#603 National Chess Congress

GM Alexander Stripunsky, GM-elect Alex Lenderman, IM Bryan Smith & IM/WGM Irina Krush tied for 1st at the National Chess Congress in Philadelphia (11/27-29)

Don Carrelli, who tied for 5th place in the U1800 section, had the best showing among Kenilworth CC members.

Daniel Zhu beat a 1941-rated in the 2nd round, finished =10th in the U1800 &, according to the Ratings Estimator, is now up to 1787!

Here's how all the Kenilworth guys did :

U2000
Ari Minkov =44th

U1800
Don Carrelli =5th
Daniel Zhu =10th
David Pawlowski =37th
Mike Wojcio =47th

#602 Stoyko Point Count Lecture

I have uploaded the outline of FM Steve Stoyko's Oct. 15th lecture on "Evaluating Chess Positions, An Introduction" plus the java-replay & PGN of games that were presented.

If you have any thoughts about the system, please leave a comment. Any feedback will be forwarded to Steve.

#601 V. Shen Wins Westfield Grand Prix

NM Victor Shen took clear 1st in Sunday's Westfield Grand Prix, with a 4-0 score. FM Tom Bartell & SM Yaacov Norowitz tied for 2nd, a half-point back.

Other prize-winners included :

• Sam Chatsky, Leonid Fleysher, Kevin Dresher (U2100)
• Dr. Richard Lewis, Jackson Hueckel, John Moldovan (U1850)
• David Johnston, Anthony Decinque (U1600)
• Leon Wu, Robert Lachausse, Darren Knaub & Melissa Biegel (U1350)

There were 25 participants, including 9 who were rated >2100!
All the Kenilworth CC, Checkmate CC & Garden State CL players collected prizes!!


I had an up & down event. After missing a forced mate & losing the opener to Shen, I played like a zombie against tail-ender Sasha Prystupa (a lucky win after 2 lost positions) & NM Peter Radomskyj (a bad opening & quick loss) but closed-out with a nice victory over Konstantin Mazur to finish =8th.

Here are all 4 of my games (fully annotated) in java-replay & PGN.

#600 December KCC Schedule Changed

Yaacov Norowitz's Lecture & the Kenilworth Chess Club's Annual Business Meeting have been pushed back 1 week to accommodate a match between the Karpovs & Hamilton.

Here's the updated December schedule :

Dec. 3rd - Garden State League match : Karpovs vs. Hamilton
Dec. 10th - Yaacov Norowitz Lecture on Color Complexes ($5)
Dec. 17th - Business Meeting & Holiday Party
Dec. 24th - no meeting
Dec. 31st - no meeting

#599 Diagram Difficulties

At the moment, ChessBase 10 is not generating the desired diagrams for my HTML pages. I suspect its "Green Marble" board is the problem. Never had any trouble with the "Cherry" board or my custom purple & gray job.

I'll try to correct the situation early next week. Until then... sorry for the lack of visuals.

#598 Anand-Ivanchuk Blitz Game

I have annotated Anand & Ivanchuk's ...Qd7 Winawer game from the recent World Blitz Championship. Hope you like it.

Java-replay
PGN

#597 GSCL - 2nd Round Annotations

Notes to my 2nd round draw with Paul Corcoran have been posted on the Garden State Chess League blog.

#596 Westfield Grand Prix

On Sunday, November 22nd, the Westfield Chess Club will be hosting a 4-round, G/30 tournament. It will be their 500th event at the Westfield YMCA!

The entry fee is $30 for members; $40 for non-members. There is a $615 guaranteed prize-fund. For more details, go to the club's website.

#595 Kenilworth Quads - Wrap-Up

Yaacov Norowitz & David Pawlowski were clear winners in the top 2 sections at the Kenilworth Quads, which concluded last night. Gordon Agress and Bert Shiffman shared 1st in the other group.

3rd round results & final standings :

Quad 1

Mangion 0-1 Norowitz
Ferrero 1-0 Carrelli

1. Norowitz 3.0
2. Ferrero 2.0
3. Carrelli 1.0
4. Mangion 0.0


Quad 2

Wojcio 0-1 Pawlowski
Tomkovich 0-1 Sturniolo

1. Pawlowski 2.5
2. Tomkovich 1.5
3. Wojcio 1.0
3. Sturniolo 1.0


Quad 3

Shiffman 1-0 Renna
Ali 1-0 Agress

1. Agress 2.0
1. Shiffman 2.0
3. Ali 1.5
4. Renna 0.5


As promised, here are some games (9), in java-replay & PGN, plus the crosstables.

#594 Kenilworth Quads - Rounds 1 & 2

Kenilworth Quads #2

Standings after 2 rounds
+ Results & Pairings

Quad 1

1. SM Yaacov Norowitz (2431) 2.0
2. Steve Ferrero (2020) 1.0
2. Don Carrelli (1791) 1.0
4. Ian Mangion (1929) 0.0

11/5
Carrelli 0-1 Norowitz
Ferrero 1-0 Mangion

11/12
Norowitz 1-0 Ferrero
Mangion 0-1 Carrelli

11/19
Norowitz vs. Mangion
Ferrero vs. Carrelli

Players in quad 1 must toss for color! Those in quads 2 & 3 have already done so.


Quad 2

1. David Pawlowski (1777) 1.5
1. Greg Tomkovich (1698) 1.5
3. Mike Wojcio (1622) 1.0
4. Lou Sturniolo (1446) 0.0

11/5
Sturniolo 0-1 Pawlowski
Tomkovich 1-0 Wojcio

11/12
Pawlowski ½–½ Tomkovich
Wojcio 1-0 Sturniolo

11/19
Wojcio-Pawlowski
Tomkovich-Sturniolo


Quad 3

1. Gordon Agress (1283) 2.0
2. Bert Shiffman (1283) 1.0
3. Joe Renna (1359) 0.5
4. Umar Ali (1346) 0.5

11/5
Agress 1-0 Renna
Ali 0-1 Shiffman

11/12
Renna ½–½ Ali
Shiffman 0-1 Agress

11/19
Shiffman-Renna
Ali-Agress

A wrap-up, games & crosstables will follow on Friday or Saturday.

#593 Radomskyj Wins Westfield Championship

NM Peter Radomskyj took clear 1st at last month's Westfield Championship, with a perfect 4-0 score.

NM Todd Lunna, Jonathan Cohen (top U2100) & Ziping Liu (top U1850) shared 2nd place honors, with 3-1.

Lev Zilbermints, Ian Mangion & Eve Zhurbinskiy tied for 5th, at 2.5.

Andy Chen, Shivani Shanmigudas & Pat Mazzillo shared the U1600 prize.

Sasha Romayev was the U1350 winner.

#592 Clark & Listoch Tie In Scotch Plains Swiss

James Clark & Ivan Listoch went 3-0 to tie for 1st in last month's Scotch Plains Swiss.

Joe Renna, Bert Shiffman, Alexander Gorbach, Scott Seyffarth & Pablo Vasconez tied for 2nd place, with 2-1 scores.

All of the above received Kenilworth Chess Club membership for the rest of 2009. Current KCC members Renna & Shiffman will get 25% off their 2010 dues, in lieu of a pro-rated refund.