USCL news and gossip

more neighborhood love graffiti

2009-07-17T23:14:00.005-04:00

huffington post / even more USCL photos

2009-07-16T19:39:00.016-04:00

I've recently discovered (I know, very late) the Huffington Post. It's a nice way for me to read news and opinion articles that mimic and reinforce my ingrained personal beliefs. Also, I watched some nice videos of the Sotomayor confirmation hearings.

I also enjoyed John Kerry's response to Sarah Palin's Washington Post op-ed piece on cap and trade emissions regulation. It's kind of great, right, actual debate in a public forum by politicians on an important and little understood issue? Kudos to Sarah Palin for taking on such an important question and being wrong so visibly and in such an easy-to-explain way.

As you know, I love Michael Steele. I watch him now and it occurs to me that Republicans used to sound conservative and boring to me, but now sometimes they seem to share this one same manic, incoherant, inappropriately personal speaking style?

other people (/news sources) aside, I'm doing pretty ok. I've felt insanely busy the last few weeks, but life is possibly getting back to normal. I teach summer camp from 8:30-12:30 Monday-Thursday. I'm going to a scholastic tournament tomorrow and taking kids to the Marshall Saturday (g/60), but that's my choice, and overall it doesn't feel like I'm working much.

I spent last week attending the US Chess School. I spent this afternoon writing the student bios for the clo article. It struck me how chill and noncrazy and happy the genius kids were. Greg elected me camp disciplinarian, and at one point I had to take a coca-cola bottle away from a nine year old who is higher rated than me because the child was playing an elaborate game transferring coke from a plastic cup to his mouth to the bottle and back. But they are simultaneously incredible chess machines/lovers (I don't know which I mean, probably both) -- a lot of them study 3-7 hours a day and play 3 tournaments a week or 4.5 hours a day on ICC*. All of them want to play blitz every day, every lunch break. But they also write short stories (with introductory character descriptions and colored pen maps) about an army of mice (allied with weasels and some chickens) that frees a country from its evil rat rulers.

I would say that they were some very interesting, cool kids.

here are some more pictures of them that I did not post earlier because I was in a rush one morning and then my computer broke and then I forgot.

Tommy He

Sarah Chiang

Justus Williams

Arthur Shen

Anna Matlin

Kayden Troff

Joshua Colas

Onischuk watches Joshua Colas and Sarah Chiang play their training game.

training games

*It makes me realize I am not in any way ambitious as a chess player.

more pictures from the 9th US Chess School

2009-07-14T06:31:00.010-04:00

participants in the tenth US Chess School

first row: Joshua Colas, Luke Harmon, Tommy He, Christopher Wu, Jonathan Chiang, Kapil Chandran

back row: Arthur Shen, Michael Bodek, Justus Williams, Kayden Troff, Anna Matlin, Sarah Chiang

group picture with teacher GM Alex Onischuk

pizza party Friday afternoon at the Marshall

Tommy He plays guest student Miguel Garcia in the blitz tournament

Mike Bodek and Justus Williams

Jonathan Chiang and Michael Bodek eat lunch in Washington Square Park

Tommy He and Christopher Wu choose cookies at the "cookie party"

Alex Onischuk has an advisory conference with Christopher Wu

GM Alex Onischuk

Anna Matlin

Christopher Wu

Jonathan Chiang

Kayden Troff

Luke Harmon

Justus Williams

Michael BodekSarah Chiang

Tommy He

us chess school 9 first photos

2009-07-09T23:29:00.012-04:00

under construction. captions tomorrow.

GM Alex Onischuk, Kapil Chandran

The 9th US Chess School is being held at the Marshall Chess Club. The students are:
1. Arthur Shen: 2112 USCF, 12 years old, NJ
2. Tommy He: 2080 USCF, 9 years old, TX
3. Kayden Troff: 2013 USCF, 10 years old, UT
4. Luke Harmon: 2008 USCF, 10 years old, ID
5. Sarah Chiang: 2000 USCF, 12 years old, TX
6. Anna Matlin: 1995 USCF, 13 years old, NJ
7. Christopher Wu: 1967 USCF, 10 years old, NJ
8. Michael Bodek: 1963 USCF, 11 years old, NY
9. Joshua Colas: 1951 USCF, 10 years old, NY
10. Justus Williams: 1944 USCF, 10 years old, NY
11. Jonathan Chiang, 1905 USCF, 10 years old, TX
12. Kapil Chandran: 1895 USCF, 10 years old, CT

supervised bughouse

Michael Bodek in Washington Square Park

Arthur Shen plays blitz. Tommy He eats a cookie. Greg chats with Ava Harmon.

Anna Matlin

Kapil Chandran

Kayden Troff

Justus Williams

Justus, Michael, Josh
Josh, Luke, Mike, Carl

After lunch, Greg analyzes the game Jonathan Chiang - Justus Williams (0-1) with the group.

oh. I get it now.

2009-07-06T18:24:00.006-04:00

Is Sarah Palin the First Post-Modern Politician?

(you might want to watch this first*)
Let's start with a multiple-choice question: Which answer is correct?

1) Sarah Palin's resignation less than two/thirds of the way through her term as governor is a violation of her compact with the voters, a flaky act that destroys her credibility as a serious politician.
2) Her resignation was a brilliant tactical move that makes her the de facto frontrunner for the GOP nomination.
3) Who gives a @#%$ @#$ about your traditional political conventions?

If you answered #1 or #2 you missed the point. Sarah Palin is not part of your frame of reference. She isn't participating in the worldview you share with your allies and opponents alike.

....

"We're not retreating," Sarah Palin quoted Gen. MacArthur as saying, "we're advancing in another direction." Anyone who doesn't recognize the essential truth behind that statement runs the risk of not only misunderstanding Palin, but of failing to foresee the threat she could represent. And those who judge her performance on traditional lines will overlook her genuine talent.

Palin may be as erratic as many people say. I wasn't the only observer who noted a hopped up, free-associating, almost amphetamine-like quality to the cadence of her resignation speech. But another way to view her speech is as the latest example of a style that could, in the end, prove revolutionary. Call it "post-modern" politics.

Look up postmodernism (or "PoMo," as some call it) and you'll get a broad range of definitions. It's almost like the Supreme Court definition of obscenity: You can't define it, but you know it when you see it. It was born of the sense that there are no underlying principles or conventions we can trust. It involves identifying, naming, and ultimately shattering the rules under which we've all been operating. It's related to the theater concept of "breaking the proscenium" or "knocking down the fourth wall," acknowledging that some of us are actors and some are spectators in what is, after all, only a performance.

Coherence? That's so yesterday.

It was very postmodern of Palin to characterize her resignation - an outrageous act by any reasonable standard - as a principled refusal to "go with the flow." Her vision of politics is so profoundly radical that even performing the duties of office becomes unimportant. The job you sought is no longer the point. It's all about the performance. It's politics as Conceptual Art.
...

*my favorite bit is at the end when she says that in basketball "you have to keep your eyes on the basket"

hula hoops, juggling, perudo

2009-07-06T13:18:00.017-04:00

Hi readers,
I know it's been a long time, but my computer broke. I have to get this one cord, but can't, huge nightmare.

It's called the AIW 9600 output adapter, but they don't seem to make it anymore. Any ideas, helpful readers?

In the meantime, my social life has picked up just as my virtual life died, so I've been having a jolly time, having houseguests, visiting Greg, sunning myself, playing games. Sorry there aren't more stories, I do have some funny ones to tell you, it's just hard to motivate to write when I'm sitting at a computer at work. (I'm teaching chess camp this summer, but it's just 8:30-12:30 Mon-Thursday, so it barely feels like anything.)
The US Chess School (Onischuk + 12 genius children age 10-12) starts tomorrow, so expect some photos. and maybe stories.

playing perudo in the park (Alan Stein, Greg Shahade, Susan Lin)

Greg thinks

Susan

Susan, Perudo Champion!

Alan Stein

Greg
this is all you are going to see of me

walking home

Jesse Kraai on my roof

chess camp

Greg and Susan, July 4, Philly, waiting for fireworks

Greg hula hoops while juggling, kinda

Alan juggles

more love from the graffiti artist

Greg, angry, with juggling ball

my name was awesome

2009-06-24T23:52:00.011-04:00

What an interesting performance! What do you guys think? Alan thought Sanford's body language suggested he was completely lying/performing.(suspicious behaviors?: shrugging his shoulders, looking down a lot, having his tongue in his mouth) Alan is a big expert on the non verbal cues.
Jesse thought he was apologizing for something he knew his social circle would disapprove of, but that he himself didn't really feel was so wrong. That made a lot of sense to me.

Myself, I think who you are sleeping with is your pretty much entirely your own business, so I felt some initial sympathy for the guy. On the other hand, it's annoying when people only figure out that life is complicated when they themselves fuck up.

(from the NY Times: The governor was not known as a moralist but has frowned on infidelity and as a congressman voted to impeach President Bill Clinton after the Monica Lewinsky affair. “He lied under a different oath, and that’s the oath to his wife,” Mr. Sanford said at the time on CNN. “So it’s got to be taken very, very seriously.”)

Also, I don't know what people even mean to convey when they apologize for something they thought about and decided to do. Sorry how? And these fantastic leaked emails,

("I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night's light - but hey, that would be going into sexual details ...")

Jon Stewart's take: "Just another politician with a conservative mind and a liberal penis."

FOX News' take?

He's a Democrat.... (!!)

just like Mark Foley was.

update: (July 6) ok, if I were married to this guy, I would divorce him for being unable to shut up. It feels almost like he's exaggerating his own debasement but allowing himself to hold on to this one, redemptive excuse of love.

Pictures from NY International/ Glowing Rectangles

2009-06-24T08:08:00.011-04:00

Irina Krush
Irina Krush, Jesse Kraai
Jesse Kraai Kassa Korley
Jaan Ehlvest and Giorgi Kachiashvili
Giorgi Kachiashvili and Jaan Ehlvest

Sam Shankland

Lev Milman

Alex Ostrovskiy

Adithya Balasubramanian

Jaan Ehlvest

Oliver Barbosa

Alex Lenderman

Giorgi Kacheishvili

Report: 90% Of Waking Hours Spent Staring At Glowing Rectangles

PALO ALTO, CA—A new report published this week by researchers at Stanford University suggests that Americans spend the vast majority of each day staring at, interacting with, and deriving satisfaction from glowing rectangles.

...

Researchers were able to identify nearly 30 varieties of glowing rectangles that play some role throughout the course of each day. Among them: handheld rectangles, music-playing rectangles, mobile communication rectangles, personal work rectangles, and bright alarm cubes, which emit a high-pitched reminder that it's time to rise from one's bed and move toward the rectangles in one's kitchen.

"We discovered in almost all cases that Americans find it enjoyable and rewarding to put their faces in front of glowing rectangles for hours on end," said Howard West, a prominent sociologist on the Stanford team.

"Furthermore, when citizens are not staring slack-jawed at these mesmerizing shapes, many appear to become lost, confused, and unsure of what they should be doing to occupy themselves."

Added West, "Some even become irritated and angry when these rectangles are not around."

...

On average, Americans interact with anywhere from 53 to 107 pulsating rectangles every week. For many, however, this is simply not enough. Despite having a leisure rectangle in every bedroom, along with multiple work rectangles, a rectangle just for the children, and one or two rectangles that can do the work of several rectangles in one, many citizens admit to being dissatisfied.

...

"I wish ours was bigger," said Susan Miller, an Iowa homemaker who feels a deep sense of emptiness and fear when not in front of a luminous two-dimensional object. "Our neighbors across the street have one twice the size of ours. Harold, why can't our rectangle be more like their rectangle? Harold, are you listening to me? They seem happier than we are. Why can't we be happy like them? Honey? Are you even home?"

today is the best day for

2009-06-22T12:06:00.003-04:00

three houseguests play games

2009-06-20T22:10:00.015-04:00

Thanks for all your comments, readers! It warms my heart, really. In return, I will now show you some amusing candid photos of my houseguests:

Jesse Kraai

Alan Stein

Greg Shahade

Greg, Alan, and I are at a wine bar playing High Society, which is a great game.

not to brag or anything, but guess who won?

later that evening:

Jesse shows me online personal ads of weird looking Brooklyn women he might be attracted to. Greg and Alan play blitz incessantly.

Jesse shows us his second round draw against Igor Sorkin.

In other news, I went to see Kooza, the new cirque du soleil show, today, and it's fantastic, and also closing in NY so tickets are half price. go see it.

why do I love you? because I do

2009-06-19T08:43:00.003-04:00

The lovelorn graffiti artist has been hard at work:

Nigerian spam takes a chess vacation

2009-06-18T11:05:00.004-04:00

I got a very weird email this morning:

Greetings!My name is ###### #########. I would be coming into the country with my friends for a one month holiday/vacation. As part of our plan we would be happy if you could organize a one month chess classes for us. We want to enjoy our vacation/game,strengthen our play and deepen our position analysis. What are your charges per session/hour?

ARRIVAL DATE: 20TH JULY 2009
DEPARTURE DATE: 20TH AUGUST 2009
NUMBER OF PERSONS: 6 LEVEL: 2 INTERMEDIATES AND 4 BEGINNERS
NUMBER OF HOURS NEEDED: 2 TO 3 HOURS EACH DAY (MONDAY TO SATURDAY)

Please kindly confirm the booking for 20TH JULY 2009 TO 20TH AUGUST 2009. As soon as I receive your confirmation I will be making a deposit of 1,000 pounds via my credit card details. This is to fully secure the booking with you. Hope you accept credit cards?

Please send a confirmation to this email IN THE BODY OF THE EMAIL (NOT as an attachment please).

Regards

&*()& &*()^%^&$
^&*))^(*^_*)_&
Selly Park
B25 3J UK
Phone: 7011121989

At first I thought this was serious, but on rereading, doesn't it sound exactly like the Nigerian Spam? Any thoughts? Real/ Fun? Don't Uk postcodes have more digits than that?? What's the deal with attachments? It was addressed to undisclosed recipients. Did anyone else get it???

On a related subject, I want to discuss something serious with you, Readers. I write this blog so that you can entertain me at work by leaving amusing comments. Why have you all stopped doing that? Are you tired of me? Is it just not the same anymore? Have you all disappeared?

In protest and sadness, I am not relaying any amusing stories about my fascinating, famous, scandalous, gossipy itinerant chess-playing houseguests until you change your lazyass ways.

Chess, the Musical and Chess, the Movie

2009-06-17T08:01:00.002-04:00

Watch Chess the Musical on PBS today

Sponsor a documentary about my chess team.

BABY PLEASE

2009-06-15T09:33:00.001-04:00

advanced chess

2009-06-14T16:45:00.009-04:00

So a couple weeks ago, an old friend of mine (and former USATE teammate) Geoffrey Gelman emailed me and asked if I was interested in playing in an "advanced" chess tournament (= you get to use a computer). I couldn't really understand why this would be fun, but it's not like I have better things to do, so I agreed.

You guys might remember these names from scholastic chess in the 90s (80s?)

David Sullivan

John Viloria

Geoffrey Gelman

round one

In fact, the tournament was pretty fun because there is very little stress when you have a computer. It was also amusing because no one there plays much anymore, and so we used tiny drugstore chess sets and the computers didn't have regular programs, just free downloads with names like "Strelka," where you could only see the computer's first choice:

The different lines are the first choice at different search depths.

and the evaluations changed from positive to negative depending on whose turn it was, so -.5 didn't mean black is half a pawn better, it meant whoever is to move is half a pawn worse. (very puzzling before I figured it out) Also one computer didn't work, so players on the left hand board had to share. All in all, it was a satisfyingly comic evening.

Geoffrey Gelman deservedly won with 2.5/3; he had clearly given some thought to advanced chess strategy.

David Sullivan's noncyborg approach: 1. g4 (vs Viloria)

related reading: Everything is Alive: a funny argument from a panpsychic and hylozoist

romance, sarcasm, math, and language

2009-06-14T13:42:00.002-04:00

grownups

xkcd: A webcomic of romance,sarcasm, math, and language

also: listen to any artist or song you want: songza

not really typical stuff from MIA, but great.

what cheered me up this morning

2009-06-13T13:01:00.005-04:00

I woke up this morning feeling embarrassed because I've been a ridiculous drama queen recently. Then, on the walk between the morning coffee place and work, I pass these two neighboring doors:

and I thought, "ha, I'm the picture of sanity"

Two Funny Positions with GM* Orlando Gonzalez

2009-06-12T22:32:00.007-04:00

Orlando Gonzalez is one of my all time favorite kids. He hardly talks, but he plays beautiful, beautiful games. He's moving back to Puerto Rico this summer and I will really miss him. I played a funny game with him two days ago. We got to this position:

and he played maybe the worst move on the board.... can you guess? Have you seen the hilarious section in John Nunn's Chess Puzzle Book, "Find the Wrong Move" where you have to guess the plausible-looking but disasterous move that was played in the high level game? Here's an example:

M. Gurevich - San Segundo, New York Open 1998 black to move and lose

picture of Orlando to cover the answers

ANSWERS
Gurevich San Segundo

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Bf4 Nf6 5.e3 0–0 6.Nf3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.a3 Nc6 9.Rc1 Re8 10.cxd5 exd5 11.Be2 Be6 12.0–0 Be7 13.Nd4 Rc8?? 14.Nxc6 bxc6 15.Ba6 Ra8 16.Bb7 Line
　

Orlando-me
he played 33. Rg3? after which 33... Bb4 threatens 34... Bd6# and forces 34. Kf4, which gives me the exchange!!

much later we get here:

and my pawn is attacked, so I innocently played ... c2, which he immediately answers with Nc5 and we both break out laughing because I can't stop Nb7#. The thing which makes me luckiest in my job is that the kids I teach often find chess both beautiful and hysterically funny.

** GM = guessing master. Orlando won the 2009 US Championship Fantasy Contest

check out this new chess blog

2009-06-08T20:23:00.005-04:00

music, chess and mushrooms
sample excerpt: "Since White pretty much has Mate On Tap ™ as soon as he queens, Black has to mate with all checks, but it’s pretty easy for him to just walk away from the knights while staying on the same colored squares as them, which makes it impossible for them to catch up with check. Here is a sample of the issues:"

also his mushroom-only blog and his music-only blog
is anyone else impressed?

totally unrelated but also cool: 21 accents in 2 minutes

watch her getting ready for a date next

Breaking Gossip*!

2009-06-06T16:06:00.011-04:00

WGM Natalia Pogonina and Peter Zhdanov got married yesterday! Many congratulations and hopes that their honeymoon sees the completion of their eagerly awaited upcoming book.

In other gossip, I'm playing for Queens next year. Joining me will be Andrei Zaremba (pictured above, formerly of the Dallas Destiny) and Fritz Gaspard.

in your face, New York.

finally, a very funny Bond spoof (in French, subtitled, which only makes it funnier): OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies. You can watch it instantly on Netflix. Well, you can unless you cancelled your account for some really silly reason.

*from your most trusted name in chess gossip

the Marshall Wednesday Under 2000 tournament, the matriarchal Mosuo of China

2009-06-04T10:47:00.029-04:00

I don't usually stop by the Marshall on Wednesdays, but this week my lesson rescheduled. (I have one, very interesting adult student, a wall street trader and professional poker player who knows relatively little about chess but is incredibly smart and quick to understand games.)

So I'm walking down 10th street, and there is a very good-looking, well dressed man walking toward me and I allow myself to just stare at him* as we approach each other. He's looking back at me, (hurray!) but at that moment I reach the Marshall and veer right.

To my utter surprise, he turns also. Why is he going to the Marshall?? I have never seen him before and there is no way he is a chessplayer.

I'm so astonished I can't say anything, and then I walk in and the place is filled with good-looking, well-dressed 25-40 year old men. (!) It turns out they are all there to play in the under 2000 tournament. It was like I'd entered a weird, beautiful alternate universe**.

My new goal is to lose 100 rating points.

An amusing article on the matriarchal society of the Mosuo people of China:

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Does the concept of marriage exist for the Mosuo?
Coler: Yes, the children are even threatened with it: "If you aren't good, then we will marry you off."

Maybe if it doesn't work out with the Under 2000 tournament, I'll move to China. Thanks to Alan Stein for the link.

*ok, yes, it's been so long, I now openly stare at total strangers in the street.

** one of them did approach me, but only to ask the sad question I get asked at every tournament by an attractive stranger: "Are you Jennifer Shahade?"

Anonymous Guest Blogger Reviews Terminator Salvation!

2009-06-02T18:15:00.008-04:00

Anton Yelchin

A Critical Review of Terminator Salvation

- Nice haircut, Arnie.
- Nice Batman impression, Bale.
- Nice range, Worthington.
- Nice $200 haircut, cute little sidekick.
- WTF is a cute little sidekick doing in a non-comedy movie?
- Nice homo vampire bait, Kyle Reese.
- Nice ridiculous breaking-down-the-4th-wall homage to Guns & Roses.
- Nice waste of the internal retina read-out for cyborgs- ok, you see someone’s face, you identify them, over and over again, great. (The bit with the motorcycle was cool though.)
- Nice patchwork storytelling. I really appreciated your wasting my time with the bit where Wright breaks out of captivity. Really, really useful. Same for many other scenes.
- Nice hit-me-over-the-head character development. Ok, Marcus is a stand-up guy, we fucking GET IT. Now stop wasting my fucking time and get on with the movie.
- Nice casting: Michael Ironside, WTF? Anton Yelchin, WTF? Cute little sidekick, WTF? Bodacious, scar-free, horny warrior babe, WTF? Luminescent redheaded pregnant wife? You’re just trying to head off National Lampoon at the pass, is that it?
- Michael Ironside *was*, I have to admit, the low-ranking, do-the-dirty-work villain in “Total Recall”, starring… Arnold Schwarzenegger. So that was pretty clever.
- So Connor’s wife is pregnant, eh? Care to make one single fucking comment about that? Ok, we get it, humanity carries on, the stakes are high, blah blah fucking blah. Fucking high-schoolers write this flick?
- Um… prison wardens wear nasty dirty leather, and have food in their teeth, when they’re HUMAN, fuckwits, not when they’re robots. When they’re robots, they are clean, clinical, and unemotional. There’s a genre of books and movies called sci-fi, you should check it out.
- Jarring ripoff: Motorcycle flying overhead: The Matrix, you pathetic hacks.
- Jarring homage: closeup of terminator foot walking up factory stairs. What *ever*.
- Jarring homage: Arnie. But at least you preserved the bad haircut, that really kept me focused on the movie.
- Jarring homage: Guns & Roses. Really?
- Jarring hark back: Linda Hamilton on audio. More than once. Bizarre.
- Jarring ripoff: the people-carrier, from Cruise’s War of the Worlds.
- Jarring repetitiveness: when cyborgs die, their little red light goes out. Show it ONCE OR TWICE ONLY.
- Jarring homage: when Marcus is punched, he does that thing with his face.
- Jarring repetition: When Arnie is punched, he does that thing with his face. Cut & paste much?
- Suggestion: Where art thou, “Bad to the Bone” ? Love that song, it would have *so* made the movie. Maybe it’s in the director’s cut?
- Jarring writing, #1 of 100: Your *first* scene is a *loser* !!! What the hell are you doing with this weird, mismash explanatory scene, and what the hell is Helena B Carter doing in this movie? And what asshat made her wear a cancer-cap? Heavy, heavy-handed. Groan.
- Jarring writing, #5 of 100: Could Marcus Wright do any more primal screaming? Please? It’s so impressive. Spare me the slick robot action, that’s not why I’m here.
- Unbelievably jarring, miscued homage: John Connor says “I’ll be back.” The stench of empty Hollywood suits began to fill the theater. However, this did give me the unexpected gift of true, deep sympathy for Christian Bale.
- Alternative suggestion: Connor says, “I’m Batman.”
- Stupid misuse of potential action budget: Helena Bonham Carter. Surprise, surprise, she appears at the end of the movie also, bookending it. Couldn’t have seen *that* coming. Assholes. (Helena: you’re great, buy yourself something nice with the cash from this piece of shit.)
- Repetition: the final fight scene takes place in a smoky factory. Have never seen that before.. neato!
- Jarring dialog: “His heart is human… and very powerful.” Paging George Lucas, please report to the Dialog Department.

(Readers-- please leave lots of comments! Anonymous people need/love feedback too! thanks, Elizabeth)

A Mysterious and then Embarrassing Rook Ending, Part One: Counting Failure

2009-06-02T16:51:00.007-04:00

Jessica Regan - Elizabeth Vicary
NY state women's championship rd 4

Before we get to the endgame, what should black do here?

not 25...Rxc3, because 26. Kb2 wins a rook! That would've been awful.

A Mysterious and then Embarrassing Rook Ending, Part One

ok, so we just exchanged queens into this ending:

and I can't figure anything out.

Maybe I'm better because my rook cuts his king off? Or worse because he has the potential outside passed pawn? Better because my pawn is already passed? Worse because her e5 pawn is cramping me? Better because it's a weakness?

I was utterly confused. I only needed to draw to clinch first, but she's 1550 and I strongly believe children are unable to play endgames, so I was going to at least try.

33.Rb4 Rc5 I figured Kb2 would attack it next anyway.
34.Kb2 Kf8 I could try going around Kg8-h7-g6, but I thought the rook might start checking me. I thought about playing ...f6 immediately, I just had no idea how to begin calculating how dangerous it would be to make her h pawn passed.

35.Rd4 Ke7
36.f4 f6 What else can I do?
37.h4

37...f5 I was really happy with this move, separating white's g and h pawns, but rybka doesn't care at all.

38.Rd3 Kf7

39.h5 Rc8

40.Rc3 Rxc3 I figured if you have a passed pawn, how bad can a straight-up pawn ending be?

41.Kxc3 Kg8

42.Kd4 Kh7

43.Kd3 (D)

Of course, Kd4-d3 told me something was up. And there is almost a vicious trap here.

If 43...Kh6 44.g4! fxg4 45.f5 (D)

I'm still ok, but this is the moment of hypothetical* truth

45...Kxh5 loses! 46.fxe6 Kg6 but the black king can never move again!

45...Kh7! is still winning: 46.fxe6 Kg8–+

In any case, I played it safe with

44.hxg6+ Kxg6

45.Ke3 Kh5

46.Kf3 Kh4

47.b4 a6

48.a3 d4

49.Ke2 Kg3

50.Kd3

Now here I thought I was completely, easily winning. I win the pawns, the white king is miles away from a6 and b5, hurray for me, the winner, the brilliant endgame technician. I was also rushing because I wrote on the permission slip that I would get my students home between 8:30 and 9:30 and it was 9:15 and I was the last game and the parents will be waiting and annoyed.

But of course there's always something you could be fruitlessly worrying about rather than concentrating on your game, right?

And the amazing thing is that 50...Kxf4 wins and 50...Kxg2 draws, and I played the latter. 50...Kxf4 takes 7 moves to queen; 50...Kxg2 takes 8, since you have to move out of the way of your f pawn after capturing on f4. And white is only 8 moves away from taking my d and e pawns and queening the e pawn.

I am ashamed.

*since it's an analysis diagram

Rochelle Ballantyne vs. Elizabeth Vicary vs. NY State Chess Association

2009-06-02T16:14:00.003-04:00

Ballantyne, Rochelle 1961 - Vicary,Elizabeth 2100 [B10]
ny state women's champ, round 3, 31.05.2009
1.e4 c6

2.c4 d5

3.exd5 cxd5

4.cxd5 Nf6

5.Qa4+

I had forgotten Rochelle played this line and prepared for a regular Panov. I had been nervous because I was going to play the 5...Nc6 lines for the first time, and they seem dangerous if black doesn't know what she's doing. I was relatively happy to see Qa4, because I've played it myself as white and I was pretty sure Rochelle wouldn't remember too much.

5...Nbd7

White's idea on 5... Bd7 is to play 6. Qb3 and it's tricky to recapture the d5 pawn.

6.Nc3 g6

7.g3

So this is already unusual. Normally, the bishop usually comes to c4 and then white defends it with d3, so that after black castles and played ...Nd7-b6xc4, white's recapture dxc4 strengthens d5.

7...Bg7

8.Bg2 0–0

9.Nge2

a logical moment by me!

Normally in this variation, the bishop is on c4, and then I play 9...a6, threatening 10... b5. It looks like this fails to 10. Bxb5, but then black has 10...Nb6! attacking the queen and defending the rook, which wins the Bb5. After 9...a6, white usually plays 10. Qa3 to avoid this and pressure e7.

So I'm trying to figure out what to do here, and I'm proud that I think I successfully reasoned out the answer. The normal move, a6, doesn't make as much sense without a bishop on c4. But because I'm a tempo up here (g3 and Bg2 rather than Bc4), white hasn't castled, and I found a way to exploit this.

9...e6!

10.d4

My big idea is that if white takes on e6, my knight gets to d3, stopping white from castling, and maybe putting lots of pressure on f2:

10.dxe6 Nc5 and something like 11.exf7+ Rxf7 12.Qd4 Nd3+ 13.Kf1 Qxd4 14.Nxd4 Ng4,

or 11.Qd4 Nd3+ 12.Kf1 Qxd4 13.Nxd4 Ng4 attacking d4 and f2,

or 11.Qc2 Nd3+ 12.Kf1 fxe6 (D)

many ways to attack f2: Q-->b6, Nf6-g4, Rf8-->

10...Nb6

11.Qb3 Nbxd5

12.0–0 b6

13.Re1

I expected 13.Nf4 Bb7 14.Ncxd5 Nxd5 15.Nxd5 Bxd5 16.Bxd5 Qxd5 17.Qxd5 exd5 and I'm a little better becaue my bishop is better, but not much. My endgames are pretty bad, I'm realizing (more on this next post), but I'm always happy to play endings against children.

13...Bb7
14.Bg5 Qd7
15.Rad1 Rfd8
16.Nxd5 I don't know why she starts trading all these pieces when she has an isolated pawn. She definitely knows better.

16...Bxd5

17.Bxd5 Qxd5

18.Qxd5 Rxd5

19.Be3 Rad8

20.Nc3 R5d7

21.h3 h5 I thought this might be useful?! Is it weakening?!

22.Bg5? Rxd4

23.Rxd4 Rxd4

24.Nb5

24...Rd5

I considered 24...Rb4: maybe this is simpler/ better, I was just enchanted with the idea of getting bishop versus knight: 25.Nxa7 Rxb2 26.a4 Rb4 27.Nc8 Nd5

25.Bxf6 Bxf6

26.Nxa7 Ra5

27.Nc8 b5

I just thought that when the knight takes the b-pawn and then my rook takes on b2, attacking it, that it would have fewer choices on b5 than b6, because my bishop controls squares like d4 and c3.

28.b4 Rxa2

29.Nd6 Bd4

I was trying to set myself a series of small goals to accomplish. First, I'm going to tie her pieces down by attacking f2.

30.Rf1 Bc3

31.Rb1 Bd4

32.Rf1 Rb2

33.Nxb5 Bb6

34.Nd6 Rxb4

35.Rc1 Rb2
36.Rf1 Rc2
37.Ne4

37...f5

I read in books that the way to take advantage of bishop vs knight endgames is to push the knights back with pawns.

38.Ng5 e5

39.Nf3 This is cooperative of her. g5 is a nice outpost for the knight and she should secure it there with h4. 39...e4
40.Ne1 Rb2

40...Re2 was my first idea, to threaten Bxf2 Rxf2 Rxe1, but she is obviously going to g2 and f4 next, and this will cause me to lose a tempo if my rook is on e2.

41.Ng2

guess how I win a pawn???

a nice photo of Rochelle to cover the answer (photo credit: Anthony Causi)

41...Rb3!

42.Nf4

I was expecting 42.Kh2 Rf3 43.Nh4 Rxf2+ 44.Rxf2 Bxf2 45.Nxg6 which I guess is pretty winning?]

42...Rxg3+

43.Kh2 Rb3

44.Nxg6 Kf7

45.Ne5+ Ke6

46.Nc4 Bc7+

47.Kg2 Rc3

48.Nd2 Rc2

49.Rd1

Guess how I win a piece?

another nice photo

49...e3

50.fxe3 Ba5

51.Kf3 Bxd2

52.Ke2 Bb4+

53.Kf3 Bd6 [53...Rh2 54.Kg3 Bd6+? 55.Rxd6+ Kxd6 56.Kxh2 Ke5]

54.Rd4 Rc3

55.Rh4

55...f4

56.Rxh5 Rxe3+

57.Kf2 Rc3

58.Rh4 Bc5+

59.Kf1 f3

60.Rh8 Rc1# 0–1
　

a photo of me playing Rochelle, stolen from Polly Wright's blog

I need to go off on a little rant now. At this tournament, the NY State Women's Championship, they force you to join the NY State Chess Association. I didn't realize this ahead of time, and I was super-annoyed, although of course it's my own fault for not reading the flyer more carefully. But this is my grievance: The New York State Chess Association should not even exist. Why is it there? What does it even do? Why does Phyllis Benjamin get to bully me into giving her $13 every year??? Possible arguments:

1. It produces Empire Chess. This magazine is absolutely atrocious. It is not worth the paper it's printed on. Why is the NY Times, the most beautiful newspaper in the world, going under, while I am forced to subsidize this vanity press? Isn't that what American market capitalism is good for, getting rid of products no one likes or wants to read?

2. It regulates the State Championship tournaments. But isn't this really done by Steve Immit? I'm sure it could be. Or Jay Bonin, or Harold Stenzel, or Polly Wright, whomever, let's pick someone reputable, give them a 5 year term as "person who decides on bids for the state championship," and pay them $1 of each entry fee for their trouble. I just suspect that the yearly work of the entire organization could be done by a competant individual in one afternoon.

3. It chooses state delegates to the USCF. I don't even know if it actually does do that, but we could easily just vote on the USCF website instead.

Mike Nietman: so amazingly reasonable

2009-06-01T17:45:00.016-04:00

I thought I'd give you my two cents on the upcoming USCF election.

My favorite candidate by far is Mike Nietman. I know him through his work on the Scholastic Council. I'm on the Scholastic Committee-- it's a large group (20-30) of people involved somehow in scholastics. The Committee elects the Council (5 members), and gets surveyed on issues of pressing concern. Mike does a lot of work, emailing updates to the committee frequently and moderating discussions.

Every time I read one of his emails, I think to myself, "Man, that guy is so amazingly reasonable. I agree with him about almost everything."

When issues are contentious, he presents both sides (!) of the argument carefully, then describes what he thinks and why. Sometimes (very often!), people on the Scholastic Committee suggest comically insane/ irrational ideas, but Mike never makes fun of them. He's diplomatic and inclusive, without being annoyingly wishy-washy. I hold him in very high regard, and he seems to me like exactly the sort of person the Executive Board needs.

Other people? Mike Atkins is a nice guy and a good TD. Bill Goichberg seems smart and sane. Jim Berry sponsors chess and was nice to me. I haven't have the experience of working with them, however, so I can't vouch for the high quality of their work they way I can Mike Nietman's.