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/