Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2005 Subject: fpawn's newsletter October 2005 Dear chess students, parents and friends, The last month has been rather quiet in terms of chess activities. School has begun and life has returned to normal for most people. A few people have managed to play, mostly at chess clubs such as the East Bay and the Kolty clubs. I'm playing in the Sacramento chess club championship and am 4-0 going into a wild west showdown for the title next Wednesday. I will be black against NM Jim MacFarland, who has matched my perfect 4-0 result. The highlight of this issue is a report on the ongoing FIDE World Championship in Argentina. Other sections include the USCF top 100 lists for October, Player of the Month and lesson cancellations (October 13-19) due to the Reno chess tournament. Read on! 1. FIDE World Chess Championship 2. Fall 2005 CalChess Journal 3. USCF top 100 lists for October 4. Player of the Month 5. Reno tournament and ***lesson cancellations*** 6. Upcoming tournaments 7. Lesson schedule and Fpawn's website -------------------------------- 1. FIDE World Chess Championship -------------------------------- The 2005 FIDE World Chess Championship has begun in San Luis, Argentina. Eight of the top Grandmasters compete in a double-round robin tournament, meaning that each person faces every other competitor twice (14 games total). Each game can last up to 7 hours. This grueling event began on September 28 and concludes on October 15. The winner of this tournament becomes the FIDE World Champion. What, exactly, this title means remains in dispute. GM Vladimir Kramnik retains the title of Classical World Chess Champion that he defended last year. Certainly chess fans around the world hope for a reunification of these titles, but whether such a match can be arranged remains to be seen. Three players were considered favorites by the experts: GM Viswanathan Anand, GM Veselin Topalov and GM Peter Leko. They are also the three highest rated players in the world behind the now-retired GM Garry Kasparov. Next follow GM Peter Svidler, GM Judit Polgar, GM Michael Adams and GM Alexander Morozevich. The final player is the reigning FIDE Champion GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Anand (2788 FIDE) is currently the highest rated active player in the world (post Kasparov era). The Indian native has been ranked in the top 3 of the world since the mid 1990s. He had his chance at the World Championship once before, losing to Kasparov 10.5-7.5 in 1995 in a match sanction by the PCA. He is technically very strong and has more than once been annointed the successor to Kasparov. Until now, he was unable to fill those expectations. Topalov (2782 FIDE) is ranked right behind Anand. Moreover, he has been on fire in 2005, including defeating Kasparov in the latter's last game as a professional chess player. He shared first place in the Linares super tournament with Kasparov. The Bulgarian exhibits a fighting playing style that demands declining early draws and even accepting the occassional defeat in the hope of earning victories. Leko (2751 FIDE) holds the #3 ranking in the world among active players. The Hungarian was a child prodigy, becoming the world's youngest Grandmaster at age 14, a record that has since been broken several times. Last year, Leko played against Kramnik for the classical World Championship and tied 7.0-7.0. The defending champion, Kramnik, retained his title. Leko started out well in 2005, winning the Wijk aan Zee super tournament ahead of Anand and Topalov. Svidler (2740 FIDE) hails from Russia. He is in some ways an outsider because he hasn't played in the annual super tournaments at Wijk aan Zee and Linares as often as some of the others. Nonetheless, he is a force to be reckoned with. Polgar (2735 FIDE) is by far the highest rated woman in the world. Like Leko, she was born in Hungary and became a Grandmaster (full GM title, not just WGM) at the age of 14. Today she is rated over 150 points above any other woman in the world. She now becomes the first ever woman to compete for the (male) World Championship. Adams (2718 FIDE) has a reputation for being solid and effective, but never spectacular. The British #1 has been among the world elite for about as long as Anand, but he has never had the opportunity to play a match for the World Championship. Maybe this is his opportunity. Morozevich (2707 FIDE) is in many ways the opposite of Adams. He prefers to shun mainstream opening theory and relies on his creative play to find moves that even his fellow Grandmaster sometimes can't understand. It comes as no surprise that this Russian has earned the nickname "Weird Al." Kasimdzhanov (2670 FIDE) is clearly the underdog in this tournament, ranked only #35 in the world. The native of Uzbekistan won the 2004 FIDE Championship (knockout tournament) in Libya, thereby earning an invitation to Argentina as the defending champion. He probably won't win again, but he can prove that he belongs among the world's elite players. The first eight rounds have been played and a clear leader has emerged. Topalov has blown away the competition so far, scoring a mind-boggling 7.0 out of 8 for a performance rating of 3071! Even more amazing, Topalov has scored a perfect 4-0 with the black pieces, ignoring Grandmaster conventional wisdom to play conservatively as black. Topalov's two blemishes were draws against Anand in round 2, a game in which the Bulgarian had multiple chances to win, and against Leko in round 8. He stands two full points ahead of his nearest competitor, Svidler. 1. 7.0 GM Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria 2782) 2. 5.0 GM Peter Svidler (Russia 2740) 3. 4.5 GM Viswanathan Anand (India 2788) 4. 4.0 GM Peter Leko (Hungary 2751) 4. 4.0 GM Alexander Morozevich (Russia 2707) 6. 3.0 GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan 2670) 7. 2.5 GM Michael Adams (England 2718) 8. 2.0 GM Judit Polgar (Hungary 2735) You can watch the games on the ICC daily at 11:00am Pacific time. Type "finger Live" and click on the links (usually observe games 1-4). Saturday's pairing of Anand white against Topalov will be critical. Should Topalov win, we can crown him the next World Champion. Even a draw is probably sufficient. A loss merely makes Topalov's lead a little more managable. The official website for the FIDE World Chess Championship in San Luis, Argentina, is: http://www.wccsanluis.net/ For extensive daily coverage of the tournament, check out the ChessBase news site at: http://www.chessbase.com/ ----------------------------- 2. Fall 2005 CalChess Journal ----------------------------- The Fall 2005 issue of CalChess Journal has been posted on the website. Editor Eric Schiller has dedicated much of the issue to the Labor Day State Championship, won by GM Alex Yermolinsky. The issue contains several annotated games, including three games from my students: Charles won against Chernobilskiy, Arnav won against Luke and Jeff unfortunately lost to DaCruz. I annotated the beautiful win by Charles (rook sacrifice followed by a queen sacrifice) and Schiller made some comments on the other games. Check it out! http://www.calchess.org/information/03_calchess_journal/pdf/2005/CCJ_Fall2005.pdf (Charles' annotated game is on page 4) --------------------------------- 3. USCF top 100 lists for October --------------------------------- My students continue to do well on national and state rankings. The following table provides a summary. Congratulations everyone! Charles and Embert are newcomers to the list. Marvin dropped off the list as a consequence of gaining a year in age but dropping a few rating points—-but he should reappear in December after gaining 111 points on Labor Day. Please note that these ratings do not include the CalChess Labor Day Championship nor the Kolty Club Championship. Student Rating Age USA CalChess Ranking Ranking Daniel 2153 15 #16 #3 Arnav 1803 15 #66 #8 David 1985 14 #20 #1 Jeff 1857 14 #42 #5 Corey 1715 14 #80 #10 Charles 1667 13 #70 #3 Gregory 1852 10 #5 #1 Embert 1425 10 #59 N/A Yian 1176 8 #57 #4 USCF top 100 lists: http://www.uschess.org/ratings/top/0510/index.php CalChess top 100 lists: http://www.calchess.org/modules.php?name=Information&page=02_calchess_scholastics/top100.php ---------------------- 4. Player of the Month ---------------------- The Player of the Month honors for October go to Charles. Honestly, I could pick him for every month, but I try to be fair and spread the honors around. I was proud of Charles in June when he shared first place in the under 1400 section at National Open in Las Vegas, winning an amazing $1100. It turns out that was just the beginning! Then in July, Charles tied for second in the under 1600 at Pacific Coast Open in Southern California, winning over $500. More recently, he tied for fourth in the under 1800 at the CalChess Labor Day Championship and has defeated several opponents rated over 1800 at the Kolty Chess Club. His last four club opponents were rated 1800, 1900, 1938 and 1830. Charles scored 3.0/4! The net effect of this astounding performance is an equally astounding rating gain. Charles was rated 1395 going into Las Vegas. I knew he was underrated, but only figured that he was around 1500 strength. Today, merely four months later, Charles scores over 50% against A players. His estimated USCF rating broke 1800 recently. If Charles continues his pace of 100 rating points a month, then he will be challenging GM Topalov in the 2006 FIDE World Championship! I've repeatedly wondered what magic formula that I taught Charles which triggered this improvement. I was hoping that I would find the Fountain of Youth and apply it in lessons with other students. Charles says that he took to heart the lessons on tempo and playing only moves that have a specific purpose. I keep saying that three tempi equals a pawn. Charles would say that six tempi equal $1100! I've also noticed that Charles brings an intense focus to each game, to the point that I once told him (between rounds) to occassionally get up and stretch his legs while playing! (Most kids need to be told the opposite--to sit at the board longer.) Maybe most importantly, Charles loves to play. He seems happiest staring at a board with 64 squares. ------------------------------------------- 5. Reno tournament and lesson cancellations ------------------------------------------- As many of you already know, I will be travelling to Reno to play in the annual Western States Open tournament. I always like playing there because of comfortable playing conditions and the very friendly staff. This year, I have another reason to play in Reno: no students! That's not entirely true since Daniel will be rooming with me. But most likely, he will be my only student (current or former) at this tournament. Yeehaaw!!! Wish me luck guys, I think I'll need it! *** I WILL BE CANCELLING WEEKLY CHESS LESSONS DUE TO THE RENO TOURNAMENT. I leave on Thursday the 13th and return on Monday the 17. Tuesday will be a well deserved rest day for me. NO CHESS LESSONS FROM THURSDAY 10/13 THROUGH TUESDAY 10/17. This means that almost everyone will lose exactly one weekly chess lesson. *** ----------------------- 6. 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 East Bay October Swiss - October 29-30 East Bay Chess Club in Berkeley http://www.eastbaychess.com/tourney/05/octswiss.html The East Bay Chess Club is a year old club in Berkeley run by three 20-something masters who have become scholastic coaches. Their monthly tournaments attract both strong juniors and many of the adults living in the east bay area. The October swiss is a 4-round tournament in two sections (Open and U1750). I like this format and, barring a disaster in Reno, I am likely to play. Will anyone join me? If you want to play, enter early since the site is limited to 40 players (they had 38 in September). 35th Carroll Capps Memorial - November 5-6 Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco http://www.chessclub.org/Capps.html This six round tournament is held over two days. All players compete in one section. Four rounds are played on Saturday at a time control of G/60. Then the last two rounds on Sunday are 30/90 then G/60. I highly doubt that I'll play because of Berkeley the week before, but I won't entirely rule it out. Mechanics' Institute G/45 tournament - November 19 Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco http://www.chessclub.org/Saint.html This is a one-day tournament (five rounds between 10:00am and 7:30pm) held monthly in San Francisco. Usually about 25-35 players attend, half of those being youngsters. They are fun andgood for practice. I'm known to attend on occassion, but usually it is a last minute decision. East Bay Chess Club Thanksgiving Festival - November 25-27 East Bay Chess Club in Berkeley http://www.eastbaychess.com/tourney/05/thanksgiving.html The East Bay Chess Club hosts its first major tournament this year on Thanksgiving. They are hoping to attract 100+ players in the adult tournament and most in scholastic side events. There is something for everyone. The sections are Open, U2000 and U1600. Two schedules are available: six slow games on Friday through Sunday or a two-day schedule with three faster games on Saturday. I intend to support this tournament and the good people that run the EBCC (FM David Pruess, NM Andy Lee and IM Vinay Bhat). Looking ahead to December, I see tournaments scheduled on every weekend. Check the calendar on the CalChess website if you are planning ahead. I will likely play in the Sacramento event on December 17-18, although it won't be as big as the one in the summer. Then I intend to travel to Las Vegas for North American Open on December 26-29. The NAO format, entry fee and prizes have changed considerably, which in my opinion is unfortunate. It has essentially become a West Coast version of the annual World Open in Philadelphia. North American Open website: http://www.chesstour.com/nao05.htm -------------------------------------- 7. Lesson schedule and Fpawn's website -------------------------------------- As usual, you can find my updated lesson schedule posted on my website. There have been a few changes since the last newsletter, including adding two students and shifting around some others. I dare say that I can't add any more new students without dropping someone else. My full schedule also makes further changes or rescheduling lessons a challenge, unless you can find someone will to swap lesson times. http://www.fpawn.com/chess/schedule.htm On the other hand, I enjoy the hassle of teaching (even teenagers!) as long as the kids keeping learning and have a positive attitude towards chess. Keep it up kids! Have a good October, wish me luck in Reno and hopefully I'll see many of you soon! Michael