Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 09:56:25 -0800 (PST) Subject: fpawn's newsletter November 2006 Trick or treat! I guess that I skipped a month with my newsletters. Sorry! I wrote so much in the September issue which came out in the middle of the month that I had nothing new to report in October. Hopefully none of you got depressed from the lack of news. I would like to remind all of you kids that all theory and no practice doesn't make Johnny very wise. A lot of you have been slacking with playing at least a few blitz or standard games on ICC each week. It doesn't take much effort to fix that... A majority of my students (13 out of 22, to be exact) haven't played a single USCF rated tournament since Labor Day weekend. For a couple of you, it has been even longer than that. I know some of you plan to play in San Francisco in 9 days, which is great. I also understand that school and fall sports take up time. Nonetheless, I sincerely hope that each of you can find somewhere to play before 2007 starts. Those of you in California should check out sections 5 and 6 of the newsletter--there are so many options where to play almost every single weekend. The fpawn(FM) watch continues. I had hoped by some miracle to have made it after the US Open, but I only got up to 2298 (two points short of the goal). Since then, I lost a few points (a loss to a young master, a stupid draw to another master plus two losses to Grandmasters) and now I need 18 more points for the FIDE master title. Wish me luck in late November and December! Enjoy the newsletter. Parents should take a look at my editorial (reposted from CalChess website). And students should watch for the official December USCF ratings, which are available on the web by next week. I'll report on those in the next issue. Michael ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Kramnik wins the World Championship! 2. Western States Open in Reno 3. Player of the Month 4. Simul on Saturday night 5. Editorial: Pressures to Succeed 6. My next tournaments 7. Upcoming tournaments 8. Lesson schedule and website --------------------------------------- 1. Kramnik wins the World Championship! --------------------------------------- Most of you hopefully read about the toilet scandal at the World Championship, either from my email or in your local newspaper. At that point, Vladimir Kramnik was leading 3:1 but had technically lost game 5 by forfeit to Veselin Topalov. The match came to a halt for a week as the players and organizers debated the rights and privacies related to toilets and rest rooms. Kramnik wanted access to his private toilet and insisted that game 5 should be replayed. Topalov prefered both players use one shared toilet and demanded that the official forfeit result of game 5 be upheld. A stalemate over the forfeit point seemed inevitable. How can you compromise when one player demands a forfeit win and the other insists that the game be replayed? In the end, Kramnik yielded the wishes of the chess public and continued the match. He was commended as a hero by Grandmasters and chess enthusiasts alike. The private toilets were opened, but Topalov got a free point from game 5. The score was now 3:2 in favor of Kramnik. Topalov slowly crawled back into the match. He tied the 12 game match in game 8 and then impressively outplayed Kramnik in game 9 to take the lead. Many pundits argued that Topalov merely leveled the match at that point (4:4), but the forfeit point from game 5 remained official (5:4 in favor of Topalov). Kramnik was not willing to concede yet. He turned the tables in game 10 and took full advantage of a terrible blunder by Topalov to tie the match at 5 points each. The last two games were drawn to force a tiebreaker. Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Tiebreak 1 2 3 4 Topalov 6.0 0 0 = = X = = 1 1 0 = = 1.5 = 0 1 0 Kramnik 6.0 1 1 = = F = = 0 0 1 = = 2.5 = 1 0 1 Four tiebreak games were played at a faster time control of 25 10. The first player to reach 2.5 would win. The first game was drawn. Then Kramnik won, Topalov won and finally, Kramnik won again. Therefore, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia was crowned the new World Chess Champion. Chess purists will argue that Kramnik is the 14th champion, having defeated the 13th champion Garry Kasparov in 2001. These purists will say that Topalov merely held the inferior title of FIDE World Champion while Kramnik successfully defended the real title. Whether or not you agree with these purists, one conclusion is undeniably certain: Kramnik has unified the world championship for the first time since Kasparov broke away in 1993. 1. Wilhelm Steinitz, 1886–1894 2. Emanuel Lasker, 1894–1921 3. José Raúl Capablanca, 1921–1927 4. Alexander Alekhine, 1927–1935 5. Max Euwe, 1935–1937 Alexander Alekhine, 1937–1946 6. Mikhail Botvinnik, 1948–1957 7. Vassily Smyslov, 1957–1958 Mikhail Botvinnik, 1958–1960 8. Mikhail Tal, 1960–1961 Mikhail Botvinnik, 1961–1963 9. Tigran Petrosian, 1963–1969 10. Boris Spassky, 1969–1972 11. Robert J. Fischer, 1972–1975 12. Anatoly Karpov, 1975–1985 13. Garry Kasparov, 1985–2001 14. Vladimir Kramnik, 2001-present I am personally glad that Kramnik won this match. While I started out as a fan of Topalov's aggressive playing style, I found it very sad that his manager turned a chess match into a battle between chess lawyers. Chess literally was flushed down the toilet. It is even more sad that it takes a silly scandal for chess to appear in the mainstream newspapers. Does that improve the image of our royal game in the eyes of our friends who do not push pawns? I hope that Kramnik's victory is a triumph of sportsmanship over those who seek to win away from the board. ------------------------------ 2. Western States Open in Reno ------------------------------ Three of my students and I played up in Reno in early October. Unfortunately, it was a 3-day tournament on a 2-day weekend, which meant missing school on Friday. On the bright side, those of us who decided to play hooky did quite well. Michael: 3.5/6, 2nd place U2400 Daniel: 3.0/6, 3rd place U2300 Danya: 4.0/6, 4th in Expert section Adam: 4.0/6, 7th in C section Daniel and I both played in the tough open section. Daniel lost a 6.5 hour game against GM Perelshteyn in round 1, missing a draw. I lost a 6 hour game against GM Alexander Stripunsky in round 4. At least Daniel picked up one noteworthy scalp, crushing IM Vladimir Mezentsev on the white side of the closed Sicilian. This was Daniel's first win against a real International Master (rated over 2400). We both finished in the money, which is not a bad thing, but I wish I had played a little bit better. I was actually more successful gambling on my free day in Reno!? The big winner of our group was an 8th grader named Nicholas Karas, formerly rated 1170, who went 4.5/6 in the D section and took clear first U1200. He has been Daniel's top student after starting out with a 600 rating three years ago. He's now rated 1318! Goooo Daniel! To read more about the Western States Open, please visit the CalChess website: http://www.calchess.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=83000 ---------------------- 3. Player of the Month ---------------------- The Player of the Month award often goes to my top-rated students. These guys have proven themselves over and over again--thus gaining attention and recognition. Some months, I will use this section of the newsletter to reward someone who has not managed to put himself in the spotlight. This month is one such example. Congratulations to Kevin G. for a year of hard work that yielded one remarkable performance at the Mechanics' Institute. Playing in one of the monthly G/45 series, Kevin took his 1427 rating and baffled five opponents, all rated 1792 or higher. Kevin scored three wins and two defeats for an impressive 1932 performance! I'm sure that everyone would agree with me that Kevin didn't play like a 1427. :-) In fact, Kevin new website rating is 1573! Chess improvement hasn't exactly come easy for Kevin. His rating bounced around 1350 for over a year. Suddenly the proverbial light bulb turned on in Kevin's head. Since the August rating list, Kevin has jumped nearly 250 rating points. In reality, Kevin didn't suddenly learn how the knight moves. Even while his rating was stuck near 1350, he slowly was improving--it just was not apparent from his tournament results. Not anymore! Kevin's +146 rating points at the Capps Memorial is one of the all-time best tournament results for one of my students! In fact, only two of my students ever gained more rating points in a single event. Since the USCF rating scheme makes it easier to gain points with a lower rating, my website (http://www.fpawn.com/chess/achievements.htm) ranks achievements by dividing with the so-called K-factor. Even by this measure, Kevin G. earned himself a spot in the top 10! Woof!! -------------------------- 4. Simul on Saturday night -------------------------- The next fpawn simul will be on Saturday evening at 7:30pm PST. Hopefully that works out for most of you with a variety of sports and activities. There will be one twist for this month's simul: We will play Fischer-random chess. The main difference between normal chess and Fischer-random (wild 22 on ICC) is that the pieces in the starting position are shuffled. The castling rules are also a bit different. Please read "help Fischer-random" on ICC *carefully* before you play in this simul. One bit of advice: Opening theory might be useless but don't forget your basic opening rules! As always, the simul is FREE! My goal is simply to have a little fun and do an activity as a group. I hope to have other events on occassion throughout the year. what: Fischer-random simul who: Michael Aigner (fpawn) time: Saturday November 4 at 7:30pm PST place: ICC channel 288 time control: 60 15 special conditions: Fischer-random (wild 22); fpawn will be white in all games cost: FREE! To join the simul: <1> Get online by 7:25 on Saturday evening and log into ICC. Plan on about two hours. <2> Go to Game --> Match under the BlitzIn menu. Fill in the opponent (fpawn), time (60), increment (15), color (black), select unrated and set the wild type to wild 22 (Fischer-random). <3> Soon you will see: "You have been added to fpawn's simul list." That means you're ready to go and just wait until I start. The games will hopefully start around 5 or 10 minutes after 7:30. <4> You may choose to add channel 288 and watch for updates. To add channel 288 type: "tell 288 hello". That automatically adds the channel and allows you to listen to me and other simul players. Guys, please keep this channel clean since I teach quite few younger kids too. Thanks. ---------------------------------- 5. Editorial: Pressures to Succeed ---------------------------------- (The following appeared first on the CalChess website. I responded to a lengthy discussion on the perceived "failure" of the USA team at the World Youth championship held in Batumi, Georgia this past month.) My view of coaching states that the goal is not to create the best chess player but rather the best person. Chess is only part of that equation. Most of my private students have a variety of academic and non-academic interests: piano, marching band, jazz band, soccer, badminton, tennis, swimming, cross-country, math competitions, science bowl, foreign languages, religious studies and more. I support these other activities, sometimes (sadly) at the cost of chess instruction. The kids are well-rounded. And yet they still come back to chess. The only way to measure someone's true passion for chess is to offer them something else and watch them return to the royal game anyways. I also strongly disagree with the concept of "we are the best" because that sets us up for failure. How do you know that we're the best in the world unless you've seen the entire world? There is nothing wrong with setting a goal to be #1. However, it is improper to equate falling short of this goal with failure. It is our job as adults to explain that to the kids after they lose. As someone else noted, if you were going to hold the World Youth ten times with the same players, then there would probably be nine different winners. To a lesser degree, the same is true about the CalChess Scholastics. The "best" chess player doesn't necessarily win. And does it matter anyways? I tell my students two things before they play: Try your hardest and have fun! I do my best not to openly criticize any kid for losing, even if they hang a piece, unless I feel that they did not try their hardest (e.g. were goofing off during the game). I am really disappointed when I see parents, many who are chess novices, who scold their kids just because they lost a game of chess. Winning and losing are secondary to having fun. And as anyone who has taught kids knows, they don't learn unless they have fun. ---------------------- 6. My next tournaments ---------------------- The following tournaments are on my agenda for the rest of 2006. Since my immediate goal is to obtain the FM title, I need to travel to play in bigger events that are rated both by the USCF and by FIDE. Hence the trips to Los Angeles and to Las Vegas. Unfortunately, I will be cancelling lessons around these tournaments. No lessons on Friday, November 10 (*maybe*) and Sunday, November 12 due to Capps Memorial tournament at Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco. Looking further down the road, I will cancel one week of lessons around Thanksgiving weekend starting on Tuesday, November 21 through Monday, November 27 because I plan to play in the American Open in Los Angeles. 36th Carroll Capps Memorial -- November 11-12 Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco http://www.chessclub.org/Capps.html American Open -- November 23-26 (3-day schedule: Nov 24-26) Renaissance Hotel at Los Angeles International Airport http://www.americanopen.org *** tentative *** East Bay Chess Club FIDE Swiss -- December 16-23 East Bay Chess Club near Oakland airport Open only to players with FIDE > 2200. North American Open -- December 26-29 (3-day schedule: Dec 27-29) Bally's Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas http://www.chesstour.com/nao06.htm Please let me know if any of you are thinking about attending one of these tournaments. The first one (Capps Memorial) shouldn't be too hard to get to. Hopefully I will get to see most of you at least one more time this year. ----------------------- 7. Upcoming tournaments ----------------------- I specifically asked for everyone to play at least one more tournament before the end of 2006. It doesn't make much sense to take chess lessons and not get to show off what you learned. You do not have to plan expensive trips to Los Angeles or Las Vegas. There are plenty of options in the Bay Area and Northern California. Here is a digest of local tournaments that I can recommend. 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 -- November 4-5, December 9-10 East Bay Chess Club near Oakland airport http://www.eastbaychess.com/tourney/06/novswiss.php http://www.eastbaychess.com/tourney/06/decswiss.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 U1800) and feature medium sized money prizes. I am known to support my friends who run this club whenever I have the time and energy. Since I hope to play in the GM/IM norm tournament, I won't play in the weekend swisses. Mechanics G/45 Tournament -- November 18, December 2 Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco http://www.chessclub.org/Saint.html http://www.chessclub.org/McClain.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. Unfortunately, I highly doubt that I will show up at these two events. 36th Carroll Capps Memorial -- November 11-12 Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco http://www.chessclub.org/Capps.html The Mechanics' Institute runs five popular 2-day tournaments throughout the year, with two dating back over 30 years. The Capps has a lot of history! The format is a bit unusual: four G/60 on Saturday followed by two 30/90, SD/60 on Sunday for a total of six rounds. All Mechanics' tournaments are one single section with class prizes. Believe it or not, I plan to attend this tournament and even will play! I expect to see at least a half dozen of my students as well. Cal Classic Thanksgiving Chess -- November 24-26 (2-day schedule: Nov 25-26) University of San Francisco campus in Cupertino http://www.geocities.com/sfchessclassic/AdultClassic.html New organizers Salman Azhar and Jason Gurtovoy run a Thanksgiving adult and scholastic tournament. The format is six long time control games over three days with an optional 2-day schedule. The event has two sections (open and U1800). The location makes this and other Cupertino tournaments appealing to many of my students. However, I expect to be in Los Angeles on this weekend. Sacramento Chess Club Weekend Swiss -- December 15-17 (2-day schedule: Dec 16-17) Learning Exchange in Sacramento http://sacramentochessclub.org/weekend_events/sccws17.pdf Most of you know by now that I like to support the events of the Sacramento chess club and director John McCumiskey. If you enjoy well-run tournaments, this is your man! This tournament will probably draw about 40-50 players and should be a nice and cozy gathering. I would be there, but it looks like I might play in the FIDE swiss in Oakland on the same weekend. *** National Junior High School (K-9) Championship *** March 30 - April 1 *** Sacramento, CA National High School (K-12) Championship April 13-15 Kansas City, MO *** 32nd CalChess State Scholastic Championship *** April 28-29 *** San Mateo, CA National Elementary (K-6) Championship May 11-13 Nashville, TN ------------------------------ 8. 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. No lessons on Friday, November 10 (*maybe*) and Sunday, November 12 due to Capps Memorial tournament at Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco. Looking further down the road, I will cancel one week of lessons around Thanksgiving weekend starting on Tuesday, November 21 through Monday, November 27 because I plan to play in the American Open in Los Angeles. 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 US Open story: http://www.fpawn.com/USOpen06/USOpen06.htm That's all folks! Stay out of trouble and hopefully I can see many of you at various tournaments in November and December. Michael