Full Moon at the House of Pain

Sixteen players came to Fight this Tuesday Night. The top half clubbed the bottom half in the first round, with the break being between Zimmy (1647) and Eric Lu (1521), a difference of 126 points. Samuel drew with Gautam Narula (1778), while Benjamin Moon upset #1 seed Alan Piper (2082). Ben hit the Pipe so hard he knocked him out of the tournament! Only five players availed themselves of the free gift half point bye in the last round, a low, for the TNF, 31%. In the last round Joe Moon, the #2 seed, beat Longshot Larry Johnson, while his little brother, Ben, beat Gautam Narula. The Moon brothers therefore tied for first, winning $22 each. Eric Lu beat Alex Foster (1053) in rd 2 and Michael Coney (1205) in rd 3 to take home $21 for the U1600 prize. I want you to consider, for a moment, the fact that Longshot Larry, Zimmy, with a half point bye in the last round, and Ananya Roy (1661), all finished with a score of 2-1, the same as Mr Lu, but went home empty handed simply because their ratings are higher than his. They played stronger competition, too. Does this make sense to you? If so, please leave a comment explaining why...Terry Krohe (961) took home $12 by losing to Ananya Roy, Nick Nikley (1445), and beating Alex Foster. At least none of the players taking a half point bye in the last round won money!
Ben Moon was the big rating winner with an increase of 34 points and a PR of 2158, only a few points behind his brother's 2224. "Woody", aka Terry Krohe, performed like a real chess player, with a PR of 1253, and gained 26 points on his push to become a quadruple digit player! He is now only 13 points away from the big day!

And a good time was had by most

There were 32 players entered into the G/45. The Stud at 2175 was top dog. The rest of the field consisted of two 20's; two 19's; no 18's; four 17's; two 16's; six 15's; two 14's; five 13's; four 12's; two 11's; and two 10's. The top four rated players finished in a tie for first place. Along with Damir, who had to win his last round game vs Reece Thompson (1413), Alan Piper (2082) who gave a 3 move draw with White to #3 Longshot Larry Johnson (2026), and #4 Daniel Gurevich (1975), who, in the most intriguing match-up of the day, had to beat #5 Paul Taylor (1926), with all kinds of parents in the House! They each won $80.
Tim Chu (1739) and Gautam Narula (1778) split first U1900 by scoring 3-1, with each taking home $31. Lewis Byrne also finished 3-1, but since his rating is only 1577, he won the $61 U1700 prize. Same for Matthew Torrance (1388), only for the U1500 prize. Mr Torrance gained the most rating points, 119, with a performance rating of 1748, almost two classes higher than his current rating. Before losing to The Stud in the last round, Reece Thompson drew with #4 Gurevich, beat #12 Carter Peatman (1595), and knocked #6 Michael Mulford (1796) out of the tournament, to turn in a PR of 1985, a whopping 572 points more than his rating entering the tournament, gaining 112 rating points in the process! Dave Ronak (1280), with his first round upset of #9 John Lewis (1737) and last round win over Bob Peatman (1268), gained 64 points with a PR of 1607. Darcy Linde (1137) gained 82 big ones with upsets over Bryan Johnson (1500) and Richard Lin (1346) in the last two rounds.
In the U1300 section, played for trophies, or House credit, only, David Mbonu (1242) swept the field, yet gained only 36 points, with a PR of 1391. He did prove, though, that he is ready for "prime-time!" Amith Punyala (674) received a full point bye in the first round, lost in the second round to Bill Zhang (1023), and then beat Hasith Sangabathula (1006) and Jake Senter (816), who loves to eat at the HONG KONG restaurant, to gain an unbelievable 129 points! His PR was 1081...His brother, Ananth Punyala (1073), Bill Zhang, Alex Hollins (976), and Amith all finished tied for second with 3 points. Mr Zhang gained 44 points, while Ananth gained 34. Alex Hollins, in his push toward quadruple digits, gained 16 and is only 8 big ones away from becoming a chess player!

Palin 'hacker' 2004 Tn Open Scholastic Champion

The headline reads: All signs point to state rep’s son as Palin ‘hacker’
The article on zdnet contains this: My name is David Kernell I am 15 a white cacasian male i live in memphis, TN. My favorite and only hobby is chess, more like an obsession. I am not afraid to say that i have acute depression and have been institutionalized twice, one at th age of 9 in Texas and one this past year. I have been strugleing with this for my entire life and have finally come to the conclusion that being stoic in most of life’s issues is of the untmost importance.
Still, the Memphis Commercial Appeal established the chess connection, which lends credence to the blog’s legitimacy: David Kernell excelled at chess while at Germantown High School and won the 2004 Tennessee Open Scholastic Chess Championship. Internet searches show someone uses the handle rubico on chess Web sites.
You can read the whole article at: All signs point to state senator’s son as Palin ‘hacker’http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4081

Moon over Miami

Samuel Zimmerman returned from the ill-fated Miami Open all smiles, the reason being he had done very well in the speed tournament, beating a NM twice, while losing both games to IM Blas Lugo, and finishing with 7 1/2 out of 12, to win $115, but, more importantly to the young man, his Quick rating has gone over 1900, two or three hundred points higher than his (regular?; standard?; REAL?!) rating. I have to keep in mind that the vast majority of USCF members have never known a time when each player had only one rating...
In the Miami Open proper Zimmy got of to a fine start in the U1700 section, winning his first three games before being stopped by Jorge Cuervo (I just love that name!). After another win, Sammy lost to the eventual winner of the tournament, Adriel Patino. With his half point bye in the last round, the Z-Man won $175. Unfortunately, the check is in the mail!
Michael Easterwood played them all, winning five and losing two, to finish in the second score group in a three way tie for fourth and winning $383.33.
Joe Moon won two, drew three, and lost two, to finish with an even score in the Open section. I've always thought that if a player finishes with an even score in a section, he has proven he belongs in that section! That said, Joe did receive a full point bye in the second round, and a half point bye in the last round, which brought him $550. Joe finished in a tie for 17th place.
I have absolutely no idea whether the winnings I've quoted is the amount based on the so-called "guaranteed" money, or if it is only the 50% the organizers petitioned the USCF to be allowed to pay out. I have absolutely no idea if the players who left early will actually receive any money, but I do know that Zimmy received his speed winnings right outta the wallet of one of the organizers! Staying to insure payment of a prize would seem to be a very good reason to NOT take a half point bye in the last round!!!
Samuel did tell me that it was quite expensive at the tournament, saying it cost an "arm" for the short ride from the airport to the hotel, and a "leg" for the breakfast buffet!
A word about the taking of a last round half point bye...First, let me say I think a great deal of both Mr Zimmerman, and Mr Moon. They are fine young men and strong and improving chess players. They did absolutely nothing wrong in availing themselves of the opportunity of taking the free, gift half point in the last round in lieu of playing. I do find it ironic, though, that both of them were elevated to prize winner when the player with whom they tied lost the last round game. How do you suppose those two players felt about tying with a player who did not even play the last round! I find it ironic because I started a thread on the USCF forum (Last round half point bye 1, 2by nocab on Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:57 pm), in which I asked the question: "Is the awarding of a half point bye in the last round ethical?"
Please note I said "awarding", not "taking." To quote the Legendary Georgia IronMan, "Chess is the hardest thing I've ever done!" A long chess tournament is a gruelling affair. To receive a free gift of a half point while the competition has to play, oftentimes while exhausted, would seem to be a way to gain an unfair advantage. To gain an unfair advantage would seem to be unethical, would it not? As an example, take Mark McGwire, the man who "broke" major league baseball's single season home run record, set by Roger Maris in 1961. At the time McGwire was hailed as a hero. Now, after it has become common knowledge he used Andro to "gain an unfair advantage" he is a pariah in our society. Yet, what he did was not in violation of any major league baseball rule. JUST BECAUSE IT IS ALLOWED DOES NOT MAKE IT THE RIGHT THING TO DO!

The Drifter hit by The Pipe

Nineteen players appeared for the TNF, with John Lewis acting as "Houseman" to even out the field for round one. Form held in the first round, with four players, Walter Gordon, Jr & Sr, who must drive a long distance to make it to the House, along with "Saint" Nick Nikley (1390), and Alexander Foster, taking a half point bye. Samuel Zimmerman, who played in the ill-fated Miami Open (more on that later), upset James Harmon (1748), visiting from Illinois ("This is a wonderful place you have here!"-Something EVERY visitor says...). High Plains Vest beat Ananya Roy (1661), while #2 seed, Alan Piper, dispatched Soloman "The Beast" Zelman (1666!). St Nick held Mr Stack (1648) to a draw. Walter Gordon Sr (1139) beat Mr Coney (1205), while his son, Jr, (1316) beat Carter Peatman (1595). Their game was the last to finish in round two. Junior moved a rook from a6 to e6, took his hand off of the rook, then moved it back to a6. Carter told him he had touched the rook and must move it, which Junior did; only he now moved it to f6, where if protected a critical pawn. Rather than asking for a director (I was watching the game), Pinky made a move. Later, Junior pushed a pawn forward, took his hand away, then moved it back and moved his King! Once again Mr Peatman could and should have stopped the clock and asked for a TD, but instead he told Junior that he would have to move the pawn, as he had touched it. All the while Carter's clock was ticking...Funny thing, it would have been better for Pinky if he had let Mr Gordon move the King! On a post to the USCF forum I read earlier (Prize Fund Guarantee's ) by John Hillery (by rfeditor on Tue Sep 16, 2008 8:07 pm #114111), he writes that one must "learn or die." I cannot help but think of the Great Bobby Fischer, who, at a young age, knew the rulebook "frontwards and backwards" as they say. Although some of our players are young, and are playing against adults, they are PLAYING FOR MONEY! Whether or not that is a good thing is for another blog...As for Mr Gordon, Jr, he and his father are relative newcomers to the House and organized chess. With only a minute on the clock, and with his opponent having less than that, it had to be rather disconcerting for Walter. I'm certain he did not do anything intentionally to try and gain an advantage. Which brings to mind something else Mr Hillery wrote in the same post: "While I agree that "(w)e want to attract more players," those players should not be starting out in big-class-prize tournaments with based-on prizes. After they've played in some small local tournaments and been around long enough to understand how things work, they can consider playing in large tournaments." The more I read of Mr Hillery, the more I've come to admire and respect his views (http://www.westernchess.com/,
http://www.westernchess.blogspot.com/)
Which brings us to the last round...Eleven of the nineteen (58%!) players opted for the gift half point bye in the last round making one wonder why we even have a last round! The House simply must consider starting the first round at 6:30, as does the venerable Mechanic's Institute in San Francisco for it's Tuesday Night Marathon! Of the few left to battle it out in the final round, there was the High Plains Drifter versus The Pipe on first board; The Gordons, each with 1 1/2, on board two, James Harmon vs St Nick on board three; and Richard Lin (1346) vs Alexander Foster (1053), on board four. Saturday night I went with Richard's coach, Tim Brookshear, to the restaurant his parents run, the HONG KONG at Shamrock Plaza. Tim gives Richard and his little brother a lesson every Saturday night and is rewarded with a bag of wonderful food that he takes home and shares with his aunt, Mildred. Tim picked me up at the House telling me how he would get Wendy to make this special dish. In reply I said I was "famished" and could not wait. Once we arrived, Wendy gave us a large cup of hot tea and I sat in on the lesson. When Tim was to go over Richard's games from the TNF, I played two games with little brother. Then, another of Tim's students and his father came in and ordered food. When Tim asked me to play the new student, I had to beg off, saying that I was so hungry I was getting weak. It was hard to take when their pungent food arrived and all I could do was watch... In response to Wendy's question, I heard Tim say, "Just put Bacon's food in the bag with ours and he can eat with us." The next thing I know, Tim has started a game with his student! The game is still in the opening and our very large bag of food arrives. You've got to understand that Tim almost NEVER plays skittles. I can only recall a handful of times in almost forty years that the man has played an off-hand game. One of the reasons is that he hates to lose so intensely he has been known to show his donkey! Yet, with his eighty something hungry aunt waiting at home, and his so-called "Bud" weak from not having eaten since lunch, he accepts a "challenge" from a student! The "one hour lesson" was turning into the "three hour tour."
Three quarters of an hour later, things are not looking so good for the "coach", who was playing the White pieces. Black has a better game and he was expanding in the center. The "Ol' Coach, playing his usual stodgy, hidebound, try not to lose chess, was on the ropes, getting pushed back and holding on for dear life. Tim moved his King to h1, preparing for the inevitable push of a pawn to e3, breaking the game open and slashing into his position with Bishop to e3. By this time Tim was losing it, screaming a little brother, who was fidgeting, causing a distraction that did not seem to bother Richard!
Tim lost two pawns, but did have bishops of opposite color, and, more importantly, a "runner." That's right folks, Tim had a passed a-pawn. All Richard had to do was to put his rook, which was in the White position, behind the pawn, and he would beat his coach!
Thinking that Tim would lose the game and become what he usually becomes after losing a chess game, an ogre, and needing food, as it was now past 9;30 and I was hungry when we left the House at 6:30, I walked over to CHECKERS and bought a fish sandwich, because, "you gotta eat"...
Upon my return I saw that Richard had not stopped the a-pawn and Tim would win. By the time he came out it was almost 10 pm. "CHECKERS?", he asked. "I was hungry, Tim."
"I had no idea you were hungry, Bacon," he said.
"What part of 'I'm famished & I'm so hungry I'm weak' do you not understand, Brookshear?"
"You could've eaten your food here, Bacon."
"Just take me back to the Center, Tim, please."
"You can come back and eat with us, Bacon."
"It's too late, Tim. My god, man, the food arrived a few minutes after you started the game and it's cold by now!"
"Bacon, I HAD to accept the challenge!"
"I wish I had a dollar for all the times you've turned down a skittle challenge over the decades I've known you, Brookshear. Be honest, man, you did it because you wanted to do it, with absolutely no consideration for either your aunt or me!"
Richard beat Alex Foster, to finish with 2-1, winning $3. Mr Harmon beat St Nick to also finish 2-1 and win $3. Walter Gordon Sr taught his son another valuable life lesson, to finish with 2 1/2 and win $18. While on the top board the High Plains Drifter got hit with The Pipe! Mr Piper, playing Black, took it to the Drifter, to win first place money, which was a paltry $32.
As for the other prize winners, they all took a half point bye in the last round. Zimmy won $20 for second, James Stack also won $3, while Jonathan Choi (1113) and Tianming Liu (1002) each won $5 in under 1200 money.
This week first place paid 35%; second 22%; while Walter Gordon Sr, eligible for the U1200 prize, actually won the U1600 prize, which was 20% of the prize fund. At least he had to win two games to earn a prize...

Georgians in Miami

CHESS LIFE ONLINE (Ray and Darmen Tie; Ray Wins Armageddon) reports only the results of the open section of the Miami Open. The lack of info emanating from the tournament makes one think of North Korea! It can be best summed up by what was written in a post to the USCF forum (Miami Open) by Sevan Muradian on Sat Sep 13, 2008 3:11 pm:
The sad thing is also that the 6th round is pretty much over and there are no pairings, no standings, no players list available. There's no broadcast on MonRoi or on ICC.Not sure what the organizers are attempting to accomplish by keeping everyone in the dark.
Sevan A. Muradian, FIDE ArbiterNorth American Chess Associationhttp://www.nachess.orghttp://www.nachess.blogspot.comsevan.muradian@nachess.org
888.80.CHESSA USCF Gold Affiliate

The only info as of this writing is a crosstable of the open section, where one learns that FM Kazim Gulamali finished with a plus one score of 5-4. He got off to a fine start with a win over one of the co-champs, GM Darmen Sadvakasov. He then lost to IM Renier Gonzalez. He came back from that defeat to beat IM Drasko Boskovic and IM Davorin Kuljasevic in the next two rounds! That put him at 3-1. Unfortunately Kazim lost his next three games, to IM John Bartholomew, GM Victor Mikhalevski, and IM David Pruess. It's tough at the top! IM Boris Kogan used to say the measure of a chessplayer is how he does after a loss. That goes triple for a player who loses three in a row! To prove what kinda player he is, Kazim came back to win his last two games, beating Juan Camilo Arango, and Sylvain Leburgue. Boris also said it was important to not only finish, but that how you finished was important! Kazim would have, no doubt, earned the Kogan stamp of approval!
Joseph Moon also finished with a 5-4 score in the open section, but his score does include a full point bye in round two, and a half point bye in the last round. He did, though, hold his own in the open section, with two wins, two losses, and three draws, a fine result! He lost to IM Drasko Boskovic in the first round, but did draw with IM Marko Zivanic and IM Daniel Fernandez, in the fourth and fifth rounds. After a loss to IM David Pruess in round six, he did beat FM Renard W Anderson in round seven. That's one win, two draws, and two losses versus titled players!
There is a disturbing post on the forum by cranken on Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:02 am #113934, in which he writes: "To receive a check, you had to sign some acknowledgement agreeing to the 50% payout. If you did not sign, then you have to appeal to Bill Hall (the beleaguered Executive Director of the USCF-WMB) and will receive money pending resolution of the appeal. This was inappropriate since players may have felt pressured into signing."
The organizers guaranteed $70,000 but it appears they are unable, because of the small turnout, to pay it! The $100,000 prize fund was based on an unrealistic 650 entries. They only had half that turnout last year. All they had to guarantee was half of the prize fund. Since they chose to increase the guarantee, it would seem they should have had at least $70,000 in the bank before the tournament. Coming as it does on the heels of a lawsuit filed by USCF board member Susan Polgar AGAINST THE USCF, this is either a body blow, or another black eye for the reeling USCF. I fear there are dark days ahead for our chess world...

My dream World Chess Championship

At the end of the Bilbao tournament there were eight Grandmasters rated over 2750, according to the Live Ratings website. I can only dream of the halcyon days of old with candidate matches. If we could return to those days, with the match-ups being #1 with #8; #2 with #7; #3 with #6; and #4 with #5, we would have, with #1 & #3 on one side, and #2 & #4 on the other:
Topalov vs Radjabov
Carlsen vs Kramnik

The winner of those matches would play the winner of:
Morozevich vs Aronian
Ivanchuck vs Anand

I can only dream that some wealthy patron would like to see these matches as much as I and will come forward to, in the words of Jean-Luc Picard, "Make it happen!"