2017 Danville Open Winner Plays at the Pan-American Chess Championship

Former Lyndon Institute senior IM Matyas Marek, winner of the 2017 Danville Open, is now a student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Marek plays on the UMBC-A chess team that just competed in the Pan-Am Championships in San Francisco. He finished at 4.5/6 losing one game to a GM and drawing one with another with a GM. Marek is pictured here at the Danville Open last year playing against Vermont's National Master David Carter.

https://bayareachess.com/static/pairings/panam/index.html

Of Tal, Petrosian and Portisch---1976

An interesting article about the political machinations to e found in the Soviet Union and Eastern Block in the 1970's.

https://en.chessbase.com/post/team-tal-an-untold-story

Dubov Wins World Rapid Championship. Nakamura 3rd. Carlsen 5th.

The new Rapid Champion, Dubov, in action.

https://www.chess.com/news/view/daniil-dubov-ju-wenjun-win-world-rapid-chess-championships

Chess and Music as Cognitive Enhancers? Apparently Not

Not so good news for parents pushing their kids into competitive chess. I saw this recently at a FIDE rated tournament that I played recently in Massachusetts. Aggressive mother with miserable daughter.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/talking-apes/201710/music-and-chess-do-not-enhance-cognitive-ability

The Real Joy of Chess Illustrated

The Alaska Pacific University chess team is pictured at the Pan Am College Championships taking place in San Francisco. The team's average rating is 1020

The full story can be found here
https://en.chessbase.com/post/2018-pan-am-college-chess-west-coast-revival

Scholar's Mate Against a 2304 Opponent??

Carlsen loses his first two games at the World Rapid Championship.

[Event "FIDE World Rapid Championship"]
[Site "St. Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.26"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vokhidov, Shamsiddin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2903"]
[BlackElo "2304"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[Whiteteam "Norway"]
[Blackteam "Uzbekistan"]
[Whiteteamcountry "NOR"]
[Blackteamcountry "UZB"]
[Whiteclock "0:08:40"]
[Blackclock "0:03:27"]
[CurrentPosition "8/R4p1k/4b1pp/8/3p4/2BP1P2/1PP2KP1/7q w - - 0 37"]

1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 g6 4.Qf3 ( 4.Qd1 Bg7 5.d3 Nf6 6.Nc3 d6 7.f4 Be6 8.Bb5 O-O { Adhiban,B (2655)-Cheparinov,I (2710) Riadh 2017 } ) 4...Qe7 5.Ne2 Nf6 $146 ( 5...Bg7 6.Nbc3 Nd8 7.Nd5 Qd6 8.Nec3 c6 9.Ne3 Ne6 10.a4 Nf6 { Grcic,M
(1953)-Cotenescu,D (1991) Vellmar 2010 } ) 6.d3 Bg7 7.Nbc3 h6 8.Nd5 Nxd5 9.exd5 Na5 10.d6 cxd6 11.Bd5 Nc6 12.Bd2 Qf6 13.Qe4 O-O 14.O-O Ne7 15.Nc3 Qf5 16.Qb4 Nxd5 17.Nxd5 Kh7 18.Nc7 Rb8 19.Qxd6 b6 20.f3? ( { So far Carlsen has
played an excellent and thematic game, and in form he would certainly have
found } 20.Ne8! { winning an exchange as } 20...Ra8 { loses to } 21.Nxg7 Kxg7 22.Bxh6+ ) 20...Bb7 21.Rae1 Rfc8 22.Bc3?? ( 22.Nb5 { had to be played, when Black
is "only" clearly better. } ) 22...Bf8! 23.Nb5 ( { Carlsen must have missed } 23.Qxe5 Qxe5 24.Bxe5 d6 ) 23...Bxd6 24.Nxd6 Qe6 25.Nxc8 Rxc8 26.Rxe5 Qd6 27.Rfe1 Bd5 28.a4 Be6 29.a5 bxa5 30.Kf1 Rc5 31.Rxc5 Qxc5 32.Ra1 d5 33.Rxa5 Qc7 34.Ra4 Qxh2 35.Rxa7 Qh1+ 36.Kf2 d4  0-1


https://www.chess.com/news/view/carlsen-loses-2-on-1st-day-world-rapid-chess-championship

Two Rooks or a Queen?

An interesting question with no definitive answer. It all depends.......What follows is an interesting game won by the new Ukrainian Women's Chess Champion, Nataliya Buksa.

 [Event "UKR-ch Women Final 2018"]
[Site "Kiev"]
[Date "2018.12.20"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Babiy, Olga"]
[Black "Buksa, Nataliya"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2275"]
[BlackElo "2410"]
[Annotator "Golubev"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. b4 Bd6 $6 6. d3 Ne7 7. Ng5 O-O 8.
f4 b5 $2 9. Nxf7 Rxf7 10. Bxf7+ Kxf7 11. fxe5 Bxe5 12. d4 $18 {White is
winning.} Nxe4 13. dxe5 (13. Qf3+ $5) 13... Bb7 14. O-O+ Kg8 15. Qd3 a6 16. a4
bxa4 17. Rxa4 Ng6 18. Ra5 c5 19. Bf4 $2 {White was playing imprecisely on the
previous moves, and this is simply wrong.} Nxf4 20. Rxf4 Qg5 $6 21. g3 $6 Qxe5
{White is no worse still. But a big mistake on the next move ruins her game.}
22. Qxd7 $4 Nd6 $1 $19 {The white queen is fatally misplaced.} 23. Ra2 Qd5 24.
Rd2 Qh1+ 25. Kf2 Re8 26. Qxe8+ Nxe8 27. Rd8 Qxh2+ 28. Kf1 Qg2+ 29. Ke1 Qxg3+
30. Rf2 Bc6 31. Nd2 Qxc3 32. bxc5 Qxc5 33. Re2 h5 0-1

MILUNKA LAZAREVIC (12/3/1932 - December 15, 2018)

The Chess Federation of Serbia with extreme regret tells the public that on December 15, 2018 in Belgrade, at the age of 87, a multiple state champion in chess and representative Veliki Milo Milunka Lazarevic passed away. 
The funeral will be held on Wednesday at 12.00 at the New Cemetery in Belgrade. 
The time and place of commemoration will be published later.

Milunka Lazarević was married on December 3, 1932, in Šantarac, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Because of her father's needs, she moved to Novi Sad with her family from Jagodina. She learned to play chess with her father and older brother, but she also had other interests: she sang in a school choir, acted in an amateur theater, took private English and French classes, taught her to play guitar, as a talented poet wrote poetry and was a member Association of young writers of Novi Sad, later Vojvodina, took part in literary evenings ... Although the "chess illiterate" became the champion of its high school, and soon in Novi Sad. Chess seriously began to study only in the 18th year of chess instructor Zarko Popovic. In Novosadski chess club in Miletic Street, he gained experience playing with old Novi Sad chess players. At the time when there was not much literature, she taught Magzar Sakkvilag, Kapplankin's "

Chess was for her the fight of ideas and personalities and the most respected profession. Keeping the principle "let them win better" has always played for victory and first place. Everything else was considered a failure. It was important to her and how she won. That's why the chess board often moved from the trails to get inspiration and creativity. That is why she later received the nickname "Women's Tale", and world champion Nona Gaprindashvili wrote in her book "I Love the Risk" that Milunka was a role model.

During 1951 she became the champion of Vojvodina and Serbia, she was second in the national championship and in the next year she was placed first and second place. In the period 1954-1982. she was 11 times the champion of the country, and in 1957 with a 100% performance. As part of the ŠK "Partizan" from 1955 to 1992, she took part in the 6 titles of the team champions and the Cup of Yugoslavia. Since 1954, she is an international master, and FIDE recognized her title as a female grandmaster in 1976 as the first Yugoslavian and the second in the world. She won a silver medal at the 1963 Olympics in Split, playing on the first board. Over the course of 25 years, she participated in the world championship competition system. She played in 6 zonal tournaments, 4 in the interim, on 5 tournament candidates and 2 times in the world championship candidates. In the last round of the tournament in Suhumi in 1964. year-old Gizel Kan Greser offered her a game without a game before becoming a challenger to champion None Gaprindashvili, but she rejected the offer in a guise that chess is a knightly competition, not a trade. She lost the game, so the Soviet chess players Zatulovska and Kushnir caught up on the table. Later, in a two-armored triangle, there was another. The unique gesture from Suhumi brought her great reputation and respect in the chess world. At that moment she was the third in the world rankings, and for the best time she was a Shahist from the Soviet Union. in the two-ring triangle was the second. The unique gesture from Suhumi brought her great reputation and respect in the chess world. At that moment she was the third in the world rankings, and for the best time she was a Shahist from the Soviet Union. in the two-ring triangle was the second. The unique gesture from Suhumi brought her great reputation and respect in the chess world. At that moment she was the third in the world rankings, and for the best time she was a Shahist from the Soviet Union.

When she was at the height of chess power, the women's tournament was scarce. She won in Emen 6 times, Rotterdam 2 times, Hestings, Sirmione 1955, Bevervayak 1957, Venice 1957, Bonu 1960, Amsterdam 1960, Vienna 1961, at the Osmartart Tournament in Belgrade in 1972, Novi Sad in 1980, Salchevaden, Athens 1984, at Zonal tournaments in Vrnjacka Banja 1960 and Travnik 1978 ...

As president of the FIDE Commission for Women's Chess from 1970 to 1978, she introduced a series of revolutionary newspapers: in Skopje in 1972, she united the male and female Olympic Games, which have been held since 1976; swordsman's matches at the Olympics on three, instead of two boards; the title of female grandmaster; world championship for youth; A cup of European championship, a rating system in women's chess, matches instead of a candidate tournament, a gold trophy for a triple world champion, silver for the challenger ... She was the initiator or organizer of numerous competitions. According to her idea, the Osmomart tournament was launched in 1965, at that time after the tournament, the best contest was held, and now after Hestings and Wake Up Zea, the world's longest-running competition.

The first woman is an international judge in Yugoslavia. She was Chief Judge of the Zone Tournament in Vrnjacka Banja in 1970, the jubilee tournament Nona Gaprindashvili 1991, superturbed by Investbanka in 1995 and 1997 ...

As a journalist, she wrote for several domestic and foreign newspapers and magazines: NIN, Večernje novosti, Duga, Politika, Ilustrovana Politika, Sport, Chess Life ... She also contributed to TV Beograd and TB Novi Sad. She has conducted interviews with all the world's first from Max Eve to Vladimir Kramnik, with Nona Gaprindasvili, Maja Ciburdanidze, sisters Polgar, all the leading chess players from the half of the last century onwards ... as well as with numerous figures from the world of culture.

Recognition and awards: the third-degree holder of the Sretensky Order of 2013, the recognition of the Chess Federation of the USSR and Georgia for the contribution to the world chess 1985, the lifetime award of the Sports Union of Belgrade 2007, the Lifetime Achievement of the Association of National Representatives 2010, Honorary FIDE member since 2016, Honorary Citizen of Venice 1957. She was confirmed in the monograph "Extraordinary Women of Serbia XX and XXI Century", which includes the most important women in our country in that period. Women's chess club in Sivac is named Milunka Lazarević.

Chess Federation of Serbia

The Gambino Gambit

The Gambino Gambit. A losing gambit played by Black on the g file in honor of Mueller's mob style investigation of Trump and his motley crew.
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "New game"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "14"]

1. e4 g5 2. d4 d6 3. Bxg5 h6 4. Bd3 c5 5. Be3 cxd4 6. Bxd4 e5 7. Be3 Nf6 *
Copyright 2018 B. Lafferty

Pub Chess in Norway

Something to be copied here in the US ?

https://www.facebook.com/pg/thegoodknightoslo/photos/?tab=album&album_id=307370770062500

Kingdom Chess Club Now Meeting at Cafe Lotti, E. Burke Vermont

Kingdom Chess meets every Sunday in the balcony room at Cafe Lotti on Rt. 114 in E. Burke. We meet from 2 pm to 4 pm.
Join us for chess, conversation and excellent coffee and food.  It's a great place to semi-hibernate for the Winter.

 The View From the Chess Balcony

Looking up to the Balcony Room We Use For Chess

http://cafelottivt.com/

Ruth Haring. An Untimely Passing

IWM Ruth Haring, past president of US Chess passed away unexpectedly on November 29, 2018.
https://www.chess.com/news/view/wim-ruth-haring-1955-2018

I first came to know Ruth during the Polgar vs. USCF, et al. litigation. She was supremely ethical, transparent and of sound judgment. She also had a wonderfully cynical sense of humor. We shared many a laugh together. A good person who will be missed by many.

Open Questions for the US Chess Executive Board and Executive Director

Several past US Chess presidents and the current US Chess president are are participating in various levels of FIDE management in the new presidential administration of Arkady Dvorkovitch. This past week, Dvorkavitch was mentioned in the press in relation to the ongoing investigation of the Special Prosecutor, Robert Mueller III. Specifically, there was allegedly a private conversation between Dvorkovitch and Carter Page in Moscow in early July, 2016. It is alleged that Dvorkovitch, a close Putin ally, expressed strong support for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. In view of this and the revelations this week of dealings during the Trump primary campaign with Russian to build at Moscow Trump tower (Cohen plea allocution) and yesterday's WSJ report that the gift of a $50m penthouse apartment to Putin in that tower was considered by the Trump Organization, the status of Mr. Dvorkovitch as a potential target of Mueller's conspiracy investigation should be considered as a possibility, IMO, bordering on a probability. As such Mr. Dvorkovitch may be indicted or subject to Dept. of the Treasury sanctions. While Kirsan's sanctioning was an embarrassment, it wasn't related to potential conspiracy to affect a US presidential election. 
See: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... 1gXtXtDtyE
While participation in a FIDE administration such as those of Max Euwe or Folk Rogard would not be problematic in the sense that Dvorkovitch's is, that was then and this is now. 

Questions: 
1. What concerns, if any, do the ED and members of the EB have for a scandal developing around Mr. Dvokovitch?
2. Should Mr. Dvorkovitch be indicted or sanctioned, have the ED and/or members of the EB considered developing an appropriate public response to distance our federation from Dvorkovitch despite having participated in his administration?

Take The Survey for Next World Chess Championship Format Preferences

I've created a survey regarding the number of games preferred and tiebreak format for the next WCC. Please consider taking the survey. Thanks.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6JZNHW9

A Disgusting End To the Classical World Chess Championship

Carlsen Keeps the Title winning Three Rapid Games.

An absolutely disgusting way for the classical WCC to end two cycles in a row. Even more so this time after Carlsen offered his now infamous draw in game 12 from a clearly better position.

FIDE needs to completely rethink the WCC format. I suggest going back to a 24 game match. If its tied at 24, the champion keeps his title. If you must have a tiebreak, make it in sets of four games timed at G-90 with NO increment or delay. Play two games per day, no rest days until the match is decided by one payer winning a four game set,. Play the sets one after the other with no rest days between sets of four games.

Is the New FIDE President On Mueller's Radar Screen?

"July 7, 2016: Manafort contacts Kilimnik again to invite the oligarch Deripaska to get a private briefing on the campaign.

The same day, another campaign adviser named Carter Page travels to Russia to give a speech. The next day, he sends a memo to campaign staff with an overview of his travel. It reads, in part, “Russian Deputy Prime Minister and [New Economic School] Board Member Arkady Dvorkovich also spoke before the event. In a private conversation, Dvorkovich expressed strong support for Mr. Trump and a desire to work together toward devising better solutions in response to the vast range of current international problems.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/11/27/timeline-what-it-would-mean-if-manafort-assange-met/?utm_term=.556919feac3a

The GM Ian Rogers Fiasco at US Chess: Censorship Under the Guise of Editorial Discretion

The facts of the apparently accidental publication on Youtube of a video from the St. Louis Chess and Scholastic Center revealing some of what Fabio Caruana was studying are by now well know., The matter was covered by IM Ian Rogers in an article submitted to Chess Life Online, an online publication of US Chess. It was rejected by the CLO editor and GM Rogers quit as a contributor to CLO. 

The publishers "right to edit" within what is customary for the publisher is not the issue. Here, the problem I see is that the relationship between Rex Sinquefield, Fabio Caruana, the St. Louis Chess and Scholastic Center and US Chess gives the appearance that the edit was done to please a major US Chess contributor, to wit, Rex Sinquefield. That may or may not be the substantive situation, but the appearance of a conflict of interest is very real.

There has also been a copyright concern floated by US Chess as a reason for the proposed edit of GM Rogers' article. The argument is specious. Once the St. Louis Club aired the video, the screen shot at issue became newsworthy. As such, fair use permits any journalist to use it in an article regarding the news of the video being posted and withdrawn from Youtube.

Whilst, CLO has the right to edit or not publish GM Rogers' report, the appearance of a conflict of interest and the heavy handed way it was handled by CLO's editor and publications/communications director is, at best, unfortunate. IMMHO, it shows how fraught with embarrassing problems big donor money can at times be and, in this case needlessly so, given that all concerned should have known that once on the Internet, it would exist there in cyberspace as a news item forever. Additionally, attempts to discuss this apparent conflict of interest on the US Chess Issues Forum, have met with censorship by the forum's "moderators." 

Carlsen vs. Caruana World Championship Match Begins this Friday, November 9th

The World Chess Championship Match between Carlsen and Caruana commences this Friday, November 9th at 10 am EST (3 pm GMT) in London, UK. It can be followed live in real time on chess. com in their live chess area and on twitch TV. More information can be found here

https://www.chess.com/article/view/world-chess-championship-2018-carlsen-caruana

Chess at Camp David

I came across this photo from the Carter administration.

Carlsen Plays a Little Used Variation of the Caro-Kahn

In this variation, Carlsen plays 5....exf6 instead of the more usual 5....gxf6.  With this draw Carlsen maintains his world number one ranking.
[Event "34th European Club Cup 2018"]
[Site "Halkidiki"]
[Date "2018.10.18"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2756"]
[BlackElo "2839"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6 6. c3 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8.
Qc2 Re8+ 9. Be3 h6 10. Ne2 Na6 11. O-O Nc7 12. c4 Bg4 13. h3 Bxe2 14. Bxe2 Ne6
15. Rad1 Qc7 16. Bg4 Rad8 17. Rfe1 Bf4 18. Bxf4 Nxf4 19. Rxe8+ Rxe8 20. h4 Qa5
21. g3 f5 22. Bf3 Re1+ 23. Kh2 Rxd1 24. Qxd1 Ng6 25. a3 f4 26. Be4 fxg3+ 27.
fxg3 Nf8 28. d5 cxd5 29. Qxd5 Qxd5 30. Bxd5 b6 31. b4 Nd7 32. Kg2 Kf8 33. Kf2
Nf6 34. Bf3 Ke7 35. Ke3 Kd6 36. Kd4 Ng8 37. c5+ bxc5+ 38. bxc5+ Kc7 39. Bd5 Ne7
40. Ke5 Nxd5 41. Kxd5 h5 42. c6 a6 43. a4 a5 44. Kc5 f6 45. Kd5 g5 46. Ke6 Kxc6
47. Kxf6 gxh4 48. gxh4 Kd6 49. Kg5 Ke5 50. Kxh5 Kf5 51. Kh6 Kf6 52. h5 Kf7 53.
Kg5 Kg7 54. h6+ Kh7 55. Kh5 Kh8 56. Kg6 Kg8 57. h7+ Kh8 58. Kh6 1/2-1/2

(Photo chessbase.com)

Carlsen Dodges Ding's Bullet

Carlsen fought back to draw his game with Ding and remains the number one ranked player in the world for now.

https://en.chessbase.com/post/euro-club-cup-2018-round-6

Fifty Straight Years tt the Paris Championship (France--Not Texas)

Again, from Chessbase.

"The oldest participant, Roger Ferry, who rarely misses the Paris Championship, could often be seen as a lonely figure, finishing last, keeping his much younger opponents strenuously until late into the night. At 85, he has played a record fifty consecutive French Championships!"

Successful Women Professionally and In Chess Do Exist

From the Paris Championship as reported in Chessbase.

"Not many female players were present, but WGM Pauline Guichard was there and fought tenaciously in the FIDE Open, finishing on 6/9. A delightfully calm, friendly person, Pauline is a medical doctor by profession, but she manages to fit chess in her working schedule as much as possible, including her representing France in the female squad at the recent Olympiad, where she achieved a notable success having made the greatest number of points for her team (7/10). 2018 will definitely be Pauline’s most successful year, as for the first time in her career she was crowned French Woman Champion, at the French Championship that took place in Nimes soon after the Paris Championship."

GM Coralles vs. GM Ivanov pgn

Here is the pgn from their hard fought Round 3 game at the Westford Open. The game went just over four hours with a lovely time scramble at the end.

[Event "Westford October Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.10.07"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Corrales Jimenez, Fidel"]
[Black "Ivanov, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "ficor"]
[BlackElo "2465"]
[Classes "0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[GameID "0"]
[Remark ""]
[Source ""]
[WhiteElo "2537"]

{Game analysis^13 ^10 Processor: AMD A6-7310 APU with AMD Radeon R4 Graphics 
  (@2.00GHz)^13 ^10 Engine(s): Deep Rybka 2.3.2a x64^13 ^10 Analysis time:
0:10:23} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7.
Qe2 Nd5 8. c4 Nb6 9. Nd2 d6 {[%t Shrt] N} (9... Qe6 10. b3 Be7 11. Bb2 O-O 12.
O-O-O d5 13. exd6 cxd6 14. Qf3 {...1-0, Ivanchuk Vassily 2731  - Almasi Zoltan
2630 , Monaco 2001 It "Melody Amber" (active)}) (9... Bb7 10. b3 g6 11. Bb2
Bg7 12. O-O-O O-O-O 13. f4 c5 14. Nf3 {...1/2-1/2, Rublevsky Sergei 2670  -
Adams Michael 2755 , Frankfurt 2000 It})(9... a5 10. h4 a4 11. g3 Ra5 12. f4
Ba6 13. Rh2 f6 14. exf6 {...1-0, Shirov Alexei 2710  - Agdestein Simen 2620 ,
Gausdal 1992 Match}) 10. exd6 cxd6 11. b3 Bg4 12. f3 Bf5 {[%t Val] 7} 13. Bb2
f6 {[%t Shrt] N} 14. g4 {[%t Val] 5} 14... Bg6 15. h4 Qxe2+ 16. Bxe2 h5 17. g5
fxg5 {[%t Val] 9} (17... Kf7 18. Bd4 d5 19. cxd5 cxd5 20. Rc1 Bd6 21. gxf6
gxf6 22. Kf2 Rhc8 23. Ba6 {+0.04}) 18. hxg5 O-O-O 19. f4 d5 20. Rc1 Bb4 {[%t
Val] @} 21. cxd5 {[%t Val] 7} (21. c5 Nd7 22. a3 Bxd2+ 23. Kxd2 Rh7 {+0.53})
21... Be4 {[%t Val] E} (21... Rxd5 22. Rxc6+ Kd8 23. Rxg6 Rxd2 24. a3 Rxb2+
25. axb4 Re8 26. Rd6+ Kc7 {+0.20}) 22. Ba6+ Kd7 23. dxc6+ Bxc6 24. Rh3 Rhf8
{?!}{[%t Val] Q} (24... Rhe8+ {!?} 25. Be5 Re6 26. Rd3+ Ke7 27. Rxd8 Kxd8 28.
Kf2 Nd7 29. Bc3 {+0.72}) 25. Rd3+ Nd5 26. Bb5 {?!}{[%t Val] ?} (26. Be5 {!?}
26... h4 27. Kf2 Ba8 {+1.60}) 26... Bxb5 27. Rxd5+ Ke6 28. Re5+ Kf7 29. Bc3
Rc8 {[%t Val] H} (29... Ba3 30. Rd1 a6 31. Nc4 Rxd1+ 32. Kxd1 Bxc4 33. bxc4
{+0.50}) 30. Rxb5 Rxc3 {?!}{[%t Val] M} (30... Bxc3 {!?} 31. Rf5+ Ke7 32. Rxf8
Kxf8 33. Kd1 Rc7 34. Nc4 Bb4 {+0.86}) 31. Rxc3 Bxc3 32. Rf5+ Kg8 33. Rxf8+
Kxf8 34. Ke2 Kf7 35. Ne4 {?!}{[%t Val] @} (35. Nf3 {!?} 35... Bb2 36. Kd3 Ke6
37. Nh4 Kd6 38. f5 Ke7 39. Ke4 Bc1 40. Nf3 {+1.08}) 35... Bb4 36. Kf3 g6 37.
Nf2 Ke6 38. Ke4 {?!}{[%t Val] 4} (38. Ne4 {!?} 38... Kf7 39. Nf2 Ke6 40. Ne4
Kf7 41. Nf2 Ke6 42. Ne4 Kf7 43. Nf2 Ke6 {+0.51}) 38... Bd6 39. Nd3 h4 40. Nf2
Bc5 41. Kf3 Kf5 42. Ne4 Bb4 43. Nf6 h3 44. Ne4 Be1 45. Nd6+ Ke6 46. Nb5 h2
{[%t Val] 9} 47. Kg2 Bd2 {?}{[%t Val] W} (47... Kf5 {!} 48. Nxa7 Bg3 49. a4
Bxf4 50. a5 Ke6 51. Nc6 Kd6 52. Nd8 Kd7 53. a6 {+0.26}) 48. Nd4+ Kd5 49. f5
Be3 50. Nb5 gxf5 51. g6 Bh6 52. Nxa7 Ke6 53. a4 Be3 54. Nc8 Bg1 55. Nd6 Bd4
56. Nc4 {[%t Val] R} 56... Bg1 {?!}{[%t Val] X} (56... Kf6 {!?} 57. Kxh2 Kxg6
58. Kg3 Kf6 59. a5 Ke6 60. Kf4 Ba7 61. b4 Bb8+ 62. Ke3 {+1.33}) 57. b4 f4 58.
Nd2 Be3 {[%t Val] \} 59. Ne4 Bg1 60. a5 f3+ 61. Kh1 Bd4 62. Ng5+ Ke7 63. Nxf3 1-0

Westford Open FIDE Won by GM Fidel Coralles Jimenez Ahead of GM Alexander Ivanov

Alex Relyea's FIDE Rated Westford Open was held this past weekend. The FIDE Open section was won by now Boston based Cuban GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez with Russian born GM Alexander Ivanov in second place. Our own Vermont based NM David Carter finished third after drawing with GM Jimenez in the final round. Yours truly finished toward the rear of the U2000 FIDE bus managing one draw and an almost draw in the first round against eventual U2000 FIDE winner Peter Pashkov, a native of Moscow living in the US since 1991.

The Playing Hall

GM Fidel Coralles Jimenez

GM Alexander Ivanov

Vermont's Sole NM David Carter

Today is International Chess Day

Play some chess!

Grandmaster Nigel Short Launches His Campaign for the FIDE Presidency

The following is the text of the letter sent by GM Short to all FIDE federations announcing his slate and positions in the election.

Sunday, July 1st, 2018

To: All National Chess Federations, members of FIDE 

Dear chess friends,

It is high time to make a fundamental change in FIDE: to move from being an opaque, sanction-pressed pariah to becoming an open, properly-governed organisation that is respected the world over. 

Successful international sporting bodies attract many millions, and in some cases billions, of dollars of commercial sponsorship. That money is then distributed to the federations to promote the game. While it is unlikely that chess will ever attain the popularity of, say, football, it requires no great leap of the imagination to understand that such a beneficent business model is perfectly possible for FIDE too. After all, chess is played throughout the globe, by hundreds of millions of people, and is widely regarded as being the ultimate mind- sport. It has been proven in literally hundreds of scientific studies, over the past 45 years, to have great educational value. It is also perfectly adapted for the Internet age. Many of the brightest and most successful entrepreneurs enjoy it. To name just a few examples, Sir Richard Branson, of Virgin, regularly praises chess in articles and tweets, while two of the wealthiest men on the planet - Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg - have even played against the World Champion, Magnus Carlsen. Yet do their companies sponsor the game? Alas, not. While it would be wrong to exaggerate the ease with which commercial tie-ups can be made, the enormous potential is clearly there – one that can utterly transform the game we know. Despite decades in office, the Ilyumzhinov/Makropoulos administration has abjectly failed to tap such rich resources. Change will not occur unless federations vote for it. 

FIDE is run in almost exactly the opposite way to how it should be. Due to the incompetence and poor reputation of the current administration, commercial sponsorship accounts for a pitifully small percentage of revenues.  Rather than the governing body supporting the federations -  as it should - federations support the governing body. Anything that can be taxed, is taxed. There are taxes on titles for playing, arbiting, organising and training. The tax on rated games – which milks the active federations and cripples the poorer ones - guarantees that chess fails to reach anywhere near its full potential.  This has got to stop, and will be one of the first priorities during my presidency. 

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has quite literally brought FIDE to the brink of extinction. When he was placed on the US Treasury Department Sanctions list in 2015, it was clear that it was only a matter of time before FIDE encountered serious financial trouble. Sure enough, in April 2018, UBS closed FIDE’s bank accounts. No less than 18 banks refused even to meet with FIDE, and those that did refused its custom.  Without the approval of the General Assembly, the Makropolous administration secretively transferred the entire assets of our organisation elsewhere, and then remained silent about it for as long as possible. Only after constant public questioning by myself did they finally, after two weeks, divulge what they had done with it – a most unsatisfactory and expensive arrangement with trust funds and a fiduciary account in Hong Kong. Absurdly, the FIDE Treasurer treated these questions of immense public importance as an attack on his personal integrity.

Ilyumzhinov has now been replaced as presidential candidate by Arkady Dvorkovich. Alas, given his vastly more important and prestigious recent jobs as Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and organiser of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, it is hard to envisage him as being anything other than a hands-off leader, should he be elected. Worryingly, he has appointed Kirsan as a key advisor, which suggests that, for the Kremlin, control is more important than reform.  

How does the other candidate, Georgios Makropoulos, view the Kirsan era? In a letter to a Canadian soft-porn website earlier this year he said:
“I was always supporting Kirsan until the beginning of 2017 as his contributions to FIDE, and chess in general, was enormous” 

Yes, that is the same Kirsan who announced a World Championship Match in Saddam Hussein’s Baghdad; who signed a document awarding himself a 51% share of Agon (which holds the commercial rights to almost all the important FIDE events) who spent hundreds of thousands of euros of FIDE money – OUR money – on his personal travel every year; who promised a $500,000 Africa Fund and delivered not one cent; who outrageously lied to the General Assembly in Tromso 2014 by promising to transfer $20 million to FIDE but gave nothing; the same Kirsan who has tarnished the name of the organisation and brought FIDE to the edge of oblivion. 

It is obvious that one cannot expect meaningful reform from Makropoulos, who has served as Kirsan’s loyal lieutenant for 22 years. Had he wanted to, he would have done it by now. And yet FIDE badly needs constitutional changes, such as presidential term limits – which were vetoed by Makropoulos in 2010. Proxies – the system by which federations exchange their votes for favours granted – should be abolished immediately. The Electoral Commission must be made entirely independent to avoid endemic bias. Delegates should be members of the federations they represent (and be allowed to choose only one federation). No longer should we be treated to such farcical undemocratic spectacles of an Algerian representing Comoros, or a Greek - the Solomon Islands.  

The IOC code should be observed and FIDE statutes must be upheld – not routinely flouted, as they are now. Tournaments, or matches, must never be awarded to any country that fails to enforce our own regulations. The abuse of rewarding of political supporters with jobs while opponents are punished by exclusion must end. The Agon contract must be terminated immediately. 

Only my team - Lukasz Turlej (Poland), Lekan Adeyemi (Nigeria), Paul Spiller (New Zealand), Ruth Haring (United States) and Panu Laine (Finland) - has the dedication, vision and energy to bring about these changes. We will restore integrity to the organisation, without which it is impossible to attract major sponsors, or even open a bank account. 

On the campaign so far I have often heard the refrain “We like your ideas, Nigel, but what, realistically, are your chances? Why should you succeed where Kasparov, Karpov and Kok have failed?” The answer to that is very simple: the electoral arithmetic is completely different in a three-horse race. No single candidate is expected to win on the first round of voting. In that scenario, if I do as “badly” as Kasparov, Karpov or Kok, I will hold the balance of power. Far from being a wasted vote, a vote for my team will, in fact, increase in value because neither of the other candidates will win without our support. This will ensure that our policies prevail and at least some of the above vital reforms are made.  

Vote for change. Vote #cleanhands4fide

Sincerely yours

Nigel Short,
Grandmaster, former World Championship Finalist,
2018 FIDE Presidential Candidate 

http://cleanhands4fide.org/news/nigel-short-officially-launches-his-campaign-open-letter-federations

Kirsan May Be Out and A Different Russian Oligarch In

"There have been dramatic developments in the Fide presidential campaign to decide the head of the global chess body. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, president for 23 years since 1995, seems ready to quit the contest after his Russian backers withdrew support.

Ilyumzhinov has been tarnished by US treasury sanctions, the loss of Fide’s bank account with UBS and most recently by the revelation that Glen Stark, his nominee for Fide general secretary, was a fake name with a false CV.

Moscow sources state that Arkady Dvorkovich, the Russian deputy prime minister for six years from 2012 to 2018 and currently head of the Fifa World Cup organising committee, will now stand for Fide president. Dvorkovich has held senior positions in the Russian Chess Federation and was chairman of the organising committee for the 2014 world championship match at Sochi between Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand.

It seems sure that Dvorkovich will have substantial funds to support his campaign and chess sources are already speculating that Georgios Makropoulos, the current Fide deputy president and until now the election favourite, may try to come to a power-sharing arrangement with the Russian."

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jun/15/kirsan-ilyumzhinov-quit-fide-presidential-contest

It also appears that Kirsan  may have already left the building.....

Vermont Open Results

Results are in from this past weekend's Vermont Open held in Burlington. Ian Dudley is the 2018 Vermont Open Champion.
Pair | Player Name                     |Total|Round|Round|Round|Round|
 Num  | USCF ID / Rtg (Pre->Post)       | Pts |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    1 | IAN W DUDLEY                    |3.5  |W   2|W   3|W   6|D   4|
   VT | 15256685 / R: 2034   ->2102     |     |W    |W    |B    |W    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    2 | DAVID E CARTER                  |3.0  |L   1|W  11|W  12|W   8|
   VT | 10029732 / R: 2249   ->2247     |     |B    |W    |B    |W    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    3 | MATTHEW WOFFORD                 |3.0  |W  11|L   1|W  13|W  10|
   NH | 12812582 / R: 2116   ->2117     |     |W    |B    |B    |W    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    4 | RONALD STEWART                  |3.0  |W   7|W  12|H    |D   1|
   VT | 12660347 / R: 1925   ->1987     |     |W    |W    |     |B    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    5 | ANDREW PALMER                   |3.0  |B    |L   6|W  14|W   9|
   VT | 12630765 / R: 1770   ->1831     |     |     |W    |B    |W    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    6 | HENRY L TERRIE                  |2.5  |D   8|W   5|L   1|W  12|
   NH | 10025265 / R: 2206   ->2200     |     |W    |B    |W    |B    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    7 | DAVID PETTY AMATO               |2.0  |L   4|W  15|L   8|W  13|
   VT | 12582641 / R: 2160   ->2137     |     |B    |W    |B    |W    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    8 | PETER J BROSSEAU                |2.0  |D   6|H    |W   7|L   2|
   VT | 10030285 / R: 2026   ->2042     |     |B    |     |W    |B    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    9 | JACK HANSON                     |2.0  |W  15|H    |D  10|L   5|
   VT | 12857824 / R: 2051   ->2033     |     |B    |     |W    |B    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
   10 | ERIC M HERNANDEZ                |2.0  |H    |W  14|D   9|L   3|
   VT | 12882401 / R: 1903   ->1914     |     |     |W    |B    |B    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
   11 | JUDSON D BURNHAM                |1.5  |L   3|L   2|D  15|B    |
   VT | 10029392 / R: 1898   ->1885     |     |B    |B    |W    |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
   12 | PHILIP H VAN DUSEN              |1.0  |W  13|L   4|L   2|L   6|
   VT | 10179815 / R: 2046   ->2024     |     |W    |B    |W    |W    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
   13 | RACHEL ZIMET                    |1.0  |L  12|B    |L   3|L   7|
   VT | 16724192 / R: 1812P4 ->1760P7   |     |B    |     |W    |B    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
   14 | JAMES ASARO                     |0.5  |H    |L  10|L   5|U    |
   VT | 12752282 / R: 1890   ->1859     |     |     |B    |W    |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
   15 | GORDON WAYNE GRIBBLE            |0.5  |L   9|L   7|D  11|U    |
   NH | 10029368 / R: 1827   ->1818     |     |W    |B    |B    |     |
----------

Perhaps FIDE Should Go Back To Laurel Wreaths?

https://en.chessbase.com/post/wenjun-ju-17th-world-women-chess-champion-ii

Summer Chess In Lyndonville

Several of us will be meeting informally at Cobleigh Library in Lyndonville for chess on Thursday afternoons from 4:30pm to library closing at 7pm. Drop in for a game and conversation. Bring your own board, set and clock.

From the European Women's Chess Championship

Women play chess in fairly large numbers in Europe. Who would have known.......photo is from the ongoing European Women's Chess Championship being held in Slovakia.

An Opportunity To Weaken or Replace FIDE?

From the following articlehttps://en.chessbase.com/post/makropoul ... -president
"....In a blow to Kirsan Ilymzhinon, the Presidential Board called for his immediate resignation as president. After the meeting, Georgios Makropoulos announced his candidacy as FIDE president. |.....Open warFor a long time, there have been increasing calls for Ilymzhinov not to stand for re-election at the next FIDE Congress in Batumi, although he has repeatedly stated his intention to do so. Now, he as officially lost the support of nearly the entire Presidental Board, who released the following resolution yesterday:
In the light of: 
a) The imminent withdrawal of FIDE’s banking facilities by UBS, 

b) The inability of FIDE to obtain replacement banking facilities while you remain nominal President and 

c) subject to US Treasury Department sanctions, 

d) The consequent severe difficulties facing FIDE in funding its obligations and its commitments to the chess family, 

e) The adverse publicity that reflects badly on FIDE’s reputation and undermines the confidence of all those who are or would be involved in chess, 
That in the interests of the organisation: 
You should resign with immediate effect......."

We have an American slated to play a match for the WCC in November. The financial situation of FIDE and the candidacy of a Kirsan long-time crony for FIDE President may present opportunities for weakening or replacing FIDE. All it may take is money and willpower focused on the match in November.

What Did Alekhine Actually Write for Nazi Publication?

Something of historical note regarding Alekhine. This is a post by Taylor Kingston to Chess Book Collectors. While I'd heard of these writings by Alekhine, I'd never actually read any of them. Here is Taylor's post and link...

"A few days ago the infamous anti-Semitic 1941 articles attributed to Alekhine on "Jewish and Aryan Chess" were mentioned here. To my knowledge a good English translation of these is not available online, so I took a few minutes to scan the very good translation found in "The Personality of Chess" by Horowitz and Rothenberg (New York 1963) and made them into a pdf, available through the link below. Included also is Alekhine's denial in 1946 of ever having written the articles.
Let me be clear: I am presenting these only for the sake of those who, like me, have an interest in chess history. I do not at all endorse what these articles say. As to the question of Alekhine's authorship, I think it likely, though not absolutely certain, that he did write them. For more on that, see the Edward Winter article linked to in the first comment below."

https://taylorkingstononchess.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/jewish-and-aryan-chess.pdf

http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/alekhine.html

Unrated Yixin Xi of UMass Chess Club Wins First Tournament, Earns 2461 Provisional Rating

Xi is reportedly the strongest player in the UMass Amherst Chess Club. He played his first tournament, an event run by the Western Mass Chess Association. What follows is part of the pgn of his last round game which he won. The game "continued for many moves as Black easily won the ending."
https://connecticutchess.blogspot.com/2 ... s+Magazine)

[Event "2018 WMA Championships"]
[Site "Amherst, MA"]
[Date "2018.02.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Ian Dudley"]
[Black "Yixin Li"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[Classes "?"]
[ECO "A36"]
[TimeControl "G90d5"]
[WhiteElo "0"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. d3 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 d6 6. e4 e5 7. Nge2 Nge7 8. O-O
O-O 9. h3 Be6 10. Kh2 Nd4 11. f4 f5 12. Be3 Nec6 13. Nd5 Rb8 14. Rb1 b5 15. a3
Kh8 16. cxb5 Rxb5 17. Nec3 Rb8 18. Qa4 fxe4 19. dxe4 Bxd5 20. Nxd5 Rb3 21.
Bxd4 Nxd4 22. Qxa7 Ne2 23. Rf3 Rxf3 24. Bxf3 exf4 25. Qe7 Qxe7 26. Nxe7 fxg3+
27. Kg2 Nd4 28. Bg4 Re8 29. Nd5 Rxe4 30. Kxg3 h5 31. Bd7 Re5 32. Nc3 Re7 33.
Bc8 Rc7 34. Ba6 Nf5+ 35. Kf2 Ra7 36. Bd3 Bxc3 37. bxc3 Rxa3 0-1

Time Trouble Hell for Nakamura

What time trouble can do........Carlsen wins when Nakamura gets the short end of a Queen exchange. 68.Qg8 is a crusher. 

[Event "Fischer Random Rapid 2018"]

[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]

[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]

[Site "Baerum NOR"]

[Round "4"]

[Annotator "Prime"]

[Result "1-0"]

[Date "2018.02.10"]

[PlyCount "102"]

[Setup "1"]

[FEN "rb3rk1/1q1p2pp/p1n1p3/1p6/4P3/4NP2/PP1Q1BPP/2R2RK1 b - - 0 17"]

{[#]} 17... Bf4 18. Bg3 Bxg3 19. hxg3 Rac8 20. Ng4 Ne7 21. Qg5 Ng6 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Rd1 Rc2 24. Qd8+ Nf8 25. Kh2 Rc5 26. Rd6 b4 27. Rb6 Qa7 28. e5 Rc8 29. Qe7 Ng6 30. Qxb4 h5 31. Rb7 Qc5 32. Qe4 hxg4 33. Qxg6 Qd5 34. Rb3 gxf3 35. Rxf3 Rf8 36. Rd3 Qxe5 37. Rxd7 Rf5 38. Rd8+ Rf8 39. Rd7 Rf5 40. Rd8+ Rf8 41. Rxf8+ Kxf8 42. b4 Qe2 43. a4 Qa2 44. a5 Qc4 45. Qb1 Kg8 46. Qe1 Kh7 47. Qe3 Qxb4 48. Qd3+ g6 49. Qxa6 Qc5 50. Qb6 Qh5+ 51. Kg1 Qd1+ 52. Kf2 Qd2+ 53. Kf3 g5 54. Qxe6 Qxa5 55. Kg4 Qa8 56. Qf7+ Kh8 57. Qh5+ Kg7 58. Qxg5+ Kh8 59. Kh3 Qa1 60. Qd8+ Kg7 61. Qe7+ Kg8 62. g4 Qc3+ 63. Kh4 Qb2 64. Qe8+ Kg7 65. Qd7+ Kg6 66. Qd6+ Kg7 67. Qd5 Kg6 68. Qg8+ 1-0

GM Nigel Short on His Becoming the Candidate Who Challenged Kasparov in the 1990's

This talk was just delivered by GM Short at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival in......drum roll, please.....Gibraltar. Interesting in the extreme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epOzuqo_38Q

An Interesting Question About a Fischer Request

"In the 1970s Bobby Fischer surprisingly asked me for something. He liked to have a copy of the book Dr. Karel Treybal by Ladislav Prokes. I immediately sent the book to the USA. But why did he want to have it? Does anyone have a plausible explanation for this strange request?"

https://en.chessbase.com/post/remembering-karel-treybal

Bobby Fischer Died Ten Years Ago ON this Day

May he rest in peace with a peace he didn't know in this lifetime. A nice article can be found on Chessbase.
https://en.chessbase.com/post/bobby-fischer-s-final-days