Saturday, June 26, 2010
STEVENSON HIGH SCHOOL FINISHES 2nd at STATE
The Stevenson Chess Team finished the 2010 IHSA State Chess Team Tournament with a record of 6-1, with tie-breaker points earning them the 2nd Place trophy. Niles North (another North Suburban Chess League -NSCL- team) captured the State Championship with a 7-0 record. This is the 7th consecutive year that Stevenson has finished in the top 6 at the state tournament, including a State Championship 2 years ago. Stevenson's only loss was to the number one seed Whitney Young High School.
In addition to the team trophy and 2nd place player medals for each team member, freshman Matt Yang won the first place medal on Board 3, senior Scott O'Connor tied for 10th place on Board 4, senior Peter Karalis finished in first place on Board 6, and senior Victor Zhou finished in 9th place on Board 8. Other team members were Josh Dubin, Kent Cen, Adele Padgett, Corbin Rudnick, with alternates Saieesh Rao and Vishish Verma. Sophomore Josh Dubin won a special award as one of the highest rated high school chess player in Illinois. The Stevenson team is coached by Rob Krause, with Scott Oliver club sponsor.
Rob Krause also initated a special one day chess clinic on Saturday with the assistance of Renaissance Knights and FIDE expert Eric Heiser.
In addition to the team trophy and 2nd place player medals for each team member, freshman Matt Yang won the first place medal on Board 3, senior Scott O'Connor tied for 10th place on Board 4, senior Peter Karalis finished in first place on Board 6, and senior Victor Zhou finished in 9th place on Board 8. Other team members were Josh Dubin, Kent Cen, Adele Padgett, Corbin Rudnick, with alternates Saieesh Rao and Vishish Verma. Sophomore Josh Dubin won a special award as one of the highest rated high school chess player in Illinois. The Stevenson team is coached by Rob Krause, with Scott Oliver club sponsor.
Rob Krause also initated a special one day chess clinic on Saturday with the assistance of Renaissance Knights and FIDE expert Eric Heiser.
Friday, June 25, 2010
BEST GAME & BEST TACTIC OF THE GCSC
by Jeff CaveneyThe best game I saw at the Greater Chicago Scholastic Championships was Arjun Nandy's attacking win vs. Rohan Mhaskar on Board 2 in the 4th round of the K-8 Varsity section. Arjun's game was an excellent example of how to conduct a kingside attack against the popular Dragon variation of the Sicilian Defense. Rohan put up very tough resistance, and almost escaped with his king right into the center of the board on e5 and d5. To win the game, Arjun had to find a difficult combination where two precise checks set up a pin that made a knight fork of the king and queen work.
White: Arjun Nandy (1600)
Black: Rohan Mhaskar (1702)
Greater Chicago Scholastic Championships
K-8 Varsity section
Round 4, Board 2
February 27, 2010
1.e4 c5
2.Nf3 d6
3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6
5.Nc3 g6
6.Be3 Bg7
7.f3 O-O
8.Qd2 Nc6
9.Bc4
If White castled queenside right away, Black could play the center pawn break d6-d5. White plays Bc4 first to stop d6-d5. This is called the Yugoslav Attack. White attacks on the kingside and Black attacks on the queenside. Chess masters like to play both sides of this position, but in my opinion for amateur and scholastic players it is easier to play for White than for Black. White just pushes his pawns in a "pawn storm" on the kingside, while Black has to combine piece and pawn moves in a more complicated way on the queenside.
9 ... Bd7
10.O-O-O Rc8
11.Bb3 Ne5
12.h4 h5
13.Bh6
The Black king's best defender is the bishop on g7, so White trades it off.
13 ... Nc4
14.Bxc4 Rxc4
15.Bxg7 Kxg7
16.Nd5
White trades off another Black defender, the knight on f6.
16 ... Nxd5
17.exd5 Qc7
18.g4 Rc8
19.Kb1 Rh8
20.Rdg1 Qb6
21.c3 a5
Notice how Black's pawns are much slower than White's pawns, and Black's queen is blocking his own b-pawn from pushing forward.
22.gxh5 Rxh5
23.Rg5!
The Black rook on h5 is the last defender of the Black king, so once again White trades the defender off.
23 ... Rxg5
24.hxg5
The point of the pawn storm is to open files in front of the king, and now White has an open h-file to attack on. He threatens Qh2 with a devastating queen and rook invasion against the Black king.
24...f6
Black recognizes the danger, and after a long think he prepares an escape route for his king.
25.gxf6+ Kxf6
26.Kc1
White probably didn't need this safety move with his king before playing Qf4+.
26 ... Qc5
27.Qf4+ Bf5
28.Qh4+ Ke5
29.Qxe7+ Kxd5
Black has done an excellent job of running away with his king, and there is no guarantee that White will be able to catch him. But now White finds an excellent and very accurate combination of checks to win the game:
30.Qf7+!
When I was watching the game, I was expecting 30.Qxb7+. But Arjun Nandy looked deeper and moved his queen to f7 to check for a very good reason, as we will see two moves later!
30 ... Ke5
31.Re1+ Kf4
32.Ne6+!
The point! The queen checked on f7 so that now the bishop on f5 is pinned! So the bishop can't take the knight on e6, which wins the Black queen with this fork.
32 ... Kxf3
33.Nxc5 Rxc5
And after winning the queen, White went on to win the game.
The most amazing tactic I saw in the tournament was by Ryan Toepfer vs. Derek Mizushima on Board 2 in the last round of the K-6 Varsity section. Derek played very well and was up a rook, but Ryan saw a beautiful hidden tactic to win the queen, and went on to win the game.
Ryan as Black had a rook on e8, protected by his king on f8, and it was pinning the White queen on e6 with the White king on e2. But Derek as White had just played one of his rooks down to d8, counter-pinning the Black rook on e8. Derek's other rook on d1 protected his rook on d8. But now Ryan's amazing tactic was his queen on b4 moved ...Qxc4+!! Since the white queen on e6 is still pinned, it can't take the Black queen on c4. White has to get out of check, and next move Black will play Queen takes Queen on e6, winning the white queen. Ryan did this and went on to checkmate and win several moves later.
There are many examples of this tactical pattern from real games in chess puzzle books, which means that many chess masters don't see it coming either. This game was a good experience for both Ryan and Derek, who I am sure will both use this tactic to win a lot of games in the future.
Ryan deserves a lot of credit for finding this beautiful tactic, but the first thing Ryan said to Derek after the game was, "I was very lucky, you were winning." This is excellent sportsmanship: After winning, Ryan gave his opponent credit for playing well and having a winning position most of the game. Derek also exhibited good sportsmanship in defeat, not complaining or getting angry or upset, even though it is always painful to lose a tough game when you were winning. It was so pleasant to see both players' good sportsmanship, instead of the opposite situation where the player who lost tells the winner, "You were very lucky," which is bad sportsmanship. As a tournament director and teacher, I am always happy to see players being good sports whether they win or lose.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
GREATER CHICAGO SCHOLASTIC CHAMPIONSHIP
GREATER CHICAGO SCHOLASTIC CHAMPIONSHIP by Jeff Caveney
Over 150 enthusiastic young chess players came to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Northbrook the weekend of February 27-28 to play in the Greater Chicago Scholastic Chess Championships. The kids and their families came from Chicago, the suburbs and all over Illinois, neighboring Wisconsin and Indiana, and even as far as Colorado and Maryland to compete for the beautiful and gigantic trophies for the top teams and individuals. Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation and the Kasparov Chess Foundation sponsored the event, modeled after the long-running successful New York tournament with the same format. This is the first time the event has been held in the Chicago area.
In the K-12 section, the competition was so tough that 6 players tied with 4 points out of 5 games. Shivram Chandramouli (Munster High School, Munster, Indiana) took 1st place with the best tiebreaks, an impressive result since he was rated 9th out of the 30 players in the section. James Bowen (University School of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin), Tyler Lerner, Lukasz Zak (Lane Tech High School, Chicago), Matthew Barbian (Libertyville High School, Libertyville, Illinois) and Eric Emer (Highland Park High School, Highland Park, Illinois) took 2nd through 6th places respectively. Especially notable was Lukasz Zak, who was unrated going into the tournament. Since Zak won an overall prize, Anud Dahiya (Naperville North High School, Naperville, Illinois) took the 1st unrated prize with 3 points, and his teammate Charles Coffman (Naperville North) took 2nd place unrated with 2 points.
Alex Yerukhimov (University School of Milwaukee, Wisconsin) took the 1st under-1500 prize with 3 points. His teammates dominated the Junior Varisty top prizes: Kern Khanna, Sam Schlesinger, John Venable and Ishan Sinha (all University School of Milwaukee, Wisconsin) took 1st through 4th. Charles Helding (St. Ignatius College Prep, Chicago) took 5th place JV. Thomas Grudzinski (Lane Tech, Chicago) took 1st place under-900 JV.
The 1st place K-12 team trophy went to University School of Milwaukee. Naperville North and Lane Tech took 2nd and 3rd place.
In the K-8 Varsity section, Yue "Penny" Xu (Urbana Middle School, Urbana, Illinois) took clear 1st place with 4 wins and a draw. Arjun Nandy (University of Chicago Lab School, Chicago) took clear 2nd place with 4 points, and Rohan Mhaskar (The Prairie School, Racine, Wisconsin) took clear 3rd place with 3.5 points. David Peng (Winkelman School, Glenview, Illinois), Jack Xiao (Laura Sprague School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) and Eamonn Moore (Elm Place School, Highland Park, Illinois) took 4th through 6th places with 3 points each. Alec Feygin (Glen Grove School, Glenview, Illinois) won the 1st place under-1200 prize with 3 points.
St. Gilberts School in Grays Lake, Illinois took the 1st place K-8 Varisty team trophy.
In the K-8 Junior Varsity section, John Lennon (Keystone Montessori School, River Forest, Illinois) took clear 1st place with 4 wins and a draw. Alfredo Rodriguez (Logandale Middle School, Chicago) took clear 2nd place with 4 points, and Andy Xu (Daniel Wright Junior High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) took clear 3rd place with 3.5 points. Brian Davis and Sylvester Highley, Jr. (James Hart Junior High School, Homewood, Illinois) took 4th and 5th places with 3 points, and Billy Hoseman took 6th place with 2 points. Frederic Fosco (GIFT Homeschool Group, Elgin, Illinois) won the 1st place under-700 prize with 3 points. Durman Jackson (James Hart Junior High School, Homewood, Illinois) won the 1st place unrated prize with 3 points, Quentin Kakuda (Lake Zurich Middle School South, Lake Zurich, Illinois) took 2nd place unrated, and Joshua Chan (Thomas Jefferson School, Hoffman Estates, Illinois) took 3rd place unrated.
James Hart Junior High School in Homewood, Illinois won the 1st place K-8 Junior Varsity team trophy, and Logandale Middle School in Chicago took 2nd place.
In the K-6 Varsity section, Allen Guo (Daniel Wright Junior High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) took clear 1st place with a perfect score of 5 points. Ryan Toepfer (Decatur Classical School, Chicago) and Daniel Bronfeyn (Aspen Elementary School, Vernon Hills, Illinois) took 2nd and 3rd places with 4 points. Miranda Liu (Lake Bluff Elementary School, Lake Bluff, Illinois) took 4th place with 3.5 points. Derek Mizushima (Potomac Elementary School, Potomac, Maryland) and Josh Power (Bernard Zell School, Chicago) took 5th and 6th places with 3 points. Asher Borstein (Bernard Zell School, Chicago) won the 1st place under-1000 prize with 3 points.
In a very close competition between two Chicago schools, Decatur Classical School took the 1st place K-6 Varsity team trophy by a half point over Bernard Zell School, who took 2nd place.
The K-6 Junior Varsity was by far the largest section of the whole tournament, with 46 kids competing. Brody Frapolly (Wildwood School, Chicago) and Coleman McJessy (Alexander Graham Bell Elementary School, Chicago) both earned perfect scores of 5 points, with Brody Frapolly taking 1st place on tiebreaks and Coleman McJessy 2nd place. Erik Csima (Lone Tree Home School, Lone Tree, Colorado), Finn Buck (Homeschool, Cambridge, Wisconsin), Dylan Cotter (Crow Island School, Winnetka, Illinois) and Jacob Fox (Dewey Elementary School, Evanston, Illinois) took 3rd through 6th places with 4 points. Georgia Wolf (Thorp Scholastic Academy, Chicago) won the 1st place under-900 prize with 3.5 points. Nikita Smyrno (Ivy Hall School, Buffalo Grove, Illinois) won the 1st place unrated prize with 3.5 points, and Alex Ortiz (Galileo Math & Science Academy, Chicago) and David SIlva (Canty Elementary School, Chicago) took 2nd and 3rd place unrated with 3 points.
Dewey Elementary School in Evanston, Illinois won the 1st place K-6 Junior Varsity team trophy. Bernard Zell School in Chicago took 2nd place and Thorp Scholastic Academy in Chicago took 3rd place.
In the K-3 Varsity section, Derek Mizushima who came all the way from Potomac, Maryland took clear 1st place with a perfect score of 5 points. Ronin Moore (Sherwood School, Highland Park, Illinois) took clear 2nd place with 3.5 points. Ranadheer Tripuraneni (May Whitney School, Lake Zurich, Illinois), Megan Wei, Michael Wu (both Laura Sprague School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) and Kevin Wang (Oak View Elementary School, Fort Wayne, Indiana) took 3rd through 6th places with 3 points. Sean Li (May Whitney School, Lake Zurich, Illinois) won the 1st place under-900 prize.
Laura Sprague School in Lincolnshire, Illinois won the 1st place K-3 Varsity team trophy. May Whitney School in Lake Zurich, Illinois took 2nd place.
In the K-3 Junior Varsity section, 4 players tied for the best score with 4 points. Jesse Prilutsky took 1st place with the best tiebreaks. Erik Csima who came all the way from Lone Tree, Colorado took 2nd place, Edward Esgar (Sherwood School, Highland Park, Illinois) took 3rd place, and Vishay Ram (Fry Elementary School, Naperville, Illinois) took the 1st place under-500 prize -- all of them scored 4 points. Finn Buck (Homeschool, Cambridge, Wisconsin) took 4th place with 3.5 points, and Allan Lopez (Three Oaks School, Cary, Illinois) and Annie Xu (Half Day Elementary School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) took 5th and 6th places with 3 points. Sonny Zhou (May Whitney School, Lake Zurich, Illinois) and Annie Clement (Jane Addams School, Palatine, Illinois) won the 1st and 2nd place unrated prizes with 3 points, and Sam Zacks (South School, Glencoe, Illinois) won 3rd place unrated with 2.5 points.
Finally, Amanda Csima from Lone Tree, Colorado won the 1st place kindergarten prize with an amazing 3 points. William Zhu (Laura Sprague School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) won the 2nd place kindergarten prize with 2 points, and Colin Mizushima from Potomac, Maryland won the 3rd place kindergarten prize with 1.5 points.
Lone Tree Home School in Lone Tree, Colorado won the 1st place K-3 Junior Varsity team trophy.
Standings K-3 & K-8 Championships photos K-6 & K-12 Championships photos
Over 150 enthusiastic young chess players came to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Northbrook the weekend of February 27-28 to play in the Greater Chicago Scholastic Chess Championships. The kids and their families came from Chicago, the suburbs and all over Illinois, neighboring Wisconsin and Indiana, and even as far as Colorado and Maryland to compete for the beautiful and gigantic trophies for the top teams and individuals. Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation and the Kasparov Chess Foundation sponsored the event, modeled after the long-running successful New York tournament with the same format. This is the first time the event has been held in the Chicago area.
In the K-12 section, the competition was so tough that 6 players tied with 4 points out of 5 games. Shivram Chandramouli (Munster High School, Munster, Indiana) took 1st place with the best tiebreaks, an impressive result since he was rated 9th out of the 30 players in the section. James Bowen (University School of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin), Tyler Lerner, Lukasz Zak (Lane Tech High School, Chicago), Matthew Barbian (Libertyville High School, Libertyville, Illinois) and Eric Emer (Highland Park High School, Highland Park, Illinois) took 2nd through 6th places respectively. Especially notable was Lukasz Zak, who was unrated going into the tournament. Since Zak won an overall prize, Anud Dahiya (Naperville North High School, Naperville, Illinois) took the 1st unrated prize with 3 points, and his teammate Charles Coffman (Naperville North) took 2nd place unrated with 2 points.
Alex Yerukhimov (University School of Milwaukee, Wisconsin) took the 1st under-1500 prize with 3 points. His teammates dominated the Junior Varisty top prizes: Kern Khanna, Sam Schlesinger, John Venable and Ishan Sinha (all University School of Milwaukee, Wisconsin) took 1st through 4th. Charles Helding (St. Ignatius College Prep, Chicago) took 5th place JV. Thomas Grudzinski (Lane Tech, Chicago) took 1st place under-900 JV.
The 1st place K-12 team trophy went to University School of Milwaukee. Naperville North and Lane Tech took 2nd and 3rd place.
In the K-8 Varsity section, Yue "Penny" Xu (Urbana Middle School, Urbana, Illinois) took clear 1st place with 4 wins and a draw. Arjun Nandy (University of Chicago Lab School, Chicago) took clear 2nd place with 4 points, and Rohan Mhaskar (The Prairie School, Racine, Wisconsin) took clear 3rd place with 3.5 points. David Peng (Winkelman School, Glenview, Illinois), Jack Xiao (Laura Sprague School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) and Eamonn Moore (Elm Place School, Highland Park, Illinois) took 4th through 6th places with 3 points each. Alec Feygin (Glen Grove School, Glenview, Illinois) won the 1st place under-1200 prize with 3 points.
St. Gilberts School in Grays Lake, Illinois took the 1st place K-8 Varisty team trophy.
In the K-8 Junior Varsity section, John Lennon (Keystone Montessori School, River Forest, Illinois) took clear 1st place with 4 wins and a draw. Alfredo Rodriguez (Logandale Middle School, Chicago) took clear 2nd place with 4 points, and Andy Xu (Daniel Wright Junior High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) took clear 3rd place with 3.5 points. Brian Davis and Sylvester Highley, Jr. (James Hart Junior High School, Homewood, Illinois) took 4th and 5th places with 3 points, and Billy Hoseman took 6th place with 2 points. Frederic Fosco (GIFT Homeschool Group, Elgin, Illinois) won the 1st place under-700 prize with 3 points. Durman Jackson (James Hart Junior High School, Homewood, Illinois) won the 1st place unrated prize with 3 points, Quentin Kakuda (Lake Zurich Middle School South, Lake Zurich, Illinois) took 2nd place unrated, and Joshua Chan (Thomas Jefferson School, Hoffman Estates, Illinois) took 3rd place unrated.
James Hart Junior High School in Homewood, Illinois won the 1st place K-8 Junior Varsity team trophy, and Logandale Middle School in Chicago took 2nd place.
In the K-6 Varsity section, Allen Guo (Daniel Wright Junior High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) took clear 1st place with a perfect score of 5 points. Ryan Toepfer (Decatur Classical School, Chicago) and Daniel Bronfeyn (Aspen Elementary School, Vernon Hills, Illinois) took 2nd and 3rd places with 4 points. Miranda Liu (Lake Bluff Elementary School, Lake Bluff, Illinois) took 4th place with 3.5 points. Derek Mizushima (Potomac Elementary School, Potomac, Maryland) and Josh Power (Bernard Zell School, Chicago) took 5th and 6th places with 3 points. Asher Borstein (Bernard Zell School, Chicago) won the 1st place under-1000 prize with 3 points.
In a very close competition between two Chicago schools, Decatur Classical School took the 1st place K-6 Varsity team trophy by a half point over Bernard Zell School, who took 2nd place.
The K-6 Junior Varsity was by far the largest section of the whole tournament, with 46 kids competing. Brody Frapolly (Wildwood School, Chicago) and Coleman McJessy (Alexander Graham Bell Elementary School, Chicago) both earned perfect scores of 5 points, with Brody Frapolly taking 1st place on tiebreaks and Coleman McJessy 2nd place. Erik Csima (Lone Tree Home School, Lone Tree, Colorado), Finn Buck (Homeschool, Cambridge, Wisconsin), Dylan Cotter (Crow Island School, Winnetka, Illinois) and Jacob Fox (Dewey Elementary School, Evanston, Illinois) took 3rd through 6th places with 4 points. Georgia Wolf (Thorp Scholastic Academy, Chicago) won the 1st place under-900 prize with 3.5 points. Nikita Smyrno (Ivy Hall School, Buffalo Grove, Illinois) won the 1st place unrated prize with 3.5 points, and Alex Ortiz (Galileo Math & Science Academy, Chicago) and David SIlva (Canty Elementary School, Chicago) took 2nd and 3rd place unrated with 3 points.
Dewey Elementary School in Evanston, Illinois won the 1st place K-6 Junior Varsity team trophy. Bernard Zell School in Chicago took 2nd place and Thorp Scholastic Academy in Chicago took 3rd place.
In the K-3 Varsity section, Derek Mizushima who came all the way from Potomac, Maryland took clear 1st place with a perfect score of 5 points. Ronin Moore (Sherwood School, Highland Park, Illinois) took clear 2nd place with 3.5 points. Ranadheer Tripuraneni (May Whitney School, Lake Zurich, Illinois), Megan Wei, Michael Wu (both Laura Sprague School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) and Kevin Wang (Oak View Elementary School, Fort Wayne, Indiana) took 3rd through 6th places with 3 points. Sean Li (May Whitney School, Lake Zurich, Illinois) won the 1st place under-900 prize.
Laura Sprague School in Lincolnshire, Illinois won the 1st place K-3 Varsity team trophy. May Whitney School in Lake Zurich, Illinois took 2nd place.
In the K-3 Junior Varsity section, 4 players tied for the best score with 4 points. Jesse Prilutsky took 1st place with the best tiebreaks. Erik Csima who came all the way from Lone Tree, Colorado took 2nd place, Edward Esgar (Sherwood School, Highland Park, Illinois) took 3rd place, and Vishay Ram (Fry Elementary School, Naperville, Illinois) took the 1st place under-500 prize -- all of them scored 4 points. Finn Buck (Homeschool, Cambridge, Wisconsin) took 4th place with 3.5 points, and Allan Lopez (Three Oaks School, Cary, Illinois) and Annie Xu (Half Day Elementary School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) took 5th and 6th places with 3 points. Sonny Zhou (May Whitney School, Lake Zurich, Illinois) and Annie Clement (Jane Addams School, Palatine, Illinois) won the 1st and 2nd place unrated prizes with 3 points, and Sam Zacks (South School, Glencoe, Illinois) won 3rd place unrated with 2.5 points.
Finally, Amanda Csima from Lone Tree, Colorado won the 1st place kindergarten prize with an amazing 3 points. William Zhu (Laura Sprague School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) won the 2nd place kindergarten prize with 2 points, and Colin Mizushima from Potomac, Maryland won the 3rd place kindergarten prize with 1.5 points.
Lone Tree Home School in Lone Tree, Colorado won the 1st place K-3 Junior Varsity team trophy.
Standings K-3 & K-8 Championships photos K-6 & K-12 Championships photos
50th KNIGHTS QUEST TOURNAMENT
Renaissance Knights Quest turns 50
by Jeff Caveney
The Super Bowl wasn't the only big competition on Sunday. Earlier that afternoon at the Renaissance Hotel in Northbrook, 78 chess players young and old battled at the 50th monthly Knights Quest tournament organized by the Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation. The Knights Quest was the original series of monthly Scholastic & Adult Class Tournaments in Chicago having three sections: U800 and U1200 for children and an Open Section for children and adults. Today the series has expanded to 4 sections: U600 & U1000 for children and U1400 and Open for children and adults. The success of these tournaments has changed the landscape of scholastic tournaments in Chicago; more and more organizers have switched to this format from the traditional grade level format.
FIDE Master and former 'Illinois State Champion' Aleksandar Stamnov won the top section of the tournament with a perfect 4-0 score. Two of his opponents, Paul Seet and Joey Bikus, won all the rest of their games to tie for 2nd with a 3-1 score, as did Expert Larry Cohen. There was a four-way tie for 5th place at 2.5 points: Howard Cohen, Timothy Zhou, James Demos and Ryan Toepfer. A field of 22 players took on the challenge of competing in the top section.
Another 22 players battled in the next section, for those with ratings under 1400. The competition was so tough that no one won all of his or her games, but 3 young chess players tied for 1st with 3 wins and a draw for 3.5 points: Akash Mattu, Josh Power and Miranda Liu. Three more players scored 3 wins and lost only one game to one of the top finishers. They tied for 4th with 3 points: Lukasz Tony Zak in his first ever rated chess tournament, Daniel Sun and Eric Gan.
The third section, for young people with ratings under 1000, had 12 players and the competition was intense. Avinash Rajendra secured 1st place with a perfect 4-0 score. Samuel Bergman and Anupama Rajendra tied for 2nd place with 3 points each. There was a big six-way tie for 4th place at 2 points: Joshua Liu, Adarsh Mattu, Prateek Dullur, Jacob Zhou, Vishesh Verma and Brody Frapolly.
Finally, the section for young people with ratings under 600 or beginners had 24 enthusiastic players. This section always has a mix of new young players in their first or second ever tournament and more experienced players. Jason Bai won the section with a perfect 4-0 score. Dylan Cotter earned 2nd place with 3 wins and a draw for 3.5 points. Five more players tied for 3rd place with 3 points: Saivikas Gundam, Frederic Fosco, Brandon Smithson, Owen Power and Ethan Shifrin.
Congratulations to all the winners! We also congratulate everyone who bravely competed in such a challenging tournament. At Knights Quest events, every young player who doesn't win a trophy for the top 5 places receives a medal in recognition of the achievement of coming out to compete, playing hard, and having fun!.
The next big event 'Renaissance Knights' will hold is the Greater Chicago Scholastic K-12 Championships, in partnership with 'The Kasporov Chess Foundation'. This unique tournament is coming to Chicago for the first time; it is similar to “The Greater New York Scholastic Chess Championships!”America’s longest-running rated scholastic chess tournament. Last weekend's Greater New York Scholastic Championships had a record breaking turnout with over 900 players. The Greater Chicago Scholastic K-12 Championships will be held at the 'Crowne Plaza Hotel' in Northbrook the weekend of February 27-28. All young players from kindergarten to 12th grade are welcome to attend, and players can play either on Saturday or Sunday or both days. Please visit the event page for more information on this regional championship tournament: 2010/Greater Chicago
FIDE Master and former 'Illinois State Champion' Aleksandar Stamnov won the top section of the tournament with a perfect 4-0 score. Two of his opponents, Paul Seet and Joey Bikus, won all the rest of their games to tie for 2nd with a 3-1 score, as did Expert Larry Cohen. There was a four-way tie for 5th place at 2.5 points: Howard Cohen, Timothy Zhou, James Demos and Ryan Toepfer. A field of 22 players took on the challenge of competing in the top section.
Another 22 players battled in the next section, for those with ratings under 1400. The competition was so tough that no one won all of his or her games, but 3 young chess players tied for 1st with 3 wins and a draw for 3.5 points: Akash Mattu, Josh Power and Miranda Liu. Three more players scored 3 wins and lost only one game to one of the top finishers. They tied for 4th with 3 points: Lukasz Tony Zak in his first ever rated chess tournament, Daniel Sun and Eric Gan.
The third section, for young people with ratings under 1000, had 12 players and the competition was intense. Avinash Rajendra secured 1st place with a perfect 4-0 score. Samuel Bergman and Anupama Rajendra tied for 2nd place with 3 points each. There was a big six-way tie for 4th place at 2 points: Joshua Liu, Adarsh Mattu, Prateek Dullur, Jacob Zhou, Vishesh Verma and Brody Frapolly.
Finally, the section for young people with ratings under 600 or beginners had 24 enthusiastic players. This section always has a mix of new young players in their first or second ever tournament and more experienced players. Jason Bai won the section with a perfect 4-0 score. Dylan Cotter earned 2nd place with 3 wins and a draw for 3.5 points. Five more players tied for 3rd place with 3 points: Saivikas Gundam, Frederic Fosco, Brandon Smithson, Owen Power and Ethan Shifrin.
Congratulations to all the winners! We also congratulate everyone who bravely competed in such a challenging tournament. At Knights Quest events, every young player who doesn't win a trophy for the top 5 places receives a medal in recognition of the achievement of coming out to compete, playing hard, and having fun!.
The next big event 'Renaissance Knights' will hold is the Greater Chicago Scholastic K-12 Championships, in partnership with 'The Kasporov Chess Foundation'. This unique tournament is coming to Chicago for the first time; it is similar to “The Greater New York Scholastic Chess Championships!”America’s longest-running rated scholastic chess tournament. Last weekend's Greater New York Scholastic Championships had a record breaking turnout with over 900 players. The Greater Chicago Scholastic K-12 Championships will be held at the 'Crowne Plaza Hotel' in Northbrook the weekend of February 27-28. All young players from kindergarten to 12th grade are welcome to attend, and players can play either on Saturday or Sunday or both days. Please visit the event page for more information on this regional championship tournament: 2010/Greater Chicago
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
48th QUEST
CONGRATULATIONS
OPEN SECTION
29.50 Demos, James
25.75 Shekhtman, Louis
16.50 O'Connor, Scott
16.00 Toepfer, Ryan
16.00 Pollack, Walter
16.00 Smith, William
U1400 SECTION
26.25 Noonan, Kevin
25.00 Dhiman, Rahul
23.75 Habrel, Samiylo
20.06 Gant, Jordain
U1000 SECTION
21.75 Wallach, David
20.25 Wallach, Adam
20.19 Wu, Michael
19.63 Prugh, Ronan
U600 SECTION
23.25 Noonan, Mark
18.50 Yu, Chenshu
16.50 Fosco, Frederic
16.25 Maguigad, Noah
29.50 Demos, James
25.75 Shekhtman, Louis
16.50 O'Connor, Scott
16.00 Toepfer, Ryan
16.00 Pollack, Walter
16.00 Smith, William
U1400 SECTION
26.25 Noonan, Kevin
25.00 Dhiman, Rahul
23.75 Habrel, Samiylo
20.06 Gant, Jordain
U1000 SECTION
21.75 Wallach, David
20.25 Wallach, Adam
20.19 Wu, Michael
19.63 Prugh, Ronan
U600 SECTION
23.25 Noonan, Mark
18.50 Yu, Chenshu
16.50 Fosco, Frederic
16.25 Maguigad, Noah
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
CHICAGO TOY & GAME FAIR 2009
Knights had an exhibit at the Chicago Toy & Game Convention at Navy Pier November 21-22. We set up a giant sized chess set that kids especially enjoyed playing with. We met a lot of people and gave them fliers about the chess classes we teach in Chicago area schools, and about our upcoming events.
We found that among all the high-tech toys and new board games, people who love toys and games still love chess! Kids and adults alike eagerly challenged our expert instructors to a game throughout the weekend -- the games with Stormtroopers always drew a lot of attention. We also had the chance to teach kids how to play chess. We were very pleased when we heard a group of kids, when asked what their favorite exhibit was, enthusiastically answer "Chess!"
Renaissance Knight looks forward to continuing to work with the Chicago Toy & Game Convention in the coming years.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
KNIGHTS WORKSHOP
The "Sneaky Scholar's Mate" and How to Stop It
Lesson from the December Knights Quest
By Jeff Caveney
Many beginning chess players lose a game to Scholar's Mate in their first or second tournament, and then learn how to stop it. But at the December Knights Quest tournament, I saw a game in the Under 600 section where one player found a way to keep trying to get Scholar's Mate even after his opponent stopped it in the first 4 moves. I want to share this example with Renaissance Knights players, parents, and readers, so everyone can learn how to defend against this trick too.
The game began 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Bc4. With the good move Nf3, you think White doesn't have to worry about Black playing for Scholar's Mate!
But Black found a sneaky way to try. He played 3...g5. The idea is to play the pawn to g4 next to attack the knight on f3, make it move, then play the Black queen to f6 or h4 to go for Scholar's Mate with Qxf2.
White did not realize Black's plan, and made a developing move that is usually good, but doesn't defend against Scholar's Mate: 4.Nc3 g4 5.Nxe5 Qh4.
Here White did see the threat of Qxf2 Scholar's Mate, and played 6.g3. But Black still did not give up on Scholar's Mate, and played 6...Qh3.
White made another developing move that is usually good but doesn't defend against Scholar's Mate: 7.d3.
Now Black played 7...Qg2 threatening Qxf2 Scholar's Mate and also threatening to capture the unprotected rook on h1.
White tried to run away with his king and protect his rook with his queen: he played 8.Ke2. Unfortunately for him, now 8...Qxf2 was still checkmate because White's pawn on d3 and queen on d1 block his king's escape.
This is a good learning experience for everyone to pay attention to. White was not a bad player, he is a good player who has won trophies in the Under 600 section before. He just didn't know how to defend against this sneaky version of Scholar's Mate. Let's take a look at what White should play instead to defend himself and stop this trick:
First, right away after 3...g5, White can simply castle! 4.O-O is an excellent move. Now the rook on f1 is defending the pawn on f2, and there will be no Scholar's Mate. Black cannot threaten checkmate on h2 so quickly or easily, and if he tries with moves like 4...g4 5.Nxe5 Bd6 6.Nxf7 Qh4, White can defend safely and easily with 7.g3. So, this is yet another good reason to castle early in the game!
Next, after 4.Nc3 g4 5.Nxe5 Qh4, White can play 6.d4 to block the Black bishop from f2. With no bishop protection, there is no Scholar's Mate by the queen. Now White has both center pawns, both knights, and a bishop developed, while Black's bishop has to move away from the pawn attack and the Black queen has no support from other pieces. White has excellent chances to win the game now, and Black is in big trouble. This idea of pawn to d4 to block the bishop on c5 is also a good idea to know for many different situations in the opening -- as long as you have enough protection for the d4 square, which White does here: If the Black bishop takes the pawn, the White queen takes the bishop back safely.
Finally, after 6.g3 Qh3 7.d3 Qg2, this is White's last chance to defend. White needs to play 8.Rf1 to stop the checkmate on f2 and save his rook at the same time. It's too bad that White can't castle on the kingside now, but he can still develop his queenside pieces and then castle on the queenside to be safer. This is not quite as good as the first two ways to defend, but it is still a good position for White, and remember: Any position is better than getting checkmated!
You may wonder what happens if White tries this trick against Black. Let's take a look:
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Qf3 Nf6 4.g4.
Once again, castling is the best defense! 4...O-O. After 5.g5, Black's knight has to retreat with 5...Ne8, but he is safe because his castled rook on f8 defends f7.
Another example is 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.g4 Bc5 4.g5 Nxe4 5.Qf3. Now castling is not a good defense because the White queen can take the unprotected Black knight on e4. Black could play 5...Nxg5, which defends f7 for the moment and attacks the White queen too. But I prefer to push the d-pawn into the center to block the White bishop: 5...d5. Now White only has one little trick: 6.Bxd5 Qxd5 7.d3 and Black has to watch out for the pin: Don't play 7...Nxf2 and lose your queen to 8.Qxd5! As long as Black doesn't lose his queen like this, he will be ok. There may be some wild and crazy back-and-forth piece captures for the next few moves, but Black won't have a bad position as long as he or she keeps the queen or trades it for the White queen. For example 7...Bxf2+ 8.Ke2 Bxg1 9.dxe4 Qc4+! and next move Black can retreat the bishop on g1 to safety and have an extra bishop. Add extra protection to f7 on the move after that with castling or Be6, and Black will have a great position and White will be in big trouble.
The good part is, once you learn these ways to defend yourself, you will start winning all the games against the players who try tricks like pawn to g4 or g5, because you will get to the positions where THEY, not you, are in big trouble. You will more than make up for the one or two games you lost to a sneaky Scholar's Mate the first one or two times somebody tried it against you.
I wish everyone the best of luck that plays chess the right way and develops their pieces and learns how to stop all the Scholar's Mate tricks and punishes their sneaky opponents who try them!
6 CORNER'S CORNUCOPIA
Renaissance Knights joined other community groups Saturday, September 19, 2009 to participate in the Cornucopia event at the Six Corners area in the Portage Park neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago. The Bank of America branch at 4901 W. Irving Park Rd. kindly hosted us, making room for us to set up an information display, a jumbo size chess set, and a number of chess boards. Some of the best chess players and teachers on Renaissance Knights' staff were present. We invited any and all community members who came by to challenge our teachers to a game, and we offered chess piece keychains to anyone who could beat FIDE Master Zin.The Cornucopia event was a successful and enjoyable experience for all. Area businesses displayed green balloons and people visited them in a "treasure hunt", getting cards stamped at each location. A special highlight of the day was the appearance of Elvis on stilts, who sang and even stopped by our boards to play a little chess. Renaissance Knights thanks the Cornucopia organizers and Bank of America for their generous hospitality in hosting the event and giving us a warm welcome to the community.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
