New Ohio Chess Champion

65th Ohio Chess Congress Report

OPEN SECTION

After 6 rounds of hard fought chess, National Experts (NE) Kristopher Meekins and Matthew Marsh (from Tennessee) were tied for first place in the 65th Ohio Chess Congress.  NE Meekins, an Ohio resident, is our new state Chess Champion.  Congratulations Kris! Way to go!

Meekins – Driver – Marsh

At the end of four rounds of chess the final results were not yet clear – not at all.

Only two players had more than 3.0 points – Matthew Marsh and Sinan Baughman with 3.5 points each.  Then came a group of players with 3.0 points National Master’s (NM) Carl Boor and John Stopa along with Kris Meekins and John Hughes (who earned a NE rating at this event).

So in round 5, Marsh and Baughman played and Marsh won; Boor was paired with Meekins and Stopa was paired with Hughes. Meekins got an upset win against the tournament favorite and Stopa put an end to Hughes’ run.  Also in round 5 NE’s Sylvester Smarty and Michael Vilenchuk were paired – both had 2.5 points. NE Smarty won.

Going into round 6, NE Marsh sat alone with 4.5 points, NM Stopa and NE Meekins both trailed by one half point with 4.0 points.  Behind them was one player with 3.5 points – NE Smarty.  Marsh and Stopa were paired* and the result was a hard fought draw with Marsh with 5.0 points finishing in first place and Stopa with 4.5  points ended up in third place. Meekins and Smarty were paired and Meekins won the full point and tied for first with 5.0 points becoming Ohio’s new Chess Champion.  It was a terrific and hard fought finish by all the players.

*The pairing in round 6 between Marsh and Stopa resulted in the only technical question put to the TD during the tournament. The question was why Stopa got the color rotation and not Marsh, the player with the higher score. A fair question and one that has come up a few times before due to the rule changes between the 4th and 5th editions of the Official Rules of Chess. Both players had the same number of blacks and whites in previous rounds and both players were due the same color. In the 4th edition of the rules, the player with the higher score would get the due colors.  That is no longer true unless both players had experienced the same color rotation in each round prior. They had not so priority for assigning color was based on the latest round in which their colors differed. This resulted in Stopa receiving the color rotation.

Finishing one half point behind NM Stopa were three NM’s – Carl Boor, William Wright, and Tom Britt – plus one NE Daniel Gurevich who took first place U2200 as the top two NE’s finished tied for first place overall. Right behind NE Gurevich were NE’s Smarty, Baughman and Class A  player John Miller who tied for second place U2200 with 3 wins in the last 4 rounds – after starting with a half point bye.

THE TOURNAMENT

There was some disappointment due to the low turnout (the poor economy has finally impacted chess). However, once play began at the chess boards all disappointment disappeared and the chess battles went hammer and tong.

Results for all sections of the Congress may be found at  http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200909079331.0 and the Open Section was also FIDE rated which may be seen at http://ratings.fide.com/tournament_report.phtml?event16=46443.

Concerning FIDE rated sections – we also wanted to have the U2000 and U1700 sections FIDE rated. It was not to be as FIDE requires 2 FIDE rated players for a section to be rated. The U2000 had 6 FIDE players with none rated and the U1700 had 4 FIDE players with 1 rated.

CONGRESS QUICK CHAMPION

We also had two side events at the Congress – a Congress Quick Championship (G/25) on Friday just prior to the actual Congress.  Kris Meekins won this event as well. The crosstable may be found at http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200909048411.

Ohio Quick Champion: NE Kris Meekins!

CONGRESS BLITZ CHAMPION**

There was also the Congress Speed Championship where you played each opponent twice. It was 6 rounds long and took a little over two hours to complete. Kris Meekins did not win this one, although he did compete. NM Ananth Pappu won this event Saturday night after 10.5 points out of 12.0. Ananth was dinged for one point by Michael Vilenchuk in round 1, but only gave up a draw after that.taking 2 points Alex Wasdahl, Les Whorton, William Wright, and Kris Meekins – then 1.5 points from Matthew Marsh. Matthew  finished two points behind Ananth to take clear second. Clear third went to William Wright with 8.0 points. Matthew’s brother Corry Marsh took the U1800 prize with 6.5 points. Ohio Blitz Champion: NM Ananth Pappu.

**Crosstable at end of report

U2000 Section

The U2000 section was won by Les Whorton with 5.0 points – a full point ahead of the four who tied for second with 4 points: Joe Fogarty, Walter Bornack, Brandon Mason, and Timothy Tootle.

Driver – Whorton U2000 Winner

After 5 rounds only Les Whorton and Brandon Mason had 4.0 points, but could not play as Les had lost to Brandon in round 2. Next were Timothy Tootle and Richard Mercer with 3.5 points each. Les had just defeated Timothy in round 5 so he played Richard Mercer and won. Brandon had played Tootle earlier and lost, so he had to play Joe Fogarty who had 3.0 points and lost so both finished with 4 points. Tootle played Corry Marsh and they drew.  Walter Bornack and Carl Boor (Sr.) both with 3.0 points faced off and Walter won, tying for second place.

U1700 Section

Howard Dixon won the U1700 section by defeating the two players who tied for second, defeating one player who tied for fourth and drawing the other. Clearly he earned his win against the competition.

Driver – Dixon U1700 Winner

However that does not alleviate the error made in pairing him in round three against a player who had requested a bye resulting in a full point for him. It was after that he played those who finished third, fifth, and fourth in the section. He clearly still earned his win.

Tying for second were Louis Budziak and Kevin Huang with 4.5 points when they drew in round six.

U1400 Section

Divyesh Salamurali played a perfect tournament finishing with 6 wins!  The only player in the tournament to accomplish this. He did it defeating those who finished second, fourth, fifth, and sixth in his section – no small feat. Way to go Divyesh!

Driver – Salamurali U1400 Winner

Driver – Kulkarni U1400 2nd

Clear second was taken by Anagh Kulkarni with 5.0 points who won against everyone except Divyesh.

These two dominated along with clear third place finisher Noah Keating-Adams with 4.0 points.

65th OHIO CHESS CONGRESS BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIP

#

Name/Rating

R1

R2

R3

R4

R5

R61

1

Annanth Pappu

9

11

5

2

6

10

2173  12609243

1.0

3.0

5.0

7.0

9.0

10.5

First

2

William Wright

10

7

6

1

9

8

2150  12462971

2.0

4.0

6.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

Third

3

PLN Murthy

11

9

4

14

13

16

2146  11038824

1.0

1.5

1.5

3.5

4.5

6.5

4

David Friedman

12

15

3

9

11

5

2108  12488564

0.0

1.0

3.0

3.0

5.0

6.0

5

Les Whorton

13

8

1

15

10

4

2104  13628701

2.0

3.0

3.0

5.0

5.0

6.0

6

Kris Meekins

14

12

2

8

1

9

2061  12910828

2.0

4.0

4.0

6.0

6.0

7.0

7

Drew Hollinberger

15

2

12

10

8

14

2006  20070967

2.0

2.0

4.0

4.0

4.0

6.0

8

Sylvester Smarty

16

5

9

6

7

2

2004  12684922

2.0

3.0

4.0

4.0

6.0

7.0

9

Michael Vilenchuk

1

3

8

4

2

6

1859  12811395

1.0

2.5

3.5

5.5

6.5

7.5

10

Matthew Marsh

2

14

13

7

5

1

1851  12843523

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

8.5

Second

11

Alex Wasdahl

3

1

15

16

4

12

1844  12834765

1.0

1.0

1.0

3.0

3.0

3.0

12

Mark Kellie

4

6

7

13

1 6

11

1824  12416871

2.0

2.0

2.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

13

Joe Fogarty

5

16

10

12

3

15

1782  221029198

0.0

2.0

2.0

4.0

5.0

5.5

14

Chris Bechtold

6

10

16

3

15

7

1580  12762512

0.0

0.0

1.0

1.0

1.0

1.0

15

Corry Marsh

7

4

11

5

14

13

1577  12843522

0.0

1.0

3.0

3.0

5.0

6.5

U1800

16

Abbey Gillett

8

13

14

11

12

3

1090  12988772

0.0

0.0

1.0

1.0

1.0

1.0

Dayton Chess Club – Site of 65th Ohio Chess Congress

New OCA Membership Chair and Assistant TD

Board Display 1 at DCC

Board Display 2 at DCC

Open Section

Under 2000 Section

Under 1700 Section

Under 1400 Section

Open Section – Last Round

Under 2000 & U1700 Sections – Last Round

(All photos by Sharon Driver and Mrs. Gurevich)

The chess match time is yet to be determined – looking at possibly 12:30pm or so – and so far the dates on the calender are:

30 August
27 September
25 October

November & December dates to be determined.

If interested, please email dcc.18w5@sbcglobal.net, attention Ms Stanley.  We’ll forward on the email to her and she’ll be in touch with you.

Chess Queen

Players came from 8 different states. Primarily from Ohio, but seven other states were represented as well: Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, West Virginia, Virginia, and New York.

Want to take a quick look at the final standings in all sections?  Then go to USCF’s website at http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200906143581.1-12556822 and look through all the sections to your heart’s content.  Want to take a look at how FIDE rated the OPEN Section?  Go to FIDE’s website at http://ratings.fide.com/view_source.phtml?code=42844#8 and note how a number of players are not rated for rounds 1 and 2.  Why? Because the time controls for rounds 1 and 2 of the 2 day schedule were too fast for FIDE rating purposes. However, keep reading to find the winners – some unexpected – in each section below.

In the OPEN Section Kentucky took first place when GM Alex Goldin scored 4.5 points! Clear second went to Indiana NM Jim Dean with 4.0 points. Third/Fourth place was shared by Ohio’s NM Carl Boor and Tennessee’s NM Jerry Wheeler with 3.5 points each. Another, not so obvious winner in the OPEN Section was Missouri’s young Kevin Cao with the longest third round game where he finally drew with NM Jerry Wheeler. NM Wheeler complimented young Kevin Cao saying, “5 or 6 times you saved your game by finding the ‘only move’”.  Kevin also picked up 30 rating points – the largest gain in the OPEN Section.

In the U2000 Section Ohio’s (and DCC’s) Les Whorton won clear first with 4.0 points after withdrawing from the OPEN section to join the U2000 where there were only 7 players (where were the A players?). Les Whorton also picked up 32 rating points, the greatest gain in the section. Clear second was taken by NM Carl B. Boor’s father (also from Ohio) Carl R. Boor with 3.5 points helped along by Andre Jaworowski’s last round loss.  Nonetheless, Ohio’s Andre Jaworowski tied with Missouri’s Henry Cao for third place.  In last place in the section was Missouri’s Margaret Hua – but she won’t be there long – she drew the number 1 seed and the first place finisher and hated the fact she did not win either game.  Look out for her in the future.

In the U1800 Section Ohio’s players, James Lake and Joe Roberdeau duked it out in the last round. James Lake won, so he and Joe Roberdeau shared first place with 4 points each. Three Ohio players tied for third with 3.5 points each – Daniel Jones, Jeffrey Baugham, and Robert Dennis. Robert Dennis also gained 78 (!) rating points for his efforts – more than anyone else in the section.

In the U1600 Section, Ohio’s Jose Abutal took first place with a perfect 5.0 score (the only one of the tournament) and picked up an amazing 99 rating points.  Way to go Jose!  Tied for second/third were Ohio players David Wen and Spencer Carran with 4.0 points each.  Spencer Carran also went from a provisional rating of 966 to 1273 as well! William Franklin (New York), John Sefton (Kentucky) and Joshua Mullet (Ohio) all finished back another half point (3.5) just outside of the prize money. Better luck next time fellows. 

It was a terrific tournament to direct with only 2 disputes to resolve. We think the tournament numbers will increase to 80+ next year with players from maybe 9 or 10 states. Where were Michigan and Pennsylvania this year?

RileyD, nwJ – TD

The purpose of this regular column is to share items big and small about chess found around the web on chess that catch my interest and that I believe in turn will be of interest to you and others.

Chessedelic

For instance today, Friday, June 19, 2009, for my first recommendation from Chess Here And There I would like to bring to your attention a website with the improbable name “chessedelic” of all things – inspired by the term “psychedelic”.

It is not the name that has drawn me www.chessedelic.com, but instead a chess video on the site. A lecture if you will on a game between super GM’s Magnus Carlsen and Veselin Topalov at video #37: Carlsen vs. Topalov … the only complaint I have about the lecture is sometimes Waldemar Moes (FIDE 2036 currently) sometimes speaks too quietly. That may be more a function of my hearing rather than my volume settings.  Check out the video and let me know what you think.

Chess Shots

Chess Couple

My next recommendation is due to a picture/photograph on GM Alexandra Kosteniuk’s website/blog under the heading Chess Couples showing the Bride and Groom as the King and Queen … does anyone recall an Ohio wedding with a chess motif and written up in the Ohio Chess Bulletin by yours truly?

Next are few of my favorite photos found around the web … two men playing chess next to the Ganges river in India.  Then there are two sets from Menton on the French Riviera showing the range of interest in chess with the older and younger alike here and here.

Missing Snap

Then there is the photo that got away, sorry. It appeared somewhat basic with a title “Chess Lesson” with a board and two players up front – one older and one much younger – with 1 or 2 other games going on in the background in some café. What drew me to the photo was the thought the man was instructing the boy until I started a piece count and the boy was clearly giving the man ‘a lesson’ or a whupping.  If any of you know of this photo please let me know … I would really like to share the actual photo rather than a description.

Chess and Baby Boomer Fears

Finally (for today) there is Chess and Alzheimer’s published on ChessNinja.com aka “The Daily Dirt Chess Blog” … for those of us ‘baby boomers’ this is an article of real interest and motivation to maintain our “dedicated amateur” status as noted in the article. While I clearly come down on the side of chess or chess like activities may help prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease, the discussion on this topic was very interesting no matter which side of the argument you take.

And now it is time to say goodbye until our next C.H.A.T. Thanks for reading and feel free to send any suggestions you have for C.H.A.T. topics in the future.

RileyD, nwJ

Riley D. Driver

Before jumping into the top stories from around the world don’t forget that tonight at the Dayton Chess Club we will be having a Holiday Party starting at 6:30 p.m. to…closing {whenever that happens}. Tonight will be the last night we’ll be open until the new year so get your chess playing in for 2008!

Miroshnichenko wins Ukrainian Championship 2008

Evgenij Miroshnichenko, the 2003 Champion, has done it again: he took the 77th Ukrainian title on tiebreak points, ahead of Yuri Drozdovskij

Weston students win chess championship

Four Weston students are members of the chess teams of Pierrepont School, which competed in the Fifth Annual New England Scholastic Championship, held at Mt. Snow, Vt., Nov. 8-9.

Las Tunas to Host Cuban National Chess Championship

According to organizers, the tournament will consist of two stages and will be attended by 38 players, including 11 Grand Masters.

Vladimir Hakobyan – “Chess is a game of fantasy and intuition”

At the age of five Vladimir Hakobyan started to play checkers and even though his dad thought he played well, he didn’t consider it a serious game and that the boy needed to play chess.

2009 All-Girls National Chess Championships

Kasparov Chess Foundation Presents 2009 All-Girls National Chess Championships.

Antonio wins seventh US over-all chess title

Filipino Grandmaster (GM) Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr. continued his winning streak in the US as he emerged over-all champion in the recently held 10th Annual Joseph Ileto Memorial Open Chess Championships at the Monterey Park, California.

Did I miss anything? Feel free to contact me and let me know. I’d more than happy to post it and give credit where credit is due.

That’s all for now until next week!

Chess helps young players develop thinking and social skills

As If we didn’t already know this, right? Well check out the story about some middle school players

Parag clinches open Int’l chess title

Parag beat Mahfuzur Rahman Emon in the ninth and final round to secure eight points to clinch the title.

12-year-old in contention in Ukraine Championship

The 2008 Ukraine Championship is missing Ivanchuk, Ponomariov and Karjakin, but is still very strong, with 26 participants, including 17 GMs. The player to watch is IM Illya Nyzhnyk. At twelve he sports a 2444 rating, and after four rounds he has three points (two wins, two draws).

‘Chess’ Just Isn’t Fun Anymore

Good ol’ Soviet intrigue just doesn’t entertain like it used to. In “Chess,” two world-class players at the end of the Cold War find themselves caught within an ever-growing game of politics and trickery, a game that fails to amuse

Check mate: Giant chess board in Auburn for school holidays

During the summer holidays Auburn residents will have the chance to polish their knowledge of rooks, bishops, knights, queens and pawns by enrolling in special coaching classes and a giant chess board game.

New five Cuban chess players were promoted to Grand Masters

The congress promoted Fidel Corrales, Yuri González, Isam Ortiz, Luis Manuel Pérez and Yaniet Marrero to that category.

Deep Green – “the best chess game” for iPhone

Yesterday a new Chess app called Deep Green ($4.99, App Store) was released, and there’s been a lot of noise about it – the most amount of noise coming from John Gruber, who says that Deep Green is “the best chess game yet for the iPhone”.

Lalgopal crowned chess champion

L Lalgopal Sharma of Accountant General culled 15 points with 45 progressive score to win the chess competition of the 6th Inter Central civil Services Sports Meet.

First defeat for chess team

Worcestershire League’s First Division champions Kidderminster lost for the first time since March 2007.

Doping scandal shocks the world… of chess

…Chess Grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk. The Ukrainian professional chess whiz failed to submit a urine sample after the Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany. So since he didn’t play by the rules, he is being accused of doping. Ivanchuk aka “Big Chunky” could face a two-year ban.

Did I miss anything? Feel free to contact me and let me know. I’d more than happy to post it and give credit where credit is due.

That’s all for now until next week!

Let’s get started, you ready?

We started off this week on a sad note with the pasing of a chess legend Bob Wade

Chess club wins over Mariner Middle students

The chess club is open to any Mariner Middle School student who can stay after school once a week. Novices are encouraged to try their hand at the game, and students pair up and often switch opponents for games.

Purkashian becomes chess Grandmaster

Iran’s woman chess player Atusa Purkashian became Grandmaster after a good performance in the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden 2008.

COLORADO CHESS: World champ keeps his title

India’s Viswanathan Anand defended his world chess title by defeating former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia.

The 12-game match, which Anand won 6.5 to 4.5, took place Oct. 11-29 in Bonn, Germany.

Al Sulaiti bags chess trophy

ALI Al Sulaiti secured a first-place finish in the Al Shakhoora Open Chess Championship despite a 0.5-0.5 draw with Warren Ortis of the Philippines.

In his sixth round game, the Bahrain national team veteran was the only unbeaten player in the tournament and needed half point to seal the title of this annual competition, being organised by Al Shakhoora Youth Centre.

Check: reading about chess

The Washington Post looks at a stack of chess-related books, recommending the nonfiction “White King and White Queen” and the fictional “Zugwang.” Gary Kasparov’s memoir, “How Life Imitates Chess,” is not recommended.

Rook Dreams

This past fall, the world championship match in Bonn, Germany, wasn’t the only thing stirring up chess enthusiasts. ChessBase 10, a beefier new version of the massive database program that is the tournament player’s gold standard, had arrived.

• 5 Rounds – SS – December 13-14

• December 13th, Saturday Time Controls: Rds 1 & 2 are G/75 then Game/2hr30min

• December 14th, Sunday $600 b/32 paid entries, re-entries $15 count as 1/2 entry.

• OPEN: $200-100. U1800: $200-100. USCF Rated.

• One bye permitted – sign up by end of round 1.

• Reg: Sat: 9:00-10:30 am. Rds: Sat – 11-2-5:30, Sun – 10-3:30.

• Sections: OPEN and U1800. EF: $25/$35 adv/after 12/11

• DCC mbr disc. $3, EF refunded to 2200 and up if they complete the schedule.

Don’t forget to sign up for the DCC Newsletter for coupons and insights at the Dayton Chess Club!

Robert Graham Wade, player, writer, arbiter, coach and chess promoter, was born in New Zealand, where he won the national championship three times. After moving to England he won the British Championship twice and played for England in six Olympiads. He beat Korchnoi and helped Bobby Fischer prepare for his match in Reykjavik. Bob died in the early hours of the morning

For more information on him and his life please head over to ChessBase.com. Thoughts and prayers from the DCC go out to his family especially during the holidays.

Let’s start it off:

• Area students compete in chess tournament

It was an exciting morning on Nov. 15 at the Fremont Middle School. On one side of the room, play was moving fast and furious, while on the other side, play was tense and deliberate.

• RP chess squad doomed from the start

Our team to the Dresden Chess Olympiad was doomed even before it left. Its composition—from a faulty national qualifying system—and board assignments were pitiful.

• U.S. teams trail at Olympiad

Six teams, including defending champion Armenia and heavy favorite Russia, shared the lead after five rounds of the Chess Olympiad in Bonn, Germany. Each had four match wins and a tie. The U.S. team, ranked 10th in the field of 146 teams, defeated three lesser teams but tied 27th-ranked Greece and lost, 1-3, to fourth-seeded Azerbaijan

• Felton wins chess tourney at FSC

Bruce Felton, currently the highest nationally rated chess player in Fitchburg, won the Dr. Dieter H. Keller Memorial Tournament at Fitchburg State College

• U.S. Men’s and Women’s Chess Teams Take Bronze Medals in Germany

At the 2008 Olympiad in Dresden, Germany (November 12-25), the U.S. Women’s and Men’s teams both earned bronze medals, the first time ever that American women’s and men’s teams scored medals in the same Olympiad

• NCAA chess wars

Champion: College of St. Benilde (CSB)

• Chess goes ballet

Ninette de Valois’ “Checkmate,” which will be performed as a dramatic life-size chess match where the pieces come to life…

Keep an eye out – More Next Week! If you have any news feel free to contact us.