Beating the perception about chess

Chess for Success tournament tries to beat perceptions about the game

By Allan Brettman, The Oregonian
November 07, 2009, 6:32PM

Jerryd Bayless, Phillip Margolin and Susan Polgar. Remember those names.

Linda Hu and Camille Franklin don't know any of them, but they do know chess.

This morning, 8-year-old Hu, a Woodstock Elementary third-grader, and 9-year-old Franklin, a Vernon Elementary fourth-grader, hunched over a vinyl chess mat. Their rapid moves on the board and shoving arms somehow imitated a fencing match.

With countering claims of "check," it was over and Hu thrust her right arm in the air -- the signal to call a tournament judge.

In the bigger scheme of things, both Hu and Franklin, were victors, along with about 70 other participants in the girls-only Chess for Success practice tournament at Harold Oliver Primary.

The gymnasium floor in the school on Portland's east side was half filled with lunch tables covered with chess mats. Parents on folding chairs filled the other half.

Chess for Success executive director Julie Young watched the action from the perimeter.

Chess, she said, has long been perceived as a men's sport.

Today's event and Chess for Success try to erode that perception, though the nonprofit program has more boys than girls.

Other youth chess programs may emphasize strategy and the importance of winning. That's not Chess for Success' game.

"The main thing is," Young said, "we want it to be fun and social."

The program targets schools with a high proportion of children receiving free or reduced-price lunch. With the help of a Meyer Memorial Trust grant, it was launched in 1992 in nine schools. Today, it's in 87 far-flung schools, mostly in the metro area, and reaches about 3,400 children a year.

As for Bayless, Margolin and Polgar? All linked by chess, Young said.

Bayless is a Trail Blazers basketball player. Plays a mean game of chess, too, and along with Mona Lisa, he is one of the subjects of promotional posters for Chess for Success.

He's not a mollycoddler when it comes to playing the impressionable youngers.

"He plays to win," Young said.

Margolin of Portland seems to always have a best-selling thriller on The New York Times' list.

For 17 years, until June, he was president of Chess for Success. The novelist credits chess with transforming his approach to school as a young man.

"He says," Young said, "'We trick kids because they think they're just going to play a game and we teach them how to think.'"

And Polgar is regarded as among the best female chess players in the world.

The Hungarian native is director of the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence at Texas Tech University.

And she heads a foundation that promotes chess, her Web site says, "with all of its educational, social and competitive benefits ... for young people of all ages, especially girls."

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com

The historic connection between chess and baseball in the U.S.

The historic connection between chess and baseball in the U.S.

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Story last updated at 11/8/2009 - 12:27 am

The question of the week is when did chess become popular and how popular is chess today? In addition, does chess have a worldwide governing body?

In the late 1820s and early 1830s, chess gained new popularity because of the "great chess automaton" - a kind of 19th century precursor of a chess playing computer. This great automaton was designed to resemble a large "mechanical brain" capable of playing masterful games of chess. In actuality, the games were played by a human being hidden inside the machine.

The deception was so cleverly done, however, that the audiences invited to peer inside the machine before the exhibition began were none the wiser. That the automaton turned out to be a fraud did nothing to dampen the surging enthusiasm for the game. By the middle of the 19th century, chess had come into its own in America.

Between 1857 and 1860, there were only two major sports "crazes" in the United States: baseball and chess. In 1857, both chess and baseball were among the first sports to form national organizations. That was the year the American Chess Association was founded.

Chess and baseball were so closely linked in the public's mind that Amherst College hosted a "doubleheader," which featured both the first intercollegiate baseball game and the first intercollegiate chess match.

Today, according to CBS news and the U.S. Chess Federation, 40 to 45 million people play chess in the United States. Worldwide, chess is played in more than 160 countries, and it is estimated that more than 700 million people know how to play chess.

What account for the popularity of chess? Well, for one thing, chess is one the fairest games of all. Men, women, and children of all ages start out in chess at the same level. Children with little experience can beat adults who have played for years. There is no advantage due to height, weight, gender, age, skin color, nationality, or social class. To play, you don't have to have money or belong to a club; all you need is a chess set and a place to play (or the Internet).

Unlike other board games, chess is considered a combination of art, sport and science. Certainly chess can be fun and can be played by everyone. But to be a competitive or professional chess player requires skill, knowledge, strategy, experience, wit, logic, focus, patience, discipline, fitness, good memory, strong nerves, mental toughness, and yes, sometimes even luck.

Chess wasn't always a thought of as an equal opportunity game. At one time, chess was considered something of a rarefied pastime, competitively dominated by men who were generally wealthy and well connected. But in the last few decades, the world of competitive chess has broken wide open.

For instance, my sisters Sofia, Judit, and I proved to the world that women can play chess as well as men, competing with and beating our male counterparts. Nor is age a barrier to achieve: teen such as Sergey Karjakin from Ukraine, and Magnus Carlsen of Norway are both world-class grandmasters.

Competitive chess players train as vigorously as Olympic athletes, spending up to 8-12 hours analyzing games of opponents, and improving various parts of their games. In the United States, there are several noteworthy young stars, such as 17-year-old grandmaster Robert Hess, and 15-year-old grandmaster Ray Robson (youngest grandmaster in U.S. history and reigning U.S. Junior Champion).

Organizing Chess Play

International chess competition is governed by the World Chess Federation, which is known by its French acronym FIDE (Fdration Internationale des checs) and was founded on July 20, 1924, in Paris.

With its headquarters in Athens, Greece, FIDE is the umbrella organization for more than 160 national chess federations, as reflected by its motto: Gens Una Sumus (we are one family). National chess federations, such as the USCF (U.S. Chess Federation), which have been admitted to FIDE, manage chess activities in their respective countries. With more than 5 million registered chess players worldwide, FIDE is one of the largest organizations recognized by the IOC (International Olympics Committee).

Important FIDE titles

Here are some of the important and prestigious titles awarded by FIDE:

Grandmaster

International Master

FIDE Master

Woman Grandmaster

Woman International Master

Woman FIDE Master

International Arbiter

Source: LubbockOnline.com

Carlsen 1/2 Morozevich

[Event "Tal Memorial"]
[Date "2009.11.06"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Morozevich, A."]
[ECO "E25"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2750"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. dxc5 Qa5 9. e4 Nf6 10. Be3 O-O 11. Qb3 Na6 (A lesser known move. Most popular is 11...Nfd7) 12. Nh3 += (I expect Morozevich to play Nd7 here. Even though Black is down a pawn, he can recapture at c5 at will. However, I am not very impressed with Black's position. The Bishop on c8 is stuck.)

12... Nd7 (Now, White's best option is to take the Knight on a6. Even when Black recaptures with the Queen, White does not worry about the castling problem because White always has the f2 square for the King. White can also play c4 to block the Black Queen.)

13. Ba6 Qxa6 14. c4 (White can now castle safely.)

14...Ne5 (The only decent square for the Knight)

15. Rc1 Bd7 (Pretty much a must since Black has to begin to develop his Bishop.)

16. Qc3 f6 17. 0-0 Ba4 += (The idea is to block the White's Rooks from the d file.)

18. Nf4 Rfd8 (White must chase the Black Knight from the best square e5. Bd4 would solve this problem. White can also solidify his Bishop with Ne2 eventually.)

16. Bd4 (Black has many choices to retreat his Knight. A logical spot is on f7. Nc6 is no good because of Nxe6. Ng6 is also playable and interesting.)

16...Ng6 (If White captures the Knight, it would lead to a Bishop opposite color endgame.)

17. Nxg6 hxg6 18. e5 (White is up a pawn. But after 18...f5, I am not sure if White has enough to score a full point.)

18...f5 19.h4 Rd7 += 20. Rf2 Rad8 (21. Rd2 is must.)

24. Rd2 Qc6 25. Kh2 Qc7 26. Qe3 Kf7 (White is up a pawn but has the double c pawns and opposite color Bishops. White is still slightly better.)

27. Kg3 (The only play White has is to open up the h file to have Kingside play. However, Black can simply park his Rook on the h file to hamper White's plan.)

27... Rh8 28. Qf4 (White has a dilemma. He must be careful not to exchange more pieces because the Bishop endgame would lead to an easy draw for Black.)

28...Qd8 (I still fail to see any real threat or plan for White. White can continue to shift his focus back and forth between the h and b file. However, Black has no problem defending against these plans. Many websites and servers have LIVE commentary as well such as Chessdom.com, Chessvibes.com, ICC, PlayChess, etc.)

29. Rb1 Bc6 30. Rb2 = / += Qa5 31. Be3 (White is giving back a pawn voluntarily. I still see nothing for White.)

31...Rxd2 (I expect a draw soon.)

32. Rxd2 Qxa3 33. Qd4 (A possible idea is to play Bg5, Qd6, followed by Qc7 or Qe7 because the Black Queen is temporarily out of play. You have to give credit to Magnus for trying. His plan is quite sneaky :) Black can solve this problem with 33...Rc8 with the idea of Qa5 then Qc7.)

33...Rc8 34. Rd1 Qa5 (Obviously Morozevich is not afraid of giving back the a pawn to get the Queens off the board.)

35. Ra1 Qd8 36. Qxd8 Rxd8 37. Rxa7 (Black should have no problem drawing this game at this point with Rd3.)

37...Rd3 = (However, White has a neat possible trick up his sleeves with Bg5, then Ra8, followed by Bd8, Bc7, Bd6, and Rf8 :) I am sure Morozevich will see this though and not allow it.)

38. Bg5 Rd4 39. Be3 1/2

Saturday Quads

Texas Tech University Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) & The Knight Raiders present:

Saturday Quads

November 7, 2009

A 3 Round RR USCF Rated Tournament (Game/45)

Event Site: TTU – English Building Lubbock, TX

Contact Info: 806-742-7742 E-mail: SPICE@ttu.edu or Stephanie.Ballom@ttu.edu.

Description of Tournament: An open tournament for all players. USCF membership required.

On-site registration and check in 12:15pm-12:45pm.

Round Schedule: 1:00pm- 2:45pm- 4:30pm

Entry Fee: $15 Knight Raiders or K-12 Grades $10

Prizes: $30 to the winner of each Quad.

Please send Entry Blank and Entry Fee to Susan Polgar Foundation at 6923 Indiana Ave. #154 Lubbock, TX 79413. Please don’t send your entry after November 6th, but register on site instead.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Entry Form: Please PRINT all information and make check / money order to Susan Polgar Foundation.

Name: ____________________________________ Phone: (_______) _________________

Address: __________________________ City/State: ____________________ Zip: ________

Email: _________________________________ DOB: _________ School: _______________

USCF ID# and expiration date: _________ USCF Rating (if any) ______ Amount Enclosed $_______

Chess opening traps for players to know and avoid

Polgar: Chess opening traps for players to know and avoid

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Sunday, November 01, 2009
Story last updated at 11/1/2009 - 12:52 am

Normally you can be safe by following the general opening principles. I discussed these principles in the past but I will discuss them again for ones who have not seen them before.

• Control the center

The center of the board includes the squares e4, d4, e5, and d5. When you start a game, place your pawns in the center to occupy and control as many of these squares as you can. Location, location, location.

• Develop your pieces as soon as possible

Get your knights and bishops out right away. This should be done before you try to checkmate your opponent, some time in the first 6 or 7 moves if possible.

• Castle as soon as possible

The first chance you have, castle immediately to keep your king safe. Remember: you can't win if your king is not safe and you get checkmated first. So, don't forget to castle! Then after you castle, connect your rooks by developing your queen.

• Keep your pieces protected

Don't leave your pieces hanging without protection. Each and every piece you have is very valuable, so don't forget to protect them. Protecting means if your opponent can take your piece, then you can take your opponent's piece.

Besides the valuable principles above, there are others that you should try to remember. Chess is a game with logic, strategies, planning, and tactics. Keep the following principles in mind as you play.

• Every move should have a purpose.

• What is the idea behind your opponent's move?

• Always think before you move. There is no take back in chess. So make your decision carefully.

• Learn to make plans. Planning is one of the most important elements of the game of chess.

• Analyze your games and learn from your mistakes. Every player, from beginner to world champion, makes mistakes. It is very important to go over your games to find mistakes and learn from them.

• Pace yourself wisely.

However, there are some famous opening traps which you need to know about. Here are three examples:

Click here to read the full article.

Zwischenzug

Zwischenzug
The newsletter of the Midland County Chess Club

Lubbock reminds me of a similie - or two: The Midland versus Lubbock match caused a lot of pain. I'm not going to go through this pain by myself -- the rest of you guys need to share it with me, and when I think of painful reading, I think of bad similies. So no one gets to stop reading. Take your punishment like men.

The Lubbock team came from all over the world, was as different from each other as chalk from cheese, yet the result to Midland when the Lubbockiners took the board was as damaging as a tornado going through a chainsaw factory, a solid 20 - 12 win for the visitors from up north.

The Lubbock team dominated from the top down with top rated Chris Cohen calm as a millpond as he compiled a 3.5 score while second rated Chase Waters was happy as a rat with a gold tooth as he won three of his four games. The Midlanders found beating Rebecca Lelko (3.5 points) as hard as putting a six legged cat in a pail of water, while Konstantin Parkhomento (3 points) was as cold as a brass toilet in the Yukon.

For Midland it was all funny as a rubber crutch, and now there's nothing left but to apportion the blame.

Charlie Vetter's problem was time management as he took so long thinking that he ended up playing each of his endings like a cheetah on a motorcycle.

For Willie Callo the problem was that his castled king position was like a letter, not any good unless it was opened.

On the positive side, we all I think had a fun time and the library was a good place to play. How's about the newspaper giving us two days worth of coverage? And who expected a four foot by three foot page one color picture of Bruce in Sunday's paper?

Our kids also did well. Joel Cortes won two games, trailing only Bruce (2.5) and Charlie (2.5) and was the only Midlander to beat Dneprovosk's Konstantin and Jared had a wonderful win against an adult player.

So in short, wait till next year.

A message from Chancellor Kent Hance

Dear Texas Tech family:

As early voting begins, an opportunity to influence the future of higher education rests in the hands of Texas voters. When voters arrive at the polls, Proposition 4, a legislatively-referred constitutional amendment, will appear on the ballot to be approved.

Co-sponsored by state Sen. Robert Duncan, Proposition 4 is designed to increase research efforts and enhance the reputation of higher education in Texas without requiring new state spending.

“We have a lot of students leave the state of Texas to go to these renowned institutions in other states simply because they’re great research institutions and they have a great reputation academically. This will cost the state of Texas nothing because we’re actually transferring a fund that isn’t being used today into a fund where we can use it to generate income, like an endowment, that will support this research effort of the state.” – State Senator Robert Duncan

If passed, Proposition 4 will establish the National Research University Fund (NRUF) from a dormant fund in the State Treasury, which will help emerging research universities to achieve “Tier One” status. By transferring resources from an existing fund, this amendment does not require new tax dollars.

At this time, the state of Texas has only three Tier One universities. A Tier One university is defined by many standards including endowments levels, amounts of research expenditures, and the number of doctoral degrees awarded. In comparison to other states, like California with nine, and New York with seven, Texas does not compete.

Tier One institutions have tremendous impact on economic development and prosperity. Research expenditures of $10 million result in an estimated 226 percent return on investment. It is also estimated that Texas loses $3.7 billion a year, along with thousands of our academically-gifted high school students who leave for out-of-state colleges, due to the few number of Tier One schools.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has designated seven emerging research universities which are moving toward national prominence. After meeting specific qualifications, these universities will be eligible for funding through the NRUF and establish their Tier One status.

Early voting is from Monday, Oct. 19 through Friday, Oct. 30. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Very truly yours,
Kent Hance
Chancellor

SPICE Cup Wall Chart

A Group

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pair | Player Name                    |Total|Round|Round|Round|Round|Round|Round|Round|Round|Round|Round|
Num  | USCF ID / Rtg (Pre->Post)      | Pts |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  | 10  |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1 | DMITRY ANDREIKIN               |5.5  |D   6|W   4|D   2|D   3|D   5|D   6|D   4|D   2|D   3|D   5|
     | 14255482 / R: 2734P10->2738P20 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2 | RAUF MAMEDOV                   |5.5  |D   4|D   3|D   1|D   5|D   6|D   4|D   3|D   1|D   5|W   6|
     | 14255497 / R: 2696P10->2729P20 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   3 | YURIY KUZUBOV                  |5.5  |D   5|D   2|W   6|D   1|D   4|D   5|D   2|D   6|D   1|D   4|
     | 14255476 / R: 2708P10->2728P20 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   4 | VARUZHAN AKOBIAN               |4.5  |D   2|L   1|D   5|L   6|D   3|D   2|D   1|D   5|W   6|D   3|
  CA | 12740522 / R: 2705   ->2699    |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   5 | WESLEY B SO                    |4.5  |D   3|L   6|D   4|D   2|D   1|D   3|D   6|D   4|D   2|D   1|
     | 13145890 / R: 2717P10->2695P20 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   6 | JON LUDVIG HAMMER              |4.5  |D   1|W   5|L   3|W   4|D   2|D   1|D   5|D   3|L   4|L   2|
     | 12787166 / R: 2679P17->2681    |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

B Group

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pair | Player Name                    |Total|Round|Round|Round|Round|Round|Round|Round|Round|Round|
Num  | USCF ID / Rtg (Pre->Post)      | Pts |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1 | BENJAMIN P FINEGOLD            |6.0  |W  10|D   3|W   6|D   4|W   5|W   7|D   9|D   8|L   2|
  MI | 11264417 / R: 2601   ->2612    |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2 | EUGENE PERELSHTEYN             |6.0  |D   4|D   5|W   7|W   9|D   8|D   6|D  10|D   3|W   1|
  MA | 12627196 / R: 2596   ->2608    |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   3 | VINAY S BHAT                   |6.0  |D   6|D   1|W   4|D   5|W   7|D   9|D   8|D   2|W  10|
  CA | 12551720 / R: 2499   ->2540    |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   4 | RAY ROBSON                     |5.5  |D   2|W  10|L   3|D   1|D   6|W   5|D   7|W   9|D   8|
  FL | 12847250 / R: 2614   ->2616    |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   5 | GABOR PAPP                     |5.0  |D   8|D   2|W  10|D   3|L   1|L   4|D   6|W   7|W   9|
  TX | 14244681 / R: 2597P17->2592    |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   6 | DAVORIN KULJASEVIC             |4.0  |D   3|D   9|L   1|D   8|D   4|D   2|D   5|D  10|D   7|
  TX | 13218291 / R: 2581   ->2568    |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   7 | GERGELY ANTAL                  |4.0  |W   9|W   8|L   2|W  10|L   3|L   1|D   4|L   5|D   6|
  TX | 13714777 / R: 2543   ->2537    |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   8 | DANIEL M RENSCH                |4.0  |D   5|L   7|D   9|D   6|D   2|D  10|D   3|D   1|D   4|
  AZ | 12659833 / R: 2414   ->2432    |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   9 | ANDRE DIAMANT                  |2.5  |L   7|D   6|D   8|L   2|D  10|D   3|D   1|L   4|L   5|
     | 14255502 / R: 2580P10->2484P19 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  10 | DEAN J IPPOLITO                |2.0  |L   1|L   4|L   5|L   7|D   9|D   8|D   2|D   6|L   3|
  NJ | 12445752 / R: 2537   ->2506    |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------