually two sections (open and U1750) and feature medium sized money prizes. Please support the young men who run this club--I consider them my friends. Mechanics G/45 Tournament March 24 and April 21 Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco http://www.chessclub.org/Wilkerson.html http://www.chessclub.org/Konig.html These monthly tournaments appeal to players and parents who like one-day events at faster time controls. Each month between 30 and 50 players come to the historic Mechanics' Institute chess club to play chess for 10 hours on a Saturday. The events are kid friendly and often half of the players are juniors. I will not be playing G/45 for a long time, but might drop by on occassion to watch and coach. California Classic Championship March 24 and April 14 Santa Clara http://www.bayareachess.com Those of you who don't want to travel to San Francisco may consider this tournament in the South Bay. The organizer, Salman Azhar, is the father of one of my students. Trust me, he knows what he is doing. Digesh Shankar Malla, the national champion of Nepal--provisionally rated 2436 USCF, and two A players are already signed up for both the March 24 and April 14 dates. ********** *** National Junior High School (K-9) Championship *** March 30 - April 1 *** Sacramento, CA *** http://www.uschess.org/tournaments/2007/jhs/ ********** Far West Open April 6-8 Reno, NV http://www.renochess.org/fwo/index.html I have a long history of supporting Reno tournaments. This event and the one in October are bigger than any Bay Area tournament, attracting players from all over the Pacific and Mountain time zones and some from the East Coast. Since you don't see many Grandmasters in the Bay Area, this is the closest you can get to meeting one. Despite my busy schedule in April, I have to play this tournament as my last opportunity to practice before the US Championship. National High School (K-12) Championship April 13-15 Kansas City, MO http://www.uschess.org/tournaments/2007/hs/ ********** *** 32nd CalChess State Scholastic Championship *** April 28-29 *** San Mateo, CA *** http://www.calchessscholastics.org/ ********** National Elementary (K-6) Championship May 11-13 Nashville, TN http://www.uschess.org/tournaments/2007/elem/ ------------------------------- 11. Lesson schedule and website ------------------------------- My lesson schedule is on the website as usual (http://www.fpawn.com/chess/schedule.htm). I suggest that you bookmark that page for future reference. The top of the page includes a notice about lesson cancellations which I update whenever I know more information. My teaching schedule will be steady for the rest of March. However, beginning with March 29, I will be attending four major tournaments in five weekends--in three different states! Please see section 4 above for details about expected cancellations. Then in May, almost all lessons will be cancelled due to the US Championship (and my preparations for it). As usual, check out my website for the latest news, schedule information and other cool tidbits. lesson schedule: http://www.fpawn.com/chess/schedule.htm teaching contract: http://www.fpawn.com/chess/contract.htm achievements: http://www.fpawn.com/chess/achievements.htm national rankings: http://www.fpawn.com/chess/rankings.htm latest news: http://www.fpawn.com/chess/news.htm ------------- 12. Editorial ------------- As usual, thanks a million for reading through the entire newsletter! You probably know that I am a dedicated chess teacher and that I put a lot of effort into my students. My student roster has expanded from about a little more than a dozen to 25 in a year. I'm feeling the growing pains. I can unequivocably say that I have too many students. It is really a challenge for me and there are times when I don't have the energy to do what I have to do. Those times are more frequent with the more students that I have. I might add that many of my students are very strong, meaning extra effort from me. Simply put, I must reduce my number of students. Don't panic--I'm not dumping anyone yet. I intend to maintain the status quo through nationals and states. After that, I am taking a month off (except for a few top students) to prepare for the US Championship. If I need to drop students, the decision will come around the end of May. Most likely there will be a small lesson fee increase starting on June 1 as well. My decision would become easier if some students voluntarily drop their lessons, either because they are too busy or perhaps that they want to focus on different activities. Again, the proper time to approach me would be after nationals and states. I am, however, prepared to make the difficult choices to cut my roster to 18-20 (down from 25). I intend to start two new programs in the summer. First, I will give two weekly ICC lectures, one on a weekday evening and one on a weekend evening. These classes will be open to about 5-8 students each. The purpose is to funnel some students into these classes--remember that I have a waiting list of a half dozen already. There probably will be some overlap between the classes and my private lessons, but regular students will be welcome to listen in. Second, I would like to start a mentoring program. I have a distribution of highly rated players (over 1800) and lower rated ones (under 1800, some much lower). I would like to pair up an older and higher rated person with someone younger and lower rated. For example, the mentor could play some slow games once a week on ICC with the student and make a few comments afterwards ("you should have done this or that"). Hopefully, I can develop some new friendships this way too. Please send any comments in my general direction. I am open to all suggestions and what I end up doing may be very different from what I envision today. Michael