2nd Round Loss from UW Winter Open

I finished with 2-1=1

USCF Results here

I know how important it is to not to pay much attention to a player's rating, but when paired against a low rated adult player in round 2, I let my guard down. I have to make sure I don't do that again!

Lately I have been going over some games by Tal and felt like 1800 version of Tal (with none of the talent!) when I played my last move Nd4.
White didn't find the best move (Qb7) and a few moves later we arrived at the following position with White to play: I was too busy congratulating myself on my win of the exchange, that I didn't pay enough attention to the strong passer and paid for it! I dicided to blockade the pawn with the Queen, usually not a good idea. I should have played Rfd8 and attacked the White king.

Tournament Directing

This entry is dedicated to comments on Guy Hoffman's actions at the team tournament and the upcoming FIDE/USCF tournament in Milwaukee

UW Winter Open

Round 5

1) Romich 4.0 vs Parker 3.5 DRAW
2) Santarius 3.0 vs Yusim 3.5 1-0
3) Nietman 3.0 vs Smail B. 3.0 1-0

USATE

It looks like the following team will represent the East in the play-offs. The 3 grandmaster team will not be eligible.

My last round game from the USATN

I was very happy with my 3-0=1 performance. My favorite game was the last round win against Tony Dutiel(1834) from the Kansas City CC A-team. He was 4-0 going into this round. His team had 3.0 points to our 2.5, so it was a "must win" round for us.

I was playing board 3. We had an early win on Board 4. It looked to me like boards 1 and 2 should at least draw. Board 1 drew, but we lost on board 2. So I had to win my game. This game was one of the last three to finish, and was surrounded by other players whose fortunes depended on this game. The pressure was on!

I spent too much time early in the game deciding if I should go for the double minor piece exchanges which prevents White from castling. I got myself into terrible time preassure and had to make several quick moves before the time control at move 30. I was especially happy with this position (Black to play) where I am down a pawn, but my pieces are extremely well placed, just look at those rooks! The Black rooks attack 15 squares, the White 6.

Click here for game replay

Winners of the 4 USAT events

East : Interview with a member of the winning team

1) 2714 Izoria, Zviad
2) 2592 Perelshteyn, Eugen
3) 2586 Dzindzichashvili,Roman
4) 110 Fanning, Stephen (That's right 110!)

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North

Trevor,Erik,Ashish & Alexander

1) 2282 Betaneli Alexander
2) 2239 Vaja Ashish
3) 2175 Santarius Erik
4) 2003 Magness Trevor

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West

Jonathan,Benjamin,Robby & Landon

1) 2386 Robby Adamson
2) 2246 Landon Brownell
3) 2115 Jonathan Cox
4) 2100 Benjamin Marmont

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South

Gilberto, Javier, Jeffrey & Bruci

1) 2468 Bruci Lopez
2) 2136 Jeffrey Haskel
3) 2108 Javier Gonzalez
4) 2069 Gilberto L Luna

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Phote credits :

East : http://castlingqueenside.blogspot.com/

West, South : http://www.uschess.org/

USATN

USCF results here

Click here for wallcharts

More wall charts

The following team went 5-0, and will represent the the North in the national play-offs.

Right to left

1) 2282 Betaneli Alexander
2) 2239 Vaja Ashish
3) 2175 Santarius Erik
4) 2003 Magness Trevor

IM Mesgen Amanov Checking out the last round action. (He did not play in the main event, but won the unrated blitz event)

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My team came in 3rd overall and won the U1900 prize. We also won the best team name with "Team Name Here"

1) 2000 WILLIAM M WENZ 1.5/4.0
2) 1905 STANLEY T GARVIN 0.5/4.0
3) 1851 Me 3.5/4.0
4) 1823 NEIL J GLEASON 2.0/3.0
5) 1643 NOLAN R HENDRICKSON 3.5/5.0

I drew a 1980 and beat 1601, 1709 & 1834

Rating change 1856->1886

U.S. Amateur Team Champ. Milwuakee Feb 16-17

Pre-entries

1. 2175 WI Chess Academy's Surprise
2. 1955 U Knighted We Stand
3. 1939 Nimzowitsch's Knights
4. 1895 Team Name Here
5. 1863 The Kansas City Chess Club A
6. 1862 Becker's Bishops
7. 1862 The Racine Ches Club
8. 1860 University of Chicago
9. 1859 Kistler's Team
10. 1781 Team G
11. 1734 Henderson's Creation
12. 1700 Dean's Disciples
13. 1570 The Kansas City Chess Club B
14. 1494 The Crop of WI Talent
15. 1449 The Shiny People
16. 1444 Bad Bishops
17. 1345 University School

Scholastic pre-entries

Click here for tournament information

Click here for information on the Saturday night Blitz tournament

Link to the USCF pre-view of this event

The hotel has a nice indoor pool/game room

There are currently 17 teams registered in the Open section (7 in the Scholastic):

Wisconsin : 12
Indiana : 2
Missouri : 2
Illinois : 1

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The team favored to win it all:

1) 2282 Alex Betaneli
2) 2239 Ashish Vaja
3) 2175 Erik Santarius
4) 2003 Trevor Magness

Avg. rating = 2175

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I will be part of the following team:

1) 2000 WILLIAM M WENZ (BYE ROUND 1)
2) 1905 STANLEY T GARVIN (BYE ROUND 3)
3) 1851 IVAN WIJETUNGE (BYE ROUND 2)
4) 1823 NEIL J GLEASON (BYE ROUND 4)
5) 1643 NOLAN R HENDRICKSON (BYE ROUND 5)

Av. Rating = 1895

Waukesha G/29 -4 Round Swiss Quick rated event

Since there was no play last Wednesday due to the snow the event concluded today.

I played two Blacks and scored 1.5/2.0 beating J.Becker (2018) and drawing W.Williams (2125) to finish tied for first with Bill with 3.5/4.0

Results here ; I had a quick rating gain of 62 points.

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I sacrificed my queen for mate in the 2nd round:

21.Bxf6

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Expert John Becker is back after last playing in 2000. He plans to play in the FIDE tournament in Milwaukee, March 8-9. He was a member of the winning team at the 1993 U.S. AMATEUR TEAM CHAMP - (IL) . He also won the NE Open in 1994.

Wisconsin's newest Expert

Anthony Parker finished 3-0 at the FAB SWISS (WI) to become WI latest expert with a rating of 2009.

Major National Event in Milwaukee Feb. 16-17 2008

The deadline for the $120 entry fee is Feb. 10 ($190 there after)

U.S. Amateur Team Championships North - Wisconsin
5SS, Best Western Hotel, 5105 S. Howell Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (414)769-2100. Special chess rate of $89, reserve early. Free hot breakfast.

Two sections:

OPEN (four players plus alternate: must play in rating order, top four average rating below 2200, December supplement used.

Prizes: 4 digital clocks to top two teams, 4 clocks to top teams with average rating u1900, u1600, and u1300.Winning team qualifies for national play-offs. Prizes to top score on each board. Prizes to best team name.

EF: $120 per team if received by Feb. 10th, $190 thereafter. Cash only at site.
TC: g/90 rds 1-3, 30/90 sd/60 rds 4-5.
Late reg.: 8:30-9:30am on Saturday. Rds.: 10:30am-3pm-7pm; 10:00am-3:30pm.

SCHOLASTIC (all players must be High School age or younger; average rating u2200). Prizes: 4 digital clocks to top team overall, top High School Team, top Middle School Team, top Elementary team. 4 clocks to second best High School Team, second best Middle School team, second best Elementary school team. Prizes to top club team, top team composed of all girls, and to best name team. EF: $116 per team if received by Feb. 10th, $190 thereafter. Cash only at site. TC: G/90. Late reg.: 8:30-9:30am on Saturday. Rds.: 10:15am-3pm-7pm; 10:00am-2pm. SIDE EVENT: blitz tournament on Saturday night; details at site.

INFO/ENTRIES: make checks payable and send to: Alex Betaneli, POB 260122, Madison WI 53726. abetaneli@hotmail.com 608-334-2574. Bring boards/sets/clocks. NC. NS. W.

Learning from your losses?

In order to improve one should analyse one's losses deeply in order to identify what mistakes are being made.

The kind of losses that can help a lot are close games where one might not even know where one went wrong.

What is most frustrating to me is the way I lost/drew games. I am making basic errors against opponents 200 points below me. Although I try hard not to be overconfident against lower rated player's, I am having trouble not doing so. I don't make such errors against higher rated opponents as often. I have to learn to play chess and not pay attenting to my opponent. Like Fischer said "All that matters on the chessboard is good moves."

Round 1 - missed very basic moves at least twice. First giving up any advantage(27. Bg4?), then the game(46.Kb8???).

Round 4 - didn't look one move further in a forced sequence that threw a way my advantage.(19...Bxd3)

Round 5 - misplayed the opening, proceeded to weaken the q-side pawn structure, made no effort to activate my bad bishop. There were other psychological issues in this game as well. After losing the first round I was determined to win the next 4 games, but after drawing the 4th round you could say, "I had the wind blown from my sails". I probably should have not played the 5th round.

I should have stayed home!

To perform at a good level one needs to be able to recover well from a set backs. This is true on a move, game and tournament level. I believe that not recovering well psychologically was my downfall in the event.

In the first round I had this position as White. Instead of taking the pawn I played 27.Bg4 first, which throws away the advantage, since Black just plays Rh8 and defends the h-pawn. After the rooks come off I may still have a better position, but I some how manage to lose the game.

I think I did a fare job recovering after the first round loss and was determined to win the next 4 games. After wins in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. I had the following position as Black with the move. I was very happy with this position and was sure I could convert it to a win, but only managed to draw. I could not get my self to recover from yet another set back as now there was no way for me to go 4-1. I should have probably not played the last round. What ai missed was the after the exchanges ...Bxd3,
Nxd4 Qc7, Qxc7 Rxc7, White can play Rc1 because of White's back rank issues. It was clearly a case of stopping the analysis one move too early. There was no reason to exchange at this stage. I could have simply improved my position and then infiltrate the Q-side.

In the 5th round I was paired against fellow blogger Greg. After misplaying the opening I got an inferior position as White and to make matters worse also got myself in time trouble. Trying to make time control I repeated the position and should have just taken the draw, but I wanted to reach time control to see if there was any way out of the bad situation, but in the last move before time control I dropped my queen to a knight fork, later analysis shows that it would have been hard for me to hold this game.

It sounds odd, but I am more dissapointed about drawing the 3rd round game than losing the 1st and 5th.

I did bad a job recovering from bad moves and bad games, I just have to do a good job recovering from a bad tournament!

44th Northeastern Open

IM MESGEN AMANOV Betaneli & Satarius tied for first.

To learn more about Mesgen click here. I understand that he has relocated to Chicago.

Complete results here.

This and that

44th Northeastern Open Jan 26-27
This has been the longest wait between rated games for at least a couple of years. (more than 5 weeks). I am in a pretty confident mood and hope to break the 1900 mark for the first time.

A. Vaja and A. Betaneli are expected to play. FM Stamnov from Chicago usualy shows up.

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I completed Tal's Winning Chess Combinations , It was very enjoyable. Lots of examples and problems. I am in the process of entering most of the examples & problems in to ChessBase so that I can solve them multiple times. I was expecting to see lots of Tal's own combinations, but most examples are not his own.

I started on Sharpen Your Tactics.

I have also been avaraging 30 minutes of cardio a day. I ran in my first 5k race last Sunday.

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GM Hikaru Nakamura has a new website at : http://www.hikarunakamura.com/main/, where he is currently blogging about the Gibraltar Chess Festival. He talkes about what a day in the life of a Grandmaster is during a tournament.

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Wayne Zimmerle has the latest version of the MSA data program at:

http://www.gpcf.net/MSA/msa.htm

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The Racine Chess Clubs has a new website : http://racinechess.com/

44th Northeastern Open

The 44th edition of Wisconsin's most attended* tournament will be held in Neenah, WI Jan 26-27

Jan. 26-27 44th Northeastern Open
FORMAT: 5/SS SECTIONS: Three: OPEN and RESERVE (U/1500) and SPECIAL-NOVICE (open to all - no special fees or dues). PLAYING SITE: Holiday Inn - Neenah, 123 E. Wisconsin Ave., Neenah, WI 54956. Hotel phone: 1-800-725-6348. ROOM RATES: $79 sgl/dbl. Mention chess! REGISTRATION: 9-9:30 on 1/26/08. ROUNDS AT: 10-2:30-7 and 10-3:15. TIME CONTROL: 35/90, then SD/60. BYES: One half-point Bye any round. FULL-point Bye in Rd. 1 to 2100+ if pre-registered. ENTRY FEES: OPEN = $35, RESERVE = $17, SPECIAL-NOVICE = $12. All are $5 more after 1/21, not 1/16. Checks payable to NEWCA. PRIZE FUND: OPEN: ($1500 b/60, 5 per class) 1st - $350, 2nd - $225, best 1900 - 200, 1800 - 190, 1700 - 180, 1600 - 170, 1st U/1600 - 125, 2nd U/1600 - 75. RESERVE: 1st - $60, 2nd - $30. Trophies to: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, best 1200, 1100, 1000, 900, 800, 700, U/700, 1st Unrated, 2nd Unrated. SPECIAL-NOVICE: Trophies to: 1st place, 2nd place, best age 12/U. ADVANCE ENTRIES TO: 44th Northeastern Open, Mike Selig - Director, 2895 "B" West Fourth St., Appleton, WI 54914-4330. TD phone: 1-920-739-7550. E-mails to: MikeSeligTD@aol.com. OTHER INFO: NS/W/NC. USCF Heritage event. Bookseller at site both days. Fox River Mall with 174 stores is 4 miles from hotel! JGP.

Past results & winners:

2007 43rd NORTHEASTERN (97 players) ALEKSANDER STAMNOV

2006 42nd NORTHEASTERN OPEN (116 players) ASHISH VAJA, GARY ARANOVICH

2005 41st NORTHEASTERN OPEN (100 players) ALEKSANDER STAMNOV, ERIK F SANTARIUS

My goal is to score at least 4.0/5.0

* (non-scholastic; at least for the past 5 years )

5K in zero degree weather.

One of my new year resolutions was to average at least 30 min. of cardio a day. I have been doing that for the past 80 days. To add variety I took part in my first 5K run at the Milwaukee Zoo.

548 runners braved the zero degree temperature for the 28TH ANNUAL SAMSON STOMP.

My goal was to finish in less than 30 min. I finished in 28:46

Complete results here

Checkout this link for the amazing end to the 2007 Chicago women's marathon

Robert James "Bobby" Fischer (March 9, 1943-January 17, 2008)

Link to Fischer quotes and pictures

IM Watson on RJF

Collection of RJF videos

(Argentina, 1971)

FIDE Event in Iowa

Ashish and Erik took part in a FIDE event in Iowa over the w-end. Erik lost the first round to Matt Anzis (1769), but finished strong to tie for first place with 4.5/6.0 and a rating of 2194.

Ashish finished with 4.0/6.0 with one loss(Pete Karagianis 2210) and two draws.

Initially the tournament was only open to players with a FIDE rating or Iowa players with ratings over 2000, but since the turn out was low, the requirements were relaxed. There were only 12 players; with 6 rounds there were some interesting pairings.

15 year old Matt Anzis gained the most points, he broke into class-A with a gain of 67 points(1769 ->1836). In addition to beating Erik he also beat FM Aleksander Stamnov from IL. That should move him to around 50th place in the USCF age 15 list

Click here for USCF results

Wisconsin's newest Expert

Updated 1/10/2007 : Added these two links:Vince Hart's account of the event , 2004 interview with Alexander.

Sasha being interviewed by Roshan

Congratulations to ten year old Alexander Velikanov, Wisconsin's newest and youngest Expert. Any bets on how long it will take him to get to Master?

He achieved a rating of 2013 with a performance rating of 2396! at the TIM JUST WINTER OPEN XXII (IL)

Round by round

1) Win vs ALEKSANDER STAMNOV 2209
2) Win vs PATRICK LACEY 2121
3) Bye
4) Win vs VINCENT HART 2048
5) Loss vs IM MESGEN AMANOV 2365

Vince Hart's account of the event

He should also move to the #3 spot in the USCF age 10 list:

Top age 10

1) Yang, Darwin (12945617) TX 2129
2) Luo, Brian J (12910173) WI 2088
3) Velikanov, Alexander (12879882) WI 2013

Here is a 2004 interview with Alexander.