100% Chance of Chess Tomorrow

In its Hardin county report, the national weather service is calling the chance of flash floods "highly likely" (according to the flash flood watch issued 4:20 am EDT, Fri., Apr. 30, 2010). In the event that weather makes travel to Panera Bread questionable for play tomorrow, online play is possible on FICS by meeting on channel 150 beginning at 10am as described in this post for the regular Wednesday night meetup. Players making their way to Panera may also play online in the same way.

Drawn to Repetitions

Viswanathan Anand earned a draw with the Black pieces in game 5 of the 2010 world championship match against challenger Veselin Topalov, moving the score to 3:2 and retaining the champion's one point lead. Topalov opened with 1.d4 and the game progressed into a Slav a la game 3, not deviating until the move 11... Nbd7. Once again both sides elected not to castle and prepared for the endgame. A draw was agreed through the arbiter after 44.Rc3 foretold another looming repetition of position. Get the complete game score at the official match site.

Online Tonight

Don't forget online chess with the Elizabethtown Chess Club on FICS tonight at 8pm EDT / 7pm CDT. For help, see this post.

Puzzling Pastime

Think that you're good at chess puzzles? Try this one! Just download, unzip, and run.

(Please note that this is a first attempt at direct downloads from the club web page. Some issues are still being addressed. In the future we may be able to download PGN files in the same way. Clicking on the link will direct you to a page at Google where another click will allow you to download the file.)

White Piece Advantage

The champion Viswanathan Anand and the challenger Veselin Topalov will get a rest today after matching wins with the white pieces. The contest will resume tomorrow at 8:00 am EDT. You can see video and download game scores at the official site. Live video of grandmaster analysis of the games in progress can be seen on Chess.com TV.

Above is the position after 23. Rf3 in the first game Anand vs. Topalov. Vishy played 23... Kf7, but 23... Bb7 looks more promising for Black.

Southern Class

Though no active club members were playing, you might recognize a name or two from the cross tables at the recently completed 9th Southern Class Championships in Nashville. Grandmaster Jaan Ehlvest of New York topped the charts with 4.5 out of 5, yielding only a draw to Tennessee's FIDE Master Peter Bereolos in the last round. In Class A, James Pollitt from Indiana matched that score. Kentucky player Taylor Micajah Bagley scored 3 points in the section. Ali Hamdan Alataiwi of Tennessee stunned Class B with a perfect score of 5! Michael Robertson, also of Tennessee, led Class C with 4.5. Chris Prosser, known as a scholastic coach and tournament director, was near home when he turned in a very respectable 3.0 and pushed his rating to 1524. Modesto Garcia and Scott McCormick also represented the host state by sharing scores of 4.5 to crown Class D. A provisionally rated Schuyler Matthew Read of Kentucky raided the Class E and under with a perfect score of 5.0! Ariel Torres and Ronit Vikram Patel also represented Kentucky with Class E scores of 2.5 and 1.0.

Constant Comment?

Tired of scrolling up and down our blog looking to see if anybody posted a new comment to your favorite posts? Well scroll no more! Blogger has brewed up a new feature that solves the problem. Look to the right underneath our Quick Calendar and you'll see a new box for Recent Comments. Here you'll find the latest added by members with a chance to click through to the whole post and comments.

Please note that this new feature is apparently in beta and still contains a few bugs. Spam comments which have already been deleted may appear in the list, but will yield an error if you try to click them. Also certain special characters such as quotation marks are not rendered correctly.

E-Town FICS

Organized live online chess got it's start for the club last night as four players made a go of it. Stephanie Clayton, Kerry Fatula, Nick Folino, and Bob Lenning met on channel 150 at the Free Internet Chess Server to share a few games. Want to see what it's about? Join us next time for some online chess fun along with any cool beverage that you happen to have in your fridge.

Chess Erupts in Bulgaria

After a one day delay due to the volcanic ash over Europe, the world championship match between the current champion Viswanathan Anand and the challenger Veselin Topalov is scheduled to start on Saturday, April 24, 2010. Check on live coverage and find game downloads at the official website.

Brian is Back!

Past club president and webmaster Brian Lucas was in the house last night with the promise that we'll be seeing him more in the future for a few quick games. Welcome back Brian! Also in attendance last night were Kerry Fatula, Nick Folino, Andrew Lee, Bob Lenning, Ming Loi, Sal Mancuso, Rudy McKinney, Stan Mullins, Johnny Owens, Steve Parsons, Ernie Weaver, Jerry Weldin, and James Whiddon. Fourteen players was the best attendance the club has had since the December 15 meeting last year.

Gimme More Chess!

Can't get enough chess? Don't want to have to drive to get a game? We've got the solution ... Wednesday night chess online with the club!

Starting Wednesday night at 8pm EDT / 7pm CDT, members of the club will gather online to test the idea of meeting weekly on the FICS site. If you don't yet have an account or client software, most of us use BabasChess. We'll organize by meeting on channel 150.

To get set up you'll want to type these commands in the console window:

+ channel 150
set chanoff 0
set echo 0

Then check out your channels tab and try channel 150. We'll use the chat feature in this channel to get organized, match up for games, and arrange to examine and observe games. Games will be played just as live games are played. Your play may be FICS rated if you want.

Want help getting set up? I'll have my netbook at the regular club meeting on Tuesday night to show how it's done; or this Wednesday night at 7pm I will be at Panera Bread with my netbook to help anybody that would like to play. I'll be playing live on FICS from Panera. Bring your laptop with you and I'll see that you get set up. Then you'll be all ready to play on your laptop from home next time. Don't have a laptop or aren't sure about playing online? Just come on down, have a coffee, and see what it's about. Not available to play on Wednesdays? Join in the discussion and help us select new or additional times.

Hope you'll like this new way to enjoy chess with the club. Don't forget our other club opportunities: regular club meetings on Tuesday nights, 2nd Tuesday of the month ratings tournaments, online chess on Chess.com, casual chess and coffee at Panera Bread on Saturday mornings, rated games on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month at El Tapatio, other scheduled tournaments, and now online play on FICS on Wednesday nights. Check out our calendar for the latest. And don't forget to take advantage of the club library too!

Newly Minted

Darren Radford reached 1834 to reclaim his status as A-player. Ernie Weaver (not pictured) held on to his newly earned spot on the A-player list with an 1801 rating.

Andrew Lee earned a 1424 rating to gain the title of C-player.

Egg Salad for 17 Please

TD Jerry Weldin, Sponsor Specialist Reyes, and winners Kerry Fatula, Sal Mancuso, Glen O'Banion, Steve Parsons, Randas Burns, Johnny Owens, Nathaniel Emdee, Katy Margaret Thomas, James Lawson, Darren Radford, Larry Davidson, Andrew Lee, and Stephanie Clayton.

It was a beautiful Saturday and a great day for chess as seventeen players gathered for the club's annual spring tournament, the 2010 Egg Salad Open. Thirteen players shared the honors. Steve Parsons, Randas Burns, Glen O'Banion, James Lawson, Darren Radford, and Johnny Owens split the 1st place, 2nd place, Class A, and Class B prizes as shared winners of the tournament with 3 points each. Kerry Fatula and Larry Davidson came up winners in Class C with 2 points. Andrew Lee and Katy Thomas were tops in Class D with 2 points. And Sal Mancuso, Stephanie Clayton, and Nathaniel Emdee divvied up Class E with 1 point each.

See more after the fold:

White to Move

Finlayson

1901

from The Great ABC of Tactics by Renko

See the solution after the fold:

White to Move

Hillarp Person - Grosse Frintrop

Recklinghausen 2001

from Gary Lane's Find the Winning Move

See the solution after the fold:

Baker's Dozen

Thirteen players were on hand for April's 2nd Tuesday Tourney. Ernie Weaver was at the top of the heap with 3 full points when all was said and done, earning himself an A-player rating of 1814 and moving him into 3rd position in the club championship standings. Andrew Lee scored 1.5 points plus took a full point bye for clear 2nd in the Open section on his way to an estimated gain of 58 rating points and a new spot at 5th in the standings. Joe Farrell and Jerry Weldin came into the clubhouse with a plus score of 2. Adding to his total from the El Tapatio contests, Jerry ended with a rating of 1691, more than 100 points over his rating after last months tourney! Steve Parsons finished at 1.5, but retains his first place position in the overall standings. Johnny Owens and Kerry Fatula each took a win, while James Whiddon and Rudy McKinney rounded out the field.

In the under-1400 section, it was returning member Ming Loi that blanked the field to score 3 points, raising his provisional rating an incredible 151 points! Dave Brock, Sal Mancuso, and Stephanie Clayton took 1.5, 1.0 and 0.5 points respectively.

Check out the tournament crosstables here or the championship standings here.

Chess, Chips & Salsa, Corona & Lime, Chile Colorado, Chess, Coffee, Chess, Rinse, Repeat

Four players faced off for an afternoon of chess today at the Nelson County Public Library in Bardstown. Stephanie Clayton, James Biggs, Andrew Preston, and Bob Lenning tried their best to wear out the pieces. Afterwards came a good meal (and a couple of beers for Bob) at the Rincon Mexican Restaurant just a block off the rotary. Thanks to Stephanie for organizing today's chess!

Casual chess and coffee will begin at 10am at Panera Bread tomorrow.

Authentic Certificate

Now there's no question about it! James Whiddon does indeed have an official Certificate of Authenticity. The pedigreed pieces are featured below. Look below the fold for more about tonight's meeting:

Bluegrass State Games - 2010

We will be hosting the Bluegrass State Games again this year!!

July 10, 2010

Time: 9AM-registration ; 1st Round @ 10AM

Place: Mill Creek Baptist Church - Family Life Center
1182 Jones St., Radcliff

For more info go to the official website or check the club calendar.

Boden's Mate

White to Play and Mate in 2.

From The Art of the Checkmate
by Renaud and Kahn.

See the solution after the fold:

White to Move

Cardoso - Torre
Manila 1973

from John Nunn's Chess Puzzle Book


see the solution below the fold: