Left Over Turkey Sandwiches

Even the dogs are tired of turkey!

There was one ladder game tonight with Ernie and Gelvic fighting down to a draw; no changes to the ladder. (It was rated and I have the $.50 Johnny.)

Bob K., Kerry, and myself played several Game 10's. Johnny was out with what may be the flu. Dave threw out his back moving to Cave City. Not much else to report.

Don't forget that next week is the "Remember Pearl Harbor Closed".

Alekhine's Gun

In my teens I read a lot of chess books and thought I at least knew the names of the different elements of the game such as; the pin, the blockade, and so on. Today I learned something new. Stacking the Rooks on a file with the Queen on the same file behind them has been named "Alekhine's Gun". In the diagram below White has achieved "Alekhine's Gun". Wikipedia and Chess.Com both have articles on "Alekhine's Gun" and use as an example Alekhine vs Nimzovitch - San Reno 1930. Editor's note: the Wikipedia link will not take you directly to the article but you can find it from there.

Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine 4th World Chess Champion

"What Was I Thinking" - 2

Here are two more examples from Master Play that shows that everyone suffers from "Chess Blindness" occasionally. And these examples weren't from Game 30's!


In the above position from Stahlberg vs Averbach - Beverwijk, 1963; the obvious move is King takes Bishop. Averbach under the illusion he was threatening mate; played Bh3. Stahlberg replied Qxh6+ with mate to follow.

Alekhine who defeated Capablanca to become the 4th Chess Champion of the World was noted for his brilliant combinations. It is hard to believe that in the above position from a game with Buerger at Margate, 1937; Alekhine as Black played Qxf4??. I'm sure his heart stopped as Buerger picked up his Knight...and probably did a flutter beat as Buerger played NxBe4??!

Probably one of the worst double blunders in Chess History!

So.....come on out to the Club and you just might be on the receiving end of an "over the board chess gift" during this Holiday Season!

2010 Veteran's Tournament Revisited

Tournament Director - Steve Parsons (red shirt)

The under 1,000 Section - left to right: Gabrielle Sims (Clany's granddaughter),Swade Barned, Brandon Darby, Brian Barker, Brianna Barker, Nathan Kaissiah, and Andrew Preston (winner), Stephanie Clayton rounded out the section, but was performing photographer duties-check her out by clicking on "Membership" above.

The Open Section - left to right: Gelvic Cubar, Kerry Fatula, Clay Risner, Chris Bush, Chris Bealer, Randas Burns (winner), Andrew Lee, Jerry Weldin, and Johnny Owens. Absent from the photo was Clany Soileau, Michael Martin, and James Lawson.

I had held off publishing the group photos until I got the ok from Stephanie. I'm sure that everyone can appreciate the security issues involved with publishing children's photo's on line. As I didn't want to publish the Open pictures without the Under 1,000 Section; I held off until we got parental permission. In the future we will get parents to sign a release form during the entry procedure.

In case you missed it earlier (see The Best Tournament I've Ever Attended) Randus won the Open with a score of 3.5 and Andrew Preston scored a perfect 4 in the Under 1,000 Section.

No Change To The Ladder

Joe indeed allow Gelvic to escape with a stalemate! Joe had 3 pieces and 2 pawns to Gelvic's lone King! The game wasn't a rated game.

In my Ladder game with Rudy, I manage to win, but it was a very tough game. Rudy beat me in our non-ladder game prior to our rated Ladder game.

So no changes to the ladder this week.

I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

"Veni, Vidi, Vici"

If I remember my high school Latin correctly Caesar sent this message back to Rome after a successful military campaign. Translated it means: I came, I saw, I conquered. Chris, our Club visitor last night, could have sent the same message back to his brother after he went through me like a dose of Epsom salts winning 5 out of 6 games against me and going 2 for 2 against Joe.

Chris was visiting his brother, a soldier at Ft Knox, and found our web site which prompted a visit. Chris if you are reading this, look up Dr. David Armisto in the phone book when you get home; David is not a USCF member either but loves to play chess. And please visit us again anytime you are in town.

Other news from last night includes the return of Sal. Sal and I played two games last night to help him clean the cob webs from his "chess mind". Sal, it was good to see you back!

Rudy and Johnny played a ladder game, I don't have the outcome. Joe and Gelvic also played a ladder game which I believe resulted in a stalemate. Johnny will probably post the results later as he played in the first game and observed the second.

Here's wishing everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

The MultiPivot Mon Roi, PDA, Cell Phone Holder

The eNotate on a basic Pivot; notice the ease of readability

The Pivot without a device.

A Mon-Roi on a Multi Pivot

Side view of the Multi Pivot with Mon-Roi attached.


By now everyone has seen my "Rube Goldburg" contraptions to make viewing the electronic recording devices easier. As I was about to "invent and fabricate" a folding stand; I searched the net one last time and there it was! The Pivot. Every Mon Roi and e-Notate sold should come with one! I'll have mine with me at the Club meeting on 23 November for everyone to see. For more info click on the links provided; Henry at Tesa Tech made this my most enjoyable Internet buying experience to date! I rate this product 5 stars. As an added bonus the Pivots are made in the USA.

We've All Had A "What Was I Thinking" Moment

If you think you are the only chess player to "hang a piece", miss a mate in one, or blow a won game - you are wrong! Masters do it more frequently than you can imagine. Here are a few examples with the possible "patzer prize move of the year" going to a former World Champion.

...............................Alexey Shirov vs Vladimer Kramnik - Shanhai 2010

In the above position with Black to move; former World Champion Kramnik dropped a piece with 37...Ne7. He resigned after 38.Nd6+.






................................................Gilbaud vs Lazard - Paris 1924

See diagram above - White resigned after only 4 moves in this game; 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nd2 e5 3.dxe Ng4 4.h3 Ne3!!. White either loses his Queen or gets mated if he takes the Knight; one of the shortest recorded tournament games between two masters.

...............................Rubinstein vs Nimzovitch - San Sebastian 1912

Nimzovitch and Rubinstein were playing in the last round with Nimzovitch leading the tournament by 1/2 point. Despite needing only a draw to win the tournament Nimzovitch launched an all out attack which resulted in the lose of a Knight. In the diagrammed position above Nimzovitch played 25....Bc5?? over looking that he was allowing his opponent a mate in 2! Yet..Rubinstein played 26.Bd4??? instead of taking the forced mate; and the game continued 14 more moves before Nimzovitch resigned making Rubinstein the tournament winner.

Here is the complete game score:

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nf3 Nbd7 4.Nc3 e5 5.e4 Be7 6.Be2 0-0 7.0-0 Re8 8.Qc2 Bf8 9.b3 c6 10.Bb2 Nh5 11.g3 Nb8 12.Rad1 Qf6 13.Nb1 Bh3 14.Rfe1 Nf4 15.dxe5 dxe5 16.Nxe5 Rxe5 17.Bf1 Nd7
18.Qd2 Bxf1 19.Rxf1 Nh3+ 20.Kg2 Ng5 21.f4 Qg6 22.fxg5 Rxe4 23.Qxd7 Re2+ 24.Rf2 Qe4+ 25.Kg1 (see diagram above)...Bc5?? 26.Bd4??? Bxd4 27.Qxd4 Re1+ 28.Rf1 Rxf1+ 29.Kxf1 Qh1+ 30.Kf2 Qxh2+ 31.Kf3 f6 32.Qd2 Qh3 33.Qd7 f5 34.Nc3 Qh5+ 35.Kg2 Qxg5 36.Qe6+ Kh8 37.Ne2 Qh5 38.Rd7 Re8 39.Nf4 Rxe6 40.Nxh5 1-0

5 Time US Champion Larry Evans Final Checkmate

All the "old timers" will recall this picture of Bobby Fischer (left) and Larry Evans which appeared on a cover of Chess Life almost 3 decades ago.


GM Larry Evans, 1932-2010 died 15 November after gall bladder surgery. Evans was perhaps the only "true friend" Bobby Fischer had in his life and is probably more responsible for Fischer's "My 60 Memorable Games" being published than Fischer himself. I "grew up" on his column in Chess Life and was looking through his end game book earlier today.

For the Chess Life obit click here.

Election And Other News

With attendance flagging due to various reasons; the "core members" decided to "hang in there" and carry on until the Club rebounds as it always does. Elections were held with the following results:

Jerry Weldin was reelected President when no one else would accept the nomination, Johnny Owens was reelected Vice President, Joe Farrell was elected Secretary, and Steve Parsons was reelected Treasurer.

Prior to the elections it was decided to make room #106A (Welding Room) the primary meeting room and use room # 108A (Carpentry Room) as the skittles/analysis room in order to make the Club library more accessible.

Finally with the necessary business out of the way...we played chess!

Johnny Owens defeated Ernie Weaver to take over the Top Ladder Position. Here are all the Ladder Games:

Owens timed out Weaver .......Rated
Weldin fried Folino ..........Rated
Farrell fricasseed Fatula..........Unrated

In case you haven't gotten the word; Johnny Owens has agreed to be one of Kentucky's three USCF representatives! Thanks Johnny!

Joe Farrell has come up with another Mon Roi holder which is collapsible and adjustable to various angles; librarians use them to display books. Great idea Joe! Let me know if you can find the company that makes them; with some slight modifications we could start a business.

Remember 'Pearl Harbor' Closed

Club Appreciation Tournament
USCF rated
Club meeting, December 7th, 2010
7:00 PM
3 round Swiss, Game/30

This tournament is Open only to paid 2010 Elizabethtown Chess Club members that have a current USCF membership.

Entry is Free and I will give a 1 year free Club membership to the winner and a 1 year Club membership to the Top under 1300 USCF rated player.

Johnny originally posted this back in August. I thought it was time to remind everyone that there will be two rated tournaments next month. - Jerry

November Rating Tournament

If this attractive lady had played last night we wouldn't have had to give someone a bye each round!

The November Rating Tournament has been posted but due to a "typo" during submission it was erroneously listed as being played on 9 October. Johnny will contact USCF today to clear things up and it will be "re-rated" in about a week. All the game results are correct; but the resulting ratings are not. If you want to check the X-table for results only click here. When USCF re-rates I will post a link to the corrected results.

EDITORS NOTE: After this was posted USCF decided to void the first submission and have Johnny resubmit with the correct date. The link has been updated and the ratings are now correct. -Jerry

Joe Farrell mowed down all opposition to finish with a perfect 3 point score and bring him into a tie with Johnny Owens for the Club Championship. Johnny and Joe are now 2.5 points ahead of the pack; December's tournament will be the trilling tie breaker, be sure to attend.

The Best Tournament I've Ever Attended

Editors note:Just got the pictures from Steff; so I'm adding this one to the post as it is more appropriate than Larry the Cable Guy which was originally used. Andrew and Kerry exemplify the image of a veteran.

Larry the "Cable Guy" would have been proud of the way the Nelson County Ladies "got her done"! Bonnie Hall, Raina Kaissiah, Stephanie Clayton, and several others who I failed to get the names of..my bad; maybe Steff can give them credit in a comment. Those gals put on a buffett that made me gain weight just by drowling at it! The meal was worth the price of the entry fee.... oops, entry fee, lunch, and take home leftovers were free to all Veterans. While I'm bragging on folks; Steve Parsons did a great job in his directing debue and Steve and Stephanie guaranteed the prize fund out of their own pockets!

I'll charish the commemoritive key chain all the veterans received as long as I'm able to push a pawn.There was also a free raffle; everyone got 5 free tickets and Kerry, Johnny, and I were amoung the winners; I think someone else from the Club also won a prize. (old age is stealing my memory) Johnny now has the biggest Knight I've ever seen.

Kentucy's "whose who" of the tournament circuit showed up to do battle. Randus Burns, Kentucky's newest Expert took clear first with our own Gelvic Cubar splitting the second place cash with Chris Bush.

E-towns own "old soldier" Andrew Preston scored a perfect 4-0! Taking home the the under 1000 section $100 first prize. I personally think it was because he was wearing his "Cav Stetson". Way to go Andrew! Brianna Barker and Raina's son Nathan Kaissiah split the $50 2nd Place money with 3 points out of 4. Imagine winning money in your first tournament; I bet Nathan gets the chess bug big time. And Brianna beat her dad while scoring her 3 points! No quarter asked...none given!

For a complete X-table click on this link

The edible chess set Steff made this year gave a whole new meaning to "capture enpassant". - This was added to the original posting. -Ed