#27 Shen ties for 23rd in Youth Championships

New Jersey Master Victor Shen (2066 FIDE) tied for 23rd place in the Boys U14 section of the 2006 World Youth Chess Championships. None of his games, however, are among the 490 in the Monroi database & TWIC #625. Hopefully, his teacher, NM Scott Massey, will supply 1 or 2.

#26 Fewer Posts Forthcoming

Due to the large number of recent events, I’ve been making more posts than originally intended. In November & December, I will likely make just 1 post per week.

#25 Lecture Tonight In Kenilworth

Scott Massey will be giving a lecture on Estonian GM Paul Keres tonight, starting at 8:15 or so. A $5.00 fee will be charged.

#24 A Recent Caro-Kann Contest

Last week at Kenilworth, I played a training game against Laukik Gadgil, who asked me to analyze & post it for him. Here’s the replay & PGN.

#23 Kenilworth G/30 Wrap-up

The Java-replay page & PGN file for this event have been updated.

#22 Minkov Wins Kenilworth G/30 Again

Ari Minkov successfully defended his 2005 Kenilworth G/30 title, with a win over Ted Mann & a 4th-round bye.

Final Standings
1. Ari Minkov 3.5
2. Ted Mann 3.0
3. Ed Selling 2.5
4. Robert Bernard 1.5
5. Pat Mazzillo 1.0
6. Jim Cole 0.0

Here’s the event’s final crosstable, Java-replay page and a PGN file with all 10 games (7 annotated. I'll update in a few days when I finish my notes to all of last night's games.

#21 Handicap Tournament - wrap-up

Round 4
Mann 1/2 Sherry
Azzarello 0-1 Shiffman
Moldovan 1/2 BYE
Minkov 1-0 BYE

Final Standings
1. John Moldovan 3.5
2. Bert Shiffman 2.5
2. Bob Sherry 2.5
4. Ted Mann 2.0
5. Ari Minkov 1.5
6. Joe Azzarello 1.0

Final crosstable
Java-replay page
Zipped .cbv file with all 9 games from the event

#20 WC update - Kramnik takes title, flushes foe 2.5-1.5

Vladimir Kramnik has won the tie-breaking rapid match over Veselin Topalov 2.5-1.5 & is now the undisputed World Chess Champion. The 1st game was drawn. Kramnik won the 2nd, Topalov stayed alive with a win in the 3rd but lost game 4. All of the rapid contests featured Slav or Semi-Slav variations.

#19 2nd week of Kenilworth G/30 Postponed

Tonight's meeting of the Kenilworth Chess Club was cancelled because the back room/playing area was unavailable. Rounds 3 & 4 of the G/30 tournament will be next Thursday night, 10/19. If you have any questions, contact Club President Joe Demetrick.

#18 WC update - Tiebreak tomorrow

Vladimir Kramnik & Veselin Topalov played to a draw in game 12 of their World Championship match. There will be a rapid match tomorrow, to break the current 6-6 tie & determine a winner.

For annotations go to The Week in Chess, Zsuzsa Polgar's blog & Chess in St. Petersburg. ChessBase has a replay but no notes as yet.

#17 Handicap Tournament - round 3

Week 3 wasn’t much different than the 2nd as Bob Sherry & I again won the only games. My match was even after 20 moves but my opponent self-destructed. Sherry was even luckier as his foe missed a rather obvious winning combo :

Sherry - Minkov

Black to play & win

Here are all the games thus far, in Java-replay & a zipped .cbv file plus a crosstable. The event concludes next Sunday.

#16 Kenilworth G/30 - week 1, part 2

All the round 1 & 2 games have been annotated & uploaded. Here’s the updated Java-replay page and the amended PGN file.

#15 Kenilworth Game 30 - week 1

Ari Minkov & Ted Mann (2-0) are tied for 1st after 2 rounds of the Kenilworth G/30 swiss. Ed Selling & Pat Mazzillo share 3rd (1-1). There are but 6 players in the event, compared to the 11 that took part in last year's G/30.

Minkov, the defending champion, escaped a bad opening in the 1st contest & a lost position in his 2nd. Just 1 of the 6 games played lasted more than 26 moves. You can play thru all of them online or download a PGN file with them.

I've annotated 1 game thus far & will upload notes to the others as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Wednesday night's storm knocked my phone line out & it won't be fixed until Sunday afternoon. I had to submit this report from a local library.

#14 Handicap Tournament - round 2

Unlike the first week, there were no upsets in the Springfield Handicap last night. Bob Sherry won his game, despite spotting 4 moves, & I capitalized on my foe’s faulty sac to take the lead at the event’s halfway mark.

Here’s a Java replay page & a zipped .cbv file with all the contests.

#13 Demo Boards in Bathrooms Causing WC Crisis!?

Here's the latest on Toiletgate, from ChessBase.com...

Veselin Topalov & his camp apparently protested Vladimir Kramnik's numerous bathroom visits over concern the latter was using the demonstration board that match organizers placed in his (& Topalov's) facility.