Date: Fri, 11 May 2007 Subject: fpawn's newsletter May 2007 Hello chess students, parents and friends! This long newsletter has two major features: the CalChess Scholastics in San Mateo and the upcoming US Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The first eight topics deal with one or the other in some way. Enjoy! The CalChess Scholastics was a great delight for me as a chess coach. Last year, I got three state champions and this year, I ended up with two more. Congratulations to CalChess High School Champion Danya Naroditsky and CalChess Junior High School Champion Steven Zierk! Perhaps what makes me most happy is that 19 out of 20 students who played in the tournament scored 4.0 or more (out of 6) and that all 20 won a top 25 trophy! Looking ahead, the 2007 US Championship will begin on Tuesday. I am flying to Tulsa, Oklahoma on Monday and will ride a shuttle bus to the venue in nearby Stillwater, Oklahoma. The rounds are daily at 12noon PDT and ICC will have live coverage! Since the games will last up to six hours, make sure to log into ICC after school and watch the action. I am also writing the official ICC blog about the Championship each evening--so check that out from the www.chessclub.com homepage. Finally, I will updating my ICC finger notes each day from Oklahoma. Type "finger fpawn" each day or go to http://www.chessclub.com/activities/finger.php?handle=fpawn for the latest news. There are two upcoming tournaments in June. I will attend National Open in Las Vegas on June 8-10 and hope to see a few of my kids there. If you are planning to be there, please read item 9 of the newsletter and also let me know. Many of you may also be interested in the Stamer Memorial on June 2-3 at the Mechanics' Institute. I doubt that I will play in that this year, but perhaps I will drop by for one day just to say hello and to review a few games. Wish me luck in Oklahoma because I'll certainly need it! Michael ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. CalChess Scholastics in San Mateo 2. Player of the Month 3. Website update including photo albums 4. June USCF rating list 5. US Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma 6. List of players in US Championship 7. Blog entry #1 8. US Championship fantasy contest 9. National Open in Las Vegas 10. Upcoming tournaments 11. Lesson schedule and website ------------------------------------ 1. CalChess Scholastics in San Mateo ------------------------------------ *** The playoff for the Denker qualifier has been scheduled for Saturday, May 26. *** *** Everyone should wish David Chock good luck against a very difficult field. *** My previous email on April 30 already detailed how remarkable the 32nd CalChess Scholastics were for me and my group of students. For the second year in a row, I coached multiple state champions. Fifth grader Danya Naroditsky became my second straight CalChess High School Champion (NM Daniel Schwarz won last year) and eighth grader Steven Zierk became my second straight CalChess Junior High School Champion (Charles Sun won last year). Congratulations to both Danya and Steven! Good luck as both of you are about 50 points away from reaching new ratings milestones (Danya to 2200, Steven to 2000). I am also pleased to see other students perform so well. All but one of my 20 students scored at least 4.0 in their section and all won a top 25 trophy! High school junior and Saratoga High board 1 David Chock has made an art out of finishing in the top five of major scholastic tournaments and this year was no exception as he took third place in K-12. Seventh grader Adam Goldberg has rapidly improved in less than a year of studying with me, taking third place in K-8 and recently getting his USCF rating up to nearly 1850. The top result in the K-6 division came from Sam Bekker, a fifth grader with lots of potential to build on his 1700+ rating. Sam lost only to K-6 Champion Nicholas Nip. Way to go! I am also proud of the achievements by the Saratoga chess community. We've always known that the Saratoga High School team was good and they proved it once again with a third consecutive 1st place K-12 team trophy this year! Kudos to team members David Chock, Jeff Young, Charles Sun, Aaron Garg and Marvin Shu (Marvin was not able to play in San Mateo). The surprise this year was the stunning 1st place K-8 team trophy won by the Redwood Middle School team! Congratulations to team members Kevin Garbe, Brian Wai, Evan Ye, Sankash Shankar and Amol Aggarwal. I think we have the beginnings of a lasting dynasty in Saratoga chess, first with the current Saratoga High team and then the younger crop of players from Redwood Middle (Redwood Middle feeds into Saratoga High). Many thanks to the parents for making this happen, especially to Stayton Chock and Kurt Garbe. Crosstables: http://www.stocktonchess.com/CalChessScholastics2007/calchessscholastics07.htm USCF rated: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200704291771 Here's a complete list of trophies won by my students in the 32nd CalChess Scholastics: High School Championship 1st Danya Naroditsky, 5.5 3rd David Chock, 5.0 9th Gregory Young, 4.5 11th Jeff Young, 4.5 13th Aaron Garg, 4.0 14th Alan Naroditsky, 4.0 15th Charles Sun, 4.0 19th Kevin Hwa, 4.0 former students: Arnav Shah (8th, 4.5), Matt Zavortink (10th, 4.5) and Vijay Mohan (22nd, 4.0) Junior High School Championship 1st Steven Zierk, 6.0 3rd Adam Goldberg, 5.0 7th Evan Ye, 4.5 8th Arthur Liou, 4.5 10th Kevin Garbe, 4.5 17th Rik Basu, 4.0 22nd Rebekah Liu, 4.0 new students: Brian Wai (5th, 5.0) and Nicholas Karas (9th, 4.5) Elementary School Championship 2nd Sam Bekker, 5.0 8th Yian Liou, 4.5 11th Andrew Chen, 4.0 19th James Kwok, 4.0 Fourth and Fifth Grade Championship 23th Aamir Azhar, 3.0 Finally, I want to thank those of you who already paid the voluntary coaching fee for the CalChess Scholastics. Part of these fees go to cover the cost of the team room that I reserved. Those of you who did not pay yet may still do so. Thanks and much appreciated! :-) ---------------------- 2. Player of the Month ---------------------- This edition of the Player of the Month honors goes to my #1 ranked active student and the new CalChess High School Champion. Congratulations to fifth grader Danya Naroditsky for making history as the youngest state high school champion in California and quite possibly the entire nation! To win, Danya had to face an extremely difficult opposition consisting of four of the players tied for second place: Micah Cohen, reigning US High School Champion Michael Zhong, captain of Saratoga High School David Chock and #2 seed NM Sam Shankland. He scored 5.5 out of 6, only giving up a draw in the last round from a position of strength, for a performance rating over 2450! When I try to recall Danya's many accomplishments over the years, I am reminded of a scene in the famous chess movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer". At one point, Josh Waitzkin's father tells his school teacher that Josh is "better at this chess thing" than the teacher will ever be at anything. Certainly Danya is better for his age than anyone in the entire United States, as he held the #1 ranking for the last two years. And now as CalChess High School Champion, Danya can claim to the best junior in Northern California--despite being just a fifth grader! Danya has been blessed with the opportunity to work with many players much stronger than me, including several Grandmasters and International Masters. He was invited to a camp in New York last summer taught by "The Boss" Grandmaster Garry Kasparov himself! I can only hope that I've helped Danya in a small way, perhaps merely as a fellow player in many West Coast tournaments. Certainly I am looking forward to the day when I can greet Danya not as a student but rather as a fellow master. That day is coming soon! ---------------------------------------- 3. Website update including photo albums ---------------------------------------- I have overhauled my website prior to the US Championship. For starters, my homepage is now both http://www.fpawn.com/chess (the old) and the more simple http://www.fpawn.com (the new). In addition, I updated the following pages. newsletter archives: http://www.fpawn.com/chess/news.htm (all newsletters since January 2005) fpawn biography page: http://www.fpawn.com/bio.htm (reworded and reorganized) main pictures page: http://www.fpawn.com/pictures.html (added new photo albums) lesson schedule: http://www.fpawn.com/chess/schedule.htm (some updates) achievements: http://www.fpawn.com/chess/achievements.htm (added recent tournaments) student rankings: http://www.fpawn.com/chess/rankings.htm (updated June ratings) Please also check out two new photo albums from recent scholastic tournaments containing over 80 great pictures of my students, some adult chess players and even a few of myself. National High School photos: http://www.fpawn.com/Nationals2007/page1.html CalChess Scholastics photos: http://www.fpawn.com/Scholastics2007/page1.html ------------------------ 4. June USCF rating list ------------------------ The June USCF rating list is now available on the MSA website. Note that these ratings include the CalChess Scholastics! The Top 100 lists will come out in about two weeks. The following is a complete list of my students, including two whom I have already added starting in the summer. I expect a couple people to "retire" within the next month. Consider this their last hoorah. :-) Student rankings: http://www.fpawn.com/chess/rankings.htm Complete roster: http://www.fpawn.com/chess/FpawnStudents.html NR Daniel Schwarz, 2225, 12th grade 1. Daniel Naroditsky, 2150, 5th grade 2. David Chock, 2111, 11th grade, Saratoga High 3. Gregory Young, 2076, 6th grade 4. Steven Zierk, 1954, 8th grade 5. Alan Naroditsky, 1921, 10th grade 6. Jeff Young, 1918, 10th grade, Saratoga High 7. Charles Sun, 1831, 9th grade, Saratoga High 7. Arthur Liou, 1831, 7th grade 9. Aaron Garg, 1812, 10th grade, Saratoga High 10. Marvin Shu, 1800, 11th grade, Saratoga High 11. Yian Liou, 1784, 4th grade 12. Kevin Hwa, 1782, 11th grade 13. Adam Goldberg, 1779, 7th grade 14. Embert Lin, 1720, 6th grade 15. Sam Bekker, 1709, 5th grade 16. Kevin Garbe, 1635, 6th grade, Redwood Middle 17. James Kwok, 1596, 4th grade 18. Caleb Toy, 1572, 10th grade 19. Nicholas Karas, 1569, 8th grade 20. Brian Wai, 1503, 7th grade, Redwood Middle 21. Andrew Chen, 1472, 6th grade 22. Evan Ye, 1459, 7th grade, Redwood Middle 23. Aamir Azhar, 1413, 5th grade 24. Rebekah Liu, 1374, 8th grade 25. Rik Basu, 1363, 8th grade 26. Tyler Sypherd, 1319, 5th grade ------------------------------------------ 5. US Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma ------------------------------------------ *** Read my US Championship blog daily at http://www.chessclub.com *** *** Watch games live on ICC when you get home from school. *** *** Look at the Events List under BlitzIn's Window menu. *** *** Rounds begin at 12noon PDT and can last 6+ hours. *** Official website: http://www.monroi.com/tournamentgate/USChamp07/ *** Those of you helping me with opening preparation, please send me the files by Sunday! *** Most of you should know by now that I am playing in the US Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma on May 15-23. A total of 36 players will compete for the title of US Champion. Half of the field (18 players) is Grandmasters. They are joined by 9 IMs, 5 FMs, 2 WFMs, one NM and one expert. The top seeds include 2004 US Champion GM Hikaru Nakamura, 2006 US Champion GM Alexander Onischuk, 2006 runner-up GM Yury Shulman and 2003 US Champion Alexander Shabalov. FPAWN'S OUTLOOK: My personal goals are to have fun and learn chess. IM Greg Shahade provided a healthy assessment of my chances in the May issue of Chess Life when placed me under the heading "happy with 50%". He further described me as a "popular master from Sacramento making his first US Championship appearance. Should be a great experience, but will be tough being paired up by 150+ points nearly every game." These words, while objectively accurate, merely serve to motivate me further. If I can earn the FM title (need 30 more FIDE rating points) then that would be a bonus. If I can earn an IM norm, that would be stupendous. But I am going to be realistic and not set too high expectations. This will easily be the most difficult tournament that I have ever played in! CALCHESS PLAYERS: There are four other Northern California masters who will participate in Oklahoma. The local players are headlined by "Mr. Six-Time" GM Walter Browne. Yes, he won this very tournament six times from 1974 to 1983! Also playing is Mechanics' Institute Grandmaster in Residence Alex Yermolinsky, who won two championships in 1993 and 1996. The two young partners in crime from the East Bay Chess Club, IMs Josh Friedel and David Pruess, are looking for their first national title and maybe also for the elusive final norm to become a Grandmaster. PREDICTION: Who do I think will win? Unfortunately, not me. I think there's an excellent chance of one of the top seeds taking away the title. While a lower rated player may score one or two sensational upsets, they probably won't be able to keep going strong for nine long rounds. Therefore, my top two bets are Nakamura and Shulman. GM Hikaru Nakamura has developed a knack for making his fellow Grandmasters look bad at major weekend swisses and I see no reason why he can't do the same in Oklahoma. GM Yury Shulman is a friend of mine from my days of college chess who has proven himself at national events (US Open) and abroad (2005 FIDE World Cup). -------------- Frank K. Berry U.S. Championship May 15-23, 2007 Stillwater, Oklahoma USA 1. The defending champion is GM Alexander Onischuk. 2. 9 round swiss with at least 36 players: 31 qualifiers, 2 patrons and 3 sponsor's exemptions. 3. Time control = 40/100, 20/50, SD/15 with 30 seconds/move increment starting on move 1. 4. Minimum prizes: $12000, 8000, 5000, 4000, 3500, 3000 down to 500 for last place. 5. If tie for 1st, money split evenly and the top two on tiebreaks play two G/10 for the title. 6. Top five players qualify for FIDE World Cup with ties broken by computer tiebreaks. 7. Next five players may represent USA at the Continental Championship in Colombia. 8. All players are required to use the MonRoi electronic scoresheet. 9. GM and IM norms are available without needing to meet the foreign player requirement. Schedule: Player's meeting on May 14 at 9pm CDT Opening ceremony on May 15 at 12noon CDT Rounds daily on May 15-22 at 2pm CDT Last round on May 23 at 12noon CDT, followed by closing ceremony USCF Executive Board meeting on May 19-20 ------------------------------------- 6. List of players in US Championship ------------------------------------- The following is the complete player list with invitees, replacements, two patrons (GM Walter Browne and IM Jay Bonin) and three sponsor's exemptions. By using the USCF ratings, we can determine round 1 opponents. GM Hikaru Nakamura faces IM Josh Friedel in the first round for the second year in a row (Josh won last year). And I am staring at a probable round 1 pairing with GM Dmitry Gurevich. Note that we won't know the colors until the player's meeting on Monday night. 1. GM Hikaru Nakamura, 2755 Smallville on ICC. Became youngest ever US Champion in 2004. 2. GM Alexander Onischuk, 2712 Defending US Champion and top FIDE rated player in tournament. 3. GM Gregory Kaidanov, 2686 Strong Grandmaster but surprisingly has never won US Champs. 4. GM Jaan Ehlvest, 2669 Recently changed his federation from Estonia to USA. 5. GM Ildar Ibragimov, 2664 Native of Kazachstan who wrote famous poem during 2006 event. 6. GM Yury Shulman, 2662 Won 2006 US Open and was runner-up at 2006 US Championship. 7. GM Boris Gulko, 2660 The oldest player in US Championship at age 60 was 1999 Champion. 8. GM Alexander Shabalov, 2660 Aggressive student of Mikhail Tal who has won 3 US Champs. 9. GM Varuzhan Akobian, 2651 SCORPION83 on ICC. Young and improving Grandmaster from LA. 10. GM Alexander Ivanov, 2626 Top rated player from New England was 1995 Co-Champion. 11. GM Alexander Stripunsky, 2638 Ukrainian Grandmaster wears dark glasses like a punk rocker. 12. GM Sergey Kudrin, 2612 Veteran GM who frequently plays in Reno and Las Vegas tournaments. 13. GM Eugene Perelshteyn, 2612 Teacher, author and protege of GM Roman Dzindzichashvili. 14. GM Julio Becerra, 2608 Cuban-American who qualified by winning an ICC tournament. 15. GM Dmitry Gurevich, 2591 Chicago-based player and teacher. 16. GM Alexander Yermolinsky 2571 GM at Mechanics' Institute won US Champ in 1993 and 1996. 17. IM Enrico Sevillano, 2566 Very strong IM from Southern California. 18. GM Melikset Khachiyan, 2550 dragon-70 on ICC. Teacher of GM Levon Aronian, now lives in LA. -------- Round 1 Cut -------- 19. IM Joshua Friedel, 2544 Hoping for a repeat of round 1 in 2006: Nakamura 0-1 Friedel. 20. GM Walter Browne, 2520 Six-time US Champion from 1974 to 1983. 21. IM Irina Krush, 2480 Elite women's player making waves with major GM upsets in Europe. 22. FM Joseph Bradford, 2475 US Senior Champion. 23. IM David Pruess, 2461 Aggressive young adult from Berkeley who needs last norm for GM title. 24. FM Robert Hess, 2448 US Junior Champion (15 years old) from New York. 25. IM Justin Sarkar, 2442 Dangerous young IM known for beating world class players. 26. IM Bryan Smith, 2441 Born in Alaska but now lives in Philadelphia. 27. IM Michael Mulyar, 2440 Former child prodigy who is largely inactive these days. 28. IM Ron Burnett, 2396 Strongest player from Tennessee qualified by winning 2006 US Masters. 29. IM Jay Bonin, 2381 Has played 2676 tournaments since 1991, most at clubs in New York City. 30. FM Ray Robson, 2359 Rapidly improving 12 year old who I expect will surprise people. 31. FM Michael Langer, 2334 Received sponsor's invitation. 32. FM Movses Movsisyan, 2292 Top rated Oklahoma player. Received sponsor's invitation. 33. NM Michael Aigner, 2282 Da one and only fpawn! 34. WFM Chouchanik Airapetian, 2188 Female from Washington state who played in 2006 Champs. 35. WFM Irina Zenyuk, 2186 Female who qualified only because many other women couldn't play. 36. Tom Braunlich, 2148 Official Oklahoma state champion. Received sponsor's invitation. ---------------- 7. Blog entry #1 ---------------- Hello and welcome to the official ICC blog from the 2007 US Championship, taking place on May 15-23 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. My name is Michael Aigner, better known as “fpawn” on ICC, and I will be reporting live from Oklahoma in this space every night. I am a USCF Life Master and an active chess player who teaches many of California’s top juniors. Check out my personal website at www.fpawn.com for more information. Over the next two weeks, I hope to share with you the highlights and some stories behind the scenes from the most significant annual chess tournament in the USA. I will actually be a bit of an insider considering that I am not an impartial reporter but rather a player in this Championship. Does that mean I have a chance to dethrone defending champion Alexander Onischuk? Mathematically, yes. Realistically, no way! I will be one of the bottom feeders at this event, ranked #33 out of 36 players. My 2282 USCF and 2260 FIDE rating places me about 200 points below the average ratings for the entire field. As IM Greg Shahade wrote in the May issue of Chess Life magazine, I will be quite happy with 50% considering that I should be “paired up by 150+ points nearly every game.” While reading this blog, you can follow the ups and downs of my journey to Oklahoma—hopefully more ups than downs! A little background is useful to explain how this year’s US Championship ended up in Oklahoma. Since the turn of the millenium, America’s Foundation for Chess (AF4C) has organized this prestigious event, pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into top-level American chess. Along the way, they expanded the Championship from a 10 or 12 player round robin to a swiss with up to 64 participants, including players of both genders. While traditionalists argued that this expansion decreased the event’s prestige, the change allowed IMs, FMs and even experts an opportunity to play for the national title. The new format also required a larger prize fund and more cost. Unfortunately, the AF4C decided not to put up the cost of the 2007 tournament, choosing instead to direct their funds to educational activities in schools. While the exact cause for this abrupt change has never been publicized, some reasons may include: lack of publicity in the mainstream media; lukewarm support in previous years by the leaders of the USCF; a significant accounting error in the prize fund for 2006; statements made by controversial USCF Executive Board member Sam Sloan; and the withdrawal of a major corporate sponsor. Just as it appeared like there would be no US Championship this year, Frank K. Berry came to the rescue! Frank Berry and his twin brother Jim are active organizers of USCF and FIDE rated tournaments in Oklahoma, including the North American FIDE Open in February. Seeing a need, they contributed $50,000 to the prize fund. They will also handle the logistics of shuttling 36 players to the college town of Stillwater, Oklahoma, home of Oklahoma State University. By all accounts, the Berry brothers are great hosts and I am looking forward to a taste of their midwestern hospitality. Thank you for stepping to the plate and hitting a homerun for US chess! Whom did I bribe to get my own spot into the Frank K. Berry US Championship? Well, nobody. All I had to do was score 7.5 points (out of 9) at the 2006 US Open in Oak Brook, Illinois. Piece of cake! In the final two rounds, I defeated IM Tim Taylor and drew a high-pressure game against GM John Fedorowicz on board 2. I wrote the following in my post-tournament report: ---------- "Instead, I got white (again!) against the "Fed." Of course, I would still have to face the power and fury of a Grandmaster with thousands of dollars in prize money at stake. Not surprisingly, board 1 between IM Emilio Cordova and GM Yury Shulman was drawn in about two hours, leaving my game as the featured game on the stage and relayed live on the Internet Chess Club. We both knew that the winner (if any) would tie for first and have his name recorded in history next to Bobby Fischer. The game lasted a tense five hours. I was down a pawn for part of the middlegame, but had the bishop pair as compensation. Later, GM Fedorowicz sacrificed back the pawn for serious threats against my king. While my computer later assured me that the position was objectively drawn, it was by no means simple to play against a strong opponent with much at stake. I couldn't believe my ears when "Fed" offered a draw. Of course, I accepted! After the game, I was immediately whisked into an interview live via webcam on the ICC, hosted by IM Bill Paschall." ---------- Stillwater, here I come! Now that I have detailed both how the US Championship and the “fpawn” ended up in Oklahoma, it is time to look ahead to the tournament. I will arrive on-site by Monday evening, May 14. Many questions should be answered beginning with the first round at 3pm EDT on Tuesday, May 15. Who will become 2007 US Champion? 2004 Champ Hikaru Nakamura? 2006 Champ Alexander Onischuk? 2006 runner-up Yury Shulman? Who will finish in the top five to qualify for the FIDE World Cup this fall? Can any of the young International Masters earn a norm towards the Grandmaster title? And equally important, how will this reporter do? Stay tuned to this blog for more. ICC finger: http://www.chessclub.com/activities/finger.php?handle=US07 Official website: http://www.monroi.com/tournamentgate/USChamp07 ---------------------------------- 8. US Championship fantasy contest ---------------------------------- Rules: http://beta.uschess.org/frontend/news_7_355.php Sign up: http://alpha.eudemonia.net/timw/fc_login.php Here's your chance to win prizes while watching the US Championship. Cheer on your favorite players! Good luck! 1. Pick seven players. 2. Average rating must be under 2510. Use ratings in item 6 above. 3. Scoring is by adding up the points from all seven players. 4. If a tie exists, team with lowest average rating wins. 5. If exact same average rating, use two tiebreak questions. 6. Register and sign up at http://alpha.eudemonia.net/timw/fc_login.php 7. Be careful to enter your name and USCF ID number correctly, just as it appears on MSA site. 8. 1st Place: 80 GB video IPOD (brand new, approximate $300 value). 9. 2nd Place: 1 hour internet/phone lesson with IM Josh Friedel. 10. 3rd Place: 1 Year Extension of USCF Membership 11. 4th and 5th Place are autographed books. My team is the following. You may copy my exact team (but I'm not telling you my tiebreak answers), however it would be more fun if you pick your own team. Please note that you can't pick the seven highest rated players because of the 2510 average rating limit. GM Hikaru Nakamura, 2755 Good chance to win it all. GM Yury Shulman, 2662 Also good chance to win it all. IM Josh Friedel, 2544 Young and improving IM will score over 50%. IM David Pruess, 2461 Another young and improving IM with great results in 2007. IM Robert Hess, 2448 15 year old who recently got his IM title and now is looking for more. FM Ray Robson, 2359 12 year old who is the youngest and most underrated in the entire field. NM Michael Aigner, 2282 Of course I am going to pick myself! average rating = 2502 ----------------------------- 9. National Open in Las Vegas ----------------------------- National Open June 8-10 (2-day schedule June 9-10) Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas http://www.lvchessfestival.com/natlopen This has been one of my favorite trips each year. I have had some of the best personal results in this city. For example, last year I drew GM Darmen Sadvakasov (ranked in top 100 of the world) with the black pieces! This year's tournament has an honored guest: former World Championship finalist Viktor Korchnoi (who lost to Anatoly Karpov in the infamous 'yogurt match' in 1976). The tournament should draw in excess of 800 players, making it the largest adult tournament west of the continental divide. For many of you, this will be the first weekend of summer vacation, which is the perfect time to go. Unfortunately, my students from Saratoga High School have final exams the week after National Open. Thus, I expect a younger generation of students to play. The fact that I will have less students to watch means that those of you who do go will get more of my attention. Players can choose between the normal 3-day schedule and the accelerated 2-day schedule (three G/60 games on Saturday and then merge for round 4), but I recommend the 3-day schedule unless your plans require the faster option. I will be playing in this tournament and will use the trip as a mini vacation too. I'm flying on Wednesday June 6 and returning on Tuesday June 12. I've signed up for the main tournament (3-day schedule) and the G/10 championship on Thursday afternoon. Only two students (Gregory and Arthur) have told me that they are going for sure. Maybe a few more of you will be interested. Please note that the entry fees will increase on May 15, so make your decision soon! *** Please email me soon if you are thinking of attending National Open. I can probably take on one or two mature kids in my room if you can find a way to get to Las Vegas with someone. *** ------------------------ 10. Upcoming tournaments ------------------------ 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 Please note that the East Bay Chess Club no longer exists. :-( Mechanics G/45 Tournament May 12, June 23 Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco http://www.chessclub.org/Konig.html http://www.chessclub.org/Addison.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. 44th Stamer Memorial June 2-3 Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco http://www.chessclub.org/Stamer.html This is one of the two bigger events at the Mechanics' Institute and I have won it twice this decade (including last year, when I drew with IM DeGuzman to share first place). The first four rounds on Saturday are played at G/60 and the last two rounds on Sunday are played at 30/90, SD/60. I urge my students to play--whether I play is still unclear but I probably will drop by at least on one day as a coach. National Open June 8-10 (2-day schedule June 9-10) Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas http://www.lvchessfestival.com/natlopen I have attended National Open for several years in a row and intend to play again this year. It is the largest annual adult tournament west of the continental divide, attracting around 800 players each year. The Open section will feature a double digit number of Grandmasters, including this year the honored guest Viktor Korchnoi (who lost to a World Championship match to Anatoly Karpov in 1976). For many of you this is the first weekend of summer vacation and a great opportunity to play chess! Bent Creek Winery Open June 9-10 Bent Creek Winery in Livermore http://www.calchess.org/controlpanel/files/20070223_BentCreekWineryOpen.pdf Richard Koepcke is directing this new event in the East Bay. Some of you might be interested in attending because of the location--assuming you are not playing in Las Vegas on the same weekend. The tournament has four rounds in three sections: Open, Reserve (U2000) and Booster (U1600). California Classic Championship June 16 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. Some strong players, including masters, have been known to play in these 1-day adult tournaments. ------------------------------- 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. Please note that all lessons will be cancelled until May 30 due to the US Championship. I will have one week of regular chess lessons from Wednesday, May 30 to Tuesday, June 5 and then I'm gone for another week for the National Open in Las Vegas. A more "normal" summer teaching schedule will resume on Wednesday, June 13. 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 newsletter archives: http://www.fpawn.com/chess/news.htm main pictures page http://www.fpawn.com/pictures.html National High School photos: http://www.fpawn.com/Nationals2007/page1.html CalChess Scholastics photos: http://www.fpawn.com/Scholastics2007/page1.html May all your pawns promote! Thanks once again for reading the entire newsletter. :-) Michael