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Vivacity’s October-08 Newsletter

In this issue:
  1. Chess News from around the world and around the block
  2. Chess Stories: serious and with a smile
  3. Bits of Chess Wisdom
  4. Vivacity’s Chess Center
  5. List of upcoming chess events.
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1. CHESS NEWS

INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
14th Women's World Championship
The 2008 Women's World Championship took place from August 28th to September 18th in Nalchik, in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of Russia. 64 players were eligible to play in the knock-out event, which had a prize fund of US $450,000. Yifan Hou (a 14 years old wonder-girl from China), Humpy Koneru (the second strongest female chess-player in the world from India), Alexsandra Kosteniuk (a Grandmaster from Russia) and Pia Cramling (a former Women’s European Champion from Sweden) won their previous matches and advanced to semifinals. In the final, Alexandra Kosteniuk outplayed Yifan Hou and became the 14th Women’s World Champion.
Read more at nalchik2008.fide.com

All Women's World Champions
1. Vera Menchik 1927 – 1944 Czechoslovakia / United Kingdom
2. Lyudmila Rudenko 1950 – 1953 Soviet Union (Ukraine)
3. Elisabeth Bykova 1953 – 1956 Soviet Union (Russia)
4. Olga Rubtsova 1956 – 1958 Soviet Union (Russia)
5. Elisabeth Bykova 1958 – 1962 Soviet Union (Russia)
6. Nona Gaprindashvili 1962 – 1978 Soviet Union (Georgia)
7. Maya Chiburdanidze 1978 – 1991 Soviet Union (Georgia)
8. Xie Jun 1991 – 1996 China
9. Susan Polgar 1996 – 1999 Hungary / USA
10. Xie Jun 1999 – 2001 China
11. Zhu Chen 2001 – 2004 China
12. Antoaneta Stefanova 2004 – 2006 Bulgaria
13. Xu Yuhua 2006 – 2008 China
14. Alexandra Kosteniuk 2008 Russia
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2008 European Individual Championships
The European Union Open Championships took place at World Museum in Liverpool, England from September 9th to 18th September 2008. One hundred forty one players competed for the prize fund of 30,000 pounds (38,000 Euros or US $53,000).

 A young Dutch Grandmaster Jan Werle (pictured) won the Men Championship one-half point ahead of a trio Grandmasters consisting of Czech GM Viktor Laznicka and the top Brits Michael Adams and Nigel Short.

 Three women tied for the Women Championship title, see picture (L to R): Jovanka Houska (England), Yelena Dembo (Greece), Ketivan Arakhamia-Grant (Scotland)

Read more at www.liverpoolchessinternational.co.uk


Ohio NEWS:
2008 Ohio Chess Congress
One hundred thirty two people competed in the four sections of the Ohio Championship. The winner of the OPEN Section was NM Mark Heimann (PA). Yet, Heimann does not reside in Ohio and was ineligible for the title of Ohio Champion. The SECOND place and the CHAMPION Title went to IM Calvin Blocker.
For complete results of the championship, go to
www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200809013221.0-10262160
VIVACITY NEWS:
September 7, Q-Chess, Mayfield Village, OH
  • DAN BOGERT (Energizer, Westlake) took FIRST place in the Section A
  • KENT LUI (5th grade, Milridge Elementary, Mayfield) took FIRST place in the Section B
  • BRENNEN KEUCHEL (2nd grade, Hudson Montessori) took FIRST place in the Section C
  • MIA GURARY (3rd grade, Hathaway Brown, Shaker Hts.) took FIRST place in the Section D
  • SAM GURARY (2nd grade, University School, Shaker Hts.) took FIRST place in the Section E
    September 14, Q-Chess, Mayfield Village, OH
  • TREY MODLIN (10th grade, Shaker High School, Shaker) took FIRST place in the Section A
  • AARON TIAN (8th grade, Hudson Middle School, Hudson) took FIRST place in the Section B
  • CONNOR KEUCHEL (4th grade, Hudson Montessori) took FIRST place in the Section C
  • JONATHAN BOTEK (4th grade, Washington Elementary, Eastlake) took FIRST place in the Section D
  • MIA GURARY (3rd grade, Hathaway Brown, Shaker Hts.) took FIRST place in the Section E
    September 21, Q-Chess, Mayfield Village, OH
  • DAN BOGERT (Energizer, Westlake) took FIRST place in the Section A
  • KENT LUI (5th grade, Milridge Elementary, Mayfield) took FIRST place in the Section B
  • BRENNEN KEUCHEL (2nd grade, Hudson Montessori, Hudson) took FIRST place in the Section C

    September 28, Vukcevich Super Cup-1, Mayfield Village, OH
    Representatives of 17 schools & universities competed for the awards of the September Super Cup.
    To see the Kodak moments go to www.vivacityinc.com/chess/photo3/files/photo-09_28_08.htm
    CHAMPIONSHIP Section:
    1st JOE FOGARTY (CWRU, Cleveland), pictured
    2nd – 3rd ROMAN KOWALYSKO (Hawken High School, Gates Mills) and JIAWEI HE (Shaker High School, Shaker)
    PREMIER Section:
    1st KENT LUI (Milridge Elementary, Mayfield), pictured
    2nd JAKE LACKS (Shaker High School, Shaker)
    3rd – 4th CONNOR KEUCHEL (Hudson Montessori, Hidson) and TINGLIN SHI (Bryden Elementary, Beachwood)
    RESERVE Section:
    1st BRENNEN KEUCHEL (Hudson Montessori, Hudson), pictured
    2nd NELSON ZUTALI (Worley Elementary, Canton)
    3rd BRANDON BEYMAN (Portage Montessori, North Canton)
    NOVICE Section:
    1st RICHARD HAN (Bryden Elementary, Beachwood) pictured
    2nd MIA GURARY (Hathaway Brown, Shaker)
    3rd SAM GURARY (University School, Shaker)

    • For a complete list of the results of Vivacity’s tournaments go to: www.vivacityinc.com/chess/AllResults.htm

     After every rated tournament individual ratings are updated, the USCF periodically updates ratings on its web site: www.uschess.org/msa/MbrLst.php
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    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.
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    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.

    Cartoons by Gary Gifford
     Gary is the editor for UON (Unorthodox Openings News), quarterly electronic magazine. Yet, his true passion is cartoons, he is the author of a cartoon book and co-author with Davide Rozzoni and Bill Wall of a chess book: "Krazy Kat /Old Hippo".


    "Krazy Kat /Old Hippo"
    A book, which Gary Gifford co-authored with Davide Rozzoni and Bill Wall is now off the print.
    Description: The authors use 168 complete games [most of which are annotated] and over 260 diagrams to illustrate two closely related and rare universal defensive systems. Black plays the bold and shocking 'Knight to h6' usually on the first or second move, immediately taking his opponent out of main-stream book lines. The book includes many gems from Dutch Chess Master Philip du Chattel. The Old Hippo and Krazy Kat innovative "Nh6 defensive systems" will certainly throw your opponents off guard. Internet, postal, and over-the-board games are included to show the soundness of these unique flexible systems.
    Soon "Krazy Kat /Old Hippo" will be available via international distribution (Amazon.com, etc.).
    For now, the book could be ordered from LuLu at www.lulu.com/content/3292224

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    Chessboxing extravaganza
    The UK’s first chessboxing extravaganza kicked off on a sultry summer’s night on August 15 in the East End of London.
    Sascha Wandkowsky, left vs. Hubert van Melick, right.
    Read more at www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4905

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    Earth vs. Space
    On Monday, September 29 Greg Chamitoff, traveling 210 miles above the earth at five miles a second, challenged team earth to a ground-breaking Chess Match. It is a unique event, pitting the International Space Station astronaut against the residents of Earth. Everyone is welcome to participate! Read the press release below:

     NASA Astronaut in Space Challenges Earthlings
    September 26, 2008
    HOUSTON – It will be Earth vs. Space in a unique chess match, and you can help Earth win. NASA and the U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) are teaming up to host the first public chess match between International Space Station astronaut Greg Chamitoff and the inhabitants of the Earth, beginning Monday, Sept. 29.

     Key players in the game are the chess club teammates from Stevenson Elementary School in Bellevue, Washington; they select up to four possible moves on Earth's turn. General public then vote on the best move to be transmitted to orbit.

     Watch the match and vote for moves at www.uschess.org/nasa2008 .
    For more about Chamitoff and the space station, go to www.nasa.gov/station
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    A rising nine-years old star from Idaho,
    LUKE HARMON-VELLOTTI
    A nine-year old Luke currently rated 1960 USCF.
    Luke's typical two-day self-study schedule (to be done in any order):
  • (12) Imagination in Chess puzzles w/ a goal of 90% correct
  • (60) Ct-Art puzzles w/ a goal of 95% correct
  • (8) Studies 2.0
  • (2) "Guess the Mess" challenges
  • (2 hrs) of Opening study
  • (2 hrs)- any chess materials that he would like- usually read in the car. Right now Luke is poring through old Chess Life Magazines.
  • (1 hour) G/30 w/his brother, Carl (Luke has time odds w/20 minutes)
  • Two miles on the treadmill (emphasizing the importance of physical fitness)
    You can also follow Luke's progress on his website, www.sponsorluke.com

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    3. BITS of CHESS WISDOM

    MEETING STRANGE OPENING MOVES WITH LOGIC
    PART I
    By Bob Basalla
    Mr. Basalla was the 2003 Ohio Champion; he also won numerous awards from the Chess Journalists of America for his chess writing.

    Most of you that have progressed some in chess beyond the basics have been taught certain opening systems that you regularly play. You feel comfortable in them. You know them. Or do you? You know the moves that set up your opening and what to do to take advantage of common mistakes that might be made by your opponent. But do you really know the ideas behind your opening? Memorizing moves and lines only goes so far. What happens when some opponent plays a move that is not covered in the books? I’ve seen many young players make faultless, grandmaster quality opening moves up to the point where the other side deviates from what he knows by rote. Then after just a few moves where he must think for himself he quickly falls into a lost position.

     Now I concede that when somebody plays a very strange move in the opening it usually turns out to be a bad move. After all, if it was any good it would be a known book line by now, wouldn’t it? Consider, however, the following beginning in a very mainstream opening, the Sicilian Defense: 1.e2-e4 c7-c5 2.Nb1-a3. If you saw your opponent make such a move against you in a tournament you might even chuckle inside. "This guy does not even know not to develop their knights on the rim without a good reason," you might think. But, believe it or not, 2.Nb1-a3 is the start of a recently developed opening system that is becoming somewhat popular in grandmaster circles! It may not be the best second move for White against the Sicilian Defense, but it has been found to be “playable.” Now the fellow that is trying this against you is presumably not a grandmaster, so he might actually have played 2.Nb1-a3 without any plan at all so your first assessment of him may be right. That, or he is aping this modern analysis like many players do (myself included when I was younger and not as “wise”) probably without knowing how to play the full system. Even if that were so, however, would you know what to do against 2.Nb1-a3? Left to your own resources would you fall apart in a few moves because you didn’t have a line that you could call up from memory? This is why being able to think logically is the most useful attribute for any chess player under any circumstance.

     There are lots of these strange opening moves that are not mentioned in many books. Another example is 1.e2-e3. This opening is hardly aggressive, but if you really look at it, White has not done anything wrong that fatally messes up his position. For instance, if Black responds with 1…d7-d5, White can counter with 2.d2-d4 and can play a slow, ancient form of the Queen’s Gambit after a later c2-c4, or he can veer into a Colle System setup by Ng1-f3, Bf1-d3, c2-c3 and so on. This is called a transposition. Lots of these passive starts by White can transpose into various different known openings depending on how Black plays. In some of these White ends up playing the Black side of a regular opening, but so what? Playing the “Black” side of an opening is hardly an automatic loss. And remember, White is often playing these lines with an extra move in hand.

     So I hope I’ve driven my points home by this time: Just because an opening move is not the most aggressive doesn’t mean that is loses; and just because an opening move looks bad doesn’t in and of itself prove that it is bad.
    Let’s look at a concrete example that happened to me in a non-tournament game when I was in high school. My opponent began quite normally with 1.e2-e4 but after I responded very reasonably with 1…e7-e5 he uncorked 2.g2-g4. At the time I was just starting to become a “book” player, but I had never seen any book with a move like this. It must be bad, I think I thought. But a strange move is only bad if it can be exploited by your good moves. So even though this was a casual game, I paused a few moments to size up the situation logically.

    What was concretely bad about 2.g2-g4? Well, for starters, White failed to develop a piece. True, he has given his king bishop the g2 square to develop to (to a diagonal blocked by his pawn on e4 by the way), but that bishop already had a perfectly good f1-a6 diagonal available, so development was not really aided by his move. Secondly, 2.g2-g4 did little to help in the fight for the center. Third, the pawn on g4 may prove to be a target for Black that will limit what White can do and when. If his king knight eventually goes to f3, for example, the g4 pawn will be undefended at that moment. Fourth, look at the squares next to White’s g4 pawn, f4 and h4. Already this early in the game these squares can never again be controlled by a pawn. In chess terminology they are referred to as “holes.” In the long run Black may want to use one or both of these squares at outposts for his invading pieces. The quickest way to get a knight to these squares would be to develop the Black king knight to e7 and g6. This is definitely something to be considered as Black decides how to develop his pieces. Lastly, this early g2-g4 has made it much less likely that White will be able to castle to the kingside to protect his Highness. See how far reaching the consequences can be of one little move?

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    Three Choices
    By Daniel Bogert
    Dan is a solid Club player; frequent at Vivacity Q-Chess; one who always eager for after game analysis regardless of his own result.

    Too many times in chess, we miss opportunities because we forget a simple rule, “The Three Choice Rule”. This is the simple idea that we always have three choices, and if we see two choices then maybe we should be looking for a third one. For example if your opponent pushes a pawn and attacks one of your pawns, what should you do? You can take the pawn or you can pass the pawn, right. Wrong! You also have the option of ignoring the situation and doing something else. Another example is when a piece is under attack, what are our choices: move the piece, protect the piece or attack a piece of equal or greater value.

     I recently watched a game where the queen was attacked by a defended pawn. The one player was trying to decide where to move the queen to safety. What he didn’t do was looking for other options. Can I check the King, or attack the other queen or maybe I should just take the piece that was left hanging when the pawn moved to attack my queen. Too often we get tunnel vision where we are only looking at one possibility when we should be looking for other choices.

     The mistake I always like to make in this area involves a position where a large majority of pieces are about to be traded in the middle of the board. Both players have gone through all of the possible sequences in their heads and then the trades begin. Rapidly several pieces are trade without another thought or hesitation. Did we really see all of the possible combinations in our heads? Why can’t I stop after each move and reevaluate the situation? After each move, I should be looking for the option that I missed. Too many times I find a missed option when I am analyzing my game the next day because I didn’t even look for it when I was playing.

     I have even won games using this to my favor. I remember one game where I was playing a less experienced player. I saw a way to trap my opponent’s queen. There was only one tricky way out. If he saw it I would be down a pawn and in a losing position. I was low on time and knowing my opponent I did it anyway. As I had anticipated, he never looked for a way out. He just assumed that his queen was trapped and took my rook with his queen, and I took his queen and went on to win. I got lucky because if my opponent had been looking for options, I would have lost.

     Our narrow focus is especially evident when we are looking at free pawns. Free pawns are not always free; sometimes they come with a price to pay. In the same way not all gambit pawns are dangerous to take. Too often we think we can take any unprotected pawn except the gambit pawn. Maybe sometimes we should look into the option of taking a gambit pawn and leaving the others alone. I actually have a lot more success with the Queen’s Gambit accepted than with the Queen’s Gambit declined. Taking free pawns may sometimes be OK, but don’t get greedy. If it looks dangerous leave it on the hook. If I am threatening to take a pawn, but I don’t take it, my opponent will eventually have to waste a move to protect it and I don’t have to waste a move taking it. This gives me 2 tempi.

     Don’t get stuck limiting your choices; always be on the lookout for that third option.

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    4. VIVACITY CHESS CENTER

    BIRTHDAYS in OCTOBER:

    Aaron T.
    David M.
    Thomine M.
    Tinglin S.
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    TINGLIN S. tied for the FIRST place in the Championship Section of the 2008 National Road Scholastic in Columbus. Congrats!!!

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    to Vivacity students
    Joe Fogarty became a student at CWRU and Nino Tserediani moved to VA; good luck with your new beginnings! As a result of their transition Joe and Nino were removed from Ohio Scholastic lists.
    All other students from Level 2 and above (the 2007/08 school year) were included into the 50 best in OHIO in their respective age/gender groups in SEPTEMBER and OCTOBER:
  • K-6 GRADE: CONNOR K., DANNY A., KENT L., LAWRENCE L., TINGLIN S., WILLIAM G.
    Complete list: ohchess.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=60
  • K-12 GRADE: AARON T., REBECCA L. and ROMAN K.
    Complete list: ohchess.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=59
  • K-12 GRADE Girls (the 25 best Girls list): REBECCA L.
    Complete list: ohchess.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=61
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    Vivacity Chess Center invites players from beginner to Master to visit our Chess Club; everyone is welcome!!!

     For more information about, location, schedule, and/or registration go to: www.vivacityinc.com/chess/classes.htm or call 440-461-3634
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    5. UPCOMING CHESS EVENTS:

    		• OCTOBER 5, 12, and 19, Open Q-Chess, Mayfield Village, OH
    Info: www.vivacityinc.com/chess/Fees-VCC-Club.htm or call: 440-461-3634
    		• OCTOBER 18, Akron Zip Swiss, Akron, OH
    Info: ohchess.org/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=121&year=2008&month=10&day=18&Itemid=32&catids=17 or call: Joe Yun, 330-492-8332
    		• OCTOBER 26, Vukcevich Super Cup-2, Mayfield Village, OH
    Info: www.vivacityinc.com/chess/Tournaments/10-26-08.pdf

    To view a complete list of upcoming events go to: www.vivacityinc.com/chess/Events.htm

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