Vivacity’s February-12 Newsletter
|
In this issue:
- Chess News from around the world and around the block
- Chess Stories: serious and with a smile
- Bits of Chess Wisdom
- Vivacity’s Chess Center
- List of upcoming chess events.
|
|
1. CHESS NEWS
|
INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
- World Chess News:
- Watch the latest episodes at
www.worldchessnews.com
NATIONAL NEWS:
- The US chess scoop:
-
main.uschess.org/content/view/11574/654/
VIVACITY NEWS:
- January 8, Q-Chess, Mayfield Village, OH;
listed are winners in each section:
-
- Section A: JONATHAN BOTEK (7th grade, Gilmour Academy, Gates Mills)
- Section B: DANIEL GUO (8th grade, Solon Middle School, Solon)
- Section C: VIJAY SASTRY (4th grade, Hawken, Lyndhurst)
- Section D: NICK LI (7th grade, Solon Middle School, Solon)
- Section E: HAN ZHANG (3rd grade, Boulevard Elementary, Shaker Hts.)
- Section F: ILANA ROSENHECK (6th grade, Hershey Montessori, Concord)
- Section G: GEORGE WANG (1st grade, Bryden Elementary, Beachwood)
- Section H: MORRIS DAVIDOV (3rd grade, Hebrew Academy, Cleveland Hts.)
January 15, 2011/12 VSC-5, Willoughby Hills, OH
Forty three players from 28 schools competed for the awards in this Super Cup tournament.
To see the Kodak moments go to
www.vivacityinc.com/chess/photo3/files/photo-01_15_12.htm
|
|  |
CHAMPIONSHIP
Section:
1st – 2nd DANIEL GUO (Solon Middle School, Solon), pictured
DAN BOGERT (Willoughby)
3rd – 5th JONATHAN BOTEK (Gilmour Academy, Gates Mills),
WAYNE DANNELS (Mentor)
BRENNEN KEUCHEL (Hudson Montessori, Hudson)
|
|
PREMIER Section:
1st – 3rd VIJAY SASTRY (Hawken Lower School, Lyndhurst), pictured
NICK LI (Solon Middle School, Solon)
ALAN STEPANSKI (Solon Middle School, Solon) |
|
 |
 |
RESERVE Section:
1st TONY ZHANG (Orchard Middle School, Solon)
2nd BEN GREYSUKH (Hilltop Elementary, Beachwood)
3rd – 7th DANNY BOTEK (Gilmour Academy, Gates Mills)
VIET NGUYEN (Hilltop Elementary, Beachwood)
SUCHITA RAJAN (Hershey Montessori, Concord)
ILANA ROSENHECK (Hershey Montessori, Concord)
HAN ZHANG (Boulevard Elementary, Shaker Hts.)
|
|
NOVICE Section:
1st – 4th CLARA AGAWA (Hershey Montessori, Concord), pictured
CONNOR DANNELS (Home school, Mentor)
NICKY DITIRRO (Hathaway Brown, University Hts.)
GEORGE WANG (Bryden Elementary, Beachwood)
|
|
 |
2011-12 SUPER CUP Leaders:
Super Cup standings:
www.vivacityinc.com/chess/MRV/CurrentStanding.asp
CHAMPIONSHIP Section: |
| |
DANIEL GUO – 13.5 points
VIKTOR KITSIS – 11.0 points
DANNY ANDREINI – 8.5 points |
| |
|
PREMIER Section: |
| |
DOMINIC MAYHEW –
12.0 points |
|
- January 22, Q-Chess, Mayfield Village, OH;
listed are winners in each section:
-
- Section A: VICTOR MEZACAPA (10th grade, University Upper School, Gates Mills)
- Section B: VIJAY SASTRY (4th grade, Hawken Lower School, Lyndhurst)
- Section C: VIET NGUYEN (3rd grade, Hilltop Elementary, Beachwood)
- Section D: THAROON BALAJI (4th grade, University Lower School, Shaker Hts.)
- Section E: AARON BACHMAN (2nd grade, Hudson Montessori, Hudson)
- Section F: MORRIS DAVIDOV (3rd grade, Hebrew Academy, Cleveland Hts.)
- January 29, Q-Chess, Mayfield Village, OH;
listed are winners in each section:
-
- Section A: DAN BOGERT (Richmond Hts.)
- Section B: VIJAY SASTRY (4th grade, Hawken Lower School, Lyndhurst)
- Section C: SONYA ANUFRIYENKO (7th grade, Memorial Middle School, Mentor)
- Section D: TONY ZHANG (6th grade, Orchard Middle School, Solon)
- Section E: DANNY BOTEK (3rd grade, Gilmour Academy, Gates Mills)
- Section F: GEORGE WANG (1st grade, Bryden Elementary, Beachwood)
- Section G: JACOB ANDREINI (1st grade, Onaway Elementary, Shaker Hts.)
- Section H: LEON ANUFRIYENKO (4th grade, Hershey Montessori, Concord)
For a complete list of the results of Vivacity’s tournaments go to:
www.vivacityinc.com/chess/Results.htm
After every rated tournament individual ratings are updated, the USCF periodically updates ratings on its web site:
www.uschess.org/msa/MbrLst.php
|
|
2. CHESS: SERIOUS AND WITH A SMILE
|
Do you have an interesting or funny story related to chess? If so, I would like to hear it.
<<<<<>>>>> <<<<<>>>>> <<<<<>>>>>
I want to hear your stories or stories about people you know.
Any chess story involving kids that will put a smile on someone’s face. Some practical advice
that will help another player reach or even exceed his or her potential at the chessboard.
I want to know what drives one student to excel at chess when so many others lose interest or
fail to advance. Why are so many girls playing and succeeding at chess when a generation ago
they were few and far between? How does an inner-city chess club find so much success
when there is so much turmoil around them? Etc. etc. etc.
|
Chess as a Life Advantage - the Real Story
(the first part of the article was published in January’s issue)
By Joe Fogarty
My favorite interview spiel to give to recruiters is the all-encompassing nature of chess and how
no other activities utilizes both the left brain’s calculative precision and the right brain’s creative
and imaginative nature. Trust me, recruiters eat that stuff up (and rightfully so). In case this
evidence is not direct enough for the readers, I have two even more clear examples for you.
I was in an interview with a large regional accounting firm when the chess items came up. The
recruiter thought for a few seconds and looked at me and asked “Do you know Dmitriy Berkovich?”
Lights went off in my head. Yes, Dmitriy is one of the strongest chess players in Ohio (we’re talking
over 2400) and I met him at a tournament a few years earlier. It turns out that he is also a tax
manager with this accounting firm. This firm invited me to their second round interviews, when
they actually brought Dmitriy down to have a conversation with me. Somewhat unsurprisingly, I
got the job offer. My second example is a pretty good one too, but not as good of a story. I was
in a 2nd round interview at a big Fortune 200 corporation when my interviewer told me that he
played chess and was rated around 1800, spurring some chess-related conversations. Again, I
got the offer. On a third occasion, I was being interviewed by a partner of a large accounting firm
and chess came into the conversation. We were discussing chess as a tool to improve strategic thinking and whether or not this skill goes into other strategy games as well. This conversation led to the game of
tic-tac-toe, possibly the simplest of all strategy games. I explained to my interviewer that I had
entirely solved tic-tac-toe such that, if I move first, I can force a win after seven of my opponent’s
eight legal moves. The result was us spending five minutes of interview time playing tic-tac-toe and
my interviewer being very impressed with my solution. Again, I got the offer.
So this is what I have for the readers. A lot of evidence that chess is a behemoth among
extracurricular activities seems overly theoretical. To me, there is nothing at all theoretical
because I have lived it. Chess has been a life-changing activity and it continues to serve me
to this day.
Gender differences in chess
What are the possible reasons for the superiority of males in certain intellectual activities?
Data may show that girls can do math as well as boys, but the stereotype that girls aren't good at math persists and does persistent damage. Just being in a culture that believes boys are better suited to science and math than girls is enough to have a negative effect on women, as work by Joshua Aronson, associate professor of applied psychology at New York University, demonstrated. When Aronson administered a math test to "fabulously good" undergraduates in their third year of calculus – but prefaced it with a statement that the test had never shown a gender difference – women’s scores rocketed past men’s, suggesting that the women’s performance up to that point had been hampered by self-image and stereotype.
To read the article, go to:
www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7826
|
|
3. BITS of CHESS WISDOM
|
Opening Under a Microscope:
- Two Knights Defence, Traxler Variation:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5
- A) 5.Nxf7 www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/fun-and-short-game-in-traxler-variation-of-the-two-knights-defense
B) 5.Bxf7+ gameknot.com/annotation.pl/the-traxler-variation-brevity?gm=27097
Additional examples:
chesspo.st/opening/C57/two+knights+defence/Wilkes+Barre+(Traxler)+variation
|
|
4. VIVACITY CHESS CENTER
|
BIRTHDAYS in February:
|
and
| 
|
and
| 
|
| ABBY |
DANNY |
SUCHITA |
<<<<<>>>>> <<<<<>>>>> <<<<<>>>>>
- Greater Cleveland Scholastic Chess League,
Rocky River, OH, JANUARY 28, 2012
- RACHELLE MAGARAM (8th grade, Beachwood Middle School) tied for
7th (K-8 Grade, Reserve)
- 2012 Cardinal OPEN, Columbus, OH, JANUARY 27-29, 2012
- DANIEL ANDREINI (8th grade, University School) tied for
8th (U1800 Section)
- Hershey’s January Tournament, Concord, OH, JANUARY 9-30, 2012
- JACK HANSON and ILANA ROSENHECK tied for
FIRST Place (Group A)
- CLARA AGAWA and SUSHMITA RAJAN tied for
FIRST Place (Group B)
Congratulations to all!!!
<<<<<>>>>> <<<<<>>>>> <<<<<>>>>>
Vivacity Chess Center invites players from beginner to Master to visit our Chess Club; everyone is welcome!!!
For more information go to: www.vivacityinc.com/chess/Tournaments.htm or call 440-461-3634
|
|
5. UPCOMING CHESS EVENTS:
|
Vivacity School of Chess at
Solon
A pilot chess program in Solon has started.
For additional information or registration email to
|
To view a complete list of upcoming events go to:
www.vivacityinc.com/chess/Tournaments.htm
|
Don't forget to send your news to us at:
|
|
|
Top
