Amy Beats Rudy To Move Up On The Ladder!

Amy beat Rudy in an unrated ladder game tonight to take his spot on the ladder! There were also 7 rated games and several blitz games and casual games played at the club tonight. The following rated/ladder games were played:

Gelvic 1 - Sal 0
Gelvic 1 - Sal 0
Kerry 1 - Stephanie 0
Ernie 1/2 - Johnny 1/2
Johnny 1 - Rudy 0
Gelvic 1 - Sal 0
Stephanie 1 - Sal

Since we had 17 rated games since our last monthly swiss, I'll get these
games submitted for rating tomorrow or the next day!

Sal Wins

The 28 June meeting brought out 7 players and produced 7 rated games as well as several 10 minute games. All the games listed below were rated.
Sal snookered Stephanie
Amy over powered Sal
Amy subdued Stephanie
Kerry hoodwinked Sal
Jerry out lasted Stephanie
Gelvic mugged Rudy
Jerry tripped up Gelvic

Everyone had a great time. And the Veteran's Tournament was discussed.

College Street Closed

Portions of College Street will be closed until September. If you usually take the By-Pass to College Street when you come to Chess Club meetings you will have to take a new route. The best way appears to be to turn onto St. John's Road and then make a left on University Street which takes you to the back of the College.
Click here to view a map of the area surrounding the College.

Gelvic Wins In Louisville!

Gelvic Cubar recently won his section at a Monday Night Tournament in Louisville; bringing his rating up to 1793! Gelvic has three tournament results pending a rerating due to out of date sequence reporting; here's hoping he picks up a few more points in the rerate and becomes a Class A player! Click here for a link to X-table.

June 21st Club Meeting!

Six members braved the weather to play chess tonight!

In the above photo, Bob Kilmer and Rudy McKinney fought to a draw in their rated ladder game. Additionally, Johnny Owens beat Gelvic Cubar in a rated ladder game and after that game, Gelvic beat Kerry Fatula in a rated game.

Amy Nunn was also present and played an unrated game with Rudy and Johnny played an unrated game with Bob.

So, we had 3 rated games and at least 2 unrated games played tonight!

Club Championship

I was going to save the above picture of Gelfand until next year, but couldn't wait.

Ernie has updated the Club Championship and added a comment to Johnny's post about the June Rating Tournament. While Johnny and I might be leading "cumulatively" if you throw out the two lowest results of each player you will find that Johnny, Joe, Ernie, and myself are in a four-way tie with 7 points and Gelvic is only 1/2 point behind with 6.5 points. As a reminder: after the November Rating Tournament we will drop the two lowest results scored between February and November and the top 4 players will compete in a double round robin to decide the 2011 Club Champion. We are at the half way point now with more fighting chess to look forward to.

A big thanks to Ernie for keeping things updated and providing the "technical expertise" that keeps the web site going!

Weldin Goes 3-0, To Win Our June 2011 Monthly Swiss

Jerry Weldin went on to beat Ernie Weaver in the above game to win all 3 of his games tonight at our monthly swiss.

We had 10 players to compete and there were alot of interesting games played.

The crosstable to tonight's event can be found here!

May-June 2011 Ladder Games Rated

We had 12 rated ladder games played since our last monthly tournament, so I decided to go ahead and submit these games for rating prior to our June monthly event. It will be re-rated as it was completed prior to the Kentucky Open and several of our club memebers played in this event and did well!

In any event the rated crosstable can be found here!

Saving The Half Point

Here is the end of a game I played in the KY Open today. Both of us had ceased keeping score for a while; but the position is still etched in my mind.This is the position with White (me) to move. Can you find the trap my opponent has set for me (with about 30 seconds left on his clock) and how I saved the draw?

Clayton Wins At KY Open!

Stephanie scored 3 points, tying for 1st place in her section and winning $50! This is a repeat of last year when she won outright and got all the prize money. Steff was also the biggest point gainer as her rating jumped 175 points! That's more than Andrew P, Gelvic and myself combined. Click here to see the X-table.
Andrew and Steff played in the Under 1400, Gelvic played in the Under 1800 (and still has no clock), I tested the water in the Open Section and will try to post at least an interesting draw position from my 4th round game with a player rated 1900+.

Ernie is right Steff gained 175 points! I made the correction above. - Ed.

7 June Meeting

Kerry and Andrew P. at last years Veteran's Tournament.

Tonight Dwight Roy and Matt Allen dropped by to check us out and play a few games.(Thanks to James Whiddon) While I was playing our visitors with help from Andrew Preston and Stephanie; there were several "Ladder" and "rated" games played.
Kerry provoked Johnny - Rated
Gelvic stunned Ernie - Rated
Andrew P. schooled Stephanie - Unrated
Johnny destroyed Gelvic - Rated

Welcome Dwight and Matt! Everyone looks forward to seeing both of you again!

It was good to see Andrew P. again; he has been "deployed" with the Red Cross helping our neighbors to the west who have suffered from tornado's and flooding. Just in case those poor souls were too distraught to say it...Thanks Andrew!

Added 8 June: Andrew e-mailed me that the stories he related to me Tuesday night were from a personal visit, not official Red Cross business. I do know that Andrew manned the Red Cross Shelter when Nelson and Bullit Co's had flooding problems...so my thanks still stands,

Kentucky Open - This Weekend

Last years winner IM Emory Tate.

The Kentucky Open is this weekend the 11th & 12th of June.
Where -------- St Francis High School, 233 West Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202
Registration-- 9:00AM - 9:45AM Eastern Standard Time (Eastern Time the entire event)
Rounds-------- Day 1: RD 1 - 10:00AM, RD 2 - 2:00PM, RD 3 - 5:30PM
Day 2: Rd 4 - 9:00AM, RD 5 - 2:00PM *KCA meeting between RD's 4&5
Entry Fee----- $45 + KCA dues ($3)
Time Control-- Game 90 w/5sec delay
BYE's--------- 1/2 point bye available all but last round - request NLT 2nd RD

How to get there from E-town, Radcliff, Vine Grove, Brandenburg, Bardstown, Buffalo, and Cave City if you don't have a GPS.

1. Meet Stephanie and ride with her!
1A. Get to I-65 N the way you always do.
2. Drive to Louisville and exit on #136A Broadway/Chestnut St - go 0.2 mi
3. Continue on S. Brook St <0.1 mi
4. Turn L on E Broadway (US-150) proceed 0.1 mi - St Francis is on the right
Note: Free parking is available off S.3rd St right next to St Francis.

Food is within walking distance so I've been told. I'm always in time trouble so I pack in my own lunch and drinks.

Steff took home $100.00 in prize money last year!

Weldin Tops The Ladder

Tonight was another mixed bag with skittles, 10 minute games, and ladder games.
Ladder games results were as follows:
Jerry beat Rudy and moved to the #1 position - rated
Gelvic tripped up Johnny and moved to the #3 position - rated
Amy nuked Steff - no change in ladder - unrated
Gelvic ambushed Steff - no change in ladder - rated
Amy smashed Sal - no change in ladder - rated

There was talk about the upcoming KY Open. Sal is looking for a ride.

Drawn Out Match Ends With Gelfand Win

Boris Gelfand surprises Grischuk with novelty leading to a just in time win to avoid play-off. Browse the right hand side of this site for links to various reports. Click here for the "official report".

Rudy

That's Rudy on the left leading the charge!
The "Ladder" saw a lot of action tonight along with regular skittles and 10 minute games. Dave and Kerry were already playing when I arrived but I don't know the outcome of their game(s?). Here are the games that were posted on the chalk board as "Ladder games and or rated games:
McKinney mugged Owens - "ladder game" putting Rudy on the top rung -- rated
Owens gets revenge against McKinney -- rated (not a ladder game due to ladder rules)
Nunn schooled Clayton - unrated ladder game (no changes to ladder)
Weldin shut down Cubar - rated (no ladder changes)
Mancuso embarrassed Clayton - rated (no ladder changes)

Other news:
1. Benny Wilson has returned from Florida and assures me that he will be back to the Club soon.
2. Johnny played in Louisville last week and defeated our good friend Bobby Amback. Those of you who have played Bobby know that this is not an easy task!
3. James Whiddon has a booth at the E-town Flea Market selling Chess Paraphernalia, "hot wheels", and assorted games. If you have chess sets, boards, or clocks you'd like to get rid of see James and work out a deal!
4. Yes, Dave Brock did show up tonight.
5. Sal is back in all his glory. New van, same chauffeur!

Nunn Climbs the Ladder

There were 2 ladder games tonight. Amy drew Kerry and jumped to the #7 position on the ladder. The game was unrated.
Rudy dropped a Knight against Jerry in their rated game, giving Jerry the full point.

Irony

FIDE may need to rethink the candidate selection criteria. Grischuk was not in the original 8 candidates and only got to play because Carlson turned down the opportunity. Now after dispatching the world's #3 ranked Aronian and beating former World Champion Kramnik; Grischuk has the opportunity to grab the golden ring. Gelfand has the edge in experience but that is probably not as important in our new "chess computer" age as it was in the old days. Grischuk has youth, physical conditioning, and expertise in speed chess on his side. While I have nothing against Gelfand, I can't help but root for Grischuk when the games resume on the 19th.

It's Gelfand and Grischuk!

Gelfand and Grischuk advance to the finals and will play a 6 game match for the right to play Anand for the World Chess Championship. The games begin 19 May at 0700 Eastern Time, click here for the full schedule.Kamsky represented the U.S. well, and held his own until the "rapid" play began.
Chess.com has already posted an excellent report of the semi-finals; to include all the games! Click here to go to Chess.com's report.

Candidates Semi-Finals Moves To Rapid Games

With all the games being drawn during the "regular" time limit the players will move onto the "rapid" time limit of game 25 in hopes of producing winners. Should there still be a necessity to break ties, up to 5 two game blitz matches will be played at 5mins + 3secs.

The picture above is of GM's Grischuk and their daughter. I thought the readers would enjoy learning that GM Grischuk is married to GM Natalia Zhukova a champion in her own right who was a child prodigy achieving the WGM title in 1996 and the full Grandmaster title in 2010.Click here to view her FIDE rating card. For an interview with Alexandra Kostinuik from 2009 with more photo's click here.

Ernie Weaver Scores 3-0 In May Monthly Swiss!

We had nine players that participated in this month's club tourney!

Ernie Weaver won all three of his games to take 1st place and is back to Class A.

The crosstable can be seen here.

Candidates Match Update

Two more dogs are eliminated from the fight as Kramnik and Grischuk win their playoffs to advance to the next round against each other.

Grischuk knocked off Aronian who was rated #3 in the world at the start of the match. Due to his aggressive play I'm going to stick my neck out and predict that Grischuck will also defeat Kramnik when play resumes on the 12th.

Happy Mothers Day!

Here is a photo of Judith Polgar in her younger days, currently the highest rated mother in chess. Everyone was probably getting tired of Kamsky and Topalov's pictures.

All the games in the Candidates Match were drawn today. Therefore Kamsky advances to the next round by avenging his 2009 lost to Topalov with a score of 2.5 - 1.5. The only other player to score a win in the "regulation 4 game matches" was Gelfand who becomes Gata's opponent for Round #2. A good match up if you consider they are only separated by one rating point on FIDE's latest rating list. Gelfand - 2733, Kamsky - 2732. Additionally both defeated opponents rated approximately 40 points higher than themselves in Round #1.

The rest of the field will lose a day of rest/preparation as they will be playing "tie break" games tomorrow. I'm sure their "seconds" are cursing as we speak.

Here is a review of the schedule for the next few days:
09 May - Tie breaks Kramnik vs Radjabov and Aronian vs Grischuk
10 May - Rest
11 May - Rest
12 May - Round #2 begins:
Kamsky vs Gelfand and the winners of the tie breaks will play each other.

First Blood!

US Chess Champion Gata Kamsky scores the first win in the Candidate Matches! As of this posting 7 complete games have been played between the 8 "candidates"; Kamsky is the first to score a win after Topalov allowed his Queen to be hemmed in out of play at a3. You can play over the games at the official site by clicking here.

Right after posting I checked and found that the 8th game had also drawn. -Ed

De-ja Vu

The 2011 Candidates Matches began today. America is represented by Gata Kamsky our newly crowned US Champion. Kamsky is playing Topalov just as he did in 2009 when he lost 4.5 - 2.5; I believe it will be a better fight this time.
To follow all the games as they are played click on this link to the official site. To review the games from 2009 click here.

Rainy Days And Mondays

Stephanie Clayton sent me the above photo's and has once again "Tom Sawyered" me into doing her work for her.
What do Nelson Co football players do when school is flooded out? Play chess of course! The players are Jake Lemieux (Steff's nephew) and Nelson Co Football Team Captain, Chris Losch, Nathan Kassiah, and Tim Kassiah.
Steff reports that the Kassiah brothers were victorious after being cheered on by Raina (mother) and Nada (sister). Reportedly the ladies present munched on cookies and enjoyed the "eye candy".
A return match has already been scheduled for the next "flood day".

I have played Raina, Nathan, and Tim in my trips to Bardstown and Nada kibitzed the game I played her mother. A chess playing family for sure! Hopefully we can lure them to E-town for some games.

Thanks for the photo's Steff! If I got anything wrong please make a comment for the record.

Owens Stays At the Top!

Johnny Owens (seated) retained his #1 spot on the ladder last night by holding off the challenge of Ernie Weaver in the only Ladder Game of the night. The game was rated.
Johnny announced that he is planning a "Senior Tournament" for those over 50; details will be forth coming. It will be interesting to see if any of our " 39 year old" ladies turn out (<:
Besides Johnny and Ernie; Steff, Nick, and Kerry showed up - the latter two took turns at my chess butt and wore it out. I can take some consolation in knowing that Nick will suffer greatly the next time Deb and Steff share intelligence reports.

It's Kamsky and Zatonskih !!

Given a choice I naturally chose Anna's picture!

Unless you are still in your "storm shelter" you know that Gata Kamsky and Anna Zatonskih won the US Championship in their respective gender division.

I have noticed that most web sites/blogs just plagerize what has already been posted else where; so in an attempt to be original I'd like to give you a "patzers view" of my observations gleaned from watching the action (as much as I could) on the Saint Lewis Chess Club Web Site.

When we get as much rainfall as we did last week my back yard turns into a swamp and eventually water tries to claim my garage as the eight ocean. So.. around Good Friday I found myself battling the flood waters with a 12 gallon shop vac given to me by my son's family a couple of Christmas's ago. (Young folks love Black Friday!)
On Monday the day after Easter I sent my wife to Home Depot to get another shop vac with a drain plug as I was having trouble controling the water with only one! Last Tuesday while the the Club was forced into the hall due to a tornado warning I was battling the water. As things didn't get rough untill about 2:00 AM I used the box the new shop vac came in as a table and set up my lap top on it to watch the US Chess Championships. While I missed a good deal of the commentary, I actually got to view most of the play off games.

What I learned listening to Maurice Ashley and Jennifer Shahade commemtary was very insightful for me and the games were excellent. The following "lessons" that I gleaned from these sessions were:

Gata Kamsky, currently 18th in the world ratings @ 2732 deserves any accolades given. His first game against Shulman in the men's finals was nothing short of soccery! Check it out on the USCF web site. I will diffinately watch his match with Topalov next week!

Anna Zatonskih, currently the 7th highest female chess player in the world @ 2537 turned in a spendid performance in spite of the roughest opposition! In her interview after winning the Championship she bemoned the fact that she had not "played up to her performance level" but ensured her fans that she will have more time to devote to chess when her 4 year old daughter, Sofia, starts Kindergarten next year. Single and childless couples be assured that her performance was extradordinary under the circumstances!!

Tatev Abrahamyan playes fighting chess ! and hasn't finished 2nd in the last two championships by accident.

My impressions of the Championship are as follows:
1. The women fight without mercy and give no quarter! By far the most intertaining/instructive games were produced by the ladies.
2. The young /up and coming male players are almost as intertaining as the ladies and definately play fighting chess!
3. If Kamsky could play with a World Championship qualifying match pending with Topalov; what was Nakamura's problem?

What I learned from listening to the commentary by GM Ashley, Shahade, and GM's in the audiance:
1. Buying "Opening Books" is a waste of time and money until you are rated 1800.
2. Playing "game 30" doesn't even count in their book!
3. There is not that great of a differance between you and I and the "chess professional". They do it for a living (money) and we do it for fun. But they make the same mistakes we do; even though they have more time to devote to the game.
4. The younger players are throwing the old guys a curve ball by not playing "standard openings"

This is an opinion piece and I'm sure that many of my readers will disagree with some if not all of my opinions; that's ok with me! If this piece provoked you into study, introspection, or the desire to challenge me to a rated game next meeting then I have done my job.

The Club needs more authors, please consider posting on the site. Contact me if you haven't received an invite.

April 26th Meeting Was Exciting!

Our games were interupted by a tornado warning and we had to go to the hallway!
There were still several rated ladder games played as well as some non ladder games! The following rated ladder games were played:

Gelvic C. beat Kerry F.
Ernie W. beat Bob K. and
Johnny O. won against Gelvic C.

In addition, Amy Nunn and James Whiddon played an unrated ladder game that ended in a draw!

April 19th Meeting

While some don't need to leave home to get their "Chess Fix" most of us prefer to square off face to face over the board.

Tuesday night saw eight combatants marshaling their armies over the 64 square battle field. I only know of one rated game; an important one for our first time visitor James Pittman, who played his first USCF rated game after Johnny went on line to secure his USCF membership. Bob Kilmer proved a worthy opponent in James P's baptism by fire and graciously reviewed the game after winning.

Another milestone occurred as for the first time (other than a tournament) the Club was graced by two lovely players of the fairer sex! I think I speak for everyone when I say that I hope this trend continues.

No ladder changes occurred to my knowledge. For the record the attendees were: Amy, Stephanie, Bob, James P., James W., Jerry, Johnny, and Rudy.

A Comedy Of Errors

Play online chess

Johnny asked for games from the April Fool's Tournament. Here are my comments on the above game:

4. ...a6 Black deviates from the normal Nf6 and gives White a free move.
7. ...Be7 if Black was going to retreat why check and allow White to develop another piece?
8. ...Na5? violates opening principles by moving the same piece twice and placing a "Knight on the rim". d6 or developing the King Knight was called for.
9. Bxf7+!? I felt that this sac was justified because Black was sadly under developed and had just placed his Knight out of play.
10. ...Kf8 the best move. If Ke8 White plays Qh5+ with a great attack.
11. d5? with the idea of trying to trap the Knight on a5. f4 should have probably been played.
14. ...Nf6 Black finally developes the King Knight!
19. ...Ke8 Black voluntarily places his King in a pin.
20. Re6?? Intending to double the Rooks on the e file, completely over looking 20. ...Bxd5! and Black wins material and probably the game.
32. Nxf6?? Dave resigned here ?? because he thought the knight was poison. But if he had played 32. ...Re1+ the Knight could have been taken after 33. Kh2 and White would have had to demonstrate the win and in such short time control anything could have happened.

Both Dave and I should be ashamed to have played this game. I'm sure Dave was tied and I was sick; but this was indeed a "comedy of errors". Most game 30 or game 45 are. That's why I don't "Fritz" my games, I prefer to do my own analysis and learn from my mistakes. I already know that the computer plays better than me. If you read my comments you will find that I tried to be honest and not present a "glorified win" when I was just plain lucky to win this game. I'm not picking on Dave, my other games ended in me not keeping score after I was under 5 minutes on my clock. I would have liked to have shown my game against Joe Farrell, but all the "good" and "instructive" play occured long after I had stopped keeping score!

Johnny Owens Wins April Swiss 3-0!

Johnny Owens is above with GM Alexander Shabalov at the Nashville Chess Center. He went undefeated tonight at the April Monthly Club Swiss! Jerry Weldin, Gelvic Cubar and James Whiddon tied for
2nd-4th place with a score of 2-1. The crosstable is here.

Amy Nunn became a club member and played in tonight's tourney! Welcome aboard Amy! We are excited to have you as a member.

Additionally, there are 11 ladder games rated with this MSA posting!

Meeting 5 April

Johnny Owens tops the ladder again without playing a game. Bob Kilmer fell victim to the "missed meetings rule" and dropped four rungs allowing Johnny to move up without moving a pawn.
Whiddon, Fatula, Kilmer, McKinny, Mancuso, Emdee, Clayton, Cubar, and Weldin made up the playing field which produced skittles and speed games in addition to the 5 Ladder Games listed below.
Mancuso 1 - rolls - Clayton 0 .........Rated
Cubar 1 - chills - McKinny 0 ..........Rated
Kilmer 1 - thumps - Emdee 0 ...........Unrated
Weldin 1 - tricks - Whiddon 0 .........Unrated
Mancuso 1 - mugged - Emdee 0 ...........Rated

A copy of The Frankenstein-Dracula Variation in the Vienna Game by Eric Schiller was added to the Club Library thanks to Larry Davidson. The library saw action for the first time in a long time as members availed themselves to it during the meeting with one book being checked out to study at home.

Next meeting is our monthly rated tournament.

Joe Farrell and Ernie Weaver Tie For 1st In The April Fool's Open!

Joe Farrell and Ernie Weaver draw the final game of the tournament to decide the winners of this year's club April tourney! They both finished with a score of 3.5-0.5. James Whiddon came in a clear 3rd with a score of 3-1.

I asked all those that received a prize to submit a game or two to share with our readers. More details will appear soon!

The crosstable can be found here:

April Fool's Open To Be Played on April 2nd!

Details of our April tourney have been published in "Chess Life".

Apr. 2 April Fools' Open
4SS, G/45. Elizabethtown Community & Technical College; Room 303, Occupational-Technical Building, Elizabethtown, KY. EF: $20 by Mar 30, at site $25. $$b/20; $100, 50 Class A, B, C, D, E/UNR $50 each if at least 2 players in section. Reg.: 8:45-9:15 am, Rds.: First round 9:30 am, others ASAP. Ent: Johnny Owens (TD), P.O. Box 226, Elizabethtown, KY 42702-0266 (270) 272-3061.

Emdee Is Back!

Nathaniel Emdee returned tonight and became the Club's fifth Life Member!! (that's Emdee on the right)

And the good news just keeps coming; Josh Jordan stopped by, joined the Club and paid his entry fee to the upcoming April Fools Tournament. Josh is on active duty at Ft. Knox and although a member of USCF is unrated. Josh has played on line and is looking forward to playing his first "over the board" tournament. Welcome aboard Josh!

There were two ladder games tonight. Joe defeated Kerry and moved up one rung on the ladder. Jerry overcame James which resulted in no change in the ladder. Both games were rated.

Emdee and Rudy played a non-ladder game and Rudy split two 10 minute games with Jerry. Josh couldn't stick around to play but promises to have more time next meeting.

Street Fight

Tonight's meeting was like a street fight with 7 ladder games played as the challenges came fast and furious.

Kerry whipped Sal - rated
Dave overpowered Sal - rated
Joe annihilated Jerry - rated
James schooled Rudy - unrated
Joe parried Rudy - rated
Jerry outlasted Sal - rated
Dave drew James - unrated

Joe Farrell Wins March Swiss 2.5-0.5!

Joe appears to have everything under control in his game with Gelvvic!

We had 8 club members show up for the March 2011 Monthly Swiss! Joe Farrell won the event with a score of 2.5-0.5. Johnny Owens, Ernie Weaver and Rudy McKinney finished in a 3-way tie for second with 2.0-1.0.

The monthly swiss as well as rated ladder games have been posted here.

Only One Ladder Game Tonight at the Club!

There was only one ladder game played tonight and it was a rated game.
Johnny played his London System and Kerry played his favorite response
to 1.d4 --The Dutch Defence! Johnny won and moved to #2 on the ladder.

The other memebers that were present tonight played some unrated games.
Rudy McKinney was busy playing Dave Brock and Ernie Weaver won an
interesting game vs. James Whiddon.

Remember, next Tuesday is Tournament Night!

Ernie, you need to post one of the games you played with James!!

Kilmer Seizes The Top Rung

Bob Kilmer knocked Kerry Fatula from his lofty perch as the Year of the Rabbit sees three new "Ladder Leaders" in the first month of the Lunar New Year. In the only other ladder game Jerry Weldin defeated Rudy McKinney; no rated games were played last night. Ernie will update the ladder later this week after I send him the current standings.
Michael Leitao popped in from Glasgow to play a few games and say hello. Good to see you again Michael!
Nick Folino, Ernie Weaver, James Whiddon, and Johnny Owens were also present with many games and post mortums conducted. A great turn out.
In other news; I'd like to thank Bob Kilmer and Rudy McKinney for their assistance at this weeks "Kids Chess". A Cub Scout Pack attended in search of the coveted "Chess Belt Loop". Bob worked with the parents while Rudy instructed the kids. Both did an excellent job as their students had never played before!

Sal Kicks Butt

Sal pulled a John Wayne and kicked the Grim Reaper to the curb; Sal has been moved from the "constant care unit" to room 422 at Hardin Memorial and may now have visitors.

I received many e-mails from distant members asking for up-dates and I'm sure that all will be relieved to learn that Sal has pulled through once again.

UP DATE - 21 FEB - JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH SAL; HE WAS WAITING FOR AN AMBULANCE TO TRANSFER HIM TO HEALTH SOUTH WHERE HE WILL BE FOR 7-10 DAYS IF HE CONTINUES TO IMPROVE.

Kerry Moves To The Top Of The Club Ladder

Kerry challenged Rudy for the top spot on the ladder and beat him with the Black pieces to move to the top of the ladder. (Rated) Bob Kilmer beat James Whiddon to move to his spot on the ladder. (Unrated) James then challenged Johnny on the ladder and Johnny won that game to keep his place. (Rated)

Also present at the club tonight were Dave Brock and Jerry Weldin. There were several blitz games played as well as unoffical games.

Rudy also updated us on Sal's condition. We need to keep him and his family in our prayers.

February 2011 Monthly Swiss

Joe Farrell and Gelvic Cubar tied for 1st in the 1st round of the 2011 Club Championship with 2.5-0.5!

We had 10 club members to brave the cold and play.

Remember, we will be playing chess this Friday. Come if you can!

Free Lessons

If you are under 1600 and complete 3 Lexington tournaments you will get a free chess lesson from a Grand Master or Master. For details click on link to KCA (on right) then click on Jerry Baker's Post (again on the right). You will be as pleased as the young Bobby Fischer in the photo above with his mentor Jack Collins.

Another Opportunity To Excel At Chess!

I now have permission to use our usual chess room at ECTC (Room 108A) on Friday evenings!

This will be a non E-town Chess Club affiliated opportunity to enjoy chess.

I currently don't have plans to play tournaments on this evening, but if an interest develops, then we can look at it.

Let's start this Friday, February 11th at around 7:00 pm. We can play until 10:30 pm.

Darren, I hope to see ya there!

Opposite Colored Bishops

Opposite colored Bishops favor the attacker in the Middlegame, Drawish in the Endgame? In this game from www.chessatwork.com opposite colored Bishops coupled with doubled isolated pawns lead to a win.

Play chess online

Rudy Moves To the Top Of The Ladder

Rudy defeated Johnny last night in a ladder game to move to the top of the ladder.
Johnny also took on Kerry in a ladder game, but was able to fight off Kerry's "Larsen's Opening" and won. Johnny also beat Rudy in 2 USCF rated games. Four rated games in one night!

Additionally, Dave beat Sal in a ladder game to move up to #8 on the ladder.

Also, present last night was Joe F., Ernie, Nick and Jerry.

REMEMBER: Next week is the 1st round of the 2011 Club Championship!

NCCC Remembered

Stan Mullins called the other day and told me he was closing out the old Nelson County Chess Club's (NCCC) bank account. There was $10.00 left and Stan is generously donating it to the Elizabethtown Chess Club!

Several of the area players were members of both clubs. I remember getting an invite from Stan to go to the "Blue Dragon" restaurant in Bardstown and conduct a simul to help out his membership drive. That night, playing 11 games, I lost to Brian Lucas and Johnny Owens and gave up a draw to Ricky Coulter. For the better part of a year I took on all comers one Thursday night a month; twice I actually went undefeated. Stan sent the NCCC an e-mail after one of those occasions on 28 February 2008 when I won all 9 games. By then the Blue Dragons had moved to Bearno's Pizza and sports bar; actually the Chinese restaurant closed and Bearno's opened in it's old location. Now Bearno's is gone and Bardstown chess has been found at the Cafe Mozart, the new Public Library, and Cox's Creek Elementary School.

This game was played at the January 17, 2008 Simul; Johnny Owens conducted the "Black Forces" and was kind enough to provide me with the game score.

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Tactical Shots

Everyone misses a tactical shot from time to time. Sometimes we make outright blunders. Thirty-minute chess makes it difficult sometimes to see even the simplest of tactics. Take a look at move 25.R1c2. This allows the "interference" tactic 25...Nc4. 26.R7xc4 dxc4 27.Rxc4 (or 27.bxc4) and I've given the exchange back with a pawn to the good.

How about 28.Qe7? I saw this as completely winning and didn't bother looking for something that is "more" winning--like 28.Bf1. There isn't always enough time to look for best moves, especially with this time control.

But the goal is to avoid making simple blunders and do the best you can to avoid missing simple tactics, both on offense and defense.

Owens-Cubar Ladder Game

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After 24.Rh4 black now has a mate in 7 starting with 24. ...Rxf2+. I only saw
it after reviewing this game with Fritz. In any case 24. ...Qe2 or 24. ...Qg5
were better than 24. ...h5?? In Game/30 events, it's very hard to see a mate in 7!

Owens Is Still At The Top Of The Ladder

No, that's not Johnny. It's his granddaughter, Lana who turned 5 years old last
week. He has been teaching her to play chess. I see a future Alabama State
Champion in the making!

Johnny defended his #1 spot on the club ladder by beating Gelvic Cubar, who challenged him tonight! Johnny has been #1 on the ladder since October 2010.

It was nice to see James Whiddon back at the club! Steve Parsons, Jerry Weldin, and Kerry Fatula were also in attendance tonight.

What do we need to do to get more of you to show up? Let me know!

Kids Chess

Kerry Fatula and I joined Denise Emberton for chess with the kids last night. Four members of the Kids Chess Club showed up and the adults, to include a father who's name I didn't catch, provided them with opponents. The youngsters were really enthusiastic about playing and even the youngest knew the rules and made moves that reflected thought and rudimentary planning. In one of my games with Luke Emberton I almost missed a mate in one that he threatened!

Join us next week if you can; I think you will find it a rewarding experience.

January Rated Tournament

At least this guy had an excuse for missing the first tournament of 2011!

Just kidding; I know that those who missed the tournament had pressing "life issues" that kept them away.
The "hard core" Club nucleus braved the cold rain to play chess. The results can be found here.
Awards were presented to the 2010 Champions; 1st- Joe Farrell, 2nd Johnny Owens, and 3rd Ernie Weaver. Johnny may have pictures to post later.
Dave called in his regrets - mandatory 10 hour shifts - bummer!
Sal was sick and Rudy whimped out.
Has anyone seen Whiddon? I played chess with him on the 17th; I knew I should have let him win more than one. Wait 'till you see his new chess set!
As of tonight we have 10 "official, dues paid in full" members so far for 2011.
Next month the 2nd Tuesday Tournament will count towards qualifying for the 2011 Club Championship.

Kid's Chess

Monday I attended a meeting of the "Kid's Chess Club". The Club which used to meet at the food court in the Towne Mall; now gathers at the Gamer's Edge on Monday nights from 7PM - 8PM. Gamer's Edge is located at 100 Dolphin Drive across from Kroger's. For those who remember Cali's, it is in the same little strip mall.

The new site is well lit, use of tables is free, and snacks and drinks are available for purchase. Denise Emberton is the Club's Director and has requested our support. Drop in and spend some time with the kids; they are the Elizabethtown Chess Club members of tomorrow. Brush up on your defense to the "Fried Liver" before you go!

Remember:

When - Monday nights 7PM - 8PM ..........Where - Gamer's Edge - 100 Dolphin Drive.

There will be no meeting 17 January, Martin Luther King Day, due to a Scholastic Tournament in Louisville.

No Meeting 11 January

Due to the snow already on the ground and the prediction for more this evening; tonight's meeting/tournament has been cancelled.

We will have the tournament next week.

Right after posting this Johnny called to tell me the college was shutting down at 6PM today. (Editor)

Silent Protest? And 4 Jan Meeting Report

Photo by Anna Burtasova, russiachess.org

From left to right Tatiana Kosintseva (2581), Alisa Galliamova (2487), and Natalia Pogonia (2472).

After a three way tie in last years Russian Superfinal (Women) 1st - 3rd was decided by sudden death playoffs. Could Tatiana be silently protesting the tie break system which left her in third place?

The first meeting of 2011 reflected sparse attendance which gave those of us who did show up a chance to talk about those who didn't! LOL.

Sal looked good and was spoiling for a good game or political discussion. (I gave him both) Rudy beat Joe F. and held the win in the post mortem replay. Kerry and I rounded out the crowd. All in attendance renewed their membership and were issued new cards. Rudy received his free membership for winning the under 1400 Section of the Dec 7th Remember Pearl Harbor tournament. I became the 4th Life Member as promised.

This years Club Championship was discussed and it was decided to go back to the 2008 format. Starting with this years February Tournament we will add the scores of the participants though the November Tournament; throwing out the two lowest results. The top 4 players will then play a double round robin to determine the Club Champion. We still need to work out the time limit and whether the playoff will be held in one or two sessions. (That's why we decided to wait until February to start. This gives members who couldn't make the 4 Jan meeting a chance to get in their input.)

Please arrive early if you plan on playing in the tournament next week; we have to collect your 2011 Membership Fee of $12 prior to the tournament. See you next week!