Colorado Springs Chess Newsletter
http://cs.chess.home.att.net
This Week In Chess
On April 28th, the CSCC had 7 members in attendance. The participants played club-rated ladder games (G15). Each player faced an opponent similar in rating in a 2 game match. Here is how the ladder players fared:
Score Player
2.0 Paul Anderson
2.0 Dean Brown
0.0 Mitch Anderson
0.0 Bob Stanton
Fantasy Chess
I was knocked out of my fantasy football league by my mom, I lost my football pool to my sister, I was beaten in the playoff contest by my son, and I failed to hold my lead in the basketball bracket to Lee Lahti. So far, this year has been a fantasy flop! But I have one more shot: Fantasy Chess. The USCF is having a free contest to see who can pick which titled player (paired by USCF) will score more points in the 2009 U.S. CHAMPIONSHIP from May 8-17. If you have any suggestion, let me know. I can make changes up to 12 pm on May 8th. I am hoping to win at least one fantasy game this year. Prizes include a Monroi Personal Chess Manager and a signed book by Garry Kasparov. There will also be daily prizes.
Here are my predictions! The confidence levels are shown at the right.
GM Gata Kamsky (2798, 2720) < GM Hikaru Nakamura (2757, 2701) 3
GM Alex Onischuk (2736, 2684) < GM Yury Shulman (2697, 2632) 2
GM Varuzhan Akobian (2664, 2612) = GM Julio Becerra (2672, 2609) 4
GM Larry Christiansen (2681, 2588) > GM Alex Shabalov (2620, 2569) 11
GM Joel Benjamin (2650, 2583) = GM Gregory Kaidanov (2662, 2595) 6
GM Jaan Ehlvest (2649, 2606) < GM Ildar Ibragimov (2628, 2586) 5
GM Boris Gulko (2631, 2561) = GM Melikset Khachiyan (2632, 2546) 7
GM Josh Friedel (2568, 2516) > GM-elect Robert Hess (2545, 2485) 8
IM Irina Krush (2496, 2452) > IM Anna Zatonskih (2503, 2461) 9
IM Ray Robson (2542, 2465) > IM Sam Shankland (2464, 2446) 10
IM Michael Brooks (2419, 2463) * < IM Enrico Sevillano (2549, 2520) 12
NM Tyler Hughes (2293, 2230) = NM Charles Lawton (2350, None) 1
I have selected GM Hikaru Nakamura to be the 2009 U.S. Champion.
Game Of The Week
Dean Brown has now moved into a tie for the top spot as a game contributor to the Colorado Springs Chess Newsletter:
Games Name
5 Renae Delaware
5 Dean Brown
4 Brian Wall
4 Tom Mullikin
4 Tim Brennan
3 Josh Bloomer
3 Tim Fisher
3 Matthew Anderson
2 Larry Wutt
2 Jerry Maier
2 Randy Canney
I was looking for a game to publish this week at the club. I figured I could get one from Mitch Anderson, as I had just beaten him twice in the ladder games. He quickly remembered one and gave it to me before I could record either of our ladder games. However, Dean was not to be outdone. He mentioned that he had a game in which Rybka gave him 4 exclamation points!!! Of course, I was curious, as I thought a double exclamation point was the highest annotation these programs used. Well, we pulled out the laptop and played through the game. It turns out he meant one exclamation point on 4 different moves. I still thought that was impressive and wanted to see if Fritz would be as generous as Rybka. Fritz was slightly stingier, as it did not award the double exclamation on move 24, but otherwise the same 4 moves got the exclamation point. I was a little troubled by the fact that 47. Bxb4! got an exclamation point from both engines. I don’t think anyone should be awarded an exclamation point one move after missing mate in 3. It reminded me of the Seinfeld episode when Elaine breaks up with her boyfriend because of punctuation. She finds it strange that he didn’t use an exclamation point when recording a phone message about a friend having the baby. He is offended that, as a writer, she would dare to criticize his livelihood and expect him to “capture the mood of each caller.” The issue spirals out of control, and he ends the relationship…
I Don’t Use My Exclamation Points As Haphazardly As You Do! (home.att.net/~cs.chess/games/bro … 102009.htm)
(143) Brown,Dean (1463) - Barkmeyer,Eric (1534) [A11]
Boulder Open Boulder, CO (1.4), 10.04.2009
[Fritz 8 (60s)]
A11: English Opening: 1…c6
1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.d4 last book move. 4…Bg4 5.Ne5 Bd7 6.e3 Nc6 7.Qb3 Nxe5 8.dxe5 Bc6 9.Bb5 Qd7 10.Bxc6 Qxc6 11.0-0 e6 12.Bd2 Qd7 13.Nc3 Be7 14.Rac1 Nh6 15.Qb5 [>=15.e4!? Ng4 16.Bf4± ] 15…Qxb5 16.Nxb5 0-0 17.Rc7 a6 18.Nd6 Bxd6 19.exd6 f6 20.Rfc1 [20.Rxb7?! Nf7 21.Bb4 Rab8 22.Rxb8 Rxb8+/- ] 20…Nf7 21.d7 Nd8?? Black crumbles in face of a dire situation [21…Ne5 22.f4 (‹22.Rxb7 Rfd8+/- ) 22…Nc6 23.Rxb7± ] 22.Rc8 [>=22.Bb4 it becomes clear that White will call all the shots 22…Rf7 23.Rc8 Rxd7 24.Rxa8± ] 22…Nc6 23.Rxa8 Rxa8 24.Ba5! finishing him off 24…Kf7 [24…Nxa5 25.Rc8+ Theme: Double Attack] 25.Rxc6! Annihilates a defender: c6 25…bxc6 26.d8Q Rxd8 27.Bxd8 Ke8 28.Bb6 Kd7 29.Bc5 e5 30.h4 g6 31.g4 f5 32.g5 Ke6 33.f4 d4 [33…e4 34.Kf2± ] 34.exd4 e4 35.Kf2 Kd5 36.b3 Ke6 37.Ke3 Kf7 38.a4 Kg7 39.b4 h6 40.b5! an unexpected blow 40…axb5 41.a5 hxg5 42.hxg5 Kf7 [42…b4 doesn’t change anything anymore 43.a6 b3 44.a7 b2 45.a8Q b1R 46.Qf8+ Kh7 47.Qh6+ Kg8 48.Qxg6+ Kh8 49.Qe8+ Kh7 50.g6+ Kh6 51.Bf8+ Kh5 52.g7+ Kh4 53.Be7+ Kh3 54.Qh5+ Kg2 55.g8Q+ Kf1 56.Qh1# ] 43.a6 Ke6 44.a7 Kd5 45.a8Q Kc4 46.Qxc6 [46.Qa3 b4 47.Qxb4+ Kd5 48.Qb3# ] 46…b4 47.Bxb4+! Discovered attack 47…Kb3 48.Qc3+ Ka4 49.d5 Kb5 50.d6 Kb6 51.d7 Kb5 52.d8Q Ka6 53.Qc6+ Ka7 54.Qda8# 1-0
Upcoming Events
5/5 Speed tournament, CSCC
5/6,13,20,27 Poor Richard’s May Open, CSCC
5/9 CU Rapid XI, CSCA
5/12 Thematic tourn. King’s Indian Defense: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6, CSCC
5/13 Boulder May Blitz Tournament, CSCA
5/16 DCC May Flowers, CSCA
For event details and additional events, see the following websites:
Colorado Springs Chess Club: CSCC (springschess.org/)
Boulder Chess Club: BCC (geocities.com/boulderchessclub/)
Colorado State Chess Association: CSCA (colorado-chess.com/)
Wyoming Chess Association: WCA (wyomingchess.com/)
Kansas Chess Association: KCA (kansaschess.org/)