Joe Farrell Wins The September Swiss 3-0!

Joe won last night's club tourney with a score of 3-0 and Ernie Weaver finished 2nd with a score of 2-1.

Six players played in the tourney and the rated crosstable appears here.

Section 2 on the crosstable is the rated ladder games since our August monthly tourney.

Remember that starting next week we begin our Game/75 tourney. Gelvic was the first to pay his entry fee into this event!

Swindle Of The Week

Rudy had me dead to rights in the position above. I had let myself get into time trouble (I had about 4 minutes to Rudy's 12) and found myself a rook down. Rudy had started to fall into the trap of trying to play as fast as I and played 1.Rxg7 to which I responded 1. ...Rc2+! 2.Kh3 Rh2+!! Stalemate! It was worth the 15 rating points I lost, by drawing, to see the look on Rudy's face.

After the game Kerry thought that moving the King back to the 1st rank would have held the win for white; a short demonstration soon convinced him that he was wrong.

Who Would Have Thunk It

As I was going into the building this evening I spied a strange object in the sky and snapped this picture when it landed briefly. Later Ernie Weaver actually showed up for the meeting.

Ernie and Kerry played a non-rated game which Ernie won. Rudy and Jerry played 2 rated games with Jerry winning the first and drawing the second by swindle.

That's it, Tournament next week.

Longer Time-Control Tournament!

I will be directing a new tournament at the club!

It will be 1 round per night/week at Game/75 with the usual 5 second
delay.

It will be 5 rounds and begin at 7:00 pm on the following evenings:
Sept. 20, 27 Oct. 4, 18, & 25. Check-in with TD (each round) prior
to 6:55 pm to be paired. Phone calls welcomed or emails prior to the day
of the game as I may not be able to check my email just prior to the round.

Entry fee is $3.00 for the entire tourney. You must be both a club and
USCF member to enter. This will be USCF rated with a chance to receive
a norm,

A Trophy or Trophies (depending on entries) will be awarded.

This will allow for a more serious game of chess and time to discuss the
game afterwards. Give me a call if you have questions!

Three In A Row!

Bob Kilmer showed up for the third consecutive meeting and played Amy. Unfortuneately for Bob that "weaker sex" thing is just a myth. But there is no shame in losing to the Kentucky Women's Champion.

Gelvic was present and accounted for, ready to defend his #1 spot on the ladder; unfortunately he received no challenges. I guess that casts a dim light on Kerry and Jerry who failed to knock off their 10 minute games and step up to the plate.

No rated games were played tonight.

Rudy was attending a funeral in Tennessee; consequently Sal didn't have a ride.

Lucky Seven

Attendance explosion brings seven combatants out for chess. Kerry, Gelvic, Rudy, and Johnny stayed in the "loud" room for their games while Bob, Sal, and Jerry adjourned to the "quiet" room. Johnny reported that there were 3 rated ladder games played in his room: Gelvic beat Rudy (rated) and is now on top of the ladder.
Johnny swindled Kerry and Rudy (both rated)
In the "quite" room Bob beat Sal in a rated game followed by a skittles game between Bob and Jerry which was not rated.

Reminder: Thursday 25 August - Chess in Bardstown.

Thursday Night Chess at Kreso's Restaurant

Nine people came for chess, drink, and good food in Bardstown last Thursday night and with the owner of the restaurant as one of the nine, we were able to close the place down. It was a great night for chess AND a reunion. James Biggs came back after a long break from live chess, graduating from U of L, and playing better than ever! (The only reason he came was to beat Stephanie.) Raina K. and her three chess playing children came. Nada watched her mom (Raina) win her game against Stephanie, Tim lost against Stephanie, Amy won a game against Nathan only to lose to him in another game. Clany played several games and won most of them, if not all. I didn't get his score. Dzevad, owner of Kreso's Family Restaurant, won against Amy but those two are always going back and forth on wins when Dzevad can escape from the kitchen. Dzevad took some photos and if he will give one to me, I'll post it later. Did I mention the food? It was great!! They have a wide variety of beer and wine and I highly recommend the wiener schnitzel. Join us Thursdays from 6:30-9:00 at Kreso's on North Third St. in Bardstown. We play skittles; not tournament games so if you are new to the game or a GM, you will get a good game from someone.
HEY ANDREW!! GELVIC!!! WE MISSED YOU!!!

Improved Attendance

Five players supported the Club tonight. Kerry, Jerry, and Rudy played 10 minute "loser gets up" games while Bob and Sal played a rated ladder game which Bob won.

Every Dog Has It's Day

Checking out the Championship X-Table, the other day, a couple of things jumped out at me. The first and probably most obvious was that there was a clear #1 and #2 with three tied in a log jam for the #3 & #4 positions. The second and most telling was the fact that all 5 of the top players had scored a perfect 3 out of 3 in one of the last 5 monthly tournaments. It will be interesting to see how things play out the last three months. It says a lot for the strength of our Club.

President Of Estonian Chess Federation Resigns

Carmen Kass, "super model" and President of the Estonian Chess Federation resigned last week. Seen in the photo below playing World Champion Anand (who was reportedly distracted and offered a draw) you may recognize her better from the second photo!




Just goes to show that you should never judge a girl by her clothes; or lack of them!

Gelvic Continues His Roll As He Goes 3-0 In Monthly Swiss!

Gelvic Cubar won last night's tourney with a score of 3-0! Joe Farrell finished 2nd with 2.5-0.5. It was a strong event last night with 8 players! The crosstable can be found here:

Additionally, the ladder games since the July Monthly Swiss have been rated.

I Googled Myself And Found This

Play chess online

I decided to "google" myself last week and found this game from Vol 9, No 5 of the Sept 1967 issue of the Tennessee Chess News. It contains mistakes on both sides but has my usual "entertaining sacrifices". To see the original page with my comments at the time click on Tennessee Chess News. 44 years later and I still haven't made a significant improvement in my game.

Quiet Night At The Club Tonight!

Dave was back tonight and played an unrated game with Kerry.

The only rated games was Johnny's win against Kerry.

There was only 3 of us there tonight. Let's hope for a better turn out next week as it is tournament night!

Bardstown Blitz

Thursday night chess in Bardstown is back on the calendar. Last night's meeting at Kreso's Family Restaurant had 6 players in attendance. One was a cameo appearance by Gelvic who came by on his break to play a blitz with Clany before returning to work. Also in attendance were Jacob Lemieux, soon to be freshman at U of K, Amy, Andrew P., and a long time chess aficionado, Mark Abram. The wine, food, and company was great!! Burgers are about $8-$9 w/ fries. The large pizza was $10 (only size available). If you want a full meal, the price goes up a few bucks. Weiner Schnitzel is a favorite there.
No surprises in the games. I got trounced by Amy and Mark. We aren't keeping score or record of wins; just having fun. The Kresos gave us our own room and the service was really great too. Dzevad Kreso wants to join us but he was not working that evening.
We will be on the calendar for Thursday nights beginning at 6:30. Kreso's opens at 5:00 so if you want to meet earlier than 6:30, communicate w/ others and make that happen. The place will be available to 1 or more chess players on Thurs. nights so show up and see who else shows up. If you are driving a long distance, call around the group before driving or call Kreso's (348-9594) by 6:30 and see if any chess players are there before coming. I'm sure a few phone calls would be welcomed but I don't think the restaurant folks have time to be our contact headquarters so make every effort to call, email, text chess players if you need to do so before coming. If we have 2 players each week, it will be worth it. Come and join us next Thursday!

Gelvic On A Roll

Gelvic continued his winning streak mugging Jerry in a rated Ladder game last night. Pictured above is Gelvic's new clock. For those who don't know; Gelvic was holding off buying a clock until he broke the 1800 barrier. Be aware that his new clock works off "body conductance", you must actually touch the button, using a captured piece will not work.

The only other rated game played was Kerry's win over Stephanie.

We had two visitors last night. Josh (I didn't get a last name) came as a result of seeing James at the Flea Market. And someone who bore a striking resemblance to Nick Folino got a phone call just like Nick used to and had to rush off...wait that was Nick!

Johnny and Amy rounded out the field. Johnny drew a game with Nick and Amy played Stephanie but they didn't record a result.

Rudy and Sal were supposed to be there but didn't make it.

Gelvic Comes In First At Bluegrass Games!!

Gelvic is on the right in the above photo.

Gelvic Cubar goes undefeated at the 2011 Bluegrass Games defeating two Class A players (1868 & 1931) in route to picking up 76 rating points and reaching Class A himself! I can't wait to see his new clock. Way to go Gelvic! It's no wonder that Steve Dillard tried to claim you for Louisville.

As previously reported Amy also won all her games and has broken the 1500 barrier.

Gelvic, Amy, and Clany should all get new floors (it takes about 2 weeks to get posted).

Click here to view the X-table.

Eliminate Draws

Click here to go to GM Kosteniuk's blog for the full story.

Allen Priest Makes Kentucky Chess History

For the record I received an e-mail from Steve Dillard today giving me the "heads up" that Allen Priest has been elected to the USCF Policy Board. Allen is the first Kentuckian ever elected to National Office in Chess.

Allen started off as a volunteer when his son began playing chess and has served in many capacities to include Scholastic Coordinator not to mention TDing several KY Open's, most recently in 2010.

At the "Annual Meeting" this year Allen urged everyone to become tournament directors and volunteer to serve in the Kentucky Chess Community.

Congratulations Allen! I'm sure USCF will make good use of your personal and professional talents (Allen is a CPA).

See vote totals and USCF write up by clicking here.

Rudy Beats Jerry to Move Back To The Top Of The Ladder!!

Rudy McKinney is back on top of the ladder! He won it back from the man who took it away from him. Jerry sac'ed a rook, but wasn't able to win. The game was rated.

Amy beat Gelvic in a unrated ladder game to move up, but lost to Johnny in a rated ladder game and is now 4th on the ladder.

Other rated games were: Clayton 1 - Mancuso 0 and Owens 1 - Brock 0.

There were several other games played at the club!

Our Amy Is New Kentucky Women's Champion!!

Amy Nunn (3rd from left) did herself and E-town Chess Club proud today; winning the Kentucky Women's Chess Championship! Congratulations Amy!
The others in the photo with the new Kentucky Chess Queen didn't do too shabby either. Gelvic (far left) took home Gold in his section, Clany won two Bronze medals, Stephanie grabbed Silver in the Women's, and Amy won Silver in her section in addition to her Gold in the Women's.
Great job everyone! And a big thanks to Stephanie for the report and the picture!
I can't wait to hear the details Tuesday.

Expanded Comment

I decided to do an "expanded comment" in response to Joe's comment concerning the July Rating Tournament.I will use my usual "shotgun" approach and address all the topics brought up in the 4 original comments and some which weren't!

The electricity was restored about 20 minutes after I got home.There goes one of my "throw away scores".

The lights were off at Johnny's house too. I think Debbie just went to Wal-Mart to ride it out; my wife's car was "trapped" in the garage. Still it must have caused Johnny some anxiety as he continued to play and carry out his TD duties. Thanks Johnny!

Congratulations to Joe for his second "Trifecta" of the year! Joe also went 3-0 in January before the "Championship Series" began.

Amy!! You have played great chess the last two weeks; you are peaking at just the right time to win the KY Women's Championship this weekend! I talked with Dave Brock today and he asked how you were doing as he was still smarting from his loss to you in the April Fool's Tournament! Good luck in Winchester Saturday.

Joe, you mentioned creating an imbalance in your game with Gelvic. I have learned this past year that that is the way to win games! I may have known it for a while but have only "formulated" it into my chess vocabulary this past year.

Joe, you have taught me not to offer a draw to higher rated opponents. You have to believe in your ability to win in a better position even if you are playing Bobby Fischer!

I must concentrate on playing better without getting into time trouble, while I can usually do well... old age and rough living are beginning to take their toll. Getting into time trouble and not keeping score throws away the ability to claim a draw by repetition among other things. Alas that is now "part of the game" and I make no excuses. That said... I intend to "draft" behind you as you become an "Expert" and join you in that Rating Class by the end of 2012!

Here is the game I lost to Joe Tuesday night. Comments are mine, caution you are entering a "Fritz Free Zone"!

Play online chess

Joe Farrell Swepts The Field, 3-0 At The Monthly Swiss!

Joe Farrell won all 3 games from the July Monthly Swiss to pick-up 23 rating points! Amy Nunn made the biggest rating jump, picking up 83 points.

We had 9 club members to turn out for the July Monthly Swiss but, Jerry Weldin withdrew after the 1st round, due to a family emergency.

The USCF has rated the event and it can be located here!

Summer Events Are Approaching Fast - Bluegrass Games

I moved this post to the top as a reminder of the Bluegrass Games this Saturday the 16th. Click on the link for more info. -- Jerry
With the recent national events in St Louis and the Candidates Matches absorbing so much attention; some of you may need reminding that there are events pending right here in good ole Kentucky. The Kentucky Open (June 11th & 12th)is almost on top of us; tell your spouses now! The Bluegrass State Games are in July and the WKU Chess Club will be having a "Chess Camp". I have inserted links to help you go right to the necessary information of these events. I am still waiting for Johnny to post information on his "Senior Open" and I'm sure we will be planing the 3rd Annual Veteran's Day Tournament soon. Chess, chess, and more chess - life doesn't get any better than this!

Gelvic And Sal Played 7 Rated Games Each!!

The above photo shows Stephanie and Gelvic doing battle at the club!

Gelvic and Sal each played 7 rated games at the club since our last monthly club tourney!

Ten club members took advantage of the opportunity to get some additiional rated games in between tournaments. 17 games were rated!!

The event has been rated by USCF and the updated ratings can be found here!

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.

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