Sal Needs A Ride To KY Open

Sal would be most appreciative if someone would be willing to park their vehicle at his house and drive his van to the KY Open.

If you are able to help Sal out feel free to contact him directly or leave a comment below and I'll see that he gets the message.

Panera Chess On Hold Next Two Weeks

Due to Memorial Day and the Kentucky Open; Panera Chess will be on hold until 12 June.

If you want to play chess at Panera on 29 May or 5 June be sure to line up an opponent before you go.

Eight Is Enough

We had eight players tonight; Nick Folino, Bob Kilmer, James Whiddon, Kerry Fatula, Gelvic Cubar, Andrew Lee, Steve Parsons, and Jerry Weldin.

More than chess lessons were discussed as Nick explained what turntables were to Andrew and why Nick has four of them.

Everybody learned a lesson in rook and pawn endings as Steve and Gelvic conducted a postmortem of their game after Steve's time ran out. I believe everyone except Nick (who had left), was crowded around the board. Warning to all; Gelvic carries "power bars" in his chess bag!

Bob, Kerry, and Jerry shut the place down after swapping stories from their Army days.

Reminder, next week is Club Election Night.

The Hand Is Quicker Than The Eye

Ernie Weaver defended an inferior position to beat Jerry Weldin on time with one second left on his clock on the way to scoring a perfect three for three to win the May Rating Tournament.
Johnny Owens was the only other player to go undefeated; scoring 2.5 points for second place, only yeilding a draw to Joe Farrell.
New member Gelvic Cubar took clear third with 2 points after falling into a trap in the Budepest against Jerry in the first round.
Ten players showed up to do battle to include James Lawson who drove down from Louisville. We all met James at our Egg salad Tournament.
Ming Loi broke out of his "provisional rating status" and now owns an official rating of 1142.
For the rest of the cross table check out the MSA Section of the USCF web site.
Picking up two new players made everything worthwhile tonight; but they are tough so consider yourselves warned!

It's Over!

Game 12 is over and Anand has won with a final count of 6.5-5.5, retaining his world championship title! Notable is that this was the first win by either player with the black pieces! Topalov opened with 1.d4 and the game entered the Lasker Defense in the Queen's Gambit Declined. For pgn files of all the game scores, check out the official match site.

Learning the Tabiyas

OK, you've reached that point. You know how to play, you've been studying your tactics and made great improvements in your performance, and you've settled in on an opening repertoire that you feel comfortable with. You're ready to start with some opening studies beyond just the general principles. So what do you do now?

Searching for Capablanca

This is a position I found at W.T. Harvey's great tactics puzzle website from the game R. Raubitschek vs. Capablanca, New York 1906. Capa has the black pieces and presses for the win. Do you see the best move?

Many chess coaches and authors have recommended the aspiring player to choose a chess hero to make a study of. Perhaps you'll choose one with a style like you see as your own, or maybe a style that you wish you could engender in yourself. I'm starting my search for my chess hero with J.R. Capablanca, the third official world chess champion.

See the solution to the puzzle and more about Capablanca after the fold:

White to Move

This position is from a recent club skittles game. Black has just blundered with 18... Qd7 thinking that he is offering a trade to reduce the pressure. In the actual game White quickly played 19. Qxc7. Can you spot a better move for White? See the solution after the fold:

Politics As Unusual

Due to the request of several members I hereby announce my candidacy for Club President.

I believe my past contributions to the Club and area chess speaks for it's self.

My ideas for the future are:

1. Look into becoming affiliated with ECTC; with the possibility of getting monetary support from the College.

2. Have an optional rated tournament on the 4th Tuesday of each month; those who prefer to study can do so in the Welding Room. Details will follow in an e-mail.

3. Charge dues at the rate of $2 per month or $20 for an entire year. This will solve the "who is a member" question that has arisen as a result of the elections.

4. Make our weekend tournaments more attractive to area Masters and arrange simul's like we did in the past.

5. I've asked Ernie to look into the possibility of having "A Night With Dan" on a quarterly basis. We would set up a computer and allow 6 or more members to ask Dan Heisman a chess question.

6. Actively pursue sponsors to help pay for the above programs. I have a local politician (not me!) ready to write a check for $100 right now.

I believe that Ernie is going to announce that the Club elections will be pushed back to the 25th due to conflicts with local elections on the 18th.

I will work up a constitution or set of by laws for viewing prior to the election.

All the News That's Fit to Print

Topalov won game 8 yesterday to even the match score at 4-4. He'll face off against the champion Anand again on Thursday. Download the games and see live match video at the official site.

Eleven players got in some serious practice at the club last night. The library was busy and the boards were blazing.

Play online at FICS tonight at 8pm. Learn how here.

Get more practice at Panera on Saturday.

Don't forget rated play at the 2nd Tuesday of the Month meeting next week. Pre-register with Johnny or be there early.

Check Out Rated Correspondence-Style Play

Chess.com has announced the 11th Chess.com tournament. These are large affairs with sometimes more than 1,000 players in a single 200 point rating class. The tournament is organized like a huge group of 6 player round robins, with the winner of each mini-tournament moving on to the next round. You play one game each as Black and White against each opponent, up to 10 games simultaneously with a 3 day per move time control. The tournament is divided into sections by rating, eg. 1401-1600 and 1601-1800. You are automatically assigned a class according to your rating on the day the tournament starts, Tuesday June 1, 2010 at 9pm PDT. A large number of players are from other countries, adding another layer of interest. If you are one of our Chess.com players, or even if you aren't yet, these are great tournaments. Sign up to play now!