THE WEEK IN CHESS 70 11/02/96 Mark Crowther
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1) Introduction
2) Women's World championships.
3) Keres Memorial Tournament by Mart Tarmak
4) Kasparov vs Deep Blue. The IBM - ACM Chess Challenge.
5) PCA and FIDE
6) Belgrade
7) Rishon Le-Zion by Shay Bushinsky
8) Category 12 in Greece
9) "VIER JAHRESZEITEN" SCHACH-OPEN Regensburg GER
10) Hallsdall
11) Americana by Sam Sloan
12) 103rd New Zealand Championships
GAMES SECTION
-------------
Kasparov vs Deep Blue 1 game
Women's World Championships 4 games
Belgrade 2 games
Parnu 3 games
Regensburg GER 51 games
Hallsdall Norway 56 games
New Zealand Championships 6 games
New Zealand Championships Reserve Section 1 game
CLOSED STATE CHAMPIONSHIP OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 13 games
CAL CHESS SEASON OPENER 15 games
1) Introduction
---------------
My thanks to Art Pomeroy, Jim Eade, Sam Sloan, Jonathan Tisdall, Christoph
Pfrommer, Shay Bushinsky, Bosko Grove, Mart Tarmak and Kevin O'Connell.
One of those issues of TWIC where not enough time was available to do everything
that I wished to do (I played chess on Saturday). Anyhow an interesting week
in chess, many of the events here will be rounded up in much more detail
next week. Kasparov vs Deep Blue got off to the ideal start for the sponsors
with a Kasparov loss. This appeared on radio and TV in the UK and I imagine
the same is due for the states. In a best of six match Kasparov will have
to be at his best to win. Next week I hope to catch up with the games from
Belgrade and the Keres Memorial. This latter event seems to confirm the
impression that Nigel Short has return to close to his best. Controversy
has stalked the Women's World championships with Luis Rentero (no longer
involved with the Linares super GM tournament which I hear is still to go
ahead without Kasparov but with Karpov and Kamsky) applying his unique methods
to a World Championships.
I will sign off here and hope that you enjoy this issue.
Mark
2) Women's World championships.
------------------------------
Jaen ESP (ESP), I-II 1996.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Polgar, Zsuzsa g HUN 2550 0 = = 1 1 = 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 2632
Xie Jun g CHN 2530 1 = = 0 0 = 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5 2448
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Zsuzsa Polgar appears to have settled best into this match for the
women's World Championships. The decisive moment for her was game
4 where she equalised. As Kevin O`Connell reports below there was
a controversy before the game.
The Women's World Chess Championships
-------------------------------------
My thanks to Kevin O'Connell for some news from the event where
his Intelligent Chess Display system is providing instantaneous
display of the moves in the playing hall, in the press room,
various locations throughout the Parador and in the commentary
room a couple of kilometres away in the town itself.
This last is thanks to the mountaineering skill of Jorge
Morales, the man who looks after all the technical requirements at
the Linares tournaments and other events also, for he donned his
mountaineering gear, attached a secure rope to the Parador and
(abseiled?) down the Santa Catalina hill to take the video cable down
to the town some 400-500 metres below!
The actual match is taking place in 'Parador de Turismo de Santa Catalina',
constructed 30 years ago immediately adjacent to the fortress of
Fernando III, which incorporates the remains of the castle built by King
Alhamar (of Alhambra fame) on the top of the Santa Catalina (large hill/
small mountain) in Jaen, Jaen (like New York, New York - Jaen is the capital
of the Andalucian province of Jaen, which also contains Linares, which is
some 50km away).
FIDE Chairman Campomanes came for the opening ceremony and stayed for a
few days. FIDE President Ilumzhinov is expected at the end of the event.
Time control is 40/2, 20/1 then 30 minutes per player.
After the 3rd game Luis Rentero (Director Tecnico del Campeonato) sent a
letter to the press, and to the players:
He reminded the players that
the region of Andalucia had made great sacrifices to
hold the match and that the games to that point had been
a disappointment. He accused the players of giving the
impression that they had come to visit as tourists rather
than chess players. He said that as technical director of
the event and irrespective of any regulations he would not
stand for this. He threatened (or perhaps implimented) a
$25.000 fine for this behaviour (or perhaps future behaviour).
He said that both he and Campomanes thought that such behaviour
compromised the title of World Women's Chess Champion.
Kevin O'Connell reports that both players were extremely upset
about this letter. The both spoke to him personally about it.
As public indication of this just before the forth game of Feb 3rd
Zsuzsa Polgar issued a reply to this letter:
She was extremely insulted at the accusation that she had come
to Jaen merely as a tourist. She reminded Mr Rentero that this
was an official FIDE World Championship match not a private tournament.
She also reminded him that no such mention was made at any time
prior to the match of any such conditions.
She said that she has come to win the World Chess Championships
and that she had never been so insulted in her life before in the
way that Rentero's letter had done.
[Apologies for the rather free translations but this is certainly
the gist of the two letters. At the end of this section are the
originals]
Kevin also sends the individual times for game 4. After each move
is given first the time used for the last move followed by the
cumulative time use for the player that just made the move.
[Event "wcc women"]
[Site "Jaen ESP"]
[Date "1996.02.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Xie Jun"]
[Black "Polgar, Z"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2530"]
[BlackElo "2550"]
1. e4 {00:00 00:00:00} c5 {00:13 00:00:13}
2. Nf3 {00:03 00:00:03} d6 {00:19 00:00:32}
3. d4 {00:10 00:00:13} cxd4 {00:07 00:00:39}
4. Nxd4 {00:08 00:00:21} Nf6 {00:07 00:00:46}
5. Nc3 {00:04 00:00:25} Nc6 {00:46 00:01:32}
6. Bg5 {00:22 00:00:47} Qb6 {00:17 00:01:49}
7. Nb3 {01:51 00:02:38} e6 {01:00 00:02:49}
8. Qd2 {02:56 00:05:34} Be7 {00:30 00:03:19}
9. f3 {05:23 00:10:57} O-O {01:51 00:05:10}
10. g4 {05:40 00:16:37} Rd8 {06:06 00:11:16}
11. Be3 {00:48 00:17:25} Qc7 {01:43 00:12:59}
12. g5 {00:10 00:17:35} Nd7 {04:08 00:17:07}
13. O-O-O {02:28 00:20:03} a6 {03:55 00:21:02}
14. h4 {05:54 00:25:57} b5 {02:09 00:23:11}
15. h5 {20:42 00:46:39} Nb6 {07:14 00:30:25}
16. g6 {17:07 01:03:46} Bf6 {04:20 00:34:45}
17. h6 {03:37 01:07:23} fxg6 {03:31 00:38:16}
18. hxg7 {01:36 01:08:59} Na4 {18:13 00:56:29}
19. Nd4 {03:08 01:12:07} Nxd4 {06:58 01:03:27}
20. Bxd4 {00:03 01:12:10} Bxd4 {01:49 01:05:16}
21. Qxd4 {00:14 01:12:24} Nxc3 {00:55 01:06:11}
22. bxc3 {03:15 01:15:39} Qxg7 {04:53 01:11:04}
23. Qb6 {00:31 01:16:10} Qe7 {08:59 01:20:03}
24. e5 {07:23 01:23:33} d5 {01:30 01:21:33}
25. Bd3 {00:12 01:23:45} Bd7 {06:55 01:28:28}
26. Rdg1 {01:31 01:25:16} Be8 {07:55 01:36:23}
27. f4 {00:29 01:25:45} d4 {01:51 01:38:14}
28. cxd4 {09:32 01:35:17} Rab8 {00:24 01:38:38}
29. Qxa6 {00:18 01:35:35} Rxd4 {00:45 01:39:23}
30. f5 {01:08 01:36:43} exf5 {04:23 01:43:46}
31. Bxf5 {03:16 01:39:59} Qxe5 {01:16 01:45:02}
32. Be6+ {00:19 01:40:18} Kh8 {00:35 01:45:37}
33. Kb1 {01:27 01:41:45} Ra4 {02:03 01:47:40}
0-1
SPANISH ORIGINAL TEXTS
----------------------
After the 3rd game Luis Rentero (Director Tecnico del Campeonato) sent a
letter to the press, and to the players:
"Sras. Jugadoras:
Para esta ciudad y para esta provincia ha sido un verdadero sacrificio
organizar este match. Toda la aficion de Andalucia, de Espana y del mundo
entero estan pendientes del desarrollo de sus partidas. La actuacion de
Uds. en las dos ultimas partidas es decepcionante. Da la impresion de que
han venido Uds. a Jaen a hacer turismo. Como Director Tecnico de este
Campeonato del Mundo no estoy dispuesto a permitirlo. Opine lo que opine
la FIDE.
Por tal motivo son Uds. sancionadas cada una con 25.000 dolares de su
premio y asi seguire actuando de acuerdo con su comportamiento deportivo.
Uds. pueden tomar las medidas que deseen. Pero o juegan al ajedrez o se
marchan a sus respectivos paises.
El Sr. Campomanes y yo nos hemos comprometido con esta ciudad porque
creiamos que Uds. eran dignas de ser la campeona y la subcampeona del
mundo.
Atentamente.
Luis Rentero Suarez
Director Tecnico del Campeonato del Mundo Femenino."
The following day (3 February), a few moments after the fourth game
ended, copies of the following letter were circulated:
"Estimado Sr. Rentero:
Me senti sorprendida e insultada, hasta lo mas profundo de mi corazon,
al recibir su carta en la que me acusaba de venir a Jaen a hacer turismo
y no a jugar al ajedrez, y por eso, intento sancionarme.
Vine aqui a disputar el Mundial Femenino de Ajedrez de acuerdo con las
reglas de este juego y las de la FIDE.
Sennor Rentero, me gustaria recordarle que este es un Mundial oficial de
la FIDE y no asunto privado suyo. No tiene ningun derecho a cambiar las
condiciones de este Mundial, especialmente cuando yo ha comenzado.
No hay ningun precedente en la historia del ajedrez de que un
organizador le diga a los jugadores como deben jugar.
Senor Rentero, usted no me va a decir como debo jugar al ajedrez. A
pesar del impacto emocional y psicologico que me ha producido su carta,
intentare ignorarla y continuar el Mundial como tenia planeado, y jugar
mi ajedrez como yo lo entiendo.
Espero una carta oficial y personal de usted, senor Rentero, porque me
ha insultado y danado mis sentimientos como nadie antes lo habia hecho.
Zsuzsa Polgar."
3) Keres Memorial Tournament by Mart Tarmak
--------------------------------------------
The Paul Keres memorial tournament finished in Parnu today on February 11.
Final results:
A (XVII category, Two Cycles)
-----------------------------
1. g Nigel Short (ENG) 2665 6.5
2. g Aleksandr Khalifman (RUS) 2650 5.5
3. g Jaan Ehlvest (EST) 2660 5.0
g Zbynek Hracek (CZE) 2650 5.0
5. g Lembit Oll (EST) 2640 4.0
g Ivan Sokolov (BIH) 2665 4.0
B (X category)
---------------
1. g Vladimir Epishin (RUS) 2645 6.0
g Aloyzas Kveinys (LTU) 2500 6.0
3. g Edvins Kengis (LAT) 2570 5.0
m Aleksander Veingold (EST) 2425 5.0
5. m Kaido Kulaots (EST) 2400 4.5
Riho Liiva (EST) 2425 4.5
m Mihhail Rotsagov (EST) 2495 4.5
8. m Olav Sepp (EST) 2440 3.5
9. m Zoltan Gyimesi (HUN) 2545 3.0
g Heikki Westerinen (FIN) 2410 3.0
C (women X category):
---------------------
1. Johanna Paasikangas (FIN) 2200 5,5
2. Marta Litinskaja (UKR) 2355 5.0
Rakhil Eidelson (BLS) 2370 5.0
Tuulikki Laesson (EST) 2245 5.0
Monika Tsoganova (EST) 2280 5.0
Jekaterina Kovalevskaja (RUS) 2335 5.0
7. Leili Piarnpuu (EST) 2245 4.5
8. Tatjana Fomina (EST) 2305 3.5
Olga Stjashkina (RUS) 2200 3.5
Inna Dubinka (UKR) 2235 3.5
Nigel Short had +3 before the last two rounds and seemed to be clear winner.
But after his loss against Zbynek Hracek in the 102 move game Jaan Ehlvest
had chances for the first prize. He had white pieces, tried much but lost.
This game is added to this message. All the games of the three tournament
will be sent next week. Nigel Short had the nice victory with the full point
margin. Very interesting and fighting chess was shown by Czech grandmaster
Zbynek Hracek who won 4 and lost 4 games with only two draws. Quite a rare
and spectacular results at the such strong as XVII category tournament.
Local audience expected more wins from the Estonian grandmasters.
In the B tournament Epishin was not as superior as it was expected at the
beginning. He was lucky to avoid losses against Liiva and Kveinys. Young
Estonian master Riho Liiva got his last needed IM norm. He played good chess
but had problems with the clock in every game. He lost with time a winning
position against Kveinys and accepted a draw offered by Epishin when he had
very little time to make five moves before the control to realize his
advantage. Another young hope of the Estonian chess Kaido K=FClaots who is
from P=E4rnu itself played also good chess.
Sensational was the first place of Johanna Paasikangas in the women's
tournament. This 21 year old Finnish player was ahead of all Estonian
olympic team (sixth in Manila) and strong players from CIS. Johanna made
only one draw in the tournament. Before the last round was very much
possible that the tournamnet will have seven (!) winners with the equal
result 5 points.
4) Kasparov vs Deep Blue. The IBM - ACM Chess Challenge.
---------------------------------------------------------
The Deep Blue verses Kasparov match got underway on Saturday 10th of January.
It saw a dreadfully nervy effort from Kasparov. He was comprehensively
outplayed by Deep Blue. He will have to play with greater strength and
nerve in the rest of the games to win the match. From IBM's point of
view this result has probably justified alone their investment in the
event. 10. ... Bb4 was seen as odd, 16. ... Rac8 17. Bg5 seemed to leave
Kasparov struggling. DeepBlue had nearly an hour left compared to 5 minutes
42 seconds for Kasparov at the end.
From my own point of view the methods that IBM have used to promote the
event are of very great interest. For the first time a chess event
has been covered on the internet in a way that really does make use
of the possibilities of www. The event has also been covered widely
both on TV and in the press, especially after Kasparov's loss in game 1.
I will cover the event in full for TWIC 71.
Both the PCA and FIDE should look at the www sites on this match:
http://www.ibm.com/Stretch/EOS/deepblue.html
gives a general introduction to the match and
http://www.ibm.park.org/chess.html
Whilst I disagree with a number of the things stated in the FAQ's etc
it is clear that the PCA ought to have produced such documentation
and information on the Anand - Kasparov match in the Summer. Any press
person on the net can actually write an entire series of articles
simply based on the resources presented at these sites.
Maurice Ashley and Yasser Seirawan are conducting the commentaries
at the site and they are transcribed for consultation on the www.
Probably the addition of the moves between the comments might make
them slightly easier to follow.
I only have two areas of minor criticism. They are both connected
with bandwidth. I found it did take some time to download many
of the pages and sometimes several attempts, this was whilst the
games were not taking place! Also I gather that during the games
the situation was worse. So probably I would suggest a set of mirror
sites in the future for large chess events, even though this might be
complex to administer. Aside from this I would say that for chess,
even if I hope computer vs human matches are kept to a minimum I would
hope that the exploitation of the net is watched and emulated in
future chess events.
5) PCA and FIDE
------------
The loss of the INTEL sponsorship definitely doesn't mean the end
of the PCA. It is reported that the PCA have four rapidplay events
planned and also that their World Title will continue with a
10 player (presumably double round) title eliminator tournament in
1997. This of course leaves questions about how the ten players
will be selected / qualify. This should surely put pressure on FIDE
who have effectively opted out of holding a World Championships with
their knockout chess Championship idea. It seems that two factors
are uppermost in FIDE's mind with the KO idea. Firstly that it
should take place every year. Secondly that because it is held every
year this will generate badly needed funds. However this doesn't take
into account how unsatisfactory the results will be (Fischer lost to
Larsen in the Interzonal in 1970 when he was the best player in the
World, if that had been under the KO system he may very well have
been eliminated, one bad day, at the office followed by a draw and it
is over under this KO system. I will return to the subject again but
it seems to me that a Candidates tournament one year and a World Championship
tournament (4 players 18 rounds) would both retain the idea of the
best player winning the World Title AND the idea of a top class event
every year for FIDE. There isn't any way the $5m can be generated every
year anyhow. I will return to this subject next week.
6) Belgrade
---------
Although I have some further results below is the last
confirmed standings I have. The event appears to have
been organised at the last moment making use of the
presence of Karpov in Belgrade. Salov appeared two
days late and Leko a day late, possibly due to bad
weather. Initially the event was to be a two cycle
event but organiser Dmitri Bjelica has been forced
to cut the event to five rounds. One round 5 game has
been played and now they are filling in some of the
missing games. The sensation of the event was a nice
win by Bareev over Karpov (see the games section) I
hope to complete a more comprehensive report when
the event finishes.
Belgrade YUG (ISR), I-II 1996. cat. XVI (2639)
----------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL No. GAMES
----------------------------------------------------------
1 Bareev, Evgeny g RUS 2645 3.5 /4
4 Leko, Peter g HUN 2625 2.0 /4
6 Salov, Valery g RUS 2670 1.5 /2
3 Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2770 1.5 /3
5 Popovic, Petar g YUG 2570 1.0 /3
2 Ilincic, Zlatko g YUG 2555 0.5 /4
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7) Rishon Le-Zion by Shay Bushinsky
--------------------------------
GM Boris Alterman of Israel & GM Vasilas Kotrunias of Greece shared
the first prize in the category 13 tournament just finished in Rishon
Le-Zion. Eve of the last round, both players stood one
point ahead of GM Leonid Yudasin, the favorite for winning
this tournament. It was Alterman who settled for a quick draw with IM
Leonid Shmuter first. Kotrunias, playing white, faced IM Ilan Manor
who needed a win in this game to earn his third and last GM
norm. Kotrunias kept an eye open on the game Yudasin-Kosashvili for if
Yudasin wins and he would of lost, he would lose the his comfortable
first/second position. After fortifying his position a repetition
resulted in a draw costing Manor the norm but securing the shared
first for Kotrunias, Yudasin had easily refuted an ambitious but
fruitless attack of Kosashvili and went on to win a simple ending.
Alterman was declared the winner by a quality tiebreak
(6=,+3 including a win against Kotronias)
Round 5 (1996.01.31)
Goldin, Alexander - Yudasin, Leonid 1-0
Round 6 (1996.02.02)
Yudasin, Leonid - Kotronias, Vasilios 1/2
Manor, Ilan - Kosashvili, Yona 1-0
Goldin, Alexander - Alterman, Boris 1/2
Liss, Eran - Shmuter, Leonid 1-0
Polgar, Sofia - Greenfeld, Alon 1/2
Round 7 (1996.02.03)
Alterman, Boris - Yudasin, Leonid 1/2
Kotronias, Vasilios - Polgar, Sofia 1-0
Shmuter, Leonid - Manor, Ilan 1/2
Greenfeld, Alon - Liss, Eran 1-0
Kosashvili, Yona - Goldin, Alexander 1-0
Round 8 (1996.02.04)
Alterman, Boris - Kosashvili, Yona 1-0
Yudasin, Leonid - Polgar, Sofia 1-0
Manor, Ilan - Greenfeld, Alon 1-0
Goldin, Alexander - Shmuter, Leonid 0-1
Liss, Eran - Kotronias, Vasilios 0-1
Round 9 (1996.02.05)
Kotronias, Vasilios - Manor, Ilan 1/2
Shmuter, Leonid - Alterman, Boris 1/2
Greenfeld, Alon - Goldin, Alexander 1/2
Kosashvili, Yona - Yudasin, Leonid 0-1
Polgar, Sofia - Liss, Eran 0-1
Rishon ISR (ISR), I-II 1996. cat. XIII (2555)
------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Alterman, Boris g ISR 2585 * 1 = = = = = = 1 1 6.0 2676
2 Kotronias, Vasilios g GRE 2610 0 * = = = 1 1 1 = 1 6.0 2673
3 Yudasin, Leonid g ISR 2635 = = * = 0 1 1 0 1 1 5.5 2625
4 Manor, Ilan m ISR 2510 = = = * 0 0 = 1 1 1 5.0 2602
5 Goldin, Alexander g RUS 2600 = = 1 1 * 0 0 = 0 1 4.5 2549
6 Liss, Eran g ISR 2480 = 0 0 1 1 * 1 0 0 1 4.5 2562
7 Shmuter, Leonid m UKR 2490 = 0 0 = 1 0 * 1 = 1 4.5 2561
8 Greenfeld, Alon g ISR 2560 = 0 1 0 = 1 0 * = = 4.0 2510
9 Kosashvili, Yona g ISR 2580 0 = 0 0 1 1 = = * = 4.0 2508
10 Polgar, Sofia HUN 2495 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = = * 1.0 2210
------------------------------------------------------------------
8) Category 12 in Greece
----------------------
An upcoming Balkan Category 12 tournament starting March 21st
in Athens Greece will feature:
Nenashev, Alexander g UZB 2595 64 25.08.62
Miladinovic, Igor g GRE 2560 49 25.01.74
Alterman, Boris g ISR 2585 18 04.05.70
Kotronias, Vasilios g GRE 2610 33 25.08.64
Skembris, Spyridon g GRE 2505 43 22.02.58
Grivas, Efstratios g GRE 2475 51 30.03.66
Andrianov, Nikolai m RUS 2415 0 20.12.61
Agnos, Demetrios m ENG 2460 52 11.06.70
Nikolaidis, Ioannis g GRE 2530 65 04.01.71
plus one further player.
9) "VIER JAHRESZEITEN" SCHACH-OPEN 2. January 1996 - 6. January 1996 Regensburg GER
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Report and games selection by Christoph Pfrommer
The "Vier Jahreszeiten" (="four seasons") open took place from
Jan 02 to Jan 06 and saw 128 participants including 14 GMs.
After 7 round swiss system we were surprised to see no less than 8 GMs
(including FGM Kachiani-Gersinska, who comes from Georgia but now
lives in Germany)
sharing for the first price with only 5.5 points from seven rounds.
Some of the co-winners simply drew to three of their GM colleagues and
won four games against amateurs. However, GM Kengis failed to reach this
score when he lost his last-round game with the white pieces against the
clearly lower rated FGM Kachiani-Gersinska.
I like that game (see the games selection with all games from the
co-winners) for the nice tactical coup 25..Bb4!
PL. PLAYER CLUB NAT ELO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 TOTAL
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Wojtkiewicz Aleksand Polen POL 2550 B+ 31 W+ 52 B= 16 W+ 32 B= 6 W= 3 B+ 22 5.5
2. Lanka Zigurds Lettland LAT 2510 W+ 62 B+ 29 W+ 20 W= 18 B= 8 B= 10 W+ 28 5.5
3. Schlosser Philipp BRD/SK Passau GER 2540 B+103 W+ 21 B= 25 W+ 58 W+ 9 B= 1 W= 7 5.5
4. Kveinys Aloyzas Litauen LTU 2500 W+ 75 B+ 47 W= 38 B+ 13 W= 17 B= 5 W+ 15 5.5
5. Kachiani-Gersinska K BRD/ST.Ingbert GER 2390 B+ 98 W= 48 B+ 37 W= 19 B+ 21 W= 4 B+ 18 5.5
6. Inkiov Ventzislav Bulgarien BUL 2500 W+ 85 B= 42 W+ 39 B+ 38 W= 1 B+ 17 W= 10 5.5
7. Lau Ralf BRD/SG Solingen GER 2495 B+ 94 W+ 86 B- 9 W+ 29 B+ 26 W+ 20 B= 3 5.5
8. Piskov Yury Russland RUS 2520 W+124 B+ 41 W+ 11 B= 9 W= 2 B= 15 W+ 16 5.5
9. Grabert Ralf BRD/DJK Regensburg GER 2275 W+ 78 B+ 66 W+ 7 W= 8 B- 3 B= 35 W+ 40 5
10. Farago Ivan Ungarn HUN 2525 B+ 81 W+ 36 B= 22 W+ 45 B= 16 W= 2 B= 6 5
11. Schmidt Peter BRD/SK Passau GER 2405 W+ 80 B+ 54 B- 8 W+ 81 B- 19 W+ 55 + 50 5
12. Wells Peter England ENG 2495 B+100 W- 19 B+ 85 W+ 42 B- 20 W+ 54 B+ 27 5
13. Riediger Martin BRD/Pfarrkirchen GER 2280 B= 97 W+113 B+ 43 W- 4 B= 49 W+ 48 B+ 42 5
14. Schlingensiepen Chri BRD/SK Passau GER 2305 W+102 B= 60 W= 57 B= 64 W+ 67 B= 40 W+ 39 5
15. Georgiev Krum Bulgarien BUL 2490 B+ 83 W+ 27 B= 19 W+ 25 B= 18 W= 8 B- 4 4.5
16. Velikov Petar Bulgarien BUL 2445 W+ 84 B+ 40 W= 1 B+ 24 W= 10 W= 18 B- 8 4.5
17. Radulov Ivan Bulgarien BUL 2395 B+ 56 W= 37 B+ 59 W+ 44 B= 4 W- 6 B= 19 4.5
18. Kengis Edvins Lettland LAT 2570 W+ 99 B+ 50 W+ 23 B= 2 W= 15 B= 16 W- 5 4.5
19. Mueller Christian BRD/SC Nordlingen GER 2175 W+110 B+ 12 W= 15 B= 5 W+ 11 B- 28 W= 17 4.5
20. Seitz Michael BRD/SK Passau GER 2250 B+ 88 W+ 63 B- 2 W+ 95 W+ 12 B- 7 W= 35 4.5
21. Linhart Wolfgang BRD/SK Passau GER 0 W+ 61 B- 3 W+ 80 B+ 30 W- 5 B+ 79 B= 32 4.5
22. Gross Stefan Tschechien CZE 2290 W+ 87 B+ 71 W= 10 B= 26 W= 40 B+ 58 W- 1 4.5
23. Velicka Petr Tschechien CZE 2420 B+ 33 W+ 55 B- 18 W- 27 B= 46 W+100 B+ 49 4.5
24. Barth Norbert BRD/SK Schwandorf GER 2205 B+ 73 W= 68 B+ 46 W- 16 B+ 43 W- 27 B+ 60 4.5
25. Naumann Frank BRD/SV Hannover GER 2290 W+ 76 B+ 64 W= 3 B- 15 W= 60 B+ 77 W= 29 4.5
26. Keller Manfred BRD/Pang-Rosenheim GER 2220 B+ 91 W= 46 B+ 68 W= 22 W- 7 B= 60 W+ 64 4.5
27. Werner Izabell BRD/Karlsruher SF GER 2145 W+121 B- 15 W+ 82 B+ 23 W= 28 B+ 24 W- 12 4.5
28. Werner Clemens BRD/Karlsruher SF GER 2325 B- 63 W+ 88 B+ 94 W+ 62 B= 27 W+ 19 B- 2 4.5
29. Jauernig Udo BRD/Fortuna Rgbg GER 2215 B+111 W- 2 B+ 98 B- 7 W+ 82 W+ 46 B= 25 4.5
30. Uvarov Vyacheslav Estland EST 2205 B+ 67 W= 44 B= 52 W- 21 B= 62 W+ 66 W+ 71 4.5
31. Niessen Helga BRD/Fortuna Rgbg GER 2105 W- 1 B+ 70 W= 96 B= 41 W+ 89 B= 38 W+ 58 4.5
32. Luft Andreas BRD/DJK Regensburg GER 2325 W+ 82 B= 57 W+ 77 B- 1 W+ 75 B= 39 W= 21 4.5
33. Schneider Roland BRD/SK Passau GER 2210 W- 23 B+116 W= 41 B+ 47 W- 39 W+ 86 B+ 59 4.5
34. Gross David Tschechien CZE 2365 W+101 B= 77 W= 42 B- 40 W+ 83 B+ 57 W= 36 4.5
35. Mueller Christian BRD/Neutraubling GER 0 B=105 W=109 B= 79 W+ 59 B+ 44 W= 9 B= 20 4.5
36. Peschel Andreas BRD/Alj. Solingen GER 2150 W+ 93 B- 10 W+ 84 B- 75 W+ 80 B+ 76 B= 34 4.5
37. Marschall Josef BRD/Muenchen1836 GER 2100 W+120 B= 17 W- 5 B- 76 W+ 96 B+ 95 W+ 72 4.5
126 players ....
10) Hallsdall
---------
My thanks to Jonathan Tisdall for all his help with this event. A selection of games
appears in the GAMES SECTION.
Hallsdall NOR (NOR), I 1996.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Karlsson, Lars g SWE 2465 +27 =18 = 9 +19 = 2 + 5 = 6 +11 +14 7.0 2550
2 Hellsten, Johan m SWE 2475 +15 +20 + 5 = 9 = 1 + 6 = 3 = 4 = 7 6.5 2558
3 Akesson, Ralf g SWE 2505 +14 - 5 =24 +21 +12 + 9 = 2 + 6 = 8 6.5 2501
4 Tisdall, Jonathan D g NOR 2510 +11 - 9 +13 - 6 +17 +10 +15 = 2 = 5 6.0 2441
5 Leito, Priit EST 2310 +10 + 3 - 2 +12 = 9 - 1 = 7 +22 = 4 5.5 2495
6 Sammalvuo, Tapani f FIN 2325 =17 = 8 +18 + 4 +10 - 2 = 1 - 3 + 9 5.5 2457
7 Gretarsson, Helgi Ass g ISL 2450 =13 =22 +11 -10 +19 = 8 = 5 +15 = 2 5.5 2365
8 Doettling, Fabian GER 2230 =28 = 6 =17 =22 +20 = 7 +13 = 9 = 3 5.5 2363
9 Fridman, Daniel m LAT 2500 +16 + 4 = 1 = 2 = 5 - 3 +25 = 8 - 6 5.0 2401
10 Lauber, Arnd GER 2355 - 5 +26 +23 + 7 - 6 - 4 +16 =13 =11 5.0 2310
11 Chernuschevich, Alexei f BLR 2380 - 4 +27 - 7 =15 +14 +12 +22 - 1 =10 5.0 2350
12 Sluka, Radek CZE 2320 =26 +28 +21 - 5 - 3 -11 +24 +25 =13 5.0 2319
13 Berg, Emanuel SWE 2180 = 7 =17 - 4 +18 +25 =22 - 8 =10 =12 4.5 2296
14 Hedman, Erik f SWE 2355 - 3 =15 +26 -17 -11 +21 +18 +16 - 1 4.5 2238
15 Moor, Roger SUI 2195 - 2 =14 =28 =11 +21 +17 - 4 - 7 +23 4.5 2310
16 Arnelind, Mikael SWE 2115 - 9 -25 =27 +26 +23 +20 -10 -14 +22 4.5 2256
17 Wikstrom, Per SWE 2130 = 6 =13 = 8 +14 - 4 -15 =19 =18 =21 4.0 2239
18 Schneider, Stefan SWE 2225 =23 = 1 - 6 -13 +28 =19 -14 =17 +25 4.0 2212
19 Pedersen, Nicolai Vesterbaek DEN 2290 =22 =24 +25 - 1 - 7 =18 =17 -23 +26 4.0 2188
20 Nordahl, Helge NOR 2270 +25 - 2 =22 =24 - 8 -16 =23 =26 +27 4.0 2148
21 Malmstig, Erik SWE 2235 =24 +23 -12 - 3 -15 -14 +27 +28 =17 4.0 2166
22 Bialy, Rafal POL 2155 =19 = 7 =20 = 8 +24 =13 -11 - 5 -16 3.5 2197
23 Thornert, Hakan SWE 2215 =18 -21 -10 +27 -16 =26 =20 +19 -15 3.5 2082
24 Andersson, Tommy SWE 2270 =21 =19 = 3 =20 -22 -25 -12 -27 +28 3.0 2176
25 Wikner, Arvid SWE 2295 -20 +16 -19 +28 -13 +24 - 9 -12 -18 3.0 2120
26 Johansson,Ch ---- =12 -10 -14 -16 =27 =23 =28 =20 -19 2.5 2052
27 Carlstrom,Ni ---- - 1 -11 =16 -23 =26 =28 -21 +24 -20 2.5 2055
28 Evertsson, Kristian SWE 2040 = 8 -12 =15 -25 -18 =27 =26 -21 -24 2.0 1943
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11) Americana by Sam Sloan
----------------------
Sam Sloan manages to be contraversial in almost everything he writes! I like his
energetic writing however. So here are unedited reports on a couple of recent
US events plus a note (sent to me by Sam Sloan aswell as Jim Eade.)
LOBO AND BALINAS WIN CAL CHESS SEASON OPENER
by Sam Sloan
Richard Lobo of England and Grandmaster Rosendo Balinas of the Philippines
won the Masters Section of the Cal Chess Season Opener with equal scores of
5-1. Lobo won the first place trophy on secondary tie-breaks. This event was
held over the Martin Luther King Junior weekend on January 13-15, in Foster
City, California. Balinas and Lobo drew each other and each had one other
draw. There were a total of 196 players in a total of seven sections. Carolyn
Withgitt and Tom Dorsch directed.
After winning the grandmaster title in a spectacular tournament victory in
the 1976 Moscow International Tournament twenty years ago, Rosendo Balinas
has had many ups and downs in chess, mostly downs. Although Balinas was the
second Filipino grandmaster, his lack of warm relations with Florencio
Campomanes has prevented Balinas from playing on the Philippines national
team in recent years, in spite of being a seven-time Philippines national
champion. For the past twenty years, Balinas has been crying alone in the
wilderness about the financial irregularities of the Campomanes
administration, until a majority of FIDE member nations joined the chorus
only a few months ago.
Balinas served for four years as a chess trainer in Bahrain in the late
1980s. Upon his return to America, Balinas had some lackluster performances.
However, in just the last few months, Balinas has been extremely active has
had an impressive series of results, either winning or finishing near the top
in every tournament that he has played in, in very elite company. Balinas had
good results in the Western Open in Reno, where he defeated Grandmaster
Alexander Ivanov, in the U. S. Senior Open in Las Vegas and in an
International Master tournament held in San Francisco. Balinas won the San
Diego Open last year. With these results plus his latest victory, Balinas is
finally proving himself to be a truly grandmaster strength player. Balinas
now lives in Oxnard, California.
At a recent USCF Policy Board Meeting, "Grandmaster" Arnold Denker proposed
that "foreigners" such as Grandmasters Gufeld and Balinas not be allowed to
play in the U.S. Senior Open, until they have resided in the U.S. for three
years. In another outrageous act by the USCF Policy Board, this resolution
passed, so now "foreigners" are no longer welcome in this "open" event.
However, Denker's efforts to stop Balinas from competing against him is
misplaced, as Balinas has been playing in tournaments in the United States
since the late 1970s.
This past weekend, Balinas won the Cal Chess Season Opener through a
spectacular last round victory over Senior Master Artak Akopian. Akopian
appeared to have a draw in hand and no losing chances, but Balinas defended
resourcefully until finally Akopian slipped and allowed Balinas to trade down
into an absolutely winning king and pawn endgame. This was almost the last
game in the tournament to finish. It was surprising how many master
spectators failed to realize that Balinas had an absolute cold win as soon as
queens were traded.
Richard Lobo of England tied for first by making short shift of Dmitry
Zilberstein's Kings Indian Defense. Zilberstein lost on time on move 28 when
he realized that he had no way to avoid a loss of material. Lobo made his
first international master norm earlier last year.
Jennie Frenklakh, the girl wonder of chess, who made headlines last Summer
when she was leading the U. S. Open Championship with 5-0, after defeating
three masters in a row, got off to a good start here again, defeating two
masters, Eric Schiller and Joe Weber, in the first three rounds. It looked as
though Jennie was finally going to get her master rating, which has been
barely eluding her for some time. However, Jennie was then ground down in a
60 move endgame by Artak Akopian, in a position in which it appeared for a
long time that she could hold a draw. Then, in the next round, master Aaron
Stearns busted her open with a Hari Kari Attack. As a result, Jennie will
have to wait a bit longer to get her master title.
In an aside, I found myself paired in round 4 against Micah Fisher-Kirshner.
Although I had never seen this player before, I knew him well, as he has
created a disk of more than 500 chess games of himself and his younger
brother, Tov Fisher-Kirshner. This disk has been circulated and copied among
players such as myself who collect games, and so, when I sat down to play
him, I announced that I had made a deep and profound study of 500 of his
chess games and I knew exactly what to play against him. I then demonstrated
the results of my research and played 1. g4. Sure enough, the game was over
and I had won by move seven. Actually, he played on until move 23, when his
chess teacher came by and told him that he had no chance.
This was such a terrible game that I was not going to include it, until I
received several requests for this game in which I won in seven moves.
I wonder if Micah Fisher-Kirshner is going to include this game on his latest
disk and circulate this as well. He is still just a kid and the energy and
enthusiasm he has displayed by entering 500 of his and his brother's games
marks him as a future strong player but, as the game itself demonstrates, he
is not quite ready to assume his position among the world's grandmasters just
yet.
Reynard Anderson and Viktors Pupols tied for third in the Masters Section
with 4.5 - 1.5, followed by Walter Shipman, Artak Akopian, Dmitry
Zilberstein, Aaron Stearns, Eric Schiller and David Blohm with 3.5 - 2.5.
There were 25 rated masters in the masters section.
Expert winners were Allen Becker (2121) and Lev Frenklakh (2097) with 5-1.
Becker got the trophy on tiebreaks. Alvin Pulley (1930), Kevin Zeigler
(2187), and Boris Orlov (2017) tied for 3-5 with 4.5 points. Christopher
Black (1984) and Eric Steger (1925) finished with 4. Arthur Ibragimov (2046)
lost to Lev Frenklakh (devoted father of Jennie Frenklakh) in the last round
and finished with 3.5, tied with Paul Liebhaber (2006) and Jesse Jestadt
(2038).
The Class "A" section was won by Ludwig Arndt and Steven Krasnov who tied for
first with 5-1.
The "B" section was won by David Preuss with 5-1.
The "C" section was won by Brendan Birt and Duane Anderson with 5-1.
The "D" section was won by Sinoe Era with 5.5 - .5.
The "E" and unrated section was won by Anton Ivanov with 5-1.
IZUMIKAWA AND CARTAGENA WIN STATE CHAMPIONSHIP OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
by Sam Sloan
Bert Izumikawa and Omar Cartagena tied for first in the State Championship of
Northern California, which was held on three consecutive weekends from
January 13 to 28, 1996. Invitations were extended to the top 50 USCF rated
players with a Northern California address. The top eight who accepted were
allowed to play. Mike Goodall organized and directed the event under the
auspices of Cal Chess. The event was sponsored by Games of Berkeley. (It is
important to mention this fact at every opportunity, as Games of Berkeley
will continue to donate money to these events only if they get some publicity
from it.)
The tournament started as an eight payer all-play-all event. However, after
three rounds and a score of 2-1, International Master John Donaldson learned
that his mother was gravely ill, rushed to Philadelphia to be at her bedside
and withdrew from the tournament. (Donaldson's mother is still alive.)
This development benefited Cartagena, who had lost to Donaldson whereas
Izumikawa had drawn with Donaldson. After his loss to Donaldson was
discounted, Cartagena shot off to an early lead of 4-0! However, in the
penultimate round, Cartagena lost to International Master Jeremy Silman, and
dropped back to a tie for first place. The State Championship was then
decided by an exciting six-move last round draw. (It was Super Bowl day after
all).
As Izumikawa also tied for first California player in the California Open
last September (which was won by Balinas), he has a strong claim to being
called California State Champion.
It should be noted that several years ago, the United States Chess Federation
divorced Northern California from Southern California. As a result, these are
two separate states for chess purposes. Southern California has her own
"State Championship".
The complete results were: Cartagena (2380) and Izumikawa (2385) first with 4
1/2 - 1 1/2, Craig Mar (2420) with 3 1/2 - 2 1/2, Silman (2395) and Cusi
(2365) with 2 1/2 - 3 1/2, Koploy (2330) with 2-4 and Ignacio Marin with 1
1/2 - 4 1/2.
This was also the Charles Linklater Memorial Tournament. Many years ago,
Charles Linklater was a player on the Mechanics Institute "B" team. However,
few players can still remember him. When Charles Linklater died, his deathbed
wish was that his home be donated to the "Mechanics Institute Chess Club".
The Mechanics Institute later sold the home for $540,000. Ever since, the
Board of Trustees of the Mechanics Institute (which includes a library) has
been fighting over exactly who gets the money. The only positive result thus
far has been the Charles Linklater Memorial Chess Tournament.
Old Fogies Take Note!! When you die, leave your money to the local chess
club, rather than your worthless relatives who never appreciated you in the
first place. Better yet, leave it to Mike Goodall, because it is Mike who
runs the Charles Bagby Memorial, the Carroll Capps Memorial and now the
Charles Linklater Memorial. Mike will remember you even if nobody else does.
Here are the final 12 games (lifted from the tournament bulletins by Tom
Dorsch). The first 12 games have been previously published in This Week in
Chess.
Jim Eade adds some corrections:
Once again your report is appreciated. A few minor things... I think GM
Platney won the Labor day Open and that Balinas tied for second with Schiller
and Izumikawa. The Iinklater is the Invitational or Closed Championship.
Several of the larger USCF states have both open and closed champions. S.Cal
even has a match champion, or they used to.
I don't know how much, if any, money G of B, contributes to the Linklater,
but by far the majority of the funding comes from the Mechanic's. This is
inferred later in your report, but, perhaps, could've been made clearer
earlier. I also believe that CalChess made a donation.
Although I completely agree with your main point about the internal struggles
about how has access to the Linklater bequest, the Mechanic's did sponsor the
Mechanic's/CalChess Challenge (Category VII) last August to the tune of
3,000. I know, I was the organizer. I also have other proposals in front of
the trustees. Patience is required and persistance.
Again, thank you for your report. As always, it went beyond the dry who did
what when and was quite easy reading.
12) 103rd New Zealand Championships
-------------------------------
Art Pomeroy sends me some Dive-Love gained the best game prize
for the Championship, while Ker-Sarfati is a splendid example of
Ker's ability to crawl out of lost positions.
He also gives a win in the reserve section against himself.