#1096 Norowitz Earns IM Title

2009 Kenilworth CC Champion Yaacov Norowitz earned his final IM norm today by tying for 3rd 4th place at the Reykjavik Open.

After starting out 1-1 (with a loss to an FM), Yaacov scored 6.5 over the last 8 rounds, including +3-0=2 vs. 5 GMs, to finish a half-point behind winners Pavel Eljanov, Wesley So and Amin Bassem.

To play-through all of the new IM-elect's games from the event, click here.

#1095 Local TD Certification

By scoring 95% on the USCF's Club TD exam and meeting its performance requirements, I am now a Local TD.

#1094 Chess Mates Closed Saturday

Chess Mates has canceled the Dr. Luzivminda Machan Open scheduled for Saturday, February 9 and will be closed that day due to expected blizzard conditions.

A decision about the Sunday G/30 and Lesson will made later today or tomorrow.

#1093 New Web Site For West Orange CC

The West Orange Chess Club's new web site is located at  http://westorangechess.webs.com/.

Hat tip to Leonardo Moreira.

#1092 New KCC Tournament Blog

Reports on the 2013 Kenilworth Championship and future Kenilworth events will be posted on the new KCC Tournaments Blog.

#1091 Correspondence Update

On December 24th I drew William Morris, in the U.S. Correspondence Championship Semi-Finals.

My opponent played a King's Indian, an improvement at move 18 and easily defended a pawn-down ending, as his 2 Knights and better structure compensated for my 2 Bishops.

In SWE-USA, we now lead 38.5-17.5. Not much has changed in my game, as I took a 39-day think from Nov.27-Jan. 5.

The U.S. also has a 9-6 edge over AUS/NZL but trails England 16.5-15.5. Again, 2 games remain in GER-USA.

See my sidebar for crosstable and PGN links.

#1090 ICA Hacker Targeting Chess Mates?

Visitors to Chess Mates' web site are receiving the following prompt: "A username and password are being requested by http://www.chesscamp.us..."

Log-ins to Chess Mates' web host and email account are similarly affected.
 
A WhoIs search revealed that chesscamp.us is owned by a GM with ICA ties but the hacker may be trying to make it look like a rival chess outfit is behind the problem.

#1089 Preliminary KCC Calendar For 2013

A preliminary version of the Kenilworth Chess Club's events calendar for 2013, has been posted on the KCC Minutes blog.

KCC President Don Carrelli will fill-out the schedule in the weeks to come.

#1088 Kenilworth Ch. Starts Jan. 10

The 22nd Kenilworth Chess Club Championship will begin on Thursday, January 10th, 2013 and run through February 7th, 2013. Here are the details :

22nd KCC Championship

• Not-rated
• 5-round Swiss
• January 10th-February 7th, 2012.
• Time Control: G/75+5 second delay.
• Rounds to start at 8:20 p.m. every Thursday, for the duration of the event.
• 1 half-point bye per player allowed.
• Prizes (tentative): Trophies for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Top U2000, Top U1800, Top U1600, Top U1400, Biggest upset.
• Tiebreaks: 1. Head to Head, 2. Modified Median, 3. Solkoff, 4. Cumulative.
• EF: $10 entry fee + $5 anti-forfeit deposit + dues (= $30 for most players).
• KCC and USCF memberships are required (KCC dues for 2013 are $7.50 for those age 17 or less, $10 for those age 65+, $15 for everyone else).
• Please register with TD Geoff McAuliffe during our 1/3 meeting or before 8:20 p.m. on 1/10 @ Kenilworth Community Center, 575 Boulevard, Kenilworth, N.J.
• Late-joins accepted until round 2 is paired.

Past Champions include LM Scott Massey (who has won the title 12x), Rene Ray (1996), FM Steve Stoyko (2005-2007),  LM Mark Kernighan (2008), SM Yaacov Norowitz (2009), NM Arthur Macaspac (2010, 2012) and NM Ken Chieu (2011).

 

22 players took part in last year's event.

#1087 Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to all my chess friends, acquaintances and readers.

#1086 Norowitz Surpasses 2600!

Life Senior Master Yaacov Norowitz went 4-0 in last night's New Yorker G/30 and raised his USCF rating to 2601.

Congratulations Yaacov!

#1085 KCC Business Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the Kenilworth Chess Club's 2012 Business Meeting:

- The meeting commenced at 8:45 p.m.

- Members in attendance included Don Carrelli, Geoff McAuliffe, Greg Tomkovich, Pat Mazzillo, Lou Sturniolo, Joe Azzarello, Michael Goeller, Mark Kernighan, Howard Osterman, Bert Shiffman, Bob Sherry and John Moldovan.

- Treasurer Geoff McAuliffe announced the club had a profit in 2012 and noted that was primarily because payment for our website wasn't due this year.

- A donation to the Kenilworth Recreation Department was approved.

- Michael Goeller gave a brief report about kenilworthchessclub.org's traffic and our blogs' high ranking.

- Secretary Moldovan declared that he was too busy to continue being a club officer.

- Don Carrelli was elected President, by a 7-4 vote, over Bob Sherry.

- Joe Renna was re-elected Vice-President, in a narrow 6-5 tally over Sherry.

- After Sherry and Kernighan declined nominations. Ian Mangion was elected Secretary, by acclamation.

- Geoff McAuliffe (Treasurer and Tournament Director) and Michael Goeller (Webmaster) were re-elected to their offices by acclamation.

- Greg Tomkovich was re-elected (by acclamation) to another term (2013-15) as Trustee.

- USATE sponsorship in the amount of one full entry fee ($150?) was approved. Funds will be divided between teams that contain 4 KCC members and use KCC (or Kenilworth) in the team name.

- A 5-round Swiss was chosen as the format for the 2013 Club Championship, by a 7-3 margin over an 8-player Round-Robin.

- The membership then decided, by an emphatic 10-1 count, that the Championship will not be rated.

- The Club Championship will begin on January 10 and run thru February 7th. The time control will G/75;d5 (not the 90+5 of previous years.). February 14th will be reserved as a snow date. The entry fee will remain dues + $10 + $5 anti-forfeit deposit ($30 for most players).

- Finally, regarding the Garden State Chess League...

• The Kortchnois' players in attendance chose to play their January match at the Kenilworth Community Center, not at Rutgers University.

• The Karpovs' acting Captain (Moldovan) revealed that the team needed another player for the January 7th match in West Orange.