Vermont vs New Hampshire Team Match Plaque Has Arrived

This is the plaque awarded to the VT Team for its victory over NH last month.

The plaque will remain in Vermont's possession until the 2019 Match

David Carter Wins Vermont Open Chess Championship

National Master David Carter once again won the Vermont Open Chess Championship held yesterday at City Hall, Burlington VT. Detailed report to follow later today.

Round 3. Facing Ian Dudley (l) 6th, David Carter (r) 1st

Richard Davis of St. Johnsbury playing his first rated US Chess Tournament

Chess In Union Square, NYC---An Interesting Business Plan

Ambakisye Osayaba, who learned chess from the recently deceased William Lombardy, has an interesting business plan playing chess in Union Square, also known in NYC as Red Square.
http://nypost.com/2017/10/28/inside-the-life-of-a-new-york-city-chess-hustler/

Vermont Open is This Weekend in Burlington, VT

After Having won the Danville Open in September, International Master Matyas Marek of the Czech Republic, a student at Lyndon Institute, will not be playing the Vermont Open due to an academic commitment.  Look for battles between NM David Carter and Expert Ian Dudley

Advance word on registrations is that eight people who have never done the event are preregistered. That includes me and a new chess playing regular at Cobleigh Library in Lyndonville, Rick Davis.

Complete tournament information can be found on the Tournament page of this blog. 

Meeting Bill Lombardy Near His End

Lovely article......

Looking a wee bit like Quentin Crisp

https://www.chess.com/article/view/serendipity-an-unforeseen-friendship

The Knot Is Tied

Peace and a long life together, hopefully.

http://en.chessbase.com/post/and-they-lived-happily-ever-after

R.I.P. GM William Lombardy, 1937-- 2017

Lombardy, Collins, Fischer

Playing Boris Spassky

More recently

https://www.chess.com/news/view/gm-william-lombardy-1937-2017-2017

Cultural Preferences

Notice the boards being used in this tournament in Innsbruck, Austria. The style has never caught on in the US. However, House of Staunton, US Chess Sales, carries them and is clearing them out, $39 plus shipping for one with 2 1/4" squares.

Still the Home of the Free

The US still has more freedom than many other places. What happened to this young woman's brother was also experienced by Ian Dudley's GM coach who now resides in Texas.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/06/iranian-chess-player-to-compete-for-us-after-ban-for-not-wearing-hijab

Girlfriends Can Be Good For Performance

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/oct/06/magnus-carlsen-extends-world-rankings-lead

And you thought by performance I meant..........never mind.

Magnus and gf Synne

Final Round against Nakamura

Ian Dudley is Co-leader of the Knights Chess Club Championship (Keene, NH)

Ian is paired with Clay Bradley in the final round this Monday evening, October 9th. Bradley will be playing White. 

5 Rounds, G/100;d5

Results After Round 4

No.	Name	Rate	Pts	Rnd1	Rnd2	Rnd3	Rnd4
1	Wood, Christopher	2133	3.0	W13	W4	W3	W2
2	Dudley, Ian W	2006	3.0	W7	W10	W8	L1
3	Bradley, Clay	2095	2.0	W14	W5	L1	W6
4	Kochman, David M	1924	2.0	W11	L1	W16	W5
5	Anderson, Jesse W	1883	2.0	W19	L3	W9	L4
6	Connelly, Paul	1714	2.0	W17	L9	W15	L3
7	Hankard, James A	1634	2.0	L2	W18	W14	L8
8	Strickland, Eric	1838	1.5	W15	-H-	L2	W7
9	Harris, Edward	1710	1.5	-H-	W6	L5	L12
10	Gauthier, Francois	1648	1.5	W18	L2	-H-	D11
11	Pennington, John	1621	1.5	L4	W17	-H-	D10
12	Cassar, Thomas	1447	1.5	-H-	-H-	-H-	W9
13	Ostriker, Jon	1646	1.0	L1	L15	W19	L16
14	Cohen, Richard W	1639	1.0	L3	W19	L7	L15
15	Pennington, Richard	1122	1.0	L8	W13	L6	W14
16	Turgeon, Cameron		1.0	-H-	-H-	L4	W13
17	Minch, Howard	931	0.5	L6	L11	-H-	L19
18	Winn, David		0.5	L10	L7	-H-	-H-
19	Loomis, Nathan Ben	1125	0.0	L5	L14	L13	W17

Danville Open Coverage on Channel 7 Television From Lyndon State College

The video can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/news7newslinc/videos/1630331580331054/?fref=gs&dti=700339456802664&hc_location=group

Here are some still captures from the coverage.

Lev Aronian Finally Ties the Knot

With Arianne Caoili,